BWare's Intermediate Training Log

[Bruce Ware]

9/19 consolidated report

9/17 Session 32-5 Light Lower

Leg Extensions (1-1/2's) -- 100 x 12 x 4

Standing Calf Raises -- 185 x 12 x 4

Sit-ups -- bodywt x 20 x 4
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9/18 Saturday AM -- the Rock the Occ Half-marathon! 13.1 miles. My boat completed the race in 1 hour: 37 mins: 59 seconds. Finished second in our class, losing by 45.5 seconds. A very solid and respectable finish, requiring a high level of efficiency, power, and endurance from the crew. We made a very bad decision very early -- before we even got into the boat -- when we elected to self-assign what seats we wanted to row in. I had no preference, so I wound up in seat 2. Problem was, we had two tall men sitting #3 and #7 - both very strong rowers with nice long movements. Since most of the turns in the course would require solid starboard rowers, we felt that was a smart thing to do. In seat #5 however we had a really short girl, normally works rowing in the bow pair but she wanted to sit somewhere else for the race. Bad move -- she was unable to match the length or power of the guys on the same side so contributed almost nothing to the power driving the boat. And the imbalance meant we had a tough time setting the boat, which led to the big guy in seat #3 to catch a few soft-ish crabs, meaning we lost power for a few seconds while he recovered. I should have claimed the seat in the "engine room" -- seat #5 -- rather than being in the bow. That would have placed all 3 guys on the same side, but I think would have worked out better.

Given that we had yet another different coach, and that we shuffled our seats around without thinking about optimal power and efficiency, we didn't do all that badly. And, unfortunately, this race had no age-related handicapping/scoring system, which is usually standard; the boat the beat us was comprised of mostly mid-to-late 20's; still mixed (males and females), but on average we were about 15 years older. It counts! LOL.
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Sunday 9/19 AM Rowing practice. After the race yesterday, turnout was expectedly light. I was one of 2 intermediate rowers who showed up, and the novice boat needed an eighth, so I volunteered to row with them. Gave me a chance to loosen up and stretch; work was light, but I did manage to get some good time in, even though this group rowed mostly on the 6's. I figure I can claim a good 60 minutes of work.
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Measurement Sunday

Tot wt -- (spot) 193.4 (nc); (week avg) 193.3 (+1.3); (long avg) 192.5 (+0.4)

LBM -- (spot) 176.0 (+0.3); (long avg) 175.1 (+0.3)
FAT -- (spot) 17.4 (-0.3); (long avg) 17.4 (+0.1)

Yields an est BF of 9.0% (spot 8.97%).

Body-part measures are all starting to trend upward with the body-building hypertrophy focused exercises. Body-weight is starting to recover too from the summer's massive drop. Eating is coming along nicely.

I'm planning on starting the next week's training cycle this afternoon, but may hold off until tomorrow, just to let myself recover more fully from yesterday's massive effort.

[Bruce Ware]

9/20 Session 33-1 Press

warm-ups:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3

working sets:

120 x 2 x 3; 3 mins rest between

Seated DB Shoulder Press (last set adds 4 drops) -- 80 x 12, 12, 11, 8, 8; 70 x 8; 60 x 8; 50 x 9; 40 x 9; note -- did not use the back pad for support, a slightly harder variation for this exercise

Side Delt Raises -- 35 x 12 x 5

CG Bench Press (tricep; last set adds 4 drops) -- 105 x 10 x 5; 95 x 10; 75 x 10; 55 x 10; 45 x 10

Cable OH Tricep Extension -- 25 x 20 x 5 for each arm

Duration -- 70 mins

Next week, the main lift drops back to 3 x 8's while the bodybuilding exercises return to 3 sets at heavier weights still aiming for 8 to 12 reps per.

[Bruce Ware]

9/21 Session 33-2 Light Lower

Deadlifts --

135 x 5
225 x 3

DB Romanian Deadlifts -- 100x 12 x 5

Standing Leg Curls (1-1/2's) -- 50 x 12 x 5 each leg

I want to re-introduce the warm-up parts of the main lifts for legs (deads and squats) until rowing season ends, just to keep things ready to go heavier once I can re-start the strength aspects/overcome recovery concerns.

