Bean

Did the jack edition of 5/3/1 today due to serious time constraints. Bench and DL were done with 5 reps at 90kg and 135kg respectively. DL is almost at the three wheel mark - I think I do that next week. Squats before DL definitely seems to work better. I don't have these intense pains in my legs such that it is hard to walk. Those are supposed to go away, but I have had them fairly consistently with the 5/3/1 programme. My wife thinks its funny! Added 13,000lbs for the warriors in our mini-challenge. Definitely feeling better and still steadily plowing my way through 1Q84 - would not be my first choice book, but I am enjoying it.

Good and bad news. We hope to hear all the good things about the new baby - the good news part. Sorry you won't be helping the warriors to victory in the challenges - the bad news.

That is awesome - I take it you and DL are friends again.

I posted this in my challenge thread but had to post it here too. I was curled up in foetal position reading the chapter in which Aemome describes how she practices kicking a guy in the balls. Seriously, a whole chapter devoted to that topic. Why??? I am waiting to see what the link to plot is on that one. Although I am used to it from other writers, I still find it distracting that the author switches from one character to the other each chapter. They are currently two completely independent storylines (I am assuming they come together at some point) and it would certainly have worked better (in my mind) if the author had stuck with one character for one part and then switched to the second character for the next part until the two can be brought together. I shall read on and see what happens. Intriguing storyline but pretty long-winded - like this post.

quietly crept back into the gym this morning since I am feeling a lot better. Still have a bit of a stuffy nose, but no other effects and I am no longer taking any meds. Was 3 day today and I did squats and OHP. I did 5 reps each on the last last for OHP at 65kg and Squats at 115kg. I followed the "Jack" programme today since I am still recovering from being sick so was done inside 40 minutes. Then I stretched for 20 minutes. It felt really good to be back in the gym, and Jack is actually pretty cool for that purpose. I was doing some reflecting over the weekend on why I stuggled so much with squats in the last cycle. I was doing DL on a Monday and squats on a Wednesday. One potential reason is that my body (and particularly my CNS) was still not recovered by the Wednesday and so the squats were just too much additional strain. Squats don't seem to have the same effect on my CNS and so I am going to try switching it up and doing squats on Monday (well Tuesday today due to sickness) and DL on Wednesday. We shall see if that improves things. The squats certainly felt pretty good today although 115kg remains a heavy weight to lift. Made more progress on 1Q84 last night. No plot spoiler here, but seriously, who devotes an entire chapter to the practice of kicking a guy in the balls? I was curled up in foetal position reading that chapter. I am waiting to see how this fits into the plot. Really strange book.

Excellent job on the 5k. This warrior does not run, so your efforts seriously impress me.

Relaxing FTW!

I know the feeling about being sick. I spent the whole weekend feeling sorry for myself and could also not contribute any burpees. We don't have a deep freeze outside but do have a full stand-alone freezer in our kitchen. The only method that works for me is to date the stuff in the freezer and then, before I go shopping, I check the contents of the freezer and cross those items off my list. It is easier having the freezer next to the fridge though. Your post sick workout looks pretty good to me. Depsite being a 'light' workout, you got all the right stuff in there. Keep it up.

Excellent week 1. Mindful eating definitely looks to me like the way to go. I did the bear a few challenges back as my Friday workout, but have subsequently become addicted to my kettlebell. Maybe I should try the bear again since it is fun, and seriously exhausting. I think it is the 7 reps thing that makes it so hard!

Pretty good week 1 in my book. Keep up the work and keep making that groove deeper without letting it become a rut!

I like all three for different reasons. For Epic classics, the hardcover is great since it lasts better than a paperback. For travelling - ebook is tops For reading at home, I like a paperback since it can be dropped into the bath-tub (when I fall asleep) without too many lasting effects other than wrinkly pages.

Feeling somewhat better this morning after spending basically the entire weekend in bed feeling sorry for myself. Still have some head-cold left but at least I can breathe properly again. If I feel better by the end of the day, I may try a very light day in the gym tomorrow. We shall see. On the plus side, I did get to finish one book (Elantris) over the weekend and make a fairly sizeable dent in 1Q84. I really enjoyed Elantris - very different fantasy story and am starting to get into 1Q84.

