Lifts & Chicks: I Crush 'Em RAW

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 10-Jan-2016

Not a ton to report on this week. Taking a week or two to deload, so all I did this week was some speed work on deads and squats (pain-free, from a 10in box). Deads was 315x1x5 with one minute rests. Very stout.

I continue to be amazed at how my grip strength improves with the indoor rock climbing.

I'll probably keep the deload going this week as I'm still feeling a tad fatigued.

The other thing is since the 27th of December, I have eliminated sugar, grain, dairy, and alcohol. I don't expect this level of strictness to endure forever, but I'm just kind of riding it. I feel great so far and I'd like to see how it carries over to being completely fresh after the deload.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 25-Jan-2016

OK, back in action last week. I don't have any new stats. I'll get some this week.

Started adding a little volume to my squat workouts, but will probably only do them once every two weeks. Worked up to an easy and pain-free 255x5.

Deads are feeling very strong. Did speed work of 8x1 @ 305 with 60s rests. Bar speed was strong throughout. I haven't done a max-effort single in a while, but my speed and volume work has improved drastically lately. It may take a couple of heavier days to translate that progress into a good showing on a single, but I think I'll see some big numbers soon. Potentially PRs.

Pressed this past week too. 125x5, which is solid. I would have liked to get 6 but I climbed the day before so was probably dealing with a bit of upper body fatigue.

I also did a day of playing around with bodyweight exercises for max reps. I did 70 pushups, 25 pull-ups, and 5 muscle-ups. My guess, especially with the muscle-ups, is that without the other exercises, the number would be a bit higher. Regardless, some numbers to work against.

Everything is feeling great.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 01-Feb-2015

Weight: 151.2lb
Waist: 29.2in
Neck: 14.1in
Military Bodyfat: 9.49%

Finally some new measurements. Pretty good ones too. The smallest my waist has been in the last year is 28.9in, so I'm right there... but I was 146-147lbs when it was that small. This confirms what the mirror has been telling me, which is that I gained a few pounds of muscle. My chest, shoulders, and arms are noticeably bigger over the last 3 months. The increased volume due to my interest in bodyweight training and rock climbing is likely the cause there. Encourging stuff.

IN THE GYM THIS WEEK

This week was really cool, albeit a bit random.

Some of the highlights:

Bench: 215x6
--Should have gotten 7 but I hit the hooks on 3 reps, which kind of ****ed up my groove. Even so I think this is a one rep improvement over the last time I had 215 on the bar.

Deadlift: 405x1
--Very easy, very fast. It's been a solid 6 weeks or more since I pulled anything moderately heavy so it's cool that the speed and volume stuff I've done has kept me in good form. I did 420x1 about 2 or 3 months ago. I think within the next several weeks I'll try to eclipse that.

Weighted Pull-ups: 50x3, 60x3, 65x3
--Pretty solid on these. I want to get 100 for a triple this year.

I also went to a Strongman gym with a friend. I'd never done a lot of those exercises. Some of them:

Circus Dumbbell Presses: 60 and 75lbs
Axle Clean and Press: 125 and 145lbs
10yd Sandbag Carries: 70, 150, 200lbs
Tire Flips: 465x8

The sandbags were the most challenging and fun.

All of that was in addition to two climbing sessions and an upper body calisthenics session as well. Lots of work but I'm sleeping and eating well. Recovery seems to be holding up.

That's all. Really enjoying my training and fitness endeavors these days. It's been years since I was this fired up for fitness.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 07-Feb-2015

Weight: 151.0lb (-0.02lb)
Waist: 29.0in (-0.2in)
Neck: 14.1in (no change)
Military Bodyfat: 9.02% (-0.47%)

This is great. This puts my lean mass about 137lbs, which means is as high as it's been in a long time. A few more pounds would be good but I'm feeling pretty great about things lately. If I can continue as I've done over the last 6 months or so and lean up slightly while putting on a bit more muscle, I'll be pretty stoked. Diet has been super strict so far this year. No alcohol, no dairy, no grain, no sugar. It's paying off in all sorts of ways, aesthetics being just one.

This week in the gym...

SQUAT: 265x5
--Felt nice. I'm squatting barefoot now too. Trying to eek out as much ankle mobility as I possibly can. Didn't seem to change my strength too much. Now only 100lbs off my PR, ha.

ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS: 230x8 for 5 sets
--Easy, but a nice shot of volume so it got a bit tough the last two sets.

PRESS: 135x2
--This was a disappointment. I should have hit 3 or 4. I was VERY fatigued from climbing a lot lately, so that's likely to blame. This is still 5/3/1 protocal and I needed to hit 3, so if I can't hit my next go, I'll start programming something new. Likely a reverse pyramid.

DB ROWS: 110x10 for 4 sets
--This is about the limits of my rowing abilities, it would seem. Very tough on all but the first set.

I was having trouble sleeping this week. When a pattern like that develops, I've found it means I'm accumulating a lot of fatigue. That could certainly be the case as I've been doing a LOT of physical activity lately. Outside of what I've listed here, there's the climbing. Plus a lot of single leg work (a whole workout Friday). Plus a lot of gymnastics style stuff - Muscleups, L-Sits, Straddle Front Levers. Plus some conditioning stuff (Prowler pushes, for example).

