Bell Curves: Kettlebell Workout - Fitness Magazine

Bell Curves: Kettlebell Workout - Fitness Magazine

Today's challenge -

For women used to working with kettlebells use 1 pood (16kg). For women new to this start where you feel comfortable (lighter for the windmills - 6-8kg, heavier for swings 10-12kg). This should not be as easy as this demo.

KB should be fairly heavy in the swings. Exercises like this give you the benefit of working your core while engaging the muscle targeted (ie. legs, glute, low back for swings, and a bit more arm and obliques for windmill). To keep your heart rate raised and increase fat burning do this at a consistent pace with little rest. This may mean you need to go lighter, however keeping your workouts at a lower intensity for a consistent duration is necessary to keep your body moving on those days when you just feel like you'd rather take the day off.

Post questions and results to comments.

Did you just call me a "nasty girl"?!

In the world of crossfit, what do you do if someone comes up and calls you "NASTY?!"
You look back, smile and say "yea we are".

One of my teammates for the Affiliate Cup, Eric, recent conversation at the crossfit qualifers.

Man: Are you from Crossfit Balboa?
Eric: Yea!
Man: Damn, your girls are "nasty"!!
Eric: Your (dang) right they are!!

Now in any other context outside of crossfit people this would be taken as an offensive comment. But a "nasty girl" refers to someone who can handle a wicked tough workout and come back for more, who doesn't just stop when things get hard. Check out the "Nasty Girls WOD" above for a great workout.

Traditional crunches vs. "Flex Belts" or the like

I recently got a question from a friend about my thoughts on the product - Flex Belt - that basically works like shock therapy.  Activating your abs through the use of electro pulses to activate your muscle without the individuals control.  Here are my thoughts on this:

Disclaimer: I have never used the flex belt - I'm not familiar with this particular line, but I am familiar with the concept. The downfall with this kind of thing is that often people report that after using things of this nature have problems with actually flexing the muscle properly without using the "shock". Additionally, the muscle may spasm. Basically it tries to flex without your control because it's used to do this through the shocking therapy.

My thought on anything like this is that if you don't put in the work and it's a "easy out" it's probably not a great option.

Gaining a great body - one to be proud of takes a lot of work. That's what makes you more proud of it. Accomplishment! I would work with the diet and put in some core exercises throughout your exercise plan. It's actually not much about crunches, it's more about eating healthy to lose the body fat on top of the muscle and working in the full range of motion for all exercises. Cardio is good, but is not seen as strength building exercise. The thing to remember is the more muscle that you have the easier and faster your body works to burn fat --> higher metabolism.  Double bonus!!! :)

Is strength training beneficial for endurance athletes?

Sample meal plan - paleo style specifically for endurance athletes thanks to the paleodiet.blogspot.com

Endurance Athlete Sample Menu for Two-a-Day Workout


5:30 AM
Pre-workout Breakfast Smoothie- 8oz brewed, chilled, natural decaf green tea with a banana, egg white protein powder, almond butter whizzed in the blender with some baked yam on the side.

6:30 AM
3-hour bike ride on the trainer-carbohydrate gel taken every 25 minutes.

9:30 AM
Immediate Post-workout recovery drink- HOME BREW (recipe in The Paleo Diet for Athletes) – cantaloupe, egg white protein powder and glucose. Drink plenty of water- keep hydrating.

10:00 AM
Raisins (to restore body alkalinity, continue to help the body recover post workout, and prepare for the session later in the day).

11:30 or 12:00 PM
Grilled Chicken breast, flash-sautéed asparagus, drizzled with flax seed oil and an apple

3:00 PM
Natural unsweetened applesauce with chopped egg whites (to prepare for 2nd workout of the day-shift from the usual Paleolithic macronutrient ratio to the pre-workout focus on carbohydrates).

For more specifics and a non-training day diet, please visit there great blog @ http://thepaleodiet.blogspot.com/2010/04/sample-menus-for-endurance-athletes.html

Egg whites vs. Whole eggs

Came across a great article today on why you should consider eating whole eggs (Omega 3 - egglands best preferred) instead of just your egg whites.  Which brings me to another topic...fat is NOT the enemy people.  Everyone is so worried about the fat on their body that they translate it into no fat in foods.  Now I'm not saying we go out there and eat crazy high fat foods, but the goal is to stay away from saturated fats (ie. your grease and processed foods) but it's okay to have SOME of the unsaturated foods (almonds, goat cheese, avocados, EGGS).  I always emphasize "some" because most things are all okay in moderation, but too much of anything can make you stop seeing results and start regretting the decision. 

