Kyle's battle with the iron

[KyleSchuant]

Let us begin the briefing, ladies and gentlemen.

Situation
Current date and stats
2017.11.19 Sunday 1300
46yo, 178cm high 95cm around, 87kg
After the 2014 December seminar in Wichita Falls, a good two years of training, leading to,
2016 Nov - Back squat 165kg 3x3
2016 Dec - Bench 110 5x5, clean 92.5kg
2017 Jan - Deadlift 222.5 x2, Press 75 5x3
and bodyweight 82 ---> 90kg with 90cm waist
Following that was a planned month-long break to give injuries a chance to heal. Went back into it with a mini-linear progression, then over our winter got badly sick, the details of which I won't discuss here, and basically couldn't lift at all.

Enemy forces
- middle-age
- laziness
- scoliosis, 3 bulging discs (L3/4/5/S1) with sciatica, left shoulder bursitis, right hip torn labrum,
- numerous previous injuries (thanks Army!) which flare up from time to time
- two children, 6yo boy at school and 1yo girl at home
- clients who come at the best workout times of afternoon and evening

Enemy's most likely course of action: try to stop me lifting at all

Friendly forces
- younger wife who also lifts
- former colleague as occasional coach
- garage gym twenty steps from kitchen
- clients who like to see me suffer too

Terrain & weather: likely to be a hot summer, 35C will be common.

Mission
Get stronger without becoming more of a fat-arsed prick.

Execution
For the next five weeks, "Easy Strength." Choosing 5 exercises, find "sorta max" in each, do a total of 10 reps with 60-80% of each for 3-5 sessions a week. Clean, front squat, press, chinups, suitcase carries, this last for the scoliotic imbalances.

Admin/Logistics
Got barbells, weight plates.
Got a fridge from which I will need 200g protein a day.
Bed by 2230 each night.

Command/Signal
- Coach is the commander.
- Workouts will be recorded in dragon journal and on Exodus Strength forum.

[DIR]

Kyle will follow. Glad you started a log

[AaronM]

Dumb question of the day, are seasons in the Land Down Under the opposite of civilized societies? Seems odd to be mentioning summer when we're getting a cold front and hitting 45F at night here in south Texas.

[bluebutton]

@AaronM
Yes.

The whole southern hemisphere is this way.

https://www.reference.com/science/seaso ... 85003aa574

[bluebutton]

@KyleSchuant

200g of protien...beast mode.

[KyleSchuant]

Everything's backwards Down Under, we don't lift weights, we lower them.

2017.11.19 Sun 1300
Testing of sorta maxes
Clean & Front Squat & Press, 70kg = floor 42kg, ceiling 56kg
Chinups 5 in one go
Suitcase carry untested.

The clean & press surprised me, as despite a work set max of 75 at the start of the year, my training has been woeful, and illness taken a lot out of me over the last few months. The body remembers.

The suitcase carry (one-handed version of the farmer's walk) doesn't really have a "max", since with enough leaning over and staggering you can handle quite a weight. So I'll just play with it.

As I said, the plan is, at least 3 times a week but not more than 5, do a total of around 10 reps with each of the exercises, never doing less than the floor numbers, and never more than the ceiling, for five weeks. That'll take us to the holiday break.

[Cody]

Holy shit, he started the log.

/slowclap

[Idlehands]

Holy shit, he started the log.

/slowclap

Is he trolling us?

Way to go Kyle.
/tipOfTheHat

[Chebass88]

Awesome. Keep pushing ahead, Kyle.

[cwd]

@AaronM
Yes.
The whole southern hemisphere is this way.
https://www.reference.com/science/seaso ... 85003aa574

Heliocentrism confirmed. Suck it Ptolemy!

[ShuggyBear]

Lol, it looks like you proved me wrong. I am also a big fan of weighted carries. Good luck with your training.

[KyleSchuant]

Wrote a meal plan; as I'm the one who does 90% of the cooking in the house, following this will be both easy (since I just go ahead and cook what I want) and hard (since I may end having to make one dinner for me and one for the rest of the family). But now a cup of oats awaits me for breakfast. Soaked overnight, that's a lot of oats.

[cwd]

An entire cup of dry oats? That's a lot of gruel to chew.

[KyleSchuant]

Well, I got it down. About halfway through I had my doubts and thought I'd have to leave it till later. But I got a break in the middle as my 6yo son finally asked, "How does the baby get into the mama?" So we talked about that and then I went back to my oats.

[KyleSchuant]

This morning I went to the butcher's to get the meat I'll need to get the protein in, I'm aiming for 350-450g of meat a day, which will give me 100-140g protein by itself. Meal prep is key with meal plans, so I marinaded 1kg of rump steak (olive oil, garlic, shiraz) in 200g pieces, and dry poached 1.5kg chicken breasts with lemon. That's more chicken than I'll eat, but you find that when you start meal prepping other family members say, "That looks nice, could I take that for lunch?" so you need a bit extra.

I've got a big bag of frozen mixed vegies for when I'm too lazy to cut things up, which is basically every lunchtime and some dinner times.

2017.11.20 Monday 1335-1405
Gym temperature 30C
Trained shirtless because of heat, and because each jiggle reminds me to stick to the meal plan. Plus some sun on this pasty flesh can only help.

Powerclean + front squat + press 42kg 3,3,3,1
Heaves 3,2,2,3
Suitcase carries 21.3kg x5 laps of driveway

I did these as: do 3 cleans and hold the 3rd at the top, do 3 front squats, hold onto the bar still, then 3 presses. Doing it as a complex has the bonus effect of raising the heart rate and making me sweat like a bastard. Left side sciatica flared up during the front squats, which it never does during back squats - it's probably just not enough weight to make me stay tight.

I call them "heaves" because I vary the grip from set to set, I find this kinder on the elbows.

The suitcase carries induced immediate sciatica down my right side, which I ignored, and muscle soreness right after, as my body suddenly woke up its quadratus lumborum and other obscure lower back muscles.

[AaronM]

You call 30C (86F) heat?!?! That's like a cool spring day here in south Texas.

[KyleSchuant]

Each summer we'll get 2-3 heatwaves of a few days of 40-45C. I just don't tolerate the heat - or the cold! - as well as I used to.

[simonrest]

You call 30C (86F) heat?!?! That's like a cool spring day here in south Texas.

Melbourne is roughly the same latitude south as Wichita Kansas is North.
Sydney is roughly like Charleston NC
Brisbane is like Miami
Cooktown is like hell

[damufunman]

@KyleSchuant Do you know what causes your sciatica to flare up? I have occasional minor things where I get a little ache in my right glute/hamstring but haven't been able to pin it down. Not bad enough to be an issue though. Do you find working through it helps, which it seems you do since you ignored it twice.

[AaronM]

You call 30C (86F) heat?!?! That's like a cool spring day here in south Texas.

Melbourne is roughly the same latitude south as Wichita Kansas is North.
Sydney is roughly like Charleston NC
Brisbane is like Miami
Cooktown is like hell

Ah, that's helpful to know. I'm so used to our geography that I've always thought further south equals more heat.

Each summer we'll get 2-3 heatwaves of a few days of 40-45C. I just don't tolerate the heat - or the cold! - as well as I used to.

45C is stupid hot. We frequently hover around highs of 37-40C for 3 months straight in the summer. I don't like the heat at all, but hate temperatures below 50F (10C) even more. As long as I'm not dehydrated, I think my body likes lifting more in warmer weather. I feel stiff and sluggish when it's cold in my garage.