Training Log: Entry 2419

PM WORKOUT (2000)

Squats

5xBar

5x135

3x225

REST PAUSE (12 deep reaths between sets)

16x315

6x315

2x4x315

2x315

1x315

11x5x275

10x225

Machine leg press

151 reps w/190 selected (only locking out when needed to recover for more reps, all done in one "set")

GHRs (1 minute rest between sets)

4x10

Rogue butcher pushes w/45lb plate loaded (distance unknown, but length of gym floor)

1x14 w/30 second rests between sets

6 trips without rest between sets

Notes: Arrived on location and found out that I'm working nights starting tomorrow, so got in a crazy lower body workout to help pass time, as I'm going to be staying up all night to get to sleep in the morning and get my sleep schedule semi-right.  I may actually do some benching in a few hours at this rate too.

Been a long while since I trained at night.  Hips still aren't 100%, but keeps getting better.  I didn't give my all on the topset or the first backoff, left a little it behind and made it show in the sets of 5.  To show how my mind works: 10 was the goal, and on the 9th set I told myself "just one more set", and upon finishing the 10th set I was excited to be done...which upset me that I was excited to be done, so I made sure to do 1 more set after that to teach my body that there will be no breaks and we're just going to keep going.  A similar thing happens whenever I do conditioning work.

Always dig what I can do with a leg press here.  Total quad annihilation.  

The prowler work wasn't as tough as I imagined it to be.  Needed to load it heavier. 45 works for Litvinov, but heavier needs to happen on it's own.

This is what the top shelf of my dresser looks like in my hotel

I'm pretty proud of it.  I also hit the ground running and bought a bunch of provisions when I got here.  I should be able to eat well: just basic.  On that note, I had a Finibar before this workout.  If nothing else, they inspire me to train harder, because it's more calories and carbs than I'm used to.

The microwave egg cooker is answering the mail so far.

 Training Log: Entry 2418

0420 Wake Up (On my own)

Longest walk so far.  Just keep pushing the distance.  Fasted, w/45lb vest.

Breakfast

6 rounds of the following

10 chins (various grips)

4 standing ab wheel

10 KB swings

40 pull aparts

25 pushdowns

30 GHRs

Trap bar was calling my name, so did some tabata high handle pulls.  Really feel like I found something magical on there.

Notes: Traveling later today.  Eating a bunch this morning while I still have access to real food, and honestly, I'm just hungry.  It's nice to have that.  Gonna try to grab a real workout when I arrive.  First KB swings in a few days: hips are feeling better. Still not 100%, but good enough for swings.

PM WORKOUT (2000)

Squats

5xBar

5x135

3x225

REST PAUSE (12 deep reaths between sets)

16x315

6x315

2x4x315

2x315

1x315

11x5x275

10x225

Machine leg press

151 reps w/190 selected (only locking out when needed to recover for more reps, all done in one "set")

GHRs (1 minute rest between sets)

4x10

Rogue butcher pushes w/45lb plate loaded (distance unknown, but length of gym floor)

1x14 w/30 second rests between sets

6 trips without rest between sets

Notes: Arrived on location and found out that I'm working nights starting tomorrow, so got in a crazy lower body workout to help pass time, as I'm going to be staying up all night to get to sleep in the morning and get my sleep schedule semi-right.  I may actually do some benching in a few hours at this rate too.

Been a long while since I trained at night.  Hips still aren't 100%, but keeps getting better.  I didn't give my all on the topset or the first backoff, left a little it behind and made it show in the sets of 5.  To show how my mind works: 10 was the goal, and on the 9th set I told myself "just one more set", and upon finishing the 10th set I was excited to be done...which upset me that I was excited to be done, so I made sure to do 1 more set after that to teach my body that there will be no breaks and we're just going to keep going.  A similar thing happens whenever I do conditioning work.

Always dig what I can do with a leg press here.  Total quad annihilation.  

The prowler work wasn't as tough as I imagined it to be.  Needed to load it heavier. 45 works for Litvinov, but heavier needs to happen on it's own.

This is what the top shelf of my dresser looks like in my hotel

https://i.imgur.com/9XF04GY.jpg

I'm pretty proud of it.  I also hit the ground running and bought a bunch of provisions when I got here.  I should be able to eat well: just basic.  On that note, I had a Finibar before this workout.  If nothing else, they inspire me to train harder, because it's more calories and carbs than I'm used to.

The microwave egg cooker is answering the mail so far.

