Activations and Some Suck Ass Training

Activations and Some Suck Ass Training

8/15

Lots and Lots of activations with Tim Tam and the Boomstick along with some BT work. About once every 3 to 4 weeks I need a lot more body work than usual. Pretty much an hour to two hours of this type of work. I have a hip and abdominal routine for BT work where I start below the ASIS for two mins, then right above it for two minutes.  Then I work my way up moving about two inches up leaving it at each spot for the two minutes up to the bottom of the rib cage/diaphragm attachment under the rib cage.  I use my timer to stay on track with this.  At each point, I usually draw my feet in with my heels on the ground (think old school sit up position) for one minute and straight leg for a minute. This eases the immediate desire to toss it off and run away. Sometimes, for me, it is quite uncomfortable, and the pain is intense if I have not done it for a time. This is a way to get around your body’s immediate fight response to protect itself.  There are some points that are stickier then normal so I will move the BT implement around in this area like pizza dough being rolled out to get the tissues flowing and moving. This also can help to eliminate some muscle soreness as well.  I use the 120 lbs on this. You can use more but this can do the job easily.

 

My arms/pec areas are the next spot. I use the 77 lbs for this. I use a 12kg KB to hold it in place, so I don’t have to grip the 77 lbs roller which can limit how well it can works. I like the roller along my side, so it sits directly on the shoulder and pec in the groove. Two minutes is good here. Then I 45 degree the arm and lay the roller on the arm. My triceps cause me a ton of grief, so they tend to get more work there, but if I have smashed the biceps and they need more I will internally rotate and lay the roller on that. Just as a note, half of the roller is on the floor with the top half on the arm.  Same concept as before, I will sit it at one spot for two minutes, then move it an inch or two towards the elbow depending on how much pain/resistance I get in a particular area. I also uses the 12kg KB to hold it in place, so I can relax more and allow the tissues to relax well. The elbow area where tissues cross, and insert is usually a hot point for me, so I may spend more than two minutes here.  I will usually finish on the forearm right past the elbow.   The last thing I like is the roller directly on my arm in a overhead position laying on the floor (in case that sounded strange). It is a tad bit difficult to manage on my own but once in place it is pretty awesome.  The middle of the roller is tapered so I sit the groove in the elbow/forearm area. I will take the KB and place it on the outside of the arm against the roller to keep it from rolling off.  I like this one a lot. Once I complete a arm, the arm will lay down on the floor whereas before it hangs slightly above the ground due to both shoulders going through surgery in the past. The left has no supra or infraspinatus rotators and the right was totally blown out and put back together. So, mobility is not awesome, and a lot of craggy and grizzly tissue has to be kept as pliable as possible after training.

 

Just some things I do to be able to keep training. I can’t stress enough how beneficial these couple of things are and I still say over and over that including these things will save you tears, aches and pains and in general if done on the regular greatly lessen the chances of surgeries and increase your recovery as well which will all forget that if we recover  we can train more and increase volume which makes you stronger, faster, bigger or whatever you are after..

 

Now on to the ridiculousness of today’s training.  After I did the long activation and BT session, I really was not interested in doing any of the same ole same ole for legs. The hip say F-\/]off on squats so I would walk around the gym and stare at equipment and like a video game, many options would appear with the same F off option on my screen. I went out back and it is hot and melty as I went through options and the stones jumped off and my forearms said F off. I kept looking at them and thought about our stone strap and still the F off kept flashing.  I then thought what if I attached some figure 8 straps to the stone strap and did some stone rack pulley things.  Well the F off did not some on to the display eye screen so I pursued this. After some figuring I slip knotted the figure 8 straps on the stone strap and found something I could work with. I pulled out the 360 stone and tried some reps. It is a slow steady pull. IF you pull too hard or move too quick forward or backward the stone will slip out.  It wasn’t great so I cut a round hole in a thin rubber matting to wrap around the stone a bit more hoping to eliminate the slip off. So the stone strap, rubber mat on top with the stone on top. This worked okay but it was a very short pull so I added mats on either side and did 3 reps. It held so I added 2 more mats and did another set. You get the rest-2 matsx3, 2 matsx3, 2 matsx3, 2 matsx3. Again you can’t pull fast and you have to stay in a track or the stone goes off track. Being a not so smart guy, I finished that and said I want to try the 410.  I took a tow strap and put it around the stone opposite the figure 8s/stone strap. I managed 3 singles and decided that was good and no hamstrings needed to be plucked into popping.

 

After that I took a really old pair of 120lb farmers walks for a spin to throw some dirt on the training for the day. That was miserable after the stone clobbering.  I layed on the gym floor for about 15 minutes trying to recover.  All in all if you are interested in some work that requires smooth pulls and static training, then this absurdity is for you.

 

8/14

• Activations with Tim Tam and boomstick
• 25 minutes of stepmill
• Today was usually monthly filming day so no other work was done.

 

8/13

• Cable cross over work -One arm pulls and standing ab work 8 sets each, Think Hercules hold kind of pull.
• Hammer decline press fro-flyes to warm up 10 sets
• Used the standing back raise backwards for banded Poliquin Flyes Several sets with monster-mini followed by 6 sets with light bands mixing in presses and then a rolling triceps version
• Good bit of experimenting today trying to come up with some other variations.
• Finished with a ridiculous KB Circuit of 10 rounds of:

1. Bosu ball wide stance double swings for 20 reps
2. Medium stance one hand swings for 12 reps each
3. Close Stance double swings for 20 reps

 

8/12

• Two extended laps of regular sled. Tried some moves I either haven’t done or totally forgotten about with belt on the top third of the glute (takes pressure off the low back) walking backwards. Also, some mid-thigh and around knee trials. Some of these were backwards and some sideways.  One partial run with duck foot stance. Each stance changed the focus- some intense hamstring on the mid-thigh backwards. The sideways walk with the belt around the knees (opened the 2xl belt all the way out) keeping constant pressure seems like a very usable meniscus/knee rehab and definitely a great strengthening tool for those weak in those areas.

 

8/11

• Started with one full lap with prowler 25lb each side. Probably, not the greatest start but sorta figured I may not get it in later and that proved to be right.
• Activations with the Tim Tam and Boomstick
• Ab work obliques and long ab strap work 4 sets each
• Reverse hypers 4 pre, 1 post
• Deadlifts with power panties we are working on.  Very light for a few sets.
• 3 sets of hack squat

 

8/10

• Activations with Tim Tam and boomstick
• Ab fallouts 6×8
• Assisted pullups 10×10
• Long ab strap pull downs 6×8
• Banded oblique twists 4×8
• Hammer press with long green band looped around machine. 10×8 with a couple of drop sets

 

8/9

• Activations with Tim-Tam
• Back work fat bar pull downs 8×8
• Banded static rows (band over back of arm) 4×8 reps and a 20 to 30 sec hold
• Banded oblique twists 4×8 per side
• 3 laps regular belt drag.

 

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