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Kettlebell Reflecting on 2018 Goals

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thegoldengod

thegoldengod

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2018 was a good training year for me.

  • I finally stopped program hopping, and doing useless exercises (kettlebell curls for biceps, lol why?)
  • I found sanctity, clarity, and focus in doing S&S and achieved 24kg.
  • I began to understand the importance of rest days and sleep and how my body adapts. I learned through minor injuries, but that is how you learn.
  • I finally understood why the TGU is so great. When going heavy, it humbles your strength. You are not as strong or mobile as you think you are, and every nuance is geared towards perfecting the simple act of getting up.
2019 goals

  • Achieve 32kg S&S standard
  • Cut back on sugars (they are enticing towards the end of the day, high volume days, or any heavy squat day :( )

Happy to hear others' year in review!
 
1. my son was born
2. had to reshuffle and relocate my training business
3. fell in love with the lccj
4. attained my sfl
5. got to assist again at the Seoul SFG
6. managed a 2-3-5 ladder on the moving target complex with 28s
7. learned how to time powernaps as my sleep is often interrupted
8. hit a bodyweight overhead press
 
Rough year for me

1. 2x bw (200kg) deadlift
2. Lower back injury.. not related to the deadlift.. haha
3. Passed second instuctor exam for eskrima
4. Moved country
5. Difficulty setting up krav or eskrima classes in new country
6. Couldn't find a good gym
7. Finally found a heavy kb
8.. last couple months getting back into training. Working windmills, which is really helping my back issue, presses and snatches. Building a foundation for 2019 hoping to find students.
 
Interesting exercise @thegoldengod. thinking about it made me realize a few things.

  • Yesterday I completed the time standards with 28 kg for swings and 32 kg for tgu. I'm quite happy about it since I didn't think I was there yet. Now the Simple goal feels closer. Nice way to close the year training wise.
  • Some days ago I did swings with 37 kg and tgu with 40 kg. A while ago I didn't even dream about doing these.
  • I had a difficult first half of the year, travelling a lot for work and moving. The good thing is that I didn't give up and kept doing whatever I could - GTG swings, nonstop swings, 2 sessions a week, whatever - so I didn't lose any ground for when I could start training seriously again.
  • I had a few injuries I had to work around: elbow pain (self diagnosed tendinitis), back tightness from swings, shoulder pain, some bumps from football, etc. On one hand, I managed to work around them and get better, otoh I wonder why I had son many.
  • The second half of the year I kept an average of 4+ training sessions per week, during football season. This accounts for sick days and injuries, so on normal weeks I was pretty consistent. Quite happy about this.
  • I learned a few variations of S&S I find very useful, like GTG swings.

A few things I have to work on:

  • I suck at keeping logs, even though I find them very important.
  • I don't stretch - may be related with so many injuries?-.
I hope I reach Simple sometime next year, then I'll see what to do next.
 
Won some, lost some.

I did not get back into regular breath meditation. In fact only sat four times all year that I can recall...

Still at same job, though with slightly better pay and more vacation days. Still not a good idea to stay much longer though the flexible hours are the main factor keeping me there.

My son stopped doing regular exercise but my daughter began some.

2018 improved my overall fitness, lower back heath, physique improved a little, better strength for day-to-day. Totally changed how I train upper body. Most of 2018 I felt better than I have in over 15 years.

Need to stay injury free and I shouldn't have any problem hitting some of my 2019 goals. Not sure what to do about the meditation thing....
 
Without tearing into my workout logs, these are the things that come to mind for 2018.

January: daily practice to work up to my first 32kg TGU

April: Hit simple standards for S&S

July: After a few mini ROP cycles, worked up to 36K strict press before injuring shoulder
- Lesson learned: Quit trying to hack up to higher weights, build up slowly

October: 10K swing challenge, 500 swings - 5 days a week
- Probably won't do that again
- Highly recommended to raise your tolerance of SUCK
- Almost didn't finish due to back injury from trying to fit extras into workouts
- Lesson learned: Quit the extra BS. Make the goal the goal (- Dan John)

December: Hit time standards for 36K in S&S

The smartest thing I did this year was to start working with a good SFG-1. She helped clean up my technique and introduced me to a lot of corrective exercises.

The only thing I got cookin for 2019 is to hit S&S standards with 40kg. Don't know after that. I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time.
 
2018: Improve test scores
Followed general programs the first half of the year with limited success. Created a program tailored to my needs and constraints the second half of the year with significant success​

2019: Keep strictly following the program that's improving test scores and simply "doing the work"
 
- about 15 months without alcohol
- mostly did single bell work
- was on my first zen sesshin
- recertified SFG1, took the whole cert
- recertified SFG2 @ StrongEndurance
- had a great deadlift fail at TSC, muscle sourness for a week after a max attempt that felt like tons of volume work of deadlifts...
- was on the first SF kettlebell course in Germany
- did repeat sessions with 48k snatches
- can do volume with 48k bentpressing
- had a wobbly two hands anyhow with 100kg overhead which faded away with completion
- trained daily with basics
- no injuries
- kept endurance work
- reintroduced some simple bodyweight work lately
- last four weeks I am consistently doing breath work


for 2019 no drinking and trotting along with accumulation of mainly pulling, pressing a bit of squatting, rowing and running "giving" 70-80% most of the time. Keeping breath work and a bit of zazen. My modality of thinking and practicing will be still A+A, S&S, SE. I found "my stuff" over the last few years.
 
