Agile-8
Squat Warm-up - 45X10, 65X10, 95X5, 115X5, 135X3
Squats - 160X6, 170X4, 185X2
Bulgarian Split-Squat Jumps - BWX5X4
Stability Ball Leg Curls - BWX15X3
super-set with
Spead-Eagle Sit-Ups - BWX15, 5X15, BWX15
DB Alternating Lunges - 30X9, 30X11
Timed One-Mile Run - 10:09
Squats felt pretty good. Totally reinforced the decision to go on a more structured program, however. When I threw my back out squatting a few weeks back, I did 185X5 and then tried to take out 195 for a 5 rep. PR. So this 185 made me nervous even thought I've had more weight on my back for 2 reps in the past. The extra warm-ups still feel right for reinforcing technique prior to the work-sets. The bar felt kind of heavy but I just think that was the yips I had about the number. The reps actually felt easier on 185 than they did on the 160.
Split-squat jumps are funny.
In the previous vein of chin-ups and push-ups, we had a whole new edition of "you never spent any time on these before, and lo and behold you suck at them" with the weighted sit-ups. I've never really done a lot of direct ab work in the past, so I did the first set with no weight, and of course they were hard. I added a measly 5 lb. plate to the second set and almost couldn't finish, so I dropped it for the final set. Next week, I'll try starting off with a 10, and see if I can (safely) muscle through the reps with rests if necessary.
Even though my time on the run was longer than last week, the program only called for me to beat Week 1, which I did, AND I did the whole mile without walking. I just started off at a much milder trot and maintained that for the duration.
I had a call-back later in the night that ended up being a one-hour cardio session of theatre games. Didn't get home till after 11:30, got up today at 6:15 and feel like a smudge. Good thing we have dinner plans tonight, and house-guests coming tomorrow that I have to finish cleaning up for. Otherwise I might actually be able to rest. Accordingly, I expect Thursdays session to be a massacre. I don't know how I'm gonna get those 100 push-ups on an empty tank...
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
BLAB Log: Week 3.Day 1
BB Bench, warm-up sets - 45X10, 65X10, 95X5, 115X3
BB Bench - 120X6, 130X4, 140X7
DB Incline Bench - 80X26, 80X16
One-arm DB Row - 50X10, 60X10, 65, X10, 65X10
superset with
Rope Pushdowns - 25X10, 30X10, 35X10, 35X10
BB Shrugs - 95X10, 115X10, 135X10
superset with
DB Incline Delt Flyes - 25X12, 25X12, 25X12
BB Complex (pulls, bent rows, hang cleans, push press, squats) - 65X10, 55X10, 50X10, 45X10
I mentioned I was going to add more increments to my ME warm-up sets for squats, and I've decided to do that for all my "heavy" lifts. You can see that here where I added the 65 lb. set. Bench went well. The last set called for 2+ reps and I got 7. According to Jefit, that is a perceived max PR. Since that includes the innacurate, and allegedly lighter-than-advertised weight I was lifting at B@lly, I feel pretty good about that.
I haven't done one-arm rows in over a decade, so I wasn't sure where to start. I see a lot of talk about Kroc rows, which are vaguely described as one-arm rows for reps with "a ridiculous amount of weight." I'm a little confused about that because I don't understand why you would do this lift with less weight than you think you can handle for the target reps. I thought maybe brief rests were involved, but I just saw video of Wendler doing these, and he went non-stop from the first to last rep. Whatever, I worked up to the most I could get for the 10 reps.
Speaking of B@lly, I was doing the rope extensions, and I was using around the same weight as I had used at the cable station in the free-weight section of that gym. But they had another cable station in the machines area where I would have to more than double the "weight." What is that? I understand that having more pulleys etc. in-line with the transfer of force reduces the amount of work required to move a given amount of weight, but shouldn't they relabel the plates so that we have an accurate idea of how much force we're generating? Just sayin'.
