Weekend Update: Training, College Kids, and A BIG Announcement

Tuesday

Squat: up to 455x1

Strict Press: 135x5x3

Friday

Bench Press: up to 265x1

Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 sets of 8

Zercher Squat from the pins: 6 singles at 305

Paired with

Chins or Lat Pulldowns

I’m only writing down the two heavy days at this point.  I did some light stuff on Monday and Thursday but don’t really remember what.  I need to get back in the habit of keeping a hard copy of my training.  Either way I was happy with how this week went.  I’m not trying to push the intensity too much right at the outset.  I’m going to more or less let the weight dictate itself depending on how I’m feeling.  It’s more of a freestyle, self-regulated why to train as opposed to having strict percentages to work off of.  Neither is better than the other.  Percentages give you a solid goal to work towards.  Almost like a challenge.  Doing the freestyle thing is something that takes a few years under the bar to really know how to work it.  It also takes me not being a baby if I don’t work up to the goal I usually have in my head before the session starts.

If you don’t know it by now I’m a big coffee drinker.  Not to the point that I can distinguish between two different types of brews and I’m also not going to be hanging out in Starbuck’s any time soon.  But I do love a solid cup of joe.  There is a lot of evidence coming out right now that coffee could actually be considered a health drink.  Blasphemy, you say?  Well, here are a few reasons for its recent pub:

- It’s calorie free (when you drink it black.  Adding cream and sugar definitely change that.)

- It’s got crazy tons of anti-oxidants

- The caffeine makes you more alert during the sagging hours of the day

- It’s been implicated in helping prevent certain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, certain cancers, and women’s depression

So go ahead and drink up.  But obviously, don’t go overboard.  Caffeine addiction’ll getcha.

Sweet vindication!  I was perusing one of the muscle-mag websites I frequent and a very well-known (Christian Thibaudeau) bodybuilding and strength coach talked about doing explosive movements after strength and hypertrophy work.  I AM NOT the first person to try or champion this approach.  I had actually heard of an Olympic weightlifting coach who would occasionally do strength work first and then heavy clean and snatch pulls second.  That’s why I decided to give it a shot.  I liked it.  You might too.

Being as it’s now June we are starting to get our college kids back at the gym.  I always like this time of year.  The youthful exuberance of experiencing a part of the world free from parental limitation is a refreshing thing to see.  To see kids that are excited about learning and expanding their world-view, whatever it might be, gives me some confidence for the future. 

To me the wanting to learn, and to some extent the want to read, are two very important things that are missing from the youth.  You can blame the internet, video games, modern music, or whatever but what I think it comes down to is an overstimulation.  Kids are so overstimulated with sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that sitting down to read a book or put their focus on one single subject is like a slow painful death to them.  They are addicted to that stimulation and will satisfy it somehow. 

Speaking of college kids, seeing kids that I knew when they were in eighth grade come back from their first or second year of college makes me feel incredibly old.  These kids were born in the mid 90’s.  When someone says, “Yeah, that was like ten years ago.” my first thought is, “Yeah, like 1998….Shit.”  So it goes.

Alright everybody, take a knee.  I’ve got an announcement.  As many of you know I was born and raised, went to school, and worked in Wisconsin.  Well, a Siren by the name of Amy has stolen my heart and lured me down to Illinois.  I will be moving at the end of July.

I’ll give you a minute to pick your jaws up off the floor.

Okay, good.  In all seriousness this change has been coming for a while.  We decided to move forward with it in February.  To my NX Level family, you guys were the one thing that was holding me back from pulling the trigger on it earlier.  I love ya'll that much.  I’ve built up some awesome relationships that I’m sure will last a lifetime; it’s just going to be hard not seeing you every day and helping you achieve your goals.  

Whenever a big change like this happens I always try to focus on the good and be glad for the experiences and the people and not be sad that it’s ending.  So again thank you to all of the people who have had a positive impact on my life in Wisconsin.  I am truly grateful and will miss the shit out of all of you.

I think that’s a good way to end this week.  Have an awesome rest of the weekend and get outside and soak up some vitamin D.