Another Leg Day, Another day for PRs

Last week jumped 49". This week jumped 50.5"
Last week hit 410 + 120lb chains in box squat. This week went 415 with a crack at 420.

So, yea, things are going well with leg work so far. Just hope this transfers well to the field as last Saturday I honestly thought I had one of my worst showings on the pitch in a long time. I may or may not, probably not, get into that later but for now lets discuss todays training.



Today was unfortunately cut short. Much shorter than I'd planned. Originally I wanted to get my training in early but was called in to cover a shift so my morning/ afternoon was shot. Got what I could done before a few prospects showed up to get their ass kicked via kettle bell.

Not to say the day was a waste. Still got some solid training in. Several jumps in all of which were over 48" on the tires. In fact I think I landed every one. Now just still chasing the magic 50+ range. Some reason that is a barrier I need to get over. Finally did but just barely with the 50.5". Im scraping cleans while Im in season. Unfortunately that lift just takes up too much time and I need to focus on movement and get my quickness/ first step faster on the pitch. I'll be tossing them back into the mix once track season rolls around in the next 3 months. Finished off with several sets of 3 on box squats and then rounded off with 4x5 on RDL's. Those are feeling solid as well. Finished at 330 and really felt I should've gone heavier.

Next week.

Get Random

Sometimes its best to just do something different and say "Screw it lets shake things up a bit."

Yesterday was supposed to be a somewhat dynamic day of jumps, throws, lifts, and some minor GPP since Im still hurting from Wednesday's ME session. Those chains are kicking my ass lately and showing no sign of mercy. Have at it then.

Well that was the plan. Couple 'problems' occurred.
1- The weather, for once, is absolutely awesome. This is Ohio. Well versed in a schizo-bastard-dunno-wtf-im-doing weather area. Never been here? A sampling is that Friday and Friday evening it was in the low 50's. Saturday? Yea screw that. Lets break the heater and crank it to 80+.

2- It was Saturday. I mean, really, who trains hard on a rugby day anyways?

3- I just got out of a meeting with BAT Cage and guess what? Unofficial opening date of THE FORGE - Strength Systems is JULY 1st! Yea buddy. Im excited. So after this news it was a little hard to focus on the task at hand or at least focus on the plan of attack.

Ladder was thrown to the ground for some warmup contacts. Legs were stiff so I rolled and stretched before hand. Got my jumps in then got the tires out;
-Standard 'box' jump to two tires (I think the height is about 40-41")
-Jettison Jumps: 20lb dumbbells that are dropped after one jump, 2nd jump(or third), then up to tire
-Multi-Jumps outside; Bounds, long jumps, single leg hops for distance

This is about when I got bored. I just wanted to throw shit. Im getting the itch. So out come the kettlebells; 18, 26, 30, and 40 pounders. Then it just turned into a crap show of everything I could find, get a grip on, and throw for some distance. All of which included;
-150# tire
-20# chains
-Med balls up to 30#
-110# rock
-Bumpers
-Kettlebells up to 60#
-all fucks given that day



Worked out great actually. Worked on my tan somewhat AND got some decent conditioning at the end. Unfortunately what was also not included on the video is the end where I hit some MB throws and sprints. Battery died.

'Till next time. 

Chain Lifting - Accomodating resistance at its finest. Part 2

Well this is the more 'legit' post for the day/week. If you already read my previous post about the chain ordeal (which is still to be concluded btw) then hope it gave you a laugh. If not at my own expense.

So, anyways, for something a little more constructive. I wanted to put the new chains through a workout to see how it went. I will be the first to say I havn't had a good upper workout like that in awhile. I tried to get in a pretty good variety and at certain points was just banging out reps trying to get a good pump. No matter what I did the chains worked well.

Heres a rough recap of the workout. Remember, I had several sets I just either went to failure, left 2, or was just playing around to see what would happen. Some exercises worked great while others not so much.

Bench press- Worked up to max effort for 3 reps with 80lbs total chain. Hit 245 for a trip. Puts it around 305 (some of the chain sits on the ground at lock).
Swiss bar Incline Press with fat grips (theres a mouthful)- hit 4 sets for 10-12 reps. Used 40lbs chain, narrow grip, and Grip4orce grippers on the bar.
Multi-grip pullups- This one I just sort of hit reps at whatever I felt like at the moment. I think my pride on the day was the triple I had with 80lbs of chain on me. Puts me close to 300lbs. So 3 pullups at that much is pretty good for me.
Multi-grip inverted row- Same deal just hit different grips. Mixed in chains (was awkward and clumsy) and used fat bar and cannonballs.
Arms and shoulders- Just started rocking curls and raises with the cannonballs. My biceps cramped pretty hard later on.

