Every once in a while as a mom (or dad) you get a really cool gift from your child.  It’s usually something they didn’t even realize would be special to you.  This morning my son (age 9) watched me do my workout.  I noticed he was paying close attention, and he even got up and followed along with me for a bit, using a small weighted ball in his hand.  I was thrilled with just that.

Later, while I chugged  a protein shake, I noticed he was pouring over a drawing at the kitchen table.  Several minutes later he presented me with this:

He mistakenly called a clean a snatch throughout, and the time was really more like 20 minutes, but otherwise, a pretty accurate description of what the practice looked like.  

My training plan got slightly derailed this week.  I woke up with a scratchy throat on Thursday, but still felt well enough to work out and continued with my program.  However, things got worse over night, and Friday I knew that putting any extra stress on myself would be a bad idea. 

I consider it a blessing when I know for sure NOT to do something (or TO do something.)  Too many times, when I’m slightly sick I stew over whether or not to do my usual work out.  To be honest, though, consideration for my health often takes a back seat to my desire to exercise.  Good judgment doesn’t always reign supreme.

While recuperating, I decided to research this issue a bit to see if there were any clear cut guidelines beyond the obvious.  I did find some fairly helpful information.   First the absolutes. 

Don’t exercise if:

• You are running a fever
• You have congestion in your chest and lungs
• You feel achy
• You have gastrointestinal symptoms along with cold symptoms

If none of those apply, you MAY be ok to exercise.  Experts use what they call the  “above the neck” rule to help determine whether or not it would be prudent to work out. This is the rule:  if all of your symptoms are located above the neck (runny nose, congestion, scratchy throat) AND you feel up to working out, then it is probably alright to do so.  The caveat is this:   if your above-neck  symptoms are severe, it would be wise to rest instead of working out.

Note, if you perform your exercise in a gym or other public place, please refrain from going until you are no longer contagious.  Even then, wipe off any equipment you use when you are done.  It’s your responsibility.

If you’ve determined that you are not too sick to work out, the experts say that you should still scale back from your normal routine.  They suggest starting out at about 50% of your normal level of  intensity.  If you still feel ok after about 10 minutes, it’s probably acceptable to increase to about 80% of your usual intensity for a few moments.  In general, your workout should be shorter and less intense than usual.  This would not be the time to attempt personal records. 

The value of exercise when mildly ill is in getting your blood flowing, at least briefly clearing your congestion, and improving your general overall feeling.  If at any time you don’t feel up to continuing, it is a sign that you need to rest rather than exercise.

It is always key to remember to stay hydrated when exercising.  This becomes even more important if you’re working out with a mild cold.  Dehydration can worsen your symptoms or set the stage for complications, like sinus infections.  Over-the-counter cold medications can also make dehydration a more likely outcome.  You owe it to yourself to drink extra water if you have chosen to do your workout.

Some good news: studies have shown that those who engage in regular moderate exercise get fewer colds than those who do not.  And we tend to get over the colds in about half the time as those who don’t exercise.   That means fewer days that the question, “Am I too sick?” will even have to be considered.

For those interested in more details about RKC, here are two videos just released from Dragon Door.  Both are from the April, 2009 RKC weekend.

Who’s going with me?

After “Brutal” Monday, I felt like Tuesday’s workout was a breeze.  And it was, kind of.  At least there isn’t too much thinking involved, just lots of swings and lots of sweat.  With this workout, my grip goes before I’m ready to stop, but this time I managed to get around that.

Elise calls this one Kettlebell Cardio, which is a pretty fitting name.  It looks like this:  10 2 Hand Swings, 10 Single Hand Swings (5R, 5L) 10 2 Hand Swings,  10 Swing/Cleans (5R, 5L).  Rest and Repeat.

Last time I did this one I did 6 rounds.  Tuesday I did 9 rounds.  I did alter the plan slightly on the last 3 rounds because my grip was deteriorating.  Instead of doing 10 Swing/Cleans,  I did 10 Single Hand Swings (5R, 5L) followed by 10 Cleans (5R, 5L).  I think the tradeoff was worth it since I got so many more total rounds in the workout.

No fun add ons.  After the 9th round of Kettlebell Cardio, I was cooked.   Oh yeah, and the hands.  Blisters + kettlebell snatches = not a good combination.

Wednesday my kettlebell practice was Turkish Get Ups (1-3 each side) and Swings (25 2 Hand).  I like this one a lot because it is so simple.  Today I used a 10kg kettlebell for the TGUs and 16kg for the swings.  This was the first time trying a TGU with a bell heavier than 8kg.  I wasn’t sure I could even do one, but things went pretty well.  I can tell I’m getting stronger and better at the whole TGU thing.  However, they did look sloppy several times today as I had to work harder with the heavier bell.  It will be a while before I go up in weight again.

