Ultimate Meal, from tolerable to YUM!

For those of you who have been waiting, waiting, to start actually *craving* your daily Ultimate Meal shake... well, I finally crave mine. And here's why. Yes, the canister does specify to use whole fruits rather than juice of any kind. However. Adding just a COUPLE ounces of fresh OJ (I prefer Trader Joe's non-pasteurized), along with just a few frozen berries, (and still with the ice, water, and half an organic Fuji)... it makes ALL the difference!! Delicious!! It's actually amazing. You must try it. :)

Update on 2009 Goals

Here's where we are:

Press the 28kg
still not even close. But I WILL get it.

BU press the 20kg
a bit closer, but still needs lots of work.

BU TGU the 16kg on the left
achieved in February

BU TGU the 20kg on the right
came incredibly close. I'll have this by May.

Pass my snatch test with the 24kg
I'll drop a few pounds before trying, which will be by June.

Pistol the 28kg
came VERY close last night! Darn!

80 sets of 16kg MVO2, 6 reps
achieved in March

80 sets of 16kg MVO2, 7 reps
starting Wednesday, hoping for 40 sets

FMS arm-leg raise
haven't tried at all. :/

Turkish... I know I have the 40 in me. Why not train for that this year? Lots of 28kg TGUs to get there.
Have been working on these fairly diligently, and they feel good. Will do 32kg get-ups before/after class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Short session 3/18/09

24kg MP: 1L/1R
28kg TGU: 1L/1R
16kg pistol: 1L/1R

4 rounds

16kg swing: 50, 50...wish I had done a few more of these sets of 50. Tonight I'll make up for it.

16kg :15/:15 MVO2 6 reps: 80 sets

Part one of my 2009 MVO2 goal has been met!

I hadn't been training MVO2 very much at all lately, but I decided I wanted to get it done, no matter how difficult it was. And it WAS difficult. :)

Thankfully, I had the good sense to recruit a friend to endure the 80 sets with me. (She did 5 12kg swings every set.) I CANNOT overemphasize the difference it makes to have someone there with you to get through a grueling endurance set. I'll be writing a blog post about 'training buddies' in more detail in the coming days - it's completely worthy.

How it went:

The weather was perfect. Zero hand protection, and left with just one moderate un-broken blister, which really started to threaten around set 70. By that time, of course, I didn't care if I lost half my palm - I was going to get to 80!

(Unfortunately, I did rip it open while demonstrating a clean the following evening during class. D'oh!)

Dizziness set in around set 20, and did not abate. I had to not let the palm trees make me dizzier, and I tried to not walk in circles during the all-too-fast 15 seconds rest. Focused on long, deep breaths.

Form felt great all the way through. Lungs/dizziness were by far the biggest challenge.

The end: 5 minutes of jogging/walking, followed by maybe 3 minutes of cobra, followed by about 10 minutes of supine immobility, followed by 2 celebratory pints of stout. (I couldn't help myself.) :)

Once the blister is healed, I'll move on to the 7 rep MVO2 training. Until then... deadlifts, get-ups, swings, pistols and presses.

VIDEO: A VERY Rare Look Inside an RKC Certification!

Featuring: Pavel Tsatsouline, RKC Team Leader Dr. Mark Cheng, Master RKC Mark Reifkind, RKC Andrea U-Shi Chang, Senior RKC Doug Nepodal, and many other members of the respected RKC leadership.



HardStyle!

It's Really NOT About the Kettlebell

We all get into our training routines... and even with something as mentally stimulating/challenging as kettlebell training, we can easily lose focus, and end up thinking about finishing the next set, or our stance, or our grip, or our contraction, or our breathing, or our hands, or our heels....

Which is fine.

But where we go wrong is letting our focus go toward the movement of the bell, rather than the movement of our bodies. I'd venture to say that even the highest-ranking RKCs fall into this pattern every once in a while. The key is to recognize it and re-establish the proper focus.

Kettlebell training has an INTERNAL focus. Its purpose is not just moving weight around, but moving your BODY around, with load added to strengthen those movements, and your body as a whole. If the whole point of training is to benefit our body, why do we keep thinking so much about the kettlebell? When you think about snatching, do you think about the pattern of movement that involves, or do you think about a kettlebell moving from the ground (or backswing) to above your head?

I was enjoying a small mid-day session of heavy snatches today when I realized I was thinking more about the bell than about my body. Move the bell, move the bell, 3 more, 2 more... swing switch, etc. As soon as I FORGOT about moving the bell, and thought only about the movement itself, and exactly what it should look and feel like... I found the bell was shooting up almost effortlessly.

Yet another great moment in the continuing education that is the RKC!

3/3/09

Managed to squeeze in a little bit of work before class tonight:
24kg snatch: 5L/5R for 5 sets
12kg BU TGU: 2L
16kg BU TGU: 2R

The BU getups are strong. I'll hit my 2009 BU TGU goals with time to spare, for sure. :)

Back to Blogging

Finally! My training has almost been as sporadic and inconsistent as my blog updates. ;) Almost. The training plan has been renewed and refocused, and so too has the plan to get back to regular blogging.

I have been sick with a really lovely cold the past several days, but today felt like easing back into training, with something short and non-strenuous. My pseudo-sick-day training consisted of:

20kg MP: 3L/3R
20kg goblet squat: 10

6 rounds.

Just right. Going to bed early, and hope to be close to 100% tomorrow.
Getting to work on those 2009 goals! (Do you have YOURS yet? If not, do it!)