2010-12-20 Dead and Bench

Deadlift - 135, 185
3x5 - 250
Easy as fuck. Fullness and sleep are nice allies.

Bench - 45, 95
3x5 - 160
Fairly easy. Figured out that the pain I get in my hands (near the wrist) is largely from cocking my hands forward a bit; rotated them back slightly and it went away. Yay.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 130lbs
Form is deteriorating somewhat.

2010-12-17 Squat and Press

Squat: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135
3x5 - 210lbs
These were a lot harder than they should have been.
Sacral pain.
Rachel's hip kicks out very heavily on harder squat sets. We're fairly sure this is due to an injury from when she was a baby, but do any of you guys have any details on fixing an issue with the hips rotating heavily on heavier reps?

Press: 45
3x5 - 112.5lbs
Hard.

DB Row:
3x5 - 50lb
Right first.

2010-12-10 Dead and Bench

Warmup: The usual, except without the pvc or the lax. Found the PVC at the gym - seems we left it there.
Did Dieselcrew on the bench instead of freestanding, and plan to continue doing so. Still 7.5s. May switch to 10s next semester.

Deadlift: 135, 185
3x5 - 245lbs
My double-overhand grip is alarmingly bad. Mixed Grip I can hold onto ~365 for a good 10 seconds or so, but going double-over appears to be what's making these less than amazing.
Still, most of these were good, even if it was because the weight probably isn't too far off from what I could clean (...for a 1RM and if I actually, y'know, could clean).

Bench: 45, 95
3x5 - 155lbs
No liftoffs.
I'm having trouble getting my lats to engage properly, possibly because I'm not getting liftoffs. I once again managed it on the last set and the last set alone, but that also had some issues with my arch.
Cuing myself was a lot easier when Saba and Eric were around, lol.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 125lbs
Working on the cues for these. Lat feeling is getting better. At least I'm still not feeling it in my biceps.

Didn't do Face Pulls because we'd been there for ages and couldn't be arsed.

Rachel pulled 135 for a single today; we decided to just take her up to the plates and work up one rep at a time for 5 sessions, then increase as normal. She probably had it for 3 (maybe 5) if she'd wanted it. She also squatted her bodyweight for 5/3/1, thereby officially returning to where she was before I hurt myself. Yay.

2010-12-08 Squat and Press

Wore the belt again today. I'm not sure if it was the extra stability, the mechanical assistance that I will explain below, or just me sucking less, but...well, read on.

Warmup: The usual, sans the balls, but with more PVC attention to my lower back because I'm getting used to the EXCRUCIATING pain.
Oh, and the asshole guy who tried to pick a fight with me when I was warming up for my 405 dead was there. I won't move this to the top, but he was doing movements in perfect synch with two other skinny guys with nicer faces. They were curling, then they were pretending to do cleans, then they were BTN pressing, then they were half-squatting, and then he in particular was offering program advice to a guy significant larger and stronger than him who unfortunately both knew him and did not become larger and stronger than him without outside help and thus not only put up with him but agreed to follow said advice to the letter.

Yeah, I, uh, may have watched an episode of ZeroPunctuation in the last ten minutes. >.>

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 135 (all for 5), 135x1
3x5 - 205lbs
Did the 135 single and felt that my form had solidified enough that I should just move up. Waited a minute or so, added belt, did first set.
I got Greg to check my depth on the third set and he said I was definitely going past parallel, which seemed amazing to me, because legal squats are not supposed to be that easy.
I don't think I was engaging my core (via the belt) properly, but it's one of the only three explanations I have, the others of which are:
2) That the belt provides considerable mechanical assistance, partly by pressing into my thighs when I'm nearing depth and giving me some kind of rebound...or something...
3) That I've just gotten that much better. Possible, I...guess?

The belt also server as a very helpful indicator of depth - I knew when to rebound because eventually the force of the belt against my thighs provided a mechanical barrier preventing me from going deeper. Since this depth was legal...yay?

I feel like a gear whore.

Press: 45
3x5 - 110
This was harder than I like.

DB Row:
3x5 - 50lb
My left isn't engaging properly.

Rollouts:
3x8
Tried to add band, couldn't. Damn.

2010-12-06 Dead and Bench

Wow, this has been hectic.

Wore the belt for some of the stuff today. I'm still...well, unsold on it. >.> Need to return it anyway, but that won't be for a refund...hrm.

This is annoying, dunno how I feel about it.

Warmup - everything except the balls, which I need to find. Did shoulders on a bench instead of freestanding.

Deadlift: 135, 185
*Added Belt
3x5 - 240lbs
~16 weeks off from approximately where I should have been when I hurt my leg. >.>
Adjusted the belt position - first set was too low and probably too tight, 2nd was a tad high but the right setting (3rd holes, so I definitely should upgrade the length) and the third was "just right" (at least, I tihnk it was - 2nd was easier, though).

Bench: 45, 95
3x5 - 150lbs
Didn't get liftoffs for any of these. Belted on 2nd set only.
Only managed to engage my lats properly on the third set; pulling the bar out of the rack interfered with the others.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 120lbs
Not feeling this in my lats as much as I'd like.

Face Pulls:
3x8 - 15lbs
I'll probably go up to 20 soon.

2010-12-04 Squat and Press

Warmup - didn't bring the PVC today, since I had nobody to help carry stuff. Other than that, the usual (sans tennis/LAX ball).

Squat: 135, 135, 135
3x5 - 200lbs
Easy. Need to work on my breathing, though...generally unsure of the quality of my form on these.
I need to stretch my hamstrings on my off days.

Press: 45
1x5 - 100lbs
2x5 - 105lbs
I'm an idiot (RE: first work set).
Fairly easy, besides that.

DB Row:
3x5ea - 45lb DB
Going to start taking in one of my DB handles (note to self: write name on handle) so I can do easy 2.5lb increments on this.

