[flak]

This is flak's 2008 lifting, GPP and whatnot log.

Stats --

45 years old (turning 46 soon)
170 lbs. (trying to lose 10 lbs.)
5' 7" (5' 7 1/2" actually)

Married with kid, one full-time job and one part-time job, house to clean, yard to mow, dishes to wash, laundry to do, etc.

No martial arts training going on at present, but previous experience with boxing/kickboxing, karate/kobudo and a smattering of judo.

Want to get back to boxing/kickboxing eventually, then train in grappling, then train in MMA. Right now time/money restictions prevent me from doing any martial arts training. One of the reasons I got into lifting is because it's inexpensive. Another is because I can do it before work and at lunchtime, so it doesn't interfere with my other responsibilities.

Right now I'm training mostly for psychological well-being and health. Hit a midlife crisis in late 2006, decided I wanted to get back in shape (weighed about 215 then).

I lift 3-4 days a week, do GPP stuff 3 days a week, rest mostly on weekends.

I work as a public-relations guy for a university, and I'm a member of the university's powerlifting club. My lifting takes place at club workouts and also solo. I lift at two university facilities, one of them a large weight room, the other a fitness center with a larger population of curl monkeys.

Current PRs (as of Jan. 1, 2008)

Squat 275 lbs. PL style
Bench Press 225 lbs.
Deadlift 335 lbs. sumo

Major goals for 2008 --

Squat 325 lbs. PL style
Bench 250 lbs.
Deadlift 415 lbs. sumo

Compete in my first PL meet in November and hit the above numbers

Get down to about 160 lbs. walking-around weight.

Stretch at least 3 times a week

Shake off my nagging minor injuries, avoid picking up new ones.

Edited 1/19 to add --

I'm going to try something a little different in 2008. That is, I'm not going to be as consistent in basing my workout around the PL "big 3" lifts. Instead, I'm going to try to spread the love around more. The main lift of the workout may be any one of the following --

Bench press
Incline bench press
Close-grip bench press
Dips

SOHP
Push Press

Back Squat
Front squat
Zercher squat
Lunge
Bulgarian split squat
Overhead squat

Deadlift
Sumo deadlift
Romanian deadlift

Good morning
Shrug
Bent over row
Chin up
Pull up

Power clean
Power snatch
One-arm dumbbell snatch

I'm doing this partly because many of my workouts are done on a tight schedule (about 30 minutes workout time), partly because I'm trying to minimize my chances of injury, partly because I just love lifting weights and like a lot of lifts.

TOTHO membership -- bloodangel90, Bubble Boy, carryaglock9, Dog Soldier, flak, Goon Dog, GoRiders, Green Monkey, hunto, No Quarter, Old Man

TOTHO Waiting Room -- Cmart, JRT6, LPF4, mschatz

And here's our first post...

Jan. 1, 2008

NEW YEAR STARTS WITH REALLY, REALLY OLD LIFT

On New Year's Eve my wife had a couple of friends over for dinner. The friends, both single women, had party plans and left around 8. The wife and I spent the next couple hours washing dishes and packing, for a frantic family trip to Disney World, then hit the sack at 10.

Woke up at 4, said hello to 2008, had some coffee and hit the road.

Workout for the day consisted of 2 things -- the first was 10 miles (rough estimate) traipsing around the Magic Kingdom.

The second was an endurance-lift event at the end of the evening. The kid fell asleep around 9 p.m., while we were in the Hall of Presidents. We decided to call it a night, loaded him back in the Disney rental stroller, and headed for the exit.

You have to turn in your strollers at the train station on Main Street USA, so from then on it was up to me to carry the kid. No big deal, we were staying at one of the Disney resorts on the property and all I had to do was carry the lad to the bus port and await the bus.

Seemed easy enough.

So I carried him to the bus port -- that took maybe 5 minutes. There was a big crowd waiting for our bus, and it didn't take long for me to get the notion that the next bus to show up would be filled to capacity before we got on it. So I might be holding the kid for awhile.

Here's the technical details -- the kid weighs a hair under 50 pounds, we were chest-to-chest, his arms were around my neck and I was supporting his butt with my wrists. I was grabbing my left wrist with my right hand -- this is easier than using both hands with palms open, and way easier than using one arm. There was a railing about 3 feet high next to me, so I leaned back slightly, resting my butt against it.

We waited and waited. After maybe 20 minutes, a bus showed up. The driver had to load and secure 2 passengers in wheelchairs, which took 5 or 10 minutes. I was starting to get pretty worn out. Then another bus showed up and we immediately got on it.

We scored seats in the back, and I endured the 15-minute ride in a weird position where I was slumped over sideways so the kid was halfway comfortable.

