Deadlift PR 560 & recovery week

Today I hit a new mark, evidence of the last 7 weeks of training. 560 conventional PR, a first!

Earlier in the week I took time off to rest up. Sine the beginning of the semester I had yet to have a day off without any responsibility, carrying on average 12 hour days wore me out. I needed to recover so I spent this past week doing some yoga and tai chi. It paid off with a PR today! As per usual, when school starts I have to refocus and ground myself. I certainly am training, for everyday life with a good blend of strength, power, speed, flexibility, mobility, and restoration. My diet has been good minus a couple mishaps with a smile.

Back at it Monday, a blend of everything in the short time I have but glad to be relatively healthy, say 95%

Saturday

Life is a constant evaluation. With my main goal of studying and practicing the art of movement I have to keep a keen eye and open mind on what is the best practice for my body (internally and externally) with my current life obligation
Heavy and intense lifting is a natural stressor to the CNS, even with good nutrition and good sleep. And at this time sleep is challenging with my commitments to work and school. Therefore I have for sometime been emphasizing bodyweight.
With my shoulder better I am back to doing pullups, etc

Military press barbell
155/2x5 L external rotator still relatively weak.

Pullup (chest to bar)
6 reps x 5

Handstand 5x5

LSit parallettes 10 second hold to handstand. 3 sets

Crow mountain climber to planche 2 sets

1000 m row

A PR and more

Another day of training and practice. We broke the rack bolts on Wednesday shad to adjust workout, no bands so just straight weight

Wide stance Sumo DL
365,405,455,485 PR
extra wide today almost toes touching plates. Focused on pushing the feet apart and felt deeply connected to bar. Enough so I hit a PR. No belt, just raw.

Followed up with high bar hip width Squat.
Worked up to 365 single.

With school and just a bit deficient due to taxiation of schedule I control my volume. Still getting stronger though

Kneeling jump squats 3x3
Crow mountain climber to planche 3 sets of 5 reps
/side and on last rep holding in planche 5 second :) sooooo darn close
Handstand kick up: figured out arm/shoulder position. Started with shoulder over wrist and this made a world a difference.

Finished off with 30 minute yoga more gentle hatha

Yoga, The Sweet Practice

Ah, the practice of yoga. In no other practice do I experience what I do in my yoga practice. There is something about the yoga room that grounds me to the present and my body. I feel that its a place where I have no distractions, a committed time set aside and common ground. I get to turn off my mind and focus on my breath and body putting myself into each moment, each asana, each breath. It is a form of meditation that brings me home to my heart and soul.

I know this sounds a bit new ageish, maybe a bit abnormal but not all experiences can words surmise. We all have unique experiences in life and many shared or common aspects but the experience as a whole is unique. Often we can relate and comprehend which helps but there is nothing like practice and the experience.

It is wonderful to find a practice in life that rewards on many levels, this I encourage all to do for ones health and well-being.

Namaste

Tai Chi, Yoga & max effort Bench

Tuesday
Tai Chi practice & Yoga self guided

Simple day of mobility and specific flexibility work! Good for the body and soul. Nice to breathe and relax the body.

A vital aspect of my practice

Today (Wednesday)
Max effort bench Press single board
245,265,275,285,295,305 fail

All singles. Great range of motion practice with a pause. Tough weight and still weak in the rotator

Accessory work
Pullups
Bw/5x2
12kg/5x2
16kg/3x2

All off the foot no belt

Banded military press
12kg with band/3x3
16kg with band/3x3

Gymnastics
Straight leg raise 5x3
L Sit to handstand practice 8 reps total
Handstand kick up 10 reps

45 minutes start to finish with a mobility warm up

Max Effort Day, lower body

I love being strong and lifting Big weights is a great feedback loop. I do not have the time necessary to devote to
Competition style training and nor do I desire this. In fact, I prefer to help see others achieve their goals and be a coach. Still, I do follow a plan to make sure I am properly loading with overdoing and leading to increase risks.

Max effort Zercher squat
205,225,245,275,295,315 all singles

Only the third time I have ever done this and first since July 2010 so feel pretty darn happy with this number. It was enough considering I have not been using this in any program. Low volume high intensity.

Box jump
41 inch, 5 singles static start position out of hole

Sled pull
Shoulder, between legs, ankles. 3 different positions, 60 yards total for each.

All the time available this day but pleased.

Strict press/PU and gymnastics

Feels good to be doing overhead press and pullups again. Still feel the weakness in my rotator from being a dumb ass and trying a muscle up while fatigued but I am getting stronger and wiser ;)

Military press
Worked up to 185 for a single. Felt weak but able to
Push through safely and efficiently.

Superset with ring pullups
5x5 strict dead hang

Front lever 3 rounds
Handstand kick up 3 rounds of 6 reps
Stuck my best handstand so far.

Lsit hold skin the cat to handstand hold to planche. 2 rounds and I was done.

1000 m row

The sweet practice

Ah yes, and I stepped into the yoga classroom today and how sweet it was! 90 blissful, peaceful moments with my breathe and body. A graceful and challenging flow I felt at ease and grounded. Inspirational, prespirational, and simpler yoga. Great to practice with my sister as well, she was in her element,

Dynamic Effort squat/DL and yoga

This was a good one. Bands are no joke and the concept of accommodating leverage (resistance) is something when utilized appropriately and within a given program is a game changer.

