Get back on the good foot...

9/10/2018 (Monday)
224 lbs.
25 min.
140-160 bpm

1) 8 lb. sledgehammer drills: saggital chops 7/7, golf swings 7/7, log splitters 7/7
2) 35 lb. KB swing: 10/10
3) decline "perfect" pushups (feet 8 in. off the ground): 12, 12, 12
4) 35 lb. KB swing: 10/10
5) skip rope: 60 skips
6) 35 lb. KB swing: 10/10
7) repeat for a total of three sets
8) decline "perfect" pushups (feet 8 in. off the ground): 10

Spud no more...

Day 2 of a program to get myself back into shape to return to proper weightlifting.

7 Sept. 2018 (Friday)
220 lbs.
20-22 min.
160-190 bpm

warm-up...

1) 8 lb. sledgehammer drills: 6/6 saggital chops, 6/6 golf swings, 6/6 log splitters
2) 35 lbs. KB swing: 10/10/10/10
3) 45 lbs. (?) curl-presses: 10
4) 35 lbs. KB squat thrusters: 6/6
5) with 30-60 seconds of rest between exercises, repeat steps 1)-4) two more times

8 Sept. 2018 (Saturday)
222 lbs.
35 min.
140-170 bpm

warm-up: light erg for 3 min.

1) erg: moderately intense 3 min. (rating 27-31)
2) chin-ups: 8, 8, 8
3) Hindu squats: 20, 20, 20
4) CoC 1.5 for reps; finish with infinite grip machine set at 2/6: 8; 20, 8; 20, 7; 20
5) repeat for three sets

Three years a spud...

Well, let's hope that's the end of that.

By that I mean the three or so years of aimless-exercise-slash-shiftless-aimlessness that the period between this post and the previous one suggests.

Have I not done any exercise since March 2015?

No, but, except for a brief, fairly consistent stint at a local gym, and some very random calisthenics every few weeks or months, I haven't spent much time or mental effort on personal fitness.

Fortunately, decent genes, decent eating habits, and physically demanding work and hobbies have kept me in, well, decent shape.

Be that as it may, my cardiovascular stamina is deplorable, and I have probably lost up to 20 pounds of muscle over the past three years (but probably only about 15).

A few weeks ago, I got a stomach virus/gastritis, and I think I went from 225 to 215. Since then I have eaten and active-lifestyled my way back up to maybe 220.

Starting Sunday, I somehow convinced myself to begin an old standby program I learned about years ago from Rich Bryda's e-books. Today at work I manged to convince a coworker to try it out with me, and by the end of the day we had agreed to get back into a proper fitness regimen.

And so it begins.

Almost as soon as I got home, I put on my sneakers, dug up some old training equipment from the forgotten recesses of my garage, and battled Old Man Entropy once again. I hope this marks a serious return to regaining strength and fitness as "40" looms less than a year away.

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weight: 218 lbs.
time: 25 min.
pulse: 150-180 bpm
warm-up: basic movements to activate muscle memory

1) 8 lb. sledgehammer smash: 5/5 sagittal chops, 5/5 golf drives, 5/5 log splitters
2) jump rope: 50 skips (various)
3) 25 lb. KB swings: 20/20
4) step 2
5) 25 lb. KB press squats: 5/5
6) step 2
7) repeat steps 1-6 two more times

HIT workouts... Overcoming that inertia, focus on the numbers... Stupid left knee...

Tuesday, 3/10/15 
5 min, warmup, stretching, motions 
27 min. 
leg press: 270 x 17e 
FSQ: 205 x 9c 
RDL: 235 x 9e 
flye: 170 x 11e 
press: 220 x 8e 
cable pulldown: 170 x 13c 
db seated MP: 100 x 9c 
tricep cable pressdown: 70 x 9e 
bb curl: 80 x 7e* 


Saturday, 3/14/15
232 lbs., 5 min. warmup
27 min. 
FSQ: 215 x 10e  
RDL: 265 x 8e 
seated flye: 180 x 10c 
seated press: 220 x 10c 
cable pulldown: 180 x 12e 
bb curl: 80 x 9e 
seated db MP: 50/50 x 11c 
cable tri pressdown: 80 x 12e 
db farmer 
carry: 85/85 x 68 steps, 18 steps 


