What Would Johnny Do?

My goodness I've gotten away from the fancy thinkin' box and neglected my cyber-profiles and Word Processed thoughts. So to hit the ground running I'll say that I have given much, much thought to the dispute between "GS" and "Hard Style" proponents who think their system may be more effective than the other over the course of time. In the late winter months I saw alot of catty bullshit manifest in rich text and read a bushel of posts which illuminated the many different positions people were taking in regard to this debate. I was comforted ever so slightly by the dozens of folk who felt that debate had reached the point of futility and appeared nonsensical. I also changed the channel after dropping my humble O in the ring after a fortnight of negative junk on my computer screen. Couple that with my unfamiliarity with the new and improved DD Forum and I went off the grid for several days. Presently I find meself with time and inclination to dip back into the blogosphere and bang out some forum posts. Here is what else has kept me busy in the weeks since my last post.

After weighing in on the GS/RKC debate I looked at means of training beyond kettlebells that I and my students will benefit from. Enter Randy Hauer. I should be more familiar with the Olympic snatch and Clean/jurk, but I am not. As I sniffed the wind for a hint of a training discipline I can commence as a real rookie, Randolph dialed me up on the Thinkin' Box and made me an offer I couldn't not reply to. We linked up and I relieved him of an Olympic Barbell, many a studly rubber coated bumper plate and equipment to fashion a modest platform which went straight to my garage. It is almost spring again, and I've got the fever for the yurking of a barbell. I also made sure that RH and I set a date when he'll school me in the required lifts. I am genuinely excited.

Landed some new gigs for Kettlebell Classes. Trained 25 troopers from the Northeast Chester County Emergency Response Team (NECCERT) at 0600 on Wednesday using swings, presses and High Pull to Squat basics. Smoked trooper tastes great, I'll say! Got snowed/iced/hailed/shit on as 6+inches of ice/snow hit us only two days after it was 70 and sunny. Woah. Turned my internal clock into a blinking 12:00. Been feeling some snatches lately and still rocking the Bikram Yoga twice a week. Mountain bike is aired/lubed/tightened up, barbell and plates loaded in the garage. Took my NSCA CPT EXAM last week, haven't gotten my scores. Passed a BIO 100 test and two quizes by a nice margin. Enjoyed a pre-March 17th nigh tout with old friends. The kind of old-neighborhood Pub gathering that could only happen in Havertown, PA. And I hit 100 snatches with a 32kg in 6:02 using the Steve Maxwell Fast 100. It was nice. Pantera cranked and a class full of animals sucking wind as 100 reps had every one's name on it.

Strength, health, and the force be unto you my friend.

RKC Rob Lawrence, whom I had the pleasure of speaking with at the 2005 Kettlebell Convention in Las Vegas, emailed me a few weeks ago to set up a time when he, myself, and anyone I know might be interested in, as he put it "making a hard run at the SSST and the UST". I agreed to count for, and motivate him. As he will do the same for me. In addition, Rob also offered to tailor a set of training protocols for me. 16 workouts designed to have me shattering my PR by early april. I have been following these workouts, and FEELIN these workouts. I took a look at the leader board tonight. I scored 202 reps in ten minutes with the 24kg kettlebell. From where I sit right now, that number looks like a warm up. I have not been this jazzed about testing in awhile. It is a real solid training program, it involves reps per minute. example, at 70% pace, I rattle off 14 reps in a minute, and rest for the remainder of that minute, until the next minute rolls over, then I bang it out again repeat for 6 minutes. The reps, pace, and times change over the course of 16 workouts, and by the time I'm up, it looks a lot like 250+ from here. And that's where I'll stop. Don't want to get ahead of myself here.

Cheers.

Will Williams

A case of the mondays. . .

This weekend I came down hard. Woah. I trained some hours these past few weeks for sure, and capped the week off with a short bench press session on Friday AM and some Yoga at 1730. Saturday I taught some classes and then ate and slept. This morning, Sarah and I rose like mechanisms from our comfy bed at 0530 to prep for the 0700 workout with the Fire/Rescue company of beautiful, wooded Glenmmoore, PA. Upon returning home, though I planned to keep it real all day and attend the 1530 Hot Yoga class down the road, I busted out a Field Day on my downstairs, and cleaned myself into a coma. 1300 rolled around and after a large baby field greens salad, 1 grilled chicken breast and 2 peanut butter sandwiches on sodium free whole wheat bread, I had nothin'. I just slept from 1330 to 2030 and now, oh hell yeah, I'm wide awake a few hour before midnight.

What I am pumped about is the upcoming schedule for Main Line Kettlebells, and the chance to tomorrow, cleanse my body of the 4000 KCalories I ingested from Peanut butter sandwiches, cashews, Trader Joe's frozen pizza, and a tall glass of vanilla soy milk. Bleecchhhh. I'll be snatching like a man on fire come sunrise.