My 3-week stint in Spain is over. Back home and back online. The hard disk on my laptop got corrupted last week and it not only hampered my work, but also kept me off the internet for almost a week.
As for training, we're now in the 3rd and final stage of TP's ultimate training. Results have been decent so far. Yesterday I came to the realization of why the weights of my squats and deadlifts have declined. TP does not have any ab exercises in the program and lower back is hit only with deadlifts. So the core wasn't really being stressed and as a result, my lifts have suffered. I intend to get back on track with some core exercises and hope to get my squat and deadlift poundages back up to where they used to be.
Pat, the training was key to keeping my sanity while on the road. I didn't find it to be a chore. I actually looked forward to the workouts. We were working 10-12 hour days, so the workouts were an excellent break. It was a bit different for me working out after work instead of early morning like I normally do, but I adjusted pretty well. It's hard to workout before work when the gym doesn't open until 9 AM.
Joycough - Scraped shins are a part of the game. I've heard of people using pants to prevent the scraping, too. I don't think baby powder will do much. As for a belt, I threw mine away a long time ago, and I don't use a belt for any exercise. That includes singles and 1 RMs. There are others who will disagree with that, but my opinion is that a belt is not needed.