Gonna Punch Life in the Face

Training Training Logs
21

Missed some postings, but here’s the weekends worth of training.

Saturday 11/20/10

Squats - worked up in 5’s, then 3’s to a perceived 1RM. (P1RM)

Top Set- 295x3, figured perceived was 325x1

255x2x3 (explosive)((supposed to be 78% of P1RM)

Pulls Against Bands

225x8x1 against Avg Short Bands

Mod. GHR

4xfailure

Hanging Leg Raise

4xfailure

Pulldown Abs

3x10

Didn’t have time to do the rest free time training because I realized I was almost late for work. Squats were stronger (for the morning) than they’ve been but they’re still week. Gotta keep pushing and hammering the accessory work to get them better. I need to be squatting 400.

Sunday 11/21/10

Floor Press
-Work up to 50% CM, then “add chains each set” I used the bands to hold dumbbells. Used 10 lb increments. Shit got real hard.

135x5, then up to 135 +50lb DB x 3

DB Bench

90x8,8

DB Neutral Grip Shoulder Press

55x8,8

Pendlay Rows

6x10 (135, 135, 155 for the rest)

CG 12s Negative BB Pushup (I know, but thats what Dave calls for on this thing)

2x5 → Arms and chest were so fried my face nearly smashed the floor on the last one

DONE. Not enough to eat today. Gotta get my nutrition dialed in for the days I work when I’m not in school, this is unacceptable. Skipped 20 min Free Training again due to my vicinity of passing out, haha.

Also, I noticed that I’m far, far weaker on Pendlay rows than I realized. Hadn’t ever really tried them, but I figured that rowing to where the bar touches when I bench may have some carryover to my bench setup and overall tightness. I’m hoping that as I get stronger on these my bench will go up.

22

Wednesday 11/24/10

Pre-Turkey Day Benchin’ Type Stuff

Speed Bench w/ Doubled Minis

135x6x5 <–felt much more powerful today

Rolling DB Extensions

30x8x8 (only 45s b/t sets today)

Seated DB Lateral Raises

25x3x15,15,10 (dead on last set)

Band Pull Aparts

Minix2xfailure

Free Time 15 minutes

Hit bi’s some, Chest some on machines, and tri’s some as well, all very quick rests, only taking enough time to move and select new wait before starting again. Felt good, shoulders feel good, elbows feel good, I’m happy, haha.

23

11/25/10

Well, I just wanted to record this so I could remember if there was a changing factor in my training. As of this morning, my girlfriend of 4 years and I have broken up. It’s more of a mutual decision thing, both of us had doubts about getting married even though we talked about it a lot and I ended up at the conclusion that I didn’t want to be married. Tough choice, and I know it was the right decision, but damn it sucks right now.

I picked the worst day for it too as there’s no gyms open for me to go let it all out on the iron. Looks like sprints it is.

24

11/27/10

SQUATZZZ

Squat

Worked up to 275x3x1… Trying to work on being explosive out of the hole, keeping form tight

Speed Pulls

225x8x1 <–no bands, working on form

Lat Pulldown Station GHR

4xfailure

Hanging Leg Raise

4xfailure

Free Time (20 mins)

Did Good Mornings, Single Leg Press, Standing Ab Pulldowns

Felt good to get back at the iron again today. I needed this workout in a bad way. Hopefully as I keep hammering the accessory work, the squat lb’s will start going up as well. Weight is back up to 214 with a little bit of bloat. Gotta get to eating again. I’ve been slacking.

25

11/28/10

Bench

Floor Press

Up to 245x1 (felt way better than the last time I ever did this)

then 205 for reps (only got 6)

DB Bench

90x12 <—PR!

Neutral DB Shoulder Press

55x10

DB Rows

90x3x8

CG Pushups

1xfailure

No free time, went to shoot around in the basketball gym instead.

Floor press felt surprisingly strong, so I cut it at a PR rather than push too much and mess with my shoulder, which was feeling off today because I think I slept on it weird…

Overall, I’m happy with the workout. Gotta get my conditioning up though so I can actually do the free time work next time.

26

11/30/10

Squat Accessory

Speed Squats (no box at gym, need to buy one when I get money)

225x7x2 <— these felt powerful tonight, I’ll have to up the weight next time

Mod. GHR

2x8

Incline Sit-ups

4x8

Knee Mini Band Pull-Aparts

3xfailure

Free Time (20 mins)

Worked up pretty heavy on leg press in squat stance… some hamstring curls, pretty heavy, calves too. all 10 rep sets.

Didn’t want to go to the gym today. But after I went home and ate a little something I got fired up to get in there. I take this as a good sign that I’m getting really excited to go into the gym again. Usually means I’m on deck for some pretty big gains.

27

12/4/10

Why am I doing this?

