Monday, April 30, 2007

Change

So the last week of my life has been hectic. I just moved to an amazing home in an amazing place, Los Gatos CA. I am right on the trailhead and next to water for jazmine. So safe to say I am super excited. Therefore, last week was shot with workouts. They were not what I hoped for but I did what I could here and there. I moved everyday, had to travel on the weekend and my body and mind are fatigued because of this the workouts have suffered.

Last weeks Snatch workout done on Friday
32/5/5x1
32/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5= 40 reps (swtiched every 5)
32/5/5/5/5/5/5 = 30 reps (switched every 5)
32/10/10 = 20 reps

total time 5 minutes and 19 secs. for the 90 reps. The first 5 and 5 was a warm-up

Now the goal was not time but I just kept my eyes peeled to have an idea. I was wasted at the end and my form suffered. Overall I was just fatigued but still proud of my work loads


Today, Monday the 29th

I was supposed to work with Rif, but being he got back late for the RKC in Minnesota the decision was to move our workout to Wed. So, instead of the Deads my objective was the Snatch again. Well I just did not have it today. My goal was to do 8 sets of 10 and 10 just to build up my volume and increase my abililty to handle 10 reps/side (i.e. increase my lactic threshold)

Snatch
32/5/5x1
32/10/10x2 (falling apart at the seams technique wise) so I am switiching to Swings

1 Arm Swing
32/20/20x2
32/15/15x2

Total volume
Snatch = 50
1 Arm swing = 140

Good choice to make the change to swings. Now that I am settled in at home I am will be able to get some good nutrition and good rest. I want to have a great training session on Wed so I have to get myself hormones situated. No excuses now I can focus on what needs to be done with the workouts. I am glad I at least got the work I was supposed to in and look forward to some more good work thru the week!

Monday, April 23, 2007

deadifts and pull-ups

Hit the high volume singles today with the deads. I find these excellent for one reason in particular, the more singles I do the closer I get to finding the groove. I know it is not there but I am not sure of what there is. I have found it and lost it but I conceptually understand it better after all the practice, lol.

Warm-up
135/2x1
225/2x1
315/2x1
348/2x1

Work with approx 30 sec rest periods
387/1x12

in an effort to help understand my groove with a pull followed by a slow controlled negative with a static hold with the bar and plates barely touching the ground Rif had me do 2 sets of 4 reps with 315. This truly did conceptually make things easier. Practice, practice and more practice. Oh how I love the feel of the bar in my hands.

Pull-ups
30.5#/5 reps x 8 sets

Tense the grip, pinch the legs, breathe deep, engage lats and pull, all in one! Easier said than done coordinating such movement but awesome nonetheless. Rest approx 1 minute between sets. Failed the last rep of the last set so truly only completed 39 full reps which I would 35 were quality.

Great day, the body is coming together as is all the lessons I am learning working through this program design and being coached. As Frank said, find someone better than you and train with them, Thanks Rif.

A good meal, some good rest, a mountain bike ride tomorrow and then Snatches on Wed; Presses and Pistols on Thursday, and 1 arm Swings on Friday which I will wave weekly between the 24, 32, and 40.

Another great day, another great day at Stones and way to start the week STRONG!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Kettlebells

Did the good ole reliable Clean and Press today with the 32kg. It felt like a good day for pressing and working through my techniques. Although, 70 lbs is always 70lbs no matter what and then you make it into an odd shape like the KB and 70 lbs really adds up.

Another thing, I noticed how tender my hammies are today. Those swings really stuck it to the hams and I dig the feeling. Low back has a mild, in fact real mild case of soreness but nothing that would hold me back

Clean and Press
32/5/5x5

Total time less than 10 minutes. I was not purposely racing the clock but I do enjoy pushing and with excellent technique.

Pull-ups
10x2
8x3

This is done on the steps at my house. So I cannot get the same feel in the grip as the bar but I feel it really increases my strength through my fingers which should carryover to the tactical bar grip pull-ups.

Short and quick but just what I needed. I have noticed a considerable change in my physique over the last few weeks and I would put myself at about 10% body fat at 173. Not far from my goal of 165 to 168 at 8%. Dig the warrior diet although I have been a little extra hungry this week, must be on my period, lol.

