Fossil's Training Log

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
85 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 4

Slept no hours day before last and this long weekend... lets just say recovery took a back seat to some other things lol.
Did figure out widening my stance a tiny bit helps out of the bottom; only problem is I figured that out after doing the top set and thought "I'm kinda getting pushed back / tipping out of the bottom, what if I widen my feet..."
I'm not in any rush though. Goal is to build reps with a given weight. Might be this one or maybe something a little higher. 5s, 8s then either something with quite a bit of volume or restart the process with 3s.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
50 x 3 L/R

Not getting any easier... but that's completely my fault; been going out way, way too much lately so going to bed at an hour when people are walking their dogs - and doing that several times a week - is not conducive to much of anything productive. Also wasn't positioning the dumbbell right at the start which makes the beginning of the rep pretty hard.

Since I skipped farmer's walks last week, I figured I'd go heavier, try and hit the 100m with as few set-downs as possible and repeat the next session. Turns out, doing these without a bunch of warmup sets is better lol. Who'd have thought?

Farmers Walk:
55 L/R x 100m [edit... 50m]


EDIT:
Horribly misjudged the distance - with the back and forth thing I do there's two ways you can count the "laps" and I sometimes [arbitrarily] change the way in which I count them; that is not a good idea. I did a two more sets a few hours apart and think I should actually be good with the full 100m since on the first "redo" set I got 77m without too much trouble and 66m on the last at like 11pm.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Something I noticed off and on over the years (and seemingly forget off and on...) is that I don't lock my knees at the top of a squat, usually the left is mostly locked and the right is almost never at all; it's an unconscious attempt to balance the barbell symmetrically but makes for a bad pattern. I think that's why as my squat went up, my right hip flexor would start to hurt to the point of being unable to squat. For the past several years I noticed the trend and I always attributed it to uneven forces during OHPing. Hip flor would start hurting then QL. It's become a current issue - once again - for the past month or so...
Not sure why I "felt it" today, but from set one onward, I locked my knees hard at the top of each rep and found it made everything way easier and actually felt both legs working in unison, especially on the very last rep.

Front Squat:
85 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5

Farmers Walk:
55 L/R x 100m

100m is accurate this time around lol.
Didn't set them down.
I use the "exaggerated good posture" way of this exercise since that's my main focus. You've got to really nail the setup before you start moving, but it hits the lats and mid back hard.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
50 x 3 L/R

Both arms moved the weight faster. Not the progress I necessarily wanted, but I'll take it. Been down this road before. My mistake was saying I went too light to start; You can't really go too light with OHPing since a few pounds can make a major difference.

Farmers Walk:
60 L/R x 100m

Felt good. Good enough to slow way down on the last lap and earn those last steps.
I gotta get a yard though - doing these indoors is more annoying than it needs to be.

[Fossil]

Been a crazy week that I won't go into, but will say I'm "living fast" and somehow moving upward. Glad to on a wave of good fortune, even if the circumstances that bring it initially seem disastrous. Such is life...

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
90 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 3

Last rep on the last set was harder than I'd have liked, but felt I needed to pay a penance for my recent lack of discipline.

Farmers Walk:
65 L/R x 77m (7 trips)

Felt good but didn't want to break form so cut it while things were good. Got out of breath, which surprised me but I did push the pace so makes sense.

[Fossil]

In the past week I went full "Office Space" mode at my last job and was (gladly and expectedly) fired; Within 24 hrs I had a new, higher paying gig - along with several other offers / prospects - so I started that job today after a week of lazing around my place. Don't think I'm cut out for the whole "working" thing so interested to see how the rest of my life pans out.

Jump Rope:
5 minutes


One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
50 x 4 L/R

Re-did the top set after only getting three and I think mis-loading / maybe skipping the set at 45 (not sure though.)
It's counterintuitive, but letting the elbow sink down pretty low sets up the following rep much better because the forearm goes vertical and the trap gets stretched.

Farmers Walk:
65 L/R x 100m

[DCR]

In the past week I went full "Office Space" mode at my last job and was (gladly and expectedly) fired; Within 24 hrs I had a new, higher paying gig - along with several other offers / prospects - so I started that job today after a week of lazing around my place. Don't think I'm cut out for the whole "working" thing so interested to see how the rest of my life pans out.

What do you do?

Also congrats on the instant new job haha.

[Fossil]

In the past week I went full "Office Space" mode at my last job and was (gladly and expectedly) fired; Within 24 hrs I had a new, higher paying gig - along with several other offers / prospects - so I started that job today after a week of lazing around my place. Don't think I'm cut out for the whole "working" thing so interested to see how the rest of my life pans out.

What do you do?

Also congrats on the instant new job haha.

Thank you!

