Look Like/Perform Like Log

Aaand it’s pressday! Good smashy morning workout. Note well: once next pullday is done, the first cycle of LL/PL is finished and it’s time to test 3RMs and assess the progress.

Pullday, and first LL/PL cycle, DUN. Chucked in some chest flyes (6x3 26kg each side), pull overs and curls (16kg sob) too

Test day has landed! So it looks like this:

Overhead press new MTW: 75kg (up 5!)
Push press ditto (up 5!)
Back squat 130kg (up 10!)
Bench press 85kg (up 5!)

Muscle snatch new MTW: 65kg up 5
SGHP new MTW: 75kg up 5
SGDL new MTW: 125kg up 15!

OK so. It’s Zone 2 press day with the new targets. Added dips, leg presses, some trap bar curls, stretched, 10 lengths of the pool.

Zone 2 pull day. Stupidly, started off muscle snatches at MTW not MTW-10kg and wondered why it was so heavy:-) After that, the mixture as usual. With one big exception…

I’ve been back in modern class for the last couple of weeks. On Monday night, Lisa was saying I should work on speed and rate-of-force. I’m well aware that as a dancing bloke with big quads and a big ass, I should be able to fly, and my jumps ought to be better. So, after lifting iron and before stretching, let’s attack that.

@Christian_Thibaudeau has some ideas: Get Strong, Get Fast, Get Vertical! and Violent Jump Squats for Dense Muscle Growth

So, taking movements from both and the speed-strength rep range from the first:

Broad jump: 3x8
Depth jump (i.e. saut from the plié?) 3x8
Jump squat w/40kg (i.e. roughly 20% of 180) 3x8

First feedback: that’s kind of energetic and energising, perhaps I should do it before lifting? also, surprisingly easy to forget the rep scheme and just keep dancing, sorry, training. As for the jump squat, don’t kid yourself the light squat means you don’t need padding on the bar, and do remember to pull the bar down onto your shoulders - otherwise it’s going to keep going up until it doesn’t, and rejoin company rather quickly. #crunch.

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I just watched an Alan Thrall video where he does a BW squat jump before squatting with the idea of getting more explosive.

The links you put up are timely for me. I’m pretty sure I need to start training jumps/ or sprints, or both. I’m not very explosive or very fast. I really like barre and adagio work. Haha. Good for the flexiblity and grace. Not so great for the kind of explosive movement you need for getting off the ground in a jump, or for Oly lifting.

They do great things as warm-up and activation tools. The key is to use them in very low volume. Most people go wrong by doing tons of them right away

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Aragorn and thatguy, This is the one I was thinking of.
I heart Alan Thrall and his beard.

Z2 Pressday! Did the jumps first this time, then the skwatz to benefit from the jumps. Lifts felt great although set 7 of push presses, the intensifier back at 3RM, was a struggle. Left it at that; late for work. But in a strong way

Aaand pullday it is.

Just had one of those workouts that follow you out of the gym. Started off with a basic Cunningham stretch out, then 3x8 broad jumps, 2x8 each from 4th and 5th, 3x8 jump squats with 50kg (decided to add some more iron last time out). Then your standard Zone 2 pressday, finishing up with dips and a full card of stretching.

I could get to like the jumps, especially because the 120kg skwaaaatz feel both heavier and easier afterwards…weird.

Which was good, because I was late enough to class that Lisa shut the studio door on me. :disappointed_relieved::sob::cry:

Damn. Did that weird thing of ripping right into snatches at the 3RM again. So I did the intensifier set first and then the other 7.

The jumps add-on is making my lower back feel it just a bit. And the legs…feels weirdly like going to class the next day. But that’s the desired effect amirite?

Weirdly the same trainer who comes over all Principal Skinner (or was that Princess Skinny Bitch?) when I want to smash some overhead carries over to the yoga girls doesn’t seem to care about me jump-squatting in the centre of the weights area. Seems much easier to hit someone with a big iron bar this way.

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So, first class at Central School last night. Things to note: I felt a bit shitty and hungry going in, and my right calf was stiff in warmup. Not surprisingly I sucked by my own estimation. That said, I got called out twice - the first for piqué devant to 5th with conviction, the second for snappy assemblé-ing.

Also, class overran 30 full minutes for something like 2 hours 20 in the studio. To be honest I was pretty baked by then and I noticed a couple of people dropping out. This morning I am mostly being tired, with a sore right achilles. So the obvious thing to do this lunchtime was to go smash some weights.

