My low back was in minor tweak mode this morning, unable to bend over the sink without supporting myself. Upper body is beat from yesterday. In the garage at 4pm.
Handstands
Wrist Warm-up
4×4 Handstand Tuck Balance
2×1:00 Frog Stands
2x45s Wall-facing Handstand Hold
Accessory
Hammer curls
12×35# DBs
8×30
8×25
8×20
8×15
Tricep pulldowns (rope)
12×71#
8×60
8×54
8×49
Drop sets, but I completely screwed up the number of sets. Should have been five sets of eight after the 12 for each movement.
Conditioning
6 Rounds
400m Run
20s Hollow Hold
20 Box Step-up (24/20″)
20s Superman Hold
20 Push Jerk (75/50#)
This went well. My runs were under or right at 2:00 each time. After two rounds I put the bar on my back for a short rest after 12 reps. Then I powered through all 20 at the end. Finished at 28:37.
I walked 18 holes yesterday. I sold my Airdyne in the afternoon to make room for a new piece of equipment arriving in the next month. Workout at 4pm today.
Warm-up
5:00 Row (1,303m)
80′ Lateral Monster Walk
80′ Monster Walk
Handstands
Wrist Warm-up
2×1:00 Hollow Body Wall Walk
2x30s Hollow Body Wall Walk
2×5 Kick-ups (bad leg)
2×5 Kick-ups (good leg)
1:00 Wall-facing Handstand Hold
That was a lot on the shoulders!
Midline
2 Sets
8/8 Partner Banded Rotations & Holds (blue)
8 Evil Wheels
8 Parallette Shoot Throughs
8/8 Partner Banded Rotations & Holds
8 Parallette Shoot Throughs
8 Evil Wheels
Conditioning
10 Rounds (each) w/ Partner
10 Pull-ups
10 DB Bench Press (50/25#)
I warmed up with 10 bench press @ 35# and 5 kip swings. Brandi skipped her last 5 pull-ups because of a big blood blister. Adding in time for those would have put as at about 12:10 to finish, which is much faster than I was expecting. I wore grips and was able to do every set of pull-ups unbroken without a problem. The dumbbell bench started to get tough in the last three rounds.
Accessory
4 Sets
20/20 Landmine Curtsy Lunge Pulses (45+30#)
BikeErg during rest (easy pace)
It ended up being about 1:10 on the bike and I probably did around 700 meters each time. This was nasty, especially when doing pulses with the second leg. I should have alternated which leg I started with each time.
3 Sets
20 Wrist Curls (12#)
15 Plate Pinch Hammer Curls (10#)
As I type this all up about an hour later, my upper body is already wrecked!
At 4pm, not too long after getting back from a day+ trip to my brothers to help him with electrical work.
Warm-up / Conditioning
700m Run
1,000m Row
700m Run
1,000m SkiErg
I think I pulled around 1:55 on the rower and 2:08 on the SkiErg.
Handstand Balance Breakthrough
Wrist Warm-up
Kick-ups (goal: land soft on wall and come down)
2×5 (bad leg)
2×5 (good leg)
1:00 45° hollow hold
45s 45° hollow hold
1:00 Wall-facing HS Hold
2×5 Kick-ups (w/ finding balance)
I’m using the four week program we did as a base to create another four weeks as phase two. Stepping things up and adding in things I’ve found from other handstanders.
We were both extremely surprised how kick-ups went on our bad legs. We’re really getting the feel for how much power is needed to get up to vertical.
Back & Chest
3 Sets
8/8 Landmine Single Arm Floor Press (45 + 50#)
8/8 Kroc Row (70#)
3 Sets
10 Weighted Ring Dips (25#)
10 Close Grip Chin-ups
3 Sets
8 Dumbbell Fly (40# DBs)
8 Lat Pulldowns (126#)
DB Bench Press
12×60#
8×50
8×40
8×35
8×30
8×25
In the style of doing drop sets, but with prescribed rep counts for every set. Do the 12, pick up the next dumbbells, and right in to the next set until all sets are completed. I make a smart move skipping over the 45s. When I picked up the 40s they felt really light though and I busted out my reps. As I got towards the end of the 35s and through the finish it was a burn though.
No warm-up and this is my first every attempt at this race. Looking at BTWB I set my goal pace at 1:48-1:52/1,000m, not having any idea how I would feel.
Ignore the dates shown there, I didn’t have the computer set correctly.
Whenever I do this again I’ll try to hold a 1:47-1:48 pace so I don’t have so much left at the end.
Probably did about 8 sets of 5 kick-ups. Had some really good ones where I was holding for 4-5 seconds I think.
That completes the 4 week program. We made so much progress in that time. We’re going to continue a lot of the drills and try adding some other ones I’ve found. I’ve already written the first 2 weeks of our phase 2.
