ActivitiesGuy Intro and Log

Training Training Logs
281

[quote]raven78 wrote:

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Tonight, for example, the NFL season opener is on TV (oh wait, you’re from the UK, you don’t know what the NFL is…it’s this game we Americans call “football” even though it makes no sense because you can’t really use your feet for most of the game, and what we call “soccer” is actually what the rest of the world calls “football”).
[/quote]

I’m a packers man, all the way down in Oz… love the NFL.

(Aussie Rules footy went to sh!t a long time ago).[/quote]

I love the game of football, but hate the business of the NFL (and NCAA).

(I played college football for four years, started for two and change)

My love for watching the game outweighs my disdain for the rich men running the sport, so I keep watching.

282

All sorts of fun stuff to report today. First, last night’s spinning bike session with a few thoughts:

Thursday 9/4 (PM)

Spinning Bike Intervals (20 Minutes)

So last fall, I was about as lean as I’ve ever been (not a terribly impressive level of leanness, but quite good by my standards, considering that I spent most of my life as a rather husky offensive lineman). An avid cyclist, I purchased a spinning bike last summer so I’d be able to continue doing some form of cycling throughout the winter. I used it quite frequently last fall…and then @#$%'ed up my leg and couldn’t put much/any pressure on it, even biking, for awhile. It’s healed up now (witness that I’ve been riding my regular bike to work for the last couple of months), but I hadn’t really tested it on the spinning bike in the last few months, until last night. I did 10 minutes of easy riding, then a 15-second “sprint” at the top of every minute for the next 10 minutes, as a re-introduction to this type of work. Eventually I’ll increase the proportions to be roughly equal amounts of sprinting vs. steady riding. In theory, adding 1-3 sessions of sprint intervals on the spinning bike ought to be good for fat loss, and I do enjoy plopping on during the afternoon’s college/pro football games and burning a few calories while I watch. So this should be a nice re-addition to my regimen.

283

Friday 9/5 (AM)

Inspired by Chris Colucci’s recent test of his own manhood, I decided to do a Mantathlon.

Total score: 61* (well, sort of. I cheated on the weights a bit. See below.)

Bench Press: 185 x 13 (pleasant surprise here; haven’t benched in a while)
Chin-ups: BW x 12 (also pleasant surprise; didn’t know I had 12 in me)
Overhead Press: 95 x 15 (knew this would be my strongest lift)
Dips: BW x 12 (never been much of a dip specialist)
Barbell Curl: 95 x 9 (no surprise here; I don’t do much direct bicep work)

  1. I left some time in the tank (finished in 17 minutes), so I probably should have stretched the rest intervals out a bit more. I performed the sets starting every 4 minutes, but you really should budget so you’re starting the curls at about the 18:30 mark, not the 16-minute mark. I don’t think it would have made a huge difference in performance, maybe one or two reps on the curls.

  2. The asterisk on my score is that I deviated from the prescribed weights…on the low side (gasp!). I actually weigh about 208, but I only loaded the bar to 185 for bench and 95 for press/curls. I did this partly for convenience sake (easier to load 185/95 than scrounging around for a couple of chips to even it out at 210/105, and there’s no dip belt available), but mostly because I’m a chicken and I wanted to get a decent amount of reps in (i.e. I didn’t want this to end up being 5 sets of 5 reps).

This was a test run of sorts; it’s not like I’m submitting this to The Official Mantathlon Association for a score. I’d like to make this a regular thing, probably every Friday, because it’s enjoyable and I can start tracking my progress once I cut to about 200 pounds and settle in using the prescribed weights of 200/100 for the barbell exercises and BW for pullups and dips (I probably won’t bother loading the dips, but that’s OK, I’m basically just going to be comparing my own score to itself; as long as I keep improving with 200/100/BW as my “loads” for the respective exercises, that’ll be good).

284

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
In theory, adding 1-3 sessions of sprint intervals on the spinning bike ought to be good for fat loss, and I do enjoy plopping on during the afternoon’s college/pro football games and burning a few calories while I watch. So this should be a nice re-addition to my regimen.[/quote]

I have a pretty sweet spin bike in the basement, but I never use it. I think it’s because it’s in the basement and it kind of sucks down there.

I told my wife I was going to bring it up into our bedroom, because the room is huge and we have a nice TV up there. She didn’t buy it. I don’t blame her. The room looks nice without a huge red bike in it.

But now you’ve inspired me and the answer is clear. I need a big TV in the basement. Man Cave Upgrade.

285

[quote]Serge A. Storms wrote:

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
In theory, adding 1-3 sessions of sprint intervals on the spinning bike ought to be good for fat loss, and I do enjoy plopping on during the afternoon’s college/pro football games and burning a few calories while I watch. So this should be a nice re-addition to my regimen.[/quote]

I have a pretty sweet spin bike in the basement, but I never use it. I think it’s because it’s in the basement and it kind of sucks down there.

