Wednesday 12/29/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 290lbs 3x3, 310lbs 3x2, 325lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 70lbs 1x5, 100lbs 1x3, 135lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

Barbell curl - 52.5lbs 2x10, 1x9

Deadlifts felt heavy today.

Monday 12/27/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 60lbs 1x5, 90lbs 1x3, 120lbs 1x2, 150lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3,4

Barbell row - 70lbs 3x10

All that food over Christmas sure helped in the ol' recovery department.

Friday 12/24/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 285lbs 3x3, 305lbs 3x2, 325lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 70lbs 1x5, 95lbs 1x3, 125lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

Barbell curl - 50lbs 3x10

Wednesday 12/22/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 2x1,2,3,4,5 (pr), 3x1,2,3,4

Barbell row - 65lbs 3x10

Pretty brutal workout volume wise today. It's cool to feel yourself get stronger, even if it's baby steps. My squats had just a bit more horsepower today and I hit a pr in pressing the 24kg bell with the 2 ladders to 5 rungs.

Time to eat. I'm about 212 lbs right now.

Monday 12/20/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 280lbs 3x3, 300lbs 3x2, 320lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 65lbs 1x5, 90lbs 1x3, 120lbs 1x2, 135lbs 3x5

Barbell curl - 45lbs 3x10

Friday 12/17/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 145lbs 2x5, 1x4

C&P ladders - 28kg - 5x1,2 (pr)

Only four reps on my last set of squats. Just have to keep plugging away. I'll repeat this weight next squat day.

Wednesday 12/15/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 275lbs 3x3, 290lbs 3x2, 310lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 65lbs 1x5, 90lbs 1x3, 115lbs 1x2, 130lbs 3x5

Monday 12/13/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3

Front squats are starting to feel heavy. My last reps were a bit shaky formwise.

Friday 12/10/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 260lbs 3x3, 285lbs 3x2, 300lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 60lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 125lbs 3x5

Pullups - 1x5

I am go to try to just add one set of pullups at the end of my training sessions and see how that affects my elbow tendinitis.

Wednesday 12/8/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 105lbs 1x2, 135lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3,4 (pr)

I felt strong today. Squats went well. All were down low and a bit of a pause at the bottom.

C&P went well. I'm getting close to hitting 5 ladders to 5 with the 24kg, which, is an intermediate goal for me along with hitting 5 ladders to 3 rungs with the 28kg bell. Getting both of those would be a solid step in the right direction.

Monday 12/6/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 260lbs 3x3, 285lbs 3x2, 300lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 60lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 105lbs 1x2, 120lbs 3x5

Friday 12/3/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 75lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 130lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 28kg - 4x1,2 3x1/1

I am definitely feeling more recovered for my workouts going to 3 days a week.

Wednesday 12/1/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 135lbs 3x5, 225lbs 1x3, 260lbs 3x3, 275lbs 3x2, 295lbs 3x1

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 65lbs 1x5, 90lbs 1x3, 120lbs 1x2, 135lbs 3x5

Monday 11/29/10

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 70lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 125lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

I took most of last week off last week. It was pretty hectic around the house as we were hosting Thanksgiving and I felt like a back off week would work out well.

Tuesday 11/23/10

Afternoon:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x45

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 70lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 125lbs 3x5

In the midst of cleaning and preparing to cook for Thanksgiving I got my workout in.

Wall pushups were tough today at the end of the third set. I'm plugged in for the progression standard on Thursday (3x50). I plan on repeating it twice more next week and then onto the the next movement.

Front squats are getting heavy feeling. On the fifth rep of the last two sets my upper body wanted to lean forward a bit. Must keep my form perfect.

Monday 11/22/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 3x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 44 sets of 7 reps

Saturday 11/20/10

Morning:

Bent press 16kg - 3x1/1

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x3 300lbs, 1x5 270lbs

C&P ladders - 28kg - 3x1,2

C&P 28kg - 5x1/1

Pressing the 28kg bell is getting a bit better. What's awesome is that I hardly feel the tendinitis in my left elbow. Not doing pullups means it isn't flaring up and the rotational stabilization required in the hardstyle press really seems to be helping by doing...I'm not sure what exactly. The muscles required to keep the bell set right on the vertical forearm seem to be worked just right to strengthen them, but not aggravate the tendinitis.

That will help my left arm catch up a lot even though it's really not very painful it is distracting and makes me feel weak when it's there. I have my fingers crossed that in a few months it won't be there at all. One can certainly dream.

Anyway...good end this cycle. It's VWC and LCC&J next week.

Thursday 11/18/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x45

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 70lbs 1x3, 95lbs 1x2, 120lbs 3x5

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x3 295lbs, 1x5 265lbs

The bigger weights are starting to feel heavy now. Next time I do this block of my training I'll be deadlifting only 3 times a week with Tuesday and Thursday front squats. My squats are low and well below parallel.

Wednesday 11/17/10

Afternoon:

Bent press 16kg - 3x1/1

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 290lbs, 1x5 260lbs

C&P ladders - 24kg - 2x1,2,3,4 - 3x1,2,3 (pr)

It's not much, but it's the first time laddering the 24kg bell to 4 rungs. I could have gone to 4 for more ladders, but I wasn't feeling it. I'll save it for next time so I can pr again :).

Tuesday 11/16/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x40

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 90lbs 1x2, 115lbs 3x5

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 285lbs, 1x5 255lbs

My weight is very slowly climbing. I'm at at 204 lbs. right now.

Monday 11/15/10

Afternoon:

Bent press 16kg - 3x1/1

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 280lbs, 1x5 250lbs

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3

Saturday 11/13/10

Morning:

Bent press 16kg - 3x1/1

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 280lbs, 1x5 250lbs

C&P ladders - 28kg - 2x1,2

C&P 28kg - 5x1/1

Jordan showed me the bent press Thursday and I plan on using it as a great warmup on some days. I'll also use the TGU as well.

My goal for the 28kg right now is just to get to 5 solid ladders to 2 rungs of good presses. I'll add singles as needed to get to a certain number of reps.

Thursday 11/11/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x40

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 85lbs 1x2, 110lbs 3x5

The sets of wall pushups were pretty tough today, or at least the last set was on the final reps.

Wednesday 11/10/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 3x1/1

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 270lbs, 1x5 245lbs

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3

Tuesday 11/9/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x30

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 60lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 105lbs 3x5

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 265lbs, 1x5 240lbs

For now while the weights are lighter I'll do both front squats and deadlifts on Tuesday and Thursday. Once I'm deadlifting over 300lbs regularly I'll cut my deadlifts to three times a week and just do front squats on these two days.

Monday 11/8/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 260lbs, 1x5 235lbs

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

Love this block training. Deadlifts felt easy like they should.

Presses felt pretty solid. My left wrist is sore and I slightly feel the tendinitis in my left elbow a bit because of the rotational part of the press.

Saturday 11/6/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 5x1/1

Long cycle C&J 2x 16kg - 2x 5

Long cycle C&J 2x 20kg - 2x 5

Long cycle C&J 2x 24kg - 5x 2, 4, 6 (23 min. 20 sec.)

Thursday 11/4/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x35

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 60lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 100lbs 3x5

Wall pushups in these long slow sets are pretty grueling. The sets are long and it's hard to psych up for sets like these. Way different than using something heavier for resistance and doing sets of 5. My rest periods are very long at this point...it's almost GTG.

Wednesday 11/3/10

Afternoon:

BU Press 16kg - 2x1/1

BU Press 20kg - 2x1/1

LCCJ 2x16kg - 2x5

Long cycle C&J 2x 20kg - 5x 2, 4, 6 (18 min. 30 sec.)

Tuesday 11/2/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x25

Afternoon:

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 55lbs 1x3, 75lbs 1x2, 95lbs 3x5

Weights used aren't heavy. I'm going rock bottom and working on keeping my form perfect for these to build up a base for when the weight eventually gets heavy.

Monday 11/1/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 5x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 42 sets of 7 reps

Saturday 10/30/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 20

Long cycle C&J 2x 16kg - 2x 5

Long cycle C&J 2x 20kg - 2x 4

Long cycle C&J 2x 24kg - 2x 2, 4, 6 - 3x 2,4 (17 min. 20 sec.)

I went over to Jordan's studio and helped out a bit with his re filming of "The Corrections" earlier today.

Friday 10/29/10

Afternoon:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x30

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 50lbs 1x3, 70lbs 1x2, 90lbs 3x5

Wall pushups are coming right along. I don't know that I've ever really done an exercise that gets my triceps pumped like this one does. Keeping the tension and moving slowly really makes these much harder.

Wednesday 10/27/10

Afternoon:

Long cycle C&J 2x 20kg - 5x 2, 4, 6 (20 min.)

I also saw Jordan before my workout. We went over the basics of the TGU as I will be helping him out with some of his re filming of portions of his DVD "The Corrections". I will be helping him with the TGU section of the video.

Long cycle was fine. I had done 5 ladders of 2,4,6 with double 24's before but it was some months ago. These were just a bit harder than I expected.

