You make loving fun

Front Split Revisited

2011-05-10T19:17:00.003+02:00

I have no idea how it happened.

The stretch-class that I started in November didn't last long. I quit four weeks after I started when an evil dance chic (you know the type: gourgeous, ice-cold with mean black eyes) had tried to let me know my place in the hierachy while "helping" me stretch and had ripped my hamstrings to shreds before I even had time to react.

So basically I have been laying very low on any type of hardcore stretch work lately. About a month ago I felt like going again. Been starting slow which means I have only done a few minutes a couple of times a week just after ballet class, apart from the normal softer dance warmup and some sun-salutationes.

Today inbetween contemporary and ballet class I felt better than ever in hamstrings and hipflexors, strong and full of energy but like they would let go and not tighten up if I would give them a yank. Tried a front split and there it was!

Perhaps the new stretch-methodology is to not dedicate more than a few minutes here and there to the painful stuff and let your body soften up while going easy the rest of the time.

Or is the reason for todays succes just to be living happily in Barcelona with 25 perfect degrees, going to fantastic dance classes, eating sweet tomatoes and a chilling on the terrace with 'mi Amor'?

KB-muscle Re-visited - Good News

2011-05-06T17:01:00.002+02:00

Jon:
We're on our last moth in Bcn so I wanted to put some more itensity into my training and perhaps re-live some memories. Incipit Geoff Neupert's kettlebell complexes in Kettlebell Muscle. Last time I did half the program - 6 weeks - with double 20s. Then I got bored and the 20s were stolen so no more KB-muscle. Now I'm through first weeks with double 24s and it feels great. It basically feels the same as it did with double 20s 6 months ago. It's heavy but not at all too heavy. I don't care too much about Neupert's prescribed rest period between sets. Generally I have rested about 3 min., sometimes a bit longer. During hard day I have to put the bell down in the last sets before the last squats but apart from that I do it as prescribed. I don't think I will stay with it for the whole 12 weeks but I'm planning to do it for the rest of the month....if it still feels good.
Anyway, I can do something today that I could not do 6 months ago. Getting stronger. Happy.
Here is a video of the last set:

My Gym Movement

2011-04-27T11:38:00.002+02:00

Jon:
To make it clear from the beginning: I do not confess myself to Gym Movement. Neither do I confess myself to RKC (yes I know I have an RKC badge on the blog) , Crossfit or anything else. Not because I have something against these but because I don't want to be identified with something outside my control. I have however learned from all of these three aswell as from numerous other sources. Here I wan't to write a bit about what I have learned from Gym Movement.
I became interested in Gym Movement when I first saw Adam T. Glass videos on Youtube 1 1/2 years ago or so. It reminded me of something that I read many years ago about bodybuilder Victor Richards. At that time I was doing a classical bodybuilding three day split and wondering if a four day split perhaps was better or if I should split the day into two separate sessions. Richards however wasn't following a program at all. He did what he felt like each day. This idea sort of stuck with me but it wasn't until I heard of GM that it resurfaced again.
For me this is the core of the GM idea: not to force me into a pre set mold that does not take the specificity of my body and my present situation into consideration. Everybody that trains knows about good days and bad days. Days when you for some unexplainable reason are really strong or really weak. My experience with the weak days has generally been that if I push through and lift according to schedule I lift less than I should have done and that it leaves me depressed and down.
Today I choose not to push through but rather to walk around. Rather than doing something that really doesn't feel good I do something similar - another weight, other reps/sets, other exercise - and if that doesn't feel good either I do something completely different.
I don't test movements the way GM do. Mainly because I can't get it to work. I never see any differences in my toe touch or shoulder ROM no matter what I do and I don't have a mesauring device for grip strength. Instead I try to listen "inwards" so to speak. This of course means that I have to learn the difference beween a weak mind and a body telling me no.
It is not totally random training though. I do have a plan based on my goals. For example I plan to squat every second day. I have a plan for how to progress. If everything feels good I squat and follow this plan. If it doesn't feel good - which basicalyy means that I feel that I will not be able to do what I have planned to do in a good way - then I start making adjustments. If I have planned to do five sets of five reps kettlebell front squats with double 32s and that doesn't feel good I might go for 6 sets of 4 instead, or for longer rest between sets, or more reps with a lower weight. Sometimes squatting seems like a bad idea period and then i do something else. I love to train. I don't need to force myself to do it. If I don't squat today I will do it tomorrow.
I also keep a fairly detailed logbook. It is essential for knowing where to go next. If I for example choses to lower the weight in the frontsquats to double 24s then I know what my best set with these are and if I belive that I can beat it then I go for it. This leads me to another part of the GM philosophy: PR everytime.
I chose to leave the term PR for more dramatic occurences such as 1 RM but I do sympathize with the idea of perpetual progress. For me this means that I in my daily training chose to do excercises that I will have progress with. If I feel that I will not do better than last time then I don't do it. The progress is usually very slow - one more rep, one more set, one more kilo - but it is almost always there.
One last thing that I really like with GM is that nobody from there will frown upon me if some of my goals are purely aesthetical. So what if biceps curls are not "functional"? I want liquor strong and my guns big.
All in all, since I've started to experiment with the GM-ideas my training is more relaxed, it shows a more steady progress and it is easier.

The narcissism of minor difference - Snatches, Logan Christopher and Freud

2011-03-01T11:36:00.002+01:00

Jon:
It's been a while since we wrote anything. I don't want to bore anyone with a simple training log, especially since the weights I move hardly can be considered extraordinary. I did have a pretty nice pull-up session the otherday though where I easily did pull-ups with +48 kgs and had a very good try (bar to the chin but not under) with +56 kgs.
Thats not what I'm writing about now anyway. If you are a part of the world kettkebell community on Facebook and internet you have probably heard of or seen Logan Christophers 301 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24 kg bell. You have probably also not missed the debate it has stirred.
The major objection to Logans feat is (no surprise here) technique.
"That's not a snatch", "There is no lockout", "What's the point?".
There seems to be an impulse in human beings to sniff up the weakest point in other human beings that they encounter and attack it. Or to quote Tool: "I will find the center in you, I will chew it up and leave".
In Civilization and its Discontents Freud writes about "the narcissism of minor/small difference" as the impulse that makes one human being separate himself/herself from others through focusing of differences and thereby creating an other, an enemy. Michael Ignatieff uses the concept to discuss genocide in general and Rwanda in particular.
Though the kettlebell world is a long way from Rwanda in the early 90s the concept still applies.
The kettlebell world is small. It's a bunch of people who uses the same tool in a similar way. Basically everyone in the kettlebell world agree on some basic premises, e.g. that free weights are superior to machines or that strength and conditioning should go hand in hand. These similarities are a lot bigger than the differences, e.g. technique or design of the bells. In despite of that, the reaction to Logans 301 snatches is not awe but ridicule (there's a lot of awe also but that's not a problem).

"...are engaged in constant feuds and ridiculing each other' - 'such sensitiveness...to just these details of differentiation"
From Wikipedia

Anyone who has ever lifted a 24 kg kettlebell knows how almost inhumanly hard it is to do what Logan did. Why do they choose to focus on the lack of a lockout rather than the accomplishment?
This narcissism of minor difference is like a virus on the internet. Look at the comments on any youtube video of someone doing anything hard. If someone deadlifts 400 kgs, someone thinks that the back isn't straight enough; if someone BUPs 60 kg, someone thinks that there's not enough control in the lockout etc. etc. ad infinitum.
I admit, when I saw Logans video my first thought was: "he's not locking his elbow and the ROM is short". But just looking for a few minutes more, listening to his breath, pretty quickly changed that thought into: "maaaaaaaaan!!!! I'm not even close to be able to do that, not even in the same universe!!".
To critizise someones technique without acknowledging their achivements is putting the bar higher for others than for yourself. If you want better, DO better. If you can't DO better then at least have the courtesy to be silent. The world is big enough for all kinds of snatches.

P.S.
Do I think that it is possible to do 301 locked elbow snatches with a 24 kg bell in 10 minutes? Well I went out on the terrace to do an experiment: to do 30 locked elbow snatches with the 24 in one minute. It worked, with one slow hand change (can't do the flashy air changes yet). Would I be able to keep that tempo for 10 minutes? Ha ha ha ha ha.....no way. But I do think it is possible.
D.S.

100 tons of DOMS

2011-02-04T13:54:00.004+01:00

Jon:
So. I did my 100 tons project. It took me 5 hours and 50 minutes and it brought me no happiness.
I followed a very simple program based on light deadlifts, squats or lunges, floor presses and snatches or rows. Everything done with kettlebells. Each "set" took approx. 5 minutes which gave me 5 minutes of rest in between. It took a lot shorter time than I thought. I had planned for 10 hours and hoped for less than 8 so less than 6 was great. All in all however it's not a workout that I recommend if you're no really set on proving something for yourself. The first hour was cool. The second was good. The third started to get to med and when I got to the fourth it was nothing but stubborn will that had med going. It's easy psyching yourself up for an hour or two but after a while all endorphines are gone and it's just about grinding it out. I have never ran for more man three hours but I have walked for a lot longer and that puts you in a sort of meditative dream state where tou can keep on going for ever. This doesn't happen when you lift. It is too much on/off/on/off. The last two hours were horrible. I felt no joy or power whatsoever.
The original idea of doing this came when we did a 16 tons workout dedicated to the Merle Travis song 16 tons. The song is about the life of a coal miner lifting 16 tons of coal. 100 tons is probably closer to the daily workload of a coal miner in the 19th century and I can tell you it sucked. It's just hard work. Nothing else. It might make you harder but it doesn't make you stronger. The soreness i have had in my legs since then is of Biblical proportions. Bending the knees has been a horror. The last few days I have rather left stuff that I have dropped on the floor than picked it up.
Once upon a time I really liked DOMS. It was a proof that I had done well in the gym. Getting older however has also made me wiser. There are more than one reason why DOMS should be avoided.
It stops you from training. Squatting, deadlifting, swinging or anything else making use of the legs has been out of question the last few days.
It makes you weaker. Even in movements that does not directly involve the legs I have been substantially weaker the last few days.
It makes you tired. Having constant pain in the largest muscles of the body spends a lot of energy and it effects your sleep.
It changes your movement patterns. If bending your knees are painful, walking is painful. And if walking is painful your whole movement pattern changes. Walking becomes much harder and delivers more impact on the knees.

So even though I do not even for a moment regret lifting 100 tons I will not do it again anytime soon.

Superhuman: Intermission

2011-01-23T18:07:00.003+01:00

Jon:
In a comment to my last blogpost an anonymous reader asked what the point of this whole "lifting 100 tons in one day" project is. I guess it's a valid question.
My answer is that there really is no point. I do it because I got the idea. I do it as a way of structuring my training and as an experiment. I do it to have a good time, to test my limits and to learn something.
My anonymous reader correctly hinted that the rules that I have set out for this project is - to say the least - arbitrary. This is of course true - they are not the laws of logic, they are a posteriori - but they are not entirely random. The excersises that are "permitted" in the project are excersises that I normally use. I don't invent new excersises to suit my needs but I do adjust the weights for me to be able to complete the project. I have chosen not to include bodyweight squats as a "permitted" excersise. I could probably come up with a good reason for this but to the question why?, the most honest answer is probably that it didn't feel right. An arbitrary rule yes but as such not different to any other rules in sports or jurisprudence.
In the end this is a game not so different from other games. It has a set of rules that are set to make it function. In this case the game has one sole practitioner: me, it's creator.
So the answer to the question why I just don't run 10K and count that as 425 tons in 45 minutes is that it is not allowed by the rules because it would render the game meaningless for it's sole practitioner.
If anyone else wants lift 100 tons in one day I would applaud their decision and leave them to it. How you do it is up to you. Or to quote Pavel: "You're on the honour system now". If you decide that only lifts where the weight travels at least the distance between the knees and the head are allowed then that is the rule you abide by.
And finally: why do I think it's better to cheat than to quit?
To start with: I just do. I prefer to finish what I started even though it means that I have to use aid (wrist straps) that I usually not use. I prefer to do it without them but I don't want to quit because my grip fails. Again an arbitrary decision. Why draw the line there? Because it has to be drawn somewhere and I find that drawing it there works for me. If you rather draw it somewhere else be my guest. For all that I care you can do the whole thing on a BOSU ball only using your teeth.
So. Dear anonymous reader. I will be very happy to share your ideas on how a proper 100 ton workout should be done and I also look forward to reading about your progress and results in executing it. Power to you!

Superhuman: 4th test run

2011-01-22T13:15:00.003+01:00

Jon:
No Eskrima practise today so why not continue the Superhuman experiment?
The original idea was to try if I could do 10 tons worth of 32 kg swings in one hour but as I suspected it became too hard for my grip pretty quickly so I switched over to light deadlifts for the rest of the hour which proved to be an excellent idea.
Two handed swings, 32 kg: 35, 35,
Deadlifts, 56 kg: 22, 30, 30, 30, 30, 20, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15
=15512 kg in 50 minutes
=310kg/min

Conclusion: Light deadlifts are a pretty good idea if you want to lift a lot of weight during a long time. It does tax the grip but not as bad as swings or snatches and if I really loose the grip after a few hours I can wrap a belt around the handle and my wrists. I would feel a bit like cheating but it is better than quitting.

Can he flip it? Yes he can!

2011-01-21T17:09:00.002+01:00

Jon:
Today I was really ment to do ten tons of swings in an hour to see how that felt but since the weather was great and I felt strong I loaded a 56 bell on the hand truck and headed for the park.

I was pretty sure I was going to be able to flip it - if you can swing it, you can flip it - but it took a couple of tries to get it right.
I started with just deadlifting it for warmup. Then swinging it and after that flipping it without catching. After I got that right I went for the catch and got it.
I was not able to do 10 unbroken flips. If you don't do it immediately you really don't have the power to do it later. It didn't feel as it would be a problem in the future though. Next time I'll move up to front flips and then to the double 32s.
Tried to do a one arm flip but that felt pretty far away. Maybe in a couple of months...

Superhuman: 3d test run

2011-01-19T22:12:00.002+01:00

Jon:
Todays 13 tons looked like this:
Snatch, 16 kg, 15/15/15/15
Lunge, 2x16 kg, 5/5
Bent-over row, 24 kg, 10/10
Lunge, 2x16 kg, 5/5
Bent-over row, 24 kg, 10/10
5 times in 55 minutes.
=12800 kgs

The easiest workout this far. The only drawback being that the snatches taxed the hands but with a bit of handcare it should be ok.
Rest day tomorrow. On friday I'll start putting it all together.

Superhuman: 2nd test run

2011-01-18T13:21:00.002+01:00

Jon:
I felt yesterdays workout when I got out of bed this morning. Not much. Just like a pat on my back.
Today it was time to try out a new design of the 100 ton workout. This was todays version:
Two round of
5 x ringdips
10 x C/P (2x16kg)
5 x floorpress (2x24kg)
approx. once every 15 minutes for 55 minutes (5 times)

= 12800 kg (233kg/min.)

As with the first test workout this is also too heavy to do for 100 tons but that is mainly because it is so focused on pecs, shoulders and triceps. I need to mix todays excercises with more pulling and lower body excercises such as lunges and bent over rows.
It was however a good idea to split the workout into two rounds rather than just do it all in a row. I think this might be an important key to finishing the 100 ton workout: to divide it into as efficient "portions" as possible.
I think tomorrow will be something like lunges with double 16, bent over row with double 24 and high rep snatches with 16.

Superhuman: 1st test run

2011-01-17T12:46:00.003+01:00

Jon:
I thought it might be a good idea to do a few test workouts before the actual 10 hour run.
Today I had a go at my first workout design:
13xPullups at a bodyweight of 80 kgs (=1040 kg)
A complex of 5x(swing/high-pull/clean/squat/push-press) with double 24s (=1200 kg)
5xdeadlift with double 56 (=560 kg)
=2800 kg

The idea is to do it once every 15 minutes but I squeezed in one extra and did 5 in an hour. It went fine but it is way to heavy to do for 10 hours so my idea now is to it perhaps 3 times during 10 hours and to mix it up with lighter more rep intensive blocks. A lot of snatches with the 16 for example. I also need to get something in the doesen't tax the grip at all. Any ideas?

