FightingScott's Log

Training Training Logs
241

10/24/2008

Incline Bench Press:
65X8
95x5
135X5
185X13 RP

Dumbbell Arnold Press:
35X6
70X8 RP

3-Board Press:
135X5
185X5
245X1 (Awful Hand-off)
245X8 RP (Another Awful Hand-off)

COC:
TX6
1X3
2X2
1.5X3X2
1X7

Skull-Crusher:
75X13

Pushdown:
20 reps X 2 sets

Triceps Machine:
Played Around With It - Very Nice

I’m gonna scale back the Arnold Presses till I can get 20RP with the 65s. The 245 3-Board will remain the same since I know I can do much better next time and the hand-offs I got cost me at least 3 reps every mini-set. I should be able to get 245X10 straight set no problem. My normal training partner was a no show this evening.

Inclines were good, especially since I had planned to use 175.

The Skull-Crushers were very strict and controlled. I’m going to replace them with the Cybex Machine Triceps Extension. It feels very natural but still isolates the Triceps. I think I may get my training partner to push on the counter-weight so we can do eccentric-only sets.

242

10/26/2008

Deadlift: Ultimate Failure
I warmed up. I missed 420. Straight up. Just did not get it. My set today SHOULD have been 475X3 or more reps.

Reverse Band Deadlift:
I worked up to 4 plates with the Green bands at eye level. This felt heavy as all hell. The hardest part was getting it off the ground. The bands took 135 off the bottom. Holy Hell. I just realized that means the bar was like 275 at the bottom. Whoa.

Front Squat:
I warmed up. I hit 295X3. This was an easy PR.

Clean-Grip Shrug:
405X10 Strapless

Deep Platform RDL:
335X10

Leg Curl:
170X11 Rest Paused

WHAT the FUCK?

243

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
10/26/2008

Deadlift: Ultimate Failure
I warmed up. I missed 420. Straight up. Just did not get it. My set today SHOULD have been 475X3 or more reps.

Reverse Band Deadlift:
I worked up to 4 plates with the Green bands at eye level. This felt heavy as all hell. The hardest part was getting it off the ground. The bands took 135 off the bottom. Holy Hell. I just realized that means the bar was like 275 at the bottom. Whoa.

Front Squat:
I warmed up. I hit 295X3. This was an easy PR.

Clean-Grip Shrug:
405X10 Strapless

Deep Platform RDL:
335X10

Leg Curl:
170X11 Rest Paused

WHAT the FUCK?[/quote]

is there any acaull explanation to why you can do a certain weight one day for a good amount of reps and then not even get one the next day, im talking about your deads. Is that just because of a bad day or what?

244

[quote]crod266 wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
10/26/2008

Deadlift: Ultimate Failure
I warmed up. I missed 420. Straight up. Just did not get it. My set today SHOULD have been 475X3 or more reps.

Reverse Band Deadlift:
I worked up to 4 plates with the Green bands at eye level. This felt heavy as all hell. The hardest part was getting it off the ground. The bands took 135 off the bottom. Holy Hell. I just realized that means the bar was like 275 at the bottom. Whoa.

Front Squat:
I warmed up. I hit 295X3. This was an easy PR.

Clean-Grip Shrug:
405X10 Strapless

Deep Platform RDL:
335X10

Leg Curl:
170X11 Rest Paused

WHAT the FUCK?

is there any acaull explanation to why you can do a certain weight one day for a good amount of reps and then not even get one the next day, im talking about your deads. Is that just because of a bad day or what?[/quote]

Almost all the explanations I can think of would have required me to suck at Front Squat as well - but I PRed.

The ONLY explanation I can think of for missing 80-85% of my max is that I’ve been Deadlifting too often. When I made 455X5 last month, I missed my lifts the next week. When I made 440X8 this month, I missed my lifts the following workout.

I’m not going to do 5/3/1 anymore. I’m gonna finish it out for Squat but that’s it. Maybe it would work if I did it 3 days a week or Pulled every other week but since I can’t Deadlift Heavy every 7 days, I know I can make my Deadlift go up faster using the Conjugate Method than I can any other way.

So no more De-loading for me for quite some time now that I’ll be back to the Conjugate Method for lower body and DC for Upper Body.

I’m not too concerned about sucking it up on the Deadlift today. It’s pretty obvious to me that there aren’t any holes in my diet or sleep habits or aggression because of the numbers I was able to hit in Front Squat.

