April 25, 2013
W/U - few sets of dips and chins, band dislocations/pull-aparts
Front Squat
45 x some
135x5
175x5
(210x3)x2
(230x5)x2
245x5
Decided to front squat first to get some blood into my sore lower body. The bar still wanted to slip, but I managed to resist it. It popped down on the final rep of 245, but it didn’t turn into a zercher. Very frustrating overall.
Cuban Press - some x some
Bench
45 x some
(135x6)x2
(175x4)x2
200x3
220x2 (paused)
235x2 (paused)
(250x1)x2 (paused)
(185x5)x7 - started to stagger chins with these
I wanted to practice my comp setup a lot today. Decided to work up to a paused single. I wanted to go with 265, but the first single of 250 was trash, and a friend lightly touched the bar on the second single…I don’t even know if I would have been able to get it. The bar was tilting a lot today and I don’t know why it kept on happening.
Did some more dips, rowed a 500m in 1:56 (awful), and did some seated overhead pressing. Nothing worth typing out.
Summation: fucking garbage…
April 27, 2013
W/U - Glute Activation Work, couple kneeling squat jumps
Deadlift
135 x some, 225x5, 315x3, 375x3, 425x3 - one set sumo, one set conventional
(465x3)x2
(500x3)x10
Would have liked to work up heavier, but pulls felt crappy, so I decided to get some volume in. I had to stand up between the 2nd and 3rd rep on the first set w/ 500, but after that the sets moved a bit more smoothly, albeit weaker than I’d like. I added straps after the 6th set because my hands were getting torn to shit (busted a joocy callus on my ring finger…bled a fair amount…not the mention the skin separating from my thumbs), and it made the sets feel much better; the difference in bar speed between the first rep of the first set w/ straps compared to prior sets was staggering. I really hope that I’m not becoming dependent on straps…the optimist in me says that my hands/thumbs were pretty torn up at the time, so the fact that straps made the sets better by mitigating that is probably okay.
High-bar Squat (3 sec pause)
135x5
225x5
275x3
(295x2)x6
Back Raise - (BW band x lots)x2
April 30, 2013
Squat
45 x some
135x8
225x5
275x5
(325x3)x3
345x2
370x1
390x1
415 x miss
370x1
I decided to try and work up to a decent single followed by backdown triples. Barely gave 415 a fight. When meathead and rushed into the 370, and the first rep was awful, so I called it a day. I was extremely frustrated by this, but I guess going straight from volume to attempting a single with no semblance of peaking isn’t the most prudent idea ever. It’s just bloody annoying how I have yet to successfully squat a decent single once in my entire life. At any rate, I need to use my head more from here on out. Need to learn how to program, too.
Incline Bench
45 x some
135x8
160x5
(180x5)x6
Staggered with band pull-aparts. I was stupid and decided to bench through a grumpy shoulder, but it began to subside as the sets progressed. Not a very bad effort at all, considering.
Close-grip chins - 4 sets
Plate swings - 3 sets
Botched this session…it’s on me. Will make up for it later this week.
May 2, 2013
- Tractioned shoulders while W/U benching
Bench
45 x some
(135x6)x2
(175x4)x2
205x4
(220x4)x4
—switched to close grip—
(210x3)x3 (first/last set w/ pause on 3rd, 2nd set w/ feet up)
Staggered chins with these.
Cuban Press - 3 sets
Face Pull - 4 sets
Tricep Pushdown - 3 sets
Benching didn’t feel at its strongest. Thought I wouldn’t have time to squat, but it turned out that circumstances changed, and I would have had time after all. I’ll squat after pulling on Saturday.
May 4, 2013
W/U - Glute Activation Work
Conventional Deadlift
135 x some
225x5
315x3
370x3
410x3
430x2
455x2
480x1 (missed 2nd rep)
420x4
405x4
The 480 double really should have gone up, but I felt terrible today. It was like I was falling asleep and it slowed my pace to a crawl. Had to tone down the backdown sets, too.
Squat
135x8
225x5
275x3
(325x3)x5
Focused on keeping the knees out.
HB Pause Squat - (260x5)x4
Squats weren’t any better. Felt like absolute death today.
May 7, 2013
Squat
45 x some
135x8
225x5
275x5
(315x5)x10
No real plan for today although I knew I wanted to lower intensity a bit. Decided to do that. Focused on keeping the knees out and the chest up. Felt pretty good actually.
Incline Bench
45 x some
135x8
155x8
(170x8)x4
Challenging, but also felt rather secks. Shoulder felt great, too. Did several sets of chins throughout.
