Injury, Attitude, and Repeating Mistakes

I want to reflect for a bit. I had an article queued up about differences in training between my 20s and my 30s, but then I got hurt. I got hurt doing something I would have specifically called out as fucking stupid in the article I didn't finish writing. I'm really trying to figure out what I'm frustrated about with this entire debacle, because getting hurt is unfortunately part of the game. It doesn't matter if you exert yourself physically or otherwise. Injury can find you.

For a quick preamble before the bulleted list, I fucked up my neck and my right knee. My left arm has been completely numb for days (although that is almost completely turned around) and I feel a sharp pull in my right knee when it bends under weight. 

My thoughts from this last shitty week:

• My immediate thought was I'm fucked and it's not going to get better. This is a loser mentality. A 'war story bro' mentality. So what if my most of my body is out of commission, my left leg is fine. What's to stop me from racking up obscene amounts of volume with my left leg while the rest of me heals? Absolutely nothing. I'm not an invalid. I'm just acting like one.
• I've been seeing a neck injury coming for weeks. Instead of, I don't know, actively working on making it stronger for once, I kept hammering in on compound moves that I know are tough on my neck and traps.
• Once the initial neck injury happened, I doubled down and did farmers walks to stretch out the area. This no doubt both made the initial problem worse as well as incited the knee fun I'm experiencing.
• For the longest time, I have no programming. I'm lost at sea.

So where do we go from here? I'm in a weird spot where it's not a great age to take large risks or to ignore nagging pains. I had the right idea with one of my workout ideas (which I promptly abandoned after a week) where I could alternate heavy and light blocks of movements. 

Light (4 week blocks)

• Calisthenics.
• High volume.
• High frequency (2x / day). 

Heavy (4 week blocks)

• Weighted calisthenics, barbell squats, and barbell deads.
• Medium volume.
• Medium frequency.

The keys I'm missing are consistency and training for longevity. If I want a chance in hell in being in good shape when I'm a father, I need to abandon my chaotic approach to programming. There's a time and a place for chaos, and that's for conditioning. I can engage with the plan above and not exclude sandbags, farmers, kegs, whatever. I just need to be smarter with them. When I'm introducing chaos to my routine every week, I'm not correspondingly listening to what my body is saying. And bubbee, it was screaming before I got hurt. 

kratos dominoose: high frequency, alpha destiny inspired

Schedule

Sunday: Calisthenics, conditioning, quick and the dead

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Heavy

Wednesday: Calisthenics, conditioning, quick and the dead

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Light

Saturday: Calisthenics, conditioning, quick and the dead

Heavy/Light Days

- 3 movements, 15min block per exercise

- Movement 1 is dynamic: power clean, snatch HP, DB snatch, push press, BTNPP

- Movement 2 is a squat: BSS jump, FS, ZS

- Movement 3 is a pull: RDL, seated row

- Heavy days: Sets of 1-3

- Light days: Sets of 6-12

Calisthenics, conditioning, quick and the dead

- If doing quick and the dead swings, do them first for power.

- Calisthenics can be ladders or countdowns. Get in a fuckton of volume on basic movements. 

- Randomize calisthenics movements and conditioning. Figuring it out on the actual lift day is great.

Example calisthenics

Ladder ring pullups 1,2,...,10 super set bar dips 2,4,...,20. Try to eliminate all rest.

Countdown bar dips 20,19,...,1. 60s rest between sets.

Example conditioning

Sled drag, run back to start, keg carry. Rest 30-60 seconds.

Sandbag highpull x4, sandbag zercher carry. Rest 30-60 seconds.

Any of Chandler Marchman's kettlebell conditioning. Post with growing list.

morning conditioning 6/28/21

10min

3 box jumps

10 step ups (per side)

10 pushups

This was great. Woke me up without grinding me down into paste.

dont miss days

Ive got that voice in the back of my head that wants me to not do anything. We all do. This voice has speech level 70. It threatens, it bargains, and it complains. I hear it the loudest on my off days.

"

Hey man, youre fasting today. Dont do anything. 

