Alan H's 2012-2013 OFF-season log

[RogerWS76]

57 is AWESOME!!!!! Nice job! I think relaxing is the key and it's hard to relax if your technique isn't right but Allen!!! ...

You have great technique on the WFDs.

So yeah relax, breathe, throw! Very nicely done.

Marty, relaxing on your final wind is the hardest thing to "Yoda" in the Hammers for me too! But when I do and "try not" to try, it always has good results due to longer arms and a higher release point!

[Alan H]

OK, the last workout of the Off Season.... Hungarian core Blasters and my lower back really don't get along, so I'm a bit sore and tired in my lower back, and there's a little bit of compression that I'm feeling in my legs. So, no more of *those*. So today I wore my Tommy Kono neoprene back support. It's not like a weight lifting belt, it's like wearing a tight strap of wetsuit material that wraps around your gut and lower back. That helped a lot, I was entirely comfortable and happy during the workout.

Stretch cage....more than usual
goblet squats .... 2 x 10, 25 pounds, really sit into them, challenge my hip flexors and go well below parallel
hang cleans .... 6 x 135/2 x 4 x 155 / 3 x 175 / 3 x 190. Pretty happy with that last set. Summer Piersons warmups and technique hints are helping my cleans. My "catch" is still ugly but the rest of the lift is better.
pylo box pushups ... new boxes, 3 x 10 x 20 inch box. FAST
rotational cable pulls ... Hi->Lo, Lo -> Hi.... 2 x 8 x 48, 32 pulls total
~pig wheeze~ blow nose...gucky stuff from the cold, it's winding down anyway
curlz ... 3 x 6 x 90
seated flies ... 2 x 6 x 205 / 4 x 205

happy with that set of 3 hang cleans @ 190. I might formulate an "in-season" goal to get a hang clean triple at 200 pounds. This will take a while

[Alan H]

OK, so that's a wrap of the 2012-2013 offseason. Summary....

The strength phase was an unmitigated success. I only got mildly hurt once, stepping down off of the pylo boxes around Christmas. That forced me to spend a few days during winter break doing "Bro" workouts...big chest and arms, not so much legs and core. Aside from that, in 12 weeks I missed exactly one day due to a scheduling issue or laziness...in this case, laziness.

I hit every single strength goal that I had.

1. Hang Clean... I wanted a triple at last years one-rep max...185. Got it. Today I did a triple a 190. A few weeks ago I got a triple at 195.
2. Overhead Press ... last years best was 185. I put up 200 this offseason
3. Flat Bench Press .... last years best was 245. Maaaayyyybe I got 250, not sure if I got help from my spotter or not. However, this offseason I put up 280, and then 285 several weeks ago.
4. Backsquat ... last years max was 315, up from 305 in 2011. I wanted 325. I got that and then put up 2 x 315
5. Deadlift .... eight plates. 405. Proof is on that YouTube link.

Soft Goal: total combined flat bench + backsquat + deadlift greater than 1K pounds ---got it, when I got that 405 deadlift.

The Speedwork block of the offseason wasn't as successful. Basically, that's been the month of February. I got started a bit late because the 405 deadlift really tore me up. I only really totally recovered from it this week. I got sick, and missed two days of training, and work got busy so I missed another one. It rained on unfortunately-spaced days so the stadium step runs and bunny hops didn't happen. However, I managed to throw a couple of times, I mmore than compensated for one stadium-steps session by throwing discus at Shaffer Park, and I didn't completely go to waste - got in a bunch of good workouts, just not quite as consistent as I would have liked.

All in all, I'm significantly stronger than at this time last year, and that bodes well for the 2013 season.