KingZora: My Not Really A 6 Week Challenge Challenge

[KingZora]

Sooo I decided to avoid setting any hard and fast goals for this challenge, I wanted to be a lot more flexible and deal with situations as they arise since this is my first time bulking and doing a bunch of different things with my life.  Plus, I am really happen with the changes I made in the last 2 challenges and I just want to stick with them for a bit.  Anyways, you guys have been awesome, and so I didn't want to avoid the challenges for the next 6 weeks so I am putting this thread up just as a way of making a statement of what I am doing, and how my journey is going.

 

This weeks challenges:

• Get a new apartment, I need to move out of my place at the end of the month, and I have been looking at things but haven't really made a push to finalize stuff, this week that all changes and I get a new apartment.
• Do some squat ladders!  The mini challenge looks awesome, so that is now part of this weeks challenge
• Get back to yoga... I haven't been doing yoga for the last few weeks and that is silly, I have the free time (which I have been using well to read books and catch up on tv I care about (i know, that isn't using it well but I do what I want!)).  But it's time to stop being lazy and get flexible!

 

So there we have it, the start of my Not Really A 6 Week Challenge Challenge

[KingZora]

I decided to gather all of the data I have been keeping together and create a google docs form and data presentation from the last few challenges.  So here is a pretty graph I made...

 

First challenge for this week is complete... rental application is in, background checks complete, just need to work out a good move in date now!  I missed yoga last night though... lazy me needs to stop being lazy and get to yoga this Thursday so I can complete my goal.

[KingZora]

Move in date is set now!  I get a new apartment next week now I just need to move everything...

 

I am also starting to realize, that I need a HELL of a lot of food while bulking.  Upped my intake to 2800/day net, so eating on average of 3500 on lifting days, and 2800 on off days.  This used to be easy when I was eating tons of carbs, but reintroducing carbs made me feel sluggish, and I didn't enjoy it.  Milk has become my best friend, I pick up a gallon every other day at the convenience store next to my office now.  Starting to think I might even need to eat more now that my body is finally shifting over into bulking mode instead of cutting, I find myself still hungry at random times throughout the day.  If my weight isn't going up at all by the end of this week it looks like I'll be trying out 3100/day net to see what happens.

 

Squat ladders Friday... gotta say I am both excited and nervous, this is gonna hurt I bet since I haven't done any serious volume days since I started lifting...

[little brew]

I like that even though you don't have any 6 week goals you're still partipating in the challenge and you set your self small weekly goals.Good idea for when you have a lot going on! Glad you're getting an appartment! Now go to yoga! Haha

[This is Seth]

I'm tempted to change you "squat ladder" challenge goal to "all ladder" challenges. 

 

There's more buddy. You gotta do them all

[KingZora]

One week at a time, gotta get through squats before I can worry about the rest of the ladder shenanigans!

[KingZora]

Going rock climbing and yogaing tonight... then it is gonna be super fun math and spreadsheet time, as I figure out what I wanna lift for the squat ladders.

 

Any idea if it'd be silly to superset the ladder with bench and barbell rows so I don't spend all morning in the gym?

[This is Seth]

The ladder is more of an exercise in anaerobic endurance at some point, so super setting with anything that adds to how winded you are isn't a brilliant move. That said, give it a shot...

[KingZora]

 

 

If I get bench out of the way first, I should be low enough in the ladder that I will be able to recover from the fact that my bench is a struggle and a half right now (i hope).  My pendlay row is actually still recovering from a serious drop down in weight for form correction... my upper back is all kinds of crazy imbalanced from swimming for so long... so it hopefully wont wind me much.  All that said, I'm fraking pumped for this challenge, and if I can't walk tomorrow I'll know who to blame!

 

The answer is me for not doing it better in case you didn't know.

[KingZora]

Oh boy... I am sore right now... like holy hell does my body feel like a bowl full of jello.  It's gonna be nice having the weekend off to relax at the beach and not lift anything seriously heavy!

Squat ladders are crazy...

