Fort Bragg Kettlebell Club is GROWING!

Me taking in the ocean during our recent visit to San Onofre

(12 Sept 2009)

A question was posed at class last night as we reached the final drill, "Why do you mobilize the jaw?" Good question!

The TMJ (jaw joint in front of your ear) is the last joint in the gait cycle. Meaning that every time you take a step, that energy from the ground enters your heel, travels up to your ankle, knee, hip, sacroiliac joint (pelvis), up your lumbar (low back) spine, to your thoracic (mid-back) spine, to your C-spine (neck), wraps up and around the side of your skull to your jaw. So every time you take a step, your jaw takes a hit.

A lot of people have jaw clenching, teeth grinding, and tension headaches because of stress both physically and emotionally. Doing joint mobility all the way up and down this chain of events, so to speak, helps alleviate that tension and the resulting pain issues.

With six new faces, I taught the get-up A-Z for a few reps and then had my seasoned 'bellers teach a few reps themselves. It proved beneficial for their learning process and allowed me to walk around and provide hands-on corrections and assistance to the newbies.

Get-ups can be overwhelming in the beginning, and there are always refinements and variations. But everyone did a nice job of hanging in there and we all got a solid get-up session under our belts.

After a solid 20 minutes of get-up work, I introduced the swing. The three that have been working with me for a bit did swing variations and snatches as I taught the new kids and they did their first night of swings. First of many to come!

We moved into super-setting suitcase deadlifts with hot potato. Then crush-curls and planks (planks being another "favorite" for the newcomers). ;) "Holy back, legs, arms, and chest batman!" one newbie wrote me this morning (not a direct quote, but pretty close) :p I felt a little work in my chest this morning myself and thought if I'm feeling it, they're definitely feeling it today! Good stuff!

So here's a wrap-up of the night's events as it turned-out for the fresh faces:
5 minutes joint mobility (JM)
20 minutes get-ups (GUs)
10 minutes work on two-hand swings

3x3/3-suitcase deadlifts (DL)
3x20seconds-hot potato

3x5-crush curls
3x20seconds-plank
4 High Pay-off JM drills (4 HPOs)

And for the three vets:
JM- 5 min.
GUs-20 min

1x40-alternating swings (alt swings)
1x10/10/10/10-one-arm swings
1x5/5/5/5-snatches or high-pulls

3x3/3-suitcase DL
3x20s-hot potato

3x5-crush curls
3x20s-plank
4HPOs

More fun in store next week!

Go Stevie!

My brother-in-law, who is really like a true-blood brother to me, was accepted to the Drill Instructor School at Marine Corps depot, San Diego. It's a 12-week course in leadership, professionalism, judgement, time-management, physical fitness, and probably most of all mental fortitude. It's recruit boot camp all over again for this 30-something, but times ten because he'll be mixed-in with a bunch of youngins'... which could prove to be a true test of his mental toughness.

The course finishes a few days shy of Christmas, so if he survives the beat-down Christmas will come early. If not, it could prove mentally ugly :( So we're not even thinking about the "if not" side of this.

I am so stinking proud of him and truly excited for his success!

Go Stevie! We're on your side brother. ;)


The family man, Steve, with his babies <3 SOOOOO cute!

Because we're fat & lazy, duh!

Unfortunately, our current medical system focuses on "traditional" treatments: Heavily consumed with disease treatment, not prevention. The microscopes points at ways to engineer, modify, and manipulate our food and pharmaceuticals (see:drugs on both accounts). Yet obesity (not just overweight) rates are at an all time high and only continue to rise. Weight management is a billion dollar industry but somehow we still have a collective "weight issue."

I did a quick search for money spent on weight loss in 2008 and found this scary-cool meter that is racking up the dollars spent as we speak: over $61 BILLION! Modifying foods and get-skinny-quick scams are clearly not helping to lessen the burden. But we keep dishing over the dough in hopes that perhaps enough money, fat loss pills/meals/programs, and low carb/fat/protein food will save us from ourselves. Is this insanity to anyone other than me?!?!?!

Overweight and obesity are terms thrown together so often that I think they've lost their individual identities. Let's break it down: if you are a female and you have roughly between 30 and 40 percent body fat you are overweight. Okay let's stop to think about what THAT means. 30-40% BODY FAT. 30-40% FAT. hm. Sure we all need a little protective fat padding around organs, to keep us warm, etc. etc. But 40%? I don't think so. Alright so that's just overweight. What's obese? Obviously over 40% body fat. Checking into America's OBESITY numbers we proudly rank numero uno followed not-so-closely by our neighbors to the south: Mexico.

