more post 32kg snatch recovery

A very good nights sleep. Weight: 178 lbs. Now I am REALLY concerned! Today I noticed at lunch that I have been eating until feeling stuffed. This is a bad habit I have encountered before and will nip it in the bud.

This morning I woke up feeling much better. My upper back was still sore but no longer stiff. Both elbows were only slightly sore. As I had planned, I took a 2nd day off with lots of Z drills. This is my taper week so I intended on tapering. For me this means lots of extra rest training as I have finally learned through the school of hard knocks.

Z-Health R-Phase and Neural Warm-up Level 2

I was pleased to see Dr. Cobb, the founder of the Z-Health system, post a great article here on the role of eye focus points for optimal neurological impact on dead-lifting and swings. Tomorrow I will try both of the suggested techniques.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana


Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl of brown rice with sweet potato and Sichuan chicken with dried chilis
1 small additional bowl of brown rice with sweet potato
1 tangerine
2 dates
1 large piece of french bread

Afternoon Snack:
Nada ..

Dinner:
1 small helping of veggie fried rice and pan-fried steel trout
1 small piece of pie
1 small scoop of ice cream
1 small handful of roasted almonds

I tuned into cause of my recent weight gain from the large lunches I had recently been consuming. I am a big believer in "eating makes you hungry" and stuffing oneself sets off a pattern of more stuffing. To address it, I brushed my teeth after my large lunch and passed on all snacks. My dinner was very modest and that was it for the evening.

trapped! .. in a company meeting

Tuesday April 29, 2008

If ever I earned a rest training day today is it. Weight: 177 3/8 lb. Still climbing north .. not overly concerned yet. In bed by 11pm and up at 6am. Woke up sore many times throughout the evening but always managed to get back to sleep. Some folks have questioned as to why I post details about sleep. The reason is I monitor it very carefully as it has great impact on my training and overall mental health.

A lot of muscle soreness on both sides of my upper back. Rotating in either direction or reaching up causes the most discomfort. My right elbow is sore but its been a lot worse.

Z-Health Neural Warm-up Level 2

This helped somewhat and I continued to perform lots of extra joint mobility drills throughout the day. In the evening I was really stiff and decided an early nights rest was the best option so off to bed I went at 9:30pm. I was very pleased that once again I was able to pass on the Ibuprofen .. my previous DOMS drug treatment of choice.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana


Morning Snack:
4 oz Kefir
2 dates

Lunch:
1 bowl of brown rice with sweet potato
1 bowl of veggie fried rice
1 tangerine
4 dates

Afternoon Snack:
5 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Dinner:
20 white flour crackers
8 large pieces of French bread
8 slices of various hard cheeses
3 large strawberries
2.5 glasses of wine

Another Dinner:
1 small helping of pan-fried steel trout
2 small scoops of ice cream

The garbage white cracker, French bread and cheese were consumed while being held captive at work for a 3 hour marathon session with one the of top directors. It lasted from 3:30 to 6:30 pm. I normally eat around 5:30 pm and was starved. Unfortunately I caved in and ate all the junk greedily. When I got home I felt I had to eat something healthy so I had the trout and some unnecessary ice cream to medicate myself. I knew I would pay for this on the scale the next day.

some 32kg snatch volume

Went to bed at 10:45pm and woke up at 4am. Couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and read some training blogs. Was able to get back to sleep around 6am and got up at 8am. Not optimal but still better than dragging my butt around for the day. Weight: 176 7/8 lbs. I think the dead-lifting is having a say in this recent small weight gain. Not concerned yet.

In a few days will mark the completion of three months of solid training since a long layoff during the winter to rest my elbows. That first workout on Feb 2, 2008 I did 16kg x 10 x 20 2-hand swings and almost died! I've come along way .. the encouragement, assistance and guidance I have received from the RKC and friends blogging community has been enormous.

Having committed to doing heavy snatches today, I needed to take a half-hour nap after dinner. After doing dishes and attending to other domestic duties, I started my training session at 9pm .. pretty late but I've trained even later.

Double 32kg x 5 x 10 Two-hand swings @ 1 set/min

I focused a generating a very strong hip snap and keeping my shoulders back. I am starting to really gain a lot of respect for these as they are relatively safe (compared to snatches say), very heavy and dynamic.

32kg Snatch:
16 x 3/3
1 x 2/2
Total reps: 100 (PR)

I averaged starting a set every 90 seconds. This was a very taxing session and I pushed myself to complete it. I always do my weaker left side reps first. Twice I didn't get a good lockout with my left so I repeated those reps after doing my right side.

I did have a few small casualties: two small tears on my left hand. I used enormous amounts of chalk so I'm sure it could've been a lot worse. I will have to tape my hand next session. Thanks to Howie for publishing a link to Rif's superb "How to tape your hands" post .. the last time I taped I did it incorrectly and had to wear a less than optimal work glove instead.

Also my neck and upper back on the left side are a little sore. I would have normally popped four ibuprofen but I instead I will treat this with Z drills. This soreness is not a surprise as my left side has always been weaker. Snatching the 2 pood for 50 reps on the left side goes a long way towards getting it stronger .. almost exactly one month ago I barley squeezed out my first 32kg left side snatch single.


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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana


Morning Snack:
1 handful of roasted almonds
4 dates

Lunch:
1 large bowl pan fried salman with cilantro, brown rice and sweet potato
1 tangerine
2 dates


Afternoon snack:
3 handfuls of roasted almonds
6 oz Kefir

Dinner:
1/2 glass of red wine
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 large bowl of pan-fried steel trout with cilantro
1 bowl of roasted veggies
2 small scoops of ice cream
4 small mint chocolate chip cookies

reaping the benefits of a few days off

A great long nights sleep .. to bed at 9:30pm and up at 6:00am .. and I felt rested! Weight: 176.25 lbs. Just 1/4 lb over but nothing to worry about. My elbows only slightly sore.

My immediate goal of the day was to train pull-ups. With the last few weeks of emphasis on dead-lifting and snatches, I knew I had to get back to these to keep my hard earned base and my 6RM neutral grip.

Z-Health Neural Warm-up Level 2

This time I did the follow along with the DVD now that I'm getting a better feel for the movements. Of course Dr. Cobb performs these too quickly for me but I wanted to see where I stood .. not too bad. The only movement that presents enormous problems for me is the closed chain knee circles out of the anterior and posterior lunge positions. The pegboard in the lunge positions drills are also difficult but nowhere near as problematic as the closed chain knee circles.

Neutral grip fighter Pull-ups:
BW x 1 x 7 (PR)
BW x 2 x (1,2,3,2,1)
BW x 1 x (1,2,3,3,2,1)
BW x 1 x (1,2,1)
Total reps: 41

Great news is 7RM PR. I really worked hard to squeeze that last rep out. I rested about 10 minutes after the PR and then did the ascending/descending ladders with 1 to 2 minutes rest between rungs. After the 1st set of ladders, I remembered to do Z drills between each rung .. I really have to do these to remain "perfect rep" focused .. furthermore my Z-trainer, Luis Hernandez, insists on it! I cycled different areas of focus between small groups of rungs, e.g., lat engagement, abs and glut tension, bringing my chest to the bar, and exploding up. The volume of 41 is also a PR.

A little bit later, after viewing some dead-lifting videos on youtube, I got so psyched that I decided to test my 1RM DL again. I was feeling strong, rested and confident so I went for it:

Sumo Dead-lift:
195 x 2 x 1
225 x 2 x 1
250 x 1 x 1 (PR)
205 x 1 x 5

The two singles with my previous PR of 225 were hard but solid .. and gave me just enough confidence to go for more. I decided that I needed to go for a nice round number and put on 250. It stalled a bit about 3 inches from the ground but I pulled like hell and was able lockout. I rested some more and did a quick set of 5 with 205 just to gauge my 5RM versus my new 1RM and it seemed about right. I was really not expecting such a large increase in my PR but I'll gladly accept it and celebrate. I did scrape my left shin again during the 1st single with 225 but I was careful after that. Its a small price to pay for some solid progress.

I still have quite a ways off in being competitive in the Master's TSC (last place in the April's Master section was still a strong 325 lb pull) but these little PRs are starting to add up.

