June 30, 2011

June 30, 2011 Upper

Barbell Incline Bench: 220*7 210*8 205*6
Pullups: 25*5 25*5 20*5 20*4
BB Military Press: 135*5 135*5 135*6
Rope Pullups: 6, 6, 5
Cable Rows: 130*9
One-Arm Plank KB Rope Drag: 40kg*1
P.U.P.P. : 1:15

Good session!  Hadn't done incline BB in a few weeks, been switching it up.  My left pec kept cramping up for some reason. Probably could've gone 8/9/7 without it.  Pullups went good.  Still surprised at how much more my lats flare out when I add some weight.  Haven't done BB Presses in foreeeeever.  I'm kind of shocked at how developed my delts look while doing them.  Plank drags killed me, I need to drop the weight on these back to whatever it was last week, cause my form was trash here.  Still can't match the 2:00 I got on the PUPP about 10 days ago; most likely owing to the fact that I've been doing a lot of intense core work lately. 

June 30, 2011 Conditioning

  • Low>Medium Over Box Jump Series: 9, 8, 7
  • Double KB Swings: 18kgs*20
  • Ab-Wheel Rollouts: 5

OK, so a couple things.  One, I forgot my headphones for my mp3 player.  Secondly, I forgot to bring a shirt, so I was wearing a regular shirt for this. Not exactly comfortable. I have no idea how I used to work out in heavy cotton shirts. Blech.  Good session though. On the KB Swings I had a KB in each hand, had to take a wide stance so as to not smash my thighs with kettlebell.  

June 29, 2011

June 29, 2011 Sprinting

  • 100m Sprints: 4
  • 200m Sprints: 1


Felt great! Definitely getting faster, and more conditioned. Decided to try my first 200m.  I got to about 150 meters and felt like I hit a wall.  By the last 15 meters I was still making the sprinting motion but was going no faster than a fast walk.  Must've looked pretty funny, wish I had taped it.  

June 28, 2011

June 28, 2011 Lower

  • BB Squats: 275*8 285*5 295*2 fucking ketosis
  • BB Overhead Squats: 95*6 95*7
  • Rope Slams: 25, 25

still not back to 100% from this mornings misadventures, but I toughed it out and got in a workout. I enjoyed overhead squats. Also, anchoring rope to the squat rack is much better than the TRX, the squat rack doesn't bounce all over.

June 28, 2011 Accidental Ketosis

So apparently last night I accidentally induced ketosis, and my body reacted pretty violently to it. As you can see, I've been doing 2 a days.  While doing them I thought I'd amp up the cut by pairing it with a low carb intake (around 20g net per day). Last night after my 4th intense workout in about 40 hours I started feeling extremely weird. Mentally foggy, run-down worse than I ever had. My limbs felt like they were made of lead. I went to bed about an hour early but just tossed and fidgeted most of the night, I had to piss 4 times, which is odd because I didn't drink a ton of water yesterday. I was freezing as I laid there, even though it's summer and I had a blanket over me. I was also extremely thirsty, like I had just run a couple 400m sprints without water between. I also had the weirdest taste in my mouth. I woke up this morning and I feel about the same, although I think the circadian rhythm has taken out some of the tiredness.  But still I was tired, felt sluggish, and it felt like my limbs were made out of lead.  I fried myself in the shower to try and warm up, and it worked a little bit. I had to skip my morning conditioning workout because I'm not sure I could actually do it without injuring myself or someone else.   I had a regular shake with blueberries in it, brought some apples and bananas to work, and started to feel a little better. Workout this afternoon was still rough, but I had 8 oz. of pasta on returning home, and I feel MUCH better now.  

Will NOT be screwing around with low carbs when putting myself through hellacious two a days. Lesson learned. 

June 27, 2011

June 27, 2011 Upper Body

  • BB Flat Bench: 265*4 270*4 275*3 280*3
  • Pullups: BW*10 BW*7 BW*6 BW*5 
  •  DB Flat Bench: 105*3 105*4 
  • Renegade Rows: 18kg*5 24kg*5 
  • BB Push Press: 135*5 185*4 210*1 NEW PR!!
  • Rope Pullups: 4,5

GREAT session. Probably one of the better ones I've had maybe ever. Just felt great all around. I took about a minute between sets of benching, same with the pullups. I really felt the pullups in my lats for once. Was gassed on the flat bench, but didn't embarrass myself. Introduced renegade rows (video below) and holy crap they are harder than they look. Decided to do some push pressing and set a new PR! Although I never did them consistently so it's not as impressive. I'm going to start doing them on Mondays. Finished with some rope pullups. 






