ouch, ouch, fun, fun!!

Renegade Rows - 7 sets of 10, 3 count.    Sometimes, its a bit of a curse being a bit on the stronger side.  I looked at what I did previously on this, and basically muttered several not so nice words under my breath.  I had to do at least as well.  I did 20 lb, 25 lb, 12 kg kettlebell, 30 lb, I tried the 16kg kettlebell - failed miserably, it was actually rather humorous, then went and finished off with the 25 lb dumbbells.  After that, I did the remaining sets at 35 lbs.  In the end, it was the exact same weights as last time, just different order.

Deadlift - 15 sets of 3.  The main point of this was go as high as you can while still maintaining good form.  I started at 215, 225, 235, 245, 265 - did this one for 2 rounds, then went to 270, did that for 1 round, 2nd round...I did 2.  Why did I only do 2??  Well, I can't remember clearly exactly what happened, if it occurred on the up part or the down part of the lift. I think, I felt myself rounding over, and tried to fix it by pulling back....and that's when it happened.  One of the funkiest sensations ever.  I felt my back muscle pull......it wasn't painful, but it was bizarre.  That was it, I wasn't going to finish the last one of that set.  I needed to move around and make sure I didn't do anything really bad.  Nope, wiggling and moving was fine..I could foresee some back pain in my future though.    I dropped the weight and did the remainder at 235.  Afterwards we went to play in the park, messing around on the playground- the playgrounds are much better than the ones I grew up with!!  It was a fun, fun time!

I took Monday off - turns out, I probably did pull or strain my back muscles - Melissa said the mid back section was a bit of a knotted mess (not exactly her term...).    She worked miracles and today all is good - a tiny bit of stiffness, but about 95% back to feeling normal.
Today we did Functional focus - tire flippin' Yoke walkin, car pushin'.
What pray tell is Yoke walking?  Check out the pic of Patty up above. Yep, it's carrying around a bunch of hanging weight on your back.  The final "timed event" was Yoke walking, tire flipping (3 up, 3 back), and pushing Patty's jeep up and back.  I used the 24 kg kettlebells (53 lbs each), the 60 lb bar, and the chains which I think were around 15 lbs each.  So, I think my total weight was somewhere around 200 lbs. The hard part was the weights on the chains making you walk around like a drunken sailor.  After that, came 6 tire flips with the girl tire, then pushing Patty's car.  Pushing her car on the slight uphill grade made your thighs burn.  The downhill, was not so bad.  I finished with a time of 3:02...and some major oogly legs.

Yes, It's another Pullup tirade!!

ARGHH!!!!  Son of  scum sucking, lint licking, two bellied frog!

Ok - melodramatic enough??  Here's the thing - I'm a big denier - I can deny anything until it suddenly comes up and slaps me in the face.    Well, I've been suppressing my anger and frustration with these pullups - although, I'm sure some people would say, not very well.  I try to come up with a nice rational plan, but when something like today comes up and gives me a big swift kick in the gut - that denial pimple pops!

 I know - some of you are probably saying to yourself "Really?? This again??"  But, I am annoyed, and I'm just gonna say it.  I'm not a weak girl......I may not be the strongest in the world, but I don't think I'm weak, so why is the stupid-ass pullup the hardest thing on the planet??  It's a bit assinine and ridiculous.   It probably wouldn't annoy me so much if it didn't screw up all my other stuff.

So - you're asking yourself, sheesh, what brought on this tirade??  I'll tell ya.  Fran did. 

Last time I did Fran - I finished in 6:26, this time, 9:18 - almost a full 3 minutes longer - or 50% longer.  Well, were the modifications different??  The only modification was the bar I was on.  I was not on the low bar, I was on the high bar, still in the stinkin' red bands....  Big whoop!  Ok - rationally, yes they are harder on the high bar, but 3 minutes harder?????  REALLY????  ....and what is this new thing I have going on, where I have to pause and take a big breath before actually doing the pullup??? Where is that coming from??  ARGHHH!!! GRRRRR!!!! ......and a bunch of other not so nice words!

Now, onto nicer things....the Thrusters - 65lbs - no problemo.  Criminy if Fran were Thrusters and.....well, almost anything but those stupid, sumbitch pullups, it would be downright pleasant!  So - long story short, thank you to my sad attempts at doing pullups, my time sucked wind, and I ended up adding alot to my previous time.  I really wouldn't have an issue with it, if I could actually DO a real pullup!!

Ok...enough with the pullup frenzy I seem to have worked myself into.

Onto more pleasant things....yesterday.

Renegade Rows - 7 sets of 10 - 3 count.

