Protein time!

Marmot here, writing again after a long hiatus.

Today I'm going talk a bit more about the changes to our diet and how it has effected our workout, then I'm going to write out our most recent workout.

The picture to the left is what 25 grams of chicken looks like.  To function well, we need about .5 grams of protein for each pound of lean body weight.  Looking at a woman with 18% body fat (roughly the average for women in this country) at 140lbs, that means she needs 57.4g of protein a day, which more than two times the chicken to the left  For people who are completely sedentary they could probably do with less--I've read various places, something like 30g a day if you really don't move.  But, lets say you want to be healthy, or even stronger...that's a different story.  

Catching up

 
Well, the Marmot and I have long neglected posting our stats and reflections on lifting, and we're going to try to get back in the swing of writing more regularly here. Was the last time really in July? Is it really already October? We have made a lot of changes to our routine, made a lot of mistakes, and learned quite a bit in our long silence.

1. The willy-nilly, different-every-time "routine" we were doing before wasn't doing us any favors. Our philosophy had been to keep trying new things, to keep challenging ourselves, use the equipment that was free (rather than, say, wait for the squat cage) and to push really hard every time. This often resulted in extreme muscular fatigue from over-training, which led to too much down time between lifting days, occasional over-training injuries and inconsistent results.
2. On Monday, August 29 we started the Starting Strength routine, as outlined here. We do Pendlay rows instead of cleans since my clean form is still frustratingly sloppy, and we include the weighted decline sit-ups and weighted back raises that are listed in the routine as "optional." The full routine takes about an hour and a half, Monday Wednesday Friday.
3. Our gains have been massive and consistent. I started with 3 sets of 95lb squat x 5 (which, to be fair, was too conservative a starting point) and am now at 135lbs (that's a full 45lb plate on either side of the bar!); my dead lift started at 115lbs, and now I'm at 175lbs; bench started at 65lbs, now at 80. Marmot has had similarly exponential growth: his squat started at 3 sets of 195lbs x 5, now he's at 250lbs. Dead lift started at 315lbs, now at 340lbs; bench started at 175lbs, now at 200lbs.
4. I failed a squat for the first time with 135lbs. Of all the lifts, squat has always been the most intimidating to fail: the weight is on your shoulders, and what happens if you can't stand back up? It's a pretty primal terror, feeling crushed by weight and unable to move. My failure was more mental than physical. I started thinking instead of moving, thinking about the weight, about how heavy it was, and suddenly on the way up out of a squat I stalled and fell. The safety pins in the squat rack caught the bar, and Marmot helped pull it back off of me, but it wasn't scary at all. I think it happened too fast for me to be anything but startled that I'd failed; it was more loud and embarrassing than scary. 
5. We have to eat a kind of disgusting amount of protein to make these gains. We are still eating paleo-ish (AKA, mostly just meat and vegetables and fruit, with some indulgent M&M and popcorn nights in the mix, and flexible rice and corn rules while eating out with pals). Eating the amount of protein we need (1g for every lb of bodyweight) by just cramming chicken breasts and eggs down our gullets gets old really fast, so we supplement on lift days with a protein powder we lovingly call choco-beef. It is...not as appetizing as whey protein, but Marmot is lactose intolerant and I try to avoid dairy as part of the paelo plan, so powdered beef it must be.
6. Mixing choco-beef into greek yogurt is really, really, really gross.
7. We have both gained weight. Marmot is 10lbs heavier, and I'm up 4. Given our strength gains and where clothes are fitting more tightly (shoulders/thighs rather than belly), I'm going to call that added muscle mass.
8. This new routine is a blast. Making real, consistent strength gains is extremely motivating. I feel a little different in my body; we never were very good at doing lower back lifts during our willy-nilly lift phases, so now with regular squats, deadlifts and rows my posture is MUCH more upright without thinking about it. The kind of tired we get is deep and full-body rather than localized lactic-acid burn, and I feel ready to go lift again after a day off. 
9. We still have had to deal with minor injuries. Marmot dropped a heavy weight on his toe and had to stay off his feet for a few days; I had aches in a knee because my bike seat was too low on my daily commute, and minor repetitive stress injury in my right palm from sewing and drawing for too many hours in a row. Still, these minor pauses are nothing compared with the chronic muscular imbalances we struggled against before.
10. Oh, one last thing: "warm ups." It literally is about getting your muscles warm. I didn't really get that before, until we noticed that lifting in the heat of summer was much easier (more flexible, more mobile) than when it started getting cooler. We do a pretty long warm up routine to get our muscles nice and toasty.

More soon, we promise!

On the Utility of Form Check Videos

It has been ungodly hot here in the city for the past week, and our gym has no air conditioning! We've been 2 or 3 times since last posting (a busy week kept the Marmot and I from moving much at all) and each time we go, I am convinced that I have never been as sweaty before in my life. Yesterday the heat index was around 112, and I would reckon the gym was in the (relatively cool) high-90s.

We brought our little digital video recorder to check form; I've finally been able to consistently get the bar up to rack position and full lock-out for my clean & jerk form, but I know I'm far from "good form" (even if "not failing every other time" feels like a huge improvement). Videos below the jump:

Stats: Upper body & Clean/Jerk

We're a little behind in marking our stats here. We've had a great maintenance upper body day early in the week, and an off-routine but ultimately exciting leg day on Wednesday. In spite of re-injuring my lower back on my third dead lift set (with perfect form too--I guess I wasn't all the way healed?), I powered through and did 4 sets of clean & jerk. Luckily the particular movement involved in cleans didn't trigger my back pain, so it felt safe. I think I'm getting the hang of it a little more (which you wouldn't know from my bruised collar bone); I can finally feel why something is wrong if something is wrong. My big problem for months has been feeling like I'm doing the same move each time, but with wildly different consequences. Now I can feel "Oh, I think I jumped too early" or "Hm, need to work on getting my elbows out more." So that's a huge improvement!

I also had a minor "non-scale victory" in the weight-loss/body-confidence department. I walked home after the leg day in our sweltering gym without my shirt on, just my (very conservative) sports bra and shorts. I think this is the first time my belly has seen sunlight since I was toddling. High fives all around!

Rolling in the Clean & Jerk

clean & jerk, mid-jump

So we were reminded today of the major reason we left our current temporary-summer-gym the first time: no air conditioning.

Our gym is in a basement and is blessed with neither fresh nor cool air, which is good for feeling limber (Marmot and I were much more flexible at the beginning of our warm-ups than usual) but not so good for doing much of anything else. It's humid and hot outside, a swampy 95, and the gym was maybe in the mid-80s. Yikes. The only sunny side was a new radio station: instead of "angry but melodic suburban dude music," they switched to the "dance dance gaga pop!" station which is a much more motivating sound track for lifting, for us at least.

