Accipiter's Log: NOW WITH VIDEOS

Training Training Logs
721

[center]July 21, 2011 P.M. Upper[/center]

Incline Bench Press: 235*4 245*2 255*1 265*1
Pullups: 25*6 25*5 25*5
Doubled-Up Mini-Band Bench Press: 135*3 185*5 135*10
Standing Press: 135*6 145*3 145*4 155*3

Absolutely sweltering in Boston right now. Haven’t been able to cool down since this workout, but I’ve got a couple exciting developments, the first: VIDEOS! This first one is of the setup I’m using for the bands, and the second is my first ever attempt. I thoroughly enjoyed doing them. On the incline benching I just wanted to see where my 1 rep max was. Not too bad, my record is 275 @ 231 lbs, I’m 200 now, so 265 is good. Also, on standing presses I think I’m getting more into the groove on them. Instead of stopping at the bottom for a couple seconds I’m just banging out reps now. Great workout!

Here’s the setup:

Here’s my attempts at 135:

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[center]July 21, 2011 Progress Pics![/center]

WHEEEE. To celebrate 200 here’s some pics. First of all, I am absolutely soaked in these, it was post workout, my room didn’t have AC running in it all day…yeah. So here we go!

The following two are both back shots. I can never keep my lats flared for them…I promise they’re about 1.5" wider on both sides, but I just suck at posing. These shots came out pretty good actually, the muscles in my mid and upper back are absolutely beastly looking here, really happy with these, probably the best back shots I’ve ever had.

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2

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red hawt

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3/4 angle

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DONK

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here’s some delt…or something

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[center]July 22, 2011 Day Off[/center]
I decided that today I am going to take off, since I’ve been so beat lately with the 2 a days. Plus I’ve lifted at my 10 rep max on deadlifting for 3 straight weeks, so I’m going to let my lowerback & CNS recuperate, and then next Friday bag 400*10.

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[center]July 24, 2011 Conditioning[/center]

28kg KB Swing Tabata: 13,13,13,13,12,12,12,13
34.5" Plyometric Box Jumps: 30
35.5" Seated Plyometric Box Jumps: 20
Paloff Presses: 50*3
Ab-Wheel: 6

Good session, feels good to get back into it! Started putting plates under the box legs to up the height. I briefly thought about attempting to try jumps onto a medium box stacked on the tall, which would put me at 39.5". When I jump straight up my feet actually clear the top by about .5", but the risk is pretty high right now, I’m going to build up over the next couple weeks. I need to find a way to raise the boxes that’s safer than putting them on weight plates and putting the legs of the boxes on the hole in the middle. Seated jumps went well too. Good session, video of seated box jumps below!

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[center]July 24, 2011 How I’m Eating[/center]
Alright, so here’s how I’m eating for the next couple of weeks. My days where I just do conditioning is staying the same. My training days I’ve added in 4 oz (raw) of brown rice as a pre-workout fuel source. I’ve moved the fruit to post workout since it’s quicker digesting. By doing this 71% of my net carbs on workout days will be centered around my workouts, with another 22% of them coming at breakfast. I’ll also be doing incline walking fasted in the mornings of my upper-body days. Here’s a shot of my meals, with caloric breakdown for the day, it’s the most detailed I think I’ve ever posted online.

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[center]July 25, 2011[/center]
10% Incline Walking: 30 minutes / 2.72 MPH Average

I’m loathe to call incline walking conditioning, but whatever. I felt pretty good after this actually, my hips felt looser than usual, and my IT bands weren’t tight at all. Interesting.

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[center]July 25, 2011 Current Routine[/center]

[i]So here’s what I’m doing currently. As always, remember this: What works for me might not work for you. Also when you look at what someone is doing remember that may not be how they got to where they are, it’s just what they’re doing now. Although in this case a heavy/light upper/lower split is largely what got me where I am.

