CapN_Tommy_Sunshine

Just a super quick update to let everyone know I am still alive and kicking. Been really busy and stressed out, with end of season winter depression going on too. Haven't been sleeping well at all. To add to everything, they let 15 people in my department at work go yesterday. Needless to say, that has upset me a bit. I've worked with a few of them for 10+ years. I'm safe for now, but I do think it may be time to update my resume. I have hit all of my scheduled workouts. Some good, some meh. I'll post them later when I get more time. Heading to bed, hopefully to sleep.

Ah, stupid hectic week last week with not too much sleeping. I did get all the scheduled training sessions in. So far so good on that front. I weighed in yesterday morning. I may be down a pound or two, or it may be normal fluctuation. I will need to continue to monitor this situation to determine what actually happened. So, the workouts. 2/26 Squat 55x5 95x5 140x3 150x5 175x5 195x6 115x3x10 2/28 Press 45x5 50x5 55x3 65x3 75x3 85x7 50x5x10 Snatch Grip High Pulls 50x5 85x5x5 Bro Curls 55x12 55x9 55x7 3/1 Deadlift 135x5 150x5 180x3 210x3 240x3 270x5 240x5x3 (didn't feel up to do sets of ten, but definitely needed some more rep work, so 5 triples at the second set weight seemed like a good idea). So, feeling good about these sessions. Hoping to sleep better this week. I think a lot of it was stress from month end deadlines at work. Bench tomorrow. Squats either Wednesday or Thursday.

Well, my cat continues to be confounding for the vet. This time his blood sugar was a bit too high again, so still need to give him his shots twice a day. We upped it a bit, so hopefully we have gotten the sweet spot. So, it may be somewhat difficult for me to meet up, since I have to be around to give him his shot. I can do something after 6:30ish in the evenings, or I have to be home by then.

Time to log the first official workout of the challenge. Bench press, 5 week. 45 x 5 75 x 5 95 x 5 115 x 3 125 x 5 145 x 5 160 x 6 I think I had more in me for the + set, but I think I set up wrong, and it was throwing me off a bit at the end of the set. BBB: 95 x 5 x 10 Bent over rows 45 x 10 75 x 5 x 10 Bro-curls 55 x 10 55 x 6 I've been doing two sets AMRAP of curls, just to finish off the workout. Just a little pump. Squats either tomorrow or Thursday, but I think Wednesday fits my schedule better.

MIR!!!!!!! We definitely have to do something. I haven't been able to go out much lately, as my cat is a diabetic now, and I have to keep him on his shot schedule. However, there are signs that he may no longer be a diabetic. I may find out this week at his next vet appointment. For some reason, cats who develop diabetes just stop being diabetic sometimes. My vet told me he just read a study in the last 6 months or so, and it was a huge meta-analysis of diabetic cats, and they came to the conclusion that no one knows why they do this. Probably just another way to be difficult. Cats. Whacha gonna do? Anyway, either way I need to do something in the near future. This winter has been killing me mentally. I'm at the "It's hard to stay positive and happy" stage of winter.

Well, the first challenge of the year didn't go too well for me. I started out pretty good, but then I got sick and lost a week because of that. This week extended into a second week. One good thing that came out of it was that I realized how tight my back had been during my routine that I was following. I like the Hepburn workout that I was on, but I realized that deadlifting or squatting every workout four times a week was just a bit too much for an older guy with known back issues. So, I decided to do what I said I wasn't going to do, and I changed my program to my very close second choice. I switched to 5/3/1. I ran a couple of weeks (the 5 and 3 weeks) to get a feel for doing reps over 2 or 3 again. It had been a really long time since I did sets of 5 or more on deadlifts and squats, so that was an eye opener. My conditioning is crap right now. I decided that I need to work on that, so I am going to use the Warrior's favorite form of cardio, anything over 5 reps. I am planning on running boring but big for at least a few cycles, with added back work on the pressing days. I started on Saturday, and so far I have done the 5 weeks for press and deadlift. Presses are kind of low, as I haven't done them in a while. I can only do them seated due to low ceilings in my basement. Deadlifts are a bit low, but that is what Wendler says to do. The BBB sets weren't too bad, but I was definitely feeling the last couple of sets, and I was pretty sore yesterday. Yesterday was a rest day, and I am benching when I get home from work. So challenge goals. 1. Stick to the program: I have a spreadsheet. I will do what it says to do on the day it says to do it. 2. Time to start cutting: I have been guilty of doing a bit too much of the second half of "Lift Big, Eat Big", so I need to get that under control. I am currently at about 260, and I want to be in the 220s by the end of the year. This shouldn't be a problem, as it is a nice slow cut. 3. ??? I can't think of anything else right now.

