Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

Woooo, this was a killer.  Rainy, dreary, and chilly (37 degrees), but these conditions are my favorite for kettlebelling outside. C&Ps are much more of a workout using the 70lb kb, but I was never close to failure. I think I could manage the 3×3 with the 88…maybe. 70 is the perfect weight right now though, as it allows me to keep working on my form, doesn’t stress my rear delt injury, but still offers a tough challenge.  After C&Ps I moved on to swings. Today is a ‘moderate’ day which called for sets of 25 with 10-20s rests in between. These were absolutely killer. My lower back was pumped like crazy and the last few sets were real struggles in regards to keeping form tight and keeping my lungs under control. Today’s swing time limit was 6 minutes, and I managed 175 reps with the 70lber. I am pretty pleased with that. These higher intensity swing workouts are really going to improve my endurance and work capacity. Afterwards it only took about 90seconds to get my breathing rate back to normal, and then I finished with kb curls. The kb hammer curls feel great, as kettlebells allow me to do a ‘barbell’ like hammer curl by gripping the top of the bell with palms facing each other. Really hammers the outsides of the bis hard, and works grip quite a bit at the same time. Concentration curls with the kb worked well too.

Clean and Press Ladder - 70lb bell - repeated 3 times - 36 total C&Ps:
1x C&P Left/Right
1x KB Row Left/Right
2x C&P Left/Right
2x KB Row Left/Right
3x C&P Left/Right
3x KB Row Left/Right
1 minute rest

One-arm Swings - 6 minutes continuous - 70lb bell - 175 reps:
25 reps, 10-20 seconds rest x7

KB Hammer Curls:
70×12x5

KB Concentration Curls:
70×10x3

Duration: 15 minutes

This workout was an emotional rollercoaster. I came into the gym tonight pumped, NEEDING a great session to get me over the doldrums that this neck injury has thrown me into. Squats felt fine starting out, but as the weight on the bar increased so did the pain in my neck/trap and I got pissed and threw in the towel, not wanting to risk hurting my neck again/more. I switched to barbell step ups and tried carrying the bar high – as high as I can carry it on my neck – and this felt way more comfortable. I ended up stomping my way to a few new solid PRs and decided I would try squatting again, high-bar style. This time around 315 gave no pain, and I sunk it down and paused it for a good 10 seconds in the hole and exploded up as if it was an empty bar on my back. Good sign. I only did singles with my first two work sets, despite it being a 5/3/1 session, as I decided that if my single target felt good I would go for a PR (anything over a triple would be a PR) to make up for it. Got to my target (445) and crushed it for 6. I had a handful of reps left in the tank but I didn’t want to strain too hard. I am very elated with the nice PR, knowing I could have done a lot more yet. Squats are feeling very strong right now. After the second-round with squats I did some standing adduction work as I think my adductors are neglected a bit in the grand scheme of things with everything I do – especially now with all the kettlebell stuff (swings, snatches, cleans). Adductor work felt great and then went off to yoga, which yielded another wonderful flow. I hit a side-plank star pose with my right shoulder supporting for the first time in a long time, and had no pain. Very positive sign! Wednesday I will be out of town visiting family so I will take along my 70lb kettlebell and do clean and press ladders and swings to replace my shoulder workout.

ATG Squats:
135×12x1
225×5x1
315×5x1

BB Step Ups:
225×10x1
295×10x1 (PR)
305×10x1 (PR)
315×10x1 (PR)
225×20x1

ATG Squats Revisited (high-bar this time):
315×1x1 (paused 10seconds at the bottom)
355×1x1
405×1x1
445×6x1 (PR)

Standing Cable Adduction:
100×12x5

+ stretching + power yoga (60min)

Duration: 120 minutes

Repeat of last Tuesday’s kettlebell workout. This one was quite a bit easier than last week’s session, despite the tweaked neck I have going on. Did an extra set of snatches since I was snatching faster today than last week, and had the time to burn. This session went very well.  My right shoulder held up well, no pains there. Might have to give the 70lb bell a try for the ladders next week…maybe. Earlier in the day I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 3-3.5mph.

