You’re a chin-up stud.
Thanks rob: Checked out your log–you’re quite the chin up stud yourself.
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Ran–about 9 miles. Felt good.
Decided–Starting a new 5-3-1 cycle tomorrow. Sciatica is really much much better. But, I’m not sure I have the confidence to jump back in to the heavy, hard squats and deads.
Not sure what I’m gonna focus on. Probably nothing for a time.
Watched my son play his last football game. Watched college football. Watched my kids carve pumpkins. Wondered why I still cut their meat for them.
Ignored the great mess in the playroom. And played some myself.
here is a question. did the sciatica flare up with rep work, or heavier weight with fewer reps? if it’s the latter, I say jump up the weight, and be in more range of what is required, and not the double digits. just a thought, as if I remember right, you were saying something how the longer runs really flare it up. over use issue.
btw, let the wind clean it. the playroom is outside right, where kids belong? 
haha! kouba.
So is Tuesday still happening? I had THE perfect motivational clip picked out ready to go for you (it’s all about MEMEME, see?).
Glad that the back is feeling better and you’re ready to get after it again.
And beautiful gymnastics! Seriously, any coach would have died to get their hands on little Nadia.
Koub: Honestly, I don’t know that I can say what caused the sciatica pain. For most of this year, I’ve been repping away with 5-3-1 and doing “heavy singles” or my variation of maxing out to failure…Sorry Wendler. I actually can read. In addition, I’ve got the running, the gymnastics, and all the movements I engage in outside of the gym–you know poor posture, sitting at a computer, blah, blah blah. My hope is that I now have the tools to manage it. Time will tell.
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Back on track (sort of) with 5-3-1. When the sciatica interfered with my ability to run, I stopped squatting and deadlifting. So, there it is. That’s me. Feeling a little timid about another set back, I’m starting slow.
Keeping the weights simple and the accessories goofy ala Nadia style is the plan for now.
5-5-5 Squats (didn’t know where to set my max, so I took it from my last cycle. Too heavy I think)
Squats: 95x5; 110x5; 125x5. Felt weak.
Front squats: barx8; 50x5; 55x12. Felt good.
GHR bwx10x3
Reverse Hyper: Bwx20x3
Other rehab stuff.
Tire jumps, leaps, basic kick complexes, other gymnastics stuff…
Thanks Lula: SOrry to disappoint. Tuesday is a no go. Save the clip for me though. I haven’t given up on the 25. I’ll announce the next attempt as soon as I know when it is going to happen…
My husband makes fun of me because I can’t flip our giant tire…someday I will damn-it! For now, I do my best to make use of it.
It’s an attractive nuisance. NO handstands on the giant tire!
i loooooooove that avi!
(i have missed you 
)
love your rubber play, especially the handstands - avi is awesome
Dasher: I’m coming back.
Frenchie: Playing on the tire in the warm rain was fun. Usually, my husband keeps the tired stored in a place where I can’t get at it. He left it out yesterday after his training. I’ll have to remember to ask him to get it out for me more often.
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Woke up this morning not sore from squats, sciatica nerve still happy, bw 116.5, and decided that I’m not (as I had originally planned) going to give myself permission to be timid with my training for this next cycle. In the gym is where I practice living fiercely. It’s a mistake for me to allow fear be the dominant voice there.
6 mile run. Losing weight is good for pullups and for running. Now that I’m not in pain, and I’m light, I’m getting totally compulsive about the running. I need to watch that.
Happy Halloween!
Rubber play. Frenchie sure has a way with words.
I’m happy that the weight loss seems to be jumpstarting your training motivation. Jumping on that tire was brilliant. Jumps really do terrify me. Had I a fairly soft thing to jump on that wouldn’t hurt really bad should I miss, I’d be more likely to do it.
Kimba: The weight loss helps with the bw exercises–running and gymnastics for sure. How it affects the strength is a concern for me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to try to maintain it or not. What I learned anyway is that I can, in a quick 4 weeks, diet down to a pretty lean state without much trouble. Is it worth staying here? I think I look good. SO, that’s a plus.
And being a little leaner and eating less carbs seems to be having a positive effect on my normally very fibrocystic breasts. That’s a HUGE plus for me. Unfortunately, I introduced so many dietary changes at once I don’t know what is helping. Lower body fat? Lower carbs? Less caffeine? More and better quality fish oil? I would never make it as a scientist. I don’t have the patience to isolate variables.
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DIET So far, I’m still on it. Not trying to lose anymore weight though. At 116, my skinny jeans are saggy baggie. Just trying to keep the dirty carbs to a minimum. I resisted the Halloween candy. Really, it’s baked goods that I love. Bread, cookies, donuts–those are my delights. Candy-meh.
TRAINING BENCH
barx25
65x10
75x5
85x5
90x10 Gave myself the don’t go to failure pep talk. Came close nevertheless. Last rep was a grind. My best here, from just last month, is 90x15.
