Final Phase of PHASE IV

[Scott Sonnon]

I tremble as I type this for I just completed my first return OCS prep session since my vacation.

I sustained my daily Warrior Wellness and Prime Your Bioenergy programs, plus Be Breathed every other day. I felt fortunate that I could practice this way, for it allowed me to fully recover from all of the hard training I've been doing these past four months and give my CNS a total break.

I'll admit that I sneaked into a few gyms on my vacation... and was surprised several times by members of our forum Tribe recognizing me. It was an honor to meet all of you and fun to train with you one on one when my schedule permitted.

One of the forum members helped me do a strength test last week at a gym in PA. We did incline bench press with dumbbells. It's a good measuring stick for me since I've done them all my training life. Well, a surpise raw strength PR happened...

I began with 1 set of 8 with two 95lbs. dumbbells and decided to move up. I did two sets of 5 with two 100lbs. dumbbells and felt ambitious. I followed it by one set of 3 with two 105lbs dumbbells... and went for it. I performed one rep unassisted with no lift off with two 110lbs. dumbbells... a personal record. The rep took about 15-20 seconds to get up, and I swear it lasted an hour. I'll admit it was fun to grind out some commercial weight.

But what was pleasing to me was the cross-over of raw limit strength from Clubbell training.

So, now back to OCS... the championships are only four short weeks away. I'll be doing an early AM Warrior Wellness and Prime Your Bioenergy session. During the day, every other day, I'll be doing my competition volume (100 Swipes and 110/110 Mills with 25lbs Clubbells) and compressing the time break between them over the course of the month.

I wish all of you luck and see you on the OCS platform in a month!

1/7/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Afternoon Session:

100 Swipes in 10 minutes

Comments: Well, I could tell that my endurance has drifted in this two weeks of active recovery, but I'll be back up to snuff within a few days. At 203lbs, I have 5lbs to make my weight class. So, I feel fortunate that I'm at home so we can control our diet (a luxury we do not have when visiting family.)

[Jay76]

Coach

Great work...but why the Dumbell bench press....wouldn't you want to do standing dumbell presses??? sorry..dino by heart, always do everything standing :)))))))

Jay

[Scott Sonnon]

:lol:

I hear you, but because I've done these for so many years, I occasionally use incline press to see progress. It's nothing major. Just novel entertainment.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/8/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Morning Session:

110/110 Mills in 10 minutes

Comments: Intended to do the Mills last night but business intervened. Mad armpump afterwards. Definitely bad news. But competition is still 10 sessions away.

[casey]

Coach Sonnon,
If it's not a trade secret, can I ask how many times you switched hands on that 110/110 Mill set? Also, did you rest in shoulder park at all for the swipes? Just curious. I am definitely coming to the competition (I bought the tickets this week) and I need all these last minute tips. :wink:

Casey

[Scott Sonnon]

Casey,

In the Mills, I begin with 20/20 switches. By 60/60, I ramp down to 10/10 switches. By 90/90, I ramp down again to 5/5 and carry that through to 110/110.

In the Swipes, I swing to Back Position and stop. I lift the Clubbells vertically and lever them to Shoulder Park. Then, I cross the necks in front of me and hold them with one hand while I do Vibration drills (from Prime Your Bioenergy) with the other arm... and switch. When recovered, I return to Back Position and resume with the Armpit Cast portion in order to not lose the rep-point.

I begin with a set of 30, and then park. I tend to park every 10 reps afterwards.

See you in a few weeks with bells on. :twisted:

1/10/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Afternoon Session:

100 Swipes in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell pair

1/11/04

1st Afternoon Session:

110/110 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell

Comments: Armpump is still viscous. Time's ticking away. Trying to walk the line between training enough and not over training competition volume. Time to soon start precreating competition environment.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/12/04

1st Early Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Morning Session:

110 Swipes in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RT: 10
RPE: 10

Comments: Arm-pump lessened and squeezed an additional 10 reps out. I didn't intend on training today, but the hulk returned goading me on. Welcome back, Dougy-fresh.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/14/04

1st Early Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/15/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy
110 Swipes in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RT: 10
RPE: 9

Comments: Worked a new strategy which seems to be significantly more effective than my prior. The RPE dropped a notch and only on the final 2 reps did I approach the nerve (muscular endurance wise; cardio is more than adequate). With my current conditioning, I've nuked the arm-pump and with this strategy I believe I'll cruise through IMS numbers at 198lbs. weight class.

