Alpha's Work IV

Training Training Logs
401

Roran: Thanks man, I am really glad you are getting something out of this log! And sure thing. We run classes Friday night at 5 and then Saturday at 9 AM. When are you going to be in town?

LowRez: Thanks man! That may have been the first time I have ever tried doing a straight bar overhead with Oly shoes on. I really didn?t feel much of a difference to be honest. I have also tried them while Log overhead pressing. I think they actually hurt my log press. You are already so far forward from the logā€™s shape that the raised heel just compounds the issue. (for me at least)

Pano: That is a hard question. I would say i have some Christian beliefs but I donā€™t agree with a lot of the Christian church. I donā€™t think any one religion has it figured out and I honestly think that believing that we could possibly understand or comprehend what God truly is, is a pretty conceded way of thinking. We as humans cannot even understand how our own bodies and minds function, much less an all powerful beingā€¦But really man, what I believe is too long of a topic to discuss here and I could not do it justice with my pitiful words.

As far as the programming goes: I think it looks pretty good man! I am not sure what improvements you are looking for. I will happily give you advice but donā€™t think i understand what you are asking. If I were writing the program, I would have added more variety of exercises and would change the rep scheme if you are going to be performing the same workouts multiple times a week. For instance, if you are doing 5x3 Deadlifts every wed/sat just ramping up to a top set, I think you will run into trouble. I would either change the rep scheme or the intent of the lift. So your first day would be 5x3@ 85% or something, then the other day would be more dynamic work like 5x3@ 60% for speedā€¦ If you are just going to do straight linear progression, then you will plateau fairly quickly. I think you could do linear progression with a set-up like this, but you might have to vary the exercises more. Like back squats earlier in the week and front squats later in the week rather than doing the same exercise at the same weights multiple times a week. I hope that makes senseā€¦

Have you tried this out yet or is it just theoretical?

402

Your continued volume and effort each session is so impressive.
Still here lurking (like many others).
Thanks for your continued logging, I enjoy reading each of your posts.

403

Your responses never disappoint!
My question about religion rose as I checked your website. Your vision on religion is one I can really appreciate. Very reasonable. I live and die by some values that I share with Christianity, yet am agnostic. Neutral untill one side convinces me enough.

Man, your anwser is great! A tad more variation in rep schemes and excercises. Note taken.
I will edit it. And itā€™s pure theorethical till now. I lack room to sprint and are working on the farmer handles.

What do you think about the explosve start everyday? Maybe I should add some conditioning element between that and the strength part?
I will rewrite it, and please feel free to speak your mind:)

404

[quote]Panopticum wrote:
Your responses never disappoint!
My question about religion rose as I checked your website. Your vision on religion is one I can really appreciate. Very reasonable. I live and die by some values that I share with Christianity, yet am agnostic. Neutral untill one side convinces me enough.

Man, your anwser is great! A tad more variation in rep schemes and excercises. Note taken.
I will edit it. And itā€™s pure theorethical till now. I lack room to sprint and are working on the farmer handles.

What do you think about the explosve start everyday? Maybe I should add some conditioning element between that and the strength part?
I will rewrite it, and please feel free to speak your mind:)[/quote]

Theory wonā€™t take you very far until you start practicing.
There is no perfect program, so I would suggest just starting with a basic template, and as you progress, youā€™ll notice ā€œhey, I feel like Iā€™m missing _____ā€ it could be due to lack of speed, mobility, explosiveness, weak link somewhere, strength, something else. Point is to just get going, and edit the program as you go. You may notice that ā€œhey my hips feel tightā€ so you do more mobility work and it goes away and you stop doing the mobility work. Few weeks go by, then they get tight again, and then you should think ā€œmaybe i should just keep that as part of my programā€. Youā€™ll probably be able to get away with doing less overall, because youā€™ll be doing it more frequently. But then some things, like Alpha does (or did) with his 8x3, 5x5, 4x8 rep cycles, he rotates them without consequence. As you move forward youā€™ll notice things that need to become staples, like the example of hip mobility drills, and some things that can just be rotated. So just start simple, and adapt as you progress and learn more about how your body responds.