Well the bar-bell complexes have been getting harder with the sets going up every week per the program, but I've decided to increase the difficulty by adding weight every week. Defranco is vague on this point. The program as written seems to imply an empty bar, but the example YouTubes show a trainee with a weighted bar. Last week, I added a 5er to each side for the first two sets, and this week I decided to work down from a 10 on each side to just the bar. I don't know how hard this "finisher" is supposed to be, but this was brutal and I'm keeping it. However, on the middle two sets I had to set the bar down between reps 5 and 6 of the cleans because my forearms felt like they were going to rip open. I have zero practicle knowledge of proper clean technique, but I must be doing something wrong because I did straight-up curls on the last set and it didn't burn at all. I'll take a look at some Rippetoe stuff and see if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.
BB Bench - 120X6, 130X4, 140X7
DB Incline Bench - 80X26, 80X16
One-arm DB Row - 50X10, 60X10, 65, X10, 65X10
superset with
Rope Pushdowns - 25X10, 30X10, 35X10, 35X10
BB Shrugs - 95X10, 115X10, 135X10
superset with
DB Incline Delt Flyes - 25X12, 25X12, 25X12
BB Complex (pulls, bent rows, hang cleans, push press, squats) - 65X10, 55X10, 50X10, 45X10
I mentioned I was going to add more increments to my ME warm-up sets for squats, and I've decided to do that for all my "heavy" lifts. You can see that here where I added the 65 lb. set. Bench went well. The last set called for 2+ reps and I got 7. According to Jefit, that is a perceived max PR. Since that includes the innacurate, and allegedly lighter-than-advertised weight I was lifting at B@lly, I feel pretty good about that.
I haven't done one-arm rows in over a decade, so I wasn't sure where to start. I see a lot of talk about Kroc rows, which are vaguely described as one-arm rows for reps with "a ridiculous amount of weight." I'm a little confused about that because I don't understand why you would do this lift with less weight than you think you can handle for the target reps. I thought maybe brief rests were involved, but I just saw video of Wendler doing these, and he went non-stop from the first to last rep. Whatever, I worked up to the most I could get for the 10 reps.
Speaking of B@lly, I was doing the rope extensions, and I was using around the same weight as I had used at the cable station in the free-weight section of that gym. But they had another cable station in the machines area where I would have to more than double the "weight." What is that? I understand that having more pulleys etc. in-line with the transfer of force reduces the amount of work required to move a given amount of weight, but shouldn't they relabel the plates so that we have an accurate idea of how much force we're generating? Just sayin'.
Well the bar-bell complexes have been getting harder with the sets going up every week per the program, but I've decided to increase the difficulty by adding weight every week. Defranco is vague on this point. The program as written seems to imply an empty bar, but the example YouTubes show a trainee with a weighted bar. Last week, I added a 5er to each side for the first two sets, and this week I decided to work down from a 10 on each side to just the bar. I don't know how hard this "finisher" is supposed to be, but this was brutal and I'm keeping it. However, on the middle two sets I had to set the bar down between reps 5 and 6 of the cleans because my forearms felt like they were going to rip open. I have zero practicle knowledge of proper clean technique, but I must be doing something wrong because I did straight-up curls on the last set and it didn't burn at all. I'll take a look at some Rippetoe stuff and see if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
BLAB Log: Week 2.Day 3
Chin-ups, band-assisted - under footX10, under kneeX5, no bandX3, no bandX2, under kneeX8, under footX10
Wide-grip lat pulldowns - 60X20, 60X20
superset with
Standing DB shoulder-press -60X20, 60X14
DB lying triceps extension - 60X8X5 (full stop behind head)
superset with
Seated Hammer curls -60X8X5 (full stop at bottom)
Core-circuit X 2
50 pushups - 4:20
This day continues to be humble pie. I discovered a month or so back that I could only do one or two strict chin-ups. The program calls for one set of max reps plus 50 - 60%, but I think the authors envisioned someone that could a few more than me. Luckily the new gym has bands, and I think warming-up and doing back-off sets with them are yielding positive results. My goal is to get up to 12+ unassisted, and then I'll start loading the work sets. Probably won't get there on this cycle of this progrm, but hopefully while I'm on 531, this winter.
Also, that damn push-up test. The program calls for 100 push-ups for time. When I tried to set my base time last week, I was horrified to have to stop at 50. At 5:48. I gave myself a much longer rest this week, before starting the test and that helped. I got 50 in under 5. Next week I will try for the hundo. I'm sure I could do them fresh, but the program has them at the end of the session for a reason. My lock-out just goes in the toilet after the DB OHPs and the triceps extensions.
