24 kg clean and squat,pushups,walking lunges,shoulder sled

Up the last two nights with pretty yucky back tightness. Not sure exactly what set it off but the abs, obliques and lumbars locked down pretty hard and sleep was poor at best and not much of it to boot.VERY hot here and when I sweat and get a bit dehydrated that's when these things tend to happen,

Worked hard on the ring extensions on Monday to REALLY keep the abs tight so as not to push out the diastasis recti and it just overloaded my abs enough to pull my back out of neutral. This used to happen whenever I did ANY two hand swings with ANY weight kettlebell so I guess I should be happy in some ways, but man not sleeping sucks. Especially when even laying down is painful.
 SO I got up and walked and stretched which open things up a lot. took some ibuprofen and fluids and tried to sleep again.
Work was actually better than sleep as the constant moving and stretching is what has always helped. AND I remembered what I used to do back in 2000 when I herniated L4-L5- PULL THE BELLY BUTTON TO THE SPINE- basically a yoga vacuum- to activate the TVA and create more lumbar extensions and IT WORKED GREAT!

Haven't done this in eons, haven't had to, but now I remember just how much time I spent doing this as I did virtually every exercise and this, as much as anything,helped me to create some lumbar curve from my VERY VERY flat gymnastics lower back.

It literally gave me instant relief, but the overly tight lats and abs kept pulling things out. LOTS of lat stretches up dogs, vacuums and squats all day helped.
Got the word from my PT Curtis at Revolutions in Fitness ( RIF- very cool :) ) that my knee issue was from the tibia not gliding posteriorly enough and I knew that was from not enough hamstring stretches of late.
I've been so overly focused on knee flexion I've let the hammies get a little rest- too much it seems- but I have to give them their do. Especially the down dog posture. My two basics- up dog and down dog- not enough maintenance on them and my back and knee paid for it.

SO Much to do everyday! Even though I was still doing these moves I wasn't doing them enough relative to my training load to keep things in check. It's already corrected.

Didn't know if I could train at all today but like usual, the swing pushed the reset button and the workout was excellent.

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

One KB clean and front squat- long cycle
16 k x 5/5
20 kg x 3/3
24 kg x 3/3
          x 4/4
          x 5/5 x two ladders
these went great although I can see from the video they are not as low as they felt. That's fine, I'm happy I could do anything today.I wasn't trying to push the depth; just survive the workout.

Goblet squat
24 kg x 5 x 2

these actually were harder on the back than the clean and squat. I could feel the lats and abs activate and pull on  the lumbars so I shut it down. Still feeling ok

Pushups- vertical bar
12, 12, 10,10
PRs!!
Haven't done  12's in years and shoulder were perfect. The internal rotation stretches thoughout the day are really making a significant difference.

Walking Lunges
3 laps of 50 feet.

for some unknown reason these were very strong, although the fatigue from no sleep and the work was catching up. settled on just three laps, however, I did make each section to the end which is a first.

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12, 12, 13,15

Shoulder sled
95 lbs  x 250 ft  x 3 laps

now i'm tired.

feels like the back has calmed down to normal now but we'll see if I sleep. gotta sleep.

datsit.
neverquit.

kb floor press,belt squat, ring extensions,sled pull, grippers

Woke up feeling pretty good considering how hard this weekends training was. Not stiff or achey at all. Very surprising and my shoulder continues to be in less and less pain, mover easier and more as I increase my internal ROM and keep up with stretch/ myo fascial release work.
Combining the release work WITH the stretch really makes a difference too.
Also, putting the shoulder into distraction first, ala kelley starrets band work helps also when I have the time during the day.

Lots of time today spent in full and supported squat positions and this gets deeper everyday. Love it. Knee cap issue is resolving as I make sure to keep the pouch right above the kneecap supple and stretchy.

It's all about the maintenance :)

One arm swing warmup : 16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3  this always makes me feel more ready to go

KB floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 7, 8,8,7,8,8,8,8

NICE! definitely found a groove and the two sets of 7's were outliers when my biceps tendon was not moving well and I had to open it up but otherwise strong as shit!Definitely feel my pecs strengthening after ALL these years of neglect.

Kind of the same feeling as in my quads. My two favorite, and strongest muscles, so left to underuse when I overfocused on bringing up my weak bit. Strengthen the weakness but don't neglect the strengths either.

