"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."
Going back to Kastav tomorrow
Glenn is still out so this was solo.Also have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for tomorrows trip so I just had to get this one done. turned out pretty good. Also had to be mindful not to do too much. Still in de load mode ( hey, I rhymed :) )
swing warmup 16 kg x 10/5/5
started with two hands first as was feeling a bit tight in the shoulder. never got a decent stretchout this am :(
Standing barbell press
15 lbs x 5 x 3
25 lbs x 5 x 3
35 lbs x 5 x 3
45 lbs x 5 x 3 pr
these went very well despite not having spent any time opening up my shoulders. everything was uber strict with a hold and stretch back at the end of each set.This is definitely the right movement I should be working on.
Belt squat superset with floor pushups
32 kg x 20 x 5 sets
10 reps x 5 sets
these both went great. pushups felt easy as did the belt squats.( of course they always 'burn' but the workload wasn't bad at all
Sled pulls
95 lbs x 250 ft x 3 laps
just enough but not too much.need to stretch out before I sleep tonight. Lots of time sitting in tight cramped spaces all day tomorrow.
ok wheels up for Croatia SFG level 1 in the AM
probably no updates until I return. check my facebook ( or better yet Tracy's) for updates
Continuing with the de loading pre travel plans I dropped the ruck weight to 20 lbs and set off for a shortened version of the walk. Last thing I want is to get on the plane for 20 hours of travel tweaked in any way at all.
I came through yesterday's easy workout no problem, with no stiffness or soreness at all. Good start. I thought I would be a big faster with the lighter pack but I really didn't think I would be this much faster
laps 1 and 2 8;20
laps 2 and 3 8:10's
laps 4 and 5 right around 8 min flat
laps 6, and 7 7:50- 7:55
lap 8 7:40 ! Pr
lap 9 cruised it in, didn't time, wanted to finish feeling easy
total walk time one hour 35 minutes
yes, 9 squat holds very deep.
SO much easier with the light pack, almost felt like I was carrying nothing. This is a good metric to have. I had no real idea how much the extra weight slowed me down. Good info to have.
One more light workout tomorrow and then wheels up for Croatia
De load day today. Needed this even if I weren't traveling on Tuesday but man it's hard to do. I tried to keep the load and the volume down more than a bit and it worked out fine. Have a long 8 days coming up with international travel, weird time zone work and sleep situation as well as a three hard days of teaching and demos. Have to be fresh as I can for it.
Same with tomorrow's ruck. Either will do 40 lbs for just one hour or 20 lbs for two. Haven't decided yet.
today
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 8/8 x 10 sets
160 reps
10,080 lbs
not hard at all but it's always weird when I am trying 'not to try too hard' as well as not to get hurt. I always feel my most vulnerable then. Strange. but all went well and bell height, speed and position were solid. work load easy
Transfers
24 kg x 40 x 1
working my way up to 100 reps I think, plus normally I would do a second, back off set. I think this will help my 5 minutes tests both snatch and one arm ( if I ever do either again :) )
Clubbell arm casts
20 lbs x 10
25 lbs x 8
x 10 x 2
much easier than last week.I would have gone up. Next time
Crawls
1 x 60 ft
x 70 ft
x 80 ft
cut back the sets but went a little further
Military press practice
15 lb bar x 3 sets of 5 with hold overhead
just greasing the groove for monday
oh yea, Nick did 3 sets of 5/5 in the one arm swing with the 68 kg bell! 150 lbs! Amazing strength and power here
time to roll, stretch and hang out. tomorrow either way is a easy walk
Great training day. Started out with a full hour roll, stretch and hang session and everything's feeling better than ever. Heel is within a few inches of my butt during a standing quad stretch and shoulders are opening up quite nicely.