Heat aside, we had a thrillingly successful leg day. I didn't go in with any minor injuries to throw me off, and I kept my lifts hard but not too-hard to keep from re-injuring my lower back. Everything went better than expected! We started with 5x5 squats, which was much harder than usual in the heat, and dead lifts were solid if not record-breaking. To work on my lower back strength we tried barbell hip thrusts (no weight, just the bar) which I've read is an excellent secondary exercise to strengthen glutes & lower back. I liked it a lot but it irritated Marmot's old hip injury so we might leave it by the side for now and try something different next time.

The best, though, was last. By the time we'd finished our hip thrusts we were both grossly soaked and sweaty, but we were on a roll and wanted to keep rolling. We loaded a bar with 5lb bumper plates and did 4 sets of 5 reps of clean & jerk. I am still trying to get the form down (hence the very light weight) and have to really, really concentrate before each lift. It's a lot to think about: you lift from the ground to mid-thigh like a dead lift, then you explosively jump and pop your hips forward to bounce the bar out and up to your shoulders (without pulling with your arms) while you squat a bit to get under the weight, swinging your elbows forward to create a nice bunchy deltoid for the bar to rest on; then, with the bar racked on your shoulders, you jump again to push the bar above your head. I'm absolutely terrible at learning gross motor movements, and this is a very complex move. My first set was iffy with a lot of false starts (just a dead, just a dead, a dead and an incomplete jump, a dead a jump and the bar is too far from my shoulders, etc) but after that I got my form down a little better. I still can't coordinate my body to pop my hips at the right moment, but I think with more practice I'll get it.

There's nothing quite like lifting. I know I've said it before, and I also know that I'm still very much a novice and haven't experienced many other forms of athleticism, but there's one particular moment of letting go that is unlike anything else I've experienced. Just before the lift I position myself in my form and am all in my head. With squats, I've got my hands in position, I've got my heels firm in the floor and my toes positioned at the angle I know works for my knees, and I feel the bar on my traps and then stand to hold the weight and think about that squat: you've got to hold your back strong, you've got to go deep, goddamn the bar is heavy, I hope I can get back up. With dead lift, I put my feet under the bar, get my hands in position, stretch my back and then tighten my body down into lifting position: you've got to hold your body tight, you've got to pick it up, I hope it's not too heavy, you've got to pick it up, hold the bar with all your life, pull it, just pull already. With cleans, I stand over the weight, get my feet and hands in position, and think about that jump: you've got to jump, jump at the right moment, hold it strong, jump up not forward, don't look up just jump. The thrilling moment for me is in that brief moment of letting go: I stop thinking, I stop worrying, I stop all narrative flow and just move. The moment the narrative stops doesn't seem like is controlled by me, I just suddenly find myself moving, if that makes sense. It is thrilling and sometimes terrifying, that kind of unfiltered embodiment.

With that in mind, I will say I (almost) cried in the gym again: not from frustration or injury, but from triumph. I was on my third clean & jerk set nearing the end when Adele's ubiquitous "Rolling in the Deep" came on the radio. I pulled and jumped and held and jumped and held; I dropped the bar one-two to the floor, and pulled and jumped and held and jumped and held; and then on my last set, I pulled and jumped and held and jumped and held the bar above my head for 30 seconds, quivering and holding and listening to the music build, looking at Marmot smiling at me, holding the weight above my head and listening to the music build to the chorus, and it felt beautiful.


(stats below the jump)

Buff Femmes For The Win

(Forgive the dirty hallway mirror)

Tuesday afternoon I returned home from a busy but celebratory morning of errand-running. A long-term project I recently completed is in someone else's hands now, and while I was waiting for my early afternoon appointment I bought myself a new summer dress. I bought it partly to celebrate this minor accomplishment, partly because it was an already cheap dress on sale, and partly because this is a "poofy"-fitting style of short dress that I never would have felt comfortable wearing before my recent weight loss and body transformation. I came home excited to try it on again and took a picture in my hallway mirror. Since I can't do much of anything without joking in the act, I went full-on Schwarzenegger after the first cutesy pose. BAM: evidence of my hard work!

Marmot & I have had unusually packed and inflexible schedules for the past few days, and haven't been able to fit a trip to the gym between our other obligations. (We bicycle everywhere and do push ups at home, but let's be serious: that's nowhere near enough.) We're getting back on track tonight, so keep your fingers crossed that I don't hurt myself again!

There's no crying in lifting!

On the left: my superego. The right: my id. (And my back.)

I don't think I understood how much lifting means to me until this afternoon's failure. This might seem ridiculously unreflective: I have been lifting for almost 5 years; I read articles and books and watch videos on how to lift better in my down time; I write regularly on a blog about lifting, for goodness sake. But being Strong and Capable and Competent have become much more salient aspects of my identity in the last 6 months, making today's minor failure feel much bigger than I thought it would.

I cried a little.

No, that's a lie. I cried a lot.

Reflection on Stagnation: Protein Time for Pancho

 Pancho's plan: embrace protein for future beefiness!

After weeks of minor ailments (a so-tight-I-limp hamstring here, an inflamed knee there), I'm just this week getting back on track with my lifts. It's humbling and frustrating to lose ground. My squats are back down to 5 x 105lbs, and even that felt ever so slightly out of control that next time I should drop down to 95lbs to get my form back perfect. Ugh.

It is true that my upper body lifts have improved, since my ailments have mostly been hip and hamstring related: I can now do 3 sets of 7+ perfect-form chest-to-ground push ups, and my pull ups are vastly improving in form and ease of execution, if not in number of reps. As satisfying as that is, I have always most strongly identified my lifting with strong dead lifts, and I'm still stuck at 175lbs (1 rep max). It has been inspiring as all hell to watch Marmot beat his previous 1RM max by 10lbs every week (now officially passing 2x his body weight!), and now that I'm not feeling injured I want to bring it full-on.

One thing I am going to do to improve my dead lift is to follow Marmot's lifting strategy. Instead of 3 sets of 5 reps, I'm going to warm up with a set of 5 reps, then push myself for 3 or 4 sets of single lifts, slowly adding weight (in 2.5lb increments) until I fail. He has had spectacular success using this strategy, so I will give it a try.

I also think I need to work on my diet a little more carefully. We have been eating paleo (with some flexibility for rice and popcorn when we eat out socially), which makes healthy eating choices for lifting a lot more intuitive as it emphasizes higher protein, more healthy fats and more vegetables than the Standard American Diet. That said, I just read these two articles (one on protein requirements for strength in general, one for protein requirements for strength in women) and I started doubting that I eat enough protein. I definitely eat more than I did on my vegetarian Standard American Diet, which helped me make serious strength gains, but is it enough for the frequency & intensity of strength days we currently enjoy?

The first article I linked to above recommends 1.5g protein for every lb of body weight, so let's use that as a guide.

I weigh 135lbs (down from a puffy 155lbs not 6 months ago--thanks, grain-free diet and paleo!).
1.5 x 135 = 202 g protein per day.

