In. Hue
[quote]budreiser wrote:
In. Hue[/quote]
Awesome! Looking forward to your input.
08.12.13
SGHP, week 4
Decided to avoid overhead pressing again today in order to give the shoulder another week to recover.
SGHP:
Up to 1 x 85 kg (PR?)
6 x 3 x 70 kg
Hit a single SGHP at my bodyweight of 85 kg today, which I consider a good accomplishment. I know that I’d tried that weight before, but today’s form was much more sound and I reached a good bar height (just above nipple level) with better speed, so I’ll consider that a PR.
Barbell floor press:
6 x 3 x 90 kg
Chin-ups:
3 x 10 x BW
Incline barbell press:
3 x 5 x 80 kg
Training felt all in all very good today. I’m enjoying doing floor press for doubles and triples and have a feeling that it’s contributing to my triceps strength. I’ll try to slap another 5 kg on the bar next week and go for the same number of triples.
10.12.13
Deadlifts, week 5
Puh. Felt tired and weak as heck today. Weights went up well, but I decided not to push it.
Conventional deadlifts:
5 x 100 kg
5 x 125 kg
5 x 142.5 kg
5 x 162.5 kg
10 x 125 kg
Front squats:
6 x 85 kg
2 x 5 x 85 kg (gassed)
Leg curls:
2 x 12 x 40 kg (just wanted to get blood into the legs here)
Hyperextensions:
3 x 15 x BW
a few “static holds” holding onto a 15 kg plate
Baaaaam. I think a salt bath is in order for this evening.
11.12.13 (nice date)
Bench press, week 5
Trained in the evening for the first time in like ten years. Felt… Differrent. I had another espresso after work to wake me up again after sitting in front of a monitor for nine hours, which made me a bit too shaky during training. All in all OK, though.
Bench press:
5 x 60 kg
5 x 75 kg
5 x 85 kg
5 x 95 kg (not going for a 10-rep PR here today, no way José)
1 x 110 kg (went up quick, but I was shaking like a mofo)
Bench press top hold:
1 x 120 kg (10")
Paused bench press:
3 x 4 x 85 kg (3" pause)
Barbell rows:
8 x 3 x 80 kg
Fooled around with some power cleans while my buddy was doing them for his workout and ended up nailing myself in the junk on the hip drive. Haven’t done those in a while and need to, er, perfect my technique in order to avoid such scenarios.
Going to go for my PR of 120 kg again next week.
13.12.13
Squats, week 5
Felt weak in the legs today so I just did the prescribed reps and a single at my training max.
Squats:
5 x 60 kg
5 x 80 kg
5 x 92.5 kg
5 x 105 kg (slooooow)
1 x 122.5 kg
Paused squats:
6 x 1 x 105 kg (3" pause)
SLDL:
3 x 120 kg
1 x 140 kg
4 x 150 kg
3 x 160 kg
2 x 170 kg
1 x 180 kg
1 x 170 kg
2 x 160 kg
3 x 150 kg
4 x 140 kg
Hanging leg raises:
5 x 5 x BW
15.12.13
Etc., week 5
Going to train every day until Thursday in order to fit in all my max days before Christmas holiday and to “strategically” overreach before taking a week off. I therefore decided to forego SGHP until Tuesday and do some accessory upper body work.
Barbell floor press:
5 x 3 x 95 kg
Chin-ups
4 x 10 x BW
Incline barbell bench press:
3 x 6 x 70 kg
Tricep rope extensions
40(?) x 25 kg (Ha!)
Floor press was awesome. Going to try to keep this a regular in my rotation of accessory exercises.
In other news, the office Christmas party was on Friday and the only way to tolerate it is with alcohol. I didn’t drink excessively, but chose Frankenheimer Alt, which is a really crappy commercial Altbier. With only four hours of sleep and all of those shitty malts and hops in my brain, yesterday was an interesting ordeal indeed. Never used to get hungover, but at almost 30 I notice that my body can’t take the same abuse as it once did…
Floor press is my favorite. If you think thats crappy beer, you should see what I drink.
[quote]budreiser wrote:
Floor press is my favorite. If you think thats crappy beer, you should see what I drink.[/quote]
Any tips on how to minimize the “wobble” of the barbell during the pause on floor press? Don’t know how to explain that any better, but maybe I’m rushing the eccentric.
