35 minutes TKD lesson (heavy emphasis on stance switching and briefly went over front snap kick)
20 minutes rope skipping
Notes: First time I did the left leg quad stretch where I was stretching my quad rather than the my ACL/breaking up scar tissue. Seeing improvement. Student is struggling with stances. Doesn’t seem to grasp the idea of wanting to be balanced when fighting. Front snap kick practice may help.
Shortened up my jump rope a touch and got some good rotation on it. Focused on barely letting my feet clear the ground, and it went a long way. Lots of skips without stopping.
RESTPAUSE (12 Deep Breaths Between Sets)
5x450
2x450
1x450
10x360
5x360
3x360
2x360
1x360
15x270
6 MINUTE REST
SUPERSETS (snatch-hyper)
Hang power snatches
4x5xBar
Reverse hypers 360
4x22
Notes: 2:00 between giant sets. Looks like the wheels may be falling off on the squat program. I have 2 future COAs: lowering the weight, going for rep PRs, then upping the weight again: alternating between SSB and buffalo bar. I REALLY want to do the latter, but the truth is, I get stronger using a buffalo bar vs a SSB. The SSB has better carryover to strongman stuff, but it also plays to my strengths because I can lean way forward and Conan it up. The buffalo bar won’t tolerate that, which forces me to remain more upright and use more quads, which are definitely a weakness. The SSB would also keep me from junking up my shoulder so frequently, but I think I’m solving that with the stretching. Part of me thinks the stretching might also be a reason why I’m seeing numbers drop, as it means no longer relying on stiff muscles and connective tissue to bounce out of the hole. And, of course, weight loss is a factor as well. Still, what I am facing is an abundance of solutions, so I’m in a good place.
Resolved the shoulder pain in the snatches by dropping the bar from the top. It’s so smart: why didn’t anyone else think to do that? Oh yeah…
Finally pulled the trigger and bought a Bas Rutten “Body Action System”
Mine is the basic model: just the head and torso. Have wanted one for a while. It’s conditioning I can do inside my house, and that I’m more willing to do. And I can’t give up my past, much as I try. Going to let my kid use it for Tae Kwon Do practice as well.
Notes: 2:05 between benching, 2:00 between dips. Broke protocol and benched the day after squats, but my elbows seem sorted out now. Shoulder still isn’t 100%, but after the first set of benching it fell into place. It’s like I need a little pump in the shoulder to get it feeling solid.
Stretching is really coming along. I can almost sit on my heels from my knees, Aikido style
And when I say “almost”, I mean I can almost make contact with my glutes and heels, which is still pretty huge, as previously I formed a 90 degree angle with my knees when I tried that. Again: small victories.
Reviewed old material. Focused on stances. It’s amazing how un-intuitive standing balanced is.
20 minutes of rope skipping
4 rounds of shadowboxing (2:00 rounds with 1:00 rest)
Notes: Stretching is still good. Groin is a little tender. May be pushing too hard on top of the squats.
Showcased a few kicks during the TKD lesson to get my student excited. My range is improving. I can kick slightly above my waist now.
Rope skipping improves. 20 minutes no longer gasses me. Shortened the rope a touch and it helped. The shadowboxing really made me come to life. This is honestly so deep in my DNA that it’s fun finding it again. Hung it up after 4 rounds because I was getting sloppy. First round was purely boxing, but after that I allowed myself some kicks. Honestly can’t bring myself to use a lot of the TKD stuff. About the only thing that makes it in the rotation is a sidekick and back kick.
(3) High Handle Trap Bar Pulls
5x135
5x225
3x315
1x405
1x495
1x585
1x675
1x740 (5lb PR)
1x745 (another 5lb PR)
SUPERSETS (dead-row)
2 second pause deadlifts 315
3x9
T-bar row 3 plates
3x11
Notes: 3:45 between heavy pulls, 2:00 between supersets. Really digging how hard I can push on this movement and get some strain. There was like a 3 second delay between when I started pulling and when the weight actually started moving off the floor on the final set of the trap bar pulls, and I could feel the blood vessels breaking in my face. Max effort indeed. Lower back was a little tender: think it’s from some bobbing and weaving during my shadowboxing.
