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Kettlebell "It's a practice session, not a workout"

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Bauer

Bauer

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It sounds simple. And yet...

The difference is huge! I tend to think that I practice. But when I practice I do more reps than is good for me or I focus on reps and weights and all those numbers.

Today I woke up feeling tired and wasn't sure I should train. So I told my self: "Just practice the moves - it's a skill session". I ended up doing a full S+S session which went fine. The catch is: It was better than usual. I was more mindful, willing to stop at anytime (and I did: I stopped after the fourth GU because my form got shaky). I didn't try to squeeze everything out of every set. What a relieve!

For some reason I still act as if there was a real difference between "physical" training that gets you strong and skill training that merely improves your motor control. It seems to me that I need to learn this lesson more than once. Quality over quantitiy. (And: quantity is a bad substitute for quality.)

Are you guys struggling with the practice mindset, too?
 
You're not alone here, I tend to be rather number-minded as well. When I don't do 10x10 swings and 5x1+1 TGU, it feels like I did not do S&S. Probably strictly spoken not, but do you really have to do it every time by the book? Makes you wonder...
It is like you say, a switch in mindset.
 
I've found that a heart rate monitor really helps me. It's interesting to see how little it takes to spike the HR and how long it takes to drop the rate to start again. That said, it depends on what you're training for. In some instances, that "workout" needs to be trained more frequently. I've also been introduced to heart rate variability and that my body lies to me and sometimes when I feel crappy, my HRV tells me otherwise and training goes amazing. Other times, I feel great but HRV tells me I'm not ready and training goes poorly.

I think it has also shifted with age. I used to be able to go by feel pretty well but that was before such a busy life and the feel isn't really how my body feels anymore. Working out used to be very beneficial for me but that was when I could fully recover - younger, more sleep, better sleep, time for meal preparation, etc. I'm not as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was.
 
One piece of advice I heard that helps keep it "practice" is to try to take away one correction to make to each movement. Gets you focused on technique and troubleshooting imperfection.

Like today, for instance, during swings:
Set 1 (R): "why won't this bell float?"
Set 2 (L): "it floats on this side."
Set 3 (R): "some of these floated."
Set 4 (L): "all floated, less squatty."
Set 5 (R): "let's be less squatty here."
Set 6 (L): "this stance is narrower."
Set 7 (R): "narrow the stance."
Set 8 (L): "odd that this is my weak side."
Set 9 (R): "so a narrow stance is encouraging more hinge and less squat. Overall today needs to be less squatty."
Set 10 (L): "like that."
 
Its always good to be reminded that is a practice and not a workout. The good thing is that there is no translation for "workout" in spanish.
 
I used to do a lot of Junk Workouts. You beat on yourself and it takes days to properly recover. Lifting too heavy, too much, too often.

I think like this. If I had $10 energy dollars to spend in a week. I spend $9 dollars in one day on a pack of cigarettes. What do I have left? What did I gain or lose? I probably got worse. Where as practice is like I found a good deal on five turkey sandwiches for $2 each. I gained a lot more from my budget. A turkey sandwich is pretty boring every day, but it is a good value and will add up over time. Buy beer at $7-8 occasionally for a treat.
 
Good comments here. I've personally found that the practice-focused, 'punch the clock' format of S&S, and perhaps all the Strongfirst offerings, is really freeing. No need to chase records or smoke yourself--just show up and do the practice. Results will follow.
It's also really helpful now that I'm 51 : this game of life is a marathon, not a sprint, and I can't afford to be sidelined by injury because I went too hard. I don't heal like I used to.

@Neuro-Bob has a great idea about concentrating on one thing per rep set--we used to do that often in martial arts practice, too.
 
I tend not to think of practice or workout so much as "training". I am training today. The practice aspect is my mind intelligently commanding my body. The word "workout" is just a convenient general descriptor and really doesn't carry connotations beyond that for me.

