Thursday, January 21, 2016

Kettlebell Swing

Kettlebell Swings & Intermittent Fasting

I started a new training and diet program this week that integrates kettlebell swings and intermittent fasting.

For the swings I'm using a 53# bell and I'm swinging it 50 times (5x10) each day right before I eat dinner.  I have been practicing swings for a couple of weeks now, and because it took a while for my body to get used to the new stress I have only been able to do them 3 days each week.  So I am hoping I can go 6 days this week.  Today will be day 4.  I am feeling pretty good about my progress so far.  My muscles actually feel more dense and the aches and pains I started with have mostly gone away.  I have more stability from the waist down and taking stairs is less difficult.  I'm not 100% sure this is all because of the swings, but it's really the only change I have made in my activity.  I'm taking about 10 minutes to do these swings.  By the time I'm finished I feel worked but not really winded.  When I can complete 50 swings per day, 6 days a week, I will add one set of 10 the next week (60 swings each day, 6 days each week).  And then 10 more the next week and so on.  Until eventually I am doing 100 swings each day.  This is my desired outcome and it is a good goal.  And THEN, as if this wasn't already an ambitious goal for a 54 year old fellow, I want to get to where I can do these 100 in a workout that my son calls "Burn Swings".  My son has lots of great training ideas  www.taoofnorski.com  and this is one of his inventions.  The idea is that you do 10 swings each minute, on the minute.  So the only rest you get is between minutes, or what ever time you have left in that 60 seconds where you were not swinging the bell.  Not much recovery time, I know.  And by the time you finish the ten minutes of (torture) swings, you collapse.  At least I do.  But I have never attempted burn swings using such a heavy bell.

I'm also starting Intermittent Fasting.  This means I will be in a fasting state starting around 8:00 PM (when I have finished my evening meal) and going until the next day around 4:00 PM.  20 hours in a fasting state combined with eating only within that 4 hour window is supposed to help me burn more fat.  I need to be careful not to binge when I eat.  I need to remember that one of the points of the fast is the absence of meals during the day.  It would be counter productive for me to eat 3 meals worth of food (or more) in the 4 hour eating window.

Starting weight = 387 lbs.