[niagareven]

I have a problem with giving myself credit. If I don't hit new, good PRs in every workout, I feel like I'm a weak piece of shit. I also seem to compare myself to guys who are WAY above my level of strength. Like this guy Justin Blake who just turned lightweight pro. He weighs around 210lbs, and I compare myself to him. I see his journal and he's deadlifting in the mid 600's for reps, putting 300+ over his head, farmer walking 400 per hand, etc...and then act like I suck because I'm no where near his level and he's only like 20lbs heavier than me. I need to learn how to use stuff like that as motivation rather than beating myself up over it. I KNOW that people don't have good workouts every single time they workout, I just need to learn to accept it more than I do. Of course it doesn't help that I always seem to tweak/pull/aggravate something, but that's besides the point. I see me venting like this in my journal as a good thing because if I didn't vent, it would probably all blow up eventually.

I also hate taking time off from working out, but I do it i'd say 5-10 times a year, which is much more than most people do. Simply because I end up beating myself up to the point where I get physically sick and have trouble just getting out of bed in the morning. Also if I didn't workout at all for a couple of weeks, my weight (as in fat) will jump up like crazy. Then if I just stopped eating as much when I wasn't working out, I lose muscle very fast and my ****bolism would just slow down, making me fatter as well. Which is why the last like 10 days (up until today) or so I just went light and didn't do any real squatting or overhead work.

[fennway4414]

Tak may be right, a nice week off with some sprints and conditioning work (gasp!) may do you a lot of good.

[niagareven]

Thats kind of what I've been doin for the last like 10-14 days now. Yesterday was the only time I went "heavy" but I wasnt planning on doing it till I started lifting. Pretty stupid of me.


Sunday 4/13

I'm surprisingly not sore today and my back is feeling pretty good. I thought I was gonna be wrecked today.


warm up

lat pull downs / sledge hammer rotations (no real reason I added in the sledge hammer, just felt like getting my shoulders moving a little)
3 sets of 10 / lots of rotations

pull ups
2 sets of 5 (overhand, wide)
1 set of 5 (underhand, wide)
1 set of 5 (underhand, close)
1 set of 5 (overhead, close)

Sled sprints
2 plates x 300 feet
2 plates x 300 feet
2 plates x 150 feet
2 plates x 150 feet

[fat_wilhelm]

Originally Posted by niagareven

I also seem to compare myself to guys who are WAY above my level of strength. Like this guy Justin Blake who just turned lightweight pro. He weighs around 210lbs, and I compare myself to him.

DO NOT compare yourself to Blake. I'm a solid 231 and he absolutely owned me in every event the one time I competed against him. He walked 400 pound farmers 100 ft. and loaded a 410 stone for a double. Hell, he finished second in his pro debut, and he probably would have won if he had some different shoes for the truck pull. He beat the hell out of a bunch of pros that cut from 250+ and he weighed in at 214 at that contest.

I understand the tendency to compare yourself to others, but some people are just freaks, plain and simple. I suggest you find a more reasonable measuring stick... at least for the short term.

[niagareven]

That's what I'm saying. I'm fucked in the head.



Tuesday 4/15

warm up

lat pull down
3 sets of 10

strict press
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 1
175 x 1.....exxxxxtremely hard.
135 x 3
135 x 3
165 x 3...failed 4th
185 x 3 (with very very little leg drive)
-My form was off on every rep. It felt like I was pressing in a J rather than straight up. Don't know why. I was hoping to hit 165 for 5 or 6 today.

Dumbbell floor press (palms facing, pause each rep)
65s x 10
65s x 5
85s x 5
95s x 3
85s x 8 (touch and go)

Dumbbell catch rows
85 x 15 per arm
105 x 10 per arm

Regular dumbbell rows
125 x 10 per arm
155 x 8 per arm (straps)
105 x 15 per arm

Barbell curls in the squat rack
135 x 4....cheeeaaaterrrrrrr
95 x 10
95 x 10


My back is feeling pretty good right now, but I'm going to FORCE myself to not workout on thursday. Depending on how my back is feeling, I may skip saturday as well, but I really don't want to. So I'm hoping that three full days of rest plus another ART appointment on friday will have me ready to go on saturday. Hopefully hit the axle and get a good workout in

I'm also going to start sleeping on my floor because for some reason I keep rolling over onto my stomach when I'm asleep again and waking up with a really stiff back. If I'm remembering correctly, I don't roll over much when sleeping on the floor.

[niagareven]

Friday 4/18

Had another ART appointment. It was fast, he adjusted my back and did the same ART on my lower back and that was it. I didn't make another appointment, but will whenever I feel like I need it. Backs feeling decent at this point. Not 100%, but decent.


