simple KB Day

I had less time than originally thought today for training. School is coming to an end so I just did some KB movements for patterning. I only had about 30 minutes to get some training in. I haven't' snatched in over a month and have been itching to get back at it.

Foam Roll - glutes, hip flxrs, back/lats, pecs

Ankle mobility drills
Hip Flxr Stretch

Wind mills 16kg 6 24kg 6

Goblet squats 16kg x 8 24kg x 8

Snatch weight ladder
16kg 5/5
24kg 5/5
28kg 5/5
24kg 5/5
16kg 5/5

16kg 10/10

HR got up and I wanted to do more. However time was short and I think its best to keep the reps low while coming back.I've noticed the most taxing part is the down swing of the snatch. Relearning how to absorb that momentum and redirect it efficiently. Focusing on breath really helped.

Double KB work tomorrow
Big Lift day monday.

Day 2

My orthostatic score today showed I hadn't recovered as well from yesterdays work out. Today was not to intense.

Foam Roll
Static Stretch
Movement Prep

Bottoms up Get ups 16kg 1/1 1/1 1/1 - I haven't done a full get up since I hurt my ankle. These felt good for the achillies and they really activated my entire shoulder complex

Goblet Squat prys 16kg 20 second holds x 4

Goblet Pick up to Sumo Squat 16kg 5

A1. OH Press 60 8/8 70 3 - I haven't done these ina while and I have gotten 5 on each side with the 32kg so I wanted to see where I was at with 70. I also did a extra set of 7 with the 55 for my left side because it was harder

A2. SL RDL 45 Ipsy 6 Contra 6 45 db in each hand 6 - these felt great I'm goign to load them more now

A3. ARP Gray level 3 1/2 Kneeling 8/8/8

B1. DB Bench Press 60s 5 75 Single 8 Alternating 8 Double 8

B2. Hip Flxr stretch- for better hip extension on leg curls

B3. Swiss Ball Leg Curls 8/8/8

B4. Suit Case Carries 50 2x 40 yards 2x 40 yards - these felt phenomenal. The last set I was able to really get full body tension and more recruitment

Conditioning tomorrow

New day 1

Ankle feels better. However I am still experiencing sharp pain on the Achilles tendon. I'm suspecting there might be a small strain or tear. Getting a MRI soon .Anyways I haven't trained for a week because I was on a 4 day school trip and the last 3 days have been busy finishing up my semester for school Today I had some time to really spend on foam rolling and good training. Still no front squats yet though.

Foam Rolling
Static Stretching
Movement Prep

A1. Hip Thrusts BW 8/8 Bar 8/8 - Need more glute recruitment

A2. Chin Up Bw x 3 45x 5 70x5 85x3 Pull up with 25 pound DB held with feet x 7 wanted to strengthen ankle dorsiflexon

A3. Sitr the Pot x sets of 10 These are pretty hard. I like the way they light up my core.

B1. Single Leg Row 50x6 70 3x6 Each side - These flet Great

B2. Hip Flxr Lunge Stretch 3 x 25 second holds - I wast not getting enough hip extension in Straight Leg Glute Bridge so I added thesei nbefore them

B3. Straight Leg Glute Bridge 6/6/6/6 Uts been a long time since i have done these. I definitely need more glute recruitment.

B4. Ring Fall outs 8/8/8/8

Conditioning

Small Fan Airdyn 4 1 mile intervals with resting to recovery HR in between miles. My Recovery time was a lot longer than last week, Probably because I hadn't trained for a while.

Today Felt great.

I want to start squatting again when the pain goes away in ankle. I'm in talks with Athletes Performance for rehab. Unfortunately they are out of network and I'm waiting to hear back how much my insurance company will pay for. If they are to pricey than I have a few other CFMT Certified Pts I can look at in phoenix.

Here is the Stirring the pot exercise I used today

Day 2

Foam Roll
Static Stretchin
Movement Prep

A1. Standing OH Press w/ DBS 45x8 60 3 sets of 8 - I havne't done this in over a month but these felt great

A2. SL RDL - BW 8/8/8 - Trying to get some good proprioceptive training for my ankle. Part of my rehab

A3. Anti rotational Press 1/2 kneeling Gray Cook Band level 3 8/8/8

B1. Flat DB Bench 60 x 5 85 Single 5 Alternating 5 Double 5

B2. Leg Curl Swiss Ball - 10/10/10

B3. Suitcase Carry 45LB DB 30 yard walk each side for 2 sets

Conditioning: Air dyne Miles I used one of the newer models with small fan. Rest is determined how long it takes for my Heart Rate to get back to 65% of max(Recovery).