I was also going to do snatches as well today but I remember how wasted I was the next day after testing my DL PR and lot of other stuff .. I'll hit the snatches tomorrow.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 tangerine


Morning Snack:
2 handfuls of roasted almonds
1 handful of dried cranberries
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz of Kefir

Lunch:
1 large bowl pan fried salman with cilantro, brown rice and sweet potato

Afternoon snack:
3 handfuls of roasted almonds
2 handful of dried cranberries

Dinner (out):
1 large helping of Sichuan Chicken and Port
1 bowl of white rice
1 glass of red wine
1 scoop of ice cream
2 dates

rest training

A nice 8 hours of sound sleep. Weight: 176.25 lb. Just a little over 80kg. No problem, just a small adjustment to get back under 176. Right elbow just a tad sore. Today is a full rest training day.

Dynamic Joint Mobility: Z-Health Neural Warm-up Level 2

I spent the good part of this morning slowly going over these relatively new movements. They are quite a bit more demanding to perform smoothly, and accurately with synchronized breathing. I'm looking forward to my next Z-consult with Luis as this will be our main focus.

I picked up something indirectly from the very DD strong poster, faizalenu. He demarcates the attributes of a group of identical sets as follows:

(Weight) x (Number of sets) x (reps per set)

Here is an example applied to a portion of my dead-lifting the other night (lbs):

DL:
225 x 2 x 1
225 x 1 x 2


The first is two single dead-lifts with 225; the second is one set of a double with 225. I don't know if this is standard but I really like this representation and will start to use it consistently in my posts.

I made it up to UMass, Amhurst and spent the sunny beautiful day with my daughter:

BW x 10 x 1 hours of walking, talking, eating, drinking and relaxing

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 tangerine


Morning Snack:
2 handfulls of roasted almonds
1 handful of dried cranberries
2 mouths fulls of pan fried salmon

Lunch:
1 large bowl of sesame peanut noodles
1 small bowl of veggie fried rice

Afternoon snack:
1 huge chocolate almond claw
2 large bites of a cheesecake chocolate brownie

Dinner:
1 medium sized fruit smoothie
2 dates

a case of mental flatulence

Although I slept hard without getting up much, I was still very tired during the day. The testing of my 1RM DL last night took ALOT out of me. Weight: 175.25 lbs. Yep, this should have been a total rest day .. but it was not to be.

Z-Health R-Phase

I did a real dopey thing today at lunch,hence the blog title. After reading Fawn's thoughtful comment on DL alignment principles, I decided to drive home and try them on my 1RM of 225 lbs! No cycling up like last night ... just get right to it and maybe throw on another 20 lbs or so.

HAH! .. yeah, right. Although I did warm-up with a lot of Z drills and a set of heavy double swings, the fargin bar only moved an 1/16". I tried again and the same thing happened. I took off 30 lbs and did two singles, scraped my left shin with the bar and realized the tank was completely empty. I was just too dad-gum tired and stubborn-headed ... usually a deadly combination. Fortunately, before I did something even dumber, I had flash of sanity and drove right back to work.

I'm very lucky I didn't do some damage. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. Nothing more today .. I promise nothing.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds
2 dates
6 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of steamed tofu, Kitchari, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
6 Dates

Afternoon Snack:
5 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 orange

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon
1 small piece of pie
3 scoops of ice cream
2 mint chocolate chip cookies

All the DLs last night left me famished so I loaded up on extra almonds through out the day.

a little PTTP sumo DL progress

Although I woke up sore around 2am, I was able to go back to sleep and got up around 6:30am. Weight: 174 5/8. Most of the soreness (my right elbow) dissipated.

Z-Health R-Phase and some Neural Warm-up Level 2

At work around lunch my co-worker brought in his Power Wheel and we alternated turns:

Power Wheel
BW 3 x 20 yards and back Crawl
BW 1 x 1,2,3,4 On the knees Rollout, hold for 7 secs and back
BW 2 x 1 On the knees Rollout, hold for 15 secs and back

After taking a short nap around 8:30pm I decided I had to do another PTTP DL day:

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 8: 180 x 5, 160 x 5

The 1st pull was hard but the next 4 were very easy. The second set with 160 was really easy. I decided to continue:

Sumo DL:
185 x 5
205 x 5
2 x (225 x 1)
225 x 2

The 185 and 205 were pretty easy. The 225 was definitely harder and I could feel in much more in lower legs for some reason. It also took more time from the time the bar started moving to lockout. The 2nd single was about the same. Then the double really grooved, both pulls had much more acceleration energy. I did a few minutes of Z-drills between every set to help keep focused. As a result I improved my previous DL PR of 205 x 1 conventional to 225 x 2 sumo. I wouldn't be surprised if I could do a 240 single but that is for another day.

As a result, I'm going to take a break for a few days from dead-lifts and restart with a whole new PTTP linear cycle at beginning with a day one of 165 x 5, 150 x 5. This would take me to 215 x 5, 195 x 5 at day 10 which calibrates much closer to my new 2RM. Although admittedly a little lame, I can claim having done a triple digit metric pull, namely, a 100kg double.

Interesting is that Aaron posted a comment that I should eventually be able to do a 2 x BW or 350lb pull. I set a long term goal of 400lb but right now the 350 seems just as far out there. Compared to my pull-up and snatch progress, my dead-lift is definitely the long pole in the tent to being competitive in the Master's TSC but as long as I'm having fun and making progress all is good!

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
2 dates
6 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of steamed tofu, Kitchari, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
4 Dates

Afternoon Snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 orange

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon
1 small piece of pie
2 scoops of ice cream
1 banana
2 mint chocolate chip cookies

The amazing Yoganator and 72 24kg snatches in under 5 mins

A much better nights sleep, although I did drag my butt around the office most of the morning. Weight: 175 lbs. My lower back was a bit stiff and sore. My right elbow was much better but still a little sore. I did a full R-Phase session before even getting into work and my back felt a little better.

Z-Health R-Phase and some Neural Warm-Up Level 2

At around 3:30pm I did another full cycle of R-Phase and all back and elbow soreness was gone! I even did two BW wall squats ATG barefoot with toes touching the wall. I haven't been able to do these since tweaking my left knee 5 weeks ago.

I had been checking out Fawn Friday, RKC Yoganator Blog and was blown away by her 281 lb DL (dead-lift) at power-lifting meet she participated in. Like myself she uses the sumo style to optimize the leverage for her body composition. She only weighs around 124 lbs so this is a pretty frick'n amazing demonstration of strength. For those interested in DLs, check out her site. Also her husband, Aaron Friday, who is no slouch either, at the recent TSC effortlessly pulled 415 lbs at a BW of only 154 lbs .. check it out on youtube here .. don't mess with the Friday's, partner!

Anyway I was so psyched watching her 281 lb pull on youtube here I couldn't wait to get home and do my PTTP cycle called for sets. And this is exactly the beauty of these training blogs .. they provide us with a huge number of inspiring performances by everyday folks like us. And because we walk the talk, by training hard and sharing our gains and setbacks, we know when someone has done something worthy of praise and then it moves to achieve greater heights.

Double 32kg 1 x 10 swings

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 7: 175 x 5, 160 x 5

With a lotsa Z to warm-up, these went very well and this time I never let go of the bar for each of the two sets. One thing I noticed is I let too much air out at the lockout. This is a bad habit I have to stop because it just won't hack it when I work up to heavier pulls. Never the less, it was exciting pulling my BW for 5 reps.

24kg Snatches:
1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1 Ascending/Descending Ladder without putting the bell down for 72 consecutive reps in 4:57 a new PR
5/5/5/5/5/5 for 30 reps
1,2,3,4,3,2,1 Ascending/Descending Ladder without putting the bell down for 32 reps
10/10
2 x (1,2,3,2,1) for 36 reps
10/10
Total reps: 210

My 50K Snatch Race point total is now 1664 which puts me in 8th out of 24 men. Wow! I'm actually in the top third now. There are some real snatch-smashing studs very close to me (e.g., Rif) that haven't posted yet, so I won't be able to hold on to this for very long. But I can still enjoy the feeling of temporarily hanging with some tough hombres.

