Insert witty training log title here.

[jon.valentine]

The aim of this log is document my current block of training here for comment and discussion. 

 

 

My main training is Olympic weightlifting and I dabble in Judo as well, plus doing some stretching and stuff with Dave.

 

 

I just competed at Nationals the other week (92/118 at 69kg BW) and my next comp isn't until mid-December so I thought it would be beneficial to have a bit of a break from the full lifts for a bit before getting back into regular training.

 

 

While I am a big believer in sticking with the basics, I wanted to throw a bit more unilateral stuff into the mix to try and improve some side to side imbalances and do some stuff that I haven’t done in a while.

 

 

I tore my rotator cuff in November 2013 (this is my first year back competing in weightlifting) so one of my aims is to improve my overhead press so there is a fair bit of pressing included plus a bunch of shoulder stability things. I have a bit of a ‘hip thing’ in my left hip so I’m including unilateral lower body and some super-slow squatting as well for some tendon and ligament strengthening.

 

 

Monday’s training (all weights in kg):

 

Barbell complex: Muscle snatch>Klokov Press>Lateral lunge>Cossack lunge>Curtsy squat>Drop snatch>Snatch Sotts press (bar x5, 30kg x5)

 

 Barbell Windmill           Bar(20kg)      3x5

  25                 2x5

 

 

FSQ Split-squat           60        3x5
(L/R)                            70        2x5

 

 

Deficit Clean Pull         130      3x5

 

 

Ab Wheel (from feet)   BW       3x3

 

 

Kroc Rows                   29        3x20

 

 

Lu Raises                    5         3x10

 

 

 

I actually felt pretty good after this workout, tired but in general pretty good. And then I woke up this morning and have the most wicked DOMS in my abs from that damn ab wheel.

[[DW]]

Os'su!

[[DW]]

woke up this morning and have the most wicked DOMS in my abs from that damn ab wheel.

 

 

You always had this exercise down pat.. glad to see you still got it!  Also, is a calf specialization cycle in order? .. .. ... I think so! 

[jon.valentine]

Tuesday's Training:

 

DB Turkish Get Up (L/R) 15 2x3

 

Step up 60 3x5 65 2x5

 

Single-leg DL 50 3x5 56 2x5

 

Savickas Press 35 2x10 40 1x10

 

HLR 3x10

 

Weighted shoulder circles 5kg 10,15,15

(forward and backwards)

 

Pretty happy with the workout, although the SLDL were pretty challenging mainly due to my left hip still being grumpy (I had another big 'clunk' happen when doing h2t on Monday). Slowing them down helped, and slowing things down in general is probably a good thing for me.

 

Was very happy with the Savickas Press (basically a military press done sitting on the floor with straight legs, very hard to cheat without falling backwards), shoulders felt great. Even though I was trying to keep a relaxed face I managed to cramp something in my jaw (under my front teeth) I think due to tucking my chin quite hard. I need to work on that...

 

DOMS EVERYWHERE.

 

@Dave: I was doing a bunch of ab wheel from the knees for 15-20 reps earlier in the year, but from the feet is a completely different animal. A horrible, horrible animal.

 

I think I'll try to hit some heavy weighted calf stuff tonight if I have time at the end of the session. 

[Nathan]

Full ab wheel rollouts done well is indeed an impressive feat. Nice that not every single informercial fitness gadget is a joke. Just... the rest of them? Oh, except for the shake weight. That thing is legit.

[jon.valentine]

Wednesday training:

 

Super-slow FSQ 70 3x5 75 2x3

 

Shank Lever 25 2x3 30 3x3

 

Jefferson Curl 30 3x3

 

1/2 Kneeling DB Press 15 5x[5,3,2]

 

Arch-hang 3x10s

 

I'm coming to the realisation that things on paper don't always work out when you try them, which is okay but can be pretty humbling.

