I’ve decided I’m naming these work outs that Elise designed.  Today’s will be known as Beautiful.  It’s one with very  fluid movements, a sweet blend of cardio and strength.  Everything is unilateral – Kettlebell Swing, Swing Clean, Squat, Press.   I used the 12kg throughout this time.  I considered adding an extra set at the end, but I was too fatigued to do many more cleans and/or presses.  So instead I just did more swings.  I borrowed my friend, www.twitter.com/kravmascara ’s, idea and did one hand swings for :30 per side and then :30 rest.  It didn’t take too many rounds before I was toast.   Total workout time 22:23.  I burned 203 calories.  But we all know that the afterburn is what counts. 

Back to the kettlebells.  :-)   Mainly this practice was all about swings.  Two hand kettlebell swings, one hand, back and forth.  Elise loves to throw in some cleans in pretty much every workout, and they are there in this one too.  Good stuff.  I’ll be honest, I was a bit tired (and maybe had a teensy weensy bit of DOMS in my legs) after that killer MMA workout the day before, but I still managed six rounds of this program.  I got the new Polar watch working and it indicated that I burned 212 calories in 20:49, which included a short warm up and cool down.  Not bad!

Yesterday I went to the gym and did this barbell complex workout.  (Do NOT perform this workout if you aren’t in good condition or haven’t been trained in each of these exercises.  If you are going to try it, make the exercise substitutions suggested by my friend, Laura, on her blog.  Best idea: just read about how Laura, Julie, Jimmy and I got through it.)

Choosing the right weight for the workout was difficult.  Having recently completed Stage 7 of New Rules of Lifting for Women, I knew that I needed to pick a weight that would be  lighter than I would normally choose for any of the individual exercises. I ended up going with a 30# preweighted barbell, and I think  it was the best choice for me.

I made it through all 6 rounds.  I think it took me about 28 minutes.  Unfortunately, when I got to the gym, I couldn’t remember how to start a new session on my spanking new Polar heart rate monitor.  So I  was unable to time my workout precisely or capture any of the other fun data the watch provides.   That really stinks, because I’m sure that I burned a ton of calories and I KNOW that my heart rate got way up there.

Nausea during a tough workout is not uncommon for me.  I usually notice it when the exercises alternate between upper and lower body and are performed in a circuit fashion with little rest.   True to form, I started feeling the nausea around the second round of this workout.  It never got really bad, though, and I was able to shake it off during each rest period between rounds.  I also became aware of lactic acid building up at about the third round.

The military presses were becoming difficult for me by the end of the fourth round.  On the last two rounds I really had to work to perform all 8 reps.  That confirmed to me that choosing a heavier barbell would have been a problem.  I didn’t fatigue too much on any of the other exercises.  However, by the last round, I had to really convince my legs to cooperate when it came time for the lunges.  After that, I knew the end was in sight, and I just pushed through.  

Overall, the workout felt great.  I really love performing some of those movements, especially the Squat/Push Press.  (By the way, I did substitute a front squat/push press for that one, partly because it is an exercise I have experience with, and I didn’t want to have to think too hard when fatigued!) Explosive movements are my favorites.  I also enjoyed the fast tempo of the workout, and the simplicity of using  just one weight for an entire workout.

Doing this kind of workout periodically to gauge your fitness would be kind of fun.  I may just have to revisit this workout or a similar one in the near future.

If you decide to give this one a try,  leave me a comment below and let me know how it goes for you!

I didn’t use my kettlebells today. Instead I went to the gym and did a really cool barbell complex workout. Several of my friends from twitter are doing the same workout over the next few days and we’ll be commiserating.  It was cool, and I’m going to be talking more about it soon.  But this makes two days in a row of no kettlebell practice for me.   A nice break?  NO! I miss the stinking cannonballs!  Even though I should probably take tomorrow off since I blasted my body pretty hard with that workout this morning, NO WAY I’m skipping tomorrow.  Pathetic?  Maybe.  Addicted?  Definitely.

In reading Rachel Cosgrove’s blog today, I saw a link to a great article in Women’s Health magazine.  Those of us who weight train regularly, either with free weights, kettlebells, sandbags or other equipment know that the benefits of doing so are numerous.  We don’t need to be sold.  However, it’s sometimes fun to relook those benefits to keep our own motivation high.  Plus we stay ready to freely spout these facts to unsuspecting listeners wherever we go!  Here is an excerpt from the article from Women’s Health, April 2009 (Italics added by me):

Pump Up, Slim Down

If you’ve blown off weight training for fear of bulking up, you’re missing out on the fastest fat-burning method known to woman

Lauren Aaronson

Tired of sweating all over every piece of cardio equipment at the gym and still getting zero love from the scale? You need more iron. Not in your diet—in your hands. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a mere 21 percent of women strength train two or more times a week. What you don’t know: When you skip the weight room, you lose out on the ultimate flab melter. Those two sessions a week can reduce overall body fat by about 3 percentage points in just 10 weeks, even if you don’t cut a single calorie. That translates to as much as three inches total off your waist and hips. Even better, all that new muscle pays off in a long-term boost to your metabolism, which helps keep your body lean and sculpted. Suddenly, dumbbells sound like a smart idea. Need more convincing? Read on for more solid reasons why you should build flex time into your day.