Monday, 3/16/15 
1500m erg piece - 5:11.4 (1.5 rests for breath)

Then when I got to the boathouse, I discovered there was no practice that day, but then the head coach suggested I take a scull out. I took him up on the offer, rowed for a solid hour, but had less fun than I had anticipated--but was relieved to discover afterwards that this was because I had set up some equipment incorrectly. 囧 。。。糗


Tuesday, 3/17/15 
a very active practice tuckered me out; slept early :)


Wednesday, 3/18/15 
warm-up: 10 minutes 
30 min.
FSQ: 215 x 12c
RDL: 275 x 11c
seated pec flye: 190 x 11c
seated press: 220 x 11e
underhand pulldown: 190 x 12c
bb curl: 80 x 10e* / 1e (overhand grip)

[significant body English last couple reps for brutal negatives] 

seated db MP: 55/55 x 10c
tricep pressdown: 90 (?) x 10c

[It may have been 100 lbs, because an extra plate sometimes sticks to the bottom of the weight stack on my gym's machines.]

farmer carry: 85/85 x 72 steps, 30 steps

This changes everything... Well, not really...

[I found my notes from my 3/10/15 workout! Below are the changes from what I remembered to what I had actually done, as well as notes from my workout this evening.] 

3/10/15 
5 min, warmup, stretching, motions 

27 min. 
leg press: 270 x 15e 270 x 17e 
FSQ: 215 x 8c 205 x 9c 
RDL: 245 x 9e (?) 235 x 9e
flye: 170 x 10e 170 x 11e 
press: 220 x 8e (?) 220 x 8e 
cable pulldown: 170 x 12e (?) 170 x 13c 
db seated MP: 100 x 9c 100 x 9c 
tricep cable pressdown: 70 x 9e 
bb curl: 80 x 7e* 

3/14/15
232 lbs., 5 min. warmup

27 min. 
FSQ: 215 x 10e  
RDL: 265 x 8e 
seated flye: 180 x 10c 
seated press: 220 x 10c 
cable pulldown: 180 x 12e 
bb curl: 80 x 9e 
seated db MP: 50/50 x 11c 
cable tri pressdown: 80 x 12e 
db farmer carry: 85/85 x 68 steps, 18 steps 

HIT updates et miscellanea...

3/1/15 (?) 
5 min. warmup 

FSQ: 195 x 10c
RDL: 255 x 11c
flye: 160 x 11c
press: 220 x 10c
pulldown: 160 x 12c
pullover: 85 x 10c
bb seated MP: 90 x 11c
bb curl: 80 x 8e
tricep pressdown: 100/90 x 5e/3e


3/6/15 
afternoon...
rowing erg:
5 min. warmup
1500m piece - 5:19.9 (two pauses for breath!)

[I got a Class C Concept II erg from a coworker/friend for an AMAZING price. I intend to use it regularly.]

evening...
leg press: 270 x 10e
Smith FSQ: 190 x 5e
cable flye: 120 x 9c
T-row: 125 x 8e
db press: 140 x 9e
cable pulldown: 150 x 9c
tricep cable press: 70 x 10c
bicep bb curl: 75 x 8e

[This was after a team dinner, and coming off days of feeling "not quite right". Eff it. Had to do something.]

3/10/15 
5 min, warmup, stretching, motions 

leg press: 270 x 15e
FSQ: 215 x 8c
RDL: 245 x 9e (?)
flye: 170 x 10e
press: 220 x 8e (?)
cable pulldown: 170 x 12e (?)
db seated MP: 100 x 9c
tricep cable pressdown:
bb curl: 80 x 7e

[Can't find my note paper from this workout, working from memory.]

3/12/15
erg rowing:
3.5 minute warmup
2 min. stretching
1500m piece - 5:16.8 (with three pauses for breath!!)
90 sec. pulse check, walkabout
5:16 cooldown row

[Three seconds faster than last time, and I'm intent on restoring my aerobic capacity. Oh, and I will be using squats to nurse my fragile left knee back to health, too. Stay tuned.]