Didn't do rollouts, 'cuz my car was parked in a paid parking zone that "activated" about an hour after I got to the weightroom, and I didn't want to chance a ticket.

2010-11-28 Deload Squat and Press

First deload.

Warmup - As usual. 3 sets of band GMs, though the third set might not have been all that necessary. Still forgot tennis ball. Band traction for wrist.

Squat: 135, 135, 135
3x3 - 195lbs
This felt as easy as it should have, at long last.
Still need to remember all my cues, though.

Press: 45
3x3 - 100lbs
Also easy, albeit not quite as easy as the squats.

DB Row:
3x3ea - 40lbs
Still getting the hang of pulling this properly.

Rollouts:
2x8
Adding a band next week, yay.

2010-11-26 Dead and Bench

Warmup - The usual, sans lacrosse ball, but with an extra 2 sets of band GMs.

Hamstrings weren't feeling 100% today - right one was tighter than usual, left one felt like it did at the end of my recovery period. Guessing this is due to the cold, though the aforementioned. Had some SI joint stiffness, too - same credit.

I managed to warm up in about 15 minutes, though, which is pretty good.

Deadlift: 135, 185
3x5 - 235lbs
Meh.

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95
3x5 - 145lbs
Meh.
Need to pause somewhat longer than I did on the first two sets. I think I'm still SPF legal, though.
Need to fix some issues with wrist position - I think I'm cocking my wrists forward again, 'cuz one finger wider than I was 2 months ago shouldn't be causing the issues it has.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 115lbs
Did a very poor job of engaging my lats on most of these. This was more due to forgetting cues than not being strong enough, but the reps would have been considerably more strenuous had I remembered.

Face Pulls:
3x8 - 15lbs
Wrist stuff came up again here.

2010-11-24 Squat and Press

Warmup - As always, just sans the lacrosse ball because I couldn't find it and couldn't be arsed to grab the tennis ball from under the driver's seat of my car (dangerous place to keep it, I know).

Squat: 135, 135, 135
3x5 - 195lbs
Back wasn't as good I'd've liked, and my hip flexor was acting up, but I was under time constraints.

Press: 45
3x5 - 100lbs
Felt very good.
Met another fairly serious lifter. We went into the other room so he could finish his squats while I did Rows and saw Thomas and Te; fun conversations to be had.

DB Row:
3x5ea - 40lb
Meh

Didn't have time to do rollouts.

2010-11-23 Sled

8 Trips x 205lbs x 100ft x 30 seconds rest

Had a traffic warden as an audience today, lol.

And then after he left a few of the full-time employees from work walked past on the way to their cars and were impressed.

I decided after the 2nd trip that I should be able to get 8 this time. The 8th felt like walking through some very mild region of hell for the last ~40 feet. Fun.

I'll go up to 5 plates once I've gotten 10 at this.

2010-11-21 Dead and Bench

Warmup - Rolling w/ Roller and Lacrosse Ball, Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup w/ 7.5lbs, 3 Sets of Band GMs

Deadlift: 135, 185
3x5 - 230lbs
Easy. I've noticed that having switched back to double-overhand, I set my grip on these the same way a few people (including you...I'm kinda assuming you're the only guy reading this log, lol), do for cleans. It's a bit odd, actually - it makes my setup feel somewhat more solid, but probably makes the lift harder. Fortunately, that's not likely to matter until I'm up around 315, so w/e.
Form-wise, these were...hard to gauge. I don't know if I'm getting my shins close enough to the bar or setting up my upper back properly.

Bench: 45, 95
3x5 - 140lbs
First set was fairly good, second set was really good, third set was pretty meh due to some mild balance/uneven bar lowering issues. First time in recent memory that that's come up, actually.
Got my arch and my lats back, though, so very strong net win.

Pulldown:
3x5 - 110lbs
Figured out the weights of the little blocks for use on the cable stations by...well, using a bosu ball as a scale. That makes two uses for the stupid thing.
These felt fine.

Face Pull:
3x8 - 15lbs
Used one of the blocks to up the weight on this. Somewhat harder than 10lbs.

2010-11-20 Sled

6 Trips x 100ft x 205lbs x 30sec rest

Last time may only have been 4, come to think of it.

Last one of these was damn near impossible.

2010-11-19 Squat and Press

Warmup - Rolling, Lacrosse Ball, Self-Massage on left hip flexor, Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup w/ 7.5lbs, Band GMs (Orange Band)

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135
3x5 - 190lbs
My right hamstring is uber-tight. I did some static stretching between sets and it loosened up, thank god.
Even if I can get down to depth with 45 or 95, my back rounds out horribly without lots of stretching. The work sets were fine, though.
Called Inzer and wound up paying $30 more to get my belt next week with a lifetime warranty rather than wait 3 months for the economy one.

Press: 45
3x5 - 95lbs
Still occasionally losing my balance forward on these.
Felt a lot easier than in the past. Yay.

DB Row:
5x 50, 50, 35
Took the weight down drastically to see if it'd help me get my elbow further out - it did, but I'm not sure which of the two I like more. Trying 40 next week to see how positioning goes, and after that increasing by 2.5lbs using the minichains I made a while back; Rachel's using them for her standard progression, so they're pretty available.

Rollouts:
3x8
Need to remember to bring in the micro band next week for these. Need to bring in the mini and/or monster mini for Rachel to do Band GMs, too, actually.

2010-11-18 Sled

6 Trips x 100ft x 205lbs x 30sec Rest

This was a lot harder.

2010-11-17 Deadlift and Bench

Warmup - Rolling w/ Foam Roller and Lacrosse Ball, Band GMs, Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup w/ 7.5lb DBs (waaaay harder than 5lbs)

Switched to 3x5 for the sake of time. Not switching to full-out SS, though...I like deadlifts too much.

