Family training and conditioning, and thoughts about my weight loss.

So I had started the 1st phase of the carb nite solution, it went pretty well I and enjoyed eating carbs saturday night. But my wife has decided to start it also so I am gonna redo my 1st phase so that we can both have our carb nite together. I lost 5lbs last week so a good start and I think we are on the right track. I have been really hammering my conditioning work, and I think I feel the best I have in a long time.

Alison and Gabby's workout.
Bench Press
Alison
worked up to a topset of 60lbs x 10 reps PR
Gabby
Worked up to a top set of 47.5lbs x 9 reps PR

Then Alison got a nice PR on the the Military press doing 45lbs x 5 reps x 3 sets

My conditioning
10 sets of:
Prowler 60' low handles, 60' high handles, 50 jump ropes, 10 sledgehammer swings each arm
I won't lie this was brutal.

Jesse

Sunday overhead pressing and strongman day

The weather turned out to be great today and it was the start of a new journey for me.

Strict press
110 x 5
160 x 1
180 x 1
200 x 1
210 x 1

Downset
180 x 3

Double overhand axle dead
220 x 3
250 x 3
285 x 3 PR

Frame Carry
480 x 50 feet x 2 sets this didn't feel that great, but it was nice to do some stuff outside

Stones
230 x 15 loads

Prowler
16 sets of 80 feet

Overeall it was a great day, very happy with how things felt.

Jesse

Very quick workout

Gabby had a Halloween function at school, in the past I have tried my hardest to get out of these but since I have gotten wiser and know things for my family are more important than my lifting I opted to go and let my daughter have fun.

Got home a little after 7, and was just gonna skip my workout. But I figured I could go out and do whatever I felt like doing in 10-15 min.

Box squats supersetted with Power Cleans
225 x 2 and 205 x 1 for 8 sets

That was it, done in like 8 min.

Jesse

Upperbody workout

Today I started my new plan, it is only 1 day and it is really not much different but I think it will work.

4 board press with a close grip
135 x 5 x 2
185 x 5
225 x 3 added boards
275 x 3
295 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
355 x 1
300 x 6

Speed Overhead press with Choked Minis
5 sets of 3 reps

Swiss Bar Floor Presses
3 x 5

Dips
5 x 5 last set was with 70lbs

Fat bar pressdowns
5 x 10

Overall I was happy with tonight. Gotta figure out how I am gonna setup the rest of my workouts, but I think I have a good plan.

Jesse

Getting my motivation back.

Right now I have no meets on the horizon and I am nursing some injuries. So no better time than right now than to get my ass in gear and get my weight back down to where it should be. Since NAHA Nationals I have dropped 15lbs and I really am not sure as to where I will go down to. Ideally getting back down to 200lbs would be nice, I am pretty sure I can make that happen but I am not gonna push the issue and burn myself out.

I am gonna try a new method, it is called carb back loading. So far I like it, I feel a little tired during the day, but my workouts have been going good. And with getting to have a ultra high carb day once a week it at least makes you feel like you have something to work towards(besides losing weight.) I have also been doing a lot of prowler pushes and jump roping, eventually I will starting adding in some walking for 30-60 minutes at a time.

I really don't know if I will ever get to compete again, if I get to great, if not I can at least work on being healthier and trying to set some strength goals at a lighter bodyweight.

Here goes nothing.

Jesse

Deadlift and testing my knee out.

So my knee has been feeling a lot better. So I did what any person would do tested it out. I didn't do much but I could tell it was still too soon. I am pretty sure I will be ok, just gotta give it more time.

Power Snatch
just used as a warmup

Front squats
3 x 3 only used 155. These felt fine but on the 3rd set I felt a decent amount of pain, which is to be expected since I haven't done full range squats in a while.

Deads
225 x 3
315 x 3
425 x 3
475 x 6 had more in me, but I kept shifting to my right side and this would causing my lat to cramp. Better than I thought it would go. And I tore up my thumb really nice from hooking.

Bent Over rows
3 x 8

DB rows
3 x 10

Green band abs
3 x 20
KB twist
3 x 10

Prowler
10 sets of 80 feet
5 low handle, 5 high handle.

8# Sledge Swings
1 set of 30 swings each arm.

So I am working on losing weight, so far so good. I have dropped a few lbs and have a goal I want to be at in 3 weeks. I think I have found the right plan of attack for me right now.

Jesse

Strongman day, finally feeling like one again.

