Monday, December 21, 2009

Max, to the Max

Good Lord....I'm tired....and hungry! OK, so on this past Saturday, one week after Meg and I tested the USSST, we were scheduled to go back to our 16kg Max Vo2 Workouts, starting with at least 46-50 sets of 8, out of a total of 70 sets. All week I kept thinking.....wouldn't it be "fun" to do a Max workout with the 12kg....even if it was the top of Max, which is 80 sets of 8. I mean, that should be easy, right?

Well, 8:00am Saturday morning.....Meg mentions the same thought...about snatching the 12kg......and I say, "You know I was kinda thinking something like that too."....and Mark says, "I think that's a good idea."

I say......"What?" What do you mean?" (I'm looking for validation to go back to the 12kg, lol)

He says....."No, I think that's a good idea."

I say....."Why? I just want to know (from the expert), why....the "technical" reasoning behind it"

He says....."The next step off a peak is always down.....you step back, or you fall off.....last week, you peaked!"

Whew!

Tracy and Megs Max

80 set of 8 w/ 12kg

40 freakin' minutes, 640 snatches!


OK, so today is Monday. I had one, committed student in my 7:00am class (too bad for anyone else that doesn't have the balls to swing and snatch with us....too bad for them)....yikes, am I a little frustrated with people that can't bring themselves to swing a freakin' bell for a measley 30 freakin' minutes?.....good God people......as I watch all of the ridiculous, waste of time, training that goes on all around me....la de dah......the "eliptical"?....are you serious?

whoops...sorry....

OK, so Brian....lucky ass that he is, is the only one in my Intermediate/Adv 7:30am class right now, consistently,(Brian is the GM of the Club, and he chooses to train with me, out of all of the 20+ PT's employeed by Equinox.....a 46 year old, former fat girl, that can swing and snatch her ass off, what does that tell you?), he has been training a version of Max Vo2 on Mondays, he uses the 16kg, and I normally use the 12kg, because I have already been swinging for 30 + minutes by the time our workout starts.....technically my classes are 30 minutes long, but I let the 7:30am class go for at leat 40+ minutes.

So, as I started to say, we did 54 sets last week.....

Brian w/16kg
10 sets of 7
44 sets of 8

Tracy w/12kg
54 sets of 8 (this was 2 days after I tested the USSST with Meg)

This last Saturday, since I did 80 sets of 8, w/12kg, I decided it was time for a little mixup.....36/36!

Brian used the 16kg, and I used the 14kg

Tracy w/14kg

36 sec work/rest
18 reps x 20 sets
24 minutes, 360 snatches

Brian w/16kg

36 sec work/rest
18 reps x 14 sets
19 reps x 6 sets
20 sets total, 25 minutes, 366 snatches

Now, don't forget this was after a 10 minute warm up, and, for me, a 30+ minute class of swings and snatches....but let's not get caught up in the details.....

Our hands gave out before our strength did, but that's how it goes....I was plenty ready to stop at set 20! We finished off the workout with 2 sets of 2 1/2 minutes swing sets.

I'll write a blogpost about the 14kg...again, but until then....my legs are a bit tired.....(I started the morning with only 20 minutes of Spinning, and followed KB's with 90 minutes of Bikram Yoga...ouch)......You think I'd be skinnier......(the 14kg.....)

PS in the above picture, can you see the 16kg's sitting quietly on the sidelines, lol?

4 comments:

Diana said...

This is funny because tonight I backed down to the 12kg for MaxVo2 training! I've been cranking with the 16kg so much lately (RKC training-because it's tomorrow ya know! lol) that I swear, I tore my bicep on the right arm. I needed to do something hard tonight because I'm just plain crabby as hell and nothing like taking it out on my bitches, so I did Max. It's been awhile since doing that and it felt good and granted still somewhat crabby, just not as bad! lol.

Mark Reifkind said...

Diana

be careful with that( I don't know if you are kidding about the bicep or not) because you CAN tear biceps with too much arm pulling on heavy snatches( done that!) be careful and don't be afraid to back off.

Diana said...

Mark,
Nope, not kidding about the bicep. That sucker hurt for the 24 hours after my last 5 minute test with the 16kg. Definitely putting the 16kg down for a while. For snatches that is!
Time to do a little more running and less snatching!
Thanks.......never afraid to back off anymore-learned that the hard way with the "wonderful" flex arm hang!
Happy Holidays to you both!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Diana,

Using heavy bells is not the "be all, end all" In this competitive KB world, which we can both get caught up in, at some point you have to let it go.....

There are plenty of ways to increase intensity without increasing bell weight.

Don't worry, soon I'll be webcasting my classes and you'll be plenty challenged...in a good way, not a dangerous way, lol!