Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tonight's Fun

Tonight was short and sweet, once again tempered by the Gym Movement ideology.

Was 2 full ladders with the grippers, same resistance as yesterday, but for sets of 2-4. Stopped when I suddenly hit a block with the CoC 2.0 on the third ladder. The grippers beat out BU Curls.

Next up was ballistic work, either with Swings or LCCJ. Long cycle won out, two arms over one, with heavier resistance beating out light. Not sure if this is how you choose resistance, but seemed to work. 5 ladders of 2/4/6, with a 32 kg and 16 kg, switching KBs between arms each ladder. Stopped after 5th ladder when the rep started to feel a little off.

Followed it all up with a single set of standing rollouts with two home-made ab wheels (thanks Rosstraining.com).

Everything was well before failure. 32 kg flew up, and I noticed it barely felt like more resistance than the 16 kg. What does that mean? Guess I am getting stronger. Felt great after, almost like I had done nothing. Now for tons of food and bed.

Yesterday's mayhem

Have not been posting as much as I should, but I am endeavouring to spend less time attached to electronics. But my training has been going on regardless of my absence from my blog. I am also quite active in the forums, so I am still connected to the scene.

After giving it a lot of thought and toying with it during several training sessions, I gave The Movement protocols a try.

INSANE!!!! I have never put that much volume at that intensity in any training session and walk away that fresh. Just applying the little I know about the methods had a massive impact: no exercise affected the one following it, regardless that I was moving some serious poundage. Given they are not my personal bests, but due to the absence of these exercises from my training for a long period, and the poundages I am able to handle after just a short time of reimplementing them, I consider the entire workout one huge PR as the poundages and intensity I applied came FAR, FAR sooner than expected.

I have returned to my roots in regards to training, following a similar layout that got me to my massive one-arm press PR. One I WILL break.

The workout:

Bottoms-Up Curls - 20 lbs. KB - What are these? Curls holding the KB by the handle and crush-gripping it as you curl. At the top of the curl, it should look similar to the start of a BUP. I put in 5 sets of 4-5 reps, each one as fresh as the one before, ending the movement altogether when I noticed a bit more effort required on the last set.

Gripper Work - my usual ladders going up through the CoC 1, 1.5, 2, and chocked 2.5 at the top for 4 ladders, a single with a 3-5 second pause at the fully squeezed positions. Ended when the top end singles got harder.

Clean & FSQ - 110 lb. KB - 2 sets of 2, one clean to one FSQ, just to get things going. Were easy. LOVE the bracing effect it triggers in the abdominal wall.

TGUs - 110 with 2 free-swinging 10 lb weights - 4 singles, left and right, of full TGUs. Kept them going until the last one got tougher, then done.

One-arm Rows s/s with Teeth lifts - 130 with 24 kg KB for rows w/ 2x16 kg KBs for teeth lifts - What are teeth lifts? I bend at the waist, bite down on a piece of rope attached to the two 16kg KBs, then with my face towards the floor holding the weight with only bite power, I perform neck work to the posterior. I have an extremely strong anterior neck musculature as a carryover from football as a teen, so I have to constantly work on my posterior musculature to balance it out our it messes with my thoracic and cervical spine alignment. Anyways, the set/rep scheme was 2 sets of 4-6 for each arm on the rows, and 5 sets of 5 for the teeth lifts. Ended when they got a little tough on the teeth lift.

One-arm MP - 110 lbs. alternated with 32 kg KB - I would perform a heavy set of 3 reps with 32kg with each arm, then perform a set of 1-3 reps with 110. I have experimented extensively with this before, and find that it makes my heavy reps that much more explosive, the form tighter, and the musculature suprisingly fresh and reset. I believe that these are also known as complex sets, but I crush down the rests to when I feel fresh, but not fully recovered. 4 complex sets per side.

One-arm Deadlifts - 205 lbs, made up of the 110 lbs., 32 kg, and 20 lbs. KBs - 2 sets of 10-15 per side. These suprised the hell out of me. After all of the above, and still raring to go. Was gassed after these, but every rep was quick and controlled, with a perfect hip snap at the top.

Seems like a lot, but my body thrives on this type of assault. Was my regular training style when I logged my monsterous press poundages. Works for me, might not for you. But you are not me.

This morning, except for some tightness, I had no other leftovers from that kind of punishment. The Movement methodology is the real deal people. Each of my exercises, with the exception of the TGUs, was tested, and the best choice used. The result was a suprising training session that left me hungry for more. My fridge paid the price afterwards.

Today might be LCCJ, or some other lighter volume work. Dunno. Will see what the testing results in.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Too long away from this blog....

