I love reading your out of the box training. What a rush just trying to figure out how to manipulate all that stuff.
Funny on the husband carrying wood → yes pun intended hehe
[quote]UpScale wrote:
I love reading your out of the box training. What a rush just trying to figure out how to manipulate all that stuff.
Funny on the husband carrying wood → yes pun intended hehe[/quote]
Nice to hear from you upscale…
It could have been a lot funnier along the lines of : ‘i saw your husband getting wood the other day etc" , i did hear my partner on the phone to a friend saying something like : oh steves out getting wood today’ !!.
In just a very short time this whole training thing has just become a total obsession, don’t know here its going but enjoying the journey anyway.
Todays workout was one that shouldn’t have really happenned in the way that it did :
With a difficult work week i had to get most of the work done early in the week, yesterday was my scond night on duty , usually that means a solid sleep day and if anything a short workout before work.
Last night i had total intense cravings for carbs–and gave in.
Today i only had a short sleep (4 hours) woke up feeling rough and groggy, couldn,t sleep so gave up and had a long-route walk to the gym without any great expectations in the gym.
But :
Got on the bench (previous best already broken this week) :
Bare bar warm up.
5 @ 88lbs
5 @ 94
5 @ 99
5 @ 105
5 @ 110 ( 50kg in my money and a new pb) done as 3 + 2.
Lat pull downs done as drop sets.
Warm up set , then
5 @ 156 (lbs)
5 @ 150
5 @ 143
5 @ 138
5 @ 132
Then deload set.
Squats
Not brilliant as back being a bit grumbly.
Deadlift.done as ascending sets
Bare bar warm up then :
10 @ 132
5 @ 176
5 @ 198
5 @ 220 (current pb)
5 @ 220
Then attempted 242 but wouldnt quite go
3 @ 231 (new pb)
Being careful with back so it might go next time , this time end of set tiredness definitely a problem.
Upright cable row.
Sets of 5X5. peaking at new pb of 158 lbs.
Followed by 1 round of ‘bastard ++’ and i mile treadmill as intervals.
So 3 new personal bests in 1 session after crap sleep and carb overload during previous
night !!! Also this week a new low weight at 83.5 (183 lbs)and still definietly coming off th efat folds despite eating more than i have ever normally done.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Sleds though. :
There were some plastic sleds on sale at our local climbing shop–thought about adapting one for sled dragging although i dont think one would last very long on the forest trails, looks ok for dragging around a grass field.
For ‘work’ days.
Watching out for a nice big tire to go and beat the living daylights out of with a maul hammer, equaly might buy a longer axe and just go and chop some logs up.[/quote]
We have a tire and a sledge. It’s awesome for conditioning. I admit I haven’t done it in a while because I’m a suck about conditioning stuff. I used to alternate flipping the tire with pounding the crap out of it with the sledge. It was very vomit inducing.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Sleds though. :
There were some plastic sleds on sale at our local climbing shop–thought about adapting one for sled dragging although i dont think one would last very long on the forest trails, looks ok for dragging around a grass field.
For ‘work’ days.
Watching out for a nice big tire to go and beat the living daylights out of with a maul hammer, equaly might buy a longer axe and just go and chop some logs up.[/quote]
We have a tire and a sledge. It’s awesome for conditioning. I admit I haven’t done it in a while because I’m a suck about conditioning stuff. I used to alternate flipping the tire with pounding the crap out of it with the sledge. It was very vomit inducing.[/quote]
How heavy a sledge is that ??
PBs coming thick and fast. Congrats!
[quote]big nurse wrote:
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Sleds though. :
There were some plastic sleds on sale at our local climbing shop–thought about adapting one for sled dragging although i dont think one would last very long on the forest trails, looks ok for dragging around a grass field.
For ‘work’ days.
Watching out for a nice big tire to go and beat the living daylights out of with a maul hammer, equaly might buy a longer axe and just go and chop some logs up.[/quote]
We have a tire and a sledge. It’s awesome for conditioning. I admit I haven’t done it in a while because I’m a suck about conditioning stuff. I used to alternate flipping the tire with pounding the crap out of it with the sledge. It was very vomit inducing.[/quote]
How heavy a sledge is that ??
