Workout - Saturday 13/10/12

Today's session was initially going to be about recovery, but it kind of morphed into something else once I made it to the gym.

During the week I booked a place for Steve Maxwell's seminar being held in Canberra on December 7th, at the Australian National University's famed Monkey Gym.  The Fundamentals of Human Movement certification was sold out, so I had to settle for the Introduction to Kettle Bell Basics, which was just as exciting a prospect.  If you haven't seen any of Steve's work before, I strongly suggest checking out either his website or some of the videos posted on YouTube.  He takes a wonderfully enlightened and irrepressible approach to human movement, and best of all, he makes for an enthusiastic and personable educator.  I really can't wait for this workshop.

Steve Maxwell

With this in mind, I will be adding a kettle bell conditioning component to most of my workouts from now until December, in order to improve my KB fitness, and hopefully ensuring I don't look like a complete goose in front of Mr Maxwell!

Warm-up

15 minute brisk walk to the gym.
Mobilization exercises for wrists, elbows, shoulders, thoracic spine, hips and knees.
2 minutes light kettle bell (8kg) swings and one-arm swings.
Foam roller for 5 minutes.

Powercleans

Superset

4 sets

Powerclean with full squat - 55.5kg x 6 reps.
Push-ups x 6 reps.
Judo push-ups x 6 reps.

Shoulders and back

Superset

4 sets

Standing db shoulder press - 15kg db x 6 reps.
Bent-over bb row - 42.5kg x 6 reps.

Triceps/legs/core

Superset

4 sets

Rolling triceps extension - 17.5kg dbs x 6 reps.
Reverse lunge with static db shoulder extension - 15kg db x 6 reps per side.

Kettle bell complex (based on Steve Maxwell's KB routine)

2 sets with 16kg kettle bell.

Deep pull-back to swing x 10 reps.
Good mornings x 10 reps.
Deep pull-up to swing (fires) x 10 reps.
Swings with towel x 10 reps.

Warm-down

Foam roller for 5 minutes.
20 minute brisk walk home.
Static stretching for 10 minutes.

Workout Tuesday 9/10/12

I have had a little issue with my internet connection the last few days, and so haven't had a chance to put up my workouts.  Needless to say, I have been training well, starting to incorporate more kettle bell exercises into my routine, and have upped my resistance for my core lifts.  All in all, I'm feeling pretty good!

I have been inspired by some videos a friend of mine, Mark Boddington (an excellent exercise trainer, by the way), gave me of Steve Maxwell.  Maxwell is an older gent who is crazy fit and smart as 10 things that are very smart.  He has produced some great vids of himself teaching a group of trainers (Jim Smith included) different exercise techniques, including chin-ups and kettle bells.  Despite the fact that the audio quality is utterly appalling, it makes for intoxicating viewing.

Warm-up

15 minutes brisk walk to gym.
10 minutes of resistance band stretches, high face-pulls and Y-T-W-L with 2kg db, and 20 reps  unloaded bar powercleans with arm curl.

Legs

Superset

Front squats - 5 sets of 5 reps at 65.5kg.  Powerclean to set-up for each set.
Hanging (chin-up start position) scapula mobilisation - 1/4 chin-up - 5 reps.

Chest

Bb bench press - 5 sets of 5 reps at 70.5kg.

Hamstrings/back/core

Kettle bell complex

3 sets of 10 reps

1.  Deep pull-back from front to swing.
2.  Good mornings.
3.  Fires!  Reverse of exercise #1.
4.  Swing with towel.

Warm-down

5 minutes foam roller.
15 minute walk home.
5 minutes static stretching.

Workout Saturday 25/8/12

I haven't trained all week due to a great deal of time being devoted to finishing course work for my fitness studies and the flaring up again of my biceps tendinitis, which, after speaking with a friend physiotherapist, now sounds like could be more a case of tendinopathy.  I have benefited from the rest, and this last week has been the first time in 9 months I have taken such a break from my routine.  So the only way to get back on the horse was to smash myself with kettle bells and manmakers...


Warm-up

15 minutes brisk walk to gym.
Skipping for 5 minutes and some dynamic stretching.

Conditioning

Kettle bell (16kg) complex for 8 minutes - swings, one-arm swings, Around-the-body-pass (ATBP), one-leg deadlifts.
Barbell manmakers.  8 sets of 5 reps.  42.5kg.  3 minute rest between sets.  The last four sets I incorporated resistance band face-pulls in a superset.
Torsonator (with 10kg plate) complex for 2 minutes.

Warm-down

15 minutes brisk walk home.
15 minutes foam roller.
15 minutes static stretching.

Workout Friday 10/8/12

The current period of training I'm doing is to promote hypertrophy.  For the last 12 weeks I've been working on strength and power, and have reached a plateau in my gains.  So it's time to add a little more muscle and work towards the next period of power training probably around late-September/early-October.

I was still feeling pretty sore in the hamstrings today from the leg work on Wednesday and the sprints yesterday, so today was primarily about upper body - that is, chest, back, lats, shoulders and core - with one leg movement thrown in for character building!

Warm-up

Obviously this is not me.  This is an alleged drug cheat.  I said ALLEGED!

16kg kettle bell complex 5 minutes.
Resistance band chest and thoracic stretch and mobilisation.

Chest superset

Three sets of ten reps.

Chest press - 25kg dumbbells.
Pushups to failure - with the emphasis on technique and form.

Back superset

Three sets of ten reps.

Seated row - 80kg
Incline prone flies - 10kg dumbbells.

Shoulder superset

Three sets of ten reps.

Standing shoulder press - 15kg dumbbells
Reverse lunge with isometric shoulder extension - 10kg dumbbell (similar to the 5th movement of a Turkish get-up).  This exercise is an absolute ripper for the core!  Unstable, and hard as hell!  It simply doesn't work if you try and do this exercise lazy.
Resistance band face pulls.

Lats and biceps superset

Three sets of ten reps.

Lat pull down - 50kg
Two arm bicep curl - 15kg

Warm-down

10 minutes on the foam roller including back work with a dowel.
10 minutes static stretching.