Exercise, on vacation!?

Actually, I did this once already this year.  I took my 16kg kettlebell with me on a weekend trip to Ottawa earlier this year with my wife.  But this upcoming week I plan to take it to a whole new level.  My family and I are headed to a cottage for a week's vacation for a week starting tomorrow.  I'm going to take my 20kg KB with me and hope to get a workout in with it at least five times.  Yes, five workouts while I'm on vacation.  This is not something I ever thought I'd hear myself saying let alone actually doing!  I'll report back next weekend with what I actually ended up achieving.

Fat Loss - Your Best vs "Good Enough"

Most of my adult life I've been overweight.  Generally I've bounced between about 250-280lbs or so, with gusts up to a max of 317 at one point.  September of 2009 found me at 276lbs, and just today I weighed in at 229.5 (yes - I'm going to go fractional here, I like being sub 230).
Many people, especially people who are just seeing me for the first time in a while, have been asking me if I've lost weight, and when I say yes,  tell me that I'm looking good.  This is very nice of them, of course, and much appreciated.  It's definitely nice to have your hard work acknowledged.  I do think there's a bit of a downside to this, however.  The risk is that I begin to think that what I've done is all that needs to be done.  While I do think I look ok now, if I just accepted it I would stay here.  Actually, between December of last year and May of 2010, my weight went from 237.5 to 236lbs - because of just this phenomenon.  Losing a whole bunch of fat fast felt great and I became complacent and content to maintain that state.  As I mention, others can reinforce this.  At a recent get-together, one of my relatives seemed almost horrified when I mentioned that I still to lose another twenty to thirty pounds.  As if being 6'3" and 200lbs even I would be like a skeleton or something?  This person didn't actually know my weight, so maybe they just aren't good at estimating the mass of someone who is bigger than they are (many people aren't, I find).  I wonder if perhaps because so many people are at least a bit overweight in our society these days that people just don't know what a healthy weight even is any more?
Have you found yourself on a lengthy plateau at any point in your quest to lose weight?  Why do you think that was, and what made you decide to keep pushing forward?

Fat Loss - The Importance of Diet

Are you struggling with fat loss?  While this blog is overall tracking my progress as I move toward becoming a kettlebell trainer, meaning a lot of it will be about exercise, I will try to add in as much as I can about fat loss.  Diet can be a scary word, everyone wants to lose weight but nobody wants to be "dieting".  I believe diet makes up at least 80% of your fat loss progress.  As important as getting regular, strenuous exercise is for cardiovascular health, fitness, and even fat loss; how much you eat is more important in that last category.  Note that I don't say "what" you eat.  Is eating healthier food good for you?  Of course - eating more natural, unprocessed foods including lots of fruits and vegetables is much better for you than a meal plan consisting of pizza, ice cream and junior mints.  But the amount of calories you take in is what is the key.  It is certainly possible to lose fat on either of the above eating styles.  It is harder to do eating pizza, but it could be done.  Pay attention to how much you eat, whether it's "junk" food or green salad.  Your diet is absolutely the most important thing to consider when it comes to fat loss.

A lot of people I've talked to seem to find this idea unbelievable or at least somehow incorrect.  All the TV experts seem to show that insanely intense exercise programs are the key to dropping pounds, and infomercials advertise their workouts a lot more than they mention the diet program they recommend you do at the same time. It should be obvious that it is possible to lose weight without ever exercising by cutting enough calories.  An example of this would be someone who had gastric bypass surgery of some kind.  By limiting the amount of food they are able to eat at a sitting, they consume less calories over a day.  Contrast that with someone (maybe you?) who commits to exercising regularly but plateaus after dropping a 5-10 lbs or so.  No matter how intense your daily exercise, it's possible to derail it with overeating. 

What do you think about diet vs exercise when it comes to fat loss?  Do you agree with my 80/20 weighting toward diet in terms of importance?

