Wanna be Elite...

Training Training Logs
161

Last Saturday I went in and squatted…worked my way up to 450x2, and it was heavy as shit…I could have gotten 4 reps or so I’d say, but definitely no more…After the workout I did 10 trips back and forth (20 yards or so x2) with the Prowler (unloaded) on grassy turf, which has a lot of friction…I was dying by the end…

At one point, I think Monday, I did 5 rounds of:
-350# tire flip for 20 yards, sledge hammering it 2-5 times after each flip
-Prowler Pull (stationary) with rope for 20 yards
-Prowler Push for 20 yards (low handles)

On another day, I think Thursday, I did 6 rounds of:
-Battle ropes (30 smacks)
-Prowler (+90) Push for 20 yards (high bars)
-Backwards Prowler (+90) Pull with EFS Blast Straps for 20 yards

The backwards pulls absolutely destroyed my quads…it was intense…

Throughout the week I noticed my conditioning getting better each workout…hopefully by the end of this, I will actually be able to chase something down and kill it for sustenance…

As for lifting:

11.1

Monday 2-21-11
Bench (3x5): 195, 225, 255 (10)
Pullups (30): Completed, forgot how many sets…probably 5 or so
Pushups (3x10): Body, Completed…this was unawesome…blast strap pullups are the new move in the repetoire from now on…
Supersetted pullups, pushups, and jumping jacks (25-30 reps or so)

Stopped bench at 10 reps but had plenty left…

Thursday 2-24-11
Deadlift (3x5): 274, 315, 360 (6)
Ab wheel rollouts (4x): 12, 10, 10, 8
Planks (2x): done, done…didn’t count times
Abductor pulley (4x12): 20, 30 (10), 20, 20

This was the first workout I started to notice a strength decrease…for some reason though I set up for the AMRAP set with a double overhand grip hook grip…I’ve been wanting to give it a try but I’m terrible at it right now…grip was fine on the 315 set, but immediately began slipping on the 360 one…I don’t think I used any chalk either for some reason…oh well, got 6 in…

Ab wheel rollouts were easier for me than they were last time

Abductor pulley needs to be done explosively and I need to rest longer in between each leg I discovered, or performance suffers greatly on the 2nd round…

Sunday 2-27-11
OHP (3x5): 125, 145, 160 (8)
Pullups (50): Done (supersetted with OHP and then with reverse hyper)
Explosive reverse hyper (3x10): 90, 90, 90
Blast Strap Ab Fallouts (4x10): body, body, body, body
Jumping Jacks (4x25): done (supersetted with blast strap ab fallouts)

Weight felt heavy for OHP as soon as I unracked it…ugh…
Rest of workout was good…feeling great from the reverse hyper…that thing is a lifesaver…

Ok, so the log is now all caught up…I’m going to be keeping better track of exactly what it is I’m doing and post it for future logs so I can refer back to it at a later date to see what worked and what didn’t…this whole fat loss, conditioning, mobility thing is all real new to me and I’m sure I’m going to make some mistakes along the way…

162

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
Link to the pulse feast? Seems like you are liking it so far.[/quote]

:slight_smile:
[/quote]

Dammit…I earned that haha

163

[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
Link to the pulse feast? Seems like you are liking it so far.[/quote]

:slight_smile:
[/quote]

Dammit…I earned that haha[/quote]

Beats this one:

http://www.justfuckinggoogleit.com/

164

Just found this log, but it is full of WIN!

I’m starting a bastardized version of “5/3/1 Reloaded” so I’ll definitely be following this. Keep up the great work

165

Nice log you got here! With the reps you are doing on bench I would of thought you would easily get 365.

Wanna join a race to 405lbs on bench? So far got aquacruzer and I think /\ashylarryku/\ in the race. Nothing like a bit of friendly competition to get you going.

166

[quote]Getting Closer wrote:
Nice log you got here! With the reps you are doing on bench I would of thought you would easily get 365.

Wanna join a race to 405lbs on bench? So far got aquacruzer and I think /\ashylarryku/\ in the race. Nothing like a bit of friendly competition to get you going.[/quote]

I’m only at 285 lol, I thought we were racing to 315? But we might as well make it 405 while we’re at it!

167

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:

[quote]Getting Closer wrote:
Nice log you got here! With the reps you are doing on bench I would of thought you would easily get 365.

