Swing Max V02 50 sets of 10! ,Walking lunges, parallel pushups, crawls and Happy New Year!

Solid training today. Definitely did NOT want to endure this workout today after a fitful night of little sleep but  there was no choice, and no doubt, that it would get done.These are the days that really count,not the easy days when you feel rested strong and ready.
This workout is HARD. Not in the same sense as the snatch version but it is a TON ( try nine) of work and I can feel it, It still feels very safe to do and trying to keep the bell speed up as I fatigue is quite the challenge, and my muscles and lungs can sure tell as well.
It is also really cleaning up my swing form, it is much shorter, crisper but way more powerful as well. Keeping my head up is making a HUGE difference. Why didn't I give this a solid try earlier? Oh well ,I am now and it's making a big difference in power and stability.

I decided to let the bell float up higher than before and it helped in a lot of ways. First off I get more of a float, which Kenneth Jay is important for the cardio aspect and one of the reasons the swing isnt as good as the snatch for cardio improvement.
But not stopping it at chest height gave me a decent amount of release of muscle tension PLUS the higher bell dropped faster and that made the reps easier to be more powerful at the same time.Last week I was pushing the bell down to get it to move fast enough and there was TOO much tension with no release.
This was better and it also helped me focus on integrating the hip snap with the bell launch. I kept my arm on my ribs longer. this is good.
Still 50 sets of 10, 500 reps in 25 minutes, even with the 16 kg is work, 18.000 lbs in fact. Nine tons ,lol. Love that.


Swing Vo2
16 kg
15:15
50 sets of 10
500 reps
18,000 lbs work

walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

this was particularly hard today. Feet are a bit sore still from the barbell hacks

Parallel pushups, feet on box
 4 sets of 12

these feel the best in a LONG time. Could finally grip the bar hard, just like on Monday's press as I tried to push. that's been missing. grip has felt weak in the press positions.

Leopard Crawls
3 laps of 50 feet

these are feeling better all the time yet always hard!

well that's it for 2014 it's been a spectacular year in so many ways and I can only imagine what 2015 will bring!

NEVERQUIT!

Military Press 85 lbs x 5s, barbell hack squats, floor pushups, sled

Wow. That was the best this  movement has EVER felt. For the first time since I started doing it,and the first time since probably 2000 when I was still strong in pressing movements I felt some power and strength in the press.
I really wondered if it would ever come around!
Even last week, even though I could get the reps fairly well it never FELT good in the rack position or overhead. Today it felt GREAT!
And I have no idea why, But I'll take it. My overhead stick work and dislocates are also feeling better, more flexible, and my ability to "set" my neck into neutral has really helped diminish any nerve pain the right arm and shoulder and that's been making a huge difference.
Plus the neck nods are also making a difference that I can feel.
So nice to finally know WHAT to do to makes things better. I don't mind doing the work, it just drives me crazy not knowing WHAT to do :)
This is going to turn into a very strong move for me now, I can feel it. AND a true new movement for me as I have never really even did it in the past, much less trained it.

Barbell Press
stick x 10 x 3
45 x 5 x 2
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5 x 5!! PR and strong.

Barbell Hack squats
35 x 15 x 1
55 x 15 x 3

this is the right version for me. the kb just locks up on my hips and messes my balance up the barbell allows me to use my gorilla arms to an advantage. Light weight  here but I can see the potential. An Olympic bar with 25 lb plates will be perfect.  this really legs my knees move forward AND keep relatively upright. nice work


Floor pushups
4 sets of 12-10

medium close grip. I can really feel how the closer grips are getting the triceps which is really transferring to the military press

Hip sled
110 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

SO easy and strong. very solid

ok dats it.  a day off then 50 sets of 10 in speed swing!
neverquit

A Rucking perspective from a GoRuck Cadre

My name is Andy, I am a Cadre with GORUCK.  The GORUCK Challenge is just that, a challenge.  My intent is not to drive you away from an event, quite the opposite in fact!  Listen to Steve!  If you are an exclusive gym rat, cross fit nerd, or kettlebell athlete you are not prepared to perform at your best during a Challenge.  No doubt any meat head training will give you the foundation of strength required, but rucking is different.  It attacks your body in different ways.  Rucking a heavy pack is like water slowly eroding a mountain.  At first a trickle of water simply flows down the mountain, but over time the water penetrates and cuts the mountain.  A ruck does much the same.  You may possess brute strength and endurance, but over time the ruck will slowly cut into you.  It cuts into your shoulders straining your neck. and back  It cuts into your lower back destroying core strength.  It cuts through your hips and into your knees and ankles rendering quads, hams and calfs useless. Over time the ruck will test your entire body as a functional system.  But most of all it attacks your feet and willpower!  If your feet are not properly conditioned, you will lose the battle quickly.  If your will is weak, you will quit.  I will try to convince you to stay, but in the end you will walk away and the team will suffer.

