kettlebellguy

Archive for October, 2008

At the gym at 6 for my KB workout. Much warmer than yesterday. No frost.

Here is my workout. I completed 5 sets in 20 minutes. I was pleased with that even though this workout is less than I had been doing.

2 Hand KB Swings 32kg – 15 reps
Bulgarian Split Squat (rear foot up on bench) 28 kg – 6 reps each leg
Assisted Neurtral Grip Pullups #15 – 6 reps

I went to the lab today to have blood drawn for my Doctor checkup next week.

I have gained several pounds and I would not be suprised if my blood results were not as good as last time. I need to get my eating back under control.

At the gym at 6A. Ron and Eric were there so I was not alone, thank goodness.

We did have some fun with the rower. We did 3 sets of 100 meters. I was consistant at 19 seconds each time.

We did the Cindy workout which is:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Air Squats

As many rounds as you can do in 20 minutes.

The bad news is I was last. I know, not a suprise. Ron and Eric left me eating dust.

The good news is that I increased my rounds from 10 on August 3rd to 14 today. That is a good increase and tells me that I actually improving.

Here are the actual results for everyone that did Cindy on Thursday. Perhaps in a couple of months I will be able to have yet another improvement.

Results—rounds & (previous PR)

Charlie–31 + push-ups (30)
Chris–21 + 5 pull-up (20)
Gary–14 (18 scaled)
Wanda–19 +3 pull-up (18)
Caryn–19 + 1 pull-up (16)
Ron–18
Eric–18 (14)
Terry–14 (10)
Riley–22(scaled)
Kayla–22(scaled)
Tylor–22(scaled)

At the gym at 6A and worked for an hour.

Core Circuit
V-Sit Med Ball Rotations 12lb. Med Ball – 30 reps
Crab Walks with Hip Extension for 3 second hold each 6 steps
16kg McGill Crunches
16kg Sideups, Planks
Shoulder Flyes, 4 sets
Face Pulls
Elbow Pulls
Jump Rope

Circuit
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up 6 kg – 5 each side
Kettlebell Snatch 20 kg – 12 each
Kettlebell Slingshots 20 kg – 15 each
Completed 3 sets in 20 minutes. My slow up was the Turkish Get Ups. Two problems. My hips are so sore I just have to go slow getting up and down. My right shoulder is acting up so I did the Turkish Get Ups with the KB in the rack position on the right side. Really sad.

My workout was a disapointment. As least I was moving for an hour.

It snowed on and off all day. Nothing sticking. Winter, one more thing I am not ready for.

Heating gas bill came in yesterday. They popped the variable rate up to $14.05 per cubic foot. I called and was able to get that changed to a fixed rate of $10.87 for the next year. This story of the increased rates made it to the newspaper as a big story.

Today was my first Tuesday morning class. I had been checking out the Crossfitlegacy website and knew that it was not a big class, but still big enough that I might be able to blend into the shadows of all the good performers.

I was a little concerned when I pulled up and saw that only Brian and Jerry were there but I figured that was OK, I am usually early and some times people don’t show until 6 on the dot.

Once I got inside and started talking with Brian and Jerry I started to get a little uncomfortable as it became more and more clear that I might end up being the only athlete performing this morning. As usual in situations like this the rapid breathing and desire to flee started to overcome me. How could this be happening? Although I really did appreciate the opportunity to have a 2 on 1 training session I knew it was going to be even harder than a regular Crossfit session. Short of faking a seizure or heart attack I could not think of a way to get out of this. Talk about performance anxiety.

Here is the WOD

10 Window Wipers(each side)
20 Wall Balls
30 Air Squats
40 Sit-ups
50 Single Jump Ropes

I made two full rounds and the Window Wipers, Wall Balls and Air Squats of round three within the 20 minutes.

The window Wipers were an real challenge. I got throught the first round ok but by the second I could hardly get my legs up. You really have to use your hips and my hips would just not play along. I kept going and although my form was not much, it was the best I had.

I was the best performer of the morning. Nobody else even came close to me. In reality, perhaps the worse performance for anyone at Crossfitlegacy, however, for this morning, as the only athlete, I was a

All the holidays are over for the JCC and I am changing to Tuesdays and Thursdays for Crossfit so I am on a new schedule.

