Patrick D's Training Journal

Changes in Training

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:29:00 +0000

I've got some schedule changes happening soon with Thanksgiving, club activities ending for the Fall semester, Christmas break, the Spring semester beginning and the Gymkana performing season beginning. I'm trying to progressively accommodate those changes, beginning with holding off any further weight gain until the Gymkana season ends. The highest I hit was 220lbs, though that was fed and moderately clothed. I assume that I weigh around 208-212 when fasted, which is a pretty substantial increase. I'll try to lean out a bit now (probably 11-12% bodyfat at the moment), putting me at the top of the 94kg weightlifting class, and then improve my strength:bodyweight ratio before moving up again.

For the past few nights, my sleep as kicked ass, unlike before. I got some black construction paper and covered up the windows. A single layer of the stuff did it, though they charged me $4 for it at the campus bookstore. Now I've begun to notice all the other little lights in the room, like the one on my printer, which I covered up with paper and masking tape. Hopefully, better sleep will lead to better workouts and better class time.

Next semester will probably be something like:
Sunday: snatches, some gymnastics based pull/push and work, iron cross work, apparatus practice
Monday: 20 rep (ha) squats, some gymnastics based pull/push work, iron cross work, apparatus practice
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: cleans, some gymnastics based pull/push work, iron cross work, apparatus practice
Thursday: iron cross work, a permutation of this MetCon or rest
Friday: rest or Gymkana performance
Saturday: rest

Some (but not most) Gymkana performances are during the week, so we'll see how that goes.

I think I responded better to higher-volume upper body work (for example, 3x5olb chin-up on 2/1/2008 at about 175lb bodyweight), though it could just be my weight gain and crappy sleep that bogged me down for the past three months or so. We'll see.

WOD - 11/17/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:53:00 +0000

Workout with WL Club/Gymkana:
Well, I was essentially useless today - so sore from yesterday. Wow. My glutes, hamstrings, and quads are so tight today. The biggest thing I did today was some practice cleans at a low 60kg. I tried some p-bars work at Gymkana, but my underarms are so tender from the hour I spent on it yesterday that I couldn't do much. My upper-body pulling and pushing strength was equally sapped from yesterday's workout.

WOD - 11/16/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:54:00 +0000

Workout with Gymkana:
- P-bars practice: worked on solidifying my backuprise motions and shoulderstand rolls, reducing extraneous swinging. Need to work on keeping my body more straight in just about every way possible, so I can use the swing better, and not need to muscle my way out of bad positions so often or move my hands around on the bars to get in place.
- Minimal handstand kip progress: going well.
- ICPO, 3x5 ICT1:12, heels on a block that put me in the L-cross position (so, a lower block than usual)

Workout in the ERC UWR:
Two rounds, 30s AMRAP:30s rest for each of the following:
- Backsquat, 185#: 8-1
- Kipping Muscle-up: 3-2
- 2.5" Axle Power Clean, 95#: 9-8
- DB Thrusters, 2x50lb: 6-4
- DB Swing, 50#: 15-9

Notes:
- Yeah, I'm starting to incorporate some MetCon again. This one was definitely hip-dominant - moreso than I had intended. I'll probably be sticking with permutations of this one for my MetCon, but I'd like to see sandbag clean and presses and tire flips in there, as alternatives for the axle power clean and DB swings. I must have spent half of each of the 30s in the second round of exercises getting additional rest. It was difficult, and with some more strength and heavier weights, it'll make a good WOD.

Training Videos & Gymkana Flipathon 2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Some p-bars stuff on 11/10/2008.

Another missed 165lb snatch. Didn't have my squat shoes with me that day, so having to wear my Vibrams didn't help, but that's no excuse for missing it again. Bleh.

Gymkana Flipathon, 2008 - our club's biggest fundraiser, where we attempt to do as many flips as we can in 10 minutes to earn pledges. Our two teams of flippers combined got 899 flips.

WOD - 11/15/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Workout with the WL Club:
1 Snatch Pull + 1 Hang Snatch + 1 Snatch:
- 4x2, 60kg
Sots Press:
- 1x5, 99#
- 3x4, 99#
L-Towel Pull-ups:
- 4x max reps: 5, 5, 4, 4

Notes:
- Warmed up with dumbbell goblet squats, getting to 110lbs (huge dumbbell), and they felt great. It could have just been because the weight was light compared to typical front squats, but I was able to get a very good upright torso with a tight thoracic spine.
- Throwing the pull and the hang snatch in before going for the full version definitely helped me improve my timing and speed in the scoop and second pull.
- Went for the Sots press today to work on shoulder stability in the bottom of the snatch. Felt great. These reps were from behind the neck with a clean-width grip.