I gotta say today was a really good day. Not anything crazy fantastic today, but stuff is coming back around.

Strict Presses
140 x 5
160 x 5
180 x 7 getting better
Push Presses
200 x 3
220 x 3
240 x 1 knee was really throbbing here so I stopped.

DBL overhand Axle DL
200 x 3
240 x 3
270 x 3 no more, tried 4 but it slipped out above my knees.

18" Deadlift
245 x 3
335 x 3
425 x 1
475 x 1
525 x 1
600 x 1
Wow been a while on this one.

Stones
250 x 2
330 x 1
360 x 1 This made happy as hell, but it was hard. I still can't squat down to get the stones in my lap, so I have to pull them very high to get them in my lap. This was my goal today, so I can't complain.

Prowler pushes with 200lbs
4 sets of 120' low handles down to 60' high handles 60', this sucked nuts, I really wanted to die or pass out whichever happened first.

Some Biceps and Triceps

Overall it was a great day. Bryan is almost healed up and kicked ass, Corey is getting his mojo back, Josh got a overhead PR, and Troy killed the axle press, 18" DL, and stones.

Jesse

Lower Body somewhat

Woke up very sore today. But I did what I could and it was better than nothing.

Power Cleans
These felt terrible, my triceps were so sore that the catch of the clean was just plain ugly.

135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 1

SSB Box squats
I lowered the box about 3", wow way harder obviously but felt it in my quads a lot more.
5 x 5

Tried do some DL variation for high reps but it wasn't happening today.

Prowler pushes
9-10 sets some low handle some high handle

16# sledgehammer
3 x 10

Jesse

Upperbody, or lack there of.

I had setup a peaking plan for a powerlifting meet I planned on doing next month. What I didn't take into account was taking 10 days off work and doing many different home improvements projects and how they would wear me down. But I am still on the fence and once I recover maybe things will change. Still once I thought about it, still a decent night.

Close grip bench
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
265 x 3
300 x 2 missed 3rd
Down set
275 x 3 very hard
3 board press
275 x 5 still hard

Swiss bar floor presses
3,5,5

Swiss bar extensions
3 sets x 10 reps different grip each set

Elevated pushups
5 sets x 10 reps

Wasnt' what I wanted but after looking at it all, it was a good workout. My daughter and wife kicked butt today. Gabby squatted 45lbs x 1 easy and then pulled 103.5 x 5 reps, Alison box squatted 95 x 5 and then did 145 x 8 easy on the deadlift. So proud of both of them.

Jesse

Deadlift and upperback

Not the worst workout, but not one of my better ones either. I have been doing a lot of projects around the house and I think it has worn me out a little bit. No big deal, it is stuff that needs to be done and I can always have a better workout next week.

Snatches
95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 1
155 x 1 sloppy

Deads from the floor
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
405 x 1
455 x 1
500 x 1 x 2 sets was gonna do reps, but it was not happening today. Something goofy was going on with my knee and my hamstrings would not stop cramping.

Bent over rows close grip
4 sets x 5 reps

Bent over rows snatch grip
5 x 10

AB fallouts
3 x 10

Green band abs
3 x 20

My actual plan called for reps with 475 today, but I was feeling good somewhat on warmups and thought maybe I could pull some nice weight for reps, wasn't happening. Still a fun night.

Jesse

Strongman day, and it actually was.

Great day today, weather had a little bit of a chill in it but I felt good and decided to push things a little bit and see what my knee can handle.

Push Presses, it was a deload for my strict pressing and I wanted to try my new bar. I was happy with how it went but I definately prefer an axle for my pressing.

135 x 3 x 2
155 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3

DBL overhand axle deads
250 x 10

Frame Carry
Lots of lighter sets for 50 feet
500lbs x 50 feet nice and easy but I didn't want to push it more than this.

Atlast stones
some lighter singles, then did the 310 for 1 load. This was easy but I am gonna be smart and work slowly back into it.

Prowler
6 sets of 60 feet

Bicep work
6 sets

Shoulder work
6 sets

Overall it was a great day. Looking forward to Tuesday deadlift workout. It is the last time we will see Chuck for a while so I think we will have to do something stupid.

Jesse

New olympic bar and some damn good training.

I ordered a new bar on Monday and it arrived today. Gotta say it is impressive, and so far I love it. For those who are curious here is the bar http://www.christiansfitnessfactory.com/index.php/Olympic-Bars/Cap-1200-lb-Olympic-Power-Bar. Did some power cleans to break the new bar in. Wow having a bar with whip and spin really makes a difference.

