I’ve worked out at some of uncommon places. That’s the beauty of kettlebells. I’ve worked out in parking lots, in the kitchen, and with dinosaurs.

But this was the first time I’ve ever worked out with Texas Longhorns. I have a feeling that it might be my last too.

We spent three weeks traveling through Texas. I considered filming my workout in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park or in Marfa but I was too sore. Or too lazy. I also wanted something really “Texan” and what is more Texan than a Texas Longhorn. Not only is the Longhorn the University of Texas mascot but it’s the official state mammal. Did you know there are official state mammals? I didn’t. I’m not sure if all states have an official mammal but Texas does and it’s the Longhorn.

We did have a bit of trouble finding some Longhorns to workout with. Imagine that. Apparently, Ranchers don’t have time for Californians to “visit with” their cattle. At one point, we drove by some cows grazing in the backyard of a modest house. Brent pulled over to the side of the road and suggested I knock on the front door for permission to enter their property. What was I supposed to say, “Do you mind if I workout with your Longhorns?”. No I’m not crazy. Not at all.

As it turned out there was a lovely little Longhorn ranch near one of our campgrounds. Front 30 Ranch Guest House  is run by a darling couple and who graciously allowed me to workout in their Longhorn pasture while our boys played on their beautiful property.

Anyway here’s the workout. Enjoy it. And the Longhorns.

Texas

Cleans 25, 20, 15, 10, 5
Presses 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Squats 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Renegade Rows 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Swings 25, 20, 15, 10, 5

The first round goes like this 25 cleans, 5 presses, 5 squats, 5 (each side) rows, and 25 swings. Rest. The second round is 20, 5, 5, 5, and 20. And so on.

This workout can also be done “For Time” if you like to compare scores with previous workouts.

P.S. No one was even close to being trampled during the stampede.

P.S.S. Those brown lumps on the ground are what you think they are.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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I’m skipping ahead a bit.

Texas was the next workout I filmed after New Mexico. But I’m still in the holiday spirit and the last workout I filmed has a holiday feel to it.

I mean there are bells. They don’t jingle but they are red. And best of all there is snow. Beautiful white snow flakes to catch on your tongue and make your mascara run eyelashes.

So I’ll go back and post Texas. And Oklahoma. And Arkansas.

But this week it is Indiana, the state I grew up in. In fact, we filmed the workout in front on my childhood home. Awww…

I decided to go lighter than normal for this workout. One, I didn’t want to slip in the snow and, two, it’s better not to go all out every workout. Of course, if you do the workout choose the weight you need.

Indiana

1. Double Swings
2. Seesaw Presses
3. Double Swings
4. Alternating Rows
5. Double Swings
6. Alternating Lateral Lunges
7. Double Swings

Repeat 1-7 three times for a total of 21 minutes. 

It might also be a good idea to count and write down your reps for every exercise that way you can track your progress. Just a suggestion though. Lately, I’ve not been too concerned with progress and more concerned with being in the moment and enjoying the experience.

If you only have one bell just do 1 arm presses (or rows) for 20 seconds and then switch to the other arm.

FYI working out it snow was so much fun. It made me feel like doing elf kicks the rest of the day. Just one of the many reasons kettlebells rock.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we take a year long road trip through the United States!

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It hard to put into words how much fun we’ve been having on the road. That’s not to say it’s not without its hard days.  I’ve found myself, once or twice, curled up on Brent’s lap crying my eyes wondering what the heck are we doing. The day we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park was not one of those days. The caverns were, for lack of a better word, simply magical like another world.

It also happens that there was a perfect spot for a quick workout in the park. (I keep a set of kettlebells in the truck just in case. Doesn’t everyone?) The sun was setting and the colors were breathtaking. About halfway through the workout, I saw what I thought was “a piece of trash” blow by only to realize it was actually a skunk!  (I’m easily entertained as you will see.) Here’s a secret. Even though I call him “stinky” in the video, I actually like the smell of skunks. Weirdo.

New Mexico

This is a quick but challenging two part full body workout that can be done “for time”.

Part One 

1. Presses – 5
2. Squats – 5
3. Renegade (or regular) Rows – 5 (each side)

Repeat 3x total

Part Two 

1. Swings – 5
2. Burpees (no pushup) – 5
3. Cleans – 5
4. Jump Squats – 5
5. Swings – 5

Repeat 5x total

LOVED this workout and I’m definitely going to come back to it later. Next up is Texas, where I picked an “unusual” spot for a workout.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!

