Late-Night Workouts ROCK!

I seem to have gotten into the habit of posting my workouts a few days behind. Just a function of how busy things have been (and I'll never complain about staying busy). I have taken on a few new fighters as clients and I enjoy training them and seeing their progress so much. I have the pleasure of working with some guys that have a ton of heart and are making phenomenal progress from what I can see and what they report. I will be posting pictures soon of some training. If I haven't mentioned it before- I train at a Martial Arts studio owned by Jim Wright (Wright's Carolina Karate). Their website is a link on my MySpace page. Jim is a great teacher, great guy, and has been super supportive of my new business endeavor. Now for me-

I am lovin' the anti-estrogenic diet. I love eating clean and I really feel like my body is getting a boost from it (and its only been a few days). I hate to repeat myself (if I've already said this), but the diet is not really a diet- its more of a cleansing. Humans produce enough estrogen for their systems naturally (men and women, barring any hormonal deficiencies). The diet focuses on not taking in the synthetic estrogens that are everywhere. Read the book- its great, even better- try the diet, its wonderful.

So, yesterday I was kind of at a loss for what to do after a long day, so here was my late-night workout playing with all sizes of KBs:

work out:
25 2-hand swings (w/24k)
10L/10R renegade rows (w/12k)
(rest)
25 2-hand swings (w/24k)
10 squat,thrust, p/u (w/16k's)
(rest)
25 2-hand swings (w/24k)
10 dbl fr squats (w/16k's)
(rest)
25 2-hand swings (w/24k)
alt through sets 5L/5R TGU's & pistols
(rest)
3 sets

I really like swinging the 24k for several reasons: It forces you to focus on good form; It feels really powerful; It works you much harder. I did low reps of everything and not too many sets, but I felt really good the entire workout (didn't over/under do it). I planned on doing more sets, but called it quits when it felt right and moved on to abs (janda and get-up sit-ups mostly).

V02 Max. Whoo-Hoo!

So, the V02 Max protocol seems to be catching everyone's attention. I, personally am loving it. I have a few questions that I have confided in my best known resources about, because I want to get maximum efficacy out of this. It has been fun, challenging, and above all- rewarding. I'm not quite as tough as Tracy, and have done very little V02 Max stuff with the 16k. I don't really know why, I have NO problem with the 12k and I do snatches with the 16k quite a bit. So, I guess there is no reason other than the fact that I am comfortable- definitely time to move up I see (yes, that was a blog epiphany, lol).

On another note, inspired by the book and Sara Cheatham's recent experiences with it- I have taken on the anti-estrogenic diet. Don't talk shit till you read the book. Just a modification of the warrior diet (in some ways) from what I can tell so far. I won't get into the details, but I feel super clean (weird I know). I have no intention of trying to lose weight with this, just reap the health benefits. Anyhow, I'll give more updates later once I am a little farther along. As of now, it rocks.

I haven't been keeping super good track of my workouts, and have been doing them at really random times (we do have my 3 y/o godson in the house, and his schedule + my room-mate's + my schedule = crazy). So, here's my best recollection of the past week's workouts:

Thurs: 4 mile run (didn't time it), grinds when I got home.

Fri:
warm-up:
100 transfer swings
snatches w/16k

workout:
V02 Max 15 sec on/15 off
(5 min rest)
40 sets x2

quickly (w/16k)-
5 sq,th,p/u
5L/5R cl, pr, sq
5L/5R windmills
5L/5R dl with 2 16k's
3 sets

finished off with 50 2-hand swings

Saturday:
Lots of random swing combos
all my favorite other things-
TGUs
body-passes
fr. squats

Sunday: Relaxation and yummy wild-catch ahi tuna...mmmm

This morning was rainy and icky out (kinda cool thunderstorms though), but it turned sunny so I'm heading out for a run in the sun and the lovely humidity.

GEORGE WRECKED HOUSE!!

