Bench:
135 5x
135 5x Was still feeling stiff and cold so did another warm up set
185 5x
225 5x
240 5x
250 12x Smoke show. Felt pretty easy, not even a grinder at the end. This is the highest rep max I’ve ever had.
Close Grip Bench:
185 10x
185 10x
135 10x I could either take a bunch of rest time between sets and get 5 sets of 10 with 185, or I could
135 10x drop down and do my sets faster and with better form, so I just did that. I didn’t give a shit
135 10x about these anyway cuz I was riding high from my bench rep PR.
Rope Pushdowns:
4 sets of 12 with a 1 second pause at the bottom
Machine Dips:
3 sets of 8
Incline Skullcrushers:
3 sets of 10 with 95
I minimized rest time between all the tricep sets and focused on form and contracting the muscle and bodybuilding type stuff. I get more bodybuildingy with my biceps and triceps. Still doing some John Meadows type stuff for my arms, certainly seemed to work for him.
Did about 5 sets of 10 pullups or so between sets, but I stopped there. If I’d tried to do 100 pullups today I feel like my biceps would have ripped off. My biceps were still very sore from Friday. I’m sure that won’t be a problem soon though after my body adjusts to working out biceps again.
Ran a quarter mile in a minute and a half.
This was definitely a great day. Just goes to show, whatever you care the least about will improve the most. Or that’s been my experience at least. My bench is skyrocketing, but all I’m really trying to do is improve my squat and deadlift…
Squat:
135 5x
185 5x
225 5x
295 5x
315 5x
335 6x Did one extra just so I could say I didn’t do the bare minimum. These didn’t feel too bad, I just never felt 100% comfortable with my setup. I am still messing with the angle of my feet and shit…
Squat with a curved bar like a buffalo bar type thing:
135 5x
225 5x
315 3x I decided that I didn’t like this bar at all. It felt way harder; I think because I had to keep it higher on my back.
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
Greetings from hell.
I notice you rack pull absurd weights. What height do you pull from, and how have they affected your deadlift?[/quote]
I set the bar just above my kneecap. I know people give above the knee rack pulls shit, but I’m not just doing them to win the rack pull dick measuring contest. My sticking point on dead lifts is only a few inches from lockout so therein lies the logic of rack pulls in my mind at least. I am hoping that it will help acclimate my body to heavier weights in addition to strengthening the sticking point.
As far as how effective it’s been, I’m still not sure I can tell yet. I haven’t gone all the way to 500 on dead lifts for quite a while now, but I can say that the weights I have been dead lifting have felt easier.
I think power shrugs have helped me due to the fact that I’m handling heavier weight. I dont struggle with the lockout at all, but it seems to mentally help I guess.
Push Press: That’s right push press. I decided to try it out. My explosiveness is basically non-existant so my push press is barely higher than my strict press.
45 5x
95 5x
135 5x
185 3x
225 1x
225 1x
225 1x Just trying to get a feel for it. I’ll probably need to do more form work or something. Or figure out how to be explosive.
Rope Pushdowns:
4 sets of 12 with a 1 sec. pause at the bottom
Dips with 4 huge chains around my neck which was awesome:
3 sets of 10
Skullcrushers:
110 for 3 sets of 10
Random number of pullups thrown in there. I didn’t really keep track; I just did sets of 10 interspersed all over the place.
Deadlift:
135 5x
225 5x
315 5x
405 7x Felt pretty hard too I was having to really grind out the last few inches on the last couple reps. That sticking point about halfway up my thigh is still pretty evident.
Power Shrugs:
495 5x
495 5x
495 5x Bruised up my left thigh doing these. I dunno wtf my problem is with getting bruises.
DB Rows:
100 20x
Seemed like a good idea at the time. Wasn’t too tough actually. I think I may try 120 for 20 reps next time, or do more reps or something. I probably should do a warmup set or two next time as well, I dunno. I do kind of like the idea of going all out on one set of heavy DB rows, which I guess would actually make them Kroc Rows. I feel like I need them to be 150’s before you can start calling them Kroc Rows though.
