isn’t it amazing how we often don’t check out the stuff around us until we get serious about moving away? i think most tourists have seen more of NZ than I have even though I made a bit more of an effort before moving away. that waterfall looks great.
guess it is a bit cold for swimming in wales?
Matty - We could do a house swap.
Alexus - We always meant to do all these things, but what with looking after all our animals we just never had the time. Haven’t even had a holiday for 10 years and it’s always too cold for swimming in Wales.
08/08/2011
DB Jump Squats 2 sets of 5 reps x 53 lb’ers
Back Squats 2 sets of 5 x 374 lbs (PR for 5 reps + 6 lbs)
Leg Curls 8-8-8 x 100 lbs
Weighted Push Ups 20-20-20 x 44 lbs (supersetted with) EZ Curls 7-7-7 x 99 lbs
Lower back had felt a bit “twitchy” all day. Don’t know why. Considered postponing until tomorrow, but when I reminded myself that I might only have a couple of weeks lifting left, my new “listen to my body” philosophy went straight in the crapper and I decided to go for it.
Got my 2 sets for a new 5 rep PR. It was hard, but I never came close to failing. 6 lbs more than I handled during the RSR. Very happy with that.
Got such a rush from the squats that I coasted through the rest of the workout on a wave of adrenaline. The 3 sets of 20 on weighted push ups was a PR by two sets and I’m pretty sure the EZ curls and leg curls were PRs too, but I can’t be bothered to go back and check.
Bring on next week’s 390!
Had decided to cut down on the “video whoring”, but it was a PR! So…
Brett you wuss…don’t you know that people swim all year round in wales, last year i was swimming locally down to about 6c, ok that wasn’t particularly easy going but it’s summer you know…
Brett- That was one heck of a session…nice work…keep pushing as there appears to be more to come!
BN - If you swim in 6c, you need your head read.
OG - Thanks buddy. Hopefully there is more to come.
“Why I am not benching tonight”, a story by farmerbrett.
It’s a long one, so when you’re sitting comfortably I’ll begin.
Spent yesterday connecting our house’s drainage up to the new septic tank in readyness for moving. To put it mildly, things did not go to plan. The first problem we encountered was that the old pipe we wanted to connect to was lower than the septic tank inlet so there was not enough fall. So we had to dig the trench way further back towards the house (which fortunately is further uphill) to get the necessary drop.
Problem 2, Inbetween the house and the tank we encountered the foundations of an old wall running at right angles to our pipe run, there was no way around it so we would have to go through it. The mini digger couldn’t break through the concrete, (about 2ft x 2ft thick) so we had to break it up by hand. I don’t know how they made concrete 100 years ago, but man it was hard! After several hours of sledge hammering and pick axe wielding, confined in a deep narrow trench that made it 10x more difficult, we finally got through it. So I measured my pipes, cut them and attached the new plastic pipes to the 100 yr old clay pipes. My wife went in to run the tap to test it and…no water came out my end. Shit!! This meant we had a break in between. So everything had to be taken up and we had to dig further along the clay pipe to expose it. A few feet further up the pipe had fractured. These old pipes are as fragile as glass. It must have been hit by the digger or all the vibrations of the sledging could have done it. By this time it was getting too dark to continue so we called it a day. Went in, ate, had a bath, went straight to bed and slept like a baby. (couldn’t empty the bath, wash up or flush).
9am this morning, straight back out. Dug further back along pipe beyond break and tried again. Cut off end of old pipe and re-attached new pipe. Tested…no water. Another collapsed pipe. Fuck!!! this is becoming a nightmare. Dug out again and uncovered more pipe for final go. We’re almost back at the house now and running out of chances. Connected everything up, wife lets out plug and…I can hear running water in the septic tank!! Halle-fucking-lujah !!! Gently filled in around the pipe with gravel and re-tested. Wife went to flush the toilet as I stood by the tank cover. Never been so thrilled to see a turd in my whole life!!
Finally, job done. Oh the joys of being a homeowner. Friend’s coming back tonight to fill in the trenches.
Back is aching and my grip is totally fried from the sledging, I can barely hold a cup of tea, so benching’s off until tomorrow.