M1: 1:50 HR 170 Rest 1:25
M2: 1:44 HR 184 Rest 2:16
M3: 1:44 HR 187 Rest 2:30
M4: 1:44 HR 190 Rest 2:50
M5: 1:42 HR 193

Back to swinging

I decided to get some conditioning in before class today. I am slowly becoming more active like I was before my ankle sprain. I wanted to try swings today, because it has been a while and I miss doing them.

Foam roll-
Hamstring stretch

A1. Goblet Squat Prys 3x20 seconds- harder to extend t spine because I haven't been doing this consistently

A1. Windmills 16kg 3x5

20/10 Alternating 1 arm swings 16kg x10 seconds x 2 rounds

These felt great, my heart rate got up to 177 today. Nothing to extreme.

I want to do airdyne miles after class today.

Day 1

Ankle still feeling funky. No squats yet.

Foam Roll
Stretch
Prep - still limited

Get up position drills 16kg up to high bridge

Goblet Prys 3x

A1. Chin ups BW 3 45x5 55x5 65x5 - Wanted to push it today with the weight

A1. Linear Planks on Swiss ball with alternating knee raises 5/5 5/5 5/5

B1. Ring Row BW 8 45x5 - This is to funky to load.
Changed to SL Rows 55 8/8

B2. Ring Fall outs 8/8/8

ESD
Airdyne 4 1 mile intervals Recovery = 125 BPM This was done on the Old School Big Fans. Felt great to Get HR UP.

M1 2:30 HR 177 Recover 2 minutes
M2 2:34 HR 183 Recover 2:20
M3 2:39 HR 185 Recover 2:30
M4 2:29 HR 188

I got this idea from Mike Boyles blog. Real good conditioning interval.

http://mboyle1959.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/airdyne-intervals-41511/

Modified day 3

Ankle is responding well to recovery. Still no impact or big bi lateral lifts yet.

Foam Roll
Stretch
Prep

A1. Incline DB Bench 45x8 55 Single 8 Alternating 8 Doubles 8 - I haven't done these in 2 years and they felt great.

A2. Power Chops - level 3 cook band 1/2 kneeling 3x8

B1. SL Rows 55 4 sets of 8 - These felt Great! Its been over 6 months since I have done them. Ankle was holding good stability

B2. Power Lifts 0 Level 3 cook band 1/2 kneeling 3x8

I was pressed for time, so no condition. However I took very little rest between sets and got my HR really high.

I was really happy with how the Single Leg Rows felt. Wit the contral lateral load I was really able to activate the glute of the back leg. My form was the best it has ever felt. I think I might switch these out for ring rows. Ring rows without a vest or chains are really hard to load properly. I don't like having to rely on people's help with with holding a weight because most of the people at the YMCA are incompetent. This is from general experience. One time I asked someone to load 3 45s on my back while I did push ups and as soon as they loaded they walked away, leaving me to hurl plates off my back as I try to get out of the way. The more self sustainable I can be at my current gym, the better. Single leg rows work on 1 legged balance, great glute activation and can still work the upper back great. They also provide a proprioceptive rich environment. My hamstrings are sore from yesterday.

Next weeks training will be a little scattered. I have a field trip later in the week, more on that to come.

Need some intensity.

I haven't gotten my HR up in a week, so naturally I've been going crazy. I deicded to do a quick circuit that with exercises I could do correctly with no pain or compensation form my ankle.

25on/25off

MB Slam - rapid response focusing on keeping pillar, good knee and hip extension.
rest
Planks
rest
Explosive band rows with level 3 gray cook band. Keep a tall neck and spin and try to rows as explosive and as long as I could. 10 feet form anchor point for more resistance.
rest

repeat x 2 = 1 round

This went well however I could not get my HR Up high enough. Only in the 140s.

I changed the protocol to 30/15 x 7 sets for 2 more rounds and got HR up to 177. Not as high as I wanted but much better.

Definietely feel less stressed out.

