The Shape of Things to Come

I have a ton more muscle than I've ever had....without even trying! Why? Well....I haven't missed a workout, a kettlebell workout, in forever, in addition to teaching lots of swing classes, most of which I always lead....lots and lots of swings....good thing I know how to make swinging kettlebells fun and interesting, lol!

I have a favorite phrase that I use quite often....."The size of my body is determined by the amounts, and kinds of foods that I eat, but the composition of my body (the shape) comes from my kettlebell training." And that is the truth. Of course body composition is related to nutrition, but nutrition alone won't give you muscle. (neither will Bikram yoga....lol, but that's another blogpost).

Losing over 120lbs does not leave a person lean and muscular, it simply leaves them with a lower bodyweight, often times a smaller version of their "fat selves"....you know, a person can be "skinny fat". A person can also be heavier, shapelier, and stronger. To me, beauty is the shape of a athletic, muscular, body.....leaness can be pretty too, but how lean is up to each individuals preferrance.

Recently I've been noticing some pretty lean "older" women at the Club I work at, and you know what? I'm not liking the look....even when I look at old pictures of myself when I was really lean I'm not sure I looked my best. Even now a couple of years older, if I had to be completely honest, I'm on a borderline of not really knowing what's going to make me feel better.....skinnier and older looking, or keeping a few pounds of softness, especially on my face.....Mark says a facelift is out of the question......drats!

Back to "shape". The responseI hear most often when someone finds out that I've lost over 100lbs is...."But you don't have any 'extra' skin!" This is such an irritating response to me, but that's another story......what's more important is the fact that most people cannot believe I used to weigh over 250lbs because I don't "look" like I was ever that fat! It's no secret that I had a "tummy tuck" two years ago, (because I wrote a blogpost about it), but I had that same response for the two years prior to my surgery because I was so lean, 17-19% bodyfat, and muscular. (The flap of skin they cut off of my gut only weighed 2lbs. and I didn't need any liposuction BTW....fyi) My point is.....sure I have some loose skin, I am in my mid 40's afterall, give me a break! But Mark explained it perfectly when he said it this way.....

My training created a "muscular frame" for my skin to "adhere"." In other words I've given my skin something to mold over....it's called muscle! Thank God for kettlebell swings. Think about hanging your favorite outfit on a hanger, or on a mannequin....which one do you think looks better?

I may not weigh what I want to, but I have to admit that I like the shape of my body. I'm constantly getting comments like, "You're in such great shape.", I even had someone tell me the other day that even while I was wearing long sleeves they could tell that I was "in good shape".

Of course I do other types of exercises besides training kettlebells. I practice Bikram yoga 6 times a week. Bikram yoga helps me build balance, flexibiltiy, stability, and endurance. I "Spin" only twice a week, because I find the benefits to Spinning not worth more time in my workout schedule then 2 days.....Geoff Neupert (Master Instructor) said to me at the August, La Jolla RKC last year, "So I hear you've been Spinning....why don't you just ride a bike? You know Spinning is just going to give you big legs....that's what I hear from all of the people I know that Spin." My response? "I don't mind having big legs, in fact I like big legs....it's my 'muffin top' that I don't like!" Big legs are athletic to me.....speed skaters rock! (I think I have bigger hamstrings than anyone else in my yoga classes....gotta love the hamstrings, LOL)

I may lose a few more pounds, but in the mean time I feel as if the shape of my body now is pretty great! Small waist, small hips, big legs, shapley arms, seriously muscular back, big lats, and my shoulders are getting bigger (more shapely) with all of the strict presses I've been doing....OK, so I may not have my "prized bicep vein" but, whatever! Give and take, right? No! I'll get it back, and I'll get my stinkin' 'pull up', the same way I got my 'hang'....hard work, but most importantly consistentcy.

It's all here for me. Life is good.

What's In Yor Lunch today?

Real quick because I'm late for my most important, hardest, longest workout of the week......



Here's what I packed to eat after my workout later today....I couldn't make up my mind between chocolate fudge cake, and oatmeal w/milk and fiber.....what would you pick? I'll let you know how it goes......


......I ate the cake! I feel good about my choice, because I "got it over with".....but physically I feel a little sick....but it'll pass. The good news is that I don't think I'll need to eat a big slice of cake for breakfast again anytime soon. lol (maybe)

Just a Reminder

Mark changed the heading that describes his blog....his philosophy, his life.....

He quoted these words to me and I posted them in my own blogpost announcing his return to the blogoshere, and these words are so true to who he is that I had to, I had to, repost them. Here they are;

"And in those simple beautiful movements I remembered what was really important in training; that consistency trumps intensity; all the time. That intensity is born from consistency. That one cannot force it, one has to lay in wait for it, patiently, instinctively, calmly and be ready to grab it when Grace lays it down in front of you to take it."

Still training...hard, after all these years. "Consistency trumps intensity." How many people, how many athletes can live it, much less say it?



Show up and train.......

