Strength is a Hell of a Drug

[ouroboro_s]

[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
2/4/2014

Since the hip shows no signs of letting up, I decided I didn’t want to keep doing the rear leg elevated split squat. I’ve been really wanting to hammer my quads lately anyway, so I’ll be switching those for front squats, medium weights/more reps.

Bench (superset with wall slides x10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3
130 x 2 (PR)

Front squat (superset with DB shrug 50#/side x 10)
bar x 8 (warmup)
65 x 8
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8

Hang clean (superset with TRX reverse fly x 10)
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 3
115 x 0 hip flexor said ‘no mas’

2/6/2014

Squat (superset with lateral hip swings 8/side)
bar x 10 ATG (warmup)
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 5
210 x 3 everything is fine until I rack it after my set. As soon as the bar is off my back that left hip locks up. Trainer said maybe this would be a good time to deload for a week, give everything a chance to rest, watch the numbers go up the week after. Sounds good.
bar + green bands to the bottom of the power rack x 10 (seeing how to set this up for next week)

Since my bench has been lagging, I asked if I could switch out one of my assistance exercises for dips. So DB rows are out on Thursdays.
Dips (superset with SL hamstring slider curl x6/side)
6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Good mornings (superset with hanging leg raise, shins to bar x 6)
bar x 8 (warmup)
75 x 8
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
110 x 8

2/7/2014

Skipped my conditioning circuit, hip is still really bothersome and needs rest. But before I went out for dinner I did 100 pushups (sets of 10 and 15) and some pullups. Didn’t count.
I actually did 101 pushups. I wanted my husband to hear me say “I don’t know if you heard me, but I just did over 100 reps. I don’t have enough time at the gym, so sometimes I have to sculpt my guns at home.”

I’m such a douche.[/quote]
You are a douche I am too though.

We routinely do a ton of push ups at the end of training. I try and get at least 100 done in three sets. I consider them both a core thing and a shoulder mobility thing. Core because it’s a moving plank that isn’t super boring.

Nice work on everything else too.

[Mighty_Matron]

[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
You are a douche I am too though.

We routinely do a ton of push ups at the end of training. I try and get at least 100 done in three sets. I consider them both a core thing and a shoulder mobility thing. Core because it’s a moving plank that isn’t super boring.

Nice work on everything else too.
[/quote]

Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment
Someday I hope I’ll be as strong as you, holy cow! You’re a savage!

[Mighty_Matron]

2/10/2014
Skipped deadlift night in favor of resting my hip. It’s been bothersome, I’ve been limping.

2/11/2014
De-load week. Sounds dirty. Low weights/High(er) reps.

Paused Bench (superset with wall slides x10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
65 x 10
70 x 10
75 x 10
80 x 10
85 x 10

Front squat (superset with DB shrug 40#/side x 10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
65 x 10
75 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 10
105 x 10

Hang clean (superset with TRX reverse fly x 8)
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 5

Pushups 16,14,12,10,8,6,4,10

2/13/2014

Welcome to Backwoods Barbell!
I got out of work early and settled in at home. See, there’s a snowstorm going on and we’re expecting 12+ inches. No big deal really, except I live 45min from my gym, and since I’m “de-loading” this week, I don’t really need to go to the gym. I have some implements at home that my husband got me for Christmas and this is a perfect opportunity to use them and save myself from a potentially hazardous trip. It was hot as hell in my basement, as the woodstove is in that room, and I had it cranking. My heart rate was ridiculous.

Squat
I made a very crude barbell with what I could find in 10min. You call it redneck engineering, I call it yankee ingenuity. I’ve been dying to try the “bring sally up” thing from this article: Weird Workouts That Really Work
Timing’s just never been right. My barbell is made of a scrap of trim wood/RV awning pole, milk crates, various clamps from my workshop, a couple of shitty little neoprene dumbells (they were a gift…HA), and firewood. Because I’m a mountain man trapped in a woman’s body. Video should be in this post somewhere. At the end of the song, it started over and I yelled “aww fuck” because I thought it hadn’t finished. Damn you Moby, you smoove. Luckily my camera guy hit the “wrap it up” button because he knew it was coming. Momma didn’t raise no fool. I could make a sailor blush.