Clean and Press Ladder - 53lb bell - repeated 3 times - 36 total C&Ps:
1x C&P Left/Right
1x KB Row Left/Right
2x C&P Left/Right
2x KB Row Left/Right
3x C&P Left/Right
3x KB Row Left/Right
30sec-1 minute rest

Snatches - 5 minutes continuous - 53lb bell - 80 reps:
10x Left / 10x Right
1 minute rest

+ 30min walk on treadmill @ 3-3.5mph

Duration: 10 minutes

My sternum/neck/head thing feels alot better today, but it has a ways to go… I wanted to get some blood flowing so I did a light upper workout today. Nothing major. I did a bunch of band flyes and presses after the weights, but I didn’t keep track of sets or reps, etc.

Floor Press (different grip for each rep):
135×12x1
225×10x1

Flat DB Extensions:
40×12x5

Flat Tate Presses:
40×12x5

Seated Cable Row:
135×15x1
156×15x1
204×15x3

Underhand CG Pulldown:
108×15x1
156×15x1
204×15x3

Band Flyes and Presses:
2 light bands x alot

+ stretching

Duration: 30 minutes

I was in total war-mode at the gym tonight. I haven’t done zerchers in a while so I decided I would do them in place of pulls on my “5’s” weeks so that my legs get a bit more rest between deadlift sessions. I wasn’t sure how zerchers would go, not having done them heavy in a while, but as soon as I started warming up I knew I’d have a good day with them. My previous best was 605. 585 was a joke so I knew I’d get a new PR. Put 615 on the bar. Crushed it. 630. Obliterated. 645. Total Annihilation. That is a huge PR that I am very pleased with. I probably have another 20lbs in the tank yet on top of that, but going after a new PR that many times in one workout takes its toll on my mental state. All will-power, adrenaline, and focus stores were depleted after the 645 lift and you couldn’t have paid me to take another PR attempt. I remember when zerchers hurt my arms so much and would leave my arms looking like I had been shooting-up my entire life. Now they barely register any aches, and rarely leave marks. After the zerchers I finished off my hams with some strict standing GM’s, then did a couple quick sets of abs. I planned on doing 20 reps of get ups, but I was too dizzy after zerchers and gm’s so I switched to rollouts, which I totally destroyed. Afterwards I went to power yoga, like usual. Power yoga had a great flow, and I really enjoyed it. I’m glad for that, as the last few weeks of yoga have really sucked for me (allergies making inversions suck, my right delt making me angry during planks and down-dogs, sore knees from pigeon pose, etc) and this session made me feel renewed towards yoga.

Zerchers off Pins (pins @ 28″):
135×10x1
225×5x1
315×5x1
405×3x1
495×2x1
585×1x1
615×1x1 (PR, +10)
630×1x1 (PR, +25)
645×1x1 (PR, +40)

Standing Strict Good Mornings:
95×15x1
115×15x1
135×15x1
155×15x2
165×20x1 (PR)

Turkish Get Ups w/ Dumbell:
55×8x1

Ab Rollouts:
bw x25×1 (PR)

+ stretching + power yoga (60min)

Duration: 120 minutes

This week starts out the 8 week phase of this kettlebell program. The clean and press ladders were easy, but demanded more cardio than I thought they would. The pressing didn’t bother my rear delt; that is a very positive sign. I will continue to play these C&P ladders by feel, paying close attention to my shoulder - if I feel anything ‘not right’ I will put them on hiatus. The snatches were great. A nice change of pace from the swings. Snatches get me winded so much more than swings, but I’m sure that will change over the next 2 months. As I mentioned previously, the duration of the snatch and swing segments are dictated by random dice roll.

Clean and Press Ladder - 53lb bell - repeated 3 times - 36 total C&Ps:
1x C&P Left/Right
1x KB Row Left/Right
2x C&P Left/Right
2x KB Row Left/Right
3x C&P Left/Right
3x KB Row Left/Right
1 minute rest

Snatches - 5 minutes continuous - 53lb bell - 65 reps:
10x Left / 10x Right
1 minute rest

Duration: 10 minutes

My shoulder is slowly feeling better. I am trying to push it a little more to encourage faster healing. I don’t feel it as much, and didn’t feel it much tonight. I did a bunch of rehab stuff before lifting tonight to ensure it was ready to go. Band pull-aparts, db extensions, external rotations, etc. Moving on to the workout, one-armed landmine presses were strong, and I did a lot of them. Neutral grip db floor presses are still a big favorite right now. Slowly increasing weight on them. First 3 sets were all paused, and all easy. Curls were curls. I did shrugs differently today to try to hit my traps in a ‘new way’. Instead of just shrugging up and down I tried to pull back and up – really pinching my shoulder blades back together. These hit the middle/lower portion of my traps pretty hard. No free pizza tonight, but I grilled brats, which is just as good.

