Ma Renaissance

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121

[ul][li]Marching/Skipping x 1000+m
[/li]
Pain in foot was again not seen. A little short ROM after though, but definitely not painful and it came back soon enough.

[li]3x10 forward between legs medball throws
[/li]Better than last week.

[li]7-8 x 35-40m build-ups
[/li]Very fast again. Felt good on these. A bit tired the last 2 as these were all with a walk back recovery (somewhat fast).

[li]Plyos 7 x 10 – Stair Jumps.
[/li]All boxes being used by other “teams” for “training” aka being lazy slobs. The football team insists on using them to sit down during their joke workouts (20+ sets of bench variations the one day and plenty of reverse curl powercleans which they call good form), as does the cheerleading team (not hot enough to be of concern). I was tired of the BS the coaches were giving me, so I just used the stairs.

[li]40 minute break
[/li]Not by my own decision, but I had to pick-up my mom from work and do all of this crap. It really ticked me off, but whatever.

[li]2 x 10 135lbs Deep Squats
[/li]

[li]4 x 5 Squats Parallel heavy w/ belt
[/li]Relatively easy warm-ups (185x5, 225x5, 275x3) then the work sets:

-295 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-325 x 5 The last rep was probably 3 inches above parallel and the 4th one possibly one (or none, I wasn’t focusing too much on the depth other than to get the hell out of the hole fast), all of the rest to parallel though.

The last rep pissed me off. I was going down and the fight/flight response kicked in and my body just wanted to get the hell out of there so I went up a little early. I was generally happy with the squats.

[li]2x8 (16 total) reverse lunges w/ DBs (55’s)
[/li]

[li]Goodmornings 3 x 10
[/li]-95lbs
-125lbs x 2

Relatively easy. Had to do this at the gym that doesn’t have a GHR, but it got the job done.
[/ul]

After this, I did a good amount of stretching total lower body. I had to walk home in the freezing cold for about 3/4 a mile, which hopefully was not too stressful on the body. Need to buy some more protein–I just ran out over the weekend and I had to substitute for the oh-so-great Amino Fuel from Twin Labs. Got the job done. Took a nap in the middle of dinner (just kind of passed out) for about 45minutes. Nice contrast shower tonight with probably some stretching/soup can later on.

I am really liking the way everything is coming along at this point.

122

[ul][li]Team warm-up
[/li]

[li]DB Snatches 10 x 10
[/li]-40lb DB x 1
-50lb DB x 9

[li]Core / Callisthenics
[/li]

[li]300+ reps hurdle mobility
[/li]Did these w/ and without holding a medball at various positions (overhead, in front, hugging, etc.). Very high density (essentially no rest the entire time other than setting up and tallying every 50 reps or so.

[li]General Strength + Core
[/li]Big room was taken so no throws, but plenty of core and general strength work.
[/ul]

Hammies and posterior chain in general is mildly sore–hopefully gone tomorrow.

After training, I had dinner and took a nice nap (1 hour+) so that I can finish some things late tonight.

123

[ul][li]480 medball throws
[/li]

[li]Mountain climbers x 8 sets of ~30-45 seconds each w/ 30seconds or less rest
[/li]

[li]General Strength / Oly Complexes (light)
[/li]

[li]240+ medball throws
[/li]

[li]General Strength / Core / DB Snatches (5x10 light)
[/li][/ul]

Hammies are still slightly sore at the top (only in a stretch though). Tomorrow will be an oly day.

124

[ul][li]6 x 10 DB Snatches
[/li]Did some BW squats after this.

[li]5x5 Hang cleans (5 minutes between sets)
[/li]Warm-up: 135 x 5; 155x3
Work sets:
-175 x 5
-175 x 5
-185 x 5
-175 x 5 (although the 2nd rep I didn’t catch because of form issues, very high pull though)
-175 x 3

Form started to break down a bit in the 3rd set near the end (with 185lbs) and for one rep in the 4th set (see below). Last set, blahhh.