Did lots of hangs from the bar with two and one hands as well as mixed grip. Used the barbell pullover stretch to wait out the stretch reflex on the shoulder and that's getting better as well.Stick slides and holds overhead.Getting stronger and easier all the time plus the shoulders don't hurt :)
Then, another cancel so I got a 45 minute walk as well. SO much easier without a 40 lb pack :)
Then the snatch session at 1:30 pm
Snatch ( after 16 kg one arm swing warmup)
16 kg x 5x5 x 3
18 kg x 5/5 x3
20 kg x 5/5 x 3
22 kg x 5/5 x 3
24 kg x 5/5 x 3
these were MUCH better than last week,way easier to get overhead AND hold. Had to cue the legs as I let them give a little and that didn't help the overhead.Also put on my innov8 instead of the vibrams and the little bit of heel raise also helped. Nothing dramatic but I could feel the difference
22 kg sets
20 kg set
definitely happy with this work AND the overhead mobility/flexibility
Snatch hold
18 kg x 30 sec
first time I could even do these in eons. another good sign.
Had a full one hour stretchout this morning; what a luxury. I feel SO much better after this am recharge. Usually I get part of it but when I can get a full 30 minutes on upper and lower body together it's heaven.
Spent a lot of time for upper body with over head stick work- mainly lockouts against a rack and then retractions and hold for 10-15 seconds. These feel great and I can really feel just how week those lower trap and scap rotators are. This is definitely going to help.
Then back against a wall and straight arm strict front raise and holds. It's about teaching my retarded scapulae to do their damn jobs!
WAAAY too many years of scapula restriction for power benching, I think it really messed my shoulder mechanics up badly.
But it's never too late. I have a good feeling about this work
Barbell press
15 lbs x 5 x 2
25 lb x 5 x 3
35 lbs x 5 x 2
45 lbs x 3 x 3
Tried to be very strict and really hold the lockouts. Didn't want to do too much, never know what tomorrow brings until it's too late :) these felt VERY good and natural, Never really trained these standing, ever really. SO it's different than the little bit of seated pressing I have done in the past but I could really feel how getting my grip wider and having to move the bar ONLY in a straight line made it EASIER for me to press and get a better overhead lockout.
Once this develops the next thing will be seeing how it translate backwards to kb pressing.
Floor Pushups
5 sets of 10
easy strong
Belt squat
44 kg x 20 x 4 sets
toasty quads! really paused AT THE TOP and flexed the quads. This made up for the restricted ROM in the bottom. Ouch.
DB Kickbacks
20lbs x 12 x 4
Blue rear delts
4 sets of 12
Hip sled
95lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps
strong.
Amazing that after saturday's Beast swings and yesterday's two hour ruck my legs didn't feel a thing this morning or today.! That's what I'm talking about! Just another day at the office.
Work capacity and strength endurance are the true goals for me
Well this was a very different walk than last week. Traded my pack full of books for a 20 lb bag of kitty litter and some weight plates and Glenn showed me a much better way to pack the ruck for better leverage on my back.
the litter bag hugged the back contours much more and the pack didn't hang down so low under my waist. While it's a tough durable bag, it probably is a bit large for me,especially with my short spine. Anyway it's supposed to be hard, supposed to be load to carry not the most advantageous way to carry something and not feel it on the body at all so it will do.
All bodyparts behaving and my shoulder strengthening work is making a very big difference it seems. Lats are actually calmed down for a change,even after yesterday's big ass workout. Tomorrow I will do some bar presses and see how that goes. As well as some light straight arm front raises with a bar as well.
But today was grand.
Started slow at 8;45' and stayed there for the next two laps. Four and five were at 8:20's and the pace was easy. The squats in between felt good as well. Humid today so sweating a lot,early. Hydrated well yesterday.
Six seven and eight were around 8:15 working into 8:10 and the nine ten and eleven were solid 8:10s Energy was good and no hint of bonking.
Eleven was just over 8:00 and twelve was a PR with 7:55. Best with this weight for sure and tied the speed with 35 and 37 lb.
Nice.
Even the short walk home was solid instead of death march.
More rolling and overhead holds to do.
Wow it's been quite awhile since I did one arm swings with the Beast. May 24th to be exact; 3 months and a little bit! Didn't seem that long but there it is. I've done a few 40 kg and a 44 kg swing workout since then but not the 48. No wonder it seemed hard. But not that bad, really.
Change of focus for the overhead mobility. Use of a stick and light barbell in a bi lateral pattern as well as all the stretching. David Weinstock of NKT fame worked on a client of mine with very tight hip flexors and showed me that even though a muscle is tight and short it still can be weak and need be strengthened as well as stretched.
