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