Exercise | 2020-33 | rows

Nothin much to report.

61 rows in 30min

Lungs feeling much better

Ninja edit: Shoulders are not really sore from yesterday in the same way that my lats were SORE AF from pullups (and likely will be again after these rows). I think the major differences are:

• Each pull rep has a firm contraction on every rep. The pushups were just banged out.
• Pike pushups are still kind of new to me and aren't as taxing as their sexy cousin HSPU.

Exercise | 2020-32 | Pike pushups

Muscles were ready to go, but my lungs are heart weren't. All this meant is I cut back on the volume a bit by taking longer rest periods.

It feels GREAT to get some sun while getting in a quick lift. This is my shit. Repeat. This is what I have been looking for. I'm so happy this misfortune helped me find opportunity.

Warmup
Shoulder and knee mobility

Workout
30min pike pushups = 52 reps
Feet elevated on ~2ft box
No paralettes or weight added yet

Cooldown
Same as warmup

Exercise | 2020-31 | lateral drags

Tried lateral sled drags for the first time. What did NOT work well for me was: 

1. Crossing leg over leg. That shit made my knees feel terrible and i felt nothin in my glutes.

2. Shuffling as fast as possible. Momentum pulled the sled from my bacl way more than from my hips.

What actually worked for me.

3. Letting momentum completely bleed out of the sled. Move laterally enough to take the slack out, then use the leg furthest away from the sled to explode to the side. Repeat.

4. Same as (3) above, but contiual quick shuffles using the same foot to explode laterally. Stop anytime you stop feeling your hips drive the weight.

(3) felt harder but was easy cardio

(4) was easier but was much harder cardio

Warmup

Shoulder mobility (t's, y's, handcuffs)

Foam roll knees and quads

Warmdown

Same as warmup

home gym | current stuff

Current inventory and next purchases.

Calisthenics
Olympic rings (plastic)
Olympic rings (wood)
18in Paralettes
Dip station (not used anymore)

Misc
10ft lengths of chain (3)
15lb kettlebell
45lb kettlebell
62lb kettlebell
Ab wheel
Weight vest (20lbs)
Weight vest (50lbs)
Ghetto sled and ~70lbs of sand

Wish list
Trap bar + weight set

one lift each day: bodyweight version

Got a new horizon ahead of me due to corona fucking my lungs. The name of the game is getting lots of vitamin D while getting in a workout. Lift outside, and lift daily.

Here's how we do:

Lift time~11 to 1

No sets done to failure

30min per day

Schedule

Sat - pullups

Sun - pike press or hspu

Mon - sled drags

Tues - rows

Wed - dips

Thurs - sled drags

Fri - wildcard or off

Progression

Week 1: 

bodyweight only 

Focus on volume

Week 2: 

Add weight and/or range of motion

Strive to get 1/2 the volume of week 1

Week 3:

Add weight and/or range of motion

Strive to get 1/2 the volume of week 2

Week 4:

Off

Note: These workouts will replace regular grease the groove workouts during the workday. Instead of GtG, I'll focus on shit I still need a ton of work on (see: shoulder mobility, knee mobility, ab strength).

Exercise | 2020-30 | easy there tiger

First exercise since i started feeling ill. Lungs are still pretty shoddy so i played it extremely safe.

All in all, i accidentally found something that may work better than grease the groove while also incorporating my desire to get some daily sun.

Warmup

Shoulder and knee mobility

Workout

30min of ring pullups

No sets to failure

Total volume 63 reps bodyweight

Get some sun between sets

I feel ok after this. Not great not bad. Still recovering. 

COVID-19 Experience

I can't sleep because lying on my back makes my shortness of breathe come out. So now I'm working  and watching let's play's of Half Life Alyx.

If anyone is looking for shit on this disease, here's my info.

M35
No past history to be worried about except pnemonia in middle school (although this even has made me repeat every sketchy decision I've made for my lungs. Thanks brain).
I've been in isolation for weeks already since I work at home. I have no idea how I got this.
Right now my symptoms lie in the mild to moderate range. Kinda fucking scary but not ER scary.

Consistent across all days:
low to no sex drive (may be very specific to me on this one)
symptoms come and go with the wind

3/16
Felt...something? I didn't feel bad or anything, just a weird I'm gonna get sick feeling.

3/18
Last workout I've completed. Was feeling kinda weird going into this but a tank right after.
All week my usual grease the groove pullups/dips/rows felt off. The strength just wasn't there.

3/20
Actively not feeling great. No fever. Just not kicking ass at work and actively getting stressed/annoyed at people.

