Kettlebell Take 2

Tonight I had another successful Kettlebell class. It was much harder this week but still do-able. We learned a few new moves including "The snatch" which is when you move the kettlebell from a lower position to above your head with your arm extended. If you are familiar with kettlebell at all it's another one of those exercises where improper form will result in smashing your wrist with the kettlebell, which inevitably happens to me every time. It is similar in this way to the "clean" which also bruises my wrist haha. We also learned figure eights where you bring the kettlebell around each leg in a figure eight fashion. I liked those.

After we learned our new moves, we completed a work out. Our instructor (who is actually a high school student kettlebell instructor in training, being monitored by an older more experienced kettlebell instructor) wrote out what we had to do and taped it to the mirror. I felt like a massive teacher but I LOVED THIS. I am such a visual person and I love seeing the itinerary of the work out so I know what is coming. My principal (who advocates us doing this for every lesson) would be SO proud of me for saying this. Between each set of exercises we were supposed to do jumping jacks for 30 seconds which was our active rest time. I immediately went into panic mode because my knee does NOT like jumping jacks. I thought about asking for something else to do but all I could hear in my head was "for those of you looking for the modification for a jumping jack, look elsewhere, I've got 400 pound people who can do jumping jacks, SO CAN YOU, you want results? you have push yourself..." etc. For those of you who are not PSYCHO 30 day shred addicts, that is what Jillian Michaels says during the jumping jacks. Fortunately, my instructor is NOT Jillian and he gave me a non-impact cardio move to do instead. I looked ridiculous but my knee will thank me later. The work out was great and I may actually be sore tomorrow :0)

At the end of class the personal trainer who is watching my instructor offered to watch me walk and run and see what may be causing my knee pain. Even though I've had at least 4 different doctors and physical therapists watch me walk, I figured why not? He said I have a pretty good stride and only point my foot out a little when I walk. He is the first person to ever even mention ANY turn of my foot at all. He also thought my patella was really pronounced compared to most people and he said that may be why my knee strap provides some relief....interesting. When we got outside he watched me run back and forth in the parking lot. He said again my stride is not bad but there are some things I can do to take pressure off of my knee. He showed me how to lift my knee way up behind me, come down in front with my toes pointed up and then hit the ground in a more efficient way. Of course I was terrible at actually applying it but I will still work on it. He also recommended a running coach to me at Boston Running Center. I put in an inquiry online for a free consultation. Of course the coaching is INSANELY expensive. While I am willing to try almost everything, I am hesitant to try another thing that may not work and will also drain all my funds in life. I figure the free consultation can only help so I am going to do that and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

I am so excited... 3 days til my engagement party! Yes, I know I've been engaged for like 8 months but we are a little slow and still ready to celebrate that fact. Whoa hoo!