Because a Weak Man Knows the Value of Strength... Take #2

Training Training Logs
241

Six week accumulation outline. This presumes a lot of things that may change very soon. I have an interview in Queens on Thursday that, if it goes well, will result in me moving 7 hours away, getting a new apartment/gym/job/life, and most of this will become null and void.

MONDAY - DE LOWER
Kneeling Jump Variation
A) DE Squat: 15-25x2 (alternate free and box)
B) DE Pull: 10-15x2 (alternate convo and sumo)
C) Bulgarian SS w/Chain: 3x6-10/side
D1) GHR w/Band: 50-60 reps
D2) KB Rack/Farmer’s Walk Combo: 3 trips/side

TUESDAY - DE UPPER
Med Ball Variation
A) DE Bench: 15-20x3 (three different grips)
B1) Close Grip Bench: 50 reps
B2) Band Face Pull w/ER: 50-60 reps
C1) DB Military Press: 50 reps
C2) Snatch Grip Shrug: 50-60 reps
D) KB Floor Extension: 50-60 reps

WEDNESDAY - BB BACK
A) Pullup (Medium Neutral Grip): 2xREP
B) Hammer Strength High Row: 2x12-20 w/iso
C) Seated Cable Row (Wide Pronated): 2x12-20 w/iso
D) Ab Strap Pulldown: 2x12-20 w/iso
E) Curl variation: 2x12-20 w/iso

FRIDAY - ME LOWER
Vertical Jump variation
A) ME Squat/DL (alternate every week): 3-5 lifts > 90%, 3-5 RMs
B) Front Squat: 3x5+
C) One DB SL RDL: 3x8-12/side
D) Back Extension: 50-60 reps
D2) Deep Squat Landmines: 30-40 reps/side

SATURDAY - ME UPPER
Plyo Pushup variation
A) ME Bench: 3-5 lifts > 90%, 3-5 RMs
B1) Pause DB Incline Bench: 50-60 reps
B2) Chest Supported DB/KB Row: 50-60 reps
C1) Weighted Dip: 50-60 reps w/(+25)
C2) Seated Rope Face Pull: 50-60 reps
D1) Cable Pushdown/Overhead Extension: 3x(:30)
D2) Fat Bar Curl: 3x(:30)

Conditioning will fall under Alex Viada’s guidelines for endurance running for strength athletes (easy to Google).

242

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
If you name a program there’s a strong chance that I’ve used it at some point. I’d say that it’s really only within the past two years or so that I’ve been able to rein in my fuckarounditis and slowly but gradually progress. My first exposure to conjugate training was with Eric Cressey’s programs . I try to take a lot of lessons from him, my friend Todd Bumgardner, the Westside Method I and II threads here on T-Nation (big thanks to Mike Hedlesky for that) and .

My little experiment with the Cube is drawing to a close here and I think it was a worthwhile one. I’m testing my lifts throughout this week so we’ll see. It’s convinced me of the utility of 6-10RMs in training but I believe that I need a higher frequency of speed and max effort work. I’m going to be transitioning back to pure conjugate for this next 14 weeks leading up to my next competition.

I checked out your log and I think you’re definitely on the right track. One of the things I loved best about 5/3/1 was how adaptable it was. In ROTC (especially junior year) I really had no idea what our PT sessions were going to be week to week - an 8 mile ruck march uphill in Ithaca impacts your recovery a lot differently than a 2 mile jog. Sometimes you need to strike the iron and other times you just need to cruise if you’re going to recover.
[/quote]

Thanks for the outline. I’ve finally caught on to this whole idea of becoming a “tactical” athlete more than anything else. Like you said, I know junior year PT is going to be basically everything to prep me for LDAC, and since I’m on a 4-year scholarship, I have to have one of the best PT scores around.

CS

243

I’m going to let you in on a little secret, no matter what the MS4’s try to scare you with LDAC is a joke hahaha. But that’s a conversation for another time, and there’s no reason to go into it under prepared. Your PT score is a factor (GPA being the most important BY FAR) in your Order of Merit List ranking that determines your branch, location and whether you get active duty or reserve.