245

10/27/2008

2-Board:
225X20 RP

Push-Jerk:
195X12 RP

Close-Grip Incline:
155X14 RP

Skull-Crushers:
1 Set

Rope Pushdown:
1 Set

The Close-Grip Inclines were done with two fingers on the smooth.

I think I’ll need to replace the Push-Jerk with the Behind-The-Neck Press. Push-Jerks are just too stressful on the entire body to fit the label of “Shoulder Exercise.” My upper back is feelin’ it right now.

Training Partner Skipped out for the 3rd session in a Row. I had to be a bit conservative with the rest-pause and rack the bar when I started to strain through reps. This might have actually worked out pretty well since the reps I could have gotten just transfer over to the last mini-set of the entire rest-pause set where I go to failure.

There’s a bit of a problem with going over 400 pounds. It ALWAYS feels heavy. 350 Doesn’t feel heavy. But I have a feeling that even if I was squatting 600, 400 would still feel really heavy.

246

10/30/2008

Box Squat:
135X5
225X3
275X1
315X1
355X1
405X2

Added Purple Bands:
225X2
275X2
315X2X4
335X2
365X2

Weighted Chin:
BWX5
45X3
100X3

Barbell Shrug:
225X10
315X10
405X10X4

45’ Hyper:
BWX40
BWX30
BWX20
BWX10

I’ve come to realize that the 45’ Hyper is one of the best abdominal movements. Too bad the bench we have is too unstable for me to put a barbell on my back and not fear death.

Lucky for me this was not a true Max Effort Workout. If you get technical, it was an RE Workout. I’ll be returning to the Conjugate Method for Lower Body Training on Sunday.

In order to avoid missing lifts like I did over this summer, instead of having 4 core lifts to rotate through I will have 6 - 3 for the Squat and 3 for the Deadlift.

247

10/31/2008

Flat Bench Press:
215X13 RP

Military Press:
135X11 RP

Close-Grip Bench:
195X11 RP

Machine High Row:
Stack + 45 X 16 RP

EZ-Bar Curl:
115X11 RP

I was hoping this would be the last time I’d have to do a work set with less than 225 on bench, but it looks like I need at least another round with 215 before I can move up.

I’ll be buying the EFS Bench Manual as soon as it comes out. But I’ll need to restrain myself from switching to the Conjugate Method for Benching until I have made some respectable progress with DC-Style upper body training and I can actually put up 315.

When I can get at least 11 Rest-Paused Reps at 275 will I test my max again.

248

11/2/2008

Reverse Band Deadlift:
135X5
225X5
315X3
405X1
445X1
495X1
545XM
525X1
475X1X3

Front Squat:
135X3
225X1
295X2

Barbell Shrug:
135X5
225X5
315X5
405X15

Dumbbell Side Bend:
55X5
85X15

Romanian Deadlift:
225X5
315X1
365X8
385X5

Machine Leg Curl:
90X10

Mr. Konstantinovs has inspired me to do heavy, deep Romanian Deadlifts. I’m using the exact same form on the exact same RDL platform. The only difference is that my weights are much lighter.

I gotta say, doing those singles at 475 were no joke. I was planning on doing 475 for a triple in order to get in the volume, but after the first go I knew that was not in the cards. When I was weaker I had no problem doing a bunch of reps with 80 or even 90 percent of my max.

I’m puzzled by how much aid the bands are or aren’t giving me. I set them up at eye height. From looking at some people’s YouTube videos, they’re only getting about 40 pounds out of the same set-up I’m getting.

135 feels almost weightless at the bottom, but 135 always feels light. When I missed 545 I got it to clear the ground but then failed. I’m thinking since I got 495 off a 4" Block, the bar weight when I failed was probably more than 495. Whatever. All that matters is that I get 545 next time around.

I knew eventually hitting 90 percent would be harder, but I thought it would get hard when I was deadlifitng 600ish.

I should have warmed up smarter on Front Squat.

249

11/3/2008

Incline Bench Press:
185X14 RP

Dumbbell Arnold Press:
65X12 RP

3-Board Press:
245X8 RP

Captain of Crush:
1.5 X 14

Machine Extension:
110X9

Triceps Pushdown:
6 Plates X 16

Yeah, the Inclines were only up 1 rest paused rep, but I’ll toss that up to not having the best mini-sets afterwords. The reps went 10-3-1, but last time they were more like 7-4-2 or something like that. So going purely off being able to hit 10 straight reps with 185, I’ll let myself move up in weight.

