5-21-2012 update

BW was 236.1# over the weekend. Had a nice training session on Friday which included an Inch DB lift and Hub lifts at 70# and 72# as well. This weekend I cut down a couple of large cedars we had in our front yard and cut them up into firewood size pieces. Got most of the resulting logs and debris cleaned up. Got a little sunburned and tuckered too in the process with the 100deg+ temps. Glad its nearly done though. Unfortunately the trees were planted too close to the house many years ago and had started lifting the house and causing cracks and doors to not close properly among other issues. They will be missed but hopefully we can get some new trees planted further away from the house. possibly a nice walnut or macadamia nut. In the garden we are starting to get our first tomatoes of the season. Yum!

5-15-2012

Just a quick diet update. Still going strong. BW was 237.4# this morning.

5-9-2012

Finally broke under 240# a couple days ago. BW this morning was 239.2#. Lunchtime training went well yesterday with finally a full Inch DB lift and reps on the GHP #8 gripper, etc. Looking forward to more weight lost and more PR's in the near future.

5-1-2012

So a little over 5 weeks into the Primal diet now. Body weight this morning was 240.1#, so getting close to dropping under 240. That is really exciting for me! On a similar note I've dropped about 10# over the course of the month of April and about 19# since the beginning. Big initial drop was mostly water weight I'm sure. Training continues to go well. I tested on 1H Circus bar DL, 1H axle DL, and hub lifts yesterday. For the most part I had improvements of around 10% with the Hub being closer to 14% improvement over the course of the month despite the weight drop. Still gonna take it easy on benching for awhile longer to work on shoulder rehab. These were how the lift tests shook out yesterday.

1 hand Circus Bar DL (2 3/8")
RH 154# (had a little more in the tank)
LH 144# (Max effort)

1H Axle DL
RH 206# (more in the tank)
LH 185# (Max effort)

IM Hub lift
RH 70.2# (Max effort)
LH ~ 53# (Max effort, I think maxing on other 2 lifts affected this some)

4-25-2012

Just a quick update on the progress of my weight loss. This morning my bodyweight was 241.2#, nearly 18# down in a little over a month. Still feeling great and clothes getting looser. Sunday, Tim and Zac came over for a morning workout. It was a good one and I am still feeling it today. I managed a double on my GHP #8 gripper from parallel set as well as some good thickbar work. Looking forward to the next training session. Probably tomorrow at lunch.

4-20-2012 updates

Today I believe is Day 30 of me being on the Primal diet. Everything is still going very well. I feel great and weight is still dropping. This mornings weigh in was 242.9#. I started taking measurements and skinfold testing about 10 days ago and it looks like I've actually gained some muscle just during the last 10 days in addition to the fat loss. The measurement show it in a couple places as well. So that is a good sign that I'm not losing muscle in this rapid weight loss that I am having.

On the workout front I have been mostly focusing on my thickbar weaknesses since the grip comp a month ago. My thickbar has been improving as has pretty much everything else I have tested lately. Bench I have not been pushing though and instead have been working on my problematic shoulder with some rehab type exercises. I also reduced the frequency of the benching and lowered the weight while upping the reps. Most recent workout I hit 275x8 so still not too bad. Hoping to lift the Inch replica DB again soon. I have not tried it since starting the thickbar focus work but the stuff I am doing should directly affect my strength on it. I will test it again at the conclusion of this training cycle. I tested on the IM hub in warmups yesterday and pulled 67.7# which was a good 5# increase over my previous best so that is pretty exciting. This also means the training plan is working well I guess. Anywho, that is all I got today. Have a good one!

4-5-12

Day 15 of my Primal Blueprint challenge. BW was 245.8# this morning. for those that are counting that is 13.2# down in 15 days and it seems like pretty much all fat that is missing from the way my clothes are fitting and the measurement changes. Yesterday I tried my first Intermittant Fast of the program. I was a bit apprehensive about this because I'm a big guy and I had a pretty high intensity workout yesterday at lunch. Usually in the past I was getting hungry about every 2-3 hours throughout the day. Not the case anymore. Right at the end of the workout I had a banana to refuel my glycogen reserves ( I know a sweet potato would have been better but did not have one prepared ) then about 45 min later at 1:30pm I had a bowl of Bison chili that I had made earlier in the week. I didn't eat anything for dinner, just drank water when I got thirsty. Never got hungry either. This morning I got up still not hungry which was pretty exciting! Made a huge scramble with 1/2# ground bison with Emril's essence seasoning, salt and pepper, 1 kosher brat, Diced Carrot, 2 mushrooms diced, broccoli, onions, and 4 eggs. Topped with half an Avocado and some salsa. Yummy! Ended up being over 18hrs on the fast and no hunger! Would not have ever imagined this possible!

