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Quality, Patience, Quiet, Strength - Shahaf's Training Log

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12.1.2016
Morning
Acroyoga lesson #7 with the morning group.

Evening
Unscheduled rest. not because I needed. I had some stuff to do and mismanaged my time and couldn't fit a ~90 minutes session for the Justafied bent pressing (extrapolation from previous session). I don't like the fact that I postponed a session on day-on/day-off program but I figured that if it will be once a month thing it better than tryin to compress the session. It feels like the freshness of each rep is key.

13.1.2016
Morning
Beach volleyball practice ~1:30hrs - offence again, lots of jumping. Taxing.
(OS resets for prep)

Afternoon
Beach volleyball coaching ~1:30hrs - setting and game management.

Night
Movement prep
OS resets
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 1 / Day 6
Bent press @20kg x 50 x 1

Good session. Considering that this day was far from being all about bent press I am really surprised at myself that I kept focus for 49 of the BtP (set 42 was a bit out of focus). This patience thing should better payoff ;)

Want. Food. Allot
 
14.1.2016
Morning
Beach volleyball ~2:30hrs. OS resets for prep.

Evening
OS resets and playing-for-strength - mostly elevated rolls & rocks

15.1.2016
Morning
OS resets & marching

Noon
Marching & superman cross-crawls
Suitcase carry @48kg x 1 + 1

Afternoon
Movement prep
OS resets
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / Day 1
Bent press @24kg x 30 x 1

After last session of 50 singles at over 80 minutes this 30 singles 50 minutes session felt short. Only 15 sets each side? Done. Easy (Strength).

Evening
Acroyoga beginners lesson #8 - Final lesson
Final lesson, allot of games and contests. Fun. Fun. Fun :)
Allot of thanks to Yarden and Edan, wonderful teachers. See you in the next workshop!

Notes
  • Bent press: First couple of singles each side the jump in weight was noticeable, not hard, just noticeable and not as smooth as the 20kg. Once I got used to the weight on the 5th (overall) set I got back in the groove and things were smooth. The 20% jump in weight definitely turns on the volume of the feedback from the bell. It made me refocus on the details and reassess my movement. Assessed and corrected: tighter grip, lats engaged hard, trusting the hips when bending away and wedging under the load. All these were more pronounced on the right side. Unlike other lifts, on bent press left is my stronger side.
  • Justa's singles (and derivatives): In Rock, Iron, Steel Justa talks about a special endurance that comes from doing allot of singles. I now understands what it means. Did the acroyoga lesson 2 hours after bent pressing with no fatigue. Singles based programming makes you appreciate to rep quality. Kind of like @Karen Smith teaches us in her BW articles - one good rep. And than another one good rep, and another...
  • Acroyoga: Or acro-balance or whatever you like to call it. I suggest you'll find an instructor in your area and give it a try. Mobility, stability, strength, communication, trust.


EDIT: dates corrected
 
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16.1.2016
Morning
OS resets and some marching

Evening
Movement prep
OS resets and short playing-for-strength with elevated rolls & rocks

OS performances
Leopard crawl x 0:50, 0:45, 1:00, 0:55 min - session length - just under 9:00 min
Backward baby crawl x 1:45 min

Loaded rocks (attached a light band to a post and to my torso)

Notes
  • Leopard crawl: I reread the leopard crawling section in Pressing Reset and watched Tim videos. Took short and slow step to work my stability and control. Felt much better than last time. The set times are inconsistent with no particular reason, I kept crawling slow and steady until I felt that I will struggle a few steps from now. Backwards baby crawling suddenly feels like the easy part of crawling :) Just did some to collect more time on the ground.
  • Loaded rock: Feels somewhat pointless, maybe can work with a heavy band. And maybe there is a reason Tim & Geoff load the crawls and not the rocks :)
  • Loaded (half) rolls: Since the bent press is (also) a loaded standing half-roll I guess in a way I'm on a full OSP program. Can this be a reason I have never moved better in my life?
  • KB ballistics: I am getting used to crawling volume-wise. It's time to add back some swing & snatches towards the end of the week. Time to put the crawling greased hips to good use.
 
