I have been better with my exercising over the past several weeks.  I had a great workout at lunch today.  I had 30 minutes to bust out as many snatches (20kg), swings (24kg) and cleans (16kg) I could do.  I felt really strong as I was doing the snatches.  I think I finally got my grip right so I can do repetitive snatches and not tear my hands apart.  I love doing hi-rep snatches.  I also have been trying to do swings and jump roping for 10-15 minutes prior to my class at night. 

My diet has been very clean since starting the Jay Robb diet.  My problem with raw was I had to eat a lot of nuts and avocados in order to keep my energy up but the nuts really goofed up my digestion.  I am now eating primarily raw vegies with some yogurt and lean, organic beef/chicken/fish.  I am drinking lemonade when I want a snack.  I make the lemonade with one lemon per one quart of water then add Stevia to make it a bit sweet.  Great tasting and very good for you. 

Pavel Tsatouline is in the most recent Oxygen magazine.  The article is about stretching.  If you have every seen Pavel in person, he is unbelievably flexible.  Check out this article.  If you want more on his stretching technique check out his DVD Relax Into Stretch.  And if you don’t know who Pavel is you need to read my website

I found out that Top Foods has Rice Dream “Ice Cream” in many flavors. Very dangerous.  I bought chocolate mint this weekend and ate the whole pint.  I didn’t fel very good on Monday so I was back to raw.  I ate every meal raw and felt much better.  Lots of green vegies.  I just finished Victoria Boutenko’s book 12 Steps to Raw Foods.  I am going to start making green smoothies as she makes a good case for them.  Making the smoothie instead of juicing is much easier plus the fiber isn’t taken out.  I haven’t been eating any fruit for the past 1 1/2 years but will start slowly adding some to the smoothies.  My favorite raw dish right now is shredded beets and shredded carrots with sunflower seeds.

My kettlebell workout hasn’t been very regular lately.  I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to work out at lunch.  I have tried to get a 15-20 minute workout prior to class.  I have been doing lots of swings with the 24kg and snatches with the 20kg.  If I have only a short period of time to workout I need to get the most out of it and heavy snatches and swings do it for me. 

I am still riding high from this weekend seminar.  I came home last night and my husband said he has the next seminar scheduled.  It is tentatively scheduled for March 30, 2008.  I wanted to have the seminar in Olympia but because we will be working with Discover U in Seattle he chose Tacoma again.  The topic of this seminar will be Relationships and the Law of Attraction.  Stay tuned.  

I wasn’t able to work out Monday night so I did the same routine my students did tonight.  I started warming up with two handed swings, 80 with the 20kg and 80 with the 24kg.  I then did four sets of the following:  5 each side of swing-clean-snatch, 5 each side clean-squat-press, 20 alternating swings, and 10 swing-catch-squats.  I then finished with 200 swings varying between two handed, one handed and alternating. 

I didn’t do very well with my eating today.  I went way to long without eating anything.  I had a bowl of vegies (cucumber, red bell pepper and avocado) for breakfast then nothing until after my workout, which was 7:15 pm.  I had a protein drink mixed with a green drink about 15 minutes after my workout.  When I got home I had a bowl of cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded beets and sunflower seeds.  I also had two small raw “ravioli”  I need to be more proactive on the days where I don’t take a lunch.  Luckily I didn’t have any nuts at work or I would have eaten them all.  Nuts are just too fattening.

My husband and I put on an empowerment seminar in Tacoma, Washington this past weekend.  It was amazing.  The speakers, Mark Edgar Stephens and Bob Doyle, were phenomenal.  I have been coaching with Mark for three years and I was blown away by how good he was.  The main message was you have the power to choose your life, all aspects of your life.  You need to find your passion and follow it.  Many of the people there didn’t know what their passion was and how to find.  Mark’s suggestion was to ask yourself throughout the day “What is my passion?” and listen to the little voice inside that will give you the answer.   I get so excited when I think of the possibility of everyone living their passion.  The world would be an amazing place.   Bob talked about the law of attraction and how science has proved that when you vibrate at a higher level you will attract what you are focusing on.  I see this in my life on a daily basis.  The patients I having coming into my practice are exactly what I have visualized.  You can get more information on both of the speakers at WealthBeyondReason.com and MarkEdgarStephens.com.

I also lost four pounds this week.  I love eating raw.  I need to control the amount of nuts I eat, which I know will weight on me.  I need to lose 6 more pounds then I can take kettlebell pictures.  I have written a book and the last part I need to do is get the pictures in.  There was no way I was going to take pictures with me being 15+ pounds heavier.

Mark came to the kettlebell gym Sunday morning before we took him to the airport.  We did a great workout.  We had two bells at one end of the parking lot and one at the other end.  We did alternating presses then farmer walked to the single bell.  We then did 40 two handed swings.  Then walked back and did high pulls. For the entire routine we walked back and forth alternating swings at one end with cleans, snatches, bent over rows, and single presses.  He was impressed at how he could feel his entire body working.  That is the power of kettlebells. 

I went for a walk today, 5 miles, in a head wind.  I needed to get outside and be with nature.  I spend the majority of my life in a temperature controlled environment and I realize that being outside is necessary for health.  That is something I want to do more of on a regular basis.  Living in the state of Washington can make it difficult to get outside.  Well, maybe just for me as I am a fair weathered person.  You will not see me walking in the rain.  I will be teaching my kettlebell class outside on the dry days. 

I walked five miles yet there people who cannot walk from the parking lot to the grocery store.  I am not talking about those with a neurologic/orthopedic condition or the very elderly.  I am talking about your every day American.  How is it that we as a society became so out of shape?  I believe computers have made us fat and lazy. Not lazy in work but lazy in taking care of our bodies.  Are you aware that if you do not exercise you will lose 14% of your muscle mass between the ages of 40 and 50? 14%!!!  That is huge.  It is time to make a change.  Park one stall over from your normal parking spot.  Do squats at your desk.  Make sure you get your butt way back like you are trying to sit on an outhouse toilet.  Great analogy isn’t it?  Do something, anything.

I made raw cookies today.  Coconut, dates and almonds.  Put them in a food processor and blend then put in a dehydrator for two hours.  Yummy.  Raw food is tasting so much better than cooked.  Alissa Cohen’s raw food cookbook has made being raw so easy.