Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 2 x 10
Shoulder rolls – 2 x 10
Good mornings – 2 x 10
Halos – 10 – 8 kg kettlebell, 180 pounds
Get-ups – 1, 2, 3 L/R – 8 kg kettlebell – 12 reps, 216 pounds

Workout:

Clean and press – 10 x 1 L/R – 20 kg kettlebell – 20 reps, 880 pounds
Two-handed swings – Tabata x 1 – 24 kg kettlebell – 88 reps, 4664 pounds
One arm suspension row – 3 x 5 L/R
Goblet squat – 1 x 3 – 24 kg kettlebell, 1 x 3 – 36 kg, 2 x 2 – 36 – 10 reps, 649 pounds
Carries – Farmer, Rack, Waiter – 500 yards, 826 pounds
Farmer – 50 yards L/R – 32/24 kg
Rack – 50 yards – 16 kg
Farmer – 50 yards – 16 kg
Farmer – 50 yards L/R – 24/20 kg
Rack – 50 yards – 16 kg
Farmer – 50 yards – 16 kg
Waiter – 50 yards L/R – 8/16 kg

Chinups – 1 x 5, Pullups – 1 x 4, 1 – 10 reps
Pushups – 1 x 10

Time: 60 minutes
Weight: 7415 pounds

I got the idea for this workout from Dan John’s answer to the question, “If you could only perform five exercise movements for the rest of your life, which five would you do?” I am currently reading Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel, so am focusing on 10 heavy reps where applicable.

I got my 20 kg (44 pound) kettlebells on Friday. I failed on my first attempt to press the bell with my left arm, but kept trying and managed to achieve two clean and presses with my left and right hands on Friday. I decided to complete as many clean and press singles with the 20 kg bell as I could on Saturday and managed to complete 10 on both sides. I felt stronger in the last 5 than I did in the first 5 and was pretty excited about my achievement.

Two-handed swings in a Tabata format has become a standard for me. Tabata, of course, is a 4-minute set divided into 8 segments – 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. The 24 kg bell is easy enough at the start, but gets heavy in the last minute.

I got my Jungle Gym XT suspension kit yesterday and practiced a variety of moves with my trainer Michelle Luna. We did not practice the one arm row, but I watched several examples on YouTube and went for it on my own. I had problems with pain in my left elbow when pulling, so may drop this exercise for now and revisit it later.

I have not done goblet squats in a long time and had never used my heavier bells. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to hoist the 32 kg bell and squat with it.

Today was my first time to make carries a serious part of my workout and I liked it. The segment included 10 x 50-yard walks for a total of 500 yards of loaded effort. The carries felt about as challenging as the two-handed swing segment although the collection of carries lasted more than 4 minutes.

I added chinups/pullups and pushups to the session even though Dan John did not include them in his 5 movements because I really wanted to include them. I realize that if I try to do too much in a session, I will undermine my efforts to gain strength efficiently, but I am hoping that today’s session was not “too much.” I am planning to repeat this session every weekday of this coming week only without the one arm suspension rows. I am looking forward to seeing how my body handles this work load 5 days in a row. If I do okay with the load, I am planning to continue for at least 4 weeks and maybe 8 weeks before changing the exercise mix.