100%. A valuable skill none the less, but different. I always liked Jim Wendler referring to it as “Conaning the weight up”
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I haven’t heard that quote, but it totally fits. And honestly, I’m okay with that. I think if strongman is my next goal, that skill is probably a bit more transferable than a perfect back squat. Plus, I just like it, and that’s honestly enough reason for me to do it
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A T Nation classic
Conan approved! I don’t recommend this bar for beginners learning to squat – it’s a vastly different movement than a normal squat and can be very awkward. But for an experienced squatter this bar is 100% Conan Approved because you can just grunt lift.
Looks like I was slightly off, haha
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Work for today:
Notes:
- deadlifts felt a little stiff warming up, but moved when it mattered. 420x7 is a decent PR. Pulled 415x5 back on Jan 20th, so that’s 5 lbs and 2 additional reps in about 3 months.
- Press and Pull went good, no complaints
- this rotating shift work is starting to really throw of my sleep. I’d be much better off if we held these shifts a bit longer; but having to change every 7 days just blows. Not great for seeing the Mrs either, about 2/3 of my shifts have me working anytime she may be home. 4 more months
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Work for today:
Notes:
- bench continues to nose dive as I drop weight. Did bench after squats today since the wife was benching, so probably a little weaker due to that, but still not a great showing.
- Pullup PR, let’s freaking go.
- 5 min pause mid workout. There is a crippled female duck (affectionately named gimpy) who recently placed a nest in a bush in our front yard. Well today, 3 male ducks coordinated a multi-pronged assault on gimpy’s eggs, attacking and trying to destroy them ASAP. However, they were not expecting gimpy to have reinforcements. I came sprinting out of my garage just absolutely slapping the shit out of these ducks with my lifting belt, while my wife threw various lawn tools at them. Our foes quickly broke ranks, while the wife went to tend to our casualties. Gimpy lost 2 eggs, but the rest are safe. We placed some wood up to reinforce her perimeter, only one way in and out now. Pellet gun by the front door, we are ready for this fight.
- Belt Loop 18 (PR, gonna need a new belt soon)
- AM Weight: 222.4 (PR)
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this made me smile
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Work for today:
Easy cycling ride: 62 minutes, 576 calories
Notes:
- AM weight: 222.2
- been reading up on zone 2 training. I have never really done any sort of extended cardio sessions with real regularity, the most I had in rotation was some 3 mile runs, and those were always done at max intensity. The science looks pretty solid on the benefits of long slow cardio, and I think it could help me feel less fatigued once the work shift gets to the 10+ hour mark. Plus, I have never noticed any real effect on lowering my resting heart rate via HIIT, so maybe this will work. Going to try sprinkling this in a bit more often.
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103 fever, body aches, coughing a ton. Think I have the flu. Bleh
Sorry to hear you are unwell mate. I was pretty bad last week so no gym for me but I still managed to cough my way through a little daily conditioning. Hope you feel better soon.
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I’m hoping to do the same. Felt like hell the past couple days but assumed it was just shift work getting to me. Dying yesterday, which I why I did an hour of cycling to kind of loosen up my system. Wasn’t until I started shivering so badly today that I couldn’t really stop it that I realized “oh, this might be like actual sick, not just run down” lol. I think my standards for running myself into the ground at work have just gotten so ridiculous that feeling like ass is kind of just part of my routine.
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Covid. Again. Jesus Christ.
Wife and I both have it. Of my team at work, 5 out of the 8 of us tested positive, 3 of those 5 being their 2nd time with Covid. Our workplace just has so many people in such tight spaces for such long days, along with a closed loop ventilation system, god damn virus breeding ground.
Edit: also, literally everyone literally allowed onto the freaking facility has to be completely vaccinated, and most have the booster. Doesn’t seem to be doing a whole lot, still spreading like wildfire
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I feel for you mate. Hope you get over it soon.
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Update:
- Covid took me for a loop. Fever for about 4 days, chills like crazy, trouble breathing. Got over that, still had some shortness of breath, got back to work. Well, the shortness of breath only got worse and worse, to the point where I was feeling like hell. 14 hour shift work didn’t help either, but was trying to catch up on some stuff I missed. Wife saw the doc again yesterday, turns out she got pneumonia. Well, I went to get checked today, I’ve got it as well. Great.
- good news is, it’s fairly mild, and the doc gave me some antibiotics that he said should have me cleared up within the week. Also an inhaler, which works pretty shockingly well. Feel like I can get a full breath for the first time in 2 weeks.
- that being said, my bodies jacked up. Resting heart rate went from high 50’s to low 80s, my blood pressure is high for the first time in my life, and I just feel constantly fatigued. Had a full checkup like 6 weeks ago, so I know this whole change is recent. I feel like hell, and need to just get my system firing back to normal. With that in mind, got a plan moving forward.
