Front!

Whatever. So, it appears I've been a bit distracted lately - what else is new? I think there's been a workout or two in there, and a bit of riding, but nothing very interesting. Off to the gym today for... as much as I could manage, really, mixing in some heavy attempts (note: not successful ones) and a bit of fairly light volume. Exercising, basically, rather than training.

I'm considering entering a powerlifting meet or two for a bit of structure, and to ensure I train rather than exercise. Not that I'd be competitive, but it'd be a lark. I'd have to pay for memberships and silly singlets though, so possibly not. We'll see. And then I'll turn back in to a bike rider again (presumably magically, I haven't worked out the details.)

S: 1x1x160, 1x1x185 (failed), 3x5x120
P: 5x5x50, 1x1x60 (failed)
D: 1x2x140, 1x1x180 (failed), 3x5x120

Back!

Okay, so couldn't get to the gym on Monday. But did today!

First though, a quick note - someone made the hills steeper. All of them. I did not appreciate this. Also, I need to rebuild my bike. Haven't even lubed the chain for mo... never mind. I got some SRAM red brifters off ebay, so I can strip my bike, put the 'borrowed' bits back on Melanie's bike, and clean, lube, grease, rebuild rear wheel... all that sort of stuff. In a minute. When I have time.

Anyway, back in the gym, and did a 'light' session to regrease my own wheels before going back in a couple of days for a volume session, then heavy again on Monday.

And then I realised that I thought today was Tuesday, and I'd do volume on Thursday. But it's Wednesday. And I can't get to the gym on Friday.

Stay tuned for whinging tomorrow about doing volume the day after even a 'light' session. Mental toughness. Or something.

S: 2x5x110
P: 3x5x45
D: 2x5x120

Dipthong

6 days of full-day seminaring coming up, so probably no gym until next Monday. Hoped to go out with a bang today, lots of volume, but it was just too hot. And smoky from nearby grassfire!

S: 5x5x140
P: 3x5x55, 1x4x55, 1x3x55
B: 1x1x75 (Was supposed to be 5x5, but... nup. Too tired and slippy bar from prodigious sweating.)
D: 1x5x120

Planning on riding most of the week except tomorrow, but not going to bother talking about that unless something particularly interesting happens.

Got 'em (mostly)

Squats felt lovely, what can I say. Just hit that groove and went back up smooth as you like. Press... well, couldn't manage the second at 65kg. Not really doing the whole hip wiggle thingy that Rip reckons you should do, more just a straight military press with a bit of layback. Maybe I should give it more of a go. Deads... well, I got them up. One at a time. If this were still SS, that would count as a 'fail', but perhaps that's the way I'm headed for intensity day now, 5 singles rather than a set of 5. I'll aim still for 5 next time, but better to keep increasing the weight so long as I can get them than insisting upon sub-30 second breaks between each rep...

S: 1x5x155
P: 1x1x65
D: 5x1x167.5

Widdowed

I'd say I'll start wearing black to commemorate the occasion, but I pretty much always do anyway...

So after a lazy ride with my daughter to a friend's house (and a not-so-lazy ride back) it was off to the gym for some volume - rearranging days in anticipation of the change in schedule required for school.

This time I managed 5 sets at 135kg, so I was happy with that. I really noticed today the difference in good form, and in just dropping down. When I didn't make enough of an effort to really push my hips back, I'd end up in basically a high-bar position, with no hip-drive. When I did... well, it was much easier and smoother. Something to really keep in mind, because when it gets heavy on intensity day, the temptation is to just go straight down...

So I was so excited about that I decided to give a 'widowmaker' a go - 20 reps at, in this case, a bit over half bodyweight (60kgs). I'm... glad, in a way, that I did it straight after my 5th set, only resting long enough to reset the weight. Form felt good, and I only paused for 5-10sec in between reps... 3 times. But I could hardly feel my legs, which made it easier to do. Not that they would have hurt that much, I don't think - it's only 60kg after all. But because I started off not being able to feel my legs, I didn't get the mental hit of starting to not be able to feel my legs come rep 12 or so.

