Thanks man. It didn’t feel great, and I’m about to leave for another couple weeks. Through May, I’m only home like 3 weeks. I think that’s where I’m putting some things in place to put this into something more realistic, but it’s not been awesome for the kids.
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Sometimes we just have to make those sacrifices and whilst in the moment they don’t like it and it doesn’t feel good for us. I think overall they recognize the sacrifice and why we are doing it. They seem to be a lot more clued up that I remember being.
On a similar note I am having a bit of trouble with my eldest daughter at the moment. She has always been the least trouble and when she was little we were very close. She is 15 now and finding her own identity. It seems she has decided that Dad doesn’t or wont like her new version very much so she has been very aloof recently. She has made a few comments to mum like, ‘i’m scared to tell dad casue he will get angry’ or ‘you won’t like the music I like’ the comments are mostly aimed at me rather than mum.
Looks like being strong and a little OCD at times (all the time) has made me seem inflexible and put up a bit of a wall she doesn’t want to peer over. I’m working on it but it’s going to take a bit of time.
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@TrainForPain, @simo74 - Liking these last two because I can identify somewhat, and I’m definitely feeling similar growing pains here.
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Also here for the teenage daughter joys and frustration, and there definitely seems more frustrations than joys at the moment, is it wrong to count down the days to Uni…at 15?
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I am not bragging, but we raised five girls. The boy thing is a tough one. The harder you try, the more they love the boy. 3 of 5 daughters married high school boyfriends. Four out of five kept their maiden name when. becoming wives. They want the Friedrich name to live on! But brace yourself, and lift big!
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Always appreciate a nod coming from you brother. I apologize, as I don’t know how to be concise, so here I go.
As you noted, it’s trying to isolate an independent variable, and I’m simply not biologically well versed enough to be able to speak intelligently to the topic. That said, from a psychological perspective, I’ll say that I never did giant sets to improve my conditioning: I improved my conditioning to do giant sets. For me, giant sets were merely a mechanism I could employ so that I could get in my training volume within the confines of my training time. My first ever time experimenting with this was when I took on Building the Monolith and had to get it done in an hour: giant sets were the only way to get it done, and I was just BARELY in good enough shape to make it happen, which is why it sucked so much. I had built up that baseline of conditioning just from strongman training, which is certainly beneficial for conditioning, but I wasn’t focusing on it.
I imagine the thing that probably contributed the most to my conditioning/heart rate was those daily 4-5 minute stupidly intense workouts I would do (5 minutes of ABCs or Tabearta). They were a constant variable for a few years. I wouldn’t necessarily advocate for them, as they were quite physically and emotionally stressful, but they might be worth sprinkling in on occasion. But while I was doing these, my heart rate was pretty consistently in the mid 40s while still drinking energy drinks. Since that time, I’ve dropped most caffeine and focused more on low intensity activity (walking primarily), and that has my heart rate in the mid to high 30s.
I also notice bodyweight plays a roll too. While I was doing Operation Conan, I started at a bodyweight of 174 and a RHR of 36, and when I got up to 190 it had crept up to 40-41. Now that I’m around 182, it hangs around 38.
But it’s kinda like the observations I had in my last blog post: make the lifting lifting and the conditioning conditioning. Giant sets are still awesome, but I like their purpose to be adding density. But after the workout is done, can always throw in a quick 4-5 minute conditioning workout to make the most of it.
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Thanks team! Update: crisis averted. She didn’t tell mom anything was going on either. She may legitimately have just been tired (plus doesn’t want to talk to me about boys). When we got home, I was playing with her and she was giggling all afternoon. Then my son wanted to watch the Oscars (he said it was his Super Bowl), so we all watched that with him. He appreciated it and my daughter hung right next to me the whole boring time. Good bounceback all around.
This is my son for me. Every time he puts an expectation on himself that stresses him out, he invents a dad expectation around it and goes and complains to mom that that’s what I want. I think part of it is just getting to the point where they’re realizing some of these responsibilities are theirs, and that’s a bit overwhelming.
I hear you, although that’s more the boy for me, but that is stressful too… what am I going to do when they’re gone??
@T3hPwnisher I really appreciate the time you took to put all those thoughts down!
This is exactly how I think of it, so it’s super helpful to see you along the same thought process since you have a lot more experience. If it’s some low-hanging fruit I need to get after, I’ll figure it out… on the other hand, if not, I may as well not stress about having to plan it out, since it’s a little more of a thought exercise in a commercial gym.
This also makes a ton of sense - it’s when I’m trying to do something intense and in the oxygen-debt world that I wake up and realize I’m lacking. The good news here is there’s no excuse for not adding some of that in (maybe without the psychological attachment, though, to your point - I do remember how that started impacting you in from your logging).
I think this just has to be a factor across the board. I’ve noticed myself my bodyweight plays a major independent variable role in all metrics, regardless if my food quality and activity quantity are very similar.
Noted! And thank you!
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Got back in there for some more legs today. Squats felt absolutely fantastic for some reason, but I didn’t get greedy.
-
Seated Leg Curls
25/20
55/15
85/10
115/6
145/8
145/8 + 4 + 2 -
SSB Squats
45/10
45 + chains/10
95+c/8
135+c/8
185+c/8
215+c/8 -
Leg Press
4pps/6
6pps/6
8pps/8 + 4 + 2 -
Leg Extension
1 x 10 + 25p -
RDL
135/6
225/8 x 2
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thats what i’m talking about. YES.
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Thanks! No rhyme or reason to the days it decides to feel good.
Getting back to these Mountain Dog Leg days is brutally fun. No leg day that I have done gives me write this crazy of a pump!
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Happy cake day fella!
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Thanks gents! 43 tomorrow (I guess that’s today for you).
Actually took my rest day today. Not really on purpose, the calls just didn’t end when I thought they would, but that’s probably for the best.
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Happy Birthday!
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Now I see the cake: Those guys from the future were screwing with my head.
Happy Birthday, @TrainForPain!
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Thanks @Friedrich and @SvenG. The future travelers were confusing me, too, but I do sometimes forget things so I figured I was wrong.
I took the day off, mostly, which was cool. Destroyed some biscuits and gravy this morning, making the following gym session very risky. Now I’m off to pick the kids up from school. Crazy how little I get done in a day when left to my own devices.
- 10 minutes elliptical
-
Slight Decline Bench
20/20
40/20
60/4
80/4
100/8 -
Incline Swiss Bar Bench
I decided this would be fun to play with, and it was. I got greedy and went too heavy for my main set, but the bar is kind of weird. It feels way too light, then you add a tiny bit of weight and it feels like a truck.
95/8
135/6
185/4
205/4
225/5 -
Dips
3 x 10ish -
Low Cable Flye
1 x 8
Then a triple drop set -
Land mine Shoulder Press
-/8
25/4
50/8 x 3
I look forward to seeing @davemccright doing 3 plates here -
Superset:
- DB Rear Delt
20/20 x 3 - DB Side Raise
20/10 x 3
- Cable Crunch
4 sets
- 10 minutes elliptical
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Happy birthday man! That exercise is tough! I think the most I’ve worked up to on it was a plate and a 25. Maybe 2 plates is in my near future though!
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Thought I wrote down my back day yesterday, but I guess not. It was kind of a grind.
Insanely fast arm day today. I looked gigantic in the gym mirror, but also feels like a waste of a drive.
On the road forever tomorrow!
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Well, I’m a “past traveler”, so, Happy Belated Birthday!! I hope you had an awesome day!
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