Workouts for the Week of January 11th, 2009

Posted on 17. Jan, 2009 by theorytopractice in Exercises, Methods, workouts

Here’s a rundown of the past week’s workouts.  If I had to guess, I’d say I’m averaging about 2-and-a-half hours per week total in designated workout time, not counting the extra-curricular, “play” activity (biking, walking, etc.), which was all severely curtailed this week, by the way, due to the extreme cold weather.  I hate to admit it, but I’m a flat-out wuss when it comes to the cold.  Gimme extreme heat and humidity any day of the week, and I can hang.  Cold weather, though, will force me to fold like a cheap lawn chair.  I guess you can take the boy out of south Texas, but you just can’t take the south Texas out of the boy.

All of my AM workouts are done in a fasted state (10 hours or so from the previous evening’s meal).  Sunday’s workout was done in the middle of a 24-hour fast.

Here’s the week’s workout rundown:

Sunday, January 11^th:

• Hurdle Bounds x 5 hurdles (each hurdle set hip high) x 10 sets, full recovery between sets.  I covered hurdle bounds in this previous post.
• 10-second full-out straightaway sprints x 3 (full recovery between efforts)
• 10-second, 15 yard shuttle run x 4 (full recovery between efforts).  Note that I ran for time here, not distance, i.e, I just continued on, back and forth, until I timed out.  I tried to beat my mark every effort.  My second shuttle was the best, after that, I fell off precipitously.

*Gymnastic ring flyes and reverse flyes x approximately 10 reps of each per set.  Total of 8 sets interspersed throughout the bounds and sprints.

Tuesday, January 13^th, 6:15 AM:

• Snatch Grip High Pulls, 4 sets of 3
• Behind the Neck Split Jerk, 4 sets of 2
• Clean Grip Low Pulls, 7 singles (rest/pause method, i.e., analogous to Art’s alactic method)

Thursday, January 15^th, 6:15 AM:

• {(Clean Grip Low Pull with Jumps x 3) + 1 Clean & Jerk} x 3, rest/pause fashion
• Regular Grip, weighted Pull-Ups x 3

Three rounds of that superset.  The Clean Grip Low Pull with a jump is simply as demonstrated in the clip link, but done with enough upward velocity to come completely off the ground at the completion of the full triple extension.  Then:

2 sets of 3, heavy (i.e., heavier than what was used in the superset above) Clean Grip Low Pull Jumps.

Friday evening, at the conclusion of my workday (and rather long work week), I hit the gym on the way home.  I’ve begun to really enjoy this Friday evening session.  The gym is not at all crowded at this time on a Friday, and I can also take my eyes off the clock as I’m working out.  I don’t dilly-dally, mind you – I still move exercise to exercise and set to set with due diligence – however, I get to push myself more to what my body can handle vice having to make allowances for what the clock will allow me to accomplish.  But really, these evening workouts don’t take much more than about 15 minutes longer that my AM, blow-and-go throw-downs.  It is a nice psychological break, though, from having to constantly beat the clock.  It’s a good change of pace for my body as well, giving a ready opportunity to concentrate on more of the strength-modality side of things.  And following this workout, I had the luxury of a half-hour’s worth of steam bath/cold shower contrasts.  Invigorating!!  I wish I had the time for these after every workout.  Maybe if I had access to Oprah’s personal assistant, I could fit in some of that “me time”    Oh, well.  Anyway, here was the Friday evening session, a strength-based modality outing:

1.    High Bar Squats x 3, 3, 2, 2

2.    GHR x 3′s

I went for 4 rounds of that superset, with a full recovery between exercises, while employing a very heavy weight with each exercise.  Not “grind it out weight”, but still substantial enough to preclude any appreciable speed.  As always, though, the effort to move the bar as fast as possible was present on every repetition.  And I used a high bar version of the squat, like what’s depicted in this not-to-hard-to-look-at shot of Pauline Nordin.

I followed that superset with a set of 7 singles (rest/pause method) in the barbell floor press.

All in all, another fantastic week on the workout front.  The Paleo lifestyle really is a natural extension of power-dominant athletic endeavors (actually, the two work together in a yin-yang fashion), and my gut feeling is that the lifestyle is as equally well suited to endurance events as well.  I really wish someone in this summer’s Tour de France would ride “Paleo”.

Waddaya say, Lance?

In Health,

Keith