 

Y'all are evil evil evil people... that was one of the more interesting things I have done in a while... First my workout, and then my thoughts on how evil this was.  I supersetted with bench also to make the workout a bit quicker

5RM = 215lbs

1RM Calculated = 240lbs

 

1: 2x125: 250 (240)

5x5 145 Bench

2: 4x125: 500 (480)

5x5 145 Bench

3: 6x125: 750 (720)

5x5 145 Bench

4: 8x125: 1000 (960)

5x5 145 Bench

5: 10x125: 1250 (1200)

5x5 145 Bench New 5x5 PR 

6: 12x125: 1500 (1440)

7: 12x145: 1740 (1680)

8: 14x140: 1960 (1920)

9: 15x155: 2325 (2160) Math is hard...

10: 16x150: 2400 (2400) 

11: 18x150: 2700 (2640)

12: 20x145: 2900 (2880)

13: 22x145: 3190 (3120)

 

Total: 22,465lbs over 159 reps

 

I was supposed to do pendlay rows after failing on the ladder, but I was literally shaking as I approached the bar for the 13th rung... and I struggled like hell to make it through that... as soon as I was done I laid on the floor for about 3 minutes and then realized that I needed to run off to the locker room incase the lactate decided it wanted to make my stomach feel even more vomity than it currently did.  The hateful thing is that after about 15 minutes when I was showered and changed I really wanted to go do rung 14, I felt amazing!  Kinda pissed at myself that I couldn't keep going until I actually physically failed but I really didn't want to make a mess of the gym... Now that it has been a little bit though my muscles are slowly starting to realize that I just beat the crap out of them.

 

This was my kind of challenge though... it kind of reminded me of swimming breast stroke... just all about consistently pushing through your legs for as long as possible.  The thing that started to go near the end was my core more than my legs.  I was having a harder and harder time keeping my form good and actually pushing the bar straight up, my legs were alright, but my core and lower back were struggling to keep the weight in line.

 

Went rock climbing and did some yoga last night as well, so I guess that make this a successful week of challenges!  I am gonna go finish my gallon of milk and pretend that my muscles don't hate me now.

[KingZora]

So it turns out I have found my limit of ability for my body to recover... the combination of squat ladders, plus spending all day on the beach saturday (read whole body partial sunburn), and then playing 54 holes of disc golf Sunday, then doing chores for my dad on Father's Day, and my body is struggling right now.  Muscles feel better but I just have a constant feeling of exhausted right now and I managed to get 10 hours of sleep last night!  Woke up at my usual time for the gym this morning and knew that I needed sleep more than a workout and just went straight back to bed.  So I am shifting my workouts to tuesday, thursday, sat. this week.

 

New week new challenges!!!

• Bench Ladder! This is gonna be a lot more difficult than the squat ladder for me... Also look forward to not being able to lift my arms over my head when I am done.
• Pack up everything in my apartment that isn't necessary for day to day life.  This means all of my dress/winter clothing, all of my books and games, non-gym related workout stuff.  Get it all into boxes and prepared to move into my new place between the 20th and the end of this month.
• Watch the Bruins destroy the Blackhawks and prepare for the epic parade in Boston!

[KingZora]

Lifting this morning went pretty well.  Gonna have a deload on squats next time around though, failed my attempt at 5x5 215lbs for the third time.  This might have something to do with still being a bit sore from squat ladders... but no excuses, back to 190 and I'll work my way up again!  New 3x5 PR on OHP at 95lbs and a new 5RM for deadlifts at 255lbs!  So with two records I can't be too upset about my squats being toasted.

 

Goal 3 went pretty well last night during game 3!  Bruins are actually playing like they should rather than pretending to be the penguins like they did in game 2...

 

Today is gonna be an eat lots of food and get lots of sleep night, so in between I plan to get some packing done.  Things start going into boxes tonight!

[KingZora]

Bulking is going well and I finally have a way of confirming that to myself... squatted 195 today with only 1:30 between sets instead of the usual 3 mins.  Seeing as how I had been stalled and unable to do 195 just a few weeks ago when I was cutting I am rather happy with the change!

