Everybody's workin' for the weekend...

Great day for a run. Legs have healed, though still pretty tired feeling.

5K = 23:05 with a 6:35 mile in there. All in all it felt like a really good run biomechanically. The only thing stopping those times from going down is my own psychology.

Gym-

Tried Daddyo's push up rows, but the DB's are round and it felt a little too tricky for me today, alas;

Bent over rows: 50lbs x 10,10,8
Upright rows: 70lbs x 10,8, 8
Push ups: 20 x 3 sets.

Planning for power cleans on the weekend, maybe another run.

Last day

My boss let me hang onto my security pass for one more day so I could take one last trip to the gym.

*Bonus* Rob and Jaime were in the gym and knew it was my last day. Perfect time to test my bench press max, they decided. So:

BBQ press:
65 x 12 (warm-up)
95 x 4 (with two fingers of help)
115 x 1 (with two hands of help :-)

Cleans: 70 x 8, 8, 8
Calf presses: 320 x 8, 8, 8
Push press (with slow eccentrics): 60 x 4, 2, 2, 2
Single-leg ball crunches: 20, 20
Box jumps (15"): 12, 12, 12, 20
Tuck jumps (hands on head): 10 + calf cramp
Back extensions:12
Twists on the ball (12 lb db): 20

Easy jog home: 6 km/34 minutes.

Starting to like it again

On some pretty stiff and sore legs, back to the gym at lunch today.

2x15 Back extensions, 2x15 Front extensions

Deadlifts; 5,5,5, @ 225 lbs (easy)
mixed with
DB Curls; 8,5,5 @ 30lbs each arm
Deadlift finishers; 135 lbs x 15

Weighted Dips; 10, 6, 5 @ 25 lbs
Dip finishers: 10 (no weight)

BBQ press; 5,5,5, @ 135 (I almost grew a beard doing these...so manly)
BBQ Finishers; 10 @ 95

Stretch and then swagger back to change room.

Murph for girls

Looks like I'm kissing my sub-7 mile good-bye for now. See you next summer!

Today, a scaled down Murph. My Rx:

Mile
"50 pullups" (ie: as many assisted pull/chin ups as I can manage)
100 pushups
150 squats (12 lb body bar)
Mile

I partitioned the reps into 5 rounds of 10 pull-ups/20 push-ups/30 squats. Because I'm realistic, pull-ups were actually as many assisted (legs on bar) as I could do in each set. I planned a fast first mile and "easy" last mile (both on 1% grade).

Result:

Mile - 7:10 (would have been 6:59 if the treadmill could magically start up at 8 mph.)
Pull-ups - 8 pu, 6 pu, 6 chins, 6 pu , 7 chins (33)
Push-ups (regular/knees down) - 20, 12/8, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10 (62/38)
Squats - 30 x 5 (150 - easy!)
Mile - 8:10

Total time: 45 minutes.

I didn't really push to do it "for time" - I took the breaks I needed between each exercise because my heart rate was ridiculous (especially after the first mile!) Also intended to run the 2nd mile at 7 mph the whole way, but geez it was taking a long time, so I upped the speed eventually to 8.5 mph.

Then I ate a giant date square. (With my bunless burger, of course! I'm all about balance.)

Uhg

What a slog of a day.

The gym: 2 x 15 Back / front extensions
6,5,4 @ 90lbs shoulder press
8,4,4 @ 25 lbs weighted pull ups
5,5,5 @ 225 back squat

Finishers:
Squat, 135lbs x 20 ATG
Press, 45lbs x 20
Pull ups, 10

Light headed feeling, back to grind.

reintroducing: the lower body

establishing my strength on three lifts:
squats: 205x3
deadlift: 255x2
cleans:145x2

I think that for the next workout I'll drop each back 5 pounds and do the following:
squats 5x3
press 5x3
deadlift 5x1
cleans 3x5

I also did the following:
bench dips followed by alternating dumbbell curls (25lbs).
15 bd, 15 curls, rest
15 bd, 15 curls, rest
15 bd, 15 curls, rest
15 bd, 10 curls, rest

finishers.
facepulls and farmer's walk (70 lbs db's).
90x20, fw, 90x6, fw, 80x6 (attempted fw but went nowhere, grip was gone)

training age == 1 year

I started going to the gym one year ago and I've made some progress. I spent some time at the beginning dicking around with some exercises that weren't as useful (you know the stuff, 3 sets of 10 on isolation exercises) so I like to think my progress would have been greater. But some others have been doing the same routine for years so I won't complain.

