Swings

Tried shortening the rest interval today. Was more challenging, but mostly felt it in the grip.

Warm Up

2 Handed HS Swing(32kg) 20 reps on 45 seconds (30 sec work/15 sec rest) x 15 sets (300 reps)

Hindu Squats 30 x 2 sets

Finishing heart rate after swing sets 174 (calculated max hr 181).

Shoulder is slowly improving. I am hoping to start back to regular training next week as long as it is feeling better.

Yes, More Swings

Decided to give the Hardstyle swing intervals another go today, but added an additional 5 minutes for a total of 20 minutes or 400 32kg swings. Still only got my heart rate up to 168 at the end of the set. Also hit some Hindu squats and had a difficult time climbing the stairs out of the basement.

Warm Up

2 Handed HS Swings(32kg) 20 reps on 1 minute x 20 minutes - 400 swings

Hindu Squats 50 x 2 sets

Hardstyle Swing Intervals

Wanted to see if some Hardstyle swing intervals would get my heart rate higher than the one arm GS swing intervals I did on Monday and Tuesday.

Warm Up

Swing(32kg) 20 reps on the minute x 15 minutes - 300 reps

This was done mostly as 2 handed swings, but a few sets were 10L/10R one handed. Was able to complete the 20 reps in about 30 seconds giving me 30 seconds rest between sets. When complete, my heart rate was 180. I could have done more sets, maybe up to 20, but my hands were starting to get sore. Prior to my GS training, I never had the conditioning to complete the set I did today. My shoulder is slowly feeling better, but I still don't think I am ready for overhead work.

More of the Same

Warm Up

Swing(32kg) 30 rpm x 1 minute/rest 30 seconds - 6 sets per hand - 180/180

Swings and More Swings

The shoulder remains pretty tender. Seems to be more of a muscular injury. The position that seems to recreate the pain is the rack position of the double jerk. Pain seems to be more in the rhomboid region vs trapezius. Hit the foam roller today.....feeling pretty good currently.

Warm Up

Swing(32kg) 20 reps in 45 seconds/30 seconds rest - 10 sets each hand for grand total 400 swings

BSS(2x16kg) 10/10 x 2

Heart rate only made it up to 160 at the end of the swings. May need to do more reps with each set to drive the HR up. Plan to keep swinging in hopes of preserving some conditioning during the healing process.

Shoulder Flare Up - Taking Some Time Off To Heal

Developed significant left scapular/trap tenderness again Wednesday morning. I will be shutting things down for a while trying to heal. Will plan to reanalyze both my jerk and snatch technique to attempt to determine what is triggering this problem. I remain hopeful that I can heal and resume training in time to reach my goal of CMS in biathlon at the WKC Worlds in early August. In the mean time, I plan to do a lot of swings in hopes of maintaining my general conditioning and hand conditioning.

Tuesday's Workout with Video

Another late night workout starting around 9:15 PM tonight. The good news, is that I am finally starting to kick this upper respiratory crud that I have been fighting for a couple of weeks. Thought I would shoot some video tonight of both my jerk and snatch sets as I haven't done this in a while. I feel like there have been some subtle changes in both my jerk and snatch technique and I wanted to see what things looked like.

Warm Up

Jerk(2x28kg) 5 min @ 7 rpm

10 min rest

Snatch(28kg) 6 min @ L18/18/18 ---> R18/18/18

Swing(40kg) 30/30 x1

BSS(2x16kg) 10/10 x1

I decided to skip the heavy OAJ tonight to allow my shoulder to recover a bit more. I have been focusing on bringing my pelvis forward during the early ascent of my snatch, which is allowing me to use my legs much more efficiently. It is interesting how fatigued my legs get during my long snatch sets since I have made this change. My grip is also no longer the rate limiting step of my snatch sets and my legs are getting the bell overhead instead of pulling with my arm as I used to. Below is the video of my snatch set:

Jerk set is below:

A Return to Training

After a hellish few days of work, I was happy to get back to my regular training schedule, however, I clearly have lost a bit of my conditioning.

Warm Up

Jerk(2x28kg) 5 minutes @ 7 rpm

10 min rest

Snatch(28kg) 8 minutes @ L16/16/16/15 ---> R16/16/16/16

Jerks felt good. No issues with the shoulder today. Snatches also went well, but I was sucking more wind than usual at the end of the set. I expect that to be corrected rather quickly as I return to my normal training schedule.

