This is my last post. I'll no longer be posting my training on here.
Thank you to everyone who has followed it, I've enjoyed writing it and I have greatly appreciated your support.
Of course I would greatly appreciate your continued support on my new blog found here :)
Sunday 22 March 2009
Saturday 21 March 2009
"Baby needs new shoes....."
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans / Split Jerks 3 x 3
Session A
Power Snatches - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs 1 x 45kgs, 1 x 45kgs (PR)
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 3 reps - 22.5kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 55kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 55kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Pretty much over the cold I had now and I'm feeling stronger and healthier. I felt stronger in a lot of these lifts today, but my form and flexibility still has a lot of catching up to do. Rome wasn't built in a day though.
We were using 10kg bumper plates for the first today - sorry I should really have put Hang in front of most of the exercise descriptions in previous sessions. I not sure if it made it easier or not pulling from the deck, but it sure does feel good to let the weight bounce from droppin' it.
Got to save up now for some shoes. Weights were going under my heels for the squats, and under my toes for the cleans.....it seems I don't know where to be putting my weight!!
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans / Split Jerks 3 x 3
Session A
Power Snatches - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs 1 x 45kgs, 1 x 45kgs (PR)
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 3 reps - 22.5kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 55kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 55kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Pretty much over the cold I had now and I'm feeling stronger and healthier. I felt stronger in a lot of these lifts today, but my form and flexibility still has a lot of catching up to do. Rome wasn't built in a day though.
We were using 10kg bumper plates for the first today - sorry I should really have put Hang in front of most of the exercise descriptions in previous sessions. I not sure if it made it easier or not pulling from the deck, but it sure does feel good to let the weight bounce from droppin' it.
Got to save up now for some shoes. Weights were going under my heels for the squats, and under my toes for the cleans.....it seems I don't know where to be putting my weight!!
Thursday 19 March 2009
Shuffle
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans / Split Jerks 3 x 3
Session C
Split Jerks from rack - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Back Squats - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Standing Press - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Had to do a bit of shuffling around this week.....Maurice wanted to go shopping yesterday!! He didn't even buy me anything nice :(
Cold seems to have cleared up and I felt better able for this session today. That said I struggled for speed and consistancy. My key learning point of the day was thinking not about lifting the weight in the Jerks but on getting me under it with a wider split. It felt so much lighter and faster when I approached it this way.
Over Head and Back Squats are still more about the stretch and it was killing me as I tried to get as low as I could for each rep. I've been doing my warm up a couple of times daily to aid my flexibility, but it is going to take a Herculean effort to keep doing it. I absolutely hate it, which usually means it is the thing I need most.
In the middle of the session today Maurice left to take a call. He told me it was the World Over 65 y/o record holder from N Ireland. He can C&J 132.5kgs and Snatch 97.5kgs at around 95kgs - not bad for a pensioner.
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans / Split Jerks 3 x 3
Session C
Split Jerks from rack - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Back Squats - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Standing Press - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Had to do a bit of shuffling around this week.....Maurice wanted to go shopping yesterday!! He didn't even buy me anything nice :(
Cold seems to have cleared up and I felt better able for this session today. That said I struggled for speed and consistancy. My key learning point of the day was thinking not about lifting the weight in the Jerks but on getting me under it with a wider split. It felt so much lighter and faster when I approached it this way.
Over Head and Back Squats are still more about the stretch and it was killing me as I tried to get as low as I could for each rep. I've been doing my warm up a couple of times daily to aid my flexibility, but it is going to take a Herculean effort to keep doing it. I absolutely hate it, which usually means it is the thing I need most.
In the middle of the session today Maurice left to take a call. He told me it was the World Over 65 y/o record holder from N Ireland. He can C&J 132.5kgs and Snatch 97.5kgs at around 95kgs - not bad for a pensioner.
Monday 16 March 2009
Flat Eric
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans 3 x 5
Session B
Power Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Push Press - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Clean Deadlift (Fast) - 5 sets 5 reps - 80kgs
Smith Machine Press - 54321 reps - 47.5kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - set of 12
Stretches
Comments: Thanks for the comments guys. I am fortunate to have a coach so near to hand, and believe me I intend to soak up all I can from him. It is very like the DL experiment, only not so frequent. I've read that the Bulgarian W/L team do the same thing - finding a max for that day and then doing the work sets 5-20kgs lighter depending on their schedule.
Todays session was a bit flat and I needed lighter weights. Can't seem to shake this head cold and general lack of energy. The food intake has suffered a lot, but apparently I have put on 3lbs of muscle and no fat. I'm off food shopping in a bit and I'm going to clean it up and fill myself full of steak and eggs this week.
In complete contrast to the last session I felt that I started poorly and finshed stronger. There was no speed in any of the first 3 lifts - the last 2 felt easier for me.
I really need to get my arse in gear and do some flexibility stuff on my own. I've read some good stuff on the work I need to be doing and it just boils down to doing it a couple of times a day now.
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Shoulder Dislocates / Achilles Stretches / Quad Stretches / Squat Stretches / Shoulder & Wrist Stretch 2 x 10
Snatch High Pulls / Snatches / OH Squats / Power Cleans 3 x 5
Session B
Power Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Push Press - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Clean Deadlift (Fast) - 5 sets 5 reps - 80kgs
Smith Machine Press - 54321 reps - 47.5kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - set of 12
Stretches
Comments: Thanks for the comments guys. I am fortunate to have a coach so near to hand, and believe me I intend to soak up all I can from him. It is very like the DL experiment, only not so frequent. I've read that the Bulgarian W/L team do the same thing - finding a max for that day and then doing the work sets 5-20kgs lighter depending on their schedule.
Todays session was a bit flat and I needed lighter weights. Can't seem to shake this head cold and general lack of energy. The food intake has suffered a lot, but apparently I have put on 3lbs of muscle and no fat. I'm off food shopping in a bit and I'm going to clean it up and fill myself full of steak and eggs this week.
In complete contrast to the last session I felt that I started poorly and finshed stronger. There was no speed in any of the first 3 lifts - the last 2 felt easier for me.
I really need to get my arse in gear and do some flexibility stuff on my own. I've read some good stuff on the work I need to be doing and it just boils down to doing it a couple of times a day now.
Friday 13 March 2009
Its a funny old game...
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - High Pulls/Snatches/OHS/Cleans/Jerks with the bar
Session A
Power Snatches - 6 sets 5 reps - 35kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 50kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 1 set close to failure
Stretches
Comments: Felt really good warming up, thought that I was all but over my cold and was feeling plenty strong. I was whipping the empty bar about and making that really satisfying SLAM with my feet on the snatches. It turned out to be a game of two halves, I felt like I could have gone heavier on the first 4 exercises but by the time I got to the Jerks I was going downhill. Endurance wasn't there today.
Saying that, overall it was a good session. Egged on by Maurice I was getting deeper and deeper on the OHSquats. He had me hold bottom position for a bit on the last rep of each set. It was agony for me but at the same time the bar felt lighter, like I had better control of it and better balance. Also on my Power Cleans I was focusing on trying to whip the elbows round. I found that the more aggressive I was in doing this the easier it felt.
Maurice's philosophy - with beginners anyway - is to lift with good form with a weight that you can handle on that day. This is why some of my weight selections may not be making sense. When my conditioning, technique and strength all start to catch up then the weight selections will fit. That's why I have the odd stand out weight like Pressing from my last session and then doing less this session on Jerks.
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - High Pulls/Snatches/OHS/Cleans/Jerks with the bar
Session A
Power Snatches - 6 sets 5 reps - 35kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 50kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 1 set close to failure
Stretches
Comments: Felt really good warming up, thought that I was all but over my cold and was feeling plenty strong. I was whipping the empty bar about and making that really satisfying SLAM with my feet on the snatches. It turned out to be a game of two halves, I felt like I could have gone heavier on the first 4 exercises but by the time I got to the Jerks I was going downhill. Endurance wasn't there today.
Saying that, overall it was a good session. Egged on by Maurice I was getting deeper and deeper on the OHSquats. He had me hold bottom position for a bit on the last rep of each set. It was agony for me but at the same time the bar felt lighter, like I had better control of it and better balance. Also on my Power Cleans I was focusing on trying to whip the elbows round. I found that the more aggressive I was in doing this the easier it felt.
Maurice's philosophy - with beginners anyway - is to lift with good form with a weight that you can handle on that day. This is why some of my weight selections may not be making sense. When my conditioning, technique and strength all start to catch up then the weight selections will fit. That's why I have the odd stand out weight like Pressing from my last session and then doing less this session on Jerks.
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Third session
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session C
Split Jerks from rack - 5 sets 3 reps - 42.5kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 3 reps - 20kgs
Back Squats - 5 sets 5 reps - 50kgs
Standing Press - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Still carrying a stinking cold. Every evening before training so far I haven't thought I'd make it, but I've felt better the next morning. We are still taking it easy on the intensity and zipping through the sessions so it hasn't been too tough.
Technique is still a work in progress obviously and it varies from OK to Bollocks. I haven't been of mind or body to practice on my own with a stick so far, but I expect it to get better along with my flexibility when I do start. I guess the best example of this today was the OH Squats. In the first few sets I was all over the place and not very deep. In the last few though I was getting down pretty deep with good balance and solid overhead. It was the first time I ever felt that I could handle more than just the bar.
Going back into a gym is funny as well. There is so much posing, gossiping and ridiculing of people's weight totals going on it's hilarious. I've promised Maurice though that'll I'll stop all that and concentrate on the training from now on ;)
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session C
Split Jerks from rack - 5 sets 3 reps - 42.5kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 30kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 3 reps - 20kgs
Back Squats - 5 sets 5 reps - 50kgs
Standing Press - 5 sets 3 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Still carrying a stinking cold. Every evening before training so far I haven't thought I'd make it, but I've felt better the next morning. We are still taking it easy on the intensity and zipping through the sessions so it hasn't been too tough.
Technique is still a work in progress obviously and it varies from OK to Bollocks. I haven't been of mind or body to practice on my own with a stick so far, but I expect it to get better along with my flexibility when I do start. I guess the best example of this today was the OH Squats. In the first few sets I was all over the place and not very deep. In the last few though I was getting down pretty deep with good balance and solid overhead. It was the first time I ever felt that I could handle more than just the bar.
Going back into a gym is funny as well. There is so much posing, gossiping and ridiculing of people's weight totals going on it's hilarious. I've promised Maurice though that'll I'll stop all that and concentrate on the training from now on ;)
Monday 9 March 2009
Sickboy
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session B
Power Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 32.5kgs
Push Press - 5 sets 5 reps - 42.5kgs
Clean Deadlift (Fast) - 5 sets 5 reps - 60kgs
Smith Machine Press - 54321 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Over the weekend I thought I'd be doubtful for this session. Firstly I had my shoulder on ice for 2 days - it was the worst it has felt in months. Then I went downhill and felt really run down - think I have a bit of a virus. Fortunately I was feeling better on both accounts this morning and while it was an easy session I went through it better than I thought I would.
We alternated sets and exercises straight through again and I found that I wasn't huffing and puffing as much as the last session. All the weights are still within my limits but I have noticed that I can't move the bar that fast. Hopefully that will come as I go along, after all speed strength or power is one of the aspects Oly lifting trains.
I've got myself the ultimate training aid - a broomstick - and hopefully now I can get a bit of practice in between sessions.
