Recovery & Coffee Day, 10 Years of Kettlebells

Greetings Kettlebells & Coffee Lovers,

Today is a Recovery day on the calendar.  I have a love/hate relationship with Recovery days.  I know my body needs them, but I also feel like I need to workout and not skip a day.  Perhaps its part of the fitness culture of working out hard, never quitting, and a recovery day is seen by some as a 'quitting' kind of day.

However, through the course of time, I've seen the importance of recovery days.  At first, they were just a total rest day and nothing was really done.  Sometimes if I did feel like doing something, I'd do a very light workout.  A time when this comes up is during the summer for me, when your rest days just happen to be some of the nicer days of summer, and you can't really pass up a 70 degree day with light wind and your bike is calling you to ride it on that day.

When things like that happen, your rest day might move to another day, 1-2 days down the road.

Another thing I now do on rest days is I at least get in some foam rolling.  I touched on this yesterday in the blog, but it really helps on your days off to foam roll across your muscles and work the tight spots you have.  Foam rollers are in abundance in retail stores and sporting goods outlets. They have been around for a few years and they are here to stay, simply because of their effectiveness in aiding muscle recovery and also in warming up muscles for exercise.

Get yourself a foam roller if you are having issues with your muscles being tight, sore and bothersome after rough workouts. They do wonders for the body before a workout and after a workout. 

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10 Years of Kettlebells:  It hit me this past week that I've been training with kettlebells since early 2005. I remember first hearing of KB's in 2003 and after seeing more stories about them on the internet and in a couple magazines, I looked into getting some of my own... but my first introduction to them was actually a set of kettlebell handles, in which I put on 1" standard size weights to make my kettlebell weights. 

The KB handles worked well for Swings, Cleans, and were a little awkward for Snatches but they were okay once I got my form down.  I used KB handles for quite a few months and then got my own 25# and 35# kettlebells.  They weren't quite mainstream at that point and I could only get them online. Later in 2005 and 2006, they started popping up in bigger sporting goods stores. 

In 2005, I started my own training business and added more to my collection.  It was mainly a lot of 15 to 20 pound KB's to cater to my boot camp structure and primarily female clientele.

Later on I'd get 40, 45 and 52# KB's.  I still have a fair collection of the following:
One 30#, 2-35#'s, one 40#, one 45#, and one 52# kettlebell.

I've used these in my private training sessions and also with athletic teams I've coached. When I left my last coaching job, I donated a lot of 15-20# kettlebells to the high school.  I don't do private training any more, so they are best used at a HS setting than sitting at my place.

In the past 10 years, I've seen many different styles and methods of training with kettlebells. There are a number of 'styles', such as Hard Style (first method I used and learned) and then the "Soft Style", which was more of a Kettlebell Sport focused method.  At first I was wary of Soft Style, then I was invited to learn more about it through a message post on a message board from the AKC.  It was a warm, non-intimidating message to take a look at it.  I bought the guide that was suggested and it allowed me to see that there is more than one way to swing or clean or snatch a kettlebell.

I often wonder about turning my focus on Kettlebell Sport at some time in my training, but I am a runner and director of races.  Running kind of takes up my biggest focus. I ride bike for additional fun and enjoyment of my summer and to complement my summer training.  Kettlebells for now are my main choice of strength training and supplemental cardio (swings, cleans and snatches are powerful, explosive activities on their own).   Perhaps down the road I will look at training specifically for KB Sport, but for now, I'll still worry about 5K's and 10K's.

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A great cup of coffee helps perk you up on any day, and it really feels great on a Recovery day's morning. Today, I've had both an OG Black Coffee to start my day, and later an OG Latte. 
After a good week of OG Black Coffee, I love the taste and the ease of making it.  My little one-cup coffee maker works great for just making hot water for me, and adding my OG to the cup. 

All I simply do is open the OG sachet and put it in my cup, brew the hot water into it, stir, and sip!
No coffee grounds to dump out, no filters to use.  All that's wasted is a small pouch.

I think ease of use is another reason the "BrewKup" K-Cup options of OG work so well too. People love just putting in a K-Cup, selecting their size of cup, and dispose of a small K-Cup afterwards.

If you want a great tasting, healthy, and organic coffee choice, OG may be right for you.

Check out all the flavors and options, and also the opportunity to sell this great product, at http://rkarboviak.myorganogold.com/products/

Join the Coffee Connoisseur's Club and get OG coffee on Auto-Ship each month! Save yourself from picking up coffee at the store and get it sent right to you.

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Swing and Sip!
Coach Rick