Alan H's 2013/2014 Offseason Log

[Alan H]

The physical therapist is useless. Between holiday, reschedules, her being sick and so on, in seven weeks I have had ONE treatment. Screw that. I'll just deal with it myself. I bought a pair of fingerless gloves the other day and actually, keeping my hands and wrists warm seems to help.

OK, I had an extended period off, which I didn't really want but so be it.

Today: Keeping it simple. Keeping the goal, the goal.

Stationary bike ....4 minutes active warmup
deadlift - 6 x 135, 6 x 185 , 2 x 4 x 224, 4 x 275, 3 x 316, 3 x 355

Sweaty hands, --hook grip on the 275's didn't work at all. I need chalk. Strapped up for the others. The triple at 355 was *Hard* but I bet I have 365 in me, today. I WILL get my triple at 385 first week in January. Oh, lose the set at 135, Alan- no point no mo.

Overhead Press - 6 x 95. 6 x 115, 4 x 135, 3 x 155, 4 x 115
situps - incline bench, 10 with no weight, 6 with 10 pounds on my chest. LONG way to go with this.

Back extensions on roman chair - 2 x 8 x 45 pound plate. I want to work this up to 3 x 8 x 90 by March. I want that 14 foot wob.
windmills - 30 pounds this time, moving up. x8, x6 outta gas
foam roll, stretch cage

[Alan H]

Trying something new...thanks to Martin Roy for the idea. dynamic warmup on the rowing machine...

Row machine warmup ... 4 minutes @ <2:30/500

backsquat ... 4 x 134, 2 x 4 x 185 really *sit* into these, stretch those hips!... 4 x 225, 3 x 245, 3 x 265, then got one of the guys in the gym to play "powerlifting judge" and tell me when to squat. 1 x 285, easy. I have 295 in me right now.

Flat bench press: 6 x 135, 2 x 4 x 185, 3 x 205, 1 x 215 pause/judge calls the lift... FAIL at 225 with judge calling the lift. Bummer. I'm pretty "off" in flat bench, as opposed to squats and deadlifts, where I'm on track. But that's OK, flat bench doesn't do a whole lot for your throwing.

Dumbell Snatch ... try 'em out 'cause Michael Thomas sent me a workout to consider and it's got dumbell snatches in it. Felt OK, my wrists must be getting better... 2 x 4 x 75... big pig wheeze, here. I'm a fat old man.

Cable Pulldowns - triceps... 8 x 73 on the stack, 8 x 80 on the stack

foam roll.

[Alan H]

Contrarian throws workout today with Martin Roy and the Gman...

We started with hammer winds.....33, 33, 34 the "right way" for 100 winds. Then did 21, 27 and 25 the "wrong" way. 175-180 winds.

Then on to long wire drills with a 12 pound wire hammer. I did about 4 sets of 9, got some invaluable help from Garrett about keeping my feet down and waiting...ditto from Marty about getting my hips and feet through.... aka knocking my knees together as I go through the throw.

Then we did a bunch of short-chain 25 pounder line drills. Some were good, some not so good. GOT to keep my feet down and move INTO the next position in the "X".

Then we all tried a few 4-turns-and-throw, accelerating through the turns. I actually faceplanted on the first one. sheeesh. I'm afraid there is video. Oy. They went better after that. Then did one regular throw. Man, that was smooth. I don't know how far it went, probably 48+ but it was smooth....active feet, balanced. It was the technically best LWFD throw I've done in a long time. SUH-weet.

Finished up with 50 nonstop hammer winds. Marty did 50 winds, too. He's a stud.

[Alan H]

Gunz Day, since I haven't had one in a while and my hips are a bit toasted from hammer winds, yesterday.

Row machine active warmup... 4 minutes @ <2:30/500m
flat bench press ... decided to push my 1 RM and see what I had, since I haven't done that yet. 6 x 135, 4 x 165, 3 x 185, 2 x 215, 1 x 235 on command, 1 x 245 on command. ....doing some lifts "on command" to get used to pushing when the judge says to, and not before. I got 245 and it wasn't that bad. Pretty happy about that.
Windmills.... 2 x 6 x 30
curlz (for girlz) ... 3 x 6 x 75
Bench rows .... 3 x 6 x 80 *fast*...this is good.
triceps pulldown .... this is a different machine than I have been using. 2 x 6 x 100 lbs on the stack. That was *hard*
Back extensions ... 3 x 6 x 60 lb dumbell on the Captains chair.
stretch cage

[Alan H]

Deadlift day....I was seriously short on time so just went in and did the essentials and got out.

rowing machine active warmup ....4 minutes <2:25/500m
Deadlift: 6 x 185, 6 x 225, 3 x 275 all snatch grip...then 1 x 315 reverse grip, and then woohooo! 1 x 335 reverse grip! Then I put on the straps for some real work...3 x 365. And then I asked myself "What would Myles Wetzel do?" The answer is that Myles would add some more weight and do another set LOL...so that's what I did. 3 x 375 and that last one was flippin' HARD.

Flat Bench Press -- 6 x 155, 4 x 185, 2 x 215, was gonna do two more, but only got 1. Then 6 x 135, pausing at the bottom and 3 x 1 x 185, with one of the local guys telling me when to press.

