Out of Shape

Been doing some loaded carries w/ my 16kg kettlebells sporadically over the last week. Decided to get an actual workout in today. I did a round of Waiter/Suitcase carries as a bit of a warm up. Then on to

6/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 6x10x16kg
• Get Ups 6x1x16kg

I did one hand swings 10 reps EMOM. Left hand on odd minutes, right hand on even minutes. Followed by 1 minute rest. Get ups 1 rep EMOM. Left hand on odd minutes, right hand on even minutes. This short workout after many months of not doing any training of this nature left me huffing and puffing. Feel a little sore already. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

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.

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. 

Hotel Parking Lot Simple and Sinister

So, I've had two days off since my Armor Building EMOM. My hip was super sore the next day, Thursday. Yesterday we drove to Richmond, VA for the funeral of my wife's uncle which is today. I brought my 20kg (44lb) kettlebell with me though! So, got up this morning and got my training done.

Went down to the lobby, had a couple of cups of coffee. Then walked around the parking lot a bit and went to my Sequoia. Took out my exercise mat and kettlebell and got down to business! Started with 9 minutes of the yoga flow for kettlebells by Brian Friedman. Then on to the main practice.

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

Felt pretty good. My hip was only bothered me a little bit. Got some good sweat going, got the heart rate up. Swings were solid, did sets of 10 EMOM. Get ups got smoother as the sets progressed, but felt strong for all sets. Didn't rush the get ups and finished S&S in 21:48.  Took a few minutes to do a few stretches: floor scorpion, Bretzel 1 and 2, some shin box switches. I felt really good when I was done, feel even better now after a shower.

Armor Building EMOM

Got up this morning at about 0645 and immediately put on my workout gear. Went up to the kitchen and put on the coffee. While the coffee was brewing I did five minutes of mobility work based on Scott Sonnon's Intu-Flow. Then I walked around the driveway for about five minutes, came inside and drank a big glass of water then got my coffee.

As I was drinking my coffee I did some reading and put a load of laundry in the washing machine. I also played a bunch of games of Ruzzle and Words w/ Friends on my phone. I eventually got outside for some kettlebell practice at 0830! Got to move faster in the morning, stop playing those games!

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

Kettlebell Practice EMOM 12 with a pair of 35 pound kettlebells

• 2 reps Clean
• 1 rep Press
• 3 reps Front Squat

Warm up was good. I haven't done a full Original Strength reset in a couple of weeks. Felt even better because of the earlier mobility work I had done. Crawling got me sweating and ready for the work to come. Warm up time was 10:17.

I intended to do EMOM 20 but I got confused and thought I had an 0900 meeting this morning for work. So, set my EMOM for 12 minutes so considering my late start I could finish in time to dial into the meeting.

Man! Doing this Armor Building EMOM fashion was tough! I don't think I could have made a whole 20 minutes! At most I would have made 15 minutes. I had to lay out on the ground for a minute to catch my breath. I was really still breathing hard when I was done but I forced myself up to make my phantom meeting, LOL! So, obviously, total kettlebell time was 12 minutes.

Also, I was getting sore last night so I did some rolling on my large PVC pipe (my cheap foam rollers tend to smash down under my 240+ pound weight), stretching and mobility to alleviate the soreness. Worked like a charm. And I exceeded my current 7K step goal w/ 7915 steps.