Weirdquark Does Hard Things

[weirdquark]

I'm not really doing a challenge but it's more sociable in here.

 

1. Lift hard

 

No goals, just lift heavy things and challenge myself each session. If it's easy, I need to add weight.

 

 

2. Eat hard

 

Weight was being pretty stable lately but has still gone up more than I'd like over the last few years. Though this last year it's only gone up by an amount that says I'm eating approximately 100 calories per day over my TDEE, which is really easy to miss when not counting calories. Actually it's pretty easy to miss 100 calories when counting unless you're being super careful about measuring everything. So continuing to want to figure out how much I should eat to perform well while not gaining too much fat. I could probably stand to lose ten or twenty pounds but that's a goal for the year and not for six weeks. A sensible goal towards that larger goal would therefore be to lose two pounds or so. That's pretty much within the fluctuations of having gone to the bathroom. Yay slow! So really, no goals here either.

 

3. Rest hard

 

I still suck at rest days. I need to have better rest. So once again, take rest days as needed.

 

4. Write hard

 

Having articles to publish would be helpful career-wise. I should write some. Must work on this for at minimum one hour a week.

[Crooked]

I love this challenge! Nice and simple. Particularly like "Rest hard."

[weirdquark]

I love this challenge! Nice and simple. Particularly like "Rest hard."

 

It's both descriptive and commentary!

[cline]

GAH!  finally!  I will be able to find you regularly without forgetting you didn't have a challenge post.

 

Wheeeee!!!  Glad you are back in the challenge thread.

[Strawberry Squatcake]

Excellent, succinct challenge! 

[wildross]

Resting hard...I like it.

[weirdquark]

GAH!  finally!  I will be able to find you regularly without forgetting you didn't have a challenge post.

 

Wheeeee!!!  Glad you are back in the challenge thread.

 

Heh. It was lonely over there in the battle logs! I wasn't sure if I'd bother because my challenge is basically "do what I'm doing" but I figured I'd come hang out and do what I'm doing over here instead.

 

 

Excellent, succinct challenge! 

 

Probably my least wordy challenge ever, and there was that one time I tried to have a non-wordy challenge. I think I ended up going on and on explaining what I was doing in a later post instead.

 

Resting hard...I like it.

 

I'm not sure if it will be harder or easier than the writing goal, but it's certainly harder than the other two.

[MasterOfCows]

Love this!

[Crooked]

Heh. It was lonely over there in the battle logs! I wasn't sure if I'd bother because my challenge is basically "do what I'm doing" but I figured I'd come hang out and do what I'm doing over here instead.

 

I was basically planning a "challenge" for myself on my own, and then I thought "Why not put it on the internet with friends?"

[cline]

Yes!  Bc we are also lazy nerds at heart and have learned to look for people in certain places.

 

This is a good place so we lazy nerds can follow along.

[weirdquark]

This is a good place so we lazy nerds can follow along.

 

Except I follow Warriors AND Rangers. Why can't everyone be the same class so I only have to go to one section of the forums?

[Hermione Gainser]

It does get rather lonely not doing a challenge.  I heart muh friends!

 

And seriously... I read this and commented already but not. Because it didn't show up. Silly Laura. 

 

Anyway.. HI! 

[cline]

Except I follow Warriors AND Rangers. Why can't everyone be the same class so I only have to go to one section of the forums?

 

No clue..... because the importance of tribal identity and the importance of in/out group identity plagues man.

[weirdquark]

I let the last two days be rest days - yesterday I even did nothing at all, unlike Thursday when I did things like bodyweight hip thrusts for glute activation. But today is back to lifting!

 

Squats: worked up to three heavy-for-today singles.

 

1-arm DB OHP: Okay, so you know the advice to start with your weaker side so you can do something challenging for that side and not have your stronger side get ahead? Nia Shanks suggests doing the opposite and starting with your stronger side to correct strength imbalances, which challenges your stronger side and also makes your weaker side work to catch up. So I did the DB OHP one side at a time and ended up with three sets of five with my right arm and broke up the sets with my left 3+1+1 and then 4+1, and for my last set didn't have to break up the five reps at all, though it was way harder getting the last rep up on my left side than my right. So that seemed to work well and I think I'll keep it.

 

Deadlifts: finished up with five sets of heavy doubles; added a little weight to what I've been doing again and they now feel like heavy doubles instead of fairly easy. It probably doesn't help that I'm starting the sets cold, or at least as cold as you can after doing squats. So I may want to throw in a warm-up set or two in the future depending on how things go and how much time I have.

[cline]

First, I'm so glad you have a challenge thread again!!!!!

Second, I've always wondered about the start with weaker or stronger side thing. How did you think it went in the end? Sometimes I mix it up and say do weak, strong then start the next set strong, weak. I dunno that any of it matters. one substitute trainer I had one time said he liked weaker side first bc then you finished every set strong and he liked that motivation.

[weirdquark]

First, I'm so glad you have a challenge thread again!!!!!

