June 27, 2012

June 27, 2012 Sprinting


  • 200m: 3
  • 100m: 3
  • 60m: 2

So I started with sore/tight hamstrings, and just figured I'd do a couple hundreds, and then a few 60s and call it a day.  Instead on my first sprint I hit the 100m mark and realized I wasn't even vaguely winded.  Hit 200m and then walked the other 200m back to where I started, and immediately did another 200m.  The effect I thought last week would have (100+ degrees, no clouds, succulent humidity) did occur...this felt so easy. Cloudy, dry, maybe 65 degrees, perfect.  Feels good man. 

June 26, 2012 Lower Body


  • Front Squats: 225*2 250*2 275*1 300*1
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 165*3 185*3 205*1
  • Battling Ropes - Rope Slam Superset: 70-10 60-10

Wow...so I wanted to do something different besides deadlifting here.  Tied my front squat record. Had no intention of going for it, I just have issues not going heavy when lifting.  Was exhausted for power cleans.  Hamstrings are still beat to heck from kb swings on Sunday. 

June 25, 2012 Upper


  • Cable Flyes: 60*8 70*6 80*4 60*8
  • BB Underhand Rows: 215*10 235*8 250*5
  • Rope Pullups: 6, 5

Switching up for the week on exercises; went well, giving shoulders a rest, they're feeling a bit better as I type this on Thursday, hopefully this coming week they'll feel fully refreshed.  Everything else went fine.  

June 24, 2012 Conditioning


  • 34.5" Plyo Box Jump / 34.5" Seated Plyo Box Jump Supserset: 15-15
  • Cartwheels: 10
  • Forward Rolls: 10
  • Bear Crawls: 40 steps
  • 28kg KB Swings: 30, 30
jumping was weird. It was like I was overthinking it and couldn't jump several times. Took me almost 20 minutes to finish the superset, usually takes about 4 or 5. I kept starting to jump but stopping myself.  No idea why.  My hamstrings are tired though, that may have something to do with it. This past Friday I didn't do unilateral deadlifting; I'm going to put that on my deadlifting day from now on.  Not getting any better at cartwheels going to my right, but I'm going to keep trying. I thought the KB swings would be more for conditioning than actual hamstring....whoops. I'm typing this on Wednesday and they've been sore as hell all week.  Going to put swings on deadlifting or squatting day from now on.  Not good times. 

June 22, 2012 Lower


  • BB Box Squats: 335*5 360*4 380*3 400*2
  • Hanging Power Snatch: 140*3 160*1 - shoulders exhausted

Love box squatting.  Really love it.  But my hamstrings are toasted right now, my whole posterior chain is after this week.  Shoulders are exhausted, and the joints don't feel great right now, going to rest them this coming week

June 21, 2012 Upper Body


  • Pullups: 70*3 70*3 70*3 70*3
  • DB Incline: 100*7 105*5 110*3
  • DB Goblet Walk: 110*1:02 110*0:45
  • Side Planks: 10
Put pullups first here, swapped in some db incline for regular incline benching.  Goblet walks continue to be tortuous painful murderous fun. 

June 20, 2012 Sprinting


  • 100m Sprints: 8
  • 60m Sprints: 5

Hottest day of the year so far, hit about 99.  I was sprinting around 5:30, it was about 103 on the track with the reflected heat.  Air felt like breathing soup or wet cement. I love these days; you really find out how much willpower you have. Plus it makes the next week feel easier if conditions are even vaguely better.  I hit 1100 meters here, new high for the year.  I brought two bottles of water, needed both.  Was drenched after the first two sprints.  Hard to describe how hard it was to run those 60s at the end; felt like I was drowning the air was so humid.  Went home and put bags of frozen peas on my knees...felt great.  

June 19, 2012 Lower


  • BB DL: 410*1 430*1
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 165*3 185*3 205*2
  • Paloff Presses: 60*10 70*10

Very very very physically tired; taking it easy on the deadlifts as my lower back just feels tight and tired.  Hanging cleans went well, 205 I ended up with my feet too far apart again; need to focus.  