Tuesday 10/26/10

Afternoon:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x20

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 50lbs 1x3, 65lbs 1x2, 85lbs 3x5

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 36 sets of 7 reps

I was supposed to have done my Max VO2 yesterday, but I felt like relaxing after having driven from Eureka home on Sunday. It rained solid the entire drive and there was a ton of traffic. Very crappy drive down 101 south.

Saturday 10/23/10

Afternoon:

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3

I am visiting my Mom up in Eureka and brought my 24kg bell with me so I wouldn't miss my heavy pressing day. Presses were strong and hitting 5 ladders to 3 rungs without struggling the first time in a while is a great sign of what's to come in the next months.

I did miss my last deadlifting day yesterday but I'm not worried about it. Next week I start my 2 week conditioning block.

Thursday 10/21/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 3x25

Air squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 280lbs, 1x5 250lbs

Wednesday 10/20/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 275lbs, 1x5 250lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3,4

I feel stronger all the time. It's really noticeable how much more solid my pressing is...especially in the later sets.

Tuesday 10/19/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 1x25, 1x22, 1x19

GTG Pistols throughout the morning - 9 sets of 1/1

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 270lbs, 1x5 245lbs

Monday 10/18/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 265lbs, 1x5 240lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

Friday 10/15/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 270lbs, 1x5 245lbs

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

GTG Pistols throughout the day - 3 sets of 1/1

Thursday 10/14/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 2x20, 1x10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 265lbs, 1x5 240lbs

3 sets of 5 ab wheel rollouts from my knees

GTG Pistols throughout the day - 6 sets of 1/1

Wednesday 10/13/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 260lbs, 1x5 235lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

My presses are much more solid than they were a couple of weeks ago. I'm feeling strong through my hips and midsection and the presses feel good.

Tuesday 10/12/10

Morning:

Wall pushups (CC tempo) - 2x20

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 255lbs, 1x5 230lbs

GTG Pistols throughout the day - 6 sets of 1/1

I found out a couple of days ago I can do pistols again without pain. It took about a year for the muscles in my leg to heal enough after my hip replacement.

Monday 10/11/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 250lbs, 1x5 225lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2

Friday 10/8/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135lbs, 1x1 225lbs, 1x5 250lbs, 1x5 225lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x2,3,5

Wednesday 10/6/10

Afternoon:

GTG Pullups/chinups (alternating) throughout the day 5x3

TGU to post 20kg - 5x1/1

Front squat - 45lbs 3x5, 60lbs 2x3, 80lbs 3x3

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

Deadlift - 135lbs 2x5, 140lbs 1x3, 195lbs 1x2 , 235lbs 1x5

Pressing is already feeling more solid. Good call on backing off a bit.

Monday 10/4/10

Afternoon:

Z-health neural warmup

TGU 16kg - 5x1/1

Back squat - 45lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 85lbs 1x2, 110lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2

I decided to make my easy days...easy. Or as Faizal mentioned on the Dragon Door forums - perfect. I'm taking my ego out of this and I need to get a perfect groove going on these easy days.

Friday 10/1/10

Afternoon:

Z-health neural warmup

TGU 16kg - 5x1/1

Back squat - 45lbs 3x5, 60lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 105lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 20kg - 4x2,3,5

Wednesday 9/29/10

Afternoon:

Z-health neural warmup

TGU 16kg - 5x1/1

Front squat - 45lbs 4x5, 60lbs 2x3, 75lbs 3x3

Deadlift - 3x5 145lbs, 1x2 190lbs, 1x5 225lbs

C&P ladders - 20kg - 4x1,2,3,4

First time ever doing front squats with a barbell. Of course I checked the front squat instruction over at the SquatRX YouTube page before doing them. I can do them using the clean rack with a couple of fingers on the bar. I'm still feeling my way a bit on them but I'll be adding only 5lbs a week for a while so I have time to work on them.

C&P ladders with the 20kg are fine. Even though the bell isn't really heavy I want to get myself used to a bit of pressing volume before I start increasing the weight. I really need to bear down on my glutes and abs.

Monday 9/27/10

Afternoon:

Z-health neural warmup

TGU to post 16kg - 5x1/1

Back squat - 45lbs 3x5, 60lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 100lbs 3x5

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

I learned from the RKC that while my conditioning is good, my raw strength levels need improvement. I've been wanting to get back to doing barbell squats and deadlifts. I also want to improve my pressing.

I'm starting light and hopefully can keep adding weight for a while as I adapt to my new routine. Squats are pretty low and I'm really concentrating on good form with everything.

Thursday 9/23/10 - RKC earned

I just went over to Jordan's new studio for Average To Elite to take my snatch test to finalize my RKC.

I got it! I'm an RKC now! Or at least I will be once my team leader, Paul Daniels reviews the email and video from Jordan and confirms with Dragon Door.

I was a bit slow in the middle and had to move a bit quicker over the last 30 reps or so. I think I had maybe 4 seconds on the clock to finish. Jordan said something to the effect of it being the most perfect snatch test he's seen. I think that's a polite way of saying I just squeaked by, but I'll take it...LOL!

This is a goal that probably was originally formulated about 2 years ago. The last year was pretty crazy when I think about it....3 surgeries including a full hip replacement....I ripped a finger tendon completely off. Those were just obstacles to overcome!

I have to say it again...I'm an RKC!

I still need to put down my thought about the whole experience, but that's for later. I'm pretty satisfied right now and I'm going to chill out and enjoy it.

Monday 9/20/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 1 x 1/1

TGU 20kg - 2 x 1/1

TGU 24kg - 3 x 1/1

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x10 (on the minute) 100 in 10 min.

Good short session. I want to keep moving this week but have lots of energy on Thursday when I do my snatch test.

Saturday 9/18/10

Afternoon:

Snatch 16kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 20kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 3x(5/5, 10/10)

Snatch 24kg - 6x5/5

Another 150 snatches with the 24kg bell. It's funny, but I feel stronger and the bell actually feels lighter in the last sets.

Friday 9/17/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 1 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 62 sets of 7 reps

I have an appointment with Jordan next Thursday to do my snatch test and complete my requirements for my RKC. I am looking forward to it to say the least.

Wednesday 9/15/10

Afternoon:

Snatch 16kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 20kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 28kg - 5x5/5

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x15 (on the minute) 65 in 5 min.

Monday 9/13/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 3 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 70 sets of 7 reps

My conditioning is good right now. I feel good and the snatches felt strong.

I usually tell myself before the session what my minimum number of sets will be when I do VWC. When I'm in shape it's a minimum of 60 sets. Pretty much all were at an 8 rep per set pace.

Saturday 9/11/10

Morning:

Snatch 16kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 20kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 3x(5/5, 10/10)

Snatch 24kg - 6x5/5

150 total snatches with the 24kg bell. Snatches felt strong. I concentrated on really hiking each one back and really locking down hardstyle just before the bell hit the top.

Friday 9/10/10

Afternoon:

2x (TGU 20kg - 1 x 1/1 alternate with 24k snatch1 x5/5)

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 64 sets of 7 reps

Wednesday 9/8/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Snatch 16kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 20kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 3x5/5

Snatch 28kg - 3x5/5

One handed swings 28kg - 15x5/5 (on the minute) 150 in 15 min.

I'm going to start working heavier snatches in. My conditioning is good, I need to make the 24kg bell feel lighter though.

Monday 9/6/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 1 x 1/1

TGU to post, back to elbow, back to post and then down 16kg - 4 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 52 sets of 7 reps

My first formal training session since the RKC last weekend. I have done some sets of snatches and swings last week, but nothing really organized.

My left knee is still sore from running around at the RKC. Maybe just a bit of running would condition my knees a bit to take the pounding.

I'll eventually fill in the marker days my wife posted while I was gone. They will be fairly short though...I will write a longer blog post on my RKC experience either on one of the marker days or elsewhere.

Sunday 8/29/10 - RKC Day 3

We got a bit of a break in the morning due to John DuCane's marketing lecture which was held in a conference room in the hotel I was staying at. Very interesting and informative, but incomplete as John was not able to finish his presentation.

We met back up at the facility and Jeff O'Conner led us through a mobility complex.

We went out to the field and I (and one other guy) had to retake my snatch test. I was cooked at this point and could only manage 92 reps. It would have been preferable to have taken the test yesterday morning when I had more steam.

Our team went over the various exercises we had learned and worked with each other while we practiced.

Then it was filling out course evaluations and instruction on what to do with the victims when they showed up for our teaching assessments.

After lunch we met up in our groups and the victims were organized and assigned. I had to share a victim with another guy in my group due to the number of people that showed up to volunteer for their free lesson.

Then it was time for the infamous grad workout. Our workout consisted of 5 one arm swings, straight to clean and then 5 squats with the bell racked using our snatch test weight (24kg for me) - after the last squat we took 10 steps forward and got to put the bell down for about 15 - 20 seconds of rest. Then repeat with the other side.

