Did the following combos prior to being ‘interrupted’…

31 Oct 07, 2200 EST
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-KB Snatch from Floor + Overhead Squat + Snatch from Hang:  85# / R/L
w/
-KB Snatch:  53# / 15 per arm (3x)

-KB Clean from Floor + Front Squat and Jerk + Clean from Hang: 85# / R/L
w/
-LCCJ 53#s / 10 (2x)

*BANGING ON GARAGE WALL* [I unlock door...]
“Have you seen the electric blanket?” walking right across platform… “I could have sworn I saw it out here a couple weeks ago…”

[I then go inside...]

-FlowFit: 5 minutes of Flow 2
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Well, I’ve always said ‘family first’, so I guess I can’t be annoyed by the whole thing. 

It follows below…

29 Oct 07, 0600 EST
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KB Snatch Drop Sets:  85# / 5 + 53# / 5 + 40# / 5 per arm (2x)

LCCJ Drop Sets:  72#s / 5 + 53#s / 5 + 40#s / 5 (3x)

Superset:
-KB Front Squats:  40#WV and 72#s / 5
-Swings:  85# / 8
(3x)

Heavy Bag: 7 rounds, two minutes in length

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This time I did the drop sets for 15 total reps instead of 13. Not a *huge* increase, but if I could keep that up for the long term… Anyway, another workout I managed to get done in under 45 minutes.

-KB Snatch Drop Sets:  85# / 3  +  53# / 5  +  40# / 5  per arm (2x)

-LCCJ Drop Sets:  72#s / 3  +  53#s / 5  +  40#s / 5  (3x)

Superset:
-KB Front Squats:  40#WV and 72#s / 5
-One-Arm, One-Leg RDL:  40#WV + 40#KB / 8
(3x)

-Heavy Bag:  5 rounds, three minutes in length

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Done in under 40 minutes.  I may have to settle for briefer, more frequent workouts like this one as opposed to not lifting for longer stretches of 2-4 days because I do not have a big enough window of time. 

Duh, right?

15 Oct 07, 2200 EST
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KB Snatch:  53# / 10 and 40# / 15 per arm (2x)

LCCJ:  53#s / 15 and 40#s / 15 per arm (2x)

Superset:
-KB Front Squats:  40#WV and 53#s / 8
-One-Arm, One-Leg RDL:  40#WV + 40#KB / 8
(3x)

Heavy Bag:  5 rounds, three minutes length

Push/Pull Supersets with JC Predator Bands
(3x)

Farmer’s Walk: 70# KBs for trips up-and-back driveway
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The tank, at that point, was empty.  It had already been a L-O-N-G day… 

The title of the post comes from the other ‘programming issue’ which I am having right now, and that is determining through what lens to evaluate my training.  I.e., what yardstick to use?  I need to figure out where I am at in order to determine how I need to get where I want to go, and the older I get the harder that is.  Am I an experienced strength trainer?  Or a newbie GS guy?  An in-shape military member, or an out-of-shape amateur boxer?  While it all may seem like semantics, and may just be, it really comes down to what I will be training ‘for’ in the end, in terms of what I need to be evaluating my training for now. 

We shall see.  Time, as always, marches on.

KB Snatch:  40# / 25 reps per arm (2x)

KB LCCJ:  40#s / 25 reps (2x)

Superset:
-Swings:  40# Weighted Vest + 85# / 8
-Front Squats:  40# Weighted Vest + 40#s / 8
(3x)

Heavy Bag:  4 rounds, three minutes length

Chin/Dip Ladders: (superset fashion, my nerds)
-Dips:  body / 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4
-Chins:  body / 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4
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 Again, still have nothing but the 30#, 40#s, and 85# sitting in the garage… lazy.  About the same workout as Monday, BUT, I did the KB work for reps instead of time, and I did that because I felt it would help me work on my pacing.  I am not good at working at a specific RPM, and when ‘time’ is my set standard, I can’t get past this mentality of “I *have* to do as many as I can in this three minutes.”  So, I went for reps, which allowed me to slow down, take a breath or two at the top of each snatch, etc.  I also threw on my weighted vest for the accessory strength work, and did a FAST sequence of chin/dip ladders after the heavy bag work. 

As I told an old training partner recently, at this point I am trying to re-establish some consistency before re-establishing some impressive numbers.  AND, as Woody Allen once said, “70% of success in life is just showing up.”  As glib as that is, it is also, sadly, basically the truth.

‘Til next time…

8 Oct 07, 2200 EST
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• KB Snatch:  40# / 3 min per arm (2x)
• LCCJ:  40#s / 4:30 (2x)
• Superset:
  -Swings:  85# / 8
  -Front Squats:  40#s / 8
• Heavy Bag:  4 rounds, three minutes in length

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That was that, lads. I should have had other KBs out in the garage, but I did not.  Just a 30#, a pair of ‘small’ 40#s, and the mate to the ‘fillable’ 30#, but with over 50# of lead shot in it.  Obviously the work I did was not particularly impressive, anyway, so it is not as if the workout was a ‘waste’ without the 53#s.

I used my new heavy bag stand with the old PowAir water-filled heavy bag, and it was all good. If there is a silver lining to the cloud of my recent inactivity, it is that I did not even get a *twinge* out of my right hand. That would be the first time I can say that in about 7 months.  I think there was a complete lack of pain because of the time that it has had to heal, and the gloves that I wore, which I have not had the chance to use before now:  my new Grant 12 oz. amateur gloves.  The fit to them is second-to-none, and I just love them.  My hands do, too.  Interestingly, I looked for them this week on the Ringside website, and I don’t see them there anymore.  I guess I won’t be getting a ‘back-up’ pair anytime soon, and when these are worn out they are gone.

