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

[Mark E. Hurling]

Today's workout should have been a relatively routine session of GXP on the LifeFitness elliptical. I wanted to get a baseline for what appears to be improving cardiovascular responses to the weight loss I have undergone. To my dismay, I discovered that Gold's Gym had replaced the two old warhorses I used there. Well I shouldn't complain, because they are better than any place I have ever seen about repairing and replacing equipment. I just have to accept a new beginning witout the ability to compare to the old equipment and resistance settings. Sooo, GXP done and complete.

While I was using the foam roller, some sweet thing who was young enough to have been a daughter of mine ambled over and suggested I try extending my arms out at 90 degree angles from my torso and then directly overhead for a better flex on the spine. Wow! Those small alterations really nailed my back. The was the first (and I'm sure the last for a long time) attention I'd gotten from anyone her age in decades. Probably just wanted to make sure gramps could get on with his day OK.

I'm still struggling to get my morning blood pressure in some semblance of order. Went to the doc for another follow-up and it's still high. He asked me when I was taking the stuff, and I said at night a little before I go to bed. That works out to around 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. and hitting the rack at 9:00. Too early he said, it looks like I metabolize the stuff during sleep and it has worn off when I get up at around 5:00 a.m. for the gym. So I'm going to keep the pills on my nightstand and down one when I typically wake up a couple hours later for the first time. My sleep is still much more sound than a month ago and it seems like I'm needing less of it as my weight has dropped. I'm more convinced than ever about apnea having been a problem for me. As for my back, it's still solid and it doesn't wake me up in the night when I roll over like it has in the past. The left wrist is now back up to speed again too. Praise be.

[Mark E. Hurling]

11-9-10

Jujitsu last night had me learning a new way to teach the kids basic techniques. This was very unsettling for me because it is done with almost no talking and getting them to emulate your own movements in rapid repetitions of the movement. Master Bellman made this change because he felt the kids weren't really listening and he is right, their attention span often fails them. Now I just have to acclimate to this style of teaching and not surprisingly, I didn't do too well last night with my first exposure to it. Well, wax on, wax off will get me through it.

Today's lifting:

Hip Belt Squat: 160x3, 180x3, 205x6.

Power Clean: 125x3, 140x3, 160x3.

Pinch Grip: 145 for 40 seconds PR! This was actually a positive outcome of what I thought might be my periodically bad record keeping. I was supposed to use 140 for this but figured I had screwed up again. Not the case as it so happened this time and I ended up using 5 more pounds than scheduled. Oh frabjous day, calloo callay!

[JM3]

curious to know what is the goal of the pinch grip training?

Teaching by example without words is great IMO.. works in drumming all the time- adults are just as bad as kids- they want to 'explain' why they arent getting it instead of getting it.- powerful to just keep repeating a move and looking at the novice- brings the focus.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Well thanks for that question and the teaching comments, JM3. I keep wondering the stuff I put in here about jujitsu is the equivalent of an adult talking on a Charlie Brown cartoon. You know the wah-wah-wah-waaah, parts?

First question first. I do the pinch grip training as an adjunct for jujitsu. It may seem silly to imagine, but a hard pinch to a fleshy area like the back of the triceps or the love handles, or the inner thigh (especially) has any purpose in a self defense situation, but believe me, it's like getting a very localized hit with a cattle prod! I can know it's coming, and even though I have developed a pretty threshold for pain tolerance, I can't stop a strong flinch and withdrawal reaction. This won't get you out of a determined grappling attack by itself, but it affords you a respite for at least a second or so that gives you the opportunity to do something even worse as a follow-up. Then of course, there's the great forbidden move in refereed MMA bouts, just grab 'em by the nards. Now THAT will really stop your attacker's proceedings for a little while as he's trying to catch his breath after screaming his lungs out.

Thanks for your second observation about rote repetition. I know what you say to be spot on, but you have provided the best kind of example of why it is true, something entirely outside the arena of martial arts. It really drives the point home and I appreciate it. I'm still relatively new to the teaching of physical skills, but at this brown belt rank, it is one of the key skills I need to master to move on. More action, less talk. Great aphorism for lots of stuff.

