Rooks - Tracking the Daily Grind...

[Sloth the Enduring]

I'm glad you're back brother. I'm glad you turned off the talk radio too.

I love the idea of gymnastics training, but for myself I know I wouldn't put in the work consistently enough to ever make a Barstarz video.

[Rooks]

2 hours ago, Sloth the Slow and Steady said:

I'm glad you're back brother. I'm glad you turned off the talk radio too.

I love the idea of gymnastics training, but for myself I know I wouldn't put in the work consistently enough to ever make a Barstarz video.

 

Interesting.  Didn't get notified that you had made a reply.  Still more NF forum issues to be worked out I suppose. 

 

Also, that is my hesitation as well.  Seems like to get respectable at planche / handstand / etc., you really need to be on point with diet and work to get anywhere.  But it's something I've thought about doing for a long while, and as they say, you won't get better never doing it.

[Rooks]

Wasn't until recently that I heard Stan Efferding talk and damn... the dude is smart.  Loving his Rhino's Rhants series on Youtube so far.  

 

 

[Waldo]

2 hours ago, Rooks said:

 

Interesting.  Didn't get notified that you had made a reply.  Still more NF forum issues to be worked out I suppose. 

 

Also, that is my hesitation as well.  Seems like to get respectable at planche / handstand / etc., you really need to be on point with diet and work to get anywhere.  But it's something I've thought about doing for a long while, and as they say, you won't get better never doing it.

 

Yes.

 

Every move is different.

 

Of the major moves:

 

Front Lever - Relatively low entry point (if you can do 5 pullups or so, you can reasonably begin front lever work).  Verrry long fairly linear progression with some exercise variation, but consistent progress.  Most enjoyable progression IMHO (plus it hits a real weakness from barbell training, FL is grouped with rows).

 

Planche - Very high entry point (good horizontal pressing strength plus the ability to hold a full back lever) and a very long nonlinear progression (tie together lots of exercise progression threads).  To actually do a full planche you need to has a fairly specific body type (a la gymnasts, short with little excess leg muscle).

 

Back Lever - Lowest entry point of the levers.  Moderate length progression with minimal exercise variation.  Kinda painful to work on, I never particularly enjoyed BL work, did it as a necessary evil.

 

Manna - Entry point is an L-sit, which is relatively easy to do. Short but very, very slow progression.  Like the planche, body type really matters.

 

Handstand - Very low entry point (wall handstands are easy).  Moreso than a progression, it just takes lots and lots of regular practice.  I've never been able to stick with high frequency long enough to make much progress.  One arm handstands are beast mode and probably the best trap exercise there is.

[Rooks]

6/2/2016

Workout:  Format is load/reps x sets

Clean to Strict Presses - 65/5, 85/5, 100/3, 115/3, 130/1, 150/1, 115/5 x 5

 -- Been awhile since I did any presses and these felt surprisingly heavy.  Probably a combination of being out of practice with the fact I was cleaning the weight first.  Why you ask?  Something was up with the Smith Machine here at work and the facilities crew had put yellow caution tape all over it.  No idea what's wrong with it.  I really wish I could just workout at home all the time... 

 

After that I just dinked around with moving a bit to try and loosen up my hamstrings.  Did some Jefferson Curls with the barbell.  Definitely stretched the hamstrings a bit.  Did some barbell work with Cleans and Snatches from the high hang, maybe 5-8 reps each.  Just moving for the sake of moving as I haven't worked out regularly in almost a month now.  On top of that my diet has been less than optimal.  Need to figure out some sort of routine change up to get me back in the gym regularly.  I'm thinking I'm going to start workout prior to work everyday.  Not sure if it'll work or not. 

[Pat G]

Hey man. s'good to see you still moving.  I'll agree with the clean taking the top bit of your energy for OHP. 

 

The morning workout is a great idea. If you can make it stick. The awareness/focus I get from training for the next few hours at work are solid. some scientist somewhere told me to do it. 

[Rooks]

6/4/2016

Workout:  Format is load/reps x sets

Overhead Squat - 65/5, 85/5, 100/5

-- Wanted to see if I could do 100 x 5.  No issues at all.  

Front Squat - 135/3, 155/3, 185/3

-- These felts heavier than they should have.

