So today marked a rare day of cardio-only exercise:

5 minute warm-up on treadmill
10 minute mile
20 minutes on stationary (reclined) bike average 150 bpm pulse.

Sweat broken, heartrate ramped.

I do not enjoy running at all, which is why the back of my head keeps whispering, “You need to practice running.” I have no desire to get to running every day for long runs (say four plus miles per day). I don’t even want to get into two miles a day running. All I’d like to do is get to the point where I have some confidence in being able to run a mile or two in a decent time - say 16 minutes. And to get to that point, I’ve got a lot of training to do (if I really want to go for it).

We’ll see.

Just did the C8B300 in 18:32. Marks the first time I’ve done this workout in over two months! The last time I did it was on February 19, when I did it in 16:30.

It was rough, which means that I really needed to do it.

Note: was about 19 hours fasted.

Today’s workout started out this morning with 5x20 push-ups superset with 5x20 prisoner squats.

This afternoon, I’m doing supersets of 2x53 lb. kettlebell floor presses and 2x53 lb. kettlebell bentover rows.

10x5 press
8x5 row

The above was just enough to break a light sweat, but clearly not up to my standards for a real “workout.” This past week has been a bit off due to various “excuses,” poor planning (on my part), and some big news.

I’ve been having a good diet week though, which I suddenly wonder if that has anything to do with reduced workouts. Certainly possible.

Hope to get back on track the next few days and weeks! I’m still working on finding my abs, after all!

Did a repeat of the Thrustwingprees 300 workout (TSB300) from February 12^th:

- 100 Single-arm Thrusters, 35 lb. kettlebell (50 per arm, broken down into sets of 20 with a minute rest between each set)

- 100 70 lb. Kettlebell Swings (broken down into sets of 10 with a minute of rest in between)

Elapsed time at this point — 25 minutes on the nose (that includes the jumping jacks).

- 100 Burpees. At this point, goal was to be regimented but mainly going for time efficiency (i.e. as quickly as possible, but regimenting rest).

Total time: 37:40 — I thought I was making terrible time, too, but managed to beat out my time from a month ago by almost four minutes. Woot!

The TSB300 is even more brutal than I remember it. This workout destroys me. As I am typing this, I’ve got sweat runners going everywhere. Totally disgusting. Time to go surprise the wife with a hug*!

Off to a happy hour now. It’s the weekend. Be Active!

*Yeah, right. Do you think I’m crazy?

As an extension of yesterday’s departure from my regular workout norms (See Active Day, 500 Swings, M.E.G., and Positive Addiction 3/4/09), today’s workout was simple, different, fun, and worth working into my more regular workout repertoire.

So what did I do? — I set my watch at 30 minutes, grabbed my wife’s 18 lb kettlebell and just started doing kettlebell drills (i.e. Jeff Martone). The idea was never to let the kettlebell come to rest and to try and not think about the exercises too much. I made it a point not to count repetitions. I stayed as fluid as possible (not always easy to transition between certain kettlebell drills). I made up stuff to do with the bell. More typical drills I incorporated throughout were ATB, Figure-8s, Figure-8 uppercuts, swings, presses, flipping the bell (and pass flips), swinging the bell like a bat, swinging the bell laterally, hot potatoes, etc.

I only dropped the bell twice.

The workout was fun, different, and required little active thought. The concept driving this workout is, like yesterday’s 500 kettlebell swings, to achieve a transcendental or meditative state (a la Glasser’s Positive Addiction) via intense, fundamentally mindless, repetitive, and non-competitive exercise.

Something like today’s haphazard or random kettlebell drills just might accomplish the objective. I definitely managed to “lose myself” intermittently in today’s thirty minute session and the workout felt fast.

Further testing is required.

I followed up the above with 60 seconds (In total, 20/9/11/9/8/3) of frog stands in line with Christopher Sommer’s planche training).

Be active!

Back in a foreign house resorting to a no-equipment workout. Woke up and nearly immediately jumped into the Crazy 8 Bodyweight 300 Cardio Circuit (See Turbulence Training / Craig Ballantyne – try the tag c8b300 below).

Did it in a new record time of 19:24! And all the while I was thinking I was going slow.

On a postive body recomposition note, I’m starting to see some improvement in two telling areas; the skin around my belly button is leaning out (this is a really telling spot, I’ve found) and the distinction between my lower abs and obliques is starting to show a bit more.

This is small progress, but satisfying nonetheless.

Did a 10.4 mile bike stint around the neighborhood – mixed it up from the typical loop, trying different mini-loops out to add a bit of variety to an otherwise routine ride. I can’t seem to recall how long it took though – probably 46 minutes? Something like that.

Did about a 4.8 mile loop today – breaking a sweat – with the wife. Was pretty leisurely in pace at about 29 minutes.

Was nice and enjoyable though!

Filed under “breaking a sweat", I hacky-sacked, practiced hand stands (getting better? Maybe.), and tried out some new kettlebell drills including a Figure-8 to Uppercut KB flip, same but with a hot-potato move, and a swing to flip/catch to push/flip to swing maneuver.

Probably about 45 minutes or so of cardio/activity. Was just what I needed, too. Between my dawgs getting obliterated and the faltering economy (and the post-Saturday carb-binge), I needed a boost!

Did a 10 mile neighborhood loop. First half felt particularly brutal (4.75 miles in 19:30). Total time was right at 44 minutes.