Bean

NOOOOOOOO!!! So sad. Not a kettlebell fan - you'll ruin the friendship. Just kidding. Sorry to hear they don't make you happy. Hope you find the HIIT exercise that does keep you happy. I would love to play with a prowler but have yet to see one IRL.

Give ze back ze rest. Good call on listening to your back and stopping, despite the fact that your back-out set was probably heavier than the bro's 1RM!

Really sorry to hear about your mom.

Doesn't have enough wrinkles yet. Very cute and I hope you are puppy-certified by the breeder.

Was an interesting experience this morning to have a split workout. Went to the gym and did my squats 5x10x95kg. Felt great - next week sets of 10 at 100kg. Then did 3x10 dips just because I felt like it and then went home. Woke Mrs Bean up and we had our swinging session. It was actually pretty fun - although my kids were really confused. Dad - weren't you at the gym already? Anyway, we shall try this every week and see how it goes - have to go to the gym for DL and Squat. Only other drawback is that I only have a 24kg bell at home - great for swinging - but to do snatches I need the 16kg bell. May have to scrap the viking idea in the interests of working out with the wife. In any case - the gym has still not finished its kettlebell restoration project. It would have been quicker for them to buy new ones! Weekend is upon us - yay. Taking my boys to watch Legend of the Guardians tonight - so excited.

That is a really tough workout schedule. 4 consecutive days! It might be better to shift your HIIT (cardio) day and rather try and lift 3 days with at least a day in between. But, that depends on your workout schedule and what the rest of your schedule looks like. From my perspective, the bicep, tricep and calf raises are not really going to give you much value in terms of losing weight and getting lean. The compound exercises should be your focus - Squats, deadlifts, bench and OHP. Pullups are awesome too. (I see you don't have OHP programmed at all) You should definitely squat at least twice a week, but not on consecutive days, and deadlift and squats in one day can be pretty taxing. You will see this repeated ad nauseum on these forums - but look into Starting Strength or Stronglifts. Both pretty similar, focus on the compound lifts and they work. (That of course is why they get recommended so often. ) The other, extremely important factor is diet. Doesn't matter how much you workout, if your diet isn't good, you won't see results. Check out many of Steve's blogs on this and on the value of the compound lifts.

Now, if I had a kettlebell that looked like that I would be delighted - reminds me of my favourite childhool cereal ... Sadly, my gym will not have any such inspiration - they will probably paint the bell with enamel paint which will chip quickly and be super slippery. Then I will complain and make them go shopping for tiger-bells ... Went for a swim this morning and felt totally flat. I kept have to take rest breaks during sets - was sooo tired. Clearly in desperate need of a holiday. It doesn't help that I had to fly down to Cape Town yesterday to attend a board meeting. Great holiday destination in summer - not so great destination to present to a board. Ended up leaving home at 5:45am and getting back after 8:00pm. Long day for a 1.5 hour presentation. Have to stick it out. Three day work-week next week since it is my anniversary on the 13th - I took the two days off to make a long weekend. Then one more week and we are off for Christmas Holidays - only back in January. That means only 8 more working days for me this year - I can manage that. Tomorrow shall be fun. Mrs Bean wants me to work with her on the kettlebell so we will be swing twins. I am going to the gym first thing to do my squats and then will come home and we will have a swing fest If that goes well, maybe I can convince her that a squat rack is a good investment ...

Had to shift tomorrow's workout to today since I have to travel for a Board meeting tomorrow - sigh! It is hard doing heavy deadlifts after heavy squats the day before, but I toughed it out. Did 5x140kg. Felt pretty good but I only did one set since my legs were pretty tired. Managed 3 of them with OH grip and the last two were mixed. Then, kettlebell swings 8x20 swings @24kg. Other bells still in for service - apparently they are painting them. Why? The paint will just peel off and rip my hands apart. They do not need to look pretty. Also added in a 12 minutes cycle - 'cos I still had time. Did 5km in 12 min on level 10. No idea whether this is good or bad, but it felt pretty good to me.

The pullups seem to have fallen off the radar. For everything else - nice going.

