So after having 4 or 5 different logs over my time here making a new one with each program that I’ve done, I figured it was about time to make a permanent one to last me until I’m commissioned as an officer in the United States Army- from there, who the fuck knows!
I started training way back in my junior year of high school because I was just straight up unhappy with who I was; skinny, weak, and just been walked all over by my first (ex) girlfriend. I didn’t have any friends who were even remotely interested in doing anything physically active, so I turned to the one place I knew would have information: the internet.
There’s a lot of info on bodybuilding.com as a newbie. I pretty much wasted an entire year of training by obsessing over eating “clean”, overcomplicating training without enough intensity and just general douchebaggery. I got focused on the powerlifts halfway through my senior year and started making progress. When I got to college, I was lucky enough to end up with two of the best training partners and friends that I could wish for.
It’s halfway through sophomore year now and we have a group of 8 friends that we help train, sometimes all at the same time (it’s hard!). It’s time to gear up for powerlifting!
So Fall semester has ended and it’s time to take some things into account.
The Good:
Sticking around 180 lbs
60 lbs on the Deadlift
500x2 Rack Pull (grip strength ^ )
185 Push Press
100s on DB Bench
Rowing strength has went through the roof
Pullup and dip improvement
At least 10 lbs on the bench and assistance lifts
Thumb is 99% healed
Slight improvement in APFT
The Bad:
Squat has not moved from 315 at all
Bench is moving slowly
Military Press the same, if at all
PT the same
Still can’t close the CoC #1
Back pain still an issue
So for winter break and however long I continue to make improvements I’ll be following Madcow 5x5. After a lot of thought and a good amount of influence from Glenn Pendlay, I’ve made the decision to switch back to Oly style squats for the majority of my time.
I switched to Low Bar Squatting around 245… my best PR is 315 and I’ve missed 335 twice. I did 275x5 several weeks ago, so listed that as my rep max and went with it. That was a mistake. 255x5 didn’t look ugly but every rep was an absolute grinder. I’m making the next calc out to be 255x5, should give me some time to readjust.
I’d been getting some very worrying right anterior delt pain all throughout today but pressing didn’t bother it at all. Too much WoW I think lol! Power cleans were alright. Warmups didn’t feel alright on the Two Board so I skipped it, but I think I’m in for a world of hurt tomorrow from the GHR situps.
Good first session. It felt great to be squatting oly style again; can’t wait for Front Squats on Wednesday and trying out my new deadlift slippers.
No gym on Christmas Eve which meant I had to miss a day. Ugh. Really wanted to Front Squat and Deadlift though.
Front Squat
115x5
145x5
175x5
175x5
Bench Press (Paused)
110x5
135x5
155x5
180x5
Deadlift
195x5
235x5
275x5
315x5
Pullups: +25x5, BWx9
Front squats felt fantastic. Bench went well especially for my first time pausing reps: I’m going to progress with that for as long as I can and go touch and go after it starts becoming a little too difficult.
For whatever reason I can’t deadlift well unless it’s at the college gym. The difference is barbells and plates seems to really mess with me for whatever reason. Deadlift slippers were interesting though, I’ll stick with them for now.
As stated before, I moved the Squat RM down a bit to give myself some time to build up to the volume. The groove felt a lot better today, I predict many broken PRs in the future.
Military Press was great except for me putting 5 extra lbs on one side of the bar during my top set. Doh! Worked through it anyways.
Power Clean was nice and explosive. I’ve been reviewing Greg Everett’s book on Olympic Weightlifting a lot lately. In the past I’ve had a lot of trouble with the scoop phase, sometimes even skipping it like a dumbass and pulling off some kind of weirdass upright row/reverse curl. That’s been getting better, need to practice getting full hip extension now.
Assistance was alternating 5 Dips/5 GHR situps no rest, did 4 rounds but my bicep was feeling very weird on the dips so I called that off. Good session overall.
Gym closed New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day = 2 workouts in a week for me for the second week in a row. Am I seriously the only person that wants to train over the holidays? Hopefully next year I’ll have the basement stocked enough that I won’t have this problem.
