Susan's Kettlebell Training

Terror and Death Workout

2010-05-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Tuesday nights class was the WORST KB class ever. It wasn't supposed to be but I think the humidity just about did us in. I swear I was green 45 minutes in.

First we set up two KB's about 40 yards apart. On one end a medium KB (I used a 20 Kg), on the other end a normal KB (I had a 12 kg.)

Start on the light end with alternating reps (one rep right, alternating swing, one rep left) 20 per arm (thats 80 reps total with the swings in between).

Cleans (alternating 20 reps per) run 40 yards do 50 swings run 40 yards back.
Clean & Press (alternating, 20 reps per) run, do the swings, run back.
Snatch (the same) run, so the swings, run back.
1 arm clean and squat (the same) run, do the swings, run back.

Repeat.

Earlier in the day I ran 2 miles in 18 minutes.

Been Busy

2010-05-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

During Marc's surgery I didn't do much. And my energy last week was slow so I didn't accomplish a whole lot.

Saturday, May 1

KB class - w/ a 12 kg we did 10 walking swings (to parallel) and then 5 squats. We did 3 rounds of this then took a break. We did it for about 1/4 a mile in 1 hour. It was hard.

After that I had time to kill before my next client so I went out and pulled the sled. I had the light sled with 40 lbs. My goal was to do 6 laps but I ended up doing 10. The book I was listening to was good so I just kept going.

Monday, May 3

I ran this morning for 35 minutes. Then with marc we did upper body sled. I had 10 lbs. on my sled and we did 1 lap with reps and 1 lap of static work. We ended up going around 5 times - so almost 2 miles.

I have missed a few...

2010-04-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Friday - 4/16/10
No cardio as I was pooped.

Strength Training - heavy bench
we worked up to 135 raw which I got easily for the first time in my life. Then i tried 145 raw and missed it 3 times. Finally marc pulled out the squishy pad (it gives when you sink the bar in your chest so you get the mental help of a pad but you still have to press it about as far) and I got it easily. After that we just did assistance work which I can't remember.

Saturday - 4/17/10
I came in early to run and did 3.2 miles in 30 minutes. I made the mistake of taking my fat burner before running which I never do. The extra energy made me push hard on the treadmill and when I was done I felt ill. Didn't do much of KB class.

Here is what they did in class, it took the whole hour:
1 swing, 1 squat
2 swings, 2 squats,
3 swings, 3 squats
...all the way to 25 of each.

Monday - 4/19/10
I tried to do a 5 mile run but got bored with running slowly and did the elliptical instead. I know I can run 5 miles I am just having trouble doing it. Ended up with a combined 50 minutes of cardio.

Strength training -
Lat Pulls with different hand grips on the new Spud, Inc. lat pull down bar. 5 sets w/ 60 lbs. 10 reps.
Sit-up/Push up combo: 5 of each, then 6 of each to 20
Sandbag between the leg throws and sandbag load and squats until the end of the hour.

Tuesday - 4/20/10
I came in early to run this morning and did 3.2 miles in 29:45. Not to bad for a fat girl.

Tonight is the 1,000 rep challenge + 1 mile run. This is only the second time we will have tried it with the run so hopefully at least 1 person will complete it all.

Thursday

2010-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

AM -

My client wanted to pull the sled so I pulled it with her. I had 40 lbs. and we did 6 laps. The first 4 were constant but then we had to rest occasionally. After the 6 laps we ran a lap (I was trying to wear her out).

Don't know what we will do tonight. I am sore all over so I have to come up with a KB workout that doesn't use any muscles...can I do it?

Last night and Today

2010-04-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's KB class -

I resurrected a class from last year that I want to work on. You have 6 KB exercises - 2H swing, 1H swing, H2H swing, clean, clean & press and the snatch. The goal is to do 100 reps of each exercise with 1 run lap in between. If we get it all in then it ends up being 2 miles running and 600 KB reps. We only got 400 and 4 laps last night but we have all summer to work on it.

Wednesday's Training -

For cardio I did 55 minutes on the elliptical with the 30 lb. weight vest. Tiring but not very hard.

For strength training our new PT intern got her first taste of the Lung breaker. The stretch behind the gym is about 60 yards so we alternated pushing the prowler down and back and lunging down. My workout ended up like this:

180 yards w/ Lung breaker
60 yards lunging
3 times

then I ended on one more 180 yard sprint with the Lung Breaker. we felt very tired at the end of it all.

Tomorrow one client wants me to pull the sled with her so away we will go to see how many laps we get.

Saturday and Monday

2010-04-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday - KB Class

We had a ton of people and just barely enough KB's. Everyone had 3 KB's a light, medium and heavy bell. I used a 12 kg, 20 kg and 24 Kg.

Set 1 & 2 - 10 snatches with the 12 Kg, 5 snatches with the 20 kg and 2 snatches with the 24 kg
Run a lap (1/3 a mile) after each set

Set 3 - Dead snatches with the same rep scheme with a run lap afterwards

Set 4 - Dead high pulls, same rep scheme, run a lap.

I wanted to work on their "hip pop" and their ability to overcome the big weights. That is why the dead stuff. I have found though that they can't grasp the "dead" work until they have done some regular snatches with swings, hence the first few sets. Also, I did the high swings second because if I had done them first they would have been too tired to do the full snatch at the end. Everyone was pretty beat up when we were done.

Monday - Cardio and Strength Training

I was going to run this morning but my ankle is locked up so I didn't think that was a good idea. Instead I did 35 minutes on the stair climber and 25 minutes on the elliptical and read my book.

For training Marc had us do this circuit:
Squat press on the Body Systems Squat Machine - 8 reps
Suspended Push-ups - 8 reps
DL w/ 154 KB type thing - 5 reps
Reverse Bench w/ 20 lbs. - 8 reps
Step ups on a high box pressing 10 lbs. overhead - 5 reps a leg
DB flys w/ 12.5 lbs - 15 reps
Low, sumo, bodyweight squats under a bar - 10 a leg

We did the circuit through about 5 or 6 times in an hour.

Thursday KB Class

2010-04-09T03:02:00.000-07:00

There was a storm threatening so I didn't want to go outside. Here is what I came up with. Really the sky is the limit with this kind of workout, it was super hard. I used a pair of 12 kg, the rest of the girls uses 8's and the one lone male used a pair of 16's

Set 1: 5 double front squats
Set 2: Repeat set 1 and add 5 double overhead press
Set 3: Repeat sets 1 and 2 and add 5 pushups on the KB's
Set 4: Repeat sets 1-3 and add 5 double suitcase DL's
Set 5: Repeat sets 1-4 and add 5 double bent over rows
Set 6: Repeat sets 1-5 and add 5 double stationary lunges on the left leg
Set 7: Repeat sets 1-6 and add 5 double stationary lunges on the right leg
Set 8: Repeat sets 1-7 and add 5 floor presses on the left arm
Set 9: Repeat sets 1-8 and add 5 floor presses on the right arm
Set 10: Repeat sets 1-9 and add 5 double front raise swings
Set 11: Repeat sets 10 back down to 1

We still had a little time left so we ended on 25 snatches per arm.

Strength Training this AM

2010-04-07T08:15:00.001-07:00

Marc was in a crappy patty mood this morning so we did a lot of horrible stuff:

Leg extentions w/ 30 lbs. 20 per leg x 5 sets
Hamstring Curls w/ 30 lbs. 20 per leg x 5 sets

Seated Front Rack Squats w/ bar only x 15, +10 lbs. per side x 25, +20 lbs. per side x 25 x 4
Stationary Lunges on the Bosu ball 15 per side x 1, 20 per side x 1, 25 per side x 1, 35 per side x1.

It was pretty hard and crappy on top of all the other stuff I did this morning and last night. I have been sucking down the Xtend and taking extra BCAA's and Glutamine. I love the glutamine chewies from Betancourt. They taste like sweet tarts but they are good for you!

Tuesday Evening

2010-04-07T03:48:00.001-07:00

We had a newcomer to KB class last night but I knew she was up to the challenge of a hard class. This is what we did:

20 Double Swings
12 (per arm) walking alternating overhead press

We did this for about 10 sets - a quarter of a mile. Then we started to run out of time and still had a way to go before we got back around to the back door so I took pity.

