physical. 04/29/15

Perception vs. Execution
Featured on a board in our training room recently were these simple but often overlooked concepts/ ideas.

Bench press:

5 x 2 @ (up to) 90% of 2RM from 03/18/15

Rest as needed between sets. If a set requires interruption make as minor an adjustment as needed and re-do it uninterrupted. When scheme is listed as “5 x 2″, it always refers to “Sets” x “Reps”.

Then, 2 rounds of:

2 Turkish Get-up @ 80-90% of 1RM (Left arm)
2 Turkish Get-up @ 80-90% of 1RM (Right arm)

Rest between reps/ arms as needed, and focus on the details. If one single element of the lift falls apart, adjust weight for all future reps.

Then, 1 round on a 4-minute descending clock:

20 Goblet squat @ 1/2 BW +
20 Walking lunge @ 3/4 BW

If 1/2 bodyweight does not pose a significant challenge in the squat, adjust to ability. Lunge may be weighted in any manner and with any implements you choose, with the exception of barbell in the back rack. Goal should always be completion, and never running out the clock.

1 minute rest, then 3 rounds or 5 minutes- whichever comes first:

20 Jumping pull-up
10 Double kettlebell swing clean (35lb. x 2 W, 55lb. x 2 M)

If swing clean set requires more than one interruption, adjust weight one interval down and continue. Take care to not substitute pace for range of motion in jumping pull-up.

In the context above, “low-level variables” include diet, mood, ego, location/ equipment, frustration… All which can be used as convenient excuses to derail or delay progress, and all of which can and must be controlled and navigated properly to move past the beginning stages of physical and/ or mental progress.

A simple way of wp-contentroaching it is asking “What can and will I accomplish when the situation is ideal?” vs. “What can and will I accomplish when the situation is stacked against me?” Ideal is easy, the other is not.

Making excuses is easy; developing expertise is… not. In answering the two questions above, refer to the concepts a little further above. What you view vs. what you DO… and how often and attentively you do it.

There is no such thing as “Occasional relentlessness”.
There is no value in being “Partially unstoppable”.

High-level progress requires the limiting of low-level variables.