87 Pushups

 Ok the number on the chalkboard says 88- I can barely count normally but even less so at the end of a workout.

This was an important workout. Not too long ago I couldn't do ONE pushup without my right shoulder going out on me big time. It got to the point where I couldn't press much at all without it giving me grief,especially overhead. So I decided that  I wasn't going to load anything overhead- just work on the ROM- but that I wanted to re claim my pushup. I started with just negative only reps, and very few of them, but I was doing them. Close grips on the palettes, the regular parallel pushups.

My attempts to do the floor press didn't do my back much good it seems so I decided to make the pushup the main course for Monday's workout. Of course I'll have to wait to see if I can comb my hair tomorrow to really judge if this will work but even if it doesn't I did ten sets of pushups today- regular freaking flat palmed on the floor pushups no problem. and that felt damn good.

Being able to squat, and walk and now do pushups is making me feel almost human again :) If one day I can survive pullup training it will be complete. But, lets not get greedy .

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3  this never fails to take me from "not wanting to workout 'cause I'm creaky" to ready to go. I don't even fight it anymore

Floor pushups
As above
10, 9, 9,8,8,9,8,8,9,9

the reason for the changing reps had everything to do when my shoulders started to rattle around a little.I still have to figure out the exact line of force to push through but it was grand! Want to work up to regular workouts of 100 reps as a baseline IF my shoulders hold tomorrow.

Supersetted with band rear delts
red band 10 sets of 15/15

this seemed very important  to do to keep things neutral

Belt squats
28 kg x 20 x 5 sets
100 reps

these were easy. perhaps I've hit a new high in my leg/cardio conditioning as evidenced by my ruck yesterday as well as today.that would be nice

db kickbacks
15 lbs x 12 x 4 sets

chose these over ring extensions as I need work in the lockout. felt good and no stress on shoulder or lat

Hip Sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 5 laps

strong. fast intervals too. still felt strong. first time doing 5 laps in awhile. MUCH cooler today which really helps

Grippers
#1 x 4 singles 3/4 closed. Held static position at end for  2 count. Grip feels good too

allright! Good solid one

datsit
neverquit

 coming soon.

Ruck Pr and Hardening

You never know when you're going to have a great workout. Well I don't anyway. But I did make sure to full hydrate yesterday as it's been a problem that I just really recognized. I THOUGHT I was hydrating enough but I was not. Yesterday though I fixed that and it seemed to really help today.

But also, it was just a strong day. And, as I say in my blog signature, you just have to be ready to grab it when Grace lays in down in front of you, and I was. Also, I made sure to get on the floor A LOT yesterday as well and get fully opened up and my back and lats really appreciated that as well. The up and down dogs are foundational and I made sure to give them their due and my calves, hamstrings ( and knee) appreciated it as well as my back.

But even still the first five laps were slow 8:38s and I didn't think it was going to be a great ruck, but I still felt loose, which is key; I just thought I was going to stay slow the whole time.
But lap six went 10 seconds faster as did the next two laps then even faster as I dropped another ten seconds into 8:10 range and had a real PR of 7:59 for my last lap ( 12)! Finished in 1 hour 50 minutes or so including 12 sets of squats as well on each lap.

Went back to varying the width each set too and that felt good. But it was being fully hydrated and stretched that seemed to make the biggest difference. As I like to say the only thing harder than figuring it out is remembering to do it!

As I was walking in the much cooler morning I realized that ruck walking and general conditioning in general are SO key to  basic body hardening. As former Delta operator Ed Burgarin said "it's hard to be hard"  ( interview here) and that's so true. And it's so important. Especially as we age. It's tougher to stay in shape as we get older and we need MORE work, not less.

But we can't expect to eat soft food and be hard, or do soft workouts and be hard or to be too easy on ourselves and be hard. It just doesn't happen that way and the great thing is, it's true for everybody. Completely democratic. If you have a hard body after age 23 or so you are earning it- everyday.

Because if you slack off- it goes right away- fast.

I'm so blessed now that I have a new knee and I can really take the conditioning to the next level what gift.

And, as always, it's the basics that get us there, basic training, basic eating, basic maintenance work.The frills are fun but they are the icing on the cake, not the main meal.

Going to switch tomorrows push workout to pushups and see how that goes. I'd love to be able to do total workloads of 100 reps per workout. That would be a great base

datsit
neverquit.

24 kg One arm speed swings, 32 kg two hand swings, crawls, pushups

All the bodyparts have settled down, finally. Back and shoulder are good so I thought about going up to the 44 kg for the one arms but decided to start the month on time with 24 kg speed swing work and go back to my four week cycle: 24 , 32, 40 and 48 kg with the corresponding rep schemes

Warmup
30 minute roll and stretch.

8am
One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets
200 reps
10,600 lbs

Two hand swing
32 kg x  10
          x 12
          x 14
          x 16
          x 20
72 reps
5040 lbs
not bad, should have done the 18 rep set but was a bit behind the crew and tired, so I baled :)

Leopard Crawls
4 laps of 60 ft

getting stronger here all the time but it still kicks my butt

Parallel bar pushups( feet on floor)
12, 12, 10, 10

Db side delts
10 lbs x 12 x 4 sets ( supersetted with pushups)

datsit. about an hour 15 minutes

big ruck tomorrow and it's gonna be a hot one again. gotta start early

neverquit.

I got no problems :)

24 kg clean and squat,pushups,walking lunges,shoulder sled

Up the last two nights with pretty yucky back tightness. Not sure exactly what set it off but the abs, obliques and lumbars locked down pretty hard and sleep was poor at best and not much of it to boot.VERY hot here and when I sweat and get a bit dehydrated that's when these things tend to happen,

Worked hard on the ring extensions on Monday to REALLY keep the abs tight so as not to push out the diastasis recti and it just overloaded my abs enough to pull my back out of neutral. This used to happen whenever I did ANY two hand swings with ANY weight kettlebell so I guess I should be happy in some ways, but man not sleeping sucks. Especially when even laying down is painful.
 SO I got up and walked and stretched which open things up a lot. took some ibuprofen and fluids and tried to sleep again.
Work was actually better than sleep as the constant moving and stretching is what has always helped. AND I remembered what I used to do back in 2000 when I herniated L4-L5- PULL THE BELLY BUTTON TO THE SPINE- basically a yoga vacuum- to activate the TVA and create more lumbar extensions and IT WORKED GREAT!