Did the jumps, which was no fun, and then a Zone 2 pressday. Weights felt like they were heavy or something, but despite this weakfest I was pleased with the depth of the squats.

OK, last pullday in this Z2. Next week it gets HEAVIER. Jumps felt a lot better for some reason, and dodgy cankle has cheered up in time for modern class tomorrow. (Autocorrect said modern classic; I can’t promise that…)

First Z1 pressday this cycle. We did a lot of travelling handstands in modern class and my left shoulder isn’t happy about this, but I smashed the weights anyway. Also, this class was the first time in a month I did any significant floorwork, and not only did this leave me sore, I sucked. Need to re-fix various things I fixed at the end of last term.

Decided to add a couple of sets of lighter (60kg) incline bench presses in search of getting more upper chest. Result: went to failure on second last set of conventionals. The search goes on for just the right add-on.

So, a couple of days off between Thursday night class and today’s gym out.

So, a couple of days off between Thursday night class and yesterday’s workout. Worth having. So it was a pullday in Zone 1 (somewhere along the line I’ve been numbering these wrong - this is the one at MTW-5kg). Kicked off with stretches and the jumps add-on (3x8 broads, 3x8 in turnout both 4th and 5th, 3x8 jumpsquats w/40kg), then the usual prescribed lifts. That was all fine and strong. Did pullups, 6x3.

I’ve decided to declare war on the upper chest, so added 3x8 60kg incline bench presses, then did 4x3 70kg, 2x2 80kg. I was quite pleased with the extra range of motion and teh pumpz.

Noticed that the huge studio nobody uses was empty, so I thought I’d do some floorwork stuff ahead of today’s modern class, and maybe try to work out the utter bastard of a combination they dropped on us in ballet on Thursday. (5th/sissoné/posé/half a fouetté en dehors/hold it/close/glissade/temps lévé/1st arabesque/half fouetté/close 4th, hands in 5th/tendu to the left, hands a la 2/pas de bourré, hands in 5th. fucking murderers.) Didn’t really get anywhere until it struck me back in the changing room that OF COURSE it starts off down a diagonal, and nobody was asking me to sissoné sideways out of fifth.

So I put the show on right here! in street clothes and trainers. My reward this morning for some sin or other: my back is in a state, with the right lats complaining. to be honest they were a bit bitchy all week - I think the jumpsquats aren’t too popular with my back. Also, Central School barre always seems to contain a shit load of cambrés and the pain is pretty much exactly where my back bends for that (or indeed for a push press).

It’s been a bit quiet around here. My back fucking sucked on Monday, but I went and took class anyway, and by chance that was the day Lisa threw a sack of Graham technique at us. I think it’s fair to say no-one ever ran a “Graham technique for a healthy back” class. But it turned out to be a cracker and although I hurt the next day, I was well up for ballet on Thursday night. I took the precaution of not provoking the whiny right lat in the meantime.

On the night, I got to Central School and found there was a performance on and someone had collapsed in the audience, so the place was in an uproar. I found my way in via the fire stairs and got up to studio 3 in time to find out the performance needed our teacher and class was off, so I took the absolute beginner class that runs at the same time. And that was…frankly dull and unchallenging. I guess that’s a marker of progress?

Today, back to the iron for a Z1 pressday. Jumps felt pretty good; back squats 125kg for 8x3. Interestingly, I’m convinced the squats feel heavier after the jumpsquats. Then the usual OHPs. Decided to do BTNs with 60kg rather than push presses in order to not piss off the back too much, which was…different. Did 2x10 60kg incline bench presses before doing the scheduled 80kgs, of which I did 6x3 in recognition of the extras…and wham, a startlingly big pump! Finished up with dips and skipped stretching to hurry off to a conference call.

Back in for pullday. Cunningham stretches. Jumps 3x8 2nd/4th/5th. No jump-squatting because someone in the rack. Muscle snatches at mtw-5kg went really well - fast and explosive and breathy. So did the rest of the prescribed lifts.

Add-ons for today - 3x10 incline bench presses 60kg, and I brought back the leg presses, just at 220 for 3x8 in search of that speedstrength. Stretched out. Feel epic.

Amusing thing: I met a gym first timer, a tiny woman in her 40s. As a result her first ever weights workout began with 8x3 trap bar dead lifts.