"And in those simple beautiful movements I remembered what was really important in training; that consistency trumps intensity; all the time. That intensity is born from consistency. That one cannot force it, one has to lay in wait for it, patiently, instinctively, calmly and be ready to grab it when Grace lays it down in front of you."
I was wondering if training legs the day before I walked would affect the walk and it did: I went faster,lol!
Didn't expect that.
Started off slow, as usual: the first four laps in 8:45. Legs felt heavy and just , well, heavy.
Lap five was down to 8:30 then six and seven in 8:20, eight in 8:15,nine and ten about the same and lap eleven was a shade over 8:00 and lap twelve was a PR 7:50 and strong!
This was the first time ever that I felt I could, and should, PUSH the speed of some of the laps. My groove was solid and the pace felt strong. Very happy with this.
Next week pack weight goes up to goal weight : 40 lbs
Also of course did my squats every lap for 30 seconds or so alternating stances from very close to very wide, with all the variations in between. This also felt solid and strong.
Counted last weeks as my top end so today I came down to the 24 kg for speed and volume. Also have got it stuck in my head that I have to get my snatch and overhead press back, as well as my handstand. It's not like my shoulder works any better NOT doing these movements. I searched through 2011 and 2012 blogs and it seems that was where the wheels came off.
I was doing some GREAT overhead work those years, after more than a few of not pressing or snatching and then 2013 things started to go wonky. I had to leave Girya and I left the RKC. Not my best time and it seems, it hindsight, to be reflected in my overhead position.Or lack of it. I was pressing the 24 kg for sets of 10/10, double 24s for 10, 28kg for 5's and 32 kg for 2's and 3's occasionally!
My snatches were solid too. I HAVE to figure it out. One thing I wasn't doing was really heavy swings as I didn't even have a Beast til the end of 2012.I do know the heavy swing work IS really cooking my lats and that could be part of it.
Also I think the handstands were helping. Now I can't even get to the wall by myself :( VERY discouraging. But I have to start back on the road . I thought I was ready to let it go and just give up my overhead work but I can't.I'll go as slow as I have to but it has to be in the mix.
Just have to make sure to hang A LOT
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5/5
24 kg x 10/10 x 5
x 12/12 x 5
220 reps
11,600 lbs
these were strong and easy.
Two kb front squat
2 16s x 5
2 20s x 5 x 4 sets
these went well. This is a good place to put them. I can let the heavy two hand swings go for now for sure.
Handstands.
these sucked big time and I didn't want to put the video up but it's a good indicator of my starting point. I did about 5 sets and the first was the worst. This video was next to last and it got easier, to a point, on each one. First set I couldn't reach the wall with help! That's crazy. And my very lower t spine and upper lumbar ( t 12/ L 1) was the point that got very tight right after. That's what needs to open up.
Plus, I am weighting my right arm much more than my left. This definitely needs a lot of work. I have a good feeling about it. If I can walk tomorrow it will be even better :)
datsit. lots of stretching and hanging to be done
Long ruck tomorrow.
The New Schedule
Saturday
One arm swings
Two KB front squats
Handstands
Clubbells
Monday
Clean and Press
Belt squats
Snatch holds
Sled
this is the basic routine ( but including more leg work) that I was doing back in 2011/12. We shall see but I am excited about this new direction and attitude.
Well I thought I would be able to train the snatch again but I don't think so now. As much as I want to be back in love with this move it just doesn't love me anymore and six sets of pretty light snatches showed me that pretty quickly.
Although my unweighed overhead position IS getting better , and certainly less painfull. It isn't transferring yet to the kb snatch. Plus it started bothering my upper lumbar and lower thoracic spine and that isn't good nor worth it.
I've been tweaked by the snatch more than any other kb move, with two bicep tears ( with a too heavy 32 kb bell) and numerous lower back/groin tweaks back in the day. It was great for many years for me but then went south. Not sure how much my progressively bad knee had to do with it BUT I do know that ever since I got it replaced my alignment has been different enough to really change my overhead position, and with it, my snatch( and press)
That's ok ,really. Just a message from my body( that I better listen to) that it's time to move my emphasis from the snatch back to the squat and the overhead hangs. My pushups are back on line and that's a great substitute, mentally.
