Therapeutic effects of Kettlebells and a karate story 7/31

I wanted to keep it on the cardio side today since my legs and arms are sore from yesterdays training.  Grace and I took a nice little stroll up the ridge at Runyon.  She carried the 20 lb kettlebell and I stopped at 5 different spots to do a quick set of 15 pushups.  At the base of the hill Grace showed me some of the crazy leg ups they do at Crossfit where you dead hang from the bar and bring your feet to the bar!    I decided to just hang from the bar because my left shoulder has always stopped me from doing any type of pullup or heavy overhead presses. I grabbed the bar with a shoulder width overgrip and  was surprised when I got to the bar that my shoulder was not giving me the typical radiating pain I normally get when trying to do this.  It felt good enough that I decided to try some pullups.  From a dead hang each time I did 4 full pullups!  I expected my shoulder to be screaming at me when it was done but it felt pretty much like the right shoulder, a little worked but more or less normal.

I am convinced now that kettlebell training has an inherent therapeutic effect on the entire body.  I've been doing yoga for a long time and have good shoulder flexibility and strength but even then an attempt at a pullup could of put my shoulder down for a month if I was not careful. My laymens thoughts on it are that proper kettlebell technique somehow teaches the body how to distribute the kettlebells weight throughout the trainers body.  I believe this effect strenghens the entire body and slowly forces the weaker body parts to match the strength of the non-injured body parts.  I believe that 3-4 months of semi-regimented kettlebell training has nearly fixed my shoulder!  I will blog about this again in the future because I dont want to get ahead of myself.  Lets see how the shoulder feels in the morning lol.

oh, and fwiw, about the shoulder - I was about 20 years old and my taekwondo club was visiting another tkd club.  This particular club we were visiting trained with the "hogu" which is that big heavy chest pad they use for Olympic style sparring.  At that point all I did was point sparring.  Point sparring was a little bit dangerous but the whole idea was for your kicks and punches to get extremelly close to your opponent but not actually hit them.  I was good at point sparring because I could put my roundhouse real close to my opponents heads without hitting them.  This enabled me to accidentally bloody at least 2 different guys noses and I never really got hit.  I was good at point sparring but as it turns out terrible at Olympic style sparring.

I think I sparred Olympic style wearing the hogu for 15 seconds until my opponent jumps up, spins in the air and back kicks my left shoulder with his heel at pretty much full strength.  My shoulder pops totally out of the socket.  I could feel it when it came out and I could feel it hanging there.  Luckily I was young and stupid enough not to freak out too much as I collapsed to the floor, possibly screaming?  The instructor from the other school must of known what he was doing because he told me to sit up.  He came up behind me putting his arm under my left shoulder and I thought for a second he was going to try and pick me up.  Little did I know that this was when it was gonna get really bad.  He instead just picked up the entire left side of my body while holding my left wrist to the ground and BOOM!  Shoulder pops back in and the pain really set in!  I sat in the corner for the rest of class.  The arm hurt like a bitch for about a month but then slowly it just started getting better.  I never saw the doctor for it and it has been giving me chronic pain for more than 20 years since. 

I'm gonna do 10 pullups one day.  at least

Workout Journal 7/30

I was having trouble deciding whether I should hike the ridge or the stairs @Runyon (ridge much harder!) with the 16 kg kettlebells.  I eventually decided to hike the stairs but to also stop at fixed intervals on my way down to do some standard Russian Kettlebell exercises I am trying to get good at.   I hiked to the top of the stairs for my first interval.  Every 200 steps I did another interval.  Here's what I did at about every 200 paces on my way down the hill.

1) 5 2-handed swings, 5 1-arm swings, 5 1-arm high swings and 5 snatches each side
2) repeated #1!
3) 30 2-handed swings
4) repeated #3
5) 25 goblet squats.

Finished up at the base of the fire-road with 25 goblet squats.  I meant to do another 25 squats at the gate but honestly I was feeling dizzy, faint and naseous lol.  The entire workout took about an hour and 5 minutes so I satsifed some of my endurance work quota as well as getting in some solid strength work with the kettlebells.

