Strength is a Hell of a Drug

Training
141

[quote]csulli wrote:
This is a really cool log btw.[/quote]

Thank you :slight_smile:

[quote]csulli wrote:
I would get sick to my stomach for the whole day at work leading up to a training session if I had a certain weight/rep I needed to hit on one of the main lifts.[/quote]

This. All the time.

[quote]csulli wrote:
I think you’re making a great call with everything you said. Keep up the strongperson training, but for Christ’s sake make yourself a heavier stone ;)[/quote]

Serious! I’m working on it. Got 50# of plaster and 100# of readymix hanging around my workshop. Just can’t seem to find the right ballz…

142

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
Ever hear of Milo of Croton?

He’s a dead Greek who got really strong by carrying a cow on his back every day from the day it was born until it was time to slaughter it. You could do the same thing with your child to stay fit and strong. By the time he’s 22 or 23 you could be doing loaded carries with a 220 pound man.

One small difference is that you may just want to force your child to move out of your house instead of slaughtering him. But hey, I’m not going to tell you how to raise your kid.[/quote]

Ha! Great idea. Fuck the baby bjorn, I’ll just yoke my kid around. The potential slaughtering will depend largely on the teenage years :slight_smile:

I had never heard of Milo of Croton, but thanks for giving me a new hero.

143

6/12/2014

Squat (superset w/lateral hip swings 10/side)
bar x 10 paused ATG
95 x 6 paused ATG
135 x 5 paused ATG
155 x 5 ATG
185 x 5
205 x 3
215 x 3

Dips (superset w/38# hammie slider curls x12)
6, 7, 7, 7, 7
I did a set of 6 and felt like I had 7’s in me, so I traded up.

Stificits (3")
115 x 6
145 x 6
165 x 6
195 x 6

Stiffies supersetted w/SA DB row
45’s x 6/side x 2
50’s x 6/side x 2

Spin bike, high wheel tension x 15 minutes
Sweating, panting, wheezing. Cardio is just awful stuff.

144

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Sorry for all the rapid-fire posts. Still incapable of multiple images in a post. Just want to throw these in my log for the memories.

Rigged a lifting belt I found at Goodwill into a dip belt.

145

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Here’s where I’ll be doing my dips.

Sled’s gonna have more attachments than a kirby vacuum.

146

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Last one. Promise.

147

6/13/2014
Conditioning circuit

6/16/2014
Wasn’t interested in working out tonight. Did this anyways because excuses are for pussies. It was a nice night, bugs were tolerable.

Conventional DL, reset each rep (superset w/band pull aparts - found a beefier band!)
89 x 8
133 x 5
166 x 5
188 x 5
205 x 5
227 x 5
238 x 3

Strict OHPinto OH carry x 30yds (turning halfway)
On the last rep of each set I’d leave the weight at the top and take it for a walk.
45 x 8
56 x 6
67 x 5
78 x 5
83.5 x 4 (4th rep was a grinder, at 83#. Shit, man. I gotta get my overhead up.)

Wide NG pull-ups (superset w/25# plate front-raise x8)
5, 5, 4, 4, 4

148

[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
Last one. Promise.[/quote]

waiting to see you attach a blender so you’ll always have your shakes close by }8-{D

so when are you building a yolk?

I really enjoy this log

149

[quote]silverblood wrote:

[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
Last one. Promise.[/quote]

waiting to see you attach a blender so you’ll always have your shakes close by }8-{D

so when are you building a yolk?

I really enjoy this log[/quote]

Don’t give me any great ideas :slight_smile:
You’ve already got me painting it blood red!

I know a guy (as usual) whose got a pile of ideal metal, and he owes us some cash. If he doesn’t have plans for it I’m going to see if he’ll let some go for a deal. If not, it could be a month or more. I’d like to have it done in time to use it a bit this year, before it gets too cold/dangerously icy.

