September 30, 2014 - October 11, 2014: Training and Thoughts

I apologize for the lack of updates. I’ve still been training but I have been distracted. I’ve been sick since September 18 with some kind of cold. This was also the last day I saw my grandfather alive. Been trying not to think about it by burying myself in work and going to sleep early the whole week leading up to the funeral. But back to training. After a failed deadlift workout, I took time off to plot and plan. I’m adjusting my training with a lot of ideas from Josh Bryant for my gym lifting, competing at Maryland’s Strongest Man on November 1 and then possibly going from there to another contest or off-season work. Nationals is going to be much closer this year (Iowa) so that is plus. It also sounds like a Giants Live qualifier is happening in May in Florida. It is interesting but I always get spanked at this bigger shows. Speaking of Maryland’s Strongest Man, the arm-over-arm pull had to be replaced with an 800lbs frame hold. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal but it could be troublesome for me with lack of grip training and my right arm still not 100%. Will just have to see I guess.

September 30, 2014 – Week 11, Day 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

2 3/8" Thick Bar Clean and Jerks (clean once)
81x5
81x5
125x5
150x3
175x3
200x1

225x1
250x6
255x6

260x6
265x6 PR+5lbs

Incline Barbell Bench Presses
135x3
185x3
235x6
240x6
245x6
250x6

EZ Curl Bar Skull Crushers
110x15

110x15

110x15

110x15

110x15

Triceps Pushdowns
80x15
80x15
80x15
80x15
80x15

Band Face Pulls (100 total)
SBx38/21/18/19/4

Band Pull A-parts (100 total)
MBx55/32/13

31 Minutes of Stretching

Comments:  Still feeling under the weather. Tried for some lower reps for the thick bar stuff and managed to improve a little bit from last week. The thick bar is a bit off center and I grabbed it wrong on the last set so it made things a bit tricky but I was able to adjust. Incline still sucky as always after jerks. Pretty much rest-pausing the sets to get the reps. I think it is just a bit too much for me to ask of myself right now. My right arm is having issues with locking out the weights on pressing exercises (both the shoulder joint and elbow). I may need to look into this deeper. Did the same weights for all sets on both skulls and pushdowns and I tried to work fast through the sets. Increased band tension for face pulls and that was tough. Continuing to improve my pull a-parts.

October 1, 2014 – Week 11, Day 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

Deadlifts
135x5
225x3
315x1
Add Straps
405x1
495x1

545x3

545x3

545x3

545x1

Comments: I was nervous going into this workout as I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the deadlifting done. Very brief warm-up for this one as I wanted my back fresh. 495lbs moved pretty good so I was sure I could manage. 545lbs was tough but it didn’t fell like the workload would be impossible. Second set felt better than the first. I’m not sure what happened for the fourth set but I lost my focus and I barely grinded out the single. Trying to get another rep didn’t feel right and I shut down the workout.

October 7, 2014 – Week 12, Day 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

Axle Clean and Jerks (clean once)
116x5
116x5
160x3
160x3
200x1

230x1
260x3
260x3

260x3
260x3

260x3

260x8/3/1

EZ Curl Bar Skull Crushers
120x15

120x15

120x15

120x15

120x15

Triceps Pushdowns
85x15
85x15
85x15
85x15
85x15

Band Face Pulls (100 total)
SBx44/23/18/15

Band Pull A-parts (100 total)
MBx60/30/10

27 Minutes of Stretching

Comments:  Haven’t done anything since the last workout. Trying to get over this illness, dealing with apathy, fear of failure and paralysis by analysis. Finally got my head straight and went to the gym. Ditched the think bar because it has been bugging my wrists. Axle went well. The rep scheme is based off of something Josh Bryant had me doing a few years ago. Last was a killer as I did as many as I could, rested 30 seconds, did as many as I could and then rested another 30 seconds another set. Barely missed a ninth rep with 260lbs with my right arm just not locking it out. I know the rests weren’t strict 30 seconds as I was very much out of breath and had issues focusing enough to rewrap my wrist wraps. I dropped the incline presses from this day and moved on with my usual rep work for triceps and upper back.

