For Your Health (a hunk's log)

[broseph]

10/15/17 KUA Week 2 Deadlift

Deadlift 415x10 @9. Tell my family I loved them.


370x 4, 4, 4, 4. RPE for the first set was ~8 (ded from the AMRAP), and felt like warmup weights by the last set. I need to remember this as the weights get heavier so I don't chicken out and lower the weight after the first drop set.

Horizontal Pull Up x 7, 7, 7, 7.

Beltless Pause Squat 225x 5, 5, 5 @EZPZ. Fuck front squats. I'm starting these at lightweight (yeah buddy) and titrating from here.

Dragon Flops x 5. Realized I have to hinge at the T-spine to do these (or at least the embarrassing way I do them). Probably not a big deal, but not worth the risk for a stupid ab exercise... Plus they hurt my elbows, and I heard a cracking noise coming from the bench. Who cares!?!?! I don't need to explain myself to you!

Hanging Hip Raise x 6, 6 @EZPZ

[Les]

Nice bench and dealifts! I miss the AMRAP's in my training right now. There is something about gutting that one set out. You are right, after an AMRAP you either have to take a long break, or expect the first drop set or two to be harder.

[broseph]

Nice bench and dealifts! I miss the AMRAP's in my training right now. There is something about gutting that one set out. You are right, after an AMRAP you either have to take a long break, or expect the first drop set or two to be harder.

It's weird how you build up some kind of metabolic debt, and the feeling of impending doom doesn't hit until a couple minutes AFTER the set. You mentioned your 550x10 squat in the KUA thread... Gross.

[broseph]

10/17/17 KUA Week 2 Press

Press 175x10 @9.5


157.5x 8, 8, 8, 8 @8

Paused Bench 265x 6, 6, 6, 6

EZ Curlz 160.5x 8, 8. stopped there due to some elbow weirdness. Also, TFW you curl more than you press.

Lying Tricep Extension 68x 12, 12, 12 @EZPZ

[broseph]

10/18/17 KUA Week 2 Squat

I chickened out on squats today. Low back is still a little toasted from deadlifts and it's the end of the lifting week heading into a deload. I didn't want to struggle through my drop sets and I probably over rated RPE for the AMRAP.

Squat 380x8 @<8. Last rep looks pretty crisp on video replay, but it didn't feel that way.


340x 8, 8, 8, 8 @8. I needed long rests between sets just to get the low back pump to cool down.

Chins +70 x 6, 6, 6, 6.

Abwheel x 20, 20, 20.

Musings: Looks like most of this week's drop sets were @8, which is probably a little heavy. Moving forward I need to watch that. After Week 3 (deload) I will probably do 90% of top set for 6's in Week 4 and then a slightly greater %offset for Week 5, etc. I'm not exactly sure how I want to handle the deload- maybe repeat this week's drop set weights but do 6's instead of 8's (skipping the AMRAPs).

[Les]

Nice squatting. You definitely had more in the tank, but there is nothing wrong with just hitting the requisite reps. You know your body well enough to throttle back a little if needed. For the drop sets, I normally kept slowly moving the weight up every week. But if you feel they were a tad heavy, you could repeat the weight for less reps. Or just add 5# but again shoot for the lower RPE.

[broseph]

Thanks for the kitten. It lifts my spirits.

10/19/17 Cardio

C2, damper @8
25:00
5181 m
Heart rate ~140

[broseph]

10/21/17 KUA Week 3 (deload) Bench

Bodyweight 216. I was maintaining weight at 3800Cal/day. Now I'm gaining a pound a week on 4000... Ooookay!

I'm taking the every 3rd week deload in KUA because this matches what has worked for me recently. Also my low back has been talking to me a lot the past week and my shoulders and elbows feel kinda junky. ALSO I had just done a week of 8's prior to starting KUA.

Plan is to skip the AMRAP on all lifts and repeat last week's back off sets, maybe minus a set or two of squats. This will still end up giving me some decent upper body volume, a solid deadlift deload, and a medium squat deload.

Bench 275x 8, 8, 8, 8 @7. Heavier than I expected- glad I took the deload.

Press 165x 6, 6, 6 @6-ish?

Close Grip Bench 225x 8, 8, 8 @EZPZ

BB Curl 110x 15, 15, 15.

[broseph]

10/22/17 KUA Week 3 (deload) Deadlift

Juuuuuust as I finished my last warmup I got called in for an emergency at work. So instead of 4x4 I did 2x6 with 2 minutes rest and left in my workout clothes.

Deadlift 370x 6, 6 @EZPZ

I planned on finishing the workout later in the day, but ended up working longer than expected, hadn't eaten since breakfast.... Who cares, it's a deload week.

[broseph]

10/22/17 Basically Nothing

Since I did so little yesterday I thought I'd do some conditioning today. Felt tired and my low back was not having a good time so only:

C2, damper @8
3k
15:30

I hate that low back fatigue is the limiting variable on the rower. I'm going to look up how they do cardiac stress tests with medication only for people that can't run. Gotta cut out the middle man (actual exercise).

