Nathan's Nook

[Nathan]

Just a small sprint session today. Decided to do some longer sprints with longer rests. Mix it up. Still a bit of soreness in the hams mostly, so will wait before hitting the weighted stretches again. Relaxation and relaxed stretching to come.

[Nathan]

Today was light UB/heavy LB. Did some reorganization here too for July. Got rid of the 90s rest times as I felt like the fatigue trade-off just wasn't worth it for any small amount of conditioning effect I might have been getting. Bumped rests to 2m (2-3m for LB) and that felt good for the most part.

Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor Advanced L-sits: Was mostly just maintaining my L-sit here, but decided to work toward the advanced hips-forward L-sit instead. Moved back to a tuck with the hips ahead of the hands. So much harder! I like it.
• Ring Rows: Same movement, but decided to move this pull to the front. My horizontal is weaker than my vertical pull, so it's time to prioritize this a bit during at least one session. Felt really nice to hit these before fatigued.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): These are still a weak link, so keeping the order the same here. Moved the feet up a bit.
• Bar Pull Ups: These didn't actually feel too much harder with the reordering, which is good.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Will keep progressing these. At 3x10 with current lean.
• Weighted Cossack Squats: Wanted to switch things up a bit since I've been working a lot of pistol-type movements for a while now. Decided to try cossack squats for a while and see how that goes. Just holding plates right now. It's a new stimulus and hits a lot of places that aren't used to being hit, so starting off pretty light. Major muscles won't get hit nearly as hard as with the FS pistols, but I have a feeling these will bring up some weak points.
• Snatch Grip Deadlifts: Thanks to Jon for this suggestion. Not totally sure on form, but it started to make sense after a few reps. Had no idea how heavy these should be, so started really light and worked up to sets of 75kg. Felt pretty light, but I've never done these before so I stopped there and will see how I feel later  Will slowly work up to higher weights, and probably post a form check in a session or two.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. Was getting late and I was hungry so I skipped the STC today 

Lying relaxation and stretching to come.

[Nathan]

Had some nice soreness in the groin/inner hams after weighted cossacks and snatch grip DL, so just chilled out over the weekend and enjoyed it.

Heavy UB/light LB today. Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Increased hold time. Starting to feel difficult again, so will stick with this a few sessions.
• Weighted Chin Ups: Dropped the weight back down and managed a cluster of 15 (no grinders). Plan was 12, so I was happy with that.
• RTO Dips: Added 2 for a cluster of 17. Will shoot for 19 or 20 next time.
• Front Lever Row Progression: Tight tuck. Slowly upping the reps.
• Tucked Planche Push Ups (parallettes): Same reps, still tough!
• Elevated Shrimp Squats (one hand forward): 3x11 was pretty easy today. Will probably jump to 3x13 next time.
• Glute Ham Extensions: Sticking with the same reps here and working on extending further over time. Using 100kg weight tree to anchor my feet, but I think I felt it move today  May not be able to extend much further with this setup.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and STC. Shoulders/scaps were fatigued so I just went into a long German hang for the STC.

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Sprints in the rain! Have actually been lucky this year as it's currently the rainy season and I've only have to run in the rain a couple of times. Also seems like the rainy season has ended for the most part. Been busy with work so didn't do my weighted stretching. Will probably tack it on to the end of tomorrow's accessory session.

Relaxation and stretching to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Second reworked accessory/skill session today. Made a few more tweaks and I think I like how it has turned out for the most part.

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel: 3x5.
• RTO Support Holds: Played with the hand circles Fred mentioned. Interesting - will continue to play.
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Moved the scap push ups to parallettes, which worked better. Also completed the pairs with no rest between, which made the little circuit much tougher.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation: ROM for elevation feels so limited compared to other movements. Not sure if it's weakness or just less available ROM when elevating.
• Hanging/Inverted Straddle Leg Raises: Did the headstand raises away from the wall today. Not sure I'm getting a whole lot from this pair. Chose straddle to get in some extra straddle compression work, but I may need to change to pike to actually get any benefit in the back.
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: BL straddle hip pushes paired with negatives at the wall.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions/Extended Clamshells: Gave the NLE a go today and seems okay, so I'm bringing them back slowly paired with the clamshells.

