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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
Barbell DL
Military Press
Turkish Get Up
Pull Up

I was ‘swinging’ towards doing ETK with Barbell DLs on one variety day and SLDL / TGUs / Pull Ups on the other. Fantastic, hits all the exercises above; swings and DLs obviously improves posterior chain and DL overall; while everything else is focused on developing stronger shoulders. But……

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.

I have a few levels of shoulder corrections to go through but I am improving rapidly and it shouldn’t take me past the end of the month to complete. Then I am going to implement the above.

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.

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.