Glad anyone cares to read about me going to the gym. I don’t have a lot of people who really want to hear about it, just my family and a co-worker. This has been a nice outlet for me to keep track of things that don’t go in my handwritten notebook, post uncensored thoughts I can’t share on Facebook, and get feedback from other lifters. Thanks for stopping by :slight_smile:

150

[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:

[quote]silverblood wrote:

[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
Last one. Promise.[/quote]

waiting to see you attach a blender so you’ll always have your shakes close by }8-{D

so when are you building a yolk?

I really enjoy this log[/quote]

Don’t give me any great ideas :slight_smile:
You’ve already got me painting it blood red!

I know a guy (as usual) whose got a pile of ideal metal, and he owes us some cash. If he doesn’t have plans for it I’m going to see if he’ll let some go for a deal. If not, it could be a month or more. I’d like to have it done in time to use it a bit this year, before it gets too cold/dangerously icy.

Glad anyone cares to read about me going to the gym. I don’t have a lot of people who really want to hear about it, just my family and a co-worker. This has been a nice outlet for me to keep track of things that don’t go in my handwritten notebook, post uncensored thoughts I can’t share on Facebook, and get feedback from other lifters. Thanks for stopping by :)[/quote]

I hope you continue to post your training. I have advised several female members of the military including: DSS, CID, and OSI agents, and other women , who have expressed a desire to become stronger, to follow and study your log. I feel like your log best expresses what can be done when you have to work 12 hours a day in a A.O. You should also be very proud of your creativity in building your equipment. You are certainly more skilled than I am.

Is it always that green in New Hampshire? :slight_smile:

151

[quote]idaho wrote:
I hope you continue to post your training. I have advised several female members of the military including: DSS, CID, and OSI agents, and other women , who have expressed a desire to become stronger, to follow and study your log. I feel like your log best expresses what can be done when you have to work 12 hours a day in a A.O. You should also be very proud of your creativity in building your equipment. You are certainly more skilled than I am.
[/quote]

Wow. Thank you! I’m thrilled to hear this may be helping someone other than myself. Especially service women because I idolize them. Just doing the best I can with the resources I’ve got, but I’m a very lucky girl.

[quote]idaho wrote:
Is it always that green in New Hampshire? :slight_smile:
[/quote]
From May to mid-October, it is! Then the leaves give a crazy show and disappear for the winter. Great place to live, I love it here.

152

6/17/2014
My husband sent me some beautiful blooms at work today to celebrate 7 years together. What a treat. Atta boy!

Bench (superset w/wall slides x10)
bar x 10 (warmup)
95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3
135 x 1

Hang clean/Front squat complex
85 x 5/8
Oops. I usually start at 65 to ease into these but accidentally overloaded the bar to 85 and wondered why it felt so fucking heavy for a first set. My bad. Let’s just pull a page from Paul Carter’s book and call that an over-warmup.
Take 2…
65 x 5/8
75 x 5/8
85 x 5/8
95 x 5/8

G’Mornin’s (superset w/TRX reverse fly x10)
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8

Trap bar carries 235#, 35yds, x8

Then home to give my Mr. a proper thank you for those flowers.

153

I’ve been wanting to see a little more definition for the Summer so my calories have been slightly reduced for the last two weeks or so. Normally I’m 155# any given day. This morning, I’m tipping the scales at 148.8. Awesome.

Absolutely beat the shit out of myself last night. Didn’t feel that bad during, but oh… after…

6/19/2014
Been wanting to try 20-rep breathing squats for a while. Tonight seemed good for it. Had no idea what to try for a weight.
Squats (superset w/lateral hip swings x10/side)
Bar x 10 ATG (warmup)
95 x 6 ATG (warmup)
135 x 20
135 x 20
135 x 20
Shit. Thought this was starting to look like I’m doing the “predator program”… then I laughed and laughed and continued to train with a purpose.

