7/2/14 Wednesday July 2, 2014 (DB 24kg FSQ)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling), 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 - Focus on DB 24kg FSQs

Arm hangs from the balcony

24kg TGU 1/1, x 5
DB 24kg DL, 5, x 2
24 kg GSq, 5
24kg SL DL, 3/3
24kg Hike/Swing/Park, 5 singles
24kg TK PR, 2/2

15 minutes:
DB 24kgs FSQ, 2, 3, 5

Got in 3 rounds, plus an additional 2, 3 for a total of  35 reps in 15 minutes

24kg waiter's walk carries, 1 minute, 1/1

Arm hangs from the balcony

8:35am - Complete

Notes - What can I say.  I can't remember where I read this, maybe it was Mark Reifkind on his blog or somewhere else, but you lay in waiting for training days like this.  I felt like a total animal on these squats.  Best squatting I have ever done, I think this may be a PR and it came just a little bit out of nowhere given the road back I have been on the last month.  Well, I do know where it came from a little bit.  Taking steps back, getting my head straight, focusing on rest, recovery, sleep, nutrition, mobility.   Notice I did not say - focusing on my training!  I am starting to realize albeit slowly here that all of these other factors are just so critical to success and progress.  It's never been an issue for me to "do the work / do the training" as I always show up.  I enjoy it.  But clearly I have not taken care of the time outside of training like I really am capable, so that I can maximize my time and make more consistent progress.  I think I had better refer to this post in the future when I get off track.  In any event, felt good this morning, did a variety of warm up movements and went by feel.  The TGUs were to get some weight overhead on a day when I wasn't focused on OH movements, just to get that groove greased.  I was very pleased with the feel on the hike/swing/parks as I have not been swinging at all for a month to let this right arm and forearm come back around.  I have to say, I think I am close now, time to do some short sets of swings and see how that feels.  Encouraging.  Also noticed on the TK PR practice that these reps went up very quickly, noticeably quick on the speed.  Interesting, and a good sign.  Really trying to press from the lat and keep that shoulder down.  As to the FSQs, just damn good for me and I am getting better.  Very solid cleans, focusing on "cleaning to the waist" so as to not overclean the bells and have the arc go too far away from me.  The cue is working.  Very solid cleans, this is excellent, particularly with DB 24kgs.  Squats were deep, strong, no where close to failure even on the sets of 5.  Honestly I could have pushed and gotten more as I finished with 30 seconds on the clock for 15 minutes, and told myself that was more than good enough for today, it's not time to get greedy.  I won't proclaim to be all the way back until I am snatching again with some authority (for me), but it feels good to get this accomplished today.  Now time to focus on rest and recovery before Friday morning's next session with a DB 24kg complex with a push press focus.

7/1/14 Tuesday July 1, 2014 (24kg TGUs, long walk)

7:30am - FMS drills, 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 - TGU practice

24kg TGU to knee, 1/1, x 2

8:50am - Complete

8:00pm - 9:00pm - brisk walk around Greenlake (3 1/2 miles)

Notes - Writing this on Wed evening.  Good day.  Felt pretty good in the morning, this was a rest day and a day mostly off work to hang out with my kids.  Did a lot of mobility work, and then did a few reps of TGUs with the 24kg for feel.  Felt a little heavy actually, but that is ok, had a pretty decent workload on Monday and I was curious how recovery would go.  Took a very nice walk around Greenlake in the evening, walking briskly in barefeet in 80 degree weather at 8pm at night.  Life is pretty good and you have to appreciate those good times.

6/30/14 Monday June 30, 2014 (DB 20kg CL/PR/SQ complex)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling), some OS resets - 60 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 12 kg, 2+2

8:15am - Training session - 20kg DB CL, PR, FSQ complex

Arm hangs from the balcony

24kg TGU to the knee, 1/1, x 2
16 kg GSq, 5
16kg BU SQ, 1/1,  x 3
16kg BU carry, 1/1, 30 seconds each
16kg BU PR, 1/1

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

Got 14 rounds done.  28 DB CL, 14 DB PR, 42 DB FSQ.

