Lifting to Live

[Bill Anders]

12/1/23 - Friday

SQ H @ 7'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x5x4

DL H @ 8'
135x4
185x2
225x1
275x1
305x1 h
335x5 m

Music — Happy B-Day Ozzy (75yo on 12/3) — -(16)- vs Black Sabbath, St Vitus Dance; Sleep vs Black Sabbath, Snowblind; Earth Crisis vs Black Sabbath, Children Of The Grave; Botch vs Black Sabbath, The Wizard; Kyng vs Black Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Notes — First real snowfall of the year. We had some yesterday, but today I actually had to shovel. And I will have to again later this evening after this session.
- SQ - Heavy sets across. Honestly, no idea how these will go. I was running 385x2x3 on 10/1/23, then had a break, then went too heavy on my return and tweaked my left adductor. It has been over a month since I've done any SQs north of 300lbs (370x1 + 345x3x2 on 10/20/23). Since then, it has been inconsistent rehab squatting at much lighter weights and higher reps. That did the trick, as there's no pain now, although I did become aware of it during a few of the reps today. The first set went quite well, even as I had to take an extra moment before rep #5. Based on that, I extended my rest interval from my normal 5' to a longer 7', which was the right move. The following three sets were repeats of the first, smooth and steady, with a couple of extra breaths before rep #5. All good, although I did start to notice that adductor during the last set; no pain, just aware of increasing tightness.
- DL - Heavy set. Smooth and steady. All good.

[Bill Anders]

12/4/23 - Monday

OP I @ 4'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
145x1
160x3x4

BP L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x1
205x1
225x5x3

Music — Killing Joke, The Wait (RIP Geordie Walker); Ministry, Cannibal Song; Jane's Addiction, L.A. Medley (L.A. Woman [The Doors]/Naseau [X]/Lexicon Devil [The Germs]); T.S.O.L., Colors (Take Me Away); Soft Cell, Memorabilia; Revolting Cocks, Creep.

Notes —
- OP - Intensity Triples - Last week I was thinking +15lbs for these Triples, but decided to stick to the standard +10lbs since this weekend was pretty poor for recovery. I wish it was for fun, but it has been due to life. Strict, smooth, and steady, with each set smoother than the one prior; sets 3 & 4 even had single-breath multi-reps. Based on that, in hindsight, I could have gone the +15lbs, which would have been a +5lb PR for 4x3's (160 was set in Feb '23 and matched in June '23), but no need to get greedy.
- BP - Light Sets across. Smooth and steady. All good.

[Fred J]

Smooth and steady. All good. I wish I could write that down more ha.

Also thanks for this... Killing Joke, The Wait

[Bill Anders]

Fred, the only way that I'm able to write that down so frequently right now is that I'm a fair bit off of my PRs from earlier this year. I'm sure that the struggle bus will be making more frequent stops.

re: The Wait - that riff was a major part the soundtrack of my high school years, as were so many other hardcore punk songs/bands. It was also an early influence for Metallica, who first released their version in 1987 on their cover album Garage Days Re-Revisited. After years of shunning the Hair Metal scene during that period, thrash pulled me out of the punk bubble. Cover of tunes like this helped, as did crossover moves from bands like Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.) and Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C., who you might remember ).

[Bill Anders]

12/5/23 - Tuesday

SQ I @ 5'
45x10x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
275x1
305x1
335x3x4

Rows L @ 3'
65x5x2
135x5
185x3
205x5x3

Music — Hüsker Dü, Signals From Above; Die Kreuzen, No Time; Fugazi, Waiting Room; MC5, Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa) [live]; Fear, Let's Have A War; Black Flag, Beat My Head Against The Wall; Toy Dolls vs Chuck Berry, No Particular Place To Go; The Cramps vs Little Willie John, Fever; T.S.O.L. vs Bob Dylan, All Along The Watchtower.

Notes — It's 20°F warmer today than yesterday and humid as hell. It's been raining all day and melted off all of the snow. Blech!
- SQ - Intensity Triples across. Dang left adductor started talking to me during the warmups, which always introduces the doubt. The first set was tough and a touch grindy, but I didn't notice the adductor until after I re-racked and walked into the house. But that was it. The remaining sets were a bit tough, which was no surprise considering that I haven't squatted this weight (or higher) since 10/20/23, which is also when I realized that I had done a number on that adductor. No issues today. All good.
- Rows - Light Pull sets across. Smooth and steady. All good.

