Time to Get Smarter About the Lifts

In the next two weeks I'll be wrapping up a program that has had me thinking in different ways.

It has a repeatable pattern, and the drive to push oneself is built into it.  Linear decreases in rest time for sets, challenging rep patterns, hypertrophy building... I'm already noticing a difference in how I'm able to move, and also, how there's little pain in the lower back.

The basics:

• Front Squats on day 1
• Single leg strength day 2
• Deadlifts day 3
• Bodyweight conditioning day 4

It's not conjugate or Westside barbell, and it isn't CrossFit, it's just different and it's highlighting things I never do.  So for instance on the deadlift days, there's a ring dip series built in.  I never do those and I'm noticing a difference.

Ab work.  Since I've been under the illusion that deadlifting will give me all the ab work I need, I find myself fascinated that ab rollers and hand walkouts could be so tough and challenging.

It's these kinds of ah-hah moments that have me thinking about how I go about programming the next 45 days of training.

After watching this from eliteFTS, I'm inclined to think I better get squatting:

My new favorite log to follow:

Harry Selkow Training Log

Run 50 Kilometers - Recover - Get Back to the Deadlift

Last Saturday (5/10) a friend and I ran the Quicksilver 50k.

Great race, first time doing it, and it wasn't too hot.  Not so for this deadlift session 5 days later.  90 degrees in the garage at 6pm...

As for the deadlift, I've left it alone for about 3 months.

Now it's time to focus on clean form, and keeping the back locked, hips down.

Elder Advice

Today was a fun Strong Sunday.  As a dad, getting to move weight and challenge oneself in a way that isn't just a 5k challenge or office weight loss contest is gratifying.

What was surprising was that an elderly man (late 50's to 60's) felt compelled to tell 3 guys moving weight in a driveway that they were essentially going to snap city with how we were lifting.

I wasn't rude, I asked as much as I could about his background, but English was his second language, and all he could get across was "spine.  not good for overhead back".

We continued lifting and he went on his own tour of the garage.  Then he left.

"What just happened?  Did we get visited by an aging Borat?"  asked by one of the guys lifting.

"Nah..." I said, "Just a guy trying to keep his neighborhood safe".

It is interesting though, perspectives on what will hurt you later on down the road.  Tattoos, lifting, and sunscreen all appear to be in the top three for what is most important in retrospect as you near the end of the road for life.

Let's get a couple things straight:  lifting is something that we're not doing enough of.  Most of us work in an office environment where lifting anything over 10lbs if unheard of.

We were designed to MOVE WEIGHT.  It's intrinsic to our biological programming to run, pull, push, hinge and squat.  We were not designed to SIT.

Get out, move and make yourself tired and sore.  It won't hurt you.  Well, at least not for now, and you'll feel better, your brain will work better and you won't be inclined to tell youngsters that they're going to snap city for doing shoulder presses...

CrossFit 14.4 - Toes to Bar and Other Random Physical Skills

If there's a kid out there somewhere that is dreaming of becoming a professional wall-baller...

Uh NO.  Pick a sport.

While competing in CrossFit workouts is fun (in a messed up way), the original intent of CrossFit was to make you better at performing in your sport of choice, possibly skiing, MMA, life...  I miss the days where the

Wallballs are simply a means of putting in work (mass x distance) and if you do it fast enough, you'll feel like you've made a terrible life choice.

I have no desire to be good at these random physical skills.  Toes to bar is one of them.  If you watch far enough (god help you) you will see me thrash my feet into the air to narrowly miss crushing my fingers with my shoes.  The concept of toes to bar is rooted in good intention.  Hanging leg raises are what helps build a solid core useful for moving large weight off the ground.  It's an accessory movement.

At no point do I want my accessory movements to be the main stage because I know how much they are not the center of my universe.  But like anything else in life, you get good at what you practice.  I am not good at these.  Should I be, that is the question for me going forward.

My thoughts on the open:  it's definitely a weeding process.  You have to be able to demonstrate you have your lactic acid pathways mastered ( I do not).  You need to have your bodyweight skills mastered (I do not).  Then basic strength lifts (again, I do not).  This year was the first time I've seen rowing in the open.  You can be really inefficient at this a 100 million different ways.

