Humility, thy name is change August 20, 2008
Posted by hardly Sit-ups, Kettlebell, Bar, Row, Tabata, Pullups, Pushups
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One of the key aspects of functional fitness lies in changing up the workout. Today, we did a couple of things that were twists on the usual, and the outcome is a hard workout. Constant shifts keep the body and the mind off-balance, and yield growth.
Warmup:
- 500 M Row
- 50 Push-ups
Workout:
- Kettlebell Swings, 20 ea:
- 20 kg - high
- 28 kg - low
- 24 kg - high
- 32 - low
- …and then go back down
- Kettlebell Squats, 10 ea:
- 24 kg
- 28 kg
- 32kg
- 30 “Eat the Apple”w/16 lbs slam ball (knee-ups, with a slam ball between your legs)
- 300 M row for distance, keep strokes per minute to 15 exactly: 765
- Big Tabata (20 seconds on/10 off, 8 rounds per movement, no rest between movements for total reps):
- Sit-ups
- Push-ups
- Bodyweight Squats
- Pull-ups
- 320 reps
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
Doing better… August 13, 2008
Posted by hardly Bar, Medicine Ball, Other, 6 Minutes of..., Dips
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Functional Fitness, what is it all about?
One thing is being able to do most anything at the drop of a hat. Another thing is continual improvement in one’s capabilities.
Today, we did something we hadn’t done in a while, 6 minutes of Push-presses. And, our trainer, being the kind of guy he is, upped my load to 95 lbs. “Oh, joy”, I thought to myself.
Warmup:
- 3x of
- 20 Wallballs @ 20 lbs
- 20 Medicine Ball Squats @ 20 lbs
- 30 ball slams @ 20 lbs
Workout:
- 6 minutes of Push-Presses @ 95 lbs: 69 PB! PB! PB!
- Tabata Squats, holding the squat during the ‘rest’: 13
- 20 Bodyweight Squats for form
- 3x: Shallow V-holds for time: 1:00, :28, :28
- 21 Ring Dips
- 21 GDH Back Extensions
- 20 Overhead Drops @ 25 lbs
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
Have to say that I was surprised by my push-press results. It has been a good 8 months since I last did that exercise, and I had an add’l 20 lbs this time. So, wasn’t expecting to get above 60 reps, but there you have it. I think that all the bar work we’ve been doing over the last several weeks has had an impact, plus I’ve been concentrating a lot on my form wrt all the standing bar movements, e.g. cleans, presses, thrusters, front squats, overhead squats, etc.
I wonder when I’ll break 100…
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/13/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
What did all those dudes do on those 1000 ships? August 11, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Kettlebell, Bar, Medicine Ball, Row, Other, Pullups
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The did ‘Helen’!
Warmup:
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- 1K Row
- 50 Medicine Ball Cleans @ 20 lbs
- 50 Dumbbell knee-ups @ 25 lbs
Workout:
- 20 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- Max Load Overhead Squats:
- 3 @ 95 lbs
- 3 @ 115 lbs
- 1? (almost) @ 115 lbs
- 4x of Slow-Motion Pull-ups (going down very, very slowly)
- 1 minute on , 1 minute off: Best set: 4 (trying to get the lowest number)
- ‘Helen’, 3x of the following:
- 400 M run
- 21 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
- 12 pull-ups
- For time: 11:19
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/11/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
What do you do to keep learning? August 7, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Sit-ups, Bar, Medicine Ball, Row, Other
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I love learning new things. This can take the form of figuring out new technical things, or a new business idea, or how to physically do something different.
It’s one of the things I love about functional fitness. Every workout, do something new, try a different way, challenge yourself. Maybe that means adding more reps, or maybe it means more weight, or maybe it means changing the way you do something. Decline push-ups anyone?
Today, we worked a bunch on the part of my form that’s used in the bar clean and bar snatch movements. I’m not making the last but of the full extension, or ‘pop’ as we call it, happen, so I’m not nearly efficient as I could be. Also, it’s important to establish good form with lighter weights so you reduce the risk of injury later.
Warmup:
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- 400 M run
- 40 Wallballs @ 20 lbs
- 40 Abmat Situps
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
Workout:
- 36 Reps of improving my bar snatch
- 2K Row: 7:18 (PB)
- Deadlift to get to max weight:
- 6 reps @ 185 lbs
- 6 reps @ 185 lbs
- 6 reps @ 235 lbs
- 6 reps @ 235 lbs
Very pleased with the rowing PB. Looking forward to continued improvements in that area, though I think they are going to be smaller and smaller steps. The deadlifts were hard, especially because I continue to struggle w/my form on that one, too. Ah, more learning in my future!
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/07/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Learning about our strengths August 4, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Kettlebell, Bar, Dumbbell, Row, Other, Pullups, Dips
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Today’s workout was fun, as we did a couple of things to help improve our skills, and also to learn a bit more about our strengths.
We all like to think we’re good at stuff. The reality is we’re not, or at least we’re probably not good at everything. And those that are good at everything are probably not going to be excellent at any one thing.
“Functional fitness” puts this into sharp relief. For example, you may be wonderful at lifting a bar with a lot of weight on it, but that probably means you’re slow at running. Or, you may be great at running, but you’re a bit slower than some bigger, taller people when it comes to the row. It’s all about our natural abilities, and as we develop them, it becomes clearer which things we excel at, and those that are a struggle.
Today, the two things I worked at were rowing and weighted pull-ups. On the row, we played around w/the damper settings to see which setting helped us to achieve our best time at the 300M row. The weighted pull-up is the first of several tests we’re using to determine max loads for various weight-bearing movements.
