Tag: Echo Bike

Moving Better or Better at Moving?

Feeling about the same. I think the drugs helped me sleep a little better. Went to the gym at 3. Am I moving better or getting better at knowing how to move without causing pain? Does it matter?

Warm-up

  • 2:00 Echo Bike (25 cals)
  • 10 Bench Press (45#)

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 10 Bench Press (135#)
  • 20s Dead Hang
  • 14 Walking Lunges
  • 1:00 Rest (only after first 4 rounds)

I had my feet up on the bench to take pressure off my back. It made me feet kind of unstable when I lifted the bar off, but I made it work. I wasn’t breaking a sweat or getting my heart rate up, so after my 5th round I went right in to the 6th without the rest. That made the benching get very challenging for the last 2-3 sets since I was doing them all unbroken. I did 7 lunges out, turned around, and then 7 back. Finished in 18:47.

Midline

4 Sets

  • 20s/20s Side Plank
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

Probably didn’t need the push-ups after 100 bench press, but had to come up with something to do on the ground.

Out of the House

Back still terrible. I thought about getting on the treadmill yesterday and walking for 30-60 minutes but decided to fully rest. I was rolling around in bed much better this morning, but not great as soon as I stood up. Hauled my ass to open gym since I hadn’t been out of the house since Wednesday.

Conditioning

20:00 cal Echo Bike

Felt ok. Did 205 cals.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 20 Alternating Incline DB Curls (15-25-25-30-30#)
  • 20 Banded Pulldowns (green)

 

In Pain

My back is not feeling very good last night and this morning. Was out of bed at 6am again and went to the gym at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 20 cal Echo Bike
  • 20 PVC Passes

Strength

7 Sets

  • 6/6 Bulgarian Split Squats (2×35# KBs)

Had to really concentrate on my positioning to avoid pain.

Midline

6 Sets (each side)

  • 30s Side Plank
  • 30s Single Leg Balance Hold

Took almost 15 minutes to get through this boring shit!

Conditioning

18:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 12 cal Echo Bike
  • 40s Single Arm Front Rack Carry (R – 26#)
  • 40s Single Arm Front Rack Carry (L – 26#)

Averaged about 442 watts on the bike. Was probably walking 150-200 feet on the carries.

I hope I start getting some relief from this back tomorrow and can do some of the rehab stuff.

Move for 40

I’m switching back to Monday and Thursday rest days. Yesterday I felt my back a little in the morning and then was really favoring it when I shoveled snow. It kept getting worse through the day. Today I was awake early and my back was in full-on tweak mode. Sneezes and coughs sent a shockwave through my body, so this is the worst it’s been in a long time. Finally decided to see the Doctor about my back and got in this morning. He said it’s a classic low back issue and isn’t concerned about anything serious. Got an injection in the area to block the pain and some exercises (which are a very light version of the work I’ve already started doing). Went to the gym at 4pm and did my own thing.

40:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Strict C2B Chin-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 cal Echo Bike
  • 20 Walking Lunges

Slowed on the bike from around 65 RPM to 58-59 and maybe took a little more transition time getting up on the bar. Finished 13+24. Forty minutes is a long fucking time!

Rower Projects

This morning I picked up two Concept 2 Model C rowers I “won” in an auction from a local college. They aren’t in as good of shape as I was hoping, especially for what I paid. Thought I might be able to make a nice chunk of change off them, but they’re just going to be a project to break even now.

My abs are more sore and my triceps are getting a little sore. Got to the gym at 1:30. Did an easy 30 calories on the Echo Bike to warm up. Then I practiced handstand walking for 15 minutes or so and it was a shit show. Maybe I’m fatigued from the last few days.

Strength-ish

2 Sets

  • 2:00 Banded Bear Hug March (30# MB)
  • 2:00 Rest

Used a green band and my hips were on fire!

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 10 cal Echo Bike
  • 5 Bench Press (165#)
  • 10 Pull-ups

Warmed up with 10×45 and 5×135 on the bench press. Originally I wrote down 185 but I could feel my triceps in the warm-up sets and didn’t want to miss or have to break up sets. Smart move. Wore grips the whole time and did 2×5 for every round of pull-ups. It’s probably been over a month since I’d done kipping pull-ups. I finished 9 rounds and 10 calories.

