Squat
135x6
185x5
225x5
275x2
335x3 PR
335x1 – I was grinding the first rep out really slowly. Spotter A screams “up up up!!!” and spotter B thinks A was telling him to take the weight. So he grabs the weight and pulls up, throwing me off completely and ruining the set. Bah, I hate it when stuff like this happens.
2 Board Press
135x5
185x5
215x5 – same weight and reps as last week, but better form
Machine Rows
235x5
235x5
235x5
Not the best form. I need to chose whether to keep progressing with this form at higher weights, or stay with this weight and improve the form.
Pullups
5
5
I plan to start weighting these down again.
Tried a 40 inch bench shirt. My blood pressure shot through the roof when I tried a 2 board press with 225 – which I did with zero effort. I figure the shirt is too small, I should try a 42. My chest measures 42 inches at the nipples, cold.
I didn’t intend to do another full body workout. This will be the last of them.
I am thinking of some program modifications. Will update later.
I am 9.5 weeks out from my competition. I have been consistantly eating over 4000 calories a day. I feel proud.
Yesterday was memorial day. I went all over the city looking for a gym that was open. I found nothing, and ended up missing my upper body day. Rather than do it today and get one day off, I skipped it and deadlifted.
I did something today I’ve never done before. My coach/training partner told me to deadlift 30 singles for half an hour. A single every minute. 315 lbs. No problem, I thought.
Turned out to be the most intense thing I’ve ever done. My face started bleeding half way through, and I felt like collapsing and puking. I could barely stand or see straight for the last ten reps. And on the last one, instead of a single, I ground out 10 painful reps. I fell to the floor hyperventilating and didn’t recover for half an hour.
I will be doing this with 325 next week.
My coach/partner believes I might be good for a 600 lbs deadlift in august.
He will be in the upcoming mens open nationals in a few weeks. Looks like it will be a really interesting contest. From the lineup, especially in the 148 lbs and 181 lbs weightclasses.
Bench
115x10
165x5
185x2
200x4 PR --failed on 5
200x3
2 Board press
205x3
215x5 – failed 6
dips
8
2 or 3
much pain, miserable set. I can see I won’t be able to toss these in as I was planning without dropping a bit off of the previous two lifts
Rows
forgot the weight I used. Improved form a bit. I think it was 210 lbs
Upright Rows
70x10
70x10
70x10
These felt awesome. Will be doing these consistently to let the bar sit farther back in the squats. And to look a bit wider, of course.
Weight 184. My traps seem to have gotten noticeably bigger overnight.
I stopped updating this log for the last few weeks, but I didn’t stop training. I landed myself a pretty good full time job, that required 50 hours per week. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up my training at the same time.
So I decided to deprive myself of internet access so that I could spend every minute either working, training, eating, or sleeping.
I actually managed to up my caloric intake to 6000-7000 calories a day. I did this by eating bags of nuts and drinking a gallon of whole fat milk a day.
And then I got fired, for missing work one day when I was physically exhausted and mentally depleted. Oh well. More time for training.
I did hit some PRs in this time. I deadlifted 405x4, and also 335x1x30 in 30 minutes. I overhead pressed 125x6, and upright rowed 80x12. Benched 185x5x3. Next time 6-8 reps per set.
And after dumbell benching 90x2 with a very high sticking point, I can see I need a ton of triceps work.
I am beginning a chinup 5x5 cycle, starting wih +35 lbs. Damn, I’ve gotten so heavy, I have to drop the weight with this shit. I’ve gained about 40 lbs in just over a year.
The last time I benched 195 was 3 weeks ago, and I only hit 4 reps. Progress seems to be very slow in the bench, but I do hit PRs almost every time. Although, on that last session 3 weeks ago, It was a very good day (hit a PR in everything). And this time, I was only feeling so-so.
Deadlifted an easy 435. Tried 495, which would have been a ten lbs PR. I failed, tried again, and failed again.
Friday
I travelled out to York, PA, and bought and tried out a squat suit and Bench shirt.
Bench
225x1
225x1
225x1
235x1
245x0
Unpaused. I have tried bench shirts before, but I could never get anything to touch. This will take a good bit of getting used to. I expect to get another 30-40 lbs out of this shirt within the next few weeks. I was flat today and had been stuckin a buss all day. I am also probably overtraining my pressing motions a bit, but whatever.
I will train a lot in the shirt, being as I have a contest coming up.
I tried the squat suit out a bit, but will do more of that over the weekend. I had a lot of trouble getting all the way down, while sitting back at the same time. I had a tendency bring my knees waaaay forward. This will also take some practice. I squatted 345x4 a couple weeks ago, so I expect to be able to get atleast 500 out of this suit and wraps come the competition.