Learn, Practice, Train!

Sorry I haven't posted any video lately, but I've been busy practicing...well, designing, creating AND practicing the swing routines for the 2 videos I'll be filming and producing in less than 2 weeks!  Yikes!  When I did my other videos I had a couple of months to prepare...not sure which is better!  I have the beginning of both routines done (the first 30 minutes) and I'm really, really excited about them!  It's the second half of each workout and the extra bonus at the end that I still have to put together.  And I have to say that both of them are completely different than my original thoughts!  That's what I love about my creative process!

I start with an idea, I take it into the workout, it evolves as we train it (LPT).  I refine it over the week and make it more clear, more progressive, add or take out reps/time, fine tune it down to each and every rep....and then you never know, it could change into something better the next workout!  I love what I do!

Photo above was taken at my first video shoot "Give and Take", during the "bonus workout"!  (L to R) Meg Lloyd RKC, my client and training partner for over 4 years, Chris Gaines RKC (he didn't know what he was getting himself into that day!), and Brian Hemedinger,a client, and the only "male" training partner I've ever had.  Brian at the time was the GM of Equinox and had trained with me for almost 2 years.  He has since been promoted and moved to So Cal.  Both Meg and Brian have (and had) never, ever, not even once, missed a workout!  (business trips and vacations excluded btw)

Sweet, Sour, Salty, Savory. Asian Salads.

Gosh, it's been so long, but I do remember the very first day of my "diet".  I packed my lunch, for the very first time that day, a salmon and spinach salad.  I purchased the spinach salad from Costco, added my own grilled salmon, and a little bit....okay, "alot a bit" of more spinach!  With so many better choices than fast food these days, I'm not above using a good quality alternative to a completely home cooked meal.

In the beginning I used chicken harvested from store purchased roasted birds.  I used many protein options, like prepared salmon cakes, and pot roast from Trader Joe's.  But, I made the majority of my meals, mostly the vegetable additions myself, along with big pots of soup and stew.  I never left the house without my own homemade, pre portioned meals....and an apple!  I may have not made certain "components" of my homemade meals, but I put them together myself, packed them myself, and planned ahead.

Things are not the way they used to be.

Back in "my day" I had the option of Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, McDonalds, Mr Chau's.  Now?  You have Chipolte and Baja Fresh, Sonoma Chicken Coop, Subway, Happy House, Whole Foods, and goodness....I don't know!  Anyway, my point is that you can get a better quality of "fast foods" in a number of places these days.  But I still believe in a more "hands on" approach....that's why I "partner up" sometimes!

Take for instance one of my favorite salads these days.  Seaweed.  Asian salads have numerous ingredients in common:

Sesame oil (fat and flavor)
Soy sauce (salt)
rice wine vinegar (acid)
ginger (spice)
red pepper (heat)
oh, and SUGAR!  That's why it tastes so good!  lol

Maybe a little MSG and viola!  Asian salad!

Personally, I am not afraid of a little MSG, but I reserve the right to change my mind in the future!  Really, I don't trip about details most of the time.  I take my life as a whole.  MSG, refined white sugar, HFCS? Refined white flour?  Butter, olive oil, hydrogenated oils? These ingredients are a fraction of my daily consumption, if I consume them at all.  If I'm fat I'm eating too much....of everything!  None of these ingredients are to blame...IMO.

Goon-ness!  This was supposed to be a blogpost about seaweed salad for God's sake!

OK.  Nijiya Market.  My neighborhood Japanese Market sells all kinds of pre made Japanese foods.  Everything from sushi to seaweed salad....and all of the produce is organic btw.  Funny that they should sell a product with MSG...just sayin!  Good thing I'm not afraid.....today.

Favorite salad?

Purchased, prepared, Seaweed Salad.  Ingredients?

Can I make it myself without processed, and fake ingredients?  Of course.  But until then, I will enjoy partially using  and taking advantage of the convenience of a pre made, and purchased, salad.

I shred my own cabbage (green and red), and carrot, add diced jalapeno, and cilantro with lemon juice to preserve (for up to 1 week).  Although I mostly dislike TJ's, I do like the 1/2 sodium canned tuna option they offer.  1-2tbl mayo/plain yogurt, 1 whole can of TJ's 1/2 sodium tuna, my own shredded cabbage mix, 1/2 Nijiya Market Seaweed salad, a splash of rice wine vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, and maybe some fruit.  These days it could be Fuyu persimmon, or grapes, OR a combination of (apple is good too!).

