Kettlebells

Recently kettlebells (refer to hot chick below) are becoming more and more popular within the fitness world. They are quickly becoming my favorite tools to workout with, and for good reasons. 1.) You get more bang for your buck, 2.) they link up your entire body, 3.) They are convenient and time efficient. 

     When I say "more bang for your buck," I am not just referring to price, but calories as well. Due to a kettlebell's offset center of mass, you are forced to stabilize the weight much more than with traditional dumbbells. This forces not only the primary muscles to contract more, but also forces additional motor muscles to work that would not typically be used with dumbbells, leading to faster muscle gain.

     When you workout with kettlebells, it's a full body workout. Referring back to what I said earlier, you use additional muscles to complete a lift, including back, legs and especially core. You can say they "bridge the gap" between upper and lower body workouts, ultimately leading you to training how your body is already designed to move: fluidly. Not like a robot where you separate body parts into different days.

     Lastly, kettlebells are convenient and time efficient. Due to the enormous range of exercises available, they can provide a solid workout wherever you are, meaning you can do it in the comfort of your own home without interruption. And, because you can do every workout that dumbbells offer and more, going from one exercise from the next is as easy as just changing positions, usually without even putting the weight down.

     

Water Confidence Training

     Well it's the end of another week, and so ends another week of training. This post will cover mostly of what I cover during my water training sessions, more specifically our Wednesday workout this week.Water training for me is particularly difficult, due to UH's ridiculous free-swim hours at the pool, but I go whenever possible and try to make the most out of my time. I tend to go Monday's and Wednesday's from 7pm-9pm. It's then that my buddy Dan and I conduct our exercises.
     We started of with some breathing exercises  for about 10 mins to get our lungs warmed up, then moved on to the workout. The first exercise of all of our pool workouts is the 25m underwater swim. We do between 6-8 sets of this on a 1:30 interval. Each week we try to make the rest time shorter and shorter to work on lowering our heart rates and increasing lung capacity. We always have a spotter though, because these can get somewhat difficult and we've almost passed out a few times from going to fast.
     Next we moved on to treading. We used the egg-beater tread with our hands out of the water. We completed 2 sets of a 5:00 tread, with a 1-minute rest in between. These really destroy your legs, but are something that can always be improved on.
     Thirdly we went into drown-proofing. This exercise can be extremely difficult or extremely easy depending on how confident you are in the water. Basically, you tie your ankles together, then tie your wrists together behind your back, and you bob up and down consistently for around 10 minutes. As long as you stay calm and relaxed, it is pretty easy.
     Our last exercise is my favorite: the mask and snorkel recovery. This builds off of our 25m underwater. For this, you swim 25m underwater (no goggles) into the 17ft deep end, find your mask and snorkel, which have been tangled up, untangle it, put your mask on, clear the water, then controlled swim to the stop and clear the snorkel. (There are a lot more details but I won't bore you). These are one of the hardest evaluated events at Indoc. Simply because you need to swim all the way to your mask, use more air to clear t, then use even more air to blow the water out of the snorkel. I've posted a video below explaining.

Mask & Snorkel Recovery

Dry-Land Training

Saturday's mark the last day of another week of training for me, and what a great week it's been! Along with our daily ROTC physical training sessions at 6am, I conducted much of my own workouts as well. A major part of CRO training is dry-land work, which happens to be my forte. Monday, Wednesday and Friday night this week I went on a leisurely 3-mile run around campus, sporting my brand new "Elevation Training Mask," (picture posted below). This training mask restricts air flow to your lungs, simulating high altitude and really pushing your body to the limit, increasing cardiovascular and pulmonary muscle strength. I ran with the oxygen mask set at about 12,000ft, which really makes it a tough workout. Following up with those runs, I participated in the 5-mile run at Fort Island this morning for Breast Cancer Awareness, and it was loads of fun with my friends by my side. I ran with the training mask at a reduced difficulty (6000ft) so I could make sure I would finish. What I am currently waiting on now is purchasing a rucksack, to practice my ruck-marches; I need to get used to carrying around pounds of gear while staying mobile.

What is a CRO?

          When most children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, very few would say an officer part of US Special Forces. I am part of that few, as my dream job since I was young was to one day become a Combat Rescue Officer in the US Air Force. But some people may ask, what is a CRO? Dictionary definition: Officers in charge of conducting USAF personnel recovery and Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations. In layman's terms, they rescue downed pilots or other personnel in need of extraction.  It is a career field I have been very passionate about for years now, and have been training endlessly for. During the indoctrination phase (sort-of like their own boot camp), the trainees undergo training that mimics Navy SEAL training. Despite always being overlooked and living in the shadow of SEALs due to the media's portrayal, Pararescue men are just as tough and just as badass, with medical certification, something SEALs do not get. In the rest of these blogs, I will post updates of my training and any news that pertains to it.