Back Home Simple and Sinister

Took yesterday off from my kettlebell practice. We cleaned the beach house, packed the Toyota Sequoia and drove home from Isle of Palms, SC to Greenville, SC. Once we got home we of course had to unpack the SUV. I walked as much as I could at rest stops and during the above mentioned process but only got in 6244 steps.

Did my morning mobility (did it yesterday, too) but took a long time to get outside and get to my training. The weather is really nice. The humidity is only 35% here at home versus 64% at IoP. Yesterday it was 76% humidity on IoP! The temperature is only 83°F! That's crazy comfortable conditions for July 30th! But despite the nice weather I still made a sweat angel after I finished my practice session. As usual I trained barefoot and shirtless.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  10 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Normal warm up. Nothing special to say, except my left hip and glute felt a little achy. Maybe the glute medius? Not sure. Need to get myself an anatomy book. Total warm up time was 13:01.

After six straight and solid sessions using the 44 lb kettlebell at the beach in much hotter and more humid conditions I felt like going up to the 53 lb (24 kg) bell today. I put the  44 lb (20 kg) bell in easy reach in case I needed to use a lighter weight. But I didn't need it.

I cranked out my 10 sets of 10 swings. The first couple of reps of the swings took me a little by surprise as the weight was a little more than I expected. Felt heavier but it made me focus and every rep thereafter was solid. Felt good once I was done.

I was a little more uncertain about using the 53 for the getups. I was a little wobbly in the beginning but got more solid as the reps went on. I did take 11 minutes to get them done rather than the allotted 10 minutes. Felt great, nice challenge. I know I'm getting stronger. total kettlebell time 22:02.

BTW, I haven't eaten since dinner yesterday. I weighed 245 before we left on vacation last Saturday, today I weighed in at 250.4. That's the wrong direction and far outside of where I should be by my plan. At this point I should be between 229 and 240.59. If I was right on target I would be at 234.79. So, I'm nearly 10 pounds over what my maximum weight should be at this point, and about 15 pounds over my target. 

I'm not going to beat myself up though, because I'm still 12 pounds down from the beginning of the year. I do need to get serious about my nutrition. So, I'm gonna see if I can kick this week off w/ a 72 hour fast. After that I need to keep my carbs low and limit consumption of calorie laden beverages like beer and alcohol. Back on track I will be!

Six Days of Simple and Sinister

Was feeling slugging this morning. Did my morning mobility routine. Slowly made my way down to the beach after breakfast and eventually got started on my training.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Warm up was normal felt less sluggish afterward. Good enough to do my kettlebell practice. Warm up time was 13:25. And boy was it hot as I didn't get started training until 1135.

Today I did 80% S&S, 8 sets of 10 swings and 8 get ups. Didn't feel to bad. I thought I would be a lot more sore after the kayaking yesterday, but I guess my off again on again kettlebell practice has built some resiliency in my muscles. Felt good. Total kettlebell time was 17:00.

I didn't do any extra cool down. No loaded carries other than carrying my kettlebell to the beach and back. I did of course jump in the ocean and cool down. Good day.

Kayaking and Kettlebells

Got up a little later this morning. Did my morning mobility routine. Then after breakfast we went kayaking on Shem Creek. When we started out I quickly realized just how pre-exhausted my hands, forearms and shoulders were from my daily kettlebell routine. But once I got going, got warmed up everything felt okay. We spent about two hours on the water. It was fun. We saw lots of water birds and a dolphin. Unfortunately we didn't see any manatees this time. I drank about 1.2 liters of water while we were out.

After we got back to the beach house I drank a couple of small Gatorades and more water and headed to the beach carrying my kettlebell, a chair, towel and my string bag w/ a book and my electronics.

It was early afternoon and getting hotter but there was still some good cloud cover. After sitting and watching the waves for a while I got started with my Original Strength warm up and kettlebell practice.

Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Kettlebell Swings  L, R, L, R, L, R x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter Walk - Rack Carry - Suitcase Carry 30 secs, 30 secs, 1 minute, rest 30 secs, repeat series w/ other hand

I did my warm up. Felt good. Of course I was covered in sand by the time I was done rolling and crawling. Nobody came up and asked me what I was doing like they did on Tuesday, though of course I drew funny looks. Total warm up time was 12:46.

