Hitting the Books and the Barbell

Training
41

Still dealing with my gimpy finger. The swelling has gone down, and movement has increased (even though I’m really not supposed to bend it); I should be able to ditch the splint completely by the end of the week (I hope).

October 5
Lower Body Lifting

A. Back squat; work up to max set of 5
5 X 95 lb
5 X 115 lb
5 X 135 lb
5 X 155 lb
5 X 175 lb
5 X 185 lb

185 for 5 is a 10 lb PR @ 5 reps–happy about that. I can do back squats without any major issues–I can still use a low bar position, but do not have a very strong grip with my left hand.

B. BB bulgarian split squats
3 X 8 each leg
75 lb, 85 lb, 95 lb

Still can’t hold DBs very well, so gave barbell split squats a go. They were just as tough as with the DBs, if not a little tougher.

C. Swiss ball hip extensions + leg curl
4 X 12

20-25 minutes static stretching

All-in-all, a good workout today. School is starting to pick up, so I have to be a little better with time-management. Exam marks have been better than I would have expected–I was definitely a ball of stress before I got marks back for the one.

October 12th will be a testing day for me; not only to see how far I’ve come over the summer, but also to give me an idea of what I have to work on maintaining going into the season. I’m not quite sure how many times a week I should be going to the gym in season, so it might just be trial and error.

To give you an idea of what I’ll have to be working around:

-We start on-ice practices next Thursday.
-We have only Mondays off.
-The first weekend we have two 2 hour practices on Saturday and Sunday.
-The second weekend we have one 3 hour practice (broken up by a flood halfway through).
-Tuesday to Friday we practice 2 hours in the evening.

42

Good job on the high marks! As good as the lifting numbers and the hockey success are, you know what’s really important.

I covet your squat numbers.

43

Thanks Kimba! Your own squat numbers are working their way up–keep pushing hard girl!

October 6

Energy Systems Work (morning)

Pretty short dryland session today. My ass muscles liked the short session; they were definitely giving me hell from yesterday’s squats. I still love squatting!

Suicides
6x; 20-30 seconds rest between

Band walks, shuffles, and strides
–forwards and backwards

10 minutes of core work

Max Effort Upper Body Lifting (evening)
A. One-arm DB snatches from hang position
5 X 25 lb
5 X 35 lb
3 X 40 lb
3 X 45 lb
3 X 50 lb
3 X 50 lb

Didn’t go up to 55 lb again because I wasn’t even completely comfortable at 50 pounds. Next time…

B. One-arm DB bench press
10 X 25 lb
10 X 35 lb
8 X 40 lb
8 X 40 lb
8 X 40 lb
8 X 40 lb

These were much better than last week. Felt like I had more balance, and was able to crank out more reps.

C. One-armed Superset
i. DB rows–40 lb; 12 reps
ii. Seated DB powercleans–15 lbs; 10 reps
supersetted 4x

D. DB curls with towel wrapped around handle
8 X 15 lb
8 X 20 lb (last 2 reps slightly assisted by left hand)
8 X 20 lb (last 2 reps slightly assisted by left hand)

I decided to go up to 20 lb and assist as needed because I just don’t feel it enough at 15 lbs–even when I add more reps. The towel definitely made this a lot tougher; my right hand is still sore from these.

44

So, due to my addition of a dynamic lower body day, my program is now something in-between WS4SB 2 and 3. Just felt like I needed that extra day.

Today was a happy day–I can bend my finger! I mean, it can’t bend into a fist, but it’s a start. One of my buddies mentioned that it looks quite painful for me when I try to bend it; however it actually doesn’t hurt when I try, unless I try to force it farther with my other hand. Still have to rock the splint though.

October 7
Dynamic Lower Body Day

A. Broad jumps
6 sets of 3
Active rest between sets: first 3 sets–wall slides X 15 . Last 3 sets–banded ‘no money’ X 12

So for the broad jumps, I was jumping over one of the random mats in the dance studio. Using my super-awesome guess-timation skills, most of my jumps were over/around 6 feet. I really need a tape measure or something.

B. BB reverse lunge with front leg raised (~3-4 inches)
4 X 10
10 X 65 lb
10 X 85 lb
10 X 95 lb
10 X 95 lb

C. Ghetto glute ham raises
4 X 6

Was able to anchor my feet underneath one of the benches, with a cushy mat underneath my knees. I like these, even if my hammmies don’t. Only able to do 6 reps in a set right now before my form really starts to crap out.

D. Ab superset
i. band pull-ins X 12
ii. swiss ball roll outs X 12
4X

45

The first thing I thought when I read this was “don’t force your finger to bend!!”