Superhuman: Potentially incalculable, able to lift in excess of 100 tons

2011-01-17T11:07:00.002+01:00

Jon:
About a year and a half ago we posted the 16 ton challenge on this blog. Now it's time to take it up a notch. I have been fascinated by ultra runners for a long time. People running double, triple or quadruple marathons. Now I want to translate that into lifting. So within the next two weeks I will do my own Iron Ultra: lift in excess of 100 tons in one day.
The rules are as follows:
Bodyweight excercise is allowed but only excercises such as chins, dips and handstand pushups. Regular pushups. or squats are not allowed.
Any kind of quantifiable excercises and/or tools are allowed.
The goal is to reach 100 tons lifted in total, e.g. 1000 reps of 100 kg deadlift.
There is no limit to how many excercises that are allowed. If you just want to do snatches that's ok but it is also ok to do a large variety of different excercises.
My plan is to lift 2.5 tons every 15 min. for 10 hours.
Anyone up for it?

Time on my hands

2011-01-11T20:22:00.004+01:00

Anna:
Oscar came by yesterday and held a handstand/ juggling session for us.

First of all I would like to say something about the beauty of someone performing a good handstand. You know, most of us have seen video clips of everything from groups of flexy three year olds handstanding on eachothers forehead to russian guys sprayed with gold doing...well, virtually the same. And it's easy to become blasé when you've seen everything and more on Youtube. But how often do we experience these things live? Sometimes we go to the cirkus and we see them on stage but that is still a bit surreal in a way. It's a show, there's bright lights and usually a lot of things going on at the same time.

I mean really live. Having a tall, handsome guy performing what he calls the handstand basics - two-handed, perfectly quiet, and deadstill - one metre from you away in our tiny flat was breathtaking. Almost touching. It was so perfect and it struck me in a way nothings ever done on youtube. Well, except for Sneezing Panda and all clips tagged Ultra Kawaii, of course.

After that we went on to juggling, what's next, dreadlocks!? Oscar said it was easy as pie and that it should be learned in no more that 20 minutes. I kind of got it after 19 minutes and 17 seconds. Yes, we timed it. Jon is practicing as we speak and every now and then he accidentally drops an orange on my head.

Thank you Oscar for your time, skills and help.

It's not what it looks like

He's assesing my balance

By the way, do a search for 'time on my hands' on Spotify. A lot of fun to find there. Styx and Pet Shop Boys are my favorites.

Eccentric Flu

2011-01-04T17:00:00.003+01:00

Jon:
Some of the positive vibes concerning year 2011 were spoiled after getting the flue on the third day of the year. And here I still am: in bed on day two. No training, no fun n' games, no nothing. What I do have - although it's waining - is one hell of a DOMS (träningsvärk/muscle soreness) in my trapezius. Can't thing of another time when it has hurt so much and it got me thinking. It is of course a result of sundays snatching and juggling but why so much? Freshened up a little on my DOMS knowledge and there it was: eccentric training. Eccentric training is known to create DOMS and both snatching and - perhaps even more so - heavy juggling are examples of eccentric training.
I have sung the praise of kb juggling before and I will do it again. Not only is it a more creative and free break from sometimes tedious routines. It also trains hand to eye cordination, makes you work off balance and explore meridians of you movement that you usually do not explore and it works the muscles both concentric and eccentric. The only drawback being that it gives you the flu.

Last day of fun n' games - snatch test revisited

2011-01-02T15:48:00.002+01:00

Jon:
The quest for my 2011 goals starts tomorrow so today I took the opportunity of just playing around. Brought a 24 to Ciutadella to do some juggling and winded up doing a snatch test.
It was the first time I really juggled with a 24. I have tried it back in Sweden but since my Powermax bell is as well balanced as a teenage Brit in Ibiza it was really hopeless.
Much better with the Eleiko bells. It went pretty ok for being the first times. It's quite unforgiving to juggle a heavy bell but it is also much more steady. It takes more power to move it but because of that it also take much more power to tilt it and it stays on the given path. I can do a lot of the things that I can do with a 16 but for example flipping it between the legs vill have to wait for a while. It is not only the weight that is different but also the size which becomes most appearent in the "behind the back" and "between the legs" stuff. I'll get it soon though.

Juggling a 24 kg kettlebell from youmakelovingfun on Vimeo.

After half an hour of juggling form started to deteriorate so that was the end of that. Didn't feel quite ready yet so I tried to do the snatch test for the first time since the RKC (I think..). It went...very easy. Done in under 3:50. Did it without looking at the clock and could probably speed it up some more, It feels like 3:30 might be quite possible.

Grass is always greener...

2011-01-02T00:50:00.003+01:00

Anna:
Life here is fantastic, bur damn how I would like to go cross-country skiing right now!

Slip, juggle and roll

2011-01-01T18:29:00.004+01:00

Anna:
We had a wonderful day in the park today. Mostly playing, laughing and fooling around. Was doing a few rounds of Fredriks 'the idiot'. You are standing in the middle of eight stations then running to touch the one Jon is calling out, then back to the middle, then run to the next one a.s.o. Then, while Jon was practicing juggling three bells, I practiced some Ninja rolls (it's my secret dream to be one and yes I know that everone but me thinks it's dorky and stupid but in fact, I just bought some new ninja shoes the other day so slowly but surely I'm getting there, just the rolls left now).

These puppies are quieter than an assasins rifle, have got a deadly grip and were cheap as chips!

I tried out my new killer super-ab-plank on Jon and I forced Jon to be my sparring partner as I wanted to practice some slips and boxing defence. 'Not so fast!' 'NO, not so slow' Ha ha, he couldn't do anything right but we had a lot of fun and I will feel it in my obliques tomorrow.

We finished of with some partner juggling. (Somebody give me a better word for it!) Trying to get into the groove and freestyle. More training should be like this. No grunting, no comfort zones to get out of, no PRs, no counting, no yelling, no pain. Just moving and having fun on a piece of grass with my loved one. Tomorrow, my best friend Nonno is coming to visit. She actually practiced Ninjutsu during one semester like ten years ago. I'll take her down to the park for a few rolls.

Well, it wasn't my idea! Jon is getting all geared up with all the new film editing options his latest App has to offer.

Secret bonus

2010-12-31T15:35:00.002+01:00

Jon:
I have already stated my goals for 2011 and I have set up a plan on how to accomplish them. But I also have sort of a bonus goal. Something that I have never seen anyone do: juggle three kettlebells. I figure it is basically the same technique as in juggling with clubs. Not that I know how to do that but I have watched some tutorials and I'm starting with two 8 kg bells and will take it from there. Progress will be filmed.

Pressing in the dark

2010-12-30T16:40:00.002+01:00

And listen to 'Because the night' performed by Patti Smith, written by Bruce Springsteen. Brilliant song.

Anna

Burning rubber/ That's what I'll be doing!

2010-12-30T15:42:00.003+01:00

Anna:
It turns out that I have an inflamed biceps tendon so I'll be laying low with presses for a while. I Guess Kettlebell Muscle Program wasn't for me after all. But oooh how I be working the rubber! Rehab is always more fun when you get to buy something and how I love my new rubberbands. They come in happy colours and with a funny booklet of instructions. Listen to this:

- Do you exercising in a well ventilated room
- Attach long hair so as not to be hindered during exercising
- Do not let children or household pets play near the appliance when you are training (Fredrik, maybe you should keep that one in mind next time, and for the rest of you look at his latest vid.)
- Consult you doctor before undertaking the exercises (Or as Fredrik says: Ask your doctor if getting off your as is right for you)

I'm not so frustrated as I usually would be though. Am taking some well deserved rest, playing with photshop (see below) and planning for how to train the coming year and trying to come up with a way on how to achieve your goals without getting injured. Everybody seems to do it but me. What's the key? Sometimes I think my body wasn't made for training at all. But what do you do?

I'm thinking maybe one of the solutions is to set up long-term goal. Really long-term so that there's no need at all to rush things. Am following Jons example and am setting up goals for the whole year to come with #1 being staying whole. Will be getting back for the rest of them in the days to come.

Well, it's not the most intense workout I've ever undertaken. But it's kinda nice. I like it! And I've lost my rubberband virginity too!

Very important to stay focused and really isolate the...the...tounge?

By the way; you big lifter guys who spent your teenage years in on your back in the benchpress, or did one dumbell fly too many, you must have had the same problem at some point. Any advice on rehab? Or rather, any advice in general?

Kettlebell Catalunya

2010-12-30T15:33:00.003+01:00

Anna:
Not sure this will be the official KBC-logo. But it's at least a sample of whats to come. For our Barcelona readers you will recognize the pattern from the paving tiles.

Am working on the webpage for Kettlebell Catalunya. You will find the temporary page here. Come and train with us! New years day there'll be no training but from wed 5/1 we going on strong as usual.

Goals 2011

2010-12-29T16:11:00.003+01:00

Jon:
Ten years have soon passed since the black monolith should have been found on the dark side of the moon but things are pretty much as they always has been. 2011 will however be a year of immense change.
Just read my blog post from a year ago and it struck me how little my training has progressed. It felt a bit sad really. I mean, a lot has happened this past year. I do think that I am a better athlete and I am for sure a much better teacher but I don't know if I am that much stronger. This, however, makes me even more confident in what I should do this comming year: set up clear goals, program for them and write a training log. So here they come. My 11 goals for 2011:

1. Deadlift double bodyweight. This should be one of the easier goals since I already has lifted 160 kg at 82 kg bodyweight. Have to wait to start training it for real until I find a proper barbell. Our two 56 kg kettlebells will have to do meanwhile.
2. Squat double bodyweight. I have never tried out a 1 rep max squat so I really don't know how hard this is going to be but I'm starting to work it with double kb front squats while I'm still in Bcn.
3. Benchpress 1.5 x bodyweight. Have never benchpressed 100 kgs so this will be interesting.
4. Pistol. It's just a shame that I can't do it already.
5. Press double 36s for 10 reps. I prefer to keep on doing the double kb work since I hope it will even out the imbalance I've got between left and right side.
6. Flip double 36s for 10 reps. Love the double kb swing flips. Did 325 of them with th 20 kgs and are now bringing the 24s to the park.
7. Pull-up +50 kg. It's a shame that I haven't progressed more in the weighted pull-up during the year. Have done 45 kgs so 50 kgs shouldn't be a big thing.
8. One arm pull-up. Everybody needs a mountain to climb...
9. Comfortably put the palms in the floor with straight legs. I probably should have more flexibility goals but I don't.
10. Snatch test with 32 kgs. Haven't done the snatch test since the RKC but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem. Movin up. It feels more interesting to increase the weight than to do the SSST with 24 kgs.
11. One minute handstand. Yepp.

That's it!!! If I reach these goals in the coming year I feel I'm pretty much at a good athletic level for a 38 year old.

Inside the true electric circus

2010-12-28T11:40:00.004+01:00

Jon:
I have written before about circus. Or more specifically: Contemporary Circus. The contemporary circus artists really are a sort of role model of athleticism for me. They are well rounded in almost all aspects of the word (except maybe when it comes to cardio vascular capacity). Kudos to them.

Contemporary circus as art or performance however is often another story. Pornographic in the the sense that it uses a story a a framework for the show that is at best secondary to the tricks - the money shot. The story also has a tendency to be quite pretentious dwelling on such subjects as mental disease, fractals etc. Until a few day ago I thought that this was the destiny of contemporary circus: cool tricks loosly connected by a story that just might include a pizza boy or the pool boy. I like it when I'm right.......but I love it when I'm wrong. And boy was I wrong!
Went to see Oscar and the other guys performance the other day and I completely blown away. I haven't laughed this much since ........ (insert optional whatever).

The show really doesen't tell a 'story'. It has a framework in that you sort of recognize
the narrative: Four guys being guys. That's it. No Fibonacci numbers, no Wittgenstein, no paranoia. Just very well performed physical comedy.
I am certainly out of my element trying to unwind the historical background of comedy but for me the success of the show has something to do with it not taking the cirkus as a whole as a mould for its structure but rather the clown.
Contemporary circus usually comes across to me as really beeing traditional circus were the different numbers are connected not only by the tent, the ring, the sawdust or history and tradition but also by a 'story'.
This performance however takes the figure of the clown and enhances it to a whole show. The clown as being the most versatile figure in the circus, capable of performing a large variety of tricks bound together not by story but rather by character.

For me this is a oh so much more intelligent approach than the 'let's tell a story' one. There is no gasping between the tricks and there is no 'youtube trick fatigue'. As an audience you get so involved in the characters that the tricks no longer are you just tricks that might or might not have seen before but rather tricks performed by someone that you know and care about.
Bravo, bravo, fuckin BRAVO!!!
If you're in Bcn, go and watch it.

Rip my chest up/ Tear it open like a bag of potato chips

2010-12-25T13:52:00.005+01:00

Anna:
It's all good working on splits and other spectacular flexy moves but I've recently realized how ridiculously tight my upper body is.

I guess you could say that I'm the equivalent to guys who practice only their show-off-skills forgetting to work on the basics. Guys with an upper body of Conan but with legs like Goofy who can do one million chins but who can't even perform one decent air squat. Yup that's me. Only when it comes to flexibility.

The ballet classes have been an eye opener when it comes to this. In second position when arms are held out to the sides I can feel it really pulling all the way from my fingertips, through my biceps, shoulders and chest and I'm suddenly realizing what Jon's talking about when he says that some stretch poses just feel so bloody akward.

Well, I'm not exactly here yet. But these are the arms I'm talking about.

I believe that the biggest cause are all the internally rotated lifts on the pole. But then presses, push ups and pull-ups probably play a part in it as well. So externally rotated chest/shoulder/arm- stretch. Here I come!

We started christmas day morning with some yoga and then huffed and puffed in some quad and hip-flexor torture. But then I was left to my own devices with the rest. I'm really trying to open the chest, lower the shoulders and reeally externally rotate the arms. That's where it feels tightest. I'm also trying diffrent positions with the head as I'm suspecting that some muscles in the neck and even trapezius is part of the blame.

So, if your arms are pulling in Deuxième - Don't be that guy. Join me for some non-extraordinary moves.

Extra ext. rotation w. the dorsal of the hand against the wall. High elbow, lowering opposite shoulder and looking away.

It doesn't look like much, but ooh this, for me, is pulling like fu*k. I think shoulders should really be kept level. Easier in front of a mirror. Palms up btw.

And this one's my latest favourite, I'm trying to kepp my chest high to achieve a stretch across the whole chest and not let my torso hang down like some people do. X-mas pressies in the backround!

Just hanging out. He he. Trying different angles through bending/straightening my legs.

Murder in the park - x-mas challenge DONE!

2010-12-19T17:39:00.006+01:00

Jon:
Yes. I do belive in movement quality. I belive in stopping when or before movement gets bad/changes/slows down. Not all the time though. What I most firmly belive in is listening inwards, to your own body and mind and to find joy in movement this way. Most of the time I aim for my training to be controlled and precise but sometimes.... well sometimes I just want to see what I'm made of.
Last sunday Anna found this workout that seemed absolutly horrible in a simple and....well horrible way. We posted it as a challenge to some of our friends who responded - if at all - with some slight hestitation. Well, hestitate no more for we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
It is originally done with a 28 kg kettlebell. I did it in the park where I have only two 20s available so I had a choice: Do it with one or two bells, with 20 or 40 kgs. As an old philosopher I went for the third choice though: double 20s with flip. That way I get to practice my double juggling skills at the same time as the workout gets less boring.
It took me around 50 min. After I got to around 20 burpees/6 swings I started to feel my wrists so I changed from burpees to roll ups. Not the same but better than nothing.
In hindsight I can say that it is not the kind of workout I would do on a daily basis or even once a week. But here and there when you just have to smoke yourself, it works just fine.

Murder in the Park from youmakelovingfun on Vimeo.

Christmas finale at the stretch class

2010-12-19T12:36:00.003+01:00

Anna:
After hanging out in deepest sidesplit for the whole duration of 'Oh Holy Night' by Mariah Carey (ha ha ha, it's true) it was time to evaluate our progress over the past three months. The measuring method was putting the heels up to a line in a split. Then folding over as far as possible (with control) with a pen in your hands and putting it down as far away from the line as possible and then measuring the distance between the line and the pen.

Unfortunately I wasn't there the day when we measured the initial data so I had nothing to compare to. But now I have a measurement for the next check up. Some of the less flexible people had massive improvements, up to a 20 centimetre difference in reach! Although everyone but one had improved their reach singificantely. Around six centimetres in 2 months must be regarded as a pretty good increase for an already flexy person.

