The Bird Cage 4. Onslaught

Training Training Logs
441

Welcome back, Birdy. Wanna tell us more about your Taiwan vacation?

Oh, I am also considering whether or not I’ll play Football (European), or Football (American) this upcoming season for those two sports (Fall). I may just do Football (European) because I already know I like it, and I have less of a chance of getting badly injured. I am sure ramming into guys who weigh more than me won’t help staying injury free even if I am stronger than them by a lot, and my goals in playing sports are the following: Staying injury free, look good to colleges, possibly acquire scholarships, have fun/spend time with friends/make friends. As stupid as it sounds playing Football (American) would be nice because girls like Football (American) players, and a lot of my friends are trying to get me to do it.

442

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Welcome back, Birdy. Wanna tell us more about your Taiwan vacation?

Oh, I am also considering whether or not I’ll play Football (European), or Football (American) this upcoming season for those two sports (Fall). I may just do Football (European) because I already know I like it, and I have less of a chance of getting badly injured. I am sure ramming into guys who weigh more than me won’t help staying injury free even if I am stronger than them by a lot, and my goals in playing sports are the following: Staying injury free, look good to colleges, possibly acquire scholarships, have fun/spend time with friends/make friends. As stupid as it sounds playing Football (American) would be nice because girls like Football (American) players, and a lot of my friends are trying to get me to do it. [/quote]
Hi Destrength,

Easy choice. “European” football. Its the world game. Although saying that I know Americans dont like it. I think its the same here In Australia, where the press try to paint football with a bad brush, saying how much better their local game is. Obviously those making such claims have invested interest in their own sport. Dont be blinded by the media and social pressures, play what you truly enjoy. And fuck what the bitches the say.

I would definitely recommend Taiwan as a holiday destination. Heaps of options for day trips, and most night was spent at “night markets”. The people there are really friendly and its easy to get around using the super efficient local train system. I tried many different foods, including chicken feet, beef organs and ducks blood. I even got to meet fellow T-nationer Nards!

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443

Thursday, 8th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Squat, Cycle 3, Week 1

  • Bike ride to the gym and agile 8, explosive jumps (3x3)

  • Squat 531
    50 kg x 5
    57.5 kg x 5
    65 kg x 5 (+4) (calculated 1 rep max: 84 kg)

  • Supersetted my accessory work
    RDLs: 5 sets of 10 x 40 kg.
    BSS: 5 sets of 10 using a 12.5 kg dB

  • Abs, and then rode bike home.

notes: Decent first session back. Squats weren’t perfect but not bad considering my 2 week break. Need to concentrating on staying “solid” on my descent down. Next week I will increase RDLs to 45 kg and BSS to 15 kg.

In other news I have made some minor adjustments to my diet, which I will discuss more in length in a future posting. Basically I am decreasing my calories by about 200-250, and avoiding any insulinogenic foods before 2pm.

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444

Friday, 10th January 2015.

TRAINING

Bench 531

  • Agile 8, bike ride to the gym, explosive push ups( 2 sets of 3)

  • Bench 531 (face-pulls b/w sets)
    65 kg x 5
    75 kg x 5
    85 kg x 5(+7) (calculated 1 rep max: 118 kg).

Supersetted my accessory work:

  • Bodyweight dips: 5 sets of 10.

  • dB rows with 22.5 kg: 5 sets of 10

  • Curls for the girls: 3 sets of 30 kg barbell curls:12, 12, 10.

  • Bike ride home

notes: Decent session. Didn’t feel as strong on the bench but that was too be expected with my 2 week lay off. Next week I will keep with the bodyweight dips as the last 2 reps on the last sets were grinders, and will increase the dB rows to 25 kg.

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445

Saturday, 10th January 2015.

TRAINING

Deadlift, Cycle three, Week one

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym.

  • Deadlift.
    (5 x 60kg) x 2
    (5 x 80 kg) x 2
    (3 x 90kg) x 2

Supersetted my accessory work with 1 minute rest b/w each exercise

  • Front squats: 5 x 10 with 45 kg’s.

  • Hamstring curls: 5 x 10 with 40 kg’s.

  • Abs; 3 sets of 12 of renegade rows using 10 kgs dB’s.

  • Bike ride home.

notes: Relatively happy with my deadlift. Im going to move on to the 531 progression system , starting with a modest training max of 100 kg’s.

Sunday, 11th January 2015.

TRAINING

Spent 30 minutes with the ball and the wall. Practice some moves and general play. Im going to try and spend 1-2 sessions a week with the ball. For fun and general fitness. Still have not decided if I will continue playing football this year.

