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| Push-ups. Lots of them. Ugh. |
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| Graham Holmberg demonstrates the "American" style of kettlebell swing, where the swing ends overhead, ears in advance of the arms. With the limitations of my tight, inflexible shoulder-girdle, I don't usually do this version of swing unless mandated or the weight is scaled. The "traditional/standard/Russian" swing ends with the 'bell ending in front of the face, arms extended. |
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| Handstand static holds. Also ugh. |
- Buy-in: 100 Push-ups
- WoD: Tabata
- Kettlebell Swings
- Handstand static hold
It's bad when the buy-in is more terrifying than the actual workout. I mean, I'm never happy to see Tabatas show up, knowing that they will definitely suck, but they ARE self-scaling. Come out of the gate too fast? Spend the last few intervals sucking wind (and sucking.) But a set number of push-ups, just tipping into the triple digits? Holy unholy crap!
After a good roll-out and warm-up, as well as coaching on the swing and scalings for the handstand holds (against the wall, in bands, piked off a bench, knee-pikes off a bench), it was time to start banging out push-ups. I actually wowed myself a little, getting 16 reps in my first attempt, which I *think* is back to being a new record for me. After that, I continued with sets of 5 and 4 up until about 40 or so, when the sets got even smaller. I coasted into 60 reps on fumes, and ended up dropping my knees to scale the remainder of the reps. As it was, we were capped at 10 minutes, and I just squeaked in rep 98 as time ran out. Buy-in fail.
After that, Tabata goodness as usual: 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 sets. The split was doing all of the kettlebell swings, then resting a minute, and going on to all of the handstand holds. I felt good with the kettlebell. Knowing that my arms would be completely shot, I went for a slightly lower weight KB than usual, opting for the 40# (or 45#?) rather than the 55#. Going into KB swings, especially Tabata-style, with shot arms is NO way to ensure everyone else's safety, much less your own. :S The swings went well, with the rep count consistently about 12-13 reps per round. As noted in the pictures above, I did the Russian/traditional/standard variant of the swing as well, for most of the same reasons.
For the handstands, I started out kicking up into a harness of bands, but on the third work interval, I suddenly got a cramp in the base of my right thumb, which not only hurt like a ***** but also freaked me out to be ass-over-teakettle and have that happen. After dropping to the floor and trying to massage some life back into it, I grabbed a bench, and did the rest of the workout piked off the bench on my knees, working on that thumb between sets. That was weird. While I assumed the handstands would be the "easiest" part of the workout (and arguably, they were), coming on the tail end of the push-ups and swings, just trying to breathe while upside-down was nearly impossible. Easy? No, not really.
After a good roll-out and warm-up, as well as coaching on the swing and scalings for the handstand holds (against the wall, in bands, piked off a bench, knee-pikes off a bench), it was time to start banging out push-ups. I actually wowed myself a little, getting 16 reps in my first attempt, which I *think* is back to being a new record for me. After that, I continued with sets of 5 and 4 up until about 40 or so, when the sets got even smaller. I coasted into 60 reps on fumes, and ended up dropping my knees to scale the remainder of the reps. As it was, we were capped at 10 minutes, and I just squeaked in rep 98 as time ran out. Buy-in fail.
After that, Tabata goodness as usual: 20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 sets. The split was doing all of the kettlebell swings, then resting a minute, and going on to all of the handstand holds. I felt good with the kettlebell. Knowing that my arms would be completely shot, I went for a slightly lower weight KB than usual, opting for the 40# (or 45#?) rather than the 55#. Going into KB swings, especially Tabata-style, with shot arms is NO way to ensure everyone else's safety, much less your own. :S The swings went well, with the rep count consistently about 12-13 reps per round. As noted in the pictures above, I did the Russian/traditional/standard variant of the swing as well, for most of the same reasons.
For the handstands, I started out kicking up into a harness of bands, but on the third work interval, I suddenly got a cramp in the base of my right thumb, which not only hurt like a ***** but also freaked me out to be ass-over-teakettle and have that happen. After dropping to the floor and trying to massage some life back into it, I grabbed a bench, and did the rest of the workout piked off the bench on my knees, working on that thumb between sets. That was weird. While I assumed the handstands would be the "easiest" part of the workout (and arguably, they were), coming on the tail end of the push-ups and swings, just trying to breathe while upside-down was nearly impossible. Easy? No, not really.
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