Shirleen's Kettleworx Diary: From the Beginning

Firstly I'll give a little background.
I'm 42 years old.
As of yesterday I weigh 18st 1lb.
I am doing Slimming World.
I have used Kettlebells before but infrequently and the first time I totally overdid it and couldn't walk/sit/stand/ascend or descend stairs without extreme pain for one week!! Severe DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

So due to this and the fact that exercises like Squats, Swings, Lunges use the resistance of bodyweight and at a higher bodyweight like mine it means I need to go slooooowly!
As Ryan says don't say you can't, think about how you can and modify to suit you.

So anyway I will write this diary for the next six weeks after each workout! I'll add what'll seem like useless info like what I ate first, mainly because I want to see if there's a link to diet and effort!
I watched the introduction DVD first, the sample workout is in fact week one Cardio!

Week One, Cardio

Breakfast: 35g All Bran and milk from allowance (20 mins before workout).
Using a 5kg Bell.
The warm up did it's job and made me rather warm!

I did shallow squats and swings, some exercises had to be modified.
The kettlebell hold was difficult as I couldn't hold the squat so I modified it and did it standing instead.

I wasn't able to do the Mountain Climbers (my big belly gets in the way) so I modified and did high stepping instead.

I had to laugh at the 'press ups' as I kept collapsing even on my knees! But I persevered, they didn't resemble in any way real press ups, but they will in time!

The punches were really hard, simply because I wasn't wearing armbands other than that I quite enjoyed them.

I love the 'Halo' as I can feel my rather tight shoulder muscles loosening. The females in our family have strong overdeveloped shoulder muscles, my tiny mum wears a size 14 top because of hers though she'd fit in a size 10 otherwise, and my sister is always complaining about hers!

I loved the Fast feet Slam Dunk.

The One Arm Row I did with only a couple of squats and did the rest standing.

The Ball Catcher Heel Raise, well I couldn't put my heels on the floor, so I did what I could do.

Also the back lunges I did two to each side instead of alternating, otherwise I fell over!

Now the confession....I only managed Set One, my legs were like jelly and I was wringing wet, and worse I remembered the cool down after my shower! Ooops!

I really did enjoy the set I did, best of all I can feel the burn, but I don't feel 'burnt' so I know I'll be ok to do Resistance on Monday Evening.

Happy Swinging!

Look forward to reading this, good luck,

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

Hi Shirleen

Just popped by to support you as I seen on the "shaping up" thread you were starting a kettlebell diary

I've not tried kettleworx but am saving to hopefully purchase in the future as it seems to be everybodys fave - I've got kettlercise which i'm enjoying and finding challenging too!
x

I'll
Look forward to following your diary too, I tried to join in the secret to shaping up but think that they're are a pretty tight bunch of friends now, don't need a newbie muscling in!

I'm doing exante diet part TS/ws and will be stating wk 1 cardio of kw tomoro!

6 lost : 61 to goal

Dont be daft Fizzyfluff I'm a newbie and lots of them made me feel welcome ......the knowledge and support you get is brilliant ...drop on by x

hey Fizzyfluff, come and join the thread! There's quite a few of us newbies around and everyone talks to each other, which is great.

Shirleen, well done on that first session, it almost killed me too!

Splodgergill said:

hey Fizzyfluff, come and join the thread! There's quite a few of us newbies around and everyone talks to each other, which is great.

Shirleen, well done on that first session, it almost killed me too!

Click to expand...

Hey fizzy def join in, I think the thread can b so busy sometimes posts can be overlooked, it's not intentional and that's why we had a krttlebell thread put in xxx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

Keep posting.... Anywhere you like we LOVE newbies on STSUp, we aren't clicky at all x good to see you here on my diary!


Update: a bit achey last night but fine today!

Enjoyed reading your diary so far Shirleen, keep it up. And great that you weren't properly sore, that's excellent.

Week One Resistance

Done at 10.30pm (Monday: Monday is a really physical day for me as I teach at a Happy Learning Group and I do all the running about, and jumping and high knee trotting!)
Dinner eaten at 7pm: Peppered Steak in Mustard sauce , JP, Runner Beans, Corn on the cob. Little bit of white chocolate.


Right well! I really enjoyed this, I am a complete soggy mess mind!
I did both sets but had to modify the squats and swings so they weren't so deep, also had to miss the last few reps on the one arm swings/punches (I find the punches a killer, maybe I need a lighter bell).
I cannot do baseball catchers as I can't squat with my heels on the floor without falling over. So I do them standing up for now.
The Planks I do from my knees as I'm simply too heavy, but I know it works as I can feel it in my abs and my shoulders shake to rival jelly!
Just typing this I can feel the burn in my arms and abs.
I managed the Cool Down this time...well my modified version, the back lunge stretch is too difficult for me to do and pains my dodgy knee so I get into position and then stretch the same way.
Yep I reckon I shall enjoy Resistance!

I think doing this later in the day or after a proper meal was better for me.

I have a little App on my phone that shows you ab exercises, you can choose 5/7.5/10 minutes and it's meant to be done everyday, I might start doing that too.

