This past weekend we tried out the Tactical Strength Challenge. It consists of deadlift, pullup, and kettlebell snatch. It was a fun, well run, and friendly event. We really enjoyed it and will definitely attend the next one on October 3, 2015.
It is held internationally on the same day, and the closest location for us was Kettibility in Seattle. The staff and participants were were all great. Everyone was very supportive of each other. When people asked about your results, the next question was most likely, ”was that your personal best?”
Tactical Strength Challenge
We arrived a half-hour before the event, signed our releases, got our t-shirts and started warming up. As soon as I picked up the first kettlebell to do some swings, I felt a strain in my right adductor. I strained this same muscle about four months ago testing a narrow deadlift stance.
Jennifer put me in a quarter squat to activate the muscle, covered my dominant eye, and did drills with my non-dominant eye to lower my overall stress. At this point I was able to squat with full range of motion but was still aware of the strain.
The first event was the deadlift.
Jennifer’s personal record was 210. So we planned her lifts to be 190, 200, 210. But we had been training to drop the bar after the lift, but the rules required we lower the bar with control. Not knowing if that would have any effect on her lifts, Jennifer decided to go for 200 on her first lift. She successfully pulled 200, then 210, then set a new PR with a 220. All lifts were nice and smooth and she probably could have gone higher.
My opening lift was 285. In between lifts I was nursing the adductor and my second lift was 300, which was a tie for my PR about three weeks earlier. My third lift was 310 and unsuccessful. But overall, I was really pleased to still hit my PR with a less then optimal adductor. Especially since I was walking upright after the event. On a normal training day there is no way I would have lifted that heavy with an injury.
The second event was pull ups.
I was the first one on the bar. The pull ups are conducted with the Marine Corps standards, so it was what I was used to. Over hand grip, complete straight arm dead-hang between each rep, no swinging or kipping and the chin has to clear the bar. I did 14 reps and was pretty happy with that. Not the 20 I did before retirement, but I’ll be back to that by the fall TSC.
In the women’s novice division, they perform a flexed-arm hang instead of a pull up. The event is timed and your score is based on how many seconds you keep your chin above the bar. Jennifer scored 44 seconds, just a few seconds short of her PR.
The third event was the kettlebell snatch.
The kettlebell snatch requires a solid overhead lockout for the rep to count. Jennifer went first and got 118 snatches in five minutes, missing her PR by just five reps. She started just a little slow to make sure she was getting a good lockout and that each rep was counting. Her form was awesome and I believe she was the only woman (maybe only participant) who snatched continuously all five minutes without any break.
My snatches started out pretty good. But along the way my leg was getting tighter and tighter. I wasn’t really aware of it at the time, but looking at video later you could see my hip and knee flexibility was way diminished by the time I finished. Still, I managed 94 snatches in the 5 minutes.
Overall we really enjoyed it and planned to be back in the fall. We are talking about putting together a program specific to the TSC for members who want to participate in the fall, complete with mock events between now and then to get ready.
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