Saturday 4/19

Warm up

axle
70 x 10
110 x 5
160 x 3
180 x 2
210 x 2
230 x 1...belt on this set only. This was meant to be 2, but I missed the first one (form issues)
210 x 4...probably would have had at least another 1-2 but I have a couple dumb training partners
200 x 7...pushed away from the 8th and lost it
180 x 10

Arm over arm sled pulls (sat in a tire)
2 plates x 80ish feet
3 plates x 80ish feet

Mock truck pull (sled attached to belt, also used a rope)
7 plates x 60ish feet

Yoke
450 x 50 feet
650 x 10 stupid feet with two stupid drops. Picked it up a 3rd stupid time but only took a half of a stupid step
700 x pick and hold for 5-10 seconds
700 x pick and half a step
-I need to figure out why I can stand up with 700 and hold it for 10 seconds, but the second I try to move with anything over 600, I weeble wobble like a doofus

*more back traction*

Back didn't really bother me at all this workout other than feeling it in the area a couple of times..


I came to the conclusion that my back really only started to bother me again once we stopped going to iron island a few times a month, which is also when I stopped using the reverse hyper. Really wish I had the space and money so I could get my own...

[niagareven]

Monday 4/21

Was off from school today, but tomorrow follows a monday schedule, so I had to workout today instead. Since I some how managed to finish a 7 page paper (on a book I didn't read) pretty easily, and am just about done with my art project, I decided to head down to Iron Island (it's $15 dollars to workout for the day now....) and treat my back to some reverse hyper....

Did pvc rolling and traction at home, then at Iron Island I did 4 sets of reverse hyper to warm up. After the reverse hyper, my back felt amazing, so I decided to deadlift

deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
add straps + belt
455 x 1
-Called it there. It was easy, but I felt like I was getting NOTHING out of my legs. I guess thats what happens when I barely squat for the last month or two

Was going to do deficit deads here, but decided to front squat instead

Front squats
135 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
-need to work back up from here. Last year when I first hurt my back it took like a month or two after I was able to start squatting again before I got my strength back on squats. Hopefully it comes back quicker this time. Every set felt like a ton despite the extremely light weight

Reverse hyper / 1 legged decline sit ups
4 plates x 10 / 10 per leg
4 plates x 10 / 10 per leg
4 plates x 10

45 degree hypers
bw x 15
25 x 10
35 x 10

Was gonna go out back and flip the light tire for lots of reps, but apparently the back door is blocked from the outside now. I went outside to go around the building to the back, but all of the tires were put in the side alley and I didn't feel like moving them.

Quick workout. Seems like nothing, but I finished in about an hour and that's REALLY fast for me. Sometimes my workouts last me like 3 hours....

My back is feeling good right now, which makes me feel like I am 100% right about why my back has been killing me lately (lack of a reverse hyper.) Hopefully I can keep pushing through this and start having good workouts again.

[niagareven]

Thursday 4/24

only got 4-5 hours of sleep the last 4 nights. came home from work and passed out, woke up by the call of my friend getting to my house to train so I didn't warm up too much

lat pull downs
3 sets of 10

axle (clean every rep)
70 x 5
130 x 5
160 x 3
180 x 3
200 x 3
220 x 3...easy... (with belt) happy with this. hopefully can hit 6+ reps in hudson valley
220 x 3...1 clean. missed 4th yet again, but I guess it's a PR with no belt.
-hit my belt on the 2nd rep while cleaning it, which pinched my fat and now I have 2 pretty nice sized bruises

dumbbell floor press (palms facing, pause each rep)
75s x 8
95s x 5
95s x 4
85s x 8

bent over rows
135 x 10
205 x 10
245 x 5
225 x 10
185 x 10, no rest 135 x 15
-gotta get used to doing these again


Pretty decent workout. Back's feeling pretty good. Can't wait to hit events on saturday.


Had my body fat taken in one of my classes yesterday. With the calipers I was 22.something% and with that hand held machine crap I was 19.7%. Pretty fat, but I thought it was gonna be higher than that. It's probably way off

[niagareven]

saturday 4/26

went down to babylon today...

warm up

deficit deadifts
135 x 5
135 + chains x 5
225 + chains x 5
315 + chains x 5
405 x 3
-not sure what the chains weigh, but I had all of them that the gym has on the bar
-decided that I'm done deadlifting everyweek. I may do LIGHT speed work, but I will have to see

farmers
200 per hand x 50ish feet and then the clips fell off
250 per hand x 80 feet
300 per hand x 40 feet

tire (i think 625?) x 10 flips. super easy. prob about 45 seconds

medley
tire x 7 flips, prowler with 4 plates x 50ish feet (high handles), prowler x 50 feet with 4 plates (low handles), jewish man carry x 100 feet. then squatted him for fun (150ish pounds)

stones (48")
260 x 1
320 x like 5 misses. first one i pulled it high enough to lap it, but it fell between my legs because they were too far apart. pulled it to my knees every other time but couldn't transition it over. ugh
260 x 5 squats, loaded the 5th
260 x 5 squats, loaded the 5th.... no rest, 230 x 3 squats, loaded the 3rd

pretty decent workout despite my deadlift becoming extremely weak.


A few hours later, I attempted the jewish man press and failed YouTube - The Jew Press

[fennway4414]

LOL the jew press, I like it. Nice workout man.