Aside from that, how was the show Mrs. Lincoln?
September 21, 2010 Comments Off
My workout took a backseat to Yulia getting in a accident with my car on Friday. I caught up, but Friday was a nasty mess. Fortunately she was alright, and after that it’s just about nothing else.
I’ll start catching up next week.
Sunday:
Tuesday:
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Saturday:
Muscle Midpoint
September 12, 2010 Comments Off
OK. That finished the first half (six weeks) of the Kettlebell Muscle Program. I now move on to Complexes and Chains for another 6 weeks. This should be fun. I actually missed my workout on the 6th (my birthday) but since we spent 2 days lifting equipment, sweating, and filming, I didn’t feel the need to do a makeup.
I’ve also kept up with doing pull-ups at the office. 2 in the morning, and then singles across the day as time allows. It’s getting better. I should work up to 3-2-1 soon. I hope. I need to make 5 to do the HKC, and at 220 pounds that’s some heavy lifting.
Filming
Monday:
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Double Clean x 5 reps
Saturday:
Rest
Press to Play
September 3, 2010 Comments Off
Well I have one more week to go in Kettlebell Muscle before starting the second half which adds “complexes”. This should be fun. I can see why Geoff recommends stopping this program after twelve weeks and switching to something else. This is a killer. The ramp-up in sets really starts adding on the pounds to your lifting. As far as effects go, I definitely feel more solid in my presses, and have no fear of the Double Snatch anymore.
I was glad to read that a few of my other friends have started working out as well. Cool.
Week of 8/22/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Saturday:
Rest
Week of 8/29/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 6 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 6 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Saturday:
Rest
Getting better all the time…
August 25, 2010 Comments Off
I am definitely liking this Kettlebell Muscle routine. It’s tough. This week is cycling back a bit, which is good. Ramping up to six sets total is hard, bit when I started this doing doubles with the 20 + 24 was right at my limit for this many reps. (I can do double 32′s for a few jerks, but not much) But now I am only getting smoked by the last set. Real improvement.
We are hopefully going to start our home remodel soon. Part of this involves giving up the wine room, and it becomes a home gym. it kinda is a bummer, but we just don’t have enough wine to justify that much space. A big wine fridge will be a better value. And I would like to have a dedicated space for all this. I also wouldn’t be so worried about dropping some bells through the floor either.
I am also approaching the one year anniversary of working out. I originally got the first equipment in the beginning of August last year, but think that mid-September as my start in earnest. I should be making a big WIN out of it all, but the good thing is that it is now routine. Keeping that up is the real win.
Week of 8/8/10
Sunday:
Seafair
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Saturday:
Rest
Week of 8/15/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 6 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 6 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 5 sets of all
Saturday:
Rest
Catch-up fitness post
August 9, 2010 Comments Off
I haven’t posted my workouts for a while, so here’s a big catchup post. Right now I’m doing a lot of Doubles work. Currently following the “Kettlebell Muscle” book from Geoff Neupert. Great book, also reduces me to three workouts per week which aligns with Sasha’s Dance class, so I can run home and get my workout in. It took me a few weeks to get a handle on the rhythm of these exercises, but I think I have it now.
Should be a fun 12 week program.
Week of 6/27/10
Sunday:
10 Mile Ride
Monday:
20KG KB Clean and Press – 7 Minutes
24KG Goblet Squat – 5 Minutes
20KG + 24KG KB Double Clean and Press – 5 Minutes
Tuesday:
Rest
Wednesday:
Boating
Thursday:
Rest
Friday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Saturday:
Cruise…
Week of 7/11/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 3 sets of all
Saturday:
Pavel Class!
