This Tuesday, Rainer, Jozy and me assembled in Linz to perform a very special workout, Dominik prepared for us – although being absent. The main challenge this time was the extreme cold climate we had to face – the temperature was well below the zero degree mark.

Due to this limitations, it was of extreme importance, that we did everything possible to keep the workout short – and intense, to warm ourselves up. As a disclaimer I have to point out that this really is an advanced workout, at least in its original constellation.

The workout consisted of two blocks, which we performed after the warm-up:

Block One

Five rounds of:

• 12 Thrusters (2 x 16 kg Kettlebell)
• 6-8 Pull-Ups
• 30 Strict Sit-Ups

with 30” to 60” rest between rounds

Block Two

Four rounds of:

• 10-12 Double Snatches (2 x 16 kg Kettlebell)
• Box Jumps, max. in 30”
• 8-10 Renegade Rows (2 x 16 kg Kettlebell) with a Push-Up inbetween repetitions

with 30” to 60” rest between rounds

So much for the original workout, as initially proposed by Steve Maxwell. We, however, made a few adjustments to create an effective workout without jeopardizing ourselves with too much load. The weight for the Thrusters was scaled down as necessary, we did only six pull-ups, Double Snatches were substituted with single ones or Clean and Press for those illiterate in the technique, we did a fixed amount of ten jumps per round and scaled down weight on the Renegade Rows as necessary.

As we all were pretty much exhausted at the end of the workout, the load was just fine for our capabilities. However, I have to say that I felt ambivalent about the outcome – I was not really challenged metabolically and had power for quite some more repetitions at the end of the fourth round of block #2 – on the other hand I felt that my power curve had become very flat. It was a matter of a few repetitions to diminish my ability to go on. This normally is where you should stop to not injure yourself. Lastly, I have to admit that I faced the workout with the advantage of having already tested it on last Sunday – where I struggled hard to cope with the intensity.

A few hints on the workout:

• Really scale down the weight you’re working with to one that you can quite easily handle. Because of the high repetition count, a ‘light’ weight can become heavy over time
• If you decide to go pretty heavy, opt to split sets. 12 Thrusters were split into either 2 x 6 or 3 x 4 repetitions to manage the weight, for instance.
• Really look at your form! This is the most important part to keep yourself healthy – work hard, but do not force yourself too far!
• Replace Double Snatches with Single Snatches if the weight is too much for you. If you lack experience in doing the Snatch, replace it with Clean & Press – an equally challenging exercise. Note that Clean & Press requires more strength than Snatches do, as they are less explosive. You could opt for Push Press to make the exercise easier
• Renegade Rows require a lot of full body tension – really look at how you perform and use the right weight! I have found it useful to use a very wide feet stance to retain stability while pulling

If you watch these points, there is little reason not to do this tremendous workout. I really recommend doing it more often – two times a week for a time of about four weeks. You will be amazed how much you will progress in terms of metabolic stress resistance and strength. Regular workouts are the key to success, I’m convinced.

Train on and stay strong,
Simon

After being a group of five last week, this week’s workout saw only Peter and me coming – all the others had plenty of reasons to excuse themselves.

This workout came about without real planning, so we were going to work on the basics instead of handling fancy exercises. Peter has finally gotten his own 24 kg Kettlebell, so we based our workout mainly about this tool which still is a tremendous challenge for both of us.

After toying around a while with the Kettlebells (double Kettlebell work is tremendously challenging – I thought it to be easier, going even as far as thinking about doing metabolic conditioning work with it), we decided on a workout. The final result was:

Metabolic Conditioning

3 rounds of

24 kg Kettlebell Complex

• Push press
• One-armed swing
• One-armed high-pull
• Clean
• Squat

5 repetitions each, left + right

Each round was complemented with a approx. 200-meter-run.

This workout turned out to be a lot harder than I initially thought and I turned out to do a downwards ladder of 5-4-3 repetitions for the respective rounds, which was challenge enough. Peter was braver than me and completed the full five repetitions for each round. What proved hard to accomplish for me was maintaining the grip. I have to admit that my second and third round were shadowed with an extremely high frequency of resting the Kettlebell on the round – which defies the purpose of training with complexes, which is maintaining the grip throughout exercise execution.

Post-Fatigue

Peter came up with the idea of the ‘Man-Maker’. This is a complex consisting of:

• Push-up on the Kettlebells
• Renegade row on both sides
• Double clean
• Squat

Three rounds of five repetitions each were planned. I again reduced the number of repetitions due to pain and fatigue, Peter did the whole amount. This exercise is especially challenging for the abdominal section of the body. Doing the renegade rows, it’s the wrong question to ask which muscles of the body currently are working – the right question would be: Which ones of them aren’t working? This exercise feels just like the whole body being under tension. In this respect, I’d like to compare renegade rows with turkish get-ups.

The workout was completed with a few sets of push-ups plus renegade rows as finisher, before we packed our things and started the way home.

Lessons I learned from the workout today are the following

• A towel is an elementary piece of equipment – you can never know how much you will sweat
• A second pack of clothes also is a good idea if you have a long way home – especially for the upper body, which is usually soaked in sweat and cold
• Take something to eat with you for post-workout nutrition. I favor bananas for the job – as for protein, this is a good field of usage for protein powders – as they are easily transportable in a shaker. Add water and drink it.
• It is essential to train your grip strength. The grip is the first thing that lets loose and limits your abilities.

Train on and stay strong,
Simon