No two ways about it...the grad workout was pretty hard work. At the end I had tunnel vision and just tried to take things one step at a time and not let my breath get out of control. When I finally crossed the line and knew that was it as far as exercises went it was pretty incredible. Everyone was high fiving and cheering on the people that were still making their way to the finish line.

We did our evaluations with our team. I passed everything except for my snatch test. My team leader Paul Daniels told me I had 90 days to do my snatch test and get confirmation to him whether it was in front of an RKC team leader or by sending him a video. He also told me that even though I had 90 days he expected it in 45 days.

That was the end of an incredible weekend. The most incredible weekend of my life. I was pretty happy even though I didn't walk away with my training certificate as I knew my conditioning was already there for the snatch test and that doing it in Jordan's studio would not be a problem.

Saturday 8/28/10 - RKC Day 2

I spent time in my room loosening up and eating to get ready for the day. I had some pretty crazy DOMS going on but I was feeling tired but ready for more by the time I headed out to the facility that the event was being held.

I decided not to do my snatch test on this morning and that I would re-take it on Sunday. In hindsight this was a mistake.

We got together with out teams and went through joint mobility and then practice with swings, goblet squats and getups.

We received instruction this morning on the clean and then the press. This of course involved lots of cleans and pressing. Oh yeah...and lots of swings. In addition to that we had to "earn" our lunch with 150 swings with a bell heavier than your snatch weight (32kg for me). I was feeling fairly fatigued this morning to say the least.

After lunch we worked on the goblet squat and then moved onto the double kettlebell front squat. We practiced squats for a while and after a short break had a double kettlebell complex using cleans, presses and swings.

We then started working on the snatch. Lots of instruction and practice including overhead walks back and forth across the field.

We got a bit of a break when Master RKC Jeff O'Conner gave a speech on what the RKC means to him. Very cool and inspirational speech.

We finished up the day with a Max VO2 snatch workout. 20 minutes using the 15:15 protocol.

I thought Friday had been hard. The second day of the RKC was definitely harder and took a lot out of me.

Friday 8/27/10 - RKC Day 1

I couldn't sleep at all last night because I was so jacked up for today. I kept going over the snatch test in my head and thinking that the day I was waiting for for almost two years had finally arrived.

I showed up a little early at the cert area so I could acclimatize a bit and meet some people. After the instructors meeting and the team leaders meetings we got to meet our team. We did the greeting and Pavel went over his expectations. Yoana Snideman ran us through a mobility complex to get us warmed up. The snatch test rules were explained, then we got in our groups and carried our snatch test bells out to the field.

For my snatch test I had 99 reps counted and on bringing the bell down to get my final rep (I had about 10 seconds on the clock) I dropped the bell! It was just a really surreal moment as I don't remember EVER having dropped a bell before. No excuses, but a night of no sleep and the farmers carry out to the field probably conspired to weaken my grip enough to cause that to happend. Even though it was pretty devastating at the moment I had to shake it off quickly as I had a whole weekend in front of me still.

We brought out the rest of the bells we would use for the day which for me was a 16kg and a 32kg in addition to the snatch (24kg) bell. We went over the goblet squat, the get up and (just before lunch) the swing.

The rest of the day involved lots of instruction for the swing and getup. This also meant we did a lot of swings and very slow getups with a workout at the end of the day.

This (at this point) felt like it had been the hardest day of physical exertion that I've had before. I ate a lot, chilled out and crashed early.

Thursday 8/26/10

I'm getting ready for my flight to San Diego for the RKC. I can't wait to experience this weekend.

Tuesday 8/24/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x10

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10

C&P press 24kg - 10x1/1

I wanted a bit of a workout today without it being too much. I'm pretty much going to take the next two days off before the RKC. I have a bunch of nervous energy that I need to expend!

Monday 8/23/10

Afternoon:

TGU 24kg - 5 x 1/1

Snatch 16kg - 1x10/10

Snatch 16kg - 1x5/5

Snatch 20kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 1x3/3

Snatch test 24kg 3 min. - 62 reps

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 20 sets of 7 reps

I was hoping for more reps but it was pretty hot today and I did do a little work before the test. I wanted to get one more day snatching the 24kg bell before the RKC. I can see how important it is to snatch the heavier bells regularly. I could have done more of this but I feel like I'm ready.

Saturday 8/21/10

Afternoon:

TGU 24kg - 5 x 3/3

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 64 sets of 7 reps

Thursday 8/19/10

Afternoon:

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10 (10 swings before each squat)

C&P BU press 20kg - 8x1/1

Wednesday 8/18/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x20 (on the minute) 100 in 5 min.

Double kettlebell swings 2x 20kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Short and sweet. The 100 32kg swings in 5 minutes is a pr. The last 10 reps or so of the last set weren't all the way up to sternum height...more like navel height, but still. It was a brutal, short blast.

The double 20kg swings weren't hard feeling. I could have used 24's on these, but I am sort of winding down for the RKC.

Tuesday 8/17/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 5x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 66 yards

This day used to be pretty tough. Not that it isn't hard, but the squats feel much easier and while my forearms start burning at the end of the farmers walks they feel easier as well.

My pressing feels a bit stronger again also. Having that splint on my finger for 8 weeks definitely got in the way of getting my press up there.

Monday 8/16/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 5 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 66 sets of 7 reps

This week I'm going to bring everything down just a bit and next week will be very light to not much work as I count the days down to the RKC.

Friday 8/13/10

Afternoon:

C&P BU press 20kg - 8x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 50 sets of 7 reps

I wanted to get some VWC in but I wanted it to be an easy day.

The BU presses feel stronger already.

Thursday 8/12/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 4x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 20x13 (on the minute) 260 in 20 min.

That's a PR for me with the 32kg bell in 20 minutes. It's pretty brutal and some of the last reps in the later sets were not fully driven up to sternum height, but I was happy with how it went.

Honestly it is much easier to mentally get up for 80 sets of 7 in VWC than it is to do a full 20 minutes of heavier swings. I feel that my conditioning is not what's the weakness in adding reps right now...it's my strength. I'll be working on that this fall after the RKC and get some heavy (for me :) ) barbell work back into my routine regularly.

Wednesday 8/11/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 5x5

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

Tuesday 8/10/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

I had a session with Jordan in the afternoon.

We started with some TGU and then moved into some double bell movements. Double swings, double c&p and see saw presses. He also had me do a very small portion of what is a fairly common grad workout for the RKC - double swings and then walking see saw presses. I only used double 20kg bells for this but it really showed me that this grad workout is absolutely no joke.

My weight right now is about 196 lbs which is roughly the weight I've been shooting for. I'm pretty strong at this weight. It is a possibility that at my bodyweight I may be asked to use double 24kg bells for the grad workout. That would be...brutal...and difficult. lol...I was more worried about the victim training on the last day, but now I'm a little apprehensive about the grad workout :).

Monday 8/9/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

TGU 24kg - 5 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 80 sets of 7 reps

I felt good today. I had good speed on all of my reps pretty much all the way through. I might have slowed down a bit around 70 sets or so, but I was still setting the bell down on the floor just at the beep. The previous sets I usually had the bell on the floor when the beep went off.

Saturday 8/7/10

Morning:

Snatch 16kg - 2x5/5

Snatch 24kg - 2x5/5

Snatch test 24kg 3 min. - 62 reps

I was experimenting with a new rep scheme. I've always done sets of 10 on my snatch tests. This time I'm thinking my first two sets for each arm will be 15 and that's what I did today. I started out a bit quick with 23 reps in the first minute and went a tad slow in the next set so my breath wouldn't get out of control. At the end when the beep went off I was ready to sprint and felt strong but I just timed it wrong.

I'm happy though. The two sets of 15 reps will eliminate a couple of hand switches and when I get the timing down it should work out real nicely. The way I feel right now the snatch test should be a slam dunk for me.

Friday 8/6/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10

Afternoon:

C&P BU press 20kg - 5x2

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 74 sets of 7 reps

Wednesday 8/4/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 20x12 (on the minute) 240 in 20 min.

Tuesday 8/3/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 5x5

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3,4

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 66 yards

Monday 8/2/10

Morning:

Air squats - 3x20

Pushups - 3x10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 5 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 72 sets of 7 reps

Thursday 7/29/10

Afternoon:

C&P BU press ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x15 (on the minute) 150 in 11 min.

Actually there was extra rest time between sets 7 and 8 as I took a call from my wife. I added a minute to the total time. My swings were really pushing it at the end there as my hips were pretty tired.

Tuesday 7/27/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 10 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 66 sets of 7 reps

It's a hard couple of days in a row with the squats and presses yesterday and the snatching today. I'm playing around a bit with my routine during the week and I am going to take tomorrow as a day off.

Monday 7/26/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x20

Goblet squat 32kg - 2x5

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 4x6

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3,4

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards

I'm getting stronger. The squats are still heavy and my last sets feel pretty hard, but it's easier than it was a few weeks ago.

Saturday 7/24/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 72 sets of 7 reps

I did some sets of arm bars before to warm my shoulders up. I'm still doing Z-Health Neural Warmup before almost every training session to get my joints moving.

