Good squat Geech. Congrats on the PR.
That’s a good plan. Triples with around 90% of projected Max and even multiple singles with up to 95% get the CNS accustomed to the motor weirdness of a max.
Dunno if you have a setup routine before each lift, but using one really helps put you into the groove and makes the form on max automatic.
Way to go Geech!! Glad to hear that the back/hip issues didn’t affect your max. effort attempts.
Solid program and great follow through should always result in new PRs (at least that is what you hope for).
I like the idea of high percentage triples. I think after my meet in November I am going to seriously look into Wendler’s 5-3-1 program. Some of the same ideas as what you are going to do.
[quote]skidmark wrote:
…
Dunno if you have a setup routine before each lift, but using one really helps put you into the groove and makes the form on max automatic.[/quote]
Ordinarily, yes, I have a routine. Just got out of it for the max attempts. Not a good idea, need more practice.
[quote]mday wrote:
… Glad to hear that the back/hip issues didn’t affect your max. effort attempts.
…[/quote]
Getting into the gym on Monday to work and stretch the muscles was key.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Deadlift
70 x 8, 100 x 4, 130 x 2, 160 x 1, 180 x 1, 2 x 182.5 x 0
This result I will also regard as validation for my revamped deadlift work of the past two months.
On all three lifts of this week I anticipated accurately about what my max should be at this time. But - to use the technical term - I was a one-trick wonder in getting that amount, and then failing utterly at only slightly increasing it (although the last DL attempt was not bad). CNS needs work at the top end. Quads, too.
Now it is on to the next levels.
Nice work there 1Geech. It’s not unusual to miss after taking a near-max lift.
[quote]skidmark wrote:
Nice work there 1Geech. It’s not unusual to miss after taking a near-max lift.[/quote]
Thanks, Skid. It was not the missing, but more how I missed that bothered me and called attention to a weakness to be addressed. But I guess that is a real value of trying to max out, apart from whatever weight is actually attained: seeing where the cracks appear.
The cracks open up real quick at 90% and above. Good idea to try every so often so you know what to work on.
Let us know how the heavy triples go.
Geech, maybe add in some 85%-95% weights into your general workouts. This will get your CNS ready for max day. Just singles or doubles.
It all went back to my mother.
Alarmed at the amount of eggs being purchased and eaten during our last visit to the States, of which I accounted, as continues to be the case here, for about 24 weekly, she wondered what the cholesterol / coronoary health implications might be. So I promised to get a check-up when back here, which I did yesterday.
No cholesterol problems, cardiologist finds bloodwork impeccable (I spared him the specific egg numbers). Since I had not had an EKG in years, he does a stationary one. Everything great. But since I lift weights, he wants to do a ‘walking test on the treadmill’ (quote) to complete the picture, I have never had anything like it.
Okay; he has an appointment free today – just come in your work clothes, he says, lasts just ten minutes. I note the address in my calendar and forget about it until I show up today at the clinic.
I start the test: shirt off, of coure, but in my dress trousers. I am thinking, well, I hate treadmills, and my legs are kind of sore from maxing out on DL yesterday and squats the day before, but for my mother’s peace of mind I can make like a rat in a cage for ten minutes
(being careful to keep arms still for occasional blood pressure and other measurements and not to jolt the wires), and anyway it will warm me up for working out later at lunchtime. It did not occur to me to ask exactly how the test would unfold.
I walk a bit, then he ups the speed and the incline. Okay, so I walk a bit faster. More speed, greater incline. Walk faster. More speed, greater incline. Walk faster. I have not bothered to ask if there is any method in these increases.
Just walk, walk, walk. In between he is telling the assistant about the higher incidence of cardiovascular problems among Anglo-Saxons vs. the French.
Then more speed, greater incline. We can stop at any time, he says, if you want to. But I, Anglo-Saxon, will show him: Walk faster, resembling the Olympic racewalkers, just much less graceful, and not able to move my arms. And in my dress trousers.
