To be a good husband to my wife, son to my parents, and brother to my sister.
To be a good steward to my land.

And if I manage that:
To read a book every two weeks.
To stay strong.
To get leaner.
To eat even less poison this coming year than this year.
To go a full 30 days -- sequentially -- without milk and cheese.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm archiving the Texas Method program here just in case the Testosterone Nation link dies someday:

Monday — Volume Day

A) Squats, 5 x 5 @ 90% of 5RM

B) Bench press or overhead press, 5 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

C) Deadlifts, 1 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

Wednesday — Recovery Day

A) Squats, 2 x 5 @ 80% of Monday's work weight

B) Overhead press (if you bench pressed Monday), 3 x 5 at slightly lighter load than previous 5 x 5 OHP weight, or bench press (if OHP on Monday), 3 x 5 @ 90% previous 5 x 5 weight.

C) Chin ups, 3 x Bodyweight

D) Back extensions or glute-ham raise, 5 x 10

Friday — Intensity Day

A) Squats, warm-up, then work up in singles or doubles to one single, new 5RM

B) Bench press, (if you bench pressed Monday) or overhead press (if OHP on Monday), warm-up, then work up in singles or doubles to one single, new 5RM

C) Power clean, 5 x 3 reps or power snatch, 6 x 2 reps (dynamic effort is what counts here)

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm not really a novice lifter any more, at least not in the sense that I can reliably add 5lb to a lift every workout, or even every week. I'd hoped to get further before I was forced to consider myself intermediate, but there it is.

Time to consider new programs, so here are my candidates:
The Texas Method
Reverse Pyramid with the Big 3
Madcow's 5x5

If I go with the Big 3, I may just drop bench press and do the standing press exclusively for awhile.  Benching at any kind of real volume seems to tweak my golfer's elbow, and re-injury would utterly suck.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm considering actually counting calories (they way we calculate them is horsefeathers, but the values are relative, so it's not totally awful). This looks like a handy tool for planning that kind of thing.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (12-19-2011)
deadlift 335 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 215 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
pendlay row 185 lb 5, 3, 2

Tuesday
squat 285 lb 4x3
squat 225 lb 3x5
press 120 lb 4, 4, 3
press 100 lb 3x5
chin-up 12, 7, 5
cable pressdown 160 lb 3x8
dumbbell curl 30 lb 2x8 each arm

Thursday
deadlift 335 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
deadlift 275 lb 2x5
bench 215 lb 5x2
bench 185 lb 5
bench 165 lb 2x5
dumbbell row 100 lb 4x5 each arm

Friday
squat 295 lb 4x2
squat 275 lb 3
press 115 lb 5, 3, 4
parallel-grip pullup 11
wide-grip pullup 6
pullup 6
farmer's walk 60 lb kettlebells 1 lap, 0.7 lap, 0.3 lap

Weight (Friday): 180 lb

Notes: Overdid it this week.  If I'd stuck to the template, I'd probably have been fine, but I threw in way too much volume work.  Every bit of me is sore right now.  I'm considering a programming change come Monday: switching back to 3 barbell workouts a week (Reverse Pyramid method), with 1-2 conditioning workouts on non-barbell days.  I definitely need to reduce my overall barbell volume compared to this week and last.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 12:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 204 words, total size 2 kb.

Monday (12-12-2011)
squat 245 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
pull-ups 10, 7

Tuesday
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 195 lb 5, 3, 2
farmer's walk 60 lb kettlebells 2 long laps

Wednesday
squat 255 lb 5, 3, 2
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 135x3, 225x3, 275x3 (hook grip practice)

Thursday
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
bench 205 lb 5, 3, 2
chin-ups 11, 7
deadlift 135 lb 10
bench 135 lb 10
squat 135 lb 10

Friday
hanging leg raise 20
squat 275 lb 5, 3, 2
press 120 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
pull-ups 11, 8
squat 135 lb 20
pendlay row 135 lb 3x5

Weight (Sunday): 180 lb

Notes: Wasn't sure how I wanted to change up my training when I got back to the gym, so I just went with a variant PTTP training week.  I also joined fitocracy this week, so there are some random extra things tacked on to the end of Thursday and Friday's workouts to meet quest requirements.  There were also some extra exercises I did at home away from the gym that aren't recorded here, for the same reason.  I'm not sure if I want to go to the trouble of logging everything twice, so for now I'll maintain this log for the work done at powerhouse so I can track my barbell lifts consistently.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is the standing desk.  Minimal wobble, good height, should do the job if I don't lean on it or try to use it for playing FPS games.