For breakfast I usually eat 2 hard boiled eggs (and some vegetables, usually turnip greens and squash): 14g protein.
For 1st lunch I eat half a chicken breast (and a load of spinach): 17g protein.
For 2nd lunch I eat leftovers so it's variable, but I'd estimate the amnt of meat is comparable to first lunch: 17g protein.
For dinner, I usually eat 2x what I eat at a lunch: approx 35g protein

Total: 83g protein.

YIKES. Apparently I need to eat significantly more! I just spent some time playing around with Nutrition Data, entering actual meals I've eaten instead of the above estimations, and the guess above was pretty accurate; the two days of meals I entered put me between 80g and 90g protein a day. A few weeks ago we purchased this protein supplement (nicknamed "choco-beef" around the house) and, though it's less disgusting than dehydrated chocolate-flavored beef would imply, I've still got enough of a gut-reaction "NO" response to not drink it regularly. I am struggling to figure out how to add more protein to my diet, since each meal feels filling and satisfying.

Here's hoping that upping my protein, changing my lifting strategy and avoiding repetitive stress injuries help me break through my 175lb dead lift plateau. It sure can't hurt, right?

Goals--"Doing Strong" and June 21, 22 workouts

Marmot here, it's late and I'm kind of jazzed up from watching an amazing action movie ( specifically Commando, it's streaming on Netflix and the whole thing seems to just be a set up for Arnold Schwarzenegger to say bad puns after killing literally hundreds of people).  Not being able to sleep I've decided to be productive and write about one of my physical goals.  I've already written about functional fitness so tonight I'll move on to the second of my three goals, strength. 

Dead lifts and pull ups

Another mixed routine for us at the gym yesterday. I was very much looking forward to a full-on leg day, since my knee was too irritated Monday to lift safely. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the gym my entire posterior chain on the right side (lower back, glutes, hip adductor, hamstring all the way down to the back of my knee) was irritated to the point of seizing. The only thing I could figure out to cause such a problem is my regular over-the-shoulder bag that I wear on my right shoulder, which I've been loading with more stuff than usual recently. Damn! Time to switch to the (better-balanced, more dorky) backpack.

Anyway, Marmot powered through an immensely impressive leg day (succeeding in the dead lift weight which was such an educational failure Monday), while I worked on my push ups / pull ups. I've expressed frustration before at not being able to break through 4-5 pull ups in one set. While I still have that problem, I tried to max out my total number of reps: that is, do as many sets as I can (even if it's only 2-3 pull ups at a time) until I can't pull myself up anymore. I also experimented with some new, challenging squat techniques for giggles...until my hips rejected the idea.

(Side note: after an extensive session last night with the foam roller and tennis ball, my right side is much improved, if not quite at 100%. More foam roller torture tonight!)

Stats beneath the jump.

July 13- mixed day

Hello,

Yesterday we did a bit of a mix of things for several reasons, 1) Marmot really wanted to deadlift, and 2) Pancho's knee wasn't feeling great.  While Pancho did some push-ups, Marmot did some deadlifts, the we went to doing a somewhat regular upper body day.  What's interesting about yesterday is not just lifting more, but also failure.  I thought I would present the workout we did and then talk about what failing out of a lift means.

Videos & thoughts below the jump...

Lower and upper days

Busy busy! Mr Marmot and I have barely had a spare minute the past week to update here. His data-gathering for the ol' dissertation is picking up steam, and I'm excitedly wrapping up a big project that I've been working on for months. We've had a lower-body and upper-body day since posting last, and I think we're finally back on track after our derailed two weeks late last month.

We also haven't written much about the food test; I'll write more on it another day, but for now I'll report that it went so successfully we're sticking with paleo as a guiding frame instead of just a 3-week test. Wonderful!

Upper Body Day: June 5th

This was a pretty good workout, I felt like we reach our daily goals.  We also increased the intensity a bit by adding some ab work in between some of the lifts.  Some of the weights were were doing went down a bit because we haven't done upper body in a bit, but--barring sickness and other problems--we're back on track. 

Warm ups:
25 arm swings
20 Marmot/15 Pancho scapular push ups
20 wall arm-raises

Pull ups:
Marmot: 16; 10; 7
Pancho: 4; 3; 2

Knee Lift:
Marmot:15, 15, 15
Pancho:10 (slow), 10, 10

Dumb bell bench press:
Marmot: 60lbs (per hand) x 15; 60lbs x 15; 60lbs x 10
Pancho: 35lbs (per hand) x 10; 35lbs x 8; 35lbs x 8

Standing Press:
Marmot: 45lbs x5; 65lbs x 5; 70lbs x 5; 75lbs x 5 
Pancho: 45lbs x 4 (10 sec hold); 45lbs x 3 ; 45lbs x 3

Cable row, with Plank at 60 seconds
Marmot: 100lbs x 15; 110lbs x 12; 120lbs x 7
Pancho: 50lbs x 15; 50lbs x 10; 50lbs x 15

When little things go wrong

Marmot and I have been quiet posting here because we've been off our normal schedule. Last week Mr Marmot was ill; Saturday we tried to work an upper body day and met with dramatic failure; then the gym was closed for the holiday weekend; then we had company in town; and Wednesday we went for a leg-day and I was met with, again, dramatic failure.

"Dramatic failure" doesn't mean injury or anything permanent. It was just little things.

Saturday I was in a rare, completely consuming foul mood. Nothing was going right, nothing could ever go right, and everything was horrible. Sunshine that otherwise would have made me lift my chin in pleasant appreciation? Just glare in my eyes. Congenial conversations in the gym? Gratingly loud!  We started as we often do with pull ups. I barely pulled 3, when usually I can do 5 or 6 on my first set; the next two sets were even worse, barely pulling one. Naturally, these failures didn't help my attitude. We tried dumb bell bench press; I was so distracted by feeling angry that I couldn't concentrate on my form, and my shoulder clicked every time I pressed. I decided to call the day a wash and spot Mr Marmot, but my bad mood was contagious, poor guy: he tried to kick up his weights and failed to keep control, dropping them to the side. We left at that, our hands in the air.

Wednesday the problem was more subtle: my form was just off. I tried to squat, but couldn't control my body in the way I usually can. I felt inflexible and struggled going to full depth even with just the unweighted bar. My starting weight felt unmanageable, and I consistently felt off balance and unstable. We decided to strike the squats and try them after dead lifts. Again, my "off in my body" feeling kept me from lifting well: I only lifted 135lbs x 4, and it just didn't feel right in my back or shoulders. I cheered on Marmot as he broke his DL personal record (285lbs, which bent the bar!), and he cheered me on as I did 3 sets of 1-minute plank / 30 sec side plank per side. (He wisely suggested that I do something, so I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time, and plank is as full-body as body-weight exercises go.)

