1/17/2023
Rest and restore day. Here’s what I did:
11,500 steps
4 miles leisurely biking around
1 hour Hatha yoga class
Nothing strenuous, just some easy and relaxing activity. Ate really well for the most part. A friend brought over homemade whole grain bread, so had a bit more of that than was necessary but who can blame me.
Back at CF tomorrow. Looking at the class: Bench press 5x5; weighted pull ups 5x3 with a WOD of wall walks, pull ups, and double unders. Can’t beat that!
1/18/2023
7 am CrossFit class
Strength
Bench Press: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Started at 185, worked up to 215 lbs
Weighed Pull ups: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 (supersetted with BP)
Started at +35 lbs, worked up auto +70 lbs
WOD, 14 min AMRAP
3 wall walks
20 pull ups
60 double unders (or 75 singe unders)
5 wall walks
20 pull ups
60 double unders (or 75 singe unders)
7 wall walks……(keep adding 2 per round)
(Got 3 full rounds + 5 wall walks on the “9” wall walk round)
Notes: Weighted pull ups felt really strong. Bench (which I don’t do a lot of these days) felt strong but I feel a bit of an impingement on my left side. Was planning on going up to 235 lbs or so but thought better of it. Plus, it was a timed strength workout with not too much time between sets. The WOD was tough. The wall walks really add up. The pull ups were done usually broken up in sets of 5 as the rounds progressed. Not a great day for double unders. Just when I think I’m ready for a break through I struggle stringing any together.
I’ll get in some accessory work and mobility work tonight.
1/18/2023
PM work
5 rounds:
15 second ring hold + 5 slow ring dips
4 rounds:
12 ring reverse delt flys + 1 gun walk; 22 kg bell
100 push ups on Bear Blocks
100 sit ups
Mobility drills
1/19/2023
I wanted to post on my BodySpec DEXA scans results that came in today. Overall, my BF% has dropped over the last 8 months, with a decrease in fat tissue and an increase in lean mass. Woohoo!
For those interested in what type of details it provides, I am posted it here:
So this shows the basics, and where my fat is situated. It also gives some calibration, but this is for the general population and doesn’t discriminate in my age range once a male is below 20% BF.
This page shows my resting metabolic rate increased to 1701 cal/day due to the increased lean mass. Also, notably, the BF in my lower ab region decreased a good amount (down almost 3%). I am certainly leaner in this area visually and from pants.
0.0% visceral fat, which of course is good news for my health. Apparently my bone density is off the charts compared to the population at large (Z-score).
There are three more pages which get more into regional fat and regional lean tissue charts over time. Good news: the fat went down and the lean tissue increased in all regions. I won’t post these because they’re not of much interest.
A couple of thoughts:
At 49, I feel pretty good about simultaneously increasing muscle mass and decreasing fat. I think it shows (as with logs and results by @T3hPwnisher , @ChongLordUno , @SvenG , @simo74, @kleinhound and others) that hard conditioning will work well AND you can remain strong or get even stronger while really pushing it. My results are in no way overly dramatic especially compared to younger guys, but again considering my age and how long I’ve been training or at least exercising hard, it’s pretty good. So many tell us (or me) that at my age I should stop going hard and that all my improvements are in the rearview mirror. Glad to see they’re wrong.
What did I change over these last 8 months? Well, if you’ve seen my log you know I’ve been doing Crossfit mostly at the expense of standalone cardio/conditioning and pure strength workouts. Even when I workout in my garage, I now gravitate to training like this: no more 5 minute rests between sets of bench press. The only workout supplements I use are whey protein and I did start using Surge right around the time I started CF (this stuff works, @Chris_Shugart).
Well, the people I tagged already had all this figured out, but hopefully some older dudes will be inspired to keep pushing it harder and keep improving.
Great job brother!
Welcome to the secret society of “just work really hard all the time”
Superb mate. Really chuffed with your progress all throughout the time I’ve known you on here. Keep going.
You are living it dude! You’re not just plugging away: you’re carving the path.
You’re setting the standard in here, my man! Such good stuff.
Okay, I could have just said that instead of a long paragraph. But I couldn’t help being wordy.
So much good info in the dexa scans. A very handy resource especially when you can tracke results. Does it link into an app also? (the one my gym uses adds info via an app so you can track previous scans too).
Pumped for you on this continual improvement. Keep working the plan!
Wow thanks for the tag in with those young guys mate. I’m 49 this year and I’m just happy be be able to keep pushing myself wherever that goes. Good to have you along as part of the go hard or go home crew.
Cool that we’re pretty much the same age; I didn’t realize that (but now that you say it, you do look old 
). You’re definitely still going at it harder than me (or maybe just having videos make it seem that way, so you can see the suffering). I see your all logs and think how crazy the workouts seem.
Lol I do look old. I blame my 3 kids.
1/19/2023
Soccer. 1 hour 8 on 8 game at noon. Lots of running in this one.
Core circuit, as prescribed by CrossFit’s WOD:
3 rounds 3 minutes max effort of:
20 Alternating V-ups
Hollow hold, 10 s
20 Russian twists
Hollow hold, 10 s
(90 s rest between rounds)
7 minute mobility routine]
Notes: I’m gonna feel that soccer game. It’s historically been a faculty/staff game, but we’ve let graduate students play lately to get numbers up. A couple go a bit too hard physically and need to be reminded (not so gently at times) to tone it down. It’s indoor and essentially a no-contact game, if possible. Not so much with them. I’m using soccer to replace my conditioning day.
My plans of 3 long runs a week lasted about 2 weeks until the rains and now my schedule have derailed it. I’m not too bothered as I’m still getting the work and have no immediate distance running goals.
Thanks, @raven78. I appreciate the comment and motivation. I don’t know about the app for the DEXA scan. It’s by BodySpec, at least around here, and they email me the PDF of the results. They also have consulting available that I haven’t done. It’s definitely a nice data point, as it gives health markers in addition to body composition details.
1/20/2022
7 am CF class:
6x[1 power snatch + 1 split jerk + 1 squat snatch + 1 split jerk]
Worked up to an unimpressive 135 lbs
WOD, 10 minute AMRAP
8 strict handstand push ups
12 alternating KB snatches, 20 kg bell
50 foot walking lunges with a single overhead KB, 20 kg bell
(3 rounds + 8 reps)
Notes: Struggled with the split jerks today for some reason. Just a mental lapse or something. But, I did get 8 unbroken strict HSPU’s, which is a first for me when doing them correctly (back to the wall). Class ran late so I’ve gotta rush off to work. More to come later….
Congratulations on the great progress! I’ve done a couple of DEXA scans and I’ve found this chart useful: https://support.fit3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010221367-Fit3D-Body-Fat-FAQ. I don’t think a lot of people appreciate just how lean a 16% DEXA scan makes you.
Edit: What I also think is cool about this is that it shows you can gain some muscle while doing workouts that aren’t really geared towards that as the primary goal.
Thanks, @burt128!. That’s a great chart and I was googling to find something like it. I agree that most really underestimate their body fat, and would not think 16% is as lean as it is. I was in that boat a few years back.
I did think/fear that I would lose muscle if I moved away from a structured strength training program. It’s nice to see the opposite was true. I do throw in the dedicated strength session now and again, but nothing like the volume and frequency I was doing.
I appreciate you stopping by and giving the useful input!