Here is a snapshot.

• weight - 2007/157lbs; 2008/170lbs (even a few days after nats, I expected this to have dropped a few pounds)
• squat - 135x6; 225x5 (I haven't done these in 3 months because my legs have been beat up from frisbee)
• deadlift - 165x6; 285x1 (April -the grip is the gating factor here, the weight feels light everywhere else)
• power clean - 95x5 (January); 135x4 (May)
• press - 90 (January); 100x3
• chins - 1; 12 & 30lbsx3 (I'm not at 12 right now, I only hit 9 a couple of weeks ago)
• push ups - 15; 30 (November - I haven't done them since?)
• inverted rows - 11 (January); ______
• 100 burpees - 16:06 (May)/13:25 (July)
• vertical jump - 18"/_____

Clearly my baselines were not set up in an ideal way. But I was figuring out a lot of stuff as I went. And I suppose I still am.

I should do a broad jump.

Things I'd like to accomplish in the next year:

1. 1 muscle up (they say you can probably do this if you can do 15 chin ups and 15 dips)
2. 1 handstand push up
3. 130 press
4. 375 deadlift
5. 300 squat
6. 200 power clean
7. 30 chin ups (with a kip)
8. sub 6 minutes for 1 mile
   
9. sub 8 minutes for 100 burpees

I don't have any stats on my sprinting times so I won't include that -- I am assuming that they will improve with the increased strength and general physical preparedness (gpp or metcon).

World's is in Prague in 2010. I'm just saying.

I think I might compile a list of sports that I don't think should be in the Olympics.

With a little more gusto

Tempo run (0% grade):
3 min @ 6 mph
1 min @ 6.5
... increments increasing .5 mph each minute to
1 min @ 9 mph
1 min @ 8.5
... increments decreasing .5 mph each minute to
2 min @ 6 mph
1 minute walking cool down. 1.9 miles in 17 minutes (including walking)

I didn't break a sweat until 8 mph on the way back down.

Press: 45 x 7, 7, 6
Farmers walk: 50 lb db x 3 circuits (about 45 steps)
Glute/ham extensions: 15 x 2
Bench dips: 10 x 3 **I've never been able to do ten reps three times before. Yay me.
V-sit ball toss (4 kg): 30 x 2

During my alternating sets of bench dips and ball toss, I caught the Olympic women's 5K race on TV.

WOW. The winner (Ethiopian) finished in 16:41. The loser (a Canadian, natch), finished about a minute later. It was amazing to see these ladies run. Imagine striking to the end zone on a field that's 5 km long. That's how they ran.

Back Atter

And sucking.

Nats + 4 days. So, even though I didn't play nearly as much as I wanted, and was willing and able to at CUC 2008 in Calgary, home of HEAT, I am a bio mechanical mess.

5k run with a fast mile. 6:35 on the mile, 23:20 on the 5k. A minuteish rest after the mile. Its an ok set of times, and an improvement on the 5k, but wow did it hurt. Left hamstring, Right knee, right hip flexor / groin. I felt like a bucket of rocks out there. Not my usual svelte, lithe and ancient self.

Back at the gym: 15 x 2 back extensions, 15 x 2 front extensions, 10R, 10L pistol squats w/ 30lbs, stretch, see ya!

Still sore. Very tired.
I
feel
old.

5 days post-nats

Second verse, same as the first. Minus the energy.

chins: 3, 3, 2 + 2 assisted (one toe on the bar)
squats: 100 x 7, 7, 7 + 25 finishers (45 lb) Why are these getting harder?
calf presses (seated): 320 x 8, 8, 9
cleans: 65 x 10, 8, 8
bench press: 70 x 8, 9, 6 + 25 finishers (45 lb)
random uninspired variations on seated row: 50 x @5, 5, 5
one-legged crunches on the ball: 20, 20
back extensions: 10, 7

No running whatsoever.

nats in 4 days

press: 95 x3 +2 push presses, x3 +2 jerks, 1 +2 push +2 jerks.
cable press: 80 x4, x4, x3.
bar row: 120 x5, x5; 125 x5, x5.
finishers:
facepulls 100 x 20, farmer's walk cct. w/ 70 lbs dumbbells
facepulls 100 x 4, farmer's walk cct. w/ 70 lbs dumbbells
facepulls 80 x 11, farmer's walk cct. w/ 70 lbs dumbbells

nats in 5 days

squat: 100 x8, x8, x8; 65 x20
calf press: 320 x8, x8, x8
clean: 75 x3; 70 x(17 sets of 1 rep); 70 x6, x6, x6
press/push press: 55 x3+4 pp, x3 pp; 50 x2+3 pp, x2+3 pp
back extension: 10
single-leg ball crunch: 24
v-sit ball toss: 40
side planks: 40 sec/side
facepulls: 70 x7, x6, x6

