Liftin Weights and Beatin Breaks

Training Training Logs
381

7/18/12 - Wednesday

Breakdancing practice today.

No master swipes today, will do them Saturday and see how my shoulder has recovered.

Handstands
8x2
best: 48sec

Handstand walk
5x2
best: down+1/2 turn

Forearm headstand
~15 mins
Focused on putting more weight through my head and minimizing back arch.

Forearm headspin
~60 mins
Got a solid amount of 5/8 turns, almost got a 3/4 spin but not quite, will get it next time.
Stopped when I felt myself getting burnt out and performance started dropping.
Power legs around, when they get split, point them straight up and spin.

Left freezes
~15 mins
Got accompanied with doing hangglide and baby freezes on my left arm. Will do more advanced stuff later. Figured it be a good idea to get going on this not just for aesthetics (right arm and shoulder is visibly bigger than left’s), but that left arm is a whole untapped field of potential strength.

BB hold
2 towels, 225
1x30sec
2x20sec
Didn’t go quite as long as I could, had to bring the bar down early so as to bring it down quietly, to avoid getting kicked out of the suburban gym I was doing these in.

382

7/19/12 - Thursday
Max Effort, Day 3

Squat
8x95
5x135
3x160
1x185
1x205
1x215
1x230
1x235
1x240
0x245:F

Really surprised myself here. I was just expecting 230 but it shot up like a rocket so I increased the weight and got all the way to 240, which was just a little over 1.5xBW. Was I happy about that or what.

Once again, did Tim Henriques’s warm up program with a predicted 1RM of 230. I used “convenient weights” (95, 135, 185) where the error was just +/- 5 lbs. I also took a stop at 215 to get myself just a bit more warmed up mentally since I was lacking that on Tuesday.

Light squat
2x10 - 180
1x7:F - 180
1x10 - 170
1x9:F - 170
1x10 - 165

Front squat
3x6 - 165
1x4:F - 170
1x6 - 165

Pull-ups
9 (PR) - BW
3,3,2,3,2,1,2,1 - +10 lbs
26 total
Thought I’d do more than normal here because of how many ones I did with just BW.

Breakdancing
1990s
Keep hands close. Left thumb going between right hand’s pointer and thumb seems to give good balance. Still struggling with actual spinning around, though.

383

7/20/12 - Friday
Max Effort, Day 4

Bench press
8x65
5x95
3x110
1x135
1x150
1x160 - came up easy
2x0x165:F - stapled me to the bench :expressionless:

Bent-over row
1x10 - 180
1x7:F - 175
3x10 - 165

DB BP
1x5:F - 65s
1x6:F - 60s
1x4:F - 60s
1x6:F - 55s
1x5:F - 55s
1x6 - 50s

DB hold
2 towels, 120s
12sec, 30sec, 25sec
I’m ready to use 125s on these next week.

I tried some dips just to see how they felt. I’m thinking about replacing those DB tricep extensions on OHP day with dips. I think that will work my chest more and give my bench press a kick in the butt to get better. I feel I am now strong enough to be able to do these with enough volume.

384

7/20/12 - Friday (that’s right, 2 posts on one day)

OK, recap for the year.

Starting:
BW: 140
Military press: 95
Deadlift: 210
Bench press: 125
Squat(smith): 200
Squat(after cycle 4, no smith): 185

Now:
BW: 156 (+16)
Military press: 135 (+40)
Deadlift: 315 (+105)
Bench press: 160 (+35)
Squat: 240 (+40 and removal of smith, OR +65 since the end of cycle 4)

Goals achieved:
315/2xBW deadlift: Accomplished
140 military press: Failed
230 squat: Accomplished
165 bench press: Failed
All while staying under 160: Accomplished

Well, I made progress. I can’t deny that. I got stronger, a little bigger, got some milestones in terms of weight lifted and I can’t forget some of the sweet shit I can do now in breakdancing with the strength that I got.

But this progress can only be called satisfactory for the deadlift and squat. OHP and bench went up dismally slowly. I only got a fraction of the expected strength gains in these lifts as compared to the expectations for deadlift and squat. I seriously doubt this is the fault of the program, and I know that I gave every core lift rep-out everything I had, especially towards cycle 13. I am convinced that I am doing something wrong for upper body assistance. I’ll replace 5x10 DB tri extension on OHP day with 5x8 dips and see what happens. It should give a kick in the butt to my chest and shoulders.

