February 17, 2012 - Squat & February 18, 2012 - Press

Well, supposedly the trap bar shipped Friday so it could be here sooner than I expected. That would be great if it arrived before my next deadlift workout. Neck has been feeling better the last two days.

February 17, 2012 - Squat

Dynamic Warm-ups

21" Front Box Squats
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
345x5
375x5
405x3

Cable Hip Belt Squats
255x10
285x10
315x10
345x10

Glute Ham Raises
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12

27 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Mike had some more tweaks for me this workout. He wanted me to squat to a higher box. I jokingly suggested 3" higher than parallel and he said yes. The idea behind it is to continue emphasizing the leg drive for overhead and the increased weight should continue to build the torso strength. These felt nice and I did a bit more than I was expecting. Decided to try for a triple with 405lbs and just got it. Cable hip belt squatting was weird but most likely due to starting out with a lot more weight than last time (similar to csb gms). I wasn't expecting to move that kind of weight but I guess I'm just adapting to it. Glute hams are getting better but still not good enough.



February 18, 2012 - Press

Dynamic Warm-ups

12” Log Strict Presses
90x5
90x5
130x5
160x5
190x5
220x5
245x4

Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses
175x8
205x8
235x8 PR+5lbs
245x6 PR+1 rep

EZ Curl Bar Skull Crushers
90x12
90x12
90x12
90x12

34 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Mike wanted me to aim for heavier weights this time around. The goal weights he had suggested for the strict pressing was going to be tough, especially with the jumps. 220lbs felt tough today so I knew it was going to take a lot of effort to get anything with 245lbs. Manged to eek out four reps with that. Had to use fear adrenaline for incline since I had no one to spot me for the first three sets. The plan was to reach failure on the top two sets. Happy with the improvements but wished the last rep of the last two sets were cleaner. Finished up the workout with skull crushers. Haven't done these in a long while. First set, my elbows were quite achy but no real issues on the other sets. Hopefully I'll be making some increases in these weights next week.