Meet Postponed - Time for Adjusting the Plan

Mon - walk, stretch

Tue - walk, stretch

Wed - Mini Meet - per Marty and since actual meet got postponed by 2 weeks

Earlier BP warmup: DB BP: 20's x 8, 30's x 5

Also a few swings and some Primal Move stuff while assisting my wife and two friends with their practice.

Then:  Circuit training speed on this due to lack of time - start to finish in less than 30 min

FSQ: bar x 3

SQ: bar x 3, 95 x 3, 135 x 3, 165 x 1, 185 x 1


BP: bar x 2, 135 x 4, 165 x 1 - oops, was supposed to be 160, oh well


DL: 225 x 3 overhand, 285 x 1 left under

The plan is mini-meet today, Sunday, next Wed, next Sun, each SQ and BP + 10 lbs., each DL + 15 lbs., all just working up to a single for the day.

Finisher: 24 kg mil press, 3 left, 3 right, superset w/ 24 kg PU, bell on left (weaker) foot, also 3

And that's all she wrote, so

Edit - a bit later, HLR x 2, 2

Onward and Upward

Mini-Meet

Saturday - walked, stretched

Sunday:

SQ:  video of 1rst and 2nd attempts

http://youtu.be/q8SMiTEQ8-Y

bar x 5

95 x 5

135 x 5

165 x 1

195 x 1 - planned first attempt

205 x 1 - planned second attempt, same as third attempt in July, 215 will be third

BP:

bar x 5

95 x 5

135 x 5

165 x 1 - planned first attempt

175 x 1 - planned second attempt, same as max in July which was 2nd.

DL:

225 x 5 overhand

275 x 1 right under

305 x 1 - left under, planned meet first attempt

320 x 1 - left under, planned meet second attempt, 335 will be third

-S-

Variety - Windmills

Thursday:   Felt pretty lousy after yesterday's squatting -

12 kg windmills x 3 each side

Walked.

Friday

Stretched

Pullup w/ 2 fingers on each hand and a 24 kg on my foot - did just one rep, unpleasant for those 4 fingers.

24: mil press once left, once right, put bell on foot and one pullup

HLR x 2, 2 - tried to keep elbows locked better on second set

Will now walk to run errands yet again.

Onward and Upward

Variety Day, Last SQ Day Before Meet

Tuesday - variety day, walked to run some errands, did some nice stretching

Wednesday - was going to be SQ/BP day but I found having spotters for my BP really helped my confidence last weekend so I'm going to SQ only today, and will get more BP in at my mini-meet on Sunday.

warmup - short walk, general stretching, OHS w/ stick, OHS w/ empty bar

FSQ: bar x 1, 95 x 2 - deep, paused and exhaled.  I find myself really missing front squats.

Note to self - the bar weight is on my left hand more than it should be.  Right side is fine.  Tried focusing on driving left elbow forward today but need to remain mindful of this problem.

SQ:

95 x 3 - deep, paused and exhaled

135 x 5 - deep (probably 2-3" below parallel) but no pause or exhale

155 x 1 - start recording, good

175 x 1 - good

195 x 1 - good

215 x fail - possibly too low, also possibly too many ramp-up lifts.  155 x 1 was pretty pointless, probably could have gone 165, 190, 215, don't know if that would have helped.  Also probably sank warmups too deep, seem to have lost a bit of my feeling for proper depth.  Damn - not happy.

Onward and Upward, I hope.

Monday - Another Easy Day

Bodyweight hip circles, neck rotations, windmills,

20 kg b/u c&p x 1 each side

Did some splits yesterday afternoon so let's do some windmills:

20 kg windmill x 1 each side - been a while since I did weighted windmills, and this felt awful

12 kg windmill x 3 each side - OK, a more appropriate effort, still not great but did get palm on the ground on both sides.  Amazing what these fire and what they stretch.

Later, walk for some errands and some more easy stretching.

Onward and Upward - tomorrow or Wednesday, I think it will be SQ/BP day

Sunday - SQ, BP, DL

Didn't get to lift until 4 PM.

Warmup was walking and stretching

SQ: 135 x 1, 2, 1  - not a squat day, just did a few warmups, paused, rock bottom, just stretching out.

BP: 20 lb. db's x 8, 135 x 5, 160 x 1, 170 x 1, 180 x 1 - best BP single in 7 years, we'll take that sort of lift any day.  Not much of a BP by most standards but, like I said, we'll take it.  My all-time meet best is 190 and that was 7 years ago, maybe more like 10 years ago.

