6/1/17
DE Lower Body- Deload
Feeling pretty good with deload week so far. Body is starting to really feel recovered.
Main exercise- Reverse band squats to depth
Warm-up
BW Squats 1x10
1x8 185
1x5 225
Working sets
3x8 315 w/ 1” black resistance bands
45 sec rest between sets
Notes: Noticed my right knee collapsing on second warmup set. Stance was too narrow and was not focusing on spreading the floor apart. Note to self to focus and make every lift the same. Attempted to do 2 reps on working set before taking a breath. Seemed to help with holding tightness.
RDL’s
5x3 315
Good speed on reps.
Barbell Rows
3x10 315
Opted to go for higher reps on this exercise this week instead of throwing an extra 50-lbs on. Minimized body english for first 2 sets. Reps 6-10 on final set had to add it back in a bit at a time.
Going off of my decision yesterday to work on pullups, decided to throw Russian leg curls in too to really nail hamstrings. It’s another exercise I can’t do a strict rep on, but I will build to it.
Superset jumping pullups to negative with Russian leg curl.
3x5
Russian leg curls were feeling good. Haven’t done them in probably 4 months and there was a surprising improvement in how much I had to push off the bottom.
18” Box Jumps from DL starting depth
2x8
This is another exercise I haven’t done in several months. Was really surprised with the amount of conditioning improvement I’ve had since I last did them. GPP must be working. Had intended to do 3 sets, but had two things that really set me off. First, my left hamstring started barking pretty loud. I was going to go stretch it for a bit and finish my last set, but one of the trainers made an offhand comment about how much noise I was making doing box jumps. Basically, there are a lot of people that apparently can box jump without anyone hearing them. I asked her how many of those people were 350 lbs and then decided that all this conversation can end up doing is getting me thrown out of the gym so I just walked off. Whatever. If I was interested in being like other people in my gym, I would probably spend an hour on the elliptical doing steady state cardio and not getting anywhere.
6/2 Upper Body DE
Some resistance band warmups doing dislocates and OH pressing
Focus-OH Press
Military press
1x10 bar
1x8 135
1x5 185
Working sets- 225 w/ 1/2" resistance bands doubled over power rack
8x3 EMOM
First 4 sets close grip, last 4 sets wider grip
Swap over to Swiss bar with 195 and same resistance band setup
6x3 EMOM
First 3 sets on innermost parallel grip
Last 3 on next grip out
CG bench
3x8 225 w/ slingshot
OH tricep rope extensions
2x6 100 (up 10 lbs)
Got 7 on third set
Good session. Weakest point in OH pressing is still coming out of the hole. Focused on belly breathing and keeping breath for all three reps. Some good, some not so good. Hole shots were clean today.
6/5 ME Lower Body
Main exercise- deadlifts
Was feeling pretty froggy this morning and going to shoot for a 535-lb pull.
Warm ups-
RDL’s
1x10 135
1x8 225
1x5 315
DL’s
1x4 315
Working sets
1x3 405
1x3 435
1x2 455 (had planned to do 3 here, but the second one was a bit slow and I didn’t want to take away from the upper end work)
1x1 475
1x1 495
Up to this point, all of the lifts were fairly quick except number 2 on 455. I belted up and put on 515. I can’t explain what happened next. Something was weird with my setup. Placed my feet, did my three breaths, got my hand placement, but when I went to sit back my left arm clipped my knee. Had I been more disciplined, I would have called it off and took a walk for a minute. I convinced myself that everything was ok, pulled, and stuck about 6 inches up. Everything was not ok. Dropped the weight and took a quick walk to try to clear the bad rep. Took my belt off, went back up, and pulled about 5” shy of lockout. I hate missing reps, but at this point I was not going to gain any more ground today.
Assistance work
5x3 405 barbell rows (new working weight)
3x5 190 kroc rows (+20-lbs from normal working sets)
SS Russian leg curls and chin up negatives
3x5 each
18” box jump 1x8
I was very disappointed I didn’t PR on my dl’s, but I don’t want to keep making bad pulls. I think I’m going to retire the belt from deadlifting. Not sure I get very much out of it and I usually end up second guessing a lot on where it is and how tight it is.
