Yep, I’m another year older today, but to be brutally honest, it really isn’t phasing me a whole lot. I turned 32 today, and I’ve worked for myself since I was 25, pretty spectacular in my opinion. I’ve gone through some major ups and downs, both physically and mentally, yet it looks like I’ve come out on top.

I’m coming off a shoulder injury, where for the longest time I couldn’t do a push up without pain or a simple 20lbs overhead press. I’m back on the push ups and up to 45lbs presses. There’s no doubt I have some work ahead of me to get back to where I once was but I didn’t give up!

Do I feel older, or am I just working harder?

Who has the answer to that one? Am I a little still in the morning? Sure! Did I deadlift the day before? Probably. Point taken.

Am I ever going to give up this workout thing?

I highly doubt it. It keeps me going. I’m one of those people who actually gets cranky if I haven’t done a workout in several days.

So the truth is, it’s my birthday. I had a great day…it started with a leisurely cup of coffee, and nice strength workout, lunch with a dear friend, an adjustment at the chiro, a nap, and dinner with friends and family. Any other better day, not really, I was with the ones I love.

Age creeps on us when we aren’t looking but if we stare it dead in the face every day, it’ll never get a hold of us.

All that wrist banging, bruises, and contusions…yep, they shouldn’t exist.  So what’s up?

First, just with anything else you do, both in and out of the exercise world; there’s the wrong way to do an exercise, there are a variety of acceptable ways to do exercises, and then there’s the right way or the preferred way to do an exercise.

This is where you have to take the time to learn.  Take the time to learn how to do kettlebell exercises the right way with someone who actually knows what they are doing, and who has used them for a significant period of time.

It all unfolds from here…if you learn the right way to do kettlebell exercises then it isn’t going to hurt you, even snatches.

Here’s the stipulation.  Most of us have only done exercises that require the implement; either dumbbell, medicine ball, or barbell, among others all sit within our grip and the weight is distributed throughout our hands.

In some kettlebell training exercises such as snatches, cleans, presses, windmills, and Turkish get-ups, the majority of the weight rests on the outer part of your forearm.  Since our forearms are not used to this pressure from our other forms of exercise it takes some conditioning to get used to having weight rest on your forearm.

As you learn kettlebell training you will soon see that with proper instruction and technique that you will not bang your wrists, you won’t have bruises, and you won’t be in pain (except for maybe your glutes and hamstrings).

It’s pretty common to start an exercise program, nutrition program, or lifestyle change; have a ton of success, and even feel really good about the gains you’ve made.

THEN…BAM…

-You fall off the wagon, and decide that you’ll start back up tomorrow but tomorrow ends up being 3 weeks.

-You get side-tracked, and all those great changes you made in your life get pushed aside.

-’Life’ gets in the way…house projects needed done, kids needed to get to camp, work kept you late, the holidays consumed your free time.

Here’s the truth:

-The longer you wait to get back on board the harder it will be to start back up.  You’ve already made visible life changing changes for the better, you don’t want to risk drifting back or beyond your starting point.

-If you think ‘life’ gets in the way now, imagine how much ‘life’ is going to get in the way if you aren’t mobile and active and able to take care of the important things in your life, including yourself.  You need to make time for yourself, even if you have to schedule it, so that you aren’t risking your own health.

-Health and fitness is part of life ( and notice this time it’s not in quotations.) Real life throws curve balls and you get derailed, but you need to keep balance between it all.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF!

Right now set a health and fitness goal for yourself for the rest of July.

Then set a three month goal for yourself.

Stick to the goals.  Get an accountability partner, some who will hold you to your goals and someone who also wants the same support from you.

Let me know what your goals are and keep us posted with your progress in the comments section below.

BOOM!!!

What the hell happened?

Three weeks has gone by and you just realized you’ve only been to the gym twice!  You had bad take out at least once each week, and now you aren’t so impressed with yourself.

You’ve done it once so do it again, get right back on the path that took you to your impressed state.  Whatever you do, do not wait until next week, or next Monday, or until this work dinner party is over.  Start back on track.  You know you can do it, you were just there a few weeks ago.

Back to what happened…

For some of us one slip leads to another, then another, then another.  Don’t get me wrong we have to treat ourselves, I don’t think you can be 100% nutrition and 100% workouts 100% of the time…you’d likely go crazy!

The key word is moderation.  Once you get to the place you want to be you need to pay close attention to the number of times you treat yourself (remember 90/10 is a good rule) and just because you’ve reached your fitness goals doesn’t mean you should stop going to the gym all together.  Take a few days off, add in some active rest days, but keep following a program, keep setting goals and achieving them!

Second, it’s time to get back to the grindstone.  From training to nutrition to a slightly different approach to what I’ve been doing…I’m going to track how it goes.

In the meantime check back often once again for workout ideas, training videos, and cooking/recipe tips and ideas.

Lots of new ideas coming your way!!

A few years ago I remember watching one of my athletes sprint, I was amazed at how quickly she moved, not to mention it seemed effortless.

The other day one of my new athletes, Mallori Lofton-Malachi, was working on footwork and agility drills in preparation for her departure to Iceland to play women’s professional soccer. I asked her to run through some basic agility drills.

The most important aspect of agility training to me is doing the drills with precision. If you watch some people they speed through without a lot of care to foot placement or the real reason they are working on footwork and agility in the first place.

Start off all the drills slowly to be accurate and as the movement becomes more comfortable to you, add in speed.