Gymnastics

5 Sets

  • 30s Handstand Hold (facing wall)
  • 1:00 Rest

I need to improve my shoulder mobility for the walking, so may start doing a lot of this.

Blowing Up Triceps

Feeling pretty good after yesterday, but I’m sure my abs will start getting sore from those 150 sit-ups after zero in a month. My ass isn’t any extra sore from doing more walking lunges. Went in at 1:30.

Warm-up

  • 50 cal Echo Bike
  • PVC Passes
  • Shoulder Stretching

I didn’t realize how tired my shoulders were until I started moving.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

If my shoulders weren’t so beat I would have pushed more more reps. I missed the third rep and another attempt in round eight when I was trying to think about delaying my turnover a little bit. Did four reps in the last round to make up for it.

Strength

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 2 Parallette HSPU (1 AbMat – 9.25″)
  • 10 HR Push-ups

My shoulders were on the parallettes at the bottom. Really have to concentrate on a deep maximum kip for that much of a deficit.

Accessory

10:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 30s Tricep extensions on Ski Erg
  • 8-12 Double DB Incline Skull Crushers (25#)

We weren’t sure what to do on the ski erg, so started out slow and controlled in the first round, which didn’t feel like it really did anything. So we sped up the pace after that and oh shit! You blow up after 15-20 seconds. Then the skull crushers were so much harder too. I did 12 reps for two rounds and then eight reps the other three rounds.

Was planning to do some handstand walking practice, but my triceps were so blown up I could barely hold a handstand! Maybe tomorrow.

Smart Does Not Equal Fun

My ass is getting sore from the lunges yesterday. Went to 4pm class, but it kind of sucks with how much I’m limiting myself to let injuries heal because I have to sub out almost every movement. Making smart decisions isn’t fun.

Warm-up

  • 100 cal Echo Bike
  • Zombie Kicks
  • PVC Passes
  • Butt Kicks

I jumped on the bike before class with the intention of doing 150 calories again. I just wasn’t feeling it though, knowing I had a harder 60 coming up in the workout.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 12 Walking Lunges (50# DBs)
  • 25 Sit-ups

The strength work was five sets of back rack lunges with the sit-ups. I did the walking lunges so I wouldn’t have load directly on my spine and so I could still load up my legs. Figured I might as well do it for time. Finished in 6:44. I think it’s been a month since I did a sit-up! Since the class got 18 minutes on the clock I had a nice long rest before the programmed met-con.

  • Buy-in: 60 cal Echo Bike
  • 7 Rounds
    • 14 Air Squats
    • 7 T2B
    • 7 Burpees

The bike was a replacement for rowing 1,000 meters and it took me about 3:50, which is just slightly longer than I would have taken for the row. I did 2x air squats in place of 115# front squats and burpees instead of 70# American kettlebell swings. Turned out to be a good workout and I did all of my toes to bars unbroken. Took me 12:41.

Strict Intensity

Yesterday I was hungover and took a couple of naps. Had to shovel the heavy wet snow, which actually accounted for my second highest WHOOP strain score of the week. Glad it was a rest day, because I would not have been able to fitness. After a solid night of sleep, I woke up with a 96% recovery score! Got to the gym early today for open gym again.

Warm-up

  • 150 cal Echo Bike

Took about 14:25.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10 Prone Fly (20# DBs)
  • 10/10 Tricep Kickback (35#)

Gymnastics

  • 15:00 Handstand Walk

Tried to focus on pushing through my shoulders, hands out, and bent knees today. Feeling more and more comfortable each time I practice. Got out to 21-22 feet on my longest one. Here’s my final attempt.

 

Conditioning

15:00 AMRAP

  • 3 Strict HSPU
  • 3 Strict C2B Pull-ups
  • 12 Walking Lunges (25# DBs at sides)

I like programming low rep strict movements in a workout like this, where it’s a challenge but I’m able to keep moving without rest. After getting round one done in about 40 seconds I was worried it was too fast. Then after not slowing much through about five rounds I set a goal to stay under a 1:00/round page. Even though I started dropping from the top of the C2B and quickly grabbing on for the next rep, I was able to make up time by speeding through step through lunges. Was able to do all of the HSPU unbroken without a problem. Finished with 15+5.

