Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Oldster]

Bench Press: 260 for 4 singles. The last single was easier than the first one. But I figured make haste slowly and forebear another single that I knew I had in me.

Beautiful. That was all perfect.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I plan on trying this again next week with 270 for 2-3 singles or maybe even 4 if the mojo is still rising.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 241.5

5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Medium Day)

Standing Overhead Press: 140 4-4-3-3-3. Hard as Hell this morning. Next week will be better.

Barbell Rows: Sets of 5 45-95-135-185-195-205-215-225. My first time trying these and was looking for a reasonable top end. So 230 for 5 sets of 5 next week.

Pinch Grip: 140 for 30 seconds. Finally! I dropped the weight down to a level I can hang on for the full 30 seconds. Now to start working my way back up.

[Oldster]

I plan on trying this again next week with 270 for 2-3 singles or maybe even 4 if the mojo is still rising.

I have no problem with that, but don't hurt yourself trying to get an extra one. 4 would be fantastic though. At your age I would just like to see them be very smooth. They don't have to be fast, just in the groove and smooth. Make sure your set-up is tight.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 242

In and out fast this morning having overslept. Did a GXP and hustled through getting ready for work.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 240

Jujitsu last night with the kids had them doing circle of terror drills. In this, a circle of 4-5 people form around one person. The leader (me in this case) waits until the one in the middle has their back turned and then points to someone to attack as the one in the middle as they are walking the interior circle. There are some variations of this where the one in the middle does the attack as they walk around too. The kids had a lot of fun with this .

Adult class was almost all ground technique. It started off with the defender on their back on the mat manuvering to keep their legs oriented toward the standing attacker as they moved in or circled to one side or the other. My partner, a green belt, is feisty and fast but didn't realize he could use his elbows to turn with too and would just use one or both feet. This left him vulnerable to a leg grab and fast bypass of both legs into a mount or side hold down. So I showed him how to do that and he was near impossible to get past then. We worked on defender on the ground leg to leg takedowns. Very hard on my knee as the attacker, thank God I wear my metal reinforced brace doing this stuff. Still a little achey this morning in the knee.

Since we're both at the level where we are taught and can use chokes we worked that too as follow ups once we were both on the mat. He's got good instincts for choking and if you get careless with your hands he'll grab some fingers and you are going to hurt like Hell. But we teach a defensive technique that has you curled into a fetal position usually on your knees but also on your side sometimes. The arms are crossed in high X across either side tight next to the neck with the hands in fists and the chin dropped to your chest. A very tight curl is very hard to break into to do any grappling. Of course you can kick or strike them so that's not a long term position for a successful end to a real fight. He couldn't get to my fingers or neck for a choke, so I showed him how to snake his hand and fingers in above my fists but under my nose and pull upwards. Man does this hurt! Your whole head and neck come right up with it to relieve the pain. In vain I might add. Of course then your neck is exposed and you get choked out.

I don't like ground techniques for self defense but given my history of competing in judo with them I'm pretty good at them. Our team in college exploited a niche that the other teams neglected and we won over half our matches with chokes, pins, or arm bars. The green belt doidn't have an instinct for finding arm bars since he like chokes and finger wrenching techniques, so while we were working together I pointed out some stages at which he could get an arm bar or figure four lock on my arm. A good session last night, but I have strawberries all over me including one on my chin and cheek. Already some comments at work about them asking if Dearly Beloved got a little rambunctious last night.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 241.5

5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Light Day)

Bench Press: 165 for 6 sets of 2. Did these fast.

Squat: 135 for 3 sets of 6.

Power Snatch: 105 for 3 sets of 3. I didn't remember to rotate my elbows outward until workset #2. I'll stick with this weight for a while because I also noted a tendency to press out. Needs more pull and speed.

I worked with our daughter again today after work. Her squat stance was a little wide and her knees complained a little, but she figured out on her own what the problem was. Her overhead pressing is really good and used as much weight for that as she did for the squat and it bombed right up. Her deadlift form is positively flawless. It's amazing how once the set up stance and distance from the bar is established for her, everything else lines up into place.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 242.5

Some low intensity cardio today with just a little stretching. Today I pinned two 45 lb. plates to the rollup weight stack. Too big of a jump at more than 10 lbs. than last week. But it was easier than stacking plates like I had been, and even so I rolled it up over halfway before the grip gave out. So one more challenge to go at.

I've been experimenting with little to no stretching the last few weeks as a result of some suggestion by Rip in the Do You Find This Common thread in his Q&A. So far this is like once a week for 5 minutes and fewer exercises as opposed to 5+ times for 10 minutes. Since my squat and deadlift form have gotten cleaned up my lower back is doing so much better. The only thing that seems to get to it is jujitsu.

On the home front, our daughter and I went to lunch today just because we enjoy each other's company. She was groaning a little about her quads, as she first described them, which turned out to be her adductors from squats yesterday. I told her that was probably because of her wide stance yesterday. This lead to a whole discussion over Panda Express about form, setup, back angle, head and neck position, and eyeline. She even expressed interest in reading SS:3 as the basis for understanding what to do besides "because the Dad unit said so." After our battles over exercise etc. in the past, I can't begin to express how encouraging this all is. I just have to keep throttling myself back so as not to come on too strong. This is not an easy bit of The Old Man's DNA to overcome what with his HIT THAT BEACH AND TAKE THAT HILL!! driving personality. Being a parent gets tougher when the kid gets to be not a kid any more.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 241.5

This morning started off inauspiciously. I woke up with a headache, probably for all the sleep I've been missing through the last several days because of work issues deviling me. These issues have also been building a head of rage and anger the likes of which were threatening to cause a blow the likes of Mt. St. Helens or the Big Bang at Old Faithful we keep hearing about from geothermal types. I had to damp it and keep my job but decided to focus it for this morning. So I amped it up some more with Also Sprach Zarathustra on the way in to the gym. Bad idea, because that woke up The Old Man and my high school football coach Mr. Perucca. It was like getting it in stereo from two drill instructors in either ear then all morning under the iron. Kind of like the three drill instructors I saw one time hazing a police recruit doing push-ups for a screw up at the Rio Hondo Police Academy one afternoon.

5 minutes warmup on the bike. (Heavy Day)

Bench Press: I got 3 singles with 270. A 4th felt possible and Coach and the Old Man were giving me Hell for not going for it, but my right shoulder felt funny right from the empty bar warmup and I decided to keep one in reserve. Also I didn't entirely trust the one guy I could find to spot me. He hovered too closely and I could tell he didn't seem to have a lot faith in his own ability to help. But got 'em all even so.

Pull Ups: bodyweight for 5 sets of 3.

Deadlift: Sets of 3, 135-225. Singles 315- 345-385. That 385 was a grinder especially right at the kneecaps but I got it. I've been hitting what I think may be the bleeding edge of my envelope these days and actually loaded up the bar with 395 for one more single. I took a stance and gripped the bar, sucked down a huge gulp of air and . . . Decided to let it go and stand up. No point in risking that last potential tweak of the L5 because I got impatient for that run at 405 in a few more weeks. So I'll do it in 10 lb. increments even though up to now I've been doing 20 lb. increments each session. P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. This was no mean mental feat either. Because The Old Man and Coach jacked up the volume in my head to 11 as I was taking that last breath.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. This was no mean mental feat either. Because The Old Man and Coach jacked up the volume in my head to 11 as I was taking that last breath.

There it is. Strength AND wisdom.