Nice PR!
House swap. There’s an idea. I’ve got a house in the Colorado foothills on 5 acres. Anyone want to swap for a week?
I DL bare-shinned as well. And I powder up at every meet.
I think that’s what you call a ‘work’ workout brett !!
KP - Thanks. Wasn’t sure if talc was legal.
BN - Yeah, glad that was a one off. One of those a week would play havoc with my lifting schedule. Back and grip are still suffering.
11/08/2011
W/U shoulder circuit (twice through no rest)
Band pull aparts x 20
Band dislocates x 20
Bench Press 2 sets of 5 x 264 lbs
Standing DB Press 10-10-10 x 56.9 lb’ers
Pushdowns 4 sets of 10 x 110 lbs
Face Pulls 4 sets of 10 x 69 lbs
Band ext rotations (each arm) 3 sets of 10
Managed to hit the required reps despite my grip still being shot, but it did feel more shaky because I couldn’t grip the bar as hard as I would have liked.
Next week calls for 275 lbs for 5 which would be a PR. (current PR 270 for 5 dating back to 2000 when I had a training partner and a handoff).
Been a good last 7 days lifting wise. Hit both squat and deadlift 5 rep PRs and not far off on bench. One more week of fives before the programme drops to threes.
I’m getting good results from this Coan routine. Whether it’s the programme itself or the fact that knowing you only have a limited number of lifting weeks left focuses the mind somewhat. Probably the latter.
I still have 6 weeks to go on the 14 week routine, but I might be moving before then. So I’ve decided, regardless of how far I get, for my last workout I will do a “one man meet” where I’ll hopefully finish with a nice new total to take with me (and I should win).
Due to deadlift tomorrow. Target is 440 for 2 sets of 5. This time last year 440 was my 1rm! shows what a good influence this forum has been on me. Haven’t decided if I will do it yet. I’ll play it by ear, see how I’m feeling.
Congrats on having all the PRs rolling in. That must be fun.
Well, those are joys of home ownership. Good thing you had a friend to share in joys with you. Doing that with a few beers after might not have been so bad. but then again, beer sounds real good right about now.
DJS - Thanks for stopping by.
UN42 - Can you not drink where you are then?
Well ‘sensible’ me had decided to give it a miss tonight because I still feel like crap. I think it might be more than just a bit of hard labour, maybe I’m coming down with something. But ‘guilty, don’t want to get off schedule’ me, had other ideas.
12/08/2011
Deadlift (straps) 2 sets of 5 reps x 440 lbs (PR)
That was it. Literally those two sets to keep on schedule, ditched the assistance stuff. Going to vegetate all weekend and scoff myself stupid. Been lifting quite a while on a calorie deficit and I’m starting to feel it.
Glad to be done with the 5s. I think 5 reps is too high for deads anyway.
2 x 5 x 440 lbs
That grimace. Is that the same grimace you made the first time you “accidentally” met Lee Priest? 
j/k
Nice pulls FB!
DANG 5 sets of 5!!! (kidding) good pulling FB.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
And I powder up at every meet.[/quote]
Oh man, I think I soiled my pants…
WICKED deadlift, Brett. Wicked, wicked, wicked.
Music is always so theatrical…
nice deads
Over 2x body weight for sets of 5 is VERY solid work. And I envy your bench strength.
Huge training week - nice work.
nice benching! and pulling!
ceramic pipes are horribly fragile
[quote]giterdone wrote:
Over 2x body weight for sets of 5 is VERY solid work.[/quote]
Absolutely. Impressive.
That is insanity right there… 2x5x440…insane!! Nice
ddot - Yeah it’s the same grimace. Do you believe in the theory that your 1rm deadlift face is the same as your ‘orgasm’ face?. I hope for my wife’s sake it’s not.
dday - LOL, you got me! I read the first bit and thought “Oh for f***s sake”, then saw what you’d done. Nice!
CK, Upscale, Goat, KP and Git - Thanks all.
Kev - Don’t let these ‘eco warriors’ tell you all plastic is bad. Plastic underground drainage is a godsend compared to the old stuff.