[Bill Anders]

12/8/23 - Friday

BP I @ 5'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x1
250x3x4

OP V @ 2'
45x5x2
95x5
130x3
145x2x12

Music — Twitching Tongues vs Misfits, Last Caress/Where Eagles Dare; Kill Devil Hill vs Black Sabbath, Solitude; From Hell vs KISS, God Of Thunder; Prong vs Rush, Working Man; Brujeria vs Eric Clapton, Cocaina; Vajra vs Pat Benatar, Love Is A Battlefield; Otep vs Slipknot, Purity.

Notes — Slipped a day due to life commitments*. I'm planning on running this programming for the foreseeable future as the snow pack that we had was pretty much washed away this week and only slightly replenished on Wednesday. Between now and Christmas there's not a lot of accumulation forecast. Such is El Niño.
- BP - Intensity Triples across. The right weight, as the third rep of each set started to approach grindy status. But not quite. All good.
- OP - Volume Doubles across. Smooth and steady. All good. Perfect timing, too, as the lengua is ready to pull from the Instant Pot. Tacos, here I come!

* One part was the annual fasting prior to a physical to deal with my doc who, as soon as she walks in the door, asks if I'm still lifting (clearly she saw my weight on the intake form), tells me I look great, that I need to lose 5lbs, and not to gain any weight over the holidays. All in quick succession. Even when I mention that my current composition is worlds apart from the others in the waiting room near the same weight, she says that losing 5lbs is good, because I'm obese according to the BMI chart. I suffer her because she's really better across the board than so many others that I've experienced.

[Bill Anders]

12/9/23 - Saturday

DL H
135x4
225x2
275x1
315x1
345x5

SQ L @ 5' (normally 3'; see note below)
45x10x2
135x5
185x3
225x1
255x1
285x5x4

ETA: HIIT - Tabata (8x20" w/ 10" rest) - avg 2:09.7/500m, 909m.

Music — Dax Riggs vs Sunn O))) & Boris, Her Lips Were Wet With Venom [-ish. Dax's version is about 1;30, while the original is over 28 minutes]; Danzig, Dirty Black Summer; Type O Negative, I Don't Wanna Be Me; Judas Priest, Hell Bent For Leather; Scorpions, Blackout; Van Halen, Everybody Wants Some (Live).

Notes — A slower than normal workout. I was trying to convince a dear friend to put down the dumbbells. He was looking to buy a dumbbell safety rack because his dumbbell bench presses were getting "heavy". That was my cue to send him the BBRx article and book and start talking the good talk. His initial response was "nah, dumbbells are more than enough. Besides, heavier isn't necessarily better" and "I only have a 15x15' space" to "your timing is uncanny. You have no idea how much" (yes, in a positive sense) and "Wow, you have all of that in a 8x10' space?" and pics of all of the empty space that he has available in his newly built home. We'll see.
- DL - Heavy set, +10lbs over last week (getting back in the groove). Smooth and steady. Perhaps one more +10lb jump...
- SQ - Light sets across. All good.
- HIIT - See note on Monday's log (below).

[Fred J]

12/9/23 - Saturday

Van Halen, Everybody Wants Some (Live).

Damn Ed had the grip on that thing didn't he?!

[Bill Anders]

Damn Ed had the grip on that thing didn't he?!

As he almost always did.

[Bill Anders]

12/11/23 - Monday

OP I @ 3'
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
155x1
170x1x5

BP L @ 3'
45x5x2
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x5x3

HIIT - Tabata (8x20" w/ 10" rest) - avg 1:50.1/500m, 900m.

Music — Van Halen, Unchained (Live)*; Danielle Dax, Brimstone In A Barren Land; Murder, Inc., Murder, Inc.; Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) vs Metallica, Nothing Else Matters; 1000 Homo DJs vs Black Sabbath, Supernaut; Sisters Of Mercy, Lucretia My Reflection.

Notes —
- OP - Intensity Singles across. Heavy, but smooth and steady. Had I gone +5lbs over this, they still would have gone, but been quite grindy. All good.
- BP - Light sets across. Smooth and steady. All good.
- HIIT - I have been negligent in this over the summer. Time to get back on-board. I never logged the sessions here, but apparently I need a bit of external accountability. So if you don't see these for a while (1 week+), call me out.

* After Fred's comment above re: Everybody Wants Some, I listened to that song again. I then noticed that the entire album had been uploaded to YT. That concert started right out the gate with my favorite VH song, off my favorite VH album**, recorded in perhaps my favorite city in the world, where I feel more at home than anywhere else.

** Fair Warning - overall darker than their first three albums and before someone told Eddie that he needed to play a damn keyboard in almost every damn song. And don't even get me started on Van Hagar.