Gravity Sucks

Kicked off a new training cycle last night.  This one should be fairly boring, but I'm trying to add in as many morning workouts as possible, so I'm keeping my heavy workouts pretty basic.  Not to mention the weights in my heavy workouts are getting heavy now. *fjord*  It's a bit intimidating as I'm pushing in to nether regions I have yet to explore.  Pain and injury are sure to follow.  Fortunately I have a tens unit and my house is within crawling distance from the gym. (side note: I was talking to a chap at work last week after I hurt my back deadlifting.  He suggested I only lift a heavy single every once in a while and the rest of the time I lift in my "safe zone".  What the hell does that even mean?  "Hey! If you wanna be a world class sprinter, you gotta do speed work once a month and jog on a treadmill the rest of the time to prevent injury."  I don't get people)

Military press:
Bar x 10
95 x 8
135 x 6
155 x 5
170 x 5
180 x 5
190 x 5
115 x 10 x 5   (50% 1RM)

Pull ups x 8-10 x 5

Rehab workout. Sort of.

I love deload week because I get to stray from the "program" and do whatever I want.  Last night I finally made it outside and wanted to do some rehab work for my low back.  after a pretty good warmup and some stretching I ended up with a 135lbs barbell on the floor trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  Being the lazy sloth that I am, I decided I didn't want to change the weight again, but try and do a full workout with what I had in front of me.  Sure, it looks a bit contrived, but what iron workout isn't?

Clean and press: 5 sets of 5
Sumo Deadlift : 3 sets of 10
Front squats: 2 sets of 15

finished up with some hip and hamstring mobility stuff.  Not real taxing, but it got the blood flowing and it put me in a considerably better mood.

cycle wrap up

it took me roughly three months to finish a six week cycle.  No huge gains to speak of, but I suppose there was no degradation either.  Did have some small positives.  that's good. finished up strong on Saturday by pulling 490lbs for three reps.  That's a big PR for me.  The last rep was a battle and towards the lockout I think I actually heard a spring shoot outta my back and ricochet off the wall.  Been dang near crippled since.  I knew I was injured when I did it but I also knew the pain wouldn't set in for a while so I went ahead and knocked out the rest of the workout with some heavy hamstring curls and weighted situps.  I skipped monday's workout to give the back a bit more rest.  I've been feeding the injury lots of protein and anti inflammatories.  By the end of today I felt like working out again.  I can live with that kind of recovery time.  Chalk another one up to sobriety.  Speaking of which, I forgot to take my diuretic this morning and my BP was down to 147/66 with at a pulse rate of 86 shortly after my workout.  Not perfect, but much better than the old norm.  This week is deload week, so I'm not too worried about the structure of it.  I did a bunch of close grip bench and experimented with several different rowing and pressing movements using the green bands.  My bis, tris, and ta-tas where fried by the end of it.  No serious stress on any joints. just a lot of blood flow and some good stretching for my low back.  Mission accomplished.  I should be ready to hit it hard in a new cycle next week.

Couple days of it

Monday was squat day.
370 x 3
420 x 2
470 x 3
And then a buch of other stuff.
Drug the sled w/90lbs half a mile this morning.  Had to break the second quarter up into intervals.  My legs were fried.  Standing Millitaries tonight.  Yay!

A prost! to Friday

I wish.
Bench press:
Bar
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 8
280 x 5
315 x 3
355 x 1
I really had hoped to double 355 but I just didn't have it in me although it wasn't much of a fight to get the single.  It seems that my bench will remain stalled for a while longer.  Maybe now that most of my travels are ore' I can focus on the lift.
On a side note, I discovered my favorite protien ever.  I'd been wanting to try "Just Protien" from IronMind for quite a while but it always seemed expensive.  A shade under $60 for five pounds.  When I thought about it I realized its not any more pricey than anything else I've taken, its just that I usually buy 2.5lbs at a time.  So I dropped the quid and gave it a shot.  I love this stuff!  It tastes great (no sweetners of any kind), mixed easy and has a nice thick texture.  Best of all, it took roughly two seconds to memorize the ingredients list:
Calcium caseinate, powdered skim milk, powdered eggs, almond and vanilla extracts.  MMMmmmmm. 

Where the ocean meets the sky

Made it out to the gym at about 9 last night.
Deadlifts:
135 x 10
225 x 8
315 x 5
405 x 3
420 x 3
445 x 3
465 x 3
DB shrugs: 95lbs x 20 x 2

This morning I pulled the sled with 45lbs for a half mile at fast pace then dropped the sled and ran a half mile.  Not as much as I wanted but I ran out of time.  I know its strange, but every day that I'm not poisoning myself, I feel better.  And I can think clearly.  It's like I've been living in a fog since the day I turned 21.  I had no idea I could feel this good.

Monday

Walked a mile early yesterday morning.  Not exactly a new record, but something all the same.  Besides, the morning walks always give me a chance to peace out and pray.  And the sun rises at my place always make it worthwhile.
Yesterday evening was standing millitary presses.  I was flying solo again so I got itchy to deviate from the program and try to hurt myself when noone would hear me scream.  Went something like this:

Bar x 1,000,000
95 x 10
115 x 8
135 x 5
160 x 3
170 x 3
180 x 5
190 x 1
225 x 1  This went up static with no leg drive.  I was farily suprised how easy it did go up.  So surprised, in fact, I wasn't entirely sure how to get it back down.  So, I just stood there holding it over my head trying to calculate the consequences of various escape routes.  Eventually gravity dictated that it come down in the exact path that it went up. And all was good. 
Followed this with a couple sets of front raises and side raised just to get some blood to the general area.  Then I did several sets of side bends with 95lbs DB's.  That's always a treat.  That wraps up Monday.  I did nothing active this morning.  This evening is still a mystery.

