Leg Press Machine
myo reps
400 x 11+3+3+3+3 and then I quit because it was awful
Triceps Push-Down
myo reps
160 x 10+3+3+2
That took me 25 minutes and then I jumped on the elliptical for 12 minutes. Thanks to the Buccaneers defense for cutting it short. I was just over 11 minutes and decided to watch the rest of the Eagles drive. They were moving the ball and trying to mount a comeback. Hurts had the ball stripped on the next play.
Iāve seen ways to monitor fatigue, performance, etc, but Iāve picked up something from the elliptical. I typically only go for 10 minutes and I do a 2:1 interval (2 min easy and 1 min hard). My heart rate is all over the place on those workouts as well as my calorie burn according to my watch. I decided to just cruise today instead of the interval. I went 12 min and burned 221 calories while covering 1.21 miles. My last five workouts on the elliptical were 10 minutes and all covered 1.0 to 1.04 miles and the caloric burn was 160, 178, 154, 125, and 139.
I felt like I was huffing and puffing today and the energy expenditure confirmed it. The elliptical has become my measuring tool for fatigue.
Hey @Mod_Phoenix Iāve been away from the forum for a while so I probably missed this. Iāve been trying to visit some old bookmarks and the links take me back to the homepage. Has certain content been moved or has it been removed completely?
Man, I am struggling. During the time I spent on here (and the years prior), I had no problem with training consistently. I might have struggled with picking a priority, but I was always in the gym. Now I find myself looking for a training split that requires minimal time in the gym. Re-enter 5/3/1.
I technically finished week 3 day 2 yesterday, but Iāve already decided to make a change. I love deadlifts but theyāre no longer loving me back. Each deadlift session leaves me with a borderline injury and days of stiffness. Iām still doing clean variations, but itās tough to add those to a full 5/3/1 split. I think Iāve found a solution: two āsquatā days with clean work. Day 1 will be working up to a heavy single followed by down sets from a full body template. Those are basically the reps and loads of 5/3/1:
5 @ 65%, 75%, 85%
3 @ 70%, 80%, 90%
5, 3, 1 @ 75%, 85%, 95%
After the back off sets, Iāll do cleans, single leg work, and abs. Squat Day 2 will be working up to a heavy single and then moving to clean pulls, single leg work, and abs.
I really think itāll be a successful program; I just need to run it. Iām on like week 8 of getting sick, getting better, repeat. I keep repeating that āfirst week back in the gymā experience. Iāve done 10 workouts this month and theyāre pretty evenly spaced.
As a result of less than awesome training and poor nutrition, I look worse than I have in ages. I donāt like it but I havenāt been able to fix it. Apparently I donāt hate myself enough yet. But Iām getting close! My wife has made a New Yearās Resolution to start working out with our oldest daughter - elliptical, swimming, and the like at the Y. Neither of us has ever made a resolution, so maybe I need to use the new year as motivation to get my rear going.
Iām not committed yet, but I just might be entering the big challengeā¦maybe.
In an effort to find motivation, Iāve been browsing programs I ran in the past or wanted to run. Iām especially drawn to CTās programs: The Complete Power Look and 6 Weeks to Superhero. Unfortunately, they love the front squat and I donāt. I feel like my squat might actually reach that mythical (for me) mark of 4 plates if I keep working. I hit 380 not too long ago. Iām not there right now thanks to being sick, but I know I can get back somewhat quickly. And if I want to keep progressing, I have to do the lift. Another downside to those programs (or just about any program) is that my goal is to stop looking fat. If Iām going to lose the belly fat, I probably shouldnāt be doing a demanding program focused on adding muscle.
So weāre back to good ol 5/3/1 abominations. As if anyone cares, hereās a peak at the next three weeks:
Iāve always liked the part of Training Maximally where you work up to your TM and then some depending on how you feel. The part of TM that Iāve failed to do is the PR sets. Youāre supposed to do a PR set with your TM at some point in the workout and Iāve avoided that. One of the TM options has you do 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps with 70-75% of your TM. Iāve decided to slack off and just do 5 PROās after my Joker set(s). That will be my official squat day and exercise #2 will be clean pulls. I learned that cleans suck after a good squat workout so Iāll avoid that. As you can see, there is plenty of flexibility in the others lifts and I do that because of equipment availability and my mood.
Here is the progression for cleans and clean pulls. It works. Iāve just failed to actually run the full thing for a long time.
SQUAT
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
255 x 3
285 x 2
315 x 1
340 x 1 Son did goblet squats for 3 x 10.
HANG POWER CLEAN
185 x 2, 2
205 x 4 x 3 sets Yes, I should have done 12 sets of 1, but Iām impatient. My son did rack pulls with the bar to work on his deadlift form.