WEDNESDAY PM
BA Plyo Pushup 4x3

A) Bench: 225x2, 255x1, 275x1, 305 x miss motherfucker
B1) Band Pushdown: (AVG)x4x20
B2) Seated Rope Face Pull w/ER: (#6)x4x15

Given that I’m only down about 8-10 pounds from my heaviest in March and how strong my bench performance has been lately I’m going to chalk this up more to lack of rest/off day than anything else. Not going to worry about it.

244

THURSDAY PM
Squat: 365x1, 405x1, 440x1 PR
Deadlift: kilo plates 3ish x 3, 440ish x 2, 485ish lose grip, 509 wont budge
Seated Cable Row (Wide Neutral): 120x5,10,15,20
Chest Supported Row: 45x10, 70x5x10
Close Grip Axle Bench: 205x7 fucked something up
Swiss Bar Rolling Extension: 95x10, 115x7
Seated Face Pull w/ER: 50x10, 60x4x10

Training @ Coliseum Gym after my interview which I have a good feeling about. Squat went ok but 440 was a close thing. I’d been trying to pound water for the past hour or two leading up to this but I was still dehydrated from the day which played a factor later. Pulls went slow because of the kilo plates but speed was decent. 486 (?) was fast but I lost my grip on the bar with my right hand towards the top. 509 wouldn’t move which I believe was a grip issue and not a muscular one. At this point Andrew showed up, did two doubles with it and we went on to his assistance work.

Seated Cable Rows and C/S Rows went great but I messed up by going into the bench with no upper body warmup. It was a super fat axle (one piece of steel) so it didn’t rotate at all which I believe was the factor that fucked something up in my shoulder on the last rep. As soon as we finished I knew something was inflamed but I didn’t hear a pop or feel anything significant during so I take that as a good sign. My semi educated self suspects pec minor or coracobrachialis but I won’t know until I get it assessed next week. Until then I’m just going to keep up the Traumeel and mobility.

I had ART done on my subscap/pec minor on Tuesday, maxed on bench Wednesday, then rep work with a axle bar while dehydrated on Thursday. It sounds retarded now that I look at it that way but hindsight is 20/20.

FRIDAY PM - EXTRA
BR Split Squat Mob: (Light)x2x20/side
Glute Bridge: 4x20
Super Couch Stretch: 3 min/side

Just trying to get my hips reset after all that time in the car. Shoulder dislocates x10 between each set to get some blood in my shoulder.

245

Pec/shoulder is 90% better, I take this as a sign that it was just a minor strain and not something catastrophic. Didn’t bother me at all during the squats or other exercises. It was just alarming because I’ve never had anything like it happen to me before.

Just as an example, this is what my mobility warmup looks like for my squat/DL sessions. This is excessive for most people but I’ve been doing some variation of this for over a year now and it’s kept my lower body and core injury free and working despite my L4-L5, L5-S1 herniations and various other past injuries. If a 10-15 minute warmup is the price of that then I am more than willing to pay it.

MWOD for Hip Internal Rotation and Ankle Dorsiflexion

Birddog 10x2 ct or 5x5 ct/side
Spiderman variation x5-6/side
Glute Bridge variation x10-12
Kneeling Adductor Pushback x10-12
Half Kneeling Adductor Pushback x10-12/side
Ankle Dorsiflexion x10-15/side

Jump variation 12-20 reps

MONDAY PM - DE SQ/DL
Kneeling Jump to Broad Jump 3x3/3

A) DE Box Squat: (45% ish/205)x25x2 in 17:46
B) DE Deadlift (Sumo/Convo): (50%)x265x10x1/1
C) 4" Deficit Bulgarian SS: (+40C)x12, (+60C)x2x12/side
D1) GHR: 12,12,12,10,10 (56 reps)
D2) KB Rack/Farmers Walk: 35 down and back, 55x2 down and back
E) Leg Extension: 60,80x15, 100x2x15

Back to the LTT (Lactic Tolerance Training) for squats. This went astonishingly well. I was actually amazed at how easy and quick this was. I was out of breath but nowhere near the first time I did this in November, and my speed off the box was great.

