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1183

Got my 50 goblet squats in yesterday then did a 5 mile hike this morning with the lady and the dog.

Back:
Shoulder warmup
Pull-ups: 5,3
DL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 315 x 5, 365 x 3, 415 x 2
WG lat pulldown: 100 x 15, 110 x 12, 120 x 10
DB rows: 40 x 10, 75 x 5, 95 x 5, 95 x 20 (straps)
Meadows rows: 25 x 15, 50 x 12, 75 x 6
Rope hammer curls: 60 3x10
EZ preacher curl: 45 3x10

Just got the DL going to make sure I didn’t forget how, it didn’t feel perfect but it felt pretty good, considered jumping to 455 for a double but let it end in a nice spot. Hammered the rest of my back, including a set of Kroc rows, most of those were pretty strict until about rep 16/17. Will be fun to progress these, gym DBs go to 120, might be a minute before I get 20 there. Lats were more sore than expected going in, the overhead/push press combined with pull-ups and all the swings seems to have generated some fatigue.

If my legs recover I’ll squat tomorrow otherwise bench.

Was sweating my absolute dick off in the gym so I ordered some Gatorade zero packets from Amazon, wasn’t feeling too bad at the end but was out of gas.

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Flame Free Confession III: Even More Flame Free (Part 2)
1184

Now that you’ve been there for a little while, how do you feel about the trails near you?

1185

Have mixed feelings.

There are 3 nice hikes of varying degrees of difficulty (none are very difficult) around ithaca, they are all along gorges and have waterfall features. The longest is ~5 miles and kinda sorta strenuous in 3 places but not really. Those 3 are all nice and good for a quick morning hike but they usually get pretty crowded on weekends.

There are a lot of other places around me to hike but few have a grandiose setting and because there are only hills here, it’s more akin to walking than hiking. The one I did this morning was on the local ski hill, about 3.5 miles in the forest, about 1.5 along some phone lines. It was very nice but it was less strenuous than walking the streets of Seattle and was roughly the same hike I do by my townhouse twice a week (I.e…, nothing specifically worth seeing).

TL;DR tons to do, most is either crowded or just a forest walk. Overall I like it well enough

1186

Had dinner and drinks at a neighbor’s last night, took a little out of me this morning. Also had 23k+ steps yesterday, probably feeling that too. In any case after a quick morning walk then hike near the townhouse (got me to 10k steps) I decided today wasn’t leg day.

10 min warmup walk
Shoulder warmup
Pull-ups: 8,6
Incline bench: 135 x 10, 185 x 10, 225 3x5
Flat bench: 225 x 10
Assisted dips: -75 3 x 10
Tri pulldown: 60 x 15, 70 x 12, 80 x 10
Tri overhead: 40 x 20

Prowler/Kb Conditioning:
90 x 100’ (50/50 push pull for all)
180 x 100’, 50lb kb x 25 swings
225 x 100’, 50 x 25
270 x 100’, 50 x 25
315 x 100’, 50 x 25
Then I did that identical thing backwards except the 90lb round

Seated dips: 90 x 100
Pec Dec flies: 100 x 20

Was planning on hitting some DB bench but a db walked right in front of me to take the last open bench, really didn’t matter as this was all freestyle anyway. Conditioning worked well, sweating hard. Owe 15 goblet squats and some more core (did a bunch of bird dogs this morning) and I’m calling it. Have 14k steps in the bag and it’s warm outside so probably won’t get too many more.

Bought myself a daypack and a reservoir, going to do a 10+ mile hike this weekend or next, depending on when it comes.

Weight was 277.2 this morning but I suspect that was mostly due to dehydration, trending in the right direction in any case.

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1187

No gym today but got a quick conditioning session in

3 rounds:
40lb kb x 17 goblet squats
20 pushups
40lb kb x 23 swings

Finished in 6:16, 3rd round of pushups I had to do 11 + 9 (combination of fatigue, dehydration, and shoulder soreness) but everything else was clean. Did this directly after a mileish walk with the dog in hot/pretty humid conditions, didn’t have much of an effect but i was already starting to sweat, definitely sweating now. The most important part of all of this is that my fucking daily goblet squats are done :raised_hands:. Also of note, I hit a major step PR with an average of over 14k a day, I have records for almost 4 years and my previous best was 11.7k. (Dog) Walking is awesome.

