Update/Training Log

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

I have been taking things pretty easy since the HI show. Like a dumbass, I trained the following weekend. While pulling 550 off a 4" block, I finally did my back in. I have pretty much been in rehab mode since that time. Working on tons of pull throughs, reverse hypers, and light squats with better form. In spite of the injury, I have held weight and strength okay so far.

Saturday I hit an easy 250x5 and 270x3 axel clean and press. Also had some good pain free trips on conans wheel. Upper body and overhead seem to finally be improving. Hopefully smashing that 300 at the show broke the barrier in my head. Next stop is 325.

I am not really training for anything at the moment. My partners are both prepping for 2 shows, so I am trying to support them. I don’t think I will be in good enough shape for the 105k pro card show coming up. We do have a local show that I won last year however, and the events are good for me again this year. I will probably do that one and try to win, this will qualify me for nats if I decide to go that way.

Bodyweight was 248 today. I am now running 250 test e every 10 days and have been off the adrol for over 4 weeks. Thankfully, the weight did not all wash off. Anyways, I will keep updating and posting in this log for my own purpose and for anyone else who wants a peek.

Train hard.

Monopoly

2

Not much going on lately. Been busy at work again which is good. Upper body is feeling great, back and knee are not getting much better. Last night we were working on GM’s, at 185 I think I went regressed to square one with my lower back. Having a hard time with the shoelaces today. Not sure where to go from here.

We have been doing some fun stuff though. Last week we did an incline chaos bench. With this, we suspended 25lb plates with purple bands off the bar. At the bottom of the lift, the plates touched the ground and the tension came off the bands. Worked up to 215 bar weight for a triple. I got very sore and I loved this lift.

Also, did some high incline db presses. 5 sets of 10 @ 60lbs, with 20 seconds of rest between sets. I was spent and had a massive pump.

Have also been doing a lot of standing band ab work, that is a great lift.

Still no plan for a show yet, until I can get healthy I’m stuck. My training also seems to suck balls unless I have a solid goal. Rehab is a shitty goal…

Monopoly

3

Had a decent Saturday session.

axel press out of the rack
265x5

duck walk
325 for 2 trips of 50ft

deadlift against quaded mini bands
315x1 (band tension 125-150 at top?)

yoke walk
370 for 100ft

a ton of sets being the bitch carrying and loading plates…

Just feeling the back out again today. I am trying to make a huge effort to keep my abs and obliques braced during all lifts. I felt strong on the deadlift, but had some pretty good pain on the 315 dead.

My partner hit a 545 dead against the quaded minis. This was the most he’s pulled in a while. Also had a really good yoke run of 840 for 60ft or so. Fucker hit 285 for 8 on the axel as well. The deload week did him well, I think he’s going to do great in his upcoming show.

Sucks balls right now taking it easy when these guys are pouring it on. I’d just like to get healthy for a while, it’s so much more fun to lift pain free!

Monopoly

4

Nice man. I’ll be following this. Hope the back heals up–sucks to be an idiot. I do stupid stuff to myself all the time. Btw, 550 off a 4" platform is beastly. Could you post an outline of “typical” training weeks? It’d be nice to see your overall organization.

5

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Nice man. I’ll be following this. Hope the back heals up–sucks to be an idiot. I do stupid stuff to myself all the time. Btw, 550 off a 4" platform is beastly. Could you post an outline of “typical” training weeks? It’d be nice to see your overall organization.[/quote]

Thanks Aragorn. The 550 seems kinda shitty when the next guy pulls 600 for 3, and the other guy hits 650 for 3. Strength is so relative, eh?

I had a pretty detailed log in the “My road to HI” thread. Normal week would look something like this;

Monday: ME/RE Upper
Flat barbell with bands or chains working up to 1-2rm
incline log/barbell or overhead
accessory chest
heavy tricep movement (skulls, lockouts, etc)
accessory tricep
abs

Tuesday: Lower body
squat or variation of working up to a single probably
low back (zerchers, gm’s, etc)
hamstring?
endurance work (hi rep hip sled, sled drag, sandbag carry)

Wend: Off

Thurs: Accessory
We hit whatever was missed during the week here. Usually direct back work, bicep, some delt work, abs, grip, possibly a light event

Fri: Off

Sat: Event day
We hit 4-5 events on a Saturday. If someone has a comp we work those events, if not we do some stuff that we like, and then a couple events that we suck at.

