Basement Barbell Club

[ambivalens]

Moving my training log here from T-nation. Not sure why, I like that there's alot of mature people around here. Info on me:

A little background first, in case all of you trainspotters out there care. I'm 29, turning 30 in a couple of months. Got 2 kids - one girl that's nearly 2, and a wee little girl that's 8 weeks this coming weekend. Just with those two finding time to work out is tough, and in addition I have my job (trauma nurse (male) working evenings - 3 to 10) and some schooling going on part time. Time is of the essence, you might say.

I work out in my basement, got a Bodysolid power cage and all the things I need (almost). Still lacking somewhere proper to do dips - as a substitution I'm using a couple of trees with heavy duty branches. Gets it done, sort of. Often when I'm working out my 2 year old daughter is with me, which is both fun and annoying at the same time. Gets a bit heavy when you almost hit her in the head with the bar squatting :P

I'm also verbose. Overly so, but what the hell. Used to work out alot, but got fat and sedentary when we had our first kid. It's high time getting back into it, so I'm starting low and working my way back up. Used to squat 140 and press 80-ish kilos (my 2 favorite exercises), but I'm starting from the beginning and leaving my ego at the door.

Stats:
1m89cm tall, 111 kg heavy (way too much fat, my wife is a wonderful baker)
Currently started 5/3/1 with focus on leaning out and a long term plan - no short term goals except "keep on trucking". Started squatting like I've never done it before, at 55 kg, to get my motor skills back.

Current goals - by the end of 2011
Squat: 120kg - current as of 02.08.2011: 100kg
Deadlift: 150kg - current as of 02.08.2011: 125kg
Bench: 100kg - current as of 15.08.2011: 95kg
Press: 80kg - current as of 02.08.2011: 67.5kg

[ambivalens]

Sunday today, press day. DELOAD WEEK.

I'm in my 4th week of 5/3/1, deloading and just relaxing. Switched over from SS because I need to lose about 15 kilos to be able to look myself in the mirror without a feeling of shame. Therefore, 5/3/1 with about 3000 cals per day, lost 2 kilos in a month now, slow and steady.

Press, 3x5 - bar, 30kg, 35kg. Nothing much to say about this, deloading isn't very exciting or action packed. Because I'm a jackass I decided to do a few heavier singles and doubles to see how it went. 3x40kg went up very easy as expected. 2x50kg went very easy as well. 2x57.5kg posed more of a challenge, but went up. I guess my 1RM right now is somewhere around 62.5kg.

Did some more random assistance. Did some skullcrushers because they have sentimental value - they were the first exercise I really started focusing on when I thought I was training weights real hard. Got pretty strong triceps too, haha. Some practicing the hang-clean, some DB presses, some kettlebell work. Might have been some more in there, but my 2 year old daughter and the neighbours 2 kids came in to blow up my party. The oldest one, a 5 year old girl showed me some real shoulder power pressing 3 kg overhead. Very cool

[Regin Smidur]

Ah, a fellow cellar dweller. Welcome, and good luck with your weight loss and strength goals.

[ambivalens]

Ah, a fellow cellar dweller. Welcome, and good luck with your weight loss and strength goals.

Thanks, mate! I'll see if I can find a picture of the cellar I took the other day, so you can have a look at my setup.. which is basically a power cage :P

[ambivalens]

I believe I might have managed to attach an image to this post. If not, I'm sorry.. :>

It's a sweet setup, except it gets down to -15 degrees celcius in winter because of what is basically a missing door. And it's actually not underground, so there's no heat from mother earth herself to be had.

[ambivalens]

Monday, squat day. It's really Tuesday, but my wife and 2 kids left for a holiday late last night, so I dropped my workout in favor of being with them.

Warmed up today by destroying the kitchen. While the family is gone, I'm tearing it down and building a new one. All the old crap is out now, a good 10 hour warmup.

