Patrick Smith's Training Journal

I was "perusing" (I have seen this word used here twice in the last few days... gotta keep up with the times ) Coach Poliquin's website, and I happened upon the second part of an article about endurance training (Getting Maximum Results Part II - Alternatives to Aerobics). It may be a bit oriented around fat loss, but if it is, that's fine. I got a nice endurance test from it today, and I plan on following the full routine described in the article.

This morning I did 6 rounds of 40 second sprint and 2 minute jog/fast walk, followed by active stretching (slow kicks in air), and finished with some AIS. I used the following protocol for the AIS: Front split = lying on back, raising one leg using only hip flexor strength to maximum range of motion, held for 2-3 seconds, lowered back with control to original position, and repeated for 2 sets of 10 reps per leg. I wasn't sure how I could do that with the side split, considering that I had already done a lot of side kick holds today. Please let me know if you have any ideas.

Later on today I will spend about 1-3 hours outside doing lawn work and playing WT, followed by soft tissue work. Due to Dr. Starrett's suggestions, I am closely monitoring my body weight and water (with a bit of sea salt) consumption.

I have been negligent in my supplementation lately, and I recently got a little bit of extra cash so I spent it on omega 3 fish oil, zinc picolinate, a multivitamin (that contains about 5000 different healthy things... seriously. It's dense!), vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, selenium, and digestive enzymes.

"I are serious person. This are serious business."

No soft tissue work today. It's the first day I've missed it in a few weeks, but I just forgot... I did play about 40 minutes of WT out in the blazing sun.

I've got an AWESOME lower body WOD for tomorrow with SLS, SLDL, sprints, heavy weighted step-ups, and inverted adductor flies; finishing up with PNF stretching for front and side splits. :)

Mildly intense soft tissue routine before the WOD this morning. My elbow and right shoulder were actually feeling a bit sensitive today (slightly painful clicks here and there) :? so I skipped the FSP. I'm going to read up on shoulder and elbow prehab, and make sure I get it in. The last thing I need are some dodgy upper body joints. I finished up with about 30-40 minutes of WT.

The WOD today included SLS, single leg arch-ups, sprints, max effort step-ups/lunges/cossack squats, and inverted adductor flies. I finished with PNF front splits and side splits.

It was raining outside today, so I did all my training out in the rain. How nice..

Felt sick all day yesterday so I didn't do anything but soft tissue and mobility WOD.

Today I felt mostly fine, but stiff and a little bit achy from yesterday's slouching around, so I did a VERY thorough soft tissue session in which I spent a few minutes per trouble spot agonizingly slowly moving through them. Very painful... After that and a thorough warm up, I did a number of interval sprints. I was planning to do PNF but forgot. I will try to do some later.

I've begun to separate my soft tissue session from pre-workout to early morning. I have basically the same amount of time devoted to it (about twenty or twenty-five minutes), but it just feels better. In fact, I got the idea from the MobilityWOD (of which I am going through the videos, one by one, starting at the very first day) to SLOW the heck down. I was going waaaay too fast and, most of the time, just not actually spending much time on the problem spots. Since I realized this a few days ago, I've been spending about two minutes on the major trouble spots daily, just agonizingly rolling through them. Take my lateral thighs for example. I always have a big, tough knot in my between my knee and my hip. When I slowly roll through that area with my foam roller (I need a PVC pipe) with the weight my entire body resting on the point of contact with the foam roller (except for one of my hands balancing my upper body). It's very painful but it really feels different once I'm done.

I also use a lacrosse ball all over my VMO and glutes. Again, instead of rushing through it, I push through at least a few minutes of steadily building pressure and going over the nastiest parts. Yes, indeed, I am very serious about the mobility stuff. I want to be able to all sorts of athletics until I'm 100 years old. No quitting when I'm 30 for me...

FSP plus WOD this morning. The WOD this morning was primarily box jumps, squat jumps, and that exercise where you lie on your feet (not to sound "racist" or anything lol, but how a typical Japanese or Asian person would be sitting to eat) and then jump to your feet. I finished with AIS for the posterior chain.

This evening I did some static stretching and then some sparring after about 30 minutes.

Okay, heavy tissue session, FSP, and WOD yesterday. The WOD was a bunch of static holds, GHR, and chin-up variations. Also did three rounds of tempo lean push-ups, ring rows, and HeSPU with foot support.

