Gym regimen - March 2014

EVEN KEEL "B"
Saturday, 15 March 2014 

Warm-up & Stretch
(I)
Dips: 10*, 10, 10 @ bdw
[Body English and resetting on the first set!]
(II)
DL: 6, 4, 3 @ 225, 305, 355 lbs. 
(III)
Chin-ups: 7, 10, 8 @ bdw
[Also used Body English on these.] 
db-P: 10, 10, 10* @ 65, 70, 75 lbs. 
[Glad I asked for a spotter on last set.]
(IV)
FSQ: 8, 6, 4 @ 185, 195, 205 lbs.

+ + +

A friend of mine saw this recent post and teased me about it in my own hypothetical words: "So, because I'm burned out on this intense regimen [Mass Made Simple], I'm going to replace it with this intense regimen [Even Keel]." He's probably more right than I'm willing to admit, but, hey, I gotta to do sum'n to keep busy. I grew more tired as the week progressed. Yesterday I got home and mowed and trimmed the yard, tidied the garage a bit more, and ended with two sets of 25 KB swings at 35 lbs. Then I had my smallish Lent-Friday supper, went "onto" the bed to "rest" at 7:30 PM... and awoke again at 7:30 AM. "I needed that," I said as I woke up and read my daily entry in Divine Intimacy. Apropos, I think my (admittedly not terribly hardcore) Lenten fasting has taken me down a notch, probably mainly because for two months I was used to an almost steady intake of calories, protein, and fluids. I need to do a better job staying hydrated.

Meanwhile, it's spring break! 

As for today's workout, much of the difficulty, aside from any general fatigue or dehydration, arose from the fact that I haven't done some of today's motions in a couple months. Dips were astonishingly difficult, really because of the stretching involved in good dips. I've been doing bench presses for a while now, but pressing is all about compression. I realized earlier this week that stretched-exertion is a key to strength. Farmer walks, deadlifts, pullovers, pullups, dips, big-stone carrying, etc.--any motions that require contracting the muscle fibers while the larger muscle is stretched, are as difficult as they are beneficial.

Smiles: 
- Deadlift felt pretty good, but my grip needs some time to return. I used chalk and a hook grip on my last set.
- I felt a little vindicated by completing almost three whole sets of ten on the dumbbell press.

Frowns: 
- The tightness in my shoulders on dips was a good, but humbling signal. Dips are here to stay.
- I would have liked to do better on my front squat, so maybe I need to re-arrange the order of the exercises.