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Always Be Smashing

A lot of soreness in the traps and lats today. I could kind of feel it coming on last night, so I preemptively decided to sleep in today. I figure it's a combination of heavy snatches and the soju&tuba work getting into the hard part of the program.

06/19 17:30

60min treadmill run/walk 4.3m
- 1W 50E 1W (0.33ST 1W)x6

EOD stretching sequence x1
 
06/20 10:45

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
KB1HS 10x6 48
SQT 3x5 255#
KB press 4x3 36
Pullups 4x3 25#
Grip circuit x3

Odd day. Not great swings, but gutted through them. Squats felt great - recovering some of the old college strength. I missed one rep on the right during set 2 of presses. I figure just not enough rest between the sets. I made a point of longer rests after that, no other misses.

I probably spent a solid hour doing grip work. Lots of rest between sets, so I could go heavy. I did some hanging leg tucks from a towel- felt awesome, but didn't feel safe doing more than 3 reps. One could easily dedicate a whole session to grip work.

EOD stretching sequence x1
 
Last night, after writing my post, I ended up having to go down to the gym to hit the bag for a while to blow off some steam, because I got really ticked off about some coaching/scheduling nonsense. And... wow, it was awesome. Hands felt heavy (in a good way) and destructive. Kicks felt sharp and clean. Must be doing something right...

Continuing to have issues with sleep. Didn't sleep well last night due to some lingering allergy issues.

06/22 07:00

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence

06/22 21:00

Cossack shoulder dislocates 2x8
DL 1x5 415#
SQT 3x5 290#
KB press 5x3 36
Pullups 5x3 25#

DL felt solid. Used chalk, was able to go double overhand on all reps, though grip was close to failure on the last rep.

There's definitely an art to the strict overhead press. In my desire to avoid any sort of cheat from the legs or spine, sometimes I forget to really drive out of the rack - just kind of push out slowly. A little more focus coming out of the rack helps a lot.

EOD stretching sequence x1
 
Energy issues continue. I tried to get up Tuesday to go run, but sat on the coach, and just melted right in. Had baseball practice in the evening, and was just drained after that. Tuesday was just a missed opportunity.

I'd like to tell myself that this is all because my body is in the process of reconstructing an awesome weighted squat pattern, and it'll all work out great... but I think some of it is also just getting too comfortable skipping training. Need a kick in the arse at some point.

06/24 06:30

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
50min treadmill run/walk 3.6m
- 1W 40E 1W (0.33ST 1W) x6

Volleyball in the evening. Went our standard 1-2. I really felt like I was moving well - good defense, hammered a couple of hits.

HRP 2x16
LTK 2x5
SL calf raise 2x9
EOD stretching sequence x1
 
Alexander Halford said:
I think you're a bit hard on yourself. If your mind commanded to run in the morning, and body didn't obey, there's more to it than being lazy.
Click to expand...
True wisdom here. Our sub-conscious minds only let our conscious mind know a fraction of what is being monitored in the overall system of the body. And then the signals are usually pretty blunt. Pain. A need to slow down. Flat out stopping. An inability to get off the couch. The body wants to stay alive more than it wants to excel or hit a new PR. Whether it is in an event or managing overall training load, we really have a pretty limited ability to "decide" how hard to go. Which is why the kind of toughness that @WhatWouldHulkDo and many others have on this forum is what it takes to make real progress. If you can't go on the Tuesday that doesn't mean you don't try again on Wednesday or Thursday. Every day is another day to see what your body will give you.
 
Last couple of days have been wrecked (training wise) due to travel. Today I managed to double-dip on hotel gym sessions.

06/26 08:30

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence

06/27 07:30

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
45min treadmill run/walk 3.2m

06/27 18:30

KB overhead cossack squats 2x4 12
Burpees 30x2/3 (66/33% by dice)
Wall partial handstand pushups 4x3 6"
Neutral-grip pullups 4x3

Experimented with assistance on the handstand pushups. 8", too high. 4", too low. 6", appropriate... though really, I'm not a big fan of any sort of partial ROM movement. Hotel gyms just don't have anything heavy enough for a meaningful overhead press, unfortunately.
 
Alexander Halford said:
I think you're a bit hard on yourself.
Click to expand...

Yeah... but I'm kind of a jerk, so I deserve it. ?

Tim Randolph said:
The body wants to stay alive more than it wants to excel or hit a new PR.
Click to expand...

Yeah... stupid body. ?

offwidth said:
Discretion is always the better part of valor...
Click to expand...

True... but the celebratory booze is a close second. ?


