5/3/1 Wrap

Deadlift: 10 x 255
Military Press: 6 x 115
Front Squat: 17 x 140
Bench Press: 4 x 195

Primary Assistance work this cycle has been Pistol Squats, One Arm DB rows, Pull Ups, Rope Climb, Face Pulls, Push Ups, Overhead Squats, and Hang Snatches.

Primary Warm Ups have been Foam rolling, Goblet Squats, Lunge/Reach Variations, Wall Marches, Lateral Squats, Hip Rocker Stretch, Quadruped Extension, Rotation, High Knees, Butt Kicks, Face Pulls, Romanian Deadlifts, Jumping Jacks w/ various planes of motion in the shoulders, and some Indian Club work. My left shoulder joint has been feeling a little inflamed. I have the source narrowed down to either front squats, bench pressing, or OH squats. I do a very thorough warm up of the hips and lower body; however, I haven't done as well with shoulder warm ups. Going to try to do a better job there. Overhead lifts and bench pressing have become increasingly featured in my training and they are starting to get a bit on the heavy side (by my standards anyway). I'm always careful with form, but I think that's half the battle. I can do fairly proper front and overhead squats these days. But it takes 15 minutes of loosening up my hips. Want to make sure to do my shoulders the same justice.

Saturday Park Workouts

I recently consulted with a few folks that I think of as mentors in the training arena regarding Park circuits.

CES shared a doozy of a conditioning workout that I unfortunately had to put on the back burner in light of its heavy pushup component and some shoulder grumpiness over the past week, but I'm looking forward to testing it out as things get healed up.

This Saturday, the weather was choice. It was in the 60's and I was in a t-shirt. Unfortunately, this translated to a large audience complete with toddlers. Why parents let their toddlers roam into the territory presently occupied by a guy with a sledgehammer is beyond me. So I was nervous about the crowd but had a good time nonetheless.

Regarding the sledges, Don and I picked up new handle for his 8lb maul and then also purchased a 12lb sledge. While we were there, we picked up the components necessary to construct a light, 4lb hammer for folks to use as appropriate. We also found a couple of old tires sitting near a dumpster. On their own, the tires were not appropriate for wailing upon. They were just old car tires. We strapped them together with compression straps for prototype 1 of the slede wailing station. For my money, the 8lb sledge was the best workout, though the 12lb sledge produced the most satisfying thuds.

It worked OK. Well enough for a first prototype. I think we might bolt the sidewalls together and then use the compression straps to tension everything down. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open for a little burlier of a tire to haul out there.

In any event, swinging the maul was a lot of fun and had me way more out of breath than I was expecting.

Here was the workout:

Warm Up:

1 x through CES complex w/Jumping Jacks. I swung the Indian Clubs to loosen up the shoulder.

2 x through:

Runners on straps (extra glute/hamstring warm up)
Inverted rows on straps (very light resistance)
Air Squats
Mountain Climbers

The suspended runners were the timer. Person on that station did 10 reps each leg. Everyone else went until they called "20."

Work Sets

I wanted to do some sprinting. So we did some. I think it was marginally well received. I'm sore today and I'm blaming the sprints.

Sprints
6 x 40 yard dash

First couple were a warm up, accelerating the length of the sprint but not going too very hard. Built in intensity until the last hald which were all out. I think 6 was just right as I was losing my snap at the end of the last run. We lined up in a group of 4. First person sprinted and then walked/slow jogged back to the start line. 2nd person takes off when 1st person crossed the 40 yard mark on their way back.

Circuits

P1 and P2

P1) Light sled drag. Went there and back. Forward drag on one, backward on the other.
P2) Jump Rope until sled returns to you

P3 and P4

P3) Walking Lunge (5) + OH press (5). SB carry back to P4
P4) Sledgehammer on tires until P3 gets back to you w/sandbag

After this we messed around with the slosh pipes and overhead holds again. This week we clocked some times to see where folks were. I didn't do much with them b/c of aforementioned shoulder issues (I also didn't load the OH presses). After finally nailing the technique for putting the slosh pipe overhead, Katie put up and impressive 1:15 with the 3" pipe.

Good times. Feeling sore in the hamstrings and arse today. And I'll reiterate: Swinging the maul was a damn lot of fun.