WALKING LUNGES
BW x 50 steps without stopping Iām out of shape, remember?
AB WHEEL
2 sets of 12 for me and 2 sets of 10 with 1/2 to 3/4 ROM for the boy. Sadly this took like an hour and seemed like more until I typed it.
I would love to work in some Crossfit like conditioning stuff, but Iām pretty low on the conditioning scale right now. I struggled to speak clearly after my second set of the ab wheel because I was out of breath.
Still undecided on the big challenge. Thought about taking pictures this morning, but didnāt.
Made it to the gym thanks to my son bugging me. Iāve fallen into a bad habit of sleeping in during Christmas Break. He started asking at 1215 and I was not ready, but we went anyway. I even jumped on the elliptical because I was cold when we arrived.
ELLIPTICAL
10 minutes
BENCH
135 x 10
165 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 3
245 x 1
265 x 1
265 x 1
150 x 5
170 x 5
195 x 5
WIDE CABLE ROW
160 x 10
180 x 8
200 x 4, drop to
160 x 10
SEATED DB OHP
50 x 10, 10, 5, 4
OH ROPE EXT
120 x 10
100 x 10, 7
I guess one way to get over being out of shape is to just hammer away and train every day.
On an unrelated note, I stumbled across this today. I also recently (in the past few months) saw a post stating cholesterol used be acceptable in the 300s. Maybe weāre all doing better than we thought.
Iām just starting to notice people pushing back against the upper end of healthy cholesterol being 220. Maybe people like me have nothing to worry about.
Itās less about the LDL and Total Cholesterol numbers than it is about your Risk Ratio (total cholesterol/HDL - <4.5 is considered low risk), and triglyceride numbers. Genetics and family history of CVD and/or heart attack are also factors, but I agree that way too much emphasis is placed on that LDL number.
SQUAT
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 3
285 x 2
315 x 1
210 x 5
240 x 5
275 x 5
HANG CLEAN PULL
230 x 3 x 4 sets
HIP ABDUCTION AND ADDUCTION MACHINES
130 x 15 on both
150 x 12 on both
LYING LEG CURL Got this from John Meadows. Do 6 reps, drop to next plate, 6 reps, repeat til you canāt do 6. Rest briefly and then knock out 20 today reps a la rest/pause.
80 x 6
95 x 6
110 x 6
125 x 6
140 x 2
140 x 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2
LEG EXTENSION Same as above.
85 x 6
100 x 6
115 x 6
130 x 6
145 x 6
160 x 3
160 x 5, 5, 4, 4, 4
Itās funny. I did all that after squats to avoid a single leg exercise and take the easy way out. The rest/pause failure stuff ended up making me nauseous. Jokeās on me.
@kleinhound youāre the one who shared the HIIB stuff with me. I was looking at it today and canāt get over the things I canāt do whether itās my physical ability or equipment availability.
And to the rest of you, why am I talking about a different program? Reality. Thatās why.
And to catch you all up. Many of you know I left law enforcement to become a teacher. Unfortunately I made that move way too close to the last presidential cycle and subsequent explosion in inflation. As a result, Iām living paycheck to paycheck instead of sitting pretty with a fat savings account. Enter a second job. And that job isā¦
ā¦ A part-time police officer in a small town. My Chief sent me a video of a soon-to-be part-time officer deadlifting 6 plates. He added that the video gave him sympathetic joint pain. Our discussion following brought me back to a place Iāve been multiple times before. What am I doing and why? Whatās important - physical ability and performance or improving the big 3 (or 4)?
Perhaps itās time to stop fighting. This might be a good time to do something different. Will I actually do it? Why knows?
You know my all time favorite training when Iām looking to maintain is a WSSB split.
Max effort upper
Athletic lower (not traditional dynamic)
Max effort lower
Athletic upper (not traditional dynamic)
With space for conditioning days or little finishers.
I get enough stimulus, I can rotate exercises to keep it fresh or keep the same ones to track, and it makes sense for the tactical space
First, I did awful. That Open 22.1 is for people who have a strong core and are in shape. I completed 3 rounds in 15 minutes. Nearly everything was scaled today. Deadlifts were done with 225 and my back still hurt. Wall Walks were 3 reps on round one and 2 reps on the next two. DB snatch was with 50 but thatās because it was close and the 55 wasnāt. Box jump overs were just box jumps.
Iām smoked.
Invictus shares a daily workout for their fitness and performance categories. Iām aiming for fitness but occasionally both groups get the same workout. Iāll probably stay a day behind it skip a session here and there because Iām not training 7 days a week. Now if I could just clean up my dang diet.
