Time for another little workout-update post! Yesterday I got things started off with a nice 30ish minute run in the crazy heat and humidity; then, after about 5 hours and some damn good food, I hit my barbell work. I started things off with 3 warm up rounds of 5 kipping handstand push ups, 10 30 in. box jumps and 15 KB swings at 53#. Here's where thongs stated going wrong for me. I couldn't even get the HSPU's with a kip! Damn it! Beyond frustrating to me (more on this in a bit). Well, in my frustration I failed to get my legs all the way up around the 6th rep of the final round of jumps and the box decided to take about a 1-inch tear of shin skin from me. Ouch. After I peeled it off the box and cleaned my wound (the thing swelled up like CRAZY), I set up my bar for snatch work.
3x5 hang power snatch
3x5 power snatch to OH squat
3x5 squat snatch
I actually felt halfway decent throughout these reps and by the time I got to my final set of squat snatches, i was able to bang out 3 pretty solid reps at 165#. At that point I had complete CNS (central nervous system) failure. Basically, I couldn't fathom getting that bar over my head for another rep and I intelligently called it quits on the session. I had programmed in a short metcon for the evening but I was really feeling beat up and I opted for a little extra recovery; very smart move. Oh, and my shin was, and still is killing me!
Today I woke up early, and after standing at the side of the pool for a good 10 minutes, finally jumped in and di soe easy laps for about 25 minutes. Later on in the day i rode my bike into DC to meet up with Jimmy and Ori for lunch, both trainers and good friends of mine. We geeked out about fitness for a couple hours and then I went over to Balance Gym Glover Park to work a little more on my miserable HSPU and get a little recovery work in the steam room. My non-technical conclusion on my HSPU abilities: I can't do them. My more technical perspective: it appears as though I lack the ability to engage a specific set of muscles when I am stressed in a very specific position such as the HSPU. While this is pretty uncommon at such a level, it is common enough for trainers and such to have heard of it, but my shoulders basically shut down when they are loaded in a very specific way. This really does seem to be the issue and the concept is strengthened by the fact that when I widen my stance and turn my hands out, i am able to get 3 reps (with a kip mind you). But with a normal hand and arm position, I literally just hit a wall and CAN NOT get even close to a lock-out. No joke people. Ori was at a complete loss for words. It appears to make absolutely zero sense that a person with my level of strength can not do this, at all, with so much practice and focused attention, still nothing. Conclusion? Grind The Gears. What this means is that I will do reps as often as possible in the only position my body allows me to do them, and hopefully something will just click by next week. After that, I will be doing some serious supportive work to figue out exactly where I shut down when performing this move. I'll be sure to explain what that process is when I get there.
Anyways, after all that fun I went on home to relax some more, gearing up for a crazy day of training tomorrow before I head up to upstate NY to hang with Lindsey and her family. Can't wait to see my girl!
never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
3x5 hang power snatch
3x5 power snatch to OH squat
3x5 squat snatch
I actually felt halfway decent throughout these reps and by the time I got to my final set of squat snatches, i was able to bang out 3 pretty solid reps at 165#. At that point I had complete CNS (central nervous system) failure. Basically, I couldn't fathom getting that bar over my head for another rep and I intelligently called it quits on the session. I had programmed in a short metcon for the evening but I was really feeling beat up and I opted for a little extra recovery; very smart move. Oh, and my shin was, and still is killing me!
Today I woke up early, and after standing at the side of the pool for a good 10 minutes, finally jumped in and di soe easy laps for about 25 minutes. Later on in the day i rode my bike into DC to meet up with Jimmy and Ori for lunch, both trainers and good friends of mine. We geeked out about fitness for a couple hours and then I went over to Balance Gym Glover Park to work a little more on my miserable HSPU and get a little recovery work in the steam room. My non-technical conclusion on my HSPU abilities: I can't do them. My more technical perspective: it appears as though I lack the ability to engage a specific set of muscles when I am stressed in a very specific position such as the HSPU. While this is pretty uncommon at such a level, it is common enough for trainers and such to have heard of it, but my shoulders basically shut down when they are loaded in a very specific way. This really does seem to be the issue and the concept is strengthened by the fact that when I widen my stance and turn my hands out, i am able to get 3 reps (with a kip mind you). But with a normal hand and arm position, I literally just hit a wall and CAN NOT get even close to a lock-out. No joke people. Ori was at a complete loss for words. It appears to make absolutely zero sense that a person with my level of strength can not do this, at all, with so much practice and focused attention, still nothing. Conclusion? Grind The Gears. What this means is that I will do reps as often as possible in the only position my body allows me to do them, and hopefully something will just click by next week. After that, I will be doing some serious supportive work to figue out exactly where I shut down when performing this move. I'll be sure to explain what that process is when I get there.
Anyways, after all that fun I went on home to relax some more, gearing up for a crazy day of training tomorrow before I head up to upstate NY to hang with Lindsey and her family. Can't wait to see my girl!
never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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