Beautiful Day, Beautiful Workout

This morning was absolutely gorgeous in Austin! I decided to take advantage and workout at the track (one of my favorite things!). I did 2.25 miles along with the first 4 rounds of AoS Providence, with some swings in between. I structured my workout as follows:

2 laps (walk/jog)
35 swings @ 16kg: 10 2H, 5 R, 5 L, 5 H2H, 10 2H
2 laps (walk/jog)
Good Stretch Sequence
AoS Providence Rounds 1-4 @ 16kg
6 laps (walk/jog)

I came home, took a much needed shower, then went to have a nice leisurely lunch at Whole Foods Market downtown. I read a magazine, enjoyed the view of the lovely dowtown skyline, and felt pretty darn good! I think I'll take a nap and then plan for another workout later this evening; I'm feeling a little Cathe coming on and snatch practice!

Make it a great one, people!!!

A burst of energy

I worked out pretty late tonight, but got a huge energy burst and was working hard for about an hour and a half. I did 1:05 of Cathe's Low Impact Circuit (~10 min step cardio w/ 4 min strength endurance sections). I followed that up with some heavy swing work on the 20kg (just 3 short rounds of 8-10) and snatch work with the 16kg (no gloves or wrist guards!). I did low rep snatches: round 1: 3 R/L, round 2: 5 R/L, round 3: 8R/4L; round 4: 11R/4L.

Will try to get solid cardio in the morning (30-40 mins elliptical)...less than 8 hours away :-)

My Progress Meeting with Lisa

I was in Dallas for the past 5 days in a commercial real estate investment seminar. I decided to get a 1x1 session in with Lisa Shaffer while I was there (Friday night). She evaluated my form on the swing, clean, clean & press, TGU, snatch (of course), windmill, OHS, and seated presses. She has a larger assortment of kettlebells than I do, so I used the opportunity to see how much I could swing. She did tweak my swing form a bit. I tried the 24kg (53lber) and the 70lber. They were surprisingly not that difficult! I got a good 8 reps in with the 70lber. I could've easily done more but I didn't want to wear myself out before the almighty snatch.

Well, Lisa said that my snatch form and technique were great!! I did snatches with the 12kg to warm up and then went for it with the 16kg. I did 10 on the right and 9 on the left with the 16kg. I am pretty sure that I could've done at least 1 more rep each side, but my hands were starting to hurt by that point. Boy was I pumped up, though!! TO date, I'd never snatched the 16kg on my left side, and I ripped out 9 reps! Lisa thinks that I will do well at the RKC; she eased alot of my fears and worries. She only had to clean up my swing form; the rest was confidence building. I will be going to the Lisa Shaffer/Mike Mahler workshop in Dallas on Sept 15, so I hope to have my snatch numbers up to the minimum requirement for RKC by then. To pass, I need to get 38 combined reps with the 16kg. I feel pretty good, just need to keep practicing and get my conditioning up.

Feeling better

Ah, feeling in better spirits today.

My afternoon KB workout consisted of the following:
4:30-5:15PM - The heat took ALOT out of me today. I only made it through 1 round of the circuit, took lots of breaks, added some get-up situps, and called it a day. My planned goal was to make it through 3 rounds of the circuit and do 10 rounds of snatches at the end. It was over 100 degrees when I was working out; it just wasn't going to happen today :-) The workout was great, though!!
Warmup (Swings @ 12kg)
Took 1 minute rest in between each exercise

• 1 min 2H swing
• 1-arm swings, 30 sec R, 30 sec L
• 1 min high pull (30 sec R/L)

Rested for 2 mins before starting the circuit

KB Circuit

• 10 R/L swings @ 16kg
• 3 R/L windmills @ 16kg
• 10 R/L cleans @ 16kg
• 5 R/L military press @ 16kg
• 20 H2H swings @ 16kg
• 10 R/L Rows @ 16kg

Snatch Practice
3 rounds high pulls @ 16kg, 5 R/L

I think I will focus on snatches with the 12kg and high pulls with the 16kg this week.
My hands were bothering me again during the workout :-(

Tired, tired, tired

Gosh, this week has been a bust as far as workouts are concerned. I have been so fatigued, bloated, and hungry for most of the week. I haven't done any workouts since Tuesday, and my hamstrings were feeling sore most of the week from my Tuesday workout. I must admit, I've been in an abnormal sleep pattern, and I've been spending alot of time researching real estate investing and network marketing with most of my free time. I attended 2 workshops this week, and will have a 4-day workshop next week. I'm really serious about embarking on the practice, so that has been really exciting. Unfortunately, in my excitement and onset of "female time", my diet & training have suffered. Friday & Saturday are really the only day that I didn't eat as clean (2 days of eating whatever the heck I wanted - bread, steak, hamburgers, french fries, fruit, pasta). My eating this week has been pretty good in general. I'm just having a bad couple of days; I need to get it together. I definitely won't weigh in for a week or so to let my body get back to normal. All this water weight in my system - I'm sure I'm back at my pre-diet starting weight.

I must admit that I'm stressing myself out about being prepared for the RKC this October, and I've even considered dropping out. But, I'm not a quitter, and I'm going to go and give it my best shot regardless. I've spent alot of time training, and I also have some interim checkpoints via 1x1 sessions with Lisa Shaffer, and am attending a 5-hour workshop (Mike Mahler/Lisa Shaffer) in Sept. So, i should be okay, as long as I get back on the ball.

My boyfriend and I redesigned our home gym this afternoon, which was a workout all by itself. I plan to get a session in before bed, and 2 workouts tomorrow.

I just need to restore my positive attitude and stop being so nervous and negative. Results will come with hard work....

On a more positive note, I've been training 2 clients with kettlebells for the past 2 weeks. Things are going well, and I'm learning how to teach different moves to people who just want to get in shape. Good stuff!!

Candid Picture of me putting on my shoes to go work on the gym redesign:

Couple shots of the finished product! (we added the smith machine & bench today)

Good morning workout

I slept late today, but still wanted to get in a short workout, so I borrowed one from Tracy Rif.
It was a nice little swing workout that lasted less than 30 mins. I think that I can do things like this every day. I trained bare hands today, and used my handy little gymboss to keep things moving nicely.

Warmup
1 min swings @ 12kg, 1 min rest x2 sets
Set 1: 38, Set 2: 41

Workout
1 min swings @ 16kg, 30 sec rest @ 10 sets
Set 1: 39
Set 2: 41
Set 3: 42
Set 4: 40
Set 5: 40
Set 6: 34
Set 7: 31
Set 8: 32
Set 9: 32
Rest 1.5 mins
Set 10: 40
Set 11: 40

Total (incl WU) = 490 swings, volume = 16,552.8 pounds
Entire workout was about 25 mins

Followed with breakfast: 3 egg whites + vitamins and lots of water

Getting there....

AM Weight = 174.6
Total weight lost in 11 days = 5.9 pounds

I've established the following interim targets via the Radical Diet. The diet is designed to be used up to 2 months (60 days).
165 pounds - 8/16/2007
160 pounds - 8/26/2007
155 pounds - 9/5/2007
153 pounds - 9/13/2007
150 pounds -9/19/2007

My calves are pretty sore from the Cathe workout I did on Monday. It's been a long time since I've done step; it was a fun workout! My hands are still sore from yesterday's short kettlebell workout. I will try again this evening. Goals will be 30-40 mins of cardio + 30 mins kettlebell work.