Took it down on the Arnold Press. I did 75X5 on normal Dumbbell Press (handles at ear level) and then failed to get up 85 (Dumb I know. I’ve missed that weight sooooo many times).

Zero Improvement on 3-Board. I don’t get it. I did 225X20 on the 2-Board. I imagine I’ll be able to get in some decent reps with 235 on the 2-Board when I move up. But 245 on 1 board higher just feels like hell. It must be because I’m so fatigued after Arnold Press and Incline Bench Press.

I don’t see much sense in using the same weights for 3-Board that I do for 2-Board. I’ll either switch to the 4-Board or I’ll do some sort of extension.

250

11/4/2008

Lat Pulldown:
8X10

Weighted Chin:
BWX5
45X3
90X1
135X1
135XM

Negative 1-Arm Chin:
Couldn’t do it

Dumbbell Kroc Row:
65X8
115X5
135X5
155X12

Halbert Raise:
10X6
30X6
40X8

Incline Dumbbell Curl:
30X5
40X5
50X5
60X5

Gotta go lighter on Curls.
If SlayerMetal does his curls light (for him) and strict, maybe I should too (it’s all relative)

I tried to do Negative 1-Arm Chins. When I let one arm go, I just dropped. I tried several times. It’s fucking hard.

The 135X1 wasn’t the best, but I counted it. I think I’ll stick to a 135lb Max for now and just try to hit rep PRs. Or I could take 10% off my current 135 + BW X 1 Max and start training higher reps with slightly lighter weights. Yeah. I’ll do that and when I work my way back up to 135X1 as a working max to base the 5/3/1 off of, I’ll be kicking ass. But in order to suceed with this, I’ll need to be hitting pretty sizable PRs going well beyond the prescribed reps.

I think part of the reason this chin max wasn’t as beautiful as ones in the past is because I haven’t done Dumbbell Rows in a while. Don’t get me wrong. 155X12 is a big PR - it’s double the best # of reps I’ve ever gotten with 155. But it could be higher.

Edit: I just got a reply PM from Jim, the beast skills guy.
He’s recommended to progress to 1-Arm Negatives that I do some weighted ‘Frenchie’ Chin-ups as he calls them, with somewhere between 45-70lbs.

In this exercise do a chin up to the top of the bar, hold for several seconds (I used 5 seconds), lower down completely, chin to a 90 degree arm angle, hold for several seconds, lower down completely, then chin to a 135 degree angle to hold for another several seconds. This is one “frenchie”.
http://www.beastskills.com/OneArmPull.htm

I figure with this, Time under tension is more important than reps. A Single Frenchie is obviously going to take more than 15 seconds to complete. In Dave Tate’s ‘Extended Tension’ Hypertrophy training manual, instead of training with reps he would use a 3 week wave where his sets would be 30 seconds the first week, 35 seconds the second week, and 40 seconds the third week. He did 3 sets of these times each week.

So, after I do my Normal Weighted Chins for the day, I’ll start off with 45lbs and do Frenchie Chins for 2 reps the first week, 2 or 3 reps the second week, and then 3 or 4 reps the third week. Then it’ll be deload week for 5/3/1 Chins, so I might as well Deload Frenchies. I plan on doing chins for max reps on my Deload Weeks from now on, so next week I’ll be seeing how many Bodyweight Chins I can crank out.

Back Training will be:
5/3/1 Weighted Chins
Weighted Frenchies (Negative 1-Arms when I graduate to them)
Strapless Kroc Rows
Pulldowns or Pullovers
Some type of Upper Back/Rhomboid/Rear Delt Move
Some type of Curl

Captain of Crush will still be done at the end of DC Pressing Days. Heavy Upper Back work (Clean-Grip Shrugs, Snatch-Grip Shrugs, and High Pin Pulls) will be done on Max Effort Lower Body Days (Sunday).

251

how are your arms looking these days scott

252

[quote]crod266 wrote:
how are your arms looking these days scott[/quote]

Small and pale. They look bigger than they looked when I posted those pictures this summer, but still small by bodybuilding standards.

I’d post a picture but the lighting around my MacBook is no good at the moment.

Just this week I could make out all 3 heads of the triceps sometimes. Sometimes I can see a few striations in them too. Nothing crazy.

For some reason the big vein on my biceps that almost everyone at sub 15% bodyfat can see isn’t as visible as it was when I was a 120lb runt, but I can see more triceps definition.

