215, 220 x 1 press, 225 miss, wt pushups. laterals rear delts

 Great freaking day! FINALLY!~! Realized a big thing, that in order to keep my knees locked at the start of the press and to keep them from unlocking as I press I have to focus on the knees and NOT the quads.

Literally just getting bone lock of the knee

I thought about that cue during warmups and man it worked great. The only reason I missed the 225 was that I didn't hold the lock as I pressed but all the reps I did with locked knees went well. Plus I have no isometric strength in that position so all things considered

Also key is pushing bar to face. On my first 225 attempt I was so focused on knee locked that I pushed up instead of back and the bar went out in front.

But I am pumped as I now feel I really know how to keep the base solid . this 220 lbs press was probably the fastest I've ever done it. I'll check  but it was fast. Faster than the 215 right before it

Press
65 85 105 x 2
135 x 2
155 x1
175 x 1 FAST!
195 x 1 best ever
205 x 1 ( pushed UP a little too much)

but went ahead to 215 and while too far up instead of back too it was solid

this is the next fastest 220 I've done I think back in march 2020

then 225 x miss then this second 225 attempt. this is where the knees really loosened

then 205 x 1 x 4 sets

wt pushups
bw x 10
53 x 10 x 3 hold at lockout each rep. I really like pausing at the top now here, makes total sense Plus really keep elbows in to target triceps

one arm laterals
3 x 10/10 with 20
bent laterals
3 x10 with 20

db  hammer curls
2 x 10
band reverse curl
3 x 10

really need to put reverse curls in the mix

BW 176.8
BF 14.5

45 lb Ruck

 

Not bad considering the volume of yesterday. Legs felt great until the last three laps, then they just got tired. But finished strong. Mind is stronger of late so that's good. This workout is, really, the most important one I do all week. For my legs, my back, my lungs and especially my heart. I've got to re focus on that. This is the real key to my health and longevity. The press is just vanity. 

Rucking and swings, the real foundation of my strength, health, longevity and overall long term health

45 lb ruck
12 laps
1:50 min
7.2 mph

10 squat stretches. Getting used to these again and they feel good and give me a short break each lap

BW 176.8
BF 15.

40 kg One Arm swings 10 sets of 10/10, pistol practice, laterals

 This went well and could have been bad. Too much neck flexion last week put some strain on my C7-T 1/2 discs and my traps have been tight all week. Not terrible but certainly not 'right' either. I was worried whether I could swing the 40 kg at all without making it worse. Felt decent yesterday and pretty much fine this morning but you never know til you pick up the bell

Of course once I could swing it safely I still had to do 200 high powered reps and that's always hard.
But it got done and power output stayed high for most of the ten sets and 20 reps

one arm swings
16 kg x 5/5
20kg 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

200 reps
17,600 lbs work

pistol practice
3 sets of 4/4   

Laterals  3 x 10/10 with 15s

BW 176.2
BF 13.5    

W 57.6      

Hot ruck

 Not super hot but definitely in the hot category and happy to say it was pretty decent. Mainly as I re set my mindset and accepted and embraced the heat, which is key. Actually to any suffering. The more you fight it the worse it gets.

Embrace the sweat, embrace the heat. Get in great shape for the heat season

Macht Nicht. 

45 lb ruck

6 laps

3.6 miles

50 min for the laps 55 min overall

steady state and solid

BW 177
BF 14.2

185 lb press x 2 x 4 sets, 195 lb press x 2 x 4 sets, 24 kg swings floor pushups

 

Really solid one. All the techniques worked great. Also learned I have to focus more on leg( quad) tightness as much  or more than glutes and keep tension in the arms after the unracking before I press
the rest worked great

135 x 2
155 x 1
175 x 2 x 2 ( really sore from monday)
185 x 4 sets ( above)

195 x 2 x 4 sets  ( sets 2 and 4 below)

after I unrack  get motionless, tighten the quads and arms and keep the head looking at X on ceiling but don't overarch
Then, drive bar back into face and hips do their thing reflexively
All good!