I've noticed that these off-phases go in cycles; when one little thing goes wrong, it can cascade off into a week or even two of feeling bad. You haven't gone up in weight, you haven't even gotten full lifts in, and it builds its own momentum. As frustrating as these phases can be, it's important to recognize that it will pass soon and the only way to help it pass is to keep trying. I knew on that Saturday morning that I wasn't really feeling up to lifting, but I went anyway. Sometimes the pleasure of moving helps the bad mood, and if not, at least I tried.

We'll try again this afternoon. Wish us luck getting past the little things.

Video tour: Leg Day

The Marmot and I brought our wee little digital video recorder to the gym yesterday, for not-one-rep-max leg-day form-checking. It's helpful to review the video afterward; even though we watch each others' form carefully, some lifts, especially full-body lifts like dead lift and squat, are so complex it's hard to see everything. For instance, I noticed that my knees tend to cave inward just a teeny bit when doing dead lifts. Marmot mostly watches from the side, to be sure my back doesn't curve, so having the recording from different angles is super helpful. You can see that Mr. Marmot is much more agile than I am; I'm still learning to jump quickly, it's so much harder than it would seem!

The videos are none too attractive, especially since the temporary summer gym has no air conditioning and it was a muggy 80 degrees yesterday, but if you're ever curious what we mean when we say "one-handed farmer carry," you've got video examples. More below the jump!

Upper body day: Saturday, May 21

A routine but pleasant upper body day today. We're both making solid, steady progress with our bench presses and standing presses, but I feel like I'm stalling a bit with my pull ups. The summer gym we're attending is delightfully bare-bones, so there is no assisted pull-up machine. I think having some assistance at high reps was helping me build, so I'm trying to figure out how to work up from here.

Through the lifts, we were a tiny bit distracted: there was a meet at our gym this morning! Gigantic dudes in power-lifting suits were walking around everywhere, lifting warm-up weights that were more than I could ever dream of lifting and it was super inspiring...but it made me feel a little silly struggling as hard as I was to just press the bar when practicing my standing press. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Warm ups:
20 arm swings
20 scapular push ups
20 wall arm-raises

Pull ups:
Marmot: 16; 9; 6
Pancho: 5; 4; 3


Dumb bell bench press:
Marmot: 60lbs (per hand) x 15; 65lbs x 15; 65lbs x 8
Pancho: 35lbs (per hand) x 15; 35lbs x 12; 35lbs x 8


Cable row, with 6lb medicine ball Russian twists x 20 during rest:
Marmot: 100lbs x 15; 110lbs x 12; 110lbs x 8
Pancho: 60lbs x 15; 60lbs x 10; 60lbs x 10

Standing Press:
Marmot: 65lbs x 5; 75lbs x 5; 85lbs x 5 
Pancho: 45lbs x 5 (10 sec hold); 45lbs x 5 (10 sec hold); 45lbs x 4 (10 sec hold)

Leg Day Record-Breaking Bonanza!

Holy cow, y'all: something happened yesterday. Maybe we had rested enough; maybe watching this video of this dude's Ridiculously Diverse Athleticism inspired us to greatness; maybe we just happened to both be in upbeat enough moods that anything felt possible. Whatever helped the stars align in our favor, we had a killer leg routine at the gym last night.

Something to keep in mind when reading these numbers is that our 1 rep maxes were, of course, not tested at the end of a vigorous work-out; they were tested as stand-alone single lifts, so we were not at all fatigued. That we both came close to our 1RMs at the end of a challenging lift, and repped the weights, is a big deal. Also, The Marmot and I have been struggling with increasing our dead lifts for lack of grip strength. We both have felt like we can lift more with the strength we have in our hips and legs, but our hands fail--gravity wins, and the bar gets ripped out of our grip. This time, we both broke through our grip limits. I had never lifted 135lbs more than 5 times, and by the 5th I'm usually holding on with my fingertips and pure will power. We completely exploded our previous records when you consider the total number of reps.

I dead lifted more than I have ever lifted in my life. As I said: holy cow, y'all.

For comparison, I'll post our stats from one month ago, April 15, along side in gray, and our previous one-rep maxes in blue. Our lifts from yesterday will be in red.

How to Start

Last month I flew home to visit my mom, which is always a pleasure: she's a smart, thoughtful and funny lady, so our visits inevitably feel too short. We were both expecting a regular visit--some walks, some cooking, some Lady Gaga and/or Spice Girls blissing-out: standard stuff. What ended up happening surprised us both. After an afternoon running errands, she expressed frustration at her level of fatigue carrying bags while I was still springy, and that frustration was tied up in some bigger concerns about her body. I suggested (as I had fruitlessly in the past) that if she were interested I could put together a little home work-out routine for her. She said yes, and has been super enthusiastic ever since. I couldn't be more proud of her dedication! She went from a healthy but not terribly active 52 year old to someone who drops down in a clothing store to show off to her husband that she can hold plank position for a (very impressive) 30 seconds.

I know a lot of people have plans for bodily transformation, either losing weight, or gaining muscle, or improving in their sport. (A lot of folks don't, and are content in their lives and their bodies--right on! This is not aimed to make people feel like they should change, only to help if they already want to change.) I also know that those folks who have plans for bodily transformation struggle with starting. Starting taking care of your body takes hearing the right thing at the right point in your life. I happened to say something that struck a chord with my mom last month. I've tried to recall what I said, so that if someone stumbles upon this blog at that moment where they want to start, maybe my tiny bit of experience can be helpful.

Cooking Casualty & Upper Body Day

Pancho here, badly burned but unfazed! Sunday night the Marmot and I were doing our weekly Mega Food Prep, cooking a big pot of stew, boiling eggs, baking chicken breasts and roasting a nice acorn squash. I was, admittedly, a little frazzled when I opened the oven 3/4 to check on the squash; I pulled the rack out which pushed the oven door down all the way, the top of the super-hot oven door landing flat against my shin. Damn.

The Marmot thinks it looks like a flying eagle. I think it looks like, well, the top of the oven door. It's healing pretty well, but yesterday during our pull-ups the burned part of my shin kept hitting the front of the dip-bar and hurt so bad I cut my pull ups a bit short. Oh well; all's fair in love and lifting.

We lifted yesterday at the Great Equipment But Bad Air gym and oh my goodness I'd forgotten how great it is to be in a place where everyone takes lifting seriously. One large gentleman was dead-lifting 405lbs (that's four 45lb plates on each side)! It was inspiring, and we had a great lift.

Functionally Fit

Marmot here, I've decided to take some time to write about my workout ideals as a chance to more clearly articulate them to myself and to put them down as something to work toward or against as Pancho and I continue lifting.  I've already discussed specific weight lifting goals, but with some time to reflect and new information I thought I would elaborate on my goals a bit more. 

