Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

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

Nice quick deload workout.

Deadlift (long pauses between reps):
135x12x1
225x5x1
315x5x1
420x3x1
480x3x1

Sumo SLDL (long pauses between reps):
480x3x1

Decline Bench Press:
135x12x1
185x5x2

Decline CG Bench Press:
135x12x1

One-arm Tricep Pushdowns/Extensions:
40x12x4

+ stretching + power yoga (30min)

Duration: 50 minutes

First week of kettlebell training is DONE! Tonight’s fun consisted of a quick warmup and then 5 minutes of get ups. I didn’t feel like doing the full warmup so I just did one cycle of warmups and flailed my arms around a bit to get my shoulders ready. For my first get up workout, I wore wrist wraps and got 6 reps - I was toast at the end of those 5 minutes. Today I did 10 in 5 minutes and could have done more if I went longer. I was breathing hard and had a full body sweat going - what an intense, but short workout this was! The Bulldog is feeling lighter every time I use it, and I did not use wrist wraps this time around. I can feel my wrists getting stronger, my endurance is growing, and my shoulder stability is improving. Get ups FTW.

Warmups - 5 minutes:
Wall Squats x10
Pumps x10
Halos x10
Flailing of the Arms x 30 seconds

Workout - 5 minutes continuous - 88lb bell used:
Turkish Get Ups - 10 reps

Duration: 10 minutes

Nice workout. Rear delt was feeling pretty good so I pushed it a little on militaries. Nice PR for the ’single’. Landmines are a great lift - very intense and use the entire body as a unit. I really enjoy these. Superset dips with preacher curls to speed up the pace a bit and these went well. Finished with supersets of standing face pulls and ‘jumping’ chins. Very nice explosive movement.

Standing Military Press:
95×12x1
135×5x1
165×5x1
190×3x1
210×5x1 (PR)
135×12x1

Landmine Press:
180×5x1
225×5x1 (PR)
270×8x1 (PR)
270×7x1 (PR)

One-arm Landmine Press:
135×12x2

Dips:
+20×15x4
+20×25x1

Preacher Curls:
95×10x1
115×8x1
135×6x1
155×2x1 (PR)
135×5x1

Standing Face Pulls (w/ rope attachment):
36×20x1
60×20x1
156×20x1
168×20x1
180×20x1
192×20x1

“Jumping” Hammer chins:
bw x6×1
bw x10×2 (PR)

DB Hammer Curls:
55×10x1
55×12x1
55×15x1

+ stretching

Duration: 85 minutes

Wow. WOW! So you would think that last night’s squats, zerchers, and getups would have something to say about me doing an intense kb swing workout tonight…right? I have a good amount of soreness and fatigue throughout my glutes, hamstrings, and entire back, and was pretty sure the swings would be brutal, but at least would be good for some active recovery. Last Saturday’s swing session had me not looking forward to this workout, but damned if I didn’t absolutely brutalize it. Tonight I ended up doing 2 more sets accounting for 45 more reps than the last session, for a grand total of 185 reps. The best thing about it? I was recovering so quickly between sets that I was actually cutting my rests short so I could squeeze in more work. Active rests consisted of walking around the yard briskly, jogging and hopping around in place, and generally staying moving in a quick fashion. I never got too winded, and was only really sucking wind hard after the last set. A short 5-minute walk had my heart-rate and breathing back to normal. No sore teeth, salivating, or bloody mouth taste tonight either. It is quite humid tonight, so holding onto the bell was a challenge, and I got absolutely soaked. All in all, I am not sure if my cardio has improved this quickly to make this workout feel this much better, or if I am just hitting a better more efficient groove with the swing technique, but I definitely feel great right now.

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

Workout - 12 minutes continuous - 88lb bell used:
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 25
Easy cooldown walk

Duration: 22 minutes

Totally dominated the squats tonight. I know it should be 5/3/1, but I just did singles on my 5/3 sets because I wanted to be good to go for the heavy single. Doubled that so I am very pleased. Went back after and did the 5′er. Did some zerchers for the first time in a few months - I could have put another 25lbs on my last set and hit a PR, but since my lat (tweaked during my last squat workout) wasn’t acting up I didn’t want to push my chances and risk aggravating it on an ego boosting 5lb pr. Barbell getups are AWESOME. I feel I could have done quite a bit more, but I was totally exhausted doing these and just didn’t have the energy anymore. Ab rollouts are starting to get easy!

Wide-stance Squats (briefs):
135x12x1
225x12x1
315x5x1
405x5x1
495x1x1
555x1x1
620x2x1 (PR)
495x5x1

Zerchers off Pins @ 28″:
225x5x1
315x5x1
405x1x1
495x1x1
585x1x1

ATG Zercher Squats:
315x20x1 (PR)

Barbell Getups:
45x2x1
65x2x1
85x2x1 (PR)

Ab Rollouts:
bw x5x2
bw x12x1 (PR)

+ stretching + power yoga (35min)

Duration: 125 minutes

Second workout with The Bulldog is in the books. Short but intense. 10 min warmup with 5 minutes of ‘continuous’ get ups. Ideally, I would be starting lighter - like with a 53lber, but I don’t have anything else to work with yet. My form on these is much to be desired when it comes to the ‘crossover’ portion when I go from lying to kneeling, but it’s getting better. Between each get up I took a little breather as these are very exhausting. That should improve over the coming weeks. The workload might not seem like much, but these are very tough.

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

Workout - 5 minutes continuous - 88lb bell used:
Turkish Get Ups - 6 reps

Duration: 15 minutes