Thursday, September 11, 2014
1/4 Mile jog some mobility
Powercleans
45x8
65x8
Deadlift
85x5
105x5
135x12
Circuit 3 rounds of 8
Stiff Legged Deadlift 70#
Front Squat 70#
Pulldown 75#
Notes: Really fought for the last rep on deads. The powercleans fatigued my upper back a bit, which made everything else tougher. Will keep circuit weights the same next week. The front squats were killer. If I had 2 bars, I would go up on the stiffies, but I don’t want to push the front squats.
Friday September 12, 2014
1/4 mile jog, upper mobility
Dumbbell Bench (superset band pulls)
8x8
15x8
20x8
30 - 8, 8, 8
Circuit 4 Rounds of 6
1 arm bench 20#
Lying Leg Raise
Low Row 75#
Reverse Hyper (8 per round)
Jog 1/4 4 mailboxes
Notes: Dumbbell bench is interesting. I think I’m building some good stabilizing strength in my shoulders, which is a lagging point. I think this will help when I go back to conventional bench.
I find 8 reps is the minimum for me on Reverse Hypers. I want to get some good blood flow, so I need higher reps.
Sunday September 14, 2014
1 mile jog 9:30
Weight 143.8, Bodyfat 28 percent
Notes: My mile run time is down a good bit. If I keep improving at this pace, I should be running a 4 minute mile by Spring!
I have eliminated alcohol the past couple of weeks and plan to keep off it until the end of the month, with the exception of my wedding anniversary. This seems to have gotten the scale moving, as I’m down 1 pound this week. It’s slow progress, but overall, I am down 6 pounds and 2 percent bodyfat since this time last year. I’m also lighter on my feet and just look better.
[quote]LiftingStrumpet wrote:
Notes: My mile run time is down a good bit. If I keep improving at this pace, I should be running a 4 minute mile by Spring!
I have eliminated alcohol the past couple of weeks and plan to keep off it until the end of the month, with the exception of my wedding anniversary. This seems to have gotten the scale moving, as I’m down 1 pound this week. It’s slow progress, but overall, I am down 6 pounds and 2 percent bodyfat since this time last year. I’m also lighter on my feet and just look better. [/quote]
A 4 minute mile is one hell of an accomplishment. Best of luck to you.
Oh, and the squats looked technically sound as well.
[quote]trivium wrote:
A 4 minute mile is one hell of an accomplishment. Best of luck to you. [/quote]
That was definitely a joke! I don’t think I’ve ever run even an 8 minute mile. As the old song says, I’m built for comfort, not speed!
Monday September 15, 2014
Paid my quarterly taxes (most painful 5 minutes of the day)
1/4 mile jog Agile 8
Squat
45x8
65x8
85x5
95x3
105-5, 5, 7 - this was a cardio issue. I will start a thread asking about this.
Circuit 3x8
Split Squat 10# L/R - accidentally did 10 per leg on 1st round
TRX Row - lowered my angle (more weight) since last time
Reverse Hyper - 12 reps each round. Really going for back pump
Jog 1/4 mile - hardest 1/4 of the week, but probably the most beneficial.
Tuesday September 16, 2014
Walk plus mobility work
Dumbbell Press
8x8
15x8
25x10, 10, 10
Circuit
5 rounds
5 Rack Chins (1 full chin and 4 rack chins for first 3 rounds)
10 Band Presses
10 Hollow Rocks
10 Glute Bridges
Notes: no running today. It’s hot and humid, like moving through hot soup. Also, my legs are just dead from yesterday.
Where’d you learn to squat? They look really fantastic.
Anyway though, if you are having issues with tweaking your lower back, my suggestion would be to dial it back a little bit on the “dive bomb” style. You drop down into the hole pretty fast, and a lot of times when people do this, they kinda loosen up when they are standing upright and tighten back up as they start to drop down. It may be more helpful to you to take an extra second before you begin your descent to get everything set and tight.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Where’d you learn to squat? They look really fantastic.
Anyway though, if you are having issues with tweaking your lower back, my suggestion would be to dial it back a little bit on the “dive bomb” style. You drop down into the hole pretty fast, and a lot of times when people do this, they kinda loosen up when they are standing upright and tighten back up as they start to drop down. It may be more helpful to you to take an extra second before you begin your descent to get everything set and tight.[/quote]
That’s great advice. Thank you for that.
As to where I learned to squat, I seem to be a natural. I used to go to a Crossfit gym owned by a national level decathlete. When I doing my pre-membership screening he asked me to bodyweight squat, I had great form. He asked me to squat with just the bar, I had great form. He walked away shaking his head.
Not trying to spam your log with unsolicited advice lol, but I did think of one more thing. I actually squat pretty similarly to you, so this is just stuff that helped me.
Before I start a rep, I will actually break slightly at the hips so that my torso has a bit of forward lean. The bar is still centered over my feet of course, but rather than standing completely upright I just have my butt pushed back a little bit and my torso is slightly at an angle. This lets me load my hips some before I begin my descent. I don’t slow down my descent or change anything about how I do the rep, but doing this little setup change before I start down helps me get everything tight and locked in before I drop into the hole.
Like I said, your form looks really great, but you can never have enough tightness lol.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Not trying to spam your log with unsolicited advice lol, but I did think of one more thing. I actually squat pretty similarly to you, so this is just stuff that helped me.
Before I start a rep, I will actually break slightly at the hips so that my torso has a bit of forward lean. The bar is still centered over my feet of course, but rather than standing completely upright I just have my butt pushed back a little bit and my torso is slightly at an angle. This lets me load my hips some before I begin my descent. I don’t slow down my descent or change anything about how I do the rep, but doing this little setup change before I start down helps me get everything tight and locked in before I drop into the hole.
Like I said, your form looks really great, but you can never have enough tightness lol.[/quote]
Please, spam away! That is definitely something I’ll try. I use the “butt back” cue on the descent, so I think I can adapt to just a small hip hinge before descending pretty naturally.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Powerclean
45x8
65x8
Deadlift
85x5
105x5
125x3
145x8 - PR
Circuit 3x8
Straight Legged Deadlift 70#
Front Squat 70#
Pulldown 75#
Notes: Nice rep PR on the deadlift. I’m repping bodyweight now, which just feels good. That last set did take a lot out of me, so the circuit was hard. I didn’t time it, but it took forever. The whole workout was about an hour and 15 minutes - a good 15 minutes longer than usual.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Mobility and rope skipping (raining too hard to run)
Dumbbell Bench - superset with facepulls
8x8
15x8
20x8
30 - 9, 9, 9
And I’m out. Pressed for time today.
I’ve been thinking about my training plan for the past couple of weeks. Frankly, I’m getting a little bored with the LCI setup, and I also think I need to squat more now that my back is feeling better. I don’t think I’m going to achieve any of my goals by the end of the month, so that’s another vote for changing things up.
For now, I’m going to switch my training to the “Run Forrest, Run” template of the Greyskull LP. My program will look like this:
Monday
AM Walk (optional)
Press: 2 x 5, 1 x 5
Some press assistance
Squat: 2 x 5, 1 x 5
Tuesday
Run
Wednesday
AM Walk (optional)
Bench Press: 2 x 5, 1 x 5
Bench assistance
Deadlift: 5
Thursday
Run
Friday
AM Walk (optional)
Press: 2 x 5, 1 x 5
Press Assistance
Squat: 2 x 5, 1 x 5
Saturday
Run (optional)
Sunday
Off
I think the 2x weekly squatting is a good choice for me, and doing some type of running 2-3x per week will help with my running goals. Adding in some extra walking could help with fat loss without negatively impacting my other goals, so it’s worth trying to fit in when possible.
I’m not sure how long I’ll stick with this, but I’ll give it 3 or 4 weeks to see if it moves things in the right direction.
Tuesday September 23 2014
Warmup, Agile 8, Upper Body Mobility
Press (superset w/ Band Pull aparts)
45x8
55x8
65x3
70 - 5, 5, 9 Rep PR
Rack Chins
7, 7
Squat (superset w/ bench jumps)
45x8
65x8
85x5
100x3
110 - 5, 5, 7 Rep PR
Video of squats to come
Edits to note PRs
[video]2735[/video]
Notes on squats - I was trying to follow csulli’s advice on slowing the descent and starting by tilting my butt back. I kind of felt like this turned the movement into some kind of pause squat. Perhaps I’ve been cheating with the weight previously, using lots of rebound out of the whole, and am not as strong as I thought?
Wednesday September 24, 2014
Bench
45x8
65x8
85x8
95 - 5, 5, 8 Rep PR
Low Row
80# 2 sets of 8
Powerclean
45x8
65x8
Deadlift
85x5
105x5
125x3
150x7 PR
Notes: had to workout two days in a row, which is not ideal, but so far I feel decent. Lower back is a bit fried, but otherwise okay.
Awesome job on the PR!