Let me start with the story of ‘3-day monks’.

Have you ever started a new thing – whether to exercise every day, eat healthy, quit smoking, quit drinking, quiet drunk texting…. And quit after only a few days? In Japan we have a phase “3-day monk” to describe the behavior. To be really cool, here is how it looks in Japanese character:

三日坊主

The story came from Edo Period (the time of Shogun). When the time is tough, people ran to temples in attempt to start a new life as monks. However the motivation to enter priesthood wasn’t purely religious reasons for those who are escaping from the hard life. Many of them cannot endure the hardship of monk training, ended up leaving the temples only to find themselves exactly where they started – in the midst of troubles.

I know. It’s hard to start a new habit and try to stick to it. I’ve been there many, many times. The “the 3-day monk” story teaches us about keeping up with it, or to commit.  It does not matter how complex the activity is, or how noble your cause may be. It doesn’t matter if you decide to work out for 2 hours every day before heading out to the food shelter if you don’t do it. It means a lot if you decide to drink at least 10 ounce of pure water every day and ACTUALLY DRINK it.

I have been wanting to take up a new thing to call it ‘my thing’. OK. I have a few things I call “my things” – eating potato chips (kettle chips), extra crispy fried, never say no to drinks, etc. But I want something positive, something I can be proud of. I’ve tried to do YOGA in the morning, Cardio workout videos, jump ropes… the list goes on and on. I don’t think I have ever done any of them more than 3 days. Yeah. 3-day monk indeed. The only habit I picked up and so far continue to do is to walk my dog in the morning. To be honest, it’s not that I’m used to it and walking became a part of my life, but it’s because my 50+ pound dog whines like an abused little pooch every morning.

Wait a minute.  That’s just it.

Someone to hold you accountable. By someone else knowing about your attempt and doing it with you perhaps, it is a lot easier to stick to it. Your ego will kick in before you say “I quit” or you conveniently forget that you are doing this. If your pal is doing this with you, you don’t want to be the (potentially the only) quitter, do you? DO YOU?

Thus, I’m inviting you to 30 Day Challenge. I’m doing it. Hope you join me, too. Here are the (very basic) rules:

Choose one of the following activities, do it for 30 consecutive days. Starting date (Day1) can be anywhere between April 18 and April 30th.

Option 1:  100 swings. You have to your own bell to do this. Size doesn’t matter.
Option 2:  50 burpees – no equipment necessary (yelling “whoop!” is optional)
Option 3:  100 mountain climbers (50 each side). Knees has to touch the elbows to count as one.

You can’t switch the activity after you started. If you started with Swings, you stick with swings. It’s all about committing yourself to it.

After the Finish Date (Day 30), you get big bragging rights and a hug from me. It’s a self-reporting system because I trust you J

What do you think? Are you up for the challenge? Declare that you accept the challenge at the Southside Studio.

Check out the August schedule here www.southsidekettlebells.com/schedule

So they came. Actually on our first day, so she came.  She wanted to know what a kettlebell workout is like. Ron and I gave her a first group workout with one attendance. Second day, another person showed up. Third day, the lady from the first day came back, and another person joined. Second month, the group grew to be 2-3 people. Soon the group size grew to be 4-5. It got bigger and bigger. Today we have over 100 members and growing. Many of you are long-time members. Some of you graduated from Southside. Some of you are still new and fresh, enjoying the great feeling of your body rapidly changing. No matter where you are in your life’s journey, stop for a moment and think how far you have come. And be excited this isn’t the end – it’s only the beginning! Hooray!

During the RKC II Workshop, Pavel said something very profound (it was very profound for me). He talked about how kettlebell is a fitness tool. But fitness for what? That – you will have to determine. Some of you may play sports and want to be stronger or better at it. Some of you may have past injuries you want to overcome. Some of you may just want to be fit for life. No matter what your goal is kettlebell is a tool to achieve what you are looking for. Depends on your goal, your trainings will change. I’m not just talking about the strengths; I’m talking about all across the board – endurance, strengths, body/mind balance, everything. I challenge you to think about this – what is your goal? I know it is as hard as being asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  But, it’s worth thinking about.

Back to your achievements -

On this day – although 2 days passed its birthday – let’s congratulate ourselves for our awesome accomplishments. Be proud that we are all stronger and getting even stronger yet.