That first set of 72 consecutive reps in just under 5:00 was very tough. At the beginning of the descent, one of my left side reps didn't get enough height and I had to press it to an OH lockout .. ugh. When I was done with the set I was totally gassed and kept dry coughing up mucus. It reminded me of when back in my running days, if I had taken a month off and then went out for 5 miler, I would get that same dry hacking cough .. yuck! I used a lotsa chalk and no damage was done. After a long rest (at least 10 minutes) was called for after that 1st nasty set, I finished with much shorter sets and called it a night. I will get back to pull-ups this week end as I need to keep GTG these to keep my recent gains.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
2 dates
4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of steamed tofu, Kitchari, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
4 Dates

Afternoon Snack:
5 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon
1 small piece of pie
1 scoops of ice cream
1 banana
3 mint chocolate chip cookies

just a little bit

I was plenty sore from yesterday's workout and it was difficult to sleep for the middle third of the night. Fortunately I did go to bed early so I was able sleep in and still get into work at a reasonable hour. Weight: 174 3/4 lbs. My right elbow was very sore so I did lots of extra Z through out the day.

Z-Health R-Phase and some NWU 2

The used Olympic barbell set I bought did not come with decent collars. I took a guess at the many barbell collars out there and ordered the low-end reasonably priced Lock-Jaw Olympic Barbell Collars. They arrived today and I was very impressed with how light weight they were. The locking mechanism seemed real solid and it was very easy to get them on and off. Today was supposed to be a complete day off but hey! what's a guy to do .. I got new collars!

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 6: 170 x 5, 155 x 5

I bent down without setting up properly and didn't get the bar moving. I got right back up and created a lot more tension, bent down and this time it succumbed. No problem and the next four reps were very smooth. The next set with the lower weight felt very light.

At this point I knew I would have to do a few snatches without getting crazy. Since my right elbow was still a little sore:

24kg 8L Snatch

They flew up there so I put on my left glove to protect my blister to do a few more and low behold I hear Aaron in my ear whispering "Dude, forget the 24kg .. try some 32kg reps .."

32kg Snatch:
3L, 4L(PR), 6R(PR), 5R
Total: 18 reps

I couldn't believe I did 3 and then 4 consecutive 32kg snatches with my pathetically weak left arm! (My previous left PR was one pretty sucky single.) I was so pumped! However, my right arm was getting pissed that the left was getting all the attention .. so not wanting to be a party poop-er, I complied and subsequently set a PR on my right with 6 reps (my previous best was 3). Another 5 reps with the right and that was it for the day.

Fortunately I didn't go crazy. More Z drills and good nights rest were in order.



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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
2 dates

Lunch:
1 bowl of steamed tofu, Kitchari, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
2 Dates

Afternoon Snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon
1 small piece of pie
2 scoops of ice cream

progress with ascending/descending snatch ladder

A good nights sleep. Weight: 175.25 lbs. Between 175 and 176 is optimal for me. A little sore from all the yard work.

Z-Health R-Phase and some NWU Level 2

Ahhhhh .. much better

32kg 20 Two-hand swings

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 5: 165 x 5, 150 x 5

Again barefoot and no problem at all with these.

Dbl 32kg 10 Swings

These were very strong and belly button high. Still warming up and down with Z and performing Z drills between every set of any exercise.

I had my KB consult with Andy Bender,RKC:

16kg 10/10 Halos
Dbl 32kg Farmer walk 20 yards and back
Dbl (32 + 16)kg Farmer walk 20 yards and back
24kg 3 x 5/5 Snatch
Dbl 32kg 1 x 10 Swing
Dbl 24kg 1 x 5 C&J
24kg 2 x 5/5 C&J
Dbl 24kg 1 x 5 Front Squat
40kg 1 x 5/5 One hand Sumo DL on raised blocks (8 inches)
Dbl 24kg 1 x 5/5 One hand Sumo DL on raised blocks (8 inches)
BW 1 x 8 Chins (PR)

This one hour session felt like 5 minutes. The great news is that my snatch form needed only a slight tweak: my left wrist was bending back at the OH lock. Once I corrected this, my left side snatch was much smoother and stronger. I did not use the new double breathing technique as I want to take a more conservative approach: As Rif replied to me on his blog it does put more stress on the spine from the exhale on the down swing and therefore needs to practiced carefully. Not surprising my lower back was a little sore this morning.

Andy also thought my double 32kg swings had excellent form with good height and hip snap. He did notice that I can only get 3/4 of the way into the hole on a front squat due to my left knee issues. I will have rehab this as FrSqt ATG is essential for RKC certification. He also made a number of great suggestions for my C&J and LCCJ. He teaches it the RKC hard-style and its much closer to an Olympic jerk than a AKC one. In particular he suggested to push off much more from the heels during the jerk motion. Once I did this, the bell exploded up and it was much easier getting underneath it. This nicely complemented the Brett Jones KB Basics DVD Jerk section.

All in all, these sessions with Andy are a bargain and I am going to begin to increase the frequency to one every few months. DVDs and books are a great start but nothing beats the watchful eye of an RKC.

This evening after work I wanted to get in some snatches and try some of other things I worked on with Andy:

24kg 1 x 5/5 C&J Hard-style
Dbl 24kg 1 x 8 C&J Hard-style
Dbl 24kg 1 x 5 LCCJ Hard-style
Dbl 32kg 1 x 10 Swing

24kg Snatch:
1,2,3,4,3,2,1 ladder without putting the bell down (32 consecutive reps)
1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 ladder without putting the bell down (50 consecutive reps)
1 x 5/5/5/5
5 x (5/5) on the minute
1 x 10/10
2 x 5/5
Total reps = 192

Doing 32 consecutive snatches and then following it up with 50 consecutive was a very surprising and welcomed result. The approach taken using the ascending / descending ladders was recommended by Andy at todays consult. The only problem I see with doing long sets of snatches is my hands start to deteriorate. Andy suggested chalk and even taping my hands. My right was fine but I did open a small blister on my left hand palm after the long set. Adhesive tape didn't do well either so I went back to wearing a fingerless work glove on my left which got me through the session.

50000 Snatch Race Total = 1188 + 30 (at Andy's) + 192 = 1410 pts

Hah! I just jumped two places to 13th out of the 24 men.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana


Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of uncooked Tofu, sweet potato, Kitchari and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
4 dates

Afternoon snack:
5 small handful of roasted almonds
6 dates
1 tangerine

Dinner:
1 bowl of brown rice, sweet potato and Sichuan shrimp with veggies
1 small piece of pie
2 scoops of ice cream
1 small handful of dried cranberries.

Another double workout so I needed the extra calories.

yard work and the double breathe snatch technique

A restless nights sleep. I got up at 3:30 did some blogging and then slept in to 8:30am. Weight: 175 lbs. Both elbows and left knee a little sore. Immediately performed Z drills and felt much better.

Z-Health R-Phase, some Neural Warm-up Level 2

Although today is a rest day, it was perfect weather for sweeping the driveway and raking the yard and front lawn. It took about 2.5 hours and it was a breeze. When I was 25 lbs heavier and much weaker, this would have been a drudgery. Today it was good exercise and I enjoyed being out in the sun. All the front squatting I have been doing really came in handy as I had to get down numerous times to pick up the raked piles. Bracing my back with inter-abdominal pressure now occurs without me even thinking about it.

Rif put a great video on his blog of him in perfect snatch form with the 24kg. When David Whitley (Iron-Tamer) posted that Rif's double breathing technique (David had recommended this for Rif )looked great, I went back and very carefully re-analyzed the video. Fortunately Rif had recently purchased a new video camera (Flip Video) and both the video and audio were excellent. As result, I started breathing in step with the video while imitating the snatch lift. I then went downstairs to my workout dungeon and practiced reps first with the 16kg and then with the 24kg:

16kg 20/20, 18/18 Snatch
Total reps: 76

24kg Snatch:
10r, 10l
5/5/5/5
1,2,3 Ladder
4,5 Ladder
Total reps: 70

50000 Snatch Race Total = 1080 + (1/5*76 + 70) = 1188 pts
Currently 15th place out of 24 men. I will be very happy to hold this place throughout the race as those above me are much stronger, experienced snatchers.

Tonight I re-watched the Brett Jones KB Basics for Strength Coaches and Personal Trainers Ballistics DVD and can see why its a must for anyone who has signed up for a RKC cert. I don't have the funds at the moment for it, but when I eventually do sign up for a cert, I will pick up my own copy.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates


Morning Snack:
2 small handful of roasted almonds
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1/2 glass of red wine
1 bowl of brown rice, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry and Chinese 4 Season beans
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
3 Medjool dates
4 dates
2 small handful of roasted almonds
1 tangerine

Dinner:
1 bowl of brown rice, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry and Chinese 4 Season beans
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 small handful of dried cranberries.

