Flow's Log (New and Improved)

Training Logs
21

[quote]Flow wrote:

So, FS, do you think this looks good for a while?

L1
Front squats for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Good morning for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Lunge variation for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets

L2
Deadlift for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Rack Pull for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Single leg squat for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets[/quote]

You defiantly have the right idea.

That looks fine. Maybe consider Back Squatting with Rack Pulls. I think most will agree that Squats will help your Deadlift more than any type of Pull will help our Squat.
If you did the above plan but you had

Back Squat for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Rack Pull for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Blah Blah
Blah Blah

And you added 30 pounds to your working weight for Back Squat, your total would probably increase more than doing Deadlifts and Rack Deadlifts.

See now how Deadlifts and Rack Deadlifts in the same Training Session is a tad redundant but Front Squats and Good-Mornings or Back Squats and Rack Pulls paired together is genius?

Also, Raw Squats will not be as stressful as Deadlifts. Keep in mind that you’re doing 2 “Big” lifts each session, so you gotta take that into account.

Hell, even consider dropping your Unilateral work down to 1 working set - make it a Widowmaker of sorts! You don’t have to do this. It’s just a thought.

The abs recover fast. Having one bad workout doesn’t mean a muscle isn’t going to be good for an entire week. Do some cobra stretches.

22

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Flow wrote:

So, FS, do you think this looks good for a while?

L1
Front squats for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Good morning for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Lunge variation for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets

L2
Deadlift for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Rack Pull for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Single leg squat for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets

You defiantly have the right idea.

That looks fine. Maybe consider Back Squatting with Rack Pulls. I think most will agree that Squats will help your Deadlift more than any type of Pull will help our Squat.
If you did the above plan but you had

Back Squat for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Rack Pull for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Blah Blah
Blah Blah

And you added 30 pounds to your working weight for Back Squat, your total would probably increase more than doing Deadlifts and Rack Deadlifts.

See now how Deadlifts and Rack Deadlifts in the same Training Session is a tad redundant but Front Squats and Good-Mornings or Back Squats and Rack Pulls paired together is genius?

Also, Raw Squats will not be as stressful as Deadlifts. Keep in mind that you’re doing 2 “Big” lifts each session, so you gotta take that into account.

Hell, even consider dropping your Unilateral work down to 1 working set - make it a Widowmaker of sorts! You don’t have to do this. It’s just a thought.

The abs recover fast. Having one bad workout doesn’t mean a muscle isn’t going to be good for an entire week. Do some cobra stretches. [/quote]

Alright man, I appreciate the help. Coming off of the unilateral shit will make me happy to be honest. I’ve been doing it for quite a while.

Here is what I’ll do

L1
Front squats for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Good morning for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Lunge variation for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets

L2
Back Squats for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps
Rack Pull for 3-4 sets of 5-8 reps
Single leg squat for 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs 3-4 sets

I’ll stick with more heavy stuff for the first exercises (~3 reps, but more if I got em in me), and ~5 reps for the other ‘big’ lift.

It’s funny you mention the redundancy of the deadlift and rack pulls, because I had thought of this a few minutes after posting.

I’m still going to change the volume up, but mostly on the assistance stuff.

The upper body stuff looks good, no?

23

[quote]Flow wrote:
The upper body stuff looks good, no?[/quote]

I’m withholding all judgments on other people’s Upper Body Training until I complete my little rest-pause experiment.

Until then, I can only let myself give advice on Upper Back Training. Regardless of what anyone is doing now, in order to get a strong upper back you need to do:

Do something fairly heavy (Weighted Chins)
and
Do something fairly heavy for reps (Dumbbell Kroc Rows)

24

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Flow wrote:
The upper body stuff looks good, no?

I’m withholding all judgments on other people’s Upper Body Training until I complete my little rest-pause experiment.

Until then, I can only let myself give advice on Upper Back Training. Regardless of what anyone is doing now, in order to get a strong upper back you need to do:

Do something fairly heavy (Weighted Chins)
and
Do something fairly heavy for reps (Dumbbell Kroc Rows)[/quote]

Again, thanks.

I’ll be able to decide if it is/was a good routine in 4~ weeks when I can look back on how my weights changed.

25

[u][i]11-11-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 197.4 lbs.

