Me

2012-03-21 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, squat 2

/ hsoi

Another day of not feeling it, but working out well in the end.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Squat (working max: 270#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x110
    • 1x5x135
    • 1x3x165
    • 1x3x190 (work)
    • 1x3x225 (supposed to have been 220 but I didn’t feel like doing the plate math
    • 1x3x245
  • Asst. #1 – Deadlift
    • 5 x 10 x 165
  • Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
    • 5 x 8/7/7/7/6 x BW
  • Foam Rolling

Today was another morning of waking up and not feeling it, tho today’s was slightly different. I woke up early and got into a groove programming an update to kwikkEmail, lost track of time, and thought about skipping the workout because I was on such a roll. But no, that’s not the way to proceed in life. Headed to the gym, but also wasn’t totally feeling it because I know my right knee and some other parts of my lower body (ankle, etc.) weren’t too happy in prior days. I had no idea how it would affect me. But I did my best to put it out of my head and forge ahead. If I can’t squat, I can’t squat… I want to not squat because I truly can’t, not because I erected some mental barrier.

And gee… 245 for a triple felt fine. I think my new found eye positioning is helping. And again, I recalled how I struggled so long at 230 and now 245 for a triple didn’t phase me much. Progress!

Felt good by the end of the workout.

Looking forward to the workouts ahead now… 5/3/1 week. PR time. Woot!

2012-03-19 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, bench press 2

/ hsoi

Some days you just don’t want to go to the gym, but you go anyways because to not go means you’re losing. And you always feel better when you leave and are glad you went. Today was one of those days.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x135
    • 1x3x160 (work)
    • 1x3x180
    • 1x3x205
  • Asst. #1A – Press
    • 5 x 10 x 80
  • Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
    • 5 x 10 x 65
  • Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
    • 3 x 10 x 40
  • Foam Rolling

I had a long weekend, very exhausting, getting as much sleep as I could… and I just didn’t want to get out of bed this morning… I wanted more sleep. But the Sun doesn’t stop rising, the Earth doesn’t stop spinning, business and commerce chug along with or without me, so I best be with it. I trudge in, and didn’t expect the workout to be all that good, but it was better than expected.

When I was benching, I actually wanted to crank out a couple more reps of the last set, but no… that’s not allowed and I said I’d only permit myself to do extras on the “5/3/1” week. But that was a good signal to me that the day was going to go alright.

I’m a little worried about Wednesday tho. My right knee has been acting funny the past couple days and continues to. We’ll see how squatting goes. I’d rather give up on the squat on Wednesday to rest up and allow myself to hit the 315# deadlift PR next week. 🙂

2012-03-16 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, deadlift 2

/ hsoi

Heavy weights are heavy.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
    • 1x5x135 (warmup)
    • 1x5x165
    • 1x3x195
    • 1x3x230 (work)
    • 1x3x265
    • 1x3x295
  • Asst. #1 – Squat
    • 5 x 10 x 135
  • Asst. #2 – Ab Wheel
    • 5 x 6 x BW (from the knees)
  • Foam Rolling

Yeah, things are just feeling heavier, but I was kinda happy with how I dealt with it.

On the deadlifting, I usually use double overhand grip for all sets save the last (heaviest) set, which I’ll do mixed grip. Today, since I knew I wasn’t going to do more than 3 reps I just did it double overhand. Worked great! I was happy about that. If I had to do more reps I know I wouldn’t have lasted with the double overhand, but that’s alright.

Squatting was kinda cool today. For some reason I picked a better spot for my eyes to stare at and that made a huge difference in my form, in keeping my chest up, not letting things fall forward. Very cool. I was very happy with how squatting went.

The ab wheel… geez. Deceptively hard. Last time I did them it killed my knees, so I needed padding. The gym has one of those quarter/half sphere things that aerobics people can stand on to help with balance. It’s soft enough, not too high off the ground, perfect padding. It also made the rolling a little tougher since there’s a littl more balance involved and a slightly steeper angle. I only did 6 reps across because I’m still learning the movement and how to do it best. Get all the way down, body parallel to the floor, arms up by the ears, nose almost touching the ground, then really be sure to use the abdominals to crunch back up, not the lats to pull myself back up. I’ll slowly add reps while I get the form right.

Not a bad workout. Looking forward to next deadlift tho… I’ll PR at 315# and 3 plates on a side. That’ll be cool. 🙂

2012-03-14 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, press 2

/ hsoi

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Press (working max: 155#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x65
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x3x95
    • 1x3x110 (work)
    • 1x3x125
    • 1x3x140
  • Asst. #1A – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 115
  • Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
    • 3 x 3 x BW
    • 1 x 2/1neg x BW
    • 1 x 1/2neg x BW
  • Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
    • 1 x 10 x 50
    • 2 x 10 x 60
  • Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 3 x 10 x 30
  • Foam Rolling

Chugging along. Today went alright. Still feels weird to not rep out. I did rush today’s workout some, not resting much between sets because 1. I need to be somewhere this morning, so I left to get to the gym early but 2. the gym opened late. Ugh. Oh well. So I moved pretty quick through the workout.

I was happy to get 1 more chin. 🙂

On face pulls, 60 seems like a good weight to work with now. It’s giving enough resistence that it affects form, but it’s not really all that hard. Still, I’ll stay here a bit, tighten things up, then progress up from there.

Not too bad a day.

Don’t be like them

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

As Daughter progresses in her drumming, she gets exposed to more bands, more dummers.

And more opportunities to talk to her about drug and alcohol abuse.