I am thinking lots of water and some light exercise. Deload and focus on form but get in a workout. Hope this settles down soon. BTW: Cutting out your other normal supplements cold turkey may also impact you. Too little magnesium definitely stops you up and inhibits protein utilisation. But I don't know if it interacts with the stuff you are taking.

Sounds very positive - great to have a trainer that is on the same wavelength.

Looking really good. Strong-arms for the pullup win.

OK - I'll start with the morning workout. Squats 5x5x120kg. That is a PR for sets - have done 125kg for 3 reps and 120kg for 5 reps, but never for more than one set. Then they were servicing the kettlebells at the gym - how idiotic is that? - so I could only find a 24kg bell. I was not going to try the Viking Protocol with a heavy bell like that so I did KB swings. They were great - 6x20 swings. Christmas party - brilliant fun. Kids had a blast and I ate way too much, but most of it was protein so I didn't feel too guilty. Christmas is very varied here. We always go to church on Christmas morning and the kids are only allowed to open one present before we go. Then we all sit around the Christmas tree over a light lunch and open presents. We have a big dinner on Christmas Day. When I was growing up we used to have a turkey, but with my wife we often have either Roast Lamb or a Fillet Steak (best cut of meat in SA). Full three course meal with champagne. We always have a Christmas tree (as do most South Africans) with traditional western decorations and lights but very few people go the whole route with lights on houses or in the garden. Other options at Christmas - BBQ for Christmas lunch, Potjie (kind of stew cooked in a cast iron pot over an open fire), and many other lunch options. Many people actually go away over Christmas as well - usually to the coast - and Christmas day would be spent on the beach.

I tried the protocol and I think it is doable in six weeks, but this depends on your starting point. I was fairly fit when I tried it, although not swimming fit, and I succeeded in doing it. Have now moved on to other stuff since I got bored going up and down doing the same stroke every length. On your side, the big advantage you have is the past experience and technique and so your muscle memory should be very helpful and you will probably see big improvement week to week. I say that it is worth giving it a try. If you find you are struggling with one of the weeks simply rinse and repeat the next week. If it takes more than six weeks, so what, you will still be awesome when you complete the 1650. Good luck - look forward to hearing of your successes.

Warriors need sleep.

Does the Novembeard get shaved off today? Or do you intend keeping it? Happy belated birthday and glad you like your functional present. I too like useful presents - horror of horrors, I asked for some new clothes for Christmas. It is so much better to get stuff you can actually use than inane stuff that just takes up space. But maybe that is just me. The gaming PC - tell us more? My wife is the gamer in our family and she has a pretty awesome machine.

Pretty good lifting session this morning. High rep squats 5x10@95kg. Felt great but I struggled with the last 2-3 reps on each set. Am trying to do these dynamically so they have to go up fast and keep accelerating upwards. Will do the same weight again. Then, since I haven't been sticking to the Viking programme very well, I changed it up again today, lol, and did the 36 second protocol. Did 10 sets of 15 snatches (36 seconds for the 15 snatches followed by 36 seconds of rest). Used 16kg bell. Was fun and taxing and my lats were crying in that last set. 12 minutes of cycling followed - mainly so I could catch some test cricket Today is our office Christmas party. It is fantastic - the whole family gets invited since we have a relatively small head office - and the kids play on a slippery slide and have all sorts of other great activities whilst the grown-ups not brave enough to tackle the slide sit on the grass or in the shade drinking beer or wine and feasting on lamb-on-the-spit. Glorious sunshine, hot weather. (Is that enough for you Kelly? )

HMM - deadlifts at 325lbs and it was a half-workout. I hate it when the cat wakes me - mine loves hairbands and so, when my wife leaves one even remotely accessible, the cat takes it upon herself to extract it from wherever it is and then bring it into the bedroom to dance with it, all while miaowing. Pretty endearing when it is not 2:00am. Well done for getting in the workout anyway.

