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Strong mobility

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Saturday 11th April
Heavy recovery day.

Sunday 12th April
Medium recovery day.
OAOLPU and pistol test.
The pistol is still good, solid, not rushed. Now that I have a relatively good understanding of the movement, working double front squat with 28s is more than enough to maintain it.
The OAOLPU also felt very good. Controlled, chest to ground.

Monday 13th April
Mobility.
Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 1/10
 
Tuesday 14th April
Mobility.

A&A
Snatch, 28kg x 5/24
I experimented with a EMOM format with HR monitor. Ok for a few minutes, then recovery was obviously only partial. I switched to "every 2 min" after 16 repeats, and recovery was almost complete, despite the accumulated fatigue.
I normally go by feel, not time, but it is fun to experiment a bit. Next time, I go for 1 set every 1 min 30 to see what happens.
 
Thursday 16th April
Mobility.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 2/9
It felt very strong today. The clean was better (still not perfectly clean, but better). The squat, without feeling light, felt very solid and controlled. Next week will see the arrival of triples. 2 x 28kg is about 80% of my bodyweight, which is nothing for a back squat, but kind of heavy for a proper 2KB front squat. But I now can imagine myself front-squatting 2KB adding up to my bodyweight. Some day.

And of course, I am starting again to play with the bent press. With 16kg.
 
Friday 17th April
Mobility.

A&A
Snatch, 32kg x 3/12
"At first I was afraid, I was petrified..."
The song kept going in my head when I was approaching the 32kg, decided to finally snatch it, for the first time in my life. My SFG2 bell, the closest to half bodyweight.
Being outside ruled out all of the limitations that prevented me to try this at home: no risk of destroying anything, I could just let go the Kettlebell (when it is a 32kg, I write it with a capital K).
I started by doing a swing, then a swing with elbow pull (medium pull?), then high pull. Right and left. Then the same again, but finishing with a snatch. Well, that was not that scary, it did not bang, the arc was tamed. I did only high pull on the left, as I did not feel it yet.
Then, I set up myself on the right. Hinge, grab the bell, tilt the bell, tense everything, hike pass, snatch! Boom. 3 reps. And the same on the left.
It took me half an hour to do 36 (37) reps, but I am happy!

Now drinking my reward beer.
 
Tuesday 21st April
Mobility.

A&A
Snatch, 28kg x 5/20
Less repeats than last week, but this time I did not push the clock, so I was able to really start strong without destroying myself. I did not time rest (as we should not, anyway), but overall it was between to 1 to 1min 30.
 
Wednesday 22nd April
Mobility.
Videos for SFG1 skills technical review.

Thursday 23rd April
Mobility.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 3/5
Half-way through the program. Boring and effective.
 
Friday 24th April
Mobility.

A&A
Snatch, 32kg x 3/20
20 repeats, total of 60 reps in around 35 minutes. It may not seem a lot for some strong and big guys, but for me, with a 32kg, it is huge!
Technique is not always perfect. I need more getting used to. We will get there. Until there, I stick to 3 reps max per set. No rush. A milestone has been passed. The next one is not for now.
 
Weekend: total laziness.
(I still managed to quickly test pistol, OK, OAOLPU, OK on the left, a bit shaggy on the right).

Monday 27th April
Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 2/10
Still boring. :)
 
Thursday 30th April
Mobility.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 3/6
I focus more on keeping my torso rigid for the clean. Video feedback (and an external eye) has brought to my attention that I tended round my low back when doing the initial clean.
I also changed my stance before the squat, getting my feet closer.
Both points are going to be my focus for some time.
 
Friday 1st May
Mobility.

A&A
Snatch, 32kg x 3/14
Technique was starting to fall down so I stopped at 14 repeats, even though it was after only 21 minutes (so not a very long session). 32kg is not light for me, and I cannot afford to have bad technique just for the sake of volume. I still have snatched the 32kg 139 times in the past two weeks, which is not too bad.
One more week of "heavy" snatches and I go back to good old Q&D snatches, with a "light" 24kg.
 