Learn something new everyday.

Belt squat
40 kg x 12, 14, 16 ,20
these felt great and strong. bell hit floor each rep but given that it's a bigger bells there's less ROM. that is fine, that' fucker's heavy :)

Ring extensions
1 x 14, 12, 11, 10

These were easy. and the presses really warmed up the shoulders

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

thought seriously about five laps but just did not have any extra and I didn't want to go past 80% effort. Damn it's been hot here forever.

Band rear delts
3 x 12 each arm ( one at a time as usual)
# Trainer gripper
3 x 4 reps each hand.

hands were fatigued this was not as easy as last week. the one arm swings REALLY cook the grip

overall good , work capacity is coming back and body is staying online. here we go.

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck

This was just hard. Right from the start. Yesterday's training; 40kg one arm swings was WAY harder than the 28kg and 24 kg double bell swings the last two weeks. It kicked my butt, as well as my abs and obliques and erectors ....
Good work but fatiguing.
Made sure to get a good stretchout this morning before the walk but I woke up pretty stiff and tight despite good hydration and moderation the day/night before. I was just sore.
Oh well :)

12 laps
two hours
38 pound ruck

it didn't feel heavy I just moved slow. the first 8 laps or so were all 8:30 seconds + a bit. Everything was just tight plus it was wicked humid for here as well as hot. No big deal but not conditions for faster laps.

Lap 9-10 were around 8:10 and 11 was faster and finished with 8:00 even for the twelfth lap! Go figure.
Shoulder holding up great and did a decent little post walk stretchout as well.
Floor presses tomorrow. 28 kgs for 3-5 I hope.

datsit.
neverquit.

40 kg one arm swings, power swing pyramid, crawls and pushups

Back to one arm swings again today and just a few weeks off of the heavy stuff showed me just how quickly that top end strength conditioning falls off. It will bounce  back but I payed the price today :)

Shoulder however felt the best it's felt in eons and I actually woke up with NO shoulder pain at all, unheard of! I really really worked on internal rotation ( hand in the small of the back) ALONG with self myo fascial relief and it's made the biggest difference in ROM and pain yet. Excited about the possibilities.

My left knee pain turned out to be caused my overly tight quads ( go figure!) that was keeping my kneecap too high as I went into extension. As soon as I figured that out it went right away; had to release the knee cap DOWN as I went into extension. Wow. Still have to worry about muscle tissue quality and tension even on the new knee. Won't forget that again. Not used to having ANY pain in the new knee and I didn't like it at all.

Full stretchout
lots of OS rocking, nods, unilateral rocking, seiza sitting and shoulder release work

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
36 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5 x 5 sets - 50 reps
32 kg x 10/10 x 5 sets 100 reps
 LOTs of work there ,lol

Two hand power swings
32 kg x 5
36 kg x 5
40 kg x 5
44 kg x 5
48 kg x 5

these were easy but tough at the same time! Just a lot of plain work.

Leopard crawls
6 ft x 4 laps

tough as always but necessary

Parallel bar pushups- feet on floor
4 sets of 10

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12

this is working great

datsit 12 lap ruck tomorrow. gonna be a hot one too, gotta start extra early
neverquit

36 Kg Goblet squat , 24 kg single bell front squat, close pushups, shoulder sled

Great day. Body feels good and worked on my internal rotation all morning with a few easy to do shoulder stretches that i think might make a real difference. We'll see but lets were solid, knee no issue and mind was good. LOTS of time spend in the squat position all morning. Digging it.

One arm swing warmup 16 kg  x 5/5/5 x 3

Goblet squat
16 kg x 5 x 2
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
28 kg x 5
32 kg x 3
36 kg x 3 x 3! double pr
only took the second set as the video got screwed up on the first lol! Wasn't hard at all, really but the toughest part was just holding it. Didn't get a perfect hop up and was off center on the second set but I'd be damned if I was re setting it up!
Worked out fine

One kb front squat
16 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3
          x 4/4
          x 5/5 x 3
 These were surprisingly good too. Best ever and the 24 felt like a toy. :) Depth is really starting to feel natural and normal as opposed to a surprise :)



Close grip horizontal pushups on p bar
4 sets of 10! pr here too.

very very solid. SO happy to be able to do this so simple movement again without pain.And I like what its doing for my chest shoulders and arms too.

