Cal's Big Log II: The Revenge

Training
1001

Yay for the Bikilas! I’m so glad they worked for you. I saw those exact pink ones and think they are PERFECT for you. I tried on a light blue color of the Bikilas and liked them quite well.

I started out my first day just walking for 15 minutes in my VFFs. Add in a little bit of time each day, don’t overdo it in the excitement of newness and you should be fine.

This weekend I tried on the New Balance Minimus trail shoe (Vibram sole but not individual toes) and liked it alot. Didn’t buy it, but I’m considering it. I’ll look for those Merrells as well.

BTW, I see those dips of yours and I HIGHLY approve of them.

1002

Totally approve of the VFFs! Hopefully they don’t ratchet up your foot pain any, does it bother you any to walk around in them?

Kimba–I looked at those Merrells too! Might be something I’d consider buying at some point.

I also tried on a pair of Minimus’ a couple of weeks ago, but felt the shoe had some flaws. For one, I tore the little heel strap trying them on. I pulled a bitch move and didn’t tell the shoe guy helping me–I couldn’t afford buying them at the time and I wasn’t sure if they have a ‘you break it, you buy it’ policy. Two, the toe box felt slightly cramped and narrow to me, but that might have been because they were a brand new pair of shoes (I love my shoes beaten down and worn in). Three, they curled up at the toes, and I wasn’t really a fan of that. Apparently they’ve made a second version which has fixed most/all of those problems. If they fixed those things, I’d definitely be down for a pair!

Pretty sure we should start a minimalist shoe whore club here–I’d definitely join.

1003

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Here are the Merrells.

I went for a walk on Tooting Common yesterday and from a function point of view, the Bikilas didn’t give me any trouble. One of the toes on the right foot felt tight and a bit uncomfortable. I gather they do stretch a bit over time. I also wore them to the gym today and noticed that when they got a bit sweaty they felt better. Gross I know! Heh. I liked them very much. My hips feel a bit looser when I walk in them. They felt pretty good in the gym, too (but then I usually wear either my Chucks or a pair of Nike street dance shoes that have no cushioning, so it wasn’t such a big change).

Today’s workout was legs again. I know I should have trained back this week but I wanted to see how the Vibrams were for squatting.

Warm-up:

20 hypers
20 reverse hypers with V at top
20 clams (per leg)
20 single leg hip thrusters (foot on high bench) (per leg)
20 overhead split squats using a 5kg body bar (per leg)
20 bosu ball squat/sit up combo

I am getting much better at the split squats. I used to wobble around a lot. In fact, I used to use the body bar vertically as a stick to hold onto to help with balance. But now I can do the overheads no problem!

100 step ups (8 risers; 50 per leg alternating).

I did these today because I was waiting for some guy to stop doing shrugs in the squat rack. These are always quite hard and make me sweat like a paedo in a kindergarten.

Box Squats

Bar x 20
30kg x 12
40kg x 8 (that’s more like it!)
45kg x 5
50kg x 2 (I probably could have got a third but didn’t feel confident enough).

I had to rush these a bit because someone else was waiting for the squat rack (he then used to the squat rack to clean and press - why couldn’t he have done that from the ground?!)
Hips felt slightly better. I have a bit of sciatica today due to a lot of sitting playing games yesterday (even with the going shoe shopping and then later, going for a walk) but the front of the hip felt a little less jammed up. Still not great though.

Leg Extension

30kg x 10
35kg x 10
40kg x 10
45kg x 10 (+1)
50kg x 8

Very happy with these today!

Single Leg Kneeling Leg Curl

2 x 30kg x 8 (per leg)

Leg Press

80kg x 10
100kg x 10
120kg x 10

These still don’t feel really comfortable but I’ll keep working on them (and trying to improve ROM as well as weight).

Did some stretching and handstand work to finish off. The Vibrams are nice for the gymnastics stuff. Certainly less clunky than the Chucks!

