Jason Yun’s Training and Nutrition

Nice article about kettlebells I found at the sentinelsource.com My favorite implement by far. Iron Woody’s having a blow out sale on them. But once they are gone they’re gone forever. They are a staple in my bootcamps. Enjoy the article!

In some circles, fitness means going back to basics
By MEGAN K. SCOTT
Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, October 08, 2008

NEW YORK — Martha Zamirski had tried almost every fitness fad: pole dancing, spinning, step aerobics.

“I never saw results,” said the 26-year-old who lives in New York City. “I thought something was wrong with me.”

But earlier this year, Zamirski, managing director of a nonprofit theater company, gave up the pole, the bike and the step for a basic boot camp workout. So far, she has lost 20 pounds and dropped two dress sizes.

“I can see my abs now,” she said. “I have definition in my arms, definition in my legs. Everything kind of tightened.”

She’s among a growing number of people who are forgoing Bowflex machines, trampoline classes and “Dancing with the Stars” workouts in favor of a back-to-basics strategy. They’re emphasizing traditional exercises including pull-ups and old-fashioned tools such as kettlebells — something like a cannonball with a handle.
(more…)

Tony Robbins talking about Sly Stallone and how Rocky came about.

Below is a video of a guy doing some Bruce Lee Pushups. This is hard as hell. I can only do 3 but that’s with using my full hand not just my fingertips like this dude. Mad props, Bro!

BOSTON (AP) — On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners, the Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one — at last — for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — their Big Three for a new generation.

After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.
Lifted by ear-splitting chants of “Beat L.A.” from their adoring crowd, which included Boston legends Bill Russell John Havlicek and JoJo White, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Not Even Close

The Celtics have done something similar to the Lakers before. Here are the records for largest margin of victory in a title clinching game:

Team
Opp.
Margin
2008 Celtics Lakers 39
1965 Celtics Lakers 33
1949 Lakers Capitols 21
1960 Celtics Hawks 19
1986 Celtics Rockets 17
1952 Lakers Knicks 17
With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.
Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the Finals MVP, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first crown since 1986.
This was total domination. The Celtics obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
No way. No how. No chance.
Boston’s 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA Finals.
Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth — a tribute to Red Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise’s first 16 titles.
Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court, then found Hall of Famer Bill Russell for a long embrace.
“I got my own. I got my own,” Garnett said. “I hope we made you proud.”
“You sure did,” Russell said.
Rivers pulled Pierce, Garnett and Allen with 4:01 left and they shared a group hug with their coach, who was nearly run out of town last season. In the final minute, Rivers, who lost his father at the beginning of this remarkable season, was soaked by Pierce, the Celtics’ captain who decided to stay when things were bad and was rewarded for his loyalty.
It’s was Boston’s first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose signature victory cigar was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by Rivers, his beloved team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.
A perfect ending: a 17th title on the 17th of June.
The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry, nothing more than black-and-white footage from the 60s and TV highlights of players wearing short shorts in the 80s to young hoops fans, remains titled toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2 against the Lakers in the Finals.
Fast Facts

• Of the previous 61 NBA title-clinching games in league history, the average margin of victory is 8.2 points.

• The last four runner-ups in NBA Finals have been done in by a combined 24 points in the clincher.

• The Celtics average margin of victory in their previous 16 clinchers is 9.9 points.

• The average margins in Finals clinchers: 1-3 points — 17 times; 4-9 points — 20; 10-19 points — 21; 20+ points — 4.

– ESPN Research

They missed their first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but didn’t miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of their gym.
Bryant, the regular season MVP, finished with 22 points.
Garnett and Allen were All-Stars in other cities, stuck in Minnesota and Seattle, respectively, on teams going nowhere. But brought together in trades last summer by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, a member of the ‘86 Celtics champions, they joined Pierce and formed an breakable bond, a trio as tight as the club’s lucky shamrock logo.
With Garnett scoring 17 points and Pierce adding 10, Boston built a 23-point halftime lead, and unlike Game 2 when they let the Lakers trim a 24-point lead to two in the fourth quarter before recoveirng, the Celtics kept coming in waves.
They pushed their lead to 31 in the third quarter, and with Boston still up by 29 after three quarters, plastic sheets started going up in the Celtics’ locker room in preparation for a champagne celebration.
Bryant started 4-of-5 from the field, but he missed seven shots in a row and finished 7-of-22. Everywhere he went, L.A.’s No. 24 ran smack into a wall of Boston defense as high as the Green Monster a few miles away at Fenway Park.
“Defense,” Rivers said before the game. “Is what we do.”
In the second half, Celtics fans chanted “You’re not (Michael) Jordan” at Bryant, who will have to wait for his fourth title and first without former teammate Shaquille O’Neal. The Lakers, who stole Pau Gasol away from Memphis in a mid-season trade to help Bryant, will have the all summer to think about what went wrong.
No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th postseason game. They were pushed to seven games in the first round by Atlanta, another seven by Cleveland and then took care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.
They entered Game 6 of the Finals slowed by injuries as Pierce, Kendrick Perkins (shoulder) and Rajon Rondo (ankle) were less than 100 percent. There was also uncertainty surrounding Allen, who stayed behind in Los Angeles following Game 5 after his youngest son became ill.
But just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench as P.J. Brown, James Posey, Leon Powe and rookie Glen “Big Baby” Davis came in and contributed.
It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers, who borrowed an African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too) and roughly means “I am, because we are” in English, as the Celtics’ unifying team motto.
The Celtics gave the Lakers a 12-minute crash course of ubuntu in the second quarter.
Boston outscored Los Angeles 34-19, getting 11 field goals on 11 assists while holding Bryant to three points, all on free throws. The Celtics toyed with the Lakers, outworking the Western Conference’s best inside and out and showing the same kind of heart that made Boston the center of pro basketbal’s universe in the ’60s.
House and Posey made 3-pointers to put the Celtics ahead by 12 points and baskets by Pierce, Garnett and Rondo put Boston ahead by 18.
In the final minute, Garnett floated in the lane, banked in a one-handed runner and was fouled. His free throw made it 56-35, and after Perkins scored, the Celtics ran to the locker room leading by 23.
On his way off the floor, Garnett screamed, “That’s that.”
And so it was.