Wanna join a race to 405lbs on bench? So far got aquacruzer and I think /\ashylarryku/\ in the race. Nothing like a bit of friendly competition to get you going.[/quote]

I’m only at 285 lol, I thought we were racing to 315? But we might as well make it 405 while we’re at it![/quote]

I could do 315 already :wink: May as well go big! lol You already pulled 5 plates didnt you?

168

Thanks for stopping in guys…I hope ya’ll can find something in this mess that helps you out in your training…

As for the reps not equating to a not-sucky 1 RM on bench, I fully agree…My estimated max at those reps is something like 395…but 365 buried me…I’m thinking it is mostly just my CNS isn’t used to handling heavier weights…my plan to “peak” one more before my meet with just a couple weeks of heavy singles really wasn’t a good one as I found out the hard way…

I think once I’m done with this conditioning phase, I will be implementing 5-3-1 for Powerlifting with heavy singles every two weeks for a longer period of time, just to get used to those weights again…

But regardless, I’m down for a race to 405…I won’t be competitive at it until May though, because I’m working on conditioning, mobility, weaknesses, and fat loss for the next couple months, with strength on the back burner–just trying to maintain…

11.1.4
Squat (3x5): 280, 325, 370 (8)
Reverse Lunges (3x10): 35x2, 35x2, 35x2 (straight sets)
Single Leg Abductor Pulley (4x8): 20, 25, 30, 35
Reverse Crunch (4x10): Body, Body, Body, Body

Strength still suffering…370 for 8 on squats is far below what I was working with…though its only been a couple weeks on conditioning, so I think once my body adjusts to the additional stimulus, strength will come back up a bit…

My left leg is much weaker than my right and this was very evident during R. Lunges…I also am much less coordinated on that leg…weird…hopefully the single leg stuff will start to catch them both up…

I also brought my new roommate to the gym tonight and got him started on Starting Strength…He hasn’t been in the gym in a couple years he said, and had never squatted or deadlifted (of course he benched before)…he worked up to Squats (3x5): 135, Bench (3x5): 115, and Deadlift (1xX): 115…he was having some back isssues with deadlift and couldt complete a set…his back would only hurt on the way down though, not on the way up…which was weird…

Conditioning tomorrow will be a bunch of prowler pushes…

169

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Thanks for stopping in guys…I hope ya’ll can find something in this mess that helps you out in your training…

As for the reps not equating to a not-sucky 1 RM on bench, I fully agree…My estimated max at those reps is something like 395…but 365 buried me…I’m thinking it is mostly just my CNS isn’t used to handling heavier weights…my plan to “peak” one more before my meet with just a couple weeks of heavy singles really wasn’t a good one as I found out the hard way…

[/quote]
Bench woes could be upperback strength? Hammer it, it can’t hurt and it makes all your lifts better.

170

VT,

This is a great log. It is awesome to see how much progress you have made in a year by sticking with it. I started 5/3/1 a few weeks ago and my intent is to follow it for at least a year.

Obviously you have much more experience then I do with this program, but I have been doing a 1RM after my 3rd set on the 3rd week of the cycle. I think this will help me stay used to the heavy weights and it might be something you want to try.

171

[quote]jakerz96 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Thanks for stopping in guys…I hope ya’ll can find something in this mess that helps you out in your training…

As for the reps not equating to a not-sucky 1 RM on bench, I fully agree…My estimated max at those reps is something like 395…but 365 buried me…I’m thinking it is mostly just my CNS isn’t used to handling heavier weights…my plan to “peak” one more before my meet with just a couple weeks of heavy singles really wasn’t a good one as I found out the hard way…

[/quote]
Bench woes could be upperback strength? Hammer it, it can’t hurt and it makes all your lifts better.[/quote]

i looked at ur vid and have a couple things. one is that, that’s why i don’t like any kind of rep calc, but i don’t think it’s your cns. if it were then you would be more shaky from the overload but you weren’t. you should work on your setup, you need to put more weight on your upper back, try to get arched more. you can see when you are lowering the weight that you are not tight on the decent, focus on getting tight more and increase your upper back and back work. after the weight starts to come off your chest it appears that there is no leg drive, try over exaggerating your leg drive in your lighter sets, then hopefully it will carry through to your heavy work and you won’t need to think about it. here is a vid of my buddy and i think it demonstrates what i’m trying to get accross here, i’d post my vid as well but i don’t think my vids are loading on here yet.

