kettlebellguy

Archive for July, 2008

Here is an excellent video discussion about living longer. Are we really living longer than those before us? Also, some discussion about Crossfit, one of my new interests.

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Well, a not so good workout this morning. I have tried coming up with really good excuses for not following my predetermined workout for this morning. I was not very successful in coming up with any. Bottom line, I just did not want to lift heavy things this morning. Could I have done it as written? Of course I could have. I just did not want to bad enough and I gave up. I guess I could have dropped the weights down for the circuit, but in reality I did not want to do that, or I would have.

I did do the core work, my face pulls and elbows. Came up short on the Shoulder flyes because something is now going on in my right shoulder. Did a good 1/2 hour cardio.

Needless to say I am angry at myself now. The only way out of this is to redo this workout on Saturday or do the free Crossfit on Saturday. Even that will be a poor substitute for not doing what I should have done.

Here is what I FAILED to do:

Thursday
Core Circuit – same as workout 1
Circuit – Repeat for 6 total sets with 1:20 minute rest between sets
Bulgarian Split Squat 32kg – 12 reps each leg
Renegade Rows 24kg – 12 reps each side
Alternating Heavy, Medium, Light – KB Cleans
28kg/24kg/20kg (1 clean each = 1 rep) – 4 reps

One of the things that sets me off is people saying “I was going to do my walk, but it looked like rain”.

Here is my answer to that.

Just swingin’ in the rain . . . Peter Oehl and CrossFit Wilmington trainer Julie Edgerton keep going in a deluge. (picture from Crossfit.Com)

Another Hump Day. Hips are feeling better. Very little sleep. The last several days my mind keeps racing at night. I get focused on a person or a task and just repeat the same thing over and over.

Made it to the gym and worked hard and felt good about accomplishing my workout.

Wednesday

Core Circuit

Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets

Kettlebell Lateral Lunge
28kg – 25 reps each leg

Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns
190 lbs. – 12 reps

KB Swing Jumps
24kg – 10 jumps

I have been doing some research over at Crossfit.com. One of the things I am going to have to get past is the fact that I often will be the oldest or the biggest, if not both, at the Crossfit class. I need to accept that the being the first to complete might not be realistic and I need to get OK with that. If I am last, then that is what I am.

Going to look into total hip replacement. I took everything I had to dump myself out of the bed onto the floor this morning.

Really worked on trying to come up with a good reason not to go workout this morning. I hurt. I will work harder tomorrow. Who cares if I am fat and weak? That’s what men over 50 are suppose to be like, right? A world of Pillsbury Doughboys. Pale, weak, lots of give when poked. It’s not my fault, it’s society and movies and TV. Oh, and all the fast food places, they are really the ones to blame.

I must have just gone on auto pilot because I found myself at the gym, ready to attempt a Kettlebell workout. Dave wrote three new workouts for the week.

Tuesday
Core Circuit
Circuit – Repeat for 6 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets
Kettlebell Slingshots 32kg – 12 each
Snatch/Overhead Lunge – 16kg – 6 reps each side
Assisted Neutral Grip Pullups #14 – 12 reps

Somehow I did complete everything except for the Crab Walks for the core circuit. Now I am faced with the choice of feeling good for everything I did, or feeling like a failure because I could not push out the Crab Walks.

My hips hurt so bad that it truly took everything to just keep going. I wonder if this is how some people start on the road to ending up in chairs, when you have trouble getting stuff moving in the morning and just decide to not move, to stay in the chair. The next day comes and you do the same thing till that becomes your life and you turn yourself into a prisoner in your own chair.

Pain is an individual thing. We can never really know the amount of pain someone else is experiencing. That’s why I don’t talk about pain. That does not mean it is not there, it just means I don’t talk about it. Of course, except for now.

