I did 30 minutes of yoga early in the day. I spent 10 minutes with my legs up the wall and my butt on a bolster because my lower back was sore. The stretch felt good, but did not extinguish the soreness, so I decided to do a light workout at home and not travel to the gym for dead-lifts, Zercher squats, and barbell presses.

I was unable to do more than 2 chinups today. Nine months ago, I was doing 15, 30, or even 45 chinups/pullups in a workout, but I stopped for several months when I hurt my shoulder pressing too much weight. I got back to doing 10 in a workout routinely, but then I did very few for several months when I got enthusiastic about yoga and neglected kettlebells. One reason for today’s poor performance may have been that this was my third workout in three days. I usually include a rest day between workouts. Another reason may have to do with my morning yoga routine. Most mornings, including today, I spend 1 minute doing a Downward Dog pose, then 2 minutes holding a plank position with 1 minute on my elbows and 1 minute on my hands, and then 1 minute doing a dead hang on my indoor pullup bar. The hang especially may be taking something out of me even though I have usually rested for a few hours before working out.

Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 20 reps
Good mornings – 20 reps
Windmill stretch – 20 reps
Halos – 12 kg kettlebell – 10 reps, 260 pounds

Workout:

Double swing – 10 reps, 12 kg kettlebell, 520 pounds
Double clean – 10 reps, 12 kg kettlebell, 520 pounds
Double military press – 10 reps, 12 kg kettlebell, 520 pounds
Double front squat – 10 reps, 12 kg kettlebell, 520 pounds

One-handed swings – 100 reps, 16 kg kettlebell, 3500 pounds
Snatch – 20 reps, 12 kg kettlebell, 520 pounds
Farmers walk – 150 steps, double 20 kg kettlebells, 88 pounds

Deadhang chinups – 2 reps, 390 pounds

Weight: 6,838 pounds

Notes: I failed to get over the bar on my first attempt at a pullup. I held with my head near the bar for about 20 seconds and then stopped. I came close to failing to get over the bar with my second chinup, so I called it a day with that one.

I followed my normal route down the hill from my driveway and back up to complete the Farmer’s Walk. Since I did 150 steps yesterday and got back to my driveway with just 110 steps, I went in circles a bit to get in 150-155 steps.

Surprisingly, my lower back feels great now. I don’t understand why it should feel better after training than before, but it does.

My plan is to practice another hour of yoga this evening, but my evening practice has not been as consistent as my morning practice lately.