I'm realizing I need to pick a program and do it ...

because my current approach of "whatever, whenever" is not serving me well.

I really like the AOS workouts, but the AOS programs as written don't seem to work well for me. Take Resolution, for instance. There are three different workouts, but many of the same moves are repeated from workout to workout, and it's recommended to work out on a schedule of 4 days on, 2 days active rest. That means on Day 1 I'd be doing Resolution 1 (BB clean & press, KB swings), on Day 2 I'd be doing Resolution 2 (KB clean & press, pullups, bb deadlifts), on Day 3 I'd be doing Resolution 3 (BB deadlifts, BB clean & press, farmers walks, KB swings), and on Day 4 I'd be repeating Day 1. Then I'd get two days to do something else, and then I'd pick up again with Resolution 2. I like the concept, but I'm not sure my 46-year-old body can take that kind of abuse. I mean, it could if I went lighter with my weights, but I'm not sure how much I would get out of it if I did that.

Besides, what about my snatch (Deb, get your mind out of the gutter!) and my TGU???

What the bright minds at AOS would say is, alternate 4 days of Resolution with 4 days of another program that includes those exercises. AOX Upper Cross would be ideal for where I am right now, then maybe progressing to something like the AOX 1200 workout (don't even ask, I'm not kidding).

Hmmm ... I guess I can give it a try and see what happens.

Edited to add: I gave it some more thought, and, um, no. I'm not ready for that. Or I'm too old, or something. I might have another look at Rachel Cosgrove's "getting her abs back" program, the one she posted a while ago on Figure Athlete. That might be a better bet for now.

Saturday workout

Warm up circuit 2x:

15 prisoner squats
8 offset pushups each side
15 SB leg curls
10 prone stickups

Superset: DB static lunges, 4x8 per leg x 35; SB rollouts, 4x8

Superset: DB RDL, 3x10x35; cross-body mountain climber, 3x10 per side

Superset: KB swings, 3x30x14 kg; SB prone tucks, 3x15

Then I jogged to the beach and did intervals on the stairs: 45 sec effort, 90 sec recovery 6x

I heart my Kettlebell Buddy. He's 2 kg, and screws into the bottom of any kettlebell, so now I have an 8 kg bell, a 10 kg bell, a 12 kg bell and a 14 kg bell. I can already tell that it won't be too terribly long before I need a 16 kg bell for some exercises at least :)

Thank Goddess It's Friday Workout

Did I post my Wednesday workout? Can I remember my Wednesday workout?

Oh, yes: Resolution III, plus ballet

5 rounds:

BB deadlift from floor, 5x135, then adding 5 lbs and decreasing the number of reps each round thereafter until by the last round I was doing 1 rep with 155 lbs

BB clean & press, 5x65

Farmers walk, 40 yards x 35's

Swings: 30x12 kg

Thursday was sort of a rest day. I took ballet but other than that, nothing.

Today I did Resolution II:

6 rounds:

KB clean & press ladder, 1, 2, 3, 4 with 12 kg, same each round
pullups, starting with 5 and doing 1 less each round, then going back to 5 on round 6
deadlifts from floor, 5x115, then doing 1 less each round but adding five pounds until by round 5 I was down to 1 deadlift at 135 lbs, which I repeated on round 6

Later I took my 12 kg bell to the beach and did the following:

20 swings, followed by 1 minute of jogging on sand, lather rinse repeat for 12 minutes. It was sort of brutal, but honestly the worst part was the walk to and from the beach carrying the damn kettlebell. I only live about half a mile from the beach, but it seems like a lot more when you're carrying a 26-pound lump of iron.

... and on Sunday I rested.

I was probably due for a rest day since I couldn't remember when I'd last taken one. I wasn't too horribly sore, but it still seemed like it would be a smart thing to do.

Monday's workout was an Art of Strength thingy designed to correct Upper Cross Syndrome. In case you're not familiar with the term, it's trainerspeak for round-shoulderedness, and it's one of the first things I try to fix in my clients who present with that particular problem. Not only is it esthetically unappealing, but if you've got it it means you've got imbalances in the muscles that control your shoulder joint, and you probably can't stabilize your shoulders properly during pulling, pushing and pressing motions. So, gotta fix it before we start doing all those fun upper body exercises that produce such great results.

Anyway, I never inflict anything on a client until I've tried it out myself, so I did 4 rounds at level 1 and 3 rounds at level 2, just to see what it felt like and whether it seemed effective or not.

Level 1 consisted of the following:

Farmer's walk, 10 yards with 35 lb dumbbells
KB release swings, 20 x 12 kg (was supposed to be 10, but evidently I can't read)
Turkish get-up sit-ups, 5 per side x 12 kg (was supposed to be 3 per side but see above)
Renegade rows, 5 per side x 20 lb dbs
KB back squat, 10 x 12 kg
KB Russian twist, 20 x 8 kg.

Level 2 consisted of 20 yards of the farmer's walk, 20 swings again, 5 get-up situps again, 5 "super planks" (you go from forearm supported to the top of a pushup position and back again), 5 dead cleans per side, and 5 high pulls per side.

