Oof

Eating: Mr. Softee small vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles
Drinking: not enough water
Listening: nothing

seated row 60# 15 3:00

chest press 100# 8 1:50

pulldown 100# 7 1:38

OH press 40# 6 1:31

leg press 180# 12 2:35

I think the seated row really hit me hard or something. Either my TUL or reps dropped for all except leg press and both dropped for the dread OH press. I had a lot to drink plus five cigarettes yesterday. Right now I feel kind of buzzed but completely wiped. I am having trouble typing.

Not seeing the progression I would like, but otherwise I feel good. Maybe I'm boxing too much?

Edit: it occurred to me last night that I actually did a couple of these exercises differently from how I've done them in the past. I had my palms out on the pulldown, and grips aligned (rather than parallel) on the chest press and OH press. That might be why I found them so god damned hard.

Natation

Eating: belonging to my gym is worth it for the free apples alone

Drinking: some water when I get around to it

Listening: album version of La Femme d'Argent

 

I did breaststroke for a continuous 15 minutes, which was the plan.  I feel fine, although actually swimming felt kind of sluggish and my hands fatigued.  The plan is to work the time up a bit and then start mixing in some crawl.  My form is ass so I am going to watch some Expert Village videos.  I have low expectations though, which is a nice feeling.  I am never going to do a swim race or a triathlon.  Swimming is strictly for the beach, the kid and not dying if I fall out of a boat.  And I suppose for conditioning on days when I don't feel like hitting something or running.

 

I had a bizarre dream last night about Hans Appelqvist and teenagers jumping off of really high structures, kind of like large radio towers, into really small, shallow tubs of water.  One missed and injured both his ankles. 

More Boxing

Eating: I had an apple an hour ago

Drinking:  tieguanyin

Listening:  shakuhachi

 

I hit the heavy bag while listening to "Mattress" by Fela Kuti, about 13 minutes.  More breaks / rests than last time.  I didn't have a lot of intensity, but it was still a good practice.  I worked on keeping my feet quiet, and practiced left jabs and straight rights in isolation, then some combos, and a couple punches from a hands-down start.  It felt like I was getting a pretty good rotation, and I was moving the bag quite a bit on the combos.  I should review the video for left jab alone.  There is no reason why I can't make this a 20-minute or half-hour workout; on the other hand the original idea was to have a very intense 10- to 15-minute session.  That will probably become easier as I get more skilled and can get a rhythm going. 

 

My shoulders feel pretty tight and sore, and did yesterday too.  My neck is pretty stiff too.  I don't know if this is from the machines or what.  I have been sleeping really well, 8 hours, so it's not that.  I hit the steam room and took a cold shower afterwards, which felt great.  I am most concerned about possible injury to my wrists or thumbs (I don't use real gloves, I just use the slip-on kickboxing ones; I don't think I should be hitting any harder than my hands can take unwrapped) but they seem fine. 

BBS 2

Eating: apple

Drinking: water

Listening: nothing

 

seated row 60# 17 2:18

chest press 100# 9 1:53

pulldown 100# 7 1:42

OH press 40# 7 1:47

leg press 180# 8 2:10

 

I was vaguely aware as I was doing the upper body exercises that I was not putting everything I had into the workout, but the leg press changed all that.  I could barely walk when I was done, and I feel totally buzzed now.  My reps were sped up slightly from last time.  TUL was about the same, with an extra rep or two on each exercise.  I need to go harder on the upper body stuff.  That might mean slowing it down again, as I did get to failure (maybe I could have tried harder) on most of the exercises.  Getting the right speed is kind of an art that I haven't mastered yet.  Keeping count is also really tricky.  I am really accustomed to counting once per breath. 

Neu!

Eating: apple

Drinking: water

Listening: nothing

 

Another quick visit to the gym for ten minutes of boxing.  Felt pretty good - a little weakness in my right wrist.  I watched some of these videos first.  Helped keep me thinking about technique when I was in there.  I definitely had some ok punches although I'm really way too weak to even move the bag that much. 

