alright, life’s calmed down a bit. Kinda. Don’t need any concern about me, a position opened up and I volunteered to take it, no one’s fault but my own, and I’m glad I did it. Sometime work needs doing even if it upends life a bit.
Workouts HAVE been happening, but at weird times, weird hours, in weird places. Half my workouts are at like 0230, so I joined a 24 hour gym so that I wouldn’t wake the Mrs with my lifting. Plus side, hammering leg press has my quads sore for the first time in… I don’t actually remember lol. Long time.
Nutrition has been solid. Sleep has been fucked. Booze has been cut out minus one night of absolute binge drinking with my team as a well earned celebration. (Side note, I was making the team gimlets, and we ran out of gin, so I tried it with tequila, and holy hell it worked better than I ever expected lol)
Anyway, here’s today’s just as a snapshot and proof of life lol.
living off enough caffeine to kill a horse. Not a large horse. But a horse nonetheless.
decided I’m doing a powerlifting meet in Nov, because life’s too busy for me to handle the logistics of training strongman, and I’m losing my mind going to the gym without a clear challenge in mind. I gotta train for something lol.
sleeps starting to mess with me a bit. Been working pretty religiously the last year to get my circadian rhythm back on track, but damn a few weeks of shift work and I’m back at square one. Going to medical once this is all over to get a sleep study.
Lift felt good.
Cardio has taken a hit, just not really time for the longer sessions I was planning, so it’s just a bit more sporadic, but still feeling good on that front
Superset:
Decline sit up: 10x12, 10x12, 10x12
45 back raise: 50x12, 50x12, 50x12
Notes:
hit true low bar today. Felt all sorts of terrible for the first couple sets, and then got back into my old groove pretty quickly, and already feeling better than hi bar ever did. I’m just built for low bar lol.
Forgot how much slower I had to take the decent on low bar. I can dive bomb hi bar a bit, no shot with low, it’s slow and controlled descent or I good morning the damn thing. Still, felt solid once I got into it
Leg press is taking it out of me, in a good way. I can grind on this a ton, which is great for “dumb strength” if that makes sense. I like having a leg movement that is no thought, just effort, and really am using this to add some mass to the legs while using squats more as practicing strength. Goal is 8pps for 3x12 before the comp, feel like that would be a good indicator of strength progressing for me.
This day is more quad focused, cause I can hit my deadlift day at home, and hammer hammies then.
Side note: I go to this gym due to my weird hours and my garage being directly under my bedroom so I don’t wake up the Mrs. I do see other people there, even if it’s like 0300. I will say, I have seen multiple guys benching 315 (always exactly 315, no one does 325 or anything, just reps at 315.) I’ve seen exactly one dude squat 315, and it was me lol.
Superset:
Inc bench: 185x9, 185x6
Chest support db row: 75x8, 75x7
Superset:
Db bench: 75x12.
EZ Bar curl: 65x20
Notes:
Jesus life is kicking my ass. I’m putting up a good fight, but the schedules just nuts. Pressed for time today, my brief free time got annexed by an electrical issue that ended with me tearing apart half my damn kitchen, but it’s fixed now.
Typing this up before a work meeting, found a few extra minutes.
Atlas rules for training when life is nuts:
superset everything. No, it’s maybe not ideal, but if you’re cramming a lot into a little, it’s worth it.
Generally, I favor volume and submax work, feels like I progress better strength wise that way. Takes too long. Short on time, at least for all accessory work, take 1-2 sets at a balls out RPE, then move on.
Ditch mobility. Yeah, it’s important. It’s more long term important than short term though. Do some stretching in between sets if you need it. (Again, this isn’t training for life, this is when exceptional circumstances make training take a backseat)
No time for long cardio sessions. Hit 2-3 10ish or less minute sessions a week, and try to generally walk around more at work. (In my case, working a desk pretty heavy, I’m walking to the water fountain on the far end of the building about once an hour. It’s only like 7 minutes rounds trip, but it’s better than just straight sitting)
Cut the isolation work. It’s important, but just a bad ROI if you gotta be in and out in like 35 min. Squat, tug, and press heavy, I promise your “insert vanity muscle here” will survive a few weeks.