Power cleans
135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 1
235 x 1
245 x 1
Wow these felt great, I haven't done cleans in months due to wrist hurting too bad and some other stuff hurting. Using this new bar I can actually catch my clean without pain. Mac did a nice 275 full clean.

SSB box squats
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 1
405 x 1
These suck, but I think they are helping my start on the deadlift.

I supersetted snatch grip deads with my SSB squats
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3
405 x 1
430 x 1 PR no belt.

Prowler pushes
6 sets of 50 feet

Green band abs
3 x 20

Jesse

Upperbody workout

Went over to Bryan's house to train, not a great workout but not one of my best either.

Close grip bench
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1 paused
305 x 1 paused
315 x 1 touch and go.
225 x 10
My damn back kept cramping up, really killed my bench today.
Did some reverse band presses afterwords nothing special.

Dips
21,12,10,7- 50 reps the 21 reps is a PR happy about that.

Wrist curls
4 x 15

Not much, but it was a good one still. I really wish my back would have stopped cramping it really kiled my workout.

Deadlifts

Workout went very well today, things are really starting to come back around. Needed this workout.

Deads
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 3
455 x 10 Very happy with this, might have been able to do 1-2 more but I think I would be thumbless if I did.

Bent over rows
3 x 8

Blast strap rows
3 x 10

Prowler pushes
3 sets x 90 feet
Prowler Drags
3 sets x 90 feet

Green band pulldown abs
3 x 20

Landmines
3 x 5

Great night, I was wiped after this.

Jesse

Strict press and other stuff

Went out for Chucks bachelor party last night, had a really fun time but ate way too much. I felt like a bloated whale today. I was sweating just from warming up, and my stomach was in shambles.

Strict press
150 x 5
170 x 3
190 x 1+4
This just felt terrible, but it is progress.

Band pull aparts supersetted with Pulls to the face
3 sets x 15

Swiss bar curls
5 x 10

Cable curls
1 set x 20

Prowler sprints
10 sets of  90 feet.

Not much, but better than nothing. I don't think I am gonna eat a thing today, even the thought of food makes me wanna puke. But it was a good time.

Jesse

Lower body accessory day

I think that is what I am gonna call this day, I really can't squat persay, but I can do stuff similar to it.

SSB high box squats
5 x 5 I think top set was 335, was pretty easy but I could feel my knee starting to ache.

Ultra wide sumos
4 x 5 top set was 315

Prowler pushes
6 sets of 60 feet

Sledgehammer Swings
3 sets of 16# x 5, 12# x 10, 8# 20 each arm for 105 reps each arm.

Overall good night.

Jesse

Upperbody Day

My sister came over as she wanted some help with what she needs to do and how to do it correctly. So I helped her out as I did my own workout.

Close grip bench
135 x 5
205 x 3
245 x 3
270 x 8 not a PR but happy with this.

Swiss bar Floor Presses
I think I did like 3 heavy sets of 5. These are great, definately a keeper.

Swiss bar extensions
3 x 8
I really like how these felt, didn't hurt my elbows.

Dips
3 x 10

Grippers

Very happy with todays workout. I really didn't think I could get 8 with 270 as I haven't been training my bench too much.

Jesse

Sunday and Tuesday

Sunday-
Strict presses
140 x 3
160 x 3
180 x 6 not bad, it is coming back around.
Push Presses
200 x 3
220 x 3
Not hard, just testing my knee.

18" deads
worked up to 600, it was easy but more than enough pressure on my knee.

DBL overhand axle deads
200 x 3
250 x 1
270 x 1
290 x 1
300 x 1 PR happy about this.
310 x miss so close

I think I did some other stuff but I can't remember.

Tuesday. So I had a thought today of testing my deadlift. I was rather worried as I haven't done any really heavy deads in a while. I told myself if I couldn't do 500 today, there was no way I wasn't gonna do the powerlifting meet in Nov.

Deads
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 3
405 x 1
455 x 1
505 x 1 pretty easy
525 x 1 a little struggle, but not bad at all.
So I was happy after this, gives me a decent starting point to work from.

Swiss bar rows
did about 3 sets, not sure how I like it for bent over rows

Thick DB rows
3 x 5 each arm

Axle shrugs
4 x 8

Some prowler pushes and backwards drags.

Jesse