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session B
Power Clean - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Power Snatch - 5 sets 3 reps - 32.5kgs
Push Press - 5 sets 5 reps - 42.5kgs
Clean Deadlift (Fast) - 5 sets 5 reps - 60kgs
Smith Machine Press - 54321 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 2 sets of 12
Stretches
Comments: Over the weekend I thought I'd be doubtful for this session. Firstly I had my shoulder on ice for 2 days - it was the worst it has felt in months. Then I went downhill and felt really run down - think I have a bit of a virus. Fortunately I was feeling better on both accounts this morning and while it was an easy session I went through it better than I thought I would.
We alternated sets and exercises straight through again and I found that I wasn't huffing and puffing as much as the last session. All the weights are still within my limits but I have noticed that I can't move the bar that fast. Hopefully that will come as I go along, after all speed strength or power is one of the aspects Oly lifting trains.
I've got myself the ultimate training aid - a broomstick - and hopefully now I can get a bit of practice in between sessions.
Friday 6 March 2009
So it begins.....
Mobility
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
(All the places you need for Oly Lifting; all the places I need work on!!)
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session A
Power Snatches - 6 sets 5 reps - 35kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 1 set close to failure
Stretches
Comments: Started training proper with Maurice today. He gave me a print out with 3 sessions to do per week. This is to get me fit for lifting and I'll be on it for about a month. He wants me to be motoring through it and get some conditioning out of it too.
As far as the weights above go sometimes I worked up to that weight, others straight in and just left on because they were handy. It isn't about going as heavy as possible at this stage. Looking for some conditioning, finding my level and correcting gross technical errors I suppose. It was great to have Maurice there telling me rep for rep what was going well and what wasn't.
For now I'll only be doing some mobility/stretching and practicing lifts at home with a wooden dowel. At some point I'd like to throw in a little grip work, a few TGUs and some swings, snatches or sprints. That'll be down the road though and only if I feel it is necessary.
I have also cut back on the milk and decided to see how I get on with a sensible diet and 3 sessions per week. I honestly don't mind if I lose or put on a little - just as long as overall I lose fat and gain muscle. I still have the measurements I took when I was starting my hypertrophy stage, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I'd also liked to have done the Max Jones Quadrathlon to see what improvements I'd make. I might test my vertical and broad jump - but I'd be keeping those (small) figures to myself! ;)
I got some cracking resources yesterday off my good mate Paul - some dvds and a FANTASTIC book by Tommy Kono. Highly instructional and incredibly inspirational. I could get really into this weightlifting lark.
Ankles, Knees, Hips, Shoulders and Wrists
(All the places you need for Oly Lifting; all the places I need work on!!)
Warm Up - Snatches/Cleans/Jerks/Squats with the bar
Session A
Power Snatches - 6 sets 5 reps - 35kgs
Overhead Squat - 5 sets 5 reps - 20kgs
Pull for Clean - 5 sets 5 reps - 40kgs
Power Cleans - 5 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Jerk from Racks - 5 sets 3 reps - 40kgs
Back Squat - 3 sets 5 reps - 45kgs
Hanging Leg Raises - 1 set close to failure
Stretches
Comments: Started training proper with Maurice today. He gave me a print out with 3 sessions to do per week. This is to get me fit for lifting and I'll be on it for about a month. He wants me to be motoring through it and get some conditioning out of it too.
As far as the weights above go sometimes I worked up to that weight, others straight in and just left on because they were handy. It isn't about going as heavy as possible at this stage. Looking for some conditioning, finding my level and correcting gross technical errors I suppose. It was great to have Maurice there telling me rep for rep what was going well and what wasn't.
For now I'll only be doing some mobility/stretching and practicing lifts at home with a wooden dowel. At some point I'd like to throw in a little grip work, a few TGUs and some swings, snatches or sprints. That'll be down the road though and only if I feel it is necessary.
I have also cut back on the milk and decided to see how I get on with a sensible diet and 3 sessions per week. I honestly don't mind if I lose or put on a little - just as long as overall I lose fat and gain muscle. I still have the measurements I took when I was starting my hypertrophy stage, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I'd also liked to have done the Max Jones Quadrathlon to see what improvements I'd make. I might test my vertical and broad jump - but I'd be keeping those (small) figures to myself! ;)
I got some cracking resources yesterday off my good mate Paul - some dvds and a FANTASTIC book by Tommy Kono. Highly instructional and incredibly inspirational. I could get really into this weightlifting lark.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Schooled!!
Met up with yet another gentleman of a weightlifter today. At over 70 years old Morris has aged well. He looks in his 50's and lifts fast! He told me his knee was a little sore today, but he was stunned because "I never get any aches or pains". He also introduced me to his friend Duke who has DL'd 192.5kgs at 57kgs. He looked like he was 80!! I'm beginning to wonder if Olympic Weightlifting is the elixir of life.
Everyone I talked to told me that I was in very good hands - and I was. He took me through the Snatch and Clean, with hang and power variations. He even had me trying the split snatch and split clean. He lifted with me rep for rep, and all his lifts had more snap and power to them.
Not only can he lift, he can teach which is what I'm most interested in. After we did push presses, he told me a few things which helped ground me and made the lift feel more solid. I was fine on bench presses (just not enough weight for my liking). While I was there though I got him to take a look at me DLing. I did it the Pavel way - braced before going down, got tight, descended and lifted it when I got my hands on it. He told me to get down, make sure my back was flat, then brace and "you'll think this sounds silly, but pull yourself into the ground." It didn't sound silly at all, I do it for my overhead stuff, but I've never thought of applying it to the DL. I did a very comfortable double with 130kgs, felt it in the hamstrings more than I usually do. I was very impressed with just that tip alone.
It's obvious I can learn a lot from Morris. He doesn't have the facilities that the club in Belfast has, but I think that given my present circumstances he is my best option. I'll give it a go with him for a while and see how I get on. If it doesn't work out then the club in Belfast is always there. I've got to talk to him later, but if he tells me he can take me to a 100kgs C&J we're in business.
Edit: "100kgs? Oh, I should think so. " - he'll tell me anything I think, but I've got myself a coach. Start Friday morning :)
Everyone I talked to told me that I was in very good hands - and I was. He took me through the Snatch and Clean, with hang and power variations. He even had me trying the split snatch and split clean. He lifted with me rep for rep, and all his lifts had more snap and power to them.
Not only can he lift, he can teach which is what I'm most interested in. After we did push presses, he told me a few things which helped ground me and made the lift feel more solid. I was fine on bench presses (just not enough weight for my liking). While I was there though I got him to take a look at me DLing. I did it the Pavel way - braced before going down, got tight, descended and lifted it when I got my hands on it. He told me to get down, make sure my back was flat, then brace and "you'll think this sounds silly, but pull yourself into the ground." It didn't sound silly at all, I do it for my overhead stuff, but I've never thought of applying it to the DL. I did a very comfortable double with 130kgs, felt it in the hamstrings more than I usually do. I was very impressed with just that tip alone.
It's obvious I can learn a lot from Morris. He doesn't have the facilities that the club in Belfast has, but I think that given my present circumstances he is my best option. I'll give it a go with him for a while and see how I get on. If it doesn't work out then the club in Belfast is always there. I've got to talk to him later, but if he tells me he can take me to a 100kgs C&J we're in business.
Edit: "100kgs? Oh, I should think so. " - he'll tell me anything I think, but I've got myself a coach. Start Friday morning :)
Sunday 1 March 2009
Oly Practice
Warm Up
OH Squats
Pumps
Halos
3 x 10
Barbell
Hang Power Snatch: 20 kgs x 5, 22.5 x 5, 25 x 5, 27.5 x 5, 30 x 5
Hang Power Clean:30 kgs x 5, 32.5 x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 37.5 x 5
Clean DL & Shrug: 37.5 kgs x 5, 40 x 5, 45 x 5, 50 x 5, 50 x 5
Push Press: 30 kgs x 5, 32.5 x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 40 x 5
Front Squat: 30 kgs x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 40 x 5, 42.5 x 5
OH Squat: 20kgs x 5, 20 x 5, 20 x 5
Stretches
Comments: Still in limbo with the coaching, but I shall get onto the N Ireland House of Sport tomorrow to get contact details of my local club for a chat. In the meantime it was a dry day overhere so I could get out back and practice a little bit. I'd really be dependant on the Great British weather if I tried to do any overhead stuff at home with a barbell.
Out of all the training resources I have my absolute favourite has always been Jimmy Schultz's Olympic Style Manual and DVD. So today I started into the first program detailed in that. I was using conservative weights and really trying for good form on each lift. I've got to say though that my form went from the sublime to the ridiculous....well maybe not sublime, but decent (though I really need a coach to check it was even that). Not from too much weight, in fact I generally found it to be a bit better when the weight got heavier. Overall it went quite well. I found it to be just about right for the amount of stress it accumulated on my wrists, also my shoulders were getting pretty tender from racking the barbell.
The program also calls for 3 sets of Bench Presses at the end. I was going to do some Half Get Ups as I have nowhere to bench. But the OHSs were terrible and I was getting a bit tired so I just decided to wrap it up there. I'll just do this routine until I get myself sorted with one coach or another.
I managed to put on 1lb this week. Not much of a return out of the 3 pints of milk I have upped my daily intake to. Still according to the BF percentage it is all muscle so I'll take that every week, all year long!! Plus I ate a 12" pizza by myself last night as a treat so I can't complain really. ;)
OH Squats
Pumps
Halos
3 x 10
Barbell
Hang Power Snatch: 20 kgs x 5, 22.5 x 5, 25 x 5, 27.5 x 5, 30 x 5
Hang Power Clean:30 kgs x 5, 32.5 x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 37.5 x 5
Clean DL & Shrug: 37.5 kgs x 5, 40 x 5, 45 x 5, 50 x 5, 50 x 5
Push Press: 30 kgs x 5, 32.5 x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 40 x 5
Front Squat: 30 kgs x 5, 35 x 5, 37.5 x 5, 40 x 5, 42.5 x 5
OH Squat: 20kgs x 5, 20 x 5, 20 x 5
Stretches
Comments: Still in limbo with the coaching, but I shall get onto the N Ireland House of Sport tomorrow to get contact details of my local club for a chat. In the meantime it was a dry day overhere so I could get out back and practice a little bit. I'd really be dependant on the Great British weather if I tried to do any overhead stuff at home with a barbell.
Out of all the training resources I have my absolute favourite has always been Jimmy Schultz's Olympic Style Manual and DVD. So today I started into the first program detailed in that. I was using conservative weights and really trying for good form on each lift. I've got to say though that my form went from the sublime to the ridiculous....well maybe not sublime, but decent (though I really need a coach to check it was even that). Not from too much weight, in fact I generally found it to be a bit better when the weight got heavier. Overall it went quite well. I found it to be just about right for the amount of stress it accumulated on my wrists, also my shoulders were getting pretty tender from racking the barbell.
The program also calls for 3 sets of Bench Presses at the end. I was going to do some Half Get Ups as I have nowhere to bench. But the OHSs were terrible and I was getting a bit tired so I just decided to wrap it up there. I'll just do this routine until I get myself sorted with one coach or another.
I managed to put on 1lb this week. Not much of a return out of the 3 pints of milk I have upped my daily intake to. Still according to the BF percentage it is all muscle so I'll take that every week, all year long!! Plus I ate a 12" pizza by myself last night as a treat so I can't complain really. ;)
Friday 27 February 2009
Mess Around
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
1 x 10
Barbell -
Hang Snatches @ 20kgs
OverHead Squats @ 20kgs
Hang Cleans @ 20kgs / 30kgs
Push Jerks (with split) @ 30kgs
Front Squats @ 30kgs
3 sets of 5
Back Squats @ 30kgs
3 sets of 10
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
At some stage though I think I'll need to add wrists to this list.