I have three major goals for working out: functional fitness; general physical strength; and bodily transformation.  These goals are obviously not mutually exclusive. Rather, the work involved in attaining them, and the presence of any one of them, implies the others. To be functionally fit necessitates being strong and vice versa.  To accomplish my intended bodily transformation must include working on general physical strength and provides functional fitness.  Lacking any one element makes the others harder to accomplish if not impossible.  Today I’m going to write about just one of these goals and in subsequent days I’ll post on the other two.  

Paleo: Sample Food Day

Daily Breakfast Medley:
This is what I have for breakfast every day. Some days I don't have berries, or I have regular bacon instead of Canadian bacon, or mashed sweet potatoes instead of mashed acorn squash, but this is pretty representative.
 

1 hardboiled egg (boiled en masse a dozen at a time,)
1 nitrate-free/uncured Canadian bacon (cooked en masse the night before, while soup was simmering, put in tupperware for easy morning assembly)
Roasted acorn squash (baked a few nights before) and frozen turnip greens, microwaved
A few blackberries
1 cup coffee
Total time to assemble breakfast: 3 minutes

First Lunch: Leftovers
 Homemade Butter Chicken (murgh makhani), from the night before, microwaved with some frozen turnip greens*, plus an apple

(Curry ingredients: chicken, curry paste, cumin, paprika, chili powder, coconut milk, 1/2 c greek yogurt, butter, vinegar, tomato paste, 4 L tomatoes, cinnamon)

 *I don't particularly love turnip greens, but they're so much cheaper than spinach that my little frugal heart can't say no

Second Lunch: Catch-as-Catch-Can

The day I remembered to photograph 2nd lunch, I had carrots, 1/2 an avocado, and some tuna salad (tuna, celery, mustard, a bit of olive oil). Other days it'll be 1/2 a chicken breast and a spinach salad with nuts, or whatever I can assemble from the fridge.
















Dinner: Chowder

We generally make 2 large Pots Of Something a week to have enough for leftover lunches, and to have something that takes long enough to cook that while it is simmering I can do some multitask cooking (like boiling eggs, frying bacon, baking squash or chicken breasts, etc). The night I remembered to take a photograph of dinner was Big Pot of Something night, and an experimental one at that: salmon chowder. It was a new recipe; not my favorite, but not bad either. (Ingredients: 1.5lbs of wild salmon, cubed; butter, onion, carrots, celery, broth; 28-oz can crushed tomato; thyme; 1/2 c coconut milk.)

Dessert

On Tuesday night this week, Mr. Marmot and I were feeling like a treat (and on only day two of our food test!).  I remembered this recipe for banana "ice cream" that I'd bookmarked earlier in the week, and thought we'd give it a go. We don't have a dish washer so convincing us to use the food processor is a nigh impossible task, and I was really impatient, so I changed the recipe a bit:

1) Cut up 3-4 bananas into a large freezer-safe container.
2) Mush them to hell with a fork.
3) Mix in 1/3 cup (ish) of coconunt milk into the mushy bananas with said mushing-fork until creamy-smooth
4) Freeze for as long as you can stand (we waited 1/2 hour) and eat. 

I cut up 3 bananas, assuming that would be plenty for leftover treats for the future, but it was so great we ate the whole thing. Delightful!

Gym Interruption

Disaster! We strong(ish) folks have found ourselves without a gym. The Marmot and I are members at the university gym where Mr Marmot is a grad student. We had known for months that the university would be closing the gym for the summer for renovations, but we were assured that the equipment would be moved to other spaces on campus for less-than-ideal but still available gym services. Not a day before the gym closed, we were informed that there are no "family plans" available for summer membership, so I wouldn't be able to attend. Just terrible!

The quick search for a replacement gym in our area has been depressing. Living in a large city, we are walking distance to a surprisingly large number of gyms, but none quite meet our needs. 4 gyms are cardio only, maybe with a cable machine or some dumb bells; two actually have a squat rack, but only one in a sea of weight machines (and each time we've walked past, the squat rack is occupied); and the last one was a full-on power gym where we were members for 2 years--4 squat racks! a whole area dedicated to dead lift! bumper plates galore!--but the gym was in a dingy basement with no air conditioning which gets swampy in the summer, and highly questionable air quality (visible mold, a door that opens to a parking garage with exhaust fumes billowing in). We were happy to move on to the university gym's cleanliness, but it looks like we might have to go back to dirty-but-great-equipment gym for the summer. At least I'll have my bumper plates to practice cleans!

One of the most frustrating things about changing gyms is changing equipment. We mostly lift with free weights, but there are a few "prehab" exercises that we do every time that were recommended by Mr Marmot's physical therapist that require a cable machine. Cable machines vary so wildly from machine to machine depending on maintenance--is the cable well oiled? Is the weight pulled up from a plastic-coated wire rope, or a thick inflexible rubber band? At the university gym, Mr Marmot can pull 200lbs in his cable row; yesterday, he could barely do 145lbs. It is frustrating to try to consistently mark progress when equipment can be so radically different.

In spite of the gym frustrations, we've gotten a few little workouts in. Below the jump are the last lower-body and upper-body days, including our first kettle bell lifts.

A quick note on kettle bells, now that we have gotten to use a proper weight (instead of our bocce ball experiment a few weeks ago): they are amazing! It was much more cardiovascularly difficult than I had anticipated, and as I was in my last 10 swings of each set I was definitely ready to be done. That said, once we left the gym I didn't feel noticeably sore or fatigued at all; I guess we're both just used to lifting a lot heavier than 20lbs. Still, it's a great exercise to add to the repertoire.

Food Experiment #3

Today marks Day 1 of our third Food Experiment. This doesn't have anything to do with putting together gross or extreme meals (we leave that to the dudes at Epic Meal Time); rather, the two of us have recently started committing to 3- or 4-week long restricted diets to see what we can learn. A brief history:

Upper body day: May 8

Excellent upper body day yesterday! We tried the (VERY challenging) L-sit for the first time, and I found a new appreciation for the overhead press. We've done overhead press once before, but this was the first time we built it in as a proper part of our routine. I can only press the bar a few times, but on the last set I hold the bar up as long as I can: it's such a visceral, powerful feeling, holding a heavy weight above your head. It was that primal love of holding heavy weights up in dead lifts that originally got me hooked on lifting; I think I've found a new favorite move. I also have a MUCH more grounded respect for the strength it takes to execute a clean and jerk; just holding the 45lb bar above my head yesterday for 10sec after my last set made my whole body shake, holding my abs and back and shoulders in place took every bit of strength I could muster.

I'm hooked.

Stats: Catching up

We've been a little slow marking our lift stats this week. Below the jump: upper body routine from May 1, and a killer lower-body day May 3.

A little quality-of-life note, the Marmot and I have been completely exhausted and ravenous this week. As a representative example, yesterday I was feeling brain-foggy and blank, which led to an accidental late afternoon nap. I woke up starving, so we ate a giant (delicious) meal, Bistec a lo Pobre (steak, eggs, plantains, beans).

