Waldo's Log

[Waldo]

Heres a picture of my gym all put together. It's just missing a single floor tile.

 

Did an upper body workout tonight Tried to do the seated ohp, but decided to kneel instead (ceiling is too low for standing). Also did chinups, pullups, and dips. Kept the weight low and reps lowish, just getting back into the flow of things. Still gonna be sore as heck from it.

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[Kishi]

There's no 'Wow' react and I need one. Total envy over here. Makes me want to burn all my possessions in my studio apartment and just lay down some mats and a set of stall bars.

[Waldo]

I also have a TV mounted on the wall to the left of the power rack for doing videos, might extend the flooring 2 more tile rows to make that work better.  Wife likes to do videos, and I've been trying to do yoga once a week.
All in all things have been going great.  No missed workouts anymore.  Taking a slow and steady approach to putting load on the bar.  Eventually here I'll get serious about the diet again, but for now, just getting back into the workout flow has been my main focus.

Wife has moved her strength training from videos and dumbbells to the barbell as well.  Despite both of us exercising regularly for about 7 years now, this is really the first time we've ever worked out together.

[JPrev]

Good to see you back, Waldo.  Great looking gym.

 

Has injury prevention/management factored into how you plan your training?  Interested in what people who have been lifting for a significant period of time do to stay healthy.  Feels like I've had to make a bunch of changes to workouts that had been fine for years 0-3, but seem to have taken their toll now.

 

Maybe I should start doing some yoga, too....

[Waldo]

Yes.  Most important is consistency.  Stick with it day after day, no skipping.  Err on the side of doing too little per session.  I rarely do more than 3 work sets on main lifts, and keep the accessories down to a couple sets of 1-2 things, maybe.  Also only do like 2-3 peak output sets per session tops, even then, not every session.  RPE 10 sets have become quite rare for me.

 

Stuff like a Starting Strength type program, just lolno.

 

But I haven't had an exercise related injury in years.  Once my shoulder issue cleared up (tenonitis/osis/impingement of some sort), that was the last of it.  Its probably been 2 years since I last felt the effects of that.
 

I've done my time with the intense stuff and built that base.  I'm no professional athlete or bodybuilder that needs to push the envelope, simply maintaining the base I built is good enough.

[Waldo]

Been a couple of weeks since I last checked in, but things are still moving right along.

I haven't skipped any workouts nor even really considered it.

I'm still adding weight to the bar at a good clip each session.  Front Squatting 195 tonight.  Benched 175 on Tue.  My pullup volume is up to 24 total reps, and my tuck front lever hold time have doubled.  The only exercise I've been slacking on is deadlifts.

Also hitting the cardio each Wed and Sat.  Its been all walking on the treadmill at variable inclines, except i did try running outside last Saturday.  Went ok, couldn't sustain it, so i had to add walking sections in.  I plan on running outside more as the weather becomes more hospitable. 

 

Still havent done anything on the diet front yet.

[Kishi]

Well, no rush, right? No reason to do more than you have to.

[Guzzi]

Hey Waldo. Have you ditched your website?  I was trying to post a link to it for another member but couldn’t find it. 

[Waldo]

Hello everyone, I see the last time I posted was back when I first put my home gym together after the gov't shutdown.  It sure has come in handy since then.

 

But with a New Year comes the yearly motivation to cut and work extra hard in the gym; its here, and also the yearly motivation to spend some $$ on the gym.

 

Last year I added a spin bike and mounted the old TV on the wall in from of it (psssh, Peloton and that pitiful little screen).  Got that with the first round of stimulus, super happy I did (more on that later).  Sadly though late last year the treadmill died.  I tried to fix it, got it down to one of two parts (a xformer and the main board) and replaced the cheaper one, didn't work, its definitely not worth it to replace the main board on it.  Its 15 years old though and had many many many miles on it, and really was the one piece of equipment that I considered to be absolutely clutch to my weight loss journey (there is almost never a good excuse why you can't walk uphill on the treadmill).  Sad to see it go, maybe one day I'll buy a new treadmill.

