Weighed in at 194.5 this morning. I nearly had a panic attack. I see my abs better than ever in the mirror and I imagine them taunting me; mocking my loss of weight and strength.
3/28/2013
Deadlift:
135 5x
225 5x
315 5x Realized it wasn’t deadlift day…
Bench:
45 a bunch
135 10x
225 8x
275 3x
295 2x
315 1x Felt like exactly 1 billion pounds.
320 3x This was shit. Complete shit. Spotter even had to touch it on the third rep, so it technically doesn’t count as my heavy triple this week. I fucking failed.
Close Grip Bench:
205 15x
I am going to have to figure something a little different out for my carb backloading diet. The plan wasn’t to become weak as shit, which is what happened. I’d had like 20g of carbs total in the last two days leading into this workout, and I come in here, everything starts cramping instantly, I feel like all my muscles are gonna tear, I’m weak as shit, I have a headache, I’ve got no energy, everything is completely FUBAR. I immediately ingested 4 doughnuts, but I don’t think they even helped.
I have a meet in like 12 weeks, I can’t have my diet completely fuck my training. I mean I guess I had no idea what I was doing going in. I didn’t expect it to be like that working out without having eaten carbs in a couple days. Maybe I will go no carb on non-training days still, but on training days I will have carbs at lunch or a bit before the workout in addition to having them afterwards. I dunno, if I have to I will just completely quit and put off “fixing” my diet until after I compete. I’ll be goddamned if I go to the meet weaker than ever just because I was trying to clean up my diet and drop some unnecessary fat.
Anyway. /rant over
Incline DB:
65’s 15x
65’s 15x
65’s 15x
Cable Flys:
3 sets of 20
Face Pulls:
3 sets of 20
Scapular Retractions:
3 sets of 20
Standing Behind the Neck Press:
45 10x
95 10x
135 5x lol… the weakness today is indescribable. I have literally never felt this bad in my life.
135 5x
added reverse light bands
135 10x
added 50lbs of chain and a one board on top of my head
135 10x
135 10x
Yeah, there’s a video of me doing reverse band behind the neck standing overhead press with chains to a one board placed on top of my head. I strongly considered adding a slingshot. Maybe next time.
Okay fun’s over.
Average Band Pushdowns:
didn’t keep strict count, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 sets to failure each time
Bench: felt like benching again
135 15x
135 15x
135 15x
Dips:
20x
Done.
Weight Update:
In a fit of gluttonous rage this evening I ate and drank myself back up to 199. 
[quote]csulli wrote:
Weight Update:
In a fit of gluttonous rage this evening I ate and drank myself back up to 199. :)[/quote]
haha good work!
[quote]zenontheterrible wrote:
[quote]csulli wrote:
Weight Update:
In a fit of gluttonous rage this evening I ate and drank myself back up to 199. :)[/quote]
haha good work! [/quote]
Somehow I’m 194.5 again this morning. I found out that for strength you’re supposed to carb backload the day BEFORE you train, and then don’t carb backload after you lift, just maybe spike your insulin somehow. That’s the plan now.
Hey lightweight - yes you must put that video of overhead pressing up…it was awesome, ha ha ha…sorta like brian’s back !
Did you actually put a one board on your head? LMAO
3/29/2013
Deadlift:
135 5x
225 5x
315 5x
405 3x
475 3x Very hard set though. Did 2 reps, did a quick re-setup and pulled the third. Lockout was comically difficult… I’m still feeling weak on everything, and I will continue to bitch until it is not so.
405 5x
405 5x
405 5x
Rack Pulls:
315 3x
405 3x
495 1x
545 1x
Pullups:
10x10
Incline DB Press:
40’s 10x
50’s 10x
60’s 10x
70’s 10x
85’s 5x
100’s 5x
Hyperextensions:
3 sets of 20
Leg Curls:
3 sets of 20
3/30/2013
Axle Clean and Push Press: (the axle weighs 23lbs, because it really isn’t an axle, it’s just an axle sized piece of pipe)
23 10x
73 10x
113 10x
163 5x
183 4x
183 4x
183 4x
183 4x
Strict Press Axle:
113 10x
113 10x
Axle Curls:
113 5x
113 8x
113 8x
113 5x
Incline Hammer DB Curls:
35’s 10x
35’s 8x
35’s 10x
35’s 10x
Side Raises:
25’s 10x
25’s 10x
25’s 10x
25’s 10x
We took one of the tricep pushdown bars that you attach to the cable and hooked like 75lbs of chain or something on it. Chia and I passed it back and forth alternating normal grip and reverse grip and going to failure every time. I won’t even try to remember how many total reps we each did, but it was hundreds.
Prowler:
5 trips down the parking lot and back with the low handles; 90lbs.
[quote]csulli wrote:
We took one of the tricep pushdown bars that you attach to the cable and hooked like 75lbs of chain or something on it. Chia and I passed it back and forth alternating normal grip and reverse grip and going to failure every time. I won’t even try to remember how many total reps we each did, but it was hundreds.[/quote]
YESS!!!
but seriously skullcrushers and flyes with chains look like they’d be awesome
OMG your gym looks great!! I am so jealous! I am pretty sure I my gym is far douchier than anyone else’s here 
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
OMG your gym looks great!! I am so jealous! I am pretty sure I my gym is far douchier than anyone else’s here [/quote]
I love my gym. Very fortunate to have something like that so close by and to have found it. We have a great Oly lifter, several great powerlifters (including some phenominally strong women), and a few of us want to start seriously strongman training soon.