Today I did a bunch of kata practice and flexibility work. I practice Tang Soo Do and I've got a tourney (the only one I compete in every year) next Saturday (16th). I've been practicing my kata very intensely and they really challenge my cardiovascular fitness. In fact, it's really reminded me how far behind on that I am! I gotta start doing more interval stuff. I have been doing sprints on the treadmill, but it doesn't feel natural to run on the treadmill. I'd so much rather free sprint on grass or a track but I don't have access to that right now. That would be perfect.. I can't think of anything that is quite so perfect for full body conditioning than sprinting! I actually created a new thread about that very subject (Or I will in a few seconds).

I GOTTA get my level of stamina UP.

Deload week! And it's perfectly timed, too. I need to deload for the tourney this Saturday anyway, so it fits perfectly.

I think I may switch to a 3x/week FSP routine instead of 4x/week, but I'm not entirely sure. It's possible that I'm not really progressing in my strength very much because I'm not eating properly pre and post WO. I usually eat breakfast at 5:30 am, I don't train until at least 8:30 am, so I ALWAYS train fasted. But I believe I have the solution to that... (at least I hope I do! lol!)

I don't remember having any health problems from using protein powder from True Protein, so last week I went ahead and ordered a pound of totally unflavored, blank, flat, and basic whey protein powder. Nothing but whey protein. No sweeteners, no nothing. I remember that all the powders I've used in the past (besides true protein) were either vanilla or chocolate. Hopefully true protein will work out fine, because if it does, it's gonna be ON! I'll be strict as heck with my PWO meals. It'll be whey, eggs, some meat, coconut milk when needed, and a LOAD of brockley, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and romaine lettuce.

My birthday is not too far away, and, as usual, my family wants to get me things. My family is smart, though, and they know not to get me anything I don't specifically ask for (lol!), and so, again as usual, I have been asked to select a few items I would like to receive. I'm going to get a cheap little speed rope, a flex band (for elbow and should prehab!), and a heavy duty band from Workoutz.com. It's under $20, so I'm happy! I'm also going to get some packing/stuffing material to make a 5-6' tall, 1.5' wide punching bag! I have a huge list of things I need to build to complete my gym. I expect to have access to a nicely sized garage within a few weeks, and I plan to use it as well as I can.

I hope this protein powder works for you.

I'm happy to hear that you'll have access to a nice garage. I can't wait to get mine cleaned out so that I'll have that space to work out in.

LaughingTiger said:

I hope this protein powder works for you.

I'm happy to hear that you'll have access to a nice garage. I can't wait to get mine cleaned out so that I'll have that space to work out in.

I know! It's really nice to have a designated area for training. I'm going to take pictures when I finally get it set up. I may even be able to sleep there! That would be fantastic!

As suggested by Nick, I tried a 12 minute nonstop (except movement between exercises) cycle of 30 seconds KB swings and 30 seconds jump rope. I had to make a temporary jump rope. Since this is deload week and I have a tournament to fight in this Saturday, I stopped when I felt like I was going to inhibit proper pre-tourney recovery. I managed 10 minutes! I haven't jumped rope for a long time, but if felt kind of good! Practicing various bounces, single leg hops, alternating, and a bunch of other stuff. Dare I say it... it was fun! Next time I do this workout (next Wednesday) I will use more than 25 lb (BB plate) for the KB and stick it out for the entire 12 minutes. I can really see this increasing my athleticism and endurance be leaps and bounds.

My true protein powder arrived today, and I plan to use some of it tonight if I can figure out what the serving size is. I bought it in a free plastic bag which doesn't include a scoop or serving size info. The general nutritional info is on the true protein website, but for some reason it doesn't say what the serving size is. I'm asking about it on the TP forum right now... I think it's about 27g per 5 tablespoons, which sounds about right. The typical protein powder scoop looks like it can hold about 5 tbsp and it's generally 24-25g of protein per.

I document all my eating so I'll know EXACTLY whether it causes me problems or not.

I neglected to mention something. For the past two days, I have been doing a Chad Waterbury calf strengthening routine. It's got a AM and PM protocol, in which each session must be at least six hours apart from the other and each only takes 3-5 minutes. It feels good so far... I can practically feel them growing as I haven't trained them in an organized manner for quite some time.

