The log has moved.

I've moved my training log to the dragondoor forum.
Here it is.

20081206

Snatches
24 kg.
5 sets of 10/10
32 kg.
3 sets of 5/5

Nail bending
4 yellow nails
1 blue nail

20081204

TGU
28 kg. 1/1, 1/1
32 kg. 1/1, 1/1
40 kg. 1/1
32 kg. 2/2

Double Clean and Press
24 kg.
3x3

Armbar-Get Up- Windmill
(Picked this up from Adam Glass)
24 kg. 1/1, 1/1
28 kg. 1/1

3 Yellow nails bent
1 Blue nail bent

20081202

Max VO2
16 kg.
50 sets
Half at 8 reps, half at 7
---
I'm still coughing and not feeling 100% so I dropped to the 16 kg. I think I'll be back on the 20 kg. next week. This cold doesn't want to leave. I hate feeling weak.

Training

20081129
--
First day back at it. Mixed bottoms up presses and nail bending. Solid BUP on the 20 and 24 kg. Three yellow nails down.

20081130
---
Max VO2
20 kg.
6 reps
40 sets with one break.
This was bad. No comment. Still a little sick obviously.

20081201
---
5 bodyweight pull ups to heavy presses. Either 1/1 32 kg. or 2/2 28 kg.
6 sets
3 yellow nails bent. Have to work on technique. One was clean, two I had to brace against my leg to get the initial kink.

20081125

Short Workout

Pistols
1x16 kg.
1x24 kg.
1x28 kg.
1x32 kg.
All right leg as I'm still working out that tweak in the left. Didn't notice it today, but I'm playing it safe.

Zercher squats
3x135
3x185
3x205

Bent one yellow nail and bowed two
---
Ok, I must lower my battle flag for now. I am sick. I was sick during this workout. I haven't been sick in about 4 years, and I denied it as long as I could, but I have finally been taken down. If I feel better friday I'll get back in.

20081124

Max VO2
---
20 kg.
40 sets
10 sets at 7 reps
30 sets at 6 reps.

I'm still manipulating variables to work my way back up to 80 sets of 7.

Did some of the Bulletproof abs drills as well.

20081121

Max VO2
---
20 kg.
40 sets
6 reps

This wasn't that hard. I primarily stopped because I don't want to just dive in and kill myself. The only negating factor was my hands, as I haven't been on top of my calluses the way I should be. No rips though. :)
I'm gradually tuning it up. Next Monday I'll bring it up to 50 sets. I think I'm going to hit 80 sets regularly. It didn't work for me before, but I may have a different reaction now. I need crazy work capacity to hit 100 reps on the 32 kg. in five minutes. I'm confident I can do this, I just have to be perfect. Diet, training, no room for error. I'm back on the warrior diet solid now and I already feel better.

20081119

Max VO2
---
First day back at it. I've done almost zero cardio since the TSC so I expected this to be a slaughter, but it wasn't that bad.

40 sets total
30 sets of 6 reps on the 20 kg.
10 sets of 7 on the 16 kg.

had to drop back at the end as I was a little sloppy and my back started to fire up. No problem, easy fix. The 16 kg. felt like a toy.

20081118

Bench Press
6x3 165 lbs.
Close Grip Bench Press
4x3 155 lbs.

---
Today I decided I will do the TSC in April, so I'm going to start spinning up now. Deadlift is strong, and I'm staying around 175. I'm going to hit the vo2 possibly tomorrow. We'll see how I feel. I was feeling pretty toasted today, but a light vo2 and thursday off may be just what I need. I mean really light, like I'm dropping back to the 16 kg.
Hopefully all the work I've been doing will pay off with a bigger deadlift and being able to keep the 32 kg. up longer during the snatch test.

20081117

Squat Day
---
3x3 225 lbs.
3x2 275 lbs.
3x1 295 lbs.

This worked pretty well for me. I'll push it up in the coming weeks, I just have to correct some tightness issues I don't want to push. I got some recommendations from Rif on a lifting belt so I'll pursue that. I read something from Louie Simmons about Squats with a belt helping to correct pelvic tilts, but I'm not sure if that was anterior or posterior specific.

Zercher squats

2x3 135 lbs.
1x3 185 lbs.

I love these. Need to keep on them and toughen up a bit.

Did some ab work, weighted pull downs. I never do ab specific stuff, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. :)

20081115

Nail bending and get ups
---
I just alternated between heavy get ups and nail bending. All get ups were on the 32 kg. and the 40 kg. I worked out what the problem has been on my right, and Tara confirmed it. My externally rotated right foot is breaking up the chain of strength on my right side. When I corrected it Bam! problem solved.
I bent a handful of green nails easily and then bent two yellow nails.
I hit the presses on the 32 kg. and managed three solid reps on the right and I could have hit 4 or 5. Left side... 1. That's bad. I'm going to start working my left side harder. This is unacceptable.

20081114

Squat Day
---
2x5 225 lbs.
2x2 275 lbs.
2x1 295 lbs.

Nothing too difficult here. I made it more difficult by being very exacting with my form. I realized the other day I've been in more of an Olympic style squat stance with how narrow I was, so I reviewed some video of good squatters and adopted a more powerlifting appropriate wide stance. I then narrowed it down a bit to accommodate my hips (I have none) and it was just right.
What was I just saying the other day about feeling weird in my own body at 175? My massage therapist identified the beginning of a C curve in my thoracic spine yesterday, so I really need to change the method of recovery I'm doing and even out my right and left sides. The working theory right now is that my right side is so much stronger it's pulling the spine that way.
Cool. I'm strong. :)

20081112

I got in to Equinox early this morning to do some instruction for one of the trainers, so I used my time waiting to bend some nails. I got a shipment from fat bastard barbell the other night of some new stock, a horseshoe, and some leather and suede wraps. These wraps make a big difference, I just have to work on getting them tighter.
I achieved a significant bow of the yellow (60D) nail. I got so caught up in it that I didn't realize at one point I flipped the nail and bent it back nearly straight. Duh. Based upon this I'm confident I'll bend the yellow nail before the year is out.
I'll most likely head back this afternoon during my break to pull some deadlifts, at which point I'll update this
---
Deadlifts

3x3 315
3x2 335
3x1 355

All went well, not that difficult. I have to re-test my max in the next few weeks and see what I can pull. I think I may be well past 405. We'll see. The squatting has made a tremendous improvement in my leg strength and power breaking from the floor. I see a 495 lbs. pull in the not so distant future.
Today I'm solidly at 175. I'll get more in depth with this later, but I'm adjusting to my own body. I've never been this big before, not even close. It may not seem that big, but for me it is.

I wrapped up with some curls using the Olympic barbell, one handed. I like these as they force me to maximize tension.
3x3/3 45 lbs.

20081111

Bench Day
---
I may have to retract some of the evil things I've said about the bench press. For all intents and purposes I do still believe for most people it ends up doing more harm than good, but for me it is generating some positive benefits.

Bench Press
4 sets of 1, 2, and 3 reps at 165.
These all went up pretty easily. I can definitely do more, so my strength is increasing quickly here.

Close Grip Bench Press
4x3 145 pounds

Bent some green nails from odd angles, including one bend performed while doing a pistol.

20081110

Squats
---
This was really an off day. Didn't get my nutrition right this morning due to travel and felt weak. All in all I did okay. Pushed the squats a little bit.

2x5 225 lbs.
2x5 245 lbs.
1x3 275 lbs.

Last set at 275 felt solid. I know I can bring it over 300 lbs.

Clean and alt. press
24 kg's 2 sets of 6
32 kg. Cleaned them up and got one rep on the right, but it wasn't happening.

Renegade Rows
2x6 24 kg's
1x6 32 kg's

Farmer's walks
50 feet with a 24 kg. and 16 kg. in each hand
50 feet with a 32 kg. and a 16 kg. in each hand

I love these. I need to chalk up next time so I can get more distance. I can get a 32 and 24 in each hand.

20081108

High Volume Pressing
---
18 sets of 3/3 on the 28 kg.
This went pretty well. I really need to attack my form more, as I can definitely get lazy when the weight is going up easily. I had to drop to the 24 kg. for the last rep on a few of the left arm sets.
All in all I'm pretty pleased with how this went. My pressing strength is definitely better as I didn't even get close to this number when I hit the 28 kg. at the end of the High/Low volume cycle.

I hit 3 sets of bent over rows with double 32 kg. for 5 reps each. Just because.

20071107

Squat Day

3 sets of 5 reps- 225 lbs.
2 sets of 5 reps- 245 lbs.

I'm getting better with this, ironing out nuances of technique.

Note: Had a conversation with a friend of mine who works as a trainer at Equinox and has a strong powerlifting background. He has observed my squat and noted that while I have a pretty narrow stance it doesn't seem to be a problem, and that I'm getting pretty deep. So far so good.

Nail Bending
15 green nails back to back.

I can't say this was ever really hard. I don't think the yellow nail should be stopping me like this. I'm going to do some serious studying this weekend and work on technique. Right index finger is already feeling better.

Overhead sit ups
24 kg. 5/5
32 kg. 3/3

TGU (two bells in one hand)
24 kg.
1/1
1/1
28 kg.
1/1
1/1

I like these more and more.

174 lbs. today. Holy crap I'm a giant. :)

20081107

Pull Ups
---
Ugh. I've officially decided to hold off on the Beast Challenge until June at RKC II or August at UCLA RKC.
At best I'm holding my ground with pull ups as my weight goes up, and I don't see that changing quickly enough to hit February. No big deal. I still have nails to bend and a TSC in April.

Pull Ups
4 sets of 2 with 10 kg.

Took down a couple of green nails, but my right index finger is tweaked out, which leaves me with only two working fingers on my right hand.

20081105

Deadlift
---
I bumped things up to base my percentages on an estimated 420 lbs. max pull.

3x3 315 lbs.
3x2 335 lbs.
3x1 355 lbs.

This feel like it's right where it should be. The final sets were actually easier than the light ones as I had to employ all of my tension and lock everything down.

Jumpstretch/Kettlebell Crush Curls
3x5 with a 16 kg. bell and a purple JS band
I'm going to work into these as well once I get the chain and D ring to set up the rig.


Recovery has not been good. My hamstrings felt tight today and I've been having some neck/trap issues that led to a piercing pain behind my right ear for two days. Like I keep saying, lack of recovery will bite you in the ass, and I got bit.
I've been doing what I always do as far as rolling and stretching, but I didn't take the increased size and strength translating into more tightness into account. I'm going to start treating my massage appointments like doctor's appointments. I also have the stretching seminar with Pavel on Nov. 22nd in Sacramento, so I should pick up some new tricks there.

20081104

Bench Day
---
All exercises were supersetted, so not done in this order.

