Alpha's Work IV

Training Training Logs
561

Roran: Hahaha yea man, i love that quote. And I have no doubt you will be there soon, Hopefully minus the injury part! A lot of what people can and cannot do is 100% in their heads, even with injuries. I am heading to the doc tomorrow and will hopefully get my MRI before the end of the week, but it hasn’t slowed me up too much yet!

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“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” --Bruce Lee

SUNDAY, 31MAY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 2/Day 7

CONDITIONING
16 Rounds (8:00 Minutes of Tabata Sledge Hammer Swings

STRENGTH - Double Paused Deadlifts
315x3, 405x3, 455x3, 500x2, 550x1, 585x1

EVENTS - Axle Deadlift Drop Set
550x6
:90 Seconds Rest
500x8
:90 Seconds Rest
455x10
Death x3

Was supposed to do some reverse hypers but my back, lungs and heart were not interested in showing up to the party

NOTES:

  • Conditioning was Tough

  • Working on my double paused deadlifts again. Nothing (other than technique work) has helped my regular deadlift more than these

  • Axle Deadlift Drop Set…of death…No kidding, this almost killed me.
    I did the 550 set and felt the overwhelming sensation to puke. Had :90 Seconds to move the camera, change the song, strip some weight and get right back at it. Then after the 500x8 I actually dry heaved twice which changing things up again. Finally did the 455x10 then laid down on the floor in front of a fan. Stayed there for a while…

  • My leg definitely played a role in today. I think i could have done better than I did but I will take it. Like I said to Roran, going to the Doc tomorrow and should have my MRI done by the end of the week. My grip and lower back were absolutely fried by the end…Along with my lungs and my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest. Good day considering being hurt. Here is a vid of the nonsense:

562

Happy birthday for a week ago Alpha - sorry I’m so late with that. Haven’t been online a whole lot recently. That’s a really impressive amount of improvement across the board for someone as advanced as you are. I haven’t been around here very long but I’ve already learned a lot from this log and I think I will keep doing so. Really appreciate your being so good about taking the time to answer questions on here. Good luck for the next year buddy. I foresee much more progress.

Oh and that sucks about the leg. Hope it heals up quickly.

563

I can’t see the vid, but Im sure it’s beyond awesome!

Was this a testing day? Going till you start spilling your guts is pretty all out work. The allways told me you should work upto a 8 of RPE for training, and leaving the nitro/puke mode for testing.

Hope the MRI says something about that leg. More important, how to fix it!

Stay strong brother

564

TheWolfMan: Thanks so much for saying that man, it means a lot!

Pano: No, I never puke during a test day. Weight doesn’t make me puke, lots of rep do, and I was doing a lot of reps. I still did have a few in the tank, just the overwhelming amount of work pushed me over the edge. I often get nauseous during conditioning and high rep squats or deads. These deads were particularly heavy and there were a lot of them.

Thanks for the well wishes about the leg, I should know more by next week.

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“Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and fans fire.” --Francious the VI

“To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” --Fred Shero

MONDAY, 01JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 3/Day 1

CONDITIONING
:30 Seconds Max Effort Barbell Snatches with 135lbs on the bar
:30 Seconds Rest
Do this for a total of 10 Rounds (10:00 Minutes)

STRENGTH GIANT SET:
Wide Grip Weighted Pull-Ups: 90x3, 115x3,135x3, 145x3, 160x2, 135x3, 135x3
Strict Log Press: 205x3, 225x3, 245x3, 255x3, 265x1, 255x2, 245x3
Glute Ham Raose Sit-ups: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Bamboo Strict Log Press (with hanging banded Kettlebells)
65lb log + 2 - 44lb KBs + 2 - 26lb KBs x5

Bamboo Strict log press (with hanging banded Kbs) Drop Set
65lb log + 2 - 44lb KBs + 2 - 26lb KBs x4
65lb log + 2 - 44lb KB x5
65lb Log + 2 - 26lb KBs x 6

NOTES:

  • Good shoulder day. I got the idea to attach the KBs from the bamboo bench. It was beyond hard. The log was all over the pace and you needed to fight it back into he groove constantly. My shoulders and core were friend after these. Will definitely do these again

I’ll add the video of it, if It uploads

565

Here is the video from yesterday’s pressing workout.

