Weekly Practice from the Hardstyle Diva

How can you progress to do a get up with a heavier size kettlebell?
I did this progression on myself to get back up to doing multiple get ups with a 24 kg kettlebell. I had not been practicing heavy get ups and realized I missed being able to just pick up a 24kg and feel 100% confident in the movement. I also tried this progression with our group training class recently and all of the students were able to perform a get up with a kettlebell they had not previously.

** If you are trying a new size kettlebell for the first time, be sure to have a partner to spot when you make your heavy bell attempt.

Choose a your normal size Kettlebell for a Get-up -then select one smaller and one lager. You should now have three kettlebells of varying sizes.
1) Begin using your smallest size bell and perform 3 get ups in a row per side.
2) Now switch to your medium bell and perform 2 get ups in a row per side
3) Lastly switch to your heaviest bell and perform 1 get up per side



I will stress again, if you are lifting your heavy bell for the first time, be sure you have someone to spot you on your attempt.

Perform the above progression 2 -3x. Not only will you find you may be able to lift a heavier bell, but you also got a nice 15-20 minute practice.

I would now follow this up with Swings – heavy of course. Set your timer for 10 – 15 minutes and again choose 3 bells. Using the protocol below, enjoy!
1) Light Bell – 20 swings – perform 3 rounds with 1 minute rest between rounds
2) Medium Bell – 15 swings – perform 3 rounds with 30 sec rest between rounds
3) Heavy Bell – 10 swings – perform 3 rounds with 15 sec rest between rounds


I also added the short video below by Dave Whitley, Master RKC (aka Irontamer), with some pointers on performing his “Furnace” workout.

Enjoy and let me know your feedback!
~hd

A story a about Jenni Baker, RKC – and her Deubut on Dragon Door TV!

Congratulations to Nashville’s newest RKC’s: Jenni Baker and Drew Massey

Now official members of the RKC system AND the Iron Tamer Clan, I am so proud of you both! Having personally worked with Jenni on her training and preparation for RKC, I am so proud and excited to now share this experience with her. I have to admit that working with Jenni was not a tough task, she had an unwavering determination and definitely the skill to succeed. A quick story about just how much determination…you see Jenni did not take her training lightly, she was dedicated to continually improving right up to the week before she left. The day before she was going to leave, the students and fabulous trainers (thats us:))
at Tennessee Kettlebell made her a RKC “survival kit”. It had all the right stuff from athletic tape, to sunscreen, towels, even a little chocolate and a massage when she returned. We wanted this to be a suprise and so I sneakingly found out her work schedule and called her the morning that I was going to drop all the goodies off at the gym where she works. To my dismay and utter suprise, via text message, she told me she was on her way to the doctor as she had been up with a FEVER and COLD CHILLS all night. About an hour later she had confirmation that she had STREP! Now, Jenni was definitely ready for the Russian Kettlebell Challenge, she could hit her snatch numbers (NO PROBLEM) and her form was very solid, but did you ever wonder why you should train, train hard and train smart for your RKC Certification? Well, here you go, need I say more…you never know what the final hours hold before you depart for your RKC journey. Jenni left the following morning for a 12 hour drive from Nashville to Orlando for her RKC. She was not going to let this beat her, and that is just the way she is, she fought back and dug deep down to survive. She did everything necessary with proper nutrition, hydration and medication. Well……the rest of the story and RKC experience I will leave to Jenni Baker to tell! I must say I am so proud to call her a fellow RKC. I truly hope this will not be the experience for everyone with last minute trials and obstacles, but I will leave you with these final words. PREPARE and PREPARE TO SUCCEED!

PS – Jenni passed her sntach test – 100 reps in 5 minutes with a 16kg – on day 1 — with strep! Now that’s one Hardstyle Chick!