Today was a 60% Simple and Sinister day. I decided to do all my swings today one handed. It worked well even though my arms, shoulders and lats had been worked thoroughly by the kayaking. In fact the swings felt really good. Screwed my feet into the sand and no hip or knee pain. The getups we solid. No wobbling, no stumbling, no slipping even though I was in the sand. After I completed the getups, I was so hot and sand covered that I stopped my timer and went into the ocean for a few minutes. Total time was 12:41.

After I got out of the water, I dried off and sat and watched people and waves for a few minutes. Then I did my loaded carries. I started with my left hand and walked away from my chair for 30 seconds in the waiter position, dropped down to front rack for 30 seconds, then suitcase carry for 60 seconds. I rested for 30 seconds, picked up the bell with my right hand then walked back to my chair using the same sequence of positions. I sat and rested for about 2 minutes or so, then did another series left hand then right hand. I didn't make it quite as far down the beach the second time, but I was close. Total time for the carrying was about 11 minutes.

Then I jumped back into the water! The water was nice. The tide was way out, the waves were gentle. I just floated and swam and floated and swam. Wonderful way to end my training.

Rainy Day Kettlebells

Well it rained most of the morning. I didn't make it down to the beach before the rain started. Sat around a while waiting for it to stop, but it didn't. So, I went under the beach house again for my kettlebell practice.

Brian Friedman's: Kettlebell Technique Yoga Flow

• Mountain
• Extended Arms Mountain
• Half Forward Bend
• High Push Up Position
• Locust
• Downward Dog
• Half Forward Bend
• Mountain

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 10 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Repeated Yoga Flow

Again, not being a fan of crawling on concrete I opted to warm up with Yoga like I did a couple of days ago. Three rounds of the flow got a gentle sweat going and elevated my heart rate a bit. Loosened things up a bit more. I had done my 5+ minutes of mobility several hours prior, so I was nicely loose already but I always try to warm up prior to my kettlebell practice to stave off further injuries. Total warm up time 10:49.

On to the kettlebells. My left hip and the outside of my left knee twinged a bit during initial sets of swings. I got my foot position right and gripped the floor with my toes and that alleviated the hip and knee pain. I was breathing hard and sweating profusely when I finished my swings. I did them all two handed today.

The get ups were solid. No wavering and stumbling. Easier to do them on a flat, stable surface rather than a slightly sloped beach with sand shifting underfoot. The heat and humidity slowed me down a bit though, total kettlebell time was 22:01, a minute over my allotted 21 minutes. I lost that minute in the get ups, but I don't have to hit the time goals every attempt.

I cooled down with another three rounds of the yoga flow for kettlebells. Felt good. Got to make sure I'm mobile, flexible, stable and strong! The combination of kettlebells and yoga (and Original Strength) fits the bill. The cool down last 09:52, about a minute less than warm ups. I guess I was rushing a bit as I just wanted to be done and hit the shower.

Isle of Palms 80 Percent Simple and Sinister

This is my third day of training in a row. Feels great to get in rhythm. Let's see how long I can keep it up. Hopefully by waving my volume 100% -60%-80% then repeat I can string together more than 3 or 4 days in a row. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 30 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 2 x 10 x 44 lbs
• One Hand Kettlebell Swings L, R, L, R x 10 x 44 lbs
• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 2 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

•  Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell 1 minute each hand

Cooled down with Brian Friedman's: Kettlebell Technique Yoga Flow

• Mountain
• Extended Arms Mountain
• Half Forward Bend
• High Push Up Position
• Locust
• Downward Dog
• Half Forward Bend
• Mountain

Started out with my normal Original Strength reset work. Everything was pretty normal. An elderly lady who was out walking stopped me while I was crawling and asked me what muscles I was working. I said shoulders and hips, but it works more...all the core stabilizers for instance. Warm up time 14:11.

On to the kettlebell practice. I decided to throw in a couple of sets of one hand swings in the middle of my planned 8 sets of swings. Worked out well. Felt good. I lost my footing in the sand on one of my getups, stumbled to my left with the weight in my right hand but was able to recover w/o falling, dropping the bell or injuring myself. Got done in about 17 minutes. 

I took a two minute break followed by a little loaded carrying. I went down the beach in a waiter walk, bell held in same position as at the top of a get up. I can't yet carry the 44 in the bottoms up position. Transitioned to rack carry and suitcase carry all with left hand. I made it for a total of about 1 minute. Did the same series back to my starting point in one minute. Didn't want to do to much so stopped with that. Total kettlebell time 22:28.