405

That sounds pretty good Matty.
I guess I got hung up with all the theorethical programming that I stopped thinking about developing a program from basics up.

I should mention that this isnt a layout I designed myself. Itā€™s from a article of Max Shank. This one: Total Athleticism: The Workout

I just fiddled a little with it because doing both lower body push and pull on 1 day seemed a bit overkill if you hit the squats and deads hard.

406

Well, maybe a bit more explanation should be given from me.
Iā€™m a martial artist. Training far too less lately because of school and availabillity of the dojo. Hope to start MMA or Kickboxing as fast as I can. That wuld mean I could train up to 5 times a week, which seems awesome.

I want to build up great athleticism as the fertily ground of my MA skill Iā€™m developing. Mobilty in the hips is something that could improve quite a bit, hip flexors in special. I guess this is a huge factor in my ATP (Donald-Duck-butt symptom).

I thought training a few capacityā€™s couldnā€™t hurt to start with. After your post I think I keep it pretty simple, not unlike what I got now, but with some rotation in rep scheme.

Probably 1 heavy, 1 speed, 1 rep day.

Thanks again!

407

Echoing what Roran said there has been a lot to take from this log last few weeks with both the questions and answers. 2nd day of brutal preconditioning, but the feeling of accomplishment for doing the work afterwards is worth it.

I know you have had a fair few injuries. I was just wondering if you had any tips for building that strength back up without aggravating old injuries?

I have had the go ahead to start doing upper body work again now from the physio. My squat and deadlift have been maintained pretty well, but my pressing has gone well down and I want to build that up asap.

408

[quote]Panopticum wrote:
That sounds pretty good Matty.
I guess I got hung up with all the theorethical programming that I stopped thinking about developing a program from basics up.

I should mention that this isnt a layout I designed myself. Itā€™s from a article of Max Shank. This one: Total Athleticism: The Workout

I just fiddled a little with it because doing both lower body push and pull on 1 day seemed a bit overkill if you hit the squats and deads hard.[/quote]

Yeah, I like what Max puts together, good insight, reminds me of a programmed crossfit kind of.
One other feedback indicator that Iā€™ve thought about was strength ratios, such as found here

and

Could be another way to monitor progress in a linear and balanced fashion.

409

Raven78: Thanks so much for saying that, brother. It means a lot. And you have been putting in plenty of work in your log as well! Keep it up!

Pano: I think the explosive training at the beginning is a good thing. I am not sure if I would do it every session, but maybe vacillate between that and some sort of conditioning every other workout. Then again, if doing that much explosive stuff works for you, then I would stick with it. I have just never tried that myself, so I donā€™t really have a frame of reference to go from.

Matty: I would agree with you. I think far too often, people end up waiting until they have the perfect program, diet, or circumstances before they jump in. I am not saying that this is what Pano is doing, I am just speaking in general. In my experience, if you just go in and work as hard as you can on the basics, a program will begin to develop all by itself. There are people much smarter than I who have written thousands of basic programs that just about everyone could make gains on. The problem is that people either search for the next best thing constantly, they jump from program to program in a matter of a few weeks or they donā€™t follow what the author originally intended. Then they get on forums and complain how ā€œsuch and suchā€ program didnā€™t work for them.

Like I have said many times before, EVERYTHING works. I think it is more about the intensity, intent and focus that you put in each day that makes the difference. That and just being consistent. You brought up a lot of good points in your post, thanks for doing that.

IronWarrior: Nothing beats the euphoric feeling you get after getting it all done. I am really glad to see that you are putting the work in man!

As far as coming back from injuries: That is a tricky question that each person is going to have to deal with in their own specific circumstances. But what has worked for me in the past is finding that very precarious balance between doing too much and too little.

As you know, i am not a big fan of taking time off and I have never really seen downtime do much to heal someoneā€™s injury. Blood healsā€¦and the only way to get blood to the area is to move it. I think something important to mention is the injury in the first place. Unless it was a big catastrophic event where a freak thing happened, the problem lies somewhere in your form or every day posture. It can be something very simple, but if you donā€™t fix it, you are destined to be in the same exact place with the same exact injury in the future.

