Monday, December 31, 2012

December 31, 2012 – Day 1, Week 5

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Strict Presses – Up to several sets of 235×3

2) Barbell Close Grip Bench Presses – Up to 290x2

3) Neutral Grip Pullups – bw+25x3x6

4) Parallel Bar Dips – bw+110x2x8

5) Chinups – 75 reps total

6) 3" Thick Bar Curls – 80x3x8 (5 sec negatives)

7) Isometric Abs

32 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Back at it after the deload. With the Y closed tomorrow, I moved this workout up to today. Got most of the workout done before the Y closed at 4:00 and finished up the rest at Jenkins’. Overhead was flying up today, only issues came with lockout on some reps. Quite pleased with how these went. Went right in to some benching. A little rough on the first set but just plain crushed it on all the sets. Dip belt was being used so I took one of the ab slings and wrapped it around my neck to attach weights for neutral grip pull-ups. Certainly made them harder than they should have been but I was going against the clock. Dip belt was free after that so I could get in my dips right before the Y closed. Starting to get challenging again. Went over to Mike’s to finish the workout so a bit of a break in-between (drank a shake and ate some almonds). I was not looking forward to the chin-ups with the short rests. Goal was 75 reps total. Got a bunch on the first set but I suck at endurance and I ended up just get a few reps until finish. Tried out the new thick bar for curls. Figured since an axle isn’t that thick compared to my hands that this would be better suited for me, especially with it being the same handle thickness as my circus dumbbell. Strange using that thick of a bar. Finished up with abs and stretching.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

December 28, 2012 – Day 3, Week 4 & December 29, 2012 – Day 4, Week 4

December 28, 2012 – Day 3, Week 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Savickas Presses – Up to a few sets of 120x3

2) French Presses – 70x3x15

3) Band Pull-Aparts – 3×12 w/ Monster Mini Band

4) IYT’s – 5’sx3x12

5) Rope Cable Face Pulls – 90x3x10

6) Incline Tate Presses – 30’sx3x12

7) Hanging Leg Raises – 3×15

25 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Been trying to keep food intake high with handfuls of raw almonds throughout the day. Had pizzas a top of dinner the past two days. Easy stuff again. Like speed work for the z-pressing. Not much changing for most of this workout as it is already a light one for assistance to begin with. I've been doing the I's wrong so this was the first time doing them correctly so that was an interesting challenge. Moved through this as quick as I could to finish up the workout.

December 29, 2012 – Day 4, Week 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Deadlifts – Up to several sets of 365x1

2) Dumbbell Shrugs – 90’sx2x15

3) Bent Over Dead Stop Rows – 165x2x5

4) Glute Ham Raises – bwx3x8

5)  Farmer's Walk – 232x100’

6) Atlas Stones – 315x6 (58”)

Comments: Was going to be training at IronMill to shoot some video for my next article but we were snowed in when I woke up so not happening this weekend. Snow let up around noon so I was able to do some shoveling and make it out for the last deload session. New deadlift jack at Catalyst so happy about that. Worked up to speed pulls with 365lbs. Just dropped the weight from lockout to cut down on fatigue and to make me pull faster (if that makes sense). Last one felt perfect. Light weights and less sets made the assistance stuff go by quickly. Should have done something to warm-up for farmer's as going right in to it was kind of rough. Out of good tacky and the stone was really cutting into my stomach and thighs. Easy but not digging the pain. Might just have to skip that stone from now on haha.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

December 26, 2012 – Day 2, Week 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Squats – Up to a few sets of 300×3

2) Olympic Pause Squats – 235 for sets of 6

3) Weighted Crunches – 100x3x12

4) 12″ Log Cleans – 176x2x5

5) Land Mines – 25x4x8

27 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: While the weights are easy this week, I am still working hard. Attacking the weight problem with more food. Adding in bowls of homemade chilli and almond butter sandwiches in-between my usual meals and weight gain shakes. Quite glad this was an easy workout. While the weights felt light, I felt off. I broke in to a cold sweat starting the working sets on the squat. Not sure what was going on there but I pushed onward. Same deal as last time with the rests (except after the last set of squats). Workout was quick.