My flexy status have been very turbulent lately. Or perhaps it's always been like that. (Note to self: must learn to keep a flexy diary.) By the end of the summer I reached a "touch-down" in my front splits in one of Marinas of North Pole Studio amazing (think russian gymnast coach style) stretch class. I was happy as a schoolgirl with full score in a spelling competition but pretty soon after that I could feel how I started to stiffen up. Of course I refused to acknowledge it and kept going beyond my limits and further in the stretch classes here in Bcn and I think I managed to pull both of my hamstrings slightly some 1 1/2 months ago. My legs have been felling like logs and stretching for splits have been out of the question for a while.

When we are trying to improve ourselves, be it in flexibility, strenght or whatever I think there are two very common mistakes most of us make. At least I know I keep doing them over and over again! One is thinking that someone elses road to succes is the path for you. The other is being way to eager trying to get where we want that we are running the risk of hurting ourselves while focusing too much on the goal and forgetting the journey which is half of the fun.

These both two things are certainly applicable on me when it comes to stretching. I've been strecthing for a long time. Well, at least in one way or another for the past - say - 12 years. There's been dancing, yoga, yoga again, poledancing, and now dancing and yoga again and I think that it might be that it's only now that I'm starting to get the hang of what type of stretching is right for me. And I think that it's only now that I'm learning not to rush myself too fast forward because I know it's gonna hit me like a ton of bricks the day after.

To post exactly the kind of stretching that I think is right for me is perhaps a bit contradictory scince I'm advocating to try and find your own path and keep away from other peoples succes stories. (Although - with my, in comparison, lacking flexibility - this is of course not a succes story.) But if I weren't writing about my own experiences of the shit I'm trying out and thinking about, why then keep a blog in the first place?

I've found that for me, number one when stretching is not to go too far. I have a pretty high pain tolerance when it comes to that kind of agony and going beyond the point where I probably should stop happens easily. I guess for some people it's the opposite. They have to learn to push themselves further but for me it's about holding back and never ever try to impress someone and go a liiitle bit further than you know you should (ehhh, yes it's happened).

Number two is to alternate light and hard practice. The periods when I'm more flexible than ever is when I'm doing yoga (i.e. light stretching) more or less every day and then have one or maybe two hardcore days per week. No more.

And number three is to be really warmed up when working. I know some people don't really need it or they do a quick little warm up before they leap into a stag-jump. I need to be so warm that there's sweat dripping down from my nose before I spread my legs. Ha ha.

Yours truly with a very rounded back, and Gegelys skinny feet!

Now that I've come so far as to write down the rules for my elongating program I'm hoping I can be so mature as to follow them, (especially the holding back part) that I can enjoy the journey and that I will learn even more from my body from doing that.

Let me finish with a last disclaimer. This is, like I said earlier, what I've found works for me, (through years of trail and error - mostly error) when working leg/hip flexibility for splits. I shall post some thoughts on what I belive is right for people who need to learn reach their toes or release their tight hip flexor some other day.

Thank you for reading this lenghty post!
(no pun intended)

My super-man

2010-12-16T17:00:00.003+01:00

Anna:
I was really impressed with my dear husbands viking warrior skills yesterday. And a bit jealous as well. I too want to snatch! But I'm waiting for my shoulders to feel A-OK and for the last viruses (or bacterias which one is it?) to leave my body before I throw myself into the snatch pond. And also, I'm a bit annoyed because I'm pretty sure that if I was to do the Vo2 protocol for the first time in a year, my results wouldn't be half as good as Jons.

I think that snatches are coming my way soon. There hasn't been much cardio work for me lately and I'm feeling the urge growing. I guess the burpee/swing workout that I posted earlier is some kind of premonition of what is to come. And I'm not talking about the Messiah. When it comes to the above mentioned workout I was planning on doing it on sunday, I hope to feel better by then. But if I don't, you'll just have to wait a few days. Doing 325 burpees (Jesus Christ!) in one workout if your not feeling well is probably like asking for a heart-attack (yes mother I'm exagerrating). And i'm not trying to kill myself here, remember. I'm trying to get better, faster and stronger.

Well, back to Jon and his superman performance when casually testing the Vo2 yesterday. I guess that's all well and good but this, my friends, is the broken down piece of meat he turns into after ca 20 minutes of Asthanga Yoga.

Viking Warrior re-visited

2010-12-16T10:33:00.001+01:00

Jon:
Had a gap in my schedule before the training session in Parc Ciutadella yesterday and decided to revisit the Viking Warrior 15:15 protocol for the first time in more than a year (did a little of it at the RKC-cert but that was just about 20 min or so). It took me a while to complete it when I worked with it last autumn and I remember it as fairly gnarly. It is good to have something to return to and compare your present level of work capacity.
15 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest doing 8 snatches/interval with a 16 kg bell.
I totally blew it out of the water! Well perhaps not totally. After a little less than 30 min i quit since I started to get a blister under my left pinky finger. At this point however I felt nothing. A little sweaty of course but heart rate barely raised at all and no problem what so ever of holding the cadence.
It makes me think why. How can something that I struggled with a little more than a year ago be so easy today? I can think of a few anwers that can be combined:
I did a lot of snatching up to the RKC cert to ensure that I would pass the snatch test. During last spring I safetly did 100 snatches with the 24 in under 4 min.
Since the RKC cert however I have barely snatched at all except for a little very heavy snatching with the 32.
My cardiovascular capacity got a real boost with the first 4 months of training at Crossfit Nordic. I think those combined with the training leading up to the RKC pushed my work capacity (especially cardiovascular and muscular endurance) to a level that I have not reached before. My long distance running capacity (8-10K) has been a lot better but that was a long time ago (10K in under 35 min when I was 19 - "If you are not now, you never were") and getting times around 40 min on 10 K really isn't about cardio, it's about running, running, running. Since summer I have had very little focus on cardio.
Kettlebell Muscle has made me stronger. I imagine that especially my trunk strength has increased quite a lot the last six weeks. That should make it easier to snatch a lot.

After I completed the 15:15 protocol with the 16 kg last autumn I started to play around with the 24. I don't think I ever completed more than 10 min. Now I think I'm going to try it with the 20 kg. It feels like it just might work.

Some urine with the sugar

2010-12-14T12:30:00.004+01:00

Jon:
Consumed MASSIVE amounts of sugar and coffee yesterday so sleeping when it was time for that seemed as a hunch of a distant memory of a dream of a fairytale told in a long lost language. Distant that is. Nothing gets you thinking like caffeine and refined sugar though so here's a recap of my 3/4 conscious stream.
As a personal trainer you are to some extent responsible for the well being of your clients. You will not allow your clients to do something that you think might hurt them. This responsibilty is of course limited. It is not possible for you to know everything about your client. This might be tackled through asking the client to see a doctor before engaging in any training. No matter how many precautions you take there are however always an element of insecurity. Also, the client has a responsibilty of his/hers own. If you tell the client not to train while in pain and he/she does it anyway it is really not your fault.
All this notwithstanding if your client gets hurt while training with you, you have some responsibility for this. On the flipside: if your client has great results you can take some cred for that.
That about training individuals.
What about writing training programs or doing programming for a faceless crowd? What happens when you start doing programs not for individuals that you regularily meet and see train but for people that you have never met and will not see executing your program?
All training programs boasts about their results. They have given people superhuman strength, racehorse work capacity, elite fitness, fixed broken shoulders, burnt kilos of fat and built even more kilos of muscle in no time. No training programs boasts about the risks involved in following them (except maybe Crossfit and when it comes to tearing a blister or two RKC). The risks and potential injuries are however as much a part of the program as the potential benefits. So if I write a program that I want everyone and their mother to do for at least 12 weeks how much responsibility for my followers do I have?

For example:
I have come up with this new awesome program for muscle gains. It looks like this:
Do three days of training for each rest day. Day one is deadlifts. After warm up do five sets of five reps working your self up to a max on the last set. Aim for an assisted rep or a failed rep as the last one of the last set. Day two and three are the same except with squats and bench press.
Do this for 12 weeks. During these 12 weeks eat as much as you can focusing on meat and avoiding sugar.

There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of people will gain a substantial amount of both strength and muscle doing this program. There is also not a shadow of a doubt that a lot of people will hurt themselves doing this program. The reasons are simple. If you lift a lot of weight with these basic movements and eat loads of calories you will gain muscle. If you do it with bad form, you will get hurt.
This program took me less than 30 s. to figure out. How much should I bang my chest for the people sending me e-mails in 12 weeks saying: "Maaaan! You're program was awesome!!! I gained 8 kgs of muscle, lost 10 kgs of fat and are now getting laid every day. Thanks duuuuude!!!!"
I will probably put this e-mail on my web page as an example of how brilliant and ground breaking my program is.
This e-mail however I will not put on my web page: "I tried your program for 12 weeks and it left me with a shoulder impingement, lower back pain and knees that hurt like hell on cold days". Rather I will tell this person that he/she has done too much too soon, that he/she probably has a lousy squat/bench press/deadlift and should have done more mobility work. I might even rant a little about this idiot on my web page and get some Huh Huh Huh's from my devoted followers.
But the question then is this: How can I take cred for the people that have succeeded with my program if I doesen't take responsibility for those that have failed?
General programs are a double edged sword. On the one hand it enables people to try new things and to learn by themselves without paying an arm and a leg for private sessions. On the other hand it leaves the programmer with absolutely zero control over his/hers creation.
So how do we solve this dilemma? Well I don't know. A good start however might be to start thinking about what the potential consequences of a program is when it hits the general populace. Things that work for an elite athlete while being superviced by professional coaches (read olympic lifting) might not be the best choise for any geek off the street starting to do the last fitness craze in his/hers backyard. The creator of a program have a responsibilty for the consequences of following that program. No matter if they are positive or negative.

Sweat on the dance floor

2010-12-14T00:31:00.003+01:00

Anna:
First day of getting back to normal rutines after the hellride with the Spanish Flu. Although I'm not quite well yet. Felt like I was gonna faint from exhaustion and dehydration halfway into contemporary class today. But I managed to stay on my feet and even got a girl to take some pictures of our choreography rehearsals.

Parc Ciutadella and Born - Third sunday in December

2010-12-13T14:11:00.000+01:00

Perfect day from youmakelovingfun on Vimeo.

Pre x-mas mini challenge

2010-12-12T14:46:00.004+01:00

Anna:
Couldn't sleep last night and found this while frustratedly surfing the endless bloody internet.

It apparently goes under the extremely stupid name 'The kettlebell sissy test'. But it looks gruesome. Oooh, as soon as I get well, Jon and I are gonna try it out. Oh my. The superfit guy who posted this (Bradrants) did it in over 45 mins with a 28 kg bell. As we don't own any 28s Jon is saying he's gonna do it with the 32. Shit! That means I'm gonna have to go for the 20.

Anyone joining us? Laszlo? Fredrik? Mads? Númi? Post your times in the comments field. Wooha!

Burpees / Kettlebell Swings
1 / 25
2 / 24
3 / 23
4 / 22
5 / 21
6 / 20
7 / 19
8 / 18
9 / 17
10 / 16
11 / 15
12 / 14
13 / 13
14 / 12
15 / 11
16 / 10
17 / 9
18 / 8
19 / 7
20 / 6
21 / 5
22 / 4
23 / 3
24 / 2
25 / 1

*Done for TIME

Star Students Swinging in the Sunset

2010-12-12T13:08:00.002+01:00

...and by the way: GSP anyone?

Dawn of the dead

2010-12-12T00:53:00.003+01:00

Anna:
Proof of returning to life is when you find yourself sponateously shadowboxing while making your morning porridge or when you are practicing contemporary dance moves in front of the bathroom mirror while brushing your teeth. The exhaustion from the shadowboxing nearly killed me though.

Back to the grill again

2010-12-11T19:49:00.005+01:00

Jon:
Read a blog post by Adam T. Glass that caught my attention and got me thinking. As you already know, if you have been following this blog for a while, we tend to discuss the meaning of such words as "fitness" and "functional" quite a lot. I will not go through all of mr. Glass post here and now but I advice you to read it. His point (one of them) is however that the "functional" in functional training is dependent upon what you are aiming for with that training. If you are aiming for world domination in powerlifting then a lot of powerlifting is probably functional. If you are aiming for having a back or knees that doesen't hurt some other type of training is probably more suitable. Nothing new under the sun here. If you in any way have taken part of the functional training debate the last couple of years and have an independent thought once in a while you most probably will have questioned what "functional" really means yourself. You might have tried to find or formulate a definition or you might have settled with thinking that functionality is dependent on situation and/or aims.
Myself, I tend to go for the second option. I do however try to look for some redeeming qualities in the "functional fitness" crowd.
Why is it so important for people to say that "their" way of training is functional? Well, the obvious answer is that they cannot say that their training is disfunctional. It is a version of the "Do you still hit your wife?"-dilemma. But hasn't there historically also been another reason for labeling training functional? I don't know what it is like in the USA or other parts of the world but in Sweden when I grew up training ment either sports, jogging or bodybuilding. I settled for jogging (well maybe running) and bodybuilding (not that I ever were big but that was the kind of weightlifting I did). Lifting weights ment, for everybody except for the extremely few who competed in weightlifting - training like a bodybuilder, i.e. getting really good at supinating the wrist for maximising the biceps peak. I trained more or less like that for a LONG time. It wasn't until I started using kettlebells that I really started viewing my body as a whole rather than as a compilation of muscles. I'm pretty sure this story isn't unique for me.
Now in Spain I look upon how regular people train and I see them on vibra plates and on treadmills. I see a fear of lifting heavy weights (haven't seen a place to deadlift since I came here and hasn't seen a decent barbell either). I might not have a water tight definition of what functional training is but I sure know what it is not. To say that any training can be functional depending upon what your goal are is a bit like throwing the baby out with the water. Half an hour on a vibra plate is NOT functional training.
There is a way of using the concept of "functional training" in a meaningful way and that is in the way it was probably used from the start. As a way to separate it from training that looks at the body as a collection of parts rather than as a whole. With time however, this concept has been used in so many different ways that it has totally lost it's meaning. If you for example look at Crossfit with an forgiving/understaning gaze you will see that there is something there which correctly might be described as functional. Doing METCONS every day, paying homage to Pukie on you Rhabdo T-shirt however is not functional in any way. Functionality must in some way or another be tied to the demands of everyday life and elite fitness is not everyday life.

Again, Adam T. Glass:

"So – functional training is only functional if it meets your goals.

If it does not meet YOUR goals, it is not functional."

"Make up your own goals, build your own program, test out shit, lead yourself."

This, of course makes sense. But how are we supposed to do this? I'm currently following Geoff Neuperts "Kettlebell Muscle" program. This is the second time in my life that I follow a program. I'm far from sure that I like it but I will follow it until the end (6 more weeks) because I want to be able to say to myself "I tried it, I did/didn't like it". Following what other people tells us are necessary. It is the only way of learning without reinventing the wheel over and over again. "On the shoulders of giants" y'know. There is no training method/philosophy that I subscibe to a 100% but I have found parts of bodybuilding, running, Crossfit, Convict Conditioning, Combat Conditioning and Hardstyle useful. Going through all those training methods thinking that "this one might be the shit" has learned me everything that I know about training.

I think that there often is too much focus on results in training. As a trainer I should of course be able to help people reach their goals and the results they long for but I find that I also need to teach them something else: the joy of training itself. I have personally always (as an adult) found great satisfaction in training not as something goal oriented but as something with a value in itself. The point of training isn't always to get better, faster or stronger but also just to train and to get to know yourself better through training. My friends on this path has been numerous: my gym teacher when I was 17, bodybuilding magazines, Jean Claude Van Damme, The Russian, Laszlo, Pavel, Anna, the guys at Crossfit Nordic, Fredrik and Adam T. Glass etc.

I have needed others to learn and I will keep on needing others to learn. My history has turned me into who I am so I will not frown upon it. So maybe none of the "systems" that I have adhered to has been able to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth but they are all parts of my path and I will respect them as such.

Finally, here's a new film shot in Parc Ciutadella the other day. Anna asked me why the fuck I need to use all those different filters and make it so arty. The answer is of course: Because I'm learning, it is a part of my path (well really, it's because I wan't to use my cool new apps).

Untitled from youmakelovingfun on Vimeo.

