I am thinking about what I’ll do; I HAD hoped to get some research done the week of spring break but am prepared to spend it setting up my courses for online..if the need arises. I have some ideas.
Workout notes:
Monday: weights
rotator cuff
pull ups 4 sets of 10, one of 7, one of 5
bench: 10 x 135, 5 x 170, 5 x 170, 5 x 170
Shoulder: 3 sets of 5 x 95 (clean and press)
back squats: 5 x 65, 5 x 85, 5 x 95 (lots of free ones too)
shoulder: 3 sets of 10 x 45 dumbbell
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 200 Hammer
hex dead: 5 x 175, 2 sets of 5 x 205 (tough..legs were shot)
plank, headstand
Tuesday: yoga, then a somewhat sloppy 1:27 shuffle; I estimate the course to be about 6.5 miles. Ok, 6.4
I also had a nice walk afterward..5 miles in about 1:17-1:18 (5.1 hill walk)
The day was gorgeous.
Deadlift workout:
All but the last 2 sets were conventional
6 x 145
4 x 189
1 x 233 (note: failed first attempt..didn’t feel right; got the second)
5 x 233 (rounded back?)
5 x 233 (better)
5 x 238 (form?) Note: no bounce in any of these sets.
5 x 225 trap (went very well)
8 x 145 stiff leg (kept the bar close)
It was fine; back didn’t hurt but at these poundages ..well, I suppose I could hurt my back if I tried.
I had an early work appointment and so cut the workout short…also, the ROTC flooded the weight room.
pull ups: 4 sets of 10, one of 7, one of 5 (went well)
rotator cuff
super set of clean and presses with back squats:
presses: 3 sets of 5 x 95 (full reps)
back squats: 5 x 45, 85, 85 (I wish this were a typo)
superset of Hammer rows with dumbbell presses
rows; 3 sets of 10 x 210
presses: 3 sets of 10 x 45
Then home; deadlift: 6 x 145 conventional, 5 x 211 conventional, 5 x 211 sumo (bounced a rep by accident)
I was trashed by then; total workout time was 75 minutes, including the walk home. Passed on hex
I decided to change things a bit. Weight: just under 192 (194 with shoes, shorts)
rotator cuff
pull ups: 4 sets of 10, 1 x 7, 1 x 5 (went very well)
lots of free squats to practice form.
bench: 10 x 135, 5 x 170, 5 x 170, 4 x 170 (didn’t risk a 5’th). kept the form; tried to “push myself into the bench”
decline: 5 x 175
Super set of low bar squats and overhead presses (clean from the low pin position)
presses: 3 sets of 5: 85, 90, 90 (strict, full reps)
squats 1 x 95 (felt awful), 5 x 65, 5 x 75, 5 x 85. Yes, I clean and press more than I squat. I have issues. But I did get full depth. Tried to push up and down
rows (hammer) 3 sets of 10 x 200
dumbbell presses: 2 sets of 10 x 45
Legs were trash by now…
hex bar dead lift: 205 was too much for what I wanted to do today; quad focus: 3 sets of 5 x 175
2:30 plank
headstand.
This took about 85 minutes. That’s enough for today.
Nostalgia: I miss the old iron plates clanking ..the old rusty bars and the stinky gyms filled with gross, sweaty guys.
But I can still make my muscles ache.
Off to a Bradley Men’s Basketball game in just a bit.
I woke up early (of course) though I didn’t set the alarm.
And once again…I went to bed with high hopes and woke up with “OMG…everything hurts..workout is gonna suck!”
And it wasn’t entirely true.
Deadlifts (last “find my max” workout: (all done conventional except for the final set)
6 x 145
6 x 189
1 x 233 (not bad)
3 misses at 270; best one got almost to the knees..last miss was pulled from 45 plates so the problem is NOT the “off the ground” part)
My pull is weak.
5 x 233 (ok)
5 x 233 (easier than the first set?)
5 x 233 (harder than set 2; easier than set 1)
No, I didn’t bounce the sets; every rep was full stop, pause 1/2 second.
6 x 145 stiff legs.
That finished me off.
Then a walk on a sunny, 20-25 degree day: 5.65 miles in 1:27:20 (15:27 pace)
I was just over 31 at Sterling and just over 32 on the way back.
Not super fast, but ok following the deadlifts. Next time I make it 10K.
I am doing this to keep track of my progress since I started “Saturday deadlifts” (with form lifts on other days)
I’ll update this every time.