Double session

A great nights sleep .. yes! Weight: 176 lbs. All the extra grub yesterday got my weight back where is should be, any less and I feel weak. Although my right elbow was sore from my silly over-doing of the pinch grip training, after a long Z drill session and they were feeling much better.

Z-Health R-Phase and some Neural Warm-up Level 2

24kg 20 Two-hand swings

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 4: 160 x 5, 145 x 5

I'm sticking with barefoot. These were no sweat. I know this is the easy part of the cycle but I'm still happy as my back is fine with the Sumo style.

I tried an RKC style snatch test with my weak left side first. After 15 reps and I totally ran out of gas and had to stop. So I rested for a bit and then tried my right side.

24kg snatch:
1 x 15 left
1 x 25 right
1 x 5/5
3 x (5 x 5/5 @ 1set/min) 6 mins rest between every 5 sets.
Total: 200 reps

My left hand has developed some painful blisters in the palm area. I addressed this later in the evening after watching the 2nd DVD of the Brett Jones, Sr RKC, KB Basics. This DVD focused on grind and core lifts: windmill, TGU, MP, Front Squat, Single leg DL. Its impossible for me watch a DVD as good as this without lifting along:

24kg 4 x 3/3 Windmill
24kg 1/4, 1/5 MP left/right
24kg 2 x 1 Seated MP right side
16kg 2 x 1 Seated MP left side
32kg 1 x 2/1 TGU

MP ladders with 16kg left and 24 kg right:
3 x 1,2,3,4,5

Double 32kg 1 x 3 Double clean
Double 24kg 1 x 2 Hardstyle LCCJ
Double 24kg 1 x 1 Thruster

I was up for some late night snatch action. After the 1st set, my left hand blisters were really painful. I tried using my fingerless work gloves and that helped a lot although snatch was a little more difficult:

24kg Snatches:
1 x 7/6
1 x 12/10
Ladder R/L 1,2,3,4,5
Total reps = 65

50000 Snatch Race Total = 1080 pts

Wow! I passed the 2 percent mark.

Total volume for the day: 22518 lbs

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates

Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
1 Whey Protein shake with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl Chinese 4 Season green beans with white rice
2 Fortune cookies
1 large orange

Afternoon Snack:
4 Dates
3 small handful of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 bowl of brown rice with sweet potato and green beans
1 bowl of Green Gram Curry
1 small piece of pie
2 scoops of ice cream

KB Training DVD mail swap .. yeah Howie!

Friday April 18th Training:

Oy-vey, a crappy nights sleep. Weight: 174 lbs .. damn, that's too low! I made it to 80 kg (176 lbs) and just need to hold .. time to jack up the calories. I was considering doing deads again today with some 32kg work, but no way, the body is too tired so I am going to go easy. Also I am a little sore.

Z-Health R-Phase, some Neural Warm-up Level 2

My main man, Howie Brewer, Future RKC, and I agreed to do an mail swap of KB Training DVDs. Today I received the his copy of Brett Jones, Sr RKC's "KB Basics for Strength Coaches adn Personal Trainers" 2 DVD set and had a chance to review the 1st DVD which focused exclusively on ballistics: swing, jerk, snatch. Not surprisingly, in this excellent presentation, Brett provided some new (at least to me) insights into the basics that I will integrate into my lifting. Brett and his demonstration partner Michael Castrogiavanni, RKC, use the 24kg bell exclusively and both make it seems like its an 8kg one.

Howie received my copies of Mike Mahler's KB Beginner Workshop DVD and the 6 DVD set of Steve Cotter's Encyclopedia of KB Lifting Vol 1 on Wed and is finding the info valuable to his training .. which again is not surprising.

I have made great progress on the 24kg snatch front. As a result, now that I have been jacking up the volume, I set up a consult on Monday with Andy Bender,RKC who got me into KB lifting. As a man and trainer of exceptional character and poise, I have nothing but the highest regards for Andy. Our top priority will be to fine tune my snatch form as I have to be really be careful with this much volume.

I also set up another Z-consult in mid-May with Z-Trainer par-excellence Luis Hernandez. Since my consult three weeks ago I have not taken a single NSAID and have been successfully managing my finicky knees and elbows with Z drills exclusively. Given the discomfort level I was in and the intensity of my trainings these results are extraordinary. We will be focusing on Neural Warm-up Level 2. These are more advanced athletic movements than R-Phase and I really dig'm.


Anyone who follows the DD forum knows of the fantastic feats of classic strongman strength the Ssgt Adam Glass has been performing (e.g., bending huge spikes, horse shoes, nails, ripping thick phonebooks and decks of playing cards, one hand suitcase DL-ing of 275lbs).

When the question of improving strongman hand strength came up and whether the COC grippers (I bought ALL of them although I can't do anymore than the the #1 ... yes I'm a knucklehead) where the best way to go, he suggested that pinch-strength and in particular the thumb were much more practical for strongman bending and ripping use. In particular he recommended reading the e-article by James "Smitty" Smith of DieselCrew's article "I Want a Pony". As recommended I purchased two "Pony Clamps" and today my co-worker brought in the necessary hardware modifications to my second "Pony Clamp" for increasing palm flexion strength (my 1st clamp is used unmodified for pinch grip thumb strength). Well, I overdid it and my right elbow got very sore. I did Z all day long and did get some relief but if its this sore tomorrow, I will take another training day off.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl of roasted veggies, u-waved sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
2 Dates

Afternoon Snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1/2 glass of red wine
1 large bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small piece of pie
3 scoop of ice cream
2 handfuls of roasted almonds

Okay I really pigged out but 174 lb justified it.

200 24kg snatches in 30 mins

Another welcomed good nights rest. Weight: 175.5 lbs. Very little soreness and I was excited to do another early morning workout.

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 3: 155 x 5, 140 x 5

This time I went barefoot and had no trouble with either set. Next it was time to re-test my snatches.


24kg Snatch
10 x 5/5 @ 1set/1min
4 mins rest
5 x 5/5 @ 1set/1min
4 mins rest
2 x 5/5 @ 1set/min
2 mins rest
3 x 5/5 @ 1set/min
Total: 200 reps in just under 30 min

50000 Snatch Race Total: 605 + 200 = 805 pts

I just knocked off 14 min to complete the 200 24kg snatches in 30 mins, an new PR. I like Aaron's suggestion to see where I am with an RKC Cert snatch test (only one hand transfer allowed and can not put the bell down). If I had to guess it would probably be around 15l/18r = 33 reps. If I attend an RKC cert I will have to demonstrate a total of 48 reps (e.g., 24l/24r).

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz Kefir
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and brown rice
2 Dates
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
6 dates
2 small handful of roasted almonds
1 tangerine
4 oz Kefir

Dinner:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and brown rice
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream
4 Dates

Wed April 16 .. a real e-Z day

A mediocre night's sleep. Weight: 175 3/4. I was tired all day and a little sore everywhere. Good thing today was my day of rest with Z only. It turns out I did just a little bit of pinch grip training. When at the hardware store today I remembered DieselCrews' Smitty article on "I Want a Pony" so I bought some pony clamps.

Z-Health R-Phase & some more of Neural Warmup Level 2

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of roasted veggies, u-waved sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
6 dates
2 small handful of roasted almonds
1 tangerine

Dinner:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Kitchari
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream

80kg body weight and 200 24kg snatches

Last nights sleep was very restful. Weight: 176 lbs = 80kg Fantastic! I just made my medium term weight goal. This last week I eliminated stress induced snacks and this made a difference. I had been eating up to 6 handfuls of roasted almonds for an afternoon snack which was way too much. I also monitored portion sizes more carefully, including when going out to restaurants and requesting doggy bags rather then pigging out.