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First, I want to say THANK YOU for the support regarding my relapse. I was really nervous about posting it for fear someone who tell me it was “just in my head” or there is “no such thing as a sugar addiction”.  Addiction is a serious matter and I certainly don’t want to trivialize more “serious” addictions.  Although, truth be told, a sugar addiction can, albeit much more slowly, lead to an early death in the form of disease.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you my sincere thanks for the support and encouragement.  I feel strengthened already and my only regret is that I didn’t reach out sooner.

I’m a bit behind on my workouts because I just spent 10 days with my best friend in Texas.  It has been 7 years since I visited her in Texas so I wanted to spend every moment I could with her. Between homeschooling the boys and hanging out I had little time to workout, write posts, or edit videos.  She and I did manage to do the California in the backyard.

After we left Nevada, we headed over to Arizona where we met a “porcupine hunter“, visited a ghost town, saw ancient ruins, and drove through the Painted Desert at sunset (one of the most beautiful 20 minutes of my life and my photograph does not do justice) where we filmed “Arizona”.  I was a bit distracted during this workout because Thing 1 and 2 two unnamed boys were running their pug dogs through the cacti. I may or may not have edited out some direction that went something like get on the sidewalk NOW. I think the mountains may have shook.

This workout is in two parts.  Part A is rounds which could be timed.  Part B is a set time which could be counted for reps.

Arizona

Part A

1. Swings – 20 Reps
2. Left and Right Presses – 5 Reps Each Side
3. Tactical Lunges – 20 Reps Alternating Legs
4. Heartbeats – 20 “pulses” (If you have the space these are great to do while walking.)
5. Goblet Squats – 20 Reps
6. Swings – 20 Reps

Repeat 3x, resting as needed, and  it would have been for time if you don’t have little boys and pug dogs.

Part B
1. Snatches*

For 7 minutes alternate 15 seconds of snatches with 45 seconds of rest. Why 7? Because Arizona has 7 letters and it makes me happy to correlate my workouts with the letters of the states.  I’m all sorts of scientific.

*If I was injured, or unsure of my snatch technique I would substitute swings for snatches.

I love love the location of my next workout in Nevada and I can’t wait to share that one!

Do you think “sugar addiction” is real? I’m not feeling as fragile as I was so feel free to be honest. Do you like the desert?  Have you ever been to the Painted Desert?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!

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We left our home in Ventura with almost everything we owned in tow behind us four weeks ago yesterday.

It’s been a whirlwind of adventure for sure.  We hadn’t planned to go to Nevada so soon but we had an emergency stop that put us right at the border between Arizona and Nevada. While our RV was in the shop we drove across the border and filmed a workout.  I mean what else are you going to do in the nearly desolate desert.  Halfway through the workout it started to rain.  It only added to the experience.

I love the desolation of the desert and mountains.  The more remote the better.  Can’t wait to get to west Texas.  I’m also hoping to get back to Nevada.  I’ve heard eastern Nevada is beautiful so maybe I’ll do a “Nevada 2″ next year when we make it back out west.

Nevada

1. Swings – 20
2. Left Arm Press – 5
3. Single Left Arm Swing -20
4. Right Arm Press – 5
5. Single Right Arm Swing – 20
6. Heartbeat Squat (5 “pulses” at the bottom) – 5

Six moves. Six rounds.

For time. (Rest as needed.)

Another thing I love about kettlebells (besides that you take take them almost anywhere) is that you can “flow” between moves by using cleans and switching hands during swings. I find it helps me get into “a zone” more easily than other workout tools.

I’m thinking I need to set some goals for myself.  Right now, I feel as free as the wind which is amazing but it wouldn’t hurt to have some sort of workout routine.  Hmm…..

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we take a year long (or more) road trip through the United States!

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I finally filmed (and edited with the help of Thing 1) my first workout of the 48 workouts I’m planning to film while we travel this year and uploaded it to my brand new YouTube account.

This workout was done in Yosemite National Park overlooking Half Dome about an hour before sunset.  This location is going to be hard to top.  I can’t imagine a more amazing place to workout.  (I have more pictures here.)  

