Powerlift Phase!

So, last phase, I was doing box squats and bench for my primary strength gains. I got myself up to 275 for 5 on box squats and 190 for 3 on bench. Not too bad, but... ugh@bench. Now, as far as the Knee Rebound Jumps went, my max distance was 9'7" on the second week.. The third week was only slightly averaging higher than the first one.

This new phase will be focusing on the three powerlifts. That means two maximal strength days for lower body. For that reason, I won't be going super intense on the days by cutting the volume. Bench will stay in rotation because I don't feel like I'm getting the gains on it that I should be.

Monday:
Squat
Split-Squat DB Deadlift
Barbell Hyperextension
Abs
HIIT

Tuesday:
Bench (Rep Effort)
Bentover BB Row
Deadhang Pull-ups
Seated OHP
Jog

Thursday:
Broad Jumps
Deadlift
Walking Lunge
Abs
Jog

Friday:
Bench (ME)
Neutral-Grip Pull-ups
Tuck Planche holds
Cable Upright Row
Face-pull/Scarecrow Superset
Jog

Box Squat/Bench Cycle

well, i haven't made a post in awhile, and there's a good reason for that: I'm lazy. But it's not that I'm too lazy to train. I'm just too lazy to post. So here's what I'm proposing instead: I outline my program for the next few weeks, and each tiem I repost, I give thoughts on how I did, if I hit my goals, etc. etc. while programming the next cycle. sound fair? I think it helps me out a lot, too, since I don't have to think on the spot, 'Okay, what did I do last time...?'

Mondays: Max Effort Lower Body-Box Squats
Box Squats
Front Squat Reverse Lunges
Seated Good Morning
Seated Calf Raise/Toe Raise
Ab routine

Tuesdays: Dynamic Effort Upper Body-Ballistic Bench
Ballistic Bench Press
Muscle-Ups
Handstand Push-up/Plate Raise Superset
Chest-Supported Row
Zottman Curls

Wednesdays: Cardio/ESD

Thursdays: Dynamic Effort Lower Body-Knee-to-Toe Rebound Jumps
KtT Rebound Jumps
Explosive Banded Squats
Rack Pull
Single-Leg Standing DB Calf-raise

Fridays: Max Effort Upper Body - Bench Press
Bench
DB Incline
Bent-Over Row/Rear Delt Fly Superset
JM Press
Chin-ups

DE Upper Body

Upper body warm-up

DE Ballistic Bench:
12x3 115lbs

Supplemental:
3x6 2x50lbs DB Incline Neutral-to-Pronated

Vertical Pull:
1x4 Muscle-ups
2x3 Muscle-ups

Vertical Push:
1x8 Handstand Push-up
1x6 HSPU
1x5 HSPU

Elbow Flexion:
3x8 25lbs Zottman Curls

Circa-Max Lower Body (Deload)

Lower body warm-up (included butterfly kicks!)

CME Box Squats (below parallel):
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
5x5 225lbs

Unilateral:
2x6 95lbs Front Squat Reverse Lunges (each leg)

Posterior:
3x8 25lbs Unilateral Hyperextension (each leg)

Calves/Tibiales:
2x20 70lbs Seated Calf Raise
3x8 15lbs Seated Toe Raise (with DB)
---

Front Squat Reverse Lunges... Yeaaaah... Death on wheels.. or plates, as it were.

DE/ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

DE Knee-Step Out Jumps:
Set1:
8'11"R 8'8"L
8'5"R 8'4"L
9'4"R 9'2"L

Set2:
8'8"R 8'7"L
8'8"R 8'0"L
8'8"R 8'7"L

Set3:
8'4"R 8'4"L
8'0R 7'10"L
8'8"R 7'11"L

ME Deadlift:
1x3 135lbs
1x3 185lbs
1x1 225lbs
1x121 275lbs
1x1 315lbs
3x1 365lbs
2x1 315lbs

Unilateral:
2x45lbs Walkign Lunges, a really far distance (door to water fountain at gym)

Abs routine
---

Really happy I PR'd on DLs.. Disappointed in the jumps. Next week, I'll need to do a deload, I'm positive.

DE Dynos!!!
1x3 1.5 feet
6x3 2 feet

Horizontal Push:
1x5 2x75lbs DB Bench
3x10 2x50lbs DB Bench

Superset:
3x6 2x30lbs Lat raises
3x8 2x30lbs Behind-head OHP

Elbow Flexion:
3x8 2x35 Hammer Curls (started with twitch reps)

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Box Squats:
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x5 275lbs
3x5 295lbs

Unilateral:
2x6 2x45lbs Step-Ups, each leg

Posterior Chain:
3x5 Unilateral Hyperextensions, each leg

Abs:
2x10 Kneeling Ab Wheel Roll-outs
2xmax Chinese planks
---

MY BACK IS IN SO MUCH FRIGGIN PAIN!

ME Upper Body

Boxing warm-up

ME Bench Press w/ Mini-bands:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x3 135lbs

Supplemental:
3x8 2x50lbs DB Incline

Vertical Pull:
3x10 Kipping Pull-ups

Horizontal Pull/Vertical Push Superset:
3x8 2x35lbs Rear delt flies
3x8, 6, 5 2x35lbs OHP

Elbow flexion:
4x8 Twitch rep/Strict Curl alternates
---

Eh, didn't get 135 like I hoped to. Onto regular bench next week. Going to do some more handstand practice now, though I'm tired as crap and I'm sure I won't be able to hold myself up too well.

DE/ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

DE Knee Step-Out Jumps:
First set (of three right leg jumps, three left):
8'3 R; 8'5.5" L
8'3" R; 8'4" L
8'6.5" R; 9'1" L

Second set:
9'6" R; 8'2" L
8'9" R; 9' L
8'4" R; 9'6" L

Third set:
9'2" R; 8'11" L
9' R; 8'8" L
9'4" R; 8'9" L

ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x4 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x1 295lbs
1x1 315lbs
3x1 355lbs
---

The Knee Step-Out Jumps are unilateral, so.. meh. And everything was posterior chain today. Pretty happy with being able to reach a max of 9 feet, six inches on both legs. And a PR of 355! Everything seems to be moving smoothly.

I also realize it might not be the best idea to do heavy lower body work twice in one week.. but I figure it'll prep me for the competition better. I'll do a deload right before the meet.

DE Upper Body

Boxing warm-up

DE Dynos!!!
1x3 1.5 feet
1x3 2 feet
6x3 1.5 feet

Horizontal Push:
3x5 2x75lbs DB Bench

Horizantal Pull:
3x8 Cable pulley row (8 on stack)

Superset:
3x6 2x25lbs Lat raises
3x8 2x25lbs Behind-head OHP

Elbow Flexion:
3x8 2x25 Hammer Curls (started with twitch reps)

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Squats:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x1 295lbs
1xM 315lbs
2x1 305lbs
1x5 225lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 2x55lbs reverse lunges, each side

Posterior chain:
3x6, 6, 6 Hip thrusts, single leg hip thrusts, each leg

Ab circuit
---

A bit angry about missing the 315, but 305 seems okay now. a little tough hitting depth, but.. it should be okay.

ME Upper Body+Parkour

Boxing warm-up

ME Bench Press w/ Mini-bands:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
3x5 125lbs

Supplemental:
2x6 2x45lbs DB Incline

Vertical Pull:
3x10 Kipping Pull-ups

Horizontal Pull/Vertical Push (Superset):
3x8 2x30lbs Rear Delt Flies
3x8 2x30lbs OHP

Elbow Flexion:
4x45lbs Twitch Rep/Strict Curl alternations
---

So I tried to weigh down the mini-bands with 40s today (technically, this all happened on Friday, but I'm going to tlak as if it was today).. And they were floating JUST above the ground. Could barely notice until you touched one nad it dangled freely. So.. The bands are offering 40lbs of resistance at the top, it seems. Just a bit more than I expected. I knew I had thems tretched more than 6 feet (where they should be offering 25), but this is.. pretty impressive. My body's adapting to the bands a bit and getting a more powerful drive up, so that's always nice.

Now, Parkour tonight was HUUUUGE. I don't know how word spread, but it spread like wildfire. Okay, it's not the biggest group I've ever had to deal with, but it was about 10, and I'm used to like.. four. So I'm pleasantly surprised. A new guy, Thomas, has a lot of natural experience and has done it with his friends for quite some time, so it'll be nice to have his help when more and more people come. It seems like he's very much into the whole strengtht hing, too, even if he's a gymnast and has different ideas of what "strength" are. Either way, good guy and it'll be nice to have him around.

Dynamic Upper/Lower Body

Two days ago:

Dynamic Upper

Boxing warm-up

DE Pull-ups:
6x5 Explosive

Horizontal Push:
3x5 2x75lbs DB Bench

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 7-stack Seated cable row

Vertical Push/Delt Superset:
3x8 2x25 Lateral raises
3x8 2x25 Behind-head OHP

Elbow flexion:
3x12 45lb EZ strict curl
---

Today:

Dynamic lower Body

Lower body warm-up (tac jumps, broad jumps)

DE Barbell Glute Bridges:
1x5 135lbs
6x4 185lbs

ME Deadlift:
1x1 225
1x1 315
1x(miss) 365

Bodyweight Jump Circuit
(mostly unilateral)
---

So I missed 365.. It was close. The DLs were just for shits and giggles, anyhow.

