Kettlebell Time

Hey everyone! Hope you all had an awesome holiday and hope some of you got to enjoy a long weekend! I did, which is to explain for my delayed post! But I’ll be honest, with the last class I took – I needed the week to come back to life……

Working Out = Success

Last Wednesday was a big day for me. Some highlights – I took 2 classes in one day. One of those classes being Kettlebell. And I got up to 10 classes for the month of June. Now I’ll brag here for a second, because I think that’s a pretty impressive list for myself, considering how hard it was for me to start on this journey. So before I talk to you about the Kettlebell class, let’s chat about those 10 classes in the month of June. If you remember, Josh Davis and I have a bet going, and it is centered around how many classes I took in June. When we made the bet, I was shooting to get to 12 classes for the month, but if I didn’t get to 8, I was going to be super disappointed with myself. So I think hitting 10 was a nice number. And if you remember the bet, that means Josh owes me 30 pull ups. Now we’ll get to that next week, but wooo!

Working Out = Winning

So why is the fact that I took Kettlebell so important? Well, first – it is one of the classes that I have been dreading. I’ve said it before, there is definitely a type of class that I feel comfortable taking, even enjoy. There are also classes that I am not so interested in taking. Whether because they seem hard, are cardio heavy, or are even just at a time where I don’t want to be at the gym, there’s a few of them, and Kettlebell is definitely one of them. The second reason this was so important – Josh said that if I took it last Wednesday specifically, he would do his punishment of the bet, whether he wins or loses. So – I had to take the class, right? You can’t just give up chances like that. I am guessing he thought that I wouldn’t do it – I had already taken a class that day and he knew I wasn’t really interested in Kettlebell (he’s been selling me on it since I started this thing)…. But, nevertheless, his punishment was worth that 45 minutes of my life.

Working Out = Hard

So on to the actual class….. The class is held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:15 PM, with Carlos Bradley. It is a paid for class – which is included in our CrossFit Bala membership, or can be done as packages or a drop in rate. If you want to give the class a try – your first would be free. If you have ever taken Kettlebell, you probably have a good idea of what I am going to say next. It was hard. REALLY, REALLY hard. This was the hardest class that I have taken so far. In theory, this class should live up to what I am looking for in a class:

• It doesn’t contain a lot of cardio.
• The class is a much slower pace than something like Power Strike.
• There are a few water breaks during the class.
• It’s only 45 minutes long.

Now, why, despite all of the above, was this class one that I was dreading, and one that was really hard? The problem is – I’m not strong. And, oh yeah – kettlebells are heavy. Now, the classes that I have used weights in before – Barre, Pilates, etc. – I’ve been using 2 pound weights. For this Kettlebell class, I started with 13 pound kettlebells. This is a lot for someone who uses 2 pound weights on occasion during class. The whole point of our Kettlebell class is to use the kettlebells – so this is a pretty big jump for me. The class revolves around using the kettlebells in different types of exercises – there are kettlebell swings, squats with the kettlebells, ab exercises with the kettlebells, lunges with the kettlebells, bear crawls with the kettlebells. You get the point – it is all WITH THE KETTLEBELLS. So it was rough for me.  Luckily, Carlos took it easy on me and made sure that I was only doing what I was strong enough to do. If you know Carlos, you can imagine this was probably hard for him – but he didn’t want to scare me away, or for me to hurt myself, so good job to Carlos too! I’ll also mention that the basketball court is hot. I knew that it would be, but when you’re there, struggling to properly squat with your kettlebell, I am pretty sure you feel 1000 times hotter. I’ve been told that you get used to this, but I wasn’t there yet.

The good news – I survived. I made it through the class… I didn’t throw up, I didn’t pass out, I didn’t even quit (because we know I’ve done that before). My recommendations for this class – if you are new to working out, this might not be the class for you. You want to make sure that your body really has a strong enough base to make sure that you are doing the exercises properly. When you do decide that you are ready for the class – tell Carlos that you are new too. He will work with you on some of the basic moves before the class starts – so that you know what you are doing, and he knows that you can do it properly. And while you are taking the class – go slowly, concentrate on your movement, make sure you are breathing, and take water breaks.