kettlebellguy

Archive for October, 2007

Had a good nights sleep. Was able to get right back to sleep after getting up around 2. Got up for good at 5.

Good workout this morning. Increased number of swings. Up to 23 now. I remember when I strugged to get 15 done so even though 23 does not seem like much to me now I know it is something I could not have done months ago. This proves that just a little increase over time adds up.

Took a couple of extra stretch rests because this circuit does stress my back. Shoulder doing ok, just an occasional ache.

Wednesday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets
1-Hand Kettlebell Swings
28 kg (62 lbs)– 23 reps each….increased reps
Kettlebell Figure 8’s
24 kg (53 lbs) – 15 each

Took Debbie’s car up to have the oil changed and a tire looked at because of a slow leak. Walked back home. That’s a nice thing about living in the city where so many things are within walking distance. They did find a nail in the tire so that is fixed. There is always something that has to be fixed.

Got a call last night the Mom is back in town from her trip to Florida so I will call her this morning to find out how that went.

Really excited about Friday and the trip to CT.

10:30AM Received call that Ken, mentioned in yesterdays entry, passed away. I don’t have any details. Since our group is without a Director I needed to share that information with the rest of the group by telephone and everyone is very sad. I don’t have any details but I have to believe it is heart related.

Received word last night that Ken, a co-worker, suffered an apparent heart attack last night on the way home from work. Ken was out last Thursday because he did not feel well. I spoke to him on Friday and discovered that he is 6 months older than me. I am hopefull that this is something he will recover from quickly but, it points out the fact that we just don’t know what tormorrow will bring.

Fully planned to go to the gym last night and do a quick strength workout and then do cardio while watching “Dancing with the Stars”. At 7P I layed down on the couch “for just a minute” to watch TV till 7:30. At 7:45 I work up. I made a good decision and got up, walked straight into the bedroom and fell into the bed and slept till 5A (only had to get up once). That is almost 10 hours sleep and somthing I really needed. Rest is just as important as activity for our bodies. So even though I missed an extra workout and “Dancing with the Stars” I did something important for myself.

This mornings workout went well.

Tuesday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1:20 minute rest between sets
Dumbbell Push Press – 50 lb Dumbbells – 11 reps
Bulgarian Split Squat (rear foot up on bench)
32 kg – 8 reps each leg
Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns ( machine # 16 )
170 lbs. – 12 reps…increased weight

This workout had an increase in weight for Lat Pulldowns. I was able to handle the 170 lbs. The challenge is in the grip. As the weight goes up you need an increased grip to hold on to the handles. That is causing as much as a challenge as the actual weight, but I got them done.

Made it to the gym tonight and did 1 hour cardio. The machine said 526 calories burned. I don’t know how true that is but I know I worked harder on the cardio machine than I would have laying on the couch. Was able to watch a lot of the Biggest Loser.

Here is a great video from Steve about the importance of exercise.

Not that happy with this mornings workout. It looks like my right shoulder is becoming more and more an issue. Even with the reduced number of Turkish Get Ups I ran into trouble. On the third set I went down from the 18 lb KB to a 10 pound weight. That seemed to help. No problem at all on the left side. This kind of screwed up my timing and I got a little flustered so my timing was off for the rest of the workout. I often lose my focus when things don’t go right in the beginning of the workout and that is something I have to get better at controling.

The suprise to the entire thing is that my total time came out to 32:13, just 1 minute 13 seconds longer that last week. I thought I was going to be 5 or 10 minutes out.

Still doing OK with the snatches, although it pushes me to the limit.

Monday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 2:30 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up
8 kg – 5 each side
Kettlebell Snatch
24 kg – 15 each

My doctor appointment is on 11-9, not to far away. I need to get this shoulder issue looked at. I have a real fear that this shoulder might keep me from doing all I want to, so this is really a big issue.

The other big suprise is that I was only up a pound after a “not-so-good” weekend of eating. I am back on track now. Have to really work hard to get ready for the weekend. A couple of months ago Mike and I were within a couple of pounds of each other with Mike being lighter. I really want to be lower than him, even if it is just a pound, when we get together this weekend.