It didn't feel all that hard while I was doing it, but I was super sore later in the area of my rear rotator cuff and lower traps. Since those are exactly the areas I was trying to target, I'm pleased. I really like the farmer's walks--it's a phenomenally functional movement for anyone who carries two bags of groceries at once, or two suitcases, or whatever.

Today's workout was a dumbbell/kettlebell thing:

superset: db chest press & db row, 3x8x35 on both exercises
superset: chinups, first set unassisted, second sets assisted, 3x6; KB 1-arm press. 3x8x12 kg
superset: TRX body rows, 3x15; decline close grip pushups, 3x12
Intervals: 1-arm KB swings, 30 sec. per arm, running in place for 30 sec., rest 30-60 sec., 6x

Oh, and I taught cycling also, and it turned out to be a pretty challenging class. My heart rate got up to 175 at one point, which for me is definitely anaerobic threshhold territory.

2009 in 2009

Um, yeah.

Don't go giving me too much credit though. Here's how I broke it up:

50 high knees
30 swings, mixed
20 pushups
30 walking lunges
2 pullups
25 box squats
30 mountain climbers
25 wall squat stick-em-ups
15 prone tucks
60 jacks

That's all one circuit. If you count up the number of reps in the circuit it comes out to 287, which is 1/7 of 2009. Extrapolate :)

Oh, and I also did my 10 minutes of facing the wall squats,halos and pumps, followed by 5 minutes of Turkish getups as per the RKC program minimum. I'm having some shoulder stabilization issues that are making it hard for me to go heavy on my getups, so this is an area I really need to work on.

Second workout of 2009

I was supposed to do Resolution III today, but wasn't really in the mood for heavy deads or barbell clean & press, so I began with the RKC Minimum program from Enter the Kettlebell. Workout 1 calls for 10 minutes of mobility drills--the suggested exercises are deep facing-the-wall squats, kettlebell "halos" (you hold a kettlebell by the horns and take it around your head, making a great effort not to bonk yourself at any point), and "pumps" (which are sort of like upward facing dog/downward facing dog with some hip-swiveling action when you're in up dog)--followed by 12 minutes of 20 swings/1 minute of active active recovery (suggested activities are jumping jacks, squat thrusts, mountain climbers, jogging, basically anything that keeps you moving but won't interfere with your performance of the swings). I got in 4 rounds of the mobility drills and 10 sets of swings/other stuff, although I think I ended up working a little longer than the prescribed 12 minutes when I was doing that portion of the workout.

I had some energy left so I followed with a Turbulence Training 10x10 dumbbell circuit. Ten exercises, 10 reps of each exercise, done complex-style, using about 30 percent of your usual dumbbell press weight. I used 12-pounders, but honestly I think I could've gone heavier because I have a lot of endurance for this kind of workout.

The 10 exercises were:

bulgarian split squats
shoulder presses
stepups
chest presses
elbows-out rows
lunges
swings
shrugs (I subbed lateral raises the first time through the circuit, RDL the second two times)
incline presses
squats

First Workout of 2009

Here's what I did yesterday:



round 1: cossack stretch/squat thrust to snatch.
round 2: squat to press.
round 3: 2 handed swing/ hot potato.
round 4: punch matrix/plank.
round 5: side snatch/overhead lunge.
round 6: squat to kick/sots press/ standing side crunch
round 7: hand to hand clean/ dragon lunge.
round 8: kettlebell traveling push-up/ dive bomber pushup.
extra round: snatch to turkish getup to windmill.
bonus round: 5 minute snatch test.



The routine is from AOS Newport. Most of the rounds are 3 or 4 minutes long--you do the first exercise for 30 seconds, then the second exercise for 30 seconds, then you go back to the first (or if it's a unilateral exercise you switch sides), and so forth. Rests between rounds are only a minute long, so it's a very cardiovascular routine. I used my 8 kg bell, which is what is recommended for women, and truly I could not have gone heavier. In fact, even with the lighter bell I was struggling on the sots press, which if you're not familiar with it is a horrible variation on the squat press. You start with the kettlebell in rack position, go into a rock bottom squat, press the weight overhead, then straighten the legs while keeping the weight overhead.



On a more positive note, I made it through the 5 minute snatch test just fine. I broke it up by doing it countdown style, starting with 8 snatches on the right, then 8 left, then working my way down to 1 on each side, at which point I began working my way up the ladder again. I got in about 80 snatches total, which isn't bad although it would be more impressive if I'd been using my 12 kg bell.



By this time next year I aspire to be able to perform 200 snatches in 10 minutes, with my 12 kg bell. This is what Pavel Tsatsouline recommends as a goal for women in his book, Enter The Kettlebell! Which, by the way, I highly, highly recommend to anyone who is seriously interested in kettlebells, though if you're more of a casual user I wouldn't bother with it because it's probably way more information than you really want. I mean, if you're someone who thinks that working on her snatch means doing Kegels or maybe getting a Brazilian--which, don't get me wrong, is an entirely valid interpretation--you're better off spending your money on something that you're more likely to actually use.

TendSkin, maybe.