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

[Mark E. Hurling]

Deload week @ 70% of 1RM and 60% for the backoff set.

Seated Press: 125, 1-1-1-1-1. 110-5 for a backoff set.

Floor Press: 75, 3 sets of 8.

Hammer Low Row: 205, 1-1-1-1-1. 170-5 for a backoff set.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Coaching Special Olympians in the shotput this afternoon had me trying something to get the two newbies to the shotput to not throw the dang thing like a softball. After studying the rules last week I found that the hand cannot get behind the plane of the shoulder to not get the attempt disqualified. I suppose I knew that (maybe?) a little, but gotta go to the fundamentals to make sure you are about to proceed correctly. I decided to bring my Olympic bar to the field and have the newbies use it.

So I set the bar against a fence to stabilize it like a landmine attachment in the gym. Then I had the newbies take the thick upper end of the bar where the plates go and press it upward and outward at a 45 degree angle. The fixed base bar makes it difficult if not impossible for the hand to get behind the plane of the shoulder. I explained the rules and demonstrated the movement, and then had them each give it a try with some repetitions of the movement. They seemed to get it right away. As it turned out, they got it just right. No disqualifying tosses at all and some good distance to them. Problem solved.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Over the weekend I started toying with testing my 1RM's in a mock meet. I woke up this morning with more energy than I have usually been having these last few months and decided to go for it, sort of. My lumbars were still feeling a little taxed, even after last week's deload, so I skipped squats. Strangely, squats stress my back more than deadlifts. Which seems as odd to me as it no doubt does to anyone reading this. But so it goes.

Bench Press:

Warmups 45-95-135

Attempts 185 (kinda light, I know)-205-225.

The 225 is a world record in my age and weight class. I used small plates instead of the more ego satisfying 45's because 45's are notorious for being +/- 2 or 3 pounds heavy or light. Smaller plates, not so much.

Deadlift:

Warmups 95-185-225

Attempts 275-325-360

The 360 breaks my current world record of 352.

Both were real grinders at the end. But given my spotty training and other problems this year, I was very pleased.

Music: Fanfare for the Common Man, Beethoven's 5th, We Will Rock You, Ring of Fire, Tush, Gimme That Old Marine Corps Spirit, Heat Wave, Holding Out for a Hero, Hot Legs, Break on Through to the Other Side, Rebel Yell, Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

59 minutes @ 126 bpm, 84% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Some conditioning today as an active recovery measure from yesterday's efforts. In fact, I decided to revert to my 3 day a week lifting instead of the 4 day a week lifting I started up after the Worlds last year.

A couple of reasons for this change, I've been tired and sleepy more than usual the last several months. I sleep at least 9 hours a night and still like a nap in the afternoons most days. Also, I've seen my average resting heart rate go up at the same time. One cause is easy to diagnose, in spite of the cardio benefits I get from lifting, I think I may still need some less intense and more heart rate focused conditioning. So we'll see.

It was rounds of speed bag, cable wood chop, medicine ball toss, heavy bag, and SciFit.

32 minutes @ 131 bpm, 87% of MHR.

In other news, I discovered I waited too long for both the upcoming meet in Missouri AND the one in Tennessee. They were filled up. So my fallback will be one in July in Indiana. I checked first to see if the gym was air conditioned. I've competed successfully in four very hot venues over the years, and the added stress of the heat is something I have learned to avoid when possible. So, back to Indiana.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I knew trying for a 1RM in the squat this morning might be a bit much so soon after a heavy deadlift on Monday, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I worked up to 250 lbs., walked it out from the rack, and decided that the back needed some more recovery. Not to mention my back needing some chiropractic care. The last months I've noticed a slight catch in my left upper leg on the outside and sometimes on the inside. I have an appointment with the general practitioner today for a look at it. Hopefully the diagnosis won't involve anything major, like a hip replacement. I doubt it, but better to know sooner than later. It doesn't seem to affect my deadlift at all, and although it may not do anything good for my squat, I haven't noticed it when I do squat.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Ball Cap.jpg

After all this time and the pandemic, I got a new student in Jujitsu tonight. She was one of the Girl Scouts us martial arts folk put on demonstrations for months ago. A good student too. She picked up most of the instruction, especially the falls. I gave Ken all the room he wanted to teach her. He's changed his major at SIU from film to education and wants all the practice teaching he can get. The new student, Gita, is smart and has done a number of other sports so has a good idea of how to move for the most part. Of course this style of Jujitsu has almost everyone exposed to it for the first time makes them move in several ways they never have before. A welcome change of routine in teaching.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Unsurprisingly, my lumbars felt done to a turn last night trying to sleep and this morning when I got up. So more conditioning.

