UB: Conditioning Week 5. Timed Mile

Timed Mile - 9:16

Right where I wanted to be.  The first week I was closer to 10:00, then the 2nd week I went way to hard and about killed myself getting about 8:40, but the truth is I slowed down when I realized how far over pace I was, and was actually approaching an 8:15.  The last two weeks I ran with my wife just aiming to help her beat her time, so doing it by myself this week, I just wanted to come in between the first two week's times.  Next week is the last one of this cycle, so I will go all out again, and shoot for 8:30 or better.

UB: Conditioning Week 5. Bench, Hammer & Tire

Defranco shoulder mobility

Bench (always CG from now on)-
BarX15
95X5
135X1
155X1
175X1X5

Standing EZ Triceps - 55X18, 15

V-Grip Chins - Gym BW 205X12

BB Curls - 65X10, 8, 45X12

Tabata (30:10) Hammer & Tire - 12 minutes, 30 seconds; 15-21 swings per round

Felt pretty good going into the gym today, but the 175 sets on bench were pretty damn heavy.  I got 4 reps with this weight at the end of the strength phase, so the drop-off is apparent here.  Not to worried about it.

Man, these tabata sledge hammer sessions are a beast mentally.  Last session, I had to give myself a longer break 1/2 way through before continuing.  This session, I got about 1/3 of the way through and my mind was all "God, this is hard.  Maybe I didn't eat enough carbs or something today.  I'm really tired.  Yeah, I probably didn't eat enough.  I should probably just stop and call it a day, and remember to eat a PBnJ before I leave work next time."  Instead, I just kept swinging, never took an extended break, and added 30 seconds, or 1 round of swings to last time.  "We're playing these miiind gaaaames..."

UB: Conditioning Week 4. Squat, Deads and Sprints

Walk to Gym - 20 minutes

Defranco stuff: Rollovers, fire-hydrants, hip-flexor stretches

Squats -
BarX10
135X5
185X5
205X5

Deads -
135X5
225X2
275X1
295X1X5

BB Curls - BarX6, 65X12, 12, 12, 12, 6, 7

Incline Sprints - 14 sprints X 13 minutes

Walk home - 20 minutes

+10% day.  Squats still feeling a challenge.  A little nervous to see how the 265X1's go next week.  I should be strong enough for those, but I've never actually squatted 265.

Deads continue to feel strong as hell.  The 295 didn't fly up or anything, but there was certainly no doubt I was going to get all of them.  This was my max last time I tested it back in 2011.

I made my target number of sprints with almost a minute to spare.  I was just smarter early than last time.  While I was still fresh, I jogged back to start between each sprint.  As I got more fatigued, I'd call an audible whether to jog, walk, or 1/2 and /12.  Progressing, y'all.

UB: Conditioning Week 4. Press, Hammer & Tire

Defranco Shoulder Mobility + band pull-aparts

Press -
BarX10
95X2
115X1
125X1X5

45 deg. Inverted Rows to bottom of sternum - BWX10X2

Hammer Curls - 15sX15-20X4

Hammer & Tire - 30 sec. on / 10 sec. off; 12 minutes

Everything felt solid today, but for some reason I wasn't feeling push-ups and skipped them.  I think my arms just felt done after all those curlz.  I added some pull-aparts at the end of the mobility work.  I think if I settle on the right grip width it will be a good warm-up for my shoulders on pressing days.

Press was slow and heavy, but never had any doubt the weight was going up.

I took a longer break at the 6 minute mark of the Hammer swings.  My grip was feeling a little fried after all those damn curlz.

UB: Conditioning Week 3.Sprints

Incline Sprints (30 yds.) - 12 sprints, 12 minutes

I programmed to do 13 sprints in 12 mintues here, and I didn't make it.  I probably needed to jog back after each sprint, but I didn't realize that until too late, when I'd lost too much speed on the sprints.  So by the end I just couldn't get up and back fast enough to get the 13th sprint in. 

I've revised my programming accordingly (I hope).  I was originally aiming to get 20 sprints in 15 minutes on the last week.  I've dialed back each of the remaining weeks to end up hitting 18 in 15 for the last week.  Next week I'm programmed for 14 sprints / 13 minutes.  If I fail again to get more sprints than minutes, then I will assume that is my pace, and just add more time each week.  So it would end up being something like 14, 16, 18+ minutes for the last three weeks.

