[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.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Good to see a fellow raw lifter and only 1 state bellow me. Doing my first meet Oct 11 and hope to work towards the kind of numbers you’re putting up.[/quote]
Awesome, good luck on your first meet. Where is it?
I’m actually from one state above you, I just moved down south (Mass) for the weather.
C) Pendlay Rows
225x5
275x5 325x5 (PR +10lbs)
325x5
325x3
D) GHR’s 9 (PR+1 rep)
8,8
First time using the boxes to pull from. I like the feeling of these. 565 went up quick. 615 was slow, but I didn’t jerk it off the box, and did lock it out. 605 felt heavy from 4" higher a month ago, so I’m making some decent progress. I drop down to an 8" box and try to repeat this weight.
My back finally felt 100% today. First time in a while where I didn’t even think about it until after I had finished with my heavy pulls. I didn’t even belt up today, which is a good sign.
RDL’s were feeling good on the 405 set, so I decided to see if I could pull my old PR, and that was hard, but not impossible. I added another 20lbs and cranked out 5 reps. I was pretty fried after that set, and stumbled the weight back into the racks.
My hands were pretty chewed up again, so I put the straps on at 405 and used them for everything else. I’m sure my estrogen levels will be elevated all day, but fuck it.
PR’s on Pendlays and on GHR’s as well. Good day. I may have to celebrate with some barley and hops tonight.
A) Overhead Lockouts Pin #19 (top of forehead)
…
185x3
225x3 250x5 (PR +1rep)
255x5 (PR +15lbs)
260x5 (PR +20lbs)
B) Incline Press
225x3
250x5 (miss on 6)
275x2 (miss on 3) 185x18 (baseline PR)
C1) Straight Bar Curls w/plus
95x8
105x6
C2) Side Plate Raise
25x8x2
I’m happy with how my overhead strength is progressing. 250 went up with ease. I decided to make small jumps today to get all my reps in and walked away with a few PR’s, which is good.
I thought I’d hit some PR’s on the Incline Press, seeing how well the Overheads went, but they must have taken too much out of me. 250x6 is my old PR, and I thought I might have a shot at 8 today, but missed on my 6th rep. My old PR at 275 was 2 reps, and I thought I’d be good for 3, but it didn’t happen. I dropped the weight to 185 and cranked out some speed reps. At least the speed was still there, and if I had made the Incline Press my first movement, I’m positive I would have set some PR’s there as well.
My right Biceps Tendon (at my shoulder) was acting up after the second set of curls, and it’s my own damned fault. I was doing a strict curl, and adding a mini reverse grip shoulder press to the end of it to nail the biceps tendon. Well, it worked, and after 2 sets, I knew that it wasn’t the right movement for today. Shut it down there and threw a bag of ice on it.
A) 13" Box Squats
…
365x1
405x1
455x1 495x1 (PR +10lbs and 1" lower)
475x1
B) Front Squats Paused on Pin #11
225x1
275x1
315x1 335x3 (PR +20lbs)
335x3
C1) Neutral Grip Lat Pulldowns (leaned back at 45 degrees)
100x8
140x8x4
C2) Abs on LPD
60x10
80x10x4
D) Hanging Leg Raise
Rollupsx10
Knees to Elbowsx15
HLR’sx20
Ahhh, a Sangria free weekend, and I felt like a million bucks.
All my previous records were done on a 14" box (14 3/8 to be exact), so any PR’s are big improvements here. My old PR was 485x1, and I really wasn’t sure that I could pull that off from a 13" box. I warmed up to 455 and hit it pretty solidly, so I threw caution to the wind, cracked open an ammonia cap and inhaled the shit out of it. This was a little more of a GM than I wanted, but that seems to be what happens with the heavier weights. I dropped back to 475 for one more single, and did everything I could not to GM it, and it still wasn’t perfect…But I’m not complaining. I’ll take 5 plates off a low box any day of the week.
I really tried to set the bar down easily on the Paused Front Squats. I still made more noise than I wanted to. Not trying to make excuses, but this is going to take some work, unless I don’t actually rest the bar on the pins, and just stop short…
Good day today. This should lead to some nice Squat PR’s over the next few weeks.
[quote]bigmit wrote:
5 plates off a low box is pretty damn good dude. Looking real strong in here. Don’t worry about the miss. Where do you tend to stall in the bench?
By the way, have you checked out Total Performance Sports in Boston?[/quote]
Thanks bigmit. I stall about half way up. I was working on 3 and 4 boards for a while, and noticed I was getting a good pop off the chest with the boards, so I dropped to a 2 board and still got a good pop. This is my first time using a 1 board. I don’t think I’m much(any) stronger than with my raw bench, but I wanted to try to get that same pop from letting the bar sink into the board.
I’ve been over to TPS a few times. They are actually in Everett, which is just a few miles north of Boston. I’m only about 12-15 miles away, but it’s a 40 minute drive on a good day. It’s a great set up over there, Murph is a good guy, and if I were closer I’d train there. Unfortunately, by the time I get there and back, I’ve used up most of my free time to lift. That’s why I built the gym in my basement.
A) Elevated Pulls from 8" box (same as pin #1)
…
405x2
495x1
565x1 615x1 (baseline PR or 2" lower than previous PR)
B) DB Rows
80x8
100x8x3
C) Abs
some
I screwed up. Today was supposed to be DL from the floor with chains, since I pulled from the boxes last week. This was a tough point to begin the pull for me. 565 went up alright, but I tried 615 and didn’t even break from the boxes. I took a step back, reset, and managed to grind out a very slow rep.
I did some DB Rows and light abs, but I could feel my low back tightening up from the DL, so I stopped before it got worse.
I’ll be traveling this weekend and next, and only get in a couple of lifts. I may take it easy next week, and let the body rest a bit
B) Yoke Bar High Box Squat (18")
275x3
365x3
405x3
455x3 500x3 (baseline PR) <—hard as hell
C) Pullups
6x6
D) Abs on GHR
Wt. on chest - 25x10
Diags x10
Hands over head/toe touch x 10
Since this is a short week for me, I was going to just take an easy week, but I felt too refreshed from 4 days off to take it easy. It just felt like a good day to Squat.
Last time I Squatted for a 5RM I hit a 20lb PR, and felt like I had another 5-10lbs in me. I was going to go for 435x5, but warmups felt super easy, except my elbows were sore and never loosened up. Anyways, I knew I had a big PR in me, so I loaded 445 and nailed 5 solid reps. I backed off to 425 for another set, but stopped after the first rep.
I still wanted to get some Squatting in, so I pulled out the old Yoke bar, and set up a high box and hit a bunch of triples. 455 was reasonably heavy, but I wanted to take advantage of a good day, so I loaded 495, and said hell, what’s 5 more lbs? I don’t know how much carry over these will have, but they were tough, and it was good to have a heavy load on the shoulders without any elbow stress.
A) Flat Bench (no pause)
…275x1 315x8 (PR +2 reps or +40lbs)
300x6
280x7
B) Overhead Lockouts Pin #19 (top of forehead)
135x5 225x8 (PR +2 reps)
225x8
225x8
Strange day today, only able to get my first two movements in right now. I will finish the rest in a couple of hours. Long story short…work got in the way.
I haven’t gone for an 8 rep PR on Bench in a long time, so the 40lbs is a bit silly, but the last time I repped 315 was about 2 months ago, and I only got 6. 8 reps felt great, but it really killed the following 2 sets. My plan was to hit 3 straight sets, but I knew I was spent after the first set, so I backed the weight off, and just got in some extra reps.
Overheads felt good today. I was able to get a PR +2 reps and repeat that on the following 2 sets.