Today we know that fat is not the enemy, especially healthy fats like monounsaturated fats and essential omega-3 fats. Although egg yolks have some saturated fats, it makes up less than half of the total fat. Plus the type of saturated fat in egg yolks does not get stored readily as body fat. Not to mention, you can buy eggs that have higher amounts of omega-3 fats, which can actually aid fat burning, as well as boost muscle and joint recovery. --Muscle Fitness Hers (whole story)

A thing to keep in mind - Omega 3's are shown to enhance fat burning, in addition to their helpfulness to the joints that they protect!  This week I'm going to talk about DIET and the benefits of keeping protein high and still taking in fats =)

LeBron James' Pre-game Workout - Weplay

In the spirit of this possible LeBron Trade...What does he do to keep in shape (other than his elbow)?

Yup, unlateral and Kettle Bell stuff - you got it. Bandwagoner...haha.

The big 2-7 is here - Happy Birthday to me!

Birthday Dance! 

Lot's accomplished this year - figure and crossfit qualifier in the same year!!

CFB goes to the Crossfit Games 2010

The final placings have come in and the Top 8 teams going to the Crossfit Games Affiliate Cup 2010 have been secured.  Going into the final workout - Crossfit Balboa had the 11th place overall needing to overtake 3 teams to make it into the top 8 out of the 84 registered teams.  With an impressive 7:07 finish in the last workout, my team and I took it to the next level and worked hard to finish 3rd in our heat and take the final overall spot to secure our spots in the Crossfit Games 2010!!! 

Here's how Kate, Ben, Ryan and I spent our Mother's day...

• Carry 185 lb log in unision with a teammate(s) flipping a tractor tire the length of a football field.
• Once at the end, all 4 members of the team must then get under the log remain touching the log at all times while the group performs 40 below parallel squats.
• Once squats are counted - (20 )185lb team log presses begin.  Up and over each person's head touching everyone's shoulder before it's counted.

• After completed, team must have teammates carry log back to start (100yds) while other teammates flip tire.

Needless to say, this last workout was brutal.  Not to mention the rough distribution of the weight of the log with the very different heights on the team.  But our guys were strong very very strong.  Ben and Ryan made up some serious time on the tire flips taking turns flipping at first and then doing it as a team to finish of. Quite a team challenge of communication and strength.  Without a voice trying to tell my team to wait, didn't quite workout out so well...haha.  But nevertheless we hung tight and finished amazing ourselves with the team that was developed in just a short 2 weeks. 

The Crossfit Affiliate Cup was one of the most memorable experiences for me.  The team pulled together for every challenge and pushed each other to keep going, keep driving, move quicker than we thought we could. 

We carried the Crossfit Balboa flag high and showed that we condition ourselves day in and day out to be the best. 

Crossfit Affiliate Cup 2010 - End of Day 1

Our team finished Day 1 of our qualifiers with flying colors! Coach Max and teammates kept everyone's heads in the games and warmed up and ready to go.

Crossfit Balboa takes 11th overall out of 84 participating teams!

 Your TOP OVERALL teams: 

 Competitor Place (Total)      Team WOD 1       Team WOD 2  

1. CrossFit Invictus 1 (3) 2 (10:16.0) 1 (15:24)
2. San Francisco Crossfit 2 (6) 1 (09:14.5) 5 (15:45)
3. CrossFit Oakland 3 (7) 4 (11:10.3) 3 (15:37)
4. CrossFit SoCal 4 (9) 7 (11:44.0) 2 (15:30)
5. CrossFit East Sac 5 (9) 3 (11:09.5) 6 (15:47)
6. TJ's Gym/CrossFit San Rafael 6 (15) 5 (11:13.2) 10 (16:30)
7. Diablo CrossFit 7 (18) 10 (12:49.0) 8 (16:28)
8. Unlimited 8 (22) 9 (12:04.9) 13 (16:41)
9. South Bay 9 (29) 25 (15:09.6) 4 (15:43)
10. Crossfit Inferno 10 (29) 22 (14:37.9) 7 (15:59) 
11. CrossFit Balboa 11 (30) 13 (13:42.0) 17 (17:10)

The gyms from San Diego and Northern California battled it out for top 5 - we held our own quite well having put the team together about a week ago and having a very small box comparatively...Crossfit Newport Beach and OC Crossfit didn't even show...?!?!  Apparently, OC Crossfit has tomorrow off too...website says so.

 

 

  

Blogging day off?! Games tomorrow.

Day off from Blogging - Brandon tells me I have to go to sleep to get ready for tomorrow's events. He keeps telling me "just relax..."  Do I look hyped?!?   Tomorrow is the big day for all of our Crossfitters going out to compete at the So Cal Regional at UC Irvine.  Good luck to Kelley, our own OC Throwdown winner, who will be taking on the individuals for our dojo and keep your fingers crossed - Ryan, Eric, Ben, Kate, Carey and Aubrey representing for Crossfit "Sweep the Leg" Balboa in the Team Affliate Cup. 

(Eric and Ryan)

If you're in the area, drop by - individual events start at 8am with Kelley and our first team workout at about 11ish.