Back Pain: 0 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0.5 out of 10
Tightness is all, but I did soft tissue work on subscapularis with my thumb and that proved very effective in reducing the pec pain and even its involvement in bench pressing. I think I’ve found the source of my pec-pain wos.

Diet: 6~ out of 10 as planned
I got whey protein isolate and I’ve been having 24grams before and 24grams after my sessions. Things are looking better- slowly but surely. Yesterday I at half a 15 inch pizza and a huge weight gainer deliciousness shake before I hit the sack and I still weighed less today than the day before. Eh, what is that?

[u][i]Upper 1[/u][/i]

Foam Rolling
Dynamic Flexibility

A. Bench Press
45Xreps
95X3
115X3
135X3
155X3
170X5
175X5,5 Post back injury volume PR
170X5
A2. No-money
8,8

B. Semi-supinated chins
BWX6,6,7 Volume PR

C. Incline Neutral Grip Dumbbell Press
45X10,10,10 Volume PR

D1. Unilateral Press Down
55X(8,8,8)/side Volume PR
D2. Face Pull
110X10,8,8 Volume PR

The bench press was really solid. I think next week I’ll be moving into the 180X5 territory, then hopefully 185X5 the following week. Just gotta keep eating.

Thanks again for the assistance FS, I’m looking forward to doing lower body stuff on Thursday.

26

This mother fucker is killing me. It seems subscapularis on my right side was so torn up for the past year that pec major had to do even more work in my pressing movements than normal. This accounts for the greater pec hypertrophy on my right side, and the tightness I’ve been experiencing in pressing.

I was thinking about all of the muscles that act on the shoulder girdle and glenohumeral joint during a bench press, and it popped into mind that I’ve been ignoring the tissue quality of my subscapularis. So I took my scapula into protraction and slight anterior tilt and pushed my thumb into the darn thing. At that moment, the words “OOOOOUUUUCCCHHHHHH” and “FUUUUCK” came to mind.

Damnit, I’m such a nerd.

27

[quote]Flow wrote:
This mother fucker is killing me. [/quote]

Has a doctor told you this?

I know it may be tempting to get all technical. I’ve gotten too technical in the very recent past as well.

But unless you’ve got a medical professional telling you “This Sub-Gluto-Humer-Scapo thing is giving you trouble” then I think you’re just over-thinking this stuff.

We’re beginner-level lifters, man. We Don’t have these ultra-complicated muscle imbalances that you read about advanced lifters having because we don’t have decades of training behind us that could have lead to them.

Maybe you’re sore or tight or something and you just need to stretch it out. Instead of concentrating on preventing bad shit from happening, maybe it would be better to just concentrate on doing basic shit and doing it well.

28

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Flow wrote:
This mother fucker is killing me.

Has a doctor told you this?

I know it may be tempting to get all technical. I’ve gotten too technical in the very recent past as well.

But unless you’ve got a medical professional telling you “This Sub-Gluto-Humer-Scapo thing is giving you trouble” then I think you’re just over-thinking this stuff.

We’re beginner-level lifters, man. We Don’t have these ultra-complicated muscle imbalances that you read about advanced lifters having because we don’t have decades of training behind us that could have lead to them.

Maybe you’re sore or tight or something and you just need to stretch it out. Instead of concentrating on preventing bad shit from happening, maybe it would be better to just concentrate on doing basic shit and doing it well. [/quote]

Damn straight.

But if you really feel like it’s a problem, go see an ART practicioner about it- EC has talked about the importance of soft tissue quality in the subscap before and it’s role in pec tears.

29

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Flow wrote:
This mother fucker is killing me.

Has a doctor told you this?

I know it may be tempting to get all technical. I’ve gotten too technical in the very recent past as well.

But unless you’ve got a medical professional telling you “This Sub-Gluto-Humer-Scapo thing is giving you trouble” then I think you’re just over-thinking this stuff.

We’re beginner-level lifters, man. We Don’t have these ultra-complicated muscle imbalances that you read about advanced lifters having because we don’t have decades of training behind us that could have lead to them.

Maybe you’re sore or tight or something and you just need to stretch it out. Instead of concentrating on preventing bad shit from happening, maybe it would be better to just concentrate on doing basic shit and doing it well. [/quote]

Hey man,

Yeah, I’m sore/tight/taut like leather in my subscap. It hurts to touch the thing. I’ve had a ‘barrier’ at the point where I bench 205 for three since my sophomore year of highschool. My progress has been extremely slow in getting back to that point, and I can honestly tell you that this is probably because of subscap.