Week of 7/18/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Active Recovery
Tuesday:
32kg + 40kg KB Farmers Walks
32KG Military Press 3/3
Wednesday:
Active Recovery
Thursday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Friday:
Active Recovery
Saturday:
Boating
Week of 7/24/10
Sunday:
Boating
Monday:
Bike to work (6 mi total)
Tuesday:
Bike to work (6 mi total)
Wednesday:
Bike to work (6 mi total)
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Thursday:
Bike to work (6 mi total)
Friday:
Kettlebell Lesson
Saturday:
Lats work.
Week of 8/1/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Double High Pull x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 seconds rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Tuesday:
Active Recovery
Wednesday:
Double Swing x 5 reps
Double Snatch x 5 reps
See-Saw Press x 5 reps
90 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 4 sets of all
Thursday:
Active Recovery
Friday:
Double Clean x 5 reps
Double Military Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Push Press x 5 reps
Double Front Squat x 5 reps
120 sec rest
20KG + 24KG KB – 3 sets of all
Saturday:
Rest
Power to You, too!
July 18, 2010 § 1 Comment
*Now*, I’m getting sore.
Yesterday I had a chance to attend a 6-hour hands on class led by Pavel Tsastouline. If you read anything I ever write, you would know that he writes pretty much the best Kettlebell and strength training stuff out there right now (unless you are an elite lifter, but that’s a whole separate field.)
These classes were “Bullet Proof Abs” for abdominal work, and “Naked Warrior” for bodyweight work. I already had both of these books, and was interested to go over them in detail. The class was held at Kettlebility in Seattle, and had 20 people or so in attendance. This was great, because Pavel could give us individual attention, and a little nerve-wracking because when Pavel gives you attention you know it.
What Pavel made clear from the start, was that this was a class about learning and practicing concepts, not just exercises. This made perfect sense to me, as I have read most of his books, and all of them lay out some core concept or set of concepts, and then build a system upon it. It is the opposite from most everything I had read up to that point, which was all “Do these 10 exercises!” type junk.
“Strength is a Skill” gets said a lot with Pavel. We heard it in class, and put it into practice. For the first class, we went step by step through how to activate the abdominal muscles in turn, then in unison. We went through several sets of exercises that applied basic principles, then learned how to apply all this into designing your own ab workouts. We did the same for pushups and pistol squats in the second class.
All of this was based on learning basic movements individually, then applying them in unison. pavel went over using these same techniques for lifting and other exercise. I can’t count how many situps and pushups I did over the class time. By the end, we were all wiped out. But the skills we learned were worth it.
Pavel seemed pretty pleased with the class, folks were better prepared than his last class, and listened to instruction as well as can be expected. (at least we didn’t have to do burpees for not listening.)
It was fun, and I learned a lot. I hope I can attend another such class in the future.
…and the 20KG does down.
June 26, 2010 Comments Off
I just hit one of my goals for the year. 100 snatches with the 20KG kettlebell in 5 minutes. I had a whole 2 seconds to spare. When I add this to the Livestrong ride on sunday this has need a pretty active week.
Earlier in the year, someone on the Dragondoor boards asked “fit for what?” when another poster asked “how do I become fit?”
It’s actually a great question. “Fitness” really only applies to what you personally want to do. At the time, my answer was to just be healthier. Then at the beginning of the year, I set a few goals, this being one of them. When I did the Red Hook ride earlier, I was really surprised at how my cycling ability was so much better despite not being on the bike for so long. (improvements in both leg strength from squats and VO2Max from snatches.)
So I’m adding to my goals doing the Livestrong ride again, for either the 75 or 100 mile distance. I have also mapped out a 104 mile loop to try locally. It goes around lake Washington and Lake Sammamish, Mercer Island, and Bellevue. I want to ride that.
If I can hit those I’ll see about doing STP in two years.
Fit for that.
