In which Judd becomes stronger

Two Kettles and a Bar

juddthelibrarian — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:47:51 +0000

I was packed up and ready to roll but at some point in the late afternoon I could feel some part of my brain try to make excuses and get out of going to the gym. At the end of the day, I shut that out and went.

Jerk

Bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5

The last set was hard but good.

I tried overhead squats but my shoulder was just too tight, so I did some mobility work with that shoulder. I had done overhead squats with a PVC pipe but the barbell felt shitty on the hurt shoulder.

I did four sets of a circuit from a book I had read with a kettlebell in each hand.

35# KB

KB high pull x 5
KB snatch x 5
KB press x 5
KB front squat x 5

That felt like a good day at the gym.

Exhaustion or just shitty fuel?

juddthelibrarian — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:06:50 +0000

I ran some errands this morning that took me dangerously close to Waffle Frolic. I have trouble saying no to gluten-free waffles, bacon and eggs. Thing is, that was my only real fuel all day and I paid for it.

I got to the gym and took an hour, warm up included, to do a new, simple work-out program designed to get my shoulders slowly but surely back into action. My pull-ups are all but gone and my ring dips have disappeared. Things to work on and regain.

Power Snatch

Bar x 5
65 x 5
65 x 5
95 x 5

Its light but it felt good and my shoulder felt fine.

Snatch Deadlift

115 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 5

I honestly thought I had 45′s on the bar but it was only 35′s. I’m going to write this off to my subconscious telling me to take it easy with a new deadlift form and leave it at that. It felt good; I need to really concentrate on getting full extension when I’m at the top of this movement.

Front Squat

Bar x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
185 x 5

Felt good but my elbows went down a touch, something to concentrate on. I’ll need to get someone at the gym to watch me before too long.

I took a level 1 boxing class, which was fun. The coach really concentrates on the footwork of the punches, blocks, bobs and weaves, which is nice. He says I’m starting to relax, which felt good.

My goal for this class was to tie my pants in such a manner so that I don’t spend the whole class silently hating gi pants. I succeeded in this goal, only having to re-tie them once.

The class felt was nice and I got a sweep on a fellow white belt that might’ve been the finest wrasslin’ move I have ever actually pulled off, though we had to stop and re-set because we landed too close to some nearby fellow grapplers.

After the re-set, I had time to think about how exhausted I was and the bottom fell out on me. I was cooked. I spent the last three minutes or so of class managing to not be sick. My brain is really thrilled to tell me how tired I am while I’m grappling and this get’s in the way of me countering submissions and getting out of trouble. I reckon this will change with time.

After I got home and got my protein and more shake in me, I felt pretty good (recipe forthcoming). Once I showered, I felt great. That was a rockin’ night at the gym.

State of the Machine: Shoulder’s looking good.

juddthelibrarian — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:43:14 +0000

Went to another P.T. appointment this morning and my shoulder is looking good. It is still weak at certain ranges of motion but I got the okay to try olympic lifts at light weights. I’ll give that a go after work tomorrow.

There are still really odd areas where I’m weak, angles I find when I try to pull stolen covers back to my side of the bed with my left arm.

I’ll try some pull-ups this weekend, just light greasing the groove stuff, 1, 2 or 3 reps at a time, depending how I’m feeling. I have some soups to cook up this weekend, so I’ll put the pull-up bar in the nearby doorway (after closing the bedroom and bathroom doors so the cats don’t get in) and do a little pulling.

I couldn’t go to BJJ class on Thursday night because I had to work late. That’s fine, I could probably use the day off. Looking forward to another class on Monday. Might drop by the gym for a grappling class on Sunday afternoon.

All in all I’m feeling pretty good. Some grappling and boxing this week but I didn’t push it. I did some really light lifting and will do some more on Saturday, easing my way back in.

1, 2, 3, 4, take downs, hooks and exhaustion

juddthelibrarian — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:03:15 +0000

Made it to the boxing class right after work and we went over some basic combinations, slips and blocks. It was good stuff to go over but I wish I had more time with the coach. The class was packed.

Went right from boxing to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and it was fun. We went over some take down/sweeps. After that we did this thing where one guy is called Home Base. For four minutes, we cycle in, trying to get our hooks in from rear control, once we do, we start over. We all got a turn as home base. It was educational, though it left me exhausted.

For the last five minutes of class, we were paired up with someone near to our skill level and we rolled for five minutes. I tapped with a minute or two left on the clock, just exhausted.

It was good fun. I’ll get back to class next week, as I have a late night shift tomorrow.

Rolling and Pressing

juddthelibrarian — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:29:07 +0000

Took a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class and it was really good. We went over some strategies for when someone pulls guard while standing and then did some live rolling, where the five best students were on the mat and the rest of us rotated through in four minute rounds. I got in a four minute round and was a total mess but the teacher was solid and the other students were nice.

After that I did some shoulder re-hab exercises and:

Shoulder Press 5 x 5, 65#

GHSU 2 x 10 (Remembering that last week, 3 x 10 left my stomach muscles wiped out for the rest of the week.

