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.

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

inspired by others.

Sometimes I think my purgatory will be kettlebell training. or maybe one of those circles of hell, like Sisyphus I will continuously ALMOST make my goal, only to fail and start again...forever. How many times in the middle of a set do I think "I can't do this, I have to put this heavy ass bell down." I seem to continuously disappoint myself. Part of this is the critic in my head whispering: "you are a total pussy, a fake athlete, why bother...." the other part is a side of me I try to never show, THE QUITTER. Actually, the critic and the quitter are evil twins.

Ok, all of that is true, but there is another  truth about my training. I am inspired by the athletes I train with and the students I coach.
Of course, there is John Wild Buckley, my coach. he works so hard, he has never failed to show both his strengths and his weaknesses in the most honest way possible. I have seen him succeed and fail. He always gets up again and works harder.
There is Sarah Lightfoot, my ever faithful road dog and training partner. I have seen her train through personal adversity. I envy her snatch technique, it's gorgeous. you can see us snatching together here 
there is Nazo, who just moved here and is training training training. She always starts her sets with: "Oh, it's sooo heavy, I don't think I can do it..." and then proceeds to kick ass, she never quits.
And my students!!!! Holy shit, they are the best. Elle in colorado trained through anemia ("I don't know why I'm so out of breath!") and is competing for the first time in LA this weekend.
Rebecca, who couldn't even press 10lb when she started in august, today she did her first 10 min jerk set with the 12k completing 61/62 reps. I am seeing great things for her.
My friend kyrsten, who will be competing in LA this weekend too...kicking ass.
I really don't know what I would do without my posse of workout buddies and students. They help me silence  the evil twins in my head. They help me push the boulder up and over the hill.
posted by Juliet