Barbell Military press, KB hacks, floor pushups, hip sled

This actually felt decent today. No back pain from the swings or the rucking. Single bell or Goblets it is.
Got a full hour stretchout this morning and was pleasantly surprised( amazed, actually) at how easy stick dislocates were today!
Not that they were great, or actually real dislocates, but the stick got all the way over my head and I was able to even decrease the grip a smidge as I warmed up. What a pec and front delt stretch
But something has  definitely changed in my orthopedic anatomy to let me do this. Crazy. Now it feels much like it used to feel, although I am too scared to try a handstand. Don't want to miss.
I will wait til I know I can make one and them play with it. Still have a long ways to go overhead but I am overjoyed at this progress.
That and not having ANY right arm nerve pain anymore. That alone is worth it all.
I truly thought that this was IT for this shoulder and I was screwed.
How nice to be wrong on this one :)

Geoff has been talking to me about OS a lot and I have been rocking and crawling for the last year plus, as I worked to increase my knee ROM but I pretty much ignored the head work, and the rolling, as the last few times I tried it, my HUGE ribcage always hurt on the floor.
I only need to roll, or turn from left to right and this new neck adjustment, and subsequent head position showed me that I need to pay way more attention to my head and neck position and ability to move.

SO lots of neck nods as well and just as yesterday in my ruck squats I found myself sinking deepr and deeper into my rocking posture as I did the neck nods at the same time! Even in seiza! VERY cool and I'm very excited about this. Even did some rolls this morning too and they went well. Just focused on leading with the eyes then the head, and then let the rest of me move as desired. No pain :)

My neck has clearly been "out" and it's in now. much better this way

Barbell Military Press
45 lbs x 5 x 2
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
80 x 5 x 5 !

very strong and solid and almost no ache ( after the first four sets :) ) Best its felt yet. There will be 45's on that bar sooner rather than later

KB Hack.
Had an idea about this given the neck nods epiphany. Did these with my head up ( or at least as "up" as I could

First with the heels on the block again


these started on the block but then I realized if I shifted onto my toes even more I would go deeper. So I did and I could!

this above was the fifth set

Next set I did without the block, just on toes, and, despite some balance problems it went well


altogether 6 sets, the first with the 12 kg and the rest with the 16. Used the comp bell and it felt more balanced in this as the COM was lower
Very happy with the improvement over one week

Floor pushups
4 sets of 12

no problem but delts were tired from the presses

Hip sled
102 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

very strong here, even after yesterday's ruck

ok one day rest then 450 max vo 2 swings on wednesday! back on track again and in the correct circadian rhythm time zone

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck. which distance to believe ?

Strange walk today. Woke up feeling great, the single bell squats did not lock up my back at all, slept plenty and well and got a quick stretchout before the ruck. Added 2.5 more pounds ( in the form of a liter of water) to bring the ruck weight up to just a bit above 40 lbs. Don't know if that made such a difference from 38lbs but I was slow today.

It also had to do with trying to synch both my pedometers, one the iphone health app and the other a Strava GPS run/cycle app. The difference was dramatic. And a bit discouraging.
But it still doesn't add up exactly

Started off pretty slow laps,8:40 's , in the dark, as I got started so early. The iphone had me at the same distance per lap and the same 1873 steps or so. The Strava had me at 1/4 mile. Big difference. Four laps would equal one mile and at six laps per hour that was no where near 3.7 mph! More like 2.5 Couldnt do the math to add in my 60 sec or so break each lap to do the isometric squat holds but the accelerometer in the iphone still was counting my total steps for 11 laps and two hours as 14,397 but calculated that at 6.5  miles ;that's 3.25 mph

The Strava had me at 5 miles for the two hours including breaks for squats and that averages 2.5 mph. It was pretty consistent measuring each lap at .4 mile until lap 5 where it registered. .5! then I took a lap around the lap park in the street and it measure that too as .4, and I know the distance was greater; so which one is right?

The accelerometer measures the actual steps I take but the gps should be pretty accurate, so if you combine the two that's 14,400 steps / 5 miles that's 2880 steps per mile. pretty high even for these short legs :)

Either way things were slow until lap 8 when I started breaking into the 8:15 range. why I have no idea. Ended up doing 11 laps in 2 hours > I could have done 12 but it didn't seem right. I think I am staying with the  iphone pedometer and focusing on # of steps, lap times and total time rucked.