These were easier than I anticipated. Started to slow down toward the last 5 reps each set. Probably should go a smidge heavier next time and throw 1xBW on the bar. 135 was a good place to start. That’s about 60% of my current 1RM.

Dips (superset w/DB hammer curl 20’s x10)
8, 8, 8, 8, 8
I upped my dips tonight since I was feeling pretty good. Always about rep 6 though I feel like I’m going to pass out. I think it’s because I’m not eating unreasonable amounts of food like my body is used to? Whatevs. The scale is going down, strength is going up. It’s beautiful.

I switched bicep curls in for my usual hamstring slider curl superset since hammies already get hit pretty hard on Thursdays with stificits and I was planning on prowler work for a finisher, too.

Stificits(3" deficit) (superset w/SA DB row 50# x 6/side)
115 x 6
135 x 6
165 x 6 whoa, rep 3, explained below.
185 x 6

Had a similar experience on that third rep as in my dips but more intense. Thought I was going to drop. I stood at the top of the rep, got my shit together, then finished my set. Wasn’t sure what else to do here. I took some extra minutes of rest before my last set, and reduced the weight from 195 to 185. Last set felt fine.

They had a big circuit going on but I was able to clear a 15yd path for some sled runs.
Alternating between hi-lo handles, sled loaded to 135#, a total of 16 15yd pushes done in clusters, no rest between pushes in a cluster, resting 30-60 seconds between clusters…
4, 3, 2, 1
rest 3-5 minutes
3, 2, 1

Got a touch of the flu after these. Had no less than 3 people (who know me) ask if I was ok. I must’ve looked exactly how I felt. Like a steaming dogpile. This discomfort didn’t subside until 30 minutes post-workout. It was all I could do to choke down a whey shake, and keep it down.

Wrecked.

Can’t wait to bitch about my DOMS tomorrow.

154

6/20/2014

Conditioning circuit

6/23/2014

Tire flips 280# x 100 (sets of 10)
That was almost 200 yards!

Was so tired today I almost didn’t work out in favor of a nap. I was this close.
But then I crushed a beer and decided to at least flip my tire a little. Talked myself into it by only committing to 5 x 5. Ended up doing 10 x 10. Once I hit 60 there was no turning back. The slight incline of my driveway didn’t seem as slight tonight. Took 50 minutes with a couple of long rests… the buddy who got me the tires and his wife showed up so we all shot the shit in the driveway between sets.

Horseflies are starting to come out, which is a special kind of hell here in new england.
Balls.

155

6/24/2014

Delivered a set of farmer’s handles I made to the gym tonight. Forgot to grab a picture of them all painted up. Still have to make the collars for them anyways.

Bench (superset w/wall slides x10)
focusing on bar speed tonight
bar x 10 (warmup)
85 x 5 paused
95 x 5 paused
105 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3 last rep was pretty damned slow

Hang clean/Front squat complex
85 x 1 ha! I did it again. Being female… not good at math.
75 x 5/8
85 x 5/8
95 x 3/20
HC’s felt terrible tonight. 95 x 3 was ugly and I was afraid of hurting myself so I called it at the top of rep 3. Forearms were gassed from tire flips yesterday. Wanted my FS’s though, so I decided to go for a 20 rep breather set. Whoa. Sweating.

G’Mornin’s (superset w/TRX reverse fly x10)
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8
125 x 8

Trap bar carries 235#, 35yds, x8

Trainer came out and grabbed a video of rep 6 on the carries. He took it on an iphone and I had to rotate it so it came out kinda small.

Full screen that shit.

156

6/26/2014

Buns and thighs night.

Squat (superset w/lateral hip swings 10/side)
bar x 10 ATG
95 x 6
135 x 5 fast ones! the weights bounced at the top. psych!
155 x 5 "
185 x 5 "
205 x 3 felt really strong
225 x 3 weak! first rep to parallel, last two were 3/4 squats.
actually really happy with squats tonight.

