Thanks LoRez! I really feel like everything is coming together now I’m using the “bulldog”. It’s finally a heavy enough weight to feel equivalent to barbell work. In answer to your question yes that’s basically how I do it, but I assist with my other hand too.
Interested in hearing about your Mau Thai training? Have you ever done a martial art before?
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[b] Simple and Sinister Day 52
One-Arm Swings [/b]
28kg: 5x10 (8:15min)
40kg: 3x3
TGU
40kg: 1x1
I’ll keep you updated on it Bird. I’ve done a couple of years of mma and boxing, but that was over 3 years ago. I’m sorry to hear about your difficulties with your team, I hope you have a better season next time.
Simple and Sinister Day 53 (Yesterday)
One-Arm Swings
40kg: 2x5, 1x10 - I smacked the 40kg into my knee on the last set, luckily it hasn’t seemed to have done any real damage.
Turkish Get-Ups
40kg: 1x1
Simple and Sinister Day 54
One-Arm Swings
40kg: 3x5 - Did these in a layby in the Scottish borders because I was fed up with driving. Definitely my most scenic session - forest, mountains, a setting sun and a watchful buzzard.
Turkish Get-Ups
40kg: 1x1 - Did this back home.
Simple and Sinister Day 55
One-Arm Swings
40kg: 4x10
Turkish Get-Ups
40kg: 4x1
Today was a huge volume PR with the 40kg. I did this by taking huge rest periods and supersetting the two exercises. One total superset took 20 minutes and was structured like this: 10 swings with my left hand, 5 min rest, 10 swings with my right hand, 5 min rest, left get-up, 5 min rest, right get-up, 5 min rest. I intended to do 5 sets but I was so bored by the 4th that I called it there (took 1hr 15min). Certainly an extremely uninspiring way to train, but it got a lot of work done.
I’m not sure I should keep titling my sessions “Simple and Sinister” as I have strayed from the written programme, but I think I’m just about close enough to keep doing so for now.
[b] Simple and Sinister Day 56
One-Arm Swings [/b]
20kg: 5x10 (4:30min)
Turkish Get-Ups
20kg: 1x1
Light day today. Will probably go to muay thai this evening.
Day 56 Continued
Turkish Get-Ups
20kg: 1x1
28kg: 1x1
40kg: 1x1
I got back too late for Muay Thai so did some get-ups instead. These felt really good, apart from a minor difficulty with stabilising on the left handed 40kg rep. My 2 weakest points with the TGU are definitely the initial sit-up and the shoulder stabilisation.
[b] Simple and Sinister Day 57
One-Arm Swings [/b]
40kg: 3x5
Tukish Get-Ups
28kg: 1x1
40kg: 1x1
Bodyweight: 97.1kg
My main goal is to get leaner, and this has been my main goal for some time now - I have just been really lazy at working towards it. I’m happy that my body seems to have stabilised at 96.5kg - 97kg which is a 2-3kg improvement on a year ago, but I can’t continue to progress so slowly. I’d love to drop below 93kg over the course of the rest of 2014, but I don’t know how realistic that is with starting such a busy job.
^ We’ll do it together
[quote]furo wrote:
Bodyweight: 97.1kg
My main goal is to get leaner, and this has been my main goal for some time now - I have just been really lazy at working towards it. I’m happy that my body seems to have stabilised at 96.5kg - 97kg which is a 2-3kg improvement on a year ago, but I can’t continue to progress so slowly. I’d love to drop below 93kg over the course of the rest of 2014, but I don’t know how realistic that is with starting such a busy job. [/quote]
It’s quite doable. I dropped 6.2 lbs (2.8 kg) in 5 weeks, most of it fat, so I’m sure you can do it.
But accurately tracking calories is probably going to have to be part of it. I had a “target” goal for my calories, and some days I was quite a bit over, and quite a bit under, but it was the 5-day moving average I cared about.