I told my wife I was going to bring it up into our bedroom, because the room is huge and we have a nice TV up there. She didn’t buy it. I don’t blame her. The room looks nice without a huge red bike in it.

But now you’ve inspired me and the answer is clear. I need a big TV in the basement. Man Cave Upgrade.[/quote]

Spinning bike intervals in front of the TV are a perfect fat-loss tool. I did great with them last fall. If my leg hadn’t been screwy I’d have kept doing them all year, because I really do think they kick started my fat loss last fall (and could have mitigated some of the fat gain that accumulated this spring during my “bulk”). We’ll see what I look like by Thanksgiving.

I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and thus my spinning bike is oddly located in the middle of the “living room” and dining area because there is no other place to put it; heaven forbid I have company over. Fortunately, my girlfriend is a very understanding woman. Not only did she let me bring kettlebells along on our lake vacation last weekend without batting an eyelash, she joined me for a kettlebell session by the lake. A keeper, that one.

With that said, one day when I’m a grown up and buy a house, I intend on having all of my exercise stuff in the basement with a large TV. I’ve done my best to pick up stuff here and there on the cheap, always trolling Craigslist for people getting rid of good stuff they just don’t use. I have a $1200 spinning bike that I bought for $400, a $1K elliptical machine that I bought for $50 (that’s currently disassembled, planning to move that to my GF’s place so she has an indoor option for the cold Michigan winter), three kettlebells (split between my place and my GF’s), and dumbbells from 10 up to 40. I’ve also got an Olympic barbell and some plates at home that my dad has earmarked for me when I’ve got the space for it (don’t worry, he’s got his own stock too, I’m not taking the good stuff).

286

Lots to catch up on here.

Friday 9/5 (PM)

Spinning Bike (20 Minutes)

Pitt-BC game was on when I got home from work, so I saddled up and got on the bike to break a little sweat and blast some fat.

Saturday 9/6 (AM)

Bikram Yoga Class (90 Minutes)
Bikram Yoga Class (60 Minutes)

Our studio debuted a new 60-minute class (the standard is 90 minutes, but they’re introducing the 60-minute for 11:30 AM weekend and 8 PM weeknight classes). The 8 PM weeknight slot is pretty attractive for me, so I wanted to check out how they structured the 60 minute class while I had the chance, just stuck around after my usual 9:30 AM class (still 90 min) for the 11:30 AM class (60 min)…

Saturday 9/6 (PM)

A1. Pullups 3xBW
A2 Seated Row 5x100

^5 sets of that.

B1. Pullups 3xBW
B2. Lat Pulldowns 5x100

^5 sets of that, too.

c. Weighted Pullups: 3xBW plus 10, 3xBW plus 20, 3xBW plus 30

and one final set of 3 unweighted pullups. I like doing lots of pullups now. I wasn’t planning on the weighted ones, but I had my nice backpack with me and figured I could chuck a few dumbbells in there for a little extra challenge at the end.

One thing that EyeDentist said in his thread, which has kind of resonated with me, is the visual effect of “width” vs. “thickness” - a slightly different spin on that, I have always felt that my upper body appearance did not match my strength because I mainly equated “strength” with “how much I can bench” - and I concede that I probably ought to be the target of some DYEL posts even with a BW overhead press and a 1.5xBW bench press, which aren’t Earth shattering but meet the basic “Yeah, you lift weights” benchmarks.

Since I have started emphasizing pullups, my back has gotten a lot wider and I have a little bit of a taper developing (although this is obscured by some love handles I am still working on; note to self, do more fat-loss work, dammit). Gee, maybe I should have been working my back as much as my front all along.

Special occasion today (Sunday 9/7) - my bro invited me to go to LA Fitness with him (he and his wife live on the outskirts of town and have memberships. His wife likes their classes, and while my bro is sort of a weekend-warrior only, at least he’s doing something active a couple times a week). I like playing with the toys at LA when I go, though. I’ll probably use their KB’s (a rare chance for me to have some fun with a 70-pounder - one of these days I’ll buy one)

287

Sunday 9/7 (AM)

Kettlebell Warmup (Swings, Lunges, Cleans)
Bench Press (3x3x225)
Pull-ups (10x5xBW)
Shoulder Press (5x8x150)
Seated Rows (5x8x150)
Kettlebell Swings (5x10x70)

Just kinda did an assorted workout of stuff that my brother could tag along with.

288

Sunday 9/7 (PM)

Spinning Bike (20 Minutes)

Hopped on and broke a sweat during the first quarter of the Sunday Night Football game. This will be a regular occurrence (on weekends when I am in Pittsburgh, anyway; I’ll be traveling over the next couple of weekends).

