Tag: Kettlebell Swing

Moving the Bar Again

I was still very sore yesterday, but managed to walk 14 holes of golf before it started raining. I think that helped me loosen up actually. Got a solid 9.5 hours of sleep last night. Was out in the garage before lunch.

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

24 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

The goal was to get near a 1:36/500m pace, which I did a few times. My average distance was 155.17 with a range of 157-153, slightly down from 1.5 months ago when I did 20 rounds with a 155.25 average and a range of 156-154. That difference in average only amounts to two total meters though. My distances were:

157-157-156-156-156-154-156-156-
155-155-155-155-153-155-155-155-
154-155-154-155-154-155-155-156m

Went to the 4pm class. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I picked up a barbell and today seemed like a good day to try a few things. Scaled back the weight to keep it light.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Machine
  • 3 Rounds
    • 10 Russian Kettlebell Swings (44#)
    • 5 MB Cleans (20#)
  • Power Snatch
    • 6×45#
    • 6×75
    • 3×95

Weightlifting

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 Power Snatches (115#)

Felt good to move some weight.

Conditioning

E3M – 6 Rounds

  • 10-15 Push Jerks (95#)
  • 10-15 Toes to Bars
  • 10-15 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
  • 10-15 Handstand Push-ups

The Rx weight was 115 pounds and the notes said Rx+ should add 1 rep to the movements each round. My plan was to stick to 10s, keep the barbell movements unbroken and split up the gymnastics to 2×5 for each movement. I cruised through the first round in under 90 second and then Kinde says, “You guys should do Rx+.” I figured since that round went so well and I had scaled the weight I would give it a try. The first three rounds weren’t too bad, but after 13 got nasty!

After my first clean I went for the quick bounce method and my back did not agree, so I had to take the bar down to the knees on every rep and do a proper hang clean, which is much slower. I split all of the T2B up in 2 sets, 5-5, 6-5, 6-6, 7-6, 7-7, and 8-7. Was a bit surprised those felt so good and I wasn’t wearing my grips. Cleans were all unbroken. For HSPU I think I did 10, 11, 6-6, 5-4-4, 5-5-4, and 5-5-5. I missed the 3 minute clock in the 5th round, after finishing the HSPU I had to go straight to the jerks and split that 8-7, otherwise every other round of jerks was unbroken. I got through the cleans a few seconds before the 18 minutes was up and then finished off my HSPU, which was probably in the 19:00-19:30 range.

75 HSPU is a lot, especially combined with 75 push jerks!

Starting 21s

Decided to exercise at home today because I planned to do some accessory stuff anyway and then I could sub a bunch in the metcon. Was pretty nice in the garage after I warmed it up for 2 hours.

Warm-up

3 Rounds

  • 1:00 Airdyne
  • 10 Goblet Squats (53#)
  • 10 Sumo KB Deadlifts (53#)

I came up with my own warm-up, which was much simpler and shorter. Something felt weird in my knees on the squats but maybe it was because I had my knee sleeves on.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 14 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 1:00 Plank
  • 30s Double DB OH Hold (40# DBs)
  • 30s Hollow Hold
  • 20 Hand-to-hand Kettlebell Swings (53#)
  • 1:00 Rest

At the gym this was programmed with a 200m run to start each round but running inside sucks. That’s part of the reason I stayed home. I replaced the run with the burpees because we haven’t done any of the bar-facing variety in months, which is not good with the Open in 2 weeks. I was feeling good with the movement this summer, so I should easily be able to pick my technique back up. I put in the overhead hold instead of a bar hang since I’ve been doing plenty of gymnastics bar work and my hands are feeling all of the bar muscle-ups I did yesterday. I also replaced 10/10 single arm swings with the H2H version.

My burpees felt really good and I got faster each round. I didn’t have the greatest setup for them due to the garage floor being a bit of a mess in the winter, but I made it work. On paper the original version of this workout looked like active recovery, but I was working hard! The static work in a metcon is interesting and rare, but it was a really nice change of pace and far from a walk in the park. My round times were 3:51, 3:42, 3:40, 3:38, and 3:31. BOOM! The only real places to go faster in this workout are the burpees and transitions, so 20 seconds is a lot.

BTW, every time I do a double overhead hold I underestimate it. Glad I didn’t try to use 50 pounders.

Strength

dbs-for-21sDumbbell Curl – 21s

  • Top half of curls
  • Bottom half of curls
  • Full range of motion

I mentioned doing a variation of this on Saturday with my buddy Mo. Found a big weakness for me so I’m going to try to hit them once a week. T Nation has a great article with some other variations and uses of the method. I’m so used to counting to ten for light stuff that I went well past the 7 reps in the first round. Started light, but it’s a start.

  • 10-10-10 @ 10#
  • 7-7-7 @ 15#
  • 7-7-7 @ 20#

Tabata HR Push-ups

Went 13-12-10-10-9-8-8-8 for 78 total reps.

12 Days WOD

Feeling beat from the week and my back is tight from more squats yesterday. Not happy about having to set an alarm to make it for the 9am class, but will be out-of-town for a few days.

