Training Log - Inspired by Evo

[goergen1]

If I was either 278 pounds and 6'5"

That would be ok. Though he is 330lbs now.

Ohhhh...thoughts on caber curls?

What do you mean caber curls. I will answer on what I think it means and we can go from there.

Also, we do not have a caber, so my answer might be skewed by this a bit.

Seems like the caber does not need any specific "assistance" exercise. It is too dynamic of a thing. Personally I think practicing the caber a lot would be better.

Good overall strength is a good idea too. 600 squat, 600 DL will probably help more than caber curls.

Even then, the challenging thing about the caber is getting it to do what you want it to do.

edit: the above is from a guy who has literaly done the caber only 4X in his life. 3 of those times were in contest.

 

[Karky]

1. Why would anyone want a "healthy seasoning" for their food. All it really means is that there is no salt in it an therefore a bunch of crap that tastes like crap is put in to try to make up for the lost taste. What the Hell.

2. In one of the guys BJJ classes one of the guys popped his shoulder out of socket. He would not relax enough to let the instructor set it back in place. So the instructor said to my friend at the gym "choke him out" and he DID. Choked him out, set the shoulder in place, and woke him back up. THAT, is hardcore.

Don't you know you're supposed to drink a lot of water and very low ammounts of salt to detox your body of all the horrible stuff your body can't take care of itself?

And that BJJ thing was awesome it's probably better to be choked out when you do that regardless.. you probably miss some of that sudden pain when they pop it back in.

 

[evolution]

What do you mean caber curls. I will answer on what I think it means and we can go from there.

I was referring to this movement-http://www.kiltedthrower.com/video/Caber Curls.wmv

Also, we do not have a caber, so my answer might be skewed by this a bit.

Why don't you have a caber? If I was close enough, I'd just donate one of ours to you guys. We have a ton of them from 32 pounds all the way up to 161 pounds.

Good overall strength is a good idea too. 600 squat, 600 DL will probably help more than caber curls.

Can I just get my zercher squat up to 600 and call it even between the two?

Ohhhh...Dan John loves the Hungarian Core Blaster. Have you used it before?

 

[goergen1]

Karky, Seriously. How old was the post you quoted that stuff from. and....... Pretty Cool.

Evo, I guess the caber curls are ok. Bert does a different version that is more specific to the caber and makes a lot more sense to me. The version of the cable curl you are talking about is like a cheat curl using a cable. It is a good exercise. I don't know if I'd name it a caber curl though.

Why don't you have a caber?

A combination of busyness and lazyness. We are thinking about going out and cutting some today though. That will be good.

Can I just get my zercher squat up to 600 and call it even between the two?

If you zercher 600 I am sure you will be able to squat and dead 600 as well. (Provided we are talking about a "real" zercher)

Dan John loves the Hungarian Core Blaster. Have you used it before?

We make a Hungarian Core Blaster. Ours is a.......... "professional" version that is machined and nice.

I use it on a regular basis. A few months ago I was using it at least once a week. It is a great exercise.

Last night was a pretty good training day.

1. D-Flex

2. Overhead Stone Heave

3. Sheaf - Hit a best at about 21 feet with a 20lb bag. This was a great work day. Tons of reps. I learned how to swing with the bag better. As it turns out, I have not been using my legs at all, which makes the bag go straight up and down. I had a lot of throws where the bag went up and dropped back down on the same spot I was standing.

I stepped out a few extra steps and started pulling through with the legs more. The bag then went higher and not straight up and down. With that came a lack of control. I guess more practice is what the doctor ordered.

On to the Gym.

4. Cheat Curls - Worked up to a couple of sets of 3 reps at 255lbs. This felt pretty good. I have a pretty good pull from my hips.

5. Log Bent Row - Worked up to 315lbs for 5 reps.

6. Land Mine Twists - 5 sets 5 reps each side with bar+25lbs. I worked on separation here.

7. Bench Press - Worked up to a single at 395lbs.

8. Bar Twists - 2 sets 5 reps each side. These went well. I need to work on some ROM for the torso rotating, this is a good exercise for that. It went well for leading with the hops and creating momentum with the legs.

