Monday 8/10/09

Afternoon:

C&P ladders - 20kg - 3 sets of 5 rungs

In the interest of both simplifying my routine and being a little bit more goal specific I will be doing ETK pressing ladders M/W/F instead of TGU and the pushups. I'm going to do light, medium and heavy days as spelled out in RTK. Wednesday and Friday I'm going to do 4 rungs. Next week I'll jump to 5 rungs and hopefully the week after that I'll start from the beginning with the 24kg bell.

But I was thinking about things I was doing that were complicating my routine and overlapping. My goal that I can current work on without anything getting in my way is my pressing....so I should do some pressing instead of tgu AND pushups. I'll work my swings hard as well. My elbow isn't too sore, but it is weak feeling. And even though I love doing them I'm going to ditch the hindu squats. The double bell front squats twice a week will be plenty. An effective routine is a simple one.

Just finished the summer quarter at Foothill College with two online courses: Concepts of Exercise Physiology for Fitness and Nutrition for Sports and Fitness. I got an A in each of course. I have the time now to invest in learning more about fitness...summer was tough because it was condensed into a six week quarter.

Friday 8/7/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 80

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 1x18, 2x17

Afternoon:

Tgu - 24kg - 5x1/1

24kg swings - 5 sets of 20 on the minute, 5 sets of 11 on the minute

My morning routine is more along the lines of a wake up type of thing to get my blood pumping first thing. I don't think I'm going to go for very high reps in the hindu squats. For me 100 seems like a decent amount for muscle endurance without really going too hard. The elevated pushups are for a few reasons: vanity (to get some balance to the back and shoulder mass I've been slowly adding) and to help with my pressing in the long term. In the few weeks since I've started with my feet elevated I swear my triceps have already added some mass. This is one area that I've wanted to do a little work on to help my long term pressing goals.

Thursday 8/6/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 70

Afternoon:

Circuit with 2 bells 20kg & 24kg alternating sides each set - 4 total sets of: double cleans 1x10, renegade rows 1x5/5, double clean to front squat 1x5

This routine is awesome! It was fun to do but definitely challenging. I won't need any ab work other than this that's for sure. I'm thinking that this is what I will do on T/Th for now with the PM on M/W/F. It feels good and I really like working the basics hard. I also feel that this will contribute to the goals I have set while allowing me to work around the injuries I'm sporting.

Wednesday 8/5/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 60

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 1x17, 1x15, 1x11

Afternoon:

Tgu - 24kg - 3x1/1

24kg swings - 5 sets of 20 on the minute, 5 sets of 10 on the minute

I'm just going to go with this simple routine for now and concentrate on getting lean. Once I can get up to 10 sets of 20 on the minute I'll start adding time and work up to 20 minutes.

Tuesday 8/4/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 90

Afternoon:

Pullups - bw ladders 4x 1,2,3,4,5 1x 1,2,3,4 2x 1,2,3 - 82 total

Kind of a bummer, but my left elbow was extremely sore and weak feeling after these pullups...looks like tennis elbow. My theory is that (Jordan had told me this before) that the snatches were hitting alot of the same areas that the pullups were. I think that with the volume of pullups I was doing as part of the Armstrong Pullup Program and possibly along with the snatching I was doing that I developed an overuse issue in my left elbow. I think it's clear that the APP was too much volume for me (at least for now) even though I was regularly getting stronger on it. In the future I think that Pavel's Fighter Pullup Plan may be a bit easier on me volume wise but that would most likely depend on the program I am using aside from pullups.

This is a setback for sure as...it looks like 3 weeks minimum without doing any aggravating exercise is recommended for recovery from tendonitis. Even though I couldn't deadlift I was still happy doing pullups and snatching.

Right now, I'm starting to wonder if I should move back into just a simple Program Minimum routine three days a week (M/W/F) and maybe add one or two simple movements on two days (T/Th). Dialing back from what I'm doing would be the smart decision.

Monday 8/3/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 80

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 3x17

Afternoon:

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

Feeling good. The MaxVO2 went well and I could have ground out more sets, but I'm moving forward and I know that once I start doing 50 and (soon) 60 sets that 80 is just around the corner.

I saw my new primary care physician today and got a referral for an orthopedic surgeon next Thursday.

Saturday 8/1/09

Afternoon:

3 minute 24kg snatch test - 61 reps

I had enough time to get at least two more reps in, but my breathing was starting to get out of control so I figured it would be prudent to put the bell down. Not bad....I was hoping for around 64 reps. I had the cadence speed correct, my cardio is hard pressed to support that rate though. I'm back on MaxVO2 now, so it will be interesting to see how fast I pick up reps. If I want 120 at the TSC I'm going to have to hit 72 reps in the 3 minute test.