Week of 6/20/10
Sunday:
Livestrong 45 Mile Ride
Monday:
20KG + 16KG KB High Stop Military Press – 10 Minutes
16KG + 20KG KB Double Front Squat – 6 Minutes
20KG KB Clean and Press – 5 Minutes
Tuesday:
5 Mile Bike Ride
Wednesday:
Yardwork
Thursday:
16KG + 24KG KB See-Saw Press – 9 Minutes
20KG + 16KG KB Double Front Squat – 7 minutes
16KG + 24KG KB High Stop Military Press Press – 7 Minutes
Friday:
Rest
Saturday:
20KG KB Fast Cadence Snatch – 5 minutes (100!)
Ride Captain Ride
June 20, 2010 Comments Off
Today was the big Livestong ride, and I thought it was great. I have never done an organized event like this and I was stunned at the level of organization that they had. I picked up my race packet for the 45 mile ride (they had various levels according to ability) on Saturday, and today i just had to show up and go. Each of the levels was organized into a section, so there was no confusion.
I met with Jeanette before the race and she gave me Chuck’s Livestrong Jersey to wear for the ride. I felt really honored to wear his jersey, since I was riding for him for the event. I had put four people down on my riding list. Chuck, who we lost a few years back, and Yulia’s mom, was well as my dad and Uncle, who are all survivors.
The ride started through downtown, past Chinatown and onto the express lanes of I-90. This went over the bridge and onto Mercer Island. From there we followed Island Crest way around the perimeter of the island. The hills were pretty tough, but not impossible. I was really glad to have a climbing gear on the bike. Frustratingly, I couldn’t get the front derailleur to engage my top gear. Our first rest stop was at the south end of the island.
Each rest stop (about every 10 miles) had a first aid station, bike repair, and food and drink. It was a pretty sweet setup. Throughout the ride we had support cars tracking everyone, and offering assistance as needed.
Up to this point the weather was clear. But after the first stop, things started to get cold. Within a few miles, the rain began to fall, and by the time we were across the bridge and into Bellevue, it was raining. Not too hard at first, but by the second rest stop in Newcastle Beach Park it was getting serious.
The rout went up to Newport Hills, then split, with the 75 and 100 milers heading out to Coal Creek, and us 45 milers going down to Renton. It was really starting to get wet. My hands were cold enough that I had trouble shifting gears, and had to start exercising them to get the blood flowing. AS we came around Gene Coulon Park, one rider slid and caught his tire in the railroad tracks. He took a nasty fall. By the time I got there they had an ambulance taking care of him, and had police warning other to be careful.
The third rest stop was at Renton Stadium. I had the mechanic look at my front derailleur, but he couldn’t see anything wrong, but it would work only sporadically for top gear. I chose to ignore it.
From there we went up Rainier avenue to Seward Park, then Up Lake washington Boulevard and up the switchbacks. It was cold. there was less rain but we were all soaked by that point. I went through the I-90 Bike tunnel to the final rest stop. From there it was straight through downtown back to Seattle Center.
Crossing the finish line with everyone cheering was great. Jeanette was there, and I just beat Yulia and company who were driving in to see me finish.
It was a great ride, with $800k raised in total. I will definitely be doing this next year.
Livestrong
June 17, 2010 Comments Off
Well I’m getting all set for the Livestrong ride on the 20th. I even bought a pair of shorts with more padding because I am old and tender now. But this will be a great ride. I have almost hit my fundraising target, and the weather looks like it will be ok.
I am getting ready to start on a different program once my vacation is over in July, it will be good to shift gears. This will be based on chains and complexes for reps instead of time. Should be fun.