17.1.2016
Morning
OS resets - did a completely different session than usual - wiper rolls & logo rocking and crawling. Also did some knee marching, but was not comfortable on the knees. I'll give it a try at the beach tomorrow

Evening
Movement prep
OS resets (standard)
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3, 3 - R only (R a little stiff)
Elbow whip half rolls on R

Jusafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / Day 2
Bent press @24kg x 34 x 1

Notes
  • Felt not mentally engaged enough. Didn't get to a meditative lifting state until late in the session. Ate a smaller than usual lunch, maybe that is, or just a day like that.
  • Lifts were all good, but too many not sharp as the last session, especially in the beginning.
  • Right side felt a little stiff throughout the day, I used some rumble rolling and Supernova smashing in the rest periods before the first 3 lifts on the right. It loosed everything physically, but my focused was not On until late in the session, should have make the prep longer.
  • Lift late in the session were better and smoother. Pretty much in the usual groove.
  • Strong finish. Bottom line is that I got from this session more than it took.
 
18.1.2016
Morning
OS resets

Noon
Some more OS, giving test run for elevated roll with a twist

Afternoon
Breach volleyball, 6 short sets.
Elevated rolls with a twist and rocking for movement prep.
I played bad throughout with the exception of one match. Focus problem and delayed reaction time. Maybe I need a day of rest? It's hard to find time to do one... I was suppose to start logging tap test and didn't. So do it!

Evening
When I feel out of sync and resets don't do the job I turn to loaded carries.

Turn-the-brain-off-and-clear-everything session
Farmer carry @64kg x 2
Suitcase carry @32kg x 1 1/2 + 1 1/2
Rack carry @32kg x 4 (getting into a side rack for 5 sec after each clean)
Offset carry @16kg OH + 32kg suitcase x 2

Felt better after :)
 
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19.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test @ 10sec : 76
OS resets
Acroyoga lesson #8 with the morning group. Again fun and games for the final lesson. Tired. Hangry. Smiling :)

Rest of day
Rest. Some OS resets. Slept like crap last night and had a very tiring morning. Decided it would be counter productive to bent press today. A good session a day late is much better than a out of focus session on time.

20.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test @10sec : 74
Beach volleyball practice x 1:30 hr - Defense of cut of line shots. Cut shot offence. Great practice!
OS for prep

Afternoon
Some OS fun and games at the beach
Beach volleyball coaching x 1:15hrs. Self awareness and self grading as tools for future growth, gracefulness as indicator for quality. Movement to the ball. Sideouts.

Night
Movement prep
OS resets
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
HK halos @16kg x 5 + 5
@Harald Motz inspired BU clean @16kg x 3 + 3
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / Day 3
Bent press @24kg x 38 x 1

Very good session. Smooth, relaxed and strong

Notes
  • Patience: Delaying the BtP session was the right call. Patience paid of.
  • Slower rest periods: Yes. Slower, not longer. Last session my active rest between sets was more active than rest. The arms swings was vigorous the diaphragmatic breathing was borderline power breathing and was not very relaxing. It hit me this session on the rest after the 3rd set. I change my breathing to deeeep and slow and quiet and immediately gained back what I missed the last session. Active rest is great. I just can't forget the rest part ;)

The floor is your friend
After reading @mprevost's thread on sleeping (and leaving) on the floor I started spending more time on the floor the last few days. Haven't got rid of my furniture yet, but I pushed my living room table to the side and sit on the floor. I also took a short nap on the floor today.

While it's just a few days I can say it definitely didn't took anything from me. It's fun (being OS loving that I am it shouldn't be surprising), I feel that my body and mind are more engaged and I think I eat more...
 
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21.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test @10sec : 77
OS resets

Throughout the day
OS playtime and sitting on the floor

22.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test : 79

After noon (early to late)
At the beach:
OS resets

OS performance
Baby crawl x 2:30 min
Leopard crawl x 0:45 , 1:00 , 0:55 min
Baby crawl x 2:30 min

Total session length : 12 min

Back home
Movement prep
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / Day 4
Bent press @24kg x 42 x 1

Evening
Acroyoga practice

Notes
  • To much done today. Leopard crawls are way to intensive for me at the moment to include with bent pressing at the same day. Definitely not less than hour apart. The bent press session was not smooth as previous session and much more demanding than usual. Also was very tired at acroyoga practice. Is was the anti-patience for last week... One main practice session a day!
 
