A Revolutionary Ranger's Training Log in the Age of Zombie Capitalism

[Al Raven]

Today's Workout

1. Pushup pyramid 5-1 with deep squat hold (1/2 while holding a kettlebell) in btw sets
2. Lunge matrix
3. Single-leg elevated glute bridges
4. Double-kettlebell single-leg deadlifts
5. Pullup hangs/holds/training

 

[Al Raven]

Monday workout

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Pushups 3 sets to failure + write down reps (<1min rest)
   1. Reps: 10, 3, 3.
3. [Anterior leg rehab:
   1. 3 sets of seated leg curls (36kg)
   2. 3 sets: bulgarian split squats w/ rear leg elevated (~10 per leg, two kettlebells) + SLEGB’s
4. Upper back and pullup training:
   1. isometric underhand holds: 1) top hold 15”, 2) 90° hold 10”, 3) 135° hold 10”
   2. 3 x 10+ lat pulldowns @ 32kg, 39kg, 39kg
   3. isometric overhand holds: 1) top hold 10”, 2) 90° hold 10”, 3) 135° hold 5”(?)
   4. 3 x 10 seated rows @ 45kg
   5. isometric underhand holds: 1) top hold ~8”, 2) 90° hold ~7”, 3) 135° hold 7”
5. Barbell Lifts:
   1. overhead press 3 x amap @ manageable/light weight -> 30 kg
   2. Squats 5 x 5 @ 87.5
   3. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 100

"SLEGB's" = "single-leg elevated glute bridges", which is the main exercise that has helped me deal with my knee pain. At home I have a large swiss ball so that's what I use, at the gym I use a box because the swiss balls are smaller (description: back is on the floor like for a regular glute bridge, heel of one leg is on the ball/box, and then you just raise your butt/hips using that one leg).
For pullup training I'm following this basic framework which I found years ago but it's kinda common sense/basic stuff!

 

[Al Raven]

My pushup and pullup goals for 2024/2025:

• 20 pushups comfortably, then just do lots of pushups throughout the week/the workouts. Once I've reached 20 I don't care about increasing single-set reps, rather I want to reach 5 x 20 = 100 reps in one workout.
• 10-15 pullups, both/all grips. Likewise, after that I don't care about increasing reps as an end/goal in itself, rather to keep practicing pullups and upper/back/arm strength on a weekly basis.

I don't really have other fixed "benchmark" goals for other exercises, I just want to keep training to be generally fit, strong, resilient, etc, I don't care about "big numbers" if you know what I mean... The only two other exercises I have "benchmarks" for is the barbell squats and deadlifts: for both my main goal is pretty "easy", namely just being able to squat and deadlift at or over 100kg, I haven't checked my own bodyweight but that's probably around 10-15kg above it (i.e. 10-15kg more than my own bdw). I can already deadlift 100kg pretty comfortably, for squats I'm at 87.5kg, so it's pretty close. My two best PRs in the past (always with sets of 5 reps, 3 for squats and 1 for deadlifts) were 120kg for deadlifts and 100kg for squats

 

[GentleOx]

Pushups used to be my jam! And then I got into powerlifting and they kind of fell by the wayside.

Used to be able to do 15ish straight arm pullups. I haven't come across this yet, but it always felt to me that unlike with pushups, the secret sauce for deadlifts is bodyweight. The lighter you are, the easier the movement. That combined with weight training (eg pulling movements like dumbbell rows).

You seem to be making solid progress with the weights, so keep at it!

Good luck in reaching your goals!

 

[Al Raven]

Pushups used to be my jam! And then I got into powerlifting and they kind of fell by the wayside.

Used to be able to do 15ish straight arm pullups. I haven't come across this yet, but it always felt to me that unlike with pushups, the secret sauce for deadlifts is bodyweight. The lighter you are, the easier the movement. That combined with weight training (eg pulling movements like dumbbell rows).

You seem to be making solid progress with the weights, so keep at it!

Good luck in reaching your goals!

Yeah, bdw is definitely a (or the) huge factor for pullups. But that's the thing: I'm completely fine and happy with my bodyweight, I don't really wish to lose a significant amount of weight (I guess I just assume that based on my activity, and progressively doing more challenging stuff, I might lose a bit of belly fat, but it's not a goal to be frank).

So we'll see how far I can go based on training (rather than losing weight TO increase pullups, I don't think I'll ever do that)!

 

[Al Raven]

Heavy squats and deadlifts (even if not aiming for huge PRs, just as a way to practice absolute compound/full-body strength!) is something I'll probably keep doing for a long time. I think like with things like fighting/martial arts or running, there's a kind of primal psycho-somatic feeling of purpose and fulfillment when completing those... It's the polar opposite (for me) of machine-based muscle building (not even good strength training as far as I'm concerned lol; I think the best use is for rehab honestly!)

Not much of a bench or overhead press guy (because it's much harder to keep progressing, and I've always been pretty strong in terms of legs since I played football (soccer) as a kid), but I'm doing them for volume/reps (rather than maximizing weight) at the moment since I'm trying to build my upper body strength!

 

[Al Raven]

I've noticed that for pullup isometric holds, I'm alright (the benchmark being 15") for the top ("flexed") and 90° holds, but it's the >90° angles (e.g. 135°) that I really struggle with.
In other words it's that bottom/starting part of the pullup move/exercise that I'm not really handling well -> i.e. unlocking/getting out of the dead hang to start the rising process.
This should gradually improve (hopefully!), there's a reason pullups are such a good and compound strength exercise: they're really hard so it takes time to build up the strength!

 

[Al Raven]

This difficulty at the >90° angles is the same for either grip (underhand vs overhand), I guess as usual the overhand version is always more difficult though

 

[Al Raven]

There's definitely a core element ("core" as in midsection/abs) here for me (regarding pullup training): I rarely target/train core/abs specifically, but for pullups especially it's really challenging/hardcore (more so than other compound strength moves like barbell squats - who do work the core significantly because of bracing/tightening all back/spine/core muscles for each heavy rep - but not as intensely and "directly" as pulling yourself up on a bar -> where it's just 100% your body and muscles vs gravity!).
So I might need some additional/complementary core work, alas... (my general philosophy for core is "I'll get enough core work via the challenging exercises, workouts, and lifts that I do, I don't need to do "ab workouts" as such)

 

[Al Raven]

There's definitely a core element ("core" as in midsection/abs) here for me (regarding pullup training): I rarely target/train core/abs specifically, but for pullups especially it's really challenging/hardcore (more so than other compound strength moves like barbell squats - who do work the core significantly because of bracing/tightening all back/spine/core muscles for each heavy rep - but not as intensely and "directly" as pulling yourself up on a bar -> where it's just 100% your body and muscles vs gravity!).
So I might need some additional/complementary core work, alas... (my general philosophy for core is "I'll get enough core work via the challenging exercises, workouts, and lifts that I do, I don't need to do "ab workouts" as such)

I think I might just do some ab exercises on the pullup-bar which means I'm hitting two birds with one stone (i.e. it also trains grip strength and other things that are central for pullups), and otherwise just training isometric holds and especially negatives will also help building up the core strength needed for standard/"full" pullups...
I just dread planks and situps/crunches, what can I say! (they're "just" boring and painful, although I'm probably more open to yoga-type core/plank/abs exercises^^)

 

[Al Raven]

Had a little surgery to remove a (benign) cyst on my face, so I can't train intensely for about two weeks (surgery was on thursday) because the dressing/bandage shouldn't get wet.
So I'm just doing pushup and pullup training at home (+some knee/leg rehab stuff), that's fine for me!

 

[MadamMeow]

Hope everything heals up fast and glad it was benign.

 

[graoumia]

isn't it too much painfull?

 

[Al Raven]

isn't it too much painfull?

No the only pain was when they injected the anesthetic into my cheek (there a little burning-like pain until you don't feel anything). But nothing apart from that

 

[Al Raven]

I think for the underhand (aka "chin-up") pullups I can progress to negatives, but for overhand pullups the >90° holds are still too hard. We'll see how I progress with those, but from now on I'll be doing a mix of negatives, isometric holds, and dead hangs

 

[Al Raven]

Good news, since yesterday I'm not feeling any issue/discomfort in either knee/leg, for the first time since ~january 2023!

 

[Al Raven]

Let's see if that sticks, I was actually about to reach out to my physio again (because now that the left leg/knee was fine, it was the right one that was a bit annoying), but yesterday I did my basic "pain/discomfort checks" and it seemed okay. Same this morning so far...

