Direkt zum Hauptbereich

Way to the TKDI EC 2012, Part VI

Failed at the weights. Failed hard. I didn't want to admit it, but things are realy going south in terms of recovery. Probably need to take a step back.

You see, today I hit the gym for my last workout in the current 5/3/1 cycle. Clean & Jerk for explosive power, bench pressing for upper body limit strength. Now the bench press traditionally is my weakest exercise. To be even more specific about it, I just plainly suck at bench pressing. Never felt too bad about it, as it's not a very functional thing for a martial artist to do anyways. Still, failing as hard as I did today hurts - at least the ego. The thing that bugs me most is that strength never was a limiting factor in today's workout. Last saturday I got slammed into the ground with a hip toss and hurt my ribs. Yesterday, I got kneed to that very place. Today, I'm having a hard time breathing - let alone lock out a fully loaded bar after the jerk or press big weights from a supine position. Also, my extremely low-carb diet doesn't help with strength gains.

Below you'll find some charts that illustrate my strength development. As you can see, my bodyweight fluctuates wildly, but there's a clear downward trend. Guess I'll actually make it to the -70kg division. Definitely going to have some great food in Cracow after the weigh-in...

Anyhow, the only lift that truly improved was the snatch - nearly +20% on my last 1RM test on the best day. Clean & Jerk wasn't too bad, either, at +5% last week. The grinds - namely the bench press and pull up - are a totally different story, though...

After the European Championships, I'll go back to doing three S&C sessions per week. Two just don't seem to cut it. Probably too long in between workouts for optimal super compensation... More on that when the fighting's done. No point in even thinking about it right now.





From next monday, I'll do a deload week (3x5x50% 1RM). Not expecting any strength gains here, it's going to be more like drilling technique and perfecting body mechanics, especially on the O-lifts. After that, it'll just be technique, sparring and stretching. Nothing but an easy taper. Of course, I'll let you know how things progress.

So long,

take care
Labels:

Kommentare

Kommentar veröffentlichen

Beliebte Posts aus diesem Blog

Happy new year

I wish you all a happy new year. Photo by camera slayer, found on flickr.org For me, the year won't start particularily good, I guess. On january 7th, the doc will put my foot into plaster again. This time, it's 4 weeks. After that, we shall see further. Now on the one hand, this is significantly screwed up. Gone are my plans of doing a max strength program to begin the year. Also, as a professional trainer, not being mobile at the beginning of the year means a serious handicap to my marketing actions. Novembet through February are, after all, the best months for any sports school, finance-wise. Also, I need to make up for all the losses my second studio has produced over the last year anyways. Instead of recovering financially, I'll now have to pay an instructor to teach my classes. Great. Not to mention all my plans of offering more classes at my Dojo. They're most definately put on a halt at the moment. As you can see, from a business point of view, my situation is s
Kommentar veröffentlichen
Mehr anzeigen

Kettlebell Training For Aerobic Endurance Gains

Introduction Endurance is a broad term. Different types of endurance (short -, medium - and long term) are fueled by different energy systems. The first one or two maximum muscle contractions are powered by the phosphates in the muscle cell. After that, short bursts of up to 12 seconds draw their energy from the creatine- phosphate reserves. These two modes of energy production are known as anaerobic (lacking oxygen) alactic (without significant production of lactic acid). Longer efforts, up to roughly 3 minutes, primarily make use of the anaerobic lactic system, also called anaerobic glykolysis, i.e., the utilization of sugar in the absence of sufficient oxygen. Finally, even longer work is primarily fueled by the aerobic system. Here, oxygen is available in sufficient amounts such that sugars and fats can be oxidized in the Krebs cycle. It is this system that will be in the scope of this article. The aerobic system is, amongst other things, relevant for recovery after training se
1 Kommentar
Mehr anzeigen

Thoughts on Combat Training: Smarter Sparring Part I

Disclaimer: This is the first part of a new installment on sparring. In this first post I'll outline the general idea and make an introduction. More specialized and practical posts will follow. Everything comes at a cost. This can be an increased risk of injury, unfavorable anatomical adaptation, or simply a missed opportunity of doing something more sensible. As a martial arts trainer, it is my job to make each of my  rip to the Dojo my fighter's trips to the Dojo worthwhile. Biggest bang for buck, so to say. I'm a teacher, after all, not an entertainer. Therfore, before jumping ship on anything I do in my classes, I ask myself the following : "What is the purpose of [insert activity]? What is the cost of that? Is it worth it? Is there a way of achieving the same result at a lower cost" In general, that last question boils down to finding something that is more time efficient or comes at a reduced risk of injury. What is the purpose of sparring? W
2 Kommentare
Mehr anzeigen