One-Arm Landmine Press:
45×12x2
90×5x2
135×5x2
145×5x2
155×5x2
170×5x2 (PR)
180×6x2 (PR)
90×6x2

DB Floor Press w/ Neutral Grip (paused reps for first 3 sets):
100×6x3
100×12x2 (PR)

Wide-grip Shrugs:
225×12x3
275×12x1
295×12x2

Standing DB Curls:
65×8x2
55×8x3
50×4-40×4

+ stretching + power yoga (60min)

Duration: 120 minutes

And that’s that. The last swing workout of the ‘prepratory phase’ of this 12 week program is done. I was supposed to sets of 50 again like Tuesday, but I felt like doing a ‘little extra’ since this was this phase’s last swing workout. Sets of 60 sounded like a good plan. After finishing my 4th set of 60 I took 20s of extra rest with the plan of going all-out the last couple minutes or so until the timer expired. That last set of 100 reps just about reached complete failure. I really don’t think I could have done another 10 reps if I had the time. With the last monster set, and the increased sets of 60, I hit 340 reps.  Again, it did not take that long to recover. I had a pretty sweet lower back pump going, but that went away after 15 minutes.

Next week is the start of the 8 week RKC Rite of Passage routine (I didn’t name it) which consists of clean and press ladders 3x/week, followed by snatches (once/week) and swings (the other two days). The first workout uses light snatches, the second ‘medium day’ workout uses uses moderate intensity swings, and the third ‘heavy day’ workout uses high intensity ‘max effort’ swings. The ‘catch’ with the swing and snatch segments is that you do them for a duration dictated by a dice roll. If I roll a 6 on the first workout of the week that means I do snatches for sets of 20 with 1 min rest for 6 minutes. If I roll a 12 on heavy day then I go to failure. Enter the Kettlebell basically dictates that if you roll anything over a 5 on heavy days just cap it at 5, since you won’t get that far anyways! Either way, the moderate and heavy days are pretty brutal, as moderate days typically only use 10-20s rest periods, and heavy days use 5-10s rest periods. Medium days use a heavier bell for slower reps, where as heavy days use a LIGHTER bell for faster (and more) reps. Kind of counterintuitive. Clean and Press ladders start at 3×3 (3 rungs x 3 repeats), and progress to 5×5’s at the end. This should be challenging!

Warmups - 8 minutes:
Wall Squats x40
Halos with 53lb bell x20
Pumps x40

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used - 340 total reps:
One-arm swings x60
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x60
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x60
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x60
80 second active rest
One-arm swings x50
Double-arm swings x50
Cooldown

Duration: 20 minutes

Dead in the gym today, but it was an oven. The Y has a tough time regulating the temps when the seasons change and it starts to get Fall’ish. There was a guy in the weight room doing some funky, I don’t know what you’d really call them, movements where he would hold a pair of dumbbells and then round his back completely, look down at the floor, and bend over and stand back up again super fast, while keeping his back rounded horribly the entire time. He wasn’t bending over far, but enough for me to cringe. I wanted to say something, or at least ask what he was trying to accomplish with that jerky back-wrenching movement…maybe next time.

Moving on to the workout - no more leg soreness, but they are still pretty fatigued. ATG squats were tough due to the fact my core felt like it wanted to give out at any moment. Those strict GM’s must be more demanding than I realize. I hit the target numbers for today and called it good. The “5’s” workouts are nice because they are less demanding than the 3’s and 5/3/1 sessions and kind of give you a chance to recover a little more. I only did step ups for assistance since I will be doing the final kettlebell swing workout tonight. Step ups are a tough movement and get me breathing harder than most anything else I do during the week. After step ups I did some ab rollouts. These are getting easier and easier and soon I will start doing them standing.

My bodyweight is increasing a bit (234 the other night), but I am looking leaner. Intake is a tad higher. I think I need to start eating more, though, to keep my recovery rate up with the additional KB work. I feel like it is starting to compound and catch up, but that might just be the first heavy deadlift session from the floor in 6 months + super strict GM’s talking. Time will tell.

ATG Squats:
135x12x1
225x5x1
305x5x1
350x5x1
405x5x1

BB Step Ups (12″ box):
225x10x1
245x10x1
265x10x1
290x10x1 (PR)
265x10x1

Ab Rollouts:
bw x6x4
bw x15x1 (PR)

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes