cesimpson

Saturday morning I was supposed to meet a friend at the gym. He claims to want to get back in shape. He’s a big boy - maybe 6′2″ or so, probably 260# - grew up on a farm, and, if half his stories are even half true, he was a pretty good American gridiron football player earlier in life. He was probably very strong in his day. Even though he’s not lifted much more a case of beer or one of his children in the last 15 years, he’s probably still pretty strong.

…but most of that size isn’t terribly functional. A pretty steady diet of cheeseburgers and beer has not been good to him. He’s getting old (mid-late 30s) and his knees hurt. He sits most of the day so his hips are tight. He’s not interested in running a marathon and is not in any way intrigued by his wife’s spinning and yoga classes.

We agreed to meet at the YMCA on Saturday morning to squat. My back is still healing. My hips are still terribly tight. He’s new-again to the game. We should both be able to take it pretty easy, just spend some time under the bar getting loose, getting the groove back. Should be fun.

He didn’t show. He didn’t call, didn’t text me, nothing. Just straight didn’t show. That was pretty disappointing. After waiting 20 minutes in lobby I gave up and went downstairs on my own.

Saturday

Warm Up

10x Power Snatch + 10x Overhead Squat @ 45#

10x Good Morning + 20x (10x ea. leg) Overhead Lunge @ 45#

10x Power Snatch + 10x Overhead Squat @ 65#

10x Good Morning + 20x (10x ea. leg) Overhead Lunge @ 65#

10x Power Snatch + 10x Overhead Squat @ 85#

10x Good Morning + 20x (10x ea. leg) Overhead Lunge @ 85#

10x Power Snatch + 10x Overhead Squat @ 95#

10x Good Morning + 20x (10x ea. leg) Overhead Lunge @ 95#

10x Power Snatch + 10x Overhead Squat @ 115#

10x Good Morning + 20x (10x ea. leg) Overhead Lunge @ 115#

More Warm Up

3×6 Overhead Squat @ 135#

3x Overhead Squat @ 155#

At this point I feel pretty good. The 155# was tougher on the ol’ hips than I’m used to, but I survived.

Full Stop Back Squats

10x @ 135#

10x @ 155#

10x @ 175#

10x @ 185#

All these were done super deep, super slow. Big, full stop at rock bottom, A2G. The weight wasn’t a problem. The goal was to make my hips not hurt - and they hurt, a lot.

I thought I’d try two things I haven’t done since I hurt my back - box squats (@ 185#) and regular squats @ 200#+.

Box Squats

2x @ 185#

These were terrible. They hurt everwhere. My lower back howled. My hips barked. My glutes frowned and glared angrely. No good. I wanted to do more than two, but there was no way.

Back Squats

5×5 @ 205#

Not bad.

Later Saturday night I spent about 2 hours stretching and rolling while my wife watched Made of Honor. If you have rehab to do, that’s as good a movie as any. =)

Monday

3x: Treadmill

7:30 @ 15% incline & 4.3mph

1x: Concept II

1km Row @ ~2:00/500m pace

One more week of training, four days rest, then the race. There’s still time left to donate, if you’re interested.