I think I’m going to have to add your log to the list that I have to steel myself before I read or else I’ll just put the gun to my head.
2 x 200 to parallel for an unseasoned squatter is very, very good for your size.
Oh why couldn’t I have been born stronger?
Seriously, I look forward to following your progress. I suspect this is only the beginning.
Thanks Snap - I am looking forward to progress as well. It’s what keeps me going!
Just don’t beat up on yourself too much, k? I’m not one to talk though, I’m my own worst critic…
We worked the kids pretty hard in karate last night. Lots of sit-ups, push-ups and running and because I do the workouts with the kids I ended up getting a good sweat on! I haven’t trained push-ups in a while, but they certainly have improved with all of the bench pressing. However, my knee felt a bit off when I was running. Nothing painful - just a reminder that I’m not better yet. Because of this I dropped the intensity on the box squats and tried to focus on using my glutes more.
Warm-up
Sidesteps with heavy resistance band
Box Squat
10@115
10@135
5@150
5@160 x 3
RDL
10@95 x 3 (my hammies are screaming at me now!)
Overhead squats
10@30 x 3
Hanging leg raises
10 x 4
Stretched and rolled out to finish the night off
I’m thinking I might make next week a deload week. This week will be my 4th week on WS4SB. My body is feeling pretty tired and I could use a good refresher. I’ll bump down the intensity and work on form, depth etc.
And it looks like my bw bench press goal has gotten a little farther away as I have put on 3-5 lbs in the past 2 months. I don’t know where it went - I can still see my top two abs and my pants still fit well. I’m not terribly concerned though - just my goal is now a little father away.
I had a blast teaching the little (6-8) karate kids last night. Though I had to give out my first set of push-ups of the year. One kid just up and started doing the Homer Simpson run in circles on the ground thing. I had him do 10 push-ups (then gave the kids who were laughing at him for getting push-ups some push-ups) then he went back at it on the floor. I ended up putting him in the corner and he spun around for about 5 minnutes while I taught the rest of the group.
Tonight was repetition upper body
Bench Press
10@55, 10@55, 22@75, 22@75, 22@75
Chins (unassisted/chair assisted) / Rear delt flye superset
5/7 10@10s
3/8 10@10s
3/8 10@10s
3/8 10@10s
DB Military press (my shoulders felt tired so I bumped down the weight a bit)
8@35s, 8@30s, 8@30s, 8@30s
BB Shrugs, Hammer curls superset
8@140 10@20s
8@145 10@20s
8@145, 10@20s
Friday
DL
5@110
5@120
5@140
5@155
3@165
2@170
RDL
8@95 x 3
Exersice ball hamstring curls
15 x 3
High rep ab circuit (sprinter sit-ups, v-ups, toe touches, hip thrusts 10-20 reps) x 3 circuits
Barbell complex (DL, RDL bent over row, power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, good mornings)
6 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps, 3, reps
thats funny…there always one in every class!
I’m gonna catch you on chins. That’s my goal right now.
Snap- Wicked! Go hard!
I finally got to putting together vids from my squat/deadlift day.
On my second rep at 200, I rounded my back a little - gotta focus on keeping tension.
And I now don’t trust the chair I was squatting to. Could have killed myself! I’ll have to find something else soon… I also included the bench I was squatting to before for comparison. Seeing as I had the camera out I took a vid of my DL PR too.
Tonight was my first day of a deload week.
I did lots of heavy bag work and ~30 push-ups
A few sets of 35lb plate pushes and some sidesteps with a heavy band
Then the bf and I threw dodgeballs at each other - good for the reaction time!
Followed by some medicine ball chest passes.
Bench press
10@35
10@45
5@55
5@65
5@75
DB Floor press
20@15 x 2
Bent over rows / rear delt flyes superset
10@75 / 10@8s x 3
Shrugs
10@75
10@85
10@95
10@105
My left elbow is sore so I skiped the biceps curls.
It’s not terribly exciting - just taking the time to recover a bit then go hard again.
I had a very fun (and attentive!) class last night. Though we were yelling so much (entirely my fault!) so much that my voice hurts a little today.
After that it was lower body deload:
Warmed up by throwing the dodgeball around for 10 min or so.
Sidesteps with the heavy band until fatigue
Single leg lifts with heavy band
10 x 3 each leg
I’m finding that most bent knee exercises are aggravating things a little so I’ll be backing off of them for a while and working on more straight leg exersises.
RDL
10@75 x 3
Hanging leg raises
10 x 2
Followed by more dodgeball throwing while we watched the last 20 min of Glee (guilty pleasure!)
The weather is starting to turn finally (I wasn’t ready for winter) so I think I might take the bike out tonight then go bake some cookies. I found a recipe for whole wheat, oatmeal, chocolate, almond, cranberry cookies that looked mighty tasty!