Bench at 150 was a strugle, went 2x5, then 2x4 and then 1x3... look forward to giving it another go next week at that weight... will be doing the ladder Saturday, will be interesting to see how that affects it.

Rows at 140 were no problem... still focusing on making sure that I mash the bar against my chest.

 

Packing isn't going well yet... I got distracted by my room mate watching the original Star Trek on Tuesday... it's my first time watching the first season and it is way better than I expected for the start of a show in the 60s.

 

Fricking fracking OT loss to blackhawks... I don't want to talk about it...

[This is Seth]

How you guys stay awake for all of these OT games, I have no idea. I legit almost fell asleep in my dinner last night trying to watch the first period.

[KingZora]

How you guys stay awake for all of these OT games, I have no idea. I legit almost fell asleep in my dinner last night trying to watch the first period.

It was a struggle... but when there are 11 goals in a game, there is enough yelling to keep my adrenaline up.  This has been the most ridiculous series, neither team can make a decision about how they want to play.  Every game it's like an entirely new team shows up for both sides...

[KingZora]

So this was a train wreck of a morning in the gym... even though the lifting went well.  Somehow I managed to pocket delete the StrongLifts app off of my phone... so now all of my records for lifting are gone.  Luckily I remember what my last lifts were, but it is still really annoying to have lost my logs for the last 4 months...

 

Last week was not super productive for my goals.  I got the bench ladder one done, but almost none of my packing is completed, and the bruins are down 3 games to 2... 

 

Guess it's time to come up with some more goals, I'll be back once I have time to think.

[KingZora]

Alright, new week new challenges!  Also I go away for 3 days without having internet while I move, and come back to a completely new forum?!? Kinda awesome...

 

So I haven't been to the gym in a few days but I made up for it by moving literally everything I own across town.  It felt good though, I am much stronger than the last time I had to move all of this stuff last year (plus I have more furniture than I did then so it was even toughter).  Things were easier to get up and down the various flights of stairs, I wasn't crippled by soreness the next day, and now I have an amazing new apartment and no more needless hassles to deal with from the old place.  Best part of the whole moving process is when we delivered the washer and drier that I sold to a co-worker.  The U-Haul showed up 6 hours late, so by the time we got to deliver them it was past 10pm.  His street was a narrow dead end that the U-Haul wouldn't fit down... So what did we do? Warrior'd up, parked the uhaul in the middle of the road, grabbed one out of the back and ran it about 500ft down the rd to his house, then ran back and did it again all before someone tried to get down the road.  It was great fun!

 

Tonight is also the first day of a basketball league that I joined... personally not all that good, but I had promised a friend I would join whatever league she had time for with her busy work schedule.  Guess I am gonna see how badly I can embarrass myself playing bball tonight!

 

Only going to have one day at the gym this week (making a special trip tomorrow just to make sure I can get one in) as I am going on vacation for the fourth of July.  A couple of friends and I are taking a trip down to Atlantic City to spend a few days watching fireworks, drinking on the beach, and gambling our life savings away.  I wonder if the Trump Tower in AC has a good gym... maybe I'll get some lifting done if they have anything decent.  Might as well pack my Ristos, never know when they will come in handy.

 

Onto this weeks goals:

• Organize my room and setup a system for dealing with daily tasks.  Unlike my last place I want to make sure that everything has it's place, and that I have a good system for where to put dirty laundry, and for how to keep things clean so I don't end up with a mess all the sudden for no real reason.
• Get in at least 1 if not 2 workout sessions (running, lifting, lap swimming... whatever I can get in) while I am in Atlantic City.  Need to make sure I tax my muscles some so that all of that delicious food and beer at least attempts to go to my muscles.
• Make sure that the sun doesn't explode while I am on the beach in AC... talk about the worst week for the Dog Days of Summer to come to a conclusion!

