Rough-out palm leather work gloves work too and aren’t as slick as cloth.
You’re committed to those dog walk/runs. I don’t even want to go to the store today. According to the National Weather Service, it’s -8 and feels like -28 right now. My house was built in 1910 and I can feel cold air blowing on me in the kitchen.
Hi, I’ve noticed you’ve been dropping in my log occasionally.
I thought I’d drop in and say thank you 
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Well, with this weather I’m not sure whether it’s ‘committed’ or ‘ought to be committed’, but yeah, I don’t always log it unless I do a lot of running, but I take the dogs out for a least a bit of a walk/run every day. You know it’s bad out when the dogs are telling you ‘nah, man, we’re good. It’s nice and warm inside’. I had -18 F on the thermometer this morning on the way in to work, but thank goodness we’re going to start seeing the temperature get back north of 0 F.
And yeah, I feel you on the feeling the cold inside, I live in an old Victorian built in 1900 and it is seriously drafty. On the plus side, I just had a new furnace put in last winter, and I have a fireplace in the den that will drive you out of the room.
You’re welcome! I actually lurk in just about every active log on here periodically, I just don’t always feel compelled to contribute or feel like I have anything to add to the conversation. I hope it didn’t feel like I was piling on, but when several people whose opinion I think carries some weight are offering advice, I felt like it might bear reiterating.
That being said, you always do good work, and I’m fascinated by the ongoing conversations about Chinese culture in your log, but you also need to take care of your health, and sometimes what you’re convinced is the right thing to do may need a dose of perspective. I have 56 years worth of perspective, and some stuff that seemed of overwhelming importance 20 years ago takes on a different color with age.
2 Likes
I have some of those, and I may use them today when I deadlift, but the knit ones are more comfortable. Hopefully it won’t be an issue after this week.
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2/15/21 5/3/1 cycle 1 day 4
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
3x45# + 2 power cleans
3x95# + 2 power cleans
3x135# + 2 power cleans
3x185#
3x225#
3x245#
3x275#
3x305#
Jokers:
3x335#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Press:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x125#
3x145#
Jokers:
3x155#
Superset with front squats:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x125#
3x145#
3x155#
Accessory:
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 10/10/10
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 10/10/10
Really had no energy today, nothing was super hard but everything felt heavy. I still did the work, but stopped at 1 joker set on both main lifts. It didn’t help that it was close to 0 F in the garage even with the heater going. My toes and nose were numb by the time I finished. Thank goodness it’ll be warmer by the time my next training day rolls around.
6 Likes
You got the job done, that matters.
Solid program. Like jokers myself
I´m insulating my garage my self, and it´s prepared for a radiator, so soon my home gym will move from our living room to the garage.
I could easily imagine training there with no insultion/heat at this time of year.
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Yeah, fortunately the ridiculous cold like we just had isn’t a constant thing at this latitude, so I can tough out a few bad days here and there. I worked out this afternoon with it at 30 F and no wind, felt positively balmy, no heater needed and garage door open.
2/19/21 5/3/1 cycle 1 day 5
Morning: 1.5 mile snowy hike out at the other house where the dogs could be leash-free.
Afternoon:
Warmup.
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
5x215#
3x245#
5x275#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x145#
3x165#
5x185#
Superset with pull-ups 1/2/3/4/5/6/10
Accessory:
Dips 10/10/10
superset with Zercher squats @135# 3/3/3
Barbell curls 50# 10/10/10
superset with standing barbell tricep extensions 50# 10/10/10
So after the snowy hike, the other 2 dogs wanted nothing more than to stay inside where it was warm. Then there was Shadow:
Then about halfway through my workout, he won the perpetual game he and the squirrels play of ‘how close can we safely get from the tree before Shadow can catch us’.
I have to say I was disappointed in him today, though. This is the first time I’ve seen him make a kill that he didn’t eat, except for the racoon he killed last year that I didn’t let him eat. Maybe I set a bad precedent…
6 Likes
How old are your dogs?