40 yards in the rack position then overhead press to failure
40 yards in the locked overhead position then overhead press to failure
40 yards in a 90 degree bicep curl locked position then 15 oil pumpers
40 yards of farmers walk/shrugs

This morning for cardio I did 50 minutes on the elliptical with a 30 lb. weight vest on. I had a high incline and worked at level 5 - 10. I was reading the new Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher which I picked up yesterday so the time just flew by.

Well I haven't done this in a while...

2010-04-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

No excuses except my workouts were certainly dull and boring over the past year. I have gotten some feedback from clients however who said they enjoyed looking at my daily workouts to get help creating their own. So, I am back and hope I can inspire some great workouts on your end.

This morning I went in early to pull the sled. This is only the second time I have pulled since it got warm. I put 35 lbs. on and did 7 laps in about 45 minutes. I was going to do 8 laps but towards the end everytime I went by the back door my dog would see me and bust out to try to walk with me. I finally just gave up after 7 laps and went back inside with her. My summer goal is 10 laps in 1 hour (3.3 miles) with a 45 lb. plate. That means I have to jog some to make it so it will take a while to get there.

Tonight is KB class. I am not sure what we will do but I know it will be outside and I know it will include some running. It is to nice not to do it outside even though the air is thick with pollen.

This past weekend was Dale and Lindsey's wedding. We had a great time. It isn't often that Marc and I get dressed up so here is a picture of us in our wedding finery.

Big Sled Day

2009-07-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

I started the day with my cardio - Spud Style. I set up the prowler with 10 lbs. on each arm and a sled with 35 lbs. I did a lap with the prowler (1/3 a mile), 3 laps with the sled, 1 lap with the prowler, 3 laps with the sled and 1 final lap with the prowler. Around 3 miles total in 1 hour 10 minutes.

For strength training Marc had us do 2 minute sets of these exercises:
RDL w/ 95 lbs.
Squats w/ 95 lbs.
Grappler - bar weight
Suspended rows
Reverse Hypers
Ham/Glute Raises
Leg Raises
Wobble Board Squats
Pushups
Incline situps

Funny story. I have 3 wild cats that live behind the gym. They have been spade/neutered and have their shots and the live in our equiment shed and I feed them. Everyone likes them because they like to hang out with you when you are out exercising but because they are wild they are not interested in being petted. Anyway, this morning with every lap I did I would come around and our big boy cat Ozzie was standing with his head under the corner of the shed and his butt sticking out up in the air. Every lap was the same. Finally I came around and he had moved to hide behind our big chain and as I was resting I watched the largest Possum I have ever seen waddle out from under the shed and the food bowl and make his way - slowly - up the hill into the state park behind the gym. The cat was not interested in getting in that big boy's way. He was HUGE. I figured I was feeding the assembled multitudes but now I know for sure.

Training and Over Tired

2009-05-27T02:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long day for me and I wasn't sure how KB class was going to go. I had planned to do our long, boring, non-thinking workout so that we could just do a lot of work and get it over with. Then I got this insane idea that we would do that work out but with a crazy rep range. Here is what we did:

Alternating Cleans, Clean and Press and Snatches. What I mean is that you do one clean on your right arm, switch hands using a H2H swing and then do a clean on your left. Continue in this fashion back and forth. You can do alot more at a time because neither arm is working continuously.

The ridiculous rep range was:

Set one - 20 reps per arm on each exercise

Set tw0 - 30 reps per arm on each exercise

Set three - 50 reps per arm on each exercise (we ran out of time and stamina. I only got 2 of the exercises done this go round and others got 35 reps of each exercise)

Try it out. I used a 16 for the cleans and a 12 for the rest. Our big guy used a 20 kg for most of the class. I can tell you that the rain set in and we were nice and hot, muggy and sweaty by the time it was all over.

I wish...

2009-05-26T04:57:00.001-07:00

I was better at this blogging thing. Time just gets away from me and all of a sudden it is 2 months later and I haven't written one thing.

Things for the Triathlon are going well. I have amended my time to 1 hour and 30 minutes although that will be stretching it for me - I am super slow on the bike. Here is what I have done for the last week.

Tuesday, May 18th
Am swim. Instead of the warm-up I went ahead and did a timed 500 yards. It took about 13 minutes and I did 2/3 of the way freestyle. Not bad. Then I did another 750 yards and called it a morning.

PM Kettlebells. We did upwards of 420 snatches in an hour. It was hard.

Wednesday, May 19th
AM strength Training w/ Marc. We did a circuit that included banded pushups, banded triceps, and heavy KB rows.

Afternoon Ride. We rode our 10 mile loop in 56 minutes.

Thursday, May 20th
AM Cardio. I did my 2 mile sprint in 19 minutes, working a little bit on level 7.0

PM Kettlebells. We did 2 big circuits: #1 - Judo Chops and Deadlifts, 5 reps for 10 rounds. I used a 16 Kg for the Judo's and an 88 lb. for the DL's. #2 - C&P and Stiff Leg DL's, same set/rep scheme. I used the 16 Kg and the 88 Kg. Oh yeah and for the warm-up I did 50 swings w/ the 106 lb and 50 with a 16 Kg.

Friday, May 21st
AM Cardio. 2 Mile sprint in 18:45 - I ran in 2 minute intervals on 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 6.5, 6.0 then back up and down.

AM Strength Training. We punked out this morning and did 30 minutes of easy band squats and then 30 minutes of stretching

Saturday, May 22nd
AM Kettlebells. We did the double front raise, snatch, snatch press combo for 5 sets of 6 reps each, Bottoms up presses for 4 sets of 5 and some more presses to equal an hour.

Afternoon Bike Ride. My quads were so tired but I pushed hard to try to get my time down. we did the 10 mile loop in 54 minutes this time.

Sunday, May 23rd
I thought I needed some run time outside on the pavement. I ended up running just under 3 miles in about 30 minutes and finishing off with about 2.4 miles extra in walking. I will do this again next week to see if my time or distance improves.

Monday, May 24th
I just did strength training this morning. We did squats w/ 95 lbs. for a set of 25, 50 and 100. Then we did bench press with the mini bands doubled for 10 sets of 5 reps - fast.

I am SORE

2009-03-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

Wow! 3 full days of working out and I am so sore.

Yesterday I didn't do any cardio but Marc put the whammy on us with the Tri-Repta workout.
15 minutes of Lunges
15 minutes climbing the stairs 2 at a time (I did 23 flights)
15 minutes of high step ups (I did about 25 a leg)
After that I was toast.

I ate so much yesterday and still was very light headed in the evening. And then we had a tragedy as a new wild kitty I was rehabilitating went outside for the first time and ended up next door where my neighbors dogs killed her. I was so upset that I went to bed super early.

Today in KB class we do strength/cardio. Unfortunately, a cold front has come through so we will not be going outside. Instead I think we will do a ladder of heavy swings w/ light judo chops swing high pulls, TGU's, deck squats and abs interspered between. I know that I need a restorative workout so hopefully I will get it.

Swimming

2009-03-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

I started swimming this morning and surprisingly I didn't stink to badly. The hardest part was giving up sleeping until 8 am and hurling myself out of bed at 5 am to be there on time. I have never been taught to freestyle and have always gotten sort of panicky at the breathing. I am a much better breast stroker, but the woman in charge got me going on freestyle. Here is what I did today. 1 length is 25 meters

4 lengths breast stroke to warm up

a couple of lengths as I worked on breathing and my freestyle.

10 lengths freestyle w/ flippers (very fun)
10 lengths breast stroke
16 lengths kicking (with flippers and a kick board)
10 lengths freestyle w/out flippers.

I was pooped so I went home.

Tonight is the cardio KB class and I think we are going to go outside and run because it is going to be super warm today. Class will look something like this:

sets of 100 of 2H swings, 1H swings, h2h swings, snatches, cleans and clean & Press with a 1/3 mile run lap in between.

we shall see if I can keep up.

I really suck at this....

2009-03-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

I just can't seem to find a way to do this religiously. Maybe now that I have a goal I will remember.

I officially signed up for a triathlon. It is a sprint: 500 meter swim, 10 mile bike and 3 mile run. I start the swimming in the morning.

I have done this for 2 reasons, one is just the why not? factor but the other is because at our gym we have this persona that because we traing heavy that we are not in good cardio shape. It doesn't matter what we do, if it is not an easily quantifiable measurment people don't believe it. I have run 5 miles in the gym and had a guy do 20 minutes on the elliptical and claim that because I do serious strength training he is in better cardio shape than me. SO, I hope to show those people that what I do gets you in great shape period.

