The Next Step off A Peak.....

Is always down..."You can step back or fall off".......As Mark always says,.

Abandon ship, abandon ship.......

Good Lord! My day started with moving ten tons of weight. 97lb ketlebellls, dumbells up to 55lbs, mirrors that probably weigh 40 lbs, etc..... Girya is getting a makeover to accommodate future HKC's along with bigger KB evening classes with Jordan Vezina and Sat swing classes lead by me! I was at Girya by 7:00am moving everything away from the walls for the painter to do his job....not 100% about the new color, but what the heck, it's just paint.

Saturday is a KB Max Vo2 day along with swing classes for "Learn", and Beg/Inter, and then 12 noon Bikram yoga (lucky for me its also "drink my ass into the ground day", lol)......Good Lord....

OK here's the low down....

I show up at 8:45am @ Equinox for my 2 scheduled classes, and I had decided to train with my Beg/Inter. class before Max w/16kg....now I've done plenty of swing classes before a 12kg Max V02 workout, but what what I thinking??????

I bring my own 12kg to Equinox, and as soon as I pulled ot out of my car it felt heavy....not a good sign! I ask my first class, "Is it just me, or do the KB's feel heavy today?" Everyone agreed! Whoops.....

OK, 25 minutes of 'long ass' swing sets, and now Meg and I have to train Max V02 with the freakin' 16kg......

Jessie and Sabina stayed with us for 10 sets of Max training, and then it was just me and Meg..... the 16 kg felt heavier than usual and I knew, for sure, there was no freakin' way I was doing 8's today, I was going to be lucky to do my 60 sets! Set 20.....Meg's finger, or hand opened up, gushing blood....she couldn't go on. That's the only excuse I needed......abandon ship.....we were done! Switch to heavy 2 hand swings and speed swings.

Willy Nilly snatches, speed swings w/12kg, heavy 2 hand swing w/20 & 24 kg....60 sets total....done! 35 sets of 8, Max w/16kg will have to wait until next week.....hey, I am only human after all! lol!

Meg's head was ready, but her hand wasn't...I on the other hand was asking the Universe for "an out" and it gave me one....next week...

Mark will train Max, first freakin' thing in the morning, with us @ Girya, and that will be that! How can we not rise to the occasion?

Protein

Mark and I went to the Mexican grocery (Mi Pueblo) near our home a couple of days ago to buy some short ribs (*see note), and in the deli section along with the all-ready cooked pulled pork and ribs and chicken wings they had these kidneys and hearts! I had never seen them before, and at first didn't recognize them for what they were, until I looked closer. Hmmnn....are those kidneys? I asked Mark what he thought and he agreed! Yup, those are kidneys, and heart! I had never had kidney, and, for sure, had never had heart....so what the hell, it's protein right?

We bought 1 heart and 2 kidneys....not bad! I sliced it up and tossed it with my salad, and Mark had it in his egg and veg stirfry.

I try and include some sort of animal protein with 2 of my 3 daily main meals. I would have to say that, flavor wise, I prefer pork and beef, but chicken is the most convenient to cook as I make all of my own stocks for soup, which I also eat everyday, and for that reason I always buy whole chickens, cut them up and bone them myself, so a whole chicken gives me quite a bit of meat. Pressure cooking has given me the luxury of cooking big inexpensive pieces of meat in practially no time, which works perfectly for me to have the leftovers in my fridge to add to salads, stirfrys. Most times them most inexpensive cuts of beef and pork also have bones for stock making, one of my favorites is smoked ham shanks, which gives me a smokey flavored stock.

I don't think a day goes by that I don't use some sort of meat stock. Using it for soup is obvious, but I use it for rices, risottos, polenta, quinoa, chilis/beans, gravys and sauces. (and stuffing at Thanksgiving time...yum-my) I love the extra nutrition I know it must add, and just as important, using the bones along with all of my onion, celery and carrot scraps reduces waste, and cuts the cost of buying stock to zero! As much cooking as I do I have what I call "the scrap heap" in my freezer loaded with these vegetabe scraps that sometimes build up more quickly then the "bone yard" so I make vegetable stock in the PC in about 15-20 minutes!

I don't eat enough seafood only because seafood doesn't keep uncooked for more than 1 day in the fridge, and/or cooked for more than 1 day, so seafood protein doesn't fit my lifestyle of precooking and preparing in advance many of my meals. And although I love eggs (especially "real" eggs from pastured chickens), I don't digest them well. I'll eat eggs mostly soft and hard boiled, either diced into my salads or on their own.

The way I eat doesn't come from a nutritionist point of view....in other words I don't count grams of proteins, carbs, fats, sugars, sodium, calcium or any other nutients or vitamins etc....if I count anything it's calories....which I don't do much of either these days. Since I prepare and make most all of my own foods, using fresh, natural ingredients, I trust that everything my body needs it gets....how could it not? I admit to a cookie or candy binge every once in a while, yes, the kind with fake fats and fake sugars, but I do try to make better choices when I feel I can.