Warm-up

  • 2 Rounds
    • 5 Strict Pull-ups
    • 10 Hand Release Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats
  • 400m Row
  • 3 Rounds
    • 5 Strict Pull-ups
    • 10 Hard Release Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

Also did some random thrusters, cleans, snatches, and OHS with 45 and 95 pounds.

Conditioning

12 Days of Christmas (Partner)

  • 1 Thruster (135#)
  • 2 Squat Clean (135#)
  • 3 Overhead Squat (135#)
  • 4 Power Snatch (135#)
  • 5 Clean and Jerk (135#)
  • 6 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 7 Burpees
  • 8 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 9 Toes to Bar
  • 10 Kettlebell Swings (53#)
  • 11 Wall ball (30#, 10′)
  • 12 Bar Muscle-ups

The team can split the reps up however they wanted. The format follows the song, so the team is responsible for 1 thruster, then 2 cleans + 1 thruster, then 3 OHS + 2 cleans + 1 thruster, and so on.

I worked with Casey. Splitting things up in those first few rounds is a little confusing, but we fell into a pattern after round 5 I think. At that point Casey would start the new movement each round so we’d get the opposite movements we did the last round. We alternated the non-barbell work every movement. The exception was the bar muscle-up where he did 3, I did 6, and he did 3, so then I could get over to the wall ball. On the barbell, one person did the deadlifts and C&J, the next did the snatches and OHS, and back to the other who did the cleans and thruster. Worked out well and was just enough rest to be able to keep going when it was your turn to work. Took us 22:22 and today happens to be the 22nd!

It’s All Back

Woke up on Sunday with a headache from the gym’s Christmas party so it turned out to be a rest weekend. Good thing with today’s workout.

2018-holiday-gym-party.jpg

Warm-up

4 Sets

  • 20s Bottom of Push-up Hold (2″ off floor)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Superman Hold
  • 10s Rest

Strength

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×115
  • 5×165
  • 5×205
  • 5×225
  • 5x5x245

The working sets were programmed at 75%, so rounded down when basing off the 335 pound max. Didn’t want to blow up too much with 90 wall balls coming up. Felt better than the 6x4x265 last week and a nice jump over the 5x5x245 from a few weeks ago.

Conditioning

3 Rounds

  • 30 Wall Ball (20#, 10′)
  • 25 American KBS (53#)
  • 20 C2B Pull-ups

The Rx weight was 70 pounds, but not for this guy. Every round I went 3×10 wall balls, 15-10 kettlebell swings, and 4×5 chest-to-bars. First time trying butterfly again for C2B and it felt great, so I used it the whole way. I guess that is the last thing to come back since I just got my muscle-ups back. My rep schemes worked well and I was surprised to keep hitting sets of 5 on the rig. Usually I can’t keep up that large of sets for C2B and especially not with the butterfly kip. Finished in 13:24.

Started getting a headache within minutes and several other people did as well. With those 3 movements your head is continually moving up and down, so maybe that did it. Tough workout!

No Shoes, No Shirt, All Service

Rested yesterday and came up to my parents’ place for the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving.

Continuing my new tradition…

“Sissy Test”

  • 25->1 Burpees
  • 1->25 Russian KBS (53#)

Went with no shoes again, which is nice for sliding on the carpet. Forgot my knee sleeves, so I wore wants, and eventually ditched the shirt. Felt much better with both movements this year. Started breaking up the swings in the last 4-5 rounds because my forearms were blowing up and the kettlebell was just getting too sweaty. Finished 4:02 faster than last year with a time fo 39:32. Feels good to earn my feast!

IMG_1853

History

  • 41:38 – 2012/04/19
  • 38:16 – 2012 Thanksgiving
  • 43:34 – 2017 Thanksgiving
  • 39:32 – 2018 Thanksgiving

Baby Steps

Took a rest day yesterday, though I should start doing an active recovery day once a week again. Middle of my back, or just below my shoulder blades, especially on the sides of my spine, is was really tight. Not as bad today. Went to the 4pm class.

Warm-up

  • 2 Minute Row (28 s/m)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 American KBS (35#)

Conditioning

  • Buy In: 3,000m Row
  • 5 Rounds
    • 15 Push Jerks (95#)
    • 15 Sit-ups
    • 15 American KBS (53#)

Started out around 1:51/500m and then slowed closer to 1:55 after about 1,000 meters with a stroke rate around 25-26 most of the way. I got off the rower around 11:20-ish and was feeling good, so I know I didn’t go too hard. When I saw this workout I knew I wasn’t going to try 115# and 70#. I made the right choice with scaling. Still had to break up the last two rounds of push jerks because I couldn’t straighten my arms! I went 8-7 and 9-6 on those rounds. Tried to catch my breath on the sit-ups and did the swings unbroken every round. Going from the swings to the jerks was horrible. Finished in 22:21.

