Wanna be Elite...

Training Training Logs
481

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

Do you notice your bench isn’t quite as steady now during the descent? I’m fine up top and at the chest, but own the way down in the middle I have a really hard time keeping the bar steady–it is very evident in my last bench video. Marauder meat talks often about “rowing” the bar down during bench to maintain tightness and get the kinetic energy built up for the press. I think my back is definitely a weak link in that chain.
[/quote]

Damn, I was looking for this conversation in Texican’s log cause I wanted to comment. TIME WASTED.

Anyway, yeah, I have a real hard time keeping the bar in line when I am benching. I thought it was bascially just because my left arm is no where near as strong as my right arm.
I always thought I had a really strong back because I do so many pull ups/chin ups and I facepull multiple times a week AND do band pull aparts, yadda yadda. Even my Kroc rowin’ feels strong.
BUT I HAVE AN AWFUL BENT OVER ROW! I have a hard time keeping the bar in line when i am doing bent over row, just like for my bench!
Maybe I need to be bent over rowin’ like a mutha f***er to help my bench.

HMM?? [/quote]

Maraudermeat talks about rowing the bar to your chest in the same path that you would lower it during the descent of a bench press. And he’s really strong.

482

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

Do you notice your bench isn’t quite as steady now during the descent? I’m fine up top and at the chest, but own the way down in the middle I have a really hard time keeping the bar steady–it is very evident in my last bench video. Marauder meat talks often about “rowing” the bar down during bench to maintain tightness and get the kinetic energy built up for the press. I think my back is definitely a weak link in that chain.
[/quote]

Damn, I was looking for this conversation in Texican’s log cause I wanted to comment. TIME WASTED.

Anyway, yeah, I have a real hard time keeping the bar in line when I am benching. I thought it was bascially just because my left arm is no where near as strong as my right arm.
I always thought I had a really strong back because I do so many pull ups/chin ups and I facepull multiple times a week AND do band pull aparts, yadda yadda. Even my Kroc rowin’ feels strong.
BUT I HAVE AN AWFUL BENT OVER ROW! I have a hard time keeping the bar in line when i am doing bent over row, just like for my bench!
Maybe I need to be bent over rowin’ like a mutha f***er to help my bench.

HMM?? [/quote]

Maraudermeat talks about rowing the bar to your chest in the same path that you would lower it during the descent of a bench press. And he’s really strong.
[/quote]

I KNOW!! I am that guys biggest fan, ha-ha.
I am going to start doing bent over row multiple times per week now and see how it affects my benching.
See, it’s stuff like this that makes powerlifting so damn exciting. LEARNING AND TINKERING my way to strength gains! Horrah!

483

18.4.3 - 3/8/12

Deadlifts: 195x5, 245x5, 295x5
SSB Squat: 165x5, 205x5, 245x5
GHR: 3x8
Ab Wheel: 3x10

Very easy session. I read some of the advice given to Spock wrt her deadlift and tried that out a bit tonight. I had been taking too long setting up at the bar and staring at it and fiddle farting around before grabbing it and not getting really tight. After looking at my last deadlift video from my last meet, I was so focused on just lifting the damn bar I even forgot to snap my belt. I didn’t do any of the shit that I had fallen into recently and pulled the highest I ever had in my life. Need to get back to that–just a big belly full of air, bend down, grip it, rip it.

The only problem with this is getting the hands in the right position but I think with practice I should be able to sense where they need to go.

Today was a high carb day, so no cardio, which I realized when I got to the gym and was dreading doing cardio. It was like a little bonus that I didn’t have to do it.

Got our first playoff basketball game tomorrow night so pushing my OHP deload workout off to Saturday so I am fresh for the game. Plan on dropping 20 points and at least 15 boards. Haven’t decided yet, but I also might get a triple double with 10 blocks. TBD.

484

18.4.4 - 3/11/12

OHP: 95x5, 120x5, 140x5
Pullups: 4x7
Floor Press: 125x5, 160x5, 190x5
Curllllz: 80x8x3
Face Pulls: 3x15

Cardio: 30 minutes elliptical (135 BPM)

So played basketball Friday night and had 20 points and 15 boards or so (as expected) but only like 3 blocks. We ended up losing to WVU, which was pretty embarassing. We are a much better team just couldn’t put it together. Oh well, out of the playoffs first game. At least now I can do my real cardio as rx’ed by Shelby.

Also did something wicked to my right scapula area at the game and it locked up on me Friday night and throughout Saturday…like would double me over and I couldn’t stand up straight…finally went to the urgent care clinic Saturday afternoon and got some pain killers, predinisone, and muscle relaxers and those things set me straight. Needless to say I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to lift at all this weekend (or even next week) but felt fine today so decided to go test it out.

