Turkish Get-Up Day
Goblet Squat
20kg: 5x10
Push-Ups
BW: 3x15
Turkish Get-Ups
40kg: 1x1
Bodyweight: 95.0kg
I felt shagged from the week today, so only did 1 set. I’m treating today as a deload. The pump work felt really good. I also did 15min stretching including a 5min squat hold.
TGU Day Continued
Pistol Squats
BW: 3x1
I decided to do some reflection today on weaknesses in my current training routine and physical abilities. I think that my main weakness in terms of strength is undoubtedly in my quads. My posterior chain feels good, S&S has made nice improvements to my core and my upper body strength is pretty close to where it has always been. But my quads have always been a weak point and my current training style is doing nothing to address that.
In terms of training quads I have a few options:
I think all methods would be effective enough, but I’m leaning towards pistol squats at the moment. Barbell squatting would require joining a gym and double kettlebell squatting would require a big spend (I think I’d need double 32kgs - another 28kg wouldn’t be heavy enough and another 40kg would be too heavy).
In the past pistols of caused me some problems, both in my knees and lower back. I’m going to try to get around this by continuing to work on my mobility, warming up thoroughly and squatting on a box (lower mobility requirement). The ones I did just now (3x1, paused, slow tempo) felt pretty good, so I should be able to build up slowly.
you always got my gym for barbell and trap bar work!
[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
you always got my gym for barbell and trap bar work![/quote]
Thanks a lot bud, I really appreciate it :). With my ever-changing rota I’ll need something I can do consistently, but I’d love to join you when I can.
Swing Day
Goblet Squats
20kg: 3x10
Kettlebell Rows (Double-Handed)
20kg: 3x20
One-Arm Swings
40kg: 5x10
Kettlebell Rows (One-Handed)
40kg: 3x5
Stretching: 20min, inc. 5min squat hold.
Bodyweight: 96.2kg
This was a good session, the pump work prepared me well and the swings and rows felt strong. The chalk has been incredible, it has completely transformed the swings. With my grip no longer an issue I can really focus on working my posterior chain.
My lower back was sore last night for the first time in ages, and today my right hip has been playing up (although it feels good now). I can’t be sure if this is due to the pistols or not but I want to give them a fair chance. Ideally I’d like to do the following:
Swing Day: Pump work (legs and upper back); swings; pull-ups
Get-Up Day: Pump work (legs and chest); get-ups; pistols
I think that would fit my goals well. The difficulty is in the potential for injury with pistols and the lack of pull-up bar.
One other thing - my neck has been cracking horribly for the past 3 weeks or so. I don’t really notice it, but then I move my neck a certain way and it cracks and then I feel a lot better. I think it is probably down to either a tense posture at work (although I don’t feel like I’m doing anything differently) or imbalances from my training (I’m doing a lot of trap work with the swings, but no vertical pulling).
I don’t really follow WMMA (just title fights) but I found this video interesting. I’ve never heard of Rin Nakai before, but it’s cool to see a more muscular female fighter. I wonder how she’ll do in the UFC.
[quote]furo wrote:
I don’t really follow WMMA (just title fights) but I found this video interesting. I’ve never heard of Rin Nakai before, but it’s cool to see a more muscular female fighter. I wonder how she’ll do in the UFC.
[/quote]
She’s pretty cute lol.
Turkish Get-Up day
Pump Work
Bodyweight squats and push-ups.
Turkish Get-Ups
40kg: 4x1
These were taking too long, so I stopped at 4.
Goblet Squats
40kg: 3x5
Stretching: 20min, including 5min squat hold.
Bodyweight: 95.4kg
I decided to do goblet squats instead of pistols, as my knees were really clunky on the get-ups and it’s just not worth the risk. Goblet squats feel amazing on my knees but they aren’t as good at strengthening my quads as there are so many other limiting factors. Weak quads are better than broken knees though.
A decent split would be:
Swing Day: Pump work (legs and upper back); swings; rows
Get-Up Day: Pump work (legs and chest); get-ups; goblet squats
Rest Day
I just did 30min of stretching today including a 5min squat hold. I’m tired but my body feels good.
I like your thoughts in coming up with a kettlebell split of some sorts. Can definitely see how that would be challenging to come up with since almost every kettlebell movement is a full body exercise. At one point I had a clean & press day super-set with pull-ups, snatch day combined with ab work and goblet squats (mobility purposes), and a swing day with get-ups that seem to work out well. I wasn’t logging here then so I don’t have those posted. The only reason I put those days on the back burner for now is I’m concentrating a little more on my barbell lifts. Like the direction you are heading!
