Cimmerian Redemption

[immovablestone]

These days are fun, I travel about an hour once a week to train with an uncle of mine that's a sadistic killing machine, and has spent over 30 years learning to fight, kill, and train in nearly every way the human condition has created. We have fun on Sundays.


Heavy bag kick combination:

Back leg front kick, lead leg round kick. 10x, then switch stances and 10x more. Doing that x5 times is one round. Did 5 rounds alternating rounds with a training partner. 1000 total kicks, my legs and midsection hated me.

Some KB work:

24KG bell, one arm clean and presses, alternating arms, Tabata pattern. 4 minutes of fun right there.

24KG bells, snatch ladder with a training partner. Double arm KB snatches (fucking brutal), 1x2x3x4x5, alternating sets with partner.

24KG bell, get-ups with the bell crooked back on the arm. 10x each side.

Then for the fuck of it because I hadn't ever tried it, did a couple sets x5 of front squats with 2 24Kg bells. Interesting.

Done. Had to call it quits w/out sparring or any hand work because of the holiday festivities, but next sunday (12/29) is our "end of the year" workout. This will be full of blood, puke, and pain...

[immovablestone]

I was rather happy the gym was open at the hour it was, but I was in an insane rush through this.

5x5 week 8 begins:

Squat:

5x150
5x170
5x195
5x220
5x245

I didn't think I was going to get the 5x245, I hadn't been eating all that well and hadn't been getting any sleep, but i got it and was happy.

Bench:

5x125
5x145
5x165
5x185
5x205

Bleh, boring but whatever, once I'm squatting 315 my shoulder should be better and I can pound these out and up again.


BOR:

5x110
5x125
5x150
5x165
5x185
5x185

I whipped out an extra set at the end because I realized I was doing lighter weight than I should have been for my 5x5 progression. I've put the weight up by like 20lbs for friday this week, can't wait for it!

[immovablestone]

Mid-week 5x5.


Squat:

Misc scretching, bodyweight squats, squats with bar.

5x150
5x170
5x200
5x200

I was happy with my form and depth on the last 2 sets, real deep.


Push Press:

5x80
5x95
5x100
5x120
5x155

Again, felt great on the shoulder, this is giving me a boner. Anyone who's had a relatively bad shoulder injury and then had it start mending can empathize here.

I supersetted each push press with x10 swings with a 32kg KB, I figured it'd be a nice warm up for deads.


Deadlift:

5x155
5x180
5x205
5x230
5x255

Felt good, tore my shins up, kept the form locked and solid throughout, I can't wait to try this proper form at higher weights.

Misc:

20x15x10x5 decline bench sit-ups.


Done, only took about an hour the whole way, I was happy with this mid-week day.

[immovablestone]

A light "Cardio" day:

Chins 5x5, different grips each time, 30-45 seconds rest between. I felt like doing some upon walking into the gym, so I did. They weren't really intended, but I was feelin frisky.

Circuit:

5x Double arm clean&press 24KG kettlebells
5x Each side, turkish getup w/40lb dumbell (arm extended up)
200 foot walk carrying 32KG kettlebells in each arm (this is walk 40ft, turn, walk, turn, etc)
10 pushups

Did 3 rounds w/out stopping longer than 10 seconds at any given point.

Done. Not bad for a little mini circuit. Big day for this will be Sunday.

[immovablestone]

5 x 5 week 8 conclusion.

SQUAT:

Misc warmup, stretching, bodyweight squats, squats with bar

5x150
5x170
5x195
5x220
3x250
8x195

Felt good, I'm positively thrilled that this is going well and that my squats are deep and not completely fucking destroying my knees and back due to fucked up form. I'm easily amused I guess.

BENCH:

Misc warmup, couple sets of 10 pushups and stretching. No idea why I warm up for this really, the weight is so easy, but whatever.

5x125
5x145
5x165
5x185
3x210
8x165

I'm going to leave this here for another week or two, then start going up the normal 5x5 progression (2%/wk, basically 5lbs) and see how my shoulder takes it.

BOR:

Misc warmup, simple stretching for the back, BOR with the bar for a bit.

5x125
5x145
5x165
5x185
3x210
8x165

Same weight as bench, feels nice ripping it up explosively into my guts while keeping my back straight and around 90degrees.

Done.

I feel like when I do this workout in about an hour that I should be doing more afterward, and maybe I will once the holidays pass and my time is more flexible.

I wouldn't mind ideas for squat assistance, in the context of my situation attempting to correct lower/upper imbalance, from any more experienced squatters/lifters that may peek into this log.

[immovablestone]

Not sure how to even describe some of this, but here goes:

WARM UP:

Misc stretching.