DE Lower Body/ME Upper

Yesterday:

Lower body warm-up

DE Hang Cleans:
2x3 95lbs
6x3 115lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 185 Reverse lunges

Posterior Chain:
3x8 25lbs single-leg hyperextension, each leg
---

Today:

Upper body warm-up

ME Bench Press w/ Mini-bands (dbl looped):
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
2x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
1x5 155lbs*
2x5 115lbs
1x5 95lbs

Vertical Pull:
3x10 Pull-ups

Supplemental:
3x8 2x50lbs DB Bench

Shoulders Superset (Hor. pull+ver. push):
3x8 2x30lbs Rear delt flies
3x8 2x30lbs Overhead Press

Grip:
2x15 secs 115lbs SCDLs, each hand
---

So.. first time I've ever double-looped the bands like that. Both ends are looped around a DB at the bottom and the middle of the band is draped over the barbell. what does this mean? Pretty much, it's the full resistance of the band, roughly more than 6 feet of stretch going on there.. and MUCH more resistance than I've experienced before. I'm thinking 25-30lbs per band at the top. And not slack at the bottom, either. This is the way the bands SHOULD be.

Well, I overestimated my ability. I got stapled on the last rep of 155.. So I dropped down. The banded bench is ridiculously tough. I didn't expect that at all.

RE Upper Body - Pull-ups

Upper body warm-up

RE Pull-ups:
3x10 BW

Horizontal Push:
3x6 2x60lbs DB Bench

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 Seated cable row (unsure of weight.. it was an 8 on the stack)

Vertical Push:
3x8 HSPUs w/ wall
---

Okay, so... really... I love my job, even if I know that I won't actually be making any real money for a couple of months. My first paycheque probably won't even cover what I pay for parking. Money is great and all, but this is really about.. doing what you love with your life, right? Today, I talked with a woman who probably won't become a client by any means, but she was doing a silks routine (circus performance kinda stuff) with a silk draped over the pull-up bar. I talked with her a good long while and tried to play along with the silk.. Uuhhh.. hard as shit. Harder than gymnastics rings. I did, however, teach her a back lever (single tucked leg). She was also impressed with muscle-ups on a bar, which I think she could do if she was fresh (she got on the bar and knocked out twelve pull-ups without a problem). It's meeting with people like this.. with passion for real strength skills and just awesome stuff.. that makes it all worthwhile.

My own workout was okay. It could've gone a whole lot better, but my diet the past few days has been off and the energy isn't all there. I need to figure out how I'm supposed to eat properly with these hours. Maybe I'll wake up earlier than I have to (I need to be up by 4:30AM) and boil a chicken breast and some broccoli for lunch tomorrow. I also ran the sales manager through a workout so he can see how I go about things. He seemed pretty happy about it all.

ME Squat

Lower Body warm-up

ME Squats:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x5 255lbs
3x3 275lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 2x50lbs lunges

Posterior:
3x10 25lbs 45-degree hyperextension

Ab Circuit
---

Finally feeling strong again, although I went too hard this time and nearly puked. I finished that entier workout in just under half an hour. BUT... I had something called a Spike Shooter beforehand. It's a sugar-free super-insane energy drink that Biotest produces. I had no idea that my gym sold it, but I gav eit a shot, and then was just CRAZILY filled with energy. It was ridiculous. I highlyrecommend it to anyone as a pre-workout drink, especially if you're afraid you're going to feel fatigued through it.

I also trained my first client at this gym today. It was a quick orientation and my instructions were to "kick his ass" (my boss's words, not mine). After I ran him through a quick warm-up, I started him off on a complex.. He got through the first exercise (12 squats with 40lbs on his back), then went to the bathroom to puke. Dude was SERIOUSLY out of shape. He told me he was a soccer player! I convinced him to buy 16 sessions with me. Fun times. Love this job.

ME Bench Press/DE Pull-ups

ME Bench:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x5 155lbs

DE Pull-ups:
6x4 BW

Supplemental:
3x5 2x60lbs DB bench

Vertical Push:
3x8 2x40lbs Overhead press

Elbow flexion:
2x10 60lb EZ curls (standing)
---

Going light.. But man, it's nice to be under the bar again.

Circa-ME Squats

Circa-Max Squats:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
3x5 225lbs

Dynamic:
6x3 Broad jumps (max)

Posterior:
3x10 25lbs 45-degree hyperextension
---

Okay, I've officially started my job as of today. I'm the new personal trainer at the Gold's Gym in the Clarendon area of Arlington. And I FINALLY got under the bar again after work. I'm out of it, I could've lifted a lot more, but I want to get back into it slowly. No rush, no rush.

But, man... I've missed lifting.

More BJJ and Sleds...

Well, back on Saturday, Mark and I went over to our friend Pat's place to take advantage of his barbell and squat rack. It was super uncomfortable and slipped a lot, and he didn't have quite enough weight.. I worked up to 3 sets of 5 at 245lbs and that was enough.. (I don't think I've gotten weaker, but I"m out of the groove)... And then I did a few sets of circa-max deadlifts... This took ALL the weight he had and we still only got it up to 295.

Other than that, there've been more BJJ sessions (getting better, slowly..) and today, we had another sled session. There was much sprinting, backwards drags, and newly incorporated pull-throughs. Let me tell you... Sled pull-throughs are a BITCH. That's all I got, though. More later.

Random things.

It's been quite a while since I made a post... mostly because I haven't had any access to a gym, as stated before, and I don't feel there's much of a reason to make a post. But I've been keeping things up.. I mean, a lot of bodyweight stuff and stuff with my weight vest. There's been some Parkour and other such things, so I mean... things are maintained, I guess, even if I do expect a loss of strength to come out of this.

Today, Mark and I whipped out my sled and did sprints back and forth on a basketball course. The format was always the same: one full sprint forward, one backwards drag. We alternated and eventually worked up to about 120lbs. Not a whole lot, but definitely enough to feel it working. The only thing we didn't anticipate was that it was 90 degrees outside and we were in direct sunlight. It wasn't long before my vision started to flash (anyone who's ever been severely dehydrated, at heat exhaustion, or even in hypothermia will know what "flashing vision" is). And we kept going. The nausea came next. We kept going. Then my vision started blacking at the edges. ..okay.. probably time to call it quits.

Turns out we both suffered from heat exhaustion and were miserable for the rest of the day and night. But it was still the first good workout I've gotten in awhile.

Pussy lightweight stuff.

4x25 80lb squats (50lb weight vest+30lb DB)
3x15 80lb Bulgarian split-squats
3x20 50lb Push-ups w/ Mini-band
3x10 50lb kneeling ab-wheel roll-outs

Ugh... I hate not being in the gym. This is pretty much all I managed to do with what I have at home. My sister brought up the good point that I have access to a local "gym" that services our neighbourhood. There's no barbell, just a bunch of pulley machines and the like, but they have DBs up to 80, if I recall correctly. I think i can get creative. 50lb vest +80lb DBs on each shoulder is.. well.. enough. This is just going to be annoying until I get myself under the bar again, though.

Past few days...

Without regular access to a gym, I'm a little annoyed. I won't have the ability to get back into the gym for quite a while, so I'm going to have to make due with my weight vest, my pull-up bar, and my sled. It's just kinda a hassle and since all this stuff is at home, I'm more likely to be lazy.

On the other hand, I went out to the Mason session on Thursday. Met a new guy Gabriel, saw Hai again, got pissed off at Trey for being lazy. We did a light warm-up and the conditioning routine was pretty much ruined by Trey's laziness (in that small of a group, it matters big time). I worked with them on quick changes of direction coming out of a roll, or just rolling in general. Then we spent awhile playing around and trying new and different things. It's good to have Hai around just because he'll get me to try things I've never seen before. Too bad he has to go back to Blacksburg. If Knox shows up routinely, maybe he'll do the same thing.

Last night was my first BJJ session. I suck arse. Strength means shit when you're on the ground. At the very least, it means terribly little. I intend to get much better, though. But I see a lot of disadvantages with my body type. Short arms, short legs.. Almost no leverage at all.

DE "C&J"/RE Upright Row

Upper body warm-up

DE Kipless C&J:
1x8 empty bar
1x3 55lbs
1x3 65lbs
1x3 75lbs
8x3 85lbs

RE Upright Row:
3x12 95lbs

Horizontal Pull:
3x15 Inverted Rows

Horizontal Push:
3x8 155lbs Bench

BB Finisher:
Curls, HSPUs, flies, more curls. Whee.
---

Nothing special to report today.

ME Deadlifts/DE Box Squats/Parkour

Lower body warm-up

ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x3 185lbs
1x2 225lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 315lbs
3x1 345lbs

DE Box Squats:
8x3 175lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 135lbs reverse lunges, each side

Calves:
3x12 160lbs calf raises

Weighted Abs
---

I'm pretty happy about 345. I doubt I'll jump to 355 next week, though. I'll try to get a solid five reps out, maybe. The only reason I didn't is because my grip was giving out (mostly due to sweat). I wish I had chalk. Sweat should never be an issue. I do feel myself reaching my limit, thoguh. My lift for 345 is really slow.

Parkour today was fun. We had three youngsters who were quite new and began seeing how we could structure their training in an appropriate way. We started with a light warm-up and began a few technical things, making sure they knew lazies, sides, speeds, and turns. From there, we had small and short routes for them to practice connecting those basic movements together. We spent a good long while doing this, then moved to the rocky area to practice some jumps. Then to BSB to play with the rails where it winded down a bit and we began to just mess around and drill. The end was at "Heather's Place" where we practiced some more jumps and I played around with some drills and very short "combos." A fun day that otherwise just would've been a hot day spent indoors with air conditioning.

