At some point in the morning-
10x10 EMOM push-up
Felt ok. Didn’t feel stupid easy.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 2
I’m finding that doing wider grip on the later set is an effective way to get those in without fatiguing muscles too badly.
Later-
Bench- 95/115/135/145lbx5, 155lbx7
I can power through the first 5 reps, and then I feel my body (feels like all the stabilizing muscles throughout my body) fatiguing and each rep becomes progressively harder on the body, making me doubt that I can do more. I’ll stay with this and see what happens if the volume sets go heavier. I need to keep shouting in my head to drive my feet into the floor with each rep as well.
OHP- 75lbx5, 105lb, 5x5
Felt strong.
Standing ab-wheel- 5x5
Not full ROM; getting arms to probably just slightly beyond a plank. Abs felt quite sore after this.
5x5 EMOM inverted row
Found that the safeties are at the perfect height for this. Felt good. I need to work on keeping my core stable and not letting my feet slip, which I actually think is due to core and lower body weakness.
I am utterly amazed. Just a couple of months ago 10 EMOM sets of 10 jumping burpees would have been impossible as a standalone workout, and now I do it with 10 kb swings after a full workout and having done a total of 100 pushups earlier in the day.
At some point in the morning-
Recon Ron pull-up program week 2
Later-
2x power snatch and 1x overhead squat-45/65/75/85/95/105lb
Right knee is feeling better so I tried this out. No pain but definitely ever so slightly uncomfortable. No repping out overhead squats but avoiding them entirely is also maybe not go, so I’ll do singles for a while.
Power clean and push jerk-
95/115/135lbx2, 155lbx1
Hard rep with 155lb but happy with it. Push-jerks felt very easy until the 155lb. I think it’s the difficulty I have with power cleaning it that made the push-jerk feel hard.
10 rounds of-
5 chin-up
10 push-up
10 lunges (5 forward lunges then 5 reverse lunges)
with 20lb of rice in my backpack.
Took ~32:44. First 5 rounds took ~15:19, next 5 rounds took ~17:25. The first 5 rounds felt very comfortable; started to feel harder around the 7th set.
I just ate my weekend big carby dinner that’s supposed to make me feel full and happy and… I’m still fucking hungry.
It was a carbonara made out of roughly half a container of spaghetti and an entire package of thick-cut bacon. It is a lot of calories. How am I still hungry.
Woke up again at 7AM and couldn’t be bothered to go out and run, so I slept in and did this just now.
I swear I used to be good at jumping rope- All the middle school kids in my PE class marveled at how a fat kid could jump rope so well. Well, can’t do that anymore. Did manage to get into a groove a couple of times, but then my calves started to burn and take me out of it.
Also- my right knee felt achy while sleeping. I need to be careful with the snatches and the overhead squats.
This feels fine in terms of easy cardio. I definitely started to feel tired when I got into the 100+ rep before inevitably failing, but HR never felt like it went up that high. A couple minutes after finishing this and HR is back to normal. I’d like to be able to get to the point that I can do this for 15 min or so straight.
At some point in the morning-
6x16 EMOM push-up
Felt difficult in the last two sets.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 3
Body felt heavy.
Later-
Right knee is feeling slightly achy during warm-ups.
Back squat-
155/175/195/215lbx5, 235lbx6
Felt strong but the 235lbx6 took a lot out of me.
Deadlift-
135lbx5, 235lb, 3x8
TnG with straps. Felt strong.
Hanging leg raise to parallel- 3x8
Last week was NOT 3x8; it was 3x7. Abs felt pretty sore.
EMOM Inverted row- 5x5
I think I get a lot better pull if I make a serious effort to contract my lats; otherwise I’m pulling more with my upper back and I don’t get much ROM.
Amor-building complex with 45lb BB- 5x5 EMOM.
Yay; finished this with ~20 second left each round.
At some point in the morning-
10x10 EMOM push-up.
Still not feeling very easy. I think I’m going to take a ‘deload’ of sorts on this next week.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 3
Later-
OHP- 75/95/105/115/125lbx5
115lb felt ok but good enough that I thought I could do 125lb confidently. Then I unracked 125lb and immediately felt “wow, this feels heavy”. Had to push-press the last rep.
Bench press-
105lbx5, 145lb, 5x5
Good working sets.