Both my elbows were a little sore this morning but this nothing unusual .. I did a lot of Z drills for relief, had breakfast and proceeded to have an early morning workout, the 1st such one in a half of year:

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 2: 150 x 5, 140 x 5, 1 x 155

I decided to wear my Chuck Taylors and even the small sole height made it tougher. For the 1st set of 5 with 150 I had difficulty maintaining tension and used my lower back too much. The last 3 reps of the 2nd set I got into a groove and was able to push off from the floor. The last set of a single with 155 was to make sure my success was due to the groove and not the lower weight .. it was the groove, the 155 single was solid. Haha, I just realized I need to go back to elementary school and re-learn percentages. My second set should have been with 135 or 90% of the weight of my 1st set. The remainder of this cycle will therefore be (Day:1st-set/2nd-set):

3:155 /140, 4:160 /145, 5:165/150, 6:170/155, 7:175/160,8:180/160, 9:185/165,10:190/170

I was feeling very good and decided to take a crack at Aaron's suggestion to shoot for 200 24kg snatch reps. Last time I did timed snatches with the 24kg, I did 5/5 every 90 secs for 10 sets. This time I decided to rest more each set and see how many sets I could do:

24kg Snatch
10 x 5/5 @ 1set/2min
4 mins rest
10 x 5/5 @ 1set/2min
Total: 200 reps in 44 min
50000 Snatch Race Total: 405 + 200 = 605 pts

I was doing them very slowly first left, then right. More than half of them were right in the groove. I was moving my awareness between:
1) using the lawn mower "J" pull to get the bell up
2) slightly corkscrewing the bell on the way down
3) bending at the hips to so that my back was almost parallel to the ground
4) pushing the bell between my legs and catching it with my hips
5) snapping my hips and locking my knees on the concentric
6) keeping the bell in the palm of my hand

I was very happy with this result. Also I'm no longer in last place in the 50000 snatch place which is real surprise.

At lunch, my co-worker and I alternated sets and ladders with the Power Wheel:

Power Wheel:
BW 2 x 20 yards Crawl out and back
BW 1 x 1,2,3 On knees Roll-out, 5 sec holds and back ladder
BW 1 x 1,2 On knees Roll-out, 7 sec holds and back ladder

This was a lot for one day and tomorrow I have committed to a day of only Z drills.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates

Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
1 Whey Protein shake with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of roasted veggies, u-waved sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
2 Dates

Afternoon snack:
4 dates
3 small handful of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Dinner:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon, Shrimp with Veggies and white rice
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream
1 banana

another work place KB demonstration

A decent nights sleep and up earlier to get back into the office groove after having taken Thu and Fri off. Weight:176 3/4 lbs .. less than a pound from my 80kg BW goal.

The intent today was to do a high volume snatch workout but instead I opted to so some demonstration at work. One of my co-workers plays cricket in an adult intramural league and wants to get in better shape and asked about KBs. Another one of my co-workers, who I got into KB training back in Oct (now both his kids are into it), brought in his new Muscledriver 2 pood .. I brought my Muscledriver 1 pood and my Lifeline 2 pood.

(Muscledriver has recently lowered its prices to be competitive with Lifeline and Performbetter .. their bells are definitely higher quality than the later two and I would have bought them instead if the discount was available at the time I bought from the other vendors. Also, just to fess up here, although I love the dragondoor books and DVD products, I have yet to purchase one of their KBs. )

During our lunch break, I demonstrated swings/TGUs and assisting the new guy with them (who did very well for 1st time exposure). I then provided the more experienced guy with improvements to his swing technique as he recently started swinging his 2 pood. After working with each of them, they both asked to see some of my more recent progress. I obliged:

32kg 2 x 1 bent press on right
32kg 2 x 5 snatch on right
32kg 1 x 1 snatch on left
32kg 1 x 3/3 jerks
32kg 1 x 10/10 1-hand swing
2x32kg 2 x 10 double swings
2x32kg 1 x 5 double clean

I seem to perform well in front of an audience as this went smoothly. The 2nd bent press was much easier than any I had done previously, so it looks like I'm starting to get a good groove with it. Also double cleans are getting less ugly. During the rest of the day, I did Z drills to stay loose.

The new guy was so psyched from his taste of hard-core resistance training, he went on-line and purchased a 16kg and a 24kg .. here is always room available at the Party for a new victum.

When I got home from work in the evening, my body realized that my "demo" was plenty of training for the day. I was also quite satisfied that now three of my co-workers have started KB training.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of roasted veggies, u-waved sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
6 dates
2 small handful of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small bowl of Kitchari
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream
2 small butter cookies

Start of PTTP DL cycle

Morning weight-in: 177 lbs. Like a kid who can't sleep on Christmas Eve, I too succumbed to this over-zealous state as I had recently successfully negotiated on craigslist a used 375lb Olympic weight set complete with a Hammer-strength plate tree. I was to meet the seller early in the morning and was just too wired and excited. It turns out the guy was an incredibly nice trainer who ran a private studio and was selling some equipment. He was aware of PTTP and asked to me to email him to let him know how I was progressing.

Fighter Pull-ups Neutral Grip:
BW 2 x 3,2,1
BW 4 x 2,1
BW 1 x 3,2,1
Total: 30 reps

This a volume PR for pull-ups and it was spread over several hours. The rep scheme is a hybrid of the Russian Fighter Pull-up program and reverse power ladders. As usual I warmed-up with Z and did Z drills between ladders.

I decided to put the new Olympic weight set to immediate use with a dead-lift PTTP linear cycle (I thank Colin of the UK for providing valuable feedback in implementing this program). I also decided that I would switch to a sumo-style DL as I was having too much lower back problems getting the bar moving with my previous DL experimentation at the gym. With sumo-style, my hips are much lower to ground .. low and behold, sumo is for me as, I had absolutely no lower back pain .. I was able to push off with feet as if jumping up:

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 1: 145 x 5, 135 x 5

Given how positively my elbows have responded to Z, I decided to add back MP ladders instead of any push-up variations . Due to my left shoulder injury of old, I have to use a substantially lighter weight with the left vs my right arm:

ROP MP ladders:
24kg right, 16 kg left: 2 x 1,2,3,4,5

Thirty MP per arm was plenty volume for my 1st time back since pressing last Sep. I followed the recommendation of Mike Mahlers new "Beginner KB Workshop" DVD and did not perform any negative ... I just let the bell drop and caught it with a dip just like a KB jerk. This really made it much easier on my elbows.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 banana
1 piece of Winfrey's Dark Chocolate Almond Bark
1/2 of a large Winfrey's Dark Chocolate Champaign truffle


Linner (Late Lunch + Dinner):
1/2 glass of red wine
1 large bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon and Sichuan Shrimp with Veggies
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream

Late afternoon snack:
1 bowl of freshly made Kitchari

Snatch progress and a new fighter pull-up PR

A decent 7 hours of sleep. Weight: 177 3/4 lbs. The weight is slowly going back down again as lately I have been cutting back on snacks. The left knee feels real good and my back, shoulders and elbows are a little sore from yesterdays sledgehammer work. The plan today was to take it easy today and get in some snatches.

Z-Health R-Phase and some Neural Warm-up Level 2

24kg Snatches:
2 x 3/3
2 x 5/5
10 x 5/5 @ 90 secs/set

Total: 132 reps
50K Snatch Race Total = 198+132 = 330 pts

Great progress on the snatch front as this was the 1st time I tried to increase the intensity with timed sets. Following Steve Freides, RKC article on How to Pass the RKC Snatch Test, I have successfully exited his Level 2 goal (10 sets of 5/5 @ 5 mins/set or less) and now I enter Level 3 where I must shorten the intervals to 1 minute and try to get to 20 minutes. If I continue to approach this in a sensible step wise manner I know I will succeed.

I just read Rif's latest post on his blog regarding his acknowledgment of the fantastic progress he has made concerning his ability to snatch consistently with great volume and intensity. All this in light of a debilitating shoulder injury which at first left him little hope of ever snatching again.

Reflecting further on this, I too am amazed that just this January, the idea of being able to snatch the 24kg with any kind of volume seemed impossible given the chronic soreness of both my elbows. Obviously, his snatch volume and intensity dwarfs mine, but the point is 132 reps is a great start for me and a decent accomplishment at this juncture.

This evening I decided to do a few fighter pull-ups. I thought I would do a few sets of single and doubles with an emphasis on exploding up per Aaron Friday's (who recently posted three very impressive PRs in the latest TSC) recommendation. I had done these a GTG style a few days ago and the volume spread out over several hours seemed to not bother me. (Previously I had hit a plateau with Pavel's Russian Fighter Pull-up Program with a 5RM.)