Tomorrow Ill try airdyne and see how that feels with ank.e

modified day 2

My ankle is feeling better today. I still have to be cautious and limit the range of motion. I did want to get some stretching and what warms up I could do today.

Foam roll
Static stretching
Dynamic warm up - I can only get my knee an inch past my toes in dorsiflexion on the left. Lots of t spine and over head prep for today

Get up position drills 16kg arms/ neck rolls and wrist rolls from roll over to high bridge.

Goblet prys 3x20seconds

A1. Full ROM HSPU 4/3/3/3/3 - have not done these in a while.

A2. Hip Flxr lunge stretch

A3. Leg curls - swiss ball 8/8/8

B1. DB bench 45x8 60x5 75 Single 8 Alternating 8 Doubles 8

B2. Shoulders Elevated Glute Bridges 8/8/10

Ankle is still tight on the bike. I'm trying to come up with a good metabolic circuit for tomorrow because I need to hit the cardio again without taxing the ankle.

I'm avoiding any bi lateral or uni lateral leg lifts till I can get proper function back in the ankle. So next couple workouts are going to have to be creative. Nothing involving foot balance or foot load.

Modified Day 1

I spent the whole weekend doing R.I.C.E. ,doing pull ups and push ups. You gotta do what your body will give you. I'm really focusing on keeping a positive outlook. I think the biggest problem with my injuries in the past was that my mental state would deteriorate. I get anxious, restless and self loathing when I don't train for a while because of injury. I also had a tendency to not train at all, even what I could train, some body parts. Keeping that in mind I want to get momentum in training again so I went in today.

Foam Rolled and Gentle message of injured ankle area
No static stretching or dynamic warm up - most of this involved using my ankles and I just want to focus on getting good tissue quality today.

A1. Chin ups BW: 4 25 x8/8/7 BW on Rings 6x6
A2. Planks with torso on swiss ball. Alternating Leg lifts 3x6 each side. - I haven't done these in a while I forget how hard they can be. Trying to make sure my knee comes straight up no kicking my hip out to get by a hip flexr restriction

B1. Ring Rows BW: 8/8/8/8 - Focusing on good lat activation
B2. Ring Abb Fall outs 8/8/8

That is all I did today. I can't really think of any cardio to do except Arms only airdyne. Ill do that tomorrow.

I was definitely a little worn from all the compulsive pull ups I did over the weekend. It felt good though to start training what I can again. i think its important to keep momentum going. Another flip side is all the nice juicy hormones for tissue repair that are brought on by exercise, might help heal my ankle faster. I don't have a study to back this, just a theory.

Thoughts on Recovery and The Pitfalls of Compensatory Patterns

Ankle is feeling much better today. Its been 4 days since the injury, the swelling and inflammation have gone done considerably. The ankle is still stiff in some positions, but for having feel on my ankle four days earlier it is in pretty good shape.

I want to do what I can but I still do not what to use my ankle for much. It still needs to heal and I'm worried about using compensatory patterns while training. The body has natural software it loads when there is an injury present. Especially on a weight bearing joint, like the Ankle. It will move the rest of the chain of joints differently to accommodate the current limited ability of the injured area. This software is needed because it tells you when you put the joint through too much range of motion or stress. You feel tightness or sharp pain. This is to prevent you from further injuring the joint before it heals. It's an Injury Protected Software.

There are pitfalls to this protective pattern. It is in fact a pattern and like any pattern if its repeated enough it could start to ingrain and this new pattern becomes the new normal. This will happen if the person returns to training before the injury is healed and it also happens when the injury is healed but proper function is not returned to the joint, but training resumes anyway.

Take my ankle for example. If I start normal training again while the injury is not healed I will definitely compensate during my movements like front squats, single leg squats, lateral bounds and other ankle demanding exercises. Also the possibility that I could get re injured again.

