Scj 2.0: Bigger, Stronger, Better Looking

Training Logs
41

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
HEY I think you did great!!

I think meets are super helpful in telling you what you really need to work on.[/quote]

In no particular order: deadlift form, lower back strength, quad strength.

Also I need a new attitude in the gym. I need to expect more of myself each time I get in there.

Things I’ve been doing that I DO like:
-squat has been consistently getting better, my form and stance is more dialed in. Increasing quad strength will help my squat form - I consciously “good morning” the bar up so that I can take the weight off my quads and move it with my posterior chain.
-Benching has been going well with my new programming.
-DB Bench as assistance I feel has helped me off the chest in my bench. I no longer feel weak 5 inches off my chest.

This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by scj119.

Prob get back in the gym Wednesday to do some high rep OHPing, then do some lower body Thurs.

42

Dude you should have stayed for curls it was intense. Plus you would have gotten your first place plaque like I did. Apparently that sauced up dude was not competing in the open category!

The 2 Scotts own the 242 and 275lb categories lol!

43

1840×3264 1.04 MB

Attached is a pic I took from the night before the meet. Ladies rejoice.

[quote]scottkoscielniak wrote:
Dude you should have stayed for curls it was intense. Plus you would have gotten your first place plaque like I did. Apparently that sauced up dude was not competing in the open category!

The 2 Scotts own the 242 and 275lb categories lol![/quote]

I would’ve but I didn’t want to accept a plaque for a sub-1100lb total. Being the only one in my weight class isn’t something to brag about when your total is shit.

44

I think you did good man. You will have 1100+ next meet for sure. See I think of the plaque as something that my expensive ass entry fee paid for. Its like getting some of that money back. Although my girl said “we should hang it up” I told her hell no I dont want to hang up something I got because I was the only one in that category…so I guess I see your point too lol

45

Sexy quad pump, bro!

And stop insulting your total!!! I came in like 3rd last at my meet and I’m still over the moon.!

46

[quote]scottkoscielniak wrote:
I think you did good man. You will have 1100+ next meet for sure. See I think of the plaque as something that my expensive ass entry fee paid for. Its like getting some of that money back. Although my girl said “we should hang it up” I told her hell no I dont want to hang up something I got because I was the only one in that category…so I guess I see your point too lol[/quote]

Well the other thing was I was pretty beat, I made my girl wake up at 530am, drive me an hour, sit there for 8 hours, drive me an hour home… I figured I’d let us go early (plus I wanted to lay down, relax and drink bourbon).

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Sexy quad pump, bro!
[/quote]

Note - that was friday night, not at all pumped (hadn’t trained in days). Definitely bloated though, if that counts. Had tons of carbs/sodium (first thing scott k said to me at the meet was he was jelly of my facial bloat).

[quote]
And stop insulting your total!!! I came in like 3rd last at my meet and I’m still over the moon.![/quote]

It’s not the total itself - it’s the lack of improvement from last year. The plus side is I feel a huge improvement in focus/drive/motivation. I have gotten away a bit from doing EVERY SET with intent. That’s what’s unacceptable.

Gettin back at it starting tomm. Probably easing into it with higher rep OHP and upper body stuff, then Thurs some lower body get-back-in-the-groove stuff, and Friday some accessory and prowler work. Start hitting the contest lifts heavy again next week.

47

12/12/12. Back to the grind

My intensity was a lot better yesterday than it’s been in a long time, due to being disappointed at my lack of progress the past year. Hopefully that carries over indefinitely.

I’m taking this week off from the big 3 and near maximal weights, but I still busted my ass.

Workout

A) Standing OHP
bar x 8
85 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 8
135 x 8
145 x 8

really explosive. Actually wanted to try 135-145-155 for sets of 8 but forgot to load the bar after my first 135. Shoulders and tris were pretty trashed after the top set.

B) DB Flat Bench
75 x 12
75 x 10
75 x 10

C) DB Row
105 x 11 x 3

D1) Lat Pulldown
130 x 10
130 x 8
130 x 8

D2) Lateral DB Raise
20 x 10 x 3

E) Tricep Rope Pulldown
3 x 12

48

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]scottkoscielniak wrote:
I think you did good man. You will have 1100+ next meet for sure. See I think of the plaque as something that my expensive ass entry fee paid for. Its like getting some of that money back. Although my girl said “we should hang it up” I told her hell no I dont want to hang up something I got because I was the only one in that category…so I guess I see your point too lol[/quote]

Well the other thing was I was pretty beat, I made my girl wake up at 530am, drive me an hour, sit there for 8 hours, drive me an hour home… I figured I’d let us go early (plus I wanted to lay down, relax and drink bourbon).