Torch Calories 24/7
Though cardio burns more calories than strength training during those 30 sweaty minutes, pumping iron slashes more overall. A study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that women who completed an hour-long strength-training workout burned an average of 100 more calories in the 24 hours afterward than they did when they hadn’t lifted weights. At three sessions a week, that’s 15,600 calories a year, or about four and a half pounds of fat—without having to move a muscle.

What’s more, increasing that afterburn is as easy as upping the weight on your bar. In a study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, women burned nearly twice as many calories in the two hours after their workout when they lifted 85 percent of their max load for eight reps than when they did more reps (15) at a lower weight (45 percent of their max).

There’s a longer-term benefit to all that lifting, too: Muscle accounts for about a third of the average woman’s weight, so it has a profound effect on her metabolism, says Kenneth Walsh, director of Boston University School of Medicine’s Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. Specifically, that effect is to burn extra calories, because muscle, unlike fat, is metabolically active. In English: Muscle chews up calories even when you’re not in the gym. Replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of lean muscle and you’ll burn an additional 25 to 50 calories a day without even trying.

Target Your Trouble Spots
If you’ve ever tried to ditch the saddlebags and ended up a bra size smaller instead, you know that where you lose is as important as how much. As great as it might be to see the numbers on the scale go down, when you’re on a strict cardio-only program your victory is likely to be empty. A recent study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham compared dieters who lifted three times a week with those who did aerobic exercise for the same amount of time. Both groups ate the same number of calories, and both lost the same amount—26 pounds—but the lifters lost pure chub, while about 8 percent of the aerobicizers’ drop came from valuable muscle. Researchers have also found that lifting weights is better than cardio at whittling intra-abdominal fat—the Buddha-belly kind that’s associated with diseases from diabetes to cancer.

Just don’t rely exclusively on the scale to track your progress in the battle of the bulge. Because muscle is denser than fat, it squeezes the same amount of weight into less space. “Often, our clients’ scales won’t drop as fast, but they’ll fit into smaller jeans,” says Rachel Cosgrove, owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. And it’s the number on the tag inside your bootcuts you want to get lower, right?

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Weight training women are in the minority.  Let’s change that!

Full article here:   http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/weight-training-tips

 I woke up feeling a bit out of it today, and wasn’t sure how I would do with my kettlebell practice.  Elise  designed a pretty tough  Beginner Lower Body Workout, but I got through it alright.  This is what it looked like:

10 2 Hand Swings

10 Front Squats

10 Reverse Lunges (5R, 5L)

10 Single Hand Swings R

10 Single Hand Swings L

10 Clean & Squats (5R, RL)

She suggests a rest as needed between exercises and then a longer rest after the the circuit.  Then repeat.

I just wanted to match the same effort as the last time I did this  lower body workout, and I managed that.  Every day doesn’t have to be ground breaking. (I’ve been repeating that to myself all day.)

I’m probably taking a rest day tomorrow since today was iffy.  The elbow is bugging me today also, which is another good reason to rest.

The flow of this session is awesome.  I think it would be a great one to fall back on, when you don’t feel like coming up with a new program for the day.  This is strength and cardio in one – beautiful.

Right hand:  single hand swing, single hand clean, front squat, military press.  Do this up to five times and then do the same with the left hand.  Rest and repeat.

I had been doing this with the 10kg kettlebell and had planned to do the same today.  After the first round, I decided to try it with the 12kg bell, knowing I might have to reduce the reps or number of rounds. (My shoulders are (one of) my weak spot(s) and presses with the 12kg have been a struggle.)  To my surprise, I was able to complete the session with the 12 with no modification at all. 

 YES!!! 

I think I’m seeing the benefit of the Turkish Get Ups.  I know that the press was easier because the preceding movement was a squat, and that my legs helped power the bell up.  However, it was a huge step forward and I am psyched!

That’s what I love about strength training -seeing rewards for your hard work. 

Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards. Proverbs 12:14

Today is I’m Alive Day!!  I personally founded this day in honor of the 3rd anniversary of a scary random event that nearly claimed my life.  But there’s great news!  Not only did I survive, but because of the scary random event, I found my passion and purpose in life.  Not only am I alive but I’m better than before that day. 

Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

I am a kettlebell newbie.  I’ve been training with them since March.  I hope to graduate from newbieness soon. 

I train strictly with kettlebells.  I made the decision to try this several months ago, for many reasons.  Suffice it to say that I’m convinced kettlebells are probably the most effective training tool available.  I’m so convinced that I’m training for the Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certification Workshop to become an RKC Instructor.  The certification requirements are challenging to say the least, and it will take me many months to prepare, but I am determined.

I train 5 days/week, usually at home.  It takes me about 20-30 minutes per day.  I’m following the program that Elise Matthews, RKC II designed.   I can see changes in my strength since beginning my kettlebell training about 6 weeks ago, and I was already in really good shape.  I’m excited to see what happens as I get stronger, and more Kettlebell Fit.  In future posts I’ll elaborate on all aspects of preparing for the RKC and what is happening with my training.  Will you cheer me on?

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I am truly honored that you have taken a few minutes to find out more about me and/or that you would have an interest in something that I have to say.   This is a personal blog about me, Sarah, primarily dealing with my pursuit of fitness.  I am so glad you are here!