My CrossRoads

Over the past couple weeks I have been through a mixture of a few kettlebell workouts, quite a few yoga practices, a couple running/walking hikes, and some high intensity interval training. I took a 10 day recovery week from the bells and performed solely yoga and interval cardio. It was actually the best I've felt in a very, very LONG time.

10 days later I performed my first Long Cycle workout and it went well. It was a simple 6 minute set with 2 20kg and 6rpm. Then I performed a 4 minute set with 1 28kg bell and 6rpm focusing on a double long lockout. Lastly I ran on the boring treadmill for 20 minutes at 7mph and 2% incline.

The day after I took it off from the bells, but on with yoga. I felt great.

The day after that I performed another Long Cycle set. It was a 12 minute set with 2 20kg bells at a pace of 4rpm. After the set I just felt all tight and my neck/traps were super tight beyond comfort. I seemed to have tweaked something in my lower back as well so that forced me to compensate elsewhere- thus the neck issue. My strength and endurance felt better than ever, but regarding the issues mentioned above- I am beyond withstanding.

So this leaves me at a crossroads.

I love Long Cycle and really wanted to progress my kettlebell practice into Master of Sport numbers, but never at the sake of injury. That's just foolish. When I began this quest 3 and a half months ago I mentioned that overall strength would never be a factor as that would certainly come with time, but the strength and condition of my lumbar spine would be the only hang up from me making good progression.

This is my new plan. I will not give up Long Cycle, but will be performing one arm instead of two for a while. This really stinks because the ONLY thing holding me back is my stinkin lower back. My body is strong enough muscularly and this is quite frustrating.

So with that said Long Cycle will continue, but mostly with one bell. I can handle the 32kg no problem with one so I can still continue to get stronger.
I will be performing regular One Arm Long Cycle 1-3x per week.
2-3x per week I will be performing Turkish Getups alongside other supportive and strength stability work, yoga, and hiking or any cardio of my choice such as rowing, interval sprinting and straight running.

This will continue my strength and stability focus and hopefully one day I can progress into the Master of Sport training full-on once again, but overall my health is my ultimate goal and that will be my continued conquest.