7/4/2025 Independence day, Friday.
Ran 3.2 miles, 30 minutes. Personal distance record for this route. Walked the balance of the way home (about 1.5mi).
Wrist is still destroyed, can pull but not push. Typing and holding coffee is hard.
Its problematic for surfing too, can’t do the burpee thats needed to stand up on the board.
I think it took about 6 weeks to heal last time, and this feels exactly the same so here we go. I am taking some really expensive supplements but I have a feeling they’re just a rip off.
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Such a bummer about your wrist, again!! Get a brace to wear for awhile, it might help manage the little stuff better (coffee carrying, typing, etc.) I’m sending lots of healing prayers and vibes for a speedy recovery!!
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Sucks to fall and hurt yourself again mate. I have an old pair on thongs (flip slops) that are slick as hell too. After reading your story I am going to start wearing my new ones.
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I had a great Independence Day weekend. A family trip to a different beach each day.
Friday I think was surfing, Saturday was boogie boarding, and today I did some paddleboarding.
All of it is good exercise.
First meeting of the day tomorrow is at 04:30 so I hope for a decent nights sleep tonight.
Wrist still pretty messed up but I’ll heal. Doing the gym tomorrow after work.
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I have GOT to replace these. Been procrastinating on that for a while. I’ve used the same pair for many years and they are SLICK.
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7/7/2025 Monday
Had early morning calls, so no morning session - went to the gym in the early PM.
Squats:
5x135
5x155
5x175
5x195
5x215
DAMN I haven’t squatted in a LONG time. I was going to do a backoff set at 155 on the way down, and my left hamstring cramped up - NOPE! Could barely bend down to take off my knee sleeves. Need to acclimate before going ham on squats.
Several sets of OHP (BTN and strict) with an empty bar.
Two sets of 8 of:
biceps curls
Arnold press
With the 35lbs bells.
And some pullups.
Super quick session but that was it. Not feeling much else.
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7/9/2025 Wednesday, late entry.
It’s been a BUSY day, but I got a solid session in. way longer than usual.
Deadlift
5x225
5x245
5x265
5x265
5x265
SLDL
3x8x135
Snatch grip high pulls
3x3x135
Snatch balance with broomstick
Snatch balance with bar
Pullups
BTN and strict press with bar
Chest-supported T-bar row, 3x10x 2 plates
BSS, bodyweight, 3x10
1 mile run
I think that was it.
Now, in a few minutes, evening surf session.
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7/11/2025 Friday
Ran about 2.5 miles at about 4:30 AM. Did not match the distance of last time, but I went faster I think.
Walked the rest of the way back with podcasts.
Wednesday’s surfing session turned out to be a date with my 9-yo son. So it was good physical activity, but no catching waves for me - I’m not good enough to catch the small waves that he needs to stay in. But he had a great time, so I had a great time and it was well worth it.
For any parents of multiples who may happen to read this - you need 1-on-1 time with each kid. It’s hard to do, esp with 4, but when you get it, it’s so precious.
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7/14 Monday
It continues to be true that my energy is simply not right for training in the afternoon. But I’m going to have to get used to it, I think, because it’s a feature of the new job situation. I’m frequently on a call by 5:00 a.m., sometimes earlier, and that’s not at all a problem because I finish work early in the day and have plenty of time left. It just means it’s not reasonable to try to work out before work. So today, around 1:30 p.m:
Squats,sets of five:
135 155 175 195 215
Single at 225 and 235
5 at 135
Shoulders, strict and BTN, 45 and 65 lb. Didn’t track sets and reps, just did a few.
A bunch of Pull-Ups- enough to severely rip a callus.
And a set or two with dumbbells of curls and arnolds.
That was it. Quick session, fun and not too taxing. Obviously if I’m going to be serious about this, I need a plan with some progression. But for now I’m just warming back up.
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7/16/2025 Wednesday
Up at 03:40, first meeting was at 4:00. Brutal LOL.
But got my gym time after work.
Equipment was busy at first so I tried a hip thrust machine, 3x10 or so. Probably the best hip thrust setup I’ve seen. I could even be persuaded to use it regularly. It’s very popular at my gym, usually in use when I’m there.
Deadlifts:
5x225
5x245
5x265
5x265
5x285
5x295
1x305 or 315. Wasn’t tracking.
Snatch:
Several at 95lb.
Loaded 115lb and hit a freakin wall. Totally psyched out.
Maybe it was the sleep dep. Maybe it was the heat and gushing sweat. Maybe it was the dude deadlifting heavy right next to me. Maybe it was the bros inches from my ass just high fiving each other. Whatever it was, I couldn’t go on.
Took a couple more light snatches at 95, did some weak ass high rep shoulder stuff, and basically farted around the gym for another 15 minutes or so.
Disappointing.
But, confirmation that I need a goal and a plan. Otherwise it’s just jerking off.
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7/18/2025 Friday
Half-Murph.
Had been planning on this all week, actually.
While it’s only half of what I did a few weeks ago, it keeps the wheels greased and the fact it was easy and not at all taxing is a good indicator that I’m doing well.
