Today was a mix of things, to say the least. This morning, I did Tabata Thrusters with a 35 lb. kettlebell whereby I alternated arms on each set. I managed 10 reps per set for all 8 sets (So 10 reps in 20 seconds, 10 seconds of rest, switch arms, repeat).

Much later, I did 10x10 full body weights with dumbbells:

10x10 of:

35 lb. dumbbell front squats
35 lb. dumbbell bench press
35 lb. dummbell bent over row
Rest 1 minute

And 10x10 of:

10 lb. dumbbell lateral raises
15 lb. dumbbell curls
40 lb. single dumbbell overhead tricep extension
2x50lb. calf raises

Finished up with low intensity (avg. 115 bpm heart rate) stationary biking while I watched the full-length “Imaginationland” South Park from Season 11. That’s about an hour, eight minutes of low intensity cardio.

So yeah, today was a little over the top, but I had a lot of energy to burn, so it sort of evens out. Was an interesting experiment in excess, as well.

And I feel good – yay for endorphins!

Similar to yesterday, I did a cardio circuit – this time the standard C8B300. Took me a whopping 18 minutes to complete … I’m guessing b/c I had pigged out about 30 minutes prior to working out.

Rested about an hour.

Then, I made up my own cardio circuit – one that requires kettlebells. Here’s what I did:

Jog in place for 60 reps whereby both knees go up per rep
20 alternating kettlebell swings, flipping at each switch, 35 lb. kettlebell
20 split squats (10 per leg whereby one leg is bent back, resting on the bed while the other leg handles the squat)
10 ATB uppercuts (w/a flip) – 35 lb. kettlebell
60 second plank
20 air squats
10 35 lb. kettlebell swing/flip/press/flip/swing
10 70 lb. kettlebell swings
Rest 1 minute

Repeat for three total iterations.

Time: 18:01. Sweating hard. Good cardio circuit (And a nice change/use of existing equipment).

My Xmas day workout was a weights workout done in the slow-burn, super slow rep fashion. This meant no more than one set per exercise and each set having only around five reps. Five extremely slow and controlled reps of an exercise makes for one hell of a burn. Here were the exercises I did:

Pull-ups
Bent-over rows using 70 lb. kettlebell (both arms at once)
Curls using 25 lb. dumbbell
Dumbbell bench press using my two 53 lb. kettlebells
Dips
Tricep extensions @ both arms on one 53 lb. kettlebell
Front squats @ two 53 lb. kettlebells
Dead-lifts where I grabbed one 53 lb. and one 70 lb. kettlebell
Leg curls using a yoga ball

After, I did 20 minutes on a stationary bike as it was raining outside, which barred me from using my real bike.

By way of a progress update, I seem to be making some solid progress on the fat loss. Per the trusty (?) calipers, I’ve lost a bit over 2 mm on the abdomen fold, a bit over two on the obliques, a couple off the chest and a couple off the midaxillary – this is as compared with Dec 9. My weight is down about 3 lbs since then though apparently my lean mass has stayed effectively the same. This marks a change from about 11% to about 9%.

The 9% reading is corroborated by the body fat charts in Protein Power (Waist circumference minus wrist circumference). I’m currently at 24.5 (31.5 waist minus 7.0 wrist @ 173 lbs puts me between 8 and 9% per the tables).

I’m realizing more and more how dieting down to a “six pack,” though entirely possible and my ultimate goal, is very difficult. For example, I’ve found that adding in cardiovascular work tends to be offset by overeating at meals. I am still convinced that intermittent fasting is a key component to making this work – it’s just nearly impossible to overcome the caloric deficit created by skipping three meals twice per week plus working out, even as both will spur overeating at times.