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185
3x5 - 225lbs
Decided my starting weights will be 95 for Press (resetting down to this), 135 for Bench, 185 for Squat, and 225 for Dead. Pulldowns and DB Rows I'm approaching somewhat more chaotically, because they don't follow the same loading patterns (well...they could, actually, given that I have Olympic Handles...hrm, maybe I'll take one in).
These went well. I didn't record any extensive comments in my log, but besides Deads currently being a huge crapshoot after 3 reps, there was nothing particularly wrong here.
My conditioning is still somewhat lackluster, probably because a 100ft sled drag takes 20 seconds, whereas a serious set on any of the big 3 takes around 45 including setup. I'm going to keep going at my current pace until I'm loading up all my plates (for a total of 365lbs + the weight of the sled), and then go by feel on trip length/number. After that I'll probably start pulling it up the hill of death.

Bench: 45, 45, 95
3x5 - 135lbs
Unlike last week, when the guys using the good bench asked why I didn't want to use the bad one and switched when I changed, this week's guys just said they had 4 sets left and then muttered to each other about the other one being free, so the training session went over by about 10-15 minutes. I do not understand why the RSF only has one good bench.
(Clarification - I can't arch on the other one. There's no real padding on it, and the material's slippery as hell, so I slide around like nobody's business. I used it for a single at 225 [or something] a while back without much issue, I'm pretty uncomfortable setting up on it for a serious set).

Pulldown:
3x5 - 105lbs
First set was great, second meh, third also great.

Face Pulls:
3x8 - 20lbs
I may go up on weight for these.

2010-11-16 Sled and some program stuff

Sled Dragging -
4 Plates x 8 Trips x 100ft x 30 seconds' rest

Training schedule adjusted to Wed Fri Sun, with dragging Tue Thur Sat.

Still haven't decided if I'm switching to SS; the main issue right now is time, and I'm not sure if it's enough of an issue to warrant the switch.

2010-11-13 Squat and Press

Fuck.

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 45, 135, 135, 135, 185, 225
260 - 4, 2 (3F)
3x5 - 185lbs
Technical miss, but even then, I should not be having a small technique flaw cost me reps at this weight.
Went down to 185 - I'm just going to cut all my 1RMs in two and start from those weights, working up 5lbs at a time.
I may switch to SS from here. Haven't decided. I may or may not actually do March Madness 2011.

Press: 5x45
5x5 - 100lbs
This was a fair bit harder than the 185lb squats were. I may reduce this.

2010-11-10 Deadlift and Bench

Warmup, including band GMs

Deadlift: 5x135, 4x185, 3x225
4x4 - 285 (chalked)
I need that fucking belt. Inzer are sold out right now and I need to either adjust the size or find another company.
I also need to eat more. A lot more. My main theory on why I feel so crap in the weightroom is that I'm not recovering from the combination of linear + sled work, which is probably an artifact of not eating enough. I'm going to get back on creatine ASAP and grab some milk tomorrow. Or possibly today.

Bench: 5x45, 4x95, 4x135
4x4 - 160
Took my grip out to max legal (difference of one finger - pretty minimal).

Pulldowns:
4x 75, 90, 90, 90
Fairly hard to go up gradually on these, though there are little blocks you can use.

Face Pulls:
1x8 - 20lbs
I wanted to get out of the gym at this point, so...yeah.

2010-11-09 Sled

Sled Dragging: 160lbs + Sled
10x100ft, 30 seconds' rest
Totally thought I was going to get all of like...6 on this. After I did the 4th I decided I could probably hit 8, and after the 8th I contemplated stopping but decided to push for 10. Then I decided it probably wasn't worth doing more. Backwards dragging to get it home was also a lot easier than I thought - did the usual ~30-40ft for the first two, then got it the rest of the way up the hill in one trip.

Going up to 180+Sled next time.

Not sure what the fuck I'm going to do once I'm at 270.

2010-11-08 Squat and Press

Seems the trap thing is a very, very serious trigger point on the left side. AGH.

Warmup - Rolling, Lacrosse Ball, Dieselcrew Shoulder

Need to add in GHRs and leg swings.

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 185, 225
4x4 - 255
This was a lot harder than it should have been, presumably because I've lost about 10-15lbs. My conditioning level didn't help; hopefully that part of it goes away fairly soon.
I also need to re-master some elements of the form. I don't think I was at risk of failing any of these, but they should have been a lot smoother.

Press: 45, 45
4x4 - 95
I can't take a grip closer than pinkies on the rings without having something slip around in my left shoulder; I assume this is related to the trap problem. This was easy as balls, though; I was taking 5-minute rests between sets to avoid any chance of overtaxing myself and it was just embarassingly easy.

DB Row:
4x4/4 - 50lb
Yup.

Rollout:
3x8
Trap made these somewhat less comfortable than usual. Once it's fixed I may add resistance, but...w/e.

Program Choice

Decided I'm doing Emevas's basic 3-5 from the Beginner topic instead; I may switch to mine after March Madness, but I'd like to hit at least close to my goals there. I'm pretty sure I can get around there with Squat and Bench; Deadlift I should at least be past where I am now. The annoyance of this is exacerbated somewhat by my having to take at least one week completely off because I'm going to be nowhere near a gym for all of Thanksgiving, and may not have gym access for the week of Christmas.

First real training day in a month coming up.

EDIT: That said, I may be doing 4x4 instead of 3x5 or 5x5.

2010-11-06 Sled

Sled Dragging - 135lbs x 12 trips x 200ft, 30 seconds' rest

This was a hell of a lot easier than the 8 or 10 I did on Thursday. Adding a 25 next time.

Got my first complaint, presumably because I started at 7pm. Asked when a good time was for Tu/Thur/Sat and was told 3pm. This coincides nicely with Chem Lectures I already don't go to and the end of work, so I should be fine.