 

I expected super-slow squats to suck, but they sucked a LOT! It was also quite tricky to get a full 10 second descent, I kept hitting bottom at about 8-ish seconds. I also was going to do the Shank levers in between sets, but my upper back and lats were too fatigued from the squats so I ended up doing them afterwards.

 

The Jefferson curls were meant to be for sets of 10 but after 3 reps my legs, back and grip were toast (I used straps on the last 2 sets) so I'll probably try to add more reps instead of weight to progress this one.

 

Arch-hangs felt surprisingly good, I think I'm able to hit full scapular retraction and depression but I did get a little bit of assistance on the last set to make sure.

 

No time for calves this time but I've got them on the cards for Friday. I might give Dave's Calfpocalypse a go....

 

@Nathan I'm not quite going to full extension at the moment, I'm using a plate as a target so I'm stopping about 15cm short (any further and my lower back starts to hyperextend). I'll move the plate as I get stronger.

 

Shakeweight is the ultimate in unstable training. Or the most job-specific training for cocktail makers.

[Nathan]

>The Jefferson curls were meant to be for sets of 10

 

Was going to ask about that. When I asked Emmet before he stressed that it was about the connective tissue and not the strength, and that I should stop just outside of my comfort zone and work up to sets of 10-15 reps for a while before increasing weight. I just put them back into my workout recently and I'm doing sets of 10 until they feel easy. Well, that's the plan... I may get bored and move the weight up before then

 

>Or the most job-specific training for cocktail makers.

 

And several other jobs we won't mention

[Emmet Louis]

Drop the Jefferson curl to 10-15kg, its easy to go too heavy and do it wrong and not get the benefits of it or worse case injure yourself by not articulating the spine correctly.

[SwissDanny]

Yeah... the Emmet has me do BS slow tempo reps eg 4s negative. The time under tension is a massive effect. 10s sounds brutal.

 

Jefferson.  Been doing those 2x per week for a several months now. I find there is a real "Goldilocks" weight = just enough, but not too much.  Have access to KB ranging from 16-32kg in 2kg increments and those are ideal.  For me 16-20-24kg over 3 sets is just right now, rep 10 I do C-R for five slowish box breaths... or until the need to "surface" becomes too compelling. Powerful stuff.

[SwissDanny]

PS is the ab wheel from standing like a sort of "bear crawl roll"? My SO has been told to do abs to failure as part of a bodybuidling program... sounds like it could be an option for her; she has to do 80+ regular roll outs and needs more challenging options.

[jon.valentine]

Thanks for the responses gentlemen! It's easy to get caught up in writing your own 'perfect' program, so having people to sanity check it is great.

 

@Emmet: Cheers! I'll drop the weight back and work more on the articulation, I definitely have areas that are kind of blank spots that I need to work on. I go from smooth segmental movement up top to this weird featureless section then a bit more movement through the lower back then hamstrings.  Although I'm continually reminding people at the club that improvement is not always about adding weight I do seem to ignore my own advice. 

 

@SwissDanny: Ross Enamait is the man you want to listen to about ab wheel rollouts form the feet (

). The way I do them is pretty much like he does it in the intro of that video, but I have a weight plate in front of me so that I have a consistent target to hit while I'm building my strength up. Once I get a bit more comfortable with them then I'll move the plate away a bit and restart the process.

 

80 reps of rollouts sounds brutal, I tend to go for ab stuff that is somewhat self-limiting or that can be progressed somehow (apart from just adding reps), or that will (hopefully) translate to another skill so that I actually do it. So for hanging leg raises I'll work up to (maybe) sets of 15 and then add fractional weights. If I can do 3x10 full rollouts from the feet then I'd look to add weight (or do band-resisted rollouts, which will give you DOMS in your lats like you wouldn't believe).

I'm adding in overhead situps for this program, which I haven't done before but look like a challenging movement. Basically you set up on your back with DB/KB/bar locked out at arm's length and then sit up.

 

My other go to ab movement is the dragon flag, but I don't currently have access to a decent bench to do them off (I may be able to jury-rig something from our pulling blocks, or do them off the back extension machine somehow).

