531 W1 C4 and Camping!

I crammed bench and squat into W and Th of last week, and damn it was hard. I went camping with my parents and brother at the end of the week though, so it had to be done. We rented a rustic cabin from the state park and had a blast.

 I could live in a cabin in the woods (and if Dallas gets his way, eventually we will). That much green really does just make me feel whole again. I need a close water source though, carrying water and wood after a week of 531, not fun. My arms are getting super sore, and I don't do any direct arm work. Actually all of me was super sore up until today. BBB is really tough on the body. I usually do 2 a days but I don't think that's going to work out with BBB. I really do need all day to recover. I didn't get in any of my body weight movement goals last week, not a single push up! What I did do:

Wends AM:

Warm up- shoulder upper body focus

BBB BP

5x45lbs

5x55

3x65

5x70

5x80

5x90

10x55

10x55

10x55

10x55

10x65 - 55 wasn't really feeling all that heavy, so I bumped it up. I'll bump it up in the next week for them all. 

Then I did a bunch of shoulder saver stuff, it feels good. I totally planned on going to hula hoop in the PM, but fell asleep after class and missed it. I chalked it up to my body needing the break.

Thurs AM:

Warm up - hip mobility focus

BBB Squats

5x55lbs

5x70

3x80

5x85

5x100

5x115

10x70

10x70

10x70

10x70

10x70

I may bump this up to 75 next week. It sucked, but not enough to keep my mind wandering. Someone told me to think about pressing my knees out when squatting and it's really helped. I think a wave or two of BBB squats and I'm going to start getting much more comfortable with them. That much volume can't help but make you better at them, right?

Afterwards I walked on the treadmill for about 20 min, just to keep my legs and hips from freaking out. 

Friday and Sat were camping! We did a good 4 mile trail on Friday, it really helped with the soreness. 

And so begins another week, thanks for reading along!

531 BBB DLs

When it rains posts, it pours?

I tend to workout in spurts sometimes, and that's been especially true this summer. I'll get all my sessions that are planned in, but I'll do them in 4 days because I have plans that make gym time hard. This is one of those weeks. I'm going camping with the family at the end of the week, so I'm cramming everything into the next two days. It's a bit sucky, but it makes for less guilt when I do nothing, and also a nice long recovery between weeks. So, I guess I'll be logging in spurts too.

I don't know if I'll make it to the gym tonite, which meant DLs this morning. I don't normally like to lift fasted, but eating at 5 isn't happening. I had a bit of milk in my treadmill coffee, but seeing as I had six eggs before bed I wasn't too hungry anyway.

BBB DLs

5min on the treadmill with my coffee
Warm up, focus on hips and some shoulder dislocates

DLs - Sumo!
5x95lbs
5x120
3x145
5x155
5x180
5x200
10x120
10x120
10x120
10x120
10x120

So, yeah that was hard. I was pulling for about 45 min total, and by the end sucking some serious wind and a sweaty mess.

I loved it!

531 W1 C4

I decided to skip the deload and venture right into the next wave of 531. So, I've kinda been eating like a beast along with lifting like a beast for this last wave. It's actually been pretty good to my body. I feel like I've added mass in good places, le ass and shoulders. (I'm going to show off le ass a bit)

What it hasn't done is made me more comfortable in a bathing suit. We've got some beach time planned for the 4th of July, so for this wave, I'm going to ramp it up a bit. I don't like cardio, so my ramp it up is going to be BBB. I know BBB squats feels like cardio, so adding it in for bench and DL should be enough. I'll keep the BW stuff in too. We'll see how it goes, if it sucks/ doesn't work, I'll adjust next wave.

Todays gym time was a little off the norm. I slept in and missed my morning, so instead went at lunch. Remind me to never do that again. I'm not really comfortable with BBB for MP so I'm not doing it. 


Warm up- shoulder focused


MP
5x45lbs
5x45
5x45
5x50
5x65

Face pulls
2 sets of 12 at whatever weight the machine is at

Then I did a yoga class. My hips are still super tight from Friday's squats, and I was there at the right time, so why not? It was fun, and helped the hip situation a lot.

