He’s 15. 16 this summer. He’s not ever been the one that wanted to follow me around or any of those things.
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My youngest will be 16 this month. I’ve noticed my boys are spending more time intentionally talking to my husband. I think there comes a time when they want to learn how to be a man. If they have a dad that is a good one, they turn to them.
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We shall see. My presumption was just that he’s afraid of me. Either way!
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If you are as encouraging at home as you are here, I very much doubt that.
From an outsider perspective, based on what you’ve shared, I always assumed he was afraid of disappointing you. It sounds as though he’s less athletically inclined than you are, and I’m sure it’s tough in that situation to have a dad that is still a hoss in his 40s getting after it after having been a lifetime athlete. Pair that with the natural hero worship that kids tend to have of their fathers in the first place and it’s a high standard to impose upon yourself.
He may be getting a little more mature and simply appreciating you for who you are, especially as he sees the dads among his peers.
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Agreed.
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I really, really appreciate that, man, and @BethB. I don’t know why, but that is giving me some feelings I can’t totally convey with words.
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Absolutely dude! This is the age where the scales fall from the eyes. For me, it was a bit of a shock when I discovered my dad’s humanity, but it sounds like your kid has figured out that his dad is actually pretty cool.
They say the cruelty of children is, just about the time they’re fun to hang around with, they move away.
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I would bet it’s because you are a good dad who cares about being a good dad. I’m willing to bet that your kids see that. It’s really easy to notice a parent who doesn’t care. It is equally easy to see one who does.
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This. My dad was a bodybuilder until his 50s then switched to basically bench only. He’s turning 70 Friday and I’m still not benching more than him. Up until a few years ago, his work sets were around 315, usually more, but they’ve dropped down to 275. I don’t even bother talking about benching with him haha
For the record his best bench was 425 (free weight. Smith machines weren’t common when he was lifting) at roughly 215. I don’t doubt it for a second because I’ve seen his old pictures. Dude was massive
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You all are very kind. Obviously it got too sentimental in here so I had to bail for a day. I do appreciate all the thoughts.
The funny thing is, while much more artist than athlete, my boy is huge. He’s on pace to top out right around 6’6” and he carries weight well. It’s the size I always prayed I’d just wake up and have one day (and didn’t), and it’s a total burden for him. The gods are capricious.
Push (secondary) workout today and headed out for the family trip.
-
Decline DB Bench
30/20
50/10
70/8
85/10
This didn’t feel good so I went over to the machine press and did 3 more sets of 10 there. -
Superset (4 rounds)
- Pec Minor Dip
- Slight Incline DB Flye
- Superset (4 rounds)
- DB Side Raise x 12
- BPA x 25
-
Rope PD
4 x 10-12 -
OH Rope Ext.
4 x 10-12
I’d realized I’d neglected a lot of overhead triceps stuff, opting instead to do the machine extensions because the stretch feels good. I do think it was a bit of a hindrance to total arm size, which makes biomechanical sense.
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My youngest is built to be a runner but has very little drive and wants to be a wrestler. My oldest is built to be a wrestler but loves to run and puts all his work there.
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Right? It’s crazy. My daughter wants to play volleyball, and puts that work in, but she’s got absolutely no height.
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Little bit of catching up - the cruise was fantastic. We all had a really good time, which is super rare just because everyone is an individual. I didn’t even get seasick! As soon as we hit land, my wife started looking at Christmas options.
My kids had a couple times where they were just kind of quiet and reading, and I thought they were being cranks, but I guess they’re just teenagers and that’s how they are. We totally turned off WiFi and cell signal and everything, which was great… especially for me, because I wasn’t able to sneak work in anywhere (and the world didn’t burn down). Just a great trip.
Yesterday I worked out at a student gym near where I’m working these couple days (and I’m about to head back). Super fun - I was big as hell next to those kids and they were all getting after it; great atmosphere.
-
DB Rows
Whatever my warmups were
110/10
110/8
110/8
110/5 -
C/S Row
2pps/10ish x 3
I used a wide neutral grip and then dropped to the close grip on the last set -
Superset (4 rounds)
- Pull-ups
- SAPD
-
Cable Crunches
6 sets -
Hypers
3 x 12-15 -
DB Curls
3s eccentrics
20/12ish
25/8-10 x 3 -
BB Curl
Grabbed the bar, did 10, then rested 10s and did more, for a total of 4 “sets”
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Not as good a push day this morning. My elbow is still an issue, but I’m betting a lot of it is having these gnarly pull days the day before. I might have to do some noodling.
-
Low Incline DB Press
Warmups
100/5 - seriously? Barf
85/8 x 3 -
Low Incline Press
45/10
135/6
185/6
205/3 barf again -
HS Incline
1.25pps/ 12 + 10 + 8 + 7 -
Cable Flye
3 x 8 -
Cable Rear Delt
4 x 25 -
Seated DB Press
50/10-12 x 4 -
Rope PD
4 x 12ish -
Rope OH Ext
4 x 10ish
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I didn’t even realize you were going on a cruise. How awesome. What cruiseline? Any fun destinations?
Good to have you back.
Thanks man! We did Royal Caribbean to the Bahamas. It was only a few days, so we just stopped at Nassau and the cruise lines island. We’d never done one, so we were kinda feeling it out, but really had a fantastic time.
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I promise I’ll update soon, but I just lifted in the coolest gym: American Barbell Club in Santa Clara. And I saw a dude squat 625
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That is a nice gym. I had to look. 
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Ok, back home this week. I was supposed to be in Montreal, but I was getting a bit rundown and begged off at the last minute. I think this will only be my second full week home since before my mom died a year ago.
Another long volleyball weekend. They started off playing pretty poorly, which usually means they won’t bounce back. They freaking found it this weekend and ended up winning the thing. They had to go point for point against multiple teams over multiple sets to do so - I was really proud of them.
Today was legs. I’m playing around with a few things, like volume and the order of my days, to try to find more elbow comfort.
I started the day with ~30 BOSU crunches with a big stretch to open up my back - it was cracking and popping like Rice Crispies.
-
Seated Leg Curls
Did some warmups, then:
15, 12, 10, 8 + 6 + 20p -
SSB Squat
@T3hPwnisher I tried the new sleeves on these. I may have gone a little small, or they’ll stretch a little, or I’m just not used to real compression, but this was a different feel.
These all felt crappy - weird path and my back didn’t feel great… it’s starting to hit me: I think I just hate the Rogue SSB. Every time I use this bar, I feel awful.
45/10
135/10
185/10
225/10
Hated it; done. -
Leg Press
The Cybex one again; this thing is tough
200/20
400/15
400/10 -
Pendulum Squat
1p/8 x 2
I was supposed to do RDL from here, but my back didn’t feel good so I didn’t.
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