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

[Mark E. Hurling]

Coaching Special Olympians in powerlifting last night. As it happened, sunburn and old injuries were plaguing people and limiting their efforts. A scary moment when one of them lost balance forward in the squats warmup, but I was spotting closely and rescued them before more than a little fright (for all of us!) set in. A nice recovery was made despite this, and squatting continued.

Bar control in the bench press was emphasized last night. After some wobbly warmup sets the lifters settled in to nice, smooth press-outs with no uneven lockouts or bars drifting forward and backward over the chests and necks of the lifters.

A couple of old shoulder injuries had DB and I deciding to cut off deadlifts in the upper ranges before someone aggravated a joint too badly in an effort to be brave in their attempt. Watching for problems, we have learned, is important when coaching. Not only for form errors that can result in injury, but also facial expressions that can indicate that an athlete is trying to tax themselves beyond their current capacities. DB last night was invaluable in noticing those hitting the edges of their envelopes and warning them and me that either stopping or moderation was in order. It's hard doing that, because the athletes want very much to succeed and better their PR's just like the rest of the larger community of athletes. DB once again kept up a flow of talk to help with motivation in the earlier stages and to calm the over eager as the weight loads and discomfort from sunburn and shoulders began to take their toll.

There was a fair amount of joshing and good humor last night of each other and me as well. Given the heat here the last days, I've taken to wearing Hawaiian shirts. I got some light hearted razzing about the shirt which was roughly the equivalent of getting the cooler of Gatorade poured over the coach by the players.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Since squats seemed to go so well yesterday, I am now paying for it on the installment plan with delayed onset muscle soreness. But still with the conditioning with rounds of box jumps, speed bag, medicine ball toss, heavy bag, SciFit.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Ball Cap.jpg

Jujitsu tonight with Ken and Ethan. I had to rework some bad instruction I gave them last time about an arm over arm bar. I forgot to include a pivot and turn to the side. The hand over hand transition was also tricky and it took some time to get them to handle it smoothly and just right. Ken asked some questions about follow up movements including additional strikes, moves to other control holds, and a take down. We next worked through four take downs resulting from the defender blocking an attacker's strikes and one counter from an attempted tackle. That completed the 2nd degree blue belt review.

Since Ken is a purple belt and Ethan is still a 2nd degree blue belt, I used him as a crash dummy for refreshing Ken on the next purple belt techniques. We had spent most of the time on the blue belt 2nd degree techniques, so we only got through three of the purple belt techniques.

[Mark E. Hurling]

80% of 1RM.

Bench Press: 240, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Push Press: 100, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Hammer Row: 290, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Music: Shaft Theme, Final Countdown, Ghost Riders in the Sky, The Four Seasons, Smoke on the Water, Raiders of the Lost Ark, All Along the Watchtower, Finlandia, Peter Gunn, Fire Down Below, Smuggler's Blues, Stars and Stripes Forever, Mars the Bringer of War.

[Mark E. Hurling]

FINALLY managed to find the free time and marshal the energy for learning Iaido tonight. I have trouble coordinating the foot movements with the hand movements for cutting with the sword. They seem counterintuitive to way you move in Mushin Ryu. As a result, I ended up on the wrong foot or stepping with the wrong foot during several of the patterns practiced. The cutting with the sword was the easiest, but I was told I need to loosen my shoulders to move the blade with more fluidity. So now I'm completely gassed.

[Mark E. Hurling]

80% of 1RM.

Deadlift: 310, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Music: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Run Like Hell, Up Around the Bend, Death of Siegfried, Immigrant Song, Highway to Hell, Thunderer March, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rawhide, Bad to the Bone, British Grenadiers.

[Mark E. Hurling]

A real change of pace for conditioning today. After a LOT of work getting the pool in order, I alternated swimming some laps in the breast stroke alternating with the back stroke. Then I interspersed the swimming with some blocking, kicking, and punching drills. Altogether, not a bad session at 80% of maximum heart rate.

[Mark E. Hurling]

80% of 1RM.

Seated Press: 145, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Weighted Dips: 60, 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2.

Music: When the Bullet Hits the Bone, Flight of the Bumblebee, Eye of the Tiger, Patton, Radar Love, Life in the Fast Lane, Aida, Barracuda, Respect, Fortunate Son, Dueling Banjos, Discombobulate, Heard it Through the Grapevine.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Dragging a little from coaching the Special Olympians. Who knew coaching could be so demanding on someone's energy?

Everyone's form is coming along nicely and improving each session. There are still parts for all of them to keep working on, but change is happening, bit by bit. Bar control during the bench press is probably the biggest improvement for all of them. Getting and keeping the bar in close to the legs in the deadlift is another marked gain as well. Still some way to go in that for many, although Lena has as close to picture perfect form in this lift as I've seen yet.

A few need to keep their hands in close to the legs during the deadlift, and DB got crouched right down on the platform and guided the hands to a narrower grip as needed. Then she tripped on the edge of the platform and had to get some help back up. After some expressions of concern, a number of us agreed it looked funny. She too is coming into the more technical aspects of coaching.

Some valuable lessons were learned tonight as well. Speed of movement during the lifts has to be moderated to avoid joint problems and injuries. Speaking of injuries, one of the lifters showed some excellent judgement in begging off deadlifts after aggravating a minor hand injury from the weekend. He made the right call, because the hand was the one he throws with in the shot put. A bad injury to that hand would take him out of the USA National Games in Special Olympics. Sitting it out showed he has his priorities straight. One night's training being sacrificed for the larger objective. Another lifter worked very hard and opted out of the last top set in the deadlift after giving all she had in the 2nd set. I praised them both for knowing when to say when. It's hard for the athletes to say no to the coach, but I keep letting them know they know their limits and need to make sure I know them too. PR's, records, and medals are not more important that their well-being.

Finally, I got a real up close lesson in why physical therapists are so often despised. Near the end of deadlifting I was rustling up some paper towels so some sweaty hands could get dried off. A guy sidled up to me telling me he was watching the athletes lift and was concerned about the way he saw them doing things. I patiently explained how these lifters are getting their form sorted out incrementally. He then suggested that I have them use machines. It was something of a struggle to maintain some measure of politeness, but I managed to tell him diplomatically that they were training in the three powerlifts for Special Olympics events. Then I left to return to the athletes.

[BrooklynJerry]

I'm sure working with your athletes is both mentally and physically draining.
As fast as that guy giving advice, there is never a shortage of "experts " just waiting to tell others how to do things. Good luck with the coaching and the meet.