 Training Log: Entry 2417

0337 Wake Up (Dog again.  I'm pretty much using her like an alarm clock at this point)

SUPERSETS (chin-press)

Weighted Chins (underhand)

5x50

3x95

1x120

1x145

5x95

Axle strict press

5xAxle

5x66

5x156

3x176

3+1x196 (rest pause)

Log clean and strict press away w/rest pause 155

11+3+3

GIANT SETS (dip/press or press/dip-raise-pull apart) 90 second rests between sets

Weighted dips 105/DB press 50s

1x12/failure

2x8/failure

BtN Press 120/BW dips

1x10/failure

1x9/failure

1x8/failure

DB lateral raise 15s

3x14

3x13

Band pull aparts

3x14

3x13

Poundstone Curls

130xAxle

50 minute walk w/45lb vest

Notes: Wanted to get in the lifting first and then walk for as long as I had time after that.  My shoulder is feeling pretty good, but there's still a little bit of instability, so I didn't push the topset as hard as I could.  In turn, I moved some rest pausing to the backoff set.  I liked how that turned out, and it may continue to appear in the future.  Dips took a little hit this week.  On the second set, I blacked out pretty hard on rep 3 and had to fight to regain consciousness, which added a challenge to the set.  Otherwise, it was a solid workout.  Hit the Poundstone curls because I'll be traveling soon somewhere that doesn't have an axle, so I'm taking advantage of that.  Will hit some Kroc rows later: training so early in the morning, I didn't want to make too much noise.

Saw 183 on the scale before bed last night.  Was 181 last time. Pre-bed isn't the best weighing time for the sake of consistency, but it's about the only time I really have to get it done.  Been eating well.

Rest of training day

Got in Kroc rows of 115 w/rest pause

28+6+5

Braced off my power keg instead of my power rack, and it worked out REALLY well.  I'll have to remember that for the future.  

Daily work

50 rest pause chins

40 pull aparts

25 pushdowns

30 GHRs

50 unloaded reverse hypers

And then went on a 4 mile run with the Mrs.

I travel tomorrow in the afternoon.  May be able to get in a squat workout on my arrival.

 Training Log: Entry 2416

Another 0400 wake up with the dog, but it meant I got 7 hours of sleep, which is the most I've had in a LONG time.  The high fat meals before bed seem to be helping.  I'm still waking up hungry, but I'm not waking up FROM hunger.

The older dog flat out refused to walk today.  Put himself in the kennel and wouldn't come out.  It was for the best: it was 34 degrees and sleeting.  It meant me and the younger dog went on the most active walk since this whole thing kicked off.  Went slightly further than before with minimal stopping: think the weather was motivating the pooch.  Still had the vest, but wore a sweatshirt over it to keep it from getting saturated with water.

From there

50 rest pause chins

40 band pull aparts

25 pushdowns

50 unloaded reverse hypers (feet in the straps, no weight)

30 GHRs

Breakfast

20 standing ab wheel

Tabata high handle trap bar pulls w/135.  Focused on locking out on this one vs starting the pull.  More emphasis in the glutes vs the quads

That's most likely going to be it for training for today, unless the kiddo wants to get something done.

 Training Log: Entry 2415

0400 Wake Up (Dog was being a total rascal.  I was actually ready to sleep more, but with it being Saturday, I took the dog so the wife could get some more sleep)

Longest walk yet with the 45lb vest. Did it fasted.  Really proud of how well my oldest dog is doing.

Then

50 Rest Pause chins

40 pull aparts

25 pushdowns

50 bodyweight reverse hypers

Breakfast

20 Standing ab wheel

30 GHRs

PM WORKOUT (1330)

Max Effort Lower

(1) Elevated High Handle Trap Bar pulls

5x135

5x225

3x315

1x405

1x495

1x585

1x635 (shut it down here: right hip was being angry)

GIANT SETS (pull-row-chin-neck)-90 second rests between sets

Touch and go high handle trap bar lift 460

5x9

T-bar rows 3 plates

2x13

2x12

1x10

Chins (various grips)

4x8

1x5

Neck harness 55

11,10,9,8,8

90 second rest

T-bar row stripset

10x3 plates

10x2 plates

13x1 plate

D-handle lat pulldown (resting long enough between sets to put away a plate per side off the deadlift bar)

10x130

8x130

7x130

STRIPSET

10x130

6x120

6x120

7x110

10x90

1 minute rest

Tabata high handle trap bar lifts w/135lbs

Notes: Had to call an audible on the workout.  The hip is mostly healed, but I could feel it tweaking under the load, and knew that pushing it would result in the same thing as last week: blowing it all out on the first set and having nothing for the rest of the workout.  Wanted a decent workout today, so went heavy-ish, shut it down, and did extra rounds of the giant set.  Happy with that trade off.  The pain is interesting: it's not the lifting that triggers it: it's the setting down/racking the weight that does.  Something about relieving the load from my body puts the body through something.  It meant I had to take the eccentric VERY slow on the trap bar lifts, and even the t-bar rows I needed to be ginger on.

