Kettlebells and More!

Training Training Logs
1

1776×1184 450 KB

I like the idea of posting my log for the world to see as an increased measure of accountability (even if no one reads it).

About me: I am a resident physician and have been involved with martial arts/fitness over 10 yrs. I felt I was really slacking with my fitness during medical school and came across kettle bells at a jiu jitsu school I was visiting. I realized really quickly that circuit training with kettlebells and bodyweight calisthenics was the most efficient way to get/stay fit as all i needed was a single kettlebell and 5 square feet of space to get a good strength/cardio workout in about 15mins, I continued to chase the kettlebell thing since and have made significant gains with them (and collected several more than “just one”). More recently as my schedule has relaxed a bit more and I have grown to realize that while kettle bell circuit training might be most efficient it is not most effective and I have started to re-incorporate traditional strength training with barbells and dumbbells. I have been feeling stronger and more energetic as I have backed off from what was probably overtraining with the metabolic workouts. At the end of the day its all about finding the balance.

Goals: Athletic performance primarily for jiujitsu and judo, longevity, feeling awesome.

Here are some pics of my home gym which kind of fit along with Dan John’s article on home gyms.

2

10/23/14:
AM: 5x5 x120lb barbell shoulder press. Last rep or two of the last set or two were push presses.

PM: Judo: Drilled a drop tai otoshi combo and some randori; training felt pretty awesome, more of a hammer day than a nail day…

10/24/14
AM: 2x5x170lb barbell hack squats. 2x20x53lb ATG goblet squats
PM: Unplanned long cycle workout:
1x7x double 53lbs long cycle (clean and jerk)
2x5x double 53lbs long cycle
3x8x double 44lbs long cycle
3x10x double 35 lbs long cycle
1x10 pullup, 1x5 pullups.

Random youtube yoga workout for relaxation: Yoga for Happiness and Relaxation - YouTube

3

10/26/14:
Jiujitsu open mat; some rolling and drilling.
1x100 x44lb 2 hand swings.

4

10/27/14

5x Superset of: 9 pullups + 20 goblet squats (53lb) (scattered throughout the day).

Followed this yoga sequence for flexibility and recovery before bed:

5

dude… peanut butter and jelly of your gym

6

its pretty sweet and really didn’t cost that much, probably in the ballpark of what a yr of gym membership would cost and only because I’m a brat about certain things that are probably not necessary.

10/28
5x5x130 barbell overhead press (scattered throughout the day); kinda cheated with push presses on 5th rep of each set and the 4th of some, might have to scale the weight down and tighten up the form.

Judo, was surprised to see the Uzbekistan junior national team at the club and played randori with several of them, considering they are 17-19 years old was a bit humbling!

7

Welcome! Indeed, log away, I’ve found the same to be true…

We have somewhat similar training styles. I was a heavy-barbell-only guy from ages 9-22 (three-sport athlete in high school, then played football in college), a distance runner from about 23-26, and of late, I’m a yoga-pull-ups-and-kettlebell guy with an occasional barbell/dumbbell workout should I find myself in the gym and so inclined. I’ve gone this route for the same reasons as you: simplicity and ability to work out at home (or even on vacation) with ease!

I will definitely be checking your log for inspiration & ideas!

8

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Welcome! Indeed, log away, I’ve found the same to be true…

We have somewhat similar training styles. I was a heavy-barbell-only guy from ages 9-22 (three-sport athlete in high school, then played football in college), a distance runner from about 23-26, and of late, I’m a yoga-pull-ups-and-kettlebell guy with an occasional barbell/dumbbell workout should I find myself in the gym and so inclined. I’ve gone this route for the same reasons as you: simplicity and ability to work out at home (or even on vacation) with ease!

I will definitely be checking your log for inspiration & ideas![/quote]

Welcome to my log activities guy.

Yes kettle bells, bodyweight training and brief yoga make for really sweet and simple total package fitness. I tend to throw some distance running into the mix in the summertime, do you still run or is that a thing of the past?

What I have really enjoy with this home kettlebell gym setup is the TV that I can follow along with youtube workouts (especially yoga) and downloaded kettlbell workouts on the big screen (mostly stuff fom steve maxwell).

9

10/29/14
5x Superset of 5 Pullups (Strict!) + 5 single-arm KB snatches (53lb) each arm; scattered throughout the day.

Jiu jitsu and judo drilling in the evening (worked butterfly guard grip breaks, arm drags to the back and to omo plata; osoto gari)

10

[quote]DrGelbman wrote:

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Welcome! Indeed, log away, I’ve found the same to be true…

We have somewhat similar training styles. I was a heavy-barbell-only guy from ages 9-22 (three-sport athlete in high school, then played football in college), a distance runner from about 23-26, and of late, I’m a yoga-pull-ups-and-kettlebell guy with an occasional barbell/dumbbell workout should I find myself in the gym and so inclined. I’ve gone this route for the same reasons as you: simplicity and ability to work out at home (or even on vacation) with ease!

I will definitely be checking your log for inspiration & ideas![/quote]

Welcome to my log activities guy.

Yes kettle bells, bodyweight training and brief yoga make for really sweet and simple total package fitness. I tend to throw some distance running into the mix in the summertime, do you still run or is that a thing of the past?

