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.