Nice food for thought man, and thanks for the comment earlier!
[quote]Alpha wrote:
-Discipline, determination and desire are built; they are not innate in anyone.
[/quote]
That is, in one sentence, what I have been trying to explain to some people close to me for weeks. I just couldn’t figure out a way to articulate it that well.
I will be quoting you!
Awesome info and vids Alpha great stuff.
[quote]Dentfixer wrote:
ALPHA FOR PRESIDENT…Enough said!![/quote]
F’ that!.. ALPHA for World Leader… no, no… ALPHA for the “Supreme Being” of our solar system.
Aplha
haven’t been around for a big, looking strong as ever.
congrats on the PR’s nice work
thanks for the look at you, too.
kmc
GREAT post, Alpha.
Dent: Thanks bro-ALPHA 2012!! At least I wouldn’t have a fat slob that has never worked out a day in their life take the role of Surgeon General!
Chi-Town: Thanks for stopping in brother-I meant it! Keep it up!
PJ84: Quote away bro! Glad I can be of SOME use! and thanks for stopping in and commenting, means a lot!
xb-c: Hey man thanks for stopping and a checking out the log! Welcome to the suck! Don’t be a stranger man!
Bunny: You made me laugh man! I don’t have enough aforethought to brush my teeth bro, Maybe I could start with “supreme leader of cutting my grass!” Thanks for the words man!
knc: Always a pleasure to see you on here man. Thanks for the kind words and for stopping in! You have been killing it your own self!
Doubleh: Thanks man, I hope it didn’t come off too lame-it was just some stuff that gets me going. Thanks for commenting bro
“I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false.”
-Ernest Becker
07.23.09
Training
Was just maxing out today so here is what I did:
These three exercises giant setted:
Squats: 405/3, 455/3, 495/3, 530/3, 550/1, 585/1 PR (VID)
Weighted Pulls: 90/3, 115/3, 135/3, 160/3, 160/3, 180/3 PR (VID)
BB Military: 185/3, 205/3, 225/2, 245/2, 265/1 PR (VID), 285/Fail
Notes:
Squats: Ok so the whole time I was warming up i was debating on going 575 or 585—but you all know how my brain works so of course I was going for the 585: When i dropped into the hole with it, it definitely felt deep enough, but then when I watch the vid It looks REALLY close. I wish i would have taped it from the side so i could have a better idea of where I was at…It is what it is though- it will be a few months before my legs feel this kind of weight again…
Squat 585x1
Pull-ups: Wll I knew I could get the BW+160 again without problem, but I was wondering if I could get the 180 (4 plates) for a few…The last one did not go full ROM but it still felt good to try…
Pull-Ups BW+180x3 (Kind of)
Military: Man I tried that 285 and I the weights literally yelled at me and sent me to my room…I was ashamed
Military 265x1
Not the prettiest day at the gym but set some PR’s…I just wish i would have shot that squat vid from the side…Live and learn i guess…
That squat’s bananas man. I’m truely jealous.
Those pull-ups are insane man. Can you do a one arm pullup? At you weight that would be ridiculous.
Yeah… Alpha, keep up the good work! Good shit!
Impressive. Alpha, just curious about how you warm up for those sets. Do you just gradually ramp up to the top weight or do you have a % protocol or what? I would assume lifting those cartoonish weights means it takes a long while to get sufficiently warm.
Amazing PR’s!
GZ asked good question about warming up, but I’m more curious about the ramping. I’ve organized my lifting almost similar to yours. I know you always start first set higher than previous week, but I also want to know your opinion about the set ramping and the possible calculation/procentage behind it. I think, I might have used too little ramping, for ex. weight difference between 1st and 5th set has mostly been only 22 lbs - 45 lbs incl. the heavy stuff (DL’s, front squats etc.).
Because of that, the heaviest sets probably haven’t been as heavy as they could have been. Though, the training has felt really hard just because of the minimal ramping. Sorry about the hijack/me stuff.
So, maybe I took the motivation I gain from your thread a little to far. I hurt from my knees to my nose. It was however an awesome workout. Thanks bro !!
Flash: You busted out bananas! That’s awesome! Between that and the Point break references, i may have just secretly fallen in love with you…
Bloodbird: Thanks man! But You know I never have really tried to do a 1 arm pull-up. Maybe I will give it a shot and see if I can do it. I have to admit though, I have a haunting suspicion that I will fail at it like it is my job! I will let you know about the embarrassment when it happens.
loh208: Hey thanks a lot, and welcome to the log! Thanks for commenting!
Guerillazen: Thanks a lot for posting the kind words man, I really appreciate that!
