Saturday 9/26/09 - TSC

My results from the TSC are:

Deadlift: 315
Pullups: 12
24kg snatches in 5 minutes: 95

Jordan has a post on his blog including a video HERE.

The 315 deadlift felt really good. The higher rep, lighter weight deadlifts I have done to accomodate my bad hip seemed to do the job. I felt like I could have easily hit the weight I hit in April.

I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't hit that 13th pullup. My pullups were strong and Jordan commented that my form was great. He also pointed out that I did pretty good maintaining my pullups since I went up 20lbs in bodyweight and dropped back down again for the TSC.

I was just a bit disappointed that I couldn't break 100 reps in my 24kg snatch test. My hip and knee did not allow me to prepare the same way I did for April. My strength was actually pretty good to start...I hit 24 in the first minute which was the pace I wanted. By minute 3 I was breathing hard and at the end I actually had to set the bell down twice. It was my cardio that was weak.

Even though I was fighting with my hip and knee I felt that I learned a lot of good lessons about my training and especially how to implement my programming. I think I have a decent chance of competing in April and if I hit my recovery and post op training intelligently (operative word here) I can improve on the numbers I hit this TSC if not last Aprils.

Wednesday 9/23/09

Afternoon:

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

gtg dips with 20lbs throughout the day - 6 sets of 4

gtg pullups with 20lbs throughout the day - 6 sets of 3

My technique is getting better already on the VPP. I could have gone on for longer, but I just wanted to get a good sweat and start breathing hard.

Since I haven't been swinging my knee is feeling better. I'm going to wait until my hip gets fixed and see if movement issues with my hip, etc. are creating a situation where my knee is not moving correctly. If it's something wrong with my knee (still!) then I need to get it fixed later.

I have a surgery date - October 12th, 2009 I will have surgery to get a full hip replacement on my left side. I have a bunch of appointments in the next few weeks, "hip" class, pre-op with my surgeon, pre-op with the anesthesia people. Everything is moving quickly now!

Did I say my last semi-hard day the other day? Apparently I lied.

Tuesday 9/22/09

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Real mellow.

Monday 9/21/09

Morning:

Z-Health Neural Warmup
4lb hammer rotations 1x10/10
"Horse stance" - 1x1 min, 2x2 min

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol using VPP - 22 sets of 7 reps

I've also been gtg with weighted dips today - 20 lbs sets of 4 and weighted pullups 20lbs 2 sets of 5 and 35 lbs 3 sets of 2

Today is the last semi hard day this week. I'm going to ramp it down over the next couple days and take Thursday and Friday off.

I did the VPP with the Max VO2 because I still can't swing or snatch. This way I get some cardio and work the pressing groove. I had to stop at 22 sets...not due to cardio, but because my shoulders got tired. Jordan showed this to us at one of his workshops and even though I'm a bit sloppy with this it looks to be a great protocol.

Thursday 9/17/09

Morning:

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 7, 6, 6, 5, 4

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Stiff leg deadlifts - 28kg bell - 1x20

I'm deloading the way I planned for the TSC. I'm hoping my knee and hip will ease up on me enough to compete next Saturday. Depending on how I feel early next week I'll have a good idea. I'm hurting just walking around right now.

My weight is coming down. I'm about 186 lbs today. I've been substituting my breakfast and lunch with protein shakes: milk, whey protein isolate and milled flax seeds. For my breakfast shake I also add Alive liquid vitamins. It's worked well as I've never been this lean with this much muscle in my life.

If nothing else I'll shoot for a pullup pr next week. I'm going to keep deloading and pretty much stop everything I'm doing by Wednesday next week and cross my fingers that my knee and hip will get way better so I can snatch.

Wednesday 9/16/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 7, 6, 5, 5, 4

Afternoon:

20kg bu press - 3 ladders of 2 rungs

28kg swings - 7 sets of 10

I couldn't really swing hard today. My knee and hip are both shooting little bolts of pain whenever I drive with my hips. Not good. I hope this goes away by next week. It would be sort of funny (I suppose) if after all of this I can't compete in next Saturday's TSC. I'll have to see what happens.

Tuesday 9/15/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 28kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 7, 6, 5, 4, 4

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Double bell deadlifts 24kg & 28kg bells - 2x10

I need to start tapering my effort now over the next couple of weeks. My hip is really sore all the time, my knee that I had surgery on hurts at times and my left elbow still is healing from the tendonitis. I need to concentrate on recovering :).

Monday 9/14/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 7, 6, 5, 4, 3

Afternoon:

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

Just to fill in some detail on what I'm doing...

I do the goblet squats in the morning not intending that I will get strong from it, but so that I practice the movement in the goblet squat often. I do Z-Health Neural Warmup just before the goblet squats and I do 10 rotations with a 4lb blacksmith hammer for each wrist as well. Sort of a morning tonic.

Pullups feel good. I was 190 this morning after my shake and two 16oz glasses of water. I was getting around 186 on Saturday, but per the advice of Faizal from the Dragon Door forums I had an overeating day on Sunday to help prevent my body from going into starvation mode. I feel strong and I'm getting really lean. I hope to be a solid 186 or so by next weekend.