Not sure whether to be happy or pissed with the results. I’ll wait until next week. If my form was better (it’s not bad, just breaks down when fatigued), I could do so much better on these.

[li]Deadlifts 3 x 6 heavy (5mins rest/no belt)
[/li]Warm-up: 225 x 5; 275 x 2

Work Sets:
-315 x 6
-335 x 6
-335 x 6

I was happy with this, compared to what I was doing on the powercleans. My form didn’t break down at all and to be honest, it didn’t feel that hard (not easy, but not killing myself). I used gloves, which really helped as I focused more on light the weight rather than keeping my grip tight.

[li]Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10 (20 total/10 each leg)
[/li]
-95lbs for both. Quick tempo

[li]GHR 3x10
[/li]BW x 2
BW + 15lbs behind head x 1

Felt good.
[/ul]

Good day today. Happy with the day and with my workout (minus the hang cleans near the end). Tomorrow will be a low intensity work out, as usual. Still need to buy some gifts though…

125

Friday:
[ul][li]450 Reps of Hurdle Mobility
[/li]~2-3 minutes rest total throughout the entire thing. Used medballs of varying sizes, weights, and positions.

[li]General Strength / Core / Medball Dynamic Flexibility
[/li]This went on for about half an hour

[li]200 medball throws
[/li]

[li]Easy core/gs
[/li]
The workout felt good.

Today (TERRIBLE):
[li]5 x 20 push-ups 90-120 seconds rest
[/li]Quick and easy. I felt good on these, especially since I haven’t been doing too high of volume on push-ups lately.

[li]Bench 3x8 paired w/ DB Rows x 10
[/li]-195 x 7, needed help at the top on 8 // 60lb DB
-185 x 8 // 60lb DB
-185 x 5!!! // 60lbs DB

I completely lost focus on the last set. My head was just not in it at all today. At the end of yesterday’s workout, when I was stretching, I was kind of in one of those staring into space moods (not thinking about anything) and just sitting there. Somehow that fked up attitude permeated to my workout today.

[li]Intended 5x5 Incline DB press paired w/ pull-ups
[/li]-60lb dbs // 10 pull-ups
Felt easy.
-65lb dbs // 6 pull-ups
The first 4 reps were relatively easy on the incline, and then I got crushed and could move the last rep. On pull-ups, I did 6 and wasn’t feeling it and just stopped (no failure, to clarify).

Today was a terrible workout. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me today. I am going to relax, watch some tv, maybe do some core, and come back strong after Christmas. I don’t know what happened with my focus, that has been very on the last few months.
[/ul]

126

Eh, it happens… Sometimes you can’t always have the greatest of workouts… Happened to me a week ago, I went to do my bench press workout after doing Hang Cleans and Squats, and was struggling to do 185 for 7 reps… When I can do 225 at least 6 or 7 times… Keep ur head up, come back strong on Monday. You’ll be cool.

127

Thanks Cortese, I appreciate that.
Looking forward for redemption.

128

[ul][li]Marching/Skipping x 1000+m
[/li]

[li]3 x PNF on calves and hamstrings
[/li]

[li]3x10 OHB Medball throws (12lb ball)
[/li]Rather pleased, although I am pretty hit or miss with technique. Had some easy 50+footers today.

[li]8 x build-ups
[/li]-First 2 reps x ~35m
-Last 6 reps x ~50m
Took about 1 minute rest between each. Took the accel portion a little harder than I have been and had a longer distance for the last 6 reps (found the space). Felt great on these. Ready to jump into some speed work! (won’t yet of course to hold myself back)

[li]Plyos 8 x 10 – Stair Jumps.
[/li]I wanted to use a box, so I just went for height on a lot these and landed where I landed. Some with a walk up some straight jump.

