Dr. G's Training Journal

[Derek Simonds]

Dr G. fantastic meet it is always cool to set PR's and both of those are solid numbers. With the PL meet and the HG's you are going to be busy. I am looking forward to your training for both of them.

[Garrett Smith]

Thanks Derek, PRs are always nice. In terms of busy, I'm making sure not to add any training days to my routine for these new events, I'm simply swapping out a workout a week for the new stuff.

Plan for the PL meet prep:

• Monday - Rest and/or recovery stuff (YRG, joint mobility, clubbells, gymnastics warm-up)
• Tuesday - OL, snatch day
• Wednesday - Gymnastics at OPG
• Thursday - OL, C&J day
• Friday - Rest and/or recovery stuff (YRG, joint mobility, clubbells, gymnastics warm-up)
• Saturday - Gymnastics at home gym
• Sunday - Bench Press, Deadlift/Plyo workout

The plan for the Highland Games will likely be similar, I'm guessing the training sessions for that will be on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I'll start going to those after the PL meet and then consider dropping the BP/DL/plyo day for a while.

As of right now, there are no more OL meets scheduled in AZ for the rest of 2009. Joe Micela said he's considering doing another one in September, and I suggested to Matt Foreman that he host another December one at his high school like he did last year. So, we'll see what develops!

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Sunday 6/14/09: Rest. No workout.

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Monday 6/15/09: Rest. No workout.

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Tuesday 6/16/09: Rest. No workout.

We're likely having a massage therapist moving into the office who does:

• Myofascial Release
• Teaches self trigger point therapy using the TheraCane
• Teaches self Yamuna Body Rolling (like SMR, only using balls of different sizes and some other specialized tools)

I'm going to start getting some more soft tissue work. I think it will only help. Tomorrow is gymnastics at OPG as usual, taking the week off from lifting until Sunday for the PL workout.

[Garrett Smith]

Wednesday 6/17/09: Gymnastics at OPG.

Chris and Ian are now coming to join StevO and I, a new guy named Dave also joined in today. This means a lot more rest and longer workouts due to having to work in 3+ more people (Tracy usually shows up as well). This may mean things have to be reworked a bit.

6:15pm
Wrist prehab

Warm-up, alternated sets of push/pull, rested during StevO and Tre's sets:

• Horizontal push, vertical pull
  • (Low) parallette Bulgarian push-ups, 5reps one way, rest, then 5reps the other way
  • Rings, sup.-to-pron. pull-ups, 5reps
  • Pseudo-planche push-ups on floor, 5reps
  • Rings, L-sit pull-ups, 5 reps
  • Floor tuck planche push-ups on floor from bottom up, 5 reps
  • Rings, Bulgarian pull-ups, 5 reps

• Vertical push, horizontal pull
  • Parallel bars, Bulgarian dips, 5reps one way, then 5reps the other way
  • Rings, tuck front lever pull-ups, 5reps
  • Parallel bars, Russian dips, 5reps
  • Parallel bars, extended tuck front lever pull-ups, 3reps
  • Parallel bars, L-sit dips, 5reps
  • Rings, ice cream makers, 5reps, beginning from an inverted hang on the first rep

Workout:
3 rotating sets of

• Free handstand, as long as possible, attempts may be made until satisfied or frustrated
• Face-to-wall handstand, 20sec.,
• Rings, tick-tock variations (front lever pulls to back lever pulls):
  • 1st set, attempted one-leg front lever to extended tuck tick-tocks x 3 reps to eccentric-only front lever letdown
  • 2nd set, straddle back lever to German hang to eccentric-only front lever letdown
  • 3rd set, back lever proper to German hang to eccentric-only straddle front lever letdown

Followed by 3sets x 1rep of parallette tuck planche to shoulder stand to tuck planche

External rotation:

• Wall Extensions, 10reps
• DBs Cuban Press, 10# x 10reps

--

Thursday 6/18/09: Rest. No workout.

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Friday 6/19/09: Gymnastics in garage.

6:30pm
Gymnastics strength training in garage. Joined by StevO, Chris, Tracy, and Ian.