Since the barbell ( or in my case, a stick) forces one to move around the bar ( as opposed to the kb which will move around the body more easily) it might force me into a symmetrical position in my stretches and activate the muscles more symmetrically a press or front raise pattern.
Plus it lets me put my arms out wider where it is much more conducive to my current overhead ROM than the kb which is close to the head ( or needs to be).
I'm sliding the stick up the powerrack ( like a makeshift smith machine) and getting a great overhead stretch BUT THEN taking the stick off the rack and holding it to strengthen that position.
A PT at the studio told me he always makes the client contract the muscle after a passive stretch so that they begin to 'own' the new, increased ROM. Makes sense plus, at this point, any port in a storm.
Seems to be working fairly well for these last 3 days. takes a few reps to wake up the muscles but then they do pretty well.
Going to do some standing barbell military presses on mondays, along with the pushups and see how that goes. I have a 15 lb bar to start with :) but it's a start and perhaps will help.
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5/5
24 kg x 5/5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5
48 kg x 5/5 x 10 sets
100 reps
10,600 lbs the magic volume :)
H2 H transfers
24 kg x 20, 25, 30 reps
these were good . refreshing actually,lol. When the one arm weight is light I should do heavier transfers and vice versa
Two Hand Clubbell arm cast
25 lbs x 8
x 9
x 10
these went better than last week. love that I can do this again.
Crawling
3 laps of 60 feet
easiest ever so far :)
great workout. gotta make sure to super hydrate AND get on the floor to get ready for tomorrow ruck. NO bonking!
Not a bad one today at all. Body felt pretty good all day but really didn't enough stretch out time. It makes a huge difference to get at least 45 minutes first thing in the morning. This morning I go 15 and tried to get more throughout the work day but it never is the same.
Still I went into the workout with good energy
BW 161 at 4 am
Snatches
16 kg x 7/7 x 5 sets
18 kg x 7/7 x 3 sets
20 kg x 7/7 x 2 sets
the 16 kg snatch
these were so so as evidenced by the videos. The definitely felt better as I went on but my overhead position is just not there. Perhaps this will make it better. Not doing them hasn't helped. The problem is stopping at the top- if I just roll through the rep it doesn't hurt.
I do love the challenge of them though, that's for sure. They are so athletic and powerful. I just miss my overhead :((
walking lunges
4 laps of 120 ft.
very strong actually. very
Parallete's pushups
4 sets of 11
these went very well also. Need to do rear delts, just didn't get it done.
My back was giving me grief this morning after I sat into a kneeling lunge position and got a little TOO rounded in the pelvis and lumbar. It's kind of the same thing ( lat/oblique , ql) that I felt a few weeks ago so I have to assume I'm not getting my abs opened up enough after Saturday and Sunday's workloads. Also I went into Sunday's ruck dehydrated and don't think I caught up. Took quite awhile to push rest today during the workout but it did , as usual
Going back to movement that was fine before the tweak usually does the job and did as well today but I do NOT like dealing with my back during daily life. Been there, done that and done with it.
Doing squats on Saturday along with all the loaded isometric squat holds on sunday is probably too much so I will go back to either transfers or two hands. Probably transfers as the two handers are a ton of ab work too and the ruck walk is more important. Also MORE ab opening after Sundays hike. Just have to do as much as it take to get things square, plumb and neutral
The squared up position of pushups helped quite a bit.
Wrapped a 2.5 lb plate in a tshirt and added it to the ruck to hit a solid 40.2 pounds and off I went. Long day yesterday and didn't expect to feel real good but two weeks of solid walks with the last weight and I figured if I went slower or just got 10 laps that would be fine.
Hitting the goal weight was the most important thing but it was a very weird walk
Hit the first two laps faster than usual 8:35 instead of 8:45 and they were easy. Third and fourth were faster still, 8:20 and then into 8:15's! Legs were moving and the weight didn't feel that heavy.Fifth six and seventh were the same with an 8:10 on the seventh. I thought twelve laps for sure and all pr's.
And the then I crashed and burned ,lol
Eight lap was just tough, nothing hurt I just bonked.
All of sudden getting to ten was fine. I slowed down on nine to 8:25 and turned on the running cadence to pull me through.
It helped.