Dips (superset w/barbell curls @bar x10)
8, 8, 8, 8, 8
curling the bar got tough towards the end sets. suns out guns out.

Stificits (3") (superset w/SA DB rows 50’s x 6/side)
115 x 6
145 x 6
165 x 6 switched to mixed grip. noticed some helicopter-ing.
185 x 6 same. da fuq?

Conditioning: Prowler, 125#, 15yd., same deal as last Thursday(6/19)
I like these as a finisher. Don’t have to think too much.
alternating hi-lo handles
4, 3, 2, 1
rest 3-5 min.
4, 3, 2, 1

157

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6/27/2014

Couldn’t get to the gym before he closed today. It’s normally my conditioning night. I wanted to move.

We tore down a disgusting shed on our property a few weeks ago. When we did I called dibs on the railroad ties it sat on. They’ve been sitting piled in the grass in a shady spot and it’s been on my mind to get them off the ground. Wanted to get my tires to a better spot too.
And a workout was born…

Farmers carries w/cinder block (40#?) in each hand

25 yds x 3
(mr. came home and suggested a better spot elsewhere.
he tried to be sweet and help, and I snapped at him to drop it.
real fucking nice, huh?)
15 yds x 3

Move 4 railroad ties around 60 yards, I reckon.

~12 flips each
They’re over 8 feet long, and then 7" x 9".
I estimate they’re around 150-175# each.

Did these like fingal’s fingers. Sounds awfully naughty. But goes like this:

Flipped baby tire (280#) tire x8

Wasn’t going to attempt 8 with the big kahuna (440#)
flipped it 1x up on end and rolled it a ways until it fell over.
got it up 1x more and rolled it to the new spot. boom.

Stacked small tire on big one. 30" tall.

30" box jumps to top of tire stack
(never tried this height before, can’t believe I got it)

3 sets of 10.

Then one to show off to my mr. He promptly did one himself.

Doesn’t even lift.
Bastard.

158

What ???.You on vacation? held hostage? I had someone ask me to check in on you, it seems, you can be a badass agent in Afghanistan but be too embarrassed to set up an account and ask you herself.:))

159

[quote]idaho wrote:
What ???.You on vacation? held hostage? I had someone ask me to check in on you, it seems, you can be a badass agent in Afghanistan but be too embarrassed to set up an account and ask you herself.:)) [/quote]

HA!! A little of both.

Took some vacation from work, then held myself hostage from the gym. I got overloaded with projects to the point I felt like I was drowning.
I used a week’s worth of after-work time to get some nagging projects off my list. Back to my regular schedule tonight, for sure.

And a shout-out to Afghanistan…
Stay safe over there! We appreciate all you do.

160

Since I’m leaning towards competing in strongman in the future more so than powerlifting, I’ve made a few changes to my program. I’ve dropped benching and picked up a few different assistance exercises. This should help me work on some particular weaknesses (especially overhead strength) and make my training schedule a bit more flexible.

Basically looks like this:

MONDAY
1a: military press
1b: shoulder rehab/mobility movement

2a: hang clean/front squat complex
2b: ab wheel (or other core variant)

3a: stificits
3b: trx reverse fly

TUESDAY
1a: squat
1b: hip mobility movement

2a: DB incline press
2b: barbell row

3a: DB snatch
3b: hanging leg raises

WEDNESDAY
rest

THURSDAY
1a: conventional DL
1b: band pull aparts

2a: pullups
2b: russian twists (or variant)

3a: dips
3b: curls

FRIDAY
conditioning circuit

WEEKEND
strongman events at my leisure

Monday, tuesday, and thursday (strength nights) will also include conditioning/finishers along these lines:
sled work, loaded carries, battle ropes, KB swings, hill sprints

This arrangement also allows for more of my workouts to be done at my home gym. I’ll only need to travel to my regular gym for squat night and circuit night. That saves me 4 more hours of driving a week. I’ll take it!