2010-11-05 Final Rehab

Friday

Final day of rehab checking. Everything felt fine today. Sled dragging tomorrow, upper back permitting. See below.

Extensive warmup

Squat: 45, 95, 95, 135, 135, 135, 185, 185
3x5 - 225
This was largely because I didn't want to try 275.
At the end of the last set, I reracked the bar and immediately felt something horrible in my traps. This hasn't gone away; I've experienced it before and it usually subsides fairly quickly, but it looks like I'm back to ice and ibuprofen.

I need to eat more, sleep more, get back on my fish oil and ZMA, and generally try to get back to how I was back when I was kicking ass every time I set foot in the gym. I'm going to try to get over to Costco and buy a 3ft section of Ribeye and a sharp knife. I've got other things going on here as well - two months out from Christmas and I've already decided my big (realistic) gift request is going to be a vacuum sealer, given that a set of Cast-Iron Cookware is already requested for my birthday and apparently in the works. But...yeah.

I just don't feel as good as I used to right now, and I strongly suspect it's because I've been out of the gym and undernourished.

2010-11-04 Sled

Sled Dragging

3 Plates
10 Trips, 100ft each way - Forward drag, holding straps
30 seconds between

Back to the House
Split into 3 or 4 sections (can't remember which), uphill, backwards dragging, holding straps. No set rest period.

I died.

It might have been 8 trips. I forget.

2010-11-03 More Rehab

More Rehab

...I'm a bad person, 'cuz I decided not to do sled work yesterday and instead played Dragon Warrior Monsters for an extra hour. I need to get better food. And my act together. Et al.

Warmup: Asstons of ITB-related rolling, band GMs, then the regular shoulder warmup
I'm going to standardize something for this.
Hip circles too, btw.

Squat:
3x 45, 45, 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 95, 135, 135, 135
3x 185
5x 185
Didn't have time to go for 225 because I was showing someone powerlifting bench form.

Hamstring acted up a little bit on some but was fine by the end.
Hip was fine for the set of 185.

DEFINITELY sledding tomorrow.

2010-11-02 Rehab Check

Greg's started lifting again. Will he stick with it? TIME WILL TELL.

Rehab Check Day 1:

Extensively rolling, particularly on hip flexors and IT Band (along with ITB-related stuff).

Squat:
45x 3, 4, 3, 5, 5
95x 4, 4
Bad stuff started popping up when I pushed my hips back for 95. I shouldn't have gone for a fourth.

Program Plan

For the time being, I am without any training partners - Saba's switching to a linear program (for the best), Dustin's going in when he can, Eric's pussying out for the time being because he burned his hand, and Rachel's switching back to bodyweight stuff for the time being due to time constraints. I imagine I'll be getting Eric back fairly soon, and should have Saba and Rachel back next semester.

If I can get Eric back, I may stay on my old program; otherwise, I'm switching back to linear for the time being.

Getting a belt, too. Any suggestions?

Current Plan is:

Monday:
Squat 3x5
Front Squat 3x5
GHR 3x8
Rollout 3x8

Tuesday - Sled, Band Face Pulls

Wednesday:
Bench 3x5
Press 3x5
DB Row 3x8
Pulldown 3x8

Thursday - Sled, Band Face Pulls

Friday:
Deadlift 3x5
Good Morning 3x5
45-Degree Hyper 3x8
Rollout 3x8

Saturday - Sled, Band Face Pulls

Face Pulls will be done off of a doorknob. Or something. I'll probably ask my parents if I can put a pull-up bar into my door frame, actually.
I'm going to spend the next week (starting today) squatting every day to finish rehabbing my hamstring - it still pulls under certain circumstances. I'm also going to devote considerable attention to my IT band, glutes, and just about everything else in that region, and look into getting some ART done.

Status Update

I've been studying continuously for the last week and at the end of my 4-week hiatus am:
1) Down to 175lbs. This is both good and bad, I think - good in that I'm probably still carrying more lean mass than I was when last I was 175lbs, bad because I now have craptons of weight to gain again.
2) Reasonably healed in the hamstring.
However
3) Just as bad if not worse in the fucking hip flexor area. At this point, I'm fucking done with this and am going to see an ART Practioner ASAP. The Ortho said this was probably a chronic groin strain, but I'm very skeptical of this given that I have now identified that it's the hip bone itself that's hurting and probably not the muscle, and have little reason to care either way because getting the surrounding area released should have a positive effect either way.

Looking Forward...

Orthopedic surgeon was pretty sure it was up in the muscle and also recommended some specialty compression shorts for fixing whatever's wrong with my hip flexor.

I should be back within a month, but it looks like I've lost my training partners until next semester. I'm not sure how I plan to proceed after that - as I said in the main board thread, I'm thinking of going back to linear programming for at least a few weeks to recover my strength before I go back to using a percentage-based program, but I'm:
A) Not sure if that's necessary if I just start over from the Deficit Deadlift / 2-Board Press 3RM weeks
and
B) Not sure that it'd be the best idea to switch off a linear program until at least next semester, given that the current rate of progress (average of +5lbs every 2-3 weeks for each core lift as long as I'm gaining weight) sounds like it'd be fairly reasonable either way.

...so yeah, uh. At this point I'm cleanly divided between the two options - I like being on my current program, appear to be making pretty respectable progress, and am hesitant to change it when it doesn't appear to be broken, but I also don't know how wise it would be to switch back to it immediately post-rehab or how wise it would be to switch off of a post-rehab linear program before that stops providing a similar rate of progress.

And possibly other arguments as well. I didn't sleep much last night and I've barely eaten so far today, so my thought process is likely to remain somewhat muddled until I finish the upcoming rack of ribs.

