Thinking and rethinking

My personal and professional goals are a moving target these days, which isn't too surprising given that my body seems to be changing by the day as my estrogen levels drop and I move through the stages of menopause (denial, anger, peanut butter, acceptance?). Often I have difficulty sleeping, and when that happens my workouts suffer. I'm trying to be patient with myself and not get frustrated when I can't perform to my expectations, but it's a challenge!

Here's what the last week or so has looked like, workoutwise:

Sunday: Pull-ups & negative pullups to fatigue, 3 sets, supersetted with 1-arm KB presses, 8x12 kg; KB rows, 3x8x16 kg, supersetted with TGUs, 5 per side x 8 kg, then 3 per side x 12 kg, and finally 1 per side x 16 kg
Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 1 hour cycling class, and after that a mixed barbell & kettlebell workout that included deadlifts, planks, swings, walking lunges and bear crawls.
Wednesday: ballet class and Nutcracker rehearsal
Thursday: ballet class, Nutcracker rehearsal, cycling class
Friday: band assisted chin-ups, 4 sets of 12-15, supersetted with KB swings, 4x20x16 kg; pushups with knee-in, 4 sets of 12-15, supersetted with KB swings, 4x20x16 kg; 5 min. TGU singles, 12 kg.
Today I'm thinking heavy cleans & get-ups, and a 20-30 minute run. I have some Nike Frees that I'm anxious to test-drive.

In other news, I've taken on a couple of clients who are interested in learning the foundations of kettlebell training. So far it's going very well! I was so exhausted at the HKC that I was a little worried about how well I was absorbing the copious amounts of information presented, but I think I've actually retained most of it. I've been consulting the instructor handbook quite a bit, of course, and between that and my notes I think I've managed to remember most of the corrective drills. As I mentioned in a previous post, many of them have non-kettlebell applications so I've been using them where appropriate even with non-kettlebell clients who are struggling with such issues as spinal flexion and shoulder elevation and protraction.

This presents me with somewhat of a dilemma: if were to go to the RKC I imagine I would learn even more wonderful corrective stuff. But I would have to travel, and be away from my family, and be out in the elements for three days, and say "Yes, sir," and "Yes, ma'am" a lot. And do many, many burpees and other unpleasant things. So I need to think carefully.

But I don't need to think that carefully, not for now at least, because what I would need to do to prepare for the RKC is also what I want to do for my own personal development, i.e., perfect my form on the clean, press and snatch. For me the single biggest takeaway from the HKC was: if you show up at a Dragon Door certification event with seriously flawed technique you will learn how to fix it but you probably won't get certified, because by the time you get tested you will be so physically and mentally fatigued that you will almost certainly revert to your old incorrect way of doing things. That was what happened to me on the get-up: every bit of mental energy I had was focused on keeping my shoulder packed and not going into a high bridge, so I wasn't thinking about my wrist. Hence the slight bend backward and the initial failure to get certified.

So until I am sure of my technique, going to the RKC is a non-issue for me. But since I do plan to keep working on my form, I expect I will be revisiting the issue at some point.

Probably once Nutcracker is over for the year :)