9. Shrugs - 2 sets 20 reps.

Thoughts -

This was a pretty good day. A lot more work than was in the plan when we started. That si how it goes sometimes.

 

[evolution]

just awesome

 

[goergen1]

Have to cover a couple of days here. I will start with.........

Monday

We went and got cabers. It was fun. There was chain sawing and carrying trees and stuff. I will recap the highlights.

1. When Bert, House, and I were carrying back the second tree I realized how short I was. I was in the middle and Bert and House were on wither end with the tree on their shoulders. Being that I am many inches shorter than both guys, I had the tree "floating" above my shoulder by about 3" - 4".

So am not that tall.

2. We loaded the cabers onto the trailer.

3. We drove the cabers to the training field. But not before the chains on the trainer gate broke and we were dragging them on the ground. So we had to stop.

A really good guy stopped to hep us. He had "An A$$ of bricks" in his car. So we propped the cabers on the bricks and were on our merry way.

4. The rest of the day passed without incident. After slowly driving back to the training field, we unloaded the cabers, and went home.

Tuesday

1. Dynamic Flex

2. Overhead Stone Heave - used a 21.5lb stone. That is heavier than a 15.5lb stone.

3. Braemar - 21.5lb stone. Did quite a few throws. I hit 30 feet with it. that was good.

It seems my stone throwing is coming around. Everything is starting to feel better.

4. WOB - Spin. Well...... I was much worse at the spin today than I was on the first day. Did a lot of throws. The weight slows down a lot on the spin for some reason. We decided that I have the same issue with my other weight throws where I lose speed on the second turn. Some drills will be done soon.

5. WOB - Stand. After all the spin throws I struggled to get the weight over 11'.

Thoughts -

As it turns out, I'm not that good at throwing. There is a lot of practice in my future.

Wednesday

Lifted on this day because I did not feel like hitting heavy weights was a good idea the day before.

1. Foam Box Squat - I just started warming up light and did a lot of warm-ups at lighter weight. Partially because I was testing out the whole foam box thing. It is different and it took a little getting used to.

Started trying to squat to a 12" foam box. That was not going to happen. So I put a 1.5" mat underneath. That was better. Worked up to 420lbs off the 13.5" foam box.

I then changed the box height to 18". That is a little high for me but I thought the foam might sink in to the right height. It did not quite sink in enough. I worked up to 569lbs here. It felt really good and moved up pretty fast.

I called it on the squatting then because I do not like to do a true max on something that I am still getting used to. We will see how it goes in the future.

2. Ab Wheel - 3 sets 8 reps. Did them on my knees. I have done this exercise a few other times. Probably should do it a lot more. This will become part of my "train more middle" thing that is going to be going on in over the next few workouts of the rest of my life.

Thoughts -

As I was ab wheeling and after doing some other middle exercises in the past few workouts I have learned something.

I have good core strength, for squatting and basic exercises. My core strength for dynamic rotational movements is not where it needs to be. Right now I believe that is the reason that I lose speed on my weight turns after getting a lot of speed on the first turn. My middle is not strong enough with that type of movement and the weights "fungles" me around when I land on the second turns.

Time will tell how this will turn out.

 

[goergen1]

Thursday.

As I am writing this it is hard to turn my head. I made a little mistake last night.

It was about to rain, so we ended our conversation about turning a foam pallet into a raft of some sort and went to throw.

1. D-Flex

2. Light Weight - Learned why I slow down on the second turn. I breath. It just seems natural, but now I am going to focus on not breathing. This was a good volume day. Lots of repeat throws. Threw up to 48 feet. I started getting the "not slowing down the second turn thing"

Then it started to sprinkle, for about 10 seconds........ aaaaaaand..... we were in the middle of a downpour with raindrops the size of shot puts.

So...... to the gym.