"bit 'o foam roll and I was outta there.

Very jazzed that I can hold on to 335 with a reverse grip. I might have 345 in my hands right now.

[Alan H]

Pretty frustrated...someone stole our workout tires from the practice field. I can guess who it was, though of course I don't *know*, but in the interests of not making racist comments I'll keep it to myself.

[Alan H]

Todays workout...burn off some Christmas cookies!

active warmup on the rowing machine... 4 min < 2:20/500m
Backsquat ...6 x 135, 4 x 185 , 2 x 3 x 225, 3 x 255, 1 x 275, then put on the gut strap, got some spotters and racked up one at 305...was easy and then one at 315, equalling my all-time squat PR. I have 320 in me right now. Sweet.
Flat Bench Press.... 6 x 135, 4 x 165, 3 x 185, 2 x 225..major hammie cramp after the second one, then *barely* got 1 x 235. So flat bench press is way off from last year, but close to the year before that.

Then, since I'd looked over Michael Thomas's program, and took a look at Mike Pockoski 's recommended workouts in 'the book" I thought I'd try some hang snatches. Cleans are out with my wrist issue. I did 5 x 95, then 2 x 5 x 115 and they didn't hurt, so hang snatches will be on the menu in the next block.
Did some curlz, because every dude needs big biceps... 3 x 6 x 95
and some windmills... 2 x 6 x 30
Then some old dudes like me walked into the gym and got on the rowing machine so I got back on the rowing machine and pulled for 6 minutes @ <2:15/500m.
Getting on the rowing machine and pulling hard for 5+ minutes always makes me feel "athletic"

[Alan H]

Dec. 31st
Deads 6 x 185, 6 x225, 2x 3 x 275, 3 x 315, 335, 345 355 grip fAil, 2 x 3 x 275 fast!
Hang snatch- 6 x 115
Flat bench, trying to go narrow grip and setting my scapulae: 6 x 135, 6 x 165, 3 x 225, 235 and 245 on command
Windmills 2 x 6 x 30
Bench rows 2 x 6 x 85 each side
Sit-ups 20 on incline bench , no weight

Also, last Sunday I met Bethany for a workout, we did long wire drills and a lot of footwork.

Footwork stuff..."go's" and "360-and-Go's".... did a bunch, lots more than what's in this movie, but this will show you what we're doing.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152176853214273


long wire drills....3 times down the field with 11-12 turns per drill. These things for you to WAIT...like forever, for the weight. I need to smooth them out a lot, and get up on the balls of my feet... active feet is the point, here.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152176127359273

50 hammer winds, followed up by 25 more the other way. I'd have done more but I was seriously tired by then. The idea behind the huge number of hammer winds is to get SO tired that you can't fight it any more, and you HAVE to relax and get out of the way of the ball. Mike P's comment on my winds was to reach out front a bit more and stick my butt out back a bit more. In other words, engage more hips and gut.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152176174109273

[Alan H]

I'm also in a contest with Roger, Greg York in Seattle, Lance Creed and Bethany....and I think Denise Palermo and Nate Tuffanelli to do at least....bare minimum... of a dozen active feet drills EVERY DAY through the entire month of January. Whoever wusses out and misses a day has to make a video saying exactly how they're a wuss, and how utterly awesome the other people are and put it up on Facebook.

Greg York is really good at these drills and his video's are inspiring. He does them really slowly, which makes them harder, but that IS the entire point, right? ....to develop technique. So I'm slowing mine down and really grinding my feet. I actually started a couple of days ago, and I can sense improvement already. I'm doing a lot more than a dozen. Like last night I did 2 x 10 "GO's" which is basically a discus turn...ten "360-and-G0" which is a discus turn preceded by a 360-degree rotation...ten very bad double turns, which is two discus turns... for 30 active foot drills.

today is squat day!

I'm also reviewing the Stanford throwers off-season workout from a few years ago that Mike Macellari passed along. It's going to be hard...4x a week. there are med ball throws in it, and I can't throw the med balls at Arillaga, so Kit will be pleased to know that I'm going to substitute Core Blasters for the med ball throws. So every week for the next 6 weeks after Jan 11th, I'll be doing some core blasters.

[Alan H]

Squat Night
rowing machine active warmup...thanks Marty Nichols, for suggesting this.

Backsquat ... 6 x 135 really SIT into 'em, stretch it out...6 x 185, 2 x 3 x 225, 3 x 275, 305 got it easy. - 315 on command with spotter...FAIL at 320 with spotters, on command. I might get it if I belt up.

Flat Bench Press...trying some stuff that Nate Tuffanelli and Kristy Scott suggested about anchoring my feet, arching my back, setting my shoulder blades and pushing *fast*. 6 x 135, 6 x 165, 2 x 3 x 185, 2 x 225, 235 pause-press....then got 240 just *barely* pause-press.

Upright rows ... 3 x 6 x 95
back extensions ..... I'm going up in weight, bigtime as Charles Staley suggested a while ago that I was pretty light, just with a 45 pound plate... 3 x 6 x 70. That was hard but I'm moving up to 75 next time.

incline situps .... 17 fast ones, no weight
stretch, foam roll and drip sweat on the floor before going home.