7/8/09
Volume block
Day 6 of 12
Bench Lockout/Assistance
Bench press +110MM
235x3x2@7,8,8
255x3x2@8,8,8.5
3-board press +110MM
255x5x5@8,8,8,8.5,9
Close-grip foam press (no bands, no leg drive)
255x4x6
Notes: Someone stopped by so I had to leave out the assistance work, but I’ll catch up with it tomorrow evening. Weight moved pretty well on the bench today. It was interesting how much the band tension on the 3-board trashed my triceps even though I used the same weight as on the full ROM. They were completely zapped after the close grips. Good stuff.
7/10/09
Volume block
Day 7 of 12
DSD
Reverse band deadlift
495x2x2@7,8
515x2x2@8,8
535x2x2@8.5,9 (rep PR x 2)
Paused pin squats +140c
235x3@7
285x5x3@8,8,8.5,8.5,9
Snatch-grip deadlifts
275x2x5
315x2x5
Notes: Really happy about the outcome of today’s deadlifting. I remember not too long ago 535 was a PR for me and a tough one at that. The fact that I was able to get through 2 sets of doubles is obviously a good sign of progress. Maybe I used a lot of my energy on the pulls but whatever the case the pin squats totally kicked my ass today. I had planned on doing sets of 5, but since 3 felt a little difficult I figured triples were the way to go. No straps on the snatch-grip deads so my hands were hamburger by the end. The reps were easy, but I was pooped and my hands were starting to hurt (waaaahhhhh). Good session.
7/11/09
Volume Block
Day 8 of 12
Raw bench/assistance
Soft-touch bench press (w/ slight pause)
255x2x5@7,7
275x2x5@7.5,8
295x5@9 (rep PR)
Low pin press (pin #6)
225x3@7
245x2x3@8,8
265x2x3@8.5,9
OH KB press
3x8
Notes: Bench felt really good today. I have to check, but I’m pretty sure my old rep PR with 295 was a triple and that was touch and go, so the fact that I did this using the soft-touch and with a short pause is a good thing. I’m happy with the progress here thus far. I moved the pins up one notch and it made it a lot easier to set up properly. This put the bar about a half an inch away from my chest and was still just as difficult as last week. PRs on bench are nice because I don’t get them that often.
Couple of recent training videos.
Reverse band deadlift
Soft-touch bench press
7/13/09
Volume block
Day 9 of 12
SDS
Olympic squats
325x6x4@8.5 avg RPE
Sumo DL (no chains this week)
315x3@7
365x2x3@8
405x2x3@8,9 (bad foot placement on 2nd set)
Yoke bar box squats
215x3x8
Notes: Someone visiting our house for the next week actually trained with me and kept up with me for the most part. The squats felt good although I was taking some pretty deep (yeah I know everyone on the internet squats deep - ATG, baby). I dropped the chains from the sumo pulls this week and I’ll probably rotate over to a new lift for the intensity block that I know helps my regular DL. It was kinda hot in the garage today so I was dying by the time the Yoke bar squats came around.
7/15/09
Volume block
Day 10 of 12
Bench lockout/assistance
Bench press +110MM
215x2x5@7,8
235x3x5@8,8.5,9
3-board bench +110MM
235x2@7
275x2x2@8,8,8.5
295x2x2@8.5
305x2@9
CG foam press (no leg drive)
265x2x5@8
265x1x6@8.5
Notes: Bench felt a little off today, but I always struggle a little bit more with maintaining an arch and staying tight when the reps go above three. Watching the sets on video the first 3 reps fly up quickly, but the last two move noticeably slower. The 3-board felt a little better, but 305 ended up being harder than I thought it would have been. Tris were thrashed by the time I finished the close-grip foam presses.
7/17/09
Volume block
Day 11 of 12
DSD
Reverse band deadlift
475x4@7
495x3x4@7.5,8,8.5
515x2x4@8.5,9 (rep PR x 2)
Paused pin squats +140c
235x6x4@8 (avg)
Snatch-grip DL
315x5
365x2x5 (straps)
Notes: Another good deadlift night. I wasn’t quite sure whether to stick with 495 or go a little heavier. After the third set I figured I’d take another 20 pound jump and finish things there. The last rep of the last set w/ 515 slowed down a bit at lockout, but it was still smooth lift. I kept the weight at 235 on all the sets of pin squats, not too terribly difficult but it had me gassed by the last set. I pushed the snatch-grips a little today, working up to a couple of moderately difficult sets of 365.