I've also stared to get those little nagging aches and pains that sometimes signal that to me too.

I'll monitor it this week and perhaps think about cutting back a little bit. Next scheduled deload is two full training weeks away.

On a side note, my climbing grip strength is getting really good.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 14-Feb-2015

Weight: 150.8lb (-0.02lb)
Waist: 28.9in (-0.1in)
Neck: 14.1in (no change)
Military Bodyfat: 8.87% (-0.15%)

Pretty much the same as the week before.

Dietwise, I'm adding in a few more calories... primarily in the form of a more substantial carb reload on Mondays or Tuesdays. Basically on my hardest BB workout of the week. I'm getting pretty lean and my activities levels are pretty high, so that should be a beneficial way to help keep my metabolism from downregulating and keep my testosterone and thyroid levels optimal too. Plus, who doesn't like eating more food.

I've also been reading more about forming one's diet around macros. The concept is obviously not new to me, but I've never actually done it so reading about various breakdowns between fat, protein, carbs, and fiber has been enlightening. The way I usually do things right now is basically hit a carb goal for the day, and then interchangeably eat protein and fat to get me to my basic calorie levels.

That's a very easy way of doing things but I think the 9-10% bodyfat range is where it starts to reach the end of it's effectiveness. The only trouble is compared to most of the calculators I've seen, my fat levels are much higher and my carb levels are much lower. So if I move in that direction, it'll probably be a gradual change where those two move to the new targets very incrementally.

More exploration needs to be done. For now, the once weekly carb-up is pretty cool.

In the gym...

Let's do a little bit more of a weekly breakdown. Helps to see how I am structuring things.

MONDAY
***Cannot remember what I did Climbed maybe?


TUESDAY
OFF
***Light mobility and prehab work only, which I basically try to do every day


WEDNESDAY
Volume Deadlift
335x4x4
***Pretty smooth. Last set was maybe a little bit harder than I was hoping.

Support Work
-Glute Ham Raises
-DB Lunges
-KB Goblet Squats
-Ab Wheel Rollout
***This was a lot less volume than usual. This week I was feeling a fair amount of accumulated fatigue. But I also have some Achilles inflammation at the very top of my right heel because of my climbing shoes, so I was trying minimize ankle movement as much as possible.

Interval Work (15 min)
-1-Arm KB Snatches: 30lb x 6/side
-Dragon Flags: 10
-Med Ball Slams: 10lb x 10
-Overhead KB Windmills: 20lb x 6/side
-Turkish Get-Ups: 30lb x 3 /side
***I managed 4 rounds in fifteen minutes. The Turkish Get-Ups are the longest and hardest part of this series.


THURSDAY
Climbing
***On account of my heel bothering me, I am not wearing climbing shoes and am therefore just "campusing" everything. Which means climbing without my feet. That makes for a big-time grip and explosive-pulling workout.


FRIDAY
Light Core Day
-L-sits
-Toes-to-Bar
-Straddle Front Lever
-Front Lever Bicycles
***Just ****ing around a little bit after some mobility stuff

SATURDAY & SUNDAY
OFF
***Trying to get a few extra days of recovery in.


So yeah, that's where I am right now. Things are going great.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 21-Feb-2015

Weight: 149.2lb (-1.6lb)
Waist: 28.8in (-0.1in)
Neck: 14.0in (-0.1in)
Military Bodyfat: 9.04% (+0.17%)

Dropped some weight and the waist reading went down. Kind of a big drop but I'm not reading too much into it.

It's actually a little funny... as I mentioned last week, I'm moving to a more macro-oriented approach, which has me eating both more total Calories and more carbs than I'm used to. Nonetheless, I got leaner this week. Go figure. Right now, doing one carb re-feed per week at 250g and the rest of the days are moderate carbs (150g). I'll probably add a second day at 250g this week if I'm still progressing the same after mid-week.

It's even more intriguing since I deloaded pretty significantly this week and did a lot less than I usually do.

Here's the basic diet breakdown.

Regular Day:
2355 kcal
150g carb (incl. 30g fiber)
135g protein
135g fat

High-Carb Day
2755 kcal
250g carb (incl. 50g fiber)
135g protein
135g fat

Still pretty high-fat but that's what I'm used to and I'm just trying to ease into any changes to encourage adherence.

I'm also keeping fiber pretty high (20% of carbs) because that's also a way for me to ease into this from a psychological standpoint. I'm not used to a lot of carbs.

Finally, I've been pretty strict about food choices for some time now. In fact, as I've mentioned, I cut out all alcohol, dairy, grains, and sugars (except fruit) after Christmas day. Now that I'm trying this new macro approach, I'm also adopting a little bit of the IIFYM mentality: allowing 10% of my calories each week to come from what I would usually restrict. There's no doubt in my mind that a restrictive diet has helped my composition, my performance, my skin, my hormones, my health, etc... I don't think anyone can argue that natural food would do otherwise. But there's also no doubt in my mind that it's hard to eat like that 100% of the time and when I fall off the bandwagon, I fall off hard (AKA eat lots of the restricted stuff in a 1-2 hour binge every once in a while). I think this 10% rule is a pretty effective way of having the best of both worlds. This was the first week of that and it felt good to eat some white bread with eggs and not feel bad about it... or better yet, no go, well I had one slice, I might as well eat the whole loaf

My physique improved, I felt good as the week went on, and my gym time was productive. Doesn't get much better than that.

