Wanna be Elite...

Training Training Logs
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Man have I been shitty at keeping this log up to date! Let’s get caught up, shall we.

Week -7 (continued): 9/17/11

DL: 205x5, 255x5, 305x3, 330x5, 380x5, 430x1
OHP: 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 135x5, 160x5, 180x5
Pullups: 5x5
Dips: 8, 8, 8
GHR: 8, 8, 8
Ab Wheel: 5, 5

DL was still continuing to struggle. Burning myself out the week before didn’t help the matter. 430 felt very heavy and I did 1 rep and called it there–didn’t even try for 5. It was after this that I decided to drop my DL training max by 10% and drop my meet goal from 585 to 545. After the meet, I will work on correcting whatever the hell is wrong with the DL.

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Meet Prep: Week -6

9/19/11

Bench: 135x5, 185x5, 235x3, 265x5, 300x3, 335x1, 345x1, 385x1 <–PR!
DB Row: 85x10, 85x10

Went out and trained with Tim Henriques and some other guys from Team Force for this session. It went very well and hit a 385 Bench for a new PR. It was touch and go with no pause, but felt very strong off the chest.

Skipped out on assistance to go drink milkshakes and grub at Silver Diner…man that place is good…

9/20/11

Squat: 190x5, 235x5, 280x3, 350x5, 400x3, 445x1, 470x1, 525x1

525 tied for all time squat PR and felt pretty good. Pretty confident about the 550 at the meet.

Considering how DL was going lately, I decided to completely skip it this week and come back fresh after the deload…I think this was the right call…also didn’t do OHP as planned due to some last minute shuffling before my flight to Germany…

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Meet Prep: Week -5

This was a deload week, and also happened to coincide with my trip to Oktoberfest in Munich and 4 days in Amsterdam. Me and the little lady went across and met up with one of my friends from college and her friend and had an awesome time. Spent 4 days in Munich visiting the city and going to Oktoberfest, and 4 days after that in Amsterdam. The trip was incredible.

My only workout consisted of 1 Liter Beer Curls (called Mass in German, approprriately enoughed). I think I gained about an inch on my bicep all week:

Curls: 1 Liter x infinity

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Meet Prep: Week -4

10/4/11

Squat: 190x5, 235x5, 380x3, 330x3, 375x3, 425x3, 470x1

First day back after vacation and took it pretty easy. Just got my main lift in (working up to my opener) and got out. 470 was a bit slow, but not unreasonably so considering what I had been doing for the prior 10 days. No worries for the meet.

10/5/11

Bench: 140x5, 175x5, 210x3, 245x3, 380x3, 315x3, 345x1
Pullups: 6x5

Easy. Smoking 345 off the chest with a full pause.

10/7/11

DL: 195x5, 240x5, 290x3, 335x3, 385x3, 435x3, 470x1, 510x1
R. Hyper: 180x8x3
Ab Wheel: 3x10

Went and worked out with Tim Henriques for this session and he and another guy from the Team were able to help me identify what I had been doing wrong with my DL. Tim says my calves are too tight and that’s keeping me from getting into position. Basically keeping me from being able to bend properly to get my hips back and get the bar close enough to my shins. Going to be foam rolling those bitches and loosening up with a golfball underneath the foot and rolling on it.

After mentally cuing myself to sit back further and not get my hips so low to start, I was able to get into a much better pulling position. 470x1 was cake and the 510 went up pretty easily as well.

10/8/11

OHP: 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 155x3, 175x3, 195x6
Pullups: 6x5

Went for a couple more reps on OHP today. Was a rep PR at that weight. Had an easy 8 in me and probably could have grinded out a 9th.

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Meet Prep: Week -3

10-10-11

Squat: 190x5, 235x5, 280x3, 305x5, 350x5, 400x1
STRETCHING!!!

This squat session was a disaster. I was so sore and beat up from Deadlifting the week prior after my layoff that my hammies and low back were still fucked up 3 days later. My girl was rubbing me down with Icy Hot every night and I was still having trouble getting to sleep. Had tweaked the back a bit but overall was just general muscle soreness.

The 400 felt like infinity on my shoulders. Did one rep and didn’t want to risk anymore.

Spent the rest of the session stretching my ass off.