Check out Jenni Baker and Drew Massey, our representation from Nashville Kettlebell and Tennessee Kettlebell in this Dragon Door TV Episode

Weekly Practice from the Hardstyle Diva

This week we put our class through a challenging workout with a mix of swings, lunges, correctional and bodyweight exercises. We had a mix of beginner and advanvced people in class, it was amazing to see not only with the beginners but the advanced folks as well, how adding in a few corrective exercies can improve EVERYONE’S technique. Give it a try & Let me konw what you think.
be strong & be well ~ hd

Perform all exercises below for :30 seconds each for a total of 4 rounds
Hip Flexor Stretch (:30 sec per side)
Heavy Kettlebell Swings
Plank
Tactical Lunge
Hip Bridge
Mountain Climbers (2 rounds) / Burpees (last 2 rounds)
rinse & repeat
After above circuit, we finished up with some walking presses (seesaw presses) and swings outside – we went the length of our parking lot and back. Our protocal for this was :20 sec of work and :10 sec of rest.

What do you have to loose. Can’t wait to hear what you think….patiently waiting!

Top 5 in 2010…

In a quest to continue to find more ways to optimize my health in 2010, I want to share with you my resolutions for the new year. I have found a passion for promoting good nutrition and forming positive health habits in myself and sharing with others what I discover.

There is a lot of advise out there and a lot to filter through what is best for you. Most of the advise has its merrits and the quacks are usually pretty easy to spot. To begin my top five, I will share with you what I have found to be the most useful blogs, newsletters, websites, etc and ones I will continue to use in 2010:
1) Precision Nutrition – a complete nutrition system proven to produce results and can fit into any lifestyle. Want to know more — contact me at Kristen McByrde
2) Dragon Door – You’ve come to the right place. Dragon Door is the world leader in all things kettlebell—and all things performance-related.
3) Rachel Cosgrove & Alwyn Cosgrove – Fit Female Body Breakthrough / Fitness Training & Athletic Performance
4) The Weston A. Price Foundation – The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies.
5) Mercola – A Natural Health Newsletter whose goal is to educate you and create an awareness that allows you to make smart and natural health choices toward your deepest vibrant health and wellbeing.

Next are my top five rules to a making a Nutrient Friendly Kitchen:
1) Grass Fed Beef – Quite simply put “You are what your Burger (or any meat for that matter) eats” If you are are eating grain fed meats then, you are eating animals that have been “fattend up”. This means that the Fatty Acid profile in less than optimal. Grassfed beef has an 3:1 omega 6 to omega 3 ratio, where trainfed beef has a 17:1 omega 6 to omega 3 ration. Hello Obesity!
2) Protien Shakes – consuming protien shakes post workout is the best time to to replenish what you have depleted from your body during your workout. I am not talking about consuming a sports drink here. Directly following your workout your body is ready use the calories of a quality protien shake in a positive way restoring your depleted energy levels.
3) Go to your local farmers market – learning to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season and organic from your locals famers market will open your tastebuds to new and exciting foods. This will not only force you to eat whole foods in their natural state (meaning not processed foods), but supports and sustains your local community. Get to know your local farmers. The farmers market is not only a place to buy fruits and vegetables, but you can also purchase grassfed beef, free range eggs and raw milk.
4) Supplements – Consume a Green Drink every day. Reccommended products inlcude (Greens+, and NanoGreens). A green drink is not only rich in vitamins and minerals, but phytonutrients. Phytonutrietns have many benefits such as have more energy, strong bones, detoxification, slow signs of aging and lower risk of cancer diabetes and heart disease and many more. Secondly, take Omega 3 vitamins Daily, our western diet is laden with Omega 6 fatty acids and using an Omega 3 supplmentation can help balance out your fatty acid ratios.
5) Raw Milk – notes regarding Raw Milk from www.realmilk.com. Please note that this website recommends Real Milk–that is, milk that is full-fat, unprocessed, and from pasture-fed cows. We do NOT recommend consumption of raw milk from conventional confinement dairies or dairies which produce milk intended for pasteurization. Nor do we recommend the consumption of lowfat or skim raw milk–there are important protective factors in the butterfat. Real Milk, that is, raw whole milk from grass-fed cows (fed pasture, hay and silage), produced under clean conditions and promptly refrigerated, contains many anti-microbial and immune-supporting components. Know your farmer!

