Oh look, Juliet is talking (whining) about kettlebells...AGAIN

45.5, hot in my reading glasses, yo 

I lift kettlebells because I love LOVE lifting them. The technical aspect keeps me from ever getting bored (like having a child, it's never boring and often frustrating), the fact that I am actually a decent lifter at the age of 46 (I know! I only look 45.5)  feeds my vanity and helps my self esteem.

I am getting ready to compete in Chicago at the WKC worlds. I registered in June (being the super organized lady I am) thinking I had sooo much time to train. How the fuck did it get to be four weeks away? I feel like I've procrastinated, but I know I haven't. I just don't feel like I'm getting any better.

i perish...

My training protocol is brutal right now. I'm almost into stage 4, when I start to taper so I don't explode into little pieces when I compete. Stage 3 is the hardest stage, I am under the bells either at a brutal pace, numbers or weight. I often can't/won't finish sets*, actually I am shocked when I can. My body constantly feels beat up and I am exhausted. I do my last viciously hard set, why...TOMORROW. I cringe just thinking about it.

tether? i'll show you tether...

*Note-often when I can't finish sets it's because my mind tells me "nofuckingway...NOFUCKINGWAY" and I put the bell down. This is a different type of failure than the physical donsies. This is the mental quitsies, and is much more insidious.

Here is a conversation I had with my glorious (read-big meanie) coach after I put the bell down early in a set:
me-"I'm at the end of my tether!!!"
jwb-"no, you're not."
me-(almost in tears) "But...I just...am..."
jwb-"you're not."

who doesn't love sexy anime cheerleaders?

And he's right. I am not at the end of my tether (the husband has informed me that rope would be the correct noun in this saying, but fuck him) I am at the end of stage 3, about to start my competition season at a much higher level than last year. So on a positive rah-rah note, with very little eye rolling, I am better, WAY better. I am ready for the next two competitions. I have trained hard, I have competed many times in the last 2 years and have done well. I look forward to being on the platform and doing my best, I always do in competition, it's where I thrive. I can snuff out the mental quitsies when I compete, all that hard work and frustration finally pays off.

UPDATE-it's the next day, I did the way hard set today. I didn't do the numbers in the time I wanted, but I held onto the bell.

OKC bay area competition! we laughed...we lifted heavy shit...

group pic! photo courtesy of Nazo...

On 8/11/12, Juno Fitness hosted the first bay area open kettlebell competition with the Orange Kettlebell Club and it was wonderful, we had 25 competitors and a bunch of awesome spectators.
The OKC and Juno team lifted really well, and a bunch of peeps hit PR's in their sets. Christian Golberg came from Colorado and whipped out a set with the 20k, just one rep short of MS! Folks from LA came up, also blowing away personal bests left and right. You can see all the videos here.

friggin' domo bell

Personally, I just decided to try out a snatch set with the 24k. That bell's a beast, there is absolutely no wiggle room. I did manage to eke out 50 reps total, not bad for my first run with kermit the bell.
I am really REALLY proud of are my students, Jennifer finally came back after years of refusing to compete (I'm sure she'll tell you why...suffice to say, a bell was thrown) and made a mad splash. Rebecca competed for the last time with the 12k (look out Detroit! she's a'comin' with the 16!) after a few months absence to deal with a health issue. Katy and Elisa each competed for the first time, funny ladies, both total robots doing rep after rep after rep. I missed my other peeps, Nathan, Shelley, Vaile, and Elle, but they will be competing soon.
John and Jason's students (which include...well...ME) did well, Nazo blew away her previous PR by whipping out 131 reps of long cycle the 12k and Mike Salemi with the 32? wowsers. And on and on...

look how smiley we all are! photos by nazo

All in all it was a great time, a lot of fun and the people were great which made the event a pleasure to host.

wow, thirty days goes faster than you think

Yesterday, 7/31/12, was the last day of eating whole 30 style. So I am going to wax poetic to my now five readers, and answer some questions that peeps asked.

almost ate the husband and kid...