-1 mile run to park
-17 rounds EMOM:
3 pullups
6 pushups
9 squats
Mile walk back with a podcast, showered, felt GREAT. Looking better, too. Have really, really made a dent in the nighttime snacking. Plus more evening walks.
If I haven’t shared this here - and I probably have a few times! - I changed jobs in May and IT HAS BEEN THE GREATEST CAREER CHANGE IN YEARS.
Life is SO GOOD. I didn’t realize how bad I’d had it before, venting to my wife at the end of EVERY DAY about how much work sucked. Losing sleep, getting sucked into personnel drama and thorny contractual arguments…
The change of pace has been a lifesaver.
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Always my favourite kind of updates on here! Life PBs are the best PBs glad things are going well in the work/life sphere and training seems to be going well despite just jerking off!
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Best PR right there. Congrats dude!
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Plus I know I’m in good company doing so with the likes of you about!
Thanks guys for the kind words.
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Weekend update:
Friday afternoon, wife and I were surfing and each of us injured a foot pretty badly. As in, bad enough to take her to urgent care and both of us to have a hard time putting on shoes or walking for a few days.
So Monday, no actual workout session.
Also had the week off from my main job, so lots of fun activities throughout the week. By tuesday good enough to go snorkeling and paddleboarding amongst dozens of dolphins, which was amazing.
Today, Wednesday, 7/23
Deadlift
5x135
5x225
5x545
5x265
5x285
5x305
And that last set looked AWFUL - was very strongman-style, leaning way back and hitching it up my thighs using my lower back.
Snatch:
Heaviest was probably 105 or 115. But did a decent bit of volume on the way there.
Still not very comfortable snatching in this environment, it’s crowded and people come up right behind me. Also this was the first session my wrist wasn’t absolutely barking at me - still uncomfortable but not so bad.
A set of 10 pullups.
A mile treadmill run.
That’s about it!
This isn’t the time to get philosophical, but my “purpose” in lifting has been in purgatory for years now.
At one point, I just knew that if 1-2-3-4 plates was my goal, it would motivate a long period of good, hard work.
I was right.
It did.
But I didn’t feel that there was anything “behind” those numbers.
Meaning, OK, mission accomplished, the “next” is not as obvious as “add 10 lbs to each 1rm” or “turn each 1rm into a 5rm”.
And I can confidently say that I don’t at all regret NOT setting one of those as the “next” goal. I don’t regret NOT having pursued them these past 3 or so years. I don’t feel that I’m missing out on any benefits as a result of that non-choice.
On the other hand, I still carry the main goal of not wanting to be a garbage sack full of yogurt dumped into an office chair. So training is still important. And if training matters, training should have a SMART goal at pretty much all times, to motivate each individual session. Otherwise training could end up pretty lethargic.
IDK where I’m going with this.
I’ve been introspecting a fair bit lately and this is just one area I’ve wandered into, mentally. No conclusions at this time, just exploring.
I DO have the Spartan race coming up in 3 weeks, and looking forward to it. However I happen to know I’m already in more than apt shape for it…
Now MAYBE there’s a goal for NEXT year - to run by myself and absolutely crush it, with noone slowing me down, or even run competitively…
Who knows.
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Times like this, sometimes we can make the method the goal. Something like “For the next year, I will only run Tactical Barbell/ 5/3/1 / Dan John programs, and I will only miss at most 1 workout per training cycle and I will eat 90% of my scheduled meals”, and in doing so the result of this compliance becomes the reward of achieving the goal
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Thanks, @T3hPwnisher
I think that’s very wise, I just need to figure out what I’m going to fill in the blank with.
And a lot of this is really part of a much bigger thing, which I’m sure you’d understand since we’re about the same age, where other parts of life matter a lot more too.
I have four kids, as everybody knows and I’m constantly saying here. So prioritizing and figuring out what really matters and is worth focusing on is much more important. There is not as much margin for error in my case. I hope that makes sense.
Good husband
Good father
Honestly everything else has to flow down from that.
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You have the right priorities, no question.
With Weightlifting still having a call to you, along with general fitness, if I were looking for a method here, I’d check out Dan John’s “Easy Strength for Fat Loss With Olympic Lifting”, which Dan admits is a terrible name, but it always sounded like an awesome approach for someone that has any weightlifting skill (of which I have none)
He also spoke about this great program from the Hercules Barbell club
Strict 1 minute rest between sets, so it’s a 26 minute workout.
And I don’t mean to present these as though you said “I have family priorities” and my answer was “Here’s a workout!” but moreso that, in a state of training ennui, if making the method the goal were to become the goal and WHILE trying to balance family obligations, these are the kinds of methods I’d be inclined to. One’s that don’t occupy much time, so I can prioritize family. It’s why I’ve been on the Tactical Barbell bandwagon for so long now: it really fits what I want to schedule training for.
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I ended up on Dan John’s website today while going down a completely unrelated rabbit hole, stumbled upon this article and it reminded me of the conversation you guys are having. This may be of interest.
https://danjohnuniversity.com/essays/training-for-the-crazy-life
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