I started off slowly but even the 16 felt like shit. Then I went up to the 18 and that felt better for three sets but then my back/lat started talking to me and I listened.
Change of plan and I switched to single bell front squats.
Snatch
16 kg x 7/7 x 3 sets
18 kg x 7/7 x 3 sets
Single KB Clean and squats
20 kg x 5/5 x 5 sets
these went well although it's definitely more difficult to get as deep as I want with single bells than with double so I will switch back. Not sure if long or short cycle but with long cycle it means shifting my stance each rep so the total rep count will be down. We'll see
Horizontal bar pushups on paralletes
10, 11, 12, 13
these went fine and were strong
Walking lunges
4 laps of 12 feet
wore knee sleeves today so no bruising but I think I'm going back to the grass. It's taking up too much mental space worrying about not banging my knee and messed up the rhythm.. VERY tough though, after the squats. legs were on fire.
Red band rear delts
4 sets of 15
light but stricter work
Shoulder sled pull
95 lbs x 250 feet x 4 laps
freakin' killer. legs were toast finished strong though but it was tough.
I'm actually almost tempted to try barbell snatches and see how they feel. For some reason I think, with the wide grip, it might work. I'll play around with a stick and see what it feels like first.
I love being in shape. Lord knows it took me long enough to get back here( and thank G-d for my surgeon!) but to be able to work hard, harder than you did before, and come back and do it again, and again and not feel that bad is bliss for me. To "walk around strong".To not perceive it as 'that hard' is wonderful.It's what keeps me coming back to the training fountain of life day after day , year after year.
And the stronger you get, both mentally and physically, the easier it is to get even stronger. Success breeds success and a little suffering just makes you tougher and stronger. If you let it.
The only way not to get it is to quit and that really isn't an option.
Am
Solid one hour of roll, stretch and hang. One arm hangs are really coming along but the heavy one arm swings definitely had a tightening effect on my forearms traps and shoulders. Took a bit to break it all up
Floor Pushups
8 sets of 10
2 sets of 15!! PR
This is amazing; what the simple pushup can do. MY upper body is coming back on line fast. Pecs, delts, and triceps are popping out. Can't believe after all these years of not being able to do this I can again. Very cool.
Belt squats
40 kg x 20 x 4 sets
quads of fire!
Db kickbacks
20 lb x 10 x 4 sets
Blue band rear delts
4 x 10/10
Hip sled
3 laps with 95 lbs
1 laps with 105 PR
250 foot laps.
this was strong today considering yesterdays ruck. :)
that's all she wrote. "Feels good,motivated, dedicated, Good for you. good for me, FIRED UP"
Wow, take a week off and things get hard real fast, lol. Well it wasn't that hard but it was a strange one. Definitely felt the effects of yesterdays heavy swing and squat session and I was stiff and achy out the box this morning.It's almost been a months since I swung the 40kg and I felt it.
But it started off strong. Neck and traps were more tired than my back or legs so I started out well. Knee was behaving as well so all was good. First lap was 8:45 or as usual but it dropped down pretty quickly each lap and by lap five I was around 8:20.
Weather was cool ( San Fran had a serious 6.1 earthquake at 3:30 am this morning and that always makes for weird skies and weather I slept through it and had no damage ) and that helped. The next three laps were about the same but my right foot, fourth metatarsal started saying hello so I did something I haven't had to do since I started walking these laps, take my pack off and work on my foot a bit.
I had already geared down for 10 laps instead of 12 as laps 7 and 8 were getting weaker although not much slower and my foot started. Mobilized the ankle and metatarsals, put my boot and pack back on ( it's harder to put it on than carry it :) ) and felt things out.
It felt fine and I actually got some kind of second wind and laps 9 ,10,11 and 12 were awesome. Almost out of the body experience I used to get when running long distances! the body is on autopilot, the pace is easy and I get a sense of 'watching' my body walk rather than "walking" it,if that makes sense.