Sun: Off

Repeat

Hope some of that helps. It’s kinda a mix between bodybuilding/westside/strongman. Keeps things interesting. We use lots of reps and sets, and we probably max too often, but it’s fun.

Monopoly

6

Sucky week so far, one partner hurt, the other out of town. Training alone sucks.

flat db
4 warmup sets working to
75x12 for 5 sets, 30-45 seconds of rest between sets

incline hammer press
4 or 5 sets of light weight

flys
2 sets

tricep pushdown
2 sets

nothing really felt good so I switched to delts

one arm laterals
45x10, 4 sets

rear delt
4 sets

seated arnolds
35lbsx25 reps, 4 sets

delts were done in giant set fashion. Really was a bad workout, but I am pretty sore today, more so in the chest. Go figure, eh?

Monopoly

7

Man oh man, today sucks. Did some stupid stuff yesterday and I feel it today.

snatch off blocks
worked up to 180 for 2, back feeling bad

chest supported barbell rows
worked up to 225 for 12, these are killer

superset with
standing dumbell curls

hammer strenght pull down
17 sets of 10. You read that correct. 17 sets. What started out at 10 sets of 10 quickly turned into a competition. We both mutally called it off after the 17th set. My hands, forearms, bis, lats, delts are all shot, it’s awesome.

The bad news is the back. I tried doing pull throughs and hypers, both were very painfull. I am now getting pain from my back through the right glute and hamstring while sitting. This may be worse than I thought. I’m going to try and see my regular doc to see if I can get an MRI ordered. On a good note, weight is still holding at 247lbs.

I’m half tempted to just jump on some IGF and see if that helps?

Monopoly

8

A word to the wise, don’t do 17 sets of 10 on one lift. I was hands down more sore than I have ever been in my life. Just yesterday I was finally able to straighten my arms out and get both hands over my head.

4/21 ME/RE upper

incline chaos bench (25lbs suspended w/purple band)
135x12
185x8
225x3
245x1
135x11

log floor press
190x12
270x9
295x6
250x11

tri set, 3 circuts-this kicked my azz
seated db press
one arm laterals
rear delt

one arm reverse grip pushdowns
3 sets

Done. Had some preworkout drink that didn’t agree with me. Never really got amped up and just made me feel shitty. Didn’t get to sleep til almost 1am, good times.

Monopoly

9

No training since Monday, I am going in tonight.

Got some bad news yesterday. My partner has been going up north to train with our 3rd member on Tuesdays. I have been missing these days as it’s a heavy lower session.

On the second rep of a 640 deadlift, he completly tore his right bicep off. I feel really bad for him as he was peaked HARD for his upcoming show, and that’s obviously a big injury. He’s never really been hurt before, so it will be interesting to see how he deals with this.

In light of this, and my current injury I’m thinking my goals are going to change for the moment. I may finally give a good run at a bodybuilding show. Thankfully we have a pretty smart guy over at my gym who has done a bunch of shows, so I am going to meet with him about it.

Good news is that it will be a new goal, and something else to do while I get my back right. Bad news, I’m going to have to diet. I’ll get this out in the open now, I’m weak, and I like junk food. I’ve never really done well sticking to a diet before so if I commit to this it will be interesting.

Monopoly

10

For anyone still reading, this is a great example of how not to make consistant gains.

4 months of solid training, and then take a shitter. I’m going to be a pussy and ride the excuse I’ve been hurt so I don’t feel like a total loser…

Minimal training as of late, about 2-3 days per week. One great thing happned last week however. I was on youtube and I found a ghetto setup for belt squats. Basically, stand on top of 2 tall boxes, and then hang a dip belt onto a bunch of weight. I have done this 3 times already, feels good to be “squatting” again.

I can tell it’s not only helping my back, but my weakness in the squat. I am also going to try some inversion boots so I can do traction work on the back. It’s feeling better, but def not even close to 100% yet. This really pisses me off as we have a local contest on the 24th of this month that I won last year.

I had planned on winning again which would qualify me for nats. At this point, it’s not looking very good.

