After an embarrassing (but not time consuming) bomb-out a few months back, I decided to take a step back from lifting weights and instead focus on my twin loves of booze and ice cream. Of course the fact that I am closer to 50 than 40 and well north of 300 lbs meant that this was not a great strategic decision if my long term goals included things like seeing my feet when I look down and not dying in my sleep, so after a long break I went back to the gym on Thursday, Friday and Today
I think I have to avoid training really heavy for awhile and instead build a better base with some higher volume stuff. My wife decided to motivate me by ordering a power rack and bumper plates and a whole bunch of stuff for the basement, essentially what this means is that I may now be lifting in my undies since I don’t have to go to the gym.
Feel free to give it a try (I haven’t copyrighted the diet yet) but also say goodbye to your abs, they will disappear under a layer of creamy deliciousness and peaty ambrosia.
7/20/14
Deads- 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 405x3, 455x3, 495x3, 405x7 (wanted 10 ran out of gas)
GM’s- Barx10, 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
Realized the other day that I wasn’t taking in nearly enough protein and healthy food, so I have spent a lot of the last few days eating for…health. It’s awful to suddenly realize that you are getting, if not old, definitely not young.
Today was meant to be an oly lift day, but instead I found myself painting my basement. My wife pointed out that nobody would want to lift down there if it looked like shit (after 19 years of marriage I no longer fight back I just take the punches) so we painted it with a Red Sox theme, or at least half painted it, since we are apparently painting ALL 1500 square feet of basement, even though only like 400 sq ft is the workout area. I am now painting a laundry room, 2 storage rooms, a TV/Video Game area and an area I didn’t honestly know we had for Harry Potter to live under the stairs I guess, to quantify my workout it would look like this:
Whining-Upright- 10 minutes- 35 reps
Painting/impinging shoulder- 5 hours- my computer lacks the infinite symbol but that many reps
Lunch-Finally- Chewing x135
Whining -Seated- 20 minutes- 70 long reps
Trips to Home Depot x2- Reps $175
More Painting/impinging shoulder- 3hours x 4 Vicodin
Whining-Prone-5 Minutes- 1 succesful rep wife walked away in disgust
Tomorrow I am driving 2 hours to pick up bumper plates and 2 hours back, it is worth it to avoid this hell again.
people have been following that diet for years…and then dying. The Red Sox theme will just jolt you back to life.
KP,
thank you.
7/23
The last two days were supposed to be lifting days, but they have been turned into various missions that eat up my day (s), driving to pick up weights, then driving back and unloading them, picking up medicine balls, kettlebells, assorted racks and two 1000 lb capacity adjustable sawhorses (my wife’s idea, she is always surprising me even after 20 years) plus cleaning, then painting (because painting dirt is silly but painting a concrete floor in a gym makes sense) then cleaning some more, and of course moving everything from downstairs up to the garage while we paint, then waiting for the paint to dry while we clean things from storage (idle hands etc) then moving the newly cleaned things THAT WE NEVER USE back to storage where we will not look at them again until one of us dies and the other is having a yard sale. I have done so much mindless shit in the past two days that I think I will always subconsciously connect the gym in my basement with the smell of Tarn-X and Lysol Wipes. However the power rack arrives tomorrow and by Saturday I could (but for safety probably won’t) be doing naked reverse band squats in front of my dog whenever I want, and after all isn’t that the American Dream?
Glad to see you ripping it again. I think you may have a cult following if you post the naked reverse band squats w/dog watching. It could be weird and more weird.
It is good to be back, I am on the fence about the squatting thing at the moment though.
I haven’t given up yet, just been a bit busy converting the basement into the gym mecca I was hoping for, my wife keeps adding things and buying equipment which is the exact opposite problem I thought I would have, however the changes are kicking my ass so…
Thanks for popping in. I will be posting some pics today (I hope) though it is probably going to be an underwhelming experience for most of you folks as we are still awaiting some gear deliveries.
As far as being a Red Sox fan in NY that’s simple, despite being born in NYC I was raised by a proud Maine-iac and an Irish immigrant, Boston teams just seemed a bit more welcoming.
8/2/14- Giving Dan John Easy Strength a whirl (sort of) since my life now includes a lot of conditioning with my kids.
Bench- (bar, bar, 135, 225, 275) 315x10
Squat- (135, 225, 315) 405x5x5
BBell Row- 245x10
OHP- 185x10
BBell Curls- 135x5x5
The idea is easily repeatable and not to taxing, two of my favorite things.
It took me 18 months, lots of buying and selling on craigslist, lots of miles driven and a ton of tearing stuff down carrying up or down steps and putting them back together again before my home gym was completed. So you are way ahead of schedule in my book.
Thank you for stopping in, the diet is probably the least important/effective/safe thing I do so there is that.
Mr. Basler,
I am nowhere near done so don’t think I broke your 18 month time frame just yet, I just ordered a new bar from Rogue + some extra bumpers (as I have only 605 lbs at the moment, I am a positive thinker), I don’t think it will ever be “finished”.
Mr. Gorilla,
Thank you, I really felt it on the 3rd.
I skipped a few days of logging so I will catch them all up right now
My son and his friends came down and watched me lift yesterday, they asked a ton of questions and seemed genuinely shocked that I could lift anything at all, not sure if I am offended yet.