My training bucket list

For whatever reason, I started thinking about my long-term goals the other day.  That made me think about some short and medium-term goals as well.  I thought about writing down some lists divided into short, medium and long term ideas and then I decided to hell with it: rather than set arbitrary targets, I’d just create a bucket list.  A list of things to achieve before I finally kick the bucket.

Empty Bucket at Punta Del Este by longhorndave

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I have limited myself to my top ten items.  In ascending order of awesomeness:

1. Complete “Enter the Kettlebell” – as many of you will have spotted by now, I am a very late adopter.  I don’t own a TV (I’m waiting to see how they work out for other people) and I tend to get most of my training advice from people who have been dead for some years.  However, given that kettlebells have now been around for a respectable length of time, I decided to give them a try.  So I recently bought two items that I am hoping will keep me busy over the winter months: a 16kg kettlebell and the book “Enter the Kettlebell”, by Pavel Tsatsouline.  I have every intention of spending October through December working on program minimum (with maybe a few presses here and there).  Then, I intend to work on the secret service snatch test of 200 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24kg kettlebell from January to March.
2. Learn how to walk (barefoot) - continuing in the theme of being a late adopter, I have decided to spend some time this winter getting used to walking in a pair of minimalist shoes i.e. almost barefoot.  The idea being that I should be able to do normal length walks by next summer.  We have spoken to a local stockist of Vibrams and a pair should be winging its way to me very soon.  Email me if you live in the UK and you want his contact details.
3. Do a personal training qualification - so I can take this site to the next level, I have decided to get my personal training qualification.  With a little help from my friend, Rob Newman, I’ve paid my money and I’ve made my choice (N.B. Rob helped with the choice not the money).  I should get through this by next Easter, all being well.
4. Fill out a Large T-Shirt – I am fed up of people not knowing that I lift weights.  I am going to fill out a “large” T-shirt before long if I have to eat an entire cow every day for the next 6 months in order to do it.  Wish me luck (and maybe some anti-indigestion pills).
5. Take a powerlifting class – I really need some technique work to take my powerlifting to a competitive level.  At a bodyweight of 75kg (165lbs), my best ever deadlift of 190kg (425lbs) isn’t pathetic but it’s not really going to make any waves.  And my deadlift is my strong point…
6. Meet Rippetoe’s strength standards – I have read Mark Rippetoe state somewhere that a good target for an average man is to achieve a military press of 200lbs (90kg), a bench press of 300lbs (135kg), a squat of 400lbs (180kg) and a deadlift of 500lbs (225kg).  For me, at 165lbs (75kg) that would be a seriously awesome achievement.  But if I could get my bodyweight up to 90kg (200lbs) then it would be possible.  At least it’s congruent with filling out a large T-shirt…
7. Get a perfect FMS score – I’ve been reading a lot of Gray Cook’s work recently and I am buying into the Functional Movement Screen.  I think that I would like to get a perfect score one day, once I’ve sorted out all of my niggling little issues caused by being chained to a desk all of the time.
8. Compete at lightweight strongman – I really enjoy the strongman workouts that I set up in my back garden but I’m short and I could never get the bodyweight up to compete at a proper strongman competition.  For reference, in height, I think I come up to Rob Russell‘s elbow.  Besides, I’m probably too old to do it even if I wanted to now.  However, lightweight (U90kg) strongman seems to be gathering some pace in the UK and if I can get my press together (I have a core stability limitation that I’m working on at the moment) then I should be able to take part in a year or two once I have some spare time.
9. Qualify for a national competition – I would like to compete at a high level again.  What sport I end up competing at is open to debate at the moment.  The silly thing is that I could rock up to the UK masters swimming nationals tomorrow and not look like I was a novice.  Similarly, I could go to the British Indoor Rowing Championships as a lightweight if I stay at 75kg and produce a decent enough 2,00m race such that I wasn’t too embarassed.  If I have to, I will go back to those sports but I would rather find a strength sport to suit me.   
10. Attempt a record or do something remarkable  – I’d like to get a small measure of immortality by finding a recently uncontested record and having a bash at it.  I guess it will end up being a weighted chin, one-arm chin or orang-utan hang type record: something involving chin ups or pull ups would play to my obsession strengths.  Also, it’s rare for me to go more than a few weeks without dreaming about Jasper Benincasa’s Close To Impossible or John Gill’s one-arm front lever.  You can read about such remarkable feats here (although take some of the reporting with a pinch of salt as they only claim a 110lbs chin for Jack Arnow, which is way too low given his one-arm chinning prowess).

Anybody else care to share?