Standing ab-wheel- 5x5
Inverted row- 2x5, bent-knee inverted row- 3x5
Couldn’t get my core straight so I went to bent-knee, which immediately felt a lot easier. I think I used up all my core strength on the ab-wheels.
Juarez Valley front squat with 95lb and jumping burpees- 10/1/9/2/8/3/7/4/6/5
Done in ~7:47
My shoulders are starting to get a bit beat-up, so I’m going to do front squats for a while and see if that helps. Faster than expected. The front squats felt rough, probably because I didn’t warm-up at all for this movement.
Sat through two hours of meetings then did this before having to go drive for nearly 2 hours to work-
Amor-building complex with 45lb BB- 5x5 EMOM.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 3 while cooking breakfast/lunch. Will probably do some push-ups at night.
I feel good about my choices this morning.
Edit-
I just did that 10x10 EMOM push-up and it felt pretty easy. I actually felt slightly explosive like it should. ‘Deload’ next week for this would definitely help.
At some point in the morning-
6x16, 1x10 EMOM push-up
Felt ok. Needed to pause a lot on the last two sets.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 3
Felt ok.
Later-
Deadlift-
135/195/235/255lbx5, 275/295lbx1, 315lbx2, 325lbx1
TnG with straps. Basically couldn’t make a fist on the 315lb and 325lb sets but I’ve learned how to let the straps hold onto the bar. Form felt like garbage because my hands weren’t engaged though.
Back squat-
155lbx5, 195lb, 10/8/7
Squatting feels the best and most natural that I could remember. I like that I don’t need too much warm-up sets anymore. I think it’s because I’m doing so many squats in conditioning work.
I got a bit too ‘excited’ with the first work set because it felt really easy up to rep 6, so I kept going. It bit me on the second set though- had to stop at the fifth rep to take a breath. Got through the third set with some difficulty.
Hanging leg raise to parallel- 3x8
Bent-knee inverted row- 5x5 EMOM
Back to bent knees. Straight knees seem to take me out of the real goal of learning to engage my back properly with inverted rows.
Bear complex WOD 10 min AMRAP with 45lb.
Try to finish the Bear complex WOD in under 10 min, but am allowed to put the bar down to rest if needed.
Finished the fifth rep of set 7 when the timer ran out. I completed the entire thing after. This more or less confirmed my suspicion that anything involving bringing the bar above my head tires me out far more than other movements. I suppose that just means that I need to be lifting weight above my head way more often.
Was on good pace by round 6 when I checked the clock and saw that ~5:40 passed. So I fell off greatly starting from round 7. Felt like the heat in the garage started to get to me. I felt really out of breath and my legs felt wobbly. I spent most of today standing around in the garage watching contractors deal with a leaky pipe, so that may have an impact. I may have not hydrated myself enough.
Edit- Ya, starting to feel a mild headache, so my guess is hydration.
10 rounds of-
5 chin-up
10 push-up
10 lunges (5 forward lunges then 5 reverse lunges)
with 20lb of rice in my backpack.
Did the third set with 20 squats instead of lunges because I felt I was dragging, then I decided it didn’t matter and continued on with lunges.
Took ~31:35. First 5 rounds took ~15:06, next 5 rounds took ~16:27.
Did this fasted after waking up. Felt sluggish on round 1-3. Felt more alive afterwards.
burpee and squat for 30 minutes- ~250 reps
I swear I didn’t intend it to work out this way. I think I just now have a pretty good subconscious internal clock. So, when I checked the clock and saw that I had ~1:40ish left and was somewhere around 214 reps in, I knew just how fast to move to get to 250ish. I may even be off in the reps because I lost count a couple of times once I went past 100 reps.
Pacing was all over the place. I intentionally paced myself slow at the start because I didn’t want to blow myself up. Sped up after ~130ish and began to get the burpee equivalent of runner’s high at some point.
This feels super boring but amazing. I can just keep going mechanically and now I think I understand why people like to listen to music while lifting. I did this in the living room with a T.V. show on. I barely paid attention to the show but I really appreciated the background noise.
This is going to be my go-to easy conditioning until the weather gets better and I can start jogging in the evening again.
At some point in the morning-
3x16 EMOM push-up
Set 2/3 felt a bit tough, most likely from the burpees yesterday.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 4
Felt fine.
