Tag: Kettlebell Swing

Hold that Finish

Other than my lower back I’m feeling good. Went to the 5:30pm class today and with all the rain we got last night it was really humid out.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Air Squats
  • 15s Mountain Climbers
  • 15s Jump Squats

WOD

20-19-18…3-2-1

  • Burpees
  • Russian KBS (53#)

Wow, this one will kill you. I did all of my reps unbroken for both movements and only rested during transitions. I think we had 16 people in class so it was a scramble for KBs. I ended up with a 53#, which was just fine by me. It allowed me to keep a high intensity and maximize my power output. I finished in 25:51 with an ocean of sweat under me.

Finisher

5 rounds

  • 30s Bottom Squat Hold
  • 30s Handstand
  • 30s Plank

This looks rather easy, but it definitely was not, especially being so sweaty. When I went up for my 3rd handstand, the mat started to go flying and I nearly ended up on my head. My arms were even shaving in the 3rd round of plank. Great way to finish of the workout.

Feels Good to be Back in the Box

I was still kind of sore this morning, but I was able to go in for the 9am class and I felt great after warming up.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold
  • 1m Jumping Jacks

WOD

“Helen”
3 rounds

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

I felt really good in this one. All of the KBS were done unbroken and I broke each round of pull-ups into 2 sets. Finished in 9:30.

Finisher

EMOM 10:00

  • 100m Sprint (50m down and back)
  • 3 Burpees

This may have been tougher than the WOD. Felt good after, but the sprints started feeling slower and slower until the last one where I dug deep.

It sure feels good to be back in the box, especially after only doing one WOD last week leading up to the competition. Maybe all of the rest was really needed though since I had been pushing my body so hard the couple of weeks before.

9 Days in a Row

I wasn’t as sore as I expected this morning, considering the volume of deadlifts and power cleans I did yesterday. We had a kettlebell seminar at Survival Fitness today so I figured it was a great idea to attend the 11am class so I could just stay for the seminar, which was scheduled to be an hour and a half long.

Warm-up

Tabata Mash-up (6 rounds)

  • Jumping Jacks
  • Steam Engines

WOD

  • 1 mile run
  • 10 rounds
    • 10 Ring Push-ups
    • 10 One-arm DB Snatches (45#)
  • 1 mile run

I ran the first mile in my best gym time 6:18. Last week I ran a 6:14, but the RunKeeper GPS was kind of funky there, so I’m not sure I should count that time. Total time for the WOD was 3:20 (no way this was correct). I would have used a 60# DB if I hadn’t done all that clean work last night and didn’t just do 100 one-arm snatches with 50# last week. I was really fatigued during this workout.

We had about 20 or 30 minutes before the kettlebell seminar started. In the seminar we did all kinds of stuff, including Russian swings, American swings, cleans, snatches, clean and press, clean and jerk, goblet squats, front squats, hand to hand swings, Turkish get-ups, 1/4 get-ups, windmills, and probably a ton of other stuff I’m forgetting. At the end, we did a WOD.

  • 100 Single KB Thrusters (50 each side)
  • 50 Hand-to-hand Russian Swings
  • 40 1/4 Get-ups (20 each side)

I used a 35# KB for everything and finished in 10:35. Absolutely gassed!

I’m definitely taking the next two days off, will WOD on Tuesday, and then either do a WOD or a run on Thursday. I’m surprised with how well my body has handled working out 9 days in a row, but I need to recover and make sure I’m ready to go for the competition on Saturday.

Sunday is Not a Day of Rest

I went to bed later than normal, so didn’t wake up quite as early as I have been. Still had time to get in my first WOD of the day before my brother and Mom woke up though. I can feel the effects of the weighted step-ups from last night already, so as the day goes on and in to tomorrow it should be interesting.

