Micro Work Out's

En liten kort notis om träning!

Jag tänkte bara uppdatera er alla om hur träningsupplägget ser ut för tillfället. Just nu är jag på resande fot och har bara tagit med mig ett fåtal redskap. Ett gummiband med handtag(Sanctband Hard)(just nu rea på MEDS)(sponsrad länk), ett trasigt tubband och ett Yogaband på 240 cm från Vishram AB i Göteborg. 

Upplägget är enkelt och något jag ska testa i lite olika former de närmsta månaderna och se hur väl det faller ut. Över dagen kör jag ett micropass i timmen, på ett ungefär. Besläktat med "greasing the groove". Jag är inte strikt utan detta är bara ett riktmärke. Mest av allt går jag på hur kroppen känner sig för dagen. Jag kör två pass som jag roterar. 

(ca 20 reps, gummiband eller kroppsvikt)

Pass 1 - Air Squats, Rodd, Armhävningar, Bicepscurl, Triceps Pull Down & Mage av något slag

Pass 2 - Bulgarian Split Squats, Side Lateral, Face Pulls, Front Raises, Press

Jag börjar dagen med en vända av dessa pass men det tredje passet och framåt startar jag varje pass med en runda "overcoming isometric" för varje övning som jag senare kör dynamiskt. 

Om jag inte vore på resande fot skulle jag lägga in övningar med vikter lite här och där efter hur kroppen svarar. Förutom detta försöker jag komma ut och klättra ett par gånger i veckan och addera ett pass för finger styrkan också.

Jag har precis börjat men jag gillar det än så länge. Overcoming Isometrics hjälper på två fundamentala sätt, märker jag redan. Dels så får jag verkligen kontakt med musklerna(mind muscle connection) och så är de skonsamt uppvärmda inför den dynamiska delen av passet. Jag återkommer med fler och mer detaljerade reflektioner framgent. Nu vankas det lunch!

"Every day is a fresh start"

May the Fors Be with You

I'm Back Baby! ...sort of...

Well, hello again!

After over a week of being sick, some sort of summer cold, I tried my hand at working out again. I did so at our local Friskis & Svettis gym. I've had my suspicions about going so heavy in my existing routine. Working up to 3x3 reps has been kind of brutal. I have not idea if that is the culprit in the case of me being sick more often this spring but it's worth looking in to. With that to consider I decided to try something new. It spells..don't go so damned hard! And by that I mean don't go so heavy and don't go to failure ALL the time. We will see how this plays out, boy's and galls!

The Work Out:

Warm Up - 1000m row on the Concept 2, 4:38

Low Bar Back Squats: 3 x 5 - 80 kg, 2 x 8 - 60 kg

Barbell Hip Thrusters - 3 x 10 - 60 kg

Military Press - 3 x 5 - 40 kg, 2 x 8 - 30 kg

Dumbell Biceps Curl - 3 x 5 - 18 kg, 2 x 8 - 12 kg

Farmers Carry - 3 x 50 Steps w/ 40 kg Kettlebell in Each Hand

Face Pulls - 2 x 12

That is all she wrote! I can't say I was feeling it. I was not all there. But the motto was "easy does it", and for the most part I stuck to that. The Hip Thrusters was a new one for me, thank you Jeff Cavaliere at Atlean-X, and I had a hard time finding a good spot on my pelvis to rest te bar on. It was somewhat uncomfortable whatever I did. But a seriously worthwhile exercise. I just have to get it dialed in, I guess.

But what did you eat today, you might ask? Apart from a Whey Protein shake with Collagen and Creatine,  here comes the answer to that question:

Breakfast: Two boiled eggs and some ham.

Lunch: Beef liver and chorizos with mustard

Dinner: Remains to be seen...probably something carnivorous

"Courage is grace under pressure."
- Ernest Hemingway

May the Fors Be with you!

HiFi Klubben, in da house!

Finally!

I have long been looking for a place to buy sound and technology gadgets that also provide top-class service, knowledgeable staff and a wide range of quality products. As a bonus, their website is a dream to navigate and it is very useful and inspiring as well. I am a little old-fashioned and have a lot of CDs left. When it came time to change CD players, I turned to the HiFi club and found the Denon DCD-50(add). Stylish and optimal player for my needs at a reasonable price. Super satisfied!

HiFive HiFi Klubben!

