Martin roy training log

**Alan H** · 10th February 16, 05:29 PM

Nice... move stuff fast. It's wednesday, today. Time to do nothing, now but eat right and sleep well until Sunday.

Tear it up in Long Beach!

**Martin Roy** · 10th February 16, 10:18 PM

I hit the gym this evening for the last lifting before the Queen, basically an upper body tune up. Med ball twists and med ball shoulder mobility work.

Started with a couple rounds of db raises - lateral, front, and back. Went to the bench and decided to do another 5x5 with 145. After a couple of warm up sets, I completed the 5 sets with much greater ease than the last session. So I did a final set of 5 at 155. That will be the 5x5 work weight next time. Barring injury or some other setback my bench should be substantially improving over the next several months.

Bar curls 5x5; then 4x10 rear delt/scapular action on the pec deck. Foam rolled the shoulders, more shoulder mobility work, elliptical and done.

Finding time to throw has been really difficult over the last few weeks due to both weather and real life stuff. It's looking like I may be heading into the Queen relying on muscle memory in wfd in particular. I've done a fair amount of line drills with the light weight, but not much in actual tosses. I feel like I need to at least move around a bit with the hwfd. That will be tomorrow's priority.

I'll be driving down on Friday to Santa Barbara to hang with an old friend; on to Long Beach on Saturday, throw Sunday, and back to Santa Barbara Sunday night, and drive home to Santa Cruz on Monday. A nice little getaway.

**Martin Roy** · 16th February 16, 12:37 PM

Note to self: Relying on muscle memory is the option of last resort; memory, muscle or otherwise, is a fickle mistress.

The Queen was fun. The Queen featured a beautiful day. The Queen had a great group of guys to throw with.

The Queen showcased my worst numbers across the board in years.

My only solace is that this was the first game of the season and the "real" season begins at Woodland in late April; there remains a lot of time to practice.

A Lot.

I will use the time.

Silver lining is that I felt strong and came through feeling very good. But technique was off in every event. However, it is a problem with a remedy.

The remedy is more practice time.

A lot more.

**Martin Roy** · 18th February 16, 11:57 AM

Back in the gym yesterday evening.

Warmed up with med ball twists and shoulder mobility. Then bench press continuing the 5x5 approach to building the foundation. Got the kinks out with a few sets with 135, then went to work with 155. Completed all reps in all 5 sets but it was an effort getting the last rep in on the last two sets. I'll stay at 155 for the next session at least; I won't move up until I can do all the sets with something left in the tank.

Move over to barbell curls, 5x5 with 80 and a final set with 90. Next session I'll bump it to 90.

I wanted to do pec deck but it was taken every time I checked. Switched to db shoulder raises, side, front, lateral. Ten reps with each, three rounds.

I also tried some landmines with the bar only, focused on initiating the movement with my feet to work on the separation needed for stones, wfd, and hammer. I'm going to keep this up I think it will be helpful.

Cooled down with elliptical and done.

**Alan H** · 18th February 16, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Martin Roy

Back in the gym yesterday evening.

Warmed up with med ball twists and shoulder mobility. Then bench press continuing the 5x5 approach to building the foundation. Got the kinks out with a few sets with 135, then went to work with 155. Completed all reps in all 5 sets but it was an effort getting the last rep in on the last two sets. I'll stay at 155 for the next session at least; I won't move up until I can do all the sets with something left in the tank.

Move over to barbell curls, 5x5 with 80 and a final set with 90. Next session I'll bump it to 90.

I wanted to do pec deck but it was taken every time I checked. Switched to db shoulder raises, side, front, lateral. Ten reps with each, three rounds.

I also tried some landmines with the bar only, focused on initiating the movement with my feet to work on the separation needed for stones, wfd, and hammer. I'm going to keep this up I think it will be helpful.

Cooled down with elliptical and done.

The great thing about landmines is that they closely mimic a motion that we do on the field.

**Martin Roy** · 21st February 16, 10:51 PM

Okay, recapping - Wednesday off; Thursday light work including some warm up squats with 135 to confirm that squats were good to go for real.

Friday, Squat day. 2 sets of 5 with 185, 2x5 with 225, 2x3 with 255, and 2x2 with 275. Finished with a fast set of 10 with 225. Felt good to be back on track. Bike to cool down and done.

Saturday was a good day, no rush or time constraints. Started with 3 sets of 10 with fairly heavy traps; three sets of pull ups; shoulder mobility work with med ball. Then moved to the bench.

