The Journey

As the year draws to a close I am finding myself reflecting over the past year in particular my training. It's amazing to look back and see just how far you have come and I am finding that using kettlebells on a regular basis, gives you a good gauge of progress.

Purchased the first kettlebell early this year in Geelong along with Mike Mahler's Beginner Kettlebell Workshop DVD. Initially worked through a three day a week program but soon moved onto barbell training at a commercial gym. It was here that a Starting Strength type program was undertaken for a small period of time.

In fact if anything, the first few months of the year was punctuated by switching programs from either Starting Strength, Kettlebells or Crossfit. I was playing golf as well for the first three months and saw my handicap drop from 27 in April 2008 to 17 when I had my last round in around May 2009.

We moved to Melbourne in March and training was very on and off. Again drifting between KB's (it was now that I discovered Pavel's Enter the Kettlebell book and DVD) and Crossfit. Was reluctant to join a commercial gym owing to the fact that I was spending 2 hrs a day in transit. Plus we were entering the colder months and the desire to train was quite low.

Around July was when I purchased a 7ft Olympic Bar with around 77.5kg's of weight. From here I started looking at some of Dan John's programs of cleaning, military pressing and front squatting. It was around this time that I bought another 16 kg KB as well as a 24 kg. Again I flirted with some Crossfit workouts, Program Minimum or bar work.

Around August purchased a weights bench and started doing some more bar work. Benching, squatting, deadlifting, pressing, etc. In September we flew up to the Gold Coast for work where I sort of knew that training would be difficult. I was doing some Program Minimum stuff but decided to put it on hold for the trip.

So we arrive to October and it is decided that it is time to give ETK the attention it deserves. This kicked off virtually the day after my birthday. 4 weeks of Program Minimum and then the Rite of Passage.

Which is where we are today. So far so good. I am amazed at the progress I have made. From struggling to swing the 16kg and doing get-ups to last night being able to snatch the 24 kg (albeit for 2 reps) and able to do hips high get-ups in the Kalos Stenhos style with the 24 kg. Body comp is improving due to the consistency in my workouts as well as changes to diet. Eating eggs every day makes a massive difference and adding bacon to that equation is something I have started to do. My diet is by no means perfect but is certainly a lot better than it was. (a lot of carbs, little protein or good fats). Clothes are fitting better despite only dropping 2 to 3 kgs. Lean muscle is increasing and it is quite visible.

So the plan for the next few weeks leading up to Christmas - The remaining weeks of theROP will take me to the end of January. This is the goal - to finish strong. I have invested nearly 10 weeks of time and effort into the ETK program and I am determined to finish that good work. I have been constantly searching for other program options (e.g. Olympic lifting, Crossfit, Starting Strength, Wendlar's 5/3/1, Viking Warrior Conditioning) but have always gravitated back to ETK.

Once this is done, I plan on doing a 2 week PM with 2 weeks of Power to the People deadlifting and pressing. We shall see.