VO2 Max and Some Zeppelin!

There is no better way to start the week out with a VO2 Max workout while listing to Led Zeppelin. Last VOM2 I did was in September. I did 40 sets of 7 15:15 with a 16kg kettlebell. I could do better.

Today I warmed up with 100 swing nonstop. Rest long enough to put on some Led Zeppelin, turn it up, grabbed the Gym Boss and started my workout.

42 set of 7 15:15 with a 16kg bell. Ok, it only a little better, but I haven't trained VO2 Max in two months, but I improved! I think I slightly improved only because I was listing to Zeppelin this time... then again probably not.

Back to Training....

It's been a couple of weeks since I've did a Kettlebell workout. I think it was Sunday before my Uncle passed. Then it was the mad dash to Oklahoma for his funeral. I was going to take a KB with me, but in the rush to get on the road I forgot it a long with my iPod. :(

Today was nice and warm so it was off to the local park to get a workout in. I warmed up with 7 set of 20 swings with a 24kg bell. Then it was Snatch time. I set out a 24kg, 20kg and 16kg kettlebells. I did three sets on each KB and upped the reps by two or three depending on the what felt good. The sets look like this

Round 1
24kg 5L/5R
20kg 8L/8R
16kg 10L/10R

Round 2
24kg 7L/7R
20kg 10L/10R
16kg 12L/12R

Round 3
24kg 10L/10R
20kg 12L/12R
16kg 15L/15R

I didn't have my Gymboss with me so I didn't time anything, but I did have a short rest in between sets.

I've done this type of workout before, the only difference I would start with a 32kg kb and work my way down to the 16kg. That would end the round start the next round with the 16kg and add 2 reps at each kb as I'm working my back up to the 32kg. I would do that for 4 rounds. Give it a try!

Passing of a Great Man

I would like to thank everyone who sent their condolences. It means a lot to me especially now.

The passing of my Uncle George is a great loss to our family and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation which he severed for many years.

I thought I would share his bio with everyone to get a small glimpse of a great man we lost.


Justice George Almerigi

Tribal Town: Cussetah

Clan: Alligator

George Almerigi is of the Alligator clan and is a descendent of the Cussetah tribal town. He grew up in Schulter and Okmulgee. Almerigi received B.S. degree in business in 1964 from Long Beach College in California and a Juris Doctor degree in 1983 from Oklahoma City University. Following his admission to the practice of law in October, 1983, Almerigi went to work for the Muscogee Nation in June of 1984 as general counsel (tribal attorney) and served in that capacity until September 1986, then he opened his law office in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Almerigi was elected to the National Council and served there from January, 1988 until September 1992. During this period he was recall to active duty in the US Navy and served in the Persian Gulf War. Almerigi resigned his position as Council member in September 1992 and took a position as Assistant Attorney General for the Muscogee Nation where he served until the end of 1995, when he took his elected position as Second Chief of the Muscogee Nation. He served as Second Chief for four years. Almerigi again served as Council member for two years in 2002 and 2003. Almerigi has served as Community chairperson for the Wilson Indian Community and also the Okmulgee Indian Community.

Almerigi brings to the Supreme Court a background of Tribal government and knowledge of the development of the government under the 1979 Constitution.

He had been a tribal Supreme Court justice since 2006.

He also was the community chairman for the Wilson and Okmulgee Indian communities and was a 32nd- degree Mason and a Shriner.

He is survived by his wife, Shirley Almerigi; two sisters, Sandra Cook of Mount Airy, Md., and Camelia Lovett of Lake Isabella, Calif.; two brothers, Tom Chalakee of Bakersfield, Calif., and Mike Cook of Long Beach, Calif.

No Class This Saturday

Quick update from the road to Oklahoma some where in BFE... Due to my uncle's passing on Monday there will be no Class coming this Saturday Morning. I will retuning in time for Wednesday's class.

Friday Monring Workout

I needed to get my workout as early as possible today. I decided to do snatches to get back in the grove of things. I warmed up with hundred swings with a 24kg KB. No matter how many days I have done this my forearms are still fried! But not as bad as last week when I started doing the hundred swing sets. Later I will do second set of hundred before the Friday Night beach ride.

After resting a few minutes I moved on to snatches with the 24kb bell. I haven't don't snatches in a few weeks so not better time then now to do them. I was kind of worried in the beginning because of my broken finger, but once I knocked the first three it could see it was going to be problem. I did 5 sets of 10R/10L. It got me going!

I still have another set of 100 swings to do before the days over, so more later.

First Offical Group Class and a Private Lesson!

That's right, today I had my first two students come for morning group class and get some tough love Hard Style! Both had trained before, but It was evident that they where not taught by an RKC. One was self taught and the other had done KB's at her gym. They both learned fast and worked hard to do it Hard Style. By the end they both where swing Hard Style and liking it!

