a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[.V.]

04-17-2006

Arms/Day 2
Skullcrushers - made it through warmup/acclimation, then ended up with the 135 in the floor twice.

Tricep Pressdown.....127.5x5x2

Comments
The weight is getting too heavy to do skullcrushers safely right now so I switched to pressdowns - similar exercise, decent carryover. After dropping 135 twice, couldn't budge 130 so reduced to 125.5 and got all my sets/reps.

Hopefully my arms will work tomorrow. After lifting I told my wife she'd probably have to feed me tomorrow because I've overamped on tricep work. She reminded me it wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

Edit: 3 week strength gains...
Shrug 275-305
Mil Press 115-125
Deadlift 255-295, P/U 25-45
Bench 175 ending at 155 - 185 and finishing with it
cable crunch 115-125
Squat 225-245
Calf raise 315-325
Curl 125-145
Tricep 115-127.5

I'm give out. Looking forward to my week off. I'll be eating well, resting, and doing some cardio...no lifting at all except for when required by work and I can't find a firefighter to do my lifting for me.

If I can find a way to hit the whole body doing a true OLAD instead of TLAD, I'll probably do it right next 3 week cycle. I just don't want to neglect anything.

I know squats can take care of the hamstrings. Bench and pullups will take care of the arms - might even help by not OVERTRAINING them.

I just don't know how to fit shrugs, mil press, deadlift, pullup, bench, squat, and crunch all in one week and still take 2 days off. Suggestions appreciated. And if explained well enough to make me understand...will be followed.

Week off, 3 more weeks of this, another week off, then back to good ole' Max OT, with some extra strength to make it work better.

[tim_mcf]

In the floor? Are you going to have to do some carpentry now?

In the floor is better than in your skull.

[.V.]

Originally Posted by tim_mcf

In the floor? Are you going to have to do some carpentry now?

In the floor is better than in your skull.

Naah, after the repairs from tossing the bar behind me on a squat failure I got a sheet of plywood to move around the gym to lift on and drop weights on. Spreads the weight across the floor better and damages it instead of the floor. And I'm not nearly as dumb as I look (my dad always told me that and now I believe him) it only took me twice to learn to keep more weight than I can handle safely AWAY FROM MY HEAD.

I should have said ON the floor, not IN the floor. IN hasn't happened since getting the plywood. I still work to failure and still drop weights...I just don't make holes in the floor now.

[MostMuscle]

I few quotes from the author of OLAD.......

• One Lift a Day might open up a new training paradigm for many lifters: core exercises are core and assistance exercise assist! In the past decade, many trainers have forgotten this basic truth.
• I can hear some of you already: "What about abs? What about serratus?" Trust me, a forty-five minute workout of Military Presses will work the abdominal muscles as well as any machine advertised on late night television.

My suggestions:

• Cut out the curls and pressdowns. I feel this additional work may be hurting your progress on the pullups and bench press.
• Cut out the shrugs and add it to the deads...meaning shrug at the top of the deadlift, in effect a power shrug. Two birds, one stone.
• Don't apply OLAD to abs. If you must, do a few "normal" sets of abs 2-3 times per week after the workout.
• Don't worry about calves. They will not disappear in 3 weeks, especially with the running you are doing.

This leaves your workout looking like this:
(In whatever order you like)

• Bench Press
• Power Shrug
• Pull up
• Mil Press
• Squat

[.V.]

Man, that's just what I needed. Thank you very much.

I actually read the first two parts over at T-Nation. And I'm certain he is correct in what he said about abs. However, I don't know if it will work them as well as heavy crunches. I'm going to give it an honest shot though - you obviously have more experience and WAY more results than I do.

One note about "normal" sets of abs. I try to train my abs like any other muscle or muscle group - heavy with lower volume. Why? I need to make them as big and strong as possible...remember I used to weigh 300 lbs. I've still got some loose skin to fill up with muscle. Maybe when I do my abs, I'll do them in sets of 6-8...8-10 at the most.

[Klinger]

I'll argue that you don't even need to bench. You ever seen an Oly lifter with no pecs? Me neither. My OLAD would look like this:

Deadlift
Clean & press
Squat
Pullup

That leaves 3 days for cardio or laying on the couch to recover.

[.V.]

