Powered by pizza and pissed off

Aug31
by Duf on August 31, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Posted In: Nutrition, Physical challenges

So I went in to today’s Ray’s Way attempt still feeling fat and lethargic from too much drinking and eating at last night’s fantasy football draft.  However I also was pissed off from being such a glutton.  I was pretty determined to blow through the 19/9/24 rep level that I failed at last week.

Maybe consuming all those grams of carbs last night gave me a good amount of stored energy.  I blasted through all 5 rounds with 24 seconds to spare in round 5.

Well to be fair it was far from easy, round four and five were quite difficult as they always are but still, I managed to succeed where I failed before, always a good feeling.

Next up is to complete the circuit again at these rep numbers and then up to 20/10/25, my original starting point that I failed at pretty epically my first time through.

95 dips,  45 pull ups and 120 push ups is  a good start to the penance I must inflict on myself.

 

 

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Getting “bigger”?

Aug31
by Duf on August 31, 2012 at 9:39 am
Posted In: General Fitness Talk, Physical challenges

For a very long time my body weight was hanging down right at the 170 mark, even dipping into the 160’s if I would weigh myself in the morning.  I liked keeping my body weight low because in my head, weighing less means being more efficient at body weight exercises.  Having less to pull or push should mean I can perform better.

Being that light at 6’3″ wasn’t exactly a great look for me, I saw a bunch of pictures of myself where I looked gaunt, something I don’t really want.

Well over the last few months my body weight has now settled in around between 175-179 pounds.  When I started seeing those numbers I was not happy as I always assume if I am gaining weight it must be fat instead of muscle.  Of course without an accurate body fat analysis or diligent measurements with a tape measure, I don’t have an easy way to know for sure.

Well despite my added “girth” this week I have done multiple sets of pull ups in the 20+ range, getting sets of 21, 22, and 22 the last three days.  I had not gone past 20 reps since my 25 rep effort in late April.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OIqh4gkBWY

I have also been feeling pretty strong doing my dips and push ups that I interject into various lunch time work outs, getting 55 push ups multiple times as well as dip numbers higher than my recent norm.

What does this all mean exactly?  I am not sure.  This sudden strength boost could be due to some added muscle that is able to more than accommodate the extra pounds.  It also could be that random energy boost I seem to get on a monthly basis depending on where we are in the moon cycle.

Well whatever the cause of my better numbers, I plan to put it to the test today, hoping to break through at my 2nd attempt of Ray’s Way at the 19/9/24 level.

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How to hurt yourself and stay that way

Aug27
by Duf on August 27, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Posted In: Injuries

So last Friday I pulled out my dip belt to do some weighted pull ups and dips.  I decided to try to set a new PR for weighted dips for the second consecutive week, hanging 115 pounds around my waist.  I stalled out about halfway back up, struggle as I might.

Well I noticed after the fail attempt I had a weird sensation in my right elbow/upper arm.  It reminded me of the sensation when you hit your “crazy bone”, the area just kind of felt dead and weak.  Over the weekend when I tried a static wall handstand hold that same area is what gave out first during the disappointing 73 second effort.

So today at the gym I wasn’t really thinking much about the injury during my chest/back routine.  I did my set of 55 push ups and Fat Gripz pull ups with out much issue.   Well after pre-fatiguing with a number of other back exercises I decided to try some one hand static chin hangs.  After holding for maybe 10 seconds on the right side I released and had a rocketing pain through the forearm, elbow, bicep, shoulder area.  Now the arm is back to feeling like it was crazy boned.

It was stupid of me to try a high stress hold like a OAC hold with the issues I had going into the workout.  I guess I just didn’t engage the brain, a common occurrence when it comes to some of my exercise decisions.

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How I waited for Isaac

Aug27
by Duf on August 27, 2012 at 8:45 am
Posted In: Physical challenges

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDYSSxVWHTM

Why not….

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Technical defeat, moral victory

Aug22
by Duf on August 22, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Posted In: Exercises, Physical challenges

So today I tried bumping up the reps on my RW ladder by 1 across the board meaning the goal was to complete 5 rounds of 19 dips, 9 pull ups and 24 push ups.  The Cliff Notes version is I was not successful, technically.

In round 5 my tri’s gave out after 17 reps but I continued on and did my 9 pull ups and 24 push ups.  I noticed after my last, very difficult push up, I still had 11 seconds left in the round.  I immediately jumped back on the dip bars and squeezed out two dips just as time expired.

So although I was not able to follow the “all sets must be unbroken” rule I did at least get all of the reps in within the time regulation.

To be honest I was surprised I made it to the last round.  My triceps were sore before the first dip from my tri work the day before.  So even though it was a fail, I’ll stick a little asterisk behind this one.

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