Chuck is still lifting at Westside? I thought He went over to Lexen’s Team Xtreme after getting injured squatting in a comp where Louie allegedly miscalled his depth on a squat.
Rumors abound though. That’s cool if he’s still lifting at Westside.
Well, according to Tate’s log, Chuck was with Team Extreme at the EFTS compound last saturday dialing in their gear and squatting/pulling their openers for the January meet. I hadn’t heard about any bad blood between Chuck and Louie, but I don’t roll with that crowd. Kind of hard to imagine Louie giving a bad depth call, though…
I got off my fat ass and had good DRAGGY-SLED!! this morning. After a hard night of being the patriarch of the ‘shephard family’ at the living nativity last night, dressed as a biblical-era shephard and standing in the snow, I dragged as follows:
Sled + 25 lbs - 960 steps
Sled + 53 lbs - 300 steps
Sled + 78 lbs - 1 tabata set
Sled + 78 lbs - 50 steps x 2
That last one was tough after the Tabatas, but the sled wasn’t going to drag itself back to the car, and no way was I going to drive to get it (I still have some pride left).
The 960 steps was about .35 miles. I measured a half mile, so next time I will warm up with a half mile.
We have treats at the office today, and I am doing my best at staying away from them. I am not being successful, but I’m taking the day in 5-minute chunks.
Train Fatter
Old Lardass
ME Squat, 12/12/08
Good Morning Squats
3x 45/95/135/185/225
1x 315/335/335
Good Mornings (regular)
3x3x315
GHR
5/5/5/5/5
Lunges
4x5 each leg
Reverse Hypers
75x 8/8/8 ^
Pull Down Abs
110x 15/15/15/15/15
Its been awhile since good mornings were on the menu. GM Squats are a heinous exercise, and this is my first time doing it, so I sucked. I ended with some regular GMs, which were not on the menu, but I felt the need? It was nice to get a little break from GMS since I had lost a bit of my confidence. It felt good today.
My single leg stuff is still pretty lame, my left knee is week and unstable, and I still can?t find a groove on either leg. This will get fixed if it kills me.
I toyed with the idea of leaving out reverse hypers and abs, because I was late for work, but I figured that would make me an even bigger pussy, so I just did them real fast, which made it a great end to the workout.
Besides, by waiting it gave the hot little fitness bunny a chance to show up so I could watch her work out. All in all, a fine day in the gym, and not too terribly late for work after all.
Also, I have found traces of powerlifting life in Utah. I swapped emails with a guy yesterday that belongs to a real-life PL gym, here behind the Zion Curtain. Being PLers, they of course extended me an invite to train (and be their plate bi$#@h), so I?ll be looking forward to meeting them in real life in January.
Its good to be a gorilla. Breakfast with Santa at the Zoo tomorrow, so I?ll get to see my hairy brothers. With a little luck, I?ll have a little DRAGGY SLED sometime this weekend.
Train Harder,
john
Good morning squats? That sounds painful. Do you squat in the bent over position? What’s the gain from these? Glad you found a PL gym. Don’t know if it’ll have any fitness bunnies, though.
Yeah, I thought it was a misprint on the program, so I searched EliteFTS for a description (found one), then I searched on YouTube and found some videos. Basically, do a gm with arched back to the bottom position. From there, keeping the bar in about the same position, scoop your knees and butt under the bar, go low, and squat it up. Think GM down, full squat up. I don’t know what it does for me, I do it cuz the coach said to.
I’m not worried about the fitness bunnies, especially now that I know when Her Yumminess works out. I can always go to the old gym and hold down one of the benches and watch. I have a lifetime membership at foofoogolds that costs me $2.00/year (VIP membership purchased in 1984), and I’m working 2 jobs, so I’m a little concerned about what they charge at the pl gym. Sure would be nice to have some strong guys to train with, tho. We’ll have to see what the new year brings.
In the meantime, I have to change my schedule so I can’t go to the gym at 5am anymore. I’m trying to figure out a way to fit it in. I don’t work both jobs on Tues Thurs Sat and Sun, so I will probably work out at lunch on Tues and Thurs because I can extend my time at the day job to make up for a long lunch. Then, pick up my third session on Saturday morning. I’ll see how it goes. I don’t adjust easily to new schedules, but i just wasn’t getting enough sleep, and my bosses hate it when I nap at my desk.
