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Strong mobility

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Indeed. Oxygen advantage/Buteyko practice with insights from the Second wind seminar.
 
Friday to Sunday : SFL in Paris.
I did not push too much on heavy singles, so no PR.

Overall, I am happy with this experience. Doc Hartle is an excellent instructor, and translation by Alexey was near perfect.

My technique was good on most lifts. I mostly had to fine tune, which is a good feeling. Still, a few positive changes.
I improved my low bar back squat setup (elbow position).
I also had to do quite a lot of changes on my conventional deadlift setup, as I was extending my neck too much, which in turn made me unconsciously overarch my lumbar spine. My technical deadlift test was focused on keeping my neck neutral which made me very uncomfortable, despite the light weight (my comfort was not the concern anyway, my safety was). It was a good pass with 5 good reps. Now, I have to come back with lighter weight and work back up with improved technique.

I did not even try the strength test on the bench, as I knew I don't have it yet. I focused on fine-tuning my technique on this lift.

Now, I plan to build up back the bench and pass it around January. No need to hurry. I want to pass it well, not to fight for it.

Monday : travel

Tuesday 17th September

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches). 24 min.
Not my best HR profile, but considering the weekend and the travel yesterday, it is satisfying.

Flexibility
Loaded horse stance (isometrics).
 
Wednesday 18th September

Slowly going back to the routine.
Strength (light)
2KB front squat: (2 x 24kg) x 5/3

Flexibility
Front split work, isometrics.
Basically, it's a preparation with three rounds of standing hamstring stretches super-setted with kneeling hip flexor stretch.
Then front split position as low as possible and maximally tensed holds for 45 sec, 3 sets (hands on hips).
 
Thursday 19th September
Morning routine still not reinitialized. I need to be a bit less lazy tomorrow. :)

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches). 24 min.
Good HR profile. Back to business.
 
Friday 20th September
Mobility. Pistol. OAOLPU.
The OAOLPU was very solid, I was surprised.

Saturday 21st September
Mobility. Pistol. PUx10.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches). 24 min.
Excellent HR profile.

Flexibility
Loaded horse stance (isometrics).
 
Monday 23rd September
Morning routine.

Strength
Bench press: 50kg x 5/2 (with pause)
Front squat: 60kg x 5/2
Hanging leg raise: 5/2

I am starting a PTTP cycle to build a base with my bench with proper technique. I fine-tuned it at the SFL. Starting very light allows me to emphasize the pause and focus on the movement. It will be heavy soon enough...
Second movement: front squat, because I don' want to squat super heavy, and I am snatching often enough not to lose my deadlift within a few weeks.

Tuesday 24th September

Morning routine.

Strenght
Bench press: 52,5kg x 5/2 (pause at the bottom and during the second set, at the sticking point)
Front squat: 62,5kg x 5/2
Pullup: 5

Flexibility
Loaded horse stance.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 min. Did not push to 30 min, HR started to rise too much.
 
@mikhael
It's a variant of PTTP, taught at the SFL. 2 sets of 5, no change of weights, two lifts. Not a big difference, but much simpler than the original 100%, 90%, and faster than the 5-3-2 rep scheme. I like it. Now let's see how I do with it!

Wednesday 25th September
Morning routine.

Strength
Bench press: 55kg x 5/2 (with pause)
Front squat: 65kg x 5/2
HLR: 5/2

20 minutes at the gym.

Later,
Flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @16kg
Front split work, isometrics.

My shoulder mobility amazed many people at the SFL. It was not the case the first time I attended three years ago. I credit my regular practice of Bent arm bar for this, as it is the only shoulder mobility exercise I have been doing.
Flexible steel program minimum is fast and really effective!
 
Thursday 26th September
Morning routine.

Strength
Bench press: 57,5kg x 5/2, with pause.
Front squat: 67,5kg x 5/2
Pullup: 5

The first bench press set did not feel hard (it's still not a lot of weight), but not light either. I got tighter for the second set, and it felt light. Never underestimate the weight. Treat a light weight like a heavy weight, so that it can actually feel light!