Cross Body Hammer Curls:
40 10x
40 10x
45 10x Started to feel my right arm lagging compared to the left.
Preacher Curls:
70 10x
70 10x
70 8x These are way harder than usual. I think it’s just a bad right bicep day. Fucking big Steve permanently destroyed my bicep from arm wrestling apparently lol. It felt fine last bicep workout though, so I’m sure it’s nothing really.
Reverse Curls:
70 10x
70 10x
70 10x
Did a couple sets of situps on a GHR thing for 50 reps total.
Bench:
45 5x
135 5x
185 5x
225 3x
245 3x
265 3x
315 1x
315 2x I was gonna do three singles but I decided to just go ahead and finish the reps in two. Also, I had a great spotter… none other than Lilpower! She is awesome!
Inclines:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x Focused on form, speed, and shortish rest times rather than weight.
Rope push downs:
4 sets of 12 with a 1 second pause at the bottom
315 2x I was gonna do three singles but I decided to just go ahead and finish the reps in two. Also, I had a great spotter… none other than Lilpower! She is awesome!
Squat:
45 5x
135 5x
185 5x
225 5x
275 5x
315 3x
335 3x
355 3x These were depressingly difficult…
185 10x Just trying to feel out form and stuff.
SSB Good Mornings: Lil power said to try some of these, and also owned me on flexibility…
65 10x The bar weighed 65lbs I think.
115 5x Turns out good mornings with a safety squat bar are really hard.
65 10x
65 10x
65 10x Well this was a bit of an eye opener. This appears to be a real weakness for me. I can’t wait to hit these hard. I think it will do wonders for my squat and deadlift.
Dimels: Another Lil power suggestion!
135 20x
135 20x
135 20x I’m not sure I ever did these good enough, but I’ll get the hang of it.
Did a couple sets of 25 decline situps.
Ran with a weighted sled around the parking lot for a few sets. Seemed like pretty good cardio.
I’m starting to look into conjugated training methods. I need something to bring up my squat, and I am hoping that using this training and focusing on bringing up weak points will get me there. I feel like I found a big weak point today when I tried doing good mornings.
The new gym I am at has all the necessary equipment for this kind of training, and more importantly, it has people who are already doing it, which is invaluable. I think not trying it would be squandering an opportunity.
I bought Louie’s book of methods as well and I am about halfway through it. He sounds a bit like a mad scientist at times, and he repeats himself and rambles a ton lol, but there is a wealth of valuable training knowledge in there. It reads rather like his stream of consciousness lol. I am doing my best to decipher it all. Looking at other people’s training logs will probably help immensely.
Press:
45 5x
95 5x
135 5x
145 3x
155 3x
160 6x Was hoping for 8… Maybe the set at 155 took a bit out of me? I dunno. This isn’t any better than my last attempt at the weight.
Atlas Stones:
190 2x
190 2x
240 2x
240 2x Bruised and scraped up from these again. Of course my training partner is completely unscathed from them.
Close Grip Bench:
135 5x
185 5x
225 6x
245 6x
265 6x
275 4x Was going for a six rep max pretty much completely arbitrarily. Ended up feeling like a pretty good workout so that’s nice.
Skullcrushers:
90 10x
90 10x
90 10x
Farmer’s Walk:
I dunno how much the apparatus weighs; it’s sort of like a trap bar thing. Anyway we put 4 plates on each side and made a few trips with it. Felt easy on the back and legs and everything, but it was murder on my grip. Really stings the fingers.
Edit: Forgot to add that I did around 7 sets of 10 pullups. I throw them in between sort of at random so it is really hard to keep track of exactly how many I did.
I’ve also figured out a conjugated template that I want to use. I’m going to start it Saturday. I laid out a 12 week map outlining what I want to do. It is extraordinarily complicated and took me like three days of headaches to formulate. The periodization bible by Dave Tate, the basic template by Jim Wendler, and the Westside Method thread here on TNation were the most helpful resources by far. Louie’s book of Westside Methods was actually the least helpful thing lol. I still got a lot out of it, but damn was it confusing.
I was having to really grind out the last few inches on the last couple reps. That sticking point about halfway up my thigh is still pretty evident.