4/7/14 Monday April 7, 2014 (TGUs, TK PR 24kg, DB SW 24 kgs / PU Planks)

7:00am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 45 minutes (extra work on lacrosse ball for traps, glutes, quads, hams)

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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press

8:00am - Training session - Focus on TGUs, TK PR 24kg, super DB SW 24 kgs / planks

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 5/5 x 5 sets (up from 4/4 x 5 last week)

Superset 5x:

DB SW 24kgs x 10 x 2

Around the World (PU Plank) x 1/1

(up from 9x last week)

Total of 100 DB SW (90 last week)

8:45am - Complete

Notes -  Good day.  Body felt pretty good given the tough training yesterday evening with running / pull ups and push ups.  Legs are pretty tight for sure, right ankle continues to be a little stiff after running, mobility is not as good as the left.  Need to work on it, undoubtedly that gets connected to the R hip getting tight, obliques etc.  Was able to up the presses to 5 sets of 5/5, felt very strong.  The TK practice has been excellent for the press, really feeling good about the groove.  I was pressed for time so I did 2 sets of 10 DB SW with the 24kgs before moving to the planks, so did just 5 sets of planks with a total of 20 sets of 10 DB SW, for 100 reps total.  DB SW felt very powerful, has gotten better every single week with practice.  R wrist absolutely zero issue, noticed nothing, keeping a grip on the bell and not letting go on the float has been totally on point advice from Kevin, this is now my go-to swing technique and will just keep refining it.

4/6/14 Sunday April 6, 2014 (interval running / pull ups / push ups)

Got going Sunday afternoon.  Weather was decent, pretty good running weather.  Air was warmed, had to ditch my stocking cap for the first time all year.  That was nice.  Went with a different scheme this week - 2 minute running intervals, a total of 16 segments of these for 32 minutes running. Looked like this:

2 min run, SL DLs 4/4, 2 min run, 4 pull-ups, 4 push-ups
x 8

Total of 32 minutes running, 32/32 SL DLs, 32 pull-ups, 32 push-ups

I liked this but I am thinking I can run less and get the same benefits.  I am going to go with 12 segments next week, which will equate to 24 minutes running.  I am going to bump the reps on everything back up to 5s, which will equal out to 30 pull ups and 30 push ups.  I am going to try and push the pace harder on the running, knowing that I have less segments should help with this.  I really pushed it on one of the last ones today and I know I have the ability to push harder but I am going to have to decrease the overall running time to maintain a good level of power.  That is really the point of this work so I need to get the overall running time down to accommodate.  It will be interesting to see the impact on the strength movements.  Today was the shortest intervals I have ran using the 2 minute markers, and it was not a problem, pull ups and push ups were quite strong.  It's good to keep mixing it up.  Eventually would be great to get pistols and one-arm push ups going here, but I need to work on variations with Kevin and on my own to get started down that road.

Also I would be remiss to not mention that I woke up TIGHT AS HELL today, I could not believe it, didn't even see that coming.  It's really my R armpit/lat/psoas/oblique/hip, very very tight stuff.  Bar hangs today helped a lot as did lacrosse ball work.  It's from push pressing and snatching, that really hits those muscles hard and although I noticed nothing at all Friday or Saturday, the 2-day DOMS hit me hard.  That does happen to me sometimes.  It's a delay and then hits 2 days after.  Have to be vigilant to keep those spots loosened up, fortunately I have some different techniques that help.  Some soft tissue massage or bodywork may be in order very soon.

4/4/14 Friday April 4, 2014 (24/28/32 kg PPR ladders, 24 kg SN 5 min test)

7:30am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 60 minutes (moving very slow, lots of extra trigger point release)

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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press

8:45am - Training session - Focus on 24/28/32 kg Push Press (PPR) ladders, 24kg SN 5 min test

24kg TGU , 2/2
24kg SL DL, 5/5

5x of the following ladders:

PPR 24kg, 3/3
PPR 28kg, 2/2
PPR 32kg, 1/1

30 reps per arm on the PPR

5 minute snatch test with the 24kg - goal was 100 reps.