My gym workout this morning was:
Core and activation exercises

Main Circuit:
24 KG Kettlebell Laterial Lunges, 12 each direction
115 lb Rope Pushdowns
115 lb Rope Curl

Time: 18 minutes (completed with only very short rests to grab air)
Number sets completed: 6

I tracked my HR
117 Start
148 End of 1
153 End of 2
146 End of 3
138 End of 4
142 End of 5
149 End of 6

I finished up with a good stretching session.

I also worked on a burpee modification. The video below gave me an idea to take off some of the stress of the squat portion of the burpee. I did this using a weight bench for my hands, I did not do the jump. There are boxes at Crossfit that I can use to try this out tomorrow. I need to find something to make it easier. My burpees are too slow and too painful. Brian even mentioned to me on Saturday that he saw me “tottering” when coming out of my burpee. I am not going to have any of that.

Tottering = lacking security or stability; threatening to collapse; precarious

Here are my planned KB workouts for the week. I will need to make an adjustment because I have already done a Monday workout. I am just putting these here for my reference.

Workouts – Week of 10/27/08

Core Circuit
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

WORKOUT 1
Core Circuit
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up
6 kg – 5 each side
Kettlebell Snatch
20 kg – 12 each
Kettlebell Slingshots
20 kg – 15 each

WORKOUT 2
Core Circuit – same as workout 1
2 Hand KB Swings
32kg – 15 reps
Bulgarian Split Squat (rear foot up on bench)
28 kg – 6 reps each leg
Assisted Neurtral Grip Pullups
#15 – 6 reps

WORKOUT 3
Core Circuit – same as workout 1
Kettlebell Lateral Lunge
24 kg – 15 reps each leg
Rope Biceps Curls
115 lbs. – 11 reps
Rope Triceps Pushdowns
115 lbs. – 11 reps
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns ( machine # 16 )
160 lbs. – 12 reps

9AM and I am back at Crossfitlegacy for the free Saturday morning class.

We had 5 participants.

Here is the workout and results:

10 Med Ball Cleans
10 Burpees
10 Double Unders
***7 Rounds for time***
Results
Chris–15:18(scaled)
Justin–19:14(as Rx’ed)
Terry–17:20(scaled….I did 6 rounds)
Kayla–13:21(scaled)
Tylor–12:42(scaled)
Brian–14:00(as Rx’ed)

As is becoming the norm, any workout with Burpees is a challenge for me. I have not really figured out the problem but they just exhaust me and I really have to push to keep going.

Here is an exciting action shot with Medicine Ball Cleans. To see more action shots from everyone in class just click on the picture. (I need to tell Brian to clean that camera lens)

I do a lot of research on aging and exercise. I have also been researching Crossfit and older adults. I came across a Crossfit workout called “Respect Your Elders”. The basic concept is simply scaling the workout based upon your age. Here is the workout as written:

WOD 4-05-08 “Respect Your Elders” (created by ML)

100 reps minus your age: Air Squats
100 reps minus your age: Walking Lunge
100 reps minus your age: Kettlebell Swing 1 Pood (35#/16KG)
100 reps minus your age: Sit-Up
100 reps minus your age: Push-Up
100 reps minus your age: Wall-Ball 20#/14# OR Thruster 45#/30#
100 reps minus your age: Burpees
100 reps minus your age: Double-Unders

I shared the workout with Brian thinking it would be a fun thing for one of those days where he might be looking for something different. I thought it would be expecially cool when we had a class with a lot of 20 and 30 year olds…..at least fun for me.

I figured maybe some day he would pull it out of his bag of tricks, not expecting that I would get the opportunity to do it so soon or under such strange conditions.

This morning as I pulled up to the gym I noticed the lack of cars. For the past couple of weeks we had been running between 8 and 11 people for class, this morning I saw only two cars belonging to Brian and Jerry, the trainers. I should have been smart enough to turn and run then.

I went in and we talked about where everyone was. I really did not want a class with all the attention on me. Then Eric walked in. I was really glad to see him since there would be at least two of us.