Friday, August 5, 2011
What is the value of local theatre?
As I continually struggle to define the value of live theatrical productions as part of the art and entertainment landscape going forward, I thought this piece from Carey Perloff at the Huffington Post was an important piece of the puzzle. It's not very long, so you should read the whole thing, but a choice nugget would be:
When I lived in Portland, I struggled with a similar quandary to the one Ms. Perloff mentions. Portland LOVES the Local and the DIY when it comes to anything. But when it comes to performance, that means snything except theatre. Live local music, festivals of local films, reading by local authors, even live comic-book making. But not live theatre. I don't actually believe that in Portland it's for the reasons that Ms. Perloff suggests (the Portland-New York theatre circuit just doesn't really exist that way in my experience). Also, she should probably attribute more of her show's success to the built-in local audience for the adapted material. I doubt if they could boast the same revenue/audience turnout if the text had been wholly new. Yet rejecting New York aspirations could be a valuable tool in trying to maintain a pinky-hold for live theatre.
Anyway, this is something I've continued to think about often over the last decade, and will probably subject the non-existent readers of this blog to further ramblings in the future.
What's happened to the American non-profit theater in the interim is interesting. In a desperate attempt to feel relevant in an increasingly digital universe and to remain solvent at a time of huge decreases in arts funding, the regional theater has all but abandoned its alternative stance (the whole notion of a permanent company of actors being one of the first ideas to go) and now actively pursues commercial success and a presence in New York. It has become standard operating procedure for regional theaters to accept significant "enhancement money" from commercial producers in exchange for the use of their theater and their subscription audience to try out Broadway-bound material. While this has allowed large-scale musicals to be developed and previewed across the country, it has also sapped the regional theater of its artistic muscle and its individuality. Since he who pays the piper plays the tune, it is inevitable that the artists working on an enhanced musical are far more likely to take direction from their Broadway producers than from the non-profit theater's artistic team, with the result that the work is "local" in name only.This has come into focus for me quite a bit since I moved to Chicago. Here, the phrase "going out to the theatre" seems by default to mean seeing one of the big musicals downtown. I know people that go to these shows all the time, that have never even been to see a show at Steppenwolf, The Goodman, or Chicago Shakespeare, much less anything on a smaller, more home-grown scale.
When I lived in Portland, I struggled with a similar quandary to the one Ms. Perloff mentions. Portland LOVES the Local and the DIY when it comes to anything. But when it comes to performance, that means snything except theatre. Live local music, festivals of local films, reading by local authors, even live comic-book making. But not live theatre. I don't actually believe that in Portland it's for the reasons that Ms. Perloff suggests (the Portland-New York theatre circuit just doesn't really exist that way in my experience). Also, she should probably attribute more of her show's success to the built-in local audience for the adapted material. I doubt if they could boast the same revenue/audience turnout if the text had been wholly new. Yet rejecting New York aspirations could be a valuable tool in trying to maintain a pinky-hold for live theatre.
Anyway, this is something I've continued to think about often over the last decade, and will probably subject the non-existent readers of this blog to further ramblings in the future.
August means BLT's
DISCLAIMER: I am forgetful and there are no pictures in this post. I will try to be better.
Since a farmer's market started in my neighborhood last year, and since I started going to the farmer's market near my work place, August has been all about the BLT. The only thing that goes into that sandwich that I can't get at these markets is the oil, mustard, and lemons for the mayonnaise. Artisan bread, heirloom and/or organically grown local tomatoes, farm fresh eggs (for the mayo), artisan cured pork belly, ARUGULA. Using these ingredients, the appeal of the BLT finally crystallized for me. Consider the difference between a sandwich made with those ingredients and one made with Wonder bread, Oscar Meyer bacon, Hellmann's, and those bland and mealy supermarket tomatoes. Is it any wonder that for years I was mystified by the appeal? No longer. For the last two years I have loudly proclaimed the BLT as the paragon of sandwiches.