3/21
Mild headache. Super low energy but can't sleep. I'm basically horizontal all day. My back hurts and feels like it weights 1000lbs. It's making weird ass noises like I'm farting and I don't understand why. I attribute this to allergies and my back generally being an asshole.

101 fever hits at night. I'm a little disoriented. Freezing and hot at the same time. I start wearing a onesie with a hoodie inside.

3/22
Wake up feeling ok but a headache hits the moment I get out of bed. I'm also covered in a pool of my own sweat so that's cool. No appetite.

I spend the entire day horizontal. Low ass energy but otherwise I feel ok. By bedtime I feel actually really great.

3/23
Wake up in a pool of my own sweat again. I'm not enjoying how i feel but it's not bad either.

Then the shortness of breathe hits and it suucccckkkkksssssss. Like sucking air through a tunnel. I can breath but it's now a conscious effort. Sometimes there is a small tightness in my upper chest, sometimes not. This happens on and off a few times a day ranging from 5min - 10min (I didn't time this, and every time honestly felt like an eternity).

The second loss of wind got triggered when my girlfriend and I went for a slow walk outside. Literally 1min of walking and I had to ask her to stop and turn around.

I tried going to bed but I started sucking air again. So here we are.

Will update this thread as the days keep going. Stay safe people.

EDIT1: 3/24
Well not sleeping last night sucked but I actually feel pretty excellent right now. No symptoms except the same crazy sweats and a very slight chest tightness. Was able to get some sleep last night. Girlfriend worked from home today in case we needed to escalate.

Today has been a pretty good day all things considered (i.e. compared to the shitshow yesterday). Tightness in my chest and shortness of breath comes back if i move around quickly but goes away immediately if i chill. No fever. Slight pain in my neck. Mentally not 100% but that can be attribited to fucked up sleep as well.

Cant sleep lying down again. Breathing is miles better than yesterday but still not confortable. I made myself a makeshift bed on a chair.

Edit2: 3/25

Happy birthday to me!

I slept kinda! WEIRD DREAM. I was on a cliff face on top of violent rapids. People were on the face with me quickly traversing to the right as the water slapped ua and threatened to drag us under. I had a burlap bag with me that i used to pull in tiles from the wall (no idea why). I did not see anyone fall in but i overtook a lot of slower climbers on the way. The rapids were not like regular water. The nornal water was about a 2 in intensity with intermiddent waves that moved at 100mph that would slap the walls.

On the other side, i hung out for a few minutes and asked where the exit was. There was a brief conversation with an kld acquaintance on how was Pixar animation acceptable and anime not (comparison Up v Neon Genesis Evangelion). At the end of this conversation i was told there was no exit. You exit the way you came.

Back over the cliff face, except this time there was a fancy dinner party. Climbers had wine or were not particularly moving at all over the rapids. One person i knew from yesrs ago - scott - was flying solo and laughed when i passed him. 

Woke up with a sore throat. Still minor.

Edit 3/26

Slept much better. Feel pretty good overall. Still have a nasty wet cough but nothing hurts. 

The only thing that still sucks is lying down. Feels like there is a plug in my lungs.

Edit 3/27

Best day yet. I actually slept lying down last night! Im still havjng trouble with activity (lung capacity is fucked) and im coughing shit out of my lungs but physically and mentally im great.

Edit 3/28

Sleeping isnt an issue anymore. There are still random pockets where i get a little short of breathe, but they last 2min and are extremely minor compared to last Monday. Little yellow flags pop up periodically but then amount to nothing.

Edit 3/30
Feel more or less back to normal. Appetite is normal, sex drive is normal, sleep/breathing/energy is normal. Still taking workouts easier than I normally would but otherwise things are good.

Edit 4/7
Shit is weird dude. I'm still fine for the most part, but I get random light symptoms from time to time.
- shortness of breathe for ~5-10min
- sore throat
- sleep patterns are WEIRD (I'm up at 4 whether I like it or not)
- sex drive is 0

Edit 4/15
Rarely cough shit up anymore. Lung capacity is definitely not 100% but it's still better. Taking it easy on conditioning for the next week or so. Stopping any workout if i start to feel even the tiniest bit meh.

Good news on the lifting front is I can always get 1 hard set in. It doesn't really take a lot of conditioning for one calisthenics set of 5-10. Once I start ramping up the volume though, lungs be angry.

Each week kinda follows a cycle. I get a little worse near the beginning then gradually better near the end. But each time I get worse it's easier and easier to deal with. Eventually it will be gone.

