progress

RUNNING:

Did a mile time trial for first time in about a month today. Brought time down from 8:35 to 8:19. That's a little bit of progress. Can't wait to get time sub 8:00.


LIFTING:

In cycle 7 of 5/3/1. Also halfway through the year. Still planning on obtaining a 300lb bench by year's end.
So far this year strength-endurance on the bench has increased enormously. Absolute strength not so much yet.



KETTLEBELL:

Got 31 reps straight of dh swing with 53lb'er. Brought time for 75 reps down to 3:38.
Still shooting for 75 straight reps.

1/2 pound weights

Need to pick up some 1/2 pound weights so I can start making 1lb increases.
The BBB sets on bench are starting to get pretty tough.
I am proud at having knocked out 167.5lbs x 5s x 10r after my working set.

Completed another cycle

Completed another cycle of 531
The maxes I used for this cycle were:
Bench -- 205
Squat -- (no max used. just upped working weight by 5lbs each session)
OH Press -- 150
Deadlift -- No deadlift this cycle.



The maxes I'll use for this cycle (cycle 7) are:

Bench -- 210
Squat -- Continue upping 5lbs every workout
OHP -- 155
Deadlift -- Not deadlifting this cycle.


I realize the decision not to deadlift is controversial. But the fact is that sometimes less is more. Here's my rationals.

1) By not deadlifting I squat more frequently. The improvement in deadlift correlates strongly enough to improvement in squat that I'm comfortable deadlift is still going up, for now.

2) I'm running regularly. Frequent deadlifting would lessen the days I could run. Can't accept this tradeoff right now.

3) Kroc rows. I'm working Kroc Rows into every other workout so I'm addressing a back strength deficiency even w/o deadlifting.


Today's bench workout will look like:

What week are you in?1
What's your max?210
5 reps * 135.0
5 reps * 160.0
All out reps * 180.0 (beat 10!!!)
BBB: 170 x 5s x 10r

14 June 2011

Good day.
Bench day.

Put up:

Bench: 195 1s x 7r
Bench: 167.5 x 5s x 10r
Bicep: 105 x 5s x 10r
Bicep: 80 x 3s x 10r



Wanted to hit 5 sets of 80lb curls x 10, was 2 sets short. Will seek to remedy this on the next workout. Haven't thought out yet how I'll handle missing reps on support sets of biceps. Probably better to continue to up the sets of the 105 for now.

Did a quick 37 minutes of elliptical after lifting.
Goal is to do 90 minutes tomorrow.

Squat Lesson Today

Learned something I already knew today.
DO NOT DO CONDITIONING THE DAY BEFORE SQUATS!!!

Made myself put up the workset regardless, but did not follow with BBB.

When I squat next week I'll be sure to have an off day before squat day.

burned out

Went to run this morning but quit as soon as I started.
Was burned out as all get out.
I could have pushed it, but thought it made more sense to recover and make a decent go at it tomorrow rather than strain through a crappy workout today.

Cooking PR: Cooked up a huge mass of meat and rice. Should be awesome.

Good Bench Day

Benching stayed light today, it's the first wave of a new cycle.
Weights were:

BENCH: 175 x 1s x 5r
BENCH: 162.5 x 5s x 10r
BICEP: 102.5 x 7s x 5r
BICEP: 80 x 3s x 10r

If this keeps up then in the next cycle my BBB sets might be as high as first wave finishing set!

Was going to run 3 miles this morning, but stopped at 2. Heat took a lot out of me and legs were still very sore from squatting. After lifting tonight I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. This is pretty pointless from a cardio-pulmonary-vascular perspective, but it burns a few calories and hopefully still encourages at least a little increase in mitochondrial density or angiogenesis.

TODAY WAS AWESOME

Wasn't going to run today because I'd already run two days in a row, one of those days 3 miles, and today was squat day.
I decided "f*ck it."
I ran 3 miles this morning even though it was squat day.
My 3 mile time was unimpressive, but I'm still glad I got out and did it. Hopefully mitochondrial density, lung capacity, and all that other good stuff improved a little bit.

My squat workout (unbelted) today was:
B SQUAT: 290 x 1s x 5r
BBB: 190 x 5s x 10r
Kroc Row: 60 x 5s x 10r

My squat is down, my running is slow, but godd*mnit my workouts are consistent and I feel that I'm making progress.
My alltime belted squat record was 335 x 3s x 5r and 395 x 1s x 1r.
I cannot wait to crush those records unbelted.

Tomorrow I'm going to take an off day. Not that I want to, but I'm forcing myself. It's always after the off days that I'm able to make a really fast run and break a new record.

Getting the Current Time/Date in Python

import datetime
dt = datetime.datetime.now()
print dt.year
print dt.month
print dt.day
print dt.hour
print dt.minute
print dt.second

Thoughts for the Next Cycle

For the next cycle I'll have to make a few changes:

1) Lower working 1RM for OHP to 150. I just wasn't hitting enough reps with a 165 max to make the sets worthwhile.

2) Reintroduce deadlifts. If I'm gonna compete in a meet in two months I have to work the deadlift. No way around it.

