Tuesday 2/24 (AM)
Spinning Bike (17 Minutes)
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Monday 2/22 (PM)
KB Medley (25 Minutes)
Kind of a sloppy workout tonight. Started off well with some goblet squats and then tried an ill conceived clean and press ladder that I was really rushing through to stay on my EMOM schedule, eventually failing a press with the 88 more due to sloppy form than muscle failure.
The miss came pretty late in the workout but still cheesed me off. I re-grouped and did two more solid clean and presses with the 88 per hand, and then bagged it for the day. Those last few reps were solid and I was happy to end there.
[/quote]
Must have been something in the air yesterday because I did almost the exact same thing when doing Jerks. Started getting a little sloppy and careless and missed a rep. When I ignored the timer and got my mind back in the game I was able to hit a decent strand of reps after that. You are getting a lot stronger on your presses! Keep up the good work!
Tuesday 2/24 (PM)
A1. KB Swing 25x44
A2. Lat Pulldown 8x110, 120, 130, 140
A3. Chest Press 8x110, 120, 130, 140
Four rounds.
B1. KB Swing 25x44
B2. Lat Pulldown 6x150
B3. Chest Press 6x150
B4. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88
Three rounds. Plus one bonus:
C. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88 (strict press - vid attached, although it’s blurry)
Much better today. That last strict press was really good.
Wednesday 2/25 (AM)
Spinning Bike (15 Minutes)
I just noticed that somewhere in the log I got off by a day on the date. Going back to fix now
Wednesday 2/25 (PM)
A1. KB Swing 15x88
A2. Lat Pulldown 8x110, 120, 130, 140
A3. Chest Press 8x110, 120, 130, 140
Four rounds.
B1. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88
B2. Lat Pulldown 6x150
B3. Chest Press 6x150
Four rounds.
C1. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88 (strict press)
Once.
Thursday 2/26 (AM)
Spinning Bike (15 Minutes)
Thursday 2/26 (PM)
A1. KB Swing 20x88
A2. Lat Pulldown 8x110, 120, 130, 140
A3. Chest Press 8x110, 120, 130, 140
Four rounds.
KB Clean-N-Press 2x88
Nine rounds. Rock solid.
So why did you switch from your pullups to pulldowns?
Do you feel like the pulldowns give you something that the pullups don’t? (Whether that be because you can go lighter but higher reps, or just being able to tweak your form easier)
[quote]LoRez wrote:
So why did you switch from your pullups to pulldowns?
Do you feel like the pulldowns give you something that the pullups don’t? (Whether that be because you can go lighter but higher reps, or just being able to tweak your form easier)[/quote]
Ha! You give me too much credit. It’s much stupider than that.
I was recently recruited to a different research group, and although I work in a very similar capacity to my previous job (I do statistical analysis that supports medical research, but now I’m getting paid more and have more say in the overall process), administrative red tape means that I am now officially an employee of the “University of Pittsburgh Medical Center” rather than a “University of Pittsburgh” faculty member. While it sounds like a trivial distinction, it’s really different; UPMC is a gargantuan healthcare system (62,000+ employees across a few dozen hospitals), and trying to explain the uncomfortable alliance between the University and “UPMC” is enough to give anyone a headache. Instead of getting paid by University research grants, now I’m paid from UPMC surgery revenue.
Why does long tangent this matter, you ask? Well, as a Pitt faculty member, I had access to all University facilities, and as such, I frequented the gym at Pitt to use their pull-up bar. As a UPMC employee, I no longer have the privilege. I don’t have a car, but the Pitt gym (and my workplaces) are all close enough that I could easily walk there before/after work. Actually getting to a gym other than the Uni facilities would take some extra cash and extra transportation. There are places near-ish (1-2 miles from my apartment) but it’s just so convenient to work out at home, so…
I have started doing all of my workouts at home, be that on my spinning bike or with my kettlebells (save yoga class on the weekends) . You may note from the grainy video I’ve posted that my apartment building has a little fitness center comparable to your typical hotel gym (Universal machine, treadmill, elliptical, and exercise bike). So when I post a workout that includes the chest press or lat pulldown, it means that I hauled a few KB’s across the hall (literally, my apartment is across the hall from the “fitness center”) and slapped together a little circuit.
I do like the chest press and lat pulldowns as “pump” work of sorts to accompany the KB work, which is my real bread-and-butter. But there’s no real reason why I’m doing them instead of pull-ups other than “I have a lat pulldown machine across the hall and I don’t have a pull-up bar handy right now.”
Someday, when I have a property of my own, I’ll fix up a proper rig to do pull-ups, both a bar and rings (I still have my rings and will put them to use outside once the summer comes, but for now, zero-degree-temps mean working out indoors).
