Just checking in, Alpha. Any time I feel like letting stuff pull me down, I seem to stumble back on your log. See this, and remember I don’t have time to mess around.
Thoughts and prayers for good health, amigo.
Vash: thanks brother, things like this keep me motivated to keep this thing going man. i really do appreciate it!
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“Mental toughness is learned. It’s not a skill that everyone has, or is born with. There are people that are born tougher than others mentally, or figure things out earlier in their life. But if you have motivation you can acquire mental toughness, it’s just about what your body gets used to putting up with.”
-Greg Jackson
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24 July 2010: Training 5/3/1 week3wave1
Insert: 3 rounds as fast as you can
5 dead hang pull ups
50 3-count jumping jacks
3 muscle ups
50 3-count jumping jacks
10 Burpee pull-ups
50 3-count jumping jacks
repeat 2 more times
Strength: Giant sets
1a. Conventional Deads (All dead stopped on the floor): 440x5, 495x3, 550x2
(Switch to hybrid sumo stance) 515x2, 515x2
1b. Weighted decline sit-ups: 5 sets of 8 reps
2a. Front Squats: 285x5, 315x5, 335x5
2b. Weighted Decline Sit-ups: 3 sets of 8 reps
2c. DB swings: 75x8, 75x8, 75x8
3a. Rack deads (Pins set in the center of my knees): 455x2, 495x2, 545x2, 585x2 (with a 30 sec hold on the last rep)
Extract: 2 mile run and a fast pace
Notes:
-My conventional deads are stronger than i think they just about ever have been…I am interested to see when i max out again which will be stronger…getting the weight past the stick point on my knees seems easier during conventional, and then i am usually just able to gorilla the weight on my lock out…
-racks are still harder for me than from the floor…
-the insert was a tough one. good challenge.
-i’m headed to the beach tomorrow, all of you should come, it will be a good time.
Take it easy and thanks for reading
Hey dude just checking in here again.You are still fcuking beastly!I was just mulling over the quote you put up about mental toughness being learned.It’s a good concept.Still,some people have an innate ability to grit it out all more when the chips are down where other people just sink into apathy.
On that note here is a short and sweet quote/poetry.
“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
Without ever having felt sorry for itself”
– D.H. Lawrence
And also a pertinent video checklist for all your high speed low drag needs ha.
Hey I lived in Aberdeen for 18-months! I used to love eating crab right at the Chesapeake Bay and sitting in some stands and watching some rough looking chickies play spike to the knee softball.
Always good to read your posts.
Hey man it’s been a while since I last checked in. I see you are still killing it in the gym. I can’t tell you how much your advice and rants have helped, both my lifts and my endurance are way up from where they were 2 months ago, and this has been on a low carb diet and I am now leaner than I have ever been before.
However do you have any more advice on improving my squat? I have managed to up it to a very scrappy 150kg, but am still having trouble making progress with it. I plan on changing my squat routine around a little bit, but the bottom of the rep is still very weak.
Just read the log, major inspiration. The quotes and rants definitely open up your mind to make more sense of things, also caused many flashbacks on when i could of done more. I Also liked the Ayn Rand quotes, I’m currently reading “The Fountainhead” myself. Keep up the good work brother.
Hi,
Not posted in a while, but I am still reading 
Haha yeh hotel gym workouts, that reminded me of a wkend away I had once for a company ‘workshop’ thing. Half way through the first afternoon we were allowed an hours break, so I thought I’d do a quick workout to try an wake myself up from the boring ‘company objective’ lectures.
Anyway I ran to my room, got changed and headed off to find the gym, thinking I’d get a good 40mins. When I got there I was told there was a 5 pound charge for us, as we weren’t paying guests! I was like ‘but my company has paid’ they said ‘actually they didn’t pay the extra for you to use the gym’…What?!! Now bearing in mind we were a fitness company, can you imagine how pissed off I was?!
I knew that by the time I went to my room and back to get the cash (which I kind of begrudged paying anyway) that I wouldn’t have much time left to workout, so I went back to my room and did countless dips and press ups between chairs etc. I was so pissed off, it certainly woke me up but not in the way I was expecting lol!
Anyway keep banging out the PRs.
bump because I will not allow this to be on page 3!!!
Alpha, I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to read the F.I.R.E. article by Waterbury yet, but it seems that training style and yours are pretty similar!
hahahah that RTT CQB guy was pretty funny. At first I wasnt laughing but then when he started pulling out the “you’re in the primary” and all that I started laughing… Definitely a pretty good representation of a lot of the Marines I worked with… especially some of the recon guys lol. Funny stuff.
Here’s your obligatory “where the @&*! are you?!?”, but only because I know you’d do the same for me.
law8: I agree with you man, but i do still believe that the “skill” can be learned and cultivated…if it was all innate, i would have gone running and screaming away a long time ago!
Oh and I totally love that quote brother…one of my favs! thanks for it and the hilarious vid!
OG! i lived in joppatown until i was 8! The explosions at the proving grounds in Aberdeen used to scare/amaze me! So great to see you on here!
Iron warrior: thanks so much for the kind words brother! Do me a favor and shoot me a PM explaining what you were doing/are doing/are planning on doing with your squat workouts and i will get back to you and give you any advice i can! But also read the squat section in Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength”, just re-learning the mechanics is what often helps me a ton…I’ll be waiting for the PM brother!
K-man: thanks so much for the kind words man, they help when i am having trouble finding the motivation to get into the gym!
Lift and Eat : man, if I could have a dollar for every time i have been frustrated with a Hotel Gym, i would buy everyone in here a power rack! It is like they intentionally want you to be worth less, give up and head to the bar for $12 beers! great to see you back in here again man!
