kettlebells

The Strength Training Wars: Pilates vs. Kettlebells

February 19, 2009

Branching out beyond the adorable-yet-small-thinking tiny tots with their eyes all aglow crowd, Santa Claus made a pit stop at the YMCA this year. In an effort to reach an older and more lucrative crowd, while coal was not on the agenda – although I’m sure the resourceful and charitable Y folk would have found some use for it that would not have ended in pollution (new class! Functional fitness by pitching coal!) – lots of good fitness girls and boys were rewarded with exercise toys galore. A full line of TRXs were hung by the chimney with care and [...]

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I’m Having a Metabolic Reaction

February 2, 2009

Today I experienced one of those weird occurrences that have baffled me ever since I seriously got into fitness – call it the Bermuda Triangle of Exercise, if you will. Just like Amelia Earhart – but less heroic and revolutionary and without the rubber helmet (just what exactly was that supposed to protect you from anyhow?) – today I awoke to a morning just like every other morning, not knowing that by the end of the day I’d be in the grip of a natural phenomenon that science is at a loss to describe. CrossFitters, with their characteristic understatement, have [...]

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Kettlebell Experiment Conclusions

September 29, 2008

I actually went to a NKOTB concert. I was 11. I went with my dad. Poor man. Some things just don’t make sense. Like The New Kids On The Block much-hyped comeback song “Summertime.” I mean the girl in the song is walking the beach in “flip flops, half shirt, short shorts, mini skirt.” Who wears short shorts AND a mini skirt? Was it a skort? If so, why didn’t one of the Joeys just sing “skort”? Granted, skorts are generally for preschoolers who can’t be trusted to keep their panties covered (Hush, Madonna, I said preschoolers) but do singers [...]

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Kettlebells: Fitness Tool of Wonder or Woe?

September 15, 2008

Any Experiment that ends with old ladies running across the gym to my aid screaming, “Oh my dear, are you okay?!?!?” is my kind of Experiment. And the Kettlebell Experiment does not disappoint in this area. It was the renegade rows that did me in. Also called floor rows or plank rows, they’ve long been a staple in my iron repertoire so I did not anticipate the KBs throwing me like they did. One minute I was perched on top of two 25-lb bells o’ wonder, the next I was nose to the ground in a heap of floor-burned spandex. [...]

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Kettlebell Workout Week #2

September 8, 2008

You swung them, pressed them, cleaned them, and loved on them – in a totally plantonic and non-creepy fashion – all last week. I mean, you did do Week 1 of the kettlebell Experiment, right?? It was a butt kicker. I thought I’d picked an “easy” beginner workout. Not so much. Anyhow, week two’s workout comes to us courtesy of Fitness Magazine (they of the model with the occasional bit of thigh or tummy that they will happily point out to you over and over again). Check out their slide show and play along for the next week until I [...]

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September’s Great Fitness Experiment: Kettlebells

September 2, 2008

Photo Credit So many of you asked – and were so polite! – that there was no way I could not do a kettlebell experiment. If you are addicted to candy-colored balls of iron with little handles or were one of the fortunate recipients of all the kettlebell giveaways in the fitosphere (thanks TA for the verbiage!), then September is your month! Or, if you are just looking for the perfect accessory to go with all your cute coordinated workout gear, then these will be perfect! They look just like a twee purse. If your purse weighs 20 pounds, that [...]

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TinkerBell Goes to the Gym

July 18, 2008

ighNo, this isn’t me but kiddie kettlebells!! How cute are you? Because I am a good little consumerist, I have a wish list. I generally just pull it out for my birthday, Mother’s Day, Groundhog Day and all other Major holidays but today you get a sneak preview. My wish list reads like the annual Fitness Magazine product review. I covet fitness gadgets of all shapes and sizes. But seeing as my covetousness is surpassed only by my cheapness, my wish list rarely turns into reality. Until today, baby. See, number 1 item on my list of Fitness Trends I’m [...]

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