24 kg swings
5 x 8/8 

upper t spine still wonky from Saturday better but not perfect 

floor pushups

2 x 50
1 x 40

those heavier sets took something

BW 177.2
BF 14.2

215 lb press x 2 singles,220 x 1, 205 x 1 x 4, wt pushups, laterals

 Despite having about 4.5 hours sleep ( stupid cat) this went well. MUCH better than expected. Made some mistakes in the beginning sets( losing tightness as I started the push). I hit 215 for two singles ( not great but  close enough to lockout to  please me) and 3 attempts at 220 , the second one I almost locked out ( and we lost to video error) and then 4 decent down sets with 205 very fast , especially when I realized I have to keep the glutes tight as I push to face

I must have been relaxing just as I initiated the press BUT pushing first to the chin/face definitely is a keeper

65 85 105 x 2
135 x 2
155 x 1 fast
175 x 1 fast
195 x 1 loose knees

205 x 1

then 215 for two singles. not perfect but hadn't started focusing enough on keeping tight glutes AS I pushed to face 

set one, let my glutes relax and knees flexed.

then my 220 three attempts. first just too loose in hips, second I actually MADE but the video got cut out and this was my third. The second attempt wasn't pretty but I got it locked out as much as the 215

then 4 sets of 205 solid

 overall very happy with today's training. this approach seems very doable, and leaves me wiggle room for adjusting on the fly.
Key Cues
1) come to complete stop after unracking
2) flex glutes and legs
3) drive bar to face and KEEP glutes tight

wt pushups on parallettes

bw x 10
53 x 10 x 3 hold at lockout
need to start doing this and pausing longer at the lockout.

one arm laterals
3 x 10/10 with 20

bent laterals

3 x 10 with 20s

BW 177.4
BF 14.4

12 noon ( bath)
BW 178.00
BF 11.2
W 59.3

Sunday Ruck

 

Another good one. A solid two hours with a steady pace. Legs and lungs felt great. 

45 lb ruck

12 laps

7.2 miles

1:55 min

10 squat stretches

BW 177.4
BF 14.3

32 kg one arm swing de load week, pistol lunges, laterals

 

Solid practice today, Felt like doing a bit more work to get ready for the swing power instructional dvd I'm going to film soon so I bumped the reps from 8 to 10 per side. No problem, hard as usual but a good thing, Next week however, with the 40kg doing this will suck of course

One arm swings

16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5//5
24 kg x 4/4
32 kg x 10/10 x 10
200 reps
14,000 lbs work

Pistol/lunge practice
3 rounds of this

just doing the pistol on the left side is working out very well. still need more left leg quad development

Laterals/ rear delts
3 x 10/10 with 15s

BW 176.2
BF 13.5

Thursday ruck

 

45 lbs

6 laps

55 min

RPE 7

legs lungs and heat tolerance good. solid one 

BW 176.4
BF 14.3

175/185 lb press 5 sets of 2, 205 lb press x 1 x 2 sets, 24 kg swing,floor pushups

 this went great. much better, but again, it is light. Mainly my focus was on not letting bar drift horizontally after the unrack and to keep my knees tight

turns out I also have to purposely drive the bar back at the start. used a relatively high bar rack. easy set up

65 85 105 x 2
135 x 1
155 x 2
175 x 2 x 5 sets

185 x 2 x 4 sets

205 lb press x 1 x 2 sets

these went great! the fact I could do a strong 205 at the end and after monday's marathon session says a lot about my positions.

24 kg swings
5 x 8/8

floor pushups
2 sets of 50

done. just beat

BW 176.2
BF 14.5

215 lb press, 220 miss(es) and a shit ton of sets.

 Solo again , at the last minute which did not help my mindset. Training alone is one thing; being stood up on heavy day is another.Took me awhile to pull my head out of my ass and even when I did nothing went right: my weight shifted( didn't feel it at all), elbows flared( even at 195) and generally I had no groove.

Went up in weight , back down, then back up again trying to find the groove. Even wrapped my thumbs at the very end, desperate to make the bar move faster, and it was better but I know it's not the way

so

Press
65 85 105 x 2
135 x 2
155 x 1
175 x 1
195 x 1 -elbow flare

205 x 1  ugly more horiz weight shift

205 again better but not right

215  x 1 best rep of the whole day

220 miss two times

210 miss ACK!!! Elbows flared here too

205 x 1  decent

195 x 1 wrapped thumbs

205 x 1 wrapped thumbs

210 attempt. didn't make it but surprisingly given how much grinding I did

210 again

db laterals/ rear delts 3 x 10/10 15s

BW 176.8

BF 11.3

W 59.3

45 lb ruck cool breezes

 

Decent one today. Did my ten  sets of squat stretches each lap and , as before, it seemed to help my lap speed and my overall time was decent as well. My favorite weather, cool and overcast with a nice light breeze. perfect

Legs and lungs were solid

45 lb ruck

12 laps

13,575 steps

1:55 min

10 squat stretches

BW 176.2
BF 15.