2010-10-15 Floor Pressing

Floor Press: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
Sets of about 5.
Didn't warm up my shoulders, noticed a massive (and negative) difference in set quality. I forgot how huge of an effect that warmup protocol had on all my lifts.

2010-10-13 Some upper work

I totally forgot I could have done heavy floor presses.

Did 5x 20, 35, 50, 65 on DB Press. Would have gone for 5x80, but I couldn't find my gym shorts and came in jeans and a (non-lifting) belt, which bruised my low lumbars when I came off the bench after the 65 set. This hurts even more than the leg injury and under much less specific circumstances and is generally a pain in the ass, ESPECIALLY given that the pain from the leg injury has largely faded.

2010-10-11 ME Lower

Oh mother of fucking god.

Warmup, Rolling, Hip Circles

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 135, 185, 185
0x 225
Pushed my hips back for the first rep and something popped VERY loudly in my hamstring/groin. I immediately reracked the weight and sat down for a minute or so due to the pain, was able to walk, and thus decided the ER could wait. By the time I left the RSF I could no longer walk with any real stride length and had to check out a wheelchair from them.
ER didn't want to go through the hassle of X-Raying my hip to find out what was wrong (and thus all I know is that it almost certainly isn't a tear and that it almost certainly isn't in my hamstring), so I'm consulting with an orthopedist ASAP. I then went back to the RSF to return the wheelchair only to find out that they have now lost my ID, which means I will at some point in the near future have to either bitch them out so they'll find it or bitch out the card office so they'll give me another one for free because the card was lost by a university employee who demanded the ID from me in exchange for something I needed and there's thus absolutely no way in hell I'm paying to get a replacement because it was Cal that fucked up and not anyone associated with yours truly.

So, I can do lat pull-downs. MAYBE. This is contingent on my being able to get into the RSF given that they have my ID but can't find it.

Got the 270lbs of plates this morning. The guy who sold them to me doesn't appear to have any other buyers, so I can get craptons more stuff from him as needed (of so it appears), including a buffalo bar.

2010-10-10 SE Upper

I take ages doing this, btw.

Warmup, Rolling

Bench: 45, 95, 95, 135
6x3 - 180lbs
The 95 and 135 sets were stellar.
The 180 sets started out bad, went amazing, then decayed.
I get a better feel per rep if I make a point of trying to bend the bar while setting my feet and my arch. I can maintain my arch more effectively now, too.

Floor Press: 45, 95, 135
5x5 - 170lbs
Should be getting 185 for 5x5 during the week of the Bench 1RM.
Last rep of each set was a lot slower than I would have liked, but I think that comes down to losing tightness.

DB Floor:
3x10 - 60s
Totally forgot my blast straps. Need to draw in all of my training through to the end of each cycle.

T-Bar Row:
5x10 - +70lbs
Then a 5-second hold about 20 seconds after the last one.

Face Pulls: 3x10, 10lbs
Plato Halo, 1x8ea, 25lb Plate

2010-10-08 SE Lower

Rolling, Warmup, Hip Circles

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 275
5x2 - 310lbs
Took ages to get warmed up.

Because I've been arriving at nine to accommodate Eric, Dustin, and Saba, and had to take ages to warm up because of my hip flexor (which I suspect is actually my rectus femoris, given that the pain got a whole lot better when I started rolling a tight spot on my quad), I pretty much had to cut this short. I could have done it faster if I hadn't had to take breaks every so often to check Rachel's depth on squats, but still.

I'm finishing it up tomorrow, something I can now do because I dropped my dinner shift at work for Saturdays (because it sucked, not because it was interfering with lifting - though it'll be nice to [hopefully] get all the guys together again to lift so we can get the atmosphere back). My paycheck came in, so I can afford to get some more plates, too.

2010-10-07 Sled

Due to some rather unfortunate bill-related issues, I was unable to buy the plates. Paycheck comes in tomorrow, however, which should enable me to fix that.

120lbs - 8 trips forward, 2 trips back, backward drags home (~2 trips worth, uphill). 20 second rest periods.

Whee.

2010-10-06 ME Upper

Nice day, though I did make a couple of mistakes.

Warmup, Rolling

Bench: 45, 95, 95, 95, 135
I've hit the point at which I can't properly warm up with 45 (on the benches at the RSF, at least) because getting my leg drive slides me up the pad. I'm still going to do at least one set with 45 per workout, but it's going to be a sort of "loosen up" thing and more of a muscular warmup than a CNS one.
Still going to be strict on form with it, though.

2-Board: 135
3x 185, 185
1x 205, 225, 245 PR, 255 PR
0x 260
1x 235
Woah.
I mean, I knew 225 wasn't my 3RM, but I wasn't really expecting that to pan out.
I wasn't quite mentally there for 260 (versus 255 where I was blasting Painkiller in my head) and think it was probably about what my 1RM would have been even if I'd been completely there. It came down nicely enough but once it was about an inch away from the board I pretty much knew it'd be a miracle if I got it.
Didn't get the wrists flying back thing, though - no dumping here.
This seems to project a roughly 240-245lb bench max a month down the line, which is pretty sweet.

DB Bench:
75s - 6, 6, 4
Should have taken the 70s. Oh well.

LAPD:
3x10 - 105lbs

SDBC:
5x10 - 20s
Last set of these did something to my right shoulder; I was planning to only do 3 sets but decided to go for more, which was probably a mistake.

Plate Halo:
25lb - 5ea
Just something to try to get my shoulder to sit properly. Didn't work.

2010-10-04 ME Lower

I totally forgot to log this one.

Warmup, Rolling, Hip Circles

Deficit Deadlift (1st Pin, Box 1): 135, 135, 185, 185, 225
3x 275, 315
2.5x 345
Didn't quite lock 345 out. Damn.
Mostly a grip issue, I think. Been a long time since I could say that, lol.

