Tim's Journeyman Log

[tim290280]

Eric: Cheers dude! I think guys don't get a check up often enough, but I want it to be worthwhile, like getting blood work or something.

Glex: I was hoping cardio would help lower it. But yes more likely to be stress.

Turkish: I caught her checking me out the day before, and at lunch before the check up you should have seen her face when the missus told her we were partners.

Rocky: Yeh new job, big issues to deal with, plus PhD, just seems to be pilling up. But I'm hoping that it will all settle down soon. In 6 months I should be able to tell my boss where to stick the pointless meetings, but hopefully the demands will have dropped well before then.

 

[tim290280]

Tried posting an update the other day but the internet was acting up.

Last week I was at a conference being held at the Parmelia Hilton. Fortuneately I got away without contracting VD.

Being at a conference it meant drinking, bad food, late nights, and crap hotel gym. The hotel gym comprised a really crap rowing machine, three bikes, and two treadmills, then this composite cable machine station that you used to see in gyms in the early 1980's. Basically a square with weight stacks in the middle and stations around the outside of it. Fortuneately it did have a decent set of dip bars, and a place to do pullups (though I didn't like the pullup station). These formed the basis of one workout, doing 50 reps of each in as little sets as possible (3 in the case of the dips). I also tacked on some incline situps, which I haven't done in years, but then again I haven't done situps in about a year either.

After I was done with that first session I couldn't help but notice myself in a mirror. I'm not used to mirrors hanging in a gym, let alone on every wall. It was interesting to watch myself do pullups and dips in the mirrors, as you could, due to the shear number of mirrors, see yourself from the side without craning your neck. Even when I wasn't pumped it was clear I'm carrying some decent upper body mass, let alone at the end of the session. Actually just as I was leaving one of my work collegues came in to ride the bikes and saw me in my close fitting t-shirt and was clearly impressed.

The next session was interesting as their was no facility for hamstrings. I managed to turn the bench press station into a pretty half decent stiff dead. The leg press station was a complete disaster area and I actually called the workout short as it was really hard on my knee. I did step ups instead.

Then over the weekend I did a long session of pulls. Basically did C&J and snatches followed by deadlifts and farmers walks. Two interesting things arose; the first was a 95kgx2 C&J (PB), the next was a 160kg pronated grip deadlift. The later was 20kg more than I have gripped without resorting to a mixed grip.

 

[Glex]

I've been having a tough time getting away from bad food, too. At least you kept up with the training, and nice job on the C&Js and the grip PB

 

[knight_rider]

lol yeah gotta love the grip pb..........functional strength is always good to see, imagine how much better you wank sessions will be now lol

 

[Turkish1530]

dam brother glad to see you back, glad to see you that u still hit the gym even though you were at a crappy hotel gym.....but it is better than nothing!!!

 

[Rocky]

Good to see you made the most of a poor situation at the hotel and pulled off some decent work.

 

[tim290280]

Glex: I came back from the conference and wanted vegetables!! I love meat and potatoes, but I really miss not having some decent vegetables that don't resemble a frilly exotic lettuce leaf.

KR: That's where half the grip work has come from

Turkish: The amazing thing about hotel gyms is they use it as a sale point in their advertising, and yet provide such average stuff! Pity the pool wasn't heated and the sauna wasn't in operation.....

Rocky: It's that McGyver attitude to training that can see how to make a chin up bar out of a paper clip, a drinking straw, and a rubber band.

Busy schedule this week at work, so don't have time to post my training. Suffice to say it is happening and I'm happy with the results I'm getting from the higher reps. Put an extra 10kg on my bench in the higher rep ranges.

My arms measured 17.25" after my workout last night, and 16.5" this morning. I'll try and remember to do the same with the legs today.

 

[Glex]

Nice measurements on the arms Lol at MacGyver

 

[Rocky]

Good stats indeed. MacGyver truly is a king among kings.