Oh yeah, one more reason is to show people that the way we train gets you ready for almost anything. I am only slightly tweaking my week's workouts to include the swimming (one day a week) but the rest will stay the same. I am not getting a "triathlon coach", I am not cutting out my weight training or KB's and I want to show that I can do it with my style.

So, this morning for cardio I ran. The goal on Monday's is between 4 and 5 miles. Today I tried something different and it sucked the life out of me. I only ran 3.75 miles and then walked the rest to make 4 miles. Here is what I did: 5.0/5 minutes, 6.0/5 minutes, 5.1/5minutes, 5.9/5minutes. And so on and so forth. Unfortunately I got to 5.4 and thought I was going to faint so I stopped and walked. I will try it again next week until I can do the whole thing ending on 5.5 for 5 minutes.

Strength training:
Heavy DB chest press. worked up to 2 sets of 5 w/ 45 lb. DB then did 2 sets of 20 with 25 lb.
Alternated between reverse barbell rows w/ 90 lbs. and tricep p-downs w/ a purple band.
Super low, almost to the floor squats (I did 20, 30, and then at number 22 in the last set of 40 I thought I was going to throw up so I stopped to eat something)

That was it for today.

Couple of Days

2009-01-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Night kettlebells:

We ended up doing a workout that is pretty simple just a lot of work. Basically you are just doing cleans, clean and press and snatches. But, you do alternating arms. So one rep right and alternating swing to switch hands then one rep left and back to the right arm. We ended up doing 15 an arm of each exercise, 20 and arm and 50 an arm. That totals 1040 reps or something but the bulk of them are swings. Jeanie was the only one who got all 1040 reps the rest of us got just at 1000. There were 6 of us: me, jeanie, pammie, tammie, robin and teowanna.

Wednesay Morning Cardio:

I did spinning with Larry and Martha which is always fun. I don't do quite the level of exertion that they do because of KB's the night before but I still sweat like a pig. The banter back and forth between the two of them is a scream and Martha picks excellent music.

Wednesday Strength Training:
Rosemary joined us which was fun. We did buffalo bar squats off a box. we hadn't done squat in a while and I hate them but did ok. I think we worked up to like 200 lbs. for 3 off a box, not bad.

then we did deadlift/squat/good morning things with our new Monster Multi Strap, don't know how much weight but it wasn't that heavy.

We finished with something that I don't remember. Oh well, Tonight is Kettlebells again but I don't know what we are going to do.

Meningitis

2009-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

When my traps get fired up I get horrible tension headaches. I tell everyone that I have Meningitis when this happens so that I get more sympathy. When we did the double Judo Chops two thursdays ago it really messed up my traps. I haven't been training very hard because I keep getting headaches.

I did manage to do something yesterday. I ran 3.86 miles (I had to pee so badly that I stopped short of the goal of 4 miles). I did this in 41 minutes which wasn't too bad.

Strength Training:
Pushups off the straps 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 reps
Rows with a green band and the Rev. Hyper. He loaded 200 lbs and attached the green band. We sat on the ground with our feet on either side of the machine and rowed. 5 sets of 20 reps
Standing incline dumbell presses w/ 15 lbs. 1 set of 25, 1 set of 50 reps
Something else but I can't think.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

I may take tonight off. Last Thursday we did double judo chops and I think I pulled something in my upper lat/trap region on my left side. It is not injured but it does hurt mighty powerfully and so I think I will just teach tonight. I don't know what they will do - will post the workout tomorrow.

yesterday I did 55 minutes on the elliptical on level 8-10. for strength training we did power cleans w/ the bar and then the bar +10lbs. Front squats in the smith machine down onto a stability ball and then butt lifters on the cool machine we have.

truth be told I sort of half-assed the strength workout because my mind was other places. it is cold here in South Carolina (or at least cold according to me) and that makes me really lethargic. I can't stand to be cold.

Yesterday's Workout

2009-01-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

Cardio am: I ran 4 miles. I varied the intensity but in the middle I did 2 minute increments on 5.0 and 6.0 for 20 minutes. I was pretty happy. It took just over 45 minutes to do 4 miles.

Strength Training: Just because i hadn't worked my back enough we did an upper body circuit. 20 reps of everything and each round he added a new exercise. Here is what we did
Bench with 1 chain
Suspended Pullups off the floor
Plate raises w/ a 25 lb plate
T bar rows w/ 45 lbs. and fat handle grip
Rear Delt flyes with 10 lb chain
Assisted dips
bicep curls w/ 45 lb straight bar

I was fried.

Tonight I think we are going to do a twist on the VO2 mac protocol. I haven't worked it all out yet but I am thinking that we are going to use a heavy bell and a light bell and go in 15 sec increments but the first with the heavy bell you just get what you can and then when you go to the light bell you try to double what you got with the heavy bell. I have to think more on this and will let you know what we actually end up doing.

KB and this morning

2009-01-09T07:06:00.001-08:00

KB last night we did 30 minutes of static work: static squat for 30 seconds, walk back and do 5 pushups off the KB and then walk back up and do another 30 sec static hold and then 10 swings. We used heavy bells - I had a 24 Kg. Then we just did 100 stiff leg DL's and some more swings to round it out. Good solid work for the evening.

Cardio this morning - I ran and was excited about it because I haven't done any running since last saturday. I wanted to just run and my goal was 4 miles. I went a little over 3 and then ran/walked to get to 4 miles. Not very good since I didn't reach my goal.

Upper Body Strength - some stuff I can't remember. I wasn't that motivated so I didn't really work that hard.

Boy am I tired

2009-01-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

I ended yesterday with Yoga here at the gym. Our new classes for 2009 began and I decided to come back in and take the class. I am glad that I did. The instructor (who happens to be the demon that taught the spin class that morning) put us through a great workout. The funniest thing that one of the gym dogs, a cocker named Dita, came over during the mediations part and started a tug of war with my sleeve. I was laughing so hard my abs hurt - next time you mediate try doing it with a little dog growling in your ear.

I haven't fully fleshed out tonights KB class but I am thinking that I will set up a ladder of movements like heavy swings, rows, squats. I don't know, I will let you know tomorrow what we end up doing.

I am running tomorrow and just downloaded the new Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum between the Numbers novel to listen to. I can't wait:)

Today's Workout

2009-01-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

First, KB class last night was better than I thought. I got 600 reps w/ the 16 Kg and 200 with the 12 Kg. Dan got 600 - 700 reps with the 20 kg and Pam got 785 using both the 16 and the 12 Kg. That was awesome.

This morning I arrived at the gym ready for spinning at 5:30 am but Martha was already here and told me she had to start early because of a work thing. So, we started and she taught the class and I thought I was going to DIE. She is a spinning hellcat. At least she plays awesome music and is good company or else I would have given up. We went hard for 45 minutes and then I just peddaled the last 15 minutes. Yikes!

For strength training we did floor presses with a 12 kg kettlebell suspended by bands on either side of the bar 4 sets fo 12 - 15 or so.

Rows with the same set up for 4 x 12

Lat Pulldowns alternating grips for 4x20 w/ 90 lbs.

behind the back tricep pushdowns - don't know the weight because it was behind me. 4x20.

1,000 reps in 2009

2009-01-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Tonights KB workout is going to be the first 1,000 rep challenge of 2009. I don't know who will be here but hopefully we will have 4 or 5 of us.

I am going to throw out a challenge. Since we have officially been doing this workout for over a year I figure 2009 will be the time to make it even more challenging. I am going to ask everyone to get out their normal 1,000 rep workout KB and then get the next size up. The challenge is going to be to incorporate the heavier bell in as many of the lifts as possible. It may mean that some of us do not actually reach the goal of 1,000 reps but we shall see.

That means tonight I will be working with the 12 kg and the 16 kg. I know I can get the swings with the 16 kg but I am hoping to do my cleans and maybe some of snatches as well.

This past saturday we ended the class with 50 snatches per arm and I did them with the 16 Kg. I have not done any high rep work with the 16 since losing 21 lbs and was unsure how strong I would feel. I felt great, my forearms and wrists were tired but I think I will do well adding this heavier weight in tonight.

Let you know tomorrow....

