7:35am - Kettlebell warm up
1/2K halos - 8kg, 4X each side / each leg (total 16X)
1/2K halos - 12kg, 4X each side / each leg (total 16X)
16kg Roll to press (TGU start) - shoulder cam shafts, each arm
Arm bar 12 kg, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press
Arm bar 12 kg, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press
7:50am - Training session - Focus on TGUs, TK PR 24kg, super DB SW 24 kgs / planks
9:05am - Complete
Notes - Pretty cool training session. We are in a “power” cycle now for 3 weeks, then a deload week. Everything about this was pretty different than what I have been doing for some time and the experience was interesting. First, on the TGUs, by overhead lockout on both sides was the best it has felt in quite some time. I am not completely sure what to attribute this to other than I will say the deload week last week probably came at exactly the right time. Really starting to appreciate the value of the deload weeks and the natural cycle of ramping up to reach a max week, and then backing off, in a 4-week cycle. This is really working for me. The TK PR are very good in that they teach or at least help reinforce the benefits of a vertical forearm and staying absolutely tight and vertical with the bell, efficient motion. I am hoping this can really translate back to my 1 arm presses. I don't think the groove is quite the same when double pressing, but this groove really would help me with 1 arm presses because I don't think I get vertical enough on some presses, bring the bell too far into the rack / too close to my chest on the descent and rack on military presses. Good stuff. Then the best part of the session was experimenting with a new swing technique that Kevin strongly encouraged me to employ, which is not letting go of the bells at the top of the swing on the float, but keeping a grip on them. I have been letting go of the bells for a long time, which I think can actually be very beneficial, but at the same time now that I have been going up with heavier bells, doing this can potentially pull the wrists/arms if flawless technique is not followed. And I noticed a weird thing with my R wrist during the last session on Friday, and there is absolutely no way I want to mess with that whatsoever. So I have had it adjusted by my chiro a couple of times now (no pain whatsoever) and think it is fine, but this new technique of not letting go of the bells really seemed to be good today, no issues whatsoever with the wrist. It is very, very demanding on grip though and toasted my forearms. Going to need to do more release with the lacrosse balls on my forearms and wrists until I can get used to this. I do think this is a better technique for me though and I am going to keep at it. Also noticed a ton of power with the DB SW, really was engaging the lats and hips, totally felt easy, wasn't using my arms to drive. That was cool. All of the lat work, rows, pull ups, etc etc. has really helped me a lot and it shows up in movements like this. I liked the supersets with planks. I am not sure how this occurred but prior to today my R oblique and psoas had been very tight, for weeks, couldn't seem to get it stretched out. I realized at the end of the day today that it had been totally feeling good today, all day, after this session. I suspect the planks were pretty useful in isolating some muscles in the same way that SL DLs seem to be so good for my back, balancing some asymmetries out of the system. Great stuff.
TGUs (start
from the top finish at the top)
16kg
x 1/1
20kg
x 1/1
24kg
x 1/1
12kg
Tall Kneeling Halos x 5/5
24kg
TK PR x 3/3 x 5 sets
(15 minute break during the presses for kids)
Superset 8x:
DB SW 24kgs x 10
Around
the World (PU Plank) x 1/1
Total of 80 DB SW
9:05am - Complete
Notes - Pretty cool training session. We are in a “power” cycle now for 3 weeks, then a deload week. Everything about this was pretty different than what I have been doing for some time and the experience was interesting. First, on the TGUs, by overhead lockout on both sides was the best it has felt in quite some time. I am not completely sure what to attribute this to other than I will say the deload week last week probably came at exactly the right time. Really starting to appreciate the value of the deload weeks and the natural cycle of ramping up to reach a max week, and then backing off, in a 4-week cycle. This is really working for me. The TK PR are very good in that they teach or at least help reinforce the benefits of a vertical forearm and staying absolutely tight and vertical with the bell, efficient motion. I am hoping this can really translate back to my 1 arm presses. I don't think the groove is quite the same when double pressing, but this groove really would help me with 1 arm presses because I don't think I get vertical enough on some presses, bring the bell too far into the rack / too close to my chest on the descent and rack on military presses. Good stuff. Then the best part of the session was experimenting with a new swing technique that Kevin strongly encouraged me to employ, which is not letting go of the bells at the top of the swing on the float, but keeping a grip on them. I have been letting go of the bells for a long time, which I think can actually be very beneficial, but at the same time now that I have been going up with heavier bells, doing this can potentially pull the wrists/arms if flawless technique is not followed. And I noticed a weird thing with my R wrist during the last session on Friday, and there is absolutely no way I want to mess with that whatsoever. So I have had it adjusted by my chiro a couple of times now (no pain whatsoever) and think it is fine, but this new technique of not letting go of the bells really seemed to be good today, no issues whatsoever with the wrist. It is very, very demanding on grip though and toasted my forearms. Going to need to do more release with the lacrosse balls on my forearms and wrists until I can get used to this. I do think this is a better technique for me though and I am going to keep at it. Also noticed a ton of power with the DB SW, really was engaging the lats and hips, totally felt easy, wasn't using my arms to drive. That was cool. All of the lat work, rows, pull ups, etc etc. has really helped me a lot and it shows up in movements like this. I liked the supersets with planks. I am not sure how this occurred but prior to today my R oblique and psoas had been very tight, for weeks, couldn't seem to get it stretched out. I realized at the end of the day today that it had been totally feeling good today, all day, after this session. I suspect the planks were pretty useful in isolating some muscles in the same way that SL DLs seem to be so good for my back, balancing some asymmetries out of the system. Great stuff.