Onward to the gym...

I deloaded big time this week. Last weekend, I kind of dawned on me that I was VERY fatigued. All the telltale signs started to creep up: irritability, poor sleep/restlessness at night, feeling achy and difficult to get out of bed (even if slept OK), decreased sex drive, accumulation of lots of little aches/pains/injuries, excessive muscle soreness, increased anxiety, a little bit of a head cold, and just being more tired.

My performance hadn't suffered (yet) but for me, that's actually usually the last thing to go. So I knew it was time to ease off the gas a little bit. I'm feeling much better now, but I'll keep this going through this week (and then I'm in Lake Tahoe skiing all next week).

MONDAY
Bench Press: 230x3
Standing 1-Arm Cable Rows: 80x8x3
15 min upper body circuit (1 muscle-up, 5 DB cuban presses with 30lbs, 3 chin ups, 10 wide grip pushups, 6 hanging toes to bar, then repeat)
--Very solid on bench. I didn't expect to be this strong, that's as much as I've done in a while.



TUESDAY
Squat: 5 sets going up to 270x5
Speed DLs: 320x1 for 4 sets @ 60s intervals
5 min core circuit (5 dragon flags alternated with 10 KB swing with 50 lbs, then repeat)


WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY/FRIDAY
Off

SATURDAY
Press: 140x1.5
--Should have had a double here

SUNDAY
Climbing
Grip training (mostly campus board and rock rings)
Pullups (explosive, hands coming off & some archers)
Wide grip pushups w/ feet elevated (3x15 with 20s rest)
Abs (L-sits, 1-legged front levers, toes to bar)
--Nothing too extreme. Pretty light day. Grip strength is really improving.

That's it. A big volume reduction for the week. Feeling great about where I am right now. Not doing anything until Wednesday, so should be feeling even better.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 06-March-2016

OK... two weeks of updates needed. This past week I was in Lake Tahoe skiing with my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, and their two sons. Great time with family. I'm very blessed to have these people in my life. I'm 31 years old and each year I become more and more thankful for my family.

I've been skiing since I was 5 years old. I'm quite good. And even though I don't really get it in like I used to, I'd say I'm the best I've ever been right now. Much of that is skill. I've learned to watch other great skiers and quickly make adjustments to my own skiing to improve fast. But I think a lot of it is also the training I've been doing recently. I'm more explosive, agile, and conditioned than (perhaps) ever before and it showed on the mountain. Bouldering has also given me a lot of good body control and my air game is strong and comfortable right now.

I skied six days in a row. That's a lot of "volume" so I'm feeling a bit drained today (plus jet-lagged).

On a nutrition note, I didn't gain any weight despite eating basically whatever I wanted the entire time. The key was just trying to hit my macro goals each day (with very loose and fast estimating). I probably went significantly over on about 2 of the 8 days I was traveling. Seems to not have mattered at all. I suppose the takeway is the IIFYM thing seems to be very good from an adherence and emotional/mental standpoint.

The jury is still out for me on the health-front. I've been getting my bloodwork checked every few months since last January. I particularly follow my test, free test, estrogen, thyroid, luteinizing hormone, etc... I'm going to get a pretty extensive panel done in about 3 weeks to see how all of that is working out given the 10% "free food" budget I've established for myself.

Finally, the week before I left, I had some great training days:

Deadlift: 425x1
--A very easy pull and (I believe) the heaviest I've done since Fall 2011. 450lb is my all-time PR. Seems like that may realistically fall sometime soon.

Bench: 240x2
--A little bit of a struggle but form was tight and the reps were smooth. Coincidentally, I just opened this journal on the first page on accident and 240x2 was the PR I was working with at the time. That might seem like a failure, but my bodyweight was 170lbs, which is more than 20lbs heavier than I am now (I was much fatter).

Back to the regular schedule now...

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 13-March-2015

Weight: 150.7lb
Waist: 28.9in

Weight and waist were up slightly, but I think that was on account of vacation last week. I think by week's end (i.e. today) they had actually come back down. That's kind of crazy because I'm averaging about 2470 kcal per day right now. That's a lot of food for a 150lb'er to be losing weight on. I'll take it though.

I have a "boys' weekend" with my college buddies in early April. We're going to Scottsdale, AZ, which is pool-party central and I'm one of the only single ones left. Point is, I'll probably let the fat continue to drop until then. Once I wow the babes and come back I'll add in some more calories and maybe do a proper bulk for a bit.

Here's what I did this week:

MONDAY
Squat: 275x5
--Maybe a little harder than I anticipated but also was just two days removed form 6 straight days of skiing so probably a little fatigued.

Speed Deads: 310x1x8 @ 60s intervals.
--Real fast. Which at this percentage of 1RM is pretty freaking encouraging. My RFD has definitely gone up in recent months.

Strict Step-ups
Goblet Bulgarian Split Squats
Abs


TUESDAY
OFF


WEDNESDAY
OH Press Reverse Pyramid
125x4
115x6
110x8
--Not the best. I think my OH press has stalled and even regressed slightly. Part of it is likely fatigue from all the other climbing and gymnastics stuff I'm doing lately. Very hard on the shoulders. I'm not sure if I can progress on less volume. I'll figure it out I guess.

