Spent the past 3 days eating like shit and drinking way too much.
BW - 266.2lbs (should be higher but severely dehydrated)
12/27/09 - Squat Day
A) Adductor Rehab
B) Reverse Band Squat w/Purple (average) Bands to Pin #10
barx12
135x12
225x10
315x6
405x5
455x5
495x5
545x5
585x5 (hard as hell)
C) Lat Pulldown
100x6
140x6
180x10x5
Two weeks ago, the Blue Bands took 170lbs off at the bottom of the Squat, and last week the Greens too around 145-150lbs off at the bottom, so I had guessed that the purple bands would take off 115-120lbs this week.
Squats felt harder than I would have liked. I knew that I was suffering from a few days of eating and drinking too much, but 585x5 was pretty brutal. I didn’t sink the 4th rep as deep as I wanted, but 5th was much better. I would post a video, but I was screaming like a little drama queen on the 4th and 5th reps and then collapsed after the set for added effect. I think I was feeling sorry for myself.
It turned out that the bands were only taking 85lbs off at the bottom, so I felt much better about the set after I figured that out. That would be 500 at the bottom for 5 reps, which means I should be good for at least 585x1 with straight weight right now.
I will drop down to the Black (monster mini’s) next week. These should take off 55-60lbs at the bottom, but who knows. I’ll figure it out at the end of the workout next week.
All in all, things are still progressing well. I’m going to stick with the plan of monster mini’s next week, then probably a deload week, then the mini’s the following week, and straight weight after that. I really like the reverse band Squats with the Blues and Greens, so I will keep those in the rotation leading up to the Arnold. It has definitley helped get me used to carrying heavier weight on my shoulders, and popping my hips to finish the lift.
A) Bench Press (1st rep paused)
…275x1
325x5,5,5,5,4
B) Reverse Band Close Grip Bench (monster mini’s)
315x8x3
C) Overhead Rope Triceps Ext.
70x10x4
Bench felt good today, I just ran out of steam at the end. I will try this weight again next week, and then move on to 3x3’s for 3 weeks.
I have no idea how much the monster mini’s took off the reverse band bench. I had them set up for my next Squat session, and just decided it would be a good second movement today. I was pretty burnt going into these, so knowing how much help I got from them won’t really do me any good.
I tried my first set of overhead tri’s with 80lbs on the Lat Pulldown machine and it just felt too heavy. I will stick with 70lbs again next week and add a fifth set before going up in weight.
B) Shrugs (double overhand)
315x5
385x10 (pain in left forearm)
add straps
385x10x3 (slow)
C) GHR +25lbsx12x3 (PR +2 reps and 3 sets)
D) GPP
Chop wood x 30min
I really needed a good DL session after last week. Last week everything felt heavy and I barely broke 565 off the ground. I aborted the session after that point. I repeated last weeks session today. This week, the weights felt great. 505 felt super fast. 565 felt heavy, but there was no doubt that I would double it, and tie a long standing PR. I dropped back to 445 and hit 8 reps without any problem. This was a 10lb PR with reps left in the tank.
My left forearm was acting up on the Shrugs, so I decided to use the straps and just focus on a good trap workout. I just don’t want to deal with a grip injury right now. GHR’s felt solid, I got 3 sets of 12, the last couple reps were less than pretty, but still very happy with the progress here.
Next week I won’t DL at all, I’ll just do the accessory work, then repeat todays session the following week, and begin building again.
A) Seated Shoulder Press
barx12
95x10
135x8
185x4
205x8,8,8,7,5
B) Incline Bench
135x20x3
C) Rear Delt Pullaparts w/Purple Band
10x3
D) Adductor Rehab
Shoulders felt strong today. Last time I did these I did 205x6x5, the first 3 sets of 8 felt good today. I just missed 8 on the 4th set, and by the time I got to the 5th set I didn’t have much left. I decided to do some high rep/low weight Inclines after that, and finished with some Rear Delt Pullaparts with the Purple Band. I usually use the red band for these during my warmups which is pretty easy. The purple band is significantly harder. I used what would have been a thumbs width from the smooth part of a power bar for my grip width.
Not bad considering it is the first workout of the year, and that I went to bed 5 hours later than normal. Might have had a beer or two last night as well…
B) Reverse Band Squat w/Monster Mini’s to Pin #10
barx12
135x10
225x8
315x6
405x5
455x5
495x5
545x5
C) Lat Pulldown
100x6
140x6
185x10x3
The monster mini bands (black) took between 55-60lbs off the bottom and nothing off the top. My original plan was to work up to 585 and see if I could get 5 reps again this week. By the time I hit 405, my low back was already tired. After the 495, I knew it would be a long shot. 545 felt light on my back, and my legs had great pop out of the hole, but my low back was screaming.