So other than the straddle leg raises, which I may change to pike, I feel pretty good about the movements I've got here and will probably run with it for a while.

[MattPark]

How are you finding the extended clamshells for your ITB? Was thinking of giving them a go to try resolve my left TFL/ITB situation.

[Nathan]

Yesterday: longer sprints in the morning. Afternoon weighted stretching session: HF lunges w/slider, straddle ups, weighted pancake good mornings, German hang/extension on floor, and feet-elevated bridge work. Bicep felt fatigued (might need more warmup) in the GH, so I moved to the floor. Pancake work feels too light, but doing cossacks/DL today so didn't want to really push it.

Just finished first half of today's session. Will update again later after I finish the second half!

[Nathan]

@MattPark Hey - truthfully, it's hard to say. I think of them more as insurance to help avoid irritating it again, rather than something that will make it better. I think starting uphill sprints back up has actually helped the most. Also, making sure to stretch that area before the sprints so that the ITB can move properly and my body can "remember" how it should be using everything in that area. I'm using the stretch where you cross the legs and drop the pelvis to one side. I do it when walking and things feel a bit tight, too. It seems to be helping, but it's certainly no RCT

[Nathan]

Light UB/heavy LB session. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor Advanced L-sits: (tuck) Playing with hand placement. Usually pointed mostly back for V-sit/manna work, but I think I'll go with forward/very slightly pointed outward for this.
• Ring Rows: Great to feel improvement on these. Reps moving up.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes)
• Bar Pull Ups: Managed a bit of progress here, too.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Went for 3x11, but stopped 1 rep short on the last set. Arms were fried.
• Weighted Cossack Squats: Bumped the weight up slightly on these. Playing with positioning and form - touched down bum to ground on each rep today. Coming back to an upright stance works the legs a bit more, but keeping low really gets into the hips. Some rough patches, so I may go for somewhere in the middle until they smooth out.
• Snatch Grip Deadlifts: Started a bit heavier and did most of the work at 75kg. Feels light, so I should probably bump it up but I want to take it slow. I definitely feel these in the back. Not a lot in the glutes, but hopefully they're getting work in!

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. High-rep UB followed by the snatch grip DLs left my shoulders fairly fatigued, so I stopped after 1 set of weighted dislocates. Might drop these on this day. Think I'll definitely drop the JC for this day since it's not a focus. Once a week should be fine. Cuban rotations feeling good - going to up the reps next time.

Lying relaxation and stretching to come.

[Nathan]

Heavy UB/light LB today. Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Stuck with sets of 10s, but felt much more solid today.
• Weighted Chin Ups (clusters): Planned for 17 today and managed to hit it so I'm happy. Not sure if I would have made another rep although number 17 wasn't really a grinder. 
• RTO Dips (clusters): Planned for 19-20 and hit 20. Think I'll take it to 25 before changing the progression.
• Front Lever Row Progression: Tight tuck. Felt solid today.
• Tucked Planche Push Ups (parallettes): Started off feeling much more solid, but got tough by the end.
• Elevated Shrimp Squats (one hand forward): Was going to keep going toward 3x15 at the current ROM, but decided to go full ROM and drop reps. Completely close the angles at the knees and hip for 3x10. Definitely felt it in the glutes, but not too tough. Will work up with this for now.
• Glute Ham Extensions: Moved more plates to the bottom of the weight tree today (duh) and didn't feel any movement  These fry the hams! Liking them  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and STC. Right bicep was feeling fatigued toward the end of UB work, so I dropped dislocates and STC today. Also decided I'm moving JC to my accessory session since it's the least fatiguing of my sessions and I'm ready to drop it to once/week. CR felt solid.

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Kit_L]

Nathan wrote:

Quote

It was late so before I started I thought that maybe I would fall asleep, but these sessions have not made me sleepy yet. Perhaps a sign that I am not fully relaxing yet?

