So here it is: our first seminar. Thanks to everyone that attended. I enjoyed meeting you all. We had a good group and I hope everyone learned something that will help in their fitness journeys.
I learned a lot doing this seminar and hope to improve future seminars. I treated it like I would a normal intro to someone that came into my gym for the first time. But I think that was a bit surprising for some. :)
This is a short intro to metcons I wrote for a local forum:
Metabolic conditioning, usually shortened to metcon, is great way to mix up your usual workout, especially if you normally lift weights. I'm introducing it here because I doubt many people know how to do this. It's excellent for fat loss and conditioning.
Metcon workouts involve anaerobic movements done in a way as to get both anaerobic and aerobic benefits. That's a fancy way of saying you can have your cake and eat it too by combining strength training and aerobics. The combo means you can cut your workout time in half without losing the benefits. Neat, huh?
One of the best tools for this is the kettlebell because it unilaterally loads the body. That means you can work one side of the body while the other rests, do the same exercise on the other side, and then switch back to the other half with a new exercise. This type of loading combined with cycling exercises like this is very efficient.
But you don't need a kettlebell to do it. Metcon can be done with basic barbells, etc.
Try it out if you get a chance. I didn't want to get heavier kettlebells beyond 32kg. So I went with a barbell set instead. Cheaper and it's good to switch up to the bar to train your body in different ways. The bar has much to teach us.
There are a lot of fat loss circuits on youtube but the setup is a bit contrived. It almost never actually shows the instructor working out with the circuit. Instead, they're not sweating or usually even breathing hard and look like they're making no effort. Form is immaculate because they are totally fresh.
This clip is my effort to get away from that. This was my workout for the day. I had done 30+ minutes with the kettlebell at that point and that's without putting it down. I didn't plan on doing this 5th rep of the circuit but the 4th didn't record well. Grrr...
So here's me sweating my butt off, breathing hard and heavy, and having my form slip a bit as I get tired.
You can use this circuit for fat loss at home. Just follow along and try to do 3 or so reps of it with the bell. 20 minutes is your goal. Have fun.
This is going to be very interesting. I whole heartedly support his efforts. American nutrition is absolutely disgusting. There, I said it. And deep down, people know it's true. People know they aren't supposed to weigh 300lbs. and they know we aren't supposed to be feeding kids pizza for breakfast, as in the clip above. Americans have to try harder and do better. As you can see from the "We don't want to eat lettuce all day" comment, Jamie has his work cut out for him. But we can't make a change unless we're honest that something is wrong. And it is.
The thing is, Jamie is proof of what he preaches. His recipes aren't exactly the most spartan you can get. He uses butter and everything else people want to eat. Example:
His main thing is getting people off processed crap food and getting them eating real, nutritious food. It will be interesting to see how his efforts pan out.
After much handwringing, sweating, and banging the keyboard after trying to learn to use Illustrator, we finally have our logo. All thanks to http://www.logodesigncreation.com/
The process was painless and the price was a steal. I used Univeristy of Florida colors (go gators!), for those who may not know. Sorry, but after doing extensive searches of kettlebell logos (you should Google that BTW), I have to say that mine is the nicest one out there. :)
One of the things people think they need but really don't when discussing nutrition or shorter term dieting is variety. One of the most amazing things I discovered in the one nutrition course I took in university was how few foods I was eating. The teacher had us keep a food journal for one week (an extremely powerful exercise -- try it out) and we had to write down everything that went into our mouths over that time. I was shocked at how few foods I was eating and how many times a week I was eating certain foods.
Most of us don't have time to plan for a nearly endless variety of meals during the week. But as soon as people start thinking of changing their diet to reflect more nutritious choices, they ask for more variety.
Instead, focus on finding healthy foods that you WILL eat and make them staples of your diet.
The variety thing is more likely rebellion against poor food choices to begin with. The meals are bland because people think that's what they should eat. So they want variety to get away from that. It's the wrong focus.
Stick to choosing nutritious foods, especially "superfoods," that you find appealing and changing your eating habits for the better will be much easier.
One of the problems of being out in the public eye is that you can't control everything. I've been getting phone calls from a weirdo that wants me to send my picture to him. Yeah, right. He called 5 times yesterday. I deleted the calls off my phone in one folder but not another. So this morning, I walk into my little boy's room and he's on the phone with guess who.
I have no idea how long they talked or what about but I just smashed my new phone. And my son thinks I've gone nuts. He doesn't understand what perverts are.
Not a good morning.
http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/Kettlebells012010.pdf
This is some research conducted by ACE on kettlebell training. Specifically, they looked at the :15/:15 snatch protocol that I've been doing for fitness. They found that on average, participants were burning 272 cals. in 20 minutes.
During the 20-minute workout, the average calorie burn was 272 calories, not counting additional calorie burn due to the substantial anaerobic effort. “We estimated oxygen consumption and how many calories they were burning aerobically, and it was 13.6 calories per minute. But we also measured the blood lactate, so anaerobically they were burning another 6.6 calories per minute,” explains Porcari. “So they were burning at least 20.2 calories per minute, which is off the charts. That’s equivalent to running a 6-minute mile pace. The only other thing I could find that burns that many calories is crosscountry skiing up hill at a fast pace.”
Researchers credit the brisk calorie burning to the fact that the kettlebell snatch workout is a total-body movement that is also done
very quickly due to the interval-training format. “We knew it would be extremely intense,” says Schnettler. “It’s a quick workout, and
you do get a big bang for your buck in a very short amount of time.”
This is great news for kettlebell lifters and shows what many of us knew all along. Kettlebell training offers results through the combo of strength and endurnace training that other training can't touch.
I also personally experienced the fat loss through this exact interval training as documented here on the blog.
But notice that the results came through intense training. So grab a kettlebell and ramp up the intensity. :)
The following are two questions I got from a reader and I thought I'd share the answers here. These are fairly common queries so these answers may be useful in addressing concerns that friends and family may have about kettlebell training.
"First, is what makes kettlebells so special from lets say free weights and medicine balls? "
Kettlebells have many unique attributes. First is the unilateral training that we do. Most people don't load the body on one side for extended periods of time. Doing so means you have to stabilize the body more than in bilateral training (like barbells). Second, the shape of the kettlebell is forces the weight to be off center. The bell shape means you always have to be pulling against the kettlebell to keep your posture upright. This fires the core more than dumbbell training, for example. Third, kettlebell uses methods far beyond the sets/reps that most weight training uses. We use things like ladders, breathing ladders, tabata protocols, circuits, complexes, etc. to mix up the workout. It's a different way of training.
"Also Ive talked to fit expats who are 40 years and Ive heard them say kettlebells are great but its too dangerous to start to learn them when youre older coz you could hurt your back."
Not true. My oldest client is 66. Poor form hurts your back and that's why you need instruction. Properly done, there's nothing better for your back and the rest of your posterior chain than kettlebell training. The kettlebell training effect starts with the posterior chain then works the core and finally the extremities. It works from the back to the front and inside to out. The training effect rehabs people's backs because we all sit too much and the kettlebell is the perfect tool to undo that damage. That's why I imported them and I believe in using them so much.
I just ordered my first shipment of TRXs. Can't wait till they get here. I think the TRX is a perfect fit for my gym and our clients. So excited! :)
