Sunday, 14 February 2010

10:30 Home


Standard warmup.

KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg.
3.5 minutes fencing footwork

Stretch

My form on the swing is starting to come together. Two important pointers.

Push the hips back further and get a good back swing.
All the swing should come from the hip and nothing from the shoulders.

Saturday, 13 February 2010

16:00

Ice skating 40 minutes.

I took my daughter skating and then stayed on the rink for another 20 minutes. Maybe some day I'll play a little rec hockey again.

Friday, 12 February 2010

18:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

I really don't recommend this workout after a large dinner and a few glasses of wine.

Thursday, 11 February 2010

18:30 Home

Yoga primary series. 25 min,
Practiced kettlebell swings, cleans and presses.

I'm tensing too much at the top of the lift and shrugging my shoulder rather than pulling them back. Focusing on the hip snap help to alleviate this.

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

18:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

The importance of a second pair of eyes.

My wife works in the fitness industry. One of her most outstanding skills is her eye for human movement. She can look at a perspective client and quickly discover any issues with alignment.

I was doing my sets of kettlebell swings last night and trying to follow good form. I was thinking "swing to plank" and tensing my abs and lats at the top of the movement. It still didn't feel quite right.

Mel was observing me and noticed my shoulder were being pulled forward by the bell. She instructed me to pull my shoulders back and down. She also notice I was initiating the swing with a slight rounding of my lower back which I then corrected.

Bam, suddely everything fell into place. I felt stronger and tighter and the exercise felt, and looked, right

I normally train alone, but times like this illustrate the advantage of some oversight. While I was aware of the form pointers, in the heat of the moment it's can be difficult to pull it all together. This is especially true when learning a new exercise.

This year I hope to train with Mel more often. I also hope to attend a few training workshops, especially kettlebell related one.

Of course this goes doubly for fencing. The more skill focused a sport is, and the more esoteric the skills are, the more important coaching becomes. When I return to regular fencing I also need to return to receiving regular coaching.

Monday, 8 February 2010

21:00 Home

Standard warmup.

KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg.
2.5 minutes fencing footwork

Stretch.
SMR.