Training - Friday 30th November 2007

Warmups
Walking: 20minutes moderate

Accessory
Deadlift (to knees): warmups, 167.5(369)x4x3

Supplementary
Incline Press: 60x4, 80x4, 100x4, 120x4, 130x4, 100x4
Dips: 0x6x5

Accessory
Deadlift (against 2p): warmups, 145x3, add another mini. 145x3

Notes
Warm day, with another afternoon session. Back is still rather fatigued but all went well. I am starting to pull conventional again.

Training - Thursday 29th November 2007

Main Move
Squat: warmup, 182.5(403)x2x3

Accessory
2board(paused): warmups, 115(253)x5, 135(297)x4, 160(352)x3x2, 182.5x3, 185(407)x3x5
Box squat+purple: warmups, 155(341)x5x3

Notes
Rather quick session today. Wifey joined the gym and we got there late, so I rushed through my sets. Board presses were comfortable, squats were tiring due to residual fatigue following the squat/deadlifts on Tuesday.

Training - Tuesday 27th November 2007

Main Moves
Squat: warmups, 205(451)x1, 220(484)x1, 230(506)x1
Bench(paused): warmups, 187.5(413)x1, 200(440)x1, 210(462)x1
Deadlift (conv): warmups, 215(473)x1, 240(528)x1, 260(572)xhahaha

Notes
Test day. Was hot and I trained around lunchtime, but I was all done in under 2hrs. Squat was ok, although I was not comfortable with getting the bar out, technique was pretty tight and loads were good considering I had last squatted yesterday. Bench was good, and strong. The 210/462 was not the best bench I have ever done, but 10kg above my best of this grip, and on top of that, easier and paused.
Deadlift sucked, the legs were not working in the sumo position so I reverted to my normal technique, although since I haven't done it often, I am not quite there. The 260 failed when at knee level my right pectard cramped up, but it would have put me at ~700kg total RAW DAWG, which is OK, for a gym lift.

Training - Monday 26th November 2007

Warmups
Cycle: 5minutes moderate

Main Move
Squat: warmups, 172.5(380)x2x2

Accessory
Bench+dm(paused): warmups, 72.5(160)x5, 92.5(204)x3, 112.5(248)x3x2, 125(275)x2x3

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 20x10x5
Db Leg Raises: 8.5x10x3
Stretch
Treadmill: 10minutes moderate

Notes
A relatively brief, light, day today. The bar with squats was messing with my elbows, but bench was pretty good considering. Tomorrows sessions set for mid-afternoon to allow the most recovery time from today.

Training - Friday 23rd November 2007

Accessory
Sumo deadlift (to knees): warmups, 190(418)x2x2

Supplementary
Db Overhead press: 20x5, 30x5, 36.5x5x2, 41.5x5
Incline Press: 60x4, 80x4, 100x4, 120x4, 127.5x4, 100x4

Accessory
Sumo Deadlifts (against 2p+2m): warmups, 155(341)x3x2

Supplementary
Decline bench band GM: 2m+2px10x5

Notes
Stayed up too late playing with the computer. Work was hard and adductors were sore.

Ubuntu update - Wireless fun

The installation went perfectly well onto the hard drive. Booting from the hard drive went easily, even the video was auto-recognised (although the restricted ATI driver needs to be selected via the SYSTEM/ADMINISTRATION/RESTRICTED DRIVER MANAGER pieces.

The first order of business was to get the Internet working. However, I discovered that the type of card that is used within the ASUS F5R, a Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card rev 01, at least for ad hoc networking (which my current setup is), as mentioned here.

So following the instructions from this, I installed Ndiswrapper, removed the old driver as commanded, rebooted and ran the software (listed under SYSTEM/ADMINISTRATOR), I then hunted around my Windows drive for my XP wireless drivers. I tried to install it, but it did nothing, nor did the wireless light want to stay on.