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-05T11:47:00.001-08:00

I have 2 fitness focuses for 2009. First, I want to do a local triathalon. It is a sprint: .5 mile swim, 10 mile bike and 3.2 mile run. That is in June so I am starting to get ready for it now. The second is the Georgia State Powerlifting Meet which is held in August or September. My numbers for that won't be stellar but I have always said that I want to squat 300, bench 200 and deadlift 300 so maybe this will be the year. Hopefully, my training logs will chart my progress and keep me honest in my training.

This am I did the elliptical for 45 minutes. I worked up to 12 on the resistance and did one of the cross training routines.

Strength Training - Legs

Deadlifts w/ 135 lbs 5x5
High Step Ups (past hip height) 10 a leg then 20 leg press w/ 135 lbs.
Step ups 20 a leg - 50 leg press (repeat twice)
Step ups 20 a leg - 100 leg press

that was it. tomorrow is the first KB 1,000 rep workout for 2009. I hope we all rock it out.

Almost the start of a New Year

2008-12-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

I have been in a running mode since Christmas because I got a sandisk player and have loaded some audio books on it to listen to. Right now I am listening to the new Dean Koontz - Your Heart Belongs to Me.

Friday: I ran 3 miles and walked 1 mile
Saturday: I ran 4 miles and walked 1 mile
Monday: I ran 3 miles and called it quits because my knee was tight and it started aching.

No strenth training so far this week because my partners are out of town. We will hit upper body tomorrow though so stay tuned.

Upper Body

2008-12-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

I gave over the Elliptical to a member who I know loves the particular machine I was on so i only got 47 minutes in. I alos took it easy with a low incline and only about 5 or 6 on the resistance. I could feel it in my back but not that badly so I soldiered on.

Upper Body Workout:
Rotator CUff Front and Back Movement w/ an 8 lb. db
Over head Presses on a high incline bench w/ 8 lb. db's
pushups (I refrained from these because of my back)

we did 3 rounds the first was 25 each arm, 100 reps, 50 reps, and then we increased it to 100 reps of each for 2 rounds.

I go back to the chiropractor today and that will make me feel even better. There isn't much pain now except when I do something sudden. I will be good as new by friday.

to the Chiropractor i go

2008-12-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

Tweaked my back yesterday getting out of the shower and drying my toes. My SI joint which goes out about once a year. Boy is it painful. I went to the chiropractor and he said no KB tonight so the class will be on their own.

I don't think I am going to have them do the VO2 max protocol because I like doing that with them, instead they are just going to bang out the reps.

Oh yeah, my forearms are ON FIRE from yesterdays workout.

It's Been a Month

2008-12-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

Update - I am holding right at 145 lbs and not eating the best since it is the holidays. I plan to hang out here and then lose the last 5 lbs. starting in January. It shouldn't be too hard.

Today's workout was a killer for me. I started with Cardio, running: 5 minutes walking warm-up (3.5 - 4.0) and then I did a circuit where I ran in 2 minute intervals 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0 (1 interval) 5.1, 5.6, 6.1, 5.6, 5.1 (2nd interval), 5.2, 5.7, 6.2, 5.7, 5.2 (3rd interval) this took me to 3.22 miles. I had to jump of to use the little girls room and then jumped back on and did a 13 minute run/walk mile. A total of 4.22 miles and about 550 calories.

Then we did the weight training workout. Marc put out these dumbells: 35 lbs, 45 lbs, 55 lbs, 65 lbs, 75 lbs, 85 lbs and 95 lbs. The first round we deadlifted each dumbell for 20 reps, The second round we deadlifted them each for 30 reps and the third round we deadlifted them each for 50 reps. I had to stop on the third round at 3 reps into the 85 lbs because my back spasmed up and I couldn't stand straight.

It was hard. My hair was drenched in sweat after each workout and I didn't smell any too good. Tomorrow is KB day - I just decided we are going to do the VO2 max protocal workout. Fun!

KB's & Running

2008-11-18T14:46:00.000-08:00

first off I tried running 4 miles on monday. I made it about 3.8 but some how the cool down button got pushed and so it stopped my pace 2 times. The second time just destroyed my rythym so I stopped and walked. I went over 5 miles total and almost got the 4 running. I just felt like trying to go for distance. I started at 6.0 and moved down a point with every 5 minute increment.

Then we did ALOT of pressing upper body.

Tonight's KB class is going to be one of the progressive rep overloads and will look much like this:

2 swing Right/2 swing left
2 clean right/2 clean left
2 clean & press right/2 c&p left
2 snatch right/2 snatch left
2 judo chop right/2 jc left
2 front squat

with each set we will increase the reps by 2 until we get to somwhere between 10 and 20 depending. we will end with 3 TGU per side.

Sounds easy but try it and don't give your self a rest period between sets unless you absolutely need it - just keep chugging through. I will use a 12 Kg KB. It will be so much fun!

I almost did it!

2008-11-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

I ran 3 miles in 31 minutes but had to walk 2 minutes, so if I hadn't done that I would have made it. Unfortunately, I thought I was going to die so I had to take those 2 breaks. Here was what I did:

4.8 - 1 min
5.0 - 1 min
5.2 - 1 min
5.5 - 2 min
6.2 - 5 min
6.0 - 2.5 min
6.2 - 2.5 min
6.0 - 2.5 min
6.2 1.5 min
walked 1 min
6.0 - 5 min
6.2 - 5 min (walked 1 of those minutes).
Then I walked for 2 miles make 5 miles total.

Strength training: leg press, 4 way neck, hanging abs, rev hypers, hip extensions, and bicep curls.

A little late

2008-11-13T12:18:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was going to do spinning but no one showed up for class. That put me far behind since I don't eat before my morning cardio by the time I realized no one was coming I was beginning to get hungry. I managed 25 minutes on the elliptical.

Strength training was upper body stuff - close grip bench, triceps stuff.

All in all though when I stepped on the scale last night after my shower it registered at 145.5 - the lowest I have been. I don't know how that happened.

Tonight is KB class. Depending on how many people come I think we are going to do some double over head holds, maybe climbing stairs, some renegade rows. Stuff like that.

Class on tuesday was rep heavy and I tore a callus for the first time so tonight I will just be trying to baby it.

RIght now I got a virus on my computer and I have to go take it to the dr. to get fixed. what a bummer.

Monday Cardio

2008-11-10T03:46:00.000-08:00

Treadmill Running:

5 min. at 5.0
5 min at 5.2
5 min at 5.5
2.5 min at 6.2
2.5 min at 5.5
2.5 min at 6.2
2.5 min at 5.5
1 min at 6.5
1 min at 6.4
2 min at 5.5
2 min at 6.2
1 min at 5.5

Total of 32 min for 3 miles. I walked 2 more miles to make a total of 5 miles in 1 hour and 2 minutes. My goal is 3 miles in 30 minutes so I don't think I am that far off. This wasn't that hard until the last few minutes but that is because I went up to 6.5. I am going to push it up a little more on Friday to see if I can get there.

The next goal once I reach 3 miles in 30 minutes is 4 miles.

End of the week

2008-11-07T07:41:00.001-08:00

I have imposed a 5 mile limit on my treadmill training time. The theory being that if I get used to being on it for 5 miles then i can start to increase my run time. Currently I am running 3 miles and walking 2 but I would like to try to increase my run time just to see if I can.

This is how I structured it this morning:
5 min on 4.8 jog, 5 min on 5.0, 5 min on 5.2 - that took me a little over 1 mile
6.2 for 2.5 min, 5.2 for 2.5 min x 3 sets - that took me a little over 2 miles
6.3 for 2.5 min, 6.2 for 2.5 min and the rest at 5.3 - that got me to 3 miles puffing and panting and dying for water.

Then I walked at 4.1 for 2 miles.

Strength training - alot of triceps, close grip bench, heavy rows.

Cardio - Cardio - Cardio

2008-11-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

Friday, Oct 31st: 4.5 miles on the treadmill. I ran 3 of them and then walked 1.5 - all the while being lectured on why I shouldn't vote for the political candidate I had chosen to vote for. very unpleasant experience.

Saturday: I took the day off to work on a new business I have started with my mom

Sunday, Nov. 2nd: The last belly dancing class. Doesn't look like they will continue the class so I am going to have to add some movement on Sundays

Monday, Nov. 3rd: 5 miles on the treadmill - 3 running/2 walking

Tuesday, Nov 4th: 1 hour KB class. we did the VO2 max protocol for 25 minutes.