I have no doubt being so meticulous about tracking my results (or going to the extremes of working out almost daily) may come off as slightly (or a lot) neurotic. I can’t argue with the borderline-obsessive-dedication it (apparently) takes to lean out. Mind, I went from giving up on being lean (writing it off as impossible) to believing that I can accomplish this goal. Thus, I’m now trying to prove something to myself, and anytime you start working that hard at accomplishing any goal, it is bound to become a bit crazy/obsessive. So be it.

About 26 or 27 hours fasted, I did the C8B300 in 16:54. I feel I’m reaching some lower limit of speed on this cardio circuit as I scarcely rested (i.e. I took only a couple of paused breaths here in there). I bet with some fine-tuning I can get it to 16 minutes flat, but that is gonna be pushing it.

Afterwards, I rested probably three minutes or so and then did 15x3 single-arm kettlebell rows @ 35 lb kettlebell supersetting with 10x3 single-arm kettlebell presses (i.e. lying on the ground) @ 35 lb. kettlebell.

Then did 15 upright rows x 3 (@ 35 lb. kettlebell with both arms) and 15 military presses (@ same).

Finished off with 100 double-arm 35 lb. kettlebell swings. I broke this into three sets of 50 / 25 / 25.

Total workout time was around 43 minutes.

Today’s workout was:

10x5 of the Burpees, High-pulls (53lb kettlebell) and Thrusters (@ 1 53lb kettlebell) – so 50 of each. Time to completion was right about 21 minutes.

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.

Clearly I’ve been doing a lot of this Crazy 8 Bodyweight 300 Cardio Circuit, but I guess it’s because it is a solid, formulaic workout that ramps up my heartrate and forces me, by the very nature of the exercises being back-to-back without rest, to push myself.

Tonight, I mixed it up a bit though. Here was the single round:

• 100 jump ropes (subbed for 60 jumping jacks)
• 20 spider-man push-ups
• 20 35 lb. kettlebell swings (subbed for lunges)
• 20 spider-man climbs
• 45 second wall squat
• 60 second plank
• 5 burpees
• 50 high knees
• One minute rest and repeat for three times total

Took 21:26 to complete. Afterwards, rested one more minute and then did ten minutes on a stationary bike at a medium-ish intensity. I was pretty wiped at this point. Overall, the jump ropes and swings seemed to be good substitutes though kettlebell swings are both a great deal more explosive than walking lunges and also utilize some upper-body stability muscles. On the other hand, jumprope, though requiring more coordination, requires less upper body work and I’d guess fewer total muscles all around.

I really need to find some other Ballantyne bodyweight circuits. I like this one (obviously) despite it being anything-but-fun. It’s meditative in its simplicity and rigor, which is a thing of exercise beauty!

Still on the road for the weekend, so did the C8B300 again. This is not what I’d call a “fun” workout – it is very intense and there is little resting. However, this combo makes for an intense, speedy workout that gets the job done. I’m also getting a bit better at it, apparently, as I finished it today a minute faster than on Friday – 20:51.

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!

Finally road Deep Step out at FATS today. It was awesome and is my new favorite trail. What makes it so great?

- Start to finish is probably 5.8 miles (From South Trailhead – I say “probably” b/c I didn’t return to the the trailhead after finishing the loop – and I was at 5.6 miles at the time). This makes Deep Step the most accessible trail.

- Deep Step is fun like Brown Wave but you don’t have to ride out two miles to get to it. Big, big plus.

Only drawbacks are the “climbs", but the climbs make the downhill parts that much more fun. And again, the “pain” of climbing is easily made up for by the proximity of Deep Step to the trailhead. Seems like it’d be a fun 11.5 mile ride to just do Deep Step twice in either direction (BTW I did it CCW which folks have told me is the better way to ride it).

After Deep Step, I rode Great Wall clockwise as I have only previously ridden it CCW. This was not fun, honestly. I got really tired of it after about four miles and Great Wall is so damn technical, not all that fast, and outright long – my total ride by the time I finished was 13.4 miles. Most of that was on the boring Great Wall – probably won’t try this ride again.