Monday, December 24, 2012

December 24, 2012 – Day 1, Week 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Strict Presses – Up to several sets of 165×3

2) Barbell Close Grip Bench Presses – 200 for sets of 3

3) Neutral Grip Pullups – bwx3x6

4) Incline Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows – 45’sx2x12

5) Incline Curls – 20’sx3x8

6) Isometric Abs

32 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: After so many tough weeks, starting a deload week. Good timing with my schedule being out of whack with the holidays. Hard to get excited for a purposely easy workout. Some aches in my shoulders and biceps but everything was super easy. Took about a minute rest between each set and each exercise so I got done quick. Part of it was just to keep it interesting and the other bit was that the gym was closing soon. Went home to stretch.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

December 18, 2012 - December 22, 2012

December 18, 2012 – Day 1, Week 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Strict Presses – Up to several sets of 245×1

2) Barbell Close Grip Bench Presses w/ 50lbs of Chains – 275 for sets of 3

3) Parallel Bar Dips – bw+105x3x6

4) Neutral Grip Pullups – bw+10x5x8

5) Incline Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows – 85’sx3x12

6) Chinups/Incline Curls – bw/30’sx3x8/15

7) Isometric Abs

28 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Felt confident this time going in to this workout. I tend to do better with singles. Much harder to screw up on them. Played around with hand spacing on these to find where I am strongest. I think my hands were too wide last week. None of the reps this week or last have felt like that first week of triples with 225lbs. Did the warm-up set on benching like last time. Rushed these a bit, especially the last set as I had some kid (who I don’t think was all there) try to strip down my weights. The reps still felt good though it is definitely getting tougher. Dips are still going strong. I did more warm-up sets than last time to get ready for the big weights. Neutral grip pullups were quite tough with the increase in reps. Incline chest supported rows were good too. The superset came back with a vengeance this time. Same reps for chins but more reps on the curls. Overall, I’m enjoying the feeling the extra volume is having on my upper back. Finished up with the iso holds.

December 19, 2012 – Day 2, Week 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Squats – Up to several sets of 450×1

2) Olympic Pause Squats – 325 for sets of 6

3) Weighted Crunches – 100x3x12

4) 12″ Log Cleans – 230x3x5

5) One Legged Romanian Dumbbell Deadlifts – 90’sx2x3

6) Land Mines – 25x4x8

26 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: As with the pressing, I felt good going in with the singles on squats. Can put all my focus on just one rep. I was also working on hand spacing for these as well, trying to find the setup that felt the best. Weight was light for the pause oly squats but again fatigue struck. First set felt tougher than the last time but I was in control. Back relaxed on one of the reps of the second set which made it really tough to recover. At this point, the crunches are just there. Active rest if you will. Log cleans again as my next possible contest has log press. Feeling much easier this time, no exhaustion at all. Dumbbell deads were good but quite a bit tougher than last time. I still did them with no rest between sets but it was quite challenging to do so. Landmines finished up the workout and I did them in between putting weights away.

December 21, 2012 – Day 3, Week 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Savickas Presses – Several singles with 200

2) French Presses – 110x3x15

3) Band Pull-Aparts – 3×12 w/ Monster Mini Band

4) IYT’s – 5’sx3x12

5) Rope Cable Face Pulls – 90x3x10

6) Incline Tate Presses – 50’sx5x13

7) Hanging Leg Raises – 3×15

28 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: This workout is starting get serious, at least with the z-presses and tates. Pressing was quite easy still. Only issue was on one set where the weight got out in front of me and made for a tougher than usual lift. French pressing was quite exhausting, with noticeable fatigue on the last few reps of each set. Unsure if this is from the heavy pressing this week and not recovering enough or what. As last time, I tried to keep the rests shorter than last time. On band scap stuff I tried gripping the bands closer to make the tension greater. Tates were markedly tougher this time with the increased weight and reps. Guess I should have kept my mouth shut about them being really easy last time haha. Finished up with some easy leg raises.

December 22, 2012 – Day 4, Week 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Deadlifts – Up to 495 for many sets of 3 with short rest

2) Dumbbell Shrugs – 165’sx3x15

3) Bent Over Dead Stop Rows – 295x3x5

4) Glute Ham Raises – bwx3x8

5) Frame Carries – 610 for sets of 100’

6) Atlas Stones – 385 for sets of 6 (58”)

