My First Time

I got up at 5AM this morning to make the drive to the St. Louis Park Lifetime Fitness for the 6AM Kettlebell class. John Rock was the instructor (Good name for a kettlebell instructor). There were 6 of us for the class. You need to get there early to get a 24kg bell. I started with a 16kg bell. We started off with 2 sets of 15 swings (2 handed)

Then we went to squats. 2 sets of 5. Holding the bell about chest high with your arms bent at the elbow. Deep squats. From there we did 2 sets of 5 presses. Next was windmills 2 sets. This was more of a technique exercise. From the windmills we did these exercises that can be best described as a side lunge. Holding the bell out in front as a counter balance and turning you feet 45 degrees and bending your front leg while keeping you back leg straight and pushing you hip up. 2 sets of 5. a couple more sets of swings (15 ea). Now we did this overhead carry. Holding the bell up like the finish of a press and walking and return with the other arm. Next on the list was Turkish getups. Because I was new I did mime without a bell. The next exercise we did was called a Dragon Walk. This one was a killer. While holding the bell like you do for a squat, cross one leg over the other and bend your back leg down so that you knee is on the inside of you front heel and then stand up and cross-over with the other leg. We did 20 steps. by 15 steps my thighs were screaming and I was sucking wind. After a short rest, we did 6 more steps. Of all the exercises we did this was the most intense. We then did Renegade Rows. Since I was a newbie, I did regular rows. We then finished with 20 swings. 30 minutes. Good workout, good sweat. My legs were pumped and my knees were ok. It's now over 12 hours later and my knees feel great. John complemented me on my swings. I said I had a good instructor - Scoundrel. We'll see how stiff I will be tomorrow. I signed up for the next 4 Tuesdays.