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 minutes. Not my best session, but afterward, the HR profile looked better than what I expected. I have been kind of sick in the morning these past two days, and I now have a strength session, so it is nice to see that 060 is still going to the right direction. The key is not to push progress too fast.
 
Friday 27th September
Morning routine.

Strength
Bench press: 60kg x 5/2, with pause
Front squat: 70kg x 5/2
Hanging leg raise: 5/2

Mobility and flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @20kg
Loaded horse stance @16kg, 9 steps, 1 min isometric hold x 3.
 
Saturday 28th September
Morning routine + weekly test of OAOLPU. Went very smoothly on both sides!

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 min. Session ok. I will keep the same duration one more week. I have learned that I should not force progress too much with this program, if I want to see real results (as per HR profile).

Sunday: hiking in low Carpates. Easy endurance.
 
Monday 30th September
Morning routine.

Strength
Paused Bench press: 50kg x 5, 55kg x 3, 62,5kg x 5/2
Front squat: 72,5kg x 5/2
Hanging leg raise: 5/2

As I need a set to get the groove and the correct tension in the bench press, I am introducing back "warm-up" set. They are not so much to warm up, as they are to ensure I setup properly for the work set.

Mobility and flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @24kg
Loaded horse stance.
 
Tuesday 1st October
Breathing and mobility routine.

Strength
Bench press: 50kg x 5, 55kg x 3, 60kg x 1, 65kg x 5/2
Front squat: 75kg x 5/2
Pullup: 5

Getting closer to the bodyweight bench press. For the bench, I really need the warmup to get in the groove and have a proper technique.
Overall, that was a relatively easy session: I feel the weight, but nothing was really hard.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 minutes.
 
Wednesday 2nd October
Breathing and mobility routine. Pistol. 10 PU.

Strength
Bench press: 50kg x 5, 55kg x 3, 60kg x 1, 67,5kg x 5/2
Front squat: 77,5kg x 2,3
Hanging leg raise: 5/2

Bench press felt good. It definitively does not feel light, but I am getting better at keeping tension and technique.
On front squats, I stopped both sets before 5 because my knees were caving in. Squatting heavy is not the goal at the moment, so I will deload a little and work back up, focusing on keeping my knees aligned with my feet.

Mobility-Flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @20kg
Front split work, isometrics.
 
Thursday 3rd October
Breathing, mobility. Usual stuff.

Strength
Bench press: 55kg x 5, 60kg x 3, 65kg x 1, 70kg x 2, 1 :(
Psychological barrier. I was fine strength-wise, but felt the technique going south, like yesterday on the front squat. My issue with the bench press has always been technique. There is no point of achieving 5 reps if I let it degrade. So already time for a deload and building back up. I have time anyway, it's only my second week.
Pullup: 8, 6, 5
I decided to go to more reps, all to the standard (start still, dead hang, at each rep, and up with neck to bar, still for a second at the top). I stop when the rep is good, but slightly harder, so with a good reserve.
I have never been very good with pullups. Time to work on that weakness too.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 minutes. Small improvement.
 
Do you have any specific goals with pull-ups?
Not really. I work on it as an accessory lift and will just see how it goes. I would like to get an easy 10+, and then add weighted pulled up, but no concrete target nor timeline.
 
Friday 4th October

Strength
Front squat: 65 x 5/2
Hanging leg raise : 5/2

Mobility-Flexibility
Flexible steel @24kg
Loaded horse stance.
 
Saturday 5th October

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
28 minutes.
When looking at HR profile, I don't see clear improvement in max HR, or even average HR over the whole session.
But looking more into details the overall profile, I see that I reach some average level after about 15 min, and stay there. This level varies among days, and is probably very dependent of other factors (like the pizzas and wine yesterday), but it is overall much lower that it used to be when I started this program.
As I am snatching, the peak HR can go high during the snatch (even though not that high), but goes down very fast between sets. This is the real progress.
Next week, I increase the session time.

Miscellaneous:
pistol (one rep each side, pause at the bottom. Easy).
Weekly test OAOLPU. I went down until I touched the ground. A challenge to do without losing the hollow position. I have maintained (or maybe even improved) my OAOLPU without practicing it. Happy.
 
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