Hm… You’re from Pennsylvania… Crappy beer… I’m guessing Yuengling? Or is that an upgrade?
16.12.13
Deadlifts, week 6
Conventional deadlifts:
3 x 120 kg
5 x 142.5 kg
3 x 162.5 kg
1 x 180 kg
1 x 195 kg
1 x 205 kg (stalled a bit at the thigh)
0 x 212.5 kg (would’ve been a PR)
Front squats:
5 x 60 kg
6 x 3 x 100 kg
5 x 60 kg
Considering I haven’t deloaded in a while and have felt somewhat beat-up for much of my training during the current mesocycle, I was happy to hit a 205 kg deadlift in training today. It’s still 5 kg shy of my PR, but I’ll take it. Decided to go for a PR at 212.5 kg, which would’ve been awesome, but I broke it about 10 cm off of the ground and decided to bail instead of taking out my back for the week. After all, going to go for some new PRs on bench and squat later in the week.
I’ve got to work on locking out my legs soon and bringing my hips “through” the bar, as I notice that I stall a bit at the transition from the hams to the glutes.
[quote]kgildner wrote:
[quote]budreiser wrote:
Floor press is my favorite. If you think thats crappy beer, you should see what I drink.[/quote]
Any tips on how to minimize the “wobble” of the barbell during the pause on floor press? Don’t know how to explain that any better, but maybe I’m rushing the eccentric.
Hm… You’re from Pennsylvania… Crappy beer… I’m guessing Yuengling? Or is that an upgrade?[/quote]
I feel like the wobble on them is more dependent on the bar. My elbows swing around a lot for whatever reason on some bars. Yuengling is a little pricey for me.
17.12.13
SGHP, week 6
Decided to come to the gym today with a buddy and perform some light snatch-grip high pulls as well as some other assistance work that I haven’t done over the last two days.
SGHP:
5 x 40 kg
4 x 50 kg
3 x 60 kg
2 x 70 kg
4 x 1 x 75 kg
6 x 2 x 65 kg
Goblet squats:
2 x 15 x 25 kg
45-degree hyperextensions:
2 x 20 x BW
Just to get the blood flowing. Tomorrow I’m going after 120 kg again on the bench.
18.12.13
Bench press, week 6
Bench press:
2 x 80 kg
5 x 85 kg
3 x 95 kg
1 x 105 kg
1 x 112.5 kg
1 x 120 kg (tied PR)
0 x 122.5 kg (gassed)
Didn’t hit the new PR that I thought I might achieve today, but I was pleased with tying my old PR. After taking 8 or 9 days off over Christmas I’m going to do a couple of easy training sessions and then re-test my 1RMs, maybe then my “strategic” overreaching plan will have paid off.
One-arm row:
4 x 10 x 28.5 kg (light, working on form)
Hanging t-spine stretch:
4 x 1 minute
That’s it! Time to go after a new squat PR tomorrow.
Soooooo last workout before the Christmas break.
19.12.13
Squats, week 6
Squats:
3 x 80 kg
5 x 92.5 kg
3 x 105 kg
1 x 117.5 kg (photo)
1 x 125 kg
1 x 132.5 kg (vid - slowest rep ever)
Paused squats (3-4"):
6 x 1 x 100 kg
SLDL:
4 x 4 x 140 kg
2 x 2 x 160 kg
Hanging t-spine stretch:
2 x 1 minute
Today’s training was OK, but I definitely felt the wear and tear from a week of maximal training as well as from the week before Christmas. Squatted up to 132.5 kg, which is shy of my PR of 140 kg, but my bar speed was super-slow. I also have to get used to squatting to parallel and not beyond; while I enjoy training my “volume” sets as deep as possible, I should try to stop all singles at just past parallel. When I currently try to do this, I find myself having to switch directions before I’m used to and it messes me up. Compare the picture above (sorry for the size) with the video. You’ll notice that the single at 132.5 kg is the slowest rep ever.
I know I need to sit back more and to spread the floor. But I think I also simply need to practice doing more singles and paused reps going to powerlifting depth and staying super-tight in the bottom position.
Of course, any feedback you guys might have would be super.
Merry Christmas everyone! Will be back training on the 28th.
