Return of the King

BossArky

Here are tonights squat:

60kg x8
70kg x8
80kg x4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ayAXvohU2I

BossArky

Thursday Feb 21st:

Run 5.5km (26:28) ... outdoors
---
Bike 5.5km ... outdoors retracing the run above to measure the distance
---

First outdoor run this year. Started off a bit too fast and slowed in the middle before picking up slightly in the last km. Glad that the loop is over 5km. That time when factored down would give me approx 24:06 mins for 5km. The loop involves climbing and descending stairs on either side of a road to could be a few seconds faster without that. Pleased to have a route figured out.

BossArky

Thursday Feb 21st (session 2):

Chin Ups (close grip, palms in-ish)
x13 x7 x5 x5 x5

Press Ups
x13 x13 x13 x15 x15
---
Clean & Jerk
42kg - 3 sets of 8 reps ... trying to learn this. Form is woeful no doubt
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External Rotation (dumbells, standing)
5kg per arm, 3 sets of 10 reps

Bent Over Row (barbell, wide grip)
32kg x10 x10 x15
---
Shoulder Dislocates
x10
---

Hanley

BossArky wrote: »

Here are tonights squat:

60kg x8
70kg x8
80kg x4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ayAXvohU2I

Holy sh!t. It doesn't even look like you're the same guy. That's a great improvement. The only things I'd say are take the bar down one in the rack, you seem to have to get up on your tippy toes to get it out? And if you're feeling too bent over you could try narrowing your stance a little bit and seeing how you fair.

BossArky

Thanks. I dropped the weight and concentrated on "sitting back into it" based upon the feedback from yourself and Trib in Oct/Nov. It took a while but it now feels much more natural than before (even though I almost fell over in the first lot there!)

Good point, I do need to bring it down a notch in the rack. Don't know what I was thinking putting it up that high in the first place. It has become a habit I need to break.

edit - is it bad to bend over as much as I do or does it matter as long as the back is kept straight? Does it mean I need to work on some flexibility?

Hanley

Once you're keeping your back flat it doesn't really matter that much. Some of the biggest squats have been done relatively bent over. It all comes down to leverages and where you're strongest I guess. My squat went up alot when I took my stance in and worked on keeping alot more upright tho. I'm not sure how true it is as an absolute, but it helped me.

Oh and you can never have too much flexibility

BossArky

Friday Feb 22nd:

Bench Press
60kg x8
70kg x5
60kg x8
70kg x5
50kg x10 ... wider than normal grip - index on ring
---
Deadlift
60kg - 4 sets of 5 reps ... first two sets were done before benching.. all the rest after
60kg - 4 sets of 6 reps ... all deadlifts today were shoulder width grip except for last two which were wide
---
Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbell)
20kg per arm, - 5 sets of 5 reps
---
Calf Raises
bodyweight, one leg at a time - 3 sets of 8 reps
---
Face Pulls
11.25kg - 3 sets of 8 reps
---

BossArky

Hanley wrote: »

Once you're keeping your back flat it doesn't really matter that much. Some of the biggest squats have been done relatively bent over. It all comes down to leverages and where you're strongest I guess. My squat went up alot when I took my stance in and worked on keeping alot more upright tho. I'm not sure how true it is as an absolute, but it helped me.

Oh and you can never have too much flexibility

Ok cool. I must experiment and see what happens to my back angle when the stance narrows. Going to give my legs a few days off for the next while.

BossArky

Sunday Feb 24th:

Bike 11.6km ... outdoors tracing out a 10km track for future runs

BossArky

Monday Feb 25th:

Swim 1250m as follows...

