Ceejbot

My rowing form slowly improves.

Today’s theme was slightly intense cardio intervals paired with much mellower single-muscle exercises. I did 3 sets of each of these pairs:

2 min jogging (fastest pace 6mph)
12 dips, bodyweight offset by foot placement

2 min stair mill at level 8 (moderately fast)
20 backward lunges, alternating legs

20 rows on a machine set to 60lbs
500m rowing at a pace faster than 2:30

Rowing is one of those intense exercises that really pays off the time you spend on it. Running is just your legs. Rowing is your whole body: legs, arms, back, shoulders, core. I concentrated on my form on the third round, because I was blown out and tired and not sure I could make the 2:30 pace. So I did not look at the timer at all and just made myself do strong leg-based pulls with clean returns. Surprised myself by finishing in less time than the 2nd round had taken. Good form proves its worth once more.

I finished with a plank hold with hip extensions. Only instead of what the guy does in that video, I did 10 extensions with each leg then 5 with each leg. Rest briefly, repeat for 3 rounds.

Back to the sweating gig.

My head cold has receded to random coughs, and so today I’m back to the fitness game.

Today’s theme was twenty-ones: do 7 reps at the bottom range of motion, 7 at the top, 7 at full range of motion. The point is to concentrate on improving total range of motion. Exercises I did this with: TRX chest press, TRX rows, leg extension machine, hamstring curl machine. Also, I did TRX squats with a bit of a twist: all at the lowest range of motion (full squat to half), 5 with feet in a narrow position, 5 a little wider, 5 at sumo width, 5 in the middle, 5 again narrow. 3 sets of each.

I also worked on power cleans some more, this time with dumbbells so I could get the motion right without being limited by wrist flexibility. I did a set of power cleans with 20# dumbbells and then a set of front squats with a pair of 25-pounders resting on my shoulders. I am finally starting to get the power clean explosion movement. Doing it with dumbbells was a good switch.

I rehearsed overhead squats for Crossfit Nancy. This workout is 5 rounds for time of a 400m run followed by 15 overhead squats @ 95# (men) or 65# (women). I’ll be doing it at 45#, so that’s what I did the squats at today. Oh yes, the squat. Is there any single exercise better than the squat? If there is, I want to be doing that one too.

I concluded with 700 meters of rowing, and then a bunch of rope jumping. I am finally learning to do double-unders and chain them together. All in all, not a bad workout day. I’d been worried that I’d be under the weather. Instead I feel better after it than I did going in. Sweat is good for you.

No workout notes, because no workouts.

I haven’t worked out in a week because I’ve had the sort of head cold that leaves me sleeping all day. Mostly, I just don’t get sick, and even when I do all I get is a sort of minor runny nose for a day or so. I’m nonplussed to find myself coughing and energyless.

I woke up today feeling better instead of worse for the first time in days, though, so perhaps I’ll be back at the gym tomorrow.

16kg Turkish get-up!

Today: more work on power cleans, high-intensity cardio, figure eights with a 12kg kettlebell (30 reps per set), and get-ups. I continue to make progress on the wrist flexibility required for the cleans, as well as with the explosive movement phase. I did a bunch at 65# and some more at 95#. I wouldn’t call them good power cleans, just better ones than before.

I did the best Turkish get-ups I have ever done at 8kg, 12kg, and 16kg. This was my first time even attempting it at 16kg, and I was surprised by how smoothly it went. They weren’t easy but I wasn’t struggling either. Some time in the past few months, some exercise that I did worked its magic on my body, and boom! I have jumped up a level. Even left-handed I’m doing them smoothly.

Heavy kettlebells, redux.

Lots of kettlebells today.

3 sets of:
15x TRX chest presses, eccentric phase emphasized
15x TRX rows, eccentric phase emphasized
1 min kettlebell swings, 24kg

One minute of swinging that much weight is a surprising amount of work. I really don’t know anything else that hits that hard and fast. Kettlebells might seem trendy, but there is nothing cosmetic or fashionable about the basic swing. Do it and sit on the floor dripping with sweat afterwards, like I did.

3 sets of:
8x inclined bench press, 45#, 65#, 70#
15x barbell row, 70#, 80#, 90#
1 min kettlebell cleans, 16kg

The inclined bench press needs a special note, because we did it with the bench inside a squat cage. The bar at rest was held just over my chest. I started and ended each lift at the low point. This emphasized the lower range of motion, which is the place where I am weakest. The whole round of exercises were funny because we had to keep making them harder. In particular, the row was a joke for me until we cranked up to 90 pounds. Wow, I’m getting stronger!