Has been a vicious year, with a lot happening in all facets of modern living for me, culminating in the correction of a severely deviated septum one week ago today.

Trained when my health or circumstances have allowed, with PRs coming regularly enough to keep me as hopelessly addicted to the iron as I have always been. Since the surgery, easier breathing has increased my training levels energy-wise, and it showed up yesterday:

Gripper work: ladders in my usual fashion upto CoC 2.0, for singles L/R for a few ladders. Followed up with choked 2.5 closes. I am losing top-end strength since bottoming out my volume per set, so going back to what has worked for me. Some of us thrive on volume, and for me, singles outside of MP, TGUs, and DLs are useless.

Warm-up: Swing-clean-bent press combos for 10/7/4 rep setups before switching hands. Gets the blood moving. With a 24 kg.

Presses a la RTK: seven ladders of 1,2 with a 16 kg and what I found to be 113 lbs in the other. Curiosity in my difficulties in what was feeling like a very heavy 93 lbs KB turned out to be more than I thought it was. Checked it a few times to be sure. I attach ankle weights to my KBs to make them MORE unstable (keeps my rotators challenged) and must have grabbed the 10s instead of 5 lb weights. Ah well. Not complaining here. Weighing in at 230 lbs, that is a good training weight percentage with KBs.

Deadlifts: weights used from pressing, as per RTK, but going with one-arm lifts with both held in the same hand. Needed a change, and resurrected this gem from my past. 2x20 L/R. Moved a decent amount of iron, and loved it.

Going to resurrect my old training style when I set my pressing PR last year. Google mbunting9999 on YouTube, and you will see what I mean.

That was all. Will be getting back in touch with Josef on the DD forums. Dig up his articles. The man is a mad genius.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Gone but still Training

Has been a very complicated and busy few months, and have not been posting as of late. But enough excuses.

Lately, I have been playing with combining RTK with Convict Conditioning. Suprisingly, they fit very well. Whether I use one before the other in the same session, or alternate them throughout the week, they seem to fit in a suprising comfortable manner. Due to the two different angles they work on, they seem to compliment each other. And the fact that I can train, warm-up to cool down, in as little as 30 min. 45 if I do both in one session. And the progressions keep coming.

As Adam Glass states, I am posting new PRs every workout. ARE YOU?

Grippers are coming along. Expect the CoC 2.5 to fall by summer of this year, and if I can stay focused on it through the chaos, the 3 by years end. I WANT THESE.
I have been training hard with filled down grippers, and they really help with the standard final close.

As for pressing, I am not sure how to approach it. From the perspective of bringing up the bottom level to provide a stronger base for new 1RM PRs, I will have to experiment. All I know is that 36 kg feels like a babyweight, and have been taking my time with progressions in weight as I wanted to give my shoulder joints some rest (was coming close to an injury at the end of the last year).

Picked up steel bending again. 60Ds fall easily, have not retested myself on the Blue nail. I choose very tough 60D nails, and find them easier than the Blue nails, until I cut the blue nails to 5 inches. 4.5 inches sucks (big hands, so nowhere to grip when I bend DU). Also use less wrap than most, and am going to transfer over to the blue ironmind wraps (forget what they are called).

Only problem I have is stopping my thighs from chaffing. CC is partly to blame, genetics another, and the Metabolic Diet I have adopted. Years of retraining my body to be more efficient via the Warrior Diet have made it easier, and because of my new training style and the anabolic response from the increased protein levels I am eating, I am leaner at my current size than I ever have been, and have the strength levels of myself at 250 lbs. I am around 230. CC plus RTK plus the Metabolic Diet equals muscle without bodyfat. Just have to keep an eye on your acidity levels.

Will start logging my training sessions again.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Haven't posted, but have been training....

To quote National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation": "it's the holidays, and we're all in misery". The sad part is we make this time of year unnecessarily complicated. My resolution is to not do that in the new year.

Anywho, training was short and sweet:

Warm-up: Swing/Clean/Bent Press combo, one set of 5 per arm, with 24 kg. Not too little, but just enough to get the blood going.

Presses a la RTK - 32 kg and 24 kg kbs with 2.5 lb plate taped to each. Scaled back from last set of training, where 5 ladders to 5 with another 5 lbs attached to each. Double MP are new to me with KBs, and decided to scale back before I aggrivated the muscle I pissed off a few months ago. Nailed 7 ladders of 5 with the slightly lighter weight for the second time. Volume is my mistress, it seems. Will go back to really heavy iron again, as a one-arm press with 75% of my bodyweight is my goal for the end of next year, or maybe the year after that. A handful of months building a new foundation will make my 145 just a stepping stone ;)

Weighted Pullups - From 8 kg to 30 kg, then 24 kg, all for singles, followed immediately with a double with BW, following my strict and explosive setup. Each "complex set" preceeded each ladder. My new goal with this is half BW from my waist for a single by the end of next year (right now, that is 120 lbs).

