[KB Girl] lifts all the things, but mostly kettlebells

[KB Girl]

Not quite up to challenges right now, so... a battle log! 

 

Will update soon with goals and such.

Sneak preview: lift all the kettlebells, win all the competitions and celebrate by standing upside down! 

 

For those that don't know me or my sport, this is what I do:

Lots of those.. occasionally (on competition days) as many as I can in 10 minutes

 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome back.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

[Elastigirl]

Hi there!

[KB Girl]

Welcome back.

Thank you! 

 

Oh dear, that's ugly In a cute way.

 

Hi there!

 

Hi!

[SymphonicDan]

Yay, you're back in action I hope you get some well-earned chances to relax amongst everything else you have going on! In a couple of years' time you can probably look back on the last couple months as having been essential to your success.

 

Keep swinging

[raptron]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Mad Hatter]

Woohoo you're here!

[Terah]

Good idea to take a break here. Take your rest, you'll come back even stronger

[AugustaAdaByron]

Hello!

[annyshay]

Yay battle log!

 

[karinajean]

YAAAAAAY!

 

Dear KB Girl's Diary:

So super glad you are here.

<3 karinajean

[Nymeria]

I'm glad you're back!  I hope that just logging your workouts and hanging out here with all of us ends up being much more relaxing for you than doing a challenge.    

[The Most Loathed]

[KB Girl]

Yay, you're back in action  I hope you get some well-earned chances to relax amongst everything else you have going on! In a couple of years' time you can probably look back on the last couple months as having been essential to your success.

 

Keep swinging

Who knows! That's a nice thought though. And no worries, even when i'm hiding a lot there is still some training going on

 

Good idea to take a break here. Take your rest, you'll come back even stronger

Not really a break! Just skipping the goal setting and reflections that go along with that for now.. once every 4 weeks is a bit much for me right now.

 

Hello!

Hili!

 

 

Yay battle log!

 

 

The triforce means so much to me! it's silly perhaps, but it does. I'm getting that tattoo.

 

YAAAAAAY!

 

Dear KB Girl's Diary:

So super glad you are here.

<3 karinajean

Haha, thank you! 

 

I'm glad you're back!  I hope that just logging your workouts and hanging out here with all of us ends up being much more relaxing for you than doing a challenge.  

It will! Thanks It's not that NF in itself is stressful, I just feel bad for hiding, especially when challenges are only 4 weeks.

 

Thank you Haha, perhaps you were right after all

[KB Girl]

Dear diary, 

(it makes me smile, so i'm keeping it for now )

 

Monday was a very long day on not enough sleep, so I took it a bit easy at the gym. We started with some back squats because lifting stuff will always wake me up. 

• backsquats 5x5 @ 55kg

Felt heavy, but pretty good. Have to watch my knees, for now i'm calling them chinese knees (you know that bit of caving in before sorting themselves out on the way up?).. but definitely keeping an eye on how that develops.

Next up was some ring work:

• assisted pull-ups 5x3
• very basic muscle-up progression 5x3
• false grip hangs 5x10sec

One of the girls on my KB team is getting really far with her muscle up, she's up to the last 2 progressions (muscle up assisted by trainers hands on thigh, and tucked negatives) and it's really very inspiring because she's very tall and weighs more than I do. 

 

We finished up by practicing our handstands with a spotter. My alignment is getting much better. Someone texted a video they shot of our practice last week, so this wasn't actually on monday but i'll share it anyways:

 

Food was bad, mood was bad, but at least i'm still getting stronger \o.

[Mad Hatter]

Very nice handstand!!! Are you looking towards the wall there? If so you might want to focus on a spot on the floor instead as it will help your balance. Looking towards the wall is more of a capoeira thing or balance exercise but not so useful for old regular handstands.

[Leon Lifts]

Following because I also love LoZ and am working on completing my first pull-up and my first handstand, so watching you work on your muscle ups will be a huge inspiration! 

[obax]

Ah ha, I found you!

 

I'm impressed as always by your handstands. Glad to see you're hangin' around here even with the challenge break, I'll be following along!

[Nymeria]

You're well on your way to beating me toward the first muscle up.  I keep getting distracted.  

 

Your handstand is really progressing nicely.  One thing I noticed is that you're slightly piked in your handstand.  Does that give you better control for making balance adjustments?  I tend to be slightly arched in mine, and I find that while I can compensate pretty well for an overbalance, there's almost nothing I can do when I end up under balanced, other than fall back to my feet.  