There are many stages to this practise; just so with what happens (in preference to trying for something or anticipating what is going to happen). Noticing what happens is far and away the most important aspect to the practise. And if you do not fall asleep, the quality of sleep following the practise is usually improved.

[Nathan]

@Kit_L Thank you for the feedback. I have continued the lying relaxation, but I have not gone into detail for some time. I stopped using the recordings a while back and have simply been focusing on relaxing and watching the breath. This inevitably leads to sleep these days. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I simply continue until I am asleep. I am not sure if it has to do with not using a recording, but I do feel like I am falling asleep much faster these days. That said, I will probably try the new recording that you posted soon!

[Nathan]

Quick round of sprint intervals this morning. Tacked on a longer sprint to the end of my usual short intervals (second session of the week is longer sprints). Nice way to ensure my hams are thoroughly fried  Otherwise just finished up some work today. Lying relaxation and stretching to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Skill/accessory session today. Right bicep is still feeling a bit fatigued, so worked around it as much as possible. Not too hard with this session, luckily! Also, a few more changes to the lineup.

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel --> Dragon Flags: Wanted to switch these up and realized I can use the weight tree for dragon flags as well. Worked out okay! Have never worked dragon flags before, but I like being able to create the full body tension before initiating the movement. It feels much more intuitive than the AB wheel.
• RTO Support Holds: Skipped these today to avoid stress on the bicep.
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Elevated the feet, which worked better. Circuit is tough.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation:
• Hanging/Inverted Straddle Leg Raises --> Windshield Wipers: Wasn't really feeling the leg raises. Decided to replace them with these for some oblique+compression work.
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: Skipped the presses today.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions/Extended Clamshells/Hip Thrusts: Added hip thrusts to this little circuit for some extra gluteus max work.

Being vain, I decided for purely aesthetic reason that I want to pack some mass on my obliques and glutes  The windshield wipers and hip thrusts were added to help achieve this. I think I need more direct glute work anyway, and it should help with my sprints too, so I guess it's not 100% vanity  Would love to work human flag progressions, but it's just not feasible with my current setup.

Lying relaxation and stretching to come!

[Nathan]

Just finished a few longer sprints this morning. No glute soreness from the thrusts, but I started very light and with fairly low reps (3x10). Will bump that up to 3x15 and then start increasing weight. That said, I was really feeling me bum (i.e. its presence/existence) after the sprints, which is a nice feeling. The short sprints with minimal rest feel like you're really working and getting something done, but the longer sprints with longer rest seem to have a longer lingering effect. Good combination!

[Nathan]

Right bicep still feeling a bit off  So I decided to do my accessory session for UB and the usual heavy LB.

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Dragon Flags: Just did these for the first time on Tuesday, so the novelty of the movement had my abs screaming today 
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation
• Windshield Wipers: Upped the reps here.
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: Skipped the presses again.
• Pike/Straddle Compression

 

• Weighted Cossack Squats: Did 2 sets of high cossacks and then a couple sets where I stayed as low as possible. Planned to use 10kg for both types, but I think I should drop the weight a bit for the low version, which puts a lot more stress on the back of the knee. Will try 7.5kg or perhaps 5kg next time.
• Snatch Grip Deadlifts: Bumped the weight up a bit and really felt these in the upper back today.
• Romanian Deadlifts: Since I had to go easy on UB, I figured I'd punish the LB a bit more than usual. Finished up with a couple of sets of these and I can already tell my back is going to be sore for a while!

Followed by:

Prehab: Cuban rotations. Skipped the other movements, but this one puts almost no stress on the bicep so got it in.

Have a long weekend so plenty of rest before my next session. Hopefully the bicep is back to 100% by then!

Lying relaxation and stretching to come.

