Today I was a little iffy on benching because my left shoulder is a bit sore today. Must have something to do with tossing a football around for a good 2 hours or so. But, once I got down to work, I didn’t really notice my shoulder much at all.
Max-Effort Upper Body Day
A. BB bench press
bar X 8
65# X 5
95# X 5
95# X 3
115# X 3
125# X 3
130# X 5 (PR)
B. 2 sets max reps of barbell pushups
first set–24
second set–16
C. superset
i. cable rows
80# X 12
100# X 12
100# X 12
100# X 12
ii. face pulls
30# X 12
60# X 12
60# X 12
60# X 12
D. DB shrugs
45# X 15
45# X 15
45# X 15
45# X 15
E. Zottman curls
15# DBs X 15
15# DBs X 12
15# DBs X 12
15# DBs X 12
Definitely happy with the bench PR. My last tested 1 rep max was 135, so I’ve definitely come a long way since then. Putting 25 lb plates underneath my feet helped a lot, as well as getting one of the grad boys to give me a handoff and a spot.
Today was a pretty “meh” day class-wise, except for the fact I dozed off in my last class of the day. The worst part about it, I was sitting closest to the prof (usually 2 or 3 people sit in the 2 rows in front of where I usually sit, but not today). The first time I began nodding off, I started awake just in time for the prof to call on me to give my opinion on whatever we were talking about. Luckily, BS is one of my specialties and I think I was able to save my ass…until I completely dozed off 5 minutes later. Ugh. That’s the second time (in four classes with this prof) that I’ve fallen asleep. I need to find a way to stay awake in that class.
LOL at “BS is one of my specialties”… I recommend lots of coffee to stay awake in class. I used to drink 8-10 cups a day during my undergrad. Then I wondered why I was always irritable and twitchy.
[quote]RBlue wrote:
Nice benching! Congrats on the PR!
LOL at “BS is one of my specialties”… I recommend lots of coffee to stay awake in class. I used to drink 8-10 cups a day during my undergrad. Then I wondered why I was always irritable and twitchy.[/quote]
I blamed the teachers and the homework for the twitchiness. But yeah coffee, getting enough sleep, doodling (they’ll think your taking notes), reading something unrelated (hidden of course), if you have long hair you can even get away with hiding 1 earplug and listening to something that should keep you awake. I miss the good old days. But not the finals. I suppose I cannot have one without the other.
Nlmain–> Yeah I aim to get the bar right to my chest, however I’ll be honest and say that my last rep may not have gotten all the way to my chest.
Kpsnap–> Yeah, I think that the bench is a bit high–when I was in Ottawa, the bench there felt a fair bit lower, and it was a lot more comfortable to me. I use a bit of an arch and like to use leg drive in my benching. I should probably join the trend and get some video of some of my lifting at some point.
Oh, and as for staying awake in class, thanks for the suggestions! I might have to start having a little bit of coffee before class–I don’t drink a ton of coffee, but whenever I do, it definitely keeps me awake. As for doodling, some days, even if I doodle, I begin to start nodding off. I think I should really put more effort in getting 8-9 hours of sleep–some days I only get 5-6 and don’t feel nearly as good. Today I got closer to 9 hours and am feeling fine.
Dynamic warm up
(work up sprints, leg swings, lunges, air squats, etc.)
Med ball throws
-slams
-side tosses
-overhead tosses
This was FUN! I asked the athletic trainers if I could borrow one of their med balls (they had the non-bouncy variety). I don’t know if they would have let me borrow it if they knew what I was doing.
Box jumps
5 sets of 3 at the 3-inches-above-the-knee box
1 jump on the crotch box
Barbell reverse lunges
95# X 10 each leg
95# X 10 each leg
105# X 10 each leg
Ghetto glute ham raise
3 X 10
Hanging leg raises
4 X 15
Thursday:
A. DB incline bench; 3 sets of max reps
warmup: 25# X 15
working sets:
40# X 12/ 35# X 15/ 35# X 15
B. i. cable rows
80# X 12/ 100# X 12/ 110# X 12/ 110# X 12
ii. relt delt flyes
5# X 12/ 5# X 12/ 5# X 12/ 5# X 12
C. DB military press
20’s X 10/ 25’s X 6/ 25’s X 6/ 25’s X 6
D. 3 superset
i. DB shrugs (45’s x 10)
ii. zottman curls (15’s X 12)
E. heavy DB holds (with towel wrapped around DB handle)
3x max time
Friday’s lifting:
I don’t have the program in front of me, but our team started a lifting program. It’s alright, so I’ll probably stick with it for a bit. Thing is, it’s written for just 3x per week, so I’ll probably add in another session or two of my own stuff.
[quote]juniormint wrote:
Med ball throws
-slams
-side tosses
-overhead tosses
This was FUN! I asked the athletic trainers if I could borrow one of their med balls (they had the non-bouncy variety). I don’t know if they would have let me borrow it if they knew what I was doing.
[/quote]
Nothing better than chucking a med ball around to relieve stress!
So, today I didn’t have a ton of time in the gym, so I did some testing. I tested my max back squat and military press (for there was NO ONE else in the gym, so I didn’t want to test my bench). I’ll do deadlifts and bench another day (probably on Saturday or next Monday).
Back squat:
bar X 5
bar X 5
135# X 5
155# X 3
185# X 1
215# X 1
225# X 1
235# X 1
235 was UGLY. I got stuck about 2 inches out of the bottom, but somehow managed to grind it out. I then decided to stop there. I’m quite confident I was hitting proper depth–I overemphasized the fact with 225#, pretty much stopping at the bottom for a second just to make sure I was there.
Press:
bar X 8
65# X 3
75# X 2
85# X 1
90# X 1
95# X 1
100# X 0
I generally don’t do a lot of BB military pressing, so I was happy with my effort. The main focus for me was to make sure I wasn’t trying to use my legs and turn it into a push press. 95# was a grind, but it got up there. 100 was a whiny bitch and didn’t really want to leave my shoulders.
Then, just for fun, I did some cleans (not max effort).
bar X 5
95# X 3 from hang
95# X 3 from floor
105# X 3 from floor
I’m camera-challenged, but I know my digital camera shoots video so I’ll give it a shot. They certainly won’t be max squats, but I think I can work some in somewhere tomorrow. Any particular angle I should set the camera at (side or back)?
If my camera skills allow it, maybe I’ll throw in some bench work to check my form for that as well.
Today was kind of a rest day of sorts, although I did play intermural kickball, which is usually just one big shitshow. We lost, but I got to test my theory on whether neon green spandex makes you a better kickball player (further research may be required).
I use by digital camera too - side angles are better - we can see depth that way. I’ve set up my camera on a bench beside me and that has given me some proper shots.
my guess is that neon green spandex does not improve your kicks but allows the opponent to focus on those legs and guess the plays you might set out to do.
Nlmain–> I think your theory might be right. I mean, I got on base a couple times, but I got out on at least two pop flies. The green spandex definitely made a statement. Today, all I heard from the girls on the other team was “Please keep your pants on next time”. Pfft…screw them and their non-spandex-ness.