Haven't done this in eons, haven't had to, but now I remember just how much time I spent doing this as I did virtually every exercise and this, as much as anything,helped me to create some lumbar curve from my VERY VERY flat gymnastics lower back.

It literally gave me instant relief, but the overly tight lats and abs kept pulling things out. LOTS of lat stretches up dogs, vacuums and squats all day helped.
Got the word from my PT Curtis at Revolutions in Fitness ( RIF- very cool :) ) that my knee issue was from the tibia not gliding posteriorly enough and I knew that was from not enough hamstring stretches of late.
I've been so overly focused on knee flexion I've let the hammies get a little rest- too much it seems- but I have to give them their do. Especially the down dog posture. My two basics- up dog and down dog- not enough maintenance on them and my back and knee paid for it.

SO Much to do everyday! Even though I was still doing these moves I wasn't doing them enough relative to my training load to keep things in check. It's already corrected.

Didn't know if I could train at all today but like usual, the swing pushed the reset button and the workout was excellent.

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

One KB clean and front squat- long cycle
16 k x 5/5
20 kg x 3/3
24 kg x 3/3
          x 4/4
          x 5/5 x two ladders
these went great although I can see from the video they are not as low as they felt. That's fine, I'm happy I could do anything today.I wasn't trying to push the depth; just survive the workout.

Goblet squat
24 kg x 5 x 2

these actually were harder on the back than the clean and squat. I could feel the lats and abs activate and pull on  the lumbars so I shut it down. Still feeling ok

Pushups- vertical bar
12, 12, 10,10
PRs!!
Haven't done  12's in years and shoulder were perfect. The internal rotation stretches thoughout the day are really making a significant difference.

Walking Lunges
3 laps of 50 feet.

for some unknown reason these were very strong, although the fatigue from no sleep and the work was catching up. settled on just three laps, however, I did make each section to the end which is a first.

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12, 12, 13,15

Shoulder sled
95 lbs  x 250 ft  x 3 laps

now i'm tired.

feels like the back has calmed down to normal now but we'll see if I sleep. gotta sleep.

datsit.
neverquit.

kb floor press,belt squat, ring extensions,sled pull, grippers

Woke up feeling pretty good considering how hard this weekends training was. Not stiff or achey at all. Very surprising and my shoulder continues to be in less and less pain, mover easier and more as I increase my internal ROM and keep up with stretch/ myo fascial release work.
Combining the release work WITH the stretch really makes a difference too.
Also, putting the shoulder into distraction first, ala kelley starrets band work helps also when I have the time during the day.

Lots of time today spent in full and supported squat positions and this gets deeper everyday. Love it. Knee cap issue is resolving as I make sure to keep the pouch right above the kneecap supple and stretchy.

It's all about the maintenance :)

One arm swing warmup : 16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3  this always makes me feel more ready to go

KB floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 7, 8,8,7,8,8,8,8

NICE! definitely found a groove and the two sets of 7's were outliers when my biceps tendon was not moving well and I had to open it up but otherwise strong as shit!Definitely feel my pecs strengthening after ALL these years of neglect.

Kind of the same feeling as in my quads. My two favorite, and strongest muscles, so left to underuse when I overfocused on bringing up my weak bit. Strengthen the weakness but don't neglect the strengths either.

Learn something new everyday.

Belt squat
40 kg x 12, 14, 16 ,20
these felt great and strong. bell hit floor each rep but given that it's a bigger bells there's less ROM. that is fine, that' fucker's heavy :)

Ring extensions
1 x 14, 12, 11, 10

These were easy. and the presses really warmed up the shoulders

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

thought seriously about five laps but just did not have any extra and I didn't want to go past 80% effort. Damn it's been hot here forever.

Band rear delts
3 x 12 each arm ( one at a time as usual)
# Trainer gripper
3 x 4 reps each hand.

hands were fatigued this was not as easy as last week. the one arm swings REALLY cook the grip

overall good , work capacity is coming back and body is staying online. here we go.

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck

This was just hard. Right from the start. Yesterday's training; 40kg one arm swings was WAY harder than the 28kg and 24 kg double bell swings the last two weeks. It kicked my butt, as well as my abs and obliques and erectors ....
Good work but fatiguing.
Made sure to get a good stretchout this morning before the walk but I woke up pretty stiff and tight despite good hydration and moderation the day/night before. I was just sore.
Oh well :)

12 laps
two hours
38 pound ruck

it didn't feel heavy I just moved slow. the first 8 laps or so were all 8:30 seconds + a bit. Everything was just tight plus it was wicked humid for here as well as hot. No big deal but not conditions for faster laps.

Lap 9-10 were around 8:10 and 11 was faster and finished with 8:00 even for the twelfth lap! Go figure.
Shoulder holding up great and did a decent little post walk stretchout as well.
Floor presses tomorrow. 28 kgs for 3-5 I hope.

datsit.
neverquit.

40 kg one arm swings, power swing pyramid, crawls and pushups

Back to one arm swings again today and just a few weeks off of the heavy stuff showed me just how quickly that top end strength conditioning falls off. It will bounce  back but I payed the price today :)

Shoulder however felt the best it's felt in eons and I actually woke up with NO shoulder pain at all, unheard of! I really really worked on internal rotation ( hand in the small of the back) ALONG with self myo fascial relief and it's made the biggest difference in ROM and pain yet. Excited about the possibilities.

My left knee pain turned out to be caused my overly tight quads ( go figure!) that was keeping my kneecap too high as I went into extension. As soon as I figured that out it went right away; had to release the knee cap DOWN as I went into extension. Wow. Still have to worry about muscle tissue quality and tension even on the new knee. Won't forget that again. Not used to having ANY pain in the new knee and I didn't like it at all.