Workout was extremely easy and my scap didn’t bother me in the slightest, even with the pullups and face pulls. Hoping to continue at least through this week pain free so I can hit my Aruba vacation Saturday for some relaxation and rest.

Waking bodyweight this morning: 277.0–down 2.5 pounds from last week.

485

Geez dude, be careful!
Totally jealous of the vacation though…

So question:
You’re on the 3/5/1 variation, oui?
How long did you do the regular one for and have you noticed a real strength increase difference doing it this way??

I keep tinkering with the idea…

486

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
So question:
You’re on the 3/5/1 variation, oui?
How long did you do the regular one for and have you noticed a real strength increase difference doing it this way??

I keep tinkering with the idea… [/quote]

I don’t remember without looking at my spreadsheet how many “regular” cycles of 5-3-1 I did before moving to 3-5-1. I am on my 18th cycle total, and I think I started 3-5-1 before my meet prep last August, so probably about 12, 13 or so cycles with 5-3-1? That sounds about right.

I don’t do the heavy singles on 3-5-1 though. I just like the setup better than 5-3-1 since I get the “mini-break” halfway through. So my wave looks like: hard, medium, hard, light. If I feel like doing singles one week (like a couple weeks ago with the bench PR) I will. But since I’m dieting and stuff now, I really don’t do it that often. Just when I get a wild hair up my ass. Obviously will be doing the heavy singles when I start my meet prep in April.

As far as strength gains, its hard to tell. I’ve definitely gotten stronger, but its hard to gauge how much better it is since I have been dieting and focusing on conditioning almost since my meet in October. I just know that I dont feel as beat up and can still push hard for rep PR’s in my first and third weeks.

487

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Geez dude, be careful!
Totally jealous of the vacation though…

So question:
You’re on the 3/5/1 variation, oui?
How long did you do the regular one for and have you noticed a real strength increase difference doing it this way??

I keep tinkering with the idea… [/quote]

I say go for it. I promise you won’t get weaker by doing it.

488

19.1.1 - 3/12/12

Foam Rolling like a mother

Squats: Warmups, 340x3, 390x3, 435x8 PR!
SSB GM: 155x8, 180x8, 210x6
Ab Wheel: 4x15

So after the trip to the ER this weekend for my back, I wasn’t sure how squatting was going to go this week. Popped a muscle relaxer an hour or so before to keep everything loose and had decided I would stop at 5 going in depending on how they felt. Well, that didn’t go as planned and I hit a PR instead. This was so light I feel like I could have hit it for 10 easily. Moral of the story: you don’t need a healthy scapula to squat–I don’t even know what that thing does!

High carb day so no cardio.

btw, Shelby told me I could start putting sugar free jelly on my ezekiel bread and rice cakes and shit…this makes things so much more exciting! Been getting pretty hungry in between meals which didn’t happen at all over the past 6 weeks. I actually struggled to get all my meals in. Maybe this means my metabolism is picking up.

489

19.1.2 - 3/13/12

Foam rolled the shit out of my back

Bench: Warmups, 255x3, 290x3, 330x7 PR!
Pullups (Overhand): 8, 8, 7, 6, 7
Incline: 185x8, 215x8, 245x6
DB Rows: 80x10, 90x10, 100x10
Face Pulls: 3x15

Conditioning: 30 minutes elliptical (136 BPM Heart Rate)

Soooo 2/2 on PR’s this week…off to a great start! 290 set was somewhat hard because I didn’t set up right and lost tightness when I unracked it so I got a handoff for the money set. Smoked it for an easy 7 and could have gone at least 8 without any trouble at all. Man I wish I could keep days like this and yesterday in a bottle to open up on meet day!

Bench was supersetted with pullups, as per usual. I usually alternate my grips (overhand, underhand, close neutral, wide neutral) but was looking at my training log and realized I haven’t made a lot of pullup progress with that setup. Not that it has been a priority, but I thought changing it up for a couple cycles may help. So I’m going to stick to a single grip for each day.

Incline, Rows, and Facepulls were done as a circuit.

I had intended to remove incline and replace with programmed barbell rows this cycle, but since I fucked my back up over the weekend I thought it might be a bad idea to establish a max so quickly before it heals up. I have no idea what my max would be so couldn’t even give a good estimate. Doing inclines for one more cycle won’t hurt.

Threw in DB rows for horizontal lat work instead. They felt easy. Going to move up 5 pounds per set I guess next week.

Conditioning was odd. My heart rate was so pumped after the actual workout that the slightest bit of movement on the elliptical took my heart rate up in the mid 140’s…I had to slow it down to a crawl to get it in range…it didn’t want to come back down for the first 12 minutes and then started to get back to normal…may be from the prednisone I’ve been taking for the injury increasing cortisol? Not sure but interesting (to me).

