Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Italy SFG re cap and double 24 kg swings, front squats, walking lunges and shoulder sled



 What a week! I thought the trip to Italy would go strongly, and perhaps, in one way it did, but it was tough. A short bullet point recap.
Flight over was easy. Flights on time, body okay mind strong.
 On arrival at hotel NEW knee acts up for the first freakin' time in ten months!!! Had a weird pain at the insertion  of the anterior tib, right under the knee and it didn't want to hold my weight!! GREAT TIMING! Mind- not so good.
Got it untwisted- I think popliteus was locked tight as I felt so good I hadn't stretched out much and may have been more dehydrated than I thought. Thursday AM it was better but not perfect.
Thursday- lots of sitting around, talking business and no stretching. Knee ok back ok. Late dinner out and then NO SLEEP. Zero. :) AND
Back locks up. Obviously the no stretching part is seriously kicking my ass. I thought the bed was great, solid and firm but Friday at 5:30 am can barely move. More great :) Full stretchout. Back is slowly unlocking. Hydrating like crazy.
Friday  at cert. Taught the swing and the clean and led my Team ( my favorite part of all :) ) from 8-3 or so. Back was feeling better than on awakeing but all the loading was not helping. Plus no time to really stretch fully out. It was 100 degrees too. Did not help trying to stay hydrated.

Also, the no sleep was catching up quickly as  well. Knee was fine :)
Friday night. Come back from cert and pass out.Slept well except for the stomach cramps I started getting. :) Hello stomach flu :)
Saturday all day. SEVERE stomach flu and diarrhea. Hey, more fun! I got to teach and demonstrate the squat for the first time ever! It ROCKED

Luckily didn't have teach as much in front of group.  Long hot day. Not sure I was going to live BUT some of my best teaching and lecturing ever ? Go figure. My team was melding into one solid group of Instructor candidates.My favorite part- to watch the transformation.
Sunday- things began to ease and I finally caught up with hydration. Intense day with all the testing but less work in teaching. Starting to feel more normal. Got some Italian Imodium which didn't seem to help. 
Note to self for travel kit : add pepto bismol and imodium tablets as well as some high potency anti biotics. Be Prepared.
Training:
Double bell swings
2 16's x 5  x 2
2 20's x 5 
2 24's x 8,8,10, 12, 14, 16
decided to give Glenn some suffering support as he was doing high rep snatches and I started out with low rep swings. Felt VERY strong despite losing five pounds over the weekend 
Double front squats
2 16's x 5
2 24's x 5 x 5
this was as strong as could be. double 32's will be there no problem Surprised how strong I  feel
Walking lunges
four passes of 36 lunge steps. Getting tired now, VERY hot and sun is intense.
Shoulder sled drags
95 lbs x 3 laps of 250 feet. 
could have done four but that would have pushed it too much. need sleep and food.
Ring triceps extension
4 sets of 15, 13, 10 8

datsit.
neverquit.
now, just a few more weeks then off to Sweden!
                                                                                                                       

4 comments:

Diana said...

Wow Mark! Just goes to show that even though all looks "great" in photos, one never knows what may be truly going on in a person's life!

Glad all ended up going well and that you're feeling better! Most of all, glad that knee is okay!

Morgan L. said...

Keeping it together when you don't feel well and are away from home is a HUGE test.

Mark Reifkind said...

Diana

it definitely was a test, but, to be honest, after being in so much pain all the time, for all these years, it was relatively easy to remember how to just "get through it"
and smile as much as possible.

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks Morgan, it wasn't even close to fun
my teaching being spot on though was very satisfying.

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...