OG: And that is why I love you! well that and all of those pics you PM me! J/k…but yea it is cut throat around here anymore! So many logs around that i get kicked to page 8 in 3.5 seconds!
Mackk: yea man i just checked it out today. i think it sounds pretty good. but i wish they would have given a little more idea of what and average day and the programing is going to look like. i like Waterbury, he thinks out of the box, and that is the only way any of us are going to progress…
but i have been invited to do some of my own stuff on a separate website that i am thinking about, where it won’t be as censored and stuff. I’ll keep everyone posted as detail arise…but don’t worry, I’ll still be posting here as well. I just may be able to make a little cash and get some discounts on the other site. we will see…
Gregron: Dude parody isn’t funny if it is not close to truth! i was laughing pretty good, but i could see how people who aren’t around that kind of stuff wouldn’t get some of the references. Good stuff!
Power GnP: i was out looking for a matching wardrobe to the one you have on in your avatar!..no such luck…I am stuck with Capri pants and a schmedium pink shirt tied in the front…I’ll explain where I was below
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“Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.”
-Paxton Hood
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27July2010: Training
Insert: Rushed…not much time
Run 400 Meters
15 Burpee pull ups
15 95lb Squat presses
Run 400 Meters
Run 400 Meters
15 Burpee pull ups
15 95lb Squat presses
Run 400 Meters
Strength: 5/3/1 week3wave1 & Giant sets of course
1a. Weighted Pull-ups: 110x4, 120x3, 120x3, 100x4, 100x4
1b. Military: 185x5, 205x3, 225x3 (had plenty more in me), 185x5, 205x5
1c. Weighted Obliques: 4 sets of 8 reps each side
2a. DB Rows: 120x8, 120x8, 120x8
2b. BB Incline Bench: 255x8, 285x8, 255x8
2c. Weighted Obliques: 4 Sets of 8 reps a side
3a. Standing DB Lateral Raises: 45x8, 45x8
3b. Standing DB Curls: 55x6, 50x6
3c. Random BW pull-ups: BWx20, BWx20
Extract: none…they closed the gym on me…
Notes:
So between being out of the area, then hitting the beach, then a work schedule so bad that people are killing themselves (seriously…we had 2 this month), I just haven’t been around to get much in…annnnnddddd i get to leave the country again tommrrow! yeah! it is what it is, whining over…
-anyway i didn’t get to the gym till almost 9 and the extract got cut because they were closing the place up…
-But I was happy with a strict 225 on the military and 8 good reps in the BB inc…
-If i can get caught up on everything else I will hit it hard again here after a couple hours of sleep and try to log it before i disappear for a few more days!
I really, really do appreciate all of your comments and questions everyone! i cannot describe how much it means! keep it up! …that is, if you want to!
sleep calls…
Its really shocking to hear about those 2 people Alpha, I’m sorry to hear about that seriously. I hope you’re doing well and I’m more than sure you’re the toughest dude out there haha. Thanks for keeping the updates coming through the hectic times and if that new site works out you’ll definitely have a follower.
Great quote, did you happen to fall upon my quote of the day or is this coincidence? Anyhow, just pulling your leg brother, with you I know it is always a good reason. It was greaseball theme day, sweats+sweater vest in the summer = not a good idea.
Its difficult to hear about your coworkers (and I’m sure friends) that is never something one can take lightly.
mackk and Power gnp:
Thanks fellas, but i didn’t even know either of them…I only mentioned it to whine about how bad our schedules have been…
p.s. insomnia sucks.
Joppatown eh? I think my high school whooped you guys in football every year.
Bjack: …I was 8!..if your high school couldn’t beat us, you should go take many sleeping pills! Haha thanks for checking in man.
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29July2010: training
Insert: Run 1.5 miles as fast as you can.
Strength: Squats 5/3/1 Week3wave1 and giant sets:
1a. Squats: I forgot my training log, but i remembered my last set was going to be 525…what i did was this:
445x5, 495x3, 525x1, 405x4, 405x4 (what i was supposed to do was 415x5, 470x3, 525x1)…so i did better than i thought!
1b. DB Snatches: 80x8, 80x8, 80x8, 80x8 each arm
1c. Weighted Abs: 5 sets of 8 reps
2a. Squats with green band double up around my knees: 315x5, 335x5, 355x5
2b. Good Mornings: 225x8, 225x8, 225x8
2c. Weighted abs: 3 Sets of 8 reps
No insert or extract because i simply did not have any time…i didn’t even fit in all of my usual lifting…
notes:
It is actually a good thing I didn’t have that much time because it has been a Long, long time since I have felt this bad in the gym…No sleep at all last night…maybe 5 hours combined in the past few days, and I need to pull an all nighter again tonight in another country…but that is enough excuses…I still I got my prescribed reps (more so actually) and that is good enough for me today…
i hope all of you out there are doing well, if i can get some workouts in over seas, i will do my best to post them here.
be good…oh and BTW Read, “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, and “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz…both were pretty interesting…
[quote]Alpha wrote:
but i wish they would have given a little more idea of what and average day and the programing is going to look like. i like Waterbury, he thinks out of the box, and that is the only way any of us are going to progress…
but i have been invited to do some of my own stuff on a separate website that i am thinking about, where it won’t be as censored and stuff. I’ll keep everyone posted as detail arise…but don’t worry, I’ll still be posting here as well. I just may be able to make a little cash and get some discounts on the other site. we will see…
[/quote]
Check out the video about half way down the Fat on Fire discussions page:
gives a bit more detail on the prog layout.
Your own site def sounds interesting, look fwd to hearing more detail as and when.
Alpha, sorry to hear about your coworkers. Stay safe, sane and strong man.
Hey, good to see you made it back…hope you got some relaxing time on the beach! jealous!
stay safe.