Training

I appreciate the athletics in their given field. Lately MMA has increased popularity in no small part to the efforts and success of Dana White. He put it on the map.

I recognize kettlebells as a worthy sport not because I do it personally (though many would disagree) but because of the aspect that you have to train for it and train significantly and apply as many helpful conditions as possible.

My Powerlifting friend who totalled ELITE in 148, 165 and 181 said that "I like kettlebell sport because if you are a runner, you get your ass kicked, if you are a Cross Fitter, you get your ass kicked, if you are a powerlifter, you get your ass kicked."

It is not on the map yet but it has a history of over half a century as Russia's military sport.

The formula for what I consider high level in any sport is good coaching, hard work and consistency to achieve mastery. Terms like well rounded and "elite" fitness by its very definition are oxymorons aka contradictions of words. I ask fitness for what? If we talk about health and wellness I think risk management. Risk of injury, heart, cancer etc.

My resting heart rate is 39 when I don't read posts on the bad forum;) They are examples of those who want the secret formula for ultimate bad A#$.

This may be a downer but the basic formula for success doesn't change. Just find that "something" and focus on it. Key is focus. Not changing your routine from one week to the next. I will have more to follow.

Make it Happen

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting "Make it Happen" Fitness Center in St. Catharines Ontario Canada to see what it is all about. Jennifer Hintenberger, who I met at the AKC certification is the owner/operator of Make it Happen. She had a 1 year anniversary to celebrate the beginning of her club. Before her class with her students, I had an opportunity to to do a kettlebell workout there. I did one set of jerks and one set of snatches due to the fact that I had mono the last month. If I were healthy I still would have broken a sweat doing the workout she did and had been pretty tired. There were battling ropes, Sledgehammers, two handed swings with a 32 kg and body weight drills. The rep range was somewhat high(100 swings) which with a 32 kg is impressive. She uses all of these things in addition to training for Kettlebell sport.

When I met Jennifer in Cincinnati 5 months prior she looked shaky for a few overhead reps with 16 kg. Just recently she did 70+ reps long cycle each hand for CMS at her very first Kettlebell meet. This is a testament to training with Cate Imes but more so with Jen's work ethic then anything else. It wasn't Kettlebell specific necessarily, but I could see the amount of work she performed during her training session. Her students were no less impressive. Holy crap, some of them could swing a 32 kg to overhead in a bottoms up position and do 100 swings with it. Crazy.

The workout that she gave her students was non stop for at least an hour and these women used a 32 kg bell most of
the time. I know Jen mentioned about forming a team for Las Vegas which I think will
produce MS athletes in a short amount of time. Based on what I saw with her training and workouts, she is MS level unofficially. It is hard to say at this point but she exceeded her requirement in New York fairly easy. Make no mistake to the other females out there, Jen and her students will be contenders.

I have to say that on a lighter note I had a lot of fun. They play as hard as they work and had a get together at the studio to celebrate the 1 year anniversary. As a Kettlebell Lifter and as a man :) I must say that it was something to see girls wearing heels handling the 32 kg. It was confusing but I'm not complaining:)

Look for the Make it Happen team in Las Vegas. More to follow.