Sunday
0553 reveille
0730 Client
1100 Client
At the PSC all day.
1600 Join or Die

Tactical Pull Ups = 6kg x 1 set of 3
ETK ROP pressing ladders.
24kg x 1-2-3 rungs, 5 ladders.
Sumo Deadlift Repatterning: 190 x 3 sets of 5.

Today was the first day since the phone conversation with the primitive master, that I pulled sumo and felt strong. I am adapting to the stance. I am not over trained, and my itchy SI problem is in pain, but it is the pain of healing. The weight came off the floor easier, and as my PT manager said, I 'murder it from mid-shin to lockout'. it just will not fly off the ground when I ignite. Still a student, sort of studly. Off to the Joe. . .

Definition of a grind

This morning I left the house at 0500 on foot for the PSC in Ardmore. I arrived, trained my 0600 client, and then went to a coffee shop to fuel the body with caffeine and the mind with The Times. I came back and hammered out:

A] Tactical Pull Ups 3 sets of 5
B] 1 set of 10 40kg swings
C] A quick press ladder 32kg x 1RL, 36kg x 1RL, 40kg x 1RL*

*This rep was the definition of a grind. When I flared the lat and bell went nowhere, I sucked the shoulder into the socket and made it work. Squeezing the free hand, as a fist, and my inner thigh tension spiral allowed me to finish. I trained a client at 0800, and then pulled:

Sumo Deadlifts 190 x 5 sets of 3
ROP Press ladders 24kg. 5 ladders, rungs of 1-2-3.
40kg swing x 10 reps to center, walked to Trader Joe's and loaded up with grocery for the next 5 days, walked 3 miles home. Smart bombing as we speak. . .

In the last 6 weeks I have lifted more frequently per capita, and maybe in gross sessions, than I did between all of march and August of this year. In March, I had that nasty bike accident, which left my hand twisted. After that I hiked the Santa Monica mountains regularly, and hardly visited the bar or a bell. When I got back to it in June, I was delayed after two weeks due to abdominal surgery. By the time i got to Pendleton in mid-July, I was ready to work. I participated in MAX V02 15:15 testing on Pendleton and at UCLA. UCLA was where I broke free. Training at the intramural fields' with RKC, running the stairs Friday, 15:15 on Saturday, and the Grad Workout on Sunday left me highly motivated [though sore] and declared to the world that I was back. The next 13 days were spent as my final three days in Cali, my time at CK FMS, and the 5 day road trip from LA to PA. I began training again upon arrival. Since I have moved many of my bells and my TAPS unit into the Philadelphia Sports Club in Ardmore, my training has become a regularity at the gym. I am the scary guy swinging bells, doing copious amounts of pull ups, and power breathing. The hamsters ignore me. Cardio queens are scared. Other young men stroke themselves as close to the mirror as possible. I train harder than the other guy.

Days in review:
Sunday 10-5 Sumo Deadlifts
Tuesday 10-7 80 sets Max V02 15:15
Thursday 10-9 Sumo Deadlifts, Pull Ups, Flat DB Press
Friday 10-10 Pull Ups, Front Squats
Sunday 10-12 Pull Ups, Sumo Deadlifts, ROP Pressing
Monday 10-13 Pull Ups, KB Front Squats
Wednesday 10-15 Pull Ups

On each of these days I walked a minimum of 6 miles. On days like today, Friday, that number doubles, and my week starts. I recommend you buy this album.

[Hovering] 1855-2015 Thursday

Another decaf day. To preserve solid sleep patterns, and to rest up for my big 4 days at the store and the gym, I drink no caffeine Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I do, however, drink tea and try to get highly motivated with the right music. So I listened to all of The Foo Fighters 'The Colour and the Shape' yesterday before I got to the gym. Well fed from the night before, I made it a sessions of 5's and 3's.


Sumo Deadlift re-patterning, as per the conversation with MG. My SI was flared up from my 80 set peak on Tuesday, so I kept the DL'ing to a minimum.

185 x 1, 3, 5 reps.

Pull Ups x 2 sets of 5
Chin Ups x 2 sets of 5

Military Press
110 x 5, 115 x 5, 120 x 5, 120 x 5

Flat DB Press 80 x 5, 85 x 5, 90 x 5 [feeling slightly more difficult than last week].

Today: Sessions from 0600-1300, rest and recover 1300-1700. Trader Joe's 1800-0200.

Reveille was at 0400. Let it begin.



defensenutrition.com

Felt just like an ordinary day

Zero Clock deviations. Tired, sore, and decaffeinated. Walking 6 miles a day. IPod broken. Just the sounds of the Twin Cities [Havertown and Ardmore] singing to me. But Rif told me he never had a PR on a good day. I listened.

530PM Tuesday 7 October
15:15 Max V02 Protocol.
80 sets of 8 in 40 minutes.

The final 15 sets were positively grueling. I ordered three new pieces of gear yesterday, one of which was a Gymboss for the upcoming 36:36 protocol. I also picked up the revised Warrior Diet, The Anti Estrogenic Diet, and one of our newly cert'd sister swingers is sending me two Polar HR monitors with straps and all.

More to report later. It is 0415, and my work day starts with a client in 90 minutes.

Over-

Entry Wounds

15:15 Max V02 Protocol
16kilogram kettlebell
8 reps
70 sets
34:30

560 snatches of the kettlebell. Rather, 1 snatch 560 times.

OOH Rah Gunnery Sergeant Bo,
W2 out.