October 8, 2014 – Week 12, Day 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

Deadlifts
135x5
225x3
315x1
Add Straps
405x1
495x1
535x3
425x4

425x4

425x4

425x4

425x4

425x4

3” Platform Deadlifts w/ Squat Bar
395x6

395x6

Hammer Strength Iso Rows
+270x3
+360x3
+450x1
+500x8 PR+30lbs
+500x8

+500x8

Hammer Grip Pullups
bwx1
bw+25x5
bw+25x5

bw+25x5

bw+25x5

bw+25x5

33 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Deadlift day redux. Another Josh Bryant influenced session. Hit the goal triple and then do many sets with short rests, pulling them as fast as I could. 535lbs felt heavier than 545lbs last week but I figured it would be considering the number of reps I did with it last week. The jumps I have planned should allow me to hit the next two sessions of triples even if I feel off. I’m glad I only did six sets of fast pulls as this was tough and they were not very fast by the end. After all that, I took off my belt, swapped out the deadlift bar for the thick squat bar and stood on the crash mats for platform pulls. These weren’t too bad. I did them with the squat bar and no belt to make them tougher. One thing I did notice during this workout is that my quads were locking out before my back and my lockouts felt a bit weird. Upper back stuff was next and I went up a bit on the iso rows. Haven’t really done pull-ups in some time and luckily it didn’t bother my biceps. I was tempted to do more stuff but it was already quite late and I knew this wasn’t my only lower body session for the week.

October 10, 2014 – Week 12, Day 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

Front Squats
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
265x1
310x3
310x3

310x3

310x3

310x3

310x8 PR+45lbs & 1 rep/3/2

Paused Front Squats (5 seconds)

225x6

225x6

Crappy Glute Ham Raises
bwx10
bwx10

bwx10

bwx10

Hammer Strength Leg Press Mule Kicks

+200x6/6

+200x6/6

+200x6/6

33 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Doing a front squat day after a day’s rest like Jenkins used to do. Again, JB influenced. Same scheme as the axle clean and jerks with front squats. I took shorter rests than I did for the overhead as I felt I was recovering nicely between sets (plus I’m not continentaling the weight haha). Last set was a killer as my quads started to cramp up after four reps. Crushed my old rep PR the first go around and managed a total of 5 more with the two rest pause sets. I was much better at sticking to the 30 seconds rest this time. After that, I took off my belt and did some paused front squats. I’ve done paused back squats and oly squats before but not with very long pauses. Each rep was held in the hole for five seconds (could have been more as I tend to slow count haha). My left ankle didn’t care for this. I then did a few sets of crappy ghrs and did a glute intensive single leg exercise for low reps on the leg press. Good thing no one else was at the gym as it looks indecent haha. I was going to do some abs but the two exercises I wanted to do felt way too easy and I felt the beltless pause work and the beltless pulls this week were enough.

October 11, 2014 – Week 12, Day 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

Axle Strict Presses
72x5

94x5

116x3
138x3
160x1
185x1

210x3
210x3

210x3
210x3

210x3

210x7/4/2

Barbell Bench Press w/SlingShot

225x3

225x3

275x1

315x1

365x4

365x4

365x4

365x4

Elevated Incline Push-ups

bwx10

bwx10

bwx10

bwx10

bwx10

Super Set: Dumbbell Front Raises/Dumbbell Lateral Raises

27.5'sx10/10

27.5'sx10/10

27.5'sx10/10

27.5'sx10/10

27.5'sx10/10

Band Triceps Pushdowns (100 total)

SBx55/30/15

29 Minutes of Stretching  

Comments:  Strict press session day. No thick bar because reasons. Even though my best strict press was 280lbs, I lowered that due to knowing I can’t budge that weight right now. 262lbs is my estimated max for the numbers I’m using. Same deal as jerks and front squats.  Took a while for me to feel comfortable. Widened my grip for the fourth set and that felt a lot better. Drop set went well, I think the big surprise for me was getting four on the second leg. Took some time before moving on to benching with the SlingShot. I wanted to make sure my right elbow and shoulder were ok.  Felt pretty heavy but I managed to do my sets. Elevated push-ups again. I increased the incline some more to make it tougher. Shoulders were beat and I had to rest on the laterals so I’ll be sticking at this weight another week. Triceps went well and I was able to cut down on the total sets.