northback’s BodyBlog

Only light workouts today- and Saturday trying to sleep a bit.  1AM comes early Sunday for a summit climb & ski of Mount Rainier (more than 9,000 vertical feet) - the longest ski descent in the lower 48.  Most people split it up into a two day climb- but were planning for an early alpine start and knock this thing off in one day.  Here’s hoping the weather cooperates.  Good thing it will be a Holiday week because I’m going to be worthless at work on Monday.

Getting back into my full leg workouts.  Amazing how I don’t work them much during the winter (ski season) but I punish them in & out every day on the hill- saw some great strength gains w/o much lifting in the winter- now it’s time to push them through the summer.

I decided to add a full Abs workout to my leg day- focus today was intense.  I’m going to build up some more endurance before getting back up near my max squats- light day- working sets of 225, 255, and 265 felt great.  Got on the sled and felt great.  Another 5 working sets, slow and controlled.  Legs were wearing a bit on the BB Lunges- felt great to get over to finish off with calf raises, leg curls & extensions.

 Awesome day- woke up feeling kind of crappy, but made it through a tough workout with good results.  But tomorrow I’m going to pay the price.

Cardio consisted of an intense 17 mile mountain bike with lots of micro-burst climbs.  I busted through pretty well- great burn in the legs, awesome workout. 

Today ended up having to pull double duty since I won’t be able to hit the gym for a few days as my work schedule gets crazy.  Combining Leg & Chest days were not ideal, but was very pleased with the results.  Decided to use a couple Clif Shot Blocks to help me through the double workout.  Normally I use those when i’m cycling or mountaineering- but today they paid off bigtime.  I felt strong today- almost invicible.  As usual started off a bit slow, but once I got kicking- felt like I had some added power.  Just enough left in the tank to burn out a couple sets w/ decline db at a heavier weight AND more reps than usual!!!  Felt awesome.  Can’t wait to get back to training in 3 days.

had a small cold earlier in the week so when I did my previous chest workout, needless to say- it sucked.  I took a few days off and started fresh.  Was a bit sluggish starting out on flat bench (good sets with 225 & 235, struggled on the 245).  But incline db were on fire.  I wanted to shock the muscles a bit so I decided to do 3 sets of db’s superset with bose ball pushups, followed by 45 seconds of fast jump rope.  It worked.  So well I went for a 4th set to burn it out with a few lbs less.  The rest of the workout kicked ass.  Next chest day, time to switch things up and start with incline bb and flat & decline db’s.

Wow.  I have no idea where my energy came from today.  I don’t often drink much, but last night was the exception.  Went to a campsite party near Mt. Rainier and just tied one on.  Woke up this morning and ended up hiking/skiing 2500 vertical feet, got back into Seattle- took an hour break and than went for a speed session in the gym.  The pump was awesome. I have no freaking clue how I pulled this one off, but it’s safe to say I’m back on the wagon again for a while.

Afternoon/Morning respectively