Keep up with the Dan John stuff. He has a fantastic way of putting things into perspective, whether it be life in general or the way a lift is performed. I’m often going back to some of his articles for different approaches.
Good progress in here.
[quote]ddot76 wrote:
Keep up with the Dan John stuff. He has a fantastic way of putting things into perspective, whether it be life in general or the way a lift is performed. I’m often going back to some of his articles for different approaches.
Good progress in here.[/quote]
Ddot–i am really enjoying his book (never let go) and had a look at his videos on his own website, what an entertaining guy !!.
Over these last few weeks i have been doing a lot of experimenting (farting about !!) with different workout ideas as i work up a smart programme for myself, i can see a lot of it being Dan John inspires eg the 5 move complex becoming an integral part of my warm-up/workout and at least on 1 lift adopting the ‘1 main lift’ approach.
Unfortunatley I had a bit of a back prang today : started the week with the intention of having a workout every day (if it’s important do it evry day idea) by having a home workout before going off to work on the boat, so…did the complex twice and then started on a kb swing and kb squat session and cricked my back badly on the swings. Don’t know why that went wrong today but pretty painful and tight right now.
Managed a walk around the woods later on but i will be lucky to be training properly again this week. Hey–ho !!.
The big thing now (apart from designing an entire training programme !!) is to have a serious crack at my diet. I think that i have worked out that while i am still making beginner gains i may as well make a serious effort to get rid of some more body fat. I am running around 19-20% now and would love to get below 15%… that would be a life ‘first’.
Not quite sure about the best approach, have though about a proper ketogenic atkins induction although i bet that would be living hell on night shifts (carb crave like crazy) or a leaner paleo.
As it is i have had my first true paleo day, so far so good and no desperate cravings yet. (yet !!)
Damn! Sorry to hear about the back.
That’s the problem with things like KB swings, they’re really effective exercises, but lose tightness or form and get them wrong and they’re going to injure you. Normally the benfit outweighs the risk, but it’s not a good idea to do them tired.
I know you’re new and keen, which is great, but don’t get too carried away, remember to have rest days every now and again.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
Damn! Sorry to hear about the back.
That’s the problem with things like KB swings, they’re really effective exercises, but lose tightness or form and get them wrong and they’re going to injure you. Normally the benfit outweighs the risk, but it’s not a good idea to do them tired.
I know you’re new and keen, which is great, but don’t get too carried away, remember to have rest days every now and again.[/quote]
Funny thing is brett that i have had a couple of rest days, my back is just always susceptible to crapping out on me, i have a pretty good recovery regime–good enough to be walking in the woods this evening.
Shame was this morning was that i was nicely warmed up after the dj complex and ready for it, lovely and warm out in the sun too.
OK, well maybe don’t have so many rest days! LOL
Sometimes you can do everything right and still get injured. Comes with the territory I guess.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
OK, well maybe don’t have so many rest days! LOL
Sometimes you can do everything right and still get injured. Comes with the territory I guess.[/quote]
And
It looks like it’s going to have to be a lay-off from weights this week.
I gradually got stiffer during the night and it was a real struggle to get moving this morning.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
OK, well maybe don’t have so many rest days! LOL
Sometimes you can do everything right and still get injured. Comes with the territory I guess.[/quote]
And 30 years of heaving 'FB’S …
It looks like weights are off the menu for a few days (back says no). This morning it was a real struggle to get vertical after an uncomfortable and restless night.
(EDIT) instead of posting new i’ll just keep this one running for the week–nothing exciting to say, just a log of how well i fare with the dieting discipline.
I did however manage to get out of the house after a cuppa and headed out on a fasted walk and once i got going felt a whole load better.
This weeks main effort was to have been a heavy week with a second emphasis on concentrating on eating a lean and clean diet with perhaps moving into a lypolytic/ketogenic phase next week. However having had a back crash and with walking being just about the only viable exercise option it might work to go lypolytic right now.