Completion

Conversation with other people in the gym does not always degenerate into small talk, and awkward departures. Let us take my conversation with Bob as an example. I saw Bob saddle up for some one arm barbell rows about two weeks ago. He preceded that with front squats, and I even saw him tearing into a set of wide grip chins before he called it quits. Bob has a great physique and he knows how to lift. Slow, controlled, heavy. He and I chatted briefly while we both recovered from some barbell sets in the corner of the Club. I urged him to use kettlebells, dangling from his feet, to weight his pull ups. He said it was a solid idea, and the reason he had been using the weight belt and dangling plate was because he had never considered switching it up. It wasn't broke, so why fix it? We then discussed creature comforts in the gym, and the outcome of the conversation was this: even as the hardest dudes in the gym, we still had our pet projects. He liked to flat press with dumbbells, I preferred the bar. He hadn't tried kettlebells because he loved the instability that dumbbells provide, and never thought to inquire as to what kettlebells were. I mentioned that I had not performed any DB bench press in about 4 years, and that when I did finally return to the bench, last fall, I was all about the barbell. The high arch in the lumbar spine, the tight glutes, my position fortified with feet pressed hard into the deck and my lats turned up to 11 as I 'walk' the bar out- it was all good. But if I was to urge Bob to branch out, should I not reciprocate? This was a nice guy with a strong build who lifted smart. I can learn things from everyone, correct? From the hamsters, to the meat monkeys, to the cardio queens, every body I see sings. The meat inflates himself and uses poor range of motion. The hamsters churn away on the wheel with their heart rate cranked all the way up to 35% of their Karvonen max. Cardio queens cover all their bases: Treadmill? Check. Elliptical? Check. 90 minute spinning class? You bet your bells.
Well, Bob was not one of them, nor am I. By no stretch am I the most knowledgeable lifter. Not by far. Student-master, correct? So when I landed at the PSC last night, and Bob was there hammering away with more free weights, I committed to the idea of flat DB bench. Here is what the day brought.

Wednesday 1 October
0450 reveille
0510 walk 3 miles to the gym
0600 client
0715 client
0900 client [caught a ride home]
1100 walk 3 miles to Trader Joe's [listened to Dark Side of the Moon]
12-730 Shift
At 5PM I ate an orange and took some vitamins [EFA, multi]
810Pm my lift began. Lots of pumps to open up.
2 KB Single leg dead lift 16kg x 3RL x 5RL
Pistol, 16kg x 1 LR
Flat DB Bench Press 60-65-70-75-85lbs. for sets of 5. They felt light as cotton candy. It was nice to use a DB again, after 4 years, but I like to move weight on the bench. When I kick up the bench after Level II next summer, I will remember this day. . .
Racked Front Squat 40kg x 3 sets of 3 L, 1 set of 3 R.

Level II requirements have taken over my strength practice, as I creep toward my 80 sets of MAX V02 15:15. I do not own a beast, which makes the 40 my best friend. I have to revise my strength attack for the remainder of the year. I fell 1/2 get ups, front squats, pull ups, barbell pressing, and bent presses are going to be the corner stones. Come January, when I rev up the 15:15 with a 20kg, I will relieve myself of bent presses and barbell pressing and work the ROP.

Feast-ivities: No vegetables last night.
Black beans.
Almonds.
Orzo, quinoa, brown rice medley with baby garbonzo beans, radish seeds, and barley.
Unsulphured, dried apricots.
Non-sorbate pitted prunes.
Black figs.
2 slices of multi-grain toast smeared with raw, creamy, unsalted almond butter.

All of this chow came from Trader Joe's.

Woke up at 0650 feeling amazing. Emotions are stable, it is payday, and I will be damned if it isn't nice and chilly again in PA. . .

MAX V02 15:15 debrief.

Snatching brings the user a specified bushel of pain. The shredded hands, the brutalized hamstrings, and the deep, nearly spiritual soreness that comes from high rep snatching are details of training we may all spin tales about. Be it the coveted Master of Sports ranking in Soviet GS or the Hard Styler's delight in the SSST, we chose to walk the line knowing the tar will get beat out of us along the way. I have read that professional skateboarders also revel in the fruits of a day spent rolling through city streets, tearing up curbs and giant planters, searching for the sweetest grind, and the area best fit for tricking out, leading to sore calves, backs, ripped denim, braised skin, and lost ball caps. Surfers who spend entire nights waking periodically to check the online reports [to know where they may best ride in the wee hours] tell tales of deep muscle soreness attributed to dozens of sets. Out there in the sea digging for the finest waves, in the roughest spots the coast has to offer that morning. Screaming quads, aching shoulder girdles from repeated paddle outs, and the exhausted internal battery that fuels the passion for what they do are markers of a young grom's efforts. Tribal, territorial, thorough. As New School Giriveks we are also tribal, clans banded together under the leadership of a visionary; territorial, marking our neighborhoods' best outdoor kettlebelling corners with videos posted on the web and bloggings detailing the daily due; thorough as well-we need the details on how to best snatch and best press the most and the heaviest. Achieving the most by focusing on the fewest aspects. Skaters patrol the city, surfers cruise coastlines, so naturally a Hard Stylers' home is the field, the park, rooftops. How many times have you set out for an outdoor session and torn up your callouses and posterior muscles with high rep snatches? If you are anything like me, those days are endless in number and forever in the annals.

Recently the 15:15 protocol has occupied my training schedule. Two days a week I pull up to the window on the third floor of the Philadelphia Sports Club and snatch the 16kg until the requisite sets are complete. This is what has happened in the 3 weeks since my last update.

Of 8 Snatches
Tuesday 10 September 35 sets
Sunday 15 September 45 sets
Thursday 19 September 50 sets
Sunday 27 September 60 sets

OOH Rah,
W2 over-