And that’s all from simply walking with weight on your back!  Now add all the fun things we Cadre like to do during a Challenge and you’re truly testing your total body system!

So the question becomes, how do I prepare?  Well if you sling kettlebells you’re on the right path!  I’ve trained with kettlebells for years and I have found that they are the best form of total body system training.  But you must supplement your training for the specifics of rucking.  Just like there is no substitute for learning how to swing other than swinging, there is no substitute for rucking other than rucking!  There are plenty of training programs out there.  Military Athlete has a GORUCK training plan, GORUCK has a 6 week plan for free here http://training.goruck.com/the-6-week-plan/.

The best thing to do is just as you say above, sign up for a Light to get a feel for the GORUCK experience.  See where you stack up.  Identify strengths, weakness, and what you think your limitations are.  Then come up with a plan to be better.  When you ready take the Challenge.  I assure you, you will not be disappointed.  You WILL learn something about yourself and you will meet amazing people.

I hope to see you at one of our events.

Sunday Ruck and a new app

On my friend Morgan's suggestion I got this new app called " mapmywalk"
Much to my surprise it worked very well. Even has a pause function so I can do y squat holds and not have to factor that in to the time

It takes five minutes to walk to and from the park where I do my laps so the above is based on just the lap times. I did 12 laps averaging about 8:20 per lap. My speed was anywhere for the above  at 15 min per mile to 22 min per mile.
It was a solid walk although it was pretty chilly for California at 37 degrees at the starting time,

For the entire two hours at that pace it should have given me 5.5 miles or just under three miles per hour.

Pack weight was 40 lbs exactly. Legs felt heavy at first but then lightened up considerably as I warmed up. the squats each lap definitely help stretch things out, that's for sure.

Happy to be back at full distance and full weight.
Tomorrow I have plans for a 85 lb press workout( we'll see how many reps I can do at that weight) and some more kb hack squats.

datsit
neverquit

40 kg One arm swings ( pr), Goblet squat ( pr) close pushups, crawls

Worked hard to keep my head up during my one arm swing workout and it's starting to not only feel more natural but better. I can definitely see how it helps keep my back in extension better, leading to more hip drive /loading but I can see from the video that it is also keeping my arm straighter in the bottom, something I did not expect
You can teach an old dog new tricks it seems, even after 13 plus years of doing it one way :)
The record shows that I did 5 sets of 5/5 and 5 sets of 6/6 last October ( plus a set of 10/10) Doing all sets of 6/6 would be a pr so that was what I set out to do.
It was actually very strong, almost easy. The best I've ever swung this weight so I was very pleased. Felt like I could easily do 8's with it. Next time

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 6/6 x 10 sets
120 reps
10,560 lbs

Goblet squats
20 kg x 3
24 kg x 3
28 kg x 3
32 kg x 3
36 kg x 3 (strong!)
40 kg x 3 All time pr!



this was very strong! didn't expect three reps- was hoping for one strong one- so this was very good. Last time I did 36 kg it owned me :) this is a good sign

Close hand pushups on horizontal bar
4 sets of 12 with feet on box

also super strong

Leopard Crawls
3 laps of 50 feet.

strong finish!
BW 162.2 this am

long ruck tomorrow

datsit
neverquit

Christmas Ruck

Got off work early this morning ( jewish trainer: jewish clients ,lol) and Tracy wanted to go for a walk. A ruck walk no less.
How could I say no
I gave her 10 lbs from my ruck and we had  nice, fast hour long walk
8:00 min laps all the way around( she walks fast) and a few iso squats along the way. This was great and looks like a new thursday tradition.
Perfect, one long, heavy slow ruck on Sunday, one short, light and fast one on thursday.
Had hoped to add a swim day in there but it looks like this for now

Happy Holidays to everyone!

datsit
Neverquit

Swing Vo2 45 sets/10, walking lunges, parallel bar pushups, leopard crawls

Nice treat today to start a bit early and I was feeling ready to go. Speed Vo2, as opposed to snatch Vo2 is a very different animal. Definitely not as scary for me, as I've hurt myself snatching quite bit ( lower back and biceps) where I have not swinging.