Will self destruct in 3-2-1

2010-12-10T16:34:00.005+01:00

Anna:
Aaaaaaaaarrrghhh. I thought I had caught the Man-flu when a couple of days ago I started to feel feverish and had a very sore throat. I was lying in bed moaning and whining while Jon was looking after me like a stewardess at Thai Air.

Well, it's been all down hill from there and my fever turned out to be nothing less than frickin' fullblown ebola! I'm in bed not knowing whether I am Anna 26 or the dry and broken birdsnest (!) that I've been dreaming I was for the last two nights. During which (i.e. the nights) I've lost about half of my bodyweight through some severe perspiration. I'm pretty sure that some mad scientist could probably create a doppelganger of me from all the biblical proportions of sweat that's been absorbed by my matress and sheets. Nice!

OK, so it's not really ebola, my best friend was like "But Anna, you don't really have ebola, do you?". Aaaha ha ha ha! But I'm so bloody ill I can hardly get out of bed. And I don't even want to. You know it's really bad when one doesn't even have the wish to jump out of bed and try some chins. Oh my god that's sounds soo peachy. Almost as wholesome as the all-american cheerleaders that have been entertaining me today on 'So you think you can dance' between fainting into feverdreams and trying to study some spanish anatomy terms.

But I have had some frontseat tickets to watching my supersexy husband do weighted chins. That made some blood rush to my head before I dozed off again dreaming that my womb was tumbleweed.

Status Report - Churros month in Bcn

2010-12-09T12:29:00.004+01:00

Jon:
There are pros and cons with following a program. Among the pros are that you don't have to think a lot (or is that a con?). Haven't had much heart for my own training the last few days and then it is nice to just do what the program tells you and head for the shower. This flipside is that this slight boredom might be a result of following the program.
I'm on week six now and all the pressing is really getting to me. The first couple of weeks I really felt that I was getting stronger but lately I have reached a plateau and even feel that I am moving backwards. My cardio is stagnating and I feel weaker in my press. Legs and trunk feels stronger though. I suspect that double 20s are slightly to heavy for my presses. Going down to 16s would make it way too light on the rest of my body though.
Anyway, after this week the program will go into second phase and I hope it will get my progress going again. As always I should eat more.
The pull-ups are moving along fine though. This week it is 5 sets of 5 reps with a 24 kg kettlebell and 90 s. rest between sets. No problem! I'm not sure what the jury says but I don't do them full ROM. In the top position I pull to under my chin but in the bottom I keep my elbows slightly bent (very little) and I keep my shoulders in their sockets. Why? Because I feel that total extension in the bottom position is a great way of getting problems with both shoulders and elbows, especially when doing weighted pull-ups.
I have also started doing some yoga everyday. Nothing fancy, just 5 sun salutations of each. I want to make this into a habit and ease my way into better mobility and flexibility.
Yesterday I had two classes. One at the beach as usual and then for the first time another one in Parc Ciutadella. Anna has is ill and I had to do the classes by myself so no pictures this time.
Being able to train outside in the second week of december is awesome. It's between 15°C and 20°C here now and even though Barcelona is trying to get into Christmas mode with markets, light arrangements, churros and turron I'm not really buying it yet, except for when you through some of the small back alleys in Born and you get that "Lady and the Tramp" feel. After some initial set backs we also found a churros place that seems great so I'm looking forward to this weekend and trying them out.

Mama didn't raise no fool

2010-12-06T19:01:00.002+01:00

Anna:
As much as I love to do the kettlebell muscle program it unfortunately has taken the best out of my shoulders. The five weeks I've done so far have given me deltoids worhty a swimmer and I guess that's one of the points of the whole thing. But unfortunaletly the KBM-work has also brought back some of the impingement feelings in my shoulders that I had this spring.

It might seem obvious that pain is a bad thing. But there are so many idiots out there who take pride in pain. Perhaps a few years ago I would have childishly shouted along with the 'pain is temporary/pride lasts forever'-choir. Today I know better. Strenght, speed, endurance and flexibilityis cool. To work hard to achieve that is cool. To be stubborn and not to stop when it gets uncomfortable is admirable adn to test your limits and push them forward is commendable.

But working through pain because your vanity is telling you to is just stupid.

If you are reading Adam T Glass' brilliant blog 'Walk the road less travelled' you've probably read one or two posts on his opinion and thoughts on the matter ofyou should not hurt pain. In a post he wrote a couple of weeks ago he wrote a few things that caught me. First one regarded how training should make you feel: "You should not hurt. Anywhere." This also might sound obvious but imagine what would happen if we genuinely followed that creed. I guess it would turn around our fitnesspractice altogether and revolution our ability to listen to our bodies. And of course, that is just what Adam T Glass advocates with his biofeedback principles.

The second thing he wrote was that if you hurt after training "you are doing what someone else told you to do, not what your body is telling you to do." And it's evident isn't it. If we woke up each morning and was to decide what kind of training we were going to pursue today, we would certainly not do military presses if our shoulders were hurting. So why do we keep doing things that hurt and why do we keep hurting ourselves? I think the quote above explains a lot.

Last week when I started go feel ny shoulders I took a break from the neverending presses of the KBM program and taken a step back. I'm doing things that feels good in my body, at the moment that's deadlifting and I've reaturned to a practice that I know always makes me feel strong, supple and balanced. Ashtanga yoga. I'm hoping to get back on track on the program soon. But if I don't, that's just the way it is. Maybe some other time. Meanwhile I'm tappin into what this precious little body of mine is trying to tell me and not what Geoff Neupert has written in some paperback book.

Making the Iphone work

2010-12-02T20:34:00.002+01:00

Jon:
Ha ha. It turned out that our version of kettlebell muscle was a little different than the original. Not going into too much detail it is sufficent to say that we have been working a bit harder than mr. Neupert had intended us to do. Good news I suppose.
No kb-muscle today though but a continuation on my new pull-up program. Did 5 sets of 5 reps with 2 min. rest between sets and a 24 kg kettlebell between my legs. Made a small film with the iphone. I find it absolutely amazing how much you kan do with that little gadget (no, I'm not sponsored by Apple. I wouldn't mind though).

The stretch squad has spoken

2010-12-02T18:28:00.005+01:00

Anna:
I sat down to write a post on stretching but instead I started to read Mads Jacobsens blog. He is one of the coaches at Crossfit Nordic in Stockholm and a hot shot in the world of Crossfit. He is back in the blogosphere after a break and his thoughts on training and crossfit are a great read. One of his posts (read it here) addresses the tendency within crossfit (or among CF atheletes) to favour olympic lifts and to disregard weaknesses and neglecting to work on fundamental elements like mobility and complex but basic bodyweight exercises. It is a topic that I occupies me and that I've been meaning to write about for some time now. What happend was that what was supposed to be a comment on his blog turned into a nearly full fledged blogpost on the matter. As it is somewhat near to what I had planned on writing it will serve as todays reflection:

Regarding the unbalanced fitness of many crossfitters; don't you think that the crossfit boxes and their programming is part of the blame? I hear a lot of talk about the importance of flexibility but never see coaches at boxes put as much love into mobility work (if any at all) as they dedicate to perfecting a clean for example.

In programming, the numbers, reps or times for the wod are usually stated clearly and precisely whereas when it comes to mobility work you are (at best) usually given a sloppy "spend 10 minutes stretching". I imagine that if the mobility work was as precisely prescribed as the wods people would follow it with better discipline.

And would coaches, not only emphasize the importance of mobility, but actually state an example with their own training, I think the atheletes would be sure to follow.

What I would like to see at crossfit boxes is classes dedicated to mobility work and stretching and perhaps other classes with focus on complex movements like pistols, handbalancing and pirouettes. Maybe that's when we become crossfit. For real.

KB-muscle, week 5, hard day

2010-12-01T10:11:00.005+01:00

Jon:
This is getting hard now. Week 5 hard day means 5 cleans, 5 presses, 5 front squats, 5 push-presses and 5 more front squats with double 20 kg bells. 6 sets and 1 min. rest between sets. It's really the short rest that is getting to me. During set 3 I have to start pushpressing the presses and from set 4 and onwards I need to put down the bells a few times during the set.
Week 6 is calling for an even shorter rest which will be impossible for me, or rather it will force me to put the bell down even more often during the sets which sort of defeats the object. So I have decided to stay on week 5 for another week. I manage to do easy and medium day unbroken so if I give it some time I should be able to fix hard day soon too. It is different though since it puts such a great emphasis on the presses. 60 presses and push presses with 40 kgs in less than 15 min. is a lot for me. Well, I'll get there.
The real problem is what I'm going to do after week 6 since I don't know what the program looks like then (no I haven't got the book). I would like to stay with the program for the full 12 weeks but if I can't get a hold of the remaining 6 weeks I'll probably just write a program of my own in the same style as Neuperts.
Yesterday I did some weighted pull-ups for the first time in a while. 5 sets of 5 reps with the 24. A lot of rest in between - Grease the Groove style. Will stay with the weight and the reps but will get the rest down to a minute before I switch up to the 32 kg bell. Ought to be pretty soon if I stay with it.

Re - Spect - Walk

2010-11-28T17:04:00.003+01:00

Jon:
Woke up to an amazing Barcelona morning with the sun glittering in the kettlebell dew.
Enrique at Barcelona Eskrima Group had ok'd me to demonstrate some kettlebells at todays class som I tied up one 20 in my old Karate belt and swung it over my right shoulder and picked up one 12 kg with my left and started walking. This would prove to be the main theme of the day: walking. First to the tube, than from the tube to the gym, than back again to the tube and to the apartement. Rest and eat a little and then walk to the beach with the 20. To put a spice on things I discovered that the 12 acctually was a 16. All in all I walked somewhere in the vicinity of 4 K.
At Eskrima practice we did some swings and get-ups. It's a great feeling when people get the swing almost immediatley! Hope to see the guys down at the beach soon.

Playa Barceloneta 2010-11-27

2010-11-28T14:46:00.001+01:00

Not all workouts are pretty

2010-11-26T19:52:00.002+01:00

Anna:
It's not easy to maintain the Kettlebell-Barbie look through the last set of presses during hard day of kettlebell muscle program.

Circus = Porn (+ other stuff)

2010-11-26T12:48:00.001+01:00

Jon:
Yesterday we went to the circus. It was set in a tent and it had a director but the director didn't have a top hat and there were no animals. In other words: not classical circus but "contemporary" circus.
I am certainly no connoiseur but I have seen a few shows of this kind. One thing always strikes me:
Circus = Porn and Contemporary Circus = Arty Porn.
Classical circus consists of a variety of constellations performing tricks accompanied by music that either is just there to fill a void or to emphasize the tricks. There is no story that tries to bind the tricks together. Rather it is obvious that you come to this kind of circus to experience the tricks and perhaps eat some popcorn. It is perhaps not art but it is honest. The equivalent in porn is the highlight reel: "200 girls in 90 min, slam bam thank you mam, if-I-wanted-to-se-a-movie-I-would-have-rented-Schindler's List". The purpose is simple and single. It is more a tool than something else.
Contemporary Circus however is a different story. Contemporary circus "tells a story". It has a unifying theme other than just presenting a ton of awesome tricks.
Yesterday this unifying theme was the Fibonacci sequence (yes, it's always something like that).
So rather than just "TADA!" it is "mmblablaTADA!blammmblablaTADA!!TADA!!!" This might of course seem commendable, to not just do some tricks but to incorporate them into a larger context. The problem however is that this context, this story always plays second fiddle. Nobody really wants to tell a story or really wants to listen to one. The story is subordinate to the tricks and hence becomes uninteresting. The car breaks down and I need help. The plumber comes to fix the pipes, the pizza boy to deliver the pizza, the pool guy, the housemaid...etc. Feel the fast forward finger itching? Mental disorder, Fibonacci numbers or the car breaking down at a remote location are all just bad excuses for showing us what we really want: 30 minutes of having our breaths taken away. Otherwise we might just go to the theatre.

Ok. Enough ranting (well, not really. I will just shift my focus).
Before we went to the circus yesterday I started working on a post elaborating on a theme that has become somewhat of a soundtrack of this blog: What training should or could be.
Let me try to present a definition of fitness: To develop all aspects of the human body's ability for movement.
What I generally miss in definitions of fitness:
1. Asymmetric and off-balance work
2. Fine motor skills
3. Improvisation

1. I have touched on this before so I will just go through it briefly. Using the body asymmetrically and/or when not being in balance is something that is done in all sports and all the time in everyday life. It needs to be practised!
2. In sport specific training fine motor skills often play a major role. Think about the extremely fine tuned movements of a race car driver, a pool player or a table tennis player for example. They are never trained as such though. Fine tuning the nervous system in this way should be as much a part of fitness as being able to put a weight over your head (not that putting a substantial weight over your head does not include a fine tuning of the nervous system, it is a different kind though).
It struck me while watching the circus yesterday that the kind of fitness these people display are the closest someone comes to the way I'm thinking about fitness these days. Doing one arm handstands, walking a slackline while playing the violin, climbing a pole, somersaulting from a rope trapeze, etc. It is really a display of the kind of versatility that I am talking about. Not CrossFit but CircusFit (Ok, maybe some more cardio wouldn't hurt. Or what do you think Oscar?)
But that brings us to my third point because this is one thing that I miss even at the circus:
3. Improvisation.
Life is NOT an endless highway of repetition. If your life is I suggest you give it some thought.
Repetition is a major part of life though. It is only through repetition that we learn. But what is the point of learning if we just keep on repeating? Don't stay caught behind the bars of 21-15-9 forever, break out of 15:15, (20/10)*8 and 5/5. These wings are not wings to fly but merely vans to beat the air. Improvisation is - as all musicians know - something that needs to be practised. So once in a while, after you have mastered a skill, set it free and play with it. It will reward you.

Stretch routine

2010-11-25T17:52:00.002+01:00

Jon: Live blogging from Annas stretch!

They gathered themselves together...

2010-11-25T17:05:00.003+01:00

...to fight with KettlebellCatalunya under he night skies of Barcelona with the Mediterranean at their feet.

You can't bring us down!

2010-11-25T12:27:00.002+01:00

Jon:
Obviously Youtube, a.k.a. "Big Brother", have a problem with the combo Iron and Rock in some parts of the world. But there ain't no stoppin' a flood. So here it is again from a different source:
Kettlebell Flood.

Kettlebell Flood 2 from youmakelovingfun on Vimeo.

No rest for the wicked

2010-11-25T00:39:00.003+01:00

Anna:
For the ones who didn't do their kettlebellwork during the day remains only doing it at night.

Kettlebell Flood

2010-11-24T21:50:00.003+01:00

Jon:
Tada! Here it is. The world premiere of our new action packed mega block buster movie. Think "contemporary Riefenstahl a la mid 90s Jerry Bruckheimer production". Think "mindblowing special effects, breathtaking scenery and super cool one-liners". Get ready for the ride of a liftime, for a motion picture that will define a generation and change the world. Get ready for Iron. Get ready for THE KETTLEBELL FLOOD (a Bergqvist/Celsing production. All rights (except for the music which Youtube found out very quickly) reserved).

Squatting in style

2010-11-24T15:19:00.004+01:00

Anna:
These days, all I want to wear when I train is this beautiful blue pyjamas that I found the other week. But since Jon has banned me from wearing it in public it can only be admired exclusively here at You make loving fun.

Out of the blue and into the black - Nerd alert

2010-11-23T19:44:00.006+01:00

Before we start I would like to issue a warning: This post is EXTREMELY nerdy. It cointains a serious discussion about the differences between different so called "Kettlebells". Readers discretion is advised.

Jon:
Nobody likes a soft present. It's always socks or something else that you "need". Hard presents are always better. Obviously it's the same with weight. The only good present that is light is money and even that is of course better if it's heavy. So what could be a better present than 380 kgs of solid cast iron? It is of course a rethorical question.
After carrying the babies four stairs and out to the terrace (it is documented) it was time to put them to work. But first a little meet-and-greet. Most of us had met before. Some more casually, others....well others were a sweet reunion between old friends. Snatching the 24 again, pressing double 24s, trying to press the 32 (didn't work, maybe tomorrow), and of course deadlifting the 56. First one and than two. I haven't lifted that much weight since I left Sweden. No problemo!
'Nuff socialising though. We have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.
The first time doing Kettlebell Muscle with the new bells and it felt different. For me it was heavier. Especially in the press. I guess it has something to do with the mechanics of a smaller vs. a larger bell (or are the GS-bells just lighter?) Keeping them in the rack position doing front squats are much easier though since they "sink in" deeper because of their size.
It is a bit early to draw any long lasting conslusions about the differences, especially since I have a little bit of a cold and a sore throat today wich probably affected my performance yesterday, but in general they just feel heavier. Not only when you lift them but also when you look at them and to the touch. I guess it is a psychological difference. Something black and slightly rough looks heavier than something violet with a shiny handle. It is also the fact that the GS-bells weight less than they look, i.e. that they all have the same size. Picking up the 12 kg is almost like picking up a baloon.
I'm looking forward to taking the Eleiko bells to the park or to the beach and try out some juggling.

