cool thanks man ill try them tuesday
[quote]bignate wrote:
cool thanks man ill try them tuesday[/quote]
If you get a chance, watch the video from JM Blakely himself. There’s a link on the first page of this log.
A) 13" Box Squat
…
315x3
365x1
405x5 (PR +3 reps or +40lbs)
365x5
365x5
B) High Rep Squats
315x22 (PR +15lbs and two extra reps)
C) Front Squats
225x3
275x1
335x2 (miss on 3)
335x3 (PR +20lbs)
This was a great start to a new mini cycle. All my PR’s on Box Squats are done on a 14" box, and I’ve switched to a 13" box because 14" is just too high now. I’ll still be trying to beat my 14" PR’s.
I lost count on the 20 rep Squats, and couldn’t take the chance of stopping short, so I did an extra, and then another extra. These suck and I wanted to die afterwards. Still do.
I hit an easy 315x3 (tied my old PR) on Front Squats last time, so I upped it to 335. The first two felt great, but I bottomed out on the third and hit the right safety pin, and just dumped it immediately. I made a deal with myself that if I went back and hit 335x3 I could postpone abs until later today. The second set was harder, but got the 20lb PR and took these nice and deep. These are still a weakness for me, so I’ll continue to hammer them.
That’s a good lookin’ Squat session.
Props on the high reps!
Thanks Mahwah.
Link to the 20 reppers:
08/12/08 - GPP/Active Recovery
Arc Trainer x10min
EFX x10min
Absxsome
Foam Roller - Quads 10x3
Contrast Shower 30sec/30secx4
Legs are sore as hell from yesterday’s Squat session.
08/13/08 - Bench (ME)
A) 1 Board Bench Press
…
275x1
315x5 (baseline PR)
325x5 (PR +10lbs)
335x4 (baseline PR)
B) High Rep Bench
225x22
C) JM Press
95x8
105x8
135x8
155x4
155x4
D) Reverse Band Bench Rows
Greenx8
Green+Redx8
Green+Purplex8
E) Reverse Band Bench Spoof
495x5
585x4
635x1 (miss on 2)
First time doing a 1 board. I’m going to use this movement for the next couple of weeks. I find that I let the bar sink in more with any sort of boards, and get a much better drive off the chest. If this works out, I may even go down to a thin sheet of plywood just to get that extra drive. With a paused bench, a lot of times I pause it right as it touches my shirt and don’t have a lot of drive off my chest.
The Reverse Band Bench Rows are an exercise I learned from Vinnie at the Bench Press Seminar. Done right, these give a great pump to the lats. Just set up like you are going to bench, but pull the bar down to your chest, and try to “belly up” to the bar.
I started screwing around with Reverse Band Bench because I didn’t get enough sleep last night, and I was pretty done with training for the day. I decided to use all of my bands and load the bar up and rep it out. 585 got pretty heavy for 4 reps, and the I only got a single at 635 and missed on the second, when I quickly realized it was becoming a second ME movement for the day. Shut it down there.
BW: 269.3lbs
08/14/08 - Deadlift (ME)
A) Deadlift w/Chains
…
405x1
455x1
455+1 Chainx1
455+2 Chainsx1
455+3 Chainsx1
455+4 Chainsx1
455+5 Chainsx1 (PR +50lbs)
B) RDL
225x6
315x6
405x6
add straps…
405x6x2
C) Bent Over Rows
225x6x3
D) Abs on GHR
25lbsx15x3
Deadlift felt good today. The first 3 chains were very easy, I felt the 4th one just at lockout but still plenty fast. The 5th chain really loaded up at the top. Next week I bump these up to 495 so then it gets interesting.
I eased my way into the RDL’s. Today was the first day pulling in about a month without any back pain. These felt great today. My hands were a little chewed up, so I added the straps for my last two sets. I’m sure my T levels will be down because of it, but my hands will live to fight another day. Form was pretty tight on all reps.
I didn’t feel like I got enough back work with the Reverse Band Bench Rows yesterday so I did some light BOR’s today, and just kept them very strict.
I was going to do GHR’s today, but my quads are still very sore from Monday’s Squat session, and I couldn’t do them with anything near half decent form, so I skipped them and did my abs on the GHR instead.
This is probably the worst my quads and adductor’s have felt in as long as I can remember after a brutal Squat day. Food intake has been high as well as plenty of BCAA’s.
I got one short night of sleep, but very good otherwise. I just think I tore them up pretty hard and they are still recovering. Hopefully this will lead to a little growth…
Good day today, and best of all, no back pain.
RDL’s from today: 405x6
08/16/08 - Shoulders (RE)
A) Seated Shoulder Press
barx12
95x8
135x5
185x3
225x5
225x6 (PR +1 rep)
225x5
155x20 (PR +6 reps)
B) Chain Suspended Lockouts (40 links) w/Spud Rack Savers
225x12
275x5
315x5
365x5
385x5
405x5
C) Seated Rope Pushdowns
50x25x3
Today was the last day for Seated Shoulder Press for a few weeks, so I wanted to hit a PR. Originally I just wanted 3 sets of 5 at 225, but I was feeling strong. The sixth rep was a real grind because I got the weight out in front of me. I could have easily given up on this one, but stuck with it.
