75 Straight Kettlebell Swings

I walked 1.6 miles in 31 minutes at lunch time. I stopped at Wal-mart on the way home. Even though that made me later than usual getting home, I did not snack. I did a couple of chores then got straight to my brief workout.

• Two Leg Hip Extension 20 reps
• Flying Dog 15 reps per side
• 75 Kettlebell Swings Straight! 10#
• 10 Myotatic Crunches on Swissball
• Cat Vomit Exercise 10 reps

Proud of myself for powering through the swings. Even with such a light weight I could feel my thighs and calves burning. Now an hour or so later I can feel soreness in my back muscles. Thankfully my abs didn't cramp up like they did the last two workouts.

After my workout I had a nice slowcarb dinner of broiled salmon, cabbage, black eyed peas and water. 

Day 21 Cycle 5 Day 1 Walk and IntuFlow

It was 66°F today! On January 20th! That's why I live in South Carolina!

I did a a bunch of stuff around the house today. Didn't get out for my walk until nearly 4PM. I walked approximately three miles in one hour. I say approximately because some friends were drove by as I was walking and stopped to talk. I paused the app I use to track my walks, Noom Weight Loss Coach, and forgot to un-pause it for at least 10 minutes and half a mile. Bummer! Another app, Noom Walk, kept on track of my steps and I topped 10,000, in fact 10,814 as of this writing!

Once I got home I got some water. Then I did the Intu-Flow recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss (BB4FL). Today was my 21st day of 28 days for Phase 1. It was a "no intensity" day which was a good thing. I was sore after yesterday's high intensity workout. Mainly in my midback, core, quads and hamstrings. Oh, I was also sore in my shoulders and triceps.

I have noticed that combination of using Intu-Flow as a warm up and Prasara Yoga as cool down on the moderate and high intensity days, as well as the planned no intensity ( Intu-Flow ) and low intensity ( Prasara ) recovery days seems to keep me from getting so sore I can't move. The BB4FL is a well structured program.

I slacked off for three days in total so far. So, I actually started this program twenty-four days ago. I also started weighing myself daily at that time. I've lost 5.6 pounds in 24 days. That's almost two pounds per week which is a healthy, sustainable rate. I haven't really dialed in my eating to either Slow-Carb or Low Carb Paleo style. I seem to eat clean about 50-60% of the time right now. Once I dial it in, I'm sure I'll lose weight more quickly.

20130723 Sweating with the Heat Bugs

I didn't get up early enough to get my workout in before leaving for the office today. I committed to getting it in after getting home. I got home around 7 or so, but didn't get my workout started until about 8 PM.

1. Two-legged Glute Activation Raises 1 x 20
2. Flying Dogs 1 x 15 per side
3. Turkish Get Ups
• Strong ( right ) Side x 5 x 15 lb. dumbbell
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x 15 lb. dumbbell
• Strong ( right ) Side x 5 x 10 lb. dumbbell
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x 10 lb. dumbbell
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x 10 lb. dumbbell
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x 10 lb. dumbbell
• Weak ( left ) Side x 5 x 10 lb. dumbbell
4. Kettlebell Swings
• Point A 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Point B 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 30, (15,15), (15,15) x 32.5 lb t-bar homemade kettlebell
5. Myotatic Crunch 1 x (6,4) x 5 lb dumbbell
6. The Cat Vomit Exercise 1 x 10

It was still hot and humid outside but not nearly as hot as it usually is in South Carolina in late July. Only in the 80s w/ 70%+ humidity. But that was more than enough for me to be dripping sweat after my second set of TGUs while listing to the "heat bugs", otherwise known as Cicadas, keeping up a racket from the trees. I started my TGUs with a 15 lb. dumbbell but my shoulders and triceps are ready for that yet. Guess I'll stick with the 10 pounder for another week or so.

I was really disappointed with the kettlebell swings. On both my second and third sets I stopped at 15 reps, gathered myself, shook my arms and took some deep breaths before continuing on to get  15 more reps for a total of 30. It was probably a combination of the late hour and my low carb eating for the day up until this workout.

I really slowed down on the myotatic crunches and focused on squeezing hard at the top. I had to pause for a couple of breaths after 6 reps. My abs were firing so hard it was ridiculous. After I finished, I could barely get up off the Bosu Ball my abs were cramping so hard. By this time I had finished a liter of water so I went to the kitchen door and asked someone to bring me a glass of ice water.

With a little more water in my system it was on to the CVE's. I cut the 20 second pause between reps I had been taking down to 10 seconds. I really tried to pull my belly button up to my spine. My abs were fried when I was done. Sweat was pouring off me in rivers, my shorts were soaked as if I had jumped in a pool! This workout took 70.25 minutes, longer than Monday but shorter than Saturday. I can feel just about every muscle from my feet to my neck! I'm gonna be a sore old man tomorrow!

20130710 Turkish Get Ups and Normal Workout

While I was at work today I started practicing the Turkish Get Up without any weights or kettlebells. It's harder than it looks, a real coordination challenge, plus it requires total body strength and flexibility. I use a program called Workrave to remind me to get up from my desk or if I'm standing to walk away periodically during the day. At least three times today I did TGUs.

I didn't get up and get moving early enough to workout before driving down to the office today. So, once I got home this evening I immediately changed clothes and got my workout in.

1. Two-legged Glute Activation Raises 1 x 20
2. Flying Dogs 1 x 15 per side
3. Kettlebell Swings
• Point A 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Point B 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 5 x 22.5 lb. t-bar homemade kettlebell
• Swings 32, 33, 30 x 32.5 lb t-bar homemade kettlebell
4. Myotatic Crunch 1 x 10 x 5 lb dumbbell
5. The Cat Vomit Exercise 1 x 10

I got it done in 26.5 minutes. It was pouring down rain so I worked out under the carport. It was nice to feel the cool rain drops blowing on my skin, however it made for some slippery footing. Felt really good afterwards. Took my second cold shower of the day.

Slow carb diet all day. Haven't eaten any grains, cereals, pasta or breads since my Saturday cheat day. Haven't eaten any additional sugar and just a little cheese and fruit, not even two full servings of either.

20130706 Swimming and Free Eating Day

Yesterday was my day to eat anything I wanted, a la Slow Carb Diet and Four Hour Body, and I did. It was the first time I really let loose as Tim Ferriss suggests and I almost, but not quite, made my self sick with carbs ( cereal, chips, fruit, cookies, bread, potato salad, ice cream ), diary and sugar. I'm glad to be eating more cleanly today.

The only exercise I got was about 25 minutes of actual swimming as we spent an hour at the pool in the rain. We had the whole pool to ourselves, just us and the lifeguard. My steps for the day were dismal, only 2809. Weight yesterday morning was 253.4 this morning after the binge 257.4. It's probably mostly water. I'll try to go swimming again today.