Jim vs. Death by Kettlebell Snatch

I’m tempted to consider my vacation workouts as a “light workout week”. Then I do something like this, and become slightly less tempted.

“Death by Kettlebell Snatch”
With a continuously running clock do one Kettlebell Snatch the first minute, two Kettlebell Snatches the second minute, three Kettlebell Snatches the third minute… continuing as long as you are able. Alternate hands each minute.

I got through 13 full full rounds, plus 8 reps on the 14th. That’s a big improvement over last time, but then last time I did this as the second half of a workout instead of as the whole thing. Also, my dumbbell today was only around 50lbs. Still, I feel pretty good about this, especially since it’s still my “light” week.

EDIT: Oh, and as my cash-out, I helped move an old school tube TV that Eric’s housemate was selling. Woo hoo, practical strength!

Jim vs. Deadlifts, Death by Kettlebell Snatch

Well, dumbbell snatch. Damnable Teagle. But first, deadlifts!

355 x 3
320 x 4
290 x 5

Again, this seems like a good place to be working. I’m not able to get more than 3 and 4 reps, respectively, on the first two sets, so I’ll keep easing up the weight on the third set until that changes. And at some point, I need to test for a new PR.

“Death by Kettlebell Snatch”
With a continuously running clock do one Kettlebell Snatch the first minute, two Kettlebell Snatches the second minute, three Kettlebell Snatches the third minute… continuing as long as you are able. Alternate hands each minute.

Teagle, as noted above, has no kettlebells; I used a 52.5lb dumbbell. I got through ten full rounds, plus eight more snatches in round #11. I did this one eighteen months ago with a 50lb dumbbell and only got through nine rounds plus seven. So, y’know, improvement.

Still want some kettlebells, though.

Jim vs. Power Cleans, Push-ups, DB Snatches, Double Unders

Really needed to get back into the swing of things today, and CF Ithaca provided some programming that was a bit unusual for me. Which, frankly, was perfect.

Power Clean – CrossFit style max. Starting with an empty barbell, you’ll have 15 minutes to perform a heavy single Power Clean.

Hadn’t done this kind of max before, and I’m not sure I paced myself all that well. I ended up doing 45 – 95 – 115 – 135 – 145 – 155(fail) – 155 – 160(fail) – 160(fail).  That 155 ties my PR  from over a year ago, and I can’t help but wonder if the 160 would’ve gone up on my 4th or 5th set, rather than my 8th and 9th. A lesson for next time, perhaps; I may use this format for finding my max again at some point.

Then, an oddly structured metcon:

2 rounds for reps of:
30 seconds max push-ups
15 seconds rest
1 min max db snatches, left hand
30 seconds rest
1 min max right hand
30 seconds rest
2 min max double unders
1 min rest

My results on this one were pretty good, all told: 32-23 on push-ups, 19-14 on the left-handed DB snatches, 18-15 on the right, and 15-12 on the double unders.  Those 32 push-ups were all in one go, which is a new PR, and I was doing the single-single-double thing for the DUs which made for a lot more work (and at least one occasion of me smacking myself across the face with the rope).

All in all, a good day at the gym.