• 750m (20:35) front crawl ... sprint distance triathlon swim length
• 200m front crawl with paddles ... 2 sets of 100 metres
• 200m front crawl without paddles ... 2 sets of 100 metres
• 100m breast stroke ... cool down

BossArky

Tuesday Feb 26th:

Squat
20kg - 2 sets of 8 reps ... just warming up a bit before deadlifts as going for a deadlift pb today
---
Deadlift
60kg x5 ... overhand grip
100kg x1 ... overhand grip
100kg x1 ... mixed grip, right over
100kg x1 ... mixed grip, left over
120kg x1 ... mixed grip, right over... personal best
120kg x0 ... mixed grip, left over
100kg x5 ... mixed grip, right over
100kg x5 ... mixed grip, left over
80kg x5 ... mixed grip, right over
80kg x5 ... mixed grip, left over
60kg x10 ... mixed grip, right over
60kg x10 ... mixed grip, left over
---
Low Row (machine)
60kg per arm, alternating x8
70kg per arm, alternating x8
80kg per arm, alternating x8
---

My aim today was to go for a deadlift pb, which worked out.

I've just about finished reading "Starting Strength" and was interested to see if changing from my normal overhand grip would cause my deadlift to go up. It has, and now feels more solid / less slippy in the fingers.

Not sure if I failed on the second 120kg attempt due to my left over grip being weaker than right over... or just because of tiredness.

I predict a riot in my back later.

Supercell

Seriously impressive deadlifts there BossArky, I'd be in casualty if I tried that routine!
You were using a mixed grip to see if it helped you lift heavier right?, must give that a try.

BossArky

Longfield wrote: »

Seriously impressive deadlifts there BossArky, I'd be in casualty if I tried that routine!
You were using a mixed grip to see if it helped you lift heavier right?, must give that a try.

Back is a bit tender today!

Yes, I was experimenting with grip. The mixed version seems to be a lot more solid.

I am wondering if the same mixed grip will transfer over to pull ups. Must try that too.

Hanley

BossArky wrote: »

Back is a bit tender today!

Yes, I was experimenting with grip. The mixed version seems to be a lot more solid.

I am wondering if the same mixed grip will transfer over to pull ups. Must try that too.

Nice job on the deadlifting. Mixed grip's certainly a winner. I doubt I'd pull 70/80% without it.

I woulnd't use mixed grip for pull ups tho. The reason you get away with it on deadlifts is because you're not really bringing any of you back/arm muscles thru a full ROM, the'yre just acting as stabilisers. When you're doing chins and pull ups you really leave yourself open to creating imbalances depending on which hand you favour.

You could always get straps if grip's a problem.

BossArky

Coach I should clarify that I would only attempt mixed grip on pull ups with even distribution per arm, not favouring one mixed grip long term.

e.g.

3 sets of

• 5 pull ups, left over
• 5 pull ups, right over

... just to see if this hits the arms /back in different ways.

So neutral grip would allow perhaps 70 to 80% of a max mixed grip deadlift you reckon? I was wondering about that.

At the moment there is probably a bit to go before I would need straps. Not sure if I would use them anyway as I would want my grip to get stronger on its own.

BossArky

Wednesday Feb 27th:

Military Press (dumbbells)
20kg per arm - 5 sets of 5 reps

Bicep Curl (dumbbells)
15kg per arm - 5 sets of 5 reps
---
Lunges
20kg per arm - 5 sets of 5 reps

Tricep Extension
12.5kg per arm - 5 sets of 5 reps
---
One Arm Row (dumbbells)
28kg per arm - 5 sets of 5 reps

Bench Press (dumbbells)
20kg per arm - 5 sets of 10 reps
---
Face Pulls
10kg per arm - 5 sets of 8 reps

Calf Raises ... one leg at a time, alternating
bodyweight - 5 sets of 8 reps
---

BossArky

Wednesday Feb 27th (session 2):

Run 8km (40:16 mins, ~550 cals)

Started run at 10kmph, increased speed by 0.1kmph every 100m until 4km then restarted the process again for the second half. In theory this should get me to 8km in 40mins. However the threadmill takes a few seconds to change so I was still over 40mins even with a large speed increase towards the end.

