RickB: Weight redistribution and core activation 5-29-04

[rbibbs]

Intro: Client is 28yo, 5'10 270#. Good flexibility and coordination, background in Karate, good peripheral strength. Core is strong though inactive, carrying some dead weight in the abdomen that inhibits a few motions, this is our primary focus. Secondarily, want to improve relaxed usable strength-- has a 'natural' tendency to tense overall in unfamiliar positions, which wears on one's stamina and biomechanical efficiency (the stronger one is, the more taxing tension is).

First session activity and observations:
WW: good overall range of motion and single-limb coordination; no evidence of overt residual tension imbalances or restrictions. No active injury processes.

Medicineball: Shoulder and ground return 20 reps each direction, perceived difficulty 3. Situp returns 20 reps, PD=7 towards the end. Foot returns 20 reps, PD=5. Single hand toss, had fun with it.

Leg toss (laying on mat, raise legs, coach pushes them toward ground), PD=8. We'll look for a lot of improvement here.

Circular handweights 15#: Wrist/forearm/shoulder circles 10 reps each diameter and direction. Double-hand waterwheels and front figure-8s, 10 each direction. Overall PD=7. These 'new motions' invoked some overall tension which made this exercise more tiring than it should be, given client's upper body strength. This should improve rapidly with familiarity and relaxation, as the shoulder muscles become accustomed to working together.

10# Clubbells: 15 double-club front swings to weightless; 10 double-hand side swings to side torch; 10 single-club front swings to order each hand; 10 single-club swipes each hand; 10 parry casts each direction, ramping from grinding to ballistic. Grip and arm strength are not a problem, client can retrieve tool from behind-shoulder using brute force-- however, we can look for big improvements in shoulder articulation and load distribution as we get muscle sets talking to each other. I'm not going to rate a PD here until we get the form down, but it was above baseline, probably due to unfamiliarity/tension issues.

Body-flow ground exercises: Arm-screw shoulder rolls; inside, outside, backwards... good form and coordination, PD:3. Shinbox switch/carousel, PD=4. Spiders, PD=7; look for a lot of rapid improvement.

Heavybag LRLR fist strikes, stamina PD=7; this will improve rapidly with core activation and articulation.

Overall: Client has good mass/strength and coordination in familiar planes of motion. He felt fatigue-onset in shoulder girdle disproportionate to his strength and the weight sizes, which I attribute to exerting against his own overall tension when bearing loads. (Tension did not appear to be an issue in unloaded ROM.) Very good coordination of exhalation/exertion on all exercises. Good recovery of O2 deficit from exertion. Client will be a strong performer in all planes and axes, once he recovers biomechanical efficiency, so this is what we will be working on.

[Scott Sonnon]

Looking good, Rick.

[rbibbs]

Thank you Scott. Only by my association with CST through Coach Dan, and having you, him, Doug, Jarlo, Randell and the tribe looking over my shoulder, would I have had the steadiness of hand to actually guide others.

Activities: WW intermediate; client has very good unloaded mobility, including neck. Medicineball; shoulder, ground, situp, foot returns 15 each/direction, PD overall =4 (the situps are closer to 6). We shortened this routine overall, using it more as a warmup, since it's not particularly challenging.

Leg tosses; modified this exercise to build it incrementally. Instead of throwing legs, I'm catching them and holding them up for a stretch (L,R, center) while client's abs relax between reps, then letting go of them and he returns them to my grip for the next relaxation. We got to 15 reps with a PD=6. Coach Lord's infamous corner-situp/standup, PD=10 (impossible). We may look to this as a benchmark in the future.

15# handweights; wrist/forearm circles 5 each direction and diameter PD=4. Parry casts, 5 each inside/outside concentric curl PD=5. Doublehand grip; waterwheels 5 each direction PD=4, figure-8s 5 each top/bottom bell leading, PD=6.

10# Clubbells; 10 doubleclub front swing to torch PD=4. Doublehand side swing to side torch, 5 each side PD=4. Front swing hand-to-hand toss for fun and relaxation. 10 single-club swipes each hand, PD=4. 10 parry casts each direction PD=5.

