Friday, October 30, 2009

The Only Cure Is More Kettlebell!

So I get into the gym yesterday and one of my good friends and clients dropped off a belated birthday gift.

A small box of T-shirts with this graphic it on it!

If you don't get the reference, check out this Youtube link.

Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken starred in arguably one of the funniest Saturday Night Live skits.

Well, most of the people I run into and talk about kettlebells for the first time (friends included), you get all kinds of reactions. "Cowbell?" "Kettle Ball?" "Cow Ball?"

Anyway, I thought this was pretty funny.

Since I don't have very many, I'm probably going to hang on to them and give them away as prizes or incentives to clients.

So, be at your best, 'cause you'll want one of these T-shirts!

Don't forget about the upcoming HKC here at Lone Star Kettlebell! We might be giving out a couple there as well!

Monday, October 26, 2009

HKC at Lone Star Kettlebell!!!

It's official and it's gonna be AWESOME!

The first Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification (HKC) in Texas!

I am honored to host this event and even more-so to have Sr RKC, Jeff O'Connor attend as the Senior Instructor.

If you've ever considered:
  • Using kettlebells
  • Becoming a student of kettlebells
  • Preparing for the RKC
  • Training clients with kettlebells
Then this is a no-brainer!

Stay tuned for more information! I'm planning on scheduling a prep-workshop for prospecting HKC's!

Hardstyle!!!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Big Things In Store For 2010!

It's not officially live yet, but this will be the first of many announcements about something BIG coming up in January of 2010 at Lone Star Kettlebell!

Stay tuned and I'll be getting back on the band wagon of updating this blog more frequently.

I'll just say it may have something to do with a Redneck Ninja and possibly a Chinaman.

Again, it's not officially live, so don't hold me to it!

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Dreaded 4-Letter B-Word!

That’s right, BOMB! I bombed out of my meet Saturday. Here are the details for anyone interested.

I made weight easily weighing in Friday night at 179.2. I had a good meal post-weigh in. Afterward, I ate a couple PB&J sandwiches with my Gatorade and water before bed. I was up early and ate some more PB&J with a banana. I wasn’t feeling that great as I’ve had a nasty sinus cold for a couple weeks, but that was the least of my problems in my opinion.

Since I wasn’t feeling that great, I lowered my squat opener from 441 to 424. Warmups went well. I was hitting good depth and felt strong on the ascent.

First attempt at 424 – 2 Whites, 1 Red (Side judge; depth)

Second attempt at 441 – 2 Whites, 1 Red (Head judge; not sure why the red light?)

Third attempt at 451 – 3 Reds…Rocked back on my heels on the way up and lost my balance. I also felt my left trap/lat/rib tweak on the way up.

Not a PR day and not even close to what I was expecting, but I knew that my physical condition wasn’t 100% so I was glad squats were over and I could move on to the bench with a little more confidence.

Bench warmups were a little different than what I was used to as there was only 2 benches and I really couldn’t gauge the timing of my 1st attempt to when I should hit my last warmup. Either way, my warm-ups went alright and ended with a good pause at 285. My opener was 292, so I felt confident 7 pounds were left in the tank (I was wrong).

First attempt at 292 – 3 Reds. Had to have help.
Same think on 2nd and 3rd attempts. I tried rolling out my trap on a foam roller between rounds, but I just couldn’t get the thing to relax. I just wasn’t strong off my chest and had absolutely no drive to get the lift to lockout. The head judge was holding the Press command a little long, but it’s still no excuse. An opener should be easy enough to get you on the board. I misjudged and paid the price.

So, with that my day was over. My first time to bomb out of a meet and I was extremely disappointed (still am).

Here’s where I feel I went wrong and where I can improve for the future:

· 5/3/1 is a good program to build overall strength in a lift, but it’s not built for peaking. I need to refocus my program to include an entire peaking cycle or two to incorporate more heavy attempts, partials, etc. for my CNS to be prepared.

· I probably shouldn’t have gone on my mountain bike trip the weekend before in hindsight. I though it would be a good mental and physical break, but I was getting sick right before I went and knew that would cause more problems.

· I need help at a meet. I went by myself and had to ask for help with knee wraps, etc. It’s just better to have some people helping to support you during the meet with weight selection, technique pointers, etc.

· I need to practice more bench press reps with a pause.

There’s a lot more, but those are the main points.

I was really disappointed to not get to deadlift. I honestly felt I would have had a big day with my pulls to make up for bench and squat, but never got a chance.

I’m not going to lie; I was extremely angry with myself and went through a lot of really bad emotions after bombing out of that meet. I guess that’s my competitive and perfectionist side coming out, but I quickly reined it in and I’m already looking onward to the end of January to the Raw Unity meet in Tampa, FL where I’ll compete with the Power To The People Deadlift Team. (Thank goodness it’s deadlift-team and not bench-team!) ;-)

One big positive that came out of the weekend was going up to Edmond, OK to hang out at the Whitley/O’Connor workshop hosted by Dustin Rippetoe. (A huge thanks to Jeff and Dave for figuring out my trap problem and getting that sorted out. I honestly can’t even feel it today!)

I learned a ton just in the last few hours of their Day 1 and went to eat some pizza with everyone and got up for a little more Hardstyle on Day 2 before heading home.

I want to thank everyone for their support and asking how things went even though it wasn’t my day. I also want to say a huge thank you to Phil Wylie of Bad Attitude Gym out of the DFW area for wrapping my knees at the meet and being there to support me and get advice from! Thanks MAN!

Another list of Thank You’s goes out to the following for helping me along the way the last 3 months and creating a great learning experience:

· My wife - Kara
· Chief Instructor – Pavel Tsatsouline
· Senior RKC – Jeff O’ Connor
· Team Leader – Thomas Phillips
· Jack Reape
· Phil Wylie
· Brian Schwab
· Chad Aichs
· Sean Rowden – One of my best friends and occasional lifting partner

Powerlifting is a tough and thankless sport. It’s even tougher when you attack it alone. It really does take a team of people to get one to excel. Even though I do most of my training alone, it’s great to have some pillars to lean on when I’m stuck and don’t know what to do.

Thank You!

Monday, October 12, 2009

South Boundary Trail, New Mexico

So, I've been planning a mountain biking trip with some buddies to New Mexico and just got back yesterday.

I really can't describe the trail into words...well maybe one...EPIC! It was one of the most physically difficult things I've ever done. The total mileage on day 1 was 31...all through the mountain range between Angel Fire and Taos. We were surprised with about 2 inches of snow covering about half of the trail. The snow made for interesting negotiations along the bench-cut single track and techie switch backs and rock gardens.

At the top after a 1 hour, 2 mile climb!

Aspens color change...Good timing!
View looking down on Taos.

This was an amazing ride! I had some wipe-outs, but nothing serious. I would do it again in a heartbeat and will be putting this trip back on the calendar for next year!

Day 2 was a "cool-down" day as we drove about an hour north past a little town called Questa to ride a trail built around the rim of Rio Grande Gorge where the the Rio Grande and Red Rivers converge. The rim of the canyon is 800 feet above the river making for some spectacular views.

Rio Grande on the right, Red River on left.

The Motley Crew