Warm-up:

With a 35 lb. kettlebell,
Figure-8s/ATB for 1 min
Figure-8/ATB uppercut flips for 1 min
Single-arm KB swings for 1 min
Rest 1 minute
Repeat for 2 rounds

Workout:

6 slow reps 2x53 lb. kettlebell press (i.e. lying on my back on the ground, say 5 seconds up / 5 down)
10 decline push-ups, fast-pace
5 negative push-ups

rest

5 slow reps 2x53 lb. kb bent over row (i.e. sort of a dead-lift position with a bell per arm, bent over keeping back parallel to the ground)
10 reps 35 lb. single-arm kb rows
6 negative reps 35 lb. single-arm kb rows w/ 35 lb. kb

rest

4 reps slow reps 2x53 lb. kb military press
5 reps single-arm 35 lb. kb military press
5 negative reps single-arm 35 lb. kb military press

rest

5 slow reps 70 lb. kb upright row
10 reps 53 lb. kb upright row
5 negative reps 53 lb. kb upright row

rest

2 minute left side plank
rest 30 seconds
2 minute right side plank
rest 30 seconds
2 minute front plank
rest 30 seconds
45 second decline front plank (feet elevated on a chair)

That last plank was intended to be two minutes, but my abs and lower back were on fire, yelling at my brain to stop, so I listened. No reason to risk injuring my core!

Total workout time: (including warm-up) was approximately 47 minutes.

Method: The idea behind the above workout set-up is one “set” to exhaustion by way of employing three different repetition styles — slow-reps/slow-burn at high weight; fast reps, high-intensity, lower weight; negatives.

I had a good afterburn effect on a similar routine last week. We’ll see how this one scores on the sore-spectrum tomorrow.

Psychological note: I was having a hard time motivating myself to workout today. The more I lean out past a certain point, the harder my body seems to fight back, which makes incremental improvement painfully slow. It’s easy to start discouraging and want to just say “I give up!” But I’m not gonna. Not yet, anyway.

Afterthought 1: I wonder if “motivating myself” is just a distraction — a technique of time-wasting procrastination. Most times, I’m better off just starting: the motivation will come soon enough thereafter.

Afterthought 2: On the other hand, simple workout boredom can make me not want to workout. Sure there are a billion workout routines I could pursue using bodyweight, kettlebells, or just making stuff up. But like the kid who only orders the Chicken Finger basket from Applebee’s, sometimes it’s hard to break old habits and think outside the humdrum routines.

Prior to working out, walked probably a mile-and-a-half with the wife.

Today, did this Turbulence Training a.k.a. Craig Ballantyne cardio circuit called the “Crazy 8 bodyweight 300 cardio circuit” – C8B300 for short. It’s billed as a cardio workout and reminds me a lot of the more cardio-aimed CrossFit workouts. Rusty over at Fitness Black Book brought it to my attention the other day. Here are the details:

1. 60 Jumping Jacks: Done as fast as possible, but make sure you do full jumping jacks.
2. 15-20 Spiderman Pushups: I'm just doing normal pushups until they become too easy. Typically it is a breeze for me to do 40+ pushups, but it is much tougher when you do these with zero rest in between jumping jacks.
3. Walking Lunges: I take 20 steps total. This is the easiest part of the workout in my opinion.
4. Spiderman Climb: I do a total of 20 of these (10 per side) I really feel these in my abs and obliques.
5. Wall Squat: Do for 45-60 seconds. This hurts! Don't rest your hands upon your legs, since it makes it easier.
6. Planks: Do for 60 seconds. Tough after doing all these other exercises without rest.
7. 5 Burpees: Make sure and do a full pushup at the bottom and explode as high as pssible at the top into a jump. I'm still kind of uncoordinated with these…probably because I'm "smoked" at this point!
8. High Knees: Done as fast as possible. Do 50 total. I just count when my right leg hits the ground for 25. It is hard to count both legs for 50 since you are going fast. You will be dying about 1/2 way through.

Notes: Each exercise is done back-to-back with zero rest in between. You will want to rest, but immediately hit the next exercise. After this 8 exercise circuit is done, rest exactly 60 seconds. I usually run over to the microwave and set the timer. Those 60 seconds will feel like 15-20 seconds. Do this circuit 1 more time. Don't add in the 3rd one until you are ready.

The spider-man routines are totally new to me, so I did my best to do them right. However, I know my form needs some practice. Also, Craig says the static wall squat is a 45 second manouever.

