Harbard

Good start to the week. Decent workout last night, drank 6 glasses of water yesterday, and weighed exactly 185 this morning. Almost went off the rails with the eating this weekend though--will have to watch that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is! It's also pretty stressful, but our lives are going to get much simpler when it's done (I hope). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Howdy folks. I'm going to be moving into a new house next month with a much larger garage. As such, I'm gonna be adding a hex dumbbell station to my home gym to add some alternatives to the power rack/barbell setup. Does anyone have any good recommendations for an adjustable bench? Criteria are: 1. Adjustable positions from vertical to decline. 2. Little to no wobble 3. Medium capacity is probably good enough. I'm 185 and average strength. Half the time stuff on the web just sounds like advertisements. Also, do you think adding mirrors is worth it? Purely for observing proper form of course [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, my annual check up was terrific, but there were a couple of markers that indicated my kidneys were (while still perfectly healthy) working a little harder over the last year than before. Plus, I was starting to feel a little flat in my workouts. The change is already make by me feel a little more energized. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This goal may get a little dicey. I ran some numbers and decided to up my carb intake and decrease my protein intake before I shred my kidneys. May have to go back and forth a bit before I rind the right balance again. My calories are apparently too low, but I'm probably miscalculating something, so I'm not going to mess with that.

That's awesome! You're gonna need a holiday from your holiday.

If I lived somewhere where hiking wouldn't feel so much like a mosquito-infested steam room, I'd probably be a Ranger. As it is, I cry tears of joy in my just-as-hot garage gym instead. But Crossfit? I'd rather squat live monkeys.

Long time no post...so long in fact, you probably don't remember me. Anyway...damn, you've moved up the strength ladder for sure. I'm just over here bro-curlin' and avoiding the deadlift platform like the plague.

Thanks! And I'm in on the challenge.

So I'm back after a very long break. This is my first challenge in a long time, so I'm going to keep it very simple My wife and I are building a new house, and it should finish near the end of May. Needless to say, we have a lot to do between now and then. I've been lifting three nights a week, but that's going to be hard to keep up during this month. So... 1. Lift twice a week. If I can keep this up with all of the "house" stuff to do, I'll be happy. 2. Stay below 185 lbs. I'm sure my diet will slip a little bit with all the stress, so my only goal is not to add any pudge. Keeping my weight stable will be a win. 3. Drink five glasses of water a day. In addition to the milk and coffee I have, this should suffice. That's it. Let's see if I can stick to this newb-level plan, and then I'll think about doing something more challenging down the road. Maybe I'll try to make it the median point of the lifting leader boards...at some point...later

Wow. It's been another year since I last posted. See my previous respawn posts if you're interested in my past efforts. This time, I'm not actually returning from any drastic dip in my fitness--far from it. I've been steady at 180-185 pounds for most of this last year. My lifting had to pause for a while during the last quarter of 2017 while I got my house ready to put on the market. We sold it, and moved into an apartment while building our new house--the one I hope to send my kids to college from. My exercise priorities have definitely shifted. I'm 39 now, so having any delusions about powerlifting competitions or burning down the Powerlifting leaderboards are out the window. At this point, I just want to improve my health and appearance as much as possible, training in the way most enjoyable to me. This means lifting moderate weights with some bodyweight movements mixed in, focusing on supersets to maximize my limited workout time (3 nights a week). I've been doing this consistently since I moved into the apartment, and the results have been good. My diet is also still a fairly solid 80/20 Paleo-Primal, and I love eating that way. Looking forward to the new house being finished so I can ditch the machines and go back to my pig iron-based home gym. I'll be adding a full range of hex dumbbells so I can continue the superset pattern I've fully adopted in the apartment fitness center. You might even say my "warrior" training has started to resemble a "ranger," but I don't think I'd go that far. I'm more like the older, more seasoned warrior who's looking to just survive the fight and look half-way decent doing it. No need to bend bars. Oh, and far as logging my workouts go...#&$^ that. I'm just going to keep track of lifts in my head and follow where my body takes me. The name of the game is fun and consistency now--numbers be damned. I'll be lurking around the forums, looking for inspiration and a little nerd comradery. MIght even do a challenge now and then, but they'll be the kind of challenge threads more concerned with general goals, gifs and memes. See ya around.

