Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tuesday

Bench: worked up to 300 for two shitty (iffy) singles

Chest Supported Row: 3x10
w/
Face Pulls: 3x12

Dips: 3x10

Keg Clean and Press: 4x5

Nothing too exciting today.  I'm testing my maxes this week and things are not going as well as I thought they would be.  I really need an honest deload.  I also need to figure out my sleep.  I started taking melatonin again and I hope it will help me stay asleep during the night.  Other than that not too much else to say.

Song of the Day:

"One man with courage is a majority." -Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Saturday

DL: worked up to 551x1

Walking Lunge: 88 lbs. 3x30 yards

Prowler: 200 yards in 4:52

Lower body lifts are staying stagnant/regressing a little.  I'm doing too much volume and I need to scale it back a little bit.  I'm thinking I'm going to cut back to three days per week.  Every time in the past when I've lifted four days per week I've ended up having to cut back to three.  Hopefully I've learned my lesson this time and will just roll with three days from now on.

Saturday afternoon was the First Annual Flippy Cup Tournament of Champions.  Eric, our friend Tarah, Joe's friend Eugene and I were on team Straight Outta Compton.  We ended up taking second despite the fact that Eric and I just wanted to drink and not really play, and Eugene was a stand-in since Lance got there late.  The championship round was marred by the fill police getting their undies twisted over the amount of beer in each cup.  I really didn't care about the amount of beer in the cups.  Drink.  Flip.  Repeat.  It's not hard.

I ended up getting pretty drunk and not really remembering much after the championship game.  The best part was the morning after when Jake and Erin were looking all over for her camera.  Jake asked Eric if he had it or knew where it was and Eric replied no to both questions.  After about an hour of looking they were about to give up and leave just as Eric and I were.  When Eric stood up he reached into his pocket and pulled out Erin's camera.  He thought it was his phone and not her camera.

Song of the Day

“A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.” -Elbert Hubbard

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Thursday

Standing Press: 170x6+2+2+2

Chin Ups: 45x6+2+2+2

Close Grip Bench: 235x6+2+2+2

Hammer Curls: 65x6+2+2+2

Tire Hits: 10x10 each side

Good session today.  My upper body lifts are continuously going up.  My lower body lifts, however, are somewhat stagnant.  I know this is due to my recovery.  My lower body is always sore and as a result can't ever grow/ get stronger.  I think this is a combination of too much volume for the weight I am using and plain old shitty recovery methods.  I don't roll out enough, I don't stretch enough, and most importantly I don't sleep as much.  Especially on weekends when I have a great opportunity to catch up.  All it's going to take to fix this is get a little smarter with my programming and stop being so lazy with my recovery.

Song of the Day:

“Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.”  -Edith Wharton

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tasty Tasty Tuesday

Squat: 425x6+2+2+2

Good Morning: 205x6+2+2+2

Leg Press: 3x12

Abs and Calves

Sandbag Carry: 200 lbs.; 25 yards x 8

I didn't think I was ever going to stop sweating after this.  I had a client as soon as I was done and I had rollers throughout.  After work I stopped at Pick 'N' Save and got a 20 lb bag of ice.  I filled my tub with cold water and dumped the ice in.  Home made ice tub.  Depending on how I feel tomorrow this may become a regular in my rotation on heavy leg days. 

Song of the Day:

“I worked in a health food store once. A guy came in and asked me, "If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?"” Steven Wright

Monday, June 21, 2010

Weekend Recap and Monday Lifting

Awesome weekend this weekend.  I did a lot of driving but I got to see some great people, do some cool shit, and even eat some good food.

On Friday I drove up to Wausau for the Wunsch Family Foundation's Sixth Annual Golf Outing.  It was a very well behaved group.  Despite that they were very generous and gave a lot so some kids that are battling or have survived cancer can have some fun in Wisconsin in the winter.

Saturday morning I drove down to Libertyville, IL and met up with Lance.  We then ventured south to New Lenox, the home of proud Americans, to his parents house.  We relaxed a bit, chatted with his parents, Doug and Bonnie, ate some food, and geared up for the Warrior Dash.  The Warrior Dash is basically a 5k with a bunch of different obstacles and terrains.