Got 97.  Took a few extra seconds to get the final 3 reps.

9:20am - Complete

Notes -  DAMN IT.  I thought today was going to be the day to officially show myself that I could pass the 5 minute snatch test.  So close.  97 reps.  Went like this:  10/10, 10/10, put bell down, 10/10, 5/5, put bell down (2 minutes left), 5/5, rechalk, 10/7 (timer off) 3 final reps.  Frustrating.  I had 70 reps in about 3 minutes, which should have been enough (about 23 reps per minute, need a pace of 20).  However I was tired after doing the push presses and frankly came into the morning feeling very sluggish.  Long week, I was out a little bit late with some co workers and it was not the best prep for this training session today.  I was sucking wind at the 2 minute left mark, needed to take some breaths, and where I screwed up is that I should have rechalked at that point and then blasted out the final 30 reps.  Instead I wasted a few seconds rechalking after 10 reps and could not quite get the final 20 done in time.  I will say, I was pleased with the technique in general today, and the power, I felt like I had powerful reps.  Issue seems to be conditioning a little bit or possibly just lack of recovery (actually thinking it might be the latter).  In any event you know what it's all good.  PPRs felt great, technique improved, felt like I was getting some good power, even leaving the ground onto my toes on many reps (which I think is ok).  Lockout feels really good on both arms.  Continuing to notice some body comp changes as well, more defined musculature on the traps, biceps, chest.  This is just the result of a long time training but I do think the progression to heavier and heavier bells is really helping me a lot.  Also I think snatching consistently as I have for months has been huge for body comp.  The 24kg is a challenging weight so you get a lot of benefits including strength.  I have not gone back and snatched the 16 or the 20kg in some time but man I bet those would feel like toys.  At some point I need to talk to Kevin about messing around with very low rep sets of the 28kg to see what he thinks.  However I need to show I can pass the snatch test first with the 24kg:)

4/3/14 Thursday April 3, 2014 (OS, PM, SL DLs 24kg)

6:45am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 30 minutes

7:15am - 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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar with press, 12kg, 3+3

7:30am - Training session - Focus on 24kg SL DLs

24kg SL DLs, 5/5, x 2 (first ipsalateral, second contralateral)

7:45am - Complete

Notes -  Body felt good today.  Mixed up the SLDLs slightly by accident, did ipsalateral set first (bell on same side as standing leg).  Didn't really think much of it, I think contra lateral is better for me but who really knows?

4/2/14 Wednesday April 2, 2014 (TGUs/RRs/ DB 20kg complex)

7:45am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 30 minutes

8:15am - 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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press

8:30am - Training session - Focus on TGUs / Rows, DB 20kg complex

Superset the following - set of TGUs, then Renegade Rows off hand on a box

TGUs roll to elbow

28kg x 3/3

32kg x 1, 1, 1 / 2, 1 (3 singles on the L, then 2, 1 on the R)

36kg x 1/1 x 1 (pressed for time today, I felt pretty good with these two reps, and decided to park it and move on)

Renegade rows after each TGU set, 24kg, 5/5 

Double 20kg complex.  Went like this

1st set:
2 DB CL, 1 DB SQ
4 DB CL, 2 DB SQ
6 DB CL, 3 DB SQ
8 DB CL, 4 DB SQ (set bell down)
10 DB CL, 5 DB SQ

Rest 2 minutes

2nd set:
2 DB CL, 1 DB SQ
4 DB CL, 2 DB SQ
6 DB CL, 3 DB SQ (set bell down)
8 DB CL, 4 DB SQ (set bell down)
10 DB CL, 5 DB SQ

Overall took about 12 minutes to get the complex done.  This was a massive improvement over last week which took me about 20 minutes.  I was extremely pleased.

