EXERCISING is done for the sake of exercising.

It's often done with the purpose of sweating, burning calories, or getting sore.

Exercises are usually random and mixed up without a plan.

TRAINING is a plan created with a specific goal in mind.

It has structure- exercises are selected with purpose and with specific progressions in mind...

There's no randomness in training.

You may or may not actually break a sweat- you may or may not get sore.

There's a bigger picture and a longer plan in place.

Here’s the thing- all movement is good! If you like doing an app workout here or drop-in class there, if walking is your thing or dance class is where you’re happiest- you do you. 

 Finding what you enjoy and what fits your life is the whole point.

 And.

If you workout and find yourself getting injured frequently, if you aren't noticing improvements in certain movements… 

 If you’re dealing with pain in your shoulder or back and...

All swing variations are ballistic moves- meaning they use multiple muscles and joints to both generate power and absorb it. 

In a traditional Russian KB Swing, power is generated from the back body to get the bell up to a weightless position, and then the power is absorbed in the downswing.

With the eccentric swing, it becomes both a ballistic and plyometric move, in part because we don't allow the bell to reach weightlessness. 

We build even more power by sending the bell down with force at the top of the swing.  This movement mimics the effects of a plyometric jump, where we absorb power when we land on our feet.  In this type of swing, we're absorbing the shock of the bell when it's at the top.  The more power we use to push the bell down, the greater the plyometric effect.  

This is a fun variation with lots of gains- but comfort and confidence with a traditional KB swing is required before trying this variation.

Here's the details of how to...

It's this:

How many days can you commit to?

Then adjust your expectations accordingly.

Something you’ll always hear me talk about is reps on reps.

You get good at doing the thing by doing the thing.  Repetition and consistency is the key to building strength, to being able to move with less restrictions and achiness, and to see measurable change.

And.

Real life will tell you that there will be times when you can give lots of time to your training… and then times when you’re lucky if you lift one day a week.

That’s how life goes (and thankfully, you’ve got all of it to do this fitness thing).

You won’t always be living  ‘best case scenario’, where you can train 2-3 times a week.  And get the results that consistency like that will bring you.

When you can get in a session a week (or less)?  Accept that you won’t be progressing the same- and really, truly know that that’s fine.

And just part of the...

If anything you might be LESS strong for having them…

For most of us, to maintain one means to keep your calorie count very low- and that’s leaves you with little energy to expend.

Being thin doesn’t mean you can squat without pain, or have strength to pull up flooring and drywall for hours if say, your house floods unexpectedly.

Listen, I get why body goals are a thing.

We all know society values thinness- and looking a certain way means you’re treated a certain way (a whole topic for another day). 

And.

If your entire reason for exercise is to get ready for swimsuit season- to burn off your calories and put your body into a ‘shape’- you’re missing out on the real value of the work you’re putting in.

And you’re confusing what a body looks like with what it’s capable of.

If you want to know what it’s like to work with a coach who knows the difference, I’ve got spots open for one on one coaching....

I love all variations of crawling, rolling- any movement that allows you to be connected to the ground. 

Your skin is your largest sensory organ. So when you use these types of movements, you not only develop your sense of where your body is in space (proprioception), but also full body coordination and strength.

And since the two sides of your brain have to work together when your moving on the ground with your hands and feet, you're building and strengthening neural connections.

Mind body connection at it's finest.

Here is one version of grounded locomotion.  If you work with me, you will have experience with MANY variations of this kind of movement :-).

This video gives you 3 different options, depending on what you need and where you're at.  Take what works for you.

How to:

TAP OUTS, KNEES UP OR DOWN (version 1 and 2): If you start with knees down, create a straight line from the top of your head to your tailbone, glutes and core engaged, wrists under shoulders....

When most of my clients first come to me, they’re used to doing random workouts on, or following programs that have 3 different workouts in a week.

That kind of training relies on the principle of ‘muscle confusion’, which claims that in order to gain strength, you have to keep trying different exercises so your body doesn’t get used to them.

Except that it’s not an actual training principle at all, but a marketing strategy used to sell programs like P90X all those years ago- and it somehow continues to stick around.

The reality is, the more we do an exercise, the more efficient our brain becomes at recruiting muscle fibers- and the more strength gains we get from it. This is, in part, the concept of Progressive Overload.

NOT being adapted to an exercise is one of the biggest reasons why we get injured. Our bodies aren’t used to the new movement patterns, and don’t know how to respond.

The people I work with are often surprised at how much they...