Training 2/27/13

Press Day @ "The Laugh"

W/U Full Cans 3x15
OH Press bar 2x10

Press
95x3
135 3x3
155x3

Rotator cuff still not 100% (never is) wanted to slowly integrate some overhead pressing into training. I did it for a while late last year until my shoulder felt jacked up. I truly believe I am still not built for pressing whether it be bad posture, genetics, or whatever different coaches want to argue it is, but I have always sucked at it and I am trying to cautiously change that.

Incline Press SA DB
75's (Slooooow)
2x5 each
1x4 R 1x3 L

Definitely need to incorporate this press more.

A1 Gravitron Pullups
Stack (245)
4x7

A2 Gravitron Dips
Stack (245)
4x7

Dips felt too easy, I was just out of gas at that point. Extremely fatigued and only 4 pieces of bacon for breakfast f'ed me up. Special thanks to our fridge at work for freezing all my eggs.

Hammer Curls DB SA
30's
3x8 each

Not terrible considering I was running on monster energy drink and balls. Need a better breakfast and more sleep. Story of my life. I will attempt the same exact workout next week and should have a much better result. I am also feeling very fatigued lately so the weekend conference should do me good. I am going to take about three days off. Hopefully that's enough recovery for right now.

Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid.
-John Wayne

So is training.

Training 2/23/13

Deadlift @ The Gym with J.F.
Rack Pulls 3rd Pin From The Floor
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x1
405x1 (Switched To Alt Grip)
455x1
475x1
495x1
545xDNF (W/Straps)

Zercher Squat
135x5
185x3
185x5
185 2x3

A1 Face Pulls
Two Purple Bands 4x10

A2 Band Resisted Lateral Steps
Black Monster MB Around Ankles
4x10 Each

Gripper
2 Plates
3x25

Pretty good day overall. Hit more weight than I did from the 3rd pin last time. Grip is getting stronger and Zercher squat is starting to get in the ballpark of what a male should be doing. Good time coaching J.F. hes a  quick learner and eager to get stronger and fix imbalances. Hopefully he sticks with it.



"You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you."
-Barbara Sher 

Training 2/21/13

Bench @ The Gym
Bar 2x10
135x5
135x5
185x2
315 x1 Added Slingshot
365x1
405x1

We were going for a simulated competition type day. Probably a good idea but for some reason felt like garbage. I felt good going into the workout so I'm baffled as to why it didn't pan out well. Perhaps I'm more fatigued than I thought and I know my back feels a little fatigue from squatting with the SSB last night. I must not be 19  anymore and need more recovery time. I have got to program around work and the guys' schedules and family stuff better. Last time we benched I felt good and smoked 405 for 2. This time I somehow twisted my body a little and I think I would have got red lighted at any meet in the country. Probably also not warmed up enough because my shoulder felt like i was about to snap my rotator cuff clean off. I take longer then a carbureted motorcycle to warm up for some reason... maybe more caffeine!!

Assistance work went well:

Football Bar Press
145 2x8
165x8
195x8

Standing DB Row
110
3x5 Each Side (Sloppy)

Football Bar Curl
Bar x8 (55#)
75 2x8

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

          -Ronald Reagan 

Not a  training quote, but I felt like a Reagan quote tonight... deal.

Training 2/20/13

Warm-up
Band Resisted Supine Leg Raises x10 Each Side
Band Resisted Supine Hip Abduction x10 Each Side
Hip Bridges x10
Hip Flexor Stretch 10 Secs Each Side
SSB Squat Bar x6
Completed Circuit 2X

Safety Squat Bar
155 2x3
175x3
205x1
225x1
245x1
265x1
295x1
315x1
335x1
355x1
385x1
405x1
335 4x1

SSB Good Mornings
145 3x6

Band Resisted Lateral Steps
Black Monster Mini Band (Ankles)
3x10 Each

Overall not a bad day. Wanted to work up higher on squat but still need technique work and some GPP since the extra volume seemed to have an effect. I'm normally at 405 in about 6 or 8 reps after warm up which is stupid. SSB was really throwing me forward on the last couple of sets and my back felt like I was getting stabbed so hopefully that helps with some weak points. I never felt like I was sitting back well enough. Same old story on my squat technique. Im gonna try this bar for a few weeks and see if it helps. Shoulders and elbows are screaming today for some reason which is the other reason for the SSB. Note to self: try to position bar further back onto traps so you dont squat-morning everything over 80%. Added a little weight to what I normally GM, that was good, but still WAAAAAY too weak for my size.


"If you wanna get strong - downright strong- you gotta do the big one, the squat".
-Rickey Dale Crain, 'Hardgainer' Magazine.

