Saturday, December 10, 2011

20kg Roundabout part 2

My plan is to swing the 20kg for the next 2 weeks and then back off a bit before dropping the Roundabout and train straight one hand swings sets, 5 and 10 reps at a time. Ultimately my goal is to be able to snatch the 20kg and press it any day of the week. Currently I feel as if my grip is so over trained that it's not my strength that is the limiting factor, but my left hand grip. To prove how much I want to fix this I'm actually spending some time doing a little re-hab!




20kg & 16kg Roundabout part 2

The difference between today's workout and last Sat is that I start with 1 minute of 20kg Roundabouts and the rest period between the 20kg and the 16kg Roundabout sets was decreased to only 30 sec., instead of one minute. Also, the 16kg Roundabout Ladder continues to increase up to 7 one hand swings (2.5 minutes).

rdbt w/20kg (1.0/30)
rdbt w/16kg (1.0/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30)
2 sw rdbt, w/16kg (1.25/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30)
3 sw rdbt, w/16kg (1.5/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30)
4 sw rdbt, w/16kg (1.75/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30)
5 sw rdbt, w/16kg (2.0/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30)
6 sw rdbt, w/16kg (2.25/1.0)

rdbt, w/20kg (1.0/30) (I ran out of time so I had to end here....but it's not over for you!)
7 sw rdbt, w/16kg (2.5/1.0)

5 rdbt, w/20kg (1.0)

Total 31.25 min. 320 20kg sw, 490 16kg sw (810 swings total)

Awesome! Nor matter what bell size you use. Over 800 swings in just about 30 minutes is an incredible pace!

PS Today the 20kg felt much lighter than last week!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Clearing Space to be Reborn

I am so backed up with workouts and video demos that I want to share but before I know it's time to train again.....and we're doing another workout, just a much fun as the last, and then we are on to yet another.... I still have "Sinister", "Fast Forward", and "The Wave" in the archives....oh and my extra special double "Kettlebell Split"...more Roundabouts....more crazy ass "one hand swing only" workouts....I try and journal all of my workouts so I can go back and be inspired to create new ones based on past routines, sometimes repeating a few of them rep for rep, but mostly once I step into the gym or into class the workout becomes new...either way it is reborn.

I've been steadily continuing to clean out my "stuff" and it's good to clear some space and feel some kind of order. After the initial clean sweep of my house I had to focus my attention on the garage. With the garage cleared of the crap and garbage it gives me room to store the things in my home I'm not quite ready to let go of permanently but want out of my living space....BUT, the garage is 90% done, and by the end of this weekend the garage gym "Stones Gym" will have a new coat of paint, the power rack back up and ready to become "pull-up" central! The garage Gym is going to be better than ever before and it will have it's own rebirth! (with a few video demos still to post you may not have seen the last of the orange walls though. lol)


Reborn....wow. My workouts, my gym, and now me....again! I'm so lucky. I went through such a huge life transformation and I'm on yet another one, just as exciting, but different because this time I see it coming, I feel it coming, in fact it's here, now. Even though I don't know quite where it will take me, everyday feels new. I'm not worried in the least. As I clear the space around me of how my life used to be, I make room for more of what my life is supposed to be.....and I'm in charge!

Vegetarian Chili....with smoked sausage!


It's been a while since I made chili. Beans haven't been at the top of my list of food choices, good as they are.... But I've had so much chicken stock from all of the roasting I've been doing (still more bones in the freezer) that some kind of hearty soup was in order. That, and the fact that I was without any kind of protein in the house except for 1 link of Andouille sausage in my freezer (yep, the Prime Rib is all gone!).

I often joke that I eat more vegetables than most vegetarians! But really, I admit that's because I eat more food than most vegetarians! I've posted many chili recipes in the past because, along with using a pressure cooker, making chili is practically a no brainer. You don't even need veggies...but that wouldn't be any fun, would it? The only difference between stew and chili is the chili spices. Everything else is the same. Onion, celery, carrot, chili spices (see note*), garlic, beans (any kind), and protein (again, any kind).

Chili is a meal that can be made in one pot that includes a ton of nutrition, can be made in advance (and gets better day by day), can be frozen if need be, takes little effort and little time, and is loved by everybody. Chili is also one of those meals that you can almost literally throw anything and everything into! (it's also low in fat if that's one of your concerns)


This morning my chili started with diced sausage, adding onion, celery, diced rainbow chard stems, carrot. Chili spices, chipolte chili, garlic. Pintos, black eyed peas, kidney and small red beans. I didn't add black beans because if you don't pre soak your black beans they can turn everything else in the pot black!

