"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."
Very strange one. Again, no show training partners at the last minute. I was pretty much expecting this but still through things off enough. Plus I was sore as hell! All over but especially hammies , glutes and shoulders. Weird but the 200 40 kg swings always get my front delts more than any other weight or rep combo
Nothing tweaked just sore
Focus today was on unracking the bar with just the knees and pre locking in the arch from the hips and lower back, and then initiating the drive from the hips
All of which I did BUT I forgot ( of course til after, just a bit ago) to have enough upward tension against the bar to start it as high as possible. And push back towards the face a bit
Which explains why I was just THAT much out of position even though the start felt good. Ended up pushing the bar straight up which makes it go forward
But hey, I was happy I was making the weights at all
65 85 105 x 3 135 x 2 155 x 1 175 x 1 195 x 1
205 x 1
215 x 1220 x 1 ( all of these are not locked out as the lack of start tension drove me back too muchthis was a second attempt after a forward push miss 212.5205 x 1 x 5 ( not including 2 misses!)
135 x 5 pauses x 3 sets ( no one to set weight on back for dips, this worked well tho)
one arm laterals 3 x 8/ with 20 Pullaparts 3 x 30 red band
Woke up a bit tight but no worse for wear but decided to put squat stretches back in the mix each lap and see how things went; as far as leg looseness or tightness, speed per lap and overall time
Surprisingly overall time was just about the same which means lap times went down and bit as did leg looseness
I figure I could use the extra squat time as well as I'm doing the least amount of direct leg work than I have in the last 7 years
Felt good at the time but now, 5 hours later I can feel some DOMS coming on already, lol. Tomorrow could be good
45 lb Ruck
12 laps 13,391 steps top speed 3.7 mph 12 lap time 1:50 door to door 1:54
Well I got my ass punished, that's for sure. First off both training partners out. Last one at last minute. Good. I get to walk my talk about being able to train alone
Then shit sleep as my sick cat got me up at least three times and did not really get much solid rest
Good. Embrace the suck
I did. and it sucked ,lol
I ended up going faster than I thought I would but I gave myself 2.5 min /sets for the first five then 3 min for the last five but usually our workout, when we're all here, is 1.5 hours . Today I was done in one hour
No wonder I wanted to puke
Definitely went hard on each rep of each set but by set five I was pumped ( not good) feeling the lactic acid and although my HR wasn't that high ( 125?!) , my respiration was and I was a hurting unit
One arm swings 16 kg x 5/5 x 2 20 kg x 5/5 24 kg x 4/4 28 kg x 4/4 32 kg x 4/4 40 kg x 10/10 x 10
set five then last set
Pistols top down full reps alternate sides 3 sets of 2/2 3 times
red band pullaparts
3 sets of 30 ( to chest, then each side angled)
actually did these because I was hurtin and the dbs seemed harder these were hard too
BW 175.4 ! wow where the hell did that come from? BF 13.3 W 57.7
Not bad actually. to be 13.3 with that little hydration is great. that would put me at 10.3 at a full 60%
I went into the house, still in training gear and just lay flat on my back for 20 min, I was cooked
Had two cancellations back to back which let me get out on the ruck way early. So nice instead of 12:30 to have some cool morning air. And a nice cool breeze :)
This worked great! Setting up with both the elbows AND the hips in the starting press position seems to be key. Just straightening out the knees on the unrack. Hips get and stay in front of the bar and I'm arched but not leaning back.
Felt great
175 5 sets of 2
185 x 5 sets of 2 I will start adding in some overload stand up( unracking) for 8-10 sec holds next wednesday. Start with 205 and then 225 ( plates!) after these ten sets. I think this will be good but we'll see
24 kg swings 5 sets of 8/8
10 sets of 10/10 with the 40 this saturday should be stimulating
Floor pushups
3 sets of 50
these go perfectly here!
