An Interesting Observation about Swings

Over the past few months, I've come to the realization that my body has become incredibly efficient at performing the kettlebell swing.... almost too efficient.  What say you?? Too efficient?? How can this be?!?

 

Let me be very clear about my statement. I did NOT say that the kettlebell swing is by any means easy or ineffective.  I simply said that after many years of swinging, my body has become used to the movement and very efficient at performing it.  I do not feel the key activation in my posterior chain as much as I used to. 

 

My efficiency with the swing really became prevalent to me when I was watching Skogg 101 - the instructional DVD of the Skogg System (yes, I do like to revisit basics time and time) and again when I taught a kettlebell orientation to my newest group of clients about 2 months ago.  My training partner also commented that she could tell that I was used to high rep swings and snatches, which is true.  I also recall an old AOS Minute of Strenth video (#162 - embedded below) that addressed this very issue.  I actually perform my swings much like Collin demonstrates in the first part of the video. 

 

I don't have a Bulldog Collar (shown in the video) to help make my body overcome the complacency in the movement.  However, I do have a simple solution that I've been practicing on my own, and I find that it's working for me (and, like Anthony says, using a heavier bell hasn't always been the answer for this one). 

 

My Solution: I am actually bending my knees a more and forcing ("football hiking") the bell back farther through my legs. BUT, there is a marked difference between bending my knees more to perform the swing and squatting. I am not squatting at all (nor should you).  I am placing the emphasis on loading my hamstrings, using a powerful hip drive/snap, and creating the crease/fold at the top of my hips to execute the swing.  Thus far, increasing the bend in my knees is accomplishing several things for me during my swing:
1) I am re-loading my hamstrings more with each repetition
2) my hip snap is powerful and more pronounced
3) my heart rate is getting up higher and feeling more like it did when I picked up the bell the very first time (and was sucking wind when I tried to do a 2 consecutive minutes of swings..lol - memories!)

I'll keep practicing, with variations of swings and kettlebell sizes, and see if this helps my body see the swing as a new exercise again.

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts for today.
Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there!

 

The break down continued from art of strength on Vimeo.

Today's Workout - Keith Weber Extreme Kettlebell Cardio vol 1

Today was an outstanding workout!  I was very proud of myself for getting through it. Today, I wanted to conquer Keith Weber's Extreme KB Cardio, vol 1.  I've never been able to complete the workout any of the three times that I tried it in the past.  In fact, I only made it through the first round at with effort. I simply felt that the pace was too fast for me (but something to work up to), and I think that I kept going too heavy with my kettlebell. I absolutely love this workout, and was ready to make it mine today!  Since this is an endurance workout (similar to AOS Newport), I decided to use my 8kg bell (as recommended). Instead of following along with the DVD, I wrote the entire workout down, and went at my own pace.  It took me about 70 minutes to do the workout (included a few water & talking breaks :-) ). Regardless, that was the ticket...I am so proud that I finally completed the entire workout, and it was so much fun!  I can't wait to do it again!!  The 8kg was just right.  It will take a while to graduate up the 12kg for this workout, very similar for my personal experience with AOS Newport as well.  I'm looking forward to sticking to my goal of doing this workout a few more times this month.  The cardio effect is incredible.  This workout was a great booster, and I definitely feel it metabolically 7 hours later.  I'll plan to move to vol 2 later in the summer :-)

As for the earlier part of this week, my training has been great (although my blogging has not - lol).  I got in 3 KB-only workouts this week (Sun, Mon, Sat), 1 indoor cycling class COMBINED with kettlebells (Thurs), 3 treadmill cardio workouts (Sun, Mon, Wed), and 2 days off (Tues/Fri).  It's been a really good week.  I was very weak on Thursday due to "lady issues," but I'm back in action now.  I still plan to get in some additional cardio later tonight. 
My nutrition this week has also been pretty good, but there were a few days when I didn't eat quite enough (stress again).  It's a constant balancing act, but I'm getting better at it.

How has your training week been?

Cheers!

Tonight's Workout

Man oh man...Tonight I put together a great workout for my clients. I've been doing parts of it for the past few days. It's a good one. I did portions of the workout with them tonight :-) I'll be doing the full, uninterrputed version later this week. Yippeee!!

