I attended the StrongFirst kettlebell training at Peachtree City on Sunday, 19 January with Senior SFG Delaine Ross and her badass friend Susan Moore. My technique is now better in at least a dozen ways, but I think I will be working on packing my shoulders and breathing properly until the day I die. One of the fun features of the class was attempting personal record lifts after coaching. Every student achieved PRs. I got two. I jumped from the 35-pound kettlebell to 45 pounds for my getup and from 44 pounds to the 48-pound kettlebell for my press. And I achieved these record lifts on both my strong and less strong sides. I did not think the class was especially strenuous although we stayed busy for 8 hours. However, I was sore on Monday and stayed sore through Tuesday. Consequently, I eased my work load a bit for week eight of my Simple and Sinister program. I shifted from one-handed to two-handed swings all week. On Monday, I performed getups with the 8 kg bell and paused at each juncture to think my way through the positions more fully. After Monday, I used the 12 kg bell and continued to focus on form. I will go back to the 16 kg bell next week.

My current S&S program

Prying goblet squats
16 kg kettlebell – 3 x 5 = 15 reps, 525 pounds

Goblet squat curls
16 kg kettlebell –3 x 5 = 15 reps, 525 pounds

Halos: 16 kg kettlebell – 3 x 10 = 30 reps, 1050 pounds

Two-handed swings
24 kg kettlebell – 10 x 10 = 100 reps, 5300 pounds

Get-ups
12 kg kettlebell – 5 x 1 L/R = 10 reps, 260 pounds

Total weight: 7660 pounds