Friday 7/23/10

Afternoon:

I had a session with Jordan. I learned more about how to stabilize my shoulders. I have really good shoulder flexibility, but at this point it will probably be advantageous for me to sacrifice a bit of that mobility to increase my stability.

Two handed swings 24kg - 1x10

Snatch test 24kg 3 min. - 66 reps

Pr for me in the 3 minute test and just the number of reps I was telling Jordan I wanted. On the downside my grip got a bit lazy at the end and I pulled the skin in my palm and got a little blood blister....and I was just telling Jordan how good my hands were holding up! LOL.

Thursday 7/22/10

Afternoon:

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

Pretty easy day today. I'll add another rung to the pressing ladders on Tuesday and today next week.

The 32kg goblet squats aren't hard like the double bell squats on Tuesday. I'm doing them very slowly and pausing well below parallel. I may add a set or two next week.

Wednesday 7/21/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x20

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 3x 2, 4, 6

I think I'm going to change this day to TGU and swings.

The long cycle is "fun" and I like what it's doing for me, but sandwiching this between two days with squats and presses may not be the best fit.

Tuesday 7/20/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Goblet squat 32kg - 2x5

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x6, 1x3

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 66 yard

Good workout today. Backing off the last couple of weeks has me feeling pretty strong.

The double 24 front squats are still pretty tough. I'm going to add a set at the end and see if I can work up to 5 sets of 5-6 reps. I really feel my abs on the last reps.

Monday 7/19/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 5 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 64 sets of 7 reps

Moving back up using 7 reps a set. I saw a point Jordan made on the DD forums about people chasing numbers instead of working within a rep range instead of just moving to 8 immediately.

Friday 7/16/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 16 sets of 8 reps, 38 sets of 7 reps

Tuesday 7/13/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x6

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 2, 4, 6, 2, 4, 6

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 33 yards

Monday 7/12/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 10 sets of 8 reps, 52 sets of 7 reps

Saturday 7/10/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 80 sets of 7 reps

I was only planning on hitting 70 sets today, but I was feeling in a good groove so I went for the full 80 sets. Next week I'll start adding some sets of 8 to the start and moving towards doing 8 reps for all of my sets.

Friday 7/9/10

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 8 x 1/1

TGU 24kg - 4 x 1/1

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10

I took a rest day yesterday so I bumped up my Thursday session to today.

Wednesday 7/7/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x16 (on the minute) - 80 in 5 min.

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x16 (not timed)

I didn't feel like I had much oomph today. Yesterdays session contributed as did working like a dog to clean the house this morning. I was planning on hitting 12 sets of 16 and then a few more sets of 10 -12, but I could tell that I didn't have it today so I'll take it as a back off day.

Tuesday 7/6/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x6

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 2, 4, 6, 2, 4

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 33 yards

Monday 7/5/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 1/1

TGU 20kg - 4 x 1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 60 sets of 7 reps

I could have pushed for a few more sets but I'm considering Mondays my easy day. I want to get over 70 sets on Friday. Speed was good throughout the 60 sets and was probably just shy of an 8 rep pace.

Saturday 7/3/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 1x20, 2x10

Snatch 24kg - 2x4/4

Snatch test 24kg 3 min. - 63 reps

I'm right on track with 63 reps. My cadence is good, I just need to work a bit and keep that speed up for 5 minutes (or less hopefully). I got a minor pull on the skin of my right hand at the end there. My hands are getting tougher every week though and my technique is improving constantly as well.

Friday 7/2/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 66 sets of 7 reps

Feeling pretty strong throughout the sets including on the eccentric. Hands are adapting well to the load now.

I'm starting to gtg with presses here and there when I feel like it. So far it's just been controlled and strict sets of 5 with the 16kg bell and sets of 2 or 3 with the 20kg bell. I'm trying to feel the press from the ground through my abdomen, lats, shoulder and arms. I'm really feeling the lats and I'm trying hard to keep my abs tight.

Thursday 7/1/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 2 x 1/1

TGU 20kg - 8 x 1/1

TGU 24kg - 2 x 1/1

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x10

Wednesday 6/30/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x16, 2x10 (on the minute) - 180 in 12 min

Swings are getting stronger. I'll add a bit more time next week as I march towards 20 sets of 20 with the 32kg.

Tuesday 6/29/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

One handed swings 32kg - 2x5/5

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x5

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 1x2, 1x4, 1x6

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards

I've been feeling a bit achy in my right rotator cuff and it looks like the one handed 32kg swings definitely contribute to it.

I got sets of 5 with the double 24kg bells. All were below parallel with a pause at the bottom.

Monday 6/28/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 5/5

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 52 sets of 7 reps

Taking it a bit easy. I'm definitely feeling a bit of tightness in my lower left back.

Saturday 6/26/10

Morning:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x10

Snatch 24kg - 2x4/4

Snatch test 24kg 2 min. - 40 reps

I was planning on a 3 minute test, but I had some hot spots with loose skin that I had taped up for the test. Unfortunately the tape tore on my right hand on the 40th rep. It pulled on of the spots and one more rep would have pulled it off. I decided to call it right there to keep my hands in the best shape possible for next week. My cadence was spot on though.

Friday 6/25/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 62 sets of 7 reps

Getting there. I'm still slowing a bit at the end, but I'm slowly feeling stronger and my endurance is picking up.

I'm really trying to concentrate on moving symmetrically. I did note a tendency for my right foot to supinate at times. I worked on keeping my hips and shoulders square and keeping both feet rooted.

Thursday 6/24/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 5 x 1/1

TGU 20kg - 5 x 1/1

Partial TGU to post 24kg - 1 x 2/2

Goblet squat 32kg - 3x7

Wednesday 6/23/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 3x5

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 9x15, 3x11 (on the minute) - 168 in 12 min

I probably could have hit the 10 sets of 15 but I opted to go down to 11 for the last sets. I did add two sets to make up for it with more total reps. Swings did feel stronger than last week though. I'm really starting to feel the synchronicity of the hips breaking back and just enough lats to keep the bell moving at the correct tempo.

I think I got to the bottom of the lower back fatigue I was feeling the last few days. I was mentally going over my Max VO2 workout on Monday and remembered that each snatch at the start of the sets wasn't really being hiked all the way back. Many of them were just kind of picked up and then snatched up without a proper hike.

My swings today I really focused on hitting the proper parts of the motion - hike back, breath in on the downstroke and tense glutes, lats and abs at the top. It seemed to work well.

Tuesday 6/22/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 1x20

Two handed swings 32kg - 1x20

One handed swings 32kg - 5x5/5

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x4

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 1x2, 1x4, 1x5

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 66 yards

I made some corrections to my front squat form - laced my hands together which brought the bells a bit more up front. This made them feel harder than last week and I'm happy with the sets of 4.

Long cycle feels a bit stronger which is good. My lower back is feeling a bit fatigued. This is most likely due to my form breaking down a bit as I'm most likely doing a bit too much. I'm going to home in on the things I absolutely need - snatches, swings and tgu and dial down the additional stuff a bit.

Monday 6/21/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 5x4

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 10/10

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 52 sets of 7 reps

Saturday 6/19/10

Afternoon:

Snatch 24kg - 3x6/6

Snatch 28kg - 3x5/5

I was supposed to do a timed test today, but I had enough margaritas last night to make today feel pretty foggy. I still wanted to snatch a heavier bell though so I did a few sets with the 24kg and the 28kg.

Jordan is doing an intro to the CK-FMS tomorrow at Girya. Looking forward to learning something new!

Friday 6/18/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 54 sets of 7 reps

Technique much improved over Monday's session. I was slowing down a bit at the end, but kept my hands free from feeling any hot spots. Part of that is also building up that slight callus on the palm, but I was concentrating on hitting the drop and catch throughout.

Thursday 6/17/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 8x3

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 10 x 1/1

Dips are feeling stronger pretty quickly. I'll start sets of 4 next week.

I tried to move slowly and correctly in the tgu always trying to maintain a vertical arm. The weight is light but I can feel some postural muscles in my back that had to work a little harder than usual. My tgu when the bell is in my right hand are a bit harder. My left leg is still a bit weaker in some ranges of motion than my right.

Wednesday 6/16/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x10 (not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x15 (on the minute) - 150 in 10 min

The timed swings were pretty brutal. I did a lot of stuff yesterday, so I wanted a minimal session but with some intensity. The swings were feeling good, but this is the first time I started pushing up the sets of 15. My swings were all shoulder height except for the last 5 reps of each of the last two sets. I swung those reps to about 45 degrees or so.

I'm also stretching and foam rolling almost every day for about a half hour to hour. It has definitely helped my recovery and my movement feels better all the time.

Tuesday 6/15/10

Afternoon:

One handed swings 32kg - 5x5/5

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10

Double bell clean to front squat 2x 24kg - 3x5

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 1x2, 1x3, 1x4

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards, 2x 66 yards

Funny how cocky you can get before you actually do something. I was all thinking that I'd hit 5 sets of 5 with the double 24's but quickly realized that I should do less and make them good reps. I'll add some sets down the road, but this is a good start and my technique still needs some fine tuning.

