Squat - Grip Testing

Sunday, May 31, 2026

Basement Gym

1630

Back Squat

10x30

8x80

5x120

5x150

4x170

4x170

4x170

Grip Testing

Napalm 2-3/8" One Hand - 105 pounds (left)

Napalm 3x3 Two Hand - 90 pounds

Inch Pinch - 30 pounds

Jug - 100 pounds (right)

USAWA Q2 Postal plus Testing

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Garage Gym

1500

2nd Quarter Postal

207.7 pounds BW

54 years old

Cheat Curl - 45, 75, 85

Deadlift, No Thumb, One Hand (Left) - 105, 125, 145

Clean & Push Press - 135, 145

Testing

Clean & Press, Heels Together - 105, 115

Deadlift, No Thumbs, Overhand Grip - 225, 275

Jefferson Lift - 275, 275, 275

40 minutes total workout

USAWA Testing

Monday, June 1, 2026

Garage Gym

1700

Steinborn

45

65

85

100

110

Lateral Raise Lying

40

45

55

Dinnie

180

270

320

370

With Carnival and Nationals coming up, I wanted to test some lifts to determine openers.

Carnival

• Steinborn - 110, record is 200
• Goerner Stroll - ?, record is open
• Dinnie - 370, record is open
• Fulton DB Press - ?

Nationals

• DL, No thumb, overhand - ?, open, All is 402
• Clean & Press, heels - ?, record is 132 (Al Springs)
• Lateral Raise, Lying - 55, record is open, All is 96
• Jefferson Lift - ?, record is 529 (Larry Traub)

2026 Deka.Fit in Denver

I finally took on a full Deka.Fit.  Ten stations plus 10x500 meter runs.  I had a blast and this is an amazing race format for me.  It breaks up the running, can be accomplished without much disruption to my typical training and sports and has an ideal time domain.

6:45 - wake-up

7:45 - head to venue

8:30 - arrive, park, get in

9:00 - checked in and chill for a while, get the lay of the land, visit merch and booths

9:30 - start warming up for my 10 AM start

10:10 - start the race

11:30 - finish race and take some pictures

12:30 - home and into recovery mode (Normatec and Electrolytes)

The race went great.  I wore my Saucony Guide joggers, calf sleeves and knee sleeves.  I did not need the knee sleeves as the lunges were padded.

The runs were fine.  I forget how nice it is to run on a flat course.

Lunges - smooth and steady

Row - steady

Box step over - paced well, a couple of longer pauses

Med Ball sit-up - paced well, a couple of long pauses, was not comfortable hooking feet in

Ski Erg - good rest

Farmer's Carry - set weights down twice

Air Bike - slow recovery

Dead Ball - ball was larger in diameter than I trained with, but over obstacle was easier than over shoulder

Sled Push-Pull - easy, but my judge miscounted my reps and I did 125 meters.  Not a big deal.

Ram Burpees - easier than I expected and moved well.

I grabbed water 3 times, roughly every 20 minutes.  I ran the majority of the runs with walking into and out of the stations.  I finished in 1:14:41 which was in the ball park I expected.  I was guessing between 1:10 and 1:30 as I was unsure how my left Achilles would feel.  It was fine.  I was just not conditioned.

I would definitely do this or a variation again.  Looking forward to seeing the pictures and race splits.

UPDATE:  Pictures and splits were released:

The splits seem accurate to me.  There is some time in transition that gets added to the station scores.

Overall the 44:57.1 run was disappointing, but fair.  I was planning on a 12:30 pace, but did my fair share of walking.  12:30 would have been 3:45 splits. My actual 15:00 pace resulted in 4:30 splits. Relative to the race leader who finished the stations in 22 minutes, I lost a lot of time on the runs Actual:

1. 3:38
2. 4:07
3. 4:15
4. 4:36
5. 4:27
6. 4:32
7. 4:44
8. 4:52
9. 4:55
10. 4:38

The stations felt pretty good.  