Anyways. I weighed both sides of that barbell and they were each exactly 21#. Not too shabby. I was going to just use an empty olympic bar so we’ll call it close at about 42#. It was painful, I had the shakes there for a bit. That barbell was only slightly awkward. Camera guy is new, so the angle isn’t perfect, but I assure you those squats were deep. I’m glad I could finish it, next time we’ll add weight.

TRX Inverted Row (superset with SL Hammie slider curl 6/side)
4 x 12

GM (superset with situps x15)
42# custom barbell x 10 x 5 sets

TRX Pushups
5 x 15

That was an awesome workout. I’m jello. Going to plow out some sissy apartment dwellers with my husband. Then we’ll come home and each eat a pound of bison.

This week there were all these signs on the highway “MAJOR STORM COMING”. Everyone’s in a panic. It’s only 12 inches. Give me a break. The only time 12 inches is “major” is when it’s a dick.

[Mighty_Matron]

TLDR? I thought so.

Looks like my “Squatting with Sally” video didn’t post with the story. Balls. Trying again.

[Mighty_Matron]

2/14/2014
Skipped my conditioning circuit to rest my gimpy hip.

2/17/2014
(Note to self: started a pre-workout shake and intra-workout BCAAs today)

Conventional DL (superset with band pull-aparts x10)
135 x 8 with trap bar (warmup)
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5 switched to mixed grip
235 x 3
245 x 3

Ring pull-ups (superset with ab wheel x10)
7, 6, 5, 4(WTF?), 5

Thought rack pulls might aggravate my hip as I’d already deadlifted pretty heavy. Exchanged those for a military press this week.

Military OHP (history of chronic shoulder injuries, kept weights light, no superset)
bar x 10
55 x 10
65 x 10
70 x 8
75 x 6

2/18/2014
Another good size snowstorm dropped 10-11" today. Decided to move bench night to my usual night off (Wednesday), and head outside for some “body by shovel”.

High intensity shoveling intervals x 1 hour

2/19/2014
Bench (superset with wall slides x10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3
130 x 2

Front squat (superset with KB shrug 53#/side x 10)
bar x 8 (warmup)
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8
125 x 8

Hang clean (superset with TRX reverse fly x 10)
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 3
Skipped the heaviest set here in the interest of hip recovery.

Jumped in for a couple of rounds of the circuit that was going on after my workout. Feeling real slow lately.

[Mighty_Matron]

2/20/2014

Squat (superset with lateral hip swings 8/side)
bar x 10 ATG (warmup)
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 5
210 x 3
225 x 3 (PR) These went up pretty easy. My hip is still touchy, but improving. I think I’ll be 100% in a week or two. Good news considering my meet is only about 1 month out.

I’m going to start keeping a closer eye on what I eat, maybe do an easy 4-5lb cut over the next couple of weeks just by eating less garbage, more protein. Do the rest with water to get down to 148 weight. On any given day I’m tipping scales at 152-155 lbs. The girl scout cookies are a problem.

Also adding 10-15 minutes of conditioning after strength workouts. I used to have a great habit of getting this in, but have started slacking off on conditioning. I can feel it and I’m not impressed. Reminds me of when I was a fat tub of shit and we aren’t going back there. I haven’t found that high intensity conditioning adversely affects my strength. Quite the opposite. Running/steady state cardio is the only thing that eats my muscles.

Dips (superset with SL hamstring slider curl x6/side)
6, 6, 6, 6, 6

I’m building a contraption to do weighted slider curls. I don’t have access to any machines really, so I just make my own stuff.

Good mornings (superset with pushups x 10)
bar x 8 (warmup)
75 x 8
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8

Hanging leg raises (my usual GM superset) are out until my hip is ready.

2/21/2014

Conditioning circuit x 1 hour. 40 second intervals were brutal.

I had to find some footwear for my meet. Normally I lift barefoot, not because I’m a purist hippie or some shit, it’s just really cheap. So I went to three sporting goods stores, and only one store had one pair of asics wrestling shoes for me to try on. They fit fine, felt grippy enough for squats, and weren’t too pricey so I bought them and will start lifting with them Monday. I fucking loathe shopping.