[li]Weights…
[/li]
[li]2 x 10 135lbs Deep Squats
[/li]

[li]4 x 5 Squats Parallel heavy w/ belt (4mins rest exactly)
[/li]Relatively easy warm-ups (185x5, 225x5, 265x2) then the work sets:

-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-285 x 5

Parallel on all of these (someone watched). No spotter on the last set, so I backed off a little. Felt very good. Strict on the rest intervals.

[li]2x8 (16 total) Reverse lunges w/ DBs
[/li]-60’s for both sets.

[li]GHR / Reverse Hyper Complex 3 x 10+10
[/li]These went well. No added weight on either (we don’t have a real reverse hyper). 2 minutes rest between sets. Felt a pump in the erectors.

[li]Cool down
[/li]I had a bit more time today than usual, so I did a short cool down. ~400m of walking/jogging/skipping + static stretching on lower body.

[/ul]

Felt great today. I was happy with the workout. I am going to go for it on the squats next week as I backed off a little this week. Happy with the runs, plyos, medball, and everything in general. Tomorrow, I am getting ART done by the former trainer (for the last 2 years) of Brian Clay, so he should be able to resolve virtually all of my problems. Feeling good right now.

129

[ul][li]6 Minutes of Walk/Jog/Skip then brief static stretching
[/li]

[li]720+ Medball throws
[/li]90 seconds rest after 360 throws

[li]240 Hurdle Mobility Reps
[/li]No rest except for changing hurdle height (one time)

[li]ART Therapy
[/li]My hips are really opened up. Said I need to work a bit on the pelvic stability. With one session, he said I can probably get the hips as opened as I will need to be, along with fixing the calves. He gave me some good flexibility and strengthening things to try out. I may see him next week.

[/ul]

Glutes and upper hammies are a little sore (not as much as last week though). Tomorrow I will decide whether or not to go through with my next high intensity workout

130

[ul][li]6 x 10 DB Snatches
[/li]Some BW Squats, Scorpions, etc. after this. Was very sweaty (compression shorts + short + sweat pants/shirt, 2 t-shirts).

[li]Deadlifts 3 x 6 heavy (4mins rest/belted)
[/li]Warm-up: 135 x 5; 225 x 5; 275 x 3

Work Sets:
-335 x 6
-355 x 6
-355 x 6

Very pleased. Completed all of these cleanly and quickly (relatively). Really felt great. I am guessing I can do 420+ on deads now as I wasn’t able to do this last year when I did 405x2.

[li]Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10 (20 total/10 each leg)
[/li]
65lb DBs for both sets (130lbs total)

[li]GHR 3x10
[/li]Exhausted after this. Was going to do 4x10, but just stopped it after 3.
[/ul]

I’m going to do a easy cool down, abs, and some stretching now. I was slightly (very mild) sore in my adductors from the therapy yesterday. Icy hot + contrast shower + extended warm-up hopefully helped with that. Happy with the session and looking to recover for next weeks lower body stuff. Saturday will be push/pull/ab stuff.

131

Not going to type out the entire order and everything exactly because I’m in a hurry, but the basics:

[ul]
[li]1100+ Medball throws
[/li]

[li]GS Lunges (160+ reps, 80+ each leg)
[/li]Low rest.

[li]400+ Core Reps
[/li]

[li]Stretches, GS Upperbody, etc.
[/li][/ul]

132

[ul]
[li]Push-ups/Lat-pull down as warm-up
[/li]

[li]Bench 6 x 2–Paired with DB rows x 6 2 minutes between exercises (supersetted)
[/li]
Bench
-225 x 4
-235 x 2

Rows:
-70 x 6

Better than last week. Had no spotter on these, so I wasn’t going to take any risks.

[li]Standing military 3x5 paired w/ 10 pull-ups immediately after
[/li]
For military sets:
-115
-125 x 2

[li]Push-ups, pull-ups (varying grips/widths), and core
[/li]

[/ul]

Good workout. More core and push-ups here before dinner then a party. Hopefully this near year will bring a lot!