• Lunges - 2:28
• Row - 3:11
• Box Step Over - 2:14
• Med Ball - 2:32
• Ski Erg - 3:07
• Farmers - 1:41
• Air Bike - 3:12 +2:12***
• Dead Ball - 2:49
• Sled Push/Pull - 4:33 (extra length) +2:54***
• Burpees - 3:53 +2:05***

Relative to the race leader, I lost 14 minutes on the zones.  That is a lot less room for improvement.  Certainly treating the air bike as a rest cost me time.  The extra length on the sled cost me 50 seconds, but still well above the race leader.  I knew the burpees would be slow and will not be improving that 2 minutes by much.

In terms of pacing and effort, I definitely hit the breaks after the Farmer's Carry.  That was my second water break and it was generous.  I cruised on the air bike and then settled into a peak 150 beats per minute instead of the 190 beats per minute peak I hit in Run 3.

At the final tally, I was 18th/18 Men 55-59 years old and 294/311 Men Overall.  

I really like the gap to first metric and want to ramp my run mileage up this summer.

Long Run Monday - 3-5 miles

Speed Thursday - Track (1-2 miles)

Tempo Saturday - 1.5 to 2 miles

--

Total - 5.5 - 9 miles per week seems sustainable.

Jackson 5 lb Dumbbells

After picking up a pair of 2 lb Jackson dumbbells from Robert Sully earlier this year for $75 shipped, I decided to go ahead and take these off of Benjamin Beaulieu's hands for $140 plus $16 shipping.  The price is fair and the 5 pound Jackson dumbbells are more distinctive than the 2 lb dumbbells.  I have no delusions of completing a pair of smalls, but I am still very interested in Jackson items if and when they pop up.  I am not ready to pay the $500+ and $1000+ some folks are asking for plates, but I am willing to pay for odds and ends.

Pool Swim

Friday, May 29, 2026

Carmody Rec Center

1200

Pool Swim

500 FR

150 BA

150 BR

200 FR

--

1000 yards (31 minutes)

Deka.Fit Conditioning

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Home Gym

1730

Deka.Fit Conditioning

20 alt rev lunge - 44 lb ram

500 meter row

10 box step-up 24 inch

10 med ball sit-up 20 lb

500 meter ski erg

100 meter farmer's carry - 40 lb each hand

25 cal bike erg

10 deadball over shoulder - 55 lb

10 ram burpee - 44 lb

Finished in 24:27

I moved well except for the RAM burpees.  That will be a grind tomorrow.  Otherwise feeling good about the race.  I wish my heel was well enough to have trained more running, but it should be good for tomorrow.

Deadlift - Sled Push-Pull

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Garage Gym

1730

Deadlift

8x135

6x185

4x225

3x255

3x255

3x255

Conditioning

5 Rounds of

25 meter sled push

25 meter sled pull

1 pull-up

Finished in 14:14

Atlas Stone to Shoulder

5 rounds - Every 90 seconds

made

made

made

missed

made

Ivanko Chrome OMC

Ivanko had NOS (new old stock) listed on their website for quite some time, but I was struggling to pay $13/pound for modern plates.  I finally broke down and grabbed these and they do not disappoint.  I would love to have a 175 set of these (45-45-25-25-10-10-10-10-5-5-2.5-2.5) but that is not in my future.

I posted on the Facebook Group and got a lot of responses.

EliteFTS American Gridiron Bar

Brandon Williams listed this bar for $125 and I passed on it.  When he dropped the price to $75, I decided to reach out.  Unfortunately, Brandon's brother passed away and he was clearing out some of his stuff.  He apparently has (13) bicycles he is trying to figure out what to do with.

This bar is in like new condition and I am looking forward to giving it a spin.  It is currently on the EliteFTS website for $339 and on sale for $289.

Published weight is 40 pounds.  Mine weighs in at 38.5 pounds.

