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