WTF you need to see someone.
Oh and happy birthday
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Many thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a great day, and 44 is off to a great start.
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??? - d7
Saturday - 09 July 2022
Workout: Conditioning, 1730-1755 (25 minutes)
10 rounds of:
a) 10 1-pump burpees
b) 8 KB swings - 28 kg
c) 6 pull-ups/chin-ups (strict, various grips)
Time: 19:26
Out the door (very!) early for a swim meet, then a few hours in the yard for a hard cutback on my severely overgrown hedges, a delayed 4th of July picnic with some family friends, and finally some pre-dinner, post-squat movement this evening.
Very glad I came in under 2:00 per round on this one today. Quads are angry and they didn’t like the burpees, but that’s exactly why I did 100 today. The pull-ups and chin-ups are what really got my HR up, however—it was peaking in the mid-170s after nearly all of the later sets.
My “deload” week is over, and it’s back to the routine now: We have another early morning at the pool, but I’ll be starting Cycle 15 at some point tomorrow.
Oh, and I still owe this week’s BB curls. That may slide until tomorrow… (!)
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??? - summary
I’m at a swim meet right now, and I’ve got nothing better to do but write this while we wait for my daughter’s events… Consider yourself warned, haha!
Realizing I never wrote up any thoughts about the last week of Cycle 14. Obviously I didn’t finish it—missed the last bench workout that Friday and the typical Saturday stuff, but I’m not sweating it. I set a bench WM PR with 17+4 in a rest-pause at 205, a squat WM PR with 255x20, and a press WM PR with 14+4+3 in a rest-pause at 115. (I later set a deadlift WM PR with 285x21; that set was originally scheduled for c14w3d7, but I didn’t actually attempt it until this past Monday.)
Also, one remaining thought about the extra WMs in Cycles 13 and 14…
TLDR: Next time, I’m going shoot for 3 weeks of 3 extra WMs at weights for which I can hit 20 reps (probably 50-75% of the current cycle’s TMs), and then follow it up with a week or two of sticking to the programmed volume so I can recover without having to put down huge amounts of food. Based on my recent experience, THAT seems like a reasonable way to lean out a bit without turning the extra volume into a gaining phase.
Right, so: 2-3 extra WM sets per lift per week is draining, but well worth the effort, mentally and physically. Originally, the idea here was to use the extra WMs to promote fat loss—or to at least prevent fat gain—and that approach, which I discovered by accident in Cycle 5, worked particularly well the first time around. That time, however, I just did one week of 2 extra WMs (c5w1), one week of 3 extra WMs (c5w2), and one week of 2 extra WMs (c5w3), where the percentages were based on the TMs projected for Cycle 6 and progressed toward FSL in the final week of Cycle 5. This time, however, I ran the c5w2 scheme for all of Cycle 13 and the c5w3 scheme for all of Cycle 14. I used the projected Cycle 15 TMs for Cycle 13, and I think that did its job as far at fat loss/fat gain was concerned: I could handle the extra volume without eating like a madman, and I was feeling a bit leaner than when I started. The weights were too heavy even at the lower percentages, however, and I was falling short of 20 reps too often, so I switched to using the Cycle 14 TMs for the WM sets in that cycle. Even so, I was worn down enough from Cycle 13 that I found myself eating A LOT just to recover enough to make reasonable attempts at the WMs. And that was counter-productive—at least in terms of my original fat loss goals.
In the end, the Cycle 13/14 scheme sort-of worked, but next time, I’ll probably see how it goes with just 3 weeks of 3 extra WMs, probably in the range of 50-75% of the current cycle’s TMs, i.e., the c5w2 (or entire Cycle 13) scheme. Then I’ll follow that up with a week or two at just the programmed volume so I’ll be less likely to require extra food. Yes, there are 100 million other ways to lose some fat, but I love (to hate) WMs—they’re so, so good for mental fortitude, if nothing else—and I never want to stray too far from being able to hit decent weight for high reps, so maybe next time I can make them work overtime and realize some fat loss, too.
