swan's log

[swan]

Looks like I need to update the location next time I lift in your basement.

[swan]

Read Andy Baker's article on warmups the other day. I'd already been thinking I could use more reps at the start to get the old body moving so I'm planning to use the scheme from the article and see how it goes.

Squat
Notes to self pre-lift: hands, tight, depth, balance, knees, hips solid
That last one means don't let the hips slide to the right in the hole

Barx5,10 - of course it helps to remember the new warmup plan when you get under the bar
95x5
125x3
155x1
185x1
Belted below here
205x5 - bit of a balance problem after the first 2 reps, chalking it up to new shoes with a higher heel than before, but otherwise following the notes
205x5 - 1 rep slid to the right in there and a couple in the middle were high, #5 was really good - was concentrating a lot on mid-foot balance here
205x5 - focused more on knees out & felt like depth was there all the way, no balance problems
I think my hand problem was that I need to actually grasp the bar once in position ha. I was just laying them up there before so without any finger tension they just slid down any old time. With my fingers (thumb on top yo) grasping the bar it was quite obvious if my hands started to get out of position. This was pretty much fingertips on the bar but it helped.

Next time, focus on making every rep be like that last set. Not sure if I'll go up or do this one again. I want to be solidly consistent going forward so maybe another round here. It was enough to bring out the problems if I didn't comcentrate but not so heavy that I forgot what I was doing.

The warmup seemed ok. I think I'll stick with it for now.


Press
Barx8x2
65x5
80x3 - easy, good abz feelz at the top
95x1 - ditto
110x5X3
Set 1: yo harder hip drive next set
Set 2: forgot about that hip drive, dumbass; also learned that grazing the chin with the bar on the way up makes for a more challenging rep
Set 3: that was not too bad, nor too hard; good hip drive does help duh
Next time: keep lats tight, elbows in front more consistently.

Warmup ok. Work sets were not quite as hard as last time, whatever that's worth.


Lift of the Dead
135x5
185x3 - hey stay tight in descent
225x1 - don't lift eye gaze
275x1 - felt like belt time here
300x1 - forgot to hook, damn failed plans, but grip was solid nonetheless
320x5 - rock on mo fo!!
Well #4 got a little forward but recovered ok.
Oh the poor thumbs! However grip was solid on all reps today.
Damn I love the deadlift.

I liked the new warmup for DL a lot. Was continually ready for every jump without being more fatigued along the way. Definitely a keeper here.

Adipowers : like the shoes but damn my feet got hot in them. Maybe it was the baseball socks I lift in on DL days though...

[swan]

Acres of cardio & machines, but also a power rack, squat rack, bench stations, and a room with 2 platforms that included their own racks. Only 1 oly bar though as apparently someone bent the shit out of the other one they had. The rest were some sort of power bars.

Squat thinking the past couple days led me to widen my stance about 1/2" - 1". This seems to have helped a lot. I feel like I can swing down through my hips much easier, for lack of a better way to describe it.

Squat
Barx10x2
95x5
125x3
155x1
185x1
205x5x3
Set 1 #5 maybe a little high
Set 2 #3 lacked hip drive, but made damn sure all were deep enough
Set 3 ok but hands slipped down and after this set my neck got really sore/stiff on the left side
Overall was a bit of work but expected that with getting better depth

Not sure about this warmup. I may not have been quite warm enough for that first work set.
+5 next time but don't forget to really focus on depth, and remember those other things like knees, no hip swing, no hand slide, and well imprint the now slightly wider stance in there as well

Bench
Barx10x2
80x5
105x3
130x1
155x1 easy so far
177.5x5x3
Set 1 felt hard.
Set 2 not so hard, having the right attitude helps keep everything tight
Set 3 no problem - knurling imprint left in fingertips and palms - I think I gripped the bar decently on this set

Clean
Have not been very consistent with these. Hopefully now that I shouldn't be traveling much for a while & I have a decent place to do these I can keep a regular schedule going.
75x3x2
95x3
115x1 stay tight receiving the bar but otherwise easy
145x1 oops - misloaded due to dumbassness - no wonder I almost missed it
130x1
145x3x5 finally got them all - last rep last set was kinda ugly - 5 sets of these is a lot

Chins - nice spot to do chins here in the room with the oly stuff
BWx1,1,1
BWx6,6,6,6

I should do a set or 2 of these on A day as 6 days seems to be too long to go between.
For some odd reason my lats feel like they got a bit of a workout. I guess they had to do some work during those chins ha ha.