Saturday

110lbs sled.  1 mile.

Friday

Just to keep up.
Squats:
wu
395 x 3
420 x 3
445 x 5

front squats (deep):
135 x 10
155 x 10 x 2

Tryptophan Day

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  I shall list a few reasons why.

1. There is no expectation to buy presents for anyone.
2. You can eat a like a man beast and feel OK about it.
3. Noone complains when you take the time to make real mashed potatoes.
4. Noone complains when you put real butter all up in those real mashed taters.

I ate until I had the food sweats today.  And, best of all, I have no guilt about it whatsoever.  I beleive the meal actually made me a stronger man.   Speaking of which, here's a recap of the last couple of days efforts:

Wed night:
Bench press:  WU x a bunch, 3 x 300, 3 x 315, 3 x 335.  I wanted to nail five with 335, but I had no spotter and bench sucks right now.  I'm just out of practice and waisted a bunch of energy setting up.
Flat DB bench: 85's x 10, 95's x 7, 95's x 5.
DB rows: 95 x 10 x 3  This nearly made me vomitous.

Thurs morning: Bryant joined me at seven this morning for a strongman/cardio session. Bryant seemed to think it was mostly a cakewalk for infant girls.  I'm still trying to catch my breath.

Sloshpipe for two laps around the circle drive
Two 75 second intervals flipping the tire. 2.5 min rest between.
200' sled drags @ 45lbs, 90lbs, 135, 180, 205, 230
I asked B if he wanted to do some hand-over-hand sled pulls with the thick rope, but he said he wasn't getting much out of this, so he opted to go start his Thanksgiving festivities.  Or something like that.  I didn't argue.

Monday

Wierd workout yesterday.  I'm not sure why.  I just didn't really want to be there, and yet I somehow wanted to be there rather than any other place in the world.  It made for a disorganized but fun session.
Standing Millitaries: 5 x 150, 5 x 160, 5 x 170.  Boring but clean.
100lbs pullup.  Yeah.  It didn't happen, but I put in a valliant effort at a 221lbs bodyweight.
Pullups:
BW x 6
BW x 6
25lbs x 4
50lbs x 2
75lbs x 1
100lbs x 1/2  And I yelled really loud so it seemed much cooler than it actually was.  I figure if I can drop about one  stone of lard and get a lot stronger then I can do it.
I did som latteral DB raises and some side bends as well.
This morning I pulled the sled with a 45lbs plate to the highway and back.  Nice little spot of cardio.  It's finally getting cold around this place.  I love doing cardio on cold mornings.

Quckie

First of all, I'd like to wish a Happy Friday to all two people reading this bit of tripe that is my blog.  This should be brief as I have little of substance to write about.  I suppose a little is better than none at this point.  On Sunday, I got in a two-fer before hitting the road again Monday morning.
Squats: 370 x 5, 390 x 5, 420 x 5
Bench: 275 x 5, 295 x 5, 315 x 5
I was sure I'd forgotten how to bench press.  Surprisingly, the strength was still mostly there, but form was absolute tosh.  But I didn't hurt myself.  So that's good.
Drug out of bed this morning determined to do something healthy. I decided on the fresh air route.

Farmer walks:  I don't know what the handles weigh, so I'll only mention the plate load.  The weigh represents the ammount per hand.  I did 50' fast walks, dropped the weight, rested probly 30 seconds and carried it back.
50lbs
90lbs
110lbs
130lbs
150lbs  Did this for two sets of 50' and then one 100' walk with one turn.  I haven't done these in ages and I love'em.  Reminds me how much I need to work on my grip and hip strength.  Followed this up with 4 40yrd sled sprints with 90lbs on the sled.  Unfortunately, I was out of time after this.  Next week should be the last spot of traveling I'll have to do for a while.  Maybe I can start getting my tubby butt back into some kind of shape.

Jacob's Ladder

You know, I never understood the term "Jacob's Ladder" until about five minutes ago.  I was sitting on the dumper reading a new book, and all of a sudden it made since to me.  In the book of Genesis, Jacob has a dream and sees a ladder stretching from Heaven to Earth.  The angels of God are ascending and descending on it.  In the book of Matthew when Jesus is recruiting Nathaniel he describes himself in a very similar way.  In fact, he describes the things Nathaniel will see in Him, quoting the scripture from Old Testament.  And then it made since to me.  Jacob was dreaming about Jesus a couple thousand years before he became a man.  The only bridge between Heaven and Earth!  Cool stuff.

OK.  so I guess I'm down to an average of one iron session per week until this whole traveling poo circus comes to an end.  I'm positive that I'm getting fatter, but my blood pressure seems to be in check for the moment.  At least as of a couple days ago it was kind of normal in a wonky me sort of way.  Strangely, I'm not getting any weaker.  However, I'm quite ready to get stronger.

Monday: Overhead press
wu
150 x 5
160 x 5
170 x 10
yeah, that was a bit dumb, but I had some internal kinks that needed working out.  I slobbered and cursed my way through the last five.  Felt like a million bucks the rest of the evening.  Props to Chase for sticking it out and spotting my back.

