In the “breaking a sweat” category, I did a fasted 5 mile circuit on my mountain bike this morning. Managed it in 21:16, which is an average speed of 14.3 mph — not too bad! Compare to my other recent times (i.e. 52 minutes for 10 miles or 23 minutes for 5). Was a nice intraday workout. One thing I’m trying to figure out is how to incorporate more “activity” in my otherwise sedentary day (this would be stuff in addition to HIIT/SFP or CrossFit/weight-lifting).

The official CrossFit workout today looked good, but I’m a little sore from the past couple of days (1) and (2) Wednesdays at CF Augusta are BJJ nights, which makes for a busy crowd. Given the complexity of today’s official WOD (two stations for bench and back squats required), I’m opting to do it tomorrow, instead.

So what did I do? A bit of a kettlebell workout, which I hadn’t done recently.

On tap (All performed with one 53 lb. kettlebell unless otherwise noted):

• 50 around the body passes to warm-up
• 3x10 single leg dead lifts
• 1x4 straight military press, 2x8 push press
• 10 cleans

Then …

Awhile back, I read over on Gym Jones about breathing ladders. From Mark Twight:

The movement must be “big” e.g. Kettlebell (or dumbbell) Snatch, KB/DB Swing, Thruster, Power Clean. The point here is oxygen consumption and efficiency. Big movements cause a great oxygen demand. Pull-ups do not work because the muscle mass is too small to create significant O2 demand before muscle acidity and fatigue cause work to cease. Once the movement is chosen structure load and reps to achieve one of the following two outcomes:

#1: Use a rep/load/movement structure to cause a state of “panic breathing” that teaches breath control and efficient recovery in fixed/limited time. When the combination of reps/load/movement is well matched the Breathing Ladder will force the athlete to quit. If the outcome is any different, the intensity of one of those characteristics was insufficient. The “panic breathing-inducing” style of Breathing Ladder should last around 20-30 minutes. For most athletes this appears to be the time frame at which the accumulation of a variety of factors causes O2 demand to overrun the supply chain. Longer periods in the panic-breathing zone are obtained by conscious manipulation of panic through breath control, resulting in a calm state of mind and ultimately more efficient recovery under stress.

#2: Use rep/load/movement structure to trick the athlete into doing a lot of volume that teaches efficient recovery without causing the athlete to panic-breathe. If mentally resilient enough to keep going this can be quite an endurance effort using what one would not normally consider an endurance movement. When rep/load/movement structure is matched to the individual athlete Breathing Ladders done in this way should last a minimum of 30 minutes. Using this “trick” one individual did eleven ladders from 1-10 in 1:26:55 during which time he did 605 Thrusters with 2x 20# DBs. Despite the huge volume, the varied and lengthy rest periods combined with the hyper-oxygenation of the skeletal muscles during the work interval, prevent this type of breathing ladder from causing significant soreness.

The whole technique is fairly complex, and requires some more studying on my part. Regardless, my implementation was using two-hand kettlebell swings (again 53 lb. kettlebell):

2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18 (Total of 90 reps)

I failed to time it, but I’d guess it took around nine minutes to complete.

As a cooldown, did 50 more around the bodys. Then, to further cool down, I grabbed my second 53 lb. kettlebell and just stood up, a kettlebell in each hand, and did the reverse ladder by breaths (Basically a steady-state hold that worked biceps, traps and forearms).

All in all, was a satisfying workout.