5 rounds of Bas Rutten all around fighting CD. Calling that a warmup is just wrong.


BEGIN:

250 heavy bag back round kicks in succession, 20 each leg x5, 10 each leg x2, then 5 each leg.


Circuit #1:

One arm KB snatches (24KG), Tabata (10 cycles, 5 total minutes)
KB Getups (24KG), shouldered, Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)
DB Getups (45LB), arm extended, Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)
KB Swings (24KG), Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)
Sanbag Swings (50LB), Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)
One arm KB Clean&Press (24KG), Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)
Sanbag Clean&Press (80LB bag), Tabata (5 cycles, 2.5 total minutes)

That was 20 minutes of fun right there. The sandbag shit was murder on the grip, good stuff.


Circuit #2:

3 rounds, only resting when on the brink of death, of:

5 burpees jumping up into a rope chin.
10 sit ups throwing off a 100lb heavy bag.
10 neck bridges
10 explosive slam ball slams
6 jumping sprawls (sprawl, jump over sandbag, sprawl, jump back, sprawl, etc)
100 foot sandag carry (100lbs).

This was for time, mine was 11:21, only a couple seconds better than the worst time of the 4 guys doing this. Must. Do. More. Conditioning.


DONE.

Damn good conditioning day, one guy almost puked, and I was humbled by tabata swings.

[immovablestone]

5x5 week 9 starts:

SQUAT:

Misc stretching, free standing squats, squats with bar, etc.

150x5
175x5
200x5
225x5
250x5

These are starting to get harder, but I'm really liking how deep I can go now, and the weight is going up at the normal progression, 315 here I come.


BENCH:

warmup = a few short quick sets of pushups.

125x5
145x5
165x5
190x5
210x5

Again, not much here, but my shoulder feels ok doing these now, so I'm going to start upping the weight along the normal progression for thsi program soon.


BOR:

125x5
145x5
165x5
190x5
210x5

Put these up to match the bench, I really like doing these explosively from 90 degrees, keeping my back straight. There's a little give in the body as I rip these up, but thats all part of the motion.


Done, in a rush again, damnit.

[immovablestone]

No workout Tuesday, took a break from everything new years day.

Mid week 5x5 Wednesday:

SQUATS:

Misc warmup, free standing squats, squats with bar.

5x150
5x175
5x200
5x200

These felt good, and my legs felt solid afterward, i wanted to go kick a bag afterward but the bag room at my gym is being renovated. It should be rather kickass when theyre done, but it'll take 10 years.


PUSH PRESS:

misc warmup with some very light dumbells.

100x5
115x5
132x5
150x5
165x5

I'm really getting off on these, I keep saying that but I can't get over it. I feel it in my shoulder the day after sometimes, but its a lot less than it used to be.


DEADS:

misc lower back stretching warmup, then dove right in, I was amped after push press.

155x5
180x5
210x5
235x5
260x5

Felt good, form was good, shin started bleeding from dragging the bar up. I find I'm able to keep my back from rounding out if I treat the lift as if I'm trying to push my head up, rather than focusing on leverage.


MISC:

Deep declined crunches:

x20
x15
x10
x5

Standing ab twists with 45lb plate:

x20
x20
x20
x30


Done.

[immovablestone]

Misc Day, conditioning:


CHINS:

5x5, various grips.


POWER CLEAN:

5xbar
5x95
5x135
5x135
5x135
1x185
1x185
2x185
5x135

I catch these a little high, in a quarter squat basically, form isn't 100% but I'm learning.


"Cardio" ROUTINES:

Clapping pushups x10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1
Lunges x20x18x16x14x12x10x8x6x4x2

I alternated these sets, w/10-20 seconds rest after each lunge, no rest when the sets were under 4 pushups.


Single arm KB Snatches:

3x5x32Kg Bell, each arm. Never tried this much weight before, was fun on the recovering left side.

3x5x32Kg BellGetups, shouldered. Again, new weight, nice agony here.

100 foot walk carrying the 32Kg bells.


Done.

[immovablestone]

5x5 week 9 end:

SQUAT:

Misc warm up, stretches, free standing squats, etc.

5x150
5x175
5x200
5x225
3x255
8x200


BENCH:

Misc warm up, couple sets of ~10 push ups.

5x125
5x145
5x170
5x190
3x215
8x170

I'm going to start following normal weight progression on this, until I feel it start to effect my shoulder, if that happens with the newer (elbows more in than out) technique.


BOR:

Misc warm up, basically just BOR's with no weight and/or the bar.

5x125
5x145
5x170
6x190
4x215
10x185

I felt frisky at the end and did more than the 5x5 here, it was Friday and I had pounded down an energy drink, L-argenine and caffeine FTW.



Done, was in a rush yet again, someday shit will calm down.