John Bonham? Don’t be like him.

Steven Adler? Don’t be like him (still alive, but still…).

Jeff Porcaro? Don’t be like him.

John Panozzo? Don’t be like him.

Keith Moon? Don’t be like him.

Jimmy Sullivan? Don’t be like him.

Stuart Cable? Don’t be like him.

Sure, play drums like these guys — especially Bonham — but that’s where you should stop emulating them.

She gets it. I hope she will never forget it.

I guess it’s working

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I hate to say it, but the scale doesn’t lie.

Both scales.

I’ve been weighing my food before I eat it, to ensure I’m getting the right amount of macronutrients. That I get as much protein as I need in a day, but no more. That I don’t take in much carbohydrates, but some. I strive for about 50 grams of protein per “meal” (eating 5x day). The carbs are harder since by weight there’s a much larger variety of “carbs per ounce” depending what food you’re eating. But I’ll still try to keep things reasonable, maybe just 4 ounces or so? I don’t really weigh it THAT strictly due to the wide variance, just try to keep it small and reasonable. Then all the green leafies I can stomach. Heck, at dinner last night the kids were floored that about 3/4 of my plate was covered in a large mound of raw spinach leaves.

But it does seem to be working. I’m at about 228# now, down from my high of 240-ish. I struggled for a LONG time around 235, so the 7-ish pound drop is just from the past few weeks. You can see from this recent picture (scroll down towards the end, I’m the tall guy with the blue hat) that I’m far from fat/obese, just very tall and gaining muscle. I just have a muffin top, and I hate it. Interferes with my desire to try AIWB carry. 🙂

Kiddos and Wife have noticed that I don’t have as much muffin hanging over my belt as I used to. And the bathroom scale (scale #2) doesn’t lie. But, it’s only telling part of the story: pure weight. With the lifting I’m doing, there’s gain of muscle. So weight doesn’t really tell the whole story. I need to do some body fat measurement, and while I have a pair of calipers it’s tough to get consistent measurement.

But it doesn’t matter much, so long as I can tell fat is shedding and eventually I’ll have a slim enough stomach for AIWB.

One thing that I’ve heard a lot about is carb back-loading. Supposedly it really works. I’m not ready to buy into it just yet, but I have noticed that I have already been following a rough notion of it, in that almost all the carb intake I have been getting, since I’ve been measuring, has been in the morning after workouts, tapering off as the day goes on. I want to keep reading on this topic. It’s interesting.

And ZMA I’m sure contributes here some, because after supper there’s ZERO eating. So last meal is maybe 6 PM? nothing again until I wake up around 4-5 AM. And yes, ZMA gives me some wicked strange dreams. Kinda cool.

I have wondered if this is affecting my strength work, and it probably is. While my current lifting routine doesn’t have me work for new rep-maxes, I don’t even know if I could. I’ve noticed this past week when I hit the 5th rep I feel that’s it, or maybe I could perhaps get 1 more if I really pushed it. Not ideal, but it’s OK. I know I’m walking a fine line here in what I’m doing and mixing things that probably shouldn’t. But if it means I can’t get full reps, then that’s alright. If it gets bad enough, I’ll reset and continue forward on this same basic path. No big deal.

 

2012-03-12 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, squat 1

/ hsoi

Yeah, this is going to be another fun day. 🙂

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 5 reps – Squat (working max: 270#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x110
    • 1x5x135
    • 1x3x165
    • 1x5x180 (work)
    • 1x5x205
    • 1x5x230
  • Asst. #1 – Deadlift
    • 5 x 10 x 165
  • Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
    • 5 x 8/8/6/6/5 x BW

Yeah… squats then deadlifting is going to be fuuuun. 🙂

Squats went well. I had to do 230# today and gee, it wasn’t long ago I was struggling to deal with 230. Now it’s just another work weight. Cool!

Deadlifting… best I can say here is I MUST remember to really stay strict. It’s easy to let your back and form get out of whack on those last reps of those last sets. Have to remain vigilant.

Bumping up the leg raises. Even tho my reps don’t show it, every time I do these I get better. Stricter form, more complete motions. Everything. I don’t care that much that my reps don’t show it if I can see progress in how everything gets better and stronger. All good. Plus my shoulder isn’t complaining as much since I have a better “ritual” in getting on the bar. Huzzah!

I’m liking the BBB 3 month challenge so far… but I’ve only just begun.

Announcing kwikkEmail – the kwikkest way to send email

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

I’m proud to announce kwikkEmail – the kwikkest way to send email!

Read all about it over at Hsoi Enterprises.

(Hsoi Enterprises is my company, as you might guess from the name. Thus…).

2012-03-09 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, bench 1

/ hsoi

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x135
    • 1x5x150 (work)
    • 1x5x170
    • 1x5x195
  • Asst. #1A – Press
    • 5 x 10 x 80
  • Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
    • 5 x 10 x 65
  • Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
    • 3 x 10 x 40
  • Foam Rolling

Man, it’s hard to not rep-out on the last work set. *sigh* I will be generally restrained here, but on my 5/3/1 week, that last set I will allow myself to do up to 3 reps. Gotta get some sort of satisfaction. 🙂

Today was fine. Really, not much to write home about. One comment I can make is how Jim’s template suggested arm work across the Press and Bench Press days. There’s some choice and flexibility on how you do things, and I think it’ll work ok for me to do it as I am. I think my selections and structure will work out. But if not, I’ll change it up per cycle.

I can say that while this 50% month isn’t too tough, I can tell the next 60% and last 70% are going to be a bitch. 🙂