I thought maybe I should tone down the time I spend practicing breakdancing, as if it was hurting recovery. But I won’t. ^^

This is only the beginning. Here’s my goals for the next 10 cycles*:

Core lifts*:
Deadlift: 385 (+70)
OHP: 175 (+35)
Squat: 310 (+70)
Bench: 195 (+35)

Assistance lifts:
Clean: 6x215
DB OHP: 6x65s
DB bench: 6x85s
Front squat: 6x215

Breakdancing (in order of importance):
Get these fucking windmills already
Headspins with 1.5 rotations
1990s with 1.5 rotations
Handstand walking as easy as normal walking
Get in touch with my left arm
Learn a new move

*After 10 cycles I would expect to get 50 lbs on each upper body lift and 100 lbs on each lower body lift. But after this year I know to expect a little less, just because that’s just how that is. So if I can just get 70% of those strength gains, I’ll be happy.

And finally, changes for these next 10 cycles:
5x8 dips to replace 5x10 DB tri extension on OHP day.
Take bench press day more seriously.
Stop going to failure so often. Learn to listen to my body.

385

7/21/12 - Saturday

Breakdancing practice.

Master swipes
~90 mins
No longer hurts my left shoulder. I think it’s due to mobility/strength gains in my left shoulder as a result of learning chair and baby freezes on left arm this week.
Slight improvement in keeping hips high but it wasn’t worth the time spent on it. I could’ve focused in for 30 minutes and been done.

Handstands
8x2
best: 41sec
Couldn’t focus. Could be I drained myself with master swipes.

Handstand walk
3x2
best: down+turn (PR)
Slight PR.

Forearm headstand
~10 mins
Focused on putting bodyweight through the head and taking weight off the forearms. This is how I should be balancing and how I think I’ll spin better.

Forearm headspin
Did not have enough time or energy for these after how much I did for master swipes. Nothing much better than 1/2-turns.

So basically my training session got messed up since I put too much time into master swipes at the beginning. Power moves like that shouldn’t have so much volume on them, they can tire me out quickly. But at least master swipes don’t blow out my shoulder anymore. Damn was I happy about that today or what.

386

7/22/12 - Sunday (Late update)

Weight: 155.5 (-.5)
Waist: 30 1/4 (-1/2)
Chest: 38 7/8 (0)
Hips: 36 1/8 (-1/4)

R bicep: 13 (0)
L bicep: 13 1/8 (-1/8)

R thigh: 23 1/2 (+1/8)
L thigh: 22 1/2 (0)

Waist will be bloated in the morning for the next few weeks since I have Ramadan so all my food will be taken in at night.

387

7/24/12 - Monday
Cycle 14, Week 1, Day 1

Going in on it all over again.

Deadlift
5x185
5x215
15x240 - Can’t compare to any recent previous PRs.

LDL
2x10 - 225
1x8:F - 225
1x9:F - 215
2x10 - 205

Clean
1x6 - 170
1x3+1S:F - 170
1x4:F - 165
2x6 - 160

Breakdancing
1990s - 3x5
Bad. Didn’t perform well or learn anything new. Was really thirsty (Ramadan), back and right wrist were sore for some reason. Just wanted to sleep once I set that last clean down.

388

7/24/12 - Tuesday
Cycle 14, Week 1, Day 2

Overhead press
5x80
5x90
10x105 - Can’t compare to any recent PRs.

DB OHP
2x6:F - 50s
1x5:F - 50s
1x7:F - 45s
1x7 - 45s
1x5:F - 45s
Bad on me for constantly going to failure.

Dips
1x5:F - BW
1x6 - BW
1x5 - BW
2x6 - BW
Will do 5x6 here instead of 5x8.

Pull-ups
4x2,1,2,1,1 - +10
3x3 - BW
22 total
I could feel that the dips tired me out before these.

Breakdancing
Headswipes, Nikes
Went well, got some good sets, just don’t overthink it.
Freeze flip
Trying to flip over onto my back from a baby freeze. Will need more strength. I’m sure it will look cool though.

389

7/25/12 - Wednesday

Breakdancing…

Forearm headspin
~2 hrs
best: almost got 3/4 turn. Gained back what was lost on Saturday. Comparatively good results came when I just did it and didn’t overthink the move.

Windmills
~40 mins
Didn’t lose much given how long I went without doing these. Practiced going in on them from footwork; it helps me “get in it” better.

Handstands
4x2
Sucked. Was tired.

Handstand walk
1x3
best: down+1/2 turn
Walking is easy. Turning around is hard.

Cut handstand stuff volume in 1/2 because I spent so much time on the other stuff and I prohibit myself from exceeding 3 hours. I mean, I like breakdancing, but there has to be some limit.

BB hold
235 lbs, 2 towels
10sec, 15sec
235 lbs, no towels*
15sec

*Gym worker came up to me and said I couldn’t use the towels since they were a hazard of slipping out of my hands b/c the bar’s “helicoptering”. Oddly enough I had more helicoptering when I took the towels off. >_<

390

7/26/12 - Thursday
Cycle 14, Week 1, Day 3

Squat
5x140
5x160
13x185 - Beat previous 9-10x185(11,1). Not that recent though. Good starting point though, based on how I only got 12 reps (12x140) in the rep-out for cycle 5, week 1, which is when I first did BB squats.

Light squat
1x10 - 180
1x6:F - 180
2x10 - 170
1x6:F - 170
1x10 - 160

Front squat
1x6 - 170
1x3:F - 170
3x6 - 165

Pull-ups
5,3,3,5x2 - +10 lbs
21 total

Also had some tries and failures at muscle-ups. One guy who can do them at my gym told me it has a lot to do with momentum. I’ll keep at them. I won’t try to do one every time I do pull-ups, but I will every so often. And when I get it, believe me I will make sure to let it be known that I got it.

Breakdancing
1990s
Going in from a handstand circle walk helps get me that circular momentum, especially combined with the right legs movement. This is at the very least a good exercise to use to practice this move.

391

7/27/12 - Friday
Cycle 14, Week 1, Day 4

Bench press
5x95
5x110
15x120 - Well did I kill that or what.

Bent-over row
2x10 - 180
1x6:F - 180
2x10 - 170

DB BP
1x8:F - 60s
1x4:F - 60s
2x6 - 55s
1x5:F - 55s
1x6 - 50s

DB hold
125s, 2 towels
10sec, 28sec, 6sec

Breakdancing
1990s
Get the body on top of the right arm. Hard to explain but that cue helped me a lot today with spin. Will look into it more.

I’m off to a much better start here than I had in cycle 1, week 1.

392

7/28/12 - Saturday

Breakdancing practice:

Forearm headspin
100 mins
best: 3/4 turn (PR)
Start with legs almost intertwined. Do a complete switch, don’t stop midway to bring the legs together.
Whip legs around as hard as possible.

Windmills
80 mins
Almost got a clean double. Feet hit ground the second time I came on my back. Excellent for how long I went without doing these.
Roll high, legs wide, whip around.

Three hours, two moves. Didn’t even do handstands work today. But I did well at what I did practice, so I’m happy. I figured if I did handstands after headspins I wouldn’t perform well on them anyways.

393

7/29/12 - Sunday

Weight: 158.5 (+3)
Waist: 30 3/8 (+1/8)
Chest: 38 3/4 (-1/8)
Hips: 36 1/4 (+1/8)

R bicep: 13 1/8 (+1/8)
L bicep: 13 1/4 (+1/8)

R thigh: 23 1/2 (0)
L thigh: 22 3/8 (-1/8)

Still on Ramadan. Weight gain could be from the (very) occasional treats I had this week but it’s more likely bloat from night feedings before I measure myself. Last week Ramadan started on a Friday and I measured myself on Sunday so there wasn’t enough time for the bloat to ‘take effect’ before I measured myself. But now it’s been 8 days so I’ll have bloat every morning. This happened last year, too.

394

7/30/12 - Monday
Cycle 14, Week 2, Day 1

Deadlift
3x200
3x225
12x255

LDL
1x8:F - 245
1x8:F - 235
1x9:F - 225
2x10 - 215
1x8:F - 215

Clean
2x6 - 170
1x1:F - 170
2x6 - 160

395

7/31/12 - Tuesday
Cycle 14, Week 2, Day 2

OHP
3x85
3x95
8x110 - No PR. I am fucking sick of missing PRs on upper body lifts while my lower body lifts skyrocket.

WG OHP (home)
3x6 - 95
1x3:F - 100
1x6 - 95
1x5:F - 95

Dips (home)
1x6 - BW
1x6 - +5
1x6 - +10
1x6 - +15
1x6 - +20

Pull-ups (home)
3,2,2 - BW
Harder when you do it from the ceiling of the basement instead of a rubber bar.

Would prefer not to say why I did half this workout at home instead of at the gym. It was not by choice.

396

8/1/12 - Wednesday

Damn, July took forever. I have a feeling time is going to go very slowly until the 5/3/1 weights get heavier.

Breakdancing. No windmills today. Trained at home (once again, not by choice), so not enough room for either that or forwards handstand walks.

Forearm headspin
~140 mins
best: 13/16 (PR)
Switch legs quickly to avoid bounce that occurs when legs split. This bounce screws up balance. Experiment with different angles of legs kicking. PR was earned when I did not kick with legs parallel to ground, but a little higher.

Handstands
8x2
best: 20sec
Sucked. Couldn’t focus.

Hand circle walk
4x3
best: 3/4 turn

Weighted hang
2xF - 30 lbs
1xF - 15 lbs

Hung from a rafter or w/e in the ceiling of the basement. Hurt my fingers. It can’t have been as good as a heavy BB would have been.

Addition: 16800 views and 3 posts from people other than me. At least say “hi”.

397

8/2/12 - Thursday
Cycle 14, Week 2, Day 3

Squat
3x150
3x175
12x195 - Beat previous 10x195(12,1). Also is probably better than last week’s 13x185.

Light squat
1x10 - 185
1x6:F - 185
1x10 - 175
1x10 - 170
1x6:F - 170
1x10 - 160

Front squat
1x6 - 165
2x6 - 170
1x3:F - 170
1x6 - 165

Pull-ups
6(PR),8x2
22 total
+10 lbs

Breakdancing
1990s
No progress.

398

8/3/12 - Friday
Cycle 14, Week 2, Day 4

Typical upper body day. Bust my ass and no PR.

Bench press
3x100
3x115
10x130

Bent-over row
1x10 - 180
1x9:F - 180
1x9:F - 175
1x10 - 170
1x10 - 165

DB BP
1x6 - 60s
1x5:F - 60s
3x6 - 55s
1x5:F - 55s

DB hold
125s, went shitty
5sec, 2 towels
2x10sec, no towels

Breakdancing
Frontflip
Actually seems pretty manageable if I learn how to tuck well and develop the bravery. Should practice on a softer spot than a ball court though, or pay more attention. I was practicing just how to fly through the air in a tucked position and when I landed I rolled back and clocked my head on the ground. Good thing it was nothing serious, I feel fine now.

399

Just throwing this out there, but maybe you are missing PRs on upper body day because you are going to failure too often. If you are training for muscle mass, then training to failure is often the way to do it (just keep the reps between 6 - 10 like you are doing). For myself I’m finding that for strength gains one heavy working set to failure is all I need to keep progressing.

Also, your log is a fun read. Keep it up!

400

[quote]Molikeye wrote:
Just throwing this out there, but maybe you are missing PRs on upper body day because you are going to failure too often. If you are training for muscle mass, then training to failure is often the way to do it (just keep the reps between 6 - 10 like you are doing). For myself I’m finding that for strength gains one heavy working set to failure is all I need to keep progressing.

Also, your log is a fun read. Keep it up![/quote]

Thanks a lot for that input. I figured that’s what I was doing wrong because I go to failure less often in lower body days and that’s where I make progress. But it’s always been tough to guess whether I can do a full set with a certain weight, and I don’t want to baby myself, so that’s where most of the failure is.

Also thanks for the tip about one heavy working set to failure for strength gains. Strength is my goal and volume bores me, so I’ll try that for my upper body assistance next cycle. If it works I’ll do it for lower body assistance, too.

Thanks for posting!