June 27, 2011 Conditioning

  • Low (11") + Med (17.5") Over Box Series Jumps: 5, 7, 9
  • Low Box Heel Touch: 17.5"*6 17.5"*6
  • One-Arm Plank KB Drags: 36kg*1
  • Push-Up Position Plank: 1:20
Real fun session here.  I just did plyo box jumps yesterday so I wanted to change it up while still doing lower body conditioning.  The box series jumps are what I came up with.  Basically I just used the boxes as hurdles, put them in a row, and jumped over them; first the small then the medium. As soon as I landed after jumping over the small one I transitioned into the jump over the medium one.  I can't get over the large one, not because it's too high, it's just too damn long so I always land on top of it instead of going over it.   The Low box heel touches I posted a video of below.   For the KB Plank drags I had to tie two 18kg kettlebells to the end of the rope since our kettlebells only go up to 28kg and I've gone as far with the 28 as I can, I needed an extra challenge.  Plank Press is still hard, I hit 2:00 last week, but I've hit my core 6 days in the last week and it's not up to doing that again at this point.  


 



June 26, 2011

June 26, 2011 Picture

Just wanted to post a quick shot here, I'm happy with my back width, the fact that I'm doing pullups about 4 times per week is clearly helping.  I have also NEVER had traps like what you see there, got some good thickness in my back finally.  Click the picture for larger view.

June 26, 2011 Observations


I've noticed lately, and believe me I enjoy this, that people at my gym copy a ton of what I do.  It's pretty flattering actually, I've gotten a lot of help and a ton of ideas over the years from places like T-Nation, and people like Corey Grant; it's nice to be the one passing on knowledge now. First it was wearing Vibrams; I saw maybe 2 people in 3 years wearing them at my gym. Within 2 weeks of me using them, and a ton of people asking me about them, I saw about a dozen people wearing them.  We had a rope that rarely got used as well, I started doing a ton of rope work, and again shortly after it seems like everyone is.   What really surprised me though was these past couple weeks I started doing plank position kb rope drags. I have never in my life seen anyone ever do these, and actually got the idea from the video at the end of this post.  The video uses a prowler, but since we don't have one, I improvised by tying kettlebells to the end of the rope and dragging them.   A day or two later I went to grab the rope for some work and as I picked it up out of the pile there were two kettlebells tied to the end of it, not from me.  It's such a random exercise, and I'm assuming that's what the person had tied the kb's to it for, I was surprised someone else there gave it a shot.  Hopefully whoever tried them enjoyed the exercise as much as I do. 







June 26, 2011 Conditioning

  • 29KG KB Swing Tabata: 13,12,11,12,12,12,11,12
  • High + Low (34") Plyo Box Jumps: 30
  • Seated Plyo Box Jumps: High (22.5")*15 High+Low (34")*15
  • Paloff Presses: 50*3
Good stuff, instead of 2 sets of plyo box jumps, added in a set of seated box jumps.  I enjoyed them quite a bit actually.  Good stuff.   Here's a video of seated box jumps.

 

June 25, 2011

June 25, 2011 Conditioning

  • 7KG KB Slam Tabata: 20, 21, 21, 21, 21, 20, 20, 21

bonus conditioning session.  Haven't done a tabata of these in like 6 weeks. That's way too long.  Nothing destroys me like tabatas of ball slams.  The ball's extra bouncy so I catch it pretty high on the rebound and slam it back down; that's how I end up doing so many in each 20 second interval.  

June 24, 2011

June 24, 2011 Upper Body Plyos

  • Bench Plyo Pushups: 9,8,7
  • Rope Slams: 40,30,30
  • Rope Pullups: 5, 6
  • Push-Up Position Plank: 1:10, 1:13

Pretty tired upper body wise here.   Won't have a chance to deadlift later today, got a friend coming up to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.  Tried doing the plank again, couldn't match the 2:00 I got the other day.  My body is just decimated right now from the 2 a days, in a good way.  Leaning out quite well.  Will post pics soon I think.  Also, need a way to weigh down the TRX frame, if anyone has an idea, I'd love to hear it. I use it for an anchor on rope slams, and I do them so hard the frame jumps several feet.  Tried using heavy bags and weight plates today, worked on the 2nd set, the 3rd set not so much...