I didn’t get much out of a belt when I was north of 300. It just made the set up so much harder, so I never bothered with one. 585 at around 310lbs was my best un-belted deadlift. Once I got below 280 the belt really started feeling right, and 600 became a weight I could pull on a bad day.
I don’t mean to beat on the same drum I did on your other thread, but I believe your fastest path to a 600 pull will be a smaller midsection. I think the raw strength is mostly there already. Your back is pretty damn strong with those crazy rows and your legs seem to be up to snuff with a 470 box squat.
You have to pick your own goals obviously, but I think it is worth thinking about how losing fat could increase your ability to express the strength you already have.
I have been so advised 
I’ve begun backing down my calorie intake a bit and really minimizing rest times between sets to help some. My GPP is also starting to get tighter and more thoughtful. I’m attacking this at all angles. What I really don’t want to do, which is what it might take, is do a 6-8 week cycle of just cutting.
I’m not the best guy to give diet advice, but fat loss and strength preservation is something I’ve had success with in the past. I don’t think you need to “cut”. When I hear “cut”, I think of an already lean person getting REALLY lean. Like a bodybuilder getting ready for a show, or a fighter or a competitive strength athlete dropping a weight class.
This is actually good news for us. We don’t need to “cut”, we just need to drop some fat. The owner of my gym competes in PL at 165 and he cuts to get there. It sounds miserable. Fortunately, we don’t need to do any of the really detail-oriented things that require 100% commitment to have success with.
When you’re already pretty fat, you can just clean up your diet and keep training hard and the weight will come off without losing any real strength. In other words, if you eat for performance while minimizing junk calories you can get away with a LOT more than a bodybuilder trying to get to 5% bf can. The two processes are really quite different.
Speaking of which, I’ve been dating a really good cook who has been pulling me to the dark side for many months now, but we spoke last night about how I need to disconnect myself from shared meals as something we do together. This might be bad news for the relationship, but we’ll see how she handles it. It is time for me to get back on the fat loss wagon too, and for that to happen I can’t do it on her terms. I’ve been trying and failing miserably to eat for success while still making meals something we do together. It hasn’t been happening.
The only way I’ve ever succeeded with this is to do it on my own terms with methods I know work for me.
Whether you go this route or not I’ll still be following along. Do what makes you happy man.
As always, thanks for the input. I do eat a lot of junk calories (Takis come to mind) and I can probably lean out a bit by just getting rid of those bad calories. I know about what I eat in a day, but I just haven’t put the focus and rigor into nutrition that I have in training.
Like I told you before, I’m not above giving it a shot… tomorrow. I’m getting my Takis on today though.
6/6 ME Upper Body- Log press
Today was about leg drive out of the gate.
Warmup
2x15 35
1x10 135
Working sets
1x3 185
1x3 195
1x3 215
1x2 225
1x1 245
1x1 265 (15lb PR for OH press)
Had to grind it out a bit, but I was proud of that one.
Accessory work
Strict military press w/ reverse bands (1/2" black)
6x3 225 bar weight (estimate closer to 165 at bottom with bands cutting out 90% assistance about 3-4" overhead)
Good work on locking out. As long as I can keep the leg drive snappy, this will probably be my next sticking point based on the PR effort earlier.
OH dumbbell press single arm
2x8 80
Feeling pretty smoked in my shoulders.
33 lb med ball slams
2x10
Hanging leg raises
2x8
6/7 GPP
Or what I like to call same shit different leg day.
The day started off well enough. I spent a good 10-15 min foam rolling my calves because they’ve been problematic in the past and took time to ease into the workout. First up was rope pull tire push medley. 3” rope tied to tire. Pull hand over hand for ~40-ft and then push tire back. Ran through 4 of these. The tire is about 180-lbs and seemed a bit light for the hand over hand work at first, but when I stacked another tire on top for an additional 60-lbs or so, it was too much to keep up speed.