ME Bench/DE Pull-ups - Monkey Vault

(Friday's Workout)
ME Bench:
1x8 Empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 135lbs
1x5 155lbs
3x5 185lbs

DE Pull-ups:
6x4 BW

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 155lbs Bentover BB Row

Vertical Push:
3x8 HSPUs
---

Trevor and Jordan thought it would be a good idea (and I don't disagree) to go to the Monkey Vault one last time before I left. The workout above was actaully the first thing I did when I got into the gym. I'm ecstatic that my 1RM from last week has become my 5RM again. I guess I just needed to get my body back into the groove of benching. Nothing else much to report as far as the workout goes. Although, later, I did manage to bench 225lbs with a spot. I could probbaly comfortably do 215, which makes me pretty happy, too.

While I was at the Vault, hbw and Stephen came in and wanted to know if I was squatting (since I was in the weight room). Turns out everyone has wanted to see me squat! The day before, of course, was a high-rep squat day that nearly killed me (not literally), and I was feeling pretty sore, but I figured I could just attempt a light max out. So I worked up slowly and got to 295lbs for one. I didn't want to do any higher than that given my state, but it was fun and it's nice to know I'm back there and probably back to 315 for one on a good and fresh day.

The rest of the time was spent goofing off in the gym. A few vaults, a few runs, one poorly executed front flip into the foam pit. Was fun.

DE Broad Jump/RE Squats

Lower body warm-up

DE Broad Jumps:
1x2 Approx 3ft.
1x2 Approx 4ft.
1x3 Approx 5ft.
1x3 Approx 5.5ft
1x3 Approx 6ft.
1x3 Approx 6.25ft
1x3 Approx 6.5ft
1x3 Approx 6.75ft
6x3 Approx 7 ft

RE Squats:
1x15 185lbs
1x11 185lbs
1x15 165lbs

Posterior Chain:
3x8 GHR
---

Okay, so, for the broad jumps, I wasn't measuring, but eyeballing and also measuring by my feet and dividing by 12 for the approximate inches/feet. Seven feet, roughly, is a lot longer than you think it is. But the real pain of today was the high-rep squats. I swear to God, it was torturous. The first fifteen weren't so bad, but after the second set, I just felt like I was near to puking already. It really reminded me of when I first started strength training, and how I would get in the car and just need to sit there for 20 minutes to make sure I didn't puke on the way home. It's something I am completely NOT used to, and understanding how quickly my quads got gassed out on Friday... I know I need to get better at this. The last set was done at a deload because I'm pretty sure I would've puked otherwise. And I skipped unilateral for the same reason.

DE "C&J"/RE Upright Row

Upper body warm-up

DE Kipless "Clean and Jerk":
1x8 empty bar
1x3 55lbs
1x3 65lbs
8x3 75lbs

RE Upright Row:
1x15 85lbs
1x12 85lbs
1x9 85lbs

Horizontal Pull:
3x12 Inverted Row

Horizontal Push:
3x8 135lbs Bench

"BB Finisher":
1x12 45lbs Strict curl
2x8 45lbs Strict curl
2x8 HSPUs
2x8 25lbs Hammer curls, each arm
---

Over the weekend, I got to play around a bit on Dan's bench press upstairs with Jordan and Ewok. He's got a bench made by Elite FTS and it was super nice, but one thing I noticed in particular was that the bench was MUCH higher than I'm used to. Because of this, tucking my legs underneath my hips was much easier and I got a decent arch in my back with ease and comfort. 135lbs felt really light and easy in this position. Going back to the bench here, I knew what REAL leg drive felt like (and I have never actually used leg drive before, I've realized), so I found a way to get into proper position on a standard lower bench.. Well, let me tell you, it's uncomfortable as shit. I remember Christian Thibadeau saying after Dave Tate taught him the PL bench that it's one of the most uncomfortable things you could do.. His exact words were, "Now I know why powerlifters never go beyond three reps. There's no way you could lay in that position for more than three reps!" That's pretty much how I felt, but I did manage to get the 135 to feel a lot lighter.. I think this technical improvement should improve my 1RM by at least a bit. It didn't feel as light as it did in Toronto, though.. shame shame.

My Summer Jam Write-Up

This past weekend was the annual event many of us have come to know as "Summer Jam." There are a lot of national and international jams out there these days. Beast Coast, PKUSA, Trace Gathering... All of these are well-known and carry almost a "larger-than-life" association with them. But none are simply so large, so ingrained into our custom, so much a part of who we are... as to be known simply as Summer Jam. If you think about it, it's a very non-descript name. It could refer to any of the numerous jams out there during the season, and yet it is still known well enough to JUST be Summer Jam. It doesn't matter who you are or where... If you've been in Parkour for any decent amount of time, you know what Summer Jam is.

This year, nearly 200 traceurs came from all around North America to meet in Toronto, sleep over at one of the world's only Parkour gyms, train together, share ideas, and make new friendships. Three days of training, of goofing off, of learning from one another in the best way possible... Pretty much every community in Canada was in attendance. Along with that, three Americans represented the US: myself from Virginia/Washington, DC; King David from LA; and Rafe Kelley from Seattle.

I arrived with Jordan around noon on Friday to see Rafe still sleeping on a big foam block, and a large group of foreign Canadians speaking French and eating lunch. While I made a meal of some sardines, a traceur from BC introduced himself, and I introduced myself, noting that I was an American. "I'm Andy," I said, a little worried that my sardine tin was reeking pretty badly.

"Andy Animus?" he asked while I shook his hand. Bewildered, as I didn't expect to be known by that name by a random just from the name "Andy," I nodded in affirmation. "You missed some crazy stuff last year, man," he said to me, and then introduced himself. I swore he said "Bryce", so I looked a little confused when he looked at me like I should've known who he was. Well, I don't know any Bryce, so I was confused throughout. Whatever. We'd get to know each other better later (I think he may have thought I was super anti-social, though).

The day started out at Cloud Gardens, one of the most well-known hotspots in Toronto and featured in almost every media piece for the city. I'd never been there before... Let me tell you, until you're there, you have no idea how amazing it is.


It is quite simply one of the best spots for traceurs in the world. There's very little you can't do there. And we played around for a good long while. My heel hasn't fully recovered, so I was wary of the impact forces I was taking and tried to take it easy, but it was a bit difficult given that drops and precisions are abundant here. Toward the end of the day, I heard some of the BC traceurs calling out to Bryce... "Rene! Rene! Come try this." Well, Rene I DO know... And he goes by the name of Res. At this point, I felt pretty rude about not recognizing him, but he repeated himself twice earlier and I heard Bryce both times. Ah well.

Partway through the day, King and Jo Meuris showed up. Now, I've been a huge fan of King's style and technique ever since Cliff showed me his sampler in 2008. This was waaaay before anyone else knew who he was. Way before he joined The Lost Boys. Way before he joined the WFPF and got signed onto the MTV show. So meeting with King was a big deal for me. I mean, we're talking about one of the only traceurs who can move fluidly, confidently, and seamlessly during full sprints. Show me another traceur who can do what King does sprinting and I will be supremely amazed. But maybe King NEEDS to know how to sprint. He's shorter than I am! He's shorter than Dimmonk is! I mean, the guy is tiny and I didn't expect that at all. But I sat down and had a long talk with him... and his take on training, his approach to Parkour as a whole, to media, to competition, to everything.. is so solid and down to earth that I also gained a massive amount of respect for him. I started talking to Jo afterward about her animation (PK Granny.. youtube it if you haven't seen it, it's awesome), her relationship to King, my articles, feminism, and other such things.. It was a very pleasant conversation and she, too, is one of those traceurs out there who I have a massive amount of respect for. These two are some of the best practitioners in the world.. not because of their ability, but because of their heart.

Dan ran an obstacle course at the end of the evening... I ran one of the slowest times for the course, which I'm perfectly all right with. I was 1:31 or so... the fastest time was 38 seconds. Most people clocked in at around 50 seconds. There'll be a video of my run later. I know I made a lot of mistakes during it... Basically, you could take any path you wanted... But there was really two options: do a series of climbs first, or do a sprint first. Whatever you didn't do first, you pretty much had to do last. I chose to sprint first, thinking I could just do the drops down and be faster at the end. What I didn't take into account was that the sprint (which was slow because of my heel in the first place) fatigued my legs out.. and the running and jumping didn't help too much. So by the time I got to the drops, I needed to cat-to-drop and take it really slowly because my legs were waaaay too tired to take any impact forces. But it was a good learnign experience... Whenever you can, order a sprinting portion last because it gasses you out early.



In the evening, we all sat down and had a long conversation about Parkour, what it is, what it means, what it is to train, and some of the best ways to train the human body for this sport. This was an extremely productive conversation (aside from a few derailings and idiots), and it'll be more to take back with me.

The second day, we woke up early to go to the park. Unfortunatley, we were quickly kicked out of the massive playground and had to make a new plan. This resulted in miles of trailblazing through forestry, mud, water, vines, thorns, and anything else you might think of. People were miserable. The younger and the weaker complained a whole lot. Me? Yeah, I was tired. My feet hurt. And about halfway through, I was covered in sweat, heart pumping with energy, and I just wanted to RUN through it... It was a lot of fun, for sure. By the time we got to where we were trying to go, though, I was gassed out. Everyone was pretty tired, so we took some rest, then played around. Eventually, we made it out to the beach where we were supposed to have an MN session.. But I think Dan decided against it because he hadn't planned that super-long hike. So we got to do what we do best: play. The rocks felt amazing on my feet. I could take drops again, I could do long precisions.. and nothing hurt. The water and the rocks rejuvenated me to an amazing extent.. and then I decided to peel the shoes off... and get into the water. Freezing cold. FREEZiNG COLD. But it was okay.