This afternoon I taught a private lesson. He was still sore from his first class last Sunday so we only trained for a half hour. Since he was too sore to do swings we worked on HSL and TGU. More of a half get up he was too sore to do a full TGU. When our time was up... He asked for more, he scheduled another private lesson for next week, that will give more time to recover.

Finger Still Broken, But I did Train Last Night!

Tuesday morning the little one woke up with a cough, So no preschool for him and no morning training for me. A perfect day to go train with fellow KBLA RKC's Nikki and Anton in Santa Monica. Nikki was absent last night, but Anton had it covered.

All I can say is Anton teaches a great class and is a top notch at teaching kettlebells. For what ever reason Anton had us doing a lot of swings. Hey I don't have a problem with it, Swings does a body good! After every technique Anton taught we did swings. At the end of class he had us do swings. When we where resting we did swing...Okay we didn't but it sure seamed that way. I had a great work out and I enjoyed the swings and enjoyed my training with Anton.

If you're in L.A or visiting stop by KBLA with Nikki and Anton they won't disappointed!

Smashing a Finger!

What do you get when you do double cleans with a 32kg and 28kg and your finger gets in the way? Three stitches and broken pinky.

Sunday morning while training at KBLA with Dr Mark Cheng I smashed my pinky between the handles on my first rep of three. I finished my set walked over to Doc to ask him for a first aid kit. Once I got the finger fixed I hung out until class end. Later that morning I went to urgent care to have my finger examined. I was thinking I only need few stitches, but the doctor wanted an x-ray. I was surprised when the doctor told me finger was broken!

One thing I needed to add: it was nobody's fault but mine!

Dr Mark Cheng has prescribed 100 swings twice a day for the few weeks.


I'll start tomorrow.

Light Day

I need to get a KB workout, So I pulled out my 32kg for a light workout.

3 sets of 10 swings.
3 sets of 3 push press
5 sets of 5L/5R snatches

Okay It was more of short workout then a light one. But it's all how you look at.

Kettlebells South Bay Classes Starting

South Bay Kettlebells will start class on Wednesday October 15th at 9am and on Saturday 18th at 8 am.

Kettlebells South Bay fully appreciates the contributions and sacrifices that our police, fire, and armed forces personnel make in order to keep us safe & sound. Any active duty member of those groups can train at any Kettlebells South Bay group classes or private for 50% off the regular price



Cost:$20 Cash only.

Sunday’s Kettlebell Class for De-winplifcation

This weekend my dad came to visit with my family and me for the weekend. We haven’t hung out in a long time, so when he called to tell me he would be in town for a Doctor’s appointment he would like to stay with us for the weekend. It was a good choice on my part he had a great time hang out with his grand kids. At 71 he's up before the crack of dawn. He has nothing to do until I get back home from training. So his choice on Sunday morning was come with me to KBLA at 6:30 AM or walk to 7-11 for a cup of coffee because we don’t own coffee maker. I invited him to come with me to kettlebells class to hang out and watch class. First question from dad was” what’s a kettlebell?” The next question was “what do you do with them?” I showed him a kettlebell before we left for class and told him he needed to watch class to get a better Idea how they are used. Sometime seeing easier then explaining.

When we arrive at Clover Park I introduce my dad to follow RKC’s who where there before us. I introduce dad to Lulin Tsai. Lulin asked him if he was going to join class today. Before my dad could answer I replied for him “no, he’s too old!” Then I added “no he can’t hear or read lips either”. He just laughed and added "I will need to turn up my hear aid."

Sunday's class started with Doc having us warm up with joint mobility. Then the focused turned to Snatches. I haven't done snatches since I passed my RKC Snatch test a few weeks ago. Doc started with the hard style snatch with main training points being, A) Hard Style Lock, B) Arm locked straight over head behind the ear, C) Fist punching upwards. Then we moved on to speed snatches. Doc asked Nikki to lead this portion of the class. Everyone was asked to get a smaller bell for speed snatches. Doc wanted us to work on moving fast as possible.
It was now time to for the circuit. Nikki was in charge of putting this week’s circuit together and she came though. It’s the part of the work out I look forward to.Even though I act like it’s not. It lets me know what I need to work on, like the bear crawl with a push up. After the circuit I was done and now longer a wimp. I had been De-winplified.

Before My dad and I left Clover Park my dad comment to me "that looks like one tough workout!" After we got in the car to leave he asked me to teach him joint mobility for his warm up before his daily walk. He asked me more about the Hard Style Lock. After a explaining the basics to him he want to learn how to do it on his next visit. Next month he’ll be 72 and doing the HSL, and you never know he may be swinging a kettlebell.

Location for Kettlebells South Bay

The Home Of Kettlebells South Bay!

Classes Will Start Octobor 15th at 9am.



View Larger Map

Tell A Friend!

Kettlebells South Bay!

That's Right Kettlebells South Bay classes will start in Octobor in Torrance California. I will post class schedule and Location in the next week!