2nd round, stoppage due to throwing in towel. George WHOOPED this guys ass. It freakin rocked. Louisville was awesome. I don't have any good pics from the actual fight yet, because Katy and I got a little out of hand while it was going on and I hadn't the composure to take pics. Cage-side gets a little intense when you're so amped. But, here's a few of the fight and a few of the trip.

I would like to say congratulations to George, his heart and discipline carried him through (and I'd like to think his kettlebell training too). His shoulder stayed strong and he really pummeled this guy. He has yet to end a fight without sending the other guy to the hospital.



CONGRATULATIONS George- you are the hardest working, most disciplined, and best hearted person I know. It was a pleasure and honor to train you. Good luck in D.C. Vegas in Oct- WATCH OUT!!

For anyone that wants to watch the fight- it will air Aug 3rd on channel 999 (HDNet)!!

P.S.

My finals went GREAT and I aced them all. Yea for me :)

Tonight's the Fight: YEA!

So, I have been in Louisville, KY for the past few days to watch one of the guys that I train fight. It has been a blast so far. Last night was the weigh-ins, then we ate at this wonderful Mediterranean/Italian restaurant. The food was great, but the highlight of the meal was the fact that they had icewine. For those of you who don't know, icewine (or eisvin) is wine made from frozen grapes. It is a super sweet desert wine (with a super sweet price tag), but I would drink it with any meal just because I love sweet wine. It was a pleasant deviation from my usual pinot noir choice (love those bioflavinoids baby). Not only is it very rare to see icewine in a restaurant (we don't exactly have fine dining in Jacksonville, NC), but its also about my favorite thing to drink. So, enough about that. The weigh-ins were in this really cute club downtown where they had like 25 bars all in one little area with two levels. I took a ton of pictures, but forgot the cord to my camera, so can't post them yet.

I'm here with George "Loaded" Lockhart (the guy I train) and his wife Katy, who is also one of my best friends. They are really great, and extremely entertaining. Sitting back and watching a man who just cut 40lbs (when he was about 4% body fat prior), starved and grumpy- with his wife who takes no shit from anyone (which is why I love her). Needless to say it makes for some entertaining times. But, George's corner man and training partner got here late last night, so I think he (Brian- also fights WEC) is going to take him today while us girls do what we do best (no, not kick ass- SHOP). Neither of us are girlie-girls so to speak, but we can tear it up in the mall, so watch out, he he.

The bet of the evening is to see if I can do a pistol squat in heels- I'll let you know how that goes :) Anyways- I had Katy and George bring a kettlebell with them up here (they drove, I flew), so that I could work out in the hotel room. One 12k kettlebell is a little limiting with what you can do, but you can never do enough swings!!

Thurs
warm-up
40 2-hd swings
(30 sec rest)
5 sets

workout
100 swings
(1 min rest)
x10 sets

3L/3R TGUs
10L/10R fr.sq.
30 push-ups (15 reg/15 tricep)
3 sets

a few pistols for fun

Friday
workout:
100 2-hd swings
(1 min rest)
100 tr swings
(1 min rest)
50L/50R/50L/50R 1-hd swings
(1 min rest)
100 2-hd swings

3L/3R pistols
5L/5R windmills
50 tac lunges
3 sets

VO2 max workout
(15 on 15 off snatches)
20 sets

5 Janda sit-ups
10 get-up sit-ups
50 seated twists
3 sets

Everything felt awesome. Last night was kind of rough, because I had to wait a good while after we ate before I wanted to workout. But I was motivated by all of the caprice salad and salmon that I indulged in at dinner. This morning I woke up and got a great deep-tissue massage at the spa upstairs which really helped loosen my back up (it was t-i-g-h-t). So- tonight is the fight, and I fly out tomorrow. I am stupid excited to see George beat this guy. As far as fighters (and men in general) go, he is the most disciplined, hard-working guy and has more heart than any other person I've met. He's really awesome and I'm going to miss training him (They're moving to D.C. next week). Well, time for some coffee and good shopping!! Ciao.