Bench Press
160 lbs.
4 sets of 1, 2, 3

Mil. Press
28 kg.
10 sets of 1/1

Bottoms up press
20 kg.
3 sets of 1/1

Double kettlebell one handed press
2 12 kg. kettlebells in one hand
3 sets of 3/3

Close Grip Bench Press
4x3 140 lbs.

Suitcase Deadlift
3x1/1 135 lbs.

This all went very well and I got a lot of quality work done. Hitting some variety on the presses helps. I'm going to bring back the kneeling presses and start hitting those harder. Bench is getting better and better. To what end i don't know. Ego. :)

Today I weigh 173 lbs. I am the heaviest I have ever been, and I'm not fat yet.

20081102

Squats
---
5x5 225 lbs.
Pinch Plate curls (2 10 lbs. plates) 3x5
Nail bending
Tried to straighten out some green nails. got them back to a right angle, mostly. :)


My schedule is a little goofy for the next couple of weeks, so some days will shift around.
Tomorrow I'm going to sit down and lock down the new routine. What I've been doing has been okay as I'm basing it around three primary lifts to bring overall strength up, but I need to get specific again. I still want to fit in the squats, deads, and bench press, but I need to hit the presses and pull ups harder, so I'm going to take it back to the low/ high volume approach.

It should look something like this-

Day 1: Squats/ Swings
Day 2: Bench/ Low Volume Mil Press
Day 3: Deadlift/ Heavy Swings
Day 4: Off
Day 5: High Volume Pull Ups
Day 6: Squats/ Swings
Day 7: Nail Bending/ High Volume Presses

Assistance exercises to be rotated in: Jump Stretch crush lifts, suitcase deadlifts, Windmills, Bent Press

As you can see there are more swings in this rotation. I haven't done jack for my conditioning lately, so I need to bump that up if I still plan on doing TSC in April.

20081101

Presses and Pull Ups
---
10 kg. Pull Ups w/ 24 kg. presses 5/5
3 sets

28 kg. presses
5x1/1

Kneeling presses
24 kg.
4x3/3

10 kg. pull ups
3x3

This was all pretty good. I really need to catch up with my pull ups. I can do a 28 kg. right now, but can pistol and press a 36 (estimated)

20081031

Squat Day
---
Went off the rails a bit today, but not badly. I think I've milked the 20 rep squats dry as my form is getting funky trying to grind through it. Others may persevere, but I see more value in stepping back and re-assessing.
I changed up the weight and hit lower reps.
5x205
5x205
3x225
3x225
3x225
1x275
1x275
1x275

These felt pretty good, no problems. Leg are definitely stronger and I kept my form tight. This weekend I'm going to do some research and put together a solid squat program.
I hit some plate curls with two 10's pinched together in between sets and even a few sets of one handed barbell curls. That got some weird looks.

Hit the bent press. Sets of 3 with the 24 kg. and some singles on the right with the 32 kg. Pretty easy and I'm going to work up on the barbell. My trouble bent pressing on the left appears to be flexibility related, so I'm going to work on that.

20081029

Deadlift day
---

I'm definitely much stronger as this was all relatively easy, and percentages were based upon my last maximum of 405 lbs.

3x3 300 lbs.
3x2 320 lbs.
3x1 340 lbs.

I think I'm going to re-mix it this to base it upon an estimated 425 lbs. max. We'll see.

20081028

Bench Day
---
Not much weight, just putting up volume and working on technique.

Bench Press
155 lbs.
1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3

Close Grip Bench Press
135 lbs.
3, 3, 3, 3

Double Military Press
28 kg.
4 sets of 1

20081027

Squat Day

Warm ups to include some 24 kg. pistols just to make sure they still work. :)

Squat (Barbell)
20x210

Ouch. I mean really this time. The last couple were like I was trying to stand back up in the midst of being beaten (which has actually happened on a couple occasions) but I pushed it out. Despite the difficulty I capped it off by taking the 20th rep a couple inches lower.

Mil Press
3x1/1 32 kg.

Windmills (Kept these light)
2x3/3 45 lbs. (barbell)

Nail Bending
8 total green nails done all as singles. I just did them from disadvantageous leverage points. 4 were Heslep Style and 4 were reverse grip done at arms length. Whole new level there. All were drawn back in to the body for the crush down.
Bending a green nail is like bending a spoon now.
I've got some new stock as well as a horseshoe and some leather and suede wraps coming from fat bastard barbell company soon, so that will be cool.
I've broken 170 pounds and I haven't gotten fat yet. :)

20081025

Today I hit pull ups and presses. I was a little concerned I'd have fallen behind on my pull ups but they went fine. All were pretty clean. Pressing strength is going up fast. The double presses with the 28's were relatively easy once I locked my technique down.

Not in this order.

C/P ladder 24 kg.
2/3

Pull Ups
4x22 lbs.
3x1 45 lbs.
3x1 45 lbs.

Military Press
3x1/1 28 kg.

Double Military Press
3x1 28 kg.

20081024

Squat day.

Warmed up, then...
20x210 lbs.

This was brutal toward the end. The last two reps really pushed me.

Bent Press
3/3x24 kg.
1x32 kg. Right hand only
1x24 kg. Left hand
Repeat
Getting stronger on this, just working on connections and tightening up. Almost put up the 40 kg. on my right.

Nail Bending
1 Green Nail to warm up
11 Green nails back to back.

I'm putting in an order to Fat Bastard barbell for some different stock so I don't have this giant jump to the yellow nail. Took a swing at it today and bowed it, but couldn't get the kink in.

20081023

Rest day. I needed it. Bad.
I was feeling tore up from the floor up when I got home last night, so I committed myself to doing nothing today.
You know, except that set of 40 kg. snatches.
I'm up around 170 lbs. and climbing. My shirts don't fit anymore. I've always worn smalls or mediums. My mediums are like a second skin. I put on my formerly too big bad ass Pantera shirt and it fits properly as it's a large. I'm a little bummed as I have some kick ass t-shirts. I have a bad ass 7 year old Guinness shirt and my New Orleans Gator Wrestling shirt, as well as a t-shirt I got from Sun Studios in Memphis. Looks like I have to go back to Memphis.
Let's hear it for military pressing, squatting, and bench pressing.
Oh yeah, and shoveling food in your mouth and drinking milk like it's going out of style.

20081022

Deadlifts

I think this works best, just to do the deadlifts.

3x3 285 lbs.
3x2 335 lbs.
2x1 355 lbs.

Felt strong in everything, no problems. I'm pretty sure I can exceed 405 now. I'll wait until the end of the cycle before I max again. Patience pays off.

20081021

I screwed this one up and can't remember what happened.
I do know I hit the bench press and plate curls. I mis-loaded the bar and ended up doing singles of 205, which far exceeds my old max.
Better luck next time on the note taking.

200801020

TGU
32 kg. 2x1/1

Squats
20x195
This one hurt. When I thought I was parallel I dropped another couple inches, and that made a difference. Reps 10-15 are the killers.

Mil Press
5 sets of 5 reps with two 24 kg. kettlebells.

Windmills (Barbell)
45 lbs. 5/5
55 lbs. 3/3
65 lbs. 1/1

Nail bending
1 green nail.
5 green nails back to back.
---
This is a good template for this workout and most likely it will stay this way. I also had my psoas worked on today, still working on correcting my anterior pelvic tilt.

20081017

TGU
32 kg.
6 reps total alternating

40 kg. 1/1

Squats
20x190 lbs.

Assorted presses and plate curls.

I'm going to work on tightening this up. It's a little too scattershot. I also have to limit how often I'm pressing. I'm waaay over-training right now.

20081016

Swings and Nail Bending
---
Two handed swings
40 kg.
10x20

Green nails
4 sets of 5 back to back.

20081014

Deadlift and Presses
---
These were mixed as in deadlift, press, deadlift, press, etc.

Deadlift
3x280
3x280
3x280
2x325
2x325
1x355
1x355
1x355
Note: Deads were good and strong. Still tuning the form back up, but relatively easy.

Military Press
32 kg. 3x1/1

Bottoms Up Cleans
32 kg. 2x1/1

Bottoms Up Press
24 kg. 3x1, 1x2 (Right Side Only)
I balanced this out with five reps military press on the left side with the 24 kg. It's all a grip and tension issue that I will sort out. I can BUP the 20 kg. on my left, but I can get two reps out of the 24 on my right. Oh well.

20081013

Program modifications
---
I'm retuning this thing and closing in on how I want it to look. I'm holding off on return to the vo2. I'm going to keep hitting the swings, and throw in some wheelbarrow work.
I hate the bench press. I have always hated it. Primarily because I am really bad at it. I mean really bad. However, I hate having weak points, so I'm going to do it for a while and try to improve it. I'm going to do the work on this and study the movement some more.
Today I took it easy, and was surprised at how well It went. The upper weight is my old max.

3x135
3x135
3x135
2x180
2x180

The 180's went up pretty easy, so I'll start ratcheting it up. I need a spotter to hand off to.

20081012

New Cycle Begins

My last pistol workout ended abruptly. Left knee made a pop and I called it quits on that. No pain, just one of those moments where you know it's best to stop.
It's great how the timing of this stuff works. My presses started to get smoked, my knee pops, guess what? Week 4, time to switch cycles. Now onto 20 rep squats, deadlifts, and you guessed it! More pressing!

So this is the basic breakdown for the next 4-5 weeks.
2xweek- 20 rep squats
1xweek- Deadlifts
2xweek- Mvo2

More rest days, more pulling, more loading.

Today was the first squat workout. I was very pleased with my squat stance and form. They just felt really good. Well, right up until about rep 16. :)
The popping in the left knee stopped after about five reps. No big deal, just a noise, and I'm being really paranoid about my squat form. I started off light at 185 lbs. for 20 reps.
It went down like this:
Squat- 20x185 lbs.
Pressing ladder (Descending) 3, 2, 1 (Double 24 kg. mil press)
Plate curls- 10 lbs. 5/5
Pressing ladder 24 kg. 3, 2, 1
Plate curls- 25 lbs. 3/3
Pressing ladder 24 kg. 3, 2, 1
Bent over rows- 5x24 kg's, 5x24 kg's, 3x32 kg's, 3x32 kg's

I never do bent over rows, but these felt fine.

20081009

Low volume presses
---
How fitting that I should be floating into the land of diminishing returns at the end of week 4. Perfect.
Today ended up being 7 sets of 1/1 presses 32 kg.
I also hit some swings.
3x40- 28 kg.
5x20- 32 kg.
I'm feeling very strong in my swings, and my endurance and grip are good.
I was feeling weak on the presses and some of the left side ones required a bump. You can only take so much of a beating before you have to back off, and six days a week of crazy volume is it. I'm going to wrap up with my high volume pistols tomorrow, back off next week with just some max vo2 for 3 days, then switch gears.

