challenges

Challenges, no not the kind where GG (gnarly guy) comes in and asks to try you out...although i have had those.  I mean the ones you set for yourself. These can be a great tool, and a great motivator. I just finished one...I did 10,000 kettlebell swings this month...well, 10375 to be exact. It was a challenge that my kettlebell instructor Trish Dong found on line. It gave me a focus, a theme, for this month`s physical training. Next month, I will be doing less reps, more power and explosion. I also have an ongoing challenge. I am preparing to do 1 hour of clean and jerk, in October 2012. I have made a committment to Jason Dolby, and to myself, to be able to do this.  That will be my organizing theme for 2012.  You can make the challenge a martial arts one.  I used to do 1000 kick workouts, once a week, I did this for a year. I had great kicks, I now have a fake hip. These events may, or may not, be related. That is one of the hazards of challenges. They can lead us from the realm of improvement to the land of overtraining, overuse, and in some cases, self abuse.  Some guide lines are : select exercises that are minimally hazardous. Swings do not have an extreme range of motion, you can vary the load, and the range. I never take mine above horizontal, as a safety check.  I would not do an extreme high rep challenge with snatches, because you are firing a weight into a locked, extended range. If you fatigue, and let the weight carry too far back, your shoulder will suffer. If you rotate your hand non optimally, the back ward stress falls on the elbow. For me, with my technique issues, and age, this is ungood. I find that clean and jerk are a safer range, and swings are safest, FOR ME.  Another guideline is to build up slowly.  Don`t jump from 100 reps max to 300, just to get the numbers. Build up. In my swing challenge, i realized that i could not immediately do the required amount of daily reps. So I put together a progression that started below the average, and built up to above it, in order to hit the monthly total. I built in enough leeway to allow for missed days (didn`t have any, so finished early. Another guideline, have easy days. I used 12k, 16k, 20 k and 24k bells for my swings. Obviously the 12 were easier.  Have recovery modalities, for me these are Tai Chi, Yoga, hot baths, whirlpools. Have days off of any hard exercise.   Plan the work, work the plan, monitor the body. Adjust as needed. Repeat. Have great year.