I hunted around and found this HP Driver for the same card, which I downloaded to my other Windows PC, half installed, and then grabbed all of the driver files, stuffed them on a USB key and carried them over to the Ubuntu installation. I installed the driver, and it actually worked, but said the wireless unit was not connected. One more reboot, making sure the wireless light was on correctly during the entire startup, which it was. I then checked the driver setup and it said it was good. After a few minutes, I checked the Network Manager in the top right of the window, and found the main computers ad hoc network was showing up. With a bit of mucking around, I finally got the networks password sorted and the computer connected.

Now, the computer does not appear to recognise the Ethernet card, so that's some more work for another day, but Ethernet is the least of my worries as I hardly touch it.

Sound is working, and while the microphone appears to be working, actually getting some recorded sound to be showing up is a different story.

Ubuntu update

Well, its been a few days of fun, but I have given up on trying to download a torrent of Gutsy Gibbon, and ordered it online (free of charge from www.ubuntu.com) which will take some time to get. So in the meantime I mucked around with a few bits and pieces on 6.1, which never appeared to actually make much sense, so I fronted up to the local Dick Smiths store, and brought a copy of Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" for $9.98 (a two DVD setup, covering both the 32bit and AMD64 bit versions).

Installing 6.1 on a USB based hard drive appeared problematic, as GRUB was installed onto the comptuers hard drive meaning that if I tried to boot without the USB Drive attached, there would be an error.

I tried installing it onto HD1, but this just stopped it working any way.

In hunting on the internet, I found this set of instructions to install on a portable drive, which worked perfectly.

1) get your Live CD
2) remove the laptop harddrive
3) plug in USB drive
4) set boot order USB>DVDROM>HARD DRIVE
5) start up Ubuntu
6) once the O/S is fully operational, select SYSTEM/PREFERENCES/REMOVABLE DRIVES AND MEDIA PREFERENCES

Deselect the three preselected items (mount removable drives when hot plugged, mount removable drives when inserted, browse removable media when inserted)

7) Click on the install item to run the installation software
8) Select all of the normal options, do not worry that the installer is placing GRUB on HD0 as this will be the USB Drive.
9) Once installation is complete, reboot with the drive still attached.
10) stop the computer and then reinstall the main hard drive.

a bit of mucking around, but I have ended up with a portable operating system.

Training - Thursday 22nd November 2007

Accessory
1board (most reps paused): warmups, 110(242)x5, 130(286)x4, 155(341)x3x2, 175(385)x3x2, 185(407)x2, 187.5(413)x2, 190(418)x2, 175x3, 177.5(391)x3
Box squats + purples: warmups, 165(363)x3x4

Supplementary
Dips: 0x6x5
Db Flyes: 21.5x10x5
Db Leg Raises: 7.5x10x3

Notes
Was running late again, so reasonably rushed, and the humidity is increasing even though it wasnt as hot as the last two days. 1board was strong, even at the high end. Box squats were OK, and I increased the bar weight by 2.5kg.

Training - Tuesday 20th November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 5minutes moderate incline

Accessory
Sumo deadlift (small plates): warmups, 167.5(369)x2x2

Main Move
Bench: warmups, 105x5, 125x5, 145x5x2, 157.5x4x5
Sumo Deadlift: warmups, 190x3x3, 202.5x2x2

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 16.5x10x5
Standing band GM: 2m+2px5x5

Notes
Feeling drained today, and its been a warm few days which always makes training harder. The small plate deadlift was great, the bench was fatiguing and by the time I got to the heavier deadlift sets, I felt dead. I made all my reps, even though some were harder than they should have been. Wrists and hands feel abused from all of the bench work.

Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon"

Now that I have Windows XP Professional up and running, it's time to start playing.

So, I have a copy of the Ubuntu 6.1 "Edgy Eft", but this is a tad old and the newest releases are supposedly a lot better and "Just Work" (™ Apple Inc).

I am planning to install the Gutsy Gibbon release of Ubuntu on a USB 30gig Hard drive I have, and boot from this when I want to play around. Ultimately I would like to ditch Windows, but most likely I will have to run a Virtual Machine with a Windows setup to allow me to do the Windows thing, or mucking around with WINE (both the software and the alcohol, for the best results).