Kettlebells as Form of Constructive Procrastination...

There are about 100 things that I would rather do than study. And I usually make my way through a good 45-50 of them before I actually sit down and do it. One of those things is kettlebells. While my good sense tells me that I have finals this week (ick), my better sense told me that a good workout would be better for me this evening.

Saturday I woke up and got a good run in. It may sound crazy, but I can feel the VO2 Max work every time I clock myself on a 5K. For about 5 years of my adult life (technically there has only been 6, but who's counting-) I have been running myself around a track thinking that was the only way I was going to get faster. And I did, sometimes. Nothing has shown these kind of results so quickly. I wasn't even really paying close attention, but I thought I would start keeping track when I noticed it was easier for me to take off on intervals than it was for me to do a slow, even paced run. Anyway. Sat I had an awesome run and was really happy about how it felt.

Then, Sat night I climbed- no where near as physically challenging as it was mental. Its been too long since I have felt the blood rush out of my head and my hands shake so bad I lost feeling. I had a good time, but I can never seem to make real progress when facing my fears like that. Never the less, I still made it up all the courses that I tried. I had no good concept of what was easy, intermediate, and hard, because I could power through the initial part and the hardest thing was coming back down. I really didn't want to let go of the wall. No pictures- yet.

Sunday is my usual day off, and I like it like that. It always makes Mon workout interesting though. I have no good idea why I workout at night. I just seems to be the obvious time when the day is over and I have some time to myself... oh yeah, and I should be studying, ha ha. Not to mention I sleep better.

warm-up:
40 2-hand swings
5 sets

workout:
1 min around-body pass
1 min 2-hand swings
1 min figure-8
1 min 2-hand swings
1 min halos
(1 min rest)
3 sets x2

5L/5R TGUs
4L/3R pistols

I decided to forgo my ab workout. No good reason besides my conscience got the best of me. So, enough procrastinating... I'm so over school ;)

This Week

This week has been so busy. Busy=good, so no complaints here. Lots of fun things are in the week to come. There aren't a whole lot of things that I know absolutely nothing about. But, apparently rock climbing is one of them. I have an extreme aversion to being high up in the air (unless I'm in an airplane)- so maybe I have purposely avoided it. Either way, I'm about to help myself over that aversion and give it a shot tonight. A friend of mine is big into climbing, so he's taking me to an indoor facility and gonna try to get me to climb a wall. We'll see.

I have been working running into my training. Not any significant distance (which is so weird), but lots of intervals and sprints. I've also been working snatch intervals and messing around with this really cool VO2 Max thing. It rocks.

Last night was the first time in a few days that I wrote down what I did before I did it. Sometimes grinds just don't sound appealing after doing intense intervals and recording what I do decide to do: even less appealing. Anyway. Last night I put a stop to that. I was rushing through my workout, because I had food on the grill and friends on the way over (yeah, I'm a super hostess). So...

warm-up: (w/16k)
20 2-hand swings
5 sets

work-out:
swing/hindu sq ladder-
50 swings
10 squats
(30 sec rest)
40 swings
20 squats
(30 sec rest)
30 swings
30 squats
(30 sec rest)
20 swings
40 squats
(30 sec rest)
10 swings
50 squats
(30 sec rest)
2 sets

5L/5R cl/pr
5L/5R windmills
5L/5R guard press
(30 sec rest)
50 tact lunges
5L/5R fr sq
(30 sec rest)
3 sets

I did one set of the swing ladder, then the second set after I was done with everything else. For the first set, I used the 24k for the first set and the 16k for the second. I alternated the 16k and 12k into the middle sets, because I found myself losing stability for some reason when I was all the way down on a windmill- not fun. I'm not usually that easily persuaded to go to lighter weights, but being extended up and bent at the waist is not the time you want to feel your shoulder being unstable. Other than that- everything felt great. P.S. I didn't even think about loosening up or stretching afterwards (may not sound like a big deal), but I felt it this morning. Nothing a little run can't solve. I love getting blood pumping to my muscles and we finally had a day where it didn't rain and the humidity dropped below 80% - woo-hoo!! Well, enough stalling this wall-climbing attempt (insert scared face here)... I'll make sure someone takes pictures-lol.