Warm-up

5 rounds

  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Bottom Squat Hold

WOD

50 reps of each

  • DUs
  • Plank Push-ups
  • Star Jumps
  • T2B (on rings)
  • SDLHP (50# KB)
  • Walking Lunges
  • V-ups
  • Push Presses (35# DBs)
  • KBS (50# KB)
  • HR Push-ups
  • DUs

I set a new PR by doing the first 15 T2B unbroken with kipping. The rings on the tree worked out really well. After the first 15 I did them 5 at a time. Push Presses were done in 5 sets of 10, KBS in sets of 20, 15, and 15, and I tried to stick to sets of 10 for the HR Push-ups, but that broke down a bit after 30 reps. My total time was 30:31, but it would have been under 30 had I not turned a single knot into a double when I picked up the rope and tried to fix it. I wasted over 30 seconds getting those out. Ugh!

I’ve been doing a lot of WODs in the 10 minute range, so it was good to get in a long chipper like this. After I get a late breakfast I’ll probably head out for a trip on the kayak and then I plan to do the Hero WOD “Brenton” later today.

WODing on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!

After arriving at the lake and unpacking the vehicle I did a WOD right away so I could eat lunch.

Warm-up

1 Mile Run

I felt good, went for it, and set a new PR with a time of 6:14. I wish I knew what some of my times were from high school track and cross country so I could compare then to now.

WOD #1

5 rounds

  • 20 SDLHP (50# KB)
  • 20 Box Jumps (31″)

I was excited to see some concrete ledges that are perfect for box jumps. I choose the bigger ledge during the WOD of course. Originally I was planning to do 30 box jumps per round, but it didn’t take but a couple of jumps to realize the ledge was so much higher than the 24″ boxes I typically use. After the WOD I got out the tape measure and sure as shit, 31 inches! The smaller ledge is a hair over 24″ and would have been perfect. I got through the 5 rounds with 20 reps on the higher ledge, but coming back down to the ground was hard on my joints.

I finished in 13:19.

Finisher

5 sets

  • 20 Chest to ground Push-ups
  • 1m Rest

The last two sets were pretty tough so I’m glad I didn’t do 5 sets of max reps which I originally planned.

Kayaking

We have a couple of kayaks at the cottage this year, so I took one out for a couple of trips. Wow, what a shoulder and back workout! The first trips was pretty short, but intense. The second time I went out, I went a lot further and did spurts of high intensity. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it back. It’s a lot of fun building up speed and really getting the kayak to glide through the water. I’ll be doing a lot of that over the next 10 days.

WOD #2

Just after I got back from the long kayaking trip, Dad asked me to come up with a workout for him to try. Of course I wanted to do it with him, so I told him to give me about 30 minutes to recover.

4 rounds

  • 1m Russian KBS (50# KB)
  • 1m Chair Dips
  • 1m Sit-ups
  • 1m Rest

The old man did really well. He did 3 of the rounds, but I don’t think I saw him stop for any rests during the working minutes, which I can’t say for myself. I had him use a 25# DB for the swings

Double Me

Last night I went for a 3.65 mile brisk walk to break in the Nike Free shoes and just relax. This morning I had the first round of the Saginaw District Golf Association Invitational Tournament, so walked 18 holes on the course. I shot terrible!

Warm-up


8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 PVC Shoulder Pass-thrus
  • 40 Lateral Hops (20 each leg)
  • 30s Plank

I have no idea how many rounds I did. Didn’t count since it was the warm-up and the pass-thrus are not something to rush through.

WOD

4 rounds

  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 30 KBS (53#)
  • 40 Box Jumps (24″)

I finished in 21:50. I’ve really been struggling with my pull-ups lately, but they came back around today. I concentrated on really snapping my hips and pushing away from the bar at the top, which I’ve been forgetting to do. For the box jumps I rebounded off the floor on well over half of the reps.

Finisher

Death by Burpees

I finished off the round of 12 with over 30 seconds left in that minute and then Cari turned off the clock for the end of class. Not exactly sure why since it was open gym right after. Would have been nice to see how far I could get, but I guess I won’t complain about doing less burpees since I did 115 of them yesterday and that’s another 78 today.

