Break.Through.

What is an athletic breakthrough?  Is it completing more reps, winning a match, lifting heavier weight, losing weight, gaining muscle, running faster, passing the CPAT?  Or is it tapping into the mind-body connection and working intelligently within the physical system to strategically create a breakthrough performance?

Culturally there is a huge push toward working hard in the gym, burning tons of calories, manning up to ass-whooping workouts that leave participants lying on the floor in pools of sweat unable to remember their own names.  Everyone gets a reward for this type of behavior, be it in the form of an ego pump, a reprieve from feeling lazy or the relief that bodies can actually go that hard when driven.  Of course, there is a fitness level that comes from this too, which is *generally* pretty good. 

The effort in the extreme workout is laudable.  Participants have learned how to face physical exertion and endure discomfort - the opposite of remaining sedentary.  Culturally, that is a leap which deserves positive recognition.  The challenge is in preventing those workouts from becoming leaping points to physical disconnect at which point they cease to advance athletic development.

Athleticism implies a mind-body connection.  One of the compelling factors in consistent physical practice is the flow state or the zone.  In the flow state there is an interplay between challenge level and immediate feedback which provides a deep sense of satisfaction.  As we improve our athletic development, aiming for the flow state keeps us in a healthy range.  If we move out of flow, we move into something more like force or strain and there is a split between our mental/emotional engagement and our physical exertion.

John Douillard, author of Mind, Body and Sport recommends breathing through the nose during physical exertion (when possible - some sport specific technique doesn't support this).   Breathing more slowly allows more oxygen to enter the blood stream and keeps the pace of our movements consistent with what we can be present with.  As technique improves and physical adaptation develops, we move more quickly with this breath style.  

Developing athleticism does involve hard work.  There are points of significant physical discomfort.  The difference between strategically crafting a breakthrough performance and going balls out without a plan is implementing intentional mind/body connection and sport science.  

Next time you hit the gym ask yourself:

What is my big picture goal? 

What is my goal for this workout?

Where does this workout fit within my big picture goal?

Ask us to help you pinpoint where exactly you are in relation to your breakthroughs.  How can we help guide you toward improved mind-body connection in the midst of your badass workouts?  We want the whole package, and we want that for you too.  

written by Carey Rockland for Juno Fitness

Red Velvet Cake

Does anyone not think about cake?  I don’t mean constantly but perhaps in fleeting moments?  Like when you are out running or walking in the early morning and you pass that neighborhood bakery that’s gearing up for the day and pow! you get a face full of warm, caramelized-sugar, bakery air?  It always makes me think, “yeah, cake, I love you” in an internal Barry White voice.  Full disclosure here, I probably think about cake more than the average person:  

I used to be a pastry chef in one of my previous careers and I’m still somewhat obsessive about cake…actually since I’m getting this all out, really I am a PIE person, as in “last meal” wishes and all.  Show me a blackberry-nectarine pie and I will make the time for it.  Me and pie, we have a thing going on (ok not Barry White, but the same idea).

To abruptly change the subject (sorry Mr. White, et al) I recently obtained a juicer.  I’ve been juicing the hell out of everything.  If I could get blood from a stone I would put it in the damn juicer.  It turns out that I love juice!  Of course there are the usual suspects (carrot, apple) and the perhaps more daring (kale, turnip) and so far I like it all.  Somehow is seems kinda fancy to be drinking my veggies from a glass now and then.  Wasteful you say?  Oh noooo, all of that leftover pulp goes into other things (chili, spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, homemade veggie crackers).  Pretty much nothing is wasted.  Every time I juice, the pulp either goes directly into some food thing or I pop it in the freezer for later use.  This has resulted in quite a bit of experimentation.

Ok so what the heck is cake (pie, pastry, etc) doing in a blog post for Juno “Fitness” other than the fact that I’m kind of a chazzer, and what the heck am I doing luring you in with talk of “Red Velvet” when there is clearly no damn cake to be had?  And what is all this about juice?  Well, I was recently considering baking a red velvet cake I found out that in addition to a red color producing reaction between (acidic) buttermilk and cocoa, beets are often used bump up the red color.   Thankfully I managed to talk myself out of making (and eating) an actual cake but in the interest of science (and yumminess) I decided to try and make a red velvet smoothie that would satisfy both nutritional needs and a little of my sugar-mongering-piggishness.  Enter Red Velvet Beet Smoothie!  With this smoothie you won’t get that that tactile springy-moist-white-flour-refined-sugar cake crumb on your tongue but you also won’t end up with it on your ass.  Plus it’s pretty to look at and tasty too.

