Beards, Barbells, and Beer

Thurs Mar 6, 2014

Conditioning

- C2 rower: 12 minutes
- Treadmill: 10 minutes
- Stairmilll: 12 minutes, 2 minute cooldown

34 (+2) minutes total. HR mostly in the 140-145 range but it got up over 150 a few times on the stairmill.
 
Fri Mar 7, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
235x5
265x5
300x3
(-belt)
235x8

Good stuff. Everything felt pretty smooth today.

- Bench
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x4
140x8
140x8
140x8

Not bad.

- Inverted rows: 13/12/10/13

I did all of this in the squat rack today and as a bonus there was an attractive woman in the rack next to me doing hang clean and press, overhead squats, deadlifts, and bodyweight jump squats. I didn't mention it in my log but I'm pretty sure she was in the rack on Monday doing RDLs, squats, and OHP. Not only was she attractive but she was working harder than probably 75% of the guys at the gym and doing barbell lifts (which is fairly rare) and doing them with good form (even more rare).
 
Sun Mar 9, 2014

Hockey
Last night's game was do or die. If we lost we were eliminated from the playoffs and if we won we still had a shot at making the semi-finals.

As usually we were short skaters and the other team had a full bench. Luckily all of our best players showed up so we had a solid team. The other team had a lot of good players that only played half of the regular season but of course they all showed up for the playoffs which made for a very fast paced game.

We took an early lead, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. They made it 2-1 before we scored 2 more to make it 4-1. They battled back to make it 4-3 and from then on we traded goals. Early in the third period we made it 5-3 and within a few minutes they scored to make it a one goal game again, 5-4.

With about 5 minutes left I chipped the puck out of our zone to a winger who raced up the ice. He put the puck through their d-man legs and then raced in on a breakaway, deking the goalie and burying the puck to make it 6-4.

After that they started pushing really hard and getting really aggressive. They scored to make it 6-5 but couldn't muster many more chances after that. They pulled their goalie but we kept them at bay and killed the rest of the clock to win 6-5.

We now have to wait for the results of next's weeks game between this team and the team we lost to last week. If this team loses we are through to the semis, if they win then it goes to a tie-breaker which we have a strong chance at winning. Stay tuned...
 
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Mon Mar 10, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
235x5
265x5
300x5

A bit of GM'ing on the last rep of 300 but they were otherwise pretty smooth. My legs felt dead from yesterday's hockey game so I was just happy to hit the reps.

I had to get back to work to do an interview so I'll do bench and rows tomorrow morning.
 
Wed Mar 12, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

-Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
350x1
385x1x6 (singles)

These were good. I focused on pushing my hips through and I felt like my lockout was smoother.

I forgot that I had a dentist appointment yesterday so I didn't do bench. I thought I would do it today but I was running late and didn't have time. I'll do some push-ups at home tonight and some bench on Friday and then go back to my regular progression on Monday.
 
Fri Mar 14, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
235x5
270x5
305x3

305 felt heavy but the reps were smooth. After finishing the set I started to feel like shit, probably because I didn't eat lunch. I only had some apples and mixed nuts.

- Bench
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x5
135x5
155x5

Just getting some reps in since I missed benching earlier in the week. I started getting a headache so I packed it in and went to buy something to eat (which turned out to be a mango chicken burrito, om nom nom)
 
No hockey yesterday as it was our bye week. As expected the team that we beat last week won which leaves all 3 teams tied with 1-1 records. Also as expected the team we lost to won the tie breaker giving them the first seed and leaving us as the 2nd seed so we get to play at least one more game.

Mon Mar 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
240x5
270x5
305x5

Decent bar speed on 305, a bit of GM'ing on the last rep but not too bad. I felt pretty shitty today so I think with a more restful weekend I could have killed 305.

- Bench
45x10
65x8
85x6
105x4
125x3
145x2

My left elbow has been bothering me lately and it hurt too much to try my work sets today. I probably could have pushed it but I think I would have just ended up missing reps and having a real sore elbow so I err'ed on the side of caution.

I'm not sure what the exact issue is. I'm sure my bench form isn't perfect but I think it might also be related to squats, I might be supporting the weight with my wrists/arms a bit. I should probably take some video.

I also need to start getting more consistent rest and diet. I was really good about it for about a week a few weeks back but since then it's been a clusterfuck.
 
Beer update from Saturday's fights. I decided to drink a variety of stouts and a porter:

brooklyn-dry-irish-stout.jpg

Brooklyn Brewery's Dry Irish Stout. A nice smooth, malty stout. It had your typical stout flavours i.e. dark chocolate and coffee. Not really bitter at all, quite smooth and easy to drink at 4.7% ABV.

irishpotatostout2014.jpg

Black Creek Irish Potato Stout. A bit of a liquorice flavour to this one with a slightly starchy aftertaste. Other than the colour it was fairly light for a stout, almost more like a brown ale.

cobblestonestout.jpg

Mill St. Cobblestone Stout. I've had this one before and it's excellent. It's like a slightly smoother, less bitter Guinness. Very well balanced, no one flavour really stands out. I could easier drink a 6 pack of this.

millstvp.jpg

Mill Street Vanilla Porter. Another smooth drinking beer from Mill St. The big flavour in this one is obviously vanilla. With a hint of chocolate/coffee behind it. I had this on tap in a bar a few years ago and thought the vanilla was too strong but the started selling it in cans this year and it seems more balanced.
 