KB Lunges
2 12 kg x 8/8 x 4 sets
WHEW this put the torch on the quads! As bad as the walking lunges are these were even harder! Probably going to alternate these two  moves each week. See some serious strength potential here.

Shoulder sled drag
95 lbs x 250 feet x 3 laps

wow that caught up fast! legs and lungs and body got tired fast. in a low crouch semi run first the first 125 feet then try to maintain it but end up in a lean forward walk for the rest of the lap. Plenty OK though,lol Don't be greedy :)

Red band rear delts SS # Trainer gripper
3 sets of 12 rear delt and 4 sets of 3 closed tight on the trainer.

this is definitely getting stronger/ both moves

BW consistently 160 lbs at 4 am and BF around 10-11% on the tanita at that time. Happy with both numbers

datsit.
Neverquit.

Double 24 kg floor press, 32 kg belt squats, ring extensions, hip sled

Solid work today. Knee resolved when I opened up the TFL of all things.It referred right down to the lateral part of the knee, right next to the knee cap. When that released all went well. Thank G-d. loving my new knee and mobility way to much to go backwards at all!

Had a full hour stretchout this morning and worked the shoulder/lat openers in Starretss video. It got right where I needed it to, in the nexus of the lat, teres major and long head of triceps netherworld under my armpit. Grody locked down glued down tissue but this helped a lot even though I had to jerry rig it quite a bit.
that just means lots of progress to be made :)


one arm swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20s x 5
2 24s x 5 x 5

this went very well once I figured out a manageable way to get the weights into position. I'll stay with this weight til I can do 5 sets of 8 easy and then go up. Nice to get some pec work again too :)

Belt squats
32 kg x 14, 16, 18 ,20
 very solid reps with bell touching floor each rep and a solid quad contraction at top of each rep. wind was good. energy too

Ring extensions
12, 12, 10, 7

Band rear delts red
4 sets of 13,13,15 15

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 sets

more upright on the walking hits glutes more. I figured since I really lean in on the shoulder version I should stay more upright here.

Gripper 1.5 x  4 singles. no warmup just go. Actually not that far off. 1/4 " but that final click has always been my nemesis!

solid solid day and everything feels good

datsit
neverquit

never forget.

Sunday Ruck

 Left knee was a bit wonky this morning, for no reason, very similar to what happened in Italy and I think it's dehydration that is the problem. Same as then. It was very very hot here yesterday and I didn't hydrate enough it seems. LOTS of wide heavy double and two hand swings and I think the popliteus  got too tight and there was a strange pain in the lower lateral part of my knee. NO swelling or heat or other signs of inflammation.
Stretching the quad and calf relieved it but it wasn't ( still isn't) perfect.And it's just on extension that hurts. Flexion feels good.

Still went for the walk and had zero pain or discomfort during the ruck or I would have abandoned it. No sense risking anything but it felt normal during the ruck

Ruck weight 37 lbs
Eleven laps 30 second squat holds each lap
total training time 1 hour 50 minutes.
Lap time average around 8:30- 8:20 at the end

Very hot this morning too and I was sweating more in the first half hour than I do the entire time. Weird.But I did super hydrate before I went out too, hoping that would help.

Listened to military cadence running marching songs for a lot of the walk and it really helped the time go by, as well as set my pace. Very cool. Running and singing will definitely increase the wind :)

Floor presses tomorrow, will be fun

datsit.
neverquit

Double 28 kg swings, two hand swings pr, more pushups, crawls and grippers

Solid and strong today. Still using double swings instead of singles and the "stomach alien" as I call the diastasis recti is closing in :) It's all about muscular tension balances, really. Simple but definitely not easy.

All parts are working well so far and a 20 minute roll/stretchout before practice.

Swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Two bell swing
2 16's x 10 x 2
2 20's x 5
2 24' x 5
2 28's x 8 x 10 sets

this wasn't bad. Strong in the hands and body but overpowering in the height of the swings. But , still, it felt strong and solid in positions and technique. It's just an awkward stance for me but it's way better than ever. Can't complain

Two hand swing
36 kg x 10 x 10 PR!
 never have done ten sets of two hand swing before! it was the perfect weight; not too heavy and not too light.It worked me but let me do the entire ten sets. Triceps, of all things, were talking to me set 7-10 :)

Parallel grip parallel bar pushups
4 sets of 10

SOLID! no shoulder  issues at all!~

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12 red band

this is a necessity. really enjoying the bodybuilding aspect of it too.

Crawls
2 laps of 80 feet  PR
1 lap of 60 feet

this is tough at the end for sure.

COC gripper
#1 x 4 singles, very close to full close. Much stronger


datsit.
neverquit.

big ruck tomorrow. can't wait

Leg day. double 20 kg clean and squat, pushups, walking lunges, , shoulder sled.

Great day and it definitely feels like "leg" day, lol. I went back to double front squats, but added in a clean before each one and it worked out well. I was thinking about using 24's for the work weight and am sorely glad I didn't!

This was tough enough as it was. Excellent combination of conditioning and strength work. It's not snatches but it will do for now. Nice upper and lower body combination.

Goblet squat warmup
16 kg x 5 x 2
20 kg x 3 x 2

Double kb clean and squat
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20s x 5 x 10 sets!

pretty easy til the fifth set( video) and then it just wore on me, lol. Got through it but it was work! Placing elbows on knees seemed to be the depth marker. So amazing I can do this now

Pushups on pbars
horizontal bars with narrow grip
4 sets of 10 alternate with red band one arm rear delts 4 sets of 12

the rear delt work is crucial and the pushups felt awesome. Can really see/ feel the difference in pecs, tri's and delts from this. three times a week if I can, different grip/width each time.Specialized variety :)

Walking lunges
Three laps of 13 steps each leg x 2

this really let me know it was leg day. wow. knee's touching ground on each rep feels great to work them this hard but three was plenty

Shoulder sled
 95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

first 125 feet I am almost at a low crouch run. feels awesome. catches up with me on the return and it's just more of a 'lean in' fast walk but it's just so cool to be able to do :)

Grippers
Trainer x 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps for click holds

nice to be able to do these again to. Decided to use just one gripper per workout and get what I can. This was solid closes and great tension levels. The one arm swings have really brought my grip back to life.

datsit.
neverquit.

Double 28 kg floor press,40 kg belt squat, pushups, sled

Recovered well from the weekends training, and the new doorknob lat stretch is keeping the QL quiet and happy. The ab work ( mainly isometrics) for the diastasi recti seems to be working as well, as well as not overstretching it on the stability ball. I think it came from the distorted overhead work not the one arm swing but either way I'll finish up the month at least with double bells on Saturday. At least I think I will :)
I do love throwing around those heavy one arm bells :)

Double bell floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2  - these feel good just hard to get in position
2 20's x 5 x 2 easy press but set up is tough even with Glenn
1 24 x 4/4 x 2 trying to see if one side is better
1 x 28 kg x 2/2 very hard to stabilize and groove is much different than doubles
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 4 found a handoff technique ( I get one side going via a tgu setup then he hands off the other)
2 28's x 3 x 3 tough but not that hard. hand off is tough
2 24's x4

nice to see I can still bench. this felt strong once I got it in position! I'm even thinking about bringing out the barbell for this :) I actually think doing doubles like this, or a barbell, might actually help re square/ re balance/ re set the shoulders. We'll see.
Any way it was fun and the shoulders didn't hurt at all.

Belt squat
40 kg x 12,14,16,20

these were very strong and deep. legs recovered well from yesterday's ruck

Parallel bar pushups( feet on ground , hands parallel)

3 sets of 10,10, 8 - shoulder started clunking
horizontal pushup 2  x 7 still strong, shoulder just tired

this is great progress.The sets of 10 were no problem at all , shoulders worked fine and were completely quiet

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

this was almost easy. time to go up in weight a bit. would have done 5 laps but was overall tired, but the legs felt solid! cardio too. fast walk, It's really freaking amazing what these last 11 months have brought. A miracle, actually.

datsit. Feel great time to stretch out.

neverquit

Sunday Ruck, 37 lbs/ Pr

What a difference 4 pounds makes! I upped the ruck weight by this measly amount and instantly felt the difference on the way to the track .lol. All in the legs and hips, which was good but it was a slow ten laps to be sure.