I did my veg prep last night (before I polished my nails!) and first thing this morning it took 15 minutes to start, and it cooking away right now at high pressure in the PC....smells great! I'll add the chard leaves to wilt in the hot chili and lunch (or dinner) is taken care of before 6:00am.

I think I need to visit my kids this weekend and show them how to make it!



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

You Are Valid


The title of this blog post was a message for me.

On my way to yoga this morning I was thinking about some of the things I would change about myself if I could simply wave a magic wand. It wouldn't be any part of what I looked like, but how I act sometimes. Sometimes I act in a way, or say things to someone in hopes that they will "like" me better. How old am I? Digging a bit deeper (because I had the time) I realized how far back this feeling of wanting validation went....I didn't have to dig deep...or long!

Nearly everyone of us has some experience of feeling "unwanted". It could be from a parent, a teacher, a group of peers, the opposite sex? Heck, I've felt unwanted from salespeople who didn't think I had any money to spend! Feeling unwanted sucks! But really.....at the end of the day getting validation from a salesperson? Anyone that has ever "made" you feel unwanted is as unimportant as a salesperson as far as I'm concerned....it's their loss....or as it turns out it may be your loss!

If you feel as if you need validation you are telling yourself that you don't have it. You must first remind yourself! I AM VALID. I AM VALID. I AM VALID.....HEY, I AM VALID! You are valid simply because you are here! Now, do you care if anyone else feels the same? I don't!

This was my message to myself this morning...what a relief! Now I pass it on to you.

If I know any one thing about you, and I may just know one thing about you, it's that...abra ca dabra....You Are Valid!

Do you believe it yet? You should! Because YOU ARE VALID! We all are.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Saturdays Workout, More Roundabout Fun w/20kg


Personally I've been trying to incorporate more and more one hand swings into my workouts. I naturally gravitate towards the two hand swings because I love the shoulder pump I get when I train those! But I'm lacking in the asymmetrical strength the one hand swing builds, especially with the heavier weights.

In this workout you will be using two bells, one that you are fairly comfortable swinging for 1-2 minutes (40-80 reps) and one you find challenging, especially for one hand swings. I demonstrated Roundabout swing ladders in a post last week, and in this workout the swing ladders increase to 5, progressively working up to a 2 minute long work set.

Even though I can train this workout with shorter rest periods, the 1 min rest intervals are designed on purpose...you'll see why in the following two weeks....

First 5 sets done with the 16kg, all one minute rest periods.

1 sw rdbt (1 min/1 min)
2 sw rndbt (1.25/1)
3 sw rdbt (1.5/1)
4 sw rdbt (1.75/1)
5 sw rdbt (2/1)

300 sw 12.5 min

20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
16kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
16kg 2 sw rdbt (1.25/1)
20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
16kg 3 sw rdbt (1.5/1)
20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
16kg 4 sw rdbt (1.75/1)
20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1/1)
16kg 5 sw rdbt (2/1)
20 kg 1 sw rdbt (1 min.)

36 min total
240 20kg sw
600 16kg sw


(Maribel, this workout is one you can train on your own with the 12kg and the 16kg, or maybe even the 14 and 16kg! Guy...you should like this one! Especially if you throw the 24kg in the mix!)

Friday, December 2, 2011

HV One Hand swings and Snatch Holds..."Soup to Nuts"

I'm going to start this blog post with the end of my workout! The first part is kind of boring....and I'll get to that..... First though I want to wrote about my "snatch hold/pacing" workout Mark named "Soup to Nuts"

I've done similar training like this set a few times before, as demonstrated in the video, snatch hold and pacing, switching hands every 30 seconds. But in my first set I did something I had never done before, I "snatched and held" for an entire minute before switching hands.....totally different! Instead of starting out with 12 sn R, 12 sn L in 1 minutes time I did 24 R, 24 L in two minutes time. I'm trying not to be confusing here....

I still paced myself per 30 seconds, but I did not switch hands. To me a second hand is crucial to pace work. As I watched the clock the first two minutes pace was 12 sn reps per 30 sec (24 reps R and L), the second two minutes was 11 reps per 30 sec (22 reps R and L), the third two minutes 10 reps per 30 sec (20 reps R and L), etc...all the way down to 1 sn rep per 30 sec (2 sn reps R, and L). It took 24 minutes without putting the bell down....it was good! One reason was I had no idea it was taking that long...24 minutes flew by. But I'm not saying the work was easy, it's just that the work required my concentration to keep track of the pacing in addition to the challenge of my strength and endurance (especially my left side).

In fact it was so good that I wanted to do a video demonstration in addition to writing about it. But to be honest the first set was just hard enough that I wasn't sure I could do a second, even half the time....but I decided to try! In this shorter set I take you through pacing and I also have plenty of time to talk alot! In fact I think it's worth watching in it's entirety, especially near the end as the snatches slow down and I can do more verbal coaching about the technique.