172

You’re probably right, CNS is just a bitch out…I just need to stop being weak and having a shitty setup…

I think in my video I didn’t have any leg drive because I was sure that it wasn’t going up…I think some of it is probably mental as well, and just need to stop being a bitch…

For a while I was trying to arch more, but that didn’t suit me well either…and a lot of the videos I’ve seen of bigger guys don’t seem to have a lot of noticeable arch…

One thing I always make sure to do is drive my neck and traps into the bench, and that has certaily helped…

I’ll give it a shot though once I start lifting heavy again…thanks for the advice!

173

How is the training and diet coming along?

174

[quote]Fandango wrote:
VT,

This is a great log. It is awesome to see how much progress you have made in a year by sticking with it. I started 5/3/1 a few weeks ago and my intent is to follow it for at least a year.

Obviously you have much more experience then I do with this program, but I have been doing a 1RM after my 3rd set on the 3rd week of the cycle. I think this will help me stay used to the heavy weights and it might be something you want to try.[/quote]

Hey man, i didn’t see you had posted in here…thanks for the kind words…

5-3-1 is a really awesome program and I ahve no doubts that if you stick with it for a year you will start beasting weights…

The 1RM after that 5-3-1 week is a good idea…Wendler recommends doing that along with switching the 3 and 5 weeks and doing a heavy single after the 3 week as well (new week 1)…might wanna give that a go…I will start doing that once I start focusing on improving strength again…

Keep us posted man…

175

Alright I’ve been terrible at updating this…been busy with other things…but still getting my training fix on…here is what I’ve been up to recently:

-Stopped pulse feasting…as I’ve alluded to before, I have some wacked hormone issues and one of the tests we are about to do is a nutra-eval, so I had to eat regularly for a couple weeks prior so we can see how my body treats certain foods…Nutra-eval is saturday so I should be kicking after that…
-Also testing for Celiacs, so I’ve been eating plenty of gluten to make sure it shows up if I am allergic to it–needless to say, this is not diet friendly…
-Went on spring break to the beach with my g/f for a week and didn’t do any conditioning, but still went to the gym to lift…
-Motivation to train has been relatively low recently…more concerned about getting my hormones lined out…feel that I’m getting closer…hopefully

Anyways, here is the lifting:

11.2.1 - Friday 3/4/11
Bench (3x3): 210, 240, 270 (10)
Inverted Rows (50): 10, 8, 8, 7, 8, 9

Had more in me, but anything over 10 is cardio…

11.2.2 - Monday 3/7/11
Deadlift (3x3): 295, 335, 380 (10)
Hip Bridge (3x10): 45, 90, 90
Pullthrus (3x10): 90, 90, 90
Some abwheels

I think this was a beltless PR for me…had easily 12-13 reps, maybe more…stopped at 10 cause anything over 10 is cardio…

Hip bridges made me feel unmanly, but fuck was I sore the next day…

11.2.3 - Friday 3/11/11
OHP (3x3): 135, 150, 170 (10)
Dips (40): 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4
Ab Wheel (40): 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4
Cat/Camels (3x10): Yup
LYTP (1x10): Yup

OHP was 10 reps cause anything else is cardio…see a pattern here? For real, I don’t think I had more than 10 in me today…shit was heavy…

First time I had done dips in a looooong time, and I was fried by the end…I’m very weak at these and I think that getting better at them will help my bench…I didnt have any shoulder pain while doing them, but I was sore muscularly for about 3 days afterwards, and now am having a bit of tenderness in my right shoulder…hopefully more LYTP work will help alleviate that…

11.2.4 - Monday 3/14/11
Squat (3x3): 305, 345, 395 (5)
Reverse Hyper (3x10): 90, 90, 135 (sloppy)
Abductor Bandwalks (4x10): Purples, yup
Blast Strap Fallouts (5x): 8, 8, 6, 8, 8

I tweaked my back again golfing while on spring break, in a different area than my deadlift injury, and it had been nagging me for the past 4-5 days or so…so I took it easy on the squat AMRAP set tonight…was sure to get nice and deep for all reps though, definitely deeper than my normal squat and some might even call it ass to grass…

The reverse hyper made my back more sore, not sure why…it usually helps

Abductor bandwalks were a first…I could feel it working though…gonna throw these in occasionally…

