Once again I had to lift on a Friday instead of Saturday. 48 hours isn’t optimal after my ME day, but I’m going to a seminar tomorrow, and wouldn’t have been able to get a lift in, so better today than never.
Bench felt good. I might have gone up in weight a little if I had a spotter, but didn’t feel the need to get pinned today.
Dips are coming along nicely, and my elbows felt great today. Something to do with the 4 Advil I took just before lifting…My shoulders still feel tight at the bottom of the motion, so I’m still going to stick with BW until they feel a little better.
I was surprised to hit a PR on the HS Behind the Neck Press today, given that my shoulders were still a little tired from Wednesday, but I’m not complaining.
Well I got a 5 lb PR on the Bench so that’s ok I guess. My bench is progressing really slow but I guess I should be pleased with improvement. [/quote]
Toroman, I think you may be making slow progress because you are taking so many lifts over 90% before you attempt a PR. If your previous max was 240 then every lift over 215 is at or above 90%.
If you change around your warmups a little I’m pretty sure you could hit some higher numbers.
Maybe something like:
95x10
135x5
185x3
215x1
250x1
then hit your 90% lifts
240x1
240x1
230x1…
C. T-Bar Rows
140x10
175x8(PR + 2 reps)
175x8
175x8
D. Straight Arm lat pulldowns
80x8
80x8
80x8
E. Lateral raise dropset
F. Curl Drop set
Well I got a 5 lb PR on the Bench so that’s ok I guess. My bench is progressing really slow but I guess I should be pleased with improvement. [/quote]
Modi touched on how you should fine tune your work-up sets. Another thing you might want to consider is that progress will typically be a lot slower on the bench than the other two big lifts (for most people anyway). As long as you’re making PRs, that is what’s most important.
Stick with the lift for three weeks (assuming you make improvements in the prior 2 weeks) then cycle into another bench variation. Don’t get frustrated when you only make a 5# PR, sometimes seasoned guys struggle and fight for months, even years, to get a 5# PR on a lift.
Chin-up and Dumbbell Bench Press Superset
BWx10x5
60x10x5
Squat
225x5x1
270x4x1
315x3x2
340x3x5
Good Morning
135x5x5
Lower back was a little sore from the deadlifting on Wednesday. It wasn’t noticable by the time I started the work sets for the squat. Aside from the chin-up/dumbbell bench superset (the program calls for chest flies), nothing too difficult/taxing.
i have a question refering to dave tates 9 week program, i already did it once with the excersizes that he pointed out in the 9 week program but i wanna do it again but with diff excersizes on the ME days, here are the excersizes that i wanna substitute in
week 1-3
ME lower, substitute goodmornings with deadlifts
ME upper, substitute foor press with narrow incline bench
week 4-7
ME lower, leave it the same
ME upper, substitute broad press with wide flat bench press
week 7-8
ME lower, leave it the same
ME upper, leave it the same
I haven’t had time to post my workouts, but I’m still training PL style. I have to say, I love it! I’m going to do RE days instead of DE days for now though.
My initial plan was to do this for 6 weeks and then go back to a BB split. I think I’ll stick with the Westside template. I like to eat too much to be a bodybuilder anyway
Yesterday I did BB floor presses. This was the first time I’ve ever done them. I suck at them! I think next week will be a lot better. This week I only worked up to 275lbs. I felt like I had a lot more in me, but the pause at the bottom killed it.
The body weight is still sitting at 185, but I am feeling leaner.
Bench
200x4x8
This went well today. Each set was pretty fast. This rep work is coming along nicely.
Seated DB Shoulder Press
60x4x8
DB BOR
100x4x8 - Nice, it took me 3 weeks but I finally hit this. Grip is getting better. The damn thick handles are a bitch. It doesn’t help that I have small hands.
1 decline db extensions 20’sx8, 15’sx2x8
2 db shrugs 30’sx2x10, 25’sx12
plate pinches 3 dimes x 10 seconds (PR), 2 dimes x 30 seconds, 2 dimes and a nickel x 12 seconds
wrist roller
My usual approach to pullups has been to try to increase bw reps, but I noticed in my logs that I only increase my reps on the rare occasion that I add weight. That’s what I’m doing from now on.
plate wrist curls 5lbs per 3x10
plate reverse wrist curls 5lbs per 3x10
axle reverse curls 20lbs 3x20 damn talk about forearm pump.
I murdered the damn log strict press today, I was going to go for a 5lb 6rep PR but it was super easy by the 6th rep so I banged out 2 more than added another 5lbs to get a 10lb 6rep PR Every strongman comp should have a log, logs are cool axles suck! (hint hint)
feeling more and more comfortable on the bench I moved my grip in to pinkys on the rings as this will have better carry over to my overhead I think. What do all you consider close grip?
FINALLY I felt good enough to use somewhat of weight on a row movement, slowly bur surely, tire flips and stones by next month!
Got to get my wrists stronger for the axle clean and press so I am addressing that, reverse curls with axle got some blood flowing to the biceps and felt good.
bar x15
40kg x10
50kg x5
60kg x3
70kg x1
80kg x1
87.2kg x1 (PR +2.6kg, but humped it like a rabbit…well, not that bad, but you get the point)
80kg x2 (PR +1rep)
75kg x5 (Pr +2 reps)
Decline Bench:
100kg x3, x2
90kg 6, 6, 6(PR +1rep)
Felt like crap on the Decline bench. I can do more weight and reps but the body simply wasn’t going to do it today. And I felt some aching in my right bicep from this weekend (of all the stupid things, I hurt it while swinging a baseball bat, somehow).
Chest supported rows:
50kg: 10, 10, 10
55kg: 6
Wide Grip Pushdowns on standing Lat Pulldown (2 sec pause at top)
5th pin down: 10, 10, 10, 5
Strange thing is that my whole right arm started to ache during these and somehow transferred to the left arm (NO JOKE). I should have gotten at least 10 on the 4th set, though…but I had nothing left in me.
Maybe next week is a deload, although I really hate to do them.
As always, any advice or comments are appreciated and welcomed.
Gotta say thanks to Jim Wendler for calling me out on my high bar squatting at The BIG Seminar. After watching me squat he said something along the lines of “You guys are the biggest bunch of high bar squatters I’ve ever seen.” After making a couple of excuses why I don’t low bar squat, I got the bar into the right position, and it felt like it could be a very good thing for me.
10/29/07 - Lower (ME) - Doubles
A) PL Low Bar Squat
135x6
225x6
315x3
365x3
405x2 455x2 (PR+20lbs) (Smoked It) 465x1 (PR +10lbs)
435x2
435x2
B) SLDL
135x6
225x5
315x6
385x6
405x6 (tie PR)
405x6
C) T-Bar Row
90x6
180x6
180x6 215x6 (PR +10lbs)
D1) Decline Russian Twists
+35lbs
x10
x8
x6
D2) Decline Sit Up
+35lbs
x10
x8
x6
Moving the bar to a low bar position felt awkard for me today, but I definitely felt much stronger. After smoking 455x2, I was going to go for 465x2, but I think I got the bar a little too low and felt my right shoulder taking a bunch of the strain. Just took the single (still a PR) and hit a couple more doubles at 435. I’m feeling very confident about hitting 475 next week, which would mean that I accomplished all of my orginal goals for the year which were 575 DL (actually hit 600), 375 Bench, 475 Squat.
I was happy to tie my SLDL PR even in a fatigued state, and the T-Bar Rows went well, but any heavier and the form is going to get sloppy.
Overall, very happy with the way things are going right now.
