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SMalishev

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Hi guys, first post. I thought I would start this log to share my thoughts and any progress, as well as training diaries

A brief history (warning, contains rambling)
I read the S&S book earlier this year, and decided I wanted to give it a go. Pure strength training instead of "conditioning and more conditioning" as I recall was once said. I faithfully practiced convict conditioning in the past, but found that most of the things I was doing was not carrying into spheres of my daily life and that it lead to high-rep grinds which felt like overtraining.

I got started with S&S, and it felt incredible and was exactly what I was after. Unfortunately I came down with glandular fever after a month of S&S, and was completely wiped out. I knew I wanted to get back into the kettlebells, but didn't want to risk any fatigue, so stopped doing everything for a month or two (including the relax into stretch stuff I had been doing).

So fast forward to roughly four weeks ago, when I discovered the "4 Weeks to flexible steel" program. I figured it was a good entry back into training - and a bit of mobility would be great before then too

For a bit of context, i've always had a bit of an inflexibility problem. For example I could never touch my toes when growing up... ever....
well, on the last week of the 4 week program, I managed a toe touch. In hindsight, if I was told about such an effective, structured way to correct a history of inflexibility + desk job damage, I probably would not have believed it, or believed it required breaking oneself to accomplish.

In the meantime, I also discovered breathing training and by extension, meditation. both these things have made a marked difference in my life, and as i've discovered, my training. Definitely try the things outlined in the "Secrets of breath mastery" chapter in Simple and Sinister, and The Oxygen Advantage.


TL;DR starting S&S for a second time, after getting wiped out by a virus. This time I am wiser and ready to go forth and achieve the Simple goal

Thanks for reading, comments etc. are welcome :D
 
Also for statistics: Height : 182cm, Weight: 70kg (5'11" ish and 154 lbs in freedom units)

Today:
Swings 2 handed: 24kg 5x10
Get ups: 16kg 5x1
Meditation: 10 mins
Straw breathing: 10 mins
Walking: 20 mins
 
So, Weekly view:
I took a day off to allow hamstring DOMS to subside. It's gone now, i'm just left with some sore triceps today. Recovery the day after is getting better, but I want to be 100% with doing 50 swings and have good getups before increasing the swing volume. I think that's a conservative and safe way to get going again

Daily:
Swings 2H : 24kg 5x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1
Meditation 5~15 mins
Straw breathing: 0-10mins
Walking: 20 mins on working days
 
Just wanted to stop in to say that I like your title. Every time I plan out a cycle or start a new program, I say to myself, "THIS time I will do this perfectly (I will use perfect technique, I will eat a perfect diet, I will hit every rep as perfectly as possible, etc. etc.). Then, inevitably, I miscalculate the weight on the bar one day, or wake up with a crick in my neck that inhibits my pressing, or accumulate too much fatigue on deadlifts, etc. etc. I get really disappointed at those moments, because my dream of a "perfect" execution of my programming has gone out the window. However, I always learn something from those mistakes, and am slowly becoming a more knowledgable, "better" strength and mobility trainee as a result (y). So, I think you've captured something important there.
 
Thanks freeflowme, even though last time a virus put me out of the game rather than injury, it was a valuable time to read more and learn new things before coming back to the same program as before. Right now - I could be approaching the simple goal, but right now I wouldn't want to be there without my current knowledge and its benefits.
For particular examples of the S&S program, my ego got in the way last time and I only did 2 circuits of the warmup because it gave me the irrits and I thought the halo hurt my trapezius muscles and the goblet squats hurt my knee joints. But now I do all 3 circuits and believe it's going to benefit me in the long run. And I overlooked the breathing aspect - Previously I didn't pay attention to that chapter in the book, but now I have that valuable insight, which has led me to meditation which is also very good.



TODAY: A day off to make sure i'm not overdoing it in my first week back to proper strength training. Hamstrings are not sore from yesterday, my triceps are also not sore anymore.
Meditation - Will get 15 minutes worth this afternoon
Straw breathing - Will get 10 minutes worth this afternoon
 
SO, weekly report:
Monday: Somehow did something to some muscle somewhere at work. was sore while doing get-ups, so in the interest of safety etc. I took the week off exercises and have consciously reviewed any sort of back twisting motions in my day to day life and have made sure they're as good as they can be. I'll be doing some get up practice with shoes today until i'm 100% sure it's perfect again. I don't have any soreness now, but the last thing I want is to start an injury history.

