my first kettlebell competiton!

if you follow me on any of my social media (which i am gonna assume you do if you are reading this) you'll know that this weekend was my first kettlebell competition! it was SO MUCH fun and now I am so ready to do another one (once my hand is all healed up, tbh)! 

this post is basically gonna be a wrap up of my sets and how i feel about them. also i need somewhere to post all the great pictures and videos I got from it.  

all my prep for deck the bells came from my bad ass coach, Brittany van Schravendijk (i am so hoping I spelt that correctly), also known as @kbfitbritt and I did most of my actual kettlebell sport workouts at Kor Strength and Conditioning in North Park. 

All of the following pictures and videos are taken by my awesome boyfriend Colt Magana. Video is on a GoPro Hero 5 Session, pictures on a Google Pixel 2! 

Snatch Set! 

10 mins, with a 12kg bell! 

This is the event that I was really training for over the past 5 months. 

My goal was 200 reps (I hit 198! :) ) 

below is the full video if you want to watch me swing a bell for 10 mins straight 

I am outrageously proud of myself for this set, because it was my first ever competition set. I was straight up shaking when i got up to the platform... and probably throughout my first few minutes too...and maybe after. (i'm only kinda joking there)

i don't think i thought throughout this set anything other than, "breathe" and "OK" to my coach's cues. i was concerned that i was going to slip into some sort of negative self talk, but we did go through a lot of mental prep with Britt, so I had plans on plans so I wouldn't do that. and the plan A mental game plan went great. and because I had SO much adrenaline going it knocked out my cough that i has been fighting off for the last week and a half. (woo!) 

most helpful, was the cues from my coach and teammates. SO appreciated that. and by the last minute I was able to rep it out really fast that last minute. I think I hit like 25 reps that last minute which is pretty solid for me. And then I hit 198 reps! Which is a PR for myself! 

onto my One Arm Long Cycle! (clean & jerk)  12kg, for 5 mins. I hit 59 reps! First in my flight, and 3rd overall! 

Not something I really trained for as much as snatch. I did practice clean and jerk a lot on my own, with hardstyle bells more so than comp bells, but it clearly translated pretty well! 

this one I had an audience outside of my team and Colt cause my friend Josh and his lovely ladyfriend Ashley came and watched me! :) 

here is the whole set for your viewing pleasure: 

I didn't have as much coaching in this event, but i felt really solid throughout it, and it was 5 minutes, and I felt really good during the set. Long cycle is just a lot of breathing, so it was just getting into that breathing rhythm and sticking with that. 

so i was and am very happy with how that set went! 

so, all in all, i had a great first comp! i am really proud of how i performed and really excited to do another comp! i learned SO MUCH about kettlebell sport and all the scoring and just little things i didn't know and I got to see amazing lifters do amazing things, which was and is SO inspiring for me to keep on going with this sport! shout out to my awesome team and for all the awesome performances that came out of Deck the Bells! legit, got to see a woman break the world record on 2x20kg long cycle.so amazing. so excited i got to do my first comp in the kettlebell world with my home gym, full of all sorts of great people! 

onto the next! 

if you are interested in following my future kettlebell lifting comps or if you want to kick off your own fitness journey check me out on instagram and facebook and drop me a line!

HOW TO: "survive" thanksgiving

it's the holidays!! it means family and fun and so much food! which is great, but for someone trying to losing weight, trying to stick to a diet, or trying to be healthy in general the holidays can be overwhelming and stressful and just all together not fun. 

