Dave's Not Here

Expanding Views

So, before I get into the workout, I thought I’d start out with a recap of this week, in general.  I am feeling great.  The workouts are making me feel very thick.  I love all of the extra sets / reps.  (I hate them while I am doing them, but . . . )  My arms are very tight in all of my shirts, and that’s a good thing.

But, not all of the news is good.  I’m gaining weight.

I need to start by saying a couple of things:

1. I am taking creatine which promotes weight gain.
2. I have company in town.
3. I have not been drinking my 4-6 liters a day of water.
4. I have been eating like an ass-hat.  Bad choices.  Too much salt.

I’m not blaming the eating on the company.  I’m the one propelling the garbage into my gullet.  I’m just pointing out that there are several contributing factors to my weekly stats.  I have gone from about 195-199 this week.  My %BF has gone from 22-24ish.  (Note: There is a lot of error in my scale’s %BF calculations, so take them with a grain of salt)

Curbing the Expansion

For this, I think I simply need to stop being an ass-hat.  Start eating right.  Stick to weight watchers points.  Weight should drop off, since I’m getting good exercise. . . . which is a perfect segue into . .

PotD

This workout was easier and harder than the normal ones.  (“Then I’m happy and sad for you”)  It was much shorter than doing tons O sets.  But, there was much fail.  This was not a “heavy lift” fail, but a fatigue fail.  And, I do err on the said of safety.  Especially with weight over my head.  I refuse to be this guy.  Or this guy.  You get the picture.  I have clue, so I’d rather be a pussy, than injure myself.  So, onto the pussy report:

Warmup

• 100 Jumping Jacks – Again, got hard around 50.  Was very doable, just not as trivial as jumping jacks sound.
• 3×12 dips – only got 8 on third set.  (12/12/8)  I hate “Fails” on the warmup.
• 3x 1 minute plank holds – This is getting easier.  On the last one,  I turned my mat so I could look at myself in the mirror, and I noticed that my ass was too high.  I lowered it, and made the third rep much more full of suck than the first two.  I’ll be sure and check my form on all reps next time.
• 2×10 high jumps – Getting much easier.  Last few of second set are still “lame”
• 2×25 pushups – 2nd set was near failure.

Workout

Huge complex at 6×65#, then 6×85#, then 6×105#

• Bent-over row
• Power Clean
• Front Squat
• Push press
• Back Squat
• Good mornings

First set went pretty well.  When I got to front squats, my arms hurt.  I was holding the bar way too wide.  It didn’t matter much in the rows or the cleans, but, when I got to front squat, holding the bar in the high clean position started hurting.  I had to drop the bar, and re-set my hands.  On good mornings, I felt more comfortable holding the bar much lower than in back squat position.  It felt more secure when I bent over.  Looking at some form examples on exrx.net, I see that I was doing it wrong.  And, from the obvious physics nature of things, I was making it too easy.  Next time I’ll do it right.

Second set started to see some more issues.  I was surprised that the power cleans went ok.  But, I started getting fatigued on the front squats.  I took a couple of standing 15 second rests here and there, but completed w/o failures.

Third set had many failures.  After three power cleans, I stopped and rested for about 30.  And, I went on to front squat.  After about 3 squats, I failed again.  Now, keep in mind, every time I rested and picked up the bar, I had to do another power clean to get the bar into position.  I also managed to do all the push presses.  I was surprised how easy they were compared to OHP.  No wonder I was warned when doing OHP not to do a push press.  Completely different.  Back squats was the easiest exercise on the list.  So, when I finally finished the push presses, back squats were like resting.  In the end, given the extra power cleans from reseating the bar, and taking unscheduled rests, I think I was only short 5 front squats.

This does point out that I need more work on front squat.  Holding the bar seemed to be more of an issue than the leg part of the workout.  I just need practice.

And, all failures were due to fatigue, not muscular strength.  I.E.  Cardio failure, not muscle failure.