That's enough data I think. It really took away from the enjoyment of the ruck but it needed to be done. Plenty more where that came from :)

Oh, and during each pole squat I started doing neck nods and IMMEDIATELY each nod dropped me DEEPER into the squat!! I couldn't believe it. For each set too. every time. that's very interesting.Probably will work with goblets as well. have to try. Might sub them back into the Saturday workout.

datsit. presses and kb hacks tomorrow

neverquit

32 kg One arm swings, 28 kg single front squat, close pushups, crawls

Wanted to get back to some heavier weights but didn't want quite as much volume as 10's would give so I split the difference and went for 8's , it was perfect. Everything feeling great this morning. Solid roll stretch and hang this am as warmup too

One arm Swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 x 4/4
32 kg x 8/8 x 12 sets
192 reps
6144 lbs

Really tried to keep my head and eyes up on the swings and it was definitely harder than with swing vo 2 and the 16 kg. But overall not bad for first attempt. Reading Becoming Bulletproof by Tim Anderson and I want to experiment. Actually starting to feel good, and with all the revelations I am having vis a vis my neck's connection to my shoulder it's a good time to play with this

Single KB front squats
16 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5 ( this was solid)
28 kg x 5/5 ( pretty tough on rack- not keeping arm across the body enough)
24 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5


depth and movement felt ok. Decided to try this version as the double bells seem to light up my abs too much and my back comes with it the next day. We'll see tomorrow

Close grip pushups on hor bar- feet on box
13
13
10
10

these felt excellent! lots of tri work too, which is why I brought the grip in

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 50 ft

kick my ass even more after pushups!Solid workout very happy

datsit
neverquit  

Swing Vo2, walking lunges, pushups, leopard crawls

Interesting. As bad as my DOMS was the other day, that's how fast it dissipated. Don't know but I think it was the re introducing of my adaptogens back into the routine. Felt great today, and yesterday was the first day I didn't feel jetlagged.

I gave away my two week supply of adaptogens for the trip to a friend in Sweden and didn't think it would make much difference. Now I know better. If I want to to take break from them traveling overseas is not the time to do so.

Live and learn. No big deal but it's nice to feel myself again. Slept well last night and woke with energy and not much stiffness at all.

Full hour stretchout! Haven't had one of these in far too long. Perfect.

Swing Vo2
16 kg
15:15
40 sets of 10
400 reps
14, 400 lbs work! wow didn't think it would be that high. Love it  At 50 sets it will be 18,000 lbs of work Now that I like!
This is the kb swing equivilent of dynamic effort bench day in powerlifting! all about the speed and acceleration.

( that's my friend and training partner Glenn kicking ass with 40 sets of 7 in Snatch vo2!)

The workout was definitely solid. No where near as hard cardiovascularly as snatching but tryting to make each rep as acclelerated as possible on both sides( concentric and eccentric) really made the difference. I tried to throw each rep as hard as possible with my hips on the ascent, stop it hard with the lats and shoulders and throw it back as hard as possible with the lats as well as catching it with the hips

My glutes immediately felt the work Much more than in my snatch form, that's for sure. I also made a point to try to keep my head UP during the sets, I'm reading Becoming Bulletproof again by Tim Anderson  and have many talks with Geoff Neupert and as good as I'm doing looking up in my squats I'm not so good in my swings. I figured these light swings are a good place to start.The book is so good - complex concepts explained very simply and that actually make sense without getting lost in the science.

Doing good in my crawls and actually did some rolls today ( right turning only ) and it seemed to work. There is definitely a connection between what's going on in my shoulder and what's not moving in my upper t spine and cervicals. Being able to control my head movement better is going to be a good start.

Too many years of twisting one way only in gymnastics, especially during my developmental years, left an indelible mark that is time to repair. Shoulder though feels amazingly better these days and I could even do shoulder dislocates ( albeit VERY wide grip) for the first time in eons. That T 2 adjustment did miracles. Time to go back to the Chiro it seems.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40

these were surprisingly strong. legs feel great and I got a wicked though pump! a real one !

