Monday 6/29

WoD:

Front Squat 10x2 @ 265#

SnPP Heavy 5 - 205#

Metcon (courtesy of NorCal Qualifiers)

500m Row

30 Burpees

10 Shouler-to-Overhead

3:47

Speal did this in 3:33 at 135# body weight.  View it here.

Michael!!!

This is what happens when the funniest man of all time (don't let the movies about the large family or the pink panther fool you) parodies the King of Pop

Saturday 6/27 - Recovery

Three hours of sleep is not good for recovery, that's for sure.

WoD:

Played Watermelon

Recovery WoD - NFT (but fast)

5 rounds

10 Situps

15 Pushups

20 Squats

Friday 6/26

Went to the 5:15 class for a couple of reasons 1) to meet the new guy, 2) it's the last morning class that I could hit up before the Power Barn changes into Crossfit Cheshire, and 3) I'm going to the Mets game tonight with my buddies from home where I plan on eating my weight in tacos and enjoying the frost cold beverages.  I doubt that I'll get in a workout tomorrow but I should be back in time for Watermelon with the crew.

WoD:

Power Clean 3RM - Hit 245#, not sure but that might be a PR

For Time:

5 HPC @ 185#

Sprint 100yds

Rest :60

10 Push Press @135#

Sprint 80yds

Rest :40

20 KB Swing @ 2pood

Sprint 40yds

Rest :20

40 Pull ups

Sprint 20yds

5:27 (including rest)

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL

Goal setting is the backbone of a well planned fitness regimen.  It is impossible to devise a formulaic and progressive plan of attack if you have no goals, whether they be immediate or long term.  I want to put you through this exercise, don’t worry, it’s not an actual workout.  List five goals for the summer.  It helps if you are specific.  For instance, making a goal to be healthier is so vague that you won’t ever know when you’ve reached it.  If you need help I’ve listed mine below:

Snatch 250#

Clean and Jerk 315#

Box Jump 60”

100 Consecutive Double Unders

Get at least six hours of sleep per night

You see, those were specific.  Instead of saying things like get stronger, jump higher or sleep more I put out numerical values that can be checked off the list.  Granted, none of these things are easy.  I’m still seven and twenty pounds away from the Snatch and C&J weights respectively and about 8” away from the box jump, but they are certainly within reach but not so easy as I’ll be able to get them next week. 

Goals are a great way to motivate yourself to do better and be better.  What’s also fantastic is that you can apply this exercise to other places in your life other than fitness.  For instance you can a) save enough money for the wedding next summer (check), create a business model for your own business (still working on), take your fiancée on a vacation (Timberlock?), read three+ books… 

This can be a very therapeutic exercise and once pen is put to paper hold yourself accountable.  Do something towards your goals every day.  Even by taking baby steps you are putting yourself in a position to be better than you were yesterday which is what life is all about.

Please write goals (summer, yearly, lifelong...) in comments.

WoD:

Clean and Jerk 10x1+2 @ 235#

Pullups - 50 - 1:32

No Child Left Behind

WoD:

Back Squat 10x8 @225# - kept it light, focused on technique, keeping the back upright, driving through my heels

Chin Ups 20 (strict)

Box Jumps 20 - got up to 52"

I hate No Child Left Behind.  That was edgy.  I realize that saying something like that isn’t breaking ground but NCLB is killing our kids. 

Schools require federal funding; this is no secret but because of this law passed during the Bush administration schools are forced to take standardized tests that determine their funding.  However, the government, in my opinion, got it all backwards and “rewarded” schools for doing well on the tests and “disciplined” schools for doing poorly by giving out fewer dollars.  The problem is that all of the schools that perform well on the tests are wealthy and doesn’t need the extra funding whereas the schools that perform poorly are from poorer regions, such as rural and urban areas where government funding is necessary to keep the schools open.    For instance, Swanton, VT, a small rural town only six miles from Canada has very few people living above the poverty line.  The school has an incredibly high teacher/administrative turnover.  The school, for various reasons including parent involvement and predetermination as well as a whole host of other socio-economic afflictions has scored low on the standardized tests that determine government funding.  Each year, the school receives less and less federal aid forcing teachers to either take pay-cuts or lose their jobs which creates larger classroom sizes while at the same time not being able to afford new books, equipment or the like.  The problem becomes cyclical as every year the quality of education dissipates because the school has a hard time recruiting good teachers despite the fact that UVM has one of the most progressive Colleges of Education in the country. 