"Easy" intervals: 3 x 400 m @ 9 mph/0% grade (total 1.5 miles including warm-up, cool-down)

nats in 6 days

press: 95 x5, x5, x2 + 2 push presses + 1 jerk. yay
chins: 9, 6, 3. boo
bar rows: 115 x5, x5, x5.
facepulls: 70 x30.
<some time later>
bar curls at the Elmdale

Gotcha

Presses: 115 x 10, 8, 5
Weighted Pulls: 25lbs x 16, 10, 8, 3,
1 rep max back squat: 295
1 rep max deadlift: 315



KIDDING-its a test too.

hiatus over

press: 95 x2 + 3 push presses, x5 push, x1 push + 2 jerks
chins: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3. 47 in 10 sets
cable chest press: 70 x5, x5, x5

Practice - the first ten

I wouldn't normally count this as "workout", because frisbee is a matter of course (and practice is generally less intense than an actual game), but after drills and scrimmaging last night, we did a half hour of targeted fitness with Stella, and it was most excellent.

We rotated through:

5 tuck jumps
sprint (20-30? yards - footrace against a de/offender)
10 slalom jumps
sprint

About 10 times.

Then ten minutes of core, during which we flipped over and back, alternating between the posterior and anterior chain (v-sits, side and front plank, push-ups, sit-ups, one-legged bridge, etc.)

During the sprints, I tried to focus on form to make every rep count: driving really hard into the ground, leaning forward especially at the start, staying on my toes, etc. Occasionally, I let my opponent have a little head start to see if I could catch up. My 5th gear kicked ass. ;-)

Cleaning up, at last

[warm-up skipping: 911]

Chin-ups: 5, 2, 2, 1
Pushups: 20
Crunches (single-leg on the ball): 24, 20
Face-pulls: 70 x 10, 8, 7
Cleans: 65 x 5, 5, 6, 5 (1st three reps of 2nd set included push presses)
Run home: 6 km
Mow lawn

The cleans were fun! J-Boss was there to confirm that my form was fine. Grip was the gating factor; I'll be able to up the weight easily next time, as long as I remember to not do chin-ups first!

At risk of overdoing it

But, meh!

Gym today, frisbee tonight.

Back and front extensions, 15 x 2 each.

Back squats, 225 lbs; 5, 5, 5
with
DB curls (30 lbs) 18, 14, 12

Finisher squats, 155 lbs; 19

Dips; 20, 10, 6

A bit of everything

And the day after, I'm very sore.

Deadlifts: 95 lb x 10, 10, 10

Calf press (seated, straight leg): 320 lb x 9, 8, 8

Press: 55 lb x 2 (+ 3 push press)
50 lb x 3 + 2 pp, 3 + 2 pp
PB! Finally upped from 45...

DB rows: 30 lb x 9/9, 7/7

DB rows in plank: 15 lb x 12, 20 lb x 6 (total, alternating arms)

Hip extensions: 18

Dips (the real kind): 3, 2

Dreadmill intervals: alternated 45 seconds on 8% incline, 45 flat (excluding 15 second grade transition) -- 2 @ 6 mph, 2 @ 6.5 mph

Plyo-squats

No frisbee this week because I'm resting a sore hip flexor... So I have a bit of leeway to do some legwork (of the variety that is gentle on the hips. I hope.)

Plyo-squat: Back squat in which you push up from the bottom of the squat forcefully enough that your feet leave the ground at the top (like, an inch). Reset feet carefully for the next rep. This may be a real exercise or not; at any rate, that's what I did. Maybe it could also be called a power squat?

Alternating sets: plyo-squats (45 lb)/push-ups

20/19, 20/15, 15/13

Finisher: 100 walking lunges (in groups: 30, 30, 40 with 30 regular steps between sets. After which my thighs were numb and I walked like a gangsta. Appropriate, as I did this on my street which is slightly ghetto-like.)

Alternating sets: chin-ups/jumping pull-ups

5/5, 3/4, 2/4, 1/1