- TRAINING PLAN:
- 3/5/1, doing 5’s pro with window makers, and WALRUS style assistance. Not looking to hit crazy PRs or anything, just want to get myself feeling healthy again. After a cycle or 2 of this, then I will start pushing for heavy numbers again. Works well with my work schedule, and won’t tax me too badly while my body is recovering. For training maxes, I’m just going to start over on the current cycle I was doing, and continue from there.
Work for today:
Press: 3’s week
45x10
95x3
120x5
135x5
155x5
120x8
10 rounds
3 pull-ups
4 dips
8 35lb Goblet squats
Notes:
- in and out in 40 minutes
- Everything felt heavy as hell. 155x5 was probably the most reps I could of done, even if I was trying for a PR. Absolutely nothing left in the tank for a widow maker, barely got those 8 reps. Felt winded just loading up the weights, just not firing on all cylinders. Still, got in some work.
- actually really like WALRUS as assistance. Going to up the reps as the weeks go on, but this style just feels good. Enjoy it.
- quads were cramping like crazy. Pathetic.
Overall, a shit session, but even a shit session is me performing better than I was a year ago, I’ll chalk that up as progress.
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Ugh—tough couple of weeks, my man. Glad to see you’re back at it!
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So sorry to hear that rona kicked you in the ar$e mate. Looks like you have a good plan to get healthy with the antibiotics and inhaler and a solid training plan to get back into it. I didn’t have it half as bad as you from the sound of it but I did use an inhaler all the way through mine and still 3 weeks later I use it sporadically if I am feeling tight on the chest.
Give yourself time to heal and don’t go too crazy, you wont really have lost any strength even though it may feel like it.
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@simo74 Honestly, I was pretty surprised at how much it took me out. Wife and I have both had it before, neither one of us had anything other than a few sniffles the last time. Whatever strand we got really just came out swinging. A lot of my coworkers had it pretty rough too, a couple pretty significantly worse than me. Just grateful that I have a good doc taking care of me and that i will be on the up and up soon. Agree with you on the taking it easy coming back. Sounds odd, but as I was lifting, I could feel that I had more strength in me, I just couldnt get to it. Like, my body has and still can lift more than it did today, but there was almost a little “block” saying “nope, this is as hard as im going to let you push today.” I expect that will go away as I start to get back into the gym. Few rough days to start, then just getting my body used to the damage again lol.
@SvenG Thanks man! Tough couple weeks indeed, but glad to be back at the weights!
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Work for today:
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 355x5, 395x5
10 rounds:
First 5 rounds: 4 chins, 5 dips, 8 35lb goblet squats
Second 5 rounds: 3 chins, 4 dips, 8 35lb goblet squats
Superset:
BB curl: 3x10x65lbs
Y raise: 3x10x5lbs
Notes:
- mixed bag today. Still feeling weak. 395x5 was damn near a max, I may have had 1 or 2 more in me, but definitely not hitting a clean 10 like I did a few weeks back. Also felt it way more in my lower back than I generally do, not a great set. Still, felt much stronger than I did on press the other day, can tell I’m coming back. Slower than I’d like, but coming
- walrus work went well. Bumped the pull-ups and dips just a bit. For the chins, I’m rotating grip every time, so it goes normal pull-ups, medium grip parallel, narrow grip parallel, wide grip parallel, chins, then repeat. Feels good.
- heart still starts just racing when I do any physical work, not really in a good way. Feels like my heart is that fat guy trying to frantically keep up with a running group lol.
- was able to hit belt loop 18, which surprises me. My diets honestly been crap since I got sick, just eating what feels good. Some days that’s just nothing, lots of time it’s been heavy carbs. More than once I just had plain mash potatoes for dinner since the blandness was all that sounded good. Need to step on a scale, see where I’m at.
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Work for today:
Mowed the lawn with a 25lb ruck
AM Weight: 220. New low for me. Pretty surprised, thought I’d have put on weight, especially since I went out to dinner last night and pretty well pigged out. Must of dropped a lot when I was pretty sick. Least I didn’t get fatter
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Work for today:
Bench: 45x10, 135x5, 170x5, 195x5, 220x5, 170x10
3 rounds
5 pull-ups
6 dips
10 35lb kettlebell squats
50 band pull aparts
Crunched for time, knocked this out in 20 min. Lats cramping like crazy, never had that before
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Work for today:
AM: waiting for a meeting at work, when my coworkers found an empty room with some old gym equipment, including some massive bicep curl machine. Unsurprisingly, a 1 rep max bicep curl contest quickly began. One of my coworkers, former linebacker for Navy, was able to curl the entire stack. I one upped him by curling the entire stack for 3. It was easily the most effort I have ever put into my biceps, but dominance was asserted.
PM:
20 min cycling class: 317 calories burned
20 minutes or so of stretching and mobility work
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