10/12/11

Bench: 140x5, 175x5, 210x3, 230x5, 265x5, 300x5
Pullups: 6x5

Bench was a littler harder than it should have been. Still fatigued and sore from previous week.

10/13/11

Deadlift: 195x5, 240x5, 290x3, 315x5, 365x5, 415x5
GHR: 3x8
Ab Wheel: 3x10
STRETCHING!

Deadlift was strong and light. Focused on setting up with my shins right on the bar and that helped out a lot. Video shows room for improvement but I honestly could have repped this weight out all day long. Need to focus a bit more on sitting back to start and keeping my shins more vertical and bar closer to them that way instead of leaning into the bar.

Here is the vid:

Overall I’m happy with the improvements I’ve made in the DL and think I can continue this into the meet. After meet is going to be focused heavily on DL to get this up to the 600+ range. I know for a fact I’m strong enough to pull it once I get my form issues straightened out.

10/16/11

OHP: 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x5, 165x5, 185x5
Pullups: 6x5
Dips: 3x8
Curls: 80x10, 90x10, 100x10

OHP felt a little heavy this day, not sure why. Not too worried about it. Accessory work was fine.

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How much longer till the meet?

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Its Sunday the 30th. Got the rest of this week to lift, then off all next week to stretch and deload!

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Those reps in that vid looked really easy. GL at your meet man hope you pull big! :smiley:

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With your DL corrections it looks like all your lifts are coming around right at the perfect time. If you need any help with your squat form you know who to ask!

…not me.

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Hey man you are really strong good job. I am about as tall as you and I struggle a lot with bench press. can you tell me anything about your technique or grip width? I appreciate any advice about bench press.

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Joweeeeeeeeeeeeee: Thankx man…they felt very easy as well…hopefully I’ve had enough time to rest and recuperate to get a big pull at the meet!

SCJ: Thanks man…hoping for big things!

Circa: My bench has always been rarely shitty until recently…I’ve worked a few technique issues, but mostly it is just getting stronger…Overhead pressing has helped the most IMO, and floor presses second…I like floor presses because not only do they make your lockout strong, but they teach you be really fucking tight which you have to be when setting up to bench as well…you need to lock your ass into the floor and squeeze tight like you’re trying to avoid prison rape…keep the arms tight on the way down as well…I’ve found these cues have a strong carryover to bench…

I’ve also moved my grip out one finger length on each hand…I’m gripping the bar with pointer finger on the rings now–this lowers the distance I have to lower the bar…I have Dave Tate to thank for that one…

Meet Prep: Week -2

10/18/11

Deadlift: 195x5, 240x5, 290x3, 365x5, 410x3, 455x1
Ab Wheel: 3x10

The pull felt a little heavier than it should have, but never any doubt about it. I moved DL up in the week so I had longer to recover before the meet, so only about 4 days after my last DL session. I probably was not fully recovered.

The remainder of the week was an absolute cluster fuck and I didn’t do any more lifting. I was on travel on the west coast for most of the week so with the plane rides and shit, I didn’t have a lot of time. It didn’t help that I forgot my base badges back on the east coast, so couldn’t get on post to lift and had to find a shitty commercial gym to lift in which closes at 8 pm. I don’t know what it up with you people in the Pacific Northwest with closing everything down so early!

That said, I probably short changed myself a bit. It should have been a week that I absolutely did not sacrifice and should have gone in and just hit the heavish singles as prescribed to keep my confidence up going into the meet and keeping the joints lubricated and motions fluid.

But on the other hand, I feel very well rested and confident going into this weekend, so am not gonna beat myself up too bad over it. I’m fucking pumped for the meet and have expectations of going 9 for 9.

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Meet Prep: Week -1

No lifting this week. Just been doing some foam rolling and stretching, and punishing the calories so I can stay in the 308 weight class. We already have a 275’er on the team and it is better for points if we cover as many classes as possible, so I am taking one for the team here. Since I don’t care how I place amongst the other entrants and am just competing against myself anyway, this is really no big deal for me.

I weighed in at 279.8 this morning and have been holding steady there for the past couple weeks.

I went and helped SCJ119 (or whatever his number is) with squats tonight and got a bit of form work in to keep the confidence up…it was really hard to sit there and watch somebody else workout without grabbing the bar myself!!! I feel very ready going into the weekend.

