95 lb Military press 6x5(pr), 85 lb barbell hacks, floor pushups ( pr), sled pull

Played around with Rippetoes Oly press technique and didn't really like it. It doesn't help my main problem which is the overhead position, in fact it makes it worse.
The close grip makes my lockout even more restricted and I think my layback technique is probably the best for me right now.
The Oly start does bypass the shoulder a little but I think my  technique is kind of a blend between his and a true strict press. I went up to 85 lbs with it but I didn't get a really good feeling from it so I went back.
The above video is kind of a hybrid.the grip is close and I started using some hip drive naturally so it wasn't too bad.
The PR on the press was just an extra set. I didn't look at the number before so I wasn't sure. The good news is that the weight felt light in my hands

Military press
 stick x million
45 x 5 x 2
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5 x 6 sets

Barbell hacks
55 x 12
75 x 12
85 x 10 x 4

these were done more slowly than usual. felt very solid. heavier and lower reps felt good.

Floor pushups
17 PR!
15
14
12

best floor pushup session yet.

Sled drag
105 lbs  250 ft x 4 laps

legs felt solid, endurance good too think the work capacity is on the upswing again, we'll see Wednesday with another round of swing Vo2 with the 24 kg

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck; Strong , Fast , Heavy and Easy

Well this was a nice shocker. Started out strong and easy and stayed that way! Legs felt light, the pack felt like and each lap was seriously fast. Best ruck ever. Pack weight was 48 lbs and felt like my walking posture was the most upright ever.

Timed my 11th lap at 7:45 and I don't think any of the others were slower, probably faster. Just one of those good days :)
So nice when that happens.
Wore the combat boots and they worked great too

Ruck
12 laps
48 lb ruck
12 iso squats
15,160 steps
1:55 min ( including walk to and from park)
PR

bodyweight 163.2 lbs
Going to re tool my press tomorrow and play with Rippetoe's Oly style start. See how that works
Plus my new Oly shoes are due in too, though I doubt they will arrive in time for the workout

datsit
neverquit

32 kg One arm swings, 32 kg belt squats, horiz bar pushups, leopard crawls

Good to be starting to feel strong again,always amazing how much the top end even a short layoff can cause. It comes back quickly but man it disappears quick as well
After how heavy the 24 kg felt on Wednesday it's good that it felt light today. Today was a solid workout; speed power and endurance all felt good. And since this is the test weight that's a good thing,

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
24 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets
200 reps
14,000 lbs

this wasn't bad at all good power throughout.

Belt squats
32 kg x 15 x 4 sets

these went very well. was able to keep chest up the best ever. definitely improving

Horiz bar pushups/feet on bench
15, 14, 13, 10

done very slow and strict. also getting way strong, last reps of the last set were pauses too at bottom

Leopard Crawls
3 laps of 50 ft

hard, as usual but done :)
 full weight ruck tomorrow! back to the yoke, literally

datsit
neverquit

Thursday Ruck

Recovery good from yesterday. Most of the work in the glutes and legs. No back involvement at all Perfect :)

Today
39 lb Ruck
5000 steps
60 minutes

nice and hot out.

Shoulder responding well to the waiting out the tension wall stretch done in grease the groove fashion all day. Just had to find the right version of this to try. This is working out well

ok rest day tomorrow then 32 kg swings on Saturday

datsit
neverquit

24 kg Swing Vo2 15 min, walking lunges, parallel pushups, leopard crawls

Back to work.

These weren't that hard but I expected it to be easier, frankly. I hit all the sets on the 15 sec mark but I had to start double breathing around the 8 minute mark, which surprised me. I was ready to go longer into the recovery time but it wasn't necessary.
Trying to keep peak acceleration up was the hard thing. Even the 24 kg gets heavy when you get tired.
Still, all in all a successful workout with this.
I want this day to be about speed so I'm wondering do I cycle the weights ( i.e 20 ,22, 24 kg) or just the time/sets ( 15, 17 20 minutes) ? Only time will tell I guess and for now we'll try to up the time each week the re cycle.
Just an experiment

Swing Vo2
24 kg
15:15
10 reps per set
30 sets
300 reps
15,900 lbs work

I was breathing like a freight train towards the end . sounds terrible but it's the best way for me to get enough O2.. I remember breathing like this when I was climbing hills on my race bike, too. :) Feels about the same. Ack.