Legend: C for conventional, S for Sumo, R for Romanian, SL for stiff legged, H for hex bar. Weights are in pounds (I WISH these were KG)
At the start: my bests were:
240 C
245 H
18 Jan. 2020
5 x 145 C
5 x 189 C
4 x 233 C
(miss 255 several times; “to the knees”)
5 x 211 S
6 x 167 R
6 x 176 H
25 Jan. 2020
6 x 132 H
6 x 145 S
6 x 145 C
1 x 233 C
1 x 233 C 1 x 255 C 1 x 260 C
6 x 233 S (some bounce)
6 x 167 R
6 x 220 H
1 Feb. 2020
6 x 145 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 S 1 x 255 S
1 x 233 C
3 misses at 266; Sumo couldn’t budge; some “off the ground” 1 x 260 S
6 x 233 C (some bounce)
6 x 203 H
6 x 167 R
8 Feb 2020
4 x 133 H
3 x 189 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 C
1 x 233 S
2 misses 266 (C, S) 1 x 266 C
5 x 238 S
6 x 189 C
5 x 220 H
6 x 145 R
15 Feb 2020
(tired)
6 x 145 C
2 x 189 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 C (hard)
1 x 244 S
4 misses at 270 (barely off of the ground, missed 266 S, no budge)
3 x 244 C (HARD)
6 x 189 C
6 x 132
22 Feb 2020
6 x 145 S
5 x 189 C (easy)
1 x 233 C (very easy)
1 x 255 C (very tough)
4 misses at 270; two were almost to the knee “I’ve got this” spot; sumo miss: didn’t budge
1 x 238 S (I was wiped out here)
6 x 233 C (full stop with each rep; one of my best sets..no bounce, at all)
6 x 220 H (only one rep was touch-and-go..all others: full stop)
Current Bests (NOT lifetime: my best was 425 back in 1980 at about 200 lb of bodyweight, and I was in the low 300’s in 1995 at 230 lb. of bodyweight; younger and heavier. 192 lb.)
266 C
260 S
245 H (handles DOWN)
Once again, I couldn’t sleep that well. But I had time to deadlift and then do a 4 mile walk (Cornstalk 5.1 course, but skipped the part to the lower bridge and the last mile around Parkside to make it 4 instead of 5.
I felt ok during the morning (not as fatigued as last week) and my workout looked like this:
6 x 145 Sumo
5 x 189 conventional
1 x 233 conventional (easy)
1 x 255 conventional (hard)
Then 4 misses at 270; my last 2 misses were “oh so close”; almost got to my knee (my “I’ve got this” point); the sumo miss didn’t budge from the ground.
I have that “lack of acceptance with this one)
1 x 238 Sumo (very tired)
6 x 233 conventional (each rep: full stop on the bottom; no bounce whatsoever)
6 x 220 hex (handles down; one “touch and go”; rest were dead stop.
And so: my current max is 266…though dammit …that 270 is oh-so-close.
My “easy gain” days are over and progress will be hard from here on out.
Note: if one goes by the “strength calculator” my best exercise is the pull up…by far. My worst is any sort of non-goblet squat, by far. Shoulder press, bench press, and now the dead lift: in a similar grouping.
Now it gets hard. I think I know what my current max is (266) and now it is time to train for reps and test a max again sometime in the future.
Yes, there is a long way to go. But given Bernie’s lead in the polls, the way the Democrats allocate delegates (proportional) and his being one delegate behind Buttigieg in the delegate count, I don’t see how he doesn’t end up with a plurality. That means he is our nominee OR the “plurality winner” doesn’t get the nomination which will mean HUGE division among the Democrats.
And I am not sure I like Bloomberg better than him…my preferences, in order: Klobuchar, Biden, Buttigieg. Can any of them stop the Sanders express?
The silver lining is that Sanders MIGHT win the general..and if I were confident in that, I wouldn’t be nearly as distressed. I just want Trump gone, and my personal preference takes a back seat to getting rid of Trump.