Monday 6/14/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 8x3

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 30 minutes continuous - about 13 or 14 per side

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 50 sets of 7 reps

I lightened up my TGU and want to concentrate on perfect form first. I was having some aches in my right shoulder and realized that I must have allowed my arm to lean at some point and strained it a bit. I'll probably do one day later in the week with the heavier bell, but really focus on perfect get ups and not just try to do as many as I can. I'll keep this one lighter day with more volume and also concentrate on perfect form.

Good to snatch again. I started feeling a hot spot in my left hand because it's been a while since I was snatching and got lazy on my "hop" on the down swing. My bad. It was around set 40 and I should have stopped there but I had it in my head to at least hit 50 sets today. I got it but I should have stopped when I first felt the tug. Good to learn the lesson again this early though. Building up sets is more than just the strength and endurance to do the motions, it's making every part of the movement correct and that includes the little things.

On the plus side I was really getting a good pendulum feel and my hips were loading back nicely. All the swings I've been doing have really helped in that area.

Saturday 6/12/10

Morning:

Snatch test 24kg 3 min. - 55 reps

Snatch 28kg - 1x5/5

My first time testing my 24kg snatches in a while. I was hoping to hit 60 reps but based on his this felt 55 is definitely acceptable with a couple of months to go. I started with slow reps and I started sprinting at the end late. I still had good speed and strength when the beeper went off. I feel that I could have easily gotten the 60 with a couple of tweaks to my cadence to start and my sprint at the end. But it's not about guessing :).

First time ever snatching the 28kg bell. I want to get the feel for the heavier bell.

I think I'll change out one of my swing days to a VWC day. Two days of 32kg swings and VWC should work out well. I think I'll start some real low volume snatching with the 28kg bell during the week just to get used to it and gain some strength.

Friday 6/11/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 7x3

Afternoon:

TGU 20kg - 10x1/1

TGU to post, down and up to elbow 24kg - 1/1

Farmers walk 32kg+28kg bell alternating hands - 2x 100 yards

The weight vest wasn't doing anything for my farmers walk the other day. Heavier bells now...that did something.

Wednesday 6/9/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 8x2

Afternoon:

One handed handed swings 32kg - 1x8/8, 2x5/5

Long cycle 2x 24kg - 3x2

Loaded cleans 2x 24kg - 2x1 with 5 second hold

Double c&p 2x 24kg - 2x1

Loaded cleans 32kg - 2x1/1 with 5 second hold

Two handed swings 32kg - 2x20, 4x15, 14x10 (on the minute) - 240 in 20 min

Definitely getting stronger fast. I'm getting smoked by these swing sessions, but the reps are coming steadily. My cadence is pretty good even though I slow a bit at the later sets. My first sets of 20 looked spot on at about 30 seconds of work.

Some technique work with the double bells for a warmup. These helped the 32kg feel lighter.

Tuesday 6/8/10

Afternoon:

Snatch 16kg - 7/7

Snatch 20kg - 7/7

Snatch 24kg - 5/5

TGU 24kg - 11x1/1

Farmers walk 24kg bell each hand and 40lb weight vest - 3x 100 yards

Just getting a bit of snatching practice. They felt good and the 24kg bell didn't feel heavy. I definitely need to work on my snatching, but the heavy swings are definitely doing something good.

The farmers walk was a real smoker. I'll do this weight for a few times and bump up one bell to the 28kg and see how it goes.

Monday 6/7/10

Morning:

Ring dips - 8x2

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 10x20 (not timed)

I'm starting dips back up again as I felt that some of the increase in my pressing strength after my hip surgery was from all of the dips I was doing.

I need to work up my swing strength for the higher rep sets if I'm going to get the 20 sets of 20 I'd like with the 32kg bell. These swings felt good and I'm definitely feeling stronger in them.

Saturday 6/5/10

Morning:

Pullups max effort sets - 1x9, 2x7

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x15 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 6x15, 10x10 (on the minute) - 190 in 16 min

Car push (Honda Civic :) ) - 100 feet x 4

Pullups were not as strong as last week. I tried for a 10th rep on my first set and got my chin over the bar, but didn't touch my neck or chest to the bar so...no rep! I also ate pretty terribly last night at a very mediocre hamburger joint which didn't help at all.

Swings are definitely coming along. I'm slowly adding volume and total time with the goal of hitting 400 32kg swings in 20 minutes eventually (hopefully before the RKC).

The car push seems like it would be something interesting to add. The parking lot I picked had a very slight grade and pushed easily one direction while the other was difficult. Today was just messing around to see what it was like. I want to get a Prowler eventually, but pushing my car is a free way to get this in for now.

Friday 6/4/10

Afternoon:

TGU 24kg - 10x1/1

Hand is working better each day. Back pull is still there, but better to the point that I can do TGU again.

I got some new DD bells from Nate Flores at Park Road Fitness. I picked up a 16kg and a 24kg for now. I'm going to get another 20kg bell also so I have doubles in those three bell sizes.

Thursday 6/3/10

Afternoon:

Ring dips - 4x2

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x10 - not timed

Two handed swings 32kg - 5x20 - not timed

Air squats - 3x20

I wasn't really going to train today, but I felt I needed to do something. My finger is now out of the splint. It's pretty sore and stiff. I need to be careful to get the tendon flexible again but I'm not anticipating that to be a long term thing. Hopefully within one or two weeks it will be in pretty good shape.

I'm dying to do some snatches and deadlifts but it won't do me any good just to pop the tendon off before it heals enough.

Tuesday 6/1/10

Afternoon:

Chinups throughout the day gtg - 10x6

Pushups - 3x10

Goblet squats 28kg - 3x10

My back is still really sore from pulling some postural muscle or another last week. I wanted to do TGU today but it was too sore. Just have to be smart.

Monday 5/31/10

Afternoon:

Diamond pushups - 1x15, 1x12

Air squats - 3x10

Two handed swings 28kg - 5x10 - not timed

Two handed swings 28kg - 3x20, 3x15, 8x10 - on the minute - 185 swings in 14 minutes

Saturday 5/29/10

Morning:

Pullups max effort sets - 2x9, 1x8

Loaded cleans 32kg - 3x1/1 with 10 second hold

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 1x10, 2x15 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 4x15, 10x10 (on the minute) - 160 in 14 min

Last Saturdays pullups made my tendinitis sore, so I'll try less sets of more reps on this pullup day. I could have gotten 10 on my first set with my chin over the bar, but I want my form to be strong and pulling to the chest when I train if possible.

Swings were good, but hard :). The cadence is harder to get with the heavier bells, but all of my swings regardless of weight should be the same in form and speed. That is what I'm working towards.

Friday 5/28/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x15

Goblet squats 28kg - 3x5

Wednesday 5/26/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 28kg - 2x10 - not timed

Two handed swings 28kg - 10x20 - not timed, about 1 -2 min. rest between sets

Pushups - 3x15

Air squats - 3x20

I wasn't going to do anything today because of the pulled muscle in my back but I tried some swings and it didn't affect the area so I got some sets in. Still working on my cadence which requires me to concentrate on the negative eccentrics and pull that bell down with my lats on the downswing.

Tuesday 5/25/10

Afternoon:

Chinups throughout the day gtg - 10x6

Diamond pushups - 3x17

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

My neck is really stiff today. I was going to do TGU today, but went back to this. Next week I finally get this splint off of my finger and I'm hoping that soon I can do the things I want to do.

Monday 5/24/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x19

Air squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 28kg - 5x10 - not timed

Two handed swings 28kg - 1x20, 7x15, 4x10 - on the minute - 165 swings in 12 minutes

I not only have to work on proper swing form but my swing cadence as well. I'll be picking up a metronome soon so I can practice a perfect cadence of 40 swings/minute.

Another lesson learned today. I just picked up the 28 and start doing some presses either side and I pulled/strained a muscle in my neck/back. It was stupid. I got through the swings today, but my neck is very stiff and sore now. Hopefully it will just be a day or so before it loosens up.

Be smart!

Saturday 5/22/10

Morning:

Two handed swings 32kg - 1x20, 2x10 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 3x15, 7x10 (on the minute) - 115 in 10 min

Pullups throughout the day gtg - 12x5

I have to foam roll my it bands, quads and adductors a bunch before I swing so my knees don't get tight and feel sore. It seems to be working though. Having it work for the next three months will be a real success.

Friday 5/21/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x19

Air squats - 3x20

Thursday 5/20/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 3x17

Air squats - 3x20

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20 - not timed

Press 24kg - max reps per arm - 8 right, 6 left

Afternoon:

TGU 24kg - 7x1/1

Partial TGU to sitting position 24kg - 1/1

I was just messing around this morning and decided to check my max reps with the 24kg bell. I saw Faizal mention on the DD forums that most RKCs should be able to press the 24kg bell around 20 times per arm. That's a good benchmark.

