Football bar clean and press:
75x5
95x5
110x2x5
110x1x4+4 push presses
Ring fallouts: (1)
5x5
SUPERSETS (arms)
Tri pushdown:
25x3x20
DB hammer curls:
25x2x12
25x1x11
Battled with that 135 “block” a few times trying to clean it. Got it up onto my chest once but couldn’t do anything to get my hands in position to press it. I think if I could get it positioned the press would be fine. Partly the trouble is that I don’t want to fully sell out for the toss-and-catch method and drop it. Could see myself breaking the pin, my foot, or whatever else is in it’s path. If anything the wrestling match will increase strength.
Rigged up a pushdown setup using the extra goods the loading pins came with. Works pretty well all things considered and easy to track weights compared to bands.
That Dinnie deadlift is an atrocious movement. I think the move here is to squat heavy and hit the deadlift for reps one week, then swap to squatting for reps and heavy deads the following. Can’t see regular heavy loading in that strange offset manner being healthy.
Still haven’t pulled the trigger on a weight vest, had to replace my vehicle and in my state registration fees make you pretty generous towards the government. Tossed a 25lb plate into my pack which I don’t like doing, but I can’t deny it’s effectiveness.
Solid workout, that circuit at the end had me dripping sweat everywhere. Stood in front of the A/C upstairs and dried out before getting anywhere near the computer.
Football clean and press:
75x5
95x5
110x3x5+5 push press
Ring fallouts: (1)
5x6
SUPER SETS (arms)
Tricep pushdowns:
35x2x20
35x12
DB hammer curls:
25x3x12
@ActivitiesGuy Hey man, I’m going to be at a cadaver lab at Pitt this week, Wed-Fri. I’ll be staying at a hotel pretty close by there. Any suggestions for places to grab some food/drink, or decent gyms that I can pay a drop in fee for?
Plenty of thoughts to offer on all of these things. I’ll send you some more details tomorrow. What hotel are you staying at, and where is your lab work going to be? I’m guessing that you’ll be right in Oakland so I can give you tons of info. I could probably even meet you for lunch on Wednesday if you’ll have the free time & interest.
Sweet deal! I’ll be at the Hilton on Forbes Ave, lab work will be at the school of medicine on Terrace.
Interest is there but my schedule is funky. The lab starts at noon, I should probably get there 11:30 or so to prep. Could certainly swing an early lunch before I head in though.
OK, this is all within very close proximity to where I work (and where I have lived/worked for a very long time, since I went to undergrad, graduate school, and work within about a 2-ish mile radius). I certainly don’t want to mess with your schedule, but here’s a list of places for lunch or dinner within very easy walking distance of your hotel:
Piada: pasta / flatbread / “piada” (a hot wrap of sorts with your choice of meat)
Hello Bistro: salads/sandwiches made to order
Spice Island Tea House: fried rice, curry, etc
Lotsa: personal sized pizzas made to order
Stack’d: local burger chain, made to order burgers (e.g. you get a little card and mark your choice of bread, cheese, toppings, sauces, etc), also good place to get a beer
Porch: also “American” grub - salads, sandwiches, soups, pizzas, entrees
Primanti Brothers: a famous Pittsburgh institution for putting fries and cole slaw on their sandwiches, but I’ll be honest, I haven’t eaten a Primanti’s sandwich since I was an undergrad.
All of these are good places for lunch. None are “can’t miss” memorable meals, but they’ll keep you satisfied with decent-or-better food. If I were planning three days’ worth of meals without needing to leave the Oakland area, I’d hit some combination of Piada, Lotsa, and Hello Bistro (all of these are ‘counter service’ restaurants) for lunch while getting Stack’d, Porch, and Fuel & Fuddle (all of these are ‘sit down’ restaurants) for dinner.
