I have taken a week off  and just started working out again.  Last weekend I was fortunate to go climbing with Michael Egues.  I had a great time climbing and felt strong.  Knowing that I was ready for a breakthrough in training, I started the power phase of training.  I need to incoperate more long endurance, but the weather has been terrible and I have been home bound.  Anyway, today I did upper body training and it was fantastic, challenging and definitely the next level.

Warm up

5 minute rowing on the Concept 2.  I needed to be warm before I did these workouts.  Coupling is very taxing and should be treated with respect.  It will produce fantastic results in power gains, but should be conducted while one is fresh, but warmed up.

Lock off / finger rolls

This couple is for developing the forearms and grip.  It begins with a 15 second hang of two suspended 1 1/2″ dowels.  One has to squeeze the dowels to hold on because they are vertical.  This focuses on grip strength and bicep lock position as you hold the fully locked position.   Immediately, I did 8 finger rolls with 140 lbs.  This was a total grip strength coupling of exercises.  I was doing negatives on the finger rolls as the weight and fatigue was high.  A negative is when you use assistance for the concentric action (raising the bar), while slowly and controlled eccentric movement (lowering the bar)

5 x  15 second Lockoffs on dowels (good for ice climbing)

5×8 finger rolls w/ 140lbs.  1 minute rest.

Pull ups / Power Cleans

Shoulder and pulling coupling from a static strength to a dynamic power exercise.  The pull ups were high resistance with some negatives.  Power cleans were lower weight focusing on speed and explovise action.  Power cleans were performed immediately after the pull ups.  2 minutes rest.

Pull ups

1×6 @ 25lb

1×4 @ 35 lb

2×4 @ 50 lb

1×4 @ 60 lb (last one a negative)

Power cleans

5×8 @ 70lbs

This workout took longer to complete and I ran out of time to do the push ups and mil presses today.  I was very tired after completing this and decide to drink a protein shake.

December 8th

Patrick Weaver