120 lb Military Press PR, 32 kg belt squat, floor pushups. crawls, laterals

SUPER strong again today. Nice.and again the joints didn't hurt much at all even considering it's still freezing out here and I've hit it hard for the last two days.
The new groove is working very well. Leanback is the cue and focus. The just tighten the glutes and hold them tight, that's the base. then it's a strong press and I feel like I'm under the bar the whole time. Just a nice straight line press.
I'm thinking standing incline.

Mil Press
 stick x 5 x 2
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 3
100 x 2
120 x 3 x 5 sets! PR

no problem at all. Short rests too. Just felt good. I can make those bigger jumps when the body isn't aching and the groove is right. about freakin' time

Belt squat
32 kg x 15 x 4

again, silly strong. the knee is bending better than ever and I'm really moving this from the ankle. great front and lower quad pump and work. both knees feel great

Floor pushups
4 sets of 22

88 total reps
easy too

Crawls
 3 laps of 55 ft

strong but these are always tough

db laterals
3 sets of 15, 12 ,12 with 15 lbs


so glad I do these they are totally necessary to balance out the shoulders. should have never stopped

bw 165.2 ( low carbs but LOTS of calories yesteday :) )
bf 12.9%
W 56.3%

strange combo there. But I do now sub q body fat is definitely coming down even though the weight and the bf% don't show it. but we'll see. I'm not going keto to lose weight.


ok day off tomorrow then an easy speed swing on wed getting ready for 20 min next week

datsit
neverquit

Sunday ruck : super strong and fast

This was a surprise as well. Not only strong but fast.
Very cold out this morning ( 34 deg) and clear. Made adjustments and wore a long sleeve shirt :) Once I get going the only thing's that cold are my arms.
But no residual anything from yesterdays Pr with the Beast. First time that's ever happened. We started out very slow but each lap got faster and faster finishing with close to a PR lap!
I'm keeping the pack weight at 50 lbs on Sunday now, I may up Thursday weight; make sense- short and heavy rather than long and heavy but we'll see.
Suffice to say my high fat low carb diet is not hurting my strength endurance OR recovery but it's a big surprise to me, actually.

Ruck
50 lbs
12 laps
5 iso squats
1 hour 52 minutes ( pr)
3rd lap= 8:24
5th lap= 8:10
7th lap 8:00
9th lap 7:55
11th lap: 7:45!!

and considering what I did yesterday I'm even more amazed. Love it

tomorrow will be 120 lb presses hopefully for 5 sets of 3 old pr is 5 sets of 2

datsit
neverquit

One arm swings 48 kg PR 174, hack squats,wt pushups, curls rear delts

Tough one but not as bad as I expected. It was seriously cold in the meatlocker, I mean gym this morning. Like 34 degrees cold. Started my pre workout hot bath passive warmup( drought be damned) and it worked like a charm
Only problem was is that the bell did not take a bath and the handle was a metal ice cube. It normally doesn't bother me but it just makes gripping that beast 'that' much harder and the first few sets were tough because of that.
Plus doing 9's is serious wind work and Nick and I were both huffing and puffing right away. It's good though, that the stress was on our cardio but not our strength.
We went fast too. not quite I go you go fast but probably 1:1.5 fast. Fast enough :)
But it was good that we could, too.
Definitely in the strongest strength cardio shape I've been in in 20 years. And that's really nice.

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 5/5
48 kg x 9/9 x 7 sets ( pr there)
          x 8/8 x 3 sets
174 reps PR
18, 444 lbs!

Seriously happy with this workload AND the bell height is the closest it's ever been to being a legal swing (i.e bottom of the bell above belt level).
No complaints whatsoever

Barbell hacks
55 x 12
75 x 12 x 4 sets
best ever. really focusing on knee and ankle flexion/ forward translation. solid lower quad pump

Wt Pushups ( 30 lbs sandbag )
3 sets of 12

DB curls
20 lbs x 4 sets of 8

Band rear delts
3 sets of 15

excellent!
bw 163.4
bf 12.9%
w 56.4%

ruck up tomorrow!

datsit
neverquit

Thanksgiving ruck

After that disaster Monday night I am even more thankful than usual for my health and ability to move like a normal human being again. And of course my beautiful wife and family, but that goes without saying.