The chicken sounds great - I also prefer baking to pan-frying. Who cares how it looked - how did it taste? Keep going on the 5/3/1 - I think it takes time, but you definitely do see results.

Bean has been struck down with the flu - just when coming into summer. Not pretty. Can't breathe properly with horribly blocked nose and so sleep was bad. Sorry fellow warriors - no burpees for me until I can breathe properly again and am better. Cannot take the risk as it will invariably result in asthma attach and chest infection if I overdo it.

Remember - always squat below parallel regardless of what pesky trainer say! Looks like you are doing pretty well so far.

Nice going!

Great news on the wedding - very happy for you. Did you OHP her over the threshold? Any idea what you will be doing post Afghanistan?

If we go 1 thread per 2-3 chapters, there will be a serious number of threads for just one book. I think it is divided into parts (only read ch1 and 2 last night) and perhaps this might be a better way to segment. Without creating any spoiler - the first two chapters can be read completely independently of each other (I am guessing the two main character threads) so a discussion on that may be interesting but short-lived.

You get used to not squatting every time you hit the gym. Really looking forward to how you find the second cycle - the first one is kind of like a warm-up since you start at 90% of your 1RM. Way to go on the reading - basically 1/3 done already!

Double post mania. I think I would be very happy if my superhero power was a bodyweight OHP!

Swimming this morning. Man, why did I set a goal to swim butterfly. I was trashed after two IMs. Did 72 lengths today - just had no juice left after the IM to get to my usual 80 or 90 lengths. My son was great - he must have done about 45-50 lengths this morning. He is really loving the gym time with dad. So, in honour of the NF book club, I downloaded 1Q84 last night. Read the first two chapter and am intrigued but it looks like it will be heavy going. Also read some of Elantris - a weird story but I like his writing style. So those are my first two books on the list to be devoured.

I generally do most of the cooking during the week and also make the boys their school lunches. I have found that with the school lunch I stick to a very specific formula - they get a bread roll with some cold meat on it (usually ham), a piece of fruit, a juice and then some kind of treat. The boys seem pretty happy with this. Dinner is a huge challenge since my youngest is a fussy eater. We now have a rule in place that if he doesn't like the dinner he has to at least eat some of it and then he can have a slice of bread or fruit. I plan what we will eat for the week and then go and buy all the ingredients on Saturday morning while the boys are at art lessons. Then I try and cook at least two of the meals on Sunday. After that, we get into a good routine that when I get home from work we eat the prepared meal whilst I cook the meal for the next day without any timing pressure. This works well for me. Hope you are feeling better.

Quite honestly, I haven't really thought about what I intend to read. Current unread books on my kindle include Elantris (Brandon Sanderson), The Legion (Simon Scarrow) and The Ninth District (Douglas Dorow). I also have a bunch of unread books on the bookshelf - one called The Language of Leaders (probably my non-fiction book for this list) and then random others including the new Mark Haddon book and Kim (Rudyard Kipling). So, at this stage, I figure I am simply going to pick up whichever ones appeals at the time and read that. I generally save my kindle books for when travelling. Very cool on the NF book-club, I will keep watching the bulletin boards. Exercise today: Two consecutive days of gym is tough! Needed to do it as Monday was a holiday and I take my boy swimming tomorrow - can't mess with that programme. Did squats (110kg x 7 reps) and Bench (85kg x 7 reps) and then some Kroc rows and hanging leg raises for assistance work. Felt good but my muscles are definitely protesting now.

Thanks. OHP still has a long way to go to get up to bodyweight of 90kg. No special tips, at the moment I am just sticking to the 5/3/1 programme to see where that takes me. JDanger has posted a few tips about OHP and breaking plateaus. If I remember, he encourages you to mix up the reps and sets. e.g. if you are doing 5x5, try working to 3x10 or 10x3 with the same weights and then try moving up. Also, micro-weights if you have access are really helpful.

Super cool goals. I support them all. Also, try snatching a kettlebell - it is fun!