Alex_uk: 40 years in the making

Training Training Logs
2609

Dark Horse w3 d4

Conditioning:

Approx 8:52 - approx because timer didn’t get the first set i noticed immediately at the end got it going and added the time of the second set to it (too little 1m8s for round 2). Not great time but got me moving, sweaty and out of breath.

Gs1:
Chins: 0, 5, 7.5kg x 5, 10, 12.5, 15, 20kg x 3
Axle press: 8.5, 28.5, 38.5kg x 5, 48.5, 58.5, 68.5, 73.5kg x 1
Ab rolls: 5 x 7 sets
6 count burpees: 5 x 7 sets

Nice PR, most I’ve had on BB is 75kg so pretty close with the axle, which is nice.

Gs2:
Chins: 10kg x 5 x 3 sets
Axle press: 58.5kg x 6, 5, 5
Ab rolls: 5 x 3 sets
6 count burpees: 5 x 3 sets

Emoms:
Bench: 70kg & red bands: 3 x 10 sets
S/s
Bb curl: 20kg x 10 x 9 sets - final set x 60 reps.

Great session tonight, fueled by McDonald’s (2 x double cheese burgers and a chicken mayo chaser plus some fries) sugar free energy drinks and coffee!

Conditioning is still making me want to not do the sessions - wonder if hypnotherapy could make me like Conditioning :thinking:

Busy, tired and losing my usual calm - need to reign in sleep, I’m not being as delightful to be around as usual.

Had a run around with the puppy couple of times this weekend, 11 weeks old and I have to run near ful tilt to overtake him, going to be a fast dog. Counting that as my missed cardio catch up.

Weight is 211 steady, not fat not lean, eating okish.

3 Likes
2610

Mate, get some conditioning down your neck.

It’s the game changer.

It’s the cherry on top.

It’s the iced gem on top of an empire biscuit.

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2611

I’m glad to see you hardening up :hugs:

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2612

you very strange

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2613

Hey, man, if you have to decide between being swole or being in good cardiovascular shape, you choose swole.

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2614

This is the choice I always made. I’ve realised recently (mostly in all the bloody Tactical Barbell logs), that you don’t have to choose. Both is good. Both make me a better human being.

@alex_uk absolutely beastly work in here as always man. You will forgive me if I never let you forget this though:

A weight that I set a fasted, beltless PR at a few weeks ago. You know you’ll never live it down if I catch you.

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2615

I suppose to add some more nuance to the Conditioning conversation, if I absolutely had to choose it’d be swole every time, no one sees your cv fitness neither does it assist you carrying heavy stuff, which I do far more of irl than running/rowing/cycling (or anything else that requires any sort of cv fitness or endurance).

I think the issue is that its a false dichotomy - I don’t have to choose even on a very time limited week. Its why DH works well for me, because it forces me to break my natural inclinations and do the hard stuff. Unfortunately I do have to have some basic level of CV fitness, which is probably good since it keeps me marginally healthier.

Well there’s some motivation, although I just seem to be weaker every time I step into the gym at the moment.

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2616

I don’t think you’re in any real danger of me catching you soon mate, just trying to wind you up a bit.

Everything alright?

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2617

You can easily get swole doing say, a general conditioning session

100 chins
100 dips

For time

For example

Or Dan John’s Armour Building complex

30 mins EMOM

That works out as 60 power clean, 30 presses and 90 squats

That is swelling folk up no question

Conditioning isn’t just limited to cardio work

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2618

True, I’d probably still hate it, its being horrifically out of breath and sweaty that I dislike…and effort above like 5 reps, all of that stuff sucks, my spirit animal is a fat powerlifter, unfortunately I’m too weak to justify being fat.

Yea actually really great thanks, just crazy busy and way too tired, got an ulcer that won’t get lost (dont usually get them, a clear sign im screwing
up sleep wise), but yeah just general everyday life!

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2619

I take it that EMOM, perform 3 squats, 2 power cleans, 1 press? I freaking love it.
What’s this from? One of his books, or an article here on T Nation?
If you have done this what weight did you survive?