Up until this point, Rafe had seemed a little antisocial and unhappy.. but I saw him come alive in the water. In fact, everyone came alive. We were laughing, chicken-fighting, swimming, splashing... I think beach meets are one of those things that is necessary every now and then for traceurs. If only to really drive home that sense of community. I wish we could do that more often in Northern Virginia. I hope the videos get posted of some of the crazy stuff that was done in the water. You guys will just have to wait for that one.

The last day was spent in various spots downtown. This was much easier for me to do some things. It's the Parkour I'm used to, after all. So we played around. I was marveled by the climb-ups of the Quebecois (who astounded me the entire weekend, really). They go instantly from being in a full hang into an extended dip. One motion. From there, it's a simple kip to their feet. A two-move full cimb-up instead of the standard three where the dip takes some amount of time dpeending on how tired you are.. Rafe suggested somethign to me that I'll need to work on a lot more when I get the chance. I don't think I'll teach it to beginners since I want them to develop the strength before I give them ways to cheat. After downtown, we went to the harbour front, had lunch (and ice cream.. and the cute ice cream girl snuck me an extra scoop, whoo), and then played around at the harbour. Rather tired at this point, I tried to avoid doing too much.. Rafe had us playing Add-On on a non-rail structure, which was interesting and a little awkward. Should be good for the future.

All-in-all, this was an amazing weekend. It was an extremely humbling weekend, as well. I'm used to being the "experienced" one in my communities. Those who're technically better than me are rarely more conditioned or stronger than me, so we all have our strengths and weaknesses as far as Parkour goes. I'm used to Leon being the best person I'm around with any regularity and it's a little mindblowing to instantly be humbled because you're training with some of the best traceurs in the world.. and you feel like a beginner again, completely and totally. You're suddenly weak, fat, and can't move for shit. And that was the most rewarding thing for me.. to really understand how much more work there is to do.

DE "C&J"/RE Upright Row

Upper body warm-up

DE Kipless Hang "Clean and Jerk":
1x8 empty bar
1x3 55lbs
1x3 65lbs
8x3 75lbs

RE Upright Row:
3x12 85lbs

Horizontal Pull:
3x12 Inverted Row (Feet below chest)

Horizontal Push:
3x10 2x40lbs Incline DB Bench

Crazy-Awesome-BB-Finisher:
3x15 45lbs Strict curl
3x10 2x25 Hammer curl
1x15 Handstand push-ups
---

Okay, in some ways, today hurt my pride. This is easily the "lightest weight" day I've ever had in the gym, period. Every exercise I picked, and every format of that exercise, there is no way I could've done heavier properly. But in another way, this has also been one of the most productive days in the gym ever. I chose my DE movement based on the fact that I didn't want to do a ballistic bench or an explosive pull-up. I remember that DeFranco often has athletes "clean and jerk" a log while using as minimal a kip from the hips as possible to make it purely an explosive arm exercise (or at least mostly). So then it cemented it: I would do that with the barbell (it would've been easier with the log cause of the neutral grip, tbh). So it's not actually a C&J, hence the quotation marks... But I've never seen this movement actually named before. DeFranco normally just calls it a C&J, but it's so obviously not... that bugs me to hell. Lol. So I think I'll jsut go and call it a Kipless C&J since that fits best. In any case, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do this movement heavy. The second you get remotely heavy, your arms just can't do it anymore without a kip. So the second that I started to feel myself kip a tiny bit, I stopped adding weight. By the end, I was giving little kips with each movement from fatigue, but it wasn't much at all.

This has easily become one of my favourite dynamic upper body exercises. Considering how low the volume was, it's surprising to me just how out of breath I got! My deltoids were feeling warm and my lungs were sucking in air. It takes a lot out of you. But more than that, you just feel powerful as crap.

The upright row, I may have been able to do heavier if I hadn't fried my deltoids with the C&J. So this was ridiculously light weight... But the point is rep effort, right? So I cranked out a high volume of reps and left it at that. The inverted rows, I intended to do until failure. I did not expect these to be as hard as they were. The first 6 or so are easy and you power through them... But having your legs higher than your torso means you're pulling most of your weight.. and you fatigue really quickly. And then there was incline bench.. nothign much to report htere.

Now, my finisher... I'm going to admit, the only reason that finisher is there is because I'm vain as shit and I want to look good naked. So I killed my biceps. And then I noticed that my deltoids are tiny compared to the rest of my arm (something that's always bugged me, tbh), and Mac's gym has been reorganized, giving me a fresh wall to use... So I did a set of HSPUs to failure on the wall. That sucked. Like a bitch. Deltoids fried+HSPUs=Deltoids want to kill you.

Good day. I need to do more high-volume days like this more often.

ME Deadlifts/DE Box Squats/Parkour

Lower body warm-up

ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x4 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x2 275lbs
1x1 315lbs
5x1 335lbs

DE Box Squats:
8x3 175lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 135lbs reverse lunges, each leg

Weighted Abs
---

Phew... Okay, well, the good news is that I didn't go mixed grip until 315 and I didn't go false-grip until the third set at 335. However... Man, that was heavy. I know going for 345 next week is going to be a battle and a half. I'm definitely reaching my limit as far as the DL goes. But I also dropped to 152 again, so... Man, I just need to gain some fucking weight. I know it's the whole.. no real food thing.. that's causing the weight drop, but it's annoying nonetheless.

Parkour was interesting. Adis and his friend showed, no one else. We warmed up with a circuit using the Life Sciences building. Wasn't too bad and I got an idea of their conditioning level. CNH remains under construction, so we did some jumps at the ArtSci rock field, then went on to the rails by BSB. I showed them a short run, got them to try to drill it and glue all the pieces together, then worked a little on their specific weaknesses. Because Adis was a little weak on his kongs, I took them to the ledge at the Refectory to work on that a little. He couldn't stop zombie-walking. Then, at the next pair of rails near the Refectory, I gave them a few two-shotters to drill. They had to go and I went on my own to the new spot near the Cootes crosswalk... It now has a name: Heather's Place.

I drilled some jumps. One particular jump, every time I do it, I don't think I'm going to make it, but I magically land on it anyhow. Using one of the street rails, I used our CNH single-rail combo and then ADDED consecutive jumps to it. This works much better and I think it'll be a good parting gift to the Hamilton community.. It's fluid and incorporates vaults, balance, and jumps all into one seamless package. Hopefully, someone a bit more skilled shows up next week to learn it, add to it, and keep it alive for all the newcomers.

Also, I seem to have aggravated my heel again. I'm never going to be back to good. :(

ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups

Upper body warm-up

ME Seated overhead press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
3x5 115lbs

DE Pull-ups:
4x1 muscle-up, 3 pull-ups
2x4 pull-ups

Horizontal Push:
3x6 2x65lbs DB bench

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row

Elbow flexion:
4xF 45lbs seated EZ curls
---

Probably not the best idea to go to failure four times on my biceps... immediately after relatively heavy rows.. that had followed 24 pull-ups... when I'm going climbing tomorrow.. BUT.. we'll see what happens.

DE Squats/RE Deadlifts

Lower body warm-up

DE Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
1x3 155lbs
8x3 165lbs

RE Deadlifts:
4x10 205lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 2x45lbs lunges, each leg

Calves:
4x8 260lb standing raise, different positions

Weighted abs
---

DEADLIFTS. KICKED. MY. ASS. TODAY.

The entire time in the gym, I was huffing for air. Probably due to all the (censored) I (censored) this week and last. On the bright side... 205 feels light as crap, now. Next week starts a max phase with the deadlift, so maybe (if my grip can handle it) I put on another 10-20lbs on DL! That would be exciting. The day I break 405, I'm going on an alcohol binge with my closest (of age) traceur buddies!

As far as the squats go, it took awhile for me to get in the groove of going explosively. Not quite sure why. I've been feeling tight in my hips for the past week. In any case, I feel this was a good rep-effort day because it was definitely pushing my limits as far as stamina goes (sad that 10 reps at 205 is pushing it, ain't it?).

DE Bench/RE Pull-ups

DE Bench:
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lb
8x3 125lbs

RE Pull-ups:
2x1 muscle up, 9 pull-ups
2x10 pull-ups

Vertical Press:
2x8 95lbs Overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 125lbs bent over BB row

Elbow flexion:
3x5 60lbs strict curl
---

The curls at the end are suffering since they're always matched right after a pull.. or maybe I'm just working harder, I dunno. OHP still sucks like crap. I'm noticing a significantly larger pump after going on my bulking diet (which consists of... a HELL of a lot more carbs than I'm used to). I wonder if that'll translate to more hypertrophy or not. Theoretically, it should.

Also, I noticed I can't do muscle-ups very well after consecutive high-rep pull-ups.

ME Squats/DE GHR - Parkour

Lower body warm-up

ME Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
3x5 215lbs

DE GHR:
6x4 10lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs BSS, each leg

Calves:
4x10 70lb seated calf-raise, various positions

Weighted abs
---

My legs were wobbly as hell on the way home today. A 30lb jump from the week prior isn't the BEST idea ever, but I really want to get back to how I was before I got injured. I should be going slower, but... it was okay this week. I really wanted to get back to two plates an end, but it's not happening so soon. GHR was fine and unilateral was pretty exhausting.