No worries it got done and I had actually planned on nine laps up until the ninth laps when I actually started to feel good and went for the tenth. Started slow, 8:30 per lap and it pretty much stayed there til the last two which went for about 8:15.

This was strength training, that's for sure.
Did my squat stretches for 30 seconds after each lap and the extra weight made a difference there too :)
Had my knee flexion tested cold Friday morning and I hit an easy 133, these squats were closer to 140 than 130. Definitely getting there.
Double floor presses tomorrow. That should be fun. Back is normal and shoulders are feeling good as well,keeping up the doorknob lat stretch every chance I get. Grease the groove can be used for more than just chins and presses :)

datsit
neverquit

Double 24 kg swings, heavy two hand swings, crawl, tri's

Going to switch  Saturdays to two bell swings as the main movement for the next month or so. I think the emphasis on super heavy one arm swings has put my abdominal  region a bit out of balance, muscularly, and  the external obliques are over developing relative to the rectus abdominus.The linea alba area is separating a bit and I've developed what called a diastasis recti. Seems to be the purview of post pregnancy but I seemed to have caught it do .Time for some more ab centric swinging as well as some actual rectus abdominus work.

Also the emphasis on back extensions every day over the ball might have lead to this with the constant stretching. It's not a dangerous condition at all but it's definitely out of balance. My training partner developed the same thing almost at the same time and we do pretty much the exact workouts.

It's either that or the lats themselves are pulling too hard and I've developed a stretching routine that is addressing that as well. Either way I did almost nothing but one arms for ten years but this has occurred only after going into the uber heavy bells.My PT at work says the overdevelopment of the obliques and lats can create this.

We'll see.

Two bell swing
2 16's x 10 x 2
2 20's  x 5
2 24's x 10 x 10
100 reps
10,600 lbs ( the magic workload it seems )

Two hand swings
32 kg x 10
36 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
44 kg x 10
48 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
36 kg x 10
32 kg x 10

that was great and I had thought about ten sets but that was plenty for today

Leopard Crawls
4 laps of 60 feet

stronger today here

Ring extensions / rear delts with band
4 x 10  ss 4 x 12 ( last two sets with red bands)

crunches : 3 sets finding the right positions. If I stretch back too far the diastasis pops up and I don't want that do it's a very small movement. will play with leg raises as well

ok datsit. Heavy ruck tomorrow. Pack weight is going up

neverquit

Clean and squats, goblets,pushups,walking lunges,shoulder sled,grippers

The back is still not right. Woke up antalgic but it opened up pretty quickly as I started walking around. I just can only tolerate so much flexion and then things can go back to shit pretty fast. I have to remember that I guess and this was the reminder, along with the same thing in Italy.

My lats and not my abs were  the culprit this time and I discovered that stretching them out with the arm at horizontal or just above ( holding onto doorknob, etc) was better , faster and easier than overhead. Got right into the QL which got locked up bigtime with the shield casts. Again, a nice reminder how thin a line I really walk. It's fine as long as I can still walk.

I knew this would unwind it was just a pain in the ass when I am ready to really get back going again.

Snatches were out today but I thought that perhaps single bell clean and squat would work and it did! Much better than expected and much tougher than expected as well.Even with just the 20kg! I can imagine how tough it will be with the 32 kg but I can imagine it!

Always a shock to see my depth on film, because as I do it, looking in the mirror, it seems much deeper ,lol But it felt great though and I could actually feel a "bottom' position in my squat and an actual rebound. I'll take it. Like the single bell a lot too and the singles are much better on my back as well.

Clean and squat
16 kg x 5/5  x 2
20 kg x 5/5 x 5

Goblet squat
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
28 kg x 5
32 kg x 5 pr!

these were great! didn't want to chance doing 10 sets of a new movement on an already wonky back so I added in the goblets as a finish. It's much harder to work on depth on 5 rep sets than on doubles or triples. More muscle work less technique emphasis.

Pushups
4 sets of 10 supersetted with band rear delts  4 sets of 10 ( also did 3 sets of 20 each arm this morning in the morning wakeup workout/ stretchout

Walking lunges
3 laps of 15 sets each way. These were tough!