Wednesday, Nov 5th: 1 hour on the elliptical

We are still doing our strength workouts with Marc with a lot of tempo stuff. It is hard. We test our strength in 3 weeks to see if we have gotten any better.

My weight is holding at 147, but I look tighter. Still haven't taken any pictures.

Spinning!

2008-10-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

This morning I joined our 5:30 am spinning class - there are only 2 of them regularly. I asked if I could bring in my Prince CD and they agreed. It was great fun and I was dying when we were done. I think this is going to be a good cardio alternative so that I don't just do the elliptical every day.

Strength training was again a bunch of tempo stuff, static stuff and other rep work.

Now, I am just working away on the computer all day long!

1,000 Rep Workout

2008-10-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight the class is doing the 1,000 rep workout. Unfortunately, I have to attend a funeral out of town and will be unable to teach the class. Another trainer here at the gym is going to run class for me.

I couldn't stand the idea of missing out on this workout for October so I got up early this morning and came into the gym and did it on my own. I completed it in 51 minutes which though not a personal best was still pretty darn fast.

Now, I am suffering from a headache which I hope will pass before I have to travel.

Update

2008-10-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

Sort of the same old stuff just a different day for this post.

Saturday - I ran 3 miles on the treadmill. I was so sore and tired and I could tell. On the third mile I bumped up the speed adn did 2 min. on 5.5, 2 min on 5.4, 2 min on 5.3 and 5 min on 5.2. I was majorly sucking wind when I finished. I am encouraged that I finished the 3 miles. The next milestone will be 3.5 miles.

Sunday - Belly dancing class. This is so much fun, not because I am good at it but because I am so miserably bad that every little thing I sort of do right is a HUGE triumph. There are only 3 of us and we do get better each week. Our teacher, Mitra, is putting together a routine which we wil begin to learn next week. Hold on to your hats folks, this is going to get interesting.

Monday - 45 minutes of Cardio plus Strength Training w/ Marc. The three of us dragged the 300 lb. chain around the building (1/3 a mile) 30 seconds at a time. We each dragged it forward for 30 seconds and then backwards for 30 seconds. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't a barrel of monkeys either.

Tomorrow the KB class is doing the 1000 rep workout. I am out of town for a funeral so they will be directed by Stefan. I am going to do mine early in the morning and see how hard it is to do when you don't have the class doing it with you. I am also going to take pictures tomorrow to update on my weight loss progress.

Update

2008-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well folks, after a 9 day semi-re-feed I was 146.5 on the scale this morning. I am hoping to go gung-ho until Thanksgiving weekend. By then I would think I would be down to 143 or so, maybe lower and then we will be in the home stretch. I will post some pictures this weekend.

As for training:

Strength training w/ Marc: alot of tempo stuff which sucks. Take 4 seconds to curl the barbell, halfway down pause for 2 seconds then finish - repeat for 15 reps! Yuck! But I am super strong. We are in week 2 of the strength phase.

Kettlebells (tuesday): walking see saw press (w/ 12 Kg) for 20 paces then 20 double swings. we did this for about 100 yards. Then ran a lap. Then came back up 100 yards. Then ran a lap. Then we came in and I had everyone else do abs.

Cardio: I ran 3 miles on saturday, monday i did 20 minutes on the stepmill and 40 minutes on the elliptical, wednesday i did 1 hour on the elliptical on a cross training program that was too easy.

Tonights Kettlebell class will most likely be a collection of various odds and ends: deadlifts, squats, snatches - general full body blowout work.

My Pecs are screamin'

2008-10-16T10:15:00.001-07:00

yesterdays strength training consisted of Incline Dumbell press, flat bench press, pec flyes, dips on the negative and one other thing. we did medium weight and worked on lifting tempo. it was hard and I am screamin'

Tonight's KB is going to be a workout with a lot static work. We are also going to continue to work on the Hardstyle form of swings which is new to everyone. I will let you know how it goes.

AM workout

2008-10-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

So, it is back to cardio in the am. This morning I did 54 minutes on the elliptical while I finished The Other Queen by Phillipa Gregory. I was 151.5 on the scale this morning, so I gained some while in Minnesota but not too much. I will be back under 150 by next week for sure and then only 4 months to lose the last 12 lbs.

Last nights KB workout went really well. We worked the Hardstyle swing to warm-up and everyone really loved feeling the difference between the lazy swings we were used to doing and the new super speed version. We will warm-up with those until people can dial it in easily.

The VO2 Max workout went we too. I used a 12 Kg and my number was 8 - everyone else had 7 as their number. We went for 20 minutes (40 sets) with ease. I am not sure we could have done more but we will definately strive towards the upper end of sets. I am going to do this workout at least 1 time a month for our Tuesday cardio workout.

My strength training session starts in an hour. We are moving into a 6 week "Strength Phase" starting today so that should give me a lot to report on.

I'm Back

2008-10-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

After a weekend spent at RKC level I training getting my re-certification, I am rested and recharged. We had such a great team led by Brett Jones w/ me, Phil Scarpito and Rick Carranza acting as assistants. This was my 3rd time at a certification through Dragon Door and by far it was the best!!

My two big hurdles were 1) to get below 148 lbs. so that I could snatch the 12 kg KB 70 times for my test and 2) to actually snatch the KB 70 times. On both I was on target. The weight was right on and the snatch test was easy.

Funny though, I was really nervous on the snatch test. Brett Jones was the one testing me since he was my team leader and I actually had to close my eyes for the entire time because he made me so nervous. He didn't actually do anything to make me nervous it was just that he is a Master Instructor so I got all googeldy and stupid.

I didn't train at all for 6 days and I ate whatever I wanted. My weight is back up to 152 but I think going back to my routine today will get that in check pretty quickly. Tonight I have a special class planned. It will go something like this:

100 Swings (20 at a time) focusing on technical precision. We will have to spend some time going over the precision aspect. My clients are a little resistant to that so I will re-teach and then they will do it.

The VO2 Max snatch workout in 15 second intervals for 20 minutes. If you don't know what this is you can look on the forum or e-mail me and I can lay it out for you.

We will end with TGU's. We don't do enough of these so I am vowing to work them in every class. As pointed out this weekend EVERYone benefits from constant TGU work.

And I haven't posted any pictures of my progress lately. This was taken last week when I was teetering around 149.

I will do better...I Promise

2008-09-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Every time I sit down to update I get sidetracked. Hence the fact that I haven't done anything for 2 more weeks. I will do better.

This morning I started with Cardio - 27 minutes on the Step mill on a fat burner program and then 16 minutes on the treadmill walking at 3.8 with an incline of 4.5. Sort of lame but this guy was on the elliptical so I could do that. I will probably take the sled out this afternoon and do a few laps to make up for it.

Training was mostly upper body with Bench lockouts, triceps w/ bands, rows w/ bands, biceps with bands, and abs on the rowing machine. Not a bad day all in all.

On the weight loss front. I had a cheat meal on Saturday, which was 3 weeks in. If I had pushed the water like I was supposed to I probably wouldn't have bloated as bad but I was still 153.5 on the scale this morning. I started saturday at 152 so there is some extra there. I am pushing 1 1/2 gallons of water today to see if I can get rid of that water. The short term goal is to be 148 lbs. or less by October 9th. So we will see. Below are two pictures of what I looked like when I started at 164 lbs on Sept. 2nd and what I looked like last Tuesday at 154.

I'm Back...

2008-09-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

So, to continue the previous thread.

I have stepped up my cardio and yesterday I actually managed to do 1 hour of steady state work on the elliptical. Normally after aout 35 minutes I go all squirrelly but yesterday I grabbed a Details magazine and read it cover to cover and was very entertained.

The other thing I have found that reallyl helps out is the Southwest Chargrilled CHicken Salad from Chick Fil A. I eat those on Tuesday and Thursday nights for supper and they are most delicious. I am also buying cooked chicken breast from Italian Pie, another restaurant that is right around the corner from my house. The chicken is very tasty and they only charge me $2.75 a breast - you can hardly buy it and cook it yourself for that much.

Training Wise this is what we did yesterday:
KB Front squats - sets of 6-8 w/ 8 Kg, 12 Kg, & 16 Kg
KB Romanian DL off a wobble board w/ 12 Kg, 16 Kg, 20 Kg & 24 Kg sets off 6-8
Medium Grip Lat Pulldowns ascending weight from 90 lbs.
Overhead Press Machine
Reverse Lunges off a Bosu Ball
Calf Raises on a Bosu ball.