June 23, 2011 Upper Body, Light

  • DB Incline Bench: 100*8 105*4 90*8
  • DB Rows: 100*10 105*10 110*8
  • Dips: 8, 6 - hurt shoulder/clavicle
  • Neutral Grip Pullups: 8,8,5
  • Ball Pushups: 12, 10
Little disappointed I didn't do a bit better on the incline dumbbell bench, but I'll live. Haven't led off with it in ages so I decided to switch it up.  DB Rows went well...I'm never doing dips again. Every few months I try them and they ALWAYS hurt either my clavicle or insertion point of the pec at my shoulder.  This time it felt like they were going to tear the insertion point, so I stopped.   Ball pushups were added for a change of pace.  They were actually pretty challenging. For the uninitiated, here's a video (I did the first kind he does):

 

June 23, 2011

June 23, 2011 A.M. Conditioning

  • Evil 7 Complex: 100 lbs.
  • Battling Ropes: 40, 30
  • Ab Wheel Rollouts: 8,9

Typical morning conditioning session.  I'm starting to lean out pretty well. May post some pictures on here, haven't decided yet.   I'm not sure if I've posted about complexes here or not, but if not, here's an article on them: Four Complexes To a Shredded Physique.  If you search the T-Nation article base there's also several more articles on them here.  In case you don't know what a complex is here's a description:

Quick review: A complex is where you pick up a barbell, perform several reps of an exercise with it, then move right into another exercise, then another, and another, and maybe one or two more. Then you see black spots, get all ripped 'n sh*t.....
 So yeah.  My complex of choice is from Alwyn Cosgrove:Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Bentover Row Power Clean, Front Squat, Push Press, Back Squat, Good Morning. On round one, perform 6 reps of each exercise, moving from one exercise to the next, never letting go of the bar, never resting. Remember, you'll finish all six reps of each exercise before moving to the next one.Rest 90 seconds after the first circuit, then perform 5 reps of each in the next circuit; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each. I don't do the good mornings however, since by that point of the complex I can't keep good form on them.  


Rest of workout went well. I enjoy the battling ropes, and though I prefer blast strap fallouts on the TRX for anti-flexion work, the ab wheel works as an occasional alternate. Good session! 



June 22, 2011

June 22, 2011Sprints


  • 100m*6

Air was like soup today!  Overcast, drizzling for the last 2 sprints.  I hate days like that.  I finished my 5th sprint at the opposite end from where my regular sneakers and water bottle was, so rather than walk back I sprinted.  Honestly on the last 2 sprints I felt like I hit a brick wall on the last 15m or so.  I was still making the sprinting motion but I couldn't have been going faster than a jog. It was like my body just turned off.

Previous Bulk, in retrospect

Regrets from Previous Bulk: NO MORE WHOLE MILK lol.  What I'll do differently next time:

  1. Next time I bulk I'm keeping the fats down.  I peaked at around 250g of fat per day on this bulk.  This next time I'll keep it to around 125g of fat, maybe 150 if I feel like eating an avocado.  Even if a lot of the fats I had came from Coconut Oil, EVOO, Walnuts, etc., at some point you take in so much fat that the sources really don't matter.  When you couple those "healthy" fat sources with the milk it just lead to a ton of adipose tissue gain.
  2. To make up for the less fats, I'll be adding carbs in more.  But whereas previously I just had them all the time with every meal, and also from the shit ton of milk, this time I'm going to be tactical with them. I'm going to have some carbs in the morning in my shake, most of which will be from blueberries, with most of the remainder from the 12 oz. of milk I use.  From then until pre-workout I'll have only trace carbs, probably none, or however much is in an oz. of walnuts.  Pre workout will be a quick converting carbohydrate.  I like apples & bananas, so probably will come from that.  Post workout I'll get the bulk of my carbs, probably in the form of brown rice, with occasional post-workout pasta.  
  3. Overall I'm just going to be more precise with my nutrition.  This past time I took a shotgun approach, and clearly hit my target. This next time it's going to be more like a sniper with an m95.  The way I did it this past time was carbs most meals, a half gallon of milk in the hours leading up to bed, and a half pound of peanut butter with my 3/4 lbs. of steak for dinner.  Will NOT be doing that again. 
  4. I also rapidly added calories during the previous bulk. I went from my base of about 2800 calories per day to 5000 in the space of two weeks.  This next time I'll add them a bit slower, and I won't go to 5000 again.  I'm at about 2200 right now on this cut, which is probably right around where I'll be for maintenance.  I'll probably go up to 2700 the first week, see how that goes for a while then go to 3200 or so.  I can't imagine going higher than maybe 3500-3700 next time. 

