[flak]

I'm 45 years old, a public-relations flak (hence my username), married with one kid.

I haven't been too physically active for the past few years, and in October 2006 I decided I really needed to get back in shape. I started eating right, doing cardio and, a couple months later, began lifting weights. As of this writing (late June 2007) I've lost more than 50 pounds, and weight around 165. I'm 5' 7" and want to get down to 150 or 155.

Eventually I'd like to train MMA but right now it's not in the cards -- no time, no money. My family has a YMCA membership and I work at a university where I have access to a student fitness center, so I do my lifting at those two places.

I guess you could consider me a "fitness lifter." I don't have any aspirations to lift competitively, and I'm not a bodybuilder, so "fitness lifter" seems like a workable description.

I'd like to keep increasing my poundages, though. Any critiques, comments, etc. are welcome. I may post some videos of my form, if I can talk my wife into taping me.

Edited 6/29/07 to add --

My training cycle is pretty irregular. I try to hit a small student rec center five days a week during my lunch break, usually to lift. I get about 30 minutes of actual exercise per session, because I need time to shower, change and get back to my office.

So, my training tends to be broken down into five types of workouts. Here they are (I don't necessarily do every exercise at every session) --

Legs -- Back squats, occasional barbell calf raises

Back -- Deadlifts, bent over rows, pull-ups, chin-ups

Chest -- Bench press, incline bench press, dips

Shoulders -- Military press, shrugs, barbell upright rows

Abs -- Crunches, dumbbell side bends, Pilates stuff

I generally work whatever body part is least sore, so I don't have a routine schedule.

I go to the YMCA sometimes in the evenings and on the weekends, and when I'm there sometimes I have 60-90 minutes to work out and I may do more stuff -- chest and shoulders in the same workout, for example.

At home I stretch, do bodyweight exercises, grip training, neck training and more ab stuff. Again, it depends on what body parts aren't sore and what I feel like doing.

I ride my bike to work as often as possible (about 8 miles round trip) and do other cardio stuff several times a week -- jogging, sprints, stair climbing, stationary bike, etc.

I try to take at least one day a week off, usually on a weekend.

Some of my current PRs and goals are:

Squat -- 185 lbs. 2 reps, goal by 12/31/07 is 225 lbs. 5 reps

Deadlift -- 205 lbs. 1 rep, goal by 12/31/07 is 250 lbs. 3 reps

Bench Press 185 lbs. 2 reps, goal by 12/31/07 is 225 lbs. 2 reps

I know my squat and DL ought to be significantly higher than my bench, not sure if my bench right now is unusually good, or if my squat and DL are unusually bad.

So, on with the log...

Here goes...

6/28/07 -- Felt well-rested, got a good night's sleep for a change.

Rode bike to work, and at work, total about 10 miles at a moderate pace.

Went to Y with a friend who's also trying to get back into lifting -- it was his first night so he took it easy and I didn't push myself particularly.

BENCH PRESS --

Bare Olympic bar, 45 lbs., 10 reps

65 lbs., 5 reps

75 lbs., 5 reps

My friend took a break, so I warmed up to try to go for 185, a new PR. I usually lift alone, so it was great to have a spotter.

135 lbs., 5 reps

185 lbs., 2 reps

My friend decided to do another set, so after he went I did a set of 10 close-grip bench presses at 75 lbs.

INCLINE BENCH PRESS

Bench was at about 45 degrees.

Bare Olympic bar, 45 lbs., 10 reps

65 lbs., 10 reps

My friend took a break, so I decided to see how 135 went. I don't do a lot of incline presses, so I'm not sure how much to try.

135 lbs., 3 reps. Third one was tough.

DIPS

I try to do these strict and slow -- way down, up to lockout.

BW plus a 35-pound plate on a dip belt -- 6 reps

Same, 5 reps

Same, 2 reps

And then we went home. Supposed to lift with the same guy Saturday, so I may go for a 195 bench then. Maybe 200.

[woogie12]

Welcome man, good stuff. Just keep up the work and the numbers will come.

[Klotz]

Nice. Goes to show that it's never too late to start.
How old is your kid?

[flak]

Thanks, both of you.

Klotz, my son is 5 years old. I'm hoping that when he's 12 or 14 I can get him into lifting. By then I oughta know something.

[Klotz]

Yeah I was going to suggest that you get him to lift with you if he was old enough.

[flak]

Friday, June 29, 2007

The last day of a really aggravating week.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at work were really hectic, had to deal extensively with a coworker who's annoying and kind of hysterical, had a lot of complications with a project. Had some other annoyances.

One of them was, the student rec center where I usually lift has been closed all week for renovations (new carpet, new equipment). I'm hoping they bring in a third power cage, but I'm not counting on it. I'll post more about the facilities next week.

So, during my lunch breaks I've been doing cardio at the football stadium. I'm not much of a football fan, but the university has a huge stadium and it's open during the day for runners, which is really nice -- generally not crowded at all, and the people who work out tend to be pretty serious and keep to themselves.

