Juggling - 8/15/08

Nice and easy today. Just 20 min of juggling and some z for a bit of a recovery day. The juggling is fun and getting better. Ready for some ballistics tomorrow.

Pistols and Bending - 8/14/08

I'm making progress with these pistols already! They felt way more sturdy today than they did on Mon. I had been noticing my knees feeling a little funny over the last few months and I figured the pistols would do one of two things, either make them feel a lot worse or a lot better. I'm glad the outcome was the latter of the options. Actually my knees, hips, and lower back feel really good after the sets. I think it has to do with the focus on total body tension that is required. It is easy, at least for me, to find ways to relax and sneak around creating max tension in moves I frequently use. I try to focus but it still happens. I think these will be good to practice for awhile and have a great carry over to everything else I am working on.

-Pistols 16KGx5/5
3sets-18" box
2sets-15 1/2"box
The lower box really made me tense up. Especially since I tried to keep a nice slow even pace throughout the move.

-Bending
Crushdown focus tonight. I took a red nail that I had kinked to 90 in a previous kink session and closed it to just under 2"! This is huge for me. I closed the thing with no cheat bends! It took two sessions, the second of which took about 15min and a re-wrap but it's still pretty cool. I would have never thought of this a month ago. Ben definitely knows bending. What ever he says I do and the results follow very quickly.

Push Press and Pull Up Ladders - 8/12/08

I went heavy today, so the reps were pretty low.

-Push Press
40KGx1,2 3ladders
40KGx1 2sets
Alt w/
-Pull Up
12KG+10LBSx1,2 3ladders
12KG+10LBSx1 2sets
This felt good, especially after having a heavy bending day on Mon. The 40 felt better as I went on. I just got a better feel for it in my hands. Probably could have finished 5 ladders of 1,2 but wanted to lay back and see how the next day felt. Pull ups were good too. First time I have added weight in awhile and I probably could have finished the ladders of 1,2 here as well.

Plan for a recovery day on Wed. Just some light juggling practice to move around a bit.

Variety Day - 8/11/08

I switched my days around just a bit. I think it will fit into my work schedule better this way.

-Pistol 12KGx3/3 5sets
Used this a bit of a warm up today. I have never really worked on pistol and would like to be a little better at them. I will start with a nice low volume like this and work into it. Even with the low volume I still think my legs got some good work in. I set up on an 18" box and will progressively go lower.

-Bending
Great night tonight. This was another reason for the switch in days. I am going to do a little lower body work for a warm and save my grip for the bends. Had a volume day and got in some VOLUME! Here's how it went.
All 7" long.
2 - 17/64" DR
10 - 5/16" HRS(SteelWorks brand)
1 - 1/4" square CRS
Hands are a little sore but that's to be expected. I put the square in at the end because I have never closed one and wanted to see how it went. All the bends were done in less than a min, most of them in 30-45 sec.

Back to some ladders tomorrow.

Med Ladder Day and Bending - 8/7/08

-C+P 24,28,32,40KG(Push Press)x1 5ladders
Alt w/
-Pull Up BWx1,2,3,4 5ladders
Felt good but still not going to be able to strict presses with the cleans on Sat. I think I will try a week of clean+push presses with the 40 and see how that goes. I'm thinking of buying a 36.

-Swing 32KGx10 every 30sec 20sets
This sucks but it's effective. 200 swings in 10 min. Really have to concentrate on snapping the hips.

-Bending
Good bend tonight. 9/32"x7" drill rod bent in about 2min 15sec. Got it started quick and then fought with it from 90 degrees till the end. Here's the video.

Light Ladder Day and Bending - 8/5/08

Wasn't feeling it yesterday so I moved the session to tonight. Not real sure how I want this phase of the training to go but it will be something like this.

-C+P 24KG,32KG,40KG(push press)x1 5ladders
Alt w/
-Pull Up BWx1,2,3 5ladders
Not sure if I want to add more variety in weight for the med. and heavy days and stay at 1 rep sets or add a rep to each of these 3 weights for the med. and heavy day. Hope that makes sense, if not it will tomorrow.

-Snatches 28KGx5/5 5sets
Did these with fairly little rest between sets, but kept the rest low because it's suppose to be the light day.

-Bending(all 7" bars)
This was awesome! I started a new program today that is designed to get me bending the red nail. Ben Edwards is an elite bender that has really went out of his way to help me with my new addiction. Tonight I made a few more adjustments that he suggested(larger wraps and less nail in the wrap) and really surprised myself. Here's the bends.
-9/32" drill rod - kinked to 92-93 degrees in 30 sec
-19/64" drill rod - kinked to 98-99 degrees in 30 sec
-5/16" CRS - kinked to 90 degrees in 30 sec
I felt like I could have closed all of these bars if that was what the workout called for. Since it was a kink workout I felt like I did exactly what I needed to. Can't wait till Thursday's session.

Heavy Ladder Day - 8/2/08

I went big with the ladders today, at least for me. Actually the further I went the better I felt.

-C+P 32KGx1/1,2/2,3/3,4/4,5/5 5ladders
Alt w/
-Pull Up BWx1,2,3,4,5 5ladders
I am pretty happy with the completed ladders. Here is where I want to go now. Mon and Wed ladders will be done with one rep sets and increasing weight. This will allow for a few heavy presses but a break in the volume. Next Sat I will pull out the "Bulldog" and see how far I can get on ETK style ladders. As far as the pull ups go I will keep next week the same as this week and then on Sat go to one rep sets with increasing weight just like this weeks presses. I want to try this format for a few cycles and see what happens.

-TGU 32KGx1/1 1set
I wanted to do more than this but the ladders took their toll and my lockout position was really fading.