[Nathan]

Had a nice, long weekend of rest. Bicep was feeling pretty good by the end so I was looking forward to getting back to my regular session today, but I could tell that it wasn't really 100% before even starting. I'd normally try to justify doing the regular session and probably end up prolonging whatever is going on, but I held back and decided to do my skill/accessory session for UB again, paired with light LB this time. I guess I do learn, after all  

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Dragon Flags: These felt good today. Managed three good sets in a full legs-together position.
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Not quite as taxing anymore, but going to stick with the same numbers for a while until really solid.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation: Elevation still feels almost nonexistent. Thinking that perhaps I might need to try in a pike position.
• Windshield Wipers: Upped the reps and paired these with the manna work below, which resulted in abdominal agony on the third set, which I cut a couple reps short 
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: Skipped the presses here again.
• Pike/Straddle Compression

 

• Elevated Shrimp Squats (one hand forward): Full ROM 3x11.
• Glute Ham Extensions: Figured out a nice variation for these on the third set. I was thinking about how I couldn't extend all the way out (tracking the floor with my nose), so I decided to try extending at the knees and then once I reached my limit I extended at the hips. Only managed about 90 degrees - would have to extend less at the knees to extend more at the hips. This was pretty killer. Will continue doing the movement like this next time, but plan to reduce reps a bit.

Followed by:

Prehab: Cuban rotations only today. Still feeling really solid, so I decided I'll up the weight next session and slowly work up again.

Lying relaxation and stretching to come.

[Nathan]

Sprint intervals yesterday morning. The cicadas are so loud outside right now that I had trouble hearing the beep of my little interval timer  Kind of threw a couple intervals off, but I do enjoy the sound  Semishigure (蝉時雨) is a word in Japanese that is used to describe this sound of the cicadas all chirping together. Semi means cicada and shigure means shower (rain). Finished off with one long sprint after my shorter intervals again.

Skill/accessory session later today.

[Nathan]

Actual planned skill/accessory day today! I'm getting really good at this session

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Dragon Flags: These felt great after the long rest, but not so great today after doing them more recently  Changed the body line to retain form.
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Still feeling pretty good.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation
• Windshield Wipers: Stayed away from pairing these today and managed all of my sets without a problem.
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: No press work yet.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions/Extended Clamshells/Frog Pumps/Hip Thrusts: Was reading about frog pumps on Bret's site earlier and decided to throw them in this little circuit. Seemed to work pretty well.

Can still feel the bicep isn't 100% unfortunately, so I may end up doing this for UB again Friday along with my heavy LB. My abs and rotator cuff should probably thank my bicep  

Lying relaxation and stretching to come.

 

[Nathan]

Sprints this morning. Been stopping after three longer sprints, but decided to bump it up to four today. I felt that last one!

Have a ton of work to finish this weekend, but I'm off to play for a bit before that. Better to regret playing later than to end up regretting not having played  

[Nathan]

Skill/accessory UB paired with heavy LB today.

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Dragon Flags
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Feeling solid on the retraction, so will probably up reps next time (same reps for pro).
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation: Played with some variations here. Going to switch to two arm for the depression, and using a weight to do the elevation standing rather than trying to do it in a handstand. Found that using a weight overhead and doing one arm at a time allows me to really feel the elevation.
• Windshield Wipers: 3x5 again. Feeling more solid.
• Manna Work/Handstand Straddle Press Negatives
• Pike/Straddle Compression

 

• Weighted Cossack Squats: Upped the reps on the high cossacks and lowered the weight on the low cossacks. Both worked well.
• Snatch Grip Deadlifts: Dropped the weight back down slightly and added reps and a set. Weight feels pretty easy, despite my upper back screaming.
• Romanian Deadlifts: Bumped the weight up a bit for these. Really felt the hams working today.

Followed by:

Prehab: Cuban rotations. Finally upped the weight on these - will work with this weight for a while.

Lying relaxation and stretching before bed.

[Nathan]

Would have normally done a training session yesterday, but swapped it with sprints due to scheduling issues. Did my short sprint intervals, followed by a long finisher sprint. Had some pretty noticeable hamstring soreness after the Friday session, which was nice, but it was mostly gone by yesterday so it didn't interfere with sprints. Definitely still felt them, though!

