Monday, April 17, 2023
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Woke-up and hit 55 burpees before breakfast. Also weighed 226.5 before eating anything. I'm looking and feeling like a large damn mammal.
Slept with my elbow wrapped and woke-up without the usual small ache, so gonna keep that up. I'm grateful that my elbow condition forced me to change up my pressing choices and that dips are such a significant part of my life again now. I've definitely noticed my lower chest filling in more as a result.
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Monday, April 10, 2023
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Friday, March 31, 2023
Woke-up for the early shift at 6:30 (needed no alarm, thankfully) and had time to knockout 50 burpees before leaving.
Yesterday after work I got in sets of 200x3x10 SSB good mornings. I was STUNNED at how light this felt. That's always been a weight that's on the heavier side but the suck factor that usually comes with good mornings simply wasn't there; it felt like my usual 150 was on my back. Also did 3 sets on the reverse hyper and one set of 8 with the ab wheel before an uphill run and ensuing jog afterwards.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Took yesterday completely off in a very rare total rest day. Today I did a back regimen called the McGill 3, then a 3-minute shadow kickboxing round before noticing I needed to eat then to make it to work on time.
Weight is still hovering around 220 so I'm adding more organic A2 milk to my diet. Roughly a quart a day at the moment. I'm looking much thicker in the right places, especially traps and shoulders.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Pressed 190x5 yesterday while my elbow was bugging me, so I switched to the log, working up to sets of 180 for 5 after repping 160x8 several times and super-setting them with weighted 45 lb chinups. Began and started with my wrist curl protocol, which always makes it feel good.
Happy to discover there was no pain under the log, though. Will give bar pressing a break for overhead lifts.
Despite that, elbow feels like it's trending in a positive direction. I'm doing the work to heal and training intelligently around it, so all that's left is time.
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Friday, March 24, 2023
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Woke-up and did 40 burpees, then 50 wrist curls and 50 reverse wrist curls. Elbow was angry at me the past two days after that overhead workout but it feels much better after wrist curls.
After breakfast I headed to a park close to the office and trained my coworker with two 15 lb kettlebells I picked up recently. While she was dying on her rest, I hit 23 neutral-grip chin-ups on the monkey bars. I was surprised at how easy these came while weighing 220 lbs, and could have done more.
Also, yesterday while training the client I meet at my home gym I got in axle Romanian deadlifts with 325x15, followed by 10 shrugs. It had unexpectedly started pouring so when I set the bar down mud splashed all over me, which we both got a laugh from. She works in park services so she's an outdoor person and isn't afraid to train in bad weather or dirt. I found someone as unhinged as me to train.
A little while later while I was cleaning up, I picked it up while passing by the bar and did 20 shrugs.
I'm pleased with how I'm growing. Just looking like a much stockier, thicker version of myself, but in the right places.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Monday, March 20, 2023
Friday, March 17, 2023
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
For yesterday's deload session, I did shoulder giant-sets taken from Mythical Strength's Little Book of Bad Ideas.
Axle press
150 x 10
Dips x 20
Lat raises 10 x 15
20 band pull-aparts
90 sec rest
BTN press 65 x 15
Dips x 12
Lat raises 10 x 10
20 band pull-aparts
90 sec rest
Log press
140 x 10
Dips x 8
Lat raises 10 x 10
20 band pull-aparts
Wanted to do dumbbell pressing for the second exercise but they made my elbow hurt.
Rather than run it again for 6 sets I called it a night there. It was almost 10pm, my elbow tendon was hurting, and my shoulders were blown up just from that (I realized mid-workout how sore they were from the reverse-grip benching done on Monday). I'm definitely going to be hitting this again with more intensity and sets for a non-deload session.
About the elbow, it's gotten problematic enough that I'm going to have to take it more serious than just try to avoid aggravating it and expecting it to get better in a few days. I definitely have golfer's elbow, and have a cursory rehab protocol in mind of wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, hand expansions in a bucket of sand, wrist rolling, and backwards hand stretches.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Completely forgot to log two cardio sessions. A few nights ago, did 1 backwards jog up Heart Attack Hill for knee health and to make the actual sprints harder, then 3 max-effort sprints. I'll have to time myself some time, but it's a good steep hill that I estimate runs for about 20 seconds with a hard sprint. Went on a cool-down run afterwards.
Yesterday, did a bunch of shadow kickboxing and a run afterwards.
Been eating like a monster. Will have to weigh myself soon. So much of my day is cooking and cleaning now. Just recently got my dishwasher in commission and it's been a lifesaver.
Monday, March 13, 2023
Friday, March 10, 2023
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Friday, March 3, 2023
* Good showing. Wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle benching today due to my elbow, but it was manageable despite hurting on warm-ups. Being under the 320 was funny, I forgot I was even existing in my body and just powered the weight up in a state of selflessness. As much as I don't like to rely on psych-up rituals, I do find them fun as long as I don't NEED them to perform, and this one Dragonball Super remix with a slow piano intro before Goku starts screaming has been a recent favorite track for my top-set. In the show, the slow part of the song is always at a point when Goku is seriously battered and messed-up before he finds a reserve of power and goes back into the new form, Ultra Instinct. Which is a cool idea in itself because it comes from mastering the art of acting without thinking ala martial arts or powerlifting, rather than some race-based transformation like Super Saiyan. I also loved that it only materializes after taking heavy damage and being backed into a wall, not anger or anything. It was a welcome change and translates great to lifting, when you need to call upon deeper pools of power to get this next set despite feeling like you're tired or even done.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Friday, February 24, 2023
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Monday, February 20, 2023
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Woke-up to 40 fasted burpees and then after breakfast, 3 rounds on the heavy bag. Filmed the footage and I've tightened a lot of things up. I'm picking shots, upping my activity in bursts but still keeping busy in other moments, feinting, moving my head, and rolling my shoulders more. Slipped a few times on the mud but that can't be helped.