Head Supported DB Rows
60x10x4
--I've never been a huge fan of this exercise, but this may have changed my outlook. For some reason, these felt great.

Incline DB Press
60x10x4
--Strong. I tried this a few weeks back and went sets of 10, 10, 8, 8, so that's a nice improvement.

Climbing


THURSDAY
Off


FRIDAY
Random gymnastics stuff
--Front lever training
--L-sits
--Rear lever training / skin-the-cats

Climbing


SATURDAY
Front squat and OH squat as mobility

Hip thrusts: worked up to 295x5

Box and depth jumps

Sled dragging: 90lbs backpedal supersetted with 90lbs bear walking
--I don't know the length of each of these, perhaps 30 yards? In any case, I did five rounds in 10 minutes as was toasted.


SUNDAY (today)
Climbing

That's a lot of stuff for the week. A lot of climbing volume especially. My elbows, wrists, and fingers are feeling it right now. But all in all, aside from my OH pressing, everything is great. Good stuff.

[Alpha Zulu]

[QUOTE=Alpha Zulu;1429483701]Weekly Review: 28-March-2016

Weight: 150.8lb
Waist: 28.6in

OK two weeks of updates needed...

Not a ton of super exciting stuff. More than anything, I'm getting a little dinged up, so I'm going to step back on volume for about two weeks, and then start ramping weights. I think with some volume reduction and recovery, followed by some work in the 1-3 rep ranges, I can hit some bigger numbers in the next few weeks.

Anyway, since last post:

Bench: skipped because my elbow was bothering me.
Press: 125x5 which was a 1-rep improvement but still down a bit. I also tweaked my trap a bit.
Squat: 280x5. Really smooth. Not easy but crisp, tight, and relatively fast, so I'm happy.
Deads: 410x1. Just a 95% lift to keep a heavy BB in my hands. Breath and setup were mucked up and it was still easy, so that's good.
I had some improvements on DB Incline Presses and Head-Supported DB Rows too.

None of these little dings lasts more than a day or two, which is how I know I'm pushing into fatigue territory. I guess I'm still learning how to manage all my activities.

Comp-wise, I've gotten a bit leaner, dropped a little on my waist, and stayed about the same weight. Cool. Still averaging about 2400kcal per day too, which is a lot of food for a 150lber to be leaning up. I may drop it slightly over the next 10 days before my little vacation. After that, I'll eat a bit more to correspond to the strength phase. I don't really have any desire to go above 155lbs though. Most of the activities I like, aside from pure low-end barbell strength, benefit from a good strength: weight ratio and not having a TON of muscle.

Anyway, I think the overall most important thing right now is to just back off on total volume (including the bouldering and other ****) for a month or so. That'll work out to 2-3 weeks of deload followed by a pretty aggressive push on intensity. It's been a while since I had a proper, long deload. I've taken little ones here and there, but this is a bit overdue.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 04-April-2016

Weight: 149.8lb
Waist: 28.5in

I dropped about 100kcal per day and then came the whoosh, haha. Lost about a pound in a week. It's crazy how the body responds to the slightest little nudge sometimes. I'll let that continue through my trip this weekend and then put those calories back in.

Not too much to report on performance-wise. I was on a deload.

MONDAY
Mobility Only


TUESDAY
Mobility Only


WEDNESDAY
Deadlifts
340x4
340x4
--I wanted to do four sets here, intended this to be my only real work of the week but on the last rep of that second set, I felt my low back tweak a little bit. My setup was all wrong through the entire workout. Hips too low. I pull with pretty high hips. Whatever. Works for me and every time my hips drop, intentionally or not, I am weaker and often have this happen. It's nothing, fine now, but it was tight as all hell for about 36 hours. I'm just glad I was smart enough to shut it down after that set. A year or two ago I probably would have pushed through, which could have spelled disaster.

Single Leg Box Jumps
--I don't know what the height is but I hit a new box here. It's a bit above my waist, so maybe that's 36in or so? I'll try to figure it out.

10min Circuit:
-1-Arm KB Snatches: 30lb x 6/side
-Dragon Flags: 5
-Med Ball Slams: 10lb x 10
-Overhead KB Windmills: 30lb x 6/side
-Turkish Get-Ups: 30lb x 3 /side
--I got three rounds in ten minutes, which I guess is OK.

THURSDAY
Mobility Only


FRIDAY
Bench
195x3
195x3
195x3
--Deload weights. I'll begin ramping up in this 3x3 scheme starting next workout. I'll be conservative, probably just 5 lbs jumps, as I'm letting this serve as a more extended recovery. Same with deadlifts, which I think I'll also move from 4x4 to 3x3.

Pendlay Rows
185x5
185x5
--Might start working these in a bit.

Climbing


SATURDAY
Mobility Only


SUNDAY
Climbing

No surprise, with the volume reduced, I was climbing MUCH better this week. Killing it. I suppose that will be the added benefit of this little extended ramp-up I'll be doing for the next few weeks.

I also managed to do my first-ever ring muscle-up. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. I think very few people are capable of that, so I felt good about it. I'm also really close to getting a crisp handstand, front lever, and back lever. I can V-sit pretty well now too, although not for any extended period of time.