At this point, I'm taking 2 days in between each work session to prevent any overtraining... with good measure. It's working and my endurance progresses rather quickly. I have to admit, at first when I began the final phase, I was a bit concerned that two weeks had been too long of a recovery period between III and IV. Now I see that they were only cobwebs needing dusted. All of the strength lay still in tact.

[Cilian McHugh]

Can you tell us about this strategy after the OCS Championships, Coach?

[Scott Sonnon]

Sure. It'll be obvious to anyone at the event, though. I'm excited to see all of the different strategies and approaches people have created - the best thing about competition.

[Scott Sonnon]

I thought I would throw in another month's shot. OCS combined with ABC is a mammoth "hack and pack." Although I was at 209lbs coming off of my East Coast trip, getting back to OCS has shaved me back down to 202lbs. Four more pounds to get down to my weight class for the championships.

Here's my five month report: day-zero, 1mo, 2mos, 3mos, 4mos, 5mos (three days ago). For the complete story, go to Growing with the Flow (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/19/sonnon.html).

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekzerosm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekfoursm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekeightsm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weektwelvesm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weeksixteensm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weektwenty.gifI thought I would throw in this month's report. OCS combined with ABC is a mammoth "hack and pack." Although I was at 209lbs coming off of my East Coast trip, getting back to OCS has shaved me back down to 202lbs. Four more pounds to get down to my weight class for the championships. :twisted:

Here's my five month report: day-zero, 1mo, 2mos, 3mos, 4mos, 5mos (three days ago). For the complete story, go to Growing with the Flow (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/19/sonnon.html).

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekzerosm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekfoursm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weekeightsm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weektwelvesm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weeksixteensm.gifhttp://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/weektwenty.gif

At 5mos since my program began, I had no idea what transformations would happen. I intended to experiment and not tamper with my strength and endurance production... I wanted attributes to sculpt me - rather than the other way around so typical in today's feminized bodybuilding. IOW: I wanted form to follow function.

I'm quite surprised by the symmetry of it all. Clubbells truly produce beautiful, brutal strength in a very short time in a very concretely visible manner.

Thank you all for your emails and letters in regards to my little "experiment". I appreciated all of your encouragement and support.

At 5mos since my program began, I had no idea what transformations would happen. I intended to experiment and not tamper with my strength and endurance production... I wanted the development of attribute to sculpt me - rather than the other way around so typical in today's feminized bodybuilding. IOW: I wanted form to follow function.

I'm quite surprised by the symmetry of it all. Clubbells truly produce beautiful strength in a very short time in a very concretely visible manner.

Thank you all for your emails and letters in regards to my little "experiment". I appreciated all of your encouragement and support.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/16/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy
110/110 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RT: 10
RPE: 7

Comments: BREAKTHROUGH! I don't know WTH happened, but I finished 20 seconds before the 10min ringer, plus the rate of perceived effort dropped DRAMATICALLY! I didn't even hit arm-pump until the 90s. This is outstanding development!

[Scott Sonnon]

1/17/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/18/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/19/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy
110 Swipes in 10 minutes (actually 9:30) with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RPE: 7
RT: 10

2nd Evening Session:

113/113 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RPE: 5
RT: 10

Comments: Whatever barrier was in my way on my previous session has been washed away. When pre-creating competition volume, I believe the optimal duration is 2 days off with Warrior Wellness and Prime Your Bioenergy as active recovery. This extra day maximizes strength and enduance gains while removing all residual tension and joint compression. Just absolutely fascinating. My Mills were just cake this evening. I'm averaging 11RPMs unless I push it, but I'm pulling EASY 11RPMs.

So today, I scored an OCS rep-point total of 223... 13 points over my target for International Master of Sport. I think that if I keep going, I may be able to get my Mills up another 10 points, and my Swipes up another 10 or so.

This is the first championship of this type in 72 years. Better set the bar as high as possible. All these young guys and gals training with Clubbells breathing down our necks... :twisted: 8)

[Cilian McHugh]

Coach,

A quick question about what you practice in your Prime Your Bioenergy sessions: As I remember, a significant portion of the exercises are also found in Warrior Wellness. Do you follow PYB in a 'run-through' manner or do you focus on the exercises that are or were (haven't seen Freedom By Degree yet) exclusive to PYB such as the Punctuated Breathing Drills, Vibration Drills, Folding Architecture, Casting Exercises and Solo Soft-Work?

Another question has just occurred to me, in PYB the drills with one to three breaths per arm movement were introduced as Vibration Drills but in Maximology they were then called Punctuated Breathing Drills. In your Personal Training Logs when you refer to Vibration Drills do you also include the Punctuated Breathing Drills or solely the whole-body collapsing squat-type exercise?

