11/29/11 - Tuesday
Cycle 5, Week 4, Day 2
Get in, do work, get out is how I treat deload week.
Deadlift
5x90
5x115
5x135
RDL
1x10 - 50
2x10 - 55
1x10 - 60
1x10 - 65
1x10 - 75
Clean
4x6 - 55
1x6 - 60
11/30/11 - Wednesday
Breakdancing.
Flares
5x3
Just remembered a certain part of the technique that I had totally forgotten about the past few days. Put it back in and I was able to swing around one flare with my right leg barely grazing the ground. On Saturday I’m going to swing one flare around from a standing position without any part of any legs touching the ground and just land on my hands and toes.
Handstands
1x1 - Held it for a good while but when I started to lose balance I moved my hands forward as I usually do but I must’ve really banged them into the ground because my wrists hurt afterwards. So I called it a set and took a breather.
4x4 - Got some good ones in. Making progress.
Windmill/air swipe alternation
Did five windmills, each windmill having an air swipe between it and the next windmill. Got a compliment, felt smooth and easy.
Headswipes - New move
7x2 - Planned on doing just 5x2 but I had one of those ‘I’m feelin’ it brah!’ moments after I discovered something about the technique of it.
12/1/11 - Thursday
Cycle 5, Week 4, Day 3
Bench press
5x50
5x65
5x80
Bent-over row
4x6 - 65
DB BP
6x6 - 20s
DB kroc row
1x25 - 35
12/2/11 - Friday
Cycle 5, Week 4, Day 4
Week 4, Day 4.
Week 4, Day 4.
Week 4, Day 4.
I will never get over how good it feels to say that.
Squat
5x65
5x85
5x100
Good morning
1x10 - 50
1x10 - 55
2x10 - 60
2x10 - 65
Front squat
1x6 - 55
1x6 - 60
2x6 - 65
1x6 - 70
12/3/11 - Saturday
Right out of my spreadsheet; breakdancing practice for the day.
12/4/11 - Sunday
Weight: 148 lbs
Waist: 29 1/2" (down by 1/8")
Chest: 37 1/2" (no change)
This deload week had almost no negative effect compared to the others. I also noticed my weight is slowly but steadily increasing. I planned that I would be at ~145 for the whole year, but getting bigger means getting stronger so I’m fine with gaining weight.
12/5/11 - Monday
Cycle 6, Week 1, Day 1
Overhead press
5x70
5x80
13x90 - Beat previous 12x90.
DB OHP
6x6 - 35s
Standing DB skull-crusher
3x10 - 35
1x10 - 40
1x9:F - 40 - Damn it. 
Pull-ups - Wanted to do 15 like I did on cycle 5 week 3 day 4 but I kept hitting failure so I figured it’d be redundant to continue.
5 total
2,1,1,1
12/6/11 - Tuesday
Cycle 6, Week 1, Day 2
Deadlift
5x150
5x175
15x200 - Never touched this weight before; can’t compare it to my previous PRs. At least it was more than 14 reps (previous PR: 14x205) and it made sense that it was less than 19 reps (previous PR: 19x190).
RDL
1x10 - 135
1x10 - 145
1x10 - 155
1x10 - 165
1x5:F - 160
1x10 - 155
Clean
1x6 - 110
1x6 - 115
1x6 - 115
1x5:F - 115
1x6 - 110
Tried to do 15 pull-ups. Couldn’t even do one. Back, lower body, biceps and forearms were all dead.
12/7/11 - Wednesday
Breakdancing practice for today. 15x1 was better than 5x3 for flares.
11/8/11 - Thursday
Cycle 6, Week 1, Day 3
Bench press
5x90
5x100
12x115 - Beat previous 11x115.
Bent-over row
1x10 - 65
1x10 - 70
2x10 - 65
DB bench press
5x6 - 45s
1x4:F - 50s
DB ‘kroc’ row
1x25 - 75
DB hold with 80s.
30 seconds, 1 drop
DB hold after bench day is only 30 seconds, not 60. Last time I tried 60 seconds after a bench day I dropped the DBs so much it was more like a deadlift exercise than a grip exercise.
The weight on bent-over rows dropped A LOT. Those are not typos. This is because I started focusing on getting my form good with these so I can actually hit my back and biceps with them instead of just throwing the weight around and pretending I felt a pump like it used to be.
It’s funny, without the leg drive that’s the MOST weight I could handle for sets of 10 and even then I was doing a bit of bouncing towards the end (hence the drop from 70 back down to 65.) However, bent-over rowing feels better now that I got my form right.