Sled pulling was next. I wanted to keep it light and focus on speed. 135-lbs forward pull. I got up to a good run and my left calf popped. Workout over. The kicker is that I just had the same thing happen to my right calf about 8 weeks ago. It feels like it tore a knot that was there loose. This one doesn’t feel as bad and, at least for my right calf, everything is great and I haven’t had a problem with knots or charliehorses since. I’ve had to cut a sled session or two short because of my left calf though and the feeling that it was going to pop. Took about 4 weeks to get back up to good shape on my right leg. Hoping it takes about the same if not less on this one. The kicker of it all is that, depending on my recovery, this injury may mess up me entering the competition next month. It’s definitely going to affect my training over at least the next two weeks minimum. We’ll wait and see.
6/8 DE Lower Body
Today was a good day in the gym even with an injury. The big thing is that since the injury is a repeat (sort of), I had a pretty good idea of exactly how to train around it. Plus, a new intern at the office joined me down for the workout. The guy’s a crossfit trainer and strongman enthusiast, so I knew he’d be a good gym partner for the day.
Main move- RDL’s with reverse bands
Warm up- 1x10 45
1x8 135
1x6 225
1x5 315
Working sets
8x3 405 w/ reverse banding. The bands took a little bit off the bottom, but probably 10% at best. Sets had a little more pause in between them to swap weights out. Managed to stay explosive throughout all sets.
Barbell Rows- belt and straps
5x3 405
Kroc Rows- belt and straps
2x7 190
1x10 190
Feel like there’s a little bit more in the tank on the Kroc rows, but having a hard time staying in that mental state. I called 9 before the set started based on how the 7’s went and still managed to pull an extra on both arms, but there’s more. Challenge set for next week will be 15 reps on last set for both arms. Not a bad day at all for being injured and hobbling around the gym.
6/13 ME Upper body- Military Press
First day back in the gym since last Thursday. Had a wedding to attend over the weekend and had to travel on Friday getting back late Sunday, so I was extra eager to get back in.
Warm up
Resistance band dislocates
2x20
Military Press
2x10 45
1x8 135
1x5 155
Working sets
1x2 175
1x2 195
1x1 215
1x1 225- missed
I had 235 on my mind for strict form, but missed my 225 rep. Instead of waiting around for another shot (which I almost never actually hit and just end up with 2 missed reps), I cleaned up and moved on. I’m pretty sunburned at the moment and my calf is still healing, so I was resigned to chalk it up as just a sub-optimal day.
Moved on to assistance work with the football bar and reverse bands. Actually weighed what the bands were giving for assistance at the bottom and they’re about 30-lbs a piece. So strength curve was going from 165 at bottom to 225 at top.
5x2 Inside grip EMOM
When I switched to the intermediate grip, I was able to go 3 reps instead of 2. They were still grinders, but they were a solid 3 reps. Which tells me that I need to probably move my grip out a bit on military and push press with straight bar.
3x3 EMOM
JM Presses
2x15 95 lbs
These were aggravating my shoulder pretty bad toward the end of both sets. I had intended on going up to 135, but I moved on to some rehab work on my shoulder. I was listening to an EliteFTS video while traveling and one of the guys was saying the best way to really get some rehab on shoulder tendon injuries was to pump a good bit of volume through at light weight and wide grip on the bench (I’m pretty sure it was Dave Tate, but it may have been one of the other guys and I might be combining some of a Westside podcast in there, but I digress).
Bench press- resistance bands only
2x20
These were actually feeling pretty good. I was able to put pinkies on the rings and get some reps done and some blood pumped through. Overall, not a bad day after all.
A good way to test the weight of reverse bands is throw a barbell in them and load weight till it hits the lowest point for ya. At least then you’ll know for sure what you’re working with.
That’s a great idea. I hung a 25 on one and it was just a bit high, so I took it as 30, but I’ll definitely do this in the future. Thanks!
So it’s been almost a week since I posted a workout, but I’ve still been hitting them. I won’t recap just because I don’t have the numbers handy.
6/19 ME Lower Body- Block Pulls (4")
1x3 315
1x3 405
1x2 495
1x1 545 (miss)
Should have taken a smaller step. 495 felt good. I suck at calling weights, but I’ll get better.
RDL’s
3x5 405 - pretty punishing, but new rep PR if I’m not mistaken
Krocs
2x7 190
1x10 190 (new rep PR)
So I kind of fell off the wagon of posting logs, but I’ve been training hard anyways. I hit a 375 slingshot bench and a 475 squat in the last couple of weeks, so it’s all good.