Checked the seating for the flight on Friday evening. Only 4 seats left. Hard to believe that that many people want to go from Cleveland OH to Hartford CT on a Friday night. Does not look like there is any way Mike and I will be setting together on the flight.

Really excited about the trip. All I know about Rob’s house is that it is over 100 years old. They are not sure of the exact age because all the town records in Stratford were destroyed in a fire in 1900 so everything standing then was given 1900 as the build date.

Went up for the Sunday paper and as I was leaving the store I saw the same guy I wrote about last Sunday morning.

Not a good weeking for my eating plan. I ate things I normally do not. Back on plan tomorrow. Going to really stick to it for the week since I will be in CT over the weekend. Looking forward to the trip.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
— Theodor Seuss Geisel

Woke up and….no headache. I was really concerned I would have another but that did not happen.

When I went out this morning the sky was bright blue…and the moon was still shining. Not something you see every monring.

Woke up with one of my headaches. I feel like such a whiner but these headaches about put me down. This was about 5AM so I took some meds which usually provide relief within 15 to 30 minutes. They helped a bit but it was still bad as 6AM started to roll around. I kept laying there trying to decide if I should workout. It’s Friday, which is a heavy workout day. I could always do the workout tomorrow. Finally I decided to just push through it. I got up, and got going.

Still had the headache when I started my workout but later noticed that it was gone. Now the question is would the headache have left if I stayed at home and did nothing. I chose to belive that pushing on through and doing the workout helped get rid of the headache. The really bad thing about these headaches is that they typically happen several times over the period of a week, once they start. I know it has been awhile since I last had one. I am just going to hope for the best.

Made my MM to take to my workout. That is working out really well. I drink it during my stretching and cool down.

Here is this mornings workout. I did really well, just an little extra rest before the 5th set. This workout is a killer and really gets the blood pumping.

Friday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 2:00 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Clean, Squat, Press
20 kg – 12 each
Assisted Neutral Grip Pullups
#15 – 10 reps

Debbie is leaving this evening to spend the weekend with Aunt Mary so I will be on my own. Perhaps there will be a stickam chat tonight.

Workouts for next week:

Core Circuit – Repeat 3 times with no rest

Supermans (lifting opposite arm and leg simultaneously) – 10 each side

UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN – 5-10 REPS (IN PLANK POSITION ON STABILITY BALL WITH HANDS APART, PUT ONE HAND ON BALL, THEN OTHER AND PUSH UP INTO TOP OF PUSH UP POSITION, THEN DROP BACK DOWN ONTO FOREARMS ON BALL ONE AT A TIME)

V-Sit Med Ball Rotations 8lb. Med Ball – 20 reps (sit with knees slightly bent and feet off ground. Upper body is at v-angle to lower body with shoulders and back off ground, hence, the V-Sit. Rotate the med ball side to side, touching the ground next to your hips.

Leg Lifts – 10 reps (Lie on your back with your hands beneath your low back. Keep your legs straight and lift legs from 6 to 12 inches off the ground up and down.)

Monday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 2:30 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up
8 kg – 5 each side
Kettlebell Snatch
24 kg – 15 each

Friday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 2:00 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Clean, Squat, Press
20 kg – 12 each
Assisted Narrow Grip Pullups
#15 – 10 reps

Found this great index of Kettlebell information on the web, Straight To The Bar, Kettlebell Exercise Index

Good workout this morning, kept exact rest times except between 4 and 5, took a bit extra. Took my Muscle Milk and enjoyed it during my stretching and while I was getting cleaned up.

Thursday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Lateral Lunge
28 kg – 15 reps each leg
Kettlebell Renegade Rows
24 kg – 13 reps each side (alternate sides each set)
Kettlebell Pushups
24 kg – 10 reps each

Last night I went to GNC to get some more Muscle Milk. The first tub I got was “Light”. I was able to get twice as much of the “regular” formula for less money, so I am trying that. Staying with the Chocolate flavor.

