Category Archives: Bodyweight

Working Back

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Pull-ups chin-ups… Still working on proper full range but decided to take a stepped approach. At the office I pull myself up quickly do slow declines from the top chin-up position. No hurry, feeling all the pain slow. At home I use the edge of the dinner table, body firm and aligned, only the heels touching the ground but without giving any support to the movement.

I try to do at least one of these or, if I can manage my time, both the noon and the evening exercises.

The routine is still pretty much the same: 10 TGUs (5L-5R) 10 Pistol Squats (5L-5R) 10 Chin-ups 10 One legged push-ups (5L-5R)

Time For Proper Pull-ups!

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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!

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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

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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

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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.

What I am up to lately? Turkish Getups :)

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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 😉

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRpbM9nzDcM

Kettlebell Workouts combined with Warrior Diet

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This week I started yet again another serious session of Intermittent Fasting as described in the Warrior Diet.

I discovered and started doing it Mid-January last year and was able to drop from 89kg (196lb) to about 76kg (168lb) in about 4 months prior to really getting into gear with Kettlebells.

I continued with the way of the Warrior feeding 🙂 after I started doing Kettlebell workouts on a regular 3 times a week basis. I gained weight as I was building muscles. After a while I loosened up on the way of the Warrior and along with muscles came back some bodyfat.

On an important side note, I have the Auto-immune disorder Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I read one article and a couple of comments in forums that Intermittent Fasting actually has a positive effect on Auto-immune disorders. On my annual full body check-up it looked good. All values within the healthy range. And the ever so annoying tiredness in the afternoons gone.

Anyway, this year went less effective regarding my Warrior Diet style eating and although I didn’t put back on much of a belly but I was on the fattening road. Hashimoto’s has one interesting side-effect (at least in my case), changes occur slowly, no matter whether good or bad.

And this year I also decided to completely cut off supplements as well and did go that way. But now that I will do a low carb calorie deficit diet and shed some stubborn fat, I went out to get myself some liquid L-Carnitine for before the workouts, some Whey protein for right after the workouts and some vitamins for those days where I can not eat sufficiently.

With the decreased calorie intake the 16kg Kettlebell wasn’t that easy anymore but I still intend to move up to 24kg and 32kg soon. Less reps with more benefits.

Here is this weeks workouts I did on Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

Monday: 50 Snatches (25L 25R) 50 Plank to Pushup 75 2 Handed Kettlebell Swings 25 Burpees 5-10-5-10-5-10-5 (TGU & Windmills alternating hands, see former workouts) 50 Mountain Climbers

Wednesday: 50 Snatches (25L 25R) 25 Pushups 100 Two Handed Kettlebell Swings 25 Burpees 5-10-5-10-5-10-5 (TGU & Windmills) 50 Mountain Climbers

Friday: 50 Squats 50 Jumping Jacks 50 Snatches 25 Pushups 100 Kettlebell Swings (25L 25R 50 Two Handed) 6 TGUs with 24Kg dumbbell (3L 3R) <— sufficient to kill me off

Half 300 Kettlebell Workout

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Well on Wednesday, stubborn as I act lately, I decided to keep working out, and did a half 300 Kettlebell Workout despite the blood filled calluses on both my hands.

Needless to say, one of them blew up on me early in the exercises and to my surprise it wasn’t painful at all (just a bit messy).

Anyway, the half 300 Kettlebell workout is as follows:

25 Snatches (5 Left hand then blood 10 right hand 10 left hand)

25 Plank to Push-up position

25 Alternating One Handed Kettlebell Swings (Starting on the left)

25 Burpees (just plank and jump no push-up)

5 Turkish Get-ups (Left)

5 Windmills (Right)

5 Windmills (Left)

5 Turkish Get-ups (Right)

30 Mountain Climbers

Back from a 4 week break

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We went on vacation for 11 days and then I had a track day on the Istanbul Park circuit. A whole day, seven sessions of 20 minutes from 9 am to 4 pm a very hot day.

17 years after I bought this 1994 Aprilia RS125 we made it onto the intended race track 🙂

I alternated the sessions with my friends Honda CB600F, stings like a hornet 😀

Even though I must have drunk around 6 liters of water and no need to go the toilet I was apparently still dehydrated at the end of the day which took its toll on the rest of the week. I decided to skip workouts until fully recovered and then some.

So today I was back behind my kettlebell doing the last exercise routine in a 40-20 interval fashion for to sets and I was breathless. 🙂

I won’t rush back into pace and pick it up slowly.

60-15 HIIT Kettlebell Bodyweight Workout

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Inspired by the original Spartacus Workout I have put together another 10 exercise 60-15 interval workout of two rounds:

1. Kettlebell Goblet Squat

2. Mountain Climber

3. Alternating One Handed Kettlebell Swing

4. Plank Walk to Push-Up Position

5. Split Jump

6. Kettlebell Row (8 on each side)

7. Kettlebell Side Lunge and Touch

8. Windmill

9. Kettlebell Lunge and Rotation

10. Turkish Get-Up (3 on each side)

This makes one round, rest for 2 minutes and repeat one (or if you feel like it two) more time.