One Thousand-One, One Thousand-Two… October 17, 2007
Posted by hardly 6 Minutes of..., Bar, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Medicine Ball, Row, Strength Training, Tabata
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Imagine doing the standard body-weight squat. It’s just a squat movement, your body goes down, you keep your back straight, stick the butt out, bend your knee needs to at least 90 degrees, a bit more than that is better, and then you come back up. O.K., that’s one. Now, do 20 of those. Now, do 20 of those in 20 seconds. Now, do eight sets of those with 10 seconds rest. You get the idea… that’s what my Tabata Squats were like today.
Warm-up:
- 2x 300K row (about a minute for each)
- 40 Push-presses @ 45 lbs
- 40 Push-ups
Workout:
- Tabata Squats: 20 (PB!!!!)
- 100 Kettlebell Snatches @ 20 kg for time: 7:18
- 6 minutes of pull-ups: 41
- Team Wall-ball: 120 reps between two people w/10 kg medicine ball (80 reps for me)
- 3 minutes of:
- Push-presses @ 65 lbs
- Kettlebell Swings @ 20 kg
- Box-jumps
- Total rep count: 60
- 60 continuous sit-ups
I’m pretty danged excited about the new PB for Tabata Squats. I’m definitely getting better at this stuff, I think my first time around on this was 13 late last winter, and approaching the rarefied air (at my gym at least) of the top scores in this category. One amazing lady has hit 23… or was it 24? Gives me something to shoot for!
Health:
- Date: 10/17/2007
- Weight: 180
- Mood: Normal
- Resting Heart rate: 50
- Sleep Hours: 8
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
50 as fast as you can… x4 October 12, 2007
Posted by hardly Dumbbell, Flexibility, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Run, Uncategorized
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A while back, Brad commented to me about one of his workouts where he and his workout partner did 100 reps of everything in the workout. This kind of workout is, of course, hard. And, there are subtle differences in how one approaches the work v doing less than 20 reps. For example, at the end, your head really starts getting sharp on how to do single reps as rapidly as possible.
Today, our workout included a variation on this theme which adds a level of evil, er, difficulty to this type of workout.
Warmup:
- 30 Bodyweight Squats (arms vertical above head)
- 20 Kettlebell Squats @ 16 kg
- 10 Kettlebell Squats @ 16 kg, holding at the bottom for a count of 3
- 6 Kettlebell Squats @ 16 kg, holding at the bottom for a count of 3
Workout:
- 1K Row: 3:30
- 3x Windmills @ 16 kg, 3 reps per arm
- 50 of… for time: 12:55
- Bench Jumps
- Deadlifts @ 55 lbs
- Scissor Situps (v-ups anyone?)
- Kettlebell Cleans @ 2x 16 kg
- 30 Pullups
- 1K Run:4:46
Obviously, telling the class that they needed to do 50 reps ea. of four movements for time really slammed us. What is mentally difficult is that we all ripped through the first two movements, and then rapidly declined in the speed of our reps. When I hit 100 reps at 4 minutes, I figured I had it made, that is getting it all done in 12 minutes. Boy, was I wrong, and I finished first for the class.
Health:
- Date: 10/12/2007
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 6
- Sleep Pattern: Disturbed
199 October 5, 2007
Posted by hardly Bar, Dumbbell, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Medicine Ball, Row, Strength Training
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Warmup
- 1 Minute, or 30 reps, each of the following:
- Pushups
- KB Swings @ 20 kg
- Box Jumps
- Situps
- Wallball @ 18 kg
Workout:
- Situps: 3x 30 reps w/ a 30 lbs bar: 4:35
- 3x:
- 500M Row (BTW, it takes me 43 strokes to do this)
- 50 push-ups
- 60 Dumbbell Deadlifts @ 65 lbs (30 per arm)
- Kettlebell Cleans @ 24 kg:
- 15 per arm
- 10 per arm, from the floor
Today, I decided to wear my HR monitor and see what kind of craziness would be recorded. Boy was I right on that front: Max HR was 199. That’s 13 or so more BPM than that last time that I REALLY tried to max it out about 9 months or so ago. Hmm, I guess I’m getting into better shape - I can’t remember the last time I got my HR was that high.
Health:
- Date: 10/05/2007
- Weight: 182
- Mood: Normal
- Resting Heart rate: 48
- Sleep Hours: 8
- Sleep Pattern: Disturbed
10 minutes * 5 = Lots of Work October 3, 2007
Posted by hardly Bar, Flexibility, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Medicine Ball, Row, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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Today we did a fun little gig where we worked at 5 different stations, and at each one, we did 10 minutes of work. There were rep targets for each, but I suspect they were there just to challenge us - our trainer is tricky that way.