I came back strong and today's ruck was fast and easy as well

Ruck
46 lb pack
Six laps
55  min total time
3rd lap= 8:10
5th lap = 8:00

 Bw  163.4
Bf 13.4 %
W 55. 6 %

ok one day off then a MEGA Beast workout 7 sets of 9/9 and 3 sets of 8/8

I am taking today off the keto diet and eating my bodyweight in stuffing, mashed potatoes and desserts. Perhaps some turkey too but that takes up so much space :0 )

datsit
neverquit

Speed swings 15 min, walking lunges,parallel pushups, rear delts

Well just when i was bragging how healthy I was , that night I came down with a bout of labryinthitis that made me think I was going to die. I went from being a little woozy to not being able to move AT ALL without the world totally spinning in about 30 min. I was literally stuck to the bed, face down and even moving my eyeballs made me completely disoriented.
Scared the living shit out of me.

Just a bit disconcerting. Then I started throwing up and had to move. Crazy. Just seconds from calling the paramedics a friend of ours, a nurse, came over and checked me out and gave me dramamine for motion sickness, twice ( after I threw them up :) )  and told me it was vertigo and I wasn't going to die.
I still wasn't so sure but after an hour of 'exhaling' it slowed down and I slept.
Took the next day off and slowly but surely everything returned to normal
Some water I got in my ear during my Pensacola swim messed up my inner ear it seems and set this thing off.

It was one of the, if not THE worst moments I have ever had, and I have had much more than a few of crazy freaking physical shit happen to me.
But now I'm good, like it didn't happen and the workout today was strong as hell.

You just never know

Speed swings
15:15
24 kg
15 min
30 sets of 10
300 reps
15,900 lbs

Didn't even start double breathing til 11+ minutes and then only part time. Felt strong. Very weird, all things considered.

Walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps
not bad not unbroken but strong even in my fatigue. Each sets takes 1 min 10 seconds and we are going equal work to rest. so it's not a slow pace

Parallel pushups
21
21
18
15

75 total
strong but hell of a pump  and 'tricep death'

db rear delts
3 sets of 15 with 15 lbs

these are actually getting stronger . should do 4 sets but not quite ready for it. need the work though.

ok ruck up tomorrow before stuff up. definitely going to break the keto diet tomorrow!

datsit
neverquit

bw 163.8
bf 13.1
w 55.6 ???!!

115 lb Military press PR!, 48 kg belt squats,Floor pushups, crawls, side delts

This was STRONG! Didn't expect to feel this good but after Sat's swings, Sun's strong ruck this was a nice trifecta. One of the few times in memory( forget recent) that my body didn't hurt ANYWHERE. Crazy. I almost felt like a normal human being. Even my shoulders didn't hurt. I hoped it would transfer to the workout but I had no idea.

It did come to my thoughts that perhaps having such low carbs and high MCT fats might have helped this by reducing inflamation but who knows? My bodyweight is not changing nor my body fat but I do feel tighter and bigger and much less soft. So we'll see. But it's not giving me any energy problems and it's been a progressively stricter five days now


Mil Press
 stick x 5 x 2
65 x 5
     x 2
85 x 3
100 x 2
115 x 5x5!!! all time PR

Belt squats
 48 kg x 12 x 4

the easiest they have ever been and my ankle dorsiflexion is the best yet too. I am really sitting down much better and my knees are traveling forward better than ever

Floor pushups
 4 sets of 21
easy peasy NO clunking

Crawls
3 sets of 60 ft

strong here too.

Side laterals
3 sets of 15-10 with 15 lbs dbs

this is really helping balance the shoulder tensions

ok that was excellent! this is a real and great PR

datsit
neverquit

Sunday Ruck: Strong

Very solid twelve laps today,especially on day four of very low carbos. Kind of a surprise but a good one.
Not shooting for ketosis just yet; just inching my way into the change although the carbs are very low. My only "breaks" are one yoghurt with none of the filling ( noosa ah I'm going to miss that) and the wine which although is low carb feels like it's cheating but hey I didn't make the rules

No real side effects from yesterday  either

50 lbs Ruck ( down 4.5 lbs from last week. it's heavy enough I think)
1:50 min
twelve laps
6th lap = 8:05
11th lap 7:55 !

bw 164.4
bf 12.5 %
w 56.6%

strange numbers I thought I'd be lighter. feel much harder overall

this is fast as we've gone the course. felt very strong the whole time although, like last week, hammies are more tired than usual

if things go well it's 115 lbs for sets of 5 in the press tomorrow

datsit
neverquit

44 kg One Arm swings, barbell hack squats, wt pushups, curls. rear delts

Only having to do five rep sets now seems like a vacation no matter how heavy. these were the strongest swings I have done with the 44. The highest, the fastest and the most controlled. the training is working. The workload seemed like nothing. perfect. Sets the stage for next weeks push with the Beast, climbing ever close to the goal of 10 sets of 10/10