Midline

  • 3x 20 Dead Bug
  • 3x 10 Curl-up (3s pause)
  • 3x 10 Bird Dog + 10 second hold (each side)

All About That Pressing Life

All kinds of things started getting sore yesterday and more so today. My body was feeling beat up the times I woke up in the middle of the night. Yesterday was a rest day but I did some rehab stuff that focused on the hip and butt, which took almost an hour. Went to the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

  • 2:30 Run
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Jumping Jacks
    • 5 Push-ups
    • 10 PVC Passes
    • 5 Shoulder Press (45#)
  • Bench Press
    • 5×45#
    • 5×135

Strength Endurance

4 Cycles

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 20 cal Echo Bike
    • 10 Strict HSPU
    • MAX Bench Press (135-145-155-165#)
  • 2:00 Rest

All kinds of modifications for me today and for the next week as I try to let my back and calf rest. I did the bike instead of rowing, made the handstand push-ups harder by going strict, and benched instead of doing push jerks. This got really tough. I was pretty consistent with about 73-75 RPM on the bike. I was able to get through three sets of the HSPU unbroken and then 6-3-1 on the final set. My reps per round were 22-17-12-8 for bench press.

Conditioning

EMOM: 5 Burpees
Until the follow is finished:

  • 75 Air Squats
  • 75 Walking Lunges
  • 75 Push-ups

Here’s my modified version instead of 50 reps each of snatches, cleans, and push presses all with 45# dumbbells. When I went down for that first burpee I could already feel the fatigue in my shoulders and chest! It took me 11:55 and it was at about the same time as a couple of other guys so my choices worked out well.

I had planned to stay and practice handstand walking, but a rib in my back felt out of place or something. Plus there was so much pressing that I wasn’t up for it.

So Many Max Rep Sets

Feeling my back a little from yesterday and my shoulders are fatigued. Got to the gym around 12:30.

Warm-up

  • 50 cal Echo Bike

Then we spent forever hanging two sets of rings. There isn’t much extra room for my head in there. This kind of messed with me head for several of the sets.

4 Sets

  • MAX Deficit Parallette HSPU (2 AbMats ~6.5″)
  • MAX MU
  • 2:00-3:00 Rest

Our PVC parallettes are about 12″ high so with two AbMats call it a 6.5″ deficit. I didn’t want to start overextending in the handstand push-ups so I wouldn’t call my sets real maxes at all. I stopped well short of failure. I did 4 each time and they felt better than I expected having never done any on the parallettes before. Going right in to the muscle-ups wasn’t the easiest. I did 9-8-6-5 and was hitting my foot on the floor for some of the reps, which did throw me off some. Last February I did 10-7-6-6 going every three minutes, so pretty good today with the pre-fatigue and only one total rep less.

16:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 12 cal Echo Bike
  • 3-4 MU

Like a dumb ass, when I adjusted the rings, I lowered them, so then I started hitting my foot from the very first rep. I waited until we were done to adjust them properly.

I didn’t want to hinge with my back so I used the bike instead of the ski erg, which was probably much easier. I was able to get four unbroken every round except the sixth because I didn’t kip enough on that last rep. Wasn’t jumping up for a single either because I wasn’t confident I’d get four again in the later rounds. This got real terrible, which I guess is the point.

Nice to do muscle-ups again after not having rings or a rig for about three weeks.

DB Z Press

  • 8-8-12-12 (35#)
  • 90s Rest between sets

Did these in a straddle position. Maybe could have gone heavier, but I didn’t want to risk anything with my back.

4 Sets

  • MAX L-Sit Pull-ups (knees up)
  • 30s Prone GHD Hold

Just blown at this point and did not feel like hanging on the bar. Pussed out on the first set with only five, but then got 7-7-6 in the other rounds. I did the prone hold instead of single leg weighted back extensions.