As for today, here we go:
Wide stance block pulls:
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x2
455x1
495x1
530x1 (weak lockout)
I was able to strain for a good period of time on 530 and the lockout was not the best, but I’m going to take it for now. It’s a note. It’s not like it was a competition lift.
RDL’s
3x5 425
Barbell Rows
3x5 405
Leg Curls
3x20 200
I did some ab work, lower back, and glute kick-outs, but I wa so wiped out that I was unable to train with real intensity on those.
Other notes: the wide stance feels so much better to me. It forces me into almost a snatch grip for the deadlift which I know is not optimal as it adds a bit of travel, but overall the body position feels tighter and righter (if that’s actually a word).
Solid work!
How is your leg? Have you still been messing with the sled?
Thanks buddy! I have been doing some sled work now and then, but it’s a much slower pace as the rapid acceleration seems to be what got me. Leg is coming along. I did log press last week for ME and missed a new PR because I broke at the knees instead of the hips. When I came up for the push, my calf let me know it still wasn’t whole, but not bad. I should probably spend more time on it.
07/05 ME Upper Body
Showed up late to the gym today after staying up too late last night. The good news is that I still managed to get a good day in.
Slingshot bench
Warmups (no slingshot)
2x10 45
1x10 135
1x10 185
Working sets (slingshot and wrist wraps)
1x3 225
1x3 275
1x2 315
1x1 365
1x1 380 (new PR)
1x1 405 for a negative (really just wanted to feel 4 plates)
Accessory- Hypertrophy bench- I wanted to really grease the groove and focus on cues as well as get some blood through my shoulder. It was a bit tweaked after the ME work.
4x8 225 (slingshot)
The slingshot is really helping my shoulder a lot by letting me isolate and work good form. Ideally I’ll be able to take it off at some point for heavy benching. The benches at my gym are only good for a max of 500-lbs. Maybe I work up to 500 with the slingshot and then start over at 405 without. Either way, it’s good work on pressing. I would think that it would have good carryover to push press/log press just because the assistance cuts out about where my momentum starts dropping from leg drive.
4x20 bench with ½” bands looped over bar- lots of good blood flow.
3x5 205 military with ½” bands double looped (60-lbs off bottom) on Swiss bar. Wanted to do more, but shoulder was pretty taxed by now.
8x8 OH tricep cable extensions (starting at 100-lbs over single pully and dropping 10-lbs a set to 70-lbs with no rest completed for 2 cycles)
Wanted more, but not enough fuel left. Waiting to see what Plazma is going to do to my volume.
7/6 DE Lower Body
Rack pulls from just below knee
Warm up
2x10 45
1x8 135
1x6 225
1x5 315
Working sets
8x3 405
Wide stance squat to 18” box
8x3 355
Good mornings- still feeling these out. Got a spotter to help cue me with keeping my back straight which was great.
1x8 225
1x8 275
1x8 315
I’m curious to see how high I can work up for a triple, but I’m taking it slow on these.
Kroc Rows
2x7 190
Lat pulldowns
6x12 starting at 120 and dropping 10-lbs every set. Little to no rest between sets other than to pull pins.
6x8 behind the neck doing the same thing starting at 120. Had a great pump in my lats.
Overall it was a good workout. I wish I had a little more volume, especially in Kroc rows, but time and energy were against me.
07/10 ME Lower Body
Decided to try working my way down on blocks over the next 4 weeks of deadlifting (8 weeks total since I only ME deadlifts every other week). Today the spacing was 2 plates and 2 blocks. Grand total of about 4” of lift- maybe a little more.
135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3
405 x 2
455 x 1
495 x 1
545 x 1
545 was a good strain. It took me some time to get to lockout, but I was able to think under straining conditions and make adjustments to get the lockout.
Barbell Rows
365 x 10 x 2
Wanted to get some bigger barbell work in, but knew I was going to do cable rows and lat pulldowns. Plus, lower back was getting pretty taxed.
Cable rows
Drop sets starting at 210. 10 reps each set and drop 20lbs on the pin.
Lat pulldowns
Drop sets starting at 170. 8 reps each set and drop 20lbs on the pin.
Leg press
410 x 10 x 3
Really felt the hamstrings on this one.