Sunday weigh-in: 99.0 kg (@7pm, before dinner).

In other news I have made some minor adjustments to my diet, in the attempt to lose 4-5 kg’s of bodyweight just incase I decide to return to the football field. I plan to lose about 1 kg a week. With this slow rate of weight loss, I don’t think it will impede on my strength gains, and anyway for my bodyweight I should be lifting much more than I currently am.

A typical days diet will look something like this:
7am-11am: Black coffee and water only.
11am: 2 table spoons of PB on celery
1:00pm: 3 large eggs and 1 egg white or fillet of salmon, with either tomato & cucumber salad or some broccoli.
3:00pm: Quest bar
5:00pm: pre-workout meal of 1 cup of rice and small tin of tuna, and a banana.
6:30pm: post-workout meal of 2 scoop protein shake and carb source (probably will alternate with apple scroll, gluten free crepes and sometimes just a banana)
7:30pm: Dinner. On workout days, it will be a lean meat with either sweet potatoes or rice, on rest days it will be a fattier piece of meat with green vegetables.

The main changes to my diet is that I am moving my quest bar from 11am to 3pm, to replace a meal I used to have which was usually a protein shake and chicken rice paper rolls. Im also eliminating all milk in my morning coffees. Im guestimating that the reduction of calories is about 200-250 calories. Weigh-ins will be on Sunday and Wednesday evenings before dinner. Supplementation will remain the same: vit D and curcumin with lunch time meal, and fish oil at night with dinner.

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446

Looks a solid plan. Regardless of whether you go back to football or not, getting diet sorted is never a bad thing.

How you finding training post holiday?

447

[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
Looks a solid plan. Regardless of whether you go back to football or not, getting diet sorted is never a bad thing.

How you finding training post holiday?[/quote]
Thanks IronWarrior25.
I think I feel better when Im under 96 kg’s. Once I get to about 99+ kg’s I feel a little too heavy and “less agile”.

I thought training was going to be tough after the holiday, but it has not taken long to get back into the swing of things. I suppose the holiday provided me with a mental break that I needed.

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448

Monday, 12th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Press 531, Cycle three, Week one

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym

  • Press 531 (6 pull-ups in b/w sets)
    35 kg x 5
    40 kg x 5
    45 kg x 5

Supersetted my accessory work

  • dB bench press on a slight incline: 5 sets of 10 with 25 kg dB’s.

  • seated rows: 5 sets of 10 at 45 kg’s.

  • Shoulder shocker; 3 sets using a 10 kg plate and 6 kg dBs, 10 reps for the first 2 sets, and 8 reps for the last set.

  • Curls for the girls: Incline dB hammer curls: 12 x 12.5 kg, 10 x 15 kg, 6 x 17.5 kg.

  • Bike ride home.

notes: Was not feeling motivated for this session. Had a busy day at work and I am in need for a rest day. For those that do not know, I am only doing prescribed reps for the overhead press due to previous shoulder issues. My goal is to preserve my ability to press weight and to slowly improve it via the 531 progresion, but obviously using a low training max. Next week I will increase the weight of the dB bench to 27.5 kg and 50 kg’s for the seated rows.

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449

Started doing Z presses here mate, eliminates a lot of issues that can arise compared to normal ohp. (Plus taking weight off my knee atm)

Could be worth a shot for you to ease/reduce shoulder flare ups?

450

[quote]theBird wrote:
Monday, 12th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Press 531, Cycle three, Week one

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym

  • Press 531 (6 pull-ups in b/w sets)
    35 kg x 5
    40 kg x 5
    45 kg x 5

Supersetted my accessory work

  • dB bench press on a slight incline: 5 sets of 10 with 25 kg dB’s.

  • seated rows: 5 sets of 10 at 45 kg’s.

  • Shoulder shocker; 3 sets using a 10 kg plate and 6 kg dBs, 10 reps for the first 2 sets, and 8 reps for the last set.

  • Curls for the girls: Incline dB hammer curls: 12 x 12.5 kg, 10 x 15 kg, 6 x 17.5 kg.

  • Bike ride home.

notes: Was not feeling motivated for this session. Had a busy day at work and I am in need for a rest day. For those that do not know, I am only doing prescribed reps for the overhead press due to previous shoulder issues. My goal is to preserve my ability to press weight and to slowly improve it via the 531 progresion, but obviously using a low training max. Next week I will increase the weight of the dB bench to 27.5 kg and 50 kg’s for the seated rows.