I did a cool down today, a yoga flow. I did the flow 3 times. I need to make sure I'm doing all I can in the flexibility and mobility departments. I really, really do not want to get a hip replacement! And then right into the ocean to cool off!

Raining 60 Percent Simple and Sinister

Got up reasonably early today. It was cloudy. Had a couple or three cups of coffee, did my 5 minutes of morning mobility. Gathered my stuff to walk over to the beach, including my kettlebell, and it started raining. Boo! But I needed to get in my training, so I just went under the house and worked out there.

Brian Friedman's: Kettlebell Technique Yoga Flow

• Mountain
• Extended Arms Mountain
• Half Forward Bend
• High Push Up Position
• Locust
• Downward Dog
• Half Forward Bend
• Mountain

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 6 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, x 1 x 44 lbs

The floor underneath the house is concrete of course. I didn't want to crawl around on the concrete, so I did a yoga flow to warm up instead of an Original Strength Reset. It is good to mix up my warm up from time to time to make sure I'm hitting all my bodyparts slightly differently while making sure to address the specific areas I'll be training. I did three rounds of the flow, total time 09:52.

In the interest of not flaring up my hip too much and generally staying healthy I back off my sets from 10 to 6, thus the 60%. Felt pretty good. Didn't bring my yoga mat and didn't bother looking for anyone else's mat, just put a towel down to cushion my knees for the getups. I was sweating pretty heavily at the end, even with the reduced sets, due to the work and the heavy humidity. Total kettlebell time 13:47.

Got in a little more than 8K steps yesterday. Did some rolling on my big pvc pipe and extra stretching as well.

Simple and Sinister at the Beach

It's been a few days since my last kettlbell session. My darn hip flared up again. Plus I was on call this week and didn't get adequate sleep. Yesterday I got in over 13K steps. A chunk of that was moving my younger son out of the South Carolina Governor's School of Arts and Humanities. Another big chunk of that was cutting the front yard before we left to drive from Greenville to Isle of Palms.

But today, we're on vacation! We're at the beach! Got up early and hit the beach with my kettlebell. Felt good to be out in the ocean breeze, bright sunshine and sand getting my kettlebell practice on.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 10 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

I did extra rocking for my shoulders and hips during the Original Strength reset. I also paid more attention to stretching my hips while rolling. Overall it was a good warm up. I had done my normal morning joint mobility while the coffee was brewing before I went down to the beach. Warm up time 14:05.

I did my normal kettlebell routine. My hip twinged a little bit during swings but not bad. Like I've said before, it will hurt whether I train or not, so I might as well train. Get ups felt pretty solid, but I was pretty close to being smoked at the 7th rep. I made it through though. Total kettlebell time 21:12.

And once I was done with my kettlebell practice I walked into the ocean and cooled off with a little swimming. It felt magnificent! I'm going to figure out a way to start every day like this. Oh, and of course I trained barefoot and shirtless. And yes people were looking at me like I was off my rocker, but I didn't care. I just happily did my thing!

More and Less Kettlebells

Probably like most modern folk I occasionally get caught up in the "more is better" trap. Such has been the case with my addition of loaded carries at the end of my Simple and Sinister practice. I was trying to do them every day or nearly every day even as I was building up my sets to get to all 10 sets of swings and all 10 turkish get ups as prescribed. Not a good idea.

Case in point my training on Saturday, I did 80% Simple and Sinister in 17 minutes then did carries for another 23 minutes! Of course there were some breaks between "sets" of carrying the kettlebells down the and back my driveway. That is a lot of extra work and I paid for it with a very painful hip on Sunday which led me to skip kettlebells as I could hardly walk. I did some active recovery by swimming instead which helped a great deal.

Today I only did simple and sinister, the entire 10 sets of swings and 10 get ups.


Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 30 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 10 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

So, did my normal OS Reset. No added anything. I was sweating hard when I finished crawling out in the grass under the sun. Which made me nice and warm and ready for the work to come. Total time 13:39. Oh, and I actually got started before 0800 at 0751! Maybe tomorrow I can move that start time 10 minutes earlier.

As noted above I stepped up to 10 sets of swings and 10 sets of get ups. I'm still doing the swings 2 handed for now. My hip twinged a little but it's gonna hurt whether I train or not so I might as well train as long as it's not super painful. I also felt a little twinge in the outside of my left knee on the first get up. I think it was because I didn't have my foot placed properly. Paid more attention in subsequent reps and it was okay thereafter. No extra carrying today! Total time 20:44.

