Official De-Lurk

Training
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Kimba - oh, no, it’s not just you. In both weight loss and strength I tend to make my progress in giant jumps and then backslide during hard periods, and then subsequently have a big break through again down the road. It makes sense. I can’t max every workout. or, at least, that’s what the hubby keeps telling me. :slight_smile: I’m not sure I buy it yet. :wink:

Brute - Thanks! I love my ink too. :slight_smile:

Deja - yes. I really think I should get more than 315… but I’m attempting that “realist goal” thing I keep hearing about. :wink:

Bobbi - I am struggling with the warm ups at meets. I know that I did WAY too many warm-ups at my first meet (last April). I just got nervous and didn’t know when to stop. I lifted what was my first opening weight while warming up before each part of the meet… just because I was so nervous about missing my first lift. :slight_smile: I’m trying to pre-determine my warm-ups, in addition to my first and second lift weights, which should keep me from doing ridiculous reps prior to my meet lifts.

Snap - I imagine it will affect the weight I can lift somewhat, but that just means I’ll have to get stronger, right? :slight_smile: My overall goal is to look amazing, feel amazing, and be as strong as possible at whatever weight makes me feel good.

On another note, I passed that section of the CPA exam that I took in August. whoot! Now, two more, back-to-back, at the beginning of next month (October). I suppose I better start studying… arrg…

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congrats on that exam FA :slight_smile:

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Thanks N! :slight_smile: Still smilin’ about passing. :slight_smile:

Today was a fabulous day. Yeah, I put in another day with ~11 chargeable hours, after weeks of the same, but … I got a raise! and not a little bitty, pat on the head, move along, kinda raise. A real raise. Good stuff (~25%). And a bonus for the past year of work. even better stuff. :slight_smile:

So, to celebrate, the hubby and I hit the gym. I know, you’re making a face right now, but it’s how we roll. (For Valentines Day last year we bought each other a full set of olympic plates and one of the really good Oly bars) true wuv…

Today = Bench Day. I left my sheet with my 5-3-1 numbers at home, so decided to wing it and do what felt good.

Bench Press
65x10
85x10
105x5
115x3 → I did the full pause, wait, count, go on every rep of these three
125x2 → Also full pause on both reps here. I think this will be my opener. easy
140x2 → I didn’t pause, but it’s a weight PR+5, and for two reps
115x10 → I’ve never done more than 5 at this weight. (Rep PR +5 for my “cool down”)

Seated Cable Rows, sets of 10 reps, pyramiding up to 135

shoulder work and a set of biceps for fun

And then I was good, didn’t go out and have pizza and beer (which was tempting), ate my chicken, came home and am having a burger with blue cheese for dinner. num. and then… sleep. zzzzzz…

204

GREAT bench day!

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great bench PR and fuckin A on the work raise!

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I just got an email from the USAPL State Chairman for AK stating that the Fall Classic PL meet is cancelled due to the lack of entries received. His last email, with entry form, said all entries had to be postmarked by October 1st to get the early sign-up fee. So, consistent with my procrastination habits, I sent my entry in this morning (post-marked on time, motherfucker), along with the hubby’s entry form. But, now I get an email, not two hours later, that it’s all cancelled because so far they’ve only received two entries. But it’s not even to the early registration deadline!

Fuck fuck fuck. Now the next meet to look forward to is April 2011.

And there’s no way to compete in AK in 2010 in order to qualify for nationals for the coming year. (not that I was necessaryily going to make it anyways, but…)

fuck.

207

Well, email that fucker back and ask him to reconsider based upon the two valid points you just raised. What is the worst thing that could happen? Thinking outside the box, where is the nearest USAPL meet that could qualify you? Miss I-Just-Got-A-Bonus, you can probably afford to go. :wink:

Congrats on the exam! That is a great accomplishment, and bodes well for the next two rounds.

And, my favoritest present ever from my hubby was my oly bar. So you aren’t alone in this.

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…

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lol. Thanks Kimba. I did consider emailing him, but the hubby pointed out that a meet with only 4 or 5 people probably wouldn’t be much fun.

