Just checking in. Looks like you’re still kicking ass.
I think your list of qualities a good coach must posses is spot-on. And I like the idea about using a specific playlist for mobility/warm-ups. I don’t have a specific one, but always try to spend at least four songs doing it.
…yep. I’m now twice as motivated about working out today after seeing that a 19 year old is kicking my ass with weights and she’s doing them in supersets no less.
Fuck.
Nice work.
big front squats and weighted pulups - we are so on the same frequency.
I like the idea of making a play-list as a timer very smart.
just re-read and watched your OH squat and warm up video
OH squats look great good arch and good posture.
your mobility and warm ups are kicking ass.
dont stress about the knee cave while jumping
it is probably just how your body breaks- as you land
its not as important as knee cave on other things like squatting
Heads up, long post ahead.
Mainy, 2busy, Kimba, and Cal–Thanks guys! Gotta love them front squats eh?
Buckeye–Thanks for stopping in!
Ironcross–Glad I can provide you with a little bit of motivation now and then! Gotta say, some of your workouts would definitely kick my ass!
Kmc–Thanks for the bit on knee caving. My knees don’t cave when I squat, which I know is a really good thing. The knee cave on broad jumps bothers me because it just doesn’t look good to have my knees almost knocking together. Like I may have mentioned before, if I concentrate on keeping my knees out upon landing, my knees don’t cave nearly as much. And, the distance covered by my broad jumps doesn’t seem to change between knee cave and no knee cave. As a little note, as a goaltender, I spend plenty of time in at an increased valgus knee angle during a game. It’s not something I really want to train and reinforce off-ice, but it may explain my knee position when landing jumps.
It’s been a hella busy week so far. We finished training at my non-smoothie job on Monday, and started working with kids on Tuesday. My non-smoothie summer job is as a care worker at a day camp for children with autism. It’s my third summer working at the summer camp, as I quite enjoy it, even though it can be challenging at times. This week I worked with a girl who, in addition to having autism, was blind. Never having working with a blind individual before, the first day was a little tough for us. By today, we definitely had it down.
I find working with the more difficult kids to be a lot of fun. You really get to enjoy the small things when working with them–the occasional smiles and giggles, finding an activity that they’re really into, making strides in communication etc. Working with these kids really helps to remind me to look at the small things, and really appreciate people. It’ll sound cheesy, but you really see the inner beauty and innocence in a lot of these kids, and that’s what makes me keep coming back to this summer job.
Tuesday’s workout was my last of week 3, meaning I am now moving into a deloading week before heading into my next phase. I received phase 3 today and like some of the stuff I’m seeing in it. Should make for a fun month of training.
Tuesday:
15 minute warmup
4 sets of:
overhead squats (5 X 95, 3 X 115, 3 X 115, 2 X 125)
6 X 40# turkish get ups
bear reaches
4 sets of:
20 X 95# clean grip reverse lunges
5 X pull ups
50# BB curl and press
4 sets of:
push ups (15, 12, 12, 15)
20 X 45# DB swings
6 X inverted rows (with elevated feet)
Wednesday I did some olympic weightlifting technique work with the coach at the CF gym. For snatch work, I focused on pulling the bar in a straight path closer to my body. I worked up to 110 lb (50 kg) X 1–I think this was a PR, but I haven’t maxed out on snatches for a long time, so I’m not sure. 110 felt easy, so I’m sure I got a little left in the tank. After the snatches, we moved to a little bit of clean and jerk work.
Because of my limited overhead shoulder mobility, we worked on widening out my grip for jerks after the clean. The weight was submaximal (topped out at 120 lb), for I was working on getting the hang of changing my grip upon coming out of catching the clean.
Today was the first day of deloading. Despite being a deload, the load still seem high-ish.
15 minute warmup–jump rope, run/backpedals, cariocas, shuffles, med ball throws, band pull aparts and dislocates, spiderman pushups,
15 minute movement work–box jumps, repeated broad jumps, skipping, 5-10-5s
2 sets of:
4 X 185# back squat
8 X 12# DB bent over raise
plank hold
2 sets of:
2 X 105# incline bench press
side plank holds
2 sets of:
4 X 105# BB rows
12 X 40# DB single-leg RDL
bear reaches
overhand plate pinches for time (two 25 lb plates smooth side out)
nice work on the oly lifting! do you find it harder / more tiring holding the bar in the rack with a wider grip? i’m trying to figure widening up my grip before jerking and finding it fairly fatiguing holding the bar in the rack - but maybe i’m doing it wrong.
Jr, that’s awesome about your care worker job!
I never have tried front squats or overhead squats.
I have enough problems with back squats.
