Walking in the Baylands and 24 kg Push presses

We have this excellent nature preserve 5 minutes from where I work in Palo Alto and 25 minutes from where I live in San Jose. Since I walk early every Sunday now I thought this would be a very cool place to watch the sun come up and get my walk in on nice, forgiving, natural dirt.I hate driving anywhere on Sunday but I thought this would be worth it.

It wasn't, but it was close. The place was empty, full of ducks, geese, cranes and all kind of other waterfowl, quite and beautiful . But it wasn't that much more than the nice park I have right around the block, in all reality.

Walking for me right now is training. Just like I was swimming laps in the pool working on my time and my stroke that's how I approach my long walks on Sunday just . As long as I have dirt path to walk on and fresh air and some trees, I'm good. So until I'm really ready to hike I will just keep to walking my laps at the neighbor hood park.

That said it was a great place and I walked a solid hour and got to watch the sun come up over the marsh.Very nice.

Today is the last workout before I'm wheels up for Tel Aviv tomorrow and the first ever Israeli SFG level 1. VERY excited and it was hard to keep some focus on the workout and work as well today.

Push press/ long cycle
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
20 kg x 3/3 x2
24 kg x 3,4,5 x 2 rounds
          x 3/3 x 2 short cycle

these felt excellent and the bell light. I wore the oly shoes but actually think I'm going back to vibrams for these as well.

Belt squats
24 kg x 20
32 kg x 20 x 3 sets

close stance and flat foot( vibrams) my best depth yet and I can really feel the lower quads kicking in! compared depth the last two weeks with heel on and flat foot and flat wins each time. barefoot it is! Close stance too feet straight ahead.

crawls
3 x 50 feet forward
1  x 50 feet forward and 30 or so backward!

these best backward has felt yet and forward is getting very strong indeed. love this move

AM stretches and mobility including lots of rocking , both kneeling ( knee can tolerate some now) and 4 point stance on floor and on the bench. really digging these of late, can really feel it helping my knee and hip flexion( ankles too)

datsit.
Sisu/

the next week all updates will be on my facebook page if you are interested.

44 kg One arm swings

Got all pumped up reading Pavel's new book "Simple and Sinister" which is all about the One arm swing and getup as the new, remastered Program Minimum.  I'm not able to do getups yet but my one arm swings are going great!

As Pavel writes " when you (if you're a man) can show a 48 kg who's the boss, you will have become serious 'antifragile' ". My sentiments exactly! I'm not quite the Boss of it yet but it's listening much better these days.

Today however the 44 kg was on deck and that was heavy enough as I have a trip to Israel SFG coming up on Tuesday and I don't want to be 'dinged' in any way for it. But I slept great, woke up with my shoulders feeling as good as they have in ages and warmed up well. No reason not to go for it. But man it was cold in the cave today and it took forever to warmup ( hence the sweats in the video)

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5/
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5
44 kg x 5/5 x 10 sets
100 reps!
9,680 lbs

my grip felt strong today and good thing as these heavy one arms really test it. But I still skipped the 36 kg bell as I just don't like mine and it always is tougher on my grip than making the next jump to the 40kg

Two hand swings
48 kg x 10 x 7 sets
70 reps
7420 lb

these were strong and I thought, briefly, about doing ten sets but 7 matching what I did last week but with a heavier bell was enough of a jump

Barbell curls
45 x 8
55 x 6
65 x 5 x 3

Lying bar extension
45 lb x 12 x 5 sets

 feel great! arms are coming up well too!
bodyweight this AM = 157.4

datsit.
Sisu/

Rediscovering my snatch form.

Last week sucked big time. My snatch felt all over the place and I got pretty discouraged. To the point where I thought that I had to take a break from it as it has just been really not "there" for months. And it used to be my favorite kb move! For many many years.

But I have never snatched like anyone else, certainly not standard RKC or SFG technique so I have always been striving to get my groove more in line with the basic ideal.

Except it doesn't work for me . :)
It's the same as when I spent so long trying to do my power squat with a low bar and wide stance. Made sense, technically, but it was just not optimal for my body. I could do it, and fairly decently at that, but it wasn't optimal.

My snatch form is very similar to my deadlift form- it takes a very stiff legged appearance and I tend to lean into it. For me, with my lumbar pelvic rhythm  if I lean forward my hips go back. If I sit back I tend to squat and have much less power.

When I swing I can do standard technique no problem. But the swing is not the snatch and I just let myself realize that today, although I have been down this road before.
The above picture was taken  in 2007 I believe and it was when my snatch production was at it's best and the groove the strongest and most comfortable for me.Why I let myself change it I don't know but I did.

Now I realize it was the right technique and today was a great lesson that that is true. Instead of sitting back behind the midline on the descent I just let the bell go over head WHILE I STAY FLAT FOOTED AND VERTICAL, NOT trying to sit back behind midline and then go with the bell. I leg my knees and legs do what they will, which looks like they stay pretty straight ( 10 degree of bend or so- just enough to get the glutes involved).

Today felt smooth and fast and powerful. My lockout is shy over directly overhead, but that's just how it is with my shoulders right now. BUT at  least they don't hurt. Neither did my back and I could feel the flow and power of the bell. About damn time.

I was just about to quit this move but I have hard time quitting something I haven't figured out.



Snatch
16 kg x 5/5/ x3
20 kg x 5/5/
22 kg x 5/5
         x 6/6
         x 7/7
         x 8/8
         x 9/9
         x 10/10
90 reps
4,410 lb
these went great the 24 would have gone as well too. I alternated the last few sets with vibrams and my oly shoes and surprisingly the oly shoes out me too far forward with this groove! The vibrams give me more latitude for balance.

