Some KettleBell Action!

As always...got up this morning and went to my work gym for Workout B of my current program. Dumbells used here. For some reason I wanted to use 30 lb dumbells for the entire 30 minute circuit which I did. A big drop off from 54 lbs I used the other day. But it's just the handle "feel" with dumbells when doing essentially a Kettlebell routine that is distinctly different in my view.

Dumbells vs Kettlebells...hmm, if I were to choose between the two pieces of training equipment - both are excellent sources for workout routines. I have no favorite over the other - and again, it bottoms down to workout routines that you're currently on.

For commercial gym stuff where Kettlebells are hardly in sight (well for my gym that is) - I guess dumbells are just as good a substitute. But for a true kettlebell workout - you're obviously better off using a kettlebell.

It's just the handles on the kettlebells that make true kettlebell routines what they are: kick ass.

An interesting Kettlebell move is the Windmill. Been doing this for 3 weeks now and if you're a kettlebell fan - this is a killer move!!! (edit: it's at the 20 second mark of the video below. A.)

If you're worried about investing in too light weight of a kettlebell for fear of outgrowing them for starters ----> here's a great link you can check out and give it a look at your local sports store. It's a Weider product and alot of Weider products are pretty good (my powerstation and squat rack I use at home are both by Weider)...I dont have a need for this but for those reading - check it out!

It's called the Weider Powerbell...pretty nifty name and a great piece of equipment if you really want to invest in one.

54 lbs on the Circuit!

So I worked up to 54 lbs on Workout A this week on the mbodystrength routine. I was a bit nervous to go 54 lbs. but surpisingly was able to go through the whole circuit with it. Did 6 full circuits and about a 1/4 of my 7th circuit until 30 minutes was over. Did a nice BW warm up and a practice circuit set with a 20 lb kb. If I were to add up the reps in this circuit from the second my timer went of to 30 full minutes, it would be 300 reps total, plus the unfinished circuit 20 reps so that's about 320 reps. 320 reps x 54 lbs would total 17,280 lbs tossed around all in one workout. This is an approximate figure as BW squats was also part of this ciruit...so we can probably estimate it to be about 18,000 plus of weight pushed and pulled around!!!

Imagine that!

But I was pretty spent afterwards. 54 lbs is alot of weight and I'm really still benefiting from this mode of training (re: kettlebell training). Sweat was literally saturating my shorts throughout this circuit.

Last week I did a Tabatas workout which was pretty much over the hill. Tabatas is a form of interval training where you do 20 secs of active, intense exercise and taking a 10 sec rest for 8 cycles. You can choose any type of way to do it - be it burpees, jump rope, sprinting, kb swings...but I recall doing 4 or 5 different exercises in one workout routine of Tabatas...that was insane but I've been wisely told that if I can do that much tabatas in one workout - then maybe my intensity just isn't there enough to just do a 4 minute tabatas routine and make it worth every rep and every ounce of sweat within that 4 minutes. He was right so now I'm very observant with the intensities of my workouts again and really making every rep count.

Which leads me to make this statement for people who may have doubts if they will ever see continued improvements be it wt loss, strength gains, muscle endurance - keep the INENSITY OF YOUR WORKOUTS UP but to your tolerance of course and with safety in mind.

Increasing your times, your reps, your loads, your weight....whatever it is you want to improve on - keep track of it.

Keep track of your progress from week to week and keep chopping away at your goals. With this mindset you will improve your numbers everytime. You can't go wrong.

He was right too. That was a great reminder!

Find your motivation...
A.

This man is simply amazing.

I saw this guy once before but came across his videos again. For a man at his youth, he's alot stonger and capable than people half his age.

His fountain of youth must come from his motivation he has from within when it comes to health and fitness. This man is obviously self driven. His motivation is something exceptional and definitely something worth wanting to be at one point in my own life.



Amazing, inspiring stuff. More power, Sir!