After my regular strict log overhead pressing I decided to do an experiment. The idea was to create the instability effect that a bamboo bar brings, but apply it to a log overhead press since stability plays a huge role in the amount of weight you can move in this event.

I hung 44lb and 26lb kettle bells from each side using light bands. It worked really well and was very challenging. Definitely another level of pump and soreness following this. I think I will continue to add this as an accessory for a few weeks and see if it helps to up my 1RM.

It is supposed to be great for prehab and building stabilizers. For those of you who log press, you will know that when you are grinding out a hard rep, stabilizing the weight and fighting to keep it (or get it back) into the groove is the biggest challenge of all. Hopefully this will help me do that.

And since I am hurt, I cannot use leg drive right now, so it is good timing for trying something new.

Also, for those of you interested, I am getting my MRI Thursday morning and should have the results by the end of the weekend. Hopefully it is nothing too serious and I will be back to my old self before long.

566

RIP shoulders.

Awesome work, man. I heard overtime your body learns to stabilize. Ring gymnasts are pretty still in the rings therefore. Hope this new way of training helps out!

Best hope for the Mri!

567

I hope that MRI goes well for you and good luck.

568

on derek poundstone’s instagram page he has a couple of vids of a seated military press he does - with KBs hanging from bands, but also with bands attached to the bar and fixed to DBs on the floor.

might be of interest for you to try - he says they are extremely hard.

569

Good luck with the injury. Great shoulder strength there with those log variations, looks tough!

570

Nice OHP work, probably my favorite lift.
Have you thought about hanging the KB like that during z-press? Sounds awfully awesome to me!

You know, a lot of people are asking me about the way I train (warrior athlete style) the past few months and it’s so great that about 80% of them started working out like that! They all absolutely love it! It’s so amazing to see so many people follow that way of training and even thinking, the ‘die empty’ attitude. I also encourage people to try rucking (which I need to do more often).

What’s your opinion on practicing form during off days and how do you think one should plan it? I would like to start incorporate some light form work during my ‘off’ day in addition to some LSD cardio and light BW work but I don’t know if it’s something that I should structure and plan, taking a light weight and just doing a bunch of sets of a couple of reps without thinking that much would be enough?

Thanks for reading all of that and good luck with the MRI.

571

Pano: Yea man, I think it definitely depends on what types of exercises you do. I think barbell’s will build some basic stabilization, dumbbells & kettle bells will build more and like you mentioned things like rings and what i rigged up there will build the most. But doing things like hammer strength machines or most machines in general typically will not do a thing for stabilization. And thank you very much for the well wishes. They are telling me that since they have to MRI both the knee/lower leg and ankle that I will be in the tube for like and hour and a half…For my brain tumor it usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour. 1.5 hours is going to be a long boring time!

Fletch: Thanks brother, I really appreciate that!

The CB: Great suggestions man, I will definitely try them out. I can say that the log presses were some of the most challenging pressing movements I have ever tried!

halcj: Thanks man, it was fun to try something new!

Regev: You read my mind brother! as soon as finished them, I had the thought to try it out on the Z press, but you could see how unstable I was when standing, I have had some close calls with my core failing on a Z press before where I almost ended up eating the bar. With a log there would be no place to bail and I would definitely be catching it with my face. That said, i definitely see them in my future but not until I can build up more stabilization in the movement.

And that is awesome news about the programming! Thanks for sharing it with so many guys, i am really glad it is working out for them!!