133

[ul]
[li]Jogging till light sweat + Static Stretch
[/li]

[li]Marching/Skipping x 1000+m
[/li]

[li]PNF on Calves and Hamstrings
[/li]

[li]4x10 OHB medball throws
[/li]Only had an 8lb ball (my other one has gone missing). So these were pretty fast, but not as intense.

[li]8 x 35 build-ups
[/li]Felt fast, but nothing incredible. These were just OKAY (not bad, but not great).

[li]Plyos 8 x 10 – Stair Jumps.
[/li]These were not that great. The jumps themselves were okay, but so many gddamn interruptions from people and everything, just very annoying. I didn’t feel like I was doing as well as I have done. I also did a couple vertical jumps on the basketball court. Here is what I cannot understand: I can do box jumps and other jumps great, better than people I know who can get their hand well over the rim, yet I am a few inches away from even touching it when I try. It seems like a psyche myself out when I’m near a hoop.

[li]2 x 10 135lbs Deep Squats
[/li]

[li]4 x 5 Squats Parallel heavy w/ belt
[/li]Relatively easy warm-ups (185x5, 225x5, 275x3) then the work sets:

-315 x 5
-335 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5

Happy with these. All reps at or below parallel. On the 335 set, I had 2 reps tap the bar spots in the rack (almost an inch below parallel), so I was definitely going low enough. The squats made me pleased with the workout, that I didn’t feel all that great about before (then again, hard to gauge the other stuff).

[li]3x8 (16 total) reverse lunges w/ DBs
[/li]
-65’s
-70’s
-70’s

These went well also, so I dropped the goodmornings (light) that I was going to be doing and called it a workout.
[/ul]

Very pleased with my workout today. The build-ups/plyos are hard to gauge, but I didn’t feel amazing on them, but the weights session definitely went well and I was very pleased.

134

[ul]
[li]Jogging (~3/4 mile) + Static Stretch
[/li]

[li]300+ Reps (I think 340, but could be more) Hurdle Mobility
[/li]
Only 2 minutes rest after 180 reps. Everything else w/ no rest.

[li]Lunge Series
[/li]
90 each leg. 30 seconds after every 10 reps (20 total) each leg.

[li]Core + Stretching
[/li]

[li]Recovery Modalities
[/li]Warm Salt Bath, Contrast shower, self massage, myofascial release[/ul]

Everything was being used today. The volume was rather low, but density high and lots of recovery modalities.

Moderate/light soreness in abs, glutes (the most), and upper hamstrings.

135

[ul][li]Warm-up
[/li]Jog + stretch, Db Snatches, BW+Bar Squats, Scorpions

[li]Hang Cleans 3x3 Easy low rest (just to get some easy elastic work
[/li]-175 for all sets

[li]Deadlifts 4 x 6 mod/heary–not maximal (4-5mins rest/belted)
[/li]335 for all 4 sets

[li]Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10 (20 total/10 each leg)
[/li]60lb DBs for first set, 65lb DBs for 2nd set

[li]GHR 4x10
[/li]

[li]Cool down jog/skip + Stretch
[/li]
[/ul]

Workout went well today. The cleans weren’t great, but not bad. Just the usual. The workout was not anything special today, felt good to get something done though. I took a nap before for about 2 hours and will be trying to get to sleep at a reasonable time tonight.

136

[ul]
[li]Jogging (~3/4 mile) + Static Stretch + Core
[/li]

[li]300+ Reps (I think 340, but could be more) Hurdle Mobility
[/li]High Density

[li]Core
[/li]Totaled over 1000 reps between this and the warm-up core.

