Monday
Skipped for more rest.

Wednesday (5-25-2011)
squat 275 lb 4x4
press 120 lb 4x3 (failed at 5th set of 3)
push press 120 lb 1x3
deadlift 325 lb 2x3
chin-ups 10, 7, 6

Friday
squat 275 lb 3x5
bench 205 lb 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2
pull-ups 10, 8, 7, 5

Weight (Sunday): 184 lb

Notes: Took Monday off for more rest.  I've decided I prefer 2x3 on deadlifts to 1x5.  My limit now appears to be grip strength, which starts to fail at higher reps.  2 sets rather than one also lets me alternate which palm is supinated for my alternating grip, which should help distribute any asymmetric stresses that such grip induces.  So I'm planning to just stick with that and take 10 lb weekly jumps until I can't.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 06:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The 3 month mission of the martian rover Spirit that began with landfall on the red planet on January 3, 2004, has ended after more than 6 years of exploration and experimentation.  I cried when I found out, and feel no shame in the admission.

Opportunity continues to roll and transmit.  May it continue for as long as possible.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 11:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (5-16-2011)
squat 270 lb 5x3
press 120 lb 3x3 (failed at 4th set of 3)
press 115 lb 2x3
press 95 lb 1x5
chin-ups 11, 7, 6

Wednesday
squat 275 lb 5x3
bench 205 lb 5, 4, 4, 3
deadlift 315 lb 2x3
prone bridges 3x60s

Friday
Skipped workout for a work thing.

Weight (Saturday): 184 lb

Notes: I got ambitious on Wednesday and decided to jump ahead on my squats and deadlifts.  Friday was my last chance to have lunch with a departing coworker, so I ended up missing the workout.  I was planning to make it up Saturday, but the forecast claimed it'd be the only sunny day for the next week or so, so I made busy with a bunch of outside work on my house and garage.  I'm about 3 weeks away from closing on a new house and moving everything I own, so I'm planning 2 more weeks in the gym, then a rest week to prep for the move, followed by a week of moving.  Hopefully, I'll be back in the gym the week after the move, but heaven knows how I'll feel at that point.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 01:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (5-9-2011)
squat 265 lb 5x3
bench 200 lb 3x5
chin-ups 11, 8, 6, ... 6
prone bridges 3x60s

Wednesday
squat 265 lb 4x4
press 120 lb 5, 4, 3, 3
press 95 lb 3x5
deadlift 300 lb 1x5

Friday
squat 265 lb 3x5
bench 205 lb 5, 4, 4, 4
pull-ups 10, 8, 6, ... 7
hanging leg raise 3x20

Weight (Monday): 186 lb
Waist (Monday): 35"

Notes: No movement on weight, but I'm finally making some long-awaited progress on my presses.  Still didn't do any cardio.  Hopefully my low-intensity activity will pick up enough from the move prep and execution that it won't end up being necessary.  I imagine maintenance and upkeep on the farm will provide plenty of exercise as well.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Is real. Between yeasts, toxoplasmosis, and gut flora, how many actions that we take are really, you know, ours?  The really, really spooky thing is how many of these pathogens get into people by way of things that were proscribed by religion (promiscuity, eating forbidden foods) or simple superstition (avoiding cats).  It's almost like various cultures adopted heuristics (i.e. "traditions") that protected them from these things while remaining scientifically ignorant of their true causes.  Nah, I'm sure they were just evil, unenlightened, patriarchal meanies and haters.  It couldn't possibly be the case that fitness strategies and hygiene were ascribed to the supernatural because it was the best way to ensure compliance and protect the kinship group.  Just big ol' fun-hatin' men, right?

Sarcasm aside, how long before we all regulate our lives pretty much the same as Victorian-era Christians because science proves them right?  Because I assure you, as antibiotics and fungicides lose efficacy in the face of ever-evolving micro-organisms, abstinence and faithful monogamy will eventually be the only strategies that actually work.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 07:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (5-2-2011)
squat 260 lb 5x3
press 110 3x5
chin-ups 11, 8, 6, ... 6
prone bridges 3x60s

Wednesday
squat 260 lb 4x4
bench 195 lb 3x5
deadlift 300 lb 2x3
hanging leg raise 3x20

Friday
squat 260 lb 3x5
press 115 lb 3x5 (!)
pull-ups 11, 9, 7

Weight (Friday): 186 lb
Waist (Monday): 35"

Notes: No weight loss this week either, but my strength is increasing nicely.  The 115 lb for 3x5 on the press was hard, but far from impossible.  I wasn't anywhere near strict on diet this week, even had a Mexican nutritional adventure on Thursday, so it's not a surprise that my weight didn't go down, but a pleasant surprise that it didn't go up.  On that note, I guess I can't do anything for 6 weeks.  I'm getting soft, which is a shame, because the whole point of this is to be getting hard.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 04:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So I was reading this post over at Gnolls, and I had something of a clever thought (probably not original).  It's widely accepted that the human body burns alcohol preferentially to all other fuels, which is a big part of the reason it pretty much shuts down fat-burning metabolism (along with a smattering of related, depressive hormonal effects).  I hadn't really thought about it, but glucose is basically treated the same way by the body.

Like alcohol, glucose is burned preferentially if present (at least in the absence of alcohol), but it's also basically toxic to many tissues at blood concentrations that are easily achievable with modern, processed foods (or a once-in-blue-moon giant dose of honey).  Sure, you need some of it floating around to power your brain, but that amount is small-to-zero if you're keto-adapted and have functioning gluconeogenesis and adequate protein intake.   Too much of it over a sustained period of time, however, will damage your body in a dozen different ways.  So before resorting to the primary -- and safest -- aerobic fuel of fats, sugar in your blood is taken up and burnt, in no small part simply to protect you from it. 

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (4-25-2011)
squat 255 lb 5x3
bench 185 lb 3x5
chin-ups 11, 8, 7
prone bridges 3x60s

Wednesday
squat 255 lb 4x4
press 105 lb 3x5
deadlift 295 lb 1x5
hanging leg raise 3x20

Friday
squat 255 lb 3x5
bench 190 lb 3x5
pull-ups 10, 8, 6

Weight (Monday): 186 lb
Waist (Tuesday): 35"

Notes: De-loaded presses a little bit this week, added a quart of milk on lifting days only, and my weight (at least week to week) appears immutable.  I'd meant to add some cardio in this week, but just didn't make the time.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 06:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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