Modified the spider exercise to build it; lifted hand/foot in static position dorsal/ventral 10 each, PD=7. Shinbox switch carousel, 5 each direction, PD=4.

Heavybag; 2x 2 minute L-R-L-R fist strike drill, PD=5. Shin kick technique practice.

Observations: Client's energy level was a notch higher this time, partially due to better rest this week. Perceived difficulty numbers dropped an average of 1.5 overall; some of this was attributable to higher energy, some to relaxation and familiarity with the exercises. 15# Clubbells would better suit this client's strength and size... he can "bully" the 10s... but given that, should be able to do parry casts all afternoon without fatigue, so we're still growing. Form and coordination are always good. When his circular strength catches up to his linear strength, he'll be formidable. :twisted:

[rbibbs]

Energy and enthusiasm, high. WW intermediate. Medicineball; shoulder and ground returns 30 each direction, foot returns 30, situp returns 20--PD's stayed at 4 (situps, 6) at the increased rep count. Leg toss, 20 reps, PD stayed at 6 doing 33% more.

Circular handweights 15#; wrist/forearm/press circles 10 each direction and diameter PD=5, parry casts 10 each direction PD=6, doublehand waterwheels and figure 8s 10 each direction, recessive grip PD=6.

10# Clubbells: 10 double-club front swings to torch, 10 front swings to order PD=5, client using arm strength, working on that; 10 single-club side swings to side torch PD=4; 10 single-club swipes each hand PD=6; 15 hand-to-hand front swings to dynamically relax grip fatigue; 15 parry casts each direction PD=5.

5 shinbox switch carousels each direction PD=6 (L hip cramped). Working on developing the spider; lifting cattycorner hand/foot and beginning the turnover thread--this exercise is still PD=7 though improving.

L-R-L-R shin kick 1 min, PD=6 (form and respiratory distress holding us back). L-R-L-R fist strike 3 min, PD=5 (form hard to maintain, this exercise finds the weak spots in the chain).

Overall: The numbers are changing favorably; rep counts going up with PDs staying the same or increasing by one as stamina gets taxed/extended. Circular handweights show much improvement; 3 weeks ago we had to truncate circles or switch to lighter weights to finish 5 reps/direction, now we're doing 10 at full weight. This is a lot of progress in a short time, the legacy of CST. Client reports negligible DOMS, though feels some localized fatigue during the drills. The Clubbell performance suffered some because it followed the fatigue of rep increases in the preceding work. (By the way, the coach does all the weight, Clubbell, and bag drills along with the client; it's my primary strength training workout for the week, complemented with 2 nights of BJJ training/sparring.)

[rbibbs]

WW intermediate. Medicineball; shoulder, ground, situp returns 20 each direction. Did not need momentum of ball to complete situp returns, and the pace of these exercises was half-again faster than before. PD=4 except situps =6. CST spiders, 5 each direction PD=7 (this exercise was 'impossible' 3 weeks ago). Diagonal ab crunches (countup/down to 5) PD=8. Ab stretch routine. Leg toss 15, PD=7 toward the end; PD hasn't changed a whole lot but we're now using the 'official' form and at a full pace. Corner situp/standup... got 5 good situps, but standing is still impossible.

15# handweights: Forearm circle curls 15 each direction PD=5. Wrist/forearm circles 10 each diameter/direction (total 60) PD=5. Parry casts 15 each direction PD=5. Doublehand grip: 15 front circles each direction, 15 waterwheels each direction, 5 figure-8s each direction and both grips (20 total) PD=6.

10# Clubbells: Calibration swings + 10 front swing to torch PD=5 (exertion PD=3, neuromotor PD=6). 5 jugglers (forearm circles from 'order') each direction EPD=4, NMPD=8. (This exercise might best be learned one arm at a time, it's VERY complex to balance both tools at once during circles.) Single-club: 10 swipes each arm PD=4. Doublehand grip: 10 front swings to torch PD=4. 10 side swings to side torch each side PD=5 (deliberately making this difficult to achieve diagonal correlation in abdominal neurology). 15 ballistic parry casts each direction PD=5.

