I went back to my friend's house this afternoon and finished off the unsplit wood. When I was done he told me to take a truckload home with me. Sweet. We have an indoor fireplace so it'll help with the oil bill this winter.

We were chatting while I chopped away and some great truths were uttered:

"Rejection is a part of life."

"You never know until you try."

Word.

I haven't broken a sweat in weeks. However last night I had a push-up contest with a 15 year old. I have 30 lbs on the kid but I squeezed out 20 to his 18.

Then the 7 year old wanted to try some exercises. I showed them a back bridge but they couldn't do it. Then we did some sit ups and squats.

A friend asked if I wanted to go to the park to shoot some hoops yesterday. I accepted. After we got warmed up we played a game of out. I won. Then we played some 21. I won three games in a row. The highlight of the shoot around was when I hit eleven foul shots in a row. Then we went back to her place and did some burpees push-ups squats back bridges and lunges. Was fun.

Mmmm hrmmmm?

Then I went home.

Just played some one on one at the park. First half was half court clear. Second half was 3 point clear. I jumped out to an early 9-2 lead after hitting three threes. Then she took away the outside shot so I had to drive a few times to get her to back off. She backed off but then my shot went cold. She came back to make the score 14-8. Then the threes started falling again and made it to 21 first. Was fun. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that my stamina was lacking.

I'm pretty sure that I dislodged some resin in my lungs yesterday because I've been wheezing ever since I played basketball. I think I need to quit either basketball or smoking cigarettes or else I'm gonna end up royally ****ing up my lungs if I continue to do both.

Gruntch,

Hi Bob,

Don't worry too much about a strict program. You got a bb show? PL meet? If no, just work out consistently with a broader structure and make sure you log here and have a way to track progress because not having a goal don't mean you gotta spin wheels and get nowhere.

But totally no reason to get skinned like it's a full-time job

Thanks dude.

Just got back from a quick game of 2 on 2. I feel much better than I did after the game of one on one the other day.

I've been focusing on music study and practice lately, but I did make it to the park for a shoot around the other day. Was fun.

Hello health and fitness forum.

I broke a sweat on Friday but it was not fun; it was just work; ripping up old chicken wire fence and bushwhacking thorns and **** to make a duck pen for some friends.

I also got in some decent backwork moving bails of hay at a farm last week but that wasn't fun either; it was just work..

I also broke a sweat a few weeks ago with a lady friend that likes to work out. She said she had been doing lots of curls and similarly stupid ****. I asked "why do you want to have big biceps?" to which she replied "I don't" so I says "then don't do curls." Then we did some squats and back bridges and table tops and bear crawls after some dynamic stretching that got us warm. Broke a sweat, wasn't very fun though. She had some decent squat form so I had her do them with her arms extended overhead for higher difficulty. I did them with some small weights that she had laying around; she did them just bodyweight.

Maybe I'll report back soon if I break a sweat and have fun doing it later today.

Besides yard work and helping people move heavy things for money, both of which are not in the spirit of this thread, I haven’t been getting much fun and exercise at the same time.

It’s been pretty hot out here, so the other night when the sun went down and the temperature dropped 20 degrees I decided to shoot around at the park until dark.

It had been a long time since I had a good shoot around so it was just a pleasant surprise that the shots were falling.

First time hitting the weights in almost half a decade. Modest spring numbers:

work sets:

powerclean + 5 front squats x 3 sets = 105 lb
deadlift x 3 = 152 lb

and we're off.

gonna go shoot around and work up a good sweat.

current numbers:

39 years old
6 feet tall
212 lbs
smoke yes
drink yes
diet everything
hair yes(some)
blood pressure yesterday at dr office 120/75
36 inch waist
girlfriend says i have a nice bum
almost jumped high enough to touch the rim at the park.
etc etc

Was hanging out with a friend and we did some pushups.

2 sets of 5
3 sets of 10

he likes to mix in diamonds but i don't **** with those, nor do I match any of his clappers. I just go about my business with the most natural feeling hand position just slightly wider than shoulder width.

between some of those sets I did 5 bodyweight squats with my hands extended overhead for fun. I've messed around with weighted overhead squats in the past but they've never been a necessary part of what I've wanted to accomplish. Now? My goal is to approach my 40s with a good muscle mass that should help to keep me physically able in my later years.

the shoot around was fun. at one point I had hit about 8 or 9 in a row from 17+ feet. I had the whole court to myself so I did 4 fast breaks up and down twice without looking too stupid. Zero NBA range 3 pointers fell for me today, but I didn't go to my favorite spot like I usually do.

Clean + front squat 115 lbs 3x5

Deadlift 152 lbs 1x5

Some fun facts about me:

averaged 100+ innings caught for most of my teens, but was never good enough to compete at the high school level. Being a good backstop that can throw people out has it's highs and lows, but with hindsight? I definitely had lazy squat form with no runners on base. I can still balance on the inside of my feet, with knees touching in a deep squat. If I could go back and tell myself that my squat was lazy and increased my potential for injury? I wouldn't have listened anyways.

I like having fires with friends. I think it's much more fun than fishing, but fishing next to a fire is pretty ****ing cool.