The reason that I bring this up in this forum is because this is really hurting physical education programs across the country (as well as music programs which are near and dear to my heart).  Administrators see PE teachers as expendable given that they are not nationally tested nor is funding determined by how many healthy bodies are in the school.  The Presidential Fitness Test has some legs (although it is an incomplete gauge of fitness) but no teeth as nothing is gained or lost by schools based on performance.   With PE being dropped entirely in some school districts kids, along with schools serving unhealthy lunches, children are not only getting poor educations but are being lined up for a whole onslaught of medical conditions with the real possibility of an early grave.  Through a roundabout way, No Child Left Behind is killing children.  Awesome.

Solution: Get rid of the reward/discipline system that is at the base of NCLB.  I believe that testing is an important and necessary way of valuing a school but they should be used for educational purposes, for instance, seeing what needs to be improved throughout the school, where teachers are successful or are lacking and how the geographic areas fared.  With this, along with equal federal funding, schools should be able to keep PE in the schedule, as well as music, art, shop...  It is proven that kids who perform exercise (and music) daily are, across the board, better students than their sedentary counterparts.  It should be mandatory for students to take PE daily in elementary school as well as middle school.  In high school, based on Varsity sport status, gym could be optional during that season and replaced with Study Hall during the season of that sport. 

It becomes vital that schools higher quality PE teachers.  I firmly believe that teachers are there because they have a genuine care for the students that pass through their classes.  PE teachers are no different but they ought to be doing more than setting up two goals, throwing some pinnies out and telling kids “remember, a girl has to touch the ball before you score.”  They should give out nutrition advice and teach students how to live a long and healthy life.  They are, after all, Physical Educators. 

If anybody wants to get me wound up we can discuss the current tenure system.  Below is a sample schedule that I believe any public school could support and be successful with.

 

Day 1-4 Time	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5 Time	Day 5
8:00-8:55	English (3)	Spanish(1)	Spanish (1)	Spanish (1)	8-8:43	Spanish (1)
9-9:55	History (4)	Study Hall(2)	Study Hall(2)	Study Hall(2)	8:48-9:31	Study Hall (2)
10-10:55	Gym (5)	Gym (5)	English (3)	English (3)	9:36-10:19	English (3)
10:55-12	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	10:24-11:07	History (4)
12-12:55	Band (6)	Band (6)	History (4)	History (4)	11:07-11:40	Lunch
1-1:55	Math (7)	Math (7)	Math (7)	Gym (5)	11:45-12:28	Gym (5)
2-2:55	Science (8)	Science (8)	Science (8)	Band (6)	12:33-1:16	Band (6)
					1:21-2:04	Math (7)
					2:09-2:52	Science (8)

 

Listen to Me

Apparently I’ve lost some credibility.  Between the copious amounts of food that I eat plus the bad rap that fats and red meat get (Fuck you whole grains) people looking for advice have stopped coming to me for fat loss/fitness advice.  This used to not be the case even if I really had no idea how I actually did it.  When I was at a buck and three quarters soaking wet I was asked how to stay lean and I could always respond by saying something along the lines of, “I eat quality proteins and veggies with good fats mixed in” forgetting the 4-6 hours pg pool time each day.  I was trusted and believed in because of my skinniness (read: scrawny).  However, the amount of food I eat and the fact that I have a hard time gaining weight has been misconstrued, by some, as awesome genetics and that I can’t be a resource on healthy eating.  Bollocks