At any rate, thus starts the journey of a thousand steps.  Long-cycle-mastery-and-geriatric-boxing-slickster-ability, here I come…

• Pressing Tri-Set:
  • DB Bench Press – 70s x 5,
  • Incline Flyes – 35s x 10,
  • Decline DB Press – 30s x 20. [3x]
• Pulling Tri-Set:
  • Chins – body x 5,
  • Seated Rows – 115 x 12,
  • Hammer 45 degree Pulldown – “225″ x 20. [3x]
• Bag Work:
  • “Fought the Bag” – Four 2-minute Rounds on a free-standing heavy bag, focusing on footwork/movement/circling.
  • “Combinations” – Three 2-minute Rounds on a hanging Century bag.  The bag is horrible, and is on like a seven inch chain.  Enough said.
• Arm Tri-Set:
  • Barbell Curls – 95 x 8,
  • DB Curls – 40s x 12,
  • Inc Curls – 25s x 15. [2x]

Once again, it is what it is.  Used the pushing/pulling tri-sets just to warm up for the bag work, and then did the arm stuff so I do not look like such a skinny nerd when I am under 200#. 

Later…

• KB Snatch w/ 24kg - 12R, 12L, 12R, 12L, 12R, 12L (done non-stop)
• LCCJ w/ 24kg KBs – 15, 15, 15

Fin.  Three sets of 15 with the 24s was harder than I would have liked, but then I would also like 3 million dollars in my savings account, so…

Also, while looking through piles of old magazines, I read an article about how pause squats are where it’s at.  Then I read an old Ed Coan article.  It reminded me of my PL days of squatting heavy on Monday, then doing two back-off sets of 5 reps in the pause squat, a la Ed.  So, instead of doing front squats as a warm-up this morning, I did sets of 5 reps in the back squat with a 5 second pause in the hole.  It was pretty rough, but interestingly I made it through my LEG DEATH circuit with greater ease than I did after the fronts last week.  Huh.  Maybe I am already showing some adaptation from getting back into things, or maybe I was just less tired.

Anyway…

• Full Back Squats, with 5 second pause in the hole – 185 x 5, 225 x 5 (3 sets)
• LEG DEATH
  • B-Squats – 155 x 5 (R/L),
  • Jump Squats – body x 8,
  • Heavy SuperBand Front Squats - 10 reps,
  • Walking Lunges – 30s x AMRAP. [3x through]
• Posterior Chain Circuit
  • Reverse Hyper and Leg Curl – 140 x 8 / 5,
  • Glute Ham Raise – body x 10,
  • Lying Leg Curl – “115″ x 15. [3x through]
• Calves
  • One-Legged Calf Raise on Hack Machine – body + sled x 8 (R/L),
  • 45 Degree Leg Press Calf Press – “445″ x 12,
  • Seated Calf Raise – 135 x 15. [3x through]
• Core Circuit
  • Legendary Abs “A”,
  • Legendary Abs “1″,
  • Ab 45s,
  • Oblique 45s,
  • Side Planks, (R/L)
  • Supine One-Legged Planks. (R/L) [3x Through]

There it is.  Nothing fancy, but the lower-body workout I did last week made me quite sore, so I decided what the heck…  GS work to be done tonight, then some upper body stuff tomorrow morning.  I’ll put together what I can this weekend, and then next week I’m on the road to Ohio.  I am sure I will be proud to the newest resident of the ‘Birthplace of Aviation’…

I have always been a HUGE fan of both isometrics and negatives, and they provided me with better gains in powerlifting than anything else when I would incorporate them into a training cycle.  I could not use them that frequently, however, as heavily-weighted isometrics and negatives were always pretty draining. 

However, I feel that the following isometric routine can be done every day, if one so desired.  Everything is done with manual resistance unless otherwise noted; all I use, “apparatus-wise,” is a towel and an “iso-ciser” I made by putting a strap with a cam buckle through a length of PVC.  About $8 worth of materials, and voila.  Every movement is done at 3 positions in the ROM, twice through.  Using generic terms: near full extension, at the mid-point or ‘CJC’ and near full flexion.  If I am pressed for time, I only do the movement with the muscle fully elongated and then the CJC twice, because science tells us that isometrics done with a stretched muscle has better carryover to the rest of the ROM than with a shortened one.  I also do two types of workouts with respect to contraction ‘type’… sometimes I generate as much tension as I can as quickly as possible and only hold it for a second or two (explosive isometrics) and sometimes I gradually build tension until I feel I am truly at a 100% voluntary contraction and then hold that for 5-8 seconds.

Here goes:

• Warm-Up ( a little yoga stuff or joint mobility… at least some back bends, squats and body rows)
• 4-way Neck
• Shrug
• Press/Pull (one arm is doing a military press while the other is doing a ‘one-arm chin’ to hold it down)
• Lateral Raises (with towel)
• Rear Delt (with towel)
• Bis/Tris (a curl with one hand and a pushdown with the other)
• Lats/Quads (sit in a chair and grab one shin with both hands; hold the leg in as you try to extend it)
• Rows (Iso-Ciser)
• Front Squats (Iso-Ciser)
• Wall Pistols
• RDLs (Iso-Ciser)
• Wall Leg Curls

There you have it.  I can really burn through this workout, especially if I am only doing the lengthened and CJC work.  It is 10 minutes well-spent, believe me.