In making my lists, I tried to stear away from a “don’t” or “can’t” have mentality. I do not think that telling people lists of things they cannot eat will help in making positive changes in their life. There are not really any foods that we should not eat, just different times as which we should eat those foods. Everyone should get the opportunity to enjoy your favorite “sinful” foods and we all know what they are, there is one more point I do want to make. Beware for the following marketing myths that companies do to try to make their products more attracive, and trust me it’s not to promote your health, but to appeal to your psycology to rationalize eating those foods you know are processed. AND to make them more money. Remember if a product is more than 3 times removed from its original source, it should not have a permanent place in your kitchen. I will reiterate that there are no wrong foods, just wrong times to eat those foods. Rule of Thumb: If you stick to a healthy way of eating 90% of the time, breaking the rules only 10% of the time, this would be considered successful. Do you want to know “the rules” or know how to keep track of your 90%, 10% rule of thumb contact me at Kristen McBryde.

Now finally for my last list of Top 5 Exercises:
1) Kettlebell Swings
2) Kettlebell Turkish Get-ups
3) Kettlebell Goblet Squats
4) Kettlebell Snatch
5) Bodyweight Exercies
Seem a little biased, well mabye a little… Check out our website at Tennessee Kettlebell to learn more about Kettlebells and how they can make a positive change in your life. I guarantee, kettlebells will help you Move Better, Feel Better, Look Better! For more information about Kettlebells contact a local RKC or CK-FMS instructor in your area.

Be Strong & Be Well!
HD

RKC – the training

I said I would blog about how I trained for RKC, so here you go! I worked out about 4-6 days per week, most weeks were 5-6 days of training.

Every week I performed the Snatch Test and VO2 max. Maybe just my personality, but I found it helpful to do these on the same day every week.

SNATCH TEST

I did the Snatch Test every Thursday, usually in the evenings. I somtimes did it on Wednesdays if I knew I was not going to be able to workout on Thursday. But I always fit it in every week. I started out with 5 reps per side, as I got more comfortable with the 16Kg bell, I would move up to 10 reps per side. Although I was able to complete 100 reps in the required 5 minutes, I wanted to be able to finish in under 4 minutes. As I started feeling stronger, I experimented with 15 reps per side alternating with 10 and 5 reps. This would really speed up my time. Pre RKC, my PR for the sntach test was 3:45.

VO2 Max

I did VO2 Max every Sunday. I started with the 12kg doing 15:15 (just like we would perform at RKC) for 20 sets working my way up to 80 sets. I then moved up to 36:36 for 15 sets working my way up to 20 sets. I love VO2 as this workout provides a MAX workout in a short time!!! After experimenting with the 36:36, I went back to 20 sets of 15:15 with my snatch weight — this was a smoker. But it also REALLY helped me feel more comforatable with my Sntach bell and prepared me for the Snatch test for RKC.

SWINGS

I ALWAYS incorporated swings into every workout. I did a mix of 1:1 and 2:1 rest. My 1:1 was usually 30 sec on and 30 sec rest, but somtimes did 45 sec on and 45 sec of rest or 1 min on and 1 min rest. I either started my workout with swings or ended my workout with swings. On my 1:1 work/rest sets I did my swings with a 20Kg or 24kg bell. By swinging heavy, this would help condition me for long 8 hour days of at the Certification and help build strength. On my 2:1 work/rest sets I would usually do 20 sec on and 10 sec rest for 5-7 sets. I would use a 16Kg or 20kg bell for the 2:1 using Overspeed to also ensure max conditioning.

BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES

Every workout incorporated some type of body weight exercises. I have listed below each of these exercises – some are favorites and some not so favorite, but I incorporated something from the list below into every workout. These exercises were incorporated into each of my workouts as “active rest”. or change of activity.
– Pushups (5-10 reps)
– Burpees (1-2 minutes)
– Bodyweight squat or Hindu squat (30 sec – 1 minute)
– Squat Jumps (15-20 reps)
– Dive Bomber or Hindu pushup (5-10 reps)
– Planks (30 sec-1 minute)
– V-Ups (10-20 reps)
– Pull-ups – suspension bands (3-5 reps)
– Mountain Climbers (25-50 reps)
– Lunges (12-25 reps)
– Jump Squats (25 reps)
– Boat / Superman (30 sec each, alternating)
Here are some of my favorite combinations of bodyweight exercises:
1) V-up – 30 sec; Plank 30 sec, Russian Twists – 30 sec. Repeat 3x
2) Goblet Squats – 10 reps, Push-ups – 5 reps. Repeat for 4 mintues
3) 26 body wieght squats, 12 Lunges (one leg), 12 lunges (other leg), 24 alternating lunges, 26 Jump Squats (aka Lead Boots, by Dave Whitley)

GET-UPS

2-3 days per week I did Turkish GetUps with a 12kg or 16kg weight for 8-15 minutes. Being consistent in performing the getups, helped all aspects of my kettlebell technique from my Swings to Snatching to Cleans and Press. It is one of the best full body and movement exercises I have ever done. The benefits of this exercise are immeasurable…or rather very measurable to improving your overall functional movement, Period! The Getup is a MUST for life!!

CLEANS & PRESSES

Cleans and Presses are not my favorite nor my strongest exercise. After attending RKC, I now understand why and how to improve my Clean & Press. For now, I will stick to how I incorporated these into my training for RKC. At RKC you are tested on the Double Military Press. I had practiced with both 12kg bells and 16kg bells in performing the clean and the press. As a wise instructor (my RKC, hubby) once told me, your press is only as good as your clean. I will let you in on a secret I learned at the RKC that brought meaning to the statement “your press is only as good as your clean”. You see its all about the tension and what is called breathing behind the shield. When you remain tense and use correct breathing techniques, keeping a strong core and lots of tension at the top of the clean, this tension translates into strength to press the bells. Easier said than done….. practice and repeat, practice and repeat, practice and repeat = reaching your goals. I incorporated clean & press into my workout in a variety of ways. I performed VO2 drills with Viking push presses, very light weight here!! Mostly I did press ladders, following the Rite of Passage from Enter the Kettlebell. I started with 1-3 ladders for 3 rounds with the 12kg one arm clean and press, working up to 1-5 ladders of 5 rounds. Once I reached this goal, I increased my bell to 16kg on the one arm clean and press for 1-3 and then up to 1-5 for 5 rounds, then I repeated the same progression with double 12kg. I am still working on the double 16kg for a full 1-5 ladder of 5 rounds. Back to more get-ups to help out with my clean and press, I am working on multiple get-ups with the 20kg to help me master double 16kg 1-5 press ladders.

GOBLET SQUAT

This was probably my least favorite exercise of them all — NOW it is one of my favorites!!! In learning how to perform the ATG (ass to grass) with proper form, I know I will get maximum results and that feels GOOD!
Squats were also a part of my training each week. Some weeks I had days that consisted solely of squatting drills with and without kettlebells. No light weights for me here, I used 16kg or 20kg for goblet squats and when practicing Front Squats, I used 12kg or 16kg depending on the number of reps. 3-5 reps I would use 16kg, more than 5 reps, I would use doube 12kg.

What I think most prepared me for RKC was the conditioning of ALWAYS lifting the heaviest weight I could while maintaining proper form. To recap by the end of my training I was able to perform with good technique Swings with 24kg, Snatching with 16kg, get up with 16kg, Goblet Squat with 20kg, front squat 16kg. 160 sntaches in 10 minutes, and VO2 with 16kg for 20 sets. Maybe I over prepared compared to others, but not only did I get the desired outcome of now being a RKC, but I am ready for my next challenge…..here I come RKC II 2010.
Be Strong and Be Well
~hd