Shadow is close to 10 ( don’t know exact age because he was grown when I adopted him in 2012, but just a little bit out of puppyhood). Dawn, my boxer, is 7 and Connor, my English pointer/pit mix is 6. All 3 are rescues.
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I can’t wait to have my own dog eventually. For now I live vicariously through you and other dog owners 
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2/22/21 5/3/1 cycle ` day 6
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x265#
3x295#
5x330#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
5x120#
3x135#
5x150#
Superset with front squats
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x120#
3x135#
5x150#
Accessory:
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 10/10/10
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 10/10/10
Another good workout, even though my whole body is sore and it’s gonna be worse by the end of the day. I’ve spent 10 hours/day for the last 2 days crawling around under my other house fixing plumbing, and I’m about to go in again today for the hopefully last day of it, but we’ll see. crawling around on your belly/back in a crawlspace and cutting pvc in awkward angles/locations is great core and forearm work, on the plus side!
7 Likes
Ouch. Sorry to hear that, Steve. Are there any materials you can use to prevent freezing issues if/when we get another cold stretch?
This is my house out in the country that has been unoccupied all winter. My son and his girlfriend just suddenly needed a place to stay so I started dewinterizing it and found the broken plumbing. Water was turned off, but the lines were still full of water. They’re moved in already, but without water except the cold water in the kitchen as of tonight. The pipes in this house have never frozen before, but we also haven’t had a sustained hard freeze like this. I’ve fixed about a dozen breaks so far, and I’m almost done with the cold water side, haven’t put pressure to the hot water pipes yet.
While I’m doing this, I’m putting some extra stop valves in different places so I can isolate sections, and I’m putting low point drains so that if I need to leave it unoccupied during the winter I can truly winterize it and drain the lines completely. All in a crawl space where I have to find a relatively open area in order to turn over, and it takes about 5 minutes of crawling on my belly to get from the entry to where most of the plumbing I’m fixing is. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic…
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So I meant to ask and forgot, is your new user name in honor of Frank Castle?
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Correct, but someone took that one a long time ago. I also considered Pete Castiglione.
2/25/21 5/3/1 Cycle 2 day 1
Warmup:
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
5x220#
10x250#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
5x125#
5x145#
10x165#
superset with pull-ups: 1/2/3/4/5/6/10
Dips: 12/12/12
Superset with Zercher squats 145# 3/3/3
Barbell curls superset with tricep extensions 55#: 10/10/10
Good start to cycle 2, everything felt strong, even though my whole body is still sore from spending 40 hours doing various plank positions and bear crawls under my house over the last week. On the plus side, I finally finished the plumbing!
Also, it was definitely a good move to drop my bench training max. Starting light is always going to be the way for me to go on bench, I think, no matter how strong I feel.
5 Likes
2/26/21 Conditioning day! Felt a lot better this morning after a good dinner and a solid 9 hours of sleep, so I took the dogs down to the dog park and did some sprinting. The dogs love it when I sprint!
8x100M sprints, about 2:00 rest untimed between intervals. Felt pretty good, even went fairly fast (for my old, slow self).
7 Likes
2/27/21
Light conditioning: slightly >1 mile run/walk with the dogs, never went fast, just let the pups run a little bit.
2/28/21 cycle 2 day 2
Warmup.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x265#
10x305#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/10
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
5x125#
10x140#
Superset with front squats 3x 45/65/85/105/125/140#
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 12/12/12
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 12/12/12
Okay, so very light conditioning yesterday. I almost don’t want to call it training, but I do want to track everything in case it affects my rest and recovery, so I can dissect if I did too much. The dogs didn’t get enough good walk/runs while it was really cold so I’m trying to make it up to them.
Today’s training was another good session. 10x on last sets both felt challenging, but I could have done more on both, so I think I’m still right where I should be. I need to get something heavier for a dumbbell, 45# just isn’t going to be enough, soon. I guess I could just keep going crazy with more and more reps, and just use the barbell for intensity work.
6 Likes
Do you have two 45 lb DBs? 3x12 is a good reference for 550 Sets - 5 x AMRAP with the goal of getting 50 reps.