After cooling down I’m actually starting to get excited. This means I can mix up my workout program right now (which I’ve been itching to do, but have put off because of needing to focus on max lifting for the meet). It also means the stress is off to watch the scale as much and I can continue the Anaconda protocol without worring about the added water weight with the creatine.

The hubby suggested possibly planning to attend Raw Nationals next year (I read somewhere that you don’t have to “qualify” for that the same way as open Nationals, but I need to read up on the rules). If all else fails, I have another 7 months before I get kick ass in a meet. :slight_smile: And that’s okay. I don’t lift to compete. I lift for myself, and I compete because it’s fun and I like the challenge and competition.

Now… off to go dream up a fun program to kick my own ass for the next three months. big grin

210

glad you found your silver lining FA

211

[quote]Frzn_Arctc wrote:
lol. Thanks Kimba. I did consider emailing him, but the hubby pointed out that a meet with only 4 or 5 people probably wouldn’t be much fun.

After cooling down I’m actually starting to get excited. This means I can mix up my workout program right now (which I’ve been itching to do, but have put off because of needing to focus on max lifting for the meet). It also means the stress is off to watch the scale as much and I can continue the Anaconda protocol without worring about the added water weight with the creatine.

The hubby suggested possibly planning to attend Raw Nationals next year (I read somewhere that you don’t have to “qualify” for that the same way as open Nationals, but I need to read up on the rules). If all else fails, I have another 7 months before I get kick ass in a meet. :slight_smile: And that’s okay. I don’t lift to compete. I lift for myself, and I compete because it’s fun and I like the challenge and competition.

Now… off to go dream up a fun program to kick my own ass for the next three months. big grin[/quote]

hey frzn - I just did the Raw Nationals this year and the only qualification is to have an USAPL raw total prior to entering. They were a blast and I was lucky I didn’t have to travel.

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I just took a look at those qualifying totals on the USAPL site. There is a huge difference in how much you have to put up between ages 23 and 24!

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aw arctc that SUCKS!!! You’ll no doubt be much more impressive in april, but non the less that sucks ass :frowning:

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[quote]soldog wrote:
hey frzn - I just did the Raw Nationals this year and the only qualification is to have an USAPL raw total prior to entering. They were a blast and I was lucky I didn’t have to travel.[/quote]

Do you need a USAPL total during the year in which you’ll be competing? Or in the year prior?

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[quote]Frzn_Arctc wrote:

[quote]soldog wrote:
hey frzn - I just did the Raw Nationals this year and the only qualification is to have an USAPL raw total prior to entering. They were a blast and I was lucky I didn’t have to travel.[/quote]

Do you need a USAPL total during the year in which you’ll be competing? Or in the year prior?[/quote]

I believe it was during the prior 12 months. I put up a total in December 2009 and lifted in the July 2010 Raw Nationals.

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I still haven’t nailed down a new lifting plan & schedule, so today was a bit random. I worked out around noon, because I didn’t think I’d get to work out in the afternoon. Then I went and played volleyball for ~2 hours. When I got home the hubby was jones’n for a workout (the earlier one I’d done solo) so I lifted with him in the afternoon, right after volleyball. Fun. :slight_smile:

1st workout of the Day – I did a lot of random things in a circuit style workout with no breaks in between (I have multiple bars, so I can setup up to three stations at once).

Warm-up → Back squat, front squat and overhead squat with the bar, 10 reps of each, no breaks except to reset the grip.

Clean to front squat 85X5
Overhead Press 45x10
Clean to Push Press 85x1 → shit, that felt way harder than it should have
OH Press 65x8
Clean to front squat 85x5
OH Press 75x6
Clean to Push Press 85x5 → the above feeling being unacceptable, this was revisited and conquered
Clean to front squat 85x5

Sumo Deadlifts:
85x10
135x3
225x2
275x1x2

Conventional Deadlifts:
135x5

and then the hubby returned home with a battery for my car. After pulling and testing the alternator, it turns out that the battery was the problem. Completely dead. wouldn’t charge at all. New battery = happy car. Then - Volleyball for 2 hours.