[/quote]
Just 8lbs but it’s plenty when you swing it a lot.
ouroboro-s. mm i seem to remember having to swing a sledge once years ago in the boatyard and could hardly do it at all, think we had a lighter maul hammer which was easier to work with ,ishould be ok at 8lbs now as i have a reasonable axe technique. Looking at getting a decent felling axe and laying into a nice big beech log where i am collecting the wood from.
conditioning can be bear–yesterday i really layed into it on the rower : went off at sprint pace, tried to hold that for 2 minutes and almost met mr pukey !!.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
PBs coming thick and fast. Congrats![/quote]
Thanks it was a session that felt right even when it really shouldn’t have.
I was going to add more detail as i was posting simply because i did things a bit differently tonight as well :
- Did bench press first so will have been ‘fresh’ , rather than lats first–but then broke my lats pb as well !!.
- On the bench i went for a completely different mental approach, braced abs well but pushed off the pins quite slowly and progressively, lowered quite slowly, had a definite slow pause at the bottom before powering out again and held at the top as well, much better sense of controlling the bar.
It all felt a lot more deliberate and controlled and a lot more powerful (for me)
Felt like i started to learn something today.
Looking good, Nurse.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Looking good, Nurse.[/quote]
Cheers cav. how are things your end–didn’t sound too happy a few days back ??
Last session of the working week and once again a bit of a bonus session as i have already completed the weeks work.
And once again an interesting “THE GYM” experience–what with the young kids (post swim) blow drying and gelling their hair–what is this !!!, the noisy i’m hard’ guys doing endless sets of curls (yawn).
And onto todays work :
Lower body split.
Squats–did a lot of concentrated work on this today, not so much in terms of adding any weight but trying to get the bar lower, so waht i actually did after warming up with a bare bar was alternated barbell (sets of 5) with kettlebell sets of 10 at a much lighter weight but working specifically “in the hole”.
So something like :
Rear squat bare bar warm up 10
…40 KG second wam up 10.
Then 60 kg barbell 5x5 alternating with kettlebell 25kg sets of 10.
Deadlift–done as pyramid
Bare bar warm up 10
60 kg warm up 10
Then :
80 kg 1x5
90 kg 1 x5
100 kg 1x5
110 kg 1
100kg 1 x5
90 kg 1x5
80 kg 1 x5
60 kg de-load (10)
So thats a new 1 rep max deadlift at 110 kg.
Then : incline leg press done as pyramid sets of after warm up.
New ‘centre’ maximum weight at 160kg for 5 reps–so a new 5 rep max there as well.
What a week !!.
I am very conscious that these are all ‘beginners gains’ , i may be even breaking my own rule no 3 ie don’t be greedy for weight ! and maybe it is time to consolidate the gains again.
100 kg for deadlift is really good for a beginner. You’re right to be cautious, you’ve got plenty of time to build strength. Just keep at it.
You have had a full week. Congrats ! You sound mentally fresh again too.
[quote]UpScale wrote:
You have had a full week. Congrats ! You sound mentally fresh again too. [/quote]
Feeling ok for this time in the night/day cycle, problem is that tonight i have the night off , then back on shift monday night so no real time for a day transition but with a very long day/night coming up. Expecting that the energy will crash quite soon.
However here’s a thing : i did post a question on Thib’s q & a spill (supplements) about the night/day shifts transition , mainly because with the high stress/poor sleep issue i wondered out loud whether or not it was partially a cortisol problem, Thib’s says yes , has suggested a supplement routine and a new workout routine where ‘neural charge’ workouts would be a major feature of the transition period.
Now have to say that Thib’s answer caught me completely by surprise, i have started to saerch for the right supps over here due to the insane cost of importing from the USA and started to learn some of the NC exercise movements–i incorporated some last week and split my routines to largely separate the weights and the conditioning…hey ho…excellent week.
This week’s plan is to spend time specifically working on the Nc exercise movements in what will be a lighter week on the weights and harder on the conditioning.
Also i am only a couple of weeks away from this years major holiday for which i am trying to work out a mainly bw based plan --maybe with some kbs in the car as well.
Lookin’ good, Nurse. What’s the holiday? Is it a UK thing?
[quote]cavalier wrote:
Lookin’ good, Nurse. What’s the holiday? Is it a UK thing?[/quote]
Holiday is over the water…La France… down on the biscay coast near the spanish border.
