One of the best things about my gym is the varied backgrounds of the trainers. We have the "triathlete chiropractor trainer," the "old skool rugby playing/air force academy/cop trainer," the "world class kettlebell athlete/trainer/crossfit Regionals competitor," and the "newbie level 1 crossfit certified trainer." All bring their own elements to the gym and programming, and the result is some constantly varied, high intensity, functional shit.
We are in the midst of world class kettlebell athlete's programming, and today she was in her wheelhouse. I wish we spent more time learning kettlebell intracacies, but there are just SO. MANY. THINGS. in CrossFit, that as soon as you start to get good at one thing, you are letting another slip. That is why this truly is the sport of fitness. Oh, you can deadlift 300#? Awesome, now go sprint 400m in under 1:30. Oh, you can do 30 box jumps in a minute? Cool. Now back squat 2x your body weight. Specialize in not specializing. That's the whole idea, its also why we don't spend too much time on one thing.
So today, we got a quick lesson in Kb snatches, before having to do the SSST.
Heh. I promise that the Secret Service Snatch Test is a real thing, and that it is probably NOT what you dirty minds are thinking.
This might just be my most favorite workout ever. For 10 minutes, I performed as many one armed Kettlebell Snatches as possible. You can switch arms, put the bell down, rest, whatever, but your score is how many reps you get, so you probably don't want to be resting too much. When we were learning the Kb snatch, I was having some difficulty getting the movement to "click" in my head. Do this move wrong and you have a 35# Kb slamming down on your forearm. Do this move correctly, and its like the Kb is made of feathers. I prefer the later.
During the warm-up I played around with both the 12kg (26#) and the16kg (35#) trying to get it right. The 12kg was comically light, while the 16kg was just a tad too painful. Trainer suggested I use the 16kg, and I had it all set and ready to go, but changed my mind at the last second and grabbed the 12kg as I pondered 10 minutes and the fact that during the warm-up I never really got one to work for me. The time flew by. I never had to let go of the bell once, I was breathing quicker, but nothing crazy, I was switching arms every 5 swings rhymically, and I got 192 reps. I should have used the heavier bell.
Oh, well. It was super important for me to work on getting the movement correct, and plenty of times in the 192 reps, I got it. I felt what it was like to do a perfect one armed Kb snatch. Now I can practice those bad boys with my 16kg toy at home.
Update on calorie counting- I'm adjusting. I'm beginning to remember what size meals constitute the caloric goals I'm looking for. Also- here is the real shocker- instead of eating/tasting/nibbling on something because its "paleo" I'm actually thinking of my caloric allotment for the day before I dive in and whether or not it fits into that! WEIRD! I'd say so far this exercise is a huge success for me.
The workouts sound AWESOME! Food is always a process. I was eating almond butter the first 2.5-3 weeks or so of my Whole 30 but I was going through a jar (not a huge jar, like a 16 oz. one) in less than 3 days and I decided I was eating too much of it just because I could, because it's "allowed." And that I was eating it for fun instead of for hunger or fuel. So I cut that out and won't buy any more. Honestly don't miss it, nor do I miss peanut butter. I did do a calorie-tracking thing for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year to see if my daily intake was still in line with what it was when I was a beginner and tracking more regularly. And I did fall between 1600-2100 calories every day; maybe one fluke 1300 and one fluke 2500 but it seems my eyeballing and mental numbers game stayed in line with reality. That is probably because I would eat almost identically every day! Avez-vous un bon weekend!
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