Thank You.

A big Thank You to all our men and women in the armed forces and all those who have served and the families who are living without loved ones who paid for our freedom with their lives, once again reminding us that Freedom Isn't Free.

I'd like to publicly honor my dad who served 26 years in the US Air Force. He served in Vietnam in 1968, stared down the Soviets from Great Britain at the height of the Cold War, and was in a support role during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He retired in 1992 as a Senior Master Sergeant. He is now a Chaplain to a Royal Army Unit stationed at a Royal Air Force base near Cambridge in England. Thanks for your sacrifice, Dad.

I'd also like to remember both my grandfathers who both served in the Army during World War II.

I'm honored to come from such a line of great men.

Flirting With Danger?

Went to the platform today for two reasons: 1) my psyche; 2) test out my current routine

There were some definite differences:

1. The right knee was fine. The bone rhythm work is working.
2. Left lat is engaged in a support role in overhead work now--left upper trap no longer hypertonic
3. Right leg musculature working more--workload feels evenly distributed between left and right legs
4. Left hip/glute working--able to load from start of the pull
5. My technique is starting to return to it's original form--if not better. More "folding" for lack of a better term. It's the difference between the Soviet technique of the 70s-80s and the dominant technique today. See the link below for my all-time favorite lifter's style, Anatoli Pisarenko--a superheavyweight monster.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zh5t3_fcEII&mode=related&search=

Tomorrow's another day and we'll see how the body feels from today's training session.

Kept it very light and broke some of my own "rules:" Performed 5s instead of doubles. No particular reason except that my gut told me to.

Here's the session:

A. Snatch from above knee: 40kg/5, 50,5, 55/5, 60/5, 65/5, 70/5; no straps, full grip

B. Clean from above knee and Push Press:
70kg/5+5, 75/5+5, 80/5+5, 85/5+5

May fool around on the platform twice a week and keep my strength work with the KB on the other 2 days. I'll probably use the following loading pattern:

50-60; 55-65; 60-70; etc.

Decided that I will barbell squat relatively heavy on the 5th of June in an attempt to reproduce symptoms in my right knee so it can be nice and aggravated for my Dr's visit. That'll be fun.