Exercise | 2020-29 | dragssss

Man these are so fuckin great. I feel like a million bucks. 

Step1: Load the sled

Step2: Turn on music and set a 20min timer

Step3: Drag the sled for 20min

Step4: profit?

Im finding i like slower but more consistent pulls with heavier loads. This means ill get less reps overall but it's a solid 18 to 20min of tension.

Warmup: bouncy bouncy bounces 

Drags: ~150lbs for 20min

Style: straight backwards ir zigzag backwards

Thoughts for next time:

- i want to try a lighter load but do side pulls (trying my regular backwards pull was hell)

- the ratio of drags to quick and the dead should be 2:1. Quick and the dead is amazing but it has a wear and tear factor sled drags just dont. I feel like blood is pumped to every part of my body. This is a money fucking exercise.

grease the groove week 2 revisited

2 days into week 2 and ive made some judegement calls.

Dips: removing the added weight. No reason why i need to shoot for anything but more volume and stability. My ability to externally rotate my shoulders is not so hot yet. Lots to work on.

Minor assistance: ring curls and ring rear delts. Get in easy reps.

Stretches: stretch chest lats and shoulders after ever set 

Exercise | 2020-28 | quick and the dead 100 reps | garlic

100 reps one handed swings

100 reps explosive pushups

I feel, ok? Corona virus? Bueler? Not sure if im tired or infected. Adding raw garlic to my morning lentils cause why the fuck not.

One handed swings felt kinda wrong? Again, not sure if this is cause I'm tired or fatigued or whatever. 

Week 2: No sugar

Still not really difficult to stay off of the sweet stuff. I've asked Ana to buy whatever she wants, but I'm personally not going to bring sugar into the house.

No cravings that were difficult to dismiss. I'm definitely finding full day fasts are way harder (usually I'm good until around 230p and then I want to eat the world) which is annoying but more a willpower thing than a sugar thing.

Body composition has remaining pretty consistent. Energy levels and well being pretty much the same as they have been. Sex drive slightly lower than usual.

Grease the Groove: Week 1 Testing Day

Testing day results 
[Ring Dips]
Last week: 8 shaky ass BW dips
Today: 14 easy stable BW dips
Next week: 2-3reps/set with 15lbs added
GREAT progress. I've noticed the best gains in stability over everything else.

[Ring Rows: Feet Elevated]
Last week: 9 BW rows
Today: 10 BW rows
Next week: 5reps/set

[Ring Pullups]
Last week: 4 BW pullups
Today: 7 BW pullups
Next week: 3reps/set


Very happy with how things have gone in this first week. All markers increased, and all movements feel way more stable than they did even a week ago. For real, my dips last week were shaky and grindy. This week I felt like a piston.

Pullups and rows were a very slight disappointment, but I'm also doing both of them collectively less than dips (set1: dips + pullups, set2: dips + rows, set3: dips + rows, set4: dips+pullups) so I'm getting less solid practice with each. Progress is still progress.

ethos | grey hair exercise

Extension of the 'types of exercise' post a few weeks ago. This is a collection of the things that are actively working for me and why. The grey hair factor points to why through injury and random age bullshit I'm choosing to do what I'm doing.

2x a week: Quick and the Dead (Pavel)

• Type: Power training
• Length: 28min
• Volume: 100 reps KB swings, 100 reps explosive pushups
• Difficulty: Medium
• Risk: Medium
• Grey hair factor: Captures the element of the explosive training I actually want to do (see: cleans and high pulls) with a fraction of the risk.

I've found it best to only engage when I'm feeling fresh after a good night's sleep. The only time I've ever actually gotten hurt was jumping cold into 32kg swings after I woke up feeling like ass with a lower back that was already fatigued from everything else that happened that week.

Risk is listed as medium because of repeated hinges under load. 

The goal here is to apply more power over time. Each rep should be as savage as humanly possible. Eventually some measure of level up params can be applied, but these can be farrrrr in the distance. Level up params:

• Lvl1 KB: Add forceful downward push to swings
• Lvl2 KB: Add band tension
• Lvl3 KB: Heavier bell
• Lvl1 Pushup: Add band tension
• Lvl2 Pushup: Add weighted vest 

Warmups include:

(inside)

• Standing banded side to side walks (I do this while drinking coffee).
• Front and side planks. 1-2 reps per side focus on full body contraction below the neck for ~10s per hold.

(outside)

• Kettlebell sumo deadlift 2x10 super set with...
• Suitcase carry ~30yards each hand
• Swings (lighter bell) 2-3x5

Warmdown includes:

• Hanging from rings a la spinal decompression
• Front and side planks 1-2reps of 10s per side.

