Start of another upswing.

I had a light press workout last week in preparation for this weekend's HKC. Today I had another medium day as the start of my ramp up for the next few weeks without travel. BUT I got to train with Tracy, just her and I for a change, on the same movement, heavy presses! It was great, AND, I got to train mid morning for a change, not at the ass end of the day.

Wow, just like old times, training, my practice, was first on the schedule today and it worked out so well. Got to start out as I need to, with a long slow stretch out, really getting the joints and muscles ready for the workout to come.

Had an hour and half 'break' to train a client, and then onto my training~! Hydrated, fueled up a bit and really thought about the training coming up. I would love to have done heavier presses; the 28 kg for at least multiple sets of doubles but thought it smarter to stay with the 24 kg.The only question was short cycle or long cycle?

I have been having trouble with my cleans for awhile, just losing my groove and getting weird tricep and shoulder cramps with even the lightest weights for seemingly no reason,so I've been loathe to do long cycle.

But, I also knew I needed to 'figure it out' as cleans are one of my favorite movements and I have been very strong at them. This shoulder/tricep problem was very irritating.

I solved almost all of it with dedicated shoulder shrugs with the stick and way more overhead stretching in general but it didn't solve my cleans technical issues.

Such a short movement, how many technical issues could there be?

A lot, it seems

I was hinging too far on my down swing instead of breaking at the knees first and this , for me was the whole thing. I need to do my regular cleans as I do my bottom up cleans, more of a squatting pattern than in my swing and snatch hinging pattern.This put the bell too far in front of me and the act of connecting the shoulder back in was overloading my pec, teres, rotator, etc.

Today's cleans felt like the old days; strong and solid plus way more leg work. Different movements, even different sides of the same movement, can have very different patterns.Trying to make each side the same can cause more problems than it solves I've found.

Clean and Press, long cycle

16 kg x5/5x2

20 kg x5/5

24 kg x5/5x5 sets

way strong. Cleans felt great and really 'jumpy' as the shorter, more vertical path took over.Nice.Just hinging with so little leg work gets old over time. can't wait til I can squat again and really work my legs. It's coming. Windmills are on the schedule with high pulls for this Thursday. That should be interesting too.

Time to push a bit. Don't have to travel until the end of Oct for our HKC in Tempe Arizona.

Handstands

8 sets of 10 seconds

these were tougher today although they started out strong. I use the wall as a touch stone to let me know where vertical is these days, as my center of balance has changed considerably from the old days. More leg and hip mass but a whole lot less shoulder mobility makes it interesting. I tried some free kick ups without the wall and I couldn't hit it on first try, which is the real indicator you know where you are upside down. A bit frustrating but I have to remember to be grateful I can do them at all.

Don't be greedy Mark.

Suitcase kb lunges( left leg only)

16 kg x8x2

20 kg x8 x2

these are getting easier and it's obvious I need them.

datsit