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Kettlebell Congratulations, Sinister Pavel Macek!

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“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
--James N. Watkins
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I was reminded of this quote when reviewing @Pavel Macek 's training log... thinking I might find some sort of "secret" looking back at a sampling over the course of the most recent 30ish pages of his log. However, instead of secret training strategies the consistency of effort and use of things like recovery sessions done repeatedly for years at a time clearly paid massive dividends. Seeing that level of strength achieved at a BW of 68 & change kg is awesome!
 
Congratulations @Pavel Macek!

If I am not mistaken, you started your "from Solid to Sinister" journey back in November 2018, so roughly 3 1/2 years ago. Sinister seems to be rare air, indeed. The virtue of patience.

As others, I would love to hear about some lessons learned along the journey. Recovery practices, typical session length, specialized variety, progression tactics, etc. :)
 
@Pavel , colleagues, and friends, thank you!

I have been working on it for some time, I am glad that I didn’t give it up, I have enjoyed every single session, my recovery was great, my combat arts improved - all positives, no negatives. Weekly Zen type of mindful training, exactly the minimalistic type of program I like that suits my lifestyle (teaching, traveling) and my personality.

Second happiness comes from the people my log and my results inspired. I am 100% product of our system and our School of Strength. I was a small, weak, and asthmatic kid (all As, with a threat of F from physical education, I am not kidding!), and I said hell, no way, I wanna be like my heroes (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan… ). Martial arts was the first game-changer, StrongFirst second game-changer. At 45, I am stronger and In better shape than 10 years ago, healthy (well, I did timeless Sinister when I tested positive for Covid... ), feeling overall great. Nobody trusts me that I am 45, everybody thinks I am 10 years younger. I am quite muscular (the „wiry strength“ Pavel wrote about), bulletproof abs, a very strong grip (very useful in grappling knife defense), etc.

Also, I (unexpectedly) tested the WTH effect of S&S - last year in France, I won the Zanshin Challenge, a competition in all 6 SFG Level I lifts - and I truly haven’t been training them, just a bit of skill review with 24. Imagine if I was training for the challenge along with S&S, I would have even better numbers. And - all of us, Louka and the other gent who won 3rd place - were doing S&S.

Interestingly, I was very rarely sore - even after the test, I was a bit sore, but overall, full-body, and just a bit. I guess I learned to distribute the load properly. Many people feel hamstrings, or lower back, etc., but I was alright - my full body was (a bit) sore and tired, but nothing special. To me, it was always the marker of a good session.

So in a nutshell, it has been a ride, so onwards and upwards - when I saw the bent press in your RKC book, it was love at first sight. Sinister done, the next goal - bodyweight bent press! I grabbed the 32kg for snatches, and I can snatch it pretty comfortably. No surprise there, either.

Pavel, thank you for this awesome program!
 
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This has inspired me to go back to S&S. I swore I’d get timeless simple before moving to other movements, but, got seduced by Clean and Press, and so while the swings were fine, I didn’t get to a 32kg getup. Im going to go back and finish Simple.

Also, I’m sure my conditioning was better when I was doing swings regularly, and my lower back was rock solid ( it gets cranky easily ).


What are “skills review”? Is this just low volume practice of other movements on off days?
 
Pavel Macek said:
@Pavel , colleagues, and friends, thank you!

I have been working on it for some time, I am glad that I didn’t give it up, I have enjoyed every single session, my recovery was great, my combat arts improved - all positives, no negatives. Weekly Zen type of mindful training, exactly the minimalistic type of program I like that suits my lifestyle (teaching, traveling) and my personality.

Second happiness comes from the people my log and my results inspired. I am 100% product of our system and our School of Strength. I was a small, weak, and asthmatic kid (all As, with a threat of F from physical education, I am not kidding!), and I said hell, no way, I wanna be like my heroes (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan… ). Martial arts was the first game-changer, StrongFirst second game-changer. At 45, I am stronger and In better shape than 10 years ago, healthy (well, I did timeless Sinister when I tested positive for Covid... ), feeling overall great. Nobody trusts me that I am 45, everybody thinks I am 10 years younger. I am quite muscular (the „wiry strength“ Pavel wrote about), bulletproof abs, a very strong grip (very useful in grappling knife defense), etc.

Also, I (unexpectedly) tested the WTH effect of S&S - last year in France, I won the Zanshin Challenge, a competition in all 6 SFG Level I lifts - and I truly haven’t been training them, just a bit of skill review with 24. Imagine if I was training for the challenge along with S&S, I would have even better numbers. And - all of us, Louka and the other gent who won 3rd place - were doing S&S.

Interestingly, I was very rarely sore - even after the test, I was a bit sore, but overall, full-body, and just a bit. I guess I learned to distribute the load properly. Many people feel hamstrings, or lower back, etc., but I was alright - my full body was (a bit) sore and tired, but nothing special. To me, it was always the marker of a good session.

So in a nutshell, it has been a ride, so onwards and upwards - when I saw the bent press in your RKC book, it was love at first sight. Sinister done, the next goal - bodyweight bent press! I grabbed the 32kg for snatches, and I can snatch it pretty comfortably. No surprise there, either.

Pavel, thank you for this awesome program!
Click to expand...
How’d reaching sinister impact your martial art?
 
Congratulations Pavel!

How much did you gain in your martial arts ability, in going from Simple to Sinister?
 
Wifi said:
Congratulations Pavel!

How much did you gain in your martial arts ability, in going from Simple to Sinister?
Click to expand...
I gained strength & endurance. As for martial arts ability, I gained it through continuous training in combat arts.
 
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