Skill

Worked on finding balance in a handstand hold and some walking again. My shoulders were wrecked, but I figured it would be good practice when fatigued. The band across the rig was feeling good, so I went over to the wall and started taking a few handstand steps into it and was even able to hold in a freestanding for a little bit. Felt like a huge breakthrough today!

An Easy Sweat

Did a bunch of walking at Cedar Point on Friday night and took a needed rest day yesterday. I was so tired from the trip I was in bed by 10 last night. Went to open gym today.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 3/3 Turkish Get-ups (35#)
  • 10/10 Single Arm/Leg KB Deadlift (53#)
  • 15 Lemon Squeezes

Conditioning

30:00 EMOM (40s work at a recovery pace)

  • Walking Lunges
  • H2H KBS (44#)
  • Double KB OH Hold (35#)
  • Bicycle Crunches
  • Lateral Box Step Overs (14″)

An easy sweaty one to get the heart up a bit and keep it there.

More Toes to Bars

I was whooped after that workout yesterday. Sat on my chair for a few hours before I got the motivation to get up and do some this around the house. Made a new organizer for the garage gym. Went to the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

  • 2x 30s Couch Stretch (each side)
  • 2x 30s Figure 4 Stretch (each side)
  • 20 PVC Pass Throughs
  • 2:00 Assault Bike
  • 10 Pause Overhead Squats (45#)
  • 5 High Pulls (45#)
  • 5 Muscle Snatch (45#)
  • 10 High Hang Squat Snatch (45#)

Weightlifting

Squat Snatch

  • 3×75#
  • 3×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×125
  • 3×135
  • 3×145
  • 3×150
  • 3×155
  • 3×160

My shoulder was still holding up and the lifts felt pretty solid. I don’t think I’ve squat snatched this much since 17.3! Guess I was doing all powers after the back tweak in the Open that year and then this year I’ve been letting my shoulder recover.

Conditioning

E3M – 5 Sets

  • 200m Row
  • 15 Kettlebell Swings (70#)
  • 15 T2B

Was pulling 1:40 or less every round. I was able to do 3×5 toes to bars for the first four rounds and then 5, 3, and 7 quick singles in the 5th round. My splits were 2:04 – 2:02 – 2:05 – 2:12 – 2:17. That’s enough T2B for this week after 72 yesterday and 75 more today. Seems like my endurance with them is finally getting better.

Running out of Clock

Out in the garage a bit before 4pm.

Active Life – Bulletproof Shoulders 12

3 Rounds

  • 10/10 Single Arm KBS (35#)
  • 10/10 Suitcase Deadlifts (53#)

2 Rounds

  • 100m/100m Single Arm Farmer Carry (70#)
  • Nerve Flossing: x 10 palms down and palms up
  • 30s Rest

Supposed to be 70 meters with 88 pounds, but I didn’t want to use the handle with plates and 70 pounds is the heaviest KB I have so I walked 100 meters.

Strength

  • 6 Weighted Pull-ups (20#)
  • 5 Power Snatches (45#)
  • 6 Weighted Pull-ups (20#)
  • 5 Power Snatches (75#)
  • 6 Weighted Pull-ups (20#)
  • 5 Power Snatches (95#)
  • 6 Weighted Pull-ups (20#)
  • 5 Power Snatches (115#)
  • 6 Weighted Pull-ups (20#)

Figured I might as well warm up my snatches in between the sets of pull-ups.

Conditioning

E2M – 5 Sets

  • 5 Touch-n-go Power Snatches (135#)
  • 20 Hand Release Push-ups

Made it through! First round of snatches was done with 1:44 left and push-ups done with 1:03 left. I think I kept the same pace for the second round of snatches, but then every round got slower. Push-ups got slower every single round. My final round of snatches was done with 1:35 left and after the push-ups there was only 12 seconds to spare. I don’t think I would have made it through a 6th round in two minutes.

Heavy Russians

Walk 18 holes yesterday in some great weather for golf. Went to the 4pm class today.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 10 Pass Throughs (PVC)
  • 10 Overhead Squats (PVC)

Strength

Front Squats

  • 6×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×185
  • 3x3x205

Feels much heavier than it should. I guess that’s what a year and a half of not squatting does for your legs and midline. I keep telling myself, “Slow and steady progress.”

Oh, I did these front squats instead of a complex of 1 snatch push press + 2 OHS. My shoulder still does not like that deep position of the overhead squat.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

  • 30 Russian KBS (70#)
  • 30 Sit-ups
  • 30 Calorie Row

Good one with the heavy kettlebell. Did everything unbroken without any trouble. Started with around 1,450 cal/hr in round 1, then got a little slower each round. Finished in 14:21.

Little weird that the women’s scale for the row was 21, but then Casey told me it came from CompTrain instead of the Krypton affiliate programming, which seems to always use a ratio of 5/4.

Active Life – Bulletproof Shoulders 11

Skipped the special warm-up since I was plenty warm.

3 Sets (each arm)

  • 8 Single Arm Shoulder Press (50# DB)
  • 45s Rest between arms

All aboard the struggle bus!