June 18, 2012 Upper Body


  • Flat Bench: 285*1 300*2 275*4
  • BB Underhand Rows: 205*10 230*7 250*5
  • Push Press: 215*2 225*1 235*1
  • Rope Pullups: 6, 5
  • Ab Wheel: 12, 10

Felt a bit flat here, got the reps but I'm feeling a bit drained more than usual here. May switch it up a bit with exercise selection next week.  Also should probably give my shoulders a break; they're sore. 

June 20, 2012

June 17, 2012 Conditioning

  • 34.5" Plyo Box Jump / 34.5" Seated Plyo Box Jump Superset: 15-15 
  • Cartwheels: 10 
  • Forward Rolls: 10 
  • Bear Crawls: 32 steps 
  • Paloffs: 60*10 70*10

Enjoying the conditioning days.  More videos of ill fated cartwheels, and also some forward rolls, no idea why the F I zoomed in this much....


aaaand more cartwheels to my off side. 



June 17, 2012

June 15, 2012 Lower Body


  • Box Squats: 315*6 340*4 365*3 385*2
  • Hanging Power Snatches: 140*3 150*3 160*3
  • Unilateral Deadlifts: 195*4 215*4 225*3

Man I love box squats.  Tried to cram this all into an abbreviated time, whole thing took like 25 minutes.  Brutal.   Felt great though.  Moving along on snatches & the unilateral deadlifting.  Have a cut on my right shin that keeps opening back up every time I do them, so the bar and my leg is soaked with blood by the end. Like a boss. 

June 14, 2012 Upper Body

  • Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 260*3-70*3 257.5*3-70*3 245*3-65*3
  • Pullup Iso Hold: 25 seconds, 22 seconds
  • Standing Press: 135*5 155*2-tired
  • DB Goblet Walks: 110*1:00 110*0:40
  • Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 50*10 60*10

Whoo. Good times.  Superset at the beginning saves me time and lets me do more stuff in the time I have.  Forgot to pull a 2.5 off one side, hence the 257.5 on that 2nd set.  Iso Holds at the top position of the pullup felt great. Was gassed by the time I got to standing presses, so I moved along. Can't believe I got 1:00 this quick on the goblet walks.  Finished with some chops. 

June 13, 2012 Sprinting


  • 100m Sprints: 7
  • 60m Sprints: 5

light mist, cloudy, light breeze. Perfect.  Finished in about 60% of the time I usually take.  Felt great. Loving sprinting. 

June 14, 2012

June 14, 2012 Current Routine


·        Sundays: Conditioning.  I do mobility work, general conditioning this day. Typically involves things like this:
o   Plyo Box Jumps: 15
o   Plyo Seated box Jumps: 15  (usually supersetted with those first 15 regular box jumps)
o   Tumbling: Rolls, cartwheels, getups. However many I feel like
o   If no tumbling, then something like a tabata, or rope slams/battling ropes
·        Mondays: Upper Body.  I moved this to Monday since that puts my other upper body day on Thursdays; previously that was a leg day and I can’t do that the day after sprinting
o   Bench Press: 3x03
o   BB Row: 4x03-05
o   Push Press: 3x~01-03
o   Maybe some rope work
·        Tuesdays: Lower Body
o   Deadlifting: 3x01-03
o   Hanging Power Cleans: 3x03ish
o   Planks, anti-rotational chops, paloffs..something like that
·        Wednesdays: Conditioning
o   Sprinting: ~1000m total, this summer I’m focusing more on speed, so 60s & 100s mostly
o   Tumbling between sprints maybe
·        Thursdays: Upper Body
o   Weighted Pullups: 5x03
o   Incline Bench: 3x03
o   Standing Press: 3x05
o   DB Goblet Walks (holy crap…try these)
·        Friday: Lower Body
o   Squats: 3-4x03
o   Hanging Poewr Snatches: 3x01-03
o   Unilateral Deadlifts: 3x03…these tax me more than any other lift, other than Bulgarian split squats
o   Some sort of core work, planks of some sort, anti-rotational chops, paloffs, leg raises.
·        Saturday: Nothing.

Some Links

Just some links / pictures I wanted to pass along, first for those that think they're too old to get fit, there's this:  muscle comparison of sedentary 70 year old to 70 year old triathlete. I think the picture is absolutely amazing.  Gives me hope, seeing as how I enjoy whining about being 30. 







