Back in December, I ran across and fell in love with the idea of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program. After my weights arrived, I wasted no time crafting up a plan spreadsheet and getting rolling.

Again, wow.

As a refresher, the program focuses on four main lifts–military press, deadlift, bench press, and squat–one per day. Add assistance exercises around those to complete the workout.

Core Lifts

I’ve had to make some interesting adaptations over the month. I have no bench and no squat rack, so those are the two exercises I’ve had to be the most careful with. I hunted for a way to avoid learning how to do a power clean in order to do the squat, but I haven’t found a good way around it. And really, it’s not that bad (scary picture aside), although I still worry when the weights come off my chest a bit in the process of doing a front squat. I think my elbows aren’t high enough, resulting in a lower and less stable bar.

Keep reading >>

Okay, not “already”. 2011 was long as hell and busy.

I resumed going to church fairly regularly. Had my perspective on interpersonal communications majorly shifted. Got married to a great fellow. Got a running partner. Made good progress on my novel. Learned how to incorporate a business. Paid off my student loans (!!!). Lost some weight. Got stronger, more fit, and resumed dancing. Made and held to some good financial plans. Blogged pretty regularly.

Still feel like I only did about half of what I “should have”, of course, but I’m happy with the year, overall. I succeeded at most of what I wanted,

I’m going to finish my last sliver of debt. I’m going to finish not having a long-term financial plan. I’m going to get married. I’m going to finish my novel. I’m going to finish not being happy enough,

and made good headway on what I didn’t finish.

Regardless, 2012 shall be a more adventurous year, featuring new employment, two trips/vacations, and a plethora of writing, coding, financial management, and gettin’ fizzit.

Keep reading >>

I’ve done my first two workouts (bench and leg press) of the 5/3/1 program, and wow.

Just… wow.

I included lat pulldowns and rows as the assisting exercises in the bench workout. Mmm, balance. Wonderfully, my shoulder gave me no guff at all, even in the ensuing soreness.

(And oh, the delicious soreness.)

I think this might be a serious way for me to finish rehabilitating my shoulder. I’ve been stalling for weeks with all the light-weight, high-rep rehab exercises, and the pain levels were staying the same. I iced heavily after the bench workout, and suffered no bone spur-specific pain in the following days.

Keep reading >>

Have you gotten your recommended dosage of sexism lately?

I have.

I bought an ebook containing a very smart, simple, sensible weightlifting program, and in the process of reading it and surrounding articles, pushed my sexism meter about as high as it would go without me punching someone in the face.

Even if punching Jim Wendler would likely get me snapped in half. Look, the dude can bench press over 400 lb.

(Although I suppose that being able to bench 400 lb isn’t a true indicator of his infraspinatus strength, so he might not be able to just rip me in half…)

If you haven’t gotten your daily dosage of sexism, let me give you a hint as to the kind of advice you can expect from 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System to Increase Raw Strength:
Keep reading >>

I spent a fair amount of last week (and all of this weekend) sick, so I spent very little time on the wibbles aside from work. Found a few fun tidbits, though:

• 40 Beautiful Photos of India – See, now I totally want to tour India. All of it.
• How to make doctors miserable people (now with data!) – Read the linked articles as well, especially “Doctors as Martyrs“. Any time I read about the stress chamber that is medical residency, I think of 1) Scrubs (sowwy!), and 2) a high school friend of mine who’s a resident now. Oy, vey.
• Senator James Eastland: The Mike Wallace Interview – From prometheus 6. A surprisingly pushy interviewer, but Eastland (1957) goes so far as to toss out accusations of “communist propaganda”. o_O

Keep reading >>