At least you’re part of the solution and not part of the problem Jenn lol!
[quote]csulli wrote:
westside overhead training - YouTube [/quote]
weird
3/31/2013
I did an unscheduled, light bench workout. I have been feeling weak as of late, and I just wanted something to boost my confidence back up; which this did.
Bench:
45 20x
95 10x
135 10x
185 5x
225 5x
240 15x My first ever PR recorded on this log was 240 for 12 reps on bench. Three reps may not sound like much, but it’s definitely progress.
Incline Bench:
135 10x
135 15x
135 10x
Ultra-Close Grip Bench:
135 10x
135 15x
135 10x
DB Bench:
30’s 25x
30’s 50x
Pullups:
3 sets of 10
Also happy Easter everyone! I had an awesome church gig this year. Payed $320, and the director and choir and the rest of the brass quintet were absolutely top notch. Also if I may be so immodest as to say so myself, I mother fucking nailed it. I mean I sounded goddamn amazing. Like an angel descended from heaven itself sanctifying the congregation with pure sonic bliss. Perhaps that was a bit too immodest.
Also today is like TV extravaganza time.
9:00 Game of Thrones
10:00 Vikings
11:00 Walking Dead
Awesome pressing! Never seen that before haha
[quote]csulli wrote:
Reverse bands and chains?
I think the barbell is confused where it’s going.
well, as long as you aren’t back to 2x a day training !!! Did you start carbloading prior to heavy training days now?
When’s the strongmen/women training start? Who’s thinking of doing it?
If I wasn’t sooooo short I’d love to try, but would yoke go small enough for me and I don’t know how I’d load a stone to some of those platforms, lol
[quote]lil power wrote:
well, as long as you aren’t back to 2x a day training !!! Did you start carbloading prior to heavy training days now?
When’s the strongmen/women training start? Who’s thinking of doing it?
If I wasn’t sooooo short I’d love to try, but would yoke go small enough for me and I don’t know how I’d load a stone to some of those platforms, lol
[/quote]
Chia, Eric, Steve, and I want to try some. Gary said he’d go in on a strongman log with us as well. Pitbull Strongman Equipment makes a 12" log for only like 175 bucks; apparently very highly recommended for quality as well. Robb said he wanted to make some platforms for the stones as well (maybe he’ll make a Vikki sized one?). I also could have sworn that the gym had a yoke at one point. Everyone else thinks I’m crazy. Anyway you’re right, strongman/strongwoman contests are designed for tall people with huge hands lol!
I’m not going to get into any of that obviously until after I compete in powerlifting, possibly a couple times.
I do feel much better backloading the day before training as well thankfully! I’m still not totally sold on the diet though. I’m wondering if I could get the hang of a more conventional diet to accomplish the same thing. Carb backloading seems a little rough for your body to adjust to no matter how you do it.
4/1/2013
I’ve flip-flopped on peaking cycles. I had intended to do Russian power, but Chia sent me his Ed Coan spreadsheet, and I absolutely love the look of it. I knew how Coan set up his training before. I saw it in CSEagle’s log, and also it is outlined in Marty Gallagher’s book. However it’s just outlines and you have to set the weights and jumps yourself, which I honestly suck at. I can’t help but try and go too fast and overestimate myself. So the one time that I tried it; I really screwed it up.
Chia’s spreadsheet looked absolutely perfect though, and I got it all planned out up to the meet with the proper attempts set up and everything. So here goes; I’m excited to try it. Chia said he’s gotten his best gains from just running this over and over; if it works well, I may end up doing that too (still wanna throw a Smolov in soon though).
Squat:
45 10x
135 10x
185 5x
225 5x
275 3x
310 8x
310 8x Felt great. A little tiring, because I’m not used to sets of more than about 6 on squat.
Paused Squat:
225 5x
275 5x These were amazing. I regret never having implemented these before now.
Leg Press:
5pps 5x
5pps 5x
5pps 5x Last week I did 6pps for sets of 10, but I went light on leg press today given how fatigued my legs already were from the higher rep squats and paused squats. I think the paused squats REALLY killed them. Seriously you gotta try those if you never have.
Good Girl Machine:
3 sets of 15
Bad Girl Machine:
3 sets of 15
I also loved both of those for assistance work. I have never done them before, but I could feel them hitting some good muscles. Definitely gonna become a staple as well.
Lunges:
65lb barbell walking down and back across the gym floor a couple times. Gonna up the weight each week and see where it gets me. So far it’s gotten me major ass DOMS.
Leg Curls:
3 sets of 15
Deadbench: (bar on pins set right at chest height)
275 3x My friends were doing these so I jumped in. I probably shouldn’t have done that without a warmup tho.
275 3x Well now I’m pretty much warmed up from the first set so may as well keep going.
225 10x
Close Grip Bench:
225 10x
I’m gonna do more deadbenching at around chest height to one board height. This feels like a very weak range for me. I am going to do some form of pressing every workout though. On non-bench days I am going to keep things low intensity and not full range of motion. For example work in a little floor press, deadbench, and board press.
What a day! Leg day. The best day. Naw actually it’s the worst day, but I still loved it. I have never enjoyed leg training so much in my life. I wish I had gotten to this point sooner!