 

[Al Raven]

It's crazy how long it took, but it feels like these knee/leg issues are over... And the bottom line is the problem wasn't really the injury I got in january 2023, it was the underlying damage on my legs/knees of sitting so much throughout my university years (despite doing regular workouts -> the problem is that the smaller "posterior" leg muscles aren't worked/trained with things like squats or other common exercises -> and over the years there was some imbalance that took so long to address...)

 

[Al Raven]

Ultimately I'll need to keep taking care of knees and these parts of the legs affected by sitting, but at least now I know what to do and I don't feel the awkward discomfort (it never was an acute/intense pain, that made it even more frustrating in a way) on either leg as I did for over 1,5 years...

 

[Al Raven]

Hi, I hope everyone's doing well.
I've not really restarted my usual training routine, this week I only did pushups and pullups (and some mobility) at home.
So I'm just writing down my next planned gym wkt, probably for monday or tuesday:

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Pushups 3 sets to failure + write down reps (<1min rest) → Reps: .
3. 3 sets of seated leg curls (36kg)
4. 3 sets SLEGB’s (single-leg elevated glute bridges)
5. isometric overhand holds (overhand grip)
6. 3 x 10+ lat pulldowns @ 39kg (or more)
7. overhead press 3 x amap @ manageable/light weight -> 30 kg
8. Squats 5 x 5 @ 87.5, 2min rest
9. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 100
10. Heavy carries

 

[Al Raven]

I've finally managed to force myself to leave my cave (my apartment) and get back to rigorous training, after slowing down a bit (apart from casual pushups/etc at home) since my surgery.
Here's my workout log for today:

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Pushups 3 sets to failure + write down reps (<1min rest) → Reps: 10, 4, 2.
3. 3 sets of seated leg curls (36kg)
4. 3 sets SLEGB’s (single-leg elevated glute bridges)
5. isometric overhand holds (overhand grip)
6. 3 x 10+ lat pulldowns @ 39kg (or more)
7. overhead press 3 x amap @ manageable/light weight -> 20 kg/empty bar
8. Squats 3 x 5 @ 87.5, 2min rest
9. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 100 The squats kinda killed me to be honest, I didn't feel like doing deadlifts right after that...
10. Heavy carries @ 25kg dumbbells (one in each hand)

 

[Al Raven]

Monday gym workout

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Pushups and pullups
3. Overhead press 3 x amap @ manageable/light weight -> 30 kg
4. Squats 3 x 5 @ 87.5kg
5. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 100

 

[Al Raven]

Today's workout -> I felt really good!!

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. 3 sets: Pushups + pullups + Overhead press (amap @ manageable/light weight -> 30 kg)
3. Squats 3 x 5 @ 90 kg
4. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 105
5. Heavy carries @ 25 kg dumbbells (one in each hand)
6. 3 sets of seated leg curls (43kg) - it feels good to know my leg/knee issues are behind me, but I'm still checking and training it regularly for a little while

Nothing like a good workout the day after getting a neat/nice/new haircut and a neatly-trimmed beard lol. Just feeling good all around^^

 

[Al Raven]

Saturday Workout

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Hip thrusts 5 x 5 @ 60-70-80 kg (started with 60kg, then felt too easy so went to 70kg, then again jumped to 80kg)
3. Pushups 3 x amap: 11, ~5, 4
4. Overhead press 3 x amap @ manageable/light weight -> 30 kg
5. (Supinated) Pull-ups w/ 3 x amap: 3, 3, 4 (used bigger/stronger band)
6. Squats 3 x 5 @ 90 kg (sets #1 and #2)/ 92.5 kg (set #3) → I found it quite/relatively “easy”, actually (even at 92.5kg)!
7. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 110 kg
8. Heavy carries @ 25+kg dumbbells (one in each hand)

I don't know why, but this week throughout both workouts I've felt not just better but ready to jump to and try harder things (e.g. harder weights on lifts) quicker than usual...
Last week 90kg squats felt really tough, but this week it almost felt too easy, to the point I jumped to 92.5kg for the last set today which I usually never do (I only increase weights not even on a weekly basis, but when I feel ready to move up... and I usually always stick to the same weight for all my sets). Likewise for deadlifts, today I was supposed to do 105 kg but I felt ready to jump higher; but usually I only do 2.5kg increments, yet this time I felt like adding 5kg immediately and it was challenging but fine.

