Saturday, March 24, 2007

Strong is Good.

Ah yes! It's so good to feel strong again. Another very strong session with the two pood;just being able to play with it at all makes me happy. Throwing it around with strength and power is even better! Especially considering that yesterday I could barely walk after my left knee went out!

That's one of the problems with having stretched out ligaments from all the hyper stretching of gymnastics; things get 'pulled out' very very easily. THe admonitions to'build the muscle to stabilize the joint' only works if one builds the exact right muscles, with the correct amount of tone( tension) so that it doenst make things worse! I did that for years( try to build enough muscle to stabilize things) only to create a tension imbalance that is only now working itself out with the therapeutic kinematics of kb swings.

So I spent mucho time releasing tight hammies and vmo and calf tension yesterday that all those DARCS gave my left leg( right side feels nothing) and the knee dropped back and all the pain and tension dissapeared immediately. Have to get that thing replaced one day. But todya was great:

Clean and press/ windmill( left only)
36x5( one c/p 5 windmills)
53x5x3

these felt great! the two pood will fall soon. the press and the windmill were so easy.

One arm swings ( each arm done separately, 15 sec rest/arms)
36x8/8
53x8/8

72x8/8x10 sets
160 reps
11,500 lbs

didnt count sets; just continued til I felt a dimishment of power and then stopped. Ten by chance. The swings felt GREAT though, everything felt connected and strong.Felt light when I picked it up, always a good sign. My swing groove is very very consistent now and I need much less warmups as well. A small step down in volume from last week. Perfect.Could easily have done both arms continuous but I do like this style.I put much more into each arm. Next time I do this I will do the continuous style.

Snatch Holds
36x30 sec
53x30 sec
x45 sec
x60 sec!!
x45 sec

both arms. this was a PR for the 53 and not that easy.

Halos
36x6/6x4 sets

Great session. very happy and NOTHING hurts.Still feel loose and strong.

Last weeks Numbers:

# of lifts= 900
# lbs 44,700
Ave weight: 49.66

6 comments:

Rob O'Brien said...

Rif!

Great Job! You keep me motivated.

Best, Rob

Mark Reifkind said...

back at you rob,I'm very impressed with your training, your numbers and mostly, your enthusiasm. great stuff and helps keep me motivated too.

Royce said...

Right on man. Glad too hear your using the 2 pood consistantly. That thing is no joke, there is definately a cumulative effect after a few swings. It taxes my whole body so much more than the 53.
And by the way thaks for posting the problems with hyperflexability, I never understood why it was a bad thing before.

Mark Reifkind said...

royce,
thanks, it is very satisfying to throw it around and feel strong doing so. and yes it certainly does take more out ofyou than the 24 kg!
It's also nice to feel my groove solid as it makes the bell feel so much lighter when I am not going against myself in the swing.can't remember when my shoulder felt so good.
and yes too loose of a ligament structure is very tough to create any real stability.even more so if the joint hyperextend as mine do ( did).

Brett Jones said...

Strong is good Rif - but strong and painfree is even better!

Mark Reifkind said...

That's for sure Mr Jones, that is for sure!

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...