High-Bar Squat: 3x135
6x 185, 185, 185
Pain in left hip flexor again. Need to get this ART'd.

Hack Squat:
2x6 - 185lbs
These are more of a Sissy Squat for me because of the way I have to lock them out (can't slide directly up the back of the leg - my hamstrings get in the way and the bar gets caught in my knee), but the effect is amazing. Definitely doing these.

RDL:
10x 185, 205, 205
Meh. Going up next time.

Standing Abs using the assisted pullup machine:
10x 0, 90, 90, 110, 110
Basically just push the carriage down to arms' length and then do crunches.
Rolling out next week.
Actually starting my sled work on Thursday. Still don't have the extra plates; need to get my paycheck first.

2010-10-03 SE Upper

Good day today. I need to gain more weight and actually reply to some of the guys selling plates on Craigslist. Found a guy in SF who's got 3x100 for $150, for instance...dunno if I should bite on that or try for some 45s at the same kind of rate.

Rolling, Warmup

Bench: 45, 95, 135
5x4 - 175lbs
This was hell.

Press: 45, 95
130lbs - 5, 4, 5, 4
Floor Press for the next four weeks. Or three. Can't remember, will look it up.
Next time's Press will go 125, 130, 135, 140.

DB Floor Press:
3x10 - 60s
Still mildly negative sensation in my lat, but not particularly worrying.

Strict DB Rows:
3x10ea - 55lbs
My right is still significantly weaker than my left. I think I may start doing an extra set or two at a lower weight for the right.

Face Pulls:
3x10 - 10lbs
These were feeling good.

I think I also did some plate halos, but I don't remember. I know I took a 25 off of a rack to do them, but I may have abandoned the idea in favor of just going back to Rachel's place slightly faster.

Rachel should be deadlifting 135 by the end of next week, which will be pretty nifty.

2010-10-01 SE Lower

Warmup, Rolling, Hip Circles (10-15 for the left leg and occasionally a few for the right, done before workout and between sets)

Squats: 135, 135, 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 275
7x2 - 300lbs
I need to get a video of these. I trust Rachel when she says I'm hitting depth, but I want to know how far past it I'm going.
I need to eat more and get more plates for sled work. Nao.
Oh, and I need to cut the time I rest. I didn't even start the work sets until almost an hour in. 20 minutes for general warmup I'll accept (I'd rather have it be 10, though). 35 for 8 sets, though...that's longer than I'd be taking on work sets.

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225
5x3 - 295lbs
Back position was questionable on these - no doubt because I've been heavily neglecting them and my back musculature.
It was still acceptable, though.
I think I'm going to modify the 6x3 or whatever it is we do towards the end of the cycle to lower reps and possibly more sets. Strong suspicion that that was what fucked my hip up in the first place...though once my conditioning's back up, I may be able to have another shot at it and see if just taking care of my hips is enough.

Rollouts:
2x10

2010-09-29 ME Upper

Feeling pretty good, yeah. Hip's doing a lot better, possibly because I roll it about 4 times a day now.

Warmup, Rolling, but no hip circles today
Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
2-Board:
3x 135, 185, 185, 205, 225
The first 185 was nearly a disaster - Dustin gave me the liftoff and shoved it out a good inch too far. He's getting better, but it was still kinda scary.
Looking at 245 for 1 next week. Holy hell, I'm actually getting stronger.

Strict DB Press, Neutral Grip:
60s x 6, 3, 5, 5, 3
Getting 5x6 next week, from the looks of things.
I think I may be fast approaching the point at which I should start alternating 3 sets and 5 sets from week to week on my heavy accessories. Dunno, though, and it's not like I wasn't already doing that (albeit by feel rather than by design...which is what I shall continue to do, methinks).
Had some bad sensations in my shoulder on a few of these; not BAD bad, but bone collisions.

Lat Activation Pull-Down:
3x10 - 105lbs
Repeating next week for 5 sets.

Rear Delt Flyes:
3x10 - 22.5lbs
Repeating next week for 5 sets.

Muscle Snatch: 30lbs, 3x8
L-Laterals: 5lbs, 1x10
45-Deg Raise: 5lbs, 2x8
External Rotation: 2.5lbs, 2x8

Upping the weight on the muscle snatches in a few weeks. Might take it up 7.5s on the L-Laterals and 45s around the same time. May go up to a 5lb on the ERs around...like, Halloween.

2010-09-28 Sled Work

All the plates, including the 2.5s. Including the sled I think that works out to 120 or 125 (sled is between 20 and 25lbs based on package weight, iirc).

7 100ft trips, 30 seconds between, for forward/hamstring-heavy dragging.
3 100ft trips, 30 seconds between, for backwards/quad-heavy dragging.
Then did backwards to get it back to the house. I'm counting this as 2 trips with about a minute between.
Rolled my ankle on the way back down to the condo because I was distracted by my verbal re-enactment of Jack's encounter with the guards on the dock in PotC 1.

2010-09-26 SE Upper

Took Friday off almost completely (lots of rolling while everyone else lifted) because everything I would have been doing would have aggravated my glute.

Deficit Deads tomorrow for ME. I may or may not join in.

I didn't sleep much last night (just turned 20: cheat meal, followed by movies and sex, followed by SOME sleep, followed by more sex and then work on an empty stomach) and didn't eat THAT much today, so...yeah. I need to get my ass over to Costco and buy a length of ribeye.

Didn't bench today. Eric somehow managed to fail on his. Finally got around to telling Dustin to just do a linear program for the time being, so he's now doing what Rachel's doing and is only slightly stronger than her (except on the Bench).

Rachel got her 3x5x95 Squat today and we were all very pleased, particularly since she got about as much sleep as I did last night.

I'm going to stop blogging now and just give you the update. Huzzah.

Warmup + Asstons of glute rolling

Press: 45, 95
125lbs - 5, 5, 5, 5, 4
GUH.

