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The Obstacle is the Way (was S&S and PTTP)

Every time I re-read PTTP I pick up something. Pavel recommends loaded passive stretching and recounts how Yuri Vlasov stretched his spine every workout.

I’m going to continue with rope turns while in PTTP cycles, but add in Paul Wades ‘trifecta’ as active rest between sets. Focus on spinal health.
 
Ok. Trifecta is not really ideal as a loaded passive stretch. Well- they aren’t really passive stretches. The load is added through one chain contracting while the opposite relaxes - which is a little much on PTTP. I’d prefer to keep more focus on the lift. Doing trifecta as active rest seems to jeopardize the rest part.

So I’m going to focus on the kneeling bridge stretch (using rings to pull out of it), loaded Russian twists, loaded lat stretch and the skin the cat stretch (may have to wait till after surgery). That should be enough.
 
Todays practice:

3 mile ruck in am, then Press Reset

Bike to and from the gym

3 rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 kb halos & 5 tables (16kg kb used)

5-3-2 deadlift with 355 - long rests
5-3-2 side press with 16kg kb - long rests

During rests I did rope turns, bridges (more wrestlers bridge than gymnast bridge due to shoulder injuries), L-holds and twist holds.

3 rds of 90/90 stretch, ql stretch & hangs
 
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Todays practice:

3 mile ruck in am, then Press Reset

3 rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 kb halos & 5 tables (16kg kb used)
5-3-2 deadlift with 365 - active rest with rope turns, l/r 10 second loaded passive twist holds, 10 second loaded kneeling bridge (50 seconds rest after loaded stretches)
5-3-2 side press with 16kg kb & Coan (some call Pendlay) row with 185 lbs - active rest with rope turns, l/r 10 loaded passive lat stretch, passive skin the cat on rings

2 rds of 3 ape reach, hang, beast reach, reverse grip hang, l/r crab reach, eagle grip hangs

I added the Coan rows as I just don’t feel my shoulders are healthy enough to do justice to the side press. I can’t finish a pull-up, but the rows don’t hurt.

My animal flow finisher is typical of what I am doing for movement skills. Most are focused on shoulder health.

I’ll do 90/99, QL and stick dislocates at home.
 
End of PTTP bloc (2nd since start). I’m feeling I can go through at least one more bloc on the structured wave (which would end at 405 for 5-3-2) and possibly more. Of course I’d like to push as high as I can before forced layoffs with ear & shoulder surgeries.

Looking forward to kb swings next week. Not so much the getups. :)
 
Did a home ‘S&S lite’ workout today

3 rds of 3/3 Cossacks to lunge, 3/3 kb windmills & 3/3 crab reaches

10 rds of 5/5 emom 45# kb snatches

3 rds of 90/90 stretch, QL stretch and stick shoulder dislocates

“Same, but different”. I could have called it quick and the dead home edition. But I only have 45, 30 and 15 lb kbs at home. Nice for a recovery workout.
 
Today’s practice:

Ruck 3 miles, then press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 5 tables

6 rds of 10 1-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 1-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups

2 rds of 90/90, ql stretches and hangs
 
Today’s practice:

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 5 tables

6 rds of 10 1-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 1-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups
Getups are done with one side press on the stand. I did one arm hangs with scapula pulls between rds - felt great.

After that I spent about 15 minutes working on ground movement. I do a variety of moves from an old school Sonnon book I have (Body-flow).
 
Today’s practice:

3 mile ruck in am

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 5 tables

6 rds of 10 2-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 2-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups with 1-arm hangs between

10 minutes of ground and bar flows
 
Today’s practice:

3 mile ruck in am

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 3/3 crab reaches

6 rds of 10 1-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 1-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups with 1-arm hangs between

10 minutes of ground and bar flows

Another great workout. Despite the heat here s&s feels like it should - I feel better on completing than I did starting. One poorly done thing - my first getup I dropped the kb as I was sweeping my leg on the way down. Simple lack of focus. I really need to keep engaged in these workouts to get the most out of them.
 
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Pavel said, “On the last session of each week push harder and occasionally all out and test yourself.” (From article ‘Simple & Sinister Progression Tactic’ on this site). For me 10 swings every minute on the minute is the sweet spot - I pass the talk test and my heart rate stays in the MAF zone.

So today wasn’t all out as a test - 100 in 5 minutes - instead I did 10 every 45 seconds. Felt pretty good.

Today’s practice:

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 3/3 crab reaches

6 rds of 10 1-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 1-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups with 1-arm hangs between

30 minutes of ground flows
 
Today the gym isn’t available so I made use of my 20kg kb

3 rds of 5 pry goblet squats, 3/3 halos and 3/3 crab reaches

3 series of 5/4 kb snatches e30o30 - 2 minutes between series

90/90, ql and stick dislocates

Lazy day, but good to get some practice in.
 
