It ain't over yet.

Tracy and I have been training at ten am on Wednesdays lately ,which is about perfect for me. The best combination of early enough to have high energy and late enough to actually be warmed up and stretched out enough . The tin man is oiled at ten.
But working and getting paid has to take priority so it was 12 noon for us. Not much of a difference lately but for some reason I was awake at 2am and that's all I got.I'm used to not sleeping much but in combo with weird back feelings and I was a bit nervous. Especially since I wanted to give the 24 kg a ride today as well.

Probably not the smartest thing to do but sometimes I get tweaked sleeping so you never know what's gonna hurt you or push the reset button and get you back on track.I always have a wait and see attitude these days and today was no different.

I had to fight the urge to do a bunch of 16 kg snatches to catch up with Rob but reminded myself not to stay off my plan. One day of max vo2 and one day of heavy(er) snatches. I toyed, for a moment,of deciding that the 20 kg was heavy enough for me these days. I am 52, soon to be 53 in March, with more injuries than I can count and no one would say a thing if the heaviest bell I picked up was the 20kg. Hell, I can take my RKC snatch test with it and feel justified in doing so. It is the 'official' weight.

But I know that if my back is good that the 24 is nothing for me, and if it's not; then the 20 won't save me. Decision time.Step up or fade out. It seems like these are way too common for me lately. Like the last ten years. Yeah, getting old is great, :))

I also had an hour break and decided to really stretch out, rifga style and try to see which direction my new center of balance has gone.It didnt take long.After all this sacrum shifting it seems my right overhead should ROM and mobility has relapsed.Where the hell did that come from?

Don't know but there it was. And when I reached up for the TAPS bar to hang out I could feel the right lat restriction and the transfer of tension ( and pain!) into my left SI. Lovely. But hey, at least its some info about this new landscape I am living( trying to survive in) looks like.

Did some overhead stretching and realized I was seriously rotate right to left and trying to square up with bar arms overhead was tricky. I did the stretch against a wall and in front of the mirror and that helped.

I bretzled and that helped.I did more overhead stick stretches and back over ball bends and stretched the lat and shoulder out and I could feel it was right.No wonder my left legged trikinasana has been giving me so much grief.My left to right thoracic mobility was shut off.

But it was scary time when my beautiful training and life partner showed up and it was go time.
Nothing like standing on the edge of the abyss and hanging ten. Nothing like not knowing if your back might explode with any rep, no matter how 'right' they were done.
Nothing like knowing if you didnt at least try; if you gave in to the terror you were done for. Not just this workout of course, but life.
It's more than a slippery slope and when you live with chronic pain it's easy to forget that doing nothing , as in staying in bed all day or 'taking it easy' doesnt help. It makes things worse, cause it makes you weak. The only way forward is through and sometimes it just aint fun.

I think I burned more calories from the anxiety of the workout than the workload but I think it's fine. Will know tomorrow. But for now, I win.Weakness looses. Again.

Snatch
12 kg x 5/5/x3
16kgx5/5x3
20 kgx5/5x2

24kgx5/5 x 5 sets
50 reps
2650 lbs


They felt fine and the video looks pretty square to me . for me ;although the right overhead is soft. I also started alternating starting arms,as I know I have been starting on the left for many months.Everything works, nothing works forever.Little things matter sometimes. I also stayed with the wrestling shoes and that seemed right, too.


one arm swings
24 kg x8/8 x 5 sets

again, need to get these back in the mix regularly no matter what. They felt good and solid, so different than snatch groove. miss them

Snatch holds
16 kg x30 sec x 3 sets

These also have to get back in the mix to stay current on my right arm overhead position. Details and more details. just lots more overhead and left to right thoracic stretching to be done.At least I know where the problem is; THAT was driving me nuts, not being able to diagnose where this thing came from. At least I have a clue now.

Datsit.