You haven't heard from me in a while

2008-09-11T06:52:00.001-07:00

i haven't posted in a few weeks and alot has happened since I did. For starters, Marc and I got engaged which is very exciting and because of that I have started on a diet much like he did (Only not as insane). When we came back from the trip away for my birthday I weighed 164 lbs. Alot of that was water and pooh from eating like a pig all weekend so maybe and actual weight was more around 160 but I am counting the 164 lbs. as a starting point.

This morning, after daily ablutions, I was 153.5. I get a cheat meal when I dip below 150 so I am hoping that by next weekend I can have mexican and chocolate cake. Each saturday I get a high carb day, though and that is fun.

My plan is to get to 140 lbs. for the wedding in February so I certainly don't have far to go. (However, there is always that scary possibility that the dress I pick won't look good unless I am skinnier - bye bye strength for a while)

More later....

No Guts No Glory

2008-08-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I was lame and did some basic all over body stuff and 3 laps with the sled. I am tried from my weekend and just didn't feel up to anything harder.

This weekend was Marc's first ( and last?) Bodybuilding show. The show was at the Sottile Theatre on the College of Charleston Campus. What a cool experience. Everyone was so great and the whole day was a lot of fun (at least for me, I am not sure if Marc had much fun since he could drink any water for 2 days).

I want to send a big thanks for Tres Bennett for all of his help and for putting on such a super show. He kindly went over the basic poses with Marc to make sure he had them down and wouldn't look like to much of a novice on stage. Marc took 2nd place in the Light Heavyweight Class and the guy he lost too won the overall show (He really looked outstanding).

I will be posting pictures today on our website www.spudincstraps.com you can check them out there.

KB and Weights

2008-08-20T09:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, 8-19

KB class was a mish mash of stuff. We started with a 10 minute "The KB must be moving" session where they got to do whatever KB movements they wanted but they just had to keep moving for 10 minutes. Then we did the following:

2 minutes of Cleans w/ 1 minute off
2 minutes of C&P w/ 1 minute off
2 minutes of Snatching w/ 2 minutes off
2 minutes of Figure 8's w/ 2 minutes off
2 minutes of Judo Chops then done

Then back into a 10 minute all out burst.

I was worn out after 40 minutes so I just taught the rest of class and watched them sweat it out.

Wednesday, 8-20

Our training the morning consisted of abs, 45 degree hack squat where we worked up to 4 plates for 6 reps, Stiff Leg DL's with 106 lb. KB, Close Grip pulldowns, Seated DB shoulder press and some other stuff.

Then Jeanie had the wonderful idea of pulling sled. I had not clients so I went out with her. It was muggy and I poured sweat. I did one lab with 45 lbs. and decided that was awful so I took 10 lbs. off and we did 5 more laps. The total was 2 miles.

The funny thing is that we have 3 semi-wild kitties living behind the gym (Neutered w/ shots) and two of them kept coming out to lounge. They would wait until we were almost on them before realizing they were supposed to act scared and run under the shed. They are so funny and fun to have outside. I fed them at 6:30 this morning and they were still eating at 8:30 when we started pulling the sled. Just goes to show you how nice it is to have readily available food. I will try to get a picture of them to post.

Holy Crap I slept late!!!

2008-08-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

At 3:45 am this morning Marc awoke me to say that he would open the gym and I should sleep in - so I did. I got up at 6:15 am got dressed, got breakfast, got to the gym and realized I had missed my window of opportunity to do my interval cardio work. stupid me!

at 7:30 am we did our weight training: incline press, rows, pec flyes, triceps, biceps etc....

at 8:30 only 1 of my group class ladies showed up so she and I went upstairs and did intervals on the treadmill. I did pretty well - this is what I did.

walk 5 min. on 3.8
Run 1 min on 6.5 - 6.8
Walk 1 min on 4.0
for 20 minutes (20 intervals)
Walked for 15 minutes on 4.0 at 1.5% incline.

So, here is the crazy thing. I watched the Marathon this weekend and the lady who won (I love her name Katarina Tomescu-Dita) ran it in 2:26:35. She averaged like a 5 min mile. Wow!!!! When I was at my best running pace 6.8 I was only at an 11 minute mile. That was a little sad. I was running so fast I felt my legs would fly off and I was only barely running compared to Mrs. Marathon of the World.

The other interesting thing is that at a 6.5 pace the treadmill said you would burn around 957 calories an hour. That means that Mrs. Tomescu-Dita was burning around 1800 calories an hour. Holy crap!!!! I hadn't really thought about that.

Anyway, I am not a huge runner fan and didn't think I would enjoy watching a marathon but ended up having fun. My Dad and Step-Mom came over and we watched it together along with the swimming and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Last couple of days

2008-08-15T14:28:00.001-07:00

It has been a rough week.

Wednesday we were doing a hard day with 6-8 reps of an almost max weight. For example, after warming up Marc put 215 lbs. on the bar for me to squat with just a belt. I did 6, 1/4 reps which he wasn't happy with but I was just glad to be done. It didn't get much better after that.

Thursdays KB class was an interval. I used the 16 Kg's.

Double Deadlifts
Farmers Walk for 30 feet
3 Double Cleans
Double Rack Position Walk 30 feet back
jog 1/3 a mile

We did 4 sets, with each set the amount we framers walked got farther until the last set we went about 100 feet. Plus we added 3 more double cleans with each set. I struggled with the rack position walks and then tweaked my back on the last set of cleans so after the 4th I bowed out. The group continued with walking alternating overhead press, double overhead holds and one more 1/3 mile run.

Today, Friday I took it easy. I will do my cardio tomorrow morning.

Tuesday night KB's

2008-08-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so sometimes I lie in bed dreaming up KB workouts. When I am in bed they seem wonderful, and harmless when in actuality they are quite brutal. Last night was one of those workouts. Here is what we did - the track we worked on was 1/3 a mile.

1 Snatch Right hold the KB overhead and take 10 steps
1 Snatch Left hold the KB overhead and take 10 steps

2 Snatches Right hold the KB overhead and take 10 steps
2 Snatches Left hold the KB overhead and take 10 steps.

etc... until you have done 10 snatches per arm.

This took us exactly 1/4 of the way around our track. So then I improvised a little bit.

11 Snatches per arm 10 steps (each arm)
12 Snatches per arm 20 steps (each arm)
13 Snatches per arm 30 steps (each arm)
etc....

We actually only made it to 17 before we ran out of track. Everyone did well even though it was a butt kicker. 2 of my ladies who have recently graduated to the 12 Kg for most everything did it with that weight. It was their first time going around the track with the 12Kg and they struggled but finished.

My traps were so tight afterwards that I woke up with a raging headache at 3 am and had to get up and take some advil. Now that is a hard workout:)

Yesterday weight training

2008-08-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Forgot to get back to you on my weight training. Worked up to a failure set on:

squat w/ 135 lbs.
Glute Ham Raises w/ 25 lbs.
Seated shoulder press w/ 75 lbs.
Super high step ups w/ 8 kg KB in each hand
Calf raises.

Pretty good. I am sore today!

New Cardio Plan

2008-08-11T04:11:00.000-07:00

I am starting a whole new training regimen that will last for 16 weeks. I am excited about it because it gives me focus in what I am doing. So, this morning was the first of 2 Interval training cardio days. Here is what I did:

5 min warmup on Treadmill

2 min Run at 5.5 on Treadmill/2 min climbing the stairs(actually climbing the stairs two at a time)
2 min Run at 6.0/2 min climbing the stairs
2 min Run at 6.5/2 min climbing the stairs
2 min Run at 6.5/2 min climbing the stairs
2 min Run at 7.0/2 min climbing the stairs

I ended with a 10 minutes steady state on the elliptical. Not to bad and time really does go by quickly. The next Cardio session will be steady state and that I will accomplish in KB class tomorrow night - though I do not know what we will be doing yet.

Stay tuned for today's strength training....

Anti-Training

2008-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

The KB class wanted to pull sled this morning so that is what we did. I got 4 sleds out and off we went. We had a 4th join us after 1 lap so I gave up my sled. They ended up doing 6 laps with 35 lbs. That is 2 miles.

I went inside and practiced my snatch test for when I go re-cert my Level I KB certification. I have to be able to do 19 reps and arm with a 16 Kg kb. I always freak out about this and I want it to be super easy when I go so 8 weeks out I am starting practice. This morning I did a set of 15 an arm and a set of 10 an arm, so I shouldn't have any problem.