This one must be like I imagine childbirth is, I forgot the painful aspects to it.

I did mostly dumbbells, one set with Kettlebells.  20lb/25lb/12kg KB/30lb/35lb/35lb/20lb.

Hard...all I'm gonna say - much more difficult than I recalled.  I think my biceps were full on Arnold size - scared the hell out of me!!  See - if I can grow Arnold like biceps, why can't I do a freaking pullup???  

evil evil pullups.............miserable rat bastards........

....a little bit of creativity in these!

It's Tuesday night, and so far, two new workouts this week.

Yesterday was one of those workouts where you leave feeling totally buff.  You know the ones - think, Kettlebell hell. Your arms are all pumped up and as a female, you think it's a good thing that you suddenly have some rock solid arms,but then, wait.......perhaps it's not such a good thing.  Are big bulging biceps truly a feminine trait??  Not sure, but after these types of workouts, one thing you know for sure, you'd rather have the rock solid arms, than the usual wings flappin' in the wind!  The ultimate goal - happy, little, tight, arms when relaxed, then when workin' 'em they turn into totally ripped jock arms!  Someday...

I speak now of Renegade Rows - 10 reps for 7 sets - for weight.  This was a bit like the sweet harlot that is Renegade Rose takes advice from Lucifer himself.    It doesn't sound so bad, and in reality, I would take this one over any running workout anyday, however, it wasn't exactly pleasant.  There is no breaking up that 10 rep set.

I ended up doing 20/20/25/30/30/30.  I felt pretty good about it, and left with some major Popeye arms!

Today - Barbell Hell - a happy little modification on Kettlebell Hell.  Which means - the evil Dr. Tabata strikes again!  Tabata intervals of Push Jerk, Cleans, Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, Floor Press and Deadlift for total reps. These can be done in any order. I did:

Push Jerk 65# -  56

SDLHP 65# - 58

Floor Press 65# - 55

Cleans  65# - 32

Deadlift 135# - 24

Did you notice my tapering off at the end?? Yep, by the time I got to DL's, I was toast, and my back muscles were starting to cramp a bit, like they do with Linda.  This was a toughie, and it was uber-hard the last 3 rounds of each Tabata cycle.  Strangely enough, I think the most difficult was actually the Floor Press - I started out the first couple rounds kickin' it - with 10 or 11...then tapered off. I think the last round or two I only got in 4 or so in the 20 seconds. Peculiar!

So - if Jonathan holds to his threats - and tomorrow really is Murph/Smurf,  then it will be confirmed that either he's must be drinking beer with the devil himself!  HA! It's 

ok!  Bring it on the ass-kickers!  Hawaii is calling in a mere 5 weeks!!

Renegade Rose.......and Death by...

Funny, funny, funny!! I'm telling Sean about the workout last night and he gets a funny look on his face, when I started talking about Renegade rows.   Finally he explains it - he thought I was talking about another "girl" workout, like Fran or Cindy, only this one was called "Rose". 

So here's "Rose"

21-, 15-, and 9-rep rounds of
- Renegade Rows (25#)
- KB Swings (24 kg)

If you don't know what a renegade row is - you are doing a pushup with your hands on a dumbell (or if you're really good at balance, a Kettlebell). So push up, Grab the weight in your right hand, bend your elbow, hoist to your ribcage and down.  Do another push up.  Grab the weight in your left hand, bend your elbow, hoist to your ribcage and down.  That's one.   See how the count can get a bit complicated?  I had to stop a couple of times in the 21 round to double check myself, on the counting part.  The bummer is, once you pause, they just get harder!!  15 and 9, I just doubled for the count- just easier that way.  The Kettlebell swings were actually not so bad - never used the 24 kg before. In the 21 round I did 11 (felt my hands slipping a bit)stopped chalked up, did the last 10.  15 and 9 round I did with no pause.  Overall, completed this one in 13:01.  Not too bad - hell, who am I kidding that's a heck of alot better than my Helen time!

Today, was Death by Pullup.  Got to round 9 +9 first round, then 10+7 the second round.  Total score was 116, in the Red bands.  So, while I may have been the first to "die" both rounds, (Patty and Doug didn't die until rounds 13-15), the good side of the story is that I did improve. Last time I did it, my score was 106, in the big blues, so I'm ok with 116 in the "Righteous Reds!"  

...although I'm still waiting for that day......the pure pullup - no bands - what a glory moment that will be!!    Now as part of being the first to die in this particular one - you get a bonus workout - today it was Kettlebell swings. So for every round everyone else continued on, I had to do that many KB swings - I'm sure I got in 60 or 70, not a ton, but definitely an added pop!