We got to the race site and met up with my mom and step dad, Pete.  As we waited to be released there was a hype man giving us the whole rundown.  At one point he asked who was out there to get the bast time.  He was met by absolute silence.  My kind of race.

The race started out with a nice little jog along some level grass.  At about 100 yards out from the start line the was a little ditch that we had to jump over.  It proved too much for one guy in front of us.  He hit the lip and it was man down.

We then entered a wooded area that had some mud slicks in it.  It was definitely the slickest mud I've ever run through.  Like running on ice. 

After the woods and the mud slicks which sometime went up hill we entered a clearing that was full of junk cars pushed together.  I jumped up and over on the trunks or hoods, Lance went through the middle.  After this the middle part of the race was somewhat of a blur.  There were walls to jump over, tunnels to crawl through, cable spools to jump over, and city ruins to run through.  At this point I stopped and walked with Lance and tried to shame him into running with me.  It didn't work.  He was in rough shape.  There were a number of times that as he would pass people who were walking he would hear, "Ok, let's just stay behind that guy."  At one point while we were walking my mom came up from behind us, pushed through the middle of us and said, "'Scuse me boys!"  I really wanted to turn to Lance and say, "You are one soft pussy if you are going to let that happen."  I didn't though.  I stayed with him and tried to encourage him as best as I could.  I was only mad for a few seconds.  I really didn't give two shits how we finished.  I just wanted us to finish.

The race finished with us climbing up a pile of hay bales, climbing up a cargo net, running through tires, and running up and over jumps on a dirt bike track.  Then came the finish.  We had to run through mud slicks and then jump over speed bumps of fire.  I was ok up to the speed bump but slowed down and stepped gingerly over.  I was not going to slip and get burned by those stupid things.  After two fire "walls" there was the mud pit and crawling under barbed wire.  Right in front of me was a guy who ran in a suit complete with cell phone clipped to his belt.  As he dove under the barbed wire his phone came off of his belt.  I was already to far ahead to grab it, but Lance was in a perfect spot to lend a hand.  As he reached for the phone he jammed it deep into the mud.  He was able to get it out of the mud and toss it off to the side.  That phone is going to be dropping a lot of calls in the future.

After we finished we showered off (got sprayed with fire hoses), grabbed our free beer, and met up with Lance's dad Doug and his girlfriend, Katie.  We made our way back to Lance's where we were welcomed with beer, food, and fire.  I passed out sitting up by the fire, complete with head bobs.  Great night.  Great weekend.

Lifted at Stallis Barbell after work tonight.

Floor Press: 245x6+2+2+2

Bent Over Row: 225x6+2+2+2

Tricep Pushdowns: 2x20
w Bar Curls: 2x20

After lifting I went over to my girlfriend Katie's apartment in Waukesha.  About an hour after I got there tornado sirens started going off.  Normally I'm not someone who gets too worked up about weather, but shit got real and we made our way to the basement parking part of her building.  After about a half hour we decided it was ok to go back upstairs.  Watching the news we saw we dodged a bullet with this one.  Tornadoes touched down to the west and southeast of us.  Thankfully it passed us by like a stranger in the night.  Now it is time for bed.

Song of the Day:

“A fellow doesn't last long on what he has done. He has to keep on delivering.” -Elbert Hubbard

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thursday

Standing Press: 165x6+2+2+2

Pull Ups: 25x6+2+2+2

DB Skull Crushers: 3x12

Bar Curls: 3x10

I was in and out pretty quick today.  I had about an hour and a half break before my last client and I needed to leave right at 6:30.  As Jake would say, "I had a hot date."  Weights continue to go up which is good.  I'm scaling my accessory back just a bit to keep my total intensity lower.  This will hopefully give me better recovery and improved "big" lifts.