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Good luck on that. I am gonna be doing a shoulder rehabbing thing Echastong sent me (my left shoulder has been angry when I do a lot of overhead pressing sets with a barbell).

Oh, how goes getting your strength back from your break in training?

451

[quote]raven78 wrote:
Started doing Z presses here mate, eliminates a lot of issues that can arise compared to normal ohp. (Plus taking weight off my knee atm)

Could be worth a shot for you to ease/reduce shoulder flare ups?[/quote]
I can confirm I’ve never had pain doing Z presses (I also press a lot less weight with the Z press).

452

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Good luck on that. I am gonna be doing a shoulder rehabbing thing Echastong sent me (my left shoulder has been angry when I do a lot of overhead pressing sets with a barbell).

Oh, how goes getting your strength back from your break in training? [/quote]
Its my left shoulder as well that gives me grief. I have kind of accepted the fact that I wont be able to train my overhead press as hard as I would like to, but I still want to preserve my ability to press. Check out deFranco’s “shoulder shocker” and see other tips in EyeDentists threads regarding how to build your shoulders without overhead pressing.
Dont feel my strength levels have been majorly effected due to my break, saying that I am not that strong anyway lol.

[quote]raven78 wrote:
Started doing Z presses here mate, eliminates a lot of issues that can arise compared to normal ohp. (Plus taking weight off my knee atm)

Could be worth a shot for you to ease/reduce shoulder flare ups?[/quote]
Hey Raven78,
Thanks for that. I will have a look into that tonight. I Hope your knee is getting better. Stay strong.

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453

[quote]theBird wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Good luck on that. I am gonna be doing a shoulder rehabbing thing Echastong sent me (my left shoulder has been angry when I do a lot of overhead pressing sets with a barbell).

Oh, how goes getting your strength back from your break in training? [/quote]
Its my left shoulder as well that gives me grief. I have kind of accepted the fact that I wont be able to train my overhead press as hard as I would like to, but I still want to preserve my ability to press. Check out deFranco’s “shoulder shocker” and see other tips in EyeDentists threads regarding how to build your shoulders without overhead pressing.
Dont feel my strength levels have been majorly effected due to my break, saying that I am not that strong anyway lol.

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I don’t think I’ll scrap the overhead press, but I’ll definitely do things that will make it more shoulder friendly.

Like I’ll probably ditch barbell presses for a couple weeks in place of DB presses, and do also overhead presses (DB or barbell) after pre fatiguing them until it is 100% healthy and pain free from pressing.

Of course this could just be my ego speaking and I will change up my training depending on how my shoulder reacts. I just don’t think I should cut overhead pressing out completely if I am trying to make it pain free.

454

[quote]Destrength wrote:
I don’t think I’ll scrap the overhead press, but I’ll definitely do things that will make it more shoulder friendly.

Like I’ll probably ditch barbell presses for a couple weeks in place of DB presses, and do also overhead presses (DB or barbell) after pre fatiguing them until it is 100% healthy and pain free from pressing.

Of course this could just be my ego speaking and I will change up my training depending on how my shoulder reacts. I just don’t think I should cut overhead pressing out completely if I am trying to make it pain free.
[/quote]
I agree with what your saying here.

I suppose one just has to be smart and acknowledge limitations. An “ego check” may be in order when trying to press big numbers.

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455

Wednesday, 14th January 2015.

TRAINING

Squat, Cycle three, Week two

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym, explosive jumps.

  • Squat 531
    57.5 kg x 3
    65 kg x 3
    75 kg x 3 (+4) (calculated 1 rep max: 92 kg)

Supersetted accessory work.

  • BSS: 5 sets of 10 using a 15 kg dB.

  • RDLs; 5 sets of 10 with 45 kg.

  • Renegade rows: 12 x 10 kg, 10 x 12.5 kg, 8 x 12.5 kg.

  • Bike ride home.

notes: Decent session. My squat is getting better, but my form still needs improvement. Will try getting a video up next week. Next week I will increase the weight for the RDLs and BSS.

In other news, my new diet is going well. Felt a little hungry and low on energy yesterday but still managed a high energy intense session at the gym.

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456

Thursday, 15th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Bench, Cycle three, Week two

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym, explosive push-ups.

  • Bench 531
    70 kg x 3
    80 kg x 3
    90 kg x 3 (+7) (calculated 1 rep max: 119 kg)

Supersetted my accessory work

  • Bodyweight dips: 5 sets of 10

  • dB rows with 25 kg: 5 sets of 10.

  • Curls for the girls: BB curls: 4 sets of 35 kg x 8.