The riser to put on top of the desk I can't move.  It's too short to wobble.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 10:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sitting is death, and I sit 10-11 hours a day, mostly at work.  I have been trying to stand, but I have two standard-height desks, so I end up leaning over or taking a wide stance (SYWM), which isn't ideal.  One desk I can replace entirely, the other I can add a 6" riser to, but after that, I think I can easily stay on my feet much of the time.  So, this weekend: build a sturdy 6"x36"x30" riser box, and a 36"x36"x20" table.

Photos to follow.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Choffy.  Cocoa beans roasted and prepped like coffee.  I've wanted to try and make something like this for years, like the Aztec xocoatl.  I've tried chicory as a coffee alternative, and it's pretty good (good enough that I'm considering trying to grow my own next year), but I gotta try this.  Possibly with added cayenne.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 01:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Saturday (12-10-2011)
squat    225 lb 3x5
deadlift 315 lb 5, 3, 2
bench   185 lb 3x5
press    105 lb 3x5
chin-up 10, 7, 5

Weight (Sunday): 183 lb

Notes: I took the first part of the week off because I was still recovering from my gum surgery and couldn't eat normally.  Took the latter part of the week off because I expected to spend the weekend helping a friend move and didn't want to be sore going into it.  The friend's closing didn't happen, so I did a long, light workout on Saturday to get back into the groove.  In total, I was out of the gym for 11 days, so I have some make-up work to do.  I've also lost that belt notch I was using as a bulking barometer, so that's gotta stop.

It was, by the way, a total failure.  My lifts went nowhere and I got fatter.  Short days and cold weather are driving my appetite, and muscle growth doesn't seem to be happening.  I have heard some anecdotal evidence and even a few small studies of strength athletes suggest that winter strength gains are rare for anyone but a novice.  I don't want to use that as an excuse, but it makes a degree of evolutionary sense.  Winter is a time for conservation and defense of life, not a time for growth.  There are bound to be some hacks around that, but it might be better to just focus on maintenance and GPP for now, maybe shifting into a full-ketogenic diet for a time to encourage some healthy catabolism.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No, really.  If you gotta run, sprint, then walk.  Steady-state running for long distance just isn't good for you.  I'm not hatin', it's science.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Tuesday (11-29-2011)
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 265 lb 6x5
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
press 100 lb 5x5
hammer curl 40 lb 3x8
tricep pressdown 130lb 8, 140 lb 8, 150 lb 8

Weight (Friday): 180 lb

Notes: I got a call Wednesday night from my periodontist asking if I'd be willing to do my surgery on Thursday rather than weight 'til the 12th.  My schedule was flexible, so I went ahead.  I haven't been able to really have solid food since then, and my post-surgery recommendations were to avoid strenuous activity.  Between the two recommendations, hypertrophy training and eating were essentially off the table, not to mention that the medications from the surgery and the painkillers afterward had left me feeling a bit weak.  Hoping to get back into the gym sometime later this week when I've got my sutures out.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 01:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (11-21-2011)
deadlift 335 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 265 lb 7x5
press 120 lb 5, 3, 2
press 100 lb 5x5

Wednesday
squat 255 lb 5, 3, 2
squat 205 lb 10x5
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
press 95lb 7x5

Friday
deadlift 325 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift 265 lb 4x5  (back still had power, hands not so much)
press 115 lb 5, 3, 2
press 100lb 5x5
chinups 8, 7 , 5, 3

Weight (Friday): 182 lb

Notes: Did my best to keep to the approach while modifying to give that nasty tear a chance to heal.  I'll be taking better care of my calluses going forward.  I've got two more weeks of this, and then a week (at least) on a "soft" diet after some scheduled oral surgery.  I may or may not lift that week, it depends how eating ground beef feels the day after (it's likely my softest meat option), or whether my doc tells me to avoid strenuous activity.