2620

In my mind, conditioning and cardio are different things anyway. In my mind cardio is LISS, whereas conditioning is higher intensity work.

2621

FIFY

2622

Wow 10 days since training, last week was crazy busy and I didn’t have time to train (without sacrificing higher priorities) this week I just lost it, like don’t want to train at all, I read @flipcollar’s post about his return to strongman and it really resonated with me (to the point at which I would just quit right now if I didn’t need to have a good level of strength and conditioning for work and I hate being skinny which is my body default), it resonated with me so much that I looked for a strongman comp to sign up for, unfortunately because I live in the toe end of England isolated from civilisation there were none, doesn’t help with covid because by the look of it there were some in 2019, so hopefully they’ll re-emerge 2022 and I’ll be signing up to one if at all possible.

I did check out the novice events for a comp and they seemed reasonable whilst probably being a stretch which is perfect, would be good to keep focused and be ready to really smash something 2022.

Due to current levels of busyness, which seem to be here to stay I am going to have to re-arrange my life slightly to get training done. That’ll be a challenge, but needs must.

Currently weighing in at around 206 - the moment I stop training my eating drops off for a double whammy of crap and loss, going to focus on eating enough and getting enough protein once that’s back up to standard food quality will be addressed. Going to reset DH and start from the beginning again.

Also want to squeeze in more conditioning as and when possible ala @T3hPwnisher (great latest blog post btw, a fuller explanation of several conversations we’ve had on here, plus a nod to John Calvin haha, but also very relevant to my current headspace), @ChongLordUno (also great blog post!) @jdm135 - will be re-arranging some gym kit so that it’s more immediately accessible and if it sticks then I’ll be buying some more stuff (because I’m a gear whore!). Watch this space for max effort, mediocre output (compared to the aforementioned beastly men) and hopefully solid results.

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2623

I had noticed your absence, glad to here you found some inspiration.

Have you called any local gyms up to see if they know of any comps/shows? I only found one through a guy I know at the gym.
Strong man still seems to be a small tight knit community. With word of mouth taking president over genuine advertising.

Either way I can tell you (from my singular experience) contest prep is fun. Its a constant voice edging you to push harder and get better. I think you’ll enjoy it. And it will bring out the best in you.

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2624

I’m not sure how your schedule is going to pan out, but you can do a lot with a little. Back when I attended my first police academy (which was para military), I survived for 12+ weeks on nothing but push ups and running. We’d do 300 push ups most mornings in less than half an hour. In the evenings, we’d run - usually slow as dirt. It wasn’t anything I would’ve picked, but my physique didn’t take much of a hit and I blew up once I got back to normal training. It took like a week to rebound back to my old self.

If life is winning the battle for time and energy, then just do a couple rest/pause sets of push ups and pull ups and you’ll be fine.

I hate seeing guys commit to a training program and then end up doing nothing because time screws up the plan. I get the desire to follow something, but it’s not worth stressing out and scrapping things altogether.

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2625

At the end of the day, this will probably be the one thing that will always drive me to stay in the gym in some capacity. I know that if I stopped training indefinitely, I’d end up back at like 160 lbs, lol. I don’t ever want to be close to that again.

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2626

I’ve got the exact opposite problem, but its essentially the same reason to keep your arse in the gym.

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2627

For sure. It’s still ‘I don’t want to be what/who I used to be.’ We’ve all worked our asses off to fundamentally change our bodies, and in some ways our core identity. Losing that would feel pretty shitty, haha.

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2628

Glad you dug the post dude. Resonating on that, “not wanting to train” is honestly a step in the right direction. When it’s a thing you want to do, it’s a thing you do because you like doing it, which makes it, in turn, indulgence. I hate training. GOD I wish I could not train. And don’t get me started on nutrition. Find me a magic lamp, give me some mutant powers, get me some gamma radiation, find me a temple of Cyttorak: I’ll take ANYTHING. But until any of that can happen, this is just the only way to get what I want. It looks like you’re heading there as well.

And I think that’s positive! Spend an hour suffering so you can spend 23 hours being happy. Amazing tradeoff. Far better than people that spend 23 hours hating what they are so they can spend an hour indulging in whatever it is that can help them escape.

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