Tomorrow no workout! Hooray! My quads are SO SORE from the duck walks yesterday.

Two More days of Horrendous Workout

2008-08-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 7th

KB workout was all legs because frankly, my upper body was still plastered. I worked with a 12 Kg KB.

3 super sets of 20 front squats (all the way down) and 1 round of lunges holding the KB

3 sets of 20 jump squats w/ KB. (Hold the KB with straight arms and jump into a wide leg squat, then jump up into a close leg squat and throw the KB into the air and catch it. Repeat)

Clean, Press & Squat 3 sets of 5 per arm

Friday, August 8th

Marc had this great idea but we trumped it. Here is what he wanted us to do:
Duck walk 1/4 of the way around the building then lunge back to our starting point then back to where we stopped duck walking. Then start again another 1/4 of the way. (As if!)

Here is what we did:
Duck walked around the building 1/3 a mile

I have had tight muscles, sore muscles, uncooperative muscles before but right now I just have pathetically, frail, tired, wobbly muscles. I tried to sit on the floor while I trained some clients and was too scared I would fall trying to get down there because I have no muscle control in my legs. Poor me!

2 Super Hard workouts

2008-08-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 5th

Pam, Rhea, Davida and Me were the only ones present for KB class. Although we did not do our famous 1,000 rep workout we did manage to make it to 1,000 reps in the class. Here is what we did:

25 cleans per arm with an alternating swing in between. (clean right, alternating swing, clean left alternating swing, clean right etc....) This prodcuces 100 reps.

We did the same protocol with clean and press and snatches.
1 round = 300 reps.
We did 3 rounds to = 900 reps, then finished with 100 swings.

The cool thing is that when I first wrote this workout we only did 15 reps per set and it about killed us. Last night with the 25 reps no one was that worn out. I was impressed. I used a 12 kg. This is a good workout because switching arms after each rep does allow you to do the volume without being totally torched.

Wednesday, August 6

We did everything using a standard 45 lb. straight bar.

Decline Bench
Flat Bench
Rack Shoulder press
Incline Bench

10 reps each, 11 reps each, 12 reps each....to 20 reps each.

And that was all. Sound easy, you try it. I was blistered.

Yoga note:
I took Yin Yoga on Monday and was struck with one of the worst Tension headaches right in the middle of class. I made it through by doing alternate versions of some poses but I was nauseated and everything. That has never happened to me before but I was worn out. Prior to class I took what was supposed to be a 30 min nap but lasted for 2 hours and then after class I laid down to let me headache subside and slept another 1 1/2 hours. Got up for an hour and ate supper then was back in bed at 9 pm. Do ya think I need to rest????

The Weekend

2008-08-04T04:12:00.001-07:00

Fridays workout is the only one I have done worth mentioning. It was SUPER hard.

The squats were done with a 45 lb. straight bar and 1 lap = 1/3 a mile

25 Squats
Run 1 lap

50 Squats
Run 2 laps

100 Squats
Run 4 laps

150 Squats
Run 2 laps

In total we did 325 squats and 3 miles of running. I thought I would die!!!

Other than that we had a Strongman Competition on Saturday at the Harley Davidson store. I stayed back at the gym and worked and let the boys go have all the fun.

Next Saturday we are having Trey Brewer the BB Phenom come hang out with our members. That should be a lot fo fun!!!

3 Days of Training

2008-07-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday -

KB class was light just Pam, Rhea and myself. We did the following workout:

50 2H swings
5 cleans per arm
5 clean & press per arm
5 pushups

then down to 40 and 4, 30 and 3 etc....

50 H2H swings
5 Judo Chops
5 Snatches
5 pushups

in the same manner. Then we did a round of lunge press and one otherr thing to finish it all off.

Wednesday -

30 minutes on the elliptical
Log press with the new Spud, Inc. Log Press/Tri Bar we worked up to 50 lbs. on the bar for a single
Circuit: Rows with the loaded log, Stability ball pushups, Universal Trainer Ab thingies. An insane amount of reps on all of that.

Thursday -

Haven't had class yet but here is what I am thinking. It it hot as hades here and I am thinking that we need to go out and have a good sweat. So depending on class size we will get 2 KB's (I will use 12 KG) and do overhead walking holds for 50 paces then stop and do 5 - 10 double cleans. We will go the 1/3 a mile around the building in this fashion. If that doesn't take an hour then I will have to come up with something else. I will let you know how this goes!!

Haven't posted in a while

2008-07-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last friday was the X-Files movie premiere. Because I was so over wrought with emotion from the movie, I am just now getting around to posting. I apologize.

Monday, July 25th - The WORST workout I have EVER done!!! This tops the 1,000 rep workout

Squats w/ 135 lbs.
Deadlifts w/ 135 lbs.
Prowler w/ 20 lbs.

10 Squats, 10 Deadlifts, Prowler for 100 ft down and back
9 Squats, 9 Deadlifts, Prowler for 100 ft down and back

The plan was to work down to 1 but we only had time for 10 - 6. I also snuck 3 laps in later in the day because my Gymnasts were taking turns pushing and we had an odd number so I kept having to push back up the hill.

Thursday's KB class

2008-07-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

I was too tired last night to post - my arms just wouldn't work. We did this workout with 2 KB's a heavy and a normal size. You are supposed to work with your heavy one for as many reps as you can and switch to the light one when you need to. I'd say we each did about 60 - 70% with our heavy bell. I used a 16 Kg and a 12 Kg

100 swings warm up

Round #1 - 10 cleans/10 clean & press

Round #2 - 10 Judo chops/10 snatches

Round #3 - 10 Swing High Pulls/10 Front squats (w/ 1 bell)

Repeat each round doing 15 reps per

Repeat each round again doing 20 reps per

This is a pretty challenging workout. I always find that my legs turn to jelly first, but with no leg drive it makes the upper body part that much harder. It is a great workout for people who are trying to bump up to the next size KB, because it gives you some good work with that weight with the option of dropping down when you are fatigued.

I am going to see the new X-Files movie "I Want to Believe" at 11:40 this am. I am so excited I might just cry when the opening credits start. I know that is super wierd but there are other X-philes out there who are thinking the same thing...I am not alone!

I haven't posted in awhile...

2008-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Monday when I got home to do my post one heck of a storm blew through and took out my power and then on Tuesday I was so busy getting stuff done from having no power on Monday that again I didn't post. So, I have a lot of catching up to do:

Monday -

30 minutes on the Elliptical
Wide Stance Leg press sets of 5-8 with 90 lbs, 180 lbs, 270 lbs, 360 lbs and 450 lbs
Romanian DL's to the knees only w/ 135 lbs. 5 sets of 10
Can't remember what else

Tuesday -

1000 Rep workout in KB class. This workout is a closely guarded secret. We are trying to get it published in a Dragon Door workout book so I am not going to let the cat out of the bag. Suffice it to say this is one Kick Butt workout.

Wednesday -

40 minutes on the elliptical
Sled Hell - 1 time around the parking lot with a 45 lb plate plus 2 10 lb. dumbells. We pulled the sled 1/4 of a lap and then stopped and did 50 reps each of front raises, side raises and Rear Delt flyes. We did this the whole way around and only got 3 good sets in and it was an hour so we just pulled the sled home.

My arms are still shaking.

Saturday's Workout

2008-07-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

We had a great workout saturday:

100 swings warmup w/ 12 Kg
3 sets of 10 Short swing flips (way to complicated to explain but they are new technique to teach the snatch and I was trying them out)
3 sets of 5 reps each short swing flips, judo chops & snatchs
100 swing high pulls

something else but I can't remember.

The huge thing about this class was that we had a new member - Tina. She was so awesome. I always start out newbies with just the swing. I teach them the basics and then give them a whole lot to do. While the rest of the class works we all sort of watch the newbie and help give them hints to perfect form. I gave Tina 100 swings w/ the 8 Kg and 100 swings w/ the 12 Kg. Towards the end of class, Tina had about 50 swings to go and she was looking tired. The rest of the class was stopping to stretch and I offered that Tina could stop where she was a stretch with us. Instead she opted to stick with the swings and finish all 200. That was SOOOOO awesome. We have such a great crew of hard workers and I am confident that Tina will fit right in. Good job Tina!

