Variety - more canoeing, plus Medium Day

Wednesday:

Short on time, plan calls for

BP: close grip, 135, 5 x (1-2)

Decided a test was in order, so did

135 x 8 reps - first 7 were crisp, last one was slow so I stopped.  Make me think I can possibly just up a few rungs for the next heavy workout, maybe more than 1 x 1-2-3-4 before switching to 1-2-3.

FSQ: 135 x slightly shortened minis as previous workout: 5 - videotaped, damn, I am weak in the posterior chain and my hip still come up first

BP: as above, 7 reps

FSQ: as above, 2, more careful with form, videotaped again, looks better to me, need to work on additional mobility to get lower, though - don't like my depth on these but maybe it's OK...

That's it for today - will have a short Easy day Friday morning, then probably lift again Monday or Tuesday and go for my firs 1-2-3-4's on BP and we'll see what on FSQ.

Onward and Upward

Variety - Canoeing, Walk, plus Heavy Day: BP: 5 x 1-2-3, FSQ: 5 x 5 w/ bands, DL 245 x 10 reps x 2 set

Saturday - canoed for 2 hours on a windy lake

Sunday - played guitar in church

Monday - walked 2.5 miles or so on a hot, humid day, then had planned to start my ladder protocol but miscounted, then the phone rang, so the second set was where the actual planned protocol, started what I hope is Heavy Day, with medium and light to come on Wednesday and Friday.

BP: 135 x 5

FSQ: 135 x 2 - phone rang

Do below x 4 on short rest between rungs, 1:00 rest between lifts, 5:00 rest between circuits

NB: added mini band on each side of the bar for FSQ, can't tell much difference.

BP: 135 x 1-2-3
FSQ: 135 w/ mini's x 5

For last 2 circuits, doubled up the mini over the squat stand bottom, not anywhere near doubling, just make it perhaps 6-8 inches shorter - and I could at least feel it this time, which I couldn't the previous 2 sets

Next to the last set of squats, did a poor 2nd rep, hips shot up and I felt the load move to my lumbar spine.  Wasn't horrible and was able to fix it for the rest of the set without stopping.

DL: narrow sumo, touch and go - dl slippers for the first time in a long time, used RDC's - thinner sole than the ones I used to pull in.

right under, 245 x 10

I've been experiementing with grip - last session, full handed grip; this time, hooks of fingers

left under, 245 x 10 - grip getting tired but didn't give out. 



Onward and Upward

BP/FSQ, DL

Wed - 4 mile walk, stretch

Thu - 2 mile walk, stretch

Friday:

With my 16-year-old and one of his friends from the soccer team, so this is going to be an off-program guesstimate at light day.

Narrow BP and FSQ

BP: 135 x 1-2-3, 1-2-3

FSQ: work up to 135 x 5

BP: 135 x 1-2-3

FSQ: 135 x 5, all fsq paused, last rep of all sets longer pause


DL: narrow sumo, touch and go

left under, 225 x 10

right under, 225 x 10 - sets of 10 deadlifts are freakin' cardio!


Onward and Upward

Variety - pushup and pistol

lots of stretching - stiff from yesterday.

short walk

1 bw pistol each side, 1 2-step OAOL pushup each side

Medium Day : 12 reps each BP and FSQ

Medium Day of my new ladder cycle.

Instead of 4 x (1-2), I elected to do 6 x 2

BP: 135, narrow grip, 2 reps x 6 sets

FSQ: 135, 2 reps x 6 sets

Video of 4th set: http://youtu.be/k1tvj6LKAa4

I don't think anyone will be complaining that my squats aren't deep enough. :)

32: 2-hand swings x 20

Onward and Upward

When Not To Lift

Perhaps the most important lesson an aging athlete can learn is when not to lift.