Blast strap fallouts are absolutely brutal…one thing I love about them though is that you never have to wonder when the set is over–your core lets you know!!! These were done with the handles at about shin level…

Tuesday 3/15/11
Conditioning: Basketball game…we lost and are out of the playoffs…I scored about 20 of our teams 35 points, and we lost by about 25…it was ugly…was sore as shit from squatting and the accessory work last night…

So I’ve also decided to put dieting on the back burner for a while…I really don’t want to lose any weight and think I can do a good bit of recomp with conditioning and a bit cleaner diet first and then just diet for a month or so to bring it home…

New goals:
-Maintain strength levels (as always)…will keep training maxes at 5-3-1 at current level (10% below previous training maxes)…will be lifting 3 days/week
-Improve conditioning…conditioning will occur 4 days per week and will be mostly prowler pushes and hill sprints since I dont have access to the fun training implements such as tires and sledgehammers that I do while down at the g/f’s…I will also be doing a V-Burn once per week…I plan to focus on conditioning for the next 2 months…this will also entail using more “athletic” accessory work (bodyweight stuff)
-Improve flexibility/mobility…this will be the other focus on conditioning days…probably up to 30 minutes of flexibility/mobility stuff followed by 30 minutes of conditioning…
-Improve anterior pelvic tilt using accessory work geared to this…
-Improve diet by not eating as much shit and consuming protein drink before every meal to help fill me up faster and to meet my protein requirements (a la Wendler)

I figure that doing this for the next couple months should get me close to where I want to be, and my conditioning will be up to where I want it so dieting will be easier if I chose to do so (improved work capacity and all that jazz)…

176

I got a bit of bad news today…I have cancer…yup…sucks…testicular cancer as a matter of fact…I’m scheduled for surgery next Monday the 28th…not sure how my training is going to go for the few weeks after that, so I figure I might as well hit it hard while I still can…

It was obviously disappointing to have that dropped on me (was definitely not how I expected this week to go!) but I am also a bit relieved because it likely explains all my other ongoing hormone issues…and hopefully we have caught it early enough that I won’t need any follow up after the surgery…

11.3 - 3/16/11

Bench (531): 225, 255, 285 (8)
Pullups (50): BWx6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5
Blast Strap Fallouts (4x): 8, 10, 10, 10
LYTP (3x): done, done

Bench felt pretty decent…then I looked back at my previous PR for 285 and realized I got it for 9 back in May 2010, and got 295x10 back in January this year…so I guess I’ve gotten weaker…that’s a bit disappointing…

I had been doing Pullups in sets of 5, and am trying to add more reps to each set now…was able to get 6 for the first few sets…coming along on these–they were very explosive

Blast Strap fallouts are becoming one of my new favorite non-PL exercises…as I said the other night, you never have to wonder if you’ve done enough of them! I’m getting better at them too…they seem to be really helping my back issues–I haven’t had any back pain in the past week since doing those…I may start doing them at the end of every session, or at least 2x per week…

I finally figured out how to do LYTP’s correctly via this instructional video:

Not to sound like a pussy, but these are really tough! I obviously have some biomechanical issues preventing me from doing them properly, but my right scapula kept cramping up like crazy the entire time…and my ROM was shitty…going to start doing these after both the upper body days…I think they will really help me regain the mobility and stability I need in that region…

177

Dude, wtf…I am sorry to hear that, will definitely throw up some prayers for you brother.

178

How did you find out about it, if you do not mind me asking. My cousin had it a few years ago, apparently he thought a testicle 2x its regular size was nothing to worry about at the time.

179

You’re in my prayers brother. I hope you have a speedy recovery from your surgery.

180

I appreciate the well wishes guys. But I think everyone around me is taking it a lot harder than I am. Truthgully I may be a little sick since I’m probably the only person in the world that is indifferent about it. Obviously it sucks and is a shitty diagnosis but I’m sort of happy that I finally have a diagnosis period which can explain the hormone issues I’ve been trying to deal with for the past year or so. Hoping this brings me back to baseline. It will be nice training with a full deck for once in my aduly life!!!

Seraphin: I performed a self exam after having on and off pain in the affected nut for over a year now. Obviously should have done it sooner but didn’t have the knowledge before. I can’t stress the importance of a self exam enough. Plwase encourage all males you care about to do it. Its so easy and so important.