For question classes please contact me at kettlebellssouthbay@gmail.com


Joe Chalakee, RKC

I Passed my RKC Snatch Test!!!

Last Sunday, September 14th, I took my RKC Snatch test and passed. This is all I can remember, I had to do 74 reps the break down was 37L/37R. After that I don't remember too much I was to focused on hitting my snatch number. What do remember is hearing Dr Mark Cheng saying 74! I put the bell down and walked a way. I do remember saying to myself, I did it! I'm an RKC!

Today training was swings lots of swings. Didn't count sets just reps. After the swings it was TGU time. I haven't done any TGU's since the RKC Cert in August 1 set of 3 reps. To warp up I decided to throw in a few snatches with a 28kg 5 set of 5L/5R for a total 50.

Training with Doc

This morning I had my first private training session with Dr Mark Cheng Chief Instructor of Kettlebells Los Angeles (KBLA). This is not the the first time I train with Doc, I train with him every Sunday at Clover Park in Santa Monica home of KBLA. We met to review my snatch technique for my up coming RKC snatch test I retake. For my weight class I need to perform the max number of snatches to pass which is 74 with a 24kg kettlebell.

The last time I tested my self I did 66, 36L/30R with a 24kg. Today Doc had me warm up with some one handed swing, then he had me do swings, let it go and "hook" it deep. When someone is doing high reps of snatchs when your grip starts to give out you can re grip the bell be letting it go and hooking to re-grip the bell.

After the swings, Doc asked me to 35/35 snatches. I did 64, 35/29. Not bad, Since I knocked out 280 snatches on Wednesday with 16kg KB. Afterwards Doc asked me what I though doing work. I said my cardio, But he meant technique wise. I had to think about it being winded and hanging to think don't go well sometime. All the thing I thought I did wrong, was not really that bad. Doc told me I needed to Hold The Lock Out when the bell is over head and not to release until the bell is on it's way down to unluck, and Just as important to keep my heels planted. I never noticed when I come up on my toes when I do lots of reps. I know when I do say 10/10 reps with a short reset and do another set I don't do come up on my toes.

Next Doc had me do another set of 15/15 of snacthes. But this time I had Hold the lock postion until the bell is on it's way down, and keep my heels planted with out rocking on to my toes. I went thought the motions to get the feeling. Once I had the feeling I started the next set of snatches. I losted the lock out one time, and it was the 14 rep on the right side. From there I did 6 more sets of 10 hold the lockout and keeping the heels planted to avoid rocking on to my toes.
What a differance just doing these two things to helped improve my technique for snatches.

This Sunday will be the day I will take my snatch test. I've given the tools needed to pass, now it's up to me to use them.

VO2 Max training

I haven't done the VO2 Max Protocol since Last month's RKC. I needed to train snatches for preparation for my snatch test I need to pass to be a RKC. VO2 Max seem like the best thing to do since a few days a way from talking my snatch test.

16kg 7 reps, 40 sets, 15:15 for a total of 280 snatches.

Trianing At The Park

Today I decided to go back to the RKC minimum, Swings. I haven't done a swing only workout since completing the UCLA RKC in August. Before the RKC I did a swing only workout two or three times a week. Since August I have used swings as a warm up for my snatch training. Todat I used a 28kg, a 24kg, or two 24kg kettlebells for this workout. I only count my reps but not the sets, each set was 5, 10 or 20 reps with a short rest in between. I paid more attention to my technique. I wanted to focus on locking out and breathing then keeping count of how may set I was doing. I will start getting back to what got me ready for the RCK and do more swings.

Sunday Morning Kettlebell Training

Today was Training with the Kettlebell Los Angeles Crew. The last couple days my lower back pain returned and I wasn't sure why. I rested most of Saturday so I could attend Sunday morning KBLA training class. I woke this morning with no pain so I was off to training.

Today's class we work the shoulders. Started with joint mobility then moved on to naked Hard Style Lockout, next was swings for warm up. Since I my heavy day was Friday I decided to go light and use a 24kg for most of my workout with the exception of squats I used a 32kg for 3 sets of 5 other then that I stuck with the 24kg for the rest of the work out. 

Next we moved on to Clean and Press, Squat ladders starting with 5/5 down to 1/1. After that we did 3 Sets of 3 Push Presses. Last was the Walking over head press for 30 or so yards 4 times up and back. 

Last Circuit training, I don't remember most of it, but I do know I need to work on my Bear Crawls with a push up! My weakest technique.... 

RKC Snatch Test Practice

Today's Kettlebell training.

Warm up 40 swings with a 28kg, 2 sets of 20. 

140 Snatches. 80 snatches with a 28kg, 2 sets of 20L/20R. Knocked out the first set of 40 then rested as long as needed to recover. Then completed the second set of 40. At First I was only goin to do 15 But I  felt good so I did 20 on each arm. I Walked until I recovered then did 60 more with a 24kg. 3 set of 10L/10R.

RKC Arm Bars with 24kg. 3 sets of 3.