Walking Lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

these felt excellent today, especially after the swing torture. balances out my leg tension too; this is quads the swings hips and hams

Parallel bar pushups
15, 15, 14, 12

these were solid too

Spent a lot of time today stretching my right arm overhead statically for long periods as well as doing lots of little PNF type rom stuff with bodyweight as well as very light object ( 2 lbs) Not moving it much hasn't helped so I'm going to move it a lot

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 70 ft.
these felt strong for the first time in forever. about freaking time!

Light ruck tomorrow. Looking forward to it really missed Sunday's hike

datsit
neverquit

100 Lb Military Press 5 x 3 Pr. Barbell hacks, floor pushups, sled pull

Well right back into the mix after a very good weekend at the StrengthMatters summit. My talk went over very well and it was actually great fun, with the powerpoint to really help make the events I was talking about real,and come alive

The rest of the presenters and weekend was actually very very good and I learned a lot and had a great time as well. A very diverse and eclectic bag of information and people for sure got their monies worth!

Not much activity for me and not being able to really stretch out my shoulders well took a toll by this morning. Luckily they opened up fast. I can get my knee and hips opened well on the floor but I really need a stick and a bar to hang from ideally, and a trx is possible.No biggie but it always amazes me how tight and stiff I can get from doing nothing! it's not like not moving is an option.

Luckily today was no volume but it was overhead work. Getting the shoulders overhead at work all day helped a lot

Didn't know how I would feel either but I just kept putting weight on the bar to see how things felt and ended up at 100 lbs, didn't remember my pr but looking back it was just 3 sets of 3. 5 x 3 is a a decent pr!

Military press
 stick x million
bar x 5 ,3
65 x 5
75 x 3
85 x 3
100 x 3 x 5 PR

this is a very interesting take on the military press by mark rippetoe


not sure i like the fast start technique for me but it's interesting indeed.

Barbell Hacks
35 x 15
55 x 12
65 x 12  x 4

now these burned, lol!

Floor pushups
 15, 14, 12, 10

varied the hand width each set getting close for three then back to regular for the last. Tri's are cooked!

Hip sled
105 x 250 x 4

ok body is feeling more normal now:)

stretch out again tomorrow and get ready for Wed and 30 sets of 10 with the 24 kg

datsit
neverquit

Thursday Ruck 47.5 lbs

Since I'm out of town this weekend at the StrengthMatters summit I decided to use the full weight ruck for today's short one. It wasn't easy, especially after yesterdays work. But it got done.

Ruck wt 47.5
one hour
7276 steps
Continuous , no iso squats

this was tough. very hot and was sweating bullets. this will take some adaptation. the lowas continue to fit better every walk very solid pace with Tracy along as well. This heat training is important as I know the Ft Bragg ruck will be in summer and hot as hell.

I am NOT heat conditioned at all of late. Haven't done Bikrams in many years. that did help. as well as being 147 lbs ,lol

90lb Military press, barbell hacks, floor pushups, sled

Solid one today. Moved up to 90 lbs right and schedule and still got a strong 5 x 5. Could have done more sets but am still feeling a bit tired and over adrenalized so now is not the time to push anymore. This was just a solid, workingman style workout and the numbers were still good. The time change is not good for me and I still feel a wee bit jetlagged. Amazing what consistently waking up at a bad time can do to you. Not a big problem but definitely not optimal

Mil press
stick x million
bar x 5
65 x 5
75 x 3
90 x 5 x 5

Barbell Hacks
35 x 15
55 x 12 x 4 sets

these are strong but legs are definitely tired. Might have to re arrange the leg schedule soon ; as I get stronger and do more loads I have to wave them more I think. It's coming up, all the leg work is deeper and heavier and for more sets and reps.
they need to be a bit fresher.

Floor pushups
15, 13, 12, 10

VERY solid shoulder working well

Hip Sled
250 ft x 4 laps

not bad considering how tired my legs have been.

Ok a day off then probably some kind of 28 kg swing work on wednesday. even if I do 8 minutes it will give me a solid idea of what my condition is for a 32 kg swing test when rested. Do have the Summit this weekend so it's probably not a great idea to trash myself too much :)

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck steady and slow

As is usually the case after a beast swing workout the next day's ruck is slow and hard. Nothing sore(especially my lower back) validating my theory on the oly shoes for swinging, again. But the calves, thighs and glutes were pretty tired for the first 8 laps then just plain beat for the last four.

