[quote]Ritchey wrote:
It just so happens that was the only photo of myself that I had available back when I first signed-up for T-Nation – I met 2 random guys, went with them to shoot air rifles at each other, and the place sent me an e-mail with the photos. True story. I suppose I could give it an update sometime eh?
See you at 5… hopefully… just switched my spec ops watch over to binary and I’m not too good at reading it yet!
[/quote]
Hahahaha, that’s awesome man. See you later.
09/09/09
ME Bench Presses
Bench Presses (Paused):
20x2x8
60x5
80x3
90x3
100x1
110x1
115x1
120x1
Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench Presses (Paused):
85lbx4x6
Pull-ups:
BW+10x4x6
Face Pulls:
90lbx3x12
Those pauses were long, so I’m going to be generous and give myself that last single with 120kg (see the video) despite a little ‘help’ from Chris 
Everything else continues to improve. The last couple of sets of dumbbell bench presses were damn hard, but I’ve made great progress with them in the last few weeks so hopefully I’ll be rewarded with more power off of my chest when benching in future.
Oh, and that was my best performance on pull-ups for a while. Good stuff.
12/09/09
DE Squats/Deadlifts
Speed Box Squats:
20x8
(Added green bands)
20x5
60x3
80x4x2
90x2x2
100x2x2
Speed Deadlifts:
70x3
(Added doubled mini bands)
70x1
90x2x1
100x2x1
110x1
120x1
Reverse Hypers:
65x3x12
Ab Pulldowns:
90lbx1x12
100lbx2x10
Good session today. The squats went pretty well and the deadlifts felt strong. Continuous improvement in assistance exercises should ensure that I get stronger in the big three, I’m pretty satisfied right now.
The video was of my penultimate deadlift (110kg).
13/09/09
DE Bench Presses
Speed Bench Presses:
20x2x8
(Added doubled mini bands)
20x5
40x5
60x3x3
70x5x3
Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench Presses:
80lbx10/9/8
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows:
90lbx3x10
55kgx1x12
Band Pull-aparts:
3x20 w/mini band
15/09/09
ME Squats/Deadlifts
Good Mornings:
20x2x8
40x5
60x5
80x3
90x3
100x3
110x3
115x3
Incline Leg Raises:
8x2x7
8x1x6
Pallof Presses:
25x3x10
Deload week this week, so I wasn’t pushing it today.
16/09/09
ME Bench Presses
Close Grip Bench Presses (Paused):
20x2x8
40x5
60x3
80x3
100x1
105x1
110x1
115x1
‘Bouncy’ Bench Presses:
40x15
60x15
80x6
Face Pulls:
90lbx3x13
I’m an idiot. This week is supposed to be a deload week, so yesterday I decided to do an exercise that I have never attempted before as my max effort movement. The result of the GMs: major soreness today in the lower back and hamstrings. Great.
Today’s session was fun - I worked my way up to a max on close grip bench presses which is (oddly) only about 5kg below my current max on the bench.
I was just going to do some face pulls after that, and leave it there, but then I got sucked into having a go at ‘bouncy’ bench presses. These are a hell of a lot harder than the video suggests - look how much my elbows are moving about on that sixth rep! Some deload.
Like I said, I’m an idiot.
Thanks for the deadlift video 
18/09/09
DE Squats/Deadlifts
Speed Box Squats:
20x2x5
50x3
70x2
90x6x2
Ab Pulldowns:
50x3x12
Cable Side Bends:
37.5x3x8
20/09/09
DE Bench Presses
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows:
90lbx4x10
Speed Bench Presses:
20x2x8
40x5
60x3x3
65x3x3
70x3x3
Band Pull-aparts:
3x20 w/mini band
Done. Deload over.
21/09/09
ME Squats/Deadlifts
SSB Squats:
30x2x8
50x5
70x3
90x3
110x1
125x1
135xF
135x1 (PR)
Stiff-legged Sumo Deadlifts:
65x5
85x5
105x3
115x3x3
Hanging Leg Raises:
5x4x8
Glute/Ham Raises:
BWx3 sets of (some) reps
A 5kg PR with the safety squat bar was pretty satisfying, and the stiff-legged sumo deadlifts thoroughly kicked my arse (literally) which resulted in me having to do leg raises before GHRs to give my posterior chain a chance to recover!
For the legions of you reading this and wondering, ‘hey, Russ, what’s up with your habit of failing lifts on max effort days?’ it’s simply because most of these exercises are new to me. The SSB, for example, throws you forward at the bottom of the squat BIG TIME, and if you aren’t prepared for it then you have no chance of making the lift. Hopefully over the next few weeks you’ll see fewer failures and many more PRs!
23/09/09
ME Bench Presses
Reverse Band Bench Presses (Paused):
20x2x8
40x5
60x5
80x3
(Added light bands)
100x3
120x1
130x1
135x1
Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses:
70lbx3x12
Pull-ups:
BW+10x4x6
Face Pulls:
90lbx3x13
Reverse band bench presses probably aren’t the most effective exercise for me to be doing (my weakness is off the chest when I’m bench pressing) but my training partner and I both fancied getting some heavy weight in our hands today! It was good fun, and I was satisfied with my performance.
Not much to say about the rest of the session. Pretty standard stuff.
25/09/09
DE Squats/Deadlifts
Speed Box Squats:
20x2x5
(Added 2 sets of chains per side)
20x5
60x3
80x4x2
100x4x2
Speed Deadlifts:
60x3
100x1
120x3x1
140x2x1
160x1
Reverse Hypers:
70x3x12
Barbell Side Bends:
25x5/side
30x5/side
32.5x5/side
I felt very good going into today’s session, so decided to work up to some heavier weights after the fast box squats and deadlifts.
26/09/09
DE Bench Presses
Speed Bench Presses:
20x2x8
40x5
60x3
(Added 2 sets of chains per side)
60x3x3
70x3x3
80x2x3
Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench Presses:
80lbx3x8
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows:
95lbx3x10
55kgx1x14
Band Pull-aparts:
3x20 w/mini band
28/09/09
ME Squats/Deadlifts
Paused Squats:
20x2x8
60x2x5
80x3
100x2
120x1
130x1
140x1
150xF
150xF
145x1
Deficit Deadlifts:
60x5
100x3
120x3
140x3
155x3 (PR)
160x3 (PR)
Glute/Ham Raises:
BWx3x10
Hanging Leg Raises:
5x3x8
Good session tonight. It sucked missing 150kg twice on the paused squats, but I knew I had more than 140kg in me, so I threw on a little more weight and managed a single with 145kg.
Onto pulls from a deficit, I made a 5kg PR and promptly beat it by another 5kg. Good stuff.
29/09/09
ME Bench Presses
Floor Presses (Paused):
20x8
40x5
60x5
80x3
90x1
100x1
110x1
115x1
120xF
‘Bouncy’ Bench Presses:
40x15
60x12
80x8
90x5
Pull-ups:
BW+10x4x6
Face Pulls:
100lbx3x10
Overhead Press Lockouts:
60x2x3
70x1x3
Very frustrated to not set a new PR on the floor press, but everything else was good.
[quote]Element_26 wrote:
29/09/09
ME Bench Presses
Floor Presses (Paused):
20x8
40x5
60x5
80x3
90x1
100x1
110x1
115x1
120xF
‘Bouncy’ Bench Presses:
40x15
60x12
80x8
90x5
Pull-ups:
BW+10x4x6
Face Pulls:
100lbx3x10
Overhead Press Lockouts:
60x2x3
70x1x3
Very frustrated to not set a new PR on the floor press, but everything else was good.[/quote]
Good work bro! The PRs will come, give it time. Have you messed with your grip or flared/tucked your elbows on the floor presses? I’m stronger with my elbows tucked and narrower grip.
Thanks for the encouragement dude. I hadn’t tried that - I take my normal grip on the bar (pinky on the ring) and tuck as normal, but don’t exaggerate it. Since my close grip bench is very, very close to my normal bench press, it makes sense that a narrower grip would help me when floor pressing. I’ll try it next time!
02/10/09
DE Squats/Deadlifts
Speed Box Squats:
20x2x8
(Added green bands)
20x5
60x3
80x4x2
90x2x2
100x2x2
Speed Deadlifts:
70x3
(Added doubled mini bands)
70x1
90x2x1
110x2x1
120x1
130x1 (PR)
Reverse Hypers:
75x3x12
Ab Pulldowns:
100lbx2x12
100lbx1x9
The most notable thing about today’s session was a PR on the ‘speed deadlifts’. 90kg felt very, very fast; 110kg was also very quick so I decided to strain just a little bit more. 120kg wasn’t a problem, so I went for 130kg (a 10kg PR). I stalled just below the kneecap thanks to the bands, but struggled through and managed to lock it out. Good stuff.
04/10/09
DE Bench Presses
Speed Bench Presses:
20x2x8
(Added 2 sets of chains per side)
20x5
40x5
60x3x3
65x5x3
Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench Presses:
85lbx4x8
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows:
95lbx3x10
60kgx1x9
Band Pull-aparts:
3x25 w/mini band
Those were some intense band pull-aparts.
EDIT: It has been brought to my attention by my training partner (known around these parts as Youch) that I neglected to highlight my general lameness in performing those band pull-aparts whilst he was finishing off Sunday’s session with a few sets of clean and presses with a strongman log. Oh the shame.
05/10/09
ME Squats/Deadlifts
Cambered Bar Box Squats:
30x2x5
70x5
90x3
110x3
130x1
140x1
150x1
160x1
Stiff-legged Sumo Deadlifts:
65x5
85x3
105x3
125x3 (PR)
115x2x3
Glute/Ham Raises:
BWx3x10
Hanging Leg Raises:
5x3x9
Delighted with the squats today - I managed 160kg with the cambered bar a few weeks ago, but that wasn’t to a box so I’m counting that as progress!
Hamstrings and glutes are very, very sore today though!