KB Swings - normally I use the 24kg bell, but she was occupied yesterday so I had to use the 20kg. I don't change weight at all - I just increase the number of swings and also try and do them with as much force as possible. Big push with my hips on the way up and then actively pull the bell back down again rather than letting gravity take it. So what I did yesterday was as follows: 10 2 hand swings, 12 one hand swings, swapping hands after six swings, 14 swing-transfers, 16 2-hand swings, 18 transfers, 20 swing transfers, 18 1 hand swings swapping hands after 9 swings, 16 2 hand swings, 14 swing transfers, 12 transfers, 10 2 hand swings. All with the 20kg bell. The speed is the critical part and so the 20-swing set must be done in 30 seconds. I do a variety of swings to keep it interesting - a combination of 2 hand swings, 1 hand swings, swing transfers and direct transfers. And I never to it in the same order. Sometimes I will just alternate between 2-hand swings and 1-hand swings, but I always make sure I do the same number of swings with each hand. This morning was swimming day. I did it in sets of 6 lengths - one set full stroke, second set just kicking. Was pretty exhausted but did 70 lengths in 50 minutes. (Yeah - I know that doesn't divide by six - the last set was 10 lengths of cool-down) Sitting at work this morning wishing I were a teacher so I could also have a long school holiday. My kids finished school yesterday for the year and now have a glorious 6-week holiday. I am so jealous. Oh well, at least, being way down South, we have amazing sunny weather and I can still enjoy evenings outside when I get home from work.

Happy thoughts - long distance sending.

Glad to hear no surgery required. Good luck with the rehab.

Fantastic - perfect set of green lights so far.

Good lifting morning this morning. DL 2 sets of 5x135kg. Felt great, but having to use mixed grip. Next stop is three big wheels each side. Then 5 minutes of snatching followed by a swing ladder - in 2s from 10 up to 20 and back down again. I am really enjoying these simple workouts - no mess, no fuss.

Had a complete check-up with the doc including an ECG and guess what - completely clean bill of health, he could find nothing wrong despite having done an ECG and full neurological exam. The only possible cause is postural hypotension where your blood pressure drops significantly when you stand up - but he said it didn't appear so. All I have to do is keep an eye on it, and if it happens again, it is a full battery of tests. No more incidences occurred this weekend - relief. Gym today - squats 5x5@115kg and 12 minutes of KB snatching. Felt great, but I guess I will have sore legs for the rest of the week again.

There are a number of articles on the interwebz about the differences between a KB and a DB. Basically, it all comes down to the weird structure of the KB where the bell (and therefore the weight) is offset from the handle whilst in a DB it is pretty much in the same line. This creates a significant benefit for the ballistic exercises - KB swings, snatches, cleans - due to centrifugal forces etc. Also, a DB is a little awkward to swing between your legs whilst the structure of the KB allows it to swing behind your legs (a big plus for men in particular ) From my reading, when you swing a KB, because of its offset weight, you have to use your stabiliser muscles much more to retain your balance and so it is really good for developing your core. The solid handle of the KB means you can develop excellent grip strength and strong forearms through doing the ballistic movements. You can do grip work with a DB but it is more deliberate while the KB provides it as an automatic part of the workout. The KB is really good for developing the posterior chain (back, butt and hamstrings), allows you to do some pretty good HIIT workouts and also provides a good alternative cardio workout. That being said, the KB is certainly not a magical pill and it cannot replace heavy squats or deadlifts for building absolute strength. I would suggest that a DB and a KB are equally beneficial for pressing type movements although KB proponents will tell you the KB is better because it can more easily be racked against your chest before you press giving you a larger range of motion than a DB. The disadvantage of a KB is that it is only a single weight (I would not recommend the adjustable ones) whilst you can easily get adjustable DBs. At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference. I love doing a KB workout - swinging the cannonball around is fun and challenging and provides awesome variety to a workout. If you travel a lot by car, it also lends itself to mobile workouts since it is pretty easy to trasnport (other than if you fly) - putting a set of berbells in your truck may be a little awkward. I also don't like regular cardio other than swimming and so I am using my KB for a cardio workout - aiming for 80 sets of 7 snatches with a 15 second work, 15 second rest ratio. I find this much easier to do with a KB than a DB. But, I will personally never give up doing good barbell exercises - particularly squats and deadlifts - in favour of KB work.