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After a short drive we got to the gym and had a few discussions about what we were going to do before Gregor got me straight into it. I had only done a few warm up jerks and snatches before he stopped me. This is where my learning experience began. For the next 20 minutes I felt my whole life had been turned upside down. Maybe a bit dramatic, but when you think you're almost there only to realise there is so much more to do, it's a bit of downer! Anyway although a complete change, I was loving it, all these new things to work on which made complete sense to me. At this point, I was really looking forward to the next two days. Gregor then asked me to do a test set of jerks to see what I looked like, this was a chance for him to see all the things I needed to work on. Unfortunately, my form and technique was now all over the place so it turned out to be possibly the worst 5 minutes of jerks I've ever done. Reflecting on it now I can see that I was tense, thinking too much and trying to change all of the things straight away. Oh well, it gave me a chance to warm up and prepare for what was about to come. Gregor carried on testing me with a variety of different sets and reps until we got to lunch. Man was I happy about that, I hadn’t eaten since 6am and my energy levels were very low.

I met up with Matej Hocevar (one of the coaches there who has come to the UK a few times to train with us) to get some lunch. I was in need of some serious food, so I went straight for the rib eye steak and it went down a treat! After lunch I had a few hours to chill out before Gregor came back past the hotel in his Mercedes Vito to pick me up. Straight back into the gym and we trained for almost 3 hours, breaking down the jerk and the snatch, working with different weights and times, trying to really nail the key points. I really enjoyed this part of the day as I felt like the pressure was off and I could just focus on the right things. The first 5 minute jerk set was a lot easier than the one in the morning and after that we did a few more sets, varying the rpm to see what went first on me.

Don't worry; I will make sure all of the training goes up on the forum and blog so you can see what I actually did. Throughout the afternoon we carried on working on my technique and adjusting specific areas. The hardest thing for me was trying to do all of the adjustments at the same time. It ended up slowing me down and losing other areas. Gregor advises me that the best thing to do is work on one thing at a time. So next week, I'll stop trying to be a clever sod and work on one area at a time!

The one area that really did frustrate me slightly was the snatches, it is so technical and there is so much going on in short space of time, my head was just all over the place. There are no mirrors in the gym, which is a good thing, but I've kind of got used to using them so I found it quite hard to listen to my own body. After all of the technique work we went into some assistant work, lots of push press, jump squats and swing variations. After all of that and a quick warm down I was done and ready to eat.

And that's where I am right now, eating! To reflect on the day and what I learnt, well if I put it all on paper I would be here al night and my food is getting cold. So I will save that for another date. In terms of an experience, this has to be the best day of learning I've ever had in the field of kettlebell sport. I've seen so much over the last two years face to face and on the internet, but never has anyone broken it down and taught it so well. I've taken on so much today, I can't wait to get back to the Trojans and tell them all about it. I think I'll leave it until after the competition, otherwise they'll all do what I did this morning!

That's me for today, bring on tomorrow morning!!

If anyone is interested in following what Gregor Sobocan does please use the following links.
http://www.kettlebells.si/
http://www.youtube.com/user/SloveniaKettlebells

To come and watch the Trojans and other lifters compete this Sunday please contact info@optimallifefitness.com or click on the link below for information

http://www.trojansliftingclub.com/?p=62