This is basically "pre- exhaust" training, ala the old bodybuilding technique of doing isolation exercises before compound ones to really target a muscle.Pretty much the same here and by the last laps it was as much a mental exercise as it was physical.

Just put one leg in front of the other.:) Don't quit and , towards the end don't even stop because it makes it harder

Got my iso squats in about 9 sets as some sets it was just easier to keep moving

47.4 lbs ruck
twelve laps
two hours 10 minutes
17,300 steps! must have been walking with small strides

time to roll and stretch out and a hot bath!

presses tomorrow

datsit.neverquit

48 kg One Arm Swings ( 150 reps), 48kg belt squats, horiz pushups, crawls

this is last months 48 kg set without Oly shoes


Interesting workout. Not feeling very fresh as left QL got a little wonky after greasing the groove the last two days with horiz TRX rows, My shoulder feels really good but my ql for some reason was tight so it wasn't a great night's sleep

Still had my mind on 150 total reps at 5/5 focusing on power drive and acceleration since we are doing so many reps on the other day. Didn't feel weak but it took forever to warmup even though it was pretty warm in the gym as 8 am already. Summer is here it seems, forgetting spring again.

Of course, if we don't get some rain soon it will matter not at all :(
Plus, the was the first time in Oly shoes with this weight. took awhile but definitely felt my glutes and legs getting tired not my back so that's good.

One arm swings

16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5 ( not great jumps not really warm yet)
48 kg x 5/5 x 15 sets
150 reps
15,900 lbs work

Every set after ten was a "wait and see if this is the last one" but it worked out. Finally got 'warm' at set 8 .lol

this is the last time I did 48  kg for a pr of 154 reps in 11 sets of 7/7

Belt squats
4 sets of 10 48 kg
these felt very solid and standing on the plate was perfect.getting good ankle and knee flexion here.



Horizonal p bar pushups
4 sets of 13, 14, 15, 15

shoulder felt great, these were solid

Leopard crawls
3 sets of 60 feet. feeling much better than wednesday.

ok not bad at all. Glad things finally warmed up.
big ruck tomorrow then we'll what happens Wed. Scheduled for 28 kg swing test but not sure I should do it this close to my presentation on Sat. Should be ok but we'll see how things go with presses on Monday.
Always another day to train!

datsit
Neverquit

Thurday Ruck strong and fast

Not too banged up from yesterday. Hamstrings more sore than expected and shoulder was tight on wakeup
Had a full hour+ for stretchout and that helped a lot. Did some hanging rows from the TRX and that seemed surprisingly good for the shoulder. did another 3 sets throughout the morning and it felt very 'right'. Will continue.

Decided to work the shoulder's ROM more aggressively throughout the day as well and spend WAY more time with my arm overhead any way I can. Lots of arm lifts in every angle that I could think of focusing on moving from the shoulder blade and not the hand.
It seemed to have helped as well. We'll see,

Did two sets of 3 minutes passive waiting out the tension , It worked 'so so' but perhaps it will get better.Also spent time hanging from the pullup bar and that was obvious I haven't been doing enough of it! Could barely get my heels to the ground and I used to be completely flat footed!  LOTS of tightness in ribs serratus, abs, etc. Time to get back on that too



Ruck
one hour
6 laps
37.4 lb pack

solid pace around 8:15  per lap. Boots are wearing in fine and feet didn't hurt at all. Solid walk

Snatch vo2 35 sets, walking lunges, parallel pushups. crawls

Just not quite there yet. Slept much better last night and feel almost un 'jet lagged' but my body wasn't quite ready for this much speed with my arm overhead. I haven't been stretching out as much overhead because my shoulder feels better just day to day EXCEPT when it has to go overhead.

I thought it might translate ( feeling better) to a better overhead position today but it was not to be.
The workload ( 35 sets of 7) wasn't bad it was fighting my OH position that was. Just need way more time in AND I think I have to adopt a 'waiting out the stretch reflex" approach, as I did with my knee, to the shoulder with a lightly loaded bar.

