Friday 7/13/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 70

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 2x17, 1x15

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 44 sets of 7 reps

What's kind of funny is that I'm getting hindu squats back into my routine to help my knees feel better. My left knee was getting sore as I'm sure it is still healing from the surgery. Surprisingly the hindu squats are making it feel much better.

My weight was around 197 lbs today during my workout. I'm getting leaner and the weight is coming down. I'm starting to think that 180 is going to be a great goal. With the muscle I've gained I should be very lean at that point. I'm postive that a pullup pr will result at that weight as well.

Thursday 7/30/09

Morning:

Hindu squats - 60

Afternoon:

8lb sledgehammer levering

16kg bu presses 1x3/3, 20kg bu presses 1x2/2, 24kg bu presses 1x1/1

Goblet squats - 20kg 1x8, 24kg 1x8, 28kg 1x8

Starting to ease back into my routine. Still no pullups this week. I'm counting on jumping back into twice a week next week.

Wednesday 7/28/09

Evening:

Hindu squats - 50

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 3x15

Monday 7/27/09

Afternoon:

Pushups with feet elevated 24" - 3x15

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 40 sets of 7 reps

I was still feeling beat up last week with a sore left elbow from pullups, a sore knee and I got a cold when my sister visited from Eureka. I took off a few days to try to allow my body to heal up. My elbow is still a bit sore...I'll see how pullups tomorrow affect it.

Tuesday 7/21/09

Afternoon:

8lb sledgehammer levering

Pullups - bw ladders 2x 2,3,4,5,6 3x 1,2,3,4,5 3x 2,3 - 100 total

Goblet squats - 20kg 1x7, 24kg 1x7, 28kg 1x7

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 1x 3x around the backyard, 2x 2 1/2 times around the backyard

L-sits - 2x30 seconds

Monday 7/20/09

Afternoon:

16kg bu presses 2x1/1, 20kg bu presses 2x1/1, 24kg bu presses 2x1/1

Tgu - 20kg continuous reps 1x4/4, 1x2/2, 3x1/1

24kg swings - 5 sets of 20 on the minute

One more week of this and then back to VO2 Max. These two weeks of this PM style workout are intended as a bit of a backoff since my elbow was getting sore and my shoulder felt a bit sore from the pressing ladders I was doing. I'm going to stay on 2 days a week for pullups for now until the soreness is completely gone.

Saturday 7/18/09

Afternoon:

16kg bu presses 2x1/1, 20kg bu presses 2x1/1, 24kg bu presses 2x1/1 (pr)

Tgu - 20kg continuous reps 1x4/4, 4x1/1

24kg swings - 7 sets of 20 on the minute

The 24kg bu press pr snuck up on me. I don't believe I've ever been able to hit a 24kg bu press before, much less on each side. They felt heavy, but solid. I've really been trying to pay attention to my tension and my pressing groove lately. The grip work I've been doing with the sledgehammer levering and the farmers walks seems to help also. Stoked!

The swings are still tough, but my strength is coming back. Today it was in the 7th set that I started losing power in driving the bell up. I still need to get back a bit more consistently, but my form is feeling better each time. I'm working on making each rep correct. I know I'm on the right track because my glutes especially, but my hamstrings also are feeling it when I finish.

I was plugged in for this workout yesterday, but I was feeling lethargic so I put it off 'till today. It was a good workout.

Thursday 7/16/09

Afternoon:

16kg bu presses 3x1/1, 20kg bu presses 1x1/1

8lb sledgehammer levering

Pullups - 16kg around waist - 10x1

Goblet squats - 20kg 1x6, 24kg 1x6, 28kg 1x6

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 1x 3x around the backyard, 2x 2 times around the backyard

L-sits - 2x30 seconds

Pullups felt fine. I hit my forearms good before them and iced my elbow afterwards. Hopefully that does the trick. I weighed about 202 lbs today during pullups. Obviously I am taking in too many calories. The chocolate pudding I got from Trader Joe's isn't helping I'm sure, lol.

I'm going to shoot for being around 195 lbs by next weekend.

As I was putting the dumbells down after the first set of farmers walks around the backyard I stepped on a bee and got stung on the bottom of my foot.

Wednesday 7/15/09

Afternoon:

Tgu - 20kg continuous reps 1x4/4, 3x1/1

24kg swings - 6 sets of 20 on the minute

The swings are just brutal at this point. I'm working on making each one a perfect hardstyle swing. At the end it was my strength that gave out as my wind would have allowed another set. My muscles just weren't able to push the bell up to shoulder height on the last set. I'll just keep working on these and adding sets as often as I can.

I'm getting back to the basics and I love it!

I'll see how my T/Th days go. Yesterday was pretty hard on my cns, but the high volume of pullups had something to do with it I'm sure. My elbow got really sore after yesterday. If it keeps doing that I'll have to lay off pullups for a few weeks.

Tuesday 7/14/09

Afternoon:

8lb sledgehammer levering

Pullups - bw ladders 1,2,3,4,5 x6, 1,2,3,4 - 100 total

Goblet squats - 20kg 1x5, 24kg 1x5, 28kg 1x5

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 3x 2 1/4 times around the backyard

L-sits - 2x30 seconds

My pullup endurance feels pretty good. I made it through 100 reps in pretty good form.

Goblet squats sure get the ol' heart rate up. I think I'll work on upping reps to 10 and then moving up a bell size.