And for your music selection, I need to add Billy Talent back onto my playlist.
I do enjoy lifting to songs from Austrian Death Machine.
Shorter post today because I gotta wake up early for work tomorrow.
2busy–Keep grinding the back squats, they’ll get better sooner or later. Had a listen to Austrian Death Machine–I could definitely be adding some of their stuff to my workout playlist because I’m always looking to add songs to it. The list is pretty sporadic right now; System of a Down, Prodigy, Passion Pit, Rage Against the Machine all have a place on my list.
Alexus–Working with a wider rack position is taking some getting used to. For me, it’s not more fatiguing per se, but I do have to be tighter when dropping into my jerk.
11 hours between my two jobs again today. Managed to get a nap and a lift in between jobs today, so I’m calling that a success.
15 minutes warmup–jump rope, hurdle over/unders, run/backpedal, band pull aparts and dislocates, cariocas, shuffles, banded shuffles and monster walks, spiderman pushups, med ball throws
12 min agility work–
10 yards, back
10 yards, backpedal back
shuffle 5 yards (right), run back
shuffle 5 yards (left), run back
15 yards, back
backpedal 5 yards, run back
5 yards, shuffle (left) back
5 yards, shuffle (right) back
30 yards and back
-2 sets
2 sets of:
2 X 95# jerks
3 repeated broad jumps
crab alternating touches
2 sets of:
3 X 120# front squat (barefoot)
8 X 45# DBs bent over row
Y, T, Ls
2 sets of:
4 X 105# close grip bench
2 X med ball throws for max distance
20 X 1-legged slide board leg curls
20 X stability ball leg curls
Jr, this is for when you’re breaking an old pr… 
That sounds like a very rewarding job. The kids I work with are (mostly!) “normal” although some of them definitely have issues. I had never had much contact with kids before and thought I didn’t much like them, but I find I’ve grown pretty fond of them. It’s not every job where you get hugged, is it?
wow - that summer camp job seems tough in a good way.
and those overhead squats are nice and strong.
2busy–That song is SICK! Definitely good for PR smashing.
Cal–Hugs are just one great part of such job! It’s the days and moments that you feel appreciated that really get you through what could otherwise seem like a tough week.
Mainy–Tough at times, but mostly fun. This week’s group is 6-10 years old, which will be awesome. They’re cute, but boy can they throw temper tantrums.
No gym for me today–a much needed rest day.
Instead, it was a work/nap day. It was my first time opening the smoothie joint today, and it was a lot less eventful than I had expected. I didn’t blow up the place or anything; however I did manage to drop a container of cheese on my foot, followed by a blender container later on in the day.
At least the people watching was good today. People watching is probably my favourite part of the job, and it’s almost always interesting because we’re located in an area with tons of small businesses and bars. One of my co-workers described it best: “At any point of the day, you can see a middle aged business man walk by in a sharp suit, followed by a 50 year old hippie, then a stroller-pushing mom, then a teen with multiple body piercings, then a couple of runners, and then a homeless person.” Also seen are drunk/high people and many VAMs.
I love places like this–it really shows the diversity in the community. All these people are able to coexist in this one neighbourhood without any (major) conflicts. Just a fun area of town to work in.
On a different note, this week I’m spending 5 days in–as Lightning McQueen would call it–hillbilly hell. Except this hillbilly hell has a nice hockey rink and is in the middle of the flat, flat prairies. I’ll be heading there on Wednesday as a goaltender evaluator for a tryout camp. I’m pretty sure I have access to the gym there, if not I’ll be trekking 30 min down the highway to get my lift in or just doing some bodyweight stuff and sprints.
So anyways, I need some suggestions. They’ll be serving dorm style food there, which I abhor. If I remember correctly from when I was an attendee at the camp (2 years ago), lots of pasta, sandwiches, chicken strips, and so on. I don’t tolerate pasta well so it’ll suck to be shovelling that down for 5 days. So, I’m looking for alternatives that I can bring with me. I’m 90% sure I don’t have access to a fridge so I can’t really precook stuff.
Some of the stuff I’m considering bringing: canned tuna, jerky, nuts, protein shakes.
Anyone have any other ideas?
That’s what I’d take. Maybe take some sort of fruit/veg powdered supplement (Biotest do one) to add to your shakes.
[quote]juniormint wrote:
On a different note, this week I’m spending 5 days in–as Lightning McQueen would call it–hillbilly hell. Except this hillbilly hell has a nice hockey rink and is in the middle of the flat, flat prairies.
Some of the stuff I’m considering bringing: canned tuna, jerky, nuts, protein shakes.