This is why kettlebells are my favorite workout tool.  How many other pieces of equipment can think of that you can take up into the mountains and workout effectively with one of the most incredible views in the country?  Besides your body!  

California

It has 10 moves since California has 10 letters.  Clever, huh.     I set my gym boss for 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest.

1. Swings
2. Hot Potatoes
3. Goblet Squats
4. Left Push Press
5. Right Push Press
6. Alternating Swings
7. Left Single Arm Row
8. Right Single Arm Row
9. Alternating Lunges
10. Kettlebell Toss (Upchucks)

This was my second workout out since September and I felt it.  Good golly, did I!  I only did one round (10 minutes) and I was pretty sore the next day.  I’m not sure if it was my lack of workouts lately or the elevation but my heart was pounding.  Next time I do it, I would like to do two rounds.  You could do three but I’m not much for workouts longer than 20 minutes.  Next time, I’ll also count reps and try to do more each time I do it again.

We’ve been on the road for a little over three weeks and I’m finally starting to find my groove.  Internet service has been extremely difficult, hence, my erratic posting, slow email responses, and my lack of commenting on my regular blogs. Most of the time, it takes soooooo long to open pages so I’m finding it really difficult to read and then click through from reader.  I’m sorry. When my connection is better I’ll be back to commenting but I am reading as much as possible!

Right now my focus is being with my family and updating our travel blog as much as possible because I want to make sure I document everyday of our journey. Although, now that we are settling into somewhat of a routine I’m going to be posting on here more often…assuming we have internet.

Next week, I’ll be posting the “Nevada” workout and I have some amazing Girl Heroes lined up over the next few weeks in the meantime…

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we take a year long (or more) road trip through the United States!

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This morning I was scrolling through twitter and saw one of my kettlebell buddies tweet, “911 swings done”.

My heart sunk.

This evening, I headed to the beach alone with two kettlebells to do 911 swings in honor of those who lost their lives 10 years ago today.

In Honor of Heroes Workout – 911 Swings

30 – Two Handed Swings
30 – One Handed Swings (15 R, 15 L)
30 – Two Handed Swings
30 – Alternating Swings
30 – Two Handed Swings
30 – One Handed Swings (15 R, 15 L)

Repeat 5x for a total of 900 swings.

For the last 11 swings I brought my heaviest kettlebell and finished those 11 just as the sun was setting.

I hadn’t planned it that way.

Then I walked down to the water’s edge.

And inhaled the salty ocean air feeling grateful and alive.

As the moon began to replace the sun I sat down in the sand and prayed…

…and thought

…and remembered.

Hugs and High Fives,

Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

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Hello!!!!

Today is going to be a short post (aren’t most of them…I try anyway ) because I’m on my way out the door to coach my kettlebell class and train clients.

First, I wanted to say that today is a The Great Fundraising Act Auction for Susan who was diagnosed with Lymphoma a few weeks ago. Her out of pocket medical bills are going to be in the thousands so the online health blogger community, headed up by Janetha, is coming together to help her out.  I’ve donated an online via Skype (or in person for those of you who live in the Ventura county area) kettlebell training session.

Second, I don’t have a lot of time today or this week for that matter (been busy looking for our new “home”) to workout so I’m going to be doing this very short workout today.  I’ll make the rest of my weekly plan later today.

Very Short Workout

Swings – 30
Ground to Overhead* – 30
Burpees – 30

As many times as possible in 10 minutes.  It’s killer.

“Ground to Overheads” are what I call (Does anyone else?  Is there another name?) squatting to pick the kettlebell off the ground, standing up, and then using both hands to press it overhead.  A very tiring and functional movement.  Just be sure to keep the spine in a neutral position, i.e, no rounding over.

Alrighty, gotta get going.  Don’t want to be late!  Have an awesome day!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Last week, I said I was doing a four week “Fit(ter) for the Fourth Challenge.  I just looked at the calendar and saw that the 4th of July is four weeks from yesterday.

Silly me…I have an extra week.

Last week went well.  I got in all my workouts except for one and I reached one of my goals- multiple dead hang pull ups.  Woot woot!  Yep, yesterday morning I knocked out two.  I actually should be able to do many more by now because two and half years ago I shocked myself by doing multiple pull ups when I didn’t think I could do one. Then for some reason (life) I quite doing them and lost them.  Quick.  It took MONTHS to be able to do just one again.  For me, developing upper body strength has been like connecting to the internet with dial up. S.L.O.W.