Shoulder sled
95 lb x 250 ft x 3 laps

COC Gripper
trainer to 3 singles
#1 x 3 single attempts about 3/4 and a little
# 1.5 a bit more than 5/8 good effort

taken to using these again at the end of the workouts for just a few reps. Done it three times the first time I remember to log it :) Grip is SO much stronger since all the heavy one arm swings.

I used to be able to get the # 2 to about 7/8 closed. That's a way off but plenty of time. It definitely is a full body deal, that's for sure.
done!  back felt MUCH better at the end of the workout then at the beginning. should be almost 100% by Sat.

 datsit.
Neverquit.

KB Floor Press, belt squats, hip sled

Well, I didn't think it would be the one arm shield casts that would get me but they did. Not having the proper shoulder mobility to do these well, especially after such a long layoff, using momentum to grind through the bad ROM ended up in my back.

Nothing scary but enough of a pain in the ass to disrupt my day and today's workout as well

Decided to try one arm kb floor press in an effort to 1) stay out of my back and 2) find a press movement I can tolerate beside pushups. Interesting for me to see the video. On my left arm I have the bell too close to the body not like my normal floor press ( barbell) groove at all and my shoulder is not packed at all

On the right it's wider, and better but the right shoulder doesn't want to let the elbow touch and I can really feel it here. I think it MIGHT help to stretch out the tight front delt but who knows? I haven't done a horizontal press in eons and it felt might weird and mighty heavy, considering that I used to use high 300's on the barbell floor press regularly for years :)
Strength goes fast if you don't use it :)

If I can brush my teeth tomorrow and Wed I might have a new press to play with. I might use doubles as well if I can figure out the setup.
 KB Floor press
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3 x 4
20 kg x 4/4, 5/5

definitely have to move the left arm wider.It's all front delt in this position/

Belt squats
36 kg x 10,12,14,16

these felt creaky at first and then strong,very strong. legs feel great back from the trip

Hip sled
95 x 250 x 4 laps

getting tired now

Ring Ext
3 x 8,7,6

now this is tightening up my back again. Time for ibuprofen and a nap :)

datsit but shield casts are out. Perhaps halo' but no momentum yet

Neverquit

Ruck on Sunday.

This was surprisingly, but in retrospect it shouldn't have been. I was stronger here than in any other training discipline all week but looking back I walked, with and without a pack more than I did anything else in Sweden.

The pack felt light on my legs and my back and stride and cadence were good from the start. Even though I woke feeling stiff and achey.
Cut back to nine laps though and the pack was one kilo light,14 instead of 15- just didn't add in the water bottle that I usually do. Wasn't sure how this was going to go and wanted to start slowly. Id my usual squats each lap but focused more this time on longer holds, at least 45 seconds and just waiting out the stretch reflex.

First three laps in 8:25, seventh one in 8:10 and the last two were around 8:00. Not bad at all. My back is tight now as I write this hours later but that just means it's time to stretch out the abs and glutes. :)

Back on track

datsit.
neverquit

24 kg one arm , two hand swings, clubbells and pushups

Back on track today after getting silly sore from that tiny workout on Wednesday. As is usually the case after I take any time off from real training, the first workout back makes my body feel like I've never trained a day in my life. But it doesn't last long.

Back to the grind with speed/ volume work with 24 kg. Felt great, actually. After the first few sets that is

30 minute roll, stretch, hang warmup
Rear delt work: band rear delts, band overhead scap pulls and band pull aparts.

the rear delt work is already paying off, shoulders feel much better


One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets
200 reps
10,600 lbs

really worked on the overspeed eccentric loading but not TOO much, I know how sore this cam make me.

Two hand swings
24 kg  x 10 x 7 sets
70 reps

again focus was overspeed eccentrics and maxing out power. felt fast and solid.

One arm clubbell shield cast
10 lbs x 10 x 3
15 lbs x 8

want to be able to do these again but they felt awkward, tight and weak on the first two sets. Got back into  as I went but I love the clubs Plus I want to be able to swings my swords more easily
My new addition to the Guardians of Stones Gym
Leon next to his big brother Magnus.