Tried on my singlet tonight for the first time in a year…ouch. It seems to have shrunk a bit. Let’s just say somebody in the front row may get a face full of cock while I’m benching! But I’m still going to rock it and get another one after the meet.

Ordered some ammonia from Elite tonight too and getting that shipped to the hotel. I really hope they don’t open it up! That might be hard to explain.

I worked my attempts out tonight and have decided on the following:

Squat: 212.5/232.5/250
Bench: 157.5/170/182.5
DL: 212.5/232.5/250

When I make all my thirds, that will be 551/402/551 for a 1504 total. Depending on how my second bench attempt goes, I MIGHT go down to 180, but truthfully will probably stay as planned to break the 400 barrier. Nobody gives a shit about a 396 bench.

Let’s roll bitches…

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Kill it big man

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Best of luck!

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Thanks guys. Forgot to mention I went to the Night Of The Living Dead last weekend in Tennessee. My parents live about an hour away, so me and the little lady used that as an excuse to go visit everyone and watch some monster deadlifts while we were at it.

The chicks and lighter lifters went first. Some good pulls. Jennifer O’Neill from Ireland won the women’s division with a monster 468 pull, but the most awesome story was Alison McWeeny who lost her left leg in a boating accident a couple years ago. This chick pulled 171 on a 4th attempt, which is more than most guys at my gym with two legs can muster. Awesome.

Richard Hawthorne won the overall men’s coefficient after pulling something like 610 at 125# Bodyweight. Nearly a 5x BW deadlift…stupidly sick.

My buddy Vince Urbank weighed in at 298 and became the first American 308 to pull over 900 pounds, opening up at 906. He and Andy Bolton skipped their second attempts and went for 936 and 937, respectively on their last attempt but both missed. Vince took the overall Andy Bolton Challenge victory.

Overall it was an awesome show. That is a pic of me and Vince after the show ended. He is a large man.

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And me and the legend himself, Andy Bolton.

Andy had gotten a stomach virus the week before the meet and lost a ton of weight and had everyone trying to convince him not to go, but he showed up anyway and still managed an 816 pull weighing in at a svelte 327!

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[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

I went and helped SCJ119 (or whatever his number is) with squats tonight and got a bit of form work in to keep the confidence up…it was really hard to sit there and watch somebody else workout without grabbing the bar myself!!! I feel very ready going into the weekend.
[/quote]

Dude don’t sell yourself short… you CRUSHED the form work on that 160x1

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Good luck this weekend buddy. Kill it.

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Weighed in at a svelte 284 in the middle of the afternoon, and proceeded to eat two massive steaks, potatoes, oreos, PB&Js, etc…basically whatever I could get my hands on…I definitely set a new PB&J PR by eating like 9 in a 24 hour period…was probably close to 290 on the platform…

Had a pretty good day, going 8/9. Only lift I missed was my third bench attempt at 391. Just couldn’t stay tight enough to get it moving off the chest fast–got it halfway up and wasn’t strong enough to lock it out…c’est la vive…apparently my breathing for bench is completely wrong, so we’re gonna work on that for instant poundage…

I hit 551/375/563 on the day for a 1489 or so total for a +198 Meet PR (last meet February 2010 @ 1300). Finally got the 250 kg squat that I had been eyeing. Didn’t get the 400 bench, but still pretty happy with the way it all went…

I deviated from the deadlift plan on the advice of Tim Henriques, who is basically the best coach ever…I had planned to do 475/510/550, but the opener was so easy, he convinced me to go 525 on the second, to set myself up for 563 on the third. It was definitely the right call…Probably still left a little on the platform there but not as much as I would have…

Finished 5th in the 308’s–there were some awesome lifters there and the weight class was stacked…very humbling…

To top it all off, our powerlifting team, Team Force, won the overall team 1st place beating our Team Canada 52-51…

Pics and vids are gonna be up later in the week…now I gotta go get ready to fly back to DC…feel bad for whoever is sitting beside me on the plane…PEACE!

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Nice work on the meet performance!

Sucks you didn’t lock out the bench. What is this different breathing on the bench?

Glad to hear you are getting some solid help from Tim on your lifts. I know I’ve been something of an antagonist to him on these forums, but I do have a lot of respect for the guy from reading some of his stuff.

Again awesome performance, almost 200 pounds better than last time and post cancer!