Results matching “log”

Matt Furey, perhaps best known for taking ancient bodyweight exercises and making money from them, has switched from sending regular emails to blogging. The questions from his 'followers' are often more informative than the answers - the site's worth checking out for entertainment value alone.

I managed to squeeze a few sets of the Seated Half-Press into what was ostensibly a quick cleanup of the garage. Also tried out the neck exercises using manual resistance that Måns mentioned the other day - this would indeed look weird if I wasn't safely hidden in the home gym :)

Seated Half-Press 2x20@20/44, 2x10@30/66, 2x10@40/88, 2x10@50/110, 5,1@60/135 (new PR)

Bodyweight stuff (mostly push-up variations) to follow this evening.

I managed to squeeze a few sets of the Seated Half-Press into what was ostensibly a quick cleanup of the garage. Also tried out the neck exercises using manual resistance that Måns mentioned the other day - this would indeed look weird if I wasn't safely hidden in the home gym :)

Seated Half-Press 2×20@20/44, 2×10@30/66, 2×10@40/88, 2×10@50/110, 5,1@60/135 (new PR)

Bodyweight stuff (mostly push-up variations) to follow this evening.

Can't get enough virtual gym time? Try these.

Michigan Muscle Boy
AKA Bud Gibson. Keeping up with...

Diva Training
Better known as Nancy Arnold. Or just Nancy. Or Arnold. Or Big Girl.

Update :

But wait, there's more. Three sites I've added to the links at the side, but haven't yet mentioned -

Chris (Powerlifting Etc), Jason (Get Stronger) and Paul (The Libertarian Lifter). All worth a read.

Can't get enough virtual gym time? Try these.

Michigan Muscle Boy
AKA Bud Gibson. Keeping up with...

Diva Training
Better known as Nancy Arnold. Or just Nancy. Or Arnold. Or Big Girl.

Update :

But wait, there's more. Three sites I've added to the links at the side, but haven't yet mentioned -

Chris (Powerlifting Etc), Jason (Get Stronger) and Paul (The Libertarian Lifter). All worth a read.

Just in case you haven't been bombarded with 'year in review' documentaries, newspaper columns and radio broadcasts, here's my take on lifting in 2005 :

January

Tried the JM Press. For some reason these were overlooked in later workouts - probably because I was slightly uncertain about the technique.


February

Tried out Zercher Deadlifts. If you're not quite sure whether to squat or deadlift, these are ideal. A great hamstring/inner thigh stretch.

March

Extra plates arrive, in order to keep up with an ever-growing deadlift PR.
Tried out the Jefferson Lift. This is another deadlift variety that may well make a bit of a comeback (in my routines at least) in 2006.

April

Tried Band Good Mornings (never again).
Tested my grip with Vertical DB handle deadlifts. Excellent things
Acquired a set of IronWoody bands. A great investment.
Tried out deadlifts using a Hook Grip. An acquired taste.

May

Acquired a new camera for recording workouts. It was great while it lasted, but it didn't even make it to Christmas.
Tried out Suspended Band Push-ups. Ah, yep. Maybe.
Tested the Lightened Method of deadlifting.
Tested Band Push-ups. These are actually quite good (once you work out how to hold the band).

June

Tested out a new bodyweight routine on a 3 week holiday around the UK. Great trip, fattening food.

July

Tried out side bends using plates.
Came across the beautiful Seated Half Press.
Alberto got everyone going with the article Achieving Structural Balance on T-Nation. Here's my attempt.
Tried out One-handed Rack Pulls.

August

Grabbed a pedometer to see how close to the recommended level I was. Well above it.
Tried out the Cuban Press.
Started doing inclined close-grip bench presses. A great combination.

September

Moved to Glasgow. Rackless for a few weeks. Managed to clear enough space for a few deadlifts.

October

A month largely without weights. Bodyweight workouts were the order of the day, as well as the occasional bench press.

November

Decided to stop taking most of my daily vitamin supplements, and start getting more nutrition from real food.
Discovered the joys of roasted vegetables.
Finally cleared enough space in the garage to reassemble the rack.

December

Checked shoulder flexibility.
Bodyfat estimated (using DoD formula) at 16%.
Coffee consumption drastically reduced - mostly replaced with green tea.
Tried out Pendlay Rows.

Looking ahead

What will 2006 bring? Hopefully a swag of new PRs. Among the changes which will see this is a better integration of weighted and bodyweight routines.

Just in case you haven't been bombarded with 'year in review' documentaries, newspaper columns and radio broadcasts, here's my take on lifting in 2005 :

January

Tried the JM Press. For some reason these were overlooked in later workouts - probably because I was slightly uncertain about the technique.


February

Tried out Zercher Deadlifts. If you're not quite sure whether to squat or deadlift, these are ideal. A great hamstring/inner thigh stretch.

March

Extra plates arrive, in order to keep up with an ever-growing deadlift PR.
Tried out the Jefferson Lift. This is another deadlift variety that may well make a bit of a comeback (in my routines at least) in 2006.

