531 6d Dead Deload + Ca - May 30

Buy in
4-way Plank, Tabata timer, 4 rounds
8 mins.

531 Dead
Rx: 130/160/195
Actual: 10x 135/175/205
7 mins.
BBB
5 rounds, no timer
Dead x10 @ 175 (160=50%)
Seated calf x11 @ 70
A-Frame x12-10 @ 5
12 mins.

Cash out
Hamstring curl 3x10 @ 110
3 mins.

PM
Buy in
4x12 Y-Pulls
5 mins.

Antagonists, 5 rounds on the HT timer
DB recline press x10-8 @ 75
Croc row x6-5 @ 105//100///
14 mins.

Single arm cable pulls
x5 @ 105//x10-8 @ 90///
10 mins.
... one set of pulls.

8 hours - 2130/0530. 31 + 31 minutes total, PE: 8. 18 hours.

531 6d Press Deload + SRun - May 29

Buy in
Death by Pullup 8.6 rounds
9 mins.

531 Press
Rx: 70/90/105
Actual: 10x85/95/115
7 mins.
BBB
5x10 on the HT timer
Press @ 95 (90=50%)
Cable medium grip pulldowns @ 180/195///185
13 mins.

PM
Brighthouse hill run ups on 1.45 x10
First couple felt bad on the right knee, and they all felt blocky. Afterward, the lateral collateral ligament was screaming at me for this. Gotta rehab smarter.
17 mins.

8 hours - 2230/0630. 47 minutes total, PE: 8. 24 hours.

531 6d Squat Deload - May 28

This is supposed to be easy day. Rough.

Buy in:
3x6ish FtB
3 mins.

531 Squat
Rx: 95/115/140
Actual: 10xbar/95/115/145
11 mins.

BBB
5 rounds, HT timer
Squat @ 135 x8 (115=50%)
Standing calf @ 240 x11
12 mins.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 26 minutes total, PE: 8. 96 hours. 229/15.

531 6c Dead day - May 24

Buy in
4x10 Hamstring curl @ 110
5 mins.

531 Dead
Rx: 5/3/1 @ 240/275/305+
Actual: 10x225/5x245/3x275/5x 305
Who woulda thunk it, on this week, I'd do the dead.
10 mins.

BBB
4x10
Dead @ 225 (70%)
Standing Calf @ 240
10 mins.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 26 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

531 6c Press day - May 23

Well, puke day turned into the 36 hour flu. Was just going in to coach Monte today. The good news: made my 531 numbers for the day.

531 Press - no buy in, dumb.
Rx: 5/3/1 @ 135/150/170
Actual: 10x95/8x115/5x135/3x155/2x170
13 mins.

BBB 5 rounds, shooting for 10's on the HT timer - didn't get near on most of these, which is weerd, since if I'm going to fail, it's going to be on the max effort stuff, not on the reps stuff. Just no stamina today.
10x125#/x8/x7/115#x8/x6 (125#=70%)
Neutral grip pulls x10/8/7/6- Single arm cable pulls (lost the pull up bar on the power rack, working this alone, can't hold a circuit against all the wanderers at DoucheX).
12 mins.

8 hours - 2130/0530. 26 minutes total, PE: 6. 72 hours.

531 6c Squat 'til you feel like puke Day - May 20

Felt like puking this morning. Wasn't going to go, but Monte talked me into it. Completed the WoD, will count that as a win.

Buy in
3x10 RDL @ 135#
6 min.

531 Squat
5/3/1 @ 175/200/220
Actual: 8xbar/7x135/5x175/3x205/3x225
14 mins.

BBB
5 rounds, on the HT timer
x10//6/10/6 @ 165#
Standing calf x11 @ 225#
13 mins.

6.5 hours - 2330/0600. 33 minutes total, PE: 9. 48 hours.

Bike + Srun Brighthouse Hill - May 18

Bike to Brighthouse - 27 mins there, 24 back. 13.6 mi, 15.2 ave. Knee rehab.