Open Gym

First thing on my agenda was to set a deadlift PR. I did the following:

  • 10x 135#
  • 5x 225#
  • 5x 265#
  • 3x 305#
  • 1x 335# (matching PR)
  • 1x 355# (new PR)
  • FAIL at 365#
  • 1x 365# (new PR)

BAM! That’s more that twice my body weight and a 30# PR. Hell yeah!

After that I worked on snatches for a while, doing some small sets with 85#, some small sets with 105#, and a few singles at 125#. Then I moved back down to 85# and worked on the squat snatch for a while. I have no idea how many sets or reps I did of any of this. I was more concerned with working on some technique.

I was going to start some work on butterfly pull-ups, but my hands were already pretty sore from the 80 pull-ups and deadlifting. With the 2nd round of the tournament tomorrow, I need to be able to swing a golf club. So I got out the prowler instead. Loaded it up with four 45# plates and did a 30 yard (?) high push followed by a low push back. Did that 5 times, with plenty of rest in between each down and back, before my legs just couldn’t do the low push anymore.

I was ready to head home, but Casey was doing some strict shoulder presses, so I jumped in with him.

  • 3x 85#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 105#
  • 3x 125#
  • 3x 125#
  • 1x 135#

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a 10# PR! Looking back at my posts, I had done 125# for 5 reps, but never more than that. I mistakenly thought I had done 145#, but it was the push press. (I had to update this section of the post 4 times because I kept getting the weights wrong)

I’m spent! I got to the box just after 4 for the 4:15 class and left open gym just before 7pm. Three hours of solid work. Tomorrow is going to be a rest day for sure.

Karen Plus Helen

Today was another scorcher and I had gone out walking 18 holes of golf this morning, so I went to the 8pm class hoping it would cool off some. I just got home (9:15 pm as I write this) and it’s still 86 degrees out.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 DUs
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

I finished in 7:59 and had good rhythm with the DUs through each set.

WOD

Split up Karen 6 ways and mix the pieces with Helen. What do you get? Haren? Kelen? How about a suck fest?

  • 25 Wall Balls (20# MB)
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS (55#)
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 400m Run
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 21 KBS
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls

I knocked out the best time of the day at 20:59 with one of the owners, Cora, right behind me setting the 2nd best time of the day at 21:06. After we were both done we were talking about how we would not have pushed as hard if the other hadn’t been there, which is so true. Out of the corner of your eye you might see someone close to your level catching up to you or taking a break. That small glimpse makes you push to extend your lead or catch up. In the end, we all make each other better.

Five Station Warm-up

I’m pretty sore from the long run yesterday, most of which is in my calves. I attended the 7pm class today. It was a hot and humid night. I thought I might stick around and do some strength work after class, but decided against it after sweating so much.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 1m Box Jumps (Big Tire)
  • 1m Star Jumps
  • 1m Hang Cleans (85#)
  • 1m Russian KBS (62#)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

If you did the Hope workout or have done Fight Gone Bad, this format should be familiar. I really enjoyed the hang cleans, but it was tougher than I expected to keep going for the entire minute with what was a relatively light weight. I didn’t count reps since this was only a warm-up.

WOD

10 rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 100m Run (sprint)
  • 90s Rest

For the 100m sprints we ran 50m down and then back. I finished in 19:12. I tried to jump out of the gates too quickly and as a result, tweaked my left calf. It was pretty tight for the 2nd and 3rd sprints, but then it loosened up. I was able to do all of the push-ups unbroken, but as the rounds went on the 10th through 15th reps got slower and slower.

Finisher

150 Air Squats with 5 burpees after every 25 squats (except the last 25). I didn’t check the clock when I started, so no idea how long this took.

Working Off That Pizza

As promised, I ordered pizza today. I also ordered a Cinnapie, which I don’t think was my best idea.

