February 23,2021

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Sometimes the program calls for things I am uncomfortable with. Actually, a good program will test you and work on your weaknesses. However, every now and then a day is programmed right in your wheelhouse.
today was that day.
double unders and Handstand walks are good for me. I can do both well

any kind of burpee usually plays to my advantage

mix those movements into a workout and I’m usually pretty strong.
todays had a medium weight deadlift. I felt MUCH better after all the stretching that I have been doing with this lift. I was having nerve pain down my right leg and deadlifts made it worse. I knew that doing uneven deadlifts to accommodate this pain was not good but I had to do it to make it through certain workouts with deadlifts. The stretching has made that go away and I felt strong on both sides of my body today. I broke into 5/4 on the dead’s just to be safe but I could have moved faster.
the single DB burpee step over was a much more challenging movement than I expected and I had trouble moving quickly but got them done.
mall in all, great day. Feeling really good and ready for the Open

February 22, 2021

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Great start to the work week with a rainy, dreary day that would have most people pulling the blankets up and hitting the snooze button.

Not us. We had a hearty group of dudes ready to get after it today and this whole week despite the weather, inconvenience, unpleasantness, laziness or comfort.

Today started out with

Back squat

10-8-6-4-2

Increase weight each set and take 2:00 between each set

then

Roll right into this one

TRICYCLE

60 cal on Assault Bike

then

4 Rounds of

21 Thruster @75 lbs

18 Alternating Dumbbell Snatch

15 Chest to Bar pullups

This one took me a little over 22 minutes including a poop break after the 2nd round. I was disappointed in this because I did not exercise discipline yesterday. I ate too much and too late. I was not burning clean and my body said…We got to get rid of this…and it did. I was able to come back and finish pretty strong, however, I believe I could do much better on this workout.

This is going to be a great week that will have lots of good outcomes at work but also in the training part of my life. My stretching program has been paying some big dividends as I have overcome my back injury and increased range of motion in almost every position and lift. I will continue to work hard at this flexibility for this entire year and probably for the rest of my life. Joe Hippensteel says that it is the fountain of youth and I do believe him. I feel better than I have in a long time.

February 19,2021

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Bringing the training week to a close with this burner today. I love workouts like this. This is a classic example of a psych out workout. What I mean by that is that upon first look, I thought wow, 50 OHS, 40 Hang Squat Cleans and 30 Thrusters…man those thrusters are going to be tough.

Any of us would have been lucky to have been able to do one thruster in the 16 minute window. There was no need to stress over the movements, we were not even going to get there.

I have experienced many workouts like this. The Elite will get there and back to the burpees and maybe even a bunch of OHS, who knows, maybe even farther. However, the average athlete or 50 year old isn’t going to make it that far.

Don’t stress about things like that. Chip away at the work and take it as it comes.



This week was also a time for testing our Aerobic Capacity for Chris Hinshaws program. TO do so we needed to do a 400 m time trial and then a 1 mile time trial. If you have been reading this blog very long, you may already know that I have had issues with my calves and running. Well, it happened again but I am finally starting to understand the signals my body is sending and control my ego enough to stop immediately when I feel a certain twinge of pain in my calf.

I did stop and it was sore but I am not out of commission like I have been in the past.

This year I found Joe Hippensteel and I have been spending 1-2 hours a day on stretching. It has made an incredible difference in the way I feel and my range of movement in almost every exercise and lift. I feel better even just walking around.

Out of frustration, I called Joe and talked to him about my calf. He is going to help me learn to unlock my calf muscles and restore the ability to run injury free. Ive done it before…lots. That is why it is so frustrating. My calves are my limiting factor, not endurance, cardio or strength. Just the calves.

Ill update my progress here. Until then, check out his stuff. Here is a post I did with his Quad stretch. When I first started, I used 2 Dynamax Medicine balls and a pillow under my butt. Now I can get all the way to the ground and I am working to get my back flat.

Check out Joe’s material. You will be glad that you did. If you read David Goggins book, Joe is the man who helped David to regain his health and running ability.

February 11, 2021

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Not sure how I got out of the habit of updating this blog, but I am going to try to do better.

We are using Comptrain as our training program so I started to just use the app to record workouts. I will try to update here. For followers, sorry.

Today

3 miles/300 pushups

First time I have run in a while and due to my new stretching routine, I felt great. No injuries, and I won at 34;30. Not anywhere close to my best time on this course, which was 27:00 but Im getting the running back. I was just happy to finish. Moose also did well.

Back to Comptrain to get ready for the Games coming up.