Later-
Back squat-
135/155/175/195/215lbx5, 235lbx8
Got to 7 reps on a single breath. Legs also felt wore out by then because the 8th rep felt slow.
Felt very easy until the 215lb set, when the weight started to feel heavy on my back.
Deadlift-
135lbx5, 245lb, 5x5
TnG with straps. Felt ok.
Toe to bar- 6x4
So, I used to have this horrible pain in my left scapula when I did this for multiple sets and reps. I didn’t feel that today, so I figure is a good thing.
EMOM bent-knee inverted row- 4x6
Amor-building complex with 45lb BB- 5x5 EMOM.
The immense fatigue and pain I normally feel on my left shoulder didn’t show up today. Fatigue felt more generalized over my entire shoulder area. Abs felt quite sore.
At some point in the morning-
3x16 EMOM push-up
Not ok. I swear this feels more tiring than it normally does.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 4
Felt ok.
Later-
burpee and squat for 30 minutes- ~252 reps
Felt much tougher than the last time but somehow got roughly the same result. I think I paced myself faster this time, thus causing me to take mini breaks here and there.
At some point in the morning-
10x10 EMOM burpee
An experiment. Didn’t even break a sweat until the last two sets. Push-up muscles didn’t feel fatigued.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 4
Felt ok. First set felt easy and the others felt harder than normal.
Later-
Deadlift- 135/185/225/255lbx5, 285lbx4
Double overhand grip TnG up to 255lb and hook grip TnG for 285lb.
Did 4 reps of 255lb before I had to reset grip and did 2 reps of 285lb and then do more singles.
Glutes and hamstrings felt very sore just from 185lb and I knew that today wasn’t going to be good. 255lbx5 with double overhand would probably be a weight PR with this grip. 285lb wasn’t going to happen regardless of grip. By then I just felt very tired.
Back squat-
135lbx5, 205lbx5, 135lb, 4x5
Felt tired and knew from the warm-up 135lb that easy sets of 205lb probably wouldn’t be doable but I wanted to try it. Had to pause after 3 reps and then do two more fairly slow reps with 205lb. I dropped the weight way down just to get some reps in.
Hanging leg raise to parallel-3x8
Abs felt very sore from the start.
Bent-knee inverted row- 5x5 EMOM
This felt ok.
Bear complex- 10x3 EMOM with 65lb.
I figured this wouldn’t be too tough and I was right. Probably just right given how I feel today.
First actual bad workout since restarting with actual weights. I am guessing it’s a combination of all the sudden burpee and squats, which honestly feels way harder on the body than jogging even though HR feels pretty low, and several nights of going to bed later than usual and waking up earlier than usual. I should have taken a nap right before this. I think that would have helped a lot.
At some point in the morning-
Recon Ron pull-up program week 4
5x10 EMOM push-up
Didn’t feel bad.
Later-
Bench press- 95/115/135/155/165lbx5
13 min rest in between 135lb and 155lb when my brother called me. 155lb felt smooth so I went with 165lb. 165lb felt ‘easy’. Pressing muscles felt fine but I got fatigued by the fourth rep so the bar speed slowed down.
This is probably my best ‘post-cut’ PR. I’ve never pressed roughly bw (I’m assuming I’m still somewhere between the 158-163lb range on normal eating days) for reps before. The best bench I’ve ever done is either 185lb or 195lb for a single.
OHP-
75lbx5, 105lb, 5x5
Felt smooth.
walkouts to near full extension- 5x5
I figure this will give me better stability than standing ab-wheels while largely doing the same thing. I think I was right; this felt really hard. I tried doing facsimiles of a reverse Lalanne push-up and got my ass kicked due to muscle weakness and mobility restrictions in the back. Good stuff.
Bent knee inverted row- 2x6, 3x5 EMOM
Amor-building complex with 55lb BB- 5x4, 1x5 EMOM.
At some point in the morning-
3x16 EMOM push-up
Managed to get through these without needing to pause at the top. It got pretty close to that on the third set though.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 4
I am noticing that the first set feels easy/awesome, second set feels ok, and it goes downhill from there. I am guessing that fatigue is building up.
That being said… I didn’t get much sleep today or the last couple of days, so that may be a factor. I didn’t need to wake up early but woke up before 7AM anyways and I don’t know why. This is a good thing though- I am changing jobs soon and this place doesn’t need me to work with people overseas, so my dream of going to bed before 11PM and getting up before 7AM is something that I work towards. It’s just not a good thing when you went to bed at like 1AM.
