Bench Day (Sunday, 11/30/08)
A. Flat Bench: 225x2 miss - 225x1
B. 2 Board: 3x3x205
C. Flat DB: 80x8 (new rep max)
Seated Face Pulls
Not that bad of a day. Second rep on bench didn’t get past the sticking point that the 2 Board seems to hit pretty good- that pause on the board is an absolute bitch and it comes off there sooo slow.
Probably going to go for volume for Flat DB from now on, 5 reps with 80s for as many sets as possible.
Dips are definitely not painful anymore.
Gymnastics to Da Max (Tuesday, 12/02/08)
Right now I’m looking at some basic L-sits, planche, front lever and leg raises. I just tested myself and it went pretty good.
L-Sit
Tuck: 40s
Low: 30s
Normal: 11s
I’ve done these before, but never for so long. They burn.
Planche
Frog Stand: Maybe 5s on my top set. I was helping train our group with Alex today and I must have got in 10 or so sets in overall, I think I held the first 5 or so for a couple seconds each. Definitely an acquired skill, but I was getting the balance for it as time went on.
Front Lever
Tuck: 15s
Flat Tuck: 4s
These are very, very hard. Just from this session it feels like they’re going to have a lot of carryover to pullups and rowing.
Ed Coan #8 (Wednesday, 12/03/08)
One of the worst workouts in a while actually. Had to teach and take part in 2 hrs of Exercise classes (aka Aerobics bullshit) on Monday for one of my classes- I was ridiculously sore on Tuesday which is when I usually pull. Adductors, VMO and glutes were still sore today and I tried to pull.
A. Deadlift: 405x2 (miss, miss)
B. Speeds: 3x3x300
C. Power Shrugs: 2x5x275 (skip)
RDL: 245
T-bar: 3 plates
Chin: BW
GM: (skip)
I’m under serious Finals stress right now and this didn’t help the mood any at all, ugh. Have my last practical tomorrow, I’ll be fine after that- just exams to look forward to.
Still going for 415 next week.
Andrew however, had a great day! sumo deadlift 605 - YouTube
I hate it when the exercise-based classes interfere with training 
Good luck with your finals.
Thanks man. Smoked my Nutrition final project and ExRx Practical, it’s a big load off my back.
Bench Day (Thursday, 12/04/08)
Redeemed myself today.
A. Flat Bench: 8x3x200
B. Floor Press: 2x2x195, 2x4x185
C. Dips (easy): 2x5x+45, BW 10
D. DB Shoulder: 5x5x40
Had a nice little perspective on training today… I came into college benching 170 and finally hit 200 in mid-March. I was plateaued at that weight until two days before my birthday in July when I hit 225 for the first time (halfway through Maximum Strength). My awesome thumb set me back another two months, but I fought back up there and today I hit my absolute max from last semester for 8x3. Booya.
I was introduced to Floor Presses during MS and really liked them, decided to switch out Incline BB for them today. I smashed my old touch and go PRs with paused reps- oh yea. Took it easy on the Dips and DB Shoulder Pressing today, sternum feels very tight on the former and this was the first time period that I’ve used the DBs. They feel like a keeper, pretty much all shoulders unlike the strict and push press that I feel use a lot more triceps (not a bad thing).
Lower (Friday 12/05/08)
A. Back Squat: 275x5, 335 Miss
B. Front Squat: 185x5, form on Anderson Front Squats
C. GHR: 5x5x+10
Decline Plate Situps
At this point we have about 10 people going to train with us on a regular basis (4-5 days a week). It’s awesome to see the changes in everyone as they get stronger, but today it was a big inconvenience. The gym only has two squat racks, one which Andrew was already using- getting 7-8 people to work in one squat rack is a nightmare. I was in the gym for over an hour before I even got to the Front Squats.
Just wanted to get a rep PR in but Kia decided to go for 335. He got it like a baller, but I got stuck in a perfect good morning position and couldn’t extend back up. I’ll get a video later, the squat is probably my worst lift form-wise and I would appreciate any advice. Front squats were meant to be higher volume but I’ve lost so much strength on them that it’s discouraging. Practiced some Andersons and then went on to punish myself with supersetted decline plate situps and GHR.
Oh and biceptz yesterday.
3x8 pullups easy before.
Bench (Monday 12/08/08)
A. Bench (easy): 3x5x185
B. 2 Board*: 215 double, 3x4x205
C. Flat DB: 80x5
D. Military Press: 135 single, 115x5, 95x10 (had to leave early)
Bench went good, arch is great. I’ve come to the realization that I can’t go straight from flat bench to boards though, I need a separate warmup to get used to the movement.
I really, really hate the fact that if I step away from my bench for one second in the DB area it gets taken. Seriously, can’t get any volume in at all- I’m camping out next time.
Plan for military was high volume, but I had to leave early to get to the mail office. Not too broken up about it, this is a deload week.
Oh, and Kia hit a 275 bench like a baller: - YouTube
Ed Coan #9 (Tuesday 12/09/08)
A. Deadlift: 415
B. Speeds: 2x3x300
C. Rack Pulls (above knee): 500x2
D. GM: 2x5x150
Felt great today, the 415 blasted straight up and by the time I got it to mid-shin I was already thinking about 425 next week.
It’s nice to finally be able to do something with 500 lbs (other than Leg Press, but that’d be gay! lol). Hands were shredded from it.
Did the GMs and got outta there. I’m enjoying this deload, I put my time in with the insane volume lol.
Whatever (Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Lotsa updates today.
A. Pullup: 10x5xBW
Curlz
50 pullups, most I’ve done in a single session so far. This was just an informal session while I was helping train some of the guys. They’ve come a long, long way.
Bench (Thursday, 12/11/08)
A. Speed Bench: 6x3x135
B. Floor Press: 2x2x205, 2x4x190
C. DB Shoulder Press: 45x6, 50x5, 55x5, 60x6
External Rotator
Good session. Wanted 10 sets of Speeds for bench but the gym was pretty crowded today. Floor Presses were nice and paused. Shoulder Press is coming along. All in all, a pretty good session.
Deload (Friday to Thursday)
Didn’t do too much overall. This was finals week, didn’t do too bad overall I don’t think.
Had some informal sessions: low box squats, DB benching and lots of prehab work.
End of Semester Maxing (Friday, 12/19/08)
So I took a nap after my last final (at 7:30 am of course). This was around 10. I got up at noon and the world had turned completely white. Anybody else who lives in the North East right now, you’re probably getting the same thing. Alex and I got our asses up and trekked through the snow to max. Unfortunately, they were closing at 2 today and we only had about an hour: I really wanted to get Squat and Weighted Pullup in.
Weighed in at 180 even.
Bench: 235 good, 250 miss, 245 miss
235 flew up nice and quick. I was too ambitious though and went straight for 250, hit the sticking point and wouldn’t budge. Went for 245 after but had nothing left. Lesson learned- take smaller jumps.
Deadlift: 425 good, 435 hard miss
425 was a good pull; I got what I asked out of Coan and not much else. My lower back felt absolutely fried between that and the bench arch and I couldn’t even break 435 from the floor. Youtube video to come, it’s being pretty slow today.
Oh yea, and my quads started shaking like CRAZY. So cool.
Made your goal. Sweet!
http://www.joeskopec.com/edcoanbench.html
You know there’s an Ed Coan Bench Program too?
It was pretty nice making the 425. I had a couple of days where I was wondering if I was going to peak at all but that’s justt the routine at work, it really beats you down and builds you back up.
The Bench routine has always looked tempting to me, but there’s like 6 different ones that I’m tempted to try out at the moment and for now I just want to prove to myself that I’m smart enough to progress on my own without magic numbers.
For a little while anyways 
Congrats on the progress, keep rolling
Ok, the permanent (yes i promise) log will be here guys!