Becoming an Athlete

I met a couple guys at work and sparred for about an hour. It was a good workout, but not going to help me get ready for highland games. :(

I took my dog and my 45lb sandbag to the school yard to train for the games. They have a small gravel track that's about 250 yards. Warm-up: walk 1 lap, jog 1 lap. 1st set: 8 chest passes over the soccer goal (about 8ft high); jog 1 lap 2nd set: sideways throws to the left across the field and back; jog 1 lap 3rd set: sideways throws to the right across the field and back; jog 1 lap 4th set: underhand throw across the field and back; jog 1 lap 5th set: shot put across the field and back; jog 1 lap The bag broke as I was finishing the shot puts, so i tok that as my queue to call it done.

I'm trying to build up where the Highland games will challenge me most, thus the lopsided workout. 1) T-bell swings: 63lbs x 15 2) 1-arm sandbag overhead throws: 45lbs x 8 per side, alternating arms each time 3) Spinning sandbag throws: about 5. i was tired and lost count 4) Deadlift: 275 x 5; 295 x 5; 315 x 5*!! *New personal record. I've never done 5 reps with this much weight before.

I don't know if I can master a Scottish accent in 6 weeks and 3 days, but I might have a chance at learning to throw a stone or caber (long log). http://www.austincelts.org/festival/sports.shtml Hopefully my 63lb T-bell will be a good training implement. I'm also going to be making various weight "stones" by filling different sized rubber balls with concrete.

This was hard considering how hard I pushed at lunch today. 1) Shrug-Pull-Snatch: 135x3-3-0; 115x3-3-1, 3-3-2 2) Squat: 135x10; 185x10; 205x10 3) Bench press: 135x5; 205x5; 215x4 4A) Medium grip barbell curls: 75x8, 8, 5 4B) Dips: 8 , 8 , 2

My buddy came over for a workout. It was great to have training partner who is was at my same level. Since I only have one heavy bag, we did partner drills. Basicly "I go - you go". The round time was set to 3 minutes work and 30 seconds rest. We did 8 rounds of various drills: jab - cross jab - cross - hook jab - cross - hook - shovel hook lead leg kicks lead leg double kicks switch-up left leg kicks rear round kicks After that we finished off with sandbag work. I have no idea how much the bag weighs. We did 2 rounds of: A) Left side throws (5 reps) B) Right side throws (5 reps) C) Underhand throws (5 reps) I'll have to do this one again soon!!!

I love when things fall into place. I finished making my kettlebell right about when Testosterone published a "challenge" workout using a kettlebell. Their called Count-downs by some, and 55s by author Dan John. Pair two exercises and perform supersets of 10, 9, 8,....1. I used my 63lb t-bell and got all 55 reps of: Swings Goblet squats My backside from calves to neck and my shoulders are DONE!!!! Artice: Four Challenges to Light Your Fire

I just made my first quasi Kettlebell! I'm going to try out this 60lb baby tonight!

I had to drop the dumbbells down to 25 lbs each. But I added a couple extra movements patterns. Performing all movements without ever dropping the weights or pausing between: a) High pull b) Hang snatch c) Squat + press d) Drop lunge e) Supinaring bent row f) pushup + plank row g) Pushup w/ trunk twist My results: a) 8, 5, 5 b) 5, 5, 5 c) 5, 5, 3 d) 5, 5, 5 each leg f) 5, 5, 5 g) 5, 5, 3 each arm h) 3, 1, 1 each arm

THIS SUCKS!!!!! Boxing workout: (2 min work, 1 min rest) Rounds 1-3: light kickboxing to warm up and clean up Rounds 4-7: hard heavy bag work, as if fighting an opponent. During the rest, I did 5 hanging knees to elbows 30lb Dumbbell complex: Only got through one set of High pull: 5 reps Hang snatch: 5 reps Squat + press: 5 reps Bent row: 5 reps

Yeah, this isn't exactly a workout, but it counts. I got ZERO POINT ZERO ZERO hours of sleep last night. There are two very serious side effects of doing heavy olympic lifts (clean, snatch, and variants). They get your nervous system so fired up that sleeping is impossible! It was more potent than caffeine, but without the jitters; just some random twitches They trash your calves, and in my case, my soleus. That's why i could only do 1.5 miles today. My calves were hurtin like they did last year when after running 100 yard sprints. Time to stretch!