I skipped conditioning today because Saturday I'm running in the Warrior Dash down in Joliet, IL.  I'm doing it with my buddy Lance.  There's a solid chance we are going to be holding hands and doing a lot of crying at the end.  That's a lie.  But we might do it three legged style.  Or maybe run the whole thing in potato sacks.  Just like the Brady Bunch.  It should be a good time.  Afterwards we'll go to Lance's parents house where there will be plenty of meat, beer, and cake for all to go around.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to drive up to Wausau.  I'm going to be "bartending" at the Circle of Friends golf outing.  If you don't remember from previous post the Circle of Friends is a charity that helps out kids that have been touched by cancer.  Every year a group of kids get to go to Wausau in February and enjoy all that Wisconsin in winter has to offer.  There's tubing, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, disco bowling, and downhill skiing among other fun activities.  The golf outing is a great time.  What I do is stand at a beverage tent with our wares on display.  Someone will come up to the tent and say, "Make me something with Grey Goose in it."  Then they tip us since we can't really charge them.  I had a guy last year come up to the tent and order a glass full of Bacardi Razz.  On ice.  With nothing else.  He said he liked the alcohol burn.  Whatever.  If you got money we'll take it.  However ill gotten.  If you sold drugs and wanted to split the profits with us, come on down.  We'll take it.  Hopefully people will be generous and the skies will be clear.  Should be a great time.

Song of the Day:


“The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.” -Ayn Rand

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Tuesday

Squat: 435x6+2+2+2

Good Mornings: 205x6+2+2+2

Calf Raise: 3x15

Abs: 3x12

Carry and Drag (Carry 165 lb. keg 30 yards, drag 220 lb sled 25 yards): x4

IT Band continues to taunt me.  I roll and roll and roll and stretch and it still gives me shit until about my last set.  It messes with my head because I'm never really certain about the last set even as I get under the bar.  It kills at lighter weights so I think it's going to prevent me from going heavy.  Not sure what to do other than start rolling out more than just around my workouts.  Starting tonight I'm going to start rolling before bed.  Just five minutes and then it's enter sandman.

The carry and drag series was pretty brutal.  The keg isn't anything too tough, but oh, that sled.  My VMOs (teardrop muscle just above the knee) were begging for mercy.  They wanted out like a fat kid in gym class.  It was a good finish to the training session.  After this I was dripping in sweat from the humidity in the gym.  A kid asked me if I had gone outside in the rain due to my hair and shirt being soaked.  "Nope," I replied, "Just getting more awesome."  End of conversation.

Song of the Day:

"He who moves not forward, goes backward." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Monday

Bench: 250x6+2+2+2

Chest Supported Row: Hundiesx6+2+2+2

Dips: +55x6+2+2+2

Hammer Curls: 60sx6+2+2+2

Awesome session yesterday morning.  Bench is steadily going up.  All of my auxiliary lifts are moving along at a nice pace.  My weight is going up.  I've put a little body fat on, but that's to be expected.  I weighed 222.8 yesterday morning.  My diet hasn't been spot on, but that is going to change this week.  Time to clean up and get tight.

I'm squatting later this afternoon and I'm pretty excited.  I'm going to take a long time to warm up the IT bands and then get after it.

Song of the Day:

“Live truth instead of professing it.” -Elbert Hubbard

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Weekend Recap

Holy productive weekend Batman!  This was a damn fine weekend for sure.  I had some fun.  Got to be around some great people.  And I got some stuff done that I've been putting off for a while.  Weekends like this don't come around too often.  Mostly because I get lazy when I have shit to do.

Saturday I got some training in before Matt and I drove up to Oshkosh for Nic's wedding.  I was definitely a little unmotivated for some reason.  I think I was just tired...and being a baby.  I got in what I planned to do and not an ounce more.

Deadlift: 425x6+2+2+2
Front Squat: 255x6+2+2+2

After training Matt and I drove up to Oshkosh.  Our friend and co-badass trainer Nic was getting married to his lovely fiance Hillary.  The ceremony was short, sweet, and very beautiful.  Seeing Nic cry as Hillary was walking down the aisle was very touching to say the least.  The man obviously loves and cares for his wife with all his heart.  Very sweet.  I was also a fan of Nic and Hillary doing some non-traditional things as well.  After they kissed they did their own handshake and walked out to a very nice, upbeat song.

After the ceremony Matt and I grabbed some food and made our way back to the hotel where we met Brad and had some brewskis waiting for us.  We sat around, bullshitted, drank, and ate some food.  Pretty much sums up the rest of the ceremony.  Matt did however put some legwork into talking to a girl with a longtime boyfriend.  Whoops!