 

I tried some getups and the like last night, very half-heartedly.  They were significantly harder than I had anticipated - three minutes of lying down and getting back up is hard work.  Another kind of odd thing is I still feel a little sore, and I think it has to be from my workout three days ago.  I'm really looking forward to getting into this program and seeing how far it will go. 

Ideas

So, the BBS protocol is going to have me doing far fewer conventional gym workouts, and I have spent some time this morning trying to think of other stuff to do to keep active and motivated.  Group activities are mostly out because my schedule is totally unpredictable.  Otherwise, a martial art would be ideal.  I spent some time reading up on Movement Naturelle, and that is appealing but I'm not interested in the social stigma of climbing trees etc in the park.  However, it gave me some ideas I can use.  First, work on weaknesses.  I can barely swim, and I belong to a gym with a pool, so that is something I can do.  Also, I could do 20-minute sessions of bodyweight stuff - getups, jumps etc - in my apartment after work.  So here is some stuff I can do:

• Conventional runs with a focus on technique (I still want to be able to run long distances).
• Unconventional runs with built-in sprints, jumps, detours through the forest, pullups, etc.
• Swimming - set a time, like 20 or 25 minutes, and stay occupied in the pool for that length of time.  Do some laps, see how far I can go underwater, practice holding my breath, practice diving and surfacing, etc.
• Boxing.  The easiest.  Watch one of the hundreds of excellent instructional videos on YouTube and go hit the bag for the length of time it takes to listen to Fur Immer or Beat Bop or whatever. 
• Timed workouts in the apartment.  Spend 3 or 4 minutes doing each of the following: lying down and getting up (front and back), getting under the coffee table and out the other side (crawling or rolling), jumping on the stairs, up and down the ladder to the roof, burpees (with or without the jump), tuck squats, one-leg squats (no help for balance), walking hands out and then feet to hands, plank to side plank, crab walking, in and out window to balcony ... this is getting a little absurd. 

First BBS workout

Eating: lots of chocolate
Drinking: water
Listening: nothing

seated row 50# 15 3:00
chest press 100# 7 2:00
pulldown 100# 6 1:56
OH press 50# 4 1:15
leg press 180# 5 2:00

All the times are kind of approximate, because I am timing myself, and the rep counts got a little mangled too because I am not used to multiple breaths per rep.

So, this was my first go at a Body by Science workout. It was fucking tough. The impulse to give up after a couple reps was incredibly strong, and I think I really only got to true positive failure on the chest press and leg press. I feel amazing though, really buzzed. In terms of changing weights from workout to workout, I am going to go up in weight if I am at or over 3:00 and down if under 90".

I don't understand how this is going to work my hamstrings.

Also, what do you do if you want to empasize a certain group? My shoulders, for instance, are incredibly weak. The answer seems to be: nothing. In fairness, they weren't getting much stronger under my old regime, so maybe I should just give it a month and not worry about it.

Planning to re-read Body by Science over the next week.

Punch Punch

Eating: an apple and some chocolate

Drinking: pu'er

Listening: The True Wheel

 

I am stupid busy right now.  I had a very annoying day so far, I was here until 3:30 last night, and I'll probably be here until 3 tonight.  So, I ducked out at 4 and hit the heavy bag for exactly 11 minutes (Fur Immer).  I tried to stay very focused on form and timing.  It was great.  Only now I'm kind of relaxed and tired and I have to work for another nine hours. 

CT run

Ran 2.8 miles at a very slow (wife) pace today.  It felt really, really good.  No pain whatsoever.  I ran the big hill twice. 

Reading "Body By Science" on the Kindle.  It's superb.  I am going to try the machine method for four weeks or so.  I need to give myself time to recover from Friday so first session will be Wednesday or Thursday.  We are supposed to close on Wednesday so probably Thursday.  I skipped ahead to the chapter on training for athletes and it said train specific skills, so I am going to try to do one HIT workout a week, one Tabata (could do treadmill, thruster, rowing) and spend the rest of the time on skill development, which for now means boxing or running.  If I can get to the gym tomorrow, I was thinking of a warmup run and then 10 or so continuous minutes (Fur Immer I think is 11 minutes) on the heavy bag.