Sweet, sour, salty, savory.  The definition of Asian flavor.

List of ingredients in Nijiya Seaweed Salad

seaweed
agar-agar (a thickener)
sesame seed (nut/fat/flavor)
black fungus (mushroom, umami)
red pepper (heat)
sesame oil (nut flavor and fat)
sugar (sweetness)
salt (salt!)
hydrogenated vegetable protein
MSG (more salt)

Don't fool yourself into believing "Chinese Chicken Salad" is good for you!  lol

Bottom line?  Sure, I can make my own seaweed salad and dressing.  In fact I can make a better version!  In the mean time I can purchase and use a option ready made.  This purchased salad is actually too strong in flavors for me, that's why I mix it with my own shredded veggies and additional dressing.

If I find myself overweight, it's not because of a purchased seaweed salad!  It's most likely the quart of ice cream, the bag of cookies or Halloween candy, the "Grande Pumpkin Latte" I eat mindlessly everyday, in addition to 3-4 meals a day!

Establishing the habits of eating more vegetables, good quality proteins, homemade and pre-planned, pre portioned meals, instead of the fast, high fat, high sugar snacks, will be what can guarantee your success to a permanent, healthy,life and body weight.  Congratulations!

Give Me 10 Minutes. Last weeks training highlights

I didn't plan to have any "highlights" to my training, it just happened that way!  The highlights also all happened in 10 minute increments!

50 reps 16kg press

Thursday after I did my usual swing training for about 50 minutes I had to go on to some non ballistic training.  I decided to do some 1 minute clean and press work sets, alternating R and L for a total of 10 reps per interval (5 R, 5 L).  I did 5 sets with the 14kg (10 min).  I'm not going to say that the 14kg felt "light", it just didn't feel all that challenging.  I decided to go up in weight, the 16kg, and if I had to resort to some push presses or jerks then fine, no problem.  Well, to my surprise I was able to strict press all reps, 5 sets of 10.

This may not seem like a big deal, and if I trained a heavy press regularly it wouldn't be!  But what I found so amazing is that I haven't pressed the 16kg, much less trained it, for probably over 1 year!  At the most I've done maybe 10 reps total!  Sure I snatch it regularly, but strict press?  Nope.  Considering that I did my very first 16kg press less than 3 years ago, that's not bad!  What the heck, right?

304 12kg snatch reps

After I did 10 sets of presses (5 w/14kg, 5 w/16kg) I ended my workout with a 10 minute, snatch set.  It was not my intention to snatch as fast as I could, in fact the only intention I did have was to snatch continuous for 10 min.  I set up the video camera to count reps afterwards because I had no idea how it was going to turn out.

I started with a downhill ladder at a fairly quick pace.  15/15, 14/14, 13/13, 12/12, 11/11, 10.10, and settled into 10/10 for the remainder of the set.  Was I snatching as fast as I possibly could?  No because I didn't go into it as a "test", and it was the end of my workout that morning, I just wanted to get some light and fast reps done.  I was aware of a 15 reps per 30 sec pace though.

But when you are snatching very quickly (and you know you have video to count reps afterwards!) the brain cells just don't work as well!  I lost count, it wasn't that important anyway.  At 5 minutes I questioned whether or not I wanted to go to 10....10 is hard!  10 is not 5!  Seriously 10 minutes seems so much more than just twice as long as 5!

It wasn't really until later that evening when I counted up the reps, via video, that it occurred to me that 304 reps was a pretty decent showing!  Especially considering I wasn't really trying to get as many reps as possible, and it was at the end of a 1 1/2 hour training session.  Add in the fact that I haven't tested this in forever, and the very first time I did it, about 5 years ago, I was 44 and my total the first time out was 297 reps.  I've gotten stronger and more fit approaching 50, not less!  I think that's pretty freakin' good!