4-4-2012

Day 14 of the Primal Challenge. Was 248.0 this morning which is 11# down from starting point 2 weeks ago. Very happy with this. Had a nice brief workout today at lunch time. Was a bit rushed but still hit most everything I was hoping to hit. Did some bench until Left shoulder began to show a bit of irritation. Worked up to 5x295, 5x295, 3x295. Did a bit of Grippers, just enough to get a video of closing the GHP Lvl 8 from parallel set and a close miss with the 1.5" block. Will post the Vids later after I get a chance to pull them off the camera. Then did some thickbar work which is the focus right now. Was a good bit stronger on the thickbar than last workout 5 days ago. That is a good sign. I'll post actual numbers on this the next time I max which may be a few weeks. Just doing worksets for now and sticking to the plan. But within 2-3 weeks I think I will be capable of full DL's on the Inch DB again.

- Aaron

4-3-2012

Day 13 of my Primal Blueprint challenge. BW was 248.2 this morning. Feeling pretty good today but I had a few days since the last entry with some low carb flu symptoms. Not too bad. I had to read up on this a bit and found much good info out there. Apparently this happens with some people when their metabolism is switching from being primarily carb based to using more fat oxidation sources for energy. In the process of looking up this carb flu thing that I had seen mention of on the Primal boards I found some pretty good info on Metabolic flexibility. I've seen this term bandied about much but figured it was just some buzz word for a new diet. Turns out that is not the case and it relates to how easily a person can and to what degree switch between a "sugar" burning metabolism and "fat" burning metabolism. There is more to it than that as well but my summary stops there.


Haven't had much time to do much in the way of regular workouts lately. Trying to get the spring garden planted even though I am late. Little bit of thickbar here and there as I walk by the bar but that's about it.

3-27-2012

Day 6 of my Primal Blueprint change. Was 250.9 BW this morning. I feel better each day. Did a brief training session at lunch. Haven't benched in a couple weeks since the Push/Pull meet I did earlier this month. I did a 375 Bench at the meet and was pretty happy with that. Still hoping to get back to 405 or better again before I hit 40. Left shoulder still a little sore and I need to up my mobility work to take care of that I'm sure. So workout was short and light just to see how it felt. Also did some thickbar work with the 2 3/8" Circus bar as Jason calls it. I like the name so I'm gonna stick with it. I think I'm gonna work thickbar more for a few weeks since its been lagging a bit and see if I can start getting full pulls again on the Inch replica DB.

Bench
10x135
5x185
4x225
3x285
5x285

Grippers RH
3x#2, 3xBBGM, 1xEE, 1xGHP L8

Circus Bar 1H DL
LH 3x86, 1x130, 0x140, work sets
RH 3x86, 1x130, 1x140, work sets

3-26-2012

So far so good on the new Primal diet. I've been sticking to it and feeling better each day. BW is down to 252# right now. This is the lightest I have been since I started tracking my weight with the Wii fit 2 1/2 yrs ago. High weight was 275# around beginning of October last year.

I had a fairly active weekend although no weight lifting. Lots of walking, working in the garden, and some sprints yesterday. In fact I think I tweaked my left quad a little on the sprints. It sure is fun getting older.

Hoping to get Tomatoes planted soon. I'm double digging the winter cover crop in on the main bed right now. A neighbor who also gardens was nice enough to plant extra of the seeds I gave him and grow up the starter plants. He just dropped off a big tray full yesterday and they look great.

I'm Baaack!

I took a posting hiatus while trying to finish getting everything wrapped up for the AZ Cactus grip contest. The contest went well and everyone had some great performances. My new 2HP setup seemed to be a hit as well as some of the other gear I built and I'm really happy about that. So I will be trying to get back into the groove of posting training, projects and updates.

First update is that I will be attempting to go Primal with my diet for the next few weeks. I had considered Paleo in the past but never really made it part of my lifestyle. I've had alot of health issues in the last year or so that I am hoping this change will address. Much more so than weight loss, although that would be nice too. A recent post by Ryan J. Pitts at StrongerGrip put the bug in my mind to check this out again. So I purchased the Primal blueprint 21day total body transformation for my Kindle and a couple cook books from amazon after checking out the marksdailyapple blog.

This morning I had my 2nd meal of the program and I have to admit it was awesome and I still feel sated and in a great mood hours later. That is just not normal for me. I'll let you guys know how it is going as I make it through this. Breakfast this morn was a 3 egg omelet with bacon, sauteed mushrooms, onions, broccoli and avocado. Cooked the eggs in the bacon grease and topped with fresh salsa. OMG!

Btw starting weight was 259# today.

- Aaron

01-17-2012

Did a bit of gripper work on Saturday the 14th, and Monday the 16th. Here is the Deload Bench and 2HP from yesterday. Got some good work in with the Blob. Sore today.

Bench
10x135
5x185
3x5x205

2HP Euro 48mm
3x60
3x110
3x5x160 touch and go

Blob
RH x3, x3, x4
LH x1 + 2 Negs, x0, Neg, x1, Neg, x1

Inch DB Drags
x3 Each Hand

Blob Swings RH

Reverse Blob
RH x1

Standing Press behind Neck
10x 45

01-13-2012

Did some DL work lunchtime on the 13th. First time in awhile. Followed 5-3-1 parameters mostly.