Pizza, Cinnapie, and Mountain Dew

Today’s benchmark WOD for the Paleo Challenge was a good test, but I didn’t feel overworked due to all of the rest time. Since I took a rest day yesterday and will be out-of-town all weekend, I went back to the gym at 8pm for some extra work.

I warmed up with an easy 500m run and some shoulder stretching with the bands. Then I did 3 Cleans + Push Presses on the minute, every minute, for 10 minutes with 135#. I worked on DUs here and there a bit, getting one streak of 37 in a row. I did 3 sets of 15 KBS with the 62# KB. The first two sets were on the top of consecutive minutes and the 3rd set was after taking an extra minute off. I jumped on the bar and attempted some MUs, sort of getting up there once, but with a bit of help from my leg on the support 4×4. Doesn’t count.

It’s time to finish the last 3 pieces of pizza and the last 3rd of the Mountain Dew. The Cinnapie was gone hours ago. 🙂

End of the Paleo Challenge

One month ago, we started a team Paleo Challenge at Survival Fitness. I promised myself that I would try to go 100% Paleo for the entire challenge, and with one small exception (shredded cheese and croutons on a salad), I did it. I’ve seen incredible results in my fitness, my body composition, and how I feel.

I started the challenge at 12.3% body fat and 181 pounds. In less than 2 weeks, I had dropped to 172 pounds (home scale)! I was losing too much weight, so I increased my protein sources (eggs, meat, fish, etc.) by 50% at each meal. As an example, I went from eating 4 eggs at breakfast to 6. This brought my weight back up into the 175 pound range where I’ve been able to stabilize. This morning at my final weigh-in at the gym I was 178 pounds (not sure how I got back up that high) and 9.8% body fat. That’s a drop of more than 20% of my starting body fat %. I have a visible 6-pack, which has always been a goal of mine. I can’t believe the changes in my body is one short month. A key point is that I had already been eating 80-90% Paleo since I started doing CrossFit, but going 100% made a huge difference!

After taking the rest day yesterday I was feeling great this morning. I attended the 9am class so I could get the benchmark WOD done early. Can you say pizza and Mountain Dew for lunch and dinner? Seriously!

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Butt Kicks
  • 15s Mountain Climbers

12:00 AMRAP

  • 150m Run
  • Rest as long as the run took

I started out pretty fast, but realized 12:00 is a long time to do sprints, so I slowed down to a 30s pace in order to save myself for the WOD. It is a warm-up after all. I think I completed 13 runs.

WOD

We partnered up again so that we could count each other and get a bit of rest.

5:00 AMRAP

  • Burpees

4:00 AMRAP

  • Wall Balls

3:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

2:00 AMRAP

  • KBS (Russian)

1:00 AMRAP

  • AbMat Sit-ups

I improved in each of the tests:

  • Burpees went from 82 to 91, an increase of 10.9%.
  • Wall balls went from 77 to 95, an increase of 23.4%.
  • Air squats went from 101 to 112, an increase of 10.9%
  • KBS went from 76 to 82, an increase of 7.9%.
  • AbMat (“cheater”) sit-ups went from 67 to 81, an increase of 20.9%
  • Total reps went from 403 to 461, an overall increase of 14.4%.

I had one of the top 5 scores for the first assessment, so I figured improving wasn’t going to be easy. I’m thrilled with a 14.4% improvement. Hard work pays off! I’m really happy with my burpee and wall ball improvements because burpees are such a great overall cardio and full body exercise and I knew wall balls were one of my weaknesses. My air squats are still pretty weak compared to the best in the gym, but getting better. It’s hard to improve on the Russian KBS, except by increasing weight, because you can only do them so fast. In the first test I took one short break, but went unbroken for the entire 2 minutes today. I’m not concerned about the sit-up number because it was doing the cheater standard, which I’m no longer doing.

With all of the rest time, I don’t feel like I had to work very hard overall, even though I pushed as hard as I could go. I may try attend 8pm open gym and do a strength WOD since I’ll be out of town for the weekend.