As I was in the locker room, moaning and groaning and feeling sorry for myself a guy came past me and made a comment about how I was really swinging the kettlebells around this morning. That really came as a shock. In my opinion my workout was a failure. I had not moved as quickly as I should have and I was whining to myself the entire time but in his eyes I was really doing a good job. This guy had seen me workout a hundred times but this was the first time he had ever said anything. That was just interesting to me.

Debbie and I had dinner with Marlene B. from Georgia last night. We had not seen her for years. She was in town visiting family. It was great to visit with her.

A restless night. I was doing Crossfit all night long in my sleep in anticipation of my first class, so I was already exhausted by the time I got there. This morning I needed to be at the Crossfit gym at 6A.

Results for WOD

6am
10 Renegade Row
15 Wall Ball
20 Front Squat
50 Jump Ropes

**4 rounds for time**

Kelly–12:32
Sharon–13:35
Eric–11:00
Terry–16:47
Tomas–18:00
Erica–16:18
Krista–13:26

For the next month I will be doing a Crossfit on Monday and Friday morning and Kettlebell workouts from Dave on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Core Circuit (Done with Kettlebell workouts)– Repeat 3 times with no rest

V-Sit Med Ball Rotations 12lb. Med Ball – 30 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.

Crab Walks with Hip Extension for 3 second hold each 6 steps

16kg McGill Crunches

16kg Sideups, Planks

Rear Shoulder Cable Flyes at Alternating Angles with elbow exercises
25bs. – 4 sets at 12 reps. No rest between sides.

Face Pulls

Tuesday
Core Circuit – see above

Circuit – Repeat for 6 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets

Kettlebell Slingshots
32kg – 12 each

Snatch/Overhead Lunge – 16kg – 6 reps each side

Assisted Neutral Grip Pullups #14 – 12 reps

Wednesday
Core Circuit – same as workout 1

Circuit – Repeat for 5 total sets with 1 minute rest between sets

Kettlebell Lateral Lunge
28kg – 25 reps each leg

Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns
190 lbs. – 12 reps

KB Swing Jumps
24kg – 10 jumps

Thursday
Core Circuit – same as workout 1

Circuit – Repeat for 6 total sets with 1:20 minute rest between sets

Bulgarian Split Squat
32kg – 12 reps each leg

Renegade Rows
24kg – 12 reps each side

Alternating Heavy, Medium, Light – KB Cleans
28kg/24kg/20kg (1 clean each = 1 rep) – 4 reps

Restless night with my back but finally got to sleep. Up early and at the gym at 5A.

Overall good workout this morning. I was happy with this. I did my shoulder flyes, elbow flyes and pulls, face pulls, 20 minute cardio and stretching. Total workout 2 hours 10 minutes.

WORKOUT – CLASS STYLE
Activation
12 lb MB Slams
Egyptians
Alternating Belly Slaps
8kg KB Lunge & Twist
Pink Panther Hip Open

Walks
Lateral Band with 20kg KB Behind Head – 2 x
Swing Walk 24 kg
8 & 12 kg 2 KB Alternating Bottoms Up Press Walk – 2x (switch sides of bells each walk)

Lift Practice
Figure 8’s – 24kg (2 sets x 15ea)
2 KB Offset Bent Rows 24/20 kg (2 sets x 10ea) – fold at waist and do 2 KB’s at once Had trouble with these last time but went fine today
KB Clean, Squat, Press – 24kg (2 sets of 6 ea)

EDT
10 minutes
Offset 2 KB Swings – 24/28kg (5 reps each side = 1 set) This was really heavy for me but I was able to get 10 done

2 minute rest

LADDER
Light/Medium/Heavy Snatch 16/20/24kg (1 ea per side = 1 rep)
(1-5) I kept pushing and got these done. Sneeky way to get in 90 snatches

Core
16kg McGill Crunches
16kg Sideups, Planks

Very little back pain for the last two weeks. This confirms for me that the windmills cause me a real problem. Dave has agreed that there will be no more windmills.