Swipe > handhop
Finished several sets with a double hop. A guy I was practicing with encouraged me to try different stuff like just stalling instead of hopping at the end or different ways to go into it. Cool
Reverse 90s
The hot at as balls weather made it possible to practice a spinning move. While it is not reliably slippery enough to get decent performance on 1990s, mills, headspins, or other stuff that I’ve been practicing before I came home, it was good for this new move. Reverse 90s mean I plant my left arm down and spin on there. Best was a 1/2 spin.
Handhops, left arm.
Footwork/toprock, left
Spent more time than usual on power moves today. Normally spend an hour but today was 90 minutes. Felt awesome.
Went in too hard yesterday. My left wrist never really stopped hurting from when I tried flares a couple weeks ago, and the fact that any bboying move ever at all that anyone would do depends on it, plus yesterday’s work really convinced me to give it a break today.
But in general felt like crap. Could practice power for like 20 minutes and then I just felt like shit. Here’s the play by play:
Headflips
Landed on my back a few times but that was it. Could not focus.
Toprock - came up with some new steps, just messing around really. Also cleaned up how I did some of the really basic steps.
5/21/14 - Wednesday
Cycle 32, Week 1, Day 1
It’s actually cycle 32, and last cycle was 31. whao k
Deadlift
warmup, bar
3x135
3x185
5x230
5x265
11x300 - 1-2 left. Same kind of shitty performance happened at the start of last cycle. Hamstrings were still just a bit sore from last week’s GMs.
Practice.
Giving my left wrist one more day to heal, it’s feeling stronger. But today I almost had nothing to do so it’s going down tomorrow no matter what.
One arm stab hops (for UFOs eventually)
Solid improvement here. Getting a higher hop and sticking the landing on solely the hopping hand too. (I use my right arm for this move).
One-arm footwork (only my right hand touches the ground)
Created something new here.
Squat
5x10x155 - feels easier
Pull-ups
15 11 7 4
Definitely the most total reps I’ve ever done in the first three sets. The first set was done without chalk, I bet I can get more if I use chalk.
Maxing out is coming up soon. At the minimum I want to hit:
Deadlift - 405
OHP - 185
Squat - 315
Bench - 225
I’ll do it in week 3 this cycle and take Tuesday off before deadlifts. Might do no bboying at all after Wednesday that week.
OHP
warmup, bar
5x100
5x120
12x135 - Definitely two reps left, at least. Cool
Practice
Swipe > handhop
Not as good as my best, still got up into one good handhop pretty consistently though
Headflips
Learned something new, landed three in a row at the end of the session. The back leg has to move fast to get you over, but it has to move fast AFTER the head plants down. Otherwise you’re just ramming your head into the ground.
Not that I spent 30 minutes making that mistake >_>
As I said, 3 landings on feet in a row. Need to practice more so I can make it an even cleaner landing.
Pushups
Over 200. Sets of 15-20. Definitely getting too easy.
Lat pull-downs
Over 200. Sets of 10-20 with 80-90 lbs. Getting easier as the bar is coming down all the way to my chest on every rep.
DB OHP
100 reps. Sets of 15-20 with 30s. Had to reduce the ROM because my sick pump was interfering with my shoulder mobility and it actually pinched a little bit to push the DBs up all the way.
Raises and curls, few sets of each, working the muscle not the movement
Squat
warmup
5x190
5x220
11x250 - no rest-pause. I’d say 1 rep left. Beats last cycle’s 11x240.
Practice
Was not feeling teh power today. Might have been yesterday’s work. Was a great chance to practice toprocking. I’m making significant improvements in making my steps smoother and less awkward looking.
I gotta say, your log is a pretty entertaining read! Not that I read the whole thing, but I checked the beginning and the last bit and it looks like you know what you want to accomplish and you’re doing it.
I’m sure you know you could be a lot stronger if you ate for gains and totally committed to strength, but you’ve got your own athleticism and aesthetics goals and I gotta respect that. Also, that floor work looks like a lot of fun… there were a few guys at my old gym on Southern California that did that stuff and it was a blast to watch.
