Early 2018, I began to swing the 40kg kettlebell, first with two arms, and
gradually switched to single-arm. Two year later, I was able to do 100 swings
with that bell every morning. I love kettlebell training for many reasons and
especially appreciate its safety. That allows one to improve and build up to
impressive strength over time.
For me, it was not 100 percent good news, however, as with more weight came the
problem of sweaty hands. Toward the middle of a 10-rep set, sweat would make the
grip slippery and sometimes I had to put the bell down. On the left, I often had
to do six or seven instead of the standard five sets for 50 swings. More importantly, the slippery
grip undermined my posture and led to sissy, sluggish instead of crisp, hard style
swings. In other words, with sweaty hands, I couldn't express full swing power.
I tried to keep the room cool and drink less fluid before bed and even used
towel paper to dry my hands after each set. They worked to some extent but on a
90+ degree day, there was no chance. Even my stronger right hand felt the bell
about to fly off.
Then I read Pavel's updated Simple and Sinister book which came out in 2019
(when I decided to stop accummulating books for a year). I could have read it
earlier and it would have saved me at least six months of training. Among many
gems, I read that one mistake when pursuing the Sinister standard (i.e., 48kg),
according to Pavel Macek who has done it, was not to use chalk.
I had never used that messy white powder in weight-lifting and, being pigheaded,
tried to stay that way despite of ample evidences to the contrary. I finally gave in
as the frustration with lack of progress mounted. I was also curious. I ordered a
pack of eight blocks on Tue and got it the next day.
My palm glided once across the block's surface to get slightly dusted and that
was good enough for five sets on that side. With a good grip, confidence came
back, I was able to swing almost to the chest level, crisp and clean. One set of
ten swings took less than 15 seconds. I wished I had the 48kg "beast" to test my
mettle. The immediate result was soreness in the trapezius the next morning.
It reminds me of the scene of Maximus rubbing dirt on his hands before the
battle in The Gladiator. (Actually he did that before fights in coliseums, too.)
Some say that scene means he prefers to be a farmer than soldier. But from my
chalk experience, I think it is plain practicality.
The book is to be re-read and re-discovered over time. For now, I am inspired by
its story of John (Roper) Saxon, Bruce Lee's co-star in Enter The Dragon. There
is a picture of the guy, whitehair-ed and 71 years old, pressing a 32kg kettlebell
on the right. OK. I can press only 20kg today but have 20+ years to catch up!
P.S. Tim was so pumped after rubbing some of the powder in the same afternoon.
He demo'ed a 24kg press on the right! This had been a crazy year, the 13-year-old
said, and the chalk would be a game changer.