 

I guess the question is whether your SO is doing them for strength or hypertrophy. If they are doing them for hypertrophy then you want something that you can get a decent amount of volume with before you hit failure whereas if it's for strength I would pick something that I can 'grease the groove' with.

[Nathan]

@SwissDanny: Obviously this may not be the case with your SO, but many people who feel like it takes a lot to hit the abs are often simply not using the abs properly during "abs" exercises. Full rollouts are a massive, massive step up from kneeling rollouts, so that's definitely an option, but like Jon mentioned you have to really focus on form and not let the lower back sag. HLL done properly are also quite killer, and form can be reinforced by doing them on stall bars. Ankle weights can increase the intensity greatly. A similar option is windshield wipers. If she just wants to exhaust the abs, hollow rocks done with proper form/body shape/tension should be able to do that very well. Dragon flags are excellent too, as Jon mentioned.

 

@Jon: I assume you have access to a power rack. It's pretty easy to set the pins and bar up for dragon flags with a power rack. If you're finding it hard to imagine, I'll fish up a pic or video for you - I know I've seen a few.

[SwissDanny]

@SwissDanny: 

I guess the question is whether your SO is doing them for strength or hypertrophy. If they are doing them for hypertrophy then you want something that you can get a decent amount of volume with before you hit failure whereas if it's for strength I would pick something that I can 'grease the groove' with.

 

I have passed on all these ideas to her (my wife, lord knows why I was referring to her as SO last night LOL).  Im pretty sure she does the roll outs with proper form, although obviously you can emphasise the abs more or less depending on how you do them.

 

Hypertrophy I guess... she just looks at weights and the muscles grow. She was approached at the gym by a trainer who has trained several figure/fitness categories in a natural league to national level.  She said she'd try a 12 week cycle and see how she enjoyed it.

[jon.valentine]

Friday's training:

 

Band OHP 40 3x5, 45 2x5

 

Jefferson DL (L/R) 117 3x5, 126 2x5

 

A1. Side-lying ext rotation 4 x10, 2.5 2x10

A2. Side-lying rear delt raise 4 x10, 2.5 2x10

 

Cuban rotations 7 3x10

 

I forgot how long unilateral stuff takes it really pushes a session's length, I didn't get to my weighted planks or any calves this session. 

 

The Band OHP is a military press with some of the weight suspended from thick bands to work on staying tight and trying to force the reactive stabilisation of the shoulder. Considering that when I was pressing earlier in the year I think I topped out at about 55kg with some pain of the chest and clicking in the shoulder, doing this version was virtually pain-free and no real clicking so that's a win.

 

Jefferson DL's are an interesting movement, I didn't really feel it in the lower back or legs so much as in my lats. But it really hit the entire body, I was pretty fatigued all over after each set. Fun.

 

@Nathan: No power rack I'm afraid, just platforms and squat stands, but it's not a big deal. 

 

@SwissDanny: In that case rollouts might not be the best choice as they are primarily an anti-extension movement. Hanging leg raises have been pretty good for me in terms of abdominal hypertrophy, and if you have fractional weights they're pretty easy to load as well.

[Nathan]

Cool! I remember really wanting to try the Jefferson DL when I first heard about it. I think I heard David Dellanave talking about it on a podcast. I haven't had access to weights for a long time, though, and forgot all about it. I just got some weights recently (need more plates, but it's something) and started deadlifting a bit. I may have to try this eventually.

[jon.valentine]

@Nathan: Don't wait! Jump right in and play around with it. Dave Dellanave's article was the one I went to for form-check info, he's got some really interesting stuff on his site.