You know when I am maxing out like this I really probably warm-up less than you might think. For yesterday’s squat work out this is exactly what I did
Unloaded bar: (this is my typical warm-up for all of my workouts)
8 upright rows
8 military presses
8 behind the neck presses
8 atg squats
8 good mornings
20 pull-ups
Then for squats I did this:
Then I threw 135 on and did it 3 times
Then 225 for 3
Then 315 for 3
Then 405 for 3
Then 455 for 3
Then 495 for 3
Then 530 for 1
And finally 585 for 1
No warm-up at all for the pull-ups or military. The pulls really seem to get my shoulders prepared to overhead press.
I actually will not do ANY pressing motion without doing an opposing pulling motion directly before it. I used to have a lot of shoulder problems, but applying this to my training completely stopped all of them. (Thank you Waterbury)
Good question though! Thanks for stopping by and asking!
Gukes: Thanks so much for stopping in, I thought you had forgotten about all of us over here! As for your question:
I consider ramping to be a lot like macronutrient profiles-as in, a lot of how you decide to do things boils down to how you are feeling and what is going to work for you. I know some guys who start really light and make huge jumps in their ramping, and I know others who make as small as 5lb increment jumps between sets.
For me personally, I almost exclusively add twenty pounds each set. But also remember that, when doing rep work, I will ALWAYS leave two in the hole. So on a 5 reps set I could have gotten that weight 7 times most likely. With this mentality, if I get one set of 100lbs and It felt good and my form is holding tight, I will add 10’s to each side and try the next set. If that is easy I will add two more 10’s or go straight to a 25lb plate on each side. But again it all depends on how the previous set felt, and what I believe my body will be capable of doing. Remember I workout alone and I REALLY don’t want to be calling someone over to pull a bar off my throat!
So an average day of 5x5 on the bench would look like this for me.
Warm-up
135 for a few
225 for a few
275 for a few
Then I’d start my first working set at something like 315.
315x5 but it felt easy so I may jump to 335.
335x5 felt easy as well so I am at least going to 355, but since I am a pride full jackass, I would most likely jump to 365 (3 plates and a 25 on each side)
I would continue to do this until I got to a set where I get my fifth rep but a sixth or seventh would have been a stretch. (I only due this for 1 set each exercise)
Then I will drop 20 pounds and work from there. But it is all done by feel and by beating my log book each workout. Like you said I always try to start with my second set from the previous week.
So in the above example I went 315x5 to 335x5 to 365x5. The next week I would try to start at 335x5, 365x5, 385x5 and work up from there using the same feel-as-I-go method.
That was entirely too many words to say: Nope, no percentages or anything like that, I just feel my way through the workouts.
Thanks for asking brother and stay strong, your workouts have been looking great!
Dent: Great job brother! It is always a pleasure to see that you have posted something! Keep up the amazing work brother!
***I only have one more day of maxing out left, and that is to just try and up the deadlift number a little bit. I am shooting for at least 620 but I know it is a big if. I will try to up the bench to 465 but I also know that is going to be a tough one to pull out as well. But I will never know if I don’t try.
After that last maxing out day I will put up a post with links to all of my new maxes so you all don’t have to go searching for them.
I think I will jump back into the 5/3/1 again, but my accessory work will look kind of like a 5x5 protocol. It is kind of up in the air right now, but I do know that I want to shrink back down a little bit and work on my cardiovascular endurance too. I have not been hitting sprints, complexes, bag work, and agility stuff like I should be and I can really tell the difference. I like to be able to both fight and be strong. In my mind having muscles has no purpose if you can’t do anything with them, and right now I am more show than go. That needs to change.
My joints also need a break from all of the heavy stuff. So for the next few months be looking for me going balls out again with training like pre maxing out. And then in about 3-4 months from now I will put some mass back on and try to beat my current PR’s. My goals are posted on page five I believe. And my deadline is 01Jan2010. I think I can hit them all if I stay healthy and keep cycling my training in this fashion.
I really want to thank you all for reading and commenting and asking questions. Responding gives me something to do on a lot of these plane rides! Hence the long-winded nature of the replies.
But this log has been a great tool to keep me accountable, and all of you help inspire me to be better everyday.
I truly do appreciate that.
Die empty,
-b
Alpha, film the one arm chin attempt so we can all laugh at it for years to come, or be totally in awe of your craziness.
Hey, to everyone…
Some FUCKED up shite is going on…and as a non-cussing SOB you know I mean business…
But listen, I may be vanishing soon, so take what you can from this log now…
if you have questions…ask. I’m out soon…
If you do decide to or need to “vanish” Please know you have been an inspiration to me and your words will always be a driving force not only in my workouts but in my life as well…GOD’s Speed my brother
[quote]Dentfixer wrote:
If you do decide to or need to “vanish” Please know you have been an inspiration to me and your words will always be a driving force not only in my workouts but in my life as well…GOD’s Speed my brother[/quote]
It’s not my choice brother…I would never leave if it were up to me…
damnnn, you are a BEAST man, when i grow i want to be like you 
It’s all good …Just know that you have made a very positive impact on my life !!