Just a quick update: I’m trying to get in 200 band pull-aparts every day over the next week in order to work out some kinks in my shoulders and keep improving my upper back strength. I noticed during max squats that I couldn’t get the bar into a comfortable position on my shoulder and ended up having some aches on the next couple of days. Will have to work that out.
28.12.13
Return from Christmas break.
Squat:
8 x 60 kg
4 x 80 kg
3 x 100 kg
5 x 1 x 110 kg
Paused squat:
5 x 1 x 100 kg
Bench press:
5 x 60 kg
4 x 80 kg
3 x 100 kg
1 x 110 kg
1 x 120 kg
Paused bench press (competition):
4 x 2 x 100 kg
60 band pull-aparts
Felt OK coming back to the gym today after eight days of nothing but food and rest. I definitely noticed the effects of supercompensation on bench press, where I could’ve probably hit a PR of 122.5 kg or even 125 kg but instead decided to lay off in order to not fry myself before the next training cycle. Squats, on the other hand, were a bit shitty. I’m going to try a new form in order to train competition depth, using a slightly wider stance and going to just past parallel. Of course, after more than a week off and with a new technique, things were a bit shaky.
Starting on Monday I’ll be running the six-week Russian squat program for the second time. I’ll use a training max of 127.5 kg, which is about 10-12 kg less than my current PR. The program will have me squatting three times a week using the following protocol:
Week 1 6x2x102,5 6x3x102,5 6x2x102,5
Week 2 6x4x102,5 6x2x102,5 6x5x102,5
Week 3 6x2x102,5 6x6x102,5 6x2x102,5
Week 4 5x5x107,5 6x2x102,5 4x4x115
Week 5 6x2x102,5 3x3x120 6x2x102,5
Week 6 2x2x127,5 6x2x102,5 Max repsx135
I’ll continue to bench once a week but will not do any deadlifting for this cycle. At the most I’ll throw in a few sets of SLDL on top of paused and front squats as accessory exercises, but won’t go for too much volume.
Pumped.
30.12.13
Russian squat program, W1D1
Squats:
4 x 80 kg
6 x 2 x 102.5 kg
Paused squats:
3 x 3 x 90 kg (3")
Barbell rows, Pendlay-style from pins:
4 x 8 x 60 kg
First day of the program that I ran once last year. I’m keeping my training max about 10-12 kg shy of my actual squat PR so I won’t kill myself. Things felt OK, although I’m super-sore from training on Saturday after having taken eight days off. I think I lost a bit of strength over the break, too, but that’s always the case for me following a layoff from leg work. Just gots to eat my way back into things. I’m pretty excited for the next six weeks.
31.12.13
Russian squat program, W1D2
Squats:
3 x 80 kg
6 x 3 x 102.5 kg
SLDL:
3 x 5 x 120 kg
My left elbow and shoulder were really sore today; I’ve got poor shoulder internal rotation on that side and I think that squats irritate my nerve and/or tendon running down my left triceps. Going to have to work on mobility there so I’m not forced to have to amputate my arm at the end of this six-week cycle.
Otherwise things were good, working a bit on technique to sit back more into the squat and not go so crazy deep. Still coming forward, but things look a bit better:
Not looking forward to the 6 x 6 x 102.5 kg day (nor the 5 x 5 x 107.5 kg day, for that matter). I suck at reps. And squatting.
02.01.14
Bench press, week 1
Bench press:
3 x 60 kg
3 x 80 kg
3 x 90 kg
3 x 102.5 kg
2 x 112.5 kg
Bench press top iso hold:
2 x 1 x 130 kg (10")
Paused bench press (competition pause):
4 x 1 x 102.5 kg
One-arm row:
4 x 8 x 31.5 kg
Happy new year everybody! Training felt good today. Could’ve gone for a third rep at 112.5 kg but didn’t want to disturb my wonky elbow/shoulder, which are still hurting from foam rolling/mobility two days ago.
03.01.14
Russian squat program, W1D3
Squats:
3 x 80 kg
6 x 2 x 102.5 kg
Front squats:
4 x 3 x 90 kg
Hyperextensions:
2 x 15 x BW
Nothing much to report here, short workout. I tried wearing my wrist wraps and bringing the bar placement up my back a bit to alleviate some of the shoulder/elbow pain I’ve been having while squatting. Seemed to work a bit. I’ll be doing some rehab this weekend.