I'm still around! Got sick the second half of last week, so no workouts to update. Feeling pretty good today, but still taking it easy. I slept about 18 hours on Saturday, and really needed it. Hoping to get back to lifting on Tuesday.

Well, I had a bit of a rough end to my workweek, and missed my Thursday session. I took up where I left off on Saturday, but didn't get around to logging until now. It was one of those cases where I had been staring at a computer too much at work, so I didn't feel like doing it some more last night. Saturday Deadlift: 275 x 3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2 BroCurl: 65 x 5,5,5,4 Sunday Squat: 205 x 3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2 Bench: 170 x 3,3,3,3,2,2,2,2 A couple of observations on these two sessions. On my 7th set of deadlifts, I lost focus a bit. I don't think I got set up right, and lost a bit of tightness in my core. I was worried that I may have tweaked my back, but fortunately I was mistaken. I took a bit of extra time and got the 8th set, and my back felt fine today. I commented that I was concerned about my squat depth, so I did record a few sets today. I need to put more light bulbs in my basement. Of the four ceiling lights, only one currently works, so it is a bit dark so my recording isn't completely definitive. I am pretty sure I have proper depth, but like I mentioned the recording is really dark, so I may be wrong. If I am not at depth, I am really close. Light bulbs were on my mental shopping list when I went to the grocery store this morning, but I completely spaced on getting them. I'll record at one point in the near future, one I have better lighting.

Yeah, who would have guessed that!

Squats were feeling pretty good today. Everything seemed pretty light. I double-checked the plates to make sure I didn't mess up the math again, and it checked out. This means one of two things. I am either getting better at squatting (hmmm, being consistent with squatting improves the squat. Interesting.) or I am cutting my depth short. I don't think it was the depth, but I am going to record a few of my sets next session to keep myself honest. Squat: 205 x 3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2 Bench: 170 x 3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2 Next session is deadlift day!!

Another option to standard squats could be Zercher squats. Basically do a partial deadlift, then squat down a bit while resting the bar on the top of your thighs. Once in that position, hook your arms under the bar. Squat! Reverse the process. Not sure if this description helps, but there are a lot of tutorials online that are easily Googled.

I like the music challenge. I have had them several times way back in the day before I dropped of the face of the earth for a while. It is one of my goals for the year to get back into doing something with music. Not yet in this challenge, but I am getting that itch to play something again.

The Conan's wheel is one of my favorite events to watch. That's awesome that you are able to train on one. Strongman training is something that is on my radar, but I need to focus on building a base first.

OK, just finished my workout and have enough time to log it before dinner is ready. Deadlifts felt pretty good. Curls were just flying. I was thinking to myself how easy they were today, and wondering why. Well, it turns out that I loaded the bar with two 5 lbs plates instead of two 10s. So, 55 lbs, not 65. Oh well, I'll get it right next time. Deadlifts: 275 x 3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2 Curls; 55 x 5,5,4,4

Hello Michigan Rebels. I've been back for a little while, but I am just now getting back to this post. To remind everyone and also alert all who have joined since I became a hermit temporarily, I am in Inkster (in between Dearborn and Westland, close to the airport), and I work in Ann Arbor. It's been too danged cold this week! Hope you all are staying warm. Once the weather starts getting more predictable, we should plan another meetup.