I suck at pull-ups, tend to blame my weak back and/or grip for it 🙂
Anyway, I switched to Chin-ups for the time-being.
Switching to Chin-ups
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Author Archives: t00r
Time For Proper Pull-ups!
I have suck at pull-ups for as long as I know myself. So what good are 32 kg Turkish Get-ups when you can hardly manage one full range proper pull-up or chin-up?
Therefore I decided to add 10 pull-ups to my daily Grease the Groove fun. A progressive approach makes sense, as it will help reducing or even preventing shoulder strain and tendinitis, injuries often experienced in the process of mastering pull-ups.
Todays GtG:
10 24 kg TGUs (did 32 kg yesterday so I lessened the load)
10 one leg assisted pull-ups
10 one legged slow push-ups
10 one legged squats (pistol squats)
32 kg Turkish Getups!
Well after three weeks of GtG TGUs with 24 kg today was the day where I was finally able to do 10 repetitions of 32 kg TGUs back to back (3L-3R-2L-2R) 🙂
I am a bit sore as this a whole new dimension for my body but I am happy I made the step up there. I’ll keep working on this.
Today’s noon time workout:
10 32 kg TGUs
10 One legged squats (pistols) (5L-5R)
15 Slow pushups
5 Half pullups (I am miserable at these and need to focus more)
2 Laps of Farmer Walk with 18 kilo weights (one lap on each side around a basketball field)
Then I did barbell snatches and cleans just for the fun of it. 2x 40 kg sntaches where relatively easy (even after all the stuff done above), and 2x 60 kg cleans where also quite solid. I know thats not much but its not something I am for anyway.
Grease the Groove with TGU Extended Version
Well I’m afraid this is getting beyond the GtG definition approaching a full workout set status:
10 TGUs (slow 5 on each side)
10 One legged squats aka pistols (5 on each side)
3×10 slow pushups
In addition I did some stair running, box jumps, ninja squats and farmer walks today but usual routine is the above one. One at noon and one in the evening where possible.
I am very happy that I am finally able to do proper one legged squats 5 times back to back. Pretty sure this is the work of the TGUs I do regularly lately as it forces you to improve cross body muscle coordination which helps a lot with the pistols IMHO.
Grease the Groove with TGUs
Well I kept doing daily TGUs and pushups this week at work. Sometimes I added another set in the evening for good. A set usually being 10 TGUs (5 on each side) and 15 slow pushups.
Pavel coined (or maybe someone else did and he mentioned) the wording Grease the Groove. It simply put means to exercise whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Two Weeks of daily Turkish Getups
The last two weeks I was on leave to help my wife studying by taking take of our energizer bunny son which meant less then usual time for throwing around kettlebells 🙂
So I made the decision to do at least 10 TGUs (5 very slow ones on each side making the routine 4-5 minutes long) each day, throw in 5-15 very slow pushups where possible to stimulate my muscles and to maintain.
I missed out on one or two days and did double on others but all in all I kept the consistency so I’m happy with it.
As an added bonus I tied my 16 kg KB with my wives 8 kg KB to get an odd shaped but functional 24 kg KB which was way more grip friendly then a 24 kg dumbbell. 🙂
Warrior Diet On and Off For Two Years
So I mentioned on another post that I changed the way I eat and was eating in an intermittent fasting way more specifically Warrior Diet style.
Don’t let the word “Diet” mislead you, this can be a life style rearrangement for the better or, depending on your way of life, not. Its definitely NOT for everyone, but I would, unless you have health issues which strictly prevent you from doing so,  recommend you give it a try for at least 3 weeks or better yet, 3 months.
Its more of a change of mind then yet another diet to endure. Conventional health sources (most of which are generously funded by various parts of the Food industry) will tell you that just about everything about intermittent fasting and/or the Warrior Diet is unhealthy and I do NOT have long term results to rightfully argue that either side is right.