I took my first two servings of true protein powder (TPP), and the third one this morning. I don't feel bad yet and I haven't noticed any skin breakout yet. It's too early to know for sure, but it is encouraging.

I went completely insane (in a good way) with the true protein today. I really need to improve my pre and post WO nutrition, so I took about 25g of protein with a bit of greens about 10 minutes before the FSP and WOD (only one set of FSP 2 rounds of WOD, which was intense kata practice, killers, GHR, HLL, and DL). Directly afterwards I got another 25-30g (I don't have a scoop so I don't know exactly how much I'm giving myself. I can roughly estimate, though) of protein. 30 minutes later I got 30g of protein from lunch (meat). 30 minutes after lunch, I got another 25-30g and 30 minutes after THAT, I took a final 50g. After that, I had basically fulfilled my protein requirements for the day, so I concentrated on getting my coconut milk and a bunch of greens.

So far so good! Hopefully it will stay that way... it was so convenient today!

I've got a tournament to compete in this Saturday so tomorrow will simply be a ton of soft tissue, warm up, prehab, stretching, and mobility work.

I need to be at the tourney building to sign up by 10:45 am, so I'll get up and get breakfast before 8:30. At about 9:00, I'll do some mild soft tissue work, followed by a warm up, leg swings, light stretching, and then mobility work. I should be done by 9:45. That'll be it! I'm looking forward to it, although I don't feel pressured to win or nervous. In the large scale view of things, this tournament doesn't matter much, so I'm not going to broken up if I don't win it! Should be fun, though!

Did a bunch of soft tissue, mobility, and prehab stuff today. Also did a few hours of really super light active recovery in various forms. Looking forward to tomorrow... I have no idea how I'll do in this tournament.

I'm back from the tourney. Had a lot of fun, won double first place and grand champion runner-up so I'm happy. I only won second place in sparring, but the judges grossly mismanaged the whole thing and I lost by one point! Arg! *slams head against wall*

I don't want to sound like a sore loser (because that's not it at all), but I was as close to being publicly furious and raging than I have ever been before. I haven't been able to figure out if my opponent was deliberately cheating or whether he was simply taking advantage of the poor management of the referees. This is what happened: whenever he jumped at me with a kick, punch, or similar flying leap, I simple stepped back and threw a roundhouse kick straight into his stomach. EVERY single time I did that, he jumped OUT of the ring. Now, going out of the ring gets him an automatic warning and if he gets three warnings I will get a point. Now, normally, if I hit someone right before they go out, it's two points for me. That they went out doesn't even matter! Only, for some reason, the referees gave the guy an out but didn't give me the two points. This happened at least twice (four points lost for me). This made me mad, because it's a complete breach of protocol. According to the rules of sparring, the instant I get a point, the match stops and I am awarded the point! To crown it all, even when the guy had two out the three outs required to give me a point, he freakin' grabbed my foot!

This was the worst part... he grabbed my foot after I kicked him in the stomach. I hit him before he grabbed my foot. Therefore, I should have been awarded the two points (which would have caused me to win by at least one point (the score was 2-3, his lead)). They didn't call my point, they called the grab (illegal) that occurred AFTER I hit him.

But get THIS, it gets WORSE. The score was my two points to his three (he did get a few good punches in). He had three warnings, two for outs, one for the grab; three outs SHOULD have given me a point, which would have brought it to a tie break (3-3). The judges didn't even get that right... after missing three kicks (six points) they wouldn't even give me a point for him breaking three warnings! WTH? Even worse, this guy KNEW that eventually my points would be seen, so he grabbed my foot and then waited while the judges "warned" him to not do it again. The whole time you could practically feel him trying to delay the continuation of the match so that the time would run out and he would win by default.

I was really furious, and one of the corner referees came over to indirectly apologize for the huge mess because he could tell. They wouldn't directly admit they screwed up but he apologized for it as directly as he could without actually apologizing for it.

My head instructor ran the tournament, and when I told him I got first in everything except sparring (he had seen the competition) he was shocked and sorry it had been so mismanaged. He knew what it was like...

I'd like to fight that guy without pads, because you can cheat with pads on, but if I hit him without pads EVERYONE would know. He would feel it and it would show. He's lucky I'm not going to be in his division next year.