Never had that experience hiking or walking before and I'm glad I can still get it. It was one of the things that made my ultra training so enjoyable. You literally feel like you can go forever.
SO I ended up doing 12 laps in 2 hours and it finished strong.Oh yea, 12 sets of supported squats. 45 second each. These are tough with the pack :)
This type of heavy , long slow distance work really toughens the body up in a way that is really functional. Nothing really 'hurts' there is no real reason to stop- it's just hard. Not dangerous or injurious, just hard and to keep going is just about will and putting the next step ahead of you one at a time.
So happy I can do this type of training again. I truly missed it.
Pushups tomorrow and lots of roll, stretch and hanging to do today.
Back to the ditch :) Haven't done a 'regular' heavy one arm swing workout in awhile it seems and this was just what I thought it would be: heavy.
Perfect time to get back to strong.
One arm swing
16 kg x 5/5 x3
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 3/3
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5 x 10 sets
100 reps
these took, as usual about 5 sets of warm up. But, looking at the video, it's not as bad as it felt: bell height, speed, etc.
Transfers
24 kg x 40 reps
I read where Peter Lakatos maintained his snatch test conditioning by doing 100 rep transfer sets with 32 kg. I think I will throw one set of these in after my one arms and work up to 100 reps in one set as well going up in weight after I make the reps.
Goblet squat
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
28 kg x 5
32 kg x 5
I thought these would be a good alternative lift/day for these but it wasn't. After all those one arms it was just as much arm work as anything, what I was trying to get away from in the kb front squat. Oh well back to the drawing board.
The question is where to put front or goblet squats if I am going to snatch as the main lift on wednesdays. I'll figure it out.32 kg felt heavy : in my arms :)
Crawls
four laps of 60 ft.
this was a strong day for that.Going to crawls before pushups is probably the reason.
Pushups (parallel parallettes)
14
13
12
6 ( feet on box)
these were good shoulders just tired
Db side delts
12 lbs x 10 x 3 sets
good session, Just me and Glenn so the pace was very fast. Tactical periodization baby!
back to the ruck tomorrow can't wait. missed it last week
This looks like the new menu
Saturday
One arm swings
H2H swings
Two hand swings
Crawls
Pushups
Side delts
Sunday
Ruck walk
Monday
Floor Pushups
Belt squats
Triceps assistance
Hip Sled
Rear Delts
Wednesday
Goblet squat ( work up to top set)
Snatch ( speed work single arm sets)
Walking Lunge
Pushups
Hip sled
Rear Delt
Wow. One year ago today I was getting ready to go into surgery for my TKR in the morning. It's been a year and I can hardly believe it.What an amazing thing this knee replacement has been for me, there are almost no words to describe just what a different life I have now and how wonderful it is. Just being out of 24 /7 pain would have been good enough, but to also be able to walk and squat, and lunge and hike, also pain free is beyond amazing.
It really hasn't seemed like a year has past; and I've been accumulating more ROM, movements, skill and strength the whole time. Pretty much constant and consistent progress and that has certainly made the time go much faster.
It seems like I can squat deeper, walk further, swing heavier and move better everyday. What a blessing and a gift. And I make sure to be grateful each and every day as well. I don't have to think back much to remember how my life was just a year and a day ago.
I thought about doing some anniversary challenge to commemorate the year, some kind of high rep leg challenge but then decided not to risk anything by being stupid. My legs are doing great but they are also more TIRED than they have been as I am doing so much virtually every day. Staying on schedule is the celebration.
But I decided to do some snatches today, What the Hell. My shoulder ROM has not been significantly changed by not snatching these past few months and my best ROM was a few years ago when I was deeply into Snatch Vo 2 training so I decided to start with my oldest favoritest kb movement, the snatch
Snatch
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5 x 3
24 kg x 5/5 x 3
interesting. this felt way harder than I remember but not in the overhead position! Just SO much forces all over the place to deal with. So much "heavier" than swings. That bell falling down from totally overhead and back again seems like double the ROM of swings and twice the forces. Crazy. BUT my right shoulder ROM was BETTER than my left ? WTH? Both felt pretty good although the 24 kg felt very heavy in the hold overhead. 20 kg was goldilocks :)
But it felt good to snatch again and I can see going back to max vo2 and staying with the 16 kg. that seemed to give me the best overhead ROM of all but we will see if I can move tomorrow:)
KB Front squat ( single )
20 kg x 3/3 x 3
24 kg x 3/3 x 3
these went well although I still need to mirror to maximize depth. No worries.
parallel bar horizontal pushups
4 sets of 13!
shoulders felt fine.