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Sexy quad pump, bro!
[/quote]

Note - that was friday night, not at all pumped (hadn’t trained in days). Definitely bloated though, if that counts. Had tons of carbs/sodium (first thing scott k said to me at the meet was he was jelly of my facial bloat).

[quote]
And stop insulting your total!!! I came in like 3rd last at my meet and I’m still over the moon.![/quote]

It’s not the total itself - it’s the lack of improvement from last year. The plus side is I feel a huge improvement in focus/drive/motivation. I have gotten away a bit from doing EVERY SET with intent. That’s what’s unacceptable.

Gettin back at it starting tomm. Probably easing into it with higher rep OHP and upper body stuff, then Thurs some lower body get-back-in-the-groove stuff, and Friday some accessory and prowler work. Start hitting the contest lifts heavy again next week.[/quote]

the bloat was strong with you my friend

49

12/13/12. Random Lower stuff.

Still taking a break from my usual stuff, easing back into it… full bore next week.

Lower body and conditioning.

Workout

A) SSB Squats
85 x 8
130 x 8
175 x 8
205 x 8
225 x 7
225 x 7

B) Romanian Deadlifts
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
300 x 8 115lb PR (what can I say it’s been a while since I did RDLs)
-I liked these ok but I think I’ma stick with rack pulls for a while. Easier to train explosiveness from below the knee when you’re starting at a deadstop.

C) Shrugs
185 x 10
205 x 10
205 x 10

D) Ab Wheel
3x6

Conditioning
Prowler: 140lb x 40m x 8 trips in 8:30

[quote]scottkoscielniak wrote:
the bloat was strong with you my friend
[/quote]

I was going for the top place in the “Jabba the Hutt” weight class.

50

I just realized I never posted this. Enjoy.

51

Hey remember that time we had a race to bodyweight OHP and I won but gave you some time to catch up since you had been injured?

Yeah me either

52

12/18/12. Bench.

Back to the grind. I am working to keep my grip width just in enough to keep my triceps tight the whole way down and allow me to explode off the chest, but not so narrow that I use no chest at all.

Felt decent considering I’ve really only had 1 bench session the past 3 weeks (my meet).

Workout
A) Bench
bar x 8
95 x 5
135 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 4
230 x 4 x 4

B) DB Bench
85 x 10, 10, 6 (90s rest is killer)

C) DB Row
105 x 12, 12, 10

D) Cable Row
3 x 10

E) Rope Pulldown
3 x 10

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Hey remember that time we had a race to bodyweight OHP and I won but gave you some time to catch up since you had been injured?

Yeah me either[/quote]

Ha, I was just thinking about that the other day. I got beat fair and square.

53

12/19/12. Squat

Worked an hour and a half late again last night, but this project SHOULD (fingers crossed) be done today, so I can finally stop working late. I only had time to squat, no assistance.

I wasn’t accepting any less than 7 reps. It was brutal and by the 7th rep I had no ability to stay tight whatsoever, I’m not sure how I got the last one up.

Workout

Foam roll, leg swings

A) Squat
140 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 3
-work sets-
225 x 5
260 x 5
295(5+ ) x 7 rep PR

10 minutes later I still had a dull headache and my eyes hurt.

54

12/20/12. OHP

I have firmly reattached my testicles and have had a much better week of training post-meet than at any point in the past 6 months. I finally hit all 16 reps at 170 and it wasn’t even too much of a struggle. I’ve been a bitch lately.

Also, my shoulder impingement is gone so I’m going to start hitting chinups again. I’ve gained ~15lbs since I stopped doing them, so the reps have fallen off. Gotta bring that back up.

Also, I’ve been trying to figure out what my progression template should be for OHP, since it just doesn’t go up as quickly as bench. I think I found a solution. OHP will increase in 8-week blocks instead of 4-week blocks. When I move my max up 5lbs, I will do push presses the first 4 week block, then strict presses the next 4 weeks, then move the max up and back to push presses. I think this is a progression template I can sustain for a few months.

Gotta get through this full 4-week block of strict presses though. No missed reps allowed.

Workout

20 reps of band pull aparts, no moneys and dislocates

A) Standing OHP
85 x 6
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 4
170 x 4 x 4 booyah!

B) Seated DB OHP
60 x 9 x 3sets

C) bodyweight chins
4 x 6, 6, 5, 4

D) DB Laterals
4 x 11

E) Straight Arm Pulldowns
3 x 10

F) Face Pulls
3 x 11-16ish… don’t really count reps that high

Somehow got done in a little over an hour. Must’ve been in the zone.

55

HEY I had a dream last night that this girl I used to know and I had a hankerin’ to see the red hot chili peppers in the US and we looked and they where playing in washington.

I don’t know if you really live near there (??)

So I contacted you and we were gonan stay with you and I was buying tickets and I put I wanted 3 tickets, but then decided your GF needed one also so I put down 4 tickets. Then the price was like crazy expensive so I went down to 2 tickets, LOL. I guess I was gonna uninvite you and still hope we could stay at your place or something.