Overall this workout felt right. It felt like the bench press was the main event and everything else was just, well, assistance work. But intensive all throughout.
12/9/11 - Friday
Cycle 6, Week 1, Day 4
I feel more dead after squat day than any other workout of the week.
Squat
5x115
5x130
13x150 - Beat previous 12x150.
Good morning
2x10 - 120
2x10 - 125
2x10 - 130
Front squat
1x6 - 125
1x6 - 130
2x6 - 135
1x0:F - 140
1x6 - 135
Pull-ups (chin over the bar, all the kipping I want)
5x3 - BW
12/10/11 - Saturday
Too lazy to rewrite what I did for breakdancing practice today.
12/11/11 - Sunday
Weight: 147.5 lb (down by .5)
Waist: 29 1/4" (down by 1/4)
Chest: 37 3/8" (down by 1/8)
All the ‘downs’ are probably because of how I just realized how much extra carbs and fat I’ve been taking in per day, so I reined those back in to 300g and 100g, respectively.
12/12/11 - Monday
Cycle 6, Week 2, Day 1
Overhead press
3x75
3x85 - Might’ve done more than 3. Counting while lifting can be hard. 
10x95 - Beat previous 9x95 from last cycle. I’m sure about this one. I always make sure to count the reps I get in the final set.
DB OHP
5x6 - 35s
1x6 - 40s
Standing DB skull
2x10 - 35
3x10 - 40
Pull-ups
10 - 3,2,3,2 - BW
No specific setup, just did more than last time and stopped when my chin didn’t get over the bar.
This workout felt a lot easier than last week’s, and I broke records in everything. I think deload week is so easy it makes me get out of shape and sets me up for a big shock when I get back to going hard in week 1 of the next cycle.
12/13/11 - Tuesday
Cycle 6, Week 2, Day 2
In the meat of it, as I like to think. These workouts aren’t near the beginning, where I’m motivated to start, or the end, where I’m about to reach my goal. I’m not even halfway. I won’t be touching a milestone weight like 225 for deadlift or 135 for bench until at least next cycle.
These are the workouts that, save for the occasional rep PR, are completely unremarkable. These are the workouts that make the final goal so much more worth having.
Deadlift
3x165
3x185
14x210 - Can’t compare this to any previous PRs because they had higher reps and lower weight or lower reps and higher weight.
RDL
4x10 - 155
1x7:F - 155
1x10 - 150
Clean
5x6 - 115 - Happy I won’t be touching 110 again on these.
12/14/11 - Wednesday
Straight out of my spreadsheet, breaking it down on a Wednesday afternoon.
12/15/11 - Thursday
Cycle 6, Week 2, Day 3
Bench press
3x95
3x110
10x120 - Can’t really compare it to anything except for a previous 8x120 record in cycle 4, week 3.
Bent-over row
1x10 - 65
2x10 - 70
1x10 - 75 - Started bouncing a little. Should’ve kept the weight at 70.
DB bench press
5x6 - 45s
1x6 - 50s
DB kroc row
1x25 - 80
DB hold
60 seconds
80s
1 drop
Was only going to do 30 seconds but I felt good today so I went for a minute. Go figure that I only drop the DBs once after a workout that hits forearms and grip, but 4 times after a breakdancing workout.
12/16/11 - Friday
Cycle 6, Week 2, Day 4
Squat
3x125
3x140
10x160 - Beat 9x160 from cycle 5, week 3.
Good morning
4x10 - 125
2x10 - 130
Front squat
1x6 - 130
4x6 - 135
Pull-ups - got four in a row today.
15 - 3,3,4,3,2
Progressed on everything, excited to go heavier next week.
12/17/11 - Saturday
Breakdancing
Flares
15x1
Handstands
5x4
Windmills
3x3
Headswipes
7x2
Experimented with flares at the end of the workout. When I started one from a wider than normal stance it made my whole body swing around noticeably faster. I’ll work on that some more.
No long jumps anymore. They feel like junk work.
12/18/11 - Sunday
woo
Weight: 148.5 lb (up by 1 lb)
Waist: 29 1/4" (no change)
Chest: 37 1/4" (down by 1/8")
For the past two weeks, I’ve been experimenting with doing bent-over rows (on bench day) the way that most spills say to do them - low weight, high reps, and perfect form. It’s resulted in a total drop of 1/4" from my chest since cycle 5, week 4. I’m dropping this nasty experiment now and going back to the way I used to do them; they way that got me results so far - high weight, low reps, and just enough body english to bring it in.
On a more positive note, last night someone was able to put a pencil in between my lats when I flexed my back.