BEYOND STRONG

The Track hurts!

Yesterday I went to Thames Valley Athletics club which is probably the home of Britain's best Athletes many who are competing at the Olympics. I went in the day which meant there was just young children there being put through their paces and having fun during the school holidays.

I've been wanting to test out my hip and see how it feels with some 'easy' sprints and jumps. The workout was very easy paced so as to listen to every tweak and niggle of which there were many!

Jog/walk 400m with stretching in between
Sprint drills (high knees, butt kicks, skipping, bounding etc)
5 x rolling 20 meter sprints
5 x long jumps off 3,5 and 10 pace run ups
1x400m run

No times to post as this was easy. The track was quite hard and I felt it in my shins, hips and lower back. I think my shoes are poor for this too, I need proper running shoes not cross trainers. The good news is it was great fun, nice to be outside doing exercises and today I have almost no soreness or pain. Perfect.

Today...

Front Squat - 135x5, 220x5, 310x3, 350x3, 310x3. 350 felt good.
Board press - 3 boards, 135x10, 220x5, 265x5, 310x3, 330x3, 5 boards, 310x5. This felt great. Much less pain, almost nothing on my rear shoulder problem. Will work on these!
One Arm Lockoffs - plus 5lbsx1/1, plus 8lbsx1/1, plus 11lbsx1/1, bodyweightx3/3
DB Wrist curls - 70lbsx15/15, x12/12x12/12

Nick

Yoga, squats and the Lightning Bolt!

Last week my wife and I went to a local Yoga class and it was excellent. Just what we both need. A workout that is about flexibility, core stability and relaxation was very much needed in both of our training lives. I built up a nice sweat and my hips and lower back were pumped from the stretches. We'll be going regularly from now on.

The Olympics have been brilliant. There's not much I can add to what's already been written. I have watched every 100m final since 1980 when Allen Wells took the title in Moscow. However, what Usain Bolt did at the weekend defies everything before him. The man won the final without even trying! Michael Johnson's reaction said it all. Johnson was and is one of the greatest athletes of all time but even he conceeded that Usain Bolt is on another planet.

I have enjoyed all of it and with work being quiet right now I have been fortunate enough to watch a great deal of it. It has inspired me to try some of these other sports as I get older. Right now the focus is on staying injury free for my job but in the future (in my 40's)I hope to do some Master's events. There is much to look forward to and be grateful for.

Today...

Squat - 135x5, 220x5, 310x5, 365x5, 420x5. Possibly the easiest set of 5 reps above 400lbs in a long time.
Floor Press - 135x5, 180x5, 220x5, 265x5x5. This didn't aggravate the rear delt problem so shorter range presses are in order.
Alternate Grip Chins - 60lbsx5x5x5x5
2 Hand Pinch - 110x1, 145x1, 165x1, 145x3, 135x5, 110x30 second hold.

Nick

Tweaks

I went to the adult gymnastics last night again. Nothing serious but I did tweak my lower back a little bit which did affect todays squatting a bit.

Front Squat - 135x5, 220x5, 286x5, 330x3, 286x5. Wouyld have done 330 for 5 but the tweak wasn't worth pushing.
Leg Curls - 45x20, 95x12, 105x10, 115x10.
Alt Grip Chins - 55lbsx5x5x5x5
SeeSaw Press - 60'sx10, 65'sx10x10 (each arm). This is the only overhead I seem to be able to handle right now. This rear delt injury is odd. It only hurts on overhead stuff and when under load. Fortunately I am not pushing my overhead right now but if it continues I will have to get it looked at.
Plate Wrist Curls with 25kg/55lbs platex3x3x3. Too heavy and that is two handed by the way.

Nick

Another quickie

Incline Bench - 135x5, 180x5, 220x5, 242x5, 220x5. This rear delt/teres minor injury is bugging me on most pressing right now.
One Arm Pulldowns - 50x12/12, 70x10/10, 90x5/5
Pushdowns - 50x12, 70x10, 80x8
Tried reverse curls but no way on my bad elbow.
2 hands Pinch - using 2x25kg discs (about 2.25" wide) - up to 190lbs. Based on last weeks pinch this is harder than the Euro set up. We'll use it for now.

Nick

Short n sweet

Squat - 135x5, 220x5, 310x5, 405x5x5. Just the belt and feeling good.
Deadlift Lockouts - double overhand behind back, 350x30 secs, 440x8 secs. Reverse grip, up to 900lbs. Used a slightly more slippery bar and lost a callous.
Alternate grip chins - 50lbsx5x5x5x5.
Front/Side/Rear delts - 35'sx10/10/10x10/10/10

Nick

Adult gymnastics

So last night I went to Adult Gymnastics for the first time in a while. I never did gymnastics as a kid but I started when I was about 21 or 22 when I got serious about becoming a stuntman. I was never any good but I did the required training and eeked out the necessary skills. Since then I keep my hand in from time to time.

I've always felt that simple tumbling skills such as forward and backward rolls, handstands and walking on the hands, cartwheels and combinations of these exercises were a great addition to any training routine. I would definitely have martial artists and combat sports do some of these now and again. They create spacial awareness and body coordination whilst having fun.

The drop in bodyweight may have affected my strength detrimentally but it has helped me in the rolling around department. I felt much lighter and was able to do moves that usually take me a few weeks to get back to. All in all the weight loss has been excellent and I'd really like to get down to 92kg or 205lbs now which is what I was 10 years ago.

Today...