There are about 390 calories for a serving of the regular which means I have to really stay active to burn off the extra calories. A serving does have 32g protein vs. 25g for the “Light” formula. My thought process now is that if I use the Muscle Milk to burn muscle, that means I can work harder, grown more muscle and in the end, be burning more calories. If I were not working out so hard there would be no reason to be taking the Muscle Milk. People have to understand that a protein drink does not grow muscle, work grows muscle.

There is a real art to getting the MM blended. For me, I must use a blender, not a shaker. I put in ice, some water and a banana and start that blending. I very carefully add the MM, just a bit at a time. Doing that stops any clumps. If you just dump the scoop full of MM into the blender you are sure to end up with some of the power not mixed.

I don’t know if the Muscle Milk is really working, however, I have noticed that my arms “feel” bigger, if that makes sense. Also, I have noticed my abs are tighter. Might be wishful thinking but maybe the MM is having an impact. My weight has stayed the same, 229 this morning. I float between 225 and 230.

It’s not going to hurt anything to keep using the MM for awhile, just to see if I can say it has helped.

The guy at GNC asked me if I was taking multi vitamin. I made the mistake of say “No”, not because I don’t, just because I did not want to talk about vitamins. Mistake…. he then tried to convert me. He was just doing his job but sometimes I just want to buy what I picked out and not play 20 questions.

Slept until 2A and then tossed and turned until 5A. I am sure I fell asleep sometime during that time, just can’t remember. Stress level at work has dropped a bit so my nights are not as consumed with work related items.

What a mess on Biggest Loser last night. Neil cheated to gain weight for the weigh in. I still can’t put together all the reasons for what he did. It is really getting cut throat. I guess we do have to remember it is a game.

Did a hard workout this morning. Took my Muscle Milk again and had it during my stretching. Lot of conversation on youtube about protein shakes. Steve made a video on it. What I got from his video is that just setting on your ass and drinking a protein shake IS NOT going to grow any muscle, however, when combined with intense training the protein works to repair and build muscle. I believe his vidoes are really targeted for the completly uninformed and just tries to get them pointed in the right direction. I did not see that the video applies to me at all. I am taking the protein shake specifically because I am doing intense training and I plan the shakes around that training. This all fits with his underlying theme of intensity.

Here is this mornings workout. Did take a couple of extra rests to stretch out my back.

Wednesday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets
1-Hand Kettlebell Swings
28 kg – 22 reps each
Kettlebell Figure 8’s
24 kg – 15 each

It’s later in the day now and my knees are not hurting at all. I was just a little concerned yesterday because they were really aching but everything seems good now.

Good news, Bad news.

As usual, I woke up at 2AM. Could not get back to sleep so went downstairs and crawled onto the couch, not expecting to sleep. Guess what, woke up at 7:30A. So the good news is that I actually got some sleep, bad news I was so far behind schedule I could not get to my workout.

That is not a problem because I always have a backup plan. I will do my workout tonight. I am glad I did an extra workout last night.

Started off the day with a good Muscle Milk.

Hit the gym at 6P. I am usually never there at that time but I was amazed at the number of “regulars” that were there. Gym’s have to live off the people that buy a membership and never come. I guess in a way that is fine with me. Please pay your membership and don’t come so that I can workout in what has been voted the best gym in the city without a lot of people around. It all works for me.

Worked hard. I am not going to say I should have done better because I did as good as I could. Took longer breaks between set 3 and 4. This workout looks so simple and easy on paper but it is truly a killer for me.

I have really been hurting the last couple of days. My knees are acting up for some reason. They have never done that before so I am not sure what is up. Really can’t put my finger on anything I have done different to cause that.

Tuesday
Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1:20 minute rest between sets
Dumbbell Push Press – 50 lb Dumbbells – 11 reps
Functional Trainer Squat to Row (Set at bottom position)
(Holding handles and standing back as if you were going to row, Squat down and hold at bottom position, Row, and return to Standing position)
55 lbs – 12 reps

Going to enjoy my evening Muscle Milk and hope for a good nights sleep.