Comments: With how things went last week and with my deadlift max down quite a bit, this workout had an adjustment. No heavy triple this time, just many many sets of three with 495lbs. Best these have felt though. Probably has a lot to do with not doing a heavy triple beforehand as well. Went to Jenkins right after this to continue the workout. Shrugs were good but way tougher than last time. I’d used the heaviest pair at the gym and I thought they were only 150lbs so quite big jump from last time. My bad. Did several warm-ups for the rows. Feeling better with these. Glute hams easy but still feeling some tension in my right hamstring. Next was farmer’s but I figured it would be easier to just use the heavy frame for carries. Did these outside where it was close to freezing and high winds were howling. This plus the thick handles made it interesting. Still easy enough. Stones were tough. I didn’t want to go another round with our dirtiest stone so I went up to the next weight, the 385lbs. Every reps was hard fought. The tapes slid off my right arm halfway through so I had to ditch it. Got some nice bruises now. I was supposed to do another event but I was running late to a family engagement and had to leave.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

December 15, 2012 – Day 4, Week 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Deadlifts – Up to 560×1 (supposed to a triple)

2) Deadlifts – 495 for sets of 3 with short rest

3) Dumbbell Shrugs – 140’sx3x15

4) Bent Over Dead Stop Rows – 285x3x5

5) Glute Ham Raises – bwx3x7

6) Sled Drags – 670 for sets of 77’

7) Atlas Stones – 365 for sets of 6 (58”)

8) Yoke – 750 for sets of 50’

Comments: I wasn't as nervous as I was this time last week as I knew the workout was doable. Perhaps that confidence was to my disadvantage. Same plan as last time, just earlier in the day. Had a bad case of indigestion during this workout. I was feeling alright warming up, just a tad slower than last week. Only got a single with the heavy triple. Couldn't budge it for another rep. Can't tell you how angry and defeated I felt. A heart-breaker moment if there ever was one. Almost killed the whole workout. Took a lot of willpower to keep it together and continue. You can imagine how worried that had me for the sets with 495lbs. The first set felt like death but some how I continued and did set after set after set. Just about vomited doing the last rep of the last set. Shrugs were still pretty easy. Had to use the plate loadable handles since the gym only goes up to 120's. Noticeably tougher but still really easy. Beat feet over to the other gym after the shrugs. I was solo again as Jenkins wasn't feeling well. Did several warm-ups for the rows. No issues in my arms this time. Glute hams were pretty much the same as last time. Kind of thankful for that as my right hamstring was really hating me at this point. Sled drags were on the menu for tonight. Loaded up the prowler with a lot of plates and pull on the turf. Went down and then back for about 77' total. Not bad, my foot work was good. Coming back was noticeably harder than the first leg. No help again for stones so I just used tape this time. I knew that 335lbs would be way too easy so I wen with the 365lbs stone. The thing has got to be the worst stone to lift. The thing was poorly cured and was never sealed so it is just covered in dirt and dust, with pieces of concrete coming off of it. Despite all of that, it was really strong lifting. I would never have thought that my stones would still be this strong after the vicious deadlifting. I looked like I had belly flopped into freshly poured cement by the time I was done. Much easier clean up this time and already had the yoke ready to go. Did picks to warm-up. No quad cramping this time but my knees were sore. I did the two runs with 750lbs without issue. First run was tough but the second was much easier. Almost as long of a workout as last time. Went home and ate seven t-bone steaks.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

December 14, 2012 – Day 3, Week 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Savickas Presses – Many singles with 185

2) French Presses – 100x3x15

3) Band Pull-Aparts – 3×12 w/ Monster Mini Band

4) IYT’s – 5’sx3x12

5) Rope Cable Face Pulls – 90x3x10

6) Incline Tate Presses – 45’sx5x11

7) Hanging Leg Raises – 3×15

24 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: I knew what to expect this time with this assistance based workout. Left shoulder has felt a little off since Monday and I had an adjustment done on it yesterday that seemed to make it feel better for a while. Z-pressing started off a little rough with the working weight. Actually getting a sweat going this time. I made a correction by tensing a few seconds before the press and that made it much smoother. French presses went better than last time. Decent pump from these and less elbow irritation. Took shorter rests than last time. Most of the workout was the same from last week so I tried to take shorter rests periods than before while still putting in the work. Tates were stupid easy this time, shockingly so I'd say. Guess I'm a quick learner. Finished up with leg raises. Stretched a little to finish the day.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

December 11, 2012 – Day 1, Week 2 & December 12, 2012 – Day 2, Week 2

December 11, 2012 – Day 1, Week 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Strict Presses – Up to several sets of 235x2

