Aging Chimp: Be Hard to Kill

[sirdanoman]

3/6

It’s official: sinusitis. 21 year history of chronic sinus infections, had surgery 18 years ago. Blah. I don’t usually catch what is going around but between fighting allergies AND fighting off all the other stuff…bam.

Time for Prednisone. I refuse antibiotics. They don’t work anymore for this problem.

It’s funny watching the reaction of providers when I insist on prednisone and refuse antibiotics. Uh, antibiotic resistant bacteria anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Guess I have some rest days coming. Hard to lift when your entire head feels like exploding when you bend over.

[sirdanoman]

3/6: Pull

*Got Prednisone onboard so now I’m Invincible. And jittery. And bored. Two part session coming up.

Noonish: bicep only done. Will finish back work when my lady is off work. Otherwise she won’t train

[sirdanoman]

3/6: Pull (cont.)
*Courtesy of steroids! And not the anabolic kind.

Seated J row: 85x8
Face pull: 40xmany
Below knee clean pull w/ 2 second hold shrug/rep:275x3x2, 245x3

Good enough. Kept the pulls light and smooth. Power. No double knee bend or hip extension per se.

Now I’m drenched in cold sweat. The Prednisone sweats.

[sirdanoman]

3/7: A New Challenger has entered the ring.

I was telling my wife I’m getting that meathead itch i.e. need some more power movements in my training.
*It could also be the full force of Prednisone hitting me.

I will never go back to pushing the standard Big 3 or the Olympic lifts. Too much mileage in those areas=lots of cumulative damage in thise areas.

So why not go back in time? I’ve always enjoyed reading about the OG’s of strength training (more modern times). Saxon and Sig Klein always impressed me.

An what better metric of brute strength and technique than Sig’s dumbell clean and press challenge? Clean and press a pair of 75 lb dumbells for 12 reps without rest. Then you can start to call yourself a man.

He could manage it at 64 inches, 150 lbs.

I came downstairs, dialed the Nuobells to 75 lbs, cleaned and pressed them smoothly. For 1 rep. But it was rock solid. Felt great. I haven’t cleaned a dumbell in over 20 years but it was good.

Came back in 30 minutes and that reattempt sucked.

I’m 67 inches, 180 lbs, and nearing </=15% bodyfat. Sig was ripped, probably 10%.

I got me some catching up to do😈

[sirdanoman]

3/7: Clean and Pressing while sick. Grease the Groove addition.

Note to self: sub-maximal weights, high frequency training is magic money for pressing. For me. First strict Olympic press (without the excessive layback) of 200-lbs at 165-lbs bodyweight was accomplished with Escalating Density Training.

Just getting a feel for the movement today. Working on several firearm projects downstairs so every 30+ minutes, I do a single clean and press with dual 65-lbers. I figure this is around 4 RIR.

I’m at 75x1, 65 x7 singles today.

I’ll likely do this speckled throughout the week but more in a density/cluster set fashion.

Upper body Push will continue to emphasize shoulder strength, size, and healthy. This has been lots of lateral raises, cable upright rows, T-bar landmibe presses.

Only “chest” work will continue to be low incline presses and dips unless I’m feeling froggy to train my chesticles more.

[sirdanoman]

3/10: Push…and sick as a dog.

Kneeling cable lateral: 20x10, 15x10+3

Muscle snatch: sets using 65-85 lbs.
*coughing like I have the tuberculosis.

PJR: 70x11, 60x10

Leg extension: 60xmyo-many

Done. Very done.

[sirdanoman]

3/12: Pull. And STILL sick

Cable curl: 45x6, 35x8

Neutral grip cable row: 120x11-5-2

Incline hammer curl: 30xreps, 25xreps

Hamstring curl: 25xreps

All “meh” but cable curls and rows felt good. Goddamn sinusitis. And Prednisone withdrawal.

[sirdanoman]

3/15: Performance Day

Dual DB clean and press: 65x1x10
*Rest pause style for 10 singles. Focus on explosion.

Chin up: +25x3, +35x3, +45x3, +53 (24 kg KB)x3
*full stretch, explosive concentric, controlled eccentric.