It was nice to be back in the gym and on the mat. I’m looking forward to getting the thumbs up for some olympic lifting after which I’ll start a cycle of The Most Basic Program in the World.

Mat Memory

juddthelibrarian — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:26:01 +0000

Tried a grappling class over at UA and had a decent time. I helped out a brand new guy who was having his first night on the mat and then got run over by a big guy for five minutes, having some idea of what I needed to do to get into position but having no timing, explosiveness nor urgency with which to get there.

Oddly, want to know what what hurt? The Glute-Ham Sit-ups from a few days ago were killing me. I felt them during the warm-ups and felt them the whole night on the mat. My shoulder felt fine; I just made sure to tell my training partners about it and tap early and often.

After rolling down the mat twice, I explained to the coach that doing so anymore would make me vomit due to an inner ear thing. He smiled, said he didn’t want me vomiting and not to worry about it. I’m not sure why I felt I had to do forward rolls down the mat twice before mentioning it. It wasn’t shame, nor machismo. I think I just wanted to make sure I could do it and I could. Maybe this time it’ll be different. Nope.

I’m trying out different classes, seeing how it shakes out. Will try their jiu-jitsu class next week and their kick-boxing class tomorrow evening. Fun.

Light Shoulder Press

Bar x 10
Bar x 7
Bar x 5

And I’m back…

juddthelibrarian — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:21:41 +0000

Warm-up

3 x 10 GHSU
3 x 10 Overhead Squat with the PVC pipe
PVC pipe pass throughs
P.T exercises with 10 pound dumbells

Front Squats 5 x 5

Bar x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5

In my head, I imagined myself working up to 185 but after a month off, 155 felt sufficient for a first night back. I also pictured doing a short 10! metcon, a couple with KB swings and something else, maybe jumping squats. I decided that it would be nice to be able to walk up stairs this weekend and just took it easy.

It felt good to be back. I stretched out my hamstring and lower back a bit and called it a night.

State of the Machine

juddthelibrarian — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:58:20 +0000

Over winter break I went with Janaki to the gym and did some kick-boxing. I knew that the only thing I really had to worry about in a kickboxing class was going to be a left hook and push-ups. Naturally, the day’s work-out featured a combo involving a left hook and a work-out involving push-ups.

I took it easy on the left hook, concentrating on form over power and didn’t let eagerness get the best of me and asked the coach if I could substitute air squats for push-ups. When I asked he got a look on his face and said, “I dunno, let me see you squat.”

When I squatted his face lit up. ”You know how to squat! Fantastic. Sure thing, no problem.”

After the work-out my shoulder felt good. It still feels a little weak overhead and there are some odd angles where I lost a bunch of strength but in the end, it is a pretty light injury and it will get me to think about my shoulders and my posture in a way that will be positive. I have about one or two dead hang pull-ups in me.

Had a P.T. appointment this morning and got clearance for the gym but agreed to keep it light overhead, plan to do some light, light press sets and a light 5 x 5 of front squats tonight.

I’m feeling good, looking forward to a solid year.

How’re you?

Pinched, not torn.

juddthelibrarian — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:53:21 +0000

The rotator cuff is pinched.

The good news is that it is not torn and the university where I work has a nice physical therapy unit who are used to dealing with athletes. Not that I am a division I athlete but a long shot but its nice to be with P.T.’s who are willing to work with goals more ambitious than being capable of limping to work.

I got some good exercises to do into the New Year and will go back for a follow-up appointment after break.

I’ll be staying away from crossfit work-outs until 2012 as I can’t go overhead with anything and don’t want to aggravate anything.

When she watched me try to get my jacket on, the P.T. said, “You know, you can put your shirts and jackets on left arm first so that it doesn’t hurt.”

Left arm first!?

Oh. Right.

Duh.

That might be the best part of the whole appointment.

It will be nice to have exercises to work on in the coming weeks.

Also, worth noting, apparently my range of motion on my right arm is good. She asked if I was a baseball pitcher. If this librarian thing doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll give that a go.

State of the Machine

juddthelibrarian — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:27:13 +0000

I was putting on my jacket a few weeks ago and my left shoulder twinged. Since then it has gotten worse. Its an odd pain, not necessarily effecting my pull-up or my ability to put weight overhead but I’m still worried about making it worse, so I haven’t touched a barbell in a while.

This time of year means lots of repetitive movement at work and I bet that has something to do with it. It is better now; I can grab my seat belt in the car without pain but putting on my jacket and my shirt is still sketchy (an upstate N.Y. word) at times.

I’m stretching it out on my own using a resistance band and my pull-up bar and I’m hitting yoga a few days a week.

I’m going to take advantage of having kettlebells at home and just do some leisurely swings. KB swings stretch all the right arm/shoulder bits and make it feel much better.

The good news is that my knee feels great. Yoga’s doing wonderful things for it and I can sit on my heels for the first time since the surgery. The goal is to get my butt between my feet.

I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday and I’ll take it easy on crossfitting until probably 2012 unless my shoulder’s solid and I have an opportunity to work out in New York City over winter break.