16kg rack walk, 1 minute, 1/1
20kg waiter's walk carries, 1 minute, 1/1

Arm hangs from the balcony

9:00am - Complete

Notes - Great stuff.  I slept in, wanted a little more recovery overnight from yesterday's sprinting / pull ups etc. and that was a good idea.  I did the FMS drills Kevin recommended, belly breathing, quite a bit of soft tissue work with the foam roll and lacrosse ball as I was tight from yesterday's work as expected, t-spine, some 1/2 kneeling drills and then got into some OS resets as well.  I had the time and the mobility work is something I just cannot cut back on too much.  I wish I could just get right into training but I simply need quite a bit of mobility work, has always seemed to be the case since I got into KBs a couple of years ago, and I think it's a reflection of years of neglect due to ignorance and combating my job and everyday life with its stresses and lots of sitting / computer work.  Thank God I have learned quite a bit the last several years and educated myself with a lot of additional reading.  In any event I knew waking up today was not going to be a DB 24kg day for the complex, though in the back of my mind I wanted to go for it.  I didn't.  What's the point.  Instead I focused on various drills, did do some TGUs to the knee with the 24kg, it felt heavy enough lol, and confirmed that today was going to be mainly work with the 20kgs.  I added 5 minutes to the timer and did the complex for 20 minutes instead of 15, so got a little extra volume in a controlled manner with weights that I can more than handle capably.  Felt really good, particularly the presses today interestingly enough. Good overhead mobility, arms very close to the head in lockout, and a very smooth motion with those.  Nice.  Going to do some light drills tomorrow, some 2H deadlifts with heavier bells, some hike/swing/park, maybe a little jump rope, a recovery day.  For Wed I am thinking hit it with the DB 24kgs for a FSQ-focused workout, and see how that goes.  Recovery Thursday, Friday, try the DB 24kgs again assuming Wed goes well, and I recover, and focus that one instead on pressing using the Push Press to take some pressure off the grinding and use the legs a bit more.  I think Wed I will go 15 minutes on DB CL to FSQ, with a rep scheme 2, 3, 5 on the FSQ.  Friday 15 minutes DB CL 2, PPR 3, FSQ 1.  Obviously lots of recovery and other mobility drills come first.

6/29/14 Sunday June 29, 2014 (interval running, pullups, pushups)

Busy all weekend with my kids until late afternoon Sunday.  I was feeling very, very good this weekend, after a good Friday capped off by a deep tissue massage which really got to the root of the joint at the base of my neck / scapula and worked some of the tissue well, things are continuing to move in the right direction.  Keeping up on my mobility work and just trying to be smart about training.  Given that last weekend I was able to run well and do some pullups and pushups, I felt ok doing that again, decided to drop the running time down a bit as I think ideally it will make sense for me to get to something like 1 minute sprints, probably 10 total, for 10 minutes of sprinting, broken up with SL DLs, pullups and pushups during the rest periods.  Again this is back to Pavel's "Road work" template from the SFG site from months ago.  This training style is perfect for me in terms of complimenting what I am trying to do with KBs.  If I can get in some long walking during the week, it's going to be a great combo.

2 min run, 5 SL DLs, pull-ups, push-ups - 5 rounds.  Running harder than last week, a couple of these were very hard sprints.  I think I would do a little better and probably get even more out of this to just drop down to 1 minute intervals and make sure I have full power for every interval.  I was losing gas on these particularly the next couple.  It never turned into a slow jog, but the point is to keep power up and I did not successfully do that across the whole time periods.

Pull ups were 5,4,3,2,2 - Fighter pull up style.  Using rings.  A total of 16 pull ups.  I will add 1 rep next week.

Push-ups were 2, 2,3,4,5 - opposite rep scheme of the pull-ups.  Again I will add 1 rep next week.

20 minutes of running, 25/25 SLDLs, 16 pullups, 16 pushups.

Also lots of hanging by the pull-up rings to stretch out lats, etc.

As I write this Monday morning, I had a feeling at the end of this that recovery for KB work by the next morning was going to be a a challenge, and I would need to adjust KB work accordingly.  I did that, as posted on today's training.

6/27/14 Friday June 27, 2013 (training with Kevin, long walk, TGU, DB 20kg FSQ)

6:00am - Training with Kevin -

It has been a long time, five weeks, since I last worked with Kevin.  Obviously a lot has happened, mostly a lot of rehab work as chronicled in the blog.  We focused our time today on a full FMS screen and then some different breathing and mobility drills, which are designed to help facilitate the rehab.  Definitely the breathing drills were really good, belly breathing being the most obvious, which seemed to automatically open up my shoulders.   There is no doubt breathing is an aspect of this as my scalenes on the R side of my neck have been one of the tightest spots, and these are key in holding up the neck and in breathing.   Also did some 1/2 kneeling movements designed to open up the hips and shoulders, again, these are very useful.  Sounds like I will be doing some pressing out of these positions at some point which will be good.  In any event we got some good ideas and Kevin will be writing me up some movements to work on in the next couple of weeks which should be good.

7:15 - end training, breakfast with Kevin

8:30am - 9:30am - long walk around Greenlake 3 1/2 miles

10:30am - Pain free exercises 30 minutes

11:00am - Kettlebell warm ups

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

11:15am - Training session - 20kg TGU,  DB FSQ

Circuit, 5x:
20kg TGU 1/1
DB 20kg FSQ, 5

Finish - CL and rack hold 20kg, 1/1, walking in place, 5/5 steps

Waiter's walk carry, in place, 5/5 steps, 20kg, 1/1

11:45am - Complete

12:30pm - Deep tissue massage

Notes - Felt great.  Good walk, good KB training, all good movements for me, will keep with these, did things inside my house thus the walking in place which worked fine.  Rack holds and the waiter's walks / farmer carries are good for me right now.   Massage was really good, really worked some spots in the neck and deep in the base of my neck at the scapula area, therapist noted things had improved quite a bit in 2 weeks. I am on track reasonably well.  Need to get great rest the next days over the weekend and start again next week.

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.