Check out this other scary-cool graph on the CDC site of obesity trends in the past decade http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html In 1999 we were split between the 15-19% and 20-24% categories. A mere two years later, in 2001 a new color pops onto the map: Mississippi shows us 25-29% of their adult population is obese, with the rest of the country in hot pursuit; upping the majority of states to 20-24% obesity rates. In 2005 another new color appears showing a few states with "greater than or equal to 30%" obese populations. By 2007, the overwhelming majority of our states reach the 25-29% rates. Remember, this is for obese rates: females over 40% body fat & males over 25% body fat. If this trend continues, we'll be in the black, my color choice for the next category. Yes black- as in the grim reapers favorite attire color :)

The weight toll goes beyond our egotistical desires to look good and stay young. We all know carrying around even a few extra pounds impacts our joints, guts, vital organs, mood, and performance across the board. All that damage over time, or even the ups & downs, impacts our vitality, quality of life, and even life span.

I recently read an article that said by 2015 we'll have more people over 65 than under 5 years. old. We're an aging population. And of course with the "miracles of modern medicine" why shouldn't we? Because we're fat and lazy! duh. Look at the data. We're living longer, more unhealthy and less satisfying lives at the cost of food?

We clearly have our priorities backwards.

Ah, but Sara you have good genetics and have always been skinny. Hello?!?!? I think not. Both sides of my family are American Indian and English with a little Irish thrown in on my mom's side for good measure. American Indians have a renowned struggle with diabetes because of their weight and the English aren't far behind the above mentioned Mexico in obesity rates.

I have an up-hill battle as well my friends. I live in the same obese country as my fellow Americans, have not-so-on my side genetics... but one thing I do have, that the weight loss product purchasers of the world don't have....drum roll please......is internal motivation.

Big let-down on the secret to weight management, huh? Yep, once again you have to take personal responsibility every single day, every single choice, to get and stay fit. I face the same dilemmas as you: I could sit on the couch, read my OK magazine and eat Cheetos (which I actually have done and will probably do in the future), OR I could put down the trashy mag, put away the Cheetos and press something heavy like a kettlebell, or go to the track for a few 100meter sprints (btw, you want ab work? Forget thousands of lame crunches, run some sprints homie).

It's that simple? Yes, it's that simple. Put down the food and pick up something heavy. Do it everyday. And yes, I am finally giving you permission to workout EVERY DAY, even multiple times a day if you want. Make it your world, not a marketers world.

82nd Airborne All-American Chorus, Fort Bragg

Yesterday we celebrated the Air Force's 62nd birthday with the annual Air Force Ball. All the fellas get decked out in their mess dress and their ladies get dolled up. It's an opportunity to see people at their best and come together in the name of tradition. Per military tradition, there is always protocol. We don't show up willy-nilly, eat, and party. Oh no. There is a social hour, then the chimes to cue us to make our way to our assigned tables & seats, Color Guard brings in the flags and someone sings The National Anthem (in unifrom: salute, not? put your hand on your heart), then opening comments & toasts (to the Commander in Chief, To the Colors, etc), the POW/MIA remembrance, chow time, a guest speaker, Commander's comments, we all sing The Air Force song ("off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun...), closing comments, then the dance floor opens up. It's quite a riot to see commander's, Chiefs, and First Shirts all dressed up and cutting a rug with their enlisted counterparts...especially if you know how stuffy the Air Force can be.

Last year our AF ball was on Pope at "The Club" (usually there is an enlisted Club and a separate Officer's Club..since Pope is so small, there's just one "Club.") The Pope Club isn't the hippest and most up-to-date of buildings on Pope. Coming from celebrating at the Mirage in Vegas the previous year, last years ball was quite the flop for Mike and me. But this year the committee redeemed themselves by holding the Ball at the Fort Bragg Officer's Club and inviting the 82nd Airborne All-American Chorus to sing in place of a guest speaker (which are hit or miss and can make the evening super-long & bored-to-tears thrilling).

One of the unique qualities of living on Pope, is that it used to be part of Bragg as Pope Air Field. It then became its own Air Force base, and once again will turn over to Army next year. Fort Bragg is the home of many Special Operations Units and is a pretty cool place to live. You see red berets, maroon berets, black berets, and even green berets walking around base. Something that can be taken for granted without perspective. They're arguably the largest and highest operations tempo base stateside (and globally if ya wanna get picky).