 

This year I expanded the flooring greatly (to its likely final footprint), added a pair of bumper big wheels, refurbed my barbell, replaced the ring mounts with much stronger mounts (w/springs) and got a 5' heavy bag that can go on either mount (the reason I beefed them up).  I also got my wife a curl bar and stand for it (and the smaller free weights).  I'll post a pic once the final batch of flooring arrives.

 

The last time I posted it had been a long stretch since I had any exercise related injuries. Unfortunately that didn't last. 

- I had gotten back into running outside and was trying to cut in early 2020 just before the pandemic hit when I did something really dumb.  My foot had been sore and I suspected I was getting a stress fracture; I went running on it one day and just pushed through the ache at first; big mistake.  By the end of the run I realized I was limping; after I cooled down it was clear I did have a stress fracture that I had made much worse; it took a better part of 4-5 months to fully heal and I was limping bad for 2. 

- In early 21 I had been feeling back pain that didn't have a clear cause.  I suspected it was mostly because of the way I sit when working at home (still 100% TW and will likely never go in more than 2x a week ever in my life again).  Back squatting seemed like a bad idea at the time, but I did it anyway since I had been slacking on the legs and just went light.  Oops.  Definitely herniated a disc during a set (I want to say it was 185, definitely no higher than 225) or made an existing one much worse.  That one still has me freaked out to this day (the precursor pain comes and goes since it healed, but its been mild, much milder than it was immediately before I hurt it).

 

But I feel pretty good physically right now.  I'm not mentally ready to go there on back squats (unsure I ever will be), but that was never a key exercise for me, and a very new addition to the exercises I do.

 

Taking stock, my lifting shape is eh.  Legs are as weak as they've been since mid bodyweight days (circa 2013), lately I've only been doing weighted step ups as they don't bother my back at all.  My bench has been a 1x bw ish holding pattern for a while.  I intended to deadlift when I first put my gym together, but that quickly fell by the wayside as my bar was lacking, floor area was too small, and I was lacking in big plates.  I can still go bang out 10 pullups (or dips), and have 4 reps on my tuck lever row.  Cardio-wise I can run or spin for a half hour without issue (I've been doing running or spinning cardio 3x a week since I got my bike early in the pandemic).

[Waldo]

I had meant to post last year as it was a big year for me.

 

I started my weight loss journey on 9/11/2011 at 265 lbs.  I dropped down into the 180's on two different occasions, once at the end of that, and once when cutting to a new level of leanness after doing some bulking.   I've gone through a bodyweight phase and a gym phase.

 

10 years (and 4 months later) where am I now?

 

I haven't been serious about cutting to seeing abs level of body fat in many years.  I had been slacking on the diet front an got up to the high 220's a few months before the pandemic and was cutting when the pandemic started.  The early pandemic was rough for me.  I had just hurt my foot with a very serious stress fracture that took a long time to heal.  I had also led a fairly active lifestyle though, with a lot of walking to and from work.  Sitting at home unable to do any cardio for months caused my weight to balloon into the 235 area.  Getting the spin bike was a lifesaver, as it enabled me to return to activity and start to right the ship, and really my whole way of life activity-wise needed to be recalibrated.  Since then I've off and on cut with the motivation flow and lost down to about 210, and my activity has morphed into something that works when you're otherwise sitting around the house all day.  With a new year comes new goals and I have a plan to get back to the ab zone this year (I'm guessing I'll need the 195 area, I probably lost 10 lbs of muscle mass on my legs, used to be the 205 area was the ab zone)

 

But as someone with big weight loss and a long keeping it off period in the rear view mirror, as a 10 year later lookback and some advice, its that its a lifestyle.  Periodic dieting is normal for everyone.  I'm a myfitnesspal calorie counter; the process of dieting is very easy for me at this point, and I'm confident in my approach; it always works exactly how I expect it to.  I just go with the cliche and make new goals every year at this time.  I rarely meet them, but I try and at least make progress, so that in the end I basically maintain over a longer time scale.  I would like to put forth more effort, but that is a finding motivation thing.  I'm good at sticking to a minimal workout plan (6 days a week) with no skips long term.  My baseline level of fitness is excellent for my age and tho I have dadbod going, I clearly work out even tho the midsection is a bit soft.

