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Strong mobility

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Friday 25th October
Morning mobility routine.

Strength session
Bench press: 60kg x 5P, 65kg x 3P, 70kg x 1P, 75kg x 3, 2
I was supposed to have a day of rest, after not doing 5 reps at my second set yesterday, but I am approaching a 10 days holidays, so I really wanted to try 75kg. 3 good reps. Not bad, considering my bench was so weak one month ago that I could barely bench 70kg. Most of the progress is due to proper technique: keeping shoulders where they should stay, lateral arch, lats involvement.
Hanging leg raise: 5/2
Getting better at those.

Mobility-flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @24kg
Loaded horse stance.
 
What weight do you use in horse stance?
I've added it to my leg routine and I'm wondering when would be a good time to introduce weight?
 
I use a light 16kg.
I do a triple progression: steps, time, sets.
No precise pattern, I increase when I feel to increase (currently at 5 sets, 60 sec, 11 steps). No hurry.
When I reach a certain level, I increase steps and reduce time and sets.
 
Sunday 27th October

SFB check: pistol OK, OAOLPU OK.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
40 minutes. Improved HR profile. Good. One more session on Tuesday.
 
Monday 28th October
Morning mobility routine.

Strength session
Bench press: 50kg x 5P, 55kg x 3P, 60kg x 1P, 67,5kg x 5P/2
I had planned to go for 65kg, but as my last session before a holiday break is tomorrow, I would like to finish with a round number, 70kg. So I pushed a little higher.
When coming back to a weight I have already done with little issue, I try to really mark the pause.
The bench has always been my worst lift. It is still not at an impressive level, but at least, my technique seems to be much better than before, which is a good sign for the next few months of progress.
Front squat: 75kg x 5/2
Pullup: 10, 9, 8

Well, I am light, so I have a lot of room of improvement for pullups with those numbers... I finish when it is starting to be harder, before failure, but I don't think that I have much more than 2-3 additional pullups in the tank. When I think that we routinely see 15-20 PU at the TSC...

SFG technical review
Filming all of the SFG1 lifts for technical review.
 
Tuesday 29th October
Morning mobility routine.

Strength session
Bench press: 55kg x 5P, 60kg x 3P, 65kg x 1P, 70kg x 5/2
Not as easy as expected, but ok.
Hanging leg raise: 5/2
Quite good today.
No front squats. The rack was busy, and I had no time to wait.
 
Wednesday 30th October - Sunday 10th November
Vacation in Jordan. Mobility in the morning, GTG pistols in the day, a few sets of 10 explosive pushups here and there, and lot of walking.

Last hotel near the dead sea had a gym with a bench and a real barbell, so I tested my bench press in sets of 5: 20, 50, 60, 70kg. All passed solidly. Unfortunately, all that was left when I loaded to 70kg were two 5kg weights, so I could not load to 75kg and I did not feel like trying 80kg, especially after a day of walking and swimming/floating.
Then loaded horse stance with a dumbbell.

I also took the opportunity to practice some breath holding work while swimming in the pool (don't try this at home unless you know what you are doing...), and doing relaxing Breathe light exercises in the dead sea.

Monday 11th November
Back to business.
I start a new bench press cycle, inspired by Westside, and recommended to me by an experienced French StrongFirst instructor.

Strength session
Bench press: 50kg x 5, 55kg x 3, 62,5kg x 5/5 (with short and legal pause at the bottom).
LBBS (Low bar back squat): 20kg x 5, 40kg x 5, 60kg x 5, 70kg x 5, 80kg x 5, 90kg x 5

Testing day for the back squat. 90kg felt good, and I just very slightly slowed down. I probably could go further, but I want to avoid soreness, so I stopped there.
Hanging leg raise: 5/3
Getting better. Still not perfectly straight legs, and the first rep is the worth (not really hanging properly). More work to do.

Mobility-Flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @24kg.
Loaded horse stance.
 
Tuesday 12th November
Mobility.

Practice
Getup: 24kg x 5 (L+R, then rest. 10 total)
I have not been practicing getups for a while. There is a lot of fine-tune needed, so I will practice them again twice a week, alla S&S (i.e. 10 getups total).
I start light enough to really focus on technique, so it doesn't qualify as strength work, just movement practice.
No rushing, shaking out tension between reps. I noticed that one getup takes me 30-35 sec, which is perfectly aligned with @Anna C recommendation, as quoted in the new edition of S&S.
It took me around 13 minutes.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
40 minutes.
After two weeks of no snatching, and a focus on keeping each of the 400 reps explosive (i.e. no pendulum snatches), my heart rate was quite high. I still passed the talk test at the end, but it was not that easy.
 
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Wednesday 13th November
No time for anything in the day.

Early evening,
Strength session
Bench press (dynamic effort day): 50kg x 3/8
BBSQ: 70kg x 5/2
Pullups: 10, 6, 5
 
Thursday 14th November

Practice
Getup: 24kg x 5 (L+R, then rest. 10 total)
No rush, but also no need to big breaks. Done in a little more than 8 min. It is getting back quickly. In the next few weeks, I will slowly reintroduce 28kg, and then 32kg.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
40 minutes.
Better than Tuesday.
 