Marc and I saw Batman yesterday. Great movie! Heath Ledger really is awesome. AND only 5 more days until the X-Files. In fact I am sitting here right now watching one of my favorite episodes: Bad Blood. Very funny stuff!

Just me and Randi today

2008-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Marc gave us instruction and off we went.

100 body weight squats (which I sort of cheated on since we did so many last night)
10 sets of stairs (taking them 2 at a time)
1 round of lunges (1/3 a mile)
1 round of heavy sled pulling backwards - we each had around 100 lbs. on the sled.

The air was very thick this morning and I was drenched. To make it worse I had gone in the tanning bed so I was sweating gooey tanning bed lotion. It was nice though because Randi had a great conversation about men - in general - and we both got alot off our chest:)

This afternoon I am going home to take the mother of all naps and read. I just started a book by Phillipa Gregory who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl. Apparently, it is her first novel that they have re-released. I hope it is as good as her other books have been.

I almost vomited...

2008-07-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, folks for the first time in a while I actually had to stand outside to wait for the vomit to pass. It was only Pam and me, and here is what we did:

100 double swings w/ 12 Kg
Double clean and Press into a squat thrust (hands on the bell) w/ 12 Kg 5x5
1 lap running
Double Front Squats w/ Double Under jumps 1 of each, 2 of each.....to 10 of each
1 lap walking (was supposed to be running be you just try it and see if you can make your legs run)
Snatches w/ 12 Kg 3 per arm x 5 sets

Now I deserve some Wendy's...the dinner of champions. Just don't ask me what i have because it is not healthy:)

Upper Body

2008-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

I started out this morning with 10 minutes on the step mill at level 6 and 25 minutes on the elliptical.

Work out with Marc:
Circuit of Benches 25 reps of each
Flat bench w/ 65 lbs.
Incline bench w/ just the bar (we actually only did 15 reps of this)
Pushups

Sled Dragging Upper Body w/ 45 lb. plate. We only had time for one lap which is 1/3 a mile and I did Rear Delt work the whole time.

Now I am working on my long list of things to get accomplished.

I didn't forget...

2008-07-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

This is Busta. He and his sister our the newest in our family. They showed up in the gym parking lot 1 1/2 years ago. He was tiny then but weighs 15 lbs. now. He is a big tub of lard.

Today is not a workout day because I have to go to a funeral and a visitation. KB class is going on tonight but someone else is teaching.

I will be back with a killer workout tomorrow morning.

Monday Morning

2008-07-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

I started the day with 30 minutes on the elliptical at an elevation of 13 and a degree of difficulty at 8. I read the new US magazine all about Madonna and A-Rod. Then worked on my current book "So Young, Handsome and Lonely" or something like that. It's pretty good.

Marc set up a horrible circuit. I got 3 full rounds and than a 1/2 round. I ran out of time and my wrist was killing me so I stopped.

We warmed up with some bar squats using the buffalo bar then we got to work:

15 squats w/ buffalo bar and 155 lbs.
25 Windshield wipers per side w/ 95 lbs
Run 1 lap

This afternoon I will go to Yin Yoga and hopefully work out what is ailing my elbow, wrist and fingers.

No Workout Sundays

2008-07-13T06:07:00.001-07:00

Today is NOT a workout day. My one day off and I am sitting here watching the "8 Essential X-Files episodes" that you need to watch before seeing the new movie on July 25th!

In case you want to watch them to, here they are:

The Pilot

Beyond the Sea

The Host (my absolute favorite episode of ALL time - the mutant Flukeman episode)

Clyde Bruckmans Final Repose (do you know how Clyde says Mulder will die?)

Memento Mori

Post-Modern Prometheus (Cher and Mulder and Scully dancing - I cry everytime I see it)

Bad Blood (Scully sleeps with the cute sheriff played by Luke Wilson and Mulder sings Shaft)

Milagro (not one of my favorites just watched it the other day but will watch it again to see how it fits into the grand scheme of things)

And though my puppy is not an X-file, someone asked that I post a picture so here goes. This is my 4 year old pit bull Amber:

KB Strength Workout

2008-07-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

I set up a strength workout that we have done before but it is good to get us all working with weights that we are uncomfortable with. Here are the weights we worked with:

Girls: 12 Kg, 16 Kg, 20 Kg, 24 Kg and 28 kg

Boys: 16 Kg, 20 Kg, 24 Kg, 28 Kg, 32 Kg, 34 Kg, 40 Kg

We went up the ladder starting with the lightest bell and did 3 -5 reps of each on 2H swings, Cleans, Clean and Press and Snatches. We went up the ladder with each exercise two times. It takes awhile and there are a lot of rest breaks but it is good to challenge everyone to try a heavy weight. No pressure to do all reps on each KB, do what you can as it gets heavier.

Participant Profile: Vickie McNeill

Vickie has been attending our KB classes for over a year. She took a free community class that I taught after realizing that she needed a new challenge to tackle. Previously, Vickie had started walking (6 days a week for 3 - 8 miles) and had joined weight watchers. When she joined our class, she was 8 lbs. away from her goal weight.

Today, Vickie hit a huge milestone. She did a clean, clean & press and snatch on each arm with the 24 Kg Kettlebell. She has been trying to acheive this for a few months and today did all three of the lifts. This is so awesome. When she started Vickie was using the 8 Kg for everything, now she prefers the 12 or 16 Kg and today she was lovin' the 24 Kg.

Vickie is an inspiration to everyone looking to start working with Kettlebells. Her determination to reach her personal goals of fitness are a joy to watch. She takes our KB class 3 times a week, walks regularly and is looking to add crosstraining and spinning into her workout repertoire.

Great job Vickie! You go Girl!

Friday, July 11, 2008

2008-07-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

No cardio this morning because I got to sleep in. Yahoo!!!!

Marc set us up on a circuit. 25 reps of each exercise and we went through it 4 times:

Hanging abs
Ab roller
Obliques w/ 16 Kg KB
Wobble Board squats
Squat Thrusts
Bicep Curls w/ 45 lb. bar
Bench Press w/ 45 lb. bar
Cossack Squats
Jumping Jacks

By Friday I am usually pretty tired so a circuit like this is about all I can handle. I will try this afternoon to do some cardio. If I am feeling spunky I will go out and pull the sled, if not I will just do the step mill and read my book.

Tomorrow I am going to start profiling some of the super cool people who come to my KB class regularly.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

2008-07-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

Tonights KB class is supposed to be a Strength and Cardio workout but it rained all day so I was limited in the kind of kick butt cardio we could do. Instead, we worked Double KB moves.

Warm-up:
50 heavy 2H swings
25 heavy 1H swings per arm
50 heavy alternating swings
(I used a 24 Kg)

Double Cleans 3x8 (12 Kg)
Double Clean and Press 3x6 (with 3 second hold at the top - 12 Kg)
Double Snatches outside the leg 3x5 (12 Kg)
Double Alternating Snatches inside the leg 3x5 per arm (12 Kg)
Double Front Squats (12 Kg)
Deck Squats 1x6, 1x8 (12 Kg)

We ended with some Yin Yoga stretches.

We have a Pit Bull named Amber and a Cocker Spaniel named Dita that hang around the gym all day. Last night they were both laid out sleeping in the middle of our KB circle. Both dogs are scared of thunder and lightening but let a KB land a foot from their sleepy head and they don't bat an eye. Strange!!!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

2008-07-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

I started today with 30 minutes on the Elliptical reading Dr. Death by Jonathan Kellerman.

Incline Bench: barx2x5, 65 lbs.x2x5, 85 lbs.x5x5

1/4 dips onto a box: 5 sets of 10 - 12 reps

Overhead press w/ bands: 5 sets of 20 per arm (we used mini jump stretch bands)

Something after that but I forgot what...sorry!

Kettlebell Training July 8, 2008

2008-07-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was tired this week and had a massage on Monday to loosen my ever tight forearms so we took it kind of slow today.

100 2 Hand Swings for warm-up

200 Snatches & 100 Drop/Catch squats w/ your normal KB (I used a 12 Kg)

Start with 1 rep of each exercise per arm, then do 2 per arm, 3 per arm.....up to 10.

When you get to 10 go down to 9 and come back down to 1.

This is 300 reps

That only took 30 minutes so I had to come up with some basic work to do the rest of the time.

100 H2H swings
3 sets of Figure 8's 15 each direction
3 sets of 5 per arm 1/2 TGU's