Circuit 1 (2x)
1:00 per exercise, 0:45 rest in between each exercise
KB Dead Squat-Catch-KB Squat (similar to AOS Providence Round 8, minus the flip)
Push Ups (or step-ups depending on how strong you feel, 0:30/leg)
Stability Ball or Floor Crunches
KB Floor Chest Press (0:30/arm)
Treadmill Walk/Jog/Run/Sprint (pick whichever option works best for your fitness level)

Circuit 2 (2x)
KB Triple Threat with Squat (KB Curl, Press, Tricep Extension, Squat; all holding bell by the belly) x 10 reps
DB See Saw Presses (in lunge position) x 12-16 (borrowed from Shaun T's Asylum Strength)
"Squat Thrust Climbers" x 5-10 (DB Squat, Jump Back, 10 Mountain Climbers, jump in, stand up)
"Triple Squat Thrust Climbers" x 5-10 (3 DB Squats, Jump Back, Push Up, 10 Mountain Climbers, jump in, stand up)

Circuit 3 (1-2x)
2:00 per exercise, 0:45 rest in between each exercise.
(alternatively, you can perform 1:00 per exercise, depending on how you feel)
Alt DB Lunges
KB Snatches (alternating 3/side)
KB Swings - Mixed
TRX Jump Squats/Squats

Finisher (1x, time & energy permitting)
Max Reps per exercise, using either your body weight or the TRX:
TRX/BW Squats
TRX/BW Push-Ups
TRX/BW Mountain Climbers
TRX/BW Planks

Tonight's group made it through circuits 1-3. They performed circuit 3 once and chose the 1:00 option. They did a fantastic job!! It's hard to believe that 7 weeks ago, these ladies were brand new to exercising, and they now have the endurance and strength to make it through a workout like this. They had never seen a kettlebell, and they are now swinging and snatching like experts. I am truly awed by them, and am very proud of all of their progress and accomplishments. Way to go!!

Almost at the Halfway Point..

Well, I am on Day 28 of my 60-day challenge, and my success rate is not where I want it to be. I've let other issues (albeit very pressing issues) stress me out and deter me off of my course, particularly over the past 2 weeks. However, I am recommitting that I WILL finish this challenge successfully. I'm getting great results; I just need to be more consistent. I'll definitely try to extend it out to 90 days total as best I can. I also really need to manage my stress levels, which is a day-to-day challenge.

Anyway, I came to the realization today that I am probably like a kid in a candy store when it comes to exercise. There are so many things that I want to do/try/experience, that I get distracted by the "ohhh..shiny" mentality. I also have a hard time following just DVDs for any super long period of time. I do enjoy designing my own workouts, and I tend to do them. They integrate kettlebells, ropes, sandbags, med balls, TRX suspension trainers, etc, and I enjoy the integrated approach very much. That's not to discredit any system or protocol that I have followed to date; they are all outstanding tools, otherwise I wouldn't use them at all!

That being said, I still plan to continue focusing on at least 4 KB workouts per week, but I will use additional workouts in my library in addition to my Skogg System (which I just LOVE)!! My favorite Skogg workout is Flow, followed by Ladders in a close 2nd position. I do want to incorporate more high rep metabolic work, which is where my other DVDs will come in. This month, I want to include MB45 Essentials and Keith Weber's Extreme KB Cardio Vol 1 into my routine. I plan to do one of these DVDs as 2 of the 4 KB workouts per week. The other 2 workouts will be Skogg workouts. I want to play around with this method to see how I do. I've been reflecting quite a bit about my initial journey with kettlebells. After I learned and felt comfortable with the basics, I used AOS Providence religiously once per week and AOS Newport approx once every 2 weeks for 3 months (an entire summer). Granted, I did plenty of other things around those workouts (lifting weights, extra cardio, teaching Spinning), but my body really exceled with that combination of activity (and clean eating of course). Anyway, to net it out, sometimes I feel overwhelmed by my own DVD collection and get distracted by "the shiny". So, I think it would be fun to just focus on a few key workouts. I'll let you know how this goes..:-).

All that being said, I want to stress that for me, the most important part of this experience hasn't been the exercise component. It's absolutely the nutrition component. The plan that I'm following is very reasonable, and through it, I have discovered a love for many new foods. I also have been able to share my experience and journey with my clients, which is so much fun. I need to focus on buckling down and keeping everything aligned for the next 30 days, but I'm taking it all one day at a time.