L-R-L-R fist strike drill 3 min, PD=5 (form/stamina). Work on shin kick (and core power generation) form.

Observations: The recorded numbers (reps, PDs) don't tell the whole story this time, because we did roughly the same amount of work it took 2hrs to do last time in 90 minutes this time. Less recovery time and faster pace throughout, and client was less distressed at this pace than when we started at slow pace/low reps. Outstanding progress on the 'leg toss' and 'spider' exercises, both of which were very difficult to start with and can now be done with good form. Client is working handweights at home every other day. And has lost 10# in 2 weeks.

[Dan Chomycia]

Superb training Rick!

Talk to you soon!

[rbibbs]

Thanks Coach Dan! Wonderful helping/watching folks transform their physical abilities!

Noon session, 85deg + humid, working in the shade. We are exploring nutrition as applied to energy level during training; energy was down a notch, nutrition was protein shake 2hrs before (probably 'gone' by the time we started).

WW intermediate. Medicineball 12#; 20 each direction, shoulder & ground returns, 20 situp and foot returns, full form, PD=4 (situps 5). (May go to a 15# or 18# ball to better match mass/strength.) Leg tosses: we added the BJJ leg toss (overhead, flexibility) to the boxing leg toss (essentially leg lifts, for abs/hip flexors; 10 overheads and 25 leg lifts, PD=6, big improvement and solid form. CST spiders 5 each direction, PD=6 and form is smoothing out. Ab stretch routine.

15# handweights: wrist/forearm/shoulder circles 10 each direction & diameter, 15 forearm circles each direction, 15 parry casts each direction, 15 L-R-L-R jabs, PD= incrementing lower, still 5 but faster pace and shorter rests between exercises. Doublehand grip: 15 front circles each direction, 15 waterwheels each direction, 5 figure-8s each direction and both grips (20 total) PD=5.

10# Clubbells: Calibration swings + 10 front swing to torch PD=4 (exertion PD=3, neuromotor PD=5). Walking front swings 10 each direction PD=5 (new exercise). 5 "jugglers" each hand & direction, did this with single tool, PD=6. 10 each side swings to side torch... exaggerating the load on the cross-arm to develop core counterbalance PD=4. 15 single club swipes each arm, PD=4 even with rep increase. 15 ballistic parry casts each direction AND each grip (dominant/recessive), effectively doubling reps at the same PD=5.

Bag work: L-R-L-R fist strike 3 min, PD=4, L-R-L-R shin kicks 1 min, L-R-L-R front kicks 1 min, PD=5, less respiratory distress, form developing.

Observations: Client experiencing almost zero DOMS, and an 'addictive' feeling of power in shoulders, arms, traps. Pace continues to speed up and form/smoothness improves rapidly. Benchmark 'difficult' exercises (leg tosses, spiders) improve dramatically every time. The rep counts we started with came close to fatigue failure, all have gone up and fatigue has moderated a great deal. Dramatic progress in this short time... bearing in mind that client had a good foundation of strength to start with and needed mostly range and muscle-group correlation. Weight reduction continues, another 2# this week, but that doesn't tell the whole story as some of the 'dead weight' mass has become muscle... client observes reduced abdominal mass.

[rbibbs]

Late afternoon session, mid 90s outside, we're in the shade. WW intermediate. Medicineball 12#; shoulder & ground returns 20 each direction, situp & foot returns 20, PD=4 at full pace. We are skipping the handweights TFN, client has/does them at home so we're spending the time on things he can't do on his own. 23 leg tosses, PD=5, not allowing much rest between reps. 5 + 5 CST spiders PD=6, some respiratory distress, still finding the efficient way to do this, but note that sets doubled.

