“Steven,
I wanted to be part of the website and show how you guys have helped change my life from a couch potato to a active dad. Hope you can use some of these pictures.

I weighed around 275-280 in February 2008 that’s when the pictures from the giants game were taken and Giselle was 5 months old and her first baseball game pre season versus the A’s. After the game kids were allowed to run the bases and I had her in my arms and tried to carry her around the bases and thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion just going around the bases with her in my arms. That Monday I started my journey to better health and on March 29th 2011 I finally reached my goal weight of 170 pounds and then I have worked my way back up to 189-195 on an average right now. 170 was way too skinny for me and I felt very weak. My high school weight was 175 so I was determined to beat it by 5 pounds.”

2008
Waist 42-44
Weight 275-280
Height 5’9”
Age 28

2011
Waist 32-34
Weight 189-195
Height 5’9”
Age 31 FEEL ~ 21

Thanks,
Roman Rios

The ladies of 9am make jump squats look easy

Many of the fabulous moms of 9 AM like Lisa B., Jen C., Debra E., and Pam G. have proven that, despite what life throws at them, they are wholeheartedly committed to intense physical exercise. These ladies never give excuses; instead, they’ve shown up to do the work several times per week for several years now. Today, we salute them!

A wonderful 30 minute documentary about IC’s Annie Shiraishi (written and produced by Annie Shiraishi)!

See what it took for a young girl from Sacramento to become a Judo Blackbelt and Olympic alternate in 2008.

The people of the IC are the real stars and heroes that continue to inspire and motivate our community.  It was wonderful to catch up with you guys this morning.  I have missed hearing your incredible stories of triumph!  It’s not that I have forgotten about my peeps — trust me on that one, I have just been very busy behind the scenes.  Btw, no, I’m not pregnant, despite the ease in which my body weight fluctuates.  Luckily, I have already put my emotional eating issues on the table for you to devour so I can continue being my authentic self around you. One thing I know for certain is that coping with an emotional relationship with food is dynamic (sometimes great, sometimes horrible) and is dependent upon far more than exercise.   But, and this is a big butt (hello), exercise always pulls me through my worst days.  It reminds me how great my body is to me and how lucky I am to be in it.  Today, this message was most clearly sent by two Ice Chamber members, Ruth Pardee and Amanda Tung.

We last heard from Ruth a couple of months ago when we published our version of college girls gone wild… Ha, I knew you’d look.  Remember how determined she was to meet her weight loss goals this summer at the IC?  Well, with the support of her parents, IC celebs Stephanie and Craig, Ruth ended up losing 30 pounds in time for her Fall semester at Vassar (sadly, her last day with us is Wednesday).  Congratulations on meeting your weight loss goal Ruth!  What a source of inspiration you have been to your fellow 6 am bootcampers!  You will be greatly missed.

Amanda joined the IC in March 2009.  She’s still new at this in many respects, but you’d never know it based on her stats!  In that short amount of time, she has lost 20 pounds and what I appreciate most about talking to Amanda this morning is her no-nonsense honesty.  “I was very inspired by your postpartum comeback video,” she told me, “but my story isn’t about pregnancy…  I went through a bad breakup.”  Say no more Amanda.  We salute you!

We would also like to send a special thank you to Danielle for providing unwavering support and guidance to everyone at the IC, but particularly to Ruth and Amanda this summer.

-Maya

As some of you know, Maya was invited to be part of a small U.S. delegation participating in the 2009 International Union of Kettlebell Lifting’s VENTSPILS ATLANTS. The event took place over the weekend at the Olympic Training Center in Ventspils, Latvia. Delegates included teams from Denmark, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, USA, Slovenia, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Despite some recent tragedies in our family and very limited training time, I am quite proud to report that Maya managed to take 1st place in her weight class and won the Best Overall Lifter Award in the 16kg snatch event. We are still in shock considering the surmounting circumstances preceding the trip and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank our head coach Catherine Imes of the American Kettlebell Club for her guidance and expertise along the way.

I am sure Maya will write more about this upon her return in a few days. This is all I have for now due to our limited communication. I am extremely thankful to our family and friends at the IC and our wonderful sponsors for their prayers, well wishes, and continued support of the ICKB Team!

Best,
Steven
p.s. Cate, Lorraine (both of you), and Andrew, thank you for looking after my wife!

“I made it through 39.3 miles walked (26 first day/13 2nd day) with 3 blisters, an achy knee cap, tight quads, and a funky farmer’s tan. The good news…I finished the walk with a full spirit, and bigger heart. There were so many stories of lives that were affected by breast cancer, and I’m glad I got the chance to do this with the other remarkable women at my son’s school. We were the “Madera Moms Rock and Walk” team. I was able to raise $3,025 myself towards breast cancer.

Going in, I was very nervous that I didn’t train hard enough, especially just coming back from a 10 day vacation. The most I walked during my training (signed up in january) was 13 miles one time and shorter walks once a week ranging anywhere from 6-9 miles. I didn’t do a whole lot of walking! I’d have to give credit to IC Bootcamp for getting me through the rest. I was amazed at how well my stamina held up. I’ve never been a good runner and have done a few 5K’s but nothing as long as this. This Avon walk was definitely a personal accomplishment…”
cecie

Check out Valentin’s student displaying power and strength with impeccable form. Roman Kozlov is only 11 years old but can jerk 2 x 16kg bells 23 times in 1 minute. Imagine what he will be able to do ten years from now.

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Congratulations to Surya, Jess, Sara, and Maya for qualifying into the WKC World Championships later this fall.  Each woman tested with the 16kg bell in the Long Cycle division this weekend, and was judged by the Chief Advisor of the World Kettlebell Club, Valery Fedorenko.  We are also extremely happy to report that the “ICKB Girls” is the only team in the nation to hold CMS rankings in both Biathlon and Long Cycle!

p.s. Happy Birthday Surya!

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Since we’ve been getting so many questions regarding the secret behind Jen’s positive attitude and amazing progress, we decided to catch this IC mom after class for an impromptu interview.  Hear her speak about her postpartum fitness experience.

From Brown Women’s Crew News (thanks Anne!):

Women’s Crew Knocks Off Yale to Retain Nat and Anne Case Cup
Varsity Eight Captures Win by .1 Seconds

Read complete story here.

And check out JoJo’s incredible season:

May 2, 2009 – Women’s Crew Knocks Off Yale to Retain Nat and Anne Case Cup
April 25, 2009 – Women’s Crew Sweeps Cornell and Columbia
April 18, 2009 – Women’s Crew Sweeps Boston University
April 12, 2009 – Bears Knock Off Notre Dame and Minnesota

We are extremely proud of our IC athlete, and look forward to her summer season kicking butt in Kettlebell Sport!