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training to support bjj

Made it back from this year's edition of the summer trip that threw my shoulder out of whack last year, due to some combination of paddling (canoes and kayaks) and swimming. The shoulder was a little sore after all that, and did feel a tad sore on my first session after, but recovered right away and has been 100% since.

Mixing in more sets with the 20kg starting next session.
 
Early August update: pretty similar to the early July one. We did another week away, lots of hiking, some swimming and paddling boats, and my shoulder held up just fine.

Energy levels not back to normal yet after half a week home. Have regressed back to just two sets with the 20kg, and even that feels like pushing it. Will keep on at this level until swings are a bit snappier, and then work my way back to where I was before leaving (just starting on 6 sets)
 
session #40 in the books, not counting maybe a dozen sessions working up to 10x10 one arm swings. Feeling good. Back to working on 6 sets with the 20kg. The 16kg is finally feeling more like a toy.

There seem to be a number of reasons why this attempt at S&S is going so much better than previous ones for me. I think one significant one is the Pavel M quote from "why people fail on S&S": gents doing S&S with 16kg, but adding pushups and pullups and this and that. I was definitely guilty of that in the past. This time through, I'm just trusting in the process and saving my recovery ability for the program, and voila, progress!
 
Session #56 done. 3 more and I should be done with the 16kg, other than warmups.

Saw the note in today's newsletter about the virtual TSC Oct 31, and it got me thinking. My current goal is absolutely Timeless Simple, and I'd been assuming that training for the TSC would be counterproductive to that, especially given that I'm continuing to manage some gimpiness from my shoulder (best it's been in years, I'd like to keep it that way!).

And yet, it would be nice to get a baseline for where the last 3 months of training have got me to, and to give me something to compare to at next spring's TSC, when I should be pretty close to timeless simple. So now I'm thinking about what kind of minimal training I could do to at least let me participate in the TSC without injuring myself.

I have done the TSC a few times before. Best results were 345# dl (I did weight about 12 pounds more then -- if I could do it now, that'd be double bodyweight), 8 pullups, and maybe 108 20kg snatches. It's mostly the snatches that are of some concern, as I'm only swinging the 20kg right now. By Oct 31 I should be doing 4 sets with the 24kg.

Will probably ponder this some more & post something to the TSC forum if it feels worth pursuing.
 
Mulled over this a bit more, and I think I have a plan.

Lately I've been doing S&S 5 times a week. I could modify that like so:
  • replace one session with snatches. probably start with 16kg and relatively low reps, working my way up to 100 reps with the 20kg by time of the TSC.
  • cut one S&S session down to 4-6 sets, and then do deadlifts ala Q&D + Minimalist Deadlifts | StrongFirst
  • GTG pullups
as long as I'm reasonable about loading and pacing, those seem like modest changes, and might not even throw me off the S&S progression.

Thinking I'll do my last 3 sessions at the current step, and then give this a try. If it doesn't work for whatever reason, no big deal, I can always return to straight S&S.
 
TSC: after giving it some more thought, I'm going to skip out on this fall.

Pullups have been a risky movement for my shoulder & elbow issues for years, and it's only been a few months that I've been able to consistently do one arm swings & TGUs without causing trouble for either. Why risk that progress? Timeless Simple is my goal, and doing the TSC doesn't get me any closer to that. There will be more TSCs in the future.

2 S&S sessions done using the 20kg for all reps. Excited to start working the 24kg in a few weeks from now.
 
On to the 24kg! This is a milestone, as I've never had the shoulder stability to do 10 reps of one-arm swings with the 24 until now. Looks like all the work of the last few months is paying off, as the first couple sessions with the 24kg have gone well.
 
Lost a week of training to a cold (spent half the week waiting on a covid test, came back negative). No idea where that could've come from...

Two more sessions using the 24kg for one set per side, then progressing. Seventy eight sessions completed.
 
88 sessions done now. Mostly done with the second step of 20kg -> 24kg.

I'm not recovering as well the last few weeks, not sure if it's the increased load from the 24kg, or some other factor. Will keep an eye on that, and maybe step back from 5x / week if needed.
 
Took 3 days off training, and now have done 3 on & it's feeling good. I'd been letting my bedtime creep back, which didn't help recovery.

6 sets with the 24kg is a challenge. The 20kg is starting to feel pretty light. This S&S 2.0 rate of progression continues to be right on.

Spent a few days tempted to put S&S on the shelf in favor of Geoff's C&P program. I think I've come to my senses though, I'm making progress on S&S, why screw that up?
 