Dip (forward lean): 25x3, 35x3, 50x3, 70x3

Clean pull from below knee with 2 second shrug hold/rep: worked up to 275x3

Zercher squat: 95x3xnope
*knees not ready

DB curl: 25->20->15 dropset while thevwife wraps up.

Notes:

I’ve decided on full deviation from my beloved mainstay of Push/Pull.

It will satisfy both my newfound love for bodybuilder-ish training with strength/power work.

It will now be: A: Limbs (arms, legs), B: Torso (shoulders, chest, back), C: Performance

The “C” session will advance my never achieved lifetime desire of dual clean and pressing two 75 lbers for 12 reps in one set. It will be focused on power, not bodybuilding style reps/sets. Eccentric will be quicker, concentric more explosive.

A/B sessions will continue my higher intensity bodybuilding stuff.

And I only feel 1/4 dead. Sinuses and bronchials still pissed.

[sirdanoman]

3/17: Torso

45 degree incline press: 155x6, 135x8
*2 sec pause at the clavicle/rep.

Seated cable row: 140x8, 110x11

Cable upright row: 45x10, 35x10

Slight decline dumbbell pullover: work up sets of 5 starting at 30, ending at 80 fir a buncha reps. Deep stretch.

Standing cuff lateral: 20x0 RIR

This was a good start to the new split. Strength down a bit on presses but understood considering Saturday’s session.

[sirdanoman]

3/19: Limb Day

Cable curl: 50x7, 40x7=load movement

Spider curl: bar x reps x2 sets=pump movement

Incline dumbell curl: 25x6, 20x8=loaded stretch movement

Cable pushdown: 70x8, 60x8
*Tri’s don’t need anymore love today.

Leg extension: 60 x rest-pause

Bulgarian: 50x5
*Splitting headache. Stopped.

Hamstring curl: 25xreps, 20xreps

Done. Headache. Unusual for me. Probably a brain bubble. Or sinusitis.

[sirdanoman]

3/22: Performance Day…or lack thereof

Dual DB clean and press: 70x1x8 (singles)
*Cluster style

Deficit (slight) Pendlay row: 185x3x3
*Never gave this much time. Kept them ultra strict, back at or below horizontal. All back. Cluster style.

Dips: 70x3x3
*Cluster

Chin up: 70x2xnah
*Just kept the weight on from dips. Waddled over, did 2 and called this.

Lu raises: 10xreps, 15-10 dropset

Incline DB hammer curl: 25-20-15xdropset

Conclusion…

One of these I’ll feel froggy again. F@#king sinusitis.

Kept all reps strict, crisp, and away from failure, but still dragging ass through the day.

Cut a slab door blank to size. Our new bulkhead door. Mortised the hinges in, and ready to paint. Goddamn door is a beast.

Bodyweight: 183 lbs. Nice carb bloat from last night.

[sirdanoman]

3/24: Torso

This whole day sucked a big ol’ bag at least on the motivation level. Its Monday. Long day with patients. First day without blowing my nose every 30 minutes, etc, etc. I’m narrating this. Fuck sets and reps.

Kneeling cuff lateral: this is a beautiful setup. You angle your body slightly away from the line of pull. So you’re pre-strething the rear and middle delt. Crank it up towards the ceiling in a big arch. Reach at the top. Try to get all the delt involved. The traps, scapular muscles get in on it.

Then slowwwww on the reverse, fight it. And keep cranking. Until you can’t. Bend the elbow a little and get a little "dirty " to crank out a few partials.

Higher than normal incline barbell press: 135x6-3-2-2-2
*Ok, I remembered the sets/reps. Really treated these like I was in a Smith. Touch and long pause at the clavicle, push the chest up MORE to feel that clavicular head and anterior felt stretched.

There is a method to my madness. I do certain movements that tax my “weak” areas. When I feel a stretch that not only feels good, but my own knowledge of anatomy tells me is an indicator of maybe a weakness. Or an area I should address.