So it's easier to go harder ; and it's easier cardiovascularly, than snatch Vo 2, but it's damn tough to try to continually push that bell down fast enough to get 10 reps in fifteen seconds AND swing the bell high enough.

Very interesting work, for sure. Very muscular not just ballistic. As KJ said, more tension in the swing than the snatch.
I kept my head up again and it's definitely sinking in. Its a stronger, better position I know now no doubt. Loads the hips better as well as creating a better, and strong lumbar curve.
And trying to keep that level of speed and power up over 20+ minutes is not easy at all and that's what I like the best :)

AM stretchout

full 45 minutes. things feeling very mobile and elastic.Shoulder feeling great,.
Started with OS re sets: neck nods, half rolls, rocking, crawling and marching

then my basic stretchout starting with stability ball back bends then foam rollout and stretching

12 noon
Swing Vo2
15:15
16 kg
45 sets of 10
450 reps
16,200 lbs!!!  EIGHT TONS!

walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps head up on these too

solid. very hard but strong throughout

parallel pushups
4 sets of 13, 13, 12, 10

leopard crawls
 three laps of 50 feet

tough but no blowing chow feeling :)

ok all done. tired but it was strong. 40 kg on saturday for sets of 7 I think, have to go check

datsit
nevequit

Barbell Military press, KB hacks, floor pushups, hip sled

This actually felt decent today. No back pain from the swings or the rucking. Single bell or Goblets it is.
Got a full hour stretchout this morning and was pleasantly surprised( amazed, actually) at how easy stick dislocates were today!
Not that they were great, or actually real dislocates, but the stick got all the way over my head and I was able to even decrease the grip a smidge as I warmed up. What a pec and front delt stretch
But something has  definitely changed in my orthopedic anatomy to let me do this. Crazy. Now it feels much like it used to feel, although I am too scared to try a handstand. Don't want to miss.
I will wait til I know I can make one and them play with it. Still have a long ways to go overhead but I am overjoyed at this progress.
That and not having ANY right arm nerve pain anymore. That alone is worth it all.
I truly thought that this was IT for this shoulder and I was screwed.
How nice to be wrong on this one :)

Geoff has been talking to me about OS a lot and I have been rocking and crawling for the last year plus, as I worked to increase my knee ROM but I pretty much ignored the head work, and the rolling, as the last few times I tried it, my HUGE ribcage always hurt on the floor.
I only need to roll, or turn from left to right and this new neck adjustment, and subsequent head position showed me that I need to pay way more attention to my head and neck position and ability to move.

SO lots of neck nods as well and just as yesterday in my ruck squats I found myself sinking deepr and deeper into my rocking posture as I did the neck nods at the same time! Even in seiza! VERY cool and I'm very excited about this. Even did some rolls this morning too and they went well. Just focused on leading with the eyes then the head, and then let the rest of me move as desired. No pain :)

My neck has clearly been "out" and it's in now. much better this way

Barbell Military Press
45 lbs x 5 x 2
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
80 x 5 x 5 !

very strong and solid and almost no ache ( after the first four sets :) ) Best its felt yet. There will be 45's on that bar sooner rather than later

KB Hack.
Had an idea about this given the neck nods epiphany. Did these with my head up ( or at least as "up" as I could

First with the heels on the block again


these started on the block but then I realized if I shifted onto my toes even more I would go deeper. So I did and I could!

this above was the fifth set

Next set I did without the block, just on toes, and, despite some balance problems it went well


altogether 6 sets, the first with the 12 kg and the rest with the 16. Used the comp bell and it felt more balanced in this as the COM was lower
Very happy with the improvement over one week

Floor pushups
4 sets of 12

no problem but delts were tired from the presses

Hip sled
102 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

very strong here, even after yesterday's ruck

ok one day rest then 450 max vo 2 swings on wednesday! back on track again and in the correct circadian rhythm time zone

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck. which distance to believe ?

Strange walk today. Woke up feeling great, the single bell squats did not lock up my back at all, slept plenty and well and got a quick stretchout before the ruck. Added 2.5 more pounds ( in the form of a liter of water) to bring the ruck weight up to just a bit above 40 lbs. Don't know if that made such a difference from 38lbs but I was slow today.