Ten was faster and easier but still hard and I pushed myself to do eleven and it was 8:30.
I was done.
The five minute walk home was slow,lol
I sweated off two pounds on the walk
start was 161 and finished at 159!
Decided to get down to 155 lbs, I think that's a better weight for me. Low of 155 and high of 157. Don't need to be 162 working to 165 but all this squatting is making me grow. Time to cut back the carbs,especially the bread .Wine has all the carbs I need. :)
Of course eleven sets of isometric pole squats after each lap
1 hour and 55 minutes total.
Happy that's over but I also think the short 40 minutes walks I took this week with no pack helped my speed to, Going to keep including them as I can
A bit late with this post as I spent the day yesterday after training at my granddaughters birthday party. Can't believe she is five!
Yesterday was tough, I've been a bit tired and down this whole week and yesterday was no exception. Glad that it was only the 32 kg I had to swing, and that was heavy enough! It took the usual 4 sets to warmup and things got a bit better but it was still no joke. 200 one arm swings with that bell in sets of 10/10 is always a challenge-especially focusing on keeping power and bell speed high.
But these workouts are the key- the ones that aren't easy, that don't feel the greatest, where your mental strength is as challenged, or more, than your physical. These are the ones that really make you stronger.
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5/5
24 kg x 5/5/5
32 kg x 10/10 x 10 set
200 reps
14,000 lbs
a nice workload.
Goblet squats
16 kg x 5
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 4 x 4
these were easy on the legs tough on the arms! Really focused on increasing depth on this movements. Plan on cycling squats on saturdays from goblets, to one bell front squat to double.
Leopard crawls
3.5 laps of 60 feet
wanted four laps but shoulder and arms were just shot so I called it there.
Two hand arm cast
20 lbs x 8/8 x 2
25 lbs x 6/6
my pecs and shoulders were saying NO to pushups so I decided to give these a try. Seemed to work fine it will be great if I can work them back into the schedule again.
datsit. got to get ready for my ruck walk now. Weight goes up to a full 40 lbs! This could be interesting.
I had made up my mind that I was going to do H2H transfers today as my main movement. Glenn was out on business and I needed to get going on the new schedule. But as a I warmed up the snatch was calling my name.
I've accepted( after monday's session that pressing for me is out,and I thought the snatch too but I hadn't actually tried it since that last session and I thought maybe I'll play around with the gs snatch one more time just to make sure I can't snatch without pain.
I remembered this video and drill from Sergey Rudnev and since my clean technique is very strong and easy for me, and this drill is basically the same as a clean that keeps elevating I thought I would give it a go.
It actually worked pretty well. I used the 10 kg GS bell to get started and then got Tracy to watch me and coach me a little. My overhead position wasn't close to perfect but the arms were closer to my head more easily AND the elbows were straighter.
Why I had no idea. I have been hanging 3-4 times a day from 3 min to 5 min at a time and my shoulders feel better than ever and ROM is better too.
Worked up to the 12 kg for a 3-4 sets including swing/snatch practice. This felt decent and I wanted the 14 kg but it wasn't there so I gave the 16 a go.Too heavy -I was fatiguing in an entirely new motor pattern and I certainly didn't want to push it.
Was about to go into H2H swings when I thought I hadn't tried my max vo2 snatch form yet and thought I would give it a go and see how that felt.
It felt great!
Completely surprised and my overhead positions were the best I've felt in a long time.The arm was closest to my ears and although it wasn't much closer to vertical, the speed at which I do these type of snatches makes me lean into the rep at the top and that's much better than the hyper extension I've been getting trying to hold the rep at the top
Snatch Vo2 Freestyle
16 kg
25 sets of 5 reps
probably 1:2 work to rest ratio but untimed
125 reps
4500 lbs
this will progress quickly I think. I sweated buckets just like the old days but I am eons away from my pr of 80 sets o 8 in a strict 15:15 setup.
Ah but it's a worthy goal if my shoulders can stay attached :)
Walking lunges
4 laps of 120 feet
Ouch! hard freaking work but what I gift that I can actually DO these. It's amazing how well the knee bends and how quickly my legs muscles have adapted to it.
Pbar pushups horizontal
4 sets of 8-10
Blue band rear delts
4 x 12
Shoulder sled.