Going to squat tomorrow then finalize my program choice and starting weights, will probably get that going on Friday. Think i’ll probably do some more daily work for the month of June, 1 minute of daily planks (as a min) seems like a good idea seeing as I can’t ever commit to doing core work in a lifting routine.

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1188

Seems like you’re in not only a good physical but also mental way with your training right now!

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1189

Yea, I think the Covid-expedited kettlebell program was actually a good thing for me, I was hitting a bit of a wall (mostly mentally) with heavier weights. Doing the swings and taking time away definitely gave my body and mind a break there. The nicer weather has helped a lot too, spending an hour or two a day outside does wonders for my brain. Still a lot of shit going on in there that I wish wasn’t but i’ve been trending in the right direction, for the most part. I’ve done a some Duolingo everyday in the month of May too and that seems to be triggering some part of my brain that normal is unstimulated, feels productive, even if relatively rudimentary.

Not related to this reply but I’m also thinking of instituting Turkish getups into daily work, possibly instead of planks.

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1190

Ahhh, Duolingo. Which language?

1191

Spanish, i’m reallllly rusty so it’s been good to put words back into the vocabulary and remember sentence structure and grammar rules but the progression is super slow. I’ll try to keep this going anyway and probably try to find some better resources going forward.

1192

Got a morning workout in, afternoon is jammed up with meetings.

Legs:
Shoulder warmup, goblet squat hold, 10 jumps, 10 lunges per side
Prowler: 180 150’ pull/150’push
Duffalo squat: bar x 10, 145 x 10, 5, 235 x 5, 285 x 3, 325 x 2, 375 x 1, 235 x 12
Hack squat RDL: 180 x 10, 270 x 10, 360 2 x 10
Leg Press: 200 x 20, 290 x 20, 380 x 20
Farmers Carries: 100lb db, per hand 3 x 53 steps

Quads were so sore going into this, all of the work and goblet squats had a big impact on them, I can’t imagine they are going to feel better now, the first few sets were painful. Hack squat RDL is a great movement, keeps strain off the lower back and really hits the hams and glutes, need to keep this in when DL volume increases (i.e., lower back strain is high). Never done any meaningful Farmer’s carries but these were kind of fun, gym was dead otherwise I probably wouldn’t have done them but will try to sneak them in where I can.

Squats were a bit rough, soreness played a factor but the movement just felt rusty. 375 legitimately scared me, even though I hit 390 for 5 like 6 weeks ago, and the weight moved well. Nothing to really worry about but I’m definitely not overestimating my 1rm for this next block. Given how sore I was going in and that I could feel hamstring soreness during the leg press squats are not going to be the first (or second) day of the new program

Need to get a long walk in at some point and do a few planks and turkish getups to get my June rolling.

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1193

Made it just over 10k steps, I jogged for 6.5 minutes of my longish walk, legs didn’t like it but cardio was completely okay. Did a one minute plank today but no getups, think I’ll just shelf then for now.

I got my extended release meds, had been taking 2 of fast acting for the past few days, and took them about 5:30. Internet told me 3-4 hours for full kick in but about 30 min later on the way to Domino’s (first lapse in a while) I got super drowsy and am currently borderline comatose at 7 pm. Going to take later tomorrow and message the Dr.

On the pizza note, I’ve actually been eating pretty well but am falling back into the unhealthy habit of weighing myself 1 or more times a day. Decided I’d toss the scale in the storage room until next Friday, to remove the temptation

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1194

Slept like ass last night, thought I got an extended release tablet because that’s what Walgreens told me but didn’t, glad my drive to/fro domino’s didn’t turn out poorly. Anyway working off of a few hours of good sleep and a few hours of insane dream sleep.

About 8k steps in, plan is to hit some other conditioning (it’s kind of cool in the house, so maybe peloton) and my daily plank. Legs don’t feel great but aren’t as bad as I expected.

Going to have my starting maxes be

Military 275
Deadlift 525
Bench 380
Squat 445

Going to run 5s PRO, optional Jokers, and widowmakers as previously stated. Doing the first cycle 5/3/1 to continue to get my form back in shape and then, if I continue this (made-up) template will probably switch to 3/5/1.