Cannot wait till Monday

Friday, April 20, 2007

Swings

Big swing day! Instead of the Snatch which I have done a four week esclating cycle with I decided to back off and do some serious strength and conditioning with the 1 arm swing against time

1 Arm Swing, 32kg (1 minute to work and rest).
Minute 1: 32/8/8 (25 sec work)
32/9/9
32/10/10
32/11/11
32/12/12

Rest 1 full minute + 20 seconds I had left over from the 12/12 set...getting hot so time to turn on the fan :-)

32/8/8
32/8/8
32/8/8
32/8/8
32/8/8

Total time 10 minutes and 29 seconds for 180 swings

The Good news is that my low back held its own. Yes, I did feel the fatigue but a light stretch and some heavy Jandas is all it took to eliminate. Next week I am back to the Snatch with the addition of the Swing workout. Also, lungs and conditioning were no issue as my conditioning is strong.

Windmill
24/5/5x1
32/5/5x3

Just a nice warm-up and good stretch, strengthen, stabilization and posture move!


Janda Power Breathing Crunch
32/5x4

Nice exercise that really counters all the swing work well and will strengthen my abs for the Deadlifts.

Loving the work, as I have found much pleasure and enjoyment in learning the mastery, the art of the deep skill related to the movements. I am maturing for sure and so open as my glass is half full with and endless bottom. I realize that I have one of the top strength and conditioning coaches at my disposal, who wants to help me out and I would be foolish to let my ego prevent me from growing, evolving. Plus, I have a fabulous network of other amazing and talented minds at my disposal and I am so stoked to learn from them. As Frank said the other day it is all about the basics and mastering them, practice, practice, practice and practice some more. I have all the tools and resources to be the best! Gratitude!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

KB's

A light workout today in terms of number of exercises. My body just is not a big fan of volume based swings so I am working on building up work capacity!

Military Press
warm-up
24/3/3x1
32/3/3x1

Work
40/3/3x1
40/4/4x1
40/5/5x2

These are never easy with the bulldog in hand

2 hand swing
40/15x5

Awesome and my back handled the load well

DARC
32/50x1

Just felt that this was enough to walk away with feeling strong!

Mountain Bike

Last night headed out for a hard, intense ride. The idea was to really push this one particular hill known as the Jones Trail or St. Josephs Hill. I wanted to mix my gears a certain way and push to the top. After the initial phase which is a 1/2 mile climb, how is that for a warm-up and a way to wake the body I found my groove and started to push myself. Again, I did not want to break lactate threshold if I could avoid it and I do not think I did since I did not feel the fatigue. However, since the climb is only 2 miles there is a possibility that in a 4 mile or more I would have felt the effects of the push on a greater level.

So, a 1/2 mile from the top I saw a man about 200 yards in front of me and my goal was to catch him. Not an easy task because that last 1/2 mile is all uphill with a couple good steep sections where if you push to hard you will have to recover and not have enough time to make a run. Well, with 200 yards to go, I passed him indeed and it felt just because he unknowingly gave me something extra to push for.

So this was another great ride added with the 9 mile ride with the final 5 a straight climb out on The Purisma Creek trail this past weekend, which was a great ride for building endurance and confidence, I can tell that my skills are increasing as is my strength and endurance.

I truly have rediscovered the love and thrill of being in the saddle and havin fun whether alone with my IPOD Shuffle or with friends. Plan to ride tomorrow or Friday and for sure on the weekend. So, 2 more this week will be excellent.

Combined with my other training which I am very pleased with I feel really solid heading into May and for the TSC in September. Rifs coaching and direction has truly helped me to focus

Monday, April 16, 2007

Deadlifts and Pull-ups

Week 4 of deadlifts. Today the focus was speed lifts! I like these workouts. A nice weight, good for technique and a lot fo work in a short period

365/1x15 with 30 sec rest between reps

Rif and I worked out a better position today. lengthening the arms via scapula protraction and resting the bar more in my fingers and less in the meat of the hands shortened the distance I had to cover and seem to be related to me being much more explosive and in better position. I think I am describing this correctly but I am still finding the groove but it sure felt really good.


Pulls-ups
27lbs/5x7
27lbs/4x1

Was supposed to do 5 on the last set but missed.

Great workout and more learning!

Rif is impressive and is inspiring me with these high reps swing sets. I love watching his approach to progressions and his consist technique through each swing! I hate high reps :-)

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Where did that come from

Ok, so I was at the gym, yes Club One today and I must say that this is not a normal but I have found pleasure being in a big gym. Well, I decided to do something I do not normally do, Bench Press. A couple weeks ago Rif and I talked about BP and how the boards work, etc. and this stoked my fire.