Training 2/18/13

Upper Assistance @ The Gym

Incline Bench
Bar 2x15
135x5
185x3
185x3 w Slingshot
225x3
225x3 W/Slingshot
245 x DNF

Cut off early. Weight felt a little bit heavier than it should but I would have liked to get up to about 275. I played with the seat and stuff but unracking it by myself was tweaking my shoulder something bad. I determined that an assistance/recovery day was not worth risking it.

A1 DB Side Raises 4x10 Each 25#  DB

A2 Band Pressdowns 4x15 (Purple Band)

A3 Band Curls  Black Monster MB 4x10 Each (2x facing rack + 2x facing sideways from rack)

Treadmill 15 minutes
Incline 10
Speed 2


Terrible day even though is was an assistance/recovery day. I attempted to DB row and press and that was a nightmare. I did one set and cut it off. I think I am more fatigued than I am willing to admit from chopping wood yesterday and my grip is so bad I could barely hold onto anything. Just one of those days where I felt unmotivated. I think arguing with my wife all weekend about money and being stressed about money all the time is shooting my CNS out.

If your teeth are clenched and your fists are clenched, your lifespan is probably clenched
~Adabella Radici

I should have been dead 6 years ago... Teeth still clenched!

Training 2/17/13

Today I met Chris and Mike from The Gym at Chris's house way out in the Virginia countryside. It was a pretty area but Chris lives off a dirt road that made me nervous because it looked like the places in all the movies where city folks go to either get raped, disappear, or both!
Anyway we met Chris there to chop wood for our workout today. I must say as an experienced sledge hammer swinger and tire hitter that chopping wood aint no yuppy shit like the aforementioned. Hitting a tire is now for fat housewives who are paying 75 bucks and hour. We chopped continuously for somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes and my grip, hands, and entire posterior chain are smoked. We determined that I must have been swinging incorrectly using TOO much upper body during my sledge hammer days, because as soon as the hips became involved, the power output increased dramatically along with the  GPP aspect. I thought I was using my entire body and getting my hips involved... I was wrong. Point is there is no substitute for "real" work and that is something we all forget in this soft ass IPAD run society.



Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. 


-Thomas A. Edison 



One of my favorite quotes.... Or dressed in sweat pants and looks like lumber-jacking.

Training 2/15/13

Warm-up Foam Roll @ Home

Lower Assistance Day @ The Gym
Hang Snatch Bar x3
Hip Flexor Stretch 10 Seconds Each Side
Sumo Squat x5
W/U Circuit 3x

Sumo Dead (Speed)
135x3
185x3
225 6x3 (45 Seconds Rest)

Zercher Squat
135 2x5
Added Reverse Doubled Up Purple Bands
225x5
275x5
315x5

A1 Face Pulls (Purple Band)
4x20

A2 Band Resisted Lateral Steps (Black Monster Mini)
4x10 Each Leg (2x Band Above Knee, 2x Band @ Ankles) Keep Band @ Ankles

 Treadmill
Speed 2
Incline 10
14 Minutes


Decent day for some assistance work. Threw the reverse bands on the Zercher squats to try and save my ego because 185 felt like a ton and I still cannot believe how weak I am at that exercise. Speed pulls felt good. Getting my sumo technique a little better but I still need to lose weight to get into a better position.
I need more volume in assistance work. I have been neglecting it too much. I seem to be able to get stronger at bench by just benching with very little assistance, better at dead by lots of assistance and little pulling, but squat seems to be my Achilles heel that needs both more assistance work AND more actual squatting using prilepins. Extra sleep felt good though.


“The food you eat can be either the safest and most 


powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of 

poison.” 

― Ann Wigmore

Shout out to Dunkin Donuts for fueling today's workout. Diet was going good until yesterday... I'm worst than a crack fiend.

Training 2/13/13

Warm-up
Foam Roll
Bar x6 (Squat)
Hip Flexor Stretch
Bar x6 (Squat)
Caffeine
Sumo Squats x5

Squat @ The Gym
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315 3x3, 1x2

Band Resisted Lateral Steps
Black Monster Mini Band
3x10 each leg

Ab Pulldowns
 Green Band
3x20

Not a stellar day. had to  pick up kids so I was rushed. Squat has been dog shit lately. I need more frequency and more volume when I do squat. Despite a slight weight loss I am still having trouble getting loose probably due to sitting too much. Need more soft tissue work, more stretching, and more glute work due to the fact that my knees are caving during heavier squats and my glutes felt instanlty fatigued during the lateral steps (DO THEM MORE OFTEN!!)


You were made to soar, to crash to earth, then to rise and soar again.

Alfred Wainwright


I not soaring right now but hopefully doing a pre-flight check.

