Never-ending Quest to be Leaner, Stronger and Faster. - Page 4 - JP Fitness Forums

gobbla · 09-29-2006, 07:41 AM

a win is a win man.

feel proud of yourself. I'm a big fan of beating ANYONE at anything.

Of course I AM a dick, so that may come into play somewhere.

GG300 · 10-02-2006, 07:02 AM

Saturday September 30 I had a scheduled 4 mile run today and started out with less intrest and energy than I have had over the last several weeks. I pushed through the first couple of miles and then it started to rain. Since I was only a couple of blocks from my starting point the rain was all the excuse I needed to get me headed back to the gym for a shower. When I hit the gym I checked my watch and I had not started the timer but I am sure it wasn't any record setting pace for me. I did several stretches and called it a day. Definetly a low effort day.

GG300 · 10-02-2006, 07:47 AM

Monday October 2 No excuses today nothing hurts I have had a full day of rest and I am ready to kick ass and take names. I started with the standard 10 minute WU on the eliptical. Headed back to the gym area and 2 guys were camping on our 2 benches showing little interest in moving there asses or any weight in the near future so I was going to skip to my 2nd pairing when one of the gym cutties came in the free weight area. That attracted one of baffoons on the benches so he cleared out to go talk with her. Back to the original plan.

PR Zones are 15 minutes with 5 minutes rest in between

1st Zone

Bench Press @170# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5. Total of 60 Lifts*
Low Cable Row @130# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,6. Total of 61 Lifts*

PB of 1 lift on Low Cable Rows

2nd Zone

Plate Raise @45# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4,3. Total of 62 Lifts
St Arm Pulldowns @67.5# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4,3. Total of 62 Lifts

PB of 1 lift on both Plate Raise & Pulldowns

3rd Zone

BB Squats @ 185# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,2. Total of 52 Lifts
Tri Rope Pulls @105# 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,2. Total of 52 Lifts

PB of 2 lifts on Squats and Pulldowns

* I had one guy grab my 2.5# plates of my bar on the bench and another guy grabbed my 5# add on weight from my low cable machine. I think I might have snuck in a few more lifts other wise.

All in all a good workout but that 3rd zone remains very difficult. I continued to have longer rest periods on this zone to keep my breakfast down. I also added some stretching afterwards to try to avoid the leg pain that I expierenced last week after the squat days. I had no leg pain after the step ups on Friday so hopefully I won't get it that bad after the squats today.

GG300 · 10-03-2006, 06:38 AM

Tuesday October 3-scheduled 3 mile run- 4 AM 57 degrees I ran a course near my home for the first time so I have no exact distance comparison. The run felt much better than my feeble attempt on Saturday. I did a little stretching before and after my run but there was no residual leg pain from yesterdays workout which I was very thankful for. The course is a relatively hilly and I finished in a time of 37:34. Afterwards I did three Giant sets of abs and core work consisting of:

Swiss Ball Planks 60 seconds
UB Russian Twists 15 with x 15# DB
Swiss Ball Crunch to Press 15 x 15#DB
Reverse Crunch 15

I was very happy that the run went well as I was afraid I was getting burnt out with no runs in the near future to look forward to. Then I read what others are doing daily and I just want to tell myself to "hike up your skirt and run you big Sally".

GG300 · 10-04-2006, 07:08 AM

Wednesday October 4 Trainer Day I started out with an 18 minute HIIT session on the elipitical 3 min wu/12 min HIIT/3 min CD. Then I went right into the training session.

All sets are straight sets with 2 minutes rest in between

Bench Press 26@135# 5@235# 5@235# 5@235# 5@235#*
Seated BB Front Raise 12@25# 12@30# 12@30#
Combo Lat Pull to Row 12@87.5# 12@87.5# 12@92.5#
Drop Ste Cable Preacher Curls 10@100/70/50/30# 10@90/60/40/25#
Incline Tri Pulldowns 12@120# 12@110# 12@110# 12@110#

* I felt really stromg on the bench for the first 3 sets only needing a light assist with the last 2 reps of each set even though the weight was up 10# this week. The last set was pretty weak only the first 2 reps had anything in them.