Today, I did Paul Katami's Kettlebell Drills DVD. Yesterday, I did Paul Katami's Kettlebell Kombos DVD along with some treadmill walking (I love my Woodway Path!). A friend let me borrow these 2 workouts, so I wanted to try them out and get them back to her. I've had them for far too long and wanted to get them out to her today.

How are your training and nutrition coming along? What have you learned about yourself along the journey?

My Garage Gym Makeover

I have been so excited over the past week, as I found some great deals on gym equipment.  I can say that my masterpiece is almost complete. It's taken me 8 years to get the gym this far, and I'm so proud of what we've accomlished.  It's hard to imagine that in 2003, we started with an elliptical, a step, and a stability ball. My how we've grown! 

We've been feverishly working over the past several days to position our new equipment while making the gym functional.  Aside from the addition of one piece of equipment down the road, we have finished the process.  Welcome to the new look of the Underground!  If you want to come train with us, just fill out my contact form!  You can view our blog site anytime at http://atxunderground.blogspot.com/.

Here's a trip down memory lane.... :-)

September 2005

October 2007

April 2011

Day 22: Getting back in focus...

As I mentioned last week, I tore up my hands and had to back off of my kettlebell workouts.  I also hurt my wrist last Saturday when I was filling my Wavemaster with water and sand. I took some sand from my 50lb sandbag and used it to help fill the Wavemaster.  Well, the filler bag (with 50 pounds of sand) fell on my wrist.  It's been twingy all week. 

Anyway, my hands at least seem healed enough to resume L2 workouts again, so that will be my emphasis this week.  I'll take it easy with snatches and such to make sure my wrist is protected.  I also stopped by Academy on Friday night and got some new gloves. I tried using football gloves with full finger coverage, but they seemed to catch and generate friction to make my torn hands worse.  I found some Bionic Women's gloves at Academy.  They're kind of tight, but I wanted to see if they would help.  My friend, Lisa Shaffer, recommended them a while back so I decided to give them a try. They are pricer than what I like to spend on gloves, but if they help me get back into training faster and safer, then they'll be worth the investment IMO.

Focus for this week: I noticed that last week, I stopped planning and advance prep of my meals, so my nutrition is lagging behind.  My emphasis and focus this week will be on getting structure and routine back. I'll have a couple of time consuming events this week, so planning will be more imperative than ever.  I really want to do better about having my meals ready in advance. I do so much better about staying on track when I have them ready to go.  From an exercise point of view, I want to get 3-4 Skogg workouts in this week, along with cardio at least 5 out of 7 days this week.

Anyway, I'm off to grab breakfast, plan today's meals, and start cleaning the gym.. Yesterday's delivery was cancelled due to bad weather, and we will try again today.  While I am glad that they'll be coming today, it does mean that I'll be rushed this afternoon to get the gym back in order for my evening clients. It will be hectic for sure, so I better eat my Wheaties today!

I'll post back later....

Day 21: Happy Easter!!! (took day off)

Today was a good day.  Started it off with church and then came home to get ready for the gym delivery.  I took time to make phone calls to friends and family (which is meaningful as I don't enjoy talking on the phone).  I also decided to cook Easter dinner at the last minute. I hadn't planned on it at all, but it didn't feel like Easter without having Easter dinner.  As a result, I'm giving myself a full day off from my eating plan to enjoy the foods that I will prepare for dinner.  I'll keep it reasonable, but I do plan to have some ice cream for dessert. 

ETA: the gym delivery was cancelled due to heavy rain & winds...Dinner turned out well, and there are leftovers (none of which I'll be enjoying).  I had my ice cream for dessert, and made a banana pudding as well. I only tasted the pudding, as I didn't want to go overboard.  The rest will be taken to work tomorrow for office treats :-)  Whenever I get an urge to bake treats, I just send them to the office the next day by way of my bf. 

Anyway, tomorrow will mark me getting back on track. My hands have healed enough to probably do some short KB workouts, and I'm going to try to get motivated to do more cardio this week. Last week, I was bogged down emotionally with other things and there were many days where my schedule was just packed. I can't wait for my days to become more predictable. It makes sticking to a schedule alot easier.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!!