Of course it could just be a bad day :)

Snatch vo2
15:15
16 kg
35 sets of 7
245 snatches
8820 lbs

Used double breathing for the first time in this and it definitely made it easier except it was harder to focus  on the actual snatch technique or the count. I actually think I need to go back to low rep snatch work and hammer out technique here and focus on the swing vo2 for the workload.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps
pretty strong actually and the knee's touched grass almost every rep

parallel bar pushups
14, 12, 11, 10

shoulders were cooked

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 50, 60 70 feet

tough as always

ok ruck tomorrow then Beast swings on Saturday

datsit
neverquit

85 lb Military press,lying triceps ext, barbell hacks sled pull

Hard one today. I truly hate Day light saving time. I get up at 4 am and to me, standard time  is the REAL time. Because 4 am is early morning and I can deal with that. THREE AM is middle of the frickin' night and when we switch to DST it's the middle of the night for me and it sucks every year
This was no exception.
I just got done with jet lag ,lol
But I put my big boy pants on and got it done. It wasn't pretty but it got done.

Good news is that I felt great, physically this morning after the weekends training, just brain tired.

Mil Press
 stick x 3 x 10
bar x 5
65 x 5
65 x 3
75 x 3
85 x 6 x 5

strong but head not into it.overall solid and it's nice to know I can do this weight with good form now with out complete focus. a good sign and overhead position decent


Lying triceps ext
45 x 15 x 2
55 x 10 ( too much ?)
45 x 12 x 3

this was bothering my shoulder. Might have to go back to flat pushups or another tri move

barbell hacks
75 x 15 x  4 sets

solid but just tired and just getting through it.

Sled pull
102 x 250 ft x 3 laps

datsit I'm done. Nap and food time Snatch vo2 on Wed and I have adapting to do

neverquit

Sunday Ruck, strongest ever

Two things, when you substitute a weight in your ruck, weigh it first.
Two, you just never know when you're going to be very strong.

I subbed out 10 lbs of kitty litter for a ten lbs plate. The second back of litter was making the pack too bottom heavy so I put the plate in a pouch very close to my back in the ruck. It made it much more carry-able.

Also,my lowas definitely loosened up and felt the most comfortable yet. They aren't supposed to need breaking in , but as light as they are they are still a real hiking boot and were way stiffer than my combat boots the first four times out. Much better today and I can see how they will adapt and shape to my feet.

And the ruck walk was my strongest ever. I didn't get a chance to stretch out due to day light saving time so I just geared up and got going but I was strong from the start. Legs felt good, back was awesome ( swinging with the oly shoes has had a great effect on my back as well) and each lap was FAST

I timed the 6th lap and it was around 8 min even without even trying. Last lap was 7 :43 easy

Also ten iso squats for 30-45 seconds each. strong too.


But when I got home and weighed the pack it was only 44.8 lbs!!!! SO I weighed the 10 lb plate : 7.8 lbs!!! shit.
Now I don't think the extra weight would have made that much of a negative difference but it pissed me off.
Added in another 2.5 lb plate that actually weighs 2.5 lbs Back up to 47.4 lb of last week

Plenty of time to walk more and heavier :)

44.8 lb ruck
15,891 steps
two hours 5 min

good stuff presses tomorrow

datsit
neverquit!

40 kg One Arm Swings( 132),40 kg belt squats,parallel pushups, crawls

We had a visitor today to Stones, an old friend and training partner and everyone showed up so it was a five man rotation. I wasn't worried at all about the extra rest: I was ready to go heavy and slow! After all this swing test, met con max vo2 and swing vo2 work I was ready for some heavy stuff with lots of rest between sets!

Somehow we ended up finishing earlier than ever but it was grand. My pr is 10 sets of 7/7 but I decided to take the edge off with just 6's and it was strong. I could have done 8's for sure but I need to back it up a bit.

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
40 kg x 6/6 x 11 sets
132 reps
11,616 lbs  not bad work load at all

it was strong,light and easy and I'm definitely adapting to, and digging, swinging in my Oly shoes. When I finished the workout my legs and glutes were pumped and my low back felt great. The heel gives me just 'that' much more anterior tilt and I need all I can get!
Can't wait to get my new Risto's next month , they should be great! Just like these but in black with white trim

Belt squats
40 kg x 12  x 4 sets

these went great! stood on two 20 kg plates and got just that extra depth I was looking for. These are definitely back in the mix. Need the leg work and tomorrows iso squats take the place of the goblets no problem

Pushups ( parallel bar feet on bench)
13, 12, 11, 10
best I've done them. shoulders felt great

Leopard crawls
3 sets of 60 feet

good finisher but sometime I 've got to do these when I'm not beat already!

ok dats it. two hour 47 lb ruck tomorrow

neverquit

Thursday Ruck 37lbs 6 laps

Tracy and I are now on a thursday ruck schedule and we're back on track. A bit hotter than warm this afternoon and I remember how not heat adapted I am currently. The weight felt good but not light and the lowas were still feeling a bit stiff.

