Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 8 Day 3

I didn’t want to do this, but I damn sure wanted to be done.

1/2 mile run

Turkish get-up + windmill, 5 x 1/1

KB goblet squats, 5 x 8

For time:
Push-ups x 100
Recline ring rows x 100

1/2 mile run

I noticed that nothing in this workout’s write-up required that I do all the push-ups in the fourth part prior to doing any of the ring rows. So I broke them each up 40-30-20-10, and finished the whole thing in 9:08. It did not feel like cheating, and I got some cardiovascular fatigue in with the muscle fatigue.

And so, that’s it. The eight-week kettlebell/bodyweight hybrid program is done. I really enjoyed it, and if nothing else I’m much more comfortable with the kettlebell movements than I was two months ago.

Now to get re-acquainted with the barbells.

Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 7 Day 3

I’m not sorry to see Week 7 go.

1/2 mile run

Turkish get-up + windmill, 4 x 1/1

KB goblet squats, 5 x 6

For time:
Push-ups x 80
Recline ring rows x 80

1/2 mile run

Good news was, I was getting my hand much closer to the ground on the left-handed windmills. The rough stuff came in that timed portion: it took me 9:35 to  finish, and only 2:23 was spent knocking out 80 push-ups. The rest was the ring rows, and they were just brutal. Not in a cardio way, but in the muscle fatigue way. Glad I pushed through it, though.

Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 6 Day 2

Back to it.

Get-up + windmill, 5 x 1/1
Kettlebell thrusters, 15-10-5
Kettlebell renegade rows, 3 x 6/6
Knees-to-elbows x 25
Run 1 mile

No problems at all, really, beyond the get-up + windmills, which I frankly expected. Judd gave me the tip of turning my feet in the direction I was bending on the windmill, and it helped a lot. The right-handed ones were even smoother, and while I still couldn’t get all the way down left-handed, this helped me pinpoint the issue: unsurprisingly, it’s my left shoulder. With that in mind, I just tried to get a little lower each rep, and that worked well.

 

Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 5 Day 2

This was wasn’t as bad. Not easy, mind, just not as bad. Except for the one part.

Get-up + windmill, 4 x 1/1
Kettlebell thrusters, 12-8-4
Kettlebell renegade rows, 3 x 5/5
Knees-to-elbows x 20
Run 0.75 miles

All of this went very well except for the get-up + windmills: I simply couldn’t get my right hand down to the floor when my left hand was holding the bell over my head. Not sure if the issue was strength, flexibility, or what… but it wasn’t happening.

But bringing out a 35lb dumbbell to balance the bell out on the thrusters worked very well, and the renegade rows went much better than they did last week (though admittedly these lacked the push-up portion of the combo). Enough for me, today.

Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 4 Day 2

Not much to sy about this one.

Turkish get-ups, 2 per side, nonstop for 54 minutes

Supersets x 3 of:
1-arm KB snatches x 5/5
1-arm KB clean & press x 5/5
1-arm KB row x 5/5

KB front squats, 3 x 6-8 (8-8-8)

Supersets x 2 of:
Recline ring rows x max (11-6)
Push-ups x max (27-16)
Knees-to-elbows x max (6-4)

I bumped up everything I’d planned to: one more minute of TGUs, sets of 5 on the KB Olympic stuff, using the 53 for the squats. On top of that, I squeezed out a couple more push-ups and KTEs. I’ll take it.

Jim vs. Kettlebell Workout, Week 3 Day 2

This one felt oddly short. Still left me sucking wind and sweating, though.

Turkish get-ups, 2 per side, nonstop for 4 minutes

Supersets x 3 of:
1-arm KB snatches x 4/4
1-arm KB clean & press x 4/4
1-arm KB row x 4/4

KB front squats, 3 x 6-8 (8-8-8)

Supersets x 2 of:
Recline ring rows x max (11-6)
Push-ups x max (27-14)
Knees-to-elbows x max (5-3)

Oof, this one hit even harder than I thought: halfway through writing this, I needed to lie down. Still room for improvement, next time: one more minute of TGUs, sets of 5 on the KB Olympic stuff, using the 53 for the squats, etc. But that’s next week.

Jim vs. Weighted Hip Thrusts, Turkish Get-Ups

You can’t tell from my post about it, but Helen really left me wrecked on Saturday; it just didn’t hit me fully until after I’d made that post. We’re talking down on the floor, cold towel on my head kinda wrecked. Ugh.

So, yesterday was a rest day, and today I went in and did some strength work, albeit not my normal kind of strength work.

Weighted hip thrusts
115 x 10
115 x 10
115 x 10

Bumped the weight up on this, and really felt it. I had to do more re-adjusting mid-set than usual, but I got through it.

Turkish get-ups
20 x 2
30 x 2
40 x 2
35 x 2
25 x 2

I changed these up a bit, too: each set was one rep right-handed, one rep left-handed. Not sure about the weights I chose, though: while the middle sets were damned tough, sets #1 and #5 felt very, very easy. I should do 30-35-40-37.5-32.5 next time, mayhap.

Jim vs. Power Cleans, Turkish Get-Ups

Some of yesterday’s misery stuck with me til today, and combined with the growing and stifling heat in Teagle, I felt like crap going into this workout.

Power clean x 2, on the minute for 10 minutes

I only used 125, which is pretty light, but I was still soaked with sweat by the end of this. (Did I mention feeling cruddy? How about the heat?)

I didn’t go so easy on myself with the Turkish get-ups, however:

25 x 1
25 x 1
45 x 1
40 x 1
30 x 1

Set #3 is 90% of my max, and this was some rough going. Got it done, though.

Jim vs. Turkish Get-Ups

I finally realized there was a “pure” strength workout I could do at home!

Turkish get-ups
24 x 5
24 x 5
24 x 5
24 x 5
24 x 5

I put “pure” in quotes because damn if I wasn’t sweaty and out of breath at the end of this one, even using only 24lbs. I’m tempted to find some 1.25lb plats for the dumbbells I got from my parents’ house a month or so back and do some kind of TGU linear progression over the time the Teagle’s closed. Good stuff.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Turkish Get-Ups

Thought I’d change things up a bit.

Shoulder press
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5

Well, OK, I’ve been doing shoulder press for weeks. But the weight went up!

The big change was eschewing back squats; I set a new 3RM last week, and I’m gonna stay fresh for some work on either front or overhead squats later in the week. Instead, I did Turkish get-ups:

45 x 2
40 x 3

One change from the usual: instead of doing that number of reps each side, I just did the first set with my right hand, the second with my left. That went easier on my shoulder, and I’m gonna see if I get better results when I’m able to do true 1-2, 2-3, or 3-4 reverse pyramids, rather than being locked into 2-4, 4-6, or (gods preserve me)  6-8.