Tag: Kettlebell Swing

Fifteen From Three Hundo

Legs, knees, and hips all are starting to feel beat up. I think I was already stalling last night by going to bed later so I wouldn’t want to wake up. Finally out to the garage after 8am. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.36 km).

Coffee Super Squats

Back Squat

  • 20×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×255#
  • 20×285# (PR)

Fuck my life! That was horrible. Hard to believe just two weeks ago 260# felt “easy” as far as a set of Super Squats can go. Think “Murph” on Monday and a week and a half of squat PRs is taking its toll? It started to get really hard after rep 7, not even half way through. This is the only time I’ve seriously thought about stopping during a set. It crossed my mind before but as a joke. Today I was considering it, thinking I might fail. Made it though. Bar was on my back for a total 2:12. Splits every 5 reps (including step out and in times) were 0:23, 0:28, 0:40, and 0:41.

After laying on the ground for a solid three minutes I put away the weights and figured it would be a good idea for a cool down. Jumped on the Air Dyne for 5:00 (2.04 km).

Went to the 4:30 class. Warm-up was various stuff with a training bar.

Deadlift

  • 5×45#
  • 4×135#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×295#
  • 2x5x325#

Keeping it light and easy. My back is under enough stress lately. Don’t need to fuck it up with deadlifts now.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 20 American KBS (53#)
  • 15 Burpees
  • 400m Run

All unbroken. Was outside so runs were a little short and didn’t have the clock for an exact time. Took about 14:30.

Midline

2 Rounds

  • 30s Plank
  • 30s Side Plank (L)
  • 30s Side Plank (R)
  • 30s Plank
  • 30s Side Plank (L)
  • 30s Side Plank (R)
  • 30s Rest

Was tabata rounds, but I didn’t use the 10 second rest periods. I guess I screwed up, setting the clock for only 6 rounds, so we started up another one after a short break.

Memorial Weekend

Got a bunch of yard work done this morning. Actually feeling a little beat up today in my hips and upper body. Pretty sure the upper body is from using kettlebells for those incline bench presses.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 500m Row
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

2 Front Squats + 5 Back Squats

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 205#
  • 245#
  • 270#
  • 290#
  • 305# (PR)

Didn’t feel like I had it in me today as I was working up. Had to fight for that final set. First back squat I wasn’t concentrating and it was ugly. Got focused and gutted out the remaining reps. Ends the 6th week of everyday squats.

Warmup up with 45#, 95#, and 135# and did a few swings to make sure the 70 would be good to use.

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 1st: 1 Snatch + 1 OHS (155#)
  • 2nd: 10 Sit-ups
  • 3rd: 15 Russian KBS (70#)

Nice and easy just to get in some work. Didn’t want anything crazy with “Murph” tomorrow. Was able to focus on solid snatches and overhead squats with just one rep of each.

After cooling off I did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap.

Body of Lies

Slept like shit and was up at 6am. My legs and especially knees are aching this morning. First time that I don’t feel my abs the day after doing “Annie” but I did it last night so maybe I’ll start to feel it later. Finally headed out to the garage after 7:15. Warmed up with 5:00 on the Air Dyne (2.3 km).

Super Squats

  • 20×45#
  • 10×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 5×225#
  • 20×260#

I was stalling as much as possible. Took a nice long rest of about 5 minutes before doing the 20 and I could feel my heart rate rising. I was dreading that set. The human body always has a fucking surprise though, doesn’t it? Might have been the best set of Super Squats I’ve done as far as feel goes. I was still breathing like a mother fucker, but my legs felt good and the set only took me 1:35. It took longer to finish with 245# last week! Can’t believe it. I had to check the plates on the bar to make sure I didn’t load it wrong. The body lies to us!

That just makes the rest of the day easy. Mentally gets you going too. Fueled up with a quick breakfast skillet and went to the 9am class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Good Mornings

Strength

Deadlift

  • 4×155#
  • 4×245#
  • 7:00 EMOM – 4×295#

Wasn’t going to push it and tweak the back again, so I focused on being explosive with my reps.

Conditioning

14:00 AMRAP
2-4-6-8…

  • Burpees
  • American KBS (70#)
  • Wall Balls (25#, 10′)

Felt like going Rx+ today. Good excuse to slow down. 😉 I broke the swings and wall balls up in 7-5 on the set of 12 but everything else was unbroken. Finished the 14s plus 16 burpees. Walked 200m after.