BUT it doesn't have to be like that. you can (and SHOULD) enjoy your holidays with your families and enjoy all the fun food that comes along with it!

first things first, don't stress about your calories on thanksgiving. seriously. it's one day. i know we have goals and you want to hit them but you don't need to be tracking every bite to be successful. (promise!) 

and on top of that, any weight you may gain the  next day is most likely going to be just water weight that'll disappear in just a couple of days! (seriously, don't weigh yourself on friday it'll just make you crazy). 

and there's a lot of posts out there saying just don't worry about it, but that's easier said than done, i know, cause i've been there. so it's nice to have a plan for the day so you don't feel overwhelmed by all the food and family. cause, tbh, it is A LOT. a lot of people (usually), a lot of food, and a lot of people asking you way too many questions about your life, health, weight, job, and/or anything else they can think of. 

so here's what you can do to have fun and not be stressed out and feel all bloated at the end of the day:

1) put the non-fried veggies and lean proteins on your plate first! then add all the fun fried foods!  (there are lots of tasty and usually lean options available in thanksgiving! turkey and/or ham and veggies all over the place) 

2) eat slowly and enjoy the fuck outta your food! (it takes time for your stomach to catch up and realize its full, so eat nice and slow and really enjoy your foods) 

3) wait 20-30 mins before you go back for seconds. (like mentioned before, it takes time to for your stomach to catch up)

4) eat your mashed potatoes, casseroles, pies, and cakes without stress!! (seriously!! stress doesn't help anything ever. enjoy TF out of all the food you eat on thanksgiving, pie included!) 

that's it. don't stress about your food and enjoy your time with your family and/or friends. when you look back on your holidays, you want to have happy memories, not remembering the food anxiety or some sort of other negative feelings. 

it really is only one day and it really won't ruin all your progress. promise! don't let nutrition and stress control your life. 

have such a wonderful thanksgiving everyone! 

#noweighinnovember

the health and fitness industry is pretty much obsessed with the "after" picture, of the scale going down, of burning insane calories. i am guilty of it too. we obsess with the number on the scale and with what we see in the mirror and with burning calories and "earning" the right to eat some candy. 

if you follow my instagram stories you saw me go off on a My FItness Pal blog post that was telling you how much you had to exercise to "earn" some Halloween treats. and seriously- FUCK THAT. enjoy your treats and enjoy your desserts and enjoy the food you like. 

ANYWAY ~ that's not entirely related to the point of this post, but it's pretty close. over the past couple of weeks i have been trying to figure out a good challenge i could host on my insta and after an experience i had this morning i figured it out. 

to start, let me give you some background: i 100% understand that the scale should only be one of many tools to measure progress and success in your health & fitness journey but as someone who exclusively measured progress on the scale for a VERY LONG TIME it is hard to shake the feeling of deep disappointment of seeing the scale go up even when logically i understand that i didn't gain fat. 

the scale is SUCH a fickle reporting tool. it goes up and down depending on about a million different things but i still let it effect my mood. and that's me, a fitness professional who should know better. 

so  anyway, this morning i weighed in and that stupid number went up. and i was so disappointed in myself. even though i had a pretty successful week of workouts and nutrition wise i was on point. but the fact was that the night before i had most of my carbs in the evening and i had them later at night than normal so of course that'll reflect on the scale. but it doesn't mean i need to stress out about it. my weight has definitely gone up from this time last year... but i'm working out harder than i have been before and i am stronger than i have ever been. 

that's where my challenge comes in; i've decided i'm not gonna stress about the scale for a full month. for all of november i am putting the scale away and i'm going to focus on non-scale victories, self care, eating properly, and my regular training program. i typically step on the scale 5-7 days a week and honestly, that's not been working well for my mental health but i really just can't stop myself from doing it, and i'm sure i'm not the only one. 

sometimes we need a full reset and that's what i'm going to do and i'm hoping to have some of you all join me in!

30 full days of no scale. and each week i will be putting out some additional self-care challenges for all of us to take part in. 

i think that this time of year it's pretty easy to be shamed for eating candy or all the pie or other treats and then immediately to step on scale and feel terrible about it. so let's not. let's focus on consistency and getting stronger and faster and eating food that makes us feel good and self care. 

join me in the #noweighinnovember challenge on my instagram page! all of the details will be on the page! 

any questions? let me know in the comments below or on my insta or facebook page!