I'm glad to note that I'm a pound heavier from Thursday or Friday (whenever I measured last), which is nice since I've been staying at 153 for-friggin-ever. I've pretty much doubled my intake of calories since my cutting days, so we'll see what happens with that. Given my gains while I was cutting, I'm hoping that they'll skyrocket while I'm bulking, but that might be waaaay too much to ask for.

And I just got back from the Parkour session. We had a fun little warm-up and the day itself wasn't too bad. I got Kim to come out and it's obvious she's gotten stronger and more explosive, so that's really nice to see. For myself... I'm still not 100% and my heel is really bugging me after that session, but it is getting better. So we'll see how it goes.

ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups

Upper body warm-up

ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 105lbs
3x5 110lbs

Dynamic Vertical Pull:
6x1, 3 muscle-up, dynamic pull-up
2x4 dynamic pull-up

Horizontal Push:
2x6 2x65lbs DB bench
1x4 2x65lbs DB bench

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row

Elbow flexion:
3x6 chin-ups
---

Not the best day today. For the dynamic pull, I decided to stay afresh of the new skill I've picked up, so instead of sets of four explosive pulls, I had the first pull be a full muscle-up before continuing the set. Unfortunately, by the 7th and 8th set, I ran out of gas to muscle-up, so had to revert back to just four explosive pulls. I'm still getting this amazing "flying" feeling from the muscle-up, so that's cool.

The DB bench went up to 65, but I could only manage six reps. Fine by me, that's good enough. EXCEPT I failed on the third set to get over four. Shame. But it felt good, like I was really working, so I'm not too concerned. The rows got a little sloppy at the end, but nothing to really comment on there.

DE Squats/RE Rack Pulls

Lower body warm-up

Explosive squats:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
8x3 155lbs

RE Posterior:
5x8 205lbs rack pulls

Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs lunges, each leg

Calves:
4x8 95lbs seated calf raise

Weighted abs
---

DE Bench/RE Pull-ups

Upper body warm-up

DE Bench:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
8x3 115lbs

RE Pull-ups:
2x10 BW
2x6 BW

Vertical Push:
2x8 95lbs overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press

Horizontal Pull:
3x8 115lbs bent-over BB row

Elbow flexion:
4x2 75lbs strict curl
---

Sooo... That press sucked. Badly. I can't believe my delts are that weak. Ah well. Progress comes slowly. For the pull-ups, I had originally wanted to do four sets of ten, but.. that wasn't going to happen. LoL. And for the strict curl, I decided to go a bit heavier and see how many I could go. Didn't end well, but I think that's partially because it followed a pulling action. Decent day. Ate a ton afterward. feel sick.

Happy birthday to Animus! Whee.

ME Squats/DE GHR - Parkour/Tire

Lower body warm-up

Circa-ME Squats:
1x8 45lbs Overhead
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x8 185lbs

DE Hang Cleans:
3x3 115lbs

DE GHR:
6x4 BW explosive concentric/slow eccentric

Unilateral:
3x8 2x35lbs BSS, each side

Weighted abs
---

I've started doing full ROM squats as a way to get myself so used to breaking parallel that it'll be natural come competition time, but my strength out of the hole is pretty atrocious. I probably could have done 205 for a 5RM, but I'm going to go about it slowly and increase by maybe 10lbs each week. At the end, I'll go back to check how just breaking parallel feels.

Hours later, there was a Parkour session. I went into it feeling pretty well, but I really didn't expect to get so pissed off with everyone today. I am NOT going to use this blog as a venting site, but to be quite fair, I felt very early on like I was babysitting a bunch of 15 year olds, and then I blew up at Trevor for something when I was really just frustrated at everyone (to be fair, Trevor did something that I told him was off-limits - the only thing they REALLY get pissed off about - when we first met). SJ shares the blame, as well, since he was going for it, but.. what really pissed me off was just how they all acted like children the whole time. It wasn't until after yelling that those two were back down to a tolerable level, and there was only one child left... one that stuck around for much longer. Suffice to say, I have a short fuse. Exactly why I'm not fit to be a leader of any community.

Afte rthe Parkour session was a quick conditioning session involving the tire. It wasn't very long-lived, but it was entertainng enough and my legs are pretty much feeling it after all I did today. Good day, overall.

RE Deadlifts/DE Squats

Lower body warm-up

RE Deadlifts:
1x8 135lbs
1x8 155lbs
1x8 185lbs
3x8 205lbs

DE Squats:
8x3 155lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 2x35lbs Lunges, each leg

Calves:
3x8 220lbs calf raise machine (full ROM)

Weighted abs
---

I'm adding in some calf isolation stuff just because I'm starting to realize just how lagging my calves are compared to the rest of my body (sorta like how my delts are crap compared to the rest of my upper body). The seated calf raise that doesn't use a cable pulley was occupied, so I had to use the machine, and I sorta regret that just because I'm not entirely sure how much weight I'm actually doing on the machine. But, whatever.

The squats, I'm trying to regain my full mobility by going A2G, but I'm feeling this great stretch at the bottom and it's REALLY difficult to explode out of it. This is well below parallel and I know for a competition, I'm going to want to just break parallel. I know what that feels like, though (it's the moment I begin to feel any sort of stretch in my hip adductors). I know I'm much weaker out of the bottom than I used to be, so it'll have to be a slow progression.

ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups

Upper body warm-up

ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 45lbs (empty bar)
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
3x5 105lbs

DE Pull-ups:
6x4 BW to chest

Horizontal Press:
3x8 2x60lbs DB bench

Horizontal Pull:
3x6 2x60lbs DB bent-over row
---

You may take notice that this format is quite different from the standard WS4SB format that I've been following. I came to realize that DeFranco's reason for supersetting the shoulder movements is because of his own anatomical shortcoming (he explains in a 2006 "Ask Joe" entry). I'd known this for awhile, but went with it anyway, partially in fear of my own shoulder calamity. But I came to realize that the press is just too valuable to NOT do.

It was also around this time that I figured out that there are four main upper body movements to be trained: vertical press, vertical pull, horizontal press, and horizontal pull. Another thing I found distasteful about the Westside program is that while it works really well for the general athlete, I would lose the "groove" of certain lifts during the cycles where I wouldn't be doing them in any variation. So I took a page from Eric Cressey.. Train ALL the movements, but don't go heavy on all of them.

I have it set up now that there are still two ME days a week, but also two RE days. At the same time, following the ME/RE of any lift will be the dynamic lift of the antagonist movement. Like Westside, it is still conjugated and variations are switched regularly, but this also means that my pull-ups will not falter and I won't lose the technical mastery over the lifts.

When it comes right down to it, I've really just made my program much simpler than it was before. I'm starting to realize that complication isn't going to get me anywhere. All those supersets did very little for my shoulders, but a heavy press could very well remedy that.

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Squats:
1x8 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x3 245lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 295lbs
3x1 315lbs

Posterior:
3x5 35lbs GHR
---

Aahh.. Finally, back to squatting! I suppose I never logged it, and truth be told, I haven't had much interest in logging these things lately, but two weeks ago, I injured myself through some drunken antics which caused my heel to not be able to touch the ground upon penalty of ridiculous pain. I still have a limp, actually, but I can squat again. The past two weeks have been nothing but upper body, and I probably should have just done machines while I was injured, but.. live and learn.

My legs get super sore, now, as i nticed on my first squat day since being injured on Thursday. I felt much more comfortable training 1RM today because I need to gradually get my legs back to doing high volume, but it seems okay with high intensity. Another thing I've noticed is that my ROM has decreased, so even though I got back to my former max, I was an inch above parallel. I need to spend more time on soft tissue work and stretching to see if that will help my squat get lower. All the same, it's just really nice to be able to squat again.

I avoided unilateral because after the squats, my legs were already feeling it and I expected there to be Parkour today (no one showed and I was sore, so I headed home). Gradually going back to the lower body will have to be the name of the game. I might do an RE on Thursday rather than a DE. We'll see.

ME Upper Body

ME Pull-ups
1x3 BW
2x3 10lbs
1x3 20lbs
1x3 25lbs
3x3 35lbs

Supplemental:
2x15 inverted row (BW)

Superset:
3x8 2x50lbs DB bench
3x8 2x30lbs DB overhead press

Elbow flexion:
3x8 2x30lbs DB curls
---

Skipped traps since they felt like they got a decent enough workout yesterday with the RDLs. I've been feeling pretty crappy all week. Like.. weak, all week. I know that my body hasn't been recovering too well from the pull-ups, so this should be interesting. If my lats weren't sore, I maybe could've gone up to 45.. This much pulling is going to be baaad. Good thing I'm not trying to increase the weight this cycle.

DE Lower Body + Parkour

Lower body warm-up

Power cleans:
1x8 empty bar (hang cleans)
2x3 65lbs
2x3 95lbs
8x3 115lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs BSS

Posterior chain:
3x8 185lbs RDLs
---

The Parkour session was good. The newbs have potential. They just need to condition a bit more and get an awareness of their own bodies. So it'll be nice to see when they get around to that point. I still feel a bit sluggish, slow, and sloppy but it may be due to my soreness overall. I'm also probably still getting used to digesting carbs again.. but I ate too much today. Tomorrow will have to be scaled back a bit.

DE Upper Body/Energy Systems Development

Clapping pull-ups:
3x3 BW (no-clap)
8x3 BW (with clap)

Push-Pull Superset:
3x8 115lbs Bench press
3x8 120lbs Seated cable row

Deltoid Triad Tripleset:
3x8 2x15lbs YTWs

Elbow Flexion:
3x8 30lbs Hammer curls

Grip:
85lbs Suitcase DL iso-holds for max time, each hand, left hand twice
---

ESD - Pyramid Complex A - 85lbs BB for all

1 upright row
2 hang clean
3 Zercher squat
4 rack pull
5 Back squat

5 upright row
4 hang clean
3 Zercher
2 rack pull
1 Back squat
---

I thought to start using complexes after learning about them, understanding their usefulness as an ESD thing with the high-intensity, and also realising that it can be used to condition not only the energy system aerobically, but anaerobically. As stated previously, my muscular stamina is pretty much craptastic. I found it a good way to add volume to my workout as a finisher since I'm often left with this feeling of wanting to do more, but the loading is light enough that it's not really overkill. All the same, since there's no rest, it taxes you quite a bit. Okay... I rested a little. No lie there. And I chose a lighter volume method this week.. If I ever feel up to it, I might try 8s all the way through. ...Maybe 5s first.

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Box squats (1" above parallel):
1x10 empty bar
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x5 255lbs
1x5 265lbs
1x5 275lbs
3x5 285lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 135lbs bulgarian split-squats, each leg

Posterior chain:
3x8 GHR

Weighted abs

ME Upper Body

ME Incline Bench:
1x8 empty bar
1x8 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x5 145lbs

Supplemental:
3x8 2x35lbs JM press

Superset:
3x10 90lbs T-bar row
3x10 22.5lbs cable scarecrows

Traps:
3x10 185lbs BTB shrugs

Elbow fexion:
3x8 50lbs strict curls

Weighted abs

Speed Day, Lower Body+Parkour

Lower body warm-up

Explosive squats w/mini-bands:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
2x3 135lbs
6x3 155lbs
6x3 175lbs

Unilateral:
3x10 135lbs Split-squats w/mini-bands

Posterior chain:
3x8 165lbs Rack pulls
---

I didn't really go up in weight other than the squats because I had the bands double-choked on a lower part of the rack, so I didn't know how much extra tension was there, but it was enough. Not much to report here.

The Parkour session was okay. I was in a pretty sour mood the whole time, so I may or may not have insulted trevor and SJ a few times throughout the evening. In addition to this, there wasn't a whole lot of training going on. Just a few one-off things here and there.. precisely the kind of thing I like to avoid, but meh. I was lazy today, it was rainy, and the longer runs didn't really catch on too well.

DE Upper Body/Energy Systems Development

Upper body warm-up

Ballistic bench press:
1x8 empty bar (not ballistic)
2x3 95lbs
3x3 115lbs
6x3 125lbs (with rest-pause)
6x3 125lbs (without rest-pause)

Push-pull Superset:
3x10 dips
1x10 pull-ups
1x8 pull-ups
1x6 pull-ups

Deltoid Triad (2x22.5lbs all):
3x8 rear delt flies
3x8 lateral raises
3x8 front raises

Elbow flexion:
3x8 50lbs Strict curl
---

ESD:
10:00 HIIT on stationary bike

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x3 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 295lbs (false-grip started here)
1x1 305lbs
5x1 325lbs

Unilateral:
3x10 165lbs reverse lunges, each leg

Posterior chain:
1x1 195lbs Good morning
1x5 185lbs Good morning
1x7 165lbs Good morning

Weighted abs:
2x4 115lbs Suitcase DLs, each side
2x4 T-bar+90lbs Landmine rotations
---

Okay, I didn't check the accessory loads that I did last week, so for some reason, I thought I had done 185lbs for each. I "deloaded" to 165 for the reverse lunges and did sets of 10. This was relatively easy and I had no clue this was a full 30lbs heavier than last time, not to mention with two extra reps. Props to me? But the Good mornings... LoL. Okay, that was really stupid. My abs were completely fried during these and I kept going down in weight and up in reps, but I was pretty dead by the third set. So utter failure there. And since my abs were fried, the weighted abs didn't really do much for me and I had to make it quite short.

HOWEVER... I'm super happy about pulling 325 today. The grip training this microcycle has helped out immensely, and adding in the inclusion of using the false grip has led to a completely unprecedented PR. Twenty pounds over three weeks, and if I include what my PR was at the end of the last deadlift microcycle, then that's actually a forty pound increase. My technique has cleaned up so much that I'm super confident with this lift, now. I know I'll forget all about it, though, by the time the next DL micro comes around. However, 325lbs at 153lbs is quite a bit over twice my bodyweight. I think I'm well on my way and should be able to get 385/400 by the time I go to my first meet.

ME Upper Body

Upper body warm-up

ME incline bench:
1x8 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 125lbs
3x5 135lbs

Supplemental:
3x8 2x35lbs JM press

Superset:
3x10 90lbs+T-bar T-bar row
3x8 2x22.5lbs cable pulley scarecrows

Traps:
3x10 185lbs behind-the-back BB shrugs

Grip:
3xmax time 115lbs suitcase deadlift iso-holds, each hand (left hand twice each set)

DE Lower Body + Parkour

Explosive Squats w/ mini-bands:
1x6 empty bar
1x3 135lbs
6x3 155lbs
6x3 165lbs

Unilateral:
3x10 135lbs w/ mini-bands split-squats, each leg

Posterior chain:
3x8 155lbs rack pull
---

The evening started off the first of the McMaster Thursday night sessions. Only Trevor and I showed up! Honestly, this was pretty expected. After a warm-up (basically the same warm-up from the George Mason Thursday meets), I showed Trevor at CNH a single-rail "combo" I had been thinking about. After a few hiccups, both of us got it down pretty well and then struggled to think of something to add. It's just four movements: lazy vault, then a tucked vault back to the starting side, monkey-plant the rail, then hop over/drop, and reverse vault. It's relatively simple, but complex enough to be a struggle for newcomers. The nice thing about it is that it requires a good amount of control over the body and allows me much needed balance practice.

The next thing we did was a longer run at CNH involving actual run time in-between "techniques." While nothing was particularly dense, the transitional stuff was still sloppy for the both of us the first few times. It cleaned up, we added a second half to it, and we ended up with a decent run that takes a bit out of your cardio. Two hours somehow whizzed by, we finished up doing some precisions on the rock garden thing and called it a day.

Overall, it's nice to just be able to work technique again, as well as have the ability to combine speed work and bodily control into this "sport-specific" practice. With all the S&C lately, doing this even just once a week will keep me from slowing down or "losing" anything in the process.

DE Upper Body/Energy Systems Development

Upper body warm-up

Ballistic Bench Press:
1x10 empty bar (non-ballistic warm-up)
2x3 95lbs
6x3 115lbs
6x3 125lbs

Push/Pull Superset:
3x8 dips
3x8 pull-ups*

Deltoid Triad (2x20lbs all)
3x10 rear delt flies
3x10 lateral raises
3x10 front raises

Elbow flexion:
3x8 45lb Strict curl**

Core stability:
3x4 T-bar+45lbs Landmine rotations
2x6 95lbs Suitcase deadlifts

9:00 HIIT bike
---

Pull-ups, last set failed at 5. I didn't up the weight on the Strict curls because last time I did it, I had to cheat the last two reps of each set. This time was much better, but I cheated the last rep. The core stability addition is pretty much awesome and my obliques are pretty fried right now. As far as ESD goes, the HIIT was pretty killer since it's been so long. I also REALLY pushed the "on" intervals more than I ever have before, so that also went into it. Ran out of fire before the last minute. This'll be a slow and gradual thing to get back to my former endurance.

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x4 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x1 245lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 295lbs
2x1 315lbs*
3x1 275lbs

Grip:
2x15secs 225lbs isometric deadlift holds

Unilateral:
3x8 135lbs reverse lunges, each leg

Posterior chain:
3x8 135lbs good mornings
---

For that beautiful max of 315 (twice! third attempt, grip failed), I had to false grip the bar. I don't think that's illegal, but I'll work on getting my grip strength up to not have to false-grip my max attempts. The iso holds were a tip I got from some guys on the forums of the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation, the goal being a full 30seconds. Reverse lunges were easy today. Good mornings got a bit tough at the end there.

DE Upper Body/Energy Systems Development

Upper body warm-up*

Ballistic Bench Press:
1x10 empty bar (warm-up, non ballistic)
1x3 95lbs
6x3 105lbs
6x3 115lbs**

Push/Pull Superset:
3x8 dips
3x8 pull-ups (only four on last set) ***

Deltoid Triad Tripleset (2x20lbs):
3x8 rear delt dlies
3x8 lateral raises
3x8 front raises

Elbow flexion:
3x8 45lbs Strict curls****

Weighted abs:
3x8 25lbs Olympic abs
---

While fully in line with the Westside mode of training, I didn't follow a specific template for this day. Rather, I decided to try to hit my weak points, and being short on time, I did a superset and triple set to accomplish the goal. I split the ballistic bench into two groups of 6 sets by 3 reps at different weights following an idea by Dave Tate and also began to realise how weak I am at the bottom of the bench. Because of this weakness and the need to reincorporate vertical pulling, I decided to perform a push/pull superset afterward with low dips and pull-ups. It was also here that I realised how weak my PUs have become. I thought the rowing was helping... It seems I was wrong and there's minimal transfer.

Oh, I put a star on the warm-up... that's because I'm toying around with a quasi-new warm-up approach that follows in line with the system developed by Gray Cook and Athlete's Performance Systems. I figure that it can't hurt, and theoretically, it seems pretty sound. The strength portion is still very much a WSB template.

The addition of the Strict curls is because the federation I will most likely be competing in has a strict curl event. While being extremely weak in the curl, if I'm going to have to compete in it, I may as well start training it somewhat, right?