We're both hungry all the time, deeply fatigued and utterly delighted with the pace of our strength gains.

Women, Strength and "Bulk"

I've been thinking a lot the past few weeks about women and lifting. As a lady committed to getting stronger by picking up heavy things and putting them down, this is a natural state of affairs. I'm sure this will be a recurring theme as I continue to think through these issues in my own life and in the lives of the women around me, and as I walk daily past the rows of women on treadmills and ellipticals on my way to the squat rack, the only XX-chromosome in the weight room 9 days out of 10.

One Rep Max

Last Friday, April 29, the Marmot and I were feeling bold: time to test our one rep maxes!

Our normal strength training routine calls for 3 sets of multiple reps of an exercise, between 5 and 15 repetitions depending on the regimen. A one rep max is exactly what it sounds like: the maximum amount of weight you can lift one time. We both tested our squat 1RMs, and I tried for a dead lift 1RM. I weigh 140lbs, and the Marmot has recently gained 5lbs, now at 165lbs.

Here is Mr Marmot, squatting a clean 225lbs:



I maxed out at 145lbs (and didn't go quite deep enough):



My dead lift max is 175lbs. My form isn't perfect, I need to keep my upper back and shoulders locked a little tighter which I think would correct the slight upper-back rounding, but 175!!



Neither of us are used to the panic/being-crushed feeling that goes along with such (relative to what we're used to) heavy weights on our backs when squatting, so our form could definitely use some tweaks of improvement. I think we're going to keep using the digital video recorder as a training tool, to check form when vocal cues aren't enough.

Upper body day: Monday, April 25

Warm up: Arm swings, 20 per side
Warm up: Arm wall raise, x20
Warm up: Scapular push ups, x20

Pull up, set 1:
Pancho: 5 close grip
The Marmot: 15 wide grip
Pull up, set 2:
Pancho: 2 close grip
The Marmot: 9 wide grip
Pull up, set 3:
Pancho: 2 close grip
The Marmot: 5 wide grip

Overhead Press, set 1:
Pancho: 45lbs x 8
The Marmot: 45lbs x 15
Overhead Press, set 2:
Pancho: 50lbs x 5
The Marmot: 55lbs x 15
Overhead Press, set 3:
Pancho: 50lbs x 3
The Marmot: 65lbs x 12

Push up/abs, set 1:
Pancho: 15 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 30 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
Push up/abs, set 2:
Pancho: 15 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 10 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
Push up/abs, set 3:
 Pancho: 20 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 10 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch

Cable row/plank, set 1:
Pancho: 110lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
Cable row/plank, set 2:
Pancho: 120lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 15; 30 sec arms forward plank
Cable row/plank, set 3:
 Pancho: 130lb row x 10; 30 sec arms forward plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 10; 30 sec plank


Shoulder pulley, hard:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @10lbs x 15
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @25lbs x 15

Shoulder pulley, easy:

Pancho: 3 sets per side @25lbs x 15

The Marmot: 3 sets per side @ 35lbs x 15

Fat bar grip work, set 1:

Pancho: 5 sec hang

The Marmot: 10 pull ups, hang

Fat bar grip work, set 2:

Pancho: 10 sec hang

The Marmot: 3 pull ups, 20 sec hang

Fat bar grip work, set 3:

 Pancho: 10 sec hang

The Marmot: 3 pull ups, 15 sec hang

OK, formatting is a little weird here. Figuring it out.

April 22 Workout and Some Thoughts

Warm up: Leg swings, side knee kick 10 per side (only faster and with a twisting motion with the arms going the opposite direction
Warm up: Toe-touch in-the-hole squats, x20
Warm up: Spiderman lunges, x20

Back Squat, set 1:
Pancho: 90lbs x 10
The Marmot: 140lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 2:
Pancho: 100lbs x 10
The Marmot: 160lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 3:
Pancho: 115lbs x 8
The Marmot: 185lbs x 8

Dead lift, set 1:
Pancho: 140lbs x 4, followed immediately by 10 unweighted explosive high jumps
The Marmot: 235lbs x 4, 10 high jumps (grip failed) --that's a bingo! 
Dead lift, set 2:
Pancho: 135lbs x 4, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 235lbs x 1, 10 high jumps (grip)
Dead lift, set 3:
Pancho: 135lbs x 4, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 215lbs x 5, 10 high jumps

Front Squat
Pancho: 55lbs x 10

Marmot:95lbs x 10
Front squat set 2
Pancho: 60lbs x 10
Marmot:105 x 10
Front squat set 3
Pancho: 65lbs x 10
Marmot:115lbs x 8

Overhead Press
Pancho: 45 lbs x 5
Marmot: 45 lbs x 5
  
One-leg leg press & plank, set 1:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 2:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 3:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank

2-hand farmer carries (that is, holding a weight and walking):
Pancho: 25lb plates, 2 laps
The Marmot: 45lb plates, 2 laps

1-hand farmer carries:
Pancho: 25lbs plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps
The Marmot: 45lbs plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps

Overhead farmer's walk
Pancho: 25lbs plate
The Marmot: 45lbs plate

Bridge
Held for 10 seconds between 10 raises for 3 sets.  In other words, we would hold the bridge for 10 seconds, go down and come back up without pausing, and then hold it for another 10 seconds (repeat 10 times).  After each 10 repetitions we would do..

20 leg raises and then another set of the bridge

Then we went the hell home and ate a lot of chicken and vegetables...it was amazing.

Thoughts on the workout:
Talking to Pancho, I think the workout went great today, we went really deep on our squats and the overall energy was fantastic.  I managed to get to my 1rpm for deadlift (235 lbs) for a few reps. 
One major issue that's limiting the progress of my deadlifts is my grip strength.  In terms of  form and leg/back strength, I think I could go up to 240lbs for multiple reps, but one of my hands starts to slip.  This is both a problem in terms of focus and actually completing the lift.

I've done a tiny bit of research to see how to improve things and it looks like there are a few solutions, 1 mechanical and 3 involving strength training.  Pancho and I have known for a long time that competitive lifters prefer to have alternating grips, (one facing the body and one facing outwards) for deadlifts.  I've never felt comfortable with this so I stick to my less efficient inward grip.  I could try to change this and see if it offers any mechanical advantages.  However, I like this solution less because I always feel super imbalanced when I try it--but I should at least give it a good go a few times to see it if works (and if I get used to it).  The other options involve various grip workouts.  The  most common of these is to train with a thicker bar.  You can buy various bar thickeners which attach to whatever it is you're lifting to make things harder for your forearms.  One of the pull-up bars in the gym is already very thick, so hopefully that will help.  There is also stuff we're already doing like farmer carries etc.  Finally, there are things like "static holds" which is to just hold the bar with a lot of weight until failure. 

We might have to look into some bar thickener if my grip doesn't improve.  Though, we're going to continue with the farmer carries that we're doing and see if things get better.

