day 23
broad jump
little further this week,almost all the way to half court for all sets
dead lift off 2 45lb plates
235,245,245,245
reverse lunge
40,40,40
pallof press
30,35,35
Wore cross trainers today and went barefoot for the deads. Worked out much better than last week. wearing chucks for broad jumps killed my feet. Gym opened at noon today. It sucked. I don’t even go to the gym early on the weekend but I get there when it’s still empty. Was asked when I would be finished in the squat rack by someone hoping to get some curls in, also had someone stradling the bar between sets of deadlifts.
Deadlifts didn’t feel as good as they did last week. was hoping to go a little heavier.
assorted thoughts on the phase.
I’m hating the cluster sets. I just can’t seem to recover worth a damn in 10s. Also, since I am doing few reps at a time, I start out doing my reps too fast and get burnt out faster than if I would have done a straight set.
Also I don’t understand why my close grip bench is about equal with my normal bench press. I think I have short arms and the close grip allows me to maintain a good set up when unracking the bar. I always lose some tightness on normal bench press cuz the hooks are too damn tall.
Day 24
Speed bench w/ 95
completed
bench
175,180
cg bench
160,160,160
rows
90,95,95
inverted row
feet on floor knees bent, legs straight x 2
scap push ups
completed
Day 25
squats
205,215,215,220,220,210
step up
25,30,30,30
ab wheel
completed
nghr
completed
box pistols
barefoot to low box
completed
Day 26
Incline Press
135,140,145,145,150,150
pull up
BWx6
DB bench
60,60,60
rows
40,35,35,45
These sucked, I just can’t get the feel for these rows.
cable backhand
12.5,12.5,10
curls
20,15,15
Alright just got back from spring break on saturday. Have the day off from school today. Happy Cesar Chavez day to all. The last training day before break was a little odd. I tried to combine an upper body and lower body day into one day(Very high intensity days too, what a great idea right)
anyways here comes the updates.
Day 27 (3/20/09)
Broad jump
6 sets from end line to just inside half court circle. I kinda rushed through these because I didn’t feel like I was getting a lot out of them and wanted to move on to more important stuff.
Deadlift
235,240,245,245,240
Reverse lunge
40,40,40,40
pallof press
30,35,35
Speed bench
10 sets at 105
Close grip Bench
155,165,165,165 (didn’t make last rep
Neutral grip rows
90,90,90,90
Didn’t get the last set of rows or close grip press in and skipped the accesory work at the end. Oh well. Really tough workout but I figured I wouldn’t be working out for a week so I might as well do all I could.
Went to the gym with my dad over spring break. I was hoping I could work on technique on squats and bench with him but he just wanted to do his program. Worked up to a 295 single on squats and got my dad to add 10 pounds on his squat. Having someone to spot and push you to go heavy helps. I also worked up to a 295 single on sumo pulls. Really wanted 315 but it wouldn’t budge. Oh well, I’ll have it soon.
My dad was impressed since I am much stronger than him on squats but he is way better at deads. Damn these short arms. I worked on the pec deck for fun for a couple sets, did some pull ups, zotman curls, and cable backhands, the stuff that I should have been doing if I was keeping up with the program.
All in all, the week was a very nice deload. I was feeling pretty rundown after finals week and was pretty much done after my double training day. I probably should have done a little more work over break, but resting and recovering is hard work.
Day 32
speed bench
5 sets with 115
Bench
195x1
215x1 (10 lb PR)
225x FAIL
Man, I really want to get 225. It will be a big milestone for me. This attempt went better than my attempt on packing day. I at least got it off my chest a couple inches and then got stuck.
cg bench
165,165
neutral rows
90,95
inverted rows
feet on floor, feet on benchx2
scap pushups
completed
Day 33
Snatch grip deads
210,225,225,205,205
stretching between sets
Speed deads
8 sets of 185
cleaned 135 after finishing deads to put the bar in the squat rack. It felt like I was cleaning the bar. I remember when it used to be quite the struggle. Those speed deads sure help with explosiveness.
walking lunges
30,35,35,30
dragon flags
done
suitcase deads
30,35,35
Day 34
Floor Press
155,165,175,155,160
screwed up on the last set, wasn’t set up right and had to rack the bar in the middle of the set waited ten seconds and finished with two more reps
push ups
purpx4
Cable rows
120,125,125,120
face pulls
40,45,42.5
band pull aparts
done
It’s the first week of the quarter so this morning so I was crashing a class this morning. Looks like I’ll be getting in but I don’t want to be too excited til it’s official. Was stuck in class a little longer than I expected and the gym was packed when I got there. I was not in a good mood. I foam rolled before I left for school and planned on doing the max strength warm up at school but decided against it and just did a little light weight, extension/curls type stuff to get warmed up. I think I have developed the jankiest system for floor presses ever, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The floor presses felt really good. Hopefully I can get to the gym at a decent time next week so I don’t have to worry about someone dropping a dumbell on my nuts.