Great training at Bootcamp today too!   I like my new routine.  As usual I will tweak it during the first few days but so far so good.  We're doing a little more upper-body work this week since the past 2 weeks were so leg heavy.  Still a good full-body workout!

Workout Journal 7/27

This week I started hiking with my 16 kg kettlebell.  Monday I did the paved road, Weds I did the stairs and today (fri) I finally did the ridge. It was difficult but not as rough as I thought it would be.  It did take me a very long time compared to my time with the 12 kg bell.    It took me 1 hour 5 minutes.  My best time with the 12kg kettlebell is 47 minutes which I know I can one day match with the 16 kg bell.  Always trying to get stronger, just a little each time I train. 

7/25 - 46 days eating clean

June 10th 182 lbs 14%bodyfat

June 27th 174 lbs 11% bf

July 9th 171 10% bf

July 25th 168 9% bf

added this pic from 7/30

at about 166 in this shot

164.5 pounds  on 8/5

 

8/9 2012 164 pounds

8/9 2013 160 lbs - 1 year after the above pic - definitely leaner so I figure I put on about 10 lbs of muscle in the past year.  Pretty good considering I'm natural and almost 43 years old.

 

 

Very happy with my progress! I am finding it easy to eat clean and am allowing myself some serious cheat meals every 4th day.    I am also sticking to my workouts and I think making the change to the bigger 16kg kettlebell is going to make a big difference on my body.  Looking forward to sticking with it and seeing where I can go with all this training and strict eating..  My goal is to get myself down to 159 and then take a serious break, as in a week off of training and dieting, maybe go to Vegas or something and eat at buffets all day and play poker all night. 

Runyon Canyon Bootcamp blog

Starting to get bored of blogging my diet!  It's pretty much the same day after day and I am sticking to my personal eating program with no problem so I guess I no longer need to record it.  I am going to try and  open up the range of topics I write about.. A couple of topics I want to write about  in the future are:

Why do I teach for donation?
Should you do a yoga teacher teacher training?
Age specific workouts.

It's been about 6 weeks since I started Runyon Canyon Bootcamp and I am very happy with the results!  The first couple of weeks were slow and I was lucky to get 3-4 students/class but for the past month or so I am getting 10-15 students per class which I consider a success!  My goal with Runyon Canyon Bootcamp is to make is as big as the yoga classes we also offer at Runyon.  I would like to ultimately offer 3 bootcamps  a day but I want to make the 12-1pm classes a big success before I add new times.  Most people are bringing me a $5 donation for class and I appreciate it!  I never got into this line of work to get rich but it nice to get paid for all the time I am putting into creating these workouts and then running up and down that hill with you 6 days a week!  Thanks to those who have been brining me donations and if you have not been able to afford it please still come and train with us.  Your commitment to the workout is all I need! 

It's been awesome watching people train hard and get such quick results!  I am gaining more and more confidence in the routines we are doing and I am spending a tremendous amount of time researching different methods so we never run out of variety.   I am personally starting some serious training with the kettlebells which I will be blogging about.  I just got my 16 kg kettlebell and will be focusing mostly on swings, snatches, goblet squats and turkish getups, these are the basics of Russian Kettlebell training.

7/18

830am
coffee - 50 cals
9am
1/2 naked juice protein drink 200 cals 14 gr protein
1130am
other 1/2  naked juice protein drink 200 cals 14 gr protein
2pm
3/4 Chipotle bowl - easy rice, peppers, onions, 1/2 chicken 1/2 steak - 450 cals 35 gr protein
445 pm musclemilk protein drink 170 cals 20 gr protein
530pm trisquits w/pbutter 220 cals 6 gr protein
8pm 3/4 small pizza 300 cals 15 gr protein

I am sure you noticed that I do not eat enough fruits and vegetables.  Typically I take a meal replacement called Shakeology that is made from mostly raw fruits/veges and an incredible amount of superfoods. I am about to start my 3rd month taking Shakeology nearly every day and I love it.  It is actually more difficult to stick with my clean eating plan without it because it helps me tremendously with appetite control.  It has a low glycemic index and no artificial sweeteners which I am conviced make you hungry. I should also note that I take a tbsp of psyllium husk every day for digestion.  This replaces the fiber I would be getting from fruit and veges and to say that I am regular is an understatement lol.  