Living on little Pope AFB provides for an interesting dynamic when mixed with the location of "fabulous" Fayetteville, NC and the fact that we're Air Force...living on an Air Force base...which is mostly Army...and connected to the largest Army base. You have to visit and stay a while to understand it all. We've been here a little over a year and I think I finally have it figured out.

So the definite highlight of last night's festivities was clearly the Airborne Chorus. These guys were squared away. They came in in formation, chanting a jody, are a mix of several Airborne units, and always have me thinking "HOW do they get those berets to lay so tight to their heads but stand-up so sharply in the front???" They sang so sweetly it gave me goose bumps. These are top-of-the line fighters, that jumping out of planes is just another day at the office, SINGING! It's kind of a mind trip. They're in uniform, with their Airborne Collars and rigor belts, maroon berets and sharply folded jackets...singing together. Where else would you see a stocky baritone black dude singing right-next-to a tall skinny white boy? The same uniform, differnet flashes, but always the same mission. Very cool. Certainly a unique opportunity I am proud and privileged to have witnessed. Go Army!

Pick up something heavy. Put it down. Repeat.

I recently read Milo's article "Training in the Right Place," an opening piece from the editor. It compares current "fancy" gyms to hand-dug cellar "gyms" and the difference between the types of athletes that train at the two respectively.

You can make obvious correlations to the the gym-goers and their chosen place of strength (or non-strength) building. The "schmancey gym" goer with his new kicks, latest threads, coolest iPod, gallon o' Gatorade, and machine pushing ways is similar to the gym and its surroundings: a mere facade of over-hyped structure filled with too much treadmill time and media-distractions.

The basement trainer however, has just what he needs (or finds a way to make what he has work), gets down to brass tacks, pulls, pushes, sweats, eats, rests, and repeats as necessary. Some days are good. Some days are disappointing. But every day is a lifting day. There are no distractions, there are no fancy shoes to be judged, and who really needs gatorade? It's either solo lifting (my preference) or someone with the same drive, commitment, and understanding right there with you. They know looking your best doesn't correlate to performing your best. And driving to the gym to fight over equipment is a waste of time, but walking to a buddies home-gym is the perfect set-up for good times.

The home gym is raw and built to your specifications in any room that will fit the requirements, even if there's just barely enough space. The "high end gym" is impersonal, filled with bloated muscles and deflated egos... both trying to convince themselves otherwise.

The correlation between gym choice is clear. When you're serious about lifting all you care about is getting better, reaching goals, and setting new goals. When you just want to be "in shape" (whatever that means) you throw your money at a gym that could care less about goals, deadlines, barbells, and big balls of solid iron.

If your priority is performance, you know no one cares what you pull but you, and that's okay. If your priorities are fooling yourself, have fun wasting your time on the treadmill. Either way it's not likely our lifting paths will cross.

My secret energy cocktail ;)

I started taking sublingual Vit. B during my first R-phase back in 2007 and just stuck with it....come to find out my mom says she's deficient in Vit. B and gets a shot in the keester every now and again. Whether it's a legit genetic deficiency or just liking how it makes me feel, Vit. B delivers the energy goods and keeps me sharp.

I prefer to pop some under my tongue as I prepare a fizzy Emergen-C (super orange or pink lemonade, please). The Emergen-C rinses down the yuck Vit. B flavor (to spite the bottle saying NEW! non-ick flavor) plus I get the Vit C bonus. I take it first thing in the morning before a run, and at 3PM if I hit a slump in the day.

If you're going to try Vitamin B, don't do the cheap tablets. Go sublingual. It will say it on the bottle and it comes with a dropper. Vitamin B is a macro-nutrient, so you'll only be wasting your money if you get the pill form. Bonus: my new RKC friend, Jennifer in Gaineville, says Vitamin B helps keep the skeeters away. A good thing down here in West Nile Virus country. :/

Z & KB Workshops in Brea & Chico,CA

I just stepped off the plane from California last night and am already planning the next trip!