Aa far as programming in form work on our off days. I think it is a good idea but it would depend on how you already have your strength stuff programmed. If you have a speed day I think it may be a little bit unnecessary, as all your doing is form and explosiveness there. But if you don’t I think you could throw it in, the movements themselves would just have to be far enough away from the strength work that it did not effect your recovery at all.

I also kind of see it two different ways. the first being that the extra work will only help you because it is helping you get more perfect reps in. And since strength is a skill, that would be good practice. My second way of thinking is that practicing form work with very low weights is kind of a waste of time for a more advanced lifter because their form doesn’t even begin to fail until things get heavier. Often times people will come into my gym asking for help with a certain movement. It almost all cases they can perform the rep perfectly with 135lbs, and I have nothing to teach them. But I always make them move up weight to a point where their form breaks down so i can see their weak points and how to fix them.

I think some speed work like EMOM for 10 minutes of 3 speed reps at 55-70% is a good move, it may help in recovery and as long as you are trying to make every rep perfect then I can see it as being beneficial. I hope that helps you out brother!

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So I will be getting my MRI tomorrow morning and I actually feel kinda dumb for it now. It has been 10 days since I hurt it and most of my pain is gone when walking. It still really sucks to squat down on my haunches or kneel on the ground and there is still some bruising. I guess it is better to know rather than not to know…I am just hoping that they don’t tell me that i need surgery or need to immobilize it since i can still do a lot of the things I enjoy doing. Then again, the idea of doing heavy yokes, farmer’s, rucking, running or jump rope are out of the question at the moment. We will see what the docs say once they get the images. either way, I know I will be back to normal sooner rather than later.

572

Good Luck at the MRI. Do you have to lay in that small tube for the whole time?

573

Roran: Just up to my chest for this one man. For my brain MRI’s the shove me all the way it. It was all good, thanks for asking man!

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“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” --John Wooden

THURSDAY, 04JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 3/Day 4

CONDITIONING
5 Rope Ascents
100 Foot Handstand Walk
1:00 Minute Battle Ropes
4 Rope Ascents
75 Foot Handstand Walk
:45 Seconds Battle Ropes
3 Rope Ascents
50 Foot Handstand Walk
:30 Seconds Battle Ropes
2 Rope Ascents
25 Foot Handstand Walk
:15 Seconds Battle Ropes

STRENGTH GIANT SET - Testing out the leg again…
Beltless Pause Squats (3 Second Pause in the bottom): 135x3, 225x3, 315x3, 365x3, 405x3, 425x3
Wide Grip Pull-Ups: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Glute Ham Raises: 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Weighted Sit-Ups: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

EVENTS - Lot of leg testing out here…

At the top of every :90 Seconds for 10 Rounds of 100 Foot Farmer’s Walks with 215lbs in each hand

Then I did and EVENT GIANT SET - 5 Rounds
:60 Seconds AMRAP 50lb medicine ball throws over a 12 foot bar
100 Foot Keg Carry (200lb Keg)
5 Keg Clean & Presses (200lb Keg)

Finished up with a few 100 foot light yoke walks with 360lbs.

NOTES:

  • My leg is angry at me. But honestly I am so sick of it being hurt, I am just ready to move on.
  • MRI went fine, hopefully I will know more in a few days once the Doc looks at it.
  • Conditioning was fun, I love handstand walks and rope climbs. Makes me feel like i am playing around more than working out.
  • Definitely a lot of cracking in the knee during squats and some weird patella movement during GHRs
  • The farmer’s Walks didn’t feel bad at all, but that is extremely light for me. Same with the yoke.
  • And the Event giant set was fun, but I can definitely tell I am not getting my normal pop out of my legs on the clean & presses which made them harder than that weight should have been.
574

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“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” --Ray Kroc

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility to change them.” --Denis Waitley

FRIDAY, 05JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 3/Day 5

STRENGTH - Incline Log Bench Press
155x5
245x5
300x5
335x3
355x3
390x1 (Video)

