8-23-17, CPLP - Bench 5/10
Alrighty, back from mini-vacation. Beginning phase 2 of the power look program!
Axle Bench: 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 235x3x3
Axle Chained Bench: (fixed weight was 135) - 220x6, 245x6, 245x6, 220x6
Axle paused bench: 185x6, 175x6, 155x6, 155x6
8-23-17 - CPLP Front Squat 5/10
PM
Decided for a twofer today since I hadn’t trained in 5 days and we’ve got a damn hurricane careening toward us.
Front Squat - 45x3, 95x3, 135x3, 185x3, 235x3x3
Quarter Front Squats to pins - 224x6, 255x6, 275x6, 315x6
1 & 1/2 Front Squats - 135x4x6
Conan’s wheel - 2 plates x2 revolutions, 3 plates x 2 revolutions, 2 plates x 2 revolutions
Notes: actually the 315 partials went fine, I imagine thanks to the confidence bestowed onto my via the heavy front rack yoke walks. The 1.5 squats blew though. I was going to use 185, but decided to start light & I’m glad I did.
It was nice to get in a full-body workout, though I’m sore in a whole lot of places today.
I doubt I’ll get to the gym this weekend, they are expecting over a foot of rain (30cm) and impassable roadways.
Just a quick update:
My part of the world has been and currently is getting rocked by Hurricane harvey. The eye grazed us to the north, the cities just above ours, Rockport & Port Aransas, are mostly gone, and my beloved Houston is essentually Atlantis.
My diet has been equal parts liquor and junk food, and training has been storm prep and cleaning debris. Honestly at the moment i cant justify spending much time in the gym - that energy could be MUCH better ulilized.
I may abandon the power look program for now, my current regimen Isnt condusive for the protocol and I dont really have the time for 4x a week right now - storm, wedding, travel, etc. We’ll see. I may just do the 531 dc challenge since its only 2x/week in the gym.
Im grateful for the generosity shown to us by our neighbors, the rest of the country, and our brothers to the south.
~hoUSton~
Were all right here. The flooding was aweful, but everyone stepped up as much as they could to help.
Glad to hear you’re alright! Yeah the outpouring of support has reaffirmed my confidence in this country. I’m going out to Port A this weekend to see what I can do, they got hit hard.
Alrighty then, back in the mix after a 2 week layoff.
9-4-17, 531 Triumvirate/NOV
MAIN
A1) Bench (TM 235)
45x5
95x5
135x5
155x5
175x5
200x10 (est 266 max)
A2) face-pulls
ASSISTANCE
B1) DB Incline Bench
70s x 8
60s x 8
50s x10
50s x8
50s x 8
B2) DB Row
80 x 6 x 10
Notes: about 5 weeks out from the big day. I was originally thinking of running the God is a Beast Challenge, but decided to instead get my training simplified, & something I could knock out in 30 minutes if I needed to. I have never done the triumvirate/NOV plan from the 531 2nd edition - simple, quick, effective. Done.
Sept. 5th 2017, Triumvirate/NOV
CONDITIONING
Double Tabata kettlebell snatches w/ 35# bell.
Stole the double Tabata from Alpha. As usual, it’s cake for the first couple minutes, but you are sucking wind by like minute 6-7, and seriously considering saying to hell with it minute 8.
Sept 6th, 2017 - Triumvirate/NOV
MAIN
Front Squat (TM 240)
45 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 7 (est max 260)
ASSISTANCE
Low Bar Back Squat
195 x 20 (misloaded) → [25][45]------bar-------[45][35]
185 x 20
GHR
3x10
SPEED WORK
Farmers walks
165 x 120’ (one turn)
115 x 2 x 120’ (one turn)
Notes: I thought that first set of twenty was way too hard. Legs are pretty sore today. I’d like to see how many reps I can get at bodyweight (I was trying to do that this time around but oh well). The misload tweaked my knee a bit I think
You went through the entire 20rep set with this misload? lol I’d think the 10lbs at this weight would make a big enough difference to notice! 
Damn bumper plates all being the same size…
Haha, I did!. Man, I noticed something was off right when I unracked it, but I instantly assumed I just unracked it weird. I’m just stubborn and have drilled it into my own head to never re-rack a widowmaker.
It literally never crossed my mind the possibility that I could have misloadedl. And it wasn’t even bumper plates, hell even the shape was different. These girls were talking to be in the smith machine next to the rack and I think that probably had a little to do with it, lol.
Oooh, that’s bad lol
Aha! That explains it. My multi-tasking skills are non-existent so I could easily have done the same thing. When I’m driving and my passenger is talking to me I will literally just drive my most familiar route, auto-pilot.
Going out to the movies with my wife? Pulling into my office parking lot.
Going west to my wife’s parent’s place? Pull on EB ramp for the highway (which is the way I go to work).
Just useless if my attention is taken by conversation.
if I’m halfway through writing a text message and someone interrupts me, I will send the text to the person that I’m interrupted by and not the person the text was meant for.
It’s had some pretty embarrassing consequences.
Lol, glad it’s not just me man. I’ll leave the kitchen with a specific task in the living room, get there 5 seconds later, & completely forget what I was doing or why I’m no longer in the kitchen. 30 minutes later dinner is burned, and the Xbox is still on.
Haha, my sis just did something like this - texted my fiancee instead of the maid of honor. I believe the bachelorette party will be far less surprising now.