531 W3 C3

It took a few days for me to be able to get into the squat rack. I think the kids are all home from college now and apparently some of them are motivated enough to come shrug in my squat rack (yes, I claim it as mine) at 5am.

So, wends and thurs I mostly worked on accessory stuff. I spent some time working on single leg squats where you hold your leg off the ground in front of you. Uh, yeah, that's super hard. I mostly just tried sit on the bench using just one leg. There was a lot of plopping around and giggling to myself. Sometimes when you're learning something new, you just have to embrace the sillyness of it. I look like a drunk toddler now, but how awesome will it be when I'm actually knocking out pistols? I also lowered my push up incline. I've been doing my pushups off the bench, and 5 was gettting a bit easy so I moved to a stair step to push up off of. It's about mid shin height on me. Hopefully this rate means that by the end of the summer I'll be able to get them off the floor.

I did finally make it to the squat rack last night. There are no college kids curling in the squat rack on Friday night! I've been having squat issues and think volume might help that, so I've decided to do BBB. I think next wave I'll do it for bench and DL too, just too see what it's like. It's a hell of a cardio workout too. Maybe I'll have a little less fluff, if I can manage to keep the appetite in check. Not that I've been doing too badly. I have my little belly, but my profile is looking pretty good.

Warm up, focused on hips
Squatz, took about 45 min

5x50lbs
5x65
3x75
5x95
3x105
2x120
1x135 - I wasn't supposed to do this, but I wanted to, so I did
10x65
10x65
10x65
10x65
10x65

Walking and moving today is a bit rough, but I went to yoga and it's helped. I'm going to have to really focus on mobility with this next wave.

531 C3 W3 Benching

Did a bit of benching today, and I wore a cute new shirt, so we'll see if I can figure out how to post pictures on here. It's a nice light material. Lately I've been a sweaty monster in the gym, and have been rethinking the cotton t-shirts in the summer. It's always disconcerting to realize that you're the smelly one in the gym.

Went with the usual start of moseying on the treadmill with my coffee for 10 min. It was hot though, so I did really feel the need to warm up a lot. So, I skipped a lot of it. Probably not the best idea, but meh. Did a few shoulder dislocates and got to benching.


5x45lbs
5x50
3x60
5x75
3x85
3x95 (!)

Reps with 95lbs! This is why I'm liking 531. That's a little over half of bodyweight (170lbs) and I got to put 25s on the bar. I've been focusing a lot on good form and keeping my whole body tight even if the weight isn't heavy. It's really easy to just lay there and knock out the weights below 60 without being mindful of what I'm doing, but I think if I can get the form locked in when I don't have to, it'll be there when I need it. That last rep of 95 really did take my entire body to finish. Who knew legs were so important to benching?

Then I did a bit of ab stuff. I have never been big on ab work, but I think it's affecting my squats and also I'm a bit concerned that I may chip away at all my fat and find nothing but organs under there. I'm sticking to stabilizing movements.

Supersetted for just 2 rounds cause I'm weak and form is shot to hell after more:

Ab wheel x 10 off knees
Paloff press x 10 ea side

Then I didn't want to do anything, so I found a treadmill in the corner and climbed a little hill. 10 min at 3mph with a 5 incline then 10 min with a 10 incline.

531 C3 W3

The picking stuff up and moving it about. I've been doing it.

I'm almost at the end of my third wave of 531! I've been following the book for my main lifts and adding weight with each wave, so for this wave my starting maxes were:

OHP 75lbs

BP 110

Squat 135 - I've been having issues, so didn't bump this

DL 250

Not to say I've moved those numbers about, I just use them for the math.

What that's meant for this week is that yesterday:

OHP 

5x45lbs

5x55

3x65

1x70 (!)

70lbs over my head felt freaking awesome. I also did some shoulder saver stuff and walked the mile and back to the gym. I've kinda slacked on the accessory work. I'm going to maybe try BBB next wave. I played with it a bit for squats and it sucked in a good way.

I'm not going to make it to the gym tonite, so I lifted this morning. After a bit of time on the treadmill with my coffee, I did a nice long warm up and then deadlifts.