If I get into it and feel like I can do more or need to chop it short then I will, but barring an injury (or more often that I'm aggravating existing chronic issues) I will always do a minimum core 60% of my plan, and drop anything beyond that. I seldom do more than I've planned unless it is with very light loads to get a feel for lifts or movements I'm not familiar with yet. I try not to shoot for more than I can recover from, but every training session should be challenging me somehow.

Whether I feel up to it or not is almost without exception a reflection on how I've been eating, so mentally that is not usually a factor. I know if I do the work I'll get the benefit, the rest is patience and small corrections where needed.
 
I like @Neuro-Bob 's one-idea-per-set. That is something that I almost always try to do. The thing thatbis harder for me is to stop rather fresh and leave some in the tank.

When my form gets worse I often add another set or two to correct something - although some of this might just be a sign of getting tired.

I dont like the cross fit mentality and yet I find it hard to call it a day when I am still relatively fresh.
 
It does not work the way I think it works, but more as I like it to work. Practice in my opinion is more of an art. It is daily doing without much enthusiasm, which can carry away. An important aspect is the time component. Having enough rest between a lift, and on a daily basis (enough sleep) and the boring patience thing in general, and knowing/feeling what's enough.
 
Paying more attention to the details actually helps to relieve the boredom of repetition because you become more aware of how much you need to improve. Swing and TGU in particular. Concentrating on small adjustments as in neuro-bob's example is good. We can also try for one main thing to improve per set consciously. Sometimes I just concentrate on breathing for a pushup, press, or swing set. This invariably needs work.

I have been applying the GTG grease the groove and practice approach to pushups lately. I lost five reps from my max just by making myself keep a stricter form. The other benefit of GTG is that because you do 50-60 percent of max only, the pressure to increase reps is gone so you have nothing esle to do but improve quality to challenge yourself and keep it interesting.

For swings, I found it useful not to bother counting reps, just sets. Just stop when your form starts to fade. If you are having a bad day, your swings might be sets of 7 instead of ten.
 
Last edited:
Bauer said:
It sounds simple. And yet...

The difference is huge! I tend to think that I practice. But when I practice I do more reps than is good for me or I focus on reps and weights and all those numbers.

Today I woke up feeling tired and wasn't sure I should train. So I told my self: "Just practice the moves - it's a skill session". I ended up doing a full S+S session which went fine. The catch is: It was better than usual. I was more mindful, willing to stop at anytime (and I did: I stopped after the fourth GU because my form got shaky). I didn't try to squeeze everything out of every set. What a relieve!

For some reason I still act as if there was a real difference between "physical" training that gets you strong and skill training that merely improves your motor control. It seems to me that I need to learn this lesson more than once. Quality over quantitiy. (And: quantity is a bad substitute for quality.)

Are you guys struggling with the practice mindset, too?
Click to expand...

@Bauer it's a constant struggle for me to not push as hard as I can every day. I've been doing S&S for about two months, about 6-7 days a week. I've found that I really need to be mindful about slowing myself down. I've enjoyed the consistency of the plan, and have come to realize that only by slowing down am I able to perform that many days per week. That being said, I've also noticed that by slowing down my form gets better and my strength has improved exponentially with this program compared to others. I think that if you're thinking about and discussing this mindset, you're already way ahead of the game. Keep it up.

Neuro-Bob said:
One piece of advice I heard that helps keep it "practice" is to try to take away one correction to make to each movement. Gets you focused on technique and troubleshooting imperfection.

Like today, for instance, during swings:
Set 1 (R): "why won't this bell float?"
Set 2 (L): "it floats on this side."
Set 3 (R): "some of these floated."
Set 4 (L): "all floated, less squatty."
Set 5 (R): "let's be less squatty here."
Set 6 (L): "this stance is narrower."
Set 7 (R): "narrow the stance."
Set 8 (L): "odd that this is my weak side."
Set 9 (R): "so a narrow stance is encouraging more hinge and less squat. Overall today needs to be less squatty."
Set 10 (L): "like that."
Click to expand...

@Neuro-Bob great advice. Good way to keep yourself present.
 
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