This week : Meditation (have been slacking a bit. need to increase discipline)

Today: Meditation and get up practice
Tomorrow: Meditation and get up practice, pending today's results
 
Sunday: Did 1 hour's worth of get up practice (unloaded). was left with sore lats the next day, I take that as a good sign of muscle activation during the movement.
Monday: Did 1/2 an hour's worth of get up practice (unloaded).
Today:
Swings 2H : 24kg 5x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1
Meditation: 10 mins

Well, everything with me appears ok. I'll begin training again. The extra unloaded practice has definitely helped so wasn't a waste of time at all
 
Today:
Swings 2H: 24kg 6-7x10 - I lost count of how many sets I did. The intention was to up the volume anyway
Get ups 16kg 5x1 - Did them super slow around the hip hinge part, and believe I have refined my technique a bit more
 
Monday, Tuesday, Today:

Swings 2H: 24kg 7x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

Improved goblet squat technique to get more hip spread with the back dead straight. Improved stretching technique for the afterwards stretch. the sides of my back are calm now
 
Today:

Swings 2H: 24kg 8x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

Was reading S&S last night and realised I was likely over-resting inbetween swings sets. I also tried a new leg position while doing the hinge part of the get ups, feels a bit better to do now
 
Today:

Swings 2H: 24kg 8x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

The same as my last post, i'm improving two aspects of training. Getting closer to ideal form every training session.

Meditation - 10 Mins -- Might try repeating a mantra while meditating
 
Today:

Swings 2H: 24kg 8x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

Training seems to be going well.... I may soon go to 10 sets of swings depending on how i'm feeling on the days after. The get ups are feeling really easy now, but I want to keep doing them just as-is until I am 1000% sure of how i'm doing them as I don't want an injury.


Found a little passage that I liked in an article:
"Mr. Jacobs made the following observation concerning breathing in one of my lessons, and this observation goes beyond breathing: "Our bodies are not designed to accomplish tasks through self-analysis of individual system parts and their related function, but rather through pre-conception of the ultimate goals or tasks to be accomplished, which in this situation is the movement of huge amounts of air. In summation, bodily activity should be a secondary phenomena and the movement of air primary." (I believe it was referring to brass instrument technique)

After studying some respiratory related topics, i'm going to try adding the cat-cow pose to a daily routine. The theory is you can really relax your chest by doing this pose.
 
Tuesday, Today

Swings 2H: 24kg 8x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

Have been waking up rather tired in the morning. I put it down to not over-resting inbetween swing sets, and will wait until my body acclimatises before doing 10x10 2H swings. The training session in general feels good
 
Today:

Swings 2H 24kg 6x10
Swings 1H 24kg 2x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1

Experimented with two things today:

#1 I read this in the morning Simple & Sinister + Heart Rate Training | StrongFirst
And I decided to give it a go.
I actually liked looking at figures to give myself a better gauge of how i'm resting inbetween swings rather than me being conservative about when I first try the talk test, which seems to be longer than it should. perhaps with looking at the numbers I can develop a feel for my resting and can train as the program intends without monitoring my heart rate. regardless, I kept my heart rate under that figure of (180 - age) + 5. I found that when my heart rate got to a certain BPM I could pass the talk test and then start another set of swings.

#2 I did a set each of one arm swings on each side. WOW... I have been shown a whole new dimension of swing. I definitely need to up my explosiveness and power while swinging. I kept my shoulder and back safe, but I need to throw the bell inbetween my legs way harder than I anticipated and spring to the plank harder as well. I'll continue to do little tidbits of 1H swinging until I can get the power aspect right and only then look to replace 2H sets with 1H sets.
 
Today:

Swings 2H 24kg 7x10
Swings mixed 24kg 1x10
Get ups 16kg 5x1 (I should mention that for all of these, this is for both hands. so 10 in total actually)

Today's session was very good. I believe my should packing and anti shrugging is getting better and more automatic with each session.

I read this article and gave it a go for a set of swings: Simple & Sinister: Getting from Two- to One-Hand Swings | StrongFirst
I think that article contains some valuable information about going from 2H to 1H swings and i'll be following it to turn all of my 2H swings into 1H swings.
 
Today:

Swings 2H 24kg 7x10
Swings mixed 24kg 1x10
Get ups L+R 16kg 5x1

Another mixed 2H/1H swing set. I had more power in the 1H swings from yesterday, I think the "2H teaching the 1H swing" idea is great and seems to be working. It seems clear how to get the 1H swings done properly.
 
Swings 2H 24kg 7x10
Swings mixed 24kg 1x10
Get ups L+R 16kg 5x1

I was under the pump to get a session done rather quickly today, So I went pretty fast. It still took roughly 35-40 minutes, but I made some observations about the swing:
*I can get my heart rate down again much quicker if I control the breathing to be just like the straw breathing exercise. To sum it up: no panting allowed :D
*The passing the bell back part is more important right now than the spring upwards. Passing the bell backwards faster (but not slamming it back) allows for better swings

i'm pretty confident I will have 1H swings eventually as they are quite doable right now through the mixed hands set. I will work up to them
 
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