Fighter Pull-ups Neutral Grip: 6

Holy crap! My first two were so explosive and easy to do, I kept going and did a total of 6, a new PR. I still can clearly remember when I only had a 2RM just a few months ago. Given how I have had to back off for the last two weeks due to my left quad pull and sore right elbow this is amazing. I hope someday I have enough sense to voluntarily taper without depending on tweaking something to force me to!

BW 2 x 10 Power Wheel On knees Roll-out,5 sec Hold, and Back

I am now using 5 seconds per hold instead of 3. With the increase in hold time I'm starting to feel it in my shoulders and not just my abs. Also no cramping at all in my abs. I'm going to wait until Monday to do crawls with my co-worker.

A few more snatches before off to bed practicing hiking the bell on the descent very far between the legs to help facilitate catching with my hips and gluts and loading for the next rep. Also practiced some cork-screws with my right arm only as left was too tired. Finally, made sure the bell is held in the hook grip where it lays diagonally across the palm. What I noticed is that when snatching this way, instead of being sore on the pads just below the fingers, I now get a little soreness further down in the palm. This is good as this area seems to be tougher. Another observation is that I have virtually eliminated all forearm slamming during the flip at the top.

24kg Snatch
1 x 3/3
2 x 5/5
1 x 10r
1 x 12r
Total = 48 reps
50K Snatch Race Total = 330 + 48 = 378 pts

Late next week I am going to experiment with snatching the 32kg particularly with my left as I will have a good volume of TGUs and OH static holds by then.
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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari, Green Gram Curry with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 banana

Lunch (out):
1 moderate helping of Kung Pao Chicken with white rice
1 large helping of Chinese Broccoli
1 tangerine
1 Sesame cookie

Dinner:
1 bowl of leftover cilantro salmon, mapo dou-fo and brown rice
1 small Japanese purple sweet potato
2 scoops of ice cream

some sledge work

At around 9pm last night (and after I thought I was done with all training for the day) I checked out a number of blogs including Rif's where he posted a very interesting youtube video on Remedial Snatch Work by Mark Toomey,RKC (Steel Will Training) [its really worth checking all his videos]. It was so fascinating the next thing I knew I was snatching the 24kg with some of the recommendations from the video:

Last night:
24kg 5 x 5/5, 1 x4/4, 1 x 7/7 snatch = 72 reps
24kg 1 x 51 2 Hand swings

Total 50K Snatch Race pts = 126 + 72 = 198

This is rather amusing as the average participant is in the several thousands.

Finished up with Z-DJM:
Z-Health R-Phase and Neural Warm-up Level II

I spent at least an hour on these as I was definitely tight in the forearms after the late night ballistic shenanigans.

I went to bed around 1:30am and got up at 7am. Incredibly my elbows were just a bit tight with the mildest soreness. Weight: 178 3/4 lbs. Also I tested my left knee and it was only 5 -10 degrees from being able to drop into the hole of front squat .. progress on both fronts.

Feeling great, I decided it was time to check out my new 10lb fiberglass handle sledgehammer. The top photo is the remains of large stump pummeled to smithereens with it. The other photos are of my three dogs as they looked on in complete amazement ... yeah right.

10lb 10 x 10/10 Overhead chain-gang rock breaking style sledgehammer slams = 200 reps

Man, this really worked the mid section, shoulders and back.

24kg+32kg 2 x 1 Farmer walks up and back my 60 foot driveway, switching hands between sets
24kg+32kg 2 x 1 Racked walk up and back; switching hands between sets
24kg 1 x 1 Left arm OH walk up and back;
32kg 1 x 1 Right arm OH walk up and back;
32kg 1 x 10/10 cleans
32kg 30 sec Left arm OH static hold

Warmed-up with Z, and performed more Z between all sets.

Fighter pull-ups 5, 6 x 1,2 exploding up pull-ups GTG-ed throughout the day.

It was nice to be able to repeat my previous 5RM after a week of laying off the pull-ups.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari, Toor Dal, Green Gram Curry with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
1 Whey protein snack with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of cilantro salmon, mapo dou-fu with brown rice
1 orange
4 dates

Afternoon snack:
2 small handfuls of dried cranberries

Dinner:
1 bowl of boiled tofu with ginger sauce
1 large helping of roasted veggies

bent pressing the 2 pood

Today was a vacation day for me so I was able to sleep in. Weight: 180 lbs. Again both elbows were a bit sore with the right the worse of the two. I did a ton of Z which provided some relief. As a result, I decided to just do few lifts and call it a day.

Z-Health R-Phase with lots of extra elbow and shoulder circles

24kg 4 x 1 Bent-press with right arm
12kg 3 x 1 Bent-press with left arm (PR)
32kg 1 x 1 Bent-press with right arm (PR)

The feeling of bent-pressing the 2 pood was extraordinary. My torso was bent at an acute angle to the floor in order to keep pushing under that freaking bell. I just kept going lower and lower and all of the a sudden I was magically locked out. Then I slowly windmilled my way up to an overhead lockout. This only worked because I was able to recruit my lat and use it to push into my triceps while at the same time holding my forearm perpendicular to the floor during the bending sideways motion.

I literally felt like I was the strong man (or maybe just the contortionist) in a three ring circus. What's amazing to me is about this lift is that I can NOT press the 2 pood .. I can jerk it for a few reps but NOT press the darn thing (believe me I've tried on and off for several months now). Now I can bent-press it .. I still can't believe it. Both are MP and bent-press are similar in the sense that

• they both start with a racked bell
• they both depend on being under constant tension
• they both are devoid of any jerking or ballistic movements
• they both end up in an overhead lockout

The difference is that the MP is primarily a triceps lift whereas the bent-press is a complete upper body lift. Although not a very popular lift due to its higher than usual technical demands, the bent-press is an incredible lift for demonstrating time under tension and flexibility. New long term goal: To bent-press the beast!

As for my left side, I was also pleased that I was able to recruit my left lat with the 12kg for my 1st ever left side bent-press singles with any bell. In this case, I can do sets of double MPs with the 24kg with my left so there is a big gap here to close .. traditionally if properly trained, one should be able to bent-press a much heavier bell than a maximal 1 rep MP. The problem is in the initial bent-press position where the bell puts a huge load on the shoulder girdle at a awkward angle as compared to the TGU or MP. Since my left shoulder has a small separation (that I elected not to operate on), the bent-press torque is too much for it at this point with the heavier bell.

Once I get the elbows more under better control, I will build up some volume with the 12kg before moving up to a 16kg and repeat until I can do reps with the 24 .. this could take several months just like the left-side windmill did.

The credit for my bent-press success goes to the new Mike Mahler "Beginner KB Workshop" where he gives an incredibly inspiring demonstration of it with a very heavy bell. Also I received some additional pointers from the excellent DD article "Technique, Repetition and Insight in Kettlebell Training" by Rob Lawrence, RKC:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/41/

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari, Green Gram Curry with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
6 oz Kefir

Linner (Lunch and Dinner combined at Boston Chinatown Restaurant):
1 bowl of Hong-kong style Sesame Chicken with white rice
1 bowl of Beef with Chinese Broccoli with white rice
10 small Chinese cookies

Today was the 1st truly beautiful spring day in New England. It got up to 65 deg and we walked all around the magnificent Boston Commons while soaking up the warmth and sunshine. We got back around 6:30, I then brushed my teeth and eat nothing more for the rest of the evening.

some bent press and windmill progress

I stayed up too late watching the Mike Mahler "Beginner KB Workshop" DVD and suffered the consequences having to get up and go to work without enough sleep. Weight: 179 3/4 lbs. Both elbows a little sore and left shoulder sore from all the pressing last night. Today is a very easy day.

Z-Health R-Phase

24kg 1 x 2/2 Windmills with opposite hand behind back
24kg 1 Bent Press with right arm

That's it for KB stuff today. I was very pleased with left side windmill as I got really low. Just a month ago I had tweaked my lower back so that any windmill on the left was impossible to do. Instead I worked with a just a rope and slowly practiced the windmill motion holding the rope outstretched in both hands extended.

The bent press with the 24kg right arm was very pleasing. I did no pressing what-so-ever, I just pushed my body away from the bell until I was locked out and then stood up. I tried this with the 12kg on my left but it was just to much for my chronic separated left shoulder. Interesting is that I have little difficulty with TGUs with 2 pood with either arm.

