Three Hundred and Eighty-Four

Yesterday morning I headed down into the basement to do a cycling workout. I decided that it was high time I dusted off my ol' nemesis.

Bending Crank Arms.

For anyone who has been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that name.

Bending Crank Arms is by far the toughest cycling video we own. It's 57 minutes of hard core cycling all of which, other than the rests, is on the hardest gear. And then, in between sets, we have to hop off the bike to do squats. Lots and lots of squats.

I usually pull it out around January every year. I usually struggle through the first and second runs through and then have trouble climbing stairs for two days afterwards.

The squats are the worst.

The first set is 30 seconds of squats (up down up down) followed b a 45-second isometric squat (ie. squat down and hold the position for 45 seconds). Repeat three times with 30 seconds off in between.

The next set, after having bent the crank arms for a while, is 45 seconds of squats followed by a 60-second isometric squat. Repeat three times.

The third set is 60 seconds of squats followed by a 30-second isometric squat. Repeat 3 times.

And the very final one is 60 seconds of squats followed by a 60-second isometric squat.

I survived by counting down the number of squat cycles left. If you could a cycle as the up down squats + the isometric squat, here are ten cycles in total. I also survive by counting the number of squats I can do in the time given. It's helps me focus on something other than trying not to throw up.

In the first 3 sets of 30-second squats I managed to do 69 of them.

The second 3 rounds of 45-second ones I managed to do 113 of them.

The third 3 rounds of 60-second ones I did 150 of them and I managed 52 in the final one.

So I did 384 squats. Plus all the other stuff we actually do on the bike.

When I went to log my workout in Training peaks I decided to have a little look see at how I was doing in January 2014.

The first time I did Bending Crank Arms in January 2014, I managed to do 290 squats. The second time I did 331 and actually had an exclamation point beside that number so I must have worked really hard. The third time I did 329 and then I didn't do the video again for the rest of the season.

This time I did 384 squats on the first try.

And my legs are weary but not at all sore. Even the next day.

That feat, my friends, is entirely due to my CoreFit classes.