01.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 9
Push up 10,10
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 20,15 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 24kg,24kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,24kg, 28kg,24kg,24kg
MP@24kg RL 3,3,3,3,3,3,3
Pull ups 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
02.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 5
Push up 10,10
Pull ups 2,2
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 20,20 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 24kg,24kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,24kg, 28kg,24kg,24kg
MP@24kg RL 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
03.06.19 Montpellier
Push up 10,10,10,10
Pistols RL 5
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 25,20@24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 28kg,24kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,24kg, 28kg,28kg,24kg
MP@24kg RL 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
04.06.19 Montpellier
Push ups 10
Pistols RL 7
Rucking 7.07km in Saint Guilhelm le Desert 3h50 32.45min/km bpm 122 slow but very steep while carrying stuff
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 25,25 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 24kg, 24kg,24kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,24kg, 24kg,24kg,24kg
MP@24kg RL 4,4
05.06.19 Montpellier departure for London (for once WITH MY FAMILY !!!)
Push up 10,10,10,10,10
Pistols RL 18
06.06.19 London holidays
Pistols RL 6
Push up 10,10
07.06.19 London holidays
Nothing => rest day
08.06.19 London holidays
Same as 7th
09.06.19 return to Montpellier
Push up 10,10,10,10
Pistol RL 3
10.06.19 Montpellier
Push ups 10, 10
Pistols RL 12
Pull up 2,2,2,2
Archer squat RL 2
Shrimp squat RL 1
Since focusing on pistols shrimps are really easy => suitable for additional volume
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 30,25 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 28kg,24kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,24kg, 28kg,28kg,28kg
MP@24kg RL 4,4,4
11.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 10
Push up 10,10
Single OA press 28kg on the right
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 35,25 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 28kg,28kg,24kg
TGU RL @24kg,28kg, 28kg,28kg,24kg
MP@24kg RL 4,4,4,4
Pull ups 2,2,2,2,2,2
Jack knife pull ups 3,3,3,3,3,3
12.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 13
Pull ups 2,2,2,2,2,2
Push up 10
Had the brilliant idea of having one drink with my wife and ended straight in bed with a terrible headache => brilliant indeed !
13.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 6
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 40,25 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg, 28kg, 28kg,28kg,28kg
TGU RL @24kg,28kg, 28kg,28kg,28kg
MP@24kg RL 4,4,4,4,4
OA Push up 2 on the right side
14.06.19 Montpellier
Pistols RL 8
Goblet squat @24kg 3sets of 5
2 hands swing 35,25 @24kg
10 OA swings RL @24kg 10 sets
TGU@24kg 10
MP@24kg RL 4,4,4,4,4,4
Wanted to keep the session short so I reduced it… since it was pouring rain I took only one KB in…
Closed off a second cycle of Soju&Tuba => really a great program that delivers !!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I am not sure about launching a third pass on the 24kg right away (starting with 3 then upping to get to 6 sets of 5), the right arm is doing fine but my left wrist is showing that it is a little more than it likes. Since my kettlebells over 24kg are obtained attaching sets of 2kg of wrist weights, these shift a little during the clean giving a shift that strains the wrist (hence my testing the day before)… So either I wait for a bigger bell, up the volume or do some other change… I consider either to run a sort of ROP progression (potentially with pull ups) but it might become really a lot in combination with S&S. Or I might use a method that I used in calisthenics for a year based on P. Wade’s mentor Joe Hartigen’s training protocol
Shoot for 5,4,3,2,1 then either increase the weight (I could do that straight away) or build up endurance and volume adding one rep at a time from the end 5,4,3,2,2 then 5,4,3,3,2 etc until it stops bringing results=> nice and good way to up progressively the volume that fits very well my high frequency type of training. No session is really too tough but you keep building up strength and endurance… At a certain point it shifts from pure strength to endurance type of training but hey, that cool too ! I mean when I did that for hanging leg raises certainly at 10+ it wasn’t building up a ton of strength from one session to the other but still a little bit and being able to hit around 50 straight leg raises in 5 sets clearly is beneficial too… Then when holding yourself in the hang becomes more challenging on the forearms than the work you are doing on the mid section it doesn’t make sense anymore to pile up reps and it is time to find a more challenging exercise for this purpose
I guess too often people want to rush up to higher weights or more difficult exercises because it is more gratifying than adding reps… though in real life endurance with not so heavy will often be more the “winning” factor in comparison to a one rep max type of effort e.g. if you have to haul wood, it might be cool to be able to take up one ultra heavy log but if you can do it once and then need half an hour to recover from it, it surely doesn’t really make you appear as strong. Rather you look like the stupid that showed off and can’t carry on with the work while what was expected was to load pieces of wood that individually don’t come close to a max anything but in total become quite an impressive volume… In the same idea, you more often have to carry stuff (often even for quite some distance) rather than just lifting it up and putting it down straight
On the other hand being able to perform some serious amounts of reps is where one packs up muscles (without everything in check though one doesn’t run the risk of becoming huge like a pro builder just because one has gone over 5 reps) which isn’t a bad thing even in a body comp type of goal since it helps keeping the balance between fat loss and lean mass loss more towards retaining existing muscle mass. As well to gain mass, without huge changes on the nutrition side, it is not that one is going to gain cm over cm just because he plays in the BB sweet spot… I had found that my max lean body mass is around 76kg, my scale and some online calculators make an estimation that I am currently around 70/72kg with a BF% that goes from 15 to 18% depending on seasons etc (I have been tracking this stuff for about 3 years so I kind of know where I stand)… So gaining that last couple of muscle mass while reducing fat is far from being something that is going to happen with a minimal set of efforts and will require a combined ultra strict effort on exercise, nutrition, rest etc so that just upping the reps and eating a more will just result in minimal muscle mass addition with lots of lard by production. I have been observing this from my analysis on the BW grafs I have : in the first year of calisthenics consistently gained 50/50 or less between muscle and fat, hitting the 70kg range then for 1kg of lean mass 2 or 3 of fat where required… kind of works the same the other way round like dropping 3kg means 2 kg of lean mass gone for one of fat then at around 68kg it turns back to 50/50… So my take is that =>
- For me up to 68kg I can have some impact without too much of an effort; over it is going to be a hard battle for every couple of pounds
- Retaining what I have is far more important than anything else
- Strength and health being not directly correlated to physique are more of my focus area
- Fat loss is going to be a hard battle if I ever make it to the full six-pack (frankly I don’t think so because I am not ready for all the changes it would require… neither would my job really allow me to => I have to travel, I have to eat out, I can’t really always chose what is on the menu etc)
In this frame I think that pushing a little on the endurance / volume side is clearly a good thing to do while keeping weights reasonable not to tax too much the system… As well travelling doesn’t really help to plan a strength cycle…
15.06.19 Montpellier departure for Tel Aviv
Push up 10,10
Pistols RL 11
Arrived in the hotel at around 2 a.m. so not so much happened later on