2) Barbell Close Grip Bench Presses w/ 50lbs of Chains – 265 for sets of 3

3) Parallel Bar Dips – bw+90x3x6

4) Neutral Grip Pullups – bw+10x5x6

5) Incline Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows – 80’sx3x12

6) Chinups/Incline Curls – bw/30’sx3x8/10

7) Isometric Abs

33 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Felt off going in to the workout today. All of the overhead pressing felt heavy. The doubles were all hard fought. I did a warm-up set for the benching this time. Left shoulder was achy. Still quite good but nowhere near as easy as last time. Despite doubling the weight for dips, they didn't feel that much harder than last week. I did some warm-up sets as I was concerned with how heavy everything had felt so far. These were the first thing of the workout to feel good. Neutral grip pullups went well, felt slightly easier than last time. Right biceps was getting sore and really pumped. Incline chest supported rows were good as well, the increased weight and decreased reps were to my advantage. Very explosive reps. I was prepared for the superset this time. More reps on chins and less on the curls equaled it out but it was still very challenging again. Finished up with the iso holds. Didn't check the time once during these so getting better at blocking out the pain. Good deal of stretching afterwards.


December 12, 2012 – Day 2, Week 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Squats – Up to several sets of 430x2

2) Olympic Pause Squats – 315 for sets of 6

3) Weighted Crunches – 100x3x12

4) 12" Log Cleans – 230x3x5

5) One Legged Romanian Dumbbell Deadlifts – 80’sx2x3

6) Land Mines – 25x4x8

31 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Mixed feelings going into the workout. On one hand, I did quite well last time but I had been fresh. Weights felt heavy today too. Not as tough as pressing was yesterday though. Weight was light for the pause oly squats but again fatigue struck. First set felt tougher than the last time but I was in control. Felt comfortable with the crunches this time. Much more natural. Did log cleans this time for the event training as most of the shows that may be open in the Spring have log. Had good hip drive but really feeling exhausted on these. Just got to stay familiar. Dumbbell deads were Romanian style. Really easy this time and I wanted to speed up the workout so I did the sets with no rest. Landmines finished up the workout and I did them in between putting weights away.

Monday, December 10, 2012

December 04, 2012 - December 08, 2012

Still alive, just distracted. I'm working with Josh Bryant to get my strength up. No videos for a while I think.

December 04, 2012 – Day 1, Week 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Strict Presses – Up to several sets of 225x3

2) Barbell Close Grip Bench Presses w/ 50lbs of Chains – 245 for sets of 3

3) Parallel Bar Dips – bw+45x3x6

4) Neutral Grip Pullups – bw+10x5x5

5) Incline Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows – 75’sx3x15

6) Chinups/Incline Curls – bw/25’sx3x6/15

7) Isometric Abs

30 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: First day of training. I was uncertain how things would go since I had just done three weeks of workouts and going straight into this. Haven’t been doing much strict pressing, mostly jerks as of late since switching from push pressing. Working sets were about 30lbs less than my best triple so I knew it would be interesting. I knew it was doable. First set felt like garbage. Nerves I think. Came back for the second and just made it look stupid. Confidence restored. I was content and none of the other sets felt that easy. Complacency I think. For benching, I didn’t do any warm-ups. I figured that since the weight wasn’t that bad I had just done a lot of reps with close to the same weight (minus chains) on overhead strict pressing, I’d be fine. Only issue I had was the first set as the chain weight at the top was kind of a shock from the weight I was using on overhead. Really quite easy, speed weight if I felt like it. Didn’t take much rest for the dips as I had been using more than twice that weight for more reps and sets last week. Unsure of the intent of these yet, whether it be something light or if just testing where I’m at with them. Imagine this exercise will be difficult next time. I had some concern about the pull-ups, since my right biceps had been acting up the last time I tried pull-ups. No issues this time which was good. Incline chest supported rows were next. Weight just flew up for the first ten reps but got really tough for the last five. My back is explosive, not too used to higher reps at this time. Hopefully this changes. The superset was just plain torture. The chin-ups were fine but damn those dumbbell curls. Light weight and high reps make Craig something something. I’m not too sure what these are meant to help with for my strength but these were the toughest thing in the whole workout. Finished up with the iso holds. Used to do these several years ago. Not much to say here other than I looked at my watch earlier on each set to see how much time was left. Good deal of stretching afterwards.