I think the DL’s on Thursday, followed by chopping wood, and then 3+ hours of shoveling snow over the past two days really took it’s toll.
This is an off week for DL, so I think I might just skip the mini bands (red) on my next Squat day, and go with straight weight and see where I’m at.
A) Bench Press (1st rep paused)
…275x1 325x5x5 (PR +10lbs)
B) Close Grip Reverse Band Bench (greens)
315x8
365x8
405x8,7,8
C) Adductor Rehab
D) Shoulder Mobility Stuff
Bench felt good today. Last week I missed the 5th rep on the 5th set. This time I got all 5x5. Next week I’ll move up in weight and use a 3x3 scheme.
The Close Grip Reverse Band stuff loads up pretty fast, especially when you are already burnt from the previous exercise. I didn’t stay tight during the second set and missed on the last rep. I managed to get all 8 reps on the last set, but it was a huge grind and my low/mid back was about ready to seize up on me. I just worked on adductor and shoulder stuff after that.
I wasn’t sure how this was going to go today. My PT worked on my right adductor and hamstring yesterday, as well as my left hamstring at the origin and the external rotators. I had some soreness going into todays session that never went away.
565 felt solid, but I could feel the soreness from yesterdays session, and shut it down there.
Not a bad start. I think I need to start working on being more explosive out of the hole. It will just take some confidence that I can do this without aggravating the injury.
This my first week of three doing 3x3’s. Today felt very easy. My old PR with the first rep paused is 340x3x3, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
I was feeling strong on the 3 grip press until the end of the 2 board, and was losing strength fast by the 3 and 4 boards. The 5 board is so short that you don’t have time to get tired. I’ll stick with this weight and movement for the next couple of weeks.
Overhead tri’s were tough. I do these on the Lat Pulldown machine facing outwards. The stack is much heavier than on a Triceps Pushdown station. The weight kept wanting to pull me over backwards so I think I used my abs as much if not more than my tris.
My deadlift felt a little off today, possibly from heavier Squats earlier in the week. 505 felt ok, but the first rep at 565 felt very heavy. I decided to stick with the plan and double it. I ground to a halt halfway up and just stuck with it. I could feel the blood vessels starting to pop in my face, and then it felt like they were popping in my lips. I’ve never had that feeling before. I broke a small one in my right eye, it will be interesting to see how much it bleeds out.
I dropped back to 445 and hit 8 reps and was done after that. I passed on the accessory work. I’m just going to eat something and take a nap. Good times.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Great to see you back doin regular squats again, are you gonna keep goin to your PT?[/quote]
Thanks man. Yeah, I’ll continue seeing my PT, but I’m dropping back to once per week. We are also working on other things that pop up during training. Lately I’ve had some pain in my left glute area, maybe a high hamstring or one of the rotators. It doesn’t bother me during Squats or DL’s, but I can feel it on a GM, RDL, or Single Leg SLDL. Since he doesn’t need to spend as much time on my Adductor, he is working on freeing up some other stuff, which was probably caused by me shifting weight on the heavy Squats. I’ll do once/week up until the Arnold.
A) Seated Shoulder Press
barx12
95x8
135x8
185x3
205x6x5
B) Incline Bench
185x3x2
225x8x3
C) DB Row
120x12x3
I have missed 2 out of the last 3 Bench Acc. days due to travel/holidays, etc. So I wasn’t sure how today would feel. This actually felt better than expected, so I will probably keep the weight the same next week and increase the reps on the Sh. Press and Incline Press.
I did DB Rows today, because I skipped them yesterday and felt like I needed to keep up on my upper back work.
Bench felt surprisingly explosive off the chest today. My old PR was 340x2, so this was an extra rep and 2 extra sets. I’m torn between going for 350x3x3 or 355x3x3. I’m pretty sure 350 is in the bag, not so sure about 355. Game day decision.
A) Deadlift
135x6
225x6
315x3
405x1 455x4x4 (PR +10lbs for set/rep scheme)
515x2 575x2 (PR +10lbs)
455x8 (PR +10lbs)
B) Shrugs (straps)
405x20
495x20x3
575x2 was ugly. I knew it was going to be heavy going into it, but didn’t realize how much I bent my elbows before the lift. I guess this is the benefit of doing heavy curls, otherwise I might be bicepsless right now. Good thing the low back is strong as well.
The good news is that these PR’s are in a prefatigued state. I have been doing 4x4’s before my heavy doubles, and am PRing on the doubles, so this is real progress. Of course I was completely spent after this, so I did some shrugs and that was all.