Dynamic effort Squat
Bands Mini and next size up:
135 bar weight with bands 8 singles
185 bar weight with bands 1 (too slow for a dynamic so went down)

This was a great learning experience. We certainly had more band weight than I intended but we adjusted bar weight and took the percentages of weight to bar and reversed today. Greg set it up and did a beyond excellent job. I felt strong, fast, tight and explosive. Pushing the knees out made the move 100% better. WOW! This was awesome

Lightened Method DL
Big bands hanging fRom top rack.
Bar weight: singles from 495, 545, 595, 635

This are incredible. Bands help off the floor but below knees you feel all the weight.

Hanging Straight leg raise (aka toes to bar)
8,6,4

Handstand kick up practice

Crow mountain climbers 3 sets of 3 reps

Split Day
Yoga deep hatha style

Yoga and gymnastics practice

I love the human body. It's beauty from the inside to the outside is remarkable. The ability to explore the body is one of life's great gifts for a personality like mine. When I made the commitment to learning the art and science of yoga my approach to life and physical practice changed forever. I feel like I am embarking on another level, another change once again with the implementation of gymnastics. I get giddy like a kid when I have the time to practice and I find myself carving out a little time daily with the intensity of my school, work and life schedule t practice.

I am on week 7 and the progress is showing. First, I am learning how to train, how to practice the moves, how to integrate and see how one move helps another and vice versa. The bigger picture is much clearer.

Today I combined the 2 into my own flow and practice and WOW!

Crow mountain climbers 3/side x 3 sets
Pistol 3/side x 3

Crow to handstand 3-5 reps x 3 sets (not a full handstand yet but a progression)
Candlestick 3 sets of 5 (aka deck squat)

Handstand kick up 3 sets of 5
L-sit off yoga blocks (toughest yet due to lack of ground clearance, makes me get feet up) 10 secs x 3

Various yoga poses mixed in, down dog, cobra, up dog, pigeon, single leg forward fold, forward fold standing & sitting,
Wide leg forward fold, kneeling lunge with quad stretch, runners lunge

Max effort, bench/upper body & yin yoga

Started the day doing so e yin yoga and teaching yin yoga. Nice to spend time in deep stretches, nothing forced working on Opening through connective tissue, joints and bones. A practice of patience and a reward of deep relaxation.

Max Effort Bench
Let me say I am not a bench pressed and it is far from my favorite. But with Greg lifting I have been actively engaged and sharing the wisdom I have learned with him and teaching various aspects of the bench thin ally, philosophically and training wise.

3 board bench press
235/2x1
255/2x1
275/1x1
295/1x1
315/1x1


KB military press (single bell)
32/3 x 5

This was great, first time in 2 months due to a weakened rotator from a stupid thing. So felt great! Love these

Supersetted with pullups
16kg/3 x 5

Same rotator has held me back....not making same mistake again ;)

Ring L-Sit 20 sec x 3

Handstand freestyle practice

Parallettes L-sit to headstand (head off floor) to planche
5 reps total

Done!

Tai Chi

Todays practice, Tai Chi. A great one hour practice. A majority of the time is joint mobility practice. From there we practice the forms, adding and building on the prior weeks. At the end we practice sticky hand drills, etc. the style is wuDang Zhao Bao and the teacher is the 12th generation successor.

Since this class is taught through school there are some limitations to progression, however, the movement practice is beautiful and calming. Really helps teach relaxed movement and fluidity.

Max effort monday

Max effort day:
Front squat:
235, 255, 275, 295, 315 fail
All singles with pause in the hole.
315 fail due to position, got out of hole fine just near top lost position and was not worth saving

Box jump static
3 sets of 3 @ 39.5

Handstand face the wall. 30 sec x 4
L-Sit parallettes 15sec x 4

Both advanced positions (progression)

1000 m row

Good solid workout and Greg set another PR, 370 front squat!, start of week 3

This was an ideal training day.

First part of day filled with yoga and sun salutations. Great way to wake up and move the body. 30 good minutes and a savasana to top it off

Second part of the day had the pleasure of training with Greg Larsen, my fiancé and Greg's wife. Plus we had Chris Eagen, Kevin McMahon (former olympian), devin Lopez, DJ Downs and a couple others so made up a strong training room

Today was dynamic effort squat day! Love squatting and dead lifting so this was a fun one.

Box squat 12 inch box with bands used for accommodating leverage
205 + bands for 8 sets of 2

This was tough. Getting appropriate band tension is not easy. We are learning to use the rack but the tension felt good and movement strong. I like these, teach you to drive throughout full range of motion.

Deadlift bar starting 2 inches of floor with double mini bands.
295 plus bands for 7 singles.

This really keeps me in my groove and forces me to pull through fast and strong bottom to top.

Kneeling jump into rock bottom squat
5 sets of 3

Fun, fast and ninja like :)

Sled pulls
6 plates, 200 feet x 3
9 plates x 1

Gymnastic
Toes to bar static 5x2
L sit rings: 20 sec x 2
Handstand 5 x 2
Candlestick (deck squat) 5x2

L to handstand practice on parallettes 3 sets of 3

Food! And school