Comments - Still a little up in the air as far as who's training me and where at this stage, so I just decided to do a light practice on my own. I thought I'd throw the ego out the window and just do barbell complexes. Gotta say though that it was plenty for a lot of the exercises. And even though I was in no hurry you can get tired enough by the end.
No surprise to me is that I need to do a lot of work on my flexibility. Squatting today was all done with 3/4" heel raise, and I struggle to get my elbows up and my wrists back for the rack in the clean and front squat. But its new and exciting and I look forward to getting really into it.
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
1 x 10
Barbell -
Hang Snatches @ 20kgs
OverHead Squats @ 20kgs
Hang Cleans @ 20kgs / 30kgs
Push Jerks (with split) @ 30kgs
Front Squats @ 30kgs
3 sets of 5
Back Squats @ 30kgs
3 sets of 10
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
At some stage though I think I'll need to add wrists to this list.
Comments - Still a little up in the air as far as who's training me and where at this stage, so I just decided to do a light practice on my own. I thought I'd throw the ego out the window and just do barbell complexes. Gotta say though that it was plenty for a lot of the exercises. And even though I was in no hurry you can get tired enough by the end.
No surprise to me is that I need to do a lot of work on my flexibility. Squatting today was all done with 3/4" heel raise, and I struggle to get my elbows up and my wrists back for the rack in the clean and front squat. But its new and exciting and I look forward to getting really into it.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Strength Odyssey
"Why do we fall? ......so we can learn to pick ourselves back up." Bruce Wayne's father in Batman Begins
Mouse - thanks for the support and encouragement, I'm way ahead of you though. I sent an email to the N Ireland Weightlifting site last night about the clubs and finding a good coach. I got a reply straight away. Gina told me that she'd be training near me today and that I should pop down and see her.
I turned up in jeans expecting to just get some info out of her, but she had me DLing and Squatting a bit to see my form. She and her husband Martin gave me some good pointers - and told me my form was terrible!! "Stop sticking your arse out!!" Haha. They also filled me in on the powerlifting scene here. Apparently it isn't great - everyone out for themselves, club members generally train on their own at different times and there isn't much sharing of information until you show good promise. Not what I wanted to hear.
She said though if I wanted to join the gym she uses then they'd sort me out anytime they happened to be in. Good as gold - Martin is an ex-Commonwealth Games cyclist, and Gina has been tearing up records over here in PL. I felt what I really needed though was a wizened old coach like Mickey from Rocky. When pressed Gina told me that I needed to see George Mcguinness, he'd helped her out when she first got started.
So I got in touch with George just after I left the gym. I told him that I'd be interested in lifting at a meet for the craic and he told me that he coached PL and Oly Lifting!! My ears pricked up - I thought no one here did Oly Lifting. I arranged to meet up with him earlier this evening and he put me through my paces.
The gym is falling to bits but has bags of character - two Oly Lifting platforms and everything else you need (with exception of the glute-ham machine that they don't have anymore). George has Parkinson's and talks a bit slow and quietly, but I didn't let that fool me. He stood with me for about 2 hours sorting out my form, flexibilty etc. I've spent money on books, DVDs, courses on all sorts of different subjects, but I can't remember the last time I learned so much. He didn't even want to take any money off me either!!!
After I'd been admonished by a couple of the instructors for "sticking my arse out" I started to do better. I managed to snatch 40kgs no worries, and C&J'd 60kgs. Then he started talking about throwing me into a meet in Scotland in a few months! We'll see.
I've spent my whole day training or talking about training. My back was never anything but solid, even my knees and shoulders were spot on. The only fly in the ointment is that the club is miles away. It would be a bit much for me to travel up and down x 3 per week. There is a guy who is a bit closer unbelievably, but failing that George suggested that I go up to see him 3-4 times a month to work on the technical stuff and he can give me a program then to work on assistance stuff by myself.
I'm starting to get sore now, my traps will ache tomorrow, wrists and legs from doing all manner of squats for flexibility and strength. But today was the best training day I think I've ever had. What a difference 24 hours can make.
Mouse - thanks for the support and encouragement, I'm way ahead of you though. I sent an email to the N Ireland Weightlifting site last night about the clubs and finding a good coach. I got a reply straight away. Gina told me that she'd be training near me today and that I should pop down and see her.
I turned up in jeans expecting to just get some info out of her, but she had me DLing and Squatting a bit to see my form. She and her husband Martin gave me some good pointers - and told me my form was terrible!! "Stop sticking your arse out!!" Haha. They also filled me in on the powerlifting scene here. Apparently it isn't great - everyone out for themselves, club members generally train on their own at different times and there isn't much sharing of information until you show good promise. Not what I wanted to hear.
She said though if I wanted to join the gym she uses then they'd sort me out anytime they happened to be in. Good as gold - Martin is an ex-Commonwealth Games cyclist, and Gina has been tearing up records over here in PL. I felt what I really needed though was a wizened old coach like Mickey from Rocky. When pressed Gina told me that I needed to see George Mcguinness, he'd helped her out when she first got started.
So I got in touch with George just after I left the gym. I told him that I'd be interested in lifting at a meet for the craic and he told me that he coached PL and Oly Lifting!! My ears pricked up - I thought no one here did Oly Lifting. I arranged to meet up with him earlier this evening and he put me through my paces.
The gym is falling to bits but has bags of character - two Oly Lifting platforms and everything else you need (with exception of the glute-ham machine that they don't have anymore). George has Parkinson's and talks a bit slow and quietly, but I didn't let that fool me. He stood with me for about 2 hours sorting out my form, flexibilty etc. I've spent money on books, DVDs, courses on all sorts of different subjects, but I can't remember the last time I learned so much. He didn't even want to take any money off me either!!!
After I'd been admonished by a couple of the instructors for "sticking my arse out" I started to do better. I managed to snatch 40kgs no worries, and C&J'd 60kgs. Then he started talking about throwing me into a meet in Scotland in a few months! We'll see.
I've spent my whole day training or talking about training. My back was never anything but solid, even my knees and shoulders were spot on. The only fly in the ointment is that the club is miles away. It would be a bit much for me to travel up and down x 3 per week. There is a guy who is a bit closer unbelievably, but failing that George suggested that I go up to see him 3-4 times a month to work on the technical stuff and he can give me a program then to work on assistance stuff by myself.
I'm starting to get sore now, my traps will ache tomorrow, wrists and legs from doing all manner of squats for flexibility and strength. But today was the best training day I think I've ever had. What a difference 24 hours can make.
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Nightmare......
.....my hypertrophy phase has finished before it got started. When I was trying to figure out the weights I'd need to start out with on Saturday it didn't go well. Somewhere between DLing and Squatting (with light weights I may add) something was up. It didn't hurt but it didn't feel right either. Next morning I was tying my shoe laces when I got a really strange sensation. The best way I can explain it is if you have ever seen steel bridge swaying violently - it isn't broken per se, but it's structure is far from stable. That's the feeling I get - doesn't hurt but it's far from stable.
I hadn't heard a peep out of it since, but my confidence doing DLs was shaken so I opted for the following:
Chin - Single top of the minute - 7 decent reps: in line with the EDT strength protocol. I was planning on adding weight once I got to 15 singles.
Snatches 24kgs - 15 mins PR zone: I was aiming for around 140 and had tried them out a couple of times without any back trouble. I got to 84 in around 8 minutes when I got the same feeling in my back right round my kidney area. I stopped instantly.
It isn't sore now...at all. But I don't have much confidence in it. The mind is willing, but the body isn't it seems. I had already decided that I needed to join a club before I deadlifted again - its obvious I can't do it right on my own. Maybe that should be my next move. I'll stay focused on my diet while I figure it out.
I hadn't heard a peep out of it since, but my confidence doing DLs was shaken so I opted for the following:
Chin - Single top of the minute - 7 decent reps: in line with the EDT strength protocol. I was planning on adding weight once I got to 15 singles.
Snatches 24kgs - 15 mins PR zone: I was aiming for around 140 and had tried them out a couple of times without any back trouble. I got to 84 in around 8 minutes when I got the same feeling in my back right round my kidney area. I stopped instantly.
It isn't sore now...at all. But I don't have much confidence in it. The mind is willing, but the body isn't it seems. I had already decided that I needed to join a club before I deadlifted again - its obvious I can't do it right on my own. Maybe that should be my next move. I'll stay focused on my diet while I figure it out.
Saturday 21 February 2009
I Got Milk
Starting my new focus on hypertrophy.....well from now I guess. I took lots of measurements this morning which I'll post in 4 weeks along side my progress. The plan is pretty simple, I'm adding in some milk to my diet and switching to EDT style training 3 times a week.
There are quite a lot of sites and books I've come across recommending milk as an excellent mass builder - though it would seem that results are mixed as to how much is fat. Mark Rippetoe suggests that milk along with his program starting strength will sort out those who are too skinny or those who are too fat. Regardless, I am feeling very protective of my gains in weight loss (if you see what I mean) so I'm not going to 'GOMAD' with the gallon of milk a day approach right out of the blocks. I drank 2 pints today and will stick with this for a week and monitor from there. I'll up it as long as I am not gaining too much fat - and hopefully in line with the amount of work I'm doing in my sessions.
On that note, I had a bit of a play around to get an idea of the weights I need to using for this new program. Man I have lost so much strength it ain't funny! So, I've decided to start off a bit conservatively and hopefully it should come back to me quite quickly. Its also a good idea as I've discussed before how I reckon big jumps in volume on the training side lead me to eat lots more crap to feel less tired.
So I'm looking to strike a balance with it, but still get results. Next session will be Tuesday.
There are quite a lot of sites and books I've come across recommending milk as an excellent mass builder - though it would seem that results are mixed as to how much is fat. Mark Rippetoe suggests that milk along with his program starting strength will sort out those who are too skinny or those who are too fat. Regardless, I am feeling very protective of my gains in weight loss (if you see what I mean) so I'm not going to 'GOMAD' with the gallon of milk a day approach right out of the blocks. I drank 2 pints today and will stick with this for a week and monitor from there. I'll up it as long as I am not gaining too much fat - and hopefully in line with the amount of work I'm doing in my sessions.
On that note, I had a bit of a play around to get an idea of the weights I need to using for this new program. Man I have lost so much strength it ain't funny! So, I've decided to start off a bit conservatively and hopefully it should come back to me quite quickly. Its also a good idea as I've discussed before how I reckon big jumps in volume on the training side lead me to eat lots more crap to feel less tired.
So I'm looking to strike a balance with it, but still get results. Next session will be Tuesday.
Thursday 19 February 2009
Listless
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
SLDL - contra sports lift @ 16kgs
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings 'n' stuff - 15 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs x 3
10 Sw @ 24kgs x 6
LCCJ @ 24kgs 5 e/a x 3
10 Sw @ 24kgs x 4
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Switched the cook hip lift for some SLDLs with the 16kgs. Form was terrible, but it was a wake up for the glutes. They will get better in short time.
One of those days when I really couldn't be bothered - never a good sign. I think that I am just about ready for a shake up. I already lost my gain from last weekend and another pound more. I am teetering on the brink of the scale weight starting with "13" - it seems like a dream when I last weighed in the thirteens.
The extra protein seems to be helping me hang onto my precious little muscle, but today prehaps it feels likeI'm losing too much too fast. So rather than the 18 reps top of the minute I played around a little and took my time between sets. I also wanted to see how the shoulder coped with a few LCCJs as they will be in soon.
I have a spreadsheet that I fill in with my weight every now and then. The worst is in late August which is 223lbs at 36% BF - 80.28lbs fat and 142.7lbs LBM. The best so far is today 196lbs @ 28% BF - 54.88lbs fat and 141.12lbs LBM. Not too bad, but I still need to swap 35lbs of fat for 35 of muscle. I think next week is time for EDT and MILK!!
