TRAINING LOG: Andrew G

Ahh what the hell...

Background: Soon to be 44, 5'6" tall, hover around 200lbs. 

Sports History: Former soccer guy, college coach said I was even too small for a soccer player (125lbs as a Freshman) so he made me lift weights.  When my brief and uneventful soccer career ended I kept lifting.  Dabbled in PL and have done Martial Arts (Blackbelt in Hapkido, some Judo tourneys as part of the Hapkido, a few MMA type things).  Liked going to Highland Games but Ifelt I was too small.  Eventually got sick of hearing myself moan so figured I'd give it a go.  Been throwing for about 3 years now.

Health:  Typical wear and tear, nothing odd except that about 2 years ago a piece of my brain exploded, but it's all good now.

Goals:  Along with throwing goals I've set my sights on trying to get the qualifying total for the Pan -Am Masters OL meet when I turn 45.  I'll need a 75kg snatch/100 kg C&J.  If I try for 40 - 45 it would be around 80/105 or so.  Right now I'm at about 65/80 but my form bites.  Oh, and I need to lose 5 or 6 kg...  I did one OL meet in my life and took first in my class...because I was the only one that got in a total.  Of course I lifted less than the Jr. Girls but a medal is a medal.

 

Program:  I just finished up a Grant project so I now have more time (but less $) than I have for the past several years.  Right now I'm lifting twice a week and doing conditioning stuff twice/week as well.  The lifting is more or less one day OL stuff one day PL stuff. 

 

OK, here goes, if I can do this, the rest of you should....

50 minute conditioning - XC ski.  First time I got the skis out this year.  It was warm so it would have been betterfor snowshoes...but not really enough snow yet.  It was killer, now I'm glad I have been doing the eliptical for a few months.

I know most of us (including me) have an aversion to anything that might even be considered aerobic, but I'd like to put in a good word for my favorite winter activities Snowshoes and XC skis.  Both are easy to learn, and the basic starter set -ups are relatively affordable.  If you live in a place that only gets one or two big snows a year (Mid Atlantic etc.) you can usually rent XC skis at public golf courses or bike paths.  The skills needed on most golf courses can be learned in a few minutes.  Both activities are easy on the joints, require upper body work and get you out in the woods.  Or at least keep you from the streets...

 

Back to "my" gym.  My new bumper plates are here!!!  Sweeeeeeeet!!!

All weights in kg

Clean & Jerks: 40x2, 60x2, 70x1, 75x1, 80x1, 82.5x1 (PR), 85x0 (same deal, lost it forward on the clean)

Overhead Squats: 30x3, 30x3, 30x3 (I'm as flexible as a brick)

Overhead Lunges: 40x6 (each leg 3 reps), 45x6 (each leg 3 reps)

Push Press: 60x2, 70x2, 75x1, 80x1

1 - Arm Nautilus Row: 105x10, 105x10 (1 set each arm), 125x5, 125x5, 125x5, 125x5 (2 sets each arm)

Oh, I forgot to mention that my new bumper plates got here yesterday.  They are really nice for the price.  I got them from Wright ecercise equipment and so far I would definately reccomend them to anyone.  I got a set of 10 and 5 's (kg) to add to my 20's. 

LAWL

I'm making a change in my program for a bit.  It will go more like this:

Day 1: C&J, Back Squat, Bench

Day 2: Snatch, Front Squat, Military Press

The reason for it is pretty simple....I got new bumper plates and they are soooo cooool.   i want to use them as much as possible.   I love new toys.

thegnome wrote: 20 minutes on the eliptical. Upped the intensity to level 10...ugh

OK, now we know why Craig unstickied your training log.

OK I feel the need to earn the sticky I was given back...

All weights in kg

C&J: 40x2, 60x2, 67.5x1, 75x1, 80x1, 85x1 (yay), 90xmiss

Squat: 60x5, 70x3, 95x5, 110x3, 122.5x2

Bench Press: 40x5, 60x3, 75x5, 85x3, 95x4

The 85 C&J would not have passed (pressed out), but it went up so I was happy.  Still getting used to squatting without wraps and so low but it will come.

 

40 minute XC ski. The tracks were groomed so I just buzzed around the lower 1/2 of the loop. It was seriously nice snow.

I'm trying to hit the cleans without, but may start using them.  It's funny you mentioned shoeing with your little one.  I took my oldest boy out when he was a baby in one of those front carrying packs.  Stepped into a hole and flopped forward into about 3 feet of clean snow.  Poor little bugger was packed like a piece of frozen meat.  He had just been old enough to turn forward so he went in face first.  What part NY are you in, sorry I can't remember.

OK, time for me to whine like a baby, nah my baby is tougher than this...

Struggling with sticking to my "plan".  Right now it's more or less two days of no nonsense basic strength stuff, and two days of doing conditioning.  The conditioning is because a) I like to play outside, and b)I want to be able to walk up stairs without tossing a lung.  The idea is to drop the  (OK, I'll say it...) cardio and add throwing and strongman stuff as the weather changes and the season approaches.   The problem is I feel like I am not doing enough, like I should drop the conditioning and just lift 4 times a week.  I'm actually making some progress especially in the quick lifts, but I just feel I should be doing more.  Maybe I want someone to say "no that looks OK", or someone to say "Here's what you need to do."  Maybe I'm just a whining nerfbag and need a good kick in the ass... 

I only lift twice a week, fwiw.

Here's the thing.  Aerobic exercise is a fine thing for fitness, but does not help your strength one bit.  As an alternative, you can work your lifting with shorter rests to get your heart rate up, and this is excellent for your conditioning.  It isn't aerobic, but it's cardio.

If you feel you need to do more, then I recommend trying to do more, and you might try one or two days of short-rest lifting for conditioning.  I knew a really good lifter who trained this way all the time (every workout).  He'd do 20-30 short sets (singles to triples) with 30 seconds of rest in between (just try that!), and he just never stopped moving.  I understand the gym seemed like an awful busy place when he was training.

OK

1/13: 20 minutes "conditioning",  OK it was the eliptical, but it was hard, I swear.

 

1/14: All weights in Kg.  (Hey, I have metric weights use a calculator if you want)

Clean & Jerks: 40x3, 60x1, 70x3, 75x1, 80x1, 90 missx3 (Damn it!!!), 70x2

Squat: 60x5, 70x3, 90x5, 105x5, 120x6

Bench Press: 50x5, 60x3, 67.5x5, 80x5, 90x7

The squats were really low and learning how to bounce out of the hole.  Freakin mad about missing the 90.  I finaly caught the third one then couldn't get up.  Wierd because 90k is an easy front squat for me, I can get 120 or so on those even without any knee wraps.  Oh well, just be patient...  

Hey Andrew, I'm trying right now to really get in shape for some serious lifting and have been trying to improve cardio/lung capacity as well as lean out a little without wasting too much time on the cardio machines. I tried these "complex's" and they are kicking my ass. Similar to Wayne's suggestion of short rests during lifting. Consider giving these a try...

http://www.wannabebig.com/training/complexes-for-fat-loss/