Tuesday Evening at the Park

Enjoying Daylight Savings Time and the pain all on a warm Tuesday evening.  Soccer players to the left of me and baseball to the right, I fired up a Chieftan's CD in the old boom box for a 20 minute session of Box Pistols and Bottoms Up Presses.

After a warm up that consisted of Joint Mobility, Turkish Get Ups and some Club Swings and Swipes, I got right into it.

There we 10 attempts per side of each drill and as a practice session, this went quite well.  I felt I had more power in the ascent during the Pistol.  Getting down is OK, coming back up is hard.  This time I didn't have to rock back so much to get momentum to come back up, nor did I have to spot myself with the opposing leg.  I definitely felt more powerful and more in control.  I'm staying tighter longer and really driving with the heals.

The Bottoms Up Press came along nicely.  Again, I have left this area of the park looking like it got shelled like a WWI battlefield, but of the 10 attempts, I felt 6 were very solid and could almost pass as a real live 24kg Bottoms Up Press.  2 were "iffy" and 2 just flat out sucked.  Bottom line is I'm looking for 10 solid singles.  Am I there yet?  Almost.

After 20 minutes of grinding heavy and Irish Harp, we switched gears a bit.  Added a tier to the box (High Step) and switched to a 16kg Kettlebell for ladders.  4 Ladders of 1,2,3.  Negative free Pistols and more BUP's.  Set the timer for 20 minutes.  Next time, I'll see if I can hit 5 Ladders of 1,2,3 in 20.

This session reinforced the rooting I talked about last time as well as reminded me to keep the other Lat tight when Bottoms Up Pressing.  Tension on both sides.  For pure strength I always try to review two books when ever I need a reminder.  Power to the People and The Naked Warrior both by Pavel Tsatsouline.  Both books are loaded with tips, tools and techniques that can show immediate improvements in any strength practice.  But for me, these two books have come in real handy and keeps me getting better technique in both drills.  Pavel says it quite clearly, "Strength is a skill" and "practice, don't workout."

Pretty much sums up my Tuesday evening.  That and a lovely dinner of BBQ Chicken and Coleslaw for me and the Mrs. at our favorite BBQ place...  Good eats and Pura Vida!