After showing Mark the video he named it "soup to nuts". This is what he said, "This workout combines everything, all of the variations of ballistic snatch or swing training. You've got high reps, you've got low reps. You've got fast reps, you've got slow reps. You've got static holds and dynamics, you've got high intensity and relatively low intensity. So it literally covers the whole spectrum of exercise dynamics in one set....it's got everything, soup to nuts!" (thank you sweetie!)

Snatch hold ladder

24/24, 22/22, 20/20, 18/18, 16/16, 14/14, 12/12, 10/10, 8/8, 6/6, 4/4, 2/2....1/1? = 24 min!

12/12, 11/11, 10/10, 9/9, 8/8, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1 = 12 min. (video demo)

468 snatches

OK, so here's my boring high volume one hand swing workout....I used the 12kg for my warm up and then in my work sets I alternated the 12kg with the 14kg

Warm up

40 2 hd sw x 5, 200 sw (1 min/1 min x 5 = 10 min)

Work sets

10/10 x 20 (10 reps x 10 R, 10 reps x 10 L), 200 = 5 min/1 min rest
10/10 x 10 w/14kg (10 reps x 5 R, 10 reps x 5 L) 100 sw = 2.5 min/1 min rest

8/8 x 20, 160 sw = 4 min/1 min rest
8/8 x 10 w/14kg, 80 sw = 2 min/1 min rest

6/6 x 20, 120 sw = 3 min/1 min rest
6/6 x 10 w/14kg, 60 sw = 1.5 min/1 min rest

4/4 x 20, 80 sw = 2 min/1 min rest
4/4 x 10 w/14kg, 40 sw = 1 min/1 min rest

2/2 x 20, 40 sw = 1 min/3o sec
2/2 x 10 w/14kg, 20 sw = 30 sec/30 sec

2/2, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10 swing ladder w/12kg 60 sw = 1.5 min/1 min rest
10/10, 8/8/, 6/6, 4/4, 2/2 swing ladder w/14kg 60 sw = 1.5 min/done. (video shows this set)

45.5 minutes
1220 swings (860 w/12kg, 360 14kg)




In total with my snatch workout I trained for about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Obscenity of it All

The other day one of my clients asked me how much weight I typically gain throughout the Holidays. I thought about it for a sec and realized that I usually lose weight during the Holiday season....I can't say for sure that it happens every year, but what I can say for sure is that I don't gain weight.

The first reason is that I enjoy my everyday foods/meals, and I wouldn't trade them for anything else. The second is that Mark and I
don't go to Holiday parties...heck, we're in bed, even on Saturday nights, by 8:00pm. And I'm lucky that I have boys....they could give a care about celebrations, and typically spend them with their "girls" and their families.

When I cook, I keep Holiday dinner menus to the bare minimum of dishes...only the good stuff! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, gravy, yams, green beans, or Prime Rib, Yorkshire pudding, glazed carrots, green salad....that's it. If someone want to bring a pie and whip cream, fine....or dinner rolls? They can knock themselves out! Although I have to admit that my youngest son always looks forward to his Sparkling Apple Cider...but he usually buys it because I forget these days....he also hides it in the back of the refrigerator for some reason...like, who's going to drink it besides him? (throwback response from when his older brother lived at home, lol)

So it's not like I go "on a diet" during the Holidays, instead, maybe I rebel a bit.

When I think about all the decadence (food decadence), that is almost expected of us it seems obscene to me. I find a lot of food obscenity all throughout the year, but during the Holidays people seem to take free license in the name of "fun", "happy", "party", etc. It's also a become a tradition to expect to gain a few pounds and then make a New Year's Resolution to take it off. Like Halloween has become a free license to dress like hooker, Thanksgiving and Christmas is a free license to eat like a pig....

I'm no angel....I eat sweets on a regular basis, nothing is off limits because I find it easier and easier to eat high sugar foods in moderation. In fact, maybe because I allow myself to eat what ever I want, that the foods I want are the ones that help make me feel my best most of the time.

I'm not worried in the least this Holiday season (any more than any other time of the year, lol). Who's in charge of you anyway? There is so much goodness this time of year...real goodness! Winter squashes, seasonal apples, hearty greens....tamales, bread pudding and fudge! Have a bit of everything! But don't buy into the obscenity of it all. Don't be one of "the blind leading the stupid".... See this time of year for what it is. A time to appreciate family and friends, with good food and wine, but not at the expensive of the most precious things you own....your body and your mind.

You are so much better a plate of cookies or a pound of fudge....(I'm reminding myself, lol)

Picture above is a random online image....