  • Bike ride home.

mid-week weigh-in: 99 kg
(@11am)

notes: Good session. Feeling strong and motivated. Next week I will increase the weight for the dB curls and maybe do one more week of bodyweight dips before adding weight.

Surprised about my weigh in. I was feeling “light” and had guessed I would of lost 1 or maybe even 2 kg’s since my last weigh in(4 days ago). Im not worried. I would rather lose the weight very gradually, as I know that the faster I lose weight the faster I can gain it back.

In other news, I have finally got internet service at my home, so now I can provide more comprehensive news on the advents of theBird!

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457

Friday, 16th January 2015.

TRAINING

AM

Skill Session

  • Warm up including leg swings and knee to wall ankle mobility.
  • Spent 35 minutes with the ball practicing various skills and moves.
  • Warm down including “walking one legged deadlifts”, hip circles, bodyweight squats and ankle rehab.

notes:
Nice morning. Everything feeling good, although I need to be careful not to over-do myself with these “skill sessions”. I plan to gradually increase the intensity and possibly eventually program some sprint work at the end. On the the mornings I do train I allow myself to eat breakfast, which includes oats, a banana and a protein shake.

In other news, I am considering an online coach to help me with my squatting and deadlifting etc.

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458

Saturday, 17th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Dealift, Cycle three, Week two

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym.

  • Deadlift 531:
    70 kg x 3
    80 kg x 3
    90 kg x 3

Supersetted my accessory work:

  • Front squats: 5 sets of 10 with 50 kg.

  • Hamstring curls: first 2 sets was 10 reps at 45 kg, and next 8 sets were with 40 kg.

  • Ab’s: 3 sets of 10 hanging leg raises.

  • Bike ride home.

notes: Wasn’t going to gym today, but Im glad I did. Deadlifts form probably need work, but Im happy with my progress. Obviously at the moment I am only going for the prescribed reps with my deadlift.

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459

Sunday, 18th January 2015.

Was not planning on training today, but had nothing much planned and I was feeling relatively fresh so I decided to hit the gym.

TRAINING

Press, Cycle three, Week two

  • Agile 8 etc, bike ride to the gym.

  • Shoulder shocker: 3 rounds using a 10 kg plate and 6 kg dBs. 10 reps for all exercises for the first 2 sets and then 8 reps for all in the final.

  • Press 531:
    40 kg x 3
    45 kg x 3
    50 kg x 3 (+0)

Supersetted my accessory work:

  • dB bench press on a slight incline: 5 sets of 10 with 27.5 kg dBs (could only manage 8 reps on the last set).

  • seated rows: 5 sets of 10 with 55 kg.

  • Curls for the girls: 12 x 12.5 kg, 10 x 15 kg, 8 x 17.5 kg, 6 x 20 kg. (supersetted with 30 x swiss ball crunches).

notes:
Decided to try “pre-exhausting” my shoulders with the shoulder shocker today before pressing. I think it did make pressing a little more difficult and served well to warm up my shoulders. Im not really into “pre-exhausting” as I see my training to be more directed at performance and “function”, but I think that this may not be a bad idea for my press session due to my past history of shoulder issues.

Diet has been going well. On the weekend of course I allow myself a little extra than normal, although I have been good and have not blown things out with the likes of such things as whole pizzas and endless buckets of nuts lol.

In other news I have been invited to attend the first soccer training session of 2015 this Tuesday. Good news is that the coach this year will be the same coach we had in 2013, who is a very good coach. I still have not decided if I want to commit to another season, although probably will attend training and assess from there.

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460

Monday, 19th January 2015.

TRAINING

PM

Squat, Cycle three, Week three

  • Agile 8, bike ride to the gym, explosive jumps.

  • Squat 531
    60 kg x 5
    70 kg x 3
    77.5 kg x 1 (+4) (calculated 1 rep max: 90 kg)

Supersetted my accessory work:

  • BSS: 5 sets of 8 reps with 17.5 kg.

  • RDLs: 5 sets of 10 with 50 kg

  • I then practiced some cuban rotations, as last night I discovered I have been doing them with wrong technique.

  • Bike ride home.

notes:
Squats are slowly improving, but Im still not 100% happy with my technique. The last working set was horrible, although admittedly I was not in the zone. I am now just realising how much mental energy is required with the bigger lifts. 77.5 kg felt heavy on my back. I am wondering if it would it pay to practice squat technique on another day of the week, and maybe even do a couple of walkouts with a heavy bar on my back.

Next week I will increase the reps to 10 for the BSS and increase the RDLs to 55 kg.

In other news, the first pre-season football training is tomorrow night.

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