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

[Mark E. Hurling]

3rd Cycle, Week 2. 3 reps @ 70%-80%-90%.

Seated Press: 95-110-125/8, back off set of 12 with 75, too easy. More weight next time.

Hammer Curls: 100-115-130/8, back off set of 12 with 75, too easy. More weight next time.

EZ Curl Close Grip Floor Press:90-105-120, back off set of 12 with 75, too easy. More weight next time.

Pinch Grip: This consisted of 10 second holds of two 25 lb. Rogue Hi Temp plates on a 25 lb. ez curl bar. 75-95-115.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Busy day.

It began with conditioning. Rounds of caber lift, crunches, DB push presses, clap pushups, KB swings, stretching.

From there some volunteering for Special Olympics. First for their Cop on the Roof fundraiser. While there DB and I were press ganged into service for another S/O event at a local primary school for a field day. It was hot here today (90 F) and we were out herding kittens for grades 1-3. Mostly good kids, but hot and wearing all the same.

Then, some shuffling of vehicles. Picking up the Dark Lady from some necessary work at the motorcycle shop and then a tire repair for Edge.

Finally, coasting on fumes, it was off to teach Jujitsu. Ken, Ethan, and Emma all showed up. I got Emma all the way through her blue belt techniques and began polishing Ken and Ethan's performance of their blue belt 2nd degree techniques. They did some teaching and coaching of Emma on the lower rank techniques too. It was good to see them developing as teachers themselves.

Nodding off as I type.

[SeanThornton]

LOL, 90F!

Up here in the other end of the state, it was 67 when I took my son to work at 3am. By 8, when I picked him up, it was 54, and that was as high as it got for the rest of the day!

[Mark E. Hurling]

3rd Cycle, Week 3. 5 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% with attempts at 1 RM singles.

Bench Press: 165-185-210-240/0.

Hammer Rows: 315-355-400-410/1.

Hammer Leg Press: 535-605-675-730/0.

The fails were either the consequence of over-reach or the toll yesterday's frolics took out of me.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Quick in and quick out today, given the last couple of days activities. A 15 minute Graded Exercise Protocol (GXP). It consists of 5 minutes of ramping up to 85% of maximum heart rate (MHR), 5 minutes working at 85% of MHR, and a 5 minute ramp down again.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Some general things today for conditioning. Prowler, heavy bag, Jacob's Ladder, SciFit, rowing, elliptical, stretching.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Training John the Special Olympian tonight. We did a mock meet with warm ups, three attempts per lift and all the commands. He did pretty good in the squat and deadlift. The bench not so much. He exceeded his last top attempt for qualifications and came apart on the bench to everyone's surprise, because he was feeling strong and confident. Ah well. The mysteries of motivation and success. Or not, as was the case for one out of three. Generally though, it does bode well for the upcoming Summer Games for him.

[SeanThornton]

The bench is where we struggle the most, as well.

For two of our lifters, they have problems keeping their hands even (head-to-toe-wise) on the descent, mostly due to just not getting the feedback from their bodies which most of us take for granted. For another lifter, his focus is just really hit or miss. When focused, he is very strong and can bench well. Other times, well, we've dubbed him Mr. Wiggles That, and he'll start conversations about his favorite subjects, IN THE MIDDLE OF A REP!

Good times, good times!

[Mark E. Hurling]

John's form in all his lifts is pretty good. He did have some problems with moving around on the bench that I spotted during our first training session. I tried a cue from martial arts to fix it and it worked like a charm. He had practiced TKD a while back, so I told him to use a horse stance and squeeze his knees into and against the bench. Hey presto! Fixed.

[Mark E. Hurling]

3rd Cycle, Week 3. 5 reps @ 75%, 3 reps @ 85%, 1 rep @ 95% with attempts at 1 RM singles.

Push Press: 115-130-145-155/0.

High Pulls from Blocks: 165-185-220/1.

Cable Rotations: 150 for 3 sets of 5.

Stretched.