10 Hill repeats on 1.45, varying the line up. Felt a bit blobby today, but otherwise good. Good wind, knee not too painful or sketchy. 17 mins.

7.5 + 1.5 hours - 2330/0700. 68 minutes total, PE: 6. 24 hours. 231/15.

Squat Cleans - May 17

Buy in
FtB 3x8
3 mins.

Squat Cleans - test
5 @ 95/115/135/155/175x3/185x2
14 mins.

8 hours - 2130/0530. 19 minutes total, PE: 6. 24 hours. 231/15.

531 6b Bench Day - May 16

 No buy in. Stoopid, I know. We did this one in denim at the doucheX, so, it's just like that today.

531 Bench
3x3 @ 225/255/285
Actual: 3x225/255/5x285
6 mins.

BBB
5x10 @ 205 (65%)
Underbar Horz Pulls x2/Ring rows x3
12 mins.

7.5 + 1 hours - 2130/0500. 19 minutes total, PE: 6. 18 hours. 

531 6b Dead Day - May 15

Buy in
3x12 Hamstring curl @ 110
2 tries at extensions, but too painful in the right knee - funny, but a few weeks ago, it was the curls that hurt and the extensions felt fine.
4 mins.

4-way planking, tabata timer
2 rounds, 5 mins.

531 Dead
Rx: 3x3 @ 225/260/290+
Actual: 225x3/265x3/295x4
7 mins.

BBB
5 rounds on the HT timer
Deads 225x10 (210=65%)
Standing Calves x12 @ 225////240
13 mins.

PM
6 rounds, Assisted chins on the HT timer
Add one plate per round, 0 to 55#
7 mins.

Cable pull down singles 5x5
1 min RI, 5# easier each round, 105 - 75#
8 mins.

7.5 hours - 2200/0530. 29 + 16 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours. 

531 6b Press day - May 14

We divide our training into what we call primal movements. For the lower body, we squat, hinge, lunge and step. For upper body, vertical push & vertical pull and a horizontal push & horizontal pull.

Buy in
Y-pulls 3x10+
5 mins.

531 Press 6b
Rx: 3x3 @ 125/140/160
as Rx'ed
5 mins.

BBB
4 rounds, on the HT timer
Bar Dip x10/10/8/8
Ring row x12-10
Press @ 115# (65%) x10//8//
15 mins.

8 hours - 2130/0530. 25 minutes total, PE: 8. 24 hours. 

531 6b Squat day - May 13

Buy in
RDL x10 @ 135/155//
4 mins.

531 Oly Squat
Rx: 3x3 @ 165/185/210
Actual: 8x135/3x165/3x185/3x210 (didn't try for the +)
--
BBB
5x10 Full squat @ 155 (65%=150)
5x12 Standing calf @ 225
22 mins.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 26 minutes total, PE: 9. 72 hours.

531 6a Bench Day - Can't Get Anything Done Around Here + SRun - May 9

Buy in
Neutral grip pulls - 4x max reps
8 mins - including some waiting around for a bar to open up

531 Bench
Rx: 3x5 @ 205/240/275+
As Rx'ed
5 mins.

BBB
5x10 @ 190 (60%)
1 Underbar Horz pulls, then 1 pull up, then 3 Ring rows (told you, can't get anything done at DoucheX)
12 mins.

PM
10x Form sprints on Brighthouse Hill in 1.40
... Right knee feels a bit tricky, and after the dig/drive, the float felt clunky up on the top flat.
17 mins.

8.5 hours - 2100/0530. 44 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

Finding Fitness.

Serious question, do you ever get tired of helping people? Or rather… trying to help people?  I feel like I’m constantly leading horses to water. Family and friends come to me complaining that they can’t lose fat, can’t gain muscle, and can’t overcome ailments like celiac and IBS…. They ask for advice. I tell them to stop eating processed foods, fast food, pasta, etc, and they almost always freak out and tell me how wrong I am. It’s like people just absolutely refuse to accept that their “beliefs” are wrong. So they continue on believing that eating meat is bad, eating bread and pasta with every meal is good, and running marathons is a sign of health and fitness.

