Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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!


12 comments:

  1. wow!! an engagement party! i shall raise a toast to you then!! haha...

    glad to hear you had a great kettleball class - it sounds like fun and a good workout!

    i finally posted up the bloggie award you gave me.. thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad someone finally gave you some good advice! I want with my right foot pointed to the right, it's so strange. I don't have knee problems, but ankle problems and shin problems instead.
    I'm excited to see pics and hear about your engagement party!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great personal trainer - so nice of him to work with you like that. Good luck w/ that consultation!

    And yea for your engagement party!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. have so much fun at your engagement party - that's awesome!


    I've always wanted to try kettleball...sounds like such a good workout!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kettlebell sounds so fun! And I'm glad you got some advice for your knee that sounds like it'll help. It's personal, but making sure to bend my knee behind me and open my stride to the back (not the front) really did help me. The book Chi Running helped my form a lot, but it can be such a unique thing.

    Ooh the engagement party sounds so cool! Have a blast :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, kettlebell sounds like a fun workout!
    I hope the consultation would go well for you. And yay for that upcoming party. Lots of good things to look forward to. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would love to try that workout but know I would be covered in bruises from hitting myself. The trainer seems great! Enjoy the engagement party!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your quote from Jillian about jumping jacks...I have done that video many a time and can totally picture exactly how she says it. I see where she is coming from, BUT she does those punches for cardio too which definitely get the heart rate up and do not require any knee action. I think it would be totally fine to mix it up and not do the jacks every time if you knee bugs you. I think pushing yourself is different than doing something different bc of an injury or pain. She is just trying to get people not to wuss out you know??

    -Katie

    ReplyDelete
  9. i've been very curious about the kettleball workouts, I may need to try it soon! Enjoy your engagement party!

    ReplyDelete
  10. All this kettleball stuff is def intriguing me...

    3 more days! Woo! Can't wait to see all the pics!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I so can't wait to hear the recap of your engagement party! I bet it is going to be so much fun :D

    I had the opportunity for someone to watch my legs when I walk to see how my feet go and everything... but I hadn't shaved... so I passed :P

    ReplyDelete