11/7/14 Friday November 7, 2014 (24kg SN - snatch test passed)

7:10am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 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 12 kg, 2+2
Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

7:55am - Training session - 24kg SN

2x:
24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg SLDL, 3/3
24kg H2H SW, 5/5 (10 switches)

24kg SN, 10/10, very quick rest, 10/10 10/10, rest 10/10 10/10 - 100 reps in 4:45 (snatch test passed!!), rest, 10/10

120 reps - took me about 7 minutes total since I celebrated and rested a bit after hitting 100

8:25am - Complete

Notes - Well what else is there to say other than I finally passed the snatch test in practice training - 100 reps with the 24kg in 4:45.  Crushed my previous PR of 97 reps in 5 minutes.  I am feeling great about this breakthrough, I have the SFG in Vancouver next weekend and this is really going to give me the confidence that I can push through on day 3 and pass this test.  I will say the approach above of the 10/10, very quick rest, and then two sets of 40 with a rest between them is going to be the way I try to approach things on testing day.  I am excited.  A lot of the success today was probably attributable to better sleep.  Rest and recovery is really key.

11/6/14 Thursday November 6, 2014 (mobility, KB warm up, TGU, SLDL)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 30 minutes

7:30am - Break

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 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

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

2x

24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg SLDL, 3/3

9:15am - Complete

Notes - Tired this morning.  Way too tired.  Feeling under the weather and beaten up.  I definitely need to get some rest to kick this head and chest mini cold.  My sleeping patterns suck right now and is something I seriously need to improve.

11/5/14 Wednesday November 5, 2014 (DB 24kg circuit)

6:45am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 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, 2+2
Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses with rotation, 1/1

7:30am - Training session - DB 24kg circuit

24kg TGU to knee, 2/2
24kg GSq, 5
24kg 2H SW, 10

DB 24kg CL 2, set down
DB 24kg PR 2, set down
DB 24kg SQ 2

DB 24kg CL 3, set down
DB 24kg PR 3, set down
DB 24kg SQ 3

DB 24kg CL 5, set down
DB 24kg PR 5, set down
DB 24kg SQ 5

10 total reps of each movement

DB 24kg SW, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 (5 sets, 30 total reps)

7:50am - Complete

Notes - Good day, very good really.  I don't feel like I am doing much work at all these days, this is all pretty easy stuff actually.  I guess that is a good thing because I suppose in the past DB 24kgs would have felt much more challenging.  While I am certainly looking forward to getting back and working more with the heavier kettlebells, all of this time with the 24kg (single and doubles) I think has been very productive.

11/4/14 Tuesday November 4, 2014 (mobility, KB warm up, TGU, SLDL)

7:00am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 15 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, 2+2
Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

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

16kg TGU, 2/2
16kg SLDL, 5/5

7:45am - Complete

Notes - Tired this morning, body is trying to adjust to the time change over the weekend.  Felt pretty good all around though.  Want to be getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier, I need to man up and start setting a better habit on this.  Some mobility work today, kept it simple, double 24kgs tomorrow.  Looking forward to moving some weight.

11/3/14 Monday November 3, 2014 (S&S)

7:45am - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 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, 2+2
Arm bar 16kg with 3 presses with rotations, 1/1

8:30am - Training session - S&S, 28kg 1H SW, 24kg TGUs

24kg GSq, 10
24kg 2H SW, 20

28kg 1H SW, 10/10, on the minute for 5 minutes
100 reps

1 minute rest

24kg TGU, 1/1, x 5, 10 minute goal
10 reps, finished at 9:50

8:50am - Complete

Notes - Feeling good today, slept in, well rested the last couple of days which is a good recharge.  The swings were easier today, good hip snap, better wind too not as taxing.  Getups were solid, overhead position felt good.  I am encouraged.

11/1/14 Saturday November 1, 2014 (walking, pull-ups, planks)

My body is in a much different place a week later - which is a good thing.  The body work and chiro this week are definitely helping re-set some things.  Woke up this morning feeling good despite the hard snatch training session that I had just completed the previous afternoon.  Good sign.  I did notice the L shoulder as a bit tight as I got down to the lake around 5pm.  I did quite a bit of hanging from the rings to stretch the lats and shoulders, really helped tremendously.  Man I would love to have a pair of rings to hang from at home.  Would really be useful.

Based on Kevin's instructions, I am dropping pistols and push-ups in favor of walking, and keeping pull-ups.  So this is what I did:

Walking
5 pull-ups
Plank (hold for about 60-90 seconds)

Walking
4 pull-ups
Plank

Walking
4 pull-ups
Plank

Walking
3 pull-ups
Plank

Walking
2 pull-ups
Plank

I ended up walking over an hour, which was great.  When I was dealing with nagging health / body issues back in June, I used long walks around Greenlake to keep up my conditioning and help me get things back together, and those walks were really tremendous.  I continued to use them in July and August with nice weather, but in September and October I didn't get much walking in at all due to working, start of school for the kids, coaching soccer, and poor weather.  I was thinking about it and realized that simply adding in more walking is the best thing I can probably do right now.  So this was perfect.  The first set of 5 pull-ups definitely reminded me that I had just snatched 24 hrs earlier, but I banged those out ok, and things got progressively easier from there.  Came home, did some foam roll and a few mobility exercises on the shoulders, things are feeling good.

10/31/14 Friday October 31, 2014 (24kg SN)

3:10pm - FMS drills (belly breathing, soft tissue work, t-spine, 1/2 kneeling) - 45 minutes (some work on the lacrosse ball, roam roll)

3:55pm - 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 16kg with 3 presses and rotations, 1/1

4:10pm - Training session - 24kg SN

2x:
24kg TGU, 1/1
24kg SLDL, 3/3
24kg H2H SW, 5/5 (10 switches)

24kg SN, 10/10 10/10, rest, 10/10/10, rest 10, rest (5:20 elapsed time), 10/10, rest, 10, rest, 10

120 reps - took me about 9 minutes

4:45pm - Complete

Notes - Interesting.  I flew over to Spokane yesterday morning, very late night with my coworkers - good times but you pay for it the next day.  Had to get up early to meet with some our recruits starting bang at 8:30am which was painful, then back on a flight to Seattle - quick trip over and back.  I actually felt pretty good but when I started snatching and got to 70 reps, I was like - oh boy.  I knew I could either push it or be smart.  It's all about being smart - period - unless you are a rare circumstance ("on the platform" in a competition, or at the SFG when I actually have to try and pass this damn snatch test).  So I took my time on the final 40 reps and made sure I had quality reps.  Did my best today to keep the hips as the key ingredient, wait for the bell on the descent, try to throw it back between the legs and not down, etc.  These were good reps.  When I finished, the pump on my forearms was unbelievable.  It didn't alleviate for probably 10 minutes - crazy.  That 10/10 combo is a good one for me to work to get ready for the SFG test.  My strategy I think will be to go 10/10, very quick rest, 10/10 10/10, rest, 10/10 10/10 for 100 reps.  That is 2 rests and I think I can manage that.  Another tactic may be to go 10/10 10/10 rest 10/10 10/10 rest 10/10.  Not sure what to do but will keep thinking about it.  Either way I have a good feeling I can get to 80 reps in strong fashion but the last 10 are probably going to be just purely gutting it out.  finished the day by going to my chiropractor for the first time in months, just going to get back in a maintenance routine there as it helps my training to see him periodically.  Also picked up some fish oil and probiotics - I have not been using these supplements the last couple of months since I ran out, and I think they really help me.  Getting back in that groove too.