Belated Blog

This is my post for two days ago (take that as an indicator of how swamped I've been)

A. Warmup

Stationary cycle, 1 mile

various stretches

B. Squats

5 x 95#

5 x 95#

5 x 135#

5 x 185#

5 x 205#

5 x 225#

5 x 235#

5 x 235#

5 x 235#

My squats haven't been going up as fast as they used to, but I've also been focusing on really going down as low as possible, so I'll take the slower progress.

C. Standing Press

8 x 45 #

8 x 45 #

8 x 55 #

8 x 65 #

8 x 75 #

8 x 85 #

8 x 75 #

8 x 75 #

I still don't enjoy presses in any form, I'm not sure why I don't. Ah well. making some minor progress here, on a suggestion from a friend I've switched from 5 rep sets to 8 rep sets on my standing and DB chest presses, so we'll see if that helps me progress at all

Today's Training tune:

fractured thoughts unwon

        Ugh, i'm skipping sets for the stupid reason that I'm not looking at my log properly and transferring my sessions to my notebook properly.  I'm tempted to run down to the park today and get in a set of dips just to make up.  I might do that on my walk tonight, I doubt the effect would be negligible other than to put me at some sort of mental rest.  Eh, why not?  I'll do it for the children.



        I added in a few extra sets today just as an experiment, and it felt pretty decent.  I think the first two sessions this week were a bit low on volume overall, so i'm adding one more set of 8s to everything and tacking on two more accessory sets.  Also trying to stay really tight on the rest length, even for supersets.  I'll still take 60 seconds on all the power sets, but I feel like i can hit 45s for now on the supersets.  I'm going to creep numbers up a bit and see what the upper bound is, but yeah.  I need to hit this really fuckin hard, like it needs to hurt.

• Deadlift: 325x1/305x3/255x5/205x8/135x12 Stripset(no rest)
• Push Press: 4x6 145
• A1. DB Shoulder Press: 4x8 37.5
• A2. 2Pt DB Row: 4x8 70
• B1. Front Raise: 4x8 20
• B2. Face Pull: 4x8 90
• C1. Strict Cable Curl: 3x12 80
• C2. Strict Rope Extension 3x12 80

        I wonder if it would be completely detrimental to take 90 seconds and then hit some kettlebell swings or a complex.  Worth experimenting with tomorrow, me thinks.

Today's TrainingTune: Blood Divine - The Synthetic Dream Foundation

see your shame destroyed

        A bit of an impromptu session this morning, really i had just intended to do some foam rolling, but it was feeling decent so i decided to make up some bodyweight stuff from last night and do some upper body work just for fun.  I think looking at my schedule I was supposed to take today off, but I feel like at least for the first 10 days I can push pretty hard to get myself empty.  Sorta leaves me wondering how the scheduling for this is going to go, i've got two weeks in seattle at the end of December, and more than likely a move.  Thankfully, if it's where I think it is, getting back into a routine will be SUPER easy:)  Bear-style, yo.

• A1. Pullup: 4x5
• A2. E^2 Pushup: 4x15
• Flat DB Press: 3x8 65
• B*. Strict EZ Curl: 3x8 55
• B*. Strict Pushdown: 3x8 70
• B*. Seated Row: 3x8 130

        I'm really digging the strict form upperbody work, I'm feeling muscles i haven't worked in years, you know, like my biceps and deltoids.  I feel like this is going to be a good springboard into mid-January when I flip back into strength and size, really excited about Juggernaut.  Sorta tempted to check out Juggernaut JiuJitsu too since I'm going to be training full-contact again, but we'll see.  Don't want to get ahead of myself.  Hopefully the gyms i think i'm going to be training at haven't changed too much.  Life is picking up, this isn't a sour grapes thing here, but I gotta say, getting laid off from Riot is probably one of the best things to happen to me recently. Onward!

Today's TrainingTune: Accelerant - Die Sektor

i can go where no one else goes

        Rawr, i feel like this guy today:


        Got up and hit it pretty solid today, it's funny, every so often I'll go on a cycle where i do really limited cardio and don't work any sort of metabolic schemes into my lifting...and you know, when i go back into a cycle where i'm doing cardio and metabolic work, i never think "man, i miss not doing cardio and metabolic work".  At this point, i don't really do it because it's essential for staying lean, I do it because it's fucking FUN.  Swinging kettlebells is fun, farmer's walks are fun, bagwork is fun, heck, walking with ankleweights is FUN.  So in celebration, here are 24 more roaring bears.  I seriously want to find a gym that has chains again when I move, not for lifting, but for bodyweight work.  Chain pushups are the shit.

• Squat: 5x5 225
• Clean: 4x6 145
• DB Incline: 3x8 65
• Bent BB Row: 3x8 135
• A1. Lateral Raise: 3x8 15
• A2. Front Twist Press: 3x8 10
• DB Farmer's Walk: 4x50yd 50

        I don't mind going slightly lighter for speed and lowered rest, it feels like i'm incorporating mobility into my lifts.  Don't get me wrong, I like grinding too (ask my ex's), but fat loss is not the time for such things in my opinion.  I think i'm going to incorporate an evening walk on days i don't go to martial arts, just to keep everything skippy.  4 miles a day doesn't feel like much, and since it's still nice down here in SoCal, might as well keep taking advantage of the awesome weather while i'm around.

