AM workout
40 min airdyne (15.30 miles)
100 band pull aparts
50 band pushdowns
50 barbell curls
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AM workout
30 minute airdyne (11.48 miles)
Juarez valley 10-1 chins
Finished at 4:40
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AM workout
3 sets
Press 8x125
9 chins
2 sets
Wide grip press 8x105
9 chins
2 sets
BTN press 8x105
9 chins
3 sets
12 db lateral raises
6 Ab wheel
Easy 10 minute jog
The volume reset after week 3 is nice. Much needed for sure. Weights moved well & I got a lot of solid work in. I’m definitely starting to feel bigger 3 weeks into this program, with shoulders seeming like the biggest difference. I’ll take that any day
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AM workout
30 minute airdyne (12.20 miles)
105 barbell curls
100 band pushdowns
100 band pull aparts
AM workout
Squat 3x8x225
Wide stance squat 2x8x185
Front squat 1x8x185
On about the third rep of front squats my back started feeling like I was getting stabbed. When I finished the set, I knew something was wrong. Spent the next 10-15 minutes doing random stuff to try & loosen it up or move it around & see what hurt & what didn’t. A few years ago I got two bulging discs in my lower back, & since then my back will flair up every once in a while. This feels much worse than when that happens though. Writing this as I sit down, & pretty much any sitting down or standing up hurts, as done bending. Not sure what will be next, as I want to finish this program but squatting may just be off the menu for a little bit.
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AM workout
Went through a few sets of the McGill big 3 for about 15 minutes
15 minute airdyne (5.75 miles)
30 dips
30 chins
50 band pull aparts
Back is super tight today, I’m pretty certain I have a bulging disc. Gonna hammer the McGill big 3 for a little while & do some traction on it to try & recover from it. Not sure what the plan will be next Wednesday, but I’ll figure something out when the time comes around
AM workout
Bench 3x8x175
Wide grip bench 2x8x155
Incline bench 2x8x135
Weighted chins 3x10x30
McGill big 3 with 4x8 chins in between sets
Back is feeling better than yesterday, but still hurts a good bit. Out of town for the weekend so not sure what training will look like. Probably going to play a bunch of spikeball though
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PM workout
30 minute airdyne (11.62 miles)
Hit this once I got home this evening. Had a fun weekend but nutrition was not great, but I’m not worried about it. Back to a normal diet with some salmon & veggies tonight
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AM workout
Press 4x8x125
Wide grip press 3x8x105
BTN press 3x8x105
Weighted chins 4x10x30
Db lateral raises 4x12
McGill big 3
Presses felt strong today. Back is on the mend, but seems like it’ll still be a couple weeks until squatting/loading will be alright. I’m planning to order a hyperextension the day after Christmas (hopefully on sale) & absolutely hammering it. I’m thinking the saying “weak things break” is honestly so accurate. I’ve neglected low back/core/bracing work for…probably 1.5 years. When I was doing it more, my squat & pulling were so much stronger. Between not doing it & also not deadlifting or doing any pulling from the ground, my back was weak, & weak things break. So we’re gonna fix that.
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Afternoon workout
20 minute airdyne (7.5 miles)
Put 95 lbs on the bar with the plan of doing 3x5 back squats just to move through the motion again, as my back has been on the mend. On the second rep I felt the shooting pain again. I have a spur on one of my vertebrae, so I know it makes me more susceptible to stuff like this, but man that is frustrating. I hope this doesn’t put me back to square one again, but we’ll see. I guess I may be going to back airdyne/dip/chin circuits for a little while while this clears up. Normally I’m fine training a bit beat up, but when it feels like I’m being stabbed in the back just putting socks on I’ve probably gone too far with that
AM workout
5 rounds
.5 mile airdyne
5 dips
5 chins
5 dips
5 chins
Immediately into 5 more rounds of
.5 mile airdyne
10 push-ups
5 chins
For a total of 5 mile airdyne, 50 dips, 50 push-ups, & 75 chins. Finished this at 23:32
Then did 2 rounds of
1 minute plank
25 band pull aparts
Got everything done in just under 30 minutes, which is a good sign. We are now about 2.5 weeks out from my wife & I having our first kid, which I’m absolutely stoked for. With that in mind, a few thoughts on training for the immediate future
• I don’t think I’m going to do anything that remotely risks making my back worse again for a little while. Honestly, I know I need to let it heal, as I’ve gone through this before & pushing it too soon has bitten me quite a few times. & I want to enjoy picking our child up out of the crib, as oppose to be in pain from just leaning forward
• with that in mind, this is probably the best time I could have to get this back injury. It would be tough to really be pushing training to the limit anyways, so switching training to something I can just check the box on for a little bit is fine
• up until the middle of this year, I worked as a first responder, working 24 hour shifts a few days a week. Which is to say- I’ve been extremely sleep deprived for long durations before. I’m not sure how that will compare to having a kid or if it will have even prepared me at all, but at least I know how terrible that can make training. I’m not going to let that stop me from training, but I am going to plan training to where it’s doable regardless of the circumstances.
