Changes to Fit Tip Friday

Welcome to this week's Fit Tip Friday! Today we will continue on with the kettlebell and cover the KB around-the-world movement.But before we do I want to communicate a change to the Fit Tip Friday newsletter that will start as we close March and head into April.  Starting today, Fit Tip Friday will transition to a bi-weekly newsletter instead of a weekly one. The next newsletter will come out April 8th. There is a mix of reasons for this change, but all the reasons have to do with stewarding the precious and scarce resource of time. If you'd like to get a glimpse of how a fellow brother is working to be faithful to his responsibilities (and failing often!), then keep reading. If not, then skip on ahead to the KB around the world. But I hope you can resonate with some of the common struggles we all have to wrestle through as it relates to stewarding time. 

Redeeming the Time

Creating ContentI have always loved writing. To me, writing is an exercise in capturing an idea, pinning it down on paper so I can observe it, analyzing it up, down, left, and right, and then gleaning as much truth out of the idea as I possibly can. This process is even more enjoyable when I combine Scripture and fitness, two topics I love to think about. But writing is a trade-off in time between the pen and other forms of content creation. And as we move through 2022, I have some goals and ideas on creating more visual content on both social media and my website that I hope will better serve the man in the pew who wants to steward his body for God's glory. The newsletter will stay as a bi-weekly resource, and more blog posts will come. But due to the physical nature of fitness, creating more visual content has the capability to serve people along their body-stewardship journey. So, if you haven't already, follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the links or going to the icons at the bottom of the page. I will continue to create weekly workout videos which will be uploaded to my YouTube channel. VocationI started a new full-time day job two weeks ago. This new job has been a welcome change for me and a new source of blessing for me and my family. However, as anyone knows who starts a new job, the learning curve at the beginning is steep, and the learning requires a lot of additional time and mental energy. 

While I plan and pray for Layman's Fitness to carry more and more of the financial provision for my family, the Lord is using my current job and career to provide for my wife, my kids, my church, and others. I want to be more faithful in that arena and spend more time rolling my sleeves up in my new role.ChurchI am prayerfully wanting to spend more time with my church community. My wife and I love our local church, and we have been so blessed by the other members. Both of us want to spend more time engaging with and thinking about ways to serve and bless our local body.Practically, one of those ways that has surfaced for me the last few months is serving through music. I play two instruments, which requires additional time in both preparation and service, and I want to ensure I can be faithful in stewarding those gifts as well.The newsletter is here to stay. I pray that it will continue to be a blessing in your body-stewardship journey. But it will shift to a bi-weekly cadence, which in time, I hope will actually make the bi-weekly newsletter even better!So stay tuned, and thanks for partnering with me on this journey! 

  KB "Around the World" 

The Kettlebell around the world is a handy exercise (literally) that works both your arms and your core. It's a useful exercise to sprinkle into your routine as both a warm-up and as a stand alone exercise within a routine. A demonstration video, instructions, and applications are below: 

Instructional Video Link

Instructions:Pre-Movement

• Place the kettlebell in front of you.

• Stand with your feet forward, with your feet a little more than shoulder-width apart.

• Bend at the knees and hips and "sit down" into a deadlift position.

• Position your hands on the top edges of the KB handle, and as you stand up straight perform a very small forward swing of the bell in front of you. 

Movement 

• As the KB comes back to you after the small forward swing, release your left hand.

• While holding the bell with your right hand, allow the weight of the kettlebell to drive the bell in a clock-wise rotation around your hips and back.

• Catch the handle of the bell with your left hand as it rotates back in front of you.

• Use your core to maintain an upright position, so that you are not bending side to side with the weight of the bell. If anything, your torso should sway slightly forward and backward with the bell's momentum. 

• To reverse directions, as the bell crosses the front of your body, use the bell's momentum to swing it up next to your hip.

• "Catch" the bell with your free hand, and pivot your feet in a 45 degree angle to protect your knees.

• Start the bell rotation around your body in the other direction.

• "Catch" the bell as if you were to change directions.

• Instead of changing directions, bring the bell back in front of your body and grab the handle with both hands.

• Squat down into a deadlift, and set the bell on the ground. 

Applications: 

• First, practice this exercise as both a warm-up and cool-down. Focus on the transition with your hands and reversing directions.

• Do 10-20 KB around the worlds as a warm-up exercise.

• Do 10-20 KB around the worlds as a cool-down exercise.

• Add 5 reps of the around the worlds in sets of 3-5 to your KB routine.

• Once you have mastered the movement, try to do as many around the worlds without setting the bell down in a set amount of time. Start small (3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, etc...) but you will strengthen both your grip and core with this movement.