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
SLDL - contra sports lift @ 16kgs
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings 'n' stuff - 15 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs x 3
10 Sw @ 24kgs x 6
LCCJ @ 24kgs 5 e/a x 3
10 Sw @ 24kgs x 4
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Switched the cook hip lift for some SLDLs with the 16kgs. Form was terrible, but it was a wake up for the glutes. They will get better in short time.
One of those days when I really couldn't be bothered - never a good sign. I think that I am just about ready for a shake up. I already lost my gain from last weekend and another pound more. I am teetering on the brink of the scale weight starting with "13" - it seems like a dream when I last weighed in the thirteens.
The extra protein seems to be helping me hang onto my precious little muscle, but today prehaps it feels likeI'm losing too much too fast. So rather than the 18 reps top of the minute I played around a little and took my time between sets. I also wanted to see how the shoulder coped with a few LCCJs as they will be in soon.
I have a spreadsheet that I fill in with my weight every now and then. The worst is in late August which is 223lbs at 36% BF - 80.28lbs fat and 142.7lbs LBM. The best so far is today 196lbs @ 28% BF - 54.88lbs fat and 141.12lbs LBM. Not too bad, but I still need to swap 35lbs of fat for 35 of muscle. I think next week is time for EDT and MILK!!
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Get on up there
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 10 e/a
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Good session this. My right shoulder was feeling really weak compared to the left and I didn't think I was going to get past 4 before dropping weight. I concentrated on getting tight and pressing it from the floor strongly and was able to keep on going. I think it is some kind of PR actually, I'm pretty sure I never went past 5 e/a on Prog Minimum before. Would be cool if I could manage the 32 each side before I switch.
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 10 e/a
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Good session this. My right shoulder was feeling really weak compared to the left and I didn't think I was going to get past 4 before dropping weight. I concentrated on getting tight and pressing it from the floor strongly and was able to keep on going. I think it is some kind of PR actually, I'm pretty sure I never went past 5 e/a on Prog Minimum before. Would be cool if I could manage the 32 each side before I switch.
Monday 16 February 2009
Old Red Eyes is back
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
17 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 170
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Back after a boozey weekend packed with full English breakfasts and 3 course dinners (thanks NHS!!) I was happy to step on the scales only 3 lbs heavier. And according to the ever-so-fickle BF% function 2lbs of Fat and 1lb of LBM. So not a complete disaster. I did take my jungle gym and gymboss with me but neither of them saw the light of day.
So back to the task at hand and I was clever enough to have enough good food in the fridge for my return. So I ate clean and did a reasonable amount of work with the swings. Felt absolutely great as I racked up the first pain free session in who knows how long....prehaps even ever!!
So a couple more weeks of Prog Minimum and weight loss focus then a shift to muscle and EDT.
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
17 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 170
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Back after a boozey weekend packed with full English breakfasts and 3 course dinners (thanks NHS!!) I was happy to step on the scales only 3 lbs heavier. And according to the ever-so-fickle BF% function 2lbs of Fat and 1lb of LBM. So not a complete disaster. I did take my jungle gym and gymboss with me but neither of them saw the light of day.
So back to the task at hand and I was clever enough to have enough good food in the fridge for my return. So I ate clean and did a reasonable amount of work with the swings. Felt absolutely great as I racked up the first pain free session in who knows how long....prehaps even ever!!
So a couple more weeks of Prog Minimum and weight loss focus then a shift to muscle and EDT.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Life in the old dog yet.......
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 9 mins 30
20 Sw @ 24kgs - 30:30
Total - 200
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Seeing as I'll be taking the entire weekend off I thought I'd crank up the intensity for a one off session to see what I've got. Was doing 20 reps at 30s on 30s off right up until the 9th set. After that I cranked them out in sets of whatever I could take. Hit 200 a few seconds before the gymboss beeped for 9 mins 30. Quite happy with that considering I haven't done anything close to that level for months.
My grip is buggered and it's quite hard to type this out but all the other problem areas were quiet today....too quiet some would say!!
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 9 mins 30
20 Sw @ 24kgs - 30:30
Total - 200
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Seeing as I'll be taking the entire weekend off I thought I'd crank up the intensity for a one off session to see what I've got. Was doing 20 reps at 30s on 30s off right up until the 9th set. After that I cranked them out in sets of whatever I could take. Hit 200 a few seconds before the gymboss beeped for 9 mins 30. Quite happy with that considering I haven't done anything close to that level for months.
My grip is buggered and it's quite hard to type this out but all the other problem areas were quiet today....too quiet some would say!!
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Titan Challenge, EDT and Armani
Mouse - the op is for my brother, apparently he needs me to nurse maid. That Titan Challenge post is an interesting read. I have, in my own way, be doing a kind of version of the get up ladders. 2 or 3 floor presses (my sticking point for right shoulder) before going up to supporting myself on my arm. I have recently started adding in the 24 for a few reps before dropping to the 16 for more volume. I hadn't considered doing a heavy day then a high volume day later in the week.
I am only going to stay on a prog minimum template until the end of this month - but I can definitely use some of this going forward. Thanks for the link.
Here's what I have planned for the EDT Martin:
3 times per week. Alternating A/B sessions. Keeping mobility, corrective warm up and stretches.
Session A
A1: DL
EDT Strength Protocol - 10 mins
B1: Sandbag Squats
B2: Chins
15 mins PR zone
C1:Wrists
15 mins PR zone
Session B
A1: HGU
EDT Strength Protocol - 10 mins
B1: LCCJs Left
B2: LCCJs Right
15 mins PR zone
C1:Neck
15 mins PR zone
Strength zone work on the areas that I have my goals set for. Multi-joint whole body exercises for bulk and conditioning side effect. Then finally weak areas I need to strengthen and increase size. I'll probably take a lot of measurements before I start.
On fitday I have calculated that by drinking 2 litres of full fat milk a day it will obviously increase my calories but keep the same macronutrient ratio. Apparently it is a proven method of weight gain but there are no gaurantees on how much fat there will be. I'm up for the experiment for a month, but I need to be very careful and not get carried away with eating.
As far as the clothes go, I might just buy a new belt.....I've got a lot more body comp changes in mind, and very little money. ;)
I am only going to stay on a prog minimum template until the end of this month - but I can definitely use some of this going forward. Thanks for the link.
Here's what I have planned for the EDT Martin:
3 times per week. Alternating A/B sessions. Keeping mobility, corrective warm up and stretches.
Session A
A1: DL
EDT Strength Protocol - 10 mins
B1: Sandbag Squats
B2: Chins
15 mins PR zone
C1:Wrists
15 mins PR zone
Session B
A1: HGU
EDT Strength Protocol - 10 mins
B1: LCCJs Left
B2: LCCJs Right
15 mins PR zone
C1:Neck
15 mins PR zone
Strength zone work on the areas that I have my goals set for. Multi-joint whole body exercises for bulk and conditioning side effect. Then finally weak areas I need to strengthen and increase size. I'll probably take a lot of measurements before I start.
On fitday I have calculated that by drinking 2 litres of full fat milk a day it will obviously increase my calories but keep the same macronutrient ratio. Apparently it is a proven method of weight gain but there are no gaurantees on how much fat there will be. I'm up for the experiment for a month, but I need to be very careful and not get carried away with eating.
As far as the clothes go, I might just buy a new belt.....I've got a lot more body comp changes in mind, and very little money. ;)
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man.....
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 7 e/a
16kgs
Swings - 5 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs - top of the minute
Total - 50+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Feeling a lot more relaxed today, though still a bit fuzzy what with the headcold. Spent most of the day cooking myself some lentil soup with a joint of ham thrown in for good measure, and the spanish chicken I'm off to eat now. Should be enough to do me all week.
I have to accompany my brother to England over the weekend for an operation so I won't be getting a break tomorrow. I'll do Wednesday and Thursday and have 3 days off then - trying to exercise damage limitation when I'm living in it up at the NHS's expense!!
Tonight's was another good session. Able to do more HGUs with the 24kg, but I have to squeeze that handle hard and power breath it up each time from floor press. Once it is up there it is no trouble. The trouble I do have however is that my jeans are falling off me! I'm going to have to fork out for some new threads.....its all money, money, money :(
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cook Hip Lift
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 7 e/a
16kgs
Swings - 5 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs - top of the minute
Total - 50+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Feeling a lot more relaxed today, though still a bit fuzzy what with the headcold. Spent most of the day cooking myself some lentil soup with a joint of ham thrown in for good measure, and the spanish chicken I'm off to eat now. Should be enough to do me all week.
I have to accompany my brother to England over the weekend for an operation so I won't be getting a break tomorrow. I'll do Wednesday and Thursday and have 3 days off then - trying to exercise damage limitation when I'm living in it up at the NHS's expense!!
Tonight's was another good session. Able to do more HGUs with the 24kg, but I have to squeeze that handle hard and power breath it up each time from floor press. Once it is up there it is no trouble. The trouble I do have however is that my jeans are falling off me! I'm going to have to fork out for some new threads.....its all money, money, money :(
Monday 9 February 2009
Braindead
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps eac
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups
24kgs 2 x 2 e/a
Swings - 10 mins
15 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 150
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - One of those days when nothing seems to be going right and a bit scatter brained to boot. Still have a bit of a headcold that I can't shake. Haven't felt like this in a while.
I could probably have done with a rest if truth be told but I needed an outlet for my frustration, so I did a decent but not overtaxing swing session. I'm still working within myself though I do think all the weight loss catching up with me a little. Maybe too few calories for too long. I'm hoping that I'm close to 185lbs by the end of February anyway but I'll switch up the training and the diet to gain muscle for up to 4 weeks then regardless. Then shift focus back to fat loss again after that.
I couldn't be happier with how I've so far, a loss of around 25lbs to date. Also I have enough left to loss that I think I'll gain muscle and loss weight when I shift plan.
35 reps eac
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups
24kgs 2 x 2 e/a
Swings - 10 mins
15 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 150
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 1
Lower Back - 1
Comments - One of those days when nothing seems to be going right and a bit scatter brained to boot. Still have a bit of a headcold that I can't shake. Haven't felt like this in a while.
I could probably have done with a rest if truth be told but I needed an outlet for my frustration, so I did a decent but not overtaxing swing session. I'm still working within myself though I do think all the weight loss catching up with me a little. Maybe too few calories for too long. I'm hoping that I'm close to 185lbs by the end of February anyway but I'll switch up the training and the diet to gain muscle for up to 4 weeks then regardless. Then shift focus back to fat loss again after that.
I couldn't be happier with how I've so far, a loss of around 25lbs to date. Also I have enough left to loss that I think I'll gain muscle and loss weight when I shift plan.
Saturday 7 February 2009
Half get Ups
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
GTG Squats 0.75" heel lift
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 5 e/a
16kgs
Swings - 5 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs - top of the minute
Total - 50+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Dropped the heel lift another 1/4" - I've tried a few doorway tests without a heel lift but I seem to have the same sticking point. No worries, I reckon it'll be a case of one day I'll just kinda fall down past it and I'll be a proper squatter then.
Little bit of progress on the HGUs. 24s pretty easy on my left and I got some out of the right before the floor press was too much. Then I dropped to the 16 and was doing 2-3 floor presses for each HGU in sets of 2-3 on each side. I guess they added up over the time.
I was still feeling a bit frisky after this so I did some swings with the 32 - again all well within my limits.