So, I've neglected my blog for a few days now. After Sat night, I neglected a lot of things. We went to a local restaurant/bar to watch the fights and not only was Tito's fight called a draw, but I got food poisoning from some bad spinach-artichoke dip. About the only good thing about the night was the company I was fortunate enough to keep :) Sat morning, at 85% relative humidity, I went for a nice little 5-miler. I think I was getting 1/2 air and 1/2 water in my lungs with every breath. None the less, it felt good to get out and run a little. When I got home, I did I a little KB work- then pummeled my abs for a good 30 min. Sun, I don't think I got out of bed, because I felt like crap all day long. It was miserable, and I am glad its over. The week started out super busy, but very good. I still wasn't on top of my game Mon, but I did a little work- not really worth going back through. Tonight was my first workout for real since my run in with the bad dip. I had a stupid-busy day. But, I had the opportunity to give a seminar on my favorite subject to a local martial arts school where I am going to be teaching- YEA!! So, tonight when I got home I did a little workout, pieces of which, I stole from Mrs. Tracy Rif. Thank you ma'am.

warm-up:
(w/16k)
20 2-hand swings
(30 sec rest)
5 sets

workout:
(alt 16k and 12k)
5 cl/pr L, tx, cl/pr R, tx, cl/sq L, tx, cl/sq R
(45 sec rest)
5 dbl cl/pr, cl/sq
(45 sec rest)
5 sets

500 swings-
100 2-hand
(30 sec rest)
100 1-hand alt every 10
(30 sec rest)
100 2-hand
(30 sec rest)
100 1-hand alt every 20
(30 sec rest)
50 12k doubles
50 2-hand

It felt so good to get back in the groove of things. Even though I was using lighter weights tonight to get back with the flow- I still got a great workout and felt very strong for having just beat that nasty stomach thing. So, tomorrow's another busy day- looking forward to it :) I'm working on my own plan right now. I've been borrowing workouts and ideas from fellow KB chicas that I respect. But, its time to get focused. I need more structure in my routine- and I will soon be able to post my anticipated power plan.

I See Why Its Called "Dead" Lifting

'Cause I'm freakin' dead tired. I dragged my girl Katie into the gym this evening to show me good "technique" on dead-lifting. It is part of the Tactical Strength Competition that I am wanting to do (either the one coming up or the one after that- we'll see how it goes). And, I've only really ever done stiff-leg lifts to work my booty- never to actually try and pull weight. That was fun...and quite funny to watch I'm sure. After that she showed me a rockin' ab workout called 21 something or other. I'll have to ask- but it whooped my ass (actually my abs)- and it felt awesome to toss something new into my ab routine. So, even though I was tired from all the fun we had at the gym- I came home and did a little KB workout ('cause I couldn't resist).

warm-up:
20 2-hand swings (w/16k)
(30 sec rest)
5 sets

workout:
(w/16k)
5L/5R windmills
(30 sec rest)
20 2-hand swings (w/24k)
(30 sec rest)
3L/3R TGU
(30 sec rest)
10 swing, swing/catch/squat
(30 sec rest)
5L/5R guard press
5 sets

Gotta thank Tracy for the swing, swing/catch/squat. I originally read about it in one of Rif's articles, and then I saw the video on her blog. Those are my new favorite thing... well, those and thrusters. Oh yeah- and I really gotta thank her for the wonderful hand wrapping idea. It works wonders and is so easy. My hands feel great and I can still keep a good grip (I tried it out on all types of moves). That is fabulous. I feel so much better tonight than I did last night. I'm dead tired right now, but in a good way. I only pulled off 5 sets of my lil workout, but I felt like after getting rocked at the gym- my good form only stuck around for that long.