Arent you afraid of impacting your lifting tomorrow?

"

Cool story bro.

Something is always better than nothing. And that something is activity, not necessarily lifting. I get wrapped up in 'everything is training' when its more accurate to say training is training. Everything else is staying healthy and mobile. 

Off day activity can be easy and it can be short. Personally it hypes me up for the day. And i really. Really. Really dont think 10 to 15min of conditioning is bad for anyone regardless of fasted status.

Examples

60min brisk walk

10min light farmers walk

15min heavy farmers walk

15min medley of 3 bodyweight exersies (3,6,9 rep cadence)

Strongman medley: keg carry, farmers carry, sandbag carry

push pull splits : the best

Ive been on and off push pull splits for near a decade. I consistently make my best gains with them until i decide to sabotage and derail a good thing. It's real simple.

Day1: presses, squats

Day2: pulls, hamstrings or deadlifts

Day3: off

Day4: off or repeat

Add a brief conditioning session after each workout. Baby, youve got a stew. Conditioning as a separate day feels kind of wasted. Not because theyre not useful, but because im warmed and ready to go by the time theyre over. Id rather start in a hole and go from there.

Post workout, accessories can be linked in during the day. For press this is triceps, shoulders, and quads. For pull, this is biceps, shoulders, lats, and hams. Isometrics and abs can be any day. Ez.

Example

Push1

Ring dips rest pause x 3

Step ups x 9 (one set per rest pause)

Condition

...After, sets of

Bw tri extensions, different grips

Ring extensions

Band shoulders

Abs

Reverse lunge

Iso

Pull1

Ring rows rest pause x3

Hamstrings x 9 (one set per rest pause)

Condition 

...after, sets of

One leg rdl

Bw pullups, different grips

Ring curls

Abs

Iso

Push2

Ring pushups rest pause x3

(Same as push1)

Pull2

Ring pullups rest pause x3

(Same as pull1)

Other variables:

Switch push or pull movements if bored

Switch progression schemes periodically (ex: clusters, top sets and backoff)

Conditioning changes every session

Off means off

Recovery, fasting, walks, and god damn suction cups.

today was a solid fuckin win

Maybe I didn't highlight my last post enough. Or concentrated too much on the conditioning aspect of that conditioning workout. I want to emphasize what a big deal today was for me. For the last 2 years I've been freaked out to dance, sprint, or otherwise frolic for fear of messing up my back and knees. 

Today I ran. I RAN. And I'm pain free. Both during and after. I'm so happy right now. Basic shit is now back on the menu.

conditioning | sprints sleds and kettlmobiles

It's been a long ass time since ive run full speed. I truly dont even remember when. And this sucks. Because my speed was always something i was proud of and cultivated. Even without sprints, i felt a direct correlation to oly lifts and my ability to dance like a fiend.

Remove cleans and who the fuck am i? As ive gotten older, ive started to covet things i didnt have ti fight for a few years ago. Mainly speed and power. On the flipside, my conditioning has always kind of sucked. Ive had rare moments where i didnt gas out first, but those moments were rare and subsidised with substances. Enter more conditioning.

Im pressing for conditioning on my non upper body days. This means ive got to choose movements that do not interfere with my ability to press and pull weight the next day. Today this meants a lot of movement training.

5 rounds as fast as possible

Sled push driveway x 2

Sprint lawn x 2

Kb suitcase carry lawn x 2

conditioning | bw + sandbags

Been getting a little complacent with my conditioning over the past few weeks. The cards method is awesome and im not ditching it, but ive gotten way too good at running through the deck. It aint hard right now unless i go through the deck twice.

Todays conditioning:

Rounds of 60s, 45s, 30s, 15s

Each round

1. Reverse lunge left

2. Reverse lunge right

3. Bw squat

4. Sandbag dead

Reset timer to next round and immediately start.

Ex

60s lunge, 10s rest

60s lunge, 10s rest

60s squat, 10s rest

60s dead, 10s rest

Reset timer to 45s rounds

45s lunge, 10s rest

...

