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Past 3 Days of Butt-Kicking

Angela C. — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:36:34 +0000

Hey, folks! I just wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to in the last few days.

As you know from my last post, I’ve been challenged by my new workout partner to kick some serious butt this year in terms of my health and wellness goals. Personally, I’m a bit intimidated, but that hasn’t stopped me before!

Here’s a brief pictorial summary of the past few days getting my butt into gear.

January 2, 2010.
Two mile walk with my son in the Kelty pack. He weighs about 30 pounds.

January 3rd.
My child refuses to sleep, so he watches me work out. Here’s a picture of him on the right and my 8kg on the left.

4 TGUs with 8kg
1 minute flutter kicks with 16kg
50 thrusters with two 8kgs, planks in between sets of ten

January 4th. First full-day of full-time work this year. I’m exhausted!
Brisk uphill walk with Kelty pack (15 minutes)
Bench press with 12kgs, 1 set of10
Tricep extensions with 12kg, 1 set of 5
My motto for this challenge is, “It’s better to do a little somethin’ than a whole lot of nothin’.”
Who’s joining me?

Boom Boom Pow! Two Days of Fun with Kettlebells

Angela C. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:25:53 +0000

Here Liz and I do a variety of exercises with (and without) kettlebells. Each clip has something a little unexpected. What can I say? It’s always fun working out at the FitPro Hawaii studio!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTjWb1R4vo4

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Hope you’re having a fun week! Send me some love! Add yourself to the e-mail list by writing to subscribe@kettletell.com. ALOHA!

I deadlifted 106 pounds!

Angela C. — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:30:44 +0000

I’m so excited! I usually post my workouts here chronologically, but I wanted to share this brief clip of me deadlifting a 106 pounds:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2YMwFPWQOg

Woo hoo! Leave a comment!

News Article Covers Free Kettlebell Workshop!

Angela C. — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:50:53 +0000

Hey, kettlepeeps!

I’m excited that an article about the free kettlebell workshop sponsored by Warrior Hardware and led by Bill Maeda of FitPro Hawaii was published by our Hawaii newspaper. Here’s the link:

www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090926/GETPUBLISHED/909260350/Kettlebell+craze+fuels+fitness

I tried to make a screenshot into a full article to post here, but alas, I only have the “paint” program that came with my netbook. Here’s three separate pics of the article (eventually, it will be archived and the link will no longer work):

50 Clean and Presses with two 8kg kettlebells

Angela C. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:36:04 +0000

The title says it all!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZY8Pf02yZE

Ladies, e-mail me through the contact us form and I’ll send you this magnet!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Angela

FREE 6 WEEK KETTLEBELL WORKSHOP IN HONOLULU

Angela C. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:01:50 +0000

Sponsored by FitPro Hawaii and WarriorHardware.com

New to using kettlebells? This workshop series will help you learn basic kettlebell exercises and provide a solid foundation for your kettlebell training. Bill Maeda (CPT, LMT) will guide you through a progressively challenging six week course at no cost to you.

Wednesdays, 5:30pm – 6:30pm

Queen’s Surf Beach (across from Kapiolani Bandstand)

September 16th – October 21st

Requirements. Participants must:

Consider themselves a “beginner” to kettlebell training
Be in good health
Bring their own kettlebell (appropriately sized for your level of fitness)
Commit to six weeks of training
Be willing to practice during the rest of the weeks
Be able to communicate via e-mail
Sign a waiver of liability and indemnification

There are only 12 spaces available! Please e-mail me directly at angela@kettletell.com to reserve your space.

100 Snatches

Angela C. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:38:27 +0000

I’ll take positive reinforcement wherever I can get it. Today, I had two things to celebrate.

I didn’t feel like working out at all today. The kids were napping at about the time we were supposed to pack up to go. I had little energy and was feeling a bit moody… and the little voice in my head kept saying, “Take a rest day, you need rest!”
Fortunately, my trainer’s voice rang in my ears, “Fat doesn’t take a day off!”

I got my butt in the car and took the 9- and 2-year olds with me to the FitPro Hawaii studio. Yay, me!

After a series of turkish get ups with the 8kg and my favorite obliques-killing exercise, the twist press, Bill announced it was time to practice our snatches.

To review, a “snatch” is sorta like a one-handed swing that ends with the kettlebell resting on the back of your wrist. If done properly, the kettlebell floats its way up and over your hand, lightly resting on the back of your wrist.

I’ve had a mental block with snatches, ever since my failure to complete 100 snatches on my own. Since I couldn’t master the “pull” part of the swing, the kettlebell would land pretty hard, bruising the back of my wrists.

