The Swing Workout #7! And The Swing Quest 2015!

Probably my favorite workout from The Swing!  For weeks now I've been practicing this exact workout as well as designing new and fun variations of it for my Thursday swing workouts and in my group classes.  80% of workout #7 is done in sets of 20 reps, and once you are familiar with, and know my other one hand swing progressions practicing your own variations of this workout provides so many possibilities.



Details for workout #7 on on page 139 of The Swing Book.

THE SWING QUEST 2015

This Thursday, January 1st, 7:00am-9:00am will be the very first SQ event of the year, which means one more swing rep than last year :)  lol  But in fact I've got all NEW swing workouts designed for 2015 in anticipation of teaching my own Swing Instructor Certification Course I hope to launch in 2015!  Yep, you heard it here first!  If you are interested in becoming an Instructor and learning how to teach and lead Kettlebell Swing group classes then stay tuned for more information over the next few weeks/months.  I'm currently organizing all of my methods and techniques from my Programming the Kettlebell Swing Workshop, Mastering the Hardstyle Kettlebell Swing DVD, and of course, The Swing book/Quest into a weekend long Certification Course!

Taking a weekend long Swing Instructor Course takes some consistent training to build the kind of conditioning it will take to practice thousands of swing reps over those two days that it'll make The Swing Quest look like a warm up :)  But seriously, like the rest of my workouts all of my routines are easily scaled to help you go the distance, and that's part of what you will learn from my Certification!  Everybody has to start somewhere and that "somewhere" is the very first workouts, #1-#4 in The Swing book.  That's how The Swing Quest starts and builds from there.  In fact if you can complete today's workout, #7, then you are more than capable to quickly build the capacity to double, even quadruple the work load for an event like the SQ.

The Swing Quest 2015
Noxcuses Personal Fitness Studio
2741 Middlefield Rd suite 102 (next to Starbucks)
Palo Alto 
7:00am-9:00am, Jan 1, 2015
$40 per person

Reserve your spot by emailing me at tracyrif@yahoo.com  Space and bells are extremely limited so I cannot accommodate any drop-ins.

Swings will start on time at 7:00am.  We will swing for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break x 4 rounds.  You can join in or leave at any half hour increment as long as I'm aware of your schedule.  

If I don't see you at The Swing Quest maybe I'll see you next week in St Paul, or Milwaukee!  Winter tour here I come.....but will there be snow?  Fingers crossed!

"12/25" Christmas Morning Workout, and some details about The Swing Quest 2015 and my Winter Tour

Quite unusual for me this morning is that our workout was snatch based with the fewest number of swings I've ever done in a workout!  I've been neglecting my Hardstyle snatch practice so I'll be dedicating at least one workout a week to building up those high volume reps again.

Warm Up
12kg

1 sw, 1 sn, 1 tr x 12 (1 min work, 30 sec rest)
1 sn, 1 tr x 8 x 2 sets (30 work/30 rest)
5/5 sn x 2 sets (30 work/30 rest)
12 sn R/L x 1 set (1 min/1 min)
7.5 min
60 snatches

Work Sets 
1 med weight (14kg) for all 12/12 sets
1 light bell (12kg) for all 25/25 sets

12 R/ 12 L x 1 set (1 min work/30 sec rest) 24 snatch reps
25 R/25 L x 1 set (2 min work/1 min rest) 50 snatch reps

12 R/ 12 L x 2 sets (1 min work/30 sec rest) 48 snatch reps
25 R/25 L x 2 x 1 set (4 min work/1 min rest) 100 snatch reps

12 R/ 12 L x 3 sets (1 min work/30 sec rest) 72 snatch reps
25 R/25 L x 3 x 1 set (6 min work/1 min rest) 150 snatch reps

12 R/ 12 L x 4 sets (1 min work/30 sec rest) 96 snatch reps
25 R/25 L x 4 x 1 set (8 min work) 200 snatch reps

34.5 min
240 14kg snatches
500 12kg snatches

total 42 minutes
740 snatch reps, 9,360kg moved = 20,592lbs :)
(yikes I just realized I made a calculation error, but it's fixed now!)

The last part of today's "12/25" Christmas Morning training ended with 12 sets of 25 reps w/24kg started at the top of each minute.

OTM
25 2 hd sw x 12 sets (25 reps takes about 38 seconds, leaving 22 seconds rest)
300 24kg swings, 7,200 kg moved = 15,840lbs.

