John’s Ramblings

I had the privilege of getting my ass handed to me by Luka last night, further distinguished by the presence of friend and all-time champeen complainer Big Roddy.

Warm ups were an absolute bitch.

• Overhead Lunges
• Side Lunges
• Inchworms with Pushups
• Overhead squats
• Plank to pushup

Then we got on with the workout:

#1, 4 sets of:

Trap Bar Deadlift 225lbs x 4, farmers’ walk the down floor, turn & walk back, then 4 more deadlifts.

#2, 4 sets of:

8 x 16 kg KB one arm swings, straight to

8 x 16kg KB x clean and press, straight to

8 x 16kb KB Squats

#3, 3 sets of:

• 10 x pushups with side-kick
• 10 x bodyweight rows on TRX
• 10 x Burpees with jump
• 10 x Dive-bomber pushups
• 10 x Jumping Lunges (per leg)

DOMS is just starting to get really good.  I anticipate being very sore in the morning.  Heaven help me, but I love that trap-bar.

Last August I attended the Kenneth Jay Viking Warrior Conditioning workshop to learn VO2 max training with kettlebell snatches.  I started out being able to do 25 minutes of work, and worked my way up to the maximum of 40.  I then had begun experimenting with different cadences and weights.  The nerve pinch happened in November, and my kb snatching days were done for the time being.

A couple of weeks ago, I felt that my grip had recovered sufficiently that I would be able to resume.  What was missing was my stamina!  30 sets (15 minutes) and I was toast.  Today’s attempt went much better, thankyouverrymuch.  Back to where I started in August:

Viking Warrior Conditioning

I’m shooting for at least two VWC sessions each week, and build this back up to 80 sets.  I’m also going to dig out my heart rate monitor, just because I like posting a graph or two to show you how damn hard I’m working!

or, DOMS meets my active social schedule and reminds me of my last hard workout for four days…

I really did go full-out on Wednesday.  I did strenuous stuff that I hadn’t done in months, and the soreness that I felt on Thursday (just startin’, ain’t so bad, let’s go dancing), Friday (OMG WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY ARMS BECAUSE I CAN’T RAISE THEM ABOVE MY HEAD), Saturday (with an oftentimes lackluster attendance at a party), and now Sunday (I can comb my hair without discomfort!), was truly exquisite.  Endorphines, meet Ibuprofen, I gotta go, I’ll call you on Monday.

I probably managed to shoot myself in the foot, trying to prepare for a session with Luka at Hocevar Performance on Tuesday with a hardass workout like that, but what the hell.  Felt great, and it was great to feel stuff get sore that hadn’t in months due to injury and the interference of life.

Now, I’m ready.  I’ll do some cardio, hill sprint, kb swing stuff tomorrow as a tuneup to Tuesday.  Then I’ll head to the temple and let the man whip my ass.

Can’t wait!

Thanks for the early Father’s Day present, honey.  Better than you know.

My days at work have been “action-packed”… well, as action-packed sitting at a couple of computers can be.  Very busy and more than a little frustrating at times.  There’s nothing like swinging some heavy shit around in our shop/man-cave/gym to blow out the cobwebs and burn off a little steam.  After a long and frustrating day it can be the last thing you want to do, but I feel much more accomplished if I finish a hectic day with a workout than happy-hour.  I would have loved to gotten my workout done sooner than 5 p.m., but I had clients and calamity from 6 a.m. until 4:55, so 5 p.m. it was…

Added incentive: Terri announced that for Fathers’ Day I am being given two private sessions with Luka Hocevar at his gym in Renton.  I haven’t been to Luka’s house-of-he-man-hurtin’ in a few months, so this is a special gift indeed.  After the last couple of months concentrating on just kettlebell swings, my overall strength needs some work.

I set out to do one of the workouts Luka gave me last year, featuring Escalating Density sets of exercises.  Silly boy changed his warmup routine, however, and did the warmups from “Enter the Kettlebell” after some lunges, RDL’s, and overhead squats.  So add in 4 sets of Hindu (dive-bomber) pushups, wall squats, and halos.  Oops, now on the the workout that prominently features pushups!

4 Sets of:

8 reps of 2 x 20kg front squats

8 negative chinups

Escalating Density Training Set #1: 10 minutes

• 10 x 28kg Kettlebell Swings
• 10  pushups

I did 8 sets in the allotted time, a far cry from last fall when I did 11!  The pushups were especially hard after warming up with those dang Hindu pu’s.  Always look to where you are headed before you start improvising with your warmup!

Escalating Density Training Set #2: 10 minutes

• 6 x 16kg kettlebell reverse lunge
• 8 x 24kg kettlebell 1 arm rows

7 sets, but last time it was 8.

I started to stiffen up after 2 hrs. last night, so standing up tomorrow when I wake should be pretty interesting.

Tonight was my first attempt at the Viking Warrior Conditioning kettlebell snatch program since the injury in November.  I’ve not done any snatches since my grip went away due to a pinched nerve, and it is just now feeling like I can hold on to the ‘bell on the downstroke of the snatch movement.

I tried to pick up where I left off: 15:15 protocol, 7 cadence, 16 kg.  I felt pretty good, but the grip started to fade after 15 minutes (the goal is 40).  Not great, but a good first attempt.  The left forearm took a bit of a beating due to form.  I just wasn’t very smooth on the weak side.  Give it time, John.  The bruise should make a pretty good photo tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Not much time today for a workout, so I stole an idea from Steve Cotter on Facebook:

1 minute of nonstop kb swings, with each of the following bells:

• 40kg
• 32kg
• 28kg
• 24kg
• 20kg
• 16kg
• 12kg

That sure got the heart pumping!

After taking yesterday off, I was back on it today.  Luka’s Workout “C”:

I’m happy, especially given the fact that I haven’t done any Escalating Density Training since November!