May 03, 2011 - ME LB

Dynamic Warm-ups

Reverse Band 15" Block Deadlifts w/ Light Bands dbl
No Bands
135x5
185x5
Add Bands (-130lbs)
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
455x3
495x1
545x1
585x1
Added Straps
625x1
675x1
715x1
740x1
666x3

Harness Front Squats w/ Chains (+76lbs)
165x3
195x3
225x3
255x3
285x3 PR+10lbs
315x3 PR+40lbs

Glute Ham Raises
bw+5x8
bw+12.5x8
bw+20x8
bw+27.5x8 PR+2.5lbs

Reverse Hyperextensions
230x12
320x12
410x12 PR+10lbs

33 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Hot damn this was a great workout. I wasn't feeling that good as my allergies were bad all day (I drank at least two gallons of water before lifting to keep hydrated). The first exercise was very new to me. Never done block pulls outside of a contest and I haven't done any reverse band pulling since June of last year. And never with doubled bands. Borrowing this lift from Jenkins as he said this really helped him get his deadlift stronger during his prep for the Arnold. I had done a rough test the night before to figure out the band assistance ahead of time and found it to be about 155lbs of assistance. However, it turned out to be less than that, and even more so when I lower the pins 2" (I was paranoid that the bands were still helping at the top). I worked up to 585lbs double overhand before bringing out the straps. I severely underestimated what I could do on these. 715lbs was quite tough and really felt the strain though my entire posterior chain but I knew I had to try more. 740lbs just felt awful (in a good way?) and I had to "shake weight" it into lockout. Turns out that this effort caused me to burst a blood vessel in my left eye (didn't notice until the next morning). Down set was pretty rough but got a solid triple. Front squats with chains went better than expected. Big PR on these. The last set was extremely tough but I pushed through. I think I might be actually enjoying front squats now haha. Continuing to push the ghrs. Very very happy with my progress on these. I was a sweaty mess by the time I got to reverse hypers. I like how I have them set up with the three sets with large jumps. First set feels good and gets blood flowing, second set requires some effort and the third is hella heavy. Exhausted after all that and went home to stretch and eat.