Gun Show Monday

After two hours of sitting through parents night at gymnastics, I was given permission to retreat to my man cave and lift.  OK, it wasn't exactly like all that, but generally after I miss my window of opportunity right after I get off work there is no time for a session left in the day.  I think Meg saw the frustration in my eyes after an hour of watching Blake flop around like a jellyfish on the gym mats.  Sheesh!  The kid just doesn't want to try at anything that resembles athleticism.  Oh well.  I'm sure he'll come around.
Turned out to be a good session.  Worked standing millitaries up to a final set of 170 for five.  Then supersetted some side raises and reverse grip DB curls. followed it all up with a five set EZ bar curl pyrimid. Haven't done that many curls in ages.  Seemed kind'a silly, but really painfull at the same time.  Fun stuff.

No Contest

Haven't been on this thing for a while.  I've been pretty much living in a hotel for a couple of weeks now.  before that I was living at the office.  I've got a ton of depressing crap to whine about, but I just dont have the energy.  So, I'll focus on the goods.  I had time for one workout during the pieced together two days I was home last week.  My program is shot for moment, so I layed in bed Sun morning thinking about the best way to spend the limited time I had.  The plan started out with some tire flip/sled intervals, but that's far too much cardio.  I decided to simplify it in the gym and hit two lifts breaking 1000 lbs (after a warmup, of course).

Squats:
505 x 1

DL:
505 x 1

Left me an hour to spend with my kids before leaving for South Texas.
Things aren't so great for me right now, but God is.  That's good enough for me.

Two Finger Death Punch

You'll be delighted to know that I nearly destroyed the tendons controlling my ring finger and my flipper offer finger on my right hand trying to pull my plump ass off the floor from a two finger pocket on my friends bouldering wall. I was completely cold, mostly drunk, and in the mood to show off because none of the skinny guys could do it. Apparently, none of the fat guys could do it either. I did make a good show of it though. The tendon sprain from my first two knuckles down to my elbow didn't really improve my performance on deadlifts yesterday. All the same, not a bad session.

Deads:
wu
390 x 5
415 x 5
440 x 5

Followed this up with a bunch of stuff I haven't done in a while.
Upright rows
DB shrugs
weighted situps
band pullthroughs

The weather has been amazing this week due to a hurricane in the gulf. This makes me very happy and not so sweaty.

Meth - It's not for everyone

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the next president of the United States of America!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/politician-phil-davison-freaks-out-during-speech-11600742

hangin

Jacked my knee in a bad way last week doing deadlifts so I didn't have a whole lot to post. I eeked through a bench workout with my knee wrapped simply becaused I hadn't done any bench press in about three weeks. Skipped the squats last week. Weird injury. It was like three days of nausiating pain right around the insertion point of my patellar tendon on the tibia. The inflammation spread through my knee into my hamstring. A friend with a broken foot gave me a couple hydro's with ibuprofen so I could sleep through the night. Then I woke up on Friday and the pain was gone. Completely. Weird. Oh well. This week has been far more productive.

tuesday:
Deads
5 x 380
3 x 430
3 x 480 I think I had another one or two in me, but it was extremely humid and I pulled the third one on my fingertips.

5 x 10 good mornings, 3 x 10 hamstring curls, weighted situps

Wed:
flat bench
5 x 275
3 x 315
2 x 350 I was ok with this. Stonger than I expected to be.

3 x 10 reverse grip bench. Eff'ed my shoulder. Don't ever do these for any reason other than injuring yourself.

Pin presses
10 x 315
1 x 405

30 second update

quick update here just to keep myself going through the motions. My workouts have been good but sporadic lately. Never know what my schedule is going to be from day to day so I'm just forcing myself to throw in gym sessions whenever I can. Here's a very brief outline of what I can remember:

standing millitary press:
worked to a set of 4 with 180lbs
5 x 10 x 105lbs

Low box squats:
managed six with 410lbs
5 x 10 x 240lbs

Deadlifts:
3 x 405, 3 x 430, 3 x 450
5 x 10 x 255lbs

And to uphold our claim as PARENTS OF THE DECADE, we managed to allow Kellan to roll off our bed yesterday. That makes one plunge from the bed for each of our children. The funny thing is, they seem to be getting tougher as they go. Kellan cried vigoursly for a minute then slapped me in the face and giggled about it. It's a blessing the cute little blob wasn't hurt, but he appears to be as bouncy as his brothers.

I'VE NOTHING CLEVER TO PUT HERE.

Dead lifts on Monday
WU
375 x 5
425 x 3
475 x 4 (Liked this one. Felt strong)
250 x 10 x 5

Spent tuesday and Wed driving all over Texas. Hopefully I can get some bench in tonight, but who knows. Tomorrow we leave for Denver. That's all I really care about. I'm renting a motorcycle on Monday and Shawn (he's borrowing his dad's bike) and I are riding up to Rocky National to camp for a night. That's the kind of fresh air I need forced up my nostrils at 80 mph. Makes me wish I still had my VMax, but I'm not going to gripe about a rental. Pray that we have a safe trip, eh?

Back in the Saddle

Got that stupid Houston trip out of the way. Still haven't fully recovered from that nonsense. I came back with some kind of smog induced sinus infection that still has me hacking up a lung. Let's see here...I did bench last sunday, flew to houston on Monday and got back late Thursday. Felt like dog crap on Friday. Saturday I made up for Wed and Friday by doing back to back Squat and Military. That was very dehydrating.

