That’s a fun one. Woke up this morning to a balmy 14* (-10*C I believe). Think the planned jog I had for tomorrow is out the window.
In fairness, running is always incredibly tedious and overall not physically fun so the temperature variable doesn’t really bother me that much.
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Thursday, 14 November
Still no weigh-in, but in the hotel gym fully dressed after a coffee and some water and a couple of biscuits I was 110/242, so do with that what you will.
Tactical Barbell W1D4: Strength-Endurance Circuit
Two rounds:
20x DB rows @ 20kg (45lbs)
20x incline DB bench @ 12kg (27lbs)
20x goblet squats @ 20kg (45lbs)
Short and sweet in a crowded hotel gym before work. Almost too easy, really, but I won’t complain. This session will be BB complexes when I’m back home so I don’t mind having a dialed-back day today.
Monday, 18 November
Missed logging some running but who cares about that amirite. Weighed in at 237.5 yesterday and 241.2 today, so who knows what’s going on there.
Tactical Barbell W2D1: Strength-Endurance Circuit
Three rounds:
20x pressups
20x KB swings @ 20kg (45lbs)
20x TRX rows
20x situps
20x goblet squats @ 20kg (45lbs)
Awful. Progression was meant to be +10 each week but 20 is pretty close to RPE10 for pressups. I’m just going to add reps and hopefully have 30+ by the end of the block.
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Yep nobody be caring about no running !!
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I also don’t log running, for a different reason.
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Boy are you in for a treat over the next few months.
Tuesday, 19 November
Weight dropping back down again after a boozy weekend; 239.0 today. I’m going to try to lose >2lbs a week between now and Christmas, with hopefully an end result of losing >1.5lbs a week because let’s face it I’m not very good at losing fat.
Tactical Barbell W2D2: Endurance Session
LSS Run/Walk Intervals [Couch to 5K W4D1]
Decided to start the program here since even I am a bit advanced for 30s run intervals.
This was 3m run/90s walk, 5m run/2.5m walk, 3m run/90s walk, 5m run with a 5m walk at either end to total 31:30 of movement with 16m running/15:30 walking. Stats reflect the overall average.
Total Time: 31:30
Distance: 3.95km/2.46m
Av. Pace: 8:00/km 12:52/m
Slow, obv, but considering it was a 50/50 split of running and walking that pace is actually marginally better than I expected. I’m setting myself the goal of a <60m 10K to actually incentivise me a bit.
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Wednesday, 20 November
Still 239.0 on the nose this morning. Today marks the first time I’ve run twice in a row since… actually, I think ever.
Tactical Barbell W2D3: Endurance Session
LSS Run/Walk Intervals [Couch to 5K W4D2]
Same intervals as yesterday. My highest pace was slower, but average was up.
Total Time: 31:30
Distance: 3.91km/2.43m
Pace: 8:05/km 13:00/m
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Thursday, 21 November
Down to 236.9 today. Happy to see things moving in the right direction because I’ve been hungry.
Tactical Barbell W2D4: Strength-Endurance Session
Barbell Complex: 20 reps*
Two rounds:
20x Romanian deadlifts
20x hang cleans
20x press/push press
20x high-bar squat
20x strict(ish) row
All with 30kg (77lbs) which was obviously not heavy (though I did strict press all 20 of the first set, which got pretty hard) but also not that fun.
Sweaty. High-rep light hang cleans were great for trying to nail the movement, though. I felt I was really getting that jump-and-shrug/get under the bar combo.
*Should really be 30, but I was just feeling out what I could do. I’ve zero hope of hitting 50 reps on my chosen SE clusters in three weeks’ time so any improvement from here will be alright with me. Hopefully I’m getting in the high 30s for pushups by then; that’s kind of my main goal.
Sunday, 24 November
Not sure of weight as I’m at the future-in-laws’ this weekend.