Previously I was doing another conditioning session consisting of tabatas, jumps, and rope work on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. I replaced that with incline walking Monday & Thursday mornings, and take Tuesday mornings off possibly. So here’s my current incarnation of the routine:[/i]

[u]Sunday (Conditioning)[/u]
Tabata (KB Swing Usually)
Plyometric Box Jumps: 30
Seated Box Jumps: 20ish
Paloff Presses
Ab Wheel

[u]Monday (A.M. Conditioning)[/u]
Incline Walking: 30 minutes

[u]Monday (P.M. Upper/Heavy)[/u]
BB Flat Bench: 4 sets, 3-5 reps*
BB Rows: 4 sets, 3-5 reps
BB Push Press: 3 sets, 1-3 reps
Pullup Variation: 3 sets high rep, low rep, whatever
Metabolic Movement (swings, rope slams, battling ropes, etc.).

[u]Tuesday (Lower/Light)[/u]
Squats: 3 sets, 10 reps
Front Squats: 3 sets, 1-3 reps
Core Movement (P.U.P.P., Plank Variation, Paloffs, Fallouts, Ab Wheel, etc.).

[u]Wednesday (Conditioning)[/u]
Sprinting: 800-1200m (still building towards 1200 now)

[u]Thursday (A.M. Conditioning)[/u]
Incline Walking: 30 minutes

[u]Thursday (P.M. Upper/Light)[/u]
BB Incline Bench: 3 sets, 8-10 reps**
Pullup Variation: 3 sets
BB Standing Press: 3 sets, 5-8 reps
Metabolic Movement (swings, rope slams, battling ropes, etc.).

[u]Friday (P.M. Lower/Heavy)[/u]
Deadlifts: 3 sets, 1-3 reps***
DB Jump Deads: 3 sets, 3-5 reps
Pullup Variation: 3 sets, 3-5 reps

[u]Saturday (Not A Thing)[/u]
Rest

*Currently for the next couple of weeks I am going to be trying to see how high I can get my 10 rep max.
**Currently since I’m going lighter on flat I’m doing low reps here for the next couple weeks.
*Currently going for 40010, at 4009 right now, when I hit 10 I will switch back to doing 1-3 rep sets and take a run at 500 lbs.

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[center]July 25, 2011 PM Upper Body[/center]

BB Flat Bench: 230*11 235*10 240*8
BB Rows: 240*6 245*5 250*3
BB Push Press: 185*2 185*2 205*1
Rope Pullups: 6, 5, 4
P.U.P.P.: 2:00

Apparently my current 10 rep max on benching is 235. Next week I’ll try for 240. BB Rows felt good, although again the squat rack was taken so I did them in the power cage. I have NO idea what happened on push pressing. I could barely lock out on any of the reps. I thought I had loaded 225 on instead of 185 those first 2 sets. Rope pullups were ok, pissed my grip gave out so quickly. In positive news I hit 2:00 on Push-Up Position Planks! I set the stopwatch on my cellphone since I already had it out for the videos of rope pullups that I took below. I just stared straight down at it and waited to hit 2 minutes. Talk about excruciating, but I did it! At the end I thought my abs were going to cramp on me.

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[center]July 26, 2011 Conditioning[/center]

Incline Walking: 30 minutes / 2.8mph

My legs weren’t fatigued in the least yesterday afternoon, so I figured I’d try some walking this morning, and see if it effects my squatting tonight at all. Again after I did the walking my hips and IT bands felt very relaxed and loose. As will be the case with each time I do this, I woke up and went to the gym fasted.

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[center]July 26, 2011 Lower/Light[/center]

BB Squats: 275*9 285*5 295*3 315*1
BB Front Squats: 205*3 225*2 245*1
Lateral Battling Ropes: 25, 20, 30

[i]Decent day. I’m feeling fuller during workouts on account of the rice, so hopefully it’s giving me energy when I work out. Little disappointed with the squat numbers. Wanted an extra rep on each of the first 3 sets. Honestly I miss heavy squatting, I think I may go back to that next week. I have some videos for everyone. First is a warmup set on squats with 225, I took this more as a form check:

Next I have a couple of Front Squat videos. The first is from the side, and the other is from the back, I think I may be flaring my knees too much on these, need to focus more on my drive when doing them and pushing through the floor while holding my knees in.

