recipe for a cracked skull
Yesterday at PT it was time to add another set of awesome exercises for my butt. Last week we added dead lifts, single leg dead lifts, box steps, and hungarian dead lifts to my strength training, on top of the squats and single leg squats I had already been doing. Out of those, I think the single leg dead lift activates my glutes the most - at least that's where I feel the most burning - but sprinkling those things into my week has made a big difference in my butt. I'm spending 100% of my time running focusing on my form, and being able to feel my glutes while I run is a scary new brilliant but tiring experience.
I wasn't really sure what else we could add to that, but that's the fun thing about PTs - they always surprise with new ways to make you sore. Yesterday's addition? Kettlebells.
I've read about kettlebell training before, but have never even picked up one of the things. I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, and the fear of putting one through either my television or my brain has kept me far away.
We started out with the regular swing (I know these things all have special kettle bell names, but the only one I can remember is snatch, so I am calling them my own thing). The regular swing was okay once I figured out how to pop my hips forward - it feels much like the same movement I do in a dead lift. The next one we did was the same swing but with only one arm at a time. It was harder to pop my arm up high enough on this one, but I could feel my glutes working harder.
And then things got scary.
The next one we did involved swinging it up with one arm and bringing my elbow into my body and flipping the kettle bell over the back of my wrist. My right side was okay but my left (non-dominant) side kept trying to flip the kettle bell into my nose. I was only about to do about 5 of these on that side before my wrist got tired.
The last one we did (I think this one is called the snatch, heh heh heh) involved pushing my arm up in the air like a fist pump and flipping the kettle bell back over my wrist. I don't think I did a single one of these correctly. I kept fist-pumping too late which caused the bell to whack me hard on the forearm. I've got bruises on both arms today from trying to do this one.
So, not sure about the whole kettle bell thing. When I woke up this morning, my hamstrings were sore so I know it was doing something. I'm going to give it a chance because PT has been awesome and super effective so far, but since my gym doesn't have any (lame) I'm going to have to go buy one. Or maybe two - one for the first three, and a tiny one made of feathers for the last one, plus a helmet. This also means I need to find a room in my house without any glass and walls we haven't repaired yet. Dr. P suggested doing it in the backyard but I'm not sure that's a good idea because I'd rather not be buying new windows for my neighbors.
Have you ever used kettle bells? What did you get out of it? Is your skull still intact?
We started out with the regular swing (I know these things all have special kettle bell names, but the only one I can remember is snatch, so I am calling them my own thing). The regular swing was okay once I figured out how to pop my hips forward - it feels much like the same movement I do in a dead lift. The next one we did was the same swing but with only one arm at a time. It was harder to pop my arm up high enough on this one, but I could feel my glutes working harder.
And then things got scary.
The last one we did (I think this one is called the snatch, heh heh heh) involved pushing my arm up in the air like a fist pump and flipping the kettle bell back over my wrist. I don't think I did a single one of these correctly. I kept fist-pumping too late which caused the bell to whack me hard on the forearm. I've got bruises on both arms today from trying to do this one.
So, not sure about the whole kettle bell thing. When I woke up this morning, my hamstrings were sore so I know it was doing something. I'm going to give it a chance because PT has been awesome and super effective so far, but since my gym doesn't have any (lame) I'm going to have to go buy one. Or maybe two - one for the first three, and a tiny one made of feathers for the last one, plus a helmet. This also means I need to find a room in my house without any glass and walls we haven't repaired yet. Dr. P suggested doing it in the backyard but I'm not sure that's a good idea because I'd rather not be buying new windows for my neighbors.
Have you ever used kettle bells? What did you get out of it? Is your skull still intact?