I will post my experiences playing around with Ubuntu, and hopefully, I will actually be able to post from it without many issues.Should be purdy on a laptop.

Training - Monday 19th November 2007

Main Move
Squat: warmups, 182.5(402)x3x3, 195(429)x2, 197.5(435)x2

Accessory
Bench+dm: warmups, 72.5(160)x5, 92.5(204)x4, 112.5(248)x3x2, 135(297)x3x6

Supplementary
Dips: 0x6x5
Db Flyes: 20x10x5
Bench Leg Raises: 5x10x2, 7.5x10
Treadmill: 4minutes moderate
Cycle: 5minutes moderate
Stretch

Notes
Very tired, upset little boy in the middle of the night created a horrible sleep. Otherwise weights were good. I decreased my adjustment on the bench, from 35kg to 32.5kg. Trying to slowly work my way towards a 25kg adjustment.

Asus F5R T2060 PC

Last weekend I picked up a very cheap Asus F5R Notebook, ok HD, ok Speed, ok screen etc.

Unfortunately, it was fitted with Vista Basic, and even though it never really used all of the 512mb of memory, it was constantly running the hard drive. Permanently, even with the indexing turned off.

So I did what most normal people would do, and replace Vista with XP Pro.

What a freaking pain in the neck.
Remarkably, Asus provide a large quantity of drivers on their site, however, because the age of most XP copies (mine dates back to early 2004) a lot of the current systems do not appreciate the settings. Even with SP2, some fixes are required that are not included in the setup, nor are they easy to find. So I thought I would put down some of my issues.

Bios
From the ASUS site, you can download WINFLASH, which is their XP based Bios flashing tool, and you can also download the latest version of the XP compliant BIOS (mine was originally FRAS.305) which was FRAS. There is also a manual for WINFLASH under the ASUS Manual section. I have no idea if this actually helped with anything in terms of setting the computer up, but its a start.

Video
I downloaded the driver from ATI (as it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 graphics) but this did not like the system under XP at all, but being 40megs it was an easier download than the ones from ASUS. So, I ended downloading the 120meg driver from ASUS. It installed, and worked first time through.

Excellent.

Audio
This was a pain.

Under the ASUS drivers site, they allow you to download a 30 odd meg file for the audio drivers. Even if you install this, the audio may not work (it will also influence the modem which is listed below) as the drivers are there, but the system cannot actually see any of the hardware. This requires a Microsoft Hotfix KB888111, a universal audio architecture high definition class driver. But, unfortunately, Microsoft do not keep this hotfix online, you supposedly have to talk to their product services (probably to stop you installing an old copy of XP on a new computer...) but thankfully, the Internet is more enabling than Microsoft, so you can find a copy of the hotfix here and following a nice short download, I removed my last attempt at the proper drivers, then loaded this file up, to which all of the devices appeared to XP, and I then reinstalled the ASUS sourced drivers. I had a small issue during the loading of these drivers, but I just skipped past that, and everything appears to be functioning. I have sound.

After doing all of this, I noticed a UAA driver set on the downloads from ASUS, but then remembered that I had already tried this early on with no success.

Modem
Trying to install the ASUS based modem drivers resulted in errors. You have to install the drivers listed for the Audio section above, in order for the system to actually see the modem. Once this is done, the modem appears, install the drivers, and all is good.

USB Controller
The USB controller was having issues and showing up under the unknown device section of the device manager. Once I had a number of other things fixed, I un-installed this setup and rebooted. Once it restarted, it found the hardware, and everything ran, at full speed rather than USB1.0 levels...

SM Bus Controller
The SM Bus controller was not functional. So, it was a bit of detective work to hunt down what it is. A basic work showed up ASUSTek SB600 SMBus Controller. This, thanks to SiSoftware's little program, managed to turn into a ATI Technologies Inc SB600 SMBus Controller, and with a bit more work, I found a download for an ATI southbridge controller that is compatible with the setup on the laptop. I downloaded it, installed it, rebooted, and it did not find it.
So, I right clicked on the SB Controller in the Devices list and tried to install a driver, and when it asked for a location, I hunted down the install of the Southbridge controller. After the computer thought for a bit, it came up as driver found. It still says "No driver files are required or have been loaded for this device", but this is normal.