Midline

  • MAX Plank (on hands)

Made it to 4:30 which is a 24 second PR. My wrists, arms, and shoulders couldn’t take any longer. Don’t get me wrong my core was shaking like an earthquake but that’s not what stopped me.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and got out of there.

5 Seconds Can Be A Long Time

Surprisingly I didn’t sleep very well last night. I figured being out in the sun would have me so wore out I’d sleep like a baby. I used the A/C in my room for the first time of the year too, so maybe that was it, but otherwise I would have been miserable hot.

Got to the gym a little after 9. Warmed up with 100 walking lunges and some bottom squat hold.

Squat Every Day

Jumping Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 5×135#

Pause Back Squats (5s in the hole)

  • 4×185#
  • 4×225#
  • 4×245#
  • 4×265#
  • 2×285#
  • 2×295#

Five seconds is a long time down there. Was starting to round on that final rep so it was a good stopping point. Makes 27 days. I wore the best starting at 245#.

Did an easy 800m run to start 10am class.

Conditioning

Partner Chipper

  • 200 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 150 American KBS (53#)
  • 100 Power Cleans (95#)
  • 50 Pull-ups

Teamed up with Bryan. We did sets of 20 wall balls, 15 swings, 5 cleans, and 5 pull-ups. The pull-ups sucked with no grip left and so much sweat dripping down on to the hands. Thought I might rip. We finished in 17:54.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10 GHD MB Pass (14#)

Pretty simple.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (210#)

Almost Back

Third night in a row I was in bed by 10. That’s some kind of record. My HRV shot up from 85 to 111 though; that’s how you recover! In for the 9am class at CFi.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 100 Walking Lunges
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Zombie Kicks
  • Squat Broad Jumps

Strength

Back Squat

  • 20×45#
  • 8×135#
  • 6×185#
  • 4×225#
  • 3×265#
  • 2×295#
  • 2×315#
  • 2×325#
  • 2×335#

We did 5 push-ups after each set of squats, though I forgot to do them after the empty bar set, so it was 40 total. I’ve done 340# for a triple, so nearly back to normal loads. Positioning felt solid through every lift. I’d say I’m actually in a better place with my squats than I ever have been before. I’m paying a lot of attention to quality reps and it’s paying off. That was day 23 of squatting every day.

2014-05-05-back-squat-potentials

Conditioning

  • Buy-in: 40 Sit-ups
  • 5 Rounds
    • 8 Thrusters (95#)
    • 16 American KBS (53#)
  • Cash-out: 40 Sit-ups

We did this one exactly 3 months ago when it took me 9:34. Today I shortened up my rest between movements and pushed through. Everything unbroken with a steady pace. Sit-ups still pretty slow. Finished in 9:05 for a 29 second improvement.

Midline

Weighted Planks

  • 4 sets 45s (55#)
  • 1 set 1:00 (55#)

So much sweat!

Lunge University

  • 150 Weighted Lunges (33#)

Threw an empty women’s bar on my back and knocked them out without stopping. Finished in 6:50.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and called it a day.

2 Weeks of Squatting Every Day

I keep getting up earlier than usual and I’m not too happy about it. My upper body seems a little tight this morning from the 84 pull-ups. Didn’t rush out to the garage this morning since I have a lot more time to work with on Sunday mornings.

Switched it up with 100 Walking Lunges (20# vest) for my warm-up. It took me 4:30 to do them.

Coffee Squats

2 Front + 5 Back

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 175#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#

Up 30 pounds over what I did last Sunday for this complex. This is the most weight I’ve had on the bar yet and it’s still well below the 295# I’ve done for this combo before.

That completes 14 days in a row at the squat rack. I’ll keep slowly increasing the weights and over the next two weeks I’ll hopefully be back to typical squatting loads. I’ve really been enjoying the morning squats as a way to kick off my day. Haven’t noticed any additional fatigue from them and don’t think they’ve been affecting my other training negatively. If anything they are probably helping. Don’t think I’ve mentioned the stretching routine recently, but I’ve been continuing to do it at least once a day, except when I do the 90 minute yoga workout.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Bench Press (45°, 40-45-50-50# DBs)
  • 10 JM Press (45-65-65-65#)

Going to try adding in some bench press accessory work on the weekends to see if it’ll help getting to 300#. Holy Shit! The JM Press is no fucking joke. There are a couple of variations out there. I used what looked to be the hardest one and I’m pretty sure I got that right. Wow!