Dumbbell Day

Eating: nothing

Drinking: water

Listening: nothing

 

Ran 5' at 5.5mph

 

DB OH press 20# 12/side

DL 155# 12

squat 185# 10

WA pullups 50# 8

DB benchpress 40# 12/side

WG pulldowns 120# 6

 

A weird workout.  I have been meaning to do dumbbell versions of everything for some time, and I enjoyed it, so I might make it a regular Friday thing.  I didn't eat so well this morning (GM, bowl of cereal, and some kind of super sugary cookie) and I was kind of in insulin shock when I hit the office.  I had a normal-sized coffee, as usual.  Lunch was a steak and some roasted veggies.  Around 4 I noticed that I smelled the way I smell when I have too much coffee, only I hadn't.  Odd.  Then I had a matcha and went to the gym.  On the treadmill I felt kind of weak and hot, and the squats were a real struggle.  Everything after that was kind of a wash.  I was running around a lot today, so that might have had something to do with it too. 

 

I also have figured out what is wrong with my OH and bench press - very weak left arm.  Not a huge surprise.  Dumbbells should be good for that, right?

Medium Effort

Eating:  just had an apple, going to get some fajitae

Drinking:  water

Listening:  Rapid Spanish

 

Run 3 minutes at 5.5mph

 

deadlift 165# 12

squat 185# 10

WA pullups 50# 9

bench 145# 8 no spot

WG pull 120# 10

OH press 40# 3 x 8

sitting pull 50# 20

situps 45# 12

dips 5

 

I could go up on the deadlift but I think I should focus on range and form.  Squats were hard.  Bench was very, very uneven.  Maybe next time I should drop down and do reps, just once?  Situps were surprisingly hard.  I hate dips. 

A Weird Run

(on Sunday)

 

Ran 2.8 miles (very slowly).  Biomechanically I did not feel good at all, and after about 2 miles I got a very sharp sudden pain in my right calf that stopped me in my tracks.  I was able to continue running and the pain subsided pretty quickly, but it was pretty freaky.  My calf still feels pretty tight.  I need to track down a coach, I think. 

PERSEVERANCE IS KING

Eating: I had another salad

Drinking: water

Listening: La Ballade du Mois de Juin

 

WA pullups 60# 12 check

deadlift 155# 12 check

bench (spot) 145# 9

WG pulldown 120# 9

squat 185! 8

OH press 40# 3 x 8

CG pulldown 120# 8

situps 45# 12

dips 8

incline bench DND

 

My thinking on the OH press and dips and other stuff that I suck at is: shut the fuck up and keep at it. 

MH Tabata

Eating:  apple, and going to Le Paume for lunch in a few with JPM

Drinking:  a small matcha

Listening:  Hammer

 

Ran:

5' at 5.5mph

6 x 40" on, 20" off at 15 incline, 5.5 mph

10' at 5.5mph

 

Only laziness prevented me from running 15 or 20 minutes at the end.  Still, I had a good workout, and I was able to keep a good focus on my form for the entire time.  Better to do that than to run 20, end up slapping for the last 7 minutes and get shinsplints.

 

I liked the MH Tabata format.  I didn't get as winded as I do by the 8th rep on a regular Tabata (in fact, I probably could have survived another 2) but it was still tough to complete, and I was able to keep the running speed down and thus maintain form.  Form form form. 

Sanzen

Eating: Chop't Cape Town Cobb

Drinking: double macchiato

Listening: honshirabe

 

Run 5.5 mph 5 minutes

 

WA pullups 60# 12 still a little jerky at the end

deadlift 145# 12 easy

bench 135# 12 getting there

WG pulldown 120# 10

squat 175# check!

OH press 40# 2 x 10, weak form at end, should be doing 3 sets

CG pulldown 120# did not do

Situps 45# 12

Dips 8

Incline bench 45# 20

 

On the whole I felt really good.  I think I have done some kind of damage to my right quad / hip, so I may skip squats next time.  My running form felt very good, although I kind of felt a little lopsided, like maybe I was favoring one side. 

 

With OH press, I don't know if I should be staying at the higher weight and just doing 8 or 10 good reps, or dropping to a lower weight and doing 3 sets.  I wish Drew Baye would finish his book. 