April

Tried Band Good Mornings (never again).
Tested my grip with Vertical DB handle deadlifts. Excellent things
Acquired a set of IronWoody bands. A great investment.
Tried out deadlifts using a Hook Grip. An acquired taste.

May

Acquired a new camera for recording workouts. It was great while it lasted, but it didn't even make it to Christmas.
Tried out Suspended Band Push-ups. Ah, yep. Maybe.
Tested the Lightened Method of deadlifting.
Tested Band Push-ups. These are actually quite good (once you work out how to hold the band).

June

Tested out a new bodyweight routine on a 3 week holiday around the UK. Great trip, fattening food.

July

Tried out side bends using plates.
Came across the beautiful Seated Half Press.
Alberto got everyone going with the article Achieving Structural Balance on T-Nation. Here's my attempt.
Tried out One-handed Rack Pulls.

August

Grabbed a pedometer to see how close to the recommended level I was. Well above it.
Tried out the Cuban Press.
Started doing inclined close-grip bench presses. A great combination.

September

Moved to Glasgow. Rackless for a few weeks. Managed to clear enough space for a few deadlifts.

October

A month largely without weights. Bodyweight workouts were the order of the day, as well as the occasional bench press.

November

Decided to stop taking most of my daily vitamin supplements, and start getting more nutrition from real food.
Discovered the joys of roasted vegetables.
Finally cleared enough space in the garage to reassemble the rack.

December

Checked shoulder flexibility.
Bodyfat estimated (using DoD formula) at 16%.
Coffee consumption drastically reduced - mostly replaced with green tea.
Tried out Pendlay Rows.

Looking ahead

What will 2006 bring? Hopefully a swag of new PRs. Among the changes which will see this is a better integration of weighted and bodyweight routines.

For those of you currently using Blogger sites, you may have wondered in the past how to add your own feeds. I've just stumbled across a solution for the tricky one - the comments feed.

The main feed is pretty simple. A default Blogger site is already set up to publish an Atom feed, and by typing «your blog name»/atom.xml into your favourite feed reader you'll be able to see this feed. That same address can then be added to your sidebar etc.

For the comments feed, a little more trickery is involved. It's not actually that difficult, and well worth the effort as it suddenly becomes easier for people to see when there is a response to a comment they've made on your blog.

There are 3 steps in this process :

1. Look at the email address that receives all the comments (if you don't have one set up, and simply go to your own site occasionally to see what's happening, login to your site and take a look at the bottom of the 'Comments' tab under 'Settings' - there's a box here for an email address). Make sure you can forward these emails to another email address (for example, Gmail can, Yahoo can't).
2. Have a look at MailBucket.org. This is a free, public email -> RSS thingy. Think of a name, and have a look at www.mailbucket.org/«the name you just though of> to see if it hasn't already been taken. Try something else if it has. In your original comments email system, create a filter to forward any comments (as they appear) to «the name you just thought of»@mailbucket.org. This will automatically be published as the RSS feed www.mailbucket.org/«name you just thought of».xml .
3. The address of this feed can now be added to the sidebar etc, along with the main feed.

If you're not quite sure what I'm on about, drop me a line.

For those of you currently using Blogger sites, you may have wondered in the past how to add your own feeds. I've just stumbled across a solution for the tricky one - the comments feed.

The main feed is pretty simple. A default Blogger site is already set up to publish an Atom feed, and by typing «your blog name»/atom.xml into your favourite feed reader you'll be able to see this feed. That same address can then be added to your sidebar etc.

For the comments feed, a little more trickery is involved. It's not actually that difficult, and well worth the effort as it suddenly becomes easier for people to see when there is a response to a comment they've made on your blog.

There are 3 steps in this process :

1. Look at the email address that receives all the comments (if you don't have one set up, and simply go to your own site occasionally to see what's happening, login to your site and take a look at the bottom of the 'Comments' tab under 'Settings' - there's a box here for an email address). Make sure you can forward these emails to another email address (for example, Gmail can, Yahoo can't).
2. Have a look at MailBucket.org. This is a free, public email -> RSS thingy. Think of a name, and have a look at www.mailbucket.org/«the name you just though of> to see if it hasn't already been taken. Try something else if it has. In your original comments email system, create a filter to forward any comments (as they appear) to «the name you just thought of»@mailbucket.org. This will automatically be published as the RSS feed www.mailbucket.org/«name you just thought of».xml .
3. The address of this feed can now be added to the sidebar etc, along with the main feed.

If you're not quite sure what I'm on about, drop me an email.

It's that time of year again. Before setting my health and fitness goals for 2006, I decided to check the status of a few things first. One of these is my current level of bodyfat - last estimated back in April this year.

Once again I used the same technique as used by the US Department of Defense, the formula being :

% body fat = 86.010 x log10(abdomen - neck) - 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76

Note that the formula is a little different for females :

% body fat = 163.205 x log10(waist + hip - neck) - 97.684 x log10(height) - 78.387