Life
After my last blog post, I went on vacation which was not much of one; my truck broke, had one decent meal in five days, felt sick the whole time, lost 5 pounds I couldn't afford to lose and didn't sell the car I drug along with me (actually didn't even get a nibble until the last day). My dad made an unexpected visit 3 days after I got back which was fine but I didn't get a lot done because I was doing the family thang. So the next week I started to catch up and actually was making headway until my laptop took a dump. Which would not have been too much of an issue except everything I need for work is on it. So, $1200.00 later I had a new laptop and the old one was getting fixed. It was over 5 years old anyway and boy this new one is sooooo fast. What was supposed to take "2-3 business days" took 3-5, so by the end of the week I was starting to get some things done. Out of the blue my girlfriend gets sick and I'm taking care of her as she was home in bed all week. Then I had to have my ma taken to the hospital because she became deathly ill, I mean like the doctor said (several times) if she hadn't got there when she did she would have been among the departed. Talk about something sucking the life out of you. Fortunately, the gym is semi-low maintenance and with the help of my trusty sidekick, Cosmo Buckman, everything in that department went ok. (Thank you Cosmo!) Good thing as I was barely in there all week. (And by coincidence it was a deload week).
Training
After a strong training cycle leading up to my vacation, the last 4 weeks were a "treat". By the end of the second week, I scrapped everything I was doing and decided that the best thing I could do for myself was recover. Instead of letting my diet go to shit in the midst of this, I started to clean it up. And sleep more. Or at least better quality sleep (thank you Z12). As for training, I kept the 531 program and switched all my assistance work to bodyweight exercises. So my week would now look like this:
Saturday: Submaximal Effort (66%) Benchpress followed by a chin-up variation and dips 75 reps each in as many sets as needed.
Monday: 531 Deadlift with Glute ham raises and hanging leg raises 75 reps each
Wednesday: 531 Benchpress with a chin-up variation and pushups 75 reps each
Friday: 531 Squat with lunges and sit-ups 75 reps each
Two off days were reserved for some kind of conditioning non-sense (farmer's walks, hill sprints, prowler, whatever).
Mentally, this has been a huge boost. And because I am only doing a few things, I must do them well. So far, so good. I had originally laid out a 12 week "cycle", I have decided to extend it a few more weeks and keep doing the bodyweight stuff.
So now I will give you my last 2 days of training.
Monday - rolling and mobility work - Deads work up to 330x5, 380x5, 430x10 - Glute ham raises and hanging leg raises supersetted 75 reps each. Prior to the deads I did some shoulder pre-hab work.
Wednesday - rolling and mobility work - Benchpress 200x5, 235x5, 265x5x2 (felt good so I did it twice; see below) - Chin-ups with green band & neutral grip supersetted with Push-ups 75 reps each.
And to wrap it up on a happy note, I got two great birthday "gifts". One was my ma getting better; still sick, still in the hospital with a long road ahead but a lot better than a week ago (watching your mom mutter like a raving lunatic with some lucid moments where she told you she was "headed towards the darkness" cause she was "tired" and you had to "encourage" her to turn the hell around will wear on ya).
And two, Wednesday night, in the midst of my training, a little old lady knocked on the door. Lo and behold, she was Marilyn Rainey, one of the original owners (along with husband Jim) of the original House of Health! We chatted for a long while and she was very pleased that somebody was putting the name to good use. It was cool beyond words. A very personal and inspirational moment. I still feel good about that!
Ol' Brookszinski set a Kentucky State record and got Best Lifter at the SLP Kentucky Muscle two weeks ago. He smashed the old record of 585 with his 680 pound press! Check out the video on facebook.
And belated congratulations to RE who was the Ivy League Co-player of the Week the week of the 15th for her performance in the Crimson's win over Maine! Go Big Red!
And now that I did 430 ten times, I own it.
Vini, vidi, vici,
Ed T.
