Not Bad for an "Old Man"

[K.Diesel]

I've been lurking on the site for a while, but haven't posted lately. For whatever reason, I just haven't been active on social media (Facebook, Twitter, forums) for the past few months. I just got back to Facebook & Twitter in the last month or so. Here's the short version of what's been going on:

• I competed for the first time in a year (51 week gap) in August. I was blessed to win my weight class (220 Open Raw) at the USAPL NJ States, even though I did not hit a PR total. Here's the footage of that:
  
  

• Going in to the meet, I already had an order for an MRI on my right shoulder. Those who may remember me from logs past may recall a torn labrum in my left shoulder in 2011. I knew this injury wasn't as bad, so I went ahead with the meet before getting it treated. Turned out to be tendonitis. I needed 10 weeks of physical therapy, and had/have some restrictions on what I do. For example, I didn't do a barbell back squat or full range bench press again until November.

• I'm still doing plenty of urban hiking 5-6 days a week as a friendly neighborhood mailman here in Baltimore. It's hurting my knees and hips, but there may be developments to help relieve some of that soon. I'll update that as it happens.
  

• I've worked so much this year, especially the last 6 months, that I couldn't/didn't focus on school enough, and I wasn't performing to the level that I had been the year before. I decided to take the rest of the school year off, and resume my studies in fall 2014. I have reason to suspect that my job situation will be less taxing by then.

Right now, here are my big picture plans for competing in the next few years:

• early Spring 2014 - local meet (equipped) in MD/VA, qualify for USAPL Open Nationals

• June 2014 - USAPL Open Nationals (equipped)

• late 2014/early 2015 - local meet (raw or equipped) in MD/VA/PA

• summer 2015 - USAPL Raw Nationals

• late 2015/early 2016 - local meet (probably equipped) in MD/VA/PA

• May 2016 - USAPL Masters Nationals (equipped) - that's right, Masters. As my oldest daughter always tells me, I'm getting old!

Best wishes for peace & health to all of you as we start 2014!

[elVarouza]

Great job at the meet! Huge squat. I'll be looking forward to following your progress.

[K.Diesel]

Great job at the meet! Huge squat. I'll be looking forward to following your progress.

Thanks a lot! Glad to have you checking in.

This week has been difficult. My wife has been in the hospital since Sunday night for a sudden illness. As a result, I've been in the hospital since Sunday night with a few exceptions. Hopefully, she'll be discharged tomorrow. Or I guess I mean today since it's after midnight now. I did manage to get a session in on Monday evening while a friend visited her. I want to get back in the gym on Thursday. Here's the basic template of how I train right now:

• On average, I train 3 days per week, not including urban hiking/mailman GPP/going to work.
• I'm in week 4 of alternating lower body days with upper body days. I'll probably keep this up through the 3rd or 4th week of February.
• I'm training raw right now. I'll start phasing in the equipment around the end of January or beginning of February.
• Once the date for the meet I want to do is posted, I'll figure out when to shift to a short peaking phase.

I'll start with logging new sessions as soon as I get back to the gym. In the meanwhile, here are two short videos that will give you an idea of what I've been doing lately. They're both from the last week of 2013.

[hbriem]

Great lifting K. It's good to see you back.

[DRice311]

good to see you back diesel.

[K.Diesel]

Great lifting K. It's good to see you back.

good to see you back diesel.

Thanks guys!

It's snowing in much of the country, including Baltimore where very few people know how to drive safely in this weather. My wife is still in the hospital. But I was still able to get out for a bit to make it to the gym.

1. Bench Press
95/6
145/4 (may have done a 2nd set at 145, not sure)
185/2
205/2 -
225/2 - added wrist wraps & started taking handoffs this set
245/6, 3 - about a 1 minute pause. Last flat bench session was 245/5, 2
275/8 - used Titan Ram on this set. Last session was 275/6
215/10 raw + 6 Ram - Last session's backoff was 205/9

2. Chins
2 sets on the assisted pullups
BW/5 medium overhand
BW/5 rope + 7 wide overhand - I have some rope attachments that I use for the 1st few reps on some sets
BW/4 rope + 8 neutral
BW/3 rope + 4 underhand - This may have been the ugliest set of chins I've ever done.
BW/12 - more like 8-9 reps with 3-4 partial reps

3a. Front/Side Delt Series: 2 sets x 30 reps each

3b. Rear Delt Series: 2 x 30 reps each
3c. Shrug Series: 2 x 30 reps each

4. Situps on Decline Bench
BW/15
blue band/10
green band/10, 10
BW/15

I must have gained a bit of weight since she/we have been in here. I was 205.0 on Sunday morning. I weighed 211.5 on the gym scale this evening. I'll post vids and/or descriptions of those "series" later tonight or tomorrow. I got them from an article featuring another "old man", IFBB pro Toney Freeman.

[xcardiobunny]

Great meet video! I hope your wife recovers swiftly, it's hard for the whole family when someone is in the hospital, so much stress. It's good that you can get training in to remain sane.

[K.Diesel]

Great meet video! I hope your wife recovers swiftly, it's hard for the whole family when someone is in the hospital, so much stress. It's good that you can get training in to remain sane.

Thank you & thank you. You're right about remaining sane. These escapes to the gym are helping me quite a bit. I don't mind being here for her, but in a way it's like I was admitted to the hospital and there's nothing wrong with me. Hopefully we won't be here much longer, but we've been saying that for 2-3 days.

1. Zercher squat - pad + towel on bar
135/6
175/6
205/6
225/6
245/8 - wore smaller, velcro belt on this set

2. Squat
135/5
225/5
275/5
325/5
365/5 - added velcro belt & wrist wraps on this set

3. RDL
135/8
185/8
225/2.15

At this point, my back couldn't take anymore. I should have known better, but I shoveled snow just before going to the gym. My lower back felt less-than-good before I got to the gym. I'll surely remember this lesson for the next snowstorm. Hope to have vids up soon.

[hbriem]

Nice work, K.

I hope your wife recovers soon.

[K.Diesel]

Nice work, K.

I hope your wife recovers soon.

Thank you sir. She came home yesterday. She's not back to normal yet, but she's better than she was when she went in. Along those lines, I plan to go back to work & resume my daily regiment of urban hiking on Thursday. Mother-in-law is here to help out for a while, so that should be a big help with the 3 children.

Here's the video recap of my 1st 2 sessions of 2014. I could tell that I'd gained weight, because my bench press improved dramatically in about 2 weeks. Sure enough, I weighed myself yesterday morning, and I weighed 211.0. The morning of Sun. 12/29/13, I was 205.0, so that's +6 lbs in 8 days. I doubt if I hold it, because I'll be back to my normal activity levels 2 days from now. But I'll ride this wave for as long as I can.



Tonight's session:

1. Incline Press
95/10
125/8
155/8
175/8 - added wrist wraps here
190/8 - Last time I did inclines, I topped out at 185/6
225/8 - used Titan Ram. Last time, I got 225/3 with the Ram.

2. Bench Press
225/9
225/10 - Used the Ram and a close grip for this set.

3. Barbell Row
135/10
185/10
225/10 - added Versa Gripps here
255/10
285/10 - added velcro belt here

4. Seated cable row
160/12 - used V-handle. Slower reps than anything else I did tonight. May have had 1-2 more.