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

[Mark E. Hurling]

Rounds of conditioning today consisted of speed bag, crunches, elliptical, plate halos, SciFit, medicine ball tosses, rowing, followed by stretches for the knees and hitting squat depth.

30 minutes average HR 138 BPM @ 93% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Teaching chokes and strangles tonight took a different course. Rather than go through the run of full techniques I decided to concentrate on getting the final form of the wrists, fingers, and forearms around the neck first and then the opening counter to the initial attack. It seemed to work reasonably well. Ken had me woozy several times and losing my peripheral vision as the strangles took hold. We began by using a belt to better be able to see and show the hand and wrist positions and movements on the BoB torso* that is otherwise used for striking practice. Then from there to using the lapels of the gi and my neck.

There were cross hand chokes, sliding lapel chokes, a bear claw choke and a standing choke with the attacker's arm inside the choke. Still a little dizzy.

*Century BOB Body Opponent Bag | Academy

[Mark E. Hurling]

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

Warmup with rowing and stretches.

Bench Press: 135 @ 65%, 165 @ 75%, 190-4 (a coughing fit completely discombobulated me) @ 85% for 3 reps.

High Pulls: 115 @ 65%, 130 @ 75%, 150 @ 85% for 3 reps.

Music: O Fortuna, La Vida Loca, King of Pain, Mustang Sally, Cold As Ice, Phantom of the Opera, Some Like It Hot, You Better Be Good to Me, Caught in the Crossfire, Give Me Three Steps.

50 minutes average HR 128 BPM @ 87% of MHR.

I have an appointment with the orthopedist at the end of the month. So far, the knee and back feel fine. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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

Seated Press: 110 @ 65%, 130 @ 75%145, @ 85% for 2 reps.

Hammer Row: 200 @65%, 230 @ 75%, 260 @ 85% for 7 reps.

Pin Press: 145-5, 150-5, 155-5.

Music: Highway to Hell, Thunderer March, Her Strut, Danger Zone, Rhapsody in Blue, Life in the Fast Lane, Weird Science, 18 Hammers, Round and Round, Who Do You Love, Crazy on You, Pain.

50 minutes average HR 117 BPM @ 79% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Cycle 1, Week 3, Sets of 3-3-3 @ 90% of 1RM.

Bench Press: 145 @ 65%, 165 @ 75%, 185-4.

Hammer High Row: 185 @ 65%, 210 @ 75%, 235 @ 85% for 3 reps.

Cable Curl: Sets of 8, 145-150-155.

Music: Up Around the Bend, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Kashmir, Working in a Coal Mine, Hawaii 5-0, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Jailbreak, Proud Mary, All She Wants to Do Is Dance, Day-O, Who Do You Love.

47 minutes average HR 123 BPM @ 83% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Working with Special Olympians tonight at Legacy gym in Marion. It required a little ongoing attention to the various injuries, old and emerging, from the lifters tonight. All of them are multi-sport athletes and I consider one of my responsibilities allowing them to do justice to the other sports they compete in. So it was go easy on someone's dinged up knee and suddenly seized up middle back and calibrating the weight up carefully for others after a layoff and their own injuries from an auto wreck. The last thing I want is someone getting a hernia because I pushed them past their capacities. The seized up back had me working over some vertebrae and muscles to loosen up the spasm. Who knew that 120 hour massage certification course I took back in the People's Republic of Santa Monica would have been this useful?

No lifting next week to let everyone enjoy the after-Christmas glow.

[Mark E. Hurling]

This morning's conditioning was speed bag, plate halos, SciFit, handball, heavy bag, rowing with hip and knee stretches.

34 minutes average HR 135 BPM @ 91% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Cycle 1, Week 3, Sets of 3-3-3 @ 90% of 1RM.

Deadlift: 245 @ 65%, 275 @ 75%, 315-0.

Hip Belt Squat: Sets of 8, 135-155-175.

Music: Bad to the Bone, Pines of Rome, Gloria, Tusk, Amazing Grace, The Four Seasons, Respect, Lunatic Fringe, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Roll Over Beethoven, Ballroom Blitz, Head Games, Unchain My Heart.

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

A thoroughly less than stellar session of lifting. My back has been tender this week and I hoped I could power through it for the deadlift. Alas, it was not to be. I got the bar just at my knees and felt my lumbars spasm a little. So I decided that even the first rep was not worth the short term and possibly longer term pain. Let alone trying to gut out 2-3 more reps. Gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em. I limped around with a catch in my inner left hip for a few hours, but it cleared up in the afternoon.

Then too, I was under something of a cloud from the latest loss of one of the guys I worked with on the police department, Mike Maurizio. He was one of my sergeants and when we moved back here, by chance, I got invited into the scotch and cigar club he was part of in our neighborhood. DB and I went to his memorial service and it was packed and crowded with people he knew. Mike knew a LOT of people. Another guy I worked with passed last week too, Mel Krekel. This makes four guys gone since we returned, Bill Rypkema and Paul Staffey in the last three years. Bill and Paul were also sergeants I worked for and great guys, just like Mike. Feeling really old.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Good to be back after a somewhat enforced layoff over the holidays. My knee and back were all messed up. It took three treatments last week and one more this week before my back got returned to what feels like good working order. Lifting was out of the question, I couldn't even lean back to lay down on the bench without a lot of pain.

During that time, I got my consult with the orthopedist. It went well enough. Some more imaging showed some moderately advanced arthritis in my knees and he didn't think surgery was going to be in order. What he did do was to prescribe some Meloxicam, an anti-inflammatory that has worked really well for me in the past. I asked him about knee sleeves versus knee wraps and his take on it was that whatever felt better would be the way to continue. So I'll give the wraps a try to see how things go.

Today was test singles, with mixed results.

Bench Press: 45-5, 95-5, 135-3, 195-1, 220-0. I knew 220 would be a reach, especially after that layoff. After the pause on my chest, the bar stalled halfway, at the infamous and typical sticking point. The kid spotting me said I would have had it, but I quit too soon. Ah, the wisdom of youth! But there was no way that bar was moving another inch. Not unless I did a big arch and let my butt come up off the bench. Nope. Not gonna do that. Next time.

Hammer High Row: 180-5, 230-3, 280-1, 300-1. This, at least, was a 10 pound increase from my last attempt.

Cable Curl: Sets of 8, 155-155-155.

Music: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Stars and Stripes Forever, Folsom Prison Blues, Shaft, Dragonstone, Living In America, My Granddaddy Was a Horse Marine, Crazy On You, Day-O, Double Vision.

37 minutes average HR 121 BPM @ 81% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Last night was also a return to coaching the Special Olympians. A new lifter, Sheridan, had expressed some interest and she showed up and did herself proud. Lifting was new to her and it afforded me the opportunity to start teaching and coaching from the ground up. Like the other lifters, she is a multi-sport athlete and when I told her that getting stronger would help her get better at her other sports she grinned happily. I cautioned her and her mom, who came to observe the session, that she might be a little sore in the legs, shoulders, and arms after some new and moderately taxing activity like lifting. Mostly, I worked on her form and loaded her pretty light so she didn't have to strain to make any reps.

It was a rewarding session for all.