1. Jump Shrugs - Made it up to 225lbs.
Super-Set
2. Push Press - Made it up to 225lbs.

I do not know what it is about push pressing with a regular bar. But it is not comfertable for me. We got to 185lbs and it just did not feel right. So, being silly like I am I sez "Lets go to 225lbs." That was not the route to go. I did 3 reps and OUCH. My upper back and neck really hurt.

That pretty much ended my day. I did some band rotations, reverse hypers, and abs to finish things off.

I can say with some great confidence that I will not find a use for push pressing with the bar in the near future.

After a fit of rage and anger we got to talking about it.

Conversation -

Right when things start coming together, mentally there is a high readiness to push, but that is when there is the highest potential for injury.

That is where I am. Lifting is going well, I decided that I will be pushing it more. But heres the thing.

Being new to throwing, I do not know how to take into account the fatigue that throwing adds to the training routine. For example: When lifting in the past I was only a strength guy. I could squat over 800lbs and bench over 600lbs. I could train 6 days per week doing a tone of work.

Now, with the throwing, it is a different ballgame. I keep thinking that I can do more work in the weight-room, but it more often than not turns out that more gym lifting is not the best idea.

After roughly a year of throwing under my belt, here is what I have learned.

1. The speed of throwing is a LOT more taxing than I originally thought. To be clear, it is probably more taxing that I think it is right now. Getting that into my head and being ok with it is my task at hand.

Being a former Olympic weightlifter I used to rationalize that the O-Lifts are fast and throwing is comparable. The reality is, in the athletic continuum, the Olympic lifts are not that fast at all.

2. There is a very high number of max efforts in throwing. And it is hard to tell how many max efforts are being done. Unlike lifting, where it is very obvious where the max efforts are and what that means.

So assessing fatigue is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot more little things in the body that have to be tuned in to.

3. The reality of throwing 3 days per week, especially at a higher intensity, will decrease the amount of lifting required significantly.

-------------------------

All in all, I have a little tweak in my upper back and neck. I have some rest days coming up here and it looks like I will be good to go by the beginning of next week.

This throwing has been a learning experience I never would have expected.

 

[evolution]

You have some great thoughts, G. I was pondering on the accumulation of fatigue wtih the combination of throwing and lifting the other day. I can sometimes try to rearrange my lifting around my throwing so I'm semi-fresh on each throwing day until it drives me nuts.

It's also still hard for me to realize that a large increase in strength in the weightroom may not mean jack on the field. Dan John said that really as you get stronger, you should be able to throw farther. I think the piece he left out was that you have to be working correct technique with the throws also. I think he left it out because he assumes a fellow thrower is doing that exact thing.

In conclusion,
Throwing is awesome.

p.s. Thanks for keeping a journal. I always enjoy reading it.

 

[goergen1]

You have some great thoughts, G.

Thanks man.

I was pondering on the accumulation of fatigue wtih the combination of throwing and lifting the other day. I can sometimes try to rearrange my lifting around my throwing so I'm semi-fresh on each throwing day until it drives me nuts.

Yea. I end up just skipping lifts and exercises in training. Seems to work well unless I get too ambitious.

For example: From July 25 till today (a 7 day period) I have only done 12 exercises and only went heavier on 3 of them. I can say that that was more than enough for a week of work.

It's also still hard for me to realize that a large increase in strength in the weightroom may not mean jack on the field.

I agree. It is so natural to believe that strength will increase performance. I tend to believe that strength increases the "potential" for increased performance. Which is closer to reality.

Yea throwing is awesome.

p.s. Thanks for keeping a journal. I always enjoy reading it.

I like keeping the 'ol journal and try to keep it more involved than just listing exercises that were done. Since listing exercises does not help me or anyone reading the journal.

I appreciate the positive feedback.

 

[goergen1]

With the whole team journal thing I am wondering about keeping up my regular journal. It does have all the workouts I have done since I started training again and I really do not want to stop posting in it.

OK I will still post here as well.