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Shahaf Levin said:
Leopard crawls are way to intensive for me at the moment to include with bent pressing at the same day
Click to expand...

I looked at some pictures of me leopard crawling (I set the GoPro for a 0.5 sec time lapse). I don't think I have never seen my rotator cuff light up so much (I know I have never felt it like that). Since the rotator cuff plays a "small" part in bent pressing it figures that (for now) same day sessions is probably not the best idea. This even without taking in account total CNS fatigue which is even more destructive...

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I don't have proper imaging software so I just did some filtering. When I change viewing angles I can see better definition...
 
23.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test : 76
OS resets & some marching

Noon - beach
Movement prep
OS resets and playing-for-strength things. Lots of movements, lots of transitions. Deliberately didn't keep track of time and precise content.

OS performance
Leopard crawl x 0:40 , 1:00 , 1:00 , 1:00 , 1:15 , 0:50 min - Session length : under 16 min

  • Lesson of the day: Learned allot about rooting today. Focusing on rooting with the stance leg made everything better. Feel more stable and can increase stride length a little while keeping proper balance. It does make you everything fire harder and makes you more tired.
  • Programing: I'm going with OS performance suggested programing. I'll keep collecting time, aiming for 10 min of crawling and than start to compress the total session time and attempt to crawl for 10 consecutive minutes. I will keep some baby crawling in the mix in light days. This sounds very S&Sish to me... great minds...
  • I feel great after crawling. So great I got in the water after. The water were cold. Very.
 
Shahaf Levin said:
23.1.2016
Morning
CNS tap test : 76
Click to expand...

I'm interested in the tap test that you are conducting each day. I've looked it up and it sounds like a good indicator for when to back off etc.
Are you using an app? Is there any learnings so far or recommendations?
 
Lee Hunt said:
Are you using an app? Is there any learnings so far or recommendations?
Click to expand...

I use the app "CNS tap test".

I used to logged it daily before and after my morning grease session to check it's affect on CNS readiness with good results and a before-after deadlift session to make sure I didn't over did it. I backed of from the constant intra-session measuring because of two reasons. First, I recorded enough data to validate what I'm doing, and second it take mental focus which can be used to lift. The problem was that I just stopped totally... Doing alllllot of stuff lately got me back to it in order to keep track on the big picture.

I do recommend to keep logging daily for a looong time (Dan John started with 2 years) and to not get excited by small changes, 10% - 20% sharp changes or constant trends should be monitored. And it's not just for backing off. If you have a 10% jump from your baseline go for a more intense session. It was highly correlated to my performance in beach volleyball.
 
24.1.2017
Morning
CNS tap : 80
OS resets

Evening
Kind of lost the day work stuff & bad time management so had to push bent presses a day.

Used the limited time for:

3 rounds of
Goblet squat @32kg x 5
Tall kneeling halos @16kg x 5 + 5
BU rack carry @16kg x 1 + 1
​
BU clean @20kg x 2 x (3 + 3)

25.1.2017
Morning - at the beach
CNS tap : 75
OS resets

Beach volleyball matches
4 matches at high level. Finally I was the lowest level player on the court, slow start but pretty good matches. All matches ended in tie-breaker.

I need to work on my assertiveness on offense. I jump well but show some softness. Will probably get better when I'll go back to snatching (since it ingrains aggressive arm swing overhead).

TAXING!

Night
Movement prep
OS resets
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
HK halos @16kg x 5 + 5
BU clean @16kg x 3 + 3
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + 3 , 6+ on R (didn't really count, just kept greasing until everything felt good, probably over taxed from the morning)
some batwings and shoulder packings RNT with a band.

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / day 5
Bent press @24kg x 46 x 1

Smooth groove. L throughout, R from set 7 (4th om R) and after.

