First Attempt at Tracy Reifkind Workout Three

As planned I stepped up to Tracy Reifkind Workout #3. It was more challenging than I thought it would be. I did not do my FMS corrective before hand as I wanted to make sure I had plenty of energy for 20 sets of swings. Also, I wanted to get done in time to see most of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Championship as I didn't get started working out until about 12:05.

Warm Up

Walk 12:00, 0.56 miles for an average of 2.8 mph.

Calisthenics 3 circuits 5 reps each 12:04 minutes

• Prying Goblet Squat w/ 15# kettlebell
• Lying Hip Extension
• Halo (each direction) w/ 15# kettlebell
• Flying Dog (5 reps per side)

The Practice

• Kettlebell Swings 5x10x35# Two Handed
• Kettlebell Swings 5x11, 12, 13, 14, 15x35# Two Handed
• Kettlebell Swings 5x16, 17, 18, 19, 20x35# Two Handed
• Kettlebell Swings 5x15, 10, 15, 10, 15x35# Two Handed
• Turkish Get Ups 6x1x25# (per side)

My warm up walk was a bit speedier than usual. Once I finished the calisthenic circuits I was sweating as much I normally am after the first 5 sets of swings. I focused on staying upright and keeping my feet straight on the goblet squats. That was my primary focus for the warm ups.

On to the swings. The first five sets were easy, a nice gentle warm up. I was sweating even more when I finished them. Then laddered up to fifteen reps during the second group of five sets same as Workout Two. Here is where things got interesting, instead of 5 sets of 15 reps like last time I laddered up to 20 reps. This was really hard. On the set of 19 reps as I was finishing up to park the kettlebell I lost my grip and dropped it between my legs. Never done that before.

After getting the 20 reps in the final set I was so freaking winded I knew I couldn't continue at 20 reps. So, I dropped down to 15. I was still winded and dropped down to 10. Went back up to 15 but couldn't sustain it, down to 10 reps again. Finished up with 15 reps. My grip was totally fried, I was soaking wet with sweat and puffing like a steam engine. That made a total of 270 reps of swings!

After about 2.5 - 3 minutes rest I started in on the Get Ups. I really need to bring this rest period down to one minute. When I did get started the get ups felt good. Decided to do six sets instead of my normal 5. One of the goals of Simple and Sinister is to do 10 sets of get ups. I'm going to work up to that while I'm working my way up to mastery of 20 rep sets of kettlebell swings. Total kettlebell time 37:54.

Next time instead of following Tracy I'm going to workout up like I did to get to 15 reps. On the third group of 5 sets I'm going to do 16 reps each set, and do the same for the 4th group of sets. The following training session I'll do 16,17,17,17,17 for the 3rd group and 17 for all sets of 4th group. Session after that 16,17,18,18,18 and 18 for all sets of 5th group. And so on until I get up to 20 reps.

I'll do my FMS corrective exercises later on this evening. I may get in a longer walk, too but not sure about that. Oh, after my walk I did my whole training session completely barefoot.