The Agony and the Ecstasy

[Daniel Myers]

Thursday 6/21/2007


Warm Up


Bench Press: 195x8x2


Body Row: 3x10


Tuck Front Lever: 5 holds as long as possible
- got about 10-15 seconds per each hold
- no trouble levering into position
- this is the second time I've tried these


DB Hammer Curls: 45x8x2 x each arm
-try 50 next week


HeavyHands walk on treadmill:
- 7% grade
- 4 mph pace
- 12 pound DBs


L-Sits: 5 holds as long as possible
- these are hard
- my hip flexors are weak
- must get stronger

[Daniel Myers]

Saturday 6/23/2007


Had a muscle spasm in the area of my left shoulder blade. Arching my back was a little painful, so I decided not to deadlift. Now that it's Sunday morning, everything is back to normal.


Warm Up
- I've been adding in the foot drills Garrett posted on another thread


Pull-ups: 50x8x2
- stay at 50 for a couple more weeks


Handstand practice against the wall
- my new goal is to do a press to handstand
- first I must learn how to do a handstand
- need a lot more practice, but I'm now comfortable being upside down


Tabata stuff:
- thrusters: 65x8x8
- bodyweight squats: 8 rounds of 20/10


Sit-Ups: 60

[Daniel Myers]

Tuesday 6/26/2007


Warm


Squat: 275x6x2 225x10
- tried a slightly narrower stance, which felt more natural


Barbell Overhead Press: 115x5x3
- try 120x8x2 next week


Sprints: 6x100m


Straight Leg Sit-Ups: 60


Overhead pressing is by far my weakest, lamest lift. There's no reason for this. I just don't press enough. I need to get serious and start working the press like it matters. My short term goal is to get to 135, then 150. Longer term, I need to get 185 overhead for a nice bodyweight press (a little more than bodyweight, actually).

[Daniel Myers]

Thursday 6/26/2007


Warm-Up Joints and Muscles and Feets


Bench: 200x6x2 165x9, 2
- the back off set with 185 was done rest-pause style
- definitely feels stronger than the last time I did 200


Body Rows: 3x10


Front Lever: 5 holds
- tuck position feels pretty good
- working on extending the legs to get to advance tuck


Barbell Curls: 95x3x1
- these irritated my wrist, so I terminated this set early
- go back to the 45 pound DB hammer curls


L-Sits: 5 holds
- held at parallel for as long as possible
- then held in a lazy-L, with legs extended but held low


The tuck front lever position feels solid, so I'm working on extending the legs gradually to get to an advanced tuck. I'm not there yet, but I can manage an extension to just short of 90 degrees for a few seconds. L-sits are still weak, but I'm working hamstring flexibility each day, and my hip flexors will get stronger with more practice on them.

I'm planning on attending a local adult gymnastics class, probably next week. I figured that I could get some of the basic bodyweight skills like handstands much faster if I have some decent coaching. If you have any tips on getting along in a gymnastics class, feel free to share.

[Daniel Myers]

Tuesday 6/3/2007


Warm


Squat: 275x6x2 225x15
- the back off set was hard, but good
- I could get 225x20 if I really wanted it


Overhead Press: 120x6x2 95x12


Heavyhands lunges on treadmill:
- 10 pound dumbbells
- 5% grade, 1 mph speed
- 8 minutes
- press one bell overhead on each lunge
- averaged 15 lunges per minute


Standing Cable Abs: 100x3x8 120x5
- focus on keeping the legs straight

[Daniel Myers]

Thursday 6/5/2007


Warm-Up Type Stuff


Bench Press: 205x5x2 135x15
- this was lame
- felt awkward, especially when taking the bar off the rack
- repeat 205 next week


Body Rows: 3x10


Front Lever: 6 holds
- getting stronger on these
- can move into an okay advanced tuck
- try to hold advanced tuck longer


Curls: 85x4x2 85x12
- This was weird. I started off doing sets of two, then I got bored, so I decided to do one more set to "almost failure." And somehow, I got 12 reps. Apparently I was underestimating my curling powers, at least for today.


Thruster Breathing Ladder:
- 1 deep breath, 1 rep
- 2 deep breaths, 2 reps
- repeat up to 20 breaths and 20 reps
- these were not hard until 15, and then they were very hard


Go Home

[Daniel Myers]

Saturday 7/7/07


Deadlift: 335x2x1 355x4x1 335x4x1
- My first real DL session in a couple of weeks


Pullups: 50x6x2 0x11


Power Clean and Push Press: 65 x 5 minutes
- grip got tired before anything else


Bear Crawls around wrestling mat


Swiss Ball Sit-Ups: 40

[Daniel Myers]

Saturday 7/14/2007


Been slacking off a little this week. Had some aches and pains on Tuesday, so I took a very short session, and skipped Thursday's normal workout

For today, I hiked for two hours up into the Sandia foothills. Basically, an hour uphill, then an hour downhill, carrying a light pack with some water. I measured the route, and calculated I did 3.25 miles in the first 50 minutes, for an average pace of just under 4 MPH. I don't know the elevation gain, but the first half was totally uphill at a 5-10% grade.

The wife and I are planning to travel up to Colorado over Labor Day to climb some of the 14000 foot mountains in the Denver area. I've been feeling guilty about not doing much outdoor stuff this year, so I'm looking forward to doing some day hikes to prepare. We have several 10000-12000 foot peaks and trails within short driving distance.

[Daniel Myers]

Sunday 7/15/2007


Changing it up a little bit. I stole this from John McCallum's Complete Keys to Progress.


Warm-Up


Prone Hyperextensions: 3x10


Squats: 135x5 185x5 225x5
- went a little easy on these because of my hip
- take three deep breaths between each rep


Pullovers: 15x5x20
- superset these with squats
- done to "expand the rib box"


Front Squats: 135x3x10


Bench Press: 135x4x8


Power Cleans: 95x5 115x2x5 135x2x5
- again, went a little easy on these


Bent-Over Row: 95x10 115x10 135x10
- cut this short because I was feeling it in my low back


Overhead Press: 95x3x8


Incline DB Curls: 25x3x8 x each arm
- superset with presses


Abs


Hip Abductor Machine: 40x3x10 x right leg


I haven't worked these high reps in a while, and I moved through everything at a good pace, so I got some conditioning and a nice pump. Am I allowed to talk about being pumped on the P-Menu?

[Daniel Myers]

Tuesday 7/17/2007


In keeping with the spirit of "changing it up," I did the famous York Course #3 today. This is a tough little fellow, but enjoyable.


Warm-Up:
- light power snatches
- light clean and press
- joint mobility
- foot drills


York Course #3:

One-Arm Jerk: 55x10 x each arm
One-Arm Snatch: 40x10 x each arm
Two-Arm Press: 95x10
Deep Knee Bend: 185x12
One-Arm Overhead Squat: 60x10 x each arm
High Pull: 185x10
Press Behind Neck: 85x10
Hang Power Snatch: 75x10
Two-Arm Jerk: 115x10
Hang Power Clean: 115x10


I haven't done some of these moves for a while -- particularly the snatches, which I hardly ever do. No breaks, except to change the weights. It doesn't look that hard on paper, but all of the exercises are big compound moves, and make you really tired.

I didn't plan this consciously, but it looks like I'm using weights in the 50-60% range. You could go higher, take a little more rest, and maybe add a second set to some of the moves for a strength workout. Or you could go lighter and focus on really flying through everything for a tough metcon session. Very flexible, these old York Courses. I have a couple of other ones I want to try out over the next few weeks.

I finished up with some easy pumping and toning for arms, calves, etc., and some sit-ups.