Memorial Day Original Strength and Short Walks

We were travelling Monday to return home from our holiday weekend visits. I got in some Original Strength resets before we got on the road. Walked around at a rest stop and then many short walks throughout the afternoon and evening after we got home. Got nearly 120% of my step goal.

Heavier Kettlebell Simple and Sinister at Lunch

Yesterday, only got in about 6.1K steps which is 900 short of my 7K daily goal. Friday and Saturday were even worse. I didn't do any mobility, flexibility and stability work yesterday either.

Today, I felt good. Decided to go heavier on a few sets of swings and get ups.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 10 secs, 5 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 4x10x16kg
• One Hand Swings 4x10x20kg
• Get Ups 4x1x16kg
• Get Ups 4x1x20kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Movement prep and planks took 13:01. Set one of squats equals struggle bus. All the rest of movement prep was fine. I intended to accumulate 60 seconds of plank time in 1x30 seconds and 2x15 seconds. Had to break that last 15 into 10 seconds and 5 seconds. For some reason my shoulders just gave up. I'll do better next time.

As I wrote earlier I was feeling good and strong today so my initial thought was to do 1 set each on each side of swings and get ups at 20kg instead of the 16kg I have been using for the last few weeks. I ended up doing half of all my sets with the 20kg and it felt good. I'll try to repeat this on my next two training sessions. Time was 26:35, which is about twice as long as a test of 8 sets each of swings and gets up should take, 13 minutes.

Did my normal cool down routine. It took 8:01. Got to make sure I do an Original Strength reset at least on the days I don't do kettlebells. I've also been doing 30-60 seconds of the Bretzel 1.0 before bed on kettlebell days.

Lazy Saturday Kettlebell Practice

I had a hard week of work. Long hours and disrupted sleep patterns. I woke up this morning around 0400 and never really got back to sleep. Spent most of the day binge watching Game of Thrones. I did do a few minor chores around the house. Then finally got off my ass and got in my kettlebell practice. This was my first ketllebell session since Tuesday, but I did do an original strength reset on Wednesday along with a 30+ minute walk.

Movement Prep Giant Sets

1. Assisted Squats 3x5
2. Hip Bridge(Raise) 3x5 
3. Kettlebell Halo 3x5 per direction 35lbs.

Plank 30 secs, 15 secs, 15 secs

8/10 Simple and Sinister

• One Hand Swings 8x10x16kg
• Get Ups 8x1x16kg

Cool Down Stretching Super Sets

• 90/90 Stretch 3x30 seconds per side
• QL Straddle Stretch 3x30 seconds per side

Movement prep felt good. First set of squats is always a challenge, but by the end of the three giant sets I'm always loosened up and warm. Followed that with planks accumulating one minute total. All of that took 11:20.

Then with minimal rest and set up time I went into the simple and sinister routine. Swings were easy and even with the extended rest time I was breathing hard and feeling it by sixth set. Get ups felt particularly solid and fluid at the same time. My hips felt much better. Total kettlebell time 26;40.

Finished up with the recommended stretching. Again my hips felt much better than usual in the 90/90 stretch. Also I think I was able to part my legs a few extra degrees for the straddle stretch. Slow and steady wins the race. Consistency is key! Total time 8:00.

Original Strength and Walking

Today I did about five minutes of Original Strength resets then took a 30 minute walk. Hip is my limiting factor on walks. At least I got out there and did it. It was a nice day, cool and cloudy. I need to keep doing original strength type work to improve my mobility and flexibility. Not much else to say.

Meditation and Original Strength

I had meditated ( I use the Calm App for timed silent meditation) for 11 straight days before yesterday when I missed. I did an Original Strength Reset 10 of those 11 days, just didn't do it on the first of those 11 days. I missed yesterday. Today I meditated and did an OS Reset.

I had noticed that I was feeling much better physically and mentally the last couple of days before I missed a day. I wonder if that sense of well being led to a temporary urge to self sabotage? At any rate, I complied with the mantra of "never miss two days in a row" and got back to it today. I'll try to keep my streak going even while I'm traveling in Japan!

Trying to Get Pain Free

I haven't done much besides walk for a long time. Trying to get my left hip as pain free as possible. I did Original Strength resets & the Dynamic Aging routine semi-consistently for a while. I started on the Gold Medal Bodies Elements program but fell off in week 2. Since then just trying to get my steps up. I managed to average 7138 steps during May while I had a goal of 6K steps. This month I'm upping my goal to 7K.

I got down to my lowest weight on May 28th at 248.0 pounds. That's my lowest weight since August 28th, 2017. In the intervening time, I've gotten as high as 256. I attribute that to a couple of things. First, walking more as for a while I was only getting 3K or 4K a day. Second, I've been trying with maybe only 60-70% success is following the 4S+A diet. That is no Snacks, no Seconds, no Sweets, and no Alcohol except on Sometimes on days that start w/ S. Third I've been trying to get 7 hours of sleep per night. Fourth, one of my aunts sent me some Laird Superfood for my birthday. I've been using it in my coffee in the morning. It fuels me pretty well and I'm able to maintain a 16-20 hour fast most week days. Occasionally I'll have some bone broth around lunch or mid-afternoon.

Now to keep the weight going down. My conservative goal for the end of June is 245. If I get lower that will be a bonus. I'm going to restart the GMB Elements tomorrow. Also the last couple of weeks I've been doing Farmer carries and Suitcase carries with my 35 pound kettlebells a few times a week. I'll probably throw in a couple days of upper body weight workouts as well.

Out of Action for a LONG Time

I haven't practiced kettlebells since 5 August 2017. During the fall I did the Dynamic Aging Whole Body Flow (DAWBF) pretty often. The last couple of months I haven't done much at all. My left hip has been the limiting factor, that and my attitude I guess.