Wed Mar 19, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1
(+belt)
375x1
410x1x4 (singles)

Bar speed was slow today because, as usual, I didn't get enough sleep last night. Form felt good otherwise, no hitching or ramping.

- DB rows
30x10
65x10
100x8
100x8

My left shoulder and elbow started aching after the 2nd set of 100 so I skipped the last one.
 
Thurs Mar 20, 2014

Conditioning

I didn't feel like doing LISS today so I did intervals for a change.

- C2 rower: 5 minutes warm-up
- Stairmill: 30s on, 60s off x10, 2 minutes cooldown

That's all.
 
Fri Mar 21, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
240x5
275x5
310x3

Good bar speed again today. A bit of GM'ing on 275 but 310 was actually better, probably because doing the triple I don't get as fatigued.

- Facepulls: 4x20

I did a set of push-ups but my shoulder didn't feel that great so I only did face-pulls.
 
Sun Mar 23, 2014

Hockey
Semi-finals and once again we only had 9 skaters. We were supposed to have 11 but two guys had to miss the game due to last minute family issues.

The entire game was back and forth. We took a bunch of penalties in the first period and that messed up our forward lines and resulted in me not playing much in the first period (not that I took penalties but I was trying to keep the lines together). The first period ended 1-1.

In the second we gave up a shorthanded goal but then scored on the same powerplay to make it 2-2.

In the third period they scored to make it 3-2. We pressured them to try to get the tying goal but a bunch of stupid penalties got us in trouble. One of our guys was battling for position while chasing a loose puck and ended up smashing their player into the boards. He got kicked out of the game (it was dangerous) and threw a giant hissy-fit. That mean we ended up killing a 4 minute penalty. Not too long after that we had a good scoring chance nullified when one of our guys took a stupid crosschecking penalty in front of their net. He also threw a hissy-fit and also got kicked out of the game.

So for the last 3 or 4 minutes of the game we had to play with only 7 skaters. Needless to say we were exhausted but we did manage to make a last push for the tying goal but their goalie make a couple big saves and we lost 3-2.

That ended our Winter season. We aren't playing over the Summer so we're going to touch base again in July to discuss putting together a team for Winter 2014/2015. Our goalie also talked about hosting a team BBQ once the weather gets warmer.
 
In other news, I was off on Monday and didn't lift yesterday because I was busy at work. I'm off next week so I was considering testing my squat max today and using next week as a deload week but I'm not sure.

In other news, a friend challenged me a 15 lb weight loss competition/beard growing comp. Basically we are both trying to lose 15 lb and we can trim our beards until we lose the weight. He claims he is going to lose the weight in 5 weeks which is ridiculous but then he doesn't train regularly or have any real goals in the gym so he doesn't care if he loses some strength. I'm committing myself to doing this for 2 months and then I'll reassess. I want to keep eating clean but the beard might need to be trimmed at some point.

Starting weight yesterday morning was 220.3. I ate a lot of carbs on Monday and drank a couple big glasses of water before weighing myself so I had a bit of bloat going on. My friend and I agree that doing a water cut wasn't allowed but we didn't say anything about water or carb loading at the start, lol.
 
Wed Mar 26, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x2
195x1
225x2
(+belt)
255x1
285x1
315x1
350x1 (+10 PR)
355x1 (+15 PR)


Booyah. I haven't had over 315 on my back in ages so I wasn't sure how 350 would feel but I crushed it so I figured I had at least another 5 lb in me. 355 was solid I think I'm good for more but I'm happy with a +15 PR today. No video since this wasn't totally planned but trust me they were deeeeeeeep (okay maybe an inch past parallel)

After I get back from next week's vacation I'm going to continue with Madcow but if I find the progression too aggressive will I drop some weight I'm thinking of switching my squats to 5/3/1 with the main day on Monday and a second day of lighter squats on Friday. We'll see how Madcow goes first though.

- Facepulls: 4x20
 
Nice work Dr, may we have a beard progress update pic please?
 
I should've taken a picture of my beard on Monday afternoon because I trimmed it Monday night. As I mentioned a couple posts up my friend challenged me to lose 15 lb and we can't trim our beards until we lose the weight so I wanted to start from a trimmed beard. It had about 3 weeks growth since I was letting it grow during my beer league hockey playoffs. Sadly it didn't help us win our semi-final game :(
 
Thurs Mar 27, 2014

Since hockey is finished my motivation for doing conditioning is down. So today I did 5 minutes on the C2 to warm-up, then the DCSW and a few sets of DB rows. I finished off with incline treadmill walking, HR only around 120-125. So lazy.
 
Fri Mar 28, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
(+belt)
345x1
385x1
425x1
465xF
405x1

PR wasn't in the cards today. 345 and 385 felt good but 425 was a bit shaky and then 465 only got about an inch off the ground. Oh well, I was expecting it to be a hard PR so I wasn't too disappointed. Back to my regularly scheduled lifting next week.
 
Fri Mar 28, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
(+belt)
345x1
385x1
425x1
465xF
405x1

PR wasn't in the cards today. 345 and 385 felt good but 425 was a bit shaky and then 465 only got about an inch off the ground. Oh well, I was expecting it to be a hard PR so I wasn't too disappointed. Back to my regularly scheduled lifting next week.

Unlucky Dr. I also had a PR attempt failure today :-(
 
This confirmed what I already suspected, which is that my squat gets more of a boost from the new belt than my deadlift. Oh well, time to drown my sorrows with a beer or two because it's Friiiday, Friiiday...
 
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