Here's today's stuff --

Warmed up by running around the interior concourse of the stadium one time, which is roughly one-third of a mile. Concrete floor, which I don't like, but at least it's shaded.

Then I did five sessions of something I call "step all-the-way-ups" or "step ATWUs." What that means is, I go into the seating area, walk all the way down to the first row, right next to the field, then run up all the steps (in the aisles between the benches) to the very last row, at the top of the stadium. It's a total of about 150 steps. Some of them are closely spaced, so you have to focus on your footwork and can't go too fast. Once I get to the top, I sit down and catch my breath, then walk back down. I always enjoy those rest breaks, because you get a great view and a nice sense of solitude. Might be a scaled-down version of what mountain climbers feel when they reach the summit.

If I'm feeling more ambitious I do "bench ATWUs." which are tougher because the benches are spaced further apart -- there are 90 benches from bottom to top, compared with 150 steps.

Today I did five sets of step ATWUs.

Then I went to the circular ramps at the north end zone, which are about 50 or 60 feet high, and offer a smooth, continuous gradient. They're much better for running because you don't have to worry about steps and so there's a lot less chance of stumbling or falling. I did three ramp runs at a pretty good pace, walking back down after each one.

I also rode my bike to and from work, about 8 miles round trip at a moderate pace.

I may do some ab and neck stuff later this evening, but it's 9 p.m. and I'm kinda tired.

Edited at 6/29/07 at 11:10 p.m. to add --

I did some grip stuff and stretches.

Did about 50 towel grips each hand -- rolled up a bath towel so it had about a 3-inch diameter (pre-squeeze) and then squeezed the crap out of it for a couple of seconds, to work the crush grip.

Also used a 25-pound dumbbell to do alternating sets of 20 wrist curls and 10 reverse wrist curls. Did 5 sets of each, each arm.

Threw in a set of 20 clapping push-ups for the heck of it.

Then did about 30 minutes of static stretches for hamstrings, groin and iliotibial band.

Edited at 11:30 to add --

I have a 25 lb. plate I found in a trash pile recently (funny story, I might post it), decided to cap off the evening with a little ab work.

Did 10 crunches holding the plate directly above my face (with both hands). Then did 20 reps with arms extended further so the plate was past my head -- tough.

Then did 10 oblique crunches each side with the plate held directly above my face, then 20 each side with the plate held past my head -- again, tough.

I fooled around with some grip stuff that didn't work so well -- holding the plate with one hand and trying to lever it from vertical to horizontal using my fingers (didn't go very far), passing the plate from hand to hand, rotating the plate by holding it by the edge with one hand and loosening my grip and spinning it a few inches and gripping it tight again.

The family's going to the YMCA tomorrow morning, so I'll do either squats or deadlifts, plus maybe some bench presses.

[flak]

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Had a nice, long workout at the YMCA this morning.

My pal who's getting back into lifting couldn't make it, so I decided to do deadlifts, then whatever other back stuff I felt like.

DEADLIFTS

Originally I thought I'd try 5 sets of 5 at 185 lbs., which is pretty ambitious for me -- my PR is 1 rep at 205. Well, it didn;t happen, ha-ha.

I did 5 reps at 95 lbs., then 5 reps at 135 lbs., and the 135 felt heavier than I liked.

I put 185 on the bar, did 1 rep. Whoo, it was tough. rested a minute, tried another -- bar didn't move off the floor. Rested a couple minutes, tried again -- bar didn't move off the floor.

Okay, screw it, I'll take the hint.

I took the 25s off the bar and proceeded to do 5 sets of 5 with 135 lbs. Felt pretty good about it. At one point I asked one of the trainers to check the arch in my back, he said it was fine.

BENT OVER ROWS

Moving right along, I set up the power cage with the rails at knee height and did...

5 reps at 95 lbs.

5 reps at 115 lbs.

5 reps at 135 lbs. The 135 felt pretty good, so I slapped a 10 on each side and did

5 sets of 5 at 155 lbs.. Some of the later reps in those sets were partials, but they were pretty good partials.

Still feeling annoyed about my DL performance, I decided to go for a new PR with the BOR. I slapped another 10 on each side and did 2 sets of 5 at 175 lbs. Each time I got off two good reps, then the last three were good partials. So I considered it 2 reps at 175, a new PR by 20 pounds. Good enough.

POWER CLEANS

I haven't really done power cleans before, but I had a pretty good idea how they work. So I put the bar on the floor, put a 10 on each side and did 5 reps at 65 lbs. I set up like I was going to do a deadlift, straightened up, hauled the bar up, dropped my knees a little and racked the bar with my elbows pointed straight down. Seemed to go okay.

Then I did...

5 reps at 85 lbs.

5 reps at 95 lbs.

3 singles at 115 lbs.

After I got home I looked at some instructional material online and realized I should have used more a explosive drive with my legs as the bar reached thigh height, and then dropped into a squat as I got the bar racked on my upper chest. And my elbows shoulda been pointing forward after I racked the bar. Oh well -- I was just trying to get acquainted with the lift. I'll definitely do 'em again soon. They were fun.