[Nathan]

Yeah, I haven't really checked out his site, but he talked about some pretty interesting ideas on that podcast. Have you tried the flexibility CNS test or whatever? I think that's him too, right? I just did deadlifts earlier today, and I'm already using all of the plates I bought... I'm guessing you'll need to drop the weight a fair bit for the Jeffersons? If so, that might be a good option to keep me going for a while

[jon.valentine]

Monday's training:

 

Windmill 25 5x5

 

FSQ Split-squat (L/R) 70 3x5 77 2x5

 

Deficit Cln Pull 135 3x5

 

Ab Wheel BW 3x4

 

Kroc Rows 29 x25 x20 x25

 

Lu Raises 5 1x15 2x10

 

A pretty long tough session today after a full weekend of awesomeness with Dave, Hammer and Simon, I have never 'enjoyed' quite this level of calf DOMS before. Barefoot crawling/walking/jumping for several hours will do that I guess.

 

Doing windmills with the bar is a very different experience than using a kettlebell as there is a massive grip component to keeping the bar level throughout especially as the shoulder starts to tire. I am noticing that I can't quite get the same load/stretch in the hamstring on my left as I can on my right despite trying to set up exactly the same, so something to explore and work on there.

 

I also need to be a bit smoother with my split squats, I'm banging the back knee a bit which is not fun.

[jon.valentine]

@Nathan: I've started with about 65% of my conventional DL for 5's as a starting point which is manageable (so far) and feels like a good balance of reps and intensity. I'm doing a 3 sets at one weight, then 2 more plus 5% (5 sets in total), and adding 2% to those weights each week (so week 1 65/70%, week 2 67/72%, etc...), which I find is a nice easy progression that also gets a lot of quality reps in.

 

Yeah, Dave Dellanave is all about the biofeedback training, you 'test' several movements at the start of a session to see what feels the 'strongest' and that determines what you train that day. For example, conventional DL might feel like crap but Sumo DL just flies up, so you'd train Sumo that session.

[[DW]]

Calf DOMS is a particularly Virtuous type of DOMS.  Also, I like this new profile picture! I saw this interesting chap on the wall of this weird maze-like hostel I stayed in in Japan in 2003.. even had the precise same spiky club with a ring at the bottom. 

[jon.valentine]

Tuesday training:

 

DB TGU (L/R) 15 2x4

 

Step up 65 3x5, 70 2x5

 

Single-leg DL 56 3x5, 61 2x5

 

Savickas Press 35 1x10, 40 2x10

 

HLR 3x10

 

Weighted shoulder circles 2.5 3x15

 

Single leg stuff getting a bit more fluid, distinctly easier on one side though so aiming to smooth out those differences over the next few weeks.

 

Savickas press feeling really good in the shoulders, last set getting tough but managing a smooth grind to finish the final reps. Definitely recommend them as a press variant, it really forces you to keep the chest up and obviously you can't use your legs to help so it forces you to use the right muscles to make the lift.

 

@Dave: That is an Oni (Japanese ogre). Back in the day when I played video games in the arcade (so, so long ago) whenever I had to enter a name I used INO as my handle because I was really into Japanese mythology and you generally only had 3 letters to use (plus writing it backwards made it super seekrit!).

[jon.valentine]

Wednesday training:

 

Super-slow FSQ 75 5x5

 

A1. Shank Lever 25 1x3, 30 4x3

 

A2. Jefferson Curl 20 x6, x8, x10

 

Arch-hang  3x15s

 

1/2 Kneeling DB Press 15 5x[5,3,2]  Did not get to these as I ran out of time.

 

This was a highly virtuous upper-back session, the super-slow front squats absolutely smoked my upper back so much so that I had to rack the bar during the later sets just so I could re-set. I will try to incorporate some direct lat/tricep/forearm rolling on a barbell to loosen things up next week and see if that makes things a bit easier.

 

I did Jefferson curls in between the Shank levers which was tough (I was on the clock as I had to leave early) but doable and not a bad flexion/extension combo either. The Jefferson curls still kill me though, that last 10-repper took forever to get through (a couple of minutes is the same as forever right?).