Then he tells me I can run if I want to. My first reaction is to be annoyed: I do not like treadmills. I really do not like running anymore. I really really do not like running in my dress trousers. I really really really do not like running in my dress trousers on a treadmill.
Then the penny drops, I figure it out: This is a stress test. And I think: I am in my dress trousers, dammit.
By now I am running, well, awkwardly jogging without moving my arms. Again, he says we can stop at any time. I say to him, we can stop when you are satisfied. He says to me, he has sufficient data already, but we can keep going if I want to. I think to myself: I do not like carrying on conversations with other people when I am working out. Unbeknownst to me, the ten minutes are behind us.
We move through the next 2 minute interval and I reach 193 beats per minute, blood pressure 210/80, at 9 km/hr on a 20% incline (noted just for objective info - I don’t think this is any big deal.)
This is admittedly the point where I am breathing heavily, sweating, serious lactic acid has built up, but I am not at the point of utter failure – yet still I have to decide whether to keep going, and go for the point which would come sooner or later where I might vomit, just to show him; or instead say enough.
I am in my dress trousers. I say enough. The test results read ‘excellent’. My mother is reassured. But I still feel like I did not give my all for Anglo-Saxony.
Friday, 24 October 2008
Press
50 x 5, 60 x 2, 70 x 1, 5 x 50 x 5 reps
Face-pull
4 x various x 10-20 reps
Just doing some stuff not part of the max work the last few days, and then got a shower (see post above). Felt a bit tired, actually; but looking forward to starting a new program cycle on Monday.
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Geech, maybe add in some 85%-95% weights into your general workouts. This will get your CNS ready for max day. Just singles or doubles.[/quote]
Thought I would do triples, Eco. Maybe I will mix it up a bit more. Your bench advice was dead on.
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Chin-up
4 x BW x 10, 10, 8, 7 reps
Wrist twist
4 sets x 9.75 forward and reverse
Two-hand hang
3 sets max time
Weighted neck extension
22.25 x 20, 24.75 x 16, 2 x 27.25 x 12, 10 reps
Weighted neck flexion
3 x 20 x 20 reps
Weighted incline crunch
3 x BW + 10 x 6 reps
New toy to play with: I am using the IronMind ‘Twist Yo’ Wrist’ for a different wrist rolling experience for the next weeks. Held more with the fingertips, it adds something of a pinch element to the rolling.
Funny story Geech! Congrats on your flying colors, I woulda croaked. And congrats on the squat PR.
Thanks, DZ.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Squat
70 x 15, 100 x 10, 120 x 5, 127.5 x 3
Good morning (straight-back, single blue-banded = 11-36 kgs tension)
20 plus x 12, 30 plus x 12, 40 plus x 12, 2 x 50 plus x 8
Reading DZ’s and Mday’s log has motivated me to try GMs. These involve a single band looped around the middle of the bar in the squat rack. I stand on the band with both feet and unrack the bar, inching back until I have cleared the rack enough to do the movement. It is a bit awkward to get in position, but at this weight quite manageable.
[quote]1Geech wrote:
ecogenx wrote:
Geech, maybe add in some 85%-95% weights into your general workouts. This will get your CNS ready for max day. Just singles or doubles.
Thought I would do triples, Eco. Maybe I will mix it up a bit more. Your bench advice was dead on.[/quote]
Glad to see you’re workouts are going well. About the 24 eggs a week. Eggs do not increase cholestreol. The yolks contain all kinds of good stuff like vitamin E. If you got to 20% grade on the stress test that’s stage 6 and not many people go that far(and you weren’t dressed in workout clothes). Also, a heart rate of 193 for your age is excellent. 193 is 100% heart rate for a 27 year old.