My first week seems pretty easy at 85% but that probably isn’t the worst thing, I imagine doing 20 reps of 290 is still going to suck. Going to sub strict press for push press and am planning on taking them from the floor as long as that spot is available at the gym. Speaking of, keeping the 2 days at home/2 days at the gym routine that I had previously with Axle bench and deadlift being the home days and push press and duffalo squat being the gym days.

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image212×504 6.8 KB

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1195

That’s strong, dude—nice!

This is going to be a wild ride!

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1196

Thanks! I think press, bench and squat are pretty much on the nose (+/- 10lbs) with deadlift being a bit more of a guess (e1rm got to 575 on 430x10 but I’ve never pulled 500). Gave myself a little leeway though and looking at the first two cycles I don’t think I have much to worry about as far as top-end lifts are concerned, the widowmakers are what scare me.

I’ve never programmed jokers in so I don’t really know how I’m going to do that, need to revisit Forever for that.

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1197

These were new to me during that Pervertor, Anchor a few weeks back. I just did 5% and then 10% above my top set for the day, which I think is how JW frames it in Forever. I had a hard time getting excited about them, to be honest, and at just 1-3 reps, I’m not sure what the point was—never felt like they added much to the day.

To be fair, I’m not too interested in 1RMs, so maybe it’s just a matter of perspective?

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1198

Fantastic, that seems like an easy enough way to structure, takes some of thinking out of it.

I’ve never done them in any meaningful capacity so I don’t know if they will for me

but we differ here. I’m not putting a ton of time and energy to getting those 1RMs but they are still the underlying motivation behind me hitting the big 3 on a regular basis. The day I hit a 500lb squat might be the last day I back squat.

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1199

Now that’s a deal!

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1200

10k lb swing challenge
53lb kb x 189 in 4:50

Low plank: 1:01

Swing explosiveness was roughly a 1/10, made it easier on the forearms and made the conditioning portion easier but meant i didn’t have to drop the bell. I have a stretch goal of getting in some more conditioning work but won’t be too fussed if it doesn’t happen.

Finally getting around to cooking some decent food, partner is talking about going out to dinner with friends tonight, going to try to opt out.

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1201

LPT: Don’t return your phone to T-mobile via a mail drop box, it will cost you hundreds of dollars.

5PJW (5s Pro, jokers, widowmakers) C1W1D1
Shoulder warmup
Pullups: 6, 5
Clean + Push Press away: bar x bunch, 135 2x5, 155 x 5, 175 x 5, 200 x 5, 210 x 3, 155 x 20
Tri pulldowns: 80 x 20, 15, 15
Single leg curl: 45 10, 8, 7
DB rows: 55 x 10, 70 x 10, 95 x 21
Rope curl: 60 x 15

Stressful start to the day, mostly because i’ve been putting things off forever but also because of a phone I mailed back that I’m still getting charged for 3 weeks later, turns out nobody ever got it so nobody can file a claim. Bit the bullet and dropped 270 to get it off my mind, sucks hard but not going to ruin me.

Dunkin was offering a free donut with any drink purchase, I took advantage and got a classic maple donut. God their donuts suck and are really not filling. That’s all I had for the 5 hours I was awake prior to this workout, not sufficient.

Cleans were a little rusty but felt pretty good all things considered, push presses took a minute more to get going. After my 155 set I had serious doubts about everything but the form got better throughout and the heavier work actually felt pretty solid. 210 x 3 was probably my cleanest set, plenty of room to grow here. The widowmaker on the other hand was brutal, I got 10 without taking a pause then it was a strugglefest from there. Breathing was hard, pressing was hard, locking out was hard. Last 2 reps were a bit sketchy but good enough. DB rows felt really good, Kroc’ed that last set nicely, adding 1 rep to my previous time doing it. Had a few other plans for lifting but machines were taken. pretty happy overall with it. Owe some conditioning later today.

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1202

Ugh, that sucks. But I feel you, as I also blew a not insignificant amount of money this week. One of my retainers broke before my vacation, and I had to get it remolded this week. Goodbye, $300.

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