Squat, 3x5 - 47.5kg, 52.5kg, 60kg x 15 - Felt very good. Spent a lot of time during squatting warmup experimenting with foot positions etc. When I go wider than shoulder width, my knee and hips really give me trouble. If I go slightly narrower than shoulders (just sliiiiightly), I can squat ass to grass without any issues at all. On the last set I believe I could have hit 20 reps if I wasn't such a pussy, but I racked it at 15, because my rest between reps was getting upwards of 5 seconds.
Squat, 5x10 - 2x50kg, 2x45kg, 40kg - These felt excellent. No issues after I discovered the stance thing. Even now my knee is only marginally annoying me, so perhaps I'm on the golden road to squat redemption. All these assistance squats were ass to grass, while main sets were to parallell.
Romanian Deadlift, 3x10 - 40kg, 50kg, 60kg - Still haven't watched Rips new video on these, will do tonight since I'm all alone and can actually sit on my ass for more than 3 minutes at a time.

Ended todays workout with some HIIT tabata kettlebell work - cleans, figure 8s, snatches and swings.

I'm currently defrosting a 1 kg steak, and 5 seconds after this post goes live, my grill will be roaring with fire, expecting wonderful meat.

[jgh]

Currently started 5/3/1 with focus on leaning out and a long term plan - no short term goals except "keep on trucking".

I think this is an excellent and underrated goal, if you think about it. To quote Dan John, "The goal is to keep the goal the goal."

Nice cave, btw!

[ambivalens]

I think this is an excellent and underrated goal, if you think about it. To quote Dan John, "The goal is to keep the goal the goal."

Nice cave, btw!

Thanks! I'll get another picture up soon, there's a boxing bag and some stuff in there too. Definitely something that needs to be documented for posterity ;>

Since I started training 2-3 years ago (casually, no real goal, no real knowledge), I've wanted to "get strong fast", kind of like those "get rich quick" schemes. But something Wendler wrote in his book on 5/3/1 got to me - I don't remember exactly what his words were, but something along the lines of weight lifting being for life, and that there's no need to rush it, because even if you just up the weight slowly, in 5 years you'll be lifting some serious weight off the floor anyway. So now I've settled down and come to terms with going slow. My life is so active outside the gym that I can't focus 100% on optimal recovery and all that. Wife, kids, work, the house, the yard.. you know And I want lots of conditioning too, because I want to play ball and run around with the kids without being winded after 10 seconds.

[ambivalens]

Wednesday, bench day. It's really Thursday, but redoing the kitchen has delayed me.

Warmup, boxing bag, shoulder dislocations, lots of shoulder prehabs (rotator cuff giving me issues on bench), BW squats, rope skipping.

Bench, 3x5 - 47.5kg, 52.5kg, 62.5kg x 15 - Went very smoothly today. No specific shoulder issues to complain about, form was good, body tight. Weights were easy, but when I was getting to rep 12 on last set stuff started hurting (the good kind).
Bench, 5x10 - 4x50kg, 1x40kg - Very, very easy today.
Kroc rows, 2x20 - 37.5kg dumbbell - A screamer as usual. As I get to rep 15 and above I start howling like a wounded moose. Feels great, heart pumping like a beast.

Morning workout today. Now it's on to wiring the electricity for the kitchen, and then getting started on the new roof in there. Nice, countryside wood roof going to look good.

[ambivalens]

Friday, deadlift day. It's really Saturday. What a mind blower!

Got to sleep in today, felt wonderful. Very tired from this weeks work, needed the extra time in bed.

Warmup - Boxing bag, BW squats, shoulder dislocations, jump rope. Also did some mobility work, hip stretching and quads etc.

Power Clean, 5x3 - 40kg, 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 60kg - Quite happy with these. Some left wrist issues at first, but it calmed down. Got to last set quite easily, cueing myself "EXPLOSIVE!" mentally as I went up.
Deadlift, 3x5 - 65kg, 75kg, 85kg x 15 - Went quite well, no big troubles. Had to reset grip at rep 12 in last set, no big deal. Some issues with flexing my lumbar too hard, fixed later in assistance sets.
Deadlift, 5x10 - 75kg, 70kg, 65kg, 2x60kg - Felt heavy during the first set, rest was pretty easy. Lacked music, fixed that and really got steaming.
Romaninan Deadlift, 3x5 - 60kg, 70kg, 80kg - Felt good today, some technique fixes from watching the latest platform video.

Finished off with the death march - http://youtu.be/2o_lal2jpQc

Grand workout, felt really good. Now it's off for a shower and hopefully a haircut if I can find someone willing to do it this fine Saturday.