Medium grip, elbows at maybe 30-45 degree tuck, reach my chest up, touch clavicle. Pause. Push chest UP. Reverse like a slow accelerating vehicle but no lockout or jerking. Smooth. Rinse and repeat.

Slight decline pullover: work up in 10lb jumps from 50-70 lbs. Work set: 80, rest, 70, rest, 60. I just repped out at each weight. Done.

• I say GODDAMN what a stretch and pump! Yeah, I can see how these could fuck someone up but holy shit. My anatomy loves these. Where have you been!!! These are something special.

That’s it. Hammered a few movements that generally qualify as working torso muscles. Low rent, but felt damn good on a blah day.

[sirdanoman]

3/26: Limbz
*Forgot to log
*I have no motivation for this specific session layout. I don’t enjoy training gunz that much. And my knees are buggered up enough barbell squatting is juice not worth the squeeze most days.

So, I’ll try. This layout likely piqued my curiosity BECAUSE I knew I wouldn’t like it😆

Barbell curls: same weight for 3 sets. 1-2 lightly cheated reps with slow eccentric at end of each. Felt good.

Incline dumbell curl: x2 sets of some type of weight.

Cable pushdown: x1 set x12 reps-0 RIR

JM press (kinda modified to be a little more extension): rest-pause set a la DC training.

Leg extension: ridiculous cluster/myo/whatever sets.
*Felt good which is awesome but I can do endless drop sets, reps, partials and I feel like I could do it again the next day. Not enough eccentric stress.

Hamstring curl: mild version of the above.

Dual DB Stiff leg: 80’s x some awesome rest-pause. The pause was standing erect. These feel so damn good. But I need a pair of 150’s. Damn.

Calf raise: x buncha

Not too bad. I’ve been getting more headaches with exertion since sinus infection. Could be a handful of variables given excellent health history (current). Not good. Probably should you know, ask one of my doc’s?

[sirdanoman]

3/28: Friday night musing

I’ve been lifting a long time. Started age 11 with a pair of JC Penny plastic concrete filling dumbells. My parents, 30 years later, finally threw them out.

Had a nice booklet with a attractive 80’s era gal demonstrating all the exercises with step-by-step instructions. I followed them to the letter and basically did every exercise in the book almost every day.

After getting the coveted gym membership in our tiny Idaho town at alge 12, I was fully hooked.

Lots in between but what is fascinating is no matter the modality of traing or my bodyweight…my physique remains similar enough that I really have to emphasize something deliberately or inadvertently to make a big visual difference.

The point being: kettlebells, strongman, Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and every thing in-between. It’s: same but different.

The point-of-the above point is: it’s a good place to be in that you realize this iron game is a rolling average if you consistently push physical boundaries with weights across the majority of your lifespan.

All the obsessing over sets, reps, programming, etc, etc doesn’t mean much for my PHYSIQUE, which is fine, but just a statement.

To tell my young self:
-Consistency is king.
-Learn from others but learn from your body more.
-Know your purpose in the gym. If you have one.
-It is a rolling average so don’t obsess over optimal routines, complex programming. If you are consistent with solid fundamentals for YOUR goal…you’ll get there. Within natural limits.
-You can’t force growth or strength past a certain point. More is not always better.

Time for a cookie.

[sirdanoman]

3/29: Performance day

Pre-gamed it with 5 hours of straight bush whacking, raking, hauling in the backyard. It’s gotten away from us. Hence, low motivation to "perform ". With the weights.

Dual DB C&P: work up in ten lb jumps from 50 to 70 plus one back off set with 65. One clean, three presses each.

Then I basically fucked around with strict Pendlay rows, dumbell curls, Liu raises, shrug variant, blah, blah. Original plan included heavyish farmer walks but nah.

Felt good. Not a high effort day, but did some quality work despite the lackadaisical description. Good quality reps just not ball busting effort.

[sirdanoman]

3/31: Whole body-ish vs planned Torso

Cable upright: one beautiful rest-pause set

Leg extension: 1 set to 0 RIR

A1: Slight decline DB pullover: 80xreps, 70xreps
A2: 45 deg. Incline press: 135x8 (1 RIR), 135x7 (O RIR)

Tried some curls. Nah

Kinda rolling but strict BB skullcrusher: 95xreps

So here’s the thing. I rambled on, to myself, not two days ago about rolling averages, change over time, blah, blah. And I go downstairs to my planned “Torso” day.

