[quote]mrodock wrote:
Had to clip my deadlift by 5 pounds! Great work! Dead stop deadlifts will get you past 545 pretty quick I bet. Could put in some deadlifts to the knees also. [/quote]
haha hey if you can pull 520, you can pull 525!
[quote]Papa Nick wrote:
you sir, are a beast[/quote]
thank you, thank you very much.
sat 12/25
mil pressing in a smith machine at dad’s place. tried some smith inclines and they felt pretty good. i have some ideas about my bench setup that i want to try.
[quote]Papa Nick wrote:
you sir, are a beast[/quote]
X2
Damn! You strong bastard, you’re making us all look bad
mon 12/28
warm up: GHR back raise and situps, leg swings, KB swings, ad/abductor machine
SSB squat (to box)
65x10, 155x10, 205x5, 245x5, 295x5, 305x10 (PR! tough though)
RDL
135,225,315x10, 365x5 (not feelin it), SLDL: 135x10, 225x10
Oly Sq
135x2x10, 185x10, 225x10, 315x10 (PR)
Reverse Hyper
SSB squats went as hoped. something wasn’t right in my back working up with the RDL’s. not painful, just not right. cut it short and did a few SLDLs. totally forgot either pants or baby powder for the knees.
Oly squats took a little extra warming up to feel right. i knew 315 was doable so i went for it. felt fine.
sucked it up and did some reverse hypers. made the erectors feel nice and pumped but sucked any remaining life out of me. i’m going to try to do these more, at least once per week.
whup, my upper body is weaksauce, i gotta have something!
tues 12/29
warm up: GHR back raise and situps, dislocations, paddle stretch, mil press, muscle snatch
db bench
10 reps each with 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s
neutral grip CSR
90x10, 115x7, 135x5, 160x5, 180x5, 135x13
incline bench - smith machine and freeweight
various sets at 45, 95 and 135
fat bar reverse curls
65x4x10
yeah, really not sure what to do about the shoulder. dumbbell benching felt totally ok. i thought i could make the smith inclines work, but it wasn’t coming together so i stopped. tried freeweight BB inclines, looking for a decent groove. finally found one and did a couple sets of 135x10. laid on the flat bench and just practiced with an empty bar for a while, too. nothing really felt right. did some scap pushups. a buddy suggested doing cable rows and really focusing on the squeeze, which i will try.
i don’t know how much the shoulder mobility work is helping because i pass all the common external/internal rotation and ROM tests. maybe it’s just weakness in the supporting muscles? feels like it is very difficult to set up evenly on the bench… i will bring my camera next week and try to troubleshoot.
Fat bar reverse curls? could you even hold the thing like that?
[quote]Papa Nick wrote:
Fat bar reverse curls? could you even hold the thing like that?[/quote]
oh yeah man. i attribute those to beefing up the top of my forearms a little. the grip isn’t so bad. my wrists are the weak point for this exercise.
thurs 12/31
conv deficit dl
135x7, 225x7, 315x5, 365x3x5
w. lunge
200x2x10 (didn’t feel right so i stopped)
farmer’s walk one trip = length of the room
290x2 trips, 470x2 trips, 570x1 trip, 470x2 trips
happy new year!
Wish I had access to a fat bar, or something to do farmer’s walks with. Your log depresses me. lol happy new year man.
happy new year you two shmucks, and why the heck were both of you on within the hour of midnight.
Ive been at work, whats your excuses?
haha I started drinking at 1PM so I was pretty beat by midnight, went home shortly after the countdown.
lol i was just getting ready for bed. it was a quiet night in for me.
sat 1/2
warm up: 2x GHR back raise and situps, paddle stretch, dislocations, mil press, muscle snatch
mil press
95x10, 105x7, 115x5, 125x11(PR +3 reps), 95x18+3
thumbless pull-up - on a polished bar, too
bwx10, 25x10, 45x10, 70x10, bwx23?
DB side and front raise
15sx10, 25sx8, 30sx8
BB muscle snatch
45x3x10
FB curls and rope pressdowns
yay for another MP PR! i think 135x10 is right around the corner. it’s very nice to have this moving up again. thumbless pullups just to mix it up. out of all the great equipment my gym has, they are lacking a decent pullup bar. no big deal though.
did about three dips and my shoulder wasn’t too happy, so i stopped and did pressdowns instead. been using bands to stretch the shoulders daily. also been icing after stretching and lifting. things are improving!
next week is deload… i’ll stick to DB flat bench as the main lift on tues and just do some practice reps with the bar after. i’m optimistic that both shoulders will be in good shape after another week of rest and daily stretching/icing!