*****

Now onto workout playlist music.. ;)

Here's one of my favorite workout tunes of all time...especially when doing interval training...it just sets the mood right for me for some reason. Check it out!

A BodyWeight Strength Circuit

Got up this morning with some nice stretching and foam rolling. I was checking out Marcus Martinez's video on a very cool BW Strength Circuit. I was curious to see how this workout felt because it looked awesome watching it on video so I gave it a crack this morning. It's alot harder than it looks. I didn't feel 100% to really go balls out here - as the workout yesterday was really bad ass. So I did 3 circuits of 3 reps minus the kips, followed it up with some jumping jacks for a quick short workout this morning. No way I'm going to do kips right now but the deck hand walk outs is a pretty cool move.

Body weight training...I bet every beefcake in gyms absolutely have no desire whastoever to be seen doing them. Dont know why...but I do them at gyms, at home at parks. I guess its always about lifting heavy for them. But these are by far the best workouts you can do without a fancy gym membership.

Here's Marcus' Video of my workout this morning:

Mixed up!

So I get up early this morning to finish Week 2 of mbodystrength. I didnt realize I jumped ahead of myself and did Workout C of Week 4 without even checking which week I was looking at and I'm only barely finishing Week 2 of this program.

Probably it was because I got up at 6:45 am, worrying that I wont get this done in time to get my boys up for school and be out the door by 8:30 just in time for school. I made it though...just in time for the kid's Friday's Flag Ceremony they have every Friday...phew! But I looked like a guy running through traffic at their school today. Kids were already lined up and walking down the hallways...it was a mad house there this morning! Yikes!

It's been a great 2 weeks. Today's workout wasn't what was slotted for today (my bad), but it was one hell of a wake up metabolic circuit! Dropped 2.5 lbs in just 2 weeks of good nutrition and exercise. Again - you want to lose the fat - First: you got to fix up your nutrition. You'll be amazed of how much that makes a difference from losing fat and getting lean and toned. I'm not after muscle mass right now...as I've said - I just want to keep it lean throughout the summer, enjoy this new found health with my family, enjoy my volleyball and hopefully work on getting muscled out some by the winter.

Today's workout involved use of a 54 lb Kettlebell. Went unilateral with the movements this time, keeping the core braced and really like the load I used today. I modified my push ups with blast strap push ups with feet on a stab ball - NOT EASY by any means. Now try and do 20 reps for 7 full circuits within a 30 minute time frame!!! I also did an ass kicking Tabata with some hip thrusters (a half burpee to describe it a little more). Wasn't able to get in my Tabatas yesterday so I made up for it with today's routine for my intervals.

Was intending to use my dumbells again at 45 lbs...but that 54 lb Kettlebell looked mighty pretty to me this morning. :P

Great workout!

Happy to see a good friend at Turbulence Training who literally rocked it out at the current transformation contest going on over at Craig Ballantyne's Transformation Contest. I'm about 15 years his younger...dont get me wrong - he hardly ever looks his age but seeing his recent after pictures makes me feel 15 years older - than him that is! He did a great job and my hats off to him....Great job, Kerry! You definitely transformed. Hope he makes it as a finalist but even if he doesn't - he should really be proud of himself.

Have a great weekend! Goooooooooooooooooooooooo Joe! ;)


Andy

Cool Shirt!

Ok for those reading my blog and wanting to figure out what new program I'm doing...again, it's called MBodyStrength's Fat Loss and Strength and Conditioning Program which I've been doing since last week and loving every minute of it.

First and foremost, sorry to Marcus (Martinez) and Mark (de Grasse) for getting their names interchanged in my blogposts. My bad and my apologies for murdering their names...totally unintentional guys!

Anyway, I signed up to Mark de Grasse and Marcus Martinez's Mbodystrength online website for some free kettlebell programs and I tell you - these workouts will really kick your butt. Click here for more details on how to sign up for some free, effective workouts and these guys know how to do it and make it fun. This will be my 2nd week in and I'm really re-finding my love for kettlebell conditioning circuits and the unforgiving tabata protocol (which I will say with some sarcasm because they're only as tough as you want them to be).