Fort Lee Traveller Article Series- More Is Not Always Better

The United States Army is fortunate to have some of the finest patriots serving in it that this country has to offer. Modern soldiers are highly motivated, intelligent, technologically saavy, and getting smarter about their physical training every day. Not much negative can be said, but there is always room for improvement when it comes to the physical training of tactical athletes. 

 More Is Not Always Better.

            The Army has a long standing mentality that the more of something that can be performed, the better. In a recent article written by legendary strength coach Buddy Morris (Cleveland Browns, University of Pittsburgh, 30+ years in the field), coach Morris states perhaps better than anyone that a person should “train as much as necessary in order for improvement, which is the intent in the first place. You never see an injury from undertraining but you see careers shortened from overtraining.  You can solve undertraining and NO not by necessarily increasing training. Thats everyone’s first go to, ” they gotta train more and harder”…. Over time its the volume of work that gets you.” This could not hold truer for soldiers. Not many pro athletes are fortunate enough to spend anywhere near 20 years in their respective sports. Even if you include their years of playing in high school and before, they are lucky to see a decade. A soldier is expected to be combat ready and fit to fight for almost 20 years of their life. This is where overtraining and optimal programming become much more important for the longevity of tactical athletes compared to civilian athletes. Coach Morris also goes on to say, “Don’t judge the training session on if they are sore or they are puking, this should not be considered a good training/ workout session. This is called ” maladaptation” to training or given a stimulus they were not ready for . It doesn’t take a genius to train someone to near death, it takes a thought process to enhance performance.” Individualization of training is impossible due to the large number of soldiers at a given PT session, and a plethora of different ability groups in each company. As it was stated above, it is much better to tailor the training so the less fit soldiers can adapt and improve without being injured. It would be great if everyone could keep up with the top 10% of the PT studs, but again, better to undertrain the top 10% and have no injuries than overtrain the bottom 90% and make Uncle Sam “buy” broken 19 year old soldiers for life!

            The point of this article is not to bring awareness to any deficiencies in Army training, but to help spread the word that OPTIMAL training does not mean OVER training. Millions of dollars a year spent on broken soldiers means that the mentality that more is always better has to change. PRT is a step in the right direction, but that step must be properly implemented and not met with disgruntled resistance. Right now there is TOO much resistance and not enough Army wide education about proper execution, and real world application. Please use the MAT teams as a resource if you have any questions, and let’s work to reduce injuries while continuing to be the greatest fighting force the world over. Special thanks to Buddy Morris. http://nyscenter.com/

ARMY STRONG!!!

Training 2/11/13

@ " The Laugh"

Floor Press
185x3
225x3
275 5x3
Tried SlingShot for one set, didn't help much so last 4 sets with just wraps. Joints are screaming today for some reason. Could be weather (rainy).

A1 Single Arm Land Mine Rows (grabbing end of bar standing perpendicular to land mine)
1 plate
3x5 each
1x10 each (Increase Weight Next Time)

A2 Rope Press Downs
57.5 stack
4x10
elbows screaming

GPP Circuit w/Brett
55lb KB Swings
MB Slams
Battle Ropes (Alt Swings)
3 sets of 20 secs each.
We did basically a 1:1 work to rest moving from one to the other for a minute of total work and then rest and time the other guy while he hit it.

Good day overall. Minimal, but still good.

"The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”
-Henry Rollins

An excerpt from one of my favorite pieces of writing EVER.

Training 2/9/13

Dead Lift @  The Gym
Off pins (3rd from bottom)
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x2 (Switched from overhand grip to alt)
405x1
455x1 (Added straps)
495x1
545xDNF

SLDL 225
3x15

Paramount Lat Pulldown Machine (Seated Row)
2 plates and 1 25 each side 3xF
2x10
1x6

BB Shrugs w/straps
315
3x10

Gripper
2 plates 3x15
1 plate 1x75

Pretty good day today, got big Neal out of retirement. Just like ol' times training with him again. Im pissed hes still stronger than me at pulling even with his sporadic training schedule. getting stronger though.


A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself. ~Frances Ward Weller



Like my good buddy Neal who made sure to tell me my back was getting loose over about 80% today!

Training 2/6/13

@ The Gym W/ Chris Tiller and Mike

Bench
185x2
205x2
225x2
245x2
275x2 ( added SlingShot)
295x2
315x2
335x2
365x2
385x2
405x2 (no style points on the last couple sets but I got em)
 felt a little sluggish, also unstable because I smoked my back yesterday with the Zercher squats and the Hammer Strength Row. Just an example of the lifter Aaron ignoring what the strength coach Aaron knows is a bad idea. Overall not a bad day.
2 rep PR today and a lot more volume than normal. Cant complain about that.

BB Complex 5 sets with 45 seconds rest between sets.
65 lbs.
Dead Lift x5
Row x5
Hang Snatch x5
OH Press x5
Squat x5


Found this quote on some forum, (disclaimer) may not have been Matt Rhodes... either way, awesome.

"Anyone under 200 pounds is a woman" - Matt Rhodes

Fort Lee Traveller Article Series- Posterior Chain

The “posterior chain” is one of a strength and conditioning coaches favorite terms, and can be defined as all of the muscles that make up the back side of your body.  These muscles include the lats, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and all musculature of the lower back. Basically anything you cannot see in the mirror. The posterior chain on most soldiers (and most Americans) is severly underdeveloped. A strong PC can not only make a person faster and more powerful, but most importantly it can drastically reduce the chances of acquiring an injury. Even soldiers who get good nutrition, proper sleep (I know, who does that?!?), and use proper technique can become injured if major imbalances are found. Most people are quad dominant because they spend a lot more time on the leg press and extension machines than they do dead lifting. When you couple that with a  squat technique that breaks at the knees and shoots them out over the toes instead of a “proper” squat (which breaks at the hips, stays on the heels, and forces a person to sit back), you have a prescription for disaster by causing an uneven force to be placed on the knees.

The lower back is another area for concern because for some reason we, as Americans, are obsessed with having six pack abs. Six pack abs are great. . . back surgery is not! A strong lower back will keep your spine in a good position during any type of lifting, PRT, or carrying anything for an extended period of time (ruck marching!). Tying it all back into injury prevention, when you get fatigued during a ruck march or a run is when you become more susceptible to injury because you hunch forward  and cannot keep your spine in a good position which exposes you to injury.

Now your saying, “ok you’ve convinced me I need to do more than curls in the squat rack, but what do I do?"

 The exercises you will see the most improvement in strength and power development will be multi-joint barbell movements. Squat, deadlift, power cleans, etc. It is crucial that these exercises be done using proper technique. There is no point to getting stronger to help prevent injury by injuring yourself while trying to get stronger. Lucky for Fort Lee, there are 4 full time strength coaches available for consultation should any questions arise.

Remember, a strong posterior chain will increase your ability to run, jump, land, and perform tasks essential to being a soldier athlete for both training and deployment situations. Just because you cannot see it in the mirror doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be as strong and powerful as it can be.

ARMY STRONG!

Training 2/5/13

W/U circuit consisting of:
 Sumo Squats 2x5
Hip Flexor Stretch 2 x10 secs each
Open Gate x10 each
Power Shrugs (floor) 2x5 95 lbs

Squat: Triples to 225x3
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
405x1
Plan today was not much volume too see where I am at. I had hoped for mid 4's through 5 but was disappointed. Had very little for breakfast and tried to supplement with an extra scoop of pre-workout on a semi-empty stomach and I think that help to screw myself. I know, the same mistake high school kids make. Apparently I do not learn much, but at least I can blame my job for lack of time to get a good meal... anyway I abandoned max plan and decided to hit singles at 405. Shooting for 4 or 5, got 2. Rep #2 looked horrible, knees caving, upper back loose. Cut it off. Bill Gillespie once told me that with less than 6 reps over 50% there is no training effect. I am flirting with that, but I still feel that I may have gotten a little stronger today by  going SUPER sub maximal or at least I hope. Been doing a lot of reverse band squats lately so I am hoping I am higher than this and today was just a bad day. Time will tell...

Zercher Squat

135 x6

155 2x5

Great movement I need to do more of. Made posterior chain feel about as strong as an 8 year old girl. Supersetted:

A1 HS Seated Row

Machine (Standing)

2 plates each

1x20

1x10

1x20

A2 45 Degree Hyper

3x10 BW Again I will blame fatigue as today’s assistance lift numbers are way off of anywhere near normal. Got back to my desk and had the bombshell dropped on me that my wife had been fired from her job this morning. I feel bad for her because I know she doesnt have a dishonest or cutt throat bone in her body which is what it takes to be keep a job at large companies like the one she worked at (rhymes with wahpital whone). Voiced her concerns to her manager regarding her management style friday and was fired today... shocker.  Anyway the point is at least I got a training session in before I reached complete CNS fatigue from stress! Dont worry about us internet world, been in the gutter so long whats the difference? You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.  ~Walt Disney I found this quote inspiraional and ironic... How bout when you been kicked in the teeth for over 5 years and all you wanna do is be able to take your kids to your park in Orlando, huh Walt? JK



Training 2/4/13:

Today I did 9 hills sprints behind my house for GPP. Supposed to squat, but after trying to find a parking spot at the gym on base and then realizing that one more day of watching pussies do 85 different arm curl variations, I would lose my mind,  I switched up training days and will hit a big squat tomorrow.

Brute Strength gym in Norfolk has a meet in April which I am training for.


What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals

-Henry David Thoreau