Belt squats
24 kg x 20 x 2 sets

playing with form and this is the move. High reps and take the back out of it. Quad development and  knee flexion come before strength

Sled drag
70 lbs x 200 ft x 3 laps
80 lbs x 200 ft x 2 laps( pr! strong!)

Walking CB lunges
2 laps of 30 feet with 10lb club
this form is the goal



cable curls/ db kickbacks
3 sets each 12 reps

great training today and my head is back in the groove for the snatch! Have to follow my body first and foremost. Nothing works right if I don't.

datsit
Sisu/

TeamRif Unplugged

Tracy and I did a Skype interview with our good friend Balasubramian Ramana ( aka Rambodoc) last sunday AM ( SIX am!) covering a vast array of  KB and training subjects. Ram should be called the KB Mike Wallace! He is not exactly shy with controversial subjects and questions!
Here is the interview in four parts:

24 kg Push Press Long cycle

This went well. Got a very solid stretchout in this morning with an emphasis on wide behind the head stick stretches and then press behind the neck work with rotations and progressively deeper stretches. My shoulders like it and said yes. Trying to basically do shoulder dislocates is the goal but I have a long way to go. This really opens up the pecs and front delts in a way they don't like at all; because they are so stinking tight; but that's the point.

I still can't hold a squat bar in the rack comfortably and that's gotta change. that's crazy. This is a solid direction.

Medium, close and wide stance squat stretches for time as well. First round has 75 second sets then the second 60 seconds and the third 45 or so. This was an improvement on time and depth. I can really feel the muscles let go as they fatigue

2pm
Long cycle clean and push press
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5 x 5 sets

this went great. I actually played with a few jerks as well at the end and after the main sets. there is potential there now, I can see it. Shoulders were fine with this as well as the knees. Very happy with this move. Overhead position felt better than last week as well. This is a burner as well and when I can do 5 sets of 10/10 it will be a solid accomplishment.

Kb squat cleans
2 16's x 5 x 5 sets

these felt ok but the depth is still so so and I'm not sure it's the vehicle to get farther down. fun to do but I have to get lower in the basic movement first

KB Front squat
2 20's x 3 x 3

this was an attempt to just get lower but it wasn't that succesfull.Plus heavier isn't the answer for my legs. bloody reps are :)

Step up
3 sets of 10/10 on a 14" box wearing my oly shoes. these actually felt really good. played around with step patterns left up /left down or right up left down, etc. what actually felt like it might work the best is basically a pistol standing on the box- so the leg doesn't have to stick up, it can just drop done. A true one legged squat.

I need an exercise where I can control the negative and get progressive depth.

Crawls
5 laps 50 feet. these were good but I could feel I did them yesterday. last lap was done at faster speed and it went well. :)

datsit
Sisu/

Sunday walk and crawl

Late start this morning after doing an 1.5 hour interview with Ram in India for his new Soul of Strength gym. It was great fun but it got me started very late

Solid 60 minute walk around the park with some extra mileage thrown in. Average speed was 2.7 mph and I did not break to stretchout the squats at all this time. Just steady state walking.

Then 100 feet of crawl/squat crawl. Basically I would crawl as far as I could and when I got tired I would rest in the squat position ( actually frog- hands on ground). Then, back into the crawl again.

Then I did it in reverse ( way more rests, this was tough) for another 100 feet. Shoulders held up fine which was great and got some excellent upper body work in as well as legs and hips. and lungs :)

I think adding in a pushup rest position would be excellent as well. So it would be crawl/ squat/ crawl/pushup etc. I like this :)

40 kg One arm swings and 44 kg power swings

A much better day than Wednesday. Slept well, ate well yesterday and the body was feeling recovered and strong. I did TONS of overhead  stretching and mobility work the last two days and warmed up well this morning too with shoulder circles as well as stick work.
Working the stick behind the head and back and really getting the pecs and front delts stretched out and man they are tight.
Have to go really wide to do it but so be it. has to be done.Also playing with behind the neck presses with the stick and this seems to be a good thing to do. It requires quite a lot of external rotation and it stretches the front arm line just where I need it



Today was heavy one arm and it turned out well

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/ x 3
20 kg x 5/5 x 2 ( cold out!)
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5 x 8 sets
         x 10/10 x 1 set

didn't do any transfers, just set the bell done and power swung it to get started. Left to right transfers are fine but for some reason my left bicep tendon gets weird when I go right to left with heavy weight! Not after I grab it, but as I transfer it! Very strange but it's not a big deal. Just set it down and re start.

Very happy with the bell speed, height and power on each set. not to mention the last set of 10/10 which was not that hard at all

Power swings


These went well. With all my recent quad emphasis I need to get back to some more hip dominated swings and really focus on a slightly wider stance and really getting the hips enough work. This helps

Power swings
44 kg x 5
         x 6
         x 7
         x 8
         x 5
31 reps


These went very strong. haven't done more than five reps in a long time. Thought about going up to ten but then came to my senses. :)

Barbell curls SS Lying bar extensions
45 x 5
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
80 x 5
85 x 5 pr! these felt really good and strong

Extensions
35 x 12
45 x 12 x 5 's  these were great as well. much better long head activation that with the kb

DB rear delts 5 x 12  with 15's  need this badly.

Pushdowns
2 x 20 reps final pump  this worked great. Triceps are returning nicely.

Looks like the schedule will be

Sat= Strength
heavy one arms and arm work

Sunday: Endurance
Long walk/ hike

Mon = Conditioning
long cycle clean and push press or jerk
belt squat
crawl

Wed = Power
Snatch
Sled pulls
Clubbell Walking Lunge
Light arms

datsit
Sisu

long walk tomorrow and  lots of crawling as well