Deadlifts, Drums, and Death Eaters

I am exhausted.  Absolutely wiped out.  My weekends are typically packed with doing work and completing my two ‘heavy’ workouts for the week, when I don’t have to worry about spending entire days on my feet.  It’s been a busier weekend than normal, and I’m ready for bed.  I have a nice little recap for you, but first a picture in honor of the Harry Potter Marathon I’m currently watching on ABC Family:

I began my weekend by attending a dress rehearsal for the South Shore Symphony Orchestra, during which I did a little bit of playing and a whole lot of stretching.  The repertoire for this concert had relatively small percussion parts, so I was able to spend a piano concerto and most of a symphony prying around in the bottom of a squat, and doing half Turkish get-ups.  It sounds awkward, and it definitely looked a little weird.  I’m okay with being a little socially awkward, as long as it allows me to casually address movement quality.  Being able to hang out in a deep squat for a few minutes is a little more important to me than looking a little bit silly.

Not only do those timpani sound awesome, but they make a great mirror as well.  My point of telling you about this, is to encourage you to incorporate some casual movement drills into your daily activities to try to maintain flexibility.  I was wearing khakis on Friday night and they weren’t the best for squatting in; I doubt you’ll want to deep squat while you’re wearing a suit.  In stead, simple drills like a butt-to-wall drill or Stuart McGill’s disc decompression drill  are simple to incorporate into your daily routine:

After rehearsal, it was straight to bed and a ZMA-fueled dream world.  Saturday morning began with reading through some recent research and Mr. Bruno’s Good Reads; after several hours of getting my learn on, it was lifting time.

My training partner Julian and I decided to experiment with a reverse banded deadlift.  We attached two Monster Mini Bands from EliteFTS to a power rack about 6’6″  off the ground, and they provided a subtle tension on the bar.  It was just enough to overload the lockout, but not enough to make the bar breeze off the floor.  In the video below, you’ll see my last set, and my hips shoot up before my shoulders do.  I still have some work to do on that technique, but I’m happy with how it’s coming along:

We followed the deadlifts with trap bars farmers walks and Prowler marches: Julian paired his and alternated between the two of them, while I completed mine as a combo.

After the carries and sled drags, we moved on to reverse lunges: Mine were done with a clean grip, while Julian did an asymmetrically loaded deficit reverse lunge. In this video of my last set, I used 225lbs for the first time:

From there I moved on to a body saw/supine hip extended leg curl pairing with the ValSlides, and Julian did good mornings.  The ValSlide combo was pretty rough, and after 4 rounds through I was toasted:

I spent a few minutes pedaling on a bike to help move some blood out of my legs, then I revisited several mobility drills, then Julian and I headed to Moe’s to fill up on burritos.  We’ve been doing this consistently for about a month now, and it’s made for some epic lifts and meals.

I prepared for the concert when I got home, and it was nice to throw on my tux for the evening.  The program was excellent, and we finished with Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony.  I played the cymbal part, which has the most bad-ass ending you’ll see.  In the video below, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays Tchaik 4 in Carnegie Hall:

I headed out to dinner with our timpanist after the concert! I grew up with his son and we’re close friends, and his wife was my brothers kindergarten teacher; I’ve known them forever!  I quickly got to bed once I was home, because I spend the entire today today at the gym, with clients in the morning and working the floor in the afternoon.  I was able to complete my own workout that included:

• Fat Grip Incline Bench Press with a Pause
• Mixed Grip Chin-Ups
• Modified Single Arm Press
• Inverted Row/Push-Up/Battling Ropes Finisher

I rounded out the evening with some of my Mom’s chili, an awful PGA Playoff, and Harry Potter.  It was a nice relaxing way to end the weekend, and it made me wonder if Dumbledore’s beard gets in the way when he performs the clean & jerk.  If you have off for Presidents Day, happy 4 day weekend.  For everyone else, check out this appropriate post from Martin Rooney, titled “Do You Love Mondays?”