Originally Posted by Klinger

That leaves 3 days for cardio or laying on the couch to recover.

I've done quite a bit of that lately - especially the first week. It stomped my butt bad. 2nd week better. 3rd week, really heavy for me - kicked my butt again. MM was right, after 3 weeks, time off is definitely looked forward to with anticipation. This will probably be the first week they don't have to lock me out of my gym.

[.V.]

04-18-2006

I'm enjoying my first day off from lifting. It's an opportunity to get caught up on some cardiovascular fitness without pushing too far. I seem to get deconditioned for cardio pretty quickly.

Walk 1/4 mile slow then 1/4 mile fast
Run 3 miles in 23:22:97 - my personal best. Stopped running because my HR was 180 BPM.
Walked another 3 or 4 miles with a 3/4 mile cross country run in the middle of it.
Decided to run down the dam, across the bottom of it then back up the other side over some fairly rough terrain. Wasn't the best idea I ever had. I think I'll do it again in a couple of days. I'll take the pedometer so I know how far the extra hills and CC running actually are instead of guessing.

I got pretty tired, perhaps it's because of going out with only 513 calories in me by that point. Usually I do cardio late in the evening after eating all day. Today I went earlier on P-68g (54%), F-22g (39%), C-10g 8%.

[ajarvis]

Good Job on the PB! Great time!

Great run Andy. With that PR, future posts about how you can't run will fall on a deaf ear here.

Have a great day.

p.s. - I saw your recent photos and I think you look good. With the cut, you'll look even better. Nice thick back and good arm span. I'm sure you can throw a good punch.

[.V.]

Amanda, pierini,

Thanks. However, there are no good punches. Occasionally necessary ones, but none are ever good - except for beating the hell out of the bag sometimes.

The running is definitely getting better. No easier, but better. If I could remember to pace myself a bit more I probably wouldn't end up running slower than I can walk near the end. Either way, I'll never be a racer, but I'll be healthier for my efforts at least. I'm really looking forward to the hill running tomorrow and will right up until I actually start up it. I'm going to start on the big hill first - that's going to hurt my time but help my legs. If the weather service is right, I may get rained out. I'm not afraid of rain, but lightning while running across a dam scares me pretty bad.

[Klinger]

Andy - awesome job on the run. A sub-8-minute pace. Not bad at all, man. Like the weights, it's just mind over pain. Keep raising that bar.

[.V.]

04-20-2006

Cardio
Ran 3+ miles
Walked <2 miles
Walked down the hills that kicked my butt last time and ran up them both a couple of times.

3 mile time - 25:52. Definitely not an improvement here.

My bike is badly damaged from the dog incident. Repair costs are going to be close to the cost of a new one so I'm looking at some new ones tomorrow. That's gonna bite the budget pretty hard.

Started having chest pain all the way through to my back between and below the shoulder blades and got very short of breath so walked back to my truck and went home. It's still there and I'm not dead so it can't be a heart attack or anything like that.

Nutrition
Absolutely no idea. Ate perfectly according to plan until suppertime and I realized I was off plan. Today was supposed to be a "carb up" day and I forgot. So I went to the mexican place, had my usual steak fajita taco salad and actually ate 1/2 of the shell this time with some tortilla chips, salsa, and hot sauce too.

I discovered something cool yesterday when I got to work and realized I'd forgotten my cooler with my foods for the day. I'm far to cheap to eat out that many meals so to make sure I got enough fat, I did a few calculations and figured out that a 40g whey shake with 1 tbsp of olive oil added to it is absolutely perfect with the macronutrient profile for a "low carb" day - every 4th day is my lowest carb day since it's my least active day. It worked out to about P-49%, F-42%, C-9%. Some of the things I've consumed would make a billygoat puke. This would have only made him gag...but it served the purpose and got the right nutrition in for the day while reminding me to bring my food next time.

[minime]

welch - your dedication is awesome! Whey and olive oil? yuck. Also going without those delicous carbs must be really tough.. As for the runnning - i've been running forever and 3 sub eight minute miles would kick my ass! :

[.V.]

Hey minime - going without the carbs isn't so bad for me. My digestive system is rather intolerant of all but the most fibrous complex carbs anyway. My 6 months of eating a high carb diet was pretty rough for me. And I gained quite a bit of fat for all my trouble.