20081007

Low Volume Pistols
---
24 kg.
10 sets of 1/1

Mixed in some heavy swing- 40 kg. and double 24 kg.
Jerks- 2x10/10 32 kg. and 1x3/3 40 kg.

20081006

High Volume Pressing
---

24 kg.
3x3/3

28 kg.
4x3/3

28kg.
6x2/2

24 kg.
3x6/6

24 kg.
10x5/5

20081005

Low volue pull ups
---
16 kg.
1x1/1
20 kg.
9x1/1

Two handed swings
40 kg.
6x20

Pull ups went much better and I'm feeling a lot stronger in the pull up, though still lagging behind my pistols and presses.
Part of doing this program properly is accepting that I may not get done under an hour. Particularly with the high volume pull ups and pistols.

I'm starting swings again as I need to keep my endurance up, and snatches crossover too much with the presses. These were relatively easy. I need to go over 20 reps to get my HR up and work my wind. I was never out of breath. I'm going to go for 40 reps next time and go back and froth between the 32 and 40.

20081003

High Volume Pistols
---
I'm still working up the volume on these.
12 kg.
15 sets of 3/3

These felt good and I worked into a nice rhythm on the 3/3. Definitely started to feel my knees so I really focused in on my form and it got better. I feel fine the next day, so I'm good.

45 pistols per leg, 90 total. Working toward 100 each leg, 200 total.

I did some of my L and V sits on the pull up bar, and some inverted pull ups. Basically I bring my legs straight up until my hips are level with or higher than my shoulders, then I do pull ups. Today my mid-section is toasted.

20081002

Low Volume Presses
---
32 kg.
10 sets of 1/1

Last five sets on the left required a little bump, but the first five were very clean. This is pretty damn good considering that three weeks ago I couldn't even get the 32 kg. out of the rack position on my left side without push pressing it.
Additonally I did some stacked presses to work on form.
I also cleaned up two 32 kg. bells with surprising ease. I cleaned up the 40 kg. to get a feel for it, but it wasn't going up.

20081001

High Volume Pull Ups
---
10 kg.
12 sets of 3 reps.

Not really so high volume. earlier I did a half hour of pretty tough climbing at the rock gym (tough for me) which isn't a good combo with high volume pull ups. I'll structure is better next time and hit my 100.

20080930

Low volume pistols
---
10 sets of 1/1

1. 16 kg.
2, 3. 20 kg.
4, 5. 24 kg.
6, 7, 8. 28 kg.
9, 10. 28 kg. (Right foot) 24 kg. (Left foot)

20080929

High Volume Presses
---
24 kg.
20 sets of 5/5

These were good, and worked me more than the higher sets on the 3/3. I'm treating this as a practice vs. a work out and I can feel the difference. I'm getting waaay more efficient in my pressing mechanics. The middle sets on the left were hard, but they became easier toward the end. Total- 100 presses per arm.
Everything on the right is easy. :)

20080927

Low Volume Presses
---
Today I find myself with only a 32kg. kettlebell, so most of the left side had a bit of a knee bump. Right arm was solid.
10 sets of 1/1 military press 32 kg. (left side slight knee bump)

Nutrition is the foundation

I'm finding that if my nutrition isn't locked in, nothing else matters. I've been moving my apartment this week and my diet plan went to hell. It caught up with me yesterday afternoon and I've been feeling like a truck hit me. Coupled with no sleep this week it equaled no workout this morning. It just was not happening, and I've learned not to push it. So I'm hitting my high volume pistols throughout the day while I work, shooting for 100 each leg on the 12 kg. Feel solid so far. Had a veggie juice and felt sick, which confirms I'm very toxic right now. Next week things calm down and I go into lock down.

20080924

High Volume Military Press
---
24 kg.
32 sets of 3/3

This was relatively easy, and I think I'll most likley bump it up to 5/5 and decrease the sets, still shooting for about 100 presses per arm.
I finished up with some Janda Sit Ups and suitcase deadlifts with the 40 kg.

20080923

Low Volume Pistols/ Nail Bending
---
Pistols
10 sets of 1/1 24 kg.
I didn't get as much depth on the left leg as it's weaker, but I'm working to build it up. I worked hard to keep my my left heel from tapping the floor at the bottom of the right leg pistols. It's not a support thing, it's a flexibility problem. All in all the pistols on the right were very clean.
PR- 1 pistol on the right leg with the 28 kg.

Nail Bending
Killed 5 whites then five greens back to back. Did another three greens back to back as well. Getting stronger in these. Did a white nail Heslep style, which amounts to holding it out at arms length during the initial bend, then bringing it in for the crush down.

20080922

High Volume Pull Ups
---
Started out with 10 reps Turkish Get Up on the 32 kg. switching hands each rep. I was surprised how easy this was. It'll be time to bump up to the 40 kg. soon.

Pull Ups
10 kg. plate
30 sets of 3 reps each.

Not bad. I'm feeling much stronger in these. The goal with the high volume right now is to compress the number of sets and boost the reps before bumping the weight up. I'm carefully monitoring my elbows to make sure that pain doesn't pop back up, but I'm really focusing on form in regard to using my lats, and working to end each pull up in the hollow position (point of ascent), which is very advantageous.

20080919

High Volume Pistols... kind of.
---
I was surprised at how much these smoked me. However, I do have to say that they became easier as I went, to a point.

5x3/3 12 kg.
3x3/2 8 kg. (Left leg was toasted by now)

Not anywhere near as many as I was supposed to get, but a good start. I'll probably start on the 8 kg. and stay there next time as I'm supposed to ultimately get 100 reps on each leg. Yeah, I know.

I also did some nail bending with a couple of the trainers. Hit five white nails and five green. Three of the greens went back to back. This is much easier now. I can carry on a conversation while I bend the whites. Going back to back with the greens is a good overload method. The third one went a lot harder and this will help me build up to the yellow. I made a run at the yellow but it wasn't happening. Tara tried to bend the white nail but it stopped her. I can see that better technique and getting everything tighter will allow her to do it, as she has a crazy strong grip from all the massage work.

20080918

Low Volume Pull Ups
---
I ended up not finishing this due to time constraints today.
10 sets of 1 rep each- 20 kg.
4 sets of 1 rep each- 16 kg.

I had to swallow my pride and drop to the 16 kg. Lats are just toasted from the high volume pull ups and too much nail bending this week. Otherwise I feel good.

20080917- Beast Training Cycle Breakdown Pt. 1

High Volume Presses
---
Military press
20 sets of 3/3 24 kg.
Total= 120 reps

This was relatively easy, so I may manipulate it a bit and go heavier every other week. I'm going to wait and see how I feel next week as all this stuff may eat into me more than I'm thinking it will.
I'm pretty confident I can press a 36 kg. bell right now. I don't have one to test it out on, but that may change soon. We'll see.

Here's the current breakdown of this training cycle. I'll put up something more permanent soon. The weights for the first three days represent what I've done so far.
---
High/Low Volume Skill Work

Day 1
High Volume Pull Ups
TGU- 32 kg. 10 reps (Alternating hand to hand)
Pull Ups- 80-100 total reps- Sets of 4 with 10 kg.

Day 2
Low Volume Pistols
Pistols- 10 reps per side (20 total) 20 kg.
Nail bending

Day 3
High Volume Presses
Military Press 40-50 reps per side (80-100 total) 24 kg.

Day 4
Low Volume Pull Ups
TGU 28 kg. 20 reps alternating hand to hand
Pull Ups- 20 total reps

Day 5
High Volume Pistols
Pistols- 40-50 reps per side (80-100 total)
Nail Bending

Day 6
Low Volume Presses
Military Press- 10 reps per side (20 total)
Deadlift

20080916

Low Volume Pistols and Nail Bending
---
Pistols
2x1/1 12 kg.
2x1/1 16 kg.
6x1/1 20 kg. right/ 16 kg. left

Big difference in strength from right to left. I have to fix that. The 20 kg. pistols on the right were fairly easy, so I'll most likely bump this up to 24 kg. next time. I definitely found a good groove with these. I worked a lot on keeping my forward heel from tapping the floor. I watched Brett failing people for that at the Beast Challenge, so I'm really going to stay on top of that. A big factor is increasing my flexibility.

Bending
3 white nails and two green nails went down without a fight. This wasn't too difficult, but I'm still going to give it a week or two before bumping up, and work through the rest of the stock. I used double overhand for everything as I really feel I can get my lats behind the bend. I'm going to practice the anchor/driver next time.

20080915

Beast Challenge Training Starts Now.
---
High Volume Pull Ups

Not as high volume as it should have been due to time constraints.
10 sets of 4 reps with 20 lbs.

Normally I'll be doing some TGU to warm up and some heavy swings, but my right forearm is still a little tweaked. All in all these felt good, and I stayed strong throughout. Did a lot of work on my form, focused on firing the lats hard and keeping the shoulders plugged in.
I'm typing up the first five weeks of the training program and will be posting a link in the links section to the right where anyone can download it. It's based off of Kenneth Jay's training for maximal strength with the kettlebell. I'm always open to suggestions and constructive criticism.

Summing up the week

I've been remiss this week. Mostly I've just been working on technique issues in the 32 kg. snatch, and some deadlift stuff. Managed to tweak my right forearm pretty good doing a 44 kg. TGU monday, but it'll be fine for Saturday. Not any form issue on the TGU, the bell's just damn heavy.
Military presses with the 32 kg. have been getting easier, which means my pressing schedule works.
I pulled some deads today at Equinox to hone in on form and test my baselines. I worked up to a single pull of 385 lbs., just two pounds below my max at the last TSC. It went up hard, but I can tell I can pull more, so my goal is to break 400. Hip drive is much better, and I can feel that I'm a lot tighter than I used to be. Tomorrow I'm going to do a little snatching, and then take Friday off.

20080907

Pressing matters.
Ha ha. Okay, I'm tired.
Did a bunch of presses today.
10x3/3 on the 24 kg.
Fooled around with my bottoms up press with the 24 kg. as well. Right hand no problem, left hand big problem. I'm going to start working seriously on evening those out, as I thing a deficit in my left side will inhibit my ability to press the beast.
Decided today I'm going to do the elite division for the TSC. I really think I can hit 70-80 snatches on the 32 kg. which is good. I've pretty much just lost interest in snatching the 24 kg. at hyper speed, and feel I've aquitted myself of my previous defeat in said category. It doesn't make sense to take everything to a certain strength level and have one area left behind. Just my thoughts on the matter.

20080905

I'm not going to get into much detail with today as it was a blend of everything. I'm still smoked from the first three days of the new cycle, so I took yesterday off and backed it off a bit today.