Day 35
speed free squats
155lbs
rack pulls
265,275,275,265,265
ankle mobilization
completed
reverse lunge off of 3 45s
35,35,40,35
wood chop
25,25,25
bulg split squat
completed
The speed squats feel slower than they should. I can’t seem to get any speed out of the bottom and only really accelerate near lockout. The rack pulls were tough. This is the first time in a long time where my grip started to fail. Can’t seem to get the feel for the split squat isometric hold.
day 36
speed pin press
105
v grip cable rows
120,120,125,120,125
db push press
50,50,55,50
straight arm pull downs
30,35,40
tricep extensions
20,20
The pin presses felt good. They really got fatiguing though. Couldn’t figure out the straight arm pull downs. I was feeling them in my triceps???
Day 37
snatch grip deads
225,235,235,235,220,220
forgot to do mobility work
speed deads
195
walking lunge
35,40,40,35
dragon flag
completed
db suitcase deads
35,40,45
the snatch grip deads sucked, as if I didn’t have enough trouble getting to the bar already. with my damn short arms and my belly getting bigger (hopefully it’s from my abs getting pushed out from squats and not from the pizza I’ve been eating). on top of not being able to reach the bar, the bar kept hanging up on my wiener. Put a pretty good squeeze on it at the end of my second set. after that my lockouts were all out of wack because I was worried about squeezing my johnson.
Day 38
floor press
175,180,185,165,165
push ups
purple x 4
supinated cable rows
125,130,130,120
face pull
40,40,37.5
band pull aparts
completed
I’ve really been enjoying floor press. It’s been the first time I’ve really felt a bench variation in my chest. I’ve also been enjoying really grinding out my last rep. I feel like I’m able to work closer to failure without actually reaching failure and also learning how to keep pushing with max effort when you don’t really think you can finish out the last rep.
I may have done an extra set of push ups and rows. I lost count.
Day 39
speed squats
175
heavy squats
265,275,285
rack pulls
275,280,265
forgot to do mobility work again
reverse lunge off of 3 45s
40,40,35
wood chop
25,25
bulgarian split squat
completed
edit: I forgot to mention I hit 285 for a double squatting. Pretty stoked on that. Fell forward a little but was able to pull it out.
day 40
speed pin press
120
heavy pin press
175,185,195
v grip cable rows
130,135,140,130
db push press
55,60,65,60
straight arm pulldown
40, 42.5
tricep extensions
20,20
I was in a rush this workout. I was trying to squeeze it in before easter sunday mass. Spent a little to much time doing pin presses. I wanted to hit a true 2rm since I didn’t need a spot if I couldn’t complete the 2nd rep. Pretty happy with 195. I was having some serious trouble cleaning dumbells for the push presses. on my heaviest set I was really struggling to get the weight to my shoulders. Ended up having some scrawny guy, (who is stronger than me) come over to help me out. “I got it, no I’m cool I can do it…” well I did it.
I just looked like a retard trying to get it done. Maybe if I had more time to catch my breath between sets. Oh well nest week I’ll rest the bells on something waist height and squat underneath them so I don’t have to clean them. skipped a set of straight arm pull downs because I ran out of time. The first set felt good but I only really felt it in my triceps on the second set anyways.
day 41
front box squat
205,220,220,225,205,205
90/90
completed (yay actually did it)
speed deads
215
walking lunge
40,40,40,40
dragon flag
completed
db suitcase dead
40,45,45
front box squats kick ass, other than the whole not being able to breath with a bar pressed into my throat thing and not being able to breath. I could feel my hips really loading up as I was sitting back to the box and really worked at spreading the floor and feeling them the whole way up. Had to really grind out some of the sets and I know I will be super sore tomorrow. I get this weird out of body experience when I front squat. I am almost positive it is from having my airway blocked and not being able to breathe correctly. I feel my body moving but I don’t really feel like I’m doing any work. It’s kinda hard to explain, it’s not that the set is easier just that it happens automatically, it’s like I don’t have full conscious control over the movement.
at 70% speed deads didn’t feel very fast. I also had trouble with my belly getting in the way of my legs. Can’t wait to get back to sumo pulls when I’m done with this program.
day 42
incline presses
70,75,75,75,65,70
band pushups
purple x 4
cable rows
130,135,135,125
face pull
37.5,35,30
band pull aparts
done
day 43
speed squats 185
completed
rack pulls
275,285, 275,255,255
mobility work
done
reverse lunge off of 3 45s
40,40,40,35
wood chops
25,30,30
split squat
done
probably the worst day in the gym I’ve had on this program. It doesn’t help when the gym is super crowded. I got the dirtiest look when I said I needed the squat rack for 10 sets. I think the fucker only wanted to do shrugs anyways and speed squats take half as long as some one resting 5 minutes between set or working with two training partners.
I don’t know what happened with rack pulls. I couldn’t add correctly and did two sets around 250 that were way too easy before I figured out my math was wrong. Thought 285 would be a reasonable pr but I got burnt out and could barely finish my remaining sets. My lower back was so fried I could barely get the dbs for rev lunges. Wood chops went well at least.