/rant...

Still, I DID enjoy the tournament and as I expected, it greatly inspired me to train even harder! I can't wait to start this week! I've got a bunch of things I need to make that will hugely increase my rate of progress! A 5' heavy bag, a double ended bag, and a speed bag as well as a BUNCH of other things. I am also making strictly sure that I get at least 200g of protein, 160g of fat, and less then 100g of carbs (from vegetables) a day, and that new protein powder I got will make a huge huge huge difference in my pre and post workout nutrition, which was essentially non-existent a week ago.

Vamos a entrenar! No hay tiempo que perder!

Still a bit sore from the tournament, so no FSP this morning except for arch up and hollow holds. The WOD consisted of deadlifts and towel pull-ups with foot support (4x5x150#, 4x8).

Ended the day with going to TSD class to instruct.

This morning:

Medium intensity soft tissue work (just didn't feel like it I needed it that much. I suppose I need to increase the intensity of the tools I use), 1 round of FSP, and then the WOD of 3 sets of a ring series and 5 sets of static positions. The ring series was substituted by 10 push-ups, 5 pull-ups, and 10 partial ROM dips (it wasn't a very good substitution... I forgot to model it close to the ring series). The static positions consisted of 5x15 second hollow hold, straight arm plank with hollow body, arch-up hold, and 3 chin-ups. Overall, got 15 pull-ups and 15 chin-ups in, so I'm happy!

Finished with hamstring AIS and my calf routine.

About 6 hours later, I finished up with about 30 minutes of WT and then an hour of yard work.

I'm looking forward to the differences that I know my revamped nutrition will reap. I've been eating 90-100% clean, but I haven't been eating good, if you know what I mean. I've been eating the right stuff, but not at the right times or in the right amounts.

I bought an awesome thera-band/tube from Workoutz.com that is a little over 4 feet long and has two handles! It's perfect for prehab, and I can't for it to arrive so I can begin doing a really thorough warm up for the WODs. My elbows have been feeling a bit dodgy lately... (been icing, though)

After I got all "soft tissued" and warmed up this morning I jumped rope at 5x30 seconds (30 sec. rest), 4x1 minute (1 min. rest), and 1x2 minute. I was planning on doing 3x2 minutes and then finishing with 2x3 minutes, but my jump rope wouldn't cooperate (it's homemade with this really light cord material). I'm getting another a speed rope (should arrive within a few days), so I won't have that problem again. Dang if it's not annoying when the jump rope slaps against your leg or gets tangled in your feet...

Following that was slow kicks, active flexibility work, and a mini-workout. Then some hamstring PNF.

A bit of WT in the afternoon, but not too much. I've been icing my elbows but I need to get that thera-band and start doing a bunch of prehab/rehab stuff. That and the mobility WOD will help a lot.

I'm doing a sightly modified 5x5 Strong Lifts Squat and DL program. Back squats are a bit hard to do right now because I can't load the bar at an elevated position, but I will be once I get into my garage gym. It's going to be great!

Can't wait to get my protein powder order in!

I missed my first update in a long time! :?

Actually, it was getting late last night and I knew I hadn't done it yet, but I figured I needed my sleep more than I needed to write an update...

Yesterday I did the FSP and WOD. The WOD was a bunch of statics supersetted with dynamic movements. GH + ring rows, planche lean + lean push-ups, and hollow hold + lying leg raises.

I was planning to do the FSP plus WOD this morning, but other things got in the way so it was delayed quite late, and by then I had a really stiff neck and a bad headache. I must have slept in a bad position last night or something. At any rate, I just did mobility stuff and middle split flexibility that didn't require me to move my head much.

It's a bit sad, though. Today was supposed to be my last WOD of this 28 day mesco-cycle. Since last week's "de-load" was barely existent, I"ll probably just take tomorrow off and do a whole bunch of yard work and construction work as active recovery and start my next mesco-cycle nice and fresh this Monday.

Rather disappointed, because it rained ALL yesterday and I couldn't do ANY yard work. Oh well, I stretched a bit. I've noticed that Dr. Starrett's method of sitting middle split gives me some really great gains in flexibility. What I do is sit, spread my feet, and externally rotate my legs as much as I can for as long as I can before getting a bit tired (around five minutes). It's amazing how well it works! Especially when done with PNF and AIS. In fact, it's probably a type of, or similar to, AIS. At any rate, it works very well.