270 swing reps w/24kg

Saturday I swung the 24kg at the end of my workout with the intention of trying to do 20 reps per 30 sec, with only a 15 sec rest.  This is 2 to 1 work to rest ratio.  I've done plenty of 1 to 1 w/24kg,  but never 2 to 1.  10 minutes equals out to thirteen ".75" intervals with 15 sec left, so I did the thirteen 20 rep sets with a 10 rep set at the end.  Another PR

What a week!  Fun stuff!

PS I counted 154 snatch reps at the 5 minute mark, and finished with another 150 in the next 5 minutes.  I'll post the video in You tube later if anybody wants to see it...kinda boring...but then isn't most of this?  lol)

here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84GG72q3SPc&feature=youtu.be

Lucky Orange Tomato Soup, and "non" ingredients!

I know I've done a few posts already about tomato soup, but here's another!

Every Fall for at least the past 4-5 years I make and freeze a ton of tomato soup and sauce in my freezer.  It's one of the easiest soups to make, with really only one ingredient, tomatoes!  Making soup, 99.9% of the time starts with an onion.  Well, onion, celery, carrot (mirepoix http://suite101.com/article/mirepoix-a14814), so to me those are "non ingreients"!  I also include the following as non ingredients:

oil/butter
salt and pepper
(sometimes garlic).  

These non ingredients should always be on hand if you want to get in the habit of cooking on a regular basis. Good thing they are also inexpensive.  Onto my soup.

I decided to go the the Farmers Market late yesterday and take my chances on finding a relatively close parking space. (Mark was doing his interview with Scott Iradella)  Lucky me I did!  I went with the intention of buying a box of tomatoes, as the season is coming to a close any day, and the thought of not ever making any homemade tomato soup this year finally became too much to bear!  Double lucky me I got there about 1/2 hour before closing and all the heirloom tomatoes (and everything else) were $1 a pound!  If I would have had my cart with me I would have bought two boxes!  (triple lucky me, I didn't need to hoard anyway!)

I grabbed all of the orange tomatoes that were left first. For some reason orange tomato soup sounded extra appealing to me....quadruple lucky me, it was!  In fact the orange tomato soup was twice as good/sweet as the red.  The red tomatoes were unusually tart. So tart that I had to add sugar, in fact 3 tbls!  But in all fairness I made the red soup with only onion, as I used the only carrots and celery I had with the orange soup!  And this was in a large batch of 3 liters, but still. Looks like I'll have to turn it into some sauce and add celery, and some sweet carrots and red bells to round out the flavors.....but I got the important part done!

Since I knew I was going to puree my soup through a food mill I kept the onion in bigger slices.  As I was cooking the onion and celery I decided last minute to add a big pinch of red pepper flakes (another non ingredient!).  Add in diced carrot, all the tomatoes, cover, bring to a boil.  Turn down heat, move the cover on the pot to allow a bit of steam to escape and tomatoes to reduce a bit, cook for 30 minutes.

Puree in foodmill, which will keep the skin and the seeds out.  If you don't mind risking a slighty bitter taste from the skin and seeds then you can use a blender to puree.  Season with salt and pepper. (and maybe a pinch of sugar).

More blog posts about tomato soup!

http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/2008/09/tomato-soup.html

http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/2008/09/back-in-kitchen.html

http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-first-batch-this-summer.html

"The Swing Quest"....or "The Secret Show"?

I've been listening to the same morning radio show for the past 10 + years, but after taking 3-4 years off I recently returned now that I spend a lot of time driving to the gym in the mid morning commute...anyway....  During my absence this morning radio crew started a podcast and an additional "secret show" in the hour after the end of the public broadcast.  I have never listened to it, but I can imagine that it is uncensored, more "adult" kind of content, maybe not for everyone.  Why am I writing about this?

Well, I feel like I am going to have a little "secret show" myself!  In less than weeks I'm going to produce two more work along swing routine DVD's and I've decided to invite guests!  I haven't been able to promote it publicly yet because I had to write the schedule of events, and I had to write and create the swing routines before I could promote it!  And now I have!  All of the information should be live by tomorrow night, (it's live!) but here's a quick description:

2 hour event/workshop/class/demonstration, video taping and production of "The Swing Quest"  these workouts are designed and created for multiple levels of strength and cardio conditioning keeping the beginning kettlebell athlete in mind.  The emphasis will be on interval training with an "equal work to rest" ratio.