Full stretchout
lots of OS rocking, nods, unilateral rocking, seiza sitting and shoulder release work

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 5/5
40 kg x 5/5 x 5 sets - 50 reps
32 kg x 10/10 x 5 sets 100 reps
 LOTs of work there ,lol

Two hand power swings
32 kg x 5
36 kg x 5
40 kg x 5
44 kg x 5
48 kg x 5

these were easy but tough at the same time! Just a lot of plain work.

Leopard crawls
6 ft x 4 laps

tough as always but necessary

Parallel bar pushups- feet on floor
4 sets of 10

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12

this is working great

datsit 12 lap ruck tomorrow. gonna be a hot one too, gotta start extra early
neverquit

36 Kg Goblet squat , 24 kg single bell front squat, close pushups, shoulder sled

Great day. Body feels good and worked on my internal rotation all morning with a few easy to do shoulder stretches that i think might make a real difference. We'll see but lets were solid, knee no issue and mind was good. LOTS of time spend in the squat position all morning. Digging it.

One arm swing warmup 16 kg  x 5/5/5 x 3

Goblet squat
16 kg x 5 x 2
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
28 kg x 5
32 kg x 3
36 kg x 3 x 3! double pr
only took the second set as the video got screwed up on the first lol! Wasn't hard at all, really but the toughest part was just holding it. Didn't get a perfect hop up and was off center on the second set but I'd be damned if I was re setting it up!
Worked out fine

One kb front squat
16 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3
          x 4/4
          x 5/5 x 3
 These were surprisingly good too. Best ever and the 24 felt like a toy. :) Depth is really starting to feel natural and normal as opposed to a surprise :)



Close grip horizontal pushups on p bar
4 sets of 10! pr here too.

very very solid. SO happy to be able to do this so simple movement again without pain.And I like what its doing for my chest shoulders and arms too.

KB Lunges
2 12 kg x 8/8 x 4 sets
WHEW this put the torch on the quads! As bad as the walking lunges are these were even harder! Probably going to alternate these two  moves each week. See some serious strength potential here.

Shoulder sled drag
95 lbs x 250 feet x 3 laps

wow that caught up fast! legs and lungs and body got tired fast. in a low crouch semi run first the first 125 feet then try to maintain it but end up in a lean forward walk for the rest of the lap. Plenty OK though,lol Don't be greedy :)

Red band rear delts SS # Trainer gripper
3 sets of 12 rear delt and 4 sets of 3 closed tight on the trainer.

this is definitely getting stronger/ both moves

BW consistently 160 lbs at 4 am and BF around 10-11% on the tanita at that time. Happy with both numbers

datsit.
Neverquit.

Double 24 kg floor press, 32 kg belt squats, ring extensions, hip sled

Solid work today. Knee resolved when I opened up the TFL of all things.It referred right down to the lateral part of the knee, right next to the knee cap. When that released all went well. Thank G-d. loving my new knee and mobility way to much to go backwards at all!

Had a full hour stretchout this morning and worked the shoulder/lat openers in Starretss video. It got right where I needed it to, in the nexus of the lat, teres major and long head of triceps netherworld under my armpit. Grody locked down glued down tissue but this helped a lot even though I had to jerry rig it quite a bit.
that just means lots of progress to be made :)


one arm swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20s x 5
2 24s x 5 x 5

this went very well once I figured out a manageable way to get the weights into position. I'll stay with this weight til I can do 5 sets of 8 easy and then go up. Nice to get some pec work again too :)

Belt squats
32 kg x 14, 16, 18 ,20
 very solid reps with bell touching floor each rep and a solid quad contraction at top of each rep. wind was good. energy too

Ring extensions
12, 12, 10, 7

Band rear delts red
4 sets of 13,13,15 15

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 sets

more upright on the walking hits glutes more. I figured since I really lean in on the shoulder version I should stay more upright here.

Gripper 1.5 x  4 singles. no warmup just go. Actually not that far off. 1/4 " but that final click has always been my nemesis!

solid solid day and everything feels good

datsit
neverquit

never forget.

Sunday Ruck

 Left knee was a bit wonky this morning, for no reason, very similar to what happened in Italy and I think it's dehydration that is the problem. Same as then. It was very very hot here yesterday and I didn't hydrate enough it seems. LOTS of wide heavy double and two hand swings and I think the popliteus  got too tight and there was a strange pain in the lower lateral part of my knee. NO swelling or heat or other signs of inflammation.
Stretching the quad and calf relieved it but it wasn't ( still isn't) perfect.And it's just on extension that hurts. Flexion feels good.

Still went for the walk and had zero pain or discomfort during the ruck or I would have abandoned it. No sense risking anything but it felt normal during the ruck

Ruck weight 37 lbs
Eleven laps 30 second squat holds each lap
total training time 1 hour 50 minutes.
Lap time average around 8:30- 8:20 at the end

Very hot this morning too and I was sweating more in the first half hour than I do the entire time. Weird.But I did super hydrate before I went out too, hoping that would help.

Listened to military cadence running marching songs for a lot of the walk and it really helped the time go by, as well as set my pace. Very cool. Running and singing will definitely increase the wind :)

Floor presses tomorrow, will be fun

datsit.
neverquit

Double 28 kg swings, two hand swings pr, more pushups, crawls and grippers

Solid and strong today. Still using double swings instead of singles and the "stomach alien" as I call the diastasis recti is closing in :) It's all about muscular tension balances, really. Simple but definitely not easy.

All parts are working well so far and a 20 minute roll/stretchout before practice.

Swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Two bell swing
2 16's x 10 x 2
2 20's x 5
2 24' x 5
2 28's x 8 x 10 sets

this wasn't bad. Strong in the hands and body but overpowering in the height of the swings. But , still, it felt strong and solid in positions and technique. It's just an awkward stance for me but it's way better than ever. Can't complain

Two hand swing
36 kg x 10 x 10 PR!
 never have done ten sets of two hand swing before! it was the perfect weight; not too heavy and not too light.It worked me but let me do the entire ten sets. Triceps, of all things, were talking to me set 7-10 :)

Parallel grip parallel bar pushups
4 sets of 10

SOLID! no shoulder  issues at all!~

Band rear delts
4 sets of 12 red band

this is a necessity. really enjoying the bodybuilding aspect of it too.