Deadlift is an experiment in progress right now. Instead of pure singles, this is a single rep of sumo, 10-15 seconds rest, single rep of conventional, then roughly 30 seconds rest before the next set. I’m going to stick with this for at least six weeks and see what it does for me.

246

Good looking log, man. I never post anything but I was reading through your log and saw you were relatively new lieutenant like myself. How do you like the New York Guard so far? I was branched Ed Delay but didn’t get accepted to medical school. I did, however, get accepted to grad school so now I am trying to switch over to the guard or the reserves so that I can pursue that. In any case, good luck with the upcoming training and competition.

247

Thanks for dropping by man. I’m only about two years in at this point and my experience hasn’t been terribly positive so far. The Guard is very different from everything I was trained to expect in ROTC and BOLC and not all in a good way. That’s about all I’m going to say on that subject, your experience may differ. Unit to unit and state to state you can expect some huge differences.

Bench Mobility example

PVC Broomstick Stretch x12/side
PVC Shoulder Dislocation x10-20
Band Pullapart Series (3 or 4 variations) Mini x 10 each
Quadruped Thoracic Rotation x10/side
Side Lying Windmill x12/side
Forearm Wall Slide w/Overhead Shrug x12

Explosive Med Ball or Plyo Pushup variation x12-20

TUESDAY PM
Tall Kneeling Med Ball Forward Throws 10x3x5

A) DE Bench: (45%/x135)x20x3 in 12:47
B1) Close Grip Bench: 185x12,10,6,6 (34 reps w/2:30 rest)
B2) Seated Rope Face Pulls: (#6)x4x15
C1) Chain Pec Flyes: (+20C)x4x12
C2) Diesel Band Ys: (Mini + Micro)x4x12
D1) Close Grip Pushups: BWx3x12
D2) Scott Lateral Raises: 15x3x15

Dynamic effort speed was better than expected and I got to mess around with some different grips. Close grip was about what I expected, it’ll take 2-3 weeks to adjust back to it. I was trying a little bit more of an upper back dominant set up and my left shoulder was having some trouble staying pinned to the bench. Go figure that my injured right is completely fine and it’s my left that starts screaming FUCK YOU. Anyways, given my little scare I thought it might be prudent to start doing some more pec prehab. The chain flyes (second exercise in the video about halfway through) were very effective today. None of the shoulder stress that I’ve always associated with dumbbell flyes in the past, just an intense pec contraction. Also, I apparently cannot do pushups with a diamond grip to save my mother’s life. I’ll probably swap the order of the two next time.

248

WEDNESDAY AM
Overhead Shoulder Mob, Banded Bully

Scapular Floor Slide x15
Blackburn x10
Spider Crawl x4 up and down

A) Ring Pullup: x15, deadhang x8 wow
B) HS High Row: (90/side)x2x12 w/iso
C) Cable Long Row: 90, 105, 120x12
D) Ab Strap Pulldown: 75,90,105,120x12 w/iso
E) Machine Preacher Curl: 70x13, 8

Seems as good of a time as any to start working on my pullups from a dead hang. It’s not pretty.

249

Beltless suckage

FRIDAY PM
Depth Jump 4x3

A) Close Stance Box Squat: 225, 245, 265, 275, 285x5 baseline PR
B) Snatch Grip from 6" Blocks: 135, 185, 225, 275x5, 315x3 need to put collars on next time
C) One Arm DB SL RDL: 30x10, 50x2x10/side
D1) Lying Leg Curl: 60x36 reps
D2) Back Extension: (+25)x20,15,15

Not much to say here. I was operating at about 60% of my peak soreness from Monday so the squats were hellish. I think this will be a good max effort movement for the future - a lot of quad drive coming off the box keeping good form.

After watching the Clint Darden video I realized that all of my snatch grip pulls to date have been wide grip abominations. This is my attempt to remedy that. I kept this low volume today in an attempt to curtail any more soreness. I’ll work up to 3-5x5 straight weight in the coming weeks. The plan that I outlined a few posts ago was to continue with front squats but I believe that my deadlift needs more assistance right now.