Monday 7/13/09

Afternoon:

Tgu - 20kg continuous reps 3/3, 1 1/2/1 1/2, 1/1, 1/1

24kg swings - 5 sets of 20 on the minute, 20, 15

I was starting to feel a little beat down by the end of last week. My left elbow was getting pretty sore from the volume of pullups I was doing and my left should was a bit strained from the pressing ladders I did last Wednesday. For the next two weeks I'm going to be doing TGU and swings on M/W/F and high/low volume pullups and goblet squats on T/Th.

This should give my body a bit of a break from the volume of the Armstrong Pullup Program and Max VO2. I'm planning on going back into that same basic structure after two weeks. According to Pavel's block training protocols laid out in RTK I should be able to ease right back into what I was doing. Depending on how this feels I may jump back and forth between these two blocks of training as they are "similar but different". Both blocks should help address my current goals.

My weight is hovering at about 198 lbs. I'm purposely trying to move this down slowly, but I do need to concentrate on a few less Calories every day to have this drop just a bit quicker. I feel that a body weight of 185 or so may end up being more advantageous for my current goals than the 195 I have up at the moment. I would most likely be pretty close to 10% body fat at that weight and I bet my pullups will be very strong as well.

Thursday 7/9/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x22

Afternoon:

8lb sledgehammer levering

Armstrong pullup program - 7x5, 4

One legged deadlifts - 28kg bell in hand of the leg doing the work 2x10/10

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 3x twice around the backyard

L-sits - 2x30 seconds

Pullups are getting stronger every week. I started doing sledgehammer levering before my pullups to warm my elbows and forearms up. I'm cautiously thinking that these are helping the soreness I was starting to feel in my left elbow. It's also helping my wrist strength to do a bit of levering more often as my 8 lb hammer feels more manageable all the time. I'd like to stay on this program for another week or two before I back off and test myself. I'll see what my elbow has to say about that. I weighed in at 198 for pullups today.

The l-sits are pretty tough atm. My legs start to droop at the end of the second set. I'll work these up to 3 sets and then start slowly increasing time. I heard somewhere that getting these up to 1 minute is a good goal and that sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Wednesday 7/8/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x22

Afternoon:

Armstrong pullup program - pullups 3x4, chinups 3x4, parallel grip pullups 3x4

24kg press - 4 ladders of 3 rungs

24kg swings - 6 sets of 20 on the minute

Swings are getting a little better. I'm huffing and puffing like crazy. Part of this is still my hammies and glutes getting used to driving the bell.

I need to warm up a bit before pullups. I'm getting a bit sore in my left inner elbow area lately. Some 15 lb clubell swings and a bit of sledgehammer levering definitely helped loosen it up.

Tuesday 7/7/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x22

Afternoon:

Armstrong pullup program - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 5

One legged deadlifts - 28kg bell in hand of the leg doing the work 2x10/10

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 3x twice around the backyard

8lb sledgehammer levering

L-sits - 2x30 seconds

Ladder to 7 and another set of 7 even though I couldn't get the 8th rung are way stronger than last week. I weighed 200 lbs even during my pullups. I managed to eat pretty moderately at my Mom's and actually weigh a few lbs less after the weekend.

The farmers walks seem to be working. My forearms are burning less by the end. I'll start 3x around next week.

Saturday 7/4/09

Morning:

Pullups - 4x8

Afternoon:

Max VO2 - 16kg bell 15/15 protocol - 50 sets of 7 reps

It's nice and cool up here in Eureka, CA. That made it a bit easier to hit 50 sets in Max VO2 for the first time in a while. I was breathing hard and sweating tons, but it is definitely coming back.

My weight is still around 203 lbs right now. I haven't been committing to cutting calories enough to really start dropping. It's not getting any easier up here at my mom's house. For instance...Margaret and I rolled in last night at 8:00 and my mom had my favorite german meal ready for us: Sauerkraut and wurstchen. It was great...but there is no way that this weekend I'm going to be losing any weight. I'll start working on it a bit more seriously next week. I still have some months to go, but I need to lean out a bit to hit higher reps in my pullups.

Friday 7/3/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x21

We're on the road today to visit my Mom in Eureka. I'm bringing my Iron Gym pullup bar, 16kg bell, Gymboss, etc.

Thursday 7/2/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x21

Afternoon:

Armstrong pullup program - 6x5, 3

One legged deadlifts - 24kg bell in hand of the leg doing the work 2x10/10

Farmers walk - 50 lb dumbell in each hand - 3x twice around the backyard

8lb sledgehammer levering

Wheel rollouts from knees - 3x10

This is a pretty good workout. I think the farmers walks are pretty tough on my hip. I'll give these another week. I may convert these to l-sits for time. That would give me a good grip workout without loading my hip. It will also complement the wheel rollouts I'm doing.

Wednesday 7/1/09

Morning:

Pushups - 3x21

Afternoon:

Armstrong pullup program - pullups 3x4, chinups 3x4, parallel grip pullups 3x4

24kg press - 3 ladders of 3 rungs

24kg swings - 4 sets of 20 on the minute, 1 more set of 20

Pullups feel strong, my presses feel good but my cardio is definitely lacking. I took too much time off from swings. I know that I didn't have much of a choice, but it does leave you quickly. I need to start working up some good stamina with a minimum of the 24kg bell if I'm going to be strong in my 24kg snatches.

My hip is sore most of the time now. I hope I don't have to wait a whole month before I can start working with an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser towards getting my hip resurfaced. I will find out tonight how long I have to wait. I want to get my hip fixed as soon as possible.