The TGU were done in about 19 minutes. I have another benchmark now on sets. I'm thinking I'll work up to doing at least 15 - 20 per arm. Jordan mentioned in the past that consistency on these can get the reps up fairly quickly.

I love swings and TGU!

Wednesday 5/19/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 28kg - 5x10 - not timed

Two handed swings 28kg - 3x20, 14x10 - on the minute - 200 swings in 17 minutes

Tuesday 5/18/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 1x15, 2x17

Air squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Chinups - 10x6

TGU 24kg - 5x1/1

Partial TGU to sitting position 24kg - 3x2/2

Monday 5/17/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x18

Air squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 28kg - 5x10

Saturday 5/15/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20

Pullups - 5x5

Kb press 24kg - 4x2/2

Two handed swings 24kg - 10x20 (not timed)

Decent workout. The cut on my finger has healed enough to grip things again. My right knee is still a bit sore.

Friday 5/14/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 2x17, 1x16

Air squats - 3x20

Thursday 5/13/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x18

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x10, 1x20

I thought the cut was healed enough on my hand but the set of 20 got blood coming up around my stiches. I'll chill out for a few more days. Oops.

Wednesday 5/12/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 3x16

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Wore a 40lb weight vest for about an hour and during that time I did 5x20 squats.

I'm just kind of waiting for my cut to heal on my finger so I can do some swings. I wasn't sure if I could do 5 sets of 20 with the 40lb weight vest on, but I got em no problem. I plan on getting a good amount of squats in along with swings, tgu starting next week hopefully.

Tuesday 5/11/10

Morning:

Pushups - 1x18, 2x20

Afternoon:

Bodyweight squats - 2x40

Zero momentum situps - 3x4

It's kind of funny but yesterday when I was cleaning out a can to put in the recycling I cut my finger on my right hand pretty badly. I went to the emergency room (again) and got some stiches in my finger and a tetanus shot. It will be a few days until I can do swings again apparently.

It's actually not that funny as sometimes it seems like I just keep breaking myself and it's tough to get the consistent rhythm in my routine that I want.

Anyway. The pushups are working well and getting some endurance in bodyweight squats sure won't hurt me. I'm going to work one or two ab moves in. The zero momentum situps were done very slowly with full control up and down.

Monday 5/10/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 3x16

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 4x20 (not timed)

Two handed swing & squat ladders 24kg - 10+10, 9+9, 8+8, 7+7, 6+6, 5+5, 4+4, 3+3, 2+2, 1+1 (30 seconds rest between rungs until before the 4+4 at which point the remainder were done without rest)

My knee is still a bit sore so tgu were not on option just yet. Soon though. The swing squat ladders were pretty tough.

Saturday 5/8/10

Morning:

Pullups gtg throughout the morning - 10x5

Two handed swings 20kg (not timed) - 10x20

My knee is feeling pretty good. I'm hoping Monday I can start back to working on some strong timed sets again.

Friday 5/7/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x18

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

Just getting my body moving again.

Thursday 5/6/10

Morning:

Diamond pushups - 3x15

Bodyweight squats - 3x20

Afternoon:

Swings and goblet squat sets 16kg - 5x10+10

I saw the knee surgeon today and had my sutures removed. I got the go ahead to ease myself back into exercise.

Wednesday 5/5/10

Morning:

Pushups - 2x18, 1x17

Afternoon:

Double bell sumo deadlifts - 24kg + 28kg - 2x20

Tuesday 5/4/10

Chinups throughout the day gtg - 6x6
Diamond pushups throughout the day gtg - 6x15

Two handed swings 16kg - 3x20
Bodyweight squats - 3x20

My knee is doing much better. I still have a bit of fluid left from the surgery, but I can already tell how much better my knee feels. It wasn't unstable, but it felt unstable due to the tear and the soreness. I can't wait to see how things will go.

I can't do pullups/chinups every day like the fighter pullup plan right now because my tendinitis starts coming back. Twice a week with a couple days in between seems like it's working well.

Saturday 4/24/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 32kg - 8x10 (warmup throughout the morning) - not timed)

Two handed swings 32kg - 12x10 (on the minute) - 120 in 12 min

Yesterday I did some pushups in the afternoon. I'm going to start doing them with my hands close to each other working my way into doing the diamond pushups.

I have arthroscopic surgery scheduled for my right knee on Monday. Hopefully I find out what is wrong with my knee and I especially hope they can fix it right there.

Thursday 4/22/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x17

Afternoon:

Goblet squats 28kg - 6x10

Military press (1 clean) 20kg - 5x5/5

Wednesday 4/21/10

Morning:

Chinups - 6, 5, 4, 4, 3

Pushups - 3x17

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 28kg - 3x10 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 28kg - 20x10 (on the minute) - 200 in 20 min.

Tuesday 4/20/10

Morning:

Chinups - 6, 5, 4, 3, 3

Pushups - 3x17

Afternoon:

Goblet squats 20kg - 2x10

Double bell front squats 16kg + 20kg - 6x5

Military press (1 clean) 24kg - 5x3/3

Monday 4/19/10

Morning:

Chinups - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Pushups - 3x17

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x10 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x20, 11x12 (on the minute) - 232 in 16 min.

I'm trying to work on the swing form I learned at the HKC. I have to keep thinking straight arms, feel the pendulum of the bell and "catch" the forearms at the crotch area.

Saturday 4/17/10

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x10 (warmup - not timed)

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x20, 10x10 (on the minute) - 200 in 15 min.

Not a bad start for swings. I could have pushed the sets of 20 for another few sets, but I want to get my body used to the volume a bit first.

Friday 4/16/10

Morning:

Chinups - 5, 5, 4, 3, 2

Pushups - 3x16

Thursday 4/15/10

Morning:

Chinups - 5, 4, 4, 3, 2

Pushups - 3x16

Afternoon:

Double bell sumo deadlifts - 24kg + 28kg - 2x20

For my mornings I'll just hit Pavel's Fighter Pullup Plan and work my pushups up to a least 3x20.

Wednesday 4/15/10

Morning:

Pushups - 3x16

Afternoon:

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x20

Rack walks 24kg - 1x1/1

C&P 24kg - 3x1/1

More experimenting...

This week will be a sort of back off week as I figure out what I can do with this splinted finger and what my routine will be like as it heals.

I'm thinking I'll do pullups and pushups in the morning and alternate swings and double bell deadlifts in the afternoons. I can sort of press...the clean is awkward, but I can make it work for a series of military presses with a lighter bell like the 24kg.

For the two handed swings I need to pad the fingers next to the splint because one was starting to get bruised by being pressed against the splint. No need to keep adding injuries just to keep training.

Tuesday 4/13/10

Afternoon:

Bodyweight chinups/pullups - 5x5 gtg throughout the day

Single leg deadlifts w/ bell on same side as leg - 16kg - 1x5/5

Single leg deadlifts w/bell on opposite side from leg - 16kg - 3x5/5

Double bell deadlifts - 20kg + 24kg - 2x20

Just kind of experimenting today. The single leg dl are really tough and will take some practice.

Monday 4/12/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x5 225, 1x5 280

It doesn't look like deadlifts are going to work with this splint on my finger. I used a strap on my right arm, but maintaining equal tension on both arms wasn't working well.

Saturday 4/10/10

I have the HKC today!

I'll report back later.

Later that day...

Well I passed! I'm now an HKC!

It was an excellent experience with a lot of information and correction throughout the day. The standards and information provided throughout the day were very high and I'm very thankful to everyone that helped me improve how I perform my movements. Thank you to Mark and Tracy Reifkind, Jordan Vezina and Nathan Flores as well as everyone that took the course with me.

One annoying thing that happened is I was massaging my sore left elbow and tore the extensor tendon on the end joint of my right middle finger. I did this first thing in the morning and had to go through the HKC with a messed up finger. Looks like I have "Mallet Finger" and may need the finger splinted for at least 4 - 6 weeks. Sigh. Better now than just before the RKC I suppose.

Friday 4/9/10

Afternoon:

Military press - 24kg - 1x5/5

C&P - 32kg - 4x1/1

Military press - 24kg - 2x3/3

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 280, 1x5 250

Thursday 4/8/10

Afternoon:

Weighted chinups/pullups 16kg - 4x2, 2x1

TGU 16kg - 30 minutes alternating sides

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 275, 1x5 250

Wednesday 4/7/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 270, 1x5 245

C&P ladders - 28kg - 5x1,2

Tuesday 4/6/10

Afternoon:

Bodyweight chinups/pullups - 8x5 gtg throughout the day

TGU 16kg - 30 minutes alternating sides

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 265, 1x5 240

All the fish oil I'm taking seems to be keeping the elbow tendinitis at bay. My pullups feel strong right now. I felt a bit tired for the deadlifts though.

Monday 4/5/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x1 225, 1x5 260, 1x5 235

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

Saturday 4/3/10

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 64 sets of 7 reps

Now I'm getting my sets into decent numbers.

