COACH THIB JOURNAL 5

Monday, February 7^th

Training-wise my volume was slightly lower than my other sessions, in part because I will be “forced” to train three days in a row. I had to train last Sunday and will have to train Tuesday because Wednesday I am giving a short webinar.

Technically it should not drain me so much that I wouldn’t be able to train, but I never know because sometimes I crash badly from the adrenaline high.

But today was squat day and my adductor is still a bit a angry so I played it safe.

My workout was as follow:

A. Muscle snatch to overhead squat 1 + 5, going up to a “heavy” set of 5, then going down by around 10% and doing another set of 5 then decreasing by another 10% and doing 3 x 5.

B. Back squat, played it safe and only worked up to a light weight (355lbs x 5) then did a set with 325lbs x 5 and 3 x 5 with 315. Just being able to full squat was good news. And although I did feel my adductor, the squats were fast and smooth, which is a positive.

C. Abs work did 4 sets of 8 reps on cable crunches

Then I did an EMS session for quads (strength protocol).

Observation of the day: This was actually my first time squatting with a regular bar in at least 4 years. I did most of my squatting with the safety bar (working up to a heaviest weight of 525lbs).

Now, all things being equal, you use 5-10% less weight on the safety bar. The main reason is that the weight is set-up higher. If you bend forward, the load increase is thus much larger because the load is further away from your hips.

But what I noticed is how much more the traditional back squat involves the upper body. I found that I got lazy squatting with the safety bar and mostly kept my shoulders, arms and upper back relaxed. When I got above 275lbs on the regular bar I noticed that it felt much heavier, because my upper body was not used to having to handle the load.

It got less bad as the set progressed, but it will take a few sessions to get back into the groove.

I also added the front squat mobility drills given by Coach Tom in his “Give me the tip” video (coming later this week on our YouTube channel)  on the front rack position as my goal is to get back to front squatting and cleans in my next block.

Tuesday, February 8^th

I did another workout with less volume. Because, as I mentioned in yesterday’s entry this was my third training day in a row.

Honestly, I had plenty of energy and drive (but my quads were pretty sore and tight) but tonight my wife and I have a big evening planned.

See, Quebec was in lockdown on an off (mostly on) for the past 18-24 months and we have two young kid, including the youngest one who was breastfeeding.

This means that occasions to “spend some quality time together” is rarer than a pink unicorn.

But we were able to find a babysitter and the restaurants are finally opened. So, we rented a hotel room, booked massages and made a restaurant reservation at our favorite steakouse.

I can’t afford to be run down when “it’s time”, nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean…

I also switched the order of my workouts to put the press (today) after the snatch (yesterday). Normally I don’t train two days in a row so that’s fine. But my legs are too sore to be able to perform well on high pulls, which are a lot more reliant on leg strength than the military press.

With that having been said, my workout was as follow:

1. Muscle snatch from blocks 3 x 5
2. Muscle snatch + Power snatch 2 x 2 + 1, 2 x 1 + 2. The “1+2” being slightly heavier, but still in the “technical practice” zone. I’m not gonna lie, I keep the muscle snatch in there to prevent myself from going too heavy too soon on the power snatch!
3. Military press ramp to 1 x 5 (heavier set, I’d say 2 reps in reserve) then 5 x 5 with 90% of that weight
4. Top half military press from pins (eyes level), narrow grip (1.5” narrower on each side) 3 x 5 with the heaviest weight from “C”

I am pleased with the workout and mostly by my discipline regarding load selection. I’m staying conservative whereas in the past when I felt good, I would immediately go to a limit set.

I remain steadfast in my priority to work on technique and improving mobility, at least for the next 2-3 weeks.

Wednesday, February 9^th

Ok, so I did a “workout” for the 4^th day in a row. But it was just some super light weight power snatches.

As part of my wife and I’s evening, we had both got a massage and the therapist did what I felt was a good job on my shoulder, pecs and rhomboids and I wanted to test out if it had a positive effect on my lifting mobility.

I think that it did. My shoulders felt looser and there was zero tension or pain when receiving the bar. Of course, it was light work so it might be different with real weights, but it felt really good.

I might invest in a weekly or bi-weekly massage. It might be needed at my age if I want to perform on the Olympic lifts and sprinting.

Thursday, February 10^th

Today was a high-volume session. Mostly because I likely won’t be able to train for 2-3 days.