Saturday 2nd - Sunday 3rd May

Playing with the 16kg for bent presses.
I managed to test my pistol and my OAOLPU. Still have them.

From tomorrow, I start again to do a few (very light) getups, to work on details. With a 16kg, it is not going to take anything from my current program.
 
Monday May the force...
Mobility.

SG1 practice
Getup: 16kg x 10 (alternating left and right).
Working on SFG2 skills (starting with the double front squat) is very nice, but we should not forget that the SFG2 starts with a SFG1 skill review, with a pass or fail! The SFG2 is built on the SFG1, it does not replace it...
As I have submitted my SFG1 skills for review to a senior StrongFirst instructor with a sharp eye, I now have a full list of points of improvement.

I purposefully start with a daily getup practice with a light goldilocks bell: it must be heavy enough so that I feel disalignement, and light enough that there is no danger to tax me.
Focus: roll to elbow. Solidify, don't thrust into position: push with the foot, pull with the elbow.
Sitting position: ensure locked elbow.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 2/10
This one is the occasion to work on the double clean (SFG1 skill), and the double front squat (SFG1 skill AND fondation of double kettlebell lifts).
Focus: rigid torso at the start of the clean. Feet width for the squat.

GTG style: light bent press (16kg). Playing with the free hand position.
 
Tuesday 5th May
Mobility.

SG1 practice
Getup: 16kg x 4 (alternating left and right).
Just to avoid to do too much (10 every day) and have some variability, I throw a dice and do twice the number of sets: from 2 to 12.

A&A
Snatch, 28kg x 5/22
Every 90 sec. Again, the hands said stop...
I would not say that the 28 feels light, but it is not anymore the scary monster it used to be.
 
Wednesday 6th May
Mobility.
Pistol ok, OAOLPU ok on one side, shaggy on the other side (as expected at 7:00...).

SG1 practice
Getup with press at each step: 16kg x 2 (alternating left and right).
The dice knew it was my off-day, so it rolled a 1. I made the getup a bit harder with additional presses at each step. Not that easy, especially as some positons are a bit strange, but interesting to do once in a while.
 
Thursday 7th May
Mobility + 16kg GU x 4.
I do the getups as part of mobility, at the end.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 3/7
I now understand better how important it is to choose the right bells! Double 28's do not seem that hard for a front squat, but once you do more than 20 reps per session, volume speaks by itself...
 
Friday 8th May
Mobility + 16kg GU x 8.
Space! Nothing new, but it clicked today when doing the getup. I simply need to make space when I am going back to the ground, to have the way down look like the way up. So simple.

A&A
Snatch, 32kg x 3/4
I felt something wrong in my left upper back. It happens mostly when my technique is not up to the standard, and today it was indeed a bit floppy. I stopped at the fourth repeat.
Not the most pleasant way to end this cycle, but surely better than hurting myself. Today, only my ego is hurt.

I think that my body told me that it was time to switch back to lighter snatches. There is plenty of time in the future to snatch the 32kg, I will be there again soon.
 
Saturday 9th May
Mobility + 16kg GU x 2.

My left upper back/shoulder is bothering me a bit, but not too much, and a lot less than yesterday. Not forcing the snatches was clearly a good choice. I am able to do getup and play with the bent press (light: 16kg). I have no doubt that I will be ready to snatch in a Q&D format on Tuesday.
 
Sunday 10th May
Mobility.
Getup: 16kg x 8.

Monday 11th May
Moblity.
Getup: 16kg x 2.

Strong!
2KB Front squat: (2 x 28kg) x 2/10
Fun fact: focusing on keeping my torso rigid seems to have corrected most of my banging issue on my right arm. The arc is better tamed.
It is a good example that we should not try to correct all at once, but find the most critical issue and focus on this one only. It often corrects a lot of other issue at the same time.
 
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