June 21, 2011 Lower / Heavy

  • Squats: 300*5 315*2 335*1
  • Front Squats: 185*3 205*2
  • BB Box Front Squats: 135*5
  • Rope Pullups: 5,5
  • One-Arm Plank KB Drags: 28KG
  • Push-Up-Position-Plank-Press: 2:00

Missed last squatting session, and one before that all the racks were taken.  Just getting back into it this week.  Next week weight should feel much lighter.  Adding Front Squats back in as well. The reps were low considering the weights, but I kept my form pristine, elbows up the whole time, no leaning forward, chest up, deep depth.  Also tried BB Front Box squats for fun.  Plank drags with heaviest kb in the gym. Next time I'll take a couple lighter kbs and tie them to the end of the rope.  VERY happy with the plank press, oddly I'm happiest about that probably out of all the stuff in this workout.   Good times!  

June 21, 2011

June 21, 2011 Solstice Conditioning

  • Plyo Bench Pushups: 9,9,10
  • Rope Slams: 30,35,35
  • DB Farmers: 100*1
 Happy Summer Solstice everyone!  Days are only getting shorter from here. Good conditioning workout.  I realized I slam the ropes so hard that the TRX station that I anchor the rope too actually jumps and shimmies across the gym floor. Whoops. 

June 20, 2011

June 20, 2011 Upper Body

  • BB Flat Bench: 275*3 280*3 285*2 265*4
  • Pullups: 25*5 25*4 20*4 20*4
  • DB Flat Bench: 105*6 110*4
  • Rope Pullups: 5, 6, 5
  • Push-Up Position Plank Press: 1:30
Good session! Felt great to get some reps back on flat benching, had been tailing off there for a while.  Decided to go weighted on pullups; I feel my form is better with weight strapped to me.  Got FOUR reps back on the dumbbell flat benching.  Rope Pullups I added a rep on each set from the last time I did 3 sets.  Also added 15 seconds onto Plank Press.  Great workout.   Tomorrow's double will be upper body conditioning, and then squats in the P.M.   Can't wait!

June 20, 2011 Conditioning

  • 28KG KB Swing Tabata: 13,12,12,12,12,12,12,12
  • High + Low Box (34") Plyo Jumps: 30, 25
  • Palloff Presses: 50*3 60*2
So yesterday I went to the beach with Wendy, so no conditioning workout. I decided to do a double today, this before work, upper body after.   I also figure I may start doing this a few times per week, for the opposite side of the body I'll work in the PM. So today was mainly lower body type stuff, tomorrow I'll do mainly upper body plyo/conditioning work since I'll be squatting in the PM. I don't anticipate having a job where I go in at 11 a.m. for much longer, so I need to take advantage of this opportunity while I have it.  The workout itself was fine, did quite well on the tabata.  All in all a good workout. 

June 16, 2011

June 16, 2011 Lower Body

Barbell Deadlifts: 360*10 370*10 380*10 -OMFGWARGGARBLWEMUSTPROTECTTHISHOUSE
DB Jump Deads: 55*6 60*6
Rope Pullups: 5,4
Elevated Feet Rope Pullups:8
Plank Position One Arm KB Rope Drags:  6kg, 18kg

;akwejht;qjwhtlkjqnb23ljqnb23;ljq234;jhq23456 yeah that about sums it up.  WOW.  I ended with 360 last session, so I started with it this time.  It was fairly easy.  370 was a bit hard on the last rep.  380 though....wow. I mean....I don't think I've ever had a ball-check like that in the gym before.  I passed.  I was gassed by the 6th rep and thinking getting to 8 reps would be a blessing. I got to 8, started to pull the ninth and just started cursing and growling, people must've though I was nuts.  I dropped it down for the 10th rep and just ripped that thing off the ground shouting to myself and using form that probably caused all A.C.E. personal trainers in a 1 mile radius to have a seizure and start bleeding from the dick.  I'm an irascible stubborn bastard and I've got a piss-poor temper and I will lift that weight 7 if it means leaving my diaphragm and left lung hanging out of my mouth.   I was on the floor in the rack panting and sweating for about 5 minutes between each set, and about 10 after that last one.  The jump deads were next, those are basically just what they sound like, hold a db in each hand, start with them on the floor, deadlift them up and jump at the same time.  Rope work was good.... The drags are basically what you see in the video below but with a kb at the end instead of a prowler.  I'm still dead after this session and I will be for a couple days. 