Tomorrow I have some tattoo work being done (my tattoo artist is an hour away, so that’s 2 hours, plus a 6 hours session), Saturday is Jayden’s gymnastics and normally our big family day (we might go snow sliding in the afternoon). I might train Sunday, but I also have a lot of work to do with planning a webinar, a seminar and a new online course.

When I know I’ll have plenty of recovery time I like to increase the volume of work significantly while reducing the intensity slightly, going more for a strength-skill type of work.

I started doing that with athletes who often took a 1-week vacation at the mid-point of their off-season training. I would almost double their workload over the preceding week. But to allow them to do the work without crashing during a workout I would lower the intensity.

Basically, I see the week prior to a vacation as a mini accumulation block.

This is a strategy that I kept using once I started working with “average Joes and Janes”.

While I won’t have a full week off, I will have more recovery time than usual. This doesn’t justify a whole week blitz, but one day of higher volume is certainly a valuable option, especially considering that I am in an accumulation phase anyway.

I was up to my pulling workout and it was as follow. It was essentially a continuous ramp: going up in weight from exercise to exercise.

As you can see the volume was very high (30 work sets). But the loads stayed conservative. Not easy, but almost. I’d say the effort level ranged from 6.5 to 8/10.

1. Muscle snatch from blocks 5 sets of 3 repetitions (105 – 135lbs)
2. Power snatch from blocks 5 sets of 3 repetitions (145 – 185lbs)
3. Snatch-grip high pull from blocks 5 sets of 3 repetitions (205 – 235lbs)
4. Snatch-grip low pull from blocks 5 sets of 3 repetitions (245 – 265lbs)
5. Clean-grip shrugs 5 sets of 5 repetitions (275 – 295lbs)
6. Clean-grip low pull from blocks 5 sets of 3 repetitions (305 – 335lbs)

I also ate significantly more (I normally adjust my food intake to my training volume). While I do not measure my food, I increased intake by roughly 20-25%.

Friday, February 11^th

Really nothing to report as I spent 6h on the tattoo table and 2h driving.

Saturday, February 12^th

Today was Jayden’s gymnastics class. He is so Boss, I’ll have to take some videos. I have already posted some training videos, but he is getting pretty good at gymnastics too. He is a good jumper and most of what they are doing involve jumping which gives him confidence for the rest.

What I like the most is that he is eager to go. Friday, he kept asking if we were going to gymnastics and this morning as soon as he woke up he was asking about it again.

I do believe that gymnastics is the best sport a kid can do. Followed by a form of martial art when he is a bit older. A kid who does gymnastics and judo or BJJ will be able to do almost everything because they will have developed great motor skills and body control before they are 10.

I wasn’t really disciplined today and actually did some squatting instead of not training. But I kept it light. My adductor is getting better every week but it’s still tender. Nothing is torn so I suspect that making it stronger through training is the best way to bring it back.

I did a decent volume but fairly low intensity. The scientific description of my workout could be plenty of triples with a weight I could do 5-6 reps with.

I did several triples on Frankenstein squats (which I’m doing until I fully regain my front rack mobility), back squats and top half squats (a bit lower than 90 degrees).

Oddly I find that I’m not much stronger on half squats (if at all). I am so efficient at using the rebound in a full squat than it more than compensate for the longer range of motion. I’m actually reaching the half squat position with good momentum. I always suspected it, but today it was clear that the deeper I go, the stronger I am (unless I pause in the bottom).

Sunday, February 13^th

Today was my pressing day and it made me happy as it was the first time that I was able to press with zero pain. It was like pressing with a new shoulder. I coincided with a vast improvement in my shoulder mobility was I was able to take a proper front rack position for the first time in eons. This means that I have a lot better shoulder external rotation.

I did a workout that it was a highly scientific “a lot of sets of 5 with a weight I could get 7-8 reps with”.

It was like this:

1. Military press gradually ramp up to the heaviest weight for 5 that day (leaving 1-2 reps in the tank) then doing 5 x 5 with 90% of the that weight and 5 x 5 with 80% of that weight.
2. Wide grip military press (grip 1” wider on each side) 5 x 3-5 with the 80% weight from above

Simple, but got lot of work in and my shoulder felt good.

This phase is about accumulating a high volume of reps that I dominate. I have two more weeks with that form of training then I will start going heavier.