Other stuff
TPM I am also having trouble installing one driver from Infineon TMP Professional Package. I have not researched this to actually see what it does, so to me, it may not be important, just annoying. When trying to install, it comes up with "Trusted Platform Module could not be found" error. With only a cursory web search, I haven't found any reason to care about this.

Positives
Well, besides the issues listed above, the machine performs extremely well under XP. It is fast, it loads far far quicker, and appears to function pretty well so far.

Training - Friday November 16th 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 8minutes moderate incline

Accessory
Sumo Deadlifts (small plates): warmups, 155(341)x3x2
Floor Press(paused): warmups, 105(231)x6, 125(275)x6, 135(297)x6x3
Sumo Deadlifts (against 2p+1m): warmups, 155x2x2

Supplementary
Db Extention: 16.5x6, 20x6, 23.5x6, 25.5x6x2
Decline bench band GM: 2m+2px10x5

Notes
Utterly toasted. Biceps are aching, possibly from the constant work in my elbow sleeves. The work was all comfortable, but in this fatigued state, it was just pounding out until finished.

Training - Thursday 15th 2007

Main move
Squat: warmups, 182.5(402)x3x3

Accessory
2board: warmups, 115(253)x5, 137.5(303)x4, 167.5(367)x3x2, 182.5x3x6
Box squats + purples: warmups, 127.5(281)x5x3

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 16.5x10x5
Pulldown abs: 66x10x3
Dips: 0x6x6

Notes
Utterly fatigued by the end of this session. No real pains beforehand, some slight stiffness, but the fatigue showed up quickly on the legs. 2board work was comfortable, considering I had no real leg drive available.

Training - Tuesday 13th November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 5mins moderate incline

Main Move
Sumo Deadlift: warmups, 190(418)x3x3
Bench (paused last rep): warmups, 105(231)x8, 115(253)x7, 125(275)x6, 135(297)x5, 145(319)x4, 157.5(347)x3x2, 167.5(367)x2x2, 177.5(391)x1x2, 167.5x2x2, 157.5x3x2, 145x4, 135x6, 125x8, 115x10, 105x12

Accessory
Sumo Deadlift to knees: warmups, 167.5x4x3

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 16.5x10x5
Decline bench band GM: 2m+2px10x4

Notes
I think I saw a deity (whose I do not know). The full CMS/MS bench marathon - 20sets - 92reps - from 50-85% 1RM. I was over it by the third set, let alone the final 5. I am going to be very sore.

Training - Monday 12th November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 5mins moderate

Main Move
Squat: warmups, 182.5(402)x3x2, 195(429)x2x2

Accessory
Bench+dM: warmups, 70(154)x5, 90(198)x4, 112.5(248)x3x2, 132.5(292)x3x6

Supplementary
Incline Flyes: 16.5x10x5

Accessory
Box squats: warmups, 150(330)x6x2

Supplementary
Leg Raises: 0x10x3
Stretch

Notes
Not enough sleep again, a weekends worth of Vista nightmares. Squat technique was spot-on, even with a garbage bar. Bench was good, but a little draining. Box squat are reinforcing my technique nicely.

Training - Friday 9th November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 10minutes moderate incline

Supplementary
Db OH press: 23x5, 30x5, 35x5x3
Incline press: 60x4, 80x4, 100x4, 120x4, 125x4x2
Dips: 0x8x5

Main Move
Sumo Deadlift: warmups, 180x2x3

Supplementary
Band GM: 2m+2px5x5

Notes
Stayed up too late, so I wasn't feeling completely on my game. Hammy came through the pulls fine. Everything was comfortable. Played around with conventional technique in between the GM sets.