Squats:
WU
385 x 3
400 x 3
425 x 5
235 x 10 x 5

Military:
WU
140 x 5
160 x 3
185 x 4
95 x 10 x 5

Pull ups and stuff...

OK. Well that was a long sweaty session.
I just got off the phone a little while ago with my cyclist buddy here in town. He's wanting to get into triathlon and was asking me for advise. How funny is that? Anyway, the guy has really got me jones'n to get another bike. I know as well as anyone, I desperately need to get some cardio. I loath running. The thought of pounding out some miles on a bike puts me in a happy place. The thought of being seen in full body spandex removes me from that happy place. :)

Add on:
This morning on the way to work, I witnessed a big fat guy mowing his lawn in a speedo and tennis shoes. Funniest/disturbingest thing I've ever witnessed. Had to make the block so Chase could try to get a picture. Gave me an eye tic.

A formal apology

Sorry bout the tunes that were playing in that last video. I didn't realize that Serj was cursing through the loud speakers there. I own very few songs screaming that kind of profanity. My kids frequent my gym these days so I'm typically pretty careful. this was one of those rare days that I was completely solo and doing stoopid poo all round. What can I say. Tankian has a lot of energy and I leech off that stuff.
Well, I'm back in Houston. Yay. Pray for my liver.
I ran twenty minutes yesterday. Planning to go to the coast and run this afternoon. I'd go to a climb gym here, but I'm busted and running is mostly free. Cheers, ya'll!

Why Strong Abs are important to Bench

I decided to do my 3x3 session for bench today. On my final set of three with 325lbs. I chose to go for 8. Yeah, that left a mark. F' it. I only know one way to get stronger. Push harder than you think you can. I'm off to Houston. Peace out.

The weak in review

Not a bad week of it. Tuesday I ran for a half hour in the morning. It was really more like a solid trot, or perhaps a canter than a run; nevertheless, I jiggled consistently down the road for .5 hours. Tuesday after noon was the squattathon. Three sets of five working up to 425 I think and then five sets of 10 with 240ish. I hadn't expected the run to wear my legs out like it did, but it did. Wed was millitaries. three sets of three working up to 170. I think I got six with 170 which I'm quite pleased and pleasantly surprised about. This morning was deadlifts. Three of three. Worked up to 450 for three. I ate too big of a breakfast as I was having the same air in the chest problem that my dear brother was having recently. and it was hot and humid and I was sweating a waterfall. the chalk wouldn't even stick to my hands. Another five sets of ten deads with 245 was miserable but noticeably easier than last week. All in all the program is progressing nicely. Slow and steady, but I'm hitting all my number and getting healthier. I'm leaving on Monday for Houston. Everyone knows how much I love these meetings, so pray for my sanity and my families safety. Cheers, yo!

New Cycles Suck

An extra fifty reps of millitary press sucked. An extra fifty reps of deadlift was just humbling. It goes beyond suckage to a point of pure respect for life.

Here's how it went

Deads:
WU
375 x 5
400 x 5
425 x 5
250 x 10 (this sucked)
250 x 10 (this sucked worse)
250 x 10 (seeing black)
250 x 10 (numb)
250 x 10 (glad to be alive)

Leg lifts: 3 sets of 10

At least I felt like I'd accomplished somthing. Actually I just felt like I'd survived something. But hey, something that terrible has to be good for me, right?

New Cycle

Made it through another full 5/3/1 cycle with some gains I believe. Started a new one yesterday. Chase is pretty committed for the moment, but he hasn't done a lot of heavy lifting. That's not to say that he's weak, just that his form sucks and the supporting muscles through the four main lifts are out of balance. So for this go around, we're going to use a version of the 5/3/1 template called the "Big But Boring" (BBB). It's pretty simple but I think it will be killer effective. You do your normal sets and reps with the primary lift of the day. Then you drop the weight to 50% and 5 sets of ten with it. That's an extra 50 reps a day with the primary movement. I'm going to be very strict with form, but it should build muscle memory (and pain tolerance) like mad. Not to mention, it will be a fun way to bulk up a bit. We did this yesterday with standing military presses. It was righteous suckiness. I could barely put the bar clamps back on the top of the rack when we were done. Haven't done anything that pumpy in a long time. But my shoulders looked awesome! We finished up with three sets of pull ups to failure. This turned out to be a bad idea as my shoulders were so weak they felt like they were going to dislocate. Think I'll follow up with some ab work instead next time. That's all of I've got for now. Had an amazing weekend. Glad your clan could come down.

Wed

Bench:
WU
270 x 5
305 x 3
340 x 5

DB inclines:
85 x 12 x 3

weighted situps.

Picked up the new "As I Lay Dying" album yesterday. Good stuff.


vAcAncy

we live in slavery to a past we cannot escape
and i say it's worth it to just start again
we've focused so long on ideals of freedom
that it is this very belief that oppresses us

we all want to be free yet we find ways to forfeit liberty
to our own impulses, to our own consumption
so i say it's worth it to build a new foundation

... a new foundation

it's a past we cannot escape
this vacancy will take everything this world can offer
but what is control once we have let go of all we suffer?

... once we've let go

when we've awakened to admit we are all enslaved
then there is freedom in our choice to disobey
our creeds have become a justification to live the way that
some see fit

and no one is more hopeless than those blinded by the scales
of content

this vacancy will take everything this world can offer
but what is control once we have let go of all we suffer?