10# Clubbells: Double-club; front swings to torch, 15, PD=4, R hand grip was an issue throughout, not overtrained, bumped proximal forearm into something last week. 15 + 15 walking front swings PD=5, new exercise, good adaptation. 10 + 10 swipes PD=5, first time we did this with both tools at once. Single-club, double grip; 10 + 10 side swings to side torch PD=4. 7 + 8 pendulum lunges PD= 5, new exercise. 8 ballistic parry casts each direction and each grip PD=4... (my bad, I thought we were incrementing from 5 but we did 15 last time).

Heavy bag: Working combos (ex: jab hook jab shinkick, frontkick jab hook) concentrating on form. L-R-L-R fist strike 3 min PD= 6 with some calf and transversus fatigue, exactly what we wanted to target.

Observations: With the handweight time freed up, we are exploring more Clubbell and kickboxing technique. Notable is that we're now doing 2 sets of all the Clubbell exercises and introducing new ones, with little or no increase in PD (perceived difficulty). Exercises which demand diagonal core-activation predominate among our selections, and we work exacting technique (sometimes exaggerated) to target this area.

[rbibbs]

Backyard, temp 94, light breeze, shade. WW intermediate. Medicineball, 20 reps of each, overall PD=5 at full pace. Leg-toss, 25 with short rests at 10 and 20, PD=6. CST spiders, 5 each direction, PD and form =6, huge improvement since starting, recruiting all applicable muscle sets now, formerly trying to do it with 'pushup' muscles only.

10# Clubbells: Double-club walking swings, 2 sets of 10 walking forward and backward each. Double-hand pendulum leverage-presses, and side swings to leverage, 2 sets of 10, dominant and recessive grip each. Single-club swipes, 2 sets of 10 each arm, nonstop. Pendulum-squats, 2 sets of 10, alternating grip. Helicopters (ballistic parry casts), 2 sets of 15 each direction and each grip, break between sets, overall PD = 5.

No bag training today, client's prerogative.

Observations: Medicineball exercises at full pace, negligible fatigue, these are hard-warmups rather than developmental, why we're not incrementing reps. Expanding Clubbell routines, we have determined that they are the most productive of everything we do. All chosen exercises target abs, predominantly transversus. Palpable awareness-of-tonus in target sets after sessions, most evident in transitional structures (quads for squats, shoulder girdle overall, and notably lats). Core-support for client's existing peripheral strength improving dramatically.

[rbibbs]

Noon, backyard, mostly shade, 92 degrees, dewpoint 75 (high) and almost no breeze, energy level around 5-6. WW intermediate. Medicineball; 20 each direction shoulder, ground returns, 20 situp and leg returns, PD=4, form and pace =9. 25 leg tosses, PD=6, steady pace. CST spiders, 2 sets of 5 each direction (double previous) with PD staying ~6.

10# Clubbells: 2 sets of 15 walking swings with both tools at once. Double-hand pendulum overhead presses, and side swing to leverage press, 2 sets of 15. Double-club swipes, 2 sets of 15. Helicopters, a set of 15 each direction, then a set of 20 each direction with recessive grip. Overall PD=5, slightly longer rest breaks for water and wiping sweat from equipment. Note the increment in reps, and swipes went from single-club to double.

Bag work: 2 min L-R-L-R front (push) kicks, 3 min L-R-L-R fist strikes, varying range and mixing in elbows and uppercuts. PD=6 for kicks, 5 for fists, form pretty solid throughout for where we are at in the program.

Observations: Finding the groove on all these exercises. Incrementing reps with little difficulty. With Performance Breathing, oxygen deficit is almost a non-issue. Adapting to summer heat makes the overall workout more 'draining' (felt like a wet t-shirt contest), but resistance to muscular fatigue has improved markedly across-the-board, and we're readily adapting to increments (like adding reps, sets, or adding complexities such as walking to swings and going from single-club swipes to double).

