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This will be my battle log starting in very late 2014 and spanning 2015. I'm going to use this final month of 2015 to get it set up and kicked off so that in 2015 all I have to do is keep it flowing along 2015 Goal In 2015 my training is focused on a single goal, I want to earn my Candidate Master of Sport (CMS) from the American Kettlebell Alliance (AKA). To achieve this I have to do a required number of reps as determined by my weightclass in either biathlon or long cycle. I intend to get mine in long cycle at 85 kg which means I will need to do 57 reps. For the uninitiated, long cycle is an event in which the lifter does clean and jerks with two kettlebells continuously for ten minutes or until he or she has to set the weights down. I recommend this video for a slowed down view of the movement. Background I'm slowly coming to realize that despite a few extended breaks, I've been training for most of my life. I was raised by my mother but my father, who I saw for about a month a year, was a football and track coach and ran the high school gym. This means that during that month I was in the gym, near athletes and just in an environment where training was normal. I think this shaped me in ways I couldn't possibly perceive. Despite all that, I was a fat kid. My mom had a rule, I had to play one sport each year. Generally I played baseball but in late junior high school I got tired of baseball and had to pick a new sport. To this day I don't know why but I picked wrestling. An overweight, undertrained kid stepping into highschool wrestling makes no sense. Regardless, I did it and I really got into it. For three years I trained hard, I lifted daily, even after practice. I even went out for football just because I was always in the gym and they needed more guys. I was by far the smallest offensive lineman in the district but I held my own. Once away from the structure of highschool I slipped back into my poor eating habits and slowly drifted away from training over time. I would occasionally flirt with lifting, mostly using a bodybuilding approach. In about 2001-2002 I stumbled across powerlifting as a concept. I liked it. I began training (and eating) like a powerlifter, My weight climbed and climbed but I pulled over 500 lbs from the floor with no suit, wraps or anything, raw as they say. I also got involved in Strongman and competed twice while in Maryland. There were several major outcomes from my time as a powerlifter and strongman. My weight ballooned to 275 and I was getting too big for my 44 inch waist clothing. I did, however, cement in my life the idea that fitness training and eating for my sport was important to me, an idea that continues to this day. I was able to forge a bond with my father from whom I was almost entirely estranged before he died of bone cancer. I trained with a kettlebell instructor, at first on a lark but it became foundational for future training. Finally, I suffered a catastrophic back injury. I herniated a disc to an extent that when a specialist looked at the MRI, she said "I can't believe you can even stand". The disc required 18 months of rehab to get back to relative normalcy with issues still cropping up from time to time to this day. After the initial rehab passed I began training again slowly and largely using kettlebells at first. In 2010 I moved to the Twin Cities and for the first time in my life I paid a trainer to help me train, a choice I'm still very happy with today. Kurt built on the kettlebell work I had already done to enhance my mobility and just keep me entertained with workouts. I began losing weight then too. In 2012 I found that I had achieved all my goals with Kurt. I needed a new form of entertainment. I bought my first competition kettlebells and began dabbling in the concept of competitive kettlebell lifting. In 2013 I had a single coaching session with Richard Sherrod and bought several used kettlebells from him. It was then that I decided that this was something I was going to do and do seriously. In 2014 I competed for the first time and had a second coaching session and bought some more used bells. I also began working on my garage gym. Where I sit at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 As I prepare for the transition from 2014 to 2015 I have a few things on my mind. First, is the I want to earn my CMS this year. Second, I need to drop 20 lbs and keep it off. If I can succeed at those two, I have a shot at winning my weightclass for the US. I'll have to beat this year's lifter Juan Pellot who appears to be a professional trainer. That means I have the make the most of my training but it is possible. Regardless, I'd like to end the year lifting red bells, which is the definition of Pro for male kettlebell lifters. I have a couple side projects in mind as well. First, I'd like to get to the level I cert course for IUKL so I can clean up my lifts and learn how to snatch without flaying the flesh from my hands. Second, I'd like to do some work the Mobility WOD to get my chest and shoulders freed up to economize my lifts. Finally, I have a second round of improvements in mind for the garage gym to keep me able to lift even longer next fall before having to come to the basement. Plan for the 2015 (as imagined in late 2014) I've said it a couple times already but I'm looking to get to 85 kg and stay there. I'm looking to earn my CMS. Those two things don't fit well into the Challenge structure of Nerd Fitness. My training regimen doesn't either. My intent is to train 4-5 time per week, 3 weeks out of the month. The fourth week is when I test for progress and when I take a couple extra rest days or do things a little differently. All of that will hopefully build to mid-year, I intend to lift June 27th at the Midwest Regionals. I hope to hit my CMS reps then. I then intend to lift at the Nationals August 1. Nationals don't do 28 kg bells so I hope to be allowed to lift the red bells. I'm going to walk into that meet and do what I can do. I hope to earn a seat on Team USA. I don't know if I can or will but I will try. The rest will all be contained in this log