• all that said, with my back feeling the way it has & a newborn coming up, my tentative plan for training going forward is this:
-continue training every day. I’m sure being at the hospital to for our delivery will make this impossible for a day or two, but you get the point. No missing days. I took maybe 7-8 rest days this whole year, so I just need to keep that up
-with that said, probably only ~30 minutes of training most days. It’ll be early in the morning, & I’m sure the extra 30 minutes of sleep will ultimately be good for me as oppose to another 30 minutes of training. Or maybe 30 minutes of dad-ing instead of extra sleep, but either way, working out will be shorter.
-for that 30 minutes, I’ll probably do a 20-25 minute circuit of airdyne & bodyweight movements like I did today, then 1-2 accessory movements. Today was the blueprint for this.
-thinking I’ll do ~5 miles of airdyne & 50 dips + 50 chins at the start, & gradually increase this amount. One workout of it won’t be too bad, but 7 days a week of this will surely add up & have some effect. Maybe add in another movement here or there, but airdyne/dips/chins will be the base.
-when my back is better & I feel it’s doable family wise, I can step back into something more ambitious.
-hoping to come out of this with a little bit better work capacity & not losing too much. It’ll be an interesting time, & I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from it.
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AM workout
7 rounds
1 mile airdyne
7 chins (8 last round to get an even 50)
15 push-ups
3 sets
1:00 plank
30 band pull aparts
3 sets of banded monster walks
PM workout
Bench 4x8x175
Wide grip bench 3x8x155
Incline bench 3x8x135
Weighted chins 4x10x30
Plank 3x1:00
50 supermans
Bench felt really strong today. Happy with the direction it’s moving in. Back isn’t feeling too bad, not much else to update on.
AM workout
10 mile airdyne (25:47)
Solid aerobic work today. That’s about it
PM workout
30 minute airdyne (11.54 miles)
3x1:00 plank
Got last press workout of the program tomorrow. Got a good couple days of easy workouts/downtime over the holidays. Ready to crush it tomorrow though
AM workout
Press 5x8x125
Wide grip press 4x8x105
BTN press 4x8x105
Weighted chins 5x7x45
Db lateral raise 5x12
Dead bugs 3x20
Really good final press workout. Last set of pretty much each exercise was very tough, but I was able to complete all the reps without too much grinding. Weighted chins were really good as well. I had to drop after 5 reps on the last set, then knock out the last 2 after a brief pause, so it was a good choice of weight/reps. Back is feeling decent. Goal is for it to be good before February (although ideally way sooner), then hop back into another aggressive lifting program. I’ve evening itching to do a bit of Olympic lifting recently, but the back needs to be all set for that to happen. I ordered a 45 degree back extension (almost ghd looking thing) yesterday, so I’ll be hammering that soon. Doing that and all the bracing work will put me in the best possible position for that, so we’ll see how it goes
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PM workout
6 mile airdyne (14:55)
Short on time and not much of a plan right now, so this was a way to get something in, even if it’s not some spectacular session
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PM workout
10 minute max distance airdyne (4.72 miles)
3 sets
20 bodyweight split squats/leg
20 banded good mornings
Accumulate 2:00 plank
Really emptied the tank on the airdyne, haven’t felt that same type of death from pushing the air bike in quiet some time. That also made the split squats & good mornings a lot tougher than I anticipated, so that was really good. Happy with this as a training session even though it may not seem like much.
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AM workout
Bench 5x8x175
Wide grip bench 4x8x155
Incline bench 4x8x135
100 band pull aparts
100 barbell curls
2:00 plank
Plan is to hit weighted chins tomorrow. While this six weeks didn’t go exactly how I wanted, it was still effective. Not sure what’s next for the coming few weeks. Our kid could pop out any day now, & school starts back up next Monday. Crazy to think how different life will look a couple weeks from now compared to this last week. I know I’ll be training in some form, though this next month may be complete chaos. Home gym will come in big time here, as it already has honestly. Excited & nervous for what’s to come, let’s do this
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AM workout
20 minute airdyne (7.52 miles)
Weighted chins 3x9x45
50 band pull aparts
Doing the airdyne first made the chins a bit tougher, which was good. It’s definitely been an easier week of training, but I’m sure when the time comes I’ll be super fired up to hit it hard again
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