Tuesday 1/31
Not-so-speedy Squats
225 x2
225 x2
225 x2
275 x2
275 x2
275 x2
315 x2
315 x2
315 x2
Pin 2 Pulls w/ New Metal King Pro Deadlifter
225 x2
315 x2
405 x2
495 x2
585 x1
First time in a deadlift suit. It’s a royal pain in the ass. 585 flew up off of the 2nd pin … I’m sure I was good for another 90 pounds or so but I thought I was going to pass out so opted to stay there.
Thursday February 2
The guys all went in their shirts again and since I ducked out last week, I decided to get it on it this week.
ME Bench
Raw Warmups
135 x6
185 x6
225 x3
275 x3
315 x1
365 x1 (+10lb PR)
375 x0 – This was doomed from the start, I wasn’t tight enough
add shirt & 1 board
405 x1
455 x1
475 x1
495 x1 (+20lb PR)
Close Grip Lockout Work
225 x10
add 4 board
315 x8 (I think 1-2 rep PR?)
regular bench grip
365 x4
Cable curls, tricep crap, blaaaa
Consistently hitting PR’s in the bench now, feels awesome. I could press 375 on a better day, and with a tighter setup.
Friday 2/3 ME Lower
I just wanted to get.some heavy work in this day but not go crazy.
Squat
Raw warmups
Bar x12
155x10
245x5
360x3
Add.briefs
450x2
560x2
560x2
560x2
560x2
600x2
Pulls w/ Suit against Grey Bands
140 x5
230 x3
320 x3
410 x1
460 x1
505 x1
Monday 2/6 DE Upper
Floor Press
165 9 sets of 3 (3 sets wide, 3 sets medium, 3 sets close)
I paused each one for a second before pressing. It was hard to stay tight on these, I’ll have to rotate them in and out.
Close Grip Floor Press (pause on bottom)
225 x5
225 x10
Dumbell Press (palms facing)
105 x10
105 x10
Wide Grip Pulldowns
160 x12
200 x12
220 x12
240 x10
Wide Grip Pullovers
60 x12
60 x12
60 x12
Dip Machine
295 x20
315 x15
A few sets of hammer curls and cable triceps.
Had a rough day at work so I dropped the percentages of my DE work. It was actually probably a good idea to do that anyways, because staying tight on the floor press was a pain in the ass.
The past few months have been crazy for me. I lost my father on March 18th, and 2 weeks later I started a new job. The decline of my father’s health took a toll on me and while I kept training, logging everything wasn’t really a priority. Despite all of this, I only missed 5-6 training sessions and have steadily been hitting PRs. Getting to the gym always actually made me feel better, no matter how fucked up things were in real life. My body weight is at an alltime high, I am consistently 285 or so. This is all great and all but I’m too big to fit into my squat suit so I want to drop some fat. Therefore I am eating very clean and doing conditioning work 3 times per week on top of everything else.
Here are a few honorable mentions in the past 3 months:
Floor Press w/ Boat Chains 300lbs bar weight + 5lb PR
Flat Bench 365, 370
Shirted Flat Bench 475x1 (+45lb PR), 500x1 (sameday – +70lb PR)
Flat Bench w/ 120lb Chains 295x1 (+15lb PR)
Sumo Deadlift w/ Briefs 640x1 (I think a +95lb PR)
Pin 3 Deadlift raw w/belt 700x1 (+25lb PR)
Sumo Deadlift w/ Suit 675x1
Here was today’s workout:
Deadlifts on 2" Mats (worked in with Brandon Lilly / Jimmy Harris – check out Brandon Lilly’s YouTube channel)
140 x5
230 x3
320 x3
410 x3
add briefs
500 x1
550 x1
590 x1
640 x1
660 x0 (fail – technical error the bar travelled too far in front of me)
Jimmy hits 680, misses 700
Brandon hits 680, misses twice @ 770
45 degree hyper
bw x15
add green band
x10
x10
x10 (at this point my back is on fire)
Powerpohl Walks
45lbs x 80 yards
45lbs x 80 yards
45lbs x 80 yards
GHR
2x6
Obliques on 45 degree Back Extensions
2x15
Hanging Abs
3x15 @ 120lbs
Just found this log man. Great work, wish I would’ve knew you trained at lexen and maybe have been able to meet ya at the XPC meet. Sorry to hear about your dad, that must be tough. Stay strong and keep killin it man! What weight class are ya?
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Just found this log man. Great work, wish I would’ve knew you trained at lexen and maybe have been able to meet ya at the XPC meet. Sorry to hear about your dad, that must be tough. Stay strong and keep killin it man! What weight class are ya?[/quote]
I’m around most of the Lexen/XPC events and I’m not too tough to pick out. Next time you’re up this way let me know.
I’ve competed in the 275 and 308 weight classes. The next time I compete (hopefully in 3-4 months) I’ll be in the 275 class just because if I get much bigger than that, my gear doesn’t fit. I’m not willing to buy new stuff yet and I’ve acquired a gut (I enjoy drinking pricey beer) so it shouldn’t be too hard to get there.