[quote]jblues85 wrote:
I like your thoughts in coming up with a kettlebell split of some sorts. Can definitely see how that would be challenging to come up with since almost every kettlebell movement is a full body exercise. At one point I had a clean & press day super-set with pull-ups, snatch day combined with ab work and goblet squats (mobility purposes), and a swing day with get-ups that seem to work out well. I wasn’t logging here then so I don’t have those posted. The only reason I put those days on the back burner for now is I’m concentrating a little more on my barbell lifts. Like the direction you are heading![/quote]
Yeah you are right, all of the movements are pretty much whole body. I certainly can’t think of a single one that doesn’t work the entire core and forearms. I’ve kind of fallen into doing the plan that ActivitiesGuy suggested on the previous page, so thanks to him for that! That sounds like a really good idea for a routine, thanks for passing it on! I like the idea of pairing up two antagonistic exercises like that.
I like your new split as well.
Goblet squats are great for mobility and I think a 40 kg dB is heavier enough to stimulate some decent growth.
I have been watching heaps of Al Kavaldo videos lately and I am now developing an interest into this style of training. I know you have mentioned him a number of occasions. Do you still plan to train calisthenics in some way?
tweet
[quote]theBird wrote:
I like your new split as well.
Goblet squats are great for mobility and I think a 40 kg dB is heavier enough to stimulate some decent growth.
I have been watching heaps of Al Kavaldo videos lately and I am now developing an interest into this style of training. I know you have mentioned him a number of occasions. Do you still plan to train calisthenics in some way?
tweet[/quote]
Yeah I really like goblet squats! The issue with the 40kg KB is that my arms tire really quickly, but they’ll adapt.
Oh nice, I’m a big Al Kavadlo fan! It’s difficult, I’d really like to but it just doesn’t really work with my current set-up. As you can tell I’m a huge fan of minimalism and I prefer to keep my exercise selection limited, and what I’m doing at the moment seems to cover everything I need. If I had a pull-up bar I would almost definitely add pull-ups to my routine. As for other bodyweight exercises I’m really in two minds. On the one hand I think it would be really rewarding to master a bunch of calisthenic exercises and I love the idea of not needing any equipment, but on the other hand I’ve found that quite a lot of bodyweight exercises are dangerous for me (contrary to popular belief that they are more ‘natural’). Dips and pistols in particular seem to leave me feeling rough.
So in theory I’m a huge bodyweight fan, but the reality is that I don’t feel I have a need for it right now and I don’t want to risk injury.
Swing Day
Pump Work
Double-handed rows and bodyweight squats.
One-Arm Swings
40kg: 5x10
These took ages.
Kettlebell Snatch
40kg: 1x1
These weren’t pretty at all, but with the chalk I managed to get one with each arm.
Kettlebell Rows
40kg: 3x5
Stretching: 30min, including a 5min squat hold.
Bodyweight: 95.3kg
I’m beginning to struggle with motivation a little, I think I’m just bored. I’ll do my TGUs tomorrow but then I think I’ll take a full week off kettlebells. I’m not sure what I’ll do instead, maybe swimming.
[quote]furo wrote:
As you can tell I’m a huge fan of minimalism and I prefer to keep my exercise selection limited, and what I’m doing at the moment seems to cover everything I need. If I had a pull-up bar I would almost definitely add pull-ups to my routine.
[/quote]
If I had a pull-up bar at home, I could probably do nothing but pushups, pullups, and kettlebell workouts and I’d be a happy man. I still do some other stuff now for fun, but I am pretty sure that’s all I would need to be happy with my fitness.
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
[quote]furo wrote:
As you can tell I’m a huge fan of minimalism and I prefer to keep my exercise selection limited, and what I’m doing at the moment seems to cover everything I need. If I had a pull-up bar I would almost definitely add pull-ups to my routine.
[/quote]
If I had a pull-up bar at home, I could probably do nothing but pushups, pullups, and kettlebell workouts and I’d be a happy man. I still do some other stuff now for fun, but I am pretty sure that’s all I would need to be happy with my fitness.[/quote]
Glad we think the same way! Simplicity is king.
[b] Turkish Get-Up Day
Turkish Get-Ups [/b]
40kg: 5x1
Goblet Squats
40kg: 3x5
I’m sweating like a pig, my right knee is clunking, my left hip feels very tight and I just got pins and needles in both arms after cracking my neck. To paraphrase a Spar4tee quote that stuck with me: “I wonder what it would be like if we hadn’t turned our bodies into retarded hunks of flesh”. Did paleo-man have to put up with this?
Edit: I did all the usual pump work too.
Rest Day
Today I did my usual stretching (20min, with a 5min squat hold) as well as some foam rolling (IT band and glutes). Then I went to the sauna and supersetted sauna and plunge pool for four sets. Now I feel brand new.
LOL Sounds awesome.