7/28/14 Monday July 28, 2014 (TGU/BUP/SLDL/PR/1HSW)

700am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 45 minutes (moving slowly, lots of tissue work)

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
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

8:00am - Training session - TGU ladders, BU PR, SL DLs, PR practice, 1H SW

3x:
16kg TGU, 1/1
20kg TGU, 1/1
24kg, TGU, 1/1
16kg BU PR, 1/1
24kg SL DL, 3/3

16kg TK PR, 5/5
20kg PR, 3/3, x 2
24kg PR, 2/2, x 3

24kg 1H SW, 10/10, 5 mins on the minute (100 reps)

8:50am - Complete

Notes - Well.... better than last week at least. I started out slowly, I don't think I am that well recovered from the last couple of weeks.  I need to get some sleep. With that said all of the movements felt easy, and once I got started I moved a lot quicker than last week.  Still just getting through the first part of the training up until presses took 35 minutes.  I didn't feel like I was going slowly but all of the up, down, switching bells etc. I guess just takes time.  Pressing and the 1H SW to finish went very quickly.  TGUs are feeling good and smooth, press groove felt good, focusing on pushing into the bell with my forearm, I like how that creates a good groove and it also seems to help me keep my shoulder and lat down and not shrugging which my body wants to do.  1H SW was easier than last week, grip on the R hand also improved which was a good sign.

7/26/14 Saturday July 26, 2014 (interval running / pullups and pushups)

Got going Saturday afternoon, headed to the turf soccer field at Greenlake again for sprinting.  Body felt pretty darn good.

This is how it went down. Sprint,  pistols, SL DLs, walk to pull-up bar, pull-ups, push-ups, walk back to sprint again.  5 rounds.  Reduced the sprints down to 5 from 10 last week on Kevin's advice.

Pull ups were 6,5,4,3,2 - Fighter pull up style.  Using rings.  A total of 20 pull ups, up one from last week as planned.

Push-ups were 2,3,4,5,6 - opposite rep scheme of the pull-ups.  Up one rep from last week as planned.

Sprinting felt good, powerful, about 18-19 second sprints.  Focused on trying to get my knees up and long strides.

Pistols - got 1/1 each round, pretty solid, improving from last week.  L leg is harder than the R leg, harder to get down all the way into the hole on the L, back also wants to round forward, I am trying to pull damn hard with the my lats and lock the glutes.  I will keep at it, singles are absolutely fine right now, I am going to re-read the Naked Warrior for some tips.

Pull-ups were excellent, first time going up to a first set of 6, that was tougher but felt good.  Interesting as the last round with the 2 I saw a think branch on a tree and decided to try some overhand grip pullups on that branch.  At the very top of the pull my L shoulder did not like it.  Could be a combination of the branch being thick, and also I have been doing pull-ups on rings, essentially neutral grip.  I really, really like the neutral grip and I think my body does as well.  The overhand grip and even chins, kind of wonder how I would react to those after this little experience.  It would be good to mix it up but really at this time I only have access to those rings.  Like I said though, I think my body responds better to a ring or neutral grip anyway.  Push-ups are strong.  I am going to look to try and start some regressions to build towards a 1 arm, 1 leg push up from Naked Warrior.  I can see that in my future.

7/25/14 Friday July 25, 2014 (16kg TGU, DB 20kgs SW/CL/SQ)

6:50am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 minutes

7:20am - 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
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

7:35am - Training session - 20kg TGU  / 32kg Hike Swing Park, 20kg SW / SN

10 minutes of
16kg TGU, 1/1, pausing at every step to check form

Did 8 get-ups total

15 minutes of
DB 20kgs SW 5, CL 3, SQ 2

Got in 11 rounds in 15 minutes.  55 DB 10kgs SW, 33 DB CL, 22 DB SQ

8:10am - Complete

Notes - Good day.  Body felt good this morning yet again.  Things are going very well here, the body is responding pretty well I think to this training stimulus of more volume, lighter weights.  This is great.  Got a deep tissue massage yesterday late afternoon which helped with recovery, tighter spots etc.  Did 10 minutes of slow and measured getups with the 16kg, a lot of emphasis on lockout of the elbow in every stage of the movement.  Feeling good and confident.  The complex with DB 20kgs was tough on the grip for sure.  Day after snatching for the first time in two months, my grip was challenged particularly my R hand for some reason.  I keep trying to bury the handle of the bell deeper and deeper into my palm on my R side, take pressure off the elbow, really try to snap the hips and keep the shoulder locked in.  Pretty good results.  Felt nice to squat again with double bells, but almost felt a little out of practice as it's been a couple of weeks since I did this and had been doing a ton of DB squatting for a month.  I was pleased with the density, 11 rounds in 15 minutes was good pacing, my rest periods were short.  I was pretty on point this morning.   Did yard work today in the afternoon, then sanded a table for the backyard this evening as I sit here writing this at 11pm.  Elbows, forearms and wrists really got a workout today and this week in general.  Lacrosse ball work is in order now.