I also got a free MbodyStrength T shirt which I'm currently sporting on the picture here as well as a picture of my youngest 2 year old son Gio (his nickname btw) as I was getting ready to do my Tabata training for the day. I did 5 tabata approaches using a med ball and my own body weight. So it was 5 exercises in 4 minute blocks with 20 active work and 10 second rest. Between each tabata I took 2 full minutes rest before going to the next block of tabatas. Here are the exercises I did right after bringing my twin boys to school this morning and my before and after shirt picture...dang this workout was hard. At least my son was able to behave while daddy was working out. He's a good kid. =)

Time: 9am
Garage workout

warm up

Tabatas
1) Alternating Off Set Push Ups (hands on med ball) (4 minutes - 20s:10s x 8 cycles)
2) Deck Squats with med ball to OH Press (4 minutes - 20s:10s x 8 cycles)
3) 2 hand KB swings using a 32 Kg KB (4 minutes - 20s:10s x 8 cycles)
4) Fast twitch mountain climbers hands on med ball (4 minutes - 20s:10s x 8 cycles)
5) Burpees to jump (4 minutes - 20s:10s x 8 cycles)



BAM! A 30 minute, shirt drenching workout. Workout B tomorrow....








Train smart...train safe!

Andy

It's August...time to kick it up to high gear!

Wow...it's already August and I'm ready to continue to get busy this whole month with Marcus Martinez's MBodystrength Workout Program. Just finished week one...time to turn it up week 2. This weekend was basically an "off day"...took a full Saturday off with the family. Got up a bit later this morning...felt like doing something today so I headed off to Veteran's Park which is only a couple minutes from home and went and did some outdoor BW circuits followed up with some sprint intervals on grass.

After this month is over - Summer will soon be over and it'll be the the last third of the year. That's one part of the year that we all seem to enjoy but also hate because of the holiday "indulgences" and tailgate parties (if you're a football fan like me). Football will be in full swing, basketball seasons should have just started as well and the cold winter months shortly follow around that time. Not going to slack up now like I did last year...but it's going to be tough so I may be changing up my workouts to a more meathead approach come the winter time. Got to get prepared for the holiday challenges!!! Plan! Plan! Plan!!!

If you look at the picture on top...that's the Pacific Ocean from my suburban neighborhood view. If you click on that picture you'll see a flag post high above and a rec gym where I play volleyball on Mondays. Just thought I'd share it in here.

Man...it's going to be 3 full years September 5th that I embarked on this fitness journey. Hard to believe it's been this long...but I've come along way since that picture down below in this blog of mine.

Living a healthier lifestyle starting off just wasn't something that turned on like a lightswitch. It took alot of understanding and putting everything all together. I will admit this though - I'm not the most consistent of dieters out there but my motto has always been this - take it one day at a time. If you slip here and there, never let that discourage your hard efforts you put in the gym but always have that mindset to always do the right thing at a nutrition standpoint.

If you want to make progress in fat loss or muslce gain - nutrition is the ticket, exercise just makes our bodies look right and really promotes an overall sense of healthy living and being. "We are what we eat" is so true. =)

I'm a firm believer that even for people who have been working out for 7,8, 10 maybe even 15-20 years will admit - it wasn't overnight for any of them either unless they juiced up, used some kind of illegal supplement or had some type of liposuction or cosmetic surgery to get there).

For just barely scratching the surface to training for only 3 years - I'm happy to have made some strides in achieving some of my own goals set forth. I'm not even at half of what maybe many of the fitness gurus I follow have under their own belts. They will always be my resources to keep things fresh in this journey.

It's people online fitnees guys like Ballantyne, Enamait, Lopez, Ledin, Martinez....people who know what they're talking about and are out there to help people as best as they can through the internet. And it's friends who I've met over time be it virtual or real - that have made my own efforts a success each day.

Find that motivation....

Andy