Plan was to do a 5 mile ruck, and add in just a little bit more ruck shuffling. But the weather took a turn, temp dropped to around 40 and it started raining pretty heavily. So instead
made a new lifting program. I have no good reason other than me feeling like a new lifting program fits into well with my whole change of focus. 531 stopped exciting me, just because Iāve done it so long now, but I feel like if Iām not excited for a program, itās not gonna work. Turns out itās not all that different, because long term all this stuff works the same way.
I canāt tell the conditioning is affecting my squat. 350x1 felt tougher than it had any business too. Definitely a weight I could rep still, but not easy.
Iāll do a big write up of my lifting plan later, gonna make an excel doc so I can track.
holy hell I havenāt done high bar In forever. Few observations. 1) itās not insanely uncomfortable. Funny because it used to be the opposite, but the upper traps did not like a barbell saying hello. 2) high bar feels much better than it ever did before. Depth is easier, staying more upright, feel strong. 3) high bar feels more āathleticā than low bar. I donāt know why, nor what āathleticā feels like, but I know this in my soul.
happy with this Ruck. Did 1.5 miles longer than last time, In the cold and rain, with some pretty decent winds. The pace was decent, Iām happy I can maintain sub 14 even without a shuffle. My lungs can definitely keep this up for longer. Lower back as well. Upper back gets a little sore, and my feet were definitely feeling it, especially once the water had soaked through my boots. Also, I think I should start bringing water and maybe some carbs for these longer rucks.
note that ruck weight is probably around 40, itās my backpack with a few things I always leave in there, plus a 25lb and 10lb plate. Also, no waist strap.
Edit:
Finished the day with some mobility work, definitely a bit sore from today
Alright, made a google doc of the little program I came up with. This is essentially me taking everything I know from 5-3-1 (heavy Influence) , Neversate, Poliquin Principles, JuggernautAI, GZCL (another heavy influence, to the point that I looked at the program after I wrote this and realized Iāve basically just made a variant. Nothing new under the Sun lol) , and various sport coaches and making my own take on a program. This is just the lifting, I dont touch any of the jumps, throws, or conditioning aspects, but it let me plan out something of my own, which feels right. Linked is a copy. I donāt have any experience with google drives, so its a bit ugly, and I donāt know how to make it so that other people can copy the cell values so they can just plug in TM numbers, but also dont think anyone else is gonna use this so not worried about it.
press felt great. Lot of controlled reps with heavier weight, then pump city on the build work.
need to get used to the pull-ups, just doing a ton of sets now. Definitely tiring. Happy with 42.5x3, nice little PR.
dips did not agree with me today, actually went better last week. Will give these a few more weeks or so to see it my body adapts to the added stress or not. I used to love dips, Iād really like to be able to add them back in. Feels like a great athletic movement.
happy with my run. I got a pretty intense side crap literally 47 seconds into the run. No idea why. The pace was easy, my heart rate was low, my breathing was easy, literally everything was flowing except my side just decided to flare up. But I could still run, it just hurt. So I just grit my teeth and accepted this was going to be an unpleasant 50 minutes. Cramp went away at like minute 25, and the rest of the one felt fine, dare I say good even, enough so that I pushed it to 60 minutes just to finish up the podcast I had playing lol.
itās amazing how heavy weights feel sometimes. Itās like my body knew how heavy I was going today, and judged to scale. 380x3 felt heavy as hell. It moved great, as it freaking should considering I hit 405x11 a few weeks ago, but it just āfeltā heavy. But I think thatās the beauty of this program. I get lots of experience handling āheavyā weight while not pushing the sets to failure, so Iāll grow more accustomed to what heavy really feels like.
high rep deads may be controversial, but lighter sets of 10 light up my glutes like nothing else.
if this program looks like itās 75% just the main lift and then some quick accessory work after, youād be entirely correct. A big part of that is due to my schedule. Going to sea here soon, and will be spending a lot of the year working out on a ship gym. It gets packed, and I wonāt really have access to a variety of equipment. This is planned out so that if I can snag a rack, I can do my important work, and then fill in after.
212.1 this morning, down about 3lbs since the new year. Eating a lot actually, but I can keep eating like this and drop weight with all the work Iām putting in. Kind of remarkable. I mean, I am eating VERY clean, and 1 cheat meal a week thatās really more of a refeed than a true cheat meal.
fucking ecstatic on this run. Was planning a ruck tonight, but a tropical storm rolled in. Iāll ruck in the rain, but this would be crossing the line from grit to stupidity. Decided to just run a quick mile, and then at about the half mile point went āfuck it, if I keep this pace up I can PR my 1.5 mile.ā I havenāt run a 10:30 1.5 mile since college, and moving at this speed, while weighing in at 212, AFTER a deadlift day? Letās fucking go
Conditioning:
5 mile 35lb ruck run: 56:00, 11:12 average mile pace
Notes:
trying something new with bench. Moved my grip wide, pinkies on the rings. Then doing CGBP for the build work. The wider bench felt odd, not used to that little ROM, but the shoulder didnāt mind it, and maybe Iāll do better here.