Yeah, I should get a professional to look at it.

No, I don’t have the money to do so.

Yeah, I should concentrate on doing basic shit and doing it well- and look at my log, man. I’m working on those things! You’ll find squat variations, deadlift variations, pressing, pulling and other basic shit.

I have almost all of the muscle origins, insertions, actions, and innervation in the human body committed to memory. I have seen some of the best physical therapists and asked them questions about PT as it relates to an athletic population in person. I spoke to EC himself and he used me as an example for subscapularis dysfunction at one of his seminars! I know it’s a problem, man. I also know that I’m really technical with this stuff. I have been reading kines. text books since I was a junior in highschool, and I know that alone doesn’t make me any better at lifting heavy shit, as you can see from my performance. But I also know that the knowledge has helped me overcome problems that being an “athlete casserole” created. I’m just now changing this.

I can say that my poor progress in the past year can be explained by these factors:

  1. I frequently ran 5 and 10ks
  2. I went mountain biking 2-3 times a week
  3. I was eating like a bird because I WAS a FATASS
  4. Until ~4 months ago my training was so all-over-the-place that strength gains were basically NOT going to happen!

I don’t expect for anyone to be even mildly impressed with me in the gym. I am weak and I know it. My log says so at the VERY top of the page.

I think I’m doing most things right now. Look at my last training post. Progress in every lift.

I also appreciate your input, FS. You’re much stronger than me and I can learn a lot from you. Just realize that some of the text-book and physical therapy related things that I have learned can be of help to people as well.

30

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
Flow wrote:
This mother fucker is killing me.

Has a doctor told you this?

I know it may be tempting to get all technical. I’ve gotten too technical in the very recent past as well.

But unless you’ve got a medical professional telling you “This Sub-Gluto-Humer-Scapo thing is giving you trouble” then I think you’re just over-thinking this stuff.

We’re beginner-level lifters, man. We Don’t have these ultra-complicated muscle imbalances that you read about advanced lifters having because we don’t have decades of training behind us that could have lead to them.

Maybe you’re sore or tight or something and you just need to stretch it out. Instead of concentrating on preventing bad shit from happening, maybe it would be better to just concentrate on doing basic shit and doing it well.

Damn straight.

But if you really feel like it’s a problem, go see an ART practicioner about it- EC has talked about the importance of soft tissue quality in the subscap before and it’s role in pec tears.[/quote]

From your old thread:

[quote]EC wrote:

Research at Indiana University found that cross-sectional area of the subscapularis is the best predictor of powerlifting performance, believe it or not.

If you’re getting that much hypertrophy of the subscapularis, it’s doing a lot of work - and for a small muscle. Ask any manual therapist, and they’ll tell you that subscap is always balled up - and frequently shuts down due to repetitive microtrauma.

Shut subscapularis down, and pec major will work overtime as an internal rotator of the humerus. Reference Shirley Sahrmann’s stuff; if you see an strained/tight muscle, look for an underactive synergist.

You’ll also get a humeral anterior glide, and additional tightness/restrictions on infraspinatus/teres minor.

www.EricCressey.Blogspot.com
[/quote]

And you two are both right. I need to hit the basic heavy shit hard. I’m on it.

31

You’re right. The stuff you’ve been doing lately is pretty basic.

I wouldn’t go see a trainer. You probably know more than most trainers do. Then again, most doctors don’t know much about lifting either, and they’d probably tell you to quit lifting without any good reason.

So, why is shoulder girdle thing bothering you?
Your program looks balanced.

Maybe you should just foam roll your thoracic spine and upper back, put on an ice pack, and see if this bothers you again.

As I recall, Cressey’s scapula articles emphasize Dips, Push-ups, Shrugs, Face Pulls, and Rows.

Maybe you could exchange Incline Dumbbell Bench for Dips, throw in some Push-ups at the end of your upper body workout and throw in some shrugs at the end of your lower body workout.

Or if you want to keep stuff the same, then do Dip Shrugs (really a reverse shrug) at the end of upper body days.

You know better than I what sort of Scapular Movement YOU are deficient in. Do you need to do more shrugging, more dips and push-ups, ore more YWTLs and Lower Lat Work.

Maybe consider this shoulder exercise

Really gets the lower traps. Maybe an exercise like this is the answer to your problem.

32

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
You’re right. The stuff you’ve been doing lately is pretty basic.