Swimming and Hip Pain

My left hip is still giving me trouble. I did extra mobility and flexibility stuff last night. I did more this morning. But still walking was painful all day. I was paying extra attention to using good posture and foot position but still very painful. I wanted to work out with kettlebells again today, but decided it was better to give the hip a rest.

I did however go swimming. I swam laps for 10 minutes. Then an hour later swam laps for 15 minutes. An hour after that, I swam laps for another 10 minutes. Not really a lot for you diehard swimmers out there but this is only my second time swimming all summer. And the laps were broken up that way because our community pool has 15 minutes every hour where the kids are cleared out and adults can have the pool to ourselves. But all in all 35 minutes of laps ( backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle) is pretty good.

The ability to swim for 10 or 15 minutes continuously when this is only the second time I've swum this year is definitely another kettlebell "what the hell" effect! Kettlebell swings helped improve my aerobic capacity. I haven't been running, rowing or biking either. No running due to the hip, no rowing or biking because I have neither a rower nor a bike.

Oh, and my hip felt much better after swimming. Not nearly as painful. Only hurts a little bit.

Red Tailed Hawks and Kettlebells

So another perk of training outside is to either be lying on your back preparing to do a get up or doing  some weighted carries and see a red tailed circling overhead. That's freaking cool. Not something that you'll experience when you're training inside a big box gym or even inside your own in house gym. This has happened to me a couple of times. Today as I was doing finishing get ups I noticed the shadow of a hawk in my driveway. As I started my carries it circled over again and I watched it as much as I could. Of course since I was training so I couldn't take a picture. So, the included picture is from the US Forest Service. 

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 30 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Hip Bridges 5 reps

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• 2 x Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 25-25-44 lb Kettlebell
• 2 x Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

The warm up was fine. I did a little extra rocking coming up to a tall kneeling position and full hip extension and opening up my hip flexors. I also did some extra hip bridges, I just felt like I needed it. Total warm up time 16:18.

Kettlebell practice was as normal. Swings were EMOM. I was a little wobbly on the first rep of getups but then I got solid thereafter. I finished my 80% S&S in 17 minutes as planned.

I rested a bit and then started doing some loaded carries. I had listened to an episode of the Everyday Athlete Podcast in which I was reminded that the waiter walk carry is really supposed to be with the bell held bottoms up. Therefore I had to sacrifice weight and do the waiter's walks and rack walks w/ a 25lb. Then I picked up a 44 for the suitcase carries. Waiter down, rack back, suitcase down and back left handed, switch hands and repeat. Rest a bit, repeat both hands. Rest a bit then farmer's walks w/ 44's down and back. Rest a bit. Repeat. Total kettlebell time 40:45.

I think I did a little bit too much on the carries. It was hot. When I was done and cooled off all I wanted to do was shower, eat and take a nap. I did the first two and was revived enough to skip the nap as I'm finally going to go see Wonder Woman! 

I did not get my steps in yesterday. I was just under 7K and my current goal is 8k. And I didn't do any kettlebell practice yesterday either, I let it be a recovery day after three straight days of training. I know S&S is supposed to be daily practice but I'm 51 years old and need to work back up to that, also my left hip seems to need a break every few days.

Summer Sweat Angels

Third day in a row of training. I've got to go to bed earlier and get up earlier so I can train and get to
work earlier. I did get up at 0627 and did my normal 5 minutes of mobility and an additional 5 minutes of walking. However, I didn't get outside to start training until 0827. I should have gotten out there at 0727.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 40 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Warm up was pretty much as normal except I did some extra rocking targeting shoulder health. I didn't do any extra calisthenics. Warm up took 13:36.

Did normal S&S. Swings were fine. I got wobbly on the last get up with my left hand. I had to reposition myself twice to make it through the rep. I don't recall being unstable with my right hand. I also manage to get through the get ups in 8 minutes, which is the prescribed 1 minute per rep. 

I chose not to do any loaded carries because I swam last night and my core was pretty twitchy last night. Also, I had to get myself ready for a meeting at 1000. Total kettlebell time 17 minutes. Also, I got in over 10K steps yesterday.