Crawls
2 laps of 80 feet  PR
1 lap of 60 feet

this is tough at the end for sure.

COC gripper
#1 x 4 singles, very close to full close. Much stronger


datsit.
neverquit.

big ruck tomorrow. can't wait

Leg day. double 20 kg clean and squat, pushups, walking lunges, , shoulder sled.

Great day and it definitely feels like "leg" day, lol. I went back to double front squats, but added in a clean before each one and it worked out well. I was thinking about using 24's for the work weight and am sorely glad I didn't!

This was tough enough as it was. Excellent combination of conditioning and strength work. It's not snatches but it will do for now. Nice upper and lower body combination.

Goblet squat warmup
16 kg x 5 x 2
20 kg x 3 x 2

Double kb clean and squat
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20s x 5 x 10 sets!

pretty easy til the fifth set( video) and then it just wore on me, lol. Got through it but it was work! Placing elbows on knees seemed to be the depth marker. So amazing I can do this now

Pushups on pbars
horizontal bars with narrow grip
4 sets of 10 alternate with red band one arm rear delts 4 sets of 12

the rear delt work is crucial and the pushups felt awesome. Can really see/ feel the difference in pecs, tri's and delts from this. three times a week if I can, different grip/width each time.Specialized variety :)

Walking lunges
Three laps of 13 steps each leg x 2

this really let me know it was leg day. wow. knee's touching ground on each rep feels great to work them this hard but three was plenty

Shoulder sled
 95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

first 125 feet I am almost at a low crouch run. feels awesome. catches up with me on the return and it's just more of a 'lean in' fast walk but it's just so cool to be able to do :)

Grippers
Trainer x 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps for click holds

nice to be able to do these again to. Decided to use just one gripper per workout and get what I can. This was solid closes and great tension levels. The one arm swings have really brought my grip back to life.

datsit.
neverquit.

Double 28 kg floor press,40 kg belt squat, pushups, sled

Recovered well from the weekends training, and the new doorknob lat stretch is keeping the QL quiet and happy. The ab work ( mainly isometrics) for the diastasi recti seems to be working as well, as well as not overstretching it on the stability ball. I think it came from the distorted overhead work not the one arm swing but either way I'll finish up the month at least with double bells on Saturday. At least I think I will :)
I do love throwing around those heavy one arm bells :)

Double bell floor press
2 16s x 5 x 2  - these feel good just hard to get in position
2 20's x 5 x 2 easy press but set up is tough even with Glenn
1 24 x 4/4 x 2 trying to see if one side is better
1 x 28 kg x 2/2 very hard to stabilize and groove is much different than doubles
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 4 found a handoff technique ( I get one side going via a tgu setup then he hands off the other)
2 28's x 3 x 3 tough but not that hard. hand off is tough
2 24's x4

nice to see I can still bench. this felt strong once I got it in position! I'm even thinking about bringing out the barbell for this :) I actually think doing doubles like this, or a barbell, might actually help re square/ re balance/ re set the shoulders. We'll see.
Any way it was fun and the shoulders didn't hurt at all.

Belt squat
40 kg x 12,14,16,20

these were very strong and deep. legs recovered well from yesterday's ruck

Parallel bar pushups( feet on ground , hands parallel)

3 sets of 10,10, 8 - shoulder started clunking
horizontal pushup 2  x 7 still strong, shoulder just tired

this is great progress.The sets of 10 were no problem at all , shoulders worked fine and were completely quiet

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 4 laps

this was almost easy. time to go up in weight a bit. would have done 5 laps but was overall tired, but the legs felt solid! cardio too. fast walk, It's really freaking amazing what these last 11 months have brought. A miracle, actually.

datsit. Feel great time to stretch out.

neverquit

Sunday Ruck, 37 lbs/ Pr

What a difference 4 pounds makes! I upped the ruck weight by this measly amount and instantly felt the difference on the way to the track .lol. All in the legs and hips, which was good but it was a slow ten laps to be sure.

No worries it got done and I had actually planned on nine laps up until the ninth laps when I actually started to feel good and went for the tenth. Started slow, 8:30 per lap and it pretty much stayed there til the last two which went for about 8:15.

This was strength training, that's for sure.
Did my squat stretches for 30 seconds after each lap and the extra weight made a difference there too :)
Had my knee flexion tested cold Friday morning and I hit an easy 133, these squats were closer to 140 than 130. Definitely getting there.
Double floor presses tomorrow. That should be fun. Back is normal and shoulders are feeling good as well,keeping up the doorknob lat stretch every chance I get. Grease the groove can be used for more than just chins and presses :)

datsit
neverquit

Double 24 kg swings, heavy two hand swings, crawl, tri's

Going to switch  Saturdays to two bell swings as the main movement for the next month or so. I think the emphasis on super heavy one arm swings has put my abdominal  region a bit out of balance, muscularly, and  the external obliques are over developing relative to the rectus abdominus.The linea alba area is separating a bit and I've developed what called a diastasis recti. Seems to be the purview of post pregnancy but I seemed to have caught it do .Time for some more ab centric swinging as well as some actual rectus abdominus work.

Also the emphasis on back extensions every day over the ball might have lead to this with the constant stretching. It's not a dangerous condition at all but it's definitely out of balance. My training partner developed the same thing almost at the same time and we do pretty much the exact workouts.

It's either that or the lats themselves are pulling too hard and I've developed a stretching routine that is addressing that as well. Either way I did almost nothing but one arms for ten years but this has occurred only after going into the uber heavy bells.My PT at work says the overdevelopment of the obliques and lats can create this.

We'll see.

Two bell swing
2 16's x 10 x 2
2 20's  x 5
2 24's x 10 x 10
100 reps
10,600 lbs ( the magic workload it seems )

Two hand swings
32 kg x 10
36 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
44 kg x 10
48 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
36 kg x 10
32 kg x 10

that was great and I had thought about ten sets but that was plenty for today

Leopard Crawls
4 laps of 60 feet

stronger today here

Ring extensions / rear delts with band
4 x 10  ss 4 x 12 ( last two sets with red bands)

crunches : 3 sets finding the right positions. If I stretch back too far the diastasis pops up and I don't want that do it's a very small movement. will play with leg raises as well

ok datsit. Heavy ruck tomorrow. Pack weight is going up

neverquit

Clean and squats, goblets,pushups,walking lunges,shoulder sled,grippers

The back is still not right. Woke up antalgic but it opened up pretty quickly as I started walking around. I just can only tolerate so much flexion and then things can go back to shit pretty fast. I have to remember that I guess and this was the reminder, along with the same thing in Italy.