The core of this thread is the progress the client is making. (The PD's are his; conveniently we pace well together.) It reflects my own work too, as this 90-minute session is my primary strength work for the week and I do all the exercises alongside my client. I have two more 90-min sessions per week of BJJ. Saturday I had a 4-hr BJJ seminar in addition. My own thoughts, feelings, images are, how remarkable it is that this pace is sustainably comfortable for me, a longterm-inactive catabolist and near-ectomorph. There are times in the exercises (like the side swings/leverage torch, and the timed bag drills, where I feel that I’d like to stop, but after going to rep-count or time, I’m gratified to find that I didn’t have to stop. I don't get DOMS (neither of us do), but a delightful degree of PEMA--post-exertion muscle awareness. That feeling is the 'hedonistic' reward that keeps me doing this. The 'rational' rewards, like articulative health and expanding physical abilities, might be a little on the nebulous side to keep me motivated, were it not for "the feeling".

[rbibbs]

Noon, backyard, 85deg, dewpoint 67, intermittent breeze. Energy level 5-6; summer conditions a little less formidable, but Sunday noon follows Saturday night if you catch my drift :wink: . WW intermediate. 12# Medicineball: shoulder & ground returns 20 each direction, situp & foot returns 20 each. Leg-toss, 25. CST spiders, 2 sets of 5 each direction. Overall PD=4, leg-toss and spiders 5, but both these were near-impossible 2 months ago.

10# Clubbells: Double-club walking swings, 2 sets of 20 forward & backward. Pendulum presses, 2 sets of 20. Side swings to torch, 2 sets of 15 (a rep is both sides). Double-club swipes, a set of 15 and a set of 20. Helicopters, 2 sets of 20 each direction. Overall PD=4, some grip fatigue in walking swings and shoulder fatigue in side swings brings those PDs closer to 6.

Bag work: 3 min L-R-L-R strikes, 2 min free-form striking. PD=5.

Observations: Form and power-efficiency good. We're doing almost 3 times as much work as we were earlier, and it's gone from gruelling exertion to challenging fun as we recruit more muscle groups into the full-body exercises. Monitoring form and perceived fatigue closely, to make sure we're targeting core-coherency.

[rbibbs]

5:30P, backyard, mostly shade, 90 deg, dewpoint 61 (moderate for TX in August), breeze, energy level 6. WW intermediate; Medicineball routine, 20 each; leg-toss, 25; PD=4 (legtoss =5, at full pace.. the early reps are easy, the last few are hard). (Forgot to do spiders :oops: --let's say we were eager to get to Clubbells).

10# Clubbells: Double-club walking swings, 2 sets of 20, a little grip fatigue, otherwise, PD=4. Pendulum presses, double-club swipes, 2 sets of 20, PD=4; pendulum-squats (alternating legs), 2 sets of 20, one each with (D)ominant & (R)ecessive grip; side swings to torch, 20 with D grip and 15 with R grip, PD=6. Ballistic parry casts, 20 each direction, 2 sets, one D grip, one R grip, PD=4.

Kickboxing: 3-min L-R-L-R fist strike drill, PD=4. We did some Shock Absorption (head, shoulder, hip, thigh strikes, mostly with hands, some with feet) and (arm) parry practice.

Observations: All our Perceived Difficulty ratings are now down in the 4-6 range. All the exercises start out at 4, the 'harder' ones fatigue to 6 toward the end (but were much more difficult a couple months ago). Weight has come back to 268, diet isn't as tight as we'd like it, some of that increase could still represent fat loss/muscle gain. Client experiences a pleasant level of post-extertion muscle awareness, particularly teres, delts, quads, but no 'soreness'. (Coach experiences much the same, plus upper lats.) Our form is good, consistently around 7. We'd likely get more 'development' done with 15s, though the 10s are doing their job for our core coherence/articulation.

[rbibbs]

Sunday noon, 84 deg, cloudy/shade, breeze, dewpoint very high at 77 (displaces oxygen), energy level 6. WW intermediate. Medicineball, 20 each exercise and direction, full pace, PD=4. 25 leg toss, PD=5. CST spiders, 2 sets of 5 each direction, PD=6. Pace and form good, ~8, and the 'difficulty' level of the more challenging of the warmup routines continues to drop.