3) Squats won't be 531 style for now. I"ll up the max set weight by 5 lbs every workout, the BBB weight by 2.5lbs.
-This is bc I don't want to increase my max a bit slower than just setting it high right now, but faster than 531 would
normally allow. Should be squatting 305 or 310 by the time cycle 6 ends, will be approaching pre-injury weights. (Though
peak belted weights will remain distant in the near term).

4) Bench, I won't change a single thing. Bench is going great and I'm looking forward to f'ing around and hitting a 250lb bench (my first real, legit, new 1RM since switching to 531).

The working maxes for cycle 6 of 531 will be:
Bench: 205
Deadlift: 375 (starting purposefully low, can adjust up through cycle)
Overhead Press: 150 (this is lower than before, but just wasn't hitting reps)
Squat: Not using 531 system. Will be upping squat working set by 5lbs every workout, BBB by 2.5lbs. First squat workout will be 300lbs x 1s x 5r and BBB: 190 x 5s x 10r.

Finished Cycle 5

Cycle 5 was a recovery cycle. I was getting over a back injury acquired while squatting or overhead pressing.

The injury is not 100% recovered, but I feel strong enough that I'm able to squat and press again with nearly what I was lifting before the injury.

The final Overhead Press workout today came out to:
145lb x 1s x 5r (a new PR)
120lb x 5s x 10r (another PR)

It seems insane that my BBB (big but boring) set is approaching 80% of my heavy work set.

Lifted and Ran. Good day.

Bench Workout:
190 x 1s x 10r
160 x 5s x 10r

Run: 2 miles, 18:42

Running was a bit tough due to soreness, but as always left me feeling great afterword.
Lifting felt phenomenal. Weights were all flying up.

Goodnight!

If it ain't one thing . . . it's O'reilly Media

Finally had some free time today and I thought I would donate it to the 300$ online Python class I signed up for with O'Reilly Media.
Unfortunately, while the O'Reilly books are great, their online Python instruction is exactly the opposite.
Ellipse, their online version of Eclipse, is buggy at every turn.
Many of the examples provided in the text do not work.

Especially frustrating is that rather than fix these examples the staff told me "Yeah, there are some known issues with the examples. Just don't spend too much time on them if they don't work."

Rather then give out this caveat, WHY AREN'T THE EXAMPLES FIXED? The examples are on a webpage, it's just basic HTML to fix them!

While I always felt the books were a bargain, O'Reilly's online Python class is leaving me felt like I've been swindled.

Super Wendesday

Today is both squatting and running.

Wendler writes in the 531 book that there's no reason you can't do this. Your squat may initially go down, but Wendler claims you'll build up the endurance to eventually handle both fine.

Ran 2 miles in 18:40 this morning. While it's a personal record for me (at least past 3 year personal record), 18:40 still fails to meet even the minimal standards for the Army. I'm happy for the progress, but there remains a long way to go.

The squat workout tonight will look something like:

B SQUAT:
275 x 1s x 5r
200 x 5s x 10r

Bicep Curl: 100 x 6s x 5r (up to 8 sets if it's feeling easy)

Lower Back Extensions: 10 x 5s x 15r

111 Posts . . .

111 posts into this f*cker and I still haven't deadlifted 500lbs.

This is mainly because I've been detracted and keep pursuing other objectives, whether they be career, academic, or other fitness goals.

Doing squats tomorrow night, a solid step in the right direction toward a 500lb deadlift.

Also running in the morning.

Running does nothing to advance me toward my deadlift, probably acts as an impediment due to opportunity cost.
However, my mood is elevated the whole day after I run. In addition, there's something to be said for having a ticker that won't run crap-out before my 60th birthday.

27 April 2011

Ran 2 miles this morning.
Been running 2 miles most mornings for awhile.

Was very sore when I started out this morning (did squats two days ago, ran last 2 days), actually turned back around to quit.
Then as I turned back I asked myself "How badly do you want it?"

So I ran the 2 miles afterall.

Lifting tonight!
Gonna be OHP'ing 155.

"Ain't nothin' in the world more expensive than free."

"Ain't nothin' in the world more expensive than free."

Good OHP Day

OHP'd 150 for 3 reps.

Back when I was heavier and used a belt the highest I managed was 150 x 5 x 5. (Or was it 3x5?)

Regardless, it feels good to be approaching my old records lighter and beltless. Will be a big day when I pass them.

Bench weights have been LOW since I introduced the pause. I actually haven't benched over 200 in months now.

Going to Start Eating Greens

1) Making it a priority, starting with my first meal, to eat greens regularly. Going to make a cabbage salad tomorrow for lunch.

2) Finally beginning to recover from back injury. Recuperation squats are getting easier. Wherewas 175 x 5s x 10r was tough a week ago, 185 x 5s x 10r was easy today.

big feat by someone with big feet

Did my first pullup yesterday in what's going on a year.
It's a start.
:)

Benched today.
Got 160 x 11 with the new power-lifting pause on each rep.
That pause makes all the difference.

Think my max, with regular form, still probably about 245.
I look forward to testing in a bit and finding out.

Also been either running or kettlebelling every day for the past few days.
Think it's helping.