I almost forgot that I need to retest my max FSP times tomorrow. I can't wait to do it. It should be interesting to see how much stronger I've gotten. I'll warm up thoroughly and then do a set of warm up FSP before testing.

Wow, I'm quite pleased with my progress from the last SSC considering that my pre/postWO nutrition is so bad.

At the beginning of my first organized FSP SSC and training mesco-cycle (June 27 - July 23) :

Arch up: 20 seconds

Dead hand: 25 seconds

Hollow hold: 15 seconds

PB support: 25 seconds

Straight arm plank: 25 seconds

Inverted plank: 25 seconds

L-sit tuck: 10 seconds

Full German hang: 15 seconds

Wall handstand: 20 seconds

At the beginning of my second (current) organized FSP SSC and training mesco-cycle (July 25 - August 20) :

Arch up: 50 seconds

Dead hand: 60 seconds

Hollow hold: 50 seconds

PB support: 60 seconds

Straight arm plank: 60 seconds

Inverted plank: 60 seconds

L-sit tuck: 60 seconds

German hang: 45 seconds

Wall handstand: 45 seconds

I rested about 1 minute between each FSP; more for some of them.

I haven't tested my front squat or deadlift yet, but I will before the week is over.

By the way, do NOT buy from workoutz.com. The jumprope was not the size that I ordered and was simply a rubber tube. No "rope" involved. The therapy band snapped when I tried an extremely light external rotation. I've got a highly recommended speed rope (a real one) on the way already, but I haven't been able to find a good therapy band for warm ups. If you know of one, please let me know asap!

The WOD today was about dynamic pushing. I only did two rounds.

Impressive increases in all of your times. So that's what a month of organized training can do for you...

Sorry to hear that the equipment you bought was not of good quality. I hope everything else continues to go well. Keep posting, it's inspiring.

LaughingTiger said:

Impressive increases in all of your times. So that's what a month of organized training can do for you...

Sorry to hear that the equipment you bought was not of good quality. I hope everything else continues to go well. Keep posting, it's inspiring.

It's all thanks to the people here who help keep me focused and on track!

Wow! My journal being inspiring is far beyond anything I hoped for it. That makes me very happy. 8)

Wow, this has been a great day so far.

I was quite a bit sore this morning from testing FSP maxes yesterday. I haven't been that sore in a LONG time. I'm not used to getting that sore (except for my triceps from HS work) from gymnastic training. I've heard that training while experiencing DOMS is a bad idea, but I've also had a coach tell me that he had an athlete put on 20 lbs in a month by ignoring DOMS. I really wanted to train, so I decided it would be fine. Turns out that once I did some soft tissue work and a thorough warm up, I didn't even notice the soreness.

I also tried to find my max DL number but I ran out of weight plates! Thanks to a little program I found online I was able to closely estimate about 200 lbs. I lifted 175 for 5 reps today, and it didn't really seem THAT hard. I find that doing what Dr. Starrett recommends helps a lot. He says to get set up for the DL while standing up. I breathe out, tense up trunk and glutes, and then bend over and set up. It works for me!

I only did one set of lightish FSP today, because today's WOD was the ring series + FSP upper body WOD.

Thanks for the grouping idea again, Lew!

• Group 1 - 3 rounds, 3 minutes rest between
  3 lean push-ups (as far forward as I could go)
  3 pull-ups in l-sit tuck (can't wait until I can do full l-sit)
  3 half HLL (to waist height) as slowly as I could go
  Group 2 - 2 minutes rest between giant sets
  5x15 second hollow hold
  5x15 second WHS (feeling STRONG in this!)
  5x15 second full german hang (I was doing foot support for most of last SSC)
  5x5 SLS (got a bit tired with the DLs later on, so did 5x5, 5x5, 5x3, 5x3, 5x3)
  5x5 DL (WU=5x80#, 5x100#, 5x115#, 5x150#, 5x175#)
  Finished up with a calf mini-workout, and PNF and AIS hamstring work.

This afternoon I plan on playing some light WT with my sister's dog. I've been working on hitting a 8" tall, 5" wide plastic container from 20-30' away with a FH. I've hit it about 15 times in total so far, and once I hit it 5 times very close together. Even when I miss, it's by about 10-13". I can't wait to have the space (at the college tennis courts) to practice serve accuracy.