Legs
4 Sets
8/8 Landmine Curtsy Lunges (145#)
3 Sets
8/8 Bulgarian Split Squats (35-40-45# DBs)
8 DB Stiff Leg Deadlifts (60# DBs)
3 Sets
10 Front Squats (85#)
8/8 Lateral Step-downs (50# DB, 15”)
2 Sets
10/10/10 Calf Raises (60# DBs)
Conditioning
5:00 AMRAP 1-2-3-4-5…
Burpees
HSPU
When we did this on April 14th I got through the 7s + 10, which was a big PR at the time. Today I was able to stay unbroken, even though my HSPU got slow with some pausing. Another PR, by 11 reps this time, finishing the 8s and then getting 5 more burpees. No doubt the handstand work is helping a lot here as well.
My calves were sore yesterday. I didn’t feel like golfing with the cooler temperature. Thought about going for a run, but it didn’t happen. This morning I got the replacement WHOOP sensor so I feel whole again. Workout at 4pm.
Warm-up
5:00 SkiErg (1,138m)
Handstand Balance Breakthrough
Wrist Warm-up
20 Shoulder I-Y (red band)
3 Rounds
30s Handstand 90° Hover
20s Hollow Hold
The hovers were so much more comfortable than the first time we tried them when I got so frustrated. They really tax the shoulders unlike the other drills. By the end of the third round I was almost at failure.
Arms
5 Sets
5 Weighted Ring Dips (35-40-45-47.5-50#)
3 Sets
8/8 Static DB Curls (30-35-35#)
8/8 Single Arm Tricep Pull Downs (rope, 29.5-34.5-34.5#)
3 Sets
10 Hammer Curl + Shoulder Press (40#)
10 EZ Bar Skull Crushers (66-71-71#)
3 Sets
Barbell 21s (45#)
55m Plate Pinch Walk (25# plates)
Conditioning
2 Rounds
10 cal Row
10 Hollow Rocks
10 V-ups
10 Tuck-ups
10s Hollow Hold
10 MB Cleans (20#)
50 Double Unders
10 cal SkiErg
10 Hollow Rocks
10 V-ups
10 Tuck-ups
10s Hollow Hold
10 MB Cleans (20#)
50 Double Unders
Our old friend with the four core movements through smack in the middle of a metcon. My double unders were terrible today, missing at least twice in every round. Finished in 12:24.
My hands were aching again this morning and my legs are feeling that Friday workout a little. Out in the garage at 10am.
Warm-up
5:00 BikeErg (2,511m)
80′ Lateral Monster Walk
80′ Monster Walk
3:00 Wrist Warm-up
2 Sets
10 Kip Swings
10 Air Squats
Conditioning
“Jackie”
1,000m Row
50 Thrusters (45#)
30 Pull-ups
Still hard to believe the first time I ever did this benchmark workout was on April 13, with a time of 7:45. I pulled a 1:50/500m pace on the rower and was extremely cautious doing thrusters since it was my first time touching a barbell in months after a back tweak and physical therapy. I struggled though 7-5 and then 2s and 3s on the pull-ups.
Today I was having a hard time slowing down at the beginning of the row because it felt so good. Ended up a little over a 1:48/500m pace when I hopped off. I knew I wasn’t going to make up significant time on the row and didn’t want it to leave me too gassed for the thrusters and pull-ups. I did very controlled thrusters and focused on breathing. My shoulders were on fire for the last 15. Finished them at 6:11 and I was hoping to be able to do 3×10 pull-ups. The first ten felt great so I decided to keep going for 15-20. Then I got to 20 and knew I could go unbroken. Finished at 6:58 for a big PR! That felt really good and there is still a lot of room for improvement with the thrusters.
Handstand Balance Breakthrough
50 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts (3×10, 20)
1:00 Handstand 45° Hollow Hold
Even after the thrusters and pull-ups, this was a huge improvement since trying the sponge shifts 15 days ago. Look at these videos…
Went back and forth with Brandi, doing 10 each and then I’d pull off the 12″ block and she’d add the 2″. Then vice versa after her set. We finished in 10:46, so would have been around 10 minutes if we had 2 stacks.
I don’t think I’d mentioned it, but my WHOOP sensor died this week. They’re sending me a new one, but I feel so naked without it! I think I got a good night of sleep, but who really knows without the data to prove it. haha In the garage at 9:30.
Conditioning
7:00 BikeErg (3,562m)
7:00 Row (1,786m)
7:00 SkiErg (1,621m)
Then we did some handstand kick-ups after measuring like we should have last week, and did one here and there between sets.
12 Handstand Kick Up Against Wall (~10s + pull feet away)
Got 2-3 solid holds with my feet off the wall. Progressing!
Conditioning
35:00 AMRAP (Partner)
8 HSPU
12 Sumo KB Deadlifts (53/35#)
16 Plyo Lunge
12 HR Push-ups
12/8 cal Row
4 Power Cleans (185#)
The work is done by each person before moving to the next movement. I went first and got through 8 full rounds plus row. Handstand push-ups felt really smooth. My balance and cycling were feeling much improved from the handstand work.
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