60 and 68 kg One arm swings, pistols, pullaparts

 

Solo training today and I was tempted to skip these bells and wait a week until my partners got back in town. But then I had to ask myself why? Just not wanting to do it was not enough of an answer. It's always hard, with partner energy or just myself so I decided to do the right thing and do the damn session.

It went fine. Never as easy as with the boys but strong enough and the bell height, especially on the 60 kg was much better than it felt as I was doing it

One arm swings

16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 4/4
24 kg x 4/4
32 kg x 3/3
36 kg x 3/3
40 kg x 4/4
44 kg x 4/4
48 kg x 3/3
60 kg x 5/5 x 7
68 kg x 5/5 x 3

This was the second set. I actually messed up the transfer on the first set and didn't swing through. No reason taking any chance but this went fine, as did the third set

Pistol/Lunges
4 sets of 5/5 ( left leg pistol and then lunge)

this worked great as it did last week

Band ( red) pullapart
4 sets of 30

I think I'm going to sub this in instead of light laterals. I really like them and miss them

BW 176.4
BF 12.3
W 58.6

Thursday Ruck

  

Just five laps. Not hot not cool,  but strong.All systems go, getting ready mentally for the heat. Seems to be good 

45lb ruck

5 laps

3 miles

45 min

BW 177.6
BF 13.7

175/185 lb press technique work, 24 kg swings, floor pushups

 Great day! technique held perfectly and timing was spot on. Couldn't be happier.  Of course it's light but  timing can go bad even on light days

the cue list gets shorter all the time

* Low bar rack setup

1) unrack- lock glutes

2) lack back

3) press straight up

the hardest part is laying back enough at the start BEFORE , but just right before I initiate the press. If I press too soon, OR don't layback enough, the bar goes forwards

Also, I don't have to push my hips forwards as much as just flex the glutes tight and the hips lock in. Almost no knee leaking today which can happen regardless of the weight

175 lbs  x 2 third set- decided to not do two singles but a regular double. worked great

Fifth set

185 lbs x 2 third set

fifth set

Couldn't be happier. I think that no matter how Monday max effort goes this is the setup and technique. I don't think I can do it any better given my shoulder limitations

Another good point; my shoulders were not sore at all after monday's work. usually I'd be sore as hell

24 kg swings

5 set of 8/8  strong!

Floor pushups

3 sets of 50 last set really hard

BW 177
BF 14.0

The Kono Press

 

215 lb press x 4 singles, 205 x 1 x 5, wt pushups, laterals

 This went very well. Not perfectly but I'm happy with the overall result. By the end of the workout all the little technical details were falling into place. for the first half of the workout I got the hip position right then  at the down set time I got the layback involved and all worked perfectly

ready to put it all together. again lol

65 85 105 x 3
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
195 x 1 fast!

then 205 x 1 decent but no enough layback ( which I didn't remember until later)

215 x 1 x 5 attempts( made 3 and 3 were 3/4 locked out) and one dump ( I didn't count)

then 5 downsets with 205, the last were the best after I realized I had to set the hips then layback then press! "the only thing harder than figuring it out is remembering to do it!"

the cues seem to be:

1) hips forward after unracking ( FORWARD NOT DOWN- HIPS NOT KNEES)

2) Layback then press

if I don't layback enough I have to drive the bar back. If I DO then I can press straight.Most of my misses behind today were because I was driving the bar to compensate for lack of layback,then when I started to layback the push backward took the bar out of the groove

wt pushups

bw x 10
53 x 10 x 3  hold lockout, easy

one arm laterals
3 x 8/8 w20s
bent laterals
3 x 10 with  20s

BW 176.6
BF 13.9

Sunday ruck

 Solid one. Found out that one lap is precisely .6 mile instead of the .5 I thought so that means my 12 laps is 7.2  mile. Most excellent, Which means I'm doing even better than I thought. Legs felt good although it took more than a few laps for the lungs to open up

45 lb ruck

12 laps

2 hours

10 squat stretches

13,145 steps

BW 177
BF 13.2

48 kg One Arm Swings, pistol lunge combination, laterals

 This went very well. Strong and solid all the way around. Body felt great, grip strong and power high. Love heavy low rep days!