* I started to get all hung up and obsessed with eating strictly organic, but thank goodness I'm getting over it! I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I managed to lose over 100lbs., and become one of the healthiest people I knew never eating anything organic. In fact buying most of my meat and produce at the Vietnemese and Mexican markets near my home because of the money I saved versus grocery stores like Safeway. Currently I shop mostly at Farmers Markets, Whole Foods and Molly Stones, but I refuse to beat myself up anymore and stress out about being "perfectly organic". I know there are alot of reasons, other than nutrition, to buy local, seasonal and organic, but good Lord, stress is more toxic to my body than eating short ribs from Mi Pueblo! (I also recently renewed my Costco membership after 2 years...you know they carry alot of pretty good brands of foods these days!)

Max Vo2.....PR

I have to check my records, but I think I had a PR (personal record) with my Max training....I had to do 2 extra sets to make sure, LOL!

Tracy Max w/16kg
5x 4 (2 L, 2 R)
6x 6 (3 L, 3 R)
7x 20
8x 32!!!!!!!

Meg Max w/16kg
5x 6 (3 L, 3 R)
6x 8 (4 L, 4 R)
7x 26 (13 L, 13 R)
8x 12
7x 10

62 sets Max V02 total

I started Max thinking I had done 25 sets of 8 last workout (2 weeks ago, before out Santa Barbara trip), so I knew I had to do 30 sets, an increase of 5 sets per week until my goal of 60 sets of 8....but then I second guessed myself ( because I didn't check my blog ) and couldn't remember what my last PR was, LOl....so I added on two more sets at the end to make sure. 62 sets total Max workout today, 32 sets of 8 reps w/16kg.

Meg's Max was a little "willy-nilly" as she didn't have a solid plan, and I was too out of breath to coach her, LOL! But she also snatched a Max PR with 12 sets of 8's, last workout she had done 10 sets of 8.

Thanks to Jesse and Sabina (my next class) for counting down our last two sets...it really does make a difference whren you have a cheering audience!

The next 15-20 minutes was planks, hangs, and TGU's. Thanks to Meg for coaching us through TGU's and then it was 30 minutes of swings. Everyone trained their asses off this morning with kettlebells, and then I met Mark for Bikram's for the 12 noon yoga class....good Lord I'm tired....in a good way of course. (training and 3 or so glasses of wine.....)

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I'm cooking lunch for my kids, and my granddaughter is coming for the first time! Woo hoo!

today was a great day!

I love today! I never want to feel any other way, than the way I feel about today!

Searching for What I Already Know

Man, this past 1 1/2 years has been a rollercoaster. Lots of things changing in my life, back and forth, up and down.....and it sure has reflected in my bodyweight......or should I say in my eating patterns.....

I was having a conversation with my grandaughters 'other Grandmother' about losing weight, and because she hadn't known about my own weightloss story she was, of course, surprised having only known me at my current size. I happened to have one copy of the Vitalics magazine in my car and showed her the article which included a 'before picture', as well as my beginning diet and workout routines. She glossed over everything and said to me "So you mean all of the answers are right here? All I have to do is this?" And I said to her, "You don't need to know how I did it, you already know how to do it, everyone does!"

What I mean, and what I meant, by that is, when you read books/articles, see pictures, talk with people that have had success in losing weight what you need from these things is inspiration, not facts. Although their weightoss facts may inspire, that's not what I mean. My own exact menus and workout routines may not be right for you, but something similar may be, and can inspire you to remember what you already know, or what you know you need to learn. Inspiration may include a literal translation in change, but what we are all searching for is motivation. And motivation comes from inspiration....inspiration from the inside is what motivates the outside.

This is one reason why I stopped including blogposts with the exact details of my food/calorie count, bodyweight and BF%. Instead I've been trying to think of inspiring things to write about....I haven't been too successful, sometimes writing instead about getting stuck in a downward spiral of negativity looking for the answers to the "whys" in my life.

Why am I gaining weight?
Why me?
What does this mean?
Why now?
How am I going to lose this weight?
Can I lose this weight?
When will this end?
When will this turn back around?
Why me?
What will people think?

Did I just turn into some kind of victim? Yuck. I've said many times before that I don't think we need look back into the past to find out the "why's", instead focus on the present and future. I don't know why most of the things in my life happened the way they did, but so what. What I need to focus on are the things I do know.

I haven't been walking regulary, but I went for a walk the other day...... I love walks, it's my time to meditate and I come up with so many good thoughts and ideas when I walk, and I always feel good when I walk....and one of the thoughts I had was how I had been spending so much time and energy worried that I was going to fail, and looking for ways not to fail, that I forgot I knew how to succeed! I already know how to succeed, so what the hell have I been looking for? (I know I need to walk, by the way....how did I forget that one? Walking is my #1 exercise!)

I believe that everyone knows how to lose weight. If you, or anyone, has ever purposely lost one pound, then you could lose 100 pounds. How could it be any different? Remember that you already know the facts and ask instead for inspiration to create motivation to put your body and mind into action!

I'll blog soon about the recent inspiration that came to me and how it's motivated me to make the diet and workout changes I know I need to make, and I know how to make, to reach some new goals in my life.....my good life.


PS this is why I changed the order of my blog title to transforming "thought" first

Back to Max....

