WWCESD?

Had some more quality time on the rollers yesterday. The black lung situation continues to improve to the point where I'm almost willing to call myself "normal."

Ah, who am I kidding. That'll never happen.


10" Warmup
100"Solid Aerobic riding, AHR ~ 145, AP ~200 Watts
10" Cool Down

Soundtrack provided by Drive by Truckers (new album is great), Bowie, and some more guilty pleasure Jethro Tull records.

Then I, for the first time ever, attempted to cop a CES workout verbatim. Then I, for the first time in awhile, was forced to abandon a workout.

Said workout:

21 Deadlifts
21 Cleans
15 DL's
15 Cleans
9 Deadlifts
9 Cleans

When I'd first read his post, I envisioned a complex of Deadlifts and Hang Cleans. And I thought it sounded like a decent idea.

Unfortunately, a thought occurred to me as I was getting dressed in the locker room. A thought that I wished would have never entered my head. But as it did, I had to address it.

What would CES do?

My gut was telling me that CES would almost certainly do proper cleans from the ground with a pretty much full front squat. That idea didn't agree with me too well, but I thought if I kept the weight light enough, I could give it a shot.

I did a little math and, giving CES credit for the 375# max DL, I figured that, at 225#, he was lifting about 60% of his max for the DL's. I calculated my load accordingly and settled on 165#.

For the cleans, I took a shot in the dark. I'm pretty bad at them, and I knew I'd be tired, so I settled on a measly 85 lbs.

Dr. 1% was off and running with a little rump booster routine (RDLs, Good Mornings, Squats, and Lunges). As expected, she did have good form, posture, flexibility, and mobility. With her already lifting much more soundly than I do, my required input was limited, and I set to work.

"CES says he took 11 minutes with this."

I looked at the clock, and when it said 6:20, I dove in.

The first 10 pulls went up easy. 11-14 were tougher. By rep 15, I knew that this was an A-game workout and anything short of your best was going to be shut the hell down.

I was having a bit of trouble staying focused, and I was having to pause for a few breaths after each lift, but I managed 21 reps. My legs were shaking as I locked out the last few.

I looked over at the clock and saw that 3 minutes and change had passed. Not looking good, champ.

I loaded up 85# on the bar to do cleans. The thought of executing a technically sound clean made me want to vomit, so I settled on power cleans.

I got through 8 of them. Then I thought maybe I could squeak out a hang clean. I managed to get the bar up to my waist on that rep.

I dropped the weight, sat down, put on my shoes, looked over at Dr. 1%, and said "That guy's nuts. What an animal."

"Could have told you that."

Thanks, Doc. I was cooked on on pace to finish the workout sometime on Tuesday morning rather than sometime around 6:31. "I'm done."


I'm going to come back to that workout. But I'm not ready yet.

A thought occurred to me after that set of 21: Would a guy like me, who has benefited from a wider stance on squats, also benefit from a wider stance on Deadlifts? Should I be deadlifting in a sumo style rather than a conventional style.

I don't know. The 1 rep I did do sumo style felt strong and right (?) in my lower back. I will research and experiment. If anyone has input and anecdotal pros and cons on deadlifting sumo style vs. conventional style, I'd be happy to hear them.