Workout du jour: Dave Whitley tried to kill me today ...

but I prevailed, sort of.

I heart Dave Whitley. He's a Senior RKC based in Nashville TN, and they call him "the Irontamer." Or maybe that's just what he calls himself, I don't know. But I pity the fool who dares challenge his right to do so! He's a barrel-chested bear of a guy with arms that look to be the size of most people's legs ... and a touch of Tennessee in his voice that reminds me of my in-laws. But I like him anyway :)

He's also got a sadistic streak, as evidenced by his 101 Kettlebell Workouts and his 102 Kettlebell Workouts. Nothing fancy here: just kettlebells, kettlebells and more kettlebells, along with the usual bodyweight suspects--burpees, pushups, pullups and such. There are workouts for general conditioning, size and strength, fat loss, endurance and so forth, using such principles as German Volume Training, escalating density training, interval training, circuits, ladders and more. All the workouts are time-efficient with a certain number specifically designated as workouts that can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

I did one of those today.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The format was simple: swings, goblet squats, clean & press, pushups, snatches. Do as many reps of each exercise as possible in 5 minutes, resting 1 minute between exercises.

Here's how I chose to do it: 20 swings x 16 kg at the top of each minute for 5 minutes for a total of 100; 10 goblet squats x16 kg at the top of each minute for 5 minutes for a total of 50; clean & press 4x5 per side x 12 kg for a total of 20 per side; 10 pushups every 30 seconds for a total of 100; 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 10/10 snatches per side x 12 kg beginning each set at the top of the minute for a total of 36 per side.

Oh, and I didn't take the minute of rest between exercises. I honestly didn't need it after the swings and squats because I found I wasn't working anywhere near capacity. The clean & press was more challenging. I probably could have gotten a few more reps but I didn't want to sacrifice quality for quantity. The pushups well and truly sucked. With the snatches, again I could have gotten more reps although probably not 100 without my form going all to heck and my hands getting ripped up.

Anyway, next time I do the workout I will definitely push harder during the swings and goblet squats, and I will take the minute of rest between exercises. I'll probably also be able to improve my performance on the clean and press and the snatches since my hands will be tougher and I won't be so out of practice. Don't know about the pushups. Did I already mention that they sucked?