1004

Those Merrells are cute. Definitely much lower profile looks-wise than the Bikilas.

How did the new shoes feel on squats? I found I quite liked the ability to curl my toes down and grip the floor on squats.

1005

I love that your sticking to all the booty warm ups :slight_smile:

I need to get back into that as I noticed great results in just a few weeks time…

1006

Yeah my butt is definitely higher (even if it’s still large!) but the main pay-off is less sciatica trouble.

Kimba - Yeah I like them for squatting. But I really like them for just walking around. I walk around my flat barefoot and I used to bomb around the garden barefoot as a child. I guess my feet are quite strong, so I don’t anticipate any related issues, bar the ball of the foot thing.

1007

[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Yeah my butt is definitely higher .[/quote]

ahem

POIDH

1008

Can’t do pics - my camera doesn’t have a timer. It does video though.

Wore my Merrells to school today. I notice that after wearing Vibrams to the gym yesterday, my calves are really sore! I wouldn’t have thought there would be much difference between calf recruitment in those and my normal Chucks, but apparently there is. Hopefully my calves will get even more awesome.

1009

Overhead split squat is no joke, good work! And I’m loving those Merrells. Can’t quite get my mind wrapped around the vibrams, but those I could totally do.

will take vid of high ass. i don’t think this crowd is a picky one.

1010

Congrats on the contract and the prospect of getting more awesome calves.

1011

Oh yes, I’m familiar with waking up at god-awful hours despite what time you got to bed. Fucking circadian rhythm and cats…

Sorry about the foot problem! But you’re doing a great job training around it. You’re my inspiration! I hope you get that sorted out though. And why, for the love of god, are you searching the interwebs for your ailments! HAHAH! You’re so much more reasonable than I am - if i did that I’d have gout, syphillis and need an amputation.

Nice upper day! Despite hormones, looks like it was a strong workout. Love big, juicy biceps - even on chicks!

And yay for the vibrams! Nice color too :slight_smile: Glad you’re liking them! I still think they’re so weird, but I know they have their benefits.

And an excellent leg day! No wonder your ass is high! All that glute work, and overhead BSS? Sounds killer. Great job!

1012

oh ya! i used to live in chucks and doc martins and sneakers - and i certainly felt my calves from the vibrams. also the muscle on the front (forget what it is called) and what really just about killed me was that bit where i’m going to get a teardrop above my knee. that surprised me a great deal. the more i walked on the ball of my foot the more my knee stabilizers seemed to get a good workout.

i don’t think people used to laugh at me for wearing a springsuit (short-ish armed and sleeved wetsuit) for swimming… unless the pool was heated. then i got a few looks, yeah. i was one of those very self-conscious teenagers who wouldn’t wear ANY kind of swimsuit in public without shorts and a tee-shirt - so i got a springsuit so i could swim in public pools that had ‘no t-shirts and shorts’ policies.

but hey, i don’t think people laugh at me in my vibrams, either, so maybe i’m not to be trusted on that. heh.

1013

Tibialis anterior. My tibs aren’t sore but they are pretty awesome already so I guess I already recruited them a lot.

School sports day on Monday. Hope it all goes according to my meticulously worked-out plans. And doesn’t rain.

1014

Funny…I just wrote a huge thing about my new Merrel barefoot shoes! I like them so much that I want to save up for another pair that look a little different, so I can wear them everyday!

Your Bikilas are quite snazzy too!

1015

Saturday, so gym day.

Warm-up:

20 hypers
20 reverse hypers with V at top
20 clams (per leg)
20 single leg hip thrusters (foot on high bench) (per leg)
20 overhead split squats using a 5kg body bar (per leg)
20 bosu ball squat/sit up combo

Box Squats:

Bar x 20
30kg x 12
40kg x 10 (OK, that’s back to where I was before)
50kg x 1…

I’d decided to skip 45kg and go straight for the 50, thinking I’d get more reps. That was a mistake. The weight felt scary (yeah, yeah, I KNOW) and the whole lift felt wrong. I’ve not had a brilliant night’s sleep all week, I’ve had a headache (due to very stiff neck) for the past few days and Flo showed up yesterday, so I’m blaming that. Diet’s been fine.

