6/26/14 Thursday June 26, 2014 (16kg TGU, 24kg 2H SW)

7:45am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises, some OS resets - 45 minutes

7:45am - 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, 2+2

8:00am - Training session - TGUs, 2H SW

16kg TGU to knee, 3/3

24kg 2H SW, 10, x 5 (50 SW)

Arm hangs from the balcony

8:15am - Complete

Notes - Interesting.  Felt pretty good, despite being woken up by my son at 4am and couldn't really get back to sleep.  Felt good warming up, decided to try some 2H SW to see what I thought after TGUs, which felt great.  Damn,  The swings didn't feel all that great. Not terrible, but pulling just a bit on that spot in my scapula, deep at the base of my neck, and R arm.  Still a movement that is not ready to go back in the training work, I guess.  Frustrating, but better to have done the test and know.  Interesting as I had a chiro appt yesterday afternoon, did traction into extension with a head weight for the first time in a long time.  It lit up that spot deep at the base of my neck big time, and into my arm.  Really was interesting as that clearly is the root source of the issues.  Once I finished traction and walked around, an hour later, I actually felt quite good, almost like it is part of testing the body and it realizing things will be fine, and to let go of some of this tension that it is holding.  It's a process I guess.  

6/25/14 Wednesday June 25, 2014 (DB 20kg complex CL / PPR / FSQ)

7:00am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises, some OS resets - 60 minutes

8:30am - 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, 2+2

8:45am - Training session - 20kg DB CL, PR, FSQ complex

20kg TGU 1/1
20kg TK PR, 2/2
20kg GSq, 5
20kg SL DL, 5/5
2H 20kg SW, 10, 10 (first swings in weeks and weeks)
20kg PPR, 3/3

Arm hangs from the balcony

15 minutes:
DB 20kgs CL 3, PPR 3, FSQ, 3

Got 8 rounds done.  24 DB CL, 24 DB PPR, 24 DB FSQ.

20kg waiter's walk carries, 1 minute, 1/1

Arm hangs from the balcony

9:15am - Complete

Notes - Interesting day. Despite going to bed early last night and sleeping pretty well, didn't feel that recovered this morning.  Seriously took me forever to get moving.  Tuesday was another mentally challenging day with work, body work appt. could have taken something out of me too.  Man my recovery is pretty shitty these days.  In any event eventually I got going and had it in my mind to sub out the DB PR for the DB push press in the complex, and change the rep scheme, to give me something a little bit different.  I didn't want a bunch of heavy overhead grinds (yet) at this point in time, and with the leg work I have been doing, felt like the PPR would be a pretty good option to get some weight overhead without overtaxing my upper body too much with a heavy grind set.  Honestly I think this worked out pretty well.  Keep the reps even with DB CL, into PPR, ending with FSQ (always end with the FSQ, a bitch, those bells want to spill on you by that point).  Also I told myself nothing heavier than 20s.  Just keep it simple right now, work on technique, save the 24kgs and up for later when I am really feeling better, recovered etc.  Even did a few 2H swings in the warm up and those felt pretty good.  I may be ready for some low rep 2H SW with the 24kg tomorrow, we'll see how I feel.  

6/24/13 Tuesday June 24, 2013 (warm ups, long walk)

7:00am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises - 45 minutes

7:45am - 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, 2+2

8:00am - Complete

7:00pm - 8:00pm - brisk walk around Greenlake (3 1/2 miles)

Notes - Writing this on Wed evening.  Interesting.  Felt pretty damn shitty waking up Tuesday morning.  Had a mentally stressful day at work, churning through some difficult client challenges.  Was on the run all day Monday it felt like after my training, didn't eat lunch until like 5pm!  What a joke.  I should have suspected I might pay for it Tuesday.  And didn't sleep all that well Monday night. So I dragged in the morning Tuesday big time. I just don't think I have much recovery capacity built up right now, it tells me I have to continue to really monitor my training, keep it to the barest minimum right now.  So I just did some basic movement exercises and KB warm ups in the morning and called it a day.  I actually felt great though in the evening and went for a walk around Greenlake in nice 70 degree weather.  These walks are fantastic.  Walking briskly, stride feels great and powerful.  Most of these walks I take off my shoes and walk barefoot in the grass.  I think it is great.  I am going to do this as much as I can all summer.  Also had an body work appointment in the afternoon which went well.  Dave worked on my neck a lot, scalenes, and also under my armpits, obliques.  Kind of hurt like a bitch at times but body work sometimes does.  Dave was commenting my posture is getting much better, hips and everything else is getting much more in alignment, shoulders are back and less rounded, body is more opened up.  I feel this is the case as well from the movement exercises and the walking.  I need to keep that up. Even though I don't feel 100% by any means I think some good things are occurring underneath the surface.