Friday 2/27 (AM)
A1. Chest Press 10x110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180
A2. Lat Pulldown 10x110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 150, 150, 150
In a hurry this morning. Ripped through this in 15 minutes.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
But there’s no real reason why I’m doing them instead of pull-ups other than “I have a lat pulldown machine across the hall and I don’t have a pull-up bar handy right now.”[/quote]
Well… that was my first thought, but you never know.
Sounds like a tricky situation with the university and med center; I bet that makes office politics fun.
You know, I think I might get to like this Pacific Northwest weather. I’ve been able to do this outside on my balcony for most of this winter.
But for real, I actually feel like I’m on a different planet than the rest of the US. Most of my colleagues are in Quebec, North Carolina and Indiana, dealing with some horrific weather. Meanwhile, we’ve just had some rain and high winds here and there, but otherwise it’s been 50s and sunny for a long time.
Adding in rings seems to be one of the better things I’ve done for my training though. Weighted ring dips and pullups have finally given me some of the upper body size I’ve wanted but haven’t really pursued, while actually stabilizing my shoulders quite a bit.
Did you ever do anything with the rings besides pullups?
Friday 2/27 (PM)
Spinning Bike (20 Minutes)
Saturday 2/28 (AM)
Bikram Yoga Class
Saturday 2/28 (PM)
KB Medley (25 Minutes)
GF in town for the weekend. Went to yoga together in AM, went shopping for engagement rings (“just looking” - aka “I don’t know anything about jewelry and want to have a clue what to buy”), then did a little KB circuit in the evening before a fancy home cooked meal of roast duck, celery-root purée, asparagus. Good day 
Sunday 3/1 (AM)
KB Medley (24 Minutes)
Lined up the five KB’s (26, 35, 44, 53, 88) and did a set with each plus a set of lat pulldowns for 4 rounds. Highlight: my final set was a set of clean-and-press 4x88 (two each hand), the first time I’ve ever done a continuous set of multiple reps with the 88. GF also did several sets of really good swings with the 53. In retrospect, it’s kind of funny that I trained with only a 45-pounder for so long and thought I was all hardcore, now that I see my GF doing swings with a 53.
Also of note, I have decided to buy a second 20kg/44-lb so I can start fiddling with double-KB movements. In particular, I’m intrigued by double swings and the long cycle. If/when I pursue a KB sport competition, the long cycle might really be my event with my pretty solid pressing strength.
Sunday 3/1 (PM)
A1. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88
A2. Lat Pulldown 5x150
Ten rounds.
Monday 3/2 (AM)
Spinning Bike (16 Minutes)
Monday 3/2 (PM)
A1. Goblet Squat 10x26
A2. Goblet Squat 10x35
A3. KB Swing 25x44
A4. KB Swing 15x53
A5. KB Clean-N-Press 2x88
A6. Lat Pulldown 8x140
A7. Chest Press 8x140
Four rounds plus a finishing set of Clean-N-Press 4x88.
My second 44 is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Thus, I expect that tomorrow’s workout will be almost entirely playing around with double KB swings and the long cycle. I AM SO EXCITED.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
My second 44 is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Thus, I expect that tomorrow’s workout will be almost entirely playing around with double KB swings and the long cycle. I AM SO EXCITED.[/quote]
You will definitely enjoy doubles training especially Long Cycle. For me Long Cycle is tougher than Snatches (Single or Double) but it is my favorite doubles movement. I started at first doing double clean & presses until I became somewhat comfortable with jerks. Definitely will be checking in to see what you come up with now that you are a fellow doubles guy!
Tuesday 3/3 (AM)
Spinning Bike (16 Minutes)
[quote]jblues85 wrote:
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
My second 44 is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Thus, I expect that tomorrow’s workout will be almost entirely playing around with double KB swings and the long cycle. I AM SO EXCITED.[/quote]
You will definitely enjoy doubles training especially Long Cycle. For me Long Cycle is tougher than Snatches (Single or Double) but it is my favorite doubles movement. I started at first doing double clean & presses until I became somewhat comfortable with jerks. Definitely will be checking in to see what you come up with now that you are a fellow doubles guy! [/quote]
Yeah, I might do a bastardized “Long Cycle” at first that’s really just “clean and press” or “clean and push press” until I feel comfortable with the double-KB jerk. But I am, like, seriously salivating at all of the new options available to me.
In particular, a long-cycle pyramid (1, 2, 3…9, 10, 9…3, 2, 1) with the 44’s seems like it could be a simple, fast, brutal, effective total-body workout. That would total 100+ reps per hand.
Shipping update says that it’s on the truck to be delivered today. I’ll report back tonight.