OMG Monday! Tomorrow! My trainer knows a girl who does strongman (which I would love to get into once I build a decent base) and she’s coming to teach me some deadlift techniques. I’m really pumped to meet her, should be a great night.

[Mighty_Matron]

2/24/2014

Deadlift masterclass with Jen the strong(wo)man. Where has she been all my life? So finally, some real technique help. Until now, I felt like I was stiff-legging all my DLs, never had any bruises on my shins, so was obviously doing it wrong. Didn’t realize how exactly to sit back into the lift and use the bar as a counterweight while pulling backwards. Anyway, she’s a wealth of information, and I’m hoping we can get together for more of these sessions.

Deads (kept the weights low and really hammered mechanics)
185 x 3 x 5 sets
205 x 3 x 3 sets

Rack pull (superset with ab wheel x10)
135 x 5
225 x 8
245 x 8
265 x 8
265 x 6 (hip says no more)

Pull-ups, supinated grip (superset with body saw x10)
7, 6, 5, 5, 5

Sat in the corner and had a post workout beer with my brother while watching the rest of the gym-goers do a circuit. Remarkably satisfying.

[Mighty_Matron]

sigh

I’ve been out of the gym for a week, I feel like a caged animal. The day after my last logged workout I had just got home from work, I was dressed to go to the gym, and suddenly I had a pain in my middle back. It felt like DOMS but slightly worse. Over the next 15 minutes it ramped right the fuck up into ‘probably should get this looked at’. I thought it was my spine. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I was gasp… crying. Dammit. I went to one of those urgent care (non-ER) clinics and after a battery of testing, they couldn’t tell me what it was, but they didn’t think it was spinal. They said “probably a bad strain, here’s some flexeril and norco, don’t let the door hit you on the way out”. Ok, I guess.

Another strain. Judging from how my hip still feels, I didn’t stay off it long enough and thing still bothers me quite a bit. So I stayed out of the gym altogether for a week. I’m not willing to compromise my back for another two pounds on my squat. Went back yesterday, kept it light, didn’t load my back up, felt great.

What I can’t figure out is how these strains are happening. Both instances I was not doing anything strenuous or athletic in any way. And I never felt the “pull”. When I was a kid, every time I pulled my groin in gymnastics I felt exactly the moment that it happened. I’m kind of done trying to figure it out, my brain hurts and it’s not a constructive thing for me to stress about. So fuck it.

Anyways. Back to our regularly scheduled programming:

3/6/2014

Bench (superset w/wall slides x 10)
Feet on bench, paused all reps.
bar x 11 (warm-up)
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 6
95 x 6
105 x 6

Farmer’s walks with KBs (superset w/band reverse fly)
70’s x 30 yds
80’s x 60 yds x 4 (the last one I had to stop and adjust my grip at 45 yds)

Plank on physioball x 1 min. (superset with a leg exercise for hip rehab using 2 heavy red bands. Kind of like a lateral band walk, but done in-place x 10/side)

[ouroboro_s]

I hope your back is feeling better. I’ve had some of my worst injuries doing nothing more than making the bed but never hurt myself lifting. Freaking painful things too. It’s odd how our bodies do that. If I had a pain in my back like that, my first thought would be heart attack but then I’m getting close to that age.

Nice benching with the feet up. I’m tempted to do that sometimes when my hips feel tight.

[Mighty_Matron]

[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
I hope your back is feeling better. I’ve had some of my worst injuries doing nothing more than making the bed but never hurt myself lifting. Freaking painful things too. It’s odd how our bodies do that. If I had a pain in my back like that, my first thought would be heart attack but then I’m getting close to that age.

Nice benching with the feet up. I’m tempted to do that sometimes when my hips feel tight.[/quote]

Thanks, so far feeling good as new. Heavy deadlifts tomorrow, fingers crossed.