Saturday Snatch Workout w/single and double bells

It may seem to most that my workout routines are random, but they're not. I always have a plan that has a starting point, which then leads to a progression of intensity. I'm getting ready to have produced my first DVD outlining how and why I developed this style of training, and I'm starting to get really excited about it! In it I'll explain, from start to finish, many of my methods and techniques for "Programming the Kettlebell Swing" (that's the name of my presentation BTW). http://kbworkshop.com/

This particular snatch workout is based on my Max Vo2 training (damn Meg and her snatch points...lol), but without explaining all of the "why's" of this workout, I'm simply sharing it with you to try on your own, restructured slighty for an easier follow-along....enjoy!

set your Gymboss @ 30 second intervals

12kg

8 L, 8 R
9 L, 9 R
10 L, 10 R
9 L, 9 R
8 L, 8 R

10 set snatch ladder (uphill and downhill)

two 8kg's (we also used two 20lb bells from Go Fit)

8 reps

x 5 sets

15 set rotation repeated 4 times for a total of 60 sets = 30 minutes






In this video, I start with the exact workout described above. Meg starts in the opposite order with doubles first, and then the snatch ladder because I only had one set of 20lb bells (the blue ones), so we had to share. We taped an additional 15 sets to the 60 set workout above, making our workout 75 sets = 37 minutes.

I would have chosen to double snatch the 12kg's, but I had already trained double snatches w/12kg's on Thursday, and I know I'll be training them again on Tues., so I went a little lighter. If I had used the 12 kg's, and if you chose to use 12 kg's, then you may only be able to double snatch 5-6 reps, the goal is to use 15 seconds of your 30 second interval. If you can snatch the 12's for 8 reps in 15 seconds, then knock yourself out! LOL

This workout applies many of my own progressive training techniques, and after I release my video I may revisit the "whys" of this particular workout.

PS Diana...this would be a good workout for you to replace one of your Max workouts! Let me know how you liked it!

Taking Photos and Video of Your Own Training

As I started to write this morning....

One of my strongest suggestions to new HKC's is......"Become your own first client." What do I mean by that? Well, teaching requires:

#1 an "eye" You HAVE to be able to recognize mistakes and,

#2 how to fix the mistakes, lol!

#3 how to communicate the corrections

Anyway, I believe the best way to start, if you are inexperienced in teaching, is to watch yourself. Take video of your own form and training. If you don't have a video recorder take photos (have someone take photos) of your form. It's invaluable....period.

This is never more true than in my yoga practice. Why more yoga Studios don't offer the service of photos, and video recording of indivual practices is, in my opinion, mind blowing! Seriously. If we can't see what we are doing, how can we correct it?

I discovered this by mistake! I started to video record my "little kettlebell combinations" with my Cannon camera (which has a 3 minute capacity, btw, lol) to post on my blog, not for my own study....I've since posted way over 200 videos, here's one of my earliest videos....enjoy, lol! Lots of things have changed....yikes! And that's part of my point.....I've been able to make alot of changes from seeing myself on camera.


My point is.....make the corrections on yourself! It's amazing, to me, how looking at yourself from another point of view enables you to coach yourself! A good example is an elaboration of my last blogpost of my Bikram yoga practice, specifically of the pose known as "Rabbit". In "Rabbit", you start by sitting "Japanese style" (on top of your two legs), grabbing your heels, and "rounding forwards", until your head touches your knees. At this point you lift your hips up, towards the ceiling, trying to get a 90 degree angle with your legs. In other words, the "goal" is to get your legs completely vertical, while keeping your forehead connected with your knees......

Let me tell you.....it's impossible to see how "vertical" your legs are to the ceiling, because you cannot turn your head while in the posture.....and it ain't easy, lol!

Here's the progression. Grab your heels from behind, thumbs on the outside, (top picture), round down until you forehead touches your knees (next picture)....this may take awhile...it took me about 3 years.

At this point, lift your hips up, towards the ceiling, keeping your forehead and knees touching....if they come apart then walk them back up together.....this may sound easy, but it's not, LOL!

Personally, as I lift my hips up, my forehead comes away from my knees, (except on a good day....a very good day!), BUT, walking them forwards does not work for me.....they just seperate again....I'm working on this, lol!

My next blogpost will be about being friends with the person that own the yoga studio! LOL! Michael Mayle just opened up a new Bikram yoga studio in the Silver Creek area of San Jose, (http://www.balanceyogacenteronline.com/index.php), and lucky for me, he's HKC certified! He's one of the smarties that has recognized the value in yoga, and kettlebells! I'm starting a Beginning Kettlebell Swing class this next Monday 4/19, @ 6:15am at Balance Yoga Center, Silver Creek.....finishing just time to attend the 7:15am Bikram class.....I've got to get my practice in afterall, lol!

See you there!

Unbelievable Video!

I'm late for class this morning but I wanted to write a blogpost about how important it is for everyone to take pictures and video of their training.....

This photo was taken of "rabbit" in my Bikram practice yesterday (my 2nd class....my first one I had to sweat out the hangover, lol!), and when I saw it....this is the first time I've ever seen myself in this position....I was shocked! I'm unbelievably surprised at how good this forward bend for me is. I thought I only was able to lift my hips up about 45 degrees.....wow...I can now really visiualize myself getting to 90 degrees, something I thought I would never do.

more to come.....

no title for this blogpost.....I'm feeling pretty crappy, drank a little too much last night and now I'm faced with back to back Bikram classes, starting in less than an hour.....this is gonna hurt (it already hurts, but it was worth it btw, lol)

If I don't train then I won't get back to yoga until Friday....I can think of all kinds of things I can get done if I'm not going to spend the next 5 hours away from home.

Not only will I not get back to yoga for another 2 days, but I won't get my 6 classes in this week.

I can only do one class....I can always suffer through one class....but I gotta do two, it comes with the OCD.

I can always sit out some poses.....not! (again, part of the OCD)

How bad can it be? I play, I pay.

You cannot give yourself the choice not to train, especially when there's no good reason (if you can stand up then you can train).

I've got my coffee packed, my water, I'm half dressed, I guess I'm going.....