July Friday the 13th

9am
coffee 50 cals
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

1120am
canned protein shake 180 cals 35 gr protein

1230pm
50% diluted pomegranate/blueberry juice - 60 cals

2pm
Subway 6 inch roasted chicken all the veges, bag baked chips 500 cals 15 gr protein

430pm
coffee 50 cals
1.25 oz raw almonds 200 cals 7 gr protein


730pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, strawberries - 350 cals 24 gr protein
930pm
protein bar 270 cals 20 gr protein
Hiked the ridge with the 26 lb kettlebell.  Still can not beat my 47:15 record!  49:30 today.

7/12

9am
coffee 50 cals

1130am
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, blueberries 400 cals 24 gr protein

130pm
1 lean cuisine chicken rolls - 70 cals 3 gr protein
canned protein chake 170 cals 35 gr protein

430pm
subway chicken breast 6 inch all the veges and bag baked chips 500 cals 20 gr protein

630pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, blueberries 400 cals 24 gr protein

930pm
slice pizza 350 cals 6 gr protein
protein bar 270 cals 20 gr protein

1130pm
popcorn 300 cals

7/11

9am
1.5 cups coffee 75 cals

11am
Shakeology w/almond milk and banana - 300 cals 18 gr protein

Cheated the rest of the day!  Ice cream and pizza mostly!
Back to it tomorrow!

Did 2 workouts today...
Hiked the stairs with the 26lb kettlebell..took about 40 minutes.
Did 30 laps on what I call Cardio Hill..stopped every 10 laps to do 90 seconds of shoulder presses with the kb's

7/10

8am
1.5 cups coffee  75 cals
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

11am
3 lean cuisine chicken rolls 200 cals 10 gr protein

2pm
2 slices thin crust pizza 600 cals 12 gr protein

3pm
half diluted pomegranate/blueberry juice - 60 cals
440pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, blueberries - 400 cals 24 gr protein

515
2 lean cuisine chicken rolls 140 cals 7 gr protein

730pm
protein bar 270 cals 20 gr protein

930pm
microwave popcorn - 300 cals


Todays workout - I did 3 minute sets of pushups,  swings and snatches.  I did as many as I could within the 3 minutes allowing rests when mybody gave up.  I took a solid 2 minutes off between rounds because I wanted to have juice for a max-effort push each time.  I did 49 pushups, 90 swings and 50 snatches using the 26 pound kettlebell..  By kettlebell standards this is beginner stuff and I really need to upgrade to the 35 lb kb since that is considered the mens beginner size.  I hiked for about 30 minutes to finish and it felt like a decent workout.

30 days Bootcamp and eating clean

June 10th -  182 lbs 14% bf 

June 27th - 174lbs 14% bf

   July 9th -  171bs 11% bf 

Feeling pretty good!  Now that I am running 2 bootcamps a day in addition to my own workouts I have a feeling the next 30 days are gonna be very interesting. 

  Gonna stick with what got me here.  High protein-low carbs during the day for appetite control, and  moderate carbs towards the evening for mood control lol and 2 planned gigantic cheat meals a week.   And tank tops, I gotta stop wearing tank tops!

7/9

9am
coffee 50 cals

11am
Shakeology w/almond milk and strawberries - 250 cals 18 gr protein

2pm
3 small tacos from the blvd, chicken and steak - 500 cals 25 gr protein

3pm
half diluted pomegranate and blueberry juice -  60 cals

430pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, strawberries - 400 cals 24 gr protein

730pm
3 small chicken rolls..200 cals 15 gr protein

930pm
1.25 oz raw almonds (yes, raw, I'm finally trying to go raw not roasted on nuts) 250 cals 7 gr protein

1130pm
protein bar 270 cals 20 gr protein
microwave popcorn 300 cals

I hiked the ridge carrying the 26 lb kettlebell switching from a hanging grip to a shoulder grip every 25 steps.  It took about 50 minutes which is a decent but not record setting time for me.  47:15 is my best.  It was still a great workout and the first stretch towards the ridge seems never ending.