Asked that question of myself today. I’d recently picked up the S4 program Dave Tate put out, thought it looked solid, and went for it. In the 2 weeks I’ve been working through it, everything has started hurting again, I feel slow despite having not gained weight, and am just generally not liking how I feel. So, I asked myself the question. Then I wondered if I was on the most efficient path to get to my goal of being a bigger, stronger, and faster me.

Pondered. Thought. Questioned. Perused.

Discovered that Chad Smith’s Juggernaut Ebook thing finally came out. I’ve been a fan of 5/3/1 forever, but always felt like something was missing for me, hence my idiotic program hopping. I’ve read Chad’s log pretty consistently, and have always been impressed by his workouts. Efficient, powerful, and he’s pretty damn strong. I think Chad may have finally addressed all this questioning for me. I think my goals are certainly to be bigger and stronger, but I think there’s always going to be a part of me that wants to be athletic as well. I realize I’m not gonna go pro in any of the stuff I enjoy, but still.

Read through the ebook, and I like what I see. The rep schemes match what I perform well on, there’s plenty of conditioning and power recruitment work to help my pitiful jumping abilites and power generation. (I’ve got a 6’5 wingspan at 6’2 and can’t dunk a tennis ball) So we’ll see how it goes. Did hill sprints today, which was rough because I gave blood this week. I can always tell, cuz my head gets super woozy from relatively intense anaerobic work. Hopefully someone else will need it more than I did.

Here’s today:

Hill Sprints

Warmup, then

6x 30m hill with 1 min rest between reps

28

So I don’t fudge my numbers later, here’s recent PR’s or as close as I am to them in the past 6 weeks, to base my percentages off for the next cycle.

Bench: 260 (working max: 235)
Squat: 350 (working max: 315)
DL: 350 (working max: 315)
Military: 150 (working max: 135)

Accumulation Bench for the 10’s wave starts tomorrow. Here we go.

29

Well this will be the 3rd time I’ve tried posting this, but I don’t want to forget the numbers, so here goes.

Accumulation, 10’s Wave

12/5/10

Bench

140(60%)x5x10

DB Rows

60x10
80x10
90x3x10

Dips

BWx3x15,10,11

EZ Bar Ab Rollouts

2x10 (couldn’t hold myself up for a 3rd set)

Felt really gassed overall today, but I’m still going to chalk it up to the giving blood. Should be about one more week judging by past experiences and I’ll be back to normal. Did well with the dips today, considering how bad I suck at them. Maybe thats all the more reason to keep them in the routine, I probably need em. Overall: Happy about this one

30

Accumulation, 10’s Wave 2nd attempt at posting

12/7/10

Box Jumps (~70%)

6x3

Squats

190(60%)x10,10,10,10,15

Modified Lat Station GHR

BWx3x10,10,5 <— gastroc cramped. FML.

Back Extensions

BWx3x12

Decline Situps

4x10 ← NEED to be sure to get full ROM next time

Felt super explosive on the jumps today. But by the last set of squats I thought I was going to die. I left 2 or 3 reps in the tanks, but thats probably for the best, because I may have passed out otherwise. I’m super worn out after this one, which is strange considering I didn’t feel like I moved THAT much weight overall. But, that is the whole point of the accumulation phase, to build work capacity, so hopefully I’ll be alright. Definitely glad I went conservative on my maxes too, that could’ve ended very poorly otherwise.

Off to study for my comprehensive lower extremity ortho final. Yummy.

31

Accumulation, 10’s wave

12/10/10

Military

85(60%)x5x10

Chins

50 reps, various grips

Dips

5x10

Dead Stop Lateral Raises

2x8

DONE.

Also played basketball on the 9th for an hour and a half instead of hill sprints, got me gassed pretty good, so I figure it would count instead of 4 hill sprints. Gonna try and get in more sprints today.

32

Accumulation, 10’s Wave

12/12/10

Deadlift

190(60%)x5x10

Walking Lunges

25x1x10
35x2x10

BW Ab Circuit a la Defranco

2 circuits, 10 reps each move, 4 moves total

My ab endurance, and basically my overall endurance is pretty weak I’ve discovered. I didn’t go for the final reps set of DL because something felt off, I can’t really describe it, but the last time I pushed through something like that I jacked up my SI joint. Anyway, that’s why I skipped one of the hamstring dominant accessory moves too, just to be safe.

Hill sprints tomorrow though. And BW is back up to 213 after an initial 4 lb drop from starting the program. Cool.

33

“…A man fights the fight, and then fights some more. Because surrender is death, and death is for pussies.”
-Kenny Powers

12/13/10

Hill Sprints

80m x 4 with 2 minutes rest

Temps were around 28 degrees with a decent north wind. Makes sprinting interesting when you can’t feel your toes, hands, and face, but I got it done. Felt good to be back out in the cold making it happen. Problem is it takes me forever to get moving again once I get back in the warmth. Ah well, gotta get work done or I’m not gonna get where I want to be.