[Allentown]

I hate that low back fatigue is the limiting variable on the rower.

Want to trade for a broken treadmill?

[broseph]

10/24/17 KUA Week 3 (deload) Press

Press 165x 8, 8, 8, 8 @7.5 I stayed a little heavy for my press deload.

Pause Bench 265x 4, 5, 4, 4 @EZPZ. I filmed the 2nd set just to make sure my pauses were long enough. Because I can't count 2 things at the same time, I did an extra rep. Who knows how many reps I did on the non-filmed sets. Probably a ton.


EZ Curl 160.5x 8, 6, 6. Curls are strange; 8 reps is near limit for sets across at this weight, but 6 reps felt way too easy.

LTE 78x 12, 12, 12 @EZPZ. Still slowly increasing these because of my dainty glass elbows.

I hate that low back fatigue is the limiting variable on the rower.

Want to trade for a broken treadmill?

Sounds fair.

[broseph]

10/26/17 KUA Week 3 (deload) Squat

I got lucky with the deload this week. I ended up working a bunch of odd hours which really messes with sleeping and eating, and mustering up the focus for actual heavy meaningful lifting would not have been easy.

Squat 340x 6, 6, 6, 6. Crisp as this morning's frost. I filmed the last set just to verify crispiness:


Chins BW x 15, 15, 15. Would it kill Rogue to make a knurled pull up bar attachment? Surely not everyone kips all their pull/chin ups.

Abwheel 20, 20, 20.

Musings: I've been squatting shirtless lately, and recently noticed a huge increase in my B&R bar oxidation, obviously due to my disgusting sweaty body. So no more of that I guess. Instafitnessfame is not worth the price of admission.

[TimK]

Musings: I've been squatting shirtless lately, and recently noticed a huge increase in my B&R bar oxidation, obviously due to my disgusting sweaty body. So no more of that I guess. Instafitnessfame is not worth the price of admission.

Bro! You'll be able to buy whatever bar you want when sales of your new supplement line skyrocket following all those shirtless posts.

[broseph]

10/28/17 KUA Week 4 Bench

Bodyweight 216.6

Bench 322.5x 7 @9. I was hoping for 8 today, so please consider the following excuses: I tried using a mouth guard because the dentist told me I was grinding my teeth (even though I'm a mouth breather) and I couldn't get big breaths without dislodging the guard and was distracted by it the whole time. Also, my tricky knee tricked out on the 2nd rep so I lost all leg drive for the set.

I even timed the first rep with a beat drop... disappointing.

290x 6, 6, 6, 6 @6.5. These were literally flying off my chest. Shoulda got 8 on that top set!

Press 155x 8, 8, 8 @7

CGBP 245x 8, 8, 10 (to verify my assessment that the 8's were @8)

BB Curlz 110x 15, 15, 15

Bro! You'll be able to buy whatever bar you want when sales of your new supplement line skyrocket following all those shirtless posts.

Gotta get a better booty first. Need to consult gilchrest.

*ETA bodyweight data

[Les]

That top set looked pretty fast for a 9!

[broseph]

That top set looked pretty fast for a 9!

Yeah... like I said, too many distractions. I’m excited for next week though.

[broseph]

10/29/17 KUA Week 4 Deadlift

Deadlift 435x7 @8


Just like benching yesterday, these felt much grindier than the video reals. Oh well, it's more than 6 reps, so... winning.

385x 4, 4, 4, 4. Last set @6.5.

Horizontal Pull Ups x 8, 8, 8.

Pause Squats 275x 5, 5, 5 @crisp. Never pause squatted before this program, so I'm titrating slowly. Filmed the first set to look for any glaring flaws- the angle's a little tight but overall I think they're fine.


Abs something x 6, 6... I've been doing "non-isometric L-sits" and calling them "hanging hip raises," which they are not. I tried actual hanging hip raises, and the dynamic L-sits are harder. Then I did 15 second static L-sit and really felt it. So maybe I'll do 3 sets of static holds. Obviously, none of this matters at all.

[broseph]

10/30/17 Cardio

C2, damper @6
5K
25:39
Avg stroke rate ~24/min

Boring personal notes:
*I quit doing a dedicated warm up and instead just build up my heart rate through the session, going from ~120 to ~145 bpm. This felt good.
*I finally did a full session with the damper @less than 8, and the low back fatigue was greatly reduced.
*For the last 500m I tried Chebass's's' baseline pace of 2:00 splits @20spm... Those are some explosive/expensive strokes.

[broseph]

10/31/17 KUA Week 4 Press

Press 182.5x 8 @9.25


165x 6, 6, 6, 6. last set @6.5. The AMRAP makes the first drop set seem a little heavy, but then they always get easier. Maybe I should rest less between sets.

Pause Bench 275x 6, 6, 6 @fairly easy. I haven't done enough pause work to judge an accurate RPE.

EZ Curlz 160.5x 8, 8, 8.

LTE 88x 12, 12, 12 @still ezpz

Musings: My wife bought "Mystery Flavor" Oreos. They taste like Fruity Pebbles, which to me is disgusting.