DB Floor:
60s x 4
Then my shoulder started to hurt and I decided not to chance it.

2010-09-22 ME Upper

Pretty nice.

Warmup, Rolling

Floor Press - 45, 45, 95, 95
3x 135, 135, 165
1x 185, 185, 205, 225, 230, 210
Solid.

DB Military:
3x6 - 55lb DBs
Last rep of the last set was a tad dodgy.

Pulldowns:
5x10 - 90lbs
Good feeling in my lats.

Rear Delt Flyes:
3x8 - 22.5lb DBs
Going for 5x10 next week.

Prehab Stuff: 30lbs, 5lbs, 5lbs, 2.5lbs

2010-09-20 ME Lower

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 225
3x275
1x 315, 365, 405 PR, 365
Video upcoming.
I was at around competition-level psyche on this one.

Step-Up:
3x4ea - 55lbs
Just cut the volume and got this done.

45-Degree Hyper:
3x10 - 95lb DB
Didn't think I was going to get this.

My back feels like hell (muscularly). I'm going to be sore in the morning.

2010-09-20 SE Upper

Warmup, Rolling

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 100, 145
5x4 - 165lbs
These were all decent, some better than others. Very few that were great.

Press: 45
5x5 - 120lbs
Fucking FINALLY.
Pinkies on the rings grip now. I think this made a difference, and it should do a decent bit to keep me consistent with grip width.

DB Floor:
60s x 10, 10, 8, 7, 7
Shoulders not loving me over these.
I think this is more due to my not coming damn close to megadosing fish oil anymore, though. I need Greg's Costco card ASAP.

DB Row:
3x10ea - 50lb
My right lat is hilariously weaker than the left one.

Face Pull:
2x10 - 10lbs

2010-09-17 SE Lower

Got there late and took way too long. What I did went well, except for totally smashing my wrists into my hands while cleaning the bar up to the rack between deads and squats.

Warmup, Foam Rolling

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225
4x3 - 280
These just generally felt good. Which is odd, 'cause I felt like shit.

Squat: 135, 135, 185, 225
5x3 - 280
Sinking these to depth appears to be part of what got my glute whining at me. It also isn't doing nice things to my hip flexor.
I look forward to when I have enough money put away to go for some ART. For now, massage and contrast showers. And rolling. Loooots of rolling.

Rollout:
2x10

Had to cut things short because the gym closed. I'll start cracking down on duration soon.

2010-09-15 ME Upper

Rolling
Warmup

Floor Press: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
3x 185
2x 210 (3F), 205
Failed the third on 210; I had a few technical issues on the first rep, but I doubt I would have gotten it anyway. Strong suspicion this has something to do with how stressed out I was last night and this morning - first anxiety attack I've had in ages. I DETEST these things and blame mental weakness and not taking enough fish oil. Going for 225 next week.

Strict DB Press:
6x 30s, 40s, 50s, 50s, 50s
Given how my shoulders felt after floor, it seemed like a bad idea to do Dips.
Roughly neutral grip on this one to help with my shoulders. Yay, I need active release technique.

Lat Activation Pulldowns:
4x10 - 90lbs
Decent.

Rear Delt Flyes:
4x10 - 20s
Form's getting sloppy here.

Cressey Rotator Cuff Circuit:
30lbs, 5lbs, 5lbs, 2.5lbs

2010-09-13 ME Lower

Big milestone.

Rollings (tennis ball not really necessary)
Warmup

Deadlift: 135, 185, 185
3x 225, 275, 315, 365
All with good back position. I really had to dig deep on the last one, but all of that highish-volume high-intensity pulling on Fridays has paid off - I knew exactly what to do to maximize my chances of getting it without fucking my back up, and the entire set went very well. 405 and a 1000 total next week. Psyched up reasonably hard for this one, though...well, actually came pretty naturally. I haven't had to force it for a while.
Saba got 295 for 3, which was a 1-rep improvement over his previous best. The sickness has taken its toll, x.x.
Eric and Dustin have agreed to switch entirely to my program, though Fridays (the one day they weren't with us anyway) will be a bit of an issue to schedule because they may have Church until 10pm, which is...well, odd to me, but something rather difficult to move around on both ends because the gym closes at 11pm and I can't train at all on Saturdays. If their church gets out at 9 it's still viable; later than that, we'll probably just have to move speed day to Thursday.

Step-Up:
3x6ea - 55s
Meh. Got my left glute complaining.
The left one is honestly more of a problem than the right.

45-Degree Hyper:
3x10 - 90lbs
Easy.

Rollouts:
3x10
Not so easy. Urgh.
Maybe get 5x10 next Monday and THEN add in a band. >.>

2010-09-12 SE Upper

Warmup (no tennis ball, forgot it in the car)

Bench: 45, 45, 95
6x4 - 160lbs
Decent.

Press: 45, 85
5x5 - 115lbs
Decent.

DB Floor Press:
5x10 - 55s
w00t.
Last rep of last set was a struggle.

Strict DB Row:
5x10ea - 45lbs
Love the fuck out of these.

Face Pulls:
1x10 - 10lbs

2010-09-10 SE Lower

Went fairly well.
Took fucking ages.

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185, 225, 275
5x2 - 330lbs
Very light and fast. Nice.

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 185, 225
4x4 - 275lbs
Got Rachel to call me on depth. I'm getting a better sense of what depth feels like, yay.

BB Hip Thrust:
3x5 - 225lbs
Easy

Kroc Row: 10x20lbs
50lbs - 12, 15
Good.

Rollouts:
3x10
Go back up to 5x10 and then add in a band.

2010-09-08 ME Upper

Benched 230. I only have to DL 405 to get my 1,000 total now. Yay.