Tomorrow is fight-night!! Woo-hoo! Love watchin' Tito (even though I seem to be the only one that still likes him). Can't wait.

Getting Irrationally Angry (hereinafter referred to as "The Workout We Do Not Speak Of")

I'll be brief with this so as not to incite myself any further. I got irrationally angry with myself for being so weak when I was doing my weekly SSST (which will be repeated Sun). I don't know why I was so weak or got so mad, but I did.

200 snatches w/12k

10 thrusters
(30 sec rest)
10 seated presses
(30 sec rest)
20 double swings
(30 sec rest)
3 sets

quick abs

I was really pissed after doing snatches. My form, my strength, and my numbers all sucked- and I was irrationally mad. Normally, I would have gone and "ran it off." But, I wanted to finish up with a quick few sets of some thrusters and swings and threw the seated presses in there for GP- all in an effort to blow off some steam. So- tonight I will have something nice and positive and motivating to report. I do this because I love it, even when it pisses me off- it gives me something to focus on doing better, stronger, and more efficiently.

I WILL Someday Say It: Hold My Glass Of Pinot And Watch This :)

So... I didn't run this morning, because of something that came up. But I had a rockin' workout this afternoon. I was being indecisive, so I was checking out my other favorite KB chicas blogs to see what they had been up to.

I really admire Tracy and her dedication. She amazes me and motivates me on a regular basis. All the other people that are linked to on my blog are super cool as well. Yoana is a little freakin powerhouse and schooled me on quite a few things while she was in her first trimester of pregnancy (talk about humbling). Sarah has given me some great tips and is a kick-ass girl herself. Kenneth and Brett, well, smart guys who know a lot of cool important stuff and are about the most entertaining people I've met.

I remember at my cert. we were leaving dinner one night and they were joking about going up to the hospitality suite to "tear up" some cards. Unaware that I am not educated in said named endeavors and under the false impression that I'm way cooler than I am- I took that to mean we were going to play cards and they were just using some tough-guy talk I wasn't familiar with. I attribute this 50% to me being a dork and 50% to the fact that, until that night, I had no idea people actually did things like tear decks of cards in 1/2 for fun. Well, I was in for quite a surprise when I was witness to, not only the tearing of cards, but the bending of nails (as in a 6" shank) and other random acts of retard strength :) I think my facial expressions spoke for themselves.

I don't consider myself to have (at all) lived a sheltered life, but the world of "hold my beer and watch this" tricks was entirely new to me. You can see this and all types of other crazy shit (like pistol jumps on and off tables and the tearing in 1/2 of phone books, etc.) at www.strongstuff.dk. Definitely worth checking out! And- even though I will never really be in the tough-guy club with any significant achievements by their standard- as soon as I acquire the ability (and I'm practicing... so watch out) to do something even remotely cool like that- I feel compelled to say, "Hold my glass of Pinot and watch this." Totally kidding...kind of :)

Anyway. My workout. I have decided to quit messing around with the 12k. I don't have much use for it anymore except my weekly SSST- which my numbers are improving, but I'm still not in the top 15 :( I'll get there. I am much newer to this game than I realized, so I'm taking things one step at a time.

In the lovely N.C. sunshine things went as follows:


warm up:
20 2-hand swings (w/16k)
(30 sec rest)
5 sets

workout:
all w/ 24k except last-
5L/5R one-leg d.l.
(30 sec rest)
20 swings
(30 sec rest)
10 fr squat 5 racked R/5 racked L
(30 sec rest)
20 swings (w/16k)
5 sets

15 min abs:
all w/ 16k except last-
20 torso twists
10 get-up sit-ups
20 torso twists
10 hanging leg raises
3 sets

All in all it felt good- well, I'm still working on good form with my 24k swings, but its definitely improving. I really felt a difference in how that applies to just about everything. Using more weight certainly makes you focus on your technique and trying to clean a 24k is just un-fun. But, I can definitely feel that its gonna hurt so good in the morning.

