Front squat
1x6 - 170 - felt really easy
1x5:F - 175
1x6 - 170
1x5:F - 170 - technique/mental issue, not strength
1x6 - 170
170 felt really easy even in the last set. I will get 6x175 next week.
Pull-ups
8 - BW
3,4x2,3,2,2 - +10
26 total
Pull-ups decreased over all this time from 9 to 8 so this thing I’m doing with tons of heavy sets of 2-3 to failure isn’t working. The first thing I will try is less volume; starting next week I’ll do just 3 sets for as many reps as I can on each.
Short on time today, going on vacation and I did this session during a free-time session between classes. Had to train at the suburban gym so couldn’t do noisy barbell rows.
Handstands
~40min
Sucked, had to practice on a rubber mat. Got some mediocre ones. I would have been better off doing them on concrete. Hard floor lets me kick off of it properly and it’s just more what I’m used to.
Dips
1x10:F - Wanted to see how many I could do.
some pull-ups
Just wanted to hit the muscles that I didn’t get to train as much on Friday.
9/2/12 - Sunday (late update)
No measurements, vacation so yeah. No news today. Will weigh quick on 9/4/12 to see how eating during vacation affected that.
No time today except for the main lift, we left early and came home late. That was too bad because I was looking forwards to 6x185 clean.
Deadlift
3x220 - I’m stupid, was supposed to be 5.
5x220
3x250
8x280 - Beat previous 6x280(13,3).
Someone told me that “if my back starts rounding on the deadlift, then I’m using too much weight”. Wow, thanks for the tip. The trick was he didn’t exactly look like a 2-3xBW deadlifter. Now every 10 pounds I put on the bar I have to put up with your evil yet self-righteous glare. So just because I don’t weigh 200 pounds, everywhere I go someone has to patronize me. Fuck off; go tell it to the guy doing 2-inch squats with 3 plates and a neck wrap.
OK well, vacation is done and cycle 15 (the hard part) almost is, too. So heavier weights are on their way!
Dips
1x6 - +30 (PR)
1x1:F - +35 - Wanted to go in with that big bad 35-lb plate.
1x6 - +25
1x3:F - +20
1x6 - +10
Pull-ups
3,2 - +10
3,3,2 - BW
13 total
The way I’ll do these is I’ll start at a weight and keep doing sets with it until I can’t get at least 3, then I’ll drop the weight, and so on until I can’t do at least 3 with BW, and then I’ll leave. I’ll see how that works.
Breakdancing
Hand circle walk
~15min
Got better at this.
1990s
~5min
Nothing new here. I will devote more time to these.
I’m keeping post-lifting breakdancing to 20 minutes because a) I’m on a schedule and b) I want to avoid cooldown and wasting time anyways.
Front squat
1x6 - 175 (PR)
1x6 - 180 (PR)
1x4+1S:F - 185 - Had rep #5 80% up but spotter grabbed it because I was going slowly. -_-
1x6 - 180
1x5:F - 180
For myself, form is almost always an issue on deads. I start good, but by the end of the last set I always end up with a bit of a rounded back. I don’t think it’s too much of an issue so long as you are smart about it and stop the set before you start to excessively round your back, which is up to your own judgement.
Forearm headspin
~70min
best: 1-1/8, but I ended up on my back instead of on my feet so I must’ve started falling around the full turn mark.
Keep neck tight and body perpendicular to ground.
Did too many of these and now there’s something in my right trap that hurts to turn my head, so it shot my performance in mills and handstands stuff today.
Windmills
~15min
As said above, right trap hurts. I came around for the re-stab and I just felt it pull so I called it done right there.
Freeze hops
~40min
May as well do something to kill the time. Pretty easy to do with both hands, need to be able to do them in a circle on just the right hand though. I think the proper name is “UFO” or “jackhammer”.
Handstands
8x2
best: 58sec
Couldn’t focus. Performance may have got shot because the freeze hops were draining out my arms with that bouncing.
Handstand walk
~15min
Also sucked, once again felt that right trap thing pull when I took a step so I just quit.
Overall a shitty day but I gotta say I had it coming with the volume I use on breakdancing days.
For myself, form is almost always an issue on deads. I start good, but by the end of the last set I always end up with a bit of a rounded back. I don’t think it’s too much of an issue so long as you are smart about it and stop the set before you start to excessively round your back, which is up to your own judgement.[/quote]
Thanks. Coincidentally that’s what it was like that day on deadlift, I got rep 9 an inch off the ground but by then my legs were already straight and my back was all camel-humped so I called it at that.
And then the rest of the day it absolutely ruined my mind because all I was thinking about is if I pushed a little harder maybe I could’ve gotten that 9th rep, or maybe I would have hurt myself, or maybe I would’ve gotten it, hm… gotta be safe though.
Diet stayed the same, except on Friday I ate 1/2 lb of cooked beef on a whim, maybe that has something to do with this increase; it’s probably still sitting in my colon right now so I can fart it around all day tomorrow.
Maybe the left leg increased because I know I was focusing on using my left leg in squatting movements this week but I don’t think that would just slap a 1/2" on there just like that.
Drink more water, knock back some prunes instead of the typical fruits I normally eat, see where we’re at next week.
Working the kinks out with the ole deload week. I used to hate these, but I find them very helpful now; they always come at just the right time when I feel beat up and tired.
Deadlift
5x115
5x145
5x175
LDL
4x10 - 100
2x10 - 110
Clean
4x6 - 85
1x6 - 90
Breakdancing
1990s
~40min
Tucking head against arm might help. Progress is really, REALLY slow with these so far.
Legs keep falling behind me and making me fall.
Might just be I’m not strong enough.
Breakdancing
Master swipes
~20min
Learned something. Hard to explain but I learned it.
I also played a game of basketball to 10, one-on-one with a 10-12 year old. He beat me 10-4. Every time I threw that silly ball it just ended up in the wrong spot.
Learned some valuable information in this training session for headspins and mills that didn’t break any PRs for me but it did make my performance more consistent.
Here’s that handstand walk video I got a week ago and was too lazy to post until now:
Breakdancing
Hand circle walk
~25min
Worked on getting these faster and going into 1990s from them. If I can do these faster then I can get more spin before I fall down, and doing 1990s from these feels right for some reason.
1990s
~5min
Tired myself out with hand circle walks, so performance was even worse than usual. The problem is I fall in the direction that I switch to my right hand in, so I never get more than 3/4 turn simply due to that momentum. Being stronger would probably help.
In any case, that’s just eight cycles to go before I get those new maxes!
Going to throw in 3x10 left leg press at the end of deadlift and squat day to see if that strengthens my left leg and evens out that ridiculous imbalance.
