cesimpson

I took my kettlebell with me this past weekend and got a decent workout in Saturday morning.

4x KB Warm Up

10x (5x ea. dir.) RTW

10x (5x ea. dir.) Figure-8

10x (5x ea. dir.) Halo

10x (5x ea. dir.) Snatch + Windmill

20x Goblet Squat

5x

20x “1-arm Swing, Flip & Catch”

10x Pull Ups on overhead bar of the playground swings

The 1-arm Swing, Flip & Catch was something I made up on the spot. It’s a one-handed swing, then a second one-handed swing. At the top of the second swing, release the KB so that it does a complete flip. Catch it with the opposite hand. That’s 1x.

After that circuit 5x through, I got a drink of water and started looking for what was next. I had some time and hadn’t specifically planned - just doing some improvising. I saw a steep hill across the road a bit and headed that way. The hill was grass, maybe 10 or 12m tall and somewhere around a 1:1 or 3:4 rise:run.

20x (10x ea. arm) KB Snatch + Sprint Up Hill + Jog Down

I set my watch to beep at 90 sec. intervals.

Every beep started a new round. Go until you can’t keep up with the beeps.

I didn’t specifically count cycles, but I know that I did that for about 30-35 minutes. At that I was finished. I emptied the first bottle of water I opened earlier and then downed an entire second bottle in about three swallows. It was about 10:00am by that time and it was getting hot and muggy. I was pouring sweat and none of it was evaporating.

After sitting on the nearby sidewalk for another 10 minutes or so, I walked back to where we were staying, wrung out my shirt and showered. That was enough for the entire weekend.

Wednesday

No Wednesday morning workout.

Wednesday, my wife and I went to a funeral ‘out in the country’. She has family who live in small towns about an hour or so south of STL. Her great-aunt passed away Monday morning at the fantastic age of 99 years 4 months and 6 days. She lived a full 99 of those years in terrific health. Her eyesight was going, but she was mobile on her own (she used a cane sometimes) and her mind was sharp. She did not battle any debilitating illness. Far as anyone can tell, she died peacefully in her sleep.

She was a pretty neat old lady, what I knew of her, and I wish I could have known her longer.

After the funeral and the traditional family gathering. We took some time to drive through the area. My wife showed me the old farmhouse where her grandma used to live; where she used to spend weeks during the summer as a little girl. She showed me the corner store where she and her cousin would walk to get ice cream on hot summer nights. Some of it has changed, but a lot is still the same. It was neat to see some of the places of which I hear many stories.

Today

2x (@ 45# & 65#)

6x Snatch +

6x Overhead Squat +

6x Back Squat +

6x Good Morning +

6x Behind the Neck Press +

6x Bent Over Rows +

6x Romanian Deadlift

Clean / Front Squat / Jerk

5/5/5 @ 75#

4/5/5 @ 95#

3/5/5 @ 120#

2/5/3 @ 140#

1/5/3 @ 160#

Bent-Over Barbell Rows / Pull Ups

8/8 @ 75# / BW

7/7 @ 95# / BW

6/6 @ 120# / BW (last two were weak, partial pulls)

5/5 @ 140# / BW (all done as 20 sec. negatives)

4/0 @ 160# / -

The last 2 were rows more a Romanian Deadlift/row hybrid. My biceps hurt. My upper back was weak. My pullers were tired.

Box Squats @ 1″ below parallel

5x @ 225#

5x @ 225#

5x @ 245#

5x @ 245#

5x @ 265#

5x @ 265#

5x @ 225#

5x @ 225#

I lifted my heels with each one, made sure to take away the stretch reflex and really made my hamstrings explode to get that bar up out of the hole.

Overall, today felt pretty good. My schedule’s calmed a bit. The kids are getting back on normal sleep schedules. Things are getting closer to normal. It was good to be back in the gym this morning.