Improvised Kettle Bell: An Experiment

Last night, the Marmot and I decided to try something new. We have been considering buying an adjustable-weight kettle bell for home use, but we wanted to try out the exercises before purchasing. The kettle bells at our gym are only available for use during personal trainer sessions, which is pretty messed up, both in not letting everyone have access to equipment AND training folks with equipment they'll only have access to if they keep paying for a personal trainer. I call shenanigans!

It was the Marmot's excellent idea to use what we have at home: a heavy-duty bag (similar to the one above) and our bocce balls. It has everything we need to approximate the training we'd be able to do with a kettle bell, without buying first. We could put in or take out the heavy resin balls to adjust the weight, and the bag is boxy enough and the handles are short enough to not even graze the ground on the lower part of the swing. Brilliant!

We first tried the kettle bell swing:

The Marmot went first, completing 20 swings with all of the bocce balls in the bag. I had less success; I took out some of the bocce balls, which meant the bag was less densely packed and the balls shifted and clanked through the swing. It felt unbalanced, and I had a series of horrible visions where the bag's seams suddenly exploded and the heavy balls manage to destroy our living room window, break my computer monitor and bash our poor sleeping cat. I stopped 7 swings into the routine a nervous wreck. Now that I'm thinking about it I could have stuffed the rest of the empty bag with a towel or shirt, but I was too anxious to think clearly.

Next, the Turkish Get Up:

We have read high praises again and again for the TGU as a great full-body exercise that is additionally useful to highlight any muscle imbalances, so we were eager to give it a try. For a second time, the Marmot had much more success than I did. We each did it once on each side for one set to practice, then a second set for 3 on each side, and a final set 5 of each side. Halfway through my last set, I realized that the part of the movement where your full body weight (+ the weight of the kettle bell) is resting on your heel and hand was exacerbating a minor wrist injury I thought I had fully recovered from. I (perhaps stupidly) finished the set anyway, and for the rest of the night my left wrist was throbbing.

For as frustrating as the experience was for me (exploding hypothetical windows! re-injured joints!), we learned a lot:

1. The weighted swing is awesome. Even only doing one set of 7, my glutes feel unexpectedly worked this morning. Right on!
2. The TGU is on the back burner for now. Even though we both felt Muscle-Man Strong while we were doing the lift, we both concluded that it's not worth continuing in the immediate future. My wrist needs ample time to heal, and this morning the Marmot complained of an asymmetrical lower-back strain. We might have started with too heavy a weight while we were learning the routine. It might be worth starting again later, but much more patiently.
3. Bocce balls should be used for playing bocce; maybe it could function as a really impractical paper weight, but not as a replacement for a kettle bell.

Upper body day: April 17

Yesterday's upper body work out day was a bit of a bust, since we were both still fatigued-to-sore in our backs and shoulders from our unusually intense lower body day two days prior. (Dead lifts and farmer carries back-to-back did us in!) We are trying to figure out how to better pace our lifts. We both value and enjoy lifting, and get a cathartic release from going to the gym frequently since our daily lives are otherwise relatively sedentary (save walking everywhere), but we clearly aren't resting enough if we were too sore to lift with reliable form. There's a lot to consider, and several different training philosophies competing for our attention. We're also reading and learning more about nutrition, and hope to find some solution soon.

Looking at our numbers, we still did fine. I did 2 more net unassisted pull ups than ever before, and 5 in my first set (vs 4 in my first set last time attempted). The Marmot did one more pull up in his first set than last time, and 5 more net push ups. However, we each went in with low energy and high frustration, making it less fulfilling an accomplishment than before.

Warm up: Arm swings, 20 per side
Warm up: Arm wall raise, x20
Warm up: Scapular push ups, x20

Pull up, set 1:
Pancho: 5 close grip, 5 assist @40lbs
The Marmot: 18 wide grip
Pull up, set 2:
Pancho: 2 close grip, 8 assist @40lbs
The Marmot: 8 wide grip
Pull up, set 3:
Pancho: 1 close grip, 9 assist @40lbs
The Marmot: 5 wide grip

Push up/abs, set 1:Pancho: (goal max per set @ full depth) 7 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 30 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
Push up/abs, set 2:
Pancho: (goal max per set @ full depth) 10 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 25 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
Push up/abs, set 3:Pancho: (goal max per set @ full depth) 8 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 20 push ups; 50 bicycle crunch; 50 regular crunch

Cable row/plank, set 1:Pancho: 110lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
Cable row/plank, set 2:Pancho: 120lb row x 15; 30 sec plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 15; 30 sec arms forward plank
Cable row/plank, set 3:Pancho: 130lb row x 10; 30 sec arms forward plank
The Marmot: 200lb row x 10; 30 sec plank

Pull up v 2:
Pancho: wide grip, 65lb assist x 7: shoulder pop, stop
The Marmot: close grip, x5: shoulder pop, stop

Tricep cable pull-down, rope & Y-bar, no rest, set 1:Pancho: rope 60lbs x 10, Y-bar 70lbs x 10
The Marmot: rope 90lbs x 10, Y-bar 110lbs x 10
Tricep cable pull-down, rope & Y-bar, no rest, set 1:
Pancho: rope 50lbs x 10, Y-bar 60lbs x 10
The Marmot: rope 80lbs x 10, Y-bar 100lbs x 10
Tricep cable pull-down, rope & Y-bar, no rest, set 1:
Pancho: rope 40lbs x 10, Y-bar 50lbs x 10
The Marmot: rope 70lbs x 10, Y-bar 90lbs x 10
Shoulder pulley, hard:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @10lbs x 15
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @25lbs x 15

Shoulder pulley, easy:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @25lbs x 15
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @ 35lbs x 15

Goals

It's important for me to write out my fitness goals so as to both monitor how I've advanced and to keep sight of where I want to be.  With that in mind it's also important to break down my fitness goals into those things I want to accomplish during the workout, goals after the work out, and various incremental long term goals.

Goals during workouts:
1) My chief intention is to maintain a positive attitude while also being mindful of my limitations.  In other words, I should push myself without hurting myself.

Means of attainment:
1) I think with Pancho's help I can avoid overextending myself while keeping the pressure up. She is a great motivator and helps me safely push myself.

Goals immediately (as much as possible) after a workout:
1) Eat a lot of lean protein (cheaply)
2) Use the foam roller + tennis ball

Means of attainment:
1) Prepare meals ahead of time with Pancho.  We've got this down pretty well.
2) Make sure to take time before going to bed--i.e., stop watching British sci-fi comedies and roll.

