On Kettlebelling

One Sunday afternoon I was flipping through channels and stumbled across this gem:

How had I never heard of this before? A coworker and I had been talking about going through the P90X program together, but I was skeptical from the beginning. I wasn't sure how much equipment I would need to buy, I wasn't thrilled at the thought of diving head-first onto the hardwood floors of my small apartment (you've seen the commercials), and frankly I didn't really think I'd stick to a program where the average user's end goal is to look like this:

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The KettleWorx program seemed like something I could handle: three 20-minute workouts a week, with new workouts each week, six weeks total to finish the program, and all I needed to buy besides the dvd's was a kettlebell (and a mat, which I already had).

 kettleworx

After a little bit of research, I decided to buy the program from Amazon. This was pre-Christmas, and since I was going home for two weeks for the holidays, I decided to start after I got back.

Not-so-fun Fact: I gained 7 pounds over Christmas!

So... the third week of January rolled around and I decided to give the thing a go. I started with the Cardio video, with the understanding that the workouts increased in difficulty over the six weeks, and therefore the week one workouts would be easy and suited for someone who, say, had been sitting at a desk all day for the past three years.

omg.

Kettlebell workouts involve a lot of squatting. An excellent exercise, but not something you should be doing for 20 minutes straight while swinging a seven-pound weight over your head after not squatting aerobically for over five years.

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Toward the end of the first set of exercises I could feel my quads starting to give out. About 30 seconds into the second set I literally squatted down, did not get up, and fell on the floor. There was no way I was going to finish this video. I managed to pull myself up onto the couch, wrapped myself in a blanket and did not move for three hours.

Three hours!

As someone who was always mostly a "fit" person growing up, this was discouraging, to say the least.

Understandably, I decided to go back and start slow with the KettleWorx series. I want to be able to at least get through an entire workout without stopping!

I've done the first workout on the Core and Resistance a couple of times each, usually one workout a week. I haven't even attempted the Cardio one again - I am freaked out about having to do something important the next day and falling on my face.

I did the Core video today - my goal is to do the Resistance one on Friday, and then start with Cardio again on Monday. I will keep you posted on my progress!

FYI, I am using this GoFit kettlebell that I bought from Target:

I am already thinking about buying a ten- or fifteen-pound for the arm exercises, but for the squats the seven-pound is fine for now.

It's hard to be healthy!

...but you knew that.

If you're anything like me (and if you're taking the time to read this, I'm guessing you are),
you want to be healthy. You intend to be healthy. You even try to be healthy.

But when it comes to actually being healthy - to consistently making healthy choices about diet, exercise and lifestyle in general - it's just. plain. hard.

When I told a friend I was starting this blog it went something like this:

me: I'm starting a blog. It's called Healthy Isn't Easy. Isn't that a good name for my blog?
friend: [stifling laughter] Healthy Isn't Easy? As you're eating a bowl of frosting??

It's true, I was eating a bowl of frosting.

I came to have a bowl of frosting because, well... I made it.
Yes, I made a bowl of frosting with the specific intention of eating it straight from the bowl.
My rationalizations were these:

1. I made relatively healthy choices all day, and I really wanted dessert.
2. Frosting was the simplest thing to make - only four ingredients, and easy cleanup!
3. I would only make half of the recipe, which would be half the calories!
4. The frosting was low-fat! It was healthy, really. I used 100% juice instead of milk.
5. I had, in fact, made the frosting the night before, and this was leftover frosting.
Wow! Such self-control! I am doing so well!

These are, of course, all poor excuses to binge on pure sugar and fat at 10:00pm when I should have been going to bed. In retrospect:

1. One can make healthy choices that include eating dessert, but this was not one of them.
2. The easiest solution, as we all know, is not usually the best or most healthy solution.
3. A halved batch of frosting is still more frosting than no frosting.
4. Who are you trying to kid?
5. I give myself credit for not eating the entire bowl in one night, but the self-control should have been exercised when tempted to make the frosting in the first place.

To finish the conversation:

me: I'm starting a blog. It's called Healthy Isn't Easy. Isn't that a good name for my blog?
friend: [stifling laughter] Healthy Isn't Easy? As you're eating a bowl of frosting??
me: But that's the whole point!