Alpha's Work 3

Training Training Logs
921

Skullcrusher: Thanks for the kind words brother! As far as spine pain…I am no stranger. I have mentioned it here a couple of times previously, but I have broken both my L3 & L5 Vertebrae along with some disc herniations and pinched nerves. I have a laundry list of injuries over the years, but not too many due to lifting. Most of them are from MMA, job related or just general acting like an idiot…

The first break that i mentioned above came with horrible back spasms that would literally drop me to my knees at times and numbness in my left foot/toes…That was no good. But the worst was the second which came with some disc herniation that was impinging a nerve (I am waaayyyy too dumb to understand exactly what was going on) but it made my left hip flexor basically paralyzed in some planes of movement. Even if I used every ounce of strength in me, I couldn’t lift my left leg in a kneeing motion more than a few inches. It was bad and lasted a few months.

These days I try to keep my form pretty spot on so that most of the problems stay quiet, but if I don’t load my spine with either squad or deads for a few days, it is like I am crippled. Kinda strange. But that is pretty much my experience with spine issues. I hoe that answers the question you were asking brother!

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"A big problem that a lot of general fitness trainees have is that they’re like grass. Now, grass is wonderful; it bends and sways and never breaks. It can survive a tornado very well.

The oak tree on the other hand, doesn’t do so well, because it looks at a tornado and says, ‘Bring it!’ Sometimes the oak tree survives and sometimes the tornado breaks it in half. Athletes are like oak tress. They don’t bend. They either rise to the occasion or they break." --Dan John

THURSDAY, 20NOVEMBER2014 - Work For Today

CONDITIONING
Complete 100 Clusters (Squat Clean to Overhead Press) with 135lbs on the bar. Every time I droped the bar, completed 8 Step-Ups onto a 24" Box as penalty.

STRENGTH
Worked Up to a 2 Rep Maximum Snatch/Overhead Squat. Each Rep started from the floor. Snatched the bar to overhead position, perform 1 Overhead Squat and return the bar to the deck.

135
185
205
215
225
245
245

NOTES:

  • Normal rucking first thing in the morning
  • Today was just about conditioning and keeping my body moving. Nothing too heavy.
  • I am excited for my overhead press day tomorrow. I have been reading some articles about how to improve it and think I may have found some ways to add some pounds there.

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Food from today:

Meal 1: 3 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, Coffee w/ Coconut oil and grassed butter (2Tbs Each), 1 Flameout, Milk

Meal 2: Turkey Meatballs, marinara sauce, 1 Flameout, 1 Orange, Milk, Almonds

Meal 3: 2 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, BCAA’s, 2 Fish Oil Caps, Milk

Meal 4: 9 Eggs, peppers, sausage, bacon, onions, avocado, milk

Meal 5: Steak, Salad, Balsamic Vinegar, Avocado, Milk

Meal 6: 2 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, 4tbs Peanut Butter, honey, 1 Flameout, Milk

922

Alpha dude! Thanks for answering my question I’m looking forward to incorporating mma training into my regiment! Due to monetary restraints mma/jujitsu class are not in “the cards” for right now, but that’s when youtube comes in handy lol. I found a good way to make a grappling dummy so I’ll be working with that 2 days a week. Keep killin’ it my brother in IRON!

923

FarmerOwen: Youtube is very helpful when it comes to that stuff man! You just need to find a friend who is also interested in learning, throw a mat down and get to it. You would be surprised how good you can get just doing that! Thanks for checking in brother!

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“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” --George Orwell.

“People living deeply have no fear of death.” --Anais Nin

FRIDAY, 21NOVEMBER2014 - Work For Today

CONDITIONING
10, 8, 6, 4, 2 Reps of
Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side) **88lb Kettlebell for all exercises
Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
Goblet Squats
Run 300 Meters Holding a 50lb Medicine Ball After Every round.

SPEED
At the Top of Every minute For 10 Minutes, Complete 3 Log Clean & Presses @ 200lbs.

GIANT SETS - 5 Rounds, Adding Weight Every Round
3 Weighted Pull-Ups:
2 Barbell Overhead Presses: 225, 275, 295, 315, 340 PR, 350 Bigger PR, 365 Even Bigger PR (Vid Below)
20 Weighted Russian Twists

SPEED - 15 Rounds
3 Front Squats @ 240lbs
15 Seconds Rest Between Rounds

NOTES:

  • Normal Rucking first thing in the morning
  • HUGE day for overhead press! I changed the way I was doing this lift and gained 30lbs!!! Ridiculous! All I did was switch from holding the weight out in front of me, to supporting it more with my shoulders…I CANNOT believe I never knew this…I am an idiot…

I have a feeling that once the movement becomes more natural to me i will be over 400lbs overhead in no time.

