Massive Friday

Friday I hit it hard on all three. I guess Randy Beets just gave up. He should have. I started by going to the pool before lunch. The water is down to 78, the same as a competition pool. I like swimming that temperature, but I don't like getting in at that temp. Four more days is what Debbie tells us. I am afraid now that I am becoming so acclimated to this cooler water that when they get it fixed, it's going to be too hot. I swam

4,400 straight in 1:21:02 @ 1:50 per 100 yards with an average heart rate of 111. 

I could have gone farther, but that was a good workout and I wanted to save some energy for the afternoon.

After lunch I went out for a seven-mile shuffle. I kept doing little out and backs on the turn rows out on Wade Road. When I got onto Money Road, I realized that I could get 7.8 and hit 21 for the week. Then you know what happened. Two tenths short of the next mile won't work. I did turn arounds and brought it up to eight miles. 

That left me pretty flogged. I rested a little, took some nutrition, and went to Plate City where I did some Density training. What is that? you ask. You do a particular exercise with a predetermined rep/weight scheme for a set time. Then you have a baseline to beat the next time out. I saw it on a video by Josh Bryant who programs for some big names. He is Julius Maddox's coach. Who is that? Maddox recently broke the all-time raw bench press world record at 770 pounds. Bryant also programs for Brian Shaw the American strongman competitor who is the four time World's Strongest Man. So the guy knows what he is doing and some of the strongest men in the world look to him to program their training. 

I did this Density work on the bench press. In this protocol, you take a weight that is your ten rep max, and do it in sets of no more than five reps. The goal is to get to forty reps as soon as possible. Rest as needed. I did

8 X 95 for a warm up, then

5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120
5 X 120

I did the workout in 10:45. Now I have a baseline. I will try to either beat the time, or add weight, or add some reps or two of the three or all three the next time I do this workout. Thus the name "density." You do more and more work in a set period of time, hence the workout becomes more dense.

I liked this. But about thirty minutes later, my pectorals and triceps were aching. I should have done a back off set or two to flush some blood through them. Next time I will.

So I went over 20,000 meters in the pool and cracked 21 miles on the road. Not only that, but I did something new in the gym and I liked it. That makes for one good day. Penny cooked us some steaks on the grill, thus the day was not just good, but very good. Thank you, Jesus.