Did it anyway

Jun11
by Duf on June 11, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Lifting Heavy Things

dont-be-that-guy[1]So my lower back and legs were feeling rather tight and sore from my treadmill 5k yesterday.  I was considering that as an excuse to bypass squats and dead lifts but after reading IronLoo’s inspirational post this morning I discarded that as a valid excuse.

I actually felt pretty solid with my few ITB squats, getting new recent best at 185 and 205 pounds.  My dead lifts seemed to suffer more from the 5K.  The weight felt heavy.  My one pull at 365 felt like 385 did last week, the only difference being I barely managed to complete the lift today.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Barbell squat ITB  – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 7, 205lbs x 4

Dead lift – 225lbs x 10, 315lbs x 5, 365lbs x 1, 335lbs x 5

Seated leg extension with one second pause at top – 130lbs x 12

Seated leg curl – 130lbs x 12

Standing calf raise – 295lbs x 8

 

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Too full

Jun10
by Duf on June 10, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

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Yesterday after work I did my first Century workout (40 air squats, 30 push ups, 20hanging knee raises, 10 pull ups) in quite a long time.  If you really try to push the pace it is pretty amazing just how winded you can get in 3-4 minutes of exercise.

So I stepped into the gym today intending to do my squat and dead lift deal.  For some reason the gym was extremely crowded by lunch time standards.  The lone squat rack in the gym was occupied as well so I decided I would do an impromptu 5k on the treadmill instead.

I didn’t have my running shorts, normal running sneakers or oversized towel that I like to utilize with treadmill running but I had it anyway.  I completed the 5k mostly at a 9:13 pace, only accelerating to an 8 minute pace for the last lap.  I wish I could say that a 9:13 pace is easy for me but I would be lying.  I didn’t feel what I would classify as comfortable at any point during my time on the spinning belt.  The best thing I can report about my running currently is at least my normally problematic right knee has not been bothering me.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Treadmill 5K at mostly 9:13 pace (6.5 mph)

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A click backwards, incline

Jun09
by Duf on June 9, 2014 at 5:41 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

barbell-incline-bench-press[1]This weekend my only organized exercise was a 20 mile Dunkin Donuts bike ride with Cindy, the first time I have been on my road bike in well over a month.  I did put a lot of grunt exercise in doing various yardwork.

Today at the gym I hoped to build on my my clean bench press of 232 lbs last week, hoping to tack another 5 pounds on top.  I use 225 pounds as my measuring stick of how my strength level is for benching.  If I do a rep at 225 pounds and it goes up and down smoothly I feel confident to move upward from there.  Well today it was not smooth, 225 pounds felt difficult, sidelining any plans to go higher in poundage.  Instead I did three single reps at 225 pounds and then repped 8 at 185 pounds.

I did tack incline bench onto the routine today, an exercise I hadn’t done in an even longer time than flat bench.  Doing it after flat bench meant my numbers wouldn’t be great but I was ok with topping out at three full ROM reps at 185 pounds.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Barbell bench press – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 5, 225lbs x 1, 225lbs x 1, 225lbs x 1, 185lbs x 8

Incline barbell bench press – 135lbs x 8, 155lbs x 6, 185lbs x 3

Set of 35 push ups

6 minutes A2G hold

 

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Today’s 20-10

Jun05
by Duf on June 5, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

funny_run_bike_run_duathlon_duathletes_du_it_postcard-rc0e2ed4387394612b807b1173d106232_vgbaq_8byvr_512[1]So I decided to resume my mid-week, lunchtime mini-bricks which consist of 20 minutes of running on the treadmill followed by 10 minutes of riding the stationary bike.  The duration of each exercise will remain the same week to week, the goal is to increase the distance covered during those 30 sweaty minutes.

Early on the running was not feeling very comfortable due to second day soreness creeping in from Tuesday’s dead lifts.  Eventually as my body temperature climbed I loosened up but I would not say I ever felt comfortable during the run.

Today’s Workout

Run/Bike Brick

20 minute run – distance covered 2.10 miles

10 minute bike – distance covered 3.32 miles

Total distance – 5.42 miles in 30 minutes

 

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Frustration as fuel

Jun03
by Duf on June 3, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

deadlift_main[1]Today’s session had a lot of talking with a couple of my gym buddies, seriously cutting into the number of exercises I got in.  I did at least get in some squats and deadlifts.  Once again I was feeling pretty strong, pulling 365 off the floor with a mixed grip.  I got bold and slapped a 10 on each side and tried 385.  I got it off the floor but after suspending it for a few moments with mostly lower back, let it bang back down to terra firma. I was annoyed at my miss and used that to help fuel a final set of 8 reps at 315 lbs, the first time I did that in quite awhile.

With my couple squat sets I can tell that my body is getting more accustomed to pushing the weight from a lower position.  I could do more reps if I didn’t want to cut into my dead lift numbers.

 

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Barbell ITB (in the bucket) squats – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 6

Dead lift – 225lbs x 10, 315lbs x 5, 365lbs x 1, Fail at 385, 315lbs x 8

4 minutes A2G hold

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