Also, my calf strain didn't give me any problems sprinting even though it's still sore.  I bought some more bananas, and I'm just not fucking with it, i.e. not constantly stretching it and massaging it through the day.  It seems like when I do that with things like this it becomes compulsive, and just ends up aggravating the strain.  After the initial onset, if I just leave it alone, while trying to be cognizant of not re-straining it, it gets better sooner.  That was my experience with the mid-back strain I developed on my last cycle, and it seems to be working out with this calf strain as well.

UB: Conditioning Week 3. Squat, Deads and Steady State

Defranco mobility

Squats -
BarX12
135X5
185X2
225X2
255X2X3

Deadlift -
135X10
225X5

Rope Hammer Curls - 4 sets of 20-25

45-minute walk

Stayed out a little too late and had a little too much to drink again on a Saturday night.  Squats were okay though.  The 255 moved kind of slow, but not straining if that makes sense.

Deads were fast and easy.  This is definitely my lift.

I've had bad cramping in my calf that started during the 1-mile run the day before this.  I decided to push sprints back a day, eat some bananas, and see if it eases up enough for me to run sprints on Monday.

UB: Conditioning Week 3. Timed Mile

Timed Mile (against wife's time) - 2:00, 6:50, 9:45, 12:51

Beat all the markers including the total time we set last time my wife ran with me.

UB: Conditioning Week 3. Bench, Hammer & Tire

Defranco shoulder mobility

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
135X2
155X2
170X2X3

OH Triceps Extensions - 45X20, 55X12

Chin-ups (V-Grip) - Gym BW 204X10

BB Curls - 45(Bar)X18, 65X15, 45X15

Hammer&Tire - Swing for 30 seconds, rest for 10; 10:30 minutes; 20-23 swings per round

Reverse Crunches (with hip raise) - 10, 10

Solid Session.  The first set of 170 felt kind of hard.  The 2nd rep of the 2nd set felt really hard, and the last set felt easy.  My set up felt tight every time, so I don't know.  I got all the reps in without having to scream for help, and that's what matters.

I downloaded a great new timer to my phone that helped with these Tabata-style hammer swings.  Now I can set the work AND rest periods, plus the screen goes green during work time, and red during rest time, so I don't have to get the phone close enough to read, I can just watch for the color change.  My swings per 30 seconds were up and down today, but generally 1 or 2 more than last time, and I did 1 more round of swings than last time.  Progression, y'all.

UB: Conditioning Week 2. Squat, Deads and Sprints

Defranco mobility work

Squats -
BarX20
135X5
185X5
205X5

Deadlift -
135X5
225X2
275X2X3

BB Reverse Curls - BarX20, 35X15X2, BarX20

Incline Sprints - 10 sprints, 11 mintues

New addition to the gym, and I walked by, like, 5 times today before I noticed it:

A monolift, for God's sake!  I doubt I will ever use this unless all the squat stands and power racks are occupied.

Speaking of which Squats felt okay today.

Deads, however, felt awesome.  I know 135 is light, but it never felt as light as today.  It felt like nothing at all, and I'm wondering if that's partially due to the squatting beforehand.  It felt so light, that's why I decided to jump straight to 225 for just one more warm-up set.  That felt fast as well.  Then the first work-set felt heavy, and all the others felt pretty easy.  Not light, exactly, but I was still able to focus on speed and form because I had full confidence in my ability to pull the weight.  This is different from how my heavy sets of the other 3 movements have felt, but it could just have been a good day.  We'll see how it goes next time.

Sprints were interesting.  I got the programmed amount in, but it took a little more effort than I expected.  The idea is that the first week or two are relatively easy, and I hope I haven't programmed my jumps to big.  On the other hand, it was spring forward, and I was on less than 6 hours of sleep.  We'll just have to see how it goes next week.

UB: Conditioning Week 2. Timed Mile and Steady State

Friday:

Timed Mile - 8:42

Saturday:

Steady State - 45 minute walk

I went way harder on the mile than I meant to do.  I set my baseline time last week as 9:26, and I only wanted to beat that by 10-20 seconds.  I was so far ahead of that today, that I actually stopped and walked the last half block to keep the time up.  So the log says I beat last week by 40 seconds, but I was probably on pace to beat it by as much as a minute. 

The problem here is that I didn't set time/"course" markers for myself so that I would have an idea of where my pace was.  I'm going to use google maps to try and figure out where the 1/2 way point is so that I can have a better idea in the future.  Next week, I might just try to beat my week 1 time again, to give myself more room to progress into.

The wife and I had a pleasant, but brisk 45 minute walk the next day.  Weather has taken a decided turn for the better here in Chicago.