The family jewels

2010-11-23T10:37:00.008+01:00

Anna:
For all of you who have been wondering what the deal is with the Eleiko logo:
Today your agonizing curiosity will finally come to and end, you will seize to wake up in the middle of the night between soaking wet sheets and scream our names and your soul shall find peace as from today.

The swedish company Eleiko who is producing the worlds best weightlifting equipment and is sole supplier of WL equipment to 2012 London Olympic Games have deicided to sponsor us in our conquest of Barcelona and we're happier than a girl over her first pony and prouder than a banker over his brand new porsche.

Yesterday a premature Santa disguised as a lorrydriver dropped off the biggest parcel I've ever seen outside our front door. A rough wodden box labeled Eleiko filled with 380 kilos of sweet swedish steel had arrived, and it had our name on it.

Stay tuned for the flood drill film. A documentation of when we were carrying the bells the four floors to our flat. Children first (2 x 8 kgs) and the beasts, no the überbeasts (2 x 56 kgs) last.

Meanwhile, have a listen to Billy Idol - Pumping on Steel.

Come rain or come shine....Come shine!!

2010-11-21T01:52:00.004+01:00

The beautiful Lia doing TGU training hardstyle with a
water bottle instead of a shoe - true hard core!

Jon:
Said and done. Rx'd or whatever you prefere to call it. Saturdays are class at the beach whatever the weather Gods may say. And today the Gods listened. At 4 o'clock the Barcelona skies were blue and the air was fresh. New and old students. All dedicated and awesome.
Teaching is truly a fantastic experience. We have quite a long walk to the beach from our apartement - 30 minutes or so with one kettlebell each - and everytime we walk down there we seem to have a small argument on what we are going to do today but everytime we get there it's just smooth sailing. I suppose the both of us just love to do this. To dedicate ourselves to someone else's movements, health, physique. For me it is a quick fix for my personal idiocyncrasies and small mindedness. On the way home I'm always filled with pride over what my student has accomplished and packed with stories about their conquests. The way home is always great!

Awesome Max and Joshua playing around after killing
their first hardstyle workout

Tomorrow are handstand lessons with Oskar on the beach. If he teaches me to do the handstand I will promise him my firstborn.

Kettlebell beauty

2010-11-20T19:51:00.003+01:00

Jon:
It's just this simple. Do kettlebells and look great! Strength and beauty in perfect harmony.

It rains in Barcelona too

2010-11-20T11:41:00.003+01:00

Jon:
Eskrima practice was cancelled today so I had planned to go to the park and record a kettlebell juggling 101 film but since this is what our terrace is looking like today I'm staying indoors watching comedy (Lyoto Machida training with Steven Segal) and listening to an old re-discovered classic on Spotify: Queensrÿches Operation: mindcrime.
We have a class at 4 o'clock at the beach so I hope that it at least stops raining. It really does not matter though. We'll be there anyway - come rain or come shine.

Friends in Europe

2010-11-19T11:50:00.005+01:00

Our friends and fellow RKCs from the cerification in May are doing well for themselves.

Alexey, the Big Bad Russian Bear is now running Red Star Kettlebell in Paris and is arranging a HKC-seminar there next year. Also, his youtube channel is a treasury of odd kettlebellclips. Have a look!

Markus (to the right) who is a professional parkourist is now also one of the guys behind CrossfitBern. We're trying to persuade him to come and visit us here in Barca. Before the summer he said he would and promised to teach us some wallruns. Do you think it can be done in a weekend?

Monika has always been doing extremely well and is extremely experienced in the field of fitness. She was travelling the world selling spinningcycles before I could walk goddamit. Her blog is a great read and it seems like she is opening her own gym in Gothenburg in December. Monika is great and is the training partner of my dreams. After my husband that is.

For six days you shall labour and do all your work

2010-11-19T10:30:00.006+01:00

Anna:
So yesterday was rest day. (Well, if you disregard the two hours of ballet in the morning. Uhu, I know, I know. Ballet is NOT resting! I should know, just wrote a fuc*ing post on it the other day. But come on, cut me some slack here. Rome wasn't built in a day and even the sun has it's spots. Slowly but surely right?) And I was trying to do the things that I normally neglect when I'm running between classes, unpacking sweaty gear, packing clean ones, eating cottage cheese und so weiter. Like doing the laundry, read a book and scan my inbox for unreplied emails. But I got stuck in front of the lappie.

While importing some pics to the computer I found this pic of me and Lu Nagata from the her workshop during poleart.

Lu is a fantastic poledancer/dancer/performance artist and her workshop was the best poleworkshop I've been to. The tricks she taught us was things that I had never seen before and we had so much fun. If there's one studio in the world I'd like to visit it's hers. Have a look at her website and if you're to Tokyo, that's the place to go.

The second picture is from my visit to NYPD (New York Poledancing) in september. Here with instructor Bonnie who, during the warmup, had us do perhaps 500 situp variations. I could hardly stand up for tha class after that. Ha ha. The studio is, as you can see, absolutely amazing. When I was there we were dancing with skyscrapers in thunderstorm outside the studiowindow. When in NYC. Do visit. And if you meet Anna, the instructor and co-founder of USPDF, say hello from me.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy

2010-11-18T22:40:00.009+01:00

Anna:
I'm not very good at resting. I do schedule my weeks with rest days. But as the day of no training comes I always get the urge to try just a feeew handstands, practice some l-sits or work on something that juuust came into my mind. Unfortunately my lack of discipline when it comes to laying low has already taken it's toll. The minor injuries and drawbacks I've had the past years are perhaps not unusual for someone with my workload, but I still consider them to be too many for a young girl like me and as I'm getting older it's probably not going to get better unless I learn to take it easy. However, I think I'm actually slowly learning to recognize the signs my body is sending me and when it's time to slow down.

A few days ago I was walking down the street feeling like a panther waiting for it's pray. I felt so strong, fast and explosive that my fingers were tingling. It felt as if all my senses were sharpened and I felt like sprinting down the narrow lane, dodging mopeds and garbagebags, at the speed of jaguar.

I didn't. Not only because I didn't want to scare our neighbours but because I'm starting to learn that when I get that feeling, that's when it's time to rest. Not to start working on your deadlift PR. I'm slowly realizing that when I keep pushing at that point, that's when my body is starting to break. It takes discipline to hold oneself back and it's not easy, for sure. But I think the Anna in 20 or even 10 years time will thank me for my maturity and wise actions. Ha ha.

There's a circus in town!

2010-11-18T10:09:00.005+01:00

Jon:
Wednesday means class at Playa Barceloneta. After an astonishing autumn Barcelona showed herself from her more cranky side. Chilly and with rain in the air the boardwalk was calmer than usual and we both suspected that we would have to do a session for ourselves. But no. Instead we are blessed by the northern Gods with Oscar and Sofia. Oscar is a circus performer and Sofia a dancer and well.....what can you say? It's honestly not much of a challenge to teach people like that. They are motivated, knows what the hip is and what it means to have a straight back.
The more I teach the more I think that perhaps the most important thing that you can teach people is not how to do a swing, a squat, or a handstand. These skills are just tools for making other people as well as yourself learn about their/your own body. Teaching kettlebells we try to give people the tools to know and take care of their own house so to speak. Or as Kelly Starrett puts it "Every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves."
Training should be a bit like learning a new language: you can learn a few phrases here and there but to master it you have to know the basics. The more you learn however, the easier it gets.
Both Oscar and Sofia however are obviously multi lingual. After spending half an hour or so on the swing making it look nice and tidy we went on to the goblet squat, games standard push-ups, one arm and H2H swings and touched on the press. Very rapid progress indeed! Everything was finished off with a short workout and all of a sudden we had a couple of new friends in Barcelona. Hopefully in the future Oscar can teach us some handstand skills. Sort of loosing faith on that one lately. He obviously knows what he's doing though.

Barceloneta - Late saturday afternoon in November

2010-11-17T00:21:00.001+01:00

Jon:

My beautiful wife showing off her strength with bottoms-up presses

Anything containing the words "idiot", "moron" or "useless"

2010-11-16T23:39:00.006+01:00

Jon:
Today was the first day of trying to learn a new Eskrima system. Not that I know the old one (Warriors Eskrima) by now but when Enrique asked if I wanted to come to a new group an practice Balintawak the answer was a resounding "YES". To explain it very shortly the difference between the two seems to be that Warriors are more like fencing and Balintawak more like boxing with a stick. The movements in Balintawak are very basic end resemble boxing a lot. The most notable resemblance perhaps being the use of hip rotation.
"Quite similar to boxing. Very good. Then it should not pose much of a problem for our ageing hero", you might thing now. "After all, boxing might not be his foremost talent but at least he has tried it before on many occations and are well aquainted with its movements."
Well the trainig session went on somewhat like this:
Take a step back...no, with your left leg.....your other left.....you have to lift your feet.....no, the other feet.....no BACK!.....while still holding on to the stick......with you hand......your left hand......your other left hand....punch and rotate.....rotate.....not bend, rotate..etc, etc.
Good thing Enrique is a kind and patient teacher. I hope I have not discouraged him from teaching ever again but we will see in two weeks.

What it should look like

What I really looked like (reenactment)

Maybe this ballet thing is not such a good idea after all. I mean since I'm hardly able to punch a whole in the air with a stick. Or maybe, as the guy who thinks that the glass is half full would say: Since I'm hardly able to punch a hole in the air with a stick and makes it seem like I miracle that I haved learned both to write my name AND to tie my shoe laces, it might be a brilliant idea for me to take ballet classes. I might actually get better at......well, something.

Anyway. Despite my uselesness I always have a great time at Eskrima practice and I will get better - Insha'Allah. On saturday it's regular practice again.
We also started on week four of kettlebell muscle today. It should have been yesterday but both of us very kind of tired from our sunday house warming party so we postponed it. Week four is when the amount of sets doesen't increase anymore. Instead the rest period between sets decrease. A weekend of partying and not eating very well took its toll and made the presses really heavy today. I had to push press from set four I belive. It is obvious that I have to get back on my "minimum one fuet a day"-diet.

Fare forward, voyagers.

2010-11-15T00:43:00.007+01:00

Jon:
Just watched the Pacquiao vs. Margarito fight. Whatcha gonna say? The guy is faster and more accurate than anyone else. I mean speed is one thing but balance and precision together with speed....well obviously it outsmarts size. At least in this case.
Really looking forward to GSP vs. Koscheck. Brain vs. ...... well, I don't know.
Anyway we had a good few days. Been doing KB-muscle and maybe really getting to reap the benefits now. Really tired though. Have had my first week in spanish class and even though it is not physical training it sort of gets to you.
There's not too much to say about my own training right now except that I promised - on my life (being drunk) - to start taking ballet classes from Annas ballet teacher. It's going very well for our students though. We have had quite a few new students since we started teaching at the beach and they are all excellent! It's a very different feel here compared to Sweden. People are not as "cool". They are generally a lot more interested an open minded. If me and Anna go down to the beach and start playing with the bells people get curious and after a while we are teaching them the basics of the deadlift, the swing etc. Some are better than other however. The other day we stopped to chat with a guy in the back alley just in front of our apartement. As Anna showed him the swing with the 12, the 11 year old little rascal and his equally rascallous younger sister started playing with my 16. After watching Anna display the swing they both executed more or less flawless swings themselves, without instruction and with something like half or a third of their bodyweight........kids, ah!
When I was about 11 years old and watched Fame on TV I felt "I really would like to do that, but I'm too old. It's too late." Since that it has been a feeling that had been with me. Not so strong that it has completely paralyzed me but it has always been there. I have never liked it though. In seventh grade our swedish teacher told the class the no one of us would ever write like Strindberg. I guess that was sort of a safe bet for her but it immediatly put a red blanket in front me. Of course she was right but I were not never comfortable writing "not as good as Strindberg".
However...passing 30 years by far the feeling of things being "too late" has wained. Probably because it really is too late but also because that "too late" has been redefined. The question now beeing: "Too late for what?"
We all know Mozart wrote his first classical piece at the age of four and that Eistein formulated then great theory of whatever when he was X years old. I am not Einstein or Mozart. I am not Nureyev, Coen, Ali, Strindberg, Hendrix or any of the other greats. Why should that bother me?
Being too late is always a measurment that dependens on the deeds of others. In my own life it is always possible to be right on time or perhaps even a little ahead of schedule.
I have four weeks left on my (absolute)-beginners class in spanish. After that I just might try a little ballet. After all I have wanted to do it since whenever. Until then I will try to get much stronger, a lot better at beating people with a stick and hopefully be able to say more than one word at the time in spanish.
And to finish: Gongrats to Numi for winning the swedish crossfit championships! You were truly made for this.

2010-11-12

2010-11-12T18:27:00.002+01:00

Precisionism

2010-11-11T16:20:00.008+01:00

Anna:
We are finally back on the internet and I just got back home from todays ballet class. Ballet, boxing, crossfit and kettlebells, naturally, have their similarities in the strive for perfect movement. Still, ballet is so different. It might be the most understated type of activity I've ever practiced.

Of course ballet has it's share of grand gestures and glam but what differentiates it from most other physical endeavours is that in ballet God is really, truly, profoundly in the details.
When you snatch a weight, throw a punch or swing a bell there's always some room for personal preferences and technique. Your feet can be more or less apart, the width of your grip can vary and if your shoulders aren't quite were they should be it's not the end of the world. If you box for instance, surely there will be a lot of technique drills but the primary focus will always be on the final movement. The punch, the jab or the press and the squat if you're lifting weights. And your deadlift still counts as a deadlift even if your back was slightly curved on the way up.

So where am I going with this?

In ballet the big movements are secondary. What really matters are the barely visible internal tensions: head high, shoulders down, arms slightly curved but not really curved, fingers not straight but not relaxed, ribcage in and down but torso up, buttocks tucked under but back straight, hips turned out, knees turned out, legs straightened, heel forward but toes back. And it's all these little details that make ballet ballet. Without this, a jetée is not a jetée, it's just a kick.

It is a if someone assembled all the akward movements there are and created a dogm for how to make them look natural but at the same time execute them in the most difficult manner possible. That means that even standing in first position, not moving a 1/16 of an inch is going to make you brake a sweat. You work like a bull to look like a sparrow.

Although the drills we did today are, seemingly, rather simple and not grand at all sweat was dripping from my nose and we're all shaking from exhaustion as we're leaving class. All from a few tendues, arabesques and rond de jambes (google them) at the bar.

Imagine if one had that kind of precision in a crossfit class. Guess you'd have a heart attack after your first set of push-ups. Anyway. Found this picture in an old but still valid book on beginners ballet technique. Enjoy. Tomorrow is contemporary with another set of principles altogether.

Pull-up bar premiere

2010-11-06T20:39:00.004+01:00

Anna:
I'm aiming at doing three chins every time I walk through our front door. Grease the groove as they call it.

And also, the pole is in place now, pics to come soon.

Still offline - thank you for waiting

2010-11-05T20:38:00.002+01:00

Home ain't home without a chins bar. Since yesterday our flat is officially a home. Now go to spotify and listen to 'home sweet home' by mötley crue.

Temporarily out of order

2010-11-02T18:51:00.002+01:00

We have moved to our beautiful new flat and are currently without internet connection. Be patient, we'll be back on the web in no-time! Not to worry though, meanwhile we're doing Spetznast-pullups at the beach and kettlebell-muscle on the terrace. If you're in Barcelona on the 14th of November and would like to come to our housewarming party, send us an email! Especially our Iraqi reader!

