No kidding? Well, they certainly fulfill the mission lol. Idk if you find it to be similar, but they don’t seem to suck nearly as much until I stop…. But the moment that bar stops moving and I rest in between reps, each rep is a killer. I find myself just trying to race to hit reps ASAP before my arms realize wtf is going on lol
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Yeah, “lactic acid threshold/pain tolerance training”. I use the same strategy. It’s weird how much getting to 50 hurts and then it goes away if you keep going
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Totally missed the curl PR—congrats on that, too!
I’ve hit 111 (or maybe 112?) with an empty barbell, but I’ve not pushed it any further than that—120 is now a new goal, haha!
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That’s kind of wild… I feel like my biceps grew pretty substantially after including poundstones… I wasn’t doing much arm work before I started including them, though.
And yeah, definitely this haha.
I always love trying to open my hands fully afterwards. The pain reaches up my entire arm. They’re ridiculous.
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Work for today:
Notes & General Life Updates:
- good workout, felt strong in the gym. Bench matched a PR, but was able to match is with the bar moving much better this time. I’d say lower RPE, but I honestly have no idea how to judge any range of RPE that isn’t 10 or 1 lol
- I’m getting pretty pleased with my pull-ups. It’s not that I can do an amazing amount, but I can do them easily. Set of 6, after bench and a Kroc row set, and that was without a lot of effort, just getting some reps in. Think I’m probably good for 10 or so if I do them fresh. At a bit north of 230, I’m pretty happy with that, especially since I couldn’t do 1 proper pull-up 8 months ago when we moved.
- I still love the SSB. It’s just awesome.
- still feeling a pulling pain in my groin/abdominal region when I do ab wheels. Not sure why, but not too keen to mess with it either. Just going to give it some time.
- oh, PR on box jump height today. Was doing them with the box and 2 45lb bumpers. Getting to a little bit above the bottom of my glutes, which I know isn’t crazy, but not bad for doing them from a standstill for a couple reps in squat shoes.
- life is busy, and work is keeping me swamped. The 3x weekly lifting was definitely a good idea, and I’m falling into a decent pattern. Only real issue I’m facing is juggling family time and sleep. Works not really an option to cut time, military isn’t exactly onboard with cutting shifts early. I don’t really have free time other than the gym, but that’s already tight, so if I want to spend an hour or two in the evening catching up with my wife, it means I just get to sleep later. I can normally get around 6 hours, but not really any more, and not infrequently closer to 5. Starts to grind on me a bit by the end of the week. Not sure if I notice it physically, but I definitely notice it at work. Very mentally taxing job, and I’m just nowhere near as sharp in terms of memorization or recall at the end of the week as I am when I go in rested at the beginning. Still working on how I can cut back on time demands to get a bit more rest.
- that being said, work is Going well, I’m excelling in my role, ranking well above the average of my peers, pleased with that. Doing very technical work, which is not really what I’m interested in, nor my background, but it’s the job so I’m glad I can hold my own.
- 9 year anniversary with the Mrs is coming up soon (we’ll first date, not marriage, but still). Not really relevant to the log, but it’s the first time in 6 years that works let me be home for it, so I’m pretty pumped about that, and working to make it a pretty special occasion for her.
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I do the Peter Griffin “toe stub” thing for a while after the Poundstone curls.
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Work for today:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbA5YV2OiuK/?utm_medium=copy_link
Notes:
- Press went well. Focused hard on let letting my left arm rise faster than my right, as that’s been a bit of an issue. Think I did a decent job at that.
- chins went well, getting slowly stronger at the weighted variety, which is a pretty cool feeling.
- feeling a little extra explosive on my box jumps and slams, which is always nice
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Work for today:
Notes:
- going into this after a 14 hour work day, on my feet for most of it, feeling pretty dead. Had to lie to myself a decent amount to get through this, actually talked myself into the gym by saying o would just stretch… then just do the first sets, not pushing for a PR… then just the PR…. Then just bench. My motivation for myself is the exact same as my fathers guide to yard work lol.
- happy with the Pullup PR, immense sense of personal pride that I can hit double digits again.
- SSB continues to be the best use of my money in recent memory. God I love that thing, and will continue to sing it’s praises. Just turns squats into a gut check like nothing else.
- cut out a bit of accessory work mainly in the sake of time. Wife and Is 9 year anniversary today, going out to dinner, only left about 40 minutes for the workout.
