Video of today’s rope climb:
6/3/15 BW: 162.0
Bike Ride - 2 hours 45 mins
Skin the cat - 4
Monkey bars
Chin-ups 9
Push-ups 15
6/4/15 BW: 162.0
Beta (or alternating staggered) squats 6 x 5 (per side) @ 45, 95, 105, 115, 105, 95 lbs
Single Arm bent over DB rows (not supported w/ other arm) 5 x 10 (per side) @ 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 lbs
Incline Press 6 x 5 @ 45, 95, 105, 115, 105, 95 lbs
Trying some new exercises today. My husband and I did some beta squats which are basically staggered squats. My stance was a little more narrow than regular back squat stance with my back leg’s toe inline with my front leg’s heel. I feel like this would be a very useful exercise for sprint specific strength. Also, I like how the feet and calves are worked a little more in this exercise vs. regular squats. I also did single arm DB rows without the support of the other arm (basically in a Good Morning position with the other arm at the side), which is a little more challenging than regular rows because of the counter rotational strength required. Anyway, good stuff.
6/5/15 BW: 161.4
DB Clean Squat Press 4 x 10 @ 20s, 30s, 35s, 30s
Side Planks
Single Leg DB Deadlifts 4 x 10 @ 60, 70, 90, 70 lbs
Face Pulls 3 x 10 @ 22, 25, 25 lbs
V-ups 3 x 10
BB Reverse Curls 3 x 12 @ 45 lbs
6/6/15 BW: 162.0
BB High Step Ups (24" box) 4 x 10 @ 30, 45, 65, 30 lbs
Bench Press w/ feet elevated 2 x 10 @ 110, 120, 1 x 6 @ 130, 2 x 10 @ 120, 110 lbs
Cable Rows 4 x 10 @ 100, 120, 140, 160, 1 x 20 @ 100 lbs
Cable Curls 3 x 12 @ 70, 70, 75 lbs
KB Waiter Carries 2 trips @ 30, 40 lbs
6/8/15
Double KB Front Squats 3 x 10 @ 40, 70, 3 x 10, 8, 6 @ 100 lbs
KB Single Leg Deadlifts 3 x 10 @ 40, 70, 100
GHR 4 x 5 @ BW, 10, 10, BW
Pull-ups 8, 6, 5
Single Arm Military Press 5 x 5 @ 30, 40, 50, 45, 40
Leg Lifts
Lots of Bike Riding
Those double KB front squats are retardly difficult. It’s a big hit to the ego because you really can’t use the same weights you’re used to on a barbell. I like them though because they do seem to hit everything all at once: the quads, glutes, hamstrings as well as the upper back, shoulders and abs. Pull-ups weren’t there today. I’m experiencing some pretty awful cramps and pull-ups seemed to aggravate the situation. It sucks being a girl sometimes, haha.
6/9/15 BW: 161.6
Walking Lunges 4 x 28 steps @ BW, 60, 50, BW
Single arm bent over DB Rows (no bench) 5 x 10 @ 30, 45, 50, 50, 50 lbs
DB Bench Press 5 x 10 @ 30s, 40s, 50s, 50s, 45s
Planks 2 x 1 min
Beta Squats 20
High Step ups 10
Bicep Curl pyramid 7 x 5 @ 12s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 20s, 15s, 12s
Cable tricep Pushdowns
Oh, you’re just doing great! Catching up in here. Look at your pullups! Nice!!
Agree about the KBs being challenging and hitting everything. I like them a lot.
Have a great summer, Christal! I’d imagine Alaska is gorgeous this time of year.
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Oh, you’re just doing great! Catching up in here. Look at your pullups! Nice!!
Agree about the KBs being challenging and hitting everything. I like them a lot.
Have a great summer, Christal! I’d imagine Alaska is gorgeous this time of year.
[/quote]
Thanks, Puff! 
Welcome back! I remember you saying in your log that you were taking some time off from TN. It’s nice to hear from you. How’s your summer going? Yes, Alaska is beautiful this time of year. If you ever want to come visit, I’d be happy to show you around and we could train together!
6/10/15 BW: 161.4
Light stuff today…
Rolls (forwards and backwards), hops, stretching
Deck Squats
Pull-ups 5 x 5 @ BW
German Hang
Behind the neck OH Press 5 x 8 @ 45, 65, 65, 65, 65 lbs
Ring Face Pulls
Pistol Squats 3 x 5 @ BW
I didn’t feel like going particularly heavy today. I think my body just needed some rest, but I also didn’t feel right completely taking the day off so I just focused on mobility and lots of stretching. I got in some nice clean pull-up reps and opened up my shoulders quite a bit with the German hang and behind the neck presses.
