Training Log: Entry 3434

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

**12 LABORS: SLAYING THE NAMEAN LION**

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 1, Week 1, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

SSB front squats

5x5x195

ALTERNATE w/

Log clean and press away

5x5x135

Weighted NG chins

5x5x30

KB swings

100x24kg

ASSISTANCE

Ab circuit (no rest between exercises)

SSB front rack hold

3x30 seconds x 358lb

Standing ab wheel

3x10

Band pull aparts

2x25, 1x50

Notes:

* 3rd lifting workout of the week, keeping the weights the same, and I’m really digging how this all works.  Today felt the best it’s felt, and I moved smooth and quick on everything.  It took me quite a while to be mature enough to “get” this program, but I’m in the right spot for it now.

* Focused on really bracing hard on those front squats and really trying to pop the log up on the clean.  No wasted energy.  Chins felt strong as well.

* The swings come from K. Black discussing one of his clients (I forget if it was TB 1 or 2) that performs Operator with squat, bench and 100 swings with a 36 or 48kg bell.  I’m blending ideas here, but as far as I can tell, still complying with the protocol, as Operator allows for 3 movemetns+1 BW, which would grant me the ability to include those 100 swings alongside the weighted chins.  I feel like having the swings on Mon and Fri and the deads on Wed should work well for me.  Allow me to still train the hinge/triple extension without beating myself up too much.  Having the deads on Wed and then stones on the weekend gives me longer breaks between heavy posterior chain work to recover.  I really dig the puzzle solving when it comes to this stuff.

* My right knee is feeling so much better, which bodes well in a lot of ways.  It’s good to know I didn’t permanently destroy it: I simply wasn’t giving it enough time to recover because I kept hammering it with that squat style that just wasn’t a good fit for me.  Going back to a more normal stance has me moving fast and feeling strong again.  I do want to keep that other stance as a tool in my backpocket, but I think 2-ish years of squatting that way was enough to accomplish whatever I needed to accomplish.  

* I keep upping the weight on the front rack hold, with no real end goal.  This may have been heavy enough at this point to settle in for a while.  I don’t need to be a front rack champion: just have to get some benefit from it.

* I keep talking about wanting to do 3/5/1 for TB, and I can definitely do that in the future, but I realized I have an avenue to employ something similar within the week itself.  It’s 3-5 sets, which means I could always do something like open up the week with 4 sets, do 3 sets on the second workout and then finish up with 5 sets. There’s also the potential to do 4 sets, then 5 sets, then 3 sets on the final workout, saving my back a little before I do events work on the weekend.  Both have their advantages: having the low amount of sets in the mid workout correlates with the workout where I do trap bar lifts, so I can save myself for that OR I could do more than 1 workset of the trap bar that day.  It’s funny how, the more limited the training, the more creative I get.

* We ended up only doing 1 TSD class last night.  We all are still feeling a little crummy post travel.  We’ll get in one more class on Saturday.