I didn’t really change anything regarding food choices. I ate stuff that was more easily tracked in my phone app, and I made sure I ate more protein than normal, but otherwise I ate pretty much the same. No fasting, no focus on carbs or fat intake… just calories and protein.
The last two weeks I added a thermogenic with yohimbine and caffine, and I’m guessing that helped a bit, but I still just plugged in numbers and adjusted diet every few days. May want to consider throwing one of those in eventually.
And you’ve already got a bit of cardio already, so I wouldn’t even mess with that.
Yes we will Maazer!!! 
Thanks for the advice LoRez, I’d never considered a thermogenic aid before (although I’m sure it would be best to do as much as I can without one first). Honestly the real problem I’m having is laziness pure and simple.
Day 57 Continued
Two Handed Swings
40kg: 3x10 - I felt like doing some more work in the early afternoon. Annoyingly both hands don’t fit comfortably.
Muay Thai/Boxing
I did one hour of Muay Thai followed immediately by 1 hour of boxing this evening. My weakest points are definitely my stamina, kicking/elbow technique and my instinct to turtle up in light sparring, while shadow boxing technique and physical strength seem to be stronger points. I was especially happy with my physical strength which seems to be hugely improved since my MMA days where I felt quite weak against smaller guys (despite being bigger than I am now). I think this is largely due to increased grip and core strength thanks to kettlebells. I’m really glad to find that this new style of “functional training” is actually proving to be functional.
Rest Days
Today and tomorrow are rest days. I feel pretty run down in general and also very sore from the Muay Thai and boxing (especially my neck from the clinch work).
Simple and Sinister Day 58
One-Arm Swings
20kg: 1x10
28kg: 1x10
40kg: 1x10
28kg: 1x10
20kg: 1x10
Turkish Get-Ups
20kg: 1x1
28kg: 1x1
40kg: 1x1
28kg: 1x1
20kg: 1x1
These get-ups felt like some of the best I’ve ever done. I’m not sure if that is because of the 2 days off or because of doing them in a ladder rather than jumping straight into using the 40kg.
Bodyweight: 96.8kg
Static Stretching
Over the last week or so I’ve really gotten into static stretching, although I haven’t been logging it. Yesterday I came across a video on stretching by Elliot Hulse and I tried it out and it feels really good.
Ido Portal Interview
I just watched this really interesting interview of Ido Portal. Ido starts talking at around 13:20, the bit before that is all unnecessary preamble.
Simple and Sinister Day 59
One-Arm Swings
28kg: 2x10
40kg: 1x10
28kg: 2x10
My swing technique has definitely not been improving as fast as I hoped. I don’t think there is much point in using the 20kg from now on though - yesterday it felt a little too easy to be beneficial.
Turkish Get-Ups
28kg: 2x1
40kg: 1x1
28kg: 2x1
On my very first left-sided get-up I felt something inside my knee spasm sharply, and then on the final rep the same thing happened in my right knee. I am a bit worried about my knees, they feel like they are quite unstable and I think they might be prone to injury. I wonder if all of the stretching I’ve been doing has loosened something that might have been (wrongly) keeping things in place. I know that if I stretch my lower back it is much easier to hurt it.
Rest Day
Chimpanzees
Last night I watched the first Planet of the Apes film (not the old ones, the James Franco one). Anyway it got me thinking about training and movement and apes lol. Out of curiosity I found out that the average male chimpanzee has a height of 5’6" and a weight of 70kg, which puts their BMI at 25. I couldn’t find any precise info on limb length, but I imagine overall it is comparable to humans (longer arms but shorter legs). So for me to have similar proportions to a chimpanzee I would have to weigh 88-90kg, which happens to probably be what I would weigh now if I were sub 10% bodyfat. How about that for some useless information.