Methodic Grindage

Deadlifts yesterday:
WU
360 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 1
505 x 1

After nearly a year of "trying" I finally pulled over five again. And it was easy. could've got an easy second or third, but I was so suprised it went up that I just put it back down. Man, did I ever need to see some forward progress. Slow and steady is the way to go for me.

hump day

It's to hot to type long.

Squats:
WU
370 x 3
405 x 3
415 x 6

More squats:
drop set: 315 x 10, 225 x 10, 135 x 10

Sit ups
3 x 10 with 25lbs plate on my forehead.

Word drop of the day: Numpty

friday IVXXXII

Good week so far. Nothing too extraordinary. Just hitting my weights and trying to get in some cardio-esque type stuff. No booze since last Friday. I think this is some kind of record for me. Yeah. Hooray for mediocrity!

Cheers, yo.

Betta Drop Doze Nikes Fo I Bust A Cap In Yo A$$

I spent the first hour of my day pulling porcupine quills out of all four dogs. They never seem to learn. Nothing like having barbed thorns ripped from you facial flesh with pliers to get you going in the morning. Thanks to the dogs, I didn't have time to eat breakfast. So I found myself in the breakroom this morning stuffing down doughnuts and kolaches. There's something special about a hotdog weeny jammed inside fried sugary dough for breakfast. It had a really interesting effect on my colon.

Deadlifts:
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
360 x 5
380 x 5
405 x 6

band pull thrus: 3 sets of 10
Decline situps: 25lbs x 10 x 3

Happy Friday.

Another 9 hours behind a monitor

I forced myself to hit the gym yesterday. The workout was decent and the effort was OK. I just didn't want to be there. Here lately, I haven't wanted to do much of anything except sleep and that seems to be the one thing that escapes me. I'm sick of complaining, but I'm more sick of not feeling good. Fortunately, none of us were designed to live forever. At least not here.

Military press
130 x 5
140 x 5
145 x 5

bunch of body weight dips
EZ bar curls: 90 x 5 x 5
DB rows: 85 x 8 x 3


Add-on at 2:41
I'm in a better mood now. Probably because I've only got a couple miserable hours left to sit on my ass behind this desk. But hey, smiley faces all 'round, yo!

good II

Quick update here. I managed to finish last week out strong.
Bench Press: (Friday)
WU
260 x 5
295 x 3
330 x 4 (probably had another one in me, but it was getting sloppy)

Missed Monday, but made it up yesterday. That concludes the heavy cycle. I'll take the rest of the week to deload, and then crank the weights up again.
Squats:
WU
340 x 5
385 x 3
430 x 5 (aside from the blood coming out of my ears, nose, mouth, and eyes, I felt really good after this set. Starting to feel strong again.)
The rest of this week should be pretty light and boring. I'll try to get the next cycle posted up by Friday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37358499#37358499

Deadlifts yesterday. This is the last wave in this cycle then I'll deload for a week. After that, the weights move up.
Deads:
WU
5 x 350
3 x 405
3 x 445

Drug the sled to the highway and back this morning. I'm really loving that trip. Less brutal on my knees than running. Less gay than speed walking. Less money than a bike. I'm not sure anything can beat the sled.

Cheers.

Inspired by the Uninspiring

So a Friend of mine whose name I shall not mention was telling me yesterday that his wife has wrangled him into working out with her doing the Barry's Bootcamp workout videos. He said he thought it was pretty gay, but that the workouts were challenging and his wife was super excited that he was willing workout with her. Don't get me wrong. I'm down with hubby/wifey TV workouts. If Meg wanted to pick up the complete boxed set of "Sexercise Yourself to Peak Physical Performance", I'd be all in. But, after checking out the website and reading a few reviews from the freaks in LA, I decided his assertion of its gayness was fairly astute. Perhaps douche-baggery would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, it inspired me to lift heavy stuff until I puked. Alas, I cannot puke. However, I walked around the house for a solid half hour retching and re-swallowing my protein shake. Close enough I suppose.

Standing overhead press:
WU
115 x 5
130 x 3
145 x 10 (this needs some tweaking)

Dips
BW x 10
25 x 10
50 x 8
75 x 5
90 x 3
135 x 1
180 x 1 (mmm...meaty)

BB curlz:
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5

Triceps pressdowns
blue band x 12 x 3

DB Row:
65 x 10 x 3

Purged

So Sunday I tore it down right proper. did my military press workout that I missed on Friday. It wasn't so bad. Blew off a bit of steam, but our plans for the afternoon had fallen through so I found myself with some extra time. I decided to put together a 100lbs sled and drag it to the highway and back. We've been getting a lot of rain, so the road is mostly just a mud bog. I did think to put on my cleats which made the whole thing even sort of possible. In the end, the ONLY reason I survived was because it was overcast and not 100°. Oh, and I got a phone call halfway back that allowed me time to push my heart back in through an earhole. But I did sweat. Profusely. I looked like a walking sprinkler. That had to get some evil toxins out. Or not. Nevertheless, I felt like I had accomplished something when I got back and didn't black out. And a sense of accomplishment is all that really matters...

This week was a suckhole.