As far as the abs go, I wanted to try out a new exercise called "Olympic abs." It uses the decline crunch bench and a curl bar. You hold the bar just inside of the rings and basically "snatch" the bar overhead as you perform a sit-up. While I only saw the exercise on video, I immediately noticed two things about it: 1) While it is a "weighted" exercise, the concentric portion of the sit-up isn't necessarily all that weighted. 2) The real benefit to the ab exercise is to fatigue the ab muscles through the concentric while simultaneously forcing the transversus/oblique abs to go into isometric contraction to stabilise the moving weight going overhead. Finally, at the top of the sit-up, the abs must maintain that stabilisation before laying back down into rest. This means that despite being a concentric exercise, it still serves the abs in precisely the function that develops strong abs in the first place: by training the abs as a stabiliser. I see a lot of transfer to the deadlift and squats, as a result. I will have to remind myself that it's not a good idea to do this after a deltoid triad tripleset. I could've gone heavier, but my delts wouldn't have allowed it.

NOW... Onto ESD:
---

Approximately one hour after finishing my strength workout, I got the tire out from the back and proceeded to do an ESD work-out down my street. The orginal objective was to flip it the 200m to the end, and back. I only made it halfway and back. The first 100m, I did sets of 15 flips, as fast as I could. This is one HELL of a cardio exercise. To be quite fair, I was dying. So I did sets of 10 flips on the way back, still as fast as I could. This may not be the strength exercise that a 500lb tractor tire would be, but as far as interval training goes... This is a keeper.

Note: My ES is terrible. Asthma acted up again. Nearly puked. Need to do this more often.

Taking another page from Athletes' Performance System, I'll be taking extra care with my post-workout recovery, as well, including some general soft tissue work right now.

DE Lower Body

Explosive Squats w/ mini-bands (double-choked):
1x5 empty bar
1x3 95lbs
1x3 135lbs
12x3 155lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 135lbs w DC mini-bands split-squats

Posterior chain:
1x8 115lbs rack pull
3x10 135lbs rack pull

grip:
4 sets of 25lbs wrist-rolls

ME Upper Body

Upper body warm-up

ME Incline Bench:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 125lbs
4x5 135lbs

Supplemental:
1x20 2x30lbs DB bench
1x15 of above

Triceps:
3x8 2x25lbs JM press*

Superset:
3x10 T-bar+90lbs T-bar row
3x10 2x17.5lbs Cable scarecrows

Traps:
3x10 135lbs behind-the-bar BB shrugs

Elbow flexion:
3x8 55lbs bar curls

Weighted abs
---

For one, my grip is still shot from the DLs, so this wasn't a great or easy day. That said, it felt like a decent workout all the same. I prefer the bent-over row/OHP superset, but I think I can get this superset to work for me. The lifts are really awkward for me. I added in a triceps after the supplemental rep-effort lift to follow in line with Westside's original template a bit more. This is, in part, to increase my bench. The other part is that I feel it'll be useful in the next cycle to be doing some weighted dips. The JM presses are fun, though. I actually failed the eighth rep on the first set, and began resting at the top of the lift for a breath before continuing withe ach rep in the following sets. Worked out better.

Also, I weighed in at 155.6 today. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

ME Lower Body + Something Special

Lower body warm-up

ME Deadlifts
1x3 135lbs
1x3 185lbs
2x3 225lbs
3x1 245lbs
4x1 275lbs
1x1 285lbs
1x1 295lbs
1x1 305lbs
1xfail 315lbs
1x1 305lbs
3x1 275lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 115lbs Reverse lunges, each leg

Posterior:
3x8 105lbs Good mornings

Ab circuit
---

So, the DLs were interesting. As you can tell, I tested my 1RM, but my grip fell short on the 315, so I did another at 305, failed a second rep, and went back down to 275 to complete three sets of singles. Being already sore from Friday's speed day (still), there was a lot of warm-up sets, too, as you can tell. But I hit a new PR at 305, and I'm rather happy with that.
---

Something Special

On the way up the stairs to do the ab circuit, Jordan noticed an old rusty drag sled by the dumpster outside the window. And then a truck tire. With an eye-hook through it. On our way out, we asked if we could take it.. So we did. The sled was much heavier than expected, though we have no estimate as to how heavy this was.. We took it as far as the engineering lounge (still quite a distance) and left it there to be picked up later.

The tire, we rolled awkwardly off campus, and then began sets of 10 flips each, working for speed. According to gmap-pedometer, this tire was flipped approximately 280 metres. It was one hell of a cardio workout, given the state of our poor hammies. Tons of fun, though, and super messy (hands black as night!), but that's what you get for doing something spur of the moment.. And now, Hamilton Parkour gets an amazing gift.. A super heavy drag sled. And a tire worth flipping. No, it's not heavy enough to be a max effort exercise, but it's going to be one hell of a metcon for some folks.

DE Lower Body

Warm-up

Explosive Squats w/mini-bands:
1x10 Empty bar
1x5 135lbs
12x5 155lbs

Unilateral:
3x6 115lbs w/mini-bands split-squats, each leg

Posterior chain:
3x8 135lbs rack-pull

Weighted ab circuit
---

I actually had a lot of fun with this one. The squats were done with no more than 90 seconds between sets, and it was quite a different feeling using the same force you use for your max effort on something that's essentially half the weight. The bands always add a nice dynamic to things, too. The unilateral was nice, if a tad difficult. I think it'll be better off for me to start doing unilaterals with the barbell more often. I was considering doing RDLs with the posterior chain today, but went with rack pulls for whatever reason.

ME Upper Body

ME Bench:
1x8 95lbs
1x8 135lbs
1x5 145lbs
1x5 155lbs
1x5 165lbs
3x5 175lbs*

Supplemental:
1x20 2x35lbs DB bench
1x15 above

Superset:
3x10 2x50lbs bent-over row
1x8, 7, 6 2x35lbs OHP

Traps:
3x12 2x70lbs shrugs

Elbow flexion:
2x8 chin-ups
1x5 chin-ups**

Weighted ab circuit
---

Okay, so I DIDN'T move to PUs like I said I would. After watching this Dave Tate video, I decided go ahead and give bench another shot, keeping myself tight and holding the bar up for a bit before starting the lift. It seemed to help. I didn't need a spotter, and I did a moderately difficult, but still somewhat easy 3x5 of 175lbs. I thought I could do a 3RM of 185, but I was a bit safer and smarter this time and didn't even attempt it.

As far as the chin-ups go, I think I could've gotten the full 3x8 if my grip hadn't been shot by the shrugs. My traps seem strong enough for a lot of weight, and those shrugs really do nothing more than train my grip... which I appreciate, as well, honestly. All-in-all, I think this was a good day, although I cut my ab circuit short because this girl and I ended up always being in the same spot, and I didn't want to appear creepy or anything.

ME Lower Body

Lower body warm-up

ME Squats:
1x8 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x5 245lbs
3x5 255lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 2x35lbs BSS, each leg

Posterior chain:
3x8 25lbs GHR

Ab circuit

Playing around.

Not much to report today. I played around on campus a bit, worked on jumping up to a rail and balancing, a few jumps here and there. Nothing major. Just finished a three mile jog and stretch.

Repetitive Effort Upper Body + Kung Fu

Upper Body warm-up

RE Incline DB Press:
1x15 2x35lbs
2x15 2x40lbs
2x12 2x40lbs

Superset 1:
1a: 3x10 2x25lbs Seated rear delt flies
1b: 3x8 2x40lbs Upright DB rows

Medial delts:
3x10 2x20lbs lateral raises

Superset 2:
2a: 3x8 chin-ups
2b: 3x12 2x60lbs shrugs

Abs:
2x15 knees-to-elbows
2x15 75lbs high-pulley rope bend-overs
---

Evening: Kung Fu forms and drills.
---

Okay, some of you might ask, "Why is he doing RE!?" For one, I found myself at the gym and bored, so I figured, why not? For two, we all know my stamina sucks, and if my numbers don't make it abundantly clear.. my stamina SUCKS. I'll probably switch off between RE and DE upper body days for the hell of it. It's probably a very useful thing to do. I'll give it some thought and figure out how to incorporate both more aptly.

Dynamic Effort Lower Body + 200m sprints

The DE was actualy yesterday, but I didn't have time to log it.

DE Triple jumps:
Warm-up:
3 sets of: waist height box, knee height, and knee height.

DE:
6 sets of: bottom of sternum box, waist box, knee box
6 sets of: bottom of nipples box, waist box, knee box

Unilateral:
6 sets of 2x30lbs jumping lunges

Posterior:
2x8 GHR
1x7 GHR
---

Probably didn't follow the program, but I think it was helpful, anyhow. In case there's any confusion, I was jumping over the boxes, not on top of them. One step to the first box, and the other two boxes would technically count as depth jumps, I would think.
---

Sprints:

Warm-up was a 1 mile jog.

4x 200m sprints

ME Upper Body + 400m sprints

Warm-up

ME Bench Press:
1x15 45lbs
1x8 135lbs
1x5 145lbs
1x5 155lbs
1x5 165lbs
1x3 175lbs
1x4 185lbs*
2x3 175lbs

Supplemental:
1x15 2x35lbs DB bench
1x12 2x35lbs DB bench

Superset:
1a:3x8 2x50lbs bent over DB row
1b: 1x8 2x40lbs overhead press
1x6 2x40lbs OHP
1x8 2x35lbs OHP

Traps:
3x15 2x50lbs shrugs

Elbow flexion:
2x8 chin-ups
1x5 chin-ups
---

So, I needed to be spotted on the last two reps of the 185, so I went back down to 175. I think I'm trying to rush this too hard, but it's super frustrating. I'm going to take a break from bench early and go to weighted pull-ups next week. I'll continue to do a DB bench as a supplemental in case that can help me quite a bit.