The pause deadlifts continue to be awesome. Really think I’m onto something there.
In typing this I realize I haven’t stretched today. Will try to get some in before bed.
I love your commitment to the lift. So many people with similar frames to yours (aka big as shit) would have failed those lifts. There’s no fear; no lack of concentration in the face of big weight. Max effort is usually a bit of a misnomer, if taken literally. Not here. Always appreciate the content, dude.
@flappinit That really means a lot dude. I take to this style with deads especially. It’s nice to have to overcome a dead weight and throw everything at it. I feel like it carries over to a lot. But it can get me in trouble sometimes, haha.
@mr.v3lv3t Thanks dude! It’s quite a sensation when you feel it FINALLY start to give after a few seconds, haha.
PM WORKOUT
SUPERSETS (press-chin)
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
3x166
3x191
6x216
NG chins (various grips)
3x11
3x10
GIANT SETS (press-dip-raise-pull aparts: sets 1 and 4: trap bar, sets 2 and 5: axle, sets 3 and 6: log)
Trap bar press 170lbs
2x10
Axle strict press 191
1x6
1x5
Log clean and strict press away 190
2x6
Dips
6xFailure
DB lateral raise 30s
3x12
3x11
Band pull aparts
6x13
Poundstone curls
102xAxle
Notes: 3:45 between heavy presses, 2:00 between giant sets. Strained something in my right glute yesterday, and it made bracing pretty much impossible. Warm ups felt heavy, and I just couldn’t transfer power on my pressing. Became obvious because the trap bar press was a PR, and dips had no issue, but once I had a bar IN FRONT of me instead of to the side, stabilization came into play. Cleaning the log was quite painful. Still, working hard until the conditions was enough to get a response, and I imagine next week will be good. I AM contemplating swapping some of the supplemental work as my weight drops to get something of a new training effect: will see how that goes.
Got my stretching in yesterday: need to fit it in today.
Did 25 minutes of stretching, and started working some single leg work on my left leg. It makes a horrific sound whenever I squat with it, and it was grossing my wife out, so that’s a new PR. I figure, if I keep working it, it’ll work through whatever issues it has, and that should fit in with the stretching.
May get to teach another TKD lesson today, depending on how school shakes out, but I’m back to 7 days on of work this week, so things will be tight.
Haha I had that feeling during the car deadlift simulation I did in my second comp. It seemed like an eternity to get a rep moving, but then when I watched the video there wasn’t much delay at all. Makes yours that much better.
@dagill2 Man let’s hope. Be silly to spend all this time on it otherwise, haha.
@mr.v3lv3t It’s such a distinct feeling isn’t it? The difference between when something is welded to the ground vs when you pull and think “WAIT: I think it’s moving JUST slightly”.
Wanted to brag that I’ve promoted my student: they now are a white belt with a stripe in Tae Pwn Do, since I have zero authority to award rank in Tae Kwon Do but the TKD police can’t arrest me while we’re all in quarantine. Jokes aside, they learned the push kick today and showed some real promise with it, and they’ve got a pretty solid handle on Chon Ji. Once they can do it all by themselves with no hints and make the punches look strong, I’ll move them up to orange belt.
I brought out my Titan crash pad to have them kick against today, and that seemed to help. They were excited about having some resistance. Punching was still a bit weak: some fear of pain in the hands. Might have them break out the gloves and focus mitts to get a little more live practice out of it. Talked a bit about the difference between how the push kick is used in TKD vs the teep in Muay Thai, and went over a very basic combination they’ll learn later. They liked the look for the thai roundhose, and I think that’ll actually be more intuitive for them compared to the TKD round kick.
My Body Action System should get here tomorrow, so that will be something useful for that as well.
I found this to be true regularly amongst my younger students. The addition of the chambering of the kicking leg, in addition to pivoting, just seemed to be too much.