With my rehab going very well, its time to put together a new 5 week cycle. Here are some things to work on and prioritize:

• Overhead static holds and walks, singles and doubles.
• Hanging leg raises.
• Pull-ups
• Snatches: As fatigue sets in with weak arm, notice how form may improve. When starting the eccentric from the top left arm start by slightly twisting the wrist in the direction of thumb to pinky so that the palm is facing in towards the body.
• Bent Press: The lat must contract, perform a negative biceps curl. Able to do one with RA with 24kg. Unable with left even with 12kg.
• Sumo Deads

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato
1 small bowl of Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl of Gujarati green beans with brown rice, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 bowl of Pongal (rice with yellow moong dal and spices)
1 orange
4 dates

Afternoon snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Sichuan chicken, pork and pan fried salmon
1 piece of pie
1 1/2 scoops of ice cream

2-Hand KB Dead-lifts

Stayed up late to watch NCAA BBall championship. Watched parts of my new Mike Mahler "Beginner KB Workshop" DVD during all the commercials and half time. Got to bed around 1:15am and got up around 7am. My elbows were a just a little sore which I expected since I had done an evening KB workout. Weight: 180 5/8 lbs.

Z-Health R-Phase: worked through all the drills at least once during work.

Power Wheel:
BW 2 x 20 yards Crawl out and back
BW 3 x 5 On knees Roll-out, 3 to 6 sec holds and back

I actually brought the Power Wheel to work and together with a co-worker we alternated turns during our lunch break.

KB Farmer Holds:
2x32kg 3 x 20 secs, first left hand then right with a hook grip

KB 2-Hand Dead-lifts:
2 x [2x32kg in left + 16kg in right] = 176 lbs/DL
2 x [2x32kg in left + 24kg in right] = 193 lbs/DL
2 x [2x32kg in left + 2x16kg in right] = 211 lbs /DL

24kg 3 x 2 MP left, 3 x 5 MP right
24kg 4 x 5/5 One arm bent rows

32kg 2 x 2/2 TGU

Z drills between all sets.

Taikei inspired me to try some KB DLs .. I didn't have a sandbag so I grabbed some KBs in each hand and stood up. I found out that I needed an imbalance between the two arms to lift the heavier bells.

The one-arm bent rows used to be impossible to perform even when my elbows were just a little sore. Tonight I was following the Mahler DVD for these and they caused no discomfort at all.

Mike Mahler has really put together a top notch production with a simple format: The recorder is strictly on him as he demonstrates, while on the inside of an indoor track, all the basics using some very heavy KBs (40's and 48's). He has great feel for all the little problems beginners run into and provides some simple progressions towards some of the more demanding exercises. You can hear the participants grunting through a few reps in the background as he instructs them to perform a set of some exercise.

He is very big on the C&MP as the most useful exercise for any athletics. He spends a good portion on his time on power breathing and irradiation towards its use in the MP. He also introduces a few new joint mobility warm-up drills I had never seen before.

I think one of the reasons the DVD is so effective is this is what he does for a living, going around the world giving these workshops. His workshops cost in excess of several hundred dollars, not including transportation, so a DVD for $40 with good portion of the workshop information is a decent value.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari, Green Gram Curry with sweet potato
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl of Gujarati green beans with brown rice, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 orange
4 dates

Afternoon snack:
4 dates
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 bowl of leftover Sichuan chicken and pork
1 moderate helping of cilantro and pan fried salmon
1 piece of pie
2 scoops of ice cream
3 mint chocolate chip cookies

Hmm ... I've gone overboard on the evening deserts lately .. time to reel that it.

A short KB session tonight

Stayed in bed an extra hour for a good nights sleep. Weight: 180 7/8 lbs. Both elbows sore.

Performed Z-Health R-Phase throughout the day. I received a Mike Mahler DVD "Beginner Kettlebell Workshop". His snatch and swing teaching methodology are excellent and shed new insight into these exercises.

Although my elbows felt much better this evening they are not 100%, but I decided to try a KB session as I remembered that even back in the the beginning of Feb they weren't perfect and I still went ahead an did two straight months of great KB training. So tonight I did a short KB workout with a mish-mash of different exercises:

32kg 1 x 30 2-Hand swings
Double 32kg 2 x 2 Cleans
24kg 3 x 20/20 1-Hand swing
24kg 2 x 5/5, 2 x 10/10 snatch
Double 32kg 20 sec Farmer Hold both bells in right then left
24kg 2 x 2, 5 x 1 MP with left
24kg 2 x 5, MP with right

I got the idea of the Farmer Holds from one of Aaron Friday's lifting buddies Sean Schniederjan. It was surprisingly easy to pick up two 32kgs with one hand. Holding them for 20 seconds was tough though. I was also pleased to get two sets of 2 reps of 24kg MP with my left. Previously, only a good day could I even get a single with my left.

Snatch total pts = 126 (prev) + 50 (today) = 176 pts

BW Power Wheel On Knees Roll-out, Hold and Back
6,5 @ 5 sec holds
4,3 @ 10 sec holds

The 10 second holds were very strong in the extended position. Again Z drills were mixed in between rungs and exercises.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato
1 small bowl of Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
3 small handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of Gujarati green beans with brown rice, sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 orange
4 dates

Afternoon snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz of Kefir
3 wheat crackers

Dinner:
1 bowl of leftover Sichuan chicken and pork
1 bowl of brown and white
1 moderate helping of cilantro and pan fried salmon
3 scoops of ice cream
2 mint chocolate chip cookies

Trying out my new Chuck Taylors

Two good nights sleep in a row. Weight: 180 1/4 lbs. My knee felt great and both elbows were just a little sore.

I went to the gym to try dead-lifts with my new Chuck Taylors. I carefully reviewed the material in PTTP:

135 lbs 3 x 1, 185 lbs 3 x 1, 205 1 x 1, 225 no-go

I'll take the 10 lb PR. For some reason to get the weight moving I have to use my lower back .. nothing happens if I try to jump up slowly as discussed in PTP. I don't feel anything else. Once the weight starts then its very easy to lock out.

As a result, I am going to go back to the more conservative approach and really work on my form with the lower weight and build up very slowly per the cycles discussed in PTP. I used the over and under grip with my right the under one. In between every rep I performed various R-Phase drills.

Afterwards, my right elbow was pretty sore so I called it a day. I did go back and re-read PTP and perhaps my head wasn't looking upwards. It calls for pulling with your legs, not back. Like anything worth while this will take time.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz of Kefir

Lunch (Indian Buffet):
2 plates of assorted Indian food: Pecora, Tikki Masala Chicken, Chana Dal, Spinach Paneer
1 dish of Mango ice cream
1 small bowl of Kier

Afternoon snack:
2 Indian rice balls

Dinner:
1 small helping of cilanto and pan fried salmon
1 piece of pie
1 scoops of ice cream

Pull-ups, Power Wheel and Chuck Taylors

A good nights sleep to welcome the day. Weight: 179 3/8 lbs. Both elbows a little sore with the right more tender. Another rainy cool day.

Z-Health R-Phase

This now takes 45 mins. I had recorded the audio from the DVD and used it for months after memorizing the drills, but now its too fast (about 20 mins). I started to get used to looking left with my head facing straight.

More Z-Health R-Phase

This time I focused specifically on a few drills from my consult to deal with some of my specific weaknesses.

When the sun finally came out around 2pm this afternoon, my earlier soreness all but dissipated. Although yesterday I had planned a KB session, instead I went conservative with a shorter BW workout:

Fighter Neutral Grip Pull-ups: 4,2,2,1,2,2,1,2,1

Between each rung I did a few minutes of R-Phase drills. The 1st set was a max effort so I have dropped down to 4RM from my 5RM of a week ago. No biggie as all the rest this week since re-tweaking my elbows and left knee was the top priority. I then followed a suggestion by Aaron Friday to do explosive 1 and 2 rep sets. Up until the last double and singe rep sets, I was getting my chest to the bar.

Power Wheel On the knees roll-outs, 3 sec hold and back: 10,9,8,7,4

The largest set I had ever done was 6 reps. Again, a few minutes of Z between rungs. My plan was to do 6 reps for the last set but I was spent after rep 4. This was also the 1st time I didn't cramp on the left side of my upper abs.

I was genuinely surprised at how great I felt from such a short workout. I finished with more Z and went out to dinner.