I may pick that week to try making my "heart-y taste-y chili" recipe, since I finally have the beef heart and tongue ready for experimentation.  Meat dishes don't get much softer than chili.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 03:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Monday (11-14-2011)
deadlift   325 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift   255 lb 7x5
press      115 lb 5, 3, 2
press       95lb   6x5
chinups    8, 8, 5

Wednesday
deadlift   325 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift    255 lb 8x5
press       115 lb 5, 3, 2
press         95lb 7x5
pullups      6, 6

Friday
deadlift     325 lb 5, 3, 2
deadlift     255 lb 8x5
press        115 lb 5, 3, 2
press           95lb 8x5
farmer's walk 60 lb kettlebells, 2 long laps

Weight (Friday): 180 lb

Notes:  This is the hypertrophy-oriented program from PTTP.  A few heavy working sets close to 5RM, followed by as-many-as-you-can-do-with-good-form sets of 5 at 80% of the working weight.  And yes, I'm actually trying to gain weight.  It's a very different experience for me, since trying to lose it has sort of dominated my mental landscape off and on since the age of 12.

Diet-wise, I ate very cleanly last week, just a ton of food, and my weight moved up 2 lb, without me losing a belt notch.  That's my planned stopping point for bulking -- the belt notch.  We'll see if I can keep adding lean mass, but I'm planning to continue this through the holidays or until my waist expands.  My body had been demanding more food with the recent colder weather, so I decided to just go with it.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 11:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Needed a week off from the gym, took it.  Started "The Bear" from PTTP today (similar to the basic program, but with a hypertrophy bias), I'll have a post about that at the end of the week.

Weight (Sunday): 178 lb

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Mus musculus is once again made way more muscular.  Combine this with myostatin inhibition and the "marathon mouse" enzymatic mutation, and you've got Lance Armstrong, Andy Bolton, and Usain Bolt in one package.

Worth noting is that you'd have to work out if you had either of the muscle strength enhancements, just to improve your bone density and maintain the strength of you soft tissues and tendons.  Of course, if you're the sort of person that wants these, that shouldn't be a problem.  How badass would it be to walk into your typical globo-gym and bust out 900 lb squats or 400 lb benches?  With the high-density change alone, you likely wouldn't even look strong enough to do it, which would add to the fun.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (10-31-2011)
squat 295 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
press 130 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
chinups 13, 9

Tuesday
deadlift 355 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
bench 210 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
pullups 11, 9

Thursday
squat 235 lb 5x5
press 110 lb 5x5
chinups 12, 9

Friday
deadlift 295 lb 5x5
bench 195 lb 3x5, 4
dumbbell row 100lb 3x5 each side

Weight (Friday):178 lb

Notes: Rest week will follow.  I actually got a polite talking-to on Tuesday, asking me to set down my deadlifts more gently.  Right.  You set down 355 lb "gently" and tell me how it goes.  I wasn't hurting/dropping the bar, the floor, or the weights, it was just loud.  There are dents in the wall where lunkheads have dropped dumbbells and had them bounce through the gypsum, but me controlling the weight to floor without wrecking my back?  Clearly an issue.  I'll comply, but first you need to go scratch "Power" out of the sign out front.  Quiethouse Gym?  Cardiohouse Gym?  Cybexhouse Gym?  Any of those will be fine.  I'm only there because I've got nowhere to put a squat rack.  I can change that if I have to.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 11:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I want to hang out with this guy:

Workout log to drop this evening, forgot my notes this morning.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 10:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (10-24-2011)
squat 295 lb 1
squat 285 lb 3x3
press 130 lb 3, 3, 2, 2
pullups 12, 10

Tuesday
deadlift 355 lb 4, 3, 2
bench 205 lb 5, 3, 2
chinups 13, 10

Thursday
squat 225 lb 5x5
press 105 lb 5x5
pullups 13, 9

Friday
deadlift 285 lb 5x5
bench 195 lb 3x5
dumbbell row 100lb 5x5 each side

Weight (Saturday): 178 lb

Notes: Lighter "light" days this week.  I feel a lot more recovered this morning than I did last Monday.  This next week should be the last of the cycle, to be followed by either a rest week, reset week, or maybe just a week of GPP, kettlebells and light eating.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 07:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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