Warm-up was one round of C8B300 (Get heart rate up, took about 5 minutes).

Workout:

5x5 Single-arm push press, 70 lb. kettlebell
Rest 2 minutes between each set

5x5 Single-arm row, 70 lb. kettlebell
Rest 2 minutes between each set

5x10 press (on the floor), 2x53 lb. kettlebell
Rest 2 minutes between each set

5x5 single-leg dead-lift, 2x53 lb. kettlebell
Rest 2 minutes between each set

I had no idea how much harder the dead-lifts would be using two 53 lb. kettlebells as compared to last Friday when I used one 70 lb. kettlebell. Major difference in exertion and balancing.

Warmed up with 5 rounds of 30/30 KB drills – ATBs, ATB lunges, ATB uppercuts, alternating swings, and one more round of regular ATBS: all with a 53 lb kettlebell.

Rested about two minutes.

Then, the following superset in 5x5 fashion with a minute of rest in between each superset:

• Double KB push press @ 53 lb. kettlebell
• Double KB bent over row @ 53 lb. kettlebell

Rest a minute or two, then the following superset combo:

• Double KB dead-lift 5x5
• Double KB front squat 5x4

The lower body part of this workout was particularly intense, so I ended up taking a few breaths between the two exercises. I really don’t enjoy front squats … damn if they weren’t such a good exercise!

I had contemplated ending with the C8B300 and started off doing the jumping jacks. They went ok. It was when I started doing the spider-man push-ups that I realized I was totally gassed. Thus, I finished by doing 5 rounds of 30 seconds work / 30 seconds rest of farmer walks with both 53 lb. kettlebells.

Pretty good weight-lifting workout!

I’ll start by saying that I was not wanting to workout today – I’m going to chalk this up to being about 38 hours fasted and/or being in a foreign house and/or just being lazy.

Anyway, I worked out despite it all – a breaking-a-sweat sort of workout:

Single sets:

• 10x 53 lb kettlebell push press (single-arm set per arm)
• 8x 53 lb kettlebell row
• 8x 53 lb kettlebell single-leg dead-lift
• 5x single leg squat

That was my warm-up of sorts.

Then, I did on the minute kettlebell high pulls with the 53 lb. kettlebell – 7x per arm (14 high-pulls per minute set) – 10 sets.

Total time couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes, but was enough to get the heart pumping and break a sweat.

Good enough for me (today).

Warm-up with five minutes of kettlebell drills with the baby kettlebell (18 lb. kettlebell - ATB uppercut/flip, swing and flips, ATB lunges, swing catch/push swing, ATB hot potato).

Then, the following 5x5 superset:

- Weighted dips with 53 lb. kettlebell
- Kettlebell rows with 53 lb. kettlebell

Next superset was:

- Military press (tending to push press) with one 53 lb. kettlebell per arm (Three sets doing both arms at once – last two sets alternating arms)
- Upright row (using only one 53 lb kettlebell)

Next superset:

- Hammer curls using 18 lb. kettlebell. Note that the handle makes these really good due to the leverage you can get. Also, assuming you aren’t resting the kettlebell on your forearm (thus trying to get leverage), you get a solid forearm workout free.
- Overhead tricep extensions with same KB (leverage a bit trickier to pull off here)

Final superset:

- Pistols (man I hate these)
- Double kettlebell dead lift

Ended with a one-minute plank.

Pretty good workout!

My workout today was completed during the 29^th hour of a fast. And before I get into it, I noticed that this fast was very easy — definitely easier than the last two (from last week). I’m guessing my body has flipped back into being adept at fat-burning, but who knows.

So on to the workout. Today I did something a bit different — I did only one set of every exercise, with each rep taking a count of 10 on the positive and 10 on the negative. This was an attempt at “slow burn” or slow lifting. The gist is just that you do all your reps very, very slowly with the intention of only doing one set per exercise.

Here’s how this translated into actual work completed:

• 3 reps pull-ups, two negatives
• 3 reps hanging from the dip bars (like a reverse dip with my legs elevated a bit)
• 3 reps dips, two negatives
• 3 reps push-ups, two negatives
• 3 reps isolated curls with 18 lb kettlebell, two negatives
• 3 reps military press with 18 lb kettlebell, two negatives
• 3 reps tricep extension (over heard, two hands)
• 3 reps 53 lb kettlebell fron squat
• 3 reps 53 lb dead lift
• 1 minute plank
• Hanging oblique raises - 3 per side

Slow reps are very painful and can really get your heart rate going. What I really liked out of all these exercises (as much as you can “like” pain in slow motion), were the squats and dead lifts. The slowness really made me think about my form and the tension due to the lack of momentum felt good.

Did the following on kettlebells:

• 5 minutes of KB drills using the 18 lb kettlebell (ATB flipping uppercuts, swing to catch to press to swing, single arm kb swings with a flip/catch, ATB uppercuts, AT
• 3x10 double KB (53lb) dead lifts
• 3x8 double KB (53lb) push press
• 3x5 per arm single KB (53lb) snatch
• 5x5 on the minute double KB (53lb) swings
• Stationary biking for about 10 - 15 minutes to cool down

Rested a minute between all sets except the double kettlebell swings.

Today marked my first day back in the CrossFit gym in about three weeks. Being a Friday, it was blissfully empty. Headquarters WOD was “rest day", so John suggested we take a stab at “Linda.” For the record, the prescribed Linda WOD is:

“Linda”

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:

Deadlift: 1 1/2 body weight
Bench press: body weight
Clean: 3/4 body weight

As applied to me, that would mean a total of 55 repetitions Dead lift @ 255 lbs; Benchpress @ 170 lbs; Clean @ 127.5 lbs.

Right. I’m pretty sure my dead lift max to date is 255. And the same would likely be true on bench press. As for cleans, well the truth is that I’m a clean noob. I bet I could clean 125 once or twice, but as rx’ed? Not possible.

So here’s how I did Linda:

Deadlift: 135
Bench: 135
Clean: 65

Linda “light” as I am calling it. Took me approximately 26 minutes to complete. Wasn’t fun but probably could have done my cleans at 75 or 85, added another ten pounds to my bench and probably another twenty pounds to my dead lift. Next time!

Writing this up on Sunday, my hamstrings, back and chest are all thoroughly sore, so must have been a solid workout, regardless.

Here was my kettlebell WOD this morning:

• 50 dead lifts @ 2x53 pound kettlebells (1.5 pood / 24 kg)
• 50 push press per arm, 1.5 pood kettlebell
• 50 upright rows, 1.5 pood kettlebell (i.e. grab the 53 lb. kettlebell and, standing straight up, with both hands on the handle, lift the kettlebell to your chin)
• 50 kettlebell front squats, 1.5 pood kettlebell
• Five 30 yard farmer walks carrying both 53 pound kettlebells

Took about 35 minutes. Did a couple regular planks afterwards. Definitely a good sweat break and a nice KB workout for a Saturday!