Squat Heavy Holds - 285/15sec, 315/15sec, 405/15sec, 495/15sec

-- After front squats feeling so heavy, I decided it was time to nut up and put some real weight on my back.  Saw Jennifer Thompson doing these on her Instragram and decided to see if I could get 5 plates on there.  Walked it out with no real issue and 15 seconds didn't seem to bad.  

Back Squats - 225/1, 285/1

-- Just for the sake of doing them.  The 285 turned into a pin squat as when I got to the bottom of the hole, the left side hit the rack hard and bounced up.  I had to set the weight down on both sides, adjust and then drive it up.  Heavy, but got it up and the back did fine.  Good news for me.

Bench Press - 150/5, 175/3, 200/1, 225/1, 250/1, 190/5 x 3, 190/4, 190/5 (w/ Slingshot)

-- Bad day here.  Have crushed this same workout 3 times lately, but didn't have the gas to get through it today.  But to my credit, I dropped the rep and added the Slingshot when it was needed rather than being a stubborn bastard like I've been in the past.  

[Rooks]

So I'm debating about doing a challenge.  Been awhile since I tried one and the last time I did, I think I gave up posting to it after 9 days or something absurd.  But I'm in the midst of trying to simply my life a bit by coming up with just better organization of my To Do list.  Right now I've got about 4 lists most of which never get looked at.  Going to try and get it down to 1 list with a prioritization scheme to ensure I know what I'm supposed to work on.  Might even nerd out a bit and see if I can come up with a method for flag items that haven't been touched in 6 months to see if it's time to remove them.  Also, trying a few new tactics to keep me focused on tasks, more or less I have stolen from @The Most Loathed and @peelout.  

 

Not sure if it'll be a challenge thread or just here yet, but that's for me to figure out.  

 

6/6/2016

Workout:  Format is load/reps x sets

Mobility Work

 -- Shoulder Dislocations, Glute Smash with SuperNova, Banded Hip Openers, Broomball Gut Smash, Voodoo Floss Knees

 -- Going to keep a rough outline of what I do on days when on mobility days so I can know what else to hit later on

Dips - BW/5, BW/3, BW/5, BW/3

 -- These were as deep as I could go with pauses at the bottom.  Making sure my shoulders are fully functioning as I might add in some gymnastics stuff soon.

Ring Push-ups - BW/3, BW/2, Breakage

 -- See photo below.   When I pulled them out, I realized one of them had cracked through in one spot.  I grabbed at that spot for the first 2 sets and it worked great.  Then I got stupid and tried a set with the crack NOT in my hand.  Snapped almost instantly.  Least it was push-up and not dips.  

Jefferson Curl - Barbell/2 x 3

 -- Still not sure if these are helping my hamstring issues or not, but I'll keep them in for at least a few more weeks.

 

 

 

[Rooks]

I've started a challenge thread.  Follow along there if you wish.  Probably won't post much here until that closes.

 

 

[Rooks]

Going to get back into tracking the workouts here.  Been slacking pretty hard lately, so let's get to it.  

 

7/6/2016

Format is load/reps x sets

Back Squat - Worked up to a single at 315, 225/5 x 5

-- Just knee sleeves.  315 felt heavy.  Debating about trying 250 for my sets, but wanted to start somewhere I knew I'd crush it.  Glad I did.  Sets were quick and crisp.

Bench Press - Worked up to a single at 250, 190/5 x 5

-- Done this same bench workout probably 5 weeks in a row.  250 seems to get harder every session, but 190 gets easier.  Thinking I'm going to try 195 next workout.

GymnasticsBodies.com (GB from this point forward) Fundamentals Day 1 - Ape and Crab walks.

-- Crab walks were super hard.  I just couldn't lock out my glutes and core and walk like that.  Ape was pretty easy.  

 

7/7/2016

My first ever official Crossfit WOD, sort of.  I read about Cindy the other day, and decided to give it a go, but subbed out the 5 pull-ups for 5 inverted rows.  I got 10 rounds.  Was surprised at how fast time went.  I didn't kill myself, but definitely wish I had set alarms for every 5 minutes.  I looked down at the end of round 8 to find I only had 2:30 left.  Hammered out 2 full rounds in that last 2:30 so definitely could have pushed myself harder.  Also, I think a better sub instead of the inverted rows would have just been to lower the pull-ups to 1 instead of 5.  Next time, I'll give that at try.