Walking lunges( on concrete not the lawn)
4 laps of 100 ft
much easier than on lawn but I have to wear knee pads - tapping
TKR knee on concrete not smart
Shoulder Sled
3 laps of 250 ft 95 lbs
now I'm tired three is enough
Rear delts
blue band 3 x 12
datsit. Solid We'll see if I had snatches back into the mix. I could do squats on saturdays after one arm swings that might work well. then pushups on monday and snatches on wed.
It wasn't too long ago at all that I couldn't do ONE measly pushup. Today, for the second week in a row I did one hundred and it was easier than last week! That's a miracle to me. The Portal one arm hanging has been really, really, really helping my shoulder and is slowly but surely un spasming my lat and teres major and re mobilizing my scapulae.
I also learned from last weeks pushup video that I was not leaning over my wrist enough and thereby flexing the elbow too much during the pushup. The most basic rule of any press is that the forearm be as close to vertical as possible so today I made the adjustment and it definitely helped.
I also made sure to keep my head up and eyes forward and that helped lock me in better as well.From a load standpoint these feel like nothing and like I can go all day, if my joints would let me but I don't even get out of breath at all. Nice.
7 am
Full hour total body roll, stretch and hang. Need this :)
Floor pushups
10 x 10
100 reps
Belt squat
36kg x 20
x 20
x 20
x 25
these were excellent. done again in the power cage for the support. used less today than ever. perhaps my ability to keep vertical is improving too.
Legs are TIRED though, from all last week as well as teaching and demo'ng for my SFG KB course yesterday in Danville
Sixteen students and teaching by myself for over 8 hours! Long day but made it through.
This IS what I train for- the ability to do this kind of stuff without breaking stride and get right back in the mix the next day. I'm stiff and a bit tired ( adrenaline down ) but no worse for wear and my training today was strong.
Things are going in the right direction.
DB Kickbacks
4 sets of 12 with 20 lbs
Band rear delts
4 sets of 12 blue
Hip sled
95 x 250ft x 4
DONE DONE DONE! Need food and a nap :) SO glad to have gotten this commitment done. Now I have a month to train as hard as I can before off to Croatia.
Feeling good but have to go easy today as tomorrow I teach and demo kbs for eight hours at the SFG KB course in Danville.
In the "bad old days" I would have had to take the day off entirely or risk being wrecked but things are much different now and thank G-d for that :)
Of course can't be greedy and still have to keep that ever in mind. things can always go wrong and I have to be ready for the course and be fresh and mobile.
So easy it was but not too easy :)
One arm swing
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
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 x three ladders
this worked out perfectly Just enough work to keep me going but left feeling like I didn't do much.
Two hand swings
32 kg x 8 x 8 sets
again, just right. not too much not too little. left wanting more
Also, did about 15 minutes of one arm hangs today as well, greasing the groove. two 4 min bouts before training and one after. this is really making a huge difference. felt the lat/teres start to tighten up after training, as usual, but instead of lacrosse ball work, etc I hung. Dissipated right after. This is very good news. Now I am on the lookout for places I can hang from , lol. As Ido Portal says, 'don't be afraid to be a weirdo, hang everywhere'. I am taking his advice to heart.
Crawls
four laps x 60 feet
Parallel grip pushups on pbars
4 x 10
superset
blue band rear delts
4 x 12
datsit. long day tomorrow then back to work. hate to miss my ruck but I'll get some work in :)
I've been going in this direction for the last week but seeing Ido Portal's 15 min hang challenge sealed the deal for me. I had to serious adapt the rules of the game when I did his 30 minute squat challenge but it really helped me open up my new knee and learn a lot of stretching out very tight tissue. It's all about waiting out the stretch reflex, and while I did enough for my knee I haven't been spending enough time stretching out my lats and teres major. Well, not enough to make a real difference.