Here is a vid of the 340, 350 & 365lb sets :

924

[quote]Alpha wrote:

  • HUGE day for overhead press! I changed the way I was doing this lift and gained 30lbs!!! Ridiculous! All I did was switch from holding the weight out in front of me, to supporting it more with my shoulders…I CANNOT believe I never knew this…I am an idiot…

I have a feeling that once the movement becomes more natural to me i will be over 400lbs overhead in no time.[/quote]
Nice lifts. Congrats.

I laughed when I read that though, considering how strong you got overhead by doing it “wrong”.

925

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]Alpha wrote:

  • HUGE day for overhead press! I changed the way I was doing this lift and gained 30lbs!!! Ridiculous! All I did was switch from holding the weight out in front of me, to supporting it more with my shoulders…I CANNOT believe I never knew this…I am an idiot…

I have a feeling that once the movement becomes more natural to me i will be over 400lbs overhead in no time.[/quote]
Nice lifts. Congrats.

I laughed when I read that though, considering how strong you got overhead by doing it “wrong”.[/quote]

I also laughed. Alpha may be the only man alive to get to a 350# standing press before figuring out how to do a decent push press.

926

Holy crap man. We might be racing on deadlift but you have absolutely smoked me on OHP! My max push press is MAYBE 315. Nice lifts man. Congrats on the big PR too!

927

LoRez: Hahaha yea, thanks brother! I am actually hoping that I am doing my other big lifts “wrong” as well! Going to go to a pretty legit powerlifting gym where the head coach is going to tear down my bench/squat/deadlift. Hopefully I have enough things to fix that i will add a few pounds to all of those lifts!

LiftingStrumpet: Hahaha yep, hopefully only upwards from here! My old goal of hitting 375 this upcoming year just got pushed to 405. It would be awesome if I could achieve it!

Loftearman: Thanks brother, but it was all a form issue. When i was pressing the bar from my hands alone, 335 was my PR. I have no doubt you have at least as much strength as I do! thanks for posting man.

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“Fear Keeps you sane and keeps you going, hopefully making the right choices along the way. But at the same time, fear, or hesitation makes your worst fears come true. I’ve got to make up my mind, if I’m going to do something, there’s no fear. You gotta do it. If you’re not going to do it, don’t try it. Don’t go for it halfway.” --Travis Pastrana

SATURDAY, 17NOVEMBER2014 - Work For Today

CONDITIONING
Sled Drags
300 Meters. Weight was heavy enough that I could not run
Add Weight
200 Meters.
Add Weight
100 Meters
Add Weight
50 Meters
Add Weight
25 Meters. Weight was VERY heavy here
Rest 1 Minute
25 Meters
Rest 1 Minute
25 Meters
Rest 1 Minute
25 Meters

928

[quote]Alpha wrote:
Fuel From Today:

Meal 1: 3 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, Coffee w/ Coconut oil and grassed butter (2Tbs Each), 1 Flameout, Milk

Meal 2: Turkey Meatballs, marinara sauce, 1 Flameout, Asparagus, Milk

Meal 3: 2 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, BCAA’s, 2 Fish Oil Caps, Milk

Meal 4: 1lb of ground beef, Onions, peppers, 1 avocado, 1 Flameout, Milk

Meal 5: Chicken, Salad, Balsamic Vinegar, Avocado, Almonds, Milk

Meal 6: 2 Scoops of Metabolic Drive, 4tbs Peanut Butter, honey, 1 Flameout, Milk
[/quote]
I counted the calories of your “fuel” for that day, got interested to see what numbers you’re inputting and that’s what I’ve got:
You got 3278 calories, 54% of the calories comes from fat (211 grams), 33% protein (287 g) and 13% carbs (115 g). Didn’t count vegies.

I don’t know if you tried but cleaning the weight before OHP puts you in the perfect starting point. Try to clean it instead of pressing from the ruck, you also get to practice the motion of the clean a bit more…

929

Alpha- Not sure if you have discussed this before, but how do you deal with back injuries? When you broke your back in the past did you ever have to completely drop squats and deadlifts for any prolonged amount of time?