 

The early pandemic and concurrent foot injury brought the importance of exercise into sharp relief for me, and there is a lot I've been kicking around the head related to that (society itself is broken there; to put it in structural engineering terms, exercise needs to be dead load (every home should have a dedicated workout space, using it should be part of your day every day)).  The latest additions to my home gym should go a long way to patching up weaknesses in my personal set up.

[Waldo]

But the reason I came back to NF is that I feel a personal transition going on and I'm super excited to get at it; my motivation is building to a level it hasn't been at in a long time. 

 

Last year I cut 25 lbs, starting in the early spring. The New Years diet fizzled fast last year, but picked back up once talk of returning to the office picked up, and I rode that until dieting got hard, motivation sapped, and I decided on a long diet break in the fall.  By hard I mean I'd been dieting long enough that hormone control started to matter, hunger started getting real, and I just didn't want to deal with that.  I spent a week with the wife's family on the beach at Christmas, you'd think that would give extra motivation to cut hard, but its easy to settle on a "clearly you work out" physique since it makes you a 33%er as a 40-something.

 

I'm in prime position now to wipe out another 10 lbs and get into the zone, for lack of a better term.  The zone is the area where the nature of weight loss greatly changes.  Details start filling in with each pound and instead of appearing to shrink, you instead start to appear to increase in size and become more muscular.  For me this happens around a 34" waist.  But its also where dieting tends to get a lot harder, where you need to manage the hormone response to the diet.  My plan is to quick n easy get to the outer zone here, take a diet break (or bulk..) until mid-april, then hit it hard for pool season.  I'm around 212 right now, want to get to 202-203 before taking a break, goal is end of Feb at the latest.  I could feasibly be sporting abs at the pool this summer.

 

I can deadlift again, something I haven't really done since I used the work gym in like 2018.  The CL bar I got was straight garbo, with some oversized plastic bushings where the real brass ones should be, and bolted sleeves ofc.  I realized right away my bar was going to be a problem when I tried deadlifting, plus my floor area wasn't quite big enough, and I still wasn't really comfortable deadlifting iron on the floor.  Replacing it isn't in the budget at this time, but I'm handy. I got a proper sized allen wrench for the gym and replaced the bolts with new ones.  I also found that McMaster Carr has perfect replacement brass bushings so got rid of the plastic crap someone had put in there.  So while not a nice bar, it'll at least do the job for now.  I also picked up a pair of new 45 bumper plates on a cyber monday deal; they are a hair bigger than my iron plates so the only thing than contacts the floor (wide too).  And there is now plenty of floor area to do it.  Game on.

 

But what really has me excited is my 6 year old.  There is a martial arts place nearby that he'd like to go to.  We've been planning on starting him there after the new year for a long time, now that its becoming real (pause tho for this latest covid outbreak ), I'm pretty stoked to take him and have been thinking about it.  As a teen I was an almost black belt in TKD (could have tested to get it), something just sort of clicked when I thought about returning to that environment.  Might I too join with my little one?  Not sure.  It occurred to me though that I'd really like a heavy bag for exercise, so I dusted off the old boxing gloves and pulled the trigger on one.  Being able to beat up a heavy bag as a workout has me almost giddy.  I'm not sure why it hadn't occurred to me before to get one.  I got an unfilled 5' bag last week (6' is just a bit too long for the basement with the hanging apparatus) and was able to scrounge up 84 lbs of old clothes for its initial fill.

 

Even if its just purely an in my head thing, a training focus (training to become a better fighter) is something that I haven't had in a long time; since I was obsessed with muscle ups.  Since then I've pretty much worked out because its good for me, without much in the way of reason or point beyond that.  Even completely superficial, a focus can be very potent for motivation.  My biggest weakness excise wise is putting in the effort.  I show up, but don't try as hard as I should and don't spend as long as I should, having a purpose should help to break that.

 

Here's to a strong start to 2022.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Best of luck on your goals this year! Following. 👍🏼

[Waldo]

I've been back in the swing of challenges.

 

Here is a link to the last one.  I'm starting up a new thread for the next challenge here.

 

[Waldo]

I never did post a pic in this thread of how the gym is looking nowadays.

 

 

Since I took that picture a few weeks ago, I've added:

- 2nd mount in the ceiling for mounting rings, bag can be put up on either.