The idea of doing wall slides during between-set rests is a great one. I’m trying that.

46

Hey

I’m new, and I hope you don’t mind me tagging along.

Your workouts are INSANE. I’ve only done bulgarians once, and holy shit. You’re crazy with what you’re doing with them. I wanna try!

Great squat numbers too.

Anyways, hope you don’t mind me popping in. :slight_smile:

47

Holy crap you’re strong. Respect.

48

Kimba–>I know one of the past articles talked about using ‘fillers’ during rest periods, so I decided to try it out. Even just using it for the broad jumps, I could see it being a useful thing to throw into a program. I know I should be doing more prehab/rehab for my shoulders, so this is a good way to fit it in.

Hopefully it works well into your own training.

Norinicole–>Thanks for dropping in–you’re definitely allowed to tag along! Good to know that I’ve given you the urge to rip out some Bulgarians. There’s nothing quite like a European-named movement that makes your legs scream.

Cal–>Thanks! Just to let you know, I have major bench envy.

49

[quote]juniormint wrote:
There’s nothing quite like a European-named movement that makes your legs scream.

[/quote]

Ha ha ha. I love this line.
/dirty thought

50

[quote]norinicole wrote:
juniormint wrote:
There’s nothing quite like a European-named movement that makes your legs scream.

Ha ha ha. I love this line.
/dirty thought[/quote]

I knew someone would pick up on that! :slight_smile:

So, I am definitely missing the lack of Thanksgiving this weekend. Guess now that I hopped the border, I have to wait an extra month for it. Apparently there are enough Canadians here that we get our own little Thanksgiving dinner, but I’m keeping my expectations pretty low. It’s dining hall food, so you never know what you’ll be getting.

Thursday, October 8
Energy Systems Work

Ladder Drills–
-sprints through ladder, 1 foot each square
2X
-sprints through ladder, 2 feet each square
2X
-shuffles
2X
-icky shuffle forward
2X
-icky shuffle backward
2x
-one foot hops
2X each foot
-“forward shuffles” (can’t remember the name of these)
2X

Sprint starts–15-20 m sprints
-from knees
5X
-from back
5X
-3 tuck jumps then sprint
5X

Core work and stretching–15 minutes

Friday, October 9
Repetition Upper Body Day

This was a quick and dirty workout–I only had 30 minutes before my shift started, so I tried to minimize rest times.
Warmups–
arm swings
shoulder circles
arm circles
wall slides
YTWLs

A. Pushups–90 seconds rest
25, 17, 15

B. 4 X 10 superset
i. DB rows (right arm only)–> 40 lb across
ii. DB seated power cleans (right arm only)–> 15 lb

C. DB snatches–
25 lb X 6,
35 lb X 6,
35 lb X 8,
35 lb X 10

D. One-armed hammer curls
3 X 8

So, I may have to delay some of my testing that I had planned to do tomorrow. Due to my friend Splinty, chinups are out of the question. Not sure about benching either; I’ll see what the trainers say when I see them tomorrow.

51

So, today was both a good day and a bad day. I’ll start with the bad, and end with the good stuff, so that it’s more positive in the end.

The bad:
-the trainer checked out my finger again and I have to be best buds with Splinty for at least another 2 weeks. The finger still is swollen and sore, and does not bend anymore than it did last week (90 degrees-ish?). So, this makes things interesting for practice–especially considering that our first game is a little more than 3 weeks away. Apparently they’re gonna pack my glove hand with towels or something so that I don’t manage to injure it further. Ridiculous that one little finger can cause so many problems.

And now the good:
-I got a very good grade on a chem exam I got back.
-one of my classes was cancelled today.
-the dining hall thanksgiving dinner was much better than expected. Not quite like home, but it still managed to have a slightly thanksgiving-y atmosphere.
-tested my back squat and was happy with the results!

October 12

A. Max back squat

5 X 95 lb
4 X 135 lb
3 X 155 lb
1 X 185 lb → very easy single
1 X 195 lb → still fairly good, just a little sticky coming up
1 X 215 lb → previous PR (which may have had a little assistance to it); smashed it. Felt better than 195.
1 X 225 lb → had to push hard through the sticking point, but I got it.
1 X 230 lb → definitely a battle all the way up; almost got stuck halfway up.

So, 15 lb PR using only a little chalk. PR was from 4 months ago; pretty sure I was wearing a belt, and received slight assistance from the spotter when he thought I almost got stuck halfway up.

It’s odd though; every time I go for a PR, it always feels like there’s a little more there that I could have gotten. Guess that’s what drives me back to the barbell, to keep pushing the numbers higher.