Saturday 3 October, 9am-5pm:
MBody Kettlebell Gym
480 W. Lambert
Brea, Ca 92821

800-578-0557

www.MBodystrength.com/events.html

SaraCheatham@hotmail.com

Discover:

Propriocpetion

Motor Learning Theory

SAID Principle

Neural Chunking

Speed Control

Neural Heirarchy

Vestibular Training

Joint Mobility

$125 until 26 Sept

$175 after 26 Sept

Sunday 4 October, 12-5PM:

KOR Fitness

2530 Zanella Way

Chico, Ca 95928

530-520-2297

Robin_Sinclear@yahoo.com

SaraCheatham@hotmail.com

Discover:

How to combine principles of these top-level training systems to get the most from your training

Secrets that separate the elite from the ordinary

How to improve neuropathways to make you quicker, stronger, and super-resilient

How to recover faster and optimize efficiency

How to be powerful & pain-free at any age and fitness level!

$45 pre-registration

$60 at-the-door

Bells bells everywhere...

I got this e-mail from a family member's friend:

I saw a commercial about a new type of kettlebell by Weider (I think that is how it was spelled). It is like those weights that you turn a dial and some of the plates stay out when you pick it up. I didn't write the website down and now I can't remember it but it was designed by the leading male kettlebell guy. Anyway, I think it was around $100.00-$120.00 but it ended up being around 6 different kettlebells in one. I think the weight ranged from 15-100 lbs. I thought you might ask your niece if she has heard about it. And I knew that you paid $60.00 for just one and I knew that as someone gets better at it they would need to go up to a heavier weight. I work out with Mike tomorrow and I am going to ask him what he knows about them. It would be something good to do at home for a complete workout without having to go get weights or go to the [gym].

My response:
The thing about kettlebells, is that you don't have to have a bunch of them like you would a dumbbell or barbell. If you get a trainer or someone that knows what they're doing, you can learn to manipulate the leverages using the same bell but increasing the difficulty. My ladies often purchase an 8kg bell (16lbs) or 12kg (26lb) and that's all they need for their lives. My mom has an 8 I got her two years ago that still serves her well. I only use a 16kg (36lb) and I've been training since 2003. I started with an 8kg for about 6 months then a 12kg for about a year and have been working with the 16 since. Every now and then I will use a 20kg or 24kg, but usually only to test myself, not for regular training. Get one bell and start mastering the movements. KB training should be approached differently than how you've trained in the past. Train with intention and set a goal to get better at what you choose to do. Master your movement and don't get distreacted by bells and whistles. They're just ploys to get your money.

An a personal thought..."designed by the main kettlebell guy" who IS that anyway? I think he may have been dead for a couple hundred years now...

Sweet Moves

I totally stole this from Franz's blog, but this guy's got skillZ...with a capital 'Z'

The Globemaster Mile

There's a nice mile loop in our neighborhood where I can test my run times.
I broke my previous 8+minute mile last Friday on it:
"Globemaster mile:" 7min 35sec
"Skytrain mile & a half:" 12min 08sec
hooah!

My current plan is to see how little I can do yet how good of shape I can get into.
The drills: running and pressing...I'm a minimalist all around ;)

The testing standards:
timed mile
timed 1.5mile
1 rep press max
body fat percentage
visual acuity (tested using saccade chart)
Right hip pain scale

I'm using the visual acuity test as a measure of mental acuity in a sense. Since vision is our highest survival priority, if it slows down, it will be an indicator of the influence my training is having on my cognitive functioning. ;)

My right hip has always given me trouble (see: tightness, pain, & popping). But since starting Z in late '07, it will just pop now and again. The pops usually aren't painful, but if I overdue anything, it will rear its ugly head and remind me of my parameters. Like when I was packing and preparing to move from Vegas to North Carolina and thinking I could do certifications and the Z-Health master trainer program on top of it all. Hello hip pain.

And why the run you ask? So taboo for a hardstyle kettlebeller, you think. Well, I figure if the guys and ladies I train have to be tested on the 1.5mile run (the most hated aspect of the PT test) then I should know their "pain." I should know how to get better at running and be the best runner they see. It creates credibility and provides much more than empty words when I'm in front of them preaching about proper running biomechanics. Who cares about learning running from a runner that never runs? It's like learning to press a kettlebell or deadlift from someone that's never pressed a kettlebell or deadlifted in their life. They don't appreciate the process and progress like someone with in-the-trenches experience. To know something and truly appreciate it, you have to experience it first-hand.

I've backed off of pressing. So I should have a nice baseline to start. The last press session was 5x1/2/3/4/5 with the 16kg (5 ladders up to 5 presses with the 16) and was last Sunday.