I'm very competitive when it comes to sports and games, but I consider weight training to be an individual thing. For example, skiing or mountain climbing? I wouldn't want to do either competitively, as I think it would take the joy out of it(I enjoy both but haven't done either in over a year). I don't really get much joy out of weight lifting. It does make me feel good physically and mentally, but it's not fun like skiing.

I took a few years of karate when I was 12-13 or so. It taught me a lot about my mind and body and how to care for both. I can stare straight ahead for long amounts of time with total focus still to this day. I only meditate once in a while these days, but I occasionally resort to it when distressed. I can still remember the entire warm up routine and I still use the philosophy taught in that class. The general philosophy was to fight to defend yourself exclusively, which included staying out of other peoples fights. I've since removed the restriction to include fighting to protect people that are unable to protect themselves. This means staying out of it when my friend gets into a scuffle, but stepping in if he becomes unable to defend himself.

I don't enjoy running for the sake of running.

I only swim when it's too hot outside. Because of my experience working in hot attics as an hvac tech(it gets pretty ****in hot up there), I don't typically sweat unless its mid 90s, or if it happens to be very humid, or if I'm exerting myself. This gives me little to no motivation to swim if it's not hot out, but once upon a time I took a dip into Nauset Beach on Cape Cod at high tide. That was probably the greatest rush I've ever experienced.

I sleep with the window open all year in Massachusetts in a room with no heat, but in the winter it's only open a crack.

I love dogs, but haven't had one in years. One of my favorite movies is 8 Below. I pet sit for people when the opportunity presents itself. I have a 10 day stay coming up in June with two dogs, two cats, and a bunch of chickens out in the country. Should be a good retreat.

I love cats too. Mine turns 14 this year. His shining moment was chasing a raccoon up a tree.

Also I'm always down for a 3 point competition.

I shot around at a nearby court for about a half hour and worked up a good sweat earlier today, and just now I did this workout:

warmed up with some lighter powercleans and front squats, peaking at 135 lbs:

clean + front squat 135 lbs 1x5 (it barely got onto my shoulders so I took 5 off each side).

clean + front squat 125 lbs 2x5

then I deadlifted all of the available weight:

152 lbs x 1 (pain in right calf when putting it down made me stop(pussy(but hey it's 5 inches off the ground(still a pussy)))).

Overall I'm happy to have powercleaned 135 at least once and the squats felt good. I need a better bar and plate setup, but I can make a bit of progress without worrying about that.

table top(hands and feet on floor glute/ham/back raise) 2 x 10 seconds
back bridge 2 x 10 seconds
pushups 3 x 10

1/2 hour on the court at sunset. Shot was falling. Told a stranger that wasn't following through on the shot on the other end of the court to "always leave it up there to make sure you follow through." Couldn't help myself.

Any powerclean tips are welcome, particularly on how to catch it lower.

Also any recommendations for how to correctly warm up both front squat and powerclean simultaneously without burning out before work sets is welcome. The first workout was easy to program as the weight was light. For the second workout I focused on warming up the powerclean as priority(can't squat it if I can't clean it) and this seemed to work well. The third workout wasn't good; probably shouldn't have done those 5 hang cleans at 115 lbs before adding 10 lbs to each side; I think this is why I had to take 5 off each side for the second and third sets.

Today I'm going to try this:

bodyweight squats 2 x 10
clean + front squat 75 lbs 2 x 5
clean + hang clean 75 lbs 1 x 5
clean + front squat 105 lbs 1 x 2
clean + front squat 125 lbs 1 x 1
clean + front squat 135 lbs 3 x 5

I hit the court for a half hour this afternoon. The shot was falling from everywhere including quite a few free throws in a row. Worked up a good sweat and relaxed a bit before hitting the weights. I think the revised warm up worked because I was able to get through everything that I had planned:

clean + front squat 135 lbs 3 x 5
deadlift 152 lbs 1 x 5

the cleans were messy as was the squat form. However, the third set was surprisingly easy. Deadlift was pain free and the bar was pretty easy to move.

I guess I should take warm up more seriously, or I need to focus on the task better, or both.

I warmed up with clean + front squats and mixed in some Romanian deadlifts to stretch my hamstrings and focus on getting my ass into it. It was going well until the third set, which didn't happen due to a failed clean, which caused knee pain as soon as I started to pull. Oh well.

clean + front squat 140 lbs 2 x 5

these sets were ok, not bad but not great.

My theories are that (a) my form sucks, (b) my sleep sucks, (c) lifting a bar that is only 5 inches off the ground is harder than standard bar + 45 lbs plates height, (d) I like making excuses, (e) I tried to yank the bar off the ground instead of squeezing it off the ground, (f) idklolwtf, etc etc.

Gonna hit the court for a bit now.

Was a good shoot around. Hit a bunch of shots from everywhere including a few from long range. No fast breaks today, but I was able to jump high enough to get two fingertips higher than the rim on the short hoop, which is about 2 inches shorter than regulation.

Then I came home and grilled a burger.

I was feeling restless so I just had a late night shoot around. There were some clangs and bangs, but the sound of a swish under a solitary spotlight is quite satisfying.