I hope that didn’t smoke me too much for today’s workout. Super Sunday at noon…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,500m Row (6:36)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • C&J
    • 4×45#
    • 2×95#
    • 2×135#

Weightlifting

E2M 20:00

  • 2 C&J

Started with 155# and went up 10# each time, finishing at 245#. I think I wore the belt starting at 215#. Took my time with that last round, to make both reps. I squatted most of the reps but powered a few of the early ones when I wasn’t thinking. Last few rounds got rough. The cleans aren’t really a big deal for me, but I’m pumped to have made all of the jerks. We took about 5-10 minutes plus before starting the next part.

Conditioning

With a running clock, @ 0:00…
5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 MU
  • 10 Cleans (155#)

This is event 1 of the 2015 Masters Qualifier. Wanted to do some muscle-ups this weekend and this looked like a fun one to try. Was scared how this would go after all those heavy cleans, but it was just fine. I broke the MU into 3-2 every round and did relaxed singles for the cleans. Finished 2 rounds plus 5 muscle-ups and 2 cleans. It was fun doing some MU in a workout again.

I called on the group for some movements to make up the next two parts and then I came up with the rep schemes and how to split up the 4 movements.

@ 10:00…

  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 Russian KBS (70#)

Wall balls and kettlebell swings were unbroken. I did the push-ups in 3 sets of 10. Finished in 2:50.

@ 20:00…

  • 150m Walking Lunges

I was excited when someone picked lunges and knew I had to put them solo. Finish the workout with a little Lunge University. 🙂 We went outside since it was a nice afternoon. I programmed it as 100 walking lunges, but after about 50 steps I went to chase Michelle down for extra credit since she was doing a lap. I don’t usually do them stepping through, but did to catch up and it’s so much faster doing them like that, but so much extra burn too. Finished in 4:03. I stopped counting the reps after deciding to go for the lap distance instead, but should have been about 150.

Midline

  • 60 Quarter Get-ups

Used a 53# KB and split this up into 10 reps per side at a time.

Knocked out Crossover Symmetry Plyometric before heading home. Kind of wanted to skip it, but was already feeling my shoulders smoked so I knew I should do it.

An hour or so later at home I am wrecked!

Return to Super Sunday

My lats are sore from the pull-ups yesterday. Chest is a little sore too. Out in the garage early again. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.38km).

Coffee Squats

2 Front + 5 Back

  • 45#
  • 95#
  • 135#
  • 155#
  • 175#
  • 195#
  • 215#
  • 235#

Far cry from the most I’ve done for this squat complex, but it’s the most weight I’ve had on the bar in over 2 months. Coming back slow and steady.

After missing the last couple of Sundays, I was glad to be back.

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row (4:20)
  • CS Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder mobility with band

Helen

3 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 21 American KBS (53#)
  • 12 Pull-ups

pumpsFirst run was about 1:35 so I knew I was on a solid pace. Was able to do each set of kettlebell swings and pull-ups unbroken though I had to dig deep to stay on the bar for the last 4. Got slower on the runs, but held on ok. Finished in 8:53, which is a 37 second PR and probably the most legit 400m runs I’d done with Helen as far as distance. Must have been the Pumps, which I wore for the first time. Have had running in a workout the last 3 days and it has felt decent, which is a nice surprise. Walked 200m to cool down.

4x NFT

  • 50m Sled Pull between legs (145-190-220-235#)
  • 5 Strict Deficit HSPU (2″)

The sled pull was done walking forward bent over with the straps coming through your legs.

5 Rounds

  • 10 V-ups
  • 20 Push-ups
  • 30 Plyo Lunges

I split up the push-ups into 10-10 every round and did the v-ups and lunges unbroken. Every round of lunges was a deep burn, but the last two rounds were a fight to keep going. Finished in 8:42. Walked another 200m to try to flush out the legs some. My ass is going to be sore tomorrow!

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap before leaving and will do some stretching tonight. Need to get outside and do some raking if the rain holds off.