I must have been asleep because the formula seems to have changed in the minds of the non-enlightened.  This is bad because the nutritional problem always has the same solution.  Given the goal, whether it is weight loss or weight gain, the answer is always “eat quality proteins and veggies with good fats mixed in.”  The question, dependant on the variable (lose weight, gain weight, athletic progress), is the quantity.  A person trying to gain weight should eat the same foods and food quality as somebody trying to lose 10 pounds for beach season, however in different quantities.  I don’t expect the girl who sits next to me at work to eat a half dozen eggs for breakfast every morning but when I hear her say that all she’s having for breakfast is a South Beach Bar and an apple for lunch I shudder.  I know it’s not my place to jump in and scold (read: gently suggest) that she should eat some more meat or that she should learn to squat and dead lift because it’s her prerogative to hop on the elliptical for a couple hours and at least she’s decided to exercise (she doesn’t need to lose pounds, btw) which is more than most people ever do.  But the fact that there is so much false information floating around is a crime.  It’s a shame.  Thankfully I’m getting big enough that people stop asking me for advice on being skinny (although that was never the goal, just the result) but they really ought to. 

Training Youth

Measuring Weightlifting Performance

WoD

2-pos Snatch - 10 sets at 195

MetCon (from CFFB)

Complete 5 burpees and perform max rep 135 lbsthrusters on the minute.

The goal is to complete 25 total thrusters.

*At the beginning of every minute perform 5 burpees, for the rest of the minute perform as many thrusters as you can during that minute. At the beginning of the next minute perform 5 burpees and then max rep thrusters and so on until you reach 25 total thrusters

5 minutes

Monday 6/22

WoD:

Front Squat 10x3 @260#

SnPP - 5-4-3-2-1 - 185, 225, 245, 255, 265

Ball Slams 3x10

10x20 yard sprints

Box Jumps 25 @ 40"

Seems like CFW is starting a eating support group.  Pretty sweet

Saturday 6/20

WoD:

21-15-9

Push Press (135)

Ring Dips

Burpees

Row (Calories)

13:00

Post:

Taught some peeps to play Watermelon, which my be the greatest kid game of all time (the only competition it has is SPUD and 4-Square)

Friday 6/19

Went with some more ROM stuff a la the CFFB Total.  Did 3 singles at a predetermined weight just to make sure that I could still do it but nothing too bad that I'd break a sweat and ruin recovery, especially on the legs and back

Power Clean 225

Back Squat 225

Bench Press 225

Dead Lift 315

MetCon:

20min AMRAP

5HSPU

10Bench (135#)

15 Push Press (95#)

20 Ring Dips

4 rounds + 5hspu and 3 bench

Also: A girl that I coached comes in 10th at the Santa Clara Grand Prix

Thursday 6/18

Yesterday's lightweight squats with as close to perfect technique as I could muster must have really paid off as my knee felt much better.  It's certainly not 100%, not even close, but I was able to go parallel and use my legs to move some weight around.  Thank goodness.

WoD:

Clean & Jerk 3(225, 235, 245)

Hang Cln Pull 3x3 @ 280#

ClnDL 1x3 @ 305#, 2x2 @ 325#

AMRAP 5min

5 Pullups

10 Pushups

15 Box Jumps (20")

7 rounds 

Abs:

Weighted GHD Situp Ladder

12-10-8-6-4-2-4-6-8-10-12 

w/ corresponding weights (in poods)

0-.25-.5-1-1.5-2-1.5-1-.5-.25-0

Ouch

I am a success in and around the pool.  Sounds cocky, but it’s true.  I feel most comfortable, ironically, in a Speedo with my Swedes digging into my eye sockets.  I am good at swimming.  I am good at coaching swimming.  I’ve had swimmers take themselves further than their natural ability should have.  Swimming is a sport, unlike any that I’ve played, that makes the most sense to me.  It’s a sport where nothing but your own hard work determines success.  I wish that I had realized this earlier.  I wish that I had known early on what hard work was, what it feels like and where it can take you.  Swimming is why I could go to college loan free, why I got to travel around the country and how I found my fiancée.  I got to swim in the fastest swim meet in the world, twice.  I got to practice with the best that ever was, is and will be. 

