3/7/15 Saturday March 7, 2015 (pull-ups, push-ups, playing with the kids)

Writing this Sunday afternoon.  Got this work done Saturday morning and did it with my kids again at the lake, before we went and had brunch together.  This is a great habit we have formed and I am going to keep this up with them.

Hanging from bar
Hip mobility

7 pull-ups
5 push-ups (3 regular, 2 lizard for all)

6 pull-ups
5 push-ups

6 pull-ups
5 push-ups

5 pull-ups
5 push-ups

4 pull-ups
5 push-ups

Pistol squat, 1/1

Lots of helping the kids and running around the trees in between all of the above, and we also did a bunch of bear-crawling, which felt great.  Probably took us 30 or 40 minutes.

We then drove the car and did the following:

2H 24kg SW, 10
Hill sprint, 15 seconds
rest

x 3

Total pull-ups - 28, up 1 from last week.  25 push-ups, same as last week.  I think the main thing that stuck out here is that these pull-ups were simply not hard.  I am at 28 and rising, and like this trend, I like it a lot.  These are very high-quality reps, with a focus on technique, and strength-building.  Same with the push-ups.  I also was delighted to be able to drop into an easy pistol squat on both legs with zero practice.  Love that.  Getting the swings and hill sprints back into the mix was great this week as well.  Feeling a bit sore now on Sunday but I have not been able to get any mobility work in since the training session, and need to focus on this tonight.  Not a bad sore at all, this is what I expected.  Great weekend.

3/6/15 Friday March 6, 2015 (KB aerobics, 24kg, CL/PR/SQ/SN, 20 mins)

7:30am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 minutes

8:00am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

8:15am - Training session - KB aerobics, 24kg CL/PR/SQ/SN, 20 mins

2x:

24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg GSq, 3

24kg 2H SW, 10

KB aerobics - 24kg bell, CL/PR/SQ/SN, 20 minutes

16 sets total each arm (cleaning from the ground to start each arm in each set)

24kg 2H SW, 20

24 kg DB farmer carry, 1 minute, 1/1

8:50am - Complete

Notes - Great day.  Decided to step it up and only use the 24kg bell this week, whereas I alternated sets with the 20kg bell the last couple of weeks.  Felt great.  Really turned a corner on mobility this week and I couldn't be happier about it.  Great stuff.  Looking forward to some body weight training this weekend.  

3/5/15 Thursday March 5, 2015 (16kg TGUs, SLDL)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 15 minutes

7:15:am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:30am - Training session - 16kg TGU, 16kg SLDL

2x:

16kg TGU to the knee, 2/2
16kg SLDL, 3/3

7:45am - Complete

Notes - Quick, felt good today.  Not much to say other than continuing to move in the right direction this week in terms of mobility and body feeling good.  

3/4/15 Wednesday March 4, 2015 (24/28kg circuit, SN 28kg 5/5 10 mins (PR) )

6:55am - Pain Free hip-focused drills - 30 minutes

7:25am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 15 minutes

7:40am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:55am - Training session - 24/28kg circuit, SN 28kg 5/5 10 minutes

24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg Gsq, 3

3x:
24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg Renegade rows, 5/5
28kg 1H SW, 10/10

24kg SN, 1/1, very long pauses at lockout to stretch out

28kg SN, 5/5, 10 minutes, as many sets as possible

9 sets - 45/45 total or 90 reps (PR)

DB 28/24kg farmer carry, 1 minute, switch sides, 1 minute

8:35am - Complete

Notes - What a difference a week makes, and a focus on mobility and moving well.  Man when things are not going quite right with the body, you have to make changes and do something different.  Focusing on moving well is critical to everything and certainly to performance.  I have really turned a corner here the last couple of days after focusing on these hip drills from Pain Free.  More to go, but this is very encouraging.  I have really been able to get my R hip to sit down, calm down, and I can tell it has impacted a lot of other tightness I had greatly.  So much so that I was able to nail another PR today with the 28kg snatch, 90 reps in 10 minutes for 9 solid sets of 5/5.  This is a real accomplishment for me and I am very excited about it.  Next Wed will be an opportunity to snatch the 32kg for the first time, doing I think doubles to start, and just seeing how that goes.  Great stuff.

3/3/15 Tuesday March 3, 2015 (24kg TGUs, GSq)

6:30am - Pain free hip-focused exercises - 30 minutes

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 15 minutes

7:15:am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:30am - Training session - 24kg TGU, 24kg GSq

2x:

24kg TGU to the knee, 1/1
24kg GSq, 3

7:45am - Complete

Notes - Huge difference one week later, looking at my notes from a week ago.  Did not wake up wound up today.  Things are moving in the right direction.  Going to keep focused on these mobility drills focused on opening up the hips, which will keep opening up my shoulders.  TGUs felt great today, really good stuff.

