Camille's Kettlebell Journey: Starting the GAP Routine

I was in the best shape of my life between the ages of 19-23 (I’m now 26). My junior and senior years of college, I would lift weights in the morning, and in the evenings, I would hit the treadmill for an hour or attend a Zumba or kickboxing class with my old roommate. My diet consisted of lean meats, salad, and whole grains. I had abs, I could confidently wear crop tops, and I even dedicated my Instagram page cherrybombfitspo to healthy food porn and douchey locker room mirror shots.

The beauty of living in a small college town like Ellensburg is how convenient working out is.  I could wear my workout clothes to class with no judgement, walk the five minutes from my morning class to the gym, and then walk back for my afternoon class. If I ever forgot my shoes or water bottle, my apartment was mere blocks away. 

Summers away from Ellensburg were a lot more difficult. I could either get up at 5am and haul all my work clothes to the gym, or I could find myself in rush hour traffic trying to hit the gym, which really wasn’t even that close to my work. I know I’m being overdramatic, but hey, small town life spoiled me. 

Me at 19. I remember telling my friend to take this photo because I wanted to show off my abs

Then grad school happened. Although I also attended grad school at Central in Ellensburg, the expectations for grad school are in a league of their own. With taking classes that required copious amounts of reading and writing, hosting a radio show, and teaching and grading papers for English 101, I found my free time was much more limited. A couple times a week I got an hour or so in-between classes to fit in an hour of lifting, and the massive student discount I received at the hot yoga studio was a saving grace to relieve my grad school stress.

My second year of grad school was also the first time I lived alone, so I did not have my bodybuilder bf to motivate me to get out of bed before noon on the weekends. My giant salads were replaced with Chinese takeout and Dino Nuggets, and my busy schedule often had me waiting until 3 or 4 pm to eat my first meal of the day. 

I would like to note that I take full responsibility for my lifestyle change. I could have participated in fewer wine nights with my cohort ladies, and my newly single self could have focused less on what perfume I was going to bathe in before Friday night date night, and more on scheduling a Saturday morning workout, but you’re only 25 once. Also, I never stopped feeling good about my body, and liked to think I was still in better shape than the average college student; however, fitness wise, I was not nearly where I wanted to be.

So, prior to working at SKC, I hadn’t quite fallen off the workout wagon, half my body was just hanging off, so I looked forward to the convenience of my gym and work being in the same location. Since this was first GAP class, my only experience was the Core 6 workshop, which is less of a workout and more of a tutorial on the basics of kettlebell lifting, I was not quite sure what to expect with my first GAP class. 

First, the instructor set me up with a variety of weights to work with. For example, I can squat about three times the amount I can swing. Like all workout classes, we began with a short warm up, and the class consisted of 10-15 exercises where 75% of the exercises involve kettlebells and the remaining are body weight. The class is broken up into small sections where the instructor demonstrates each exercise before you do it.  All of the exercises are timed (20 seconds to a minute each, usually) so you can go at your own pace, and focus on your own progress over what everyone around you is doing. 

I’ll admit that I was struggling since it’s been a while since my last workout, and the class was at 6am. People keep telling me that I can train myself to be an early morning riser. I’m still skeptical. However, the struggle was good. Beside being new to hot yoga last year, my workout routine had grown rather repetitive, so with a new program, I did find myself working previously neglected muscles. 

Hitting the squat rack

The following week, I took my second GAP class. Although I found the moves equally challenging, it was a lot easier to get into the flow of the exercises. Plus, as daunting as throwing around a kettlebell felt in my first workshop, my confidence increased significantly, and the beauty of being in a small class environment is that it allows the kettlecoach to catch any bad form. Also I noticed that my second class was slightly different. Each class does challenge multiple body groups, so one can see progress. With over 150 kettlebell exercises in his arsenal, the head coach, who designs the programs, makes sure the members do not get bored. 

I still plan on finding time for my heavy lifts, squats, and bench presses, for those are the moves that gave me the body confidence I have today, but as I get older, tackle more responsibility, and find my free time to be more precious, it is nice to find ways to get an effective workout in a shorter amount of time. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll find myself taking the Sport classes. 

Want to give kettlebell training a try? Check out the calendar on our website for a complete list of our classes. Also, stay tuned for more updates on my personal kettlebell journey. 

-Camille Borodey