It also had to do with trying to synch both my pedometers, one the iphone health app and the other a Strava GPS run/cycle app. The difference was dramatic. And a bit discouraging.
But it still doesn't add up exactly

Started off pretty slow laps,8:40 's , in the dark, as I got started so early. The iphone had me at the same distance per lap and the same 1873 steps or so. The Strava had me at 1/4 mile. Big difference. Four laps would equal one mile and at six laps per hour that was no where near 3.7 mph! More like 2.5 Couldnt do the math to add in my 60 sec or so break each lap to do the isometric squat holds but the accelerometer in the iphone still was counting my total steps for 11 laps and two hours as 14,397 but calculated that at 6.5  miles ;that's 3.25 mph

The Strava had me at 5 miles for the two hours including breaks for squats and that averages 2.5 mph. It was pretty consistent measuring each lap at .4 mile until lap 5 where it registered. .5! then I took a lap around the lap park in the street and it measure that too as .4, and I know the distance was greater; so which one is right?

The accelerometer measures the actual steps I take but the gps should be pretty accurate, so if you combine the two that's 14,400 steps / 5 miles that's 2880 steps per mile. pretty high even for these short legs :)

Either way things were slow until lap 8 when I started breaking into the 8:15 range. why I have no idea. Ended up doing 11 laps in 2 hours > I could have done 12 but it didn't seem right. I think I am staying with the  iphone pedometer and focusing on # of steps, lap times and total time rucked.

That's enough data I think. It really took away from the enjoyment of the ruck but it needed to be done. Plenty more where that came from :)

Oh, and during each pole squat I started doing neck nods and IMMEDIATELY each nod dropped me DEEPER into the squat!! I couldn't believe it. For each set too. every time. that's very interesting.Probably will work with goblets as well. have to try. Might sub them back into the Saturday workout.

datsit. presses and kb hacks tomorrow

neverquit

32 kg One arm swings, 28 kg single front squat, close pushups, crawls

Wanted to get back to some heavier weights but didn't want quite as much volume as 10's would give so I split the difference and went for 8's , it was perfect. Everything feeling great this morning. Solid roll stretch and hang this am as warmup too

One arm Swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 x 4/4
32 kg x 8/8 x 12 sets
192 reps
6144 lbs

Really tried to keep my head and eyes up on the swings and it was definitely harder than with swing vo 2 and the 16 kg. But overall not bad for first attempt. Reading Becoming Bulletproof by Tim Anderson and I want to experiment. Actually starting to feel good, and with all the revelations I am having vis a vis my neck's connection to my shoulder it's a good time to play with this

Single KB front squats
16 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5 ( this was solid)
28 kg x 5/5 ( pretty tough on rack- not keeping arm across the body enough)
24 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5


depth and movement felt ok. Decided to try this version as the double bells seem to light up my abs too much and my back comes with it the next day. We'll see tomorrow

Close grip pushups on hor bar- feet on box
13
13
10
10

these felt excellent! lots of tri work too, which is why I brought the grip in

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 50 ft

kick my ass even more after pushups!Solid workout very happy

datsit
neverquit  

Swing Vo2, walking lunges, pushups, leopard crawls

Interesting. As bad as my DOMS was the other day, that's how fast it dissipated. Don't know but I think it was the re introducing of my adaptogens back into the routine. Felt great today, and yesterday was the first day I didn't feel jetlagged.

I gave away my two week supply of adaptogens for the trip to a friend in Sweden and didn't think it would make much difference. Now I know better. If I want to to take break from them traveling overseas is not the time to do so.

Live and learn. No big deal but it's nice to feel myself again. Slept well last night and woke with energy and not much stiffness at all.

Full hour stretchout! Haven't had one of these in far too long. Perfect.

Swing Vo2
16 kg
15:15
40 sets of 10
400 reps
14, 400 lbs work! wow didn't think it would be that high. Love it  At 50 sets it will be 18,000 lbs of work Now that I like!
This is the kb swing equivilent of dynamic effort bench day in powerlifting! all about the speed and acceleration.

( that's my friend and training partner Glenn kicking ass with 40 sets of 7 in Snatch vo2!)