@gmoore don’t be depressed dude, someone’s gotta have that equipment in your area!
mon 1/4
warm up: 2x GHR back raise and situps, KB swings, ab/adductor machine
deload squat to box - box +1 plate (1 plate lower than usual)
135,225,315, 365x3, (took away box): 365x2x3
GMs
135x10,225x10,315x10 (PR +5 reps), 315x10
oly & front squats
135x a bunch of sets
reverse hyper
4 sets - i hate this machine
stretch
deload week! i decided to take away the box and see what happened. i felt naked without the box, not gonna lie. third set, first two reps were sloppy but i nailed it on the third rep. gotta work on my stopping power because there’s no need to go that deep.
goodmornings: EASY, huge PR… i have some sweet double-layer pants coming that will cure the abrasion problems i have with RDLs. don’t have them yet though, so i figured GMs would be a good substitute. when 225 felt like an empty bar, i knew something had changed big time. i don’t know what caused this! SSB work? GHRs? RDLs? whatever, gonna roll with it. i’m hoping RDL/GMs will train the transition point in my squat: out of the hole, when the hips start to drive forward to finish the lift. if i can GM 405 then squatting 505+ might be in reach? we’ll see.
oly and front squats for form practice. rev hyper to pump the back up. that particular machine can suck my nuts.
tues 1/5 - bw 178
warm up: lots of band and foam rolling at home
db bench
25,35,45,55,65,75,85 all for 10 reps
bb row - from the hang
135x10, 185x10, 225x2x10
cleans - from the floor
135x a bunch
bb bench practice
barx a bunch
regular gym was closed because… well power in half the city was completely out. no streetlights, no traffic lights, nothing. so that was a surprise. went to my school gym and snuck in a session before they closed.
db benching felt ok… took a few sets to find the groove. rows were fine. cleans were fun. bench practice was not fun. let me back up a little: things are seriously tight in my mid/upper back. i was just messing around on the foam roller, trying to find tender spots. besides my whole back being a little tender, some areas around the shoulder blades are wicked tight. i could feel pressure and stretching very deep in there. some areas that were tight in the back i could feel in my shoulders as well… i think there is a connection somehow because my pecs don’t really seem to be the problem (ya know how articles always talk about tight pecs and internally rotated shoulders? that’s not my problem). well after all the rolling, my back felt much looser and i could squeeze my shoulder blades together and down without any discomfort (usually get tightness in the trap and neck/collar bone area doing that).
benching with the bar was not comfortable at all. my right shoulder felt unstable, though there was almost no pain. i guess i will continue to use band stretching, static stretching and foam rolling until all the tight/tender spots go away.
i’m considering replacing bench days with log pressing, just so i can push hard on some other upper body press while i get things straightened out. which may include a dr visit.
thurs 1/7
warm up: GHR 2x back raises and situps, kb swings, hip flexor stretch, ab/adductor machine
conv deficit deads - all DoH
135,225,275,315,365x3,3,6 (PR +1 rep)
SSB squat - heels elevated, close stance, AtG
65,115,155, 245x8, 295x8, 245x15 yowza
GHR
bw for 4 or 5 sets
yoke walk - in room lengths
200x2,2, 400x2, toast
conventional deads are feeling smoother and easier. easy 1 rep PR. i’ll add 20lbs when i get to 8 reps. SSB squats were awesome! heels elevated on a board - the poor man’s oly shoes. i gotta do more of these, they really pumped up my quads and i got some back work in at the same time. didn’t feel like holding a bar on my back, that’s why i went with the SSB.
yoke walks for fun… but damn it’s hard to keep that thing from wobbling around like a wet noodle. more practice i suppose, and probably take less drastic jumps in weight next time 
i predict a sound nights sleep. after i foam roll my back lol.
as for the shoulders… i’m going to ice every day and just take it easy. i think i will try power cleans in place of benching and if that doesn’t feel good i’ll just do some rows and rehab moves.
fri 1/8
warm up: mil press, muscle snatch
deload mil press
95,105,115, 135x3,3,3
pullup retractions, OH shrugs, dip shrugs, scap pushups, DB retractions
short and sweet. the rehab moves felt very good.
i’ve learned some things about the shoulders, so i’m going to shift my days around to put maximum time between squatting and benching (when i finally start benching again). the only day a bar will be on my back is monday, which will hopefully give me maximum recovery time. mil pressing doesn’t aggravate the shoulders at all, so we’ll see how it works the day after squatting. probably gonna stick with pullup variations for higher reps for a while because i think loading that exercise up contributed to the problem. curls and extensions will just be done with bands at home for a while. gonna keep up the stretching and do band internal/external rotations with the curls/extensions. that’s the plan! we’ll see how it works.
monday
squat & squat variation & (rev hyper | back raise)
tuesday
mil press & pullup variation & shoulder raises
thursday
deadlift & deadlift variation & GHR
friday
bench & row & (bench variation | row variation)
mon 1/11
warm up: GHR back raise and situps, leg swings, KB swings, ab/adductor machine
squat
135,185,225,315,365, 365x3, 405x3, 425x2 (all-time PR +1 rep)
GM
135x10, 225x5x10
reverse hyper
4 or 5 sets
calves, stretch
weights felt HEAVY today. i blame the yoke walks last week, when i should have been deloading. and not eating enough to recover. the plan was 3x3@415, but 365 was heavy and i knew that might not happen, so i went for low hanging fruit and bagged a 1 rep PR.
decided that if squats felt heavy, i better just do some reps for everything else and go home and eat. lots of beef this week… whole chickens are nice and all, but i need BEEF with FAT.
btw, i hate the reverse hyper. but it does give a pretty good back pump.