I have an issue with my right knee. I have an appointment with my Dr. on Monday morning to hopefully get a referral to a sports/knee specialist to have a look at it.

Friday 4/2/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x16

Afternoon:

Chinups/pullups bodyweight - 4x5

Thursday 4/1/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x16

Afternoon:

Weighted chinups/pullups 16kg - 4x2, 1x1

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20

Another session with Jordan where I worked on TGU, viking push press & clean and jerks. I think I know how I have been messing up my cleans now I have to practice with better form.

Wednesday 3/31/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x16

Afternoon:

One handed swings 24kg - 1x10/10

One handed swings 28kg - 1x10/10

Hand to hand swings (DARC) 28kg - 2x20

Double swings 20kg + 24kg - 5x10

Easing into the doubles with the 20 + 24. I really need to lose the tension in my head and neck. When I relax them my form tightens up noticeably.

Tuesday 3/30/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Bodyweight chinups/pullups - 6x4 gtg throughout the day

Bu cleans 16kg - 3x1/1 w/ 10 second hold

Bu cleans 20kg - 3x1/1 w/ 10 second hold

Bu cleans 24kg - 3x1/1 w/ 10 second hold

Two handed swings 24kg - 5x20

Cleans 16kg 1x5/5

Cleans 20kg 1x5/5

Cleans 24kg 1x5/5

Cleans 28kg 1x5/5

Monday 3/29/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Cleans 16kg - 3x5/5

Cleans 28kg - 3x3/3

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 52 sets of 7 reps

I'm feeling the groove better every time I hit VWC. I'm really looking for that perfect pendulum movement with the breathing and hardstyle lock each rep. Getting there.

I was also messing around and got a 28kg bu clean hold on my right. The left was not getting there...just a matter of tightening up and hitting everything right. Still a pr though.

Saturday 3/27/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 46 sets of 7 reps

My sets are creeping up. Next week I need to get over 50 sets.

Thursday 3/25/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

I had a session with Jordan today. I really need to work on my cleans and double cleans, especially when I'm bringing the bell(s) back down.

He had me do the following:

Two handed swings 24kg - 3x20, 1x15 (I made a mistake and halted prematurely)

Bottoms up press 20kg - 4x1/1

Viking push press 16kg - 3x10/10

Double viking push press 2x16kg - 3x5/5

Double viking push press ladders with pullups after each ladder 2x16kg - 3x2, 4, 6

Wednesday 3/24/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Hand to hand swings (DARC) 24kg - 3x10

One handed swings 32kg - 3x5/5

Two handed swings 32kg - 1x20, 1x10

Double swings 16kg + 20kg - 5x20

I feel pretty tired after these. For some reason I was expecting the double swings to be on the easier side as I was looking forward to doing these with the 20kg and 24kg in a week. My hips and back are pretty fatigued.

Tuesday 3/23/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Bodyweight chinups/pullups - 4x4 gtg throughout the day

TGU 16kg - 4x1/1

Loaded cleans 24kg - 3x5

Loaded cleans 32kg - 3x5

BU press 24kg 1x1/1

BU clean and hold 24kg - 2x20 seconds

Fun workout today. Nice to see that the 24kg bu press is still there.

Monday 3/22/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 44 sets of 7 reps

Block training is pretty sweet. Just deadlifting and pressing the last two weeks and I still get more sets than I did the last VWC block.

Saturday 3/20/10

Afternoon:

Chinups bodyweight 2x4

C&P - 28kg - 7x1/1

Friday 3/19/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x3 290, 1x3 260

Heading to Girya for training with Jordan now. Depending on what he has me doing today I'll either do some heavy pressing today or tomorrow.

Thursday 3/18/10

Afternoon:

RKC arm bar 16kg - 2x1/1 alternating with foam rolling my lats

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x3 285, 1x3 255

One more day for this cycle. My left shoulder was feeling fatigued so I took it easy and did some arm bars and foam rolling my lats. I'm also tapering down reps at the end of this cycle for the deadlift.

Wednesday 3/17/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 280, 1x5 250

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2,3

Still going. I know that before my surgery doing 5 ladders of 3 rungs with the 24kg was a pr. Hitting that today definitely felt easier than it did last time. I'll see how Fridays ladders to 4 rungs works out.

I also gtg a few sets of pullups today.

Tuesday 3/16/10

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 30 minutes alternating sides

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 275, 1x5 250

Deadlifts are starting to feel heavy. Hopefully I can finish out the weights I had planned for this week.

Monday 3/15/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 270, 1x5 245

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5x1,2

I'm feeling the tendinitis soreness in my elbow a bit from pullups last week. I'm going to go real slow here and back off to gtg pullups again. I also need to ice my arm consistently.

Friday 3/12/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 270, 1x5 245

C&P ladders - 24kg - 3x1,2,3

I did some more pressing at Girya with Jordan afterwards. I got reps with the 32kg on my right and pressed it easily on each side. I tried the 36kg but didn't get it. I need some serious work on my cleans. I'll do them a couple of times a week.

Thursday 3/11/10

Afternoon:

Weighted chinups/pullups with 20 lbs - 10x1

TGU 16kg - 20 minutes alternating sides

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x2 225, 1x5 265, 1x5 240

The light tgu are a great warmup for the deadlifts. I'm trying to make each one perfect with the most attention needed on my initial roll and drive up to my elbow.

Wednesday 3/10/10

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x1 225, 1x5 260, 1x5 235

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3,4

Love the feeling of deadlifting every day.

Need to remember to keep up my stretching and foam rolling. My legs and knees are feeling better all the time so I feel less need to stretch and then I slack off. My mobility and flexibility are important for the big picture...I need to remember that.

Tuesday 3/9/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Alternating chinups/pullups - 10x3

Afternoon:

TGU 16kg - 20 minutes alternating sides

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x5 255, 1x5 230

I think the goblet squats and pushups are too much during this block. It fits in fine with the VWC block though so I'll leave it for then.

Monday 3/8/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x15

Afternoon:

Deadlift - 3x5 135, 1x5 250, 1x5 225

C&P ladders - 20kg - 5x1,2,3

Wednesday 3/3/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x13

Afternoon:

24kg two handed swings - 2x10

28kg two handed swings - 1x10

32kg two handed swings - 2x10

16kg + 20kg double bell swings - 5x10

32kg two handed swings - 1x5

32kg one handed swings - 3x5/5

Just heavy swings. Love feeling the groove on these.

Monday 3/1/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 20kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x13

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

20kg TGU - 2x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 36 sets of 7 reps

I dropped back a few sets today. My intention is for Mondays to be a lighter day and Friday to push hard.

I weighed about 214 today. I'm very slowly coming down in weight and leaning out.

Oh yeah....I registered for both the HKC in April and the RKC in August (San Diego) today!

Saturday 2/27/10

Morning:

Goblet squats 20kg - 2x10

Pushups - 2x12

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

20kg TGU - 2x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 42 sets of 7 reps

I felt shame telling Jordan last week that I was only hitting around 30 sets in VWC. Time to push it a bit and get past 50 sets regularly. I bet I'll be hitting that within the next week.

Tuesday 2/23/10

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

20kg TGU - 2x1/1

24kg TGU - 2x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 30 sets of 7 reps

Things are feeling stronger. I'm moving much better now than I was last week already.

Thursday 2/18/10

Afternoon:

24 kg press - 4x1/1

28kg press - 1x1/1

32kg press - 1x1/1 (pr on my left)

24kg press - 4x1/1

28kg press - 1x1/1

32kg press - 2x1/1

Deadlift - 2x5 135, 3x3 220, 3x2 250, 3x1 265

First time ever pressing the 32kg bell on my left arm. I hadn't attempted it since before my surgery, but it's nice to be stronger than before my surgery in at least one lift.

Wednesday 2/17/10

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

20kg TGU - 2x1/1

24kg TGU - 1x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 28 sets of 7 reps

TGU are coming along.

Max VO2 is tough to work up when your cardio sucks. My biggest concern is making my reps good ones....the sets will come, I just need to lay a good foundation.

Monday 2/15/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 75lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 130lbs 5x5

BU presses - 16kg 3x 1,2,3 each side

Saturday 2/13/10

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

20kg TGU - 1x1/1

24kg TGU - 1x1/1

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 24 sets of 7 reps

I'm starting to remember the groove on my TGU and they already feel much stronger. The initial drive/move to the elbow prop with my down leg straight and forward and my up leg staying vertical feels much more natural.

4 more reps in the VWC. Starting to feel the groove a bit more already and hopefully I'll add sets quickly.

Thursday 2/11/10

Afternoon:

16kg TGU - 2x1/1

Partial getups to sitting position - 16kg 1x1/1

Deadlift - 2x5 135, 3x3 210, 3x2 240, 3x1 255

24kg press - 10x1/1

Tuesday 2/9/10

Afternoon:

Partial getups to sitting position - 16kg 2x1 each side

2 handed swings 16kg -3x10

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 20 sets of 7 reps

Heh...I told Jordan the other day that I was cardio challenged and that certainly wasn't a joke. I felt the snatches in the muscles I haven't been using for a while, but I didn't feel weak. My wind is not there right now. A few weeks from now I'll see how it picked up.