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
36 kg x 4/4

44 kg x 5/5 x 5 sets
100 reps
9700 lbs work

Hack squats
55 x 12
95 x 12 x 4 sets

very close stance and really focused on pushing knees forward at bottom. felt great

Horiz pushups
30 lbs x 12 x 3 sets

stronger

barbell curls
45 x 10 x 4 sets

band rear delts
3 x 15

great workout. very solid
bw 163.4
bf 12.9%
w 56.5%

datsit big DRY ruck tomorrow

neverquit

Thursday Ruck, light and fast

Good one today. Took the 30 min ride home  to prepare and it made a difference even in the ruck. Solo today so started a bit slower than when with tracy but speeded up at the end

Ruck weight = 46 lbs
6 laps
55 min
4th lap= 8;03
6th lap= 7:43!

not bad cardio either. But lighter sure makes a huge difference all the way around. 5 lbs in the ruck makes it MUCH heavier.

Also definitely could feel the hamstrings from yesterday! Back was fine

ok day off and then 44 kg for 5/5 x 10 , strength and power emphasis

datsit
neverquit

24 kg speed swings, 17 min, walking lunges, parallel pushups, rear delts

This was a tough one today. Just not taking enough time to 'gear down' mentally before I hit the gym for 17 min straight of as high intensity reps as I can. Have to make sure to use the drive home on Wednesdays to really get in the zone before i do these high volume workouts.

If I don't, I waste too much time in the first 5-7 min getting my head out of my ass. right now I'm working right up til I hit the gym and that's gotta stop. the drive home is a perfect 30 min transition that I'm not taking advantage of. now I will

It wasn't that bad and power output wasn't that low but I've done better. but the good news is that even though it was a tough day it still got done and it was ok. Started double breathing about 7- 8 minutes in and that's never a good sign. That made it much easier though and around 11 minutes I settled down mentally and got to a strong place.
I'm a slow warmer upper :)

Speed swings, 24 kg
34 sets of 10 15;15
340 reps
17 min
18,020 lbs! 9 tons!

Walking lunges
4 sets of 40 sets

no weight yet but good solid lunges. last two sets unbroken which really sucked

Parallel pushups
4 sets of 20 solid

db rear delts
3 sets of 15 with 15 lbs

ok ruck up tomorrow
bw 165.4
bf 12.5%

starting to lower carbs, increase fats, especially coconut oil and products and starting to think about a ketogenic diet.
I'm close now just have to drop yoghurt and change my evening meal to fats and proteins. Just NOT giving up red wine no matter what :)

datsit
neverquit

110 lb Military press (5x5), 44 kg belt squats, Floor pushups (PR) 4 x 25! crawls, side delts

Was very strong today for no damn good reason. Didn't feel especially good all day; still a bit beat up from the combo heavy swings and ruck but not bad. Shoulder and elbow A ok, and hip good too.
But the weights just flew up.

Mil Press
 stick x 5
bar x 5 x 2
65 x 3
85 x 5
100 x 3
110 x 5 x 5

could have done 115 x 5x5 and tied my pr and if hindsight I should have but I didn't know it would go so well until the 3rd set. My PR for 115 lbs is 5 sets of 3. Have to remember that for next time I get strong again :)
definitely have to let myself lay back and it changes everything. even with a bit more t spine extension now in the mix, this technique is both safest and strongest for me, no doubt. Just have to let myself use it  and not feel guilty my overhead position is better. it'll get there.

Belt squat
44kg x 4 sets of 10
strongest ever.

Floor pushups
4 sets of 25 All time PR!!
100 reps

very very very strong. and no shoulder clunks at all :)

Crawls
3 sets of 50 feet

side laterals
3 x 15 12, 10 with 15 lbs

strong day, love it!

BW 165.4 ( ??)
BF 12.5
H20 56.5 (?)

ok day off tomorrow then 17 min speed work on wednesday

neverquit!

Sunday Ruck. rucking in the rain

LOL it was a wet one today! Great storm and we were pretty much right in the middle of it. Got to use my new rain coat and it worked great. Plus my nice sand track was wet and soggy so i got the extra work of rucking in soft sand so that was fun too.
Felt like a kid purposely walking in the puddles.
 It was beautiful out, I always loved to run in the rain, cycle- not so much- but running was always very calming. Plus the air is supercharged with negative ions and that's fun too:)

Felt solid today despite not doing a long one last week until the start of lap ten. Then it got hard. the last lap was very hard. Legs and calves were just tired. Yesterday's hack squats were felt. In a good way but definitely felt.