Anyway, done. Was kinda fun. Even if it meant that when I got to cleans, my legs said: No. You want to do cleans, you're going to have to reverse-curl those suckers up. So... I didn't.

S: 5x5x135, 1x20x60
P: 5x5x50
PC: 1x3x70 (Last warmup)

Again with the kinda tapering...

...just the way it's worked out again with parenting and injuries. Back in the gym (where else? Though I did do some riding this week with my daughter. A total of 8.6km at 7km/hr. That's sprint training, right?) for a light session that felt decidedly non-light. Ah well. Racing Sunday...

S: 2x5x110
P: 3x5x50
BE: 3x10
Chins (negatives): 3x1

Yes, chins are rather sad. Haven't done them for months, which is bad. So now I'm back to doing controlled negatives. Sad. But they should only take a couple of weeks to come back, so that I can do actual chinups. Woo.

TM Heavy

Whoops, forgot this one. So 'heavy' in this instance meant 150kg squats for a set, 160kg deads for a set, and 65kg press. Got them all, though deads were a real struggle. The whole setup felt wrong and floppy, almost like in a single week I'd completely forgotten how to deadlift. Weird.

And then I came down with a flu-y sort of thing, all headaches and achiness and dizziness. Not really conducive to lifting. And then, just getting over that, I strain my knee slinging my daughter on a flying fox. What a Christmas! Knee's still sore, but should be back in the gym in a couple of days.

Faulty Programming

So I missed SSS Round 3 on Sunday, which was disappointing. Particularly because the party that my daughter went to ended up going so long I could have dropped her off, gone to race, and then picked her up. Ah well. Plans are already set for the next round, so unless I'm sick or something, I won't miss that!

So off to the gym I went, and learned a lesson about programming. I'm reading PPST (kindle version) and there's a lot to absorb, and the first is - it takes time to recover properly from an intense session, especially where it's not a planned part of a cycle. I went back to my 'normal' 3x5s and it was horrible. I got through 2.4 sets of squats, but my form was awful. After 2 reps of the third set I figured I could just about make it through, but even on the first two sets I couldn't control my body well enough, and I decided that I'd reached the point where continuing would have no positive impact, and even if I'd made all 15 reps, there was no way I'd be progressing anyway.

I got through press with a small deload to 55kgs, but it was a struggle, and by the time I got through a warmup of powercleans where I basically just wrenched the bar on to my shoulders because I had no 'power', I called it a day. To rest, recover (better) and reread through PPST carefully! The main choice is around continuing 'SS"s-tyle programming, or to switch to something like the modified TM that Carl does (or did?) at the Powerhaus. Which would, funnily enough, actually require me to pick up some cycling training. What a thought!

S: 3x5x147.5, 1x2x147.5
P: 3x5x55
PC: 1x4x60

Routine?

Yeah, well, anyway. You know me. Semester's finished now, and it's only minor distractions like Christmas coming up, should be plain sailing from here...

S: 5x5x122.5
P: 5x5x50
PC: 5x4x60
B: 5x5x65

When in doubt...

... go up 5. At least, that was my theory when I discovered that I'd left my 1.25kg plates at home, and so wouldn't be able to do 137.5 in squats. So I did 140 instead. Came up just fine.

S: 3x5x140
P: 5x5x55
D: 1x5x155

You know, I think I'm going to target next Summer for racing. Not that that means I'm not going to race this year, or that I'm just going to whizz around having fun like in Round 1 (though I'm still aiming for the fun bit).

No, just that with how disrupted and, frankly, non-existent my training was over winter, I'm obviously way behind in fitness and weight. So why disrupt the (generally) good flow I have in the gym so as to taper and recover once a month? What will it actually gain me? In any given month I might be faster by a tenth or two tapering and so on, but cumulatively, I'll be stronger, lighter and faster come the end of the season if I just train through, making minor adjustments for the races.

The other thing, obviously, is that I still need to find a way to get to track training. But I don't think I'll be trying very hard over the next 6 weeks or so, with most of my spare time going to study and 'domestic' issues. Balancing priorities is not just for the fleet of foot.