And I was a no show about a month ago and one Friday two weeks ago, I just stopped responding because I didn't want to do what I was doing and didn't want to take direction from a bunch of know-nothing kids. I took a nap.
As expected, when you just ghost a job that deals with 200 and 300 million dollar feature films, people tend to notice.
I hated that company, though, so I wasn't about to give them any kind of courtesy. Movies suck nowadays. It's not even a "remember when" thing, it's a definite issue: almost everything I work on is borderline unwatchable in my opinion. Hard to care about stuff that sucks lol.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
90 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 2

Knew three wasn't gonna happen. Recovery has been non-existent the past week. Need to correct that.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 55m (5 trips)

Turned the handles around to see what it would feel like and it didn't do anything but make the movement feel off so scratching that idea.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
50 x 4L/3R
50 x 3 L/R

Reaping what I sow. Top set was trash. Last reps on both were really ugly.
Did an extra set of 3 on each side just to re-groove the lift. Should not have made that big of a jump way back and might have to reset this lift. Will see how next week goes when I've recovered from my several weeks of less-than-stellar self care...

On a technique note, I think elbow being carried back in the rack position is better for my proportions.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 71m (6.5 trips)

[Fossil]

10pm, no warm-up.

One-Arm Overhead Press:
50 x 4 L/R

Then, like 10 minutes later...

One-Arm Overhead Press:
50 x 5 L/R


So much for that weight reset lol.
They used to say certain lifts required a "knack" or "science" to understand, and the 1-Arm OHP is one of them.
Slight technique tweak solved the issues I had. Back-hang definitely helps this lift; you just have to hold the bell more towards the front so when you press it's slightly cocked back towards your body. It's subtle but helps immensely in controlling the weight. This is something you'll find written about in WLing texts from a century+ ago. I use this technique off and on but can't figure out why I ever stop in the first place...
Will repeat this weight next week I think since, despite having DOMS and done without any kind of preparation, it's not really indicative of a "training session" because nothing really came before it and thus, there was no cumulative fatigue. I also want to let my front squat catch up a little.

[DCR]

I use this technique off and on but can't figure out why I ever stop in the first place...

This has been the most consistent theme in my two and a half decades of doing this shit: knowing the best means of doing each movement for me, and then not doing it. The few cues I need are out of my head a minute into the session, if I even think of them at all. It’s a singular context too - I don’t have a focus issue in any other area of life.

[Fossil]

I use this technique off and on but can't figure out why I ever stop in the first place...

This has been the most consistent theme in my two and a half decades of doing this shit: knowing the best means of doing each movement for me, and then not doing it. The few cues I need are out of my head a minute into the session, if I even think of them at all. It’s a singular context too - I don’t have a focus issue in any other area of life.

Some years ago I more or less stopped using any kind of cues for the same reasons you mentioned - they just don't even cross my mind after the first set. I found it easier to alter my grip/foot/setup position.

[Fossil]

Consistency still not good but at least things aren't going backwards...

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
90 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 3

Pretty fast top set. Should probably slow down the first few warmup sets to force the quads to do a little more work.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 71m (6.5 trips)

[Fossil]

The schedule of these sessions is a little screw-y this week but making it work. Will tack on a FS session Friday or Saturday.

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
50 x 5 L/R

Now this is podracing.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 88m (8 trips)

[Fossil]

Right hip flexor+QL area has been really tight since last week's pressing. That's what caused the hip/back over the last few years. I must've let my right leg unlock; gotta remember to keep both legs locked hard when pressing.

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
90 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 4

Not too bad. Last rep of the last set was slower than the previous three, but that was expected.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 66m (6 trips)

These kinda sucked - posture was solid but grip started to give pretty quickly and I did a shorter turn around so the TUT was probably longer than it needed to be. Also, I should've checked the plates beforehand because having wobbly plates certainly didn't make things easier.

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

The "spring" I have from regularly jumping rope is really crazy to me;
I don't ever really push the pace and generally, after about a minute of light "double hops", move onto a steady alternating-feet jog. Occasionally I'll do some really high jumps but never for more than ten or so seconds and generally not more than one or two times in the five minutes.
Today I started springing way up from the first rotation of the rope and to my surprise, it was not only automatic but effortless. I didn't wanna wreck my Achilles / feet from getting overzealous but maintained that for a bit then went into my usual alternating feet. I've also noticed a ton of improvement in those over the past few weeks in that each foot barely leaves the ground as the rope turns.

tl;dr
Jumping rope is good for you.

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
51 x 3 L/R

Baseball bat weights to microload.

Farmers Walk:
70 L/R x 100m

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

Front Squat:
90 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
180 x 5

Top set was very solid. Nowhere near a grind.
Think I might push the 5s on both lifts just a little longer. Maybe a few weeks or so. In the past I've been able to run a rep scheme for 12-16 weeks so thinking since I'm at around 9 weeks of 5s already, might as well push it to 12.
Upped my calories like 5-6 weeks ago - at least I think that's when it was - and it's paid off. Kept off the excess weight I had and still slowly (re)gaining strength.

Farmers Walk:
75 L/R x 55m (5 trips)

[Fossil]

Jump Rope:
5 minutes

One-Arm Overhead Press:
25 x 5 L/R
35 x 5 L/R
40 x 5 L/R
45 x 5 L/R
51 x 5 L/R


Farmers Walk:
75 L/R x 66m (6 trips)

[DCR]

Please excuse me if I’m missing it in your log - why did you switch out the swings for the one arm presses? And did you choose the latter for any reason related to Pavel’s Power to the People regimen? (Solely deadlifts and one arm presses.)