The next scenario might not be as obvious. Lets say my ankle is fully healed. Pain no longer exists and with an MRI the joint's integrity is back to 100%( we got lucky here). Let's say you have back full range of motion in all planes. There is a chance you could be good from here, however just because you have full range of motion when you test, does not mean your body will use that recovered ROM. The brain can still be working on the injury protected software. It is still running on that conservative software that assumes the ankle is still injured and will naturally limit its range of motion, with no pain. Well if you go into exercises that are explosive and dynamic; like sprinting, regular sports, Olympic lifting, plyo. These will put you in high threshold strategies. This is where your brain makes a decision to go with the path of least resistance. If you are on a good movement program than it will be good efficient body mechanics. However this may not be the case if you train with sloppy form and no attention to true functional movement or If you are coming off an injury and still on outdated Injury Protected Software.
Let's take Ankle Dorsiflexion for example, because it's easy. During one of these high threshold movements if my brain still think that the ankle is not capable of going into full dorsi flexion it is going to get the mobility from somewhere. Most likely it will cause the knee to cave in while the ankle is turned out, creating or further ingraining a valgus pattern. This raises the chance for re injuring of the ankle, the knee or any other joints up the line that will be compromised from this.

For me to get back to training two things need to be considered.

Have I healed from this injury?

This is easier to answer. with adequate rest, nutrition, soft tissue work and time it should heal up fine. It won't be too hard to tell after a couple weeks or recovering where my foot is , in terms of healing. I just have to be completely honest with how I feel, not how I want to feel.

Does my ankle have proper function, again?

This second question is much trickery. Not only do I want to make sure that I get soft tissue and stretching done. I want to make sure I get full range of motion back before I start regaining function. Yes each one needs the other. Another layer to this is to make sure I am using the right patterns after it has healed. Switching out the old and useful injury protected software for new software that takes into account the regained integrity of a joint. Retraining patterning of movement. In the FMS paradigm, mobility first than through strength and correct patterning, stability to further ingrain good movement.

I'm still thinking of ways to measure good proper function, obviously the dori flexion wall stretch. I also think monitoring my gate and just how I move. Attention to detail is really going to be the key in making sure the ankle is fully rehabbed before training.

I'm open to suggestions though


Another problem with being injured and training, I have the ability to over analyze an ankle sprain. Than turn it into a long winded blog post like this one.

Ankle

21 hours after the injury. Pretty swollen. RICEPOT for a couple days.

At least I can do pull ups and 1 legged push ups.

speed bump

Wednesday I was feeling pretty tired from jitsu the night before. So i put my work out off till today.


I did Foam rolling, some bottoms up drills, get up activation drills, wind mills and goblet squats no particular order.

Today I felt great and I was going to make some changes to my template. Namely switch in RDLS in and move leg curls to my other day.

Foam Rolling
Stretch
Movement Prep

Rapid Response drills

Broad Jumps 2 x 6 - my distance for these was great. Really felt connected in the speed of hip extension and attacking the ground.

Lat Bounds 1 x 6

On my last rep of Lat bounds the plastic ring I was jumping to slipped when I landed on it. The floor itself was very smooth along with the light plastic ring there was not much friction. I slipped as I was landing and fell awkward on my other ankle. It immediately hurt and the side of it is pretty tight and inflamed. So that was it for the day.

Now I'm Iceing and taking a lot of different stuff to help with the inflammation:
Garlic
Turmeric
Lots of fish oil
Arginine
Glutamine
Drinking Green Tea

A lot of this stuff I take daily just for a while it is going to be in bigger amounts. Along with adequate rest and macro nutrient intake I should be good to go around a week. Just going to take it day by day. I have to make sure that when the acute injury is gone and hte ligaments feel healed to start doing stretching and getting back the ROM.

Lesson learned I need to find a way to secure the rings or just not use them. Just bad luck and another reason why risk vs reward should be considered. I didn't think about those rings slipping. Overall I'm trying to stay positive. This could of been a lot worse so Ill take a couple days off with some active recovery and than start soft tissue work.

Cricuits and Jitz

30 on 15 off x 7 rounds = 5:15

24KG 1 Hand swing Left
24KG 1 Hand Swing Right
Burpees
MB rapid response slams
Planks
Swing Left
Swing Right

3 rounds, Felt good, HR got up in the 180s and Recovery at the most took 2 mins or the least was 90 seconds to get to 65% Max HR.


This evening I got to do some jiu jitsu. Really fun rolling sessions and got a great work out.

Big Lift day tomorrow.

Good training day

Orthostatic score was 8 today. Body felt great so I knee a good training day was coming.

