Even if it doesn’t, I’m building an awesome weight room at my current school. They just purchased everything on my wish list so I’ve been busy assembling two new Titan Cable Row/Pull-Down stations, two adjustable Titan Benches, and I started on the first of four Rep Fitness Glute/Ham Developers today. My current weight room is about to be freaking awesome. It’s fun to think of new opportunities, but I also have a good job. I guess I’m sitting at good and hoping for great.
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Everything about that just made me happy.
@Frank_C , you make my days better. 
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Well, truth be told that’s as much for me as anyone else. Optimism isn’t natural for me, but I understand the importance of mindset and perspective.
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What you put out is what you get back. I have found that even when I don’t particularly feel it, saying that it’s a good day helps to keep my spirits up. It helps to make it a better day. When I remind myself of all the blessings in my life it helps to make the rough patches a bit easier to take. A little optimism goes a long way. Yours helps to feed mine.
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And yours does the same. Reading “today is a good day” after seeing you post about a bad workout or something that that’s less than great always reframes my mindset.
Went for a walk during my son’s practice and it turns out that this may be the best way to prepare for my interview. I was able to think about possible questions and answers.
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There have been a LOT of authors that have spoken to how walking helps engage the mind. From Schopenhauer to Augustine to Kant and others. Definitely a wonderful practice, and of the reasons I like the walk to NOT be a workout, and just be a walk.
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I was listening to music but didn’t hear any of it. I used to do the same when I was a kid and had to mow our yard. We lived on 5 acres and mowed about 2 to 2.5 acres regularly with a riding mower. The task would still take 3-4 hours so I had A LOT of time to myself.
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Mowing is one of my favorite times to listen to podcasts.
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4.30.26
It seems I have caught whatever my kids had over the weekend. My daughter thought it was allergies, but she had a sore throat and runny nose. My son had that plus a bit of a fever. They’ve both recovered but now my wife and I have sore throats. My wife is on an antibiotic for a wasp/hornet sting that got infected so whatever it is, it’s viral.
I plan to train after work but might punt that if I crash through the day. The schedule calls for clean pulls and OHP and the conditioning I missed yesterday. I mean, I walked for 27 minutes yesterday so I technically got half of it in. I think I’ll pair pull-ups or rows with OHP and do clean pulls separately. That’ll free up my urge to pull during the mobility/assistance circuits tomorrow. That will hopefully be followed by the sled. I miss the sled, but don’t have one at school so my choice to stay at work and do supersets, combo sets, and circuits has cost me that joy. Not today, though!
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Con Clavi Con Dios
C5 W1 D3 & D4
Warm-Up
Foam rolling, stretching, cossack squats, KB squats, KB swings with the 50 lb, and 10 jumps.
OHP
95 x 5
110 x 5
125 x 5
140 x 5
110 x 5 x 5 (FSL)
superset with
Bent-Over Row
135 x 10 x 3
155 x 10 x 3
Clean Pulls
155 x 3
185 x 3 (supposed to be 180 but I’m not bothering loading two 10s and a 2.5)
205 x 3 (supposed to be 200, same excuse)
185 x 3 x 5 sets (SSL)
Sled
Rogue Sled + 135
Alternate Pull 25m / Push 25m x 5 each
Time: 14:27 - wasn’t going to make 10 minutes but had a long break after the 4th round when I ran into an old co-worker. Told him the sled saved my knees and he jumped in a did a couple rounds after I finished. He’s slightly taller than me, a bit younger, and also still plays basketball.
Put together two GHDs made by REP Fitness today for our weight room. Tried one out and they’re fantastic! Back extensions feel great, but even more importantly, I can do the whole back extension into a Nordic Leg Curl. That’s exactly what I wanted. Those 45 Deg Back Extension machines are officially dead to me.
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Awesome news on the job by the way. Hope the interview goes really well whenever it is.
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Me, too! I’m having a hard time scripting anything, but I went total nerd and printed off some data and workouts yesterday. I feel better having something to show them if they ask. I use everything I’ve learned at some point in the year. I plan my class workouts in 9 week blocks because it fits perfectly with our “quarters” at school. We’re currently trying 5/3/1 stuff, but I’ve used the step progression chart I shared here back in January/February and I’ve had good luck with CT’s 915 Workout.
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5.1.26 Con Clavi Con Dios
C5 W1 D5 - Mobility and Assistance
Warm-Up
Stretch, roll, goblet squats, swings, jumps.
Circuit - 4 Rounds
- RFESS Jumps x 5 per leg
- DB Incline 50s x 15 fast reps
- DB Swings 70 x 10
- GHD Sit-Ups x 10
That’s it for the day. Got a nice sweat going and didn’t take long. Still feels weird not doing much.
(Apparently I typed this in my phone browser two days ago and never submitted it.)
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5.3.26 Con Clavi con Dios
C5 W1 D6
Warm-Up
3 rounds of Cindy, stretching, rolling and a few jumps.
Conditioning
Jim says to do 10-20 minutes of hard conditioning followed by 30 minutes of light conditioning such as the Airdyne or a weighted vest walk. Well I didn’t want to do that so I made up my own workout.