I know you guys are right... but I've also got this massive ego to wrestle with. I'll get control of him someday.
 
06/28 07:00

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence

This was one of the most fun days of watching softball I've ever had. My daughter's team made it to the championship game of the tournament. The pitcher for the team they played was having a no-hit tournament- this team was just crushing people. Her first at bat, my daughter took that pitcher to deep center field for a solid double - busted that no-hit wide open. So awesome! We ended up losing 4-2, but everybody who watched that game knew they had just watched a great battle. Glorious.

During the pregame warmups, I was off to the side of the stands running through the Flexible Steel mobility sequence, and one of the parents from the opposing team joked with me, "sir, you're not warming up to play, are you?" Reason #729 to be strong: a little intimidation factor to the other teams' parents. Don't start no stuff, won't be no stuff. ?

06/29 08:30

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
60min treadmill run/walk 4.3m
- 1W 58E 1W

... followed by a long drive back home. Try to get back on a normal training schedule tomorrow.

EDIT: fix date
 
Last edited:
06/30 06:00

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
60min treadmill run/walk 4.5m
- 1W 14E (9T 1W)x2 24E 1W

I am so much happier training in the morning when I don't feel like I need to race the clock. Which unfortunately means, when life gets real again, I need to do less stuff in the morning - no more 90 minutes sessions.

Had baseball practice in the afternoon, and I was just drained afterwards - it never fails to surprise me how tiring it can be just standing around telling kids what to do. Was pretty close to just flopping down on the coach and bagging training for the evening, but found a little energy after dinner.

06/30 09:15

Cossack shoulder dislocates 2x8
KB snatch 14x5 36
SQT 3x5 290#
KB press 3x3 36
Pullups 3x3 25#

Worked on the @Pavel Macek lion roar during snatch practice today. My natural position was already to have the off arm pointed down, but putting some focus into the back and upswings really made things feel snappy, so I did a couple extra sets.

Paid for it in the presses, though. Presses kind of felt like every rep was flirting with failure, which is just not a good way to train. So I cut that off early.
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
Presses kind of felt like every rep was flirting with failure, which is just not a good way to train. So I cut that off early.
Click to expand...

Good choice. The people who always say, "Train to failure " cause me to do my best Inigo Montoya impression. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
While one wants to stop a weight training set when they have reached the limits of their success, one doesn't want the pain and injury and medical attention and time away from training that comes from outright failure.
 
Took Wednesday off. Was up a little late the night before, and that evening was my son's first baseball game of the season. Awesome, but draining.

Woke up feeling lousy on Thursday. Stuffy, itchy throat, and a sore elbow to boot. Hard to get going, but felt better as the day went on.

07/02 07:00

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence

07/02 21:15

Cossack shoulder dislocates 2x8
KB1HS 12x6 48
SQT 3x5 290#
KB press 4x3 36
Pullups 4x3 25#

Missed one rep on the right on last set of presses. That cuts it- time to hit reset on press work, I'm just not primed for a test in a week. Not sure what to do... maybe take another run at ROP with a light bell, I don't know. Will lay off it till Monday while I think about it.

HRP 2x16
LTK 2x5
SL calf raise 2x9
EOD stretching sequence x1
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
Not sure what to do... maybe take another run at ROP with a light bell, I don't know. Will lay off it till Monday while I think about it.
Click to expand...
When was the last time you has a full week off from anything heavy? It seems like you are due for a break. Run a bit and do some mobility work and enjoy your kids’ baseball.

When I did that a couple of months ago, it really recharged me. 6+ months of S&S had really ground me down and I was about the last person to know. The week after my break, I played with some lifts, did some 1RM testing and figured out my next program. I can tell you it was a lot easier to do that figuring when I was rested then when I was driving with the emergency brake on.
 
07/03 07:00

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
60min treadmill run/walk 4.5m
- 1W 14E (4T 1W)x4 24E 1W

Tired legs on this run, tough to keep the HR down.

Took the rest of the weekend off to try to get stuff done around the house. Probably spent 10 hours total in the garage putting up more storage, and I still can't get my car in there yet. ?
 
07/06 06:30

Trifecta
Shoulder sequence
Heavy bag work

This morning felt really good - relaxed, easy, fun. But, after baseball practice in the afternoon, I completely crashed into the dirt - feel asleep hard about an hour after dinner. Continue to be in a low-point for energy, coupled with minor grumbling from the wrist and elbow. Particularly disappointing after taking the weekend off from anything too strenuous, but obviously just says I need longer.
 
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