chins felt strong. Want to get to 5x10, then Iāll think about maybe adding weight here too. Elbows a bit more sensitive to chins than pulls, so donāt want to stress it too quickly. None of these sets were to failure, as if I hit failure on chins my next set is like half the reps. So instead stopping 1-2 reps shy, and building volume over workouts.
going to be stuck on the ship for a couple weeks, so today was my last chance for a real ruck. Decided to really push my 5 mile, just to see what I had in the tank. Did my best to do the āruck shuffleā, which is really just how fat people jog normally.
this conditioning was brutal. Absolutely brutal. Thatās not a fast run, but doing it with my 35lb+ ruck, wearing hiking boots? Now thatās some challenge. Add onto the fact that itās chilly outside, and I have a cold, and this got ugly. Entire face and front of my hoodie were coated with snot by the end, I kept on just spitting out phlegm. Not a fun time,
on that note, I love where Iām at mentally with my training. That ruck sucked. It wasnāt fun. I just worked an overnight shift, I was dead tired before touching a weight, much less the ruck. Then I get back from the gym, and itās dark out. And itās cold. And I have a cold, and Iām tired, and I go to sea tomorrow so this is my last night to relax. Every excuse available was there, and I promise I thought of all of them. Then I manned the fuck up and rucked 5 miles. Coughing, spitting snot, sweating bullets in the cold, with no one to push me or to know it I quit, and except me. I would know, and that would be enough.
squats felt fine, stance was a little narrow. Just getting used to the new setup on the ship. High bar still feels a little odd. Also, high bar is significantly less comfortable when youāre not a fat bastard. The love handle traps are a built in pad lol.
bar is slick as hell. Need to figure something out for that. Maybe a hoodie with a sticky logo
Bulgarians felt good, but this is just as much a stability exercise as it is a strength. I feel all sorts of off balance doing this.
in and out of the gym in 62 minutes, moving fast between sets.
my plan to steal a rack worked better than expected. The gym was packedā¦ but no one was squatting. Or deadlifting. Lots of db bench and bicep curls. Surprise surprise.
sleep schedules fucked. Bring on the caffeine and rage.
On 77 we had only Smith machines for racks, but we could put a real bar on them instead of using the tracks, if i remember correctly. What does your setup look like? Pics?
Also. At one point we assigned a permanent 0000-0400 watch for both plants, and 3 other watchteams rotated around that with guaranteed āsleepā from 0-4. As i recall i think we both kinda liked it. Whatās your rotation looking like?
the Pullup bars are super low, and wrapped with this slick tape. So I have to raise my knees, and grip harder than hell. Add to that chalk not being allowed, and there was some X factor here lol. I did use some liquid chalk (not technically chalk lol), but I used a super light amount so it wasnāt noticeable just in case.
annoyingly placed beam above my rack, so I was walking the bar back a good 4 paces in order to get overhead space.
absolutely flying between sets
actually grabbed 6 hours of sleep yesterday and I feel like a new man. Pretty insane how much real sleep deprivation just jacks your system.
I feel an insane connection on incline db press. I take the eccentric really slow and controlled, slight pause at the bottom. My chest is completely shot after 2 sets. Probably my strongest āmind muscleā connection of any lift.
itās funny how different cables feel so drastically different. This machine has the same pulley setup as my other gym, but Iām using over twice the weight. Cable weights are fake anyway.
planning a 3 mile run, but work interrupted me. Got pulled off a little after 2 miles, still a decent little run.
@simo74 Iām editing on the google drive. Have it saved to my phone so I can access it during my lift, since thereās no signal in the gym.
When, I looked at how you had it set up. I could only see a column for the planned reps, nothing for the actual. I guess you are adding that as you do it.
Oh yeah, I just edit the planned reps to what I actually end up hitting, though the goal is no failed sets since this is all submax, which has held true so far
liquid chalk works pretty well for deadlifts. Using straps for the backoff sets just to save me hands a bit, but gripping and ripping for the work sets.
burger day ran out of burgers while I was still on watch, so all I had was veggie burgers. Todays workout brought to you by frankenfood and disappointment.
groin felt super tight, had some difficulty squatting. Kept the weight light and focused on really sinking deep into the whole
just a quick jog to get moving, wasnāt planned cardio, just wanted to move a bit
This is such a miserable feeling.
It could be 2:00am or 2:00 pm, doesnāt matter, anything out of ordinary is an emergency and no matter what personal activity youāre engaged in, you must stop RIGHT NOW, jump sweating into your coveralls, and get to it.
Ugh.
@freshyfresh i will try these for the name alone! Haha
@jdm135 brother, you absolutely get it lol. Been a pretty damn hectic time so far, but my resignation letter is in, and PNEO is close. Just pushing towards that break lol
Iām saddened to see the services lose a good dude like you, but absolutely understand the circumstances that would drive you there, and Iām so excited for your future.
