Friday 6/20 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Friday 6/20 (PM)
Bike Home (15 Minutes) and Kettlebell Circuit (20 Minutes)
Saturday 6/21
Bikram Yoga Class (90 Minutes)
Sunday 6/22
Worked out with my brother (he belongs to an LA Fitness just outside of town; he and his wife just moved into a house last year and, with the long commute, moving, etc…fitness kind of fell by the wayside for awhile for him. Fortunately, he and his wife joined the LA Fitness a few months ago and it sounds like they’re at least regular “weekend warriors” - which is better than nothing, right?). He stuck with me, scaling back weights and reps when needed.
We messed around with kettlebells to warm up (a set of goblet squats, set of lunges, a few sets of swings and presses) and then moved to more traditional barbell-and-bodybuilding type work.
Press
5x95
3x135
3x145
3x155
3x155
3x155
Lats
6x8x150
Seated Rows
4x8x150
Pull-ups
6x6xBW
EZ-Bar Curls
5x5x95
Monday 6/23
Kettlebell Circuit (30 Minutes)
With a 45-pound KB, did the following:
Goblet Squat x 10 reps
Forward Lunge (Goblet Position) x 6 reps per leg
Reverse Lunge (Goblet Position) x 6 reps per leg
Swings x 15 reps
Clean & Press (alternating hands) x 6 reps per hand
Repeated this cycle 5 times through, taking about 30 seconds rest between each set. Nice workout. Using this as a bridge to barbell training (regular log visitors know that I am coming off a stress fracture and that, while I’ve been riding my bike and doing quite a bit of yoga, I have been a bit hesitant to start training my legs with REAL MEN’S WEIGHTS again). I’ll give it a month or so using this kind of kettlebell work to wake everything up and lubricate things, then start some real guy stuff 
Tuesday 6/24 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Tuesday 6/24 (PM)
20-Mile Bike Ride (1:30)
Wednesday 6/24 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Wednesday 6/24 (PM)
Bikram Yoga (90 Minutes)
Thursday 6/25 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Thursday 6/26 (PM)
Planning to ride home as warm-up and then do a good solid kettlebell workout of goblet squats, lunges, swings, cleans, and presses in the vein of Monday’s workout. Will return and update this afterwards.
Great log here, I’ve been flipping through and catching up.
I like your take on Paleo, I think it’s a great approach and lines up with a lot of the Mountain Dog diet stuff as well.
I’ll be following along.
Thanks for dropping by, Serge!
Friday 6/27 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Friday 6/27 (PM)
Bike Home and…Kettlebell Workout!!!
Goblet Squat 3 x 10
Front Lunge 3 x 6 per leg
Reverse Lunge 3 x 6 per leg
Swings 4 x 15
Clean and Press 10 x 5 per hand
All done with a 45 pound bell. Might buy a heavier one in the next few weeks if I get a chance (ideally, a 70, but I’ll troll Craigslist for awhile and if anything close comes up, 60-80, I’ll consider it if the pride is right). It’s not super urgent - I’d just like a heavier bell as an option. I like the idea of warming up with the 45, doing a few heavy sets of squats, swings, cleans, and presses with the 70, then maybe doing a high-rep finisher with the 45.
Dan John wrote somewhere that goblet squatting might be all that “most people” (presumably meaning regular joes like me just training to “be fit”) need, and if I had a heavier bell I think that might apply to me, being that I’m just training as an Activities Guy. I’d imagine that a few 20-rep sets with a 70 pound bell could do nicely supplemented by some lunges and unilateral movements.
Saturday 6/28
Bikram Yoga Class (90 Minutes) x 2
Today I did something I’ve never done before: I did two consecutive Bikram yoga classes. I’ve done a morning/night double before, and frequently in the past have done 2 workouts in the same day of varying types, but never did this specific double until today. Regular yoga practitioners will occasionally do this; I didn’t do it for any magical reason other than “I’m curious to see how I’ll feel after three straight hours of yoga instead of the usual 90 minutes.”