 

[Pat G]

10 rounds! nice work chieftain.

The crossfit guys kip those pull-ups instead of going strict, try those or a use band to get the 5 reps perhaps? 

[Rooks]

9 hours ago, Pat G said:

10 rounds! nice work chieftain.

The crossfit guys kip those pull-ups instead of going strict, try those or a use band to get the 5 reps perhaps? 

 

Yeah.  I'm very fearful of starting kipping pull-ups.  Lot of what I've heard is that if you lack the strength to knock out a few strict pull-ups, you shouldn't be doing kipping.  And the problem I have with a band is that it helps with the bottom part of the pull-up which is the part I've got strength in.  I always hit a wall right about the time my forehead gets to the bar and by the time the band is hardly pulling anymore.  The GTG work has been helping I think as I can pretty easily knock out 1 whenever I want now so for now, I'll just keep knocking out a few strict ones here and there and do what I can.  

 

Appreciate the input though!  I was surprised that I never had to break a set of push-ups actually when I did it.  I just kept coming up.  Suppose that's a good thing.

[Rooks]

Weekend workouts were skipped due to making my own fat bar all day on Saturday.  Did a little write-up over in the Gear section.

 

[The Most Loathed]

Welcome back to the darkside.

[Pat G]

That bar looks real slick, a very useful tool to have in the kit. The grinding even looks cool. 

Is the side-purpose on a fat bar to not have any knurling/grinding to make your grip work harderer(aside from being fat)? 

[Rooks]

9 hours ago, Pat G said:

That bar looks real slick, a very useful tool to have in the kit. The grinding even looks cool. 

Is the side-purpose on a fat bar to not have any knurling/grinding to make your grip work harderer(aside from being fat)? 

 

I think it's probably a combination of 2 things.  Like you said, reason #1 is that the fat bar is meant to train grip.  Putting knurling on makes it easier to grip.  But also, reason #2, you need a lathe and a knurling tool to do it.  Here's a pretty simple diagram that shows how it works.  http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/knurl1.htm  So most people just simple don't have the ability to knurl anything since lathes aren't just being sold at Home Depot.  

 

 

[Rooks]

7/6/2016

Format is load/reps x sets

Back Squat - Worked up to a single at 315, 235/5 x 5

-- Oddly enough got through my 3rd set of 235 before I realized I hadn't pulled my sleeves up yet.  So I was happy that 315 felt pretty good today without sleeves.  Sadly, there was some confusion at work, so I had to rush to finish up squats and call my workout at this.  Wanted to bench too, but I'll just add that to tomorrow's routine.  

[The Most Loathed]

looking at your avatar I realized, I don't know if you kept the look or did you grow all your hair back?

[Rooks]

51 minutes ago, The Most Loathed said:

looking at your avatar I realized, I don't know if you kept the look or did you grow all your hair back?

It's slowly coming back.  I've been trimming the sides and letting the top grow out.  Avatar was from a photo back in April.  I'll see if I can't get a new photo sometime soon.  

[Rooks]

7/13/2016

Format is load/reps x sets

Bench Press - Worked up to a single at 250, 250/5 (w/ Slingshot), 195/5 x 5

-- 250 again felt heavy, but there was never a fear in it going up.  Which I suppose is a good place to be.  It's been my training max for awhile now, and I've never missed it.  I was quite pleased with the set of 5 with the Slingshot on.  Haven't used that in awhile and forgot how fun it is as well as being a good queue for how to move properly.  The 195 5x5 was slow.  Took me probably 20 minutes which is a long time for my bench sessions normally.  But I got through it without issue.  Will stick with this bench routine for a week or two and re-assess.

Lat Pulldowns - 90/10 x 3

-- Just getting in some back work.  That said, my biceps were getting quite taxed by the end.  Always feel like I'm doing things wrong when my biceps are what is feeling the burn on a back exercise.  

Stiff Legged Deadlift - 135/10

-- Meant to do 3 sets here, but low back felt a bit iffy after the set.  So called it and switched to...

Yates Row - 135/8, 135/5

-- More back work.  

 

Probably going to try and come up with something a bit more official for a workout program soon.  Basically, I'm going to review my yearly goals and probably pick a few I want to really get before year's end and center around those.  I'm leaning towards them not being powerlifting orientated at the moment.  