Sunday, November 11th, 9:00am-12 noon

Full Force PT, Modesto CA http://fullforcepersonaltraining.com/

Cost, $50 per person, price includes the two DVD's you will be participating in!

Reserve your spot now as space and kettlebells are limited!

More Details

You must already know the skill of the kettlebell swing!  No teaching of the skill or technique is included in this event.  This is a perfect opportunity if you are an RKC/PT interested in ideas for swing classes, or routines to use in you business, or with clients.  If you are not in the fitness industry, this is a great event for you to learn how to program your own workouts for maximum strength and cardio endurance training and/or improving overall strength, health and fitness while promoting weightloss!

Start time is 9:00am with a 10-15 minute mobility warm up with Master Instructor Mark Reifkind. MRKC Mark Reifkind will also be available to address and take questions regarding this type of high volume based swing training and technique throughout the morning.....I'll just be bossing people around!  (kidding...sort of!)

9:15am "The Dirty 30" This workout starts at the very beginning, with a 15 min "On the Minute" workout (OTM).  It is followed by three more swing workouts, the last is an 10 minute Intermediate/Advanced level bonus addition.  No work set is more that 30 reps long (45 sec)

10:30am "Top 40"  In these workouts I will first lead you through all of my kettlebell swing progressions, and then apply them, in sets up to 40 reps.  We will be practicing sets of 5, 10, 20 and 40.  I've designed two 25 minute workouts based on this theme and a 10-15 min bonus workout.

This event is not for sissies!  It will total 1000's of swing reps, the equivalent to running a marathon!  You must be confident in your ability to "scale" the workloads, if completing the workouts in their entirety is your first goal.  Never do more than you are safely capable of doing, and I will constantly remind you throughout the morning.

There will be bells available for you to use, but I suggest, because of the high volume, if you own your own kettlebells that you bring the ones you are comfortable using.  You will not need more than one or two size kettlebells.

I know...this is a lot of information!  But it's a crazy good opportunity for you to experience, first hand, the possibilities of programming this simple (but not easy) movement to change you body, your health, your life.  Please come and be a part of it...this is only the beginning!

Oh, and I'll be doing interviews, on camera, when it's over, so come looking pretty!


PS Modesto is about 1 hour-1 1/2 hours east from the SF Bay Area.

"Good" Enough

It is super duper rare that you will find me posting a "motivational phrase".  It's because that although I know most people that share these types of phrases find motivation themselves through reading the words, and have the best of intentions, personally, I would rather hear (or read) what exactly it was for them, how it affected a part of their life, and in what way it motivated some kind of change for them.

So, if I post a motivation phrase then I will indeed share what it means to me and how it changes how I think, in a positive way.  Afterall I'm not just interested in what and how I think, I'm also interested in your thoughts, and what you have found works to better improve your life.

For the longest of time I've believed I was special. In fact I may even dare to say from the day I was born.  But I believe that, truly, everybody, either openly or secretly, believes the same.  You may say that you don't, but really, I don't believe it.

I don't think I'm any more special than anybody else, but I do think that simply recognizing, and not apologizing for, having that feeling may make me "different" from some.  I'm more than delighted to be around people that value themselves in the same way.  We are all individual and unique, not having to "try".  And the more and more we stay "true to ourselves" the more different we are from eachother.

Being different, feeling different in most ways doesn't have to mean not being the same in a lot of other ways.  We are also the same in many ways!  For instance, we are all special! The same...but not the same!

Be good.  When you are good, through action, thought, or intent, then what ever you are, who ever you are, where ever you are, is a great place to be.  You don't have to try and be something other than that.

Feel good.  We all know what that feels like!  Even if, sometimes, we can only use the example of NOT feeling good!  For sure we know what that feels like!

I once heard some of the best advice.

Only do things that make you feel good.
Only say words that make you feel good.
Only wear clothes that make you feel good.
Only eat foods you feel good about.

And when you don't, or feel you can't, know that you get closer and closer all the time, in fact today may be the day, that all of that changes for you!


PS You will never see a post shared by me with a "motivational phrase" that uses the image of a female, 20 something year old fitness model or competitive athlete for motivation! (or male to be honest)  I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just that I do not find it motivational in any sense of the word or feeling!  If you do, then more power to you!  

