Yes! I’m glad it’s getting better.
oh yea 
Squat from Thursday 08/13/09
A. Low Bar: work up to 315x3
B. Front Squat: 225x2, 255x1,(add chain) 3x3x185
Woodchoppers and GHR Situps
I would have like to have had 5 reps with 315 but I lost tightness big time on the 4th rep and dumped it. I’m going way deeper than ever should be necessary too so the hip tightness isn’t there.
Rest of the workout went quick, didn’t feel like doing much in the gym today.
Military from Friday 08/14/09
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 5/10
A. Military: work up to 155x1
B1. Close Grip Incline: (135, 155, 165) 175x3, 135x10
B2. Wide Grip Pullup: BW, 4x8
C1. DB Pullover: (40, 50, 60) 70x10
C2. Wide Seated Row: (105, 120, 135) 150x10
Face Pull, Rolling DB Extensions, Hammer Curl, Lateral Raise and External Rotation
Wrists and shoulders felt pretty damn beat up, I suspect from the squatting. One rep with 155 was good and all I felt necessary for today. I think 165 is probably a good estimate for a 1RM right now. Rest of the workout went really well except for the pullups which felt pretty weak. I may restart my little rep progression, starting at 6 reps for unbroken sets.
Oh, and my extension strength is pretty balls right now. I was hitting a wall at 30 lbs with the paused Rolling DB Extensions. Luckily I was doing them pretty much without pain, but I need to order some new elbow sleeves because I’ve definitely outgrown the ones I have.
We want information, information, information.
Who are you?
The new number two.
Who is number one?
You are number six.
I am not a number, I am a free man!
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Been a little while since my last post so it’s bout time to catch everybody up on my training.
I left for college early on Sunday to help out with ROTC Orientation at Cornell U. This was a big deal for me because I was going in as an MS3 (junior). In ROTC the first two years are without a whole lot of leadership responsibilities, just a lot of training. MS3 year you’re thrown from the distant little cold frying pan by the edge of the camp straight into the burning inferno.
4 days of MREs, squad leader responsibilities and hauling rucks later and I was pretty damn beat to hell but proud of what I accomplished. I feel a lot more confident about this whole year and my abilities as a leader in general. We’ve got a great new bunch of freshmen this year that I’m pretty eager to help out and I hope that they all stick with the program.
I got back to my apartment on Thursday and managed to squeek in a lower body training session then and upper body on Friday. No new equipment in the college gym unfortunately, we got a Grappler and the terrible model GHR last year so I was hoping for something interesting.
Straight up I feel like I’m in my best cardiovascular shape ever right now (still a ways to go) but we’ll see about the training as I have a couple weeks to get into the groove with the gym and the crew again. I haven’t had a training partner in 4 months let alone the 10 that will be here haha.
On a side note does anyone watch Dexter? I just finished season 2 today, sooo good.
I benched on Monday which didn’t feel terribly great. It’s gonna be a while before I’m getting decent numbers on flat again although incline remains strong. Deadlift didn’t go well either, I’ll have complete write ups for everything again next week.
Squat today was good.
Went for 350 which stapled me not far out of the whole but that was a good 20 lb PR or so. Will go for a military 1RM tomorrow if all is well.
165 stalled pretty hard on Friday but I did do 155 several weeks ago, so that’s a major PR buster for me (I was stuck at a 135 military for the better part of a year). Eager to start Push Pressing again soon, haven’t done them in a while.
Just got back from my first 0600 PT session so that’ll be interesting in the weeks to come. PT Test on Wednesday so just prehab work today and after that it’s on.
On a side note my roommate Alex pulled 700x2 out of the racks at knee level. There was no room left on the barbell and I think the safety bars actually bent a little haha.
Lower Training Day from Thursday 09/03
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 8/10
Yea, 8/10 is right. I did a PT test on Wednesday and then 100m sprints for Biomechanics lab later in the day, the absolute level of hip flexor, quad, glute and calf soreness that I had yesterday and today is some of the worst I’ve ever felt haha. But I still squatted!
A. Rack Pull (mid-shin): 365x1 then skip (135, 225, 315x5)
B. Front Squat: 225x5 (135, 185, 205)
Barbell Complex 2x6x95 (High Pull, RDL, Bent-over Row, Hang Clean, Front Squat)
The Rack Pulls felt good but I thinks that I’ll be doing them as my first assistance life on days when I’m not absolutely destroyed. Front Squats weren’t terribly bad considering the level of soreness and I had some reps left.
On a side note, I saw this in Jeremy Frey’s log and I felt that it was important enough of a message to post here:
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=102934&tid=147
Military from Friday 09/04
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 8/10
Quads and hip flexors were beyond destroyed.
A. Military: 135x3
B1. Incline DB: 75x6 (50, 55, 60, 65, 70x6)
B2. Pullup: 6x6xBW
C1. BTR Pushups: lots
C2. Face Pull: #6x8 (#4, #5x8)
Ended up with a pretty subpar performance on military and pullups, PT in the morning had a lot of bench dips, pullups and curls (haha) so I suspect that as the culprit. Felt strong as hell on the Incline DBs too, 75x6 is a definite PR. I know I’ll be able to rep out 80s next week for sure (PR is 80x2 on a 30 degree bench at home and I did today’s workout on a 45).
The chains unfortunately disappeared from the gym which made my pushup dropset a lot less intense. Waiting on my money!
It’s gonna be a good year.