My partner is healing well from his bicep surgery, he was front squatting and training with me only 5 days after going under. He was in a sling and already had great range of motion.

Monopoly

11

Well, have some better news than the last “workout”

We had a group of 3 on Saturday and we all had fun I think. My boy with his bum arm could only do single arm lifts, so we were creative.

1 arm db clean and press
60x6 (per arm)
80x6
100x3
120x3
130x3

switch to 50kg kettlebell x 8

160x1 (had to clean with both hands, and only got right arm. Never really attempted a max here so this is a PR. We are working on building up for an inch attempt)

1 arm deadlift
155x5 (per arm)
205x5
275x3-pulled clean on left, had to use a strap on right, wtf??
325x1 with strap

tire flip
1000lb tire x 3 flips, then 2 flips. Back feels great! Also, what’s going on here??? I have not touched a tire since March 16, and I’ve only flipped that tire once before while on?? In any event, I’ll take it!

blob lifts, lots of attempts and fun here. Was able to break it off the ground with left and right hands, but not haul the entire way up. The big guy in our group passed it around his body 6 TIMES! I did not get a video, but I will be next week, it was sick! He also 1 hand cleaned the blob hub style!

stone load
255x1 easy and no pain, wanted to keep going but didn’t want to jack myself up.

Sooooo, now after having this workout and feeling good, I am thinking about doing the local show here this weekend. I was sore yesterday, but I feel close to 100% today. I may just do a cut and compete as a LW? The weights for that class are very low, and I’m thinking I could win with a minimal effort. This would at least qualify me for LW nats?

I’m an idiot…
Monopoly

12

Training has been so-so recently. Back was getting much better, however 2 weekends ago I think I may have pushed a little too hard while squatting. Hit some good PRs which is nice, I’m looking forward to what may happen once I am fully healed and get back on something worthwile.

Just missed a 405 reverse purple band bench today, was maybe 5lbs off. fucker.

Saturday sucked. We did get a new guy who did really well, hopefully things work out and it ends up being a good addition.

worked up to a 275x1 axel press. it went up really quick, but all the work sets before sucked.

pushed the prowler for 5 or 6 trips, almost heaved

2 runs with a light yoke

some more blob attempts, this is so close!

ab work

husafelt (sp?) stone carry, 1 trip of 250ft with 200lb? stone

totally spent. it was high 80’s and the sun was out, just zapped my strength.

Going to do a light accessory workout on Wend and then take off till next Monday to try and heal up some more. Just saw the events for AM strongman nats, now all I need to do is qualify. On a side note, I cannote even begin to express how badly I want to deadlift.

Monopoly

13

Not much going here. However after recent events I may switch to twice weekly workouts. My strength has not waivered and joints are feeling much better.

I did just a shitty total body workout on Saturday by myself, was good just to be in the gym as I hadn’t been since last Monday. Left the gym feeling great only to go home and become pissy again, should have stayed at the gym.

Yesterday went well. Did reverse band again, this time with green bands. Worked up to 475x1 for about 95% of what I felt a max would be. I really wanted to hit 5 plates, so we slapped them on and it crushed me. Hit 475 again for a double with help on the second. Also did some high incline db work, tricep, abs, grip and stretching.

Planning on going tomorrow for whatever I feel like, no plan or goal right now until the back is 100%. BW still holding between 242-245.

Monopoly

14

Saturday/Event training

push press
bunch of sets at 145

went to clean and press with 200, axel with tires fixed in place. this was fun, very hard to control on the rebound. worked up to 250 for an easy double, shut it down

keg throw for height. the guy we have been trainging with has an awesome setup. he just put in a bar setup that you can adjust the height on. hit 5 kegs over 13" easy. moved the bar to 16 and it was much tougher, I was hitting about 1 out of every 3 throws. this was tons of fun, look forward to getting better on it.

dead against quaded minis
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3

All easy and no back pain, had more left but I thought that was probably pushing it too far already

duck walk
3 sets of 300lbs for 60ft or so

stones
2 loads of the 250 stone. no back pain!

My lower back is very sore today, but it’s not in pain. hopefully this is a good sign. my partner who tore is bicep is coming back in record time, he hit the same deads as I did and he is only 7 weeks out from surgery!! Was a good day overall, I wanted more of course but this was progress.

Monopoly