Foam Roll
Static Stretch
Dynamic Warm up

Squat Jumps 2 x 5

Squat Cleans 95x5 135x5 155x5x2 - Good alignment

A1. Towel T spine extension 6x10 second holds

A2. Front Squat 95x5 135x5 155x5 175x6 - keeping the volume low this week, next week Ill ad more sets when if I feel I don't need as many correctives. I'm trying to keep every set crisp and these felt great. Harder to keep great form than it was on my leg.

A3. Goblet Prys 6x15 second holds- This position is feeling more and more natural. Keeping my spine up was easy, I just had more tightness in my adductors that I need to roll out

B1. Chin ups BW x 8 25 x 8,6,8 BW x 8
B2. Swiss Ball roll outs 3x10

C1. SL Squats with 15 pound DBs and Blue Mini band for RNT 3x6 - These were hard but form was good. Keeping the arch in the foot is key

C2. Ring Row BW 2x8 45x6 35x8 BWx8

C3. Ring Fall outs 3x10

ESD - Decided to work on some change of direction, Its been a while

Load n Lift Patterning 1x5 Each Leg

Cross over Alternating each side 2x5

Crossover to 10 yd sprint alternating each side 2x5

Pop up to 10 yd sprint 8x - These were hard but they felt better. I gotta keep my good pillar core during the sprint though and not fall into back arch. It has to happen intrinsically though.

I was surprised that this ESD really got my HR up and I was worried I would not get enough condition from it.

It has been over 3 weeks since I did any weighted vertical or horizontal pulling. I was excited to get back into the rhythm of training. I feel good about my front squat. Keeping focus on retracing the shoulder blades along with the mobility drill is really helping the position. Only problem is the bar really goes into my throat. Probably another week or two before I start hitting them hard. I think I'm just always going to keep the reps at 6 or under anything more and form starts to break down.

Tomorrow: Metabolic circuit in the morning and some Jiujitsu at night.

Orthostatic score was 14 today

Foam Rolling
Stretch hamstrings.

Get up drills for 20 minutes, wrist rolls, neck rolls, arm bars

A1. 1 arm KB Rows 16x8 24x8x3
A2. Goblet Squat prys 16kg 4x20 secsonds

20/10 x 10 sets = 1 round
1 arm kb swings(alternating) 16kg

3 rounds. Felt good, just wanted to get MY HR up and be outside.

Evolving Your Template

I think its important to dial in a good template's for yourself, stick with it and make small improvements toward being more efficient and synergistic. Once you find something that works for your the next step is to find ways to make it better. You also learn how your body reacts to certain changes.

I also recommend writing little notes to yourself in your work out log when you do your exercises. Leave room to write comments on what you did good and what you can improve, if anything stands out. Its helpful for several reasons. The act of writing down a correction on paper, requires absolute intent. This will keep it fresh in your mind for the upcoming set and a lot of the time corrections are more about attention to detail. However it could also make you aware of a restriction . This can get you thinking of mobility or stability work you can sandwich around that exercise that will fix the flaws in technique.

Ill give an example.

Let's say we are doing a Single Leg Romanian Dead lift(SLRDL). You notice when are the bottom of the exercise your toe externally rotates. You make a note of it in your log and try to correct it with attention and focus in the next couple sets. You notice it still rotates out. This could tell you of a tightness somewhere. With some deduction, you narrow the problem down to be a tightness in the lateral hamstring of the standing leg. This isn't always the case when this happens in this exercise but for the purpose of hte example it is.

So with this information you decide to complex a Lateral Hamstring Stretch for 4x 7 second holds each leg before every SL RDL set. With mobility and attention the external rotation of the foot goes away over time. This is putting stability(strength) on top of the mobility you gained from the stretch, prior to the set.

I put up this video of the stretch:



Joe Sansalone showed me this stretch. I have also seen it on Mike Boyles FSC 3.0 DVDS.

Some ques for this:

Keep the toes pointed up or even slight rotated inward for more of a stretch.
Keep the ankle dorsiflexed
Flex the quad to relax the hamstrings even more
Bring the hip of the standing leg towards the knee cap of the stretching leg. All the movement should come from the hips and the shoulders only move as far as the hips
Pack the neck.

This is a great way to program good neural patterns for the brain. Some of the exercise and corrections that have worked for me:

Front Squat
Valgus problem: mini band in and outs or mini band squats with ball
Ankle Mobility problem: Ankle Rocks on wall , Leg swings, Calf Stretch
Ass tuck at the bottom problem, the technical term : Quadruped Hip Rock stretch.

