Oh, it's February?

1/30/15

135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
335 x 2
345 x 2

1/31/15

135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
345 x 2
375 x 2
315 x 2

Well as happens I'm losing interest in another blog.  I had the numbers above in a draft for a couple weeks now, so I thought I'd at least release a full accounting of January.


2015 YtD squat volume: 50,120 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 25
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 4


At this point I could still probably reconstruct with considerable accuracy what I've done so far in February, but it would look remarkably similar to what I did in January.

I think I'll drop the blog down to fortnightly or so, so instead of a mere data dump, I can release largely meaningless anecdotes.

Largely Meaningless Anecdote

A couple guys gonna have leg day everyday in the squat cage, a couple guys gonna have leg day every month on the phone by the leg press.

1/25/2015 - 1/29/2015 Dominating the Commercial Gym & a Doughnut

Sunday, 1/25

Off

I try to make a credible effort to attend church Sunday, and I didn't attend church. It's hard to go to the gym before work and claim a credible effort to go to church, so off today.

Monday, 1/26

Today felt very much like a program minimum day, so

Squat
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
Cheers, good bye

Tuesday, 1/27

Here I was at Gym Number Two, which can get interesting.  I strolled in looking like shit, saw the gym clowns doing gym clown stuff, and decided to do a clinic on the fifteen minute drill.

Squat:

135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
335 x 2
365 x 2

Here I felt strong and I had a few minutes left on the clock.  Strength wise it was probably a 400+ day, but I felt some pain in my right quad on the last double, decided to be smart, shut down and walked out.

Gym Clown vs. James

Above is a photo after my last double.  When I strolled in looking like shit, some properly attired gym clown had dragged a preacher curl bench into the squat cage and used it for partial range of motion seated presses.  To be honest, I was motivated by hatred and wanted to show the gym clown what can be done in the time it takes to drag a preacher curl bench into a cage.

Fucking Gym Clowns

Here, and still within fifteen minutes of walking in looking like shit, I've got my bar properly unloaded.  As I recall the gym clown had moved on to hammer curls.  Likely he left his shit this way.

I sympathize with the people who are variously intimidated, put off, or otherwise psychically harmed by gym clowns, because I also used to be.  I've found it's necessary to dominate the commercial gym, and this is best accomplished by walking in looking like shit, squatting enough to make people point and whisper, and leaving.

Wednesday 1/28

Off

I'm trying hard but with limited success to combine daily squatting and jiu jitsu.  Wednesday is now my heavy jiu jitsu day, so off.


Thursday 1/29

After Tuesday's fifteen minute drill and Wednesday's heavy jiu jitsu, it felt very much like a program minimum day.

Squat

135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2

2015 YtD squat volume: 45,115 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 22
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 4
2015 YtD jeans destroyed by large thighs: 1


If you've been paying attention, you'll notice the doughnut counter has been incremented. I think that happened Monday.

1/24/15 13 Minutes 30 Seconds

Today's work on the 15 minute timer:
Squat
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
335 x 2
360 x 2
315 x 3

Elapsed time 13:30


2015 YtD squat volume: 42,455 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 21
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 3

1/23/15 Fifteen Minutes & Twenty Tons

I decided again today to cap my squatting at 15 minutes.

I did:
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
335 x 2
365 x 2
315 x 2

I had 90 seconds left.


2015 YtD squat volume: 40,880 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 20
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 3

Trap Bar Carry:

270 x 15 yards x 6, I go, you go.

I've become a big believer in loaded carries.  We do them often enough to need variety, so in addition to varying the weight and distance, we've also put in the I go, you go format where as soon as partner A sets the bar down, partner B picks it up and goes.

Hope

1/22/15 Summary & a Doughnut

It happens that I know what I did, and how I did it, but it's easiest at this point to summarize what I've done since, as always, I let the blog lapse.

Largely because of time constraints and angry shoulders, I took time off, squatted and left, and some days hit the program minimum.  I squatted a mere 6,265 pounds in the last week or so leaving my totals thusly:


2015 YtD squat volume: 38,220 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 19
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 3

The biggest thing, really, is that I ate a cinnamon crunch doughnut yesterday.

All this is uninteresting, I'm sure, except perhaps for the doughnut, so I will break down today.


1/22/2015 Squat and leave, promise a buddy waiting on me I'd be in the gym 15 minutes or less.

Here I cheated a bit, I didn't start the timer until I had changed and placed an empty bar in the rack.

5 x 135
5 x 225
2 x 315
2 x 335
2 x 355

Total time: 8:30

I felt good today and thought about hitting another heavier double or even a single, but I kind of liked the idea of cutting it short.

I do have some meaningful blog post ideas, and will execute as time allows so for now I'll leave you with the musical study I made today.

1/12-15/15

Still squatting just busy.

1/12
Squat
135 x 5
225 X 5
315 x 2
335 x 2
315 x 3

1/13
Squat
135 x 5
225 X 5
315 x 2
345 x 2
375 x 1

1/14
Squat
135 x 5
225 X 5
315 x 2
335 x 2

1/15
Squat
135 x 5
225 X 5
315 x 2

2015 YtD squat volume: 31,955 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 15
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 2

1/11/2015 Off

Off.


2015 YtD squat volume: 26,085 pounds
2015 YtD squat tons: 13
2015 YtD burpees: 230
2015 YtD pull ups: 41
2015 YtD Winchell's cinnamon crunch doughnuts: 2

I do the blog as I have time.  I realize at some point, I'll have to explain my implementation of squatting daily, but not tonight.  For now you'll have to know that when I squat everyday, I do not squat everyday.

Because I was off today, I was able to watch some of the games from the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk an Zee Holland.  I usually take a quick look at all the games, then monitor any I find particularly interesting.  Here I was really concentrating on Caruana - Saric on the left because the game was a Zaitsev Defense which I am trying to learn.  If you look at the kibitz window below the game on the left, you can see that in chess also everyone is an Internet expert, and they're also inane.