[KingZora]

Onto this weeks goals:

• Organize my room and setup a system for dealing with daily tasks.  Unlike my last place I want to make sure that everything has it's place, and that I have a good system for where to put dirty laundry, and for how to keep things clean so I don't end up with a mess all the sudden for no real reason.
• Get in at least 1 if not 2 workout sessions (running, lifting, lap swimming... whatever I can get in) while I am in Atlantic City.  Need to make sure I tax my muscles some so that all of that delicious food and beer at least attempts to go to my muscles.
• Make sure that the sun doesn't explode while I am on the beach in AC... talk about the worst week for the Dog Days of Summer to come to a conclusion!

 

 

Hey All! Finally back after an amazing week vacation in Atlantic City.  Had a great time, made some new friends, and lost about $120 while I drank about $300 worth of "free" bourbon... I love casinos!   I even motivated myself enough to go for a two mile run while I was there one morning, I tried to get into the weight room in my hotel, but when I walked in they said it would be $20 to use the place... after paying for my room I thought that was rediculous and promptly walked out so it has been a week since I last lifted heavy things.  Needless to say, my legs are sore as frack this morning!  Jumped right back into the swing of things setting a new PR in squats and rows!  Then got to work to the surprise that my gallon of milk from before vacation hadn't gone bad yet... it's gonna be a good week!

 

 

Recap for last weeks goals:

• Room is 80% organized... took a bit longer than expected since I needed to get creative with my storage.  Even though my room is pretty large, there is a severely limited amount of storage space... still working on figuring things out but I have all my furniture where I want it to be and my bathroom is clean and organized which means the place is comfortably livable!  Now I just need to finish getting a few boxes off of the floor...
• I got in my 1 workout when I went for a run... though honestly I think I probably did pretty good just due to the sheer amount of walking we did.  The boardwalk in AC is a couple of miles long... so just going from our hotel to one of the further casinos was a 1.5 mile walk... all in all I probably averaged about 8 miles of walking a day... just enough to make sure I only gained 1lb during while drinking copious amounts of liquor and eating all of my meals at buffets  Worked out better than I expected it to.
• The sun did not explode I am happy to report.  Didn't even end up with a sunburn!  Though I am a little bit red and toasty, and I've got a couple of nice blisters on my feet from all the walking and running, great success!

New goals will come later once I have time to think about them... I have probably 100 emails I need to go read first...

[KingZora]

Blah... so this week got thrown for a bit of a loop.  Left hand is not capable of wrapping around a bar without serious pain at the moment so I won't be lifting for a few days

 

Played my first game in my new basketball league Monday though... that was awesome, and a good workout, my legs are a bit sore from all the running/jumping and squatting though, but its a good kind of sore.  Just hope my hand heals up quickly so I can get back in the gym... I really miss my routine!

[KingZora]

So I am still out of the gym as my hand heals... it's markedly better but still incapable of wrapping around a bar.  Been biking and keeping active, but I am really falling out of the routine... I need to get back in the gym soon or the DOMs are going to be awesome.  Doing some body weight stuff in the meantime... anything that doesn't require me to close my hand into a fist at least.

[KingZora]

Back in the gym as of last Friday!  I did a set at 90% working on Friday to re-acclimate myself and got back into it today.  I didn't lose/gain anything over the break.  5-5-3 on my first 3x5 220lb squat attempt so I am sure I will be right back to progressing on Wednesday when I bust through that 3x5.  New 3x5 record in OHP at 90lbs, and it actually felt really light so maybe that has improved a bit even.  Deadlifts I made my first attempt at lifting 265lbs, got it up 3 times before I had to call it quits.  I'll get it next time around no questions asked!

 

So to recap

10x45 Squat -> calf raise

5x95

5x135

5x185 just squat

2x5x220 

3x220 (fail)

 

5x45 OHP

5x65

3x5x90

 

5x135 deadlift

5x185

5x225

3x265 (fail)

 

2x10 hanging leg raise

Stretching

 

I'll be putting together a challenge thread next week as well and back to really focusing on being a good Nerd again.  It was nice having a "break" but I am back to being serious about getting stronger again starting now!

 

*scurries off to buy milk in bulk*