7/7 - 7/8

July 7th was Graces birthday and we had a big party!  I was on my feet nearly all day and didnt get a chance to eat a single healthy meal.  I spent the day eating cake and potato chips lol. 

7/8
9am
coffee - 50 cals

1145am
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

445
Chipotle bowl 500 cals 35 gr protein

745
Shakeology w/almond milk,frozen strawberroes,pbutter 400 cals 24 gr protein

945pm
microwave popcorn 300 cals
protein bar 270 cals
raw almonds 200 cals

1130pm
4 small pcs chocolate 200 cals

7/6

745am
coffee  50 cals
Shakeology w/almond milk and 1/2 banana - 275 cals 18 gr protein

1030am
protein shake 180 cals 35 gr protein

130pm
3/4 chipotle bowl w/chicken, bbquoa, small amt rice, peppers, onions - 450 cals 30 gr protein

430pm
1 1/2 slice pizza from Joes on the blvd - 500 cals 15 gr protein

8pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, pbutter, banana 400 cals 24 gr protein

7/4 and 7/5

July 4th I violated every nutritional guideline imaginable and I dont think it's worth blogging about potato chips, hot dogs and french fries so lets pretend July 4th never happend.  On to...

July 5th

9am coffee
50 cals

11am
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

230pm
3/4 Chipote bowl with little rice, black beans, chicken, bbquoa, peppers, onions - 500 cals 30 gr protein

630pm
Bottled protein shake 220 cals 35 gr protein

830pm
Grapenuts cereal w/almond milk 250 cals 6 gr protein

930pm
beef jerkey 80 cals - 12 gr protein

For my workout today all I did was hike the ridge in about 45 minutes.  I have been negligent about blogging my workouts because my main focus right now is  getting RCBootcamp off the ground and making sure I stay on my own nutritional program.  I really need to record my workouts! In the meantime my belt just hit the 4th notch which is unbelievable because I started this program because it was so depressing being on the 2nd notch!  I'm around 174 pounds right now and my bodyfat is probably 10/11%.  I'm in no rush!  This belly fat has been accumulating for probably 15 years and I dont expect it to come off easily or quickly.

7/3

9am
coffee - 50 cals

10am
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

130pm
Chipotle bowl with chicken, steak, peppers, onions, black beans, salsa, easy rice 500 cals 40 gr protein

430pm
1 oz  almonds 170 cals 6 gr protein

730pm
bowl pasta w/red sauce and sausage - 500 cals 10 gr protein

830
microwave popcorn 300 cals

1130pm
protein bar 270 cals 20 gr protein

7/2

9am
coffee - 50
Shakeology w/almond milk - 200 cals 18 gr protein

1130am
Musclemilk - 180 cals 20 gr protein

230pm
Beef/chicken bowl, cabbage carrots brocolli..no rice! - 400 cals 35 gr protein

530pm
Shakeology w/almond milk, 1tbsp almond butter, 1 banana - 400 cals 24 gr protein

730pm
Bowl pasta w/small amount of red sauce and sausage - 500 cals 10 gr protein

930 pm
2 protein bars - 540 cals 40 gr protein

7/1

Planned cheat day - drank packaged  Muscle Milk at 9 am and 12pm -  360 cals 40 gr protein

7pm Cheat meal - Italian Food - Garlic bread, pasta, italian sausage, huge antipasto salad loaded with everything followed by some Cold Stone Creamery - probably 2500 cals, hard to say but I am stuffed!


Everything is going as good as possible as far as eating goes.  Stuffed atm and am actually looking forward to eating light. Back on it tomorrow!