Good stuff going on lately. Hopefully this slight change in training doesn't mess things up. I've had success with the programming I've been on that I'm reluctant to stop it but I know my body needs less volume right now. It's the same principles and general set-up so it shouldn't be a problem. Just my mind playing tricks on me I suppose.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 17-April-2016

OK... AZ with my boys was insane. A lot of fun. A lot of drinking. Came back weighing about the same so no harm, no foul.

MONDAY
Mobility + Light Cardio
***Just trying to get back into the groove after the weekend of partying.

TUESDAY
Press:
115x3
115x3
115x3
***I'm moving into a more low-volume, high-intensity bit of programming (not just for press, but more-or-less across the board). This was easy but as the next 2-3 weeks unfold, I'll be ramping all lifts up to pretty tough percentages.

Pendlay Rows
155x5
155x5
155x5
***Basically what I just said about press, applies here too

1-Arm Inverted Row
3 sets of 5

Feet Elevated, Wide Grip Ring Pushups (without leaning into strap)
3 sets of 10
***When you endeavor to not lean on the straps, these get way harder. I was crazy sore the next day.

Bouldering


WEDNESDAY
Squats
280x5
***A little tough but I think I was still recovering from the bender weekend. In any case, tough does not mean they didn't feel good from a movement standpoint. Hips felt great. Form was rock solid and tight. I'm finally starting to get some weight on the bar again.

Speed Deads
315x1 for 6 sets @ 1 min interval

Pistol Squats to 10in Box
3 sets of 5

X-Band Walks
3 sets of 10 steps

15 min jump rope


THURSDAY
Bouldering


FRIDAY
Off


SATURDAY
Cleans
***Lots of reps on cleans and lots of fronts squats after each. Only went up to 135. Trying to nail the clean technique and use the front squatting as mobility. That said, my interest in clean technique is because I've recently become fascinated in cleaning, probably because of my recent interest in power development. I'd be cool to hit 225lb. I might take a class or two with a coach, just to get a bit better.

35 in Box Jumps
3 sets of 6

KB Waiter's Carry Lunges
15lb (each hand) x 10 for three sets
***Great for hip health

L-Sits
3 sets of 12 sec (10 sec rest)
***Harder than it sounds

Sandbag Carries
***I don't know how much this sandbag weighs. It's somewhere in the 100 - 150lb range. I was walking it about 20 yards, resting 45 seconds and repeating. I was toasted after about 10 or 12 intervals. I didn't count. This also is a brutal grip workout, which was detrimental to my climbing today (Sunday), so I'll have to keep that in mind.


SUNDAY
Bouldering
Easy-Moderate Hiking (about 4.5 miles and hilly but nothing too hard)


Good week with the exception of a dinner with clients on Friday that was pretty gluttonous. The food was neverending. Delicious too. Not a big deal in the long-run but I do really want to strip away this last layer of lower-ab fat - stuff like that doesn't help the cause haha. My bouldering continues to improve, and for the most part (outside of fatigue) seems to be really benefitting the rest of my lifting. I guess it's body awareness and back strength. I'll take it.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 24-April-2016

Weight: 149.2

Weight has come down ever so slightly. I'm trying to get the last little bit of fat loss I've been targeting over and done with. So I did 30min of fasted cardio 3x this week, per Lyle McDonald's Stubborn Fat Loss Protocol. For me, my upper abs, lower legs, and forearms all stay pretty lean all the time. My lower abs, lower back, and outer chest are the last areas to lose fat, which is what I'm targeted now. Getting a couple of lower ab veins, which is usually a leading indicator of getting there, so that's nice.

Waist is around 28.5in, which is as small as it's been in probably more than four years. Thighs are at 22in. Makes it a bit hard to buy pants.

MONDAY
Mobility + Fasted Cardio


TUESDAY
Deadlift:
345x3
345x3
345x3
***Kind of a joke how easy this was. I guess that's the point since I'm ramping up on this 3x3 scheme and these are the early days.

Box Jumps:
3 sets of 10 on 24in box

Glute Ham Raises
BW+15x5
BW+15x5
BW+15x5

Goblet Squats (slow and deep for mobility, particularly ankles)
15x10
15x10
15x10

Donkey Calf Raises
205x6
205x6
205x6
205x6

Hell Conditioning:
Sled push with 180lbs
Walking lunges with 50lbs
10 med ball slams with 10lb
***Did this for 15min. Wanted to die. The sled was particularly tough.


WEDNESDAY
Bench:
205x3
205x3
205x3
***See comments about easy 3x3 scheme. Will get harder over the next 2-4 weeks for sure.

Chest Supported T-Bar Row
140x6
140x6
140x6

Weighted Dips
BW+75x5
BW+75x5
BW+75x5

Cable Woodchops
30x6/side
30x6/side
30x6/side

Band Pullaparts for Speed
3 sets of 15
***Just done explosively with a pause at the end and a controlled negative

Bouldering
***Climbed like ****


THURSDAY
Mobility & Fasted Cardio


FRIDAY
Bouldering
***Climbed like **** again


SATURDAY
Mobility + Fasted Cardio
***Using front squats and overhead squats w/ 65lbs as a good mobility exercise, plus a bunch of my more typical mob stuff.