SL Squat
Valgus problem: mini band in and outs

BB snatch
Shoulder mobility problem: Ys between sets, Soft tissue work with spike ball on lats and under arm.

RFESS
Tightness form Adhesion in hip flxers of back leg: Spikey ball to work out knot followed by hip flxr lunge stretch

Sprinting
To much arch in back: make sure the hips have enough mobility to get good extension . Also throw planks in the mix to reinforce a tight core.

KB Swings
Not enough hip extension or pop in at the top: Hip flxor stretch and or Glute Bridges

Another improvement I had made is to really work on monitoring my recovery and how the CNS is responding. I've been mulling over different methods of how to do this that are easy to do and consistent.

I settled on the Orthostatic Heart Rate Test. My specific protocol is as soon as I wake up and piss, lay supine with HR monitor on. Monitor my heart rate and try to relax for 3 minutes, I try to nail down the average HR in those 3 minutes. On the 3 minute mark I slowly get up I record my peak HR jump at 3:15. Than I wait till 4:15 and record the number. I subtract the HR 3 minute average from my 4:15 mark, this gives me a rough idea of what kind of state my central nervous system is is. They say anything outside of 10-15 beats means you haven't full recovered from the last training session. With this you should adjust the days training accordingly. I've put it into a spread sheet to start monitoring it. This only really works if I have previous data to compare to. My goal is to do this every morning to get a more accurate picture of how my body recovers and responds from the stress of training. Whatever protocol you choose for this is up to you, however it needs to be consistent in several ways. The testing procedure itself has to be the exact same, inconsistency can give false results. Also everything you do prior to that test should be about the same. As far as time woken up before the test, activity and actions you have done. This can be impossible to some extent if you do it later in the day. This is why I will do it right after waking up.

Post some of your evolutions in the comments.

Tweaks

For yesterday

Weight 179 Dressed . Lowest I've been in a while. Feeling good though, pull ups are easier because i am lighter haha.


Foam Roll
Static stretch
Jiujitsu class for 2 hours. First time coming back and it was great to be doing BJJ again.

Foam Roll
Static Stretch
Dynamic Warm up

A1. Get up with windmills at top (Get Mills) with a barbel 45x 1/5 65 x 1/5
A2. Shoulders elevated( on bench) Glute bridges 2x10 - I'm going to start loading these soon without a barbell.

B1. OH squat bar x 5 65 x 5
Snatch Balance 65 x 6
Barbel hang Snatch bar x 5 95 x 5 105x5x2 These felt great. I haven't done them in a couple weeks so I just wanted to ingrain good patterning. I really have to focus on landing with emphasis of putting weight the more medial side of the foot. This really helps me from landing to far with toes going out. I just takes constant attention because with a dynamic movement like snatches my body will go to its high threshold strategies which is the path of least resistance. I've had ankle mobility problems in the past and now my range of motion is good but I still have bad cns software from the multiple sprains when I was younger. so the tenancy is to put the toe outward to create "artifical" dorsi flexion"

a1. RDL 135x5 225x5 315x7x2 - These felt heavy today. I need to spread another day or two between trap bar dl and rdl. 1 doesn't seem to be enough, plus with the leg curls on trap bar day and sprints my hamstrings are still recovering. Not sore just feeling flat.
a2. HSPU full ROM. bw 5 sets of 3.
a3. Suitcase Carry 50 db 40 yard walk each leg for 2 sets


B2.SLRDL 60 Contra 8 Ipsy 8 Bar 95 x 8. These felt great today.
B2. DB Bench 50x8 75 Single Arm x 8 Alternating x 8 80 Doubles 5
B3. OH Waiter Walks 35 x 40yd per leg x 2 - First time doing these. It felt different and I want to work on them more.

No Conditions today decided to to rest. Ill get it in tomorrow. Ill do some light get up patterning drills tonight to warm up the shoulders. Arm bars to open up the chest from all the pressing today.

Today was good overall. I have some tweaks to make but that is part of the fun. This will be my 3rd cycle with this template. Each time it evolves and gets better.

Some ESD and Farm work tomorrow. We have to get the garden ready for vegetable season.