My lats and not my abs were  the culprit this time and I discovered that stretching them out with the arm at horizontal or just above ( holding onto doorknob, etc) was better , faster and easier than overhead. Got right into the QL which got locked up bigtime with the shield casts. Again, a nice reminder how thin a line I really walk. It's fine as long as I can still walk.

I knew this would unwind it was just a pain in the ass when I am ready to really get back going again.

Snatches were out today but I thought that perhaps single bell clean and squat would work and it did! Much better than expected and much tougher than expected as well.Even with just the 20kg! I can imagine how tough it will be with the 32 kg but I can imagine it!

Always a shock to see my depth on film, because as I do it, looking in the mirror, it seems much deeper ,lol But it felt great though and I could actually feel a "bottom' position in my squat and an actual rebound. I'll take it. Like the single bell a lot too and the singles are much better on my back as well.

Clean and squat
16 kg x 5/5  x 2
20 kg x 5/5 x 5

Goblet squat
20 kg x 5
24 kg x 5
28 kg x 5
32 kg x 5 pr!

these were great! didn't want to chance doing 10 sets of a new movement on an already wonky back so I added in the goblets as a finish. It's much harder to work on depth on 5 rep sets than on doubles or triples. More muscle work less technique emphasis.

Pushups
4 sets of 10 supersetted with band rear delts  4 sets of 10 ( also did 3 sets of 20 each arm this morning in the morning wakeup workout/ stretchout

Walking lunges
3 laps of 15 sets each way. These were tough!

Shoulder sled
95 lb x 250 ft x 3 laps

COC Gripper
trainer to 3 singles
#1 x 3 single attempts about 3/4 and a little
# 1.5 a bit more than 5/8 good effort

taken to using these again at the end of the workouts for just a few reps. Done it three times the first time I remember to log it :) Grip is SO much stronger since all the heavy one arm swings.

I used to be able to get the # 2 to about 7/8 closed. That's a way off but plenty of time. It definitely is a full body deal, that's for sure.
done!  back felt MUCH better at the end of the workout then at the beginning. should be almost 100% by Sat.

 datsit.
Neverquit.

KB Floor Press, belt squats, hip sled

Well, I didn't think it would be the one arm shield casts that would get me but they did. Not having the proper shoulder mobility to do these well, especially after such a long layoff, using momentum to grind through the bad ROM ended up in my back.

Nothing scary but enough of a pain in the ass to disrupt my day and today's workout as well

Decided to try one arm kb floor press in an effort to 1) stay out of my back and 2) find a press movement I can tolerate beside pushups. Interesting for me to see the video. On my left arm I have the bell too close to the body not like my normal floor press ( barbell) groove at all and my shoulder is not packed at all

On the right it's wider, and better but the right shoulder doesn't want to let the elbow touch and I can really feel it here. I think it MIGHT help to stretch out the tight front delt but who knows? I haven't done a horizontal press in eons and it felt might weird and mighty heavy, considering that I used to use high 300's on the barbell floor press regularly for years :)
Strength goes fast if you don't use it :)

If I can brush my teeth tomorrow and Wed I might have a new press to play with. I might use doubles as well if I can figure out the setup.
 KB Floor press
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3 x 4
20 kg x 4/4, 5/5

definitely have to move the left arm wider.It's all front delt in this position/

Belt squats
36 kg x 10,12,14,16

these felt creaky at first and then strong,very strong. legs feel great back from the trip

Hip sled
95 x 250 x 4 laps

getting tired now

Ring Ext
3 x 8,7,6

now this is tightening up my back again. Time for ibuprofen and a nap :)

datsit but shield casts are out. Perhaps halo' but no momentum yet

Neverquit

Ruck on Sunday.

This was surprisingly, but in retrospect it shouldn't have been. I was stronger here than in any other training discipline all week but looking back I walked, with and without a pack more than I did anything else in Sweden.

The pack felt light on my legs and my back and stride and cadence were good from the start. Even though I woke feeling stiff and achey.
Cut back to nine laps though and the pack was one kilo light,14 instead of 15- just didn't add in the water bottle that I usually do. Wasn't sure how this was going to go and wanted to start slowly. Id my usual squats each lap but focused more this time on longer holds, at least 45 seconds and just waiting out the stretch reflex.

First three laps in 8:25, seventh one in 8:10 and the last two were around 8:00. Not bad at all. My back is tight now as I write this hours later but that just means it's time to stretch out the abs and glutes. :)

Back on track

datsit.
neverquit

24 kg one arm , two hand swings, clubbells and pushups

Back on track today after getting silly sore from that tiny workout on Wednesday. As is usually the case after I take any time off from real training, the first workout back makes my body feel like I've never trained a day in my life. But it doesn't last long.

Back to the grind with speed/ volume work with 24 kg. Felt great, actually. After the first few sets that is

30 minute roll, stretch, hang warmup
Rear delt work: band rear delts, band overhead scap pulls and band pull aparts.

the rear delt work is already paying off, shoulders feel much better


One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 10/10 x 10 sets
200 reps
10,600 lbs

really worked on the overspeed eccentric loading but not TOO much, I know how sore this cam make me.

Two hand swings
24 kg  x 10 x 7 sets
70 reps

again focus was overspeed eccentrics and maxing out power. felt fast and solid.

One arm clubbell shield cast
10 lbs x 10 x 3
15 lbs x 8

want to be able to do these again but they felt awkward, tight and weak on the first two sets. Got back into  as I went but I love the clubs Plus I want to be able to swings my swords more easily
My new addition to the Guardians of Stones Gym
Leon next to his big brother Magnus.