Benzine

S: 3x5x135
B: 5x5x65
PC: 3x4x65
P: 1x1x65

Prrrrrrrrrrrr

First PR for a while - in the press this time! 3x5 at 60kg. The 15th rep was a shut-my-eyes-and-refuse-to-give-up grind, but by gods it got there. It's not even that impressive - just over half my bodyweight. But there's more progress possible there, and I'm going to keep alternating more volume, see if that helps push it up.

Relevance to track sprint? Almost nothing. But one needs balance. And PRs.

S: 3x5x132.5
P: 3x5x60
D: 1x5x152.5

Pressssssssssssssssssss

5x5 press at 55kgs. Bit harder than bench, but got them all up. It's amazing how important the lower back is in the press. Squats just 3x5 at 127.5, just on schedule, nothing exciting. Was very rushed so just did 1x5 cleans at 65, no problems, though no idea how the form was.

I've been alternating between feeling good, enthused, inspired by Neil, that sort of thing, and just being quite flat. Not sure why, precisely, though it's not really related to training - can make it more difficult to feel sufficiently motivated to train though. But I'm still getting out there and doing it...

19 July

Whoops! We'll just backdate this one, shall we?

S: 100
P: 50 (Plus a single at 60)
D: 120 (Plus a single PC at 60)

5-star

Look, it's a cheap gym. $3.30/session, no contracts or any of that sort of thing and not many people use the rack, so I can usually walk in, work out and walk out without much delay. But it's not the most tempting place to go. Mirrors everywhere, cold or hot but rarely comfortable, and acres of machines. But it's got heavy things, and there's still a place to lift them (though I'm constantly slightly worried that any given time I arrive there my rack will be gone) so it'll do. And I think I mentioned that it only costs $3.30.

S: 90
P: 45
D: 110

Oh, and thanks for the comment Kev - for some reason blogger is happy for me to sign in to write posts, but won't let me comment. I suspect that that says something about their relative importance.

All right then

Back to serious training. Not everything is out of the way - major one being moving house (hopefully!) or finding someone to come share in the next month. But... enough crap is out of the way that I can committ to consistency again. Imagine if I'd stayed consistent and not stopped almost everything back around Easter? Ah well.

S: 80kg
P: 40kg
D: 100kg

Yeah, paltry. But it's a start. And it should get me back to a 150kg squat in time for the first round of SSS...

Nothing interesting

Lifted. Didn't manage anything exciting, no PRs, still just getting back to my former level, too many inconsistencieses.

Grundle

So back to... well, not heavy singles (not that they're actually that heavy anyway) but doubles by and large. 147.5 squat, 60 press, 60 clean (yes, I agree it's kinda ridiculous that I'm cleaning the same as my press, but that's technique and lack of practice for you) for 4, double at 75 on the bench and a full set of 5 at 160 on the deadlift - I did a double at 150, felt good, so decided to do a full set of them, just to get full value from the day! As you do.

Remember me?

I used to lift things and ride things. Well, after a bit of time off for life readjustment, I'm back. And bugger me, it hurts a bit right now!

Back in the gym, and just doing warmups basically - so worked up to a double at 115kg in the squats, a single at 60kg for the press (was just going to be a double at 50, but that felt easy, so I decided to chuck in the single since DOMS was unlikely to be a factor there) followed by a double at 140kg on the dead and a single at 65kg for bench.

Nothing too serious or exciting, but enough to make me sore in the best possible way. I'll do some heavy singles next time (at my previous 3x5RM weights) if all feels good, then get back in to normal gym work. Spin and a bit of track work is next on the agenda...

Bitte

Bitte this, bitte that. 3x5 squats, 1x5 everything else - bench, deads, press. Just as a way to get back in to it - repeated 145kg on the squats because I forgot my damn 1.25kg plates. Bugger. 75kg on the bench, 50kg (was meant to be to failure, which turned out to be... 5. Whoops. That's what happens when you don't do them for three weeks!) on the press, then worked up to 155 on deads - a 10% reset. And I still didn't get them. Definitely mental (read in to that what you will!)