Workout #2 of the day:

Conventional DLs (so excited to be able to work these again, with the pressure of the meet off)
85x10
135x5
185x5
215x5
235x1 – for speed
255x1 – for speed… but was not speedy
255x2 – so I did it again… :slight_smile:
235x2
225x5

VERY wide squat → I’m working this on days I don’t do sumo DLs. My hips are the weakest link and so must be punished with super wide and low squats…
Note: definition of very wide is putting my feet as wide as they can go in the cage and deep is burying it such that the squat is still USAPL legal.
barx10
65x10
85x10
105x10

Note to self: reps suck, must do more of this.

Abz - 20 decline situps at steepest decline, 20 flat situps with 20 lbs medicine ball, 20 flat BW situps

Further note to self: abs also suck. this is unacceptable. must do more.

And now, burgers with melted blue cheese on top and a spinach and colored pepper salad on the side. nom nom nom. Then studying, then sleep.

One CPA exam at noon tomorrow (must work before and after this) and then another CPA exam at 8am on Tuesday (with work following the exam). Each exam takes about 3 hours, and I need to put in between 60 to 70 hours at work this week to even stay afloat on these projects. uggg… The raise is not enough, I swear. Life, how I miss thee…

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bummer on the meet.

best of luck on tomorrow’s exam.

damn that is one intense day of workouts. glad u got nasty with teh blue cheez burger after all that. =+)

218

My knees are caving just thinking about those super-wide squats. :wink:

Best of luck on the exam and keeping your head above water at work. It will be better soon!

219

The exams (two of them) are now over and I’ll have to wait until the end of December (ish) before I know any results, so the stress is off on that, for the time being.

Work is still ridiculous, but I’m putting my foot down, at least for this weekend, and only doing four hours of work, max, on Saturday. I realized this week that I’m feeling burnt out. Workouts are good, but it’s harder and harder to push the weight and I feel incredibly sore. These thoughts led to the realization that I have not taken a real “deload” week in over two months. The plan was to take the week before the meet pretty much off weights so I was recovered, but now that the meet is cancelled, I’m thinking it will be in my body’s best interests to take that week now, and then jump feet first into the new training.

After about two days of going through all the normal “I want to fit everything into my new workout plan” phases, I’ve decided to stick with the 5/3/1 format I was following before but change it up a bit. I’ve been doing lots of singles, so I’m backing off all the weights and going for reps again. This will suck. I hate reps. But that suckage is exactly why I need to do them.

I’m focusing on the following four lifts for the 5/3/1 setup:
Bench Press
Squat → GOing to work my USAPL legal squat as my main squat
Incline Press
Deadlift → Going to go back to my conventional DL as my main deadlift for a while

On squat day I will be doing sumo deadlifts (relatively light) as my auxiliary
On deadlift day I will be doing super wide and low (also relatively light) squats as my auxiliary

Bench Press and Incline Press work will be followed with pull-ups (2 x per week because I want to get stronger at these) and various other pressing and pulling exercises.

Cardio is reinstated in the mornings, Monday thru Friday. Following ~40 minutes of cardio I’m doing as much abz as I can fit in and still make it to work at a reasonable time. my abs are unacceptably weak, and I think improving these muscles will help in all my lifts.

Other than that, I’ll still be doing volleyball on Sunday’s and Tuesday evenings and fitting in an arm specific day (just bicep & tricep isolation work) on Mondays. (5/3/1 days are W, TR, Sat, and Sun)

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I have been working out this week, just too tired to post in the evenings. :slight_smile: The highlights were:

Monday - did curls with 30 lb db’s. A good PR for me, but just curls, so not that awesome (I hate working arms. It’s boring).

Wednesday - did 5 sets of 5 wide grip pull-ups. I’m not sure how much of a PR that is, but it’s a good starting point for my future pull-up work. Also, very high incline/shoulder pressed 50 lb db’s for 3 reps. :slight_smile: fun.

The plan for the coming week is to maintain deload only workouts (i.e. keep the weights low and reps manageable) and let the body recover. I’ll keep cardio light in the mornings, but will still be hitting the abs hard afterwards (I’m thinkin’ that won’t take much away from the recovery). Then starting next weekend I’ll hit the new month of 5/3/1 hard and start trying to get stronger at all the things I’m bad at. :slight_smile: