bouncing back: managing load and volume

My biggest training regrets have always been linked to resting too long before training again. The issue was almost never my body wasn't ready. Conversely, I jumped back in trying to do the same volume as pre injury (note: even if weights used were light). Im finding more and more that thresholds for getting hurt are more attuned to volume and less to load. Yes, if you lift too heavy too soon shit is gonna break. But the more likely scenario is your body will shut that shit down. The nervous system will say nuh uh buddy. Not today Satan. Volume on the other hand, gives you all the rope you need to hang yourself and then some. Because anyone can do a lot of light reps. Dont get frustrated when you get reinjured with baby weights. Well, you tried to do 100 reps of baby weights.

Here is what is working for me.

- Load is light or very light. Always. For kettlebells im using my first warmup weight of 16kg.

- Rest periods are longer, even between sides. 1-2min instead of as soon as im damn well ready.

- Volume is very low. You can go by 10 reps total, OR the moment the impacted body part throws a warning sign. Just. Stop.

The hardest part of doing this is mental. You will 100% have tons of gas left. Just. Stop. This training session is not for making progress. It is a deposit. If each training session you can do slightly more then you are doing it right.

After the short main work, feel free to have some dessert.

- Mobility. Always. Work on the areas that are tight.

- Arms. Everyone loves arms yo. No reason why you cant train them as a secondary function, and they rarely will be the injured sticking point.

movement first, bodybuilding second

To be clear, this is not a prioritization scale. This is an order of operations. Im not a kettlebell purest and never will be. My roots are in conventional lifting and I see its obvious value. Its too easy when you discover a new (religion) to go all in as a defender, and i dont want to fall into that bucket.

To fit in both, training is organized as such:

- movement first (kettlebells, sandbags, kegs)

- bodybuilding second (cables, calisthenics, barbells)

The first done for higher sets of low reps. The second done for lower sets of high reps. The stable and loadable nature of conventional implements make them ideal candidates for hypertrophy work, but the advantage of using them second is the entire body is already ON from the primary work. Every rep feels locked the fuck in to substantiate a nasty pump. Joints are already warmed up by the unconventional work. This is a $ strat.

all my shit hurts workout

My neck is fucked. I dont know what i did or did not do, but my neck is locked up to the point where I need muscle relaxers. Learning from my past, im moving as much as I can. My biggest failure when injured was a lack of creativity and movement. Shit took way longer to heal than it should have because I was focused on what was not possible, or pushing movements that made the healing prolonged.

ASIDE

when I moved into my current house, I bought my first home gym equipment - a single 20kg kettlebell. I looked ar this weight with contempt. This is good for swings and nothing else. A few years later, im excited at the prospect of getting full ass to grass clean reps with this weight. How things change! If past me had focused on everything that was possible with this weight instead of seeing it as an obstacle to be overcome, what a wild future I could be living. The equipment is always secondary. 

/ASIDE

Neck injuries are brutal because they shut down everything! Well, almost everything. You know what is still in scope? Hip mobility, Hip flexor strength, rope flow. This means low cardio, abdominal strength, and general health on everything. Returning to normal workouts will be a matter of practice.

armor building formula- months 2 and 3

Im still making progress on the one arm kettlebell armor building formula, so im not stopping. If anything, im making better progress than when I started.

Ive made a bunch of changes in months 2 and starting month 3 that are working really well.

ABC day alterations

Instead of cleanx2, pressx1, squatx3

Do cleanx3, squatx3, ring dipx1-3

I really like the increased cleans - easily my favorite part of this whole deal. Pressing overhead feels better with a lower frequency, and training ring dips is a different and welcome stimulus.

Press day alterations 

Instead of clean + pressx2/3/5/10

Do clean + press in cascading reps per weight

With the OG I felt like I was getting too much lighter volume while tensing up my neck to compensate. Performing 1 clean and 1 press back to back is a ton safer for my neck while allowing me to work higher volumes with higher weights. Big fan of this.

Progressing on both variants is looking like step loading still. Adding a rep to the high and low weights every time I touch the bells.

Changes outside of abf

In the before times, I kept trying to find loaded carries and the like as finishers. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but I felt like I was saving energy in the tank for secondary work. Focusing on the primary for now is doing much more for me than adding other hard stuff. Thank you dan john for saying this explicitly in your books. No thank you to me for not...doing that.

Every lifting day has 3 sets of calisthenics arm movements to failure. Super set with post training stretches and mobility.

Non lifting days are pure mobility. The only lifting type activity has been sled drags. I question their utility, but I have noticed stronger contractors in my Hamstrings when they are in the mix. Good stuff.

Afternoon lifting is more or less gone entirely. Activity after early morning is now relegated to walking the dog or mobility. Anything to get me outside.

Eventually ill pivot to easy strength, but I see no reason to do so until my progress stalls with the current approach.