289

Monday 9/8 (AM)

Workout in the apartment fitness center with skinny newb pal. I believe that we’re now in our fourth week of his training. Hard to tell if there is much visual difference in him yet because he was SO skinny when we started, but he has progressed some on the machines and today he learned his first barbell lift…the EZ-bar curl!!!

(my apartment’s fitness center was equipped with only machines; I happen to have an EZ-curl bar and an assortment of small plates, so I just leave them in the fitness center, as they’re not really my “prized” possessions like my nicer dumbbells and kettlebell; alas, there is really not sufficient space for a full-sized barbell or anything else)

I figured he’s been a good boy for three weeks, diligently doing the sets and reps I’ve instructed him on the machines, so it was time to toss him a bone and give him a new exercise. It’s actually quite motivating to lift with him because he is just SO eager to learn and get better. His face lights up as he’s been able to add a couple of plates to the stack on each of the machine exercises.

Chest Press

8x100
8x110
8x120
8x130
8x140
8x150
8x160

Lat Pulldowns

8x100
8x110
8x120
8x130
8x140
8x150

Pec-Deck

8x80
8x90
8x100
8x110
8x120
8x130

EZ-Bar Curl

8x75
8x75
8x75
8x75
8x75

290

Monday 9/8 (PM)

Bikram Yoga Class (60 Minutes)

291

Tuesday 9/9 (AM)

Bike To Gym

A1. Pullups 3xBW
A2. Seated Rows 5x100

Repeated the above for 15 rounds. Sort of a Waterbury-ish approach, a way to get really high volume of pullups and back work in a pretty short time frame. Then finished with 1 set of 8 pullups at the end.

Bike To Work

292

Wednesday 9/10 (AM)

Bike To Gym
87 Pullups (20 Minutes)
Bike To Work

Decided to test myself today and see how many pull-ups I could manage in 20 minutes. Started with sets of 5, then dropped to 4, then eventually 3. I’m pleased with this performance - still working towards the goal of getting 100 total in that time frame (preferably done as “a set 10 every 2 minutes”).

293

Wednesday 9/10 (PM)

Bikram Yoga Class (60 Minutes)

294

Thursday 9/11 (AM)

“Mantathlon Lite” (used this as a warmup - just did sets of 10 all the way through rather than max-repping)

Bench 10x185
Pullups 10xBW
Press 10x95
Dips 10xBW
Curl 10x95

Incline Bench

3x135
3x155
3x185
3x205
3x225

Pullups

1x10

Bike To Work

295

Thursday 9/11 (PM)

Bike To Gym
86 Pull-ups (20 Minutes)
Bike Home

296

Arrrrrrrrgh. I typed in my full workout (twice!) and it hasn’t shown up.

Friday 9/12 (AM)

Weighted Pull-ups (8x3, working up to BW plus 35 pounds)
Military Press (working up to 3x3x145)
Dumbbell Bench (sets of 8 topping out at 8x85’s)
Pull-ups (3x5xBW just to round out the workout)

Main objective was to go for some heavy weighted pull-ups. That’s a PR. I’ll take it.

297

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Arrrrrrrrgh. I typed in my full workout (twice!) and it hasn’t shown up.

Friday 9/12 (AM)

Weighted Pull-ups (8x3, working up to BW plus 35 pounds)
Military Press (working up to 3x3x145)
Dumbbell Bench (sets of 8 topping out at 8x85’s)
Pull-ups (3x5xBW just to round out the workout)

Main objective was to go for some heavy weighted pull-ups. That’s a PR. I’ll take it.[/quote]

Nice job on the weighted pull-ups! Starting to work in some heavy weights I see! That 225 on incline from your previous workout is awesome. I have very long arms and incline bothers the crap out of my shoulders so I don’t really work it in anywhere. Between your yoga, incline bench and weighted pull ups you have given me a lot to think about!

298

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
One thing that EyeDentist said in his thread, which has kind of resonated with me, is the visual effect of “width” vs. “thickness” - a slightly different spin on that, I have always felt that my upper body appearance did not match my strength because I mainly equated “strength” with “how much I can bench” - and I concede that I probably ought to be the target of some DYEL posts even with a BW overhead press and a 1.5xBW bench press, which aren’t Earth shattering but meet the basic “Yeah, you lift weights” benchmarks.
[/quote]

Pfft, what does that skinny old man know about width (much less thickness)?

299

Friday 9/12 (PM)

Bikram Yoga Class (90 Minutes)

300

Sat 9/13 (AM)

Kettlebell Workout with Push-ups (30 Minutes)

Alternated sets of kettlebell movements with sets of 10 push-ups continuously for 30 minutes, totaling a couple hundred swings, about 50 cleans and presses, and 200 push-ups.