I wouldn’t go see a trainer. You probably know more than most trainers do. Then again, most doctors don’t know much about lifting either, and they’d probably tell you to quit lifting without any good reason.

So, why is shoulder girdle thing bothering you?
Your program looks balanced.

Maybe you should just foam roll your thoracic spine and upper back, put on an ice pack, and see if this bothers you again.

As I recall, Cressey’s scapula articles emphasize Dips, Push-ups, Shrugs, Face Pulls, and Rows.

Maybe you could exchange Incline Dumbbell Bench for Dips, throw in some Push-ups at the end of your upper body workout and throw in some shrugs at the end of your lower body workout.

Or if you want to keep stuff the same, then do Dip Shrugs (really a reverse shrug) at the end of upper body days.

You know better than I what sort of Scapular Movement YOU are deficient in. Do you need to do more shrugging, more dips and push-ups, ore more YWTLs and Lower Lat Work.

Maybe consider this shoulder exercise

Really gets the lower traps. Maybe an exercise like this is the answer to your problem.

[/quote]

That exercise looks fantastic. . . I need to give that a shot.

Yeah, I actually have 2 training certifications right now. I don’t have much to show for the stuff I think I know.

I just have a lot of work to do before I’m even moderately strong.

33

[u][i]11-13-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 200.8 lbs.

Back Pain: 0.5 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0 out of 10

[u][i]Lower 1[/u][/i]

Foam rolling
dynamic flexibility

A. Front Squat
45Xreps
95X3
115X3
135X3
155X1
165X1
175X5
185X5,5,5
A2. Dyn. Hip flexor mobs

B. Close Stance Barbell GM
135X8
145X8
135X8
135X8
I did the last set with slightly different form as per the recommendation of one of my training partners. My hamstrings will be very sore :slight_smile:

C. Single Leg Box Squats
BWX(8,8)/side

D. Pallof Press
60X(15,15,15)/side

Ok so today felt much better than my last leg day earlier this week. I did front squats again, because I wanted to. Genius, I know.

During front squats, my left leg has a tendency to drift inward, allowing my adductors to do more work. Well the things felt much more solid today because I made focus numero 1 to push my knees out. Voila, things felt much better. I do my front squats with a pretty wide stance.

So yeah, I was doing all of the mobility and activation drills to fix that problem, but I had left the actual form during the big lifts as an afterthought. Won’t be doing that anymore. (See, IronAbrams and FS are right)

Everything felt light today.

Woot.

34

Nice Front Squatting

35

Thanks.

I was thinking about how I’ll handle the raw squats. The last time I did squats I fell forward like crazy. . . I think I’ll start with parallel box squats for a few weeks, then do free squats for quite some time.

I’ve never done box squats before either, so I could make some nice progress with em.

36

[u][i]11-14-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 200.2 lbs.

Back Pain: 0.5 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0 out of 10

[u][i]Upper 2[/u][/i]

Foam rolling
dynamic flexibility

A. Push Press
45Xreps
65X3
85X3
105X3
135X1
145X5,5,5,5 Volume PR

B. Inverted Row
BWX8
BW+10X8 PR
BW+15X8 PR

C. Kneeling Dumbbell Row
70X8/side
75X8/side
80X10/side PR

15 minute break

D. Wingate cycling test
30s bike sprint with 8.10 kg resistance
50 pedals and I’m in the >99% for mean anaerobic power in a college student population

15 minute break

Beach session

A. Cable Lateral Raises
35X15
40X12,12,12

B. Barbell Shrugs
225X15,15,12
Grip is so much stronger this week than last week. I don’t even understand

C. Preacher Curls
55X8,8,6

I’ve made a jump in upper back strength this past week. 80X10 on the standing DB rows came out of nowhere. Not very impressive, but next week I’ll be doing 4X80-90X10 and that is much stronger than the difficult 70X8 I was doing. I think I just got used to the lift mostly.

Push presses were really easy. The lock out was only a struggle on the last rep. Next week I’ll try 155 for 5.

Inverted Rows were done with an actual barbell in a power rack instead of on a smith machine. I’d imagine that would be harder, but they felt lighter. Next week I’ll try BW+25~ on them.

Have a good one everyone!

I’m headed to see Quantum of Solace after work today. Should be a badass movie :slight_smile:

37

[u][i]11-15-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 200.8 lbs.