The hip has hurt very badly quite often. It hurt to the point where I bought a cane and there were even a few days when I actually used it just to walk around in the house. I just haven't wanted to do anything, the pain just sucked everything out of me, or I allowed it to do so.

This happens to me often. Even though I told myself just walk and do the "old folks" workout, DAWBF, I just couldn't keep the momentum. But I'm feeling really lousy and gained back about 10 pounds. I've got to do something.

With that in mind, Friday I did an Original Strength reset. I did the same yesterday. A couple of days before that I bought the Gold Medal Bodies Elements program which I started today. When I woke up this morning my body felt noticeably better and a little sore just from the resets.

The first day of the 8 week Elements program is basically an assessment and learning day. Even with that, my mobility, flexibility and strength is really, really poor right now. Every movement was a challenge. The most challenging for my hip were the floor hip circles. Anyway, I'm going to keep with this eight week program and see how much I can increase my mobility and strength while hopefully decreasing my pain. I'll mix in some OS Resets and DAWBF, too.

Saturday Morning Kettlebells

Went to bed late. Slept in. Got started training late after a couple of cups of coffee, morning mobility and a little reading. Of course that means it was hotter than when I usually train by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

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 - 50 reps
• Crawling - 3 minutes

Simple and Sinister

• Two Hand Kettlebell Swings  6 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Loaded Carries

• Waiter-Rack-Suitcase Carry with 44 lb Kettlebell (left then right)
• 2 x Farmer's Walk with 2 44 lb Kettlebells

As usual did an Original strength reset to warm up. I did more rocking than normal, with some extra stuff for both shoulders and hip flexors. Felt really good. Crawled farther than usual in the same three minutes. I should try some 4 point (hands and feet) crawling soon instead of the 6 point (hands, knees, & feet) crawling I've been doing. Total time 16:22.

Planned kettlebell practice today called for six sets each of swings and get ups. Stuck with that plan but decided to tack on some loaded carries at the end. I haven't done any of those since July 27th. Swings were easy. Get ups were going well. As I was completing my fourth rep my wife came out to take her car to the store so I had to move out of her way and pause for about 1.5 minutes. Then I got right back to it and finished strong. So, what was planned to take 13 minutes took about 14.5.

On to the carries after a two minute break. I started with my left hand. Went down the driveway in waiter's position, back up in rack position, then down and back in suitcase position. Repeated with my right hand. Then two rounds of farmer's walks with two 44s. I took one minute rest between each round of carries. So the total kettlebell time was 25:28. Met my step goal yesterday for the first time since the 27th.

Cloudy Cool Summer Morning Simple and Sinister

I ate three good meals and a snack yesterday. I went to bed early again, like 2115 or so. I did not get
in all my steps yesterday but more than I have for the last several days.

I got up this morning around 0630 but didn't get started training until just after 0800. This morning was partly cloudy and cool but with high humidity.











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 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L x 1 x 53 lbs

Good warm up session. Consistent original strength resets seem to be helping my hip. It hurts some but not nearly as much as it was a couple of weeks ago. Warm up time was 14:37.

Kettlebell swings were crisp and strong. Felt really good today. I need to do a little more practice with one hand swings. Maybe the next 3 day cycle I'll drop back down to 44lbs and do all one hand swings for that 3 day cycle. Get ups were strong and solid w/ a couple of wobbles here and there but nothing major. I tell you what though, holding the 53 in full straight arm extension really works the triceps! My triceps were on fire by the 3rd or 4th pair of reps. Total kettlebell time 21:19. 

Morning Kettlebell Practice

I didn't train yesterday. I only got 5.5 hours of sleep so I wasn't ready to train. I also had decided to
fast yesterday, and I made it about 18 or 19 hours. Nice intermittent fast. Last night I got over 8 hours of sleep after a good dinner. I woke up ready to go today. It was cool this morning but decidedly higher humidity.













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 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R x 1 x 53 lbs

Did the normal warm up. Felt good. Only took 13:38. Nice sweat going. Moved on to the kettlebell practice. Only did 8 sets today. Stayed with the 24kg (53 lb) kettlebell. Didn't do anything extra. Needed to get cleaned up and into work for a 1000 meeting. Kettlebell practice took 17 minutes per plan. I forgot to take off my shirt but I did train barefoot. I still have not gotten my goal number of steps since Thursday July 27th. Hopefully I'll get them in today.

Quick Kettlebell Practice

I didn't train yesterday. I only got six hours of sleep the night before. I trained hard the day before yesterday and didn't really feel up to it yesterday. I listened to my body. I ate two good meals, lunch and dinner. I was good to go this morning.

I didn't wear my Fitbit Blaze to bed last night, it needed a charge. So, I don't have an exact measurement of my sleep last night. I estimate I got between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. Like I said, I felt very good when I got up this morning. The weather is awesome...and strange. The low last night was 66°F and the humidity this morning was only 39%. This made for super comfortable training conditions. I trained barefoot and shirtless as normal.

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  6 x 10 x 53 lbs
• Turkish Get Ups R, L, R, L, R, L x 1 x 53 lbs

I'm still going to cycle my training for now as follows 10 sets day one, 6 sets day two, 8 sets day three, then repeat. Taking rest days as appropriate of course. Today was a 6 set day. That came in handy as I had an 0900 meeting today for work.

Warm up was as usual, nothing extra. Just enough to get a light sweat going, muscles & joints warm and flexible. Total time 13:49. Kettlebell practice was short and sweet. Nothing much to say, felt good. Total time 13:54. I've not been getting my steps in everyday since I went on vacation. I'll make a more concerted effort to do so from today on.

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!

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.

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.