So much for two weeks of super accumulation. More like one week of awesomeness followed by one week dedicated to tearing down all things positive from the previous week. I ran fever all night Sunday night. Slept till about 10am Monday morning and went to work. Felt like poo all day. No workout. Tuesday morning was a was cuz I was still exhausted from Monday. Tuesday evening I had to drive to Lubbock to check out a property. No workout Tuesday. Wed morning I was lazy. Wed afternoon I did Monday's squat workout. Nothing mind blowing, but it felt good to stretch and breath. I worked up to a final set of 5 w/375lbs. It was easy and I could have done more than five, but this week had already become a life sucking wormhole so I decided to stick with that theme and sand-bag it. Thursday morning - lazy. Thurs. afternoon I gave a sales pitch to a potential cash investor. This morning was pure sloth. I woke up at 5:30 and chose to lay there staring out the window for the next hour and half. I'm going to workout this afternoon, for sure. I think. Sheesh.
I think tomorrow I'm going to flip my tire while dragging my sled until I vomit as punishment for this week.

Cheers!

tired

completed workout six this morning. Only three more to go to cap off the week. I'm dog tired and starting to get broken down, but surprisingly enough my energy levels are on the rise. I've going on a walk every morning after my workout. This morning I was a bit short on time so I decided to run from the house to the highway and walk back. I pushed it at about 80% the whole way and didn't die when I got there. So that's good. I missed two nights of sleep this week for various reasons, but I still haven't skipped a workout. Turns out that it's much easier to be tired when you're not hung over as well.
Yesterday's PM session
Deadlift:
WU
350 x 5
375 x 5
405 x 5
Again, I dropped my maxes down. I think by like 50lbs for the deadlift.
Pull thrus w/green band: 3 x 15
Situps: 3 x 25
"tossed" my big stone over the 48" platform five times I think. Added this last bit on because I still had some in the tank. It's really hard to pick up heavy crap from the ground when your abs and hamstrings are virtually non-existent.
The funny thing is, I think my hands are giving me the most pain in all of this. Not from muscular soreness, they're just flat out raw. I haven't held on to a bar this much in a very long time.

Bout' ta get ILL

So yesterday was successfull in many ways. I drug my arse out of bed before 6am. In the gym by 6 for super accumulation torture numero uno. Made it through that with some difficulty, but nothing world wrecking. then had time for a walk down the road and a prayer. Very nice mornig to boot. the cool thing about this program is that you're never doing max work in the mornings. You take two super-sets targeting apposing muscle groups, make em count, and you're done. You get out entirely what you put in. This works out well becuae I can reserve some fuel for my heavy workouts every other evening.
It's pretty easy to conclude that nine iron sessions in 6 days is very tiring. However, I think my biggest challenge, at least in the beginning will be convincing myself to fall asleep. This always happens when I quit drinking. I can count on it. I went to bed at 10:30. Dozed off around 2am. woke up for every hour on the clock after. Finally got up around 5:45 to workout. No use lying in bed doing nothing productive! On a positive note, the lack of sleep doesn't affect me nearly as much when I'm not drinking. Gonna have to get me some of that Zx12 stuff.
The afternoon workouts are much as they have been except that I lowered my maxes on every lift. I've decided to take a very conservative approach and try to perfect each lift while ramping the weight up over the course of a year.

Day 1:
Standing millitary (with log, in sand)
WU
105 x 5
115 x 5
130 x 10 (ok , so maybe this was a bit light, but it will get heavy soon enough)

This morning went well. Lots of front squats, chin-ups, DB bench, and hammy curls. would have been better with some sleep, but I'm not gonna start complaining. Just feels good to be moving again.
No workout this afternoon.

cheers, yo.

couple of things

1. I'm in Houston for the next four days. Please pray that my clan is protected.
2. I close on my first investment property in Arlington on Thursday. Please pray that this goes well

I'm pretty pumped about hitting the gym hard again. I've neglected that and it has negatively impacted every other aspect of my world. I told myself several years ago that I would total elite in three lifts. So many distractions have sapped that goal from in front of me. It's amazing what one good conversation and half a bottle of vodka will jog in the memory banks. I set that goal in concrete then and I intend to obtain it now. I can't expect to build a successful business for my family if I can't even complete the personal goals that I set for myself. I love the fact, like in my business, that's it's going to be very difficult and challenging and most of the people around me will privately (if not openly) think that I'm going to fail. But dang! If it were easy and not so scary as shit, every gym in the world would have a line waiting at the door 24/7.

Bench press 400Lbs
Squat 600lbs
Pull 600lbs
1600lbs total in three lifts.

Then I'll take up marathoning. Or not.

gnats

No clever title

So i missed friday but made it up yesterday.

BenchPress:
WU x 1,000
275 x 5
295 x 5
315 x 5

DB Bench
75's x 10
95's x 10 x 2

Chinups
Bw x 10
Bw x 10ish
Bw x 6

Drug the 90lbs sled around the track.
Ate a steak and potato salad. Was pretty much worthless the rest of the afternoon.
The gnats came in Friday. Sent you pics but I'm starting to wonder if you still receive pictures on your phone.

yesterday

Dead Lift

Bar x 10 (overhand grip)
135 x 10
175 x 8
225 x 8
315 x 5 (reverse grip, belt)
405 x 1
425 x 1
445 x 1
465 x 1
485 x 1

pull thrus and situps. No cardio, but I blew some toxins out for sure.

Purge the system, Vol: 3,001

I did indeed get my workout in on Friday. I didn't lift as I was real short on time, but I pulled a 90lb sled for a half mile. Took about 8 minutes per lap so in just under 20 min I was a hot sweaty heavy breathing train wreck. Not bad.