34

Intensification, 10s Wave

12/14/10

Bench

135x5
145x5
160x10,10,12

Superset:

Pullups 3x8 with
Band Pull Aparts 3x12 with 1 sec hold

Lateral Raises

30x8,8
40x8,8

Superset:

Alt. Offset DB Curls

30x8
35x8
40x8

and

BB Shrugs

225x3x12

I switched over to the Defranco style of assistance work, at least to finish this cycle until deload. I looked back over my logs during a study break last night, and noticed I tend to progress far faster strength-wise when my assistance work is a little higher in volume then the typical “all compound 5/3/1” type of work. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be doing concentration curls anytime soon, as I’m still going for most bang for my exercise buck, but I want to see how this works out.

I know Defranco does an excellent job with his athletes, so maybe this will help me reach my goals a bit faster. We’ll see. Overall, felt very good about today.

35

Keep up the work, man. I approve of the Kenny quote, too. I’m stealing it.

36

Intensification, 10s Wave

12/16/10

Box (Bleacher) Jumps, 3rd Bleacher

5x3

Squats

175x5
195x5
215x3x10 <---- way too gassed on these, jeez

Front Leg Elevated Split Squat

25’s x 3x12 <— balance is bad, will keep this in for a while

45 Degree Back Raise

+25x2x8 <— needed 3 sets, but lower back started acting up, so I cut it

DB Side Bends (each set means both sides)

45x10
55x10
65x10

DONE.

The jumps felt way more explosive then they have before, which is really encouraging. I can still tell that I take too long to wind up, but I’m glad my explosion is getting better. Hopefully this will lead to an increase in my limit strength and overall power.

Time to get my chow on all day and relax. Gotta love not being in school for a while, haha!

37

Just a note to myself, so I’ll see this the next time I’m in here.

STOP drinking so much you idiot. You’ve taken it far beyond “having a drink” with friends and you’ve become one of those have-to-be-drunk-to-have-fun goons. Cut it out. You have definitive goals, strength-wise, body-comp wise, etc, and the booze is not going to help you get there. You have New Year’s, I’ll give you that, but until then and from then on, get your shit together and quit being so damn weak.

Love,

Self

38

Intensification, 10s Wave

12/19/10

Military Press

75x5
85x5
90x10,10,15

DB Bench

65x12
65x15 <–these were supposed to be AMAP

DB Rows

90x4x8

Supersetted with

Rear Delt Flyes

20x4x12

DB Shrugs

100x12
95x12
90x12
80x12 <–each rep with 1s squeeze, move to next weight with as little rest as necessary

DB Alt. Curls

35x8
40x8
45x8,8

DONE.

I would have liked to have put up more weight on the DB Bench for that supplementary pressing part, but the 65’s were about all I could handle cuz my shoulders were so pumped from the military pressing. My joints don’t hurt though, which is huge, so I’m really happy about that.

Also, today is the first day of my foray into a modified Intermittent Fasting. I’m doing an 8 hour eating window, with a 16 hour fast. It worked really well today, so hopefully I’ll see some results before too long. I feel great working out, and I started my feeding window around 1, so it will wrap around 9 pm tonight after dinner. I’ve discovered through my experimentation that I don’t do well with carbs in the morning, but eating in the morning leaves me feeling sluggish. If I put in cleaner carbs (fruits, veggies, quinoa, etc) in the afternoon, I feel much better, I look better, and I can eat humongous meals like I enjoy.

Luckily, I stay full the rest of the fast, so hopefully this will pay off. Only time will tell. And as long as I feel good and look decent with this eating style, I’ll likely keep it in for the time being. We’ll see what happens.

39

12/21/10

Conditioning

1.5 miles, RPE 6-7

Got off work too late to make it to the school gym, so I got in an easy run near my house. Felt great, but my calves got a wicked pump going, so hopefully I won’t be too tight tomorrow to deadlift. Gotta keep foam rolling and using the stick before bed and when I wake up to make sure everything stays where it needs to.

40

Intensification, 10s Wave

12/22/10

Deadlift

175x5
195x5
215(67.5%)x10,10,12

Lunges

35x3x8<— need to either increase weight or reps next time

Mod. Lat Station GHR’s

BWx3x8 <— these were much stronger, may need to add resistance next time

BW Ab Series a la Defranco

2 circuits x 15 reps each exercise (4 exercises)

DONE.

Quick and dirty today. Little twinge in my left groin on the AMAP set of DL’s, so I shut it down. Wanted to make sure to get all my Accessory work in, as that really seems to help my overall power and speed. I feel like I’m still getting more explosive, and I can already tell that my midsection is tightening up on this modified IF diet, so I’m sticking with it until I have reason to alter it.

Going to go see True Grit tonight with some friends. Whiskey and Westerns night. Going to keep it low key myself, as I got to bench tomorrow before my gym closes for winter break. Realization phase starts tomorrow, so I’m pumped to see where I end up for this phase. Looking for good results…