This weekend was the culmination of 4 1/2 years of kettlebell training - SFGII in Dallas, TX. I arrived mid day Friday after taking an early morning flight out of Seattle. It's been a struggle of late - hip and outside low back on the L side, inside of the right knee, inner right elbow - all hot spots that have cropped up in the last few weeks. Did the best I could to rest the week leading up to this, got Kinetics, got a massage, got here early etc. All of that was smart. I spent hours in the hotel on Friday mobilizing, and focusing on the Pain Free exercises designed to try and release tight adductor muscles which is the likely source of both the L lower back and inner right knee troubles. All of that prep work definitely helped leading into Saturday.
First thing we did Saturday is weigh in. I was definitely dissapointed to see 218 lbs on the scale. I never weigh myself. That's more than I need to weigh by about 10 lbs, if I am going to justify 218 I would need to be leaner and I would sure as hell need to be pressing the beast. I have gained a lot of size and muscle this year for sure, strongest I have ever been, but I have not watched my diet closely at all and basically just eat when I want (I have maintained quality foods and stayed with my GF / DF / SF diet that I have maintained for over 5 years). This is ok, it's a good realistic view of my weight (I never ever weigh myself so this is part of the issue - don't even have a scale in my house) and tells me where I am at. I can start making adjustments immediately, which I actually did during the weekend. I'd like to see this come in around 208 lbs or so in a few months, that is a good weight for my size and the amount of muscle I have on me.
Saturday we started at 8:00am and finished at 6:00pm. Hell of a long day. Did a ton of stuff, almost too much to even try and summarize here. We started the day with the Strength Test aka pressing 1/2 your bodyweight. I warmed up the press with 3/3 with the 24kg, 2/2 with the 32kg, and then went for the 40kg. Started with the R side, which up until this point I had not successfully pressed in training. Got the 40kg with the L side 3 different times, but not the right yet. I am pleased to say that the 40kg press went up and through the sticking point on the R side, and I got it. It was a good lift. I surprised myself a little bit with that. I then did the L and that went up easier than the R. I had to press a 48kg to pass this test, and I knew in the back of my mind that was unrealistic. I need to get that weight in training, and even before that, I need to get a 44kg. I did grab a 44kg to try, and cleaned on the L, but didn't get a good clean, and set the bell down. We were being pressed for time so I just let it go, knowing that even if I pressed the 44kg, that was not going to pass the test.
Relatively quickly thereafter we did the Snatch test - 5 minutes, 100 reps with the 24kg. We were not messing around, that is for damn sure. I executed the rep scheme I had planned on 15/15 10/10 rest (50 reps), 10/10 rest (70 reps), 10/10 rest (90 reps), 5/5. I got it with under 10 seconds to spare, so it was pretty close, and it was damn hard. However, less than an hour into the day, I had a PR on my press on the right side and I had passed the snatch test, two completely different things, so that was a big positive and got me feeling pretty optimistic. Throughout the morning we practiced and tested the Level 1 lifts - 1H SW, double cleans, double front squats, press, get up with the 32kg. Everything went well, passed all of those lifts without issue, including the TGUs as my lockout can be an issue, but it went well. One point of advice I received on swings is that my feet were too wide apart. I have been having issues with foot placement on various lifts, both too narrow and too wide, so this is something for me to pay attention to.
As far as by body was going, was not noticing the left hip or lower back at all, but my right knee was pretty hot. I will come back to this.
During the afternoon we practiced the Push Press and the Jerk, as well as the Double Snatch. Got a huge tip out of that practice, which was basically that my glutes were not properly engaging. That is a huge problem in various phases of each lift, particularly on catching the bells after getting them overhead. I was not pleased to realize this, after getting some cues and seeing an immediate improvement in both lifts and each lift being easier. I would strongly suspect it is this issue that is cropping up the tight adductors and related things (I pretty much had deduced a glute issue earlier last week which is why Kevin and I trained this, but to see it come up in this setting was frustrating and just pissed me off that I was not doing my body any favors in these lifts). After some early practice on these lifts, I started noticing my left lower back and hip a bit, as well as my right elbow. We did a partner Double Long Cycle workout that was hell on earth, but at least at that point I had been cued up and had improved technique there.
Finished the day, went back to the hotel, iced up my elbows, did some Pain Free stretching for an hour, and then hit dinner with everyone which was a lot of fun. Went back to my hotel at 9:30 and did more mobility and Pain Free work until bed. Told myself that I seriously hoped that Sunday would not be as hard as Saturday. We did a fuckload of work on Saturday.
Woke up on Sunday feeling ok. Definitely sore, but manageable. Right elbow had calmed down a lot. Did some mobility work, some lacrosse ball, and then got to the gym. We started again at 8am. We decided to skip lunch to finish early, so the plan was to finish at 2pm, including all Level II testing completed. We did some very interesting things on Sunday. We practiced the Windmill and Bent Press, with a bunch of progressions for each lift. I found this extremely useful, and I really improved both of those lifts quite a bit from what I had been doing in practice. I have been a little fearful of these lifts, but I don't believe they are my real issue necessarily, and I want to try and intelligently incorporate them into training, including some progressions. Frankly I think both lifts helped up my R knee. I did not notice it at all after all of the work we did. We then did some athletic lifts which included moving swings, split cleans, cleans with lunges, snatches with lunges, etc. All in all that was fine but that's nothing I plan on incorporating into my training right at this moment. In fact I didn't really want to be using the 24kg for them, it might have gone a little bit better if I had been practicing with something lighter.
We then tested all Level 2 skills. Windmill, Brent Press, Double Jerks, Double Push Press, Double Snatch (20kgs). I felt very confident and solid in all lifts. I found out that I had passed all the skill tests, and was awarded my SFGII certificate, with the acknowledgment that at my current weight I would need to press the Beast within 6 months to fully complete all testing.
This was a tremendous weekend, and I will gain a lot of value in my future practice from this experience. I am very proud to have been able to achieve this personal accomplishment, which I intend to cap by pressing that 48kg kettlebell, as I know I am capable of doing it. I watched 2 men and 2 women complete the Beast Tamer and Iron Maiden challenges on Saturday, which was awesome to see in person. It certainly shows you what is possible. I am really grateful to Kevin for helping me get to this point and excited about the future and what it will bring.
