Strength Lower (Tuesday 11JAN10)
AM- Airdyne 4 mi in 12:46
PM-
Front Squat
45x8
95x6
135x5
185x3
225x3
250x1
275x3
Rack Pull w/Chains
135x3
185x3
225x3
225+50x3
275+50x3
295+50x3
315+50x3
335+50x3
365+50x1
DB Bulgarian
BWx8
25x5
35x5
45x5
55x5
Yoke SSB GM
80x10
100x10
100x10
100x10
Band Pallof
MMx6,8
Rack Pulls really beat my back/SI up and the Bulgarians left me sore for days. Combined with yesterday it’s probably a good sign to ease off a little next week.
awesome man. good luck with everything.
i am curious as to why you ramp ‘down’ the weight when doing uppper body strength training?
Long break from the logging, the past two weeks have been unpleasant but the routine is starting to get normal with school.
Mac- That was just a 5-6 weeks experiment since I’ve never ramped/pyramided down before to get more volume than normal. Was it more effective? Can’t really say yet but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again.
Thursday (13JAN10)
Flat DB
90x10,8
Decline PU on Handles
16,11
Barbell Curl
Cable Skull
Incline DB Curl
Tate Press
Friday (14JAN10)
Yoke SSB Squat
80x8
130x6
170x3
200x2
220x1
240x1
260x1
280x1
290x1
300x1
310x1
One DB Single Leg RDL
20x8, 25x8
Leg Curl
60x6, 80x6, 100x6, 110x6
Decline Situp
30, 30, 30
Salute Plank
Saturday (15JAN10)
Military Press
45x8
85x6
95x6
105x6
125x6
L-Lateral
20x10, 25x10, 30x10, 35x5
HS High Row
90x8, 140x8, 180x8, 210x8, 230x8, 240x8
Seated Row
120x8, 135x8, 150x8, 165x8
Band Rear Delts
MMx18, 18, 18
Writeup- USAPL HS/Collegiate Championships
On Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the North Eastern USAPL Nationals Qualifier with my buddy Andrew Hollenbeck and roommate Alex Alexander. Upon getting there I learned that to qualify for Raw Nationals all I need is a total, there’s no requisite numbers so I could have qualified even with my piece of **** back injury right now. Definitely kicking myself for that, but I have a meet in Albany lined up on the 26th for that reason.
This was Andrew’s first time competing equipped in over a year and he destroyed some PRs. His 639 squat was a little ugly but almost a 30 lb PR. He’s been battling tendonitis and during warmups with shoulder was killing him but he still made his bench and passed on a 3rd attempt. Now the deadlift was where it got interesting. He opened with 585 and it rolled out of his hands at the top. So at this point he’s pissed, and ups his second attempt to 635. He pulls it fast as hell, but it slips down at lockout and he has to rebend to get it. No lift. So now he’s missed 2/3 attempt and is in danger of bombing out. I’ve never seen the guy this angry before. So what does he do but up his 3rd attempt to the magical 300 kg. Strides up to the bar, pulls it like a warmup. That’s me jumping over the platform at the end. He’s like the Hulk, his strength increases proportionally with his anger.
Now for the Raw (RAW!!!1!!1!zor) comp:
This was my roommate Alex’s first competition and he had a lot against him going into it. He finished an intense cycle of Smolov Jr for the squat in January, pulled 600x2 the week after and tore his adductor magnus going for the 3rd rep. He was very worried about it going into the comp but played it smart and didn’t make any rookie mistakes. He stopped his squat at 435 (the last week he was using either 420 or 430 for the 10x3) and went on to the bench which he does close grip. Almost jumped the rack command on both but they were good lifts. Deadlifted 605 as well, his current PR is 645 in the gym. So a great showing for him especially with the injuries.
Everything else at the meet was overshadowed by Tom O’Malley’s raw 711 pull at 198. I don’t think there’s a youtube video of it up, but here’s the Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1537078146749
Lower (Tuesday 01FEB11)
I’m not even going to dignify Monday’s session with an entry. I was so motivated to train coming out of the Nationals Qualifier and Monday was probably one of the worst sessions that I’ve ever had in the gym, could barely get 235. Looking back at it with a cool head however it was probably due to sleep/food changes due to the drive to Scranton, the meet and back. The rest of the week has been better so it hasn’t been a running theme.
Squat
45x8
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x1
315x1
Easy and buried.
3ct Pause Squat
2x3x265
Good Morning
95x10, 105x10, 115x10
Ab Wheel
3x10
One DB Farmer’s Walk
60x2 tripsx3
Does Andrew keep a log up anywhere? His YouTube Vids are sick and he’s a great single ply lifter. I mean, he’s damn strong raw but it looks like he’s able to get a lot out of single ply gear.
Really glad to see you back on the site man, it’s been what, a year?
Andrew is sponsored by Mike Tuscherer so he keeps his log here: reactivetrainingsystems.com/blogs/view-blogs/userblog/81
Bench Assistance (Thursday 03FEB10)
Close Grip from Pins
205x6,5
This is about 3-4 inches off my chest which is just below where thee bar speed starts sucking for me.
