I took some time off between August 20-August 29th to settle into my new routine of being a recruit firefighter at the Connecticut Fire Academy. I'm incredibly psyched to finally have landed my dream career, but for the next 4 months, it's admittedly a pretty unideal training environment. I'm limited to basically four opportunities per day to eat (which I am definitely maximizing - shooting for 1k+ calories per sitting), limited to lifting 2 days per week (Saturday's squat / DL, Sunday bench and uppers), and doing tons of aerobic cardio that I haven't done in years. Not to mention the 8 hours of manual labor in full fire protective equipment - which is essentially the equivalent of wearing a 60 lb weight vest covered in trash bags all day. Sure, I'll drop some bodyweight and lose some strength, but sometimes in life there are more important things than training. Once my academy stint is over, I will have a really ideal training schedule and the trickle down mental effects of having a great career. Here's how the first week went down:
September 3 - Squat / DL
Single Leg / Single Arm KB RDL
72 3x10
79 2x10
2" Sumo Block Pulls
10x1 @ 455 lbs, EMOM
Rackable Cambered Bar
8x2 @ 455 lbs - opting for the cambered bar for this period of time. I typically gravitate towards the Duffalo Bar for off-season work, but feel like the Cambered Bar may be less of a strain on my shoulders. We spend a lot of time in the push-up / plank position at the academy, as well as squeezing into our air-packs repetitevely, so I'm trying to keep my shoulders together as much as I can.
KB Goblet Front Foot Elevated Split Squat (what a mouthful)
4x12 with the 88 lb KB, slow eccentric's to really work my balance
GHR's
BW 5x10 with 5 second negatives on all reps
L Sits
4 sets for max time.