We start our workouts with a disclaimer, which often includes “I’m not a professional…” or something similar.  Never do I feel more under-qualified though as when I’m leading a kettlebell workout. 

I had noticed that the few times I’ve Q’d Dragon Slayer over the years, the workouts seemed very similar (ish) to each other.  Wanting to provide something fresher, YHC went to the Internet and found a decent source of information for kettlebell workouts:  https://kettlebellsworkouts.com/kettlebell-exercises/

Though I don’t know the writer, he seems far more qualified than myself:

Greg Brookes has written for and been featured in Men’s Health, Health & Fitness, Women’s Fitness and all the National Newspapers.  Often labelled as the “Trainer to the Trainers” he is a Personal Trainer and Kettlebell Instructor who took his first fitness qualifications over 21 years ago.  Greg lives in Oxford, in the UK, with his wife Lucy.

Now, that still doesn’t solve our dilemma; because Greg was NOT present today so we were still left to our own devices.  YHC printed pictures of the exercises done today, including descriptions and tips were available.  Some of the exercises were familiar to everyone.  Some were new-ish to some.  Still, we always assume some sort of risk when performing exercises that are more than simple body weight things, I.E. Mericans. 

Whether the risks (possible wrong form, injuries, etc.) outweigh the benefits (getting stronger, working some seldom used muscles, etc.) is up for debate.  Perhaps those present today would care to comment.  YHC had hoped more qualified Pax would be present too, E.G. folks like Jobe with years of Medical training.  Alas, he was not present.  (Unrelated but notably absent as well:  Cherry Bomb).

So…pre-amble out of the way, here is roughly what went down at Dragon Slayer on 2-Feb-2023:

0500:  ~2 mile run standard with AM-PM, Slingshot, Tammy Faye, and YHC. 

0530:

WARM-O-RAMA:

• Slow and short mosey around the parking lot, including high knees, butt kickers, Quadraphilia, and exaggerated long striders
• Kettlebell Slingshot (Kettlebell Around the World).  Note:  Picture provided for every exercise, and stapled to a big white board

The “Thing I copied from the Interwebs” here:  https://kettlebellsworkouts.com/kettlebell-exercises/ 

• We did 3 sets of 8 exercises below.  The reps were:  Set 1 – 25, Set 2 – 20, Set 3 – 15.  Ran out of time before: Set 4 – 10.
• Slow and short mosey in between sets, to give the upper body a break.
• It is worth noting that YHC often includes moseys throughout workouts.  This is partly because I am scrawny and need the upper body break!  But more-so, our friend Cousin Eddie mentioned once that these sort of breaks are beneficial in helping to avoid over-use injuries.  Cousin Eddie is also much more qualified than YHC and also has real life Medical Training for his profession. 

So the 8 exercises were:

• Kettlebell Good Morning
• Kettlebell Overhead Press  (PAX were instructed to please remove your Garmin watches or any watches, to avoid breakage)
• Kettlebell Single Arm Deadlift
• Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlift
• Kettlebell Swing Two Hands
• Kettlebell Single Handed Swing
• Kettlebell Goblet Squat
• Kettlebell Regular Row

Again, not all of those ^ are new to anyone; but some were new to me. 

Mary:

• Low flutters with KB overhead x 25 IC
• KB Mason Twists x 15 IC
• Kettlebell Hip Thrust x 25 OYO.  Picture also provided for this one.

Recover, recover.  According to Strava, we covered 0.92 miles. 

Moleskin:

1. We prayed for 2 people in AM-PM’s circle:  Lisa and Monique.  And we prayed for Enron’s Mom.
2. Tammy Faye tweaked his calf a few weeks ago in a soccer match.  So maybe F3 is not the most dangerous thing we risk our bodies to!  But caught up with him at Fartlek on Tuesday, and it seems a major injury was hopefully avoided.  Glad to hear bud, but a visit to Big Mean might still be in the cards.
3. Great catching up with Slingshot 2 days in a row.  He ran with YHC at Speed Dating yesterday.  Dude is getting fitter by the week as he preps for his 50k in Cali I think in April.  Nice work today bud.
4. Enron has 1 wonky shoulder and 1 wonky elbow (opposite from the shoulder), but neither of those injuries were from today thankfully!  But, you’re so young dude; these things shouldn’t be happening!
5. Appreciate the opportunity to lead today AM-PM. Also appreciate the music! It was great catching up.

Most of us are not professionals. I’d argue we still need to get out of our comfort zones every so often nonetheless. There are risks, and there are rewards. If we don’t risk trying new things, the workouts can potentially get stale.

Turnpike