Maximum Strength with IronAbrams

Training Training Logs
101

Good to hear it!

About a week ago I went on a spending spree (ya know, before I get to spend $400 on textbooks for the semester) and bought Ultimate Back Fitness, Explosive Running, Kinetic Anatomy and the EFS Basic Manual E-Book.

I’m about halfway through Back Fitness and have learned a lot so far- especially the information about belts. I was actually pretty scared when they showed the EMG information compared round back lifting vs neutral spine too.

McGill’s coming to speak at the New York Chiropractic College in January, lucky for me I live 5 minutes away and plan on attending there :D.

102

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Good to hear it!

About a week ago I went on a spending spree (ya know, before I get to spend $400 on textbooks for the semester) and bought Ultimate Back Fitness, Explosive Running, Kinetic Anatomy and the EFS Basic Manual E-Book.

I’m about halfway through Back Fitness and have learned a lot so far- especially the information about belts. I was actually pretty scared when they showed the EMG information compared round back lifting vs neutral spine too.

McGill’s coming to speak at the New York Chiropractic College in January, lucky for me I live 5 minutes away and plan on attending there :D.[/quote]

I’m in the same boat with the text books, lol. I’ve been thinking of getting Thib’s Black Book of Training Secrets and something with very specific discussions of Squat, Deadlift and Bench form. Looks like that EFS basic manual may be able to cover that. . .

It’s awesome that you’re going to see Mcgill speak. That’ll be a real treat. I saw EC speak a few months ago, and that was enlightening. Slightly overwhelming with all of the high level information being presented, but that just lead to more questions, books, and random thoughts. Good stuff

Thanks for the reply

103

Both of Thib’s books are awesome, good mix of everything that both an individual lifter and coach can use. A lot of the applicable information from Supertraining, less of the Master’s level biomechanics.

Starting Strength by Rippetoe and Kilgore is definitely your best bet for Big 3 form. The EFS manual is good but it’s not nearly as in depth.

104

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Both of Thib’s books are awesome, good mix of everything that both an individual lifter and coach can use. A lot of the applicable information from Supertraining, less of the Master’s level biomechanics.

Starting Strength by Rippetoe and Kilgore is definitely your best bet for Big 3 form. The EFS manual is good but it’s not nearly as in depth.[/quote]

Thanks for the input, I had heard they were far more succinct than Siff’s Supertraining. I want to have that one for reference anyways though :stuck_out_tongue:

I heard that Rippetoe has some unconventional explanations for form on the big three, particularly looking down in the squat to facilitate hip drive. What do you think of that?

105

I have no doubt whatsoever that I will never lack for sources on any Exercise Science paper from now until I graduate lol.

Personally, I agree with a lot of Rip’s philosophy. I definitely believe in the squat form, not because it better facilitates hip drive (kind of a weird term for regular hip extension) but just because I think that looking up in the squat is the arch enemy of good form.

It kills my balance, and placing your neck into hyperextension with a bar on your traps is just asking for trouble. You really have to pursue a happy medium- one of the many tidbits I’ve picked up from Cressey’s work is that flexion at the neck promotes flexion at the lumbar spine- obviously a bad thing while you’re squatting.

I think neutral to at a slight downward angle is the way to go.

[i]Phase 4 : Week 2 (High Stress)
Lower Body Workout #1

Monday, 08/11/08 5:15 pm - 6:15 pm[/i]

Mood: 3/10
Actually pretty shitty, my hip is better but the back has been flaring up again lately. I have no doubt that it’s due to my bench arch; I’m going to need to keep in conservative from now on. If accepting a little less weight means that I’ll be healthy again so be it.

I put a lot of effort into the dynamic warmup for today and felt 100% better afterward. Glute activation works.

My strength improvement on the Anderson Front Squats today was amazing, I did 5 singles with 195 and could have kept going. The added mass on my delts and strength of my upper back is definitely helping the front squat numbers shoot up.

Speed Deadlifts with 240 actually went completely fine, my form felt 100% on the money today. I went up to 65 for the (Front Squat Grip) Barbell Reverse Lunges and performed fine. I used the same weight for the Pallof Presses today and they were surprisingly what I found to be hardest for this session.

I went into the gym feeling terrible and came out like a new man, love it when that happens. I’m going to do a little cryotherapy on the psoas in a bit and some extra soft tissue work tonight.

Link of the Day:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html

In case some of you are not aware, you can watch the Olympics here!

106

Phase 4 : Week 2 (Medium Stress)
Upper Body Workout #1
Wednesday, 08/13/08 5:10 pm - 6:00 pm

Mood: 5/10
Nothing special today.

I had a couple close calls today haha. First, I forgot that I was supposed to be doing close grip and did all of my Incline Bench warmups with my normal bench grip (ring finger on rings). When I realized this I switched to close grip, which meant that my entire set up for the bench was fucked. I somehow did a single with 175 that was basically 1 1/2 reps because of the positioning of the rack, finished with a 5 second effort and realized the situation. I went back to 135 with a better position and worked back up to 175 for the other 4 singles.

I finished 2 sets of Close Grip Bench and was surprised at how weak I was with 145 today. I looked at the bar again and realized that I’d just done 155 for 2x8 (doh!). The last rep was a grinder so I dropped down to 145 and could only get 7 reps. The failed 8th went pretty dangerously close to my neck. The rest of the assistance work was uneventful :D.

Link of the Day:
Did anyone catch the Men’s 77kg Group B last night? Holy shit, I felt so bad for the guy who dislocated his elbow on the snatch.