Bench from Monday 09/07
A. Bench: 205x3 (95, 135, 155, 185x5)
B1. Muscle Up (attempts): 8 or so
B2. CG Incline: 165x1, sets with 135
C1. Rolling DB Extension
C2. Face Pull
Not much to say about this, gonna be a long road for the bench.
Would love to get a muscle up on the straight bar eventually!
Spent an hour at Cornell in the morning and 5 1/2 in the afternoon, had maybe half an hour to train. I just worked up to 385, got the first rep and didn’t get the second more than a few inches off the ground. Partially strained my right glute on the second- writing this on Thursday it’s good again but I was getting some weird twinges for a couple days.
This whole 5 hours of sleep thing may be getting to me.
Squat from Thursday 09/10
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 1/10
A. Anderson Front Squat (pin#6, well below parallel): 225x3 (135, 155, 185, 205, 215, 225)
B. High Bar: 225x10
I forgot how much these hurt. Will move up the pins week by week until I get to a half squat position which is my front squat sticking point, then likely reset.
Normal plan is core work and conditioning after lower body days but this week has just been nasty.
Overhead from Friday 09/10
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 1/10
A. Push Press: 165x2 (135, 145, 155x2)
B1. Incline DB: 80x3* (55, 60, 65, 70x5, 75x3)
B2. WG Pull up: 6x7, 1x8xBW
More planned for next week when my elbow sleeves come in
*= Means that I had help getting the first uncounted rep up from the chest and the other 3 were mine started from lockout
Way, WAY out of practice with the Push Press. Gonna take me a while to get back into the groove.
I’ve fallen behind on updating this lately. Good news is that I’m not Company 1SG anymore (boo ya turned in my first Yellow Card) which gives me about a gajillion more hours of free time.
Deadlift from Monday 09/14
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 1/10
Deadlift 4x4x285, 2x2x325, 1x5x285
Not much heart in it this day unfortunately. Was pretty overwhelmed with work and accountability of the unit.
Bench from Tuesday 09/15
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 2/10
A. Bench: 210x2, 2x185x5 (medium)
B1. Close Grip: bunch of sets
B2. Muscle Up: 6 attempts or so
C1. Dips: 3x12x+25
C2. Face Pull: 5x10xblack band
Goddamn I’m doing a shit job of updating this!
Military was on Friday and Squat on Saturday.
Bench from Monday 09/21/09
Determined Damnation by Wolfchant (Wolfchant - World in ice (Determined Damnation) - YouTube)
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 0/10
A. Flat Bench: 3x8x160
B. Close Grip: 3x8x140
C. BB Row: 3x5x140
Face Pulls, Cuban Rotations and External Rotations
Got a new 3 day a week bench plan of attack that I’m going to be following for the next month, should be fun.
Bench/Deadlift from Wednesday 09/23
Battle Against Time by Wintersun Wintersun - Wintersun/04 - Battle Against Time - YouTube
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 4/10
Had to combine two workouts today and it actually worked.
A. Flat Bench: 3x8x170
B. Close Grip: 3x8x150
C. Deadlift: 4x4x285, 325x2, 365x2, 285x8
D1. Bench: 3x12x115
D2. BB Row: 3x5x150
If I can make it through Friday’s bench session I’ll be set. Wasn’t bad today, my set up keeps getting better and better.
I’m not sure what it was but I had more intensity in the gym today than the past 4 months.
Bench/Squat from Friday 09/25
Black Night by Deep Purple Deep Purple - Black Night (Roger Glover Remix) - YouTube
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 2/10
A. Flat Bench: 3x8x180
B. Close Grip: 3x8x160
C. Squat: ramp to 245, then skip
Fat Bar Curls and Full ROM Shoulder Raises
Was tough but I got all of my reps for bench. It’s amazing what a good set up and lift off will do for you. I’m feeling good about this.
Felt very beat up on the squat today though. Definitely prefer squatting before benching than the alternative but I also don’t know if I would have been able to make my bench numbers which is my definite priority right now. Also having a lot of trouble getting a good high bar set up. Close grip on the bar and elbows pointed straight down seems to leave most of the weight supported by my arms and a wider grip just makes me want to use a low bar position. Could use some insight on this.
Bench from Monday 09/28
Valhall Awaits Me by Amon Amarth - YouTube
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 1/10
A. Flat Bench: 4x6x170
B. Close Grip: 4x6x160
Quick in and out, had an exam so little time for anything else. Sets were harder than expected because of no lift offs but I still got the reps in.
Bench/Squat from Wednesday 09/30
Hope by Swallow the Sun Swallow the Sun: Don't Fall Asleep - YouTube
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 1/10
A. Flat Bench: 4x6x180
B. Close Grip: 4x6x170
C. Pullups (ultra-wide): 12, 6, 5
D. Squat: 245x10
Glute Circuit and Prehab
Weights just flew up today, felt great.
Bench from Friday 09/02
Rooster by Alice in Chains - YouTube
I spent most of Saturday in charge of a rededication ceremony for a veteran’s memorial in Ithaca, 2 names were being added to the wall- one from Iraq and another from the U.S.S. Cole. I spent at least 3 hours just talking to Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans. This song has some meaning to me.
Back Pain: 1/10
Soreness: 6/10 (squatz)
Bench: 4x6x190
Close Grip: 4x6x170
Rows and Prehab
I’m getting up to the highest weights and volume that I’ve ever done on bench before so this is good. The 3 days a week light/medium/heavy approach seems to be working well. It leads to some marathon sessions especially with lower body after but it’s working.