Too busy to workout often means too busy to meal prep. Sucks, but true. Doesn’t mean ya get shit food. Keep some cans of chicken and tuna on hand, few bags of microwave rice, some fruit, handful of nuts, protein shakes. Sure, it’s not crushing your micros at all, and it’s bland. It’s also definitely both cheaper, faster, and healthier than fast food. don’t let perfect get in the way of good, being busy if anything is a great reason not to eat shit, not an excuse too.
The 400mg daily recommend caffeine limit is for cowards. Chug enough of the good stuff and you can knock out some zone 2 cardio while sitting at your desk.
Never go 3 days without doing something. One day is just a rest day. Sometimes life gets in the way and your rest day turns onto 2. But even if it means doing pushups and air squats at your desk, never let it reach 3
dead stopping the deadlifts. Going for semi submax work here. 70ish percent, some strong 5x3 work, really just retraining the skill set while still keeping lower back fresh enough to squat, since that’s definitely my weaker lift.
Using SSB for now, may shift to a second straight bar day closer to the comp, but want some variation for now. Keeping low bar stance width for SSB, and practicing a slower descent. Feels good, maybe not as strong without the bounce at bottom, but forms way better and I think I can build it well.
Hitting the slant board because I tried doing some BSS, and my knee was just screaming at me. I think these thinks are good for building up knee health, so doing that for a bit.
I can really just manipulate the angles on this GHR almost like a damn resistance machine lol. Changed it up again, these felt much tougher, in a good way
I made a mistake on conditioning. This was so much worse than expected. My roads got some different gradients, hit the wrong one and the sled stops altogether. These weren’t sprints like I hoped, this was straight up grinding, but my lungs still nearly exploded. Best and worst conditioning tool out there lol.
it does actually kind of just surprise me. Always worked out at more serious gyms, or at least more athletic focused gyms. Not rare for me to see someone bench 315, pretty damn common honestly, but I can’t think of anyone I know benching that weight that isn’t also squatting 4+. Just interesting to see guys who have been benching for 20 years and may have not done a leg day in 15 lol
I like your rules for busy living. I think of it like going “rally car mode”. If I’m really trying to just get from A to B without exploding, what can I go without? Let’s get rid of the air conditioner and just sweat a bunch.
Superset:
Seated DB press: 65x12, 65x9
BPA: rrx15, rrx15
Tricep ext: 75x15, 75x13, 60x15
Couples extra sets of BPA since I wasn’t doing rows.
Notes:
I don’t know why, but I got a crippling lat cramp after my first Pullup. Again, these are all super submax, just me trying to slowly baby the elbow into letting me do them regular without tendinitis. I’m not struggling. So when I did one rep and half my back was violently cramping, I was puzzled. Tried doing some rows later and back just wasn’t having it, cramping so bad I couldn’t fully retract. Idk if I slept wrong or what, but my right side just under the armpit was just locked up.
Luckily, didn’t effect pressing at all, and that still moved well. Did 235 last time I was doing this week, but this was paused so a bit different. Moved better, felt decent, content with it.
Felt my lat on tricep extensions, weird. It’s not hurt, I’m not injured, seriously just this odd cramp that wouldn’t go away. Huh.
Superset:
High incline DB press: 40x15, 55x15, 55x15
BPA: rrx15, rrx15, rrx15
Tricep ext: 70x13, 70x13.
2k row: 7:51
Notes:
Haven’t really been pushing pull-ups like originally planned. Going to start doing some more banded submax stuff on more than just my bench day. 5-10 minutes, I really just want to get this elbow to adapt so I can start actually doing them as a main movement again.
Bench felt good. Shoulder fought me on the last rep at 235, but managed it. The pause is not my friend, just holding the weight where my shoulder is least happy lol.
Accessories moved well.
I need to get more of a focus on my conditioning. With this schedule, I’m slipping. I think I’m going to start a daily debt. Every day, I owe 50 burpees. I can ditch em if I do a real conditioning session. But I can almost always justify 5 minutes or so to knock out 50, and it’s better than nothing, so that may be my new min. Either make time for real conditioning, or do the damn burpees. (I also have a personal vendetta against burpees lol)
I am college educated. Top 3 public school in the U.S. I am a nuclear engineer. I’m smoking the LSAT and will likely be at a T14 law school in the near future.
Why the hell am I fundamentally unable to figure out my fucking taxes? I’m paying a guy next year, screw this.