SUNDAY
Plyo Pushups (6 block height): 6x3 @ 1min

Strict Bar Muscle Ups: 3x3
***As strict as I can get. Getting better at minimizing leg kip.

Handstand Pushups (against wall): 3x5

Plyo Pullups: 6x2 @ 1 min

Assisted (with elastic band) 1-Arm Pullups: 1x4/side + long negative

Tuck Planche Statics

L-Sit Statics

Random ab stuff

***My climbing buddy was busy today and my grip is wrecked right now, so I just did a bunch of BW stuff. Would be awesome to hit a planche this year, but I can barely tuck planche, so that might be a lofty goal. The bodyweight stuff is awesome and ALWAYS leaves me feeling great (like all muscles mobilized and activated nicely).

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 15-May-2016

Just a small drop in weight over the last three weeks (although I suspect I might be ~1lb lighter than the scale is showing and holding a bit of water right now. Sitting @ 149.1lb.

It's been three weeks since I posted last. Been dropping the ball in that department.

The good news is in addition to leaning up a bit, the reduction in volume has let some of my strength catch back up (and my climbing has been going very well too).

Some highlights:

Deadlift: 3x3 @ 350
--Easy

Squat: 3x3 @ 270
--Also pretty easy

Glute Ham Raises: 3x5 @ BW+20
--Not easy ha

Bench: 3x3 @ 210
--Easy

Weighted Dips: 3x5 @ BW+80

OH Press: 3x3 @ 125
--This is pretty encouraging. Wasn't super easy but it was manageable and I definitely thought it would be harder since I had been stalling out doing 4 or 5 reps at this weight.

Elevated Handstand Pushups (feet on wall): 2x5
--These are tough, and may be the reason for the improved OH pressing.

Corner Rows w/ Hammer Grip: 3x4 @ 175
--Kinda tough. I really like these though. Don't do them enough.

Pendlay Rows: 3x5 @ 160
--Way easy.

So yeah, it looks like my deload into intensity and higher weights is working well. I'm feeling rested and the weights are going up at a nice click. Great stuff going on now. I'm FINALLY returning to Hawaii next week, which could be an interesting development. Take all the lifting and climbing and other gymnastics and playtime type stuff I do and then add in daily surfing/canoeing/SUPing/diving and that's a lot of work for my body. I guess we'll see what happens.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 20-June-2016

Wow... been over a month since I last posted. Been a crazy, hectic month getting settled back into life in Hawaii.

Lifting has been a little inconsistent, but not too bad. I've been crazy active in other ways and I'm in a good routine now.

Had to up calories a little bit because I was dropping weight from all the extra activity, plus from riding a bike most places instead of driving. My average daily weight last week was down to 146.3, which is as low as I've seen since 2011. The good news is I'm quite lean and now have a plan in place to begin a light bulk for the next two-ish months. I gotta put on some muscle and realize some of those pent-up strength gains I know I have.

Here's what last week looked like.

MONDAY
Press
125x3
125x3
125x3
--These have stalled a little bit. Repeating at this weight. Press seems to be the most impacted lift whenever I climb or surf myself out a bit too much. I also have a slight little bit of elbow tendinitis which is most aggrevated by pressing overhead.

Pendlay Rows
170x5
170x5
170x5
--These just keep getting stronger and stronger.

Dips
BW+85x5
BW+85x5
--Getting tough

TRX Reverse Flies
3 sets of 8

Little bit of "playtime" with front levers, L-sits, and muscle-ups.

TUESDAY
~90 min surfing
--Still getting back into surfing shape. I've never found an exercise or cross-training activity capable of building the power-endurance needed for surfing. But, bouldering and explosive bodyweight upper body work seems to have made my bursts of power into a wave much faster.

WEDNESDAY
~90 min bouldering
--Not too good because I was fatigued from the surfing previous day.

THURSDAY
Off day. Played in my apt's pool a little.

FRIDAY
Squat
275x3
275x3
275x3
--Pretty easy, especially considering I'd only done one set of heavy squats in about 4 weeks.

Speed Deadlifts
315x1 for 6 sets @ 1 min
--These were OK but I would have liked them to be easier. I guess the squatting beforehand slowed them down a little bit.

Pistol Squats to 8in Box
4 sets of 6/leg

15 min MetCon Circuit
--KB Snatch: 16kg x 3/arm
--Hanging Toes to Bar: 6
--KB Swing: 16kg x 6
--KB Windmill: 16kg x 3/arm
I'm pretty sure I made it through 6 or 7 rounds of that.

SATURDAY
~90 min bouldering
--Much better than the first time around as I was much better rested.

SUNDAY
~60 min surfing
--Smaller waves which made for an easier and more relaxed session.

So yeah, that's a pretty standard week. If anything, there will be more surfing and outdoor activities but I was pretty busy with work and other errands this week. Still getting some things checked off the list.

I'm down to only two real gym sessions per week. But that's a little bit misleading as maybe every other week I've been going into the gym for a little extra squat and clean work (as a little bit of mobility work) and if my elbow wasn't bothering me right now I'd probably do a little bit of extra bodyweight playtime one day in the week too.

Looking good. I'd love to be able to carve out some time for dedicated mobility/yoga/stretching workouts a few times a week too.

Excited to see what a few extra calories will do mass-wise and my strength is pretty good for a 146lbs at the moment.

