Priceless

Two kettlebells on sale at Fred Meyer's: $35

Lifting the kettlebells with one hand onto the checkout stand: Easy

Look on the checker's face when she couldn't lift one of them with both hands: Priceless

Look on the checker's face when I picked them up and handed them to my 11 year old who easily put them in the cart: Even better.

Sometimes I forget how weak the "average" person is. We've come so far from the world of my great-grandma, a world where you might have to cart water in buckets from the well (at nine pounds per gallon, a three-gallon bucket is twenty-seven pounds, and I bet most people in 1900 could lift one with each hand easily). When I go to pick up chicken feed at the feed-n-seed store, the guy there always asks with concern if he can carry it out to the car for me. Nope, a forty-pound sack is something any woman should be able to lift with ease. But I bet even a lot of men can't do it these days, not without throwing out their back or something.

If you are not strength training, you're cheating yourself. If your strength routine consists of lifting weights that are suspended from a machine by a cable which is then attached to some muscle-isolating device (like a bicep curl machine), you're cheating yourself. You're cheating yourself out of all of the benefits of lifting free weights: Balance, core strength, strength of smaller muscle groups instead of just the big ones, coordination, and more.

I know free weights are intimidating for a lot of women (they were for me). We don't typically grow up being introduced to using them, and we may feel that they are for men who want to get pumped up with big huge muscles. It's worthwhile to take the time to find a coach, trainer, or program (like Crossfit) that helps you get used to lifting free weights. Whether that's a kettlebell, an Olympic weight bar, or a set of hand weights, learning to use them right brings so many fitness benefits. And it prevents the embarrassed checker syndrome!

Crossfit Update #4 and The Inadvertant Monster Hill

As I've maybe mentioned before, one of the things I like about Crossfit is the ability to measure and track your progress over time. So when I saw that yesterday's workout was going to be "Grace" (many of the Crossfit workouts have women's names), I was excited because I did Grace in mid-March and knew what my stats were. Grace consists of 30 reps of the Clean and Jerk at a weight you can manage to complete that, and it's done for time. Coach Jeremy puts a slide on the wall showing our stats from the last time we did this workout - in Crossfit, all stats are written on the whiteboard in the room, and then photographed by the coach. Additionally, many gyms use Beyond The Whiteboard to track stats online, with graphs and other cool features. In March, I was able to lift 60 pounds and it took me 8:47 to complete. Yesterday, two months later, I could lift 70 pounds and it took me 4:28. Ten more pounds in half the time! Yet I remember back in March being completely tapped out trying to complete it in 8:47. Now that's amazingly cool! Can't wait to see what I can do next time. I'm reasonably sure this newfound core, arm, and shoulder strength is behind some of my swimming gains lately.

On the other hand, in the afternoon I went for a bike ride and headed out on a new road I'd never explored before. It was really lovely, one of those roads you want to just keep going on and never turn around. I was hoping to find out that it looped around to one of my favorite rides. After a couple of miles, it started climbing what looked like a small ridge. My legs were a bit toasted from the morning's Crossfit, but no worries I just took it easy and spun up the hill. Then it started climbing some more. No problem, I still wanted to take it light on the spent quads, so since there was no traffic I zigzagged across the hill. Then the grade REALLy went up and I was standing on the pedals AND zigzagging and my quads were screaming but by that time I could see the top of the hill above me and no way was I going to give up at that point.

When I finally puffed out on top, I realized that I had inadvertantly climbed up the back side of one of the most killer hills around these parts. Ha ha, joke's on me. So much for a nice light afternoon ride. Still all told, my legs felt okay and didn't even hurt too much at today's Crossfit workout where we got to squat with big heavy weights. Yeah, that's me on the right saying "oh my achin' hamstrings!":