- New pair of wooden rings

- LED strip lights (in covered channel)
- 40, 45, 50 steel hex DB's (have the full set 15-50 minus 30 now)

- Pair of 55 lb rubber bumpers

- Gym clock

[Waldo]

I'm going to get back to posting in here between challenges as a record of challenge to challenge workout progress.

 

Workout Log - 2.8.22

 

Kickboxing - 15 min, 116 bpm avg, 145 bpm peak

 I barely used my feet and punched light, forearm and foot soreness are a major concern so I took it very easy.

 

Pistol Squats - 7/7, 7/7, 7/7

7 across all 3 sets a nice step up, I started out this year only able to do 3 in a single set.  I've used up all the easy gains though now.  I wasn't able to add to my peak vs. last week, just volume.

 

Deadlift

155 x 5

245 x 3

285 x 3, 3, 3

Still going up 10 lb per week.  DOH for the first work set, belted for the 3rd.

 

 

[Waldo]

Workout Log - 2.9.22

 

Bench Press

135 x 10

185 x 5

205 x 4, 4, 4

Yay, back to 205, which is as high as I've gotten in my home gym.  225 was as high as my working weight went back when I lifted in the work gym.  I should have a lot of somewhat easy gains left on the bench given my dip max, though I've always been a little out of whack on that ratio.

 

Ring Front Lever

Tuck Hold - 15 sec

Tuck Rows - 5, 5, 5

Open Tuck Hold - 10 sec

These are starting to become a pretty darn good ab workout too. 

 

Standing EZ Bar Curl

69 x 10, 10, 9

Probably didn't need to do those last couple reps each set, not the best quality.

 

DB Fly

35 x 8, 8, 8

My form and range of motion could have been better, I would have used 30's if I had them, thats the one set I'm missing 5-50.  Good excuse to buy some.  This is my first time doing this exercise in a super long time, but, I do think it hits my overall weakest point, my chest (both size and strength)

 

DB Overhead Extension

35 x 12

40 x 12

45 x 10

Took a bit to find the right weight.  These are done laying on the bench.  I can't say I've ever used strength in that plane of motion, but it did feel really good in the shoulders, an excellent stretch, similar to but different than a dead hang.  I'm guessing pitchers do a lot of these

[Waldo]

Workout Log - 2.10.22

 

Spinning - 10.13 mi, 30:00 time, 136 bpm avg, 163 bpm peak

Mostly seated, only two out of the saddle bits, neither were long or at sprint resistance

 

Workout Log - 2.11.22

 

Kickboxing - 15 min, 113 bpm avg, 142 bpm peak

I did take it easy, but I forgot to hit the lap button until after my first set of pistols, so the average is lower than it should be.  Either way though, I still am taking it easy on these.

 

Pistol Squats

BW - 7/7

+30 - 3/3

First time weighting these in a while.  Here though the weighting is more of an accessory.

 

Front Squats

135 x 5

185 x 3, 3, 3

155 x 7

I was supposed to only go up to 180, but 180 is a pita to rack up so I jumped ahead to 185.  Wore a belt on the last two work sets.

[Waldo]

Way behind here updating.  Going to switch to the new challenge thread after this one.

 

I'm 1 week out now from raising cals to a diet break, I've basically met my goal for this cut.  Waist is around 34", weight is around 205.

 

Workout Log - 2.11.22

 

Seated DB OHP

40 x 10

45 x 8

50 x 6

45 x 8

40 x 10

Decided to do the weights pyramid style.  My shoulders haven't had a workout that good in a long, long time.  I've always big time preferred a hammer grip for overhead pressing to a straight bar.  DB's hit the traps really well, like one arm handstands, a lot better than straight bar pressing.  I was afraid I was going to need to buy more weight right away, but it looks like 50 should be enough for a bit; when I get up to 10 reps at 50, then I'll start shopping for more.  After this I'm  going to switch to 10 lb increments and rubber, since the 50's are starting to get pretty big to put down gently after a tough set. 

 

Pullup

BW - 5, 15, 13, 13

+25 - 4, 4, 4

Lost a rep at +25 vs last week.  Later in the workout is when strength loss from cutting becomes more acute.