Another day in paradise, w/philosophy

2010-10-31T02:19:00.010+02:00

Jon:
First real day with class at the beach. No victims though. Not really unexpected. I guess it takes a little time to get people to actually get their act together and get down there. We practiced teaching on each other though. Or more correctly: I practiced on my lovely wife.
Well, it's always hard to practice on someone you know and especially on someone who already has an excellent technique but who has to pretend to suck. Well, it's a perfect growing ground for a fight.
But as Anna so wisely stated it: "We have to get along". So that we did. It's a great experience practicing teaching on someone who knows you, are critical and on the same level as yourself. Frustrating but awarding.
We hope to get real victims/clients as soon as possible and people that we talk to seems honetly interested but if we don't.....well, juggling on playa barceloneta with your loved one ain't to bad either.
And for the raquetball playing gentleman that we met the other day: we're sorry you didn't show up today but you should try it out and here's a link to a RKC instructor in your home town. Send us a message if you like it.
Tomorrow we move into our new apartment where we will be able to hold classes on our patio. There will be more pictures to come.
Myself I am getting more and more into juggling. As you know I am doing Geoff Neuperts Kettlebell Muscle program which means that I am relieved from all traing responsibility as soon as I have done my 30 min or so of double kb-work three times a week ;). This means that I have a lot of free time on my hands and what could be a better way of using a prolonged summer and autumn AND city beach than learning to juggle with your beloved bell?
Right now my heaviest bell is 20 kg. Not much. I have two of them so it's great for double work but in itself it's less than satisfactory for the training that I've done before. For juggling though it's quite heavy. I've done some juggling before with the 32 but it's very basic moves. It takes a much lighter bell to practice the more tricky stuff.
I start with the 12 kg competition bell and then move up to the 16 kg. I have to say that the competition bells, i.e. the GS bells are PERFECT for juggling. Much better than any of the bells I've tried before even though I'm looking forward to trying the Eleiko-bells when they arrive.
KB-juggling is a little like parkour......a little. In the world where I reside, improvisation is usually considered as quite a strage animal. Workouts are usually very linear. The ideas is to develop certain aspects of fitness or strength. It might be 21-15-9 reps of pull-ups and squat thrusters as fast as possible (ouch!), (5/5/5/5/5)*5 reps of CL/MP/SQ/PP/SQ, or just one max deadlift/squat/snatch....etc. If you go into that kind of workout you sort of know what to expect. If you juggle it's kind of different.
For starters it's much harder to tell whether you succeded or not since the goal is not pre-fixed (of course it might be but than it's not really impro). What you are looking for is more a feeling than something else. A feeling of satisafaction, of flow. I guess you can say that you're looking for the same kind a feeling when you're doing a "regular" workout but then the rules for when that feeling should occur is more regulated by the inherent rules of the workout itself. When it comes to improv though these rules are much more ZEN-like, or if you want, more ethical. They are, with Pavel's words, "within the honour system". You know whether you have succeded or not, not based on how your performance compares to others or your own prior performances, but based on how you feel. It's an ethic more comparable to such arts as skateboarding or parkour than to established sports.
Second: since juggling is (not necessarily so but the way I try to do it) an improvised pursuit it put other demand on the body than non improvised puruits does. For example: if you have a decent swing tecnique you can fairly easy work your way up the kb weight ladder. Even a quite weak and tiny person as myself can swing a heavy bell like the 48 kg "beast" with a little practice. The reason behind this is that that swing, done correctly, is a very consistent movement. When it's done right it looks exactly the same every time which enables me to foresee all of it's demands on my body. Juggling however is much too complex to foresee in this way. It requires a level of quick adaptation and flexibility that are usually absent in regular training/workouts but that are generally a big part of the everyday demands on our body. Regaining balance after slipping, catching a falling glass, dodging a punch or getting out of the way of a speeding car.
I'm not saying all training should be improvised or non-linear. We need to train in stable conditions to build strength and to develop skills. But I also think that we need to break out of the pre-ordered box, to break out of our confort zone if you will, and develop our strength is the realm of chaos (well, maybe not total chaos, I am a philosopher so I do understand the difficulties of this concept, but the slight chaos).
However, working out in an only linear fashion is like training a martial art without sparring. It's doable and there's not anything necessarily wrong with it but it is a kind of false advertising. Espessialy if it's labeled "functional" training.
Finally I would just like to say that the more I watch TUF, the more I like GSP. What an athlete, what a coach, what a guy!

Guerilla marketing

2010-10-29T18:10:00.003+02:00

Anna:
Me and the bells out on a advertising spree.

Also, completely off topic: When was the last time you listened to Pet Shop Boys? Might be high time to turn on Left To My Own Devices!

Playing around at playa barceloneta

2010-10-28T00:51:00.000+02:00

You've been volleyed!

2010-10-27T20:35:00.003+02:00

Anna:
Ever since we first started talking about moving to Barcelona I've had the dream that we would start playing beachvolleyball. A couple of days ago I talked Jon into buying us a ball. Here's some documentation from our first practice.

I reckon that in beachvolley one must be an extremely good team player and that one must never ever let oneself be annoyed with the partner if he or she makes a mistake. Guess things like that becomes extra important as there are only two of you in the team. Unfortunately I'm an impatient bitch so I guess we're not gonna be champions anytime soon but we had a lot of fun practicing.

This kind of non-quantifiable training is something I'm really embracing at the moment. Training can be so much more than counting reps, seconds or kilos and I think it would do many of us good to stop counting and start playing.

Lost in translation

2010-10-27T13:44:00.004+02:00

Jon:
My spanish is far from sufficient so I use all the help I can get, i.e. translation programs and apps.
This is the result I got from trying to translate an e-mail from the gym where I practice Eskrima:

Bra

Det går bra Project Presentation, en version
om du Luce.
Och njuta av dagarna av semestern.
En princip skulle inte gå på lördag,
jag har saker att gå tungt lämnar mig,
gjorde detta är en tjänst Duran tonica och FN
gången som det har ändrats på grund
av en modalitet i Yawara och nu betala
för klasserna A Place To Go månatlig avbetalning.

I varje fall hoppas jag som ett tåg EL 11/06.

Got that!

Back in the days...

2010-10-26T12:54:00.003+02:00

Jon:
Moving to a new city evokes memories of past relocations. In the beginning of the 90s I moved to Uppsala to study philosophy at the university. I had lifted weights prior to that and I had always been interested in martial arts so as soon as I had installed myself I went searching for a gym. After a few months living as a nomad in gym limbo I found what was to become my second home for a few years to come: Chikara. It was mainly a dojo with Karate and Thaiboxing classes and a very small weightlifting room. The place was hidden on the second floor in a back alley with the weightlifting room on the first floor. I signed upp for thaiboxing classes with usage of the weight room being included in the price.
The gym had quite a shady reputation it turned out as it previously been owned and ran by the infamous Uppsalamaffian. For me it was heaven though. I never became a great thaiboxer but I didn't suck either and I loved to spend time in the weightlifting room. It had a raw concrete floor with some rubber mats and instead of a platform there was a hole in the floor where you squatted and deadlifted (not that I ever deadlifted back then). The door was locked with a big padlock and the hole thing was so badly isolated that snow blew in during winter. It had a few barbells, benches and racks. A complete set of dumbells from 10 kg to 50 kg or so, a few machines, old bleached bodybuilding posters and a stereo. Most of the time I was completely alone there. I could play any music I liked on the stereo. Rollins Band, Ministry, Sick of it All and Sepultura were the usual choises.
The only other guy (I saw two girls there once, for one minute or so) that came there regulary was one of the owners of the gym called "Ryssen" (the Russian). I asked him once what his real name was and he just replied: "Nevermind. Just call me Ryssen. Everybody else does."
He was built like a refrigerator - short and wide - and used to workout in camoflage and boots. After a while he asked me if I wanted to train with him. Eleven o'clock monday to friday. We never talked much but it was great times. I got a key of my own an started to do two workouts a day if I didn't have thai practice also. Ate enormous amounts of oatmeal and eggs and was always on the lookout for cheap protein. Got bigger.
This is many years ago now and Chikara doesen't exist anymore. I am not even sure that gyms like Chikara exists in Sweden anymore. Since that time it has always been my ideal kind of gym. When I look for a new place to train I am always looking for that feeling. An Occam style gym with only the bare essentials where people come to to lift rather than something else. I miss the unpolished, rough edged kindness that let you do your thing without interference.

Kettlebells..monday...something

2010-10-26T00:42:00.002+02:00

Jon:
Mondays are dedicated to Neupert's Kettlebell Muscle-program but having nothing better to do while Anna was at her dance class I just had to try some snatch test style snatching. First with 16 kg. Sort of lost track counting but did something like 80-100 easy so I progressed to 20 kg. The grip feels slightly different with the new bells. Less strenous on the hands but at the same time a more slippery grip. I love to use the competition bells for juggling but for hard core snatching I am longing for some Eleiko bells.
20 kg's didn't do too much damage either. Clocked 100 snatches just on the right side of 4 minutes without too much huffin' and puffin'. I think I'm going to see what I can do with double 20s.
After a few hours rest and a visit to Barcelonas excellent Apple Store it was time for Kettlebell Muscle. Anna has a few doubts that it is possible to build serious muscle with as little work as this program demands and myself.....well, I have already put my skinny legs on the line.
No matter what will happen in the coming 12 weeks, it feels great. It didn't happen today but we are going to make the KB-muscle days stretching days also. If I'm ever going to do a l-sit to handstad on the rings I will need a lot more flexibility.

.

Funicular fun

2010-10-25T15:34:00.002+02:00

Spiderpig spiderpig

Fooling around down in the sand

2010-10-24T10:31:00.003+02:00

Anna:
It's all fun and games down at the beach. Here my latest invention. And don't tell me it's been done before.

On poledancing, circus and contemporary dance

2010-10-23T20:50:00.008+02:00

Anna:
Good day today. 4 1/2 hours of dancing in the morning. First basic technique class, after that contemporary and then finishing off with a choreography class. Going back to dancing feels fantastic. It's developing in so many ways. Both physically and artistically. And it's humbling as well. Feels like a very good thing to take a step back from the activities you know you're good at and go in to something where everyone else are better, more advanced and more experienced than you are. To leave the familiar behind and throw yourself into new environments is daunting, for sure, but how developing.

It's for that exact reason that I think that I'm not going to take the tissue & trapeeze classes at piccolocirkus that I went to try this wednesday. It was great fun, everybody was very nice, we climbed high, twined ourselves into the cloth and made spectacular poses and did some cool drops. I believe that all the other beginners who were there got just what they wanted and more, and as much as I would like to say that I loved it, I felt like I had done it before.

I'm sure circus training could improve my technical level of poledance. No doubt about it. But right now for me, (running the risk of upsetting my circus friends) it's all the same in a way. It's the same search for new poses, new tricks. It's the same kind of 'Tahdaaa!-look at what I can do' kind of poses and moves. It's just like gymnastics or a strongman show. You show people something that most people can't do and then you get a round of applause. Too much show and too little poetry.

Some people would say that it's only when you have an extremely high technical level and when you know all the difficult tricks in the book that you are able to create or perform poetry. They might be right in a way, but also completely wrong. To have the possibility to do whatever you want with your body doesn't necessary mean that you will use it in all ways possible. And also, if you apply that sinister and strict perspective it almost inevitably raises the question: 'When are we technically skilled enough to start to perform outside the box, and who is to make that desicicion?'

What I'm trying to say is that I'am never going to be a chinese gymnast and that life is too short to let oneself be held back by strict ideas of virtuosity. I could probably be a better poledancer by taking circusclasses but what I want is something else. I want to discover new movements on the pole. Not new poses. I want to explore the understated. Not the glam. I want to look interesting and I'm no longer interested in the pretty. So here I am, dancing, dancing, dancing trying to find new kinds of movement and new ways of expression, hoping to take a few steps closer towards poetry.

Zero gravity at the beach

2010-10-22T21:20:00.004+02:00

walking in Barceloneta

2010-10-21T20:41:00.000+02:00

Playa Catalunya - tuesday night

2010-10-20T12:22:00.003+02:00

Poleart 2010

2010-10-19T22:49:00.002+02:00

Anna:
So many things took place during the couple of months when the blog was down and I feel it's time to do some backtracking:

On September 25th my dear friend (and employer) Nelle from North Pole Studios put on the amazing event of PoleArt at Södra Teatern I Stockholm. It is an international event that contains both a showcase and a competition focusing on "displaying the artistry, beauty and showmanship in poledance". It was a mindblowing evening with fantastic performances by participants from ... different countries, the judges were true poledancecelebs and it was a superbly well organised and impressive show.

I usually don't post other peoples videos of performances or feats here but the winner and the runner-up of this competition are must-sees and should not be kept hidden so if t´you have a few minutes to spare, do have a look. (That goes for all the CF and KB guys as well. You don't wanna miss this!)

The runner-up, Oona from Finland. What can I say, flawless.

The winner, Laurence from France. So artistic.

And I can't stop myself from posting this last one. Marina from North Pole Studios, Stockholm performed in the showcase. Even though I train with her regularly I'm breathtaken each time I see her perform. This time I even had tears in my eyes. Couldn't find a clip from the eventnight so here's Marina rehearsing at the studio.

Gloves at the ready!

2010-10-19T17:40:00.006+02:00

Anna:
The plan we had for this blog after our move to Spain and the comeback in english was to first and foremost use it as a photoblog and not write as much as we did before. But as iPhoto has somehow crashed and as there seems to be too many things going on that needs to be told you might have to settle for a lot of text for a while.

Boxing last night was fun. Felt good to throw some punches after a long two weeks without my gloves on. Puro Impacto (those names...) was the name of the gym and it seems to be more of a muay thai/kickboxing gym rather than a boxing gym. The class was good though, all levels, from beginners to advandced were mixed. It can be quite daunting for a beginner of course and perhaps a bit basic for the advanced students but for someone in between, like me, it's perfect. You get to feel like you've actually learned something about boxing when you see the new people next to you, but you also have the chance to watch and learn from the advanced boxers. I love it!

The head trainer was called Javier, a guy in his best years. He was not excessively tall, didn't exactly have a huge amount of hair and his grey melange sweatsuit wasn't from this seasons collection if you know what I mean. In other words, he looked like a coach out of a boxing film and was hard as nails. The fact that there was a younger adept holding the class while he himself spent most of the time standing on top of a laddder in the middle of the room fixing a lamp in the ceiling made him appear even more like a character from Raging Bull.

Anyway, I didn't make a fool out of myself during class and I kicked ass during the last five minutes of ab work. I have a few other boxinggyms that I would like to give a try before I make up my mind but this was a good start.

Puro Impacto - selling thaishorts galore!

A post on this mornings ballet class, first one in many years, will have to wait till tomorrow I think. But perhaps Jon will write something later tonight on this evenings ringwork down at the beach.

For whom the bell tolls

2010-10-18T18:29:00.004+02:00

Jon:
First day of kettlebell practice for a long time. Started out light doing the basic moves, first with the 12, then with the 16 and finally with the 20. It felt good but a bit akward. Like I really had to think about what I was doing, consciously anticipating shifts in balance and weight distribution.
Decided to go for first day of Kettlebell Muscle anyway. Well. What can I say? "It's been a long time since." "Too much wine lately" "Not used to the floor/air/surroundings" "Tired from trying to learn spanish." Knock! Knock!! They all sound hollow, don't they?
Well how about this one?: "Not strong enough yet !"
So pretty quickly I scaled it down from 5 reps to 3. I will stay with that for this week. Go up to 4 next week and in two weeks 5 will hopefully be ready for the first week of the program.
I'm going to take "before and after pictures" to document this program and see what happens. I don't have a scale but if I put on a sufficent amount of weight I will know it.

Before

Well. Got something to work with here. Am afraid the stork will knock on my door and ask for his legs back.

Dancing, swinging, punching

2010-10-18T17:19:00.004+02:00

Anna:
Went to my first danceclass in years today. Contemporary at PlanD. I feel like I've been hit by a car, trying to keep up with the group who were far more advanced than I am and who had beeen dancing together for months. But it was all I had hoped for and more! I realise my body needs some time to adjust to the contemporary movements. My gosh, my back is so straight you'd think I have a hanger shoved up my a*se and my hands look like the hands of a bloody showgirl. Aaaargh, that's not contemporary! Not even ballet I'm afraid.

But I'm loving it, it been so long since I was moving in those kind of patterns. Pole has been so trickfocused for me lately so to really get back to dancing feels like its just what I need. And want! Plus I think it's going to give so much more to the dancing on the pole. So from now on I think there'll be the danceclasses in the morning and kettlebells in the afternoons. And sprinting on the beach the rest of the time. Ha ha. Now off to a boxing-class, first one since we came. Let's see what the Barcelonians have up their sleeve.