For this reason, I think it is best to start all the way back over at step one. If I hurt my back deadlifting, I will go all the way back to 95lbs, watch a plethora of deadlift technique videos, voraciously read everything I can on the subject and start again with perfect form. I will slowly work my way back up while the injury completely heals and I usually end up better and stronger than I was before the incident.

I found, for me, that I needed to push hard enough that i was regularly worried that i re-injuried myself post-workout, but then let it heal for a week and hit it again. I will always ice the area directly after my workout and do any other mobility stuff that I am supposed to do.

If you shy away from the area you will compensate somewhere else and then you will have a whole new batch of problems. Just start back over, and do the exercises as perfectly as possible. If you do that, you will be surprised at how fast you will come back. I hope that helps man, if I think of anything else, I will let you know.

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"The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, itā€™s impossible to turn back. The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that youā€™re a god or a total bastard.

The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds." --Henry Rollins

THURSDAY, 23APRIL2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 7/Day 4

CONDITIONING - As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 Minutes
10 Foot Bear Walk Forward, 10 Foot Bear Walk Backwards
20 Foot Bear Walk Forward, 20 Foot Bear Walk Backwards
30 Foot Bear Walk Forward, 30 Foot Bear Walk Backwards
40 Foot Bear Walk Forward, 40 Foot Bear Walk Backwards

10 Foot Gator Walk Forward, 10 Foot Gator Walk Backwards
20 Foot Gator Walk Forward, 20 Foot Gator Walk Backwards
30 Foot Gator Walk Forward, 30 Foot Gator Walk Backwards
40 Foot Gator Walk Forward, 40 Foot Gator Walk Backwards

10 Foot Crab Walk Forward, 10 Foot Bear Crab Backwards
20 Foot Crab Walk Forward, 20 Foot Bear Crab Backwards
30 Foot Crab Walk Forward, 30 Foot Bear Crab Backwards
40 Foot Crab Walk Forward, 40 Foot Bear Crab Backwards

SPEED
At the top of every minute for 10 minutes, completed 3 Bench Presses @ 335lbs.

STRENGTH GIANT SET
Axle Deadlifts: 455x7, 500x6, 520x5, 550x4 (Vid)
Axle Push-Press: 275x5, 300x3, 315x2, 315x2
Standing Ab Wheel Roll-Outs: 8, 8, 8, 8

EVENTS - 5 Rounds of the Following Medley (vid of my first round)
50 Foot Tire Flips
50 Foot Keg Carry
50 Foot Sandbag Carry
50 Foot Sled Drag

NOTES

  • Long one todayā€¦Was playing catch up from being out of town for a little bit
  • Conditioning and speed work both went well, not much new to report there. Just putting the work in.
  • After my lack luster performance on deadlifts earlier in the week, I wanted to come back and hit some more. This time I chose the axle so i could work my grip a little more and the lighter weights would give my lower back a break. I was happy to hit 550x4 and probably had more in me, but didnā€™t want to dip into my reserves too much because I still had a lot of medley practice to do.
  • The medley was good. It wasnā€™t as hard as I originally thought it would be, but it definitely made my legs burn pretty badly by the time I would hit the sled drags. I probably should have gone a little bit heavier, but was pretty spent by the time I got here. Got my 5 rounds done and got out..

Here is a vid of the 550x4 Axle Dead set and my first round of the medley

410

Cool will give that a go and should hopefully make steady progress with my shoulder.

Good work on the Deadlifts and medley. Must be awesome having that setup to do a full medley. I will still be following closely for ideas on the conditioning.

411

Nice to keep hearing feedback!

Great articles. Thibs always cuts it for me, and I have a man crush on Shank.
Today I reread some good stuff about escalating density training from Staley. Great stuff, not very unlike both Alphas and Shanks methods. So much gold on this site. But thats inevitable when Dan John is a author.

412

Hey Alpha, careful with the explosive sled drags, looks like its getting kind of close to your foot, just something to be mindful of.