But, we got it done
 54.5 lbs ruck
12 laps
5 iso squats
10th lap = 8:15
1 hr 55 min total time

40 kg One Arm Swings( 5x 9/9, 5 x 8/8) Bar Hacksquats,Weight pushups, curls, rear delts

WAAY stronger than expected. Bell felt positively light, and I even thought about pushing the edge more and doing all sets of 9/9 but I also know not to be greedy, so I stuck with the planned progression

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 lg x 5/5
32 kg x 5/5
40 kg x 9/9 x 5
          x 8/8 x 5
170 reps ( 2 shy of total pr but also rep count pr)
14,960 lbs

nice work, good power and speed, body felt great.

Barbell hacks
55 x 10
75 x 10 x 3

nice to have these back in, the weight isn't much different than goblet squats but it's time for a very close stance squat in the mix again and I can do way more reps with these

Sandbag pushups, horiz bar
30 lbs x 3 x 10

strong but didn't want to push elbow; it felt ok but need to go slow.

Bar curls
35 x 10
45 x 10 x 3

these felt surprisingly good. keep the weight light and all the load on the biceps, get a pump and a good stretch at the bottom
db rear delts
15 lb x 3 x 10

also good. solid workout

ruck up tomorrow heavy

datsit
neverquit

Thursday Ruck, light and fast

Above pic on the Condor tri hull sail boat Ken  took us on while we were in Pensacola and IHMC.

ruck weight: 47 lbs
Six laps
55 minutes
3rd lap= 8:10
everything felt solid. Shoulder and elbow ok everything in one place for a change

BW 164.4

datsit

one day off then the 40 kg!

neverquit

24 kg Speed Swings, 12 min, walking lunges,parallel bar pushups, db laterals

It should have been an easy day today except for my shoulder/ elbow still not sitting right. Got some time to work on it and it was much better after yesterday's deep tissue massage from Tracy. I just couldn't figure out the source.
I worked the teres, lats tricep forearms ( these seemd the most fruitful) but when I got the biceps tendon back in it's groove that everything let go and unraveled back into place.
I think the bicep tendon slipping the groove is what sets the elbow off ALONG with over work on the grip.
And I think the clubbells, again, and, as much as I like playing with them are out. This is the third time in  a row this has happened. You're out.

Speed swings
24 kg
15:15 ten reps
12 min
240 reps
12,720 lbs

these were downright easy, physically, but it usually take close to 7 min for my head to really relax and get in the game that it was over just as I started to feel good. No problem though I can take an easy day.

Walking lunges
no weight today!
4 laps of 40 steps

quads on fire

Parallel pushups
20
20
12

pushing it a little here , elbow is still inflammed from being out for two days. But I proved the cure. the elbow started feeling wonky and I went to work on  the bicep tendon and it relaxed into place

db side laterals
3 sets of 12 with 12 lbs

ok, ruck up tomorrow. haven't had one if a week. feels like longer

neverquit

110 lb Mil Press,40 kg belt squats, floor pushups, rear delts, crawls

This was tough after yesterday's workout and so much travel. Plus Glenn is traveling so it's solo. Slow start but it warmed up fast. Decently strong, considering all the factors

Mil Press
stick x 5
bar x 5 x 2
65 x 5 x 2 ( cold out now too)
85 x 3
100 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 4 x 5

started off very slowly and got better each set. Left bicep tendon not sitting right for the last two days  and I couldn't get it to reset until set 3 :)Felt it clunk in and each set afterwards was fine. It's amazing how things change when the joint "sets" properly. ALL kinds of things feel instantly better.
People who have never dislocated or subluxed joints and who aren't hypermobile can't understand this but it's true nonetheless.

Belt squats
40 kg x 10 x 4 sets

now THIS was hardest ever after yesterdays goblet squats. wow. quads were really tired and weak. pumped right up though

floor pushups
24
17
15
12

68 total

shoulders tri's and pecs were tired plus I was not going to allow one "clunk". My shoulder just started feeling right and I didn't want any more "out". When it fatigues and de stabilizes something clunks in the shoulder and it's not right for quite awhile after that.
No Clunks

Band rear delts
4 sets of 20-15

these felt great
 love the bands for this over dbs

crawls
3 laps of 50 feet

THESE  were tough. didn't want to do them but had no good reason not too so I did. But I was hungry :)

ok day off tomorrow then 12 min speed swings on wed. time to get back on track

BW 163.6

neverquit

36 kg One Arm swings ( 160),goblet squat ladder, kickstand squats, cb arm casts, parallel pushups