STRENGTH GIANT SET - 10 Rounds
5 Bent Over Rows @ 365lbs
2 Axle Bench Presses @ 385lbs (last set was AMRAP, I got 10. Vid Below)
10 Ab Ring Layouts

NOTES:

  • Pretty happy with my pressing today. 390 on the log was no joke, then went right into the axle bench. My bar speed was good for my earlier sets, so I went for AMRAP on my last round and ended up getting 10.
575

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“You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them.” --Rumi

SATURDAY, 06JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 3/Day 6

CONDITIONING - Perform As Many Reps As Possible for :40 Seconds. Then you have :20 Seconds to Rest and Rotate to the next Station.

  1. Double Unders
  2. Burpee Bar Touches
  3. Medicine Ball Slams
  4. Crab Walk
  5. Overhead Squats
  6. Kettlebell Swings
  7. Bear Walk
  8. Box Jumps
  9. Pull-Ups
  10. Gator walk
    Rest 1:00 Minute after all 10 exercises are complete. Complete 3 Total Rounds

EVENTS - 7 Rounds
50 Prowler Push (Low Handles)
50 Foot Prowler Push (High Handles)
50 Foot Sled Drag

576

If you don’t mind me asking, and forgive my lack of awareness, but what was your MRI for? Also, your bench press strength is just insanity. I think our overheads are about the same give or take, but you bench 100lbs more than me!

577

I really hope that your MRI results will be fine.
And thank you for the detailed answer a few days ago, I tried a few days ago EMOM of 3 cleans/snatch, 6 pullup, 12 dips for 30 minutes. It went great.

Insane pressing strength as usual…
Have you ever tried using the log to rowing? BOR are great for deadlift and pulling strength so it’s reasonable to think that using the log will transfer better for the log C&P (more specified). Am I wrong?

578

Vinny: Haha yea man, I was thinking about it and I have just done bench for longer than any of my other lifts. I didn’t really start OHP, deads or squats until like 6 years after i was benching. It shows. Your overhead press is awesome and I am envious! You have given me some really good tips and I have stolen some things from you that have helped me get better, so thank you for that. As far as the MRI, I hit a 485 front squat PR and let like my calf was cramping up…But, like an idiot, it was so close to 500 that i had to go for it. I did and have been hurt ever since. If you read below, I am going to go over the results from the MRI. Thanks for posting brother!

Regev: Those are two very great ideas man! I love the condition that you wrote and rowing a log is something that I have never thought of before, but now that you mention it, is ingenious. You can expect to see some of those in this upcoming week! Thanks for the ideas man!

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So my Doc called me today and gave me the results of the MRI. Looks like a pretty bad strain on the front of the calf and a small tear on the back. Also my ACL is sprained and there is a ton of fluid in there. All in all, this is all really good news! Much less of a problem than I had thought. I need to back off a little bit but as long as I am smart about it, it is back to the grind for me. I am stoked!

579

Awesome to hear your leg just needs some rest! Get better soon man!

I can recommend some ground drills for conditioning if you need to take some load of the leg. These drills always get my heart racing:
-crawling (left leg/ right arm and vice versa)
-Shoulder rolls
-arm drags (sit on your butt, legs stretched, slide yourself with little drags)
-human cartwheels (with partner)
-fireman carries (with partner)

You already are into handstand walks and animal walks.
The magic in those is in the breathing I think. They seem to force the air out of me.

Good luck man

580

Great news that it’s not too severe, keep safe getting back to full speed!

I was wondering, do you feel overhead / shoulder work helps your bench much, or is it better when you cut back on presses to focus on the bench itself? I’m considering adding an overhead press day to give myself a break from bench pressing 2-3 times+ a week and bring up my delt strength; I know CT and some other coaches recommend extra shoulder work for powerlifters, and I read an article by Andy Bolton in which he mentioned overhead pressing bringing up his competition bench. Thoughts?