The Training Week That Was - 11/18 - 11/24

Low back traction has been an absolute godsend for my jammed up back. I'm fully symptom-free right now, only about ten days after I thought I'd have to stop training and get into rehab full-time. I'm going to start backing off and doing these every other workout and see how the back responds. One thing to remember is that the body adapts to EVERYTHING, including recovery means. Recovery means need to be cycled just like you cycle through training exercises/reps/sets/etc. If I tweak it again and I'm already doing traction four days a week then that's a tool that I've basically taken out of my toolbox.

I'm actually ditching the McCauley drills for a little while as they seem to be putting a bit of a loop into my pull. This isn't a question of the quality of the drills; it's a question of my ability to correctly execute them. So I'll go back to Glenn Pendlay's drills (snatch pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3; clean pt 1, pt 2 and pt 3). I'm also thinking about doing an unsanctioned Oly meet here in Denver in three weeks, which would be seven weeks out from Iceland. I think it'd feel good to get in front of people and feel that adrenaline pumping again instead of lifting in my little corner of the gym. It's on a Saturday, so I could train straight through it without disrupting my schedule. Something to contemplate.

11/18
Drills
B Squat 60x3x2 90x3 130x5 145x3 155x5 135x5 140x5 (heavy, but nice and sharp)
Front PP 50x3x2 70x5 80x3 90x3 95x5 97x5 85x5x2
(didn't check my notes, thought 95 was a PR; should've been 97 and then 100)
Chinese DB Row 90x8 110x8x3
Dips and Chins - 30 reps of each w/ Back Ext mixed in between sets
Hypers and Traction

11/20
2+1 Snatch 40x1x3 60x1x2 70x1x2 80x1 90x1 97x0x2 92x1 97x0x3 102x0x1 (82x1 87x1 92x1 95x1 100x0)
2+1 CJ 60x1x3 80x1x2 95x1 105x1 110x0 (these felt awful so I called it)
Clean Pull - 110x3 130x3x3 140x3
Back Squat 3x5 130kg (not easy but sharp. Bar rolling around on my back a bit says I've been slacking on upper back work)

11/22 (Happy Thanksgiving!!)
Box Snatch - 40x1x4 60x1x3 70x1x2 80x1 87x1 95x1 100x0x2 / 85x2 90x2 90x2
Box CJ - 60x2x2 80x1x2 95x1x2 105x1 112x1 117x1 122x1 / 100-105-110 2+1
Front Squat - 60x3x2 80x3 100x2 110x2 120x3 125x3 130x3
Cal Back and GH Raise - Four sets each
Hypers and Traction

11/24 (Trained at my friends' place Crossfit MHF; all weights in lbs)
Snatch up to 215x1 and four singles at 205
CJ up to 275x1, Clarked 285 real bad (misses here at 265 and 275 as well). Nice reminder that I need to train pulls a little more often, will start sneaking them in after main movements. Standing up with weights is noticeably faster, so the squatting is definitely helping.) It's becoming pretty clear that my squat (or lack thereof) is a big limiting factor in my lifts and it's very possible that I've been punching above my weight in terms of competitive lifts given my shitty squats.

Next week I'll start adding back Wednesday upper body training. I might jerk, Sotts press, overhead squat or muscle snatch as a first movement but I want to keep the pulling from the floor and bar on my back to a minimum and keep this as an upper body focused day. Nothing maximal here (even jerks), this is a day for supportive exercises, prehab and muscle/connective tissue building rather than quick lifts. My upper back is caving a bit on my back squats, which is probably because I've been neglecting upper back work the past few weeks.

I think I'm going to change up my squats for December, taking Sunday's back squat down to triples and Thursday's front squat down to doubles and start pushing a bit more in the front squat. I might take the push press down to triples as well, but probably not for a couple weeks. One way I get some extra volume in those sets of five squats and push press is to do back off sets on days in which I don't make a PR. Nothing super scientific; I take 10-15% off the bar and knock out 1-3 more sets of five. When I make a PR for a set of five, I'm usually SMOKED so potential returns from the back offs aren't worth it.

Couple nice videos here from Dave Tate to reinforce a couple of my above points; one on Recovery and one on Human Potential.