Thursday Ruck 37lbs 6 laps

Tracy and I are now on a thursday ruck schedule and we're back on track. A bit hotter than warm this afternoon and I remember how not heat adapted I am currently. The weight felt good but not light and the lowas were still feeling a bit stiff.

Had an easy 5000 steps in before the start and my feet felt good in the ruck but I can definitely tell things are more fatigued than at the start of my sunday walk.

Yesterdays met con work didn't help but as we are back on track it soon should be getting easier

37.4 lbs
6 laps
60 minutes

datsit. tomorrow is full on rest day and then 40kg one arm swings on Saturday. Good to do something heavy and SLOW!

neverquit

24 kg swing Vo2 30 sets/10, walking lunges, pushups, leopard crawls

I'll be honest, this one had me a bit worried. Last week was hard so I knew this week would be much harder although I didn't really know how much. Turned out, a lot. BUT as I suspected at a certain point the extra weight of the bell makes it easier to load the back swing fast enough to get a powerful up swing without more effort.

Where the intersection of that help from gravity and the effort to produce the upswing diverge I don't know but today wasn't it.20 sets ( the actual test 200 reps) wasn't that bad, in retrospect. But the next 10 were pretty stinkin' tough. Bell height seemed good.
Doing this with the 24 kg will be hell for me, that's for sure. But I'm taking my time building up to it AND all the heavier stuff I have been doing is definitely paying off-I just don't see( or feel) that the 24 kg is heavy anymore so it's much easier to "throw it around"
I was actually double breathing the last 5 or so sets and the back is fine.
Grip was fine,lower back was fine, but the cardio test was serious. Having a real countdown clock to work with helped immensely; not knowing exactly when to start the next set was tough last week. I tried to "go" on the 12 or 13th second and it worked well. Just bend down and start.
I definitely like the Oly shoes as well. Better hinge, stronger ascent and balance overall and LESS on my lower back.
SERIOUS overall leg pump, too. :)


Feels like I get a better balance of hips AND thigh in the movement
 16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5

24 kg x 10 x 30 sets every 30 seconds
300 reps
15,900lb work

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

this seemed positively easy after what I had just done. legs were solid.

Horiz bar pushups,feet on bench
15, 14, 12,10

I like this angle. strong.

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 70, 60, 50 feet

always a tough finisher.
glad that's over

datsit
neverquit

75 lb Military press, triceps extensions, barbell hacks, sled pulls

Starting my press cycle over again at 75% of max, which is a convenient 100lbs :) easy math. Fives would have been too easy so I went to  six rep sets which weren't hard either. haven't pressed in two weeks so it was a little slow start, plus I am still a bit tight from getting thrown right back in the volume mix but hey, it's no big deal

Mil Press
 stick x 10 x 3-5
bar x 5
65 x 5
75 x 6 x 8 sets
54 reps

Lying triceps bar extension
35 x 12 x 2
45 x 12 x 4

decided to do some isolation tricep work as two pushup sessions per week is probably good right now, especially as the press work goes up too. We'll see how these go might have to vary the exercise every so often

Barbell hacks squats
55 x 12 x  2
65 x 12 x 3
75 x 12

these went great. legs actually felt strong, not tired!

Sled pulls
102 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

actually made four laps today haven't done that in awhile

ok lots of rest to get before wednesdays swing vo2 with the 24 kg!

datsit
neverquit.

Sunday ruck; 47.4 lbs and heavy as she goes

This was tougher than expected. Got a good night's sleep and got started earlier than usual. Nice and cool at the beginning and the first five laps were excellent. That last 7 not so much fun :)
First off the pack felt heavy and it was, 47.4 is a PR and I didn't think the few things I added weighed that much but I don't think that was the issue. I'm just a bit tired from coming back from travel and the first weeks true training again.

No worries, it will push me back to condition fast but it's my 58th birthday today and there was no way I was not going to get all 12 laps. Not today :)
Nothing hurt but everything was just tired. Definitely not a reason to quit
ok

12 laps
10 isometric squats
47.4 lbs
15,000 steps
Two hours ten minutes

that much closer to the Ft Bragg GoRuck Challenge weight of 55 lbs Still have a LONG way to go but that is the point.