Got a stomach bug over the weekend, so I'm taking a few days off. Will pick back up on Wednesday.

3/24/2017 9:30 pm Squats/Calf Raise/Bench Dip Superset: 10x187.5, 10x227.5, 10x267.5. 20/20/20 on the dips will need to to add some weight in my lap for the dips Deadlift/DB Lateral Raise Superset: 10x198 : 10x20, 8x238 : 10x20, 6x278 : 10x20 lateral raise weight needs to drop to keep better form. May replace this exercise with OHP Ab Wheel/Dragon flag/BW Squat superset 20/20/20 only did one of these cause it was late overall good workout. Need to figure out the optimal shoulder exercise, because I'm kind of cautious about my rotator cuffs

7/13/2015 - Octoberish 2016 I get lazy and squishy. Octoberish 2016 - March 2017 I go Paleoish/Primalish, start lifting 3 times a week, lose 26 pounds, and feel better than I have in a while. Will start back logging my workouts here starting with my March 24 workout. I'm doing an A-B-A / B-A-B split. Workout A is Bench/Chin supersets 8-12, Dips/Rows/Curls Supersets 8-12, Ab Wheel/Dragon Flags/Pushups supersets at 20 reps. Workout B is Squat/Calf Raise/Bench Dip Supersets 8-12, Deadlift/Upright Row Supersets 8-12, Ab Wheel/Dragon Flags/BW Squat supersets at 20 reps. By the end of each session, I feel like I've gotten both a good pump and a cardio workout all in one. May not be the optimal program, but it's working for me for now.

So it's been almost two years since I posted on NFitness. Life got in the wa--record scratch--no, no it didn't. I just started making excuses to be lazy and careless with my eating again. Yes, I have twin toddlers. Yes, both my wife and I have careers. No, that does not mean I had to allow myself to gain up to 206 and lose the strength I had been building back in 2015. What happened? I almost injured myself back in 2015 because I was letting my ego get the best of me, pushed linear progression without enough deloading, and then I psyched myself out and went dark for a while. The good news? I decided back in October to go Paleo-ish and start lifting again. The difference? I was finally honest with myself, in that I don't want to just get stronger--I want to look good too. The result: my lifting is now more balanced, I do lighter weight/higher reps and focus on technique, my diet is WAY better, and I've lost 26 pounds since October. I'm 180 lbs, probably about 12-14 percent body fat, and feeling (and looking) better now than I have in a long time. I'm going to start posting my exercise logs again (which will probably look pretty pathetic next to a lot of the other Warrior logs now) and hopefully receive and provide some motivation by being part of a like-minded community again. At some point, I may even do a few challenges. Will I ever try to do a competition like I thought back in 2015? Probably not, but who knows. My goals are all personal now, and the visible/tangible results I'm seeing in my health and appearance are all I need for the time being. That feels good.

Oh I'm going to stick with mostly compound movements--I was just planning on changing the reps/intensity for a while.

