31-March Strength Circuits
Cycle 7 Day B1
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Squat 255 265 270 275 280
Dip 35 35 45 55 65
SGHP 150 155 160 165 175
Press 100 105 110 115 120
Pull up 35 35 45 55 65
First time doing strength circuits two days in a row. Took me awhile this morning to warm up. How is it that I am more sore from conditioning work than from lifting heavy weight?
Squats are feeling good - only 15 lbs until I get back to original 1RM. I lowered Dip in the same way I lowered Pull-ups as I need to ‘own’ the weight before progressing. Second day in a row of press still felt good. SGHP is also getting back up to some heavy weight since my back tweak a few weeks ago. Thank you rumble-roller for the ability to recover!
1-April 2014 Light conditioning
So last night I started my wife on the 10K Kettlebell swing routine. I don’t think that she quite understood what she was getting herself into when she agreed to the routine… queue the evil bwhahahaha laugh here.
The plan is to have her use press, barbell row and dead-squats for assistance work. I procured a 26lb KB for her and a 53lb for myself. I don’t plan on doing the program myself as I would like to stay with my current strength circuits. However, I think that I will need to do just the swings when she does or I might find the pitchfork being sharpened and the torch lit…
So she did 400 swings on her first day. She managed the sets of 50 for the first two rounds but after that we started breaking them up. I am very proud of her. She is not too fond of me currently.
This morning I did some very light conditioning; more of a routine to keep limber than anything else:
25 KB swings with 26lbs.
5 Minute AMRAP (really AMRAW: As many reps as I want)
5 pull-up to barbell (with feet on ground)
7 goblet squats (26lb)
5 push-ups
Managed 4 reps of this
5 Minute AMRAW:
20 jumping jacks (I know, right?)
5 partial pull-ups
5 push-ups
Did 5 reps of these
25 KB swings (26lbs).
Done. Possible weighted-vest walk this evening depending upon weather.
1-April Update
So it has been two months since eating more. I have reached the astounding conclusion that since I am gaining weight, my calories must be more than maintenance. After triple-checking my diet I am right at 3250 calories. 252g protein, 346g carbs and 92g fat.
Scale weight this morning is 198. Total two month weight gain is 4lbs. Exactly where I would like it to be. Attached is an update pic. Poor quality of course but here it is.
-Needa
2-April Strength Circuits
Last night did do the weighted vest walk (50 minutes, 60lbs). Also did 100 more reps of Kettlebell swings (53lb) in solidarity with my wife.
Today: Cycle 7, Day A2
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Deadlift 300 305 315 335 350
Bench 170 175 185 190 200
SGHP 155 160 166 170 180
Press 100 105 110 115 120
Pull up 35 45 55 70 70
Sorry if I missed it, but what is your plan with the weight gain etc ?
Like how long you looking to keep gaining and what weight you aiming for.
[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
Sorry if I missed it, but what is your plan with the weight gain etc ?
Like how long you looking to keep gaining and what weight you aiming for.[/quote]
My next primary goal is 1RM of 1 plate,2 plate, 3 plate, 4 plate for press, bench, squat and dead. At my current rate of gain I might be there as early as June. As an enabling tool I want to eat enough to allow up to 2 lbs of weight gain per month. That would put me at about 204lbs in June. At that point, if I hit this goal, I will check body fat and perhaps do a clean-up phase whilst trying to maintain the strength gained. However, I will play it by ear. If I am on a strength gain roll and not too fat I might continue longer. I will probably change from strength circuits to more of a standard split at that time as well.
Long term I am shooting for around a max of 210 at sub-10% bf. With about a 1200lb total on the big three.
3-April
So in solidarity with my wife, I performed 500 kettlebell swings last night. She accepted the 10K KB challenge. She hate me right now.
After doing 500 swings last night I understand why. I took my first step going downstairs this morning and my left calf promptly cramped up. So I decided that more sleep and a day off from strength circuits was the wiser course of action. Particularly as I plan to do a weighted vest walk tonight as well.
I am looking forward to seeing what KB swings do for my forearm grip. The day after doing less than 100, I had to use straps for deadlifts. But what I now need to decide is how many of these things I am going to do with the wife. If I continue with 500 per session I believe it might impact my current routine. On the other hand, encouraging my wife is more important than my self-chosen arbitrary goals I am currently working on. So for now I am not deciding anything but will instead play it by ear.
4-April Strength Circuits
Cycle 7 Day B2
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Squat 255 265 270 275 280
Dip 35 45 55 55 55
SGHP 155 160 165 170 180
Press 100 105 110 115 120
Pull up 35 45 55 70 70
First set of squats felt tight and I needed to use a wrap on my right knee. After that I loosened up. By the 1 rep set I felt great and 280 felt light.
5-April
First routine: To start with today I did 500 kettlebell swings (53lb). My wife is doing the 10K KB challenge. As a competitive person (of which I am sure most of us qualify) I find it difficult to just watch someone do this routine without joining in myself. The KB swings look deceptively mild. They are not. Don’t get me wrong - the actual swings are not that torturous. You feel like you are getting a good conditioning workout. But the next day… lower back, calves and upper back are where I am feeling them the most.