The main focus today was not losing focus; not getting mentally distracted by the effort and just staying in the groove. One step at a time, one lap at a time, breathing, moving fluidly, pose walking and letting gravity help me.

Two hour moving meditation.  That's the idea

datsit
neverquit

32 kg One arm Swings,Belt squats, horiz bar pushups, crawls

First heavy workout back and it wasn't too heavy, but my cardio was rough. Strange how one week could make a difference but it seemed too. Lots of walking but not much kb swinging :) Oh well, Im back and I was feeling better already by the end of the ten sets

Also wore my Oly shoes today and they seemed good. Don't know what was off the last time but they made me feel even better balance and power throughout the whole stroke. Keep experimenting with them.Felt like I could sit back more with better balance and get a stronger quad lockout at the top

One arm swings
16 kg x 5x5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 10/10 x 10
200 reps
14, 000 lb work

three of us working fast but it was no where near ten minutes, lol

Belt squats


decided to go back to belt squats for awhile. Love the goblet squat but it is much more of an arm move than a leg one. Wore the Oly shoes here too and there worked perfectly. didn't worry about my torse position at all just the ankle and knee flexion

32 kg x 15
36 kg x 15
40 kg x 12
          x 10

took the bell up a bit higher on the second set. I was touching the floor too early not enough depth. this was right position but bell was too high in the crotch :)

Horiz Pushups
14, 12, 10, 10

medium hands and SLOW range of motion both eccentric and concentric really working tri's. shoulders fine

Crawls
3 laps of 70 feet

Beat! Need to add in some tricep extension next week somewhere in the routine. Kb floor ext or ring extensions. just some isolation move.

ok back to a serious 47 lb ruck tomorrow. roll, stretch, hang and rest!

datsit
neverquit

Light Ruck

Getting back on track. Pretty sore from yesterdays dive into the deep end of the pool but that's no surprise. I was getting sore from not training anyway :) I thing sitting at my computer makes me more sore than heavy swing training too

36 lb ruck
6 laps in 50 minutes plus walk to and from park
total 60 minutes
Wore the Lowas but my feet were still more tender than they are Sundays with 10 more lbs and one more hour of work! Must be from standing on my feet for 7 + hours before I start.The combat boots however might be the best boot for this. We'll see Sunday.

ok back to it Saturday with some 32 kg one arm swings in sets of 12/12. I think I'll up the rep goal with this bell to 15/15. That should make sets of 10 much easier :)

Decent stretchout this morning

datsit
neverquit

20 kg swing vo2, 30 sets/10, walking lunges,horiz bar pushups.leopard crawl

 Second day back after a six day trip to the UK for my first ever Body Maintenance course and a Lats workshop. Great great trip but it was pretty much nonstop the entire time. London was freaking cold and I was freezing seemingly every moment except for sleep time in the hotel :)
Not much working out, which was the plan but a ton of walking and lots of body maintenance. At least on Saturday.

Plane trips and sitting in general for 15 hours always takes a toll but I've seemed to bounce back fairly quickly this time.

First workout back and since the StrengthMatters KBCert was announced and the subsequent 10 minute swing test I thought I better start focusing on this instead of just a 5 minute test with the 40 kg. This is a different animal.

As much as I hate the 5 min energy system I hate 10 minutes even more. But well see definitely has to be trained for and no time like the present to start, so snatch goes back on the back burner for a month or so

Swing Vo2
16 kg x 5/5/ x2

20 kg x 10 x 30 sets
300 reps
13,200 lbs
16 min 16 sec

this was not that bad but we were over time. the key thing here is having a timer right in front of me. We went I go you go but obviously we were off especially in the first half
Next week we will use the 24 kg and sneak up on this bad boy
We'll still stay with the heavy one arms on saturday cycle as I think being able to keep the volume up there will make the 32 seem much lighter than if its the heaviest thing I train with


Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 sets

legs are tight from not bending them enough ,lol but they got better

Horiz pushups
4 sets of 12, 12 10, 10

good to get back to these

Crawls
3 laps of 50 feet

these kicked my ass. Even though I'm not feeling jet lagged not training doesn't make me stronger but weaker. I'll be back soon though.

datsit
neverquit