[li]DB Snatches 10 x 10 (5L+5R) w/ 30sec rest
[/li]

[li]Quick Stretch
[/li][/ul]

Essay…

137

[ul]
[li]General Warm-up (Jog+Stretch+Push-ups+Lat-pulldown)
[/li]

[li]Bench 6x2–Paired with DB rows x 6 2 minutes between exercises (supersetted)
[/li]
Bench
-230
-240
-240
-240
-240 x 1.5 (could finish off rep 2–I was unfocused going into this, completely my fault mentally)
-225

Rows:
-60
-60
-65
-70
-70
-80

I was happy with this. The last 2 weeks I have technically hit PR’s as I never did over 230 until last workout where I did 235 for 2x2 in my work sets and this week I hit 240 for 3x2 and should have had it 4x2 if I wasn’t joking around with my workout partner.

[li]Standing Military x 6 Paired w/ Pull-ups
[/li]-115lbs for all military

For pull-ups:
-14
-14
-12

Last set I failed at 12 reps on pull-ups, oddly. Not bad and it felt good to do more than 10 reps on pull-ups.

[li]Core + Push/Pull general Strength
[/li]Had hundreds of prone reps + a good amount of push-ups (over 100 in sets of 20 and I don’t do the shit push-ups most do) and varied grip/width/tempo pull-ups (~40 reps, give or take a bit).

[/ul]

Took yesterday off as I had no sleep because of this damn essay (half of semester grade). Feeling good today though and the lifts went well. I think I am capable of 265+, possibly 275 at this point judging by my last two workouts.

138

Let’s just say it was the opposite of last week’s 1st session.

[ul]
[li]Jogging till light sweat + Static Stretch with team
[/li]

[li]Marching/Skipping x 1000+m
[/li]

[li]3x10 OHB medball throws
[/li]Used a 10lb ball. These felt great. I probably hit some training PR’s with many over 45ft (from 40ft away hitting the wall about 10ft up multiple times).

[li]5 x 50m build-ups
[/li]Used 2 minute rests between reps. These felt very fast and smooth. I felt like I was really getting into a nice rhythm and a couple people watching said the frequency is a lot faster than they’ve seen, so I was happy. This was definitely a good point.

[li]Plyos 6 x 8 – Hurdle Hops
[/li]I used an absorption landing and 30 seconds rest between sets. These felt great and I was pleased with the height and consistency.

[li]2 x 10 135lbs Deep Squats
[/li]

[li]4 x 5 Squats Parallel heavy w/ belt
[/li]Relatively easy warm-ups (Full: 185x3, 225x3, 275x2 half) then the work sets:

-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 5
-315 x 3

I don’t know wtf happened here. The sets were so hard from the beginning, and I was going to parallel (although 2nd set, I had one or two reps about an inch above I think–the rest were at or below parallel though). The last set I got 3 reps and I was already grinding them out really slow, so I stopped early. This was so shitty, I can’t believe myself. I basically punked out like a little woman. Damnit.

[li]Bench 8, 6, 4, 3
[/li]
-185
-195
-215
-225 x 2

Again, terrible. The last set I could not muster out 3 on the bench. My lifts were just terrible today. The 8, 6, 4 were not that bad, but the 225 for 3 killed me.
[/ul]

My workout today was the opposite of last week: shitty lifts, but nice explosive work. The lifts are comparable to where I was at 2 weeks ago, at least, on squat (for bench I was still a tad sore from Saturday, which is odd as I haven’t been sore from bench in MONTHS). I started taking creatine today after my workout. Next heavy lifting should be better if I’m not a little bia. Looking forward to next workout as I am beginning to go more CFTS style (will run again on Wednesday and do another lift full body to spread the stimulus around).

139

[ul]
[li]Extended jog & stretch
[/li]

[li]1000+ reps of medball throws
[/li]High Density–only rest was 90 seconds after 500 and I used a heavier ball.

[li]Core + Stretching
[/li][/ul]

Mild soreness (the least I’ve had in a long time after a lower body workout) in the posterior chain.

140

Do you throw against a wall or with a partner? That’s a whole lot of throws by the way, and that is a tough workout. Good stuff.