Up until now my main effort in the ‘big 3’ (exercise, diet, recovery) has been all about exercise and mainly about learning the basics, rest and recovery is simply how it is due to my shifts and there is naff all that i can do about that. I have almost been avoiding the diet side : almost too much to think about at the same time but it is the next big thing to try to bring into focus.
As is. yesterday was weigh day and came in at 82.9 which is a new low for me, weights seem reasonably consistent so no obvious strength loss happenning, today however after yesterdays first lean/clean day i weighed in at 82.3–but i did quite noticeably dump a whole load of fluid last night.
Diet plan is a bit atkins/paleo hybrid, low carb but with some dairy…so hard cheese,cottage cheese and milk in coffee.
EDIT (day 1) looked like :
Breakfast . cottage cheese (about 100gm) handfull of blueberries, few strawberries.
Late morning . 2 egg ommelette with slice of ham, cheese to taste
Early pm. 1 chicken drumstick
Late afternoon .cottage cheese and 1 banana (pre 5 mile walk)
Main meal. 2 good quality burgers, salad made up with broccoli,pepper, spring onions, green leaves, tad of dressing.
This is far better that i normally eat (quite embarrasssed about what i normally eat every day !!)
Now today i had to go into my back recovery regime, the main exercise is to get onto all fours on the floor and ‘reset’ the neutral spine position and then start to work my back muscles back into movement. It’s obviously a bit more detailed that that but you get the idea–anyway despite being very inelegant (arse in air !!) the strangest thing is the appearance of my ab fat–it’s almost as though is all breaking up and leaving ugly floppy skin folds–quite horrible looking in that position.
Edit (day 2).
Some back recovery so out for a fasted walk which loosenned things up a bit.
Food :
Breakfast : cottage cheese , berries as usual.
Lunch 3 egg ommelette with ham and cheese .
Pm chicken drumstick
Main meal chunky haddock fillet with salad (peppers, green beans, toms,spring onions, green leaf)
Evening banana and creme fraiche+ berries.
(also got out for a longer walk, around 5 miles)
Lot looser later on so did 2 round of the 5 move complex and played my new ‘patio game’ ie every time i walk under the pull-up bar i have to do 1 chin and 1 pull.
Day 3.
Breakfast : cottage cheese, berries, small amount of creme fraiche.
Lunch --3 egg ommelette, slice of ham. cheese to taste.
(walk to gym and careful session)
Post workout 1 banana and 1 chick drumstick
At home later : another drumstick.
Main meal : chicken breast fillets .salad.
Evening treat : couple of walnut stuffed dates (fibre !!)
Nice session at the gym after all, kept it quite light and higher volume except for going up to a couple of sets of 5 with a heavier (42kg) dunbell on the goblet squat–that’s getting to where i have a struggle just to get the db up to my chest,
Something like :
Barbell complex warm up x2
Squats alternating goblet and rear. This workout comes from a Dan John idea where he mixes a couple of sets of 10s and a 5x5 all in one session–seems to work for me quite well.
Barbell warm up 1x10
Goblet 25kg kb 1x10
Barbell 45kg 1x10
Goblet 34kg db 1x10
Barbell rear 50kg 1x8
Goblet 38kg db 1x8
Barbell 55kg 2x5
Goblet 42db 3x5 (new weight on the goblet)
Mixed with :
Chin ups and pull ups about a dozen each
Farmers walk 2x25 kb 2xtwice around gym
Short bench session but it seemed to be irritating my back so kept well below my maximum.
At the end i had a couple of play-arounds with bare bar front squat, for some reason i have real problems with the front squat and avoid it like the plague–but ‘must do better’ and get it started.
Nice thing in the gym today was a couple of younger guys doing all the big lifts, during a break i had a chat with them and they also said it’s neat when all 3 people in the free weights section are either squatting, deadlifting. mp’ing or benching. One of them (not big) moving some good weight in good form and really working hard–his mate clearly new to it all but still working with bare bar or little weight but doing it properly.