Back Pain: 1 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0 out of 10

[u][i]Conditioning[/u][/i]

Foam rolling
dynamic flexibility

A1. Multiple grip sand bag lunge
50lbs. X (8,8,8,8,8)/side
A2. Pushups
BWX10,10,10,8,8
A3. Overhead sandbag walks (stiffening exercise)
50 yard walk X|,|,|,|,|

Took it easy today because I’m swapping up a lot of exercises and I want to be fresh for box squatting on Monday.

I thought about what I’ll be doing for the next while.

I’ll do 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps (leaning more towards 5 reps per set) and keep the volume on things pretty consistent with my lifts for the next three weeks. After that I might do a slight deload then hit up a pretty standard upper/lower Westside-influenced setup. Something like. . .

S
M ME Lower
T Off
W ME Upper
R Off
F RE Lower
S RE Upper

The ME lower will look like >90% 3X3 with some pretty standard stuff. Likely switching between two deadlift variations and two squat variations with three weeks of ME work before I swap them up.

So

Squat variations
Squat
Box Squat

Deadlift variations
Deadlift
RDL

So for example

W1-W3 Squat
W4-W6 Deadlift
W7-W9 Box Squat
W10-12 RDL

All for 3X3 @ >90%

Anyway, this is just an idea. The RE lower body stuff will be similar to this template:
http://www.elitefts.com/documents/rest_intervals_and_reps.htm

When I really write the whole thing down on paper, it looks a lot like WS4SB. So I’d probably be better of with just going with Defrancoe’s WSFSB3 template with a substituted RE lower body day instead of DE lower body.

Anyway, just thinking about what I’ll do for the couple of months after I use this template.

38

[u][i]11-17-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 200.0 lbs.

Back Pain: 1 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0 out of 10

[u][i]Lower 1[/u][/i]

You guys can ignore the plan I had laid out in my previous post. I found a weak point and I’m going to hammer it until I’m strong with it.

Foam Rolling
Dynamic Flexibility

A. Wide Stance Parallel Box Squats
45Xreps
95X5
135X3
185X3
195X5
200X5
205X5
210X5

I’m really weak with this. It looks like a lot of my strength comes from the stretch reflex :stuck_out_tongue: But fuck that science, I’m just a bitch with this movement. I’m sticking to this routine for the next ~6 weeks. I may or may not adjust the volume between 3-5 sets of 5, but I think it may be a good idea to jsut stuck with 4X5s.

B. Rack Pull
275X6
285X6
295X6

C. DB Lunge
55X(8,8)/side

D. One arm Push-up holds
BWX(30s,30s,30s)/side

E1. Dynamic Hip flexor mob’s
E2. Squat-to-stands
E3. Dynamic Adductor mob’s

F. Found a way to do donkey calf raises. I might start doing these.

Anyway, my goal is to box squat 275X5 in the next month. I might not stop at that, though. We’ll see.

39

[u][i]11-18-08[/u][/i]

AM Weight: 200.0 lbs.

Back Pain: 0 out of 10

Right Pec Pain: 0 out of 10
I’ve been doing FART (Flow’s Active Release Technique) on my right subscapularis daily for 20-30 seconds on the superior and inferior lateral borders (the portion I can reach), and my pec feels sooooo much better. Yeah, I know, this shouldn’t be happening to weak little me. What can ya do? :?

[u][i]Upper 1[/u][/i]

Foam Rolling
Dynamic Flexibility

A. Bench Press
45Xreps
95X5
115X5
135X3
155X3
175X5,5,5 Volume PR
180X5 PR

B. Semi-Supinated Chins
BWX6,7,5
I think I didn’t rest long enough :expressionless:

C. DB Incline Bench Press
50X10,10,5(WTF NOT ENOUGH REST),6 Volume PR

D. Face Pulls
New cable pulley-different weights
80X12,12,12

E. High cable Pressdown (reverse grip)
40X10/side
50X(8,8)/side

Great day in the gym.

It’s funny, I start working on subscapularis, and my bench starts moving. I think that was a legitimate problem. Who knows, maybe I’m right.

This weekend I take the USAW Sports Performance Coach certification test. If I pass, I’ll be certified to coach oly lifting.

I need to get a few practice sessions in before the times comes to take the test :open_mouth:

Anyway, have a great one everyone

40

That’s really cool man.

What are the criteria and price tag for the USAW cert?