December 06, 2012 – Day 2, Week 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Squats – Up to several sets of 410x3

2) Olympic Pause Squats – 300 for sets of 6

3) Weighted Crunches – 100x3x12

4) Axle Cleans – 226x3x3

5) One Legged Dumbbell Deadlifts – 75’sx2x3

6) Land Mines – 25x4x8

36 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Yesterday was just a butthole of a day. Work was stressful, my cold got worse, I threw up my lunch and the Crossfit/Strongman gym was doing a kids night so I couldn’t do any squatting. I felt tons better today. I was nervous going in to the squats as the week before I had worked up to a tough triple with 10lbs more than the working sets and was having issues with 90lbs less for the work sets. I stayed positive and it turned out better than expected. This time the second set was the worst set. Breathing quite hard and my legs and glutes were cramping. Weight was light for the pause oly squats but the fatigue in my legs had me a little worried. I wasn’t’ sure with the crunches what style I was supposed to do. I elected the behind the head style with a dumbbell. Used to doing situps, crunches have a really short range of motion. Might actually be a good thing as less stress to the lower back and it will help me get my upper torso stronger for pulls. Next was my choice for events at 70%. Didn’t have much to work with at the Y (had meant to do this workout at strongman gym) so I decided to work on implement cleans. Arms were sore from Day 1 so I did axle rather than log. Really hit or miss with these. Hard to explode when legs were dead from all the squats. Whatever, the goal is strength and just keeping events light to stay familiar with them. Dumbbell deads were awkward. I’ve done RDL’s this style but I figured it would say RDL is that was how I was to do them. Just got to get used to the motor patterns for this lift. Weight was easy but I was wobbling like a fawn learning to walk. Not that that is a bad thing. I can see these helping the pull off the ground with how much force I have to put into to it to break the weights. Landmines were just ho hum. Shoulders were more sore than abs from these. They were still quite fatigued from Day 1. Did a ton of stretching after this one.

December 07, 2012 – Day 3, Week 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Savickas Presses – Many singles with 175

2) French Presses – 90x3x15

3) Band Pull-Aparts – 3x12 w/ Monster Mini Band

4) IYT’s – 5’sx3x12

5) Rope Cable Face Pulls – 90x3x10

6) Incline Tate Presses – 40’sx5x15

7) Hanging Leg Raises – 3x15

31 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Hard to get psyched for this workout like the previous two as it is was mostly high rep stuff on isolation lifts. Went to the chiro before this workout. Used to do the z-presses a lot when I started out but stopped because it wasn’t doing much for my press. Rest was only 30 seconds and since my legs were sore, I just sat on the ground the whole time rather than get up between each single. Shoulders were sore the first few and I was actually having some trouble keeping the bar close to my throat. Dent in the rack pins I think. Could have kept going and going if I had to. I was slightly unsure with the triceps work. Elbow extension based stuff tends to bother me but I pushed onward. I did these seated with no back support. I know there are several variations of this lift though. I let my elbows splay outward. Really big pump in my triceps. From there I went to the scap band work. I only had my monster mini bands but they were a decent challenge. IYT’s were interesting. I’ve done similar lifts like this but rarely as one big set. Essentially 36 reps a set and I started to feel these by the end. Face pulls were way easier than I expected after all the upper traps stuff. Like using the heaviest resistance on a rowing machine. Warming up really. Tates were another iffy one for me. Never tried this much weight on them as I usually just plain suck at elbow extension. I also read it as three sets but it dawned on me upon review that I had to do five. Really awkward lifting. Weight wasn’t much issue but the complexity was beyond my reptilian brain at the time haha. I’m sure I’ll be much more graceful next time. Finished up with leg raises. Did my best to give the exercise the proper respect and not treat it like a cool down. Not bad. Stretched to finish the day.

December 08, 2012 – Day 4, Week 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

1) Deadlifts – Up to 555x3

2) Deadlifts – 495 for sets of 3 with short rest

3) Dumbbell Shrugs – 120’sx3x15

4) Bent Over Dead Stop Rows – 275x3x5

5) Glute Ham Raises – bwx3x6

6) Farmer’s Walk – 252 for sets of 200’ (turn at 100’)

7) Atlas Stones – 335 for sets of 6 (58”)

8) Yoke – 700 for sets of 50’

