Traditional Elk’s training log

Conditioning day

6 rounds
1 mile airdyne
~400m run

Finished at 26:05. Second time doing this workout, & this beat my previous time by 40 seconds

5 minutes of burpee chins- 34 reps

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Decided to bring the daily ABC’s to an end today. I have a suspicion that it was causing the hip flexor problems. Went with 5 minutes of burpee chins to try & match the intent-5 minutes of full body conditioning. Wasn’t quite as taxing on the lungs, but a pretty good substitute. Might keep that up for a little while, but not sure yet. If the hip flexors continue to be a problem, & it wasn’t the ABC’s, I can always go back to them.

Glad to hit a solid PR on the running/AD work

Fill the sleeves was awesome today. Normally I’ll superset biceps & triceps, but today I just rest paused 100 hammer curls then 100 db skullcrushers. Got a huge pump from it. Some days I try to fit it into a small window of time & just hit some bands real quick to get it done in time, but I had everything else finished a bit earlier so I had time for this. Did not disappoint

2 Likes

Beefcake W2D2

Squat 5x10x230

Finished at 14:30

Accumulate
50 dips
50 chins
100 band pull aparts

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Did my first warm up set with the empty bar & genuinely thought squats weren’t happening today. Couldn’t get into any kind of position even resembling a squat. It took about 12 extra minutes to work up to my weight for the day. Had to stretch & do some other warm up exercises just to be ready. I was ready to just call it & pivot to something else, & I told myself if after a set of 10 at 230 it still felt like that I would. The first set felt like garbage, but at that point I decided to just stick with it. I loosened up some, & by the end was moving way better. That said, this still felt like a fight, & next week I have the same reps but at 35 pounds heavier. I ditched Malcolm X today, & just went with straight 5x10 trying to keep the rests short. Overall, just getting today done felt like a win even if it should have been much more doable. Today just happened to be some of the worst circumstances I could be in. It that isn’t a bad thing, as improving in those is “raising the floor”

Anyways, after squats delayed me a bit, I didn’t have time for everything so I cut out the Ab wheel. Also did chins & dips as I put equipment away, as oppose to burpee chins like I had thought. Wasn’t able to completely stick to the plan today, but I still worked real hard & some days that’s all that’s possible

3 Likes

Conditioning day

2 mile run
At 20:00 start
5 mile airdyne

Finished run in 18:57 then airdyne in 11:35 (final time 31:35)

5 min burpee chins- 38 reps

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Same workout as last Thursday. Went faster on both parts, so that’s solid. Although I’m not even close to as sore as I was then so that probably accounts for some of the improvement.

Feels like I’m at an interesting spot-to improve my running, I think I ought to up my mileage, but I’m not sure I want to sacrifice some of the other stuff I’m doing. I go back & forth on which is more of a priority for me. Not sure yet-we’ll see

1 Like

Beefcake W2D3

Bench- Malcolm X 50 reps at 170
Finished at 8:25

Accumulate
50 dips
100 band pull aparts
20 Ab wheel

4 rounds
1 mile airdyne
13 unbroken chins

Finished at 13:35

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Bench felt strong. In a few days it’ll be time to find out how the first two weeks have prepared me for some heavy 5x10’s. Then only up from there. Definitely feel a bit nervous. It’s been tough to get in as much food as I want, not because of appetite, but because of time. I eat before work, right after I get home from work, dinner, then another meal before bed. But when I’m at work I only have ~20 minutes to eat. I sneak a protein bar in during the morning then have lunch, but that’s about all I have time for. It seems like a lot writing it all out…but isn’t what I need when I’m gaining. Not sure where my weight is at, & maybe I’ve done enough, but heading into the first heavy week has me a bit worried

2 Likes

Conditioning day

15 mile airdyne (36:25)

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Easier day today, getting just some aerobic work & arms in. Going to a friends lake house for the weekend, so going to get a run & bring a band for arms tomorrow. Then Monday afternoon/evening I’ll hit day 1 of week 3-press 5x10x140. So the weekend will be a bit lighter on training, then Monday we’ll see how the past two weeks have paid off

2 Likes

Yesterday’s workout

Ran what I think was around/maybe a little over 2 miles. Didn’t have my watch so no way to be sure but it took 18:34

Then hit fill the sleeves

Got 1’s week of press tonight

1 Like

Beefcake W3D1

Press 5x10x140
Finished around 18:30

Accumulate
50 dips
50 chins
100 band pull aparts

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Had to speed through tonight. Conditioning coming up in the morning. In short-even with the PM performance boost the press was still all I had. Worried for this week. Just don’t think I’ve been able to allocate the resources to gaining. Feeling like I might need to focus on something else for now. Hate to say that, & maybe I’ll change my mind in the next couple days, but that’s just what I’m feeling like right now. I’ve still been training extremely hard, but not getting the most out of it without the food I need to grow