Unfortunately, I never knew what it meant to work hard in the water.  Swimming has always came natural to me.  I was born with short legs, a long torso, long arms and big feet.  More or less, I was built to swim.  These are the facts. 

Also a fact, Crossfit, and more so, Olympic weightlifting has taught me what it means to work hard.  To struggle with things that I was never meant to be good at.  I wasn’t born to be strong.  I was born with fast-twitch muscles, true, but they are best used to propel myself through the water, not a weight over my head. 

For these reasons, I am getting back in the pool.  I don’t know what’s going to come of it.  What could start as a casual 5,000 a couple times a week could turn into serious practices, joining a team and pushing my ass off to make it to OT’s in 2012; hopefully in different events as I am way too old to swim the 200fly. 

I certainly won’t give up the heavy lifting though as I feel that my being a more complete athlete, meaning stronger, would transfer well into my swimming.  If I can work my schedule around these issues, I plan on following the Mikes Gym website 4-5 days a week (maybe filling in some months with CFFB or even the Main Page) in the mornings and swimming in the afternoons.  There is a oly-lift competition in Rhode Island this summer that Watertown Sue informed me about that I am really looking forward to competing in.

I know that I can’t go the distance like I used to (don’t ever expect a good 1500 out of me) but I feel like I can still bring it in the sprints a la Dara Torres.  Anyway, I have a promise to keep to Oh Mary about giving it one more try. 

The only obstacle is becoming a resident of Cheshire so that I can go swimming.

WoD Wednesday 6/17

OHS 10x1 @155# - went light today - more on this in a minute.

Press 5x5 @155# - supposed to be SnPP - explained... wait for it...

HLR 3x10

Back Ext 3x10

My knee is killing me.  It's acute and it's right above my right knee.  I had a really hard time even making it to parallel.  It honestly feels like the tendons are going to snap as I head down.  So today I did some ROM stuff and kept my weights light so as not to aggravate my leg.  We'll see how this feels tomorrow, hopefully I'll be my usual self, healing like Wolverine.

Why You Should Eat Red Meat

10 Reasons to Give Up Grains

Eat Grass Fed Beef, Save the Environment

7 Habits of Highly Effective Athletes (via)

Oxidative

As the title of my blog might suggest; I don’t do cardio.  I just don’t.  I spent years of my life dedicated to being fit in the oxidative pathway.  I spent hours upon hours staring at a black line, controlling my breathing and paying attention to pacing.  I swam.  I swam competitively and very well for many years coming within two seconds of Olympic Trials Finals in the 200 butterfly. 

As some might understand, I grew tired of being skinny (ladies, trust me, you look better with a little meat, e.g. Jocelyn Forrest).  This is why I’ve turned to strength training.  It appeals to me as it is something vastly different to what I spent my life doing, something that got me into college and something that I was reasonably good at.  Granted, I was a sprinter more than anything (the 200fly being the exception, I could just suffer longer than others) but I trained long and hard. 

But that’s gone.  My aerobic capacity is null.  And while I don’t regret any part of my training I am becoming a certain type of athlete.  I have pigeon holed myself, again, into being good at one thing and one thing only.  Hopefully I can include some different modes of training that would help me become the broad general athlete that I know I can be and that Crossfit encourages.

WoD:

Snatch - 3{1@185, 195, 200}

Sn Pull - 2x3 @ 235#

SnDL - 3@255#, 2x2 @ 275#

OHSitups

Back Ext. 3x10

Sprint 8x100m @1:00 - held :15.  I used to do this set swimming and have no problems.  Wow.