The increase in weight on the rows was fine, but the overhead press was too heavy, at least when it comes to supersetting, so I had to go back down for the last set.

I went to a lower weight on the shrugs this time around, partly because I didn't remember what the last weight was, and partly because the 50s were already out. Lol. Everything seemed okay with them. I'll try to do 15 reps at 65lbs next time.

And my chins were one rep worse this time around. Not quite sure why. On a side note, I weighed in at 157 today.. three pounds lighter than the last time I checked, even though I haven't really been trying to lose anymore. I'm not complaining or anything. I'll just allow myself a cheat more frequently than every two weeks for the sake of staying sane.

Before I post this on the other forums, I want to do the sprint intervals... but that'll be AFTER class, so later on in the night when I edit this. I don't expect to do more than two intervals, to be quite honest. But I'll increase the numbers in the coming weeks.
---

400m sprints x2 (10 breaths of rest)

Yeah, I was right. That was all I lasted. My entire posterior chain is on fire right now.

ME Lower Body

ME Squats:
1x8 45lbs (empty bar)
1x8 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
3x5 245lbs

Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs Bulgarian Split-squats

Posterior:
3x8 GHR (failure on last rep)

Ab circuit
---

Feeling a little weak for some reason. I've gotten a 3RM on 255lbs before, so I'm not sure why I don't feel super comfortable with it again. I'll hit it next week for sure. The Bulgarian split-squats are a little easier on the lower benches at the Pulse than they are on the higher plyo box I'm used to doing them on. Oddly enough, the lower bench also allows me to go down lower, too, so I don't think it's making the exercise easier in a bad way.

McMaster and Monkey Vault

The day started off early, especially since I woke up at 8AM having gone to bed at 4AM. All the same, I had training in a few hours. 11:30 kicked off a training session at McMaster University. In the process, I lost my wallet. It was a lot of fun, otherwise. Here are some pictures of the day (Blogspot only; dont' feel like uploading):










In addition to the fun day of training, I got to meet Trevor for the second time, and Erika for the first. Both great people. After we had some lunch and rested a bit, Jordan drove Trev and I up to The Monkey Vault for some serious training. And boy did Dan have a workout for us.

Our "warm-up" consisted of a sled loaded with 180lbs and a harness made of two strong bands. Our job was to sprint at max speed, dragging the sled along, until we slowed down and were no longer moving forward steadily... Ten times. I gagged a little at cycle 8, but no vomit! Pretty happy about that, to be perfectly honest.

The workout itself consisted of switching off between tire flipping, KB farmer walks, and rest. The three of us were to travel 400m and back. One man on tire, one on farmer walk, and one on rest. After twenty of the tire flips, we rotated. This was a pretty difficult work-out, but it was a lot of fun. Grueling as it was (50lb KBs in each hand is no easy task), we all had a blast. The last section of the work-out consisted of one of us hugging onto a 45lb sandbag and doing 10 squats, then throwing it to the next person. Five cycles. Not a problem. Lots of fun.

The rest of the evening was spent goofing around, doing some tricks, doing some more strength exercises, and having a blast at the Monkey Vault in general. We saw legends like Dimmonk and Brayden do their thing and be generally crazy, and we all had a great time. The workout made it all worth it. For a little while there, I completely forgot about losing my wallet. And now that I'm back home, I'm pretty pissed off about it. ;)

Parkour... Ninjutsu...?

Jordan and I made the trek into Toronto today for a very special occasion. Dan invited a disciple of Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi over to the Monkey Vault. Hatsumi is the last living ninjutsu grandmaster and likely the only person in the world who can rightfully be called a "ninja." Our teacher for the day, Bud, is a 10th degree black belt under Hatsumi, teaches ninjutsu at his own dojo in Atlanta, and has been a marine and an instructor of various things for things like the police force, SWAT, etc. The result? A man who knows, truly and honestly, how things work in the real world. Of course, for those of you reading this on PKTO, I didn't need to go into all of that.. But I also post this at four other locations, so it's for their benefit. ;)

There was a lot of interesting things that occurred at this workshop. Bud had us do a sensitivity drill that may seem a little bit odd. We would get into a circle and face away from the center with our eyes closed. Bud would stand in the center with a stick, and approach one of us at random.. If he got close enough, he would smack us in the head with said stick. Our task? To sense him. I should make mention that the man is QUIET. There was no way to hear him coming. The first time, a few people got hit, and a lot of people turned for no reason. After he explaine dsomething to us (half of us would be watching as the othe rhalf participated), we began to understand a bit more. The body seems to react to negative energy. Bud's negative energy involved thoughts of killing us. I assume they're real thoughts of killing us. When he focused on one of us, the reaction is to lean forward. Some people leaned more than others. Some people didn't seem to be aware of anything at all. But the first time I felt something... it was really weird. My body nearly toppled forward (probably not too noticeable to anyone but me), and there was a sensation on the back of my neck. It felt like it was cold and warm at the same time.. but my body was basically screaming, "DANGER!" at me, and I turned.. sure enough, he was behind me by two or three paces, and the stick was right there. Honestly, I couldn't contain my excitement. I had FELT his THOUGHTS. How fucking weird is that? The second time wasn't half as dramatic, though. I don't know if this is because my body was more used to it, I was distracted, or because Bud wasn't thinking nearly as violent thoughts as the first time, but this time, I didn't feel anything on the back of my neck.. just this sensation that I should turn around and my body leaned forward unconsciously.

Another thing that Dimmonk and I both noticed rather dramatically was that if Bud was directed at the person opposite us in the circle, the two of us felt like we were being pulled at the torso backwards. Some kind of feedback to the energy, maybe? Those who know me know that as much of a spiritual person that I am... I am also an extremely scientific person. I don't put much stock into things like "chi" without a scientific explanation (I believe that some forms of chi exist, but they do have physical explanations). This is something that went beyond my physical understanding of chi. Bud didn't go so far as to say it was anything of the sort, but he did make mention of auras or just personal space in general. I had learned to read auras (with a bit of effort) some time ago thanks to Brittany, though I didn't think to try to see Bud's.. but it makes sense that a negatively charged aura being directed at someone else's would result in some kind of receptive feedback. Either way, no matter how you slice it... really cool stuff.

We did a lot of reaction drills involving rolling out of the way of an attacker. Pretty useful stuff. And the last thing we did involved vaulting over a block and immediately reacting to a swipe of Bud's stick from a random direction. Then two swipes. The real danger is in trying to predict what he's going to do, and then reacting before there's something to react to.. Every time I paused after a moment to take in what's going on, I succeeded fine.. But one time, I assumed he would swipe one way, so I tried to roll out of its way.. only to get smacked in the Achilles tendon with the stick. Let me tell you.. that was painful.

After the workshop, we ate and then played a fun game with a 45lb sandbag involving throwing, squats, push-ups, cleans, etc. Definitely super super fun. From this day alone, I'll have a lot - A LOT - to take back to Virginia once the summer's over.

Past Four Days

So I haven't been posting since I moved, but here's a recap of the past four days:

Sunday:
BG's. Was nice to see famliar faces again. Failed at backflips, completed a very high box jump twice out of several dozens of attempts. Fun day, but nothing to really write about.

Monday:
After waking up hungover, I gave myself some time and then trudged into the gym for an "ME" Squat day.. Not feeling it at all, I pretty much just did the squats and GHR, then called it a day.

"ME" Squats:
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x5 235lbs
3x3 245lbs

GHR:
3x8 BW

Tuesday:
Ran a little over a mile.

Wednesday:
ME Upper Body with Jordan.

ME Bench Press
1x8 135lbs
1x5 155lbs
1x5 165lbs
1x5 175lbs
2x5 165lbs*

Supplemental:
2x20 2x25lbs DB bench press

Superset:
3x10 2x45lbs Bentover DB rows
3x8 2x35lbs overhead press

Traps:
3x12 2x65lbs DB shrugs

Elbow Flexion:
2x8 chin-ups
1x6 chin-ups
---

After going to the max of 175lbs on the bench and the both of us requiring light spots to complete the last reps, we decided we just weren't feeling it, so went back down to 165 to complete the lifts.

Firefighter CPAT Sim + Themed Training

Earlier in the day, Trey and I went out and did some simulated runs of the CPAT tests to become a firefighter. Here's what we did:

1) Stair-climb; six stories; 50lb vest+25lbs
2) Sled drag; 75lbs through 2xlength of parking lot (pretty far); 50lbs vest
3) Farmers walks; 2x25lbs either side, half of parking lot and back; 50lbs vest
4) QM; half of parking lot then gave up; 50lbs vest

Okay, so it doesn't sound like a whole lot, but when you're wearing 50lbs thorughout everything, you get wiped out pretty quickly. ANd this is only half of the test! Still, it felt very productive.

For the GMU session, I wore a 20lb vest and though I didn't have any specific theme, we did a lot of box jumping after the warm-up. I managed to get a pretty decent height (sternum-ish) with the vest on, but it was gradual. Eventually, I took the vest off and began to work on more technical stuff, but we can call it a Dynamic Effort day. ;) Over all, the night felt very productive. A nice way to end the GMU sessions, or at least my tenure of it.