Status Report

So, the end of Q1 is upon us, and I haven't been updating at all. In case anybody is reading this that I don't communicate with regularly via IM, here's what's been happening...

I started doing TacFit Kettlebell Spetznaz. Only I was doing something wrong, which ended with me hurting my lower back a bit. So I took a week off, then went back to it, more carefully. Two workouts later, hurt back again. I decided to take a couple weeks off kettlebells entirely, and do a bodyweight routine, focusing on mobility. That went awesome for two whole workouts, when I got bored silly of the whole thing.

I found a different kettlebell workout online to follow, and managed to do that for two weeks before, you guessed it, hurting my lower back. Same deal, took a week off, worked on mobility and recovery, then went back to it. And re-hurt my back. At this point, I think I was in danger of going from "hurt" to "injured". I was pretty bummed.

You see, although I've liked bodyweight stuff in the past, I was really getting into kettlebells. They bring a lot of fun to a workout. And much like the fact that the best knife is the one you have on you, the best possible workout is the one you'll stick with. Even with tweaking my back several times in less than two months, I was itching to get back to the bells, so I was reluctant to throw my hands up in the air and walk away.

Sooooo, I was perusing YouTube, looking at kettlebell videos (don't do this, there's too much noise and it drowns out the quality stuff), and Pavel Tsatsouline's name kept coming up. I'd heard it before, of course, but this time I decided to take a look. I pirated a copy of Enter the Kettlebell, watched the video once all the way through, then immediately went to Dragon Door's website and ordered a starter kit, which is the ETK book, dvd, and a 16kg kettlebell. Why the kettlebell? I figured I'd keep it at work, so I could work out at my desk when I work nights. And seriously, yes, I did buy a copy of the book and dvd. Pictures of me with the evidence are available upon request.

The thing I needed most was the Break-In program in ETK. It's a series of foundation moves that builds the strength and mobility and skill in the basic movement patterns. Just doing the Break-In for two weeks while keeping up with daily IntuFlow has wiped out my back pain entirely. I don't remember the last time my lower back felt this good.

After the Break-In, you can start Program Minimum. Much has been said all over the internet about PM, so I won't go into details. I'll just say this: it's simple and fun. It's not fancy, but my body is not ready for fancy yet. I still plan on going back to TacFit kettlebell later this year, once I've gotten proficient at the basic skills of kettlebell swinging. I am also very confident that I'll hit my goals for swings.