[Alpha Zulu]

[QUOTE=Alpha Zulu;1448780933]Weekly Review: 26-June-2016

Still at a low-low weight: 146.5lb.

I'm going to add a second weekly carb refeed moving forward and add a little bit of protein and fat back into the diet too. That should be a nice rounded approach that will average out to an extra 200kcal per day or so. I guess we'll see how that holds up.

This past week...

MONDAY
Deadlift
360x3
360x3
360x3
**I would have liked these to feel a bit lighter but my low back and lats were pretty fatigued from surfing the day before.

TUESDAY
~90 min surfing


WEDNESDAY
Reverse Pyramid Incline DB Press (2 min rest between sets)
70x6
65x8
60x10
**Decided to sub out BB Bench Pressing. Honestly, upper body BB pressing, especially bench press, seems pretty pointless to me these days. I'm mostly concerned with a) extreme functionality and b) some chest hypertrophy. For extreme functionality, I believe learning static gymnastics moves will have the most payoff... as well as providing some good hypertrophy... but I'm not quite sure how to program it for wrist/elbow/shoulder health. Not to mention success. While I figure that out, I'm moving to incline DB.

Slow Ascent and Descent Pullups
3 sets of 3

Wrist Mobility and Easy Planche Progressions

~60 min bouldering
**Pretty poor showering. I guess the back-to-back-to-back days of back intensive stuff leading into this left me a little fatigued.

THURSDAY
~90 min surfing

FRIDAY
Complete rest day


SATURDAY
~60 min surfing

SUNDAY
Complete rest day (although walked a ton)

Lots of activity in my weeks now. No wonder I've lost a few pounds and am feeling a bit run down. I need to dedicate more time to soft tissue work, mobility, etc... Been pretty lazy with that the last 4-6 weeks. I'm pretty tight in most areas. Other than that, loving where I am right now. Have found some way to balance all these things I love and still make progress in all of them. It's pretty great and a ton of fun.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 04-July-2016

No real reports to make aesthetically. I'm looking lean, fit, and athletic. I had a friend from Vancouver visiting all week though and we were eating out at least once per day so I'm sure my fat levels are up slightly. Nonetheless, she's an active girl so I still got all my workouts in, which minimized the damage from a haphazard, vacation-esque week of food (did not minimize wallet damage though, haha).

So onward to last week's activities.

MONDAY
20 min moderate pool swimming


TUESDAY
~90 min surfing 7ft board.


WEDNESDAY
~120 min paddling/surfing SUP board
***The distinction between boards being surfed is probably material in that a shorter board is much more fatiguing than a long board and a SUP board is probably the least fatiguing of all (assuming same wind/swell/tide/crowd conditions and the same duration, which are all other variables in the fatigue equation of surfing/paddling.)

THURSDAY
Standing Overhead DB Press
45x5
45x5
45x5
***Same as the bench pressing I mentioned. I feel there's some mobility/stability/hypertrophy value in switching from BB to DB right now.

Pendlay Rows
175x5
175x5
175x5
***Finally feeling a bit tough on these after several weeks of breezing through higher weights... but that was probably on account of the four straight days of swimming/surfing/paddling.

Banded External Shoulder Rotations
3 sets of 12 each

Tuck Planche and V-Sit Accumulations

~45 min bouldering
***Again, like the rows, my climbing was pretty poor after all the water-time earlier in the week.


FRIDAY
4 Sets High-Rep Squats
4 Sets High-Rep SLDLS
4 Sets High-Rep Clean Grip Reverse Lunges
***I tweaked my hamstring surfing last week. Unfortunately, I bothers me on both hinging movements and squatting movements, so I couldn't squat or deadlift heavy (also on hooking movements, like I'd do to stabilize feet on inverted climbing routes). So I opted for a lot of reps and volume at fairly low weights to get some blood moving through there. Seemed to help.

15min Circuit
16kg KB Snatch: 6/side
Dragon Flags: 6
10lb med ball slam: 10
16kg KB windmills: 6/side
16kg KB Turkish get ups: 3/side
***I've done this circuit before but this was a significantly heavier KB. Usually I get 5 rounds but with the added weight only managed 3.


SATURDAY
Full rest day (plus about 20 min riding bike for an errand)


SUNDAY
~200 min surfing
***Yes a 3.5 hr surf session. Today (Monday), I'm completely spent. Well worth it though as the waves were super fun and the crowd was pretty light. I got some really fun rides in.

I've been getting better about my mobility this last week. I set a goal of doing a dedicated (30 min minimum) mobility and health workout 3x per week in addition to about 10-15 min each morning. So far that seems very manageable.

The amount of weighted upper body work I'm doing continues to decrease as I spend more and more time doing gymnastics/body weight stuff. I can see a time in the not-too-distant future where my training looks a lot like this:

UPPER BODY
Gymnastics/body weight stuff
Traditional weighted exercises for horizontal rows (DB rows, Pendlay rows, T-Bar rows, cable rows, etc...)
***No real conditioning work because a) the gymnastics stuff builds great stamina and endurance but also b) climbing and watersports are basically upper-body conditioning already so that would be too much volume.

LOWER BODY
BB Squats/Deadlifts/Cleans
Single Leg Work
Explosive Work/Conditioning Work (jumps, KBs, loaded carries/pulls/drags, med balls, etc...)

