Sand & stones may break my bones, but not before it sculpts me

[MindPower]

Previously in my log,
I was moving house and moving in with the in-laws, until our new place was finished.
Well that all happened and we have been living in our new house for almost 4 weeks now, its been awesome.
I have just returned to work from holidays over the Christmas period, it was a much needed break and it was good to spend some time in our new house.
Workouts over that period have been non-existent, although I have been digging plenty of trenches and holes (for trees) and mowing a massive area of grass that was almost as tall as me in places. I guess to be trendy I can call it GPP, but I’ll stick with yard work, and for the first time in years I have been riding my bike a few times a week, it’s about an 8km (~5miles) ride to the post office/general store up some hills that make my legs burn like crazy, its fun and I have a lot of room for improvement.


I bought Zach Even Esh’s Underground Training Manual and now that I have all the space in the world at home I will be getting into the whole Sand Bag, Keg, Tire Pulling / Dragging workouts along with plenty of bodyweight stuff time to get me some real man strength going on whilst the weather is hot and just to get all the neighbours thinking I’m crazy.


I have started doing the program from the manual and as I can get some more equipment together I will probably change / add to them a bit.

New Year, New Log, New Goals
Athletic is probably a good word to describe what I’m after this year.
Not worried about getting bigger or any specific numbers to hit at the moment, Currently I feel good and (Think I) look pretty athletic, I just want to increase my over all strength and have a lot better conditioning and of course continue working on my hip mobility.
As of this morning I was
5’ 10” and 178lbs
That’ll do to get started.

Mark

[Bill2380]

Sounds like fun, enjoy.

[MindPower]

Originally Posted by Bill2380

Sounds like fun, enjoy.

Thanks Bill,

The last few weeks I have been doing the first part of the program, it has been good to get almost back into the routine of regular training.

BW Squats 3 x 15-30
Pushups 3 x 2-3 short of max
Recline Row 3 x 2-3 short of max
Lunge 3 x 12e
Hanging Knee Raise 3 x max

Last night I did a circuit of
3 x
BW Squat x 30
Pushups x 20
Recline Row x 10
Lunge x 12e
Mountain Climber x 30
Recline Row x 10
DB Swing x 25

Then did some 45sec rounds of boxing.

[MindPower]

Wow page 4, Think I need to make some shit up everyday just to keep in the first 2 pages.

Last night went like this

Circuit 2 x
Plate Squat x 25
Pullup x 6
Pushup x 20
Plate Swing x 20
Inverted Row x 10
Mountain Climber x 30

Sandbag carry 3 x 1min
Damn cat pissed on my sandbag, it f*&@n stinks

Then watched Roddick play some tennis

Im off to the coast for the next 4 days, so training will consist of swimming, fishing, bbq's and beer.
I'm sure I was meant to be all buff and ript by the time I got to the beach this year. , maybe next year.

[Simon C]

What happened to heavy lifting?

That sandbag sounds like alot of fun!

[Cynic]

Don't take this as insult, but all the stuff you describe, I call plow horse training.

It's basic weight lifting: functional and variable, but it's something that existed long before barbells and weight plates, before tractors and combines.

[MindPower]

Originally Posted by Simon C

What happened to heavy lifting?

That sandbag sounds like alot of fun!

Theres plenty of time for all that, I'll go back to WS4SB later in
the year, and who said the sand bag aint heavy

Originally Posted by Cynic

Don't take this as insult, but all the stuff you describe, I call plow horse training.
It's basic weight lifting: functional and variable, but it's something that existed long before barbells and weight plates, before tractors and combines.

I'm insulted, well not really
I know its not anything new or revolutionary just something I find enjoyable and just something different to get me all strong and ript

[MindPower]

Well, last night was meant to be day number 1 of lifting consistent again,
family (in-laws) dinner got in the way of that.

Tonight is the night though, I'm off to buy another bag of sand
in a moment for tonights training.

that is all, sorry for wasting your time if you read this

[MindPower]

Tuesday 22-01-08
7:30pm - 8:15pm

Warmup
Cat/Camel
Birdog
Glute Bridge
Band Walk
Leg Swings
Pushup hand touch
arm circles
PNF Diag
B/neck pullaparts

This will be the workout 3 times a week for the next 2 weeks.
1. BW Walking Lunges 3 x 60secs
2 x 34, 1 x 36 - my ass hurts today

2. Staggered grip Pushups 2 x max
1 x 22(RT), 1 x 16(LT) - these didnt feel as weird as I thought they would

3.Pullup 5 x max
2 x 5, 1 x 4, 1 x 2, 1 x 3 - these were hard

4. Bulg Split Squat 3 x 10-15/leg
3 x 10e - these always feel uncomfortable, i need to find the right spot for my back foot.

5. Moutain Climbers (Meant to be HLR) 3 x max
1 x 40, 1 x 30, 1 x 26

6.Sand Bag farmers walk 3 x 1min
3 x ~50 yards with 70lbs each hand
stopped half way to regrip it was really only about 45secs each carry
My hands were killing me when i was finished, I have the sand in a sack so i was gripping the top of the sack to carry them.

I'm pretty sore all over today, it feels good to be back into it.

[Willie]

That looks like a lot of fun!

Have you ever thought about adding a slosh pipe to the mix?

[MindPower]

Originally Posted by Willie

That looks like a lot of fun!

Have you ever thought about adding a slosh pipe to the mix?

thanks for stopping by

thanks for reminding me, the SPoP is something I want to add to the collection,
I have a plumber who lives next door, i just need to remember to ask him to get me the stuff I need

[Willie]

Yeah, my husband loves his, and is going to make me a mini-version. There's no way I could life the 10-ft pipe over my head (I've tried, but it nearly ended in disaster).

I think he just bought some cheap 4" PVC pipe.

[MindPower]

Thursday 24-01-08
7:30pm - 8:10pm

Warmup
O/H Squats x 8
Low Lateral Squat x 8e
O/H rev lunge x 6e
RDL to snatch x 8
Drop Lunge x 6e
Sots Press x 8 - this will take some getting used too

everything was still pretty sore from Monday
#2/6
1. BW Walking Lunges 3 x 60secs
2 x 34, 1 x 36 - no change

2. Staggered grip Pushups 2 x max
1 x 25 (LT) 1 x 14 (RT) - about the same

3.Pullup 5 x max
2 x 5, 1 x 3 changed to chinups 1 x5, 1 x 4.5
my pullup bar setup is pretty dodgy at the moment I have my bar balancing on a ladder and my boxing support.

4. Bulg Split Squat 3 x 10-15/leg
3 x 10e - no change, felt a bit more comfortable

5. Moutain Climbers 3 x max
1 x 50, 1 x 30, 1 x 30 - up reps

6.Sand Bag farmers walk 3 x 1min
2 x ~50 yards non stop (40secs)
1 x ~50 yrds stop halfway.
I was pretty happy with the grip improvement on these. I'll crack the minute non-stop soon.

A little sore today, nothing to bad. Will do it again saturday morning.

[MindPower]

Wanted to add my weight was up to 81.8kg (180.34lbs) today.

and heres a pic of me and my son from last weekend at the beach.
You can probably see the family resemblance.
Thought i would stick this in here so I have something to compare to at the end of the year when i look much better half nekid.

[LisaS]

nice pic - the resemblance is quite remarkable.
(if you come to the northern hemisphere does your face swirl the other direction? )