Pendlay Row
95x5
135x5
155x5,5,5
Military Press
skip until I get my pelvic tilt more under control
Ring Inverted Row
10, 12, 10, 10
Lower (Saturday 05FEB10)
Speed Squat
45x8
95x8
135x5
185x3
205x3
225x3
235x3
245x3
255x3
Speed Deadlift
135x5
185x3
225x2
245x2
265x2
285x2
305x2
325x1
345x1
365x1
Front Squat
225x7
One KB Single Leg RDL
35x10,10
Grappler
25x12,12,12
Pushed training back a day to Saturday because of the utter chaos that was Friday. I’ve done this a few times now and it’s never seemed to affect the quality of my sessions for whatever reason.
Squats felt slow today and pulls much better. 365 wasn’t fast but it wasn’t bad either. Maybe the key to keeping myself going is just pulling from the floor less often, but it seems so counterintuitive with that being my weak point.
Bench (Monday 07FEB10)
Bench
245x1
2x3x195 Paused
Chin
+20x3
+25x3
+30x3
BWx12
Incline Close Grip
165x6
Ring Face Pull
10, 4x12
Dip
BWx15
Pressing felt indescribably better than last week, just a slow.
Lower (Tuesday 08FEB10)
Squat
315x1
335x1 belt easy
Good Morning
95x10
105x10
115x10
125x10
DB Bulgarian
20x8
40x8
60x8
Ab Wheel
2x10
Bulgarians left me hobbling for days.
Bench Assistance (Thursday 10FEB11)
Close Grip from Pins
205x8,7
Pendlay Row
135x5
155x5
175, 175, 175x5
Lateral Raise
12.5x10
20x10
25x10
30x10
Ring Inverted Row
12, 11, 7
Diamond Pushup
21
Close grip has went into beast mode the past couple weeks. It feels at least on part with my regular bench, if not stronger somehow.
Speed Lower (Friday 11FEB11)
Speed Squat
45x8
95x5
135x3
185x3
205x5
225x3
235x3
245x3
Speed Deadlift
135x3
185x3
225x3
245x3
255x3
265x3
275x3
285x3
One KB RDL
35x12, 12, 12
Grip Tabata
135 x 3:15min
Was feeling very slow and was getting some left hip pain at the bottom of the squats so I stopped the speeds a little early. Balance is improving a lot on the One Leg RDLs though and we had everybody finish up the session with a Grip Tabata inspired by Joe Hashey.
Protocol is Fat Grip Hold 20s, 10s rest, Towel Hold 20s, 10s rest, repeat for a total of 4 min. This is one of the best grip circuits that I’ve ever tried. My goal for the end of the semester is to complete the full circuit with 185. I fell 45s short with 135, but another 5 seconds and I would have gotten through the last fat grip hold and would have definitely smashed the towel hold after.
Executed a deload in preparation for the Albany Strength meet on the 26th only to be notified 3 days before that the meet was full :/. App and check had been sent in, was even in contact with the promoter to no avail.
Decided to do a test day since I’d already deloaded. 245 bench and 405 deadlift, it’s good to see that my back is finally recovering. Also did this:
No words…
Smolov Jr. Bench Day 1 (Monday 7MAR11)
So in the long quest to make my bench not completely suck any more, I decided to give Smolov Jr. a shot. Instead of training four days a week, I’m going to use a pretty common variation and extend the cycle to four weeks for three training days a week. I think it’s a prudent choice especially given the amount of cardio that I’m doing.
Here’s what it will look like, I’m using a conservative 1RM of 245:
6x6 170
7x5 185
8x4 195
10x3 210
6x6 180
7x5 195
8x4 205
10x3 220
6x6 185
7x5 200
8x4 210
10x3 225
And here’s a link to a Smolov Jr. spreadsheet that I put together a while back putting my college computer class Excel skills to use: http://www.mediafire.com/?om5tmgnmhm1
So first day was pretty uneventful, reasonably fast with 6x6x170. I followed this up with 5x10 on seated cable rows between #9 and #11.
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
No words…[/quote]
Buried it and so close. Next time.
That lift absolutely infuriated me. I went up to a metal show in Rochester the night before and didn’t get back until 6 in the morning so that very well could have been the extra pound of strain I needed. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
Deadlift (Tuesday 08MAR11)
Deadlift
375x1
315x5 belt
Hip Thrust
2x8x135
Cinched the belt lower than I’ve ever tried before, tight as I could get myself. Ended up being the first time in months that I’ve been able to pull without any hint of pain coming into it. I don’t want to become one of those guys who puts on a belt for 315 but if I keep getting stronger and healthier then who am I to complain?
ROAR.
Smolov Jr Bench Day 2 (09MAR11)
Bench
7x5x185
Still had some residual soreness from Monday hanging around that became a lot more apparent when I started benching. Considering that I’ve done 185 for 18 before this was rather unexpectedly hard but that’s the volume and frequency catching up.
Pullup
something awful x something awful
After today and reading some more logs I’m not going to do upper back/lat work more than twice a week, probably Tuesday/Saturday. Felt very weak and tight on all the pulling movements.
Smolov Jr Bench Day 3 (Friday 11MAR11)
Bench
8x4x195
Face Pull
5x10
Felt pretty much the same as Wednesday- not overwhelmingly hard just very slow. Still feeling pretty good.