Goals in the short term:
Push-ups: 50 without rest---current 40
Wide Arm Pull-ups: 20 without rest---current 17
Squat 1rpm: 1.5x body weight (now at 240lbs)---current 175x7 reps
Deadlift 1rpm: 1.5x body weight (now at 240lbs)---current 230x5 reps
Weighted carry: 2 laps with 55lbs in both hands---current 2 laps with 45lbs
One arm Weighted Carry: alternating 4 laps with 55--current alt 4 laps with 45lbs

Goals in the long term:
Pushups: 100 without rest
Wide Arm Pull-ups: 50 without rest
Squat 1rpm: 2x bodyweight (now at 320lbs)
Deadlift 1rpm: 2x bodyweight (now at 320lbs)
Weighted carry: 2 laps with 75 in both hands
One arm Weighted Carry: alt 4 laps with 75

Qualitatively speaking:

I would like to increase my strength while only increasing lean muscle.  Weight and speed a less of concerns, though at some point I might want to do power training. I like the idea of being able to do hopping push-ups: This looks neat!

Means of attainment:
Overall, I think both the short and long term goals are possible if I avoid injury and keep up my protein  intake.  Pancho recently ordered Starting Strength, which I think will help us with both injury prevention and strength gains.  I think we'll have to be a bit more systematic with the "how much" and "when" of our program beyond the low level periodization that we currently are using.  So long as we're making gains, I think our current method works.  

Lower body: April 15

Warm up: Leg swings, 20 per side
Warm up: Toe-touch in-the-hole squats, x20
Warm up: Spiderman lunges, x20

Back Squat, set 1:
Pancho: 85lbs x 10
The Marmot: 135lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 2:
Pancho: 95lbs x 10
The Marmot: 155lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 3:
Pancho: 105lbs x 5
The Marmot: 175lbs x 7

Dead lift, set 1:
Pancho: 135lbs x 4, followed immediately by 10 unweighted explosive high jumps
The Marmot: 185lbs x 10, 10 high jumps
Dead lift, set 2:
Pancho: 115lbs x 8, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 205lbs x 7, 10 high jumps
Dead lift, set 3:
Pancho: 115lbs x 5, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 230lbs x 5, 10 high jumps

One-leg leg press & plank, set 1:
Pancho: 10lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 50lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 2:
Pancho: 10lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 50lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 3:
Pancho: 10lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 50lbs x 10; 60 sec plank


2-hand farmer carries (that is, holding a weight and walking):
Pancho: 25lb plates, 2 laps
The Marmot: 45lb plates, 2 laps

1-hand farmer carries:
Pancho: 25lb plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps
The Marmot: 45lb plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps

Push to fatigue:
Pancho: Front squat w bar (45lbs) to fatigue, 10 squats
The Marmot: Arm-extended front squats w 25lb plate, 15 squats

Pancho: Back raise x 25
The Marmot: Back raise x 25

Pancho: 15 high jumps (knees to chest)
The Marmot: 15 box jumps (onto lifting bench)

Marmot Excitement

SO EXCITED!

Pancho here; after some more careful nutrition tracking,
I am on Day 2 of (finally, apparently) eating enough protein.
By the end of yesterday I felt like I was force-feeding myself.
Today? I have never felt so full of energy!
Everything deserves an exclamation mark!
MARMOT!

Pancho's Training Goals

My strength training goals are oriented towards functional fitness (as opposed to an aesthetically motivated weight loss goal, or intense Strong Man goals). I consider myself relatively functionally fit; I ride my bike to work 9 miles round-trip every day, I can carry heavy groceries home from the store, and if I have to run for an emergency I can sprint without getting winded. Although I can endure anything daily life would regularly require with my current level of fitness, gaining strength beyond basic daily necessity has profound long-term functional health consequences. Studies show that strength training can help prevent Alzheimer's, cardiac disease, diabetes and other chronic health problems. It is good for your heart and lungs, and has huge benefits for long-term bone density.

Though my broad reason for lifting is for long term health, it is motivating to have specific short-term and long-term goals to work towards. My current status, and goals:

• Current: 4 unassisted close-grip pull ups
  
• Soon: 10 unassisted close-grip pull ups
• Eventually: 10 unassisted wide-grip pull up

• Current: 20 half-depth push ups in one set
  
• Soon: 10 full-depth push ups in one set
  
• Eventually: 25 full-depth push ups in one set

• Current: Dead lift 135lbs 3 times
  
• Soon: Dead lift 135lbs 10 times (that is, the bar + 45lb plates on each side)
• Eventually: Dead lift 210lbs 3 times (that is, 1.5x my current 140lb body weight)

• Current: Power clean with 20lb bar, inconsistent form
• Soon: Power clean with 45lb bar, consistent form
• Eventually: Power clean 95lbs (45lb bar + 25lb plates)

Wish me luck and strength!

Upper body day: April 13

Warm up: 20 shoulder rolls, both arms, forward & backward

Pull ups, set 1:
Pancho: Close grip x 4, assisted @40lbs x 10
The Marmot: Wide grip x 17
Pull ups, set 2:
Pancho: Close grip x 2, assisted @40lbs x 6
The Marmot: Wide grip x 11
Pull ups, set 3:
Pancho: Close grip x 0 (2 failed attempts), assisted @ 40lbs x 6
The Marmot: Wide grip x 9

Push ups (goal: 50 total) & abs, set 1:
Pancho: 20 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 40 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch
Push ups & abs, set 2:
Pancho: 15 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 15 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch
Push ups & abs, set 3:
Pancho: 15 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch
The Marmot: 15 push ups, 50 bicycle crunch, 50 regular crunch

One hand seated cable row & Plank, set 1:
Pancho: 15 reps per side @ 40lbs; normal plank @60 sec
The Marmot: 15 reps per side @ 80lbs; leg-raise plank @60 sec
One hand seated cable row & Plank, set 2:
Pancho: 15 reps per side @ 45lbs; normal plank @60 sec
The Marmot: 15 reps per side @90lbs; normal plank @30sec, arms forward plank @30sec
One hand seated cable row & Plank, set 3:
Pancho: 12 reps per side @55lbs; leg-raise plank @60sec (6 sets of 10sec leg-raise)
The Marmot: 12 reps per side @100lbs; leg-raise plank @30sec, arms forward plank @30sec

Pull ups v 2: set 1
Pancho: Wide grip assisted @ 70lbs x 10
The Marmot: Mid grip x 7
Pull ups v 2: set 2
Pancho: Wide grip assisted @ 60lbs x 10
The Marmot: Mid grip x 5
Pull ups v 2: set 3
Pancho: Wide grip assisted @ 55lbs x 8
The Marmot: Mid grip x 3

Side plank:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @ 30 second hold (40 sec for last set)
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @ 60 second hold

Shoulder pulley, hard:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @10lbs x 15
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @20lbs x 15

Shoulder pulley, easy:
Pancho: 3 sets per side @25lbs x 15
The Marmot: 3 sets per side @ 35lbs x 15

Final blow-out: Fat Pull-Up bar
Pancho: L-hang for 11sec; L-hang for 9 sec; L-hang for 3 sec
The Marmot: 10 pull ups close grip; 5 pull ups close grip; 4 pull ups close grip