TKO Clean & Press?

For the first time ever, I nearly passed out cold with my kettlebell. On my last clean and press grind set of 1+1, I put up the 24kg on my non-dominant to the rack, and I felt the blood pressure change in my head...it was a very weird experience. I'm not sure what happened really. I sort of "deflated" and lost my lock as I got soft then snapped out of it...and put the KB down. Workout OVER!

I had a great breakthrough workout though. FINALLY got through a major wall with my 24kg clean and press. I think my trainer partner Jim Marchesini had a lot to do with this. He's been encouraging me to clean the 32kg--just grind sets of racking it. I worked on this Saturday and Sunday a bit, and I swear to God, when I did a CP with the 24kg I felt like it was a 16kg! Got off 4 clean presses reps per side which is the most I've done in over three months...I got in a rut and was push pressing too much on my non-dominate side.

Anton helped a lot on Sunday at the KBLA Line Up too. He's really good at helping to get a really tight clean and rack so you are set up for a good HARD style press. Enjoying the improvements despite a slight "fade" at the end...maybe it was the heat? It got really hot today. Coach RJ

32KG & Lamb of God @10:30 PM!

I just got my new RKC 32kg kettlebell today. A minute ago I walked by it at 10:30 PM and thought what the hell. I grabbed onto it for 20 swings. Whew! What a rocker! Talk about a quick jump in heart rate! There will be some more recalibration with this bad boy in the weeks to come for sure. All the while, I had my new Lamb of God "Wrath" album revving in the background. Righteous. Lamb of God and a 32kg at 10:30 PM! That's good stuff!

Just did another intro to kettlebell workshop today for corporate clients. I think my best workshop so far. I keep putting more and more emphasis on "movement first" before loading. It makes a lot of sense. Clean up your movement patterns BEFORE throwing down so you don't jack yourself up. Nothing worse that adding a bunch of strength and power on top of poor movement patterns and compensations.

On other points, just got my scissor microphone arm set up today. Pretty sweet. Been getting into the on-line radio show Podcast with fellow Lean Beret Kevin Rail. I'm also starting to do some other "Coach RJ" podcasts that will be a little more straight up informational...tame compared to The Lean Berets throw downs but still rockers in terms of good information that is worth listening to. My God--I've got a lot of recording stuff! Another Shure 58 mic today. Nice quality sound now. Clean mics, board, good cords, etc. Nice equipment to rock and roll with HARD style and high performance health Comrades! I'm totally portable. I don't even need a power supply because I have my own portable batteries if needed. I told Rail tonight we could do a show on top of a mountain as long as we packed all the equipment up there (which we could do in back packs).

Great weather today in SoCal. Wow--must be pushing 90s almost. Summer is about here baby. Saw the hotties at the pool yesterday already. No complaints about the scenery in SoCal this weekend from RJ. Off to see Doc and KBLA again tomorrow for the Line Up finally after a hiatus while home in Atlanta. Packed my house in Atlanta. Moving back to California! Too much going on for me on the Left Coast. It's time to roll...and no time to waste. Rockin' HARD in SoCal, Coach RJ!

Back in the Day! Coach RJ-Circa 1977!

Coach RJ circa 1977. I'm on back row furthest to left.

I was cleaning and packing stuff in the basement today. I ran across my old high school year book. The cover flopped open, and I found some photos I had thought were long gone. One was a real classic of my North High School Varsity X-Country team proudly posing in the early fall of 1977. I was 17 years old in the photo. Even to this day, this period was one of the best times of my life! I loved those guys and our Coach Stan Ingram. We busted ass and won the league championship that year. Good times...they just don't get any better.

I took it upstairs to show my wife. She loved it! Then she said I didn't look that much different in the body than I did when I was 17. I started thinking about it. She was right. Other than less hair and the normal wear and tear from being an outdoor athlete most of my life, my body looks about the same! I'm not saying this to talk smack or make fun of other people. I'm saying it to motivate some people into NOT GIVING UP. It's sad that so many people seem to give up physically after high school. The body is an amazing machine everyone! If you'd just work with it instead of against it so much of the time, you'd be AMAZED at what it can do!

So, is it just my genetics keeping me fit at age 49 over 30 years after this photo? Hell NO! It's my work ethic. It's my daily discipline of exercise and eating well. It's that simple! Why wait? If you aren't on the health and fitness trail, get on it NOW because no one is getting any younger. Keeping it real...REAL FIT, Coach RJ!