And with all the other volume basically aiming for two of each of those workouts each week (or one of each and one hybrid/full-body).

I think I'm going to be buying the Gymnastics Bodies Foundation Courses to see how to program the gymnastics stuff. An added benefit of that is it's very heavily mobility-focused as well (can't do a lot of the movements if you're too restricted) so that will be adding a movement/health aspect to my training as well.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 17-July-2016

Wow, my average daily weight this week was down to 145.4 lbs. That's as low as I've seen it in probably 7 years or so.

The good news is I'm super lean and I don't have any real negative side effects to report (energy, sex drive, mood, etc...).

The bad news is my body seems to be achy and beat up, which is probably a combo of the unintentional caloric deficit and the loads of activity I do. So, immediately bumping up carbs and protein tomorrow.

And I will be very strict about counting macros and getting a good, manageable surplus in to gain some weight back. I feel like I've been saying that for a while and I do try to eat more, but it hasn't been structured. Mostly it's been, "Hey, weight looks likes it's down this week, I guess I'll order a pizza." It's time to make it systematic.


MONDAY
~60 min surfing
~60 min mobility


TUESDAY
~90 min bouldering


WEDNESDAY
~30 min mobility
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout


THURSDAY
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout
~60 min bouldering


FRIDAY
~90 min bouldering


SATURDAY
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout


SUNDAY
Will surf and do mobility this afternoon

Not much waves this week so I was climbing a lot more. Subsequently, had a better week of climbing than I have in a while. Nailed a couple problems that had been giving me... well... problems.

The Gymnastics Foundations Workout is tough to explain but it's progressions laid out to achieve each of the following (which you can Google if unsure of what is):

Front Lever
Straddle Plance
Hollow Back Press
Hands-Only Rope Climb
Single Leg Squat
Manna
Side Lever

Obviously, this does not train the lower body all that much. There's some good mobility and stability and even power necessary to achieve a single leg squat, but after I get through this for a few weeks, I'll be adding back at least one day per week of squats/deads/cleans/KBs and so on, as well as horizontal rowing (for carry over to deadlifts).

The way I'm thinking about it is essentially upper body trained like a gymnast and lower body trained like a mix of powerlifter/strongman/running back. I think that gets me about what I want out of my training.

[Alpha Zulu]

Weekly Review: 24-July-2016

Adding another high-carb day seems to have helped with both recovery and keeping me from dropping any more weight. Back up to 146lbs this week, haha.

Part of that may have also been that there were no waves so I didn't surf at all this past week


MONDAY
OFF
--First 100% off day in some time. Went out to dinner with a friend.


TUESDAY
~30 min mobility
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout


WEDNESDAY
~90 min bouldering


THURSDAY
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout


FRIDAY
~90 min bouldering


SATURDAY
~45 min mobility
Gymnastics Bodies Foundations Workout


SUNDAY
~45 min mobility
~60 min of "playtime": monkey bars, L-sits, playing on parallettes, plyo pushups, muscle-ups, front levers, etc...

[Alpha Zulu]

Been a hectic few weeks. Bit of travel for both work and fun. So been a little bit less active and a little bit more lenient on my diet.

Not a huge deal.

What is concerning me most is my left hamstring is still bothering me. It's been nearly two months now and I still can't really do anything lower body related without aggravating it. This is very surprising for what seemed to be a very minor muscle belly injury. I will still be traveling for another three weeks so hopefully increased downtime will do the trick. But if not, I will go see a doctor or ART when I return home.

On the plus side, I am noticing considering strength and functionality gains with the Gymnastics Bodies training. Stronger core. Stronger back. Stronger straight arm strength. Stronger pulling power. Better flexibility and movement. My climbing and surfing are benefitting big time. On the climbing side, my grip strength is becoming pretty crazy.

[Alpha Zulu]

Wow, I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted.

A hectic couple of months too. Unfortunately, the hamstring injury I mentioned back in JULY is still an issue. It was never bad but it has lingered and lingered and lingered. It's some sort of tendon issue. If finally seems like it's about healed but I haven't been able to do any lower body work this entire time AND I haven't been able to climb.

If it doesn't clear up in the next couple of weeks I need to have it looked at. Perhaps a cortisone shot or something is called for although I'd prefer to explore other modalities beforehand. Frustrating to say the least.

So what have I been doing... well, outside I've been surfing and swimming a lot. Inside it's been a ton of mobility work plus gymnastics training plus campus training (basically rock climbing with no feet) plus some horizontal pulling. So my grip and pulling strength/explosiveness are at all time highs. My core strength is at an all time high as well. And my mobility has improved a lot.

I also have great straight arm strength at the moment, which is something I never really knew was important but it has completely changed the way I look at upper body strength.

But my lower body strength is probably shot. And since I haven't been doing a lot of pressing I'm sure I'm weak there too.

It will all come back with time. I was also traveling a bit (and have a bit more) so diet hasn't been perfect. Maybe gained a couple of lbs.

In all, nothing major - all of these losses will come back and I'm confident that the increased mobility/straight arm strength/grip/back strength will help take me to new heights once I'm up and running in a good groove.

As long as I can surf, I'm happy. That said, priority one is getting my hammy back to 100% within the next 3-4 weeks.