GIMME COOKIES!!!
sorry to hear about your knee…too much too soon maybe?
MiM - Actually it is my other knee (I think I hurt it hiking) that is giving me problems now grrrr… I’ve been told by my doc that it is patellofemoral syndrome and from what it seems a fairly mild case. So I have more exercises and stretches to do while I refrain from bent knee exercises for a couple of weeks. I actually used to get horrible anterior knee pain when I used to play volleyball in high school to the point that stairs were hell. So I guess I’m used to it a bit.
The “really” injured knee is actually coming along quite well! Stability is up, pain is down and now feels better than the PFS knee.
Now lemme find a envelope… I wonder how well cookies would go through the mail?? 
nice squatting! damn i’m jealous.
make sure you keep your weight on your heels when you deadlift. try curling your toes up off the ground and really focus on pulling BACK and drilling through your heels.
love the avatar btw. =+)
Thanks Deja!
Unfortunately I won’t be squatting until it get this PFS all cleared up which hopefully won’t be too long!
And thanks for the deadlift tip. Push through the heels - got it!
I’ve been lucky enough to have two beautiful evenings for a good bike ride. For the past two weeks we’ve had cold, rainy, blah weather so it was really nice to see some sunshine! I’ll be getting out on the bike tonight too. It does the knees good!
After biking I had a very low key workout.
2 min heavy bag, 10 push-ups, 5 chin-ups, 1 min plank circuit x 2
Sidesteps with heavy band to fatigue
Single leg lifts with heavy band 10x2 each leg
Finished up with some stretching and rolling.
The rest and biking is doing my PFS knee good - the pain is starting to fade. I don’t know what I did in my sleep last night though… Feels like I slept on my head. I hate waking up with a sore neck. Sleep is supposed to make you feel better in the morning! On the bright side it is FRIDAY!
Friday - last deload day!
7 km bkie
Heavy bag 2min, 10 push-ups x 2
Side steps with heavy band to fatigue
Heavy band single leg lifts 10 x 3 each leg
High rep ab circuit x 1
Lots of stretching and rolling
I’m looking forward to Monday and getting back to hitting the heavy stuff!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Monday - Back at it!
Went for another bike ride ~30-40 mins or so. This week is looking beautiful, so I’ll get a few more rides in. I’ll take all I can get! This time of year in Alberta you never know when the snow is going to fly…
Yesterday at work I touched my heel to my butt. It is taking a bit of work, but that last little bit of flexibility is starting to come. At coffee and lunch I sit at the table and hug my knee gently trying to work on my flexibility. The PFS knee is really starting to feel better too. I’m still going to stick with the rehab style exercises for another week or two though.
Warm-up (~20 min - waiting for my bf to come home so I could have a spot)
ball squats 10 x 3
sidesteps with heavy band until fatigue
heavy band single leg raises 10 x 3 per leg
30s one leg bosu balance x3 per leg
Bench press (not quite as good as my last heavy day)
10@65
5@75
5@85
5@95
5@105
4@115
1@120
Floor press
17@20s, 15@20s
Bent over rows / rear delt flyes superset
8@95 / 10@10s x 3 sets
BB Shrugs
10@135 x 4
Hammer curls
10@20s x 4
Cool down with stretching and rolling
Things felt a little heavy today, but I’m going to blame that on recovering from drinking and playing board games until 5 am Sat night/sun morning. The bf and I hosted a dodgeball season start-up party on Saturday and these things always tend to go into the wee hours of the morning!
Anyway - I’ve been reading through 531 and think I might switch over to that in a month or so if the PFS knee gets better. I don’t like flip flopping around with programs, but I really like how the progression is set up compared to WS4SB.
I love that you’re a competitive dodgeball player.
yah that is awesome. i played in a dodgeball tournament one time and i was sore as hell for DAYS after! haha
Dodgeball can certainly be a pretty demanding sport depending on your style of play. I used to play all out, but might have play a more defensive laid back style due to my injury. I’ll just chill out in the back row and try my best to save the day when I’m the last one on the court.
Tournaments can be brutal too! I throw sidearm discus style and my right side is always crazy sore (especially my lats) after a tourney or 3 hour marathon session.
Sadly though, this season is starting without me… I’m hoping to be back with the team for a tourney in November. I’m just not confident with my knee yet and honestly a little scared of re-injury.
Here’s some shameless self promotion - my wicked all-girls team (competing in a co-ed league) who pulled of a solid victory last night. I think this was from last fall/winter season. I’ve never embedded a video link before so hopefully this works!
Love your videos! deja got to my DL comment first. Weight on your heels and pull that bar back into your body, don’t bend over and pick it up. This is one of my problems, so I know it can be hard to fix.