I figured out a weird thing with pistol squats. It’s easier for me to hold my leg straight out in front of me than it is to leave it hanging out there. My hip flexors start to cramp up almost immediately. I experience the same thing with L-sits. It’s kind of weird because it’s a weakness that I don’t experience in any other lifts. And having very flexible hamstrings does not seem to help. It seems to be a strength issue. Something to work on, I guess.
6/11/15
Cable Bis/Tris
Sprints
6/12/15 BW: 160.6
Pike push-ups 4 x 5
Rope Climb - 2 x 12 feet, 9 feet
Staggered Ring Chin-ups
Plyos and ground drills
Box Jumps up to 5 x 3 @ 30" box
6/13/15 BW: 160.4
RDLs w/ 1 min rest 5 x 15 @ 95 lbs
Military Press 4 x 5, 5, 7, 6 @ 95 lbs
Bench Press (feet up) 3 x 10 @ 95, 105, 115, 1 x 16 @ 95 lbs
s/s DB Rows (Single Arm w/ bench) 5 x 10 @ 60, 65, 65, 65, 65 lbs
Walking Lunges - just bodyweight
Saturday was a lot of fun. Usually, we have a family lifting day once a week on Saturdays. It happened to be right before an Olympic weightlifting meet which my husband and I got pulled into helping with. My husband actually got to be one of the judges because they needed a third judge. Also, the meet was outside and my father-in-law ended up being in charge of the grill. So not a bad day. Barbells and barbecue.
I’m starting really light again on lower back work. I did RDLs for the first time in a few months. It was super duper light, but I’m glad my back isn’t giving me any issues. It seems to be healing really well. I’m pretty sure I herniated a disc with heavy farmer’s walks a few months ago. I’m not used to a Hex bar and when I went for 360 lbs, I leaned back and heard a loud pop sound. I’ve learned my lesson. No maxing out on new movements. Anyway, things are feeling almost 100% better. Still taking it slow. I’ll probably only add 5-10 lbs on RDLs each time I do them.
Because I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to unload the bar, I took my same weight for RDLs and pressed it overhead. Yes, I realize I should not be using the same weight for deadlifts as I’m using for military press, haha, but whatevs.
6/15/15 BW: 159.6 (Finally under 160!)
Chin-ups 4 x 8 @ BW
High step ups (unknown height) 4 x 20 @ BW
Push-ups 4 x 15
Body curls 3 x 12
6/16/15 BW: 159.2
Duck walks 5 x 10 meters forwards and backwards @ BW, 30, 60, 24, BW
Single arm DB OH press 2 x 10 @ 35, 40, 1 x 10 (left), 8 (rt) @ 50 lbs, 1 x 2 (left), 4 (rt) @ 50 lbs, 1 x 10 @ 40 lbs
Furniture slider leg curls (slow, 3 seconds each way) 3 x 8 w/ both legs
Toes to bar 9
Rotator cuff series
Cable tricep pushdowns 3 x 15, 12, 12 @ 42.5 lbs
I tied my best single arm DB overhead press today. I really wanted 10 reps on my right arm, but it wasn’t happening. Oh well. Next time. I’ll probably do some cardio this afternoon. It’s been ridiculously hot outside recently. We’ve been having temperatures in the 80s which is crazy warm for Alaska. I’ve been swimming in cold lakes a lot to cool off. 
Also, I’m below 160 lbs now. Yay! My stomach and abs are looking nice. I feel good about the diet I’m doing right now. I’m not counting anything. I just make sure to get a bunch of protein with each meal (30-60g I’d guess) and am eating about every 3 hours for 6 total meals a day. I’m drinking more water and I’m eating more carbs than before, but less fat. I seem to have less cravings with the higher carb intake. By higher, I mean higher than it was before. I’m still getting more protein than carbs so it’s not really a high carb diet. I used to get about 40-45% of my calories from fat. I think that left me still craving carbs and having a sweet tooth which made me want to overeat. Anyway, it seems to be really easy at this point. I’ll probably hit a wall again and will have to push a little harder, but this is working great right now. I’ll have to post progress pics soon. I think 150 or 155 would be a good goal weight for me.
6/16/15
Workout #2
Chin-ups 8 @ BW, 2 x 5 @ 15, 25, 1 x 3 @ 30 lbs
Walking Lunges 2 x 40 steps @ BW, 25 lbs
Decline Abs
Toes to bar 13 (PR)
Bike Ride
6/17/15 BW: 158.4
Swimming
6/18/15
Warm-up drills
Sprints 5 x 30 yards
6/20/15 BW: 160.4
RDLs w/ 1 min rest 5 x 15 @ 100 lbs
Bench Press w/ feet elevated 4 x 10 @ 100, 110, 120, 110, 1 x 20 @ 100 lbs
Chin-ups 3 @ BW, 2 x 1 @ 15, 30 lbs, fail @ +65 lbs
Cable Rows 4 x 10 @ 120, 130, 140, 140 lbs
Double KB rack squats 4 x 10 @ 40, 60, 70, 80 lbs
Flutter kicks
I was going for a chin-up PR today, but my arms were pretty dead after 60 reps of bench press. I probably should have tried that on a different day. Next time. My RDLs are still exceedingly light, but I’m forcing myself to progress really slowly with these again. I’m thinking I’m going to go back to sets and reps at 135 lbs on bench press again and start back over with triples.