I don’t think it’s “necessary” and will probably stick to mostly “single classes” in my yoga practice, but I may do the occasional Saturday double if I have the time and inclination.
Also, I’ve consumed a solid gallon of water in the 2 hours since I got home.
Alright, AG, I’m following. I have a garage setup here in the Square if you ever feel like hitting the weights.
Good to have you, Jack Flash. I’m sure I’ll see you around, and I’d be glad to take you up on that offer - I’ll be in touch
I’m actually about to write a little screed here calling myself out…
June 29, 2014: I am calling myself out for letting my physique backslide over the past year. I realized this for the most vain of reasons: I am leaving for a beach vacation on July 11 and realized that I will not be terribly proud of the body I am taking to the beach this year, whereas I was quite pleased with my appearance last summer (my avatar photo of the kettlebell snatch was taken on that vacation, in August 2013; I am honestly too embarrassed to take a picture and post it now). Presently, I am about the same weight, but notably softer in the midsection and love handles and no “better” anywhere else than I previously was. I suspect that the T-Nation community will get what I’m driving at here: the “average” person in my office looks at me and compliments my fit appearance, but I feel a bit squishier than I’d like to be, and I know that I definitely can, and should, be doing much better.
The reasons are many, but it ultimately boils down to the fact that 1) I eat mostly clean, but probably allow too many cheats considering that 2) I have not been training nearly as much or as hard as I’m used to due to my bothersome leg. For a while, I could get away with a lot because I ran 35-40 miles per week and did a slew of other stuff besides. Injuries and my current job demands make that somewhat less practical than it once was; plus, I do genuinely LIKE my variety of different fitness activities. I have decided to pick two concrete goals and train them with a BIT more specificity than I have been doing to date. This is what I came up with:
100 pull-ups in 20 minutes
100 kettlebell clean and presses per hand (45-pound bell) in 20 minutes
I’ve chosen these for a couple of reasons. One, I think the pull-up is one of the single most complete upper-body exercises. Two, I’ve never been any good at them and it’s about time I get good at them - plus, it’s nearly impossible to get better at pull-ups while getting fatter (I’ve definitely tricked myself in the past by showing great progress on the bench-press while bulking a little too aggressively, then realizing I was gaining an awful lot of fat along with the bit of muscle that drove my bench up). With pull-ups, I just won’t progress here unless I’m leaning out, so it’s a bit of a self-regulating physique goal, right? Three, I really enjoy “outdoor” workouts when the weather is nice; the pullup bars at CMU en route to my office will serve beautifully. Four, I do really enjoy my “homemade” kettlebell workouts, and can easily just take my 'bell outside after work a few times a week and work it for 20-30 minutes. Five, I also want to maintain my hot-yoga practice, which I feel is important for me both mentally and physically. It won’t get me any more ripped, but it will keep me healthy and happy, and it’s a shared passion with my parents and girlfriend. My weekly workout schedule will remain somewhat unstructured out of necessity: I travel a lot (partially job-related, partially family-related, and partially because I’m in a long-distance relationship with an opera singer). Fortunately, my GF and parents are hot yoga enthusiasts, so I’ll always be able to get my yoga in with them on weekend trips and vacations - I’ll just have to do the pullups and kettlebell work on my own time during the week.
The basic plan: I will do 100 pull-ups at least 2 times every week (tracking my time in each workout; I will absolutely not sacrifice good form for time, the goal is to do 100 “perfect” pull-ups in 20 minutes, not to get better at leg swinging and kicking), and I will do a kettlebell workout 2 times every week as well (probably once a week performing the 100 cleans-and-presses workout, and one that incorporates more goblet squats, lunges, etc). Beyond those, which DIRECTLY work towards my two stated goals, I will continue my hot yoga practice (at least 2 times per week) for core strength, balance, flexibility, and general enjoyment, and I will continue bike-commuting to work 4-5 days per week again because it’s fun, convenient, and gives me a little bonus low-impact cardio every day. I’ll also do the occasional traditional barbell workout when my brother wants a buddy at LA Fitness on a weekend, or maybe I’ll make a guest appearance at Jack Flash’s garage gym.