Comments: I was extremely nervous going in to this workout. Just half of this workout was going to be a ton of effort to complete. I’d mention this and told it was not impossible, just very tough. The weights were being based off of my all-time best pull and I felt I was not at that level yet. I had missed a 600lbs pull six months ago. I was going to give myself another day of rest but the opportunity to get the workout in today was too good to pass up. Jenkins was going to be training events that evening so that meant I could go to the strongman gym to train. I went to the local Y to start the workout. I decided to go back to just grip and rip style for deadlifts, at least for the time being. I’m not aiming for any contests until Spring and when I have a specific event, I’ll keep that in mind for the training. Despite being beat up from all the squatting, I felt good on the pulls. 555lbs felt like an all-out effort in keeping strict form. Had to step back to get myself ready for the third rep. The speed pulls actually had me more concerned than the heavy triple with the short rests. The fear of failure can be paralyzing. I took a long rest to psyche myself for it and pulled the first set easy. Made short work of the second. I noticed a slow down on the third and they got harder with each set. I switched my grip half way through. Hands were understandably sore from this. Shrugs were almost like a rest period, really easy. Unsure if it was just from being so pumped from the pulls or what. Felt like I could have done all the reps in one set if I had to. Rows were weird. I was trying to hurry to get to the other gym at this point. I used straps to save my hands and to keep me from pulling with my biceps so much. First set was awkward, should have done some warm-ups I think. Staying bent over like that for the whole set made me feel nauseous. The other two sets were much smoother. Beat feet across the county line to the other gym. Jenkins was leaving but I got to stay and do the rest of the workout. Glute hams were pretty much just active rest while I setup the farmer’s walk course. I was really dreading these since I knew I would be beat from deadlifts and my legs were clumsy from squatting soreness. Farmer’s generally don’t have turns much anymore but I knew that the idea was to build up the grip strength. Took really long breaks between the runs. First run I made it most of the way back before I dropped them. Fell a bit shorter of that on the second run. The final run was just awful. I never recovered from the turn and the implements got caught inside each other so I was really off balance and dropped them short of the halfway mark on the return trip. My hands were just raw and throbbing at this point and my second pick was poor, dropping them about 20’ short of the end. Repicked and finished it. Took a while setting up stones and putting away the farmer’s walk stuff. Never tried putting on the stone sleeves solo. I couldn’t get them tight enough to keep them from slipping which made the stone lifting much tougher than it should have been. Despite all that work, the picks and the extensions were spot on for the most part. Took a lot of effort to clean up before going to yoke. Did picks to warm-up. My quads cramped up hard just doing those. I did the two runs with 700lbs without issue. My upper back on the left side did start to bother me about 15’ from the finish on the second set. Including the driving time, this workout took me 5 hours to complete. Super exhausted and it was way too late to get in stretching if I wanted to eat dinner before 12:00AM.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

December 02, 2012 – Press Training

Dynamic Warm-ups

Close Grip Barbell Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
135x2
185x2
225x1
265x1
290x2
305x2
325x2
280x8

Wide Grip Barbell Bench Presses (paused)
260x6
260x6

Close Grip Barbell Dead Presses (short rests)
300x1
300x1
300x1
300x1
300x1
300x1

Parallel Bar Dips
bwx3
bw+50x3
bw+100x8
bw+100x8
bw+100x8
bw+100x8

32 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Meant to do this workout yesterday but I was way too beat from helping run the contest. Also got home at 9 so there wouldn't have been a chance of getting in the workout by that time haha. Workout felt easier than last time with the regular benching. Cut the volume a little working up to the work sets. Really surprised how even with the 15lbs increases each week that the wide grip stuff still feels about the same difficulty. 10lbs was surprisingly a big jump for the dead presses. Actually some straining on some of the singles. Finished up with dips. Dropped a set and increased the reps. Getting challenging now. Lots of stretching for this one.

November 30, 2012 – Squat Training

Workout started out weird as some high school aged girls asked me to be part of their anatomy video project (I know). I thought it would be just filming me workout (which I do already) but they wanted me to rotate my wrist a couple times. It was either that or flex my ankles. Did I mention I had to pick an animal? Apparently they are on some sort of safari to locate animals doing exercises (I know). My choices were either cheetah or elephant. Cheetah for me. So, yeah. That happened.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Squats
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x1
315x1
355x1
385x1
420x3
320x3
320x3
320x3
320x3
320x3
320x3
320x3

Safety Squat Bar Dead Squats (short rests)
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1

One Legged Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
80x8/8
80x8/8
80x8/8

26 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Pretty good lifting. Still working with using a wider stance on squats. Still feels weird as my hips are taking a bit of the force and are being the stopping point rather than having the full range of motion to go butt to ankles like usual. Top set felt alright, nothing special. I still feel more comfortable with a narrower stance. I don't feel like I can squat fast with the wider stance just yet. No belt for these sets. Dead squats were kind of tough to get under. Camera ate one of the singles so that didn't show up. Dumbbell deads felt a lot better this time. No real issues with my one knee and my balance felt better. I was actually planning for lower reps but the weight I picked felt so easy. No abs, just kind of superfluous to me.