Getting into serious house project, camping/scouting, outdoor adventure season…I may miss sessions.

I may not feel like JUST doing XYZ on a given day.

I’m never going to compete again (likely).

I’m not on any track to be a bodybuilder beyond the general descriptive use of the word.

I have general goals for strength and even physique, yes. But nothing as rigid and outlined as I need to snatch/C&J/squat/bench/deadlift X amount more in 3 months for Y competition

Just get the work done over time and train what I feel I need to train on a given training day. So called, "Performance " day will remain intact. It’s already hits most everything if my knees cooperate on that day.

[sirdanoman]

4/2: Most of It

Jerry cable curls: x2 sets

Kneeling cable lateral: x2 sets

Rope row: rest-pause set. PR!
*T-barish row using two lengths of candy cane lead rope I got in college to do rope chins. Those ropes have seen some things…

Medium-grip long pause bench: cluster sets
*I did this on a whim after listening to Peter Katcherian’s YouTube channel. I haven’t bench pressed with a bar in 13 years. This felt fantastic. I focused on: big chest, reach it to the bar, feel those pecs go into a deep stretch, pause at least 2 seconds, smooth powerful acceleration, no lock out.

That closer hand position with the caveat of keeping the elbows just a tad more out than most of us who actually know how to lift would naturally do.

I found myself instinctively getting those elbows in tight and piston fire the weight up with lots if tricep. Damn.

Hamstring curls: buncha dropsets until I was squealing. The wife enjoys that.

[sirdanoman]

4/5: No Motivation Session

Busy early morning into afternoon loading yard waste, driving to the dump, reload, etc.

Really not feeling froggy enough to do the usual so nothing too notable here except: higher incline press. I can’t tell on mine 60-70 degree.

I treated it like a strict overhead press. Keeping “high chest” but no excessive arch in the lower back.

Damn! I could feel this deep stretch on the clavicular pec. It gelt good just as a stretch! Man, I’m tight in weird areas.

Keeper!

Did some extra bicep work to compensate for years of neglect.

Wrapped it up so the wife and can enjoy a much cleaner backyard evening sit.

[sirdanoman]

4/7: I don’t know what the fuck to do because I don’t care today…session.

*Put on my old school reinforced thigh Adidas Olympic lifting tights (oh my. This will play into later), knee sleeves, and my 25 year old Olympic lifting shoes. Want the knees warm and cozy.

Leg extension: 1 set of 15.

ATG knees forward bolt upright Zercher squat: 95x5 then cluster/rest pause triples x3.

*This is something significant for me. I can sit ATG in bare feet comfortably without looking like a monkey fucking a football. But most loaded squats other than Bulgarians and (sometimes) Zerchers beat me like a rented mule.

Barbell back/front squats just suck for me. So this felt good to do even though the load is low. Progress.

Hammy curls: basically: go to O RIR with plantar flexion, a couple lengthened partials, pause 10 seconds then repeat but in dorsiflexion. This is a very light weight. The point is the pump for this…

Deficit DB Stiff leg deadlift: pair o’ 80’s x reps with 2 second pause in the deep stretch per rep. No lock out either.

This is old chimp "armor building ". Shore of weak, damaged areas. Keep the other stuff going but no muscle left behind.

Tried dumbell pullover but could tell it wasn’t worth it on this day.

Then the wife and I enjoyed each others extra tight workout attire enough we had to…divert the workout. I had a handful of other things intended but…

[sirdanoman]

4/9: Whatever

Hitting an unheard of lack of motivation. Meh. I’ll ride that wave.

Got solid delt, bicep work then a ton of dumbbell pullovers. Tried some incline dumbbell presses again. I just don’t like these. That’s ok. The barbell is king for me.

Interesting to be in a spot where my training is fluid, unpredictable to an extent. I’ve been writing programs for myself since I was 12! Now, its the rolling average. I embrace the new challenge.