Starrett talks about needing 2 continuous minutes of stretching or smr to change the tissues and I wasn't getting that overhead. So Ido's idea was perfect. PLUS he focuses on one arm at a time and that REALLY helped make my scapula open up.
I still will do bilateral hang stretches but with as close a hand spacing s I can, to mimic the overhead position I am working towards.
I can see building up to where I can hang off the floor one arm at a time( true brachiation)
This is a great example of what I need to re claim
But even with the little bit I did today the shoulders felt MUCH better and the tension in my lats noticeably diminished. Great start.
But this was Leg day
Double 22 kg front squats
Needed to have a light/medium day today as I teach on Sunday and this was great. I did 8 sets of 3 and could have ground out fives but not this week
one arm swing warmup 16 kg x 5/5/5 x 2
Goblet squats
16 kg x 5
20 kg x 3
24 kg x 3
Double front squat
2 16s x 3
2 20s x 3
2 22s x 3 x 8 sets
these felt solid and as deep as I've gone. Accumulated at least 45 minutes in a deep squat today during work and that is feeling better and lower than ever. Still more in there :) I could actually feel it as a 'rest' position today for the first time- my calves resting on my hamstrings! that is a first.
Horizontal pushups on pbars
4 sets of 12
superset with
Blue band rear delts
4 sets of 12 ( blue band is one step up in resistance)
no problem.recovery from monday fine.used a medium grip and leaned out over the shoulders a bit more than Monday.
Walking lunges
4 laps of 100 feet
strongest ever but I really didn't want to do them :)
squat sit for recovery
Shoulder sled
4 laps of 250 feet
shoulder straps sliding off but otherwise very very strong. semi crouch semi run :)
3 minute Arm hang
this is going to really help me turn the corner on my overhead position and shoulder health I have no doubt
This is a big deal to me. 10 sets of 10 in the regular floor pushup is crazy progress since I haven't really been able to do a pushup safely in years. This is Just great progress and my chest shoulders and triceps are responding well to it also.
5:30 am roll and stretch
Mostly focused on overhead hangs in chin bar with multiple grips as well as overhead dislocates with a stick. each set was about 2.5 minutes long.The dislocates are another key stretch. Hate it with a passion as I suck so badly at it but it has to be done. Making a very big difference in my overhead position as well as shoulder pain. All better. I think I might have figured out what I wasn't doing- holding the damn stretches longs enough to "kill" the stretch reflex. The exact strategy I used for getting my knee flexion in my left leg.
It's no fun but it seems to work. No overhead loading until I can get my arm overhead with no weight correctly! Sounds stupid to write that but I've been doing it for years no more.
12:30
One arm swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3
Floor Pushups
10 sets of 10
Supersetted with
Red band rear delts
10 x 10/10
this was nice. No problem at all. easy
Belt squats
these went great as well. 5 sets of 20 for 100 reps as well. Serious quad burn!
Db kickbacks
4 sets of 10 with 15 lbs these really help strengthen the elbow lock position. Plus NO joint pain or restriction at all is a nice thing for a change
Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps
just finishing off and working on my tan :)
#1.5 gripper
3 sets of 1/1 with hold at sticking point about 3.5 second rep. these are tough still but I can feel the whole body get into it. parallel stance is definitely stronger than lunge stance.
No Pr's today, just solid hard work. Slept well, hydrated and stretched out but started slow again. Made an adjustment on the pack which helped a bit. It's been too low on my hips I think, so I cinched it up a few inches and that helped.
First five laps were 8:45's or so. Slowest start yet but the legs felt just heavy and yesterday was a low carb day so not much gas in the tank.No worries but I lowered expectations a bit. Overcast and cool which helped tons
Laps six- ten started dropping times and by lap ten I went 8:15. Eleven was 8:10 and twelve was 8:05. I'll take it.