Daily Muscle Top Off

One of the principle of Simple and Sinister is to do a "daily top off" of the muscles. The daily training builds resilience in the muscles. Adhering to the daily, or near daily, training schedule makes your muscles almost soreness proof. The program doesn't require max efforts but you'll also get stronger.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Supersets of Australian Pull Ups and Push Ups 2 x 6, 5

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

The warm up was good. Took my time with all the resets. Tried to really stretch my hips when rolling. Once I was done with the original strength part I did two supersets of Aussie pull ups and push ups. I increased the reps in the 2nd set from 4 to 5 as compared to last time I did these. Total time 17:25.

Once again I did 80% of the sets for S&S. My left hip was a little sore this morning when I started the swings. But by about the 4th set or so I was fine. I was a little wobbly on the 2nd left handed get up. But the rest seemed solid. The swings were EMOM. I took a little longer than the allotted 10 minutes to do the get ups. Finished S&S in 17:30. 

Having learned my lesson on trying to do the Waiter-Front Rack-Suitcase walks after the extra shoulder work of the Aussie pull ups and push ups, I skipped that series of carries today. After about a 2.5 minute rest from S&S, I just did down and back of the farmer walk, rested a minute and repeated. Kettlebell work done in 23:32.

I actually got in over 10K steps yesterday! I also completed a 24 hour fast.

80 Percent Simple and Sinister

So, as anticipated I did not train yesterday other than getting in my steps and doing a little mobility work as usual. I also did a tiny amount of plank training. I didn't train because I was sore and because I hadn't gotten much sleep Sunday night/Monday morning.

Felt good this morning so right back to training. I also decided to increase my sets of swings and get ups. Headed outside and trained barefoot and shirtless. It's a lot easier early-ish in the morning as the concrete hasn't been heated to foot burning temperatures by the sun.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 4 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 8 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell
• Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

Warm up felt good. I wonder if I should start doing some Original Strength progressions from these beginner moves? Or just keep working on my mobility, stability and flexibility with these movements? I'll have to revisit the book to see what the progressions are. Warm up time 11:08.

Increased swings from 6 sets to 8. Still did the swings two handed EMOM. Took a little bit longer for the break between the swings and get ups. Get ups felt strong. I had one wobbly rep holding the ketllebell with my right hand, I think on the 3rd set. Total S&S time was about 19:30.

Took a two minute break then finished with some loaded carries. Started with the left hand. Waiter walk down the driveway, rack carry up the driveway, suitcase carry down and back. Then did the same for the right hand. Took a minute or so break, can't recall exactly how long now, then did farmers walk down and back. My grip was going, so I set my kettlebells down, took a minute break then down and back again. Total kettlebell time 32:26. 

One of the best things about this training routine is that I know I'm getting stronger but I don't feel wrecked afterwards. Instead I feel energized and ready to go. Thanks, Pavel! I also got my steps in yesterday, even after increasing my goal from 7500 to 8000 steps.

Do I Own the 44 Pound Kettlebell Getup

Do I own the 44 pound (20 kilogram) kettlebell get up? Meaning have I completely mastered it so I can move up to the 53 pound (24 kilogram) kettlebell? Not yet. I'll explain more toward the end of this post.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 3 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Supersets of Australian Pull Ups and Push Ups 2 x 6, 4

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 6 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell
• Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

So, after the warm up of an OS Reset I decided to throw in a couple of supersets of Australian Pull Ups and Push Ups. Kept the reps low since I haven't done either move in quite some time. Felt good though. Total warm up time including the supersets was 18:00 minutes.

On to the kettlebell practice. Swings were fine. Did six sets of 10 reps EMOM. On the getups I decided to see if I "owned" the 44 lb kettlebell. One method of doing this is to see if you can do press the kettlebell at each of the intermediate positions of get up. I could not keep my balance and press the kettlebell when posted to my hand while half kneeling. Every other position was fine, so I'm close as far as that test goes.

However, those extra presses plus the APU/PU supersets fried my shoulders. I could only make it halfway down the driveway during my waiter walk before I had to put the bell down. I tried ot rack carry back up after finishing the waiter walk but my shoulder was just gone. I switched form my left hand to my right and waiter walked back to my starting point. Since my shoulders were done, and since I was running out of time I didn't try any more single arm carries, I just did one down and back of farmer's carries and called it a day. Total kettlebell time 15:46. 