I need to find get some flooring tiles for our living room so I can do TGU with enough room to move. I really want to work on what Jordan showed me. I've been doing the half getups for now in a real cramped area.

Monday 2/8/10

Afternoon:

Goblet squat - 16kg 1x5, 20kg 1x5, 24kg 1x5

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 75lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 125lbs 5x5

BU presses - 16kg 3x 1,2,3 each side

I did more squatting than I intended to do because I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to structure my Mondays in this new cycle. I think I'll just do 5x5 back squats for now once a week. I'll do another lighter day of goblet squats in higher volume on another day.

Friday 2/5/10

Afternoon:

Partial getups to sitting position - 16kg 2x1 each side

BU presses - 16kg 3x 1,2,3 each side

Press - 20kg 1x2 each side

Press - 24kg 1x1 each side

Goblet squat - 24kg 2x5

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x3

I saw Jordan yesterday and got some excellent advice on using the getup to help myself move better along with some great stretches. I'm going to try to stretch multiple times each day if possible.

I also decided to move into a Max VO2 based routine again instead of trying to gain any more weight. I'm tired of eating any way. :)

Wednesday 2/3/10

Afternoon:

Bench press - (65x5, 95x5)x7

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x7

Pretty grueling, but not that hard.

I've been doing some gtg kettlebell pressing during some days. A mixture of 20kg and 24kg presses each side. About 4 - 5 total on some days.

Monday 2/1/10

Afternoon:

Bench press - (65x5, 95x5, 125x5)x2

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5, 205x5)x2

I'm cutting out curls for today. I may start on very light hammer curls at higher reps as another dragondoor forum member I've been conversing with about our elbow tendonitis has had success with them.

The bench press was not hard. I am betting I'll hit 5 sets of these the first week no problem.

The deadlift is taxing, but not as hard as I was expecting. I'm using the double overhand grip for all sets and my grip is getting tired when I get to the heavy sets. Definitely breathing hard after these sets.

Friday 1/29/10

Afternoon:

Bench press - (65x5, 95x5)x5

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x5

Barbell curl - 52.5lbs 3x5

Monday is the day I see how this loading scheme will really work for me as I do my first go at a day with the third set that equals my 10RM. I'm already breathing pretty hard after my deadlift sets with these weights so I'm anticipating that it will be uncomfortable. :)

Wednesday 1/27/10

Afternoon:

Kettlebell press - (16kgx5 30 second rest 16kgx5)x4

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x4

Barbell curl - 50lbs 3x5

A little experiment here with kettlbell presses. I did some pressing yesterday just to get a sense of where I was at. I hit singles on each arm with 20kg, 24kg and 28kg. All good solid strict presses.

The presses in this routine though don't look like they will work the same as the barbell bench. Just the two sets of 16kg presses were harder than the bench sets I was hitting. I don't think I would be able to hit any presses with the 20kg bell on the heavy days after the two 16kg sets. Felt great to do though and I may just mix them in on my medium or light day to get some single arm overhead work started.

Monday 1/25/10

Afternoon:

Bench press - (65x5, 95x5)x2

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x2

Barbell curl - 45lbs 3x5

Next Monday will give me a taste of what my heavy day will be like. I'll be adding reps to my bench and deadlift for 125lbs and 205lbs respectively. I'm already breathing hard after my deadlift sets with just these two weights.

Friday 1/22/10

Afternoon:

Bench press - (65x5, 95x5)x5

Deadlift - (100x5, 155x5)x5

Barbell curl - 45lbs 3x5

Time to transition to a hypertrophy period before I settle in to some swinging and snatching.

I'm doing the Modified DeLorme from BB using a bench 10RM of 125lbs and a deadlift 10RM of 205lbs. I will do the two week template laid out to get used to the volume. I thought today would be super easy. I see now why this is tough...I can't wait till the sets a few weeks from now where I have a third set of 5 with 205lbs. :)

Wednesday 1/20/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 115lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

Press - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 70lbs 1x3, 85lbs 1x2, 100lbs 1x5, 1x4, 1x5

Power clean - 65lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 95lbs 5x3

Last reps of the two final squat sets were a bit shaky. I have to concentrate hard on staying rock solid throughout and that means no moving forward at the bottom even if I think I'm not going to make it.

I missed the last rep of the middle pressing set. I'm going to chalk it up to form as I got all my reps on the last set. It's all about getting under the bar fast.

I'm starting to get my elbows to move faster on my power cleans. I still have to coordinate the second pull better but I think I'm getting a little better at these.

Monday 1/18/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 75lbs 1x5, 105bs 1x3, 135bs 1x2, 150s 3x5

Deadlift - 95lbs 2x5, 145lbs 1x3, 205lbs 1x2, 245lbs 1x5

I missed Friday's session due to the onset of a nasty little cold. I'm still a little sick but still got myself under the bar.

Hit all of my bench work sets with 150lbs today. It didn't quite feel as heavy as it did last week.

Because I was sick I didn't eat enough over the weekend. It's hard to swill down milk when you're all congested. :)

Wednesday 1/13/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 115lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

Press - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 70lbs 1x3, 85lbs 1x2, 100lbs 3x5

Power clean - 65lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 95lbs 5x3

Felt much better today. My form felt pretty good and I felt strong again.

For my press I really need to concentrate on the bar path and keep the lever arm from my shoulder as non-existent as possible. The cue to push my head forward once the bar passes my forhead doesn't work as well for me as pushing my but back.

I've been thinking about what I will do with my training in the coming up months. I'd still like to do as well as possible at the April TSC so I'd like some months prior to that to include a lot of snatching. My thought is to continue SS for another week or two and then transition into the DeLorme Hypertrophy program using the two week lead in. After I finish the four weeks I'd like to be around 230. At that point I'll slowly start moving my diet back into a mellow fat loss area while working some Max VO2, deadlifts and pullups using the program Jordan set up for me last year.

Monday 1/11/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 75lbs 1x5, 105bs 1x3, 135bs 1x2, 150s 2x5, 1x4

Deadlift - 90lbs 2x5, 140lbs 1x3, 195lbs 1x2, 235lbs 1x5

Everything is getting heavy now. I couldn't get my last rep on the bench press today. I'll give this weight a shot again on Friday and see if I can hit all the reps.

My squat is feeling real heavy around 140 - 150 lbs at the moment. I know getting my squat up is the key to getting all my other lifts up as well. I have a feeling that 3 heavy sessions a week may be too much for my recovery right now. I am thinking about making Wednesdays either a light front squat day or light back squat day to help my recovery.

At least my deadlifts still feel solid. I started using the alternate grip for my work sets.

Friday 1/8/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 115lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

Press - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 70lbs 1x3, 85lbs 1x2, 100lbs 3x5

Power clean - 65lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 95lbs 5x3

The squats killed me. I was surprised I made all my reps. The last reps of the last two sets were brutal.

Same with the press....my reps were hard and I was surprised I hit all my reps. One thing I am doing wrong is letting the bar get too far forward. I need to get under the bar right when it passes my forhead.

Power clean reps were ugly and weak feeling. The squats really took a lot out of me today.

Got 'er done though.

Wednesday 1/6/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 55lbs 1x5, 85lbs 1x3, 110lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 70lbs 1x5, 100lbs 1x3, 130lbs 1x2, 145lbs 3x5

Deadlift - 90lbs 2x5, 140lbs 1x3, 195lbs 1x2, 235lbs 1x5

It's funny that my squat is still less than my bench. It's harder getting my strength back then I thought it would be, but I'm alive and I'm lifting...it doesn't get much better than that.

I got the first 3 reps of my deadlift workset with double overhand grip and switched to the mixed grip for the last 2 reps.

I'm moving slowly up in weight. I'm around 217 or so now. That's close to as heavy as I've ever known myself to be but there is a big difference how lean I am now.

Monday 1/4/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 80lbs 1x3, 105lbs 1x2, 135lbs 3x5

Press - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 65lbs 1x3, 80lbs 1x2, 97.5lbs 3x5

Power clean - 65lbs 3x5, 65lbs 1x3, 75lbs 1x2, 90lbs 5x3

Saturday 1/2/10

Afternoon:

Back squat - 45lbs 2x5, 50lbs 1x5, 75lbs 1x3, 100lbs 1x2, 130lbs 3x5

Bench press - 45lbs 2x5, 70lbs 1x5, 95lbs 1x3, 125lbs 1x2, 140lbs 3x5

Deadlift - 90lbs 2x5, 135lbs 1x3, 190lbs 1x2, 225lbs 1x5

Today was a good workout. I felt strong and I felt that my form was solid on all of my reps.

I have been doing all of my deadlifting to this point with the double overhand grip. Today is the first time I felt that I'm coming up on my limit with this grip.

I'm around 215 right now. I'm going to sit at this weight for a bit and let my body composition settle into this weight. I'll start gaining again if I'm not hitting my target weights.