Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Success or Failure or Both?

Both: Not something we tend to think in terms of. We tend to be either/or. I know I do.

Almost finished up my hypertrophy cycle. Long story short--too much volume, poor recovery, put on some fat, little if any muscle.

However, during this time I came to the conclusion that I don't have to pick either Oly or KBs--I can do both. So, this week I'm trying alternating days of Oly and KB. So far, so good.

I've also isolated the problem in my right hip, left knee, and left hand/wrist to locked down T1-T8 while my arms are over my head. I stumbled on that one tonight. It sure made the overhead squatting much, much easier. In order to work this, I did some thoracic A/P while my torso was in extension. The two drills that made the biggest impact were while I was in a neutral stance and while I was in posterior 45 degree lunging positions.

Also noticed that I'm not stretching out enough on my snatches and cleans. I will have to monitor this while KB training, since the two tend to have opposing patterns.

The Oly work is staying light since I really haven't done anything consistent since early April. It's almost like starting over again...almost. However, the bar speed is really fast. My KB work will be all unilateral, focusing on generating as much force as possible, especially on the ballistics. The past cycle had a lot of doubles work in it, which interestingly doesn't do too much for me. I think I've posted on this before, but the KB work seems to work best for me if done unilaterally--works imbalances and stabilizers.

My close friends think I'm crazy for getting back on the platform. I plan on taking this even slower than I did last year preparing for the November meet. I've got at least a 12 week cycle lined up to get me into peak shape--none of this 6-8 week rush delivery stuff.

I will still look for a meet and will still attempt to qualify for the American Open in December at my buddy Joe's place in Arizona.

4 Comments:

Blogger Franz Snideman said...

Geoff,

Back on the platform again...must feel great!

See you in St. Paul for the CK-FMS

10:42 AM  
Blogger Mike T Nelson said...

Thanks for the update Geoff! Kudos to you for actually monitoring your results and making changes based on the outcome. How is your overall movement quality? Thoughts on movement quality and its impact on hypertrophy, speed, etc?
Rock on!
Mike N

9:18 AM  
Blogger Geoff Neupert said...

Franz,

I won't be at the CK-FMS--got work to do here. I will be calling you soon though.

Mike,

Movement quality is good; for me, results were volume/recovery dependent--too much work, not enough rest. I can no longer perform higher volume workouts. 25 reps per exercise seems to be the max--my current range right now is between 5-25. The days of 50-100 reps are long gone...

12:42 PM  
Blogger Mike T Nelson said...

Interesting Geoff!

Do you think this is because you are able to stimulate more muscle now, thus making further in roads into recovery than in the past? (Or you just have a lot more stress now!)

Rock on
Mike N

2:42 PM  

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