kate's log: christmas.

When I last blogged I had just been spotted by the giant—and very strong—squatter at my gym. I believe that was almost a month ago, and I was pressing 135 for three reps. Feeling pretty good about myself, I might add.

Since then, I’ve not been able to seek help from Mr. Squats. Instead, I’ve enlisted the manager of the gym because he’s always there when I’m benching, and it only took me two weeks to train him. I hate, hate, hate watching spotters who “spot” by helping the lifter with the last several reps. I had to explain to the gym manager that I should be able to complete all reps, on my own, without any kind of assistance. I only wanted him there to make sure that I didn’t kill myself (this was about the time that he told me that I needed to use clips on the bar, but I told him they would prevent me from dumping the weight, and, so, no thanks).

John’s plan has me warming up and then building to a five-rep max. Which, of course, meant that as soon as I hit 150 for five reps, I wanted to see how much more I could lift, and promptly threw the plan out the window. What? I was curious. The following week, I skimped on my warm up, not wanting to tucker myself out before the main event. I warmed up, found my friendly and non-intrusive spotter, warned him of my long-time habit of crying while bench pressing, and quickly (and cleanly!) put up two reps at 165. It feels really good to be strong.

I’m back on the sauce now, though, and have been following the plan strictly. Things have been going well and I’m making improvements on my chin-ups as well (I’m up to a set s of 7, 6, and 6). My PT work is still consistent, too.

I’ve added the prowler to my weekly cardio sessions, which now consist of long intervals on the bike, short intervals on the bike, and a session with the prowler (one lap of the boathouse takes about 1’, and I try to repeat for a total of 15 laps).

In all, I’m pretty happy with my progress. I missed a lift last night, but was at the gym with a visiting friend and decidedly unfocused. The bike in the garage continues to be a gift – and definitely a catalyst in my recovery. It allows me to workout at my convenience and brings me back to the comfort of my cardio roots.

Tis' the season..

To be running around like a left-handed chicken with it's head cut off.. why left handed? WHY NOT!
Lots of stuff coming up:
I'll be reviewing Cressey/Robertson/Hartman's Assess and Correct DVDs.
Also review's of Dan John's San Juan Diego DVD set.
Both of these are heady, and are not something I feel comfortable cranking out a review of.. so please be patient.
My training is going well. In early November I decided to look at the purpose of my training, and I decided that my focus was too far on the maximal strength end of the spectrum. In short, I'm already one of the strongest grapplers on the mats. I am stronger than everyone <200 lbs by a large margin.. I am training like a lifter to grapple, time to lift like a grappler. So I decided to condition a bit more, and focus on fixing my issue rather than working around them as much. It's been good. I'm leaner, moving well on the mats, and my top end strength is about the same. I pulled 475 yesterday after a long build up. While it wasn't easy, it was never in doubt (that was after rolling hard on Wednesday).
This is what my weeks look like:
Monday: BJJ, corrective exercise for hip internal rotation, dorsiflexion, hip stability.
Tuesday: snatches/cleans/jerks, presses, pull-ups. CE: shoulder internal rotation, hip internal rotation, dorsiflexion.
Wednesday: Hill sprints, BJJ maybe.. sometimes BJJ on Thursday nights. No CE, light general stretching before bed.
Thursday: deadlifts, RFE split squats. same CE as monday.
Friday: kb clean and jerk/pull-up/dip complex, some sort of horizontal press, some sort of row (2x the volume of the press), a little direct arm work to keep my elbows from hurting. No CE.
Saturday: BJJ, no CE.
Sunday: hill sprints or off.

hill sprints are either 2/3 of a block of very steep hill x6-8 or an entire city block that is steep for 3-4. Sometimes on the way to Wednesday or Thursday BJJ I'll stop and run the hill a few times.

The short version (knock wood) is I feel good.. but I could feel better.
Mahalo.