Rounds of speed bag, medicine ball slams, rower, heavy bag, box jumps, and cable rotations.

30 minutes @ 161 bpm, 108% of MHR. Whew!

In other news:

My Jujitsu student of over 5 years, Ken, asked if he could use me in an interview for a final paper he's writing for one of his education classes. He needed people from middle age or so. I reminded him I was well past middle age and hardly a typical guy my age. He told me he had mentioned my name to his professor about that, telling him I was age 71 going on 50. Heh. I'll take 20 years younger any day.

My trip to the GP yesterday indicated that my leg discomfort was likely muscle, ligament, and tendon related. He recommended an X-ray, but after some recollection later, I decided to pass on that. I remembered I'd had this problem before, and it went away after some changes to my lifting routine. Which further backstops my decision to lift 3 instead of 4 days a week for better recovery.

Finally, I need to renew my CCW permit, which requires some classroom and range evaluation. I don't practice very often, for some reason I seem to retain my shooting skills. They got refreshed at my first round with CCW by my sergeant from a past life in law enforcement. He was a good instructor, and it showed yesterday. I shot at 3, 5, and 10 yards with over half being in the dimensions of the X ring and the rest in the 10 ring of a B-27 target. I don't shoot this Camp Perry style either. I draw from the waistband and use a Weaver point shooting style that I learned in the 70's and which seems to have served me well ever since. The draw and fire is done in 1 to 2 seconds. I'm more than satisfied with the results.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Today was what John Grimek of the old school York Barbell days would call a tinkering day. Just fooling around to rest the lumbars and transition to a 3 day week lifting routine.

4 sets of 5 for all lifts.

Floor Press
Hammer Row
Cable Pressdown
Cable Curls

Music: Crazy Train, Immigrant Song, Magnificent Seven, Amazing Grace, Damnation of Faust, Ride of the Rohirrim, Madman Across the Water, I'll Be There, Lady Marmalade, Who let the Dogs Out.

30 minutes @ 134 bpm, 89% of MHR.

Afterward, a restoring trip to the chiro for a chassis realignment.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Ball Cap.jpg

Getting back into the groove with Jujitsu via Zoom. It opened with defenses, counters, and attacks with knife, club, and short yawara. It consisted of using defensive movements with the weapons in randomly shifting patterns. Then how to turn the blade edge from blocking to cutting in the transition from defense to offense. Each weapon uses the same hand and foot movement, but the reach of each one of them is different, as is the effective application of force. Orientation of the surface in contact with the attacker is less important with a club or yawara, since they are blunt force impact weapons. Also addressed was the orientation of the torso during attack and defense. Face on requires a linear attack because of the orientation of the shoulders, while turning to a 90 degree angle to the direction of the attacker presents less of a target and is easier to defend.

We then moved on to shifting position from a frontal attack to a side attack. It involves using a stance with the feet at a 45 degree angle and then pivoting to shift direction when possible rather than stepping, which takes more time. As these were practiced, a variety of blocks and counter strikes were introduced to emphasize the dynamics of defense, counters, and follow up attacks.

Finally, how to get someone in a hammerlock while resisting and lying on their side was demonstrated. There were two techniques. The first involves getting behind the person resisting and pushing his head down and sideways twice while gripping their wrist. This weakens and distracts them and on the 2nd push, their arm can easily be pulled behind their back for the hammerlock. The other technique involves using the elbow or knee on their illiotibial band which hurts A LOT! The distraction from this pain loosens up the arm for the hammerlock.

[Mark E. Hurling]

This afternoon DB and I worked with the Special Olympians getting them ready for Spring Games. I had the shotputters, who are making good progress. Having the newbies work on the landmined Olympic bar seems to have fixed their throwing and changed it into a legal put. I was wearing a turquoise polo shirt, one of the Ohana colors. Jereth, one of the shotputters and one of the powerlifters seized on the shirt as soon as he saw me saying I looked like a Smurf. We have a good bunch on Team Ohana and I don't take myself seriously when we josh around like this.