Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:
  • Weighted Pull-ups (5-3-3-1-1, with 10 push-ups between sets)
I think I've pinpointed the reason why a dull ache still plagues my upper arms. It ain't 'cause of the gazillion push-presses from last week. It's from those damned diamond push-ups I did in-between sets of pull-ups last Wednesday.

This morning, my bad case of DOMS was finally subsiding, so despite my chronic lack of sleep, I happily drove to the gym for our morning beatdown. I enjoy doing weighted pull-ups, and was looking forward to doing more.

But just like last week, we did 10 push-ups between each set of pull-ups. Tim allowed us to pick the types of pull-up variations we wanted to do, so I did some decline push-ups, some medicine ball push-ups, some spiderman push-ups, some parallette push-ups, and some more of those nasty diamond push-ups. They didn't feel bad in the moment -- but a few hours later, I could feel the creeping ache in my triceps. And reaching way, waaaay back in the recesses of my brain, I pulled out a vague memory of how I used to do diamond push-ups as part of my P90X regimen, and how my arms always felt wrecked afterwards.

I've come full circle.


Metcon:
  • 21 box jumps (24")
  • 21 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
  • 21 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
  • 15 box jumps (24")
  • 15 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
  • 15 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
  • 9 box jumps (24")
  • 9 kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls (32kg / 24kg)
  • 9 kettlebell swing - catch - squats (32kg / 24kg)
What's a swing-catch-squat, you ask? Good question. It involves swinging a kettlebell up, releasing the handle and catching the kettlebell upside-down, performing a goblet squat, and then pushing the iron ball away from you and catching it by the handle to start another swing. It's both easier and harder than it looks.

On the one hand, this movement isn't altogether unfamiliar. It feels a bit like a barbell clean.

On the other hand: Holy crap. I'm not very physically coordinated to begin with, but ask me to perform anything technically demanding at 5 a.m. and you're in for some entertainment.

For today's workout, I used a 24-inch box for my jumps, but I scaled down the kettlebell weights. I used a 24kg KB for the sumo deadlift high pulls, and a 20kg KB for the swing-catch-squats. (You know who else used a 20kg kettlebell? XFitMama. She's a beast.)

It wasn't exactly a cakewalk -- I had a helluva time trying to catch the damned kettlebell -- but I got through the workout okay. Frankly, I'm just happy I didn't cave in my face with a big-ass metal ball.

Result: 8:34 as RXed.