And I'm not "hating", it's just that I know, or I should say "suspect", that most women, fit or fat have thoughts about their body image that would probably surprise most of us.  But I'm just guessing.

Lady Up...32kg Sinister!

It was NOT my idea!  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever swing the 32kg before...oh, yes, maybe I did 100 reps in sets of 5 last year?  Anyway....



5 reps at a time is NOT 20 reps!  And 20 reps is NOT 20 reps when you only get 7 seconds rest since the last 15 reps!  That's how freakin Sinister it is!  5 reps,easy, 10 reps totally doable, 15, starts to get irritating (in a good way!), and 20, especially with practically no rest, sucks!  Sucks wind that is!

This workout was done first by Karen Rossler maybe 3 weeks ago, and she posted video of her last of four rotations  50 reps w/32kg on facebook (and here it is below!)  I was surprised to hear of, and see, a woman just decide "Hey, I think I'll use the 32kg!"  I mean why not? Because it's he-he-he-heavy!  That's what so great about the swing.  If you can deadlift the bell, you can probably swing it.  How many reps? Well, that's the test!



And speaking of tests, and I consider "challenges" the same as a "test", a "peak", a personal best, etc., I don't believe that once presented you have to just go out and do it, or try it, asap, and you have to consider the source as well!  If you train on a regular basis (which you should be to even consider something like this) you also have to take into account your core workouts first.  I had just been doing a cycle of some really heavy ballistic training and had just backed off, so as much as my ego wanted to "just do it", I gave it some time and a little planning to recover from the weeks of heavy loading I had just completed.

Then, again on facebook, another one of my fellow female RKC Instructors, Michelle Carlborg, had posted that she had been doing a bit of Sinister training, and I asked if she had tried it with the 32kg, using Karen workout as an example.  Well, wouldn't you know what?  Michelle posted over the weekend this picture of her, yep, swinging the 32kg!  It was time for me to Lady up!

I never feel pressure to compete or to take on a ridiculous challenge....let's see...the "10,000 swings in a month challenge" to name one...not that I don't already do that kind of volume, but I would never ever promote it, especially to someone untrained.  Besides if you train consistently you already do your share of reps, and consistency is way more important that driving yourself into the ground because someone threw out a crazy number based on the only fact that it was a crazy number (to most people).  Anyway....I did NOT take this 32kg Sinister as a challenge, and I'm not presenting it to anybody else as a challenge.

The true challenge is to work up to swinging 20-30 minutes two - three times a week, using an equal work to rest interval ratio as a first goal.  The next goal is to keep showing up on a regular schedule and repeat it over 3 - 6 - 9 - 12 months! During this time, if you want to drag out a really heavy bell and have some fun, give it a go!  No pressure, because as Mark says, you gotta get back in the gym for your next workout anyway.

Ok, so the low down?  I was a little concerned about my grip, but that was never a problem.  What really surprised me was the super intense cardio element created by moving such a heavy load with short intervals!  My heart rate got up to around 160-165 and it took 2 minutes to come barely start coming down after I stopped!

I knew my Flip was about done with the batteries, but I ran out of new replacements so I couldn't change them (seriously, I'm not lying!).  So when I heard the Flip "go off" during my third rotation, with nobody watching I'm afraid to admit things probably got a bit ugly!  My last 2 sets of 15 and 20 reps all I kept focusing on was 5 reps at a time.  15 reps meant I had to repeat "5 " three times...short, short rest...ok, now I only had to repeat "5" four times and that was it!  Really it was all I could think about!

Looking back at it, it was crazy fun!  But one more confession....my heart rate got so high I was actually concerned, maybe a little afraid!  There I was at 6:30am, in my garage, all alone!  What if I gave myself a heart attack?  lol  Funny thinking maybe, but I'm not a spring chicken afterall!

Oh, and maybe one more confession....will I do it again?  Hell to the NO!  Afterwards I never wanted to pick up the 32kg again!  But now that I've had time to calm down a bit...me and the 32kg?  It's on!

10 min, 200 reps, 32kg, Sinister. 14,400 lbs moved.

Video shows the first two rotations complete and turns off during the third set of the third rotation, rep 118 out of a total of 200.