June 15, 2011

June 15, 2011 Sprinting

208 lbs.

  • Sprints, 100m: 5



Good session!  Back to sprinting at full speed.  Felt great.  Very winded.  Still warm a few hours later.  Weighed self before session, 208 lbs!  About 6 more to go I'd say and then I'll evaluate if I'm satisfied or not. Goal remains to get to 8% bf.

June 14, 2011

June 14, 2011 Upper / Heavy

  • BB Flat Bench Press: 275*3 280*2 285*2 290*2
  • 50 Pullups, Timed: 4,4,4,4,3,3,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,3,2 (13:10)
  • DB Flat Bench: 105*2 gassed 100*5
  • Cable Rows: 130*8 150*5
  • Plyo Bench Pushups: 6,5
  • Rope Slams: 20,25
A bit perplexed by the crappy benching numbers.  I'm over the sinus infection I had, maybe I'm still fatigued from it.  I also didn't warm up for as long, I went 45, 135, 225, 255, 260 for some reason. Usually I'd do 45,135,185,225,260 or something like that.  I dunno, just not a good benching session.  However the rest of the day went well.  The bruins were on last night so I didn't get to do my upper body workout, today would usually be legs, but I've missed quite a few upper sessions recently so I switched it around this week.  The pullups were fun, I wanted to time how long I could do 50 pullups in.  My strategy was to only do 4 per set at first to avoid a lactic acid hit. The thing is by the 5th set I could only do 3 anyway, which is probably where I would have been if I had done 25 or so over the first 3 sets anyway. Live & learn!   I was gassed afterward and could barely do the db flat benchingHaven't done upper body plyos in a while, so I did some then finished off with some rope work.  Great workout!

June 12, 2011 Conditioning

  • 28KG KB Swing Tabata: 13,11,12,12,12,11,12,12
  • High+Low Box (34") Plyo Jumps: 30, 25
  • Palloff Presses: 50*3

Getting over sinus infection still.  Good tabata, box jumps, palloffs.  Next week when I have my energy back I'll probably add more palloffs back in.  I need to do more ab-wheel/ball rolls/trx fallouts as well.  I've gotten away from them but they're great exercises.

June 11, 2011

June 9, 2011 Upper Body, Light

  • BB Incline Bench Press: 220*10 225*8 230*4
  • Pullups: 9,6,5
  • PUPP: 1:15

OK, so a couple things here.  One, I'm still sick. It feels like my throat had a blow torch taken to it and I need to sleep desperately.  I tend to growl as I force the last couple reps, which made my throat feel worse than it ever has in my lifeSecondly, on the first two sets of inclining my spotter kept touching the bar. I hate when people do that.  I said I'm going for 8 at 220...you don't need to start touching the bar on the first rep.  I had no real energy so I skipped unilateral stuff and push pressing. Will get back to that next week.  Added :15 to the plank press.  Good times, good times. 

June 9, 2011

June 09, 2011 Thoughts on this Cut

We're all fairly similar physiologically, but the small differences between us mean that different approaches will work better with different people when it comes to things like bulking/cutting (e.g. gaining mass / losing weight for the uninitiated).  The thing is, you won't know what works and what doesn't until you try different approaches.  I feel bad for people that follow some nutrition plan or workout regimen blindly without tinkering with it and seeing what their own body responds to. In my case I learned a few things:

  1. I could have cut calories much faster than I did.  I peaked at 231 lbs. @ 19.5% bf at the end of this past bulking cycle.   I was taking in 5000 calories per day, and actually plateaued weight-wise for the last 2 weeks.  I laid out the first several steps of the cut, each step took one week.  The calorie numbers went like this: 4700,4400,4200,3800,3500,3250 for the first 6 steps.  So that's 6 weeks right there.  I could've probably started at 4200 and been fine, and then dropped to 3500 without any issue.  I was worried about protecting the muscle I had built though, so it's better to err on the side of caution. I'll probably never go up to 5000 calories per day again, but in the future I'll be more aggressive with early steps of a cut.
  2. The reason for #1 on this list is probably this: Steady-state cardio really burns a sh*t-ton (that's a metric measurement) of calories.  I'm not doing any this cut, on account of a lot of those calories coming from catabolizing muscle tissue.  But pre-bulk I was 187 @ 10.5% body fat, and was consuming around 2900 calories per day to stay at that level. I was also doing 20-30 minutes of steady state 3x per week.  Even with the sprinting/tabatas/ropework/complexes I'm doing for cardio/conditioning on this cut, I'm down to 2300 calories right now in order to maintain losing about 1 lbs. per week, and will probably level off around 205. 
  3. I really need to drop fat faster as well during cuts in the future.  My grams of fat went: 248, 240,228,201,192, 166 for the first 6 steps, (I was drinking a ton of milk, and eating lots of PB on the bulk).  Even as I was focusing on dropping carboyhydrates I left the fats way too high.  Since next time I'll be scaling back calories quicker I'll be able to drop both quicker.   I noticed that when I was stalling around 216 for a few weeks cutting carbs wasn't really having any effect at that point. I was already so low on them that cutting more out just left me feeling 'foggy' and unsharp.  I consulted with some people and they thought my fats were very high (at that point I was down to 120g/day), so I restored my carbs to their previous levels (back to about 110g on workout days) and cut the fat down to about 90g/day, and the fat started peeling off again.
  4. Next time I bulk I'm keeping the fats down.  I'll probably bump up protein slightly.  What I'm going to do is tactically add carboyhydrates, slightly more in the mornings, and then many more pre-workout, and a bunch more post workout.  Pre workout will be a quick converting carbohydrate.  Post-Workout most of it will probably be in the form of brown rice, with occasional post-workout pasta.

June 7, 2011

June 7, 2011 Lower Body

  • Leg Press: 450*10 540*10 630*3 540*8
  • Standing Calf Press, Slow: 120*10
  • Feet Elevated Rope Pullups: 11, 10
  • Rope Pullups: 4,5,4
  • Rope Slams: 30, 25
  • Sauna: 30 minutes, 130-190 degrees
So I'm suffering from a lesser form of bubonic plague, not good times.  The back top part of my mouth felt like it had a flame thrower taken to it, it actually woke me up several times last night.  Left work early and decided to try and get a workout in and then smoke it out in the sauna.  Unfortunately all squat racks were taken so I went with leg pressing.  Finished up with some rope work, getting much better at rope pullups, grip is getting stronger.   The sauna felt great, it was cooler when I got in there, only about 130, but it got progressively warmer.   

June 5, 2011

June 5, 2011 Upper Body Work

  • BB Flat Bench: 275*4 280*3 285*3 290*2
  • Neutral Grip Pullups: 10,6,4
  • Hanging Cleans: 135*4 165*2
  • Push Press: 185*4 205*1 
  • Rope Slams: 25, 25
Good session, I missed my two previous flat benching days, so I'm happy I haven't really lost any off it, next week I expect to add a rep to each set.  I did them with very little rest between sets.  Same with the neutral grip pullups.  Those first 7 sets took about 15 minutes total.  I wanted to add some powerlifts to my regimen so I auditioned hang cleans and did another set of push presses as well.  I think I'll leave Push Presses on my Thursday upper-body sessions, I just feel like it fits better.  This day will probably stay as Flat Bench, BB Rows, DB Flat, and Pullups.   I finished off this session with rope slams for a metabolic component.  Great session.  

June 4, 2011: Conditioning

  • 100m Sprints: 6

So usually I do conditioning tomorrow but I was anxious to test out my leg and see if it's back to normal.  It still felt tight running today but was much better.  On the 6th sprint it was really starting to knot up so I stopped it there.  Not a bad session though, I think I'm getting used to doing them, I'm not as dead after each one as I was the first time. 

June 3, 2011

This Country is in Awful Shape

Awful.