1-3x a week: Sled drags

• Type: Conditioning
• Length: 15-20min
• Volume: No set volume. As much as possible.
• Difficulty: Easy
• Risk: Low
• Grey hair factor: Builds legs and work capacity with very little injury risk or spinal loading. Tonic effect on knees and back from repeated concentric loading.

Look, we all want to do squats and deads and cleans and blugghghghghhhh. Sometimes it's not in the cards son. And even though my knee issues are really more 'quads are too fucking tight' issues, I'm enjoying keeping or growing my legs from something that makes me feel nothin but great.

The other major benefit to sled drags is they are great replacements for otherwise shit days. So let's say we are looking at a day when I'm not feeling 100%. My back is kinda meh, knees are kinda meh. I'm just overall tired. You can still always, always get in a sled drag. Fuck man, just take a light load and pull it around for 20min.

Level up params: Add more weight to the sled. This is not a progressive overload thing. Sometimes do heavy pulls. Sometimes do light pulls. Don't over complicate things. 

Warmups and warmdowns are the same as quick and the dead, although I've noticed less warmup is needed for sled drags to hit a groove.

5-7days a week: Grease the groove

• Type: Strength and hypertrophy
• Length: 1-2min per set. As many sets as possible per day (15min <= time between sets < 2hrs).
• Volume: 1/2 reps/set as testing day. Strive to have at least a 1:1 ratio between presses and pulls.
• GTG Movements: Ring dips, ring pullups, ring inverted rows, front/side planks.
• Difficulty: Medium
• Risk: Medium
• Grey hair factor: Build upper body size and strength with little to no fatigue.

Previous attempts at GTG used KB presses. It worked. Extremely well. The problem I found was that in my time of injury, repeated (even light) loading of my lower back via KB cleans fucked me up over time. Replacing KB presses with something with less spinal decompression (i.e. ring everything) is a nice sub both because of the safety factor, but also because bodyweight calisthenics are extremely easy to load (whereas each kettlebell is both expensive and a fairly large increase in weight). 

This is the only method on this post that strives to use classic progressive overload after successfully increasing reps under load on each testing day. If you have to round on 1/2 reps, round down. Planks have no level up structure.

Level up params:

• Testing day: Attempt to perform 12 reps on ring dips, pullups, and rows.
• Training day: Each set, perform testing day reps / 2. Stop any set that slows down even slightly. Isometric pauses on dips and rows are welcome additions to avoid staleness.
• Testing day (following week): Retest for 12 reps. If you hit 12 reps, slightly increase weight (5-15lbs) and restart.

Example:

• Saturday (testing day): Dips 8 reps, Rows 9 reps.
• Training day (Sunday - Thursday): Dips 4 reps / set. Rows 4 reps / set. Front/side planks 1-2 reps per side.
• Saturday (testing week 2): Dips 14 reps. Rows 10 reps.
• Training day (Sunday - Thursday week 2): Dips+5lbs 2-3reps/set. Rows 5 reps / set. Front/side planks 1-2 reps per side.

Exercise | 2020-27 | quick and the dead 100 reps

This shit fires me the fuck up. Power training for the win.

100 two handed swings 20kg kettlebell

100 knuckle pushups 

Warmup this time was way better. Felt like my swings were powerful right out of the gate.

Warmup

Sumo deadlift 2x10

Suitcase carry 50yards

Swings 3x10 8kg kb

Grease the groove: Week 1

Grease the groove sets are going extremely well. Once every hour or so I make my way out to the garage for:
- 4 rip dips
- 2 ring pullups or 4 ring rows
- 1 set of front/side planks

None of these sets have felt difficult which is great. Body overall feels fantastic. I'm looking forward to retesting my max reps this weekend. Likewise, also looking forward to adding some progressive overload a la weighted calisthenics once my max reps hits 12.

In any case, I'm accruing wayyyyy more volume day by day than I would by doing 10x3 in a single day. The lack of soreness and fatigue is also pretty fantastic.

Dips 10x3 = 30 weekly reps
Dips 4 reps / set x 6 sets per day x 5 days = 120 weekly reps

Exercise | 2020-26 | Drags and carries

Too tired to write. Shoot me in the face.

15min of
KB Sumo Deadlift x 10
Suitcase carry 30yards
Sled drag 30yards

KB = 62lbs
Sled = 80ish pounds?