Get Ups- Started with the 28kg 3/3
Then moved it up to the 32 kg. for singles. These went up easily. Then I bumped up to the 40 kg. and was surprised to find these also went up easy, at least on the left. I was stopped cold on my right, which is weird as my right is stronger. I'm doing something form wise on my left that is working better.

Snatches- Sets of 10/10 on the 28 kg. Went for about 5 total sets= 100 snatches. I haven't been filing like I should and I felt it.

Bent Press and Windmills- Fooled around with form, only went up to the 28 kg. on both.

Finished up with some presses- Singles on the 28 kg.

Then I went out to the soccer field to run my RKC candidates through their prep course. Good times.

Training for the beast challenge

So there's the big non-secret. I wanted to really hash out if I could achieve this on the necessary timeline, and I can. I spoke with Joe Sarti today about his run at the Beast Challenge, and his opinions re-enforced that this is very do-able. I'm going to do it at the San Jose RKC in February. In the future I'll lay out the overall plan, for now here are the bullet points.
1. High/low volume days focusing on the three lifts for 4-5 weeks. Pistols, pull ups, and military press.
2. Alternated with Squat and Deadlift specific cycles to increase strength and prep for Elite TSC Competition in April.
3. Weight increase to a solid 175-180. Previously set marker will take me to 170 easily.

Current Event Schedule
February 2009- Beast Challenge
April 2009- TSC Elite
June 2009- RKC II

Most of the Beast specific training right now is based on Kenneth Jay's protocols, which seem sound. The volume training is kicking my ass right now, but in a good way. I've also started using his pressing protocol of on the minute presses.

Today, 20080903
Presses
20 kg.
Minutes 1-3: 5/5
Minutes 4-15: 3/3
Minutes 16-18: Waiter's Press 16 kg. 5/5

Swings
28 kg.
5x20
24 kg.
3x20

20080902

Low volume pistols.
I forgot my notebook so I'm not sure of the exact sets and reps.

4 sets of 1/1 12 kg.
4 sets of 1/1 16 kg.
1/1 24 kg. (2x12kg.) to a low box. About 6 inches off the floor.
4 sets of 1/1 12 kg.

These went well. I know I can pistol a 24 kg. right now, it's just a matter of technique. I've been following Kenneth Jay's admonitions to treat this as a 'practice' and really drive in the movements.
A big problem is unloading too much tension at the bottom. When I've seen people fail a pistol at the bottom I can see that they're unloading in the bottom position, and then they're screwed. I understand the temptation, because you can rest in that position, but you most likely won't be able to crank enough power back up to get out of it.

Finished up with some swings to keep my cardio in check.
7 sets of 20 with the 28 kg.
3 sets of 10 with the 40 kg.

These workouts are a much different animal than my crazy snatching schedule. I don't feel as smoked during them, but I can definitely feel them eating away at me. My whole back is sore from yesterday and my legs are already sore (3 hours later) from today. :)

20080901- Starting the new cycle

Two weeks out from the TSC I know nothing is going to change, and the numbers I have now are most likely the ones I will have then. Knowing this, I am now shifting into a new training cycle and using the lower intensity to gear down for the competition.
Forgot to post it, but I ran a 5 minute test on the 32 kg. this Sunday. I hit 68 reps in 5 minutes. I know I can get 80 if I just gut it out, but I didn't feel like killing myself. After this I considered entering the elite division this year, but I want to accomplish two things first.
1. Pack some weight on my deadlift. I believe I can pull 405 right now, but I want to get it higher. This will require an actual deadlift training cycle.
2. I want to get 100 reps with the 32 kg. in 5 minutes. It can be done.
---
Today I hit the pull ups hard. Low weight, high volume.
4 sets of 4 10 kg.
4 sets of 3 10 kg.
4 sets of 3 12 kg.
3 sets of 6 bodyweight

I stopped early as my forearms were really getting tight. I'll get more volume on these, but it's wise to ease into the high volume stuff. Ultimately I'll hit about 100 pull ups per workout.
Tomorrow is low volume pistols and some snatching.
I'll give you three guesses what this new training cycle is for, and the first two don't count. I'm keeping it under wraps until I get a good idea of whether or not I can actually pull this off.
The warrior diet is also getting suspended for the moment to bring my weight up to the 175-180 range. I need more mass to move heavier bells. The key here is to keep it healthy. Last time I suspended it and crashed it was partially because I was not keeping it healthy. Lesson learned.

20080829

Heavy snatch day. Low reps, high volume.

12 sets of 10/10 with the 24 kg.
10 sets of 5/5 with the 28 kg.

Kept the rest breaks down to a minute of less between sets.

Finished with 5 sets of 10 reps two handed swings on the 40 kg.

20080827

Max VO2
15/15
20 kg.
7 reps per
50 sets
---
This felt good, very strong. I'm going to start working in some 8 rep sets.
Finished up with some Janda Sit Ups, Leverage side bends on the barbell, and suitcase deadlifts with the 32 kg. I've never really done direct ab work, so I'm starting to target that a bit more.
I weigh 162 lbs. Right on or a couple pounds over my last TSC weight, but I'm waaaay leaner. A good sign.

20080826

Deadlift and Presses
---
Deadlift
5x135 lbs.
2x235 lbs.
1x315 lbs.
1x365 lbs.

I haven't been doing that much deadlifting of late, but this went very well. 365 went up without much of a fight and I stopped it there. I'll pull a max in the next week and see where I sit. 405 should go up.

Pull up test- 16 pull ups. I slowed down around 12. I think if I just keep to my rhythm I'll hit 18.

Mixed presses.
Just what it sound like. Military press, waiter's press, bottoms up press, stakced kettlebell press, etc. Many presses ranging from 16 kg. (stacked 12 and 4) to 28 kg.

20080825

Max Vo2
20 sets
36/36
20 kg.
16 reps per set
---
Felt good. I'm staying on a 25 minute or less time clock for now. I'm not getting any benefit from the 80 set range that I can see. I'm actually rolling backwards.

20080824

Did a boatload of 24 kg. snatches.

4 sets of 25. 2 sets each hand.

A laid back 3 minute set hitting 60 total.

2 sets of 20. 1 set each hand.

200 snatches.

20080822

7 sets of snatches- 10/10 with the 28 kg. Kept the breaks minimal between sets, probably 1-2 minutes.

20080821

Max VO2
15/15
16 kg.
7 reps per
70 sets
---

Felt good, but I have to get some chalk. Only thing that kept me from hitting 80 sets was the possibility of my kettlebell meeting my t.v. head on. :)
Cardio never really got worked, so I'll kick it up next time.

20080820

Deadlifts

This ended up getting totally screwed up. The gym I go to usually has a tub of chalk, but it was gone today. I had to stick with pulling 305 for singles. My left hand held it no problem, but my right hand is still weak from the injury. Not really 'weak' but not strong enough to go over 305 without some chalk.
I also did five ladders of 3 rungs on the 24 kg. My presses are getting stronger. I'm also pressing throughout the day with 10 kg. pull ups while I'm at work.

20080819

Max VO2
20 kg.
7/6 reps
15/15
50 sets
---
I really have to stop being a slacker and get my sets back up to 80. I hit 7 reps per for the first 30 sets, then dropped it to 6 reps for the last 20. Felt fine.

20080817

Max VO2
16 kg.
40 sets
9 reps
---
This was pretty good. Main reason I stopped was the gymboss died. I need new batteries.
Went up to 10 reps per for about 4 sets I think. Might have been 6. That's really freaking fast.

20080816

Today I ran through some presses and swings.

Started of with 10 reps alternating hands each rep of TGU with the 32 kg.

5 rounds of:
1/1 military press on the 28 kg.
10 two handed swings on the 40 kg.

I've been playing with a trick a client came up with of cleaning the bell up extra high, then drawing it down, really cranking the abs hard and driving up. Technically still a legal press, but it definitely gives a little extra shove.

Finished up with some pistols working up to the 16 kg. Still working on this, but I feel stronger every time.

20080815

I took a couple days off as I had tweaked my back pretty good, but I'm back at 100% now.

Max VO2
15/15
20 kg.
6 reps per.
60 sets
---
I took it relatively easy to do. Didn't really get my wind up much, so I have to hit 7 reps next time. I'm still building back up, so I didn't push it. Also didn't want to lock up my back again.

20080812

Whoops.

I know better than to snatch heavy after a day of deadlifting, and yet I did it anyway.
I was working through sets of 7/7 with the 28kg when I tweaked out my back, particularly my left spinal erector. It already feels a lot better, but I'll be out of action for a day or two. I've done this before, so I know what it is and how to fix it. I just have to observe my own training rules.

20080811

I took it relatively easy today. Just pulled some easy deadlifts to get back in the mode and did some pressing ladders.
---
Deadlift
5x135
2x235
1x305
1x355

Military Press (kettlebell)
3 ladders/ 3 rungs 20 kg.
2 ladders/ 3 rungs 24 kg.

I'm finally getting stronger in my presses. They've been lagging for a while.

20080810

Max VO2
15/15
16 kg.
8 reps per
56 sets
---
Still working back up to my regular load with max vo2, getting closer. Kept my heart rate around 170.

20080808

Warmed up with 4 reps alternating TGU 32 kg. Feeling very strong in these.
---
Max VO2
36/36
20 kg.
15 reps per set.
24 sets
---
I could have taken this further if I had some chalk. The only thing that stopped me was a slippery bell. I'm going to start taking a sandwich bag of chalk to Equinox with me. Felt strong throughout. I used the double breathing for these and it felt great.
Finished up with a bunch of pistols moving up to the 16 kg.
Then three pressing ladders with the 20 kg. for 3 rungs each. Not much, but I'm working on it.

20080806

A day late on this. Back to the grind. Took it easy today, relatively speaking.

Max VO2
15/15
20 kg.
7 reps per.
50 sets.

3 sets of:
Pressing ladder/ 20 kg./ 3 rungs
1 pisotl each leg w/12 kg.
2 one arm push ups each arm

The RKC Weekend

So yeah, I was training this weekend. Lots and lots of kettlebell drills. Initially I was pretty toasted when I got home monday, but by the afternoon I was good. Sometimes my recovery abilities are scary.
I'm 100% now and am going back to the Max VO2 grind tomorrow at Equinox. I've been thinking about another big goal I have in mind, but am keeping it under wraps for the time being.