Parallel grip  pushups / feet on floor
4 sets of  13-10

Leopard crawls
3 laps of 50 feet.

not as bad as I thought

datsit
neverquit

Barbell Mil press , KB hack squat, pushups, sled

Pretty freaking sore from the weekend but it seemed to loosen up a bit as the day went on. Grey cold didn't help things but at least today was low volume. Shoulder has been feeling much better of late, with almost zero nervy stuff going on but still loathe to do too much overhead work as I am enjoying it not feeling out of place :)

Military press
45 lbs x 5 x 2
55 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
75 lbs x 5 x 5

these felt as good as they ever have. Had the Oly heel on and that was good. In Israel I worked up to 40 kg for 3 sets of 2 and then pyramided back down but it felt very heavy. this felt solid and not bad at all. Shoulders didn't hurt after and still feel good 3 hours later as I write this

Kb Hack squat


Have wanted to do these ever since I saw Steve maxwell do them at the first RKC kettlebell Bash or convention in Vegas in 2006 or so. He used the 40 kg and went ass to grass. I never thought I could even attempt them. It took a few attempts as I tried to do them on my toes  first and that didn't work. Once I stood on the edge of platform it was no problem. Feet and calves are not mobile or strong enough. Ye't
Have a ways to go with depth and technique but it was a great start

4 sets of 12 with 16 kg

VMO's should be screaming tomorrow :)

Floor pushups
3 sets of 10

shoulders are tired though :)

Sled Drag
100 lbs x 25 ft x 3 laps

haven't done these in awhile, can really feel the glutes working, especially after all the quad work in the hacks

took it fairly easy. still feeling jetlagged ! building back gently

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck measuring the distance

Didn't sleep all that well last night, between the dissipating cold and the soreness from the morning's workout already setting in it was a restless night. I really didn't want to ruck but there was no question about going. The lazier you get the easier it is to get lazy and it s a very slippery slope. so out I went.

Once I got going it wasn't too bad; all the walking around airports and europe with the pack did some good. It wasn't a 40 lbs pack but it was close :)

I decided to not stress about the time per lap but with my new iphone 6 I had a built in pedometer so I used that to keep track.

Just did 10 laps and I was lucky to get that; felt ok but slow up to lap five then speeded up a bit but also started to feel the fatigued. Though about only 8 laps but wanted to see what 10 laps gave me on the pedometer and those last two were actually the fastest.

Laps 1-5 around 8:20 to 8:10
         6-8 8:10s
Lap 9 8:00
Lap 10 7:50

Total steps 14,037
Total miles 6.53
Time = 1:45

so it looks like I'm walking about 3.7 miles per hour!
that's not bad especially with a stop each lap for a 30-45 sec squat hold.

Each lap averaged 1873 steps for the various lap times. Even if it is off a bit that's not bad for a guy with a TKR and a 38 lb pack  :) Next week need to add a few water bottles and get it to an even 40 lbs

Hopefull the cold, jet lag and soreness will be getting better each day :)

tomorrow: barbell military presses!

datsit
neverquit

Back to work :) One arm swings weight ladder,double front squat weight ladder, crawls

Man this jet lag kicked my ass big time this trip! I think that because we were gone two full weeks that I fully adapted to European time ( after suffering through serious jet lag the first week ) and then it hit us again coming back here. Just a few days in and they say it's one day per hour of time change you go through.
That means it could be a nine day recovery :)
Great

But, I knew I needed to get back on the horse today and get things moving again. I didn't want to re start my cycle with 250-300 24 kg swings- too much volume and speed) but I needed a little of this and a little of that.

So I settled on a weight ladder and it was perfect

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5 x 2
22 kg x 5/5 x 2
24 kg x 5/5 x 2
28 kg x 5/5 x 2
32 kg  5/5 x 2
36 kg x 5/5 x 2
40 kg x 5/5 x 2
36 kg x 5/5 x 1
32 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5

160 reps starting with the 20 kg set
Perfect blend of loading and volume . I needed to get to some heavy bells. I demo'd a lot at the cert but nothing heavy. this was exactly right jump back in

Double KB Front squats
2 16 x 5 x 2
2 20 x 5 x 2
2 24 x 3 x 2

same thing here. Legs are still strong from all the bw squatting I do all day plus plenty of ruck walking as well as regular walking all over for travel. Legs feel solid.'
But pretty weak feeling. Also caught a small cold yesterday and still slept like shit :)