Food:
I ate A LOT of meat. I bought about 10-15lb a week for a family of three, and we ate it all. I tried to eat three times a day, with protein, vegetables and good fats; bunches of ghee, nuts, coconut oil, avocado. I was all up on some sweet potatoes. I never counted calories and never worried about how much I ate. I tried to drink bone broth after my workouts. I had a hard time not snacking. I found myself walking by the kitchen cabinet and grabbing handfuls of nuts without thinking. Even I'm not perfect, last week I went through a bag of cashews in three days.  But, I never cheated.

me n'marilyn doing back squats, or something sexy

Strength and Endurance:
Just today someone asked how my eating effected my workouts. Initially it was hard (dizziness, weakness) because my body was not adjusted to using fat as an energy source rather than sugars/breads/sugars/sugars. Also settling into how much to eat at each meal. It took about two weeks of fucked up kettlebell training (you can't fudge through snatching a 24k bell) and then...my strength returned, my energy blew up. Besides my regular inherent laziness, my training was better than ever. Not always, not every day. I had my ups and downs, but training is like that.

Body, weight and mood:
I heard a lot of "wow, you look good!" "your skin is so clear!". Honestly, I don't own a full length mirror at home, and the one at Juno is unkind. And, I have that chick body dysmorphia thing. When I started this process, I weighed 140lb, my measurements 38/29/38. This morning, the first morning of my notwhole30 I weigh 133.5lb, my measurements are 36/28/36. My mood has been fairly stable this whole time. Fairly being the operative word. I also noticed: never, ever, got a stomach ache or got bloated.

Bikini Pics:
I am not as horrified as usual. You can see the previous ones in earlier posts. Here is what I notice:

• no frigging back fat
• no damn bra fat either
• more evident muscle definition
• still uneven hips
• bikini is too big!!!

What Now?

omigodsogood

I am doing The slow reintroduction.  Today it's all about dairy. 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee this morning. I had ice cream!!!!! Every thing else will stay the same for a bit, and then in comes gluten etc. I will certainly keep you posted.
I think now that I am below my "magic" weight... all kindsa good shit will happen.

The "magic" weight, I strip myself down.

 Let's start by saying, I love LOVE to eat. There are three reasons I ever started working out:

i'm sooo taping this on my mirror because I  heart affirmations, gag.

1. Vanity
2. To be able to eat
3. Stress

And yes, that is in order. I get that health yada yada should be on there, but that did not come until years later.

Currently I weigh 140lb (on a good day) and stand at 5'10" (this doesn't change, even I'm not THAT old) and I realize this is not big, but it is not my magic weight, I have a belly and muffin top and the infamous back fat. I eat...oh do I eat...probably 3000 calories a day. OK, I train four days a week for hours at a time lifting huge weights over my head. I don't eat poorly, I eat a lot of protein and vegetables and ice cream and sometimes cookies and sour dough baguettes and cakes and donuts and diet coke like a fiend. OK, I eat whatever the fuck I want and a lot of it.
Oh, what's my magic weight? 135 lb this is the weight when all of my dreams will come true. My son will be a drug-free teen (so far, this is true, but he's only been a teenager for 3 months), my business will make buckets of money the profit-y kind, I will be happy and happy and happy!
Why am I bringing this up? Because I compete in a weight class sport at 65k (143lb at the highest) and I want to drop to a lower weight class, 60k (132lb at the highest) and 59k (129lb at the highest). The problem is, I love to eat and I get cranky (the husband is uber scared) when I don't get to eat what I want. I know that competitive athletes cut weight all the time and I have had to do it and it SUCKS.
So...I want to weigh less than my magic weight and keep my strength. This is a tall order. Luckily I have four months to do it.
Why am I blogging about it? because it makes me frigging accountable.
So here's the deal so far:

6/2/12 ARGH!!! I hate doing this.

1. I will post pictures of me in a frigging bikini every other week. This is scary for any lady of a certain age.
2. I will give a basic account of what I am eating. I know! Yawn, but I swear it'll be fun!
3. I will keep all my (two) readers up to date on how the fuck I'm keeping my strength.

So...without further ado, the bikini pictures. BTW these were taken in Puerto Vallarta. On a real vacation where I ate a ton.

Looking forward to being cranky pants...
Juliet

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

Class with Lululemon

Sarah and I taught a two hour introduction to Kettlebells class for some of the folks from Lululemon Berkeley this weekend.

We crammed a lot of information into a short amount of time and managed to teach them the very basics of the lifts.

It's always a pleasure to watch as people start to realize the complexity of Kettlebell sport, how what looks almost effortless is actually an amazing feat of technique, strength and endurance. When, after watching a demonstration of the basic swing, they pick up the bell for the first time and try it themselves and I see the sudden frustration mixed with the determination to learn the movement. They all picked up the bells, they did each lift with humor and astute questions about the different components for each lift.

Thank you Lululemon! What a great time! I can't wait to bring them back down to learn more.

juliet