Why You Should Do a 5K

It's Huge

I’m starting week 3 of my weight gain expedition/experiment and so far I believe that it’s working pretty well.  I’ve gained somewhere between 4-7 pounds based on what I believe my weight was at the outset and I have an idea as to how this feels.  You know, the whole gorging myself thing.  I’ve been holding strong at what I figure to be roughly 5,000 calories (thank you whole milk) with the majority of my grams coming from protein and calories from fat.  One thing that I have noticed with this experiment is the rate at which I recover.  I’ve always claimed to recover quickly from workouts (except for lunges, damn you lunges) but this has been nothing short of awesome.  The 10x3 squat escapades under normal circumstances would leave me with absolutely no desire to get back to the gym and strap on my shoes but I feel as if the next day I could do it again, with more weight… faster. 

This is also coinciding with what I feel is increased strength.  We all know thanks to high school physics that more mass moves more mass.  However, and I’ll be the first to admit this, that Clean and Jerking 250 for five singles was, not too long ago, very tiresome but even during the course of the workout, the weight seemed to find its way more easily onto my shoulders and I didn’t seem to tire. 

What makes this even more fantastic is that my gym buddy Jackie just returned from the Crossfit Nutrition Certification with Robb Wolf who speaks, at length, on food for recovery and performance.  I’m hoping that she took excellent notes (she is a teacher after all) that I can dive into.  (I learned after writing this that a packet is given out, shwing!)  I believe that this will supplement my first hand experience with eating paleo + dairy in terms of lifting more weight and putting more on while continuing to do it on a daily and weekly basis.

Monday 6/15

Back Squat 10x3 @ 295#

Push Press 5x5 - worked up to 195#

100 Crunches

Rev. Back Ext. 3x10

Sunday Thoughts and Links

Ugh.  I feel like a steamy pile of dog doo this morning.  It might be from the carb overload (banana cranberry walnut bread french toast) yesterday or it could be because Carlee likes to keep the bedroom between 80 and a hundred-and-fucking-ten.  

It's a rest day though and I plan on exhausting this excuse to do nothing but watch sports, take naps and eat fatty foods (Currently I'm watching the Confederations Cup and eating ham cold cuts).  I might do some DROM's as Rx'ed by Kelly Starrett just to make this day even better.  The only real "work" that I've gotta take care of is to plan out my meals for the week.  I'm thinking of taking the time to get to Thyme and Season to get the good stuff, like Raw Milk, Grass-fed Beef, maybe some venison.  Now that I know what to expect in terms of food intake to gain weight (I have to find a scale so I can figure out how much weight I've gained) I should be more successful in getting the necessary calories to fuel my body and my goal.  

Links:

Paleo Recipes and Links

Paleo Breafast Recipes by Nikki Young(PDF)

Benefits of Crosstraining

AGUA

She Means Well

Saturday 6/13

WoD (Courtesy of CFFB)

15:00 AMRAP

3 Back Squats (225#)

6 Pull ups

9 Pushups

13 rounds

We had a guest today!  He's Peter from Rockland County.  He really pushed me hard and had he not had problems with the bar and going outside for the pull ups probably would've beaten me.  This was a tough one especially considering the 10x3 yesterday.  

It's nice to get this out of the way though and once Carlee gets out of the shower (13 mile run today) we'll head to Michael's so I can pound down 3 breakfasts.  If you're interested, they're not even remotely close to paleo.

Go play a game.  Go play a sport.  Strap on your Chuck's and head to the playground.  Because you're a crossfitter (or hopefully an oly-lifter) and gosh darnit you've earned a game of dodgeball.  Head to the playground with some buddies (they could be from your gym) and get a game of 4-Square going.  Your body is now a tool, an instrument, a way to express yourself physically.  I encourage you to join a league.  There are always teams in baseball, kickball, dodgeball and soccer leagues looking for players around your area and if you're taking your fitness seriously you can hang with them, I promise.  

This is pretty much a rambling post but at least think about it.  I want you, especially now that the weather is nice, to go play outside, and if you can and are willing to dedicate yourself enough, join a league.  You'll realize how far you've come.