Crawls
three laps of 50 feet

Horizontal bar pushups
13, 11, 10

datsit time to eat

neverquit

SFG Resignation

It 's been a very productive 10 years in Pavel's RKC and now SFG, but it is time to move on. I've learned so much from my experience as a student of the kettlebell, then as an RKC instructor then an RKC/SFG Senior then Master instructor.It has completely changed my life and my the life of my wife Tracy as well. In ways too many to count

But the road that SF has gone down since leaving the RKC two years ago is not the path I am now, or have been, interested in. I fell in love with the kettlebell when I read those words " a back of iron and legs that never quit,"
The idea of sustained strength.
Of being All Day Strong
Of  the kind of strength Pavel wrote about in the original RKC book, of the functional strength everyday people need. The strength that comes from repetition kettlebell lifting.
Pavel and the RKC created the option of repetition kb lifting from that of  girya sport endurance to  kb to GiryStrength with hardstyle kb training, which I still love will continue to practice. Repetition kettlebell swinging for strength not just endurance

I never believed in the idea of that strength was first. In the original post about SF Pavel said that strength was my most important quality for the healthy athlete.
That leaves basically 99.9 % of the population out of it. The don't need strength first, they need to unlock their bodies and being able to  Move First.

 My belief if the correct order of training progression has been the same since I found it from Paul Chek 20 years ago

1) flexibility/ mobility
2) stability
3) strength
4) endurance
5) power

If you can't move being stronger isn't going to help much. Now, I do believe, as I have said and written many times; strong fixes almost everything.
But you can be strong in your stretching, strong in your mobility work. strong in your breathing practice. Strong in whatever you need to do to get yourself to be better.
When I was so broken that I could barely get out of a chair getting stronger with a barbell wasn't going to make me better
Being strong in my discipline in my flex/ mob work was. Measuring myself by my one rep max in the kb press, the deadlift or ANY specific exercise was and is fruitless because how strong you are at any one time is very much a moving target. It's about knowing HOW to get stronger and when to push and when to hold back that's important.

Win, lose or draw, the next day it's back in the gym ,so that type of measurement as a indicator of your ability as a coach or even athlete is doomed.

There are MANY ways to be strong because it is , more than anything, an attitude, a way of approaching a task. Not a specific number. SF has way too much emphasis on heavy heavy heavier. especially for their level 1 course for beginners

I believe in a single bell level one and a focus on the ballistic moves more than anything as those are the movements that are truly kettlebell movements.

You can do a getup or a press or a squat with many different implements, But you need a kettlebell to do the swings and it IS the ballistics that are the most transformational of all the training movements,especially for beginners but also for older athletes and people just training to be healthy and strong for life.

The barbell takes from you,  kettlebell ballistic movements give back. Both are important but if you are only going to do one thing it's the swing and the kb.

But that's just my opinion.

So I am going on. I will continue to teach the Way of the Kettlebell in every way I can. I will teach Body Maintenance workshops helping people to unlock themselves and build pliability,durability and resilience into  their muscles  and learn how to take care of themselves.The basics of self myofascial release using simple tools and basic daily stretch routines that assess and address what's going on before you load.

I will speak at the StrengthMatters Summit and write for the magazine of the same name. And soon I will be teaching and creating instructors again in a a different setting, the details of which I am not sure of yet.

But they are just the details. The main points are above. The gag is off my mouth. I can speak my mind and be myself again. The weight is off my shoulders and in my hands again and it feels great.

Swing Vo2 max, walking lunges, pushups

Another easy one before I leave for Denmark. Never have done max vo2 training with just swings and it was very interesting.
I used the 16 kg and did 10 one arm swings per 15 seconds . It wasn't that bad at all but it definitely got my attention towards the end. It will take some time to develop the technique to throw the bell even faster but for now it definitely is better than trashing myself with  almost snatches

Swing Vo2
16 kg
15:15
30 sets of 10
300 reps
10,800 lbs work

I can see using the 18 or 20 kg on this no problem. Well, lots of work but no joint issues,lol. Really has potential

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

these are burners no matter how strong I feel

Pushups
3 sets of 15
1 set of 10

on horizontal p bars

shoulders were very good

isometric  external rotators done grease the groove style all morning. definitely sets the shoulder


datsit
time to get going

neverquit!