I’ve also got a helluva lot of stretch marks on the back of where the triceps ties into the rear delts and lats, but that’s clearly from back growth, not triceps growth.

I don’t want to win any bodybuilding shows. I just want to be strong. But it would be nice to have arms big enough that people don’t laugh at you when you tell them you lift weights.

253

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
crod266 wrote:
how are your arms looking these days scott

Small and pale. They look bigger than they looked when I posted those pictures this summer, but still small by bodybuilding standards.

I’d post a picture but the lighting around my MacBook is no good at the moment.

Just this week I could make out all 3 heads of the triceps sometimes. Sometimes I can see a few striations in them too. Nothing crazy.

For some reason the big vein on my biceps that almost everyone at sub 15% bodyfat can see isn’t as visible as it was when I was a 120lb runt, but I can see more triceps definition.

I’ve also got a helluva lot of stretch marks on the back of where the triceps ties into the rear delts and lats, but that’s clearly from back growth, not triceps growth.

I don’t want to win any bodybuilding shows. I just want to be strong. But it would be nice to have arms big enough that people don’t laugh at you when you tell them you lift weights. [/quote]

im with you man i gain wieght i get stronger and still my arms dont grow ha

254

[quote]crod266 wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
crod266 wrote:
how are your arms looking these days scott

Small and pale. They look bigger than they looked when I posted those pictures this summer, but still small by bodybuilding standards.

I’d post a picture but the lighting around my MacBook is no good at the moment.

Just this week I could make out all 3 heads of the triceps sometimes. Sometimes I can see a few striations in them too. Nothing crazy.

For some reason the big vein on my biceps that almost everyone at sub 15% bodyfat can see isn’t as visible as it was when I was a 120lb runt, but I can see more triceps definition.

I’ve also got a helluva lot of stretch marks on the back of where the triceps ties into the rear delts and lats, but that’s clearly from back growth, not triceps growth.

I don’t want to win any bodybuilding shows. I just want to be strong. But it would be nice to have arms big enough that people don’t laugh at you when you tell them you lift weights.

im with you man i gain wieght i get stronger and still my arms dont grow ha[/quote]

I think at this point right now my arms have caught up with the rest of me. So I’m just small all around.

255

how are those side bends woking out for you man. Im asking becasue my core is starting to hold back my squat and deadlift and i was thinking of adding in some ab work. What ab excersises do u recommend?

256

[quote]crod266 wrote:
how are those side bends woking out for you man. Im asking becasue my core is starting to hold back my squat and deadlift and i was thinking of adding in some ab work. What ab excersises do u recommend?[/quote]

Dumbbell Side Bends don’t rank that high on my list. If you have the time, do them. But master these exercises first.

(1) Front Squats
Front Squats, Manta Ray Squats, and Squats with Specialty Bars will force you to work harder to stay vertical. If your ‘core’ is holding you back, bringing up these lifts will bring up your squat and deadlift.

(2) Overhead Lifts
Your Olympic Lifting form can suck and you can still benefit from overhead lift variations. Dan John says you must put the bar overhead. Snatch, Power Snatch, Jerk, Push-Press, Press, Log Press, whatever.

(3) Good-Mornings
If you have a strong back, strong abs will follow.

(4) 45’ Back Raises
Same rational as above. Push yourself on these. I have done reps with over 100 pounds on my back. I have heard of other athletes using as much as 225. Once the weight gets heavy, you will feel your abs work. I would rank these above Weighted Crunches as an Abdominal Movement.

(5) Ricky Leg Raises
This is by far one of the most humbling, brutal, and effective exercises for the abs and hip flexors. While hanging leg raises have always been a big part of my training, even when I was swimming and didn’t touch weights, This exercise will tell you how weak you really are.

Obviously you can train the first 3 movements for fives, triples, and singles but don’t be afraid to do 45’ Back Raises and Ricky Leg Raises for heavy sets of five.

257

11/6/2008 - Dynamic Effort Lower Body

Light Band Box Squat:
135X2
225X2X8
315X2

Mini-Band Deadlift:
225X1X6
275X1
315X1
365X1
405X1

45’ Zercher Back Raise:
25X8
75X8
125X8
145X8
165X6

Ricky Leg Raise:
15X8
20X8

I used the Curl bar for the Zercher Back Raises. There are some handles on the back raise bench that keep me from putting the bar on my back. It’s sort of a Dip/45’ combo Bench. I really don’t trust this bench. It’s really, really flimsy.

