One of my first kettlebell clients really got into it in a big big big way – she started training with me at the very beginning and it feels like a million years ago. I remember meeting her in a park and teaching her how to do a swing for the first time.  We also went through the get up and then we just had a little time to do 1 arm swings.   We continued to train and swap recipes over the following months.  She began to make rapid progress, mainly due to the diligence of her at-home practice along with attention to detail.   As a musician, she understood the importance of practice and applied this towards her workouts.

She lived in the next town over, and while still a college student, made the long drive to train with me about once every 2-3 weeks – we’d check her form, learn new things, refine others, talk about program design and what to work on for the next session.

But still she practiced and practiced – and rested too – that’s just as important.   Eventually, she graduated and moved across the country, but we kept up with each other via email and social media – we also scheduled several Skype based coaching sessions and further refined the movements.  One day she mentioned some interest in the HKC – and I said you could TOTALLY do it!   We practiced more via Skype and she was ready to go!   This past weekend, working with Franz Snideman (who was my Team Leader at my RKC in 2010), Mike Sousa and Ricardo Garcia at Full Force PT in California, Katie attended AND passed the HKC.   I can’t tell you how proud I am of Katie and all her hard work – it feels great that in some small way I helped add to the Dragon Door family of fantastic kettlebell instructors.   If you’re in the Oakland area, please look Katie up.   Also note, she’ll be writing up her HKC experience to share here soon!

So… I ventured out of my little crazy neighborhood this past weekend and *gasp* saw a movie NOT at the local arthouse theater.  WHAT?!!?? Yeah I know I know… but it was from a director I like (shush, its no secret I’m a nerd).  Anyway – the movie is Haywire and it stars Gina Carano (of MMA fighting fame), and I’m not going to write out the synopsis here because I am sure you can find that on the internet.   It’s rated R for violence as her character manages to beat the tar out of some extremely handsome characters…  The reason I bring up the movie – whether or not you choose to go see it – is that it seems to be the beginning of a NEW kind of female action star – or at least one we haven’t seen in a while.   She’s actually believable—unlike the typical hollywood actress made of sticks running around on impossibly high heels—we can TELL Gina is a trained fighter.  The action sequences are extremely visceral, and are directed to be that way.  Fans of MMA will recognize a lot of moves.  Pretty sure you’ll cringe, I actually heard several people in the audience say “oww!” a few times!  When I watch a movie in a theater, I’m actually watching 2 things – the movie and I’m also conscious of the audience.  The first fight scene really seemed to shake them, they were NOT used to seeing a woman get hit like that on screen – and equally they were not used to seeing a woman hit back so relentlessly.   And NO ONE was used to seeing what I consider (in my warped mind) a “normal looking woman in a movie.” I’m sure the writers of those grocery store rags with too much pink on the cover will soon be complaining “ewwww muscles!” while proclaiming the virtues of some fad diet involving cupcakes.  Anyway, I’m not going to go all “women’s studies” on you, I just hope this becomes a trend, because I would like to see more strong, capable women on screen – and the handsome actors too – thought they don’t necessarily need to beat the snot out of each other.  I do really want to know where that black dress came from though – because it really really showed off her shoulders/upper traps… (ok girly moment is over now).

Chinese New Year brings us to the Year of the Dragon!   After checking in on Facebook this morning, I asked the local Peterbrooke Chocolatier if they were making any chocolate dragons to celebrate – and if so – could they make some in the extra dark chocolate?   We wrote back and forth and in the midst of that a friend suggested adding some spice to it – SO, it ended up that I did a special order of some spicy dark chocolate dragons – but when I went to check it all out, they invited me back to help make them!   How’s that for a Monday!   I recorded some video so you’ll soon get to see how spicy dark chocolate dragons are made – thanks to my ultra skilled new friend, Caleb.   He also gets mega cool points for putting up with my bad jokes and teaching me how to do the decorative drizzles on chocolate dipped strawberries.   Anyway, the video is coming soon – I hope to have it ready for you tomorrow! 🙂

 Deal of the Week!

And one last thing – the new Dragon Door Deal of the Week is something near and dear to my heart – the Bodyweight Exercise Workshop!!!  Until January 27th, you get a discount of $500 off the price of the workshop.   I attended the first ever Bodyweight Workshop this past October – and it was for RKCs only – this time, it’s open for anyone interested in SERIOUS SERIOUS SERIOUS awesome bodyweight exercises with full coaching cues, regressions and progressions.   Did I mention it’s seriously awesome?  Click here for some of my notes about it from October.  P.S. It’s seriously awesome.  And click here for the Deal: $500 off Dragon Door Bodyweight Exercise Workshop (deal ends January 27th!)