Thanks again for the kind words.
[quote]frankjl wrote:
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Just found this log man. Great work, wish I would’ve knew you trained at lexen and maybe have been able to meet ya at the XPC meet. Sorry to hear about your dad, that must be tough. Stay strong and keep killin it man! What weight class are ya?[/quote]
I’m around most of the Lexen/XPC events and I’m not too tough to pick out. Next time you’re up this way let me know.
I’ve competed in the 275 and 308 weight classes. The next time I compete (hopefully in 3-4 months) I’ll be in the 275 class just because if I get much bigger than that, my gear doesn’t fit. I’m not willing to buy new stuff yet and I’ve acquired a gut (I enjoy drinking pricey beer) so it shouldn’t be too hard to get there.
Thanks again for the kind words.[/quote]
Haha, not sure when I’ll be back up there. That was one hell of a drive from FL. The meet was incredible even though I didnt do as well as I wanted. Haha, yeah a bit pricey to have to buy all new stuff. Keep it up, definitely be checking in here more!
Thursday 5/10 – ME’ish Bench
Last week was a shirt week, and the first one in a long time for some of us. We all hit big numbers, a few big PR’s. The first time back in the shirt always beats you up a little bit, so this week we wanted to take it a little easier. We decided to do flat bench off some foam. The foam eats up a lot of weight at the bottom, so it’s very easy on the shoulders and does allow you to overload a little bit from your raw bench. Personally I wanted to get some volume in so I stayed with doubles and triples as much as the weight would allow me to.
ME Foam Press
135 x10
135 x5
185 x5
225 x5
add foam
275 x5
315 x3
365 x3
385 x2
405 x1
415 x1
Close Grip Foam Press
335 x6
336 x6
Lat Pulldowns
4 sets of 15 (I have no idea how much weight)
Light Band Tricep Extensions
3 x20
Hammer Curls
55 x8
55 x8
55 x6
Some face pullz …
I think the last time I did this movement I barely got 365. This was about a year ago. More recently I hit a 325 foam press with doubled monster minis. Whatever way you look at it, this was a pretty big PR. Judging from some other numbers, I am taking a S.W.A.G. that this gives me about 30 pounds over my raw bench. Not that it matters though because I’m currently whoring out that gear.
Totally IN
Friday 5/11 – DE Lower
I am headed out of town for mothers day this week and I didn’t have time to make it down to the big boy gym today so I just went to the local commercial gym.
Dynamic Effort Box Squats (raw)
235 x2
235 x2
235 x2
285 x2
285 x2
285 x2
325 x2
325 x2
325 x2
375 x1
All sets moved alright. The last one I lost my form a little bit and just decided to call it there.
Speed Pulls
315 x1
315 x1
315 x1
315 x1
315 x1
315 x1
405 x1
405 x1
405 x1
405 x1
495 x1 (not so speedy)
Reverse Hyper Extensions
120 x15
120 x15
120 x15
Seated Banded External Hip Rotation (there has to be a better name for these)
doubled mini bands x20 w/ 3 second pause
2 doubled mini bands x20 w/ 3 second pause
2 doubled mini bands x20 w/ 3 second pause
2 doubled mini bands x20 w/ 3 second pause
Oblique Crunch on 45 Degree Back Extension
20lbs x12 each side
20lbs x12 each side
Tomorrow I’ll end up pulling the sled and doing some other accessory work. All this was done inside of an hour.
Sunday 5/13 DE Bench
Being out of town and visiting with family, I had to sneak into the local globo-gym. This place was such a disaster that couldn’t wait to leave.
Flat Bench
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3
225 x3
225 x3
225 x3
275 x3
I didn’t really feel like answering a bunch of questions about the benefits of using bands so I opted not to set them up today and just go straight weight. I was agitated at how terrible all of the equipment was in here so I did these with about 30 seconds rest between sets.
ISO Lat Row Machine
160 x10
160 x10
160 x10
160 x10
Overhead Tricep Machine
170 x15
150 x15
150 x12
120 x15
Hammer Curls
45 x10
45 x10
45 x10
This was about all I felt like doing in this mockery of a weight room. On my way out I saw an upstairs door that read “House of Pain”. I was ecstatic, I thought I had found the holy grail. Maybe tucked away in this remote upstairs room were monolifts, chains, chalk and real equipment. The anticipation was killing me as I ran up the stairs, only look through the glass door to see a room full of bosu balls, yoga mats and upright recumbent bikes.
awesome lifts man!
[quote]frankjl wrote:
This was about all I felt like doing in this mockery of a weight room. On my way out I saw an upstairs door that read “House of Pain”. I was ecstatic, I thought I had found the holy grail. Maybe tucked away in this remote upstairs room were monolifts, chains, chalk and real equipment. The anticipation was killing me as I ran up the stairs, only look through the glass door to see a room full of bosu balls, yoga mats and upright recumbent bikes.[/quote]
LOL, “House of Pain”.
@ prodiboy, bens120x, novaeer – thanks guys for stopping by.