Finally here’s some lateral battling ropes, this was my final set I believe. Completely exhausted at this point. Good times!

[/i]

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[center]July 27, 2011[/center]
200m Sprints: 2
210m Sprint:1
100m Sprints: 4

200 meters is getting easier. That first 200m sprint could have been a 300 I realized after I was done. Also, the final 200 I realized I started 10 meters before the starting line on accident. There’s lines all over the track so it gets confusing sometimes. So technically I sprinted 1010 meters today. Good stuff! Was much cooler out today, made a huge difference.

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[center]July 28, 2011[/center]

BB Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 235*4/ 10 245*3/ 9 245*2/ 8
Unilateral DB Flat Bench: 90*6 100*5
Cable Rows: 140*10 160*7
BB Standing Press: 145*4 150*4 155*2
Doubled-Up Banded Bench Press: 135*6 185*5 205*4

Good session, felt a bit long though. The pullups went very well, I was pretty jacked up all workout. I think I have the timing of the rice pre workout down. I did it about a half hour earlier than usual and it worked MUCH Better than eating it right before going. I think I may move the unilateral DB bench to my other upper day, it would fit in better there. Progressing on standing press, really getting the hang of exploding off the bottom. On banded bench I need to use a heavier db like last week to anchor the bands. I used the 90s this week and they rolled a bit. Here’s a video of the unilateral bench set, for my left arm, with the 100 lbs. db:

A couple of pointers if you try these:

These will tax your core and stabilizer muscles to a ridiculous extent, do not let your body slide off the bench or 'slump' to one side, stay nice and straight on the bench
Keep your legs on the ground.  If the leg on the opposite side of your body that is moving the weight comes off the ground it's time to end the set, or use less weight.
The narrower you place your feet the more challenging it is to keep balanced, and the more intense the contraction of your core muscles. 
Do not grab onto the bench with your free hand, leave it in the air or off to the side.
Don't hold a DB in the other hand as this offsets the load and makes it much easier on your core and stabilizing muscles, which get absolutely torched doing these.
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[center]July 29, 2011 Lower/Heavy (400*10 Deadlift!)[/center]

BB DL: 400*10 425*1 435*1 315*5
Hanging Snatch Jumps: 135*4
Hang Cleans: 135*4
Rope Slams: 30, 25

[i]Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!! So when I hit the 8th rep at 400 I thought I was done, but I pushed for a 9th, and then got the 10th with what was probably hideous form, but I don’t care. I got 400 for 10 at a bodyweight of 200 lbs. I was a puddle of jelly after that set, but decided to try and keep going with the workout, so I did a couple more heavy sets of deads, one of which I will post a video of here (NEVER EVER USE THE FORM I DID HERE):

So yeah I was exhausted. If you ever find yourself deadlifting and this is what it looks like, lower the weight. Probably should not have done the extra deadlift work here, but whatever. The 315 for 5 was done with shoulders back, dragging the bar up the shin, etc. Basically I hate having my last set be with shitty form, so I did 315 with perfect form. Hanging Snatch Jumps were fun…but they hurt my knees, again I was exhausted. Tried hanging cleans afterward, and honestly my hips were having none of that. Here’s a video of the snatch jumps:

Finished off with some rope slams. Trying to use KBs to hold the rope down. I used the TRX frame that you can see the past couple months but it jumps all over the place when I do rope work. Here’s another video:

As always, cross-posted at http://hurrrrrrrrr.blogspot.com/
[/i]

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those rope slams look like a great way to let off steam. might try putting in a request for some (not that i’m terribly optimistic).

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[quote]alexus wrote:
those rope slams look like a great way to let off steam. might try putting in a request for some (not that i’m terribly optimistic).[/quote]

Everyone says that lol I’ve had people come up to me in the gym and ask to work in for that very reason. You could always buy your own rope and bring it with you to your gym