3/7/2014

Taking it easy: Day #2

Hip rehab day → 5 sets of everything

1a: Bent over band lat raise x10
1b: Lying SL leg raise x12/leg

2a: Push-ups x15
2b: Lying leg circles 5 clock+counter/side

3a: Cable pull-down to hip x10/side (55#)
3b: Another lying hip rehab move (stomps) x10/side

4a: Core exercise (lying, physioball between feet, windshield wipers) x10/side
4b: Band pull-aparts x10

Started cutting sugars (except booze) 4 days ago. Very minor adjustment in diet since I don’t get many sugars above the bare minimum to not feel sluggish. No specific macros, I can just feel it out. After losing 50# in 6 months I’ve really learned to tune into myself. Everything’s pretty intuitive at this point. Anyways, down 3.5# in 4 days. 156 to 152.5. Right on track. Have 2 more weeks to get to 148. I only felt like I was losing speed on my push-ups on the last two sets. Meh.

This week we’ll substitute a whey/casein shake instead of a whole food breakfast. Weight should drop another 2-3#. Not even hard.

My back only felt rough this weekend after getting laid. Deadlifting tomorrow should be fine. We shall see.

[Mighty_Matron]

3/10/2014

Back in the saddle. Two weeks of taking it easy on my back, and I’m two weeks out from a meet. I need to pick up an actual barbell fortheloveofchrist. I’ll sort out meet attempts next week. The goal this week is just to NOT mangle any of my parts.

Conventional DL (superset with band pull-aparts x10)

95 x 8 (warmup)
145 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 3 switched to mixed grip
205 x 3
Wanted one more triple at 205, but my back was starting to whisper ‘no’. I listened.

Tonight was one of those ‘jack shit’ nights on accessory work. Suppposed to do rack pulls and pull-ups. Fuck that noise. Not doing anything my back doesn’t want to.

I did, however, want to sweat. So I hit the treadmill for some hill sprint intervals.

20 seconds sprint, 20 seconds rest (1 minute rest at the speed changes)
15% incline for the duration
7.5mph x 6
7mph x 5
6.5mph x 4

My lungs were not impressed.

[Mighty_Matron]

Holler. I can haz page 3.

3/11/2014

Bench, pause all reps (superset w/wall slides x 10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
85 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 3
125 x 2 (3rd rep had help)

FS (superset w/shrugs 53# KBs)
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8

Still nixing the hang cleans.

3a: 25# medball slam x 10
3b: TRX reverse fly x 10
5 sets each on those.

3/13/2014

First night going heavy on my back. Feels good enough today, can’t baby it forever. Also, weighed 151 this evening. Less than 3# to go and I’ve got two weeks. Who says you can’t hit PRs while cutting?

nonsense.

Squat (superset with lateral hip swings 10/side)
bar x 10 ATG (warmup)
165 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5 (rep PR)
220 x 3 (no video, but these didn’t feel deep enough)
230 x 1 (PR)

2a: Dips 6,6,6,6,6
2b: SL hammie slider curl x 10/leg x 4 sets

I increased the reps on my hamstring exercise, but have been looking for a way to add weight. We don’t have any machines per se, but I’m handy and have my own workshop. So I made a thinger that takes olympic plates (5s and 10s so they don’t hit the shins). I found this idea on another website I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link to here? Anyways, google ross training and there’s a page of links for make-it-yourself gym equipment. Rigged one up for about $20 in supplies, brought it to the gym tonight and threw 35# on it. It weighs 13# by itself.

48# x 15 thing works great. Everyone loved it.

Attempting to attach multiple pictures of the stuff I’ve made for my gym. I’ll eventually build a bitchin’ home gym for myself, but I’ll work out all the kinks on shit I trade for my membership.

First I made his logo into signs. There are two this size and another whopper on the way for on the building. Hyooge. It’ll be done in a few weeks.

Then I painted it real big-like on his wall.

Then I made it into a chalk bowl, because he had the chalk in a shitty basket lined with a fucking t-shirt.

The pictures of the other 2 pieces of shit that I made (hamstring sled, extra long agility ladder) didn’t save to my camera because I’m inept. But I’ll throw those in the log once I get them. For the memories… sigh.

So far, gym owner is a satisfied customer. I love bartering when everyone is happy.