Today's TrainingTune: Master Of Light - Monster Magnet

A few of my favorite things

Squat is my bestest buddy ever. I love the squat. The rack is my happy place. That being said, I love the three movements that I did today. I've always enjoyed cleaning, and the overhead squat and clean and jerk are pretty new for me, but I just love the movements. I could have probably pushed another couple of sets of cleans at 175, but the gym was closing soon and I wanted to be sure I could get the overhead squats in.

A. Warmup/Mobility

1 Mile on stationary bike

misc arm and leg stretches (15 minutes)

B. Clean and Jerk

5 x 45#

5 x 95#

5 x 115#

5 x 115#

5 x 135#

5 x 135#

5 x 135#

After the first set of 115#, I thought I was done going up in weight for the night, but the second set felt absolutely great. I was pretty solid on the second half all of the way through, although I need to work on catching it lower.

C. Power Clean

5 x 135#

5 x 155#

5 x 155#

5 x 155#

I should have pushed harder on this, but it was good to have a set at a weight that was completely manageable. I think I may stick a little low on my cleans for a couple of weeks and be sure that I'm getting proper technique into the jumping position.

D. Overhead Barbell Squat

5 x 45#

7 x 55#

7 x 65#

7 x 75#

7 x 95#

7 x 95#

7 x 95#

This felt great. By the end I was struggling with keeping the bar locked out, and after watching some videos of overhead squats, I think I'm keeping my grip too close (I'm at pretty close to a clean grip)

Today's training tune comes to you from the letter M:

our kingdoms coming down

        Ok, life and travelling have finally settled down for a foreseeable month barring having to fly out to the bay or seattle for interviews, so it's back to regular training.  Turkey-to-Tree starts today and i gotta say the fact that i don't have to work is probably going to make this one of the more succesful T2Ts i've ever done.  So this should be fun, I'm doing a liquid carb cycle, 1:1 on training days and 2:1 on off days, which works out to something like ~1600 calories 200g protein/200g carbs on training days and 1200 calories 200g protein/100g carbs on off days.  Since i'm not training on weekends, I may toss in a fast starting Saturday nights and going to Sunday night.

        Today was the first real track day for the NB Minimeeses, and i gotta say i freakin love these shoes.  You need a pair of these immediately, hell buy two, they're...kinda not terribly expensive?  Break em in like any other shoe and don't be stupid like i was and try to do weighted walking the first day out with them, but yeah, definitely grab onto these.  I'll be buying another pair as soon as i start drawing paychecks again, fo sho.

        Alright, time to do as the bears do and take a slight recovery nap, although probably only for about 30 minutes as opposed to a whole season.

• Deadlift: 325x1/305x3/255x5/205x5/135x12 (no rest)
• Push Press: 145x3x6/135x6
• A1. DB Floor Press: 3x8 55
• A2. Bent Lateral: 3x8 40
• B1. Overhead Extension: 3x8 110
• B2. Hammer Curl: 3x8 20
• Hanging High Leg Raise: 4x4
• DB Farmer Walk: 2x50yd 60

        I want to blame the backslide on the Farmer's Walks on the deadlifts and leg raises, but let's be honest and blame it on the fact that i've been so bad about my grip training.  It's something to work on, i'll probably drop the weights on these so i can get the full reps, i really want to do 4 or 5 sets of those.  Can't really argue the metabolic effect from them either, good stuff.  Good stuff.

        I'm going to start over with the TrainingTunes and actually start logging the tunes.  A few people have asked me for a running playlist so they can refer back to certain tunes, so I'm going to post those on the google docs:  TrainingTunes

Today's TrainingTune: Afterthought - Born Into Oblivion

guess who's back?

Not to hard coded, this is my first post here, but work forced me to take a bit of a hiatus from anything but running (a week and change feels like forever to be away from the rack).

I haven't set myself up with any sort of program since moving yet, I've basically just been going in, doing whatever movements I feel like, and trying to increase my weights (although, due to the somewhat sporadic schedule I've kept recently, that last one hasn't happened as much as I'd have liked it to). Generally when I go in to lift I try to do one or two of what I consider my core movements (squat, DB or Barbell bench, standing press, deadlift, power clean), something bodyweight to failure (dips and pull ups, usually, sometimes push ups or squats), and then two auxiliary movements of some sort. So that's the overview of the time I spend in the gym, hopefully getting that more structured in the weeks to come as my work schedule becomes more dependable.

My workout from yesterday, somewhat truncated because I needed to be somewhere:

A. Warmup/mobility

1 mile on exercise bike

shoulder dislocations

miscellaneous leg and shoulder stretches (not sure of the names of most of them)

B. Squats, low bar, A2G

5 x 45#

5 x 45#

5 x 95#

5 x 135#

5 x 185#

5 x 205#

5 x 225#

5 x 225#

6 x 225#

I've recently gone from lifting a bit heavier and doing full squats (parallel) to going down to an ass to grass squat. On one hand, it's a royal pain as the gym I'm going to lacks a proper power rack and I have to stand on plates. On the other hand, I'm much more comfortable down below parallel than I was previously, and I'm starting to feel that in my cleans.

C. Deadlifts

5 x 95

5 x 135

5 x 185

5 x 225

5 x 275

5 x 295

With how less-than-stellar my squat was today, I maybe should have held off on the deadlifts, but I was feeling it. I wanted to bump up to 315, but my form was close to breaking on the 295s, so that will have to wait for a bit more isometric back strength.

D. Pull ups, wide grip

3 x BW

4 x BW

3 x BW

E. Turkish Get-Ups

5 x 30#

5 x 30#

5 x 30#

This was the noise pumped into my head for the heavy squat and deadlift sets: