Thursday 10DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 3/10
Plyo Pushups 3x3
A. Seated DB Military: 60x5, 50x8
Haven’t done this in, damn 8 months or so? Still unsure of what exercise I want to pursue as my main shoulder assistance and rep scheme.
B. Close Grip: 175x8, 155x10
Meh improving.
C1/C2. Inverted Row/Band Pushup: 5x8/8 (micro-mini)
I suck ass at inverted rows.
Face Pulls
Only One Body
(Mike Boyle - the following is reprinted. I?m not sure where I printed it or, if I ever did)
Imagine you are sixteen years old and your parents give you your first car. They also give you simple instructions. There is one small hitch, you only get one car, you can never get another. Never. No trade-ins, no trade-ups. Nothing
Ask your self how would you maintain that car? My guess is you would be meticulous. Frequent oil changes, proper fuel, etc. Now imagine if your parents also told you that none of the replacement parts for this car would ever work as well as the original parts. Not only that, the replacement parts would be expensive to install and cause you to have decreased use of your car for the rest of the cars useful life? In other words, the car would continue to run but, not at the same speed and with the efficiency you were used to.
Wow, now would we ever put a lot of time and effort into maintenance if that were the case.
After reading the above example ask yourself another question. Why is the human body different? Why do we act as if we don?t care about the one body we were given. Same deal. You only get one body. No returns or trade-ins. Sure, we can replace parts but boy it?s a lot of work and it hurts. Besides, the stuff they put in never works as well as the original ?factory? parts. The replacement knee or hip doesn?t give you the same feel and performance as the original part.
Think about it. One body. You determine the mileage? You set the maintenance plan?
No refunds, no warranties, no do-overs?
How about this perspective? One of my clients is a very successful businessman. He often is asked to speak to various groups. One thing he tells every group is that you are going to spend time and money on your health. The truth is the process can be a proactive one or a reactive one. Money spent on your health can take the form of a personal trainer, massage therapist and a gym membership or, it can be money spent on cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgeons. Either way, you will spend money.
Same goes for time. You can go to the gym or, to the doctors office. It?s up to you. Either way, you will spend time. Some people say things like ?I hate to work out?. Try sitting in the emergency room for a few hours and then get back to me. Working out may not seem so bad. Much like a car, a little preventative maintenance can go a long way. However, in so many ways the body is better than a car. With some good hard work you can turn back the odometer on the body. I wrote an article a while back ( Strength Training- The Fountain of Youth) that discussed a study done by McMaster University which showed that muscle tissue of older subjects actually changed at the cellular level and looked more like the younger control subjects after strength training.
Do me a favor, spend some time on preventative maintenance, it beats the heck out of the alternative. Just remember, you will spend both time and money.
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Friday 13NOV09
C1. Seated DB Shoulder: RP 50x10-2-X
Need spotters! Went on my own today
[[/quote]
10-2-x…that is not fun when getting the DB in place takes all your energy.
I have been following this log for some time now and your lifts seems to have stalled a little bit…don’t give up
[quote]jasmincar wrote:
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Friday 13NOV09
C1. Seated DB Shoulder: RP 50x10-2-X
Need spotters! Went on my own today
[[/quote]
10-2-x…that is not fun when getting the DB in place takes all your energy.
I have been following this log for some time now and your lifts seems to have stalled a little bit…don’t give up[/quote]
Thanks for the encouragement man. Unfortunately I’ve gotten kind of used to not making much if any at all progress during school, as sad as that sounds. This semester was a prime example of it with tons of stress and about 5 hours of sleep every night because of ROTC. As time goes on I’m experimenting with different volume and setups, etc. but I haven’t found the best method yet.
Bench from Monday 14DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 2/10
Remember a couple of posts back me mentioning by blood donation? I’m 99% positive that the nurse hit my ulnar nerve. I was getting shooting pain down my arm through the entire donation but I didn’t want to be a little bitch about it so I sucked it up lol. Now a week later I’m still getting nerve pain from the elbow down to my hand and I can’t do pullups because the tension is so bad. I’ll be able to get some ART to hopefully break up the scar tissue when I’m home but not any sooner than then and it’s been getting worse.
Flat Bench: 205x6
Equaling an old PR. Felt really stable but without a lot of power. Wrapped my wrists a different way that I’m probably going to keep doing.
[b]Dips: 4x12xBW
Very easy and a lot of room for progress.
[b]Military: Skip because of nerve
Pullups: same, sub in Seated Rows 6x8
Beach Circuit
Deadlift today, not expecting to be able to hold onto the bar with this nerve issue but than again I didn’t have any trouble with the seated rows.
Deadlift from Tuesday 15DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 3/10
A. Deadlift: 350x6
Nothing incredible or PR breaking but it did feel good to not suck at pulling again.
B. GHR: 6 sets w/Mini
Pain…
C. Decline Situp: 3x12
Didn’t realize how bad I sucked at these.
Bench Assistance from 17DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 2/10
A. Mini Band Bench: 1x10, 4x8x135
Going to be doing this with chains for break at least, but I felt like messing around with the bands today. Very interesting feeling if you’ve never used them before.
B. Seated Military: 2x5x95, 1x8x85
Works well.
C. Inverted Row: 5x8
Band Extensions and Face Pulls
Not being able to do pullups is pissing me off. Appointment is scheduled for Monday.
Squat from 18DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 4/10
A. Reverse Band Front Squat (Mini): 300x1 (315xmiss, 290x1, 275x1, blah blah)
Wish I’d gotten a video of this, it was a pretty intense set. Bands gave me a good amount of rebound out of the bottom and nothing at top, wish I could say how much. 300 was a bit of a grinder but went up. 315 was like hitting a brick wall.
B. Good Morning: 3x10x130
Spent the rest of the day packing and watching terrible movies, Thankskilling anyone? At home now for a month. training from the 21st to the 31st is usually haphazard due to weird gym hours but I’ll do my best.
Avatar in 3d was bitchin btw
Bench from Monday 21DEC09
Back Pain: 0/10
Soreness: 1/10
A. Flat Bench: 245 x Miss, (225x1, 2x1x215, 205x1, lower sets)
Was a very close miss. Wasn’t even mad because it felt fairly light and didn’t staple me- I’ll have this and more by the time I head back to college.
B. Modified Extension: 2x12x95 (extensive warm-up)
Good to see that I’m getting my elbow pain under control, I can do this with sleeves pretty easily and actually be able to focus on the triceps now instead of my elbows ripping apart.
C. Seated Barbell Overhead: 2x6x95
D. Hammer Grip Pullup: 3x3x 25
E. HS High Row: 4x10x90 (2 plates each side), 1x15x80
10 nose to floor pushups between each set of B-D, including warmups.
Lower #1 from Tuesday 22DEC09
Four years of serious training and I’ve never thought to check out Hobart & William Smith’s weight room (10 minute drive for me). Indoor track, great weight room. Only half racks but they have band pegs, a Safety Squat Bar and some good equipment. I’ll probably be training here from now on.
The only downsides are no rack pulls because of the half racks, and although the bars are nice their knurling is kind of lack luster. I’ll deal, it’s a nice facility.
After the Front Squats I was kind of dragging ass through the rest of the workout, trying a bunch of different ways to set up the deadlifts and pulls from plates. Will be better next week. Fat Gripz are on order from EliteFTS, and it’s looking like I’m going to have to drive 45 minutes or so to Auburn to get some 5/8 chain - 3 hardware stores and 2 tractor supply companies and no one has it.
Trying out a bit of a different format here.
Body: Not as sore as I was expecting, 4/10
Nutrition: Been good so far, I have a plan that I’ll be posting.
Sleep: Good.
Stress: Little to none other than some christmas shopping.
A. Speed Front Squat: 7x3x190
Actually felt kind of heavy. I got all 7 sets in under 6 minutes.
B. Fat Bar Deadlift: skip
No Fat Gripz yet, just some 225 for reps
C. SSB Good Morning: 5x10x135
First time I’ve ever had to use this bar and it’s a great piece of equipment. The bar is comfortable on your shoulders but drags you forward through the entire exercise. I feel like this is a very good option for someone who tends to fall forward in the squat.
10 reps decline situps in between all sets of C (eventually B as well).
Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Only training I got in the remainder of the week was 100 Burpees for time (brutal), 7:35 but without a full pushup.
Strength-Endurance Upper from Monday 28DEC09
Body: 1/10 soreness
Nutrition: Didn’t get much food over the weekend need to improve.
Sleep: Little less than usual last night but it didn’t seem to affect me.
Stress: Nada.
A. Band Flat Bench (w/Mini): 3x10x155
Wasn’t getting much tension here but it slaughtered me for the rest of the workout.
B. Close Grip: 155x6, 135x8
hahahaha pathetic it was like I had nothing left
C1 C2: Fat Grip Pullup and Lateral Raises
Contrary to what many have said I actually felt these more in my lats rather than less.
E. HS Iso-Lateral Row: 4x10 varying grips
Heading to Maryland to visit the gf, probably be back on Friday!
Trip went off without a hitch. First time I’ve drove over 300 miles by myself, went well. Sheetz is one hell of a gas station I wish we had them in NY.
ME Bench from Monday 04JAN10
Body: Feeling pretty recovered
Nutrition: I tend not to eat a whole lot on the weekends, hmmm
Sleep: Good
Stress: nuttin
A. CG Incline: 175x1, 3x1x165
Lost a little strength on this but not much. If I keep pushing this to 225 I can’t imagine what my flat bench will be.
B. Close Grip: 165x6, 175x6
Better than last week.
C. JM Press: 2x10x95
D. Hammer Grip Pullups: 2x8, 2x6
E1 and E2. Seated Row and One Arm Extensions: 3x10
1 Mile: 7:26
God I hate indoor tracks.
Squat from Tuesday 05JAN09
Body: My fingers were actually a little sore from playing around with the Fat Gripz during my pressing movements yesterday.
Nutrition: Good
Sleep: Excellent
Stress: nuttin
SSB Squat: 2x3x225
Embarrassed. I think I found my major weakness here.
Speed Deadlift: 5x2x245 w/Short Monster Minis
Harder than I was expecting. The bands really kick in.
GHR: 2x10
Unfortunately a pretty disappointing Hammer Strength model, I must have played around with the settings for 10 minutes and the best I can get is essentially a glorified 45 degree hyper- I’ll just call it that from now on.
30 min Elliptical (yea I went there!)
Grip (Fat Grip DB Curls, Wrist Curls)
I’ve got a nice big order coming from Ironmind :D. Gonna give me A LOT of grip options.
Was a really productive session, I met a local powerlifter (the owner of the SSB actually haha) and apparently there’s a meet coming up in mid-Feb. As good of a chance as any for me.
Upper Assistance from Thursday 07JAN10
Body: Sore over my whole body. Good feeling, very annoying when you want to run.
Nutrition: Stuffed Crust Pizza Hut anyone?
Sleep: Pretty Good
Stress: nothin
A. DE Flat Bench: 8x3x125 w/Short Minis
Explosive.
B. Flat DB: 50x10 w/FG, 50x16
The Fat Gripz don’t work terribly well with DB Pressing (with these hex dumbbells anyways). They leave a fairly big gap on the handle where there’s nothing.
C. Seated DB Military: 3x8x40
Going to try out One Arm DB Push Presses next week instead of these.
D. FG Wide Pullups: 1x8, 3x6
Love these.
Wide Grip Seated Row, Overhead Rope Extension, EZ Bar Curl
Deadlift from Friday 08JAN10
Body: meh see below
Nutrition: having an aunt and uncle who are butchers has it’s perks
Sleep: great
Stress: nuttin yet
A. Deadlift: 405x1 (belt), skip (365x1, 315x2, etc)
Pulled 405x1, about an inch up my lower back demon decided to rear it’s ugly head again. Had planned on doing 7 singles.
B. Speed Front Squat: 5x2x135 w/Minis
Not quite enough band tension with the regular minis, but I’m afraid the Shorts might give too much. I’ll try it out next week.
C. SSB Good Morning: skip
There was no way to do this pain free.
Was royally pissed off and in no mood to do any more assistance work.
After a good pain free 4 months or so here I am again. I’ve come to the conclusion that 99% of the time that it’s occurred, I’ve been #1. pulling from the floor or at a deficit and #2. I had put the plates onto the bar “one arm row” style (get low, wiggle the plate onto the bar by picking up one side of it).
Off the floor is my deadlift weakness but I’d rather be pulling pain free than pulling the trigger at Back Roulette every week. That gives me a decent three options:
Of the three I think pulling from blocks (in this case bumper plates) is the best until I get back to college (in addition to hip flexor stretching, McKenzies, and the other givens).