7/24/14 Thursday July 24, 2014 (20kgTGU/32kgHSP, 20kg SW/SN)

6:30am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 45 minutes including kids waking up

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, 2+2
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

7:30am - Training session - 20kg TGU  / 32kg Hike Swing Park, 20kg SW / SN

3x:
20kg TGU, 1/1
32kg HSP, 5 singles

15 minutes of
20kg 1H SW, 5, SN 5, switch hands, SW 5, SN 5, set bell down

Got in 10 rounds in 15 minutes.  100 1H SW, 100 SN

8:00am - Complete

Notes - Solid.  Body felt good, mobility is pretty good these days, got to keep it up.  Talking me less time to warm up and with less body parts that feel like they need extra attention, etc.  All good.  TGUs were solid, hike swing parks good with the 32kg.  Snatching - have not snatched at all in quite some time, actually it's close to 2 months at this point.  I should have expected a few challenges but honestly thought it would go a little bit better in certain ways.  Conditioning was ok, but not great.  Something to keep working on.  Technique was good on the R side for the SN, but I was frustrated with the L as I felt as I was not getting into lockout very well, and my elbow on the L I think was taking a little too much force / was having to work too hard with that arm.  Frustrating.  I just could not seem to get crisply into lockout on about 2 out of every 5 reps.  Power was not as good as I would have hoped for. I tried a deeper hinge and tried to slow down each rep, that certainly helped a bit, but it just was not clean enough.  On the other hand the R side felt crisp, not a lot of wasted motion, and the bell right up into lockout smoothly.  I am anticipating my elbow and forearm on the L will need some lacrosse ball and other myofascial release, they will likely tighten up a bit.  Snatching is a tough movement for me.  I think it brings up some of my asymmetries. It's also a movement though where I get great body composition gains and I think it helps me on other lifts as well, and its a challenge I like trying.  With that said I don't think I do well with high volume snatching.  If my technique was tighter it would probably be fine, but I need to keep getting better.  Once a week is plenty at this volume, an alternative would be to sprinkle very low volume into multiple days but Kevin and I can look to that at some future point.

7/23/14 Wednesday July 23, 2014 (warmup, walk)

7:30am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling), some OS resets - 15 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
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

8:30am - walk at Greenlake (1 1/2 miles)

9:00am - Complete

Notes - Felt good this morning but yet again to bed too late last night.  Need to improve and do it immediately starting tonight.  Snatching tomorrow, looking forward to to it.

7/22/14 Tuesday July 22, 2014 (TGU/BU SQ/RR, GSq/2H SW ladder)

6:30am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling), some OS resets - 45 minutes including kids waking up

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, 2+2
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

7:30am - Training session - TGU ladders, BU SQ, RR on box, GSq / 2H SW ladder

3x:
16kg TGU, 1/1
20kg TGU, 1/1
24kg, TGU, 1/1
16kg BU SQ, 1/1
16kg RR on box, 6/6

GSq / 2H SW ladder:
24kg GSq, 10
24kg 2H SW, 10/10
24kg GSq, 9
24kg 2H SW, 9/9
and so on until
24kg GSq, 1
24kg 2H SW, 1/1

55 reps GSq, 55 reps 2H SW

8:30am - Complete

Notes - Pretty good day.  I had an s-load of work so didn't get to bed early enough, that wasn't a great start.  Got up a little earlier though and got started with mobility earlier, so that is a plus.  Have to keep working at this so I can truly get up at 5:30am and be ready to go.  Body felt good, no ill effects really from yesterday's volume training so that was good to see.  Movements felt good and strong today, TGU elbow lock continues to be a focus.  Goblets were very strong, Kevin's tip to move the bell away from my chest and really squeeze the horns, lock down those traps has been a good one, I like how that movement is feeling for sure.  2H SW is very powerful, if only with the 24kg, definitely I have a more powerful swing now.  Will be interesting to eventually get back to the big bells at some point and see what I can do with them.  Recovery and sleep tonight, brisk walk at Greenlake tomorrow morning for active recovery.

7/21/14 Monday July 21, 2014 (TGU/BUP/SLDL/PR/1HSW)

7:45am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling), some OS resets - 60 minutes (moving very slowly, lots of tissue work)

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, 2+2
Arm bar 12kg with 3 presses, 1/1

9:00am - Training session - TGU ladders, BU PR, SL DLs, PR practice, 1H SW

3x:
16kg TGU, 1/1
20kg TGU, 1/1
24kg, TGU, 1/1
16kg BU PR, 1/1
24kg SL DL, 3/3

16kg TK PR, 5/5
20kg PR, 3/3, x 2
24kg PR, 2/2, x 3

24kg 1H SW, 10/10, 5 mins on the minute (100 reps)

10:00am - Complete

Notes - Interesting day in a variety of ways.  I am tired.  No doubt about it.  Woke up late, didn't even hear my alarm.  I did sleep soundly at least.  I realized I have burned it now for a good solid week, and things are catching up with me.  Variety of things including work events, traveling to Spokane and back, then traveling to Portland over the weekend for family time.  I absolutely positively must focus on recovery and quickly for the next several days.  Extra sleep is critical.  Body actually feels good in some ways, but I am headed for an issue if I don't get properly rested.  This showed up today in the sense that I moved extremely slowly through everything.  I am mean SLOW.  Warm-ups, sets, etc.  Didn't do anything quickly.  I was using light weights which was a good thing.  This is a new cycle I have started with Kevin - lighter weights, more volume, starting to prep for SFG in November.  It makes a lot of sense what we are doing here but I need to ensure I can make progress by being properly recovered and rested for these sessions.  I was not today but at least I realize it and can make immediate adjustments.  The sprint and pull-up work yesterday may have contributed a bit as well.  It's generally better for me when I can get that work in on Saturdays instead of Sunday, but you do what you can.