MacFhearchair's off-season anti-slack

[Alan H]

YAAAAAYYY!...

Wow, we have what...six people logging, now? Hot damn.

[Geoff Withnell]

Alan, I'm going to start logging as soon as these sprained bicep attachments heal. I was setting up for vertical leg presses with a bunch of weight, and a weld on the frame broke.
caught about 300 lbs with my right forearm, and my bicep didn't care for it one little bit. Right now my trainer is limiting me to 12 oz curls! ;)

YAAAAAYYY!...

Wow, we have what...six people logging, now? Hot damn.

[MacFhearchair]

Friday I made it back to the gym as planned.

I was a lot weaker; possibly due to muscle soreness sustained from Monday's work out. I did squats, deads, and bench presses but I don't actually remember any of my numbers, and I kept getting dizzy after dead lifts. I'm breathing right and I'm focusing on proper form. *shrug* I hadn't eaten a lot on Monday (I go through periods of higher and lower food interest and I try to give my body what it wants most of the time) so that could definitely be part of it.

I did 25 KB swings @ 25# and some ab-torture in the form of alternating cross-crunches, hanging leg lifts, jack-knife style sit ups, and head stands. I had a TON of energy, but it felt more ballistic, like I wanted to run an obstacle course instead of weight lifting.

I plan to go back tomorrow and do some climbing and a couple quick sets of lifts.

I found a dirt/wood chip field near my house that could potentially serve as a nice place to practice throwin'. I have a suitable practice stone and a LWD weight. I have a fork that needs to be prepped, and I need a sheaf, but I could theoretically start practicing that soon, too.

It occurs to me I could grab a 30lb kettlebell and use that as a WOB practice weight. It's only 2lbs too heavy, right? Hmmm...

[LitTrog]

It occurs to me I could grab a 30lb kettlebell and use that as a WOB practice weight. It's only 2lbs too heavy, right? Hmmm...

Before I cobbled together my "official" practice weights >snicker, chuckle< I used a kettlebell close to 42 lbs. for WOB practice. Gopher it.

I have the same kind of appetite--I can usually tell if I'm getting the right amount/kinds of food by what my little body tells me. I try to eat about 6 times a day unless I'm not feeling hungry every couple hours. If I'm really busting my tail, I'm hungry ALL the time and try to keep the engine fueled. I've kept a very consistent weight and body comp. for several years just by doing that--although right now I'm forcing more food just to push my weight up a bit. Feels weird. You following your appetite sounds like a good thing to me!

[Alan H]

Friday I made it back to the gym as planned.

I was a lot weaker; possibly due to muscle soreness sustained from Monday's work out. I did squats, deads, and bench presses but I don't actually remember any of my numbers, and I kept getting dizzy after dead lifts. I'm breathing right and I'm focusing on proper form. *shrug* I hadn't eaten a lot on Monday (I go through periods of higher and lower food interest and I try to give my body what it wants most of the time) so that could definitely be part of it.

I did 25 KB swings @ 25# and some ab-torture in the form of alternating cross-crunches, hanging leg lifts, jack-knife style sit ups, and head stands. I had a TON of energy, but it felt more ballistic, like I wanted to run an obstacle course instead of weight lifting.

I plan to go back tomorrow and do some climbing and a couple quick sets of lifts.

I found a dirt/wood chip field near my house that could potentially serve as a nice place to practice throwin'. I have a suitable practice stone and a LWD weight. I have a fork that needs to be prepped, and I need a sheaf, but I could theoretically start practicing that soon, too.

It occurs to me I could grab a 30lb kettlebell and use that as a WOB practice weight. It's only 2lbs too heavy, right? Hmmm...

I've pulled all the other cabers off, but "your" caber is still out at the field. It may be joined in a few weeks by the VERY cut-down, Cardinal Caber. That thing will feel very much like the caber you had at Ventura...short but very heavy. It used to be 16 feet, it's now 11 feet, as I cut off the cracked part. I'll get some fiberglass tape around the big end and leave it out there this winter for you to bust a gut with.

[MacFhearchair]

I've pulled all the other cabers off, but "your" caber is still out at the field. It may be joined in a few weeks by the VERY cut-down, Cardinal Caber. That thing will feel very much like the caber you had at Ventura...short but very heavy. It used to be 16 feet, it's now 11 feet, as I cut off the cracked part. I'll get some fiberglass tape around the big end and leave it out there this winter for you to bust a gut with.

Yeah, if I randomly go missing, check the field. If you find me lifeless under a caber, know that I died doing something I loved.

[Alan H]

I actually have another present for you, which I need to remember to bring, soon....

[MacFhearchair]

Oooh a present? I'm looking forward to seeing that plaid you mentioned.


Tonight was pretty good! I did squats at 135 - like six of them. I did 40 lb dumbbell bench presses (so 80 lb total) and I did some landmines with an unloaded 45 lb bar. I don't know anything about form so I just kinda messed with it for a while. It's surprisingly challenging.

...but I reached a new milestone on deadlifts.

Two hundred.
...and five pounds.

Then I went and did two challenging climbs (a particularly nasty 5.10a and a normal-ish 10b) and another one that wasn't so challenging (5.9) except that I had worn myself out on the weights. I hung out in a sauna, much to the pleasure of my muscles, for about 15 min after, and then got on my bike and rode 3 mi home.

And now I'm about to pass the heck out! I was going to stay up and watch a movie or something but I think I might just fall over instead.

[MacFhearchair]

Last week was a bit of a bust due to holiday travels and adventures. ...That's sort of expected, right?

I missed Monday because I was still adventuring, and got back to the gym Wednesday night, making 9 be the total number of days in my break from lifting.

On Wednesday I surprised myself by bringing my squat max all the way up to 160 and doing a set of 90 lbs total in dumbbell bench presses. I was going to move up 100, but some nard lost one of the 50lb dumbbells. Grr.

On Thursday I surprised myself by getting hit pretty hard with DOMS from Wednesday's lifting - is 9 days really long enough to justify that? wth?

Then tonight (Friday) I thought I would take it easy since the DOMS is still making itself known etc etc. Well, lo and behold, the squats were going really well, so I kept moving up and I did it - I squatted my bodyweight for the first time ever - 165 lbs. I did it 3 times before I failed out, too. woo!

I also demonstrated that I can still deadlift 205 lbs, albeit only a couple times. Presently, 75 lbs is a challenge for a set of 5 overhead presses, and I can do a roughtly 130-lb chin-up. Someday, I'll do a freaking chin-up (like, the first one since childhood).

We're getting there.

[Martin Roy]

Nice work, Jessica. You'll see a real difference next season. Keep it up.