During a break we both said how good it was that the only 3 people in the free weights section were all squatting or deadlifting !! young guy then mimicked doing curls in the squat cage and we all fell about laughing !!
Day 4 edit…
Weigh in this morning at 81.6kg (179 lbs) still loosing water. Actual objective weight loss has been just under 3lbs in 4 days, now i know that the bulk of that is water but i can see where the crazy diet claims come from.
Feeling a little fuzzy around the edges this morning which i suspect is ketosis and being a little dehydrated.
Back to shifts tonight which will be very interesting to see how it goes on nights.
so far (half way through first shift) the normal carb cravings i would have by now havn’t really appeared. Funny thing is some big-knob has left and there is tons of cakes laying around all over the place and i just havn’t been remotely tempted.
Main meal at work was tuna made up with some mayo and spring onion.
Weekend edit.
So far so good, still keeping up with the food log which seems to be having the result of keeping me away from the processed carbs.
Last night on shift was the worst in that i had to spend the entire night office bound and drinking serial coffee just to stay with it–that’s when i would normally hit the biscuits.
Actually this week is a near lifetime first in that of no cakes’biscuits/chocolate/crisps etc.
Weight at end of week (but with nights fluid on board) sitting around the 82.2 kg (180lbs) but still with quite obvious belly fat. Whole thing is suggesting that if i can once i get rid of the fat that i will have to try and make lean mass gains.
I have managed to get under the weights for a couple of heavy (relative) for me sessions , bench is notably down but has been for several weeks, everything else seems around the norm for me.
Solid work sessions today after some back recovery during the week.
Am. Fasted walk 45 minutes.
Am. Home simple workout.
6 move complex with barbell x2
Kb squat 16kg 2x10
Press ups 3x10
Kb squat 28kg 2x10
Chin ups 6
Pul ups 2.
Lunch time was then role reversal time, i was pootling around the house and partner was wrestling with the duty rota for her area when i realised that she needed to get a wiggle on and get to the gym for her second session with the trainer, a bit of ‘now come on get your kit packed,have you got your water bottle/banana etc’.
tThen it was housework for me !!! stripped off and ran the hoover through etc !!.
Later on :
Feeling ok so walked down to the gym, last chance to get a good session in a rested state.
Warm up complex 6 moves once.
Long prep for deadlift ,mainly core work on the roman chair with back exetensions.
Deadlift
Bare bar warm up 1x10
Then ascending sets carefully.
132lbs 1x10
154lbs 1x10
176 1x10
Set up on bench press to do filler sets in between the main work.
Bare bar warm up 1x10
88lbs 1x10
Deadlift
198 lbs 1x5
Bench
99lbs 1x8
Deadlift
198 1x5
Bench
99 1x6
Deadlift
220 1x5
Bench
99 1x5
Deadlift
176 1x5
Then deadlift partial height set 1x5 with 242 lbs, did this because i was struggling to break the weight off the floor …a Dan John idea.
Deadlift deload 132lbs 1x10
Back seemed ok deadlifting but not so happy on the bench press.
Finishing up with some chin ups and planking.
I didn’t think it would work out : mixing deadlift with bench press(especxially after a back prang earlier in the week) but treating the deadlift as the primary exercise and jumping straight onto bench press in between sets does seem to be ok, it’s a good use of time for me. Also the whole deadlift routine today was based on the Dan John ‘55’ exercise ie 3 sets of 10 followed by 5 sets of 5, seems to work for me.
Haven’t read any Dan John stuff for a bit, kind of forgotten about him, thanks for reminding me.
Good lifting BN.
So you injured your back on the 25th and you’re deadlifting by the 28th?
Sorry mate. You are officially addicted!
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
So you injured your back on the 25th and you’re deadlifting by the 28th?
Sorry mate. You are officially addicted![/quote]
I could make lots of excuses : caught it right away, remobilised it well, did all my recovery etc etc…but really wanted a productive session today, and i was carefull to build into it slowly.
Honest…
Soddin stiff now though but.
“Soddin”??
