Post Season Rugby/SS Journal

[Nathan Stanley]

Okay, so the rugby season's almost over. I'm out for the Pac Coast playoffs because of a bad achilles and I have a class I can't miss. Hopefully I'll be playing in Austin in a few weeks, but I've decided to start up the Starting Strength program again as well as really cleaning up my diet.

Here's my schedule:
M-SS
T-Rugby (at least for one more week)
W-SS
TH-Rugby
F-SS
S-Grad class (for a few weeks)/Games
Su-???

I've gone to a quasi-paleo diet. Really trying to eat as clean as possible w/ some exception on the weekend when we play (go figure). I do eat a little dairy (I've given it up before and seen no change). Started at about 237 and I'm down about 5lbs so far. (Taking about 5 g of creatine a day so I haven't lost a lot of water weight). I've had a nagging achilles injury that I'm REALLY, trying to shake so I can contribute to the team.

Today I went in and lifted to determine my starting weight for Monday:
Squat: Each set x 5 reps--45-135-205-255-275. Way below what I'm capable of, but I want to take it slow, and give myself some time to build up. I'll start at 275 and see how I feel. Since I'm still playing rugby, I'm wanting to limit the load on my legs early. In the fall I was squating over 400.

For bench: 45-135-205-215-225. I'll start w/ 215 on Monday.

If we advance in the playoffs, I'll probably hold off on a whole hog SS. We shall see.

[Nathan Stanley]

Its flipping snowing.

Went mountain biking along the Deschutes River today. Probably a two hour ride. Its really my first ride in about 5 years, so I was a bit of a wuss. The achilles felt good though.

My goal is this summer to go mtn. biking at least once a week.

A little sore from my first weight workout in over a month on Friday.

Yesterday I did the warm-up from the "Warm-up Moves" DVD. I prefer it considerably to most functional movement warm-ups because of the attention paid to the shoulders in particular. Good stuff on a day off.

[Nathan Stanley]

Warm-up--Lead the football weight-lifting class with the "Warm-up Moves" routine.

Squat: 45#x5; 135x5; 185x3; 225x4; 3x5x275#

Bench: 45x5; 85x5; 135x3; 185x2; 3x5x215#

Deads: 155x5; 185x5; 205x3; 285x2; 355#x5

[Nathan Stanley]

Weighed in this AM at 229.

Rugby tonight from 6:30-8.

Ultra sounded my achilles today and taped it for practice. Feels okay.

It snowed again this morning, and has been raining all afternoon. At least the field will be soft.

[Nathan Stanley]

Warm-up for squat-45-135-185-225
Work Sets 3x5x285 lbs

Did sets of five to determine work sets for next work out. 45-65-95-115-125

Could have done more but I want to progressively add weight so I'll start light as with my bench and squat.

Cleans-Warm up w/ the bar, then 135 lbs 3x5 from a hang clean. I want to improve my technique, so I'm starting light and w/ the hang clean to ensure that.

[Nathan Stanley]

Thursday:
Rugby practice. A little conditioning and a lot of run through type stuff. I ultra sounded part of my leg in the AM and another part in the afternoon. Iced the leg after practice.

Friday:
SS Routine
Squat 45x5-45x5-135x5-185x3-225x2-295x5-295x5-295x5
Bench 45x5-45x5-95x5-135x3-185x2-220x5-220x5-220x5
Deads 135x5-205x5-295x4-350x5