Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wednesday's Workout

Another day, another sweaty workout on the island.

After a quick warm-up, the class got down to business.

Metcon:

For time:
  • 50 Double-Unders
  • 10 Pull-Ups
  • 30 Dumbbell Snatches (30 pounds)
  • 30 Overhead Kettlebell Swings (40 pounds)
  • 30 Plyo Box Jumps
  • 30 Dumbbell Push-Presses (30 pounds)
  • 25 Double-Unders



Result: 11:59. The double-unders killed me -- I think I spent half the time doing nothing but struggle through the double-unders. At first, they were fine; I blazed through the first dozen or so in a row. But by then, I was winded, and had to huff and puff my way through the rest in mini-sets of three to six reps. The wet blanket of heat didn't help, either.

Strength Skill:

We finished off today with a grip strength move called Bottoms-Up Presses. I hadn't encountered this exercise before, but you basically grip a kettlebell tightly by its handle and invert the weight -- turn the entire kettlebell upside-down -- and press all the way up, straightening your arm, and balancing the kettlebell the entire way up and down. It's like a military press done with an upside-down kettlebell, and looks like this:



After a couple of sets of 5 reps with each arm, I called it a day. It feels damned good to work out the kinks before dedicating the remainder of the day to doing jack shit.

I happily spent the rest of the morning at the beach, where M went snorkeling, and I watched the kids giddily fling themselves into the ocean.