De Load day, pushups 40 kg belt squats, triceps pushdowns sled

Shoulder is feeling very good and since today is a de load day prior to the trip I decided to skip the bar overhead and do pushups instead. No problem at all; 100 reps in sets of 10 was literally a piece of cake.
Hard to believe not too long ago I couldn't do ONE!

Pushups
10 sets of 10

Belt squats
40 kg x  15,15,15, 20

strong as well

Triceps band pushdowns
4 x 20

shoulders not clunking at all, did my isometric rotator cuff exercises all throughout the day. Felt good but the PT definitely mobilized something that I needed moved

Hip sled
114 lbs x 250 ft x 3 laps

easy peazy all day. So different to have a day that doesn't kick my ass but it's a necessity

rest day tomorrow than swing Vo2 before wheels up for Gotenberg!

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck; steady state then all new PRs!

Slept hard last night and woke up with a bit of a wonky twisted back. Can't stay in bed too long or this seems to happen. Got up and stretched it out pretty fast but it was tighter than it's been so I wasn't that sure it was going to be a great ruck.
Didn't want to push anything either as I have to get on a plane in a few days and perform and travel a lot and don't need any tweaks at all
Made sure to super hydrate and roll stretch and hang yesterday and felt great all day and night- til this morning and things felt much better very quickly.

Started out with five very slow laps and thought for sure it was going to be just a slow and steady day but then things got easy and fast . very easy and fast!

lap 1 untimed
lap 2 8:20
      3 8:21
      4 8:21
      5 8:18
      6  8:10 !
      7  8:00
      8: 8:00
      9  7:56
     10 7:55
     11 7:50
     12 7: 31 All time PR!!!

wow,this felt SO good after lap 8. things just took off. as last week the pack felt like nothing after lap 5 my legs really loosened up and the lungs too and I just took off! very very cool. SO nice to have been given the opportunity to feel this feeling again. I remember it well from my endurance training days where you felt like you could run, swim, bike, move forever! with almost no effort. very very cool.

12 sets of 45 sec isometric squat holds which also were the deepest and best ever! Just solid all over today.

shoulder's feeling very well and I think the PT session was good doing the isometric rotator cuff work he recommended and it seems to be helping.As did the SMR work this am on the mini nova and roller

Presses tomorrow.
Bodyweight this am 160.4

datsit
neverquit

     

36 kg One Arm Swings, 200 reps PR ,double 28kg front squat PR, crawls

This was strong today. Shoulder felt good although it was tight in the middle of the night The PT did a lot of work on it yesterday and even though it felt better I could tell it had been worked on hard, in new places.

Wanted to try this volume although I actually wasn't sure I could do it, as it's my last real swing workout for two weeks as I head back on the road Wednesday; Next weekend the Men's Weekend with Jacob Sondegaard in Copenhagen and then onto Israel for a SFG 1.

It turned out great. Cardio and strength was good and the weight felt as light as it ever has. Bell speed was solid as was height of the swings.


One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/ x2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 4/4
32 kg x 3/3

36 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets PR
200 reps
15,800 lbs work!

very very happy with this in every sense.

Double KB front squats


these went very well as well. Didn't do much volume as I was pretty beat from the swings but it is pr nonetheless
2 16's x 5
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 3
2 28's x 3 PR

sweet but they felt heavy- on my arms and upper back :)

Crawls
4 laps of 50 feet.

nice to do these without pre fatiguing with pushups. Nice rain falling, felt great

datsit. Big ruck tomorrow in the rain. Can't wait. Nice to be in shape again.and strong at the same time

neverquit

Snatch Vo2 30 sets of 7 and a regression

I don't think I should be doing this. Trying to go overhead with kettlebells, as much as it pains me to say it ( and, do it ). It just isn't working and I spend more time trying to fight my shoulder than I do anything else and the overhead position still sucks.
From a work capacity and cardio( and even my left shoulder) it's no problem to fight through. But add in that freakin dull ache in the shoulder and it's too much.

Just the same as I have given up on the snatch test, or snatching anything over the 24kg again, I think I just have to give up the kettlebell snatch. I want the cardio work, the metabolic conditioning I get from snatch vo2 training, plus the gut check, but I think I will have to substitute swings instead.

Kenneth Jay told me when I asked how close using the swing instead of the snatch to snatch for increasing the heart's capacity and vo2 max and he said it wasn't close- no more than EIGHTY PERCENT  as effective!