If you have spare time and energy in the evenings, heading over to Walnut Street in Shadyside (about 1.5-2 miles from your hotel) will give you a couple more choices; really depends if you’re the sort of person that feels like getting out of the neighborhood that you’re staying in, or if you are content to just hit the places within walking distance. If you have a hankering to experience some of Pittsburgh’s finer things (going up to Mount Washington or the Strip District), I’m also happy to hook you up with a recommendation, but it would probably require an Uber or car to get you there.
As for gyms in the area, you’re a little stuck - there are no public-use gyms that I know of in the immediate Oakland area (since students and faculty have access to the Pitt facilities, but I don’t think any of them allow visitors or guests). If you’re so inclined, you can catch an Uber or a bus to X Shadyside (or if you have the time, you can walk - it’s only about 2 miles). It’s not really a powerlifting or strongman oriented gym, but they do have an area downstairs with a decent rack and bumper plates so you would be able to get some squatting and deadlifting done; I did work out there for about 18 months before we moved out to the suburbs. That’s probably your best bet unless you have a car with you & time/energy to drive further. There’s also a couple of CrossFit gyms in the area, you might check them out and see if they’ll allow someone for an Open Gym (or even for a drop-in class if you’re down for that), but you’re kind of at the mercy of their schedule (e.g. a lot of them have very limited Open Gym hours).
Awesome, thanks man! I will have a car to get around in the evenings, not sure how much I’ll really leave though as the labs will run till about 6:30, if anything maybe I’ll just take an evening drive through the areas to see them.
Fridays lab starts at a regular time, so chances are we’ll have a lunch break at the normal hour. I’ll have to confirm when I get in tomorrow.
Hit this quick before taking off the rest of the week. Change of pace with the higher reps during the ramp, should use this now and then when I’m feeling but up (like I am now).
I’m going to start ending my sessions with 5-10m of Airdyne again. It doesn’t take anything to set up and is a quick way for me to add a few minutes of conditioning since I slack on that front always.
@ActivitiesGuy Appreciate the rec’s man, turns out I didn’t get a chance to visit a single place you told me about. I was with some co-workers who run that lab every year and they acted as our personal food guides every night (wound up eating lunch at the hospital since we were crammed for time each day). We went to Waffles Incaffeinated and Kelly O’s for breakfast, Proper Brick Oven and Walters BBQ for dinner, and Monterey Bay for desert. I’ll keep your list handy for the next time I visit, seems like I’ll have a recurring invite.
Hey dude, I’ve been competing in strongman contests this year, so it’ll be another one of those. Going to be my third and probably last show of the year, unless another very local one pops up that has cool events.
Had to split up my planned workout, going to hit the assistance circuit tomorrow. Had nothing in me this morning for power, every rep of that top set was pretty ugly. I’ll blame it on not relieving myself prior to lifting and running a handful of sprints last night.
Signed up for a beer-league kickball team and we won our first game against the founder and his “experienced team”. Funny to think experience would be helpful in a game like kickball, but there’s actually some strategy. We won on sheer athleticism, which will be our strength. Pretty happy to have some speed in my legs still.
Ha, no problem. As long as somebody was there to give you recommendations so you ate well!
Monterey Bay is on the list of places I’d recommend for a fine-dining experience with a spectacular view, the sort of place I’d take my wife for our anniversary or my parents took me for graduation, but it’s pricey.
The view was awesome, probably my favorite part about the visit haha.
We were definitely out of place dressed in scrubs at Monterey Bay. The “grilled cheese” is what we went there for so we just hung out in the lower lounge area which was pretty empty. Swanky place for sure.
Football bar press:
75x3
95x3
125x3
145x4 (push press)
Ring fallouts: (1)
4x6
Axle curl:
1x70
1x30
Band pushdown:
1x30
2x20
2x15
Airdyne:
5m
Last week of prep, glad this is going to be over. Despite hitting a strict press PR tonight from a weight perspective (different bar) I’ve just been hating these sessions to the point I don’t even care to train. Looking forward to getting back to more normal workouts.