No big deal. Tonight I was going for distance, not speed.

BossArky

Friday Feb 29th (leap year workout!)

Bench Press (decline)
50kg - 3 sets of 10 reps ... ring finger on ring, which is slightly wider than normal for me

Dumbbell Fly (decline)
8kg per arm - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Pull Ups (wide, open grip)
bodyweight - 2 sets of 5 reps

Hanging Leg Raises (ankles to bar above head, knees bent a bit)
bodyweight - 2 sets of 5 reps
---
Squat
20kg - 3 sets of 5 reps
30kg - 2 sets of 5 reps
40kg - 1 sets of 5 reps

Military Press (oly bar)
20kg - 3 sets of 5 reps
30kg - 2 sets of 5 reps
40kg - 1 sets of 5 reps ... all the above squats and military press were done as one long set, just stopping when weight was added to the bar. Tweaked my neck slightly jerking from behind neck on squat to in front for military press on the last set
---
Preacher Curls (dumbbell) ... never do these and it showed. They felt really awkward
18kg per arm, x5
16kg per arm, x5
---
Rows (seated, cable)
35kg?? - 3 sets of 10 reps

Calf Raises (one leg at a time)
bodyweight per leg- 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Face Pulls
11.25kg - 3 sets of 8 reps
---
Foam Roller ... about 30 seconds stretching out my chest
---

Nothing major tonight. Still pretty sore in the triceps and legs from the last session.

Going to the US for 6 weeks tomorrow for work, so will have to find a gym and places to run/swim over there.

BossArky

Monday March 3rd:

Run 1.6km (8:40 mins, ~125 cals)
---
Press Ups (feet on ball)
3 sets of 15 reps

Situps (feet on bench, elbow outside opposite knee)
3 sets of 16 reps
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Delganys Finest

ring finger on ring, which is slightly wider than normal for me

ha!
I knew it

Fair play to you Arky,you'll be giving Brazel a run for his money

BossArky

Thursday March 6th:

Pull ups
x10 x8 x6

Press Ups (feet on ball) - 3 sets of 20 reps
---
Random cable stuff x reps until boredom
---
Hotel gym workout. Everything done on a multi purpose station frame thingy with cables. Stuff like... cross overs, pressing, pulling, crappy squat and deadlift simulations, and some face pulls.

The only decent part of the workout was probably the pull ups and press ups. Managed to hop head off the ceiling during a few pull ups. Whoever designed that room obviously never did a pull up before. Had to crane neck backwards at the top of each rep as if I was gonna lick the ceiling.

Odysseus

BossArky wrote: »

Had to crane neck backwards at the top of each rep as if I was gonna lick the ceiling.

Strange behaviour indeed, and you say I'm insane;)

BossArky

Friday March 7th:

Run 1.6km (7:50mins ish)
---
Bench Press (Dumbbell, incline)
3 sets of 10 reps

Lat Pull Down
3 sets of 10 reps
---
Lunges
3 sets of 10 reps

Military Press (dumbbells)
3 sets of 10 reps
---
Lateral Raise
3 sets of 10 reps

Seated Cable Row
3 sets of 10 reps
---
Bicep Curl (dumbbell)
1 set of 10 reps

Tricep Extension (dumbbell)
1 set of 10 reps
---

Didn't record weights as a) they were all pretty light, and b) the weights were unmarked anyway. Another hotel gym, better than the last one.

BossArky

Monday March 10th:

Lat Pull Down
100lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps

Seated Cable Row
100lbs - 2 sets of 10 reps

Tricep Extension Machine
60(??)lbs - 5 sets of 10 reps
---
Run 1 mile (7:10)
---

Working out in lbs and miles messes with my brain :pac:

BossArky

Friday March 15th:

Lat Pull Down
100 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Tricep Extension (machine)
60 lbs - 3 sets of 12 reps
---
Seated Cable Row
100 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Seated Chest Press (machine)
100 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Seated Shoulder Press (machine)
100 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Leg Curl
60 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Leg Extension
60 lbs - 3 sets of 10 reps
---
Run 1.6km (7:17)
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Earlier I went for a walk around the Warren G Magnusson Park. A section of it is called "The Soundgarden" and it is where the band got the name from. Lots of wind catching devices which give off strange noises. Pretty cool.