 

Dips

+ 35 - 6, 6, 7

 

Ground L-Sit - 15, 15 sec

[Waldo]

I think I'm going to take it easy and switch to the battle log instead of a challenge this round.  I don't have any great goals for a challenge format.  I'm getting closer to my overall cutting goal (abz), but am least am still far enough out that its more than a challenge away.

 

I was talking to my brother last night about the physical peak periods that I've gone through and it struck me just how different we are in that respect.  He was a D1 college fullback (obvi peak) that went on to a life of exercise, mostly running and biking, semi regular strength training.  Weight never really strayed much outside of a 10 lb band around 205 after the initial post college loss.  His physical peaks are marathon condition.  But nowadays we both at least look pretty similar.  About the same weight and leanness.  Even though I haven't been in this area since 2017, so its been a while.  My ride has been a far bumpier journey.

 

I graduated college at around 160-165 lb, skinnyfat.

Gained straight until just after our first kiddo, 263 lb peak (8 years after college)

Lost down to 189 bulked and cut for a while, lost down to 189, etc

6 years total I bulked and cut off and on.  Eventually reached my goal of being muscular enough to be >200lb unless 6 pack lean

Then the weight got out of hand again, up to 240, so the past year I've been losing that.

Back down to 205ish, just have about 6-8 more lbs of fat loss to rock a strong 6 pk.

 

The clothes that fit me now fit me in 2012-14 and 2016-17.  I did save a lot of "goal" clothes so thats nice to have.  But....

We are going back into the office for the first time here in 3 weeks.  None of the clothes that I was wearing at the start of the pandemic fit me (was weighing 220ish, just down from 230).  At least its only 1 day a week, but still I'm probably going to have to go shopping.

 

Waist clocked in at 33 5/8" this am.  I had a tough couple days toward the end of the week after recovering from being sick. Still, overall down 1/2" since starting this current cut 2 weeks ago.  Overall target is 33" for the next 1 week break.

 

[Rooks]

On 1/3/2022 at 2:06 PM, Waldo said:

But what really has me excited is my 6 year old.  There is a martial arts place nearby that he'd like to go to.  We've been planning on starting him there after the new year for a long time, now that its becoming real (pause tho for this latest covid outbreak ), I'm pretty stoked to take him and have been thinking about it.  As a teen I was an almost black belt in TKD (could have tested to get it), something just sort of clicked when I thought about returning to that environment.  Might I too join with my little one?  Not sure.  It occurred to me though that I'd really like a heavy bag for exercise, so I dusted off the old boxing gloves and pulled the trigger on one.  Being able to beat up a heavy bag as a workout has me almost giddy.  I'm not sure why it hadn't occurred to me before to get one.  I got an unfilled 5' bag last week (6' is just a bit too long for the basement with the hanging apparatus) and was able to scrounge up 84 lbs of old clothes for its initial fill.

 

That's awesome. Honestly, I'd love for my daughter to some day take an interest in some sort of self defense, but as she's visually impaired, I really can only see BJJ as a potential (striking would only get her smacked around). But it's also partially because of the visual impairment I want her to know these things. 

We'll see. She's 8 now, but not interested in athletics at all. Best of luck with the 6yo. I know I would love to get into BJJ myself as well (as a former wrestler). Found a gym in February of 2020 that I loved (did 2 intro classes) and their classes fit my schedule, and then COVID hit. Now the work schedule has shifted greatly and I can't figure out how to make their classes work anymore.

[Waldo]

Well we still haven't gotten around to getting him signed up for martial arts; instead he's in a swimming class and then summer swim team starts in a few weeks.  After swim team ends we'll get back to the martial arts.  But man oh man, 6 yr old has been really into doing handstands, and figure out (on his own just messing around) that he can push up into a handstand from a freestanding headstand, so that's been part of his "training" lately.  I'm nowhere near strong enough to be able to do that right now, though at one time I could.  Pushing out of the hole like that is HARD.  To put it all together like that at such a young age; using strength to move in novel ways like that is just not something I did as a kid.

 

Workout Log - 3/28/22

 

Kickboxing - 5 min

Still having time management issues so it was short

 

Pistol Squat - 5/5, 10+/10+

The weak point of my form nowadays is pike flexibility.  I don't really hold the leg out in front of me very straight.  As I get tired, they get easier if I lean forward a bit pressing out.