Bench Press
135/5x1
185/3x1
225/3x1
275/1x1
285/1x1
295/1x2

Wow! Where did that come from? Well I must say I felt awesome and I believe that i had more in me but doing that 285 probably stripped me of my full potential but pleased and I have to admit impressed.

The kettlebells do have a what the heck effect? I do not think most people role in the gym at 175 and hit 295.

Pull-ups
15
10x2

Just some work, have a big day on Monday with Pull-ups

Nice day playing at the gym!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Swings

I am a huge fan of the Kettlebell swing and I truly understand why it is truly the king of all exercises. Now that being said I hate doing them and that means I have to have them as a part of my program. Therefore I have added them back in. In particular I am focusing on the 1 arm swing. I have to re-evaluate when I place them in the schedule, because I know today was not the right day after a big snatch session. I felt my low back fatigue at 120 and was able to hit 150 which was great, but I want at least 200

Morning
Pull-ups
12, 10, 8

all bodyweight but because of the massive tear in my hand I had to use a true finger grip and could not crush the bar. I found this to actually work to my benefit and if anything will increase my strength

Afternoon
1 arm swing
32/10/10 x7
+ 5/5x1 to hit 150.

Took 10 minutes to complete

2 KB Military Press
32/6/6x3

These felt good especially doing 2 bells. totally different workout. did 2 sets see-saw style and one double press.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Snatches

Well today was the big snatch session day. my goal was to accomplish 2, three minute work sets

Set 1
32/8/8
32/9/9
32/10/10

total time 2:43....complete rest of 5 minutes before set 2

Set 2
32/10/10 (getting hard)
32/9/9 (really pushing)
32/3/3

I missed the mark of 8/8 on the last set. Rarely if ever does that happen but today it did. Partly due to the fact that my mind set was not right today. I had a personal issue to handle just before training. I attempted to channel that energy and did a pretty good job but forcing out those last 10 reps would have been with terrible technique. In competition this is cool, but in training no.

So next week I will adjust the workout some and play around. However there is one real good thing about this workout (more than one but this was a PR). I did 100 reps for the first time.

I plan to do some more work today but mainly stretch and do some core stuff!

More to learn, more room to grow and improve and I have a goal. 100 reps in 5 minutes with the 32kg

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Gearing Up

Another great day in the bay area so that means time to hit the mountains. Went out for a big ride today with some much more difficult pitch and a few different climbs and a extremely rewarding downhill. the ride took about 1 hour less than I thought which is a testament to my mental and physical strength and endurance. The downhill was a single track Rocky Ridge with quick turns, big rocks and a slim line. Awesome ride, and I was surprised with my technical downhill ability. Stayed on the bike and thank goodness for a great full suspension bike. I could have been faster but I was pleased!

Finished the evening session with some KBs

Windmill
24/5/5x1
32/5/5x1
40/5/5x1

Military Press
40/3/3x2
40/5/5x1

Did not want to over do it. Have a big Snatch session tomorrow and want to be ready


Feel no residuals from yesterday either, right load, right reps scheme

Monday, April 09, 2007

Pulls

Another great deadlift session today with Rif.

Todays Keys
Wedge (sink my hips lower)
Link
Big Breathe

135/1
185/2
225/2
275/2
315/2
365/1
405/1

427/1

438/1x6

Overall these were good. I completed the reps, safely and feel no residual fatigue. Although, I do realize thanks to Rif I need to work on Starting Strength. Once the bar starts moving I feel there is no stopping me. However, i need to get that initial pull strong.

Pull-ups
10kg/5x8

40 total reps and I could have done more. Think Lats first as a constant reminder!

Great workout!

Corner man

Had my first ever Chief Cornerman experience. Friday night Dave Shoulders MacMillan one of my pro MMA fighters had a fight in Victorville CA, at Chaos at the Cage 2. Originally, I was going to be the 3rd corner but some things came about and in a pinch I became the lead corner. Considering that I have no experience with cuts, etc. and limited MMA experience (relative to the other cornermen) this was a new venture.

