Beards, Barbells, and Beer

[DrBdan]

350 coming soon?
Lookgin good in here

Thanks. I didn't get nearly enough sleep last week (a number of nights with 3-4 hours sleep) and still hit everything I had to so I'm feeling pretty confident right now. I think I could hit 350 now but I'm going to keep with the progression until I stall. I'm hoping I can hit at least 315x5 and then I'll test my max. My goal for June is 355.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

Sweet. I'm hoping for a big summer PR too.

 

[DrBdan]

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday (Family Day holiday in Ontario) so I'm not sure what I'll do on Friday. Yesterday should have been 295x5 and then Friday 300x3. I might try a couple heavy singles on Friday instead. I should be able to bang out a couple singles at 315 without too much trouble.

Beer update: As mentioned, I picked up 8 bottles of Black Oak's Triple Chocolate Cherry Stout (see post #79 for picture) on Friday afternoon. I had one on Saturday during the fights. The chocolate taste is more pronounced this year and it had a much more full flavour as well as a heavier mouthfeel. The downside is that the chocolate notes really overpowered the cherry. I think I prefer last year's batch when it was only double chocolate because the cherry flavour really blended well. That said, this is still a great chocolate stout and I'll probably have a few more this weekend during UFC 170.

 

[MilkManUK]

I need to take another trip to Borough Market soon to stock up on beers. I have been really slacking since finishing off my Christmas batch, although my girlfriend did give me a bottle of "Old Peculiar' with my steak on Friday, which was nice.

 

[DrBdan]

So much beer, so little time... Black Oak is currently brewing their Dubbel Entendre, which as the name suggests is a Belgian Abbey-style Dubbel beer. They brewed it last year in a small batch and I didn't get out to the west end soon enough to grab some. Dubbel's aren't my favourite style really but I love Black Oak so I'll give it a try. I think it will be ready in late March or early April.

 

[DrBdan]

Wed Feb 19, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1
375x1
405x1x4 (singles)

Took about 90 seconds between singles. The first single was slow but the next 3 were much faster and smoother. Belt felt good today, it actually felt a bit looser so maybe I'm losing weight. I think it's probably just water weight at this point since I've cut back on the junk carbs since the weekend.

- Facepulls: 5x20
- Push-ups: 5x10

Felt good today.

 

[Vlad Kravinoff]

Did you even watch that game?

 

[DrBdan]

I got back from the gym midway through the first period and then we had the game up on the projector during my meeting. Then I had a job interview to do so I got back for the end of the third period and Canada's 2nd goal.

So, I kinda watched it. At least we won...

 

[DrBdan]

Thurs Feb 20, 2014

Conditioning

- Treadmill: 16 minutes
- Stairmilll: 18 minutes, 3 minute cooldown

34 (+3) minutes total. HR in the 135-145 range as usual.

 

[DrBdan]

Fri Feb 21, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x3
195x3
225x3
255x2
285x1
315x1

I was going to do a few more singles of 315 but my right knee felt off and the reps weren't that smooth so I didn't push it. Today is a nothing day really since I didn't get to the gym on Monday so whatever.

- Bench
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x4
135x5
155x5
175x3

Not bad. 175x3 was pretty slow which I attribute to a lack of heavy benching lately. It wasn't hard, just slow.

- Inverted rows: 5x12. Good lat pump.

 

[DrBdan]

Sun Feb 23, 2014

Hockey
Last game of the regular season and we were playing the last place team who we were 1 point ahead of, so the loser would end up in last place. We were missing about half of our team but we had the good half so that helped make up for the lack of players.

I opened the scoring a couple minutes into the game with a sweet breakaway goal. My d-man chipped the puck up to me and I split the other team's defence before deking the goalie. That set the tone for the first half of the game as it was pretty wide open with lots of chances. We scored one more to finish the first period up 2-0.

In the second we scored one more to make it 3-0 but as the period wore on we started to slow and the other team started to get more chances. Our goalie was outstanding and they only managed to score once with about 30 seconds left it in the period to make it 3-1.

The third period was pretty even with the other team getting more aggressive but we stood our ground. We scored early in the period to make it 4-1 and then our goalie locked things down. Late in the period we traded goals to make it 5-3 and they pulled their goalie for a final push but we scored into the empty net with a minute left to win 6-3.

I had another solid game, finishing with a goal and an assist. Even better is that I wasn't on the ice for any goals against.

We finished the season with a 9-9-3 record which isn't terrible but because the teams were so even this season it put us 5th out of 6 teams. Considering that we lost 6 games in a row, that shows how well we played the rest of the season. We've beaten every team in our division so as long as we have play well in the playoffs we have a chance to win.