20080729

Today I had a little back off day to gear it down before the RKC.
I've been fooling with something I saw on Kenneth Jay's blog. I know I've totally bastardized it, but I think I have the general idea. What I'm basically doing is higher volume, still keeping a good pace, but with longer rest periods. I should actually be using a 28 kg. or 32 kg. bell for this, but only had my 24 kg. today.
I hit 1 minute sets with 2 minutes rest between each. Each set was on one hand, so alternating hands from set to set.
I got going with two sets (one each hand) on the 20 kg.
Then 8 sets with the 24 kg. I ended up shooting for 20 reps per set and seeing how much time I could knock off. First sets I finished in 50 seconds, then the last 6 I finished in 45 seconds or less. It feels like a pace I can keep with more training, which means I can potentially hit 150 reps in 5 minutes. I know it sounds insane, but the math works. I can do it.

20080727

Today I did a 5 minute 24 kg. snatch test. I hit 115 reps. The key is that I felt strong until the end, which set a good tone for my upcoming Secret Service Snatch Test.
I'm thinking about doing it Wednesday, but we'll see. If I do I'll definitely slow the pace even more and really target 200 reps in 10 minutes. I'm not going to try to crack the top fifteen my first time out.
I feel good.

20080725

Get Ups, Swings, Presses, and Pull Ups
---
I've started dialing it back in preparation for the RKC. Today I hit some quick get ups (five on each side with the 24 kg.) five total rounds of 40 rep two handed swings on the 24 kg. I followed it up with a quick check of my pressing ability with the 32 kg. I was surprised as it popped right up. It's usually a lot more of a struggle.
I then did three ladders of three rungs each pressing the 24 kg. with 2 pull ups in between each rung. Then dropped to the 16 kg. and hit three ladders of five rungs again with 2 pull ups between each rung.

Later that day I did my snatch test again and hit my 52 reps on the 24 kg. without incident.

20080724

Max VO2
15/15
20 kg.
7 reps
80 sets
---
This was pretty brutal, but I made it. I'm going to stay on this for a while until I'm fully confident in it, and then start working in some 8 rep sets. Right now I honestly have to say I couldn't do this faster than 7 reps unless I had someone giving me 2 second warnings so I can get on the bell faster.
At Girya I knocked out 16 pull ups and made a real effort to keep them strict. Much better than my abysmal 12 reps at the April TSC, and I still had 1 or 2 left in the tank. I actually dropped off the bar early because my brachioradialis has been super fired up from all the grip work and was starting to snap tight. I did some massage work on it and am going to start rolling my forearms out.

20080722

Max VO2 snatch
20 kg.
15/15
7 reps per set
60 sets
---
Initially I was going to drop down to 6 reps and hit the 80 sets, but I feel like that wouldn't work me hard enough, so I've decided to stay at 7 reps per set with the 20 kg. and inch my way up to 80. This went well. I felt strong and it definitely worked me. I was drenched in sweat by the end. Tara hung in there for all 60 sets. She looked like she just ran through a car wash.
My snatch form is getting better and better. I'm really maximizing my backswing now, much better than before.

20080720

Max VO2
15/15
8 reps per
16 kg.
80 sets
---
Rif had mentioned that one should own 80 sets of 8 reps on the 16 kg. before utilizing the 'boost' to kick up to the next bell. So I nailed my 80 sets and will now move up. This worked me, but there was no doubt I could finish. I easily could have gone to 100 sets. I think after working with the 20 kg. so much these last months it's the appropriate weight for me on the max vo2 and it's not an ego thing.
I did notice going 80 sets vs. 50 definitely elicited a different physiological response.

20080719

Today was a mix of ballistic movements.

One handed swings
20 kg.
10 total sets
20 reps each
30 seconds pause

Jerks
24 kg.
8 total sets
10 reps each
30 second pause

Snatches
24 kg.
5 total sets
20 reps each (10 each hand)
1 min. pause

Note: The idea here was to mix ballistic movements that have carryover to one another and keep it on the clock. I was going to finish with long cycle, but The Girl showed up. :D

20080718

Max VO2 snatch
20 kg.
15/15
7 reps per
50 sets
---
Damn. This was hard. I finished the fifty sets at Equinox and walked around a bit to recover. I cruise over to the front desk where I find Cindy Glass RKC II working on her laptop after having trained with Rif at Girya. We start to talk and she informs me that Kenneth Jay bumped up the sets on the 15/15 from 50 to 80.
Fine. Whatever. Way to pull the rug out.
So Sunday I'm going to return to the 36/36, bring the reps back down to 15 with the 20 kg. and go for 40 sets. From my understanding the idea is to get 20 minutes of total work. Not workout time, but actual work. Unreal.

20080716

Max VO2
36/36
20 kg.
16 reps per
18 sets
---
I dropped some reps on a couple sets as this was pretty brutal, but all in all it was good, no complaints.

20080715

Swings
---
20 minutes of 30 seconds on/ 30 seconds off with the 24 kg. Hit 20 swings per set for 400 total swings in 20 minutes. Not bad, got me breathing. Finished up with some presses.

Snatches
---
Did my RKC snatch test later that night. Hit 60 total 24 kg. snatches, 30 each hand. Not bad. Want to get up to 80 in the next couple weeks, think I can.

20080713

Max VO2
15/15
20 kg.
6 reps per
50 sets
---
Good workout, no problems. Grip was good, blew through it. I'll kick it up to 7 reps for the next one. 15/15 is definitely more of a sprint in my opinion than the 36/36 and a little more punishing.
---
Note on 080714
No training today, but I keyed in on something as I GTG my pistols and one arm push ups. I'm about an inch from rock bottom on my left, and very smooth on my right now. A big issue people have with this movement is balance and stability. I try to grab the floor with my toes when I do it. Today I accidentally flexed my calf hard and I was stable. It drove a line of stability from my calf to my glute. What a difference.

20080711

Max VO2
15/15
8 reps per
16 kg.
50 sets
---
25 minutes total, 50 sets. This felt good, no problems. In the later sets I sped it up and hit my 8 reps in the first 10 or 11 seconds, locking out for 4. That was freaking fast, and I felt it. Sunday I'm going to go back to the 20 kg. and slow it back down.

20080710

Deadlifts and snatches.
---
I did sets of ten with 135 lbs. today, hooked up with purple, blue, and green jump stretch bands. This really helped me with the feel of the lockout and properly engaging the hip mechanism. A lot of voume today, two sets of ten on each band.
I also hit two sets of 40 snatches on the 24 kg. with one hand switch. I timed the second one and hit 40 in right under two minutes. Next time I do a five minute test I'm going to take Aaron Friday's advice and slow down, and not set the bell down. See how that goes.

20080709

Max VO2
36/36
16 kg.
19 reps per
20 sets
---
This wasn't too bad. Had to drop down to 15 reps on the last few sets and lockout at the end. The bell was so slippery I was about to lose it. I'm going to suck it up and start using chalk, at least some of the time. I know there's no way I'll get through the cert in L.A. in August without chalking.
I'm going to start setting aside a solid half hour for bodywork at the beginning and end of the day. Little problems are becoming big ones, and need to be addressed. Back on the warrior diet and going strong. Feel better.

20080708

Short workout today with a couple timed sets.

One arm long cycle/ 20 kg/ 5 mins.
Snatch/ 16 kg/ 5 mins.

Did some ab work on the TRX as well. Schedule is slammed this week, so getting in my workouts will be challenging, but I'll get it done.

20080707

Max VO2 Snatches
20 kg.
7 reps per set
15/15
---
I was killed. This workout got me back on the warrior diet, as I used to crush this. Only made it to 40 sets, dropping to 6 reps per on the last 10 sets. There were other contributing factors, but my diet has been bad lately.

20080705

Deadlift-a-palooza
---
Not too detailed on this one, just ran through some deadlift variations and 24 kg. kettlebell presses.

Standard deadlifts, deadlift holding the bar via towels for the grip, zercher squats.

This was good as I hit areas that needed attention. Got my jump stretch bands in the mail today (tuesday) so I can start applying them as well.

20080702

5x5
---
Squats- 5x24kg, 5x24kg, 6x24kg, 6x24kg, 6x24kg, 6x24kg
Military Press- 6x20kg, 6x20kg, 6x20kg, 7x20kg, 6x20kg

Bent Press- 5x16kg, 5x16kg, 5x16kg
Note: I'm definitely going to change up the scheme in application to the bent press. I'm going to put this and get ups in the beginning when I'm fresh. This was good to really hone in on form issues.

Janda Sit Ups/ Side Bends- 3 sets

20080630

Strength
---
I've shifted gears after my attempt at a deadlift max. Not haphazardly mind you, this was a planned shift. Last month was conditioning and snatch, building up more endurance, which I needed. Now I shift back to what will become closer to that norm post RKC/TSC as I work on feats of strength and nail bending.
I'm doing a variation of Mahler's 5x5 with a snatch specific and deadlift day included for a total of 5 training days a week. This also allows me to work on more RKC specific drills such as swings, cleans, squats, etc. I have also stepped up my instructor participation with clients, which has me doing 100's of drills a day. However, I realized I was pretty much doing that anyway. Now I'm just aware of it. :)
---
5x5
Alternating:
Double snatch/press 20 kg.
Double Windmills 20 kg/ 24 kg. (last three sets)
Pull Ups 10 kg.
---
5x5
Renegade Row 24 kg/ 28 kg. (last three sets)

I'll get more detailed with these logs as the reps will climb getting ready to bump up to the next bell. I hadn't done these drills in a while and forgot how brutal they are. My core is toasted.

20080623

Heavy swing and snatch day.
---
Off the deadlifting today as I prepare to max on Friday.

Two handed swings
10 sets of 20 reps each- 40 kg.

Snatches
10 sets of 5/5- 32 kg.

This definitely took it out of me. 32 kg. snatches are going up easier, and some of them feel as smooth as with the 24 kg. Knocked the wind out of me. In a good way :)
My grip is getting stronger.
I worked hard on stabilizing my feet, as my right foot always wants to twist out. I put it up against the 40 kg. during the snatches to keep it aligned.

20080622

Max VO2 36/36 14 sets 20 kg. 16 reps per set.
---
Kicked it up to 16 reps per set and stuck with all hard-style snatches. Started to toast my grip before too long, but it worked.
Finished up with pressing ladders. 4 ladders, 5 rungs, 16 kg.
Tried bent pressing with the V.F. 24 kg. bell. These things aren't awesome for grinds.

20080620

Heavy dead and snatch day.
---
This one was rough, definitely an off day. Also the last one in the cycle before I pull the new Max next week.

2 set warm up
Deadlift- 2x223
Snatch- 7x24 kg each side.

Work sets
Deadlift- 2x313
Snatch- 5x32 kg. each side.

Had to dial the snatches back down to 5 reps today as I was feeling toasted from the get go. Stuck with hard style, no GS.
Finished the sets, but like I said, this was a tough one to make it through. Worked some new stuff with the deads and they went up easy, but for some reason the last two sets were murder. Just the lifts grinding me down. I think it's good that today was the end.