PULL UPS, CHIN UPS

To wrap things up with the back, I did two sets of wide-grip pull ups with BW only -- first set was 2 real, honest-to-God reps (first time I'd ever accomplished that feat with WGPUs) followed by 3 decent partials. Second set was 5 partials and the last couple were pretty pathetic.

I also did two sets of close-grip chins with BW only. First set was 5 pretty good reps -- got my head completely up over the bar on the first 2 or 3 reps. The second set was more like 2 so-so reps and three decent partials.

CARDIO

Then I walked/ran on a treadmill for 12 minutes -- 6 minutes walking, from 3.5 mph to 4.5 mph, then 2 minutes at 6 mph, 2 minutes at 7 mph and then 2 minutes at 8 mph. I wasn't that winded after the last couple minutes, which was nice.

Then I swam/played in the pool with my son for about 90 minutes.

I'm gonna sleep well tonight.

[flak]

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Another good day at the YMCA

Originally I wasn't planning to work out at all today, 'cause Sunday is generally set aside for washing dishes (by hand), washing clothes, trying to clean up our house, amusing my son and visiting my parents.

I was in a crappy mood by early afternoon so my wife suggested I hit the Y and I thought that was a capital idea.

Despite all the deadlifts yesterday my legs weren't hurting much. So I decided to do some medium-weight squats.

There are two power racks at the Y, and the bigger, better, newer one where I usually do squats was claimed by some older, doctor-lookin' guy about two seconds before I got to it. So I took the smaller, older one. Turned out to be a good move. Just goes to show, it pays to try out different pieces of equipment and not just stick to your favorites.

I discovered that if I put the rails at the third position from the bottom, the rail was about one inch above my absolute rock-bottom squat position. Meaning, of course, that I could go really ass-to-the-grass and still have enough margin of safety that I could ditch the bar at the bottom if I got stuck.

So, I had a Olympic bar with a 25 on each side (95 lbs.) and did 10 reps, clanking the bar against the rails every time.

Felt good. I decided to do 135 lbs. for awhile and work on my form. I'd read an article on S&P recently that went into a lot of detail about proper squat form -- couldn't remember it all but I worked on using a wider grip and stance than I'd had in the past, putting the bar lower on my back (surprisingly comfortable) pulling my shoulder blades together, holding my breath on the descent and tensing my core, and pressing outward with my feet. And of course, keeping my back arched.

Worked well. I knocked out 6 sets of 5 reps. Every rep went all the way down to the rails and I clanked the bar against 'em every time. I know 5 reps at 135 lbs. ain't a big deal, but the reps were all good and they felt powerful.

Here's the kicker -- in the small, crummy power cage you face out into the main part of the "wellness center." And several people were gaping at me all through the workout -- not sure if they were thinking "what is that idiot doing?" or "that old guy is gonna have a heart attack" or "damn, that dude squats low." Probably a mixture, ha-ha.

At the Smith machine next to me two small, athletic-looking guys about 18 years old were doing box squats (using a bench for a box) with 185. One of 'em looked at me as I finished a set and said in a friendly way, "I couldn't do that. That's good, man." He seemed sincere. I just said "I'm doing okay for an old guy." Though I felt like saying "well then, why don't you quit using that pussy-ass Smith machine and start working on catching up, Junior?"

Just goes to show, it's all relative. Here, an ATG 135-lb. squat is barely a warm-up for most people. But in a "wellness center" on the right day it makes you Conan the Barbarian or something.

After the six sets I did three sets of 20 calf raises with the 135. I shoulda used the step-up gizmo they have at the Y -- a two-foot-long chunk of 4-by-4 with a chunk of 2-by-4 nailed perpendicularly to each end. But I didn't, so my ROM was pretty small.

I decided to knock out a few more squats as the clock ran down -- I had to cut the workout short to get home by 4 o'clock. So I put a 10 on each side (155 lbs.) and did a set of 5. After that first set I knew I was not good for many more. I started another set, gave up after 2 reps and got outta there.

Gotta try some Zercher squats soon -- been watching videos.

[woogie12]

Good work man, cleans are a tough lift to get right, at least you realized the things you were doing wrong.

I'm surprised that you BOR so much yet DL so litte. Are your BOR's real strict or no?

Either way nice lifting.

[flak]

Originally Posted by woogie12

Good work man, cleans are a tough lift to get right, at least you realized the things you were doing wrong.

I'm surprised that you BOR so much yet DL so litte. Are your BOR's real strict or no?

Either way nice lifting.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Yeah, I'm puzzled about the BOR/DL thing, too.

So far as I know I'm doing the BORs pretty strict -- I have the rails in the power cage set at knee height, and I pull the bar straight up until it touches my abs. I don't always get a full rep, but I always try for one.

I'm thinking maybe my DL and squat numbers are low because I have weak hips, or maybe a weak lower body overall. I suspect I've been putting too much emphasis on upper body stuff, so I'm going to focus more on lower body lifts for awhile, and try out some squat variations.