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!

The Day After

Hello everyone I know you are anxiously awaiting to hear whether or not I am in serious pain today after my first kettlebell class yesterday and the answer is NO. I was in far more pain than this the first time I did the shred actually. See? Jillian really is serious. However, in defense of the seriousness of kettlebell, I have been doing the shred a lot making me a lot stronger in the first place. Also, the shred doesn't really "ease you in" I wouldn't say...where as my kettlebell class definitely is. I am expecting to be a bit more sore in the coming weeks when we spend less time learning the moves and more time doing them. The good news is, I survived in one piece and my knee doesn't even feel horrible today. I will stay my bee sting from the other day has swelled up half my leg and is itching terribly. As a result everything else on my body seems better, haha.

I also had a few inquires about how to do kettlebells at home. First of all, apparently you can buy them at Target. I can't remember ever seeing them in my store, but I am going to look now because I may want to buy some to compliment my in class work out. One thing to be aware of when you are purchasing is that many kettlebell moves (at least the ones I learned yesterday) were done with 2 hands. I grabbed a five pound weight at first because I didn't trust my own strength. I quickly realized I was more than capable of doing a 10 pound weight. Only you know your own strength, but if you are doing some weight lifting and videos like the shred, you may be ready for the 10 pound kettlebell right away.

Next, you will need a dvd to teach you how to do the moves and a work out to do with them. Here are some recommended on amazon (also, note you can buy kettlebells on amazon as well). The Kettlebell Goddess Workout DVD and Power Body: Kettlebell Bootcamp have good reviews and are reasonably priced (26.99 and 14.99).

Still it does not seem like kettlebell is a particularly cheap way to go considering the different weights you may want, and purchasing the DVD as well. Therefore...

Save Money and Still Try Kettlebell

1. Check out your local YMCA for classes. My class only cost $40 for me as a member and was only slightly more expensive for non-members (I think $50). This is a good way to try kettlebell to make sure you like it, learn the proper ways to do each exercise and have the opportunity to use lots of different weights to learn which one will be the best for you.

2. Partner with a friend and buy the kettlebells and DVDs together. During class we were doing sets where one partner would do moves, while the other rested and then we switched. This was a great way to do it and since you don't need to do kettlebell on a daily basis, it won't be so bad to have them at a friend's house. Start with one or two different weights and see how you do.

3. Don't want to invest in the DVDS? There are some free videos online. This one is kind of goofy, but it does teach how you to do the moves.

Would love to hear if anyone tries kettlebell, or any other weight lifting routines :)

Kettlebell 101

What is Kettlebell?

A kettlebell is a Russian cast iron weight pictured below.

During a kettlebell class you will use a kettlebell to do several different exercises which strength train both the arms and the legs. Kettlebells can be all different lengths so each person can choose the appropriate weight and adjust accordingly. If you would like to see kettlebell in action click here.

Why am I talking about Kettlebells today?

About a month ago one of my good friends at work asked me if I'd want to take a kettlebell class with her. She told me she hasn't been great about lifting weights lately (I'll be honest, minus the shred I am ALWAYS terrible about lifting weights) and was looking for some motivation. She heard that kettlebell training is a work out that is supposed to get fast results. I was a little concerned about my knee at first because of the frequent squatting involved in kettlebell. However, I actually read some articles about people who had improved knee problems through kettlebell, so how could I argue with that. I signed up the next day and a few weeks later, today was my first class.

Since signing up I had heard some rumors about how I was not going to be able to walk the next day. Since walking, and standing up/sitting down etc is a large part of my job I was a little scared.

The Verdict

I made it through ALIVE and well! I actually really enjoyed the class. I love how kettlebells has the benefits of weight training but its a little more exciting than doing endless bicep curls because you get your legs involved too. In fact, my instructor kept saying, "it's all in the legs." Of course I was trying to take the pressure off my legs since basically everything in kettlebell is a squat. However, the instructor told me if I turn my feet out a bit I'll take some pressure off my knees (why has no one ever told me this before) and to be honest they really did not hurt at all during the class. We will see how tomorrow goes.

Since the class is at my gym, but is a registration based class- we really started at the beginning today learning the basic moves including the swinging that you see in all the kettlebell videos, pressing the weight up into the air, and then some weird middle move that involves flipping the kettlebell without bruising your arm that I am still not sure I have mastered yet. I definitely will be sore tomorrow but I am not too concerned about walking. However I do have some now third grade students (that I had in kindergarten) who like to jump on me. I may hide from them tomorrow because although I can still lift them, I don't think my body will be happy to lift them tomorrow.

If you ever get a chance to take a kettlebell class, I definitely recommend it. Especially if you are a bit of a reluctant, or maybe I should say slacker, weight trainer like I am :)