I had to scale back on the reps of the TGUs but I still managed to do 5 rounds.  I wanted more swing time after that so I did another 100 swings for fun, in this format:  25 swings/:30 rest.  No snatches today either.  : (

I’m still planning on doing some HIIT this week.  While Fred’s suggestions are quite intriguing, I have my heart set on running stairs somewhere.  I just have to figure out where I can do that.  Maybe that will be a Saturday thing.

I really have a love/hate relationship with the workout of the day – the Lower Body Workout from Elise.  The official name I’m giving this one is Brutal.  It’s exhausting and humbling from front squat after front squat after front squat.  Almost in a MMA Conditioning Workout  kind of way.  But, the rewards are significant - legs that feel they’ve been given a good shake up, and a  healthy number on the heart rate monitor in the calorie burn category.  Plus a feeling of accomplishment from knowing that I’ve given due attention to my most “troublesome” area.

Here’s the program:  10  2 Hand Swings, 10 Front Squats, 10 Reverse Lunges (5R, 5L) 10 Single Hand Swings (each hand) and 10 Clean & Squat (5R, 5L.)  Rest and repeat.  Over the last 3 weeks, this has been my progression with the workout:

• 12 kg kettlebell x 6 rounds (2 weeks ago)
• 12 kg kettlebell x 3 rounds. 16 kg kettlebell x 2 rounds (last week)
• 12 kg kettlebell x 4 rounds, 16 kg kettlebell x 2 rounds (today)

I don’t want to do more than 6 rounds of this one EVER if I can help it.  Ugh!  So I guess next week I’ll try to use the 12kg for 3 rounds and the 16 kg for 3 rounds.  I don’t know if that will happen, though.   Any other suggestions?

This is what I did for fun practice, after the above: 

• snatches with the 8kg bell 5R, 5L
• Windmills with the 4kg (tiny I know, but I was tired by then) 5R, 5L

Did that 2 times through.  I wanted to do more snatches but I was pretty much in agony with my hands.  They are lagging behind on the snatch-adaption process.  Sigh.

Over the weekend I also performed  the workout I named Beautiful.  Nothing major to report – it was decent, although the cleans must have gone wrong at some point because by the end I had some tender spots on my left forearm.  I practiced snatching and windmilling and deads at the end, and felt good, with the exception of my hands.  See above.

This week I have the goal of adding in a strictly HIIT day also.  Haven’t decided what it will consist of.  Probably it won’t include a kettlebell.  Just for a change. 

 I’m not very good at  motivating other people with catch phrases or cute sayings.  I can tell my story, but beyond that, I’m basically at a loss as to how to help others get motivated.  If someone comes to me already motivated, I’m great at helping them stay that way and focus on their goals.  I guess I’m best at the action part of things, not the dreaming part.

But today I read a story (thanks to my friend, Laura) which I will be using to help myself and others find motivation to start.  To start doing whatever it is that needs to be done.  I’m going to be following this man’s story with great interest as he continues to overcome and achieve, and likely you should too.

You can read the story about Josh Hanagarne, the “World’s Strongest Librarian” here .  He also has a blog that you should bookmark.   And tell your friends.   Josh is accomplishing something great, and more people need to know about it. 

And here’s a video Josh made as an introduction to his website.  You don’t want to miss it.

Keep at it, Josh.  And for the rest of us, get to it!

 (Wait, was that a motivating catch phrase?)

No workout yesterday.  In fact, most of the day was spent horizontal trying to find relief from a headache which wouldn’t pass. This morning it’s mostly gone, so I’m back to the routine. 

Today I did the Upper Body Workout from Elise.  Here’s how I do it:  5-10 Get Up Propers, 5-10 1 Arm Bent Rows, 5-10 Clean & Press, 10 Single Hand Swings.  Then switch sides.  Rest after doing both sides, then repeat.  I made it through 4 times.   Each time through, I did 9 Get Up Propers and 9 Clean & Presses, and 10 of the other two exercises.  That’s about the same as the last time I did the same workout, so I’m satisfied.    I didn’t feel like wearing the heart rate monitor so no fun data, but I know that the practice was about 30 minutes.

I only did one tag-on exercise for fun today.  On each side, I did one snatch with the 8kg into a windmill.  Sort of.  I think I need to practice that one when I’m fresh.  Thanks for the idea, Jeremy. 