On our way back we decided to stop at Old Country Buffet for breakfast.  It never ceases to amaze me the levels of apathy and self pride in buffets.  There is a lot of one and not a lot of the other. 

I got home today, Sunday, at about noon and immediately attacked West Allis Barbell.  I bought a squat rack a few weeks ago and finally got around to setting it up.  Previously there was a stone platform along the north wall of the garage.  That has since been removed which freed up space for the rack.  I moved the glute ham bench, the olympic platform, and the weight trees around to compliment the rack.  I also hung up two of the most bad ass flags ever created.  If I can't get jacked to squat looking at those two draperies of awesomeness, I don't deserve to squat.

Here is a before picture from a while back.


Here it is now.




I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I still need a bench though and I may need to move the platform back to accomodate it.  Other than that it's got all I need to get strong as hell.

Song of the Day:


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Making Like A Tomato...And Catching Up

Sorry for the lack of recent posts.  I'm deloading this week so my training isn't really anything to write home about...or blog about.  I'll just give you the meatballs of what I've done this week.

Monday: Bench- 2x15 @ 135

Tuesday: Squat- 3x5 @ 315
RDL- 3x10 @ 220

Thursday: Standing Press- 3x5 @ 115

In with all this I've done some pretty gnarly conditioning.  I'm actually surprising myself in that I havn't skipped any days.  It helps that the interns are eager to do it with.  Can't let the youngin's show me up.

Saturday Nic is getting married and it is going to be a great time.  It's going to be a big wedding and a ton of fun.  I'll update with a better post on Sunday.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Thursday- Upper Body

I stepped on the scale today (Friday) and weighed in at 213.9 lbs. There was a point in time early last week when I was well into the 220's. I must have looked like I fell on an air pump with that kind of bloat. I think I'm only going to weigh myself on Friday mornings. That way I can get a good feel for how things are going week to week. It's going to be steady progress from here on out.

Standing Press: 165x5+2+2+2

Chins: 50x6+2+2+2

Close Grip Bench: 225x6+2+2+2

Bar Curls: 125x6+2+2+2

After all of this the interns, Katie, Jayce, and James, and I did a conditioning circuit.

Tire Hits: x8 ea. side
Prowler: 30 yards hi handle, 30 yards low handle
Heavy Bag Carry: 60 yards

I did three of these and then took the next twenty minutes to breath the fire out of my lungs. I'm really digging the conditioning after the lifting. Right now it might be affecting my lifts but as my body adapts to the stress things will be right as rain.

Song of the Day:

Sail Forth- Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all." -Walt Whitman

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tuesday- Squats

Squat: 435x6+2+2+2

RDL: 338x6+2+2+2

Leg Press Calf: 3x12

Hanging Leg Raises: 3x12

Tire Flips: 4x5

Squats went better than I was anticipating.  I was a little short on time so I didn't go through my full warm up.  Due to this it felt like my IT bands were going to bust out of my thighs and make a break for it.  Once I got a few heavy sets in they calmed down and all was right with the world.  After the squats you could have put a damaged goods sign on me.  I was pretty tuckered out.  I'm actually kind of proud of myself for finishing what I did. 

Song of the Day:

“I would rather have a big burden and a strong back, than a weak back and a caddy to carry life's luggage” -Elbert Hubbard

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Memorial Day Training

Bench: 250x5+2+2+1+1+1

Inverted Row: 50x6+2+2+2

Dips: 60x6+2+2+2

Zottman: 55x6+2+2+2

First off I want to give big thanks to all service members past and present for what they've done for this country.  I can't say I've always agreed with the conflict, but I will salute and/or shake the hand a member of our military any day of the week.

The barbecue went great.  There was a really nice turnout.  I'd almost forgotten how much my friends and I can drink.  I was not expecting us to finish the half barrel.  Yet at about 8:30 she ran dry.  After a quick run to Dino's Food Mart we were back in business.  I think it's a sign of how much growing up we've done that I was never in fear of anything getting broken or the police being called.  Progress.

Song of the Day:

“The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.”  
 -Theodore Roosevelt