This post is way too long, and I’ll bet no one is still reading by now. So the world will give zero fucks that today…

3/14/2014

Woke up at 4:30am. Had to have my Mr at the hospital for day surgery at 6. His surgery went stupid fast, I had barely got done with my omelette (forgot my shake in the hustle so I had to eat a real brekkie in the cafeteria) and he was already finished. We grabbed his rx, hit dunkin donuts, I had him settled in with a nice benadryl/percocet coma at home by 11am. Slipped away for the lunchtime conditioning circuit at the gym. It was a doozie.

I know I said I’ve been feeling slow, but I crushed it today.

Have a 1 hour massage scheduled for tomorrow that I desperately need. Then a bonfire with friends. And my fair share of getting projects done. Going to be a great weekend.

[Mighty_Matron]

Here’s your sign.

I’ve tried editing the links on the pictures repeatedly and I’m getting pissed because computer things, well… don’t really compute for me. Something the fuck is ‘null’ and being a real bitch about it. I’ve tried all the stupid photobucket links and things. No dice. So singles it is. Sorry for all the consecutive posts, dudes.

[Mighty_Matron]

And the wall mural.

[Mighty_Matron]

And the chalk bowl.

Sweet Jesus, that was harder than it needed to be.

[Mighty_Matron]

On 3/14 I mentioned a contraption I built for weighted hamstring slider curls but didn’t have a picture. Here it is. The pipe on top can be loaded up with 5 and 10 pound olympic plates (25 and up will hit your shins), it weighs 13# empty. We’ve also used it for weighted army crawls, body saw, etc. There are sliders glued to the bottom if it.

[Mighty_Matron]

And I also made an extra-long agility ladder. Boom.

[Mighty_Matron]

So back to the regular boring stuff.

This week I was playing around a bit and sorting out meet attempts. My rep ranges might look silly, but that’s why. I did heavy triples to warm up to an everyday max, then tried for a 5-10# PR. After, I backed the weight down and and got me some volume (except on DL night) since it’s still a week I can get stronger. We’re about 9 days out and I weighed 150.2 this morning. Awesome. I can piss my way to 148.

3/17/2014

Deads (superset with band pull-aparts x 10)
65 x 10 (warm-up)
165 x 3
205 x 3
235 x 2
245 x 1 (seeing stars)

Rack pull (superset with ab wheel x10)
205 x 8
225 x 8
245 x 5
255 x 2 (hip called it)

Ring pull-ups (superset with weighted body saw 23# x10)
6, 5, 5, 4, 4

3/18/2014

Bench (superset with wall slides x 10)
bar x 10 (warm-up)
85 x 3
105 x 3
125 x 2
135 x 1 (minimal pausing, but felt really strong!)
95 x 10
95 x 10
95 x 8

Fronties (superset with DB/KB shrug x 10)
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8
125 x 8
135 x 8 (PR)
Shrugs were done 3 sets at 50# DBs, until the 53# KBs were available then I traded up for two sets. We don’t have 55# DBs and I’m not ready for 60s. Yet.

Hang clean (superset with TRX reverse fly x 10) First time doing these in weeks.
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 3
100 x 3

[hkd]

Some really cool stuff in your training. If you have time for a question, how does the agility ladder work?

[Mighty_Matron]

[quote]hkd wrote:
Some really cool stuff in your training. If you have time for a question, how does the agility ladder work?[/quote]

Thanks, HKD! Doing the best I know how
I don’t have any video of me using the ladder, but youtube has a ton of agility ladder drills if you like a visual explanation.
I’m no expert, but we usually use it for pre-workout/warm-ups and sometimes as an interval in our conditioning circuits. My trainer says it’s a good for CNS/fast twitch stimulation, overall coordination, and it gets your heart rate up. Maybe that’s a load of BS, I don’t know To me it’s a lot of speedy footwork and the heart rate spike doesn’t even compare to a heavy squat grinder. Kind of a fun departure from the lifting though. Hope that makes any sense. I’m a noob.

Nike makes one that has 5 spaces/6 rungs, you can string multiples together. He already had one of those and mentioned he’d like a longer one. I could make it cheaper and stronger for him. (I trade those signs/contraptions for membership. Win/win.) I made mine twice as long as Nike’s. I improved on their design a smidge and made my rungs removable since those things get tangled up all the time. Boom.