UB: Conditioning Week 2. Press, Hammer & Tire

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Press -
BarX10
95X2
115X1
125X2X3

Inverted Row, 45 degrees - BWX10, 7

Hammer Curls - 20sXAMRAPX4

Push-ups - BWX20

Hammer Swings - 30 seconds swinging, 10 resting (around 20 swings per round); 10 minutes

At home - Reverse Crunches (2 sets of 5) and Partial Planche Push-Ups (2 sets of 5)

80%er.  Wasn't sure how the 125 would move, as 2 reps is the most I've ever gotten with that weight.  First set of 2 was almost easy, 2nd set was harder, and the 3rd set was a bit of a grind on the last rep.  Probably all as it should be, and suggests my strength is holding steady 3 weeks following the strength phase.

This 30/10 second split of hammer swings is Paul Carter's recommendation, and not the way I've done these in the past where I would do at least twice that many swings and take a longer rest. This is kind of a pain in the ass because I have to keep a clock running that I can see, and keep doing the math in my head, which inevitably gets off as I start to get really worked. His idea is to try and get more swings in the 30 sec. each session, but this is seriously a lot of shit to keep track of, so I may just increase the time every week like I do with sprints.

UB: Conditioning Week 1. Squat, Deads and Sprints

Defranco Mobility

Squats -
BarX10
135X5
185X5
225X2
255X2X3

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
225X5

Incline Sprints - 30 yardsX8, 10 minutes

Couldn't get to my gym during their Sunday hours today, so I went back up to my old gym (formerly B@llys, now L@ Fitness) and weasled a free session.

Squats felt heavy.  I think.  I don't know.  My hips feel sore around my pelvic bone all the time lately, plus I might have the yips a little bit from dumping 265 over my head last week.  In fact my first rep of 255 almost went that way as I got to far forward on my feet coming out of the hole.  So I've got a mental war to fight with Squats to get them back on track.  I've mentioned this before, but I'm gonna see how much they guy that runs my gym wants to charge to form-doctor my lifts; squat in particular.  Anyway, after the first set the next two were hard but fine.  Similar to the bench doubles on Friday, plus the mental issue I have with these.

The main reason I left this gym was because pulling was such a chore.  There's no area for it, so you have to take a bar from somewhere else.  Since no one was in a hurry to squat (they rarely are at this place), I took the bar out of the rack and set up next to it.  Also, their plates aren't round, so you often have to reset between reps as the bar shifts all over the place.  Happened really bad on my 185 set.  Anyway, all these felt fast and easy, and I felt like a little bit of a bad-ass doing these in this gym.  I resisted the temptation to keep adding weight/sets to freak out the squares, though.  Zero point in trying to show that you're stronger than anybody that works out in a place like that.

Later that afternoon, I went to the stretch of side-walk by my house I use for incline sprints (there's another area by my gym I use sometimes).  I shot for 70% effort and a steady walk back.  8 sprints in 10 minutes is at least 2-3 short of my better showings in this distance, and that's probably where I want to be to start.  I think a good target for the last week would be 20 sprints in 15 minutes, or about 4 sprints every 3 minutes.  That would mean adding 1 minute, and 2-3 sprints per week.  I'll aim for that pace, and adjust as necessary.

UB: Conditioning Week 1. Timed Mile

One-mile run - 9:56

Originally supposed to do steady-state in the AM, and the mile or hammer swings in the PM today, but my schedule was too hectic, so I just went with the mile.  This will be my base time to build on for the block when I am running a mile solo.  When I run with my wife, I will have to have a different base-line because she's not as up on her conditioning as I am, and we have to walk portions at this point.  So that base-line is 12:58.  With either version, I/we will be trying to improve this time.

UB: Conditioning Week 1. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
135X2
155X2
170X2X3

OH Extensions - 45X20

Bent Rows - 95X15, 8

BB Curls - 35X15, BarX20X2

Reverse Crunches - X20, 10

Treadmill - 12 minutes, 4.1 speed (2 minutes longer, one point faster than previous block)

This weekend was hell to start the conditioning block on.  Between work and rehearsals I only have Friday night through Sunday day free to train, and this weekend I had auditions on Saturday afternoon that I had to prepare for on Friday night, and cooked and competed in a chili cook-off on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon respectively.  Thus the treadmill.

Good bench session.  These sets of 2 at 85% are more challenging than I expected, but totally do-able.  Kind of cool actually.  I can see why guys like Jamie Lewis like doing lots of sets of heavy triples, doubles, singles.  It'll be interesting to see if these get harder, easier, or one then the other as this block progresses.