Then something happened that had never happened before. Jerry was doing the warmup with us. What’s this all about? Jerry is a trainer, he never does the workout with us. He must have decided to do it with Eric and I since we had such a small class. But, this is all good. It means Brian will have to watch all three of us meaning I only have to worry 1/3 of the time.

We did our warmup and did a cool team competition on the rowing machine and then it came time for the workout of the day to go up on the board. Brian never puts the workout on the board in advance, it is always a suprise.

“You can all thank Terry for this workout”, I heard Brain say, and my heart sank. Jerry is only 29 so……he had a lot more to do than I did for this workout and he has me to thank for it. I can only trust in Jerry’s good nature for the next time he is my trainer, rather than my classmate. I wonder if it is true what they say about payback?

I heard Jerry saying “Thank You Terry” on each one of his pushups. At least I think that’s what he was saying. I could hear my name for sure but rest was a little garbled.

Here is how Brian adjusted the workout for us:

85 reps minus your age: Air Squats
85 reps minus your age: Walking Lunge
85 reps minus your age: Kettlebell Swing 1 Pood (35#/16KG)
85 reps minus your age: Sit-Up
85 reps minus your age: Push-Up
85 reps minus your age: Wall-Ball 20#/14# OR Thruster 45#/30#
85 reps minus your age: Burpees
85 reps minus your age: Double-Unders (or 3 X your number single)

Results
Terry–18:27(30 reps)
Eric–16:59(40 reps)
Jerry–27:36(56 reps)

I did ok on this workout. My biggest challenge is the burpees. Perhaps if they had been positioned earlier in the routine I would have done better. I got them all done but each and every one was a struggle.

Jerry worked his butt off. I was impressed with his ability to keep going and finish the workout. And as usual Eric confirmed my belief that he is actually a mutant. It was a great morning.

Crossfitlegacy is now offering 6AM classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I am going to switch to Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. I hate to leave my current classmates but this new schedule is going to work better for me.

The holiday’s are over at the JCC for this year so I will be able to get back to a regular KB schedule on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Assuming a couple of extra Crossfits on Saturdays during the month this will make for a complete workout schedule.

Had a long telephone conversation with Dave the Trainer today about my KB workouts and overall fitness plan. WIth my recent back issues, all the holidays at the gym and starting Crossfit I needed to refocus on a path forward.

For the longest time I pushed and pushed to use heavier and heavier KB weight. My desire to accomplish that was a motivation. Along with the heavier weight came more reps. I worked myself to a point where it really was not fun anymore. Once I knew I could lift the heavier weight I lost my drive. The fun was going out of the workouts because I was working so hard.

Dave and I talked about this and with the intensity of the Crossfit workouts we are going to drop my KB weights down. I want to be able to look forward to a workout everyday, not dread them. My purpose, as always, has been to simply be as functional as possible, now and far into the future. I am not training for a sport, I am not going to run a marathon, I am just trying to live everyday. Dave is going to create three workouts for the week and I will decide each morning which one to do in large part based on how I feel and how the previous day in Crossfit went.

I am looking forward to the change next week.

Here is a nice picture of the Crossfitlegacy class from Monday, October 20, 2008.

I felt much better this morning. In fact, I was really suprised. Still a bit of tension in my left hamstring but other than that I was set to go. Hard to believe I had such a recovery from yesterday when I really felt I had come to the end of my Crossfit journey. I asked Eric if he had any extra pain from Saturday’s workout and he mentioned his knees really hurt so that tells me it really was a hard workout and I was not out of my mind.

This morning was hard but I was able to complete. My weight on the deadlifts was scaled down but otherwise I did the full workout.

WOD
20 Deadlift (135lb/95lb)
15 Pull-up
10 Push-up
***5 rounds for time***
Results
Tomas–17:03
Erica–14:12
Matt–17:05
Terry–14:28
Kelly–14:10
Karen–14:30
Eric–17:00
David–14:51(4 rounds)Dave’s first day
Ron–13:07

The JCC is closed again Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I have verified the calendar and I am positive this time that this is the last holiday for awhile. I am anxious to get back on my regular schedule.

We have had frost the last two monrings. My impatients are gone now so I will need to pull them up.