Last night was kind of the first of the season. I say kind of, because rather than use tomato on the sandwich, I made gazpacho. So gazpacho and BT sandwiches. For the sandwich, the bacon was the excellent spice-cured pork belly from Crafthouse. The bread was, I think, Pugilese from Labriola. I don't remember the name of the vendor that provided the arugula and the mint (for the gazpacho). The eggs for the mayo were from Midnight Sun Farm. The mayo recipe is basically the one you would find in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The only difference is that I substitute 1/4 cup of olive oil for the vegetable oil. Anyway, make mayo, fry up planks of pork belly, toast bread, assemble. God I love that sandwich.
As for the gazpacho, there's a bunch of ways to do it, the easiest being the food processor. I bought a food-mill in the last year so I wanted to use that. Here's the ingredient list, all vegetables and bread roughly chopped:
Tomatoes, cored
Cucumber, peeled, seeded
Green Bell Pepper, stemmed, cored, seeds and ribs removed
Hot pepper (midnight sun farm), stemmed, cored, etc.
Yellow squash (because I needed to use it)
Garlic
Ice Water
Stale bread
Mint (or other bright fresh herb)
Olive Oil and Sherry Vinegar
For efficiency, I put the ice water in my fat separator and put the chunks of bread in that.
All the vegetables went into a big bowl and I poured in some of the cold water from the separator. I went at it all with the immersion blender until it was mostly liquid. By now, the bread was nicely softened, so I took it out of the separator and pureed it in as well.
At this point, it would be best to let the mixture sit in the fridge for a while so that flavors can mingle (I didn't, but you should).
I placed the food-mill on top of another large bowl and fitted it with the medium blade. In went the puree. It only took two batches. Everything looked great. I added oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. I then did a chiffonade of the mint, but in retrospect I wouldn't have done that just for me and the wife as those threads become problematic when you say "this damn spoon is too slow" and you start drinking the soup out of the bowl. better to just give them a rough-chop. For company? Chiffonade away.
Feel free to garnish as you like: cucumber, croutons, green onions, other herbs.
I will be so sad when these tomatoes go away for another year.
Since a farmer's market started in my neighborhood last year, and since I started going to the farmer's market near my work place, August has been all about the BLT. The only thing that goes into that sandwich that I can't get at these markets is the oil, mustard, and lemons for the mayonnaise. Artisan bread, heirloom and/or organically grown local tomatoes, farm fresh eggs (for the mayo), artisan cured pork belly, ARUGULA. Using these ingredients, the appeal of the BLT finally crystallized for me. Consider the difference between a sandwich made with those ingredients and one made with Wonder bread, Oscar Meyer bacon, Hellmann's, and those bland and mealy supermarket tomatoes. Is it any wonder that for years I was mystified by the appeal? No longer. For the last two years I have loudly proclaimed the BLT as the paragon of sandwiches.
Last night was kind of the first of the season. I say kind of, because rather than use tomato on the sandwich, I made gazpacho. So gazpacho and BT sandwiches. For the sandwich, the bacon was the excellent spice-cured pork belly from Crafthouse. The bread was, I think, Pugilese from Labriola. I don't remember the name of the vendor that provided the arugula and the mint (for the gazpacho). The eggs for the mayo were from Midnight Sun Farm. The mayo recipe is basically the one you would find in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The only difference is that I substitute 1/4 cup of olive oil for the vegetable oil. Anyway, make mayo, fry up planks of pork belly, toast bread, assemble. God I love that sandwich.
As for the gazpacho, there's a bunch of ways to do it, the easiest being the food processor. I bought a food-mill in the last year so I wanted to use that. Here's the ingredient list, all vegetables and bread roughly chopped:
Tomatoes, cored
Cucumber, peeled, seeded
Green Bell Pepper, stemmed, cored, seeds and ribs removed
Hot pepper (midnight sun farm), stemmed, cored, etc.
Yellow squash (because I needed to use it)
Garlic
Ice Water
Stale bread
Mint (or other bright fresh herb)
Olive Oil and Sherry Vinegar
For efficiency, I put the ice water in my fat separator and put the chunks of bread in that.
All the vegetables went into a big bowl and I poured in some of the cold water from the separator. I went at it all with the immersion blender until it was mostly liquid. By now, the bread was nicely softened, so I took it out of the separator and pureed it in as well.