2018 was not particulary nice to me with the one exeption: changing from what i did to Simple&Sinister.
2019 i want to get to know the six basic moves as well as introducing A+A work.
Also i try to keep a „analog“ training log.
 
2018 (review):
  • Goals were mixed: running, kettlebells, original strength resets and weightloss.
  • Achieved simple early on
  • Achieved my goal of sub 20 minutes in the 5k and then kept going. I ran almost daily
  • Practiced resets every day (I think?)
  • Lost 6kg, from 80 to 74kg

2019:

I will try to be more balanced. Strength, conditioning, mobility and some minor weight gain. I have just discovered cycling and switched from running.
  • Solid
  • Original strength resets every day
  • Cycle 6000km
 
2018 (review):
  • Initiated Kettlebell journey with an SFG (done... and with a SFG II!)
  • Started with S&S
  • Training > Exercise
  • Read 20 books, majority non-Fiction* (* a first for me!)
  • 18 months without consuming meat
2019
  • Simple standard
  • Strict plant-based diet (bye-bye dairy and cheese!)
  • SFG I certification
  • Bye-bye CrossFit (contract ends June 2019)
  • Be the best person I can be!
 
2018
Rough year for me as well.
Lost April when I realized I wouldn’t be able to race this year.
Squeezed those lemons, added sugar, got a tasty beverage by using the time without racing pressure to experiment.

Discovered a sweet spot of Easy Strength 4x a week with 8 hrs of MAF aerobic endurance work. Developed concurrent strength and endurance. Made progress on basic BB and BW moves, some PRs, and some marks not seen in years. Discovered a fun BB complex workout. Did 100 swings a day for long stretches. Maintained a lot of MTB fitness and skill, without really training it.

2019

Get that buckle at Leadville. (Or at least qualify)
Continue progress on basic strength standards for endurance nerds.
S&S with the 24k
C+P+FSQ with dbl KBs
Race long, hard fun courses!
 
spicykaiju said:
2018 (review):
  • Initiated Kettlebell journey with an SFG (done... and with a SFG II!)
  • Started with S&S
  • Training > Exercise
  • Read 20 books, majority non-Fiction* (* a first for me!)
  • 18 months without consuming meat
2019
  • Simple standard
  • Strict plant-based diet (bye-bye dairy and cheese!)
  • SFG I certification
  • Bye-bye CrossFit (contract ends June 2019)
  • Be the best person I can be!
Click to expand...
What is wrong with the meat?
 
spicykaiju said:
Strict plant-based diet (bye-bye dairy and cheese!)
Click to expand...
Quite challenging goal. Have you tried it already? I did it for a few years, now I´m back to being a social meat eater. Here in Argentina if you dont eat meat you have no social life.
 
malleus said:
What is wrong with the meat?
Click to expand...

I'm South African, and so I was born with a fistfull of biltong when I was born. Eating meat in South Africa is very much a social occassion (we have braais) which seems to be the same for @Oscar in Argentina, and so I ate it my entire life. I've always been bothered with meat production, and have never been comfortable with how animals are farmed and cared for. Fortunately here in Switzerland, farming and butchering is of high quality with the animals treated as humanely as can be. Around 2 years ago I considered going meat-free and initially dropped my meat consumption to once per week. After a short while my digestive system seemed to be working better, I didn't feel as lethargic as I normally did after eating, and surprisingly I felt less "mind-fog" and slept better. I then consciously made the decision to drop meat completely, and here we are today. My daughter eats meat, and my partner does not.

Oscar said:
Quite challenging goal. Have you tried it already? I did it for a few years, now I´m back to being a social meat eater. Here in Argentina if you dont eat meat you have no social life.
Click to expand...

I try and eat a Whole-Food-Plant-Based diet as much as I can. The issue is when one gets invited out for dinner at a friend's house, or similar situation. Catering for someone who does not eat meat is much easier than also trying to ommit all dairy and cheese. In these situations I'll rather go with the dairy/cheese and not be too complicated to cater for. :)

Chrisdavisjr said:
Been eating animal free for over 7 years now. @spicykaiju Drop me a PM if you need any advice etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Chrisdavisjr ! It seems that I haven't been getting enough protein in and so I've recently started using a Vegan Protein Blend which is getting me up to where I should be. Other than than I'm trying to follow the Daily Dozen and going with portion sizes. I'm not counting macros and calories and prefer taking eat-when-hungry-until-full approach. I'll definitely PM you about this topic.
 
2018 has been good for myself...

Training wise-
- Meet SFG 1 testing standards, so 24kg it was tough as weight 67kg-70kg.
-2.5 BW deadlift - 175kg
- Simple owned

Personal development-
- Completed my GCSEs
- First proper coaching Job
- Pass my driving test

Healthy Habits-
- 5 min flow every morning
- Read minimum of 30 mins daily
- Wake up between 5-6.30 daily

Big plans for 2019...
 
2018 - to complete the project started in 2017 of competing in the USAPL and try to set some records. Mission accomplished in that I set the single-lift deadlift record for my age and weight class for the state of New Jersey. I had hope of other USAPL state records but didn't make them.

2019 - no PL meets for a while, work on my SFB pushup and train for another Inman Mile attempt.

-S-
 
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