6/22/15
Front Squats 6 x 10 @ 89, 111, 133, 133, 111, 111 lbs
Bench Press 4 x 3 @ 135 lbs
Pull-ups (paused) 4 x 6
GHR 4 x 10 @ BW
V-ups
6/24/15
Warm-up drills
Sprints 4 x 35 meters, 1 x 10 meters
Push-ups (chest to ground) w/ handles 10, 18 (PR?)
Ground drills - rolls, bear crawls, crab walks
Handstand walking work - 2 x 2 stagger steps
Suitcase Carries 1 x about 25 meters per arm @ 70 lbs
Waiters Carries 1 x about 25 meters per arm @ 50 lbs
Pull-ups 3 x 6 @ BW
It was a beautiful day, but I was resistant to lifting outside because I really felt like some heavy barbell training. In retrospect, I’m glad I went outside. Movement is incredibly healthy and is something that I can really benefit from. I have never been naturally athletic and lifting heavy comes a lot easier to me than being graceful or coordinated (which is why I probably avoid it, haha). Genetically, I’m German and Irish. I feel like I’m good solid farmer’s stock, meant for lifting heavy things, plowing fields, etc. haha. I’m super white, with a larger frame, a naturally thicker torso which probably helps stabilize my spine and a natural propensity to build big traps. Anyway, I’m not so much the springy type. My husband is and he constantly challenges me in areas that I am weak.
We went sprinting and it’s feeling more natural. I’m still a little robotic, but am working on moving better. Afterwards, my husband decided to start walking on his hands for distance so I thought I’d give it a try and fall on my face multiple times, haha. I was determined not to leave until I could get 2 steps on my hands (which is better than I’ve ever done). Just 2 steps. That’s it. Next time, it’ll be 3 steps.
I was surprised by how tired my shoulders were from all of the ground work and handstand work. I actually had to push press the 50 lb dumbbell to get it into place for the waiter’s carries (which is surprising for me because 50 lb is a 10 rep max for me). Anyway, good stuff.
6/25/15 BW: 160.6
Pull-ups (straight legs, pause at the top of each rep) 4 x 7 @ BW
Military Press 3 x 5 @ 45, 65, 85, 4 x 6 @ 95 lbs
Walking Lunges 3 x 40 steps @ BW, 30, 30 lbs
Ab Wheel 2 x 10
Flutter Kicks 1 minute
Rotator Cuff Series
My legs were kind of fried from yesterday’s sprinting. Those lunges were a lot harder than usual. I’m trying to build up volume again with my military press. Looking back at my log, it looks like my best military press workout was 5 x 4 @ 105. I think it’d be a good goal to get 4 sets of 10 at 95 lbs. Once I can do that, then I will go back up to 100 or 105. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
Also, I’m liking my pull-up work recently. I’m basically only adding a rep each set if it looks and feels completely smooth and I can still pause at the top without having to bring my legs up or use momentum or anything like that. The reps must be pretty or they don’t count.
6/26/15
Warm-ups
Hops
RDLs 5 x 15 (w/ 1 min rest) @ 105 lbs
Single Arm DB Bench 5 x 10 @ 30, 40, 40, 45, 50 lbs
Iso Low Row Machine 5 x 10 @ 90 lbs
GHR Sit-ups 5 x 10 @ BW
Cardio - Dance Dance Revolution
Yesterday’s workout (or Thursday’s MP?) killed my triceps. I can’t lift my arms up without them hurting right now. I haven’t felt this kind of soreness in a while. I had intended to do flat bench press yesterday, but all of the benches were taken so I decided to do DB Bench. I had heard of people doing single arm DB bench before, but have never tried it so I thought I’d give it a shot. That was a super strange exercise. You have to brace so much in your abs, hip, and even legs just to not fall off the bench. Super weird. I really liked it though. I’ll have to add that into my exercises that I do regularly.