WoD Friday 6/12

Front Squat 10x3 @ 250#

Snatch Push Press - Heavy Single, failed at 275

Rev. Back Ext. - 3x10

Abs - Barbell OH Situps

Thursday 6/11

C&J - 4x1 @250# - felt really good, almost light even.  Heaven to murgatroy

Snatch - 4x1 @205# - lots of misses today.  Bar kept getting too far in front

Core Work

25 Snatch Balances - 5@225, 5@205, 5@185, 10@135

15 Strict Chinups

WoD

5 rounds

5 Hang Power Snatch 115#

10 Alt DB Bench (5 each) 50#

6:24

A little bit less food intake today but making sure to get my gallon of whole milk.  Piled on the tuna at lunch

Wednesday 6/10

Nutrition (Pre-Steak and Broccoli Dinner)

213g fat, 277g protein, 227g carb

Key to the gym was being fickle so I decided to go a little austere:

50 pullups

400m tire flips

50 pullups

23:42

Pretty pooped.  I'll hit up tomorrow's 85% day tomorrow.

Calculations

Tabulating my totals for today I'm either embarrassed about my math or embarrassed about how little it actually is.  Just barely over 2500 calories for the day.  I don't think that's right and that I'm short changing my totals, but regardless, I'm eating far too many carbs and not nearly enough proteins or fats.  The "Welbourn Omlette" has more grams of fat than my entire day did.  I really hope that I'm off and that I should actually start measuring to the T.

Skinny Parents Got Fat Kids

WOD

Back Squat 10x3 #285#

PP 5x5 - worked up to 225

100 Crunches,

3x10 Reverse Back Extensions

Some belly to bar pull ups for fun

Addition: I'm adding this after dinner.  I was able to add about 20g of protein and 50g of fat with only 5g carbs.  Thank you almonds and olive oil.

Monday 6/8

Snatch - 5 singles @ 195#

Cln&Jk - 5 singles @245#

Back and Abs - 

2 Rounds NFT

Bent Row 5 @ 225#

Sit ups 5

L-Pull ups 5

KTE's 5

WoD

3 rounds for time

5 box jump (40")

10 decline pushups

1:39

Food:

Breakfast:

4 eggs

1c. broccoli

1/2 c. mushrooms

2 Turkey Sausage Links

2c. whole milk

64g fat, 67g protein, 44g carb

Lunch:

Chili - 30g fat, 144g protein, 106g carb

Salad with almonds, craisins, olive oil and lemon juice - 25g fat, 6g protein, 25g carb

Snack:

Chocolate Milk (qt) - 32g fat, 32g protein, 64g carb

Dinner:

Pork Chops w/ sweet potatoes and green beans - haven't done the calculations but the chops are huge

Note: I made some salsa pulled chicken today for lunch tomorrow and Wednesday, plus an avocado, this equals a lot of fat and protein... Yummy

I noticed that there are a lot of carbs in this.  If anybody has suggestions to how to tweak this to get more cals in the way of proteins and fat for gaining weight please post in comments.  I'm always open to constructive criticism.  Thank you in advance

Sunday Post

I'm currently sitting here in my man cave, otherwise known as my fortress of solitude, enjoying my sausage and eggs, watching the Swiss beat the Swede and I realize that things are pretty good right now.  Carlee's on a run/spin, I slept until 9, the cats are napping, solid.  But I feel that something is missing and I'm thinking that I need a way to be more accountable for my eating habits, as they were/sort of still are pretty atrocious.  Luckily I can justify it by saying that I'm on a Mass Gain program but as most of you know, there are better ways to go about gaining mass that don't involve Vitamin S.  So, I'm going to start keeping track of my food intake in this space starting tomorrow (Lay off my I'm starving... I mean, diet starts Monday).  If anybody has any pointers, tips, suggestions, criticisms, please post them on comments.  I'd love to hear what other people have to say about the subject of putting on muscle (and weight) for performance sake.  

And somebody just stormed that court at Roland Garros.  GOOD TACKLE!

Sunday Links

Your Ancestors Say Hello

Strong MFers

Crossfit On Ramp

For Those Not Scientifically Inclined

Lessons From Romania

I Cook Therefore I Am

Saturday 6/6

Bench Max Reps @135#  2x

27 reps, 24 reps

Tabata DL #315#

26 total reps - high of 6, low of 2

The bench was supposed to have been 225# just like the NFL Combine Bench Test, but since I'd be limited to 2-3 reps and I'm pretty sure that there is an endurance component to this, not just a singular strength modality 135# seemed to be the way to go.  