Saturday 9/12/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 20 sets of 8 reps, 30 sets of 7 reps - 50 sets total

Snatches went well today. My strength isn't the weak point any more...it's my cardio that's holding me back from more now. That's coming along though.

Friday 9/11/09

Morning:

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 5, 5, 4, 3, 2

That's all I did today aside from a lot of recovery stuff...mostly stretching & foam rolling.

My new rafter mount pull up bar came in today. I was jealous of Jordan's new TAPS unit...I didn't have the money for something like that but I need real bar to work with. I can mount this on a beam outside that will allow me to do pull ups without needing to bend my legs. It's also a full 1 1/4" diameter with knurling. I can't wait to use it!

Thursday 9/10/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 5, 4, 4, 3, 2

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Double bell deadlifts 24kg & 28kg bells - 2x20

No more cardio bs for the moment. I want to keep muscle and hopefully even gain some. The deadlifts were grueling.

Wednesday 9/9/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups (towel grip) - 5, 4, 3, 3, 2

Afternoon:

20kg bu press - 5x1/1

28kg press - 4x1/1 (except that on my left side I only made reps 1 & 3)

28kg swings - 15 sets of 10 on the minute - 150 reps in 15 minutes

My grip strength in the towel pullups is coming along so quickly it's ridiculous. Not even a hint of failing on all reps. I hung for a while at the end and would lower the last set of each rep very slowly. I'm going to bump up my ladders to 7 next week and keep up the towel grip.

The pressing I just wanted to use to maintain strength. The bu presses are good, the 28kg bell was obviously too much for me today on the left side. I should drop to the 24kg for perfect form singles or doubles next week.

Swings were good. As my weight drops I'm thinking that I need to make sure to not tear myself down. I'm going to drop the weight vest cardio in my routine now and just stay on two days VWC and one day of swings with two dl days and taper off for the TSC.

Tuesday 9/8/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups - 5, 4, 3, 2, 2 (reps from 3 down were towel pullups)

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Elliptical - Program 5 (out of 6) wearing 20lb weighted vest - 30 minutes

Double bell deadlifts 24kg & 28kg bells - 2x10

I'm getting really lean now. I'm substituting a protein shake with fiber in it for lunch. I'll have another shake after workouts. It's working well.

Monday 9/7/09

Morning:

Goblet squats 24kg - 2x5

Fighter pullups - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (reps from 3 down were towel pullups)

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 12 sets of 8 reps, 30 sets of 7 reps

The last few weeks I've been gtg with towel pullups. Just between 2 to 5 sets of 2 to 3 reps here and there when I felt like it. My grip has responded quickly and my tendonitis in the elbow looks to be healing. It is still sore and my arm is still a bit weak feeling but it is getting better. I'm thinking that I will try to work up to doing next week with towel pullups to 5 reps if possible. Without doing pullups for a month and doing row instead my pullups actually feel very strong. I bumped my head on the garage ceiling on one rep.

I'm back with Max VO2 twice a week until the TSC starting today. At that point I'll probably jump right back into the ROP until my surgery (unless my surgery happens before the TSC).

Saturday 9/5/09

Afternoon:

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5 sets to 3 rungs with 28kg renegade rows matching reps for each arm in between rungs (pr)

24kg swings - 10 sets of 20 on the minute - 200 reps in 10 minutes (pr)

Not bad. I was feeling a bit beat yesterday but I recovered enough to push out 2 prs. Some of the presses got leaned to the side a bit but I definitely feel stronger on these than last week.

For my swings I just wanted to push the sets of 20 out there some more. First time I hit 200 in 10 minutes with the 24kg. All hardstyle shoulder height.

Thursday 9/3/09

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

8lb sledgehammer levering

Elliptical - Program 5 (out of 6) wearing 20lb weighted vest - 30 minutes

Double bell deadlifts 20kg & 24kg bells - 2x20

Tough workout. I weighed 189 lbs after my workout. I think I've settled on the weight that my calories in support. Time to eat even less for a few more weeks.

Wednesday 9/2/09

Afternoon:

C&P ladders - 24kg - 5 sets to 2 rungs with 28kg rows matching reps for each arm in between ladders

24kg swings - 8 sets of 20 on the minute, 4 sets of 15 on the minute - 220 reps in 12 minutes

Pretty good workout. My left side needs more work to lock the pressing groove in.

Tuesday 9/1/09

Afternoon:

Lever block curls - 12.5 lbs a little farther out than midway - 3x5

Elliptical - Program 5 (out of 6) wearing 20lb weighted vest - 30 minutes

Double bell deadlifts 20kg & 24kg bells - 2x20

I picked up a pretty nice 40lb weighted vest on craigslist for $20. I've been looking for one and this was an awesome deal. I'm glad I took 20 lbs out for the elliptical as it really added a whole new dimension to it.

I'm simplifying things a bit more by taking out the loaded cleans on the variety days. I'm doing enough.

I met with a surgeon today to talk about options for my hip. Resurfacing is not an option, I need a full replacement. His name is Vladimir Khapchik...very straightforward, didn't lecture me and didn't talk down to me. His bio is pretty cool if you check the link.

I told him I wanted to go with him and lets do it as soon as possible. His scheduler will call me with a date for surgery. It looks like it will be this year for sure.