Why did you tape those ham hocks to the back of your arms mate?
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I wanted to make them look big. Lol
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OK so I haven’t posted any thing for 2 days and that’s mostly because for those 2 days I did nothing worth posting about. When I say nothing I am referring to training and not real life of course. This weekend I decided to do something that I literally haven’t done for months and that was to take a couple of days off. My knee and hip are still cactus (Aussie slang for ruined) 7 weeks after running supersquats. I squatted light on Friday night, 4 sets of 5 at 90kg is like 50%, and whilst they felt fine during the workout, Friday night when it came to sleep they were clearly not fine. Barely slept on Friday night due to pain in my hips and right knee. No matter what position I put my body in, It hurt and my legs felt like they needed to be moving all night.
Got up Saturday morning and hobbled around the house and still had plans in my head to do a strongman conditioning session outside with the sandbag or barrel. The weather decided to conspire against me and it just pi$$ed down with rain all day. I kept thinking it will clear soon and nope it just kept on raining. Now I could have gone out the shed and still done something but for the first time in ages I knew that doing so would not provide any benefit, physically or mentally.
We finally got to see a pediatrician about some behavioral issues my son has been having and got a confirmed diagnosis on Friday. The past 12 months has been extremely stressful at home dealing with this and Friday it finally came to a head. That’s a big part of why I train every day but in truth it does also mean I remove myself from the family and whilst I believe it makes me feel better, it is not always helpful for everyone.
To say that the emotional relief combined with more new worry on Friday night was intense would be an understatement.
So this weekend I decided that it was more important to 1. let my body have a little time off and 2. to be present for the entire weekend. My son was taking medication for the first time so hanging with him and the girls (collective noun for wife and daughters), seemed like a much better use of my time. And It really was. We had a great weekend together. We didn’t do anything to exciting, just hanging out, playing games, watching movies, helping the kids with homework, cooking together, eating together. All the normal family stuff that for us, can be really hard to do. And this weekend it wasn’t hard, it just felt normal. And right now normal is great.
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Very happy to read all of your post, but this in particular. It’s awesome to see a fellow husband and father make right choices!
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Thanks Sven. I spend a lot of time thinking how wrong I do things. Sometimes it is nice to feel like you did something right.
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You’re a good man @simo74. I know how hard this has to be. You’re doing the right things.
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Appreciate you mate. Just doing what I can like everyone else.
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I am sorry to hear about the tough times you are working through with the family, but glad that they have a tough man at home to steer the ship in a good direction. The gym is awesome, but being a good man and father is definitely the priority, and I have a lot of respect for those who recognize that. Keep it up boss.
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Great post. Not all progress is on the bar.
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The older I get, the more this rings true.
It’s just a tiny bit of total life.
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Monday 25th July - week 2
Deadlift
Bar x 10
70 x 5
110 x 3
140 x 2
Belt
160 x 1
165 x 4 x 3 sets (363 lbs) - RPE 5, 5, 6
165 x 4 + got 8 solid reps - RPE 8
Pretty sure this is a rep PR.
Tempo paused squat
80 x 5 x 3 sets
Good controlled reps. Not hard, still a little hip pain. Good pump.
Db bench
37.5 x 8 x 4 sets
SS
Bench supported db row
32.5 x 8 x 4 sets
This is a tough superset. Good upper body pump though.
Good session for a Monday. No complaints here.
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Deadlifts from tonight
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgbtd19rGoi/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
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Good on you for actually changing the weights! I’m far too lazy. One of those lifts would have just had to suck up whatever I was using for the other.
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@wiseman83 did program it that way but there is no way I can db bench supported row as much as I can bench. If I used the same weight they would be 1/4 reps.
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Hey just checking in. Sorry about the pain and I hope it improves soon. More rest is OK! The family stuff. I feel you. On all the different levels.
In fact I nearly ribbed you Saturday morning (my time zone) because I didn’t see the usual Strongman Saturday work. Didn’t say anything and good I didn’t. How you spent your saturday was far more meaningful and beneficial, no doubt. I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with your keg-carrying ass anyway!
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Thankyou for those words. It is definitely a priority for me, but it isn’t always easy.
You are so right, but sometimes when life is hard and it seems out of control, focusing on the bar allows to me something I can control and see progress. It’s like I at least get to have little wins at something. The problem is that eventually it becomes all of the focus and other elements like family get neglected. Just need to do more.
This is so true mate but sometimes we make it bigger because real life is harder to be good at.
Thanks Jdm, I like to think that I could have done both, the barrel walking would only have been 30 mins. But the truth is that for this weekend the right move was to do nothing.
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First day back at school with the new medication for my son and it was a good day. He got through the day with no issues, or at least none bad enough for the teacher to email us about, which is a big positive. He managed to remember to go and take his medication and is able to just take it with water without a big fuss. Best part of the day was him sitting down and doing some homework without a major meltdown. Usually the mere thought of having to sit and write something with a pencil causes a lot of aggression and anxiety which then spirals into grumpy dad losing his cool. This in turn progresses into mum being upset by dad losing his cool and dad not understanding why. So getting homework done has not been the highlight of my week for a long long time. It is all baby steps but it is amazing how different even the smallest change can make to how everyone feels and behaves.
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Burpee workout tonight. It was a 20 min session.
Moves were:
11 squats
11 in and outs
11 push ups
11 4 count burpees
11 push ups
11 6 count burpees
This is 1 round. Do as many rounds as you can in 20 mins.
I got 4 full rounds and all the way to the 6 counts in the 5th round. This was very the cardio intense and I really worked up a sweat.
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Does the number 11 have some significance to the metric system that we Americans might not know about…?
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I’d have lost track what with 4count and 6count both in there!
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