Training in the gym these days

Trying to make good use of my 'idle' times. The fact that I'm visibly working and not just pretending has an obviously terrorizing effect on many machine-zombies there. But, to paraphrase Pavel, that's between them and their therapist.

A quick session before class on Tuesday

5/5 C&P @16kg
5/5 single (opposite) arm, single leg DL @16kg
10 rounds

BJ swing workout yesterday

I trained an RKC candidate in the afternoon, he's on the BJ prep program - memories coming up, oh, well :) I couldn't resist myself, and, although I was a bit late and only had like 40min before training a client in the evening, I still managed to squeeze in all 3 rounds, even if with very limited rest periods.

@16kg
10/10 swings
5/5 C&P
10/10 swings
5/5 C&FSQ
10/10 swings
5/5 TGU
10/10 swings
10/10 snatches
10/10 swings
3 rounds, 40min

Broke a good sweat :)

Must be the moon phase...

I can't say I was in top form the last couple of days... I somehow pulled some small muscle or whatever in my back between the shoulder blades, due to which it was problematic to even hold a kettlebell in the rack position. I took a few days off from training and I still managed to rip a callous, so that I have a pretty deep cut in the crease at the base of my middle finger that keeps popping open whenever I extend the finger. On top of that, I cut the thumb of my other hand outside near the joint, so that it keeps popping open whenever I make a fist... Cool setup, lol.

Anyway, I was more than fed up with all this by yesterday and, as at least my back seemed to be okay, I did some pressing and a few other things that don't even require cleaning all too often:

military presses @16kg
1 ladder of 5, 4 ladders of 4

bent press to windmill to OH squat @16kg
3/3, 2/2, 1/1

Things are happening

If you want to press a lot, well... you have to press a lot.

Presses were always my weakness. This year I was trying to make sure to have at least 3 press sessions a week, preferably ladders. What a surprise, if you keep at practicing, you get better... Solid 20kg MP on my right yesterday, without any need to get fancy creative (like lifting a heel, moving the hip, leaning back, bouncing or the like... Why would anyone practice that, anyway, except for trying to impress with numbers? One would just get better at compensating for a compromised technique... Brett had a much simpler answer as we were talking about this during a lunch break at the FMS course: "Because they're meatheads, that's why." LOL). It still gets stuck at about parallel on my left, but it'll come, too, no haste.

I'm a bit behind with blogging, partly due to another weekend job in Budapest, so here's a short recap of what was going on in the last few days training-wise:

Thursday:

1/1 TGU @16kg
5/5 FSQ @16kg
5/5 windmills @16kg
5 goblet squats @24kg
5/5 double windmills @2*16kg
3 rounds of:
MP L - TGU to floor - 5 floor presses - TGU up - lower, switch hands and repeat R, @16kg
10 Renegade Rows @2*16kg
and 5 double FSQ @2*16kg

30sec on, 30sec off:
7/7 snatches @16kg
20-22 two-hand swings @24kg
10 rounds, 20min

Friday:

Military presses alternated with close stance (feet together) goblet squats @16kg
5 ladders of 3

30sec on, 30sec off:
7/7 snatches @16kg
7/7 cleans @20kg
10/10 swings @24kg
5 rounds, 15min

Yesterday:

@2*12kg:
5*(clean-press-clean-front squat)
10 rounds of:
5 double MP
and 5 double FSQ

My squat form has improved a lot, I don't need to turn my feet out that much and can still kick my knees out. Thanks again for that knee-stabilizing tip, Pavel.

Back again

Headache, chills and nausea last Tuesday and Wednesday... First I thought maybe I had eaten something I shouldn't have, but on Thursday it turned into a sore and sawdusty throat... Perfectly timed for the weekend's translation-assistance job at the Budapest FMS course, oh my.

But whatever, show must certainly go on, my voice held, we had a lot of fun, my certification procedure as a CK-FMS was finally completed and the course was, all in all, a tremendous success.

It was great to see Brett again and working with him is always a pleasure, even if he keeps joking about how he's set himself the goal of giving me a hard time translating. Precisely formulated, no-nonsense information serving a clear-cut message brought across to the participants in a highly (also time-) effective way - in a most enjoyable presentation. As usual, so far. But, and maybe you've never thought about it this way - translating is tough, but being translated is nonetheless a helluva job. Not only is it a nuisance that you keep falling out of your own rhythm as translating interrupts you all the time, also, you have the same amount of time but you can use half of it at best. Which means you have to strip everything to the bone, decide what to skip and what to keep to still get the main thing through (in this case a whole completely new and revolutionary system) - and that pretty much on the go... 

Working with the groups during practice brought me a lot of insights, too. I've been confronted with a whole lot of questions, not only about technical details like is it now a 3 or a 2 or if the stance during testing Shoulder Mobility matters and the like, but about the whys, the biomechanical background of the tests/exercises, the philosophy of the screening and correcting procedure and the hows of implementation/integration into training. Attending a course, listening, understanding, internalizing things like I did at the CK-FMS back in August and applying them in your own job later is one thing, but having to explain them, under time pressure, in a concise, hopefully logical and easily comprehensible way is a completely different matter, forces you to re-think, re-organize and re-systematize whatever you know. This is something unique (and highly addictive) to working as an assistant and I'm looking forward to having the same experience at the Denmark RKC in May.

As for training, I felt pretty much wasted on Monday and Tuesday but I did a little bit yesterday:

10/10 swings, 10/10 cleans and 10/10 snatches @16kg
C&P @16kg, alternated with single (opposite) arm, single leg DL @24kg, 5 ladders of 4
10*10 swings @24kg with a client, I-go-you-go-style

Going barefoot, applying Pavel's knee stabilization technique and concentrating on reaching back during SLDL works wonders.

Still simple

ROP C&P ladders @16kg
2*(5-->1), 3*(4-->1)
60 L/R
Descending this time, I wanted to see the difference. Can't say it's easier, maybe mentally.

20 swings @16kg
7/7 snatches @16kg
30sec on, 30sec off
15 rounds, 30min, 210 snatches, 300 swings

Feedback

I got freakin' sore :D Was to be expected, of course, planned, actually. The good news is, soreness is exactly where it should be. Cool.