Red Velvet Smoothie

Tasty and RED!

1/2 - 2/3 C fresh beet juice (from ~3 medium beets, raw, peeled)

1 C kefir (you could go old school and use buttermilk I suppose but I had kefir)

1/2 scoop whey protein powder

2T golden flax seed meal

2T cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

optional/to taste:

additional sweetener (I used a dash of stevia, but use whatever you like)

water

ice

Put everything in a blender, blend the heck out of it, and enjoy

-Willow

The elusive snatch...a snapshot

I too like to snatch shirtless...

The lift that frustrates most kettlebell athletes is the snatch. I spend a lot of time thinking about my snatch and how to improve it. I dream about snatching. I ponder snatching while driving to Juno. I get nervous before every snatch training. I have been working on this lift consistently for almost 2 years, and it never EVER seems to get easier, some days I find my rhythm, most days I don't.
The snatch is broken down into what seems like a bajillion components, and here they are, as I  understand them, both in technical language AND what goes through my head at each part...

1. Technical speak: the swing:  the swing starts the pendulum movement of the bell, moving from your backswing (behind you) to the top of the swing, where the bell is weightless. Your hips MUST follow through, using them to move the bell without interrupting the pendulum.  My head: fuck me, the bell keeps hitting me in my ass. My stupid hamstrings are too tight to move out of the way, maybe I should do some yoga to stretch them. I hate yoga.
2. Technical speak: the acceleration pull/transverse rotation of the hips: right at the top of the swing, the bell is weightless. Right at this point you twist your hips a wee bit and...pull the bell, this is starts the throw of the bell upwards and helps it remain weightless until the top, basically pitching the bell upwards. Your upper body is slightly leaning back, this keeps the bell closer to your body, preventing it from pulling you forward. Note: this is not way up high, it is a low pull, right at hip level. My head: huh? what did you just say? like this??? ok, how about like...this? what the fuck, I don't get this shit at all. Stupid kettlebells. I quit.
3. Technical speak: insertion of your hand through the handle: this is catching the bell. You don't want to catch it at the top, because you don't want to wrench your shoulder. You insert your hand through the handle about a foot in front of you (the bell magically having turned around your hand rather than flipping over it) this makes the landing of the bell on your forearm soft, and prevents the shoulder wrench. You then ride the bell to the top, slowing momentum up to your lockout. My head: that was way to high, even I could feel that. Why can I do it with my right hand and not my left?

And now for bringing the bell back down:

1. Technical speak: coming out of the lockout to drop/deload the bell. This is done by leaning back a bit and at the same time "unlocking your arm" by moving it forward at the shoulder. While moving your arm you are also internally rotating the arm and body. You allow gravity to move the bell, you are not throwing it, you don't want to waste any energy hurling the bell down. At the same time, maneuver the bell around your hand (not flipping it) by a slight turn, again pitching and catching the bell. At the last minute, you move your torso forward again, move your hips out of the bells way and...voila, you start again. This is a very precise sequence to avoid pulling on your arm or wrecking your grip.  My head: the damn thing yanked my arm AND hit me in the ass again. How many more times do I have to do this? I should just put it down. Oh god, my grip is going. I'm really tired. Did I mention I quit?

I fully realize that this is just a smidge of the bajillion components. I haven't even touched on using bigger muscles in the back instead of the eleventy-thousand muscles of the shoulder or relaxing at certain points. This is a snapshot, after all.

S-N-A-T-C-H!!!

My client Nathan pointed out: "You know, maybe you should be a bit more positive about kettlebells, you do want people to come and learn them. Stop scaring them." to which my eyes rolled. But I suppose he's kind of right so here's the rah rah section:
This last week of training my snatch has been really good, especially with my right arm.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Stupid fickle snatch.

-juliet

Sure! Why not? I'll compete...

