Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

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

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

What the hell. How is this even possible? I decided to use the 53lber again like I did last Tuesday since my hamstrings are TOAST, plus this week’s sets are for 50 reps. I knew I could top last Tuesday’s 260 rep effort, but I did not expect to top it by 55 reps for a total of 315 reps! My pace was quicker than last week and I had a good groove going, which led to faster overall set times. I was sucking wind hard at the end, but I restored my breathing rate to normal within 3 minutes. One more swing workout and then it’s on to the “real” kettlebell training next week.

Warmups - 10 minutes, 4 cycles of the following completed:
Wall Squats x10
Halos with 53lb bell x10
Pumps x10

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used - 315 total reps:
One-arm swings x50
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x50
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x50
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x50
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x50
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x65
Cooldown

Duration: 22 minutes

Finished off the 3rd week of the 4-week kettlebell training cycle this morning with a quick session of get ups. Good stuff.

Warmups:
Wall Squats x40

Workout - 5 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used:
16 reps

Duration: 10 minutes

Very sore legs, 65-degree weather, Dusk, and a 70lb kettlebell made for a great kettlebell session tonight. The 70lb kettlebell arrived Wednesday so I decided to use that one tonight as the 53 was too easy on Tuesday. I surprised myself with being able to do 10 more reps tonight than I did Tuesday, despite going heavier, and having beat-up legs. 270 total reps! I was sucking wind hard after each set, but found myself recovering very well within the allowed minute. My form stayed tight and I was getting good ROM on the swings. The last set was 70 reps, with the first 40 done single-armed, then double-armed for the last 30. Afterwards, it only took two minutes to regain a normal breathing rate. I am definitely liking the improved endurance and work capacity.

Next week is the final week of swings, and reps increase to 50 per set. I think I will continue with the 70lber.

Warmups - 5 minutes:
Wall Squats x40
Pumps x20

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 70lb bell used - 270 total reps:
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
Double-arm swings x30
Cooldown

Duration: 17 minutes

66 degrees outside and raining. What a great day for some outdoor kettlebell swings.  The rain didn’t effect my grip at all - just toweled off the handle before each set and went at it. Today’s workout called for sets of 40 with the typical 1 minute active rest between sets. My calculations told me that I would end up with around 240 reps when time expired, but I still had 30 seconds on the clock when I finished the last set so I kept going until it expired. This session was EASY but fantastic. I was just about able to fully recover between each set, and still got a great lower back, hamstring, and glute pump/workout. After I finished, I rested for a minute or so then did some kettlebell flips. I have never tried these before, but I consider my first attempt a success since I didn’t leave any small craters in the lawn. I did around 10 reps and was breathing pretty good - but that was probably due to the fact I had just done 60 swings a minute prior.

Overall my form stayed crisp and I never struggled with my breathing or movements. I found that switching hands halfway through each set helped keep my grip much fresher. Next swing workout will be 40-reppers again.

Warmups - 10 minutes, 4 cycles of the following completed:
Wall Squats x10
Halos with 53lb bell x10
Pumps x10

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used - 260 total reps:
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x40
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x60
Cooldown

Duration: 22 minutes

Nice quick session. Used the 53lb bell tonight so I could work at a brisker pace. I threw in a windmill at the top of every get up. This is an awesome combo for blasting the core. After doing the get up/windmills I did more windmills, and finished with some cleans and jerks. I have only dabbled with the jerks a little bit previously, and was able to jerk the 88lber last night once I studied the form and ‘got it’ with the 53lber, but these lighter sets will help get that form ingrained.

Warmups - 5 minutes:
Wall Squats x20
Pumps x20
Halos with 53lb bell x40

Workout - 5 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used:
Turkish Get Up + Windmill - 16 reps

Extras - 53lb bell used:
Windmills - 20 reps each side
Cleans - 10 reps each side
Jerks - 10 reps each side

Duration: 15 minutes

210 reps! Tonight’s session called for sets of 30 with the same 1 minute active rest periods. Brutal. Conditioning is improving rapidly.

Next swing workout calls for sets of 40, so I am going to switch to the 53lber (or the 70lber if it is here in time), as that should end up being around 240 reps total. My form was starting to suffer a bit towards the end reps on the last couple sets so I want to make sure I am staying crisp the entire time.

Warmups - 10 minutes, 4 cycles of the following completed:
Wall Squats x10
Halos with 53lb bell x10
Pumps x10

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 88lb bell used - 210 total reps:
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x30
1 minute active rest
Double-arm swings x30
Easy cooldown walk

 Duration: 22 minutes

I decided to skip my deload workout tonight and do kettlebell snatches (instead of get ups) for 5 minutes. I’ve got some good soreness in the glutes, and some back fatigue going from the swings yesterday. Also a bit fatigued from doing a ton of random snatches yesterday just because the bell was there. Moving on, I warmed up, then set the timer for 5 minutes and went at it. When the alarm sounded I had 110 reps under my belt. I was fairly gassed and had the start of that metallic/blood taste coming into my mouth, but I could have pushed on if I really wanted to…I surely did not want to today, though! I am very pleased with this as I am only 90 reps shy of the 10 minute ‘elite’ SSST goal and this is with only 5 kettlebell sessions completed - plus I am in full-body shutdown deload mode. I also took 3 20-second rests at 50, 70, 90 reps, so I have lots of room for improvement as well!

Time to clean up and get some power yoga in at the Y.

Warmups - 10 minutes, 4 cycles of the following completed:
Wall Squats x10
Halos with 53lb bell x10
Pumps x10

Workout - 5 minutes continuous - 53lb bell used:
110 reps

+ power yoga (60 min)

Duration: 75 minutes

Very nice swinging action tonight. I was determined to prove that the last session wasn’t a fluke and plowed through this workout in machine-like fashion while putting more force behind the swings compared to last session. Towards the end I started getting impatient and cut some rests short. Like last time, this allowed me to squeeze in a 9th set. Five more reps during that last set gives me a total of 190 reps, +5 over last time.  Recovered fast after this workout, so I know my stamina and endurance is truly improving.

Warmups - 10 minutes, 4 cycles of the following completed:
Wall Squats x10
Halos with 53lb bell x10
Pumps x10

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 88lb bell used - 190 total reps:
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
One-arm swings x20
1 minute active rest
Double-arm swings x 30
Easy cooldown walk

Duration: 22 minutes