10# Clubbells; 2 sets of 20 of all exercises: Double-club walking swings, front pendulum to 4-corner leverage press, double-club swipes, side swings to torch, ballistic parry casts. On the double-hand exercises, we use recessive grip for the second set. PD=4, side swings = 5.

3:30 L-R-L-R fist strike, 2:30 mixed striking flow, PD=4. (Increased duration by 30 seconds and the adaptation did not make the exercise 'harder'.)

Observations: I lumped the RPE, RPD (exertion, discomfort) into one score, Perceived Difficulty, as an expedient, so that I don't have to carry a clipboard (I can remember single values long enough to write them down here), but doing so somewhat shortchanges both the recordkeeping and the evidence of progress. The more challenging exercises--side swings, medicineball situps, leg toss, spiders--still require a fairly high degree of exertion, BUT the amount of discomfort associated with exertion has gone WAY down. As discomfort has gone down, we've increased reps, added sets, increased pace. 'On the record', we see the changes in the amount of work done, and the 'difficulty' score gradually working its way downward. Had I been documenting 'discomfort', the results of our training would appear as dramatic in text as it does in person. Nothing we do is a 'struggle' anymore, and it was initially.

[rbibbs]

Client is out of town this weekend, so it's just me. 3PM, outdoors, temp 90, dewpoint 71, breeze. Energy level 6. WW intermediate.

10# Clubbells: Double-club walking swings, 2 sets (set = 10 walking forward, 10 walking backward) for a total of 40 swings. 1 set of 16 reps, 4-corner leverage press dominant grip, and a second set with recessive grip. Double-club swipes, 2 sets of 15. Side swings to torch, one set of 15 each dominant/recessive grip (rep = one L swing and one R swing). Single-club, double-hand grip pendulum lunge/squat, one set each dom/rec grip, alternating legs for 16 reps. Ballistic parry casts, 4 sets of 15, alternating direction and grip.

Mowed the north yard and edged it with hedge clippers (too cheap to buy a weedwhacker, and it's also a body-flow ground exercise).

Observations: PD for all exercises starts out around 3 and ramps up toward 6 by the end of the final set. Negligible discomfort, so PD is pretty much tracking exertion. Form 7~8, except squats, bird legs plus uneven ground slops form down to 6 on those. Fatigue most evident in grip/forearms but not near failure; long vibration rests between exercises to scrounge up more glycogen to fuel these groups for the next set. Good post-exercise muscle awareness, feel stronger the next day rather than tired/sore/weak, suggests the rep/set count and pace are about appropriate to the exercise selection and my current ability to perform and recover. I want to emphasize the value of performing all double-hand exercises with both dominant and recessive grip-- it definitely changes the dynamic of the exercise, and I think it's mandatory for developing symmetry of strength and articulation.

[rbibbs]

Noon session, back yard, temp 85, dewpoint 73 (high), shade, light breeze, energy level 7. WW intermediate. Medicineball warmup, 20 each direction, shoulder returns, ground returns, 20 each situp and foot returns, single-hand toss (didn't count those, they're just fun). Leg toss, 25 reps, full pace. PD for the medicineball is 3, leg toss has improved enormously, it's down around 4 (and it was gruelling when we started). CST spiders, 2 sets of 5 each direction, PD=5, it's not that much 'exertion' per se, we're working on form, ease, use of structure.

10# Clubbells: 2 sets of 10 each direction (forward/backward) walking swings. 2 sets of 20 4-corner leverage press, alternating grip between sets. 2 sets of 20 lunge-squats, alternating legs each rep. 2 sets of 20 double-club swipes. 2 sets of 20 side swings to torch, alternating grip between sets. 2 sets of 20 each direction, ballistic parry casts, alternating grips between sets. PD=4 overall. Form is tight, 'discomfort' is basically zero, we're not struggling, just having fun.

Shockability: 2 sets mixed strike shock absorption, head/shoulders/gut/hips/thighs. One set of framed parry drill, head chest and gut as targets.