Well 80 %, especially at this point in time in my training and shoulder ability, will have to do.

Especially when I think of it as assistance work for my five minute swing tests. I will have to figure out the reps per 15 second (probably no more than 10) and the weight ( it should be light enough to go very fast, just as in snatch vo2) so that means probably the 16 and 20 are it. Perhaps the 24 kg if I dropped the reps to 8.

I will have to play with this, and now that I think and write about it, I'm getting more excited about the idea. It 'fits' more well   :) with my current training and goals and , of course, my obsession with the swing.

Tracy says the weight has to be light enough so that you can swing it, it can't swing YOU. And as the person who has done more swings than anyone else in the world and studied as well I believe her. It will just have to be played with.

It fits. Heavy swings on Saturdays; light and fast on Wednesdays. Strength day and dynamic swing day. Pefect, really.

Snatch Vo2
16 kg
15;15
30 sets of 7
210 reps
7560 lbs work

just no fun at all. Glenn still out so even less fun. Left arm was fine but trying to adapt the form with this shitty overhead screwed any semblance of smooth technique out the window.

Ack

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

these were tough today. just frustrated with the snatches

Parallel bar pushups feet on floor
four sets of 10

shoulder not happy.

crawls

three laps of 50 feet

this actually felt good but I my CNS was cooked and I was too. wanted to do more but couldn't. Need to crawl more and sled less

Also, my back did not like the farmers walks. Restricting my upper body gait mechanics doesn't work at all for me. Lesson learned. Crawls are it.

roll  stretch and hang.

feel better already

datsit
never quit- just find a way through.

Barbell Military press, double pr,36 kg belt squat, 24 kg farmers walks , rear delts

 Recovered well from the weekend's training, slept well and the shoulder was in the right part of the socket for a change. Had a more than decent 30 minute stretchout as well.
Glenn was out of town for work so it was solo.
Very cold in the gym so warmed up with 3 sets of two hand sets with 16 kg for 20 reps. This never fails to get me warm no matter how cold it is.
Alternated each set of swings with a set of 10 rep stick presses.

Barbell press
45 lbs x 8 x 2
55 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 7 x 2 ( first set flat footed, then put on Oly shoes. Left them on :)
75 lbs x 5
85 lbs x 5
95 lbs x 3 PR
100 x 2 PR!
80 lbs x 5
70 lbs x 7

9 sets of presses. this worked we good. The first rep was not easy but it was much better after this. Not having an eccentric contraction to set up the groove is always tough. Come to think of it, the 85 for 5 is a pr also.
these weren't the prettiest reps but they were all locked out and strictly started. Very happy with this although truth be told, the lighter weights didn't feel much better than the heavier ones :)

Belt squat
36 kg x 15 x 3
          x 20

these were strong.

Farmers walks
double 24's x 100 feet x 4 laps

these were TOUGH. great though and an excellent stretchout for the traps as well

Band rear delts
3 x 15 red

didn't feel more pushups were right so I did these. overall easy day

Wedneday up to sevens on snatch vo 2 and I will try it with my Oly shoes here too.

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck: take the long way home.

The pack felt like nothing on my back today, which is amazing. I had to actually weigh it to make sure it was the correct weight. It was 39 lbs( need to add a few next week). Legs felt fresh and loose, back felt solid but my damn shoulder was not in it's happy placed and ached the whole damn time.

Switched pillows last night and it didn't work well. Waay too sensitive these days but it is what it is.
 Can't really complain it used to be ALL kinds of multiple things "out" at the same time so this is no big deal.

The idea is to increase the distance of the ruck now, inching towards three hours. So I did my twelve laps then took the long way home on the hardball. Problem was that I was tired of the aching shoulder and only increased the distance by ten more minutes. But, its a start .

Lap times :
1) untimed
2) 8:20
3) 8:24
4) 8:15
5) 8:10
6) 8:11
7) 8:15
8) 8: 15
9 ) 8:12
10) 8:09
11) 8:01
12) 8 :04

Plus 11 sets of deep squat holds. Love these

People ask me why I walk in circles, doing laps instead of 'going for a hike'  I'm walking laps so that I can measure my progress. I will progress to walking in the hills for overall time when my body is ready for that kind of load, but for now, this is what I need to keep getting stronger and more enduring.
Just like a swimming swimming laps I need to know what my pace is so that I can tell if I'm improving or not , as well as feeling what a specific lap pace is.
No matter what, though, it takes me 45- 60 minutes for my legs to get into it and my lungs to open up.
Been like that for 35 years don't think it's going to change now and that's cool
I'm not training for backpacking I'm training to increase my leg and back strength and endurance and this seems to be the fastest and most efficient way to do so.