107

Phase 4 : Week 2 (Medium Stress)
Lower Body Workouts #2
Thursday, 08/14/08 5:20 pm - 6:20pm

Mood: 4/10
Didn’t have it today.

Lotta stuff went pretty crappy today. I was having a lot of troubles with my back squat setup, just can’t keep my wrists straight for the life of me and it felt like a lot of the weight of the bar was transferring into my wrists and elbows. Definitely going to have one of my friends check it out when I get back to school. After my speed sets I did a 275 double off of a bench (yea pretty sad) and called it quits there.

GHR was alright but the lunges were terribly off today. Couldn’t get into the groove and it felt like WAY too much weight was on the back leg while pushing off. I have some nice knee pain from that today. Pistols sucked as usual but at least the Bar Rollouts went good.

Link of the Day:

New Squat RX yay!

108

Phase 4 : Week 2 (Medium Stress)
Upper Body Workout #2
Saturday, 08/16/08 10:15 am - 11:20 am

Mood: 6/10
Felt great today.

Bench setup felt a little off today but I didn’t stress about it. Speed work, then two doubles with 195. Not as heavy as I wanted to go but it was alright with me. Used 160 for the Close Grip Incline Presses and +12.5 for the Hammer Grip Pullups. Some assistance work not worthy of mentioning came after that.

I’m heading back to college tomorrow to help out with ROTC Orientation, so far I have no idea how much free time or food I’m going to have since classes start on the 27th. We’ll see.

Link of the Day:
Sorry, got nothing guys. I shouldn’t even be writing this right now, I need to be packing lol.

109

Bad news gents.

I’ve been at ROTC Orientation all week, it’s pretty sobering to be in a leadership position now and seeing them go through the exact same process that I did a year ago. I can remember all the fear and all the anxiety like it was yesterday, and now I have to lead them? Damn, when did I grow up…

Yesterday we were navigating through a high ropes course. Long story short, I got a very severe ligament or tendon sprain along my left thumb. I can’t even get close to a Finkelstein’s Test.

Spent 3 hrs in the ER last night, and as I expected an X-Ray showed nothing. I’ve got a splint that covers half my forearm and hand right now, and it’s staying on for at least 5 days.

I’m not playing around this time; a year ago today ON THE SAME EVENT I fractured a finger on the same hand that took well over 6 months to return to normal. I’m popping fish oil like candy. This injury couldn’t have happened at a worse time especially with dorm moving and max day coming up but I’ve got to roll with the punch now.

I’ll keep you guys updated.

110

Sorry to hear about the injury. If you are up to it, try to do some lifting with the uninjured arm. I’ve heard some of the trainers here say that helps keep the strength up (but not size) in the untrained arm.

111

Sorry to hear about the injury IA.

Give it time and you’ll be back in the game and stronger than ever in no time.

Oh ya, and I second Doug Adam’s motion for continued healthy arm training.

112

Thanks for the support guys. It’s hard sucking it up but that’s really the only thing that I can do.

First time back to the college gym today, they’ve got a Landmine now (prob only because everyone was using the corner for T-Bar rows and completely destroying it lol) and a bunch of new bumper plates. I’m pretty happy, would have loved a third power rack though.

I stuck with what I could do today and did 4x15 decline situps and back extensions. I also worked up to 60x5 for One Arm DB Bench and probably could have kept going.

113

So I thought that I could do some Front Squats with cross arm grip (which I’d never done before today) and Good Mornings today… not the best of ideas. I got to 185 for 2 Front Squatting and just got fed up with how unstable to bar was.

I can do 225 for reps with clean grip and 185 was giving me trouble… ugh. Never, ever using cross arm grip as long as I lift. Tried some Good Mornings too, but the pressure was a little too much.

6 hours or so later I went to the track and sprinted for the first time in 6 months easily- 5x200m. Felt fresh and explosive like I never have before on the first 200, the later ones were not nearly so pretty.

114

Been a disappointing past couple days men.

Went to the ortho today, 2 sprain ligaments in the thumb and a possible scaphoid FX. Goddamnit. Benching, deadlifting and back squatting are out of the question. It’s just going to be sprinting and decline situps for a while now.

Good news is, I maxed on the Front Squat today and got 250, might have had a shot at 260.

115

sorry to hear it

116

So I got 2:56 into a 65 lb Front Squat Tabata today… my shoulders and rhomboids seriously couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t hold the bar up lol. It’s pretty brutal stuff; if you haven’t tried it you should.

I’ve decided to continue the log until my Max day whenever that may be.

117

Why end it just because a written program has run its course? As long as you keep training and if you feel a log may help, then keep it up.

118

Oh, I’m sold on keeping a log for the rest of my career pretty much. But I think I might do a blog format and just keep a discussion thread running here.

119

Alright, so I must have been doing something right because everything except my waist and wrists have increased in size.

Chest: 39" (+2")
Waist: 32" (same woohoo)
Hip: 39" (+1")
Arm: 11.5"/13" (+1"/+1")
Forearm: 11" (+.5")
Thigh: 24" (+2")
Calf: 14.5" (+.5")
Neck: 16.5" (+1")
Shoulders: 46 " (+2")
Wrist: 7" (if this one changed I would be worried lol)

I’ll get weight later today. Is it strange that my chest and hips are the same size?

120

First day of Army PT today, wasn’t too rough. I like how we’re starting off by incorporating some of the new elements of the upcoming physical fitness update to the Army, I like the new warm-up.

God my calves were burning. I substituted planks for pushups whenever we did them for time, didn’t work out too bad.

Another Front Squat Tabata tomorrow, ohhhh yea. Oh, and in other news I can do seated and T-Bar rows without pain, I was happy.