Wrist prehab

Warmup:

• Horizontal push, vertical pull
  • Rings push-up position mature support iso hold, 60sec.
  • Bar deadhang chest-to-bar pull-ups, 5reps
  • Ring push-ups with mature supports between, 5reps
  • Bar L-sit chin-ups, 5reps
  • Rings Bulgarian push-ups, 5reps
  • Bar wide-grip pull-ups, 5reps
• Vertical push, horizontal pull
  • Rings mature support iso hold, 30sec.
  • Rings tuck front lever pull-ups, 4reps
  • Rings dips with mature support between, 5reps
  • Bar extended tuck front lever pull-ups, 3reps
  • Rings Korean dips from bottom position up, 1.5 reps
  • Bar ice cream makers, 5reps

Workout, rotating through, alternating sets:

• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up, 1 rep
• Rings - Extended tuck front lever, 30 sec.
• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up, 1 rep
• Rings - Ext. tuck front lever, 30 sec.
• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up to partial concentric, 1 rep
• Rings - Extended tuck back lever, 30sec.
• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up, 1 rep
• Rings - Extended tuck back lever, 30sec.

Parallettes - Tuck planche iso hold on floor, 8sec. + 11sec. + 11sec. (3 sets)

External rotation:

• Wall extensions,10reps
• DBs Cuban Press, 10# x 12reps

Followed by BBQ, some beer, watching Step Brothers. Good times.

Saturday 6/20/09: Rest. No workout.

Yet another cousin's birthday pool party. In Phoenix even. Joy.

[Garrett Smith]

Sunday 6/21/09: Bench press, DL/plyo workout.

8:30am
Joint mobility

Focus was on working on bench press technique (of which I learned I had none after reading this article other than the garbage BBer style).

Bench press warm-up: 95# x 3, 135 x 3, 155 x 3, 185 x 2
Followed bench work sets immediately with clapping push-ups, BearPowered style, 5 minutes rest between plyo set and next bench set

• Bench press work: 205 x 1, 225 x 1, 245 x miss, 235 x 1 PR
• Clapping push-ups: 5reps x 3 sets

Hurdle hip mobility
Followed DL work sets immediately with 4-way box plyos, 5 minutes rest between plyo set and next DL set

• Deadlift work: 295 x 2reps x 3sets
• 4-way box plyos: 1round x 3 sets

I will definitely be doing a warm-up set of DLs next time. My back was tired from arching on the bench press in a way that I'm definitely not used to.

GS-stye KB work, 5min. rest between sets:

• 24kg KB snatches, 1min. per side, 1 set
• 24kg KB One Arm Long Cycle Clean & Jerk (OALC), 1min. per side, 1set

[Garrett Smith]

Monday 6/22/09: Rest. No workout.

Must do YRG...

Tuesday 6/23/09: Snatch workout.

I wanted to try the "rep on the minute" approach I saw in this article by Mr. Pendlay. I thought I remembered it being from 60-85% of one's max weight--it was actually 65-85%--so I went a bit too light for the Rx. That's okay by me, as my mid-lower back is fried from the bench/DL/GS workout on Sunday...

I believe the new workout rotation will go something like this, in terms of lifting, at least until the PL meet is done (then Day 3 will likely turn into an HG event training day):

Week A:

Day 1

• Snatches on the minute, 8-12 singles of a weight between 65-85%
• Front Squats, 3sets x 2reps

Day 2

• C&J to heavy single
• Clean pulls, 3sets x 3reps, at +0 / +5kg / +10kg over final clean weight
• Back Squats, 3sets x 3reps

Day 3

• Bench/plyo, 3-5sets of 1-5reps bench followed by 5 clapping push-ups
• DL/plyo, 3-5sets of 1-5reps DL followed by 1-3 rounds of 4-way box plyos
• GS KBs (mild), 2+ minutes each of snatch and OALCCJ

Week B:

Day 1

• Snatches to heavy single
• Snatch pulls, 3sets x 3reps, at +0 / +5kg / +10kg over final snatch weight
• Front Squats, 3sets x 2reps

Day 2

• C&J on the minute, 8-12 singles of a weight between 65-85%
• Back Squats, 3sets x 3reps

Day 3

• Bench/plyo, 3-5sets of 1-5reps bench followed by 5 clapping push-ups
• DL/plyo, 3-5sets of 1-5reps DL followed by 1-3 rounds of 4-way box plyos
• GS KBs (mild), 2+ minutes each of snatch and OALCCJ

--

6:15pm
Joint mobility
Snatch warm-up drills with 15kg bar

Snatch warm-up: 25kg x 3, 35 x 2, 45 x 1
Snatches on the minute (~60% of 88kg max): 52.5 x 1rep x 12sets
Front Squats: 70kg x (stop + 1 1/4 + regular), 105 x 2 x 3

Felt good! Front squats were hard, the low back fried-ness didn't help at all.