I've mostly been doing swing workouts from my book (The Swing) and haven't done a themed workout since my birthday month, which was all "51" based, but check out blog posts from previous years for more Christmas workout ideas.  Most of you still have time!

Mark and I will be taking a training walk together later this morning since we won't be with any other family.  Gabe and Lilly came over yesterday for turkey and stuffing and we won't see our other kids and granddaughter until the weekend.  I'll be starting another pot of coffee here quick and enjoy the quiet time of the day off.  I hope everybody else is having lovely times :) :) :)

**************

One week from today I will be leading a Swing Quest on January 1, 2015 at Noxcuses in Palo Alto.  The event starts at 7:00am and will go until 9:00am.  2015 swing reps to start off the new year.  If you live in or near the San Francisco Bay Area and want to join us please email me at tracyrif@yahoo.com.  You can come and join all or part of the fun.  Space and bells are very limited and you must preregister via email.  Cost is $40 for the entire 2 hours of training, but workouts will start every 30 minutes, 25 minutes of swings with a 5 minute break so you can stay as long as you can, or join in anytime every half hour. I'll be repeating this information over the next week with more details as needed.  I haven't made a big deal about it but I am proud to say that it will be my 10th event!  It's never too late to make it YOUR New Years Day tradition because it's been one of mine for four years now and you can count on me to always show up and swing!

Two weeks from today I will be in the midwest leading One Hour Swing classes in both St Paul and Milwaukee.  Again, space and number of kettlebells is extremely limited and I know we are close to capacity for the evening class times on Monday (Jan 5) and Thursday (Jan 8) so don't wait too much longer to register!  (use the links on the left sidebar)

The last 10 x 10 of 2014 with Anna Bogdanova

Time is flying by for sure.  With the new 10 x 10 weekend challenge being born in December it's turning out to be a 10 x 10 themed month!  I've posted ten 10 x 10 video workout options in the first week of the month and I've continued a similar practice in my own weekly swing workouts so don't think there weren't any Thursday versions.  That being said I'm working on revamping 2015's Swing Quest routines starting first and and ending last with 500 swing reps done in 10 x 10 progressions :)  But here is the very last one of 2014!  I taped this 10 x 10 in Denmark a few weeks ago with Anna Bogdanova, author of "Sky High Metabolism", enjoy!

10 2 hd swing x 2 sets
5 2 hd sw + 5 R
5 2 hd sw + 5 L
5 R/5 L x 2 sets
10 transfer swings x 2 sets
10 2 hd sw x 2 sets (thanks Gwen!)

And yes, the first Swing Quest marathon event for 2015 is scheduled for Thursday morning January 1st, exact time and location still to be determined (probably 7:30-9:30am).  Depending on how many commitments I get from my students I may decide to hold it here in our garage gym and have a small breakfast on my back patio (weather permitting).  The Swing Quest 2015 takes just under 2 hours to complete and for me I can't think of a better way to start off the New Year!  I love it!

Speaking of New Year swings....less than one week later I may be in your neighborhood!  Another reminder that it's not too late to register for my Winter Tour, One Hour Swing Class events in St Paul MN, Monday Jan 5th, and Milwaukee WI, Thursday Jan 8.  One hour of swings is around 1000 reps, but I promise to take care of each and everyone and help you scale the workout to your own personal level of skill and conditioning.  To swing with a group for one hour, no matter what your exact rep count is a ton of fun, especially when it's over!  Don't miss it, I have no idea when I'll make it back to the Midwest :)

Space and number of bells is limited in both locations so please if you are thinking about coming to swing with me reserve a spot now!  You can find the links to preregister right here, on my blog, in the left sidebar.

Seriously Hard....I mean fun!

Okay...so the whole idea of the "all day long" part of the 10 x 10 x 10 challenge was because I'm here in Tel Aviv, Israel, while Mark is teaching the SFG Certification Course over a three day period and while I've had the chance to lead a couple of very short swing workouts I'm not officially assisting or participating.  BUT I thought because the SFG candidates have to practice and train over the course of three entire days it would be fair to challenge myself to something similar!