DL: Tried Sumo - right under, 225 x 1, left under, 225 x 1 - both narrow sumo stance, felt pretty strange, 2nd rep bothered my right knee somewhat

DL: conventional, 225 x 3 overhand - piece of cake

DL: 275 x 1, 290 x 1, 305 x 1 - slow but steady on all

48: 2-handed swing, 20 in :30

Onward and Upward

Kettlebell See-Saw Press

Today I had 60 seconds to lift - really, that was it - behind schedule, had hours of driving ahead of me and my wife already impatient with me.  What to do?

2 x 24 kg bells - clean, see-saw press.  Totaled 10 reps (5 reps each side).  A perfect short workout that provides a lot of things, including some loaded mobility work as you shift under the load.

Tip: Keep your glutes tight during any two-bell overhead work, including this one.  You want to move under the weights a little but you don't want the motion to come from your lumbar spine, and clenching your butt will help make sure that what's supposed to move moves and what's not supposed to move stays put.

Stretched as I could at breaks during all the driving today.

Tomorrow, it'll either be a Bench/DL workout or a mini-meet or somewhere in between.

Onward and Upward.

Lots of off-easy days leading up to meet

Thursday - walked, cut the lawn, stretched out afterwards including cossack sequence and splits.

Friday - after doing mostly 40 and 48 kg 2-handed swings of late, picked up a 20 kg and did

10L + 10R + 10L + 10R  in 1:05

rested 5-10 minutes, then

2-handed swing, 48 kg, 20 reps in :30

Tomorrow, Saturday, will have half a day of driving

Sunday, mini-meet or a BP/DL day.

Onward and Upward!

Primal Move, Naked Warrior, Meet Prep

I haven't posted in over a week - here's why, plus today's training:

Last week, Thursday and Friday were spent at a Primal Move course put on by founder Peter Lakatos for those in the RKC leadership who weren't able to attend a previous weekend training over the summer.  What can I say about PM?  It's fantastic, a return to the child-like simplicity of movement in a fun, easily-adaptable system that is already benefitting me personally a great deal.  Much is being written and said about PM - I cannot add anything more other than to highly recommend it to everyone.

Saturday and Sunday were Pavel's "Naked Warrior" instructor certification workshop.  Again, superlatives wouldn't suffice so I'll be brief - it was the best distillation yet of the principles of Hard Style, and the most organized exercise workshop I've ever attended - the content presentation was "by the book", meaning it followed the manual closely, but it added all the things necessary to bring the concepts in the manual to life.  I elected not to take the test at the weekend because I have a powerlifting meet coming up but rest assured I will do this soon.

Monday and Tuesday - off.  No training Monday, and Tuesday, which was yesterday, just my Primal Move workout with a focus on mobility.

Wednesday, today:

FSQ: bar x a few singles

SQ:

deep and paused: bar x 5, 95 x 5 - not much pressure in belly
deep and paused:  135 x 5 - some pressure in belly

These were more warmups than usual for me but they felt necessary today

ramp-up: 165 x 1, 195 x 1

215 x 1 - was planning on 215 x 2 but all that hollow-position work over the weekend didn't make the upright torso for squatting much fun today.  Will post video later

Onward and upward

SQ/BP Day - 3 weeks until Meet

SQ:

bar x 3 deep, paused and exhaled

95 x 2 deep, paused and exhaled

135 x 3 deep and paused

165 x 1 - wasn't tight enough

185 x 1 - got tight, felt great

205 x 2 - not sure they're deep enough, will let Marty make that call

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFZrYtZt7XY


BP: DB 20's x 8

BP

bar x 5

95 x 5

135 x 1 - trying index fingers on rings today

155 x 1, 165 x 1, 175 x 1 on about 8 min rests

http://youtu.be/eeib48q9wKs


(HLR x 2 + 48 kg 2-hand swing x 10) x 2 - lifts took 1:00, rest 1:00 between, 3:00 and it's done

Onward and Upward

OH Press (28 kg x 1) and DL (325 x 2) Day

Decided to lift today instead of Sunday - better practice for the fatigue of a meet, the goals aren't all that hard, and the meet is on a Saturday.

Warmup - a short walk, some stretching

KB Press, all reps left then switch hands and same number right:

18 kg x 5, 24 kg x 1, 28 kg x 1

DL:

225 x 5 over - only 3 last week but feeling a little stiff, this felt better today

285 x 1 right under

305 x 1 right under

An absolutely awful, ugly, 325 x 2 - the first rep came up lopsided; the second rep was, at least, even.

325 x 2 left under  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sbGzaonGJQ


(HLR x 2) + (48 kg 2-hand swing x 10) - rest, repeat, and done


Onward and Upward

Variety - One-Arm, One-Leg Pushup Supports

An interesting variety day - did some yard work, walked into town for some errands.

