A large one of these right in the center would be awesome.
Do you prefer the home gym?
I used to only use it on days where I was stuck in the house but Covid helped me really appreciate it. The only two things I was missing were cables and space to do standing OHP. I have cables now and there’s no fixing the OHP issue, but I can always haul my stuff outside once a week.
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We’ll see what happens with travel next year. If it stays more or less gone, the home gym may be worth revisiting for me
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9.22.20 C2 W? D3 - Deadlift
DAILY DOSE OF SQUATS
45 x 10
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 5 singles
DEADLIFT
185 x 5
275 x 3
365 x 2
365 x 5 x 5
Did 350 last time and should’ve repeated it but didn’t feel like stripping the weight and getting to that number so I just used 365.
HANG POWER CLEAN
185 x 3, 3
This suddenly hurts my shoulder so I stopped.
RDL
185 x 8
195 x 8
205 x 8
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9.24.20 - Incline
INCLINE
45 x 15
135 x 5
155 x 5 x 5
WIDE CABLE ROW
150 x 8
170 x 8 x 5
SQUAT
135 x 3
225 x 5 singles
PUSH PRESS
135 x 5
145 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
PULL UPS
BW x 8 x 4 sets
Time: 30 minutes
My mental health is crap. In regards to training, I wonder if there’s any point in doing all the “fluff” work that I do to build muscles. Are compound movements for sets of 3-8 reps good enough at my age? Take today’s session as an example; is that a good session or should I add the lateral raises, reverse fly’s, arms, etc.?
My conditioning workouts have disappeared over the past week. I’m not happy with myself for that, but I also don’t feel compelled to go do anything. I’m hoping to at least to DT tomorrow. I’m going on vacation from Saturday through the following Saturday so there will be no training. I’ll be camping in the mountains near lakes and streams. It’ll be a welcome break from normal.
On a personal note, my mental health is not good. I have depression and it’s kicking my ass. It probably runs in my family (along with alcohol abuse). I see a lot of the same behavior in myself that I see in my dad, his brother, and their dad (based on what my dad has told me). My dad doesn’t seem to be as bad as his dad and I’m not as bad as him. I’d like to keep that trending downwards with me and my son. The short version is that I’m basically numb and feel nothing. I’m barely hanging on to my training and that’s out of stubbornness.
As far as I can tell, something in my brain broke on June 2nd when I stood in the street for 12 minutes like bait while an angry mob threw stuff at me and my coworkers. And then there was the gunfire. I think the reason it affected me more than other work experiences is that we had not clear mission or objective and we definitely didn’t have the tools to complete that. We just stood there. Our Chief didn’t want to look to mean so he sent us out there unprepared and we got our asses kicked. And even then they didn’t deploy the SWAT team. They held them back while we stood there even though they were only a block away. 12 minutes. We were the bait. The Chief let us go out there and fail to justify deploying the mean looking trucks and guys in army fatigues.
As much as I’d like to say I can handle it, I can’t. My wife tells me my eyes are blank. There’s nothing there. It’s the way I looked when I arrived home that night and it’s the way I look today. I have to fix it. I can’t fail my family.
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I got no advice for ya, man. But I can definitely sympathize with you, all the way down to familial traits manifesting in me from my dad’s line as well, that I fear will manifest in my son.
Watching your training and knowing what you do and the advice you’ve given — you’re inspiring, my dude.
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Or is it because of your job? Being a cop is so tough. You have to endure so much gratuitous hate, stressful scenarios, violence, death… The number of suicides in my country is twice as high in the police and gendarmerie. Honestly I don’t know what to tell you to help you…
If you want to maintain, no need for fluff. If you want to progress, probably! And it is always useful to correct weaknesses. personally fluff/pump makes me feel good. It’s “easy”, fast, makes you look bigger, you have good sensations in the muscles…
CT argues that for athletes having some fluff work (he usually goes for 10-15 mins max at the end of gut-wrenching sessions, or on its own day) is good to relieve the mental pressure, and have a positive impact on performance either via psychological factors (confidence, intimidation), or physical ones (improving triceps strength will lead to bench press improvements, for example).
