Backpeddal

I went for about a thirty minute bike ride yesterday.  No hills, no wind.  Rather cool.  It was kind of fun, but my hands cramped up on me horribly.  Guess I'll just have to get used that again.  Other than that I've done absoluelty nothing excersicesy.  And now we're going to load up and drive to Little Rock for Meg's grandmother's funeral service. Wont be back till sometime late Thursday.  I'm hoping I can get a run or something in while there.  I'm soooo ready to get on a normal schedule for a while.  I'm getting a bit travel weary.  Please pray for safe travels, eh?

Eclectic Metroflexing

You can tell the value of a gym by the size of it's dumbbells.  I'm sure - metaphorically speaking -  that line could be used in a pharmaceutical ad somewhere.  Whatever.  I actually wiped spider webs off some old York cast irons today to play with them and see what it felt like to hoist up some old time strong man iron.  Pretty cool to be honest.  I brought no gear with me on this trip so I wanted to stick with dumbbells and body weight kind of stuff. And I really needed to get off my ass and out from behind a monitor.  I worked up to a set of 5 reps with 120lbs DBs (flat bench).  Its amazing how taxing it is just to get settled with those things.  They're massive, but not the smallest the gym has.  they've got 200 pounders there but I'm not sure how you would get set with those even with some strong spotters. Moved on to dips on fat bars.  No chain belts there but rather  short lengths of chain that could only have come for a shipping yard.  I did a bunch of pullups on various bars, some kettle-bell swings, and stood in front of a huge fan a bunch.  It was great exercise, but I can't get used to the humidity here.  I still consider houston a slice of hell, but at least this pile of steel and concrete make it a bit like home.

Quickie

Wanted to post up my last workout before I forget.
Bench press: 270 x 5, 295 x 5, 310 x 5
Floor Press: 225 x 10 x 5  Good clean fun here.

I'm in Houston till Thursday, so if anyone gets bored dont hesitate to give me a shout.

Mission Accomplished

I started a new cycle yesterday after a week of mostly being off.  the week before that was pretty lame as well in anticipation of the spirited mud run.  This week kicks off a brand new cycle of pure 5/3/1 fun.  I've dropped off the programs I was doing for deadlift and bench because they were boring, overly complicated, and altogether uninspirational.  So to kick off the party I decide yesterday to go in and just do squats until I couldn't do anymore squats.  Mission accomplished.  worked up to 375 x 5, 400 x 5, 425, x 5.  Then did 5 sets of ten deep reps with 225lbs.  I think if I'd tried to do one more squat I would have ceased to exist.  Finished up with some weighted sit-ups.  It's tricky doing sit-ups when your lower quadrant is completely numb.  Walking back to the house was exercise in humility.  Then my pride got the better of me and I decided that it would be good to run this morning.  So I drag out of bed for a twenty minute run.  typically after about 10 minutes I start to get warm and loose and I begin to enjoy the run.  That never happened today.  It was fifty degrees, pitch black, and the wind was blowing a solid twenty mph.  And I still couldn't feel my legs. Which was probably good cuz they would have otherwise been cold and really grumpy.  It's amazing how much a week off can suck. I think I should have just manned up and muscled through it.  Rest is overrated and degrading at best.  Cheers, ya'll.

Moving about

Forced myself back in the gym last night.  I really didn't want to at all, but as usual it turned out to be a good decision.  I decided to go with some moderate bench pressing because my hips were still freaking out from the run last Saturday.  Worked up to 290lbs for four sets of five.  My right forearm felt like it was going to snap in half by the time I got up to 135lbs.  That went away after a few sets but I realized that every boney protrusion on my body is bruised.  That kindof sucks, but it kind of reminds me that I accomplished something.  I haven't been able to claim an accomplishment of any form is quite some time.  I think I'll keep one of those on the horizon to train for.  I'd sure like to run the one in March at around 14 stone.

And Now...The Moment You've Been Waiting For...

yeah, so iPhones don't take the best video in the world, but our video camera decided to take a poop on us at the event.  Meg improvised accordingly and got herself a pretty workout in the making.

Holy Half Marathon, Batman!

So I looked at the tough mudder site to see if any new updates had been posted.  They updated the map!  It's now 12 miles with an expected three hour finish time.  I hope they are selling hamburgers along the way.

3 days 44 mins

So far I've taken it pretty easy this week.  I was going to try and push it early on, but I just havent had the juice.  Monday I got a solid 8 hours sleep.  That was my workout for the day and it was marvelous.  Yesterday I did a bunch of dips and pullups while Megan lifted.  Then I drug the 100lbs sled a little over half a mile just to get my heart rate up a bit.  We got up and walked about a mile and a half this morning.  I think I'm going to try to keep it about this pace the rest of the week.  No heavy lifting or running.  Obviously, no drinking.  Haven't a clue what my weight is right now.  I'm guessing around 214ish.  I'm pretty sure I can de-bloat down to around 210 by Saturday.  I really wanted to be down to 200, but I have no real self control.  For the most part, I'm OK with that.  Cheers!