[mgage]

I like the idea of throwing in some gymnastics. I sit so much for work during the day I really want to up my activity level to help lose weight, but I don't have any sports or anything like that I could realistically play.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rooks]

Did this one this morning.  http://wodwell.com/wod/dan/

 

Decided to go with 65lbs for the weight.  Got an 18:46 time which works out to a 0.058 lbs / second by the WOD scoring.  Overall, the runs went better than I thought.  I did 7.0 MPH on the treadmill for the first 3 and 7.5 on the last one.  For the OH Squats, I did 2 sets in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th rounds, and 3 in the 2nd round.  Thought these would get heavier, but I pounded them out pretty easy.  I did cheat a bit in that I had the barbell racked instead of pulling it from the floor.  

 

I might even go crazy next time and try prescribed Nancy.

[Xena]

Hi Rooks! I'll follow you here :-)  Psyched to be your teammate!

[Xena]

In case you haven't noticed yet...we've got some Mountain Climbers to do!

[Rooks]

Bit of brain dump from the weekend..  Hopefully I remember most of it.  

 

First, the big news for the weekend.  So back over a year I first posted about my daughter's brain tumor.  Since then it's almost become too normal to be visiting the Oncology clinic at the Children's Hospital for round after round of chemo treatments.  She's too young for radiation and the tumor location is inoperable.  It's taught me a lot about perspective in life as some of the kids we see on a regular basis most assuredly got the short straw in the life.  It's such a prime example of life being completely unfair.  Anyway... this post is more about good news.  For the first time in 13 months, my daughter's tumor shrunk.  The chemo finally appears to be having an impact.  Such great news finally.  So we stay the current chemo regimen and hope things keep working that way.  So pumped about that.

 

Saturday, we had a bunch of friends from our old church over to catch up.  Specifically, our old small group.  Great times seeing so many of them again.  I'll spoiler tag the instagram as it's just a photo of my friends.  Not sure others will care.  

Spoiler

 

 

That said, I didn't get any workouts in nor did I do any mobility.  Definitely could feel it in my hips come last night.  Then to top it off, kiddo decided that 3:30am was a great time to get up.  It was a battle to get her back to bed until 5:45am.  I got up about 6:30am.  So running on about ~4:30 hours of sleep, but a healthy dose of black coffee, 3g of beta-alanine, and 5g of creatine, I sucked it up and did some heavy squats and some mountain climbers today.  Very glad I did (at least at the moment).  We'll see how I feel come about 7pm tonight.

 

7/18/2016

Format is load/reps x sets

Back Squat - Worked up to a single at 315, 245/5 x 5

-- Knee sleeves, no belt.  315 again felt very heavy, but by the time I got my 3rd set of 245 (10lbs heavier than last week's 5x5), I felt like the weight was flying.  If I can swing it, I'm going to try and get a session in at home this coming weekend and see where my max is (since I have a cage at home).  Beginning to think the 315 is just a mind thing right now.  Back did start to feel a bit tight towards the end, but definitely not terrible.  Will make sure to roll things out tonight.

Mountain Climbers - E1/2MOM, 20 Mountain Climbers

-- Never really done these, but as I'm participating in the Ranger Mini-Challenge, threw them in.  At first, I thought doing 20 EMOM for 10 minutes would be good, but after my first 20 thought it was going to be too easy so I halfed that.  Dumb.  I only manage to get to 120 before I was too gassed to keep up that rate, so then I just busted out 8 more sets of 10 until I got to 200.  I'm thinking I'm going to try and hit 2000 of these this week.  Going to aim for 500 tomorrow as that's my actual conditioning day anyway.  

 

Weekly Checklist Recap (7/11 through 7/17)

Continuing my daily checklist routine I started from my last challenge.  I did much better this past week.  Still failed on the number of workouts I wanted, but overall, improvement was seen as I was able to hit the top 4 7/7.  Mobility will always be a struggle to hit 7/7 but I'm going to keep aiming for it, as I need to keep working on it to help my back.  I may lower my workout expectations to 5, but we'll see.

• ☑ Meditate - 7/7
• ☑ Verse - 7/7
• ☑ GTG: Pull-ups - 7/7
• ☑ GTG: Grip - 7/7
• ☐ Mobility - 5/7
• ☐ Workout - 3/6