56

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
HEY I had a dream last night that this girl I used to know and I had a hankerin’ to see the red hot chili peppers in the US and we looked and they where playing in washington.

I don’t know if you really live near there (??)

So I contacted you and we were gonan stay with you and I was buying tickets and I put I wanted 3 tickets, but then decided your GF needed one also so I put down 4 tickets. Then the price was like crazy expensive so I went down to 2 tickets, LOL. I guess I was gonna uninvite you and still hope we could stay at your place or something. [/quote]
mmmmhmmmmmm

57

12/21/12. Deadlift.

Pulls were fast and strong. Workout was brutal and I am still pretty sore today.

Workout

Foam rolling

A) Deadlifts
155 x 6
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
355 x 4 x 4

B) SSB Squats
135 x 8
175 x 7
195 x 8 <–finally found a good foot position
205 x 8

I might have had one more set of 8 in there.

C) Rack Pulls (below knee)
265 x 8
295 x 10
315 x 8
335 x 6

D) BB Shrugs
3 x 10 with some weight

E) Ab Wheel
3 x 7

Prowler
Fuck the prowler. I was toasted and it was cold out. Plus I had been there 2hr already.

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
HEY I had a dream last night that this girl I used to know and I had a hankerin’ to see the red hot chili peppers in the US and we looked and they where playing in washington.

I don’t know if you really live near there (??)

So I contacted you and we were gonan stay with you and I was buying tickets and I put I wanted 3 tickets, but then decided your GF needed one also so I put down 4 tickets. Then the price was like crazy expensive so I went down to 2 tickets, LOL. I guess I was gonna uninvite you and still hope we could stay at your place or something. [/quote]

I can’t believe you uninvited me in your dream. The nerve of some people… the dream version of me is PISSED.

Actually I do live in Washington DC proper (i.e. not a suburb).

58

12/27/12. Squat.

I’m back! Christmas was fun and I got some good gifts, but holy moly did the trip back suck. Here’s my Wednesday (flight scheduled at 820pm):

11am: Figure out that it is supposed to snow heavily in the evening, realize my flight is already delayed 20min
11:15 - Call southwest to move to an earlier flight, it’s gonna be $100 (fuck that), unless your flight is delayed over an hour, then you can move up for free
3:15 - after checking flight status several times, it’s now been delayed over an hour, so I move up to 7:40pm flight (only option) which has already been delayed till 8:25
6:15 - Arrive at airport
7:15 - flight pushed back to 8:45. Watch out window as snow is billowing across all the runways for 2 solid hours.
8:45 - board flight, begin to push back from gate
10:30 - take off (yes I was on taxiway for an hour and a half while every plane in front of us was de-iced, then we were de-iced) - there were THREE babies crying this entire time. No really, the entire time.
11:35 - land. Had to take a shuttle to the parking lot and get gas immediately (I had left the car bone dry of gas), desperately search for red bull to prevent falling asleep at the wheel, drive back to my girls house
1:00am - stay there without her becuase I was not walking home at 1am. Sleeping alone in her place lol.
8:00am - wake up, walk to my house 20min in the freezing cold, get ready for work and leave

So, my squat session blew donkey ass today. Either the shittiness of the night before, or not having trained in a week, or not attacking my warmups (I felt inflexible as shit while squatting, every rep hurt my hips or knees or both) or some combination of those factors had me completely unfocused.

Every rep felt horrible, like I hadn’t squatted in 6 months and had no clue what to do. I tied a rep PR somehow though at 310.

Workout
Foam rolling, leg swings

A) Squat
140 x 5
170 x 5
205 x 3
-work sets-
250 x 3
280 x 3 <-belt on
310(3+ ) x 4

B) Trap Bar Deads
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 5
355 x 4

C) Leg Press
3 x 15

E) Ab Rope Crunch Kneel Thing
2 x 15

F) Back Extensions
hold 25lb plate x 12-15ish reps x 2 sets

Finally done with my day. Early bed.

59

12/28/12. Upper.

Friday’s workout. Only had 2 days to work out so I mish mashed by typical bench/OHP workouts into one.

Workout

A) Bench Press
bar x some
95 x 5
135 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 4
230 x 4
240 x 3
250 x 2
260 x 1

bench felt bad. They were all really heavy. Just chalkin it up to a weird week where my travel schedule had me out of it.

B) OHP
115 x 8
135 x 8
145 x 7
150 x 7

C) Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown
I think 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps

D) One-armed Cable Rows
2 sets x 12ish reps for each arm

That was it.

60

Oh yeah, I videod my 260 bench with the setup and everything. Struggled more than the 270 at the meet and didn’t even pause.