Every time I’m at a dinner party, bbq, anything….someone always begs for the secret to health. I used to try and be their guiding light. Now, I just say “Lift heavy weights, do some sprints, sleep 8 hours and cut out gluten entirely. No, don’t cut out carbs completely. Gluten isn’t a carb. Here’s my business card.”
The reply is “I can’t do that.”
My reply is “You can, you just won’t.”

People don't get it. Either they're ignorant because they've never truly been in-shape, or never intellectually become a student of the iron game, or they follow the common knowledge on nutrition and exercise posted in newspapers and Men's Health, or they've been indoctinated into the current mirror-gazing fitness culture where appearance trumps performance. Where people want to look good but are weak, and don't care about their real-world capability. People go to the gym but don't ever make gains. Bro, do you even lift? Everyone wants to be fit, but no one wants to do the hard work.

I won't go further into a description of this straw man. I only raise the physical fitness issue because it's the same failing that the church has with spiritual fitness.

A lot of American christians are embarassments because they lack fitness: never really a student of the Bible or the Christ-like game, basing their worldview on common knowledge from the media, entertainment industry or that Comparative Religion 101 course they took during their liberal indoctrination at university, or mainstreamed into the mirror-gazing culture where appearance trumps performance. People go to church but never really evolve from who they were B.C. Everyone wants to be considered godly, but no one's doing the hard work.

Now, I understand that who I am in Christ is only a God-made reality – that I can't make any merit on my best day's effort. That said, who I am on the sidewalk, today, in the physical world, is a result of the dovetailled-overlap between What I've done to become/What God's graced me to be. The first I do have a hand in, by doing what is uncomfortable. And doing it on a daily basis.

I am pretty tired of people who want to be in spiritual shape but don't do any training. Sure, you can hope that God will strike you with spiritual lightning to ignite your soul, or survive on others' prayers for you, or nourish yourself on sermons and commentary like some baby bird eating predigested food from its mother's crop, but at some point you have to grow up and do your own chewing. You have to do some Bible reading for yourself. You have to pray when no one's holding your hand. You have to do something with your money besides make yourself happy. You have to do what everyone is capable of doing, but just won't. You have to deny yourself. Pick up your freaking cross and hike.

Which brings me to the song running through my head this week: Find Me by Margaret Becker. ... the live version is here. At the time, Elliston place was the skid row district of Nashville (since has undergone urban renewal and is now an upscale apartment and retail community) where Becker moved into a flat, put all of her furniture out on the sidewalk under "free - take me" signs, and waited for the Lord to meet her there in a new way.

I'm gonna move on down to Elliston
Let my hair grow wild and free
Rent a second story studio
Find the other side of me
I'm gonna sit out on the edge of the fire escape
Feel a little destitute
Search for the feelings that will help me remember
The love that I had for You

Find me, find me
I'll wait for You

I'm gonna give away my stereo
Give away my T.V.
I'm going back to essentials, a chair and a lamp
And the Book that You wrote to me
You see, I'm looking for the You that used to speak so clear
I'm looking for the me that had a heart to hear
And I'm looking for the passion that held me here
On the edge

You see, I'm looking for the me that I used to know
I'm looking for the love that was out of control
'Cause I feel a little cold here in the afterglow

I love the duality in the song. I want to find me - find that best me that is zealous for the things that make God's heart beat - and I want God to find me here in my needy moment… Just a crossroad where doing something drastic in the hopes that the doing will help God take you seriously and meet you halfway. I think I need to fast a bit this week and see if God finds me in a new way.

531 6a Deads - May 8

People sometimes think that you have to help everyone for it to count. I know it is a worn out cliche, but think about what can happen if just one person gets it. Sometimes we forget really how amazing it is to help a single other person find their way to awesomeness. It helps to keep in mind that the next person is going to be the one that gets it, or the next time I tell them is the time it’s going to click. - Rossco

Buy in
RDL x10 @ 135/155/185
5 mins.