Sunday 3/22

Ran 2 miles with Wife and Monstermobile. 

 

Some ache in left ankle and knee.  Right thigh kind of sore and wonky from squatting on Friday.

Friday 3/20

WA pullups 60# 10

Deadlift 145# 12

Bench 135# 12 (no spot, on that bar machine)

WG pulldown 120# 9

Squat 175# 10

OH press 60# 10 terrible form

CG pulldown 120# 10

Situps 45# 12

Dips (slow) 4

Incline bench 45# 20

Rehab

Eating:  cough drops

Drinking:  water

Listening:  the clack of my keyboard

 

Coming off a pretty rough cold.  Not as bad as the one I had in BC, but bad.  The Wife had to sleep on the couch last night because of my coughing, and prior to that I had a really bad earache and a sore throat too.  My doctor says the answer is lots of steam.

 

Anyway, I made it to the gym today:

 

15 pushups

Run 20' at 5.5mph

15 pushups

 

Felt very good - nice to get on the treadmill and listen to some music.  Biomechanically I feel very good too.  I took a really long steam bath afterwards and at the moment I feel superb. 

Never More Than 10

Eating: had wurst for lunch (Atkins)

Drinking:  espresso about an hour ago; water

Listening: GOCJ 9

 

Running 5' at 5.5mph

 

WA pullups 60# 12
Deadlift 135# 12
Incline bench 95# 12

Bench 135# 11
WG pulldown 110# 12
Squat 165# 12
OH press 60# 11
CG Pulldown 110# 12
Situps 45# 12
Dips 10

 

Running 5' at 5.5mph

 

Weight 187 and change.

 

A pretty good workout, all considered.  Went with BK, so I had a spotter.  I hated the pullups but got them done, and sailed through the deadlifts, squats, pulldowns and situps.  The squats were really great, felt superb.  I should go up 10 on all of those.  The bench was tough, but I'll get 12 next week, and then I can go up.  The OH press was atrocious.  My form was fucked after 9.  I blame the inclines, which were BK's idea.  I think inclines are sort of stupid, and I would much rather save my energy for the bench and OH presses. 

 

Another point worth mentioning is the warmup.  The little jog at the beginning was very pleasant and I think it really helped with the squat and the deadlift, which were totally painless.  I can't say if this is because it got my HR up a bit or if it loosened my legs up.  Thinking about warming up with rowing instead but I do like a nice slow jog and an opportunity to work on form a bit. 

 

The real point of depression is the dips.  I can't do more than 10 to save my fucking life.  Maybe I should do them first next time?

Hell is Round the Corner; My Secret

Eating: Cold-Eeze

Drinking: nothing

Listening: Grant Green

 

Running:

5' 5.5 mph

Tabata 6.5 mph

10' 5.5 mph

 

I felt pretty good during the first 5'.  The Tabata almost killed me.  I was feeling a little sick this morning and now I feel like I'm getting the flu.  Terrible, achy joints and bones feeling, like I had in BC.  So much for my vaunted immune system.  I don't think the next 24 hours are going to be fun. 

 

Also, it occured to me while I was running during the very pleasant and rewarding first five minutes that I should formally state something that I have been thinking for a while but that I haven't told a soul: I want to qualify for Boston. 

The Idea of Progress

Eating: Chop't
Drinking: nothing, but I will have some matcha shortly
Listening: GOCJ 5

WA pullups 60# 12
Deadlift 135# 12
Bench 135# 9
WG pulldown 100# 12
Squat 155# 12
OH press 60# 12
CG Pulldown 100# 12
Situps 35# 12
Dips 10

weight: 188#

A repeat of last week, but with very different results. Look at all those 12's! On the squat - I think it was 155 last time too, although I may have written down 165. I am of two minds on raising the weight for Friday. It might not be a bad idea to just repeat and really master form, which on a number of exercises (WA pullups, OH press, deadlift) is not perfect on the last rep or two. Maybe I'll hold off on those 3 and go up on the other 12's.

I have been meaning to record my weight for a while, not because it really matters but because I am interested in its fluctuations. Just looked through the archives and I don't think I've recorded it before, but it was in the neighborhood of 200 when I started.

