Why? You Ask? I don't think I've picked up my kettlebells in my house for 5 months. I just don't use them. At my gym you ask? Sure, once in a great while I'll do swings. Or double swings for traps, but that's it! Back in March, I was really into running on the treadmill 3x a week and getting good again at it. Being able to bang out 5 miles at a good clip. Well, I tried to do it for a 3rd time in a week, my shoes were probably wearing out and I pushed through some pain. For the record, David Goggins is an idiot. I got hurt. IT Band Knee tendinitis. Which took, 6 weeks to heal. To THIS DAY, I can feel it once and awhile. I also cannot squat all the way down because it catches. No more kettlebell front squats. I run maybe twice a week on the treadmill and never over 30 minutes.
Current banned kettlebell exercises for Brian
1. Clean and Press
2. Snatch
3. Jerk
4. Front Squat and Goblet Squat
5. Windmill SI joint pops out
6. Turkish Get Up
As you see, the only thing I can do are Rows, Swings and Farmer's Carries. Hence, collecting dust.
Not that my workouts haven't been good and consistent. I've been doing other things. My replaced left shoulder is great; my arthritic shoulder is really good. I can't throw a ball 30 feet anymore, but I can play golf, shoot a basketball, and swing a bat. I'm having trouble serving a tennis ball overhead. My right arthritic shoulder doesn't enjoy it. I can do some dumbbell and machine chest presses with decent weight. I don't really go heavy. I don't do pullups anymore, but I can do lat pulldowns palms facing each other for 160 for 6-8 with great form. Just adjustments.
My gym added a Ski Erg to its functional training room. Two great conditioning workouts I've done are
1 minute Ski Erg at 80-100% effort Resistance on 8
1 minute Rest
1 minute Echo Bike 80-100% effort. Watts usually around 324.
1-2 minutes rest
Aim for 10 rounds, at least 5.
This workout is a beast. Around the 6th round, fatigue sets in on the upper body doing the Ski Erg. The Echo Bike just sucks. They don't call it the "Devil's Tricycle" for nothing. The first 30 seconds are fine then the quads start fatiguing and when you get off of it you have the quakes in your legs. Which is scary. I remember doing hard kettlebell complexes where fatigue set in. The leg quake I feared most, then then shoulder fatigue and finally the grip.
Another workout is:
500 meters Ski Erg about 2:20
Rest 1 minute
2 minutes Echo Bike, around 220 watts
Rest 1 minute
10 rounds.
This one might be harder. At least you know the 1st one is only a minute. 2+ minutes on the Ski Erg never seems to end. And on the Echo Bike it is never pleasant.
BRUTAL CONDITIONING
They also have a prowler sled to push on 25 yards of astroturf. The only problem is members of the gym lack etiquette as well as the basics of geometry. They will stretch or do a dumbbell workout in the middle of the field using the width, not the length. It's like playing Frogger.
Alas, I put my gym membership on hold. It's 4 miles away and due to fixing a bridge in the shit hole town that I live next to where it is located, it takes 20 minutes to get there due to the horrendous infrastructure and traffic. So, I re-joined my old Planet Fitness and bought the black card for 3 months my ego uses my guest pass. It's fun to see old friends, but I'm SO BORED. There has been no updates to the equipment. We were in Naples, FL last month and there are 3 gyms within 15 minutes, all with brand new plate loading equipment and HUGE. The miser in Milford MA, decided to cheap out. I understand, 60% of his clientele, was how do I put this nicely, guests who overstayed their welcome in this country. Place is CLEARED OUT which equals lost revenue.
I walk every day; lift every other day and cardio on both days I lift and don't. Weight is in the mid-high 190's. Not where we want to be, but I'm healthy. On a small amount of statin, 5 mg of high blood pressure medication and happy. One thing I did try a couple of times was a 24 hour dry fast. Start at 9:30 AM, no water for 24 hours. The first 12- hours, easy, you're not that thirsty. The last 3-4 from when you wake up, brutal. Feel lethargic. But you can lose 6 lbs. in a day. I just think it's too hard on your kidneys. My creatinine numbers have always been a touch high normal/a little funky so I don't want them to get any higher.
I do think people are drinking WAY TOO MUCH WATER. 3 quarts is good enough. My wife constantly brings water everywhere. I'm like a camel. I drink when I'm thirsty. My urine is clear, so I'm hydrated and not losing electrolytes. A gallon of water a day is just stupidity. You don't need it. I had to drive 3 hours to Saratoga for work. No stops on the way up. One stop on the way home to get gas. Not to pee. My wife can't ride 100 miles without needing to use the loo. When we drive to NYC always need to pullover in Fairfield County.
Off to Hawaii on a cruise in 2 weeks and then again for a labor conference in November. Non-stop 12- hour flight from Logan. I get itchy after 3 hours on a plane. Not looking forward to it. I've been on a plane almost every month this year. Phoenix in January on American (which couldn't produce a crew, 6 hour delay). Greensboro, NC in March with a knee that was popping, I was so gimpy the pilot asked if I wanted a wheelchair. Utah in April, Kansas City in May, Florida in July, 2 hour delay, what else is new. Hawaii this month, Asheville NC next month, Probably Utah again in October, Hawaii again in November and most likely Atlanta in December.
Needless to say, the best airline is Delta and the worst is American. I try and avoid American like a masked up COVID Karen avoids people.
Remember Friends Don't Let Friends Skip Leg Day