BW 178 BF 13.3 !! W 57.8
1 pm BW 177.8 BF 10.8 !! ( wow! first time this low in forever!) W 60.1 LBM 158.6
Back on track and again and Monday feels fine. Tried switching it twice and now I know. this is the day. Overall very happy with today although definitely was 'off' compared to what I want. It's also my second heavy day in seven so not so bad from that perspective, either
Body felt good, plus I was heavy ( 177) and slept well. Plenty of mental prep and stretch time so no excuses there
Warmups went well too
Press 65 85 105 x 2 135 x 1 155 x 1 175 x 1 195 x 1 205 x 1
Definitely not loading my hips enough and leaking through the knees/ I got the chest up technique right but not the hips. I tried to initiate through the hips first BUT because I wasn't hip locked in my knees gave then onto 215This went pretty well actually. the best starting hip position and tighness yet. but unfortunately not on the next three at 220
Looking at the videos now I see I had the bar too high on my chest and that's what put the bar back over my heels so much. I struggled with lockout balance a lot today. then down to 205 for 4 singles ( second rep miss! ?) 205 x 1 third set
205 x 1 5th set( best of the bunch)
then wt pushups on parallettes bw x 10 53 x 10 x 3
one arm laterals 3 x 8/8 20s bent laterals 3 x 10 20
Not bad although I thought having such an easy day yesterday would have made today faster and easier but no go
I think I'm still flat from the adrenaline dump I got from my cat's near death experience two weeks ago, 24 hr nursing and sitting on death watch will do that I supose. Feeling stronger but I'm more sore than usual for no real reason except for that
45 lb Ruck
12 laps
13,653 steps
1:50 for the 12
basic 16 min miles steady as she goes which ain't bad if I think about it
This went well. I always think right before this workout that I should up the reps to 10 per arm to make it harder. And I'm always quickly reminded this is quite enough. With the lighter bell my force output is actually higher because it's moving both faster and higher and we always take less rest too. So it's harder that way
But the load was solid technique was on, legs and lungs were fine and it was nice not to have to push quite so hard
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2 20 kg x 5/5 24 kg x 4/4 32 kg x 8/8 x 10
Pistol practice Same method as last week. worked great
Got to start an hour early today ( 11 am instead of high noon ) and it was great. Nice and cool and a bit overcast and it make the ruck much nicer. Legs felt good although not fresh yet
Nothing fast but steady pace the whole way and shins and calves were perfect
Well that didn't work well. Perhaps it was not enough rest even though I felt fine physically; good even. Big thick, not sore at all. But no go at all. Didn't help I worked right up to walking into the gym with no mental or physical prep time like usual.
But it shouldn't have made me this off
Good news, all my positions were correct, even on the misses
Bad news, I missed a lot
Press
65 85 105 x 2 135 x 2 155 x 1 175 x 1 eh 195 x 1 meh 205 x miss forward. always a tell
205 x 1 make but ugly and not easydefinitely not feeling 215 so I took 210 and couldn't lock it out!then down to 205, again ugly195 x 1 meh again. position and technique is actually fine just beat tired and flat then 185 x 1 x 10 sets! finally started warming up ,lol at set five these were actually good 24 kg swings
5 sets of 8/8
one arm laterals 3 x 8/8 20s rear delts 3 x 10 20s
This worked out perfectly and man was I ready for a light day. I felt rode hard and put up wet today and all day yesterday too. Just tired. CNS drop off from the heavy bells and all the hyper alertness with petunia being on death watch all week.
So today's workload was perfect and after my normal four sets to warmup the movement got a little peppy and all the pieces fit together. Wednesday should be interesting
Press
65 85 105 x 2
135 x 2 155 x 2 175 x 2 x 8 sets
set four
set eightPretty identical technique from start to finish and exactly the form I was shooting for. Very happy with finally understanding what I should be doing
Well that was hard. The super heavy swings and the con and eccentric pistols took their toll and I had to work for every step today
That's fine, I haven't had a hard one like that in awhile and its good to remember they're all not fast and loose and that it's about the work, especially when you don't want to do it
Especially then
I just kept telling myself to shut up just keep going and not even think about cutting it short
I wasn't hurt, I wasn't in any jeopardy, it was just hard, and boring and my head wasn't in it but that's when you just do it and suffer
EMBRACE THE SUCK INDEED
Not too slow overall really, all things considered
This went better than expected. Since I haven't swung the 68 in two months and last months 60 kg workout was just 'getting back on the horse' after my rib injury I was very very pleased with my strength, technique and power today.