"Now THAT'S a spicy meatball!" And other HIT notes...

2/7/15 
34 minutes, 228 lbs. 

[This was a free trial workout at the Bailey's gym nearest to me. Good machines, but I lost time finding them and figuring out how to use them. There was definitely a harder core population there, which is a plus, and the price is right, but my current gym is just located so conveniently, and almost certainly less crowded than Bailey's would be.] 

warm-up - 6-10 minutes

leg curl: 110 x 13c

leg extension: 130 x 12c

horizontal leg press: 250 x 7c (!)
[At first I thought the tracks were locked, but after inspecting it, I tried again, only to find that, in fact, THAT is what 250 pounds of dead weight really feels like! This discrepancy in equipment almost convinced by itself to switch to Bailey's, but... we'll see.]

chest flye: 130 x 10c

chest press: 205 x 6c

T-row: 130 x 12c

seated MP: 80/90/100 x 1/1/6

bb curl: 80/70 x 6e/2e

cable tricep extension: 80 x 11c

seated hypers: 240 x 14c
[Nice machine, but nothing can touch the MedX lumbar training machine. I am very desirous of trying it out!]

farmer carry: 90 x 74 steps, 40 steps

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2/13/15 
29 minutes, 230 lbs.

[Around this time, my exertion at rowing practice combined with my HIT workouts, began to take a toll. I dropped the thrice weekly schedule, focusing on recovery. It was not long after this that my left knee also started bothering me: a weird tenderness/weakness in the outside lateral area that showed up when I sort of hyper-extended my leg (i.e. leaned forward on a straight left leg); no pain occurred when I flexed it, though kneeling on it was weird on occasion. I've cut back on the leg curls and jumpies, and it's feeling better.]  

warm-up: 6-10 minutes

leg extension: 130 x 12c

calf extension: 240 x 13c

leg curl: 110 x 6e

chest flye: 140 x 11e

Hammer press: 230 x 9e

T-row: 140 x 11e

seated MP: 90 x 9e

underhand cable pulldown: 140 x 8e

triceps cable extension: 90 x 9e

bb curls: 70 x 9e

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[Ellington Darden, whose HIT program I am currently following, mutatis mutandis, emphasizes that the real focus should be on two-week periods, instead of one workout after another or just a week's results. So, I'll be posting my results in two-week chunks from now on.]
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2/20/15 
24 minutes, 230 lbs.

[By this point I was feeling pretty run down, but I needed to get a workout in before the weekend. I muscled through, and it turned out to be not such a shabby HIT workout, after all. No major number plateaus, but intensity is relative to each workout, so I achieved the main goal: maximal muscular contraction.]

warm-up: 6-10 min.

leg extension: 130 x 12c

leg press: 225 x 13e

chest flye: 140 x 12c

T-row: 140 x 13c

chest press: 210 x 10c

underhand cable pulldown: 130 x 9c

seated MP: 90 x 11c

bb curl: 70 x 10e
[Body English up, killer negatives]

triceps cable extension: 90 x 8e

------------

2/23/15 
26 minutes, 232 lbs.

[I have recently made some changes to my diet and begun taking some nutritional supplements. Nothing "crazy," just good, solid minerals and herbal stuff. I've also been trying to sleep more.

Well, kiddies... 

Tonight was one of the hardest workouts I've ever performed in my life. 

It was truly high-intensity. I got home and felt like I would vomit (this is largely due to the BCAA/creatine drink I finished right after the workout, but still!). All I could do was lie down on the couch for almost ten minutes until I revived and ate. Highly doubtful I will train again as soon as Wednesday. It was a glorious workout.]

warm-up: 4-6 minutes (motions)

leg extension: 160 x 10e

hypers: bdw + 35 x 10e

leg press: 250 x 14e

pec flye: 150 x 11c

chest press: 220 x 9c

T-row: 150 x 11c

underhand cable pulldown: 140 x 8c

seated MP: 110 x 12c

bb curl: 70 x 12e
[Body English up on last couple reps, killer negatives]

triceps cable extension: 90 x 11e

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Stay tuned. Rowing practice is going really well. "Nine hearts beating..."