Today marks the one -year mark for this blog.  It’s strongsarah.com’s blogiversary, which also means that today is the (4th) anniversary of  The Accident. That was a rough day, but it was also the start of something very cool. You just never know how things will unfold and evolve into something beyond your wildest imagination.

A look back at the past year is in order.  It has been a big year, most of which has been documented here. In the last 12 months I have evolved from kettlebell newbie to HKC instructor.  Not to be limited to kettlebell training alone, I became quite proficient at jumping rope, and also tried a Randy Couture MMA (mixed martial arts) workout that I loved.  I explored (and did not love) the Eat Stop Eat program. My kettlebell studio, Intensity Works, was conceived and opened, and I shared many details of that process. I worked through the Enter the Kettlebell (ETK) program twice and realized success with it,  nearly doubling my kettlebell pressing ability.  I struggled with physical limitations resulting from The Accident and worked around or through them. I even began to feel ready to register for the RKC Instructor course. Just contemplating that was a milestone for me. I feel pretty good about the last year.

The blog has been neglected a lot too. I didn’t want my posts to become too repetitive, so I stopped posting regularly when my workouts often looked the same.  When starting a small business became my focus, blogging dropped down the priority list.  Then, when a (cancer) bomb was dropped on my world, I started a new blog, strongersarah.com, which has received much more attention than this blog lately.

But, Happy Birthday to strongsarah.com.  I hope to be able to post many more workout triumphs over the course of the next year.  Possibly, I will even have the priviledge of posting my experiences at an RKC instructor weekend.  If not, maybe I will have at least registered for one by the time this blog turns 2.  I am grateful to all who have visited and commented and encouraged me here. This has been fun, and it is far from over.  You just never know how things will unfold, and I am excited to continue the adventure!

If you know me, you know I love lots of different kinds of training.  This means anything that involves moving weight — from simple bodyweight exercises to heavy barbell lifts to mma conditioning workouts.  It all pretty much qualifies as  my kind of fun. Though it’s certainly not the “be all end all,” the kettlebell has recently become my favorite training tool.  Here are five reasons why:

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Kettlebell Training 

1. Kettlebell workouts are fast.  My typical workouts are about 20-25 minutes long (plus warm up and cool down.)  It is definitely possible to get an amazing workout in under ten minutes with the kettlebell.
2. Kettlebell workouts are complete.  Both cardiovascular training and strength training are accomplished at once.  Full body movements provide a workout for all major muscle groups. 
3. Kettlebells are portable and little space is required to get in a full workout.   Exercise in your basement, living room, bedroom, den, office.  Take your kettlebell outside.  It can go with you wherever you go (but beware of the rolling around in the back seat of your car!)  There is even a new backpack specially made for carrying you kettlebell with you on hikes or walks.
4. Kettlebell training is fun.  There is just something fun about swinging the kettlebell. And where I get a “this is fun- Whee!”  feeling from the swing, I get a different but equally fun “OH YEAH! THIS ROCKS!” feeling from the kettlebell snatch.  It’s empowering to be able to hoist a handled cannonball overhead. Multiple times.  Note:  the fun morphs into serious work  after a few swings and/or snatches, but that is not a bad thing.
5. Kettlebells are economical, at approximately $50 – $100 each.  We have all probably paid more than that for a good pair of running shoes.  Which one lasts longer?  You only really need one kettlebell to get started.

Just my top five.  I have a few (dozen) more in mind as well.  What are the reasons you love kettlebell training?

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. 

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!