4/8/15 Wednesday April 8, 2015 (DB FSQ ladder - PR)

8:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 minutes

8:30am - Kettlebell warm up

1/2K halos - 12kg, 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
16kg TK windmill drill, 4/4

2x:
24kg TGU with high bridges x 2/2
24kg SLDL , 3/3

BREAK - driving back to Seattle

4:30pm - some mobility work, focused on the hips

5:00pm- Training session - DB FSQ ladder - PR

2x:
16kg TGU with high bridges x 2/2
16kg windmill practice, 3/3 (done very cautiously due to oblique strain)
20kg BU SQ, 1/1

20kg 2H SW, 10

3x:
24kg DB FSQ, 5
32kg DB FSQ, 2
28kg DB FSQ, 3

30 reps - PR on DB 32kgs, awesome

DB 28kgs farmer carry, 1 minute
DB 32kgs farmer carry, 1 minute
DB 24kgs farmer carry, 1 minute

5;40pm - Complete

7:15pm - deep tissue massage

Notes - All in all, very good here.  Woke up feeling good after a night's rest, and the mobility and light KB work in the morning felt very good.  Feel like the minor oblique strain is definitely getting better, and am just focused on stretching it appropriately, but definitely not overdoing it.  Drove back to Seattle from Portland mid day, and then got to work in the afternoon on the main training for the day.  Went very cautiously on the windmills, and I have to say, it just doesn't feel quite right.  I really focused on getting into my hip and glute and that helped.  Obviously feeling this in the lower back would be wrong, and so I was very vigilant about keeping a straight let under the bell and getting into the hip, but still, it just doesn't feel quite right.  I need to revisit this with Kevin.  Could be over concern given the minor strain I think I picked up when I practiced these for the first time last week.  I also think my hamstrings are too damn tight, and inner quads as well, which is inhibiting my ability to do this correctly.  I am frustrated but will continue to try and work on those areas to improve flexibility and mobility for this lift.  In any event, I didn't do anything stupid.  A win there.   Got into the DB FSQs and noticed that my traps were lighting up, which I did not like.  I should have been feeling this more in the lats and glutes.  I think all of the driving in the car and then trying to jump into this training session was a major challenge on the body.  Also, snatching on Monday which is tough on the traps could have an impact.  Or hell it could be the oblique thing which is throwing stuff off.  In any event damn it I was getting pissed but re-focused, really focused, on the glutes and lats, zipping up at the top of each rep, and staying tight in the rack.  I was able to take the pressure off the traps I felt in the first set, but never felt totally right.  I decided that 3 rounds was good, you take what you can get sometimes and live to train another day.  Did not want to do something stupid here.  A bonus is that I definitely have not done DB FSQs with 32kgs and I nailed 6 reps with those babies, including the DB CL into the rack which honestly were all very smooth, I was not jerking the bells, was not banging them into my shoulders, it was all pretty good I think.  Ending with some DB farmers felt great on the shoulders actually.  I also intermixed a lot of hanging from my balcony during this session to try and stretch out those lats and get some pressure off the traps that I felt in the first set, and that was good too.  Ended the day by going to my massage therapist for a deep tissue massage which I sure as hell needed.  That was excellent. We'll see how we go the next few days.  I am off from work so that helps.  

4/7/15 Tuesday April 7, 2015 (24kg TGUs, GSq)

9:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 minutes

9:30am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

9:45am - Training session - 24kg TGU, 24kg GSq

2x:

24kg TGU with hip bridges x 2, 1/1
24kg GSq, 3/3

10:00am - Complete

Notes -   Good day, feeling very good actually.  Surprising  a little as yesterday was a bit of a struggle working through a tweak on the L oblique etc. as I mentioned in my training notes.  Did a ton of mobility work, lots of hamstring stretches, using the wall, etc. which really helped a lot.  Got a good night's sleep as well.  Relaxed hanging out with my kids at the Oregon Coast, enjoying the time together.  Great stuff.  

4/6/15 Monday April 6, 2015 (24kg SN 6/6 on the min 8 mins)

9:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 75 minutes (excessive time mobilizing, stretching after car rides over the weekend)

10:15am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1
16kg TK windmill drill, 4/4