I’ve really got to get a Berlitze book.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
“Soddin”??
I’ve really got to get a Berlitze book.[/quote]
Crikey …another english to US english translate fail.
Although i struggle with :
Bro
Do rag
Freakin
Shredded, (that’s what i do with cabbage to make coleslaw) ?
Dissin.
Gear
Swole
And as for txt spk…unspeakable and uncouth.
Any way i am retiring to the orangery where william the butler is about to serve high tea with some nice cucumber sandwiches (sliced very thin) and tiffin.
Let’s see, can help a little:
Bro - think you’re referring to abbreviation of “Brother”. In America, blacks got to calling each other “Brother” and “Sister”.
Do rag - what Bulldog wears. There’s a video somewhere on his thread.
Freaking - when it’s not polite to say “Fucking”.
Shredded - a very ripped, lean bodybuilder. Also a breakfast cereal.
Cucumber sandwiches - I know what those are, just not why anyone thinks they’re tasty. You lost me on “orangery” and “tiffin”. (Hmmm . . . my spellchecker hates orangery but likes tiffin.)
Well enough of this discourse, it is my evening to perform good works amongst the deserving and sickly poor of the parish.
Distasteful…but one must do ones bit.
Taking stock and making plans.
Over the last 3 weeks i have spent a lot of time experimenting with different workout ideas, reading lots and thinking about what i have done so far and where i want to go with all this lifting lark.
I have played around with high volume sessions, with pairing up exercises and using very limted time workouts and more recently with getting stuff done at home.
As you all know i only started with weights in march, just around my 53rd birthday (10 sessions with a trainer was my birthday present to me !!). I reallt didn’t expect that i would get so into the whole thing and was quite literally stunned when i found things actually happening ie weights going up and body changing.
Now just a few months in i am taking stock and working out the way forward.
As i see it most established programmes might not work as well for me–i know i need a routine and i can see the value in programmes like 531 but my experience so far is that i have to work a bit more instinctively especially when i am tired or transitioning between nights and days.
For now as far as i know although the job situation is still under threat i still do have a job and it will continue to be night shift based, so the problems will stay the same.
My own rules havn’t changed ie :
Keeping it simple…just the main lifts
Keeping it compound…equally not messing around with anything other than the big stuff
Keeping it heavy…actually this is where it will change a bit so instead of pushing it hard all the time and continually trying to add more weight it clearly now needs to be a bit smarter than that.
However just to add (Dan john again)
If it’s really important to do it every day.
If it,s not then don’t bother with it.
Sometims it needs to be a bit random and playful.
So…new plans.
Looks like being heavily Dan John inspired e.g his ‘big 55’ and 1 main lift ideas.
Goals : i think i can now realistically set some smart goals now that i have a better idea of where i am at with everything so :
Bench…working towards 0.75bw over the next few months
Squat (rear) working towards 1 bw and to learn front squat, goblet squat will be a big part of my routine as well.
Deadlift : working towards 1.5 bw.
I like Dan Johns ‘1 main lift’ per session–i like the simplicity especialy when i am pushed for time, however i also like to use my time effectively so it looks like a session will be built around 1 of the big lifts with something else as a filler.
I will also try to do something nearly every day mainly by having a home workout based around a Dj complex, some kb goblet squats and body weight exercises.
Conditioning will continue–often as the end of workout finisher and when i have time some getting into the forest and load carrying.
Something has to give though so running will be a lot less as it is the one thing that i cxan almost guarantee to leave me with a sore back–except perhaps for some short and brutal hill work (found a nice nasty one near home !!)
Diet : first week of keeping a log went well as did the actual diet itself as i wean myself towards a near paleo (+ some dairy) diet.
Supplements : i am happy with a couple of fish oil caps a day, can’t see any need for anything else right now.
Thats about it.
Comments and critique would be most welcome.
sound like a great plan
You’re very lucky to be seeing results after only a few months. That gives you motivation to keep going. Without any real reward, it’s a very frustrating slog. Believe me, I know.