one on one: day nineteen

Today's session was probably one of the best ones yet! I really worked through some of the suck and amazed myself with exceeding both my and Joon's expectations, though I am sure mentally he was expecting more from me and got it. He's been really driving home how I need to learn to keep moving when I begin to feel the burn, which is the lactic acid build up in muscles, and utilize it for energy. I have a tendency to stop the moment I feel it and rest, but you never push through that threshold if you don't learn to embrace it and work through it. So I did today, through out the whole session and you know what? I survived and STILL had energy for more. It was crazy how I made myself keep going, what a mental game it is but so absolutely doable. Here's what happened:

Warm-up: 500m Row
Extended Warm-up:
     8 x 20m Skips
     4 x 20m (3) Overhead Walking Lunges + (1) Overhead Squat

A] 10 Front Squats @ 85# (Unbroken)
      2 Min Explosive Step-ups >20      Did: 35/43/47
      Rest 3 minutes between sets

Rest 5 Minutes

Then,
B] 30/30 KB Clean + Press 18#
     100 Total Reps / Timed: 14:09

Ok, for starters the skips are getting easier in one way as I am moving quicker but they are sucking when I get tired. Joon calls it quicksand and that is exactly how it feels. I start off explosive and high and by the time I reach the end of the 20 meters I am barely coming off the ground. The overhead lunges/squat were a tad challenging, breathing wise, but I felt good. My knees didn't bother me at all and I was able to get low. It's almost unbelievable that I am doing lunges with no knee issues. I did, however, begin to feel the lateral sides of my feet, more like a cramping feeling.

In part A I was pretty impressed with myself for doing 10 unbroken front squats three times with 85#. Just to think a week ago this WAS my 1RM weight. How do I do this? Over and over again I keep outdoing myself and Joon says I'll hit a point where these increases will slow down but when? I love hitting new PR's. Anyway, by the third set of front squats I was battling the suck big time. My quads were burning for sure but that was the least of my problems, I could feel myself wanting to panic breathe. When I recognized the feeling and fought back with myself mentally and said "NO!" I took a deep breathe and did another squat, slowly I was counting down but not before the panic breathing tried manifesting into something else. Having the bar right up against my throat is not a comfortable feeling, as anyone who is familiar with front squats are aware of, but try having a mind that tries to convince you that it's not a bar and rather someones hands around your neck. I literally started feeling like someone was trying to choke me. What I am proud of is that I didn't let that feeling take over, I took another deep breathe did my last two squats and dropped the bar. I didn't let the feeling win over me, I took control. I took a moment to gather my thoughts and take a few more breathes before moving on.

The explosive step-ups were definitely challenging and I focused hard on just working through the leg burn. Joon has a way of knowing when to say something, and what to say to keep myself focused and moving. When I could feel myself wanting to stop because my legs are burning or tired, I would push on to do at least 2 more before stopping to catch my breathe. With each round he would tell me to increase it by one but I went beyond that each time. I wanted to do more than one, I wanted to prove it to him but also to myself.

Part B was probably the hardest part of todays session, physically. We attempted to do 25# KB but I couldn't control the movement of two of them at the same time. So we opted down to 18# where I felt I had better control. But don't be fooled by the weight, after just a couple of rounds they began to feel extremely heavy. I now have bruises on my shoulders and wrists from this very movement. I call them Joon's twisted humor 1, 2, 3, and 4.

I'd say all in all it was a good session where I think I am finally seeing and believing my progresses!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.