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2 20 kg x 5/5 24 kg x 4/4 28 kg x 4/4 32 kg x 4/4 36 kg x 4/4 40 kg x 4/4 44 kg x 4/4 48 kg x 4/4 60 kg x 5/5 x 7 sets 68 kg x 5/5 x 3 sets
This felt as good as the ones three months ago looked. Can't complain
Pistol practice 3 sets of 1 bottoms up followed by one regular rep , switch sides and repeat 3 times 6 total reps per leg, per set
this felt very good doing it this way, the combo of concentric only, a full eccentric/concentric rep and the fatigue sparing effects of alternating legs. I think this is the combo for now
Db laterals/rear delts 3 x 10/10 with 15s
BW 176.0 BF 13.5 W 57.6
New schedule Decided to switch heavy press day to Wednesday. I've had tired legs the last four mondays from the heavy swings and rucking and no rest afterwards. Gettin' old I guess but I don't want to go into my most important lift tired anymore
The key is keeping Monday LIGHT ( no more than 175 lbs ) and putting rep pushup day on Wednesday not monday ( as I did the last time I tried this)
SO:
Monday Speed press 175 x 2 x 8 sets ( only!)
Wt pushups 3 x 8 laterals/ rear delts
Wednesday Heavy Press singles Speed swings Floor pushups
Saturday Heavy swings Pistols One arm laterals/rear delts ( heavy)
lets see how this works. It makes the most sense. It gives me a full days rest after Monday and time to eat up as well as rest up
This went very very well, despite being very sore from Monday's out of the groove work. It's pretty distinct on the days I grind out of the groove versus in it as I'm am much more muscularly sore from not having correct leverage. So it wasnt very fast or easy today BUT the techniques were right, and they held even at 185 for the second rep
Press
65 85 105 x 3 135 x 2 singles 155 x 2 175 x 2 x 5 sets
I knew it was going to be tough when 175 felt heavy. Not a good sign. The ruck feeling heavy and slow yesterday wasn't good too and with my cat tuna being very sick sleep has not been good.
But, all things considered it wasn't too bad, Anytime I can press 220 can I call it a bad workout? Nope
The technique held very well just a few gliches on some sets ( 215 and 225). I can't try to 'sneak' my hips forward at all on the unracking. If I do I shift weight a bit onto my heels, and even a little bit messes me up
Jumped from 215 miss to 220 and made it. thought it was a technical miss and it was
the next two misses at 225 were technically sound, if not perfect. But I could have made them if I had had a little more gas in the tank. But all signs are good then five singles with 205, still hadn't really groked the not letting the hips forward at all til the last set! Of course
Floor pushups
3 x 50
don't know where this came from but I'll take it
one arm laterals
3 x 8/8 with 20s
bent laterals
3 x 10 with 20s
BW 176.8 BF 14.7
12 noon BW 177.8 BF 11.5 W 59.3 ( bath)
EDIT : I JUST REALIZED THAT I WAS SO FOCUSED ON MY HIP AND LEG POSITION I FORGOT THE PUSH UP INTO THE BAR AND CONNECT THE CHEST UP WITH THE PELVIC UPWARD TILT. THE RIBS PULL THE PELVIS UP! DUH~!
Did not have one fast ruck but still came in 12 min ahead for the 12 laps. Legs were surpisingly slow and heavy day , it must have been the deeper pistols from yesterday and even the lungs took longer than usual to open up
But they did and I got a decent steady clip going with a good finish
45 lb ruck 12 laps 1:50 min Last lap 8:00 13,750 steps speed 3.2-3.4 mph
This was a good one. Set my focus on getting more height and hang time with this weight and it worked out very well. Best heavy session since I tweaked my rib 5 weeks ago. Weight didn't feel heavy and concentration and teshnik were good
We ended up going at a fast pace; by accident, a 2.5 min total trip for each of the three of us. Not bad at all, it wasn't easy but it didn't impede power, either
One arm swing
16 kg x 5/5 x 2 20 kg x 5/5 24 kg x 5/5 28 kg x 4/4 32 kg x 4/4 36 kg x 4/4 40 kg x 4/4 48 kg x 6/6 x 10 ( video is fifth set
Concentric only pistol practice
this was very solid and the best since my right knee was wonky a month ago, too. Perhaps some of the best reps I've done. I like this approach, especially the concentric only but I just realized I can't do it all the time as I need to keep developing my eccentric strength too
So, every other week this technique.Next week can be the same start but then regular reps
Wasn't quite ready for the 90 deg heat, especially after a nice 75 degree day the day before but after very little sleep the night before ( cat is sick) it was just the icing on the cake
Decided to do just two miles as sleep would help me more than another two laps
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