Amendment to Plan

My December plan is spurred by a conversation with another RKC last week. How did I get strength PR, what did I do? After I "mined" my log book, I noticed that I did two during the spring that I haven't done this fall. 1. Turkish Get Up (TGU) and 2. Jerks.

Both the jerk and TGU have value to most athletes. The jerk is a full body power explosive exercise. The TGU is a full body grind that allows the body to build stability and link the upper body and lower body together into one unit. TGU is also valuable for rehab; either as a whole exercise or broken down into smaller movements. Of course, this is only a summary of the benefits of these exercises.

In the previous post I mentioned a plan outline. Based on results from the spring, I hypothesize performing TGU and Jerk will lead to PR in military press (MP). During the next 4-6 weeks, I need to continue some MP each week as maintenance. At the same time I need to perform both light TGU to groove the movement and heavy TGU to build stability under load. It's been suggested by Pavel and others that working TGU 1 kettbell higher than weight you are working towards.

Rough Outline for December

3 or 4 days/week - easy
a) Practice a set of core RKC lifts as part of warm up. TGU is base of this.
b) Pull up
c) Snatch
d) Jerk
e) Bike / Run

Prep work....a warm up for life

For the past year or so, I've done Z health R Phase neural warm up prior to workouts and bicycle rides. I try to make sure I do some Z before I lace up my boots every morning. It is a great way to start the day and I recommend.

BUT...

I've been neglecting some bad movement patterns which are related to use and abuse of the body over the years; specifically some rather major injuries to ankles and back. HMMM, probably related. Thus there are some specific Z Health movements that I practice regularly. Especially when things go wrong and I lock up.

I have achieved most of my goals in the past few years and continue to improve slowly. This is not good enough. My ego says I should be better at my sports than I am right now. The largest problem is limitations and restrictions of my own body. These limitations range from flexibility, mobility and stability. Time to get busy.

I met with Master RKC Brett Jones one of the creators of the CK-FMS system that screens athletes, finds the weakness and provides corrective strategies. After a 45 minute screen, I found that I was very correct, I can't move. We spent another hour working on corrective strategies.

During the session I didn't really push anything to the extreme yet I was totally cooked. Brett was kind enough to tell me that I have enough disfunction in my body to fight just to walk. The good news is that most of the problems should be better in a few weeks.

The result of my visit is a series of exercises or movements that I need to practice a couple times per day. I actually timed it today, another 15 - 20 minutes of work just so I can be prepared for a workout. This is not a warm up it is work.

I generally like to be done with a workout in less than 30 min. GRRR, with the additional prep work, this is now impossible. It is necessary to restore function and ultimately rule the world.

Here is my prep work time break down:
Z NWU - 10 minutes
Movement prep including breathing, rolling, Bretzel, ankle mobility and strap work - 15 min.
Kettlebell prep - deadlift, swings and get ups to elbow only - 10 +++ min (depends how many swings).
At a minimum my prep work will take 35 min and I need to repeat 2x daily. This is way more than my workouts (not including bike rides).

Think about it another way. The average Joe spends about 1 minute preparing for a workout. Elite athletes spend hours preparing for their event or practice. What do you do?

Another thought. What is more important, the workout or the preparation for the workout? I do prep work even if I'm not working out.