20080618

Max VO2 36/36 22 sets 20 kg. 15 reps per

This was hard, but didn't kill me, despite the fact that I was making sweat angels on the floor after the workout. Main limiting factor was a tweak in my right forearm that made my grip tire faster. Left side felt fine. The weak right grip wore me down. Screwed up my count and went two sets over. No big deal. I'll stick with this a couple more weeks and bump up the cadence. Good times.
I'm glad I'm keeping this log. Went back and checked the last time I did this and I can tell I'm getting better. Stronger, better endurance.

20080617

Endurance day
---
Switched things up today as I had a real hankering for some kettlebells.

5 sets
Walking see saw press- 6x24 kg's (3 each hand)
Two handed swings- 20x24 kg.

5 sets
Jerks- 20x 24kg. (10 each side)
1 minute rest between sets.
This really helped me refine my jerk form as far as floating the bell out while dropping my hips down and back.

Treadmill intervels
8 rounds 1 minute on/ 1 minute off 9 mph
I dropped it down from 10 mph as last time I was too beat up. I can tell my endurance is getting better with this.

20080616

Heavy dead and snatch day.
---
Today was a beatdown, and I was the receiver. Last week's workouts were a little too manageable, so I upped the 32 kg. snatches to 7 reps per side. Here's how it all went down.

2 warm up sets.
Deadlift- 2x223 lbs.
Snatches- 7x24 kg. Each side (14 reps total per set)

6 work set.
Deadlift- 2x313 lbs.
Snatches- 7x32 kg. Each side. (14 reps per set)

It doesn't seem like much, but those extra 4 snatches per set really started grinding me down. On the upside I sailed through the deadlifts. I worked hard on focusing, and not just dragging the weight up because I can. I felt a great lat-glute connection right down the back of my legs and into my heels. All lifts felt good.
I'm not quite 100% right now, have a couple tweaks from so much driving this week. I think in the next few weeks I'll be up to 10 reps per side on the 32 kg. Feeling very strong right now.

20080615

had kind of a WTF? day. Did a lot of military press and bent press. Sunday has become my designated wtf? day. I was going to do a snatch test today, but have a couple minor tweaks I didn't want to push. No big deal, I think it's actually from doing a lot of driving this weekend. All in all it was good. Bent Press is a lot stronger on the 24 kg., particularly on the left side.

20080613

Heavy snatch and dead day.

2 warm up sets-
Deadlift- 2x223 lbs.
Snatch- 5x24kg.

6 work sets-
Deadlift- 2x313 lbs.
Snatch- 5x32kg.

2 minutes rest between each.



I ran some video of this one and learned a lot. As I get stronger and this gets easier I'm getting lazy and just dragging the weight up. For some reason I keep looking around at the lockout. I need to stay on task and stay focused. I was pretty happy with my back. I was concerned that I was rounding it. It's not perfect, but I'll take it.
I'm definitely stronger than when I started. I was struggling through these before, and it was really grinding me down. I made it through these sets with no real issues. The snatches especially. I've been doing GS snatches, but sets 4-6 here I switched to hard style, which winded me more. I'm going to up the snatch numbers to 7 next week and keep building up. Last week of this month I'm going to taper back and then pull a new max.

Weight today- 161 lbs.

20080611

Max VO2 Day. 16 kg. 36/36 19 reps per. 20 sets.
---
I still had that little tear from deadlifting, so I stuck with the lighter bell. Wasn't that hard, but the extra rep each set made a difference. Next week back to the 20 kg.

20080610

Heavy cardio (non-resistance) today.
A few bouts on the rower followed by my treadmill intervals. 10 rounds of 1 minute on/ 1 minute off at 10 mph. Can't believe I used to run 3 miles at this speed. :)

Feeling a little zonked out this week. I think I need to up my calories and protein to deal with the heavy dead and snatch day. Still feel strong, nothing bad, just not as peppy as usual.

20080609

Deadlift/ Heavy Snatch day

I love these training days, because I can really feel myself growing stronger in the movements.

2 warm up sets.
Deadlift- 2x225 lbs.
Snatches- 5x24 kg.

4 work sets.
Deadlift- 2x315 lbs.
Snatches- 5x32 kg.

Between sets I knocked out sets of 3 pull ups with 10 kg.

Had to cut the sets short after a small tear on my right pinky. Snatches were clean, it was the deadlift that did it. That finger doesn't really work right, so it's hard to keep it in shape.

Last 2 sets were-
Deadlift- 2x315 lbs.
Pull ups 3 sets of 3x10 kg.

definitely getting stronger in these. The deadlifts feel much better, and I'm ripping the snatches out much more easily. Only real issue is keeping a solid backswing, as it really wants to go back to the floor.

My workspace. :)

20080608

GS intervals

---

Today was the first time doing this.

Jerks/ 24 kg/ 1 minute total (30 seconds each arm) 1 minute on/ 1-2 minutes off.
These wore me down quick. I managed 20 total reps per minute. Took a few sets to find the groove. Managed 7 total sets for about 140 total jerks before I felt myself getting toasted.

Snatches/ 20 kg/ 1 minute total (30 seconds on each arm/ 1 minute off.
Kept pretty strict on these. Hit five sets averaging 24 reps per minute. I was distracted by something and by the time I came back I could tell I wasn't in 'the zone' anymore. Next time I'll hit ten minutes.

This was a good workout for wind and shoulder endurance. Next time I'll bump the snatches up to the 24 kg. I'll also add in sets of long cycle, most likely with two 16's, we'll see. I'm going to keep playing with the intervals. I'm not sure about competing in GS right now, but I want to be able to do the 10 minute sets at a MS level. That's a ways off. :)
Fortunately this has a good carryover to what I'm doing now, so I can play around with it.
--
Note on the GS snatches- As I said, these were GS intervals, so I snatched in the GS style. Really found my groove on these, though my left side really doesn't want to do them for some reason. I'm still training my TSC snatches hardstyle, but that's mainly because I do have an RKC snatch test in August, and I also feel that as long as I still train my GS snatches and switch over after the RKC I'm going to be way stronger in them. It's a work in progress.

20080606

Man, today was a rough day at the office.

Deadlift/ Snatch

2 sets fo warm up
Deadlift 2x225
Snatch 5x24 kg.

6 work sets
Deadlift 2x315
Snatch 5x32kg.

I hit sets of 5 pull ups between practically every set. It's nice to actually be able to train pull ups! For the past couple years anytime I try to do pull ups it's like a knife in my left elbow. Even picking up a cup could be painful. Now with the zyflamend, myofascial release work, and stretching I am almost completely pain free.

I can feel myself getting stronger in this. The midway snatch sets went up easy, and I can almost perceive a 5 minute test with the 32 in the not so distant future.
Deadlifts went up relatively easy as well, no real problems. More mentally taxing than anything else. About halfway through through he workout, walking back up to that deadlift bar starts grinding away at me. I bumped up the weight a hair this time as that 305 was too easy.

My weight has stabilized at 160 lbs. which seems to be working pretty well.

20080605

Max VO2 Day- Conditioning

36/36 20 sets 16 kg. 18 reps per.

Damn. I have to admit this was too easy. I was barely breathing hard. Have to kick it back up to the 20 kg. and stop being a puss. Some people are going up to 19 and 20 reps per on the 16 kg. before kicking up to the 20 kg. Personally, for me, I think that's asking for trouble with the old hands, particularly if you're snatching as much as I am. Currently I haven't torn my hands snatching once since March, so I'm sticking with the game plan as is.

20080604

Deadlift/ Heavy Snatch Day

2 sets to warm up
Deadlift 2x225 lbs.
Snatches 5x 25kg. each side

6 work sets
Deadlift 2x305 lbs.
Snatches 5x 32kg. each side

I worked in sets of 5 pull ups as I went through this, just greasing the groove. I feel a lot stronger, and this structure really works for me.

20080603

Today was a more endurance centered day.
Rowed- 1000 meters 4:30
Two handed swings- 1 min. pause 30 secs. 24 kg.
Treadmill- 1 min on/ 1 min off 9 miles per hour for 6 rounds. 10 miles per hour for 2 rounds.
Snatches- 1x15 each hand 24 kg.
Row- 1000 meters 5:00

All in all this was good. It was good to mix it up with the treadmill and rowing. Definitely left me smoked.
Finished up with some core work. Janda sit ups, dumbbell side bends, evil wheel

20080529

Started off with 10 minutes- 30 seconds on/ 30 off two handed swings on the 32 kg.
Grip started to fry so I alternated between 24 and 28 kg.
Hit 5 sets of 10 two handed swings on the 40 kg.
3 sets of 10 two handed jerks- 20 kg.
3 sets of ten double 20 kg. swings.
1 set of two handed snatches- 20 kg's.

This didn't go exactly like that, it was mixed up. The idea was 30 minutes of punishment. It worked. I need to get my grip endurance up so I can just hit 30 minutes of 32 or 40 kg. swings.

Finished with some heavy core work. Leverage barbell side bends, and overhead sit ups with a single and then double 20 kg's.

20080528

While I was training, I missed a few days of logging, so I'm just starting fresh with this one.
Started off with 5 minutes of get ups with the 32 kg. This was hard. left shoulder got tired more quickly than the right, but that's normal. Got through it fine.
Worked through Bent Presses from 16 kg. up to 32 kg. 32's felt strong, no issues. Getting up to the 40 is mostly grip and properly applying leverage.
I did some Two hands anyhow from the bent press. Whoa! This was frigging hard with only two 16's! It has definitely piqued my interest, and I see a strong application toward what I'm trying to do.
Next up will be a swing day to keep building systemic endurance.

20080523

Got behind on these, so here goes.

TGU/ 5 min/ 28 kg. = 8 reps
Jerks- 5x24 kg. (2 handed)
TGU- 3x28 kg. each hand
Bent Press
3x16 kg.
3x20 kg.
3x24 kg.
1x28 kg.
1x32 kg. (right side only)

Worked weighted and unweighted pull ups throughout.

I've had a nagging left elbow pain for years, stemming from heavy skull crushers back in the day. Zyflamend and Tumeric as well as some myofascial release on the triceps has helped tremendously. Hopefully it will not be a problem before long.

20080521

A little late on this one, but...

5 mins. TGU- 24 kilo
TGU 1x70 lbs. each hand
TGU 1x100 lbs. right hand only

3 rounds of
Two handed swings- 2x40 kg.
Two hand Clean and Press- 3x24 kg. (24 kg. each hand)

3 rounds of
100 ft. bear crawls- 2 32 kg. bells
6 side bends- 2- 17.5 lb. dumbbells

Barbell Squat
3 sets of 2 reps 225 lbs.
2 sets of 2 reps 245 lbs.
1 sets of 1 rep 275 lbs.