Martin - I seem to remember a podiatrist telling me she thought that I had worn away cartilage in my right knee. It's really an acute pain which I got again today stretching my achilles. Ensuring that I'm lined up helps it. But in general I do get the same problem you refer to with my knees on flights, or stuck in cars etc.
I have also discovered that there is a powerlifting scene alive and well in N Ireland. I have put out the feelers and might join a club in the summer. I want to do a few more phases to make sure I rid myself of my niggles and get my body weight under a bit more control.
35 reps each
GTG Squats 0.75" heel lift
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 0.75" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
24kgs x 5 e/a
16kgs
Swings - 5 mins
10 Sw @ 32kgs - top of the minute
Total - 50+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 2
Right Knee - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Dropped the heel lift another 1/4" - I've tried a few doorway tests without a heel lift but I seem to have the same sticking point. No worries, I reckon it'll be a case of one day I'll just kinda fall down past it and I'll be a proper squatter then.
Little bit of progress on the HGUs. 24s pretty easy on my left and I got some out of the right before the floor press was too much. Then I dropped to the 16 and was doing 2-3 floor presses for each HGU in sets of 2-3 on each side. I guess they added up over the time.
I was still feeling a bit frisky after this so I did some swings with the 32 - again all well within my limits.
Martin - I seem to remember a podiatrist telling me she thought that I had worn away cartilage in my right knee. It's really an acute pain which I got again today stretching my achilles. Ensuring that I'm lined up helps it. But in general I do get the same problem you refer to with my knees on flights, or stuck in cars etc.
I have also discovered that there is a powerlifting scene alive and well in N Ireland. I have put out the feelers and might join a club in the summer. I want to do a few more phases to make sure I rid myself of my niggles and get my body weight under a bit more control.
Friday 6 February 2009
Swinging Back into Action
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
12 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 120+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 3
Lower Back - 2
Comments - Had an overnight stay in mainland UK on Wednesday. Coming back on Thursday I was stuck in the airport after a 4 hour delay due to snow. By the time I got back sleeping was the only thing on my mind.
No worries, swings today, get ups tomorrow and reign back on the weekend treats because everyone knows that I overdid while I was away. Start back into the routine come Monday.
Tonights session was very easy considering I still haven't managed to shake the headcold from earlier in the week. I actually racked up more than 120 reps because I was very focused on my swing form and forgot to count a few times. Back felt a little bit stiff in cobra stretch and my knee gave me a bit of jip doing the calf and achilles stretches. Shoulder feels really good.
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
12 Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total - 120+
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Right Knee - 3
Lower Back - 2
Comments - Had an overnight stay in mainland UK on Wednesday. Coming back on Thursday I was stuck in the airport after a 4 hour delay due to snow. By the time I got back sleeping was the only thing on my mind.
No worries, swings today, get ups tomorrow and reign back on the weekend treats because everyone knows that I overdid while I was away. Start back into the routine come Monday.
Tonights session was very easy considering I still haven't managed to shake the headcold from earlier in the week. I actually racked up more than 120 reps because I was very focused on my swing form and forgot to count a few times. Back felt a little bit stiff in cobra stretch and my knee gave me a bit of jip doing the calf and achilles stretches. Shoulder feels really good.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
Sets of 3 reps @ 16kgs twice as many floor presses on right hand side
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Got a bit of a head cold today so I thought I'd play it by ear and just stop if I felt a bit tired or whatever. As often happens though I banged out a good steady session when least expected. Both shoulders feel really good, in fact with exception of a little bit of discomfort in my knees every now and then I feel tip top.
35 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Half Get Ups - 10 mins
Sets of 3 reps @ 16kgs twice as many floor presses on right hand side
Stretch Routine
Held for 30 secs
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Got a bit of a head cold today so I thought I'd play it by ear and just stop if I felt a bit tired or whatever. As often happens though I banged out a good steady session when least expected. Both shoulders feel really good, in fact with exception of a little bit of discomfort in my knees every now and then I feel tip top.
Monday 2 February 2009
Same but different
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
Ankle Circles
Hip Circles
Mike Boyle's Thoracic exercise
Shoulder Circles
Egyptians
Neck - Up/Down & Side/Side
Wrists - Up/Down & Circles
35 reps each
Extras
Pumps
Deep Squat Variations 1" heel lift
1x10
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
10 KB Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total: 100 reps
Stretches
Hamstrings
Shoulder Dislocates
Calf
Achilles
Quads
Cobra stretch
Glutes
Hips
Groin
Decompression Hangs
Held for at least 30 secs trying to extend stretch when able
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1* Wooohooo!!
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Time to mix it up a bit if only to keep me sane. So I've got slightly different mobility drills and warm up exercises.
I trained first thing this morning so I went through it all in one go. I've put pumps and Squats as extras because I did them twice this morning and I didn't need to in my opinion. In future they'll only be done once if I train in the morning.
Changed to top of the minute swings which is similar in reps but more efficient. Half the reps and rest but all quality, powerful reps. Also decided it was time I started timing my stretches and taking them a little more seriously. I was pretty close to being able to rest my head on my knees on the hamstring stretch - which is probably the result of losing a bit of my belly.
Ate quite a lot over the weekend - but most of it was centred around meat and I found that I'd actually lost more weight at this mornings weigh in. A quick play around in fitday on Friday revealed that I really need to be getting more protein. I have lost a bit too much muscle since I started. I was also a little low on the calories so justing plugging in a few bits of chicken should work out well.
Incidently this will give me around a 50% Fat, 25% Carbs and 25% protein split. I am doing my family's head in losing all this weight while gorging on fat. Haha
Ankle Circles
Hip Circles
Mike Boyle's Thoracic exercise
Shoulder Circles
Egyptians
Neck - Up/Down & Side/Side
Wrists - Up/Down & Circles
35 reps each
Extras
Pumps
Deep Squat Variations 1" heel lift
1x10
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
Cradle Walk
X Band Walk
OH Squats with 1" heel lift
Pumps
Arm Bars @ 16kgs
1 x 10
Swings - 10 mins
10 KB Sw @ 24kgs - top of the minute
Total: 100 reps
Stretches
Hamstrings
Shoulder Dislocates
Calf
Achilles
Quads
Cobra stretch
Glutes
Hips
Groin
Decompression Hangs
Held for at least 30 secs trying to extend stretch when able
'O' Rating
Right shoulder - 1* Wooohooo!!
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 1
Comments - Time to mix it up a bit if only to keep me sane. So I've got slightly different mobility drills and warm up exercises.
I trained first thing this morning so I went through it all in one go. I've put pumps and Squats as extras because I did them twice this morning and I didn't need to in my opinion. In future they'll only be done once if I train in the morning.
Changed to top of the minute swings which is similar in reps but more efficient. Half the reps and rest but all quality, powerful reps. Also decided it was time I started timing my stretches and taking them a little more seriously. I was pretty close to being able to rest my head on my knees on the hamstring stretch - which is probably the result of losing a bit of my belly.
Ate quite a lot over the weekend - but most of it was centred around meat and I found that I'd actually lost more weight at this mornings weigh in. A quick play around in fitday on Friday revealed that I really need to be getting more protein. I have lost a bit too much muscle since I started. I was also a little low on the calories so justing plugging in a few bits of chicken should work out well.
Incidently this will give me around a 50% Fat, 25% Carbs and 25% protein split. I am doing my family's head in losing all this weight while gorging on fat. Haha
Friday 30 January 2009
I'm Unbalanced
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 6 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 24Kgs - 2 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 16Kgs - 5 mins
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back -1
Shoulder - 2
Comments - Funny old session tonight. I tried to throw in some HGUs with the 24kgs in the hope of moving up to it. It was pretty easy on my left side but I was really weak on the right. It wasn't so much pain but tightness. I really struggled to floor press it up at the start, and then it was a bit too hard to control for the rest of the exercise. So I stopped after 2 reps.
When I came to doing the 16kgs, on the fly I did 3 floor presses to start HGUs on the right.
I had been alternating after 1 rep previously but in future sessions I think I'll do mulitple reps each side and only do the extra floor presses on my right. Hopefully the extra volume will help out......if it is only weak and not injured that is. Failing this I may have to get it looked at, it has been a long time since I started my own brand of rehab on it.
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 6 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 24Kgs - 2 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 16Kgs - 5 mins
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back -1
Shoulder - 2
Comments - Funny old session tonight. I tried to throw in some HGUs with the 24kgs in the hope of moving up to it. It was pretty easy on my left side but I was really weak on the right. It wasn't so much pain but tightness. I really struggled to floor press it up at the start, and then it was a bit too hard to control for the rest of the exercise. So I stopped after 2 reps.
When I came to doing the 16kgs, on the fly I did 3 floor presses to start HGUs on the right.
I had been alternating after 1 rep previously but in future sessions I think I'll do mulitple reps each side and only do the extra floor presses on my right. Hopefully the extra volume will help out......if it is only weak and not injured that is. Failing this I may have to get it looked at, it has been a long time since I started my own brand of rehab on it.
Thursday 29 January 2009
Lightening Up
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
30 reps each
Squat exercise GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1" heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
20 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping & Walking - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 1
Lower Back - 1
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - No pain from my right shoulder, but it does feel weak and that I'm nursing it a bit. That's why I gave it a 2 and not a 1 - knee and back pain conspicuous by their absence.
I've been testing my FMS Overhead Squat - but that extra inch (below my heels!!) makes all the difference. I'm still leaning way too far forwards anyway, but my knees feel great and I can stay in bottom position comfortably longer.
Sets of 20 swings felt downright easy tonight. I didn't step out of line on the food front in the last 2 days since my "crash" and I've gotten plenty of rest sleeping like a baby. Prehaps it was just a one off - who can say? Never-the-less I'm going to proceed conservatively and up the volume by 1 rep each time. Weight still dropping and I am below the 200lbs mark now, no need to change a winning formula.
30 reps each
Squat exercise GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1" heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
20 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping & Walking - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 1
Lower Back - 1
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - No pain from my right shoulder, but it does feel weak and that I'm nursing it a bit. That's why I gave it a 2 and not a 1 - knee and back pain conspicuous by their absence.
I've been testing my FMS Overhead Squat - but that extra inch (below my heels!!) makes all the difference. I'm still leaning way too far forwards anyway, but my knees feel great and I can stay in bottom position comfortably longer.
Sets of 20 swings felt downright easy tonight. I didn't step out of line on the food front in the last 2 days since my "crash" and I've gotten plenty of rest sleeping like a baby. Prehaps it was just a one off - who can say? Never-the-less I'm going to proceed conservatively and up the volume by 1 rep each time. Weight still dropping and I am below the 200lbs mark now, no need to change a winning formula.
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Stepped over the Threshold
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 16Kgs - 8 mins
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back - 2
Shoulder - 3
Comments - I've been waiting for this day. I woke up this morning at 5am. Tired but wide awake...sort of like jetlag. I was absolutely starving. After mobility I went out for a walk like I've done every morning of late and I was dragging my feet. My concentration was nowhere to be found, but anytime I did happen across it, it was firmly fixed on food. Yesterday I overtrained.
I'm sure this is basically what has happened to me in the past. I cut my food intake or clean it up, amounts to the same thing. Then I progressively ramp up the training. The two collide somewhere and then I start eating like a maniac while continuing to increase my training load. The result is that I'm the semi-fit fat guy - and not at all athletic.
This time is different. The eating stays the same, I am doing very well on it and am down to 200lbs more or less now. This time the ego gets pushed to the side and I'll be dropping the swing sets back down to 20....maybe less if I feel thats what I need to do. From there I'll add 1 rep on each session and monitor how I'm feeling.