Close grip pushups
4 sets of 10 ( on pbars feet on floor) these worked great

Ring extensions
3 sets of 10,8, 8

the pushups toasted the tri's. perfect

Back to the ruck tomorrow. can't wait but I don't expect it to be easy even after all the pack walking around airports and sweden last week :) Doesn't matter, it'll get done

 datsit
neverquit.

Swedish SFG 1 debrief and back to training.

It was a great cert. Got upgraded to business class from Chicago to London, which made sleeping very easy) and that seemed to be the case for the whole weekend. Got right on Swedish time schedule in part due to Stina Albaihn's hospitality in putting us up in her house and cooking for us as well the first day.We seemed to roll right onto normal day pattern. And since was light out until past 11 pm we had time to adjust.

The cert was small ( 10 people) but there were solidly prepared and ready to work .Had a great time working with, teaching and learning from Tommy Blom,SR SFG and got some great new tips for the snatch progression and new respect and understanding of the high pull into snatch technique.Great cures and details for the arm bar as well as another way to cue the torque in foot placement which makes it much easier to teach.

We had alternating beautiful perfect sunny weather and crazy ass thunder and lightening storms! But it cleared up for our two hour and four hour walking tour of Gotenburg on Thursday and Monday and it's which is now on my list of favorite European cities. Just beautiful and seeming large and small at the same time. Plus, eminently walking and that we did. The knee held up perfectly the whole time, not a moments lick of trouble. Nor the back which made things so much easier.

Had no trouble sleeping and I seemed to get plenty of it despite the strange schedule. Staying at Stina's for dinner a few nights made it much easier to recover too, than going out every night.

Here are some random pictures from the course.

this last picture is of me helping superman Daniel Natterdal get his press with the 48 kg after he missed it on his first attempt. I used the"Mind Spot' and he crushed it after a pretty bad miss on the first attempt.

All the mind spot is is telling the student I will help him if he needs it but in reality all I do is "touch" his arm and or the bell without helping at all. This alleviates all anxiety about what to do if he misses ( as he now knows he won't miss as I will help him if needed) so all his energy goes into making the weight and none into any fear about missing. It's amazing how well this works.

here's another shot of him doing the getup

and this is after he received his "death sentence" from his doctors following a bad back injury, which he healed using kbs for training, just another example of the kb strengthening the body from the inside out.

                                                                                                                                             Both Daniel and his equally strong and conditioned brother Henrik seemed as fresh on Sunday as they did on Friday, as if they hadn't spent 3 days throwing kbs around for 12 hours at a pop~

Plus he could squat like this all day long ( my goal ). Just two examples of the great cast of students we had this weekend.

I taught the swing and the press ( first presses I've done in a couple months) and they both went well. On Saturday I taught the squat and man it was fun. I'm getting deeper all the time and the squats are getting easier as well. I did some one arm kb squats in the rack position and they were much more interesting than before so they will have to go back in the mix too.

Looking at my pictures I realized I have lost too much upper body mass so it's time to do some hypertrophy training again.
I also realized that I have seemingly lost ALL my rear delt size and think this might be part of the reason for the shoulder pain. I have a big imbalance between the front and the rear heads of the delt and that's not good when most of the pain comes from the shoulder being pulled too far forward.

An interesting realization too that not doing presses or snatches or upper body work hasn't really helped the shoulder overhead ROM or decreased the pain that much.SO if it's doing to hurt anyway I might as well train them :)

today: No real training this last week; tons of walking ( literally miles and miles) and lots of demo but not much training but I'm pretty exhausted so a light easy today: warmup band rear delts and overhead band pulldowns for scapula. these seemed right and helped warm up the shoulders well

One arm swings 3 x 10/10 with 16 kg

one arm high pulls 3 x 7/7 x 3

one arm high pull into snatch ( 16 kg) 3 sets of 6/6

snatch ( max vo2 style- one arm at a time- untimed) 16 kg 10 sets of 7

using this new high/high pull into snatch felt great! even the lockout felt solid. did them in them mirror to play with lockout. MY overhead position was never as good as when I was doing max vo2 weekly and heavier snatch holds as well. Time to try these again.

close grip pushups on p bars supersetted with band pushdowns

goblet squats 16 kg x 5, 20 kg x 4 24 kg x 3 x 3

not in the mood for sled drags so I called it a day. Just something light to get back in the mix.

datsit. neverquit