Secondly is this, a nice visualization, (via  http://rippedandfit.tumblr.com ):



June 13, 2012

June 12, 2012 Lower Body


  • Trap Bar Deadlifts: 495*1 515*1 535*1 NEW PR!! 405*1
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 175*3 185*1
  • Shoulder-Touch Planks: 11

Well, I had said after last week when my back was sore that I was going to do some trap bar deadlifting.  The thing is, since it's easier to pull bigger weights I'm always tempted to go for a new record.  So I had a choice, take it easy, or go all in and try and break a record.  You can see which one won out there.  Was pretty much toast after that, so just did some cleans, and planks, then left.  Here's a video.  The form wasn't extraordinarily awful.  


June 11, 2012 Upper Body

  • Flat Bench: 285*1 300*3 305*2 275*3 (hit post)
  • BB Underhand Rows: 200*10 225*6 245*6
  • Push Press: 215*2 225*1 235*X
  • Forward Rolls: 10
Thoroughly enjoying tumbling.  Session went good, underhand rows feel great. Not sure why I missed 235 on the push pressing, was having trouble balancing when I tried to clear it.   Finished with some  forward rolls.  And now for some progress pictures.  Click for larger versions.  I'm 197.5 lbs. in these, I'm guesstimating bf at 9.5%; in the picture on the left you can see a vein in my left shoulder that only really comes out at or below 10% under normal conditions.  



pic name pic name pic name

June 10, 2012

June 10, 2012 Conditioning


  • 34.5" Plyo Box Jump / 34.5" Seated Plyo Box Jump Superset: 15-15
  • Shoulder-Rolls (per side): 5, 5
  • Cart Wheels (to left): 10, 10
  • Roundoffs (to right): 10, 6
  • Getups (per side): 10kg*3 

ok now this was fun. I've decided to add more tumbling into my conditioning work. I started with shoulder rolls. They seemed easy at first, but at the end my pulse was really high.  May do them again tomorrow after benching and stuff.  Then I moved to cartwheels. Quick note, I haven't done cartwheels in about 20 years, but I immediately remembered how to do them.  Here's the thing though...I always do them to my left, never to my right. So obviously I want to do them both ways this time.  At this point when I go right it's essentially a roundoff.  A bad roundoff.  Here's video proof.  First the cartwheels, to the left, pretty much decent:





and now the roundoffs...going to my right.....what has been seen, cannot be unseen (check out the dude scoping me out between sets on the teeter-totter thing):


Finally I thought I'd finish with something cool I saw on 4chan's /fit board a few days ago.  There was a thread where you post pictures of your "cave" and see what people could notice about you. It's not really fitness related, but I always preach about being well rounded and not letting the gym define you as a person, so here's a few snaps of my room. , the door.  This is mostly my roommates doing, though the Santa has hung on many of my doors over the years. 

Next a view of one of my walls; that's my degree from BC, as well as a picture of my favorite bird.  I also have a lava lamp that never gets used, a fantasy football trophy I'm way too proud of, and over in the corner some nostalgia in the form of my mom's height board. 

That vulture pinata you see below is probably older than most people reading this.  My mom got it for me in 2nd grade and immediately knew I wasn't going to want to bash it.  I ended up saving it, and getting a donkey instead.  To the left is a bird Sanctuary sign I got for Christmas one year.  As you may have noted, I love birds. I actually have another blog exclusively for bird photography that I need to update (http://birdinginboston.blogspot.com/


 This is my wall of sports, I used to have more stuff up there, but I have souvenirs from both Sox world series' titles up there.  
Another wall shot...I guess this is superfluous really.  My sash from BC and a glow in the dark spider I've had up on every wall I've ever had (along with this blue color).  If my room says one thing about me it's that I hang onto my past :) 

and nothing says that more than this last shot.  I love these things. I started collecting them when I was a small child, they glow in the dark. They were only supposed to glow for a few years, I guess NASA made them or something. Instead they've glowed for almost 3 decades.  I think the Saturn was first, and then the rest followed shortly after.   So there you have it, a look inside my own cave, and proof that I do more than just hang out in the gym and bang out blog posts on here.  