The leg curl/back extension superset is some insanity of mine left over from my last meet prep. I don’t know why it worked but it did. My hamstrings are fatigued and full of blood going into the extensions which somehow carried over into pulling in a fatigued state at the meet.

250

SATURDAY AM
BA Plyo Pushup 4x5

A) Bench w/Light Chain: (+40C) + 185, 205x5, 215x3
B1) Pause Incline DB Bench: 60x15,12,11 = 38 reps
B2) C/S Kettlebell Row: 55x3x15
C1) Floor DB Extension: 30x3x15
C2) C/S Rear Delt Raise: 20x3x20
D1) V-Grip Pushdown: (#4)x15, (#5)x2x12
D2) Fat Bastard Curl: 55x15,12

Pec was feeling a little tender still so I restrained myself a bit here.

251

SUNDAY AM - EXTRA
Recovery Cycling: 25 minutes @ 120-130 bpm
Bodyweight Hip Thrusts: 4x20
Deadbug: 2x10/side
RF/TFL Stretch

MONDAY PM
Kneeling Jump to Broad Jump 2x3

A) DE Box Squat: (50%/225)x12x2
B) DE Pull (Sumo/Convo): (55%/295)x6x1/1
C) 4" Deficit Bulgarian SS: (+60C)x2x15
D1) GHR: BWx3x15
D2) One KB Rack Walk: 55x2/side
EXTRA) Leg Extension: 100x3x15, Super Couch Stretch

Don’t know what I had today, some variety of food poisoning or short term bug or something. I felt like shit all day and almost puked 3 times while warming up (hence why the jumps and squats were half volume). Through trial by iron the squats exorcised the food demon from my body and by my first warm up set of pulls I was 100% fine. I don’t know why, don’t know how. Squats are awesome. Kept everything else at slightly lower volume today just on the off chance it came back but it didn’t.

252

TUESDAY PM
4" Depth Pushups: x5, 3x3

A) DE Bench: (50%/150)x18x3 rotating grips every 3 sets
B1) Close Grip Bench: 185x15,10, 7, 7 (39 reps w/2:30 rest)
B2) Seated Rope Face Pull: #6x2x15, #7x2x15
C1) Chain Pec Flye: (+20C)x4x15
C2) Band Cuban Press: (Mini + Micro)x4x10
D) DB Floor Extension: 25x4x20

Triceps just plain died on the close grips. This has been happening less often as I’ve made it my mission to not leave the gym until my triceps commit suicide on my upper body days but it still happens on occasion. Rest of the session was good.

253

WEDNESDAY PM

A) Ring Pullup (dead hang): x14, x7
B) Seated Cable Row (Wide Pronated): 105x2x(:5 iso, x5, :5 iso)
C) Thib Lat Pulldown: 120x2x10
D) DB Upper Back Extension: 25x2x15 this is my new favorite exercise of ever
E) Machine Preacher Curl: 70x14, 8

No ego with this day. Lots of iso holds and peak contraction shit.

254

THURSDAY PM
Recovery Cycling: 25 min
Bodyweight Hip Thrust: 3x25
Band Lateral Abduction Walks: (Mini)x2x15/steps

FRIDAY AM
Depth Vertical Jumps 4x3

A) 4" Block Pull: 405, 425x3 hook, 455x5 @ 9.5 PR
B) Snatch Grip High Pull from 6" Blocks: 135x2x5
C) One DB SL RDL: 60x2x10/side
D1) Lying Leg Curl: 60x41 reps
D2) Back Extension: +35x3x15
E) Band Resisted Deadbug: (Monster)x3x10/side

Hook grip is improving. Decent knurling on a bar has a big impact on this.

455x5 is a good PR with this exercise.

Very mixed week for me, in an hour or so I’m headed to my uncle’s memorial service and a one day drill tomorrow. He was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal when he finally checked into the hospital a little over a month ago after not being able to eat and barely drink for several weeks. Cancer sucks, no way around it.