I've had a very busy week.  I had a great day lifting on Wednesday, but then had to spend a lot of Thursday and Friday sitting in bad chairs, hunched over playing the guitar through a couple of rehearsals and a performance.  Today is Saturday - I had thought about lifting again on Friday but my back was tired and sore from the Thursday night rehearsal, and today, my back was tired and sore from yesterday's performance.

I will very likely lift again tomorrow, Sunday.

Today, I slept late, stretched, walked, and took a nap.

I'm on a 3x/week program now, but if that gets spread out to 3 times in 8 or 9 or 10 days, that's cool.

Onward and Upward

Variety - pistols and pushups

Tired and sore from all my travels:

Walk a bit - it's very hot and humid so not too much.

(bw pistol x left, right + one-arm, one-leg pushup on 2-step elevation x left, right ) x 2

Onward and Upward

First Day Back after SF Barbell Cert and 1000 miles of driving

First day back, have decided to try a ladder cycle on narrow grip bench presses and front squats:

BP, grip pinkies just inside the rings

135: (1-2-3) x 3, (3-3) x 1 - counts as 4 ladders to 1-2-3.  Doing the 4th ladder as 3-3 probably cost me doing a 5th ladder - note to self, perhaps not the best choice for the future.

brought squat stands in from the deep recesses of the garage, a workout by itself

FSQ:

bar x 3

135 x 1-2-3 - paused 1 and 2 rep sets, bounced 3 as back felt better but should really pause these, too, for my goals, or at least continue to mix them.  All bounced?  Too easy to hit a wall where it doesn't work and not have the strength to progress further.  All paused?  Good, just need some practice at bounced.

break to teach a lesson, then more FSQ but only a little time in which to do them.

135: (3, 3) x 3 - today was heavy day, equal to 4 x (1-2-3) for both FSQ and BP

Onward and Upward

BP 185 x 1, DL 225 for a few, bw pistols

Monday, walk about 4-5 miles

Today, some stretching then:

BP: 135 x 3, 155 x 1, slightly raised bench, 165 x 1, 175 x 1, 185 x 1 - slow but it went

DL: 225 x 3 right under, 225 x 3 left under

short walk

bw pistol, lf, alternating singles total 2 each way - bw pistol is the perfect after-DL back stretch, IMHO.

Feeling pretty ready and on schedule for the SF Barbell cert this coming weekend.  Weighed 151 lbs. even this morning, would like to be 148 on Friday morning.

Onward and Upward

Walk, a few Windmills and Snatches

Hips tired, sore, tight after DL yesterday, so just walked and stretch

Today, Sunday:

walk more - really hot, did about 2-1/2 or 3 miles with a long coffee break in the middle

18: a few windmills and snatches each side.  Both of these are good checks of my form and shoulder health.

Onward and Upward.

A few barbell lifts: MP, FSQ, SQ, BP, DL

Getting ready for the AZ StrongFirst Barbell certification

MP:  95 x 4, 4

FSQ: 135 x 5

SQ: 135 x 3, 155 x 5

BP: bar x 3, 135 x 5, 155 x 3, 170 x 1, 175 x 1 - enough for today

DL: narrow sumo

265 x 3 right under

285 x 3 left under

Onward and Upward

MP, SQ in a few different ways.

StrongFirst Barbell Cert coming up, let's practice our standing military press:

bar x 5

65 x 5

85 x 5, 2 - second set, focus on using front shoulder muscles, felt fine

Long break

Decided to try some of the SFB tests

SQ: 135 x 5 deep and paused - will need to do bodyweight, haven't done this in a while

FSQ: 135 x 5 deep and paused.

Zerchers are a lift I don't do and they're on the lift list but not the test list.

bar x 3

95 x 2 - need to lower safeties even further, x 3 - need to figure out where to put elbows, seems like inside knees would be best.

Onward and Upward

BP

Spent a fair amount of the weekend in a car, did a few FSQ w/ 135 before I left - felt great.

Today, Monday:

BP:

135 x 3

155 x 3, 3, 4

165 x 2, 2

Enough for today

Onward and Upward