Observations: This begins our 4th month of training. We've increased pace, reps, sets, added exercises and sophistication. The initial red-faced, gasping exertion just doesn't happen at all any more. To make the Clubbell training efficient, in terms of strength, our current ability, and time we have to spend, we really need 15s. The budget won't allow that just now. So we'll get the form, articulation, and neurological benefits from the 10s.

[Connie Brown]

Rick if I haven't told you before, these reports are great. Thanks for bringing us along.

[rbibbs]

Thanks Coach Brown :) (let me be the first to call you that?) :!:

As long as I've got this window open--
The 'PD' stands for Perceived Difficulty. It's a single number that quantifies Rate of Exertion, Rate of Form, and Rate of Discomfort for simplicity in record-keeping. It's not as definitive as the 3-term method. For example, Rate of Discomfort declined radically over the first four sessions, which wasn't dramatically illustrated by the combined rating. But we knew that would happen. Discomfort is always 1 now, so it's completely out of the picture. The PD number will go up if either fatigue or form are detracting from performance. For 'positive reinforcement', perhaps this scale could be inverted and the number called "Perceived Ease".

The coach and trainee can both remember what performance issue (form, efficiency, fatigue/weakness) goes with what exercise. In a more complex setting where I had to keep track of a dozen+ clients, I think I'd need the additional datapoints recorded. On the other hand, I also wouldn't be doing the entire set of exercises alongside each client, so I'd have lots of time to fill out clipboards. :wink:

Rick

[rbibbs]

Noon, 90 deg, dewpoint 73, no breeze. Energy started out around 7... but after a "fall preview" of cool weather, summer returned and it wore us down as the session progressed. WW intermediate. Medicineball: 20 reps shoulder and ground returns each direction, 20 foot returns, 25 situp returns (5 more than before), singlehand toss for fun.

FORTY leg tosses at full pace. Ten was 'impossible' when we started. PD ramped from 3 to 7 during this set. We are still fatiguing on CST spiders, so we broke the exercise down into positions of structural strength, lifting diagonal arms/legs, then turning 1/4 of the way, holding these positions for a count of 5, 2 sets of 4 alternating corners, both face down and face up. These are still difficult and we're trying to analyze why. Fatigue is in forearms face down, forearms and transverse abs face up.

10# Clubbells: 2 sets of 10 walking swings forward/backward each. 2 sets of 20 double-club swipes. Set of 20 and set of 24 pendulum lunge-squats, alternating legs each rep, alternating grip per set. 2 sets of 20 4-corner leverage press, alternating grip per set. 2 sets of 20 ballistic parry casts each direction, alternating grip per set. Skipped side swings. We were getting tired (as distinct from local fatigue).

Observations: I think the turnaround in the weather wore us down faster than we're used to, plus we added reps to some of the more difficult exercises, and got systemically fatigued faster. So we built stamina in adverse conditions on the most challenging exercises, perhaps at the cost of cutting the session short of all our targets (especially the side swings, which develop diagonal core activation).

[rbibbs]

No client, just me. Warmup, vacuum the house for an hour (it needed it). Backyard starting at 2:20, temp 94, dewpoint 72, light breeze, shade. WW intermediate, shoulders working well (the left one has had 'gaps' in stable-ROM for several months).

10# Clubbells: 20-20-15 walking swings both directions fwd/bkwd. 20-20-10 double-club swipes. 20-20-10 pendulum squats, alternating legs. 20-20-10 side swings to torch. 20-20-12 4-corner pendulum press. 25-25 ballistic parry cast each direction. All double-hand exercises alternate grips between sets.

Mow the front yard. Total time (outside) 90 min.

Observations: Energy level 8, specially considering the weather. Between-set rest time approx. 1.5X set time. Neuromusculoskeletal responsiveness=9 (form divided by 'my best form')... not too shabby... I probably wouldn't have added 25% more reps otherwise. Rate of ease=5(exertion plus discomfort divided by 2, then inverted to a positive scale of 10). I'm really growing core and core-transitional (like lats) power, but it has yet to radiate down to my grip. In fact I have to rely on the Clubbell knob for all this work, to keep ahold of them. Still, that's a "grip", isn't it? It's going to take a day of WW and Body-Flow active recovery to get these muscles back to their nominal length.