- not sure if I mentioned this before, but I’ve been dealing with some tendinitis in my right elbow for about 3 weeks now. It hurts mainly on rows and pull-ups, though overhead seems to tick it off for some reason. Not sure what caused it, but hoping it will just go away in a couple weeks
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Work for today:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbOQcU9J5XJ/?utm_medium=copy_link
Notes:
- barbell was catching a bit on my shorts, so I rolled em up a bit. Bad move. Barbell caught hard on my thigh on that first rep, end up setting the bar down pretty dang unevenly. Managed to recover and get my groove back on rep two, but was still pulling skin on every rep. Anyone have any advice for that? Not painful or anything, but it kind of throws my form off when one side of the bar unexpectedly snags.
- I feel like I am getting better at working fatigued. Today, was not feeling this workout. Day 4 of 12+ hour work shifts, I’m just tired. Feeling slow, sluggish, but the weights moved dammit. Didn’t feel “fired up” for a single moment this workout, but I didn’t need to either. My ability to demonstrate strength while tired is definitely building up.
- weighted pull-ups went well, strongest I’ve been at those when performing after deadlifts.
- back to fatigue, I feel like a good indication of fatigue is jumps/ med ball slams. On a good day, I feel like I am just launching myself when I do a jump, and my slams are definitely aggressive. Days like today, med ball throws are a task, and my main focus on jumps is just not wiping out lol. Explosive power seems to be the most correlated with sleep/energy levels for me.
- elbow still bugging me, still just hoping it goes away.
- haven’t been conditioning, and it shows. Not weight wise, but I can tell when I’m not doing it. Hard to fit much more in with my schedule, but I think that’s because I typically view conditioning as a somewhat longer activity. Think it’s time to change that. Going to make a goal to break a sweat daily. Maybe just a 3 minute max burpees, little random 800m run, longer stuff when I can fit it, but just finding little ways to get my heart rate up in a hurry.
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Nice deadlift PR sir. Good job
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Nice PR dude. Jealous of that deadlift.
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Work for today:
Conditioning: 4 minutes of Tabata kb Goblet squat: 35lb kettlebell, keeping it 9 reps per round.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbTOalAu5Ie/?utm_medium=copy_link
Notes:
- bench went well, matched a PR and did it with some still in the tank.
- elbow is bugging me more and more, tendonitis doesn’t seem to be going away. Decided to use straps for the rows, as those always hurt it. Pull-ups we’re pretty painful as well, so called those early. Going to try integrating some more strapped sets and cutting back a bit on the Pullup volume to see if I can get this arm back to normal.
- tried some Tabata work courtesy of @T3hPwnisher @SvenG . After round 3, I thought that this was too easy, I messed up doing this. After round 6, I was regretting my previous cockiness. Killer conditioning in such a short time, definitely keeping this in rotation.
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That’s pretty much the standard journey, haha. I go through it EVERY day.
Set 1-2: Hey, it’s probably going to be a good day!
Set 3: Nope, never mind
Set 4: Ok, halfway there
Set 5: For some reason, no joke, I always hear Rippetoe say the phrase “Silly Bullsh*t” in my head on this set
Set 6: How are there two more sets left after this?
Set 7: Just need to do this one more time
Set 8: Glorp…flibblebob!
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Work for today:
30 min cycling ride, 458 cal burned
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Work for today:
Conditioning: 15 min cycling ride, 258 cal burned (PR)
Notes:
- press went well. Not a PR, but a right call. I’ve hit 160 for 9, and probably had 155 for 10 or 11, but form would of been sacrificed pretty heavily, which I’m trying to not do as much. Especially on press, focusing really hard on extending my right and left arms at the same speed. Got just a bit lopsided on my 9th rep, so I called it there.
- great day for weighted pull-ups despite my elbow being at an all time high pain level. New PR on the first set, better reps on all the rest of the sets. Pull-ups really excite me, in no small measure because of how long I spent being so awful at them. Now, it’s one of my favorite lifts.
- deadlifts felt great. Focusing on initiating with leg drive, really getting some clean reps
- PRd on my height for box jumps
- just a good damn day
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Work for today:
Conditioning: Tabata 35lb KB goblet squats;
- managed 11 reps the first 4 rounds, 10 rounds on 5-6, then 8reps on 7-8. Hit that wall hard. Made it a bit more difficult than last time by holding the kb during the rest rather than setting it down, upper back could definitely tell the difference
Notes:
- SSB went well, happy with that PR. Definitely much stronger on that movement than I was 6 weeks ago.
- pull-ups went well. Was hoping for 11, not quite in the tank. Still, 10 reps was easier than last week when I hit it for a PR, so that’s progress. Stronger on my back off sets as well.
