Strength in Interesting Places

[JauntyAngle]

Grad school - so you have a PhD, then?

No, just a Masters, although it was a two-year full time one. I started on a PhD course but didn't finish it.

Currently doing another Masters part-time/distance learning.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Chiang Mai, Workout 2

Just going to write this up quickly

Squats 93kg x5, x5, x5
Press 55kg x3, x1, 52.5kg x1
Push press 52.5kg x1, x1; 55kg x1
Power clean 65kg x3, x3

Squats were deep and fun and lovely. Really feeling it in the glutes and hamstrings now I am getting deeper.

Press was bad. 55kg went up okay but was heavy, then failed to get past more than the first on the next set. Re-set to 52.5kg then failed again. Not that surprised- it's probably 2 weeks since I did any pressing and I need it more often. Did a few push presses, and enjoyed them. I may switch to push press for the next 6 weeks in Kabul.

Power cleans were fun, but I still think I will replace them with bent-over rows. Probably for the next Kabul cycle.

 

[Bumbaclaat]

i cannot tell if switching to push press for a while works.
but i can tell you it is definitively satisfying.

how is the situation in thailand?
i hope your family is far away from the cambodian border.

 

[JauntyAngle]

how is the situation in thailand?
i hope your family is far away from the cambodian border.

People here don't seem to be too bothered by the situation. Certainly, everything is normal. I guess because we're pretty far from that border- we're in the North, about three hours from the Golden Triangle- the tri-border area of Laos, Burma and Thailand.

 

[scoopj]

Thought about good ol' JA while coming to work this morning. They mentioned on the radio that there was a situation in Kabul with an Afghan Army soldier going nuts.

 

[eastNYgoon138]

Fun and lovely squats lol

Glad to see the back issue wasnt a big deal

 

[JauntyAngle]

Thought about good ol' JA while coming to work this morning. They mentioned on the radio that there was a situation in Kabul with an Afghan Army soldier going nuts.

I heard about that too. I think it was a regular dispute... Afghan people tend to be very nice and friendly, but also very touchy and proud. They often end up threatening to kill eachother, or actually killing eachother, over not very much. It's sad when this happens, but less worrying than Taliban action.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Fun and lovely squats lol

Glad to see the back issue wasnt a big deal

I guess it is the excitement of really starting to figure out the depth. My depth has been okay for a while, but I am finally overcoming a slight reluctance to go to full depth. I guess I was worried about getting stuck (even though I have practiced jumping forward and dumping the bar), but now I am realizing that going deeper just means that you get more hamstring and glute activation, and that it makes the squat a more satisfying exercise. So going deeper is something to be relished, rather than something to be concerned about.

Thanks for the sentiment re: back. I am glad, too. Very very glad.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

I support increased depth

 

[MIDMOBOX]

 

[JauntyAngle]

My god. Awesome.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

My god. Awesome.

I only post the best, well except when I need comedic impact


example

 

[SlaveToTheDark]

sweet

just checking in to see if you are still training

glad to hear your back is ok!

 

[JauntyAngle]

sweet

just checking in to see if you are still training

glad to hear your back is ok!

Yeah, still training. But this week I have taken it *really* easy, because I only got one week at home before going back to Kabul, and because I hardly did anything the week before and wanted to work back into it easily.

I'm back to Afghanistan over the weekend, and I'll start off properly again.

 

[trial]

Hey JauntyAngle thanks for directing me to the Starting Strength Program. Good luck with your workouts.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Hey JauntyAngle thanks for directing me to the Starting Strength Program. Good luck with your workouts.

You're welcome. Good luck with yours!

 

[JauntyAngle]

Well, I am back in Kabul, and I have started a Smolov Jr-based programme. Here's the programme:

1. Exercises

Sunday
Bench 6x6 (70% 1rm)
Bent-Over Row 3x5

Tuesday
Bench 7x5 (75% 1rm)
Squat 3x3
Bicep curls 3x10

Thursday
Bench 8x4 (80% 1rm)
Deathlift 1x5

Friday
Bench 10x3 (85% 1rm)
Squat 3x5
Weighted chin 3x5


2. Progression

- For Bench I will add 5kg in the first week and 3kg in the second, and am using a base of 88kg for my 1RM. This has me doing 10x3 of 83kg on the final day of week 3, which I am reasonably confident I will be able to do. In fact, I think it might be a little conservative- I think I could probably do it now. But since is my first time through Smolov Jr, I will do it like this.
- For squat, I will try a new weight on the 3x3, on Tuesday, then do it 3x5 on Friday; I will probably only add 1kg per week, which is nothing, but I want to keep my recovery for my bench
- Deathlift and BOR will be standard LP, I will add 1kg to the BOR and 2kg to the deathlift each time
- For bicep curls, it doesn't matter. I will try to add some weight each time.

Edit- weighted chins put back in to day 4.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Smolov Junior Bench Cycle: Week 1, Session 1

Weights:

Bench: 62kg x6, x6, x6, x6, x6, x6
Bent-Over Row: 65kg x5, x5, x5


Conditioning

Springs on C2 rower: 1000m, 1 min sprint/2 min recovery (2 sprint periods)


* * * * * *

The weights were a breeze. The conditioning exhuasted me very quickly. Pretty pathetic as about a month ago I went 2000m doing 1min sprint/1min recover or even 2min sprint/2min recovery, with about 5 sprint periods. Plenty of reasons why, though- no conditioning in last 2 weeks, no HIIT in last 3 weeks, 2 days with very uneven eating and bad sleep due to travel back to Kabul.

I want to concentrate on 1000m or 2000m intervals/sprints on the C2 rower as my main conditioning tool for a while. I figure one session will be 8-15 minutes depending on the speed I go at. If I do it 4 times a week I should improve very quickly, and days with no weights it should take minimal motivation just to go upstairs and do something for just 10 minutes.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Conditioning

C2 rower sprints

2 mins slow (3-3.5min/500m)/1 min fast (2 min/500m)
2300m, 4 sprints + 1 minute cool-down, 13 minutes

* * * *

Much, much better. Possibly do it for a little longer next time, then the time after lengthen the sprint interval a little.

I love going to the gym and being done inside of 15 minutes, too.

Let's see how much good this will do me if I am doing it 4 times a week or so.

 

[VoodooPlata]

Why biceps curls and not chins?