Strong Lifts

Eugen Sandow, the father of modern bodybuilding

Since I've been here my workouts have been in three phases: "I don't know what I'm doing", "I asked a big guy for help" and "something that approaches a plan."  It's pretty much how life is, except that the understanding only reveals itself in hindsight.  Most of the time we think we are in the third phase all the time, until we learn more.

Here are my notes on the phases.

1. Starting program 22 June - 22 July: warmup, random Xfit/single exercise, cooldown
   1RMbench: 225
   shoulder press: 175
   squat:  315
   deadlift: no idea, maybe 375
   row: no idea
2. Midway (22 July - 25 Aug) 5x5: one exercise 5x5; increase weight each set
   Started at 5RMbench: 185
   shoulder press: 135
   squat:  225
   deadlift: 280
   row: n/a
3. Aug 26 to Now; Stronglifts 5x5; increased weight each workout day or week
   Started at 5RMbench: 215
   shoulder press: 135
   squat: 265
   deadlift: 355
   row: 115 (too easy)
   

   			Week 1			Week 2			Week 3			Week 4
   Exercise	Sets	Reps	26-Aug	28-Aug	30-Aug	2-Sep	4-Sep	6-Sep	9-Sep	11-Sep	13-Sep	16-Sep	18-Sep	20-Sep
   Squat	5	5	265	275	285	295	305	315	315	320	325	295	300	305
   Bench Press	5	5	215		220		225		225		225		200
   Overhead Press	5	5		150		150		155		160		160		135
   Barbell Row	5	5	115		135		155		175		180		185
   Deadlift	1	5		355		375		385		395		405		415

   summary of the past month
4. Plan for Oct 2013 - Jan 2014 (Reset after returning home)
   Started at 5RM5x5 bench: 115
   5x5 shoulder press: 80
   3x5 squat:  165
   1x5 deadlift: 205
   5x5 row: 100

Tonight my potpourri workout was as follows:

Squat: 1-225, 1-315, 1-335, 1-345, 0-355
Deadlift: 0-445, 0-445, 5-225
Bench: 5-135
Rows: 3x5x135

This week, I maxed out at the following, for a total of 1,020lbs:
Deadlift: 430
Bench: 245
Squat: 345

So I made it into the 1,000lb club, got my name on a peice of paper in the gym but no free T-shirt.  First video is me squatting 345lbs.  Second one I almost make 445lbs deadlifting.

Proof from the bulletin board.

Today I hit 2000 views.  I try not to get hung up on the number of pageviews, but it is still fun to know how many people are reading this.

See a Man about a Horse

"This is my happy face."

The BBC series "Sherlock Holmes" is finally on Hulu.  Last night I had the pleasure of watching the "Hound of the Baskervilles" episode and Hulu didn't freeze until there were about two minutes left.  So Benedict Cumberbatch, who recently played Kahn in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," is seen above in the movie "Atonement."  The movie was a WWII era drama, with no happy ending.  It was basically one big ball of rape, separation and sadness.  Apparently, both Roger Ebert and Wikipedia gave it rave reviews.  In any event, Keira Knightly is creepy skinny and here's a look at other creepy roles BC has had.

"Bloody hell, why does my mustache smell like horse dung?"

Tonight I finished my bench press; 1 rep at 245lbs.  That went up so easily I tried for 255 and then 250, but couldn't do it.  Friday I'll squat, probably at 345 or 350lbs.  If I am feeling sonsy, I'll give deadlift another shot.

I ate four pieces of steak, a pile of veggies and some eggs today.

I did some laundry and thought I'd get some clean sheets for my last week here.  After careful deliberation, the clerk at the laundry gave me this pillow case:

The pink really brings out the auburn in my 'stache.

Last night Sherlock told Watson, "I've got to see a man about a dog."  I initially assumed this was a singular quote from something way back, but found out it means "I need to leave now and want to politely say something before leaving, without telling you specifically where I am going.  I'm probably going to the toilet.  After that I'll probably meet a man in a back alley and commit a crime."  I'll give Hulu another try at Sherlock Holmes tonight and see if he uses any catchy phrases.