Deadlifts a la RTK - 2 x 24 and 16 kg, for 2 sets of 20. Second set may have been for 25, but I am not sure. Sometimes I hit a zone where I almost black out and do not remember how many reps I did. This happened a year ago when I took on a guy about 45 lbs of muscle bigger than me, and smashed him in a DL competition for 405 for 3, then 315 for 23, 5 reps of which I do not remember. And in case you are wondering, I had only deadlifted twice before this after a 2 year layoff, handling nothing more than 205 in the Zercher DL (from ground). This is what KB style training will do for you.

No grippers, no grip work at all. Gave them a day off. Have also started up on the Anabolic/Metabolic Diet, having had enough with the Warrior Diet for the last 6 years. This will go for a while, then I will most likely try to blend the two into a hybrid, something expressly forbidden by both. To bad for them.

Tomorrow is Ataturks, and snatches, plus grip work, if I do not get to post. Ciao for now.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Hard training and exams

Being in a Paramedic program, and surrounded by final exams and evaluations for this semester, getting online is tough. Regardless, training is going on, and progressing quickly.

Toda's fun:

Gripper ladders - Trainer to 2.0. Sets of 4 each. Almost got the 2.5 in the bag. Still a few weeks of training left in the year. will have it by then ;)

Warm-up - 24 kg - Swing and Bent Press combo, one set per side, 5 reps per exercise.

Presses a la RTK - 5 ladders,5 rungs, with 24 kg plus 5 lb plate and 32 kg plus additional 7.5 lbs. 2.5 lbs per side makes for enough of an increase to feel. Made the last rep of the last rung of the last ladder, 5 ladders 5 rungs, switching weights each ladder. Will stick with these weights for a few more workouts before making it more difficult.

Pullups - 16 kg and BW - Weighted singles followed by BW triples, same strict and fast setup as previously written. These preceeded each press ladder. I have used the same type of contrast sets for other lifts, and all have had great results, as both muscle fibre types are utilized.

Snatches - 2 ladders per side, 24 kg + 5 lb plate, 2/4/6/8. Wanted to get 3, but recent alterations in my diet let me a little empty in the tank. will adjust that for next time. Weights flew easily, very strong hip snap, and solid punch through. Slow and steady dialed in my forn nicely, and is keeping the numbers coming steadily. Will leave this alone.

That was it. Short and sweet. Also have been preceeding my training with 2-arm and 1-arm handstand training for a few sets each, to shake the dust off of that. One-arm hanstand holds will take your pressing into the stratosphere. Combined with TGUs and regular stretching, and you will have no reason but to reach elite pressing levels.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Training, but not writing

After having accepted Adam Glass' challenge of training harder this month than any other in recent memory, to combat the December body-swelling epidemic, I have been busting a nut or three, but have been too lasy to write them in.

To save time and space, this is today's fun only:

Gripper training - 2 ladders, 4 rungs, from CoC T to 2.0, 4 reps apiece. Followed by Choked ladders, same sets and reps and resistance.

Warm-up - 24 kg kb + 5 lb plate taped on - one set of 5 of Swings+Cleans+Bent presses, done subsequently, 15 reps total, per side. Does the job.

Presses - 32 kg + 5 lb ankle weight & 24 kg kb + 5 lb plate taped on - a la RTK. 5 ladders, 5 rungs, switching weights after each ladder. Not including squats, as knees are not feeling 100% due to drastic temperature drop as of late (lots of damage from rough sports). But TGUs are allowing me to get some leg training in. Also, my genetics predispose me to being built like a pack horse, so leg strength and size is all to easy to develop. If anything, my legs have been growing from teh lack of work :P

Weighted Pullups - 20 kg and BW - same setup as last time I posted. Before, in between, and after ladders of presses. Single with weight followed by double with BW, first very strict, latter for speed and acceleration under control. Getting good results from these, and they nicely reset the shoulders for the next ladder.

Snatches - 24 kg + 5 lb plate taped on - 5 ladders left and right of 2/4/6. Still plodding along. Time to move up the ladders a bit. No hurry on these. Performing these every other day, so watching the volume. Really want to dial these in, and it is working well.

That was it. A protein shske, some eggs, and bed. Ciao for now.

Also, I have joined the snatch race officially at the following link: http://www.personaltrainingmanager.com/sc.asp?f=cp

Jump in, and watch your waist shrink.