B. Unilateral movement–Speed skater squats
3 or 4 X 10 (can’t remember)
15 lb DBs across

These were tough! Had to cut the weight considerably from my normal bulgarian split squat weight, and it still killed me. 15 lb DB was light enough to hold in my left hand without causing problems.

C. 4 X 6
Ghetto glute hams
(15 scap pushups during rest periods between sets)

Glute hams are always tough and more so when your legs are completely fried.

20 minutes of stretching

52

glad thanksgiving was good! sucks bout the finger. that’s gonna blow for practice.

230!!! nice!!!

53

That is an impressive squat PR, juniormint. Wow!

I may, however, be more impressed with the good chem grade. I sucked at chem.

Also, outstanding one-leg training.

As for splinty – well, at least you aren’t a basketball player cause you’d be on the bench with that.

54

So, had some team fitness testing today. As well, practices begin this evening–can’t wait to get on the ice.

We didn’t do all of our testing today, but did a large chunk of it. This includes:

Beep test–got to level 10, required to get at least to 8
Broad jump–84, 86 inches (just over 7 feet)
Vertical jump–19 inches
Quick feet/hexagon drill–not sure of the times, had two tries to the left, two tries to the right
Pushups–32, as strict as possible
Plank hold for time–2:35
Wall sit for time–5:15

Legs are pretty shot right now. I would like to take a nap, but have study hall in 30 minutes, so that isn’t happening. Overall, I’m happy with the fitness test results. A lot of it seems to be mental for me–especially the beep test, plank holds, and wall sit.

Apparently I have some more mobility work to do, as it was pointed out by my coach and the athletic trainers that I have poor thoracic mobility. Just by reading a little bit, it makes sense, as it can account for my shoulder mobility as well. Guess I have some more work to do. I guess it’s good that such issues are being caught while I’m still in my teens, or I’d have major problems 10-20 years down the road.

55

Oooo beep test sucks! At least you beat the requirement so you don’t have to do it again. Eck.

56

[quote]rcfromdb wrote:
Oooo beep test sucks! At least you beat the requirement so you don’t have to do it again. Eck.[/quote]

Unfortunately, I will meet up with the beep test again sometime. It was mostly to see where we were at–coaches’ expectation was an 8. If you got below that, you know you have some improvement to be done before the season.

The deal was, if I got above a 12 I NEVER had to do it again. I guess I’ll be aiming for that next time.

57

[quote]juniormint wrote:
I guess it’s good that such issues are being caught while I’m still in my teens, or I’d have major problems 10-20 years down the road.

[/quote]

Absolutely. You are putting in good work now that will pay off your whole life.

58

[quote]juniormint wrote:
rcfromdb wrote:
Oooo beep test sucks! At least you beat the requirement so you don’t have to do it again. Eck.

Unfortunately, I will meet up with the beep test again sometime. It was mostly to see where we were at–coaches’ expectation was an 8. If you got below that, you know you have some improvement to be done before the season.

The deal was, if I got above a 12 I NEVER had to do it again. I guess I’ll be aiming for that next time.
[/quote]

Oooo that’s too bad. I always puked when I took it. Thankfully I’m the coach now, not the athlete so I can laugh at the misery. hahaha

59

So, I’ve been busy with practice and dryland recently.

Because my finger still hasn’t shown many signs of healing after 3 1/2 weeks, the trainer finally took me to get x-rays and see the team physician. Turns out I broke my finger. There are two breaks: one complete, one just a fracture. So, received a more restrictive splint that I have to wear at all times. It’s gonna be at least another 3 weeks in a splint.

Definitely was hard news to take. Not only does it mean that I will be missing my team’s first 4 games, it also is a set back in the gym. I am now restricted to some lower body bodyweight movements, running, and one-armed DB exercises. I’m gonna have to cook up some ideas for workouts. Right now, we do a lot of running in dryland.

Today was:

dynamic warmup

~400m sprints (1 1/2 times around soccer field)
3X; rest= 1 lap walk around soccer field
times: 1:14, 1:16, 1:18

Repeat sprints
-jog half the length of field; sprint to goal line
6X
50 crunches
20 pushups (couldn’t do)
-jog half the length of field; sprint to goal line
6X
50 crunches
20 pushups (couldn’t do)

After lunch, I did some foam rolling, followed by 15 minutes in the ice bath.

60

ah…real bummer on the finger. broken…damn!

at least it happened early enough u’ll get to play in plenty of games right??

happy and quick healing. i’ll send ur finger lots of healin thoughts. i have been called the finger whisperer. lol