This one was mostly as planned, but with a little improve. 1) Clean: 155x1; 165x1; 175x1; 185x1; 195x1 2) Bulgarian squats: bodyweight by 15, 15 each leg 3) Squat: 155x15; 175x15; 185x15 4) Bench press: 135x15; 145 x 15, 10 5A) Barbell curl: 65 x 12, 12, 10, 10 5B) Dips: 4, 6, 6, 7 (triceps shot after reps of 15 on bench press)

Turns out I was just sick for the last few days. Its good to know I wasn't overtraining or burning out my CNS so early into a new program. I was sick all night Thursday and all day Friday. When I finally got back to it on Saturday, I tore it up!!!! My fiance set her own Personal Record on deadlifts, too. 155 for a set of 5 rep! That's more than some guys I know. 1) Deadlift: 245x5; 275x3; 315x3 2) Drop lunges: bodyweight x12; 10# dumbbells x12; 15#DBs x 12 3) Overhead press: 125x5; 145x3; 155x1 4) Chinup ladder: 42 total reps My fiance got her record on chin-ups, too. 20 total reps.

Lifting heavy (near 1 rep max) is demanding! I am constantly hungry, and frequently tired. I'm going to stick with this plan till the end in 5 weeks, but make one minor change. I'm going to increase the target rep ranges for squats. That should be enough of a modification to keep me from burning out in 2 weeks.

I was too tired from the squats to run, so I walked the 5K loop.

A great article describing how and why this approach works: http://www.cbass.com/Pavel'sLadders.htm

Its the middle of the day, so I shortened this workout. Just meat and potatoes today. Hold the Pico de Gallo. 1) Barbell caolves: 275 x 25, 25 (ready to increase weight and lower reps) 2) Squat: 245x5; 275x3; 285x1 ( my back is reaching it's breaking point. time to ease up!) 3) Bench press: 185x5; 205x3; 235x1 (all sets easy. no spotter, so I didn't push to my limit) 4) Pullup-chinup Ladder* -Wide grip pullup: x 1 (rest 30 seconds) -Medium grip pullup: x 2 (rest 30 seconds) -Medium grip chinup: x 3 (rest 30 seconds) -Close grip chinup: x 4 (rest 30 seconds) -repeat the sequence as many times as you can. I went through the sequence 3 times. That's 30 pullups or chinups all together.

That's the real test of fitness; how capable you are of doing real work when the need presents itself. 4 SEP: Car pushing - An old lady's car broke down in front of a high school parking lot. If she stayed where she was, she would have blocked traffic for the busses as well as student vehicles leaving for the 3-day weekend. I pushed her Hyundai Elantra up the hill to and onto a side road to get her out of the way. It was an easy 40-50 yards, and she was an easy 250!. 5 SEP: Wood choppin' - CRIPES!!! Borrowed my neighrbor's chainsaw to cut the tree trunk into small sections that fit into my smoker. Then I used my maul (aka wood spiltter) to split the sections into wedges about 3-6 inches wide. I can't begin to describe how much wood I'm talking about. It took well over 2 hours to get it all done. I'm DONE working this weekend. Now to keep smoking that brisket!!

Can you hand me my spleen, please?? 1) Deadlift: 225x3; 275x3; 295x3 2) Goodmorning: 95x10,10 3) Single leg calf raise: 20 x 15,15 each leg 4) Overhead press: 135x3; 145x3; 155x3 5A) Chin-up: 8, 5, 4, 5 5B) Upright row: 65x 12, 12, 12, 12

100 pushups 100 squats + 100 situps = 300 reps (in under 10 mins) + 5 mile bike ride = 300 and 5

1) Barbell calves: 275 x 20, 18 2) Squat: 235x3; 245x3; 255x3 3) Bulgarian squat: bodyweight x 12, 15 (each leg) 4) Bench press: 185x3; 195x3; 205x5 5A) Medium grip barbell curls: 65 x 12, 12, 11, 10 5B) Dips: bodyweight x 10, 9, 8, 5