Switching to Picasa Image Hosting

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:40:00 +0000

I'm currently switching all the files from my Flickr account to Picasa, so, if there are any links that are broken or images that don't show right, let me know.

WOD - 11/12/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Today's workout was shit. Only got eight reps for squatting 190lbs, which is half of last week, and my back was rounding and in pain for most of them, which is what caused me to dump the bar. Low back hurt to much under load to do any sort of standing pressing motion. I'm tired, have an assload of work to do (all for the same damn class - English 101), and my sleep has been total shit every night I've been here at UMD because of the mother fucking blinds not keeping any mother fucking light out.

Dammit.

WOD - 11/10/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:51:00 +0000

Workout with WL Club/Gymkana:
Clean:
- 1x1+2F, 165#
- 1x2+F, 165#
1 Power Clean + 1 Front Squat:
- 2x2, 165#
LRC:
- 4x1, 3/5 down to 1/3 by the end
3 Wall HS Press + 3 Partial Rom HSPU:
- 4x1
P-bars practice.

Notes:
- Cleans were, once again, pathetic due to terrible front squats. One of the members of the WL Club says I may be coming forward too far with my hips in the front squat. While they have to be a bit farther forward than normal to keep the back vertical, I was overdoing it, apparently.
- Everything else felt strong.
- Had a really funny dismount off the p-bars and hurt my back. I felt a pulled muscle all the way down from the right shoulder to the lower back. At first, there was something that felt like nerve pain, but now it's entirely muscular.

WOD - 11/9/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:03:00 +0000

Workout with Gymkana:
- Mostly p-bars practice, working on swinging elements. There was minimal work on handstands, rings swings, and kips.

I've got some video and photos that require uploading. Now that I've said it, maybe it'll encourage me to actually go and do it. Hah.

WOD - 11/8/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:02:00 +0000

Today's workout was spread out over the course of a few hours. Heh. Didn't have much time with the WL Club, so I just did a few snatch attempts, then later on my own, I did some simple gymnastics stuff, but ended up taking a sugar-induced nap in the middle of it, because of the chocolate ice cream I was eating. (I was eating a lot... a lot.)

Workout:
Snatch:
- 3x0+F, 165#
Partial ROM Wall HSPU:
- 3x3
LH->T.FL->IH->AT.BL->T.FL->LH:
- 4x3
LS<->SS:
- 3x max reps (3 each time, sloppy though)

Notes:
- The missed snatch attempts bother me. I once again managed to pull myself underneath it, like I could in August, but didn't squat it up. Then again, I only had my Vibrams with me; no squat shoes. I'll have to give it another shot soon, once I've worked on my technique a bit more.
- Hardest part of the ring routine this time was pulling from the FL to the IH. The LH to FL is getting progressively easier, at least for the first rep of each set.

DIY: Door Anchors - A neat portable chin-up device...

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Simply lay the anchor over the door, with anchors on the "door opens inward" side, and the loops on the other side, then close the door. Bam, you've got pull-ups. It's not the most comfortable thing ever, but you can't beat the cost and the utility.

To make them, I simply cut a small chunk off a square wooden dowel, wrapped some climber's webbing around it (34 cents a foot at REI), and marked it off. I then sewed that small loop off, put some Gorilla glue on the wood, popped it in the loop, and added a pin nail or two for security. Some trailing webbing, then a loop on the other end, and that's a wrap.

The best part is that they don't damage the door frame like the telescopic pull-up bars with anchor screw do. The door anchors seem to disperse the force pretty well, and the webbing acts as pretty decent padding. If you've got rings, hooking them up to these can provide you with a few more options for beginners' exercises.

I weigh over 200lbs now, and they hold me up just fine. It's a good finger strengthener too, doing pull-ups with only one or two fingers in the loops. As an upgrade to this, I've also had the idea of making a pair of right triangles, with two padded connector bars, and one other bar sticking out that would be used as a pull-up bar. The thing would hang from either two or three door anchors by the top connector bar. The presence of the door would keep it from falling over, and it would be more portable than most of the reach-around door frame pull-up bars. However, I've got no clue if it would work.

New Camera!

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:41:00 +0000

I picked up this Canon G2 Powershot a few days ago on Craig's List for $105, with a full set of accessories. It does have the limitation of only 120 seconds of video, but that's really all that's necessary for recording a single set of lifts. The photo quality is really sharp, even at only 4MP - some cameras will give blurry 7MP images that remain blurry even when you shrink them. This is much better than that.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some nicer pictures up on this blog now. While my camera-phone works pretty well, it requires perfect lighting, and is a bit of a hassle to use.