The more I do these kinds of competitions, and still retain a semblance of balance with work and family life, I walk away satisfied that in the context of everything that's going on in life, I'm not losing health and fitness.  In fact, in several ways, things have improved.  Outlook, approach, and options are all there.

There's nothing wrong with competing in CrossFit, there's also nothing wrong for really honing in on the things that matter to you.  I know without a doubt where I stand in the world of conditioning (it's what I view 90% of the CrossFit workouts to be).  I also know where I stand in the strength and endurance worlds.  How cool is that?  Throw yourself into something and come away with more knowledge of where you stand.  Paths to new goals open up as a result, and life can only get more interesting.

CrossFit 14.3 - Practicing, Always Practicing

Gotta say my fashion skills are really strong.

In light of my previous post regarding deadlifts and getting the "stripper pull" out of the movement habit, it seemed timely that I'd get an opportunity to do even more deadlifts.

You can see that the first series were OK, then, by the 20th 225lb deadlift, things got "stripper-ish".

I'm also breaking the rules by not having a person in the shot.  Well, I have my dog.  I didn't do any splicing with the video.

This week I took a break from training.  Not much running, just focusing on getting sleep and surviving without coffee during lent.  It's going just OK.

Can't wait to turn the heat up on the training and really start getting strong in the weak stuff.

Plans for the St. Patricks week:

• More PTP
• 4 runs
• Sleep
• Up the Protein

Rebuilding My Deadlift

The video above is one of me lifting a moderately heavy weight.  Nothing spectacular.  Maybe it's heavy for most runners, I don't know.  All I know is that I lift with OK form.  I don't know if it's my body leverages, or lack of muscle control in say the hip flexors...  but every time I pull weight off the floor my hips go up and THEN the weight goes up.  Drives me crazy that I can't seem to fix this.

Perhaps it's time to do some chair deadlifts...

Stay tuned.

An Oddly Balanced Weekend

Lift Run Lift

Fantastic training this weekend - starting off with Friday’s attempt at CrossFit 14.2, (which I discovered I am terrible at chest to bar pull-ups), to a 14 mile run on Saturday with absolutely zero chaffing, to Strong Sunday where I was able to do a 225lb front squat for a double, a 150lb shoulder press, and a 150lb sandbag carry for 100 yards.  None of it is record breaking, but the combination of it all is what I find fun

It’s being able to do this kind of training that tells me the approach to balancing endurance and strength is working.  I’m not there yet, but it’s good

The key to getting this if you have kids is waking up early.

Controlling Chaffing

This may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you, over 20 years of training I’ve never had chaffing like I had 2 weeks ago.  Running the same course but with an older pair of lycra shorts, I burned through the layer between my legs like it was match paper.  Not knowing how bad it was, I kept running toward the 7 mile turnaround which was only a mile away.  Didn’t seem like it was going to be bad.

Reached the turnaround no problem, but then needed to use the restroom, that’s when I made the grisly discovery that my inner thigh was producing its own oozing mess of lubricant as that first layer of skin had been rubbed off.  The area around the wound was numb and swollen and I knew I needed to get it some first aid attention immediately.  Three and a half miles away from home, I figured I should be able to do it.  I scrubbed it with soapy water in the park bathroom, then headed out.

Shower time is terrible for chaffing.  It’s that wound sting that is simply incredible.  Then… later in the week, the gauze I put on the wound got fused.  Thinking “it’s just like a band-aid, just rip it off” I ripped off the gauze, not realizing I was tearing more skin off the wound.  Restart the healing process.

Finally, a week later, I am back to normal.

Here’s what I would have done differently:

• ·         Body Glide
• ·         Better Short (2 layers, one lycra/skin tight)
• ·         Stay hydrated and balance electrolytes
• ·         Body Glide
• ·         Possibly more Body Glide

PTP

As for lifting this last week I started up a program I haven’t used in quite a while.  It’s PTP, otherwise known as Power to the People.  A very low volume lifting protocol that I can use while my running miles go up.  Deadlifs and Shoulder Presses!