Really sorry to hear your mental health is suffering J, I know it’s probably a weird offer, but if you ever need someone to talk to in real life feel free to reach out, praying for you.
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Brother man if you ever need to reach out you can email me any time.
I haven’t got the time in the job to give too much advice yet, but I’m always down to listen.
You’ve had this 4 months? Nothing at all wrong about seeing a psychologist or a shrink. Police department must have some sort of expert on retainer for this sort of stuff.
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Really sorry to hear you are struggling J. Life is hard enough but add in the stuff you have been through this year and it is going to pay a toll on anyone. I really think getting some professional help is a good idea.
With regards your training maybe it’s time to re-assess a little. Check in with what you want out of your training. By this I don’t necessarily mean your goals but more what does a good training session look and feel like. What feedback do you want out of your training. Most of us do this for fun and in some aspects that’s what is should be. Hard and horrible too but fun.
Anyway always here to listen if you need someone to talk to.
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Sorry to hear that man.
From my experience, the only way to deal with it is to talk to someone, ideally qualified, but honestly anyone you trust and get the ball rolling on how to deal with it. As above man, I’m more than happy to talk if you need.
I wouldn’t say fun, but it’s a hobby at the end of the day. It has to make you happier in some way.
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Today was a good session. It was 30 minutes and I felt good. I enjoy the super sets of a push and a pull. I can do a lot of work in a short amount of time. The upper body pump from pull ups and push press (or an OHP session) feels awesome. I kind of like the shorter sessions which is why I’m reassessing things.
I’m going to a nice lady who helped my wife and I with our marriage about seven years ago. This is affecting my marriage so I figured it was appropriate to see someone who can easily tie this into my relationship with my wife. I’ve only seen her twice but she’s been helpful. It’s silly how rewording things can change the outcome and help reshape perspective.
She assures me I can heal and get better so I’m going to do it. According to her (and she’s the smart professional), the brain can have a chemical response to a traumatic event. The balance can change and I guess you end up like me in some circumstances. It definitely caught my attention when my wife basically said I look dead inside.
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Very much this.
Also very much this.
I’m not a psychologist, bu numbness and blank eyes makes me think PTSD, which makes sense with the crap we’re all going through plus the trauma situations you’ve experienced this summer. The impact of a huge boulder can break leg bones, and the shock of your 12-minute ordeal and the chief not deploying SWAT can break part of a brain. That’s the nature of trauma.
Fortunately, limbs and brains can heal from breaks - they just need the proper environment. For a broken bone, a cast (or, in my case, an external fixator for 7 months) provides the necessary healing environment. For a brain, anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication and possibly counseling create the situation for a brain to heal.
Hang in there, my e-friend. Get the medical attention you need to heal, reorient your training for a month or two to things that make you feel good and accomplished, call out to Jesus for help, and you’ll recover - strength to strength, faith to faith, glory to glory.
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This made me smile. Straight up you know what you like and it’s great to hear you had a good session. There are plenty of good SS combinations that you can build into a 30 mins session that will give the a great pump and feeling trashed. These types of sessions can also return some good results in terms of building a little muscle and keeping you looking like a beast. I’ll be interested to see how you layout the sessions.
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I enjoyed adding weight to each round of push press. I also just remembered the Built for Battle program. I might be able to take the things I like about that and put something together…
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I hadn’t read that article before and its a pretty interesting set up. Nice and simple, lower volume but high frequency. I wonder if that would work with less than 5 lifts and add accessories or fluff for other bodyparts ??
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I tried running it with two circuits of three exercises and it whooped me. I think I’m just going to stick with Advanced 5/3/1… kind of.
I like the idea of 3/5/1 and I’ll continue my super sets. Rows with Incline and pull downs/ups with OHP. We’ll see what develops. Squats were good today but singles at 75% aren’t exactly taxing.
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No advice to add from me, just want to send some good wind in your direction.
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I lied, I will add something else. You are a pretty impressive dude. I know how easy it is to get in the dumps about training stuff, but from an outsider’s perspective you seem to be doing a lot of the right things, more than me in any case.
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