Push-ups with Hands

Warm-up

  • 3:00 SkiErg (693m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 3:00 Wrist Warm-up
  • 20 PVC Passes

Conditioning

  • 12-9-6
    • Strict HSPU
    • Box Jump (24/20″)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 15-12-9
    • HSPU
    • Box Jump Over (24/20″)
  • 4:00 Rest
  • 18-15-12
    • HR Push-up
    • Box Jump (30/24″)

I felt good through most of this. Did 6-6, 5-4, 6 for strict handstand push-ups and finished that part in 2:40. Then went 9-6, 7-5, 9 for kipping handstand push-ups, taking 3:31 for part two. The hand release push-ups felt rough, but I did them slow and unbroken and finished part three in 4:24. Overall time of 18:35.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • 20s Weighted Hollow Flutter Kick (10# plate)
  • 20 Weighted alt V-Ups (10#)
  • 20 Weighted OH Crunches (10#)
  • 20 Russian Twist (10#)
  • 20 Seated Leg Lifts

Slower than the 7:20 I did almost three weeks ago, with 7:58 today.

More Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 4:00 Row
  • 4:00 BikeErg
  • 4:00 SkiErg

I did 1,044 and 1,049 meters on the rower, 2,096 and 2,113 on the bike, and 961 and 970 on the skier.

Handstand Kick-ups

  • 5 bad leg
  • 5 good leg
  • 2×5 finding balance

Lactic Burn

Warm-up

  • 6:00 BikeErg (3,052m)

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 20 Shoulder I-Y Band Drill
  • 3 Rounds
    • 30s Handstand 45° Hollow Hold
    • 30s Hollow Hold
    • Switch & Rest
    • 30s Handstand Tuck Balance
    • 30s OH Plate Hold (35#, flat palms under plate)
    • Switch & Rest

Hardest part of that for me is the long hollow hold.

Conditioning

  • 6 Rounds (each)
    • 15/10 cal BikeErg (standing)
    • 15 Squat Jumps
  • 6 Rounds (each)
    • 15/10 cal SkiErg
    • 10 Ring Dips

Partner up and do a round at a time. My legs were on fire from round one. I wasn’t paying attention to when we completed part one. I thought my chest was going to blow up in the first round of the second part though. It took a couple of rounds for the lactic acid to flush out and then I was able to pick up the pace on the ski every round after that. I went 5-5 on every set of ring dips. We finished at 30:19.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 16 Floor Wipers (55# plate)
  • 12 Barbell Curls (45#)
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 12 Superman Rocks
  • 8/8 Half Kneeling Bottoms Up KB Press (25#)

Bike and Row

Woke up to find some kind of swelling near my right clavicle. Doesn’t hurt at all, even if I press on it, and there is no discoloration. Maybe it’s from all of the jerks yesterday. Was about to head out for a run before lunch and saw it was raining. So I went to the garage instead.

2 Rounds

  • 10:00 BikeErg
  • 10:00 Row

Distances were:

  • 5,025m
  • 2,569m
  • 5,019m
  • 2,548m

Pulsing

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!

Early Ride

On the bike at about 7:30 this morning.

Conditioning

10,000m BikeErg

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.

Time to get out of town for the day.

Handstand Graduation

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,562m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

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.

All 30

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…

More Conditioning

With Partner

  • 100 Burpee Box Get Overs (48/38″)

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.

Midline

4 Rounds (20s work / 15s rest)

  • Landmine Twists (45+25#, club grip)
  • Bicycles (5# ankle weights)
  • Leg Lefts (5# ankle weights)
  • Hollow Hold (5# ankle weights)

Lucky 7s

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.

Back & Chest

3 Sets

3 Sets

  • 10 Weighted Ring Dips (20#)
  • 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 Sets

  • 8/8 Decline Static Bench Press (50-60-60#)
  • 8 Lat Pulldowns (126#)

3 Sets

  • 8 Chest Fly (40-45-45# DBs)
  • MAX Ring Rows (18-14-12)

Cramping in the Upper Abs

Not a great night of sleep. Workout at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,527m)

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 40 Bottoms Up KB Press (25#)
  • 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.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • 20s Weighted Hollow Flutter Kick (10# plate)
  • 20 Weighted alt V-Ups (10#)
  • 20 Weighted OH Crunches (10#)
  • 20 Russian Twist (10#)
  • 20 Seated Leg Lifts

A good one from Ibex Training.

My upper abs felt like they were cramping in the middle of round two. I forgot to note the exact time but it was around 7:10-7:30.

Bounce vs. Muscle It

I didn’t sleep very well last night. My abs are getting sore from yesterday. Worked out at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,450m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 2 Sets
    • 20 Banded Arm Circles
  • 3 Sets
    • 2 Handstand Split to Stacked
  • 2 Sets
    • 30s Wall-facing HS Hold

The split to stacked drill felt better than the list time, but still not nearly as good as the kick-ups last week.

Legs

4 Sets

  • 20 DB Walking Lunges (diagonal, 50# DBs)
  • 10/10 Single Leg RDL (foot on wall, 70# KB)

3 Sets

  • 12 Barbell Hip Thrusts (85#)
  • 12/12 Lateral Step-ups (50# DB, 24″)

I bet it’s been at least three years since I’ve done barbell hip thrusts.

  • 12 DB Front Squats (40# DBs)
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises
  • 12 DB Front Squats
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises
  • 12/12 Single Leg Calf Raises

I skipped the third set of squats because my back was feeling weird.

Conditioning

2 Rounds

  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 10 Box Jump Overs (24/20″)
  • 15 Hang Power Snatch (75/50#)
  • 10 Box Jump Overs (24/20″)
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 3:00 Rest

Pull-ups felt great throughout and I can really feel a huge difference when I concentrate on my hips in the kip. I did a lateral jump over the box so I wouldn’t have to keep turning around. The snatches in the first round were not great. I was trying to bounce them off the high pocket position, which was getting to me and slowing me down. The second time around I bounced them off my thighs and did sort of a muscle-ish snatch. First round was 2:00 and second was 1:50, so the snatches were much faster.