Warm up sets with 135, then 5x5 with 155, felt stronger than last session and finished smoothly. Definite progress. Decided to play with higher weight for fun. Set of 3 with 160; set of 3 with 165; set of 2 with 170; set of 2 with 175. Final set of 10 afap with 135. Next session will be 5x5 with 160.

Pec deck-started with reverse flyes 4 sets of 10. Front flyes, 2 sets of 10 at 160 and then 2 more sets with 175. Decided to see how high I could go; set of 5 at 190, set of 5 at 205, and a final set of 5 at 220.

Some barbell curls but after a couple of sets I knew I'd run out of gas. Finished with some bike and foam rolling the shoulders, plus more easy med ball mobility.

Sunday R&R.

**Martin Roy** · 25th February 16, 11:49 AM

Monday and Tuesday turned out to be light days; Monday was planned but Tuesday I found that I was simply tired. On both days a variety of different movements to get the entire body some good easy work, including a lot of bike.

Last night I wasn't sure whether to go for squats or bench so I decided to go with whatever was open. Squat racks were taken, thus bench. Warmed up with 135 and then moved to 160 for work sets. The first two sets were 5 reps, but on the third set I dropped it to 4 reps; same with 4th and 5th sets. Next session will be 160 again and I'll be looking to pick up those missing 3 final reps.

Three rounds of db shoulder raises lateral, front, back. Med ball twists and mobility work, foam rolling the shoulders, and done.

I had hoped to done more but the gym was really crowded. C'est la vie. Tonight is off for family stuff.

**Alan H** · 25th February 16, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by Martin Roy

Monday and Tuesday turned out to be light days; Monday was planned but Tuesday I found that I was simply tired.

I had hoped to done more but the gym was really crowded. C'est la vie. Tonight is off for family stuff.

I had a crisis of motivation yesterday, and ate a burrito instead of going to the gym. I will pay for that, today, because today is the day I get my 5-caliper body fat analysis.

UPDATE - which turned out to be 33%, which is morbidly obese. It always drives me crazy. I'm not morbidly obese, but for literally decades the dunk tank and calipers have said low-30-percentile.

NEWS FLASH...I back squatted today and finished up with 3 x 205, reasonably symmetrical, if not perfectly so.

**Martin Roy** · 11th March 16, 11:25 AM

Okay, I'm back. Did you miss me?

For the past couple of weeks I've been deloading with light sessions or complete rest. After the Queen I was feeling worn out and found my numbers/reps decreasing with weight feeling heavy that shouldn't have. Then for the past week or so it seemed like real life simply got in the way on a daily basis, something new that I couldn't get around.

In any case, looking back I think it may have been a good thing. On Wednesday I was short on time but had a good upper body session to kick start my return to lifting: 5x5 with 135, minimal rest between sets, followed by my shoulder circuit with dbs - ten reps each, lateral, front, bent over reverse. Increase weight for two more circuits. A few sets of curls, elliptical and out.

Last night I got there later than usual but had the first good squat session since I tweaked my right groin before the Queen. 5 reps each with 135,185,225,245,and 255. This session marked the return of endorphins and definitely qualified as iron therapy.

Tonight will be back work and whatever seems like a good idea.

**Martin Roy** · 14th March 16, 11:42 AM

Nice to be back in the gym. Even nicer that we are back on daylight savings because throwing after work is now possible. With all the rain, including this past weekend, throwing time has been very scarce. That should change this week, depending on the weather.

Friday night was light work, mobility, cardio, and stretching in anticipation of rain and lifting on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was upper body work going for volume. Recently I've simply been in the mood for higher reps with moderate weight instead of pushing the upper end. Started with incline bench - three sets of 5 reps with 115, three more of the same with 135. Moved to flat bench for 5x5, afap, with 135. Then pec dec 4 sets of 10. Three sets of pull ups for the first time in awhile. Seated bench row. DB shoulder cycle. Med ball mobility work. Elliptical and bike to cool down.

Sunday was squat day, best day of the week. I did essentially the same routine as Thursday because it just felt right, although I did increase the number of sets. Warmed with a bunch of reps at 135; two sets of 5 with 185; two sets of 5 with 225; a set of 5 with 245; a set of 5 at 255 than three more reps just because I could; a final set with 225. Off to the bike to loosen up and cool down. Abs and med ball mobility. This was one of those rare sessions where afterwards I felt the euphoria, thoroughly drained but smiling.