Work -- The Perfect Storm

The last few days have been extremely hectic and have made it very difficult to train:

Thursday May 13th:

7:30AM - 8:30AM meeting.

8:30 - 5:10PM in office and hospital seeing patients,

5:30PM take son to lacrosse practice and pick up other son from friends house,

6:30PM pick up son from lacrosse and drive to my monthly group practice meeting.

7:00 - 10:00PM Practice meeting.

10:30 Home, bed

Friday May 14th:

7:30 AM - 8:30 PM in hospital seeing patients.

9:00PM home, dinner, bed.

Saturday May 15th (on call the weekend):

6:30 AM - 7:30 PM in hospital seeing patients.

8:00 PM home, dinner.

9:45 PM attempted workout.

Warm Up

Jerk(2x24kg) 5 minutes @ 9 rpm

Snatch(28kg) 8 minutes @ L16/16/16/10 ---> R16/16/16/8

BSS(bodyweight) 20/20 x 1

Shoulder is feeling better. Jerks were no problem. Not much energy for snatches. Did my best. Broke a good sweat and got the heart rate up. Hopefully next week will settle down and I can get back to my usual routine.

More Snatches....Shoulder Feeling Better

My shoulder actually felt better today after a limited workout yesterday. Still just stuck with the snatches and swings today. Avoided jerks hoping that my shoulder will continue to heal quickly so I can get back to training. The good news is that my snatches are where the work is needed and I can still do these pain free.

Warm Up

Snatch(32kg) 6 minutes @ L15/15/15 ---> R15/15/15

Swing(40kg) 30/30

Sucking wind today with a slight upper respiratory bug, but I was able to get the set done. Might consider some light jerks on Thursday or just rest through the rest of the week depending how I feel over the next couple of days.

The Injury Parade Continues

During last Tuesday's workout, I noticed some pain in my left shoulder during the drop in my jerk sets. I have had this happen before, but by later that night I knew this was more serious than before. I ended up taking off the remainder of last week and my shoulder is feeling better today, but still not back to 100%. The good news is that it doesn't seem to bother me on snatches.....as I found out today:

Warm Up

Snatch(2x28kg) 8 minutes @ L16/16/16/13 ----> R16/16/16/13

Swing(32kg) 45/45 x 1

Swing(32kg) 30/30 x 1

BSS(2x16) 10/10 x 2

Snatches felt pretty good today, but my hands were in the danger zone so I cut each arm 3 reps short. I will get them next time. Plan is to keep working the snatches until my shoulder feels good enough to start jerking again. Hopefully this will be by the end of this week or early next week. Will see what happens....

More Drop Set Jerks

Re-introducing the 32kg jerks today in a drop set format. The more I work with the 28s the more I see the logic in the AKC ranking tables. Making the jump from 24 to 32kg bells would have been very difficult. Putting the time in with the 28s is going to make my eventual transition to the 32s much, much easier. Every time I do a 32kg jerk or snatch set, I am amazed how well I am able to handle the weight -- all from working the 28s.

Warm Up

Jerk(2x32kg) 3 minutes @ 6 rpm

Jerk(2x28kg) 3 minutes @ 9 rpm

Jerk(2x24kg) 3 minutes @ 12 rpm

Rest 10 minutes

Snatch(28kg) 6 minutes @ L18/18/18 ---> R18/18/18

OAJ(40kg) 8/8

Swing(40kg) 30/30

Bulgarian Split Squat(2x16kg) 10/10

I rested 6 minutes between the first jerk set as I was paged and had to make a phone call. Rested 3 minutes between the second and third set. My legs were quite tired after this workout, making the split squats even more difficult.

Test Day

Test day was on the schedule today. Things went well.

Warm Up

Jerk(2x28kg) 10 minutes @ 7 rpm

75 minutes rest

Snatch(28kg) 8 minutes @ L16/16/16/16 ----> R16/16/16/16

Jerks were completed with relative ease. I was able to stay relaxed throughout the entire set and could have easily put up more reps.

My snatch set was also very good today. I have made some "discoveries" concerning my snatch technique and now seem to have better timing coming out of the double dip. I also seem to be using my legs more consistently and pulling less with my hand on the ascent. My finger lock is becoming much more consistent. I will try to post some video soon.

I also really tried to stay relaxed during my set. I tried to focus on each rep and not think ahead to the finish, even when I was getting close. This approach seemed to really help me reach the finish line. In fact, I had additional reps in the tank at the end of this snatch set.