6 Rounds of this fun
-
Sled - Pull x 25m
-
Sled - Push x 25m
-
Jog a lap (1/6th mile)
Time: 22:17 -
Walk 3 laps (half mile) recovery
Total Workout Time: 31:36
Here’s a graph of my heart rate.
Average HR was 149bpm before the recovery walk.
Longest rest was 47 seconds after one of the runs. Rest after sled was as little as 8 seconds between pulling and pushing but usually around 25-30 selling seconds.
Edit to add: lap times went down every round. I started around 1:33 and finished at 1:26. I wasn’t pushing pace; just trying to maintain the same pace from start to finish. Combined time was approximately 8:49.
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Fine, Jim. I went for a longer walk.
This was mostly because I ate a ton of junk this afternoon at a family birthday party. It was actually the celebration of four birthdays and we had three cakes. I had chips and three types of dips before that. I felt like I needed to finish the day off with a good amount of calories burned to offset the eating (I also mowed the yard between my workout and the party).
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5.4.26 Con Clavi con Dios
C5 W2 D1 - Lifting
Warm-Up
Stretching, foam rolling, skips, pogo hops/jumps, and a few KB squats and swings.
Main Work
Front Squat
125 x 5
140 x 5
160 x 5
125 x 5 x 3 (FSL)
superset with
Bench
135 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 5
230 x 5
175 x 5 x 5 (FSL)
Bonus Work
GHD Back Ext
25 lbs x 15, 15 (plate behind head)
GHD Russian Twist
25 x 10 ea
GHD Crunch
25 x 10 - cramp!
That’s it for the day. Still seems strange. I like the short days but I actually have time for more. I’ll probably switch back to doing the assistance circuits after the main lifts after this cycle. That’ll give me a couple more days off to allow for some flexibility in the week.
I wore a tank top to the gym yesterday because it’s warm here (80s yesterday and today, 40s in two days). I’m sad to say I didn’t look the way I’d hoped in the mirror. I look lean and athletic. I’m torn. I know that’s a good and healthy look for me. But I want to look muscular. The way I’ve trained and eaten in the past really haven’t accomplished lean, athletic, and muscular. I’m either bigger and softer or lean and athletic. I feel great. Training feels good except for front squats. There’s nothing wrong there; they just suck. My conditioning is great for my stage in life and what I’m willing to do. I can play basketball. There are so many positives to this look, but my stupid brain isn’t satisfied.
I guess there’s still work to be done (mentally).
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Maybe looking and feeling good is the reward for the work and the desire to be more muscular is the motivation to keep moving forward. Always striving keeps you from becoming complacent. 
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The question is “How do I move forward?”. I’ve been here before. I’m enjoying my training. I think I’ll just start to target some specific muscle groups with my assistance work when the template allows…or just add some extra stuff like I did yesterday and today.
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5.5.26 Con Clavi Con Dios
C5 W2 D2 - Mobility & Assistance
Warm-Up
Pathetic! I’m a bit stiff and sore so I jumped on the recumbent bike to loosen things up. My left hamstring cramped! It took several minutes to make my way over to the turf area where I could sit down. I sat with my legs spread to stretch hamstrings and adductors and it finally calmed down. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to train.
Circuit - 4 Rounds
- Push-Ups x 20
- 20" Box Jumps x 6
- DB Snatch 50 x 5 ea arm
- Hurdle Step-overs x 10 to 20 (did 20 forward in round 1, 10 backwards round 2, then figured out I could step over and back to get 20 total and 10 of each for rounds 3 and 4)
Bonus Work
- Reverse Cable Curl x 2 sets
- Rope Press-Down x 2 sets
It’s 10:02 am. My interview is at 12:15pm. I slept like crap, of course. I’m nervous but feel like I’ve been thinking about this enough to have all the answers stored somewhere in my head. The only thing I could do more is to actually write down my answers to possible questions. I’ve done that before when facing a very structured oral board procedure for a position with the police department. I even have an introduction that can last 7 or more minutes in case you say “Tell us about yourself.”
I think I’m just going to go read my Bible and work on my Bible study from church. I deserve nothing good from God, but at this point I think the best thing I can do is spend some time reading his Word. I’m not consistent enough with that anyway.
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I wore a tank top to the gym yesterday because it’s warm here (80s yesterday and today, 40s in two days). I’m sad to say I didn’t look the way I’d hoped in the mirror. I look lean and athletic. I’m torn. I know that’s a good and healthy look for me. But I want to look muscular. The way I’ve trained and eaten in the past really haven’t accomplished lean, athletic, and muscular. I’m either bigger and softer or lean and athletic. I feel great. Training feels good except for front squats. There’s nothing wrong there; they just suck. My conditioning is great for my stage in life and what I’m willing to do. I can play basketball. There are so many positives to this look, but my stupid brain isn’t satisfied.
I guess there’s still work to be done (mentally).
It’s worth appreciating that this is what a special operations solider looks like
And what you’re describing is also exactly how the Spartans would have looked
The “GI Joe” look is just that: a fantasy. It’s why we have it in the first place. And even GI Joe got a glow up. Here he was in the 70s (NSFW doll nudity)
And here he is today
We’ve been conditioned to believe in a reality that simply isn’t real. For a natural man, with normal test levels, fit, lean and athletic is a wonderful, sustainable and realistic build.
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