My workout plan for this week…

Monday – Full Body Workout w/kettlebells and suspension trainer (Done and my glutes are worked.)
Tuesday – Taekwondo w/some sparring and Walk with a friend (Done)
Wednesday – Full Body Workout
Thursday – Sparring and walk
Friday – Full Body Workout
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Rest

The schedule may not look much different from last week but I’m always doing different full body workouts and “cardio”.  Here is my cardio from last Tuesday when Brent and I headed over to the beach for a short workout while the boys were in their taekwondo class.  We didn’t have much time so we did a short 20 minutes circuit but we enjoyed laughing and sweating together as the sun took off for Japan.

Ropes 40/20 (40 seconds of work/20 seconds of rest)
Swings 40/20
Sprints (We sprinted to a nearby sand dune and back.  It took about 30-40 seconds)

We set the gym boss at the desired intervals (40/20) for 20 rounds (2o minutes).

Short and simple.  That’s what I’m all about. (Quite literally.)

Me working the rope.  (Glad the lifeguard wasn’t on duty.)

Swings and pugs

(Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE this guy?)

The dark bring spots in the distance was where we sprinted to and back.  Brent likes to let me “think” that I can win and then takes off leaving me in the dust sand.  Punk.

I hope your week is going well!!!!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Last week, I set some “vacation  goals”. The main goals were to “relax, read, foam roll, and sleep”.  What I didn’t want to do was to make the vacation all about food and come home  almost 10 lbs heavier.  Been there done that and it has never been worth it.  I’m happy to report back that I didn’t come back any heavier.  In fact, the scale was half a pound lighter but we all know it doesn’t mean much.  It could be up or down a pound or two tomorrow.  The scale is crazy and I know enough to not play it’s games.  It is nothing more than a tool and I’m pleased to see it stayed consistent despite some extra vacation pizza and pasta.

Moving on…

I managed to get in some reading and foam rolling.  Not every night like planned but more than usual.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked.  If I had to admit my biggest “health” struggle…THIS. WOULD. BE. IT.  Finally, by the end of the vacation I was forcing myself to get off the computer go to bed and I felt…

WONDERFUL!!!

Amazing what a good’s night sleep can do!!!  I felt like I could leap tall buildings in a single bound or…

…swing some kettlebells.

Last week, I got in exactly two workouts, one by the pool at night (Oh how I love kettlebells) and another with Brent in the lawn next to our condo.

Jenn and Brent’s Vacation Workout

It was a 5 rung descending ladder made up of 4 exercises.

1. Swings 50, 40, 30, 20, 10

2. Military Presses 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

3. Suspension Trainer Rows 25, 20, 15, 10, 5

4. Suspension Trainer Assisted Pistol Squat 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (each side)

The first time we went through the workout we  did 50 swings, 5 military presses each side, 25 rows on the suspension trainer, and 5 assisted pistol squats each side.  Then we “descended” or “stepped” down the number of reps each round.  The entire workout was less than 20 minutes including warm up.  My kind of workout.

Other than resting and relaxing we also played tennis, went on a short hike through the desert at dusk, visited the Chinese Cultural Center, saw Body Worlds (AMAZING!), I competed in another taekwondo tournament (more on that later) and…

…hunted for Easter eggs under the belly of a Brontosaurus at Cabazon.  It was freezing and the people, all of two who were running for their cars after visiting the gift shop, must of thought we were crazy.  They’re right.

This wasn’t our first time getting some “looks” at the dinosaurs.

Before I force myself to go to bed, I wanted to remind you that I’m one of the bloggers reviewing Olay Total Effects Dark Circle and Line Minimizing Brush where you can enter to win a $100 Spa Finder gift Card.  A quick comment gets you an entry!

Oh yeah…..

Last but not least, my webslave web designer built me a new site!!  I wanted something a little more “girly”.  Ya know to balance out my more beastly habits.    I even have a brand new Facebook page to go along with it!

Can I tell you a secret?  For the last 3 years of blogging, I was afraid to have a Facebook page.  Ridiculous, I know.  I was afraid people wouldn’t “like” it and I’d get sad.  Finally, I decided I needed to get over my insecurities and just make one.  So here it is if you’d like to follow along that way and if not that’s ok too!  I’m grateful for every reader whether it’s 1 or 1000!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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