Tactical Barbell W2D5: Endurance Session
Stationary bike
10km at an easy pace over ~40m
Unfortunately had to follow this up with a bit of extra conditioning when I got back; the in-laws’ family cat was killed this morning so I had to do a bit of digging. She was 16 or so though so a fine innings for a moggy.
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Monday, 25 November
Unplanned “active recovery” day today AKA lots of walking, no gymming. Knocked out a few pushups/chinups because I could.
Made the rookie mistake of putting all my gym clothes in the wash at the same time, and as we’ve no dryer I decided to shift my schedule around rather than train in wet clothes.
On the plus side, down to a post-competition low of 236.8 today even after a less-than-ideal weekend of nutrition, so things are still moving in the right direction there.
Additionally, as much as I dislike cardio, I have to admit that I feel better for doing it even only after a couple of weeks. My RHR is down from ~72 to ~66 as well.
After this Base Building block is over at the end of the year I’ll move back to 3x full body training with a couple of higher-intensity conditioning sessions and a couple of LSS sessions as outlined in Tactical Barbell.
The strength work will likely be something full body from 5/3/1 Forever. Possibly featuring power cleans.
How’s that running going? You up to 5KM yet ?
Your optimism is admirable.
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Come on man, I decided to do the couch to 5km about 8 years ago. I just walked outside my gate and ran 2.5km away from home turned around and ran back. I didn’t allow myself to stop no matter how much I wanted to die !! When I got home I stood in the garden and called to the wife to get me some water, when she came out to give it to me I literally couldn’t move, my legs cramped so hard I just stood there gulping down water !!! Lol. The next few runs were easier through !!
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Gotta admit, I like how literally you took the whole “Couch to 5K” thing.
I have run 5K before, just not within the last year and not at this weight. I figure just going out and running without the intervals etc. is a bit like going to the gym and just doing random lifts at random weights; sure, it’ll work, but not as well as a proper plan.
I dunno, maybe I am better served getting regular 5Ks then moving to a 10K program.
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Mate you are probably doing the right thing. If you went at it full on, you just end up getting an injury that effects your lifting and as running is not the ultimate goal it is not worth it. Take it steady and reap the benefits of walk / run intervals.
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Tuesday, 26 November
Down to 236.2 today.
First day under a barbell (without it being part of a complex) in a few weeks. Running a twice-weekly push/pull/squat program for the rest of the year while I build up the ol’ cardiovascular health.
Cleans felt solid and snappy. Press felt hard and weak. Squat felt awful at first, but I fell into the groove by the last set.
Tactical Barbell W3D1: Strength Cluster
Power Clean
3x50kg (110lbs)
3x57.5kg (127lbs)
8x65kg (143lbs)
Had much more here, but technique was falling apart a bit.
Strict Press
Superset: 5x chinups (hard, because fat)
3x40kg (88lbs)
3x47.5kg (105lbs)
9x52.5kg (116lbs) (disappointing; 2 reps from my PR)
Squat
3x5x110kg (243lbs)
Misc
3x10 pressups
3x20 situps
Wednesday, 27 November
Down to 235.4 today. Pretty happy with how the weight loss is going so far. Could even be sub-100kg before Christmas.
Tactical Barbell W3D2: Endurance Session
LSS Run/Walk Intervals [Couch to 5K W4D3]
This was again 3m run/90s walk, 5m run/2.5m walk, repeated with a 5m walk at either end to 16m running/15:30 walking.
Total Time: 31:30
Distance: 3.88km/2.41m
Pace: 08:09/km 13:06/m
It felt a lot harder after yesterday’s cleans and squats; my hamstrings wanted to give up but my lungs were fine, and that’s basically the point of this training block rather than running an X-minute 5K.
That being said I should probably be able to run a <30m 5K.
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How tall are you? You’ve probably said but I’m lazy.
Why?
6’3".
Same reason I (or rather, “one” aka an adult man) should be able to do a pullup or be <20% bodyfat or deadlift three plates - it’s a pretty low bar achievement for anyone who wants to be in remotely good shape.
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