 

Deadlift

155 x 5

245 x 3

315 x 3-

335 x 3+

By virtue of my larger pair of bumpers being 55's, 335 is a 3 wheel deadlift.  Slowly but surely working the weight up.  I would have done another set if I had more time.  Wore a belt for 315 and 335.

 

Workout Lot - 3/29/22

 

Bench Press

135 x 10

185 x 5

205 x 3

215 x 4+, 4*

205 x 5*

Those were some of the hardest sets I've done in a long time; last rep the last 2 sets took a while and took an extra burst not to fail.  I'm getting really close to the strongest I've ever been on the bench; either 225 x 2 (2017) or 215 x 6 (2020), not sure which is higher, but either way, I'm really close.    I'm tempted to rack up 225 next week to see if I can at least eek out a single.  Weak point of my bench actually felt like my deltoids.

 

Ring Front Lever

Tuck Hold - 15 sec

Row - 8+, 6+

Open Tuck Hold - 13, 11, 8

My rowing form starts falling apart pretty bad last couple reps.  I seem to have gone backwards a bit rowing.

 

DB Hammer Curl (35) - 9, 8

DB Fly (30) - 10, 11

DB OH Extension (50) - 12, 12

These dumbbell circuits destroyed everything my upper body had left.  I'm so glad I spent the money to build out my DB set.

[Elastigirl]

Your son is strong, and also perseverant!

[Rooks]

17 hours ago, Waldo said:

215 x 4+, 4*

205 x 5*

 

I've probably asked this at one point in this thread, but what do the + and * mean in your set notation?

[Waldo]

I should repost it anyways, I think it was only in my challenge thread.

 

It is an shorthand RPE notation.  It does work better in a log book, as there they all have the same form factor, but 1, 2, or 3 lines.

 

RPE 1-6 = blank

RPE 7/8 = -

RPE 8/9 = +

RPE 10 = *

Fail = F

 

I rarely ever hit 10, its been a long time, I thought I was going to fail on that last rep, started losing it then dug deep and got through the sticking point.  I'm guessing though if I would have stopped the previous set at 3, I would have been able to get 7 at 205 on the backoff set.  Going that hard has consequences.

[Waldo]

Well this cut is going.  Not as fast as I hoped, but its going.  This is the start of week 4, I hoped this would be the last week, but I'm running 1/8" behind on the tape.  I think I've been indulging in a bit too much chocolate.  33 3/8" this am.  The plan is still to take a 1 week break at 33".  Overall its still a marathon, not a sprint, to the 31" area.

 

I'm definitely feeling the cut in the gym, workouts late last week were not good.

 

I was able to run outside last week.  Wednesday I pushed my distance a bit further (to 2.6 mi), Saturday I went back to the 2.4 mi basic loop in the hood but wore the new super minimal shoes I picked up.  Basically aqua socks with a vibramesque sole.  Super cheap on the amazon.  I got them for just general wearing in the gym when I wanted shoes, but I wanted to try them running too.  It went really well, calves and lower leg in general got more sore than usual, but I do run with that form anyway despite usually having somewhat squishy shoes (usually low drop saucony), so it really wasn't a big deal to run with a super minimal shoe. 

 

Workout Log - 3.31.22

 

Heavy Bag - 5 min

Kick Circuit - 5 rounds

 

Pistol Squats

BW - 5/5

+30 - 4+/4-, 3+,3-

 

Front Squat

135 x 5

185 x 5-

190 x 5+

 

Fingertip Pushups and Grip Ball Hang - 2 rounds

 

Workout Log - 4.1.22

 

DB OHP

40 x 10

50 x 8+

60 x 4+, 4+

50  x 10+

I lost a rep at 60 vs last week.

 

Pullup

BW - 5, 13

+25 - 5+, 5+

BW - 13

 

Ground L-Sit - 15, 15, 15 sec

 

Dip

BW - 5

+50 - 6+, 7+

Added a rep at +50.  This is the strongest I've ever been at dipping

 

Chinups

+25 - 5+, 6+

Its crazy, I used to be much stronger at chins than pulls, now they are pretty much even.  I haven't done straight bar chins in years, thus far a real close grip hasn't bothered my elbows at all.