- I tend to swing like crazy when I’m going for a Pullup PR, probably because I’m just focusing on cranking them out fast. Not like Kipping, just not doing a good job of keeping my core tight as I pull. Need to work on that.
- elbow pain is unchanged. Not getting in the way of performance for now, so I’m going to continue ignoring it.
- bench moved great. Just absolutely disrespectful to the weight today lol. Got through all 5 sets in about 10 minutes, with med ball slams in between.
- another PR for height on box jumps, getting right up to the height where I start getting a little worried about what’s gonna happen if I don’t land it lol.
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Looks like you are in a really good place with your training right now, hard work is definitely paying off. Well done sir.
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Thanks boss, I appreciate that.
Honestly, cards on the table, I think a lot of it has been diet, and mainly my lack of one lol. Started the new position at work a month ago, and the long hours are brutal. I notice that mentally, I’m just not as sharp when I’m low on calories, so I made the conscious decision to cool it for a bit on the cut while I got myself established at work. I think my body, having been in a deficit for a little over half a year at this point, is really just feeling ready to explode now that I have some more calories in me, and my strength has tracked accordingly over the past 4 weeks.
Also, with that being said, i think it’s time for me to push the cut again. 4 weeks into work, and without trying to sound boastful, I’m crushing it. Have 40 peers in this job, all of us ranked weekly against one another, and I’ve managed top 10 each week, which honestly I take great pride in given that it’s nuclear engineering work and I studied politics in college lol. Was pretty worried going in, but I’ve managed to adapt pretty well.
Now that I have that good initial impression, and I’ve given my body a bit of a break from the calorie restriction, I feel like I should do another round of cuts. I’m feeling better than I have in years, but I’m still not at what I’d call my prime, and I know that I still probably have a good 30lbs to lose to really be athletic for my size. Stepping on the scale tomorrow for the first time since I started my diet break, going to see what kind of damage was done. Did my best to just eat maintenance without tracking, see if I taught myself any good eating habits. Belt size hasn’t gone up, and pull-ups are still increasing, so I’m hopeful there. Plan is to cut consistently to 215ish, then take another break before doing a final cut down to under 200.
Seems kind of weird planning it out like that, when I started this after deployment losing weight seemed impossible. But know it’s just a task to accomplish. I know what to do, I know it sucks, I know my timeline in my head is always about 80% of the time it actually takes me to get it done, and I know it’s gonna happen. Already down 50, and now I’m attacking this with so much better of a baseline built up. Much easier for a semi muscular conditioned body to drop weight than to try getting in shape after just losing all semblance of athleticism.
Today actually marks the end of my first 5-3-1 cycle. Starting cycle 2 on Saturday. Going to keep doing the full body 1000% awesome template for at least 3 cycles, will re-evaluate after that. Goal weights for all of this will be to match my numbers for each week from this previous cycle. A little audacious, would have me pulling a PR on almost every session, but then again a pulled a PR on almost every session this go around, and I always do better shooting for lofty goals anyway.
On top of that, I freaking love pull-ups. I just do, it feels so damn good to be able to do pull-ups, just makes me feel like I’m not a fat POS anymore. I want to hit 12 pull-ups this upcoming cycle, and 32.5x5 on weighted chins. I think it’s in the bag, but we will see. Long term, I’d really like to hit 20 pull-ups and 50+x5 on weighted chins sometime in 2022, which honestly seems pretty doable if you factor in dropping 30lbs. Already doing 10 at 232ish, reckon that puts me a few reps above that at 200.
Life is crazy for me right now. Works intense, my wife’s career has absolutely exploded in growth, which is amazing for her, but definitely adds a little chaos into our lives. Couple that with me changing duty stations in 6 months, her finishing grad school, both of us still figuring out all the life lessons that come with being a 25 year old married couple, it’s a lot. And it’s great, I’m doing good, just smacking down challenges as they come my way. Every day leaves me bone tired, but very accomplished. It’s gonna be a good year.
This got a little long winded, but there ya go. My plans moving forward. Let’s get to work.
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That was a very well thought out and eloquent response. It sounds like you have a really solid plan in place for your training with some tough but achievable goals which is excellent. Job sounds like it is challenging but you are kicking ass, and life sounds busy but as a dad of three I know what that’s like. Looks like 2022 is going to be a great year and who knows maybe by the end it will be time for a log title change.
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Lol, that is more motivation than you know. Every time i surprise myself with a PR, I think to myself about whether or not it’s time to say I’m “back”. I don’t think I’m quite there…. But I’m damn close