Tyr's Day

One more step closer to home: today I had my outprocessing briefing and it only lasted 22 minutes.  The inprocessing briefting lasted 90.  The general basically told us to keep working hard till the day we leave and ease back into life once we get home.  I took this latter bit to mean three things: don't make any drastic changes to the family routine right when you get home; find your place with your coworkers before making waves; and everyone's just going to have to get used to my mustache.

Workout: Not technically Wednesday, I still did squats, bench and rows and didn't miss a rep.
Squats: 3x5x300
Bench: 5x5x200
Rows: 5x5x185

Meals: Today was beef ribs (smothered in BBQ sauce which sticks to your mustache), gyro and chicken salad and fried eggs on top of corned beef hash.  Oh and 36 ounces of milk, Earl Grey Tea and fennel tea.

That's tzatziki sauce.

If only they served SPAM here.

VHS: Took the opportunity to see "Star Trek: Into Darkness" tonight (hence the workout first).  (TysI really can't believe that the base theater is using VHS tapes to play the movies.)  It was good, but I knew Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan, so that wasn't a surprise.  Somehow, it feels like it is missing something...like it's a good movie but not a great movie.  Honestly, and this will come as a shock to many people, I've never big a huge Trekkie.  I don't know archaic details about the multitude of TV spinoffs or Uhura's cup size.  The only episode that I found intriguing was the Next Generation episode where they were stuck in a time loop and each start of the loop began with the main characters playing poker.

Sleep: I think not drinking a quart of coffee tonight is helping.  Sleep makes my squats stronger.

QOMAD

Wow.

I figured no blog with 'stache in the name would be complete without Mr. Jeopardy himself.  If you Google "Alex Trebek" one of the suggested searches is "why did he shave his mustache?"

So I gave in and decided to give the milk on base a try.  I figured today is a lifting day so why not add some sugars to my diet.  In the past I couldn't handle milk and quit drinking it so we'll give it a day or so and see how it goes.  I drank 36 ounces of the little blue capped bottles today, just over a quart.  When I first got to the base I was confused because I'm used to the red caps being whole milk and blue the 2%...even though 2% means reduced fat from 8 grams to 5 grams.  They should call it 37.5% milk, but I guess that isn't very catchy.  So I had 12oz at work and had 12oz at my breakfast dinner.  I feel so full now that I don't think I'll be hungry till easily 16 hours from now.  Some Crossfitters and weighlifters will drink a gallon of milk a day (GOMAD) to gain muscle weight.  I've never tried this, but today I got 25% of the way there.

I am interested in checking out raw milk and kefir when I get back.  We had been on the fence for a while about signing up (it's legal to sell raw milk but not across state lines or some such) but I think we'll consider it more seriously.  Some grocery stores carry kefir which is basically fermented milk and tastes like yogurt that you drink.

No videos for proof, but back to 3 plates on the squat rack and 2 for the bench press.

Squat: 5-315, 5-315, 5-315, 5-315, 2-315
Bench: 5-225, 5-225, 4-225, 3-225, 3-225,
Rows: 5x5x175

I had three different spotters today.  On my third set of squats, I got stuck a little over halfway up and saw this guy come running out of the corner of my eye.  I made it up on my own, but was glad for the consideration.  The second guy helped me with my first three sets of bench and asked me what my workouts consisted of.  I proceeded to give him a rundown of my diet, sleep and workout plan for a 24 hour period.  His eyes glazed over after the first five minutes, but once I got to "...and that's why I stopped wearing flannel on Thursdays..." he told me he was just curious because I seemed to "just lift squat and bench heavy and then leave."  After I scared that guy off, I found another guy to spot  my last two sets.  I didn't say more than was necessary for him to safely keep the bar off my larynx.

Finally, my stir fry/egg/milk masterpiece.

Milk

I am not endorsing the "Got Milk?  Because if you believe in America and her dairy farmers YOU WILL DRINK IT!!!!" campaign, but it seems apropos:

Leche bigote

Niven

The only gentleman in Hollywood.