Yesterday's 60 Percent Simple and Sinister

Yesterday, despite having written about it before, in the middle of my training session I realized I was doing just 50% of the swings required by Simple and Sinister while doing 60% of the getups. So, I upped the swings to 60% to match.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 3 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 6 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell
• Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

Warm up was fine. I finished it in a quick 9:31. Not sure how I managed that! As noted above I realized mid-workout that I should do an extra set of swings. I didn't take the time to change the timer I had set up on my phone. I just did the extra set of 10 swings during the prescribed 1 minute of rest between swings and getups. So, I did the getups with about 15-20 seconds less rest than normal.

Even so, everything was fine. Finished S&S in about 12.5 minutes. Then after a little rest did some carries. Waiter's walk down the driveway, front rack carry up the driveway, suitcase carry down and back. Did left hand first, repeated the whole sequence with right hand. Then down and back farmer's walk, rest a bit, repeat. Total kettlebell time 26:23.  Got in my step goal, too.

Outdoor Training Is Fun(ctional)

Felt a little stiff and sore this morning, particularly the left hip as usual but put my workout clothes on as soon as I got out of bed. Did my five minutes of joint mobility and five minutes of walking while the coffee was brewing and that made me feel better. After some coffee, etc. got outside to start training around 0830.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 3 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 5 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Finisher

• Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell
• Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

The OS reset felt good. When I was rolling I could feel the tightness and some pain in my left hip. The rocking and crawling helped more. Took 11:52 for the warm up.

Swings were easy. Get ups felt good. Took a little longer on the get ups. Planned to take 13 minutes for S&S, took about 14. Then took about another 9 minutes to do my carries. I decided to not do the waiter walk with the kettlebell in the bottoms up position but rather to use a heavier weight. Total kettlebell time 22.56. Got my steps in yesterday, too.

So the fun(ctional) part of outdoor training. You get fresh air. You get sunshine. You train on possible uneven surfaces. It's not climate controlled so you have to adapt to heat & humidity or cold. Once upon a time, homo sapiens spent their entire lives outside. Now we spend the majority of our lives inside with little exposure to the elements.

Barefoot Shirtless 1/2 Simple & Sinister

My hip was pretty sore yesterday. I didn't get up early enough to train before work and thought it was better once I got home with my sore hip to just wait until this morning. So that's what I did.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 3 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 5 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

As usual I worked out outside and barefoot. I got started just before 0800 and it was already hot. Once I finished my warm up I took off my shirt and did my kettlebell routine out in the driveway in the sun instead of in the shady carport. I realized I've hardly been shirtless out in the sun at all this summer and it's already July!

Anyway, the session was good. Really sweaty. Felt like I could do the whole 10 sets of swings when I finished the 5 but made myself stick with the plan. I don't want to over do it and set myself back another month. Warm up time 12:38, kettlebell time 12:50. Got all my steps in the last two days.

I forgot to add that after I stopped timing my kettlebell work I did a few carries. I took the 20 kilo bells down to the end of the driveway and back in a farmer's carry. Then I took a 12 kilo bell and did waiter walk - rack walk - suitcase carry combo with each arm. Nice little finisher. I was going to try that last bit with the 16 kilo bell but I didn't think I could stabilize the it in the bottoms up position for waiter walks. I'll have to work on that.

Half Simple and Sinister

After our trip to Virginia last month, and my last real training session, my hip was so sore for the entire following week that I did nothing other than some mobility stuff in the mornings. Frankly, I was really scared by the pain. I really didn't want to go into that feeling and so I just avoided working out. I got up and put my workout clothes on each of the last 3 days and just got myself to do a workout today.

Warmed up with an Original Strength Reset

• Cross Crawl - 20 per side 
• Crocodile Breathing - 2 minutes
• Head Nods - 20 reps
• Rolling - 3 reps left and right first leading w/ arms then legs
• Rocking - 20 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings 5 x 10 x 44 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 44 lbs

Felt good. My hip was a little sore when I finished. And then we had to drive to Charlotte, NC and back to pick up my eldest son from the airport. Now my hip hurts more but not nearly as badly as after the Virginia trip. The swings were easy, I could probably use my 53 lb. bell. I surprised myself with the get ups at 44 lbs., they were easier than I expected. All in all a good session. I'm glad I cut the total sets of swings in half and the sets of get ups by 40%. Hopefully I'll be able to train again tomorrow before work. Got my goal number of steps, too.