Notes
  • Setup. Setup. Setup: It's (almost) everything. My reminder & focus of the day was the setup. I knew I had to because of the morning session. It was definitely worthwhile! Narrow stance (works for me), full body tension before the clean, big chest, tight clean, twisting deep to the side/back rack while keeping torque in the off leg, flare the lats. From that point its pretty much just happens on its own.
 
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27.1.2017
Morning
CNS tap : 75
OS resets (tried different thing than my standard routine)
Farmer carry @64kg x 1
Suitcase carry @36kg x 1 + 1

Throughout the day
Sitting (and lying) on the floor. This kind of led to many OS resets and thingies.

Late evening
Movement prep
OS resets (shorter than usual because all the floor stuff during the day)
Goblet squat @20kg x 5
HK halos @16kg x 5 + 5
1-arm swings @20kg x 2 x 10
Bent armbar @16kg x 3 + (6+) - stopped counting at 4, same as last time. See next post.

Justafied Bent Pressing - Cycle 2 / Day 6
Bent press @24kg x 50 x 1
  • My smoothest bent pressing ever on both sides, throughout all the lifts. Like passing a hot knife through butter. E-A-S-Y session. I actually checked that I use the right bell after a few sets.
  • Sets 15 and 16 was with a stacked 20kg+4kg. I wanted to see how it feels and work on it a little bit in the session. Sine it was no different than the 24kg I tossed it out for simplicity.
  • This is a session when I felt all the teaching* of Gray Cook, Dan John, @Iron Tamer, Steve Justa and the SF community fused together.
 
You give me hope with the bent press! Nice work!! I suppose, as with anything else, a lot is learned after hundreds of reps that cannot be learned any other way.
 
Assessment, assessment, assessment and feeling the gaps
Lately I needed to do more prep work on my right side before bent pressing. The session themselves were fine, but it took allot of bent armbars, and sometimes a few bent presses to find the write groove. I spent time trying to figure it out and assess what I've been doing.

Assessment
Bent presses, armbars, allot of OS resets, baby crawling and leopard crawling. All these stuff are great for the shoulder girdle and in the past were improving my right shoulder function (after they illuminated some compensations). So?? To much volume? Haven't been logging CNS taps long enough to use it as a gauge. My ROM on all movements accept bent press on my right side is probably best ever, so no central-wise defensive inhibition. Maybe just to much volume for an injured shoulder? Mmm, it doesn't hurt, OH ROM is fine, and it's just seems like a easy-way-out type of solution. Keep assessing.

So, I've been doing good things at proper volume with good response form the rest of my body. The next question is what I haven't been doing. Since starting Justafied Bent ressing I haven't some any deadlifts or swings. Jumping high and moving strong playing BVB probably indicate no loss of total body strength. Also the crawling and bent pressing grease the hips and makes you tighten the lats... But all these things are not pulls. I mean pulls in it's simplest definition - pulling the arm out of the shoulder joint (creating longitude distraction) - like heavy 1 arm swing and deadlifts does. Ding ding ding.

Me treating pulling in this way came from a Gray Cook video I watched last week. He was saying that for shoulder health you need to put it under compression and distraction (he uses crawling and deadlifts as examples). I put allot of compression on my shoulder joint in the last 4 weeks, but no distraction. Why doesn't it bothered my left shoulder? Probably cause it's mechanically intact and I have no "injury memory" or "pain memory".

Feeling the gaps
Movement prep included some swings. 20kg was to light, should have used 32kg to really put distraction force to my shoulder joints. Than I used shoulder packing RNT drills for my active rest after the R side sets (and some more before the first R side set). Cleared everything and my groove felt great. Next step: program swings back in.

EDIT: maybe it's all bull***t and today was smooth because Listen to Your Heart was playing in my head the entire session. Apparently my heart likes bent pressing ;)
 
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Anna C said:
You give me hope with the bent press! Nice work!! I suppose, as with anything else, a lot is learned after hundreds of reps that cannot be learned any other way.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

480 bent presses in 26 days teaches allot. There is also something in immersing yourself in singles in long sessions. In a way I think doing it with a KB and increasing number of lifts instead of increasing weight that teaches even more. Probably the 120 extra reps :) Than you jump in weight and have to pay attention to everything again...

Oh, and I have no doubt that once you decide you want to focus on the bent press you'll master it.
 
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