The view from our suite in Pensacola and getting to meet Atlas IHMC's winning robot.My talk about aging and sarcopenia and how to prevent it couldn't have gone better! in fact the entire trip was basically perfect. We were treated like royalty the entire time by Ken Ford , his wife Nancy and the entire IHMC staff. Plus I learned SO much getting to hang out and talk to Ken the entire time. This is one smart man


And getting back from Pensacola on Saturday at 12 noon rocked. Got plenty of time to decompress AND I got to do yesterday's workout today. Thought about doing a short heavy ruck too but a skype business call kept me from going right out and then I got lazy.

At least I got the swings in
Sucked at the start which I figured, then it got better

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5
36 kg x 8/8 x 10
160 reps
12, 600 lbs

thought about doing 10's but then thought better of it. Right decision. traveling always makes the first workout(s) back terrible. Heartate is up respiration too. Just takes the whole workout to get going. feel WAAAY better after but it takes awhile.
Speed and power were fine though. the bell didn't feel near as heavy as I expected.

Goblet squat
 24 x 5 x 2
28 x 5 x 2
32 kg x 5 x 1

these went well
Kickstand squats
 3 x 5/5
        6/6
        7/7
need to keep these in for knee and ankle mobility and ROM

Clubbell arm casts
20 lb x 8/8
          x 9/9
          x 10/10
25 lbs x 6/6
           x 8/8

these went very well

Parallel bar pushups
20. 20. 15. 15

these were tougher than usual after the clubs. didn't want to push it; still have presses tomorrow

side laterals
4 x 10 with 12's

perfect weight and reps

ok datsit. roll and stretch then press tomorrow

BW 163 after trip

nevertrip

105 lb Mil press, 36 kg belt squat, floor pushups, crawl, db laterals

Pretty interesting workout as it was literally another day at the office as I got involved in some business calls right up to it was time to walk into the gym. I was thinking I wanted to go to 110 again and do 5x5 but I just wasn't mentally ready.

I know 105 is so close to 110 one might think ' what difference could it make" but it does, and since my best is 135 its my 80% weight and it was a tough 135.

I think the clubbell work we did for the first time in ages made my shoulders sore in a new way. Definitely DOMs but Glenn had it too. I didn't want to push it.

Barbell Press
stick x 5
bar x 5
65 x 6
75 x 5
85 x 3
95 x 3
105 x 5 x 5

Groove was ok but with my lockout the muscles are always on tension and it makes the lift that much more fatiguing but also muscularizing, not a bad tradeoff considering I have no choic :)

Belt squats
36 kg x 12 x 4 sets

for some reason this was very strong and easy. I brought my gaze down a bit and this seemed to help proproception or something as I really felt in balance and totally over the whole of my foot each rep.

Floor pushups
22, 22, 18, 15

77 reps.
left shoulder was beginning to think about clunking so I shut the reps down . wanted 4 sets of 22

huge pump though. this is beginning to feel like chest, shoulder, tricep day :)

Crawls
3 laps of 60 ft
strong  as well

db laterals
3 sets of 15, 12, 12 with 15 lbs

this movement and my supraspinatus is getting way strong again. I used to do these with 30 lb dbs no problem :)


ok datsit. good one but a bit distracted. that's ok they all can't be 10's.

neverquit

Sunday ruck; heavy and fast

Took the ruck weight up 2.5 lbs today and it was good. Until it was hard :)
But it didn't keep us from going fast too. Good lap times on the 6 and the 12th lap
Bodyparts were fine from yesterday but glutes and thighs were just tired, even from the get. Those goblet and kickstand squats probably helped that a bit, too.
Back though was solid the whole time and that is the key

Ruck weight 54.5 lbs
12 laps
1 hr 56 min
5 iso squats
6th lap = 8:00
12th lap = 7:48!

this was great but it was hard on both Tracy and I. She's just getting back in the time zone and her training schedule and I , well, I have no excuse :)

it was hard but it was completed. The increased pack weight didn't seem too noticeable.

ok heavy presses tomorrow and then I have to decide if I'm going to speed swing a bit on tuesday as Wednesday I'm off to Florida to give a talk on "Energy, Mobility and Strength- creating and maintaining them as we age. " at IHMC's  http://www.ihmc.us/lecture series and will miss wednesdays and saturdays training

This is a first for me so it should be 'interesting'

I'll decide on Tuesday how I feel. Need to be fresh and ready for thursday.

ok datsit

neverquit