I'm all about losing fat in this phase. There'll be one after this where I can eat a hell of a lot more while I train to build muscle. Well drink, but thats for another day down the line.
Tonights session was pretty good once I got going....I really couldn't be arsed before hand. Doing the OHS I was getting good depth and keeping the arms back, so I knocked it down another quarter inch - seemed fine so I'll stick with that for a while.
I was reading on DD about the potency of just Prog Minimum and guys saying that the half get up is as good as full one so I did just halves tonight. Started the clock and keep going until it got a bit uncomfortable on my right shoulder. I was grimacing a bit doing the dislocates so I gave it a rating of 3.
My goal now is to stay away from biscuits and take it real easy tomorrow.
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
Half Get Ups @ 16Kgs - 8 mins
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back - 2
Shoulder - 3
Comments - I've been waiting for this day. I woke up this morning at 5am. Tired but wide awake...sort of like jetlag. I was absolutely starving. After mobility I went out for a walk like I've done every morning of late and I was dragging my feet. My concentration was nowhere to be found, but anytime I did happen across it, it was firmly fixed on food. Yesterday I overtrained.
I'm sure this is basically what has happened to me in the past. I cut my food intake or clean it up, amounts to the same thing. Then I progressively ramp up the training. The two collide somewhere and then I start eating like a maniac while continuing to increase my training load. The result is that I'm the semi-fit fat guy - and not at all athletic.
This time is different. The eating stays the same, I am doing very well on it and am down to 200lbs more or less now. This time the ego gets pushed to the side and I'll be dropping the swing sets back down to 20....maybe less if I feel thats what I need to do. From there I'll add 1 rep on each session and monitor how I'm feeling.
I'm all about losing fat in this phase. There'll be one after this where I can eat a hell of a lot more while I train to build muscle. Well drink, but thats for another day down the line.
Tonights session was pretty good once I got going....I really couldn't be arsed before hand. Doing the OHS I was getting good depth and keeping the arms back, so I knocked it down another quarter inch - seemed fine so I'll stick with that for a while.
I was reading on DD about the potency of just Prog Minimum and guys saying that the half get up is as good as full one so I did just halves tonight. Started the clock and keep going until it got a bit uncomfortable on my right shoulder. I was grimacing a bit doing the dislocates so I gave it a rating of 3.
My goal now is to stay away from biscuits and take it real easy tomorrow.
Monday 26 January 2009
Brutalbells
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
30 reps each
Squat exercise GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1.25 heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
25 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping & Walking - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - Hardest session I've done in months. All sets completed without setting the bell down. Lungs, glutes and grip competed to score highest on the pain-ometer....for the record I think grip won. A very good session this, and the 3 main hotspots were more or less pain free.
30 reps each
Squat exercise GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1.25 heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
25 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping & Walking - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Dislocates
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 2
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - Hardest session I've done in months. All sets completed without setting the bell down. Lungs, glutes and grip competed to score highest on the pain-ometer....for the record I think grip won. A very good session this, and the 3 main hotspots were more or less pain free.
Friday 23 January 2009
TGUs
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations - felt easier on the shoulders
Trunk Rotations - getting quite easy
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1.25" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
TGU / Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 6 mins+
Shoulder Stretch
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back - 3
Shoulder - 2
Comments - Some of the warm up stuff is getting quite easy now. I'll have a look for progressions but I'm in no hurry to change it just for the sake of changing as I feel it does me a lot of good.
OHS were better today when I took my arms out more to about a 45 degree angle on each arm. I was able to keep my arms back a lot further in the bottom position. Still hard but I'm making progress.
Shoulders felt grand today. The limiting factor with TGUs was tiredness in the legs!! I do them indoors in quite a confined space at the top of the stairs due to weather. So they are bordering on dangerous - I think I am just going to have to stick with the half get ups for the heavier weights when it comes time. They'll do the same job and when you think about it I'll be doing more presses to a lock out from the floor.
30 reps each
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Raise + 7" Platform GTG
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations - felt easier on the shoulders
Trunk Rotations - getting quite easy
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
OHS 1.25" Heel Raise
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
TGU / Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 6 mins+
Shoulder Stretch
'O' Rating:
Knee - 1
Lower Back - 3
Shoulder - 2
Comments - Some of the warm up stuff is getting quite easy now. I'll have a look for progressions but I'm in no hurry to change it just for the sake of changing as I feel it does me a lot of good.
OHS were better today when I took my arms out more to about a 45 degree angle on each arm. I was able to keep my arms back a lot further in the bottom position. Still hard but I'm making progress.
Shoulders felt grand today. The limiting factor with TGUs was tiredness in the legs!! I do them indoors in quite a confined space at the top of the stairs due to weather. So they are bordering on dangerous - I think I am just going to have to stick with the half get ups for the heavier weights when it comes time. They'll do the same job and when you think about it I'll be doing more presses to a lock out from the floor.
Thursday 22 January 2009
Carb De-loading
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1.25 heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
20 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 3
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - Tried a few OHS in warm up tonight as I have been GTG with the correction exercise for a week or so now. I can get down easily enough and have been forcing myself to sit back more when I'm down there, but my torso still leans forward a lot. I figured the OHS would show me just how much and then I could focus on pulling it back towards me a bit.
I hit the limit where the swings are starting to bite a bit and it's not so easy anymore. Of course another explanation is that I've started to reduce the excessive carbs in my diet again and in the past my endurance has always suffered because of this. I'll give it a little while and see how it goes. I have developed a base on the No S that I can easily go back to and know I can stick with for months at least.
With that as my safety net I'm eating breakfast a bit later to extend the Intermittant Fasting and have also cut carbs from breakfast and lunch. If I can't handle it or don't continue to lose weight I'll add them back into lunch first. This is Mon-Fri, I still get a few pleasures at the weekend!!
Pretty much pain free today which is never a bad thing.
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - OHS with 1.25 heel lift
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
20 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 2
Knees - 3
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - Tried a few OHS in warm up tonight as I have been GTG with the correction exercise for a week or so now. I can get down easily enough and have been forcing myself to sit back more when I'm down there, but my torso still leans forward a lot. I figured the OHS would show me just how much and then I could focus on pulling it back towards me a bit.
I hit the limit where the swings are starting to bite a bit and it's not so easy anymore. Of course another explanation is that I've started to reduce the excessive carbs in my diet again and in the past my endurance has always suffered because of this. I'll give it a little while and see how it goes. I have developed a base on the No S that I can easily go back to and know I can stick with for months at least.
With that as my safety net I'm eating breakfast a bit later to extend the Intermittant Fasting and have also cut carbs from breakfast and lunch. If I can't handle it or don't continue to lose weight I'll add them back into lunch first. This is Mon-Fri, I still get a few pleasures at the weekend!!
Pretty much pain free today which is never a bad thing.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
TGUs
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
TGU / Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Shoulder Stretch
'O' Rating:
Knee - 3
Lower Back - 2
Shoulder - 3
Comments - Less pain generally that yesterday. Started off with full get ups and then switched to half get ups for the last minute or so. Right shoulder started to niggle a bit but nothing too bad.
Martin - my knees do get sore from time to time skipping and it is more than likely the introduction of it which caused the bother yesterday. The skipping will take a back seat more and more as I increase the swings. Although I'm a pretty efficient skipper it is probably a little bit too much for me as active recovery - especially after 30+ swings.
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
TGU / Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Shoulder Stretch
'O' Rating:
Knee - 3
Lower Back - 2
Shoulder - 3
Comments - Less pain generally that yesterday. Started off with full get ups and then switched to half get ups for the last minute or so. Right shoulder started to niggle a bit but nothing too bad.
Martin - my knees do get sore from time to time skipping and it is more than likely the introduction of it which caused the bother yesterday. The skipping will take a back seat more and more as I increase the swings. Although I'm a pretty efficient skipper it is probably a little bit too much for me as active recovery - especially after 30+ swings.
Monday 19 January 2009
ManMakers
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Lift + 7" Platform GTG
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
15 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 3
Knees - 4
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - GTG squat corrections was success and I lowered the heel lift today and feeling pretty comfortable in the position. Saying that, I went out for a 6 mile walk this morning and my right knee started playing up - first trouble I've had with them in ages.
Upped the swings again today again and it is still pretty easy. Reckon I'll go for 20 reps on Thursday.
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.25" Heel Lift + 7" Platform GTG
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
15 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
'O' Rating*
Right shoulder - 3
Knees - 4
Lower Back - 2
*Orthepedic Rating - 1 being pain free, 10 being seriously injured.
Comments - GTG squat corrections was success and I lowered the heel lift today and feeling pretty comfortable in the position. Saying that, I went out for a 6 mile walk this morning and my right knee started playing up - first trouble I've had with them in ages.
Upped the swings again today again and it is still pretty easy. Reckon I'll go for 20 reps on Thursday.
Sunday 18 January 2009
Periodization
I have been thinking about my body composition for the last few days and what it will be when I hit my 185lbs goal that I have set myself. In all honesty I know that really it is only the start of the process to getting weight and body fat to the correct balance for me.
I guess what I am trying to do in setting myself this goal is hack away, rather roughly, the majority of the excess fat I'm carrying before I really start to get dailed in refining the amount of muscle I carry at that weight.
For example according to the bathroom scales I have only about 142lbs of lean body mass whereas at my longer term goal of 185lbs @10% BF I need to have 166.5lbs of LBM. There is obviously going to need to be some changes in strategy for training and eating along the way.
With that in mind I started reading up on Escalating Density Training (EDT) by Charles Staley. It was Charles' books and coaching that got me out of commercial gyms and into this stuff in the first place. When I read his articles and books I find myself struck with moments of clarity and free from the myre of training advice and opinion there is out there. He gives me the higher level view I have always found I need when learning any subject. Keeping me from not seeing the woods for the trees.
Anyway after scanning some of his books I have and going through one of his sites I found a link to an article he wrote on T-nation. It is a fantastic piece on periodization and the bigger picture. I think that by hook or by crook his hypothetical example echoes what I have been doing thus far. I worked on pain relief and corrections to imbalances, flexibility, mobility and stability issues. I've been maintaining gains by keeping certain exercises in my warm up and I am slowly transgressing into an Anatomical Adaptation phase with the introduction of Program Minimum.
I think that I can expect to at least maintain muscle mass with the Program Minimum while I head towards my goal of 185lbs and swings and TGUs with the 32kgs. After this I was planning to work on my maximum strength and hit those DL and Pressing goals, but it seems the advice is that I should go for a Hypertrophy Phase. And EDT is a good program for me as far as hypertrophy goes.
It makes sense - look for a gain of 10lbs,7lbs of muscle / 3lbs fat, and then look to maintain 5lbs muscle while I lose weight again and go after those strength goals with the extra 5lbs of muscle working for me.
Here is a link to Staley's Blog and also another interesting site I found through American Parkour:
http://www.mastersperformance.com/
http://www.theiflife.com/
Yesterday I did my mobility stuff and also set up for the squat corrections. I GTG'd squats exercise throughout the day and plan on doing the same today. I have a long way to go yet before I am changing to EDT but I am very focused on the task in front of me.
I guess what I am trying to do in setting myself this goal is hack away, rather roughly, the majority of the excess fat I'm carrying before I really start to get dailed in refining the amount of muscle I carry at that weight.
For example according to the bathroom scales I have only about 142lbs of lean body mass whereas at my longer term goal of 185lbs @10% BF I need to have 166.5lbs of LBM. There is obviously going to need to be some changes in strategy for training and eating along the way.
With that in mind I started reading up on Escalating Density Training (EDT) by Charles Staley. It was Charles' books and coaching that got me out of commercial gyms and into this stuff in the first place. When I read his articles and books I find myself struck with moments of clarity and free from the myre of training advice and opinion there is out there. He gives me the higher level view I have always found I need when learning any subject. Keeping me from not seeing the woods for the trees.
