Monday 11/16
KB Swings 15 x 10 x 88
KB Clean-N-Press 2 x 2 x 88
Tuesday 11/17
Deadlift
2x225
2x235
2x245
2x255
2x265
2x275
2x275
2x295
2x295
2x295
2x295
2x295
2x295
2x295
10x225
Re: my post about the half-hour deadlift challenge on the prior page, I think this type of workout is very enjoyable and compatible with my goals. This morning I was short on time (got to gym at 6:10, have to be in office by 7:30 with time to walk home, shower, and dress) so I did a double EMOM for 14 minutes - slowly ramping up - and then a set of 10 x 225 in the last minute.
I’ll work this up in iterative fashion. Get my way up to finishing 15 minutes with a little heavier weight (maybe straight 15 x 2 x 275) then drop the weight a little, move up to 20 minutes and build up the weight until I can do 20 x 2 x 275, etc, then move up to 25 minutes and repeat, and so on. Just keep adding total tonnage until I can complete the full 30 x 2 x 315.
Wednesday 11/18
Deadlift
27 x 2 x 225
Went to the gym this morning early, without much desire to think or plan a workout. So I just loaded a bar with 225 and started pulling doubles, between sets cleaning up the gym (putting back plates, organizing the weight trees so the matching plates were in the right place, etc).
Thursday 11/19
A1. Incline Bench 6 x 135
A2. DB Clean-N-Press 2 x 50, 50, 55, 55, 60, 60
Six rounds
B1. Bench Press 6 x 135
B2. DB Clean-N-Press 2 x 65, 65, 70, 70, 75, 75
Six rounds.
C1. Lat Pulldown 6 x 115
C2. DB Clean-N-Press 2 x 75, 75, 75, 75, 75, 75
Six rounds
D1. DB Clean-N-Press 2 x 85, 85, 85
Obviously the dumbbell clean and presses were the meat of the workout here. The other stuff was kind of just extra work to get my shoulders warmed up and give a little extra volume.
Good job with all the deadlifting!
Friday 11/20
Deadlift
15 x 2 x 300
Sorta in the EMOM style but with just a little more rest between sets (I set my timer to do one set every 80 seconds). Really pleased with this, actually. Felt progressively stronger as I went on, and I feel like a million bucks right now (an hour after the workout). Just going to keep working towards those 30 x 2 x 315 / max single 405 goals.
Saturday 11/21 (AM)
KB & DB Circuit (25 Min)
Saturday 11/21 (PM)
DB Clean-N-Press 24 x 2 x 50
Traveling with my fiancée this weekend; she’s performing at Notre Dame tomorrow. We worked out together in our hotel this AM…I brought our “travel” KB (a 30 pounder, travels easily) so we switched off - I did a set of snatches while she did a dumbbell exercise, then she’d do swings while I did that same DB exercise.
She had to go to rehearsal this afternoon, so at halftime of the big OSU-MSU football game I went downstairs and did a quick session of 1-arm DB clean and presses. Feel like I’ve earned an extra treat at dinner now.
Sunday 11/22
DB Clean-N-Press 40 x 2 x 50
Monday 11/23
Deadlift
30 x 2 x 235 (EMOM)
OK. I think the best way to attack this will be just doing straight linear progression, once a week (ideally, every Monday) performing the half-hour deadlift workout from Dan John’s recent article, adding 5-10 pounds per week until I hit a stall. Will re-evaluate when I reach a weight where I cannot complete all 60 reps.
Tuesday 11/24
DB Clean-N-Press
5 x 2 x 50
5 x 2 x 55
3 x 2 x 60
3 x 2 x 65
2 x 2 x 70
2 x 2 x 75
2 x 2 x 80
3 x 2 x 85
(for clarity, these are 1-arm clean and presses, so all of these sets of “2 reps” are 1 right hand, 1 left hand; this was a total of 25 sets of 2 reps, taking a bunch at the start with the 50 and 55 to warm up before getting to the heavier work)
Wednesday 11/25
Deadlift
5x135
5x185
1x225
1x225
1x275
1x275
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x315
1x325
1x325
1x335
1x335
1x345
1x345
1x365
1x365
1x315
1x315
12x225
The gym owner approached me after I had finished stripping the weights and, very politely, nicely as could be, asked me if I could go a little bit easier on the deadlifts. It’s kind of understandable - the free weights are on the second floor of the building, there’s a spinning studio underneath, etc - but also the classic “that guy is working hard, heaven forbid someone put down weights that clatter a little bit” stuff. To be fair, he did mention that they’re currently renovating space on the first floor of the building and he intends to move all of the free weights down there sometime in January or February, and basically said that if I can just hang on for a few weeks, I’ll be allowed to deadlift heavy all I want.