My 4th of July was fun. We did fireworks which my godson is absolutely, ridiculously excited about. He was still talking about it when we put him to bed :) So cute. Not ready for my own though... I can barely get the puppy to behave ;) Time for a hot shower and good sleep. I am physically tired, and after a glass of wine, I'm sleepy and relaxed. Night.

What NOT to Do...

Great workout last night (evening). However, the last 10 minutes taught me a very valuable lesson: Never take responsibility for a 3 year old when the neighbors are setting off fireworks and you are in the last 10 reps of a swing ladder. No one is sick, injured, or maimed so no real harm was done. But, enough said about that.

AM: easy 3.5 mile (30 min) jog with my room-mate

PM:
16k 2-handed swing ladder-
50 swings
10 hindu sq.
(30 sec)
40 swings
20 hindu sq.
(30 sec)
30 swings
30 hindu sq.
(30 sec)
20 swings
40 hindu sq.
(30 sec)
10 swings
50 hindu sq.
(1 min)
2 sets

10 "cheating" crush curls (I used my fingers alot towards the end)
2 min around body passes (1 min e/ way)
5L/5R windmills
2 min figure-8's (1 min e/ way)
50 tactical lunges
2 min halos (1 min e/ way)
5L/5R clean squat
3 sets

Quick Abs:
(all w/12 k)
10 get-up sit-ups
20 twists
10 hanging leg lifts

I did all the movements with a 12k except the squats where I switched to a 16k. I jumped right into the swing ladder first which was a bad idea without warming up a little, but lesson learned. Then, I did the 3 sets of movements (taking 15 sec breaks between each exercise) and finished up with another swing ladder. Afterwards I felt beat, but in a good way. Waking up this morning- I can definitely feel those 24k swings from Mon. night. Of for another jog to loosen up on a beautiful 4th of July!!

Should Take My Own Advice As The Guilt of A Lazy Weekend Sets In

Well, I decided to take the weekend off. Sat I played around with windmills, pistols, pull-ups, and abs. But Sunday, I took the day to do nothing whatsoever. I played with my godson and watched NASCAR in my pajamas and had sushi and pink cupcakes (my two weaknesses; supplied courtesy of my room-mate).
It was a much-needed day of relaxation and indulgence like I haven't had in as long as I can remember. Yesterday, however, I knew I had to get back to it. And, although it was a typically busy first working-day of the month, I worked out last night after a wonderful BBQ dinner with my friends George and Katy. Here's how it went-

warm up:
20 swings w/16k
(30 sec rest)
5 sets

workout:
2L/2R TGUs with 16k (moving down to the 12k after the 1st 2 sets)
(30 sec rest)
20 swings w/ 24k
(45 sec rest)
8 clean/press
(30 sec rest)
20 swings w/24k
(45 sec rest)
10 squat/thrust/push w/12k
(30 sec rest)
5 sets
3R/3L pistols

20 min abs:
10 get-up sit-ups
20 torso twist
15 hanging leg raises
1 min stomach vacuuming
3 sets

I got a lot from this workout (one thing being that a day of indulgence does not come without a price to pay). Its funny how two days off can make you feel so refreshed, but so lazy. Needless to say, it will be a long time before I do that again. Anyway, back to what I learned from my workout: First, putting up more than 12k for any significant number of TGU's is harder than I thought. Second, swinging with a 24k is also harder than I thought (it was harder to keep good form than anything)- it felt good none the less. Third, I am going to stick with primarily resistance ab exercises. I've been doing the same Marine Corps ab workout for too long and my body just doesn't respond anymore. Fourth and finally, having a pull-up bar in the doorway between our living room and kitchen ROCKS!! It is visible from just about every common area of the house, and you have to walk under it before you get to the kitchen, which always compels me to stop and do a few (and also makes me re-think my choices in the kitchen once I get there). Great investment. The 4th is coming up woo-hoo! Bring on the fireworks!