The Training Week That Was - 9/30-10/6

An entire week free of back pain is a win in my book. I did get a little tweak on Sunday from the push-pressing, but I've been pain free the rest of the week. You'll notice I haven't been doing jerks at all; the overhead work seems to have been what was causing the spasms. I'll give it another week to let things heal up a bit more and then add jerks back in when I change exercises after this upcoming week. My contingency plan is to rotate split jerks if they continue causing issues.

9/30

B Squat up to 140x5

Back Push Press up to 90x5 95x4 (back locked up)

Iso DB OH Press 3x8

Hip Thrust vs Bands

Pulldowns/Iso Neutral-Grip Pulldown/YWLT 

Core x100 

10/2 - Complex(ish) Day

(Snatch + Abv Knee Snatch): 82x1, 87x0, 85x0.5 (made snatch, missed abv knee)

-Down Sets (Snatch+Abv Knee Snatch+Abv Knee Snatch) 70x3

(Clean Pull + Abv Knee Clean): to 115x1 

-Down Sets (Cl Pull+Abv Knee Pull+Clean) 90x3

Clean Pull 3x2

B Squat 120x5x3 

Hypers 4x12/Planksx60/Rev Hyper 1x20

10/3 - Upper Body Assistance Work (no squats, no quick lifts)

Chest Supported Row 4x10

Iso DB Bench + DB Chest Sup Row 3x10+10

Fatty Pullups 5x8

Pulldowns 4x8

Sled Drag Row - 2 trips

Pull Apart/4 Way Neck/Axle Curl x50 of each

10/4 

Low Block* Snatch 70x2x1 80x1x2 85x1 90x1 92x0x2 92x1 95x1 97x1; Down Sets 80x2x3

Low Block* Clean  80x2x2 90x1x2 100x1 110x1 115x1 120x0x3; Down Sets 90x2 95x2x2

F Squat 110x3 115x3x2

Hypers 4x12

Rev Hyper 1x20

10/6

Snatch 80x1x2 87x1 92x0 92x1 97x0 97x1 99x0; Down Sets 80x2x2

Clean 80x2x2 95x1x2 107x1 115x1 120x1 125x0; Down Sets 100x2x2

Rev Hyper 1x20

(My low block here is a 10kg plate and a 25kg plate; bar started just below my patellar tuberosity. I think one more cycle with bar just a bit lower, then I'll move the box/hang work higher.) 

Gratitudes of the Day

1. Immensly grateful for this steaming hot cup of Novo Coffee that I'm currently slurping down as I type this. My sleep patterns got all screwed up over the weekend so I've been waking up between 3-4am the past few days instead of my usual 4:50. Easy to do on off days from the gym, but coming off of workout days makes that a bit more of a challenge. On the plus side, it allowed me to get these written down before I hit the office, so I'm grateful for that!

2. I'm grateful for a couple emails yesterday with Steve Pulcinella. Steve's one of the US's best ever Highland Games athletes and strongman competitors and I reached out to him looking for some training info for the upcoming Highland games season, as well as Olympic lifting. I've always prided myself on programming my own training, but I'm really getting hooked by the idea of being able to get programs written specifically for me by great coaches and then being able to rotate through them.

If you're frustrated by lack of progress in the gym, I encourage you to hire an online coach and have something written for you. Almost everyone out there who writes articles on any of the popular training websites (T-Nation, EliteFTS, etc) does online coaching (nutrition, training or both), and the pricing is very reasonable.

3. I'm very grateful to Shelby Starnes for introducing me to the books Sit Down and Shut Up and Hardcore Zen, both written by Brad Warner. I've always gravitated towards Buddhism but I've found it difficult to really digest many of the writings of Buddhism outside of the Dalai Lama. Brad's writing and breaking down of some of the Zen Buddhism concepts has made for excellent reading and I'm gravitating towards a lot of these ideas and teachings.