 

Dave obviously heard my psychic distress last night as we hit up all sorts of thoracic rotation/extension goodness in class this morning and now my shoulders feel a mile wide.

[jon.valentine]

Friday training:

 

Band OHP 40 2x5, 45 3x5

 

A1. Side-lying ext rotation 2.5 3x10

A2. Side-lying rear delt raise 2.5 3x10

 

Cuban rotations 7 3x10

 

Jefferson DL (L/R) 121 3x5, 130 2x5

 

Weighted Plank 25kg 3x45s

 

A good session, the pressing is feeling pretty good with the bands really forcing me to be tight and stable under the bar. I added in some (slight) swinging and bouncing with the bar overhead at the end of the sets to challenge the shoulders/rotator cuff/torso which was fun.

 

I also moved the rotator cuff stuff to be fillers for my pressing, which worked better from a time management perspective and didn't seem to impact my pressing sets.

 

Jefferson DL's are feeling a bit more fluid and consistent although still figuring out the foot/weight distribution for the lift (sometimes I'm a little too forward and I hit the hamstrings of the front leg as I come up). But they are feeling stronger, so all good. Double bodyweight for reps soon!

[jon.valentine]

Saturday's session:

 

Snatch 73 2x3, 78 1x3

 

C&J 96 2x2, 103 1x2

 

Super-slow BSQ 85 3x10

 

Deficit Sn pull 105 3x5

 

OH sit-ups 20 3x10

 

Not my best session, missing a little bit of rhythm and coordination in the the Snatch so 78 was a bit rough and swingy but I didn't miss any so that's not terrible (could be better though). Clean and Jerk was a bit better at least until I got to the last rep on 103 which was all over the place, feet didn't move properly which meant that the catch was crap and that screwed up the Jerk somewhat. Bleargh. (Still made the lift though.)

 

So, I was aiming to go for a 10-second descent for the back squats, but as I looked at the reps again that clearly wasn't going to happen so I went for about a 6-ish second descent. That was a smart move as I was pretty tired by set two, and the last 5 reps of the last set were not fun at all (to put it in perspective how much slowing things down can make stuff harder, 85 is a conservative 50% 1rm for my back squat). I think good things will come from this if I persevere and keep tickling the weight up each week (despite the suckage) so I'll just keep going.

 

The Deficit snatch pull is done standing on a 25kg plate (which I think is about about 60mm high?), I thought these would be awful after the squats but they weren't really any worse than normal.

 

Overhead sit-ups I did with a bar and legs bent (so a crunch with weight overhead) but I tried to get a bit of Janda sit-up in there too by digging my heels in to try and turn the hip flexors off. Will play around with the set-up to try and get this one to work a bit better.

[jon.valentine]

Monday training:

 

Windmill 25 3x5, 30 2x5

 

FSQ Split-squat 77 3x5, 83 2x5

 

Deficit Cln Pull 135 3x5

 

Ab Wheel BW 3x5

 

Kroc Rows 29 x25, x25, x20, x15

 

Lu Raises 5 3x15

 

Windmills are fun although I'm still having trouble getting the same feeling left/right, I'm not getting the hamstring sensation quite as much on the left side whereas I can get a good strong loading sensation on the right. More practice needed! Also getting a better feeling for packing/centering the shoulder in the bottom position rather than it just sort of flapping around, so that's good.

 

The split squats are getting harder, last night it was more about maintaining balance and a consistent stride length side to side. I've been doing them barefoot but I think I will switch back to shoes just so I have a better grip on the platform.

 

Ab wheel is coming along nicely, I've increased the distance a little more and I'm able to hold a glute squeeze/PPT much better. I may add in some hip flexor limbering in between sets too to try and make it a bit easier to hold.

 

Kroc rows are super tiring for me, although it's not surprising as I'm trying to go to 'failure' on each set. I did catch a wicked lower back pump at the end of the session from being bent over and using a bit of body english with the last reps. I could feel my pulse in my lower back when I went to bed last night, that was interesting.