At this point, it would be best to let the mixture sit in the fridge for a while so that flavors can mingle (I didn't, but you should).
I placed the food-mill on top of another large bowl and fitted it with the medium blade. In went the puree. It only took two batches. Everything looked great. I added oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. I then did a chiffonade of the mint, but in retrospect I wouldn't have done that just for me and the wife as those threads become problematic when you say "this damn spoon is too slow" and you start drinking the soup out of the bowl. better to just give them a rough-chop. For company? Chiffonade away.
Feel free to garnish as you like: cucumber, croutons, green onions, other herbs.
I will be so sad when these tomatoes go away for another year.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
For Searchers
Because I've had so much difficulty searching google for logs of the programs I'm interested in, I thought it would be fair to throw out a post explicitly saying what program I'm logging here:
Currently I'm doing Joe DeFranco's (god help me) Built Like a Badass program.
There. Now if anyone is interested in the training progress of a mid-thirties weakling, they will be lavishly rewarded.
Assuming I keep posting about it.
And if they don't get turned off by posts about theatre and cooking.
Assuming I ever START posting about that.
BLAB Log: Week 2.Day2
Yesterday:
DB Squat Jumps - 50X6, 60X6, 70X6, 80X6
BB Squats - Warm Up (Bar, 95, 135) 155X7, 165X6, 175X3
Back Extensions - 25X12X3
superset with
Weighted Twists, feet-up - 25X15X3
1 Mile Run - 9:54
It's been two weeks since I threw my back out, and squats are still making me nervous. And yet I got the prescribed %'s with no pain. Still, my back felt tight all day beforehand just like the day I hurt myself. I tried to make it release by rolling an MB up and down between it and a wall, and maybe that helped. (However the wall turned out to be the back of some un-anchored lockers than I pushed over. Luckily no one was in the "women's dressing room" when that happened. Owner says I'm the third person to do that. The gym has been open for 40 years. Great.) My back felt tight all morning today, but now it's on the left side. Hopefully this is just some imbalances working themselves out, but I'm going to do more light-weight warm up sets anyway and really try to make sure my form is locked-in before I do my work-sets.
I forgot to write down my time for the 1-mile run last week. I was supposed to beat it this week. All I know is that it was over 10 minutes, so I busted my ass and got it done in 9:54. So woo-hoo, except last week I had my gym bag on with that giant hard-back of the new Game of Thrones book inside. Obviously I should be able to beat that time without the extra weight. Nevertheless, the workout really took it out of me, and I have felt run-down all day today.
Anyway. This is my first post on the blog that was supposed to be about theatre and cooking, and this post is about the 5th session of a 12-week weight training program. Guess you gotta start somewhere.
DB Squat Jumps - 50X6, 60X6, 70X6, 80X6
BB Squats - Warm Up (Bar, 95, 135) 155X7, 165X6, 175X3
Back Extensions - 25X12X3
superset with
Weighted Twists, feet-up - 25X15X3
1 Mile Run - 9:54
It's been two weeks since I threw my back out, and squats are still making me nervous. And yet I got the prescribed %'s with no pain. Still, my back felt tight all day beforehand just like the day I hurt myself. I tried to make it release by rolling an MB up and down between it and a wall, and maybe that helped. (However the wall turned out to be the back of some un-anchored lockers than I pushed over. Luckily no one was in the "women's dressing room" when that happened. Owner says I'm the third person to do that. The gym has been open for 40 years. Great.) My back felt tight all morning today, but now it's on the left side. Hopefully this is just some imbalances working themselves out, but I'm going to do more light-weight warm up sets anyway and really try to make sure my form is locked-in before I do my work-sets.
I forgot to write down my time for the 1-mile run last week. I was supposed to beat it this week. All I know is that it was over 10 minutes, so I busted my ass and got it done in 9:54. So woo-hoo, except last week I had my gym bag on with that giant hard-back of the new Game of Thrones book inside. Obviously I should be able to beat that time without the extra weight. Nevertheless, the workout really took it out of me, and I have felt run-down all day today.
Anyway. This is my first post on the blog that was supposed to be about theatre and cooking, and this post is about the 5th session of a 12-week weight training program. Guess you gotta start somewhere.
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