Mark and I were in Santa Barbara last weekend and I decided to take off my Saturday KB training and just relax and enjoy some time with our lovely friends, Greg and Jen Mishkin, who were generous enough to share their home with us (and a few really good bottles of wine!)

Mark went down to Ventura to join a few SR RKC's and Team Leaders to assist Pavel's Bodyweight Training Workshop, where he taught and demonstrated the handstand segment as well as his gymnastic tension drills.

Mark joined us for Max early Saturday morning as well. One of his regular training partners moved away a couple of months ago, and the other one has alot of other commitments that cause him to miss workouts more often than not, so I'm more than happy to snag him as my training partner at any, and every, chance!


Since I missed my 16kg Max training last week, I had to try and pick up where I left off....

Max V02 60 sets

Tracy
7/7 x 50 sets
8/8 x 10 sets

Meg
5/5 x 10
6/6 x 10
7/7 x 30
8/8 x 10

I started off straight into sets of 7/7, and I knew there would be no 8's for me this day, which was fine as it would still be a PR.....I think I had only done 50 sets of 7 previous, but I have to look back to last years training log. Mark and I went at the same time and although we were both snatching 7 reps I tried to keep up with Mark snatching his 7 at an 8 rep pace. I wrote about pacing in my last post about Max.

Meg started out with 5's and then 6's, also at a fast pace before settling into her 7 rep pace.....and then at the end of our workout with 10 sets left to go she announces that she's going to snatch 8's for the remainder of the workout! What!

No way in hell was she snatching 8's and I was snatching 7's....I think I've been called out (LOL, really, it was my own ego calling me out, not Meg!) Eights it was. Fine.

Next class.....

Planks, hangs, and then swings.....swings for an additional 30 minutes.

Next class....more swings, but since it was a "Learn" and Beginning class I didn't have to do much actual swinging, it was more teaching...starting, stopping for another 30-45 minutes. The Farmers Market in Palo Alto, a small Pumkin Spice latte at Peet's, and then Mark and I went to 12 noon Bikrams. (hey, a girls' gotta earn her wine with dinner!)

Next week, back to 8's.....Meg too!

Don't Break Your Momentum

The only thing harder than starting a workout routine is staying with it....seriously. It may seem like starting is the hardest part, but when we think about it, how many times do people start? Many. But how many times do they stick with it? None! Otherwise they would still be training, wouldn't they!

I started teaching classes this past January, and since that time I only have 2 students that have kept training with me.....and I'm sure no one else has kept it up on their own, even though almost everyone that had trained at least 4 consecutive weeks with me had seen results...noticeable results, not only in the shape and tone of their bodies, but most definitely in their conditioning! Some even own their own kettlebells, and still don't train them!

It's easy to quit, and the farther you get from regularity the harder it is to not quit completely. During these past 10 months every time I take a weekend off, and have to cancel a regular class, I always, always lose students! That's how close most people are to quitting! All one needs, it seems someitmes, is one missed workout......wow!

I've written many times about how I don't like the word "struggle". I don't like to use the word because I feel as if using it makes it so. But just because I don't like using the word, and I certainly don't like feeling the word, doesn't mean I don't think it, or feel it! When I think it, I'm, for sure, feeling it! What am I really feeling though? Lazy, unmotivated, tired, hopeless, scared?

It doesn't matter to me that I find the answer to that question, what matters is that, in the mean time, I show up to swing, I show up to spin, I show up to walk, I show up for my yoga practice....that's what matters. How long I swing, spin, walk, or the number of yoga classes I go to doesn't matter until it gets to the point of breaking the habit, breaking the regularity of my workouts, breaking momentum.

Many times near the end of Max Vo2 training I want to keep snatching my last few sets in a row, instead of putting the bell down for a rest period....why? Many times I'll do long, long, long sets of swings....in fact the few times I have swung with the purpose of seeing how many swings I could do in an hours time, it was much easier to swing continuously as long as possible, taking bigger rest periods, instead of breaking it up into smaller sets with shorter rest periods....why? Because it's easier to keep going, working with momentum, than it is to break momentum, and start over. A few months ago when I tested my 10 minute snatch with Meg and Gen, we all got a "second wind" near the end and sprinted to the finish! No one rested during the 10 minutes, but still we were able to actually use momentum to speed up at the end.

These past few months my own training has seen a shift and for the first time in over 3 years I could actually see myself quitting my Bikram's Yoga practice.....scary! But, as bad as I had been feeling about my practice I kept going....not as often as I had been going, but my practice never fell lower than 4 times a week. That may not seem like much of a drop, but at the first of the year I was averaging 9 times a week! And, here's the big confession......I've thought many times recently, if I wasn't committed to teaching my swing classes I could very well start to lose my kettlebell practice! Thank God for my students that keep showing up and expecting me to show up as well!

Breaking momentum applies to more than working out. It applies to any good habit we've all established in our lives. And I believe everything we do on a regular basis are simply habits we establish. It takes 6 weeks to establish a new habit, but much shorter a time to break it. One missed workout may be all it takes........don't stop, because getting started again is so f***ing hard!


PS this seems to also apply to writing blogposts....LOL!