Tuesday 5/15 Heavy Pull
Today was supposed to be a good morning / deadlift assistance day. We are attempting to follow a deadlift cycle, but it’s not working out very well. The idea is to cycle heavy deadlifts one week, speed pulls the next week & deadlift assistance the next. Apparently the guys didn’t get the memo and just like to pull heavy every week.
Lightened Deadlift (reverse grey bands)
230 x5
320 x3
410 x3
500 x3
590 x2
640 x2
700 x1 (I’m pretty sure this is a PR)
add deadlift suit
720 x0 (couldn’t lock it out – lost it at the knees)
A few things:
The Setup
The way the bands were setup, the bands came off the bar about 6 inches from the top of the deadlift. Also, 140 in bar weight was just lightly touching the ground. So I’d give a S.W.A.G. that it gave ~120 pounds at the bottom and 0 at about 6 inches from the top.
In Retrospect
My training partner Pat pulled 720, his best pull in a meet is 700. Burke hit 640 in my deadlift suit and pulled 615 in the same suit a few weeks ago. Therefore if I were to guess, I would say my raw deadlift is around the 680 range. I credit this largely to some tweaks with my setup, namely moving my feet out a little bit, and moving the bar closer to my shins. This lets me sit back and get some gnarly leg drive into the bottom of the pull. The bad thing is, it makes locking out deadlifts much harder. Now I’ll just have to find a way to fix this.
Stiff Leg Deadlifts (no belt)
410 x8
410 x8
Belt Squats
2 plates x10
2 plates + 25 x10
2 plates + 2x25 x6
Single Leg Reverse Hyper
140 x10
140 x10
Regular Reverse Hyper
140 x10
140 x10
140 x10
Leg Extensions
115 x15
115 x15
115 x15
Hanging Abs
120 x15
120 x15
120 x10
Great training day today.
Thursday 5/17 – ME Bench and playing with a new toy
I ordered a brand spanking new bench shirt from Inzer and wanted to play with it today.
Today I didn’t feel the best because I worked about 30 hours in the past 2 days, along with the heavy ass pull on Tuesday and a general lack of sleep. Not making excuses so much as just stating facts, and I was aware of this on my way into the gym. The goal of the day was to get a lot of reps in the new bench shirt and to break it in.
Bench
Raw Warmups
135 x5
285 x5
225 x5
275 x3
325 x2
365 x1
add shirt and 4 board
405 x3
405 x3
remove 4 board, add 3 board
455 x3
475 x3
515 x1
535 x1
Barbell Rows
225 x10
275 x10
315 x6
Tricep Pushdowns
90 x15
90 x15
Side Raise to Front Raise back to Side Raise thingies?
10lbs x10
10lbs x10
Pretty good session, I’m very pleased with how everything went down. Because everyone in the group had problems with the lockout, we’ll be adding in more chain weight the next couple of times we use chains.
Friday 5/18 ME-sh Squat
If yesterday I felt bad, today was 10 times worse. I felt terrible, a full week of sleep deprivation, heavy weight training and crazy workloads have definitely caught up to me. To make matters worse, I forgot my gym bag today so I wore some “loaner” shorts that probably wouldn’t have fit me when I was 13. I stopped by the local CVS to pick up Tiger Balm and some Aleve before getting to the gym.
Cambered SSB Squat (this bar weighs 67 pounds but for simplicity I’m putting weights down like it’s 45lbs)
135 x10
225 x5
315 x5
add briefs
405 x3
455 x3
495 x2
555 x1 (+10lb PR)
585 x1 (+40lb PR)
Good Mornings
Wide Stance
225 x10
315 x10
315 x8
Close Stance as deep as I could go
225 x12
Back Extensions
3 x10 bodyweight
Good day today all things considered. Me and the wife went out and got drunk tonight which is going to make tomorrow morning very interesting (and very very very painful).
Saturday 5/19 – Accessory Lower
Usually on Saturday’s I go to the gym and just go a bunch of lower accessory work to hopefully improve my terribly pathetic squat.
Standing Leg Curls (1 leg)
55 x15
55 x15
55 x15
55 x15
Leg Extensions
150 x15
150 x15
150 x15
150 x15
Standing Calves
80 x30
80 x30
80 x30
Pull Throughs
160 x12
160 x12
160 x12
This was about all I felt like doing today, good little session.
160 x12
Sunday 5/20 DE Bench
Flat Bench w/ Mini Orange Bands
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
Took the bands off because they were stupidly heavy.
Flat Bench w/ Straight Weight
225 x3
225 x3
225 x3
225 x3
225 x3
DB Military Press
70 x15
70 x15
70 x15
Row Machine
225 x10
225 x10
225 x10
225 x10
DB Hammer Curls
45 x10
45 x10
45 x10
45 x10
Rope Pushdowns
75 x15
75 x15
75 x15
75 x15
75 x15
Good little session today. I didn’t realize how much tension the short orange bands put out. It was stupid and hard to get out of the rack without a spotter. When I switched to free weights, the weight just kind of “floated” down and pop’d right back up.
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