DLs

5x90lbs

5x115

3x135

5x170

3x195

2x215(!)

More freaking awesome! 215! I really want 300, and 215 puts me that much closer. It was a great way to start the week. 

Oh and I'll leave you with  a bit of SCIENCE! 

(A bit of clarification, the title is misleading, working out doesn't change the sequence of your DNA. Your genes stay the same, rather it changes how your DNA is expressed. In super simplified terms, working out changes what genes are on, and what are off. If any of it is confusing, let me know and I'll explain)

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/09/148306989/a-workout-can-change-your-dna

A Workout Can Change Your DNA

"Reporting in Cell Metabolism, researchers write that when people who lead relatively sedentary lives worked out the DNA in their muscle fibers changed almost immediately. Scientists also found caffeine had the same effect on isolated rodent muscles. Study co-author Juleen Zierath discusses the DNA modifications"

Why?

And once again, a bunch of time has passed. I'm feeling like logging again though, so hopefully the trend will stick for a while. 


First some unfinished business. My last post (if anyone can remember that far back) was about feelings and I was being reflective about why I was doing things. My friend Nadia wrote this response:


"I've been back and forth on the log/no log question. As I became more conscious of my reader, the value of logging went down. But, if I write just for me, unafraid of what others will think, but still open--I think there's lots of value there. 
And I can so relate to your statements about feelings. I hate when I'm having an emotional response that is not rational and recognize it as such, but still feel the feeling as strongly....what to do? Must emotion always give way to reason?"


I wanted to reply to her answer here, but, uh, never did. So, better late then never... right?


To try to tackle the first issue, or at least put my ideas about it out there, and see if they can smush together to make some sort of sense. 


I think I'd like to start with the idea of who I want to be. I'm working towards being someone that is open. I believe that everyone has the same few themes running through them. I do not think I am a special snowflake in that what I feel is unique and no one has ever had the same thoughts as me. By sharing those thoughts, even the ones that seem silly or make me feel weak, I feel like I am able to connect with other people and (to sound all hippy dippy) through those connections, I feel a little stronger.


If I know my friend is just as worried about the same little thing, it's a bit less lonely and a bit easier to deal with. I'm not the only one that panics when the bar feels too heavy. By sharing that sense of panic, I was able to see how other people dealt with it, and what they did and thought. Without that, I probably just would have passed on the back squatting thing as a whole. That's a lifting example, but I think the same theme runs true through life. 


Also, I'm conscious of my reader, yet I still want to be open. I am working towards being the same person regardless of the situation. I'm not saying that being open is the same as having no discretion. There are things that should be private, , but I'm working on making that circle a bit smaller and not letting a fear of vulnerability masquerade as being private. Also, there are different facets of ourselves that we present in different situations but, the person I want to be in general is open and strong enough to deal with a bit of judgement when I believe in something.


So, I guess my goal is to both be unafraid of what others think and still be open. I hope that made some sort of sense. I'm still (and think I will always be) working on it. 


Feelings! Lets talk more about feelings! (at this point 90% of readers run away) 


I am a scientist. I have years of training that have enforced that nothing means anything without logic, consistently reproduceable, statistically significant peer reviewed proof. But I do not think emotion should always give way to reason. I don't even know that the two are that different. 


I don't know that there are emotions that are not rational, but rather that we don't always know the ration behind an emotion. There's a reason you're feeling whatever you're feeling, you just may not be clued into it. There is a lot we don't know about ourselves. I think that's where the being reflective part comes in. While an emotion might superficially seem not rational, there's usually a reason somewhere. Maybe with enough digging we can find the reasons. There's not always time for digging though, I totally get that. Sometimes I just ignore what I'm feeling because I know that rationally shit's gotta get done. I can cry and panic later, now, we're doing work.


Or sometimes it's the opposite. If the emotional response is strong, or unique, I go with it. If something feels wrong, and there's no way to be assured that it's not, then it's wrong. We take in a lot of information that we can't consciously process. There is plenty of work out there on it.That's the information that drives feelings, and sometimes that's the information that you should go with. Like all of life, it's complicated and situational.


Damn, I hope that wall of text makes some sense. I'll post workouts in a different post.