You can call me "Helga" the Russian

I just got back from my first real Russian kettle bell class. I am fortunate they offer a class on Wed from 1:30-2pm so I will be able to use my lunch hour to sneak in a class. I do wish it were a bit longer. Forty five minutes would be perfect. I worked up a great sweat and was slightly fatigued, but had more in me I could have given. (Boy you never would have heard me say that before boot camp)

This stuff is amazing. Not push every fiber of your being to its limits amazing, like boot camp, but I feel so power full swinging that 26 pound bell around. I am starting to learn the names for the exercises. I am going to have the most amazing legs. Today we did squats, and plies, windmills, cleans, lifts, and swings all with our enormous kettle bells. We did some nice stretches afterwards too. You know me, I like the stretches.

Two of the women there compete in kettle bell meets and did more difficult exercises and with bigger bells than the rest of us. The one girl couldn’t have weighed 130 pounds and her bell was huge (at least 2 times the size the bell I was using). She held it up in the air and did swings with it for over 10 minutes.

I have never taken a group class in my adult life and I realize now there is a lot of benefit to being with an instructor. I like that you get feedback on the exercises so you don’t do it wrong and end up hurting yourself. There were five women there including myself and all were very chatty and friendly. It says so much about my confidence level that I feel comfortable enough to do these things now. I just start up a conversation with someone I don’t know by introducing myself. I didn’t have that in me nine months ago.

If you want to see kettle bells in action, go to You Tube and type in Kettle Bell. The instructor said that there are lots of videos there to look at. If it looks interesting start bugging your local gym to find a qualified instructor and offer it.

No bootcamp workout today. Tomorrow evening we have a group workout called upper body rage. I sure hope I can type when I get done!