Sand only sled is too light. May need to upgrade sled modalities in order to drag more weight.

week 1 no sugar

I decided to do a month of no sugar at the end of february. Today marks week 1 and some change. Noticable improvements:

- Better sleep. Insomnia is rare.

- Hunger is way easier to control.

- Body comp improving, but that can be an extension of hunger control.

All good things. So far, dont miss it.

exercise | 2020-25 | quick and the dead 100 reps

Man oh man did i miss this.

100 two handed swings 45lb kb

100 explosive pushups 

Done in 5 rep sets per exercise

30min total 

Ive been freaked out to do this since i tried out a 62lb kb under fatigue and fuuuucked my back up. 

Lemme tell you why i love this.

I feel younger and faster and better.

The pushups dont have a hypertrophic effect on their own, but they support strength and hypertrophy in other movements. Theyre essentially a plyometric drop every rep with a quick rebound. A mother fuckin upper body depth drop.

100 reps needs to be the standard. If im not feelin it, i have 2 other methods for moving around (see: carries and drags).

On the other end of the spectrum, I tested my max reps per grease the groove moves so ive got a baseline for the rest of the week. This was done deliberately under sone fatigue because id rather do less reps per gtg set than overestimate my work capacity.

Gtg (all on rings)

Dips: 9, gtg 4

Pullups: 4, gtg 2

Pushups: 4, gtg 2

Rows: 9, gtg 4

This means every gtg set when im taking work breaks will be;

Dips 4, pullups 2, planks 1 set all sides

Or

Puships 2, rows 4, planks 1 set all sides

exercise | 2020-24 | drags and dips

Diet

Sugar update: day5 no sugar. Still easy. Finding 20hr fasts are way fuckin easier without sugar the night before. Hunger is minor if it exists at all.

Been breaking my fast with pea protein past couple of weeks but im exchanging that for regular food. Protein powder has gotta be an emergency source of protein instead of the reg. 

Exercise

Lower back was fine until about 11min in to sled pulls. Cut the 15min timer short with no regrets.

Dragged weight

2 sandbags

20lb weight vest

100lbs kettlebells

Ring dips bw only

8 11 14 17 21 24 27 30

Great progress! Upped min 1st set reps by 3 and every rep felt incredibly stable. Not increasing weight just yet. We shall see how the next session goes.

Ring pushups extended ROM

10 3 4

Very very happy to compliment both pulling and pushing main vertical moves with horizontal assistance. Extended rom feels wonderful. Consider longer rest between sets.

Rear delt different foot positions

3 sets

Not worried about rom here. Contract rear delts as hard as possible as if we were doing db swings.

Tri ext different foot positions

3 sets

Fuckin hard

exercise | 2020-23 | sled drags and pullups

Sled drag 15min 

~ 150lbs

Only walked backwards with a focus on small steps (avoiding rowing the weight)

Ring pullups 30reps in sets below

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 26 28 30

1min rest between sets

Assistance 3 super sets

Ring rear delt raise 10 15 18

Kelso vertical row 6 9 11

Minor assistance

Ring curls 10 13

One arm 3

grease the groove | abs | set point 1

Weird little thing happens when i discover where im weak. The anger man. It erodes in volumes.

I had a draft prepped and ready about how i was ready to reincorporate kb grease the groove sets into my work schedule. Nothing wrong with that. I want big fuck off shoulders and traps, and gtg is a great method for adding on some beeeeeeef.

Unfortunately thats not the main quest. What's the main quest ass hat?

- fix your back

- fix your knees

Right o bucko. This doesn't mean gtg is out the window. It means gtg encompasses movements for my abs and erectors. Knees are handled via 3-4x weekly sled pulls until i find a better option.

Picked up convict conditioning this sunday, and wouldnt ya know it. A couple of easy level 1 progressions for abs and back that i cant hit the level up progression for.

Gtg back and abs

Abs | level1 | knee tuck | 6 reps!!! Ahhh

Back | level1 | glute bridge | 29 reps

Gtg abs 3 reps

Gtg back 14 reps

Retest in 2 weeks

Exercise | 2020 - 22 | drags and dips

Dragging weight
Loaded up my sled as much as humanly possible (i.e. sandbags are near capacity). Great 15min workout but the rubber connector snapped near the end. No biggie.

Calisthenics 

I was showing ana ring dips and accidentally knocked out 5. Figured might as well continue to the point of adaptation (28ish reps).

Workout (all movements on rings)
- Dips: 28 reps in ~10sets
- BW tricep extensions: until i couldn't
- Rear delts: until i couldn't

Also, day 2 no sugar. Still on easy mode.