May 8, 2013
Combined some old weight plates with a small gas line pipe to make a makeshift kettlebell. Did three or four sets of around 20 with 70 lbs along with two or three sets of pullups off of a tree. #ghettopennsylvaniainbredwhitefarmerlyfe
I suck.
May 9, 2013
W/U - Band dislocations/pull-aparts, shoulder traction, 2x5 box jumps
Bench
45 x some
135x6
(175x4)x2
(200x3)x3
225x3
240x3
(220x5)x2
210x5
Benches were feeling relatively good. Topset felt fairly solid. Backdown 5’s were rather tough though.
HB Squat
135x8
225x8
(280x8)x4
Pretty easy sans slight cardiovascular difficultly. Paused some of the reps.
Plyo Pushups - 3 sets (had to rest-pause them…damn these are hard)
Ab Wheel Rollouts - 2 sets
Chins - 3 weak sets
May 11, 2013
W/U - few sets of pullups, glute activation work
Snatch-Grip Deadlift
135 x some
225x6
315x6
365x6
395x6
(355x6)x2
370x6
First time doing these in eight months. I kept myself squatted down into the bar for a fairly long period of time during the setups, which I feel may have put me at a disadvantage for the topset, seeing the relative difficulty of it. Tried to drop my hips more dynamically thereafter, which I feel may have helped to some extent.
Conventional Deficit Deadlift - (370x3)x5 (the snatch-grip work evidently took a lot out of me)
Deficit SLDL - (260x15)x2
Seated DB Press
50’s x 12
60’s x 10
70’s x 6 (no idea if I’ve hit this before)
—dropset—
55’s x 4 (fail)
55’s x 9
Lateral Raise - (25x12)x3
Shoulder pinched a bit during the lateral raises, but went way while I was doing them. Shoulder work went pretty well. Pulling was fair enough.
May 14, 2013
W/U - some kneeling squat jumps, dynamic stretching…why do I even call this stuff a warmup?
Squat
45 x some
135x8
225x5
275x5
315x5
(335x5)x8
These took a substantial amount of resolve to get through…more than I would have liked.
Incline Bench
45 x some
135x8
165x6
185x6
(180x6)x2
Felt rather heavy…backed down slightly on the topsets. Still felt okay though.
Back Raise - (BW bands x lots)x4
CSR - (2 plates x some)x3
Then I tried out dragonflies for the first time. Very difficult…couldn’t even really do them legitimately. Will work on them.
May 16, 2013
Warmup
Adductor machine, leg swings, assorted lower body stretches, band dislocations/pullaparts, shoulder traction
Bench
45 x some
(135x6)x2
(175x4)x2
(205x3)x3
220x2 (paused)
240x1 (paused)
255x1 (paused)
(225x4)x4
Warmups felt fast, although the topset was slightly harder than I wanted it to be. The backdown sets were rather challenging, but they got done.
Front Squat
135x5
175x3
210x3
225x3
240x3
255x3
260x3
245x3
230x3
Think I may need to focus on form…felt more rounded out than I should be. Was rather hard honestly. Worked in a pause or two here and there.
Chins - 4 crappy sets
Then practiced dragonflies lulz. Somewhat, anyway…
May 18, 2013
W/U - Glute activation work
Sumo DL
135 x some
225x5
315x3
365x3
(435x3)x2
(470x3)x2
515x2
(495x2)x2
First time sumo pulling in three weeks. Last time I took a break like this, I had a fantastic day…I was hoping it would happen again today. That couldn’t have been further from reality. I couldn’t break 515 for anymore sets, and I double-pumped the shit out of 495 just to get a couple crap sets in. Shut it down. Am I really this soft sans straps?
Seated DB Press
(45’s x 12)x2
60’s x 10
Need to be more honest with myself from now on. I’m giving BIG consideration towards shieko at this point, using maxes that I feel should be highly reasonable. Namely, 390 squat, 255 bench, 535 deadlift (I pulled it without straps).
May 21, 2013 - #29 W1D1
Yep, decided to bit the bullet and start up Shieko. Using 400/255/550 as my maxes. Let’s deuce dis!
CGBP
45 x some
135x5
160x5
(180x3)x2
(190x3)x5
Took these with a close grip and kept my feet up. Had to skip the warmup stuff because I was in a rush, and my shoulder was acting up a lot as a result. Still easy though.