Off for a shower and get ready for work tomorrow!

Hi Shirleen - just popped in to have a look. Loved reading it - especially Week 1 Cardio! Just reading it took me right back to exactly what I was feeling when I did it. Its amazing though how quickly you can start to build up your strength and see progress - the planks and push ups are a good measure. Being able to use your initiative to modify some of the moves is great and it's bound to help, rather than just standing there and waiting for the next one to come up. I have never done the Mountain Climbers (belly issues too) for instance so always do the two handed squat and upright row instead and "turbo charge" it! That's what great about KW and I do think that even though the cut and paste format can be a bit annoying, it helps you learn the moves quicker as its all so familiar.

Looking forward to following your progress. You gotta burn it to earn it!!

By the way, do you hate Kimberley yet?

fizzyfluff said:

I'll
Look forward to following your diary too, I tried to join in the secret to shaping up but think that they're are a pretty tight bunch of friends now, don't need a newbie muscling in!

I'm doing exante diet part TS/ws and will be stating wk 1 cardio of kw tomoro!

6 lost : 61 to goal

Click to expand...

Hi FF - come over to the thread, we'll talk to anyone! Good luck with your Cardio session. x

Is Kimberley the very smiley one with the killer abs? if so, yes, i hate her too! But only coz I'm jealous!

Kimberley is the over tanned leathery looking ab woman in pink! Can you not feel the smugness vibes coming off her through the telly! I'm sure she is very lovely in real life though!

I have so much sweat in my eyes I barely saw Ryan!! Lol

The overly smiley one with the dimples is a bit of a plank!

Love love love the useless guy during warm up!

Does anyone else find starting with the left arm odd? V

I tend to start with my right.. And do as many reps as I can do.. 2nd dvd I listened to what he said and thought ok bit strange starting with left.. And just carried on doing it my way lol otherwise I will just get confused!!

I usually mirror them on the TV, so start with my right arm for most things (unless it's the second set and there have been uneven reps).

Kimberley deserves to look smug, after all Ryan holds her up as the paragon of ab-tastic fitness. I usually only actually want to smack her when he says 'we're all smiling' and she's got the hugest smug grin on her face whilst I am doing my best not to collapse on the rug and gasp like a beached fishie.

CORE week one

Started 9pm
Food: Chicken and Beef Fajitas, with roasted New potatoes eaten 2 hours before.
(Two weeks overdue B12 injection)

Oh my goodness! I was looking forward to this as everyone said it was the best one...I forgot that my weakest area is my core!
Half get ups? More like Half assed flailing get ups! My legs were all over the shop, but I was surprised I managed it, well the first set anyway!
Butt elevators...dead easy for me my legs are strong!!!
Hip pump and crunch....are you kidding me? Firstly my hips wouldn't 'pump', so I did crunches, probably too many as my belly was wobbling now!
I quite liked the ones where your legs are in the air and you twist from side to side, even if I couldn't quite get my knees to the floor each time.
First set I even managed a proper 'plank' on my toes (for all of 10 seconds but hey that's 10 seconds more than before!).

Getting up and down was a pain so lots of pausing needed.
Second set I managed all the exercises. Modified the plank and found the half assed get ups HARD!
Spelling Kettleworx was tough too.
Third set, fatigue really setting in now, Not wanting to overdo my legs I ignored the 'horse stance'.
The Hip pump and crunch I ignored, and did some russian twists instead.
For my shame I didn't spell Kettleworx on the third set but I did 'pat myself on the back'!

For me Core was maybe the toughest this week, but as I said my core is shockingly weak. I'm also well overdue for my Vitamin B12 injection and I'm pretty sure my Iron is low (have blood tests Thursday), so the muscle burn was alot worse than it should be and I found it difficult to catch my breath. I also felt a bit 'swimmy' at the end.

I'm not keen on the mat I have it's a memory foam one and 'squeaks' when you move on it so I may have to get a sheet to put over it, or buy a new one!

Bring on week two, probably starting Wednesday!

Well done! I never do the spell Kettleworx one- bad girl!

Splodge - tut tut. Ryan would be shocked. You should try one of the Fast Abs workouts. You have to spell, "Kettleworx Works" in that one! Why don't you challenge yourself to just spell a few of the letters and work up to the whole thing in a few sessions??

Shirleen - well done. I too suffer from a "a-hem" wobbly core. But its amazing how quickly your body starts to sort itself out. I still have lots of excess around my middle (very typical apple shape with PCOS to boot) but under my flab I can feel my abs. In fact if I adopt a plank type stance with no t-shirt on and look back at myself (really not a pretty sight by the way) I can see my flab is sort of grouped over the top of my ab muscles now. It kind of hangs down in sections rather than a massive hanging down mass! I'm probably making no sense here at all but it does show that if I can work on my outer flab then my inner muscle tone is definately coming together. Sure I'll never be Kettleworx Kimberley but anything's an improvement! .

Keep going Shirleen. You will be breezing through some of the ones you found tricky by about Wk4. xx