7/20/09
Volume block
Day 12 of 12
Raw bench/assistance
Soft-touch bench press
265x2@7
285x3x2@7,8,8
305x2x2@8,8.5
CG Low pin presses
245x2x4@7,7
265x3x4@8,8.5
275x4@9
OH KB presses
3x10
Blast-strap rear delt flyes
BWx3x12
superset w/
Green band side bends
3x20
Blast strap fallouts
BWx2x20
Notes: Solid benching today despite feeling a bit beat down from last night’s deadlifting and squatting. Next week start’s the intensity block so I’m looking forward to the change in pace.
7/20/09
Intensity block
Day 1 of 12
SDS
Olympic squats
325x1@7
365x1@8
395x1@8.5
415x1@9+ (PR)
Conventional DL +75c
405x4x2@avg 8
SSB Yoke bar box squats
255x2x5
275x5
295x4 (I can’t count)
Abs tomorrow
Notes: Since I’m so uncomfortable with the close stance I’m pretty happy with this PR on the Olympic squats. I took these pretty deep and the single with 415 might have been easier had it not been for fiddling around with my set-up. I’ll back off next week to triples and shoot for a PR the week after.
I decided to go back to conventional pulls as the main accessory exercise so I don’t get too accustomed to the assistance off the floor that the reverse bands provide. I pushed the effort on the Yoke bar box squats this week and just forgot to do the fifth rep on the last set with 295.
Warning: Cute dog alert.
Just thought I’d share everyone a picture of my 10-month old Keeshond puppy. Her name is Tasha. Don’t let her innocent looks fool you - she can be a little shithead 
7/21/09
Intensity block
Day 2 of 12
Bench lockout/assistance
Bench press +110MM
250x1@8
265x1@8
280x1@9
295x1@9+ (PR)
3-board press +110MM
275x3@8
295x3@9
315x2@10 (PR)
-missed 3rd about 2 inches from lockout
CG foam press
265x7,x6,x5
Notes: I’ve rearranged my training days as my old training partner contacted me by e-mail and let me know he was interested in training together again. He’s been in weight loss mode for about the past year and has been recovering from some nagging injuries, so it’ll be nice to get back to training with him.
Big PR on the bench against monster minis. My best ever with the regular minis was 275, so beating that by 20 pounds and more tension is good in my book. I almost decided on 300, but kept it at 295. I kind of wish I went for the extra 5 pounds because I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten it. Decided on triples for the 3-board press against the bands. I was oh so close to getting the 3rd rep on 315, but I just couldn’t finish the damn thing. I was cooked by the time I got to the CG foam presses. Good session; hopefully progress continues.
7/23/09
Intensity block
Day 3 of 12
Deadlift debacle
Reverse band deadlift
475x1@7
525x1@8
565x1@9 (PR)
-and here’s where the wheels fell off
585x2x0
Notes: I quit after that because my head was just not in it tonight (I’ll add why in a minute) and I think my lower back is burned out a little bit. The lift with 565 was so smooth and easy that I knew I could pull more. So I decided to go for 6 plates a side and two fucking times in a row I got it to about two inches shy of lockout. I just couldn’t lock the damn thing out.
The main problem today is my wife called me at work and told me the dog was throwing up. I didn’t think it was a big deal until she said she puked a half dozen times; she took her to the emergency vet hospital because the dog apparently ate part of a stuffed toy and was yakking pieces of it up. I hurry over and she looks fine; however, they take an x-ray of her and see something that concerns them so they decide to keep her over night. In addition to worrying about my dog I’m also concerned about the $$$–and with good reason–they give us the cost estimate @ $1,500-1,950. Worse, this doesn’t even include the possibility of surgery.
Damn that sounds crappy, and the dog thing is not any better. On your bad days you are still setting PR’s. I think that sums up your progress. Best of luck with the dog.
Thanks. I probably should have avoided training given the extenuating circumstances, but live and learn I guess.
7/24/09
Intensity block
Day 4 of 12
Raw bench/assistance
Soft-touch bench press
295x1@8
315x1@8
335x2x1@8.5,9
CG paused 1-board bench press
275x3@8
295x3@8.5
315x3@9 (PR)
One-arm DB presses
40x10;50x3x10
Lat pulldowns
3x12
Notes: Dog is home now and apparently OK, except for the missing fur on her one front leg (shaved for IV) and her britches where they trimmed them down to minimize the dingle-berries :o. Went to my old training partner’s house to train tonight. He actually weighs a little less than me now, which is funny given that he used to outweigh by 50 pounds last year.
I felt really strong tonight and decided to not shoot for a 1RM on the soft-touch, instead just working up to moderately difficult singles. Originally I was going to stay at 315, but it was so easy that I decided to work up to my old raw PR and do a couple of singles with it. Weight flew up nice and strong even after a brief pause. I switched out the low pin presses this week since I didn’t want to risk tweaking a pec or shoulder. The 1-boards went up really strong and even got a nice little PR for close grip. I’d call this a definite improvement over last night’s clusterf–k.
7/26/09
Intensity block
Day 5 of 12
SDS
Olympic squat
325x2@7
345x2@8
365x2@8.5
385x2@9 (rep PR)
Conventional DL +75c
405x1@8
425x2x1@8.5
445x1@10 (PR)
SSB box squats
245x6
265x6
Notes: Trained at my old training partner’s house today. Even though he has a Crepinsek monolift rack I went ahead and walked out my squats today just for the sake of consistency. All the reps were nice and clean, no stalling at all on the top set of doubles with 385 either.
I am certain that I need to back off the pulls from the floor. Even though 445 w/ the 2 chains per side was technically a PR, it was waaaaayyy harder than it should have been.
I think that from now until the meet I am going to use block pulls as my core DL movement and find something else such as snatch-grip pulls to hit the bottom end. I was dead by the time I got to the SSB box squats so I just did the 2 sets and called it a day.
7/28/09
Intensity Block
Day 6 of 12
Bench Lockout/Assistance
Bench press +110MM
250x2@8
265x2x2@8.5
275x2@9.5 (rep PR)
3-board bench press +110MM
295x2@8
315x2@9
325x1.99@10 (PR) -just couldn’t lock out right arm
295x3@9
CG foam press (no leg drive)
275x3x5
-rested about 30-45 secs
225x7
Blast strap rear delt flyes
BWx3x12
Notes: Bench is still progressing nicely. I backed off the intensity just a bit this week, but managed to get a cheap PR on 275 for a double. The second rep was slow at lockout, but I might have been OK for another rep so I ballparked the set as a 9.5. I was pissed about missing the second rep on the 3-board with 325. For the life of me, I don’t remember failing at that point of my lockout–much less on just one side. It shouldn’t have been a huge surprise given how hard it was just to unrack the damn bar by myself. Still, all in all a good session.
7/30/09
Intensity block
Day 7 of 12
DSD
-Skipped DL today
High box squats +140c
285x3@8
325x2x3@9,9.5
Romanian DL
225x3x8
Green band side bends
3x20
Ab pulldowns
2x20
Notes: I had some kind of nasty cold bug that hit me like a thief in the night. I started feeling like crap on Tuesday after training and it slowly progressed into a high-grade fever last night. Well the fever seemed to do the job in terms of killing off whatever it was. Still, I decided to play it safe and so I skipped out on the heavy DLs tonight. Even though the chain box squats felt fine, my energy levels were still not at their best. Everything should be back in full working order by tomorrow.
7/31/09
Intensity block
Day 8 of 12
Raw bench/assistance
Soft-touch bench press
275x2@7
315x2@8
335x2x2@8.5,9 (big PR)
CG paused 1-board
315x1@7
325x1@8
335x1@8
345x1@9 (PR)
Lat pulldowns
4x12
Notes: This is the best progress I can remember making on bench press. The first double with 315 was the lightest it has ever felt. I jumped up to 335 (my old max from just a couple of months ago) and decided to give that a try. Although the reps were not speed weight, they were smooth and I still could’ve done at least one or two more. I stuck with 335 and cranked out another double. Still had another rep left in the tank. Hit 345 pretty solid on the close-grip 1board.
Making some damn good progress novaeer, way to go man!