For Mini-Band Deadlifts I alternated Sumo and Conventional every set until my last set of 225. Everything above 225 was done Sumo.

Hopefully working up heavy on Sumo Deadlifts (only on occasion - not all the time) will give me some perspective on where my weaknesses lie in Conventional.

In Pulling 405 I blasted off the floor but was stuck once the plates had moved about 4 inches, then I began to strain. My only other attempts to go heavy in Sumo were a 475 Rack Pull done in the summer after many heavy conventional rack pulls and a 385 Sumo Pull standing on a 3" platform that accidentally ended up being nearly stiff legged.

I think a big think for sumo is that you can’t let the hips point down (if that makes any sense).

258

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
crod266 wrote:
how are those side bends woking out for you man. Im asking becasue my core is starting to hold back my squat and deadlift and i was thinking of adding in some ab work. What ab excersises do u recommend?

Dumbbell Side Bends don’t rank that high on my list. If you have the time, do them. But master these exercises first.

(1) Front Squats
Front Squats, Manta Ray Squats, and Squats with Specialty Bars will force you to work harder to stay vertical. If your ‘core’ is holding you back, bringing up these lifts will bring up your squat and deadlift.

(2) Overhead Lifts
Your Olympic Lifting form can suck and you can still benefit from overhead lift variations. Dan John says you must put the bar overhead. Snatch, Power Snatch, Jerk, Push-Press, Press, Log Press, whatever.

(3) Good-Mornings
If you have a strong back, strong abs will follow.

(4) 45’ Back Raises
Same rational as above. Push yourself on these. I have done reps with over 100 pounds on my back. I have heard of other athletes using as much as 225. Once the weight gets heavy, you will feel your abs work. I would rank these above Weighted Crunches as an Abdominal Movement.

(5) Ricky Leg Raises
This is by far one of the most humbling, brutal, and effective exercises for the abs and hip flexors. While hanging leg raises have always been a big part of my training, even when I was swimming and didn’t touch weights, This exercise will tell you how weak you really are.

Obviously you can train the first 3 movements for fives, triples, and singles but don’t be afraid to do 45’ Back Raises and Ricky Leg Raises for heavy sets of five.

[/quote]

thanks scott yea right now my primary leg excersise is front squat and i feel like my abs are holding back when i do them and i already do standing oh press. My abs and core still are a weak point. What exactly are ricky leg raises?

259

[quote]crod266 wrote:

thanks scott yea right now my primary leg excersise is front squat and i feel like my abs are holding back when i do them and i already do standing oh press. My abs and core still are a weak point. What exactly are ricky leg raises?[/quote]

Please don’t cal me Scott. It’s not my real name. Thanks.

It’s in a video a few pages back.

Your abs are obviously going to hold your front squat back. If your abs weren’t holding it back, you’d be able to front squat almost as much as you can high-bar back squat. Some people can only front Squat 60% of their back squat while others can front squat 90% of their back squat.

You can’t know for certain where a weak spot is just by examining where the hardest or slowest part of a lift for you is. What’s more important is where you fail in the lift.

If getting the bar from your knees to lockout is a hell of a battle, but you still complete the lift, then the deadlift lockout isn’t necessarily your weakness. But if you fail after you get the bar past your knees, then you’ve found your weakness.

260

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
crod266 wrote:

thanks scott yea right now my primary leg excersise is front squat and i feel like my abs are holding back when i do them and i already do standing oh press. My abs and core still are a weak point. What exactly are ricky leg raises?

Please don’t cal me Scott. It’s not my real name. Thanks.

It’s in a video a few pages back.

Your abs are obviously going to hold your front squat back. If your abs weren’t holding it back, you’d be able to front squat almost as much as you can high-bar back squat. Some people can only front Squat 60% of their back squat while others can front squat 90% of their back squat.

You can’t know for certain where a weak spot is just by examining where the hardest or slowest part of a lift for you is. What’s more important is where you fail in the lift.

If getting the bar from your knees to lockout is a hell of a battle, but you still complete the lift, then the deadlift lockout isn’t necessarily your weakness. But if you fail after you get the bar past your knees, then you’ve found your weakness. [/quote]

o thts not your name lol sorry bro i didnt know wont happen again.

as for the front squats yea i start to bend foward close to lockout on fronts if that helps at all. I can only front squat 195 so my guess is i can prob do alot more backsquat.