In a recent workout I went for a PR towards my goal of 100 reps with the 48kg kettlebell.
My goal here was 80 and although it was a struggle I hit it. (My previous record was 70.)
A key in doing the kettlebell snatch or any endurance set is the right kind of pacing. With 80 reps in ten minutes that breaks down into 8 reps per minute. I break that down to four reps left then four reps right.
Overall this was my format. But what I’ve found is that it is helpful to get a little ahead in the beginning so you have some wiggle room towards the end.
Thus, the first two sets here I go for nine reps.
Since each 8 or 9 rep set takes about 26-28 seconds this leaves a little over a half minute to rest in each set.
This gives me the second useful cushion. Although I start off on the top of the minute for each set in the beginning, if I finished this all the way through I’d be finishing the test with over a half minute left.
Thus, when needed, I can spend a little more time resting. Ten extra seconds here and ten seconds there is very useful.
This was my plan and largely what happened.
But…
On this test my skin began to tear on my right hand (and some blisters started to form on my left, though those didn’t impact me like the right hand did). You can notice me checking out my hands starting at 7:48.
That’s the first time I’ve had that happen in a while.
As I was only two minutes from the end I kept going. Generally if skin is tearing I’d be done. But today was a test.
So on the next set, at 8:29, I went to keep the handle more in my fingers and less on the palm. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough of a grip on that rep and the kettlebell flew!
This is really where I had to tap into my mental toughness.
Generally if I dropped the kettlebell like I did I’d stop. But today was a test.
I had to do a bit of scrambling and it threw off my flow but I was able to finish the test hitting my goal.
The cushion I had formed was much needed. And truthfully I still had about 9 or 10 seconds left to spare.
My goal was not just to hit 80 reps but to do so without going 110%.
Because of the tear I felt like I worked harder than I otherwise would have, but overall I’m still happy with the progress.
Doing 20 more reps is going to be tougher…