3-D kettlebells anyone?

2010-10-18T12:58:00.006+02:00

Jon:
My first eskrima practice the other day reminded me of something that I've known for a while but never really adressed: that most of the training I do are two dimensional. How did it remind me? My obliques are still hurting.

In eskrima passing the center line of the body is more the rule than the exception.
Most of the strikes are performed diagonally across the midline. Twinting is of course very common i many sports and perhaps especially in martial arts. It is almost impossible to generate power in striking, throwing or kicking without twisting the body. In non specific sports training like Crossfit or kettlebells however we rarely do these kind of motions. With kettlebells we have a few movements that do this. Most notebly the TGU but also the "RKC-armbar", the "Around the World Pass" and the "Figure 8 to Hold". You can also do some variation on "Lunges with a twist"None of those are however very explosive. To me there seems to be a void to be filled here.
I'm thinking that kb-juggling might be a way to do it. Juggling a kettlebell you constantly pass the midline and move in all planes and you constantly put the body slightly out of balance. Anybody out there who has tried Gus Petersens K.A.T. dvd's?
Well, I would appreciate your thoughts and ideas on this subject.

New babies

2010-10-17T22:14:00.005+02:00

Jon:
This morning it was time to collect our four new babies. The large ones - two purple twins - the yellow middle child and a small blue one. We went up the mountain to Leo at Kettlebell Barcelonas house in La Floresta. It's five degrees colder up there. The air is crisp and the mountain sides are green. Leo helped us carrying the bells to the train and after a coffe we went back to the city.

Stopping on la rambla on the way back home for a few presses (yes, that is a very short t-shirt).
So, now we got our bells and with them no more excuses. It's been a while since we played with them so it feels a bit shaky. My original idea was to start with Geoff Neuperts "Kettlebell Muscle" program immediately but now I feel that a few days of getting the movement patterns back first might be a good idea. So the next few days will be playing around with all the weights and will all kinds of excercises, both single and double, and when that feels good - hopefully by wednesday or so - I will start with the 12 week program.

Back in the saddle

2010-10-16T15:22:00.003+02:00

Jon:
Yesterday I brought the rings down to the beach. Did the first ring work for about a month. Not the most beautiful form but it felt pretty good. I could only two muscle-ups at a time but I think that I will be up to five or more quite quickly.

Today I had my first eskrima class with Enrique and the other guys at Barcelona Eskrima Group.
It was a 31/2 hour session at Gimnas Yawara and the first time doing eskrima for me. For a long time I have wanted to train with the Sayoc Kali group at Blade Arts in Stockholm but working restaurant hours haven't really made that possible. So here I am now with Barcelonas stick/knife fighting elite.

It was a great session. It felt so good to do a martial art again. Hitting tyres with sticks and at the end just going at each other with padded sticks. Can't wait to learn more from these great people.

Me be ill/ Have had better days

2010-10-16T11:56:00.006+02:00

Anna:
A friend posted this on facebook the other day: "I wish I could buy a spare immune system on ebay!!" For fucks sake yes! At least when it comes to these silly colds that are bad enough to keep you off your feet, but not severe enough to knock you right out and keep you sleeping trough it. Or no, really I wouldn't mind skipping all sorts of illnesses if I had the choix.

Yes it's true, I have a cold and have been lying in bed for a couple of days now. My only joy is when Jon comes home to tell me about what exercises he did at the beachgym. Or rather...to tell the truth, I'm so frustrated about my state that when he comes home to eagerly tell me about his latest muscleup/bodyweightwod/run or whatever, all I do is jealously grunt something and then change the subject. Ha ha, what a wife huh! But Jon is as kind and patient as ever, assuring me how I'll soon be well and how fun we'll have together as soon as I'm back on track.

And how much fun we've had down at the beach! Our last workout together was a great set of skilltraining, nothing that got the pulse running but it left me with some severe soreness the day after:

Handstand pushups, all the way to the ground, with help if required (which means on each rep for me!) to work on full range of motion.

Pistols (one legged squat). They still challenge me, I can't even do them unassisted, otherwise I fall backwards. But I can feel them improving everytime and my Lord I can feel them when walking the two sets of stairs up to our house.

After that, some gymnastics. Flat tucked front lever holds, and a sort of long cycle Skin the cat that goes from a normal dead hang to a l-sit pullup, then inverts to skin the cat. From there it goes the same way back to the beginning again, and without touching the ground, straight back into a new rep. Got that? Perhaps a film would be in place. Next time.

A staged demo pic of the first stage of the long-cycle-skin-the-cat. Gotta admit though, that's the wrong grip. Should be overhand when you do the full rep. But have you seen what beautiful night skies we're training under? And how glossy my new shoes are!

Anyway, am aiming at being well tomorrow, we're going out to Leo Cavallo from Kettelbells Barcelona to pick up some kettlebells. He's living somewhere outside of town and going back with four KBs on public transport can probably give our grip a good workout. Although we have done it several times before remember? In fact, all our darlings at home got the rough treatment and have seen both busses, trams and commutertrains on their way to their new family. Leos kettlebells are GirevoySport competitionbells, the multicolore ones. Although I just love Eleikos black ones and am hoping to get a hold of some of them soon, I'm eager to see what it's like to work the GS ones and I'm looking forward to meet with Leo again. He is a really nice guy - despite the fact that he is a Girevoysport guy! Wondering what GS is? Have a look at this vid. No show, no glam, no brand new trainers, just hard work and repetitions, repetitions, repetitions. Just gotta love the Russians!

Ba ba baa, ba Barbaraaa

2010-10-14T20:05:00.004+02:00

Jon:
Unfortunately Anna's sick so no training with her for now. Barabara however jumped in on a short notice. I have tried her out before but failed miserably and was fittingly condemned by fellow athletic bloggers. This time I on purpose set a very low pace (Scale and keep the intensity! I know, I know. Mañana) to be sure I'd make it through. A lot of people at the beach gym today resulted in some involuntary pauses below the pull-up bar.
Just a few words about my fellow practitioners. Full Range of Motion seems to be an unknown concept here. You do your pull-ups from bent arms up to your nose and stop your push-ups at half way. Ok, I know my push-ups are not games standard all the time (Rickard CFN?) but compared to what I see here they are pure poetry. One of the great things of working out in the midst of people with a less than perfect technique is that you yourself go to great lengths to excell. You know - the big fish in a small pond theory.
Well. Back to Barbara. For the non CrossFitters Barbara means 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and 50 squats repeated 5 times.
I did it all. It took me more than 30 min. Next time I will do it in less.

New beginnings

2010-10-13T14:09:00.005+02:00

Jon:
First week in Barcelona has past and life is slowly falling in to place. I no longer get really lost - just slightly - and I'm starting to dare to try a little spanish.
This is my/our first blog post in three months but hopefully it means a new beginning. Since we have left old Svedala behind we will try to do this in english. It might take a while to get my english up to speed som please bare with me.
We haven't received our kettlebells yet so it has only been bodyweight training this far. Not that that isn't challenging enough. I'm not exactly in the best shape of my life. Moving to another country takes its toll. I still have no real flow or routine and are not expecting to get it before we move into our own flat at the end of this month

The terrace of our new flat

Today however I wrote down all the CrossFit Girls and Heroes workout that you can do without weights and decided to start from "A": Angie (100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats) - with a twist though. Starting and finishing with a run. Starting the clock outside the door on C/ dels Arcs. Crisscrossing between the tourists in front of the Catedral on Plaça Nova and on C/ del Bisbe Irurita down to Plaça de Sant Jaume. Downhill through the rest of Barri Gòtic and to Port Vell. Hopefully I have green lights across Ronda del Litoral and then I just follow the water and the sailboats of the Port de Barcelona and the Marina to Palau de Mar and Museu d'Historia de Catalunya and in between the narrow streets of the old fisher neighborhood of Barceloneta. After that it's just a few hundred meters to the pier between Platja de Sant Sebastià and Platja de Barceloneta and the beach gym. Nothing luxurious, just a few pull-up bars and other more unidentifiable stuff but basically all you need.
The running took 10 minutes and I started on the pull-ups immediately. After 25 or so I realised that 100 wasn't a good idea for today so I quickly scaled it down to half. The gym was almost empty today except for a little girl playing around and a guy praticing his not so impressing Kung-Fu skills so at least I could do it without interuption. However, 50 push-ups, sit-ups and squats later I was on my way home up the windling alleys of the Gotic once again.
Tomorrow it's Barbara. And as we all know: Barbara is a Bitch!

Night Swinging

2010-07-14T12:19:00.002+02:00

Jon:
Att leta bilder till blogginläggen är alltid givande. Det är lite Matrixkänsla i att försöka hitta en gemensam nämnare i alla de sökningar man gör. Att hitta den röda tråden i sitt liv. Att avtäcka tillvarons metafysiska struktur. Åtminstone hade det varit givande om inte denna gemensamma nämnare hade varit så generande uppenbar: Porr. Sök bilder på ovanstående rubrik, på "stretching"eller "bottoms up". Suck.
Hursom. Jobbet är semesterbommat och semesterns första dagar är över. Paniken över att inte utnyttja den till max tilltar. CFN är stängt den här veckan och jag måste i alla fall vara lite försiktig med benhinnor och underarmar så träningen är lite på undantag. Det blev lite spridda skurar av ringdips och handstående armhävningar under gårdagen samt ett besök på Progym med overhead squats, low-bar-back-squats samt bänkpress. Allt lätt med teknikfokus.

Framåt tiotiden kom Anna äntligen hem efter två pole-klasser och tyckte att vi skulle gå ut och leka lite med järnkloten. Det blev lite allmänt swingande, jonglerande och pressande. Mitt vanliga tvåhandsjonglerande går som på räls så nu ska jag försöka lära mig att rotera kulan åt andra hållet. Betydligt svårare. Vi avslutade med 40 clean/push-press. Anna gör det rätt smidigt med 16. Jag får kämpa betydligt mer, speciellt på vänstern, med 32.
Ska sätt mig ned idag eller i morgon och fundera på hur sommarträningen ska läggas upp. Det enklaste vore förstås att lägga den helt i händerna på CFN men det känns lite tråkigt. Vill hålla på mer med kettlebells bland annat. Vill också bygga lite mer styrka. Vi får se hur det blir.

Detta har hänt:

2010-07-11T23:39:00.005+02:00

Anna:
Den senaste tiden har jag helt enkelt varit så upptagen med att överträffa mig själv att bloggen fått stryka en aning på foten men här kommer en resumé över de gångna veckorna

Jag snubblade över ett nytt PB vi lekte runt lite på Pro gym häromdagen. 90 kilo i marklyft! Det var länge sen jag körde marklyft men tydligen hade tio extra kilo i lyftkraft mognat till sig i sommarvärmen. Det är en lite ambivalent glädje som infinner sig när man förbättrat sig på något utan övning. Man se det som att all annan träning liksom spillt över på lyftet och vara nöjd och glad med det. Men jag kan inte riktigt komma ifrån känslan av att inte riktigt ha förtjänat det. Att man alltid måste betala med blod, svett och tårar liksom, annars är det inget värt. Men å andra sidan har det trots allt varit mycket av både tårar och svett och en del blod den senaste tiden, bara inte just vid skivstången.

Gjorde sammanlagt fyra lyft på nittio och Jon ville att jag skulle öka men förståndig som jag är tyckte jag det var bäst att skynda långsamt. Satsar på 100 kg - 1,5 gånger kroppsvikten - innan sommaren är slut.

Ett annat helt färskt PB är ett som jag verkligen jobbat för. Det tog mig nästan ett år att överhuvudtaget lyckas göra en. Ytterligare typ ett halvår fick jag ligga i för att göra två. Men plötsligt bara rasar de in och numera, ganska exakt två år efter att jag började öva, så gör jag 6 chins i följd. Jag fick nästan in sju igår men olympiska kommittén har ännu inte godkänt försöket. Sex stycken var målet för sommaren men vafan, nu kör vi. The sky's the limit!

Vidare har jag alldeles nyligen startat upp yoga/stretchklasser för fighters på Fighter Centre Stockholm och det är underbart att instruera folk som är så vana vid att använda sina kroppar. Alla cues fungerar så bra och det är skönt med elever som inte sparar på energin utan ger allt de har i varje pose. Härligt också att få de tuffa shootkillarna att frusta och svettas trots att de knappt rör på sig. Första veckan var vi runt åtta stycken, veckan därpå 15, undrar hur länge deltagarantalet kan forsätta dubblas ha ha. FC-medlemmar är välkommna på onsdagar klockan 18.00

Sommarens boxningsträning med pass tre gånger i veckan och framförallt med renodlade sparringpass har gett utdelning. Dels i form av diverse blåmärken och en liten blåklocka på vänsterögat men framförallt har min boxning äntligen börjat likna just boxning. Det är fortfarande lite obehagligt när man står framför de där jättemännen med knytnävar stora som meloner och armar längre än mina ben och veta att det kommer regna slag över mot mig så snart coach ropar "Box!". Men jag känner mig mer peppad än någonsin och ett litet litet litet frö har börjat gro med tanken på om man inte någon gång i framtiden skulle testa på det där med att tävla.

Och eftersom blåmärken är min grej så passade jag på att skaffa lite fler under två workshops med Pantera Blacksmith härom veckan. Liten men svintuff tjej som verkar träna som ett djur. Förrutom några timmar om dagen på stången lyfter hon skrot på något gym i Austin, Texas, fem dagar i veckan. Väldigt stark och väldigt rolig. Ta en klass med henne nästa gång ni åker förbi Texas vettja!

Och till sist, kan det kallas för ett PB att låta en snubbe på hundra pannor stå på ens mage under småtimmarna på en blöt fest i lördags? Det gjorde han iallafall och jag fick guldstjärna i grenen 'brace-your-abs'.

Sooner or later, God's gonna cut you down

2010-07-08T09:51:00.002+02:00

Jon:
Det började som en skakning på nedre däck...eller egentligen som en lätt värk i vänster underarm. Vuxen som jag är valde jag bort alla dragövningar och tänkte att det väl får bli handstående, bänkpress och kanske lite riktigt tung benträning den närmaste tiden. Nöden är som bekant uppfinningens moder och begränsningar kan leda till nya vägval och ett ökat fokus. En löprunda i skogen bakom fiskis en vacker sommareftermiddag i stället för hundratals chins och kettlbelljuggling är verkligen inget nedköp. En doft av kaprifol, försiktigt darrande asplöv, stilla vajande granar och nyutslagna nyponrosor bär fram mitt kapplöpningshjärta. Tyvärr får benen göra sitt också så väl hemma igen har den lilla ömheten i vaderna blommat ut i en maffig benhinneinflammationspion. Det tycks som att vi har gått på grund.
Men det har sagts att detta skepp är osänkbart så backsprinter på CFN under tisdagen och double-unders på onsdagen kan väl inte skada?
Här är det läge att säga några ord om min hopprepsteknik. Under RKCn talades det en del om Force Preservation (Girevoy sport) vs. Maximum Force Output (RKC). Jag har överfört denna princip till hopprepshoppandet. Vissa hoppar hopprep som om dom vore en vibrator. Rörelsen är fokuserad, jämn och nästan osynlig. Ingen onödig energi spenderas. Jag hoppar mer som en pneumatisk borr som slitit sig. Jag flaxar med armarna och hoppar riktigt högt fram och tillbaka över golvet tillsynes helt utan kontroll. Min landning är inte direkt ljudlös men smällen som hörs är inte av sulorna som slår i marken utan av mina benhinnor som skriker om nåd. Efter sammanlagt 208 DU var benen klara för pension och det var bara att boka av resten av veckans pass, stappla över till apoteket mitt över gatan och köpa en tub Voltaren. Vila helt enkelt.
Ska dock kolla hur det känns med knäböj. Bänkpress och HSPU kommer funka bra också.
På pluskontot finns dock att jag faktiskt numera grejar drygt 200 DU på 16 minuter. Dom var uppdelade i grupper om 16 och jag fixar majoriteten av dom obrutna. Formen blir också bättre när benhinnorna värker. Hoppas den sitter kvar tills jag kan köra igen.