Front Levers
I think I need to start doing something that hits my lats a little more. Both the Ido Portal interview above and the recent Dan John article touched on the importance of just hanging, but I don’t have anywhere in my new flat to set up my rings and doorway pull-up bars tend to really scuff up door frames. I think that front levers might be a good alternative, as they involve the lats and are “hanging” and I could make a simple PVC frame to support me (see picture attached - mine wouldn’t have to be nearly that big).
Great job on the TGU with the 40kg. Been on here, just not posting much. Browsing. How long are you doing S
Simple and Sinister Day 60
One-Arm Swings
28kg: 1x10
40kg: 3x5
Kettlebell Cleans
40kg: 3x5
Turkish Get-Ups
28kg: 1x1
40kg: 1x1
28kg: 1x1
To be completely honest I feel pretty fed up with training at the moment. I think I’m going to drop my Simple and Sinister frequency right down and start doing something new. Maybe swimming? I’m not enjoying the muay thai here as much as I used to enjoy mma/boxing with my uni friends.
My knees are still giving me bother.
Sorry BCFlynn, I only got part of your message. Thanks though!
[quote]furo wrote:
To be completely honest I feel pretty fed up with training at the moment. I think I’m going to drop my Simple and Sinister frequency right down and start doing something new. Maybe swimming? I’m not enjoying the muay thai here as much as I used to enjoy mma/boxing with my uni friends.
[/quote]
I’ve been lurking in your log for a little while, got a suggestion if you want to hear it.
I spent much of this year dilly-dallying around and switching things every few weeks, but recently have come around to a rough template of 2 kettlebell workouts per week (longer than the S & S workouts you’ve been doing; usually taking 20-30 minutes doing an assortment of cleans, presses, swings, and goblet squats), a bunch of pull-ups (I’ve been doing 60-100 total reps per workout, 3-5 times per week), and little else besides riding my bicycle to work and a weekly yoga class or two.
Given your affinity for kettlebell work (even if you’re not thrilled ATM) and minimalist training, your recent mention of something that hits your lats a little more…it seems like something you might be interested in, or could adapt to your own needs (i.e. 2x/weekly kettlebell workouts with 2 swimming sessions, or 2 yoga classes, etc). Not sure this is really what you’re looking for, just a thought, might stir up an idea of your own!
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
I’ve been lurking in your log for a little while, got a suggestion if you want to hear it.
I spent much of this year dilly-dallying around and switching things every few weeks, but recently have come around to a rough template of 2 kettlebell workouts per week (longer than the S & S workouts you’ve been doing; usually taking 20-30 minutes doing an assortment of cleans, presses, swings, and goblet squats), a bunch of pull-ups (I’ve been doing 60-100 total reps per workout, 3-5 times per week), and little else besides riding my bicycle to work and a weekly yoga class or two.
Given your affinity for kettlebell work (even if you’re not thrilled ATM) and minimalist training, your recent mention of something that hits your lats a little more…it seems like something you might be interested in, or could adapt to your own needs (i.e. 2x/weekly kettlebell workouts with 2 swimming sessions, or 2 yoga classes, etc). Not sure this is really what you’re looking for, just a thought, might stir up an idea of your own![/quote]
Thanks a lot for your input ActivitiesGuy! That has actually been really helpful. I think what I might start doing is training strength twice a week: one day doing Simple and Sinister and another doing an equivalent bodyweight session (I’m thinking pull-ups and pistol squats). On the other days I’ll either rest or work on something else (eg stretching or cardio).
I’ve done quite a lot of pistol squats in the past, and had knee issues, but if I really work on my mobility and build up again using basic progressions again that should hopefully help. Also I don’t have anywhere at home to do pull-ups so I’ll need to work something out there.
How does that sound to you? Any suggestions?
In terms of stretching I’ve come up with the following list (from Al Kavadlo’s stretching book, Simple and Sinister and that Elliot Hulse video):
- Standing back bend
- Standing touch toes
- Kneeling quad stretch
- Squat hold
- 90-90 hip/glute stretch
- Shoulder dislocates