I've been on a pretty good tear lately, hit some new PRs last week, so I thought it was a good idea to taper down a bit. My goal this week is to try to hit somewhere around 70% of what was my normal intensity/volume per session.
First off, I did not attend Steve Freides' workshop yesterday. I had wanted to, but the whole family had come down with another cold/cough this week, and trying to be the new me, I decided not to push it, but allow myself to rest while I had the chance. To make up for it, I did order Pavel's Resilient DVD. I see it includes some elbow work and hope its something applicable to my condition.
Anyway, today's session was performed with just the 16kg rather than the 24kg. It comes in handy that just dropping from 24kg to 16kg, my weight is already reduced to about 70%. Therefore, I decided to hit the same number of swings as last week, easily slipping me into my 70% intensity range.
Getups: 16kg - 4/4
1-Hand Swings: 16kg -
27/27
15/15
15/15
20/20
13/13
10/10
Why start off with 27 swings per side? Given my body weight today, I would have to complete 54 snatches at the RKC cert. I just wanted to know how it felt performing 54 reps non-stop. This is probably the first time I've done this. Not too hard doing swings with a 16kg. =)
I then followed up with some misc forearm work. That's it for today. Easy Peasy!! (I think that's a Cheathamism.)
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11 comments:
Great job Howie .. tapering off for someone like myself is MUCH harder than trying to push myself to the limit. I have one week to complete my current cycle then I will follow suit with your approach of going with the lighter bells .. its such a simple brilliant idea .. thanks man!
Meanwhile keep up the ice on the elbows .. simple and the most effective.
Thanks Franklin. And trust me, it's not very easy for me to taper either. One definitely needs to have a plan in place, otherwise it's easy to just keep plugging forward. I was almost tempted to thrown in a few snatches this morning, but resisted. No snatches for a while still!
Concerning elbow issues there is a great thread on dragondoor today titled "Hammerstrength exercise for golfers elbow" (I have both tennis and golfers elbow in both arms). It talks about Resilient elbow exercises (I will order this DVD as well) and one of the follow up posts mentions the using finger bands and grippers. I forgot to mention in my earlier verbose post I too used these with good results (I got a kit with the rubber bands from Ironmind, the same company that sells the COC grippers). I got up to the yellow band on both arms and was able to close the COC#1 with my right for several months and just recently closed it with my left. This is a big deal as 6 months a few closes with the COC Guide (the weakest gripper) caused intense pain.
Hey Franklin, already got the Ironmind rubber bands! I'm playing with the yellow and blue. I'll check out the DD thread shortly. And I got word today Resilient has been shipped. So hopefully I am already on the path to recovery. I'm also in a debate with myself as to whether I should see a doc. The only thing that I feel I'll get out of it at this point is an official diagnosis. Other than that, I think I'm already doing the rehab work myself.
Just checked the thread... that is exactly one of the exercises I am currently doing! When I was doing physical therapy a few years back for this same problem (only had it on the right arm then, I believe from too many pullups), my therapist had me using the hammer movement. I've now been doing as described in the thread with an dumbell handle and a small weight secured to one side. Nice to get confirmation taht I know what I'm doing!! =)
I guess now it's just a matter of being patient.
Tapering off probably sounds like a good idea for you right now. The question is are you taking care of the elbow after workouts ... ice ... wrap ... NSAIDS. Or are you like Terry from Kettlebell Guy and follow TMRs ... Typical Male Response and #5784 is the number for "Ignore the pain until it goes away or you die. LOL!
Now TOSP, you'll be glad to know that I am taking preemptive measures to keep my elbows healthy. It's called prehab! I've stripped away (like that play on words?) all movements that cause discomfort such as snatches and cleans, I am icing, stretching and performing some elbow-specific strengthening movements.
I am hoping by the end of March that things will be improved and I can slowly start to re-introduce snatches and cleans. I do need to prepare for RKC in August.
Howie, your plan is a solid one .. one that I am following as well.
Master the 32kg one-hand swings (e.g., the "Howie challenge") and the 24kg will feel so light, it will fly up there making snatching much easier WHEN you are ready to start snatching again .. no need to rush it as the August Cert gives you plenty of time to improve .. also I just noticed that your previous PR on the snatch gives you a very solid base.
Franklin, my short term goal with the 32kg is to not try to swing it so high (I was bringing it up to head level), keep the swings lower while maintaining strong form, particularly on the left (weaker) side.
At one point I would have been worried that swings wouldn't get me where I needed to be for the snatch test. I don't have that fear any longer...
Also, Resilient has been shipped!
Good to know you are not being a "typical guy" ... lol. And yes, I appreciate yur play on words. I heard the RKC snatch test is psycho! Make sure that elbow gets better!
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