Was horribly sick early in the week, so missed my deadlift session. Annoying, but cracking on with upper body anyway.
08/08/12
Bench Presses
2-board Bench Presses:
20x2x8
60x5
80x5
(All subsequent sets performed to a 2-board)
100x5
120x3
130x2x3
125x3
120x3
Close Grip Incline Presses:
65x5x10
Kroc Rows:
45x12
50x12
65x15
Lat Pulldowns:
3 sets
Dumbbell Shrugs:
65lbx40
Hadn’t slept or eaten very much in the last 2 days, and I felt a bit lethargic. Got some decent work in though.
in for Adventure Time
how’s it going broseph? back healing up…I am still reading.
Good to hear from you man. The back is healing up, slowly but surely. Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting lifting to post about soon.
spar4tee - and what an adventure it’s been so far. Welcome aboard the crazy train to jackedness and strength. Or something.
10/08/12
Lower Body
Power Cleans:
50x3
60x3
70x3
80x3
90x6x3
Squats:
20x5
60x5
100x5
120x5
140x5
150x2
120x5
Front Squats:
90x3x3
Glute/Ham Raises:
3 sets
I’ve been inspired by watching Ilya Ilin et al do their thing in the Olympics, so played with some cleans yesterday. It’s been a long time since I ‘warmed up’ for squats with these for six triples, and it got a bit of sweat up. Felt good though.
Squats were going really nicely until I felt a bit of a twang when setting up for the set with 150kg. This is still babyweight, but my hamstring felt really tight. I could do without another injury right now, so when it felt like a chord stretching on the first couple of reps I terminated the set early. I figured I could drop the weight and get a few sets of work in, but even that set at 120 wasn’t great. Instead I switched to front squats, which were much kinder on the hammy and glute/hams (which, bizarrely, didn’t trouble me at all).
11/08/12
Presses
Split Jerks:
Worked up to 70x1
Presses:
40x5
50x5
65x5x3
Pull-ups:
BWx6
BW 10x5
BW 20x5
BW 30x3
BW 42.5x2
BW 40x2
BWx9
Face Pulls:
120lbx3x10
EZ Bar Skullcrushers:
2 sets
EZ Bar Curls:
2 sets
Thought I’d warm up for presses by playing around with some jerks. Not sure exactly what I did but worked up to 70kg. I very much doubt that they were especially explosive! Rest of the session was fine.
Next week is the fourth week of my current cycle, and would normally be a deload. I’m going to drop volume very slightly but keep the intensity high. After my work on the Olympics/Paralympics is done, I’ll be heading off to New Zealand for a long holiday with my girlfriend, so I’m going to train hard for the next month and overreach a bit, knowing that I probably won’t see a gym for a month come late September.
New Zealand? Isn’t it winter time down there right now? You could always come over to the states and hang out in the late summer heat and humidity, lol.
It’ll be spring when we go, which suits me fine. Perfect for all the adventurous type stuff I’ll be doing (unless it rains constantly). I don’t tend to get on too well with heat!
13/08/12
Pulls
Snatches:
Several light singles w/40kg
Deadlifts:
60x5
100x5
140x5
160x5
180x5
Front Squats:
60x5
80x3
95x5x3
Ab Pulldowns:
3 sets
Just working on technique on the snatches, and won’t raise the weight until I can consistently perform them perfectly with very light weights.
Deadlifts weren’t great - I may focus on cleans and snatches for most of my pulling for a little while, and fo rack pulls from just below the knee for the rest. Front squats were good though.
15/08/12
Bench Presses
Snatches:
Several light singles w/40kg
Floor Presses:
20x2x8
40x5
60x5
80x5
90x3
100x3
110x3
115x2x1
Close Grip Incline Presses:
70x4x10
Kroc Rows:
45x12
50x12
55x23
Lat Pulldowns:
170lbx13
Are you doing the full or power version of the snatch? If you are a new to the lift, but already at a relatively high strength level like you are, sometimes upping the weight a bit is necessary. Otherwise, you end up just arming or swinging the weight up overhead.
[quote]novaeer wrote:
Are you doing the full or power version of the snatch? If you are a new to the lift, but already at a relatively high strength level like you are, sometimes upping the weight a bit is necessary. Otherwise, you end up just arming or swinging the weight up overhead.[/quote]
Interesting - I’m doing the full squat version, and it’s looking pretty decent with light weights. I’ll be doing them again at the weekend, so I’ll up the weight a little and see if it still looks good.
I’ve been teaching myself so far but there’s an Oly lifting coach based not too far away from me. I should really get my arse in gear and go and get some expert advice. You experimented with the Oly lifts not too long ago didn’t you? Why did you stop?
I trained at an Oly lifting club for about 5 months in 2010; I stopped going because our son was born and it was hard to make the 1hr+ drive up. If you are seeing good results with 40, then stick with that weight for now. The coach at the club I went to had me do most of my snatches around 50-60 for the first couple of months because otherwise I would just manhandle the weight. The best I hit was an easy 80 - not great, but not shabby for having never done them before.
[quote]Element_26 wrote:
It’ll be spring when we go, which suits me fine. Perfect for all the adventurous type stuff I’ll be doing (unless it rains constantly). I don’t tend to get on too well with heat![/quote]
TRIP ! COOL!
What kinda stuff are ya’ll gonna be doing?!
Excellent job on that there bench PR that you had many moons ago…
[quote]novaeer wrote:
I trained at an Oly lifting club for about 5 months in 2010; I stopped going because our son was born and it was hard to make the 1hr+ drive up. If you are seeing good results with 40, then stick with that weight for now. The coach at the club I went to had me do most of my snatches around 50-60 for the first couple of months because otherwise I would just manhandle the weight. The best I hit was an easy 80 - not great, but not shabby for having never done them before.[/quote]
Good point - would be easy to just chuck the light weights up without practising the technique that will be necessary to lift heavier loads. With that in mind, I took the weight up yesterday and will continue linear progression for the next few weeks.
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
[quote]Element_26 wrote:
It’ll be spring when we go, which suits me fine. Perfect for all the adventurous type stuff I’ll be doing (unless it rains constantly). I don’t tend to get on too well with heat![/quote]
TRIP ! COOL!
What kinda stuff are ya’ll gonna be doing?!
Excellent job on that there bench PR that you had many moons ago…[/quote]
Haha - glad you took my hint and piped up. Hey, Smolov Jr worked big style for me for my bench…
My girlfriend hasn’t been home for a couple of years, so we’ll spend a few days with her family, then we’re off on a trip around the South Island. We’ll see glaciers, bungy jump, ride jet boats, visit Mt Cook, and hopefully go whale spotting. Should be fuckin awesome.
17/08/12
Lower Body
Broad Jumps:
5x3
Power Cleans:
50x3
70x3
80x3
95x4x3
Squats:
20x5
60x5
100x5
120x3
140x5
145x3
150x3
Glute/Ham Raises:
3 sets
Continued a semi-deload, and added some jumps to be dynamic and stuff. Wore my new Oly shoes for the first time - felt great for the cleans and also surprisingly good for the squats.
19/08/12
Presses
Snatches:
Worked up to 50x3x1
Split Jerks:
Several light sets
Presses:
40x5
50x5
57.5x5x8
Pull-ups:
BWx6
BWx8
BW+10x8
BW+15x8
BW+20x8
BWx8