In the meantime, I’ll keep deadlifting, but stick with weights under 315 (I am absolutely convinced that there’s a psychological component here - when people see someone deadlifting with THREE WHOLE PLATES on the bar, their “that guy is dropping heavy weights!” alarm goes off) and just make sure I set the bar down extra-super-gently. Plus, that will make me stay tense on the whole negative, so it’ll be a little bonus training for those few weeks.
Ever consider top down deadlifts? Start at the top, tap the floor, then rack it. Might be a good compromise to allow you to still move heavy weights while keeping people happy. Could alternate each workout: 1 workout off the floor, 1 workout top down.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Ever consider top down deadlifts? Start at the top, tap the floor, then rack it. Might be a good compromise to allow you to still move heavy weights while keeping people happy. Could alternate each workout: 1 workout off the floor, 1 workout top down.[/quote]
Can I ask a really dumb question: how does one “start at the top” of a deadlift? Do you walk it out from pins? I suppose I could set the pins on the front of a rack, lift the weight and scooch my feet back 3-6 inches to have some clearance…I am guessing that’s what you mean by starting at the top and “racking” it at the end.
Really, I don’t think this has any great harm to it in the interim - as I noted, I’ll merely have to stay tense during the negative phase for the next couple weeks to just lightly set the bar onto the floor. I’d hate to get stuck with this indefinitely, but it might have a nice benefit in the short run.
I will say that the guy was as nice as could be about it; he didn’t act like I was really doing anything WRONG, only that he was nervous about the lights in his spin studio, and letting me know that he’d be working to move the free weights downstairs into a renovated space seemed like a nice “Hey, I’m working on a solution, so if you can bear with me for a couple weeks, you can deadlift as heavy as you want in January” offer.
Yeah, pins or j-hooks work just fine. Have it racked real high, grab it, walk it back a step and go.
This gentleman in sandals can demonstrate
Thursday 11/26
Kettlebell & Lifting Circuit (30 Minutes)
A1. Lat Pulldowns x 150
A2. Chest Press x 150
A3. KB Swings x 88
A4. KB Clean-N-Presses x 53
A5. KB Snatches x 44
Six rounds of the above in roughly a (45 seconds work, rotate stations, 15 seconds rest) pattern. Sets of 8-12 for the lifting stations, 12-15 swings, 6 clean and presses, and 14-16 snatches.
My fiancee did the same circuit but performed deadlifts with the 88, swings with the 53, and goblet squats with the 44.
Friday 11/27
Bikram Yoga Class (90 Minutes)
Saturday 11/28 (AM)
Dumbbell Circuit (30 Minutes)
In a hotel this morning. At her request, I led my fiancée through a general upper body workout - shoulder raises, dumbbell curls, shoulder press, and incline bench presses. Finisher was a series of clusters of 1-arm dumbbell clean and presses: (1x50, 2x50, 3x50) repeated four times.
Saturday 11/28 (PM)
Kettlebell Clean-N-Press 40 x 2 x 53
My fiancee and I arrived back home mid-afternoon. After spending a couple hours in the car, we decided to get a little extra work in before dinner. She got on the treadmill while I just grabbed a kettlebell and did a bunch of single clean and presses.
Sunday 11/29 (AM)
Hot Yoga Class (90 Minutes)
Sunday 11/29 (PM)
KB Clean-N-Press 60 x 1 x 53
Went to yoga this morning with my fiancee…she had to leave town after brunch, so I did the laundry, cleaned the place up and decided to grab a kettlebell and do some clean and presses during one of the NFL games. Flipped the Steelers-Seahawks game on and, for the first quarter, I did a rep after every play (plus a rep for every commercial). I’d done 57 reps when the quarter finished up, so I just did a couple more to get to a nice round number.
Monday 11/30
Deadlift
30 x 1 x 245
(pulled 1 rep every 45 seconds)
Tuesday 12/1
DB Clean-N-Press
5 x 2 x 50
5 x 2 x 55
5 x 2 x 60
2 x 2 x 65
2 x 2 x 70
2 x 2 x 75
2 x 2 x 80
3 x 2 x 85