Note: Good start. Kept things light. Food from yesterday was sitting weird, so short run, fewer bodyweight movements, and no dedicated conditioning - but what I did seems to have settled things properly, so I should be good.
Note: Pretty decent workout. Likely heavier than I should have gone on squats (I should probably be shooting for a good 5x5 weight on this day), but these felt good, most had nice long pauses at the bottom (during which I made uncomfortable eye contact with a guy that I’m pretty sure works at a gas station I frequent, and I think he recognized me too - kinda weird). First time doing that complex. It’s strange, but I like it. Still suck at front squats because I haven’t done anything to improve mobility. Run was short due to time; I’ll plan to log a couple extra miles tomorrow.
Note: Nice to shave a whole second off my 1500m time, haha. Didn’t know that was my best, which is nice, since I wasn’t really pushing for anything. I finally think I’ve figured out how to get in a rhythm with the rower too. Everything else was solid. I’d like to push that CG bench to a clean 3x10 over the next couple weeks.
Note: I may have tweaked a muscle in my groin in the last week. It’s been a little achy and irritable for a day or two. Not sure if a high-rep deadlift session is the right step haha. But the walk was nice and I’m thinking I’ll at least get in some good sauna/hot tub time today, really amp up recovery.
Weight is trending down though - 293 yesterday, 292 today. Feeling good.
Note: Well, 3 PRs in a session isn’t too bad! The row is like 9 seconds off. The CG bench I clearly have sandbagged that a little, because my goal for this block was 275x2. And the bear complex PR is literally more than twice as fast as my previous time. Work capacity and conditioning are definitely improving.
Butt Blaster 4000: 44 pound KB, 7:41
Walk: 1.72 miles
Note: Air quality is pretty poor right now and I’m sensitive to it. Gonna use that as the reason I didn’t run and cut short the lifting. That conditioning gave me an excruciating lower back pump haha. Had to set the KB down twice. I’ll work toward doing it unbroken.
I just looked into what that was. That sounds… miserable.
I really appreciate the abbreviated writeup about the program. Neat way to target all of the important qualities, and it’s always fun to use fiction to drive reality.
Oh absolutely. I mean, anything Dan John comes up with in the challenge arena is going to be cruelly difficult haha. 44 pounds was definitely too heavy (or I’m just too poorly conditioned for it), but it was a good way to make myself struggle. I really should have done it at the end of the workout—the posterior chain pump impeded the rest of the lifting I was meant to do, haha.
I really appreciate the abbreviated writeup about the program. Neat way to target all of the important qualities, and it’s always fun to use fiction to drive reality.
I appreciate that dude! and that you asked about it. Having the overarching story keeps me going when I’m halfway through a block and getting distracted, I think.
Will update when I’ve done this block’s challenge. So far I’ve got a couple simple ideas, but I’m really excited about picking a name first and then trying to design a challenge to go with it. I think that’ll be fun.
Wave 2: Dwarf, Days 5-7; Ranger, Days 1-4
Lots of family stuff and recovering from respiratory trouble, so during this time I did bodyweight stuff, long walks, and plenty of pump work with DBs and KBs, but nothing major worth recording.
Note: While I work on wrist mobility for FS, I figured I’d try the SSB. It beats up the skin on my shoulders pretty good, but otherwise lets me hit the reps, so that’s cool. Hit my block goals for FS and PS Curls with this workout, which is nice. Still taking it slow getting back into the swing of things, but this one felt good.
Weight is trending around 289/290, so it’s moving in the right direction.
Note: Nice to hit another wave goal with those BTNs. I allow myself decent leg drive with BTN; someday I’ll probably want to train them strictly as well, but for now, I’m happy with pushing the weights and reps this way. Overall this wave has been solid; despite some illness and life commitments, I’ve hit like 5/7 of my goals for the wave, so that’s cool. Now entering the final wave of this initial block. I’m excited to see what I can accomplish. Also kind of dreading the challenge, haha, but it’ll be good.
Yesterday’s Note: Excited about the bench and row PRs. Rowing was a surprise, and demonstrates that my conditioning is improving steadily. The run was also nice: I haven’t run in like 10 days, so this was just a quick short burst to see how things feel, and they feel great. Excited to get back to it. The Bear Hugs were very tonic. I’ll increase the weight, of course, but I enjoyed the stretch in my shoulders and back.
Note: Pretty decent session given I was low on time. Conditioning and running will be pushed to tomorrow. Pleased with the front squats: I’m figuring out how to stay upright with a cross-arm grip. Plan is to just build off these 4x5 or 5x5 sets and LP it into something decent. Agility work continues to be very good for me.
Note: Felt good to be back running outside. Very slow pace, but zero issues, so now I have no excuse not to run haha. Those prone leg curls were nice. And CG bench continues to be stronger than I expected - I’m hoping I can get some carryover into regular pressing of the overhead variety, which is what I care about more.
Trap Bar Deadlift: 4x5 @ 275
Squat: 4x5 @ 135
Pulldown: 2x20 @ 135
Glute Kickback: x10 @ 75 each leg
Chins: x20
Abs Machine: 2x15 @ 200
Agility: ~150 reps of throws @ 12
Note: As usual, Grace made me want to die. But that’s the first PR on Grace in possibly a year. Just gotta keep chipping away at it. Insanely pleased to have hit a new PR there though. Rest of the stuff was good too. I’m finding that 4x5/5x5/etc. is a good approach for a lot of my main/supplementary barbell work as kind of a foundation for the Dúnadan program (as long as once or twice a week I throw in some really high-rep sets) unless I’m specifically working on a particular lift. Nice to refine the approach in that way.
Note: Kind of a weird training session. The run was fine, the lifting was fine until the bear complexes: obviously these are killer, but when I was resting between reps, I was really struggling to take in enough air. It felt like an elevation or air pressure thing, except neither of those should be the case. I was a bit underslept and underhydrated, so it might just be that. Whatever the case, I finished the 15 BCs and set a new benchmark to improve there. But that’s why the rowing afterward was so short—just didn’t have it in me. Oh well.
Note: Pretty pleased with the two PRs today. Must have been the yak burger for lunch! Feels like I hit everything pretty hard today too, in the spirit of the Dwarf week. Should have made more time for the carries, at least, if not also the running and agility work, but that’s okay.