[rbibbs]

Subsequent training:
Sunday-- WW.
Monday-- WW; 15# handweights, 20-20 forearm circles and circular curls (10 each direction per set).
Tuesday-- WW; BJJ technical training, 5 min softwork sparring (intensity=4).
Wednesday (today)-- WW; Clubbell session with 2# dowels instead of my 10s.
Observations: The additions to Saturday's session weren't readily apparent while I was doing them, but the additional recovery load has propagated forward 4 days. Upper body ROM is 8% restricted from nominal. Hip/thigh stability was 70% this morning and returned to 90% throughout the day as I continued to move. Since my (power X range) product has gone down, I've gone past the peak of training efficiency. I hypothesize that this is how the peak gets moved forward. To comply with this cycle, I will be training more moderately the rest of this week while my recovery catches up.

[rbibbs]

Client came down with flu so it's just me. Backyard 2PM, temp 75 dewpoint 71, breeze, clouds. Physical energy 7, emotional energy 6. WW intermediate warmup.

10# Clubbells: Double club; 10 swings to horizontal + 20 walking swings fwd/bkwd, 10 pendulums to torch + 20 walking swings fwd/bkwd, 20-20 swipes. 20-20 single-club pendulum tosses (hand to hand). Double-hand grip; 20-20 side swings to torch, 20-20 pendulum squats, 20-20 4-corner leverage press, 20-20 ballistic parry cast each direction (80 total). Double hand exercises alternate grips between sets. RPD for grip is 7, for other areas 3. RPE tracks RPD, I'm not 'pushing myself', though I 'can', I know the recovery consequences. Form tracks my other mental attributes at the time (like focus); today was a notch down, 8 might be a little generous.

Total time to this point, 35 min; mowed backyard, half hour.

Observations: Grip fatigue a notch more noticeable than I was accustomed to, other fatigue negligible. With the cooler weather, rest times between sets down to 0.75 of set time. Cardiopulmonary response good-- this is historically a weak spot for me but I have the Performance Breathing for this circuit "down". Neuromusculoskeletal responsiveness =8, down a notch, I attribute this to notch-lower focus, emotional energy state being lower. After the whole routine (including mowing, showering), I feel stronger, not tired-er... the physiological deficits don't appear until the next day... not 'soreness' per se, more like residual tension that needs to be stretched and normalized with WW. Good tension-balance however, ROM is not compromised.

CST Coaches: With a few additions and modifications, I have been doing this routine for 4 months. Am I at a cycle-end, and need to set it aside for a while? I like the results, especially in the core and shoulder girdle, but my understanding of cycling is not that good, and I don't want to overtrain/overadapt/burn-out these structures, or stagnate.

Rick

[rbibbs]

Both of us this weekend, client just got over the flu so we went light with extended rest periods. Backyard, noon, temp 80, dewpoint 70, very little air moving, felt 'hotter than it should have'. Energy level 5.

WW intermediate. 12# medicineball; shoulder returns, ground returns, 20 each direction, 20 situp and foot returns, singlehand toss (we don't count reps of those). 20 leg toss.

10# Clubbells: 24-24 double-club walking swings (12 fwd, 12 bkwd); 40-40 side swings to torch, alternating sides/rep and alternating grip/set; 20-20 pendulum lunge squats, alternating legs/rep and grip/set; 20-20 double-club swipes; 20 ballistic parry casts each direction.

Observations: Form good thoughout, 8. Discomfort low, 3. Exertion moderate, 5. Client missed the last two weeks and had the flu last week, so we weren't trying to 'set any records', just incrementally get back to work.

[rbibbs]

Food: Breakfast, then medium popcorn and coke (resisted Milk Duds).
Activity: Went to "America's Team-World Police", L'd our A's off (great for the core).

The client has assumed a 60-70 hour workweek and no longer has time for regular formal training in addition to his other social and domestic obligations.

Thanks to everyone who has followed and commented on this thread. This will be the last entry.

Train and live well,
Rick