6/28/15
Warm-up drills
Double Leg Bounds 1 yd, 1.5 yd, 2 yd, 2 yd (distances between bounds) for 10 yards
Single Leg Bounds 1 yd, 1 yd, 1.5 yd, 1.5 yd, 1.5 yd (distances between bounds) for 10 yards
Single Arm Farmer’s Walks 3 x 15 yards (per side) @ 100 lbs, 150 lbs, 160 lbs
Stagger Ring Chin-ups 2 x 3, 4 (per side)
Pike Push-ups 10, 7, 10
Hit the track and then hit the gym. My goal was to see if I could farmer’s walk with my bodyweight on one side. I did it, but it was pretty challenging. My grip kept wanting to give out and it worked the heck out of my obliques and traps. Next time, I’ll probably go lighter for a longer distance. We basically had extra time to kill yesterday so we decided to do things we don’t normally do. Usually, Sunday is an off day for us, but because we went camping on Saturday, we decided to get some work in.
6/30/15 BW: 160.4
Back Squats (CAT) 4 x 10 @ 135 lbs
Stagger Ring Chin-ups 2 x 1 w/ middle finger on lower ring, w/ index finger on lower ring, fail @ pinky on lower ring, 1 x 3 @ both hands on rings
Single Arm DB OH Press 4 x 5 @ 30, 35, 40, 45, 1 x 12 @ 50 lbs (rt) PR! (video attached), 1 x 9 @ 50 lbs (left)
Pull-ups (1 sec pause at top) 3 x 5 @ BW
Single Leg Hypers 4 x 10 @ BW
Single Leg Decline Sit-ups 4 x 5 @ BW
I had a good workout today. I finally beat my single arm overhead press PR! Yay! All of the stabilizing muscles were tired afterwards so I wasn’t able to get it on my left side, but I’m left-handed so the fact that I got 12 with my weaker arm is a good sign. Getting stronger.
I’m looking back at my very first strength training workout and it was on 7/8/10. Here it is: DB OH Press 4 x 8 @ 15 lbs per hand. DB Curls 4 x 8 @ 15 lbs per hand. DB Rows 3 x 10 @ 30 lbs. Alternating single DB deadlifts worked up to 1 x 8 @ 65 lbs. So crazy. I’ve more than tripled my overhead press strength. Granted, yes, it’s taken me 5 years lol, but I never thought I would get to the point where I could rep out with the 50 overhead. It’s really cool to look back in time to see how weak I used to be and to see how much stronger I’ve become. It just goes to show you that patience and hard work pays off.
7/1/15
Biking - 14 miles or 70 minutes
Stairmaster 15 min @ 88 steps/min
DB Bench Press 1 x 10 @ 30s, 2 x 8, 7 @ 50s, 2 x 10, 10 @ 45s
Cable Rows 4 x 10 @ 120, 120, 120, 120 lbs
s/s Rear delt flys to lateral raises 4 x 10 + 10 @ 15s
Cable row dropset 4 x 10 @ 120, 85, 75, 55 lbs
Roman Chair Leg Lifts 5 x 20, 15, 15, 15, 15
Walking Lunges 4 x about 25 steps
7/2/15 BW: 159.8
C2 Rower 500 meters @ 1:50
Warm-up hops
Reactive hops 6 x 15 @ 4 in, 6 in, 6 in, 6 in, 6 in, 6 in
Military Press 1 x 5 @ 65 lbs, 4 x 7 @ 95 lbs
s/s Front Squats (without taking hands off bar) 1 x 10 @ 65 lbs, 4 x 10 @ 95 lbs
Pull-ups (pause at top) 3 x 6
Military presses were hard today. I probably have sets of 8 in me if I don’t include front squats afterwards, but I’m getting close to where I won’t be able to complete this workout again and will have to start it over. Also, not resting and immediately front squatting was a nice little challenge. My legs were pretty sore from yesterday’s workout so I thought keeping the weight the same as my military press would be fine.
I did the C2 Rower for the second time in my life. I’d like to improve that time. My form needs some work. Apparently, with that time, I’m in the 65ish percentile, which isn’t horrible, but not great either.
7/3/15 BW: 160.4
Step-ups (24" box) 3 x 10 (per leg) @ 35, 50, 50 lbs
Bench Press (paused, CAT) 4 x 10 @ 95 lbs
Chin-ups 5 x 3 @ +35 lbs (volume PR!)
Single Leg bounds 5 x 5 per leg @ 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet, 6 feet
I did well today on my chin-ups. I was hitting good solid reps with each rep close to my clavicle. I think I’m good for 5 x 3 @ 40 lbs the next time I do these. I took it super easy on bench today to give myself a bit of a break because of military pressing heavy yesterday. Single leg bounds were good today. The first time I tried these, I completely collapsed with 6 feet jumps. 4 1/2 feet was as much as I could handle at the time. So this is a huge improvement. By the time I got to the last set, my right hip was feeling it in a way that I’m definitely not used to. I like finding new and interesting ways to make myself sore. It lets me know that I’m waking up a muscle that doesn’t normally get worked very hard.