Then we had to walk for 5 minutes to get back to our room.

Total time was somewhere around an hour.

Here's the thing that popped into my head -- parents have been doing this stuff for eons. You have a sleeping kid, there's no convenient place to put him/her down. So you hold the kid against your chest and sit or stand or walk. Hell, it's probably one of the oldest resistance exercises in the world, certainly one of the oldest that emphasizes muscle endurance.

Furthermore, you could do this with a sandbag. Or even a plate, though that's a little more removed from the real thing. In fact, this is going to be an EOW one of these days.

[flak]

Jan. 2, 2008

Drove back from Disney World. Did nothing else physical, but fighting interstate traffic is a workout of sorts.

I seem to be over my stomach bug.

Tomorrow: Back to work, and (hopefully) I'll do circuit training at lunchtime

EDIT -- I'm going to stash material for my 2009 log here

LIFTS I NEED TO TRY

Pre-hab
Those Y things

Presses
Neider presses
Tentpole presses
Partial SOHP

Pulls
Snatch-grip deads
Towel-grip deads
Cable pull-throughs
Kelso shrugs
Towel-grip pull ups

Squats
Pause squats
Bottom squats
Unilateral overhead walking lunges (dumbbell)

Other
Power snatches
One-arm dumbbell snatches
Smith machine wrist roller

LIFTS I NEED TO DO MORE CONSISTENTLY

Pre-hab
Cuban rotations

Presses
Pause bench

Pulls
Face pulls
Deficit deads
BORs

Squats
Overhead squats
Lunges
Overhead walking lunges

Core
Dumbbell side bends
Waiter's walks
Saxon side bends
Weighted decline sit ups

Other
Power cleans
Plate pinches
Farmer's walks
Static holds

MISCELLANY I NEED TO DO

Stretch!
cardio 3x/week

[Centaur]

Hell, it's probably one of the oldest resistance exercises in the world,

I remember reading somewhere that that's part of evolution. That we started standing upright because we had to carry our young long distances.

Or something like that.

[flak]

Originally Posted by Dan Slobodin

I remember reading somewhere that that's part of evolution. That we started standing upright because we had to carry our young long distances.

Or something like that.

Makes sense.

And I'm sure some lifter (probably many lifters) have already tried doing the "kid hold" and "kid carry" with sandbags and/or plates. Just haven't run across the exercise previously.

[flak]

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008

EH, IT'S A START

At lunchtime went to the football stadium. Walked around the interior concourse fast x 1
Walked all the way up the steps in the stadium x 2

Didn't wanna tax my legs too much, so I stopped. Nose was running.

The diarrhea was back. Dang. Seems to have stopped, though. Ate sensibly, that probably helped.

Tomorrow -- the student rec center re-opens, though for limited hours. I hope to go do some liftin'.

[flak]

Friday, Jan. 4, 2008

DAMN, I SUCK

At lunchtime I shoulda gone to bench. I didn't. Instead, went to lunch with my boss and the boss of my entire office. Picked up the check. Thought it was a good opportunity to win Brownie points, 'cause I seldom go to eat with them. And I picked up the check. Went to a pan-Asian restaurant. They got pad Thai, I got a similar Vietnamese dish, which was served up lukewarm and ended up staining my shirt.

Otherwise, did nothing physical. And I suck.

[MatterOverMind]

You suck. Keep it up.

[flak]

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008

DAMN, I SUCK, PART DEUX

Did nothing physical. Spent most of the day taking care of the kid, washing dishes, doing laundry, and pooping. Diarrhea is still with me, though it's slowly going away. Still feeling kind of out of it. Haven't been eating right -- too much snacking on snacky food.

Been busy in the evenings on my work-at-home second job. I'll have the latest assignments wrapped up pretty soon.

Left front delt seems back to normal. Right elbow has been feeling good. Other minor injuries still with me.

Tomorrow -- who the hell knows. But Monday I will for sure get back to the circuit training.

[flak]

Originally Posted by MatterOverMind

You suck. Keep it up.

Ha, thanks. Next week I expect to get back into lifting.

[flak]

Monster movie stuff --

Watching John Carpenter's "The Thing" right now. A masterpiece. I like the Howard Hawks original from 1951 as well, but Carpenter's is better.

Last night I read a lengthy spoiler on the upcoming "Cloverfield." I won't go into detail, but if the description was accurate, I think this movie is gonna be a disappointment.

One of the things I want to do in 2008 is write a monster-movie screenplay I've had kicking around in my head for a long time. Actually, I may try writing the story as a novel first. If I succeed, it'll kick major ass.