Thanks for saying hi:D It’s hard because I do want to be good at everything.
5/25/14 - Sunday
Measurements:
Weight: 187.2 (-0.8)
Waist: 33-7/8 (0)
Chest: 42-1/2 - measuring directly across nipple line from now on, so naturally this measures smaller than last week’s 43-1/2
Hips: 38-3/8 (0)
R bicep: 14-1/2 (+1/8)
L bicep: 14-5/8 (0)
R thigh: 26 (+1/4)
L thigh: 25-1/8 (+1/8)
thighpertrophy… lol
Cycle 32, Week 1, Day 4
Bench press
warmup
5x1250
5x140
19x155 - At least 2 reps left. This set stomps the shit out of last cycle’s 15x155.
Practice
Swipe > handhop
Made the set a little harder by adding in just one more swipe before going up into the handhop. Only a few good sets.
Headflip
Only one landing on my feet. Needs more practice
OHP
5x10x95
Have not been increasing the weight with BBB but I find that I am using a lot less rest time
Pullups
14 6 7 - did this kinda quick
Pushups
3x25, 2x20, 4x15, 2x20, 2x15, 1x10 - 255 total
Looking at this cycle and last cycle it seems like in week 3, DL performance is good, and in week 1, all the other lifts performance is good. So in week 3 this cycle I’ll take Tuesday off and max out on deadlifts, then do everything else as usual and max on the other lifts on week 1 of next cycle. I don’t want to overthink it but I also want to give myself every advantage while avoiding devoting an entire week to doing like 4 total reps.
Happy Memorial Day. Couldn’t do power. Seems like there are only ~4 days a week typically where I can do power, otherwise it’ll be like I tell my arm to get tense and it just does not respond. So footwork and toprock. Tomorrow will be more eventful.
Headflips
My landings still suck. I’m trying to figure out how to get enough power to land solid on my feet instead of my ass/knees, but not too much power that I end up slamming my head in the ground.
Rollback > chair
I’m rolling over my head, I need to roll over my shoulder.
Deadlift
warmup
3x135
3x185
3x250
3x285
15x320 - one left, it would have been tough though
Practice:
Practiced drills to help the rollback > chair. In the process I learned how to shoulder freeze today, and how to pop up from a shoulder freeze into a headstand.
Handhops. Just handhops by themselves. I used to have three; best today was two.
Something in my gut got messed up on Monday while practicing and now I can’t do a stab. So instead of UFO related drills, I’m working towards a better airbaby freeze. I could hold it today easily with two fingers on my off hand to support me. I want to do one-handed.
Squats
5x10x155
Weights have been kept the same for this BBB stuff but rest periods have been going down; now it’s only a minute instead of 2.
OHP
warmup, bar w/e
1x95
3x110
3x125
10x140 - Definitely two left.
Practice:
Headflips
Had one where I planted and it just hurt more than usual and I heard something loud happen in my neck. Pain did not last any longer than that. I normally don’t get warnings that make it that easy and painless to understand I better fucking stop, so I’m very grateful.
Reverse 90s
This was one of today’s best, a 1/2 spin.
Legs are important, get them up and bend them so they aren’t hanging far away messing up my balance.
“But marrot you can’t practice spinning moves on that floor you just said so!”
It’s weird. Headspins are a big no no on this floor, the beanie actually seems to grab tight to it and not let you spin. But if you get your hands sweaty you can spin on them, which works well since it is so freakin hot recently. Mills are also possible, I’m just doing other things. Might actually do those now that I think about it.
Handhops, shoulder freeze, rollbacks, all focusing on making my left arm/shoulder stronger.
Pushups
30, 4x25, 3x20, 25, 2x20, 3x15 - 300 total
Lat pull-downs
200 total, 85-100 lbs, sets of 10-20
DB OHP
150 total reps, 30s, sets of 15-25
Raises and curls, two sets each
Toprock practice
Getting better. A lot of guys you ask about toprock, they say, “bro just get into it, just feel the music.” But there’s more to it than that and besides, that’s normally what you’ll hear if you ask someone about the best way to learn flares, too. I found specific tips today to make my steps look better. Might actually be video worthy soon.