1. Limbed, shaved, and tweaked a couple cabers.

2. D-Flex

3. Overhead Stone Heave - used the 14lb. This went well. Hit 50 a couple of times.

4. Cabering - So the caber we used is 22 feet long and about 130lbs. Of the 4 cabers I have used, this one is definitely the longest. Boy that makes a difference. It was a lot of work just to stand it up.

I dumped it a few times, had a couple of good picks. All in all I think this caber will be doable in the next month or so. Reason being -

We have cabers to practice with now, so we must be going to get better.

Thoughts -

Everything has been going pretty good. In my journal I talked about a neck tweak. That turned out good. Got some good massage work from the Burkett and everything is good to go now.

We are starting a "week in review" type of thing with everything that is going on at the gym. So here is a link to a video of stuff that happened in the past week.

 

[LeiYunFat]

2. In one of the guys BJJ classes one of the guys popped his shoulder out of socket. He would not relax enough to let the instructor set it back in place. So the instructor said to my friend at the gym "choke him out" and he DID. Choked him out, set the shoulder in place, and woke him back up. THAT, is hardcore.

WHOA. That is so crazy.

 

[[Focus]]

Awesome.

 

[evolution]

4. Cabering - So the caber we used is 22 feet long and about 130lbs. Of the 4 cabers I have used, this one is definitely the longest. Boy that makes a difference. It was a lot of work just to stand it up.

That's a huge caber. I've found it's not so much the weight of the caber but the height plays more into how hard it is. We had a caber at Arlington that was only 74 pounds, but it was 24 foot tall. And it still had bark on it and it wasn't straight...it kinda branched off to the left and the right and etc. And it was reallllly skinny. It sucked.

p.s. Dude! I finally got the WOB technique. Granted it's still ugly. But I'm finally letting my hips rise and fall with the implement instead of trying to muscle it up.

 

[goergen1]

Training with Tex

Yea, it's a big caber. It seems doable with some practice.

Congrats on the WOB tech EVO. That is a big deal.

Onto the workout.

I am hitting a bunch of workouts with Tex this week. Yesterday started things off pretty good.

1. Some training with the 132lb Inch and the 100lb Mega

2. Neck Attack - After having some neck issues, the neck training is back in the mix. 3 sets w/ green band.

3. Reverse Hypers - 3 sets 10 reps. 230lbs.

4. Squats - 4 sets of 5 at 415lbs.
Super-Set
5. Log Press - 4 sets of 5 at 166lbs.

Thoughts -

This was a really good day. We hit a fast and aggressive workout. I felt great at the end. The faster pace made the weights get pretty heavy. Kind of a getting in shape kind of thing.

It looks like tonights workouts is going to be throwing, truck push, chain drag. That will be good.

 

[goergen1]

Training, and the throwing, and the training again.

1. Neck Attack - Green Band. 30 total reps for 3 sets.

2. Reverse Hyper - 230lbs 3 sets 10 reps.

3. Band Rotations - 3 sets 10 reps each side. Green Band.

4. D-Ball Stand Throw - It was raining, so we threw inside. 22lb D-Ball. Took a ton of throws. Then we got to talking. Now I will go on an tangent.

There is a large difference between understanding a throw and "understanding" a throw. Example -

Someone says the shot put / stone throw is supposed to be long and you drag the stone behind the hips.

Now, at face value, that statement "makes sense" to both the experienced thrower and the beginning thrower. It is the application of the advice that is different.

As a beginner, it may sound like you lean over more and move the upper body around the hips. Of course this is not what it means.

To the more advanced thrower it means you rotate the hips, drive with the legs and leave the upper body behind. So the front of the lead hip is ahead of the stone.

The trick is to get the concept across to athletes at different levels and knowing that advice given will be interpreted differently at different levels.

I have run into this in many arenas. Something as simple as a squat has completely different meaning to people with different backgrounds, of different training age, and different experience levels. If the overall concept of the exercises is different for different people, you can see how coaching points can be taken differently.

The mark of a good coach is someone who is actively trying to understand the differences in how athletes at different levels perceive coaching points.