A Summer of Pull-Ups

Or chin-ups, I guess.  Because the HKC course has as a requirement 5 tactical pullups/chinups, I am going to start focusing on that as a part of my training.  Before this year I have never, ever been able to do a full chin up.  This has been due to being either too weak or too heavy.  Hmm, I guess probably both.  But since dropping so much weight and working out much more regularly, my strength-to-weight ratio is now such that I can do exactly one on days when I'm well rested and feeling strong.  So, that puts me 20% of the way to my goal.  How exactly I'm going to go the rest of the way I'm not entirely sure.  I will be getting myself on some kind of progression, which one remains to be seen.  All I know for sure is that I will be doing lots of lifting my body off the ground and up to a bar during the next two and a half months.  There is no way I will risk attending the certification without knowing for sure that I can hit six any time I'm asked to.
Do you have any tips for increasing pull-up/chin-up numbers?  What progression or routine worked for you?

HKC and RKC explained

Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about when I mention the HKC and RKC certification programs; and have not yet clicked on a link to discover what they're all about, I thought I'd give you the quick rundown.  HKC stands for Hardstyle Kettlebell Certified, which is a one-day entry level certification as a kettlebell trainer.  The one-day and entry level part are definitely appealing to me, because while I've not only not ever been a trainer of anything physical; for most of my life I've never even been physical.  The concept of exercising regularly is only a very recent addition to my life.  One thing about the HKC that is a bit daunting to me is the test requirement for it: being able to do 5 tactical pull-ups or chin-ups.  Before this year I had not ever done one full chinup, as my strength to bodyweight ratio made it impossible.  Now that I have been getting much stronger and much lighter, I can do solid partials and the occasional full chinup.  I do have a ways to go before being at the requisite level, but I think that by shortly changing my focus on what I'm training then I will be able to accomplish the 5 chinup goal.

The RKC, or Russian Kettlebell Challenge certification workshop is a full 3 day weekend of learning and training.  As a result it is much more advanced and in-depth than an HKC cert.  Not only that, but the cost is obviously much higher due to the increased value, and depending on what early bird discounts you get is going to run you anywhere from 3 to 5+ times the cost of an HKC.  All these factors are steering me towards making the HKC my current goal, though the RKC weekend remains an event I will dream about for the future.  One extremely helpful feature of the HKC cert is that the full cost of it can be put toward an RKC weekend if I do that training within a year of HKC completion.  

The bottom line is that I believe completing these certifications will best enable me to teach others about kettlebells in the most effective way possible.  I will do my very best to ensure my goal of attending them becomes reality.

A great session with an RKC

There aren't really any RKC trainers locally here in the Niagara Region.  There are some trainers from other certifications, but as far as I'm concerned Dragon Door is the absolute top of the line when it comes to kettlebell training for fitness and since I want to eventually certify with them I want to stick with consistent methods when I seek coaching.  I've trained with Dave Whitley (Master RKC)  and Matt McBryde (RKC) but they're based in Nashville, TN and I can't very easily stop by their place for a form check every few months!  This is why I leaped at an opportunity that recently presented itself on the dragondoor.com forums.  An RKC who is headed from his home in New Zealand (!) to Minnesota to take the RKC Level 2 course stopped by my neck of the woods and was in need of some kettlebells to train with for a bit before heading up to the course.  I volunteered mine and yesterday I went with a friend to drop them off in Beamsville.  We then proceeded to train for well over an hour with Mike Capper, RKC who was extremely helpful to both of us.  On more than one occasion Mike absolutely wowed us with how quickly he was able to spot what we were doing wrong and give us extremely helpful advice on how to improve. That ability (and willingness) to help others is exactly why I am so interested in getting myself certified.  I hope to be able to meet up with Mike later this week before he heads off to finish his journey to St. Paul.

The importance of goals

I think that when it comes to fat loss or fitness, goals are extremely important.  I had been unhappy with my weight and body composition for a very long time, and definitely wanted to do something about it, but I never really did.  Goals should be specific, and they need to be measurable.  Right now my two main goals related to fitness are 1) to be able to do five strict pull-ups or chin-ups.  This is a requirement for the HKC course I hope to attend later this year. 2) I would like to lose another 21lbs by September 11th.  That is the date of the course, and while there is no weight requirement, every pound I lose in goal 2 makes it easier to accomplish goal 1.  Note that both are very easily measured - I either will or will not pull my chin up and over a bar five times in a row; the scale either will or will not read 212lbs on that day in September.  There's nothing subjective about them like there could be about something like fitting into a certain pair of pants or looking good on the beach.
Do you have any specific and measurable fitness or weight loss goals?  Has setting such a goal in the past helped you on your path to health and fitness?