Flew back to California today. I left winter and arrived in summer. I went home for vacation and now I am back...on vacation!? Its funny, but I feel like if you ever find yourself saying that you've got something figured out... Greeted by brother Peter and cousin Brian at John Wayne Airport. Upon arrival, I was not taken back to our house to drop things off, rather we went straight to the NAC boathouse and began our lifting session. 30 minutes after touching down in Orange County I was already doing sets of one legged squats. 55 of them...four times..per leg...
This is the beginning of our third cycle of training with Coach Gleeson. Last month(a "rest month" according to Dave) was max lifting and light technical rowing; however, this month we are being reintroduced to the endurance lifting that we did in November. The idea is that after a max power phase we should be able to do more weight on the endurance lifts. So far, that has certainly been the case. On Monday, on Deadlift, I was able to do more weight and do it continuously for the full 55 reps. In the previous cycle, I was not strong enough to hold onto the bar for the entire 55 reps, so we would break it up into 20s, 15s, 10s, etc... So that was a great improvement. On the pull ups, we struggled in November just to finish the 3 x 55. By the end we would be doing one at a time! On Monday, it was a different story. Tom especially was impressive, rattling off 15, 15, 15, 10. Three times! I was able to stick with 5 at a time for the most part, which is still a big improvement.
Today is Legs day and is definitely the hardest of the three lifting days. Dave says the legs are the most important so instead of the normal grueling 12 x 55 reps we do 16 x 55. The first time we did it, it took us almost five hours. I could barely do 10 one legged squats in a row. Today, after getting off the plane, I did all 220(4 x 55) in a row with much more depth than ever before, never stopping for a break. That alone was a clear indicator that something is working. While that set was a glimmer of hope...this week will be the end of that. We will be back into a cavernous training hole as a result of the increased load. Also new this cycle will be some more work at higher rates and intensities on the water. It's getting to be that time, believe it or not...Thanks for reading and thanks for your support, we all appreciate it.
This is the beginning of our third cycle of training with Coach Gleeson. Last month(a "rest month" according to Dave) was max lifting and light technical rowing; however, this month we are being reintroduced to the endurance lifting that we did in November. The idea is that after a max power phase we should be able to do more weight on the endurance lifts. So far, that has certainly been the case. On Monday, on Deadlift, I was able to do more weight and do it continuously for the full 55 reps. In the previous cycle, I was not strong enough to hold onto the bar for the entire 55 reps, so we would break it up into 20s, 15s, 10s, etc... So that was a great improvement. On the pull ups, we struggled in November just to finish the 3 x 55. By the end we would be doing one at a time! On Monday, it was a different story. Tom especially was impressive, rattling off 15, 15, 15, 10. Three times! I was able to stick with 5 at a time for the most part, which is still a big improvement.
Today is Legs day and is definitely the hardest of the three lifting days. Dave says the legs are the most important so instead of the normal grueling 12 x 55 reps we do 16 x 55. The first time we did it, it took us almost five hours. I could barely do 10 one legged squats in a row. Today, after getting off the plane, I did all 220(4 x 55) in a row with much more depth than ever before, never stopping for a break. That alone was a clear indicator that something is working. While that set was a glimmer of hope...this week will be the end of that. We will be back into a cavernous training hole as a result of the increased load. Also new this cycle will be some more work at higher rates and intensities on the water. It's getting to be that time, believe it or not...Thanks for reading and thanks for your support, we all appreciate it.
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