Anyway after scanning some of his books I have and going through one of his sites I found a link to an article he wrote on T-nation. It is a fantastic piece on periodization and the bigger picture. I think that by hook or by crook his hypothetical example echoes what I have been doing thus far. I worked on pain relief and corrections to imbalances, flexibility, mobility and stability issues. I've been maintaining gains by keeping certain exercises in my warm up and I am slowly transgressing into an Anatomical Adaptation phase with the introduction of Program Minimum.
I think that I can expect to at least maintain muscle mass with the Program Minimum while I head towards my goal of 185lbs and swings and TGUs with the 32kgs. After this I was planning to work on my maximum strength and hit those DL and Pressing goals, but it seems the advice is that I should go for a Hypertrophy Phase. And EDT is a good program for me as far as hypertrophy goes.
It makes sense - look for a gain of 10lbs,7lbs of muscle / 3lbs fat, and then look to maintain 5lbs muscle while I lose weight again and go after those strength goals with the extra 5lbs of muscle working for me.
Here is a link to Staley's Blog and also another interesting site I found through American Parkour:
http://www.mastersperformance.com/
http://www.theiflife.com/
Yesterday I did my mobility stuff and also set up for the squat corrections. I GTG'd squats exercise throughout the day and plan on doing the same today. I have a long way to go yet before I am changing to EDT but I am very focused on the task in front of me.
Friday 16 January 2009
1st week of program minimum
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 6 e/a
Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Hamstring Stretch
Comments - Training over for the week and I'm happy with what I've done. Corrections are coming along well even though I still have a bit of muscular pain in the right shoulder. It does seem to be getting a bit better but I'm still treating it with caution.
I was looking back to see how many swings I was doing and with what weight when I did the then PR of 140 kgs x 4. My swinging this week really pales into comparison but I'm not bothered. I've intentionally started out really easy so that I don't overtrain and start messing up my eating habits. I am down again in weight to 14st 7lbs or 203lbs which is 20lbs from my heaviest. I am convinced that when I get my weight down to the target 185lbs I will be within real touching distance of a double body weight DL anyway.
Will be continuing to do mobility and squat corrections over the weekend.
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 6 e/a
Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Hamstring Stretch
Comments - Training over for the week and I'm happy with what I've done. Corrections are coming along well even though I still have a bit of muscular pain in the right shoulder. It does seem to be getting a bit better but I'm still treating it with caution.
I was looking back to see how many swings I was doing and with what weight when I did the then PR of 140 kgs x 4. My swinging this week really pales into comparison but I'm not bothered. I've intentionally started out really easy so that I don't overtrain and start messing up my eating habits. I am down again in weight to 14st 7lbs or 203lbs which is 20lbs from my heaviest. I am convinced that when I get my weight down to the target 185lbs I will be within real touching distance of a double body weight DL anyway.
Will be continuing to do mobility and squat corrections over the weekend.
Thursday 15 January 2009
ManMakers
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
12 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Good session. Squat felt a bit easier and was able to reach up behind me a little - progress! ManMakers were easy enough, I plan on adding 2 each session and hopefully work up to around 40 for a minute swings/minute skipping. Hopefully I'd feel comfortable pressing at that stage....but who knows, maybe I could hit my goals just from Program Minimum. Work up to using the 32kgs for both ManMakers and TGUs.
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
12 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Good session. Squat felt a bit easier and was able to reach up behind me a little - progress! ManMakers were easy enough, I plan on adding 2 each session and hopefully work up to around 40 for a minute swings/minute skipping. Hopefully I'd feel comfortable pressing at that stage....but who knows, maybe I could hit my goals just from Program Minimum. Work up to using the 32kgs for both ManMakers and TGUs.
Tuesday 13 January 2009
Shoulders Day
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Shoulder Stretch - 5 mins
Comments - Good session. Balancing a little better on the squats and to my surprise my knees actually feel very good doing them. Still leaning pretty far forward though.
Right arm was a little dodgey towards the end of the HGUs - so I stopped with about 20 secs left for 8 on each side. If it felt as good as the left I'd be considering moving up to the 24kgs.
Need to look for another Shoulder stretch exercise, my entire arms are flat on the floor from the first second and it feels very comfortable. It makes me wonder what Dave Draper must look like doing overhead squats as apparently his hands are a foot off the floor doing this!
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
Shoulders
KB ArmBars @ 16kgs - 5 e/a
Half Get Up @ 16Kgs - 5mins
Shoulder Stretch - 5 mins
Comments - Good session. Balancing a little better on the squats and to my surprise my knees actually feel very good doing them. Still leaning pretty far forward though.
Right arm was a little dodgey towards the end of the HGUs - so I stopped with about 20 secs left for 8 on each side. If it felt as good as the left I'd be considering moving up to the 24kgs.
Need to look for another Shoulder stretch exercise, my entire arms are flat on the floor from the first second and it feels very comfortable. It makes me wonder what Dave Draper must look like doing overhead squats as apparently his hands are a foot off the floor doing this!
Monday 12 January 2009
Program Minimum
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
10 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Found a few peices of wood laying around that will enable me to drop my heel lift by 1/4" each time. As it is the drop of 1/2" this time was causing me a few problems. It made my knees feel a lot better (which is a massive plus) but I was having a lot of trouble stopping myself falling backwards. I wasn't able to reach my arms back at the bottom, any kind of shift and I was sent backwards. I'll work through it slowly though until I get it and stretch out those lats separately in the meantime.
ManMakers were pretty easy and I was happy with my form. Just a note to say that I can no longer feel the impingement on my lower back in hyper-extension - but it is throbbing a little after those swings. I'll be re-visiting the ETK dvd to keep on top of my form.
Shoulders tomorrow, but I did do a little bit of messing around yesterday with Arm Bars and Half Get Ups. My right is still a bit below par, but was plenty able to get me through and finished feeling better.
Right now the plan is to stay the course with the corrections and take my time bumping up the intensity of the ManMakers to give my shoulders plenty of time to get up to scratch.
25 reps each
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band Walk
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
Toe Touch Exercises
Squat Exercise - 1.5" Heel Lift + 7" Platform
1 x10
ManMakers - 12 mins
10 KB Sw @ 24kgs/Skipping - 6 x 2 mins
Decompression Hangs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Found a few peices of wood laying around that will enable me to drop my heel lift by 1/4" each time. As it is the drop of 1/2" this time was causing me a few problems. It made my knees feel a lot better (which is a massive plus) but I was having a lot of trouble stopping myself falling backwards. I wasn't able to reach my arms back at the bottom, any kind of shift and I was sent backwards. I'll work through it slowly though until I get it and stretch out those lats separately in the meantime.
ManMakers were pretty easy and I was happy with my form. Just a note to say that I can no longer feel the impingement on my lower back in hyper-extension - but it is throbbing a little after those swings. I'll be re-visiting the ETK dvd to keep on top of my form.
Shoulders tomorrow, but I did do a little bit of messing around yesterday with Arm Bars and Half Get Ups. My right is still a bit below par, but was plenty able to get me through and finished feeling better.
Right now the plan is to stay the course with the corrections and take my time bumping up the intensity of the ManMakers to give my shoulders plenty of time to get up to scratch.
Saturday 10 January 2009
Squat Test Video
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
FMS Squat Test Video
Assisted Squat Test
Toe Touches 1 x 10
Assited Squat - 2" heel raise and 7.5" platform to stablise - 1 x 6
Man Makers - 10 mins
10 swings @ 24kgs/skipping - 5 x 2mins
Decompression Hangs / Hamstring stretches
Comments - My apologies for the video production quality. It is just using my mobile phone and my dad who is completely technologically handicapped. But it will serve well as a starting point as I look to clean it up over the next few months.
The first one doesn't look too bad...on the way down! But I am leaning quite heavily on the door frame and it really becomes apparent when I go to stand up and stumble backwards. I also pitch forward a bit and I just feel tight from my ankles right up through my lats and shoulders.
The assisted one I had thought of as a clear cut pass for me but now I'm able to look at it I think it is borderline. I'm only just taking my hips below parallel and my knees look like they are too far forward. That's a 2" block beneath my heels and I'm beginning to feel it is too high for me now. This might have something to do with the knees projecting forward too much. Also I'm not sure what is happening when I stand back up - some kind of major compenstation?
Anyway it is clear I have a lot of corrective work to do if I am to make this a 3 instead of a dodgey 2. I started the main squat correction today which is bending forward to a platform and pressing hard into it as you squat down. Once you are at the bottom you reach one arm up and back to stretch out the lats. Same on the other side and come back up. The idea is too lower the heel lift and the height of the platform until you do both off the floor. It very very hard on me and I didn't want to do too many to start incase I damaged one or both of my knees.
The ManMakers were pretty easy which is exacly as I intended. I'll be building them up very slowly towards 1 min swings / 1 min skipping for 14 mins and keeping a close eye on my food intake, weight and energy levels. I am down to 14st 8.5lbs or from 223lbs to 204.5lbs - and looking at the video it's not surprising I still have another 20lbs to go!
25 reps each
Warm Up/Corrective Exercises
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
FMS Squat Test Video
Assisted Squat Test
Toe Touches 1 x 10
Assited Squat - 2" heel raise and 7.5" platform to stablise - 1 x 6
Man Makers - 10 mins
10 swings @ 24kgs/skipping - 5 x 2mins
Decompression Hangs / Hamstring stretches
Comments - My apologies for the video production quality. It is just using my mobile phone and my dad who is completely technologically handicapped. But it will serve well as a starting point as I look to clean it up over the next few months.
The first one doesn't look too bad...on the way down! But I am leaning quite heavily on the door frame and it really becomes apparent when I go to stand up and stumble backwards. I also pitch forward a bit and I just feel tight from my ankles right up through my lats and shoulders.
The assisted one I had thought of as a clear cut pass for me but now I'm able to look at it I think it is borderline. I'm only just taking my hips below parallel and my knees look like they are too far forward. That's a 2" block beneath my heels and I'm beginning to feel it is too high for me now. This might have something to do with the knees projecting forward too much. Also I'm not sure what is happening when I stand back up - some kind of major compenstation?
Anyway it is clear I have a lot of corrective work to do if I am to make this a 3 instead of a dodgey 2. I started the main squat correction today which is bending forward to a platform and pressing hard into it as you squat down. Once you are at the bottom you reach one arm up and back to stretch out the lats. Same on the other side and come back up. The idea is too lower the heel lift and the height of the platform until you do both off the floor. It very very hard on me and I didn't want to do too many to start incase I damaged one or both of my knees.
The ManMakers were pretty easy which is exacly as I intended. I'll be building them up very slowly towards 1 min swings / 1 min skipping for 14 mins and keeping a close eye on my food intake, weight and energy levels. I am down to 14st 8.5lbs or from 223lbs to 204.5lbs - and looking at the video it's not surprising I still have another 20lbs to go!
Friday 9 January 2009
Arm Barred!!
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
KB Arm Bars - 5 @16kgs e/s
Half Get Ups - 5 @16kgs e/s
Sports SLDL - 2 x 5 @16kgs
Towel Swings - 5 x 10 @ 24kgs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Stretch - 5 mins
Comments - Thought I'd try some shoulder stuff today after they held up well rolling against my two nephews. They had been to a ju-jitsu class last night and were trying out arm bars on me - so I figured I'd be OK for some KB ones. Right shoulder felt a little uncomfortable still so I will be taking it pretty easy with these exercises for a while.