I’ve got to get my legs stronger and, at my current age, that probably means running less. But running I will do (shuffle, or whatever you call it; I do enjoy those 5K runs and an occasional half marathon)
rotator cuff
pull ups: nice and strong today: 4 sets of 10, one of 8, one of 5
incline bench: 10 x 135, 4 x 150 (hard)
decline bench: 5 x 175 (tough)
dumbbell shoulder press: 7 x 50, 2 sets of 10 x 45
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 115 machine
weightless squats: several sets trying to align the knees and back
goblet squats: 6 x 25, 2 sets of 6 x 70 (second set was easier than the first)
leg presses: (assuming 45 lb. carriage) 10 x 135, 10 x 185 (full range of motion)
back squats: 5 x 45 (pathetic)
head stand and plank
Walk home
form deadlift: 6 x 189
Romanian deadlift 6 x 189
hex bar deadlift (form) 6 x 203
Though my cough is gone, my weakness from last week’s cold remains and I didn’t really feel that good this morning.
So I went into my weight session thinking “ok, I’ll just do full range of motion stuff” and…well, I was able to do well. Note: Monday’s morning weight room is crowded…Friday is almost always empty.
I caught a break as I walked in and a lady let me in early.
Pull ups: 5 sets of 10 (4, then 1 after the chest presses); these went very well.
rotator cuff (full set)
bench press: 10 x 135, 3 x 185, 2 x 185
incline bench press: 10 x 135 (almost 10 singles)
decline bench press: 10 x 170 (got ’em all; last one wasn’t pretty but it went up)
shoulder press: 3 sets of 10 x 45 dumbbell (the barbell ones were making my back sore)
rows: 3 sets of 10: 120, 115, 115
goblet squats: 6 x 50, 70, 70 (focused on going UP, not forward, and that helped a great deal; touched the bench)
leg presses (6 x empty, 6 x 90 …just trying to get the full range of motion; I want to work on this.)
plank, headstand
Then at home:
hex deadlift: 6 x 133, 6 x 203 (tough but kept my form)
bar deadlift: 6 x 187 (focused on form; I was getting tired)
Bodyweight: 194.7 with shoes and shorts; this works out to about 192.2.
Well, on one hand, my weekly “deadlift contest” was a bit of a bust.
But I did get 3 reps with 244, which was my max as of the start of 2020, and that is progress.
Note: I had a nice set of goblet squats yesterday and I think that left me with fatigued legs this morning..I didn’t get the weight I wanted but I sure felt the burn in my legs.
6 x 145 conventional
2 x 189 conventional
2 x 189 sumo
1 x 233 conventional (an effort)
1 x 244 sumo (ok)
then misses at 270: 4 of them, and a miss with 266 sumo
3 x 244 conventional (HARD..left me exhausted)
6 x 189 conventional (for form)
6 x 132 hex (for fun)
My legs were just shot.
I think part of it might have been my getting over a cold; still it was a good deadlift workout and that is what matters.
I screwed around for a while…walked a mile on the treadmill and then just gave up…I didn’t want to be on it. I went outside and walked a convoluted, “completely shoveled” sidewalk course for about 1:13; I am sure it was a bit over 4 miles; I will not attempt to recreate what I did..Bradley ave, 3 times around the circle in front of Bradley Hall, past the dorms, a couple of arena loops..just all over the place. So this plus the treadmill mile is an easy 5 miles (8 km).
Gym commentary: I went online to look for “ways to improve your deadlift” and found some things; in my case, I am still “learning” the lift so I’ll do it 3 times a week, but light, for form plus Romanians one day, medium (say, 80-85 percent) one day, then my hard day: maybe alternate weeks of “reps/singles”. I did find this online. This photo was included.
She is doing either a Romanian or a stiff legged deadlift. But note the lifter’s feet: they are on a wedge of some sort to put her toes in dorsiflexion; I might try that as yoga and racewalking (or “faster walking”) has kind of stretched out my hamstrings. Even when I am careful to keep a flat back I don’t get that much of a stretch as I can touch my toes with straight knees.
Last night
The Bradley women rolled over Valpo 90-69. The first half was moderately competitive with the Crusaders getting 7 3 point shots to keep them in the game. BU took that away in the second half and kept the pressure on.
The bitter cold kept many fans away (elderly fan base). But the Bradley team is fun to watch and have an excellent shot at an NCAA bid.
The men won at Carbondale today; they built of a 43-22 lead with a few seconds left in the first half (43-25 at the half); SIU rallied to lead 57-56 but BU kept its composure and lead 69-65 with a 2 seconds. A desperation 3 point shot went in at the buzzer but it was “too little, too late.”
I was just over 31 at Sterling and just over 32 on the way back.
Life of an old goat 
