Update

First off, my trip to Finland has been approved so barring something unforeseen coming up, All I need is the plane tickets (sometime May orr June).

Starting Monday, I begin training to augment security forces here in Africa for the next 3-4 months. Which means a lot of running to get me up to Army standards, a lot of shooting, and a lot of time spent in full body armor, weapons, and gear in the heat. On top of that, I will still be training for the meet. I might not even recognize myself when all of this is over. This means having to be efficient with my time, an adjustment in diet, maybe an adjustment in workout schedule since my hours will vary. It will be a challenge, but I'm up to it. No matter what shape I'm in in July, I'm still planning to go.

ME Upper Body

Incline Bench Press: worked up to 155x5, 175x4, 165x5

Assisted Pullups (Average Band): 5 sets of 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 reps.

Hammer ISO Rows (125b): 107.5x5x5

Incline DB Raises: 15x4x5

DB Shrugs: 50x8x5

Barbell Curls: 80x5x5

ME Lower Body

All Notation: Weights x Reps x Sets

10" Low Box Squat: Worked up to a hard 225 5RM

Assisted Pistols (Average Band): 5 sets of 7 reps

45-degree Hyper: 5 sets of 12 reps

GHR: 30 reps (8, 7, 6, 5, 4 reps)

Decline Twisting Situps: 5 sets of 12 reps

Hammer Calf Press (285b): 250x5x5

RE Upper Body

After much experimentation and some days off due to soreness, I'm ready to get down to brass tacks.

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Abs Class

Flat Bench Press (195b): 165x5x5

Assisted Chinups (Average Bands): sets of 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 reps

Hammer ISO High Rows (110b): 95x5x5

Incline DB Front Raises: 10x10x4

DB Shrugs (72b): 45x10x4

Hammer Curls (40): 25x10x4

ME Upper Body

After a long layoff, the hardest part is just getting started again. Today, at 12: 01 AM, I finally got back into the gym. In the future, I probably should never take a layoff this long. 2 weeks tops, maybe. I'm up to 220 lbs, and I'm weak all over the place. On the plus side, my rib was fine the whole session, so I think it's fully healed. Psychologically, it felt great to be touching the iron again.

The Virtual Meet is in 21 weeks, enough for seven 3-week waves. My request has been approved by my chain of command and I should have flight information in a week or two. Barring something way out of the blue, the trip is a go.

Training wise, I may do something like what I did last time which was like Westside for Skinny Bastards III but with no speedwork. Like what worked for my squat, I will stick with the flat bench press on repetition day for the 21 weeks, and use everything else for maximum effort days. I'll stick with the deep front squat and arched back good morning for 21 weeks on repetition day, and switch between DL/box squat variations for maximum effort days. Accessory work will be just about the same but instead of doing a bicep movement on both days, one of those days will be for triceps to push my bench up. Aerobics, I will figure out: I do now that my goal weight for the Virtual Meet is 200 lbs flat.

Flat Bench Press (195b): worked up to a 185 lbs 3RM

DB Shoulder Press (65b): 45x8, 45x7

Assisted Pullups (Average Band): 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 reps

Hammer ISO Row (Elbows In)(127b): worked up to a 110 lbs 6RM

DB Shrugs: (72b) worked up to a 70 lbs 2RM

Barbell Curls (95): 80x5x5

To make the workouts easier to decipher, especially on rep days, I will soon do like I used to and put the 1RM in parentheses after the lift. If it is an actual 1RM, it will appear as is. If it was calculated using Brzycki's formula ( weight lifted/[.0278 x number of reps at that weight] minus 1.0278), it will appear with an "b" after the number.

The lifts that stay the same for the 21 weeks use a planned progression (see Excel spreadsheet above) so those maxes will show up in parentheses with a "p". As you can see from the attached spreadsheet formula [ =(A3+10)*0.9] for the 4th week, the max used to calculate week 4 is 10 lbs bigger than it was at the beginning, and 10 pounds are added around every 4th week or so. For dumbbell lifts, it is a 5 lbs planned progression. For me, this is easier than always having to test a lift, especially since ME days do that for the main lift.

Project:Virtualmeet

It's been a while, but I'm back.

I'll be back in the gym on February 9. Aside from the laziness after 16 days of vacation to the United States in December, I broke a rib in a scrimmage game while I was home so I've been letting that heal. Broke it in a scrimmage game of basketball.

So, about the title . . . . .

One of the nice things the military does for people recalled for what I'm doing is Rest & Recuperation (R&R) Leave, where they pay to send you ANYWHERE in the world when you are on one year orders. You just pay for everything else, and the leave gets charged - - - up to 15 days. Now, I could always go any place in the States on my own dime but for my second year in Africa, I've decided to take full advantage and go somewhere else I haven't been yet. . . . .

Finland.

For those of you who frequent Tsampa.org or Virtualmeet.net, you know who Kris is. I learned about him around 2001 or 2002, when I was trying to find Prilepin's Table using Google and one of the links it spit out was the Prilepin Bench Program on his site. Aside from having done a few of the virtual meets (highly recommended), we have corresponded here and there. Well, you may also know from going to his websites that he has an outdoor gym on an island (Vaasa), and has always wanted to do a gathering of some of the powerlifting bloggers who have done some of the virtual meets, partly to do a meet and also a convention. So I contacted Kris in January and asked him if he would be willing to host me for a while, and maybe show me around, for the Virtual Meet in July 2009. Kris thought it was a splendid idea, and sent me all the information I needed to file my request. It's now being routed up my chain of command and, hopefully, it will be a go. Thanks, Kris.

For me, it would be the chance of a lifetime. Finland is pretty damn far from Washington State (heck, it's pretty damn far from Djibouti) so it is not something I can always do a whim. Of course, I get to meet Kris and Sana and family, people I've read about on the blogosphere, but I also get to hang out and lift with him and do a Virtual Meet, too (Christian Burger, Virtualmeet.net site moderator from Austria, also plans on being there). I may even get to see Sweden and Estonia, and would be more than glad to lend a hand in the judging.

And of course, I'm gonna blog about it. I finally got myself a speedy laptop, and my digicam is on its way here. All I have to do now is prepare for it.