If I could I would next like to add in another, shorter walk on thursdays.Perhaps an hour with a 10 lb heavier pack but don't see that happening in the near future.

More important would be to add  a swim session in on thursdays, I need to get back in the water. That will happen first.
BTW I am now a GoRuck affilitate so anyone clicks on the  picture on the front left of this blog it will take them to the very interesting world of GoRuck and the gear and events they put on

In my minds eye, my long term, dream goal, is to do the GoRuck Challenge for my 60th birthday. Still a long way off but it is a BIG challenge and I will need plenty of training for it.

Lots of military presses tomorrow

datsit
neverquit

44 kg One arm swings, 20 kg front squats,pushups, crawling

Just  a WEE bit tired after the last week, and last month of heavier and heavier . Good thing I'm traveling soon, it will be a nice enforced back off.
But I wasn't in the mood for the 48 kg so I went  a bit lighter and used the 44kg for sets of 5/5. Still plenty hard and heavy but I could tell I was tired.

Shoulder finally went back into place after some serious SMR on the pec, teres major and front delt. Haven't had to do that lately but it helped very quickly. Amazing, once the shoulder is sitting right the pain and ache stops immediately. Almost feels normal and ROM improves instantly.

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
36 kg x 3/3
44 kg x 5/5 x 10
100 reps
9680 lbs work

Double 20 kg front squats


2 16s x 5
2 20s x 5 x 4
          x 8 pr

these are getting better and deeper all the time. No goblet squats today. tired

Horizontal pushups feet up on box
4 sets of 10 PR!
first time with the feet up on the box and NO shoulder issues. sweet.

Crawls
3 sets fo 50, 60 and 70 ft

love these

hard but well within reach.  Long ruck tomorrow- going to go for 2:20 the last 20 on the road.

datsit
neverquit

Snatch Vo2 50 sets of 6, walking lunges, barbell OH holds, pushups

Mission accomplished. First phase at least. This was very satisfying, especially coming after Saturdays swing test. It wasn't as hard as I expected but, right on cue, my right shoulder was tighter than it's been the last two days, despite a lot of stretching hanging and SMR this AM.
 But things warmed up very well once I got going and I had a very big epiphany about my snatch groove today and I think it will make a huge difference overall.

Snatch Vo2
16 kg
15:15
50 sets of 6
300 reps
10,800 lbs

No problems except that I can't count, even with a clicker :) Plus I really need a headband, the sweat falls off on the bell and really mucks things up.
The epiphany was that I finally got the idea that the snatch and swing is an inverted pendulum. I DO need to lean forward to engage my hips BUT NOT THAT MUCH. It's kind of a rocking motion and I have to let the bell/arm fall first and stay upright longer and then pendulum forward with arm and rib in connection.
then reverse it, still with arm and rib in connection
I was thinking I had to lean further forward than I do to get my lumbo pelvic rhythm correct but I think this is 'more' correct.
MUCH shorter stroke too. I looked at a bunch of my old videos doing sets of 8 in this and my stroke was, had to be, much shorter. I was doing it instinctively but hadn't really codified it in my brain. Now I got it.
Plus it's only the 16 kg
I may give the oly shoes a go here next week as well. I think they will help.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps

these are finally feeling easier for the second week

Barbell OH holds
45 lbs x 45 sec x 3 sets

really much better. went a little wider on the grip and that seemed to help too. Also I think I am going to go with vibrams on my press day next week. felt good today for the holds.

parallel grip pushups
 3 sets of 15 reps

very solid but BEAT! Tow days off! yes.

datsit
neverquit

Barbell Military press,belt squat,floor pushups, hip sled

Definitely feeling the effects of the last two workouts. Nothing injured just lots of DOMS and overall stiffness.Especially the hammies! Crazy sore, which is unusual. I think the different boot  I wore rucking yesterday had something to do with it.
Or, the five minute 40 kg test.
Or both :)

Glenn still out today so I definitely wanted a lighter day

Barbell Military
stick x 5 x 3
45 lb x 5 x 3
65 lbs x 5 x 8 sets

this was perfect weight. Just enough to feel some loading but light enough to really practice all the subtleties of the groove. Still in Oly shoes. this was the best session in terms of everything feeling good of all.
Plus, I think having my hands locked down onto the bar as I press is really strengthening my external rotators .