Training - Thursday 8th November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 12minutes moderate - incline

Main Move
Bench (last rep paused): warmups, 167.5(367)x3

Accessory
3board (paused): 180(396)x2, 205(451)x2, 215(473)x2, 222.5(490)x2
Box squat + purples: warmups, 160(352)x3, 162.5(358)x3x2
Racklockout(3board height): warmups, 130(286)x4, 155x(341)4, 180x4, 185(407)x4, 190(418)x4, 180x4

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 20x10x5
Leg Raises: 0x10x3
Stretch legs

Notes
My left glute/hamstring tie-in area has been tender since Tuesdays deadlift work. I have been foam rolling the hell outta it, and I used a slightly higher box today to work around it. I was favouring the right side, but there was no real pain during the movement. 3board was not a max, but getting close, and lockouts felt reasonably comfortable. Will continue to work on the hamstring tonight and see how I feel for deadlifts tomorrow.

Training - Tuesday 6th November 2007

Accessory
Sumo Deadlift (small plates+mats): warmups, 155(341)x2x2

Main Move
Bench(paused last rep): warmups, 105(231)x5, 125(275)x4, 145(319)x3x2, 167.5(367)x2x3, 157.5(347)x3x2, 145x4, 125x6, 105x8
Sumo Deadlifts: Warmups, 190(418)x3x3

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 16.5x10x5
Decline bench band GM: 2px10, 2p+2mx10x3

Notes
I didn't even really feel sore, just a little stiff before the session. By the time I got part way through the bench marathon, the fatigue was showing up. Less reps than last week, but still hard to complete. I dropped the weight on deadlifts slightly (2.5kg), but it was far better than last week anyway. Rushed the other movements as I was running late.

Training - Monday 5th November 2007

Main Move
Squat: warmups, 182.5(401)x3x3

Accessory
Bench+dM: warmups, 80(176)x5, 100(220)x4, 122.5(270)x3x5
Box squat: warmups, 160(352)x4x2

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 20x10x5
Leg Raises: 0+mx10x2, 0x10

Notes
Technique has improved over last week, and the difficulty has decreased. The weights will be increased slightly next time to bring it up to just above the 80% mark. Bench was light, and box squats were good. The weekly volume is lower than last week, but its not the lowest. But the most surprising thing is that I expected to be beaten down by this training, yet I feel pretty good (touch wood).

Training - Friday 2nd November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 5minutes moderate/hard

Accessory
Sumo Deadlift (small plates): warmups, 145(319)x2x2

Supplementary
Incline Bench: 60x4x2, 80x4, 100x4, 120x4
Dips: 0x5x6

Accessory
Sumo Deadlift against dP+dM: warmups, 155(341)x2x2

Supplementary
Decline bench band GM: px5, 2px5, 2lpx5, 2p+2mx5x2

Notes
Felt strangely good today, where as normally I would feel like death warmed up at 6am on a Friday morning. Hips/knees were a bit stiff first thing, and getting to the lower position was difficult. I was planning to use the small 20kg plates, but went with the 15's instead, about 75mm/3" more ROM, I may add a plate under my feet to bring that up around 100mm/4". Lifts were comfortably considering I was contemplating lowering the deadlift weights, guess that will just be Tuesday to cope with the two days in a row that I have to do. I had originally gone to 2 doubled purples on my lockout work (deadlift against bands), but i had only grabbed 2/35kg db's to hold the bands, and when I stood up with the weights, the bands lifted the Dbs off the floor. Guess it was more than 70kg worth of tension... doh. I will do the purples next week, but I will add 2/57kg Db rather than the light weights. Was a nice week.

Training - Thursday 1st November 2007

Warmups
Treadmill: 5minutes moderate

Accessory
2board (paused): warmups, 115(253)x5, 135(297)x4, 160(352)x3x2, 182.5(401)x3x5
Box squats + purples: warmups, 157.5(347)x3x3
Racklockouts: 135x5, 155(341)x5, 180(396)x3x5

Supplementary
Db Flyes: 20x10x5
Leg raises: 0x10x3

Notes
Felt like it was going forever, but it wasn't really hard. Felt drained afterwards, especially before I had my breakfast/coffee. Elbows were being a bit funky at the start of the squatting, but after a few sets were playing nicely.