10:30am- Training session - 24kg SN 6/6 on the min 8 mins

2x:
24kg TGU with high bridges x 2/2
24kg SLDL , 5/5
24kg 1H SW, 10/10

24kg SN 6/6 on the min, 8 mins
96 reps

24kg farmer carry, 1 minute, switch sides, 1 minute

11:00am - Complete

Notes - Very busy weekend including driving to Tacoma, then to my parents' place near Battleground, on Sunday, and then to the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach on Monday for a little spring break trip with my kids.  I am definitely tight and battling some stuff.  Noticed that doing windmills last Friday did a little bit of a number of my L lower oblique and low back, so I am stretching the area and keeping it mobilized.  Felt great doing training on Saturday, and was not bothered by it today.  Sitting a lot is not doing wonders for it and I have noticed how incredibly tight my hamstrings are, which is exacerbating the issue for sure and in fact probably is largely the cause of it.  Kind of an odd thing but again not surprising that learning a new movement (in this case the windmill, followed by double jerks) may bring something up.  Plus the added stress of a holiday and travel etc. is a factor.  I took forever to get moving this morning and did a lot of mobility work.  Ultimately got into the training session and things felt very good, nice to snatch again, bell felt pretty light actually.  My technique is better, am stronger as well and I can really feel my hips pop that bell up into lockout on a lot of the reps, as opposed to my arms doing the work, so that is excellent.  Arms should be there to steer the bell but that's it - got to get the power from the hinge and from the hips.

4/4/15 Saturday April 4, 2015 (pull-ups, push-ups, 2H SW, hill sprints)

Good day.  Went to Greenlake in the morning with the kids and banged out pull-ups and push-ups before 11am.

Hanging from bar

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

6 pull-ups
5 push-ups (3 regular, 2 lizard)

6 pull-ups
5 push-ups (3 regular, 2 lizard)

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

4 pull-ups
5 push-ups (3 regular, 2 lizard)

Pistol squat, 1/1

Break

5:00pm

24kg farmer carry, switching hands, hundred yards

24kg GSq, 5
24kg H2H SW, 10/10
Shoulder taps, 8/8
24kg BU CL, 1/1
24kg BU PR, 1/1 (difficult)
1H Jerk 24kg, 10/10


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

x 5 Up from 4 last week

24kg farmer carry, switching hands, hundred yards

Total pull-ups - 28,  down 1 from last week, 25 push-ups, same as last week.  As planned dropped the pull-ups down and want to work at this range for a couple of weeks until it feels extremely solid, and then try to go up again.  This did feel good. The work in the afternoon felt great.  Again I just did a bit of freestyling with the KB, a few different movements, and enjoyed playing around.  I forgot that I really like H2H swings as well, that is a pretty cool movement to float the KB up and just go back and forth getting into a nice rhythm.  Good movement for warm ups, I may incorporate that a bit more in the future.

4/3/15 Friday April 3, 2015 (Training with Kevin - learning the windmill, 2H Jerk)

Training with Kevin today, from 6:15am to 7:30 or so.  Big day as it was time to learn the Double KB Jerk, after learning the Jerk last week.

We did some warm up stuff, then some arm bars and getups with the 16kg, trying to mobilize the t-spine.  Hanging from the bar.

We then practiced the Windmill, first with no bell, and then Windmills with the 16kg.  Good movement, I have been doing this in a TK fashion but it was good to do a full Windmill and see what that was like.  I am pretty tight in my quads and hamstrings, and it was holding me back.  This will be a good exercise for me for sure.

Warmed up with a bit of 1H Jerk with the 24kg.  I basically then worked a number of sets with the DB 20kg, and DB 24kg bells on the Jerk, by the end basically focusing on the DB 24kg where I did 10 minutes of 4 reps, on the minute.  Felt amazing.  I am seriously loving the Jerk.

4/2/15 Thursday April 2, 2015 (24kg TGUs, SLDL)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 20 minutes

7:30am - 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 16kg, 1+1, x 2
Crooked Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:50am - Break

9:00am - Training session - 24kg TGU, 24kg SLDL

2x:

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

9:15am - Complete

Notes -   Good day, feeling very good actually.  Quite encouraging.  Moving well.  Squatting does good things for me.

4/1/15 Wednesday April 1, 2015 (DB 28kgs FSQ - PR)

6:35am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 20 minutes

6:55am - 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
16kg TK windmill drill, 3/3

7:10am - Training session - DB 28kgs FSQ

2x:
Crawling, 1 minute
24kg TGU, 1/1 to the knee
24kg GSq, 6

6x:
DB 28kgs FSQ, 5

30 reps (up from 6 x 4 last week)

28kg farmer carry, 1 minute, 1/1

Hanging from porch overhang, 30 secs, x 3

7:45am - Complete

Notes - Excellent training session.  Felt very good.  Strong work today, great squats.  The squat is a good movement for me and I feel like sometimes my body just wants to squat.  As I am writing this mid morning, R forearm and elbow are a bit tight, not necessarily a surprise as this is pretty heavy work and there is some intensity on  the grip in the front squat for sure.  Will work on some mobility and soft tissue work tonight.