I started to set up for some rack lockouts (pin presses), but decided that I hadn’t done any lockouts from the chains in a long time. These are tough to track PR’s on because the more sets you do, the tighter the rack savers get, and the lower the start position becomes. I just worked up to a 5 rep max for the day. It’s much easier to get into a good position with these compared to pressing from the pins.
Everything is feeling solid, so I’m happy with my training right now.
08/18/08 - Squat (ME)
A) 13" Box Squat
…
365x1
405x1
435x3 (PR +30lbs)
405x3
B) Front Squats Paused on Pins (#11)
135x3
225x3
315x3x3 (Baseline PR)
C) Pullups
Wide - 6x2
Narrow - 6x2
Neutral - 6x2
D) Standing Abs w/Green Band
15x3
Motivation sucked ass today. I got into an argument with a couple of pitchers of Sangria last night, and apparently I lost. I woke up with a splitting headache and dry as dirt. I took a 30 minute nap before training.
I knew I had a solid PR in me, since my old PR was 405x3 on a 14" box, and I hit 405x5 on a 13" last week. 30lbs was a good PR, and I should be good for another 10lbs next time I triple these, assuming that I don’t drink the same quantity the night before.
First time pausing the Front Squats on the Pins, as per Meat’s suggestion. I decided to hit 3 solid sets rather than going for one all out set. These felt good, and plenty deep.
Video from today:
how do you feel about training back on leg days?
I’m going to try that after c-p. 2 row variants on DL days, aand weighted c hins after legs
[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
how do you feel about training back on leg days?
I’m going to try that after c-p. 2 row variants on DL days, aand weighted c hins after legs[/quote]
I’m definitely a fan of training my back on my leg days. I’ve been doing my back movements on my upper days for the past few weeks, and I feel like I just go through the motions because I’ve already beat my upper body up.
When I train my back at the end of a lower day, it’s like a fresh muscle group, and I can put more into it.
I’m going back to my old methods of training vertical pulls (lat pulldowns, chinups, etc) on my Squat dominant day, and horizontal pulls (BOR’s, Pendlay Rows, DB Rows, etc.) on my DL dominant day. I figure my back gets a pretty good workout from the DL’s and variations, so I can move into some heavy rows pretty comfortably.
Oh, the other problem I was running into was that I train Bench on Wed. and DL on Thursday, and if I did heavy rows on Wed, my DL would suffer the next day.
[quote]Modi wrote:
zephead4747 wrote:
how do you feel about training back on leg days?
I’m going to try that after c-p. 2 row variants on DL days, aand weighted c hins after legs
I’m definitely a fan of training my back on my leg days. I’ve been doing my back movements on my upper days for the past few weeks, and I feel like I just go through the motions because I’ve already beat my upper body up.
When I train my back at the end of a lower day, it’s like a fresh muscle group, and I can put more into it.
I’m going back to my old methods of training vertical pulls (lat pulldowns, chinups, etc) on my Squat dominant day, and horizontal pulls (BOR’s, Pendlay Rows, DB Rows, etc.) on my DL dominant day. I figure my back gets a pretty good workout from the DL’s and variations, so I can move into some heavy rows pretty comfortably.[/quote]
this is what I’m doing :), chins on squat days, cable and dumbell rows on deadlift days.
[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
this is what I’m doing :), chins on squat days, cable and dumbell rows on deadlift days.
[/quote]
Sounds like a good plan. Don’t be afraid to use some heavy Bent Over Rows as well.
BW=269.3lbs
08/20/08 - Bench (ME)
A) 1 Board
…
275x1
315x1
350x3 (baseline PR)
355x3 (PR +5lbs)
335x3
no boards…
225x28 (PR +2 reps)
B1) JM Press
95x6
135x6
155x6 (PR +2 reps or +20lbs)
160x6 (PR +25lbs)
165x6 (PR +30lbs)
B2) Close Grip Bench
95x10
135x10
155x10
160x6
165x4
C) Plate Raise
45x8
75x8x3
So, in an attempt to become a bigger PR whore (difficult, I know), I’ve been doing movements that I haven’t done before, such as the 1 board…setting a baseline PR and then immediately breaking that PR on the next set. Pretty ingenious huh? Actually I thought 350 would be about it for today, but I knew I had a little more in me. 355 was a grind, and a rep that I might have given up on a few months ago. I feel like I’m digging in and grinding out weights that I would have just let go in the past.
Last week I only got 22 reps at 225, so I was a little discouraged. This time the first 26 were fast, and the last 2 were slow. I should be able to hit 30 in the next few weeks and then bump the weight a little.
I finally feel like the JM’s are coming along, so I’ve slowly started upping the weight on these. The Close Grips right afterwards are pretty brutal on the tri’s.
Another good day.
whats a base line pr?
[quote]bignate wrote:
whats a base line pr?
[/quote]
A baseline is establishing a PR for a new movement, or for a weight or rep scheme I haven’t done before. i.e. if I’ve never gone for a 3 rep max at something then the first time I do it, that is my baseline PR. In the future I will try to do more weight for 3 reps, or the same weight for more than 3 reps.
I’ve never used 1 board before, because I didn’t think I needed them as a raw bencher. However, I am finding that using the boards forces me to explode off the chest, because I allow the weight to sink into the boards. In two weeks when I go back to pressing off my chest, I will try to allow the bar to sink in like the board pressing and really pop off the chest.