Bicep is feeling better, but not quite sure whether I want to push it yet. Will see how it feels during my session warmup later and decide then whether to do my normal session or continue with the accessory sessions for another week.

[Nathan]

Bicep was feeling pretty good during warmup, so I figured I would give a regular session a go. Didn't want to jump right back in to a heavy session, so went with light UB, which matched back up with light LB.

Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor Advanced L-sits: (tuck) Keeping the forward hand placement for now.
• Ring Rows: Felt really solid. Actually progressed from the last session almost 3 weeks ago. All of that scap work must have helped!
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): Tough, but managed the reps I had initially planned for the next session 3 weeks ago.
• Bar Pull Ups: Felt the bicep most here, so was really careful. Didn't progress these, but did maintain.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Used a hands forward placement because that stressed the bicep the least. Much easier than a hands out placement.
• Elevated Shrimp Squats (one hand forward) -> Barbell Paused Front Squats: Haven't really been feeling the shrimps, and I wanted to work the FS movement back in since I know my thoracic is a weak point. Figured I would try both legs, but see if pausing the reps could take me a bit further with low weights. Started with 30kg and did a set of 10 just chilling at the bottom for a while. Wasn't difficult, but my wrists weren't happy due to lack of flexibility for a good front rack. Reduced the pauses to 2-3 secs and did sets of 8 after that. Wrists still weren't too happy, but was better. Legs feel nothing, but I did feel it in the thoracic and lower back.
• Glute Ham Extensions: Played with the knee/hip movements again and figured out the pattern I will use from here on. I start by extending at the knees (straight body line from knees to shoulders) just enough to tense the hamstrings and then flex at the hip to bring my nose to just brushing the floor. While maintaining the tension, I extend outwards, tracing the floor with my nose, and then reverse the full movement to return to the beginning. This is pretty killer and dropped my 3x7 down to 3x3.
• Frog Pumps: Added these to this workout as a finisher for the lower body. They don't really generate much fatigue, and I feel my body needs the pattern. Did 2x50.

Followed by:

Prehab: Cuban rotations only.

Was very careful to monitor how the bicep felt throughout the workout and be sure not to stress it more than needed. I think a big takeaway for me is that my default pattern is to let my biceps take over (or at least assist substantially) in almost all upper body movements. Slowing down and really focusing on form and which muscles are activating made this clear. I don't think this workout perturbed the bicep any more than the assistance workout though. Will see how it feels Saturday and decide whether or not to attempt a heavy UB day then.

Stretching/lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Some longer sprints this morning.

Lately I have been doing my dislocates with one or two very slow (i.e. at least 30s and up to 2-3m or more) reps at the end, pausing in all tight spots. I feel like this is actually quite close to the partner human crossbow stretch when you pay close attention to the correct alignment. Perhaps a self-cocking human crossbow  Obviously a fair bit more effort is required on the part of the stretchee/stretcher since you are creating the stretch by pulling with the back muscles, but this is not a bad thing since you are strengthening the rotator cuff in doing so. I also have a feeling you will need to be able to use a fairly close grip to get a good effect, but it has been working nicely for me lately!

Lying relaxation and stretching to come before sleep.

 

[Nathan]

Skill/accessory session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Dragon Flags: Felt pretty solid again having done the light session Tuesday, thus allowing for rest.
• Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Upped the FL retraction sets one rep. Still feels solid, but will continue a session or two before upping again.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation: Used 10kg plate for the elevation today. Felt about right. I think mobility/patterns need to be worked on more than anything to improve elevation.
• Windshield Wipers: Felt solid. May up reps next time.
• Manna Work: Dropping the press work for the time being. Been trying to do my manna lifts keeping the back straight, but allowed it to curl up today and this felt much more effective. I just don't have the requisite rear delt/tricep strength for the straighter back to be effective at this point.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions/Extended Clamshells/Frog Pumps/Hip Thrusts: Liking this little circuit. Bumped the pumps and thrusts up to 25 reps each and really felt it.

Lying relaxation and stretching later.