The workout was definitely solid. No where near as hard cardiovascularly as snatching but tryting to make each rep as acclelerated as possible on both sides( concentric and eccentric) really made the difference. I tried to throw each rep as hard as possible with my hips on the ascent, stop it hard with the lats and shoulders and throw it back as hard as possible with the lats as well as catching it with the hips

My glutes immediately felt the work Much more than in my snatch form, that's for sure. I also made a point to try to keep my head UP during the sets, I'm reading Becoming Bulletproof again by Tim Anderson  and have many talks with Geoff Neupert and as good as I'm doing looking up in my squats I'm not so good in my swings. I figured these light swings are a good place to start.The book is so good - complex concepts explained very simply and that actually make sense without getting lost in the science.

Doing good in my crawls and actually did some rolls today ( right turning only ) and it seemed to work. There is definitely a connection between what's going on in my shoulder and what's not moving in my upper t spine and cervicals. Being able to control my head movement better is going to be a good start.

Too many years of twisting one way only in gymnastics, especially during my developmental years, left an indelible mark that is time to repair. Shoulder though feels amazingly better these days and I could even do shoulder dislocates ( albeit VERY wide grip) for the first time in eons. That T 2 adjustment did miracles. Time to go back to the Chiro it seems.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40

these were surprisingly strong. legs feel great and I got a wicked though pump! a real one !

Parallel grip  pushups / feet on floor
4 sets of  13-10

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 50 feet.

not as bad as I thought

datsit
neverquit

Barbell Mil press , KB hack squat, pushups, sled

Pretty freaking sore from the weekend but it seemed to loosen up a bit as the day went on. Grey cold didn't help things but at least today was low volume. Shoulder has been feeling much better of late, with almost zero nervy stuff going on but still loathe to do too much overhead work as I am enjoying it not feeling out of place :)

Military press
45 lbs x 5 x 2
55 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
75 lbs x 5 x 5

these felt as good as they ever have. Had the Oly heel on and that was good. In Israel I worked up to 40 kg for 3 sets of 2 and then pyramided back down but it felt very heavy. this felt solid and not bad at all. Shoulders didn't hurt after and still feel good 3 hours later as I write this

Kb Hack squat


Have wanted to do these ever since I saw Steve maxwell do them at the first RKC kettlebell Bash or convention in Vegas in 2006 or so. He used the 40 kg and went ass to grass. I never thought I could even attempt them. It took a few attempts as I tried to do them on my toes  first and that didn't work. Once I stood on the edge of platform it was no problem. Feet and calves are not mobile or strong enough. Ye't
Have a ways to go with depth and technique but it was a great start

4 sets of 12 with 16 kg

VMO's should be screaming tomorrow :)

Floor pushups
3 sets of 10

shoulders are tired though :)

Sled Drag
100 lbs x 25 ft x 3 laps

haven't done these in awhile, can really feel the glutes working, especially after all the quad work in the hacks

took it fairly easy. still feeling jetlagged ! building back gently

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck measuring the distance

Didn't sleep all that well last night, between the dissipating cold and the soreness from the morning's workout already setting in it was a restless night. I really didn't want to ruck but there was no question about going. The lazier you get the easier it is to get lazy and it s a very slippery slope. so out I went.

Once I got going it wasn't too bad; all the walking around airports and europe with the pack did some good. It wasn't a 40 lbs pack but it was close :)

I decided to not stress about the time per lap but with my new iphone 6 I had a built in pedometer so I used that to keep track.

Just did 10 laps and I was lucky to get that; felt ok but slow up to lap five then speeded up a bit but also started to feel the fatigued. Though about only 8 laps but wanted to see what 10 laps gave me on the pedometer and those last two were actually the fastest.

Laps 1-5 around 8:20 to 8:10
         6-8 8:10s
Lap 9 8:00
Lap 10 7:50

Total steps 14,037
Total miles 6.53
Time = 1:45

so it looks like I'm walking about 3.7 miles per hour!
that's not bad especially with a stop each lap for a 30-45 sec squat hold.

Each lap averaged 1873 steps for the various lap times. Even if it is off a bit that's not bad for a guy with a TKR and a 38 lb pack  :) Next week need to add a few water bottles and get it to an even 40 lbs

Hopefull the cold, jet lag and soreness will be getting better each day :)

tomorrow: barbell military presses!

datsit
neverquit

Back to work :) One arm swings weight ladder,double front squat weight ladder, crawls

Man this jet lag kicked my ass big time this trip! I think that because we were gone two full weeks that I fully adapted to European time ( after suffering through serious jet lag the first week ) and then it hit us again coming back here. Just a few days in and they say it's one day per hour of time change you go through.
That means it could be a nine day recovery :)
Great

But, I knew I needed to get back on the horse today and get things moving again. I didn't want to re start my cycle with 250-300 24 kg swings- too much volume and speed) but I needed a little of this and a little of that.