[swan]

Schedule madness tomorrow led me to the gym today. Was not sure how things would go with 1 rest day for the old guy.

Weighed in @ #222 today. I have somehow not gained any measurable weight since 4/27. Huh.

Squat
Today: stance, depth, hands
Barx10x2
95x5
125x5
155x1
185x1 belt
210x5x3 belt
Felt like depth was good today - concentrating on that does help after all.
Still need to keep on that hand position thing. Related to that I felt a little looseness in the hole with the bar on a few reps.
Should have added a reminder for knees out.
May have done 6 reps in set 3 - lost count at the end so I did one more to make sure I got em all.

Warmup seemed ok this time.
Next time: same as today but also knees out in the hole through hip drive all the way up. And stay tight.

Press
Barx10x2 holy shit I'm sore from Friday's bench
65x5
85x3
100x1 belt yo
112.5x5x3 belt yo
Well 1st set was fucking hard. The rest not so much.
Barx5 cuz all sorts of shit was getting tight

Not sure about press warmup. Equally not sure what I'd change though.
Next time focus on staying in balance with the bar at the top. There's enough weight up there now that position errors are starting to make themselves known.

Lift of the Dead
135x5, 185x3, 225x1
275x1, 305x1 belt
325x5 belt
Concentrated on being consistent about starting in the correct balance position in the setup. I have been finding myself on my toes at times, I think partly from getting used to pulling in heels (ha). Today I had no problems with any reps getting out away from me.
I think I should start with hook grip before the last warmup to help get the thumbs acclimated to being crushed.
This was my previous 1RM from crossfit days early this year. Nearly fell down & passed out after dropping the bar on that one. Glad I don't do either of those things any more.

Chins
BWx5 from the top bar position in the smithy. Heh.

Wednesday will be an interesting experiment as I'm going to switch A/B workouts around, doing this A day again. This is because on Sat I'm going to see Nick Klemetson for a session of squat/bench/power clean and I didn't want to go a week+ without pulling heavy. I'm kinda perverse like that.

Coached one of the Y trainers on how to hold her breath (valsalva of course, but didn't use that term for it) and when to breathe while I was spotting her bench. She was amazed at how just that change made her last set so much easier than the others and thanked me 3 different times before she left. Small steps on the road to coaching..

[swan]

Overall excited to be going to IA this sat to train with Nick K. Should be cool. I scheduled this weekend instead of the next time he's up in MN because I knew I could do this saturday but the rest of the month gets busy with kid events & other stuff.

I registered for the June seminar today. I'd been thinking about it but that "SSC academic requirements" thread in the coach's forum convinced me I should just do it and absorb the weekend as a learning experience.

Squat
Barx10x2
95x5
135x3
160x1 - yeah these jumps got fucked a bit now that I look at them, too many distractions walking around today!
190x1 belt - all easy so far
215x5x3 belt - most of these felt pretty good. I believe depth was good across the board. A couple in set 2 had that left-leg-hip-slide-right thing but I cleaned that up the last 2 reps in that set. Concentrated on keeping tight all the way down and this seemed to go much better. Kept my hands in the right spot and had no post-squat elbow pain for the first time in many workouts.
Overall squat today was easier than it had been the past few weeks. Too many variables in my head to try & pinpoint why but I sure won't complain.

Next time: will be at Nick's ha

Press
Barx10x2 - this felt like too many, maybe 7ish would be better
65x5
85x3
100x1 belt
115x5x3 belt - overextended the lower back a little in set 1. Set 3 was not hard at all until I got cocky on the last rep which then royally sucked - dumbass must have missed the hip drive there
Anyway, this is a little beyond BW/2 so I guess that's kinda cool.

Deadlift
Standard warmup as before from now on, so I'll just include the last warmup & work set. Currently using hook grip on the last 3 warmups & work set, and belt on the last 2 warmups & work set.
305x1
330x5 fuck that was hard - I mean real fucking hard, as in the hardest set I've had since I started LP.
I definitely will not try to do that again - pull heavy 2 workouts that close together. But now I know
Liquid chalk today to avoid the chalk police. Worked ok. Actually 1 application stayed on all the way through chins.

Chins
BWx1,1
BWx7,6,6

Damn it's late, time for some eats before bed.

[swan]

I had a fantastic session with Nick Klemetson today.