I love music. Singing, playing, listening, you name it. When the kids were small and showed interest in music, I tried to start playing a bit on my wife's old school guitar. Once I learned a few chords, I started to enjoy myself so much I went ahead and bought a couple of acoustic guitars and learned to strum along something that could be taken for rudimentary guitar playing. A steel-strung Yamaha FG820 and a nylon-strung Alhambra. The kids were at least impressed. Anyhow, I couldn't care less what others think when I find the playing and singing so satisfying.

As a parentheses, I just want to mention that on the Dramaten there were many "music snobs" who would rather go through life without even trying to play or sing just because the opportunities to become a concert pianist or guitar virtuoso were no longer there. Dramaten is certainly not the only workplace where jealousy and pettiness dwells under the surface, but probably one where it is very common.
    At least I didn't let myself get discouraged and now I play for a while every day.

It was not only fun & games today but the gym equipment had to be moved. It doesn't on it's own, you now.

Here's how it went:

Bench Press (WS-3x100kg, 3x95kg, 5x90kg & 7x80kg)

Mark Lift (WS-3x150kg)

Weighted Pull Ups (4x24kg, 3x32kg, 3x40kg, 3x32kg, 3x24kg)

Dips (15, 14, 5x24kg +)

Well, if we are going to explain a little, I usually take up to 5 minutes of rest before the heaviest Work Set lifts. Then, depending on how it feels, I go down to two, max three, minutes of rest in the tail sets. I haven't done dips in a long time.

   As I predicted, I was quite sore today, more so today than Wednesday. It's cumulative, of course. And not surprisingly, I was reluctant to go to the gym but managed to find something that motivated me again today. I obviously felt ok when I was there.

At Friskis where I train they have an excellent heavy bag sandsäck(add) that I kicked extensively during the breaks between sets. Mad props Nordic Fighter(add)!



"A Little Nonsense Now and Then
Is Cherished by the Wisest Men"
- Roald Dahl

May the Fors be with you!

Leg Press, anyone?

Hello again!

Today it was DOMS in da house. Big Time! I was most certainly no going to the gym today. I was just going to do an easy workout at home and lick my wounds, nothing fancy at all.

That didn't happen. I sat and watched MMA on YouTube and, again, became inspired (starting to see a red thread here.) After a fairly extensive morning walk, it also felt a lot better. So, said and done, I jumped up on the bike and rode down to the old Friskis & Svettis.

The workout, as such:

Military Press: WS-3x3x55kg

Barbell Curl: WS-3x3x50kg (some cheat curls but with slow eccentric phase)

Scull Cruscher: WS-3x3x45kg

Leg Press:?

Well, what about that leg press? I skipped the squats today when I felt some pain in the adductor magnus on my right leg, plus I got some pretty nasty scratch marks from the bar on the shoulders which I thought would heal away a little before creating new ones. It turned out to be a pretty bad idea.

The machine I chose was the one where you sit on a sledge that you push up with your feet on a fixed plate, if you know what I mean. A weight stack with numbers on it is connected to the sled. I'm not quite sure if the numbers are kilograms or correlates with some other system but it's hard to relate anyway. The angles of the knees and hips at start are difficult to transpose to the correct form, etc. I had spasm in the rectus femoris and barely felt the gluteus maximus or hamstrings at all. Quite unhappy but I could have gone over to the Squat Racket and continued there if it wasn't for all these stations being occupied by people doing bench press. Sigh...

Now it will be a some studying and reading and walking and maybe an episode of Ultimate BeastMaster.

"Without Great Solitude
 no Serious work i Possible"
- Pablo Picasso

May the Fors be with you!

Back To Reality

Monday ... fast ...

Hello. In the middle of the Monday fast. Right now, the rain is pouring down and, fortunately, I had a workout before the dust covers opened. The rain is so good for everything that grows, which Lotta had to learn. But over the years I have made the experience that it is not enough, for us humans, to go out and stand in the rain and wait for us to grow and develop. Not even if we are on a manure stack! Of course we need sun and water, but we also need to stimulate our muscles to overcompensate. Break down - build stronger - repeat. That's why I go down to Friskis & Svettis. Which I will come to shortly. Just a small detour first. Or maybe a couple. ;-)

I have had a "deload week" with some holiday fun so the body could recover. Why then do I feel weaker and more broken in the muscles than before? It is a strange phenomenon that I experience from time to time. I think I need to rest from the workout and just get tired and more broken by it. Very odd. This time, perhaps, it had a little to do with diet and sleep. I maybe ate a little more carbohydrates than I should. Maybe took a glass of bubble more than I intended. Maybe I didn't go to sleep when I ought to have, etc., during the holidays. In fact, I don't know if I'm being honest.