Finally, now, this week. A “deload” week. But way off even regular deload programming and really a just-get-in-some-movement and do-whatever-I-want week. It was pretty good, all things considered, and I tried some new things (Grace and Volkswagen WOD), still managed to get in some work with the barbell, some conditioning, and some mental and physical recovery. Particularly happy with the deadlift WM PR (285x21) and the crazy squat WM (195x45) for @heretolog’s Birthday Squat Challenge. I also weighed myself for the first time in over a year, only to find that, at 190 lbs, I was pretty much spot on with my bodyweight guess. I’m still a bit fluffy, but I’m pretty happy with how I’m looking and I’m slowly but surely putting on some muscle, so I’m just going to keep on keepin’ on.
I start Cycle 15 (Full Body, 5s PRO) as an anchor to Cycles 13-14 today. I’ll be running it 3/5/1. My goals for this week are:
- Complete all 4 lifting workouts
- Hit (at least) 65 reps for each assistance category
- Complete 2 days of hard conditioning
- Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
- Continue to row something heavy every day
- Get something heavy from floor-to-overhead every day
- Eat well and eat to recover (but no more)
My TMs for Cycle 15 are:
Press - 150 lbs
Squat - 335 lbs
Dead - 375 lbs
Bench - 270 lbs
There are the same as in Cycles 13-14, but I’m still working to crush the top sets. It might make more sense to push myself and lift something heavier as a way to make the heavy weights here feel light, but I’m sticking with these for one more cycle to see how it goes—particularly since I’m not pushing the volume with the extra WMs.
I’m also very interested to see how I like these 5/3/1 full body workouts—first time I’m trying that arrangement. But enough is enough, so let’s get on with it already!
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w1d1
Sunday - 10 July 2022
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1035-1125 (50 minutes)
1-pump burpees + 28-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between
Bike@120-140 bpm - 10 minutes
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 15 minutes
Fasted. Quads are still angry, and maybe even more so than yesterday, but the bike felt good. Lots left on the docket today, but first some food and then hauling all of the hedge trimmings up front for the chipper.
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I think you spelled “hard” wrong.
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w1d1
Sunday - 10 July 2022
Workout: Calves & daily work + extra conditioning + BB curls + BB curls (penalty), 1410-1500 + 1555-1635 + 1900-1905 (50 + 40 + 10 + 5 minutes)
Jump rope tabata - 4x40/10
3 rounds of:
a) Clean & press - 120 lbs - 10, 10, 10
b) Pendlay rows - 120 lbs - 10, 10, 25
c) Belted CR - 135 lbs - 30, 25, 20
Jump rope tabata - 4x40/10
Pwn’s The Last Castle - AMRAP, 20 minutes
a) Farmer’s walk - 25 yards - 2x87 lbs
b) 6 alternating DB snatches - L/R - 40 lbs
c) Farmer’s walk - 25 yards - 2x87 lbs
d) 10 KB swings - 28 kg
Rounds: 8; Time: 26:14
BB curls - 127 (rep PR)
BB curls - 42
Some kind of daily floor-to-overhead move is the right choice to push my conditioning this time around: they’re going to be transformative!
Went with clean and press today, and 3 straight sets of 10 had me working hard. Tried to minimize the time between the end of those and the start of the rows, but by the third round, I was just toast: spent awhile on my knees trying not to lose lunch before AND after the Pendlay rows with that one!
The early mornings and the work in and out of the weight room are starting to catch up with me, but I still have to do Pwn’s The Last Castle and yesterday’s BB curls (crap!), so I’ll edit that in once it’s done.
Edit: You know I’m hurting when I barely finish 6 rounds in 20 minutes: that took 19:22, managed to start round 7 before the timer expired, finished that at 23:08 (!), but ignored protocol and did an 8th as well, which I finished at 26:14 (!!). Ugh! Still have those BB curls—why, oh WHY did I skip them yesterday!?! That’s what I get for being lazy…
Edit 2: My forearms are going to explode. Actual work took 7:40, which means A LOT of resting—at the bottom and at the top. (I really wish I wouldn’t have discovered that trick; even so, holding the BB for over 7 minutes still really works the grip). But I added the rep, I got the rep PR, I finished up todays’ work. Finally!
Edit 3: Almost forgot the 42 penalty reps because I skipped the BB curls on Saturday. Those are done, and now I’m really done.
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Where do you find all the time and energy to do all this.
I’m done after one 50min workout 
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Happy belated birthday you beast of a man!