OK, very late, but I guess better than never, here is the final injury/challenge update: The ortho said it looks like nothing more than a muscle strain right where my abs, connect to my ribcage, and she didn't see any evidence of a fracture, tear, dislocation, or hernia. She suggested one more week of rest, and then ramp back up slowly, but didn't place any restrictions. So, long story short, my body gave me a minor little warning shot about progressing too quickly. My middle-aged muscles may be capable of making linear gains longer than my middle-aged connective tissues can sustain them safely. That being said, I feel like my strength base has reached a point where I can switch to programming that doesn't depend on linear progress. I may do a cycle of pure hypertrophy work next, and then switch to 5/3/1 after that. SO...Challenge results: Main Quest: Gain enough strength and technique to compete in a Powerlifting competition before the end of 2017. Getting there, but I need to slow down a bit to avoid injury Quest 1: I'd like to attain the following 5 rep maxes over this challenge: Squat: 305 lbs ACHIEVED Bench Press: 235 lbs ACHIEVED Deadlift: 365 lbs FAIL Overhead Press: 150 lbs ACHIEVED Measurement: A = meet all 4 goals, B = meet 3 of 4 goals, C = meet 2 of 4 goals I GET A B FOR THIS ONE Quest 2: During the last week of the challenge, I intend to test my 1 Rep Maxes for the first time. My goal is to enter the 1000 lb club. Measurement: A = 1,025+, B = 1,010-1,024, C = 1,000-1,009 FAIL. I strained the muscle before I could test Deadlifts. Even though I know I could have broken the 1,000 mark because of my other numbers, I can't in good conscience take credit for this yet. It will come. Quest 3: No injuries. Getting hurt here is completely counterproductive since my motivation is my children, and having Daddy nursing lifting injuries instead of playing is not worth it to me. Form must remain paramount, and I will not push myself to the point of risking injury. This may impede progress somewhat, but I'm already only lifting twice a week, so I'm obviously not too concerned about that. Measurement: Pass/Fail FAIL. The injury was minor, but nonetheless an injury. I'm actually glad it happened the way it did, instead of in a more severe manner. This will help tamp down the ego for awhile, and hopefully keep me from training in a way that could result in a serious injury down the road. Life Quest: Finish reading A Feast for Crows, because it's been tough to make time for reading, and I'm finishing these novels almost as slow as George R R Martin is writing them. This is a carry over from last challenge, because oops. Measurement: Pass/Fail FAIL! Man, this book sucks. I hope ADWD is better. Summary: Meh. I've made a lot of progress, but I'm going to take the next week off, and not worry about the next challenge. The challenge after that though, I intend to start 5/3/1 and retest for the 1,000 pound club. I think I also learned a valuable lesson. I tried to max out on all 4 lifts in the same week. I dont think that's a good idea for my current level of strength and conditioning. Next time, I will break the lifts up into 2 weeks for testing. I know this doesn't simulate a meet, but I'm more concerned with maintaining safety going forward. If the time for a meet comes in the next year or two, my body should be much more prepared for the heavy weights than it is now.

Not too bad. There really isn't pain, just a strange pulling sensation near my bottom rib when I stretch. I'm waiting on the ortho to call me back to see if I should go there or to another Dr. I'm really hoping I didn't separate the cartilage from my rib.

She was about 18. She did recover fairly quickly, but the surgery and aftermath seemed worse to her than the injury.

Sorry to hear that, but at least he's not recommending surgery. I was chugging along fine until something in my ribcage popped the other day during a press. I'm seeing a Dr next week, and I'm hoping I also hear that I just need to stay away from some movements for a while. Whatever you do, be careful. My niece had to have ACL surgery, and it SUCKED.

Definitely scheduling a Dr appointment next week. I don't feel like I broke or severely tore anything, but I definitely strained something right where the abs meet the rib cage. Blech!

Yeah but if I'm not mistaken you still have me on the leaderboards for OHP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From what I'm reading, it's a fairly common occurrence in the costal region of the rib cage. It may or may not be a serious issue, but I'm leaning towards not, because I don't really have pain, just a little discomfort. I quit when I did because I could tell doing more would definitely result in something bad. We'll see how it feels in the morning...And thanks! That lust for a 1xBW Press is what got me here, though

Well....shit. I was going to test 1rm on overhead press and deadlift tonight. Got 175 on OHP, and thought I'd go for 185, when I heard and felt a pop right under my lower left rib cage. It didn't really hurt, so I tried a couple of warm up sets in Deadlifts and realized quickly that something felt off right at the base of my ribs. Had to stop. Not sure if this was a minor strain or something worse. Will post back here when I know more. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Come on...that's obviously a gorilla in a man suit.