Last one stuck a little coming out of the hole. As I sat there at the bottom trying to pry my way out, it occurred to me that I should really refine my squat form and study up on it. :)

20080520

Back to the swings...

20 minutes of 30 seconds on/ 30 seconds off two handed swings- 24 kg.

Bent press
3x16 kg./ 3x20 kg./ 1x24 kg.

Press ladder
2 ladders/ 5 rungs- 16 kg.
1 ladder/ 3 rungs- 20 kg.

Recovery- Stretching/ foam roller work. Focusing on my hamstring and quad flexibility.

20080517

Back to the swings
4 rounds of: 30x24kg, 20x32kg, 10x40kg
3 rounds of: 40/12 hindu squats/ hindu push ups
Finished up with some random cleans and presses

As of today's writing my quads are screaming.

20080516

Good today, felt strong. I'm working within general parameters, not trying to follow a strict program. That just doesn't work for me.

4 rounds of swings- 30x24 kg, 20x32 kg, 10x40 kg In between rounds I hit the 32 kg for 3 each on snatches.
Pressing ladder- 16 kg. 3 ladders, 5 rungs, no rest.
*Realized this week that I can't press for dick, excuse the language. Yeah I can press a 32 kg. and jerk a 40 kg. but I still feel like I should be able to press more, so I'm focusing on that as well as it will help with my overhead stability in the heavy snatches. I can always tell the 40 doesn't want to stay up there.

3 rounds of- 2 pull ups with 12 kilos, 2 pistols each leg, 5 hindu push ups. Need to kick up my Royal court, it is lacking.

Finished up with some heavy core work. Inverterd pull ups (I grab the bar, pull my legs straight up in the air so my head and shoulder are my point lowest to the floor and do pull ups)x5, saxon side bends with 15 lbs. each for 6, janda sit ups, evil wheel from the knees and standing.

Good times.

20080514

Deadlifts and snatches.

4 sets of
Deadlift- 1x345
Snatches- 5x32 kg.

I'm strong enough in these that I'm going to start separating them. I'm going to put a high volume 32 kilo snatch day in place of one of my max vo2's. I'll also have a deadlift day where I hit heavy singles and another day where I hit lighter doubles. As long as the numbers keep going up it's good.

Finished up with some 40 kg. snatches. 3 on the right, 1 iffy snatch on the left. I need to hit the left more and even out.

Good on recovery. I'm getting better at staying on my stretching. Diet is strong.

20080513

I think that taking two days off in a row throws me off a bit. Being lazy for four days and not filing down the calluses makes for cranks hands. My diet being upside down for said four days was also bad. That being said, I was pretty happy with how today went.

Max VO2 36/36 20 sets
First 10 sets- 20 kg. 15 reps per
Second 10 sets- 15 kg. 18 reps per

The negating factor here was that I sustained a small tear on my left hand deadlifting last week (go figure) and could feel it was in danger of opening back up. The 16 is easier to control, thus the downgrade.

Definitely lagging today, and the primary culprit was diet. I've been working on a couple alterations to halt my weight drop, and it worked, but something was off that required tightening. I felt myself coming out of it this afternoon and I feel that tomorrow will be better.

Recovery today was good. Lots of foam roller, on my own and with clients. I refrained from doing too many demos today to give myself some more rest. The weather is nice now so I'm looking forward to integrating some running into the training.

20080510

I hadn't done this full on yet, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Did not expect this.

Loaded up my wheel barrow with about 200 lbs. of sandbags. Started off running, that didn't last long. Started walking, still hard, but worked in some runs as well. Made it a mile out and the wheel broke off. Whoops. Guess I need to spring for a better wheel barrow. Loaded probably 130-150 lbs into the sandbag and walked it home. Ouch. That was freaking hard. Going back on my was to Santa Rosa to grab the extra sandbags I left on the road. I'm guessing no one took them.

20080509

Squats and Presses

Alternated between squats and barbell military presses for 6 total sets of 2 reps each. Also did some heavy abductor work. Laying down with feet spread out to the edge of the power rack to hold me in place, then sit ups holding a 30 lbs. plate overhead.

6 sets/ 2 reps each
Squats- 225 lbs.
OH Press (strict)- 100 lbs.

Nutrition---
Good day overall. I've started increasing my calories by mixing a carb complex (oats, barley, etc.) with protein and something called the 'ultimate meal'. It's a thing vegans use. First experiment was unsuccessful. One shake of the bottle turned it into a thick paste. I had to reach in and pull it out. I halved the ingredients and it was fine. Tasted like blueberries mixed with peas. Not fine.
Last week my weight dipped below 160 lbs., which is a problem, thus the increase in calories.

20080507

Deadlift/ Heavy Snatch Day

6 sets of:
Deadlift- 2x335 lbs.
Snatches- 6x32 kg. each hand.

Hit a snag here as the bell was slippery as hell. This workout is moving to Girya or Diesel depending on equipment. Also highlights the importance of having and prepping my own bells. Switched out the snatches for pistols and inverted pull ups for the last 4 sets. Deadlifts felt strong. One new PR coming up.

Decided to take the evil wheel for a spin when I was done. What was I just saying about injuring yourself doing party tricks? Well, not injured, but definitely worked. Almost planked out on it, so I felt strong.

20080506- Victory!

Went back to the horse that threw me last Thursday.
Max VO2 36/36 15 reps per- 20 kilos
20 sets= complete

I'm going to start getting much more detailed with these logs, including my nutritional information and recovery info.

20080503- Came back strong

My girl was using the spa today so I decided to drop in for a few quick deadlifts and it quickly turned into a full blown symphony of destruction. I decided to do 6 sets of deadlift- 335 lbs. and 5 32 kilo snatches each hand. I started off with 2 reps per deadlift for the first 3 sets, then toned it down to a single rep per set. All the deadlifts felt strong, no problems.
The snatches were awesome. I completely found my rythm and they went up easy. I just need to work on the placement of where the handle falls in my fingers to make them work for higher reps.
This is good.

20080501- Defeated

I was killed today. Time of death: About 1335 hrs.
I walked in knowing I should take the day off. Right forearm was still torched from the previous day's antics, stomach was upset, just not feeling good. Still I proceeded. Made it through 10 sets of 36/36 - 20 kilo - 15 reps per- before I actually had to stop. Tried to hang in with some swings and jerks, made it up to 14 sets and then ceased.

Lesson learned. Listen to your body. I also need to structure my training schemata better. I am also tightening my nutrition up even further and start treating my body like it belongs to a training athlete, and not a recreational lifter.

20080430

"People do not lack strength, they lack will" -Victor Hugo

Today I opened up the tool box and got to it. Rest periods were minimal- 1-3 minutes.

Two handed club swipes (done with one club in each hand- 10 lbs. 3x20
Snatches- 24 kg. 1x10 each hand
Two handed jerks- 20 kg. (40 kg. total) 1x10
Club Mills- 10 lbs. 1x10 each hand
Two handed jerks- 20 kg. (40 kg. total) 1x10
Double one hand club armpit cast- 10 lbs. 1x10 each hand. (this was done holding two 5 lb. clubs in each hand)
Two handed jerks- 20 kg. (40 kg. total) 1x10
Snatches- 28 kg. 1x5 each hand
Club Mills- 10 lbs. 1x10 each hand
Double snatches- 20 kg. in each hand 1x3
Two handed swings- 48 kg. 1x10
Snatches- 32 kg. 1x2 each hand.

Finished up with 3 rounds of:
10 two handed 48 kg. swings
followed by
50 foot bear walk with two 40 kilo bells.

20080429

Max VO2, 36/36, 20 kilo, 15 reps per set, 20 sets.
Finished. Not much more to say. Worked on Pistols with Tara and split. Felt good. It's definitely better not to keep doing strength work after this, I need the recovery.

20080426

Walked in and new I should take the day off, but decided to just take it down a notch and proceed.

Max VO2 36/36 16 kilo 19 reps per= 16 sets

Took the weight down to 16 kilos but kicked the reps up to 19 per set. Brought it back down to 18 after the first 12 sets. Productive, but decided to take Sunday off.

20080425

Max VO2 36/36 15 reps per set
14 sets
20 kilo

Press Ladder 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 20 kg.

Two handed swings 40 kilo
3x 20

Bent Press 20 kilo
1x3 each side

20080423= smoked

Today was a strength based day. It snuck up on me.
Started off with my 36/36 cadence test. Six minutes of straight snatching with the 20 kilo. Result was that my 36/36 snatch cadence with the 20 kilo is 15 reps per 36 seconds. This is going to suck.

Next up. 3 rounds of 100 ft. bear crawls with two 32's, followed up by 1 32 kilo TGU on each side.

3 rounds of 5 jerks each side with the 32 kilo and 3 inverted pull ups. These are pull ups where my legs are pulled straight up in the air.

3 rounds of 2 12" box pistols with the 12 kilo and 6 Gorilla snatches with two 24's.

10 push ups with a 45 lbs. plate on my back.

1 each side TGU 40 kilo

Windmills
32 kilo
3 each side

20080422

8 reps TGU switching sides each rep on the 32 kilo
2 sets of 1 rep TGU on each side with the 40 kilo.

Max VO2 36/36 18 reps per set for 22 sets.

Tomorrow I'm going to re-test my cadence for the 36/36 again, this time with the 20 kilo. At the end of the sets today I was locking out the 16 for a good 2 seconds or more, but I feel picking up the pace to 19 or 20 reps per will not be as beneficial as kicking it up to the 20 kilo.

20080420

Today at Equinox with Chris Nash:

Max VO2 20 minutes= 40 sets.
I used the 20 kilo and kicked it up to 7 reps per set. Yeah... this was harder.
TGU- 5 minutes switching hand to hand with the 32 kilo= 8 reps
Bear walks with the 32's= two stretches of 100 feet.

20080419

Man, I am fired up. Made my sandbag today after I realized I could pick up sand on the cheap from Home Depot.
Hit the Max VO2 36/36 for 20 sets at 18 reps per set. Didn't drop any reps, all good. Not particularly winded either. I'm going to re-test my cadence this week. A little trouble on my left hand as I forgot to shave my calluses yesterday, but I just shaved them down between sets and no problems.
Finished up with some TGU with the sandbag. Kept it light at 100 lbs. and hit five on each side. Really got the obliques and all things rotational. :)

20080417

Ok, back on track. This week was a lot of Max VO2 and Get Ups. Most likely it will stay this way.
Yesterday was strength based work with many Turkish Get Ups, Presses, and some heavy long cycle (2x24 kilos)
Today I hit the 36/36 Max VO2 at 18 reps per set for 20 sets. Ouch. This sucked, but I made it to the end without dropping any reps. Decided I wasn't done yet and did 10 sets of 32 kilo TGU 1 on each side for a total of 20 with minimal rest between sets. I feel strong in these and am going to start trying for 5 minutes straight next week, switching side to side each rep with no rest.
Finished up with Bear Crawls using two 32 kilos. Did two rounds of fast walks for 100 feet each. Good times. Fried right now, tomorrow back to Bikram to unwind and no training.