WOD - 11/5/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:24:00 +0000

Workout 1 with WL Club:
Backsquat:
- 1x16+F, 190#

Workout 2 with Gymkana:
LH->T.FL->IH->AT.BL->T.FL->LH:
- 4x3
Wall HS Press + Partial ROM HSPU:
- 4x(3+3)
Rotating Hollow Rocks
Practice Ring Swings
Minimal P-Bar Practice

Notes:
- The squats were much better today. The thoracic spine requires a lot of concentration to tighten, which I had little trouble with. The lumbar spine began to slouch simply from fatigue, which is a problem.
- Had to fudge the pulls from LH to T.FL again. The eccentric part is easy, but the concentric is ridiculously hard.
- Not quite getting the necessary heel drive on the swings.

Living on campus will be tough for the next few days...

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:17:00 +0000

For me at least. Yep.

WOD - 11/3/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:12:00 +0000

I seem to have come down with a bit of a sniffly nose. No surprise, considering last week's sleep patterns (or lack thereof), and my heavy reliance on non-Paleo foods (ice cream) for calories. Fortunately, the ice cream is helping me gain weight, though I'm going to need to back off for a few days if I want this cold to go away.

Workout with WL Club and Gymkana:
Cleans:
- 15 practice reps, 135# at a liesurely pace
P-bar Practice:
- working up to a "Back uprise->LS->SS->FRoll->Back uprise->Swing to dismount" routine. Surprisingly similar to my rings routine, but far more difficult, yet no where near as impressive.
LRC:
- 2x1, 1/2 length
Wall P-bar HPSU:
- 2x3, ROM seriously short (low flexibility and strength with narrow hand position)
Iron Cross Holds:
- 2x2, 3s ICT1:12

Notes:
- It's good to get back into iron cross work, though it sucks I fell so far back in it. Since I was able to do the AIS-ICPO with relative ease a few weeks ago, I'm thinking this is more due to weight gain than strength loss.

WOD - 11/2/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:12:00 +0000

Workout with Gymkana:
- Mostly practiced rings techniques, working up to doing a short routine of "MU->LS->SS->LS->FRoll->FRoll->Hang->OL.BL->IP->Swing to dismount."
- Kip work, of course. Haha.

WOD - 11/1/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:25:00 +0000

Workout with WL Club:
Barbell TGU:
- Worked up to 95lbs, right arm only. Missed 65lbs with the left arm (so uncoordinated).
Snatch:
- 1x5, 135#
- practice reps 135#
LH->T.FL->IH->AT.BL->T.FL->LH:
4x3
Wall HSPU:
- 2x3
Tabata burpees, 8x(20:10), 20lb vest:
- max: 8?
- min: 4?

Notes:
- The TGU was amazing. Next time, I'm topping 100#, and going for both arms!
- Snatches were sloppy today. Could it still be the lack of sleep?
- Began to hit failure on the HSPU, so I kept it to two sets.
- Tabata burpees were to demo a new type of weight vest from MiR, the 20lb Flex Vest. It worked very nicely, even though my form was pretty crappy.

Gymnastics Superstars 2008 Show!

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:01:00 +0000

Tonight, I went to the Verizon Center in Washington DC with Gymkana to watch the Team USA 2008 Olympic gymnasts perform. It was a pretty good show, though it seemed to target an audience of 12 year old girls, with a strong focus on making it a "show" rather than a "performance." Of course, that makes some sense, since it seemed that most of the audience was 12 year old girls... Heh. There was some pretty cool tricks in there, though it did have a disappointing lack of pure apparatus routines.

It's a traveling tour, but if you see it in your area, I wouldn't recommend seeing it unless you have a daughter who wants to go.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get any photos of the action - my camera phone didn't react well to the spotlighting.

WOD - 10/29/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Workout 1 with WL Club:
Backsquat:
- 1x13+F, 190#
Windshield Wipers:
- 3x max reps: 4, 3, 3

Workout 2 with Gymkana:
LRC:
- 3x 1/2 climb
P-bar LS -> Shoulderstand Press to Fallout:
- 3x2

Notes:
- Didn't make the 20 reps again, but at least I tried on the fourteenth rep, and my depth was "fairly below" parallel (more than "just below," but less than "way below"), which is an improvement too. Some lumbar slouching, some knee buckling. This workout was performed with 9 hours of sleep the previous night, and a very low 1.5 plus some quick naps the day before that.
- The poor L-rope climbs and attempted presses could probably be attributed to the lack of sleep, and the fact that I seem to have gained about 10lbs in the past 2-3 weeks. I'm glad I'm finally gaining weight, though the rate seems to be a bit fast, and it means I'll probably have to overshoot and cut a bit more than I'd like too.
- After this workout, I had another paper to type, and didn't get to bed until 5AM... So, another 3 hours of sleep. Now I'm posting this at midnight and have to get up at 5:30AM for work... So... Yeah. I'm going to spend this whole weekend out cold.