- 800 M run
- 40 Double KB Cleans @ 2 20 kg kettlebells
- 200 M Kettlebell Farmer’s carry @ 2 20 kg kettlebells
- 80 Front Squats @ 95 lbs
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- 2x 300 M row
- 55.9 w/damper @ 5
- 55.4 w/damper @ 10 (PB? Probably. I think I can do better, given this was my 2nd try)
- Weighted Pull-ups
- 3 @ 25 lbs
- 3 @ 30 lbs
- 3 @ 35 lbs
- 1 @ 40 (Again, I can probably do better, but will need to start closer to this weight so fatique doesn’t impact my result so much)
- 30 Dips
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/04/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Have you met Fran? August 1, 2008
Posted by hardly Sit-ups, Bar, Row, Other, Pullups
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Fran is one of the Crossfit workouts, and a great way to test your fitness level.
Warmup:
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- 50 Squats
- 50 Knee-ups
- 500 M Row
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
Workout:
- Fran:
- 21-15-9 of the following:
- Thrusters @ 75 lbs
- Pull-ups
- Time: 5:33
- 21-15-9 of the following:
- 3X of :
- 300 M Row
- 10 Deadlifts @ 135 lbs
- 30 situps
- 60 second rest
- Time: 10:51
- 2x 10 Bar Cleans @ 75 lbs
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/01/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Sneaking Up on Improvment July 25, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Sit-ups, Kettlebell, Bar, Medicine Ball, Other, 6 Minutes of..., Max reps, Pushups, Dips
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One of the nice things about the functional workouts we do is that sometimes you’ll become re-acquainted w/a given activity and discover that you’ve improved. It’s a really great thing!
Warmup:
- 50 Wallballs @ 14 lbs
- 50 Push-ups
- 50 KB Swings @ 20kg
Workout:
- 60 Barbell sit-ups @ 35 lbs: 2:10 (pretty certain that’s a pb)
- 6:00 of Bar Dips: 61 (never done this before, so that’s a pb)
- 1 mile run: 6:22 (DEFINITELY a pb)
- 21 reps, or max-out on Thrusters: Do as many reps as possible or 21, whichever comes first, and w/o stopping w/a reasonably heavy load (95 lbs): 16
- 3 sets of 10 Power Cleans @ 75 lbs: Form Practice
All in all, I’m happy w/this workout. Nice to see my mile run time come down, and fun to do a few new things. I was sorta hoping that I’d get to 21 on the Thrusters, and I really tried, but it was not to be today. But tomorrow, who knows?
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 07/25/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
Circling back around to Turkish Getups? July 23, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Bar, Dumbbell, Other, Turkish Get-ups
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Oh, lordy, who invented this? I need to hunt them down and kill them like the dog they are! You know, after I can get up from my seat and walk up the stairs. Locomotion is challenging at the moment.
Warmup:
- 200 M run
- 21 Knee-ups
- 21 Deadlifts @ 115 lbs
- 21 Front Squats @ 115 lbs
- 200 M run
Workout:
- Max-out weight on Dumbbell snatches. Started at 45 lbs, and went up to 80 lbs. And then, dropped the dumbbell.
- 60 Dumbbell Thrusters @ 2 30 lbs ‘bells
- 60 Dumbbell Cleans @ 2 30 lbs ‘bells
- 20 Turkish Getups @ 33 lbs for time: 7:55
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 07/23/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
I hate coming back to working out! July 21, 2008
Posted by hardly Run, Sit-ups, Bar, Medicine Ball, Row, Other, Max reps, Pullups, Pushups, Jump Rope
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I was not in the gym last week, more on that later, and both fell off my diet, and didn’t participate in any “high-intensity” workouts. To my detriment, I might add!
Today’s torture session…
Warm-up
- 30 each:
- Double-under jump ropes
- push-ups
- knee-ups
- overhead squats
Workout:
- 30 Clean & Press @ 75 lbs
- 6x:
- 300 M Row
- 200 M run
- time: 17:40
- 3 min each for total max count:
- Pull-ups
- GHP Sit-ups
- Wallball @ 20 lbs
- Row (for calories)
- Ball Slams @ 20 lbs
- Reps: 220
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 07/21/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Working on weightlifting movements July 2, 2008
Posted by hardly Sit-ups, Kettlebell, Bar, Medicine Ball, Row, Pullups, Dips, Lunges, Jump Rope
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Today was a fun workout. Aside from the usual stuff, we did some ‘learning’ - working on some of the classic weightlifting movements.
It’s funny - two years ago, if you had told me I’d be doing Clean & Presses, I’d tell you that you were out of your mind. I had too much fear built up around possibly injuring my back if I did free-weight exercises where the bar went above my head. And, like most things in life, successfully negotiating this point is all about starting small and building up slowly.
Thing is, I would not go back to my previous workouts having gotten into the swing of things with free weights. The added benefits are simply too good to ignore. For example, in doing a Clean & Press, it’s amazing how much your core muscles get activated!
Warmup:
- 40 Wallballs @ 14 lbs
- 40 Kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
- 40 Jumprope double-unders
- 40 sit-ups
Workout:
- 21 Non-stop Deadlifts @ 95 lbs
- 30 weighted pull-ups @ 15#
- 30 Clean & Presses @ 95 lbs: 7:15
- 2 laps of walking lunges
- 4x: 100 M row (sprint): 17.2 best time
- 30 dips