I think pulling from blocks is your best bet.
Have you considered reverse band deadlifts?
I’ve never tried them before but they’re a definite option when I get back to college. I’ll have to see if I can set them up with the racks at Hobart.
ME Bench from Monday 11JAN10
Body: back pain has been receding
Nutrition: been doing good so far
Sleep: good
Stress: nothing
Ironmind order finally arrived- Rolling Thunder Handle, Hub Grip, Loading Pin, Captain of Crush #1.5, elastic bands. Couldn’t wait to tear this stuff up.
A. 3-Board: 7 singles @90%+ 245, 255, 265, 255, 245, 245, 245
265 was a grinder but good. My wrists were taking a beating even with wraps, this was the most weight I’ve ever handled on the bench.
B1. Rolling Thunder: 100x1 (115 miss, 90, 80, 70, 45)
This is one FAT sunuvabitch. Was pretty disappointed in this, will try with a little bit of chalk tomorrow. This is just counting plates and not handle or loading pin weight.
B2. Close Grip Floor Press: 2x5x165
Really like this movement.
C1. JM Press: 115x15 (105x10, 95x10)
I don’t know what was possessing me but the strength boost I got this week for this was huge. Every rep was pain free and all triceps it felt awesome. Either I’ve built up enough hypertrophy around my elbows that my issues are starting to go away, or the thick bar (Rolling Thunder) is the best warmup ever.
C2. Neutral Grip Pullup: 3x4x+25
D. HS Iso-Lateral Row: 5x10x80 (side)
One Arm Overhead Extensions and Hub Grip
Good session.
Squat from 12JAN10
Body: back is around the same level of pain, pretty weak
Nutrition: good
Sleep: good
Stress: nothing
A. Speed Deadlift: 3x2x245 w/Short Micro Minis
Was having real issues with speed off the floor here.
B. SSB Squat: 205x5
No strength here today.
C. Leg Press: 455x15 (405x10, 315x10 …)
30 minutes Elliptical (12 Incline, 35 Resistance)
Rolling Thunder: 8 singles to 100x1 (both hands)
CoC #1.5
Back was feeling real weak but everything else was strong today. I came within 2 cm of the closing the #1.5 without even paying attention to it- I left my #1 at college and I’ve never even closed that so this thick bar work has been doing something for me.
DE Bench from Thursday 14JAN10
Body: pain is still persistent but not as bad
Nutrition: im eating more food and getting leaning, sounds like a good deal to me
Sleep: good
Stress: nothing
A. Speed Bench: 3x3x125, 3x3x115 w/Short Minis
Was having real trouble bringing the bar down to my chest without a lot of discomfort and shoulder involvement. 125 wasn’t feeling terribly fast so I dropped down to 115. One more Speed Bench session and then it’s back to Repetition.
B. CG Incline: 135x4
Same as Speed Bench but worse, decided to cut it short. I’ll work some more scapular retraction into my next warmup because I was having real trouble today.
C. Flat DB: 2xMax (50x18,10)
D. TBWG* Pullup: 2xMax (BWx14,10)
E. Kroc Row: 110x8
Really good PR. Should have remembered that tomorrow was Deadlift day instead of skipping on my usual 5x10 for rows though- doh!
Grip: Easy today, just some Baseball Curls (grab a Hex DB by the Hex and curl) and extensor work
*= Thick Bar Wide Grip
Deadlift from 15JAN10
Body: Back is still strangely persistent and the forearms are feeling pretty tense from the grip work.
Nutrition: 8/10
Sleep: 9/10
Stress: 1/10
A. Pull from Blocks: up to 365x1
No pain but I was feeling pretty weak with the movement and still felt like that particular area of my back was trying to flex.
B. Speed SSB Box Squat: 6x2x185 w/Minis
This was more for variety than anything but it felt very effective.
C1. SSB Arch Back GM: 3x10x135
C2. Barbell Rollout: 3x10 (from knees)
Grip
CoC #1.5 (finally closed this!)
Extensor work
I’m thinking about giving Sumo a shot for a while, I haven’t used it for about a year. It’ll give me the opportunity to still pull from the floor while chasing some big weight. I’ll keep conventional pulling for speed but modify my assistance work.