Thursday, January 06, 2005

Holiday Season Recovery

No blogging for a while- the run up to Christmas was particularly stressful for me and the family, and not just because of the holiday itself. Christmas Eve and Day were great fun but really busy as we had to switch between our home and those of both our folks. Since then we’ve had to cope with one of the girls getting a particularly nasty stomach bug and the other teething (she’s NOT enjoying the experience one bit) and really low energy levels. My Other Half and I are exhausted. Throw in some major DIY around the house (with my usual exemplary timing I’ve decided that we should fix up the kitchen, the bathroom, put down a wooden floor in our living room and swap our bedroom with the girls’) and you’ve got a recipe for…well, I’m not sure what just yet. It’s a major re-organisation but we’re determined to make some changes to our lifestyle and new year seems as good a time as any to get started. 48 hours solid sleep would be handy right now but it doesn’t seem likely. We’re also house-sitting for a week so I’m without computer access most of the time- got a lot of catching up to do when we get settled back in and the DIY is all done. I had a quick look at Mad Ogre and Airborne Combat Engineer today- it seems like an absolute age since I’ve been to either site and I only had time today for a quick read. ACE has a great article on one of my favourite topics, big-bore handguns, specifically the Smith and Wesson .500 Magnum. Go have a read!

Just before Christmas I got myself a 16kg Kettlebell and began to teach myself the techniques involved in this old school system. I haven’t been able to train as much as I’d like (this week has been wiped out after my back played up and I ended up collapsed on the floor for a few hours, eventually requiring an emergency visit from a Doctor in the wee small hours) and over Christmas my eating habits have not been modest. Even so, as of last weekend, I’d managed to strip off about 8lbs (in about two weeks) and I put it all down to KB training. I definitely feel stronger and while it’s an exhausting workout to do, there’s not much in the way of muscle soreness afterwards (one session knackered my hamstrings for a couple of days and my legs felt really heavy but it doesn’t compare to the soreness of normal body building). I’m not sure when my back will be up to me re-starting training but I’m dying to start swinging that KB- it’s a fun tool to train with and the results are pretty obvious. I’m eager to move up to either a 24kg or a 32kg KB where I think I’ll see a real increase in muscle but I’m going to leave it for a few months and get a good, solid base first. No point in risking injury and the 16 is ideal for getting the technique right. Dragon Door is probably the place to go if you’re interested in learning more on the topic- the forum there is a great resource.

Anyway, expect some irregular updates here for maybe another week or so and then I’ll hopefully be back posting more frequently. My thanks to all who take the time to come read.

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