1/13/2025 Monday
Weekend update: Lots of walks. Was crazy sore from Friday’s session, which was a wakeup call.
This week am giving up 2 things: a) Energy drinks, monday thru thursday. b) Heavy whip in my coffee. (I’ll still use half and half but with HWC gone, the joy is gone from coffee.)
Bottoms Up Front Squat, 5/3/1 c2 w1 just starting over at same weights due to disappointing PR week.
105x5
125x5
145x8.
Then: 165 for 5x2, doing a double EMOM.
Strict Press:
5x75, 5x90, 8x100. That is better than 4 weeks ago.
Then backoff: 4-4-4 (few/several second rest in between) with 85.
Concept 2 rower: 7:30 of 60/30 sprint/coast.
I was next-level on the rower today compared to all 3 sessions last week. Not tracking performance numbers but I could feel it, and the percentage of the time that my average pace was below 1:50 (not sure what that means, it’s the biggest number on the screen and it fluctuates pretty quickly) was pretty high.
1/15/2025 Wednesday
Platforms were taken so I started off with a good shoulder warmup and some overhead pressing movements.
Then, power snatch:
135 x several
Then, power clean and split jerk:
135 by several, 155 x a few.
Push press 115 for several
1/17/2025 Friday
Logging a day late bc I got busy yesterday.
1 mile valley run to park
20 rounds EMOM:
3 double-pump burpees and 3 pullups
1 mile valley run home.
A couple differences from last week:
Total reps of pushups and pullups stayed same, but burpees increased 50% by doing 3x2-pump instead of 2x3-pump.
On the valley run back to the house, I psyched up first and redlined the whole way up the hill.
I pushed myself to the brink of collapse, and when I got to my driveway couldn’t even take the usual cooldown walk. I was staggering.
I don’t time the runs, maybe I’ll start, but I can say 100% that I pushed way harder this time than last week.
Also: Did some more introspection along the lines of “what works for me”. I’m leaning toward really shifting focus for a while. Don’t judge me LOL.
Weekend Update
Filled a major bucket list item. About a year ago, as I logged here, my whole family tried a challenging kayak trip that… didn’t go so well. It was an amazing destination, but on the way back we capsized, kids were traumatized, my feet were lacerated, and we were lucky it wasn’t much worse.
So Sunday I got the chance to try again: Strength in numbers: Two families this time, with wives and kids on the beach while the other dad and I took my 2-man kayak on the trip mapped below to Mokolua.
Without kids, and two fit men pulling their weight in one kayak, this was an absolute blast. On the island were two resting Monk Seals and tons of amazing views. I’ll drop pics in here in a minute.
Monday - back to the training log:
Up at 4:30 as usual. Really dragging today, obv from the intense work of yesterday.
Decided to change it up today and I’m glad I did, but still not really happy with how it went.
I did BB type stuff, mostly in the 3x8-10 range for all of the below:
SLDL
BTN
Leg Ext
Abs (just one set)
Lat Pulldown (really is harder than pullups for equiv weight)
Upright rows
DB bench press (4 sets)
Triceps ext
Seated DB shoulder press
Seated DB curls
Rear delt cables (1 set)
Tried the rower but my body just would not cooperate with any metcon-type stuff.
Jumped to the stairmaster and just slogged it out for 10 minutes with a podcast.
Now time for work.
No idea what’s next for me gym-wise. I think the focus needs to shift to metcon style work for the next couple months or maybe rest of my life LOL. But that’s not mutually exclusive with O-lifting or anything else. Crossfitters use snatches and C&J for metcons all the time so it can be done…
@simo74
To be honest, more like:
I can’t find a GIF of it, but this isn’t me being distracted by the latest shiny thing, trend, goal, etc. It’s more like someone striving again and again to jump over a 10ft tall wall, and eventually realizing it’s not going to happen, and making the trip around the wall instead. Shifting the focus from climbing the wall, to walking or running, to ultimately achieve what was on the other side - some vision of physical fitness “success”.
This is me recognizing that I’ve been in the gym 3 days a week for years. I give up a lot of sleep for it. I get something out of it, but I don’t get out of it what I expect, and it truly may no longer be worth the effort for the goals I’ve been chasing.
What is on the other side of the wall I’m trying to climb over? What other methods are there of crossing this wall? Do I even want to get to that other side?
A few years ago, when my goals were
405 DL
315 Squat
225 Bench
135 Strict press
I achieved those goals after much, much struggle. Much more struggle than a typical gym enthusiast. I’m glad I did. But arbitrarily choosing new goals based around compound movement poundages simply wasn’t the right choice for me after that.
Could I have added 10lbs to each of those, and made that my new goal set?
Or made getting 5 reps with those 1RMs my new goal set?
If I had, I’d have chased them for years.
And for what? What’s the point?
So I need to figure out what I really want that is also really attainable and also worth the effort required to get there, and then pursue that.
I’ve run two Spartan races. Running those, and more significantly TRAINING FOR those, the way I chose to train for them, was the best physically I’ve felt in my life.
The answer is tucked into that statement.
Oh and that, mate! Sandbags are so fun!
I still have my 100lb and can use it. Took it for a long walk a few weeks ago but rarely touch it. Should though.
And should fill the other sandbag too…
Those were good days, hoisting the 200!
One of the main reasons to level up in the big 4 is because of the internet cred you gain amongst a group of random strangers.
I see your point, though. I rarely even plan or make goals anymore, I just try to do things that are heavy enough to put a scare into me. And impress random internet strangers.
DOMS update 1/21 - weirdly, my upper back is hella sore.
Given my pullup proficiency, frequent watersports, and olympic lifting volume (every lift starts with a pull) this is strange.
Wonder if it was caused by the SLDL, lat pulldowns, or seated rows I did yesterday? Either way it may be telling me about a weak point I wasn’t expecting so that’s kinda cool i guess.
On that last note - shooting for 500m each 2-min interval, at minute 8 i very nearly barfed. Was pushing hard. Slowed off a bit and ramped back up and ultimately made up the time hitting the goal.
Yes! I swear that I was so close to typing that you could easily mix a little of everything in each week; a day of snatches and squats, a day of pullups and burpees, a day of sandbags and running - crossfitters do it all the time! But I didn’t want to just add more noise when it seemed like you had a plan of action and a bunch of others had already chimed in. Glad you have come to this conclusion as well!
