9/29/2023 Friday
5/3/1 Beach W2D3
Shoulder rehab first: 2 rounds of: hang; 20 each front/side/rear raises with 5lb bells. Then a 3rd round of hanging. (Did this without weight at home a few times yesterday too. My right shoulder sounds like a broken gearbox doing the side raises.)
Hang Cleans:
Worked up to a PR set at 155lb: 12 reps. PR benchmark. Video to follow.
3x5x135 backoff sets.
Squat: Work up to a high-rep set at 145lb. This is lighter than last week’s so I had to beat the rep count. 22 reps. PR benchmark I guess. Wasn’t feeling as good as last week. Video to follow.
The E2MOM was a pretty fast pace for getting that done. Keeping the press light and higher volume was the right call, vs the program calling for 3x5.
The rope chins were AWFUL compared to last week, solely on grip strength. Which I’ve read - and totally believe - is an indicator of fatigue. Sleep has been lacking.
Hurt my left hand really bad. Pinky area is swollen and it is affecting my lifts and how I can grip the bar.
10/2/2023 Monday
Weekend update: There was a decent amount of active play. None that was specifically conditioning, though, and I want to get better at incorporating real conditioning workouts into beach playtime. But Saturday I felt like an actual vegetable (Maybe because of Friday’s high-rep work?) so whatever I did was better than nothing.
5/3/1 Beach W3D1
Shoulder rehab first (3 hangs and 2 rounds of 20-20-20 with 7.5lb dbs)
Squat: 5s Pro 135, 165, 195, 215 - went just fine.
Hang Cleans: 2x20x115. Still a disgusting thing to do but 115 has a much better feel than 105, and no shortage of reps there. It’s a forearm and cardio thing at the end.
Press: 10x5x75 in keeping with the plan.
Fat bar curls (Towel wrapped around the bar): 5x10, 5x5, all at 75lbs. Hey, 75x75 has a ring to it!
Neck Extensions: 18lbs, 5x20.
The press, curls, and neck extensions were supersetted together. But STILL I ran out of time to do anything extra. Really hoping to get a chance to do some pec flyes, the GHR, and just play around with new-to-me equipment someday.
What is, exactly? 20 rep power cleans? Active play? Or sticking to a program? LOL either way, Thanks! I’m definitely “doing things right” within current constraints, hopefully growth is the result.
Squat: 225x10 which is a lifetime PR most likely, and definitely a benchmark PR, and with no belt. It was miserable but I’m so glad I did it. Video to follow.
Deadlift: 5s pro 205, 235, 265.
10 rounds E2MOM:
5 press 75lb
10 rows each side, 65lb
10 neck curls, 10lbs on forehead
All those reps, a reasonable amount of time, and a reasonable load, form a bit of a triangle. I solved it with the E2MOM. If I had more time I could have gone heavier with more sets of fewer reps, or more rest, but this seems a happy medium. Well, not HAPPY, because I was close to barfing - only maybe 30 seconds to catch breath each round. Counts as conditioning?
A note on the squat PR:
I got up at 330 this morning to deal with some crap 6 time zones away, while it was still morning for those folks. This lift was around 5:45. That’s been a stressful situation all of yesterday and today. I’ve had diarrhea for days on end. And I haven’t been sleeping enough. And I still don’t have my belt. So getting 10 reps (last week was 9; 2 weeks ago 8 was a genuine “max effort”) was a big deal for me.
LOL. OK funny-ish story. I was at the gym a few weeks ago and it was squat day. I always go to the toilet before the gym, its like my ass knows its going to be under pressure. I pretty much destroy the toilet with what must be one of the foulest smelling things ever. What the heck have I been eating !
Anyway I start squatting and after a warm up set I can feel my stomach gurgling away,I know this wont be good. Half way through the next set I let one go. Luckily it isn’t a shart but it must have been close. Nobody other than me hears it so I think I am OK . Then the worst stench ever just starts radiating out from the squat rack.
One of the gym owners is training a lady in the rack next to me. He is a typical straight forward Aussie and doesn’t mix his words. He looks at the women and says ‘did you shit?’ , she obviously says no but he doesn’t believe her. He says it so loud that maybe half the gym hear him and start laughing. He follows this up with “fk me that is bad, are you sure you are OK”. She is laughing but also saying it wasn’t her, whilst covering her mouth and nose to avoid the toxic gas.
I decide that I have to come clean and say to the owner “I think that was me mate”. The owner laughs and say ‘mate you should be proud of that’ “i wont need dinner tonight, I already ate at the gym”
Half of the gym is now laughing hard and not a lot of training was done for the next few minutes.
10/6/2023 Friday
Another day, another couple badass PRs.
Warm up with the shoulder rehab - 3x30sec hangs, 2x20 each of front/side/rear raises.
Hang Clean:
PR set of 155x13 benchmark PR, video to follow
Backoff sets 3x5x135
Squat: PR set of 165x23 benchmark PR, video to follow
10 rounds, going every 1:45 - a major improvement from last week when 2:00 was tough:
-5 Press 75lb
-5 rope chins
-10 neck extensions 25lbs
Done.
The rope chins were the easiest they’ve been so far. Grip was and still is the limit, but I think grip has improved from the practice. Also: Previously I did these by slinging a battle rope over a high bar, and holding one section of rope in each hand. Today I did the first half of the sets with the rope tied in a knot overhead, so more like a rope-climb grip. Then untied the knot and reverted to the two-rope style for the rest.
On reflection: This is the kind of program Dan John calls a “Park Bench” program. It’s not really building up to any kind of climax - no bus is going to arrive at time X and take me to destination Y. Which is fine for now. DJ talks about spending a lot of time on the park bench, but occasionally moving to a bus bench and hitting a hard goal. I wonder where I’ll go…
Accidentally did the rows (Wednesdays) instead of curls (due today, monday).
No big just remember to swap next time- which may not be Wednesday anyway because we are moving out of our temporary rental and into a beautiful home.
No helpers either!
But they didn’t deliver silverware, and ours is still packed up!
Time for bed, then another day of the same in the morning. Should be close to normal by Wednesday but I’m not making any guarantees about gym attendance.
This reminds me of a picture I took 18 years ago when we first moved to Oz. Me and my misses sitting on the floor using a cardboard box for a table eating takeaway with our fingers. Bloody good times.