Note: I think I'll start adding more detail about my daily training in this journal. At first I didn't want to bore anyone reading this, but now I realize that I need to be able to look back and see the specifics of what I used to be able to do. I'll try to develop a separation of the "personal" side of my daily post and the "training summary" side of the daily post.

No FSP/WOD today. It's Wednesday!

• 
  10 minutes of soft tissue work 1 hour before training (had to hurry)
  Ido's squat clinic, scapula mobilization routine + part of his shoulder routine, and dynamic stretches.
  Active Flexibility/Slow Kicks
  * 6x30 second side kick hold each side, 60+ seconds rest between sets (both legs combined count as a single set)
  * 1x30 second front kick hold each side (didn't do more than one because I was getting fearsome cramps)
  Mini-Workout - 3 rounds
  * 8 reps seated neck harness raises (25lbs, 15lbs, 30lbs)
  * 30 second banded neck flexion hold
  * Shoulder complex, 8 reps each way
  * 8x95lb trap raises with 3x5 second hold at top (ex. 5 sec. hold, 5 sec. rest, repeated for total of 3 times)
  * 60+ second static active side split flexibility work
  

Regarding the slow kicks, I was doing roundhouse, side, AND front kicks, but I think I'll just switch it to side and front for time saving purposes. A roundhouse in full extension is the same position as a side kick in full extension. The only difference is that in a roundhouse kick the foot is in extension and in a side kick the foot is in flexion. Sometimes a roundhouse kick (Tang Soo Do style) is almost like a side ways front kick (it requires a lot of twisting to do this) in sparring if your opponent moves into an awkward position and you try to hit him in transit. That's the only situation that they're different, though, and working the front kick will strength that unusual position of the roundhouse kick as well as the front kick position.

I was going to jump rope for my endurance workout, but I was busy keeping an eye on something inside the house so I couldn't leave... I can't jump rope in the house lol! That's alright. The new speed rope should arrive soon.

Can't wait for Friday!! I get to front squat and test my max! Oh, and it's my 18th birthday.

Fursday Thursday!

• 1 hour before workout - Soft tissue work
  5 minutes of light shadow boxing plus Ido's squat clinic and scapula mobilization routine.
  FSP Warm Up with new times
  * AU = 3x20 seconds
  * DH = 3x30 seconds
  * HH = 3x20 seconds
  * PB Support = 3x30 seconds
  * Plank = 3x20 seconds (forgot to change it to 2x30 seconds)
  * Inverted Plank = 3x20 seconds
  * L-Sit tuck on bench with knees raised 45 degrees = 3x10 seconds
  * Full GH = 3x20 seconds
  * WHS = 3x20 seconds (felt really good once I got warmed up)
  WOD
  3 sets of 15 second L-sit tuck on bench with knees raised to 45 degrees, 15 second rest, 5 tempo MU with LOTS of foot support
  1 sets of 15 second 15 second hollow hold, 15 second rest, 5 tempo tucked HLL
  Finished with calf routine and 3x1 minute per leg of AIS hamstring stretch (standing).
  

The WOD was one of those embbeded FSP+FBE ones. I only did one set of the last and skipped the middle entirely because it had more german hang and RLL work in it. I've already done heavy DL on Tuesday (which left me a bit sore) and kicking drills yesterday, and I don't know what lower body work I'll do tomorrow besides FS (probably jumping and sprints), but I didn't want to hamper my front squat max test tomorrow so I didn't do the RLL. I'd already done about 60+ seconds of GH today, too, and I didn't want to overdo it with my elbows or shoulders so I didn't do the GH either.

I must say, though. I've been doing full german hangs from a bar for the last two weeks and my shoulder discomfort has almost disappeared entirely. It's amazing. They just feel strong.

I've been sore since Monday's FSP test, but I haven't let it effect me at all until today. I don't know whether it's okay to train while experiencing DOMS, but I'll search it up... see what I can find.

My jump rope can in yesterday. It's perfect! What a piece of art. Slightly heavy, but perfectly weighted, with two nice sturdy handles... it makes a nice whistling sound when I use it AND I can do crisscrosses with it. *sigh*