ME Bench, 12/16/08
Ball Press
45x 20
55x 20/19/16
Seated DB Shoulder Press
40x 10
45x 10/6/4
40x 9
Incline Barbell triceps extension
95x 6
105x 6
115x 6/6/5
Face Pulls
100x 15/15/15/9
90x 13/15
Wow, lots of new exercises for me to bad at. Hel, I appreciate your idea the other day of doing face pulls laying back. I used to do them standing up with a severe lean to the rear. By sitting at the pulldown machine then laying back til I was parallel to the floor, I felt like I cheated much less. Plus the cable was perpendicular to my spine, which is the appropriate angle, and I could never get that standing up.
This is the first workout on the new schedule. I used to train at about 5am on Mon/Wed/Fri. now I?ll train on my lunch break on Tues/Thurs, and about 7am on Sat. Today seemed to work pretty well, though I was gone a little longer than I had hoped. I think most of the time I?ll be able to get away with doing the entire workout in one session for ME Bench and DE Bench. ME and DE Squat seem to take a minimum of 90 minutes if not 2 hours, so I?ll probably be doing the 2-3 heavy exercises on the lifting day, then do the accessory exercises the following morning. I will be timing my rest periods, so I might be able to fit it into an hour. The big time waster on squat days is trying to scab together my jerry-rigged GHR and Reverse Hyper.
My arms and shoulders feel huge after the tricep/deltoid torture session. On the ball press, shoulder press and face pulls, the last 3-4 reps of the last few sets had 10-15 seconds of rest between reps, because my big butt was kicked. An excellent, gorilla-feeling-inducing training session.
Train more Gorilla-like,
john
DE Squat, 12/18/08
Box Squats
205x 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
2x 225/275/315/335
Reverse Hypers
90x 8/8/6
Pull Downs
180x 8/8/8
I couldn?t duplicate the GHR today, despite my best efforts, but I was able to jump from 75 to 90 on the Bastardized Draped Over a Curl Bench With a Pair of 45?s Strapped to My Feet Almost Reverse Hyper exercise thingy.
Today?s template called for 10 sets of 2 at 54% of max then a heavy double workup. The bar felt Mui Fast today! But I didn?t feel like I could get another double after 335. Even without GHR and Farmers Walks it still took me over an hour to lift.
Training at lunch is working out pretty well. Both times Ive tried it I?ve had great training sessions. I had heard that working out first thing in the AM was a bad thing, but I really liked doing it that way. So long as my boss doesn?t get pissed at the long lunches twice a week, I should be okay.
Have a great weekend, and train harder!
John
I never have any grip strenght early in the morning and the body is never quite awake…
looks like your havaing a bunch of fun…
good morning squats. Those sound deadly.
kmc
yeah, k, gm squats are bags of fun. I recommend them to anyone that feels self-hatred 8*)
ol
DE Bench, 12/20/08
Bench Press, 3 grips
195x 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
2x 225/245/265
1x 285 PR
DB Triceps Ext
45x 6/6/6/6
Reverse grip triceps pressdown
150x 15/15/15 ^
Rear-Side-Front Delt Raise (20reps each for 2 supersets)
20x 60
15x 60
Pull Down Abs
130x10/120x10/10/10/10
This was my third afternoon training session, and it was a life-affirming session. One of those training sessions that reminds you that you really are meant to get stronger. The template called for 10 sets of 2 for speed bench followed by heavy singles (this is the 7th week of a 9 week template, 4 more sessions, then we test again). I decided to do heavy doubles as far as I could, and that when I was sure I couldn?t hit the 2d rep, Id stop.
As I predicted in my last speed bench post, I felt I had been using too much weight to get the bar to move fast. I dropped to 195 and had great speed from first to last. Then, I hit a new 10 lb PR at the end of a pretty grueling bench session (it was one of those 8 second reps that in the past I would have given up on). All hail the Westside beginner template!
