Chinups & Leg Press

22 Mar 14 (Sat)

  Warmup

  500m Row

  3 Rounds

  8 Chinups      (140lb assisted)

  Rest

  4 Rounds

  10 Leg Press  (115lb)

  Rest

  Instead of trying to stick to some arbitrary gym-schedule, I'm just getting in the habit of going in every day. That way I can take a day off whenever I deem it necessary without disrupting on-off-break-days or whatever.

  Working up slowly and keeping workouts for the same body-part separated by some days seems to be avoiding any burnout thus far by not over-stressing any area and allowing rest for recuperation.

Shoulder Press & Box Squat

21 Mar 14 (Fri)

  4 Rounds

  5 DB Seated Shoulder Press  (2x30lb)

  Rest

  3 Rounds

  5 Box Squat, Smith               (100lb)

  Rest

  Cooldown

  500m Row

  Doing the box squats in the Smith-rack worked quite well.

  Since the proper motion of the barbell in any squat is straight up-and-down, then the rack's restricted motion didn't matter. Without having to worry about not dumping the weight, then I could focus upon keeping the shins vertical and getting the hips properly back and low. This helped avoid some of the inevitable knee-soreness. I'll mix these in to substitute for leg presses sometimes.

Pullups & Deadlifts

20 Mar 14 (Thu)

  Warmup

  500m Row

  3 Rounds

  10 Pullups  (assisted 150lb)

  Rest

  3 Rounds

  5 Deadlifts  (135lb)

  Rest

  Okay, that's most of the basic movements done once. I'll now start doing variants of the movements each time for interest and start climbing up the weight.

  Thinking of 3 rounds of 5, then 3 rounds of 8 at the same weight the next time the movement comes up, then 10. Once can do 3x10 with good form, then bump up the weight and go to 3x5 again.

Bent Rows & Benches

19 Mar 14 (Wed)

  Warmup

  500m Row

  3 Rounds

  10 1-DB Bent Rows [R]  (25lb)

  10 1-DB Bent Rows [L]  (25lb)

  Rest

  3 Rounds

  10 Bench Press, Smith  (50lb)

Cleans & Leg Press

18 Mar 14 (Tue)

  Warmup

  500m Row

  3 Rounds

  5 Muscle Cleans  (85lb)

  Rest

  3 Rounds

  10 Leg Press       (100lb)

  Rest

  Knees became sore quite quickly, but no clicking or tearing yet: so that's good.

  Level of intensity is just right for re-starting. Faint hints of muscle-soreness at appropriate locations.

Row & Shoulder Press

17 Mar 14 (Mon)

  Warmup

  1000m Row

  3 Rounds

  10 Shoulder Press  (55lb)

  Common rookie mistake is to come back too hard and get sore or burn out. Working up slowly.

2014 Return (Row & Chinups)

16 Mar 14 (Sun)

  3 Rounds

  500m Row

  10      Chinups  (assisted 150lb)

  Back.

  Weight remains at around 240lb, so kept stable since last workout phase. Good. Could use 220lb by summer, so starting up again. Goal will be 220 by 4 Jul 14 (so minus ~20-25lb in 4 months), assuming working doesn't wreck the knees too much to exercise.

  Motivational picture is Miss Alison Brie. Hilarious and cute as a bug.