 

[tim290280]

Glex and Rocky: I've been watching the first season of McGyver on DVD recently. God it was crappy! If it wasn't for the charm of Richard Dean Anderson you wouldn't even bother, one episode was even an Alan Smithee. But it was getting better towards the end of the first season..... season 2 here I come.

Oh and the arms are plugging away nicely, though I want that 17" cold.

Did legs last night, didn't measure them but I did include step ups for a change. Got a lot out of them as a high rep finisher. Bit happier with the front squat for continuous reps too, but I still seem to get fatigued before I reach any sort of actual ceiling on the lift itself. I even did the first set with my arms held straight out......

 

[knight_rider]

^^^ you should replace the McGyver set with The Entourage..and your quality of life will rise substantially........unless of course you need to figure out how to stop a nuclear meltdown with clit stimulator and a ball point pen

 

[tim290280]

Never heard of the Entourage on Aussie TV. Is that the one with Jeremy Piven?

I'm getting the McG's out of the DVD store on weekly rental of $1. So it's all good. Next thing I want to get through is Deadwood, which I've heard is great.

Though I tend to fall asleep during TV at the moment. I posted couple of reviews in the movie thread, so far TV shows have been more entertaining than the moveis I've caught up on.

 

[knight_rider]

yeah the one with jeremy piven, seriously, it will improve your qaulity of life, its so funny, except if you buy the series, space out when you watch them, i watched 2 seasons back to back, it was kinda like a week long drug binge and now im sad............untill i buy season three bo yah

 

[tim290280]

Another week, another road trip. Fitting in training around it is hard, so weekends are picking up the slack.

I managed to do a big session of C&J, Snatches, Deadlifts, and Farmers walks (plus ancillerary stuff) which I was happy with. I C&Jed a PB of 100kg for a double!! 75kg in the snatch was easy and I followed that all up with a solid 191kg deadlift. Getting that 100kg overhead for the first time felt good, and I got a photo of it (which took for ages to take, had to hold it overhead for at least 10sec).

I think though that the C&J and Snatches are really limiting my deadlift, and also getting my form on the dead a bit off. I don't seem to be driving my feet through the floor the way I would like, too much initial pull with my back. But I like the combo for now, but it may change in a week or so when the routine changes from the higher reps back to a more normal phase.

 

[Rageking]

awesome PB
thats some heavy weight, doesnt look like your dead is dropping off if you didnt say anything
after all that my dead wouldnt be nowhere near as good either

 

[Turkish1530]

very very very very very nice PB brother.....whats ur job by the way, all that dam traveling??

 

[Rocky]

That's a fucking hefty weight for C&J - good going.

 

[Glex]

^^ Agreed...what's the next goal on C&J?

 

[tim290280]

All: thanks for the props!

Rageking: When I pull the 191 it feels hard though, and my dead is usually limited by what I can break from the ground. This is not my limiting point on deads currently.

Turkish: I'm an extension scientist in agriculture. At the moment we have a drought and so we are touring the district to give workshops on dealing with droughts. Pretty significant considering the usual advisors to farmers are wanting to still sell them lots of chemical, we are independant.

Rocky: Cheers.

Glex: For my next trick/goal I want to hit 120kg. Ideally I should be able to clean that weight at the moment but I haven't just done a clean session on its own in ages to find out.

 

[tim290280]

Coming to the end of my higher rep stuff. Did 100kg bench for 12 and 50kg thick bar DB rows for same this weekend. I'm also up to 85kg in the morning, and suprised myself when I weighed 91kg in clothes at a display on Friday (new auto weighing system for livestock management, can effectively remotely manage your livestock accurately).

This week I was thinking about going to a modified 5x5.
E.g.
Bench
120x5
130x1
120x5
135x1
120x5
140x1
120x5
It's an interesting idea that I picked up off of a Staley newsletter. I'll apply it to the main exercises for the first half of the week, then do sets of 8 for the rest. Then accessories will be in the 10-15 range. Yet to really sit down and figure it all out as I will be travelling again this week. Although I plan to train at my old hardcore gym again, can't wait to actually pull 4 plates rather than the equivilent weight.