Friday, 11/30

Started off today with the usual warming up exercises:

2-Hand Swing: 16kg - 40
Halos: 16kg - 6/6
Figure 8 to Hold: 16kg - 6/6

Repeated High Pulls today. I liked the way they felt doing them for the first time on Wed.

High Pulls:
16kg - 5/5
24kg - 5/5 x 5

Funny first 2 sets didn't feel too good, form and grip didn't feel comfortable, at that point I said, 'ok let's get one more set in and we'll be done with these for today', but then the third set clicked and felt good. So I said ok, let's see how another set feels and the fourth set felt even better, and so on, the fifth set felt really good. At that point I thought, 'let's leave these on a high note', so that's when I decided to move on to the next exercise. But I really am liking these.

Pistols:
8kg - 3/3
16kg - 3/3

Didn't go down rock bottom on the left side. Shin is still feeling tight just before getting all the way down, and like I've learned in physical therapy, don't work through pain, stop your range of motion just outside the pain and repeat, over time as the injury heals and strength redevelops then start to increase the ROM. So that's what I'm doing. I was able to get down pretty far even still, farther than I have in a while. Will start doing these more often, I love squats.

Clean & Press:
16kg - 1/1 x 5
24kg - 1/1

Each rep, each side I put the kb down on the floor so that I perform each from a complete stop, no swinging involved. Just a bit today to keep the groove greased.

Finished off with some stretching. That's it for today, time to get ready for work.

Wed, Nov 28

Still moving a little slower than normal, not yet 100%. It's during these times that my sessions become 'practices' and not 'workouts' because I stop before I end up killing myself.

Started with my usual warmup...

2-Hand Swings: 16kg - 40
Halos: 16kg - 6/6
Figure 8 to Hold: 16kg - 6/6

Then wanted to work some pressing without too many Cleans (still trying to heal the right forearm/bicep) so I mixed up some Clean & Presses with Military Presses:

Clean & Press: 16kg - 1/1
Military Press: 16kg - 5/5, 5/5
Clean & Press: 24kg - 1/1

Through in a few pushups and divebombers to warm up the chest then proceeded to practice a One Arm Pushups on an aerobic step:

One Arm Pushup: 1/1, 1/1, 1/1

Lastly, introduced a new exercise to the mix today, High Pulls. I think I'm going to try rotating through Snatches, High Pulls, Swings throughout the week (Mon/Wed/Fri) for a few weeks and see how it goes. Hoping the High Pulls help me improve my Snatches.

High Pulls:
16kg - 5/5, 5/5
24kg - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5

Finished off with some stretching, lower back, hamstrings, quads, neck. That's it for today, moving forward again!

Monday Practice

This morning's workout was more like a practice than a workout. I'm still not feeling 100% and did not want to overdo it on my first morning back.

2-Hand Swings: 16kg - 40x; 24kg - 25x
Halos: 16kg - 5/5
Figure 8 to Hold: 16kg - 5/5

Clean & Press: 16kg - 1/1, 1/1; 24kg - 1/1

Windmill: 16kg - 3/3, 3/3

Snatches: 16kg - 5/5, 5/5; 24kg - 3/3

Pretty easy today and I felt very good when ending, not exhausted as usual.

Sunday Practice

Felt like some light, easy, miscellaneous practice today.

Tried a bottom-up TGU with 12kg kb. Almost perfect on the right side (until returning onto my back when it dropped) and not even close on the left side (didn't make it up to my elbow when it dropped).

Practiced a few dead-hand cleans with the 12kg and 16kg. I'm going to sprinkle these in again starting this week while watching my right bicep/forearm closely to make sure I don't overdo it again. And pullups will be infrequent for a while as well.

Then practiced a few 16kg Snatches. I think to date I have been overcompensating with the punch-through at the top. Maybe that's a beginners necessity, but got a pretty comfortable feeling at the top just now. Will try to maintain that feeling going forward.

Tomorrow will be the start of the weekly routine again...

Inching Back

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And ate lots of turkey. It's good for you. Lot's of protein!

Anyway, as for me, this cold is still trying to hang on. I'm still stuffed and coughing but starting to feel like my old self again. I've gone through my 5 days of antibiotics and have a few more days of using Nasonex to try to get my sinuses back to normal, so I guess there's not much else to do but wait now.

Since I was feeling a bit better today, I thought I'd start to acclimate my body to swinging again. So although a small practice session, it was something.

2-Hand Swings with 16kg: 10, 20, 20, 20, 10

100 swings to get things moving again. This was surprising easy, even not being 100% yet. Thinking about starting to add some high volume 2-Hand Swing days in the future. More tomorrow.

Can I Get A Cheer for the Kettlebells?

Now mind you, this might not sound like a big deal to you, but it certainly was to me. Illin' here in NY with a nasty flu-like something, I decided not to wait it out with Thanksgiving this week and made a visit to the doctor today (yes, doctors are around on Sundays).

Once escorted to the examining room, the nurse proceeded to check the standard vitals. First temperature then blood pressure. It was here that I received a compliment from her, "Very nice blood pressure!" A bit surprised, "Oh really? What is it?" "110 over 70."

Now I have probably for over the last 10 years always been up around 120/80-guy and on more than one occasion been above that where the doctor mentioned we might have to keep our eye on things in the future. So to me, this was awesome. And the only thing I could think of was, "Thank you kettlebells for this wonderful, unexpected surprise." =)

So for that, can I get a Hip Hip Hooray?!?!

Rudolph with your nose so bright...

This is pretty much what I am looking like these days. I came down with my son's cold. Runny nose, coughing, aching, feverish. The joys of parenthood! No workouts since Tuesday.

Does anyone have a magic pill???