My favorite is the chick shoving the chocolate cake in her mouth. “What? It’s my cheat day.”
It is time that will harden you
“I have spent the last 15 years lifting hard and with aim at becoming a better athlete. Only the last 5 years do I think I have become a master in this trade. A long time ago I read that it take 10 years to be great at anything. Remember that if you are new to lifting, 10 years no tricks. It is time that will harden you.”
Back to the Squat
Squat – 5/3/1+
74# / 84# / 94# (10 reps, not max)
Good Mornings – 5 x 10
53#
Back to the regular back squats after some cycles of box squat therapy. They felt really good. The last set was nowhere near max, but I thought I would stop before I hurt myself, which I tend to do with alarming frequency.
Speaking of hurting myself, my new resolution is to do the Mobility WOD every day. I have many kinks to work out.
5/3/1 Spreadsheet
Some fine fellows have uploaded a very nice spreadsheet to use with Wendler 5/3/1. You can enter your 1RM on each lift and bada-bing, bada-boom, your whole training for 13 cycles (aka, one whole year) magically appears.
Sweet.
The Basics
I was super crunched for time today, so I ended up just skidding into the gym tonight and doing my basic deadlifts.
Warmup:
Jump rope
Foam roll
Deadlift – 3/3/3+
156# / 174# / 201# (3 reps)
Today was also an awesome day, because this came in the mail:
Oh yes, come to mama.
Get yer very own copy here.
Crunchy
Warmup:
Band pull-aparts – 5 x 25
Band mobility work
Press – 3/3/3+
48# / 54#/ 61#
Every minute on the minute – 10 minutes
5 kettlebell cleans (right) /3 kettlebell presses (right)
5 kettlebell cleans (left) /3 kettlebell presses (left)
10kg
Grip work
My shoulder is still a bit crunchy, so I just did some basic press work and band mobility and called it a night.
Must See TV
You may have seen this on Richard Nikoley’s site, Free The Animal. If not, watch it. Watch it now. OK?
Like It Never Happened
Last week was a good week in some ways, and a bad week in a whole lotta ways. Good – my Whole30 is going swimmingly well and I’m feeling great. Bad – I inexplicably injured my shoulder in my sleep, had hormone poisoning, got a little bit of flu, and had work coming out the wazoo. As a result of the bad stuff, I only got one workout in. Thanks to my new, mellow, whole foods induced attitude I just gave up and pretended like that week didn’t happen.
Speaking of hormone poisoning, a friend of mine’s husband suggested to her once that this whole period/PMS thing was greatly exaggerated by women. She then very kindly suggested that he hemorrhage blood for four days and then get back to her on how he felt. Looking back, that statement probably was an unwise one to pose to any PMS’ing woman, but this particular friend had a reputation for taking no prisoners. I worked with her and once witnessed her being requested to do a particularly difficult task in a ridiculous amount of time by a superior. In the sweetest voice she chirped “Sure! I’ll just pull that right out of my ass!” She didn’t work there long, but boy did I enjoy it while she did.
But I digress. Tonight’s workout:
Warmup:
Jump rope
Foam roll
Mobility
Box Squats – 3/3/3+
69# /79# / 89# (5 reps)
Zercher Squats – 5 x 5
65#
Glute-Ham raises (assisted)
2 x 8
I also played around with some staggered stance “B” squats. They feel great doing kettlebell goblet squats or air squats, but terrible doing back squats. I get all crooked and discombobulated when I put a bar on my back.
Halfway to a Whole30
Well, today is January 15, which means it must be the halfway point of the Whole 30. I thought I would just give a quick little update.
Day 2 – I had a killer headache, which always happens when I come down off my grains/sugar binges. I ate a bowl of sweet potatoes and it went away and hasn’t come back.
Day 3 – My sinuses – which have been clogged up since April – opened up. I’ve had sinus problems since I was a kid, and I usually wear a Breathe Right to bed so I can sleep. I haven’t used one since January 3, and I’m sleeping like a log.
I’m having beautiful, deep, dark restful sleep every night. Usually 8-10 hours worth. It’s awesome.
My skin is as clearer than it has been since junior high. I’ve had awful, horrible skin since high school. I’ve tried every skin product out there and it’s never worked. A few more weeks of this and it looks as though my chronic acne will be completely gone.
My clothes are looser. No weighing allowed, so I don’t know how much weight I’ve lost, but enough that my clothes are fitting differently.
I’m happy. Before I started the Whole30 I was teetering on the edge of some severe depression. I fought with that once before when I was in college, and I could see the signs of a recurrence. It disappeared the first few days and shows no signs of coming back. Thank God for that.
This is my third Whole30 and the things I’ve listed above are all very good, but the best part about this one is I don’t ever want to stop. My other two Whole30′s my attitude was “I can’t eat that.” This time around it’s “I don’t want to eat that.” I know I can be a pain to hang out with, since I either won’t eat the restaurant food or “snacks” at social functions, or embarrass everyone by packing my own chow around with me. But you know what? – the being able to breathe thing alone makes it all worthwhile to me. I’ve been plagued by sinus problems since I was a kid, and believe me, not being able to breathe sucks. I’ve even been on medication for it, and now fifteen simple days of eating whole foods and it’s gone. Add the disappearing depression, complete lack of PMS symptoms, awesome sleep, clearer skin, and weight loss to the equation and I don’t know why I’d ever want to change.
Granted, it’s only been fifteen days, and some of those things might come back. But I’m more than willing to put it all on this way of eating and let it ride.
Kettlebell Press Ladder
Kettlebell Press Ladder
(All presses of the strict military variety)
4 right/4 left – 8kg
3 right/3 left – 10kg
2 right/2 left – 12kg
1 right/1 left – 14kg
Repeat five times
KB windmills
4 x 5 per side
10kg
I ordered myself some more kettlebells from Perform Better because they had free shipping and it’s the only place you can get the in-between weights (i.e. 10kg, 14kg, etc.) The quality is less than stellar (lots of painted over tape) but it is what it is. The price is right and they work for my purposes.
I decided to put them to use last night as part of a press ladder. I would do both arms for one weight, take a few breaths, and then do the next weight until the last bell. It was a fantastic press workout, and I also racked up (har) quite a few cleans in the course of the workout. I had to push press a little bit to get the 14 kg up on the left side, but the right went up fairly easy.
I hurt my right shoulder somehow last week. It was fine when I went to sleep, and when I woke up it hurt like heck. Apparently I had a really bad nightmare or something, because I have no idea how I else I hurt it. I did this workout mostly to test it out, and it actually feels better today than it did yesterday. So, +1 for kettlebells.