Yesterday, I did some military press. Worked up to 155 x 5. Not too taxing, but a good effort. Then I did some dips and some dumbbell rows. Drug the sled with 80lbs around the track once. I've discovered that in this season of my life, I'm gonna have to design my workouts like a drive buy shooting to get them done. I used a variant of the 5-3-1 program about a year ago that worked well for me, so I'll use that template again for a while. Basically, you've got one of your main lifts (squat, deads, bench, military) each workout day and two supplementary exercises. Three exercises and your out. Hard, heavy, and fast. should be able to get through most sessions in around 30 mins. I am going to try and implement more cardio as time permits. The sled works well because its right out my gym door and ready to go. And running just sucks.

"It Feels Like Satan Is Licking My Brain!"

Scott Adams is the bomb.

Ok. I'm gonna workout today. It's gonna happen. BECAUSE I'VE GOT TO, MISTER! Sure it's a three day weekend and I've potentially got a million other things to do. but I'm going to workout this day. this day. Hey, did I mention that my legs are in constant torment since my last workout. Pain. I'm walking around with the gait of a man wearing a pine tree up my tailpipe. Rediculous, I say.

An Army of One

I did it! I actually walked out my front door, made it across my driveway, and entered my gym. I thought that I would never again find the motivation, courage, and energy for this kind of all-out assult on my will power.

The plan was to lift a bunch of heavy weights followed by dragging the sled around my track wich is roughly a quarter mile. As it turned out, I lifted a few moderately heavy weights followed by a jog/walk/wheeze/limp around the track. Afterwards, I retreated to the house where I spent the next 20 minutes trying not puke. Man have I got a long road ahead of me. Oh well. It got up to like 90° yesterday so it was nice to lift in shorts and a tee-shirt again. Got a mad sweat on.

Box squats:
WU
315 x 10 x 3

Some other crap times three or four.

"Run" 1/4 mile

OK OK

So I've been far too busy to post to some silly little blog. Big deal-i-o I say! In actuality, I haven't done anything physically demanding enough to warrant writing it down. At the moment I'm just trying to do enough to maintain my current gelatinous physique. I did a pretty good workout on Monday. I wanted to do squats, but the previous week's skiing decimated my squishy little quads so I opted for the bench. It wasn't anything programmatic. Just a lot of pushing until I was satisfied. Managed a set of 7 with 315lbs. I thought about working out Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs, but chose to be counterproductive instead. Oh well. I'm not too worried about it. History tells me that I always reach new levels of strength after an extended period of sloth. One day soon I'll look in the mirror and realize that tiny chicken wings look ridiculous sticking out the sides of a huge Jello™ Jiggler™ and I'll be back out pounding iron for a couple more years.

C-
About those climbing holds. That company sucks. Apparently they don't like money. I shall try to find a vendor that will take my money from me in exchange for goods.

You inspire me.

So this morning I crawled outta bed all ispired to get my sweat on. Drug me sled around the track once. there was no frost or snow this morning to reduce the friction so I actually had to work at it. Turned out to be a great warmup. By the time I made it back around to my gym I had decided that lifting heavy would be easier than towing that beast around again. and besides, I was getting really tired of all the breathing. I went in with now limited time and decided to pull heavy. I set the pins up just below my knees and ended up pulling just over 545 for a single and new pr. I think I'm going to work that weight down the pin heights until I can pull it off the ground. That's about all I accomplished this morning, but I'm feeling it now. I'm starting to get used to getting up in the mornings again. I'd forgotten how much I love working out hard first thing in the AM. It always seems to make for an easy day when you challenge yourself at the start. Cheers.

It's Friday, again.

So, I haven't been completely unhealthy this week. I did some bench on Monday. Fortunately, I can still bench over 300 but I'm not really sure how. The rest of the week I lifted nothing. I've been getting up every morning and pulling the sled around the dirt track we made in the pasture. It's about a quarter mile, half up-hill and half down. Goodly little workout there. Then did some box jumps. I've jogged a couple times in there. I'm gonna try to get some squat action in tonight. I don't know if its the olympics or the upcoming ski trip with out youth group, but I'm really motivated to get my self in shape. I'm puting my strength gain ambitions on hold for a bit. I'm just going to try and keep what I've got. I'm tired of being out of breath after tying my shoes so thinks it's time to start working out me little lungs.

You had me at "Carcass".

Yet again, I'm getting less healthy in Houston. Although, I've done much better this trip than in the past. I've tried to eat healthier for sure. Fore example, last night I had Pulpo en Salsa Diablo rather than a fat cheeseburger. the night before I had Indian. Probably not that healthy in the quantity that I consumed, but it was a shot at well being none the less. Most of west texas is supposed to be a block of ice by tomorrow morning and I should be leaving now to beat it home. Alas, the shit bricks that employ me have to decided to not decide whether they want me to stay or not. And so here I sit whilst they conduct their business behind closed doors. I will punish them by posting an unnecessarily long blog while they continue to pay me for unrendered services. Brutal, I know. I'm finally recovering from the flag football game I played on Sunday. didn't even think about working out on Monday. Yesterday I considered it, but the thought of going to the little gaygym in the hotel and trying to create useful motions made me want to vomit. So I tried out a bodyweight tabata workout in the room. Wow. Four minute workout and I wanted to throw up and cry. Anyhow, after I recovered I went to a restaurant that served Octopus. After sitting there while and sipping on a cold BudLight (mmmm) I realized that that I was in fact the only Caucasian in the place, and it was big place. Guess that explains why the menu had English subtitles. The spicy invertebrate made me thirsty so, of course, I had to stop at the Booze Barn for a bottle of Svedka. Spent the next few hours on the phone and then fell asleep playing Bubbletown. Here's to another wonderful excursion to H-Town. May there be many more as awesome as this one!

