John’s Ramblings

Workout “C”, second time around:

Not bad, if I do say so myself. A little better than 20% increase on EDT #1, and 40% on EDT #2. I must have been asleep the first time through!

Here’s the aftermath of 2 Escalating Density sets, followed by Turkish Get-Ups. Someone get a mop.

I haven’t been just sitting on my butt…

I was fairly tired and sore on Saturday, but we had handiman/cyclist/all-around-nice-guy Geoff Hazel coming over to do a little work.  On the agenda was some drywall tape-joint repair and to rebuild a deck (this would be deck #4 in the Calnan Deck Series.  #5 is fine).  While Geoff did his finesse work on the walls inside, I did the demolition work on the outside.  Trip to Lowe’s for materials (another $200 contribution to their shareholders: NYSE Symbol LOW) and we’re rolling.  Well, Geoff is, anyway.  My task at this point is to bring the materials I have purchased to the construction site and haul the old demolition material away.  Enter kettlebell-boy.  The route for this material-hauling is up and down this little gem (pictured at right).  No, it’s not a mile long, but it’s steep, uneven, and a wee bit slippery.  My trainer Luka would think this was a great “chaotic training exercise to strengthen the core”.  So I went about it in Luka fashion: Carry two armloads of stuff up the hill, then immediately carry two armloads of stuff down the hill.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

The construction phase went really well, and faster than I would have thought.  Geoff did the supporting framework while I did my fetch-and-carry routine, above.  I then put myself in charge of cutting the decking 2×4’s to the rough length needed.  Geoff screwed them in to place almost as fast as I could deliver them and we were done just in time for happy hour!  Here’s a peek at the finished product.  The man does good work, I tell ya:

While the men-folk were a’lumbering, Terri spent the afternoon clearing vegetation from around our backyard pond and doing landscaping work around same.  She may have had the tougher duty, as she was in the hot sun far longer than Geoff or I.  When the deck was completed I was enlisted to “move a rock”.  The rock she needed moved was a beauty: about 40 pounds of egg-shaped basalt, smoothed of rough edges but enough texture to the surface to make it fun to heft.  I immediately began negotiations to add the rock to my workout equipment.  The final deal involved me digging up and moving a much larger boulder from another part of the yard, and relocating it to the now blank spot by the pond.

Sunday was a rest day.  Given my new Tuesday night schedule with Luka I probably should have done my workout “C” on Sunday, but I was still pretty hammered from Weds/Friday/Saturday, so I opted for a 3 day break to be rested for Tuesday.  Monday I went with Terri for a leisurely 19 mile ride through the valley.

Tuesday night was a blur.  Luka hit me hard with a couple of dense training supersets.  I frankly can’t remember the exact sequences, combinations, or reps.  I distinctly remember grunting and groaning through all the following, however:

• jump and chin-up (now featuring 1st reps without assistance! He’s getting there!!)
• kettlebell clean and squat, 2 x 24 kg kb
• high pulls 24kg
• pushups
• bulgarian 1 leg squats R & L (killer!)
• 30 lb d-ball military press
• squat jumps

I have to try to get that workout “C” in today, and hopefully before it hits 90 degrees here.  As I recall, this is the one that left me lying in a pool of sweat two+ weeks ago, so I don’t need the added complication of heat stroke.  Unsure whether I’ll work this bad-boy into the routine or not:

size 10 provided for scale

Luka’s workout “B”, second time through:

4 sets:

• Single Leg KB Deadlift, 2 x 20kg kettlebells, 6 reps R & L
• KB High Pull  12 reps R & L, 16kg

3 sets:

• Blast Strap Single Leg Squats (Pistols) 8 reps/each leg
• Stability Ball Push Up + Tuck In  8 reps

3 sets:

• Dumbell Squat Jump (10 lbs dumbells)  12 reps
• Blast Strap Scarecrows 12 reps

8 x Uphill Sprint Intervals (my street is a 6-7% grade):

• Sprint up 50 yards, walk down

I was still pretty fatigued from the Wednesday Quad & Core hammerfest, so this workout felt more strenuous than the first time I did it.  When I walked through the house between sets 2 & 3, friend Kaycee took one look at me, got very serious and said “are you OK?”.  Probably thinking “he’s older than Michael Jackson was…”  I made it through with the same reps & weights that I had 2 weeks ago for the same routine, but given the fatigue factor I’m going to call it “good”.

Now that I’ve got this nice Monday / Wednesday / Friday workout rhythm going, it changes next week.  My workouts at Hocevar Performance will move to Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.  The earlier time should be better for life-in-general.  I’ll just have to figure out when I’m going to do my other two workout days…

Another quality ass-whupping at the hands of Luka Hocevar.  Based on how I’m feeling this afternoon, the targets were my quads and core.  After a warm up of front & side lunges, bear crawls and crab walks:

4 sets:

• Clean & Press 4 x 5/each side
• Single Leg Squat off Box 4 x 6/each side

The single leg squats seemed 10 times harder on the left leg than the right.  This really shows how much weaker my left side is than my right.  I’ve always known that I pedal the bike with more power on the right than left, but what if my left leg were close to being as strong as the right?  Climbing power!
A superset of following 4 exercises, 20 reps first set, then 15, 10, then 5

• KB Swings
• Reverse Lunges
• Push Ups
• Bodyweight Rows

He finished me off with the following set for core strength:

• Single Side KB Squats + band 2 x 8/each side
• Side movement over box (push up position) 2 x 40 seconds

That second core exercise was killer!  The box is 18″ high, and you walk sideways on hands and toes, but the feet have to go up onto, then down the other side of the box while holding the core stable.  I crashed and burned on the second set after about 30 seconds, so there is definite improvement to be made.

Clickable link to visit the original blog post, and see more shots:

riding fixies in a hydroelectric project

Today was the second time through for Kettlebell Workout “A”, from Luka at Hocevar Performance. Escalating Density Sets, and I’ve put the numbers from 2 weeks ago up for comparison’s sake. Nice progression, if I do say so myself.

I took Terri down to Pt. Defiance Park in Tacoma this morning to do some bicycle hill work.  The park closes 5 mile drive on Saturday mornings, making for a safe(r) environment.  There’s plenty of up – and – down in this little scenic loop through the woods, and it’s always interesting to ride it in successive years as a gauge of increased fitness.

Terri found one long uphill stretch, and because of the difficulty she had riding up it once, she proceeded to backtrack and ride up it again 3 more times.  Nicely done.  You progress by working on your weaknesses, and she hit the nail on the head today.

I did three loops of the park, my last loop beating the time on my first by 1:30.  Sections that I used to have to granny-gear I can now stand up in the big ring and power up.  Very cool.  Bonus was that the sun was out in Tacoma, while it was solid overcast at home.