What I do have though is two check-up results and a changing wardrobe since I started eating this way mid January last year. In two years, all check-up test results are within normal range. Before starting the Warrior way, I had some cholesterol and blood sugar issues severing my liver but most importantly I have Hashimoto’s Auto-immune Disorder causing lifelong problems to my thyroid affecting practically everything else. Thyroid related test results along with the rest are within normal range which is quite encouraging. Despite common concerns, undereating (meaning eating quite light food which does not spike insulin or you could chose to not eat if you can endure) during the day with one huge meal in the evening has actually helped me stabilize the effects of my disorder. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is essential, you can have unsweetened tea and coffee as well. In fact caffeine while hungry is claimed to have the opposite effect its normally associated with, which is assisting fat storage. If you need more details do read Ori Hofmekler’s book. He goes into to great details referencing scientific publications.
As for me, I am going to stick with this way of eating and keep monitoring my health for another year or 50 🙂
As a bonus I dropped from a size 34 waist to 28 in two years while only dropping about 5-6 kg (11-13 lb) in weight as I replaced most of my fat with muscles (not all of it yet 🙂 ) with the assistance of short and intensive Kettlebell and Bodyweight exercises. Fat loss is, after all, 80 percent what you eat and 20 percent how you move. Don’t let anybody fool you about this. Every magic pill out there, promising you quick weight loss has built-in Jo-jo effect, if you are lucky, or worse it will cost you your health. Patience and perseverance is what gets you there.
If you are shocked in disbelieve reading all this, you should have seen my wives face when I put on her comfort jeans and they fit the other day 😀
What I am up to lately? Turkish Getups :)
Two months have passed since my last post.
I have slowed things down a bit since then, exercise-wise.
With more focus on the Turkish Getup and complementary body weight movements doing them SLOW!
Yes, you heard me, slow. I realized I was rushing the moves lately, resulting in sloppy style not utilizing the core muscles properly. For some moves slower is better if you are not opting for cardio and/or endurance. Well you kinda get the endurance bit with slow.
Last time around I mentioned doing TGUs with the 36-36 HIIT protocol and I did. I was able to squeeze (literally) 4 TGUs inside 36 seconds. I thought I was super, I thought “Well this has gotten easy with the 16 kg kettlebell, I definitely need to move up to 24 kg”.
While I still should get the 24 kg for the ballistic moves (swings snatches etc.) I couldn’t be more wrong about my mastery of the TGU using the 16 kg bell.
I took it the other way around, stretching a single full TGU cycle over 40-50 seconds, doing proper footwork, stance and the bridge.
Turned out that 5 reps on each side at this pace was a complete workout on its own. Really working all the muscles that should get involved… properly! 🙂
Now I am taking the slow path for non-ballistic kettlebell moves to improve form, stability and balance. I also slowed down the cardio moves like for example the squat thrust.
This way I revisited the 300 Meltdown Kettlebel workout. Taking it slower to improve and emphasize proper form instead of rushing the moves trying to beat the time made a world of difference as how my muscles feel and look 😉
Turkish Get Up Combo Workout
After a short holiday down south for 5 days I am back with another Turkish Get Up workout in form of a combo set:
Starting out with 5 Snatches (preferably on your weaker side) then switch to 1 TGU while the kettlebell is over your head, get down then up, rack it on your chest and do 5 squats then 5 presses then 5 cleans and finally 5 1 handed swings where after you switch hands (or if you need to rest, do rest) and do the same super set with your other hand. Repeat this cycle 5 times with appropriate rests in between. I took 1-2 minute rests in 2-1-2 fashion.
This workout was taken from the fine site http://trainersteve.tumblr.com/post/9584433175
36-36 20 Sets of Kettlebell Turkish Getups & Windmills!
So on Monday i managed to form some nasty calluses on both of my hands doing the 15-15 50 Set Kettlebell Snatches workout. Still I liked this cardio-strength-endurance combo style and wondered if I could be doing Turkish Getups this way and to take it easier combine them with Windmills.
The 15-15 would be to short (so I thought) as the full TGU takes more time then a Snatch. I decided to do the following:
36 seconds doing 2 TGU’s and 2 Windmills with a 16 kg Kettlebell
36 seconds of rest
20 sets like this.
Turned out I was actually able to do 4 TGU’s and 2 Windmills in each set. So after the first 5-6 sets that’s what I did. I did my share of sweating, I was not fatigue at the end so this was a nice workout, given the fact that the TGU is pretty much a whole body workout.
In the end I did 71 TGUs and 40 Windmills in 26 minutes 🙂