930

Regev: Yea man, I’ll have to take your word for it. I have never counted calories in my life. Sounds just about right though. And yea, i (last session) set the bar at the same place I perform front squats (or catch a clean) and the reps went SOOO much easier. I would be cleaning the weight up there, but I am still kinda nursing an injury so squat cleaning heavy is kinda out at the moment. Thanks for doing the math on the food brother.

gc7: Well man, the second time my back was really bad (the paralysis of the left hip flexor time) I PMed (Back when PMs still worked) MarauderMeat because I knew he had similarly hurt himself a few times and he eased my mind quite a bit. He said it would take time but that i could recover fully from the injury. He advised me to keep the squats and deads in but lighten the load considerably. I would give anyone who will listen the same advice.

Taking time off, at least for me, has never served me well. If anything it seems to prolong the injury. When I went back to squatting the next week it was with 95lbs with perfect form in attempt to get blood to the area and keep my body working. I have the feeling that i will need to continue to squat/deadlift every single week for the rest of my life. As long as I load my spine in some sort of manor regularly, the back issues stay at bay. If I take a week off of any spine loading i wake up like I am crippled and any time spent in a seated position becomes very painful. As weird as it may seem to some, abusing my back is the only thing that has worked to keep it healthy.

I hope that helps you out man and answers your question. Thanks for asking!

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“I live in uncertainty, If there is anything difficult, If there is anything dangerous to do…That is mine” --Sioux warrior song

“With respect to acting in the face of danger, courage is a mean between the excess of rashness and the deficiency of cowardice.” --Aristotle

SUNDAY, 23NOVEMBER2014 - Work For Today

CONDITIONING - At the top of every 75 Seconds for 12 Rounds
5 Burpees
5 Squats
5 Push-Ups
15 Mountain Climbers
15 Jumping Jacks

SPEED
At the Top of Every Minute for 10 Minutes, Complete 3 Deadlifts @ 405lbs

EVENTS - 50 Foot Yoke Walks
360lbs
450
540
630
720
810
900 (Only Moved this about 15 feet with 3 separate picks)
830 (PR [for 50 foot])
810
720
630
540
450

NOTES:

  • Lots and lots of yoke today.
  • 900lbs is heavy. I can pick it up easily enough (not that easy at all) but getting forward momentum is tough at that weight, however, it made 830 and 810 feel relatively “light”.
  • Anything below 700 is moving very quickly. 700-800 is reasonably fast, 810 & 830 is all about survival right now, and 900lbs felt like my world exploded. All good though. I will get up over 1,000lbs in the near future.
931

3278 calories doesn’t sound a lot, especially for someone as active as you. Do you think the calories coming from fat instead of carbs makes a difference? I’d have thought you’d need to be eating upwards of 4000.

932

[quote]Tim_Tom wrote:
3278 calories doesn’t sound a lot, especially for someone as active as you. Do you think the calories coming from fat instead of carbs makes a difference? I’d have thought you’d need to be eating upwards of 4000.[/quote]

Not to knock the guy but I wouldnt put very much stock in those numbers… more than half of the food he listed had no amount next to it, so I really dont know how he arrived at that number

  • “Honey”
  • “Almonds”
  • “milk” (6 times… would make a huge difference if he is off by 1 cup each time)
  • “chicken”
  • “turkey meatballs”

None of those foods have the amount listed, so its impossible to make any kind of real accurate prediction on the number of calories.

Again, not knocking the guy and I wasnt going to say anything but now it looks like its causing confusion.

933

Will your gym be open Wednesday/how much does a one-day pass cost? I’d like to come out and train, if possible–we’ll see what happens with this MD weather. 70 and sunny today, 36 with snow on Wednesday. Makes sense…

934

Thanks for the response man, I really appreciate it.

935

Tim_Tom & Lonnie: Yea, I had wondered the same thing. Like I said, I have never counted calories in my life, so I have no idea really what kind of numbers I am at. I am sure that Regev did his best at estimating, but without him following me around and actually seeing how much I intake, it would be really tough to tell.

I would be more specific when i list my meals, but I honestly don’t really know how much I take in. For instance, when I eat Almonds, I don’t count out 16 and consume them. I just eat them until I don’t want to anymore. Also when I say I eat Turkey meatballs, it could be 12 it could be 16…I have no idea. It all just rolls out with how much I can fit in tupperwear containers.

Like i said, I am grateful to Regev for giving it a shot at estimating my caloric intake, but I would guess his estimations were a little on the low side.