The main idea is get lots of rest,get used to sleeping nights again, walk and swim a lot on the beach, eat fresh local food every day etc.
It’s a nice trip over on the overnight ferry then a 10+ hr drive,but nice driving conditions compared to the uk though.
The camp site does have a fitness trail/circuit which we will play with and apparently a weights gym, no idea what is there but i will be in there this time.
I am working up a mainly body weight based routine to use with the fitness trail but i have been thinking about taking a couple of kettlebells down there as well.
Couple of things for the masters to chew the fat on :
Today i am going to have a go at training immediately after finishing my night shift. I will have just finished a 12 hour shift after already being awake for another 6 hours or so : so working out pretty tired.
Right now–just 2 1/2 hours before ,sitting here thinking about how to handle it, 2 options come to mind, either a short weights based split : say lower body and maybe a reduced sets session or secondly a short fast conditioning session.
Anyone out there workout when they are tired n crabby, feel that it could go either way.
Next, just starting to work on the plan for my holiday : we will be based on one campsite in france that has a gym (not open very often and no idea what is in there) a small pool (about 15m) a fitness circuit and miles of empty beach.
My main objective will be to strip off lots of fat without losing my hard won strength gains of the last 4 months.
On the plus side :
We will be getting as much sleep as we need every night for 3 weeks (usually get there with a huge sleep deficit)
We will be buying and cooking local fresh food as much as possible.
I can plan for just about any activity based around what is there e.g early morning fasted cardio, lots of beach walking and swimming.
Local food produce is generally very good.
We can take some simple kit eg exercise bands, perhaps even a couple of kbs.
On the minus/problems.
No idea what is in the gym and from what i remember it’s only open for a few hours a week.
I won’t be able to refrigerate food so a lot of the things i would normally stock up on won’t keep in the weather we should expect in midsummer.
We have to plan the day around not being in the sun from around 11.00 through to about 15.00 so usuallly plan our longer beach walks (2 hours or so) before and after the highest sun hours.
Any thoughts about a mainly body weight routine and/or maximum fat loss/minimal stregth loss would be gratefully considered.
Sounds like you have earned your break! When working nights I try to fit in two sessions per day - a quick one immediately after coming off shift to enjoy some daylight, and another not long before returning to work (often the more serious of the two). With regards to what you prefer to do and when, I suppose it depends on what seems right for you! It might be an idea to have one or two auxiliary plans for the gym, in the event that you feel too dead on your feet for heavy deadlifting!
As far as the holiday is concerned, I suppose a lot rests on what the gym turns out to be. Otherwise, I would try to include something along the lines of your favoured rucking - find a big rock on the beach and deadlift it, clean it, squat with it and walk with it! Also, I would imagine there will be a swing set for children, so if you are likely to be up early without anyone around, you could use that for pull-ups/chin-ups. Three weeks is a fair stretch, but I wouldn’t worry too much about losing your strength gains - focus instead on making some improvements with your bodyweight movements (and kettlebell stuff if you decide to take them). There have been a few livespills and articles on such routines in the past few months - you probably won’t go wrong with a quick search, but aiming to just add a rep or two to sets of press-ups/pull-ups every day or so should do the trick. And don’t forget Tabata! Hope you enjoy your holiday and training!
OOthomi. Thanks, what job do you do and what sort of shift pattern. ?
When i got to the gym i didn’t feel up to a full weight session so dd a short (1/2 hour) session just using 3 exercises with ‘light’ weights. It ended up as a 150 rep workout with :
Barbell rear squat
Bare bar warmup then :
40 kg 3 x 10 alternating the sets with 25kg kb front squat 2 x 10 . All aiming for maximum depth and continous work.
Deadlift
Bare bar warm up then
60kg 1 x 10
70 kg 1x 10
80 kg 1 x10
70 kg 1x10
60 kg 1x10
Then barbell step ups 40kg
50 reps total.
It felt a surprisingly good workout considering the light weight involved, rsult though was getting home really energised and not being able to sleep !!.
Back to tghe gym before work for 3 round of ‘bastard’ :
Rower 500 m fast.
16 kg kb swing 20
Clean and press with 20 kg vipr 15
Kb sqat with 20 kg x 10.
Felt pretty rubbery at the end of that one. Couldn’t beat my usual fastest rower time–very little power in the tank.