On the Dead Lifts, 315# was the prescribed weight on CFFB but I'm pretty sure that's the weight that John was doing... which is his body weight

Whoopsiedaisy

I slept in this morning.  It felt good too.  Nice 11:15 wake up time.  Cut hours at work could be a blessing in disguise.  However, because of my 12+ hour snoozapalooza I MISSED BREAKFAST, prompting my to use Caps Lock.  With my mass gain program going strong I can't afford to miss breakfast.  I usually get nearly a quarter of my caloric intake before 6 am.  This combined with the promise of going to ION in Middletown (a vegan restaurant) for the Missus and I'm looking at not such a good eating day.  I'm still going to get my gallon of whole milk (which I didn't calculate into my original daily totals, making my day more like 5500 calories) and hopefully pump some meat into my gut so I get my protein.  I'll have to make due with what I've got and maybe next week I'll wake up at 8, eat, go to the bathroom, and slide back into bed.  That sounds like the perfect day.

Friday 6/5

WoD

"The Volkswagen"

21-15-9

Body Weight Bench Press

Pullups (Chest to Bar)

14:54

I thought I would have been much slower considering the bench is clearly my 'goat.'  Considering some of the other times that I've seen posted, this isn't bad, but then again, John Welbourn did this sub-9 and he weight 315#.

The Weekend!!!

Thursday 6/4

Front Squats 10x3 @ 245# - nice bruises across my shoulders and collar bone

SnPP - 5x5 - worked up to 265#

Rev Back Ext - 3x10

Abs

3 Rounds

10 Clapping Pull ups

10 Clapping Pushups

1:24

Limiting factor, as always, the pushups

Always Do Full Squats

Food

I'm only three days into my mass gain expedition and I can honestly say that I feel as if I've gained some weight.  I don't have a scale, nor did I take any measurements at the beginning of the program, but I feel as if I'm walking around with a little bit more weight on me.  Moving isn't any more difficult than it was before (I may be the slowest walker in the world, currently) but my legs seem like their stretching out my pants a little bit more and that my shoulders are getting closer to where they were when I swam (Aside: I don't think that will ever happen.  No shirt ever fit me due to abnormally broad shoulders).  I've been getting more and more accustomed to the quantity of food and it's only day 3.  It's exciting to think about how much more I can pound into my face as I become more and more comfortable with it.

Wednesday 6/3

Clean and Jerk - 1@250#, 1@235#

Cln Pull - 3@275, 3@295

Rack Jerk - Heavy Single, failed at 315#

SnDL - 2x3@295

WOD

30 pushups

500m Row

30 pushups

2:48

Tues 6/2

WOD

Back Squat- 10x3 @ 275#

Push Press - 5x5 @ 185#

Abs

Reverse Back Extensions - 3x10

3rounds

15 DB Swings 80#

15 DB Push Press 50# each

6:20

While not exactly the heaviest load the last couple of sets were a real grind.  Thursday should be really interesting, I do it again, only this time with front squats

Burpees are fun

Real Man of Genius

"Yes, if you squat wrong it fucks things up.
If you squat correctly, those same fucked-up things
will unfuck themselves."

 -Mark Rippetoe

Monday 6/1

Snatch 1@205#, 1@195#

SnPull 3@235#, 3@245#

Snatch 3x1@195#

SnDL 3@255#, 3@275#

21-15-9

Box Jumps

Pushups

Pull Ups

3:19

Solid Day

 (setting the standard of manliness)

I'm pretty full.  The breakfast was way bigger than I thought it was going to be and the lunch was just more than I'm used to, although the chili wasn't spicy enough, I don't think.  Dinner's heating up now.  Today will total 3,800 calories, 410g protein, 135g carbs and the rest was delicious fat.  Yummy!