Front Squat
120x5
150x5 180x5 180x5
Bench Press (Paused)
115x5
135x5
160x5 185x5
Deadlift
200x5
240x5
280x5 325x5
Back Lever Practice
Curlz
Front Squat went great again. I’ve never done sets of 5 for the Front Squat over 185 before, so next week I’ll start setting some technical PRs (max was 250 at the beginning of last semester). It’s been cool training the bench paused for a little while but I’m going back to touch and go so as not to slow my progress.
After my deadlift set a father and son came up to me and invited me to an AAU Push/Pull meet in February. I was thinking about a USAPL full meet down in Scranton, PA on the 1st but that’s about an hour and a half away versus the 20 minutes that the AAU meet would be. Time to buy my singlet.
Squats and Presses went great today. I’m having problems with the second pull for Cleans again though; I need to slow my first way the fuck down. I have a bad tendency to pull like it’s a speed deadlift and rush the second pull pretty bad. Will be worked on.
No GHR because this session was at the high school gym. Decided to work up to a heavy set of 3 reps on dips. +70 wasn’t hard, but my arms were shaking indescribably. Need time to adjust to the weight.
Moar updates while I wait for House to go on my ipod!
Front Squat
120x5
155x5 185x5 185x5
Bench Press
115x5
140x5
165x5 190x5
Deadlift
205x5
245x5
290x5 330x5
DB Swings, Back Lever and some GHR Situps
Good squattin today. Doing all that I can to keep the form down; I have a definite tendency to lean forward after a rep or two and try to get more PC (everyones favorite buzzword posterior chain) into the equation. Bench was easy, back to touch and go for now. Deadlift was hard but still moving up (damn these plates!).
Good stuff today. Posted a squat form check in Strength Sports, pretty satisfied with it overall. Press is coming along but the clean is still difficult, ugh. I’m also getting closer to a straddle front lever- can’t wait till I can hold that.
Alright guys, the last couple of weeks have been pretty sketchy because of classes starting and awesome stress levels. Lots of training, little posting.
With Army PT starting up again I’ve transitioned off of Madcow into Wendler’s 5/3/1. Madcow worked very well and squatting three times a week was a welcome change that I hadn’t done in a while. Going to be posting my entire plan with some more insights later.
I may be moving into a new campus apartment this week and PT is going to start being at 6am instead of 5 in the afternoon so it’s going to be interesting how well everything is going to be working out.
Lots of by feel lifting last week, including a 195x5 bench, 345x8 deadlift and another 185 push press. Also did a WOD of 3x20 55lb DB Swings and Burpees that I got a pathetic 13:11 on, I nearly died. 5/3/1 Workouts to come.
So what exactly are you workin’ with bein’ 5’9"? would i be correct in guessin’ you’re all legs and a short torso since you’re deadlift is so effin good? and do you think you could get a video of you doing a fairly light weight power clean? I wanna what it looks like as far as depth goes, etc.
[quote]IronAbrams wrote: What I’ve Been Up to Lately
Alright guys, the last couple of weeks have been pretty sketchy because of classes starting and awesome stress levels. Lots of training, little posting.
With Army PT starting up again I’ve transitioned off of Madcow into Wendler’s 5/3/1. Madcow worked very well and squatting three times a week was a welcome change that I hadn’t done in a while. Going to be posting my entire plan with some more insights later.
I may be moving into a new campus apartment this week and PT is going to start being at 6am instead of 5 in the afternoon so it’s going to be interesting how well everything is going to be working out.
Lots of by feel lifting last week, including a 195x5 bench, 345x8 deadlift and another 185 push press. Also did a WOD of 3x20 55lb DB Swings and Burpees that I got a pathetic 13:11 on, I nearly died. 5/3/1 Workouts to come.[/quote]
Halting DLs: 3x6-10 (omit) Bulgarian Split Squat: 2x8x25 Ab Wheel: 3x10-20 (only got one set in)
Very good squat set, had good focus throughout the lift and although it was hard after reviewing the video I was probably good for 15 or so. 225x25 is the end of semester goal.
Pulling strength was shot after this and could barely get 365 from the floor, called it off there and went on to some single leg work with my terrible sense of balance. I’m starting conservative here and adding in more assistance work as need be.