Squat
135x5
225x5
245x5
(280x5)x5
Shoulder was hurting like a motherfucker at this point and did not want to stretch back at all for this. Still managed to get it done. I’m sure you could imagine how nearly two and a half hours of Ultimate Frisbee and having a pint of blood drawn today affected the difficulty of this, but it was really light so it didn’t matter.
Bench
135x5
155x4
(180x4)x4
Used comp setup. Shoulder started to cooperate a bit more.
Good Morning - (135x5)x5
DB Fly - (30’s x 10)x5
Kept the pace MUCH faster than usual. Managed to complete this in about 75 minutes. inb4 watchoutwegotabadassoverhere
May 23, 2013 - #29 W1D2
Warmup - did a couple sets of chins along with some band dislocations and pull aparts
Halting Deadlift
135 x some
225x5
315x3
(345x3)x2
(385x3)x2
(415x3)x4
First time doing these. We’ll see where they go, I guess.
Incline Bench
45 x some
135x6
(160x6)x4
Dip - 5 sets (shoulder hurt, but began to cooperate more later on)
4" Block Pull
315x5
385x4
(415x4)x2
(470x3)x4
Hands took a beating, but that’s what I’m here for.
Walking Lunge - (110x5)x5
Ab Wheel - 3 sets
Inverted Row - 4 sets
Good times.
May 25, 2013 - #29 W1D3
Warmup
Cuban Press - some x some
Chins - some x some
More shoulder traction
Bench
(45 x lots)x2 (varying grips/feet up)
135x5
155x5
180x4
(190x3)x2
(205x2)x2
(190x3)x2
180x4
155x6 (feet up)
140x8 (feet up/close grip)
DB Fly - (30’s x 10)x5
Squat
135x5
225x5
(245x5)x2
(280x3)x2
(300x3)x5
Good Morning - (135x5)x5
Seated Cable Row - 4 sets
Face Pull - 2 sets (the rope I was using sucked for these…stopped)
Cable Scarecrow - 2 sets
Shoulder still giving me shit. Making it difficult to setup for squat. The one close grip set I did w/ 140 on bench hurt more than anything else, even though close grips are supposed to reduce shoulder pain…? Rear delt/upper back work seems to alleviate it, which is odd since I’m about 99% percent sure that I don’t have an imbalance back there.
May 28, 2013 - #29 W2D1
Squat
45 x some
135x8
225x5
(280x3)x2
(320x2)x5
Used the straps today to take pressure off my shoulder. Worked out well. Had to be more deliberate overall and go slower, but it was still solid and I had a good shelf going on.
CGBP
45 x some
135x7
155x5
(180x3)x2
(205x3)x5 (final set POR)
Kept my feet up until the 3rd set w/ 205. Seemed more difficult than usual honestly.
DB Fly - (35’s x 10)x5 —SS— Elevated Pushup - (BWx10)x5
Handless Front Squat
135x5
(180x3)x2
220x3
220x2 (bar drifted forward and wouldn’t come back…had to rack it)
—switched to clean grip—
220x3
(240x2)x4
Struggled with keeping the bar racked yet again. Easily my most frustrating lift ATM.
Didn’t have time to do good mornings, so I did 5x15 kettlebell swings with my makeshift kettlebell when I got home.
May 30, 2013 - #29 W2D2
Halting Deadlift
135 x some
225x5
315x3
355x3
(385x3)x2
(415x2)x4
Played around with some double pauses, too.
Bench (staggered w/ chins)
45 x some
135x6
(165x6)x4
DB Fly - (35’s x 10)x5
Block Pull
315x5
385x4
(415x4)x2
(440x4)x4
Lunge - 3x5 (shaved off two sets here)
Tired…
I got my next Sheiko session later today. It should be interesting to see how this goes considering my current condition, which I attribute to what occurred yesterday: eating nothing but garbage and walking around for three hours straight filling out job applications. The result was a lingering, prominent sense of lethargy that prevented me from eating and actually hindered my sleep that night. Being generous, I probably slept about three hours in total. My stomach aches and it feels like I have a rhapsody of 72 aneurysms continuously firing in my head. Although overall I feel much better than I did yesterday.
June 6, 2013 #29 W2D3
Cuban Press - some x some
Squat
45 x some
135x8
225x5
(280x3)x2
(320x2)x5
Had to stretch out the hips a bit more.
Bench
45 x some
135x6
155x6
(180x3)x2
(205x2)x2
—feet up from here out—
190x3
160x6
140x8
Squat
135x5
225x5
245x5
(280x4)x4
Good Morning - (140x5)x5
DB Fly - (35’s x 10)x5
Reverse Pec Dec - 3x20
Just got it done. I am one with death right now.