If the latter I have one final question, when you refer to Vibration Drills you include subdivisions of Projections, Sweeps and Strikes are these detailed in any of your available resources?

Fraternal
Cilian

[Scott Sonnon]

Do you follow PYB in a 'run-through' manner or do you focus on the exercises that are or were (haven't seen Freedom by Degree™ yet) exclusive to PYB such as the Punctuated Breathing Drills, Vibration Drills, Folding Architecture, Casting Exercises and Solo Soft-Work? My WW and PYB personal practice is modified in layout and protocol... and also changes with my daily needs.
in PYB the drills with one to three breaths per arm movement were introduced as Vibration Drills but in Maximology™ they were then called Punctuated Breathing Drills. In your Personal Training Logs when you refer to Vibration Drills do you also include the Punctuated Breathing Drills or solely the whole-body collapsing squat-type exercise? It's a difference of perspective on introducing the material, like in Zdorovye how the same exercise can be taught from a breathing, movement or structural perspective. Yes, I do PBD daily.
when you refer to Vibration Drills you include subdivisions of Projections, Sweeps and Strikes are these detailed in any of your available resources? I believe they are in Maximology.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/20/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/21/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/22/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Evening Session:

118/118 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RPE: 7
RT: 10

30 minute break

102 Swipes in 10 minutes (actually 9:40) with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RPE: 8
RT: 10

Comments: Well, my friends, that's a total of 220 rep-points in regulation time. That's the shortest rest period in which I've ever done my IMS numbers. And I weighed in at 199lbs. today, so I'm close to target. Dropping 10lbs was never that easy during my Sambo days, for sure. I feel pretty confident that in the remaining two weeks, I should be able to add another 10 rep-points to those numbers to give me ample buffer in the event of any unforeseen performance ticks on event day. I feel good... and I credit that to daily diligence with deepening my personal practice in Warrior Wellness and Prime Your Bioenergy.

I had Doug and Dan come over to the gym for some peer pressure. :twisted: (That and we smoothed some advanced multi-planar Shock Ability for Shadow Work. To their credit strikes which would have toppled a Clydesdale only left them with mild bruising and nausea.) Two of the toughest men I know.

[Scott Sonnon]

1/23/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/24/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/25/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/26/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

123/122 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RPE: 8
RT: 10

40 minute break

120 Swipes in 10 minutes (actually 9:45) with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RPE: 10
RT: 9

Comments: Totaled out at 242 rep-points... but this was gruesome and I went to failure on the final Swipe. Trouble typing still.
That's 32 rep-points over my IMS target of 210rep-points for the 198lbs weight class... or a little over target IMS volume + 15%. I'm done progressing now, because the whole goal of the PHASE IV Strength Endurance Program (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/18/sonnon1.html) was to pre-create target volume + 10% to compensate for any performance drain due to competitive anxiety on game day. Now… maintenance. With 2 weeks remaining, I'll repeat this performance 3 more times, maybe only 2 depending upon how I feel. At least one time will be onsite with some friends and other athletes watching in order to replicate the competitive stress, and 'familiarize' my CNS to externally and internally competing 'noise.'

[Coach Jones]

Super-Impressive Coach!!

[casey]

Coach,
I noticed you are now doing the Mills first. This may seem like an odd question at this point, but which event comes first in competition? I assumed it would be the Swipes, because the Jerk (two handed) comes first in Girevoy Sport. What is the actual order?

Thanks,
Casey

[Scott Sonnon]

Casey,

We made a decision after discussing this in length. We are going to let the order of the events up to the athlete's discretion, so each athlete can order the events to meet their specific competitive strategy and physiological profile... so it's up to you. The only rule is no less than 30 and no more than 60 minutes between events.

Coach

Looks spot on.

Hope to see results posted quickly and pics of the competitors, mostly between minute 9 and 10. :twisted:

At the recent Chicago GS meet there were a number of big performance glitches, 2 guys lost (as in flew out of their hands) the KB during the snatch due to, by their own analysis, using a death grip. I posted my article and a number of folks have been over here paying more attention to the performance enhancement side of CST as opposed to strictly the CB side.

Bill

[Scott Sonnon]

Bill,

You have a great deal to offer to KB enthusiasts in specific psychological and physiological preparation. I look forward to more articles from you!

Don't worry, we'll have choice pix posted the night of. :twisted:

[Scott Sonnon]

1/27/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/28/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/29/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

1/30/04

1st Afternoon Session:

127/127 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RPE: 10
RT: 10

55 minute break

112 Swipes in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RPE: 10
RT: 9

Comments: Total rep-points = 239. Although I gained an extra 20 minute break between events I lost 3 rep-points. :oops: :x Here's the conclusion when actually precreating event parameters:

I ramped up my Mill RPMs to the following hand switch tempo:
Minute #1: 13/13 reps
Minute #2: 14/14 reps
Minute #3: 13/13 reps
Minute #4: 13/13 reps
Minute #5: 13/13 reps
Minute #6: 13/13 reps
Minute #7: 12/12 reps
Minute #8: 12/12 reps
Minute #9: 12/12 reps
Minute #10: 12/12 reps This resulted in a total gain of 5 rep-points in Mills over my last OCS precreation. I thought this would be fine considering how grooved the skill had become. However, although I had an additional 20 minute padding between events, by the time I got on the platform for the next event, my arm-pump still lingered. Now, last precreation, I was completely fresh - no pump, all resolved and reabsorbed. What did this cause? Swipe-tastrophy.

Minute #1: 12 reps
Minute #2: 12
Minute #3: 12
Minute #4: 12
Minute #5: 12
Minute #6: 12
Minute #7: 10
Minute #8: 10
Minute #9: 9
Minute #10: 11 This totals at 112 rep-points... :cry: So although I gained 5 on my Mills, I dropped 8 on my Swipes :evil: - a total decrease of 3 rep-points. But the bottom line isn't so much the issue for me... it was the RPE this induced. I started to have catastrophic thoughts at minute FOUR in the Swipes... with little seeds of concern as early as minute three. Whereas last precreation, I cruised through at an total RPE of 9. :x

In my opinion, catastrophic thinking is not what one needs to address in training. It's organizing training so that one can surreptitiously sneak under the radar of concerns, hesitations or doubts. Incremental Progression allows one to increase mental toughness without having to 'tough it out' full-throttle, like little doses of poison taken as a preventative inoculation should you ever inconceivably face a Sicilian in a challenge of the minds to the death.

I intend to forget trying to alter my scheme at all at this point. Murphy lurks in the shadows of the unknown. Precreation creates familiarity which breeds greater certainty of achieving goals come D Day. Back to the tortoise. Like anyone unfamiliar with Rogaine, I'm going to lose my hare.

[Doug Szolek]

Even on a "bad day" you perform beyond the perception of human potential. We know you'll learn from this and be stronger on the day of the event, so enjoy your process :)

[Scott Sonnon]

1/31/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2/1/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2/2/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2/3/04

1st Morning Session:

Warrior Wellness
Prime Your Bioenergy

2nd Afternoon Session:

120/120 Mills in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell
RPE: 8
RT: 10

35 minute break

113 Swipes in 10 minutes with a 25lbs Clubbell pair
RPE: 10
RT: 9

Comments: Total rep-points = 233. Doug and I reserved the facility for a total event precreation. I adopted the stance that even though my excitement encouraged me to move faster, I learned my lesson last session. I stuck to the plan, to my pace - my tempo. 12/12 RPM through my Mills. Lucky for me, I did. It yielded interesting discoveries... which now allow my competitive performance to be more Murphy-proof.

I only had a 35 minute break, to stay within our rental duration... so I cooked out my Swipes, starting at a vigorous 12RPM for the first 6 sets, and dropping to 10RPMs for 3 sets, and with the remaining juice a final set of 11RPM.

My hand switch needed tweaking or I suffered dropping a rep each pass. Resolved now fortunately.

The ambient temperature made for a tougher grip on the Clubbell, since I prefer to train in the winter air... a surprising variable, but accommodated. This will intensify I suspect with all of the body heat of athletes and spectators.

Now, I've precreated the event onsite, I won't be training again. It's just D-Day now. I believe I've padded my target numbers (210 rep-points) sufficiently (by an additional 23 rep-points or target volume +9.13%) to accommodate any performance anxiety drain.

The focus for the competition - form and fun. I intend to focus purely on technique, and making sure everyone has a great time pushing the limits (safely) for this history-making event. The first of its kind since the 1932 Olympic Games!

Good luck all competitors, and I look forward to see you on the platform!

Thus ends PHASE IV (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/18/sonnon1.html)! There's one final task to do.

[Cilian McHugh]

Savage!

I'd say good luck Coach, but having followed your Training Logs I don't think luck's going to be a factor.