Close grip pushups
4 sets of 10 ( on pbars feet on floor) these worked great

Ring extensions
3 sets of 10,8, 8

the pushups toasted the tri's. perfect

Back to the ruck tomorrow. can't wait but I don't expect it to be easy even after all the pack walking around airports and sweden last week :) Doesn't matter, it'll get done

 datsit
neverquit.

Swedish SFG 1 debrief and back to training.

It was a great cert. Got upgraded to business class from Chicago to London, which made sleeping very easy) and that seemed to be the case for the whole weekend. Got right on Swedish time schedule in part due to Stina Albaihn's hospitality in putting us up in her house and cooking for us as well the first day.We seemed to roll right onto normal day pattern. And since was light out until past 11 pm we had time to adjust.

The cert was small ( 10 people) but there were solidly prepared and ready to work .Had a great time working with, teaching and learning from Tommy Blom,SR SFG and got some great new tips for the snatch progression and new respect and understanding of the high pull into snatch technique.Great cures and details for the arm bar as well as another way to cue the torque in foot placement which makes it much easier to teach.

We had alternating beautiful perfect sunny weather and crazy ass thunder and lightening storms! But it cleared up for our two hour and four hour walking tour of Gotenburg on Thursday and Monday and it's which is now on my list of favorite European cities. Just beautiful and seeming large and small at the same time. Plus, eminently walking and that we did. The knee held up perfectly the whole time, not a moments lick of trouble. Nor the back which made things so much easier.

Had no trouble sleeping and I seemed to get plenty of it despite the strange schedule. Staying at Stina's for dinner a few nights made it much easier to recover too, than going out every night.

Here are some random pictures from the course.

this last picture is of me helping superman Daniel Natterdal get his press with the 48 kg after he missed it on his first attempt. I used the"Mind Spot' and he crushed it after a pretty bad miss on the first attempt.

All the mind spot is is telling the student I will help him if he needs it but in reality all I do is "touch" his arm and or the bell without helping at all. This alleviates all anxiety about what to do if he misses ( as he now knows he won't miss as I will help him if needed) so all his energy goes into making the weight and none into any fear about missing. It's amazing how well this works.

here's another shot of him doing the getup

and this is after he received his "death sentence" from his doctors following a bad back injury, which he healed using kbs for training, just another example of the kb strengthening the body from the inside out.

                                                                                                                                             Both Daniel and his equally strong and conditioned brother Henrik seemed as fresh on Sunday as they did on Friday, as if they hadn't spent 3 days throwing kbs around for 12 hours at a pop~

Plus he could squat like this all day long ( my goal ). Just two examples of the great cast of students we had this weekend.

I taught the swing and the press ( first presses I've done in a couple months) and they both went well. On Saturday I taught the squat and man it was fun. I'm getting deeper all the time and the squats are getting easier as well. I did some one arm kb squats in the rack position and they were much more interesting than before so they will have to go back in the mix too.

Looking at my pictures I realized I have lost too much upper body mass so it's time to do some hypertrophy training again.
I also realized that I have seemingly lost ALL my rear delt size and think this might be part of the reason for the shoulder pain. I have a big imbalance between the front and the rear heads of the delt and that's not good when most of the pain comes from the shoulder being pulled too far forward.

An interesting realization too that not doing presses or snatches or upper body work hasn't really helped the shoulder overhead ROM or decreased the pain that much.SO if it's doing to hurt anyway I might as well train them :)

today: No real training this last week; tons of walking ( literally miles and miles) and lots of demo but not much training but I'm pretty exhausted so a light easy today: warmup band rear delts and overhead band pulldowns for scapula. these seemed right and helped warm up the shoulders well

One arm swings 3 x 10/10 with 16 kg

one arm high pulls 3 x 7/7 x 3

one arm high pull into snatch ( 16 kg) 3 sets of 6/6

snatch ( max vo2 style- one arm at a time- untimed) 16 kg 10 sets of 7

using this new high/high pull into snatch felt great! even the lockout felt solid. did them in them mirror to play with lockout. MY overhead position was never as good as when I was doing max vo2 weekly and heavier snatch holds as well. Time to try these again.

close grip pushups on p bars supersetted with band pushdowns

goblet squats 16 kg x 5, 20 kg x 4 24 kg x 3 x 3

not in the mood for sled drags so I called it a day. Just something light to get back in the mix.

datsit. neverquit

32 kg Goblet squats, pushups,hip sled, ring triceps

 Took a relatively easy day today as tomorrow it's wheel's up to Gothenburg Sweden and and SFG level 1 cert with Tommy Blom and I don't want to tweak anything more than I need a little more stimulation in the training.

So I subbed out kb front squat with goblet squats and liked them so much I just might leave it this way! I can get way deeper with the goblets ( although I need to try the elbows inside the knee position with the double bells first) and it just feels great to do! The double fronts tend to make my back a lit grouchy on the next two days after with all the ab stimulation and I don't need that with all sitting, flying and walking I'm going to be doing.

And the goblets were strong and great fun.

Free squat warmup  3 sets of 12

Goblet squat
 16 kg x 5 x 2
20 kg  x 5
24 kg x 5
32 kg x 3 x 5 sets
24 kg x 5 x 5 sets

definitely a pr since I've never done this workout before but it was cool. Could have easily done the 32 for 5's but the idea was not to push it


Pbar pushups
one single rail.close grip feet on floor( like a decline)

Full reps felt fine on shoulder, like the close grip and the triceps emphasis
 4 sets of 5,6,7,8

Belt squats
32 kg x 12  x 4 sets

easy peazy.

Hip sled drag
95 lbs x 4 laps of 250 feet

VERY strong. Left it at four on purpose.

Ring triceps ext
4  x 12, 12, 10, 6

haha hoping for 4 sets of 12,triceps death had other plans. good work though and upper body is coming back too with some mild triceps and pushup work. It's good to have one natural bodypart :)

datsit. Off the grid til I come back but it should be great fun, haven't been to sweden since 1993 as an assistant team coach for Team USA powerlifting

neverquit.

Sunday ruck; fast finally.