Later-
10 rounds of-
5 chin-up
10 push-up
20 squats
with 25lb total in my backpack.
Took ~35:06. First 5 rounds took ~16:31, next 5 rounds took ~18:34
I went with 25lb because I thought about doing 5 rounds going in, only to change my mind when they felt fine. Didn’t struggle physically until the last two sets, when chin-ups and push-ups felt like they required conscious effort. I actually think this took a while because it takes longer to get through 20 squats than 10 lunges.
Edit-
I wanted to note that I’m now going to end my near 5 month attempt at slowly losing weight. I think the amount of food I ate was fine when I lifted lighter weights but as the weights go up I need to up the calories a bit accordingly.
I really like eating exactly the same thing daily because it eliminates the necessity of thinking when it comes to food. It’s not quite counting calories because I’m not weighing my food. The only thing that I am pretty reliably sure of is my 1lb of ground turkey at lunch because the package says so. Everything else ends up with me eye-balling it.
In any case, I’m adding a slice of Dave’s Killer Bread for breakfast and one whole potato for dinner. I may also add in some sort of fried egg to go along with the bread. No more than 300 calories total added. We’ll see how things go from here.
The fatigue build-up makes this hard. Eventually I get to a point where I want to push the pace but body keeps saying no. I wonder if really well trained people build the ability to just tell their body to shut up and continue working, and that’s why they can perform amazing feats.
I am again astounded by how far my conditioning and horizontal pressing endurance has improved this year.
At some point in the morning-
10x10 EMOM push-up
Felt ok.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 5
Definitely feeling the strain on set 3-5 now.
Later-
Back squat-
135/155/175/195/215lbx5, 235lbx10
Got to 6 reps on a single breath and keep going until bar speed started to noticeably suffer.
I’m pretty sure all the burpees are playing an impact on this, but I don’t really know how much. Maybe there is some other variable at play. I got fewer no lock-out squats but did 4 more normal squats. Or maybe that seventh rep of no-lockout last week sapped my legs that much. But then when I did the easy set of 235lbx6 I felt tired and had to sit for a bit the moment I racked the bar.
I’m thinking too much. I think the only lesson here is that I shouldn’t be trying to tired myself out with the top sets like this.
Deadlift-
135lbx5, 245lb, 5x5
TnG with straps. Felt easy. Which makes me wonder whether the burpees play an impact. Or maybe only when the weight gets heavy.
Toe to bar- 5x5
EMOM bent-knee inverted row- 5x6
Seal row- 3x10 with bar
This actually seemed to strain my entire back.
Amor-building complex with 55lb BB- 4/5/4/5/5 EMOM.
I didn’t intend to do the 2nd set as 5 reps. I lost count and only noticed that I must have done 5 when I checked the clock and saw like 18 seconds left. I get through 4 reps with ~23 second left.
My back and shoulders felt really tired. It has to be the seal rows. Or it could be the burpees. But probably not because the 10x10 push-up felt fine.
At some point in the morning-
3x17 EMOM push-up
Started to really fatigue on the last set, but feels slightly better than last week’s 16s. I realized today that maybe the heavier benches are impacting this. Bench doesn’t seem to be impacted by the push-ups though.
Recon Ron pull-up program week 5
Later-
OHP- 75/95/115/125lbx5
Felt good. Last rep felt a bit slow but not grindy in the way that I used to do these.
Bench press-
105lbx5, 145lb, 3x7, 1x4
Felt great. I think I am improving with driving with my legs.
Seal row with bar- 3x15
This tired out my upper back, so I’m pretty sure just doing this with the bar and really squeezing the top is sufficient. I sometimes find it amazing just how little a weak upper back has to do with other movements. How am I capable of doing 12+ pull-ups and have a weak upper back.
Skipped ab-wheels because I’d rather spend the time on other stuff.
Juarez Valley front squat with 105lb and jumping burpees- 10/1/9/2/8/3/7/4/6/5
Done in ~8:33
Legs felt really sore. I’m not going to be able to lift on Thurs so I plan on doing lower body day tomorrow, and I’ll probably skip the deadlifts because I won’t have much time. It’ll be interesting to see how the legs feel.