The shoulder part of the workout was pretty brutal, and my delts felt swollen and immobile. The template calls for 2 supersets of 20 each on front raise, lateral raise, and bent over lateral raise. I didn?t think it made much sense to do it in that order, since it is mechanically strongest to weakest, so I did it backwards. Maybe youre meant to drop weight or something, but I decided to do it this way. The last few reps had many breaths of resting between them, but it was definitely the toughest delt isolation work I have ever done.
Another awesome workout. Now, I?m a little concerned about recovery. My DE squat workout last Thursday still has me sore in the hammies on Monday. Since I didnt do GHRs that day, Im thinking I may have overdone it on the reverse hypers (I jumped from 75 to 90). Its getting better daily, so by tomorrow for ME Squat, I should be fine.
When I first started this, I didn?t have the time or the energy to do 4 sessions per week, and I wasn?t getting enough sleep. I changed my workouts to my lunch break so I could sleep later, and now I get 7.5 hours of sleep on the nights where I work, and 9.5 on the nights when I don?t work. It used to 6.5 and 8 respectively. I?ve always had a problem getting enough sleep, cuz I usually feel like I have better things to do, but I caught some serious hell at my day job cuz apparently I fell asleep at my desk.
The increased rest I think is allowing me to give more during the training sessions and recover faster. Too bad I had to give up sled dragging, but I?ll figure a way to fit in at least 2 times per week after the new year. The sled is my only GPP, and I need it pretty bad. Although, my office has a treadmill?.
Skidmark seems to be the most knowledgeable about Westside methods here. Can you give me some insight on the recovery issue, and the correct way to do the 2x 60 shoulder hell? Thanks
Train Harder,
John
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
DE Bench, 12/20/08
Bench Press, 3 grips
195x 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
2x 225/245/265
1x 285 PR
DB Triceps Ext
45x 6/6/6/6
Reverse grip triceps pressdown
150x 15/15/15 ^
Rear-Side-Front Delt Raise (20reps each for 2 supersets)
20x 60
15x 60
Pull Down Abs
130x10/120x10/10/10/10
This was my third afternoon training session, and it was a life-affirming session. One of those training sessions that reminds you that you really are meant to get stronger. The template called for 10 sets of 2 for speed bench followed by heavy singles (this is the 7th week of a 9 week template, 4 more sessions, then we test again). I decided to do heavy doubles as far as I could, and that when I was sure I couldn?t hit the 2d rep, Id stop.
As I predicted in my last speed bench post, I felt I had been using too much weight to get the bar to move fast. I dropped to 195 and had great speed from first to last. Then, I hit a new 10 lb PR at the end of a pretty grueling bench session (it was one of those 8 second reps that in the past I would have given up on). All hail the Westside beginner template!
The shoulder part of the workout was pretty brutal, and my delts felt swollen and immobile. The template calls for 2 supersets of 20 each on front raise, lateral raise, and bent over lateral raise. I didn?t think it made much sense to do it in that order, since it is mechanically strongest to weakest, so I did it backwards. Maybe youre meant to drop weight or something, but I decided to do it this way. The last few reps had many breaths of resting between them, but it was definitely the toughest delt isolation work I have ever done.
Another awesome workout. Now, I?m a little concerned about recovery. My DE squat workout last Thursday still has me sore in the hammies on Monday. Since I didnt do GHRs that day, Im thinking I may have overdone it on the reverse hypers (I jumped from 75 to 90). Its getting better daily, so by tomorrow for ME Squat, I should be fine.
When I first started this, I didn?t have the time or the energy to do 4 sessions per week, and I wasn?t getting enough sleep. I changed my workouts to my lunch break so I could sleep later, and now I get 7.5 hours of sleep on the nights where I work, and 9.5 on the nights when I don?t work. It used to 6.5 and 8 respectively. I?ve always had a problem getting enough sleep, cuz I usually feel like I have better things to do, but I caught some serious hell at my day job cuz apparently I fell asleep at my desk.
The increased rest I think is allowing me to give more during the training sessions and recover faster. Too bad I had to give up sled dragging, but I?ll figure a way to fit in at least 2 times per week after the new year. The sled is my only GPP, and I need it pretty bad. Although, my office has a treadmill?.