I think the only David Niven movie I saw was "Guns of Navarone", but he was a friend of Errol Flynn's, so here we go.  His crisp way of speaking makes me think of Dana Carvey's impression of Cary Grant or Rex Harrison from "My Fair Lady," which, in all fairness, I fell asleep while watching six years ago.  He also makes me think of Michael Caine's character from "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."  Anyway, I love the quote from Niven when asked why he was so cheery all the time: "Well, old bean, life is really so bloody awful that I feel it's my absolute duty to be chirpy and try and make everybody else happy too."  Actually, his voice makes me think of my old roommate from San Antonio doing a British voice.

The quote in my planner today is from Sydney J. Harris: "If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?"  Harris was a writer for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun Times.  My favorite journalists growing up was Mike Royko, who also worked at those two newspapers.  I find Harris' quote fitting for today as I felt like I was dealing with some poor human interactions throughout my time at work.  Today several little, laughable things weren't going right.  Yesterday I felt like I was having a tremendous day (not even sure why) and was full of energy.  So I'm thankful Harris was in my notebook to remind me to relax and take things in stride.  

Continued to make progress in the gym...grunting and growling helps when squatting near 300lbs.

Squat: 5x5x285
Bench: 5-220, 5-220, 5-220, 3-220, 4-220 
Rows: 5x5x135


For my dinner, I was finally able to meet up with my neighbor who is here TDY.  He teaches a course and gets to travel all over the world teaching it.

Two houses down and we meet 7,000 miles away.

In 1993 I was in 6th grade.

Another guy taking the course my neighbor teaches dropped me off and on the way I saw this sign.  Pretty cool history still hanging out here.

Ponderings

It started with this and continued to night via this.
Positives:

• you might be able to download your consciousness into a robotic brain
• you could ask advice of your deceased relatives
• Steve Martin gets to say "I told you so!"

Negatives:

• Loss of soul?
• How do you really know that is what so-and-so would say in this situation?
• This or this.

Somehow, this turned into how men and women react and think differently about situations.  Not surprisingly, my notes cover the movies this brings to my mind.  On our first date I talked mostly about movies and my wife thought, "This guy is sooooooooooo lame.  He gets two more chances."  So, in popular culture:

• "When Harry Met Sally" - can men and women truly be platonic friends?  How many men (like Harry) think of women as potential mothers of their children, regardless of the status/level of their friendship?
• "I Love you Man" - Is the concept of male friendship different from female friendship?  I don't think I have that many true friends and I am fine with that.  We also discussed the possibility of tiered friends.  Option 1: Tier 0 = you are a brother to me and Tier 1 = every other male on the planet.  Option 2: Tier 0 = you are a brother to me; Tier 1 = close work friends, maybe some neighbors; Tier 2 = acquaintances; Tier 3 = I'll pick up your mail but not you from the airport; Tier 4 = people who say je ne sais quoi, au contraire and other French phrases in their speak to sound smarter than you; Tier 5: everyone else.
• Dune (novels mostly) - The future could mean smarter humans with the memories of their ancestors floating in their head.  Also, the potential for cloning someone and then awakening their past memories.  Spoiler alert: the ending of the series concludes with a merging of humans and machines, similar to the ending of Battlestar Galactica.

We also talked about competing between men and women and if losing to a woman would make you feel less manly.  The areas I presented were telling: I don't care about bowling, wrestling or golf, but am more interested in finally winning in Scrabble.  I initially thought I'd feel embarrassed if my better half was smarter on me.  After thinking about it, I realized I'd be okay with it.  Then I could say, "Have fun helping the boys with their math homework.  I'm going to go see how my mead is doing..."

This is a homemade melomel, hone-wine with blueberries.

Tonight I had a boring bench workout:
Warmup: 7 chinups, just backpack with no plates
Workout: Bench press: 5-205, 5-205, 5-205, 5-215, 5-225
Cooldown: 5 115lb Power snatch

Meal consisted of two burger patties, two over medium eggs and assorted sausages, covered with butter and hot sauce.  The steaming cup is Earl Grey tea, hot.

Let's just hope the burgers are from cow and not horse.

Project for tomorrow: deployed refrigerator Early Grey iced tea:

I'll take oil of Bergamot for $500, Alex.