Surprised me today; went faster than normal , earlier than normal. Interesting. Had a solid workout yesterday- was strong but it wasn't "easy" strong. I still had to dig but there was something there to give.
Today I had no idea but the walk to the park and the first lap weren't that sloggy, a good sign. started off with 8:25 laps but then it started to really loosen up and I found a solid groove- loose and fast and could really feel the load on the glutes, not the knees or back. Another great sign.

Lately it's been taking 8 or so laps to get under 8:15 on the lap but today the sixth lap broke and then seven, eight and nine were all at 8:00 or under! Best yet. Lap ten was the same but I could feel fatigue setting in and lap 11 was 8:10 or so. I thought I had bonked but pulled it out for the last lap with a 7:55. Sweet.

When I get back the ruck weight goes up to 17 kg close to the goal of 20 kg. Once I reach that it stays there with a few exceptions once in awhile

Still did squat stretches each lap as well as some shoulder mobility circles and lat stretches. Shoulders feel great now as I write this.

Interesting video by serious powerlifting AND Ultra marathon/triathloner Alex Viada. I agree completely with him and love the logical approach to training he takes. He completely groks the vital importance of recovery in this whole training equation :)



datsit. Legs tomorrow ( probably goblet squats as I prepare for my trip to Sweden and another SFG Level 1 course.

neverquit.

44 kg One arm / two hand swings, crawls and ring triceps

This was not easy. Slept well but still a bit under recovered from this last week. I caught up jet lag wise but then the workouts worked me hard :). No matter, I got them done and they were all a PR.
My old best was 102 reps mostly done in 5's. This was 120 reps in all 6's and much stronger and more powerful to boot.

30 min roll/stretchout.

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/ x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 3/3
32 kg x 3/3
44 kg x 6/6 x 10 sets
120 reps
116,640

not bad workload at all

Two hand swings
44 kg x 10 x 5 sets

very powerful as well. no problems at all

Crawls
4 laps of 60 feet.
by myself fast turnaround.

strong but hard as well

ring triceps ext
5 sets of 10

wanted to not have such a fall off so I stayed with 10's the entire time. Still, barely made the last two reps ,lol.

solid day. Long ruck tomorrow too. last one for a week. better bring it tomorrow :)

datsit
neverquit

Double 24 kg swings, walking lunges, pushups and shoulder sled

Everything was attached this morning and stayed that way to training time :) Legs still a bit flat from the weekend so I opted for medium heavy weights for double swings, the 24's.
Felt strong  from the git.Can't believe this is one of my favorite movements now.

Double swings
2 16s x 5
2 20s x 5
2 24s x 5,6,7,8,9,10 x 2 rounds

this felt very strong and easy.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 100 feet. These were good but tough, on grass not pavement. Had more than a few wobbles as I could really feel how tired the legs were.

Neg Only pushups
three sets of six

working good so far

Shoulder sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 3 laps

ok legs cooked now. done

Ring Triceps extension
3 sets of 15, 12, 8

triceps death

datsit.
neverquit

28 kg double front squat, 24 kg single front squats, belt squat and hip sled

heavy day today and I don't mean just the weight size. It felt heavy,lol. Getting back on track has caught up to me a bit today and the double 28's were a real test. No tweaks though after the heavy swings and long ruck but I was tired and tight.
Especially my calves which ended up hurting me in my depth. But no excuses, just another day at the office and while the reps weren't my best, they were a pr and the job got done.

Double front squats
2 16's x 5 x 2
2 20's x 4
2 24's x 3
2 28's x 3 x 6 sets

Single bell front squats


these were interesting. I was definitely done with double so I thought I'd try this. They worked pretty well and when I was doing them I felt like I was much deeper than I was via the video above :)
Hard to watch depth in the mirror when I have to keep my head up to hold my arch.lol. But it'll get there. Looser calves will help
 20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5

definitely different too being able to do higher reps  on each side. Plus the side carrying the load obviously does more work. Interesting movement I likey.

Belt squats
36 kg x 12,14,16. 20

yeow! blow torch on the quads/ Decided not to stand on plates because I always feel a bit off in the knees the next day after I do that. this was plenty of ROM

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 5 laps

five is the new four. Not bad at all

Negative only pushups
3 sets of 5

trying these again. no repercussions from Saturday's pushps so maybe if I do these without the overhead work the shoulders will behave and let me build some more upper body mass :)

Ring extensions
1 sets of 12
tri's surprisingly cooked :)

datsit.
neverquit.

Sunday Ruck. Hard work, work.

It was just work this morning, as I expected it would be. It doesn't take much to take the cream off the top of my fitness and missing a week of "training", world travel across many time zones and montezuma's revenge didn't help either.

But I knew it wouldn't matter, either. I would just ruck up and do my best. See who was home, as Glenn would say.
It wasn't that bad; the first five laps were around 8:30 seconds and the body just didn't want to go any faster but then on lap six things loosened up and I got to 8:15's then the last three laps were all around 8:00 or less!

Two hours, twelve laps.
Same 15 kg ruck weight. Won't bump that up til I get back from Sweden  July 1.

Glenn put on this Army Cadence song above yesterday during our sets and I thought it would be good to listen to as I walked my laps.

It was. But after a few times it started to distract trying to get the next one up on the phone so I ditched it.

But, it was in my head and that was even better

28 kg front squat tomorrow. Can't wait

datsit.
Neversquit

36 kg One arm and two hand swings, crawls, ring triceps

Had a visit from Mike Sousa SFG2 and all around strong guy at Stone Gym today. He elected to come and train with us on our "boring" but tough swing day. Glad to see we made him work a little :)
It's not a sexy workout but it ain't easy. It's deceiving at first, just a few swings with a ( semi) moderate weight. But when they just don't stop and your goal is to keep the power and acceleration up, the concept of having a high work capacity sinks right in. Mike kicked it's ass but it left a mark :)

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
36 kg x 7/7 x 10 sets
140 reps
11,060 lbs


Glenn wanted to play the US Army Cadence song and it seemed perfectly appropriate
" hard work, work; hard work work "

My sets felt great.Strong and fast. grip held easy. I decided to take this inbetween weight as I missed the 32 kg week last week and didn't want to use the 40. I do the 44 kg next week before I take off for Sweden SFG 1 course. Tactical periodization :)

36 kg Two hand swings
5 sets of 10

No problem either ,strong and fast.