EMOM

Thursday, May 21, 2026

CDOT Fitness Center

1200

Warm Up - Treadmill - 5% incline, 2.8 mph, 5 min

Dead Hang test - 60 seconds

EMOM 24

8 rounds

1 - Step Back Lunges

2 - Push-ups

3 - Dead Hang

I started the step backs unweighted and did 10 reps.  I added load at the 3 round and eventually settled at 30 pounds for 10 reps.

Push-ups were good.  I started with 5 and worked up to 7.

Dead Hang was tough.  I started with 30 seconds, but switched to 20 seconds for rounds 2-8.

Overall it was a great low impact workout that was completed in just under 40 minutes.

1000 Yard Pool Swim

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Carmody Rec Center

1000

Pool Swim

1x250 FR

1x200 FR

1x150 FR

1x100 FR

1x50 FR

1x200 BR

1x50 BA

--

1000 yards total (31 minutes)

Back Squat - Burpees

Monday, May 18, 2026

Basement Gym

1130

Warm Up - Bike Erg - 2000 meters

Back Squat

8x45

8x95

5x135

5x165

3x185

3x185

3x185

Burpees

Every 30 seconds for 10 minutes - 1 burpee

This was OK.  I jumped to 2 burpees every 30 seconds for rounds 6-10.  If I repeat, I want to go for 1 burpee every 20 seconds with the intent of working towards every 10 seconds.

50 minutes total workout.

Also organized basement gym with grip stuff by manufacturer/misc and setting up grip implements for upcoming competitions.

Ivanko OMC-2.5 lb

I finally broke down and bought a pair of these 2.5 pound plates for $65.  It absolutely stings to pay $13/pound for plates especially when I have no hope of owning the set.

However, these popped up over a year ago and I have been as patient as humanly possible.

General

Thursday, May 14, 2026

CDOT Fitness Center

1230

Treadmill - 10 min, 5% incline

Shoulder warm-up

Seated DB Shoulder Press

5x50

8x70

8x80* for CDOT Fitness Challenge

Alt DB Biceps Curl - 3x10x20's

EMOM 10

1 - 5 push-ups

2 - 10 sit-ups

40 minutes total workout

Deka Conditioning

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Garage Gym

1430

Warm Up

Hip Hammy Flow

Deka Conditioning

For Time:

200 meter run

30 Alt Rev Lunge (44 lb)

200 meter run

20 Box Step Over (24 in)

200 meter run

25 Med Ball Sit-ups (14 lb)

200 meter run

20 Dead Ball over shoulder (55 lb)

200 meter run

20 RAM Burpee (44 lb)

I finished in 24:57 and was absolutely cooked.  I assume it was a combination of minimal interval training combined with the heat.  It felt much warmer than the purported 75 degrees.

Programming focused on challenge areas - Alt Rev Lunge and RAM Burpees.  Need to ramp up running.  Rower, Ski Erg, Farmer's Carry, Air Bike and Torque Sled should be OK.

ViPR Pro

Retail Prices

Yellow - 4kg - $226

Grey - 6kg - $248

Orange - 8kg - $286

Green - 10kg - $335

Red - 16kg $410

ViPR Pro has an exercise library, but in all likelihood these would collect dust.

Bench Press

Friday, May 8, 2026

Peterson SFB

1500

Walked over 0.5 miles

500 meter row

Bench Press

10x45

8x95

6x115

3x5x135

Incline Bench Press

10x45

8x65

8x85

Alt DB Biceps Curl

10x20's

8x25's

8x25's

Pull-ups

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Abmat Sit-ups

5x10

Walk Home 0.5 miles

1 hour total workout

Pool Swim

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Carmody Rec Center

1200

Pool Swim

1x500 FR ~15 min

1x400 FR

1x300 FR

1x50 BA

1x50 BR

--

1300 total ~ 43 min

Metcon - ErgShoot

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Basement Gym

1900

Metcon

500 meter row

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

500 meter row

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

1000 meter bike

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

1000 meter bike

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

500 meter ski

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

500 meter ski

20 step back lunges

5 shots - 4 meters

Finished in 29:48 and felt like I was moving pretty well.  Nice way to get some volume but keep intensity sustainable.