The final exercise was the kettlebell snatch, heavy. And I mean heavy! I snatched a 24kg kettlebell! Three times! Once with my right hand, and then two times in succession with my left. The right-hand move was enough for me to get how much drive I needed from the hips to get it up, and how much I’d need to work to guide the weight on the way down. I probably could have done more reps. I’m way better at snatches than I am at cleans, for some reason. I just love the motion and the punch at the top. Not sure why, but it’s my favorite kettlebell exercise.

I finished by doing 10 reps of 2-handed snatches at 8kg each, then 10 reps with 12kg bells. This was easier than a single 24kg bell in some ways: less strain on a single arm. Just as much drive needed from the glutes, though, and it was shockingly aerobic.

But then, practically everything you do with kettlebells is shockingly aerobic.

Sore all weekend.

I was ungodly sore all weekend. Specifically, hamstrings, biceps, and triceps. So sore that movement was unwelcome, that even stretching was unpleasant. I was so sore that I skipped my cardio. I just didn’t want to move. I know, I know, I’ll never get anywhere lazing out like that.

I’ll probably overdo it today out of guilt.

It’s sunny again. O trickle charger, it is time for you to be put away until next winter! This means the Lotus is heading into the shop for its (slightly belated) 7500 mile service. This weekend I hope to drive it down to LA. Well, I’m driving to LA regardless, and I simply hope to be driving the fun car instead of the stodgy one. Here’s an inspirational thought: the Lotus seats are way more comfortable now that I’m so much smaller.

Seven centuries of misery.

Centuries! That means 100 reps with as little rest as possible.

leg press @ 80#
bench press @ 30#
hamstring curls @ 40-ish? I forget
bicep curls, cable machine @ 20#
leg extension @ 40#
tricep extension, cable machine @ 20#
bodyweight inclined row

40 minutes.

This is an endurance workout. Mostly I managed 50 reps of each of these before needing to rest to let the lactic acid get flushed out. In otherwise, to let the burning pain subside a little. Easiest: leg press. Hardest: bicep curl.

To start off I rehearsed thrusters @ 65#. I had some difficulty with them. That weight is heavy enough that I struggle to maintain balance and control the bar when it’s over my head. This distracts me from doing a proper squat-and-thrust-up to propel the weight upward. I did 20 reps and worked for each one. Crossfit Fran is going to be a doozy next time I do it, because I’m doing the thrusters as specced next time. 45 reps at 65 pounds. Yow.

Under the pudge I have some serious muscles. Not just biceps.

Today’s workout left me sitting on a bench in the locker room afterward wondering when I’d find the energy to take off my shoes. Or stand up and turn on the shower. I’m still wiped from it an hour later. My trainer asked me if it would be okay if a newly-hired trainer shadowed us for the hour, asking questions about the workout and how Trainer Jeff does things. I cheerfully agreed, and this! this is the result. I suspect we were both showing off a little bit.

Oof.

We started with more squat clean/power clean work. I am not really doing proper power cleans yet, mostly because I’m still not catching the bar properly yet. However, I’m making progress and improving the core skills every time. I did some work with no bar at all, just practicing the movements without any weight whatsoever. Repeat with the bare 45# bar. At max, I tried some cleans with 115# (I think); that was hard. We concluded with 10 uninterrupted reps at a meager 65# that left me dripping with sweat and breathing hard.

I’m completely impressed by Olympic lifts and how hard they are. These lifts are not bodybuilding, where you isolate a single muscle and work on that until it puffs up. These lifts are old-fashioned strength workouts. They work the whole body intensely. I rank Olympic lifting right up with Crossfit and kettlebells for efficiency. You want to get the most out of every minute spent working out, do those three. Or stick with Crossfit, which cleverly includes Olympic lifting and kettlebells in its workouts.

Then we moved on to a rehearsal for Crossfit Linda, intended to build me up to the intensity of the full misery that is Linda.

10-8-6-4-2 reps each of:
95# bench press
185# deadlift (or some weight in that range, not too hard)

The bench press slaughtered me. I was struggling at the end. Great stuff. Then followed 3 rounds of a trio of TRX exercises: 20 squat/row/presses, 20 scissors, and 20 ab crunches. The squats kept my heart rate up, and the crunches hurt in the special way that crunches always hurt. Then Jeff decided to kill me. We finished with a kettlebell swing gantlet.

10x swings each:
20kg - 24kg - 32kg - 24kg - 20kg

Followed by 15 clean & press reps with two 12kg bells. I was supposed to do the whole circuit again, but we were out of time. And I was out of gas. I was sitting on the floor dripping with sweat.

Whee!

This one snuck up on me.

Sore. Sore. Sore shoulders. I am here to testify that cleans in all their variations are the real thing. My shoulders and traps are talking to me today. Not the legs, so much: my deadlift weights are much larger than the weights I was learning to clean with yesterday. But the upper body needs to catch up.

Olympic lifts are neat.