Back to training -

In this discussion we uncovered some of the different ways I was interpreting coaching advice and made some great breakthroughs in how the stand throw is done.

I was peppering the 29-31 foot range with high effort throws. After understanding better the "drag the weight behind concept, I was able to hit the same distance throws with quite a bit less effort.

That was great. It is fun to learn and better understand how the body moves. Frustrating as it can be, it is worth the aggravation. I just might not seem like it at the time.

5. Kettle Bell Snatch - 3 sets 5 reps with a swing in between with 52 and 62lb kettle bells.
Super-Set
6. Land Mine Rotations - 25lbs on the bar. 3 sets 5 reps each side.
Super-Set
7. Hungarian Core Blaster - 3 sets 6 reps 100lbs.

The above was a great little circuit. I really need more of this basic "get working and get in shape" type of thing in the program. As much fun as it is to lift the heavy weights, the work is important as well.

8. Kettle Bell Snatch - A couple of singles on each side up to 88lbs. It went pretty good.

Thoughts -

All in all a pretty good day. I am liking the increase in middle training. That will be very beneficial as time moves on.

The D-Ball throws were frustrating, but a lot was learned. So I have something to build off of.

I am liking these little circuits.

It looks like the truck push chain drag will happen tomorrow, Since it was raining today.

 

[goergen1]

Another good day. Basic stuff.

1. Neck Attack - 3 sets 4 directions. Green Band. 30 total reps.

2. Reverse Hyper - 3 sets 10 reps. 140lbs.

3. Band Rotations - 3 sets 10 reps. Green Band. I have been changing the angle on these each workout. So sometimes from higher, sometimes from the middle, sometimes from lower.

4. Yoke Walk - Every "set" was 15 yards down and 15 yards back. Started with 2 sets at 385lbs. Then a set at 455lbs. Then 2 sets at 505lbs. This went pretty good. I am still weirded out by the way yoking feels when walking on the turf.

Thoughts -

Yet another good day. Having the neck and middle training back in the mix is a great thing. I feel really good about it.

 

[goergen1]

Thursday -

First off. Here is the week in review from Aug. 7th - 14th. Everything in the video happened in that time frame.



1. D-Flex

2. Overhead Shot Heave

3. 56lb Weight Spins - needed to get better at this. Did a lot of turns here. 40 min of work.

4. 56 Weight for Distance - Did about 15-20 throws here as well. Was not feeling great with it. Still hit 27 feet and peppered the 25 foot area.

Here is the thing. I do something at the end of my first turn. I slow down in the second and then just do a stand after that. That is what needs to be figured out.

5. 28 Weight for Distance - Did a lot of throws here as well. I was pretty beat up after an hour and 15 minutes of heavyweight stuff. So 45 feet was good.

6. 28lb Spins Using Hook Grip - I am getting into the hook grip. Did a bunch of spins this way. It was feeling pretty good.

So I sis a bunch of 28lb weight throws again. The hook worked well for me on this day. I hit about 50 feet within a couple of throws. That was good.

Thoughts -

I hate throwing. Well............ Not hate, but I do hate it during the practice part. Sometimes all I can think about is quiting. But I can not even make myself skip the next throw. I have to keep trying. It is like some invisible force is pushing me to practice more and more.

Then I have a good day, really like throwing, and will train forever to get to the next great day. Amazing really.

Part of it, I think, is because no matter how bad I feel or how rough the day is going, I honestly believe the next throw is going to be a PR. Every time I think that.

Sometimes it happens.

Thoughts 2 -

The more I throw, the more I find it is nothing like lifting. I know I have said this before. But I can't seem to be able to get past it. There are people out there who believe that throwing is like lifting.

But here is the thing. Lifting is not that athletic at all. Throwing is really athletic. Which explains why good lifters don't really get into throwing and do well, but, good throwers can get into lifting and do very well.

I think I could go on about this for a long time. But I will not. Because I do not feel like typing anymore.

Until Next Time.

 

[goergen1]

Sunday went pretty good.