June 08, 2012 Lower


  • Squats: 320*3 330*2 340*1
  • Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*3 155*3
  • Unilateral Deadlifts: 175*6 195*4 215*4
  • Battling Ropes / Rope Slam S.S.: 55-10 50-10

I think I need to box squat again for a while, I'm losing hamstring & hip drive again. I may just cycle in box squats every 6 weeks or so from now on, and do a TON of them when I do them.  Snatches went well.  On unilateral deadlifts as the weight goes up I'm dropping reps; this will allow me to move up quicker through the weights.  Finished with some rope work. 

June 07, 2012 Upper


  • Incline Bench: 255*4 260*3
  • Pullups: 65*4 70*3 65*3 65*3 
  • DB Flat: 100*8 105*6
  • Kroc Rows: 105*12
  • DB Goblet Walk: 110*0:45 110*0:45
  • Ab Wheel: 12

I forgot I wanted to do pullups first :( , but other than that good session. I decided going in I was only doing a couple sets of incline, wanted to work some flat dumbbell work in as well, which I did.  FINALLY got Kroc rows down, the key for me is to have both feet on the floor, instead of a knee on the bench, it stabilizes my lower back much more, and eliminates the torquing.  Upped weight on goblet walks.  If you've never tried them, I highly recommend them.  By the end when the weight is pressing against your upper stomach and making it hard to breathe you'll start seeing your ancestors.   

June 5, 2012 Lower


  • Deadlift: 410*3 430*3 450*2
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 145*3 165*3 185*2 195*2
  • Paloffs: 50*10 60*10

Deadlifting was very hard this week, my lower back is quite sore, even typing this 5 days later. Going to do trap bar this coming week to take some of the load off it. 

June 4, 2012 Upper


  • Bench Press: 285*1 300*3 305*2 275*4
  • BB Underhand Rows: 195*9 225*6 245*4 205*10
  • Push Press: 215*2 225*1 235*1 

Was in Maine for a few days so I wasn't able to workout on Friday, or do Sunday conditioning.  This session went very well, benching felt easy.  Really loving underhand rows.  I feel like I could do more on push presses if I could get deeper on the dip, but it just feels weird going lower than a 1/8th squat. 

May 31, 2012 Upper


  • Incline Bench: 255*3 245*3 235*3
  • Pullups: 60*4 60*3 60*3 60*3
  • Standing Press: 135*5 155*4 165*3

Going well; pullups fit in well on this day, may start supersetting them with the incline bench.  Actually I want to do the pullups first, before inclining. Hopefully I remember next week. 

May 30, 2012 Sprinting


100m Sprints: 6
 60m Sprints: 4
100m Sprints: 1


whooooooooooooooo.  Wasn't sure how I'd feel. Quads felt tight throughout, I needed to stretch after each run, but I still got 940m total in!  Really happy.  I could've done a 200 on the first sprint, probably will next time.  Great running!

May 29, 2012 Lower Body



  • Deadlifting: 410*3 430*3 450*2 470*1
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 145*3 165*3 185*3


Was wondering how my body would respond the week after doing the higher rep deadlifts last week. The answer? Well.  I actually felt recharged, not worn down; all the reps were smooth and easy.  Same with the hanging power cleans. Good clean form on everything.  Still a tad sore from sprinting, but I'll live

May 28, 2012 Upper Body



  • Bench Press: 285*1 300*1 275*3 275*3
  • BB Underhand Rows: 175*8 195*8 215*6 235*4
  • Push Press: 215*2 225*1 235*1
  • Feet to Hand Hanging Leg Raises: 4, 3
  • Ab-Wheel: 10


Great session, really loving the underhand rows.  They really put you in a better position to activate your lats; it's more of a natural motion.  Push Press going well again too.  Not sure what to call the hanging leg raises where you hang from the chinup bar and bring your feet up to your hands.

May 27, 2012 Sprinting


  • 100m Sprints: 5
  • 60m Sprints: 2


So I felt bad for missing this past Wednesday, so I went here on Sunday instead.  We'll see how it effects the rest of the week!