Second, I've always wondered about the start with weaker or stronger side thing. How did you think it went in the end? Sometimes I mix it up and say do weak, strong then start the next set strong, weak. I dunno that any of it matters. one substitute trainer I had one time said he liked weaker side first bc then you finished every set strong and he liked that motivation.

 

First: Yay! (Have you made yours yet?)

 

Second: I think I liked starting with my strong side better. If I had started with my weaker side I would have stopped after three reps instead of pushing for five each time. But long term, I don't know that it matters much either.

[cline]

First: Yay! (Have you made yours yet?)

No....

Pardon typos, I'm eating jerky.

[weirdquark]

I'm sort of basing my programming on something I did last year, so today has KB swings and ab stuff, as well as front squats. Front squats kind of count for ab stuff.

 

Front squats: work up to three heavy-for-today singles. Back up to my usual max today; hopefully these will mean my back squats will get back up to normal too.

 

KB Swings: 100 reps in sets of ten. This will be the minimum number I shoot for; I'll add more sets of ten whenever I have the time. I technically had time today but figured I'd start at the minimum since I haven't done conditioning consistently for a while.

 

Hanging leg raises: I did three sets of ten of these. Last time I worked up to sets of fifteen and then switched to knees to elbows I think, so I may do that again, or do planks or dead bug, depending on what I feel like doing.

[nightlight]

<3

[weirdquark]

Workout:

 

Bulgarian Split Squats: Two sets of ten at bodyweight and then three more with a barbell. Mostly trying to figure out where I am for adding weight; today I was wiped out but that felt due to high reps more than the weight since I was breathing hard but things didn't feel too heavy. There's a bit of soreness in my hips which always happen whenever I don't squat past parallel and with split squats that's as low as I can get without having a box under my foot and I don't really have anything that makes a good box.

 

Bench: Tried to work up to three heavy singles but failed on the last one. I was short on time though so I think I may only do one single last time. Then I did back-off sets for five reps -- next time I'll add reps because when I tried five pounds up I was only able to manage three before I felt like I'd fail the next one, so working here more should help with that.

 

Rows: I wanted these to be DB rows but these are faster because you aren't doing whatever number of reps you're shooting for twice to get both sides. Hopefully taking off a couple of sets of bench will fix that. These weren't great -- I could only keep good form for three reps and then things got jerky when I tried going on. But I used the same weight here as I did for my back-off sets on bench, so almost getting the same number of reps with the same weight, even with not great form, means things are reasonably balanced.

[nightlight]

do you have a good video that you reference for the split squats? i want to start adding them into my routine since i am not back squatting.

[CourtnieMarie]

Heh. It was lonely over there in the battle logs! I wasn't sure if I'd bother because my challenge is basically "do what I'm doing" but I figured I'd come hang out and do what I'm doing over here instead.

 

I am seeing this theme happening a lot throughout the new threads!

 

I was basically planning a "challenge" for myself on my own, and then I thought "Why not put it on the internet with friends?"

agreed!

 

I let the last two days be rest days - yesterday I even did nothing at all, unlike Thursday when I did things like bodyweight hip thrusts for glute activation. But today is back to lifting!

 

1-arm DB OHP: Okay, so you know the advice to start with your weaker side so you can do something challenging for that side and not have your stronger side get ahead? Nia Shanks suggests doing the opposite and starting with your stronger side to correct strength imbalances, which challenges your stronger side and also makes your weaker side work to catch up. So I did the DB OHP one side at a time and ended up with three sets of five with my right arm and broke up the sets with my left 3+1+1 and then 4+1, and for my last set didn't have to break up the five reps at all, though it was way harder getting the last rep up on my left side than my right. So that seemed to work well and I think I'll keep it.

nice rest days! also, this advice is news to me! but it definitely makes sense for pulling out that extra rep or two. going to try this next time.

[weirdquark]

do you have a good video that you reference for the split squats? i want to start adding them into my routine since i am not back squatting.

 

Ha, yes. I wasn't referencing it lately but I saw this a while back and managed to remember who did it so I could find the link. I should probably reference it again; I made some adjustments to the BW version because I didn't think I was feeling things in the correct places but I think my back foot was too far back. When I add weight I'm loading with a barbell held like I'm doing front squats; I think that makes me keep my torso in the right position.

[AngelaTheGeek]

I see people doing split squats in the smith machine at the gym I'm going to right now and they make me cringe. HOWEVER, I can see the benefit if they are done correctly.

 

Also, HI! 

[weirdquark]

I see people doing split squats in the smith machine at the gym I'm going to right now and they make me cringe. HOWEVER, I can see the benefit if they are done correctly.

 

Also, HI! 

 

I don't go into the weight room at my gym much because I keep seeing average sized dudes quarter squatting ~225# with a belt and it makes me all judge-y. I am okay with the skinny dudes using a belt to squat 135#; I don't think they need it either (even if it is probably over their bodyweight) but at least they're going to parallel.

 

Hi!