Pacific Strength in AZ

Susan is in Arizona helping her mom and she brought a little Pacific Strength with her!
Thanks for the pic =)

Pacific Strength... in VAIL!

Well, at least for our mini-honeymoon.  And yes, we did exercise.  It was impossible NOT to on this great trail that ran right next to the river. They've gotten some snow in the last couple weeks, but it was nice and sunny for us all weekend. The above pic is Troy representing Pacific Strength in the Rockies.  I'm thinking that may be a good place for our first Lady Kettlebell Retreat!

This is what my clients do on vacation

Gina was in Kauai with her family. Apparently, Kauai has a Walmart and that Walmart carries kettlebells. Gina "got her kettlebell on" on the private beach - between the kayaking, hiking, and surfing.

I love it!

Vacation Workout

I went to Orlando, Florida over Memorial Day weekend for my little brother's wedding. I don't like lines or waiting in general and I like to consider myself an experienced traveler (that's what dating a guy in a different state will do to you) so I try to carry on whenever possible.
Five days worth of clothing to include outfits for rehearsal dinner & wedding didn't leave a lot of room for exercise equipment. A kettlebell was out of the question- space and the hassle of getting that thing into the overhead bin. Plus- do they let you carry those things on? Would that be considered a weapon? I could have brought an exercise band, but I forgot. So, I improvised with my nephew (aka my flexible barbell)...

I recommend you try this at home with a little person of your own!

Fun for the whole family =)

Thanks for being a good sport, Liam!

SC United Soccer- Running Training- FARTLEK TIME!

To improve your endurance, you need a plan and here's one that will challenge every level. Funny name but awesome training....

Fartlek!
Yep, it sounds just like it's spelled. It's Swedish word that means "speed-play" and it's a great tool for training speed and endurance at the same time.  We do a lot of this in our conditioning training, but for the workouts on your own, you'll be choosing the pace and the distance for each pace. If you go with a group of soccer friends, you can trade off "leaders" every 5 minutes.
An example of a good Fartlek workout would be:
2-3mile total run
5 minutes of warmup at gear 2-3
For the remainder of the run your default gear will be gear 3.  The leader will then pick a landmark (a driveway, mailbox, palm tree, street sign, etc), choose a speed (gears 2 through 5), and the group will run to that landmark at that speed. The group will return to a gear 3 speed until the leader chooses another landmark.
When you are finished with your "speed-play", be sure to jog easy (gear 2-3) for 10-15 minutes and then get some good stretches in!

Have fun and I'll see you on the field!

Marilyn

She's training for her 50th college reunion. She wants to be the same weight she was in college. She wants to look and feel better than all of her other friends who've stopped trying and use age as an excuse to not be active.

Watch her swing the 24kg kettlebell (that's 52.8lbs!).

Click the link to see Marilyn on YouTube



She wants to be swinging Kettlebells when she's 100 years old.

Power you YOU, Marilyn =)

More Victims, Please!

We had another awesome Kettlebell Intro Workshop this weekend. Thanks to Gabby and all of the Newbies for helping make it such a great class. I really enjoy sharing this unique form of torture with people so thank you for allowing me to do that.  About half of you have already been back for more- I hope the rest of you are getting your bodies moving and stretching those tight muscles out. If you're too sore to walk, WALK and STRETCH! You'll feel much better afterward, I promise. =)
Keep up the great work and I'll see you in class!

Val

SC United Soccer- Conditioning Training- February Workout

Running is a huge part of soccer. The skills of the game are extremely important, but if the you're beating the other team to the ball at the end of a close match, you're much more likely to win!

I've been working with some of the San Clemente United Soccer Teams to help increase endurance and I wanted to post some running workouts for the kids to do on their own.  Just going out and running the beach trail while you're chatting with your friends isn't going to cut it.  So here's your workout of the month- do it once or twice a week and try to push the "intervals" harder every time.  Wear a watch for this workout!

We've been working on gears so I'll put all of the training in those terms. As a reminder...

Gear 1 = Just slightly faster than a walk; this is your recovery jog
Gear 2 = about a 30-40% effort; easy jog, faster than 1
Gear 3 = 50% effort; moderate jog- you could easily go for a mile at this pace
Gear 4 = 75-80% effort; you could run at this pace for about 2 or 3 minutes before your legs really start to burn
Gear 5 = all out sprint

5-Minute Warmup Jog at Gear 3
5 x 1 minute at Gear 4, 1 minute at Gear 2
5 x 30 seconds at Gear 5, 1 minute at Gear 2
5 x 1 minute at Gear 4, 1 minute at Gear 2
5-Minute Cool down Jog at Gear 3
Stretch

You should NEED the Gear 2 to recover after each interval at either Gear 4 or 5. If you don't feel like you need that active rest at Gear 2, then run Gears 4 and 5 faster!

If you're running with friends (and I recommend this), use the Gear 2 recovery to group back up. Everyone will be running the Gears 4 and 5 at their own pace. Encourage each other and get back into your groups during the Gear 2 recovery jogs.

No go out there and have some fun with your runs!

Having Dinner with Justin Timberlake

This is how I explained last Saturday to my sister.

What I actually did on Saturday was go to a Return of the Kettlebell Seminar down in La Jolla, California which was put on by my friends Franz and Yoana Snideman of Revolution Fitness. The focus of the day was Double Kettlebell drills and Pavel instructed. I have been very fortunate in Southern California to be able to attend workshops in my own backyard that are taught by some of the best in the industry. So, on Saturday we learned Double Snatches, Double Presses, Double Cleans, Double Jerks- all of the things I'm afraid to try in my gym by myself. Of course, we got a lot of really good tips on corrective exercises and stretches to help our clients and ourselves into these incredibly difficult postures.

So, the seminars are always great, but another thing I love is networking and meeting new people who share the same passion.  Michele runs a really successful boot camp called Kettlebell Kamp in Mission Valley. Petra is getting her Dragonfly Kettlebells business going in East San Diego County at here home as well as at the Marine Corps Base nearby. There were a couple of guys from the Equinox in Chicago who were trying to escape the cold and get some ideas for their club. Everyone was focused on personal gains as well as trying to bring back ideas for their victims.  At the RKC we're all a big family, learning from eachother and sharing our experiences.

The highlight of my day was the group dinner at the Fleming's Steakhouse after the conference. I had the pleasure of sitting at a table with SrRKC Jon Engum from Minnesota, Dr. Mark Cheng from Los Angeles, AND Pavel! To be able to have an hour with ONE of these Kettlebell celebrities would have been enough to make me giddy, but all three was a total treat. We talked some shop, some wine, and lots of random stuff in between. Again, that's what I love about this community- everyone from Pavel and the Masters down to the greenest RKCs are friendly, down to earth, and always happy to share what they've learned along the way.

For those of you (including my sister) who do not understand the significance of eating dinner with Pavel, I will say that for a lowly RKC, it's like my sister sharing a table with Justin Timberlake, like Steff breaking bread with Neil Diamond, or like the data-entry clerk having a meeting with the CEO of his company. It was really freaking cool. =)

I picked up a lot of great ideas and a couple of sore muscles (abs- OUCH!)- can't wait for the next workshop!

To see pictures from the event, check out Yoana's blog.