Deadlifts will be the real challenge on Thursday to see how the back healed up. Low carb and HIIT tomorrow. Get money.

490

3/14/12

Cardio: 15 minutes HIIT. Low carb day.

FTR, I woke up this morning and was below 275 for the first time in a looong time. Ut oh

Hunger in between meals is growing strong. Maybe metabolism is finally ramping up? Im eating and literally hungry again an hour later. Could also be the prednisone from the back injury.

491

19.1.3 - 3/15/12

Foam roll that bitch

Deadlift: Warmups, 350x3, 400x3, 455x1, 495x1, 545x1, 585x1 PR!, 600x1 PR!
GHR: 3x8
Ab Wheel: 3x12

Conditioning: 30 minutes steady state on bike (awful). 130 or so BPM HR.

So I was supposed to do 450 for a bunch of reps tonight, but felt good and strong going in so decided to test my 1RM. Ended up working up to 6 plates (585), which was a 20+ pound PR for me. That went up pretty easy, so decided to give 600 a go and nailed it. Would have gotten redlighted like shit in a meet since I fell back after it was locked out, but all good nonetheless. Not sure how much more I had in the tank, but it was there I believe.

Awesome gym week! Going for a PR tomorrow in OHP to make it 4/4 on the week…booyah

And of course, proper documentation:

492

WAY TO GO DUDE, U SO COOL!!

Now you can really play with the big kids!

493

Dude you killed it. I’d say you’re good for 620+. I don’t know if I’ve ever pulled 600 that smooth.

494

Awesome pull, but for some odd reason I find it hilarious you had to do 30 minutes on the bike afterwards. Talk about a buzz kill.

495

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
WAY TO GO DUDE, U SO COOL!!

Now you can really play with the big kids! [/quote]

yay…maybe they will stop kicking dirt in my face on the playground too!

[quote]frankjl wrote:
Dude you killed it. I’d say you’re good for 620+. I don’t know if I’ve ever pulled 600 that smooth.[/quote]

Thanks bro…not sure if 620 was there, but definitely a little more…it felt good though…I think the good mornings and SSB squats over the past couple cycles have really helped my initial pull to get it off the ground…I have always been decent at lockout if I got the bar moving…now just gotta do it at a meet! haha

[quote]scj119 wrote:
Awesome pull, but for some odd reason I find it hilarious you had to do 30 minutes on the bike afterwards. Talk about a buzz kill.[/quote]

haha well, I did the cardio in my shitty apartment gym and some bitch was on the only elliptical in there…I felt so catty about being mad at her for it and making me use the bike…that thing wobbles like a motherfucker when a 275# man is trying to keep up the pace on it! I made sure to breathe extra hard to annoy her.

496

Awesome pulls

497

I am Jelly

498

Tahnks guys!

19.1.4 - 3/16/12

OHP: Warmups, 170x3, 190x3, 215x7 PR!
Pullups: 8, 7, 6, 7
Floor Press: 190x8, 225x8, 255x6
Face Pulls: 4x15

Wooo…4/4 on the PR attempts this week…awesome training week…7th was ugly as hell as I was pretty drained from last night’s DL session, but made it through.

No cardio. Went to drink beers and eat shitty food instead. Off to Aruba in a couple hours. Back Wednesday. Peace bitches

499

Back from Aruba…was 274.5 when I stepped on the scale the morning I left…came back last night and weighed in at a good 288.5…14 pound gain in a few days nice…ton of bloat though so probably will drop most of it back off in the next couple days…

Since this is a half week, I’m just going to go into the gym and do my deload weights before getting back into the rhythm next week with my 5’s week…so tonight will be squat/bench and Saturday will be DL/OHP and back to normal programming on Monday…few more weeks of fat loss plan left before moving to bulk-mode/meet prep…exciting

500

3/22/12

Foam rolling to warmup

Bench: 145x5, 185x5, 225x5
Pullups: 3x5
Squat: 195x5, 245x5, 290x5
SSB GM: 105x5, 130x5, 155x5
Incline: 120x5, 155x5, 185x5
DB Row: 80x10x3

Cardio: 26 minutes steady state

After drinking my face off in the sun and surf for the past few days, my gym performance was in shambles. This workout was hard and exhausting. If I was moving any sort of real weights, it would have been difficult to get through. Although on the other hand, I never really do get that motivated for deload type workouts so that could be part of it too.

Back is still feeling a little rough. Pain moves from left side to right side in my lower back. Off work again tomorrow so may go find an ART guy to adjust me a bit.

Ran out of time before the gym closed so just 26 minutes of cardio. Whatevs. Was sweating like a whore in church so I guess I got my moneys worth.

Felt good to be back on the diet again today. I definitely got my fill of shitty craving foods while on vacation and ready to hit the diet hard for the next few weeks again.