The plan with running, for now, is to add a mile every weekend, for a couple of weeks anyway, and to do Tabatas on Wednesdays, with a little change - no running faster than 10 minute miles except during the actual sprints, which should always be uphill. Slow and steady wins the race.

Yesterday

Ran 2 miles in the Five Fingers.  I kept the speed down, although I don't have any sense of whether I was above or below 10 minutes, and I felt pretty good.  Some tightness in the left ankle, and my left knee hurts / feels a little weak today. 

Home

Eating:  just had some pork loin, bok choi, broccoli from the Caf

Drinking:  water

Listening:  This Must Be The Place

 

(totally out of order)

WA pullups 60# 11

deadlift 135# 8

bench 135# 8

WG pulldown 100# 12

squat 165# 10

OH press 60# 12

CG pulldown 100# 12

situps 35# 12

backups 8

dips 10

 

Felt pretty good.  Next session I should not change the pulldown weights - one of the real problems I have with that area is stamina.  I should get 12-12-12 at least twice before moving up in weight. 

 

The deadlift and squat were kind of touch and go.  This kind of puzzled me.  I think of myself as having pretty strong legs but I am benching as much as I deadlift!  Any more weight on the deadlift and I will be pushing my luck with form, and the squat was actually hard too, although I bet I can do an easy 12 next time and then move up. 

 

I decided to focus on form on the backups this time, and then did them right after deadlifting, which was dumb - it's almost the same muscles.  I ended up doing my 8 with pretty good form but getting that old carsick feeling.  I hate that shit.  I wonder if I should even bother. 

 

MH and I met up for a beer last night.  He had lots of good exercise tips, although I don't remember them because I had like five lambics and then some stout.  He does Crossfit, and seemed to think that my plan of getting strong and then doing Crossfit was a good one.  I wonder how long that will take, maybe a year?

HIIT or HIT

Eating:  a steakhouse salad from Chop't, but with mesclun and extra pepper

Drinking:  water

Listening:  Hammer

 

Run 5' at 9:30 pace

Tabata hillclimb at 6 mph / 10' pace, change to 6.1 mph after 4

4' rest

Run 20' at 10 pace

 

Inspired by Fitness Black Book's ghetto-ass fat loss thing.  Note that I did not fast first, so of course I totally missed the whole point, but I didn't have the nerve to not eat anything all morning and then do a Tabata.  That is something I will work up to for sure.

 

The Tabata was - dare I say it - easy.  It flew by, I did not feel like I was going to go into cardiac arrest, and I got a little skin flush but nothing like in the past.  I must be doing something right!  I just wish I had responded a little more quickly and kicked it up to 6.3 or something.  I guess I was worried about overdoing it.  The 20' run also felt pretty good, a little tightness in my left ankle and continuous clock-watching aside.  What I should say is that it was boring but didn't feel bad, and it was nice to set a goal and not flake out by bailing early or turning the speed down, both things I was strongly tempted to do.  I need to get one of these in a week in order to be finishing half-marathons and marathons in a couple months.

Back in the Saddle

Eating:  just had yet another Chop't harvest cobb

Drinking:  water, thinking about adding some caffeine

Listening:  Orbital

 

WA Pullups 60# 10

Deadlift 115# 10, 125# 12

Bench press 125# 12 unspotted

Pulldown 135# 8 (didn't see the five-pound barbell left on the stack)

Squat 165# 10

OH Press 60# 11

Close grip pulldown 100# 12

Weighted incline situps 35# 10

Backups 12

Dips 8

 

Some thoughts:

• It would not kill me to do some lunges.
• Every so often I should do a dumbbell day, where I do all applicable exercises with dumbbells, and maybe drop ten pounds or so.
• I am still having doubts about whether or not I'm on the right track to doing pullups.  I also think I should be doing at least one of the exercises as a wide-grip.  And maybe I should only be doing one of the exercises each time, and rotating?  Shit. 
• Should I be freaking out if my numbers have dropped a bit from last week?  No, right?
• I feel like I can go a lot heavier on deadlifting, but the squats I am finding very hard.