                I went to the beach the other day and I was shocked at how bad shape the people were in there.  It got me thinking about how bad this country is fitness wise, and what an odd status that goes along with it.  If someone smokes, you can tell them to knock it off.  If someone drinks, you can tell them they’re hurting themselves and others.  But if you’re killing yourself with food, are obese, and in awful shape, you can’t say anything to that person about it without being considered offensive.   It’s baffling.  Being out of shape, suffering adult-onset diabetes, and being overweight run in families, and it’s NOT mostly because of genetics.   Like second-hand smoke poisoning those around you, children learn their eating and fitness habits from parents and pattern themselves after them.   Yet somehow if you talk to someone about getting in better shape you’re the asshole, not the person that’s teaching their children how to kill themselves with food and degrade their quality of life.   Our generation is potentially the first in centuries that will have a shorter life-span than the previous.  Amazing.
                The other part that pisses me off is seemingly every time someone makes a comment about working out, or comments that I’m in good shape it’s backhanded; “Oh I wish I had the kind of time to work out”.  I hear variations of that constantly.   My blood absolutely boils every time some smug asshole drops that one.   There are people at my gym who are surgeons, lawyers, a rabbi even.  Most of them work 60+ hours per week, have families, work with or run charities…and they all manage to workout at least three or four days per week.   Last year I was working 40-48 hours per week, taking five classes per semester,  making sure I slept at least 8 hours per night, hung out with friends 3 or 4 days per week, and I still had the time to make it to the gym 6 or 7 days per week.  There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to not be doing something to improve their health. Look, there is virtually nothing better you can do.   If someone watches garbage television like CSI or American Idol, they have plenty of time to work out.  Seriously, you don’t even need 6 days per week for an hour and a half each time.   Take a half hour 3 days per week and you could probably be in better shape than you have ever been in your life.  Combine that with putting the soda down, cut out anything with corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup in it, stop eating out as much, and eliminate garbage breakfast cereals, and that’d solve 50% of the problem right there.   
There’s also the fact that I sure as hell don’t want to be paying for someone’s diabetes medication when you can’t work by 50 and have to go on government aid.   I’m also worried that as this country devolves into slovenliness that it’s going to be harder and harder for my children and friends that actually give a damn to find decent food to eat.  I’m worried that living a healthy lifestyle is going to be frowned on, or even impossible in the future as our national obesity rate continue its’ inevitable march towards 50%, and the trillions of dollars that are going to have to go to healthcare for caring for these slobs.    The attitude already is if you're in good shape you're a 'health nut'. "OH you are SUCH a health nut.....you won't even funnel this 1/2 gallon of high fructose corn syrup. What a buzz kill. It's cool killing myself slowly and using food as a replacement for the fulfillment that I don't get from the rest of my vapid self-centered life".
So please, stop making excuses, acting entitled, and bitching about your weight/blood pressure/self-inflicted diabetes  and either go die in a corner silently somewhere, or DO SOMETHING to help yourself. 

June 2, 2011

June 2, 2011

weight: 212
  • BB Incline Bench/Rope Pullups Superset: 215*10/BW*3 220*6/BW*4 210*8/BW*3
  • Push Press: 185*5 185*3 205*1 NEW PR!!
  • DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 60*10 70*10 80*9
  • PUPP: 1 minute
notes: Brought back the superset! Felt good. I'm starting to enjoy rope pullups even more. Good grip training and I feel like they're a great exercise especially for my pecs for some reason. I read the Dan John article on T-Nation today and it influenced this workout quite a bit. I've decided to give push pressing another try, but this time really squatting down 1/4 of the way for them. Previously I would just do a superficial dip and try to pop it up. Felt pretty good today doing them with an actual mini squat before exploding up. The unilateral flat benching was also from the Dan John article, though I had done them previously a couple years ago. I forgot how much I loved this movement. Of course the last time I did them it was before I really zeroed in my training and diet, so I was doing weights like 45 lbs. for 5 reps. Also from the John article was Push-Up Position Planks. Here's a quote from the article: As always, I start with patterning. In the world of pushes, I think the plank is the base. Oh, and I also know this: nobody I know thinks they need planks. But I have a little test that I stole from Stuart McGill, the great back expert from Canada: If you can't hold a plank for two minutes either you're obese or your abdominal training is wrong." Looks like I need to practice these!

June 1, 2011: Conditioning

Sprints: 100m*6

WHY WHY WHY do I keep having shit happen when I try to sprint. The last time I tried it last season I got halfway through my 2nd sprint of the day when it felt like my quad was trying to yank my ball down to my left knee. Last week in the first sprinting session of the season I ran into a swarm of bees. This week I do my warmups, stretching, etc. First sprint I immediately feel a knot in my right quad. Now this quad had been a little tight all week. But this was ridiculous, it felt like there was a knot the size of a grapefruit in my leg. No amount of stretching or jogging fixed it. So these sprints were more like gimp-sprints. I probably should've not even done them, but I was pissed. At least I got the full 6 in.