Sooo, speaking of jujitsu then, we got four new kids at last night's class. They picked up the basic skills very quickly, and some of them were doing better than the kids who had been orange belts for months. The adult class had me teaching the teen blue belts and trying to keep the ping ponging male hormones channelled into doing the techniques correctly. Good kids, they just need constant re-focusing to keep them from pulling a Bruce Lee on each other or me. The biggest and oldest one started to "what if" with me and a simple answer and example that dumped him on his backside with a minimum of force got him back to compass North again. They kept calling me sensei, master, and a professional last night. What a bunch of clowns. I had to tell them to cut it out, and that I don't rate anything like those honorifics just because I've been at the art six years longer than they have. Ah, to be young again.

This morning, the back feels a little fatigued, but not griping away at me for excessive abuse. I hope this stays the course.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I did a running GXP this morning with some sprints mixed in so, not surprisingly, my quads feel a little crisp around the edges. I followed up with foam roller and stretching and all is well. My back seems nicely and completely recovered from the fatigue I felt waking up yesterday, so harking back to my druidic forebears, I'm knocking wood on this and hoping for the best that this trend will continue.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Today jujitsu was black belts only so I decided to get my PR week of the 5/3/1 routine started sooner rather than later.

5 minute warm up on the bike.

Overhead Press: 135x5, 155x3, 175x1, 198 halfway up to sticking point and no go. Damn. This could be the result of one or several factors. My weight loss catching up to me, getting too aggressive in my loading jumps, or trying for PR's too frequently. I'll try 2 lb. instead of 3 lb. jumps first.

Hammer Row: 300x5, 340x3, 380x1, 400x1, 410x1 PR's! I got tired of the dumbbell rows, what with the set up and the awkwardness of loading the tricep bar. So I went back to the plate loaded hammer row which I had been using before I started this log. I had left off at 380 a few months ago and decided to use that as my max PR. As I worked my way up I could see that it was going to be easy and I was right. So onward and upward.

[ColoWayno]

Spent some time skimming around here. Very inspiring and worth reading. Keep up the good work.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks Wayne. I constantly examine whether what rolls around between my ears is worth having it run down my arms and out through my fingers and onto the keyboard.

[JM3]

It's not- thats why we post it online- to clear the mind...

Just wonder- your pinch grip training- would farmers walks do the same thing?

Just seems tedious as hell- but I see people doing it a bunch.

completely jealous of your overhead press- thought you were a geezer!!!

[Mark E. Hurling]

True enough JM3 it does accomplish that and is cathartic as well. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Heh-heh-heh.

Farmers walks would be more along the lines of building a supporting grip. It's a useful dimension of grip strength for a lot of folks. I throw in some fat bar timed holds for 30 seconds that do some of the same things with an added feature of improving grips strength on a body part like a wrist or the neck. I'm waiting a little longer to make sure my left hand is up to speed before trying them again. Farmer's walks are also considered a whole body exercise like deadlifts especially when the weights get heavier. As for tedious, I haven't done them since my teens. We didn't have a farm, but when you grow up in a dot on the map with only 200 people you have plenty of farmers to pick from to do work for. I started lifting 75 lb. bales in each hand at the age of 12 and stacking them 5 high (with some difficulty). I'm convinced that early neuro-muscular programming has done some hardwiring that interferes with developing a good power clean.

I am a geezer and earned all these gray hairs and gradually growing bald spot on the back of my head the hard way. I just didn't die in spite of plenty of dumb-ass opportunities that I tempted fate with. You ever see Statler and Waldorf, the two old farts that heckled Fozzie Bear so mercilessly in the Muppets from the balcony? Those two are alter egos these days. I have a gift (a curse according to daughter and Dearly Beloved) for imitating voices and I have them down pat.

I worked hard on the press for years because I wanted delts more than a big chest. Starr was not joking when he advised to not over develop them. I sure as hell don't want moobs. I had shoulder problems that took me off doing benches for over 10 years that seem to be OK now with a narrower grip.