Friday 15th November
Mobility.

Strength session
Bench press: 50kg x 5P, 55kg x 3P, 62,5kg x 1P, 67,5kg x 3P/3
Barbell squat: 60kg x 5, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 1, 92,5kg x 5/3
Hanging leg raise: 5/3

Mobility - Flexibility
Flexible steel program minimum @24kg
Loaded horse stance, isometrics.
 
Saturday 16th November
Bad day.

Conditioning
Strong endurance 060 (light snatches)
Aborted after 21 minutes. HR going high. I have a cold. Although symptoms are almost unnoticeable, I have had a stuffy nose for a few days, especially in the morning.
Doing too much conditioning is going to compete with my immunity system, so I'd rather step back until I am perfectly fine again.
 
Monday 18th November
Still not completely ok. I am not breathing well, stuffy nose. PC is down.

Strength
Bench press: 50kg x 5P, 55kg x 3P, 60kg x 1P, 65kg x 5P/5
On working set, the pause was shorter in the last set, but I think still ok. Anyway, the 5/5 session is not focused so much on the pause, but on building volume. Overall, not hard.
Squat: 65kg x 5, 75kg x 3, 85kg x 1, 95kg x 5/3
Good that is not too much weight yet, because it almost feel like cardio with my current state.
Pullup: 8, 5
I had reserve, but it did not seem very smart to push it too much.

Mobility-Flexibility
Flexible steel PM @24kg
The bent arm bar feels very solid now at 24kg. In a few weeks, I may start to introduce 28kg and start to train this as a strength exercises more than a mobility one.
Loaded horse stance, isometrics.
 
Tuesday 19th November
Mobility.

I am tired of high volume light snatches. Time to do something different. Welcome back, power!

Q&D
Snatch, 24kg, 5/4, 40 reps.
Easing into it. Low volume.
Checking data: in the past weeks, after feedback from a senior instructor, I have been working on explosiveness. When I compare today's power with that of one year ago, I observed an increase of more than 40% on my right hand, and more than doubling on my left. All I did was to really focus on hip snap and synchronized breathing. It is THAT important.

Practice
Getup: 24kg x 5 (L+R, then rest. 10 total)
 
Wednesday 20th November

Full day of workshop, training, talking, animating.
Fortunately, I found a gym where I am staying. They had a bench, a rack, and barbells. This is all I needed.

Strength session
Bench press (dynamic effort day): 50kg x 3/8
BBSQ: 80kg x 5/2
Hanging leg raise: 5/3

Done in less than 20 minutes, everything light, ready to eat and drink a few beers.
 
Friday 22nd November
Mobility.

I had no time to do anything on Thursday, as I was traveling back home sooner than expected, instead of staying a the hotel. My Q&D session was postponed to this morning.

Q&D
Snatch, 24kg, 5/4, 40 reps.
Still going easy, first week. Less power than on Tuesday, but it was expected after travel and all.

Strength
Bench press: 55kg x 5P, 60kg x 3P, 65kg x 1P, 70kg x 3P/3
Barbell squat: 65kg x 5, 75kg x 3, 85kg x 1, 97,5kg x 5/3
Pullup: 10, 5

Tired, so I stopped at 5 PU for the second round and did not even do a third one. Always stop before quality goes down.
 
Week-end
Two-days seminar in Paris. Lot of content, lot of work, no time to train (I planned not to anyway).

Monday 25th November
Travel back.
On my way home, I stopped at the gym (I had planned it and had my shoes in the bag).

Strength
Bench press: 55kg x 5, 60kg x 2, 67,5kg x 5/5
Considering that I was really tired after the weekend, I am happy that I did all sets with reserve. It was not easy, neither hard. Just right.
I did not do squats or HLR. They are not the priority, and I needed more recovery.

Tuesday 26th November
Mobility.
Quick SFB check: pistol OK, OAOLPU ok.

Q&D
Snatch, 24kg, 5/4, 40 reps.
I am going slowly back. This week, I allow 40 and 60 only. I rolled a 1, so 40 reps.

(EDIT: also GTGing KB press with 28kg. Usually, I just do a single. Here, I thought I would go for 3 reps, and did 5. Happy).
 
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Wednesday 27th November
Mobility.

Strength session
Bench press (dynamic effort day): 50kg x 3/8
BBSQ: 80kg x 5/2
Hanging leg raise: 5/3


Mobility-Flexibility
Flexible Steel PM@24kg
Front split work (isometrics)

By the way, for those interested in Flexible steel fundamentals, they just released an online version of the DVD: Flexible Steel Fundamentals Download and Burn
 
Friday 29th November
Mobility.

Strength
Bench press: 55kg x 5P, 60kg x 3P, 65kg x 1P, 72,5kg x 3P/3
Squat: 70kg x 5, 80kg x 3, 90kg x 1, 100kg x 5/3
Pullup: 10, 5, 5

The bench press is not getting easier, but at least, the plan is followed to the letter.
The squats felt solid and relatively easy. Not light, but easy.
As for pullups, everything above 5 feels like cardio and boring.

No time today for any flexibility work.
 
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