413

Iā€™ll be in town May 2nd. Iā€™d love to come check out the gym.

414

Hahaha exactly what I was thinking Matty!

415

IronWarrior: Thanks man, you ave no idea how nice it is to have my own facility now where I can do what I want, when I want. It has made a huge difference in my training. I just wish more hard working people on here, like yourself could come train. Maybe someday, you never know. Thanks for checking in man, and good luck with he shoulder!

Roran: That sounds great man, just hit me up on here or over my siteā€™s email and confirm and you can definitely come train! It would be great to have you man!

Matty & Pano: Noted. Thanks for the concern.

=====================================
"What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didnā€™t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.? --Arnold Schwarzenegger

FRIDAY, 24APRIL2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 7/Day 5

CONDITIONING - Every Minute on the Minute for 16 Minutes
Odd Minutes: 100 Foot Burpee Broad Jumps
Even Minutes: 7 Chest to Bar Pull-Ups

STRENGTH GIANT SET - 4 Rounds
Squats: 520x5, 520x5, 520x5, 520x10 (Vid)
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Ups (70lb KB): 6, 6, 6, 6
10 Standing Barbell Roll-Outs: 1, 1, 1, 1

ACCESSORY SUPER SET - 4 Rounds
Front Squats: 275x5, 315x5, 335x5, 335x5
Glute Ham Raises: 10, 10, 10, 10

EVENTS - 5 Rounds of the following Stone Shouldering Ladder
Line up 5 stones of increasing weight intervals. At the command of ā€œGoā€ Shoulder the lightest one. Then move on to the next heaviest stone and shoulder itā€¦Continue to do this until all 5 Stones have been Completed. Time Stops when last stone reaches your shoulder. Do this for 5 Rounds, trying to beat your time every round.

NOTES:

  • The conditioning was a good ratio of work to rest. Was actually fun
  • I was a little bit worried going into my squats because the warm-ups didnā€™t feel terrific. Also decided to give the only shoes another run. First set of 5 @ 520 was my worst of the group but after it, I knew I could do it. Next 2 were much smoother, and then, since I was feeling good, i just wanted to see if I could hit double digits at that weight. I got to ten and racked it. Vid below. I was pretty happy with the speed and depth of the reps and since I usually stray away from higher rep squats, I think this may be a rep PR at this weight. I think if I really wanted to start grinding, that I had a few still in me.
  • Moved onto front squats after but legs were pretty tired so I kept it kinda light. The superset with the GHR had me walking funny by the end.
  • Stone shouldering is always fun, especially when continually trying to beat your previous time.

Here is is my last set of 520x10:

416

Killer set Alpha, looking very solid in the new kicks

417

Great work man! Your combo of stamina and strength still blows my mind

418

Epic set!
I hate turkish get-upsā€¦ I did the two movements I hate the most-turkish get-Ups and burpee-pullup back to back, it was hell.

419

MattyG: Thanks man, the only shoes actually felt a little bit better during this session.

Pano: Thanks brother, I am trying!

Regev: Thanks man, yea I am with you on the Burpee Pull-Ups, but I think my least favorite thing to do on the opposite would be dumbbell man makersā€¦A ladder of those two movements makes my soul hurt!

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ā€œThe world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.ā€ --Ralph Waldo Emerson

SATURDAY, 25APRIL2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 7/Day 6

CONDITIONING - Tabata Protocol (20 Seconds Work / 20 Seconds Rest for 8 Rounds or 4:00 Minutes)

8 Rounds (4:00) Battle Ropes
1 Minute Rest
8 Rounds (4:00) Medicine Ball Slams
1 Minute Rest
8 Rounds (4:00) Thrusters
1 Minute Rest
8 Rounds (4:00) Box Jumps
1 Minute Rest
8 Rounds (4:00) Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
1 Minute Rest
8 Rounds (4:00) Hollow Rocks

NOTES:

  • I did this yesterday morning, but havenā€™t had the chance to log it until now. It was a good short session just to get some of the tightness out from the squats the night before.
420

Iā€™ve never tried the man maker but I follow what you taught me-do what you hate the most in order to get better (at least mentally).