DO Oly DL
5x135
5x210
5x245
12x275
10x185
10x185

Training 01-12-2012

Did a bit of Lunchtime work on the 12th and some gripper work on the 11th that I did not record. Anywho, here is the stuff from the 12th. Very happy with the top sets on Bench and 2HP. My forearms were sore for a few days after that.

Bench & Pinch Supersets 43minutes

Bench
10x135
5x185
3x225
3x275
2x295
2x315
3x315
10x225 Close Grip

Grippers
#2x1
E3x2
F3x1 RH

2HP Euro 48mm
110x3
160x3
180x3
200x3
210x3
220x3
220x3
220x4
180x10

Training 01-09-2012

Did a quick lunch time Bench workout yesterday. Little bit of TNS grippers as well.

Squats
12x135

Bench
10x135
5x185
3x225
8x275
6x275
5x225 Close grip

Grippers TNS
#2x1 BH
BBSM@1/4x1 BH
E3x1 RH with a little help getting fingers on handle.

Training 01-06 and 01-08-2012

Had a big session on Sunday and a few guys came out for it. Martin came down from the Phoenix area, Zac came out, Tim and another guy came down from Oro Valley as well. For me it ended up being a fun testing session. Nothing Max effort, even though some of the thickbar attempts were over my current strength levels. A bit sore still from the volume of good work put in. Friday was just a quick 5 min gripper workout in the evening.

Friday 01-06-2012
Grippers
#1, #2
Mini-reps
E3 6sec RH
E3 6sec RH
E3 6sec RH
E3 6sec RH
Cant remember LH Either BBSM@1/4 or E3 and similiar times.

Sunday 01-08-2012
Squats
45x10, 115x10

Grippers
#1x10, #2x10

2HP Euro 48mm
110x3
160x3
210x2 +1
230x1

Saxon Clean
130x3
150x1
180x0 Missed catch

Saxon Bar Bent Over Pinch Rows
200x5

Inch DB Negs
4x1 BH

45# Hub
Flips

Blob
2x1 RH
0x LH
1x RH
1x LH

Pair 45# plate pinch DL
4x RH
0x LH
1x RH
1x LH
1x RH
1x LH

45# plate curl
RH

Axle 1H DL
0x213 Just below knees RH
1x213 Neg BH

Axle Clean and Press
1x213 slight knee dip on press

Axle DL
1x335
0x385 broke off ground couple inches

2" Vbar
1x200
1x245
0x270 1"
reps/iso holds with 210

4P's
3x2x66#

SW handle
80#x5
105#x5
3x 1x 105# 10sec hold into negs

Canvas Farmers lifts
3x52
3x72

Grippers
#1x10 LH
#1x20 RH

Axle DL
10x213#

Finished the Training room remodel finally

We had a good hard push over the long holiday weekend and finally finished the training room remodel. It came out good. Still need to build a workbench and move everything back in but here is a video of how it came out. Final tally was Bricked in an old unused exterior door (double brick), furred out walls and insulated, drywall, added a couple outlets, Hand plaster finished, replaced window single pane with Double pane on side window and made new window frame due to wood rot, hand made craftsman style trim on windows, replaced exterior door, door frame, and surrounding framing, made custom the brick mold trim for the opening outside, relocated switches and boxed in casement window sills with wood over the original brick, paint, and cut stall mats to fit, Took almost 8 months of spare time. Hopefully it will look like it is original and that I never touched it.

01-04-2012 training

Quick Bench and Pinch lunchtime workout.

Bench
10x45
10x135
5x185
5x225
6x275
5x275
8x225 Close Grip

2HP Euro 48mm
5x60
3x110
3x155
3x175
3x200
3x220
3x220
7x177

Gripper
5x#2 BH

12-29-2011 Training

My last training day of 2011 and pinch was feeling good so I decided to do a test weight at 242 in between my worksets. It came up no prob and tried to get a 2nd rep with it 20sec later but barely broke it off the ground. Real happy with this. Was sore for a few days after.

Bench
10x45
10x135
5x185
3x225
3x275
4x3x295

2HP Euro 48mm unless otherwise noted
3x110
3x154
3x177
3x199
3x220
1x242 (2nd rep 20sec later just broke off the ground)
3x220
3x220
Saxon 2HP 15x180
0x220
1x220
Saxon 2HP 7x180

Hands Smoked, RH thumb joint tender before workout and all through it. Iced it afterwards.

12-25-2011 training

Just getting caught up on some of these workouts. This one was from Christmas Day, which proved to be interesting. About midnight or a little before Christmas morning I woke up with my gut feeling a little weird. Well within 20 minutes I had projectile vomiting and firehose butt at the same time. Stomach flu. That lasted for a around 6 hours and then I was able to rest some. Did grippers later that afternoon to stay on schedule but was still feeling pretty weak.

Grippers
#1, #2x4
LH #2 18sec Mini-reps, 16sec, 18sec, 2" set #2x3
RH #2 18sec Mini-reps, BBSM@1/4 18sec, 18sec, 2" set #2x7

Later #2 2" reps x 10 RH -> #1 x 12
#2 2" reps x 5 LH -> #1 x ?