Friday I lead my short "Power-Ful Swing" workout and did some regular snatch practice for about 40 minutes and then went shopping and site seeing with a dear friend of mine.  Saturday I knew I was going to be at the Cert all day long, first leading a private swing practice class for an hour (which turned into two hours!) starting at 9:00am.  I finished that around 11:30 and knew I had the rest of the day, until 5:00pm to do my ten rounds of 10 x 10 w/24kg.  Oh boy.....11:40am 1st round.  12:00pm 2nd round, 12:30 3rd round, 1:00....or maybe I should refer to it as 13:00?  4th round.  It was my plan to get it done in about 3 hours completing one round every 20-30 minutes.

My hands and fingers were "crispy" from all of the swinging and snatching I had already done, but mostly from the chalk, as it dries out the skin very quickly so in all honesty ever single round, starting with the first one was more painful because of my hands mostly, but uncomfortable nonetheless.  It was probably the hardest thing I've done in a very, very, very long time.

Completely stopping for 20-40 minutes, and then having to start again, with a tired body and crispy hands was the biggest challenge I've felt in long time.  Going through my own SFG Certification course for three days two years ago felt easier than yesterday! Mostly, I think, because although it's more training in total it's continuous and because you are learning and practicing you never really stop, AND someone else is telling you when and what to do as opposed to having to tell yourself to when to start/stop.

More than once I contemplated quitting.  More than once I contemplated giving up and just not posting anything about it and maybe giving it another go on a different weekend before the end of the year.  And every time I contemplated it I just couldn't let myself give up.  Feeling accountable for presenting a challenge and not following through with it myself would just be too hypocritical.

I was able to do round 8 with the SFG candidates for part of their practice, finishing the last one around 4:30pm.

Now looking back at yesterday I'm happy, of course! It's over and to be honest my body felt great last night (besides a bit stiff and sore).  I'm off in a couple of hours to finish the second part of my challenge, 10 x 10 x 10 continuous, and because there is no 14kg available I will be doing all two hand swings w/16kg.  A walk on the beach this afternoon and dinner at a wine bar tonight!

One more day in Israel and I'll be back home on Wednesday :)

Here is a short workout I did with Tzvia Ben Shimon, who earned her SFG Certification last year.  My I Pad ran out of room to finish the video and it was cut short by 1 1/2 20 rep sets, but here is the complete One Hand Swing Practice workout...will you join us? Or maybe you are working on the challenge this weekend?  :)



5 2 hd sw + 5 R
5 2 hd sw + 5 L
5 2 hd sw + 5 R/5 L + 5 2 hd sw
4 2 hd sw + 6 R/6 L + 4 2 hd sw
3 2 hd sw + 7 R/7 L + 3 2 hd sw
2 2 hd sw + 8 R/8 L + 2 2 hd sw
1 2 hd sw + 9 R/9 L + 1 2 hd sw
10 R/10 L (this is where the video ends)
20 2 hd swings
7 min, 140 swing reps

Tracy Reifkind's Ten 10 x 10 Challenge

Ah yes....so the story goes.  Last year around this time I created my 10 x 10 workouts designed just to get your hands on the bell, work up a little sweat and get back into feeling your body and out of your head.  Over the last 12 months I've posted well over 100 workouts, close to 200 I'm sure (I stopped counting) so now I have a challenge for you during this busy holiday season to help you maintain your strength, health and fitness and hit the ground swinging strong on the first of the year. In fact it's a great way to get ready for The Swing Quest, which I will lead/host here in the SF Bay Area on January 1st (Thursday morning), and my Winter Tour Classes I'll be leading in St Paul and Milwaukee right afterwards, on January 5th and 8th!

The challenge is this.  Over 1 weekend before Xmas complete ten rounds of 10 x 10's twice.  Once over the course of an entire day (8 hours at least), and once done is consecutive sets.  If you are advanced/intermediate level you should be able to complete the consecutive set challenge within an hour, if you are a beginner do it using "On the Minute" sets of up to 10 reps for 50 minutes, rep count is irrelevant. You can do either way first but do them both one day after the next.....I'll be doing mine this weekend at the Israel SFG, most likely Saturday and Sunday.

You may choose this weekend (like me), or it may be one of the next three, but complete it at least one full week before January 1st.  Here are the ten consecutive sets I did in Sweden on Monday morning but please use any variation of 10 swings, with any variation of bell sizes.  Please share your results here in the comments section!  We all want to know how you did!  Thank you :)






















PS And remember to register for my Winter Tour Classes here on by blog by December 10th to get a special gift form me :)  (links on the left)  and on Face Book you'll find the Milwaukee event here;

https://www.facebook.com/events/386980618133398/