Skidmark seems to be the most knowledgeable about Westside methods here. Can you give me some insight on the recovery issue, and the correct way to do the 2x 60 shoulder hell? Thanks
Train Harder,
John
[/quote]
First off, congrats on the bench PR!
2x60: Front to back, back to front, it seems your doing just fine to me…the thing to pay attention to is whether it’s keeping the shoulders healthy and helping your bench, I would think.
Recovery: I had to switch to every other day training, cycling through 3 training emphases (Lower body, Assistance, Upper body)to facilitate adequate recovery. You might consider just putting an extra day of rest between end of one microcycle and the beginning of the next. In other words, just training every other day, but keeping the 2 ME and 2 DE scheme. Straight Westside has you starting ME lower the day after a DE upper. Us mature guys can benefit with a day’s break between…and it doesn’t hurt the gains from what I’ve experienced. Does screw up scheduling workouts if you lift with a crew who don’t have the same recovery needs, though.
Jim Wendler talks about managing volume in the assistance exercises and actually suggests reducing it on the DE days, since you’re doing more lifts at a fairly high level of intensity (explosively). His recommendation is to go to town on ME days with the assistance work but scale it back on DE days. Kinda counter-intuitive, but makes sense after thinking about it.
Ive been thinking about getting JimW’s 5-3-1 book, but I haven’t yet. I have read the majority of his stuff at EliteFTS, though.
I’m currently doing the standard WSB template of ME Squat, ME Bench, DE Squat, DE Bench, rinse, repeat. But, I don’t do the whole microcycle in 1 week, because I can’t get into the gym 4 times a week (like you said, I probably would regret if I could).
Thanks for your support Skid! recovery hasn’t really been an issue yet, since I’m still pretty early in the transformation. I worry about it because my GPP is so pathetic.
last day for good morning squats, in 3 hours!
john
ME Squat, 12/23/08
Good Morning Squats (wahoo!)
5x 45/95/135/185
3x 225/275/315
2x 345/345/345 (more good morning than squat)
Pin Pulls
5x 135/225/315
1x 375/375/375/375 (2 pins below lockout)
1x 375/375/375/375 (3 pins below lockout (just above knee)
1x 375/375/375/375 (4 pins below lockout (below knee)
Pull Down Abs
110x 15/15/15/15/20^
So, you might be wondering where the assistance work is? Tomorrow morning is where. Here is how my conversation with myself went for most of this morning.
?Geez, I haven?t pulled in forever. I?ll be testing my DL in 2 weeks. Today is my last heavy squat day. I should probably do some pin pulls. I don?t know, if I do pin pulls, I?ll know for sure how much I suck, and I won?t have time for the rest of my workout. BUT, my next workout, ME Bench, should be on Thurs. But that?s Christmas. My wife will kill me if I try to workout, besides, since I?m the only lifter I know, where would I workout on Christmas.
Guess I?ll do ME Bench on Friday, it?s a day off from the main job that day. Yeah, so I could do my accessory work tomorrow. But that?s xmas eve, and I have to meet my mom for lunch, then finish the day at job 1, then scoot to job 2 for a couple hours, then go to my brother in-laws house for dinner. I can?t blow my mom off. But, I can go to the gym in the morning. Yeah. I?ll get up a little early since I have been catching up on my sleep.
Besides, since I?ve done the heavy stuff, I will only need to do 3 exercises. That won?t take very long. Boy, I sure would like to pull 4 wheels. I haven?t pulled that since high school. Squat it too, same thing. Guess I better try to go heavy today. I?ll do some pin pulls, and see if I can get close to the floor. Yeah. I feel pretty strong today. Better quell that strong feeling shit toute de friggin suite.
