Grind

Despite a couple of early appointments at work, still had a couple of winners at Ford's.

Settled into something I think will work on Tuesdays (at least for the time being). A bit more quick tempo and managed to get in everything I wanted. Will be kind of a mish mash of light assistance and (moreso) conditioning.

Tuesday

I. Warm Up
1.) Usually the CES complex or equivalent
2.) Face Pulls + any of a slew of beneficial corrective exercises

II. Work

1.) 3 x Pull Ups/Band Resisted Push Ups/Fat Grip 1 Arm DB Rows done as a circuit. Took an AMAP approach on each and took ~60 seconds between runs through.

Will up the volume, reduce the rest in coming weeks if I can.

2.) 15' of Jump Rope/KB Swings/Ab Wheel Rollouts

Done on a 1' timer, cycling through. Some rest built in, but not more than 10 - 15 seconds. Jump rope interval was 60", KB swings were with a 20kg bell. Started with 20 swings and dropped by 2 reps each cycle. On the last run I went for broke and hit 16. Rollouts were 10 reps each cycle except for the last where I only got 8.

I worked up quite a sweat with this one. I think I finally found about the right level of intensity for this sort of sustained work.

3.) Rowing on the Concept II

Changed it up a bit. Haven't done any "cardio" in a long time. Did 10' of 30" on/30" off. On was as hard as I could row with good form. Off was just keeping moving. I've never rowed much before. My upper back and arms pooped out before anything else. Perhaps I was doing it wrong...will revisit. Mostly I was trying to focus on not herniating anything.

Thursday

I. Warm Up

Got to gym early and had an extended warm up period. It was nice.

1.) Foam rolling
2.) Snatch Grip RDL's w/dowel
3.) Hip flexor stretching/mobility
4.) Cook's Squat Progression (couple of rounds, knees are warming up to it)
5.) Kettlebell Squat Progression (goblets, hip flexor stretches, Single KB front squat, Double KB front squat)

Everything above either bodyweight or very light KB's. Hips loosened up nicely and weight seemed planted on the heels.

II. Work

Front Squats
5 x 140
3 x 160
4 x 180

Clean grip felt good at 140 and 160, depth was good. Went back to arms crossed at 180 and manged 4.

Zercher Squats
3 x 6/5/6 @ 110 to 13" box

Bench Press (DB's)
5 x 150
3 x 170
1 x 190

I assume it's obvious that I was using two 75#, two 85#, two 95# DBs for this. The 95's were more than I could handle solo.

What did we learn from this round of 5/3/1?

It is possible for me to front squat fairly well with a clean grip. I didn't enjoy military pressing the fat bar. I did enjoy bench pressing with fat grips; however, I did not enjoy bench pressing dumbells. I think pressing the barbell might be safer as it seems easier to be strict about form there. It is possible to use your normal barbell load with DB's, but I don't know that I'd do it again. The Zercher squat is still my favorite squat variation. Unless I count RFESS on straps. I think if I didn't feel somewhat romantically about conventional deadlifts that I would switch to trap bar permanently given the frequent high repetitions of 5/3/1.

Next round will be back to normal on everything. Front squats will keep the clean grip.

Will give it 3 months, see if I can avoid any stalls. After that, not 100% sure.

I may try a mix up again:

Push Press
Snatch Grip DL
Zercher Squat or Box Squat
Bench Press

We'll see. I keep waiting to get tired of the gym sessions and feel compelled to ride again. But the further I step from endurance sports, the less they make sense to me. And the more I learn about weight training, the more I want to pursue it. Such is life. My health and fitness have improved again in 2009, and I think a large part of this came from abandoning cycling (racing) and the sense of obligation to train 15 - 20 hours a week.

Anyway, time for bed. Morning comes early these days.