Interestingly, even though we had a fifth man in the mix, we finished the workout 15 minutes earlier than usual. And we weren't even trying, at least I didn't think so. Well maybe trying to impress :)

Crawls
4 sets of 50, 60 70 80 feet

these felt great

Ring Triceps extensions
4 sets of 18, 15, 12, 10

these went well. here's a video from a few years ago when I just revisited them



Negative only pushups
2 sets of 8
REALLY need to be able to do these. Try again and see how shoulder feels. Since I'm not pressing or snatching I should be able to get away with them. It's much more important to me to be able to do pushups than press overhead. For sure

Datsit. Regular Ruck march tomorrow. Can't wait
Neverquit.

Italy SFG re cap and double 24 kg swings, front squats, walking lunges and shoulder sled

 What a week! I thought the trip to Italy would go strongly, and perhaps, in one way it did, but it was tough. A short bullet point recap.
Flight over was easy. Flights on time, body okay mind strong.
 On arrival at hotel NEW knee acts up for the first freakin' time in ten months!!! Had a weird pain at the insertion  of the anterior tib, right under the knee and it didn't want to hold my weight!! GREAT TIMING! Mind- not so good.
Got it untwisted- I think popliteus was locked tight as I felt so good I hadn't stretched out much and may have been more dehydrated than I thought. Thursday AM it was better but not perfect.
Thursday- lots of sitting around, talking business and no stretching. Knee ok back ok. Late dinner out and then NO SLEEP. Zero. :) AND
Back locks up. Obviously the no stretching part is seriously kicking my ass. I thought the bed was great, solid and firm but Friday at 5:30 am can barely move. More great :) Full stretchout. Back is slowly unlocking. Hydrating like crazy.
Friday  at cert. Taught the swing and the clean and led my Team ( my favorite part of all :) ) from 8-3 or so. Back was feeling better than on awakeing but all the loading was not helping. Plus no time to really stretch fully out. It was 100 degrees too. Did not help trying to stay hydrated.

Also, the no sleep was catching up quickly as  well. Knee was fine :)

Friday night. Come back from cert and pass out.Slept well except for the stomach cramps I started getting. :) Hello stomach flu :)

Saturday all day. SEVERE stomach flu and diarrhea. Hey, more fun! I got to teach and demonstrate the squat for the first time ever! It ROCKED

Luckily didn't have teach as much in front of group.  Long hot day. Not sure I was going to live BUT some of my best teaching and lecturing ever ? Go figure. My team was melding into one solid group of Instructor candidates.My favorite part- to watch the transformation.

Sunday- things began to ease and I finally caught up with hydration. Intense day with all the testing but less work in teaching. Starting to feel more normal. Got some Italian Imodium which didn't seem to help. 

Note to self for travel kit : add pepto bismol and imodium tablets as well as some high potency anti biotics. Be Prepared.

Training:

Double bell swings

2 16's x 5  x 2

2 20's x 5 

2 24's x 8,8,10, 12, 14, 16

decided to give Glenn some suffering support as he was doing high rep snatches and I started out with low rep swings. Felt VERY strong despite losing five pounds over the weekend 

Double front squats

2 16's x 5

2 24's x 5 x 5

this was as strong as could be. double 32's will be there no problem Surprised how strong I  feel

Walking lunges

four passes of 36 lunge steps. Getting tired now, VERY hot and sun is intense.

Shoulder sled drags

95 lbs x 3 laps of 250 feet. 

could have done four but that would have pushed it too much. need sleep and food.

Ring triceps extension

4 sets of 15, 13, 10 8

datsit.

neverquit.

now, just a few more weeks then off to Sweden!

                                                                                                                       

Front squat on Monday, 20 kg, 36 kg belt squats, hip sled

These were probably the best squats I have ever done. Definitely the most symmetrical and deepest. It was only 20 kg bells but for the first time, perhaps ever, felt like I had TWO legs under me when I was squatting.

And man, let me tell you after squatting on basically one leg for all these years, two is a LOT easier. And stronger. And more balanced, lol.

Had some big improvement in my supported static squat stretch yesterday during the walk. Yesterday was just a great hike day overall, in many ways and the squat depth improvement was a big part of it.
I stopped alternating stances each laps and just stayed with my optimal squat stance- which is on the medium side of medium wide and I just kinda "dropped" in another inch or so and it felt great. And it seems to carry over to todays squat.


As usual more free squatting than sitting on stability ball today. Knees felt good. A bit tired from the weekend but definitely better than normal- less stiff - more recovered.

Goblet squat
16 kg x 3 x 2
20 kg x 3 x 2

this is turning out to be a great warmup

Double front squat
2 16s x 5 x 2
2 20s x 5 x 10 sets
50 reps
4400 lbs work

that's not a half bad workload either

Belt squat ( on 10 kg plates)
36 kg x 10 x 4 sets
ALL touch floor,strong and deeper here too.

Hip sled
95 lbs x 250 ft x 5 sets
Five is the new four.

Ring tricep extensions
3 x 18, 13, 8 :)

tricep death. perfect.shoulders are excellent

datsit. Wheels up tomorrow and a week of beautiful Italy and kettlebell teaching and coaching. Can't wait.

neverquit.

Ruck on Sunday

Perhaps the strongest yet even though I had a bit too much vino last night and was a touch slow getting up :)
 And, as keeping with my nature I was slow getting started but finished fast.
First lap was 8:25.
Last lap was 7:55 :)
Each lap got faster as I warmed up and got looser.
Same pack weight, 15 kg and same number of laps : twelve.
Shoulders were sore when I woke up making me re think the crawls but loosened up very quickly. not the same as before when they didn't loosen up for days so they will probably stay in for now.
When I get back from Italy the pack weight goes up another 2.5 pounds to an even 35. Once I hit 40 lbs it will stay there for the duration.
Each lap had a 30-45 second supported squat stretch and they were the deepest I've gone yet. Stayed with one width this time and it really worked well.

datsit.
Neverquit

now that's a ruck :)