Tidalwave's Workout Journal

**tidalwave** · October 2nd, 2009, 04:59 PM

No gym today or yesterday. I got a virus of some sort, probably due to immune system compromised by the overseas flights.

Feeling a bit better today, sore throat is largely gone. Still feeling a bit achy and I don't want to risk relapse by jumping back into the gym. I'm feeling kind of soft, but figure that one more day to rest is probably good... just stinks that it comes after over a week of travel without a gym.

What do you all think about training while under the weather? I will go if I feel crummy, but if I'm actively fighting something off and feel physically drained, I will conserve my energy (and not spread germs around) and stay home. Some people I know wouldn't miss a workout for anything short of ebola. I figure that it's better to get back on ones feet before breaking the body down again.

Anyway, flying again tomorrow. Hoping to feel re-vitalized and will get my arse to the gym.

**tidalwave** · October 7th, 2009, 09:06 PM

Oops, forgot to blog my last two workouts.

First was the general chest / triceps deal. Strength was way off since I hadn't trained for a week and a half. Sometimes I come back stronger, but def not this time. Maybe it was just an off day. Anyway, I stopped recording weights and reps and just concentrated on getting back in the groove.

1 rest day, then a back / biceps pull day. Same deal.. strength was off, but not as dramatically as the previous workout. I was hammering the pull-ups, as they're a major part of my foundation. By the time I got to deadlifts, I worked my way up to my 'working' weight and found that I could barely do 1 rep with anything resembling good form.. this is the weight I typically perform for multiple sets of 3.

Anyway, I'm back in Texas in a new location for work housing.... approx 45 miles from my gym down here. Needless to say, I won't be doing my normal morning lifting routine, however I plan on doing some workouts at the house here, improvising as needed, and sticking to an after-work schedule of treks to lifting gym and the Crossfit gym. I'll make it work.

**tidalwave** · October 8th, 2009, 11:55 PM

Got to do legs / lower today. I had a headache after work, so my workout time was late, therefore cut slightly short, but I think I hit the major objectives.

Squat: 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 225 x 5, 225 x 5, 225 x 5
Romanian Deadlift: 135 x 12, 185 x 10, 185 x 10, 185 x 10
Seated Calf Raise: 135 x 10 x 4 sets

The squat weights and volume seemed good. The last two reps saw me taking a few breaths. Hopefully I can find a way to push the weights higher.

DEALER · October 9th, 2009, 08:17 AM

Quote:

The squat weights and volume seemed good. The last two reps saw me taking a few breaths. Hopefully I can find a way to push the weights higher.

Consistency is the only way.

**tidalwave** · October 10th, 2009, 10:26 AM

Made it to the Crossfit gym last night. Just in time for the "Filthy Fifties" workout! I was way off performance-wise, as I was lagging behind the other regulars by at least a few minutes. Some of it also could be attributed to my squats from the night before. Anyhow, here's the workout:

50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

It took me a non-stop 33 min 17 sec. To give some perspective, the best time of the day was 22:xx. Yeah.. not good, but I guess that's what I get for taking some time away. These events aren't necessarily my strength, either. I'm typically better at the shorter, sprint and strength workouts. I was surprised how difficult to the knees-to-elbows (KTEs - hanging from a pull-up bar, contract abs to bring your knees up to touch your elbows). I haven't trained abs in a while, but I typically have decent strength in that range.

Ok, off to the gym for today's fun.

**tidalwave** · October 26th, 2009, 11:09 PM

Oh my, over 2 weeks since last update.

I have been training, just not with a pen and pad to write down all of my exercises of late. A combination of 11-12 hour days at work and my regular gym being over 40 miles away currently has required that some creativity be used to stay on the right path.

That said, I feel like I'm getting a bit stronger, as I was deadlifting 315 for reps with good form yesterday and it felt lighter than before, although my grip was the weak link. I have started to gain some weight back, as I'm down to 185.4 lbs, over 2 lbs off from about 6 weeks ago. Not sure where the weight came from (muscle, fat, water, brain, etc.), but I'm hoping to keep the trend upward with a slant toward favorable body composition.

I'll replace my training pad of paper, which recently went through the wash (doh!) and resume recording here.

**tidalwave** · November 4th, 2009, 08:48 AM

Had an intense pull-up-centered workout on Saturday at my hotel. It's always nice when they have some real equipment available. Rounded it off with a few sets of hydraulic machine rows and dumbbell curls.

Monday evening, I was able to hit the Crossfit gym. It was a fun, off-beat workout: 800m run with someone riding on your back (!), followed by tabata interval sit-ups and tabata-timed handstands.

Last night, I had time to condense my leg workout into an intense squat session. I've been reading how set and rep schemes are largely overrated and should one should favor total volume instead. For example, instead of saying that you'll do 3 sets of 10 or 4 sets of 8, etc, it's better to say that you will do a certain weight that you can only do for, say, 8 reps, but do it for 25 reps using as many sets as necessary. Using that methodology, I warmed-up with 12 reps of 135 lbs, then did 25 reps with 230 lbs. Reps were grouped into the following sets: 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3. I had done this a couple of times with 225 lbs, so after incrementing the weight, I will probably stick with 230 for a couple of weeks.

**tidalwave** · November 9th, 2009, 09:39 AM

Forgot to post my push day from last week.

Did my pull day yesterday. Sticking with the 25 reps in as many sets as needed for the 'money' movement(s).

Yesterday's 'money' movement for pulling was the deadlift.
- 10 x 225 lbs warm-up
- then 25 reps of 315 lbs totaling 25 (sets: 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2)

Other exercises:
- 4 sets of 8-10 of plyo pull-ups
- 3 sets x 8 reps hammer row machine (90 lbs each side)
- ez-curl 75 lbs x 10, 80 x 10, 80 x 10
- 15 min. swimming laps

**Italianangel** · November 11th, 2009, 07:38 PM

love your exercise style.........very nice, great choices, great order, well balanced to your needs I suspect and its a very nice program!

**tidalwave** · November 15th, 2009, 05:52 PM

Thanks Linda! I'm trying to develop a solid base in order to improve overall athleticism, reduce injuries (want to be doing this for life), and workout 'smarter' than I have in the past. I'm not a young'n anymore, so I can't procrastinate working my strength up in the fundamental lifts. When it comes down to it, I'm just trying to experiment and find the right mix of methods that works for me, and I get a lot of good info at EF!

Woo hoo, weekend workout! Work has been so nutty that my immune system has been compromised over the past week, but things are looking up, and I was able to get a quick squat routine in today.

10 rep warm-up @ 135 lbs.
25 reps @ 230 lbs using 5, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3 rep scheme. I lowered the reps toward the end in order to not sacrifice form. This seems like a good weight for me, as I was beginning to struggle to get the last couple reps up. One thing about lifting that has always been difficult is listening to when I should increase the weight. E.g. how do I know when to do 25 reps @ 235 lbs? I mean, I don't think squatting 230 at or below parallel will start to feel 'easy' anytime soon, but maybe one of the squat days in the coming weeks, I should just try doing 235 and see if I can get through. Perhaps I should work this weight until I can perform 25 reps over 4 sets, rather than 6 before increasing the bar. Any thoughts?

BTW, I'm doing squats as their own workout for now for 2 reasons. 1) I find them very challenging and I don't want to have any 'save something for the next exercise' mentality while powering through my sets, and 2) uber-time crunch these days (hopefully that will change in the next month). As one can see from my previous logs, my squat is woefully lagging behind my deadlift, so I'm trying to make a concerted effort to get it up to par.