Warmup:
- Jump rope, including getting in a few doubles
- 50 wall-balls w/18kg ball
Workout:
- Overhead Squats @ 27 lbs bar
- 2x @ 10 reps, holding each at the bottom for 5 seconds
- 1x @ 20 reps
- 5 Stations, 10 minutes each of the following:
- 60 Pull-ups & 60 swedish ball situps (57 & 60)
- 60 Thrusters @ 65 lbs (60)
- 3x 60 kettleball snatches @ 16 kg (2x 60 & 1x of 20)
- 1K Row: 4:14 (this was shortened from a 2k to make the workout end on time)
All I gotta say is that at the end, it took me a while to catch my breath, and then bit more to get moving close to regular-like again. I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow!
So Close, So Far September 26, 2007
Posted by hardly Dumbbell, Flexibility, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Row
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Warmup:
- 2x through 50 Squats, 25 Pushups and 50 box jumps
Workout
- 1K Row: 3:37: PB - by 1 second
- Kettlebell Thrusters, 15 @ 16 kg, 15 @ 20 kg
- 6 min of Situps: 187
- Dumbbell deadlifts:
- 20 reps @ 65 lbs
- 10 reps @ 130 lbs
- 65 lbs swing, 10 w/ea. arm
- 30 dumbbell bench presses; 10 @ 65, 10 @ 55, 10 @ 45
I know I should be jazzed about another pb in rowing, and a tie in 6 min situps, but in both cases I thought I could do better. In the case of the row, the display of the rowing machine was set oddly, so for half the row, I wasn’t sure of some key stats. I know I could do better since I wasn’t in immediate need of laying on the floor upon completion of the exercise.
The good news is that next time around, I’ll be hitting a pb!
Health:
- Date: 09/26/2007
- Weight: 181
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 8
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
Time to move it up a notch September 24, 2007
Posted by hardly General Cardio, Kettlebell, Row, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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One of the things I like about my coach is that he always keeps things challenging.
For today, my new challenge was stepping up a notch on the kettlebell scale. Now, I’m doing 20 kg kettlebells for my high-volume work, and I’m sure that means that I’ll be at 24 kg for the heavy low-volume excercises. On the one hand, I’m very proud of the accomplishment. On the other, I could see my shoulder & arm muscles twitching in the mirror today after my shower, which is a little odd. The price of success, I guess!
Warmup:
- 3x through 21 Kettlebell swings @ 20 kg, and a 300 M row
Workout:
- 8 minutes to go through 4 stations (2 min ea) of
- Pull-ups
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Situps
- Total reps: 210
- 10 minutes of kettlebell snatchs @ 20 kg: 113
- 3x Max count of pushups, as follows:
- Starting w/your arms extended, lower your body so your nose is touching the ground. Hold this position for 3 full seconds, then push up until arms are extended, and then immediately return to the lowered position & repeat. Do this until you can’t raise your body up again.
- Rest for 1 minute
- Repeat 2 more times.
- 2x Front Squats, Walk around Gym, Front Swings w/2 16 kg kettlebells. Continuous motion, do not stop.
- 1K row: 4:20 (abysmally slow time, but I was beat by now!)
On that abysmally slow row, I think that was about the same time I started at, and which about killed me, back in January. I guess that’s progress, though I would have liked to have done better.
Health:
- Date: 09/24/2007
- Weight: 182
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 8
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
What to call it? September 19, 2007
Posted by hardly Dumbbell, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Run, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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Our trainer comes up with new things for us to do, and sometimes they even have names. For example, there’s “Fran”, and this is three rounds of Thrusters 21-15-9, then Pull-ups 21-15-9, and your score is in how fast you completed the three rounds.
Today, he had us do something that was very insidious. The movement is relatively simple, the Dumbbell Snatch. In this, we had 3 dumbbells in front of us, my load was 30 lbs, 40 lbs, and 50 lbs. We had to do 21-15-9 (on both arms), starting w/the lowest weight and working up. Then, starting w/the highest weight, you started at the lowest rep count, and worked you way back to where you originally started. The problem is, no name. What would you call this fun little exercise?
Warmup:
- Slow run of 1K
- 20 Squats w/20kg kettlebell
Workout:
- 40 American Swings @ 20 kg
- Tabatha Squats: 19 PB!!!
- The aforementioned DB Snatch exercise, which took about 17 minutes for me to complete.
- Rocket Launchers: 25
- 300 M run: 1:07 (I slipped taking a corner, and fell, so no PB
)
Oh and yes, I’m totally excited about making the PB in the Tabatha squats. 19 means that for each of 8 sets, with 20 seconds per set, I completed 19 bodyweight squats. I was literally flying! I wonder what it’s going to be like to get to 20, which would be 1 per second?