Don’t know why it shifted like that. All week long it’s been solid performance and no change to eating. Maybe week to week is too frequent measuring.
Cycle 32, Week 2, Day 4
I roll up in my signature sweats and fitted long sleeve and go figure, all the benches are full. So I mixed up the order today.
Practice:
Swipes > handhops
WOW these went better when I started out with them. More sets finished with a double hop. Left leg stays close as it comes up to help get into the handstand.
Reverse 90s
Some good spins, keep at it.
Handhops
Bench press
warmup
3x130
3x150
13x165 - 1 left. Solid considering the hour of practice before hand.
OHP
5x10x95
Pull-ups
16 9 7 7
Pushups - got to 55 (30, 25) but I swear I just didn’t have any pushups left in me. I’m getting bored of pushups anyways, I want to move up to say 200-300 dips a week instead of doing any more pushups.
Rollback stall
Can consistently roll back and stall on just my left forearm. No head, no right arm, nothing else. Worked on getting into a freeze but that was harder.
One-arm air baby, keep at it
Toprock/footwork, been a while since I really had time devoted to improving stamina
Deadlift
warmup, bar
3x135
3x185
3x225
5x265
3x300
1x340
1x365
1x385
1x405
1x415
0x425:F - Was stuck on the floor.
No injuries today (side note)
Video of 405 deadlift, as promised. Ignore the face. Please.
Pull-ups
16:F, 4 (felt mentally dead)
Toprock practice. I don’t want to be that guy whose talking about his CNS, but it would be like I try to hold a one arm handstand, and I tell my shoulder to get tense but nothing happens and I just fall.
Squats
5x10x155 - significantly slower than usual.
As for the progress, I went from a sloppy 380 (so sloppy that I threw my back after putting 5 more lbs on the bar) to a solid 415 deadlift over a year. You could say I actually went from 305 to 415 because 305 is what I knocked myself down to after I hurt myself maxing on these last summer. But a big thing is that I neglected assistance work for lower body because it seems to take so much more time to recover. After a few hundred pushups I can show up to bench day 48 hours later and PR, but five sets of good mornings leaves my hams and low back so empty it’s over a week before I’m back to decent lower body performance. Meanwhile I still need those muscles so I can stay stable with power moves or move quick with toprocking.
Since I was stuck on the floor one of the Cressey articles here says I need to train hamstrings. I want to take the next three cycles and start doing hamstring work, taking deloads off, and then max again and see if my deadlift goes up. It’ll only be a 12 week experiment so I can suck it up with the bboying practice. I can have a lower body day look like this:
Deadlift or Squat, 5/3/1
Practice - 30 min
Deadlift or Squat, 5x10
Pull-ups as usual
Hamstring work to get a pump
Looking at how I felt after deadlifts I want to max another lift this week so week 1 next cycle won’t be so tough. Depending on how tomorrow goes I may choose to max on squat or bench.
Throughout the day felt significantly sleepier than usual.
OHP
3x3xbar
5x120
3x135
6x150 - def will not be maxing until after the deload.
Practice
Was shitty, don’t ask
Bench - 5x10x125
Pull-ups - 13 4(derp)
Upper body assistance - pulldowns, pushups, DB rows, dips, DB bench, light weight high reps all in some big ugly freak superset dropset shitstorm of me trying to get a pump.
Some upper body assistance. Got a good pump but it quickly became boring as FUCK.
Then I went home.
Then I said, well, I still want to do more.
So I went to the park and practiced style, footwork, made it a conditioning focus. Not so much get this new move as just put on a beat and bboy.
Then I went home again.
Then my friend sent me a text basically saying that there’s a reliable spot to practice those moves I need to slide for, like headspins and mills.
So I went out a third time and practiced power. The transitions that I haven’t had a chance to work on, like mill>headspin and mill>swipe, are now sloppy and need work. Today was really humbling, to see that the moves I used to have on lock are gone.