My hands are starting to feel better after the major burning from too many kettlebell snatches the other day.  I’ve been using Corn Huskers Lotion frequently, and it’s working its magic.  If you kettlebell and don’t use the Corn Huskers, RUN out and buy some.  That may be more difficult than it seems, though.  Around here it’s onlycarried in unexpected places.  I found mine at the grocery store and the CVS after searching walmart, target, kmart and pretty much every other place I could think of.  There are some online sources that have it, if you are desperate, though.

Sandy Sommer, RKC, suggested the Corn Huskers.  He also pointed me to this article for more help with hand care.  If you haven’t seen it before, it’s by Dave Whitley, Senior RKC.  If you have other hand care tips or practices, let me know.  It obviously is a process  for your hands to adapt to frequent use of the kettlebell.  Especially if you’re like me, and used to wear gloves to lift at the gym.  I’m strangely proud of the callouses I have now!

Figuring that I’d be too sore this morning for my scheduled Turkish Get Up and Swing combination workout, I slept late.  (Hmm. Been doing that a lot this week!) In reality, I wasn’t all that sore when I got going,  and probably should have gotten up at my usual time so I could have made better use of the rest of the day.  Oh well.

The prescribed workout of the day involves up to 3 Turkish Get Ups per side, then 25 swings.  Rest and repeat.  It’s my favorite one in the rotation Elise provided. Today I used the 8kg bell and did 3 TGUs on alternating sides (6 total) followed by 25 swings with the 16kg kettlebell x 4 rounds.  

Snatches:  I couldn’t NOT do these. Experienced kettlebell friends, tell me:  should I keep on practicing every day if I feel like it?  Or will that lead to overtraining?   With the 8kg bell, I did 10 per side x 5 rounds.  By then my hands were really hurting/burning.  (More and different callouses are on the way.)  I upgraded to the 10kg bell just to see how it would go, and managed several more per side before deciding to stop the insanity on my hands.  So I’m basically obsessed with snatching the kettlebell at this point.  Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yesterday I felt like dirt.  Sometimes you don’t realize how bad you feel until you feel better and think back.  Today I can think back.  At least it’s over.  I slept late this morning because I felt so bad last night.  Maybe that’s what I needed.  My workout today was mid morning, and I had tons of energy.

To start off, I did Elise’s cardio workout.  It’s the one that is mostly swings, with a few cleans thrown in at the end of each round.  Since I got my heart rate monitor, I’ve been keeping track of which of these workouts burns the most calories.  The lower body work out wins, but I believe this one comes in second.  It’s just a piece of information, though.

Last time I did six rounds of this workout. Today I finished 7 rounds without any difficulty.  My grip was wearing out by the end of the cleans, but otherwise I still felt good.

Despite the tired hands, I picked up the 8kg bell and decided to really work at this kettlebell snatch situation.  (Mind you, I learned this move 2 days ago.  8kg is a lot today.)  I also chose to wear my wristbands just because I knew that if I didn’t, this wouldn’t last long.

It was ugly, and then – it got OK.  One time I tried snapping my hips crazy hard and success!  Soft landing with the bell.  Ah hah!  I had another breakthrough when I tried snatching continuously, rather than doing a swing-snatch-swing-snatch thing.  (Don’t know why I was doing that anyway.)  Wow!  So I kept going.  I did a bunch of them.  Over and over.  I lost count.  I rested a little here and there, and I think I finally stopped about 15 minutes later.  Probably not too wise to do that many.  My elbows are feeling strange at this point.  Not injured, but confused.  Hopefully tomorrow I won’t be crying.  And hopefully I’ll remember how to find the groove I somehow managed to stumble into today.

I can’t wait to go to the Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor certification weekend.  By all accounts, it is one of the most difficult challenges available, both physically and mentally.  RKCs unanimously agree that it is also one of the most rewarding things they have ever done.  Wow.  Sign me up!

So, my friends who know about  my interest in the RKC have asked, “When will you go?”  The answer, at least for now, is:  I don’t  know.  There are tough certification requirements which I must fulfill.  It’s difficult  to estimate how long it will take me to prepare, but I do know that I’m nowhere near ready now. 

RKC weekends are usually announced about 6 months in advance, but typically follow a similar schedule from year to year.   Under consideration for me would be the (as yet unannounced) February or April, 2010 RKC weekends. The April session will likely be in St. Paul, which is more convenient for me.  Jet lag doesn’t sound like something I would want to deal with that weekend.  

  It really boils down to how I progress.  So kettlebell progress (endurance, strength, skill, knowledge) is what I’m focused on now.  I’m doing everything I can to progress quickly and safely. But I’m also enjoying the climb. 

 Here is video from the San Jose RKC February 2009  I can’t get enough of that video!  And here’s another from the most recent  St. Paul Minnesota RKC April 2009  They make me want to go RIGHT NOW!