Had an easy 5000 steps in before the start and my feet felt good in the ruck but I can definitely tell things are more fatigued than at the start of my sunday walk.

Yesterdays met con work didn't help but as we are back on track it soon should be getting easier

37.4 lbs
6 laps
60 minutes

datsit. tomorrow is full on rest day and then 40kg one arm swings on Saturday. Good to do something heavy and SLOW!

neverquit

24 kg swing Vo2 30 sets/10, walking lunges, pushups, leopard crawls

I'll be honest, this one had me a bit worried. Last week was hard so I knew this week would be much harder although I didn't really know how much. Turned out, a lot. BUT as I suspected at a certain point the extra weight of the bell makes it easier to load the back swing fast enough to get a powerful up swing without more effort.

Where the intersection of that help from gravity and the effort to produce the upswing diverge I don't know but today wasn't it.20 sets ( the actual test 200 reps) wasn't that bad, in retrospect. But the next 10 were pretty stinkin' tough. Bell height seemed good.
Doing this with the 24 kg will be hell for me, that's for sure. But I'm taking my time building up to it AND all the heavier stuff I have been doing is definitely paying off-I just don't see( or feel) that the 24 kg is heavy anymore so it's much easier to "throw it around"
I was actually double breathing the last 5 or so sets and the back is fine.
Grip was fine,lower back was fine, but the cardio test was serious. Having a real countdown clock to work with helped immensely; not knowing exactly when to start the next set was tough last week. I tried to "go" on the 12 or 13th second and it worked well. Just bend down and start.
I definitely like the Oly shoes as well. Better hinge, stronger ascent and balance overall and LESS on my lower back.
SERIOUS overall leg pump, too. :)


Feels like I get a better balance of hips AND thigh in the movement
 16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5

24 kg x 10 x 30 sets every 30 seconds
300 reps
15,900lb work

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

this seemed positively easy after what I had just done. legs were solid.

Horiz bar pushups,feet on bench
15, 14, 12,10

I like this angle. strong.

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 70, 60, 50 feet

always a tough finisher.
glad that's over

datsit
neverquit

75 lb Military press, triceps extensions, barbell hacks, sled pulls

Starting my press cycle over again at 75% of max, which is a convenient 100lbs :) easy math. Fives would have been too easy so I went to  six rep sets which weren't hard either. haven't pressed in two weeks so it was a little slow start, plus I am still a bit tight from getting thrown right back in the volume mix but hey, it's no big deal

Mil Press
 stick x 10 x 3-5
bar x 5
65 x 5
75 x 6 x 8 sets
54 reps

Lying triceps bar extension
35 x 12 x 2
45 x 12 x 4

decided to do some isolation tricep work as two pushup sessions per week is probably good right now, especially as the press work goes up too. We'll see how these go might have to vary the exercise every so often

Barbell hacks squats
55 x 12 x  2
65 x 12 x 3
75 x 12

these went great. legs actually felt strong, not tired!

Sled pulls
102 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

actually made four laps today haven't done that in awhile

ok lots of rest to get before wednesdays swing vo2 with the 24 kg!

datsit
neverquit.

Sunday ruck; 47.4 lbs and heavy as she goes

This was tougher than expected. Got a good night's sleep and got started earlier than usual. Nice and cool at the beginning and the first five laps were excellent. That last 7 not so much fun :)
First off the pack felt heavy and it was, 47.4 is a PR and I didn't think the few things I added weighed that much but I don't think that was the issue. I'm just a bit tired from coming back from travel and the first weeks true training again.

No worries, it will push me back to condition fast but it's my 58th birthday today and there was no way I was not going to get all 12 laps. Not today :)
Nothing hurt but everything was just tired. Definitely not a reason to quit
ok

12 laps
10 isometric squats
47.4 lbs
15,000 steps
Two hours ten minutes

that much closer to the Ft Bragg GoRuck Challenge weight of 55 lbs Still have a LONG way to go but that is the point.

The main focus today was not losing focus; not getting mentally distracted by the effort and just staying in the groove. One step at a time, one lap at a time, breathing, moving fluidly, pose walking and letting gravity help me.

Two hour moving meditation.  That's the idea

datsit
neverquit