Just did the 100th session of S&S. Pretty sure this is the longest I've followed a program (about 6 months).

Have been doing better at getting to sleep early, still not recovering great. Not sure if it's training or other factors. I've been on the current step (6 sets with 24kg) for 10 sessions / 16 days, will do another session or two before bumping up to 8 sets.
 
A few sessions to go until I'm doing all 24kg. Then 4 more weeks to the 32kg, looking forward to that!

My wife, who is not one to notice these sorts of things, recently mentioned "you look so much stronger lately". Kind of funny since I'm down 10 pounds from where I was six months ago, and I wasn't exactly overweight then. Partial credit to S&S, partial to carnivore.
 
So much for schedules... had some combination of overuse injuries and a cold or something for much of the month. Bounced around between all-20kg sessions, thought I was 100% recovered & tried an all-24kg session, but I wasn't ready.

Coming at it more conservatively now, all 20kg until that's been solid for at least a week, then gradually working my way back to all 24kg.

Also, just signed up for Built Strong in January, pretty excited for that. Might start doing some barbell lifts in a few weeks so I'm in a better position to dive into that programming. Currently thinking that I'll drop S&S down to two days a week for 8-12 weeks so that I can run a block of Built Strong. Yeah it'll delay getting to Timeless Simple, but I think I'm fine with that. And I wonder if putting some meat on my upper body wouldn't actually help with the 32kg.
 
Confirmed yesterday that TGUs are aggravating whatever's going on with my shoulder, so I'll give those a rest for a week or so & build back nice and easy. Until then, S&S swings 2x weekly.

Also started back with 3x5 from Beyond Bodybuilding in preparation for Built Strong work. Doing presses, rows, zerchers, and curls. Everything super light for now. Feels good to be lifting the bar again after 7 months of just S&S.
 
even easy TGUs were irritating my shoulders, and all but the lightest swings have been irritating my forearms. I guess it's time to put S&S on the shelf for a bit.

Easy barbell lifts continue to be going fine. Psyched for Built Strong this weekend, should be in a decent position to slide into programming from that afterwards. Will try to fit in 10x10 swings a couple times a week.
 
Well, that was an interesting weekend! Fabio is a great presenter, and the Built Strong material is deep.

When signing up for the workshop, I missed the fact that this programming is designed for intermediate + lifters. By that, Fabio meant "meets SFL standards". I went to look those up, and nope, I'm not there. Back when training barbells regularly, I met a couple of the lower-body standards and came within 7% of the 1RM DL number. My presses, on the other hand, have never been that close.

Decided to test my 5RMs on the 4 tested lifts (MP, DL, squat, and floor press instead of bench) last night, and of course all my numbers are down relative to previous bests. Presses in particular around 75% of what they should be.

So, my current thinking is to spend some time getting stronger in the barbell lifts, with an emphasis on pressing. Juggling a few programming options, leaning towards a maximal version of 3 to 5, going with 5x5 in the bridge press, deadlift, and pendlay row for shoulder health. Once the DL & BP get closer to where I want, I can reassess how to get to the finish line.
 
slight change of plan. I haven't had much education in the barbell lifts, and I wondered what the baseline strong first barbell programming was these days, so I picked up the Barbell Fundamentals online course. Haven't been through all of it yet, but so far I'm glad I did.

The programming is more PTTP style, which is great, as I've made some of my best previous gains on PTTP straight from the original book. The programming here is streamlined and has ladders mixed in, and looks generally foolproof, which is great because I am a strength training fool.

So, next step is to dig into the bridge press material & find my starting weight. Then I'll do the same with the sumo deadlift, and it'll be off to the races.
 
Both the bridge press & sumo deadlift felt different enough that I ended up with lighter weights than I'd expected: 95 pounds on the bridge press, 165 for the DL. A few sessions into it now, and both are starting to feel a little more familiar.

For some reason I always thought sumo dl was insanely complicated, but it's starting to make sense. We'll see how it feels once I've worked up to some more serious weight. At 25 pounds increasing a week, shouldn't be too long.
 
7 sessions in now, 4 this week, and I have somehow managed to tweak my back. First noticed it yesterday on deadlifts, I think I was focusing on locking out my elbows, and forgot to wedge... sorer today, so I'll take a 3 day weekend and give it another try on Monday.

Lots of details to (re)discover so I am glad of the advice to start light and progress slowly. I am regretting dropping the barbell altogether over the last year while focusing on S&S. Next time I'm tempted to focus on kettlebell work, I should try keeping a day of 3x3 with a push & pull as is recommended in the barbell fundamentals programming.
 
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