Eccentric me

I had a bad date with Fran. She was all mean and nasty. I called it off at the 12th rep of the second set of thrusters, and finished with 12 chin-ups.* Felt like a broken down ol' geezer, 'cause I didn't have the energy. Ba-humbug.

The next day, I wondered if it was not so much my fatigue (3 hrs sleep) going into Fran but weak squatting ability. Since I'm limited by the equipment I have at home, I can't do heavy squats. I'd been reading about eccentric training**, and remembered how weighted negative pull-up training helped me increase my max number of pull-ups. I devised different ways to improve my squatting with eccentrics.

1-6-11

-3x20 alternating pistol negative (down on one leg, up on two)

-planche position planks

-50 burpees (3'10)

I have never tried pistols (one-legged squats), but pistol negatives were the first things to pop into my head. Controlling your descent on one leg is a unique experience. I wondered if my knees would explode on the way down. Thankfully, no blow-outs. The planche position planks were done to get my shoulders and triceps prepared for planche push-ups. Still a ways to go on that front. I was pleased that my burpee time didn't increase too much over the holidays. Phew.

1-7-11

-db squat cleans (4 reps/minute, ≈ 8 minutes)

-close-grip chin up negatives (4x5x5 secs, 30 kgs)

-frog stands (sets of 10-20 secs for 2 min)

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*Since a one-armed chin up is the objective for all my pulling, I decided to stick with close grip chin-ups, and forego neutral and wide grips.

**Eccentric training is elongating a muscle while it is under a load. It is said to activate more fast-twitch muscle fibers than concentric (contracting muscles under a load) and requires less energy.