[Garrett Smith]

Ordering today (Thursday) from MuscleDriverUSA:

• WFW 15kg bumper plates
• 20kg GS Kettlebell
• Purple band

I knew those extra stall mats would be good for something! Selling them on Craigslist worked out quite well....

Wednesday 6/24/09: Gymnastics at OPG.

This workout had both good and suck in it. I was joined by Ian, StevO, and Tracy.

6:15pm
Wrist prehab
4 hindu push-ups + 1 divebomber-"pump"

Warm-up, alternated sets of push/pull, rested during StevO and Tre's sets:

• Horizontal push, vertical pull
  • Pseudo-planche push-ups on floor, 5 reps, progressed upwards from the parallette Bulgarian push-ups
  • Rings, sup.-to-pron. pull-ups, 5reps, will be changing these to straddle L pull-ups next time
  • Parallettes, pseudo-planche push-ups with feet elevated, 5reps
  • Rings, L-sit pull-ups, 5 reps
  • Floor tuck planche push-ups on floor from bottom up, 4 reps
  • Rings, Bulgarian pull-ups, 5 reps

• Vertical push, horizontal pull
  • Parallel bars, manna split hold low, max time hold for 1 set, will time this next workout
  • Rings, tuck front lever pull-ups, 4reps
  • Parallel bars, Russian dips, 5reps, these are getting better already
  • Parallel bars, extended tuck front lever pull-ups, 3reps
  • Parallel bars, L-sit dips, 5reps
  • Rings, ice cream makers, 5reps, beginning from an inverted hang on the first rep

Workout:
3 rotating sets of

• Free handstand, as long as possible, attempts may be made until satisfied or frustrated, did a really good one on the parallettes for I'd guess ~30seconds!
• Face-to-wall handstand, 20sec., working on straight body / hollow form
• I was planning on doing my ring routine several times today, but I think the bench press PR on Sunday plus the new & harder movements in the warm-up really sucked it out of me. At first, I couldn't even get a single one (WTF? ). Considered that my technique sucked, fixed it and added more kip. Got one, but then fell out of the L-sit...gave up on the "normal" routine for the day, went to an easier version. Blurg. At least my handstands were better today to make up for it!
• Rings, short routine--hanging straight leg raise to inverted hang to back lever variation to eccentric-only front lever variation letdown:
  • 1st set, straddle back lever, unable to pull out without piking, front lever letdown
  • 2nd set, straddle back lever to inverted hang (no piking) PR to single-leg front lever letdown
  • 3rd set, straddle back lever to inverted hang (no piking) to straddle front lever letdown

Followed by 4sets x 1rep of straddle press to handstand using wedge pad against the wall

External rotation:

• Wall Extensions, 10reps
• DBs Cuban Press, 10# x 13reps

[Garrett Smith]

I think I've nailed down my issue lately. I am not getting enough sleep and the cumulative effects are piling up. I also have been slipping off Paleo way too often, which I believe negatively affects my sleep quality. Not enough sleep time + below-average sleep quality + hard training = crappy training results.

Thursday 6/25/09: C&J heavy single workout.

Jump rope 250 single bounce
Free handstand practice
Joint mobility

C&J warm-up drills with 20kg bar

• C&J warm-up: 30kg x 3, 40- x 3, 50 x 2, 60 x 2, 70 x 1, 80 x 1
• C&J work (~85% of 108kg max): 92.5kg x 1
• Clean pulls: 92.5 x 3, 97.5 x 3, 100 x 3 OOPS supposed to do 102.5 that last set and misloaded bar
• Back squats warm-up (stop squat + 1 1/4 squat + regular): 70 x 1
• Back squats work: 107.5 x 3reps x 2sets, 112.5 x 2reps x 2sets, 112.5 x miss, ran out of juice for that last set--that's from the lack of sleep issue!!!

[Garrett Smith]

Been working on the sleep issue, improving it slightly.