Yeah, I want your thoughts about the name - give me it to me baby!
Health:
- Date: 09/19/2007
- Weight: 183
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 9
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
How fast can you go up and down and up and down and… September 14, 2007
Posted by hardly Bar, Flexibility, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Row, Run, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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Warmup (ha!):
- 3 Sets of Kettlebell Snatches @ 16 kg (per each arm): 21 - 15 - 9
- 2 Sets of Overhead Kettlebell Squats @ 16 kg: 6 per arm
Workout:
- Tabatha Squats - 18 (PB!!!)
- 1 Mile Run 8:12
- 2K Row @ 7:53.9 (PB!!!)
- 30 Clean & Presses @ 75 lbs
I love it when I make a new personal best in any given movement. In this case, I made two of these today, and that’s a great thing. One in a given workout is hard, and two in a given workout really makes my day.
So, the tabatha squats number is kinda interesting. I’ve described tabatha exercises in the past, and in our class, the idea is to always do one more than your last best record. Of course, this is always challenging, regardless, but in the bodyweight squat setup, we have 20 seconds to do one set, and then 10 seconds rest. We repeat this 8 times. Your score is the lowest rep count in any one given set of the 8. I’m ecstatic because a score of 18 means that I’m almost doing 1 rep per second (up and down and up and down and up and down…), and I was able to maintain this for 8 sets. Woohoo! Of course, the bad news is that next time we do this, I’ve gotta hit 19 to get a new record.
And then, a PB in the 2K row! Now, admittedly, it was only 1 second better, but still, I did it after making a pb in the tabatha squats, and then running a mile. Not bad, methinks. I hadn’t expected to get this, but w/600 M left, I was just a touch under the pace for the record, so I thought, “I gotta try, it’s sooo close”. Fortunately, no nausea attacks today!
Health:
- Date: 09/14/2007
- Weight: 183
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 7
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
My Nemesis Returns September 7, 2007
Posted by hardly Bar, Flexibility, General Cardio, Kettlebell, Medicine Ball, Row, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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Warmup:
- 1K row: 04:01
- Split Jumps: 30
Workout:
- 100 Kettlebell Swings @ 24 kg: 03:31 PB!
- 100 Wallballs @ 18 kg medicine ball: 04:18 PB!
- 12 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- 3x 12 reps of Snatches @ 45 lbs
- 10 Overhead Squats @ 45 lbs
- Turkish Getups, 6 minutes @ 27 lbs: 27 PB!
This was a fun workout, and I smashed through three personal bests, which is pretty darned good.
The interesting bit is in the middle where we were doing Overhead Squats and Snatches. The coach is clearly getting us trained on some new methods of torture, and it’s fun to do new movements, especially those that you occasionally see in the Olympics.
Turkish Getups are one of those exercises I have a love/hate relationship with. On the one hand, they work EVERYTHING and are very challenging and I like that. On the other, when you’re done, you feel like you got worked over, and are just glad to be alive. Plus, the next day, you’re always sore in places that you’re never, ever sore in with any other workout other than some fighting sport like wrestling, etc.
Also, I attempted to come up with a picture for my blog prior to the session, but the light was on the wrong side of the building and all the pictures sucked. Guess I need to workout in the evening!
Health:
- Date: 09/07/2007
- Weight: 184
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 8.5
- Sleep Pattern: Better than Normal
At the end of the workout, your body position is… September 5, 2007
Posted by hardly General Cardio, Kettlebell, Row, Run, Strength Training, Uncategorized
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a. standing upright, breathing heavier than when you woke up.
b. bent over, hands on hips, breathing hard.
c. sitting down, catching your breath.
d. laying supline on the floor, catching your breath, thinking good thoughts about not throwing up.
I work hard to hit ‘d’ every time. Today, I succeeded!
Today’s workout (back from vacation-land)
- Warmup: 2x through the following:
- Swings @ 20 kg: 40
- Kettlebell Snatches @ 16kg: 20
- Overhead Squat @ 12 kg: 10
- 100 total situps + kneeups (80 + 20)
- Kettlebell deadlifts @ 44 kg: 40
- ~ 1K run: 03:58 (PB!)
- 3x through the following:
- 10 pull-ups
- 20 bodyweight squats
- 1K row: 04:00
- 3 min of push-ups + 3 minutes of kettleball swings @ 20 kg: 117 reps total (60 + 57)
- Lay on floor, gasping for air, not thinking about throwing up
We’ll see what recovery day looks like tomorrow am…