Glory Days

2010-07-06T23:23:00.005+02:00

Anna:

Kombinationen att jobba heltid, träna dagligen och samtidigt försöka leva som en sjuttonåring på vattenfestival har haft allvarliga konsekvenser för både nattsömnen och bloggtimmarna och de senaste veckorna har bristen på de båda sistnämnda gjort sig påminda genom allt ifrån fruktansvärt osympatiskt morgonhumör och molande armbågsleder till ett gnagande dåligt samvete och det är helt klart att en omprioritering vore på sin plats. Men hur lyckas man med det när man inte vill göra avkall på någotsomhelst?

För ibland är det så sjukt kul att lägga i femman och rusa på i hundraåttio med vinden i håret och Bruce Springsteen på högsta. Ibland vill man inte alls tänka på konsekvenserna utan hellre skratta så man gråter, springa tills man stupar, swinga tills man kräks och stanna ute tills sista tåget hem gått för flera timmar sedan och skjuta upp förnuftigheterna till morgondagen. Och ibland kommer man så jäkla långt av bara farten. Jag kan inte riktigt redogöra för hur det gått till men de senaste veckorna har innehållit en kavalkad av nya bedrifter, människor och projekt och jag känner mig mer levande än någonsin. Och samtidigt totalt fullständigt utmattad. Kan det vara Nirvana tro?

Big juggles, no troubles and dancing with myself

2010-06-27T15:23:00.006+02:00

Jon:
Sommar på riktigt och ledig från jobbet. Vad kan då vara bättre än att ta ut lilla gjutjärnshunden på promenad. Jag följer inget som helst träningsprogram nu så vet aldrig riktigt vad som ska hända när jag kommer ut. Mycket lek blir det i alla fall. Tog med 32an ut och värmde upp med tvåhandswings. Över till enhandswings, cleans och snatchar. Siffrorna är inte så viktiga men jag försöker hålla balans mellan högern och vänstern i all fall. Sen jonglerande. 32an är betydligt lättare att jonglera med än både 16 och 24 - åtminstone så länge jag gör det med båda händerna. Greppet orkar inte riktigt på vänstern. Det är alltid lite darrigt under de första repsen. Det tar lite tid att hitta balansen, höjden och rätt rotation. Tekniken blir också lite annorlunda mot de vanliga swingarna. Mer squat än "hike pass".
Avslutade det hela med några korta stegar clean/push-press.
Just det här planlösa lekandet får mig att fundera på om man inte ska odla den träningsmetodiken. Tveklöst är det så att det finns plats för rigorösa program inom all typ av träning. Men ett komplement till den träningen kan också vara denna planlösa lek. Man kan ibland se den hos folk som är riktigt duktiga på att jonglera: större vikt på lek, kreativitet, "flow" och mindre vikt på "träning". Min tanke är att lägga in pass här och där som man inte alls bestämmer i förväg hur dom ska utföras utan bara låter kulan gå så obrutet från övning till övning som möjligt. Tänk kettlebellparkour.

RKC Danmark 2010 - del 3

2010-06-27T10:49:00.004+02:00

Jon:
Lördag. Träningsvärk. Baksidan av låren. Ner till frukostrummet och morsa på fler trötta RKC-to-be nyllen. Inte riktigt vara sugen på frukost men veta att det nog är bäst att fylla på. Bussen till träningscentret tog en ny och längre väg.
Dagens övningar involverade clean, press och snatch. Cleanbiten sköttes utmärkt av Dennis Frisch. Det är ju annars en övning som känns lite undanskuffad. Som att den bara är där för att få upp kulan i rack för att sen kunna göra något annat. Därför ser den ju också lätt ut som den gör: lite slapp och med alldeles för mycket "bump" ned i racket. Den är dock värd ett bättre öde än så. Framförallt om man slutar betrakta den bara som en transitrörelse. Det är en övning där man kan kan köra ganska tungt om man inte tvunget ska pressa kulan efteråt. Jag som knappt kan pressa 32 kg kan ändå cleana 40 kg. Bra sätt att börja jobba med tyngre vikter alltså. Det är förresten ett sätt som jag börjat tänka runt vikt: att byta mer friskt. Det är lätt hänt att man fastnar på "sin" vikt och gör alla övningar med den. "Min" vikt är t.ex. 24 kg. Jag cleanar, pressar, swingar, snatchar och gör TGUs med den trots att belastningen i dessa olika övningar skiljer sig väldigt mycket åt. Att pressa 24an motsvarar ungefär att swinga 40an eller att cleana 32an i ansträngning. Så varför inte göra det i stället? Att låta vissa övningar visa vägen för andra. Tvåhandswingar med 32an leder till enhandswingar och cleans. Dessa kombinerade med TGUs och overhead-holds leder så småningom till snatches och pressar. När snatches och pressar sitter där så swingar man redan ledigt 40 kg och har på så sätt börjat förbereda kroppen för nästa steg. Det här är säkert självklarheter för alla andra där ute men någon måste också vara sist med att förstå.
Dennis höll hursomhelst en eminent cleanlektion. Som vanligt med fokus på kroppsanspänning framförallt i gluteus, mage och lats. Axlarna fastsugna mot kroppen och knäskålarna uppdragna. Ett annat grymt tips är att inte cleana till bröstet utan till magen. Alltså att inte sikta på rackposition utan lägre. Det gör att man automatiskt inte "bumpar" kulan mot underarm och axel utan att den vackert lägger sig på plats som ett litet fågelbo.
Cleanens ständiga följeslagare är - på gott och ont - pressen. Enter Geoff Neupert. Pressen är verkligen biomekanik 101. Kroppen som en pelare. Underarmen vinkelrät mot underlaget. Det är också den övning som jag förstår sämst. När man tittar på duktiga kb-utövare blir det extremt tydligt att styrkan i pressen inte kommer från stora muskler utan från god teknik. Rätt taniga killar pressar 48 kg på en arm. Man känner det också när man själv tränar. Jag pressar som allra bäst efter att kanske ha gjort 5 stegar utan att gå till max. Då går 32an upp utan att det är något större problem. Testar jag ouppvärmd så sitter den som fastgjuten i rack. Vänstern funkar inte alls med 32an och kräver mycket mer jobb än högern för att alls komma igång. När jag pressar med högern så kan jag applicera den teknik som jag lärt mig och få den att fungera. Detta gäller i synnerhet att stänga till allt energiläckage genom anspänning särskilt i låren, gluteus och magen. För vänstern funkar det inte riktigt än, åtminstone inte med tyngre vikter. Något som jag dock har väldigt svårt för att förstå är "packing the shoulder" i pressen. Både i swingen och i TGUn förstår jag mycket väl varför latsen ska vara tighta och axeln nere. Men i pressen får jag inte riktigt till det. Jag får också lära mig motsatsen på Crossfitten: att axlarna SKA pressas upp i toppläget. Det känns också för mig mer naturligt. Vissa skillnader kanske kommer från att pressa skivstång vs. att pressa kettlebell. Någon som har tankar om det här?
Vid det här laget börjar också huvudet bli så fullt av teori och kroppen så korrigerad att saker börjar flyta ihop en smula: "tight glutes, eyes forward, happy face, brace your abs, kneecaps up, TIGHT GLUTES, bendyourbackhappyfacerelaxtensetightfistcrushthehandleetcetcetc......
Välkommet med lunch alltså. Känslan av att vara halvvägs infann sig en smula. Mina händer var fortfarande hela om än rätt slitna och trötta. Greppet började bli en major issue. Det kändes lite oroande med tanke på att dagens sista del var vikt åt snatchen. Men, som sagt, än så länge höll allt ihop så allt var skönhet på denna kust.
Uppvärmningen inför snatchblocket blev två timmars squat. Inte så mycket att säga om det förutom: öppna höfterna! Squaten är väl kanske inte kungen av kettlebellövningarna utan kanske snarare ett instrument för att just öppna upp höften och "hitta" resten av kroppen, känna och behålla svanken, hitta balansen på hälarna osv. Racksquats kan iof vara riktigt pissiga. "Fran" med två 20 kg kulor måste vara riktigt roligt.
Sen då till snatchen. Enter Kenneth Jay. Undrar hur det kommer sig att snatchen liksom blivit kungen av kettlebellövningarna? Varken jag eller RKC-samhället i stort tycker väl att det egentligen är den "bästa" övningen. Swingen är ju t.ex. mycket mer användbar. Det är mer grundläggande, betydligt lättare att lära ut och kan köras mycket tyngre. Den ställer heller inte alls lika höga krav på händerna som snatchen gör. Ändå är det snatchen som alla verkar gå igång lite extra på. Är det för att den syns, för att kulan rör sig så långt? Lite hänger det väl förstås ihop med snatchtestet och SSSTs rykte.
Snatchen är rätt svår att lära ut. De flesta andra övningar kan man korrigera under tiden genom att klämma, putta, hålla osv. men när någon snatchar vill man inte riktigt vara i den omedelbara närheten. Det är lite som att cykla utan stödhjul. När swing, enhandswing och highpull sitter så är det bara att ge några sista tips om hur sista delen av rörelsen och låsningen ska se ut och sen köra. Snatchar gör man ensam. Det här blev också tydligt på Kenneth Jays genomgång. I mycket större utsträckning än på de tidigare genomgångarna bestod den här av ord snarare än regelrätta demonstrationer och korrigeringar. Vi började genomgången med vår snatchtestvikt vilket för de flesta var alldeles för tungt. När inte greppet håller längre så försämras tekniken radikalt. Efter en stund blev det uppenbart för alla och dom som ville fick byta ned sig. Just det här med att tvunget köra snatchar med sin testvikt var en av de saker som fick mig att börja fundera på snatchen och snatchtestets plats inom RKC. Det förvånade mig lite att Kenneth Jay som ändå valt än annan väg än maximal tyngd med Viking Warrior trots det väljer att köra så tungt på en teknikgenomgång. Det tyder på att snatchen inte riktigt utsätts för samma kritiska blick som de andra övningarna inom RKC. Att den har något av en omedveten särställning som kettlebellövningarnas heliga Graal.

Dagen avslutades med RKCs kanske mest upphausade program: Viking Warrior VO2max. Först räknar man ut sin egen kadens genom att under 5 minuter snatcha i ett högre och högre tempo för att under femte minuten gå "all in". Hur många man klarar under denna sista minut bestämmer sen vad ens egen takt under själva workouten ska bli. Min ligger sen tidigare på 8 vilket jag hamnade på nu också. Den här gången hade jag dock ganska lätt kunnat komma upp på 9 om det inte hade varit för att greppet dog. Det här är väl kanske också ett av de största problemen med VO2max workouten. Det är tänkt som träning för hjärta och lungor men det är oftast inte (för mig eller för Anna i alla fall) det som sätter gränserna för hur hårt man kan köra utan just om händerna håller eller inte. Visst, bättre teknik ger bättre resultat men då känns det enklare att köra samma upplägg men med en annan övning, typ burpees.
Det här är hursomhelst hemmaplan för både mig och Anna så det vara bara att köra. 40 minuter är målet men vi blev avblåsta långt innan dess. Piece of Cake! Händerna var dock Good Bye!! Öppna blåsor och Blood on the Bell. Nåja. Bara en dag kvar.

The human loop

2010-06-23T23:53:00.001+02:00

Anna:
Det var ett bra boxningspass idag, mycket försvar. Blocka, vicka, blocka, rulla, rond efter rond. Det behövs eftersom jag får så jäkla mycket stryk på sparringpassen ha ha. Eller så får jag se till att faktiskt träffa ordentligt när jag kontrar. Jobbar på det, tro mig.

Sen bar det av till polestudion där jag, på grund av att jag känner mig lite överansträngd i armbågarna, mest körde yoga och diverse magövningar i stretchrummet. Men när gänget kommer igång ute på stängerna är det svårt att hålla sig borta och det blev lite shouldermountvariationer, några fortsatta magövningar på stången och ett geminitrick som jag aldrig prövat förr:

Det är faktiskt inte så krångligt som det ser ut. Dock strålade det till på ett jävligt obehagligt sätt i ländryggen (kunde jag kanske räknat ut innan). Tror att det har gått över nu. Annars kan ni bespetsa er på en redogörelse från naprapaten de kommande dagarna.

Jag filmade en av dagens magövningar och har, trots att jag borde gå och lägga mig, suttit uppe och lekt i iMovie och lagt till text och musik och fan och hans moster men det verkar ta hundra år att ladda upp så jag återkommer imorgon med videoklipp. Stay tuned.

Building the Gymnastic Body. Typ

2010-06-23T00:41:00.004+02:00

Anna:
Tillbaka i gymnastikhallen igen. Lät hjulningarna vila lite idag och satsade på volter med trampett och handstående nedrullningar. För några veckor sen hävdade jag att jag börjat få kläm på nedrullningarna. Jag tar tillbaka allt och redovisar härmed dagsformen. Armarna ska vara raka under hela rullningen och det är inte rekommenderat att se ut som en pensionär i avslutet utan man ska upp direkt på två fötter och påbörja en ny.

Handstående nedrulling 1.0

Nu är det sommarstängt i hallen men jag har en hel del med mig att öva på under sommaren. Och när hösten är här ska jag göra rondater och hjula runt som en tioårig truppgymnast på speed. Typ.

Bloggandet - Den nya kvinnofällan?

2010-06-21T23:13:00.003+02:00

Jon:
Det här projektet att skriva om hela RKCn går ju sådääär. Det räcker inte att som med "vanliga" inlägg bara ta 10 minuter och skriva vad man tänker. Man får räkna med en timmes skrivande och en timme har man ju inte. Men man kan ju inte heller skriva några "vanliga" inlägg innan man är klar med dom utlovade. Ingen dessert innan man ätit upp maten.
Men bloggen tolererar inga sådana tankar. Alla vet att bloggen är som en haj - den dör om den stannar. Och vem får då ta hand om bloggen när far i huset ägnar sig åt sofism? Självklart är det mor i huset. Den dagliga slitet med att lägga in bilder, formulera slagkraftiga rubriker och fixa finurliga formuleringar och hålla kontakten med resten av bloggosfären. Allt det där vardagliga pulandet som gör att världen håller ihop medan far vrider sina händer i skaparvånda och väntar på att tankarna ska bli tillräckligt grandiosa för att delas med övriga världen. Så blir bloggen vår tids kvinnofälla. När män har lärt sig att städa, tvätta, byta på ungarna och laga mat så flyttas patriarkatets högkvarter ut från det fysiska hemmet och in i det virtuella. Far i huset får skärpa sig!

Alltså: fortsättningen av RKCn kommer när jag har tid (midsommar kanske).
Till dagens övningar:
Jag var sugen på marklyft så det blev en tur till gamla goda Pro Gym. Där var allt sig likt (surprise!). Jag jobbade mig upp till 2:or på 120 kg och tog sen det ytterst mogna beslutet att inte fortsätta tyngre när formen började dippa. Kenneth Jay (och alla andra) talade en hel del om det här på RKCn, att se träning snarare som övning än som något annat. Ett Aristotelescitat som ofta dyker upp i dessa kretsar är: "We are what we do repeatedly". Om vi lyfter dåligt så lär vi oss lyfta dåligt. Om vi lyfter bra så lär vi oss lyfta bra. Kontentan är alltså att man bör sluta lyfta (eller vad man nu gör) när (helst innan) formen börjar förändras. Inga mer grispass alltså. Jag sympatiserar instinktivt med det här tankesättet. Problemet är bara att jag ju vill köra grispass här och var. Jag vet ju att jag kan lyfta betydligt mer än 120 kg. Jag får alltså börja tänka på det på ett annat sätt: Jag kan inte alls lyfta mer än 120 kg i marklyft för om jag tappar svanken så är det inte längre ett marklyft utan något annat. Ett marklyft är lika lite som något annat lyft bara att flytta en vikt från punkt A till punkt B. Det är att göra det på ett specifikt sätt.
Efter marklyftandet körde jag några viktade chins. Började på 10 kg och jobbade mig upp till två ettor på 40 kg. Avslutade till sist med några riktigt tjusiga l-sit chins.
Men inte nog med det. Det kliade i kettlebellnerven så när jag kom hem igen efter lunch på Råkultur så var det 32:an som fick sig en jävla resa (den och gräsmattan, man kan se kratrarna från månen). Snatchar, cleans swingar och en hel del lyckad juggling. Dessutom klarade jag en tvåa press med högern. Vänstern ligger efter som vanligt men nu behandlar jag den som ett surt barn och försöker leka igång den.