Current standings (where I sit as of this moment):
1 mile: 7min 35sec
1.5mile: 12min 08sec
1 rep press max: 20kg
BF%: 15.3
Saccade Chart: 102 letter jumps in 1min.
R Hip Pain: a very dull 1 with an awesome pop this morning :/ (and by awesome I mean not cool)

They have a Club for that TOO!

I ventured over to the Fort Bragg Area Officers' Spouses' Club membership kick-off social this morning and was probably more excited about stumbling onto and becoming a member of "The Society of Daughters of the U.S. Army (DUSA)!" Had I not been in public I probably would have cried I was so excited.

An actual club for Army Daughters- Right. on!

I immediately texted my Aunt Becca (who is all of three years older than I am, so she's more like my sister) to give her the heads up on becoming a member herself. The Bartley's (Bartley being my maiden name... If ya didn't know know ya know) have a long lineage of U.S. Army service. My dad's dad retired as a CW-3 (Chief Warrant Officer-3) and served multiple tours in both Korea and Vietnam. My dad is a Camp Commander and currently serves as National Guard after 15 years active duty. I went AF ROTC, in Grad school but wasn't up to the challenge as both an active duty member and spouse of active duty. (Many brave souls do it and I give them mad props. I was not man enough for that position). But I'm finding my place quite nicely as an Army Brat and Air Force "dependant" ;)

Zoom Zoom Zoom!

I've been running more than usual. Usually it's something I pick up as a form of meditation when Mike is TDY or deployed, but lately it has provided me with some solid alone time to think, get out of the house ("officially" away from business & work), and appreciate the weather without getting eaten alive or carried away by swarms of pesky mosquitoes (I swear I'm going to get west Nile or something living down here!).
My old running shoes are pretty beat up and sad looking. They're so loose that I have to tie them with the laces almost touching to keep them from slipping when I run. They've been through a few 5Ks, the Army Birthday 10-miler, a half-marathon at Barstow, plus uncounted miles around Nellis (our last assignment in Vegas) and now at Pope (our current base). Like the James Taylor song, they've seen rain and sunny days I thought would never end. But, sadly, they are being demoted to lawn shoes...to be brought out when the weeds and grass get out of control. :(

What is the deal with being connected to training shoes? It's the same with my car. The connectedness, like it's a person. Sheesh! They are the constant that are with you through some pretty emotional times, I suppose. Like when Ashley (my car) and I traveled how many times across the southern states? Or that time in Albuquerque I thought we were going to hydroplane off the road into the concrete median, or the time in Oklahoma when all those tornadoes were surrounding us just out of sight, or venturing down to Alabama to see Mike on a TDY then up to my little brother's wedding and on to tape my dvd, or the white-out we survived in the Texas pan-handle...ahhh the memories.

Shoes take you places like your car can, the difference being you provide the horse power instead of a car's engine. I guess that's what makes them so hard to get rid of or demote. No one appreciates your shoes and cares about them as much as you do. They are your connection to the earth when you can't go barefoot, they're reliable, and they provide protection so you can do the things and go the place you want to.

However-I got a new pair! A new history waiting to be written in the Nike Zooms. Bright yellow. And I actually thought, "Ah man, not my NEW shoes!" when I hit the still muddy revenge over by the elementary school at approximately 4Pm this afternoon. In the oldies, the mud would have been just another trail-hazard stain to add to the collection.

Oooh and let me tell you about my a.m. run. I hit the street and it was like I was Achilles and my feet had wings! I ran my fastest 1miler yet: 7minutes 28seconds. Maybe not fast for some, but it is a steady uphill climb and I am by no means a seasoned runner... However, it was confirmation that the time to change shoes was indeed overdue. The air was a bit cooler, too. A sign of the new season and time for changes anyway.

I'm an advocate of specificity: if you want to get better at something, practice THAT exactly the way you will be tested. But in this case, change was for the positive. :)

Maybe your current training is good, but remember: "The enemy of Great is good." What small change can you make to turn your current good living-Great? It can be the way you eat, where you eat, how you eat...the way you train, where you train, how you train, or who you train with. Even getting a new comfortable pair of shoes. I'm a solo artist when it comes to training myself, but throw Mike into the mix and it always bumps the intensity up a notch. Small changes can pay off big in the short and long run. Evaluate your life, make a change or two, and go from Good to Great...or at least move in Great's direction. ;)

Have I ever recommended Good to Great? Yep, someone even wrote a book about it, Jim Collins! My boss where I did my graduate school assistantship gave a copy to every single employee. I now have two copies somehow...