So I decided then to go back down to 40kg but remove a riser. Horrible! I’m currently squatting to six risers and a plate. With only five risers I very nearly didn’t get back up at all. So I took the whole thing away and tried squatting without the box but that felt horrible as well. Ended up doing 10 crappy overhead squats with a light bodybar and then going on to leg extensions. Ugh I hate that my squats suck so badly.

Leg Extensions:

30kg x 10
40kg x 10
45kg x 10
50kg x 10 (rep PR!)

Single Leg Curls:

30kg x 10/10 (rep PR)
32.5kg x 5/5 (weight PR)

Adding 2.5kg makes a LOT of difference (but then it is a one legged exercise).

Leg Press:

80kg x 10
120kg x 10
140kg x 10

Weight felt fine, ROM not so much, damn hip/groin thingy.

Did some handstand work and a little stretching then went shopping. I am spending far too much on food.

1016

I see a couple of Pr’s in there Cal :slight_smile:

plus your squats are back to where they were which is no small feat.

1017

You and I feel exactly the same about squats. Crappy OH squats was my recent solution to squat frustration too.

1018

Damn, I miss running. It would have been a perfect day for it too - dry but relatively cool. Damn it.
Went to the gym instead. I think the fact my gym (at least, the free weight area) has no windows and no air con makes it an unappealing place to train in summer. Once the holidays kick in I think I really need to get out for some walks just to clear my head.

Warm-up:

20 lateral raises
20 front raises
20 overhead presses
20 dumbell curls
20 hammer curls
20 L raises
20 bent over raises
(non stop using 2kg dumbells)

Some mobility and snatch stuff using the body bar.

Then, for the first time in an aeon,

Deadlifts:

(Conventional) Bar x 20
(Sumo) Bar x 20
(Conventional) 50kg x 5
(Sumo) 50kg x 5
(Conv) 60kg x 5
(Sumo) 60kg x 5
(Conv) 70kg x 5
(Sumo) 70kg x 5
(Conv) 80kg x 1
(Sumo) 80kg x 1

I was mostly concentrating on using my big arse to move the weight rather than my back, and it’s getting easier. All that glute work seems to be working. I didn’t push it because I’ve not done deads in a while. Curiously, I’m now finding it easier to lift sumo, whereas it used to be the other way round.

Also did 10 x clean and press with the empty oly bar.

2 x Triset:

Pulldowns (shoulder width, neutral grip): 40kg x 10
Straight arm pulldown: 20kg x 10
Push-ups (shoulder width, elbows tucked) x 10

Waiters Walk

22kg (+2kg) - only got 1 width of the gym (about 20 feet) on first try with the right arm and I think it’s because I didn’t quite get the weight into the right place initially. Did the same with the left.
On the second try, I got two widths (with a turn) on both sides. Made sure I kept my arm by my ear.

Dips:

6, 5, 5
(Last time I got 5, 5, 4)

The dip station is near a mirror and I can see my left shoulder is a bit higher than the right, but haven’t been able to fix that yet.

DB Rows:

2 x 24kg x 8

These felt much harder than last time I did them, but I guess that’s because I did them towards the end and my grip was already fatigue.

High Incline chest press:

16kg x 10
18kg x 5 (fail!)

Haven’t done these in an age. They don’t bother my shoulder like flat bench so I think I’ll add them back in.

Handstand work and stretching to cool down.

1019

Sorry to read you’re still not able to run. Hopefully soon.

1020

Ah sorry to hear you still can’t run. I’m impressed with your warm ups though, I can’t seem to count passed 10 without losing it.