Today would be a different day. With my nephew standing by and my son playing the alphabet song, Liz and I completed a series of snatches with the 8kg kettlebell:
10 on our left, 10 on our right (times 3)
5 on our left, 5 on our right (times 4)

Holy cannoli! That was 100 snatches- 50 per arm! Woo hoo!

Cardio, Core, and Swings plus Practice Snatches

Angela C. — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:59:13 +0000

When I started in May, I was using this 4kg!

It’s August already? Where did July go?

For the past week, I’ve been taking a brisk walk and then practicing fitting in a workout.

To make this easier, my trainer created a circuit that literally lasts 6 minutes:

1 minute of jumping rope
30 second plank
20 swings with the 12kg kettlebell
Repeat two more times

Bill’s not really into the “I don’t have time to workout” excuse.

He also assigned me 100 snatches-- per arm-- to be completed after the 6 minutes of butt kicking. Since I’m still learning how to do snatches correctly, I won’t attempt to describe them here. Take a look at this video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qu94i5S3BY

I hope you enjoyed that action/ comedy! Join me at www.facebook.com/kettletell and post your own pics and videos!

Aloha!

10 @$$ kicking minutes!

Angela C. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:51:43 +0000

Today was my kettlebell training session with my trainer, Bill Maeda, and my workout partner, Liz. I dragged my butt into FitPro Hawaii hoping that I would come out feeling energized; I had almost fallen asleep driving into town.

Right away, we jumped into our workout. No time for chattiness; we were met with a timer, a jump rope and a 12kg kettlebell. While I jumped for one full minute, Liz did full swings. Beep beep beep! Switch! I did one minute of full swings, and Liz jumped. Cool.

We switched again, me jumping rope, and Liz doing swings. Cool. Oh wait– we’re switching again? Without a water break?

By the third round, I could not complete a full set of jumps. If you’ve seen any of my videos, you know that I can hop at a pretty good pace, something like 90 jumps a minute… except when I’m doing it back-to-back! I was actually happy to get into the swings!

Ten total minutes later, we were pau. I cannot believe that ten short minutes felt like an hour’s worth of work! But we weren’t finished!

Next, we did clean and presses with two 8kg kettlebells, alternating with the plank… using the gymnastic rings.

Now, y’all know that I have a love/hate relationship with the plank. I think it’s an awesome and simple exercise to work your core, without moving! That being said, I find it difficult!

Add a little elevation with the gym rings, and there you go– a really hard exercise.

So, while Liz is cleaning and pressing for 10 reps, I’m doing my best to keep in plank position… and failed. Multiple times. Finally, I asked my trainer to help me so that I could complete the exercise without straining my back so much. And guess what I learned? I can actually work my abs even more!

My form needed some adjustment, so Bill busted out a contraption that looked a bit like a back support brace with elastic bands attached. With the “brace” part against my back, and the handles of the elastic bands hooked into my thumbs, I assumed the plank position.

The task: stretch the elastic bands as far as possible, by “rounding” your back. This action actually works your upper abs, shortening the distance between your rib cage and pelvis.

Whew! That is a harrrrrd task. But, we got it done. And from hereon out, my ab work is more intense and therefore more productive!

At the end, I needed to stretch my abs. I somehow forgot how to do it. To do one simple stretch, I lay on my stomach and pushed my chest and hips up off the floor. Pushing my hands closer to my body gives a bigger stretch!

And so ends the story of the recent workout that kicked @$$!

Celebrating 20 lbs Lost and a Great Workout!

Angela C. — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:37:56 +0000

I woke up feeling great today! The back pain is gone, I’m looking forward to the last two Isagenix shakes I am required to take during this cleanse, and I weighed in at 196.7!

Okay, some of you might be thinking, “I know men that weigh less than that!” Or maybe that’s what I think sometimes. Regardless, I still think there’s always room for positive reinforcement, so yaaaaaaaaaaay me!

The last “shake day” was uneventful as far as the cleanse process goes. I finally have shake making down to a science!

I also got into the gym, and played with my new chest expander. The funny thing is, this simple tool has been around for quite a few years… and I’ve only used it once before, doing floorwork during a “butts, guts and thighs” class at the UCLA Wooden Center. (I didn’t enjoy it; I think I got tangled!)

In addition to my kettlebell workout, I got a chance to work my arms in a pulling motion, as opposed to the constant push-push-push of my favorite kettlebell exercises.

One awesome side effect of all this strength training is that I can actually see the definition of my bicep muscles. Whoa! There’s a muscle there! And in one of the videos where I’m working my obliques by pulling sideways- hey! I have forearm muscles, too!

Slowly, surely, inch by inch, there’s growth!

So, enjoy this little video update of my progress to date. It’s a bit abbreviated, but you get the picture:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIl8aGYcSDQ

Thanks for joining me on this journey! Kettletell now has a group for kettlebell enthusiasts on facebook. Join there!