Bench Press - 135x10, 220x5, 265x5, 275x5, 255x5. All different grip widths.
One Arm Lockoffs - 2/2, 3/3, 4/4. The 4's were very hard. Definitely feeling stronger on these though.
Tate Press - 45'sx15, 55'sx10x10
Preacher Curls - 70lbx10, 90lbx8. very strict and slow.
One DB wrist curl - 65lbsx12/12x12/12x10/10
Then about 5 mins of skipping.

Nick

Last few...

...workouts.

On sunday, me and my lovely wife.

w-up then...

3 sets of skipping - just easing into it since I get shin splint just thinking about skipping. Managed to get the double unders working well and the crossovers.
Knees to chest - 2x10reps
Standing Triple Jumps - as an ex-schoolboy triple jump champion I always enjoy these and Nicky has a real appreciation for the event too. She also picked it up quickly. 3 or 4 attempts each trying to beat each one, which we did.
Speed hops up a 15 metre incline - 2 sets each leg
Ab Wheel - 2sets of 20 leg curls, 1 set of 12 pushup and v-up combo then to maximum. I am getting closer to a full rollout. I know my hip injury is not liking these but I still want to do them. I guess I am about 12" off now, which is porbably the toughest bit!

We've been watching the 'new' Superstars and comparing it to the old ones re-running on ESPN. Frankly, the new guys/girls are nowhere near the quality of the old athletes from the 70's and 80's. Their dips are half dips, their squat thrusts are partials and well...it's just not as good. Sorry but it's true. So, we decided to do two of the events to see how we compare since were about the same age as well. We did the maximum metres rowed in a 1 minute on the Concept 2 and maximum squat thrusts in 1 minute. We did the squat thrusts full range with legs extending over a line and knees coming to the elbows.

Max row in 1 minute - Nick, 345metres, Nicky, 265metre.
Squat thrusts in 1 minutes - Nick, 70 reps, Nicky 62 reps.

At least now we can moan at them from our sofas having done it ourselves. For what it's worth that beats the best girl and guy we saw on the row and equals the old top scores of old in the squat thrusts too. Not bad considering Nicky is 5ft 2" and weighs just 49kg!

Where's Brian Jacks when you need him!!!

Yesterday...

Front Squat - 135x5, 180x5, 220x5, 265x5, 310x5
Dimel Deadlift - 220x5, 264x5, 310x5
SeeSaw Press - 50'sx10, 60'sx10x10. I've got some kind of injury in the teres major or minor area which is affecting my pressing so I figure if I get some reps in there it will help.
Alternate grip chins - 45lb platex5x5x5x5. Changing grip each time (so one hand pronated and the other supinated).
Slippers Eel - 145x5/5, 150x2/2

Nick

Rowing madness and more benching

On Sunday my wife and I did this...

4 star jumpsx10x10
Low Squat jumpsx30x30
Rhythm Lunge jumpsx10x10
Ab Wheel - hamstring curlsx20x20, straight leg and p-upsx10x10, ab roll to max
Incline Runs - highest incline on treadmill (level 15)x10,12,14 on the speed for 20 second bursts.
Row - 1000m. 3mins34secs.

The row was stupid hard. Nicky refused to do it as being a former competitive rower she knew the pain well. That time ranks me in ther top 100 on the concept 2. Dunno if that's right but that's what the website says anyway.

Yesterday...

Bench Press - 135x10, 242x8x8x4plus2plus2 singlesx4 plus 4 singles. The rest/pause stuff is interesting although not something I would do a lot of. Good for plateau busting.
One Arm Lockoffs with 10lbs platex1/1x1/1x1/1x1/1. I was looking for 5 singles each arm but 4 was tough on the elbows.
Triceps Pushdowns - 70x10x10x10x10
Slippery Eel - made it into a dumbbell, 135lbsx5/5x5/5.

Nick

Knee wraps

We had a great weekend with my parents. Shopping in London and breakfast in Windsor. Excellent stuff! The only down side was I was a little off colour. I had a sore throat, a cough and a headache all weekend and today. Despite that I decided to train today anyway.

Box Squat - 135x5, 242x4, 365x3, 420x1, 465x1. This was just with a belt but I recently bought some new APT  wrist and knee wraps. I have been meaning to get used to using knee wraps so today I played around with different wraps and did...405x1, 450x1x1. I was starting to feel a little assistance in the bottom. Also, these were done without a belt. I think had I put a belt on I would have done 500lbs today no problem. So we'll add the knee wraps next week at something like 450 and go from there. The next purchase will be some Inzer Power Pants to give my hips some added protection and support. Interesting stuff!
One Arm Chin Lockoffs - rightx1, leftx1, rightx2, leftx1, rightx1, leftx1, rightx2, leftx1, rightx1, leftx1. Just easing into these as I know they can flare up the elbows.
One Arm Pulldown - 5pinx10/10, 6pinx3/3. Done slowly and deliberately.
JM press - 135x12x12
Bicep Curl machine - 3 sets

Perhaps all this equipment can give me a new lease of life on my squats and deadlifts whilst keeping my weight down and my body intact.

Nick

Batman and squats

Speed Box Squats - 135x2, 220x2, 295x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2.
DB Bench Press - 90'sx12, 110'sx8, 120'sx5x4.
Dimel Deads - 285x20. These are done with a double overhand grip.
Seated Press - 200x5x4
Chinsx18

Then today...
28kg KB work - cleans, snatches, presses, goblet squats, side deadlifts, side bends, swings, windmills, figure 8's
Ab Wheel - Pushup and V-up combined for 2x10
Ab Wheel - Kneeling rollouts with a pausex10x10

This week the new Batman film is released, The Dark Knight. I was lucky enough to work on this film, see Heath Ledger in action and generally have a fun time. Here's the trailer...

Nick