An update:
I’ve been getting a decent amount of training in since moving cross-country, but have not been logging workouts consistently. Here are the facts as they stand:
My brother and sister-in-law (married 1 year) offered me a place to stay. I gratefully accepted, as the job market in their state is significantly better than mine, and I thought I would be able to get more hours at my current job/find a better one.
Upon moving, they informed me that I had 2 months (October 1) to find some place else to live, in a city undergoing a tech boom a la San Francisco, which means unaffordable rents for anyone not working in tech. In addition to this, my brother’s wife took exception to some pretty mundane things (don’t sleep late even if you work at night, don’t say the words “bitch” or “pussy” because they’re misogynistic, you have to watch sports in the basement, you don’t say “thank you” enough, you need to seek help from a mental health professional) and also has reiterated to me 5 times that my presence in their house “is really tough on [their] marriage.” In short, she’s a totalitarian, so being here has been extremely unconducive to fixing my problems.
So these things being the case, I’ll have to try something else. Recently my training has been fucked up due to all these roadblocks, but a few things I have been working on:
- Working to heavier front squats, esp. utilizing a clean grip.
- Doing mobility screens (wall squats, paused BW squats, hip opening exercises) to try to fix some of my limitations to make back squatting a viable training option.
- Getting back to weighted pull-ups. Pre-military stuff, my PR was +65#x2 @ 165BW. I’m not close to that at the moment, but I’ve gotten to a +45#x1 since coming here.
- Rehabilitating the bench press. I’ve always experienced slight shoulder pain from barbell bench pressing, and I have terrible upper pecs, so I tend to avoid it. However, I’ve recently experimented with “greasing” the shoulder joint with push-ups, and utilizing a wider false grip on the bench press in the power rack. No problems, and it makes my chest work quite well. I’m going to keep working with this.
- Running. Haven’t done it much; hate it, bad at it. However, this is what held me back from military stuff, and it really pisses me off. This is a work in progress, but I’m going to work on it - even if only for my own satisfaction.
- Training for dominant legs. This is a complicated issue. Obviously it’s a multifaceted training problem - what am I training the legs to be dominant at? In short, everything. I have naturally big but weak-ish legs, and they respond very rapidly to resistance training. I think big legs are cool, and I want to have great leg development. The antidote to this is fixing my mobility and flexibility issues.
Secondly, I want to be a decent runner at middle and longer distances. Not because I like running, but because it affects my choice of profession. I want to be able to run a 1.5 mile in under 10:00, and 4 miles in under 28:30. The solution to this problem is likely twofold: one, when and how to train the run; and two, fixing my running mechanics. The first facet is one of programming, and I think I can find workarounds myself. The second is a professional one, and I will likely have to scrounge up the money to work with a running coach to fix my form. (In short, I run like a meathead - like I’m trying to use my back and arms to fight the ground.)
Thirdly, I want good - not great - lower body static strength. I can (trap bar) deadlift a lot more than I can front or back squat (285# v. 155#), and that’s a pretty big imbalance. I’ve accepted that unless I put on significant weight and train lifting almost exclusively, I won’t be putting up huge numbers in my upper body movements unless they’re bodyweight. But as a point of pride, I want to be able to hit more balanced numbers in my lower body movements - something like 225# FS and 250# BS. Not huge numbers, but if I could hit those while running a 9:50 1.5 and swimming an 8:00 500, I’d be a very happy camper.
In summary, my current problems, in order of importance, are as follow:
- Find a new location to lay my head.
- Find employment that will let me support myself - e.g. pay for housing and bills, and eat to support my training. (I thought my problems with this would be resolved by my move to Seattle. Alas, this has not been the case.)
- Watch the Tigers win the World Series. (Okay, maybe that should go further down on the list.)
- Start working to fix my running.
- Work toward a training split that will generate respectable progress toward all my goals.
- Don’t give up.
I thought working with family, things would be different. Unfortunately that has not been the case - they want me to live on their terms. So fuck em. I’ll have to find another way.
As they say, “aut inveniam viam aut faciam.” That’s all for now.