I'm not complaining obviously lol but it did surprise me! I'm generally committed to more of a "slow and steady" approach to strength-building, I don't like taking risks and don't really care about fast progression (I think the whole point of strength building - for me, that is - is longevity and functionality, rather than appearance, performance, quick "personal records").

Side note: right now my "workout podcast" I listen to (to be fair, just generally my main podcast at the moment) is The Story of London, which is nice and fun for anyone who (like me) loves that city and/or is a history nerd! Other favorites that I'd recommend is The Dollop, Behind the Bastards, Working Class History, Ridiculous Crime, Ridiculous History, The Empire Never Ended, It Could Happen Here, Boonta Vista, Srsly Wrong, The Final Straw Radio, The Fire These Times. All very good (and most are quite fun, although a few talk about rather grim stuff)!

 

[Al Raven]

Today's workout
After a lovely short trip to Bruges (Belgium), I went back to doing my usual (barbell) lifts today. The gym has been reorganized a little (so a few things were missing) + I didn't feel like doing more stuff (as I had planned, on paper), so it was pretty short but since there are two heavy lifts, it's a good workout nonetheless

1. Warmup: jumping jacks, multi-directional lunges, step ups
2. Overhead press 3 x amap @ 30 kg
3. Squats 3 x 5 @ 92.5 kg
4. Deadlifts 1x5 @ 110 kg

Oh, and yesterday I did pushups and pullups at home, which I'm probably keep doing for a long time. Right now I'm doing in a kind of "as often as possible throughout the day, "greasing the groove" approach, I think that's perfect for me and my goals ("getting better/stronger at both, but hey there's no rush to hit max PRs, alright!")

 

[Al Raven]

Hope you wonderful folks are doing well, by the way!

 

[WolfDreamer]

"getting better/stronger at both

Hope you wonderful folks are doing well, by the way!

Thank you. I'm actually doing really well.

 

[Al Raven]

Today's workout + new shoes^^
I bought new wkt shoes, R.I.P. to the old ones!
Here's my workout, simple but great!

• Squats 3 x 5 @ 95 kg
• Deadlifts 1x5 @ 112,5 kg
• Treadmill run for 20min, since I've not done running for a while I simply alternated between 3min light running and 2min walking.

Increased both lifts today, it was quite challenging as you'd expect but I could do it with good form I think. I'll probably keep working/training those weights for a few weeks before continuing (although generally the deadlift can increase a bit faster, so we shall see... but in any case I only increase weight once I'm 100% confident and comfortable with the previous one)

 

[Al Raven]

Not really feeling in the mood to go out to the gym right now, we'll see if I do it later this week but for now I'll just do stuff at home. I might need to avoid 95kg/112,5kg the next time I do heavy squats/deadlifts, at least I'll be careful...

 

[Al Raven]

My workout this morning was simply squats (3x5 @ 92.5kg) and deadlifts (1x5 @110kg), it was tough but alright!

 

[Al Raven]

I might step back from lifting until January, I just don't feel like it at the moment. I have a lot going on right now, it's a bit bothersome to schedule gym workouts, I'd rather train at home. Hope everyone is okay, I'm in the process of multiple job applications, fingers crossed!!

 

[Mamatigerj]

I'm in the process of multiple job applications, fingers crossed!!

 

[Damer]

@Al Raven Good luck!

 

[Al Raven]

Hi, I hope everyone is good!

I hope 2025 will be great, although without wanting to sound alarmist I do feel like we're at that moment in The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf looks far toward Mordor and sees a dark storm brewing there (and for millions across the world, they're already within the storm). I feel the world is getting worse every year and heading in the wrong direction (climate/environmental disasters, fascist and state-enforced atrocities, endemic capitalist crisis and misery, accelerating rate of epidemics/pandemics, and other things that are increasingly getting us closer to the darkest hours of the past centuries; in some places it's already there, e.g. Gaza). So I hope you're all able to find a way to take care of yourself and your loved ones.

As Mike Davis (who left us a few years ago, RIP) beautifully said:
"What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight."

On Friday I went back to the gym, basically did this (I'm still a bit sore since I took a one month break from that kind of workout):

• 3 x 5 squats @ 90kg, with some pullups ("chin-ups") in between sets
• 1 x 5 deadlifts @ 110kg
• 10 min treadmill run

Will try to do some high-intensity stuff later today.