Feeling Some Shoulders

My shoulders feel beat up and seems like some sort of impingement in the left one that has been creeping up over the last few weeks. Went in for the 10am class.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Ankle stretching
  • PVC pass-thrus
  • Shoulder stretching

Strength

Push Jerk

  • 5×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 3×115#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×155#
  • 3×185#
  • 2×205#
  • 1×225#
  • 1×245#

Conditioning

20:00 Partner Workout

  • Buy-in: 200 American KBS (53#)
  • AMRAP – each do an entire round and then rest
    • 3 Power Cleans (115#)
    • 7 Push Jerks (115#)
    • 9 Deadlifts (115#)

Teamed up with Bryan. We alternated sets of 15 kettlebell swings and then each had a set of 10 at the end. We kept a steady pace on the bar and got 10 rounds each, plus I got 3 cleans before time ran out. The load was good and allowed us to keep the gas on. When the clean weight is lighter like this I’m starting to work on going right from the front rack to the ground instead of making that slight pause back at the thigh on the way down.

Felt like hitting some more jerks after trying to help some folks with muscle-ups.

More Strength

Push Jerk

  • 2×205#
  • 2×225#
  • 2×245#
  • 1×255# (PR match)

For some reason I thought I’d done 260 or 265 before or I would have added more weight to set a PR. Oh well. Strength is there for the jerks, just need confidence and technique work for my split. Definitely going to become a priority once the Open is over and I take a couple of easy weeks to heal up some of this lingering stuff I’m dealing with.

Hit some intervals around 5.

Ski Erg

This was a Hinshaw rowing working, but easily adapted to ski.

4 Rounds

  • 500m (2:02.4 pace target)
  • 1:00 Rest
  • 300m (1:54 pace target)
  • 3:00 rest

My times on the 500s were 2:02.2, 2:03.7, 2:01.6, and 2:01.4. I messed up in the 2nd round thinking I had to be under a 2:04. The 300s were 1:08.4, 1:08.3, 1:08.2, and 1:08.1. Not very hard to hit those paces and I don’t have a true 2k PR, so I based the paces off something 20 seconds faster than I’ve done.

Did Crossover Symmetry Recovery after and one of the bands snapped on my ghetto system!

  

Soaring Bench

Sore abs from the sit-ups and GHDs yesterday. Had an appointment at the chiropractor and then went to the 5:30 class.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 3×15 Reverse Hypers (120#)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 5 Strict C2B Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

Strength

Axle Deadlifts

  • 10×115#
  • 10×165#
  • 10×185#
  • 10×195#
  • 10×205#

The first 5 sets were unbroken, but I could only hold on to the bar for 4 reps with 205 and then did the rest as singles, dropping each one. Damn that got rough on the grip really quick. Didn’t want to push any weight and end up tweaking my back again, so the axle bar was a nice change of pace.

Conditioning

30-20-10

  • Plate Burpees (on to 45# HI-TEMP)
  • American KBS (53#)
  • Ball Slams (20#)

They were supposed to be hand release burpees and most of them were, but I didn’t realize I wasn’t doing the hand-release until the 10th rep in and then I know I missed at least a few in other sets. I broke up the 30 KBS into 20-10 but everything else was unbroken. Finished in 9:31.

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s DU
  • 10s Rest

Only had a miss in 2 or 3 of the rounds. Racked up 280 dubs, which is a 40 rep PR.

No BS Bench

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×175#
  • 4x5x205#
  • Max @ 195# – 15 reps

Week 4 so it was time to retest the max rep set. My max reps were 10 in week 1, so that’s a 50% increase! Was not expecting such a jump, especially after a metcon that was rough on the shoulders. I’m excited to see what my 1RM is after the 9 weeks. All of the working sets felt solid.

Some Squatting

Feeling fine after yesterday, other than the lingering issues I have. This stupid shoulder has been acting up for a few weeks, but luckily hasn’t been an issue for any movements.

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Dead Hangs (4-5x of about 20-30s)

Conditioning

Partner Workout

  • Pacer: 500m Row (4x each)
  • AMRAP:
    • 5 Push-ups
    • 10 American KBS (53#)
    • 15 Air Squats

I was trying to keep my pace around 1:45 on my rows and just keep moving at a decent pace through the movements. First time really doing any squats in 2 weeks. We got done around the 17:40 mark and made it through 13+7 on the circuit.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • GHD MB Toss (20#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels

Went all the way back to the ground on the first round of tosses, but only to parallel on the next 2.

Accessory

4 Rounds

  • 30 Shoulder Taps
  • 10 Ring Rows (feet on 20″ box)

I actually felt better than I ever have on the ring rows and it’s quite a bit harder on the box like that. Progress!