Man, if you think those tabata pulls suck when you're fresh, try hitting them at the END of a workout.  Great finisher.

Turned out I most likely DID tear a muscle the other day with that bench workout: the bruising is finally started to show through.  Similar to my hamstring: there was a delay.  I've already got a million great ideas on what to do with my bench workout for now, so no concerns there.  The shoulder feels great as is, but I can track some performance degrade in it.

 Training Log: Entry 2414

Ok, HUGE backlog of training here.

TUESDAY 

I finished up my daily training and took the dogs for a walk in the afternoon.  Wore my vest.  It was too hot for the oldest one to do the full distance: he stopped walking at the halfway point, so I carried him the rest of the way.  He's about 20ish pounds, so added resistance.  Then, later that evening, Mrs and I did a 5k powerwalk. You might chortle at the idea of powerwalking, but when you do it with someone that's run damn near 30 half marathons and 2 fulls, your butt will get left behind unless you keep up.  I had to cheat at a few points and jog to get back on pace.

WEDNESDAY

Dogs got me up at 0350.  Longest weighted vest walk so far.  We just keep pushing the distance.  The oldest one does just fine in the morning, while the weather is cool.

AM WORKOUT (0700ish)

(4) DB bench 105s

1x8

1x4 (pec/shoulder tweak)

1x7

1x6

Axle bench press 210+chains

1x10

1x7

RESTPAUSE

1x6+2+4(no chains)

(2) Close grip incline bench press 185

3x10

Underhand chins between sets of benching

2x11

10x10    

Dips (rest pause)

60+20+20+whatever else I did to get to 200+

Notes: Tweaked what I thought was my tricep initially but turned out to be my shoulder/pec getting the DBs into position on the second set, right side.  I dorked up my set up, and was too focused on getting my feet into place, and by doing that I wasn't able to kick the DB up like I normally do.  Trying to curl it into place proved a poor decision.  That said, all I have is pain, rather than dysfunction, and I felt like I COULD keep going at 4 reps, but ALSO felt like it could be the very thing to tear a muscle, so I cut that set short and did a quick re-evaluation.  I could keep moving, just with pain, so I kept it up.  It's a day later now, and I woke up swollen on that side, still have pain, but can also still move, so good enough.

2 HOURS LATER

1hr 45 min walk outside.  Had the day off work, and the weather was nice.  It'll be winter soon enough, and I can be cooped up then.  Tempted to wear the weighted vest, but I'm trying to learn some amount of moderation in life, and that not everything needs to be training.

Daily workout got done, minus the KB swings.  They seem to be beating up my hips too much after that deadlift workout.  Swapped it with bodyweight reverse hypers.  Pull ups are a little tough with the shoulder snag, so I've been taking my time and going slow on them.

Went to Golden Corral for dinner and absolutely destroyed it.  I actually ate a huge plate of veggies beforehand thinking it would do something to limit me, but my voracious appetite is back in full force.  It's honestly great to feel this way again.  I made much better choices than I normally do, sticking with white meats with a VERY small sampling (1 forkfull) of 3 different red meats (meatloaf, pot roast, and some sort of hamburger steak: I miss them all).  I ate a TON of sautaued peppers, onions and mushrooms.  They were amazing.  Also a large plate of salad.  I honestly can't seem to get enough veggies these days.

TODAY

0314 Wakeup (beat alarm by 1 minute)

Every minute on the minute, for 30 minutes

Odd minute: Front squats 3x190

Even minute: SSB squats 3x260

2 minute rest

Front squats 135

1x21

Chin-pulll apart-pushdown circuit (various grips on chins, no rest between circuits)

15

10

7

7

7

6

Notes: Still really digging this workout for getting in volume and conditioning.  5 extra pounds and doing it first thing in the morning definitely added challenge.  On set 30, I was pausing between reps on the SSB, and that let me know it was time to shut it down.  Did a "salt the earth" set with the front squat to put some polish on it.  After last night's nutritional debauchery, definitely no need for carb loading, so stuck with the breakfast of 1/4 donut and 2 hard boiled eggs.  