2 Likes

Conditioning day

.84 mile run
5 mile airdyne
.84 mile run

7:25, 11:53, 6:55

5 minutes burpee chins- 40 reps

Fill the sleeves

Ran a loop in my neighborhood that is .84 miles, hence the weird distance. Pace on the run averaged around 8:30 between the two, which I’m relatively happy with

3 Likes

Pivot day 1

Squat 5x225, 245, 265

Accumulate
50 dips
50 chins
100 band pull aparts
50 split squats per side

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Had to shut it down on beefcake this morning. It was a tough decision, but I was splitting my focus between lifting & running/conditioning too much, & not eating enough to be successful on beefcake. & right now I’m more fired up to work on conditioning than lifting. I know that the fire for lifting will come back sometime, but right now this is what I want to chase. I’m tentatively thinking I’ll start 1000% awesome from 5/3/1 forever next week. I have a single event crossfit competition this weekend as well. This was a tough choice, but it feels like I was only in for a half measure. If I REALLY wanted to, I could’ve made it happen. But I want to push conditioning more right now, so think this has to be the right call

Not sure how the next two days will shake out. Might hit some airdyne tonight, then figure out the rest of the week. Saturday I’ll be doing the crossfit workout “JAG 28”. It’s a tiny local competition, but I haven’t competed in anything in about a year, so it will be fun to get back out there

2 Likes

PM conditioning

40 minute airdyne (16.28 miles)

Averaged about 24.5 mph, which is pretty moderate, but 40 minutes is the longest I’ve biked in a LONG time. It’s honestly just had me more fired up recently to become an absolute aerobic machine, so I’m gonna chase that while I have the desire to. Goal for the weights will be to at least maintain, if not get a little stronger during this. If I dial back volume a bit while keeping intensity high, I know that is doable

1 Like

AM workout

2.4 mile run- finished at 20:46

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Conditioning continues improving. It’s definitely low hanging fruit at this point, but I’ll take it none the less

1 Like

AM conditioning

20 minutes airdyne (8.91 miles)

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Going to hit the lifting this afternoon. Want to experiment with conditioning in the AM & then PM lift. Might be what I do going forward if it goes well

2 Likes

PM lifting

Bench 5x5x185
Superset w/
Chins 5x10

Superset
Dips 5x10
Band pull aparts 5x20

Nothing too crazy before competing tomorrow. Looking forward to it

2 Likes

JAG 28 for the competition today. The workout is

800m run
28 kb swings (overhead) w/70 lbs
28 strict chins
28 double kb clean and jerks w/70 lbs
28 strict chins
800m run

Finished in 23:32. Time was good for second place. Had about 20 male gym members there & then probably about 15 ROTC guys from the university. But only 5 or 6 did the RX workout, most people scaled. The C&j were brutal. Shoulders feel sore already, & I don’t know if they have ever been sore before. Was a fun time & a fun event

3 Likes

Is that 35lbs per hand or 70lbs per hand?

If it’s 35, that’s a killer cardio shoulder pump session.

If it’s 70, that’s just freaking disgusting and I’m impressed you got it done period, regardless of time.

Looks like a fun competition, congrats on doing well!

1 Like

It was 70 per hand. Thanks dude! Haha. I ended up about 2 minutes slower than first, but the next fastest guy was over 30 minutes. They were such a grind though. Did sets of three most of the time, then a couple doubles at the end. Today might be the first day I’ve ever had significant DOMS in my shoulders

2 Likes

Mid morning run

2x 1.25 miles w/2 mins rest between runs

Finished first run at 10:22 & second one at 10:31. Average pace was an 8:22 I believe

Fill the sleeves

Scheming on what to do for training coming up. It’s been hard to just settle on something as I adjust to a new work schedule & a bunch of other stuff. But- I might try to do more crossfit style stuff going forward. Thinking of doing another competition after having a fun time with it yesterday. We will see. Definitely been enjoying the improvement in running, which will also help with crossfit stuff if I do pursue that

1 Like

AM workout

25 minute airdyne (10.74 miles)

Accumulate
50 dips
50 chins
100 band pull aparts

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Got all conditioning & accessory in, will be lifting this afternoon

1 Like

PM lifting

Starting 5/3/1 1000% awesome. Might do cleans instead of deads on Wednesday. Going with moderate to light training maxes as I will be pushing conditioning & training volume pretty high. Anyways, today was:

Squat 5x195,225,255
Press 5x5x135

Both moved light, though soreness & tightness meant they were not “smooth.” But still moved at a decent speed. Happy with it nonetheless & looking to keep improving rep quality with lighter weights. Got all the assistance in this morning so it was a quick ~20 minute session

1 Like

Conditioning day

2.5 mile run (24:09)

Tabata hollow hold straight into
5 mins burpee chins-39 reps

Fill the sleeves

Notes

Had a friend come work out this morning, so we got an easy run in, then some accessory. No PM session planned for today, but a solid workout overall

1 Like