[quote]1Geech wrote:
Thanks, DZ.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Squat
70 x 15, 100 x 10, 120 x 5, 127.5 x 3
Good morning (straight-back, single blue-banded = 11-36 kgs tension)
20 plus x 12, 30 plus x 12, 40 plus x 12, 2 x 50 plus x 8
Reading DZ’s and Mday’s log has motivated me to try GMs. These involve a single band looped around the middle of the bar in the squat rack. I stand on the band with both feet and unrack the bar, inching back until I have cleared the rack enough to do the movement. It is a bit awkward to get in position, but at this weight quite manageable.
[/quote]
Close stance or wide stance?
I’ve always considered the real benefit of a good morning to be in the bottom third of the movement. What are the bands doing for you on this exercise?
[quote]ecogenx wrote:
1Geech wrote:
ecogenx wrote:
Geech, maybe add in some 85%-95% weights into your general workouts. This will get your CNS ready for max day. Just singles or doubles.
Thought I would do triples, Eco. Maybe I will mix it up a bit more. Your bench advice was dead on.
Glad to see you’re workouts are going well. About the 24 eggs a week. Eggs do not increase cholestreol. The yolks contain all kinds of good stuff like vitamin E. If you got to 20% grade on the stress test that’s stage 6 and not many people go that far(and you weren’t dressed in workout clothes). Also, a heart rate of 193 for your age is excellent. 193 is 100% heart rate for a 27 year old.[/quote]
Thanks for the additional info, Eco. I quit at the end of that last stage (as it turned out) and part of my subsequent annoyance was in thinking I could have gone another stage if I had fully grasped what was going on at the time.
[quote]skidmark wrote:
1Geech wrote:
Thanks, DZ.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Squat
70 x 15, 100 x 10, 120 x 5, 127.5 x 3
Good morning (straight-back, single blue-banded = 11-36 kgs tension)
20 plus x 12, 30 plus x 12, 40 plus x 12, 2 x 50 plus x 8
Reading DZ’s and Mday’s log has motivated me to try GMs. These involve a single band looped around the middle of the bar in the squat rack. I stand on the band with both feet and unrack the bar, inching back until I have cleared the rack enough to do the movement. It is a bit awkward to get in position, but at this weight quite manageable.
Close stance or wide stance?
I’ve always considered the real benefit of a good morning to be in the bottom third of the movement. What are the bands doing for you on this exercise?[/quote]
Closer stance, maybe a bit narrower than olympic squatting.
My intention is simply to have increasing resistance throughout the strength curve – to get benefit not just from the bottom third, like you said.
Basically it is a combination of band GMs like these:
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=13411&tid=101
with a bent-knee barbell good morning.
I have never done GMs before. Do you see any problem with this combination?
And I wanted finally to start using my bands for stuff!
[quote]1Geech wrote:
skidmark wrote:
1Geech wrote:
Thanks, DZ.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Squat
70 x 15, 100 x 10, 120 x 5, 127.5 x 3
Good morning (straight-back, single blue-banded = 11-36 kgs tension)
20 plus x 12, 30 plus x 12, 40 plus x 12, 2 x 50 plus x 8
Reading DZ’s and Mday’s log has motivated me to try GMs. These involve a single band looped around the middle of the bar in the squat rack. I stand on the band with both feet and unrack the bar, inching back until I have cleared the rack enough to do the movement. It is a bit awkward to get in position, but at this weight quite manageable.
Close stance or wide stance?
I’ve always considered the real benefit of a good morning to be in the bottom third of the movement. What are the bands doing for you on this exercise?
Closer stance, maybe a bit narrower than olympic squatting.
My intention is simply to have increasing resistance throughout the strength curve – to get benefit not just from the bottom third, like you said.
Basically it is a combination of band GMs like these:
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=13411&tid=101
with a bent-knee barbell good morning.
I have never done GMs before. Do you see any problem with this combination?
And I wanted finally to start using my bands for stuff![/quote]
Nope - no problem at all. Just an unusual combination (for me) so I felt compelled to ask.