Total time 2 hrs five minutes
Bodyweight 160 lbs even.
Not as strong as I would have thought today; still a bit sore from Wednesday's leg fest. Thinking about it, I have never done 50 reps in a squat pattern that deep and certainly nothing close to it lately. Those small extra inches in depth really made a difference. As well as the very dynamic walking lunges I did( every rep the knee touched the grass), my inner thighs said hello as well. So instead of a stellar day it was just another work day.:)
That's more than fine because that's what 99% of training is about. Just suit up, show up and do the best you can. So I did and it went well.
30 minute roll and stretch with a final emphasis on overhead stretches on the chin bar. Making myself do those 1-2 minute stretch bouts that actually change the tissue. Had to slap myself a bit to get back to this but I am on it now and I can see , and feel, the difference already. Can't back off- have to grease the groove on this as well- multiple sessions a day.
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 10/10 x 9 sets
x 20/20 x 1 sets
220 reps
15,400 lbs !!!
now that's a workload!
last set was not fun but it went decently. Not a bad finisher
Two hand swings
40 kg x 10 x 6 sets
60 reps
5280 lbs
Leopard crawls
4 laps 60 ft
getting stronger and learning how to breathe under the fatigue.
Parallel bar pushups
3 sets of 10
superset with
12 lb side db raises 3 x 12
Trainer gripper 2 sets of 3 holds beat! time to eat
datsit a solid day at the rock pile :)
Hard ruck tomorrow am
Long but good day with solid work with a lot of new clients( lots of demos) a re arrange in the workspace at the studio(making me less efficient overall) lots of time in the thai squat and then a pretty solid leg workout.
Chose to do double front squats today and I'm liking the pattern that's emerging. Basically specialized variety where I do different versions of the kb squat each week. Kind of like the max effort days of the past , minus the one rep max requirement :)
SO there's
Single bell front squat
single bell clean and squat
double bell front squat
double bell clean and squat
It's basically the top three for now until I see if can do a real kb hack squat, with the bell behind the back and on the toes. I tried it before and couldn't do it but I have way more knee flexion these days so it's time to try
Goblet squat I don't count as real leg work more for mobility form and depth work. A great warmup or cooldown
Goblet squat
16 kg x 5
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
Double front squat
2 16s x 5
2 20's x 5 x 10 sets !
50 reps!
4400 lbs work ( not bad workload for squat with light bells and low reps)
Close grip pushups on paralletes
13,12, 10,10
this was awesome and not hard at all! first time over 10 reps too. nice direction and the grip variation did it's job perfectly.
Walking lunges
4 laps of 120 feet
tough tough tough but endurance and strength was there. Just hard. legs tired for sure.
Band rear delts
4 x 15 with red band
need a next heavier band
Shoulder sled
95 lbs x 250ft x 4 laps
yes! didn't puss out. got the fourth lap!
Gripper
# 1.5 x 5/8 closed x 2 singles x 2
this was tough. tired. but ability to create total body tension is growing well. hand strength and static strength endurance is up too
good one but I've really got to hydrate tonight. It's hot again
Ok the number on the chalkboard says 88- I can barely count normally but even less so at the end of a workout.
This was an important workout. Not too long ago I couldn't do ONE pushup without my right shoulder going out on me big time. It got to the point where I couldn't press much at all without it giving me grief,especially overhead. So I decided that I wasn't going to load anything overhead- just work on the ROM- but that I wanted to re claim my pushup. I started with just negative only reps, and very few of them, but I was doing them. Close grips on the palettes, the regular parallel pushups.
My attempts to do the floor press didn't do my back much good it seems so I decided to make the pushup the main course for Monday's workout. Of course I'll have to wait to see if I can comb my hair tomorrow to really judge if this will work but even if it doesn't I did ten sets of pushups today- regular freaking flat palmed on the floor pushups no problem. and that felt damn good.
Being able to squat, and walk and now do pushups is making me feel almost human again :) If one day I can survive pullup training it will be complete. But, lets not get greedy .