Week of 5/23/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
20KG + 24KG KB See-saw Press – 4 Minutes
24KG KB Goblet Squat – 8 Minutes
24KG KB Braced Military Press – 6 Minutes
Tuesday:
24KG Fast Cadence Snatch – 8 minutes
20KG + 16KG KB Double Push Press from Squat – 12 minutes
Wednesday:
32 KG Jerk Practice
Pushups
Thursday:
20KG + 16KG KB High Stop Military Press – 7 Minutes
Pistols – 3 minutes
32/24KG KB Braced Military Press – 8 Minutes
Friday:
Rest
Saturday:
24KG KB Slow Snatch – 8 minutes
32KG KB Jerk – 6 minutes
Week of 5/30/10
Sunday:
7 Mile Walk
Monday:
Rest
Tuesday:
20KG + 24KG KB Double Clean & Press – 7 Minutes
16KG + 20KG KB Double Front Squat – 11 Minutes
16KG + 20KG KB High Stop Military Press – 4 Minutes
Wednesday:
32KG KB Snatch – 8 minutes
24KG KB Viking Push Press – 7 minutes
Thursday:
20KG KB Clean and Press – 7 Minutes
24KG KB Goblet Squat – 9 minutes
12KG + 20KG KB See-saw Press – 11 Minutes
Friday:
32KG KB Overspeed Swing – 6 minutes
20KG + 12KG KB Double Viking Push Press – 8 minutes
Saturday:
44 mile bike ride
Week of 6/06/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
20KG KB Military Press – 5 Minutes
16KG + 20KG KB Double Front Squat – 7 Minutes
16KG + 20KG KB High Stop Military Press – 7 Minutes
Tuesday:
Rest
Wednesday:
Rest
Thursday:
20KG + 24KG KB Double Clean and Press – 8 Minutes
20KG + 24KG KB Double Front Squat – 10 minutes
20KG KB Military Press – 6 Minutes
Friday:
Rest
Saturday:
Rest
On Your Left…
May 23, 2010 Comments Off
Another big catch-up post. I need to get back on cycle with updates.The past few weeks have been Mostly tuning up my form after my training session. This has really helped a lot, as the swing is foundational to all other KB work. The lighter work load has been good as well. I feel less sore and am now ready to start back on ETK+ again.
I did get a good Personal Record during the week, I was able to snatch the 32KG bell for the first time. There is just a lot less room for error when you are working with something that size.
I also got back on the bike after a year of not touching it. I took a 41 mile ride for the Red Hook Brewery “Haul Ash” run. That was great. I’m in good enough shape now that the 41 miles was easy on the muscles, but my ass was killing me. I need to spend more time on the bike just to toughen up my butt. I’m doing the Livestrong ride in a month. That will be 45 miles, but with more hills, so I should start training now.
It was good to hop on the bike and see that my general training paid off for something specific.
Week of 4/25/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
Kettlebell Swing Practice
Kettlebell TGU Practice
Kettlebell Squat Practice
Tuesday:
Rest
Wednesday:
Kettlebell Swing Practice
Kettlebell TGU Practice
Kettlebell Squat Practice
Thursday:
Rest
Friday:
Kettlebell Swing Practice
Kettlebell Squat Practice
Saturday:
Kettlebell Swing Practice
Kettlebell TGU Practice
Kettlebell Squat Practice
Week of 5/2/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB Swings 15 min
Tuesday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB TGU 10 Min
Wednesday:
Rest
Thursday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB Swings 15 Min
Friday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB TGU 10 Min
Saturday:
32KG KB Snatch 10 Left/10 Right
Week of 5/9/10
Sunday:
Rest
Monday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB Swings 15 min
Tuesday:
32KG KB TGU 10 Min
Wednesday:
32KG KB Pressing Practice
Thursday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB Swings 15 Min
Friday:
32KG KB TGU 10 Min
Saturday:
32KG KB Pressing Practice
Week of 5/16/10
Sunday:
41 mile Bike Ride
Monday:
20KG KB Swings 15 min
Tuesday:
32KG KB Squats
32KG KB TGU 10 Min
Wednesday:
Rest
Thursday:
24KG KB Swings 15 Min
Friday:
Rest
Saturday:
20KG + 20KG KB High Stop Military Press – 10 Minutes
28KG KB Goblet Squat – 10 Minutes
16KG + 16KG KB See-Saw Press – 10 Minutes