So, since 90% of my squat is 338, I figured I should try to get some 90% reps in, last heavy day and all. As always (joke) GM Squats went awesome. Once I hit 345, my mind took over from my body. My left knee, which has been bugging me since I was 18, has really been hurting lately, so I wrapped it early and tight. I shouldered 345 and hit the low GM position. I tried to swing my butt under the bar like on the other sets, but no. My brain was convinced that if I bent my knee further than 135 degrees, the knee would explode. So basically, I good morninged down, kept my back pretty much parallel with the floor and bent my knees a little, then squatted up while bent over. I figured since god wanted to punish me, I should hit doubles.
Pulls felt pretty good except for I was trying real hard to pull back on the bar, and kept banging it on my kneecap. I didn?t have the balls to try 405, but 375 felt good. I was doing singles with about 30 seconds between them.
I feel like a cripple. You know, that feeling like someone is trying to separate a couple of your lumbar vertebrae with a putty knife? Maybe its just me. Anyway, I really wore myself out, and I hope I am not crippled. I did PD Abs because my back hurt, and I figured I would really regret it if I didn?t get some antagonist work. If I can feel my legs in the morning, Ill get some GHR, Reverse Hypers and lunges, and report back.
Train more psychotically,
OL
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
…
I feel like a cripple. You know, that feeling like someone is trying to separate a couple of your lumbar vertebrae with a putty knife? Maybe its just me. Anyway, I really wore myself out, and I hope I am not crippled. I did PD Abs because my back hurt, and I figured I would really regret it if I didn?t get some antagonist work. If I can feel my legs in the morning, Ill get some GHR, Reverse Hypers and lunges, and report back.
Train more psychotically,
OL
[/quote]
I get that every heavy pull day ever since the disc sploog. Getting better each session though. I just gotta stay sub-max and really watch form on any pulling and it’ll continue to improve I shut it down if form starts to go or I drop weight to maintain form. Be patient with the knee. Dunno if some high rep BW deep knee bends would help, but it might get some blood to the knee and help lubricate it?
I made it to the gym this morning as part of my evil plan, but my CNS was toast. got a handful of GHR negatives, a weak attempt at lunges that included 1 set of 2 reps on each leg, and about half a workout on reverse hypers. I guess on those occasional (at least for me) workouts where you leave it all on the big lifts, missing the accessory work is okay. Also, I saw a beautiful, perfectly shaped girl doing free squats. I think more wimmens should lift with free weights. it certainly hasn’t hurt that girl.
A merry christmas to all, and to all a good night
john
12/24/08 remedial assistance work
2 reps GHR, 3 reps at 90 for reverse hypers. Still wore out from yesterday. Need to rest. Psycho pulls took more out of me than I expected.
12/27/08 ME Bench
Ball Press
55x 20/20/16 ^
Seated db shoulder press
45x 10/9/5
40x 10/12
Incline barbell triceps extension
115x 6/6/6/6/6 ^
Face Pulls
100x 15/15/13/10/11
I don?t care what anyone says, Ball Presses are weird. Luckily, I only need to do them 2 microcycles out of 8.
It was a good workout. I think I have decided that the race between shoulders and triceps to be my weakest point has been won by shoulders. This is not to say that my triceps are strong (NOT), they merely suck less weakly than my foul shoulders. I see much shoulder assistance work in my next cycle.
I have 2 training sessions left in this cycle, Tuesday and Friday. I?ll stay away from the gym until the following Wednesday. I?ll test my squat on Wednesday, then bench and deadlift on Thursday. Start the next cycle on Saturday with new percentages, and extra shoulder work. My left knee is swollen to the size of a volleyball. If this continues for 2 more months, I may change my training.
Christmas break was fun, spent lots of time with my son. We had family over for dinner Christmas nite, which was also nice. I hope that all my elder meathead friends had a great xmas as well!
Train (shoulders) harder!
John
Nice lifting going on in here.
Thanks, Joe!
Hey Skid, since when did the “crotch-rocket heave” become a PL movement? Or is it for a highland games…?
[quote]mjnewland wrote:
Thanks, Joe!
Hey Skid, since when did the “crotch-rocket heave” become a PL movement? Or is it for a highland games…?[/quote]
“Crotch-Rocket Heave?”
You are referring to the cleans and jerks?
Part of why I do this is for the fun of it. It was purely for fun that I was jerking around. Got a new max on my cleans, which made me happy. 