What I have really enjoy with this home kettlebell gym setup is the TV that I can follow along with youtube workouts (especially yoga) and downloaded kettlbell workouts on the big screen (mostly stuff fom steve maxwell).[/quote]

I structure things just a bit differently than you do: rather than a brief dose of daily yoga, I do a full 90-minute class at a studio a few times a week. My typical Monday-Friday routine is 80-100 pullups every morning and a 20-minute interval session on my spinning bike a few evenings each week, with yoga classes on Saturday or Sunday mornings and a kettlebell session thrown in every now and then. It’s simple and feels very sustainable. Certainly won’t put me on a bodybuilding stage or PL platform, but that’s not the goal, I just want to be a fit guy (hence the forum handle).

Re: distance running, I haven’t done much for the past year. I actually competed at a “strong amateur” level, one might say, running up to 60 miles per week and logging an 18-minute 5K, 38-minute 10K, and a 1:27 half-marathon. I miss it but struggled with injuries enough that I wanted to give myself a total break for awhile. Eventually I plan to start some light running again, just for the sake of enjoying a 3-5 mile run a few days a week, but probably not serious-race-training stuff.

11

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:

[quote]DrGelbman wrote:

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Welcome! Indeed, log away, I’ve found the same to be true…

We have somewhat similar training styles. I was a heavy-barbell-only guy from ages 9-22 (three-sport athlete in high school, then played football in college), a distance runner from about 23-26, and of late, I’m a yoga-pull-ups-and-kettlebell guy with an occasional barbell/dumbbell workout should I find myself in the gym and so inclined. I’ve gone this route for the same reasons as you: simplicity and ability to work out at home (or even on vacation) with ease!

I will definitely be checking your log for inspiration & ideas![/quote]

Welcome to my log activities guy.

Yes kettle bells, bodyweight training and brief yoga make for really sweet and simple total package fitness. I tend to throw some distance running into the mix in the summertime, do you still run or is that a thing of the past?

What I have really enjoy with this home kettlebell gym setup is the TV that I can follow along with youtube workouts (especially yoga) and downloaded kettlbell workouts on the big screen (mostly stuff fom steve maxwell).[/quote]

I structure things just a bit differently than you do: rather than a brief dose of daily yoga, I do a full 90-minute class at a studio a few times a week. My typical Monday-Friday routine is 80-100 pullups every morning and a 20-minute interval session on my spinning bike a few evenings each week, with yoga classes on Saturday or Sunday mornings and a kettlebell session thrown in every now and then. It’s simple and feels very sustainable. Certainly won’t put me on a bodybuilding stage or PL platform, but that’s not the goal, I just want to be a fit guy (hence the forum handle).

Re: distance running, I haven’t done much for the past year. I actually competed at a “strong amateur” level, one might say, running up to 60 miles per week and logging an 18-minute 5K, 38-minute 10K, and a 1:27 half-marathon. I miss it but struggled with injuries enough that I wanted to give myself a total break for awhile. Eventually I plan to start some light running again, just for the sake of enjoying a 3-5 mile run a few days a week, but probably not serious-race-training stuff.[/quote]

Longevity is the name of the game. I like going to full length yoga classes, it just becomes difficult with training judo/jiu jitsu and work. So I find the short follow along youtube vids of 10-60min to be optimal as a training supplement.

12

10/30/14
Judo. uchi komi and randori. felt ok, not great and not bad…

13

11/2/14
Pullup Reverse Pyramid.
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 reps scattered throughout the day (total reps:55)
a few sets of low rep single arm snatch and low rep single arm pushup sets also in the mix.

11/3/14 Early afternoon:
Barbell Rows --Superset with 10 reps of 2 hand trx rows (reverse pushups)
1x10x120lb
1x5x150lb
1x5x170lb
1x4x190lb form starts to breakdown at this weight.
1x3x200lb form gone at this weight
1x2x200lb

Hoping to engage in some more physical activity tonight… will update if I do.

14

10/3/14 evening,
ended up doing a 25min follow along kettlebell workout from steve maxwell (so you wanna be a kettlebell star vol 2) =the chick version. with a 35lb bell. Followed it with a random 30min yoga workout from youtube.

10/4/14
Judo. Landed a sweet dropping sode, as nice as the throw turned out, it left me with some really tweaked right obliques. Fingers crossed that the spasm is gone by tomorrow so I can get back to doing my work and possibly to compete on Sunday.

15

11/7/14
1x100x53lb 2hand KB swing.

Still have some pain in my right flank, but feels like its improving.

16

Ophthalmologist here. If I may, what sort of residency are you in?

17

This is awesome, we have a lot in common :).

18

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Ophthalmologist here. If I may, what sort of residency are you in?[/quote]

Radiology, would like to ultimately do neuroradiology so the orbit is not to far outside of my realm. :slight_smile:

19

[quote]furo wrote:
This is awesome, we have a lot in common :). [/quote]

Yes, just looked at your log, I think we definitely work and focus on a lot of the same attributes!
Will keep following you; hopefully I can get as many pages/workouts logged soon…

20

Followed along with Steve Maxwell’s Kettlebell Health and Wellbeing workout using a 35lb bell.actually felt pretty good, followed with a 10 min yoga vid from youtube: