Today we did reverse band pulls. Typically, I don’t get anything out of the bands. I think my previous raw PR for this was 680 x1 and I think in my suit was 715x1? It may sound counterintuitive that I wouldn’t get much out of the bands, but the bands give out right where I am weak. So if I let my form go early in the movement (like I always do), then I have nothing left to lock the weight out.
Reverse Average Band Deadlift bands took off ~120 at the bottom and were almost completely limp at the top
245 x10
245 x10
335 x5
425 x3
515 x3
565 x1
605 x1
655 x1 ← at this point I know I’m going to cruise past 680
700 x1 +20lb PR
735 x1-ish +55lb PR
On the last one I got bent in half, pretty much stiff legged that fucker up to my knees, then hitched it up to lockout. I held the weight for a second and let go. If a fly landed on the bar, I would have missed it. It took a few seconds before my vision came back to me after this. It seems unlikely that I would hit a 55lb PR on this movement, so maybe the bands were setup differently last time? Whatever – I’m counting it.
Reverse Band Stiff Leg Deadlifts
475 x6
475 x6
Glute Hammies * special movement
bw x20
bw x20
bw x9 ← dead.
Floor Press w/ Doubled Boat Chains (55lbs each / 110lbs total
bar x10
bar x10 add chains
bar x6
95 x6
135 x6
185 x6
225 x3
250 x2
275 x1
290 x1
300 x1 ← thought this was a PR, but actually this ties it
315 x1 +15lb PR
I did not expect to hit a PR on this movement at all. The 300x1 was probably a little bit deceiving because I did this one with my legs flat out in front of me and hit it clean. I originally hit his in July of last year, I’m sure my ass was 3 feet in the air.
EZ Bar Curls / Hammercurls Supertset
75 x15 / 35 x12
75 x15 / 35 x12
I was going to do some DB front raises but ended up sticking around and helping one of the other guys break in his new Overkill shirt. Training has been going great recently which makes me want to do the June meet even more.
[quote]frankjl wrote:
It seems unlikely that I would hit a 55lb PR on this movement, so maybe the bands were setup differently last time? Whatever – I’m counting it.
[/quote]
i feel like that everytime i set this movement up because the rack I use is a 4" difference in the next hole. I also come to the same conclusion, fuck it. just take the victory. good effort
[quote]frankjl wrote:
It seems unlikely that I would hit a 55lb PR on this movement, so maybe the bands were setup differently last time? Whatever – I’m counting it.
[/quote]
i feel like that everytime i set this movement up because the rack I use is a 4" difference in the next hole. I also come to the same conclusion, fuck it. just take the victory. good effort[/quote]
I’m just going to ask them to setup the reverse bands for me at my next meet anyways.
Friday 4/26 – ME Lower
Today was messed up. One group was going full gear when we got there. The other group was doing stability chains in the other monolift. In my group, most of the guys are doing the June meet and wanted to go in full gear. But as both monolifts were taken, we ended up warming up with the group doing stability chains – then switching halfway through our workout.
Squat
bar x10
bar x10
155 x10
245 x10 add 110 in chains / chains hanging to the floor
245 + chains x5 pick up other side of chain & add to bar, now chains are completely suspended on the bar
245 x5 ← really ~355
295 x3 ← really ~405 add Metal Jack Briefs
425 x3 ← really ~535
475 x3 ← really ~585 switch monolifts – go to straight weight
625 x2
650 x1 ← tie PR
700 x1 ← +50lb PR
I called it quits here because it felt like the Death Star was pointing its laser at my face and it was getting ready to explode. I debated taking an intermediate step to ~675 and then 700, but honestly at this point I was just tired of squatting and wanted to get it over with. So I made a 50lb jump into a huge PR. I would discourage anybody from doing this, but I knew I could handle it after the way 650 felt.
Decline Abs w/ Heavy Bag * I did as many reps as I could with the heavy bag, then dropped it and finished a set of 20
heavy bag x15 / bw x5
heavy bag x12 / bw x8
heavy bag x10 / bw x10
I’ll be pushing up my ab work for the next 3 weeks. I’ll be doing these and planks on my off days.
Glute Ham Raise
bw x10
bw x10
bw x1 ← hamstring cramped up and I called it here
I had some deep soft tissue work done on my upper back, traps, shoulders and pecs last week and they are still pretty sore from that. I also think I’m still crushed from all of the work I did last week; specifically going over 700 on deads and squats in a short time frame. Also, I figure if I’m going to do the June meet this would be the last week for a “deload” week. All of these factors combined, I decided to forego any speed work or dead bench in favor of just getting a lot of volume in.
Bamboo Crazy Bar Bench
sets of 15 up to 220 pounds of swinging kettle bells x8
Close Grip Crazy Bar Bench
150 x20
Incline DB Flyes
30 x15
30 x15
30 x15
Pulldowns
180 x12
180 x12
180 x12
Football Bar Skullcrushers / Elbows Out Extension supersets
85 x15 / 30 x20
90 x15 / 30 x13 ← triceps were on fire here
One of the guys who missed last week’s deadlift session wanted to pull heavy. So like a bunch of jackasses we pulled heavy again despite the fact it was dumb to do this.
Reverse Band Deadlift (bands set about 12" lower)
135 x10
245 x10
335 x10
425 x5 switch to sumo
515 x2
565 x2
605 x2
635 x1
665 x1 add metal jack briefs
710 x1
725 x1
745 x1
I am skeptical about the transfer between the reverse bands on this movement to a competition sumo pull. We did set the bands about 12" lower today from last week, however I don’t think I’m anywhere near this number on a sumo pull even with briefs. One thing that I figured out was that I’ll have to take my grip out on the sumo pulls, because my over hand gets hung up on my thighs at lockout.
Decline Abs w/ Heavy Bag
bw x20
bw + heavy bag x20
bw + heavy bag x12 / bw x8
bw + heavy bag x8 / bw x12
bw x20
Glute Ham Raise
bw x12
bw x12
I should probably add some bands or weight to these going forward.
Today was a shirted bench day. I haven’t even untangled my bench shirt from the ball of velcro that it became when I threw it in the trunk of my sedan after the last meet. I did find a sock stuck to one of the straps on the shirt. That’s one good thing about bench shirts – the velcro straps attract various articles of clothing that you would probably lose otherwise. One bad thing about bench shirts – I think I would rather spend a night in a jail than bench with one.
Raw Warmups
bar x10
bar x10
135 x10 ← and I knew right here today was going to suck.
185 x6
225 x6
275 x6
315 x2 ← you would have thought I was doing these in slow motion add ridiculously tight shirt
365 x air board to about the height of a 7-board
405 x3 ← could barely touch a 3 board
455 x3 ← 3 boards
At this point, Danny wanted me to try one of his shirts that someone else had altered. I figured today was going to suck anyways, so I changed shirts
take off my bench shirt / apply ghetto-ass shirt
495 x3 ← 2 boards add reverse orange band because we hate consistency
545 x2 ← 2 boards
585 x0 ← may have left the boards but probably not
shirt off / orange reverse bands still on
315 x10
405 x1 ← just because I wanted to see if I could tear a pec today while I was at it
315 x10
Lat Pulldowns
4x12
Football Bar Skullcrushers / Elbows Out Extension supersets
85 x15 / 30 x15
95 x15 / 30 x15
At this point I decided I was done training. I have my in laws coming in town this weekend so I’m going to either skip my ME squat workout all together or just fart around in the commercial gym.
[quote]DSSG wrote:
Remember: If you fail a max effort front squat/zercher squat, dump it forward. The gym will definitely remember you for years to come ;). [/quote]
HAH. I’ve done far worse things than that at commercial gyms. I have been pinned under weights for minutes waiting for someone to walk by. Once, I accidentally crushed myself in the nuts with a reverse hyper extension. I’ve mis-racked the weights into a squat rack, and subsequently had the bar fall on my head. I’ve had weights slide off in the middle of a bench. I’ve dropped dumbells on my knees / toes.
Sunday – DE/RE/ME bench
This weekend my in-laws came up to support my wife who ran her first half marathon. So I skipped the usual squat session and made it to the gym today. We have moved to a much larger location that I’m pretty pumped about. We will be running several smaller meets out of this gym over the summer, if you’re in the Columbus, OH area and are looking to compete this would be a great opportunity for you.
I wasn’t planning on going this heavy today but I really wanted to see if a 405 bench was feasible for a meet in June. I figured that I could dead bench 90% of my full range bench. This came out to around 365. After 315, I figured there would be no way I could hit that number. After 345, I figured it was worth a shot but I just wanted to see how far away I was.
I figure this puts me just shy of 300 pounds of Robert Wilkerson’s dead bench of 640 lbs. Watch out, big guy.
My shoulders are a little bit achy, probably from the really heavy dead bench on Sunday. So we opted for a 2-board press today. For me, this is about the exact same as a full range bench (in terms of what kind of weight I can handle) but is less stressful on my shoulders.
2-board Bench full range warmups
bar x10
bar x10
95 x8
135 x6
186 x6
225 x6
275 x6
315 x3 add 2 board
345 x2
365 x2 +1 rep PR ← I think the only time I’ve repped 365 in a bench movement
385 x0 ← I don’t know what happened here
385 x1 +5lb PR ← Easy, considering I just missed this
I’m happy with how today went considering how dead I felt when I started.
Close Grip 3-board JM’ish press
315 x6
275 x8 remove boards for the last one
225 x8
I really tried hard to keep my elbows tucked on these, as to initiate the press with my triceps and not my shoulders / chest.
Football Bar Extensions / Elbows Out Extension superset
115 x10 / 30 x20
115 x10 / 30 x20
115 x8 / 30 x15
Hammercurls
45 x15
45 x15
45 x15
Tonight the guys doing the APF Masters / Detroit Barbell meet grilled out to celebrate the end of their heavy training. In lieu of doing any lat work I went out and ate some brats. I will likely make up this lat & upper back work tomorrow.
Squats raw warmups
bar x10
bar x10
155 x10
265 x6
355 x6 add briefs
445 x3
505 x3
555 x3
605 x2 add reverse Grey bands
675 x3
I am hungover as shit so I decide to cut it here. I went out with some co-workers last night and it escalated quickly. I was the only person to make it into the office this morning.
Sumo Pulls
405 x1
495 x1
585 x1
635 x0 ← weight got out in front of me
I just wanted to see what this felt like since I hit a huge reverse band PR pulling sumo the other day.
I was out of town for mothers day so I got in a quick workout with a buddy of mine at the local commercial gym. He’s just getting into the “fitness” scene and wanted to work in with me today for whatever reason. During one of our sets, a macho man in knee-high socks, Keds slippers, sunglasses, and a long sleeve denim jacket (hereby referred to as Denim Dan) was not pleased that we setup close to his dumbell bench setup (which we had not seen him use since we got started). Denim Dan had some choice words with my buddy. So I spent the next hour chasing Denim Dan around doing exercises right next to him. I also dropped an audible fart or two which I guess I should mention in the spirit of full disclosure.
[quote]frankjl wrote:
Sunday 5-12 – Mothers Day Bench
I was out of town for mothers day so I got in a quick workout with a buddy of mine at the local commercial gym. He’s just getting into the “fitness” scene and wanted to work in with me today for whatever reason. During one of our sets, a macho man in knee-high socks, Keds slippers, sunglasses, and a long sleeve denim jacket (hereby referred to as Denim Dan) was not pleased that we setup close to his dumbell bench setup (which we had not seen him use since we got started). Denim Dan had some choice words with my buddy. So I spent the next hour chasing Denim Dan around doing exercises right next to him. I also dropped an audible fart or two which I guess I should mention in the spirit of full disclosure.
[quote]krummdiddy wrote:
That is funny as hell!![/quote]
Thanks man. I hope somewhere there is a guy making fun of a tall, awkward guy for chasing him around the gym. Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday 5/14 – DE Lower
I couldn’t get to the gym today since my car took a shit. I spent about 4 hours at the dealership. They wanted a ridiculous sum of money to fix it, despite the fact that it runs fine.
Wednesday 5/15 – PMS’ing / ME Bench
Today I figured I should take an opener-ish bench if I’m considering doing a raw meet. I felt like death all day. It’s embarrassing how much I let stupid shit like a car repair stress me out. Regardless, today I figured I would hit an opener and then overload with boards.
Raw Flat Bench (all sets with competition pause)
bar x10
bar x10
95 x10
135 x8
185 x6
225 x6
275 x3
315 x3
355 x1 ← opener’ish – easy lift & a pause PR
385 x0 ← dumb, I shouldn’t even have tried this add 3 board
365 x2
385 x1
405 x1 ← +10lb PR & easiest lift of the day, have no idea why add 4 board – switch to close grip
315 x6
My shoulders were killing me all day. It probably took 4-5 seconds for me to lower the weights to my chest on each set. Whatever I’m just PMS’ing. I’m over it.
Military Press
150 x10
150 x10
DB Shoulder Raise
30 x10
30 x10
I decided to cut it here.
Tonight I plan on winning the Powerball jackpot, and once I do so I’m going to quit lifting and start up a healthy drug habit. So if you don’t see me update this log ever again you’ll know why.
Tonight I plan on winning the Powerball jackpot, and once I do so I’m going to quit lifting and start up a healthy drug habit. So if you don’t see me update this log ever again you’ll know why.[/quote]
Huh? You’ll be taking your ammonia caps orally, instead of putting a couple partially in your nostrils, and cracking them open?
[quote]krummdiddy wrote:
That is funny as hell!![/quote]
Thanks man. I hope somewhere there is a guy making fun of a tall, awkward guy for chasing him around the gym. Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday 5/14 – DE Lower
I couldn’t get to the gym today since my car took a shit. I spent about 4 hours at the dealership. They wanted a ridiculous sum of money to fix it, despite the fact that it runs fine.
Wednesday 5/15 – PMS’ing / ME Bench
Today I figured I should take an opener-ish bench if I’m considering doing a raw meet. I felt like death all day. It’s embarrassing how much I let stupid shit like a car repair stress me out. Regardless, today I figured I would hit an opener and then overload with boards.
Raw Flat Bench (all sets with competition pause)
bar x10
bar x10
95 x10
135 x8
185 x6
225 x6
275 x3
315 x3
355 x1 ← opener’ish – easy lift & a pause PR
385 x0 ← dumb, I shouldn’t even have tried this add 3 board
365 x2
385 x1
405 x1 ← +10lb PR & easiest lift of the day, have no idea why add 4 board – switch to close grip
315 x6
My shoulders were killing me all day. It probably took 4-5 seconds for me to lower the weights to my chest on each set. Whatever I’m just PMS’ing. I’m over it.
Military Press
150 x10
150 x10
DB Shoulder Raise
30 x10
30 x10
I decided to cut it here.
Tonight I plan on winning the Powerball jackpot, and once I do so I’m going to quit lifting and start up a healthy drug habit. So if you don’t see me update this log ever again you’ll know why.[/quote]
There is an akward looking skinny guy that follows me around my gym… has been all week… kinda weird…
I decided to hop groups today and go with the group that was doing some reverse band benches. No reason really, other than the fact it’s been a long time since I have done this.
Reverse Black Band Bench I think this takes maybe 120-140 off at the bottom and maybe 50 at the top
warmups
335 x8
425 x5 ← mistake jumping up this quick, this was kind of heavy
480 x1 ← just to beat Danny
495 x1 ← +5lb PR super grinder add Titam Ram
515 x1 Ram off / Close grip
335 x15
4 Board – Straight Weight
315 x7
315 x6
Lat Pulldowns
4x10
Football Bar Skullcrushers
115 x10
115 x10
115 x7
DB Curls
25 x20 (each arm)
Done here. Today went better than yesterday. Still not very motivated to train.
Squats raw warmups
bar x10
bar x10
155 x10
245 x6
335 x5 add briefs
425 x3
535 x3
585 x2
625 x2 ← bar rolling like crazy add Leviathan bottoms
685 x2
At this point, I’m tired of squatting & I have to pee so I took all my gear off and helped everybody else out. I never even really got to what I would consider an 8 RPE. I did however get a pretty good workout in picking plates up and wrapping knees.