My overarching goal is really to feel as good as possible. I don't know why this is so important to me. Maybe I am comfortable that way. It's easier to not have a lot of discomfort and pain, I guess. But then we add a few barrels of vanity and it immediately becomes a little more complicated. You want to look good. You want to be strong, maybe even terrifying. Frighten enemies, etc. Primal stuff is sometimes mixed into this confusing concoction. Anyway, these two forces work against each other. Well-being and vanity. To get that kind of Chris Hemsworth muscle, you have to push yourself pretty hard, right? But it leaves me with massive DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and pains that manifest in bad mood and short temper. No pain, no gain, right? Messy, is what it is. Nor do I feel good about doing nothing. Just taking walks and doing household chores is not enough for me.

Oh well. That is my driving force in this hole thing. Trying to find a "sweetspot". Minimum dose for maximum results. I do not go to the gym to "hang out", that's for sure. There are better things to do with your time.
     Being out with the boys and climbing or playing tennis or scuba diving is obviously something completely different. That is one of the reasons why I exercise. In order to get better at all these activities and to prevent injuries, if that's even possible. Now I think I got all the "ranting" out of my system, for now.

Here comes a summary of todays workout.

As usual, two rounds of escalating the weights, call it warm up if you like, and then "Workset":

Side Lateral (8x12, 4x14, WS-3x3x16kg, 8x12kg)

Kettlebell Swings (10x24, 10x32, WS-3x10x40kg, 10x32kg)

Biceps Curl (8x18, 4x22, WS-3x3x24kg, 8x20kg)

Triceps Pushdown (8x20, 6x25, WS-3x5x32kg, 8x25kg)

Single Arm Row (8x30, 5x36, WS-3x5x40kg, 8x30kg)

This workout was made as a circle with enough rest between exercises so that the heart rate does not go up too much.

As mentioned earlier in this post, quite sore and tired during this WO. No room for weight gain, in other words. Probably I will have to pay for this in the coming day's anyway, is my guess.

"You Cannot Overestimate the Unimportance
of Practically Everything."
John Maxwell

May the Fors be with you!

Recipe for meatloaf

Hello again!

Due to the high demand here comes the recipe for my bacon wrapped meatloaf with a core of Feta Cheese.

Meatloaf:

7-800g of minced meat
Two eggs
One half grated yellow onion
Half a dl cream

Salt pepper (herb seasoning if fancy that sort of thing)

Greased ovenproof form. In with the curdled meat pulp, dig a ditch, in with the Feta Cheese, cover it up. Overlay a package of bacon distributed as in the picture, in with the thermometer and into the oven at 200 ° until the inside temperature has reached 70 °. 
     Serve with salad, sweet potatoes or just ice cold beer. 😄

In addition to this, some heart rate-boosting activities were done:

5 rounds with 6 repetitions:

Cross Over (rubber band)
Biceps Curl (rubber band)
Close Squats
Diamond Push Ups
L-Pull Ups
Face Pulls

Scull Crusher (rubber band)

No significant rest between the rounds but the pace was quite moderate so the need never arose. A nice way to get some of your juices flowing and a much needed increase of the heart rate.

"Nothing is Permanent in this
Wicked World,
not even 
our Troubles."
-Charlie Chaplin

May the Fors be with you!

Deload

Good afternoon!

A short post. It is some kind of "deload" week but when it is holiday time, nothing is quite as you imagined. It's the only thing you know for sure. My deload weeks come about every four weeks and are for active recovery.

The work outs are designed so that they mimic the work out that I would do that day but then with the format: 5 rounds of 5 repetitions. No rest anywhere during the workout, but it should not be needed as I never feel any symptoms of fatigue. Some fun and games are obviously creeping in occasionally during these weeks as well.

The purpose is to get blood flow and neuromuscular stimulation without muscle hypertrophy or otherwise tax the system significantly lactate or elsewhere. A slight breathlessness and a slight sweat is usually the most significant symptom of activity I encounter. It is perfectly suitable to stretch a little afterwards.

WO:

Face Pulls (rubber band)
Pistols
Biceps Curl (rubber band)
Diamond Push Ups
L-Pull Ups
Cross Over (rubber band)
Scull Crusher (rubber band)

If you don't 

Prioritise Your life,

Someone else

Will

May the Fors be with you!