I tripped on something much smaller

In September, I fell running (I know, I know) and really hurt my left shoulder. All jokes about my clumsiness aside, it was a fucking drag. I had been training my ASS off getting ready for my first WKC(World Kettlebell Club) competition in October and the IKFF (International Kettlbell Fitness Federation) nationals a month later, which was to be my first comp with the 20k bell. This injury put quite a dent into my training, I had to take two weeks off, which in the world of getting ready to try to make a personal best, (and secretly hoping  maybe just MAYBE making master of sport in November....) is a huge setback.

I did really well in both events, hitting CMS (Candidate for Master of Sport) with the 16k in biathlon for the WKC, and CMS with the 20k for the IKFF. I was happy with my numbers. My technique took a nosedive on my left side, because of the pain/impingement in my shoulder. Here is the last minute of my snatch set in Detroit, you can really see how much my technique suffers, it is really ugly...makes me squirm to be honest.

After a much needed three week rest from training (and huge amounts of sugar and white carbs...delish) I started back up. And, I couldn't really snatch. My shoulder had become seriously impinged, I wish I could tell you I went and had tons of healing body work and crystals rubbed all over it, but I didn't. I am really good at not paying attention to my aches and pains; I tend towards the "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger..." school of thought. *A caveat, SO not like that with my clients, somehow I am the magical exception to all rules, oh...and this includes a lot of weighing myself, naked, weeping, with a donut in my hand.

Anyhoo, my training was sucking, hard. So on a whim, and with much whining to my awesome coach, I decided to try long cycle. There was a competition in LA at the end of the month, I was going anyways to coach a few of my students. Why not?

I had 3 weeks to train. I hadn't trained long cycle in way over a year. How hard could it be?

God, am I an idiot.

I trained like crazy, I did workout after workout after workout. I did all the assist work (for example, swing cleans to improve my grip and tempo). I worked my ass off. Ok, I'll be honest, I really hoped that I would hit Master of Sport with the 20k bell. I did a 10 minute test set 2 weeks before the competition; I hit 37/40. Master of Sport numbers seemed undoable (112 total reps). Hell, even CMS numbers (90) seemed ridiculous.

The day before the competition, me, John Wild Buckley, and good friend/student Kyrsten drove down to LA. I couldn't eat or drink for at least 10 hours before weighing in (sucks being in a weight based sport) and I was hella grumpy. Even so, the drive was a blast because the company was good.

We dropped Mr. Buckley off at Jason Dolby's abode and went to weigh in. Luckily we both made weight. Well, lucky I did, some people are in the middle of a weight class.

look! elle! really!

I was excited, because my online student Elle was meeting us at the hotel and competing too. HOWEVER, her flight was cancelled. Fucking Denver airport. This is the second time this has happened to her. John thinks Elle is my imaginary student.

We arrived ready to go on Saturday. I have to say, we had a great time! We saw some old friends and met some new. Luke put on an amazingly organized competition, all the flights went well. My student Kyrsten busted out 111 reps with the 12k bell with aplomb. John and Jason were not as happy (Jason had been sick, John just didn't have time to warm up) but I had a great time watching them do their awesome sets with the 32k (!!!) bells (no film, because my camera got broken by a wicked underhand throw of an 8k bell!)
Ok, on to me. I often forget that I do much better in competition than in training, this is a true testament to my vanity, I love attention. I managed to eke out 51 reps on my right, and 40 on my left, achieving CMS in Long Cycle! It wasn't my secret hope that I'd make MS, but pretty dang good for 3 weeks of training. You can see my set here. We had a good day, all in all.
We sped back to the bay area early the next day (someone, I'm not naming names, but whose initials are JWB needed to watch football) cheerfully listening to music and eating bad food at IHop.
After I got back, I did my usual: "obsessively watch my set and tear apart my technique" and here is what I came up with, from good to bad:
good-my breathing was spot on!
good-my backswing was straight on both sides
mediocre-not relaxed enough on the clean, leaking energy
mediocre-my lockout and fixation was not consistent, especially on the left
mediocre-pacing, started too fast, wore out
bad-lifting heels on the first dip, this is a major issue I have been working on, to some success
bad-legs not always straight in the rack, sigh, stupid hip flexors

and I wasn't even wearing a 10 gallon hat

bad-WTF is up with my legs??? they start out shoulder width apart, and the suddenly I'm riding the fat horse.
All and all, it was a good learning experience and I had a great time.
But, I'm back to training biathlon now. Oh snatch, how I missed you!!!!

-juliet