Not my best effort on the Sports DL - too shaky on both sides and not really getting down far enough. Must try harder.
Towel swings were grand, took it very easy with plenty of rest between each set. Form was really good and the grip got a good going over.
Plan going forward now is to split up the shoulder work and swings like Program Minimum, using the corrections I've done as a warm up. In addition I'll be concentrating on a FMS test and the corrections for that. Starting with my arch nemesis the deep squat. It is my wish to get a picture of me doing one on here within a few months.
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
Shoulder Rotations
Trunk Rotations
1 x 10
KB Arm Bars - 5 @16kgs e/s
Half Get Ups - 5 @16kgs e/s
Sports SLDL - 2 x 5 @16kgs
Towel Swings - 5 x 10 @ 24kgs
Hamstring stretches
Shoulder Stretch - 5 mins
Comments - Thought I'd try some shoulder stuff today after they held up well rolling against my two nephews. They had been to a ju-jitsu class last night and were trying out arm bars on me - so I figured I'd be OK for some KB ones. Right shoulder felt a little uncomfortable still so I will be taking it pretty easy with these exercises for a while.
Not my best effort on the Sports DL - too shaky on both sides and not really getting down far enough. Must try harder.
Towel swings were grand, took it very easy with plenty of rest between each set. Form was really good and the grip got a good going over.
Plan going forward now is to split up the shoulder work and swings like Program Minimum, using the corrections I've done as a warm up. In addition I'll be concentrating on a FMS test and the corrections for that. Starting with my arch nemesis the deep squat. It is my wish to get a picture of me doing one on here within a few months.
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Swings and Round-Abouts
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL Patterning - 2 x 5
Sports SLDL - 2 x 5 @16kgs - very shaky on my left leg, wasn't getting down as far either
Swings - 4 x 10 @ 24kgs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Giving the shoulders a break tonight, right one is giving me a bit of a problem.
Decided to move on a little with the core stuff. Sports SLDL or Contra Loading DL is using the opposite arm and leg. I'm left handed and left footed so I guess my right is used to being the supporting leg and the wobbly left isn't.
Did a few sets of swings to see how all this patterning etc is translating. Really not enough to tell but I felt it mainly in the glutes and don't think I was using the lower back. Was really focusing on keeping a bit of a curve in my back as I sat back to load up for each swing. But it won't be until I'm doing really high reps and fighting everything else that I'll know for sure.
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL Patterning - 2 x 5
Sports SLDL - 2 x 5 @16kgs - very shaky on my left leg, wasn't getting down as far either
Swings - 4 x 10 @ 24kgs
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Giving the shoulders a break tonight, right one is giving me a bit of a problem.
Decided to move on a little with the core stuff. Sports SLDL or Contra Loading DL is using the opposite arm and leg. I'm left handed and left footed so I guess my right is used to being the supporting leg and the wobbly left isn't.
Did a few sets of swings to see how all this patterning etc is translating. Really not enough to tell but I felt it mainly in the glutes and don't think I was using the lower back. Was really focusing on keeping a bit of a curve in my back as I sat back to load up for each swing. But it won't be until I'm doing really high reps and fighting everything else that I'll know for sure.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Easy Street
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Shoulder Rotation
Trunk Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL - 3 x 5
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Seem to have tweeked my shoulder doing the reach, roll and lift exercise. So a fairly limited rom with the shoulder rotations I did, well inside the point of any major discomfort.
In fact I took it easy in general and only did some SLDLs tonight. Very happy with my progress on the DL and I am just waiting until I can't stand it anymore before I hit the barbell.
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Shoulder Rotation
Trunk Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL - 3 x 5
Hamstring stretches
Comments - Seem to have tweeked my shoulder doing the reach, roll and lift exercise. So a fairly limited rom with the shoulder rotations I did, well inside the point of any major discomfort.
In fact I took it easy in general and only did some SLDLs tonight. Very happy with my progress on the DL and I am just waiting until I can't stand it anymore before I hit the barbell.
Monday 5 January 2009
Aggro
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Shoulder Rotation 1 x 8
Trunk Rotation
Reach, Roll and Lift
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 32kgs - 2 x 5
Toe Touches 1 x 5
Comments - Right shoulder is regressing a little from the reach, roll and lift. It feels like it is cramping when I do the lift portion. When I did the shoulder rotations today I had less rom and it was a little uncomfortable to do a press up. I'll drop it and stick with shoulder rotations if it doesn't improve tomorrow.
Everything else was grand. Just wanted to check I still had the toe touch...which I do.
25 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Shoulder Rotation 1 x 8
Trunk Rotation
Reach, Roll and Lift
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
1 x 10
SLDL - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 32kgs - 2 x 5
Toe Touches 1 x 5
Comments - Right shoulder is regressing a little from the reach, roll and lift. It feels like it is cramping when I do the lift portion. When I did the shoulder rotations today I had less rom and it was a little uncomfortable to do a press up. I'll drop it and stick with shoulder rotations if it doesn't improve tomorrow.
Everything else was grand. Just wanted to check I still had the toe touch...which I do.
Sunday 4 January 2009
Shoulder Progression
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
20 reps each - time to add more
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
Trunk Rotation
Reach, Roll and Lift
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
SLDL - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 24kgs - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 32kgs - 2 x 5
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch 5 mins - still a little tighter on my left side
Comments - Moving up to the next set of correction exercises for the shoulder - Trunk Rotation and Reach, Roll and Lift. I feel no pain in my shoulders doing press ups or any other load bearing movements come to think of it, and my flexibility is pretty much the same on both sides now. I was also within half an inch on my weaker side of passing the Trunk Rotation Test from FMS.
As usual the replacements are a bitch! I didn't think the trunk rotation would be too bad, but I was wrong. And the RR&L takes the shoulder work to a whole other level - especially my dodgier right side where like the Cook Hip Lift before it I have trouble getting much height off the ground.
Speaking of which I going to drop the glute activation stuff to only 1 set of 10 - these exercises have gotten pretty easy for me now, but I'd still like to include them at least for a little while longer.
DLing went very well today. I was very mindful of each and every rep, probably because I was treating them all like singles and striving for perfection with each one. Back feels really good and I don't feel as tight in my hamstrings day to day now the glutes are doing their share. Really looking forward to starting barbell DLs and KB MPs.
20 reps each - time to add more
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
Trunk Rotation
Reach, Roll and Lift
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
SLDL - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 24kgs - 1 x 5
Suitcase DL 32kgs - 2 x 5
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch 5 mins - still a little tighter on my left side
Comments - Moving up to the next set of correction exercises for the shoulder - Trunk Rotation and Reach, Roll and Lift. I feel no pain in my shoulders doing press ups or any other load bearing movements come to think of it, and my flexibility is pretty much the same on both sides now. I was also within half an inch on my weaker side of passing the Trunk Rotation Test from FMS.
As usual the replacements are a bitch! I didn't think the trunk rotation would be too bad, but I was wrong. And the RR&L takes the shoulder work to a whole other level - especially my dodgier right side where like the Cook Hip Lift before it I have trouble getting much height off the ground.
Speaking of which I going to drop the glute activation stuff to only 1 set of 10 - these exercises have gotten pretty easy for me now, but I'd still like to include them at least for a little while longer.
DLing went very well today. I was very mindful of each and every rep, probably because I was treating them all like singles and striving for perfection with each one. Back feels really good and I don't feel as tight in my hamstrings day to day now the glutes are doing their share. Really looking forward to starting barbell DLs and KB MPs.
Saturday 3 January 2009
The Plan: Evolution
Did some mobility and corrective work, but not as structured as it has been. I suppose this could count as a day off. I have also walked over 5 miles.
Over the past week I have been giving a lot of thought to how I am going to go about hitting the DL and MP goals I’ve set myself this year. I want something that will follow on from the Secrets Of The dvd series and at least make use of some of the exercises on the last levels of each:
Single leg Deadlift - contra-lateral load
I think it will be too much for me all at once. I’ll probably get wrapped up in doing more and more swings. From past experience I reckon I will increase my food intake, especially with sugary stuff, and will pile on the weight with overwhelm.
I want to take it slower, and I can narrow in on the strength aspect better by just doing DLs and MPs. I can focus on cardio later in the year to break things up if I plateau. There are a lot of other benefits I can think of like including TGU/SLDL/PUs as part of corrective exercises and also better control of eating and energy levels as my protocol is self regulating on this score. By that I mean I shouldn’t ever be really tired and feel I need to eat more to counter this.
What I am talking about here is daily singles of roughly 65-70% 1 RM for DLs and KB MPs. Like my previous experiment I’d do a couple of lighter singles to determine working weight for that day and then wrap it up before I started to get tired and the weight felt heavier. Or to put it another way – finish, feeling stronger than when I started.
This is a pretty subjective system which I had good success with before. I would be looking to start off conservatively and probably wouldn’t do as many reps on DLs with MP work still to be done. I be looking to do it everyday but a day or even two off every now and then is no big deal.
Obstacles that I can foresee are finding the right volume of DLs and MPs so that both have a chance to improve. For example a session of 15 x 110 DLs and 3 x 24 MPs isn’t going to help me press 40. And then there is also the fact that 24kgs is 60% of 40 and 32kgs is 80% so I am never going to be able to hit that sweet spot of 65-70%. But I can only work with what I’ve got and I still think that it will work out.
So it is written, and so it shall be done.
Friday 2 January 2009
The Fast and the Not So Furious
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
20 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
Suitcase DL - 4 x 5 @ 32kgs
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch
Comments - DL was a little hit and miss, but mostly very good. Getting down low and feeling it in my hams and glutes. But at times I was going too fast and trying to remember all the finer points I was pulled forward - rather like the last time I injured my back.
Must remember to SLOW DOWN.
20 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
Suitcase DL - 4 x 5 @ 32kgs
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch
Comments - DL was a little hit and miss, but mostly very good. Getting down low and feeling it in my hams and glutes. But at times I was going too fast and trying to remember all the finer points I was pulled forward - rather like the last time I injured my back.
Must remember to SLOW DOWN.
Thursday 1 January 2009
Shoulders Getting Better.
Daily Joint Mobility Complex
20 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
Suitcase DL - 1 x 5 @ 24kgs KB raised 2" / 2 x 5 @ 32kgs
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch
Comments - Shoulders are getting more flexible and the right shoulder has almost caught up with the left. No acute pain when I tried a press up today, but it was still a little bit uncomfortable. This exercise is definitely working for me all the same. So is the shoulder stretch I do at the end of a session. Both my entire arms are all but flat on the floor, however I am a little bit tighter in my left Lat. Another little imbalance I have.
Did my 32kgs s/c DLs from the floor as the handle was only slightly lower than before. Not too many sets as I've been pretty active today.
20 reps each
Corrective Exercises / DL work
GTG Trainer CoC - 5 reps every 2-3 hours
Lats and Shoulders trigger points with tennis ball
Side Lying Rotation
Shoulder Rotation
2 x10
X Band
Pumps
Cook Hip Lift
2 x 10
Suitcase DL - 1 x 5 @ 24kgs KB raised 2" / 2 x 5 @ 32kgs
Good Morning Stretch x 3
Shoulder Stretch
Comments - Shoulders are getting more flexible and the right shoulder has almost caught up with the left. No acute pain when I tried a press up today, but it was still a little bit uncomfortable. This exercise is definitely working for me all the same. So is the shoulder stretch I do at the end of a session. Both my entire arms are all but flat on the floor, however I am a little bit tighter in my left Lat. Another little imbalance I have.
Did my 32kgs s/c DLs from the floor as the handle was only slightly lower than before. Not too many sets as I've been pretty active today.
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