6/23/14 Monday June 23, 2014 (DB 20kg complex CL / PR / FSQ)

6:00am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises, some OS resets - 60 minutes

7:00am - 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, 2+2

7:15am - Training session - 20kg DB CL, PR, FSQ complex

2x:
20kg TGU 1/1
20kg TK PR, 2/2
20kg GSq, 5

Arm hangs from the balcony

15 minutes:
DB 20kgs CL 2, PR 1, FSQ, 3

Got 11 rounds done.  22 DB CL, 11 DB PR, 33 DB FSQ.

20kg waiter's walk carries, 1 minute, 1/1

Arm hangs from the balcony

7:45am - Complete

Notes - Excellent day.  Good rest over yesterday and last night, felt very good waking up early, ready to get warmed up. I did elect to take an extra long warm up and work on some mobility drills, adding in some OS resets that I had not been doing for several weeks.  Interestingly and somewhat disappointingly, crawling still does not feel good.  Bodyweight on the R arm doesn't feel that great in the crawling position, and I have noticed a little deal with the outside part of my L hand, under my pinkie finger that kind of acts up a little bit when pressure is applied during crawling.   Going to get some acupuncture done again tomorrow and will work some of these areas.  Certainly it is important to note this and continue checking in to make sure I am making progress.  Certainly feels better than it did 2 weeks ago.  Baby crawling is fine, so I am going to drop back to that regression and work it for awhile.  Otherwise, excellent training session. Very pleased with how the cleans and presses felt, honestly the toughest part was the squats as I didn't feel I was getting the squat depth I have been getting the last week.  This is probably a reflection of - squatting a lot.  Hips could be just a bit tight although they do feel good.  In any event I focused on staying very tight, and with pressing really focused on tight glutes, keeping the shoulders down pressing from the lats.  Those felt good.  I definitely need to keep refining that press movement, using good technique and NOT "press with the arms" which is what the body tends to want to do.  Power is coming from the strong base, using the glutes as a seat, and pressing with the big muscles, the lats.  Warming up with a couple of TK PR to get that feeling was a good idea, I like that I thought of it, and I will probably continue to include those in my warm ups on overhead pressing days.  As far as conditioning I think I am doing ok, all the walking has helped.  I wasn't gassed out at all, and got 11 rounds in.  My goal was between 10-12 rounds so that was ok.  The pace certainly slowed down but I was ok with it because I was more concerned about staying with very good technique all the way to the last rep.  Also, balcony hangs - very helpful.  Have to keep doing these - every single day.  Still too light in the armpits, lats and I have to keep stretching those out.  I think that is my body's natural tendency to just tighten up in those spots.

6/21/14 Saturday June 21, 2014 (interval running, pullups, pushups)

Late Saturday afternoon, decided to try some interval running at Greenlake,  It had been 3 weeks since I had run at all.  I was feeling a bit tight in the morning, definitely noticed some effects of the week's work of getting back into the KBs, perhaps a little bit from the yard work Thursday afternoon as well, who knows.  Ultimately got stretched out in the morning while the kids watched a movie, and that helped quite a bit.  By the time the afternoon rolled around and I dropped the kids off after a bunch of activities all day, I was feeling like getting out into the sun and moving a bit, see how it would go.  I elected to go with 3 minute interval runs, stop for some body weight SLDLs, then 3 minutes of running, and then try some low rep pull-ups to see how those felt.  Ultimately I added some short sets of pushups for the last couple of intervals as well, again testing to see how they felt.  Looked like this:

3 min run
5/5 SL DLs
3 min run
3 pull ups
3 min run
5/5 SL DLs
3 min run
3 pull ups
3 min run
5/5 SL DLs
3 min run
2 pull ups
5 push ups
3 min run
5/5 SL DLs
3 min run
2 pull ups
5 push ups

24 minutes of running, 25/25 SLDLs, 10 pullups, 10 pushups.  Definitely tried to keep volume low.  Actually did quite a few bar hangs (technically rings actually as I am using rings not a bar for the pull ups) both before and during the workout, really got the armpits and lats stretched out, that is super key for me.