WED

Had a pretty good go in the gym yesterday. Worked out solo, which is nice occasionally. It always give me a chance to step back and evaluate my form. Not to mention, I usually punish myself far worse when I'm alone because there is no one there to see me fail.

Bench: 295 x 3, 315 x 3, 330 x 5

Floor presses: 225 x 10, 245 x 10 x 2

Supersetted 3 sets of 20 pushups with 3 sets of 12 DB incline bench. Kept the db's light at 40lbs but tried to focus on moving them as quick as possible through the concentric portion of the lift.

My ta-ta's were fried after this.

Finished up with some skull crushers lying on the floor. I've been doing most exercises that would be done lying on a bench on the floor. It gives your shoulders a wider platform to stabilize on and it allows for less "body" motion which means you can't cheat and there's less change of getting off balance and hurting yourself. It also limits the range of motion in your shoulders. This is generally a good thing when working with dumbbells. Try doing DB flys lying on the ground. You can do more weight with your chest because your shoulders don't get jacked.

good

I completed (mostly) one whole week's worth of scheduled workouts last week. that's good. None of them were worth reporting much on because they mostly consisted of blowing toxins outta my tailpipe (although on Friday I unexpectedly knocked out my last set of bench press with 315lbs for seven) Yesterday, though, was punishment for sins I have yet to commit. I don't think I've done squats in around a month and I paid for it last night. I've gone back to the 5,3,1 program for squats and bench just to keep structure to it all. Last night my three working sets of squats went 365 x 5, 385 x 5, 405 x 5. that wasn't so bad and I probably had more on the last set, but I was trying to keep my form tight. Then I did 5 sets of 5 good mornings as fast as I could change the weight out. started with 135lbs and added 20lbs every set. The weight got a bit heavy at the end, but mostly I couldn't catch my breath and thought about puking. Moved on to front squats, again with very little rest between sets. Nothing will fry the quads like these. Love em. I set these up with a relatively close stance and always elevate the heels on some 35lbs plates or a 2x4. The key to getting something out of these besides bruised shoulders is super deep flexion. 3 sets of 10 and I was crying. I muddled through some calf raises, but nothing above my calves was really supporting body weight at this point. finished up with some ab rollers. It was a fun session and it put me back in the mood to lift again. Actually got up this morning and drug my sled down to the highway and back for some cardio. Now to just figure out how to stay motivated....

Oh hey, if anybody needs a gift idea for me a Monster Shot Loadable Sledge Hammer will do nicely!

people are neat-o

ya'll gotta check this one out. quality.

http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com/

I like baby seal meat.

I just ate a can a of fish steaks in soybean oil with hot chili peppers. If it didn't smell horrible and taste horrible, it probably wouldn't have been that bad. Oh well. It was worth a shot. I've got a can of sardines for my snack tomorrow. I can't imaging it will be any less sick, but I'm willing to give it a go. Finally worked out yesterday. Overdid it actually. Last week was nearly a complete wash. I did nothing last week but get in worse shape. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, so I forced by big jiggly butt out the door for some exercise. Did a lap with the slosh-pipe for a warm up. then pulled the sled tug-o-war style with a 100' rope. Supersetted those with three flips of the tire. Did about five sets, increasing the weight on the sled with each set. Then I put on the harness and did about 5 200' sled drags, working up to around 225lbs on the sled. It was a fun workout and the sunlight was medicinal, but last night I couldn't sleep. Felt like I'd been in a train wreck. I've worked hard to get out of shape. I suppose this is the fruit of my labor. I'm starting to look forward to some warmer weather. I love getting outside for a change of pace. Very motivational, that.

unwind

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1927354

Memoirs of a Mollusk

Welp. I'm in Big D again. I'll be sitting in a hotel conference room for the next two days trying to ignore training for Accounts Payable implementation in Oracle. I'm two hours into this and the droning echoing in the back of my brain is becoming unbearable. I'll never understand why drinking on this kind of job is unacceptable. I've been working out where possible. Pulled 495 a few days ago. Haven't pulled over five since I pulled 510 a couple of months ago. Benched 355 for a horrible single on Saturday. My head hasn't been in it since the holidays set in a couple month ago, but I'm getting there. As an encouraging reminder to myself, I go through this every year at the end of the year. Typically, the first few months of the year are when I make my largest gains. I think because by then I'm completely tired of being tired and hungover. At least I got one goal last year. I pulled over 500 for the first time. I still have to get my squat up there and my bench is still nowhere near the 400 mark. Honestly, I'll be happy to put another 20lbs on my bench this year. I'd love to keep driving my squat and DL to 600 each. I just hope I can stay focused on it this year. Looks like skiing is going to be a fantasy I'll have to pocket for another season. That sucks, but I guess that's life at the moment. I'm really trying to focus on getting out of debt at the moment. As it turns out, this is very difficult when you continue spending money. Fortunately, lifting costs virtually nothing. All things considered, this has the makings of a good year. I'm looking forward to it. I'm planning to get back up on the competition platform soon. There's really no better motivation that getting your ass kicked publicly.
I didn't realize how horrible it could be to be in accounting. My ears just started bleeding from the mere thought of doing what these people do for a career. I just caught the end of a lengthy discussion on how to code trash disposal from the offices in the accounts payable module. WTF. and I thought my job was boring.