Friday 6/26/09: Gymnastics in garage.

Cori had scrapbooking again tonight, so I had the guys (Tracy, StevO, Ian) over for gymnastics training Friday night instead of Saturday morning, followed by BBQ and beer. Chris and Dave (Chris' roomate) joined us late as Chris did his gymnastics at work earlier. These are fun evenings once we all get past that Friday evening fatigue from the workweek--that and the fact that nearly all of us fall asleep where we're sitting during the DVD after dinner.

6:15pm
Wrist prehab
4 hindu pushups + 1 divebomber/pump

Warmup:

• Horizontal push, vertical pull
  • Rings push-up position mature support iso hold, 60sec.
  • Bar straddle L-sit chin-ups, 5reps, progressed to these from regular deadhang pull-ups
  • Ring push-ups with mature supports between, 5reps, able to keep the rings parallel to my body for entire set this time
  • Bar L-sit pull-ups, 5reps
  • Rings Bulgarian push-ups, 5reps, getting much wider on these!
  • Bar wide-grip pull-ups, 5reps
• Vertical push, horizontal pull
  • Rings mature support iso hold, 40sec.
  • Rings tuck front lever pull-ups, 4reps
  • Rings dips with mature support between, 5reps
  • Bar extended tuck front lever pull-ups, 3reps
  • Rings Bulgarian dips, 2reps, switched down to these from the Korean ring dips, I think this will be a better fit for the progression
  • Bar ice cream makers, 5reps

Workout, rotating through, alternating sets:

• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up to shoulder stand to attempted concentric free HSPU, 1 rep
• Rings - Ext. tuck front lever 15 sec. to inverted hang to ext. tuck back lever 15sec. to inverted hang
• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up to shoulder stand to attempted concentric free HSPU, 1 rep
• Rings - Ext. tuck front lever 15 sec. to inverted hang to ext. tuck back lever 15sec. to inverted hang
• Parallettes - Negative-only free handstand push-up to shoulder stand to attempted concentric free HSPU, 1 rep
• Rings - Ext. tuck front lever 15 sec. to inverted hang to ext. tuck back lever 15sec. to inverted hang

NEW exercise for planche progression:

• Floor - Full planche iso holds with 2 red JS band for assistance (hung from my pull-up bar), 8sec. + 11sec. + 12sec., these are AWESOME

External rotation:

• Wall extensions,10reps
• DBs Cuban Press, 10# x 13reps

--

Saturday 6/27/09: Rest. No workout.

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Sunday 6/28/09: PL meet prep workout, bench + plyo, DL + plyo, at Power & Physique gym (StevO's gym).

8:00am
Joint mobility

Bench press warm-up: 45# x 5, 135# x 3, 185# x 2

Followed bench press sets immediately with clapping push-ups, then 5min. rest.

• Bench press work: 225# x 2reps x 4sets (~96% of current max)
• Clapping push-ups: 5reps x 4 sets

Deadlift warm-up: 50kg x 3, 70kg x 3

Followed deadlift sets immediately with 4-way box plyos, then 5min. rest.

• Deadlift work: 125kg x 3reps x 5sets (~85% of current max)
• 4-way box plyos: 1round x 5 sets

Skipped GS KB work today. Waiting for my 20kg bell to come in the mail from MuscleDriver.

[Derek Simonds]

It is amazing what happens when you adjust to the PL style bench technique. I have been saying it for a while I know I am getting stronger in the bench but I am more concerned with the technique. I am at a point where I feel like my technique (very very similar to what Dave Tate describes with a slightly wider grip, not much but slightly) is really solid. I don't have any discomfort and I feel like I am progressing well!

One thing I have found though is that technique feels different on different benches. I lift all over the country and there are some benches that I just hate lifting that way on. It is hard to explain but I would definitely try and find out what kind of bench they will have at the meet and lift on one at least once before hand.

[Garrett Smith]

Yeah, the difference in using the PL bench technique in terms of stress on the shoulders vs. the BB style is pretty stark.

My right shoulder was feeling a little twingy going into the bench workout (from the tough gymnastics on Friday night), it actually felt better as the bench workout went on and feels totally fine today.

As far as finding out what bench the comp will be on, I only have one bench to train on, so I don't know that it would really matter in terms of me being able to find a different one!