Honestly this felt great when doing it.  Later in the evening around 9 or 10 I noticed some tightness in the R arm, mainly the forearm, which didn't necessarily shock me.  Got some stretching done, and then as I write this on Sunday evening, really used last night and all day today for recovery and that has gone well.  I have felt pretty darn good today all around.  I probably pushed it just a little bit too much in the latter part of the week and Saturday, but fortunately was listening to the body pretty intently, and stayed far away from doing anything stupid.  I am going to drop the bells down to 20kgs tomorrow for the DB CL/PR/SQ training session, keep it under 15 minutes, just focus on technique, don't get too crazy.  If the 20s don't feel good, I'll drop to 16s.  No need to be a hero.  But I think things continue to go in the right direction.

6/20/14 Friday June 20, 2014 (24kg GSq, RR, SL DL, DB FSq 24kgs)

8:00am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises - 60 minutes

9:00am - 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, 2+2

9:45am - Training session - practice with 24kgs

24kg TGU to knee, 1/1, x 2
24kg GSq, 5
24kg Renegade Row, 3/3 (off hand on box)
24kg GSq, 5
24kg Renegade Row, 3/3 (off hand on box)
24kg SL DL, 5/5

5x:
DB 24kgs FSq, 5

Add in a couple of hangs from a balcony between sets (like a pull up bar hang)

10:15am - Complete

4:15pm - 4:45pm - casual walk at Greenlake (1 1/2 miles)

Notes - Well, I went for it today.  Went to bed too late, wasn't pleased with that, have to get back on the horse which I will.  With that said, slept in, this is my last planned day of vacation, so got plenty of rest.  Body felt pretty good, I had done some yard work for a couple of hrs yesterday afternoon to catch up on not having done any for about 3 weeks while I have been healing.  Wondered how that would affect me, didn't seem to have a huge impact.  Got warmed up, tried some TGUs with the 24kg after experimenting with the 24 yesterday, felt good, decided to go for it - 24kgs for the work load today, let's see what happens.  Reps on the GSq and the SL DL again felt very good.  Rows, not so sure, I did plan on dropping the reps down which I did to sets of 3.  Not sure if it really is the weight, I simply think that particular movement is a little challenging for me on both sides right now as the R scapula area continues to calm down and normalize.  I will continue to lightly test it but this is not one to push right now.  On the other hand, damn, these front squats.  Reps just felt outstanding.  On the cleans, really focused on a good start, use the hips, land the bells softly in the rack.  Zip it all up, big chest, get very tight with the glutes, and get into the hole by pulling into it, do not bounce, stay tight and get into lockout.  I really like the feeling on these of the glute tightness and really using the lats, lower lats, to keep a tight rack, keep the bells close without spilling.  That feeling in those muscles is really, really good and this movement does not seem to be bothering me at all, hopefully on the contrary this practice helps get me stronger.  Great movement, no need to go overhead much right now outside of TGUs and maybe some controlled low rep TK PR.  I may test a complex Monday, the classic 2 DB CL, 1 PR, 3 SQ, just to see how a little bit of cleaning and pressing feels, and mix up just a bit from doing almost all squatting.  Really just depends on how the weekend goes, hoping to get a lot of recovery in and feel very rested on Monday.   This was a big week in other ways as I completed all of the financial information necessary for Jill and I to resume mediation proceedings, which I got to her on Wed.  That was a big weight off my shoulders to have that done, and continue pushing this forward so I can get on the other side of this as soon as possible.

6/19/14 Thursday June 19, 2014 (24kg TGUs, TK PR)

8:15am - Pain Free neck, hip, shoulder exercises - 60 minutes

9:15am - 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, 2+2

9:30am - Training session - practice with 24kg

24kg TGU to knee, 1/1, x 3

TK PR 24kg, 3/3 x 3

9:45am - Complete

Notes - Feeling pretty good today.  Picked up Jill and the kids at the airport back from their trip to Disneyland pretty late last night, but had the ability to sleep in because I knew the kids would be, which they did.  So had a nice long warm up, body felt good, decided to try a few low rep 24kg TGUs and TK PR to see how they felt.  Actually felt great, including the TK PR.  Really focused on tensing the glutes, pressing with the lats, not the arms.  This is the feeling on the PR that I need to replicate when standing, doing single or double presses.  Really critical for me to get that feeling of tensed glutes and pressing from the lats.  As I continue to experiment during this time period, I am definitely really focused on doing things that feel good and not doing anything that feels "bad."  The TK PR is the way to go for now I think to get some pressing practice in while continuing to recuperate and get completely healthy.  Likewise I think the DB FSQ is another great movement to practice during this time, so I am going to keep working those.  Focus is going to be on low rep, grinds, staying away from ballastics and definitely staying away from anything in general high rep.  Form and technique has to be spot on.