Day 4 | 12 week Kettlebell RKC Minimum Challenge

Today was my 4th day on Pavel’s RKC Minimum Kettlebell Challenge. It’s a 4-week minimum program, and if I finish, I move up to the real RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) that lasts another 8 weeks.

Let me tell you … IT’S HARD!

After I finished my first workout on Monday, I felt fine. No big deal.

… the next day, my entire body was sore! It felt like conditioning week before football in high school. I ached when I stood up, when I walked, when I sat down. When I sneezed, it hurt. The second day on the RKC minimum, you do get-ups. Essentially, you lay on the ground and hold the ‘bell up in the air. Then, using your balance and entire body’s strength, you slowly stand-up, with your arm still straight up in the air. Once you’re fully standing, you slowly go back down. Then repeat on the other side. This goes on for 5 minutes.

I was only able to do 2 get-ups on each side before I was stuck with halfzies. I just didn’t have the strength!

Today, however, I felt much better. I got 15 more swings in, and even went over the 12-min mark to 12:30. It’s not much, but I really pushed myself.



Check out my heart rate from the program. Notice that I did a 10-min warmup, 1-min break (where I moved the bell, got my notebook ready, etc) [this number should shrink to 20-30 seconds next time], then 12 minutes of swings. 20 swings, then 1 min jogging in place. You’ll notice that my heart rate increased over time, and finally reached the max of the day. I hit 92% of my maximum heart rate, calculated by 220-age (220-24=196). 180 [my max HR today] divided by 196 is .918 or 91.8%.

This is a good number to hit. I’ve been higher, into the 97 percentile, but it really winds you!

Tomorrow, more get-ups. I’ll try to get 4 on each side.

Russian Kettlebell power to YOU!

Posted in 12 Week Kettlebell Challenge, Fitness.

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