So the plan of doing bodyweight exercises for 30 days lasted a whole 4 days. My left shoulder could not take it. Pushups, pullups, dips were irritating my clavicle. Pressing overhead doesn't cause issues but anything lateral makes it squawk. I wasn't ready to go back to The Giant yet, so I decided to go to my old standby: More Kettlebell Muscle by Geoff Neupert. Purchase here.
When I finish a program in the book, I write down whether I did it as a complex or chain, and the date I finished. I've finished 15 of them. There is one I can't complete because my grip can't handle it, I need another 35 lb. bell. I selected Lucky 13 and decided to do it as a chain. All these programs last 6-9 weeks, 3 workouts per week. For some of these programs, the workouts are under 10 minutes for the first 3-4 weeks. 48 hours rest between workouts. I decided to combine 2 weeks into one and complete it in 3 weeks.
What makes Lucky 13 different from other programs is the inclusion of the reverse lunge. Although you do a lunge in the getup, it's not programmed in most kettlebell workouts. Why? It is a balance issue, can cause knee issues and one needs practice to perfect them. Too bad, because they are a PHENOMENAL exercise with good form while holding 2 bells in the rack. And they are great for conditioning. I remember including them in an Escalated Density program I was doing with the double snatch. 15 minutes of work never took so long. I prefer them over the goblet squat, which in my opinion is a nice beginner movement to pry the hips open but that's where it belongs, or as a warmup.
I haven't done complexes or chains in awhile, so the first 5 or 6 workouts were getting my locomotive engine back into metabolic conditioning. Although I've been doing a lot of running and hiking, there is HUGE difference than doing 90 second kettlebells sets. The medium day and the easy day were both, nice easy workouts. The reverse lunge in medium day helped me get used to doing the movement again. Had a couple of bad reps, but was able to find the groove. No lunges on easy day. Then we get to day 3, heavy day. I was using two 45 lb. kettlebells.
Heavy day includes lunges and squats. 30 reps of total exercise per round. 3 rounds in week 1, 5 rounds, weeks, 3 and 5, 6 rounds week 6. The work : rest ratio shrinks from 1:2 weeks 1-3 to 1:1.5 weeks 4-6. When I was done the 1st week of heavy day, I was so happy there were only 3 rounds. I was a puddle of sweat huffing and puffing. As my conditioning for chains came back I handled the 4 and 5 rounds weeks 1-3. Uncomfortably with legs starting to shake.
Week 5 heavy day was particularly brutal. I was trash for 30 minutes. First, the breath starts to increase, then the shoulders start to tire from pressing and holding the bells in the rack for so long, finally the panic sets in as the foundation, AKA legs start to shake. I didn't have a 6th round in me and was questioning, how I would conclude this.
Welp, I kind of cheated. The good news was I got all the reps in, and the time it took to do the workout was less than I had estimated. Here's what I did:
Number of seconds per round + rest period. So 84 seconds to complete the chain of one of the 6 rounds. Rest 126 seconds which is 1.5 x 84. Add 84 + 126 gives you the time between starting a new round which is 210 seconds. Multiply that for 5 complete rounds and you get 1,050 seconds. Add 84 more seconds for the 6th round gets you to 1134 seconds or 17:54 for total time.
Each round contains 5 sequences. So 6 rounds x 5 sequences is 30 total sequences. Now take 1134 seconds and divide by 30. Equals 37.8 seconds. So instead of doing 5 sequences at once and resting for 2 minutes and 6 seconds, I did a sequence, rested until 37 seconds passed and did the sequence again. 30 times. So it was, Sequence, rest to 37 seconds, sequence, rest to 1:14 seconds, sequence rest to 1:51 until I finished the 30 sequences.
Think of it as rest:pause/interval training vs. doing 5 at once and resting. Heartrate stays up, form doesn't breakdown because fatigue isn't setting in, finished all the reps done in less time, didn't stiffen up from resting 2 minutes. The only thing that didn't happen was lactic acid setting in from the fatigue. I finished in 17:32. I did need to pay attention not to lose count.
Results were positive, while doing this program, I hiked in Acadia National Park up in Bar Harbor, ME with my wife for our 25th anniversary and rucked up three 1200 foot summits which according to AllTrails were deemed "DIFFICULT" with no problem. I also did a mountain goat run at home which has eluded me for couple of years due to the steepness of one of the hills about 2 miles out and was able to complete the run. Heartrate has been around 52. Weight around 186, blood pressure in check.
In order to keep up with strength goals for starting The Giant again, I've been following this "grease the groove" pressing program using double 55's. I like calling it "intermittent workouts." Every 30 minutes to an hour do a set until you do 5 sets. My only issues is sitting down, I have to get up and walk around to loosen up before doing the set. I was feeling cocky on Saturday and tried a clean and press with double 70's. Not even close, those days might be done.
On tap is one more program of complexes. It's probably going to be "Ballistic Beatdown." With reps of 10, it looks like it might be a grip killer. I'll run it as a complex.