Brandon will try to get the video camera going to capture us in action.  You can tune in to see us live at live.crossfit.com beginning at approximately 8:00am on Saturday and concluding at about 4:00pm on Sunday with the awards.

Yea... I'm getting summoned to sleep...

Crossfit Affiliate Team Workout: May 8-9

So the workouts are posted for this weekend's events.  Our team is ready to give it all we've got in this weekends team affiliate cup taking place at the University of California, Irvine athletics complex. 

903 W. Peltason
Irvine, CA 92697
Crawford Athletic Complex

We have a team of 6: 3 girls and 3 guys taking on some fun team based events.  Here's the rules - 4 people must take part per event (2 girls/2 guys).  Two of the workouts will be held on Saturday and the final workout, to be announced on Saturday takes place Sunday morning.  All movements must be performed throughout a complete range of motion or it will not be counted - therefore if you don't do your squats deep enough or you don't lock out at the top of the movement, you do it again...ugh...story of my life.

So here's what the workouts are looking like:

• Saturday
• Wod #1: Shuttle runs (10 yds, 20 yds, 100m), as soon as you reach the end of the 100m women pick up 30lb dumbells and begin 30 thrusters, once finished you run another 100m to tag the next teammate to start their shuttle runs and thrusters.  First person then moves quickly to ring dips where women perform 10, men perform 15.  Time stops when the 4th person finishes all ring dips and their judge stops the time.
• Wod #2: Relay race, each person completing their 100m sections, last person continues to run to pick up the rest of the team members and once everyone is picked up running 400m together.  Once finished with the run, begin 250 double unders (break up as needed), 150 pull ups (break up as needed)
• Sunday
• Wod #3: TBD

If you can't make it out events will be streaming live at http://live.crossfit.com/.  Watch for me and the team Crossfit Balboa and our shirts "Sweep the Leg"  =)

Cinco de Mayo and Cognitive Restructuring?!?

First off, Happy CINCO DE MAYO!!! Surprisingly today was not filled with tacos and burritos, tequila and margaritas...unfortunately...?! So for dinner I had to throw something in.  I came up with Clean Quacamole!  Yes that's right good old fashioned avocados with some lime, parsley, tomatoes...yum!  Tried to stay away from the heavy cheeses that this day traditionally brings for me - so no quesadillas, nachos, burritos today *tear*.

Clean-Eating Guacamole

3 ripe avocados

1 vine ripened tomato (diced)

1/2 onion (diced)

1/2 juice of lime

2 handfuls of parsley

sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Delish!!

Today, was somewhat of a busy day - but not quite as bad as the nightmare the early portion of the week brought my way.  So things are looking up!  I attended a stress and relaxation seminar today, complete with techniques on how to begin "cognitive restructuring", yay!  Changing the way you perceive the situation and making sure that the thoughts you are having are logical and not distortions.  Interesting. 

In so many situations we often blow things out of proportion, take things personally that were not intended, or just let our other peoples opinions or thoughts get the best of us. 

 The biggest thing the seminar emphasized in order to maintain one's sanity is to follow the three P's -
1) Is it personal?  Is everyone out to get you?  Did they specifically pick up those weights that you were just about to use because they knew you wanted them? That cupcake they are eating in front of you and buying by the dozen because they know you can't/won't eat them?
2) Is it pervasive?  Is this stressor or situation permating into the rest of your life events? 
3) Is it persistant?  Is this a reoccuring issue or is this a one time bad lift? 

If this is too much - keep in mind stress can often be reduced by EXERCISE AND NUTRITION...hmm... of course!?!  To BE Continued....

Better than your Better

Why do you train? "For me it's for my better to be better than your
better."

1st Place - Class A and beyond

Little note from me - 1 week from OC Muscle Classic - progress...?!

OC Half Marathon and Marathon

 Congratulations to all the participants of this mornings Marathon!!!  I saw a lot of familiar faces and great work.  It was perfect weather, not too hot, not too windy.  13.1 and 26.2 miles respectively, a nice way to start the morning through the beautiful Back Bay. 

Our first woman half marathoner, Jane Maxwell came cruising by mile 9.5 with the top 5 overall runners - finishing in 1:20 third woman overall.  She looked determined and strides long and relaxed.   My husband, Brandon came by averaging about 8 minute miles and running with his dad motivating him to finish sub 2:00 hours. 

Overall a great race, beautiful day and hopefully some good times.  Pictures to follow.  GREAT JOB!!

Now off to my team workout to get it together for the Crossfit Socal Affiliate Cup going down next weekend at UC Irvine!!

Endurance Crossfit Workout

Today's workout courtesy of Crossfit Balboa -

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

5 Handstand pushups

10 Double Unders (jump rope)

20 Air squats

3 sets of 12 each hanging leg lifts (lower abs)

*Completed: 11 rounds for me =)

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