[Mad Hatter]

There's actually a lot more options to correct an underbalance than an overbalance. You can either pike the hips, planche slightly, bend the elbows or a combination of the above. For an overbalance you can really only use the shoulder angle to correct it.

The only reason I know why a slight pike would be useful is if you're a performer working on heights or ladders or other surfaces where if you screw up you really don't want to bail to the front and on your head but rather land safely on your feet. I think there are other reasons too but then we're talking nitty gritty circus performer details.

[Lilith]

I missed quite a lot but I loved how you did the last challenge, I loved the squat video (not sure if it was posted on this thread or your challenge thread) and I feel you on the battle log! I might create one too. Gives a bit less pressure but does allow to stay here with all the friends! 

[KB Girl]

Very nice handstand!!! Are you looking towards the wall there? If so you might want to focus on a spot on the floor instead as it will help your balance. Looking towards the wall is more of a capoeira thing or balance exercise but not so useful for old regular handstands.

Not really trying to look towards the wall, just sort os staring off into space with what feels like a good head position! Do you mean the floor in between my hands? or like a few meters in front of me?

 

Following because I also love LoZ and am working on completing my first pull-up and my first handstand, so watching you work on your muscle ups will be a huge inspiration! 

Hi! Not really working on a muscle up yet, i'm nowhere near strong enough... but just having some fun with the progressions

 

You're well on your way to beating me toward the first muscle up.  I keep getting distracted.  

 

Your handstand is really progressing nicely.  One thing I noticed is that you're slightly piked in your handstand.  Does that give you better control for making balance adjustments?  I tend to be slightly arched in mine, and I find that while I can compensate pretty well for an overbalance, there's almost nothing I can do when I end up under balanced, other than fall back to my feet.  

No worries! I'm unlikely to not get distracted Also strength gains are slooow and you're much stronger.

I am indeed piking slightly, not on purpose though.. that's just how I tend to find my balance! Despite the pike i'm actually also slightly overbalanced, that sweet spot where you can just use your fingers to push back a bit. Or actually, that's probably why i'm piking, if I was straight i'd topple over.

 

There's actually a lot more options to correct an underbalance than an overbalance. You can either pike the hips, planche slightly, bend the elbows or a combination of the above. For an overbalance you can really only use the shoulder angle to correct it.

The only reason I know why a slight pike would be useful is if you're a performer working on heights or ladders or other surfaces where if you screw up you really don't want to bail to the front and on your head but rather land safely on your feet. I think there are other reasons too but then we're talking nitty gritty circus performer details.

Are we using over and under balance in a different way? Because I thought that when you have an underbalance you can't do anything but use your shoulders. 

 

Funny description of reasons to use a pike. I'm probably subconciously doing it because i'm still absolutely terrified of not landing on my feet.

 

I missed quite a lot but I loved how you did the last challenge, I loved the squat video (not sure if it was posted on this thread or your challenge thread) and I feel you on the battle log! I might create one too. Gives a bit less pressure but does allow to stay here with all the friends! 

I missed a lot too! still working on catching up.. 

I'm just not feeling very challengey... but yea, i wouldnt want to miss NF for a too long time period

[KB Girl]

Dear diary, 

 

Tuesday was a double gym day, teaching morning and evening classes. In the morning I did some of my own work, started with a long warmup followed by some straddle mobility work. Then some basic strength work: 

• 5x5 elevated pushups (yes elevated to make them easier, lol)
• 5x5 toe assisted ring pullups

Last week I had skipped my sprinty kettlebell set so I made sure to do it early in the week this time. At the end my right lower back was pretty achy when I snatched with my left arm. Happened before on lots of reps, not sure what/if I should do anything about it other than just getting more strength-endurance.

• 12kg kettlebell snatches, 180 reps in 9 minutes, as many hand switches as I like 

No putting the kettlebell down obviously, because then I woudn't make it in time.

In the evening we played with Jaap's new toy.. it's a ring-rope system that takes away half your bodyweight. Jaap can pretty easily do ring-planches and iron crosses with the belt on. It was really fun to play around with, and I could do muscle-ups with it. Not that they were easy, I either need to lose a ton of weight or get a LOT stronger.

 

The cheering is a joke obviously

 

Wednesday I had planned a kettlebell set but after coming home from work there was just no way it was going to happen. Did some paperwork before crashing though.

[Mad Hatter]

What a fun toy! That's a brilliant way to work on new skills.