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 Wednesday 8/8/12

Today I had to abbreviate my workout somewhat due to picking-up-the-kids commitments.  As time was a big factor - 45 minutes from start to finish - I decided to start with what I like to call my 'deadlift superset', then a chest superset, and finish with dumbbell shoulder rotations.

Warm-up

Five minutes continuous skipping, with five minutes on the foam roller.  Foam roller.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Deadlift superset

Deadlift, chin ups, dips.  Five sets of five reps.  95.5/115.5kg

First set of deadlift is the warm up set - a relatively decent weight to start, but not tough enough so there is any compromise on good technique - so I had the weight set at 95.5kg.  The four remaining sets had the weight set at 115.5kg.  Chin ups and dips are body weight only.  This is a great superset to start with as it really gets the heart rate up (no break between exercises) and smashes on the core with the big focus on intra-abdominal pressure in the deadlift.  Core focus is maintained throughout the chins and dips too, with an emphasis on body stability throughout the movement.  The deads give me a great leg and back workout, as well as being a classic power exercise.  Mmmmmmm.  Power...

Chest superset

Dumbbell pec flies, incline dumbbell chest press.  Three sets of ten reps.  12.5/20kg dumbbells.

I'm really looking to smash the pectoralis major in this pre-fatigue exercise, plus the hugging movement is a handy strengthening technique for martial arts.  Doing this movement before a standard press is a very efficient way of achieving total chest fatigue.  The incline press was an alternative movement to the flat bench, which I had performed two days ago.

Shoulder rotation

Three sets of ten reps.  4kg dumbbells.

Due to work-related repetitive strain, I'm having trouble with tendinitis in my right shoulder at the moment (supraspinatus and biceps brachii tendon) AND with lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) on the same side, so I have to be very careful about aggravating these issues.  The dumbbell shoulder rotation is a compromise exercise while I wait for the inflammation to die down (thank you big Pharmaceuticals).  The movement is performed starting with holding the dumbbells in front of the body, elbows tucked in to the sides.  The elbows are then raised laterally (shoulder abduction) and then rotated upwards, similar to the Cuban press, and then reversed to completion.  Terrific for shoulder stability and strength.

Warm-down

5 minutes on the foam roller, 5 minutes static stretching.