1. Neck Attack - 3 sets 10 reps. Green Band.

2. Reverse Hypers - 3 sets 10 reps 140lbs.

3. Band Rotations - 3 sets 10 reps. Green Band.

4. Overhead Pud Heave - 44.5lbs. Did about 6 or 8 throws.

5. The Caber - The caber went a lot better this time. Some because we used a 19' mid 120's pound caber instead of the crazy monster.

I had some good picks, got a lot better at managing the caber once it is up, learned how to keep it more stable. No turns. Will get better. Caber will be trained more often these days.

6. Sheaf - 20lb. This went really well. Hit 20'. Missed 22 a lot of times. I think I had the height on a couple, just did not get it over the bar. This was a lot better than the last time sheaf was done.

I am learning how to swing through a lot better. As well as starting the swings towards the bag instead of away. This was it does not slide as easily.

7. WOB - I am learning the hook grip. It is pretty cool. Timing is a little different. Hit 12' a bunch of times.

I think the hook grip is going make some difference in my throws.

Thoughts -

Overall, I am happy with the day. I like the caber a lot and am looking forward to improving.

 

[goergen1]

Tuesday

Well. We started out ninja fighting with pvc pipe and stopped when we figured out that we were going to smash each others fingers.

Then we moved on to wrestling. And let me tell you this. DON'T try to fight Bert or myself. You will have about 5 seconds before one of us hurts ourselves and tries to run away.

It was a lot of fun, we both had some great moves.

My neck started hurting again. Bert aggravated a hip flexor.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

We then went outside to start throwing. All stone throws were with a 17lb stone.

1. Overhead Stone Heave

2. 1's - This is a great drill to help use the legs more and get into the proper positions for the stone. I feel that this drill is going to help me a lot. You know, because I need to use my legs as opposed to doing a standing one arm bench press.

3. Stand Throws - This was pretty good. The 1's helped a lot and I was throwing up to mid 30's with a lot less effort than usual.

This was a great technique day.

On to the weight room. A lot because my neck was getting more and more sore holding the stone and Bert was having hip flexor issues.

4. High Pulls - Set the high pull indicator at 17. Worked up to a bunch of sets at 225lbs. These pulls went really well. The height was high and the speed was good.

5. Bench Press - Used the cur bar. Worked up to 355lbs for a triple.

Thoughts -

It seemed like we should be able to fight for a warm-up. But Nay. As it turns out, not a good idea.

The throwing was good. I feel like I made some great strides in the stone as far as using the legs more goes. Something that will need to be trained a lot more.

 

[Karky]

Tuesday

Well. We started out ninja fighting with pvc pipe and stopped when we figured out that we were going to smash each others fingers.

Then we moved on to wrestling. And let me tell you this. DON'T try to fight Bert or myself. You will have about 5 seconds before one of us hurts ourselves and tries to run away.

It was a lot of fun, we both had some great moves.

My neck started hurting again. Bert aggravated a hip flexor.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

We then went outside to start throwing. All stone throws were with a 17lb stone.

1. Overhead Stone Heave

2. 1's - This is a great drill to help use the legs more and get into the proper positions for the stone. I feel that this drill is going to help me a lot. You know, because I need to use my legs as opposed to doing a standing one arm bench press.

3. Stand Throws - This was pretty good. The 1's helped a lot and I was throwing up to mid 30's with a lot less effort than usual.

This was a great technique day.

On to the weight room. A lot because my neck was getting more and more sore holding the stone and Bert was having hip flexor issues.

4. High Pulls - Set the high pull indicator at 17. Worked up to a bunch of sets at 225lbs. These pulls went really well. The height was high and the speed was good.

5. Bench Press - Used the cur bar. Worked up to 355lbs for a triple.

Thoughts -

It seemed like we should be able to fight for a warm-up. But Nay. As it turns out, not a good idea.

The throwing was good. I feel like I made some great strides in the stone as far as using the legs more goes. Something that will need to be trained a lot more.

I wonder how many times I'm gonna learn that the hard way before I remember it.. pipe fencing is just too much fun!