We stopped at Marshall's and I was surprised to find a pair of size 11 Converse Chuck Taylors. This is the 1st pair I have owned for over 40 years. I can see why they have been recommended for training KBs and DLs. They were only $20 about 1/2 price from ordering on-line.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
6 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz of Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl Mo-po Dou-fu
1 small helping of Green Gram Curry with sweet potato
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
2 handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Dinner (out):
1 large helping of Sichuan Siji dou green beans
1 large helping of Sichuan spicy pork and spicy chicken
1 small bowl of white rice
1 piece of pie
3 scoops of ice cream
4 mint chocolate chip cookies

a nice easy day

I stayed up too late last night going gung-ho on my Z drills. I had to get up early for work and was tired all day. Weight 179 3/4 lbs. Been eating more lately but my weight has been pretty constant since gaining a couple of pounds.

My right elbow was a little sore and the left knee not quite as flexible as yesterday. No surprise considering the crappy too-short sleep last night. As soon as I did a full R-Phase morning session, I felt better. What used to take 20 minutes now takes 45 due to the focus on every rep being slow and perfect.

No strength training for me of any kind today as I want a full days rest before I attempt an easy KB session tomorrow.

I did another R-Phase session this early this evening so I can get to bed at a decent hour tonight.


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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
6 small handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz of Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl Gujarati beans, brown rice, Green Gram Curry, sweet potato, Toor Dal
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
2 handfuls of roasted almonds
1 Fuji apple
4 dates

Dinner:
1/2 glass of red wine
1 large bowl of Chinese Ma-po Dou-fu (tofu dish) with brown rice
1 piece of strawberry rhubarb pie
1 scoop of ice cream
2 mint chocolate chip cookies

My S.O., who is from mainland China, has changed her cooking style to accommodate our healthier eating style. As a result, she has cut way back on the oil and salt and now uses much more steamed veggies in her dishes. The new Ma-po Dou-fu is to die for. Fortunately I have a large and small bowl I use to measure all my portions to keep things under control. After dinner I went right upstairs and performed my oral hygiene. After this I NEVER eat or drink anything for the rest of the night. This has been key to maintaining my weight. This and not drinking calories are so simple and so effective for weight control.

Z Dynamic Joint Mobility drills

I slept very deeply last night and woke up having slept over 8 hours .. a possible PR. Weight 179 3/4 lbs. I'm not surprised by the good quality sleep as all the Z work yesterday was both mentally and physically demanding.

My right elbow was fairly sore this morning but surprisingly my left knee had gained some unexpected flexibility. Specifically, I can almost get with in 10 to 15 degrees of being completely in the hole (calves pressed against hamstrings) on BW front squat. I attribute this to the aggregate of the Z consult, all the extra Z drills I did in my cubicle at work, and the additional hour and half of Z drills I did last night before going to bed.

All throughout work today I performed R-Phase with an emphasis on special Z drills that Luis had specifically designated for me. Here is a list of some of exercises to give a little feel for the areas of focus associated with Z-Health Dynamic Joint Mobility drills:

• sliding nods with a focus on C6, the vertebra just under top most protruding one (C5)
• lumbar circles
• lumbar hour glasses
• posterior left hip circles with left ankle pointed up and angled outwards
• 20 deg knee circles with balls and heels of feet always maintaining contact with the ground

To address my specific imbalances, all my drills were to be performed with my head pointed straight ahead and eyes looking to the left.

This evening I was feeling quite a bit better. In particular my right elbow was feeling as if I had taken four 200 mg tablets of Ibuprofen and had iced all day .. I had done neither and relied only on Z drills. It felt so much better that after a Z warm up, I did a little BW work to test the waters while making sure there was absolutely no discomfort:

BW 6,7,5 Power Wheel Roll-outs, Holds and Back while on my knees @ 3 mins rest /rung

BW 4,1,2,1,2 Fighter pull-ups @ 3 mins rest /rung

None of this was very taxing but I know well enough to proceed cautiously. In all a day with substantial progress on my road to recovery.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds

Lunch:
1 bowl Gujarati beans, brown rice, Green Gram Curry, sweet potato, Toor Dal
1 large orange

Afternoon snack:
4 handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz of Kefir
4 dates

Dinner:
1/2 glass of red wine
2 bowls of Chinese Ma-po Dou-fu (tofu dish) with brown rice
1 piece of strawberry rhubarb pie
1 scoop of ice cream
2 mint chocolate chip cookies
1 ice cream cone
2 large sesame crackers
1 sesame candy

I was incredibly hungry this evening and satisfied numerous cravings without binging.

z-health consultation

The good nights sleep I got last night was really appreciated. Weight: 179 3/4 lbs. I was expecting a massive weight gain but actually lost a half a pound .. I guess those few extra cookies were not the end of the world.

Elbow and knee about the same as yesterday .. no regression. Used my thumper massager which did increase my knee ROM and decreased elbow soreness. This is good news as two days, neither responded to massaging.

I had my Z consult with Luis Hernandez. This guy was top notch. For over an hour and half he had me doing simple Z drills together with a few lifts to determine my imbalances. Specifically, I demonstrated a few snatches using dumbbells.

16kg x 5/5 = 5 pt
24kg x 5r = 5 pt

for 10 pts, new Total = 120 pts

(Obviously, the Ssgt Adam Glass Official Race to 50,000 Snatches is a VERY low priority and I am probably in last place. The plan is to make this my own race with long after the winner is announced and continue to tabulate. )

First of all, although the R-Phase DVD was good enough for me to get started, I wasn't surprised when Luis showed me why there was a considerable gap between what I was doing and how Dr. Cobb teaches in his certs. The good news it was easy to show me how to re-work these as I already had the vocabulary and basic framework of each exercise.

Also he wants to only focus on the R-phase drills for the time being. When I return to training he wants be to go through the drills as part of a warmup and cool down.

I spent an hour and half completely focusing on these drills and it left me exhausted. The amount of body control and focus to perform these precisely is mind-boggling. He demo-ed almost all the drills and his control was amazing. I now have a great visual image of what these should look like up close.

A few of drills he tweaked to focus on my imbalances and wants me to work them throughout the day.


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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Lunch:
1 bowl Gujarati beans, brown rice, Green Gram Curry, sweet potato, Toor Dal
1 large Naval orange

Afternoon snack:
4 handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir
1 large sesame cracker

Dinner:
2 bowls of shrimp with veggies with Mapo tofu
1 piece of apple pie
1 scoop of ice cream
3 handfuls of roasted almonds
1 handful of dried cranberries

lotsa Z

A decent nights sleep. Weight: 180 1/4 lbs. My left knee seizes up when I try and bend it past 110 deg. Right elbow sore but a little better than yesterday. If I lock it out and then try to extend my fingers backwards it hurts the most. Making a fist locked out really hurt yesterday but not as much today. Today I will focus on my Z-Health R-Phase in preparation for tomorrow's evaluation.

Z-Health R-Phase

I tried to focus on each rep to make it perfect. I decided to do some self-evaluation and came up with the following areas in need of improvement:

• Inside toe pulls both with right in need of more work
• Ankle circles with toes pulled up and out
• Ankle circles with toes pulled up and in
• Maintaining balance during left hip circles
• Left arm side shoulder circles

I've been doing R-Phase fairly consistently for 6 months. Its very easy for me to sleep walk through these movements if I don't really concentrate.

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level 2

This stuff is really advanced. I spent over an hour again just going through the demonstration of each dynamic joint mobility exercise. This is easily a years work to get these movements fluid and precise but definitely a worthy goal.

Finally, the encouragement and support I received from Howie and Martin are so greatly appreciated .. it really help kick me into a much more positive space.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
4 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 tangerine

Lunch:
1 bowl Gujarati beans, brown rice, Green Gram Curry, sweet potato, Toor Dal

Afternoon snack:
8 handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz of Kefir
1 large sesame cracker
4 dates

Dinner:
1 bowl of chicken fried rice
1 bowl of Gujarati beans with brown rice and sweet potato
1/2 turkey sandwich on pumpernickel
1 piece of apple pie
1 scoop of ice cream
1 mint chocolate chip cookies
1 elephant ear
2 handfuls of roasted almonds

The increase in appetite is duly noted and is temporary thing. With my mind now being able to focus on Z, I can redirect my cravings on Z.