WOD - 10/27/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Workout with WL Club/Gymkana:
Cleans.
Front Squats.
Kip practice.
LH->T.FL->IH->AT.BL->T.FL->LH:
- 4x3
Handstand, press, and HSPU practice.

Notes:
- Cleans sucked. I could only pull 80kg a few times before I began missing reps. My back was still tight and sore from snatch grip DL's. The front squats also had thoracic rounding, which I later realized may have been caused by the inflexibility in my right shoulder. I also need to play around with my grip more, and find out how I was holding the bar back during the summer when I was seriously working FS.
- Kip practice showed no improvement, but kept up yesterday's progress pretty well.
- The addition of the adv. tuck back lever to the sequence made it several times harder. Some of the transitions were sloppy, and the AT.BL's didn't have much tension below the hips.
- Handstands felt good, though I did not formally organized work on them, since the first half of my workout flopped today anyway.

Following this workout, I stayed up to 5AM to work on a paper, then I stayed up longer to continue working on other papers. I grabbed 1.5 hours of sleep at 7AM, then another 45 minutes around 3:30PM. So, I've got a lot of work to do if I want to get to bed before 10PM tonight...

Wasn't it supposed to be 50?

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Got this in the mail from ACE. Yep.

WOD - 10/26/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:31:00 +0000

Workout with Gymkana:
- Handstands, forward dive rolls, back rolls: felt great; a good warm-up. I've figured out my biggest flaw in the handstand: putting the hands too far away from the body on the ground. Going way too far causes me to not be able to kick-up, going just a bit too far causes me to have too much momentum, and fall over. I have to place my hands pretty close to kick up effectively. (Lunging to a handstand is different.) I had several 7s holds today, with a good amount of control from the forefingers.
- Kips: I spent about an hour working on this, and made some great progress. Most of the work was done on the trampoline. I'm finally getting my hips up, allowing me to rotate around them, rather than keeping them low and focusing on planting my feet down quickly. As long as the hips get up high to give you time, you don't need to quickly replant the feet.
- P-Bar support swings: Getting better control over these, but I'm miles away from swinging to a handstand or anything light that.
- Rings shoulder stands, and a "L-hang->tuck FL->IH->tuck FL-> L-hang" sequence: both went very well. However, I need more active flexibility (who doesn't?).

WOD - 10/25/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:39:00 +0000

Workout in the ERC Upper Weight Room:
Snatch Grip DL:
- 3x2, 275#
Clean Grip DL:
- 2x2, 275#
Split Jerk:
- 4x2, 175#
Chin-up:
- 5x3, 45#
Windshield Wipers:
- 3x max reps: 4, 3, 3

Notes:
- Couldn't make it to the WL Club meeting today, so no snatching.
- Snatch grip DL's were good, though I couldn't keep my back tight for a fourth set, so I went to the clean grip (slightly wider than a standard DL). The bar moved up pretty quickly. Also, on the way to the gym, I got in a minor skid accident on my bike, and scraped up my right hip/hamstring. It's a minor wound, but it felt almost as if the accident gave me an adrenaline rush that made the first snatch grip DL's so easy. It's interesting to think about.
- Jerks and chin-ups were strong. Probably could have gone for another 5lbs on the chin-ups.
- Windshield wipers were difficult with the terrible pull-up bar set-ups they have in the ERC.

WOD - 10/23/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:08:00 +0000

Today's workout was a joke, really. A fire alarm went off right as the WL Club meeting began, which really threw me off. I also forgot my squat shoes, so I couldn't practice front squats either. Whatever. I'll get back to hard stuff on Saturday. So, I did some light squats, shooting for depth, then went to Gymkana and worked on HS holds, presses, and FL/BL pulls.

My sleep has been suffering since I came to College Park. There's too much ambient light in the room. During the night, there's tones of lights shining outside, then when the sun comes up, it gets even worse. The blinds are useless. I need to rig up some sort of dark curtain, or even just a large sheet of cardboard. I've maybe slept 5 solid nights the entire time I've been here. Even with 8 hours most nights, it's been tough.

WOD - 10/22/2008

patrickhdonnelly@hotmail.com (Patrick D.) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:08:00 +0000

Workout with Gymkana:
- Handstands: worked on presses, shoulderstands, kicking up on mini p-bars, and floor holds. There was a good amount of progression in the floor holds, with my finally getting adapted to using my wrist flexors for balance.
- DMT flipping: So-so. I need to hit the hollow position better on the landings, possible taking off further to aid that.
- Kipping: Mostly ab work to give me the strength to work on kips. In particular, hollow rock rotations were difficult.

Time: 2 hours
Pace: light