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
48 kg x 6/6 x 10 sets

Pistol/Lunge combo
right knee still tender in the very bottom on pistol ( need to release calf more) but I do these mainly for left leg development so I put the rear lunge in instead for right leg
worked so well I might keep it like this

Laterals/Rear delts
3 x 8/8 with 15s

BW 176.0
BF 13.2 ( bath)
W 57.9
LBM 152.75

Thursday ruck

 Nice cool one today out of the blue. Loved it. Probably one of the last cool days of the season. Heat tolerance season coming on. Good :)

45 lb ruck

6 laps

55 min

No leg or lung or shin issues

BW 176.4
BF 14.1

The Low bar press is back . 195-210 press practice , 24 kg swings floor pushups

 Decided to start over. Or, actually, go back. I used this 'low bar ' technique to press 225  with two plates the first time ever so it can work. After so much problem with the other technique I'm ready to try something different. It worked pretty well, with some bugs of course but still I think it will at least be a strong base position

Lowered the heels with the adidas 1/2 powerlifter shoe , took my  stance out and, most importantly held the bar mid chest. the hard part is finding the right place and not letting it shift up too much as I unrack. I need to load the hips better to not leak through my knees. If my knees don't 'kick' and my hips do drive the it seems to work

If my knees flex it's over

warmups felt good up to 195

then up to 205

timing still not right and missed it the second time. didn't want bar to roll up so didn't get enough arm tension. then down to 200 for 3 sets which were solid

then to 185 for three more sets which moved great

definitely has promise and  and hopefully it will be more simple to just 'drive' from

I have to make sure to get my hips forward, in front of the bar and not just lean back. The old LOAD THE BOW!

24 kg swings

5 x 8/8

floor pushups

3 sets of 50  last set hard but good power all the way through

BW 176
BF 13.5

215 x 1 220 x misses, wt pushups, one arm laterals

 Well today just sucked. and for no good reason. Everything should have been at least solid but I missed 195 in the warmups which is NOT a good sign. then,  all over the place

205  miss then make but slow and not easy. then 215 miss, then make, again not easy or good. then 220 miss three times. all kinds of mistakes. Nothing was on. Elbows flaring, not loading my hips, all over the place

Not really sure what to do now. This is the most frustrated I've been ever with this. 

One thing the slowmo shows is the bar too high on my chest and that could explain a lot but, really? that delicate a groove? Still?

65 85 105 x 2
135 x 1
155 x 1 ok but not fast
175 x 1 same
195 x miss
195 x 1
205 x miss
205  x1

215 x miss 

215 x 1

220 x miss x 3

205 x 1 x 3
205 x miss
205 x 1 x 2 

ack

floor pushups on pbar
bw x 10
53 x 10 x 3
strong

one arm laterals
3 x 8/8 20s
bent laterals
3 x 8 20s

BW 176.4  ( lightest I've been on Monday for weeks but I can't blame that)
BF 14.8

Noon
BW 176.8
BF 11.9
W 59.8

Solid ruck

 

Surprisingly good today, not hip or leg tightness from yesterday and I felt pretty recovered. A far cry from what's been going on the last few weeks but who knows? Maybe I was fighting something off and turned a corner

Eitherway today was good. Got distracted talking to some regulars about rucking and kbs' and lost too much time and just got 11 laps but it's fine. On my feet for two hours is key, too

Also kept the squats back in and they feel great to do again. Legs are looser and per lap time is faster

45 lb ruck

11 laps in 1:50

12,465 steps

8 squat stretches

top speed 3.6 mph

last three laps non stop and quick

BW 176
BF 16.1 !!
W 55.6 dehydrated!

44 kg One Arm swings 10 x 8/8 pistol practice laterals

 

Strong one today, especially considering how hard last weeks work was. We were going about every two minutes for the first five sets then shifted to 3 min for the last but far easier than last time

One thing  that's for certain, having good training partners always makes the work easier. Also when the bells lighter you accelerate harder creating, at times, a lot more force. the 40 kg is in that sweet spot where it's just light and heavy enough to really let me kick my  own ass for 200 reps. 

Today even though heavier is always easier

Still plenty hard but not a puker like last time
last months set

Hard to believe just 4 reps per set can make that big a difference; just under 7 seconds more work. But, HARD work

One arm swings
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
44 kg x 8/8 x 10 sets

160 reps

Pistols

set one, two down one up twice x 3 rounds 6 reps per leg

set two up and down for two reps each leg 3 times 6 reps per leg

set three 5 continuous reps each side

Left leg good right knee tight from patella no problem though

laterals

3 x 10/10 with 15s

BW 176
BF 13.5 ( bath)

Thursday Ruck

 First hot one of the season but it didn't turn out that badly, surprisingly

45 lb ruck

six laps

3 miles

55 min

Overall strong and steady

BW 177.6
BF 13.7
W 57.6