BossArky

Wednesday March 19th:

Run 5km (...well 3.125 miles) in 24:15 and approx 380 cals
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Lat Pull Down
100 lbs x10
120 lbs x8
140 lbs x6

Tricep Extension (machine)
60 lbs x10
80 lbs x10
100 lbs x10
---
Seated Cable Row
100 lbs x10
120 lbs x8
140 lbs x6

Shoulder Press (seated, machine)
60 lbs x10
80 lbs x10
100 lbs x10
---
Chest Press (machine)
100 lbs x10
130 lbs x8
160 lbs x6

Single Leg Spilit Squats
bodyweight per leg - 3 sets of 8 reps
---

Had a good sleep after the above. Longest session for a while and nice to use the body again.

BossArky

Ok, so I'm having serious barbell / proper gym withdrawal sympthoms.

Last night in my dream I was on the way to the gym with the intention of either squatting or deadlifting. Woke up gagging for a barbell.

Not sure what approach I should take to my training in the next few weeks. I'm about 3 weeks into the 8 or so that I have to spend in Seattle. I'm finding it hard to find time to train, and even when I do get time the only equipment I have access to is crappy small gym room machine stuff.

I could potentially do more running, (I need to do a few 10km's to get ready for the Blenheim tri at end of May/early June) but don't want to waste away too much.

Need to sort out my eating too. Not enough fruit and veg for the past 3 weeks.

Today involved a nice walk around Green Lake - a circuit of 2.8 miles (about 4.5km-ish). I'm thinking 2 or 3 laps of this once or twice a week would be good for the running side of things. I was also hoping to jump in and swim across it after the run (or before)... however there was a sign there warning about the parasites in the water and the types of infections which a swimmer could potentially contract if they don't wash thoroughly immediately afterwards.

Oh well, I suppose I'll work something out.

In other news I'm feeling at the peak in terms of physcial appearance since starting this log / beginning life. I think the past few weeks of not too intense training have allowed my body to recuperate after months of hammering it and I feel great. Perhaps this bit of down time is a good thing. I reckon if I could maintain the way I am right now then I could live happily ever after.

However, onwards and upwards.

BossArky

Tuesday March 25th:

Run 5km (~3.125 miles) in 23:47 ish.
---
Lat Pull Down
100 lbs x10
110 lbs x8
120 lbs x6

Tricep Extension (machine) ... one arm at a time
35 lbs x10
45 lbs x8
50 lbs x6
---
Seated Cable Row
120 lbs x10
130 lbs x8
140 lbs x6

Seated Overhead Press (machine)
60 lbs x10
90 lbs x8
120 lbs x6
---
Single Leg Split Squats
3 sets of 10 reps per leg

Chest Press (machine)
175 lbs x10
175 lbs x8
175 lbs x6
---

Good workout. Felt like puking towards the end.

Purchased a measuring tape to get my measurements for the boards beach body supder duper challenge, or whatever it is called. Will post them up later.

BossArky

Calves killing me. Yesterday was my first run in 6 days. It is amazing how seazed up one can get when driving from place to place as opposed to walking.

In the past 3.5 weeks I would say my walking has been limited to less than 1km per day, as opposed to maybe 4km back in London (excluding gym stuff / training). My calves have went on strike and into yesterdays 5km they raised hell after half a mile.

Measurements still to come.

BossArky

Thursday March 27th:

Sit Ups
x25

Squats
x25

Press Ups
x25

... all bodyweight stuff this morning.