[quote]gorillavanilla wrote:
You have a bunch of great volume here and the running in addition is a rigorous program. Nice goals too.[/quote]
Thanks GV. Volume is all I have. The run really is somewhat therapeutic. Though, my wife’s soccer schedule changed to Wed & Sun now, so we may be running on Saturdays. Not sure how that’s going to work with my Friday night squats, but we’ll find out.
[quote]sen say wrote:
I used to feel this way, but then I realized/remembered it’s not always mandatory to have everything be ‘normal’…just because you should be able to squat more than you bench doesn’t mean you should stop working on your bench…certainly work to improve what you’re not so strong on, but don’t limit yourself on things you are good at.[/quote]
Gdamnit! Thanks Sen… now I can’t slack on my bench tonight.
Throwing this up there for future consideration
The 8 week squat program looks really good to me. I may try it in the future. If you can get 10% in 8 weeks that’s awesome.
Ya GV, I completely agree. I think anyone would be happy with a 10% bump in 8 weeks. I like the gradual pace with mixed sets. It’s exactly what I was looking for to follow up my current program.
6/27/2013
Bench:
125 x 8
205 x 4
225 x 4
255 x 3
285 x 1
255 x 8
225 x 5
WG Bench 135 x 12, 3 sets
DB Flies 35 x 15, 3 sets
Tri band pull downs x15, 3 sets
Single arm OH tri extensions 35 x 15, 5 sets
Feet on bench push ups 20, 19, 15
Wasn’t feeling it. Needed more sleep this week.
Squats 6/28/13
Weight Reps
135 x 12
155 x 8
215 x 6
255 x 3
275 x 2
215 x 12
215 x 12
215 x 12
215 x 12
165 x 15
165 x 15
165 x 16
165 x 6
Total Reps 131
Light accessory work: crunches, leg extensions, thrusters. Legs and back are banged up, so I’m considering a break and doing very light leg work next week to recover. The plan was to take the following week off, but we’ll see how I feel on Monday.
Personally, taking a week off always takes away from my conditioning and strength. When I feel the need I just use lighter weights and employ a less intensity. Just a suggestion but I think you are right on with doing something, just less.
Thanks for the suggestion GV. I’ll most likely employ your idea. I don’t want to detract from my work at this point and I don’t really like the idea of not working hard. Scaling back the weights and reps for the week is a good call.
Felt like a crippled old man over the weekend. No lifting or a run. Only activity was removing an old floor in our guest bath and laying a new one. Maybe a little lifting, if you count DLing a toilet. Actually, those boxes of manufactured wood are pretty fucking heavy too! So ya, I lifted… lol. The break was actually much needed. I haven’t taken two days off in a row for a couple of months.
Felt pretty decent today, just stiff in the knees. If anyone has any tricks to loosening up the knees, please share. Went with mostly lighter weights and did a lot of supersets
7/1/2013
Pull ups x BW
x22, x12, x10, x9
OHP
95 x 10, 135 x 5, 185 x 0(2), 155 x 6, 135 x 10
Failed to move the bar on first attempt, got about 50% extension on second @ 185… next time!)
High Pulls
135 x 8, 155 x 7, 155 x 6, 155 x 6
Upright Row
95 x 8 (3 sets)
Meadows Row
75 x 8
50 x 10
50 x 10
75 x 5
100 x 2
T-Bar Rows, without the t-bar
100 x 10, 3 sets
Shrug
185 x 10 2ct, 3 sets
Hanging leg raises, crunches and a few box jumps to close the night.
pullups x22!
I get very creaky knees as well, the only thing that has helped me somewhat is static squats (meaning squat in the hole position for approximately 10 secs) to squat jumps.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
pullups x22!
I get very creaky knees as well, the only thing that has helped me somewhat is static squats (meaning squat in the hole position for approximately 10 secs) to squat jumps.[/quote]
22 pullups is impressive man good work…i can only bust out about 20 of em at body weight. and 10 of em with a 20lb vest on, but i prefer to do weighted pull-ups over high rep ones. i squeezed out 2 reps with 90lbs hanging the other day, was a moment of triumph for me =)
My 250 lbs can get 10 pullups on a good day, a regular day about 7-8 before it gets to look like kroc pullups
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
My 250 lbs can get 10 pullups on a good day, a regular day about 7-8 before it gets to look like kroc pullups[/quote]
thats pretty good, im just over 190lbs at 6’2…so I’m not big on many accounts
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
My 250 lbs can get 10 pullups on a good day, a regular day about 7-8 before it gets to look like kroc pullups[/quote]
Shit Matty when did you hit 250?
Fucking Beast
Lol yeah dude I have been hovering between 245 and 251
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
pullups x22!
I get very creaky knees as well, the only thing that has helped me somewhat is static squats (meaning squat in the hole position for approximately 10 secs) to squat jumps.[/quote]
Thanks man! Was considering drilling a hole in my knees and spraying some WD40 in them. I’ll try the statics first.
Thanks Stokes! I haven’t tried anywhere near 90 lbs, but I’m pretty sure I’m not getting 2 full reps if I do try. That’s awesome.
[quote]Wiex wrote:
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
pullups x22!
I get very creaky knees as well, the only thing that has helped me somewhat is static squats (meaning squat in the hole position for approximately 10 secs) to squat jumps.[/quote]
Thanks man! Was considering drilling a hole in my knees and spraying some WD40 in them. I’ll try the statics first.
Thanks Stokes! I haven’t tried anywhere near 90 lbs, but I’m pretty sure I’m not getting 2 full reps if I do try. That’s awesome. [/quote]
ya i threw my arms up in triumph…not something i usually do but i felt that the moment warrented it
[quote]stokes1989 wrote:
ya i threw my arms up in triumph…not something i usually do but i felt that the moment warrented it[/quote]
No doubt man. You actually underplayed it pretty well. I would have broke out the party poppers with confetti and a nice champagne. Maybe some hookers and cocaine!.. alright, maybe not the party poppers.
7/2/2013
Low Volume Squatting only for the week.
Squats:
135 x 6
185 x 5
255 x 4
305 x 2
325 x 2.5 - This is the closest I’ve bothered to come to my current PR (335 lbs) in couple of months. Last week I was questioning my approach to rebuilding my squat. Today pretty much renewed my confidence. I felt solid underneath the bar, way more so than a couple of months ago. I felt like I could have pretty easily pushed more weight. The only reason I didn’t go higher was my abductor started barking after the second squat and really started bitching on the descent of the third. I’ll do another light squat day this week and then be looking forward to getting back to volume next week.
Front squats:
135 x 8, 185 x 8, 205 x 8(2)
Light Deads:
135 x 5, 185 x8(2), 205 x 6, 205 x 8(2)
Leg curls:
70 x 10, 3 sets
Leg extensions:
Worked up to 120 x 10(2)
Because I had an excess of energy and I’m going to be stuck in Huntington Beach on Thursday, I figured I’d one up the douche bags with my own douche baggery: Seated preachers, Revolving DB curls, reverse preachers and hammer curls. I even stood in my power rack and curled the Oly bar to experience the full effect. It doesn’t quite have the same stigma in my garage as I’m sure it would in a public gym. I was still amused.
Oh Matty, I forgot to mention; I warmed up with jump rope as the norm and then moved to static squats, which I did about 20. This actually made a very noticeable difference for me. Thanks a ton for the recommendation!
Looks like a good amount of work for a back-off week and you’re still hittin’ close to PR numbers so looks like things are going well.