1/4/12 Squats and stuff. I spoke with David today, and the meet is official. I’ll be doing the MSA midcities push/pull on March the 17th. As such, this is going to be my last heavy-ish squat session for a while. Its just as well as I managed to suck pretty bad tonight. Probably going to pull twice a week(once focusing on semi heavy type stuff, probably block pulls) and then a speed pull day with squats as the primary auxillary. Bench and Overhead work will go on as normal.
VIDEO:
Squats.
Bar X8
135X5
225X5
315X5
415X3
455X4 and then fail. My little experiment with squatting in my olympic shoes is pretty much done. The camera angle sucked, but my elbows shot back out of the hole on every rep past the first, and I lost a good bit of upper back tightness. I was also coming way to far forward on my toes. I plan on working on all of this over the next two months, as my squatting will be form/rep work for that time period.
Front Squats:
135X5
225X5
315X3
Max Effort sled drags for the lulzz.
5 trips with the weight seen in the video with minimal rest.
1/7/12 Bench day. This day turned out to be very fucking awesome. For the next few months, I am going to go back to antagonistic pairings for upper body training that I used a while ago. Its going to amount to a horizontal push/pull day, and a verticle push/pull day. Leg days are going to be split into knee dominant(quad) and hip dominant(hamstring/glute) days, with speed pulls being my first movement on knee dominant day, then some kind of squat variation. Hip dominant day will be either block or rack pulls most likely, followed by a lot of glute/ham raises, 45 degree back raises, good mornings, and various other crap. Abdominal work will be done on both “leg” days. The push/pull meet is March 17th.
VIDEO:
Warmups, stretching, and other assorted bull shit. As I was warming up, David came by and asked me if I wanted to try out his slingshot. I’ve never used one of these or anything similar, so I said sure. My goal today was to work up to a havy-ish single and then do some pause work, so I figured why not.
Flat bench:
Bar X 15
135X8
225X5
275X5
315X3
365X1
405X1 Had a weird stick here where my triceps took over. Not exactly sure what it was. This wasn’t painfull or anything, the damn bar just stalled for no observable reason.
added the 2XL slingshot:
405X1 This rep damn near flew out of my hands.
455X1
475X1
500X1 then I got gready and failed for a second rep. I must say though, the slingshot is a damned cool toy. I will use it for a few weeks going forward and see where I can push my bench with it.
T-bar rows:
2 platesX12
4 platesX12
5 platesX8
6 platesX6 for two sets.
Dove, Tom, Bro in Iron, I came here to say that “fat bastard log” is hardly an appropriate name for your log any more. You look like a superhero these days dude!
DF, Thanks my friend. The slingshot is very cool. Can’t believe I was missing out on it for over a year.
Jab, Thanks very much for the kind words, though I am far away from hero(of any type) status. I still think Fat Bastard fits though. If nothing else, its a reminder.
Stretches, jumps, band pull aparts and other shit. Also, after every set of presses(bench or overhead) I did a set of 3 chins with varied grips. I have been doing this for a while but have not been “counting” them as anything. Then:
Speed bench:
BarX5
bar + some chains X5
135+chains X5
185+chains X3 for 5 sets. <---- Done with press comands.
DB push press:
50X8
80X5
110X5 ← stopped with my left arm here at this weight and just did rep work with lighter DBs after. That shoulder is feeling much better now, and I may go back to barbell work in a week or two.
150X3
185X2 PR by 5 LBs. I think I’m done going this heavy with this movement for a while. I attempted to guide the DB down with my off hand on some of my warm up sets, but this only led to me getting very off balance once I got to the 110 pounder. I’m simply not co-ordinated enough for that technique.
Chins:
BDW X 10 for 2 sets
BDW X 5 for 2 sets. Very little rest with these.
Dizenzio rows:
someX10 for 2 sets
face pulls:
someX10 for 2 sets.
Tricep push downs and alternating DB curls combo set:
someXsome for 3X12.
Done. Good session. Heavy deads/hamstring work tomorrow.
I will attempt to work up to something heavy with block pulls. Could be a single, double, or triple. Will most likely be a triple from a little ways below the knee cap. Its been forever and a day since I have done block pulls though, so I don’t have an exact weight in mind.
135X8
225X5
315X5
405X3
500X3
550X1
585X2 Good start with these.
RDLs:
135X8
225X8
315X5
405X5
455X5
Farmers walks:
someXsome for 5 trips.
V-ups:
someXsome.
My lower back hated me for this, but what does it know anyway?? In other news, don’t be stupid like me and wear cargo shorts and knee sleeves during heavy deadlift variants. Outside of that, it was a good session.
1/14/12 Bench day.
VIDEO:
Warmups and crap.
Bench:
Bar X15
135X12
225X5
275X5
315X3
365X1
Added slingshot
405X3
455X1
515Xno lift. Spotter put his fingers on the bar. I know he did not apply much pressure, however, I don’t think I would have had the lift with out his fingers hitting the bar and guiding it slightly, despite his “it was all you” statement at the end. Dammit. Probably should have done a single with 475 after 455 now that I think about it. Oh well, will do better next time.
Pendlay rows:
245X8 for 5 sets. Felt good.
Close grip bench press:
135X10
225X5
275X5
315X3
Close grip board presses:(3board)
275X12
275X12
275X20
Cable rows:
someXsome
DB curls, neutr. grip tri presses, and face pulls:
1/16/12 Speed deads. My lower back has been killing me. I have reduced the volume on my lower back stressing lifts and have upped the volume on abzz. Will slowly work back up in volume on the lower back intensive stuff.
1/17/12 Speed bench and shoulder work. 3 chins done between every set of any kind of press.
warmups, stretching and shit.
VIDEO:
Bench:
barX15
bar +chainsX10
135+chainsX5
185+chainsX3 for 5 sets. Adjusted this weight down. Last time 225 plus the chains was a bit of a stretch for speed work.
Strict overhead press:
barX8
95X5
135X5
185X5
225X3
240X5 dammit. I did not expect OH pressing my bodyweight to be this retardedly hard. You can tell that I have not strict pressed in a long ass time, as my technique just felt(and looked) like shit. Strict pressing will now be a priority for some time.
Z-press: inspired by the overhead press challenge thread:
barX5
95X5
135X3
185X2 Dammit that was hard.
225X0…
I have some work to do on this lift.
chins:
BDW X 8
+50X3
+75X1
+100X1
BDW X 10
Lat pull down, tricep push down, alt. DB curl combo set:
135X8
225X5
315X5
405X3
495X3
565X1
600X1<---- All time PR. I have never pulled 600 before in any way without a massive hitch involved. Got a bit excited. Will bump the weight up next time.