Tried holding the support (top) position of a one-arm, one-leg pushup for a little time today - a fascinating thing happened.  While on my first side, which was left hand and right foot, all sorts of things went pop and click, a free chiropractic session, brought on by necessity - I tightened everything, and my body needed to realign itself.  This is, not coincidentally, the combination with which I have trouble in my getups, pushing through my left elbow and my right foot.

On the other side, no realignment, no drama at all.

In other words, what I did was like a plank, but with straight arms, but with only one arm and one leg.  It's a cool, useful exercise, could be held for time, and should help my eventual one-arm, one-leg pushups.

Also did a few pistols on the front porch.

My next planned heavy lifting day is Sunday in order to get 2 off days after yesterday but I'm feeling well rested and might lift tomorrow instead.  It'll be my first DL doubles.

Onward and Upward

Squat/BP Day - last triples

warmup - some stretching including cossack sequence, shoulder dislocates and OHS w/ stick

FSQ: bar x 1 paused and exhaled

SQ: bar x 1, 95 x 3 - paused, deep, and exhaled

135 x 3 (warmup), 155 x 1,  175 x 1 (ramp up), 195 x 3 (work set)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFbBeS3fZe0 - work set only


DB BP: 20's x 3 paused and exhaled

BP:

95 x 3 paused and exhaled

135 x 4 (warmup), 155 x 1 (ramp up), 175 x 2 (work set) - planned 3 but 1st rep was slow and 2nd rep wobbly so stopped there.  

This is the second time I've attempted 175 x 3 and gotten 175 x 2 only, maybe missing something technical here about getting the weight back up.  First time was 2 weeks ago - last week, 170 x 3 went up, but this still won't go.

HLR: 2 - slightly narrower grip than usual, felt solid but 2 was it

Onward and Upward.

Variety Day - Bodyweight

Weighed 153.6 yesterday, 153.2 this morning, 152.8 midday

Warmup - some stretching - neck work, cossacks, egyptians, hula hoops, ankle rotations.

bw-only work - been a while, will be rusty

qigong on the porch including crane pistols.  First pistol left went down but not back up again, second set was fine each side.

Decided to play w/ one-arm, one-leg pushups, again knowing I'm very rusty.  Here's how it went:

Left: 2 partial ROM on the floor, Right: full descent but couldn't come back up.

Rest

Left: full descent, pause, stop at bottom;  Right, the same

My approach is not to worry too much about whether I'm using one leg or two - it seems more natural to me to work on the one-legged version but I don't deny myself touching the other leg as needed.

I note that my glutes and abs aren't nearly as tight as they need to be for these.  If I can fix that, I think I'll have the movement.

Upstairs in the family room, tried assisting with just a finger of the other hand as needed - not sure it's what I need as it changes the center of everything.

No more for today, might try a little light GTG on these over the next few weeks to see how it goes.

Onward and Upward

KB Press and Barbell DL - and I can't count

Dog tired after 3 days teaching at the Philly RKC but having at it today, anyway.

KB Press:

Decided to warmup with 18 kg x 5 each side instead of 20 kg - why not, it's just a warmup, anyway.

24 kg x 1

28 kg x 1 - been doing doubles at this weight but not liking my form for the second rep, and this isn't my focus now, anyway - perhaps I'll go for reps @ 28 kg or a single at 32 kg when the WNPF World's meet is over - would make a nice focus for a 13-week cycle.


Short walk to do some errands and loosen up the back


DL: - found out last week's 305 x 3 turned out to be 297.5 x 3 - damn!  Will pull 315 x 3 today, anyway

225 x 3 overhand

275 x 1 right under

295 x 1 right under

315 x 3 left under, video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBdAVa4pufs


Swing:  40 kg, 2-handed

5 reps, 1 breath
10 reps, 3 breaths
15 reps, done

Onward and Upward

RKC Philly 2012

I'm just back from teaching at the Philly RKC, 2012.  I had a well-prepared group of students and it was a pleasure to be their Team Leader.  It was the smallest RKC I've been at lately, 5 teams of about a dozen students each, but that didn't seem to hinder it in any way.  Many thanks to my assistant instructors, Annie Vo and Marshall Roy - I certainly couldn't have done it without them.

The weekend came during a very busy time in my life - I elected to skip a Friday night dinner with the other team leaders and was asleep by 8:30 PM, getting some much needed and overdue rest.

With one exception, my exercise for the weekend consisted of a few brief demonstrations while teaching.  The one exception was a few minutes spent on a pullup bar during a break on Saturday.  I dd some assisted one-arm chinup varations, including with just the index finger of the other hand assisting and placed at the opposite side of a TAPS pullup bar unit.

I'll be home this week although it promises to be again very busy, with lots of piano practice for a recital I'm playing in on Thursday afternoon, accompanying a family friend's daughter at the local high school as she plays a clarinet concerto.  I'm hoping to get two solid powerlifting training days in.

Onward and Upward.