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Years ago I was on a two-week backpacking trip across the Western US with my soon-to-be brother-in-law. He was quite experienced in backcountry things, I was not. In fact, it was my first time out on such an adventure—heck of a way to cut your teeth, that’s for sure.
Anyway, at some point we were making our way down into the Grand Canyon—I think it was about day 10 or so of the trip—and we were absolutely exhausted. I remember him saying, “If you’re not moving, you’re dead.” And so we just kept hiking…
I think that just kinda stuck with me all these years, and now that I’m (way) over-the-hill, it actually means something…
If I’m not moving, I’m dead!
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Thanks, brother!
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honestly, sometimes it’s mental.
I don’t feel too crap, but getting my heart rate up is the last thing I want to do.
I never have “couch potato” days, but sometimes I really wish I could just lie in bed all day and do nothing.
or after one workout, I just don’t feel like going for a second one
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Today’s run of Pwn’s The Last Castle notwithstanding, this is almost always the case for me.
Edit: Actually, it’s ALWAYS mental for me: I never actually want to train. It’s just that this afternoon NOT ONLY did I not want to train, I ALSO did not have the physical energy to perform very well when I did train!
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I hope I can get to where you are when I’m older
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You will: life has a way of teaching you lessons you don’t want to learn.
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w1d2
Monday - 11 July 2022
Workout: Squat & bench, 1120-1300 (80 minutes)
Warm-up
Throws + jumps
Begin: 1202; End: 1258; Duration: 56 minutes
Squat - 170x5, 205x5 | 235x5, 270x5, 305x5
Bench - 135x5, 165x5 | 190x5, 220x5, 245x5
Dip - 60 - 15, 15, 5
Cable crunch - 50 - 25, 25
Pull-up - BW - 15, 13, 7
Push-up - 30
Good morning - 135 - 15, 10
BPA - red - 10 high + 10 mid + 10 low
Assistance totals:
Push - 65 reps
Pull - 65 reps
Single-leg/core - 75 reps
Can’t generalize too much from just one workout, but this much is certain: it’s going to take me awhile to get used to this 5/3/1 full body arrangement.
So yesterday I wasn’t sure how I was going to squat today, but dinner (1-1/3 lbs cheeseburgers), a pre-bed snack (heaps of cottage cheese), and lots of sleep (something over 8 hours!) did the trick. Minimal soreness this morning, and everything felt strong through 270x5. The top set was downright awful, however: had to fight buckling knees on the last few reps, and most of them were squat-mornings. Given where I was this time yesterday, though, I’ll take it.
Similar story for the bench press: felt pretty strong through 220x5, and the top set wasn’t as bad as for the squats, but it was hard, the bar path was wonky, and I didn’t really feel it in my pecs or triceps, just my anterior delts.
Oh, and I trimmed the number of warm-up sets from three to two for each of the main lifts. That might have saved a little time, and it didn’t really impact how I felt for the work sets, so we’ll try that again next time. Squats took about 26 minutes (including warm-up sets) with assistance superset throughout. Bench took about 21 minutes, also including warm-up sets and assistance. Total workout didn’t take much longer than any of the single-lift 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL versions, and though today’s pace was reasonable, I can probably move a little faster next time.
That just leaves today’s daily work, which will be Kroc rows and plate ground-to-overheads, but first I’m going to eat some lunch.
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Full Body, 5s PRO - c15w1d2
Monday - 11 July 2022
Workout: Daily work, 1550-1610 (20 minutes)
3 rounds of:
a) Plate ground-to-overhead - 45 lbs - 20, 20, 20
b) Kroc rows - L/R - 65 lbs - 10, 10, 25
Yesterday and today have shown me conditioning was the first thing to suffer after last week’s bare-minimum free-for-all. That’s okay, it’ll return quickly!
I like those ground-to-overheads—positioning at top and bottom is just different enough from barbell variations that it actually feels like something else, so they’ll work nicely since I don’t have a keg or sandbag or anything terribly awkward to hoist overhead. Feels like I’ll be able push the reps pretty high, too, because it’s only 45 lbs.
Kroc rows were fine—hard, of course—but fine.
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Happy belated bday. We are only a day apart in celebrating.
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These are great. Did a WOD recently with these as part of it and they were my favorite part. Hand stand push ups, plate overheads, box jumps, and deadlifts. Was brutal.
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Thanks, man! Hope you’re enjoying vacation—sure reads like you are!
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