Anyone have any other ideas?[/quote]
Glad you liked the song.
Ice rink on the prairies… You’re coming to Nebraska!!!
Seems like you have all of the easily stored items on your list.
Have fun at the camp!
I’d add a box of bars to that - protein bars.
green apples that keep well at room temp
boxed juices…
Your list of food sounds good, but I’d probably bring fruit because for some reason I always crave sweets when I’m around crappy food.
Also, your workouts continue to make me kind of hate you 
and thus provide awesome motivation! Thanks.
Great training in here as always! You are already gone, but I second all the food recommendations made before me. Protein powder and a shaker bottle have saved me from pasta more than once.
I’m back!
Short recap for now: camp was a hell of an experience. Learned a lot about what goes into player evaluations, and worked a ~70 hour work week.
Thanks for all the suggestions–I ended up staying away from the not-so-good stuff for the most part, using a lot of what was suggested. The food was just as terrible tasting as I had expected, so I’m really glad I thought to bring my own.
The best thing served was the fresh fruit (apples, bananas, oranges), so I basically jacked as many bananas as I could at once at each meal time. To my rejoice, they had chicken breast the one day, but that rejoice quickly turned into revulsion–the chicken breasts looked undercooked on the bottom, but were actually overcooked to the point of having a tough gritty feeling. I did eat the meat chunks we had the one day; they weren’t bad after you completely smothered them in hot sauce.
What I brought:
tamari almonds
2 types of trail mix (1 tropical–BUST, 1 with goji berry and other stuff–YEP)
whey protein + shaker bottle
protein bars (ran out 2 days into camp)
canned tuna (hot chili pepper-flavoured)
beef jerky
If I go back next year (which at this point seems likely), I’m bringing a cooler/mini-fridge and pre-cooking 5 days worth of food, and/or bringing a mini-barbeque and cooking up steaks and chicken breats.
the camp sounds great. i haven’t worked with kids with autism but there was a guy who was into that at uni and we watched lots of vids of the work they did. basically using behaviorist reinforcement techniques to try and encourage social behavior like eye gaze / smile and play with toys.
i feel tired just reading about your training! what you say about the ice and your broad jump does make sense. welcome back
I haven’t had much time to be on here recently–between my smoothie job, my care worker job, and the hockey evaluating last week, I’ve been pretty busy.
Between the three gigs, I’ve worked roughly 100 hours in 10 days. The fatigue of working so much recently (compared to my normal college life), combined with poor sleep (<6 hours per night during this period) is catching up to me. Tonight’s goal: get a good night’s sleep in.
I forgot to mention in my last post, but the goalie coaches I was assisting with in the evaluations and coaching have offered me a full time gig for next summer if I come back to Canada. I’m very excited about that opportunity–it would be just another chance to refine my coaching skills.
Last week, I was able to get my normal training in during the odd hour or so of spare time I got per day. Being that the camp was located at a boarding school known for their hockey program, they had a pretty sick gym that had every thing I needed: 2 olympic platforms, bumper plates, 2 squat racks, med balls, foam rollers, agility ladders (for warmup), flat and incline benches, a gymnasium, and a real nice sound system. They also had 120 lb DBs, which were FREAKY huge.
Today’s training was alright–I’m struggling with nailing my cleans again though. I think it’s definitely a mental thing that’s attached to two things: 1. I am worried about the lack of bumper plates at the gym I usually lift at, and 2. I think cleaning 45 a side, and knowing that it’s 45 a side is freaking me out mentally. So, it’s gonna be a matter of breaking down some stubborn mental barriers. It’s weird–I’ve cleaned more than 135 a lot, but with bumper plates in kilos. I worry a lot less about the weight when it’s in kilos.
15 minutes of warmups
15 minutes of movement work–skipping, broad jumps, fly ins, etc.
3 sets of:
1 + 1 X 145# clean pulls
10 X hurdle step overs
back bridge holds
3 sets of:
1 + 1 X 135# cleans (1-f, f-f, f-f)–all fails were pretty much clean pulls
4 X 55# DB snatches
deep squat progressions
front plank holds
I was frustrated about failing my clean attempts, so I threw in DB snatches.
4 sets of:
4 X clapping pushups
6 second dynamic rows
20 X single leg stability ball leg curl
Forgot to post this video a little while ago. I’m not sure of the exact date I shot this video on, but I finally got around to cutting it all together today. I think it might be from 2 weeks ago, as it looks to be from my deload week.
Some notes:
-I think my hand positioning is off on the band pull aparts.
-Broomstick dislocates are better than band dislocates.
-I had to drop the foot elevation for the inverted rows for the second set because my form really deteriorated.