My trainers workouts don't seem to be as hard on my body as they were before I did the EDT training. He hits my arms much harder than I do (they are still hurting as I am typing this) but the overall stress on the body is less. I will have to find a diplomatic way of talking to him about that as he has become as much of a friend to me as a trainer. Then again who do I think I am telling him what to do he has got my bench from 155# 3 years ago to where it is today. All this while he worked around a torn rotator cuff, my jumping to NROL for awhile and a few other forays into the workout of the week club. That and he has got my Body Fat % cut in half since I have been working with him from 26.5% to 13%. He has a Laundry List of certifacations and a college degree in this stuff and he can bench 610# and his squats are at some crazy number as well. Second thought maybe I will keep my mouth shut and see how it goes through the end of November when my current sessions are up.

twinsavsvikingsfan · 10-04-2006, 03:14 PM

Dude, I must have just glossed over your lifting numbers in the past. Those are some freaking impressive numbers. Nice.

ParanoidAndroid · 10-04-2006, 04:52 PM

26 with 135...thats crazy man. I wished I knew a trainer that benched 610!

GG300 · 10-05-2006, 06:38 AM

Jim and Pa thanks for the comments, the lifting seems to be more natural for my body type then the running. PA it is a impressive thing to watch my trainer hit his max lifts. He uses 3 spotters but after the lift off it is all him, bent bar and all.

GG300 · 10-05-2006, 07:00 AM

Thursday October 5, 3:45AM - 51 degrees A beautiful morning for a run and the only thing in the hurt coulumn was my arms. After a brisk 1/4 mile walk and some stretching started out on my scheduled 5 mile run. This course starts off with hill which gets me a little tired but quickly goes into a long gradual downhill which gets me to the 3 mile mark. I was determined to get in at least the first 4 miles running today and see what I had left after that. Around 3.5 miles I fell into a nice breathing and stride rythm. At 4 miles I shut out the lazy side of my brain (walk already you moron this is way to far to run) because physically I felt great I wasn't winded and no tightening at all. When I got to the last 1/2 mile of my run, which is all uphill I knew I could finish without any walking. I don't know what it is but when I hit that hill it is like a mental toe rope kicks in and drags me up right to the finish. My time was an astounding 1 second slower than my first attempt at 5 miles at a 1:05:10 but this time I was just happy with running the total distance. I was not dead after the run either which means I could have picked up the pace, which I thought I did after the 3.5 mile mark but it didn't show in my time. Well there is always next week.

twinsavsvikingsfan · 10-05-2006, 11:51 AM

Impressive. You keep getting better. You may not have run it faster but you felt better. That's progress!

GG300 · 10-06-2006, 07:21 AM

Friday October 6 I was looking forward to my WO today to see what kind of numbers I would put up with the heavier weights. I started with a standard 10 minute WU on the eliptical followed by 12 reps using 45# DBs on the incline bench.

PR Zones are 15 minutes with 5 minutes rest between

1st PR Zone

DB Incline Bench @ 65# 7,7,6,7,6,7,5,6,5. Total of 56 Lifts
BB Bent Row @ 110# 7,7,6,7,7,7,5,6,5. Total of 57 Lifts
Increase of 5# on each lift

2nd PR Zone

BB Military Press @90# 7,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4. Total of 51 Lifts
DB Standing Curls @ 32.5# 7,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5. Total of 52 Lifts
Increase of 5# on Military and 2.5# on Curls

3RD PR Zone

Right Step Ups with 25# DB's 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,2. Total of 62 Lifts
Left Step Ups with 25# DB's 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,2. Total of 62 Lifts
PR by 10 reps

I did not have as much trouble as I had expected getting the 65# DB's into position on the Incline Bench but it did take more focus at the end of the zone. The bump on the Military press seemed to make the biggest difference. On the last couple of sets my legs were actually shaking trying to get in the last few reps. The step ups went very easy on the knees today but they still kicked the crap out of my endurance. I will bump the weight on the step ups next week and I am going to try to go with the 35# dbs on curls to balance the difficulty with the presses.