Today’s practice:

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 3/3 crab reaches

6 rds of 10 1-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 1-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups with 1-arm hangs between

15 minutes of ground movement
 
Did my ruck this am with my wife and then a unexpected visit from a 5 year old grandson. We had a day - driving range and then a river hike. Long and leisurely but good movement day.
 
Today’s practice:

AM ruck - 3 miles

Press reset
Bike to from gym

3 rds of: 5 16kg pry goblet squats, 3/3 16kg kb halos, 3/3 crab reaches

6 rds of 10 2-h 36kg kb swings
4 rds of 10 2-h 40kg swings

5 rds of 1/1 16kg getups - done in 7 minutes

20 minutes of ground movement

I tried going faster in the getups. My right shoulder collapsed in the lowering post on the last rep. I think more a form thing - getting out of groove. But I still can’t post properly with the bell in my left hand. Too much pain in right shoulder pressing down. Sheesh.
 
Today was a ‘flip the crazy switch’ day

Press reset, bike to and from the gym.

Then my 3 warmup rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 halos and 3/3 crab reaches

I did 10 swings every 30 seconds - on the 12 and 6.

2 rds of 10 1-h kb swings with 36 kg
4 rds of 10 1-h kb swings with 40 kg
4 rds of 10 1-h kb swings with 36 kg

Some fatigue - starting at about the 50th swing I was feeling it in my hamstrings. But pretty good - I might have been a little low on the first swing of the last few sets, but other than that the kb was floating on most every rep.

My first rep of getups was very painful in my right shoulder. I cut out getups for today.

I did 4 rds of 5 tuck jumps, rested and repeated. Then the same in power pushups. This is a ‘quick and the dead’ type of protocol. So I’m not going to give away details.

Then I did rear shoulder rolls and spinal rolls to squat. Practice.

That ends my 3rd bloc of S&S - 7 weeks total. I just finished reading “Return of the kettlebell”. While I have little interest in presses or long cycle c&j, the programming was really interesting. Pavel expands on 2 week blocs and I’ve got some ideas in how I will incorporate pull-ups and snatches based on this book and other writings. One thing immediately came to mind - I love Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning and Explosive Calisthenics. I can see incorporating them into the S&S (explosive) and PTTP (grinds).
 
Started another 2 week bloc of PTTP today.

3 mile ruck in am, then Press Reset

3 rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 kb halos & 5 tables (16kg kb used)

5-3-2 deadlift with 375 - active rest with rope turns, 1-arm hangs and 10 second loaded kneeling bridge (50 seconds rest after loaded stretches)

Then 3 rds of 5 pull-ups, 10 elevated pushups and gym perimeter waiters walks with 16kg kb. I have to do a hand elevated push-up - due to injured shoulder.

90/90, QL & more active hangs to finish.

This is my 3rd block and 19th dl workout. I pick up where I leave off in my structured wave dl loading, which adds 10 lbs for 3 workouts and then drops 20lbs. So I expected 375 for 5 to feel heavy. It felt quite easy.

375 is approaching 80%. How could it feel easy? I’m really thinking 2 week blocs is brilliant.

Psychologically I’m looking forward to deadlifts again. During initial workouts the weight is light enough I’m not being taxed, but as the weight goes up I adapt and probably even “superadapt”, as Mel Siff put it.

In addition the heavy swings appear to work synergistically with the deadlifts.

I decided to forego the 1-arm press. I just feel my shoulder is not stable enough.
 
Today’s practice

3 mile ruck in am

3 rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 kb halos & 5 tables (16kg kb used)

5-3-2 deadlift with 385 - active rest with rope turns, 1-arm hangs and 10 second loaded kneeling bridge (50 seconds rest after loaded stretches)

4 rds of 5/5 pistols to 12” box with rope hangs between rds

Busy day today so I had to abbreviate the workout. No bike ride, I’ll press reset in evening. Deadlift felt okay - i didn’t have to grind any reps, but it’s getting close.
 
Today’s practice

3 mile ruck in am

3 rds of 5 prying goblet squats, 3/3 kb halos & 3/3 crab reaches (16kg kb used)

5-3-2 deadlift with 365 - active rest with rope turns, 1-arm hangs and 10 second loaded kneeling bridge (50 seconds rest after loaded stretches)

4 rds of 5 pull-ups, 5 push-ups (or slow negative on last few reps), 5 wheel rollouts (on toes, but not fully extended)

90/90, QL and rope hangs
 
For the deadlift I’ll start loading the bar as part of my kb warmup. Do a few reps after the crab reaches. So on my 3rd round I did with 315 today.

I mark the time and plan to pull 5 reps with 365 today 5 minutes after my last warmup with 315.

I then do rope turns for a minute or slightly more, 20 seconds per arm on the hang and then start the passive kneeling bridge stretch 1 minute prior to the lift. 10 seconds of stretch and then chalk up and get ready to pull 50 seconds after the stretch. This process is repeated twice more for the set of 3 and 2.

I can’t really say whether the passive loaded stretch increases my strength. It certainly doesn’t hurt!
 
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