On the sleep front: gave my wife the job of calling me out on my nutrition.  It's been tough mentally transitioning from loss to gain, and I caught myself eating a meal of pure veggies before bed for 2 nights in a row and, consequently, waking up hungry/from hunger early in the morning.  Prior to that, I was eating a higher fat meal before bed (typically peanut butter) and sleeping longer.  So her job is to call me out if I don't eat my high fat meal before bed.  Right now, it's macadamia nuts: I had NO idea how awesome these things are.   Taste obviously, but they're also low carb/low protein and pretty much pure fat, and the fat is almost entirely monounsaturated fats.  Just crazy.

6 miles run with the Mrs.  In the afternoon, and then walked the dogs in the evening (no vest).  We went on a good pace on the run.  The treadmill makes me lazy: I made sure to actually focus on pushing off the floor with my feet here and it made the pace much stronger. 

 Training Log: Entry 2413

AM WORKOUT (0315 Wake-up by alarm clock: working early shift)

SUPERSETS (press-chin): 90 second rests between last 2 sets

Axle strict press

5xAxle

5x66

3x146

3x166

5+2+1x186 (rest pause)

11x186

Chin (underhand)

3x55

3x80

3x105

3x110

2x3x115

GIANT SETS (dip/DB press OR press/dip-raise-pull apart): 90 second rest between sets

Weighted dips 105/DB press 50s

1x12/failure

1x11/failure

1x9/failure

BtN press 120/dips

1x10/failure

1x9/failure

1x8/failure

DB lateral raise 15

2x14

4x13

Band pull aparts

2x14

4x13

Poundstone curls

129xAxle

Notes: Hips/glute are better, but not 100%.  Picking heavy stuff off the floor isn't the best idea right now, and training so early in the morning I didn't want to clang and bang and wake up my sleeping bride, so I ditched the log and kroc rows for now and put the Poundstone curls in early.  Might come back later today for a part II and get it in, but we'll see.  With my hips junked up, topset was Princess Bride "to the pain" style, rather than worrying about hitting PRs.  I pushed as hard as I could, which is where I'll see growth.  On that note, my supplemental work rocked, and I saw growth all around there.  My shoulders are really blowing up from this.  Loading pin on the dip belt is swinging a bit, which can be annoying, but also adds an element of challenge.

Breakfast before training was 2 hardboiled eggs.  Now that I'm no longer in a calorie deficit, I'm starting to lean away from large meals right before training.  It made sense before when I was running on such low calories and needed a boost, but now that I've got a steady stream of nutrients, it doesn't seem entirely necessary.  These were also organic cage free/free range eggs, as per John Meadows recommendation.  I used to say I couldn't stand cold hard boiled eggs, but I do wonder if it's because I was eating low quality eggs.  These weren't delicious, but definitely more palatable than what I've had before.  Plan is to make them the staple this week: trying to include healthier sources of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol.  I feel like it's helping, as everyday I'm feeling more and more like "me".  My forehead looks like a warzone with acne, and I have a voracious appetite, which is pretty much what I remember being.  

Cooked a grassfed new york strip steak yesterday and it turned out much better than the ribeye I made.  Seems the trick is to season them more than I'm used to.  

Also, date night cuisine was fantastic: had a buffalo chicken slider for an appetizer, which was the first "real" bread I've had in quite a while, and it was phenomenal.  Then had a bone in porkchop with a bacon/Gouda gravy, asparagus and mashed potatoes.  Mashed potatoes are the warm fluffy glue that holds the world together.  Spent the rest of the evening walking around downtown and found a bunch of novelty shops that sold a ton of nostalgia merchandise: ninja turtle action figures, X-men figures and cards, comic books, cabbage patch kids, pretty much my entire childhood.  Bought a pack of random Magic the Gather Cards for $3: still need to open them.  Just a great night.  Good for the soul.

PM WORKOUT with the kid

5 round circuit of

10 pull ups

4 standing ab wheel

10 KB swings

(Kid did 10 KB squats, 10 standing high jumps and 10 KB swings)

25 pushdowns

40 pull aparts

Kroc rows 115 w/rest pause

26+6+5 (kid did a straight set of 20)

GHR 30

Notes: Since I was getting this done while we were all awake, brought the kiddo into the garage with me.  They did well enough.  I'm less of a form police when it comes to lifting vs TKD: imagine that.  Didn't quite make my heart explode on the circuit or go totally balls to the wall on the kroc rows, as I didn't need my kid to see that, but still a solid workout.  Hip is ok.  Not 100%, but good enough.  Will do some unweighted walks with the dogs later today.