UpNorth · 10-06-2006, 05:52 PM

Great workout! An increase in just about everything and a PR to boot. Thanks for checking in on my log. You look like you've seen a great steady progression over the last few months. Very impressive.

To get heavy dbs into position for pressing I usually sit upright on the bench with the weights on my knees, then give a quick kick off the knees and use that momentum as I lean back to get them up. Sounds tricky but it'll feel natural once you give it a go.

GG300 · 10-08-2006, 06:20 AM

Thanks UN I have been checking out the real runners logs like yours. I am hoping to hone in on what you guys do to keep up your endurance and get your times down. Since I have only been doing any racing (if you can call it that at my speed) since June everything from distance to speed training is all very new to me. For some sick reason I have really been getting a kick out of it though so I will see where it takes me. It surprised the crap out of me that I wanted to keep at it because prior to this June the longest distance I ever ran was 1 mile a few times in High school and that was 29 years ago which I certainly did not enjoy.

GG300 · 10-08-2006, 06:34 AM

Saturday October 7, 4:15AM - 51 Degrees Scheduled 2 mile Run. I started off from my gym after a 5 minute WU on the eliptical and that seemed to make a difference. I was able to start off right away at a faster than normal pace. My strides and breathing were all feeling good so I decided to try to push and see how quick I could do 2 miles. When I got to the street I needed to turn down to make 2 miles I read the street sign that said no outlet so I stretched out the run to the next street that I knew would go through which would add about a 1/2 mile to the run. I was still able to keep a pretty good pace even though I knew I was past the 2 mile mark but I wasn't certain where it was. When I made the final turn and I saw that it was only a 1/4 mile farther I was able to push to a quicker pace. As I crossed the final marker I pushed the button on my stop watch and checked it quick only to realize that I had hit the stop and clear at the same time. So since I started at 4:15 and I checked my watch at the finish at 4:44 I knew that it was under 30. When I checked the distance on mapmyrun it came out to be 2.61 miles. So if I could have kept up some kind of pace it still would have been one of my best training times. I will have to work on my watch skills.

GG300 · 10-08-2006, 06:48 AM

Sunday October 8- 4:15 AM - 53 Degrees Scheduled 4 mile run. After some stretching and a brief WU walk set out on the standard 4 mile course. My goal today was to finish without a walk. I had gotten to bed later than normal and I was still burnt out from the wedding that I helped out with on Saturday. My system was a little off from the weird food schedule but at least I got away without having any drinks.THe first part of the course seemed easier than usual but as I neared the middle either the run from yesterday or the lack of rest kicked in and I went into the old one foot in front of the other mode. I got to miy final stretch of hills and it was all I could do to keep going. Thankfully my foolish sense of preide kicked in and I said to myself "you are not going to put into the log that you pussied out on another 4 mile run". That was enough to get me to the finish. The time was not as bad as I expected at 50:01 and at least I did not have to put in here that I walked. Hopefully I can save that word for my first 6 or better yet 7 miler. Now I have a 5K Diabetes charity walk to go do with my Girlfriends Company. I can remember when I thought that was a big effort. Oh how things change.

UpNorth · 10-08-2006, 02:14 PM

Me? "Real runner" -- I'm flattered. I was a sprinter in high school but never ran over 4 miles (and that distance only a couple of times) until this year, with one exception. Summer before last I tried to complete Hal Higdon's 5k training program. I quit about 3 weeks short of completion with bad ITB pain after a 6 mile run. That glorious run clocked in at an 11 minute per mile pace and I thought I was going to die. Only after months of fairly intense metabolic condition via CrossFit and dillengent work on my running gait through the fall and winter was I able to take on my training this year. I guess I'm living proof that anyone can become a "real runner," even me