Second routine (4 hours later): Strength Circuits
Cycle 8, Day A1:
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Deadlift 305 310 320 340 355
Bench 175 180 190 195 205
SGHP 160 165 170 175 185
Press 102.5 107.5 112.5 117.5 122.5
Pull up 35 45 55 55 70
Missed the 205 bench again. I have yet to break 200. 195 went up twice albeit slowly. 205 fell barely controlled to my chest and stayed pinned there. After completing the circuits for the day I did about 30 total reps of 135. Maybe not the best plan. I feel like I need more reps of the bench to be able to progress it. Need to determine how to get these. I don’t want to do on my B days as the time it takes to switch from Squat to Bench on my rack is too long.
Press felt great - up another 2.5lbs. Deads continue to feel OK. 10 lbs from my previous PR on this ramp-up. SGHP is feeling explosive. I keep tweaking my pull-ups to see how to get perfect form and more density.
6-April
Tired and sore after doing two routines yesterday. I did sleep 9.5 hours, which is extremely rare and luxurious for me.
Today I did another round of 500 kettle bell swings (53lb). This time I did the routine as written with a strength exercise: In between kb swing sets I performed 1, 2 and 3 reps of 205 lb SLDL. So total of 30 reps.
Later in the evening I walked about 2 miles with a weighted vest (60lb).
What is your form like on the bench?
Maybe getting a little bit tighter and using leg drive could get your bench moving- assuming you don’t already do so.
[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
What is your form like on the bench?
Maybe getting a little bit tighter and using leg drive could get your bench moving- assuming you don’t already do so.[/quote]
I will have to get a video to truly know how to answer your question. I believe that I use relatively little arch. Nor do I believe that I use much in the way of leg drive. I will certainly give that a try to see if that moves more weight.
That said, I am not going for a power-lifting total; my goal is simply strength gains. Do you think that more leg drive will result in greater overall strength or would any gains simply be related to technique/form?
Thanks
[quote]Captain Needa wrote:
[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
What is your form like on the bench?
Maybe getting a little bit tighter and using leg drive could get your bench moving- assuming you don’t already do so.[/quote]
I will have to get a video to truly know how to answer your question. I believe that I use relatively little arch. Nor do I believe that I use much in the way of leg drive. I will certainly give that a try to see if that moves more weight.
That said, I am not going for a power-lifting total; my goal is simply strength gains. Do you think that more leg drive will result in greater overall strength or would any gains simply be related to technique/form?
Thanks
[/quote]
Using a reasonable arch and some leg drive (i.e. not the backbreaking shit) has definitely got me consistently stronger in the movement whilst ensuring the muscles I want to be recruited actually are - arching my back suitably and pinching my shoulder blades gets a lot of pec stimulation.
The rule of thumb I use with arching and leg drive is I should be able to hit 90-95% of my max without the aid of it.
7-April Weighted vest walk only. 45 minutes, 2.5ish miles 60 lbs.
8-April Strength Circuits
Cycle 8 Day B1
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Squat 255 265 270 275 280
Dip 35 45 45 55 55
SGHP 160 165 170 175 185
Press 102.5 107.5 112.5 117.5 122.5
Pull up 35 45 55 55 70
For some reason I did not raise the weights on my squats. I really don’t know why I did not increase them - I think that I forgot to update the numbers on my white board. I keep my routine in the gym (garage) on a dry-erase board and since the only thing different between A day and B day are squats and dips I only write those weights down separately. I think that I just assumed I had updated them. Oh well, I guess I am deciding to really ‘own’ the current weights. I will certainly increase for day B2 but will have to decide if/when I increase for Cycle 9.
Press went up but was slow for the last rep. Everything else was OK.
[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:
Using a reasonable arch and some leg drive (i.e. not the backbreaking shit) has definitely got me consistently stronger in the movement whilst ensuring the muscles I want to be recruited actually are - arching my back suitably and pinching my shoulder blades gets a lot of pec stimulation.
The rule of thumb I use with arching and leg drive is I should be able to hit 90-95% of my max without the aid of it.
[/quote]
Thanks for this. I will try this most likely starting tomorrow.
8-April
500 Kettlebell swings (53lb) with the Wife. No strength exercises as we were pressed for time. 30 minutes 30 seconds to complete. While I like this as a conditioning exercise I don’t find it terribly taxing. Elevated heart rate and some breathing but not like doing sprints. Enough to stress the body and produce some positive effects, but not so stressful that it causes terrible DOMS or puts me out of commission for the next day (although I imagine this is only true if you are in shape to begin with).
9-April
Fighting off a cold or some similar crud. Headache, sore throat, etc. Did second day of kettle bell swings. 500. Took 30 minutes, 20 seconds - a 10 second PR.
10-April
Still not feeling well. Opted for rest and recover.
11-April
Feeling a bit better but not up to full speed yet.
Did a very easy circuit:
Reps 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
Deadlift 135
Bench 135
Press 85
Pull up BW
12-April Leg Hypertrophy
Still not feeling good - cold or allergies. So did a leg day rather than strength circuits. I will probably restart Cycle 8 once I feel better.
Leg Curls - 45lb 10reps 4 sets
Front Squats - 135lbs 12 reps 4 sets
Rom Dead lifts - 185lbs 10 reps 4 sets
Trap-bar forward lean squat (sorry - don’t know how to describe it better)
160lbs 10 reps 4 sets