531 Deads
Rx: 3x5 @ 205/240/275
Actual: 5x225/245/3x275+3
8 mins.

BBB
4 rounds, no timer
Deads @ 225 x5/5/6/6
Seated calf x12 @ 70
6 mins.

7.5 hours - 2230/0600. 20 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

531 6a Press - May 7

531 Press
Rx: 3x5 @ 115/135/150
As Rx'ed
6 mins.

BBB
5 rounds, HT timer
Press x10 @ 105# (60%)
Pulls x max reps (6's)
12 mins.

Cash out
Y-pulls, 4 rounds x10
5 mins.

8.5 - 1 hours - 2130/0600. 25 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

531 6a Oly Squat - May 6

Restarting 531 with last cycle's numbers, save for a reset on bench, which we tested last Wednesday. High bar back squats will use the 5-rep numbers from my pre-knee-shiteness.

Buy in
1x5 Overhead squat @ 45
2x10 Oly squat @ 45
Waiting for the rack to open up ... because a trainer had a couple women ... get this ... leaning on the open rack doing DB hamstring curls. BodyExchange, f*cking joke.

531 Squat
Testing the right knee, which feels unnaturally thick within the mechanism. No real pain today though. Very careful to keep the weight over the heels throughout. Dropping all the way to the bottom of the hole on all these.
Rx: 3x5 @ 150/170/200
Actual: 3x5 @ 155/175/205
14 mins.

BBB
Rx: 5x10, in .30 on 1.15
Squat @ 145 (140=60%) 10//8/10//
Standing Calf x12 @ 225#
15 mins.

7.5 - 1 hours - 2230/0600. 29 minutes total, PE: 9. 48 hours.

Bonus day Hinge - May 4

5 rounds, on the HT timer
KB swings 10+ @ 2 pood
GtO x max reps @ 120#

7 hours - 030/0730. 13 minutes total, PE: 8. 36 hours.

Cleans - May 2

Just kinda whatever today. Can't squat yet.

Death by Power Clean
@ 135# - 8.6 ounds
10 mins.

Calves 4 rounds x10, 1 min RI
Seated @ 70#
Standing @ 225#
9 mins.

7.5 hours - 2230/0600. 19 minutes total, PE: 8. 18 hours. 230/15.

EXP: It Looked Great On Paper

Well, after getting sick with the broken-glass throat virus/creeping crud from the fall valley air, I'm here to admit that the EXP system was a failed test. And, yeah, it did make perfect sense on paper in excel. I have a few takeaways, one of which is a good spreadsheet full of predicted max/predicted 3RM tables.

I'd not done that much volume - or attempted that much volume - since I'd been logging workouts. I shot high a couple years ago in June with 9x/week. Last year wasn't nearly as frequent, but sessions were longer - but not as intense in terms of resistance.
Juggling the sessions was the first indicator that things were amiss, either in my daily schedule or with my ability to meet the schedule on its terms. Feeling tired, overreached and beat up was second. The nagging knee pain was third. Getting sick and laying around for 5 days was the final.

The comeback trail will traverse the old mountainside of 531 with BBB, but adding in a Pull day, a second (front) Squat day, an every-5th-day-off clause (which was omitted from EXP, but I've known for long years is a hard/fast real-world law), and adding in the Monday/Thursday PM metcons as sprint/row work. Gonna make sure that this cycle incorporates Y-Pulls, Croc rows, and heavy pulls with the dipping belt.

Laissez les bons temps rouler.

DL + HPress - May 1

Deads, going through the motions to see where I'm at today.
135x10/225x8/245x5/265x2/3/4/5
13 mins.

Calve out
4x12
Standing calf @ 210
Seated calf @ 70
7 mins.

PM
Buy in
4 way tabata plank
8 mins.

Bench test
5x225/5x275/4x295
10 mins.

5 rounds, 1 min RI
DB recline press x10 @70//65///
Croc rows x5 @ 100#
16 mins.

7.5 hours - 2230/0600. 21 + 34 minutes total, PE: 6.24 hours.