Tag: kettlebell

2012-01-31 workout: Shin Smasher

I have dubbed yesterday’s workout the *Shin Smasher* for no other reason than I almost bonked a 10lb sledge against my leg at least a dozen times.

**Warm up**
10 sledgehammer around the worlds/windmills
5 kettlebell halos
15 knees to chest (and some other goodies from KB master Mike Mahler)

**Workout proper**
2-hand slam, 5 rounds alternating 5/5
Tire carry, ~26lbs ea, approximately 140ft between rounds of slams
10-10-10-10-13 2-hand overhead slam
~36lb water carry approximately 140ft between rounds over overhead slams
10-10-12 butter churn ladder

**Cool down**
10 sledgehammer around the worlds/windmills
10 kettlebell halos
5-4-3-2-1 burpees ladder
12-10-8-4 knee to elbow plank ladder

This workout itself has made me rethink my future workout regimen. I’ve got two “heavy things” to lift and use to workout (as the line goes from Richard Nikoley and Mark Sisson:

    1. Sledgehammer
    2. Kettlebell

Working out with both is very fun and very challenging but I think I may stop the kettlebell training for now as I’m very worried about tweaking my back. Or I’ll stop until I can take a few classes with a reputable RKC to tweak and refine my form rather than continuing to swing mine and do some serious harm. I think I’ve got the form down but I am not terribly certain that it’s exactly right as my KB workouts don’t totally kill me despite doing 5 or 6 sets of swings with upwards of 15 reps. Sure, I’m sweaty but really, I’m not feeling it especially the next day.

But that’s where I like the sledge workouts, it’s totally self-correcting. If I’m swinging wrong, I’ll feel it almost immediately either in my shoulder or my delts. If I hit the tire wrong, the sledgehammer’s head twists and wrenches right on my wrist. It’s immediate and it hurts like hell. But with my KB, it’s more nuanced and it’s hard for me to always track whether I really am popping my hip flexors or if I’m just using the bell’s momentum to swing. Doing that with a sledgehammer will either result in it not moving at all or bouncing off the tire straight into my face…and then not moving at all, probably because I’d be on the ground gushing blood and passed out. That lack of pendulum-like motion is an excellent feedback loop, I just don’t get that so far with my kettlebells. I like feedback, it’s important to get it to make sure you’re not about to crunch a disc or pop a joint out.

So, perhaps for all of February I will train with sledgehammer work only until I can get enrolled in an RKC-led kettlebell class to get some input on what I may or may not be doing wrong and go from there. Plus, I think swinging a sledgehammer looks way more manly.

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Publish date:
February 1st, 2012
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workout
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2012-01-29 workout

Last night’s gut buster

7×10 kettlebell swings, 1 pood (linked to a series of Jeff Martone videos from his CrossFit KB cert class)

5 kettlebell military press r/l

A bunch of half assed one arm swings

Farmers carry, ~36 lbs each, 140 feet, 6 rounds (used 5gal buckets of water)

8-6-4-2-1 burpees

10-8-6-4 Everest climbers

Stretch cool down

Elapsed workout time: roughly 40 minutes

Today, my delts are smoked from the presses and farmers carry. I’m still not terribly confident in my swing form as I do not believe I’m generating enough power, either through an improper hip hinge or something I haven’t identified yet. I cannot believe I’m so busted up over such a simple workout, I’m still feeling it. I think February may be the month of all sledgehammer workouts, those ripped my abs last time.

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Publish date:
January 30th, 2012
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workout
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2012-01-22 Workout

Kettlebell swings 5×10, 1 pood
Kettlebell high pulls 3×10 r/l
Diagonal sledgehammer chops 6×5 r/l
Overhead chops 3×5 r/l
Sledge shovels 3×5 r/l
Sledge head balance, 30 seconds or so
Burpees 7-5-3-1
10 pushups

No puking!

Woke up today after the workout a little sore, but nothing too bad. I expected my upper back and arms to be much more sore after the sledgehammer work but they’re surprisingly nice and noodley feeling. I do have a little tweak in my lower back which is of my own doing since I did a round of swings completely wrong and now I’m paying for it. Luckily, I shouldn’t be hurting much if any tomorrow for the next workout. I will be writing a short workout plan to separate out the KB days from the sledge days and to add in a light variety day just to mix it all up. I definitely do not want to do kettlebell and sledge work back-to-back again, that was absolutely brutal on me. After I was done, I could barely pick up my tire, I had to roll it back to storage. I am very surprised at my legs though, I’m feeling a little tightness and slight muscle soreness from the workout, I never expected that to be honest.