Rows–I think I hate rowing because I hate the bar I use. We have only one good bar. And when I superset bench and row, as I always do, I’m stuck rowing with a shitty bar. I can’t believe I’m a bar snob. I think my husband needs a new bar for Christmas. It’s not really for me. I’m sure he wants one.
Face pulls-not sure about these. I really am an old dog–quite resistant to new movement patterns.
PUshups–gotta get in the habit of doing these. Sets of 10, various hand placement.
Press hand stand stuff–haven’t been working on these so much. I’m never going to be able to get my hips up unless I improve my leverage. Gotta work the dynamic flexibility .
Flexibility work. Surprise!
NO jumping today. My sometimes buggy ankle is bugging me. No running either.
I’ll NEVER catch up on the backlog here… but sounds like you’re just back so yay me great timing!
LOVE the Avi and LOVE that you and husband have giant tire in backyard. So romantic! sigh
mebe someday…
Frankly, my dear, all of those dietary changes are good for your long-term health. Forget the weight loss aspect, KEEP DOING THEM ALL!
Eating for strength seems pointless to me. Although I respect everyone’s right to make their own priorities, to me it feels like cheating to gain an advantage on my big lifts by simply eating more. Any PR I would get, I’d “asterisk” in my log of accomplishments as having been gained at an artificially high weight. Everyone has their hangups, and that is mine.
And please, for the love of all that is sacred, buy some new jeans that make your 116 lb. ass look fabulous. Don’t make me kidnap you and drag your butt to the mall.
P.S. I LOVE your hubby xmas gift idea. Of course he wants another bar!
Awesome to hear your sciatica is getting better. Good stuff in here. You have one of the most interesting training logs I’ve ever seen.
HA! “Chin-up stud” - love it!
And I’ll echo, I LOVE your avi! And the vid! Something about the grace and elegance of the handstand on the tire…its like German industrial music.
Also, so jealous that you have so many cool toys at your house. Freaking awesome!
And congrats on the leaning out! I’m following suit and hopefully with similar success. Increased pullups, better running, improved sciatica, less fibrous boobies…sounds like tons of win!
And I honestly don’t understand why you’d scale back the training just bc you dropped some weight! In fact, I’d be excited to see if you continue to increase/maintain strength while on the lighter side (unless i read wrong and you were thinking of scaling the training back for other reasons…)
Anyways, great work as always hooker! And yeah, get your skinny ass some new fucking jeans!
Hallowed: I’m certain that whatever you wish for will someday be yours. Thanks for stopping in.
Kimba: I’ll do my best to stay on the healthy trail. Re jeans: you and my husband are on the same page there. But, I’m going to wait to be kidnapped. I’m not in a hurry to go shopping. Re eating for strength: I think it’s important. PRs aside, I aim to put on as much lean mass as I can. That’s an uphill battle and one I think is best fought eating at a caloric excess–at least for some of the time. Bulk, cut… like seasons. Why am I cutting in the winter? Silly me–but now my long underwear (aka a pair of running tights) fit nicely under my jeans–drives my husband nuts! I don’t have to play well to win at strip poker.
Thanks dani! Yes. I’m getting better. I stepped up the stretching and some corrective work to 2x a day and I make a point of getting up from my desk as often as I can…sitting is the enemy.
Masch: I’m still pushing for improved performance and looking to better my prs regardless of my weight. I was thinking of easing back into the training because I’m scared of a reaggravating my sciatica. But, I’m over that. I’m certain I have it under control. And to be honest, I’m not sure what I’m doing with the weight. I lost it for a very specific performance purpose–25 pullups. Did the weight loss inspire a little vanity on my part? Absolutely.
See all the pics and videos in my log lately. BUT still. I’m a performance orientated girl. I want to pull 300 more than I want to be a size 0. I want to have the enthusiasm and the energy to train more than I want visible abs. I want to recover quickly more than I want a banging bod. If I need to eat more for those reasons–well, strap on the feed back, and pull out the “fat pants”–I’m all in.
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Training: 5 mile run. Gymnastics tonight.
Maybe you can have both leanness and staying lo carb…carb cycling or carb timing. Whatever you want to call it. Are you familiar with any of Berardi’s stuff?
Mim: No, I’m not familiar with Berardi, but thanks for the resource. And you’re reading my mind. Of course, I want to have it all. That’s the story of my life. Career. Family. Balance among chaos. Sorry, I digress. I’m home from work, unexpectedly with a sick child, missing 2 meetings it would be better not to miss and feeling antsy.
Anyway, my plan was to try to limit carbs on non training days and eat 'em up on training days. So, yesterday after benching I had my way with some banana bread. Today, I was supposed to eat clean and low carb. That would have been easy if I were at work like I am supposed to be. See, there is no food in my office. ANd I’m busy.
But now, I’m home. With an open bag of Oreos. A bucket full of Halloween candy. A gallon of mint chocolate chip icecream. And more. There is left over pasta in the fridge and plenty of bread in the bread drawer. And cereal. And chips. CHocolate covered pretzles. We have those too! My mother-in-law made them!
Help. I’m trapped in a house of carbs!!!
I should do laundry. And clean. Bleghh.