ETK round two: week 1
ETK has started again! I am going to try and blog my workouts once a week this time through .....
I'm not doing any snatches this time: I have an overactive trap on my left side and snatches seem to irritate it. I'm trying to remedy it with lots of stretching, and I think that ETK and climbing help too as they strengthen my lats and stop the trap doing more work than it should ... however in the meantime it gets sore after snatches so I am staying away from them. So I'm doing swings every day instead, in a light, medium, heavy pattern. I figure you can never do too many swings, right?! Also, I'm not following the AOS workbook as far as the swing volume goes; I'm doing 1 minute cycles every day with more work and less rest as we go from light to heavy. I'm also aiming to do the same length of time each day so I can make easier comparisons between how many swings I fit in on "medium" and how many on "heavy" in the same period. This is going to result in harder work, as each week I am taking the longest swing time from AOS and doing that time each day. I'm going to wonder why I thought that was a good idea when I hit a 12-minute week ......
For reference I'm using the 10kg for cleans & presses, 16kg for swings and a doorgym with a resistance band to assist for the pull ups.
Anyhow, onto this week's training:
Monday: ETK light day at lunchtime. 6 minutes of swings in a 20secs/40secs work/rest cycle. This gave me 13 swings per minute for a total of 78 swings. Followed by some core and bosu work - I am on a mission to improve my core and balance to help with my dancing :-) In the evening I taught combat - did a mix of oldies and had a rocking session!
Tuesday: My scheduled dance lesson at lunchtime got cancelled, so I just taught jam in the evening.
Wednesday: ETK medium day. I did 6 minutes of swings in 25/35 which was 15 per minute for a total of 90. Followed this with 10 minutes of yoga and some stretching.
Thursday: Taught jam, and then stayed for combat afterwards as a participant.
Friday: ETK heavy day. I did my 6 minutes of swings in 30/30 - 20 per minute for a total of 120. That was HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then some yoga and stretching.
Saturday: Climbing!!!!!!!!!!! Great session today. I have been trying to do a grade 5 wall for weeks - it's a hard one as it slopes outwards so requires a fair amount of upper body strength, and also there are some big reaches/jumps for a couple of holds. I have tried it about 6 or 7 times and never got past halfway before falling off. Today I managed the whole thing - although it was in stages; i.e. I came off, Dave held me in place with the rope, I pulled myself back on to the wall and carried on. Did it like that twice, so I'm confident that next week I will manage to do it properly in one go. I also climbed my first ever 5+ graded route. YAY ME!!!!!
Sunday: Was planned as a rest day, but I may sneak into the studio for an hour for some jam practice. I rashly asked my class what old blocks they would like to have while we wait for the new releases and they picked two of the hardest ones. D'OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So some practice is required before next Thursday.
On a side note, I am loving my iphone for fitness apps. I have got the Ultra Timer which is brilliant for swing intervals. You can save all the different cycles - 20/40, 25/35, etc etc - so there's no messing, you just tell it how many minutes and off it goes. It even gives you a round of applause at the end :-) I've also downloaded a couple of yoga apps which are really good; I don't do enough yoga/stretching so am trying to work this in to my training a few times a week, and these apps are great as they enable to me to do a 10 minute programme for flexibility/balance/etc.
All in all a good first week of ETK. I'm apprehensive about increasing the reps over the coming weeks, as I'm finding it hard work pressing the 10kg on my left side. I'm also finding the pull ups hard work. However I will stick with it even if I have to repeat a week or so. I want those strength gains to help with my climbing!!! It's great doing it with my twitter buddies too; very motivating seeing what they are all doing.
I'm not doing any snatches this time: I have an overactive trap on my left side and snatches seem to irritate it. I'm trying to remedy it with lots of stretching, and I think that ETK and climbing help too as they strengthen my lats and stop the trap doing more work than it should ... however in the meantime it gets sore after snatches so I am staying away from them. So I'm doing swings every day instead, in a light, medium, heavy pattern. I figure you can never do too many swings, right?! Also, I'm not following the AOS workbook as far as the swing volume goes; I'm doing 1 minute cycles every day with more work and less rest as we go from light to heavy. I'm also aiming to do the same length of time each day so I can make easier comparisons between how many swings I fit in on "medium" and how many on "heavy" in the same period. This is going to result in harder work, as each week I am taking the longest swing time from AOS and doing that time each day. I'm going to wonder why I thought that was a good idea when I hit a 12-minute week ......
For reference I'm using the 10kg for cleans & presses, 16kg for swings and a doorgym with a resistance band to assist for the pull ups.
Anyhow, onto this week's training:
Monday: ETK light day at lunchtime. 6 minutes of swings in a 20secs/40secs work/rest cycle. This gave me 13 swings per minute for a total of 78 swings. Followed by some core and bosu work - I am on a mission to improve my core and balance to help with my dancing :-) In the evening I taught combat - did a mix of oldies and had a rocking session!
Tuesday: My scheduled dance lesson at lunchtime got cancelled, so I just taught jam in the evening.
Wednesday: ETK medium day. I did 6 minutes of swings in 25/35 which was 15 per minute for a total of 90. Followed this with 10 minutes of yoga and some stretching.
Thursday: Taught jam, and then stayed for combat afterwards as a participant.
Friday: ETK heavy day. I did my 6 minutes of swings in 30/30 - 20 per minute for a total of 120. That was HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then some yoga and stretching.
Saturday: Climbing!!!!!!!!!!! Great session today. I have been trying to do a grade 5 wall for weeks - it's a hard one as it slopes outwards so requires a fair amount of upper body strength, and also there are some big reaches/jumps for a couple of holds. I have tried it about 6 or 7 times and never got past halfway before falling off. Today I managed the whole thing - although it was in stages; i.e. I came off, Dave held me in place with the rope, I pulled myself back on to the wall and carried on. Did it like that twice, so I'm confident that next week I will manage to do it properly in one go. I also climbed my first ever 5+ graded route. YAY ME!!!!!
Sunday: Was planned as a rest day, but I may sneak into the studio for an hour for some jam practice. I rashly asked my class what old blocks they would like to have while we wait for the new releases and they picked two of the hardest ones. D'OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So some practice is required before next Thursday.
On a side note, I am loving my iphone for fitness apps. I have got the Ultra Timer which is brilliant for swing intervals. You can save all the different cycles - 20/40, 25/35, etc etc - so there's no messing, you just tell it how many minutes and off it goes. It even gives you a round of applause at the end :-) I've also downloaded a couple of yoga apps which are really good; I don't do enough yoga/stretching so am trying to work this in to my training a few times a week, and these apps are great as they enable to me to do a 10 minute programme for flexibility/balance/etc.
All in all a good first week of ETK. I'm apprehensive about increasing the reps over the coming weeks, as I'm finding it hard work pressing the 10kg on my left side. I'm also finding the pull ups hard work. However I will stick with it even if I have to repeat a week or so. I want those strength gains to help with my climbing!!! It's great doing it with my twitter buddies too; very motivating seeing what they are all doing.
posted by Beth Currie at
6:48 PM
2 Comments:
You will stuff that grade 5 wall next time babe! You've totally got all the moves for it now, all you need to do is put them together and it's "job's done" :)
By
kettlebelling, at 7:40 PM
Nice work for the first week! I love the climbing shot. What a great pic.
I have trouble with pressing 10kg on my left side too but it's gotten much better the more I press. I did a few weeks of prep work before starting ETK. Looking forward to cheering each other on! :)
Julie
By
greenteagrl, at 9:17 PM
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