Later today after class, I’m beginning my new runs at campus, so we’ll see how those work out. Looks like I need to clock at least 2.25 miles today, I hopefully will get closer to 5k without blowing myself out.

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Publish date:
January 23rd, 2012
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It’s Christmas time, I hear

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my last post, the end of the semester was nothing but stress and lack of sleep. I had two write my end-of-semester papers, as did my girlfriend, and that made for a less than happy household which is very uncommon around here. Needless to say, I aced both classes and I’m cruising into the end of the year relaxed. I will be writing a review about the Warrior Dash very, very soon but this week, I have to pack for our two week vacation coming up. That in and of itself is presenting a challenge.

I’m enjoying the end of year wind down and I’m pretty much doing nothing but sitting around. On the suggestion of my sports doctor, I’m taking the rest of the month off from running to help heal my ITB up and I’m trying to mix in some cross-training to keep me from sitting around all the time. That worked out pretty well but sort of petered off once the weekend came — I’m not a fan of having to do all this packing, haha. But hey, who doesn’t like two weeks off from work? For now, I’m relying on kettlebell training until I can get a stable mount for my TRX strap, hanging it over a door is not an option. Did that last week and the door popped open before I ever put weight on the system, that’s totally not safe. I’ve noticed my swing form is improving as my piriformis region isn’t as much in pain as it was the first time I did the swings, looking forward to expanding to other kettlebell exercises as soon as I can.

Next year is looming fast and I can’t wait. I plan on getting the photo biz back on track since I’ve taken the last ~6 months off from shooting for various issues, mostly due to health. Now that my health is more on track than it has been in years, I think it’s time to re-enter my previous scene and get things going again. I certainly won’t be going to as many shows as I used to, mostly because it’s too expensive but also because it’s just too stressful. Going to 2+ concerts a week and having to edit photos from those in addition to work and school? That’s unneeded stress and it’s unnecessary. If I don’t have to be stressed, I will do my best to not put myself in positions to be stressed.

But now, work’s calling, packing is calling, and I’m starving.

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Publish date:
December 12th, 2011
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chitchat
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The Warrior Dash and last race of the year

Saturday, 3 Dec 2011 is the South Florida leg of the Warrior Dash 2011 series. It will also be my last race of the year. I am totally looking forward to this race since it is the last one I will be doing but also because I am running basically the same trail as the SUPERHERO Scramble a few weeks ago, so I am at least somewhat familiar with the trail. I am also excited because this leads me into the extended second phase third phase of my overall health transformation cycle: implementing crosstraining. While I have already done some moderate TRX crosstraining this fall, after Saturday I will not be running any races (or at all) until mid-January. This is intended to give my IT band some time to heal while facilitating some core and pelvic girdle strengthening. Plus, I am leaving the country for two weeks and I do not plan on buying a lot of cold weather running gear to go run in another country, so that sort of necessitates me not running for at least two weeks.

I am looking forward to this as the work with my ART specialist/chiropractor/sports physician has been paying off big time. When I first started seeing the guys over at Health-Fit Chiro, I could barely run 1.5 miles because of my hip and now my weekly runs are at least 5k distance or slightly more — I am edging closer to 4 miles in my Vibrams. But the physical therapy exercises they are having me perform makes me realize I need to get stronger overall, so I will be doing at least one TRX session and one kettlebell session per week until January rolls around. That should give me at least 6 weeks to train back up for the upcoming Super Spartan Race in Miami in February while giving me a sound base for the Spartan Sprint in GA in March.

I am giving kettlebells a try since I already bought some and I have the room to workout on my patio, same place I will be doing my TRX workout. I already did some swing exercises last night and they kicked my butt. For doing little else other than popping your hips, I was winded! Anyways, it should all be fun and games as long as I can stay healthy and get that girdle tightened up.

Now, I think I am going to go out and do what will probably be my last training run of 2011.

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Publish date:
November 28th, 2011
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chitchat
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minimalist
running
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