For me, this was my second best Winter season points-wise. I finished with 12 goals and 13 assists (25 points) in 21 games. I also set a season-high for penalty minutes with a whopping 10, lol.

 

[DrBdan]

Mon Feb 24, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
165x5
205x5
(+belt)
235x5
265x5
295x5

Pretty good. Back to where I was last November. Time for some PRs.

I was sharing the rack with a gym friend and the 2nd rack was also in use so I couldn't use the rack to bench. The one flat bench was also in use by 2 guys so I wasn't able to bench today. I'll do bench tomorrow morning instead.

- Facepulls: 4x20

 

[Vlad Kravinoff]

The game that cost you your Canadian honour.

 

[DrBdan]

The game that cost you your Canadian honour.

Do I win my Canadian honour back if we win the championship? If so, I'm probably screwed because we've never made it out of the round robin in a Winter season.

Wed Feb 26, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1x10 (singles)

Easy stuff. No belt today because the weight was so low. Reps were fast and smooth.

- Bench
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x4
135x3
155x10
160x8

155x10 was solid. The last rep of 160x8 was a bit of a grinder, I think I should take a bit more rest between sets. I skipped the backoff sets and rows because I was running late. I'll do some back stuff at home tonight.

 

[DrBdan]

I didn't do cardio today because I felt shitty in the morning. I might not be able to lift tomorrow

Beard update, I'm looking a bit scruffy

 

[MilkManUK]

I didn't do cardio today because I felt shitty in the morning. I might not be able to lift tomorrow

Beard update, I'm looking a bit wonderful

Fixed

 

[DrBdan]

oh you!

 

[DrBdan]

I wasn't able to lift on Friday because I was out running a bunch of errands and had to be home to have dinner with my wife and father-in-law. They were going to see the next Riverdance show "Heartbeat of Home" on Friday night. My wife really enjoyed it but the thing that struck her the most was how incredibly ripped all the dancers were, lol.

Today I'm going to squat 295x5 again and get back to the normal progression.

Sun Mar 2, 2014

Hockey
This was the first game of the playoffs and we were short skaters, again, while the other team had a full bench of 15 skaters. Sometimes this has worked well for us in the past as it allows our top players to get into the game more but we were missing most of defense so some forwards had to drop back and that screwed everything up. The other team also used their 3 lines to constantly keep pressure on us and wear us down.

The first period started okay but then we took a couple penalties. I was on the PK for the first penalty and we did a good job of keeping them away from the net and not getting any shots. I blocked two shots myself. On the second one the puck rebounded out of our zone so I took the opportunity to change but as soon as our new skaters got on the ice the other team skated back into our zone and scored.

That example pretty much summed up the entire game. We'd work hard but eventually something would crack and the other team would score. We ended the first period only down 2-1 but the other team gradually took control as the game went on. We had two powerplays in the middle of the period and could barely get a shot on net. Eventually the other team scored to make it 3-1.

In the third they completely took control. They started cycling the puck in our zone and we just chased them around. Even when we got control of the puck because some of our better skaters were playing defense we couldn't really mount any offense. It was a really frustrating game. At the very least I can say that I was only on the ice for one goal against but considering that we couldn't score it didn't really matter.

We absolutely have to win next week or our season is over. We are probably going to be short skaters again but we should have a couple more d-men (one guy was out of town and another had a last-minute family emergency) so we should have a more normal offense. However we are playing the first place team so we will have to be at our best to have a chance.

 

[DrBdan]

Mon Mar 3, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x5
205x5
(+belt)
235x5
265x5
295x5

Felt about the same as last week. Last two reps of 295 were hard but no chance of failing.

- Bench
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x4
140x2
160x9
165x8
140x5
140x5
140x5

This is the first time I didn't get 10 on the first work set. I maybe could have ground out a 10th rep but form wasn't very tight so I didn't want to push it. 165 actually felt better, I probably could have hit a 9th rep.

- Inverted rows: 4x12. Supersetted with bench back-off sets.

 

[DrBdan]

Wed Mar 5, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x1
285x1
315x1
345x1
365x1x8 (singles)

Felt good today. I'm definitely making better use of the belt because 345x1 felt a bit slow but then 365 was flying up.

- Facepulls: 5x20

My weight this morning was 215.5 which is down a bit. It's probably water weight since I haven't eaten any junk since Sunday but at least it's going in the right direction.

On the beer front, I had another one of my Triple Chocolate Cherry Stout on the weekend and it had a bit more cherry taste to it. I think I might have missed the cherry the first time around because I had smoked a bit of weed beforehand which always deadens my taste buds.