Belt squats
32 kg x 20 x 4 sets

these were good, surprisingly. close stance

Floor pushups
15
12
10
8

hahaha, shoulders are still cooked after presses.

Hip sled
128 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

this was heavy! too lazy to take off the weight but it was a slog :) 10 lbs less would be about right

ok seriously need to recover and loosen up. Lots of bone broth these last two days and I can really feel the benefits already. Much easier to drink to hydrate than plain water and I can't drink any more tea than I do!
50 sets of snatch vo2 in two days, gotta get ready

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck

Just a little bit of sweat :)
After yesterday's swing test I was interested to see how my legs and back would feel today during the ruck. Surprisingly everything was A OK. Even better than good.
I wore my black boots,which are slightly less supportive than the tan ones to see how my foot strength is coming and it didn't make any difference at all. Happy about that too.
Could be time to start increasing the distance a bit now too.
The ruck standard test for many military units is 12 miles in 3 hours. still not sure how far I'm going but I think I can start adding a a few more minutes to the course. Little by little.
No more laps ( can't take any more of that) but I can start walking a bit on the "hardball" as Al Ciampa calls the road when he's rucking.( great article here on Hardening for the Combat Soldier. and I got a preview of his new article on ruck marching and how to do it- it's excellent!)

Felt strong at the end of the walk today too.

Lap one  untimed
two 8:25
three 8;17
four 8:10
five 8:13
six 8:08
seven 8:11
eight 8:06
nine  8:01
ten 7:58
eleven 7:55
twelve 7;45

decided to use the voice memo function of the phone to record actual times. worked great.
things started good and got faster. all systems fluid and strong except for shoulder. was "out" up til lap five or so. In addition to my 30-45 sec squat holds at the end of each lap I included some basic lat stretches one arm at a time and that seemed to convince my distal clavicle to play nice again and sit where it us supposed to.
The shoulder though was not from the elbow /wrist as usual but the clavicle. at least the source is different.
Small things

ok presses and squats tomorrow, roll stretch and hang today

datsit
neverquit

40 kg One Arm Five minute swing test.

Wow. This was a surprise. I thought about doing this all week but last night had pretty much decided I wouldn't. I just remembered how hard the 36kg test was last March and wasn't sure I should be pushing the red line today. My shoulder was achey for the first time in a few weeks and my hip was tight too so I thought I should just do a regular workout with the 40 and not complicate it with a time deadline.

I even thought the same when I woke up this morning But, as I warmed up I thought 'why not?' I was feeling better and looser and thought I would at least give it a try.

SO I did and I was much surprised with the result. 95 reps in 4:57 so I didn't make my hundred, nor were they legal chest height BUT the bell felt much lighter in my hand than the 36 kg did last time and my 15 second on 15 second Snatch Vo2 pace worked great.

Except I couldn't make the intervals :)
But I was very close.
The damn bell was just too heavy for me to move any faster and I had to get my hands ON the bell 2 seconds at least before the buzzer to make it work. and man I make a lot of damn noise when it's heavy and I can't breathe. :)

Next time.

last time I did this I thought I would never be able to do it with the 40 kg.This was a great test and affirmation of my training and work capacity increases. Very happy. AND I'm not tweaked at all. Finished up the rest of the workout strongly Glad I chose to do it.

Nick started with me using the beast but came to his senses after four sets. Glad he tried with me though.


Two hand swings
40 kg x 6
          x 7
          x 8
          x 10
these were easy and the back and hammies felt fine


Goblet squats
20 kg x 3
24 kg x 3
32 kg x 3

very strong and good depth

Double 24 kg front squat
2 24 kg x 5 x 3 sets PR

NO warmup ( was too tired ,lol) and they went strong ALL time PR!


Crawls
4 laps of 50, 60, 70, 70 feet

Need to make SURE crawls are in the mix at least once a week. Vital

well that's it for sure/VERY pleased with everything.

Tomorrow a strong Ruck.

neverquit