Don't Call it a Comeback...

I'm not sure if it is one or isn't. I announced to my wife that I was going to fire up the blog again and she said "you mean the kettlebell blog?'. I had to stop for a second because I don't have any other blog but I hadn't realized it was pretty much entirely devoted to kettlebells. For the past year and a half at least, my kettlebells have been collecting dust. I have still been training but just using other stuff like barbells, bodyweight drills, rowing (both on the erg and on the water), and running. This past summer I spent rowing on the water and training for a marathon which I ran in September. I suppose I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog if I am going to resurrect it. I do think it may be a worthwhile endeavor because I learnt a few things along the way and some readers (If I still have any) might find some useful info to help their own training. I really took a big vacation from kettlebells over the past couple years and I'd like to spend some time on that subject. While training for Ken Whethem's amazing Outlaw Kettlebell meet in May of 2011 I noticed significant pain and swelling where the body of the bell would rest on my left wrist. It got to the point where it would hurt to even touch it lightly. After the meet I completely gave up kettlebells and focused on rowing instead. The swelling persisted despite the kettlebell boycott. I showed it to a friend who is an orthopaedic surgeon and he thought it might be intersection syndrome from rowing but I told him rowing didn't bother it (although it did give me a wicked case of tennis elbow but thats another story). Eventually we just decided to stick a needle in it and a bunch of old blood came out. I probably bled into the tendon sheath and it just sat there. In spite of draining the fluid the area remains sensitive even now and the lightest kettlebells will bother it. I tried several different wrist guards and improvised ones like small shin guards under socks, I melted some pvc pipe to shape a guard but nothing worked well for me. The guards would shift too much under the bell and slide all over my arm. I really thought I had exhausted my options until I found this. This is an Evoshield wrist guard. I found this at Dick's Sporting Goods. You simply open the sealed bag that holds the insert, slide it into the neoprene sleeve, put it on, leave it on for about 30 min while it hardens in the shape of your wrist and you are all set. It doesn't slide around and it holds up well. It stood up to bells as heavy as 40 kg used for cleans and long cycle so it seems durable. This isn't cheap though. One of these will set you back about $25 but for me it is well worth it to be able to get back to doing long cycle which is the the duck's nuts when it comes to exercise. If your wrists are bothering you from kettlebells you might want to give this a try. In any case I plan on getting back into some long cycle and possibly doing more with this blog.