255

I stop by Sticky Lips in Rochester after every drill and it’s worth it every time. That Carolina Mustard Clipper sauce is some beastly stuff. I had to remember that I was dieting down and restrain myself from ordering a full rack with sides.

SUNDAY PM
BA Plyo Pushup 5x3

A) Close Grip Floor Press: 205, 215, 225x5, 235x3, 245x2
B1) C/S DB Row: 60x15,18
B2) Paused DB Incline: 60x15,15
C1) C/S DB Rear Delt Raise: 25x25,25,20
C2) Close Grip Diamond Pushup: 15,15,12
D1) V-Bar Pushdown: 40x15, 60x15,15, 40x25
D2) Fat Gripz Barbell Curl: 45x15, 60x10,8, 45x19

Going to have to go back in my log and see what my PRs on this exercise are. I think that this is one of the better max effort movements for tricep strength that you can do especially with a pause.

256

MONDAY PM - DE LOWER
KJ to BJ 3x3, BJ x5

A) DE Box Squat: (55%/245)x15x2 in 13:06
B) DE Pull (Sumo/Convo): (60%/315)x10x1/1
C) 4" Deficit Bulgarian SS: (+60C)x15, (+80C)x10/side
D1) GHR (changed the settings): BWx4x12
D2) One KB Rack Walk: 55x2 lengths, 75x2 lengths, One KB Farmers 75x1 length
Leg Extension

Definitely what Paul Carter would call a -10% er. Had a real hard time creating any hip torque and drive off the box today.

Forgot how useful the unilateral farmers walks were. They make my left QL spasm for being such a bitch but in a good way.

257

Just accepted the Head S&C position at Queens College, guess I’ll have to be more careful about the shit I post on here from now on hahaha. Now begins the long and arduous task of finding an apartment.

TUESDAY PM
2", 3" x5, 4" Depth Pushup 3x3

A) DE Bench: (55%/165)x15x3 forgot the time
B1) Close Grip Bench: 185x15,10,7,5 triceps died horribly (37 reps w/ 2:30 rest)
B2) Seated Rope Face Pull: (#7)x4x15
C1) Chain Pec Flye: +20x15, +40x2x12
C2) Band Cuban Press: (Mini + Micro)x3x12
D) DB Floor Extension: 30x3x15

Took me until like halfway through this workout to realize that I’d only had one day of rest since my ME session on Sunday. Had I remembered I might have proceeded a little more intelligently lol. I’m expecting a much better session on Saturday.

258

WEDNESDAY PM

A) Ring Pullup: 15, 9, 5 w/ (2:00 rest)
B) Thib Lat Pulldown: 120x3x10
C) Seated Cable Row (Wide Pronated): 105x3x(:5 iso, x5, :5 iso)
D) DB Upper Back Extension: 35x15, 12
E) Machine Preacher Curl: 70x15, 9
F) Rope Hammer Curl: 40x2x20

259

Have you ever tried any of the Military Athlete operator sessions? I was considering giving them a try.

CS

260

I like a lot of their stuff but it is super conditioning oriented for some of the worst environments possible - mountain ranges of Afghanistan, Ranger school, SOF prep, etc. It’s nothing you’re going to be using to prep for powerlifting with but there’s no reason you can’t apply a lot of what they’re doing. Reminds me that I need to buy some of their specialized programs. I’ll let you know what I think after I get a chance to check them out.

Drove to Queens again to sign some paperwork, got to see Wintersun at the Irvine last night too. Might be the single greatest performance by a metal band that I’ve ever seen.

FRIDAY PM
Depth to Vertical Jump 3x4

A) GCB Box Squat: 275x5 PR, 295, 315x3 PR
B) Snatch Grip High Pull from Hang: 135x2x3, Shrug 3x3
C) One DB SL RDL: 60x3x10/side

Driving and general lack of food took it’s toll and I decided to shut this down. Two PRs was good enough for the day.

Going to be a long fucking process to get my olympic lifting up to par here.