And so on

calisthenics | explosive legs | let's see some fucking intensity

I was a quarter into a deck of cards workout when I realized I was phoning it in. Ya, I got all of my reps. But every single rep was enduring instead of injecting speed and aggression into the mix. When I consciously made every rep a fight against death, two things happened:

• I ran out of steam REAL fast.
• I woke up out of a fog and felt like $1000000000 bucks.

This folks is quality over quantity. If you're doing something like me - running through a deck of cards for lower body, bodyweight only - then the only ways forward are to add weight, do the same reps in less time, or add some fucking intensity. I choose intensity. That bulgarian split squat jump? You should be trying to jump through the roof on every rep. That bodyweight squat? If you had the intention of leaving the ground you absolutely would. That deadlift or clean? Light up them glutes baby.

The literal only thing I've felt 'go' with age is feeling explosive. And like most things with aging, you can still have what you've always had. But now it isn't free. You have to work for it and practice it. If you practice to be slow, you'll be slow. Practice being fast. If you are only using your bodyweight, practice intensity.

conditioning | 10min | sled push

Lesson learned. Sled only pushes are way harder than sled + something. I can definitely make rounds longer with sled+something, but nothing can match the intensity of a balls out push.

I moved off of my driveway/lawn to a nearby sidewalk where I had a ton more room. Holy shit my dudes this was hard. This sled - XPO Trainer 2 - feels deceptively easy. The moment you turn up the heat it pushes back and back and back and back.

10min was enough.

conditioning | 15min | keg carry, sled push

Morning

Bonus 10min sled only in the morning

This was the maiden voyage for my xpo trainer sled. So far it's impressive as hell, although i will get better mileage if i use it on flat ground.

10min of nothing but the sled woke me up  and felt great on my hips/legs. Not entirely sure how my back likes this yet. It feels great now, so, monitor.

Afternoon

15min. Rounds of:

• Keg carry chest height, length of my lawnx2
• Keg carry at hip height, length of my lawnx2
• Sled push, length of my drivewayx2 

Conditioning | 20min | Walking lunges, crab walk, kettlebell suitcase carry

The grab bag of conditioning. Throw 3 things together and do them as much as possible for 10-20min. 

I'm not sure what made my back feel uneasy last weekend, so I'm reintroducing things one at a time. It was either:

• single leg RDL's (this is the most likely culprit, they felt off)
• keg explosive presses (2nd choice)
• kettlebell suitcase carry (felt fine)

If today goes well, I'll try incorporating a keg carry next week.

Conditioning: 20min | Rounds of

• Walking lunge = across my lawn 1 way
• Crab walk = halfway back across the lawn 1 way
• Suitcase carry = 2 lengths of my lawn (1 way = 1 hand then switch)

I'm not going to be strict on rest periods. Just do as much work as possible. My right shoulder has been hurting a tiny bit lately, and I've found that exercises that pull my shoulder DOWN (i.e. suitcase carries) have been more helpful than band presses UP. Weird enough, the biggest fix to my left shoulder last year was the last time I attempted cleans. Fixed my shoulder (in an almost jarring snap) but made my back feel like shit. You're a dick body.

Result:

Left knee feeling a little wonky after all of the lunges, but otherwise this as great.

Conditioning | Light Day 12min

So, apparently either the keg stuff or single leg RDL's made my back unhappy. This is frustrating but managable. Couple of edits:

• Conditioning can be animal walks and runs. 
• Next week, my XPO sled gets in. Cannot fucking wait to try it out and incorporate this madness.

Conditioning | 20min of hell

Pulled today's workout out of my butt and it ended up being something great. I don't know if I should be writing these down as repeatable or what. Just, choose 3-4 things and do them for 20min. Donezo.

Time: 20min
As many rounds as possible

• Keg clean and press x5*
• Single leg RDL, 45lbs KB, x5 each side
• Suitcare carry, length of my lawnx2. Switch arms and repeat.

I got maybe 6 rounds in 20min. Not great.



*Press is as violent as possible. The keg is filled with a tiny amount of sand, but it's not heavy yet.