3/2/15 Monday March 2, 2015 (PPR 32kg, DB SLDLs 24 kgs)

6:25am - Pain Free drills, focus on the Hip Series - 60 minutes

7:25am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 15 minutes

7:40am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:55am - Training session - PPR 32g, DB SL DLs 24kgs

24kg TGU, 1/1 to the knee
24kg GSq, 3
24kg TGU, 1/1 to the knee
24kg 2H SW, 10

32kg 2H SW, 10
24kg PPR, 5/5

5x superset:

32kg PPR, 5/5 (up from 4/4 last week)
24kgs DB SLDLs, 3/3

32kg farmer carry, 1 minute, 1/1
24kg 2H SW, 10
24kgs DB farmer carries, 1 minute

8:30am - Complete

Notes - Well bodies are fascinating.  As per my notes from the weekend, I knew I needed to step up the game on mobility work and figure out what the heck was going on causing all the tightness in my R scalene, shoulder, pec, lat, etc. etc. After meditating on a walk around the lake and really checking in with my body it reconfirmed for me that I needed to focus on my hips.  Tight hips I had a feeling was causing issues in the shoulders.  I have been working my ass off for months and I think I tipped the scales just a bit on not balancing out the additional sitting and long computer hours with the right mobility work or exercises.  I suspect that doing a shit ton of double front squats and cleans the last cycle was actually a great complement to the computer work because of the pull on the clean, opposite movement of computer work which is flexion instead of extension.  In any event, I spent a solid 75 minutes last night going through drills from the book Pain Free focused on the Hip Series.  This book has really helped me before and it felt like the right thing to do to bring it out and do some focused mobility work.  I immediately noticed a major difference last night before bed.  I got up and felt good, different, things were going in the right direction.  That R hip had started to open up, and with it, my low back and the R shoulder.  I did the series again for 60 minutes this morning and then got into my warm ups.  Felt very good.  When I did my first set of swings and was absolutely exploding at the hips, I really knew I was onto something.  It was literally like an emergency brake had been released.  Really cool.  On Kevin's advice I dropped the windmills and bent presses from the warm up, though I suspect they may not really be the issue.  With that said, a lot of new movements this cycle, could be too much at once.  The push presses went very well, pretty cool do so sets of 5 with the 32kg, I am thinking that this has to help get me stronger.  There is a cardio element to the push press as well.  I like the movement.  SL DLs were solid, really took my time to set up each rep.  I am going to do more Pain Free work this evening and each evening before bed, just try to stay on top of this for a couple of weeks and give my body a little extra mobility juice to work through whatever is going on with it.

2/28/15 Saturday February 28, 2015 (pull-ups, push-ups, playing with the kids)

Writing this late Sunday night.  Got this work done Saturday morning and did it with my kids again at the lake, before we went and had brunch together.  This is a great habit we have formed and I am going to keep this up with them.

Hanging from bar
Hip mobility

7 pull-ups
5 push-ups (3 regular, 2 lizard for all)

6 pull-ups
5 push-ups

5 pull-ups
5 push-ups

5 pull-ups
5 push-ups

4 pull-ups
5 push-ups

Lots of helping the kids and running around the trees in between all of the above.  Probably took us 30 or 40 minutes.

Total pull-ups - 27, up 1 from last week.  25 push-ups, same as last week.  These pull-ups were not hard.  My R shoulder, now mainly realized it is the lat, armpit, tricep, is very tight, about the tightest it has been in a long, long time.  This is causing the tighness in the scalenes as well on the R side neck, pec.  It's all related.  I stretched and stretched, hanging from the rings, which helped a ton.  It's an odd thing because the pull-ups felt great, so did push-ups, this tightness is not bothering anything and in fact moving around seems to help it.  I have been doing some thinking about this today and decided that I need to re-focus on mobility work including doing some exercises from my Pain Free book that helped me a ton last summer in working through some stress that causes muscle pain and tightness. Exercises are focused on opening up tight hips, inner thighs etc. which tend to have an impact on shoulders.  I took a brisk walk today around the lake and certainly my R hip has been very tight lately, and I think this is related to what is going on - I need to open up that hip.  Also my R ankle has felt tight as well so I think there is just some mobility issues going on that need immediate attention and better focus.  I suspect this is a result of stress as it usually is.  I have been working my ass off for months and things may be catching up to me.  I also think there is something having to do with single kettlebell work, as opposed to doubles, that seems to bring out certain issues like this.  I have not quite figured out why but I suspect the movements require more stability on the off side of the body than doubles, and the asymmetrical loads may bring out certain movement issues I have.  It's probably all the more reason to stick with single bell work, to figure some of this shit out, but it's currently frustrating me greatly.