And THANK YOU for making Southside Kettlebells a great place to practice kettlebell. It’s been a swell journey for us instructors to work with you. We are certainly thrilled at our opportunities to be able to work with you more in the future.

P.S. – When we opened the studio, my hair has long – reaching to the bottom of my shoulder blades. As our group is getting bigger, my hair got shorter. Soon I might have to shave it all off…. Hmmmmm…..

A-ham, Happy Tax Day! Yup you guessed it. It was Tax Day Theme workout.

1040 EZ

10 T&G / 40 Swings

10 Curls / 40 Swings

10 Burpees  / 40 Swings

10 Presses / 40 Swings

3903 Moving Expense Tax – Outside Special

So much to do when you are outside! Swing throws, Swing walks, more than 10 step Swing Hops….. It’s our first outing so let’s start nice and easy, shall we?

(shorter route – about 2/3 of soccer field length)

Bear crawls – 3 push ups – Bear Crawls – 9 Dips – Bear Crawl – Sun Dial – Bear Crawls – Touch&Go

(longer route – a soccer field length )

See-saw walk – 3 push ups – See saw walk – 9 dips – See saw walk – Sun dial – See Saw Walk – Touch & Go

Break from Tax talk

Swing walks, push up hold, swing hop backwards, forwards, whatever, whatever whatever…..

1099 Interest Tax

This really was an easy concept, but I didn’t explain it well. Sorry for the confusion. As the title suggests, more interest you gained (= reps), more tax you pay (= sets). Get it now?

I go /You go Snatches: number = each hand

3-4-4-5-5-5-6-6-6-6-7-7-7-7-8-8-8…Oops we ran out of time, but we would have gone to 2 more sets of 8.

What comes out must go home

Casual stroll back to the studio with your bells.

Here you have it. I love outside kettlebelling! We’ll be going out there as often as we can on Thursday nights.

Friday night people – I’m trying to figure out a way to get us outdoors. Haven’t figured out the logistics yet. If you have any ideas how we can do this (we will have to meet at the studio to pick up bells… unless you want the “BELLLESS WORKOUTS”. Well I can do that, too) let me know.

Love, Peace and Snatches!

Hiromi

P.S. My husband says “now it’s Outside Kettlebells, rather than Southside Kettlebells”. Ha!

Today’s workout was inspired by our newer member, Mark. He loved the circuit workout Lynda did when he visited us for the first time. His eyes get wider and shining as he recalls the wonderful memory of his first class. As we were finishing the Friday class, Mark asks “will there be a circuit tomorrow?”

“Now that you asked, yes it will be a circuit day”

There it begins the circuit Saturday. But first a little fun warm up.

[Musical Swings @ infancy – Warm up]

Pool all the bells in the center. One bell is exceptionally heavy, the rest are the same size (relatively small, today’s case 16kg)

10 jumping jacks, walk around the circle until I say “go”

Grab a bell near you and 10 swings

10 Mt. climbers walk around the circle… 15 swings

Push-up position, jump side by side, walk around the circle…. 20 swings   You get the idea.

[Push Up Progression]

Jack knife… push up… walk off and on the bells…. Right leg up, bring it to your left elbow & hold. The other side.  It was a delightful 5 minutes.

[Now onto the main event, The Circuit!]

1. Ab wheels
2. Snatches
3. Static push up hold on 2 medicine balls
4. Hanging from chin up bar, bring your knees to your chest
5. Swings
6. French Curls (with short rope threaded through the horn)
7. Shoot Through

The first set was 60 seconds on, 15 seconds to move. This gave us the taste of what each station offers. The second set was for 90 seconds on, 10 seconds to move.

[Since we were ahead of time…. A little Hiromi Zen moment]

Squat against the wall (be sure that your shins are perpendicular to the floor. Knees are bent less than 90 degrees). Your shoulders, elbows and wrists are pressed against the wall. Raise your arms. Hold.

Did I hear “I don’t know why this hurts, but it does!”   That’s right. It’s as zen as it gets.

[Finale – Russian Ladder]

Good old Russian Ladder. We added some splash of fun by doing different things other than swings. Like push ups, Mt. Climbers, Halos, Figure 8 etc…

I hope this was what you were looking for. And as usual, I take requests. Seriously.

“Because you asked for it, yes it will be a circuit day”Happy Valentine’s Day.

Love, Hiromi