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

[Mark E. Hurling]

The program I was following was a little like your own. A collection of ideas from other programs. Most of my lifts were patterned around Wendler's 5-3-1 routine. The idea for accessory lifts came from the Barbell Prescription with Andy Baker's routine for competitive masters powerlifters. The big departures for me was how I juggled the frequency of of squats and deadlifts and split up lifting days. I followed an A, B, C, and D collection of days, spread across Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then the following Monday. Starting over again on the Wednesday of that next week. It gave me a 4-5 day break between the squat and deadlift that gave my lumbars a good chance for recovery. I've always had problems with that. I tossed in the seated overhead press to keep the shoulders balanced and to avoid taxing my back on a "rest" day for the lower body. Add in some upper back stuff and that's pretty much it.

I'm now switching to a M-W-F routine with squats on Wednesdays one week and deadlifts on the next Wednesday. That gives me 7 days "rest" for my lumbars. As for the rest of the program, I'm sticking with 5-3-1 and the upper body work on Mondays and Fridays.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Jujitsu via Zoom was a very timely review of some of the green belt techniques. Just what I needed after all those years of not being able to practice and keep in tune. These are not techniques to be used on lower ranks who lack experience. We got through four of them and I had most of the basics still firmly fixed, but there were a couple of details I had forgotten or misplaced into other techniques that were key in getting me back on track.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Cycle 1, Week 1, Sets of 5-5-5 @ 90% of 1RM. Deload.

Bench Press: 80 @ 40%, 110 @ 50%, 130 @ 60%.

Hammer High Row: 105 @ 40%, 130 @ 50%, 155 @ 60%.

Cable Curl: 100 for 3 sets of 8.

Music: When the Bullet Hits the Bone, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Stars and Stripes Forever, Keep Your Hands to Yourself, Break On Through to Other Side, Night Train, La Vida Loca.

33 minutes average HR 138 BPM @ 91% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Back to some conditioning. Rounds of speed bag, cable rotation, SciFit, supine medicine ball toss, crunch, heavy bag, rower, followed by some stretches for better knee mobility.

Had my long awaited visit to the doc today. The waiting room was backed up to the Canadian border. Which wasn't entirely a surprise given what has been reported about the "tripledemic" with a rise in the Kung Flu (again), RSV, and the old fashioned flu. Even so, the visit was only slightly prolonged. The really good news is I got a referral to an orthopedist for my knee without any undue begging or pleading.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Coaching two Special Olympians tonight at Legacy Gym was a great cathartic experience for a frustrating day.

Both Jacob and Jereth, the lifters tonight, are multi-sport athletes. Jacob wanted to be ready for bowling last week and didn't want to detract from his performance at the bowling state championships. Jereth has some snowshoeing coming up that he wanted to do well in so he asked to go easy in squats. Otherwise, they both continued to cycle up their poundage.

Altogether, it was a great escape to concentrate on what they needed to do.

[Mark E. Hurling]

ycle 1, Week 1, Sets of 5-5-5 @ 90% of 1RM. Deload.

Deadlift: 145 @ 40%, 180 @ 50%, 215 @ 60%.

Hip Belt Squats: 145 for 3 sets of 8.

Reverse Hyperextensions: 35 for 3 sets of 8.

Music: Maniac, Draggin the Line, Pinball Wizard, Runaway, Think, Hard Work, Cantina Theme, You've Got Another Think Coming, The Chain, Rite of Spring, Relax, Ring of Fire, Urgent.

56 minutes average HR 127 BPM @ 85% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Challenges, challenges, challenges. Ken showed up tonight suffering with the lingering stages of a cold or the flu or something. Rather than get in close quarters with hands on teaching of chokes and strangles I taught the class with discussion and demonstration of clothing assisted chokes using an obi (the belt martial arts students and practitioners wear) on a support post in the room we were using. This included some more illustration of the anatomy of the neck and how to displace the muscles protecting the carotids and trachea.

I cautioned him about how I interpreted the Illinois law on Joe Citizen using chokes in self defense. The clearest defensible use is for preventing or deadly force being used against you. Because it appears that is how Illinois law sees chokes and strangles. Which is absurd, but then what else is new when politicians get involved in things they know nothing about. My advice was to use them as a last and critical resort and to release the hold when the attacker goes limp. Then move away quickly and either leave or observe and prepare for any necessary follow-up.

Kind of an odd way to teach martial arts, but since Ken showed up, even sick, I felt obligated to try to teach rather than just call it all off.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Cycle 1, Week 1, Sets of 5-5-5 @ 90% of 1RM. Deload.

Seated Press: 70 @ 40%, 105 @ 50%, 105 @ 60%.

Hammer Row: 125 @ 40%, 160 @ 50%, 190 @ 60%.

Pin Press: 135 for 3 sets of 8.

Music: Ride of the Valkyries, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Boy Named Sue, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Hot Legs, My Sharona, Who Let the Dogs Out.

36 minutes average HR 128 BPM @ % of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Cycle 1, Week 2, Sets of 5-5-5 @ 90% of 1RM.

Bench Press: 135 @ 65%, 155 @ 75%, 175 @ 85% for 7 reps.

Hammer High Row: 170 @ 65%, 195 @ 75%, 220 @ 85% for 10 reps.

Cable Curl: 145 for 3 sets of 8.

Music: Running With the Devil, Heavy Metal, Immigrant Song, Anvil Chorus, Under Pressure, Lady Marmalade, Land of Confusion, Conga, Taking Care of Business, 1-2-3-4 United States Marine Corps.

43 minutes average HR 125 BPM @ 84% of MHR.

I ordered some knee wraps so I could have the orthopedist compare relative support to the knee sleeves. If I go to using wraps I'd have to lift in another division and that means heavier weight totals to qualify for meets at the national and international levels. I'd just as soon not use anything, but I want to keep squatting if I can. I may learn from the orthopedist that squats are not in my best interest. I hope not, because I want to continue to compete in all three lifts. But, I'll just have to see.

One of the things I've noticed lately is a tendency to focus on my past. It's become a little unsettling because I'm not ready to live back there just yet. That's for old people with nothing to look forward to. Competing in lifting is a strong incentive to keep looking forward and train toward a goal. Even if I have to recognize those goals will have moderate as I get older still.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Juggling with Special Olympians tonight powerlifting. Kaydee and Lena are back after the wreck they were in, Lena with limitations on deadlifting until January 1 a leg injury still getting better and Kaydee with a recovering shoulder. Given that they hadn't trained since Summer Games it was a careful and gradual process of assessing what they could do safely and with setting them back. Since the bar weighs 45 pounds and I wasn't sure how good Kaydee's shoulder was, I started with having her do push offs from the wall. Then a 20 pound fixed barbell on the bench. She said she felt OK from those so I gave her a shot at a weighted Olympic bar. All good as she told me. Lena was brought up carefully as well in the bench.

I worked with Jacob and Jereth on powering up from the bottom position of the squat. Both hit depth and I want to make sure they can take advantage of a natural recoil reflex from the bottom position. There's a common tendency to pause too long at the bottom so I clapped to get them moving up again smartly.

Everyone worked diligently tonight and it left me happy with their efforts and wrung out from pouring my own energy into their work.