So I settled on a weight ladder and it was perfect

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5 x 2
22 kg x 5/5 x 2
24 kg x 5/5 x 2
28 kg x 5/5 x 2
32 kg  5/5 x 2
36 kg x 5/5 x 2
40 kg x 5/5 x 2
36 kg x 5/5 x 1
32 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5

160 reps starting with the 20 kg set
Perfect blend of loading and volume . I needed to get to some heavy bells. I demo'd a lot at the cert but nothing heavy. this was exactly right jump back in

Double KB Front squats
2 16 x 5 x 2
2 20 x 5 x 2
2 24 x 3 x 2

same thing here. Legs are still strong from all the bw squatting I do all day plus plenty of ruck walking as well as regular walking all over for travel. Legs feel solid.'
But pretty weak feeling. Also caught a small cold yesterday and still slept like shit :)

Crawls
three laps of 50 feet

Horizontal bar pushups
13, 11, 10

datsit time to eat

neverquit

SFG Resignation

It 's been a very productive 10 years in Pavel's RKC and now SFG, but it is time to move on. I've learned so much from my experience as a student of the kettlebell, then as an RKC instructor then an RKC/SFG Senior then Master instructor.It has completely changed my life and my the life of my wife Tracy as well. In ways too many to count

But the road that SF has gone down since leaving the RKC two years ago is not the path I am now, or have been, interested in. I fell in love with the kettlebell when I read those words " a back of iron and legs that never quit,"
The idea of sustained strength.
Of being All Day Strong
Of  the kind of strength Pavel wrote about in the original RKC book, of the functional strength everyday people need. The strength that comes from repetition kettlebell lifting.
Pavel and the RKC created the option of repetition kb lifting from that of  girya sport endurance to  kb to GiryStrength with hardstyle kb training, which I still love will continue to practice. Repetition kettlebell swinging for strength not just endurance

I never believed in the idea of that strength was first. In the original post about SF Pavel said that strength was my most important quality for the healthy athlete.
That leaves basically 99.9 % of the population out of it. The don't need strength first, they need to unlock their bodies and being able to  Move First.

 My belief if the correct order of training progression has been the same since I found it from Paul Chek 20 years ago

1) flexibility/ mobility
2) stability
3) strength
4) endurance
5) power

If you can't move being stronger isn't going to help much. Now, I do believe, as I have said and written many times; strong fixes almost everything.
But you can be strong in your stretching, strong in your mobility work. strong in your breathing practice. Strong in whatever you need to do to get yourself to be better.
When I was so broken that I could barely get out of a chair getting stronger with a barbell wasn't going to make me better
Being strong in my discipline in my flex/ mob work was. Measuring myself by my one rep max in the kb press, the deadlift or ANY specific exercise was and is fruitless because how strong you are at any one time is very much a moving target. It's about knowing HOW to get stronger and when to push and when to hold back that's important.

Win, lose or draw, the next day it's back in the gym ,so that type of measurement as a indicator of your ability as a coach or even athlete is doomed.

There are MANY ways to be strong because it is , more than anything, an attitude, a way of approaching a task. Not a specific number. SF has way too much emphasis on heavy heavy heavier. especially for their level 1 course for beginners

I believe in a single bell level one and a focus on the ballistic moves more than anything as those are the movements that are truly kettlebell movements.

You can do a getup or a press or a squat with many different implements, But you need a kettlebell to do the swings and it IS the ballistics that are the most transformational of all the training movements,especially for beginners but also for older athletes and people just training to be healthy and strong for life.

The barbell takes from you,  kettlebell ballistic movements give back. Both are important but if you are only going to do one thing it's the swing and the kb.

But that's just my opinion.

So I am going on. I will continue to teach the Way of the Kettlebell in every way I can. I will teach Body Maintenance workshops helping people to unlock themselves and build pliability,durability and resilience into  their muscles  and learn how to take care of themselves.The basics of self myofascial release using simple tools and basic daily stretch routines that assess and address what's going on before you load.

I will speak at the StrengthMatters Summit and write for the magazine of the same name. And soon I will be teaching and creating instructors again in a a different setting, the details of which I am not sure of yet.

But they are just the details. The main points are above. The gag is off my mouth. I can speak my mind and be myself again. The weight is off my shoulders and in my hands again and it feels great.