4 laps of 250 ft 95 lbs
tough tough tough
the good part of my SISU/neverquit attitude is toughness. The down side is sometimes just not knowing when it is BETTER to quit than to band your head against the wall forever.
I may never learn the difference but it felt great to snatch today. Whether it will tomorrow I don't know but I'm hopeful.
Plus, the 16 is NOT the 24.Should cause less damage :)
I was really excited to get started on this new path, this new project, BACK to my pressing and snatching self of old. Of where I was two years ago. I thought for sure I could, as I have so many times in the past, pull myself up by my bootstraps and WILL myself back to form.
But I don't think so this time. I mean, I could continue to just push ahead, mindlessly ignoring what my body is telling me, and accept that my overhead isn't that great and just do what I can, endlessly compensating just to put a bell overhead any way possible.
But that makes no real sense.
It's just like when I had to accept that it made no real sense at all to continue to barbell squat and put up with the pain and stiffness, using form that would make me cringe if I saw anybody else doing it to do numbers that wouldn't be warmups just a few years ago.PLUS put my only good knee at risk to do so.
It's pretty much the same now.
I don't want to say goodbye to training the overhead lifts but it looks like it makes the most sense.
I can still teach them. I can still demonstrate them. But I shouldn't train them.
My shoulders have been feeling great of late ( the impetus to go back to overhead work :) ) and the pushups and overhead hangs and shoulder bodybuilding I have been doing has been working.
And it's deceiving because my overhead strength is still good.
The 24 kg press today felt LIGHT except for all the work I had to do just fighting my own bodies restrictions ,lol.
And I could feel the old pains, the old aches and stiffness come back into my body almost immediately, as if it knew what I was planning and had MUCH other plans for me if I continued on that course.
My shoulder is as deteriorated as my knee was and certain things just are not going to work for me anymore and I have to accept that.
I have to focus on the things that I CAN do now, not the things I can't.
My G-d I can WALK without pain.
That alone should be enough. But I can squat, deeply too, a lifelong dream and with weight as well. I can lunge, I can hike and I can swing and do pushups and soon, I believe, pullups as well.
I can move through the day easily. If you would have asked a year ago if I would trade the crippled agony I was living in for my snatch workouts I would have said yes in an instant.
I was hoping I could have it all but it doesn't look like it and that's ok.
I will take this. I will love this, because, after all I AM 57 years old, rode hard and put up wet and have put in my time pressing things on this earth, that's for sure.
My body told me right after the workout that this was not the right path and I knew it was right.
I don't like it but it's the truth and the time has past where I ignore these messages, much as I have tried to this past few weeks.
Embrace what I can do, respect what I would love to still be able to do in others and enjoy every second and every breath I take.
Same with my handstands. It's just not for me anymore. I can't believe how( relatively) fast that has fallen off but I had feelings in my low back that I never want to even start to feel again after Saturday's handstands. it's just not worth it.
I tried these today as a progressive but I dont think I need to mess with it.
These felt easy, really but the few one's I kicked up into brought me crashing down fast. My balance was totally off. this new leg, the one that, thankfully was actually GROWING, was much heavier than my old one and this made what used to be as comfortably as standing on my feet completey foreign.
Can I adapt to it? Perhaps. To what end ? To what risk?
I did those things. Perhaps time to let them pass and enjoy what I still can do and all the new things I will be able to do because of my new knee and my new body.Perhaps time to let some things go. Gracefully and not with anger or regret.
Workout
one arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3
KB Press
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3 x 6
Floor pushups
5 sets of 8
Stability ball pike ups
4 sets of 3-4
Belt squats
32 kg x 20 x 4
the smaller bell makes me go lower than the 40 kg and it's much harder ,lol time to step back on one inch plates with the bigger weights.
db kickbacks
20 lbs x 10 x 4 sets
Hip sled
105 x 250 x 1 ( too heavy)
95 lb x 250ft x 2 laps
just dead. 90 + degrees and the tightness in the press were getting to me.
About 15 minutes in the hangs today. This is definitely a key corrective for me. and I've got eons to progress towards.
datsit
neverquit.
Thanks so much to Zoltan Gerlai of Szentendre Kettlebell Club Hungary for this great shirt!
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