9:00am - Complete

Notes -  Pressed for time a bit today, and I was extremely pleased with the result on the DB 20kg complex. Major improvements in technique, conditioning etc.  Went from 20 minutes to 12 minutes.  I was able to set the bells down a lot less, and this was good.  I might be able to get all reps in on the first set next week without setting the bell down which would be quite an accomplishment.  This complex is absolutely murder on the forearms, and biceps too. Wow.  

4/1/14 Tuesday April 1, 2014 (28kg SW variations)

6:45am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 30 minutes

7:15am - 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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar with press, 12kg, 3+3

7:30am - Training session - Focus on 28kg SW variations

2H SW 28kg, 10, 2x
1H SW 28kg, 10/10
2H SW 28kg, 10, 2x
1H SW 28kg, 10/10
2H SW 28kg, 10, 2x

100 total SW reps

7:45am - Complete

Notes -  Good day, body felt good, slept ok.  A couple of reps on the 28kg SW, still felt like the R wrist was just ever so slightly being irritated / didn't feel quite 100% strong with the grip on the bell.  It's weird.  There is no pain whatsoever but it bears watching.  I probably need to just continue to strengthen things, stay on top of keep my shoulders flexibility in order, keep the forearms from getting overly tight, etc. Some of the wrist feeling could be easily more so a tight forearm, which the R one has been a bit and is something I am watching and keeping on top of with lacrosse ball release.  I know this is a very minor thing and only SW, and mainly 1H SW, where I don't have a very good grip on the bell brings this up, and it's at the top of the SW only.  No issues TGU, pressing, squatting, snatching or any other movements.  Stay vigilant! 

3/31/14 Monday March 31, 2014 (TGUs, TK PR 24kg, DB SW 24 kgs / PU Planks)

8:00am - Original Strength and Primal Move - 45 minutes (extra work on lacrosse ball for traps, glutes, quads, hams)

8:45am - 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, 1+1
Crooked arm bar 12kg, 3+3 with press

9:00am - Training session - Focus on TGUs, TK PR 24kg, super DB SW 24 kgs / planks

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 4/4 x 5 sets (up from 3/3 x 5 last week)

Superset 9x:

DB SW 24kgs x 10

Around the World (PU Plank) x 1/1

(up from 8x last week)

Total of 90 DB SW (80 last week)

9:50am - Complete

Notes -  So this was a good day to measure progress on several fronts, basically in every single lift.  But I will get to that in a second.  First off I slept in somewhat inadvertently but had time fortunately to get a long mob session.  Body was not that well recovered from my training work yesterday running/pull ups / push ups.  Was feeling very tight in the lats, various hot spots in the legs too so really worked a lot of foam roller and lacrosse ball.  I really wish I could speed up my warm up work, but thus far, to no avail.  Best thing to do would be to improve consistent sleep quality, an area where I notoriously fail.  No doubt it is holding back further gains that could be made because on the work I am doing, things keep getting better.  Good overhead position in the TGUs, very pleased, able to keep the elbows locked out much better and just in general the overhead position is improving.  The TK PRs with the 24kg were very good today, really getting a nice vertical forearm, good lat engagement, I really like these very much.  Best part of the training session was seeing the improvement in the DB SW with the 24 kgs.  Last week felt a little off, just had not practiced the movement in some time, and I was also testing out the new grip where I did not let go of the bells on the float.  Today, got very good power in the swings, crisp, and the new bell consistent grip felt much more comfortable, actually really felt like I had even more control of the bells.  I like the change in grip technique, that was a very good suggestion by Kevin, and there is no issue whatsoever on my wrists if I keep a strong grip on the bells and do not let them go and recatch on the float.  So that technique is definitely here to stay, particularly because I am not interested in "high rep" swings where recatching on the float to preserve grip would be a good idea.  Don't need it. Lastly the planks were good, last week I really felt great after doing these, I think it helped loosen up what had been a very tight R oblique and hip.  Interested to see if a similar thing happens this week though the R side has been feeling good all week.