Here’s Craig providing examples of each exercise:

Final note, I couldn’t quite add it up to 300: I think the closest I got was 295 (note this is per round, so you really do close to 900 total reps/second-holds).

Took me 24:30 (resting a minute between the rounds). Was a solid workout that really ramped my heartrate and made me break a sweat. Amazingly, Ballantyne actually suggests you do 15 minutes at highest intensity cardio afterwards to top it off. Yikes! I’m passing on that this time around.

One thing I really like about it is that you can do this practically anywhere. You only need enough space to do push-ups and jumping jacks (assuming you could just sub doing the lunges-in-place).

Glad to add it to my repertoire!

Today’s “workout” arose out of boredom with the regular workouts I’ve been doing as well as it being so damn cold outside that I have little desire to go outside and workout!

Plus I’m fasting.

So today, I just did a bunch of static holds: like a minute holding a push-up at mid-down, squatting against a wall, holding a squat for a minute, holding an 18 lb kettlebell at the uppermost point of a row for a minute. Ended it all with two minute planks on each side (obliques) then one front plank.

As a sidenote, I probably snuck in about 30 - 40 pull-ups throughout the day.

The workout this evening consisted of 10 sets of 10 (10 second planks):

• Push-ups
• Jumping pull-ups and chin-ups
• Air squats
• Lunges (5 per side per set)
• Ball planks

Total time to completion was about 32 minutes.

Did the HQ WOD and actually went to CrossFit Augusta (hadn’t been all week). The WOD today was “Grace", which is thirty 135 lb. clean and jerks. I scaled to 95 lbs. and rocked it out in 4:51.

Did the CF warmup, too.

A quick workout in the “mansion” here in Olympia.

10 push-ups, climb two flights of stairs, 10 push-ups

5 rounds

10 air squats, 10 lunges

5 rounds

Didn’t break a sweat but definitely got an awesome chest/leg burn. Whole thing probably only took 15 minutes. Might try and squeeze in some planks later, but then again, might not!

Update: Did the plank routine.

All of the below were conducted in a fasted state. My last meal was lunch yesterday.

Early afternoon — plank routine:

• 2 minutes per side, side plank
• 2 minutes regular plank
• Repeat regular plank for two minutes.

Here are two pictures of planks: side plank hits the obliques and regular hits the midsection/back. Pretty simple concept — great core workout:

Then, around 5:30pm I did CrossFit “Cindy” at CrossFit Augusta. Cindy is:

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats
• As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

I completed 12 rounds plus an extra five pull-ups. I think this is one round more than last time. Yeah, not great, but not terrible either.

Finally, got home and decided to do a bit of weighted walking — walked three-quarters of a mile wearing my Camelbak, which I stuffed full of water as well as an 18 lb. kettlebell making for about a 25 pound pack. I was going for the low-intensity post-workout fat burn/cooldown as I just advocated on the main blog here.

Not sure if its adrenaline or what, but I feel sort of fired up right now. About to hop in the shower — making it a cold one, at that!

The official WOD today was a bunch of snatches and pull-ups. I did snatches Monday and my shoulder was feeling like it needed a break. Even still, almost went anyway until I realized I had forgotten my gloves. Yeah, yeah sounds like a poor excuse, but the 90 pull-ups the WOD required would have ripped my hands up - DO NOT WANT.

So, I took a semi-rest day and just made an effort to break a sweat.

Here’s how:

• Took my 128oz CamelBak and filled it up with water, which added between nine and ten pounds of weight.
• 5 strict pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 20 breath plank
• 5 rounds
• Did two to three negatives on pull-ups and push-ups to round it out

I broke a sweat no problem! So mission accomplished.

Here’s a pic of my “weighted vest":

Taking a day off from full-on CrossFit in anticipation of hitting it up tomorrow and Saturday (So this week, it’ll be two on, day off, two-on).

I’ve got some pent up energy though, so I did a mini-workout here at home:

• 10 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 20 breath plank
• Five rounds

Short and sweet and easy on my legs, which are quite sore from yesterday’s WOD.

Still going to head out for a walk in a few minutes.

Blogged over on the main blog:

Synchronized Burpees:

2 minute plank
50 53 lb. kettlebell swings
2 minute plank
50 lunges
2 minute plank
50 burpees
2 minute plank
Time: 21 minutes

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