Yep that’s about the size of it. Just going to keep feeding the boiler and chugging away. Soreness is reducing a little and I am starting to feel good again.
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Simple burpee and squat recovery session tonight. 5 burpees followed by 2 squats, 10 rounds. Followed this up with some stretching and mobility work. Feels like hips and knees are slowly improving.
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So time for my weekly reflection or just time to babble on about nothing. Firstly big thanks to @T3hPwnisher and @wiseman83 for the book recommendations, I have finished Dan John - Never let go and it was an awesome read and am part way through The Purposeful Primitive - Marty Gallagher and really enjoying that also. Love the start where he re-tells the stories of the primitive athletes, powerlifters bodybuilders etc. This is highly motivating and really makes me want to get in the gym.
The soreness from super squats is still there. My tendons in my knees hate me right now. That’s not new though, my right knee has hated me for over a year, but it is more noticeable right now. My hips are also still cranky but getting better. I am at least able to find a semi comfortable position to sleep in.
The strange thing is that when I do a squat the hips or knees not seem to hurt any more or cause any problems, They hurt more the rest of the time. I have squats tonight so it will be interesting to see how they move and how I feel.
I am excited about the new training block, this is only week 1 and I haven’t run all the sessions yet, but the first two went well and it is a good mix of heavier weights and intensity without the soul crushing volume and reps of SS.
I am not as excited about the conditioning work and if I am being honest I am holding back on pushing the intensity back up here. I know I need to do it and I know it is going to suck but the leg soreness is allowing me to find an excuse. I write that here because now I have said it out loud, I can not longer allow it to happen. And I know those reading this will not allow me to be soft, so I am borrowing some of your free will (Thanks Dan John - those who know will know).
I might be shirking the conditioning a little, but my overall drive an enthusiasm to train is still really high. Now its time to knuckle down and get back to work.
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Friday 17th June - week 1
Squat
Bar x 10
70 x 5
90 x 3
110 x 2
130 x 5 x 3 sets RPE 5, 5, 5
effort felt low but the weight felt heavy and the legs were sore, especially the hip flexors
130 x 5+ got 8 RPE 6 or less
Didn’t want to push this too much. But kept all the reps super deep today. Happy with this.
OH press
57.5 x 6 x 3 sets
Once I got used to these being in front and not behind they moved pretty well.
RDL
112.5 x 8 x 2 sets
112.5 x 8+ just kept this at 8 reps
No strap so grip as a factor on the last set. I think @SvenG jinxed me. LOL
Pull ups
3 sets - 5, 5, 5
Abs - some
First week done and it was a good week. Now to eat and recover a little more over the weekend and get that damn conditioning done.
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Sets from tonight, didn’t video the third set of 5 because I have fat fingers and started and stopped the video at the same time !!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce5xwqLrRzo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
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Tonight video if you don’t have IG
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Moving so easy man
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Glad you enjoyed/are enjoying the books dude! I’m envious of you getting to read those for the first time. I got “Never Let Go” right before I went on a cruise with the Mrs, and upset her a touch because I could NOT put it down, and spent most of the cruise reading it, haha. Dan is just a captivating writer.
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Yer Dan is a great read. I loved how reading through this there were so many times that his thoughts were close to mine and reinforced things I had thought about and then suddenly the next thing was a revelation and made me say, damn why didn’t I think of that.
The start of Marty’s book where he tells the stories of the old time lifters he worked with, reminded me of the Texas book and made me wish I was born 20 years earlier.
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They did move well. There was some sideways hip shift and a couple of reps where the weight was getting forward towards my toes which I think is because of the hip tightness. Not a big issue at this weight but I will need to watch it at heavier weights.
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Strongman Saturday session today was the first one with the new plastic barrel. 1 press overhead followed by 10 burpees, for 10 rounds. The barrel was tough but to press as there is no where to hold onto. Good session though.
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Yesterday was karate grading day. My son passed his and moved to blue belt which means he moves to a more senior class and will increase the number of sessions a week and start sparring which he is very excited about.
My daughter passed her brown belt 1st kyu red stripe grading. This means her next grading will be for her black belt. Her grading was 2 hours long and included, basics, kata, pad work and endurance, and she already did a sparring component earlier in the week. She was absolutely incredible, worked extremely hard and was focused, disciplined and respectful for the entire 2 hours. I am so proud of them both and can’t recommend martial arts for kids enough.
Oh and today I did a quick burpee and inverted rows on the ring workout. 5 burpees then 5 rows, for ten rounds.
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Outstanding news on the family front there dude! I’m excited for you and your family.
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Thanks Pwn for me watching my kids achieve something they worked for is the single best bit of being a dad. That and the cuddles of course.
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Monday 20th June - week 2
Deadlift
Bar x 10
70 x 5
110 x 3
140 x 3
Belt on - mixed grip
160 x 4 x 3 sets (352 lbs) RPE 5,5,5
160 x 4+ got 9 reps with maybe 3 left in the tank
Tried to be explosive on the warm ups. And that seemed to carry through ok. Happy with these tonight, knees still stiff and sore but didn’t effect the pulls
SSB
No sleeves no belt
110 x 7 x 2 sets (242 lbs)
110 x 7 +. Kept this to 7
These felt rough. Was never really straining hard but just felt crappy.
Db bench
37.5 x 8 x 4 sets (smooth reps - not hard)
SS
Db bench supported row
32.5 x 8 x 4 sets (these were tough)
Massive upper body pump and sweating hard after these.
Great session tonight, pulls were strong and the quad pump after deadlift and SSB squat was insane. Particularly in the outer quad area (vastus lateralis muscle). These were rock solid all the way down to the overhang at the knee. I think I got to feel a little bit of what it must feel like to be @kleinhound 
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Deadlifts from tonight… me likey very muchy
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I thought i had something more profound to say than “yes” when i pressed this. But “yes, this is awesome”
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After a week and 1 session of week 2 of my new training block I wanted to re-visit this.
I thought about this question a lot after last nights deadlifts and I think I can say that the answer is Yes. I pulled 160 for 9 reps last night and could have kept going for more reps. Even the last rep didn’t feel hard in terms of perceived effort. It was obviously slower than the first rep but it didn’t feel hard.
I also noticed with SSB squats last night that whilst my legs and hips were sore (as in joint pain) which made them uncomfortable, the reps never really felt harder start to finish. I kept the reps at 7 and didn’t push the last set but this was not due to they being hard just me trying to manage the recovery.
It’s still early days but I do think pushing yourself hard 3 days a week for 6 weeks really changes you perspective when it comes to hard training.
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That’s awesome to hear Simo! I figured all of that heavy and high rep work must’ve rewired your brain at least a little bit.
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Excellent. Well played mate. This is what autoregulation is all about.
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