On September 1, I will see where this has taken me and reevaluate from there.
It’s no Predator Program, but I think it will be fun
Oh, and I almost forgot, today’s workout:
Sunday 6/29
100 Pullups (29:45)
Monday 6/30 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Monday 6/30 (PM)
Bike Home and…
100 Clean & Presses Per Hand w/35-LB Kettlebell (23:30)
Bought a 35-pound kettlebell today and decided to put it to use. Now I’ve got a 35 and a 45. Planning to add a heavier one to the collection if I can pick one up used & cheap.
Tuesday 7/1 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Tuesday 7/1 (PM)
Bike Home and…
Kettlebell Circuit (20 Minutes)
Mostly cleans and presses, although I did some goblet squats, swings, and lunges plus a few odd sets of pushups thrown in. Good workout.
Wednesday 7/2 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
It looks like you’ve been inadvertently following the twojarslave Excellence in Nondiscriminatory Consumption Program. It will help get you strong, but don’t expect the level of impeccable bloodwork you’ll get with the Predator Program. My ebook is currently in the works, where I go into great detail about the most anabolic charcoal selections on the market, the optimal hop content of the beers you need to wash down a 32 oz ribeye and my regression analysis examining the efficacy of lifting in a wolf t-shirt vs lifting in shirt designs with no wolves.
As you can imagine, I use a lot of scienceology, peer reviewed by other notable beer drinkers. I’m not going to discourage you from trying this unproven approach of yours, but I think you should take a close look at what the science really says here.
[quote]twojarslave wrote:
It looks like you’ve been inadvertently following the twojarslave Excellence in Nondiscriminatory Consumption Program. It will help get you strong, but don’t expect the level of impeccable bloodwork you’ll get with the Predator Program. My ebook is currently in the works, where I go into great detail about the most anabolic charcoal selections on the market, the optimal hop content of the beers you need to wash down a 32 oz ribeye and my regression analysis examining the efficacy of lifting in a wolf t-shirt vs lifting in shirt designs with no wolves.
As you can imagine, I use a lot of scienceology, peer reviewed by other notable beer drinkers. I’m not going to discourage you from trying this unproven approach of yours, but I think you should take a close look at what the science really says here.
[/quote]
LOL. Can I tell you that I really enjoy your posts without things getting awkward? Is there an Internet equivalent of sending a guy/girl across the bar a drink, but doing so in a way that says “We’re bros” and not something more forward?
Tell you what. Just have a beer for me tonight. You can always start getting serious about fat loss tomorrow, after all. Do that every day for a few months and you will be one of us.
One of us…
One of us…
One of us…
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
Thanks for dropping by, Serge!
Friday 6/27 (AM)
Bike To Work (15 Minutes)
Friday 6/27 (PM)
Bike Home and…Kettlebell Workout!!!
Goblet Squat 3 x 10
Front Lunge 3 x 6 per leg
Reverse Lunge 3 x 6 per leg
Swings 4 x 15
Clean and Press 10 x 5 per hand
All done with a 45 pound bell. Might buy a heavier one in the next few weeks if I get a chance (ideally, a 70, but I’ll troll Craigslist for awhile and if anything close comes up, 60-80, I’ll consider it if the pride is right). It’s not super urgent - I’d just like a heavier bell as an option. I like the idea of warming up with the 45, doing a few heavy sets of squats, swings, cleans, and presses with the 70, then maybe doing a high-rep finisher with the 45.
Dan John wrote somewhere that goblet squatting might be all that “most people” (presumably meaning regular joes like me just training to “be fit”) need, and if I had a heavier bell I think that might apply to me, being that I’m just training as an Activities Guy. I’d imagine that a few 20-rep sets with a 70 pound bell could do nicely supplemented by some lunges and unilateral movements. [/quote]
Sure… 20 rep goblet squats/ double kettle bell Romanian deads/ weighted chins/ ab wheel rollouts would well round any a vge joe. 10 years…this may be me …lol.
Pullups from deadhang are the upper body equivalent to a deadlift. No stretch reflex. Starting at the bottom vs. The top.