Well, nonetheless Dave went in and dominated the fight. His strength and conditioning combined with his skills and techniques were in sync. Besides the cut from an elbow which I must say I proudly closed (first time) he tossed the guy around like a rag doll and completely controlled the fight from the mount position for all 3 rounds scoring a clean sweep decision. If the other guy did not squirm so much we would have had the knockout, came close but the win and in such a dominating fashion was a great thing for Dave.

Back to the office today to keep working for his next fight!

Thursday, April 05, 2007

3 P's and a W

Started my morning off with some weighted pullups. Noticed I was feeling the effects of the snatch and the prior 2 days but felt good and...

Pull-ups bw+25#s
8x1
7x1
6x1

Strong pulls through out and definitely will need to add volume. I feel 11 was my max today up 1 from the last week. No worries, 20 will come in 5 months

Afternoon
Windmill
32/5/5x3

Nice stretch, good stabilization and helped open me up

Military Press
40/3/3x3

Great reps throughout. I have to say the 40 never seems to get 'easy'. Yes, I am stronger and feel comfortable using this bell. Enjoying working up with this bell

Pistols
40/1/1x3

This groove is getting really strong. high reps not my goal, but good explosive strength and bottom position stability are the goals and they are coming right along.

That is it for the day. tomorrow I will see. I have a 6.5 hour drive to watch Dave 'shoulders' fight in San Bernadino County (LA area). Hope to catch a mountain bike ride on the way there and back in Castaic Lake by magic mountain.

Stay Tuned

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

32 Snatch

taking Rifs advice I went for 1 minute work sets with 8 reps/side for as long as I could. Well, I mentally decided i was going to do this for 5 minutes.

So here is how it went down
32/8/8...36 seconds
32/8/8...34 seconds
32/8/8...32 seconds
32/8/8...36 seconds
32/8/8...32 seconds

total time: 4:32
total reps: 80

Goal for the contest achieved and I am 5 months from the date. time to readjust.

I will say the last set was poor form but I accomplished.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

2 for Tuesday

today I did a split workout. Since tomorrow is my big snatch day I thought I would do some other things I enjoy today

Morning

Mountain Bike...35 minutes or so
Now I only covered 4 miles but it was a good 2 mile climb with a lot more pitch. Plus I knew I was going for an evening workout and have a big day tomorrow. I just want my legs and lungs to get used to riding again plus any distance is good when I am on my bike on a beautiful day in the los gatos mountains, not much better than this.


Evening

Yoga (Vinyasa) 1.5 hours
Great class, great workout, strong balance and with the additional 30 minutes I did at 5:30 am of just focused stretching this was a nice way to finish a great day

Monday, April 02, 2007

Deadlifts at Stones

My first back in Stones and it felt good, felt right! I am honored to be back in Stones training with the coach whom I look up too most, Mark Reifkind. Being in a position to coach athletes I have learned so much about the importance of a great coach and the importance of being humble and open to learning. So, I am walking back into Stones a humble man, ready and willing to learn from one of the best!

Deadlifts:
85% of 500 pounds for singles
135/2x1
225/2x1
315/1x1
365/1x1
405/1x1

Work Sets
427/1x6

Overall I felt good today, but I realize that mountain biking hard the day before a big DL is not smart. I will be much more fresh for next weeks session. Rif did bring up a couple great points (already paying off being back): keep the scapula over the bar and get my chest into the lift so i am not left having to lift with my back when my legs have finished the move. And of course any time we talk strategy around percentage lifting I always come out smarter.

So Rif suggested that I save my big Snatch day for another day when I can train fresh. This makes total sense. So instead today I focused on some basic

Military Press
32/5/5x5

Good solid work hitting the groove.

Awesome day! I am a smarter and better trainer because of today, that is worth its weight in gold

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Mountain Bike

Took my big buddy Mike out today for the second ride of the season. I can already feel the difference from day 1. I felt a consistent output of power and drive to the pedals and maintained my heart rate, never breaking threshold. This is key at this point, just staying under my anaerobic Threshold to control lactate and enable me to perform for duration with strength. My energy system and legs seem to be adapting well.

Covered approximately 8 miles. Not sure how long because I never looked at the clock but about 1.5 hours.

Another beautiful day playing out in nature!

TOMORROW, I am back at the Rifstonian Institute to work with my coach for the first time in what seems like ages. We will be working the deadlift, snatches and pull-ups, essentially a TSC day! Week 1 of training for Sept 8th!