Duration -- 41 mins

[Bruce Ware]

9/22 Session 33-3 Bench Press

warm-ups:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3
135 x 3

working sets:

173 x 2 x 3; 5 mins rest between

Incline DB Chest Press (last set has 4 drops) -- 80 x 12 x 5; 70 x 12; 60 x 12; 50 x 12; 40 x 12

DB Floor Flyes -- 60 x 12 x 5

Seated DB Curls (supinated 1-1/2's) -- 40 x 10, 8, 8, 6, 5

Standing DB Hammer Curls -- 40 x 15 x 5

Duration -- 69 mins

[Bruce Ware]

9/23 Session 33-4 Back

Pull-/Chin-ups (assisted) -- 140 x 2 x 3; 3 mins rest between

Lat Pulldowns (wg 1-1/2's) -- 100 x 12 x 5

BB Row -- 135 x 12 x 5

DB Rear Delt Raises -- 50 x 12 x 5

DB Shrugs -- 100 x 20 x 5

Duration -- 47 mins

[Bruce Ware]

9/24 Session 33-5, Squats

warm-ups:

45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3

DB Goblet Squats -- 50 x 12 x 5

Leg Extensions (1-1/2's) -- 100 x 12 x 5

Ab Wheel roll-outs -- 5 x 15

Duration -- 65 mins

End of training week. Tomorrow and Sunday AM will be rowing practice. I plan to start training week 34 on Sunday afternoon; back to 3x8's on the main lifts, and reducing to 3 sets of body-building exercises. I'll post how rowing goes, and than my Sunday measurement numbers.

[Bruce Ware]

The Weekend Update

9/25 AM Rowing practice -- We had a less-than-expected turn-out for today's session: 6 rowers, no coxswain, and a new coach. My wife, one of the rowers, was sent off to row in one of the novice 8's. Frank, being a small guy, self-selected to be coxswain for the remaining 4 of us to take out a quad. The new coach wanted to work with us to prepare for our next race, scheduled for 10 October. First though he needed to emphasize quite a few technique adjustments that he felt the previous coaches had missed or ignored, so we did a lot of drills and corrections to basic rowing. But we eventually worked out the technique issues sufficiently for him to start training us on doing high-speed turns on the race course. Which ought to come in handy, *if* we wind up racing in a quad. However, if we stick with the idea of going with a mixed 8, we're going to be in a bit of trouble, since most of the rowers will not have practiced these drills. A solid 75 minutes of medium to high intensity rowing.

9/26 AM Rowing practice -- Ok, so today we had a coxswain, the same coach as yesterday, and full 8 rowers. As was the case yesterday, some basic technique drills and corrections, and then practice at racing speed-turns. Much of today's practice was focused on the tactical decision-making of our high-school-age coxswain about when to apply full power and when to drop certain rowers on one side or other of the boat to make a faster, tighter turn, and where to aim to take certain marks wide or others close. We wound up running around in long circles on the river a bunch of times, getting the rowing techniques fine and working on refining the coxswain's calls. Again, it will come in very handy on race-day *if* we get the same rowers in the same seats with the same coxswain, none of which is certain. A solid 60 minutes of medium to high intensity rowing.

Measurement Sunday (truncated, as I only took the basic measures before going off to row)

Tot wt (spot) -- 192.3 (-0.2); (week avg) 193.8 (+0.5); (long avg) 192.6 (+0.1)

LBM -- (spot) 175.9 (-0.1); (long avg) 175.3 (+0.2)
FAT -- (spot) 17.3 (-0.1); (long avg) 17.3 (-0.1)

Yields an est bf of 9.0% (spot for the day is 8.97%)

Eating tracked pretty well; ended up a bit short on calories intake. I start the next training week on Monday 9/27, simply because this weekend's rowing practice was so hard.

[Bruce Ware]

9/27 Session 34-1 Press

warm-ups:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3

working sets:

110 x 8 x 3; 5 mins rest between

Seated DB Shoulder Press (last set incl 4 drops) -- 90 x 8, 8, 7; 80 x 7; 70 x 8; 60 x 9; 50 x 9

Side Delt Raises -- 40 x 8, 10, 9

CG Bench Press (tricep; last set incl 4 drops) -- 110 x 10, 8, 8; 100 x 7; 80 x 12; 60 x 12; 50 x 12

DB Tricep Kix -- 30 x 15 x 3 both arms

Duration -- 71 mins

[Bruce Ware]

9/28 Session 34-2 Light Lower (Deadlifts)

warm-ups:

135 x 5
225 x 5

DB Romanian DL -- 120 x 12 x 3

Standing Leg Curls (1-1/2's) -- 60 x 12 x 3 each leg

Duration -- 28 mins

[Bruce Ware]

9/29 Session 34-3 Bench Press

warm-ups:

45 x 5 x 2
95 x 3
135 x 3

working sets:

155 x 8, 8, 7; 5 mins rest between; missed last rep, stalled just above lift-off; next time 8's comes up, add a bit more rest time

Incline DB Chest Press (last set incl 4 drops) -- 90 x 12 x 3; 80 x 12; 70 x 9; 60 x 12; 50 x 12

DB Floor Flyes -- 70 x 8 x 3

DB Curls (supinated, 1-1/2's) -- 50 x 8, 8, 4

DB Hammer Curls -- 50 x 15 x 3

Duration -- 62 mins