Inspirational weight loss. 130 pounds. Part of his program was using the Universal Strength Apparatus. Uses it at :55 and it’s in the background during the interview. They’re back in stock. Weight loss is possible, you gotta commit yourself. Change is hard, but being out of shape takes away your life. Commit to be fit!

Awesome video sent to me by Ryan Lee regarding true sportsmanship. Had me in tears. Awesome.

Just watched this video. Jim Labadie sent this to me. Thanks, Jim! The guy is dying from pancreatic cancer, yet doesn’t seemed the least bit deterred from living his life.

Here’s a very inspiring article that I read today about kettlebell training from the Power by Pavel Newsletter. I started training with kettlebells last summer and they quickly became my favorite training tool. I’ve been using the ones from ironwoody, love the smoothness of the handle. But dragondoor makes a real good KB. If your looking to build a home gym or add to it, KBs are a great place to start

“It’s Got to Be the Kettlebells!”

by Bob Ross, RKC
That’s the phrase I have been using a lot these last couple of years. Let me explain how and why I became acquainted with Kettlebells.

In 2003 my doctors told me that they could get me a medical retirement (disability) from the Phoenix Fire Department because my back was in such bad shape. This was after a 2001 back surgery.

I had been on the Phoenix Fire Department for 18 years at that time. In 1997 I retired from USAF after 21 years of service (6 years active + 15 years reserves) as a Pararescueman. With the two careers I have the bumps and bruises to go with the job, but to be an active guy and to hear the words “medical disability” did not set well with me.

I thought I would just have to live the rest of my life in pain but wanted to get back to an active life. I had tried everything from A-Z. I spent a lot of time and money to get my back healed. And still, I was in pain 24/7.

A friend of mine called and told me about an article written by a fellow USAF Pararescueman, Nate Morrison on how to combine strength and endurance with something called a kettlebell. This was something that I thought I could use. I ordered the book and a kettlebell. After reading the book and practicing for a week, I still remember my first full workout. In 45 minutes I was drenched in sweat looking at this cannonball with a handle thinking ‘that was an odd way to workout, but man what a workout!’. In the next couple of weeks my back was in a lot less pain. I felt I was much more flexible, getting stronger and my cardio was being challenged. In the morning I did not feel like the tin man. All of this made me think —”it’s got to be the kettlebells”.

On our annual Fire Department physical I did better on the treadmill just using kettlebells as my cardio workout than I had in previous years when I actually trained on the treadmill. That year I also was able to dead lift 452 lbs (I weigh 210 lbs). The previous year I was not even able to perform the dead lift due to back pain. “It’s got to be the kettlebells”.

For the last 5 years I have competed in the local sprint triathlon. I have better times using the kettlebells as my primary workout tool than I did when I trained in all three events.

In 2003 I left the Power to the People! book lying around with Pavel and his bear chest on the cover. My wife of 20 years looked at it and said, “that’s the kind of body that I like”. (Thanks, Pavel). Recently in 2007, she told me that I have a better body now then when we got married. “It’s got to be the kettlebells”

In 2006, after being retired from Pararescue for 10 years, I decided to rejoin (at 48 years old). The physical test was held at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson AZ. The temperature that day reached 102. Ten guys tried out - most in their 20’s, ex-military and in good shape. We ran 3 miles, did calisthenics, and swam 1500 meters. I was amazed that I was the first out of the pool by one full lap and quickly recovered. There was no doubt that the kettlebells prepared me for that and the extra special 4 hours of hell that came next. “It’s got to be the kettlebells.” I passed and was offered a position but a sinus condition (previous sinus surgery due to a tumor) prevented me from accepting. Bummer.

My wife and 4 children all use kettlebells and are active in sports. They realize that this truly is a total gym in one hand and it prepares you for any sport. They have been told several times that they are some of the strongest and well conditioned kids that the coaches have ever coached. My 18 year old son just requested kettlebells to be sent to him at the Air Force Academy because he missed using them. They will have their success stories too.

By September 2006 I became a RKC Instructor, had a great time, met Pavel and other great people. I have spent hundreds of hours training mostly firefighters with great success. They have realized the many benefits of kettlebell training. The Phoenix Fire Department has ordered over 100 kettlebells plan on ordering more due to increased demand. Other Arizona Fire Departments are requesting my assistance with kettlebell training.

In June 2007 I faced one of my greatest fears: public speaking. I was asked to speak at a general session at the Phoenix Fire Department’s Health, Fitness and Safety Symposium. There were about 500 people with 1000 eyes staring at me holding my cannon ball with a handle. The firefighters present were from all over the United States and other countries. What a great feeling to conquer that fear. We received great remarks and generated a lot of interest with the kettlebell session.

I have gotten my active life back and am pain free, because as you know…..
“it’s got to be the kettlebells!”

Thanks, Pavel,

Bob Ross, RKC
www.kettlebellpoweraz.com
idokettlebells@yahoo.com