20080410

Quick one here...

5 minutes of TGU with the 24 kilo, strong all the way through. Bumping it up to 28 kilos next time.

25 minutes of max VO2 snatches- 16 kilos.
Mostly 7 reps but had to back off to 6 in the last 10 minutes as I could feel I was about to rip my left hand.

Done.

20080321

Ok, so for now this is sort of on hold. After the TSC I'm going to revive it. The deal is that right now I'm mostly just doing TSC events and pre-testing. I'm going to work on putting something together to thoroughly explain the hook grip descent for the snatches and alternate methods of training for it. I've noticed that even when I show this to people in person they're scratching their heads, so a thorough video and article explanation is warranted. I'll still be posting here, but it'll be a little more random.

20080311

Today I stuck to my template of swings and snatches. Rotated from 30x 24kilo two handed swings to 10x24 kilo snatches each side to 20x32 kilo two handed swings to 3x32 kilo snatches each side. Just worked off of that for about 40 minutes with some hanging V leg raises included. I would have greater detail, but I forgot my notebook at Equinox.
Still on the Warrior Diet and going strong. I feel awesome.
Greased the groove with weighted pull ups at Girya, just hooking my foot in a 12 or 16 kilo and knocking out a few pull ups between clients. Tomorrow I will pull a max deadlift and continue my pull up regimen.

20080310

Man I suck at this workout log thing.
Ok. Today I did a boatload of swings and 20, and 24 kilo snatches. Really working on snatching the 24 whilst saving my hands. Day of the TSC I don't care if I rip all my fingers off, but up until then I want to keep them intact. Finished up with some squats. I'm gradually working squats, deads, and an overhead press (usually barbell jerks) back into my routine. Up until the TSC I'm going to focus more narrowly on the snatches and pull ups. Pull ups look good right now. I'm consistently around 15, but I haven't really maxed them out yet. Partially because my left elbow has fired back up. I'm finding bodyweight pull ups make it hurt, but if I strap on a kettlebell and do weighted pulls, no pain.
Things look good. Weight is dropping. It was going up, but now that I'm on the warrior diet it's heading south. Seems to be all body fat though, so I'm not concerned. Energy level is way higher, and my endurance seems to be better. I'll keep updated on that.
Right now this is where I stand (I.E. what I know I can do if keeping my hands in shape isn't an issue)
Pull Ups: 16
Deadlift: 405 lbs.
24 kilo snatches in 5 minutes: 80

Goal by TSC-
Pull Ups: 20
Deadlift: 425 lbs.
24 kilos snatches in 5 minutes: 100

It's doable.

20080304

I'm still lame at this. I kind of did a lot of stuff today. :)
Right now I have been moving my focus toward heavy quick lifts and some heavy grinds. I was goign to drop my weight for the TSC, but now that I'm going to start bending steel after the TSC I've re=thought that as I don't want to then have to turn around and put 25 pounds on. Right now I'm walking around at a comfortable 170 lbs. (Proper weigh in with no clothes) and think I'll probably end up around 180 as I move to feats of strength to include bending. Then in June I probably will cut down a bit for the RKC as I re-gear toward enduarnce. Part of the reason My training plan (or lack thereof) is so incoherent is I've just been slammed lately and am still trying to level out. I'll work it out this week, but tuesdays and thursdays will look much like what I did today. Went through single sets of heavy two handed Jerks, Snatches, Long Cycle, Snatch and Press. Then moved to some Squats which I haven't done in a while. Then on thursday I'm going to switch out the squats for deadlifts, and keep the rest the same. We'll see. I'm pretty good at 'feeling' when my body flips that switch, but I do need to get a coherent training cycle going. I will get this done in the next week or two. For the moment I'm consistently getting stronger and adding muscle, so I can't complain too much.

20080303

Last week I did a new core exercise that took me out for a few days. Hanging V's with two 4 kilo kettlebells hooked onto my feet. May not sound like a lot, but it felt like a lot.
Today I was hampered by a funky schedule, but got to know the clubbells.
Basically just did a boatload of 40 kilo (each hand) farmer's walks and Armpit casts with the clubbells.
I'll get into more detail with the next round.

20080225

Today I went through a circuit revolving around heavy jerks. I also mixed in some double kettlebell deadlifts.

Two Handed Jerks- 10x40 kilos
Pull Ups- 3x2 kilos
Snatches- 10x20 kilos each hand

Two Handed Jerks- 10x40 kilos
Pull Ups= 3x16 kilos
Snatches- 10x20 kilos each hand

TGU- 2x20 kilos each side
Pull Ups- 3x16 kilos
Two Handed Jerks- 10x40 kilos

Pull Ups- 3x16 kilos
Two Handed Jerks- 10x48 kilos
TGU- 1x24 kilos each side

One handed double kettlebell deadlift- 1x80 kilos each side

One handed Jerks- 10x28 kilos each side
TGU- 1x32 kilos each side

Getting back on the boat

I've been training, just fallen off the boat updating this, but I'll be back on tomorrow.

200800218

Worked primarily on overhead presses and bar crawls today. I think the bar crawls are having a great effect on my pull ups. It became too easy to do them with just body weight, so now I go hand over hand across the bar with a 12 kilo hanging off my right foot.
Forgot my notebook so not much detail here. Basically just rotated through 24 kilo military presses 5 or fewer reps, one handed and two handed, two handed 24 kilo long cycle for 10 reps, all with pull ups and bar crawls in-betwen. Finished off with some 24 kilo overhead sit ups.
I'll get back on the bus with my note taking.
Monday was off. Felt toasted.

20080216

Did a bunch of stuff. Meant to do Max VO2 but my left hand was picking up another tear even with the Tracy Socks. The problem is I got too comfortable my hand conditioning and wasn't sanding down my calluses everyday. Lesson learned. I think I'll be good from here on out.
So I ended up having a fairly disorganized workout, but pulled some singles of 315 lbs. on the deadlift. Felt good, no issues.
Sunday off.

20080215

Off today. I made a concentrated effort to truly take the day off, but probably ended up doing a few dozen kettlebell moves without even meaning to. Oh well.

20080214

Valentine's Day Max VO2

Did the Max VO2 again. 25 minutes with the 16 kilo, 7 reps per 15 seconds. I want to boost it up to 8, but I think I need to wait until the tear on my left hand heals first. I used some Tracy-Socks ala Tracy Reifkind to keep the handle off the tear and it worked great. Still felt kind of funny, so I don't think I'll use them full time, but a great option.

20080213

More core today. This training cycle is working out pretty good for me and I think I'll stick with it through the TSC. My weight is dropping, but all fat loss I believe. I'm getting leaner but not losing any noticeable muscle mass.
So I'm currently breaking it down to 2 days- Max VO2, 2 Days- Heavy core work, 2 days of deadlift and max 24 kilo snatches in 5 minutes.
I'll keep this up for about 3 weeks and then back down a hair. Still greasing the groove with pull ups.

Overhead sit ups- 5x16 kilos
Windmills- 3x24 kilos
OH Sit ups- 5x24 kilos
Top and bottom position windmills- 3x 24 kilos each hand.
OH Sit ups- 5x32 kilos
One handed short cycle- 5x 32 kilos each hand.
Windmills- 2x32 kilos
OH Sit ups- 3x48 kilos
Top and bottom position windmills- 2x32 kilos in each hand.

The skeleton of this workout remains the same I just change out some of the element.

20080212

Max VO2

Today I did a Max VO2- 15/15 with the 16 kilo for 25 minutes, 7 reps per 15 seconds.
Yeah... this is hard. I kind of go back and forth on the Max VO2, but I need to keep hitting this. It wasn't actually that difficult, but my left hand became an issue and I had to do the last three minutes all right handed. I feel like I can boost it up to 8 reps throughout as I was consistently hitting my 7th rep at 11 or 12 seconds and just locking out for the last few seconds. I would have kicked it up early on, but I had a feeling one of my hands was going to get torn as I had no chalk. I did it at Equinox because an audience makes me work harder, but chalk is a no-no there.

20080211

I pulled a max deadlift this morning. I warmed up with some Turkish Get Ups with the barbell. After reading about Adam Glass's 165 TGU I have changed my goal on that. I've been stuck at 90 lbs., but I also realized I wasn't using technique. I was basically using all core to bring the weight up, ending up in a seated V before coming up on my knee. I'm regressing to fix that, and I'll come back stronger.
So, onto the deadlift. I'm pretty pleased about this as I successfully pulled 385 lbs. 40 lbs. shy of where I want to be, but the important thing is my right hand held fast. Previously, due to my injury the bar had been flying out of my right hand while my left held fast.
I decided to stop at 385 as it was 'head exploding' difficult. However, the 315 prior to that went up pretty damn easy, and normally it doesn't, so that tells me something.
I'm going to post some videos of my deadlift for critique, as the amount of actual physical instruction I've received on the deadlift is: ZERO. Everything I know I learned from articles. I feel like I'm doing fine, but you can always learn more.

20080210

No deadlift today. Family stuff exploded, but everything's cool. Tried a gym in Sonora, but they wanted $15 to drop in and pull probably three singles on my deadlift. Yeah... I don't think so.

20080209

I've decided to put my training logs online as I think it will keep me honest, and make me work harder.

Decided to train at Equinox Palo Alto today. I like freaking everyone out while they're rocking the leg extension machine and riding their stationary bikes going nowhere.

Wasn't especialy psyched today due to family nonsense, but I got it done anyway. Lots of core work today.

Top Position Windmills- 3x24 kilos
Rack Walks- 50 feetx48 kilos
Top and Bottom Position Windmills- 3x24 kilos each hand
Towel farmer's carry- 50 feetx 2 24 kilos
Rack Walks- 50 feetx48 kilos
Overhead Sit Ups (sit ups performed holding kettlebell straight up) 5x24 kilos
Bent Press- 3x16 kilos
OH Sit Ups- 5x32 kilos
Rack Walks- 50 feetx64 kilos
Bar Crawls (performed by going hand over hand back and forth across the pull ups bar)
Bent Press- 3x24 kilos
Towel Farmer's Carry- 50 feet x 2 32 kilos
OH Sit Ups- 5x32 kilos
Bar Crawls

I have a long day of driving tomorrow (six hours on the road) but I'm going to get in and pull a max deadlift.