Squat
Barx5x3 - used these to start cleaning some things up
95x5
135x3
165x1
195x1 belt
220x5x3 belt
Bar was a little high. Worked hard on getting the feel for the new placement.
Turned toes out a little more than I had been.
Reach butt back going into the hole - this is to keep lumbar extension all the way down.
Straight up out of the hole - I was sending my hips back some instead.
Right knee out farther - stupid thing was not going out as far as the other/it needed to - gotta work out that right ITB tightness.

These changes all added up to these work sets not feeling hard at all (except for a couple less-than-optimal reps). It's interesting how much easier things feel when the form is right on.

Bench press
Barx5x4 - as I suspected, quite a bit of fixing here
85x5
105x5 - it finally all started to come together here
135x3
160x2
180x5
It seems like there were a lot of things to work on, but it mostly came down to gripping with correct wrist extension, instead of no extension, and getting the elbows to go straight down to keep the forearms vertical. And hitting the correct spot at the bottom helps too.
Once there was some weight on the bar these were all the best feeling sets of benching I've ever had. Happily enough we went up to my next planned work set weight and it was no problem so I believe I can keep going from there. Just gotta keep the form from today together.

Power clean
65x? - worked on this a lot
85x3
95x3x3 (or so)
Keep shoulders in front of the bar until reaching the jumping position. This is the major thing that I just did not have before. The key point I had missed is that it's not at all the same as the deadlift once you get the bar past the knees.
Don't jump early, you eager bastard.
Do that jump straight up thing - the "put your head through the ceiling" cue is a good one.
Don't be a lazy ass and make a good jump even for lighter weights.
There were several things about this that I knew I wasn't really getting from reading everything. It just didn't take before and I also needed to overcome the previous habits I had from CF. Buuuuut, I now have an interior model of how this is supposed to go. The challenge will be recreating the good reps I had at Nick's on my own.

I very much enjoyed working with Nick and would see him again any time. Thanks Nick!

[Nick Klemetson]

Reach butt back going into the hole - this is to keep lumbar flexion all the way down.

Extension, not flexion. I think you knew that, though.

Pleasure meeting you yesterday. Not only did we get a lot done, but I had a darn good time just chatting too. I hope we can do it again soon. Enjoy the seminar!

[swan]

Extension, not flexion. I think you knew that, though

Fixed.Thanks.

[swan]

BW 229
Hmm...maybe added a little too much cereal the past week.

Squat
Barx5x3
95x5
135x3
170x1
200x1 belt
225x5x3 belt
Last rep set 2 slid right in the hole - probably did not have the right knee out all the way like I'm supposed to remember.
Overall these went fine and were not hard. I believe I worked in all the fixins I got from Nick on Saturday. They sure felt good like they're supposed to. Notes for next time are the same cues from sat.

Press
Barx5x3
70x5
90x2
105x1
117.5x5x3
Got the bar a bit behind my head at the top of a couple reps in the middle of set 2. That sure was a new kind of fun.

Deathlift
310x1
335x5
Rep 1 was "easy", 2-3 not too hard, 4-5 pretty damn hard. Huh.

Wasn't too sure how today would go but everything was all right. Had some m-f release on various bits at my massage yesterday that left me sore in a few places. I'm pretty sure "myofascial release" is really a code phrase that means "mother fucker I think she's trying to kill me!"

[swan]

Other place was closed today due to the power company dicking with some main line in the area.

BW 229

Squat
Barx5x3
95x5
135x3
175x1
205x1 belt
205x5 belt - yes, the idiot did an entire set without realizing he forgot to load the bar for the next weight
230x5x3 belt
This is where I left off before, but they didn't feel too bad. Work yes, but not terribly so. Considering the idiot's warmup set in there these went well. Worked on keeping in the fixes from Nick. The right knee still wants to be lazy but it's getting easier to keep it out there.

Bench press
Barx5x3 - distance between knurl rings on all the Y bars is about 26" - fun
95x5
135x3
160x2
180x5x3
A little wobbly at the beginning of the first work set but cleaned it up by the 3rd rep.
Wanted to have a different warmup scheme here with other/different lower weight set in there but forgot until I was already done with 135. Oops.

Deadlift
135x5x2
All the bars there are too crappy to attempt any power cleans, but I felt like I should do a little something pull-related. Figured a couple light sets would not be taxing & I could concentrate on form a bit.