This is a pretty heavily edited video. Didnt want to bore everyone with EVERY single rep I did.

Chain lifting - Accomodating resistence at its finest part 1

So I finally decided this past Monday that it was a good time to get some chains. Heard of a nearby place that sells all kinds of different hardware and at a reasonable price. To put it in perspective chains from a exercise equipment supplier have some crazy prices. Usually around 110-140 bucks for a pair of 20 pounds chains. Total weight at roughly 40-45lbs. So about $3 a pound. Kind of ridiculous. So I found McMaster Carr right down the highway in Aurora that has chains for dirt cheap compared to others. At about 9 bucks a foot I think I saved roughly 30 or more per pair with attachment chains and links included. So not a bad deal despite the complete utter cluster#$&@ that happened when I tried to order the damn things...

So heres the story-

I head out to Aurora around noon thinking I call them up and make the order, swing by play-it-again sports, and then come back to grab the chains. Seemed simple enough, right? Well it started that way. I make the call when Im about 15 minutes out and they inform me it will be about an hour to complete the order after I made it a point I AM ON MY WAY to come pick it up. So no worries. I'll get some shopping done and it'll be ready when I get around to them...WRONG. So a little over an hour passes by and I walk up, give them my info, and suddenly a puzzled look comes across the guys face.

"Hmmmm..."

Hm?

"Well it looks like your order was shipped." (Mind you it cost me about 10 bucks in gas to get there plus the tolls while shipping was somewhere around 90 dollars total so Im a little annoyed now).

"Hey it was supposed to be will call, man."

"Yea, Im not sure what happened. Well let me get you another order in and it should be ready in about 15 minutes"

So here I am thinking "great Im going to have 12 friggin chains when this is said and done and be about 600 in the hole. NOT what I was planning on.

"Ok. Yea they have the order so it should be out soon"

Alright. Whatever. I still have some time before practice. I can wait 15 minutes. So I shot some texts out to my athletes and let them know I was going to run a few minutes late but no big deal. Well except the man must've been on some seriously good medication as it took well over an hour and a half to get my new order ready. So not only do I still not have chains yet but practice AND the anticipated testing day is a complete wash. Its already 330 and Im still stuck in some massive warehouse the size of the IX center.

"Ok sorry about the wait you can head around back and pick them up."

Are you shitting me?? After all this they were around back?? For all I know they could have been ready for awhile but I was sitting up front waiting around with dumbass who doesn't understand how time works.

Alright, whatever, the day is already lost so lets make the most of it. I head around back. Grab the bucket of chain (which seemed kind of light for the listed 127lbs but I figured 'well I have been getting stronger') and was on my way.

Finally Im back in Brunswick. After a quick stop to Home Depot for the rest of the pieces I needed Im back in the high school weight room. Home sweet home.

Lets crack these babies open....

I pull two out and link em up to the bar. Bench a few times. All is well. Pull out two more, chain em up, bench a few more times. Feels good. So I reach in to grab the other two...remember when I said it felt light? There was only one chain left. I ordered 6 and was given 5. Alright now really? I was starting to feel a little better until this happened now I got 6 chains in the mail and 5 in front of me. Where do they hire these guys?

It gets better...

So I send them an email 'kindly' voicing my frustrations with the day thus far. Was responded later with "please use this shipping account to send them back and you be issued a full refund for the bad order". Ok well thats good to hear except I got to lug around a heavy ass bucket to UPS to send a bogus order back.

Then I noticed something-

The chains on the left side of the bar were grazing the ground like they are supposed to. The right side- hanging freely. I checked the links and they were even in height so wtf? Why is one higher than the other? I begin to take each chain off and lay them down next to each other....

AW SUNUVA $#%$^@#*$@#*%^#*($@($!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so lets recap. Not only did they completely misunderstand "I am coming to pick them up DO NOT ship them", they have no idea how long it takes to cut chains and prepare an order, they can't count, and now apparently dont know how a tape measure functions. Its complicated stuff I am sure.

Heres the worst...maybe they just had their B-side working service that morning. Maybe it was just because it was Monday and McMaster pulled their complimentary employee coffee. Maybe the company Cinco De Mayo party just royally screwed up their staff so bad that they were still recovering until Tuesday and therefore normal human functioning on any sort of intelligent level just ceased to be. Tequilas ridiculous.

I don't know.

What I do know is they still have a better location and way better prices than anyone else. So what does this mean? Well like Jim Carey said in Liar Liar - "Guess Ill just piss and moan like an incompetent prick!"

No, seriously, thats about the whole point of this post. Have a good weekend!