MikeFitz: Yea man, we will be running a workout @ 5PM that night. Feel free to drop in. Just go to my site “NEVERsate.com” and shoot me an email (it is in the contact area. They won’t allow emails to be posted in the forums) and let me know if you are definitely coming or not so i can plan for it. (I try to keep workout sizes small so i can help everyone individually). And Definitely check out the “Daily workout” Section of the site so you have an idea of what you are getting yourself into. It definitely isn’t for everyone.

Since you are coming from T-Nation, don’t worry about a drop-in fee. If you work hard and have a good attitude, that is payment enough.

Just let me know, boss.

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“Discipline is remembering what you want.” --David Campbel

“Avoiding the phrase ‘I’don’t have time’ will soon help you to realize that you do have the time needed for just about anything you choose to accomplish in life.” --Bo Bennett

MONDAY, 24NOVEMBER2014 - Work For Today

CONDITIONING - 3 Minutes Work / 1 Minute Rest for 4 Rounds
5 Barbell Suitcase Deadlifts (Left Side) - Used 155lbs for these
5 Burpee Lateral Jumps
5 Barbell Suitcase Deadlifts (Right Side)
5 Burpee Pull-Ups

STRENGTH
3 Sets of 8 Flat Bench Presses @ 350lbs.
:30 Seconds Static “L” Sit Holds & :60 Seconds Rest Between Sets

GIANT SETS - 5 Rounds, Adding Weight Every Round
50 Foot Farmer’s Walk: 255 Each Hand, H, 275EH, 300EH, 310EH, 320 Each Hand for a 640lb total PR!!!
Pull-Ups: 30, 25, 20, 18, 18
5 Incline Log Presses: 255, 275, 295, 315, 335
10 Sprawl Sumo Deadlift High Pulls with a 2" Axle

NOTES:

  • Normal Rucking first thing in the morning.
  • Flat Bench felt heavy today. I am trying a new technique by tucking my elbows more. I haven’t frond a groove there that i am comfortable with yet.
  • My body has felt like warmed over death all day from the yoke walk PR yesterday…Not sore…kinda like my soul hurts…
  • I was stoked about the 640 farmer’s walk PR!!! …Then Nick Jenkins (Mike’s Brother) came behind me and hit 650! It is great having a guy that is pushing me like that though! I was very stoked for him and it just means I need to move up weight next time to try and beat him.
936

What’s the difference between an ohp and a push press? Thought leg drive constituted a push press and ohp was a strict press?

937

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
What’s the difference between an ohp and a push press? Thought leg drive constituted a push press and ohp was a strict press? [/quote]
That’s pretty much it right there. A push press usually should start with a dip.

938

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:

[quote]Tim_Tom wrote:
3278 calories doesn’t sound a lot, especially for someone as active as you. Do you think the calories coming from fat instead of carbs makes a difference? I’d have thought you’d need to be eating upwards of 4000.[/quote]

Not to knock the guy but I wouldnt put very much stock in those numbers… more than half of the food he listed had no amount next to it, so I really dont know how he arrived at that number

  • “Honey”
  • “Almonds”
  • “milk” (6 times… would make a huge difference if he is off by 1 cup each time)
  • “chicken”
  • “turkey meatballs”

None of those foods have the amount listed, so its impossible to make any kind of real accurate prediction on the number of calories.

Again, not knocking the guy and I wasnt going to say anything but now it looks like its causing confusion.[/quote]
Yeh I guessed the amounts and probably under estimated them tp pretty average amounts of someone pretty active but not as active as Alpha.
Should have said something about the estimating.

939

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
What’s the difference between an ohp and a push press? Thought leg drive constituted a push press and ohp was a strict press? [/quote]
That’s pretty much it right there. A push press usually should start with a dip.[/quote]

That’s what I thought. So the vid posted is a push press, not an ohp? Not trying to talk shit, just separating by technical distinction.

940

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
What’s the difference between an ohp and a push press? Thought leg drive constituted a push press and ohp was a strict press? [/quote]
That’s pretty much it right there. A push press usually should start with a dip.[/quote]
That’s what I thought. So the vid posted is a push press, not an ohp? Not trying to talk shit, just separating by technical distinction. [/quote]
Oh, I see where you were going with that.

I think it’s just confusing terminology because an “overhead press” in strongman can technically be a strict press, push press or jerk. Pretty much whatever gets things locked out overhead.

A “strict press” or “military press” is what most people mean when saying OHP, outside of strongman.