9-8-17, Triumvirate/NOV
MAIN
Log press (TM 200, too high)-
110x5
130x5
150x5
170x2 - bad looking reps
ASSISTANCE
Axle continental to strict press (clean 1x, press away) -
50 total reps with 135
Seated db curl to press -
like 50 reps with varying weights
Lots of curls, push-downs & face-pulls
NOTES
The log clean went terribly. Given, I was in running shoes & beltless, but it was sloppy. I guess the log is a fleeting skill indeed, and is a lift that needs a lot of maintenance work. Didn’t help that my TM was waaay too high for this.
9-10-17, Triumvirate/NOV
AM
MAIN
Power clean (BEYOND-STYLE)-
-Ramped in triples to a pretty easy double with 205
-Dropped back to 185 (TM for the day), 3x3
-after 3x3 I did about 10-20 reps with 135
ASSISTANCE
18" power clean -
Did loads of doubles & triples with 185, at least 30 total reps
Dips -
I did a set of 10 between every set of cleans
CONDITIONING
Did the “Power Elizabeth” CrossFit workout (135# cleans/Dips, 21-15-9)
PM
went on a 3 mile run
NOTES
The 18" starting position is tough to generate power, & the additional height makes it quite a different movement. I have a month or so left before no training for a while, and I really don’t want to do deadlifts right now! Power cleans are probably my favorite lift to do out of all of them, so power cleans it is.
9-13-17, hardgainery
MAIN
Front Squats
45x5
95x5
135x5
165x5
185x5
210x5
SUPPLEMENTAL
Back Squats - 185x20
ASSISTANCE
50-100 push - landmine presses, push-ups, & circus db
50-100 pull - levers, mixed chin-ups, db curls, & inverted rows
50-100 core - GHR, & bw lunges
9-14-17
MAIN
Axle Bench Press
45x5
95x5
135x5
165x5
185x5
215x5x5
ASSISTANCE
50-100 push - bw dips, band pull-downs
50-100 pull - curls, pull-aparts, & face-pulls
CONDITIONING/SINGLE-LEG & CORE
going on a 2-3 run this afternoon!
9-18-17, I do what I want!
As I was driving up to the gym, returning from my bachelor party, I watched them load-up an old rusty Datsun pick-up onto the previously empty car deadlift frame…
…What the hell would you have done?
So - brief warm-up with some goblet squats then:
Car Deadlifts standing on 1" of mats: 5x3
A spin with the Conan’s Wheel
Strict log press: 110 x 3x8-10
Some incline bench press
Notes: So this car deadlift clearly is going to become a training staple, I mean, how could it not be? Since the weight is relatively fixed (I guess I could always add plates to the bed) I’m going to use this as a supplemental lift for X reps. It was similar to a frame deadlift,but you pull back instead of up.
The calf pump was noticeable.
9-19-17, push day inspired by Ben Bruno’s College Training with a little Waterbury flair
Axle Incline -
45x10
95x8
135x5
185 x 10 x 3
DB Bench: 65s x 3 x 12
Face-pulls: 100-200
Notes: I’m like 2 1/2 weeks out from my wedding and 2+ week honeymoon, and I’m just doing what I want to do, playing around with different training protocols, etc.
9-20-17, Bruno College Legs
Back Squat:
45x8
95x8
135x8
185x8
225x8
275x4 (Back was a bit iffy from conan’s so I didn’t feel like pushing)
225x10
Back extensions - bw x 4 x 10 <slight pause at top
Walking Lunges - 90lbs x 3 x 10
Suitcase Carry - 115lbs x 2 x 200’ (stitch hands after 100’)
Notes: I liked this workout. I’ve recommended the ben bruno college training multiple times, and have my buddy on it as well and he’s making good progress. I think I’m going to run it a while, even after the wedding.
I’ve been thinking how it would apply to strongman, and looks like it fits really well actually. I’ve been thinking more about aesthetics lately and have been thinking of split/bodybuilding style training, but of course getting better at strongman is the priority. I plugged in some simulations of how a training week would have looked for my last competition, and one i liked that is coming up (though I’m not competing as it’s my wedding day); it looked something like:
Comp A
Pull Day –
Axle Deadlift – Ramp to 4-6RM, then AMRAP 365
Chins – 3 sets
Rows – 3 x 8-10
Yoke Walk – 3 x 60’
Push Day –
Log Press – Ramp to 1-3 RM, Back-off
Dumbbell High-Incline Bench – 4x10-15
Face-pulls
Kroc rows
Legs Day –
Front Squat – Ramp to 4-8RM, Drop & hit 10-15
GHR – 4x8-10
Farmer’s Walks – 3x175# for 60’
Step-Ups
Free Day –
Sandbag/Keg medley
Bodybuilding arm & shoulder work
Comp B
Pull Day –
Frame Deadlifts – Ramp to Max, drop for 6-8
Chins – 3 sets
Arm-over-Arm pull/rope rows
Ab roll-outs
Push Day –
Log Press – Work to 4-8RM
Dips – 4x10-15
Face-pulls
Renegade rows
Shoulder & triceps pump work
Legs –
Back Squats – Ramp to 4-8 RM, drop for 10-15
Stone-to-shoulder – 3 sets max reps
Frame/wheelbarrow carry
Walking Lunges
Free Day –
200 Push-ups & KB swings
I think it would be a really nice change of pace to get away from the tedium of percentage-based training for a while. And I don’t have to commit to any one single lift.
9-22-17
At the office AM -
5 rounds throughout the am of:
At lunch -
3 non-stop rounds of:
At the office PM:
more of the am circuit
Notes: dislocates before pull-aparts really kicks the rear delts in the nethers.