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3 this never fails to take me from "not wanting to workout 'cause I'm creaky" to ready to go. I don't even fight it anymore
Floor pushups
As above
10, 9, 9,8,8,9,8,8,9,9
the reason for the changing reps had everything to do when my shoulders started to rattle around a little.I still have to figure out the exact line of force to push through but it was grand! Want to work up to regular workouts of 100 reps as a baseline IF my shoulders hold tomorrow.
Supersetted with band rear delts
red band 10 sets of 15/15
this seemed very important to do to keep things neutral
Belt squats
28 kg x 20 x 5 sets
100 reps
these were easy. perhaps I've hit a new high in my leg/cardio conditioning as evidenced by my ruck yesterday as well as today.that would be nice
db kickbacks
15 lbs x 12 x 4 sets
chose these over ring extensions as I need work in the lockout. felt good and no stress on shoulder or lat
Hip Sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 5 laps
strong. fast intervals too. still felt strong. first time doing 5 laps in awhile. MUCH cooler today which really helps
Grippers
#1 x 4 singles 3/4 closed. Held static position at end for 2 count. Grip feels good too
You never know when you're going to have a great workout. Well I don't anyway. But I did make sure to full hydrate yesterday as it's been a problem that I just really recognized. I THOUGHT I was hydrating enough but I was not. Yesterday though I fixed that and it seemed to really help today.
But also, it was just a strong day. And, as I say in my blog signature, you just have to be ready to grab it when Grace lays in down in front of you, and I was. Also, I made sure to get on the floor A LOT yesterday as well and get fully opened up and my back and lats really appreciated that as well. The up and down dogs are foundational and I made sure to give them their due and my calves, hamstrings ( and knee) appreciated it as well as my back.
But even still the first five laps were slow 8:38s and I didn't think it was going to be a great ruck, but I still felt loose, which is key; I just thought I was going to stay slow the whole time.
But lap six went 10 seconds faster as did the next two laps then even faster as I dropped another ten seconds into 8:10 range and had a real PR of 7:59 for my last lap ( 12)! Finished in 1 hour 50 minutes or so including 12 sets of squats as well on each lap.
Went back to varying the width each set too and that felt good. But it was being fully hydrated and stretched that seemed to make the biggest difference. As I like to say the only thing harder than figuring it out is remembering to do it!
As I was walking in the much cooler morning I realized that ruck walking and general conditioning in general are SO key to basic body hardening. As former Delta operator Ed Burgarin said "it's hard to be hard" ( interview here) and that's so true. And it's so important. Especially as we age. It's tougher to stay in shape as we get older and we need MORE work, not less.
But we can't expect to eat soft food and be hard, or do soft workouts and be hard or to be too easy on ourselves and be hard. It just doesn't happen that way and the great thing is, it's true for everybody. Completely democratic. If you have a hard body after age 23 or so you are earning it- everyday.
Because if you slack off- it goes right away- fast.
I'm so blessed now that I have a new knee and I can really take the conditioning to the next level what gift.
And, as always, it's the basics that get us there, basic training, basic eating, basic maintenance work.The frills are fun but they are the icing on the cake, not the main meal.
Going to switch tomorrows push workout to pushups and see how that goes. I'd love to be able to do total workloads of 100 reps per workout. That would be a great base
All the bodyparts have settled down, finally. Back and shoulder are good so I thought about going up to the 44 kg for the one arms but decided to start the month on time with 24 kg speed swing work and go back to my four week cycle: 24 , 32, 40 and 48 kg with the corresponding rep schemes
Warmup
30 minute roll and stretch.
8am
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets
200 reps
10,600 lbs
Two hand swing
32 kg x 10
x 12
x 14
x 16
x 20
72 reps
5040 lbs
not bad, should have done the 18 rep set but was a bit behind the crew and tired, so I baled :)
Leopard Crawls
4 laps of 60 ft
getting stronger here all the time but it still kicks my butt
Parallel bar pushups( feet on floor)
12, 12, 10, 10
Db side delts
10 lbs x 12 x 4 sets ( supersetted with pushups)
datsit. about an hour 15 minutes
big ruck tomorrow and it's gonna be a hot one again. gotta start early
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