Rolling (including forearms and infraspinatus).
Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95
3x 135, 135
2x 185
1x 185, 205, 225, 230, 210
Videos exist and will be posted once I receive them.
Saba hit 200.
Eric hit 210.
Took us ages to max out. We need to get a little faster.
15lbs per cycle is asking a bit much on this, but even at 10lbs per I may very well be good for 275+ at March Madness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy1qMWm2mds

DB Bench:
75s - 6, 5, 5
Realized after the first set that we were supposed to Dip today.

Lat Activation Pulldown:
10x 70, 90, 90

Rear Delt Flyes:
3x10 - 17.5s
Need to gain weight by next week.

2010-09-06 ME Lower

Took it fairly easy today.

Olympic Squat: 45, 95, 135
3x 185, 225, 275, 315
Meh, easy enough.

Barbell Hip Thrust (black bench): 45
6x 135, 185, 225, 275, 245
Doing these as a test.
Probably putting them in in place of rack pulls for the DL-heavy SE Lower days, since I'll actually be able to do them.

45-Degree Hypers:
3x10 - 85lbs
These took waaaaay too much out of me.

Weird Stability Ball Plank Thing:
3x 20ct
I'm going to try doing rollouts with bands on Friday...thank god I can get a replacement license soon.

2010-09-05 SE Upper

Warmup, Foam Rolling

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95
4x3 - 150lbs
Easy. Glute was only mildly upset.

Floor Press: 95, 95, 140
3x5 - 175lbs
Reducing the volume this week for the Bench on Wednesday. Switching to Press next week.

Blast Strap Push-Up:
10
w/ Feet Elevated (1 Aerobics Step):
10, 9

Strict DB Row:
3x10 - 40lbs
Done with an emphasis on lat activation (elbow further in).

Face Pulls: 3x10 - 10lbs
Plate Halo: 1x10 - 25lbs
Prone Internal Rotations: 2x10 - 5lb DBs

More foam rolling.

2010-09-03 SE Lower

Meh.

Progress pics are in my inbox. Whether or not I'll actually be able to do anything with them is another matter, because Comcast appear to be throttling my internet down to the single-digit KB/sec rate, possibly because they noticed I was actually taking advantage of my awesomely fast download speeds. I think I'm going to call them tomorrow and complain.

Or maybe it's because Jan torrented a pirated copy of Matlab. Either way.

Warmup

Deadlift: 135, 135, 225, 225, 275
7x2 - 320lbs
Glute felt pretty decent. Not 100% - still not maxing out next week. May do some accessory work.

Squat: 135, 135, 185, 190, 225
4x4 - 265lbs
Seems my squats are getting higher...so I've got Saba calling depth after each rep. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust properly.

Barbell Row:
5x10 - 90lbs

Straight Leg Raise - 10
Plank with Feet on flat side of Bosu Ball and arms on a mildly underinflated Swiss Ball: 3x 20sec, 1x 30sec
These were...quite interesting.

2010-09-02 ME Upper

I got myself pulled over for something I wasn't aware was actually a ticketable offense, so I wasn't quite here for this one...which makes it even cooler that I got the numbers I did. Fuck yeah.

On the minus side, desperately trying to figure out where the hell I put my driver's license after the cop decided not to give me the ticket. Which was nice of him (I think he could tell it was my first such encounter, lulz).

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
3x 185, 205, 210
45 felt meh and it didn't seem like I was arching properly, but I went up anyway. Eric and Dustin joined us again and plan to keep doing so for upper days; Eric's still doing speed work for lower, and I guess he's dragging Dustin along with him. I wonder if I can get them to at least max out with us.
225 next week. I'll probably play it safe and not go for 230 unless 225 goes very smoothly (which it might - I came into this burned out somewhat due to my...encounter).

DB Bench:
3x5 - 75s
Muuuuch harder than 70s.

Pulldowns:
3x10 - 90lbs
Might want to use less weight next time and review the article beforehand, etc..

Seated DB Cleans:
5x10 - 20s

Muscle Snatch: 30lbs
L-Laterals: 7.5lbs each hand
45-Degree Raise: 7.5lbs
External Rotation: 3lbs
Did the Snatches VERY slowly this time, which was...different. In a good way. I think.

2010-08-29 SE Upper

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
7x2 - 180lbs
Easy. That said, my glute was acting up a bit - I think I may actually skip Monday and just do some active recovery.

Floor Press: 45, 95, 135
5x5 - 170lbs
Also fairly easy. Quite gratifying, lol.

Blast Strap Push-Up:
10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Should note that the rest periods here were way longer than they should have been, because I was trying to help someone with his squat form.

T-Bar Row:
5x10 - +70lbs
Finally figured out where the handle is kept, lol.

2010-08-27 SE Lower

Dear god, this sucked.

Warmup

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 275
6x3 - 310lbs
Urrrgh. These got heavy by the end.

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 135, 185, 225
5x4 - 255lbs
These were quite hard after those deads.

Rack Pulls (Box 1, Pin 3): 135, 225
0x 330
Started the first rep and just decided to call it quits. Went and got Box 3) and tried to do them from the 2nd pin for a higher pull just to save face, but reracking it to move the pins down (from Box 3) was such an effort that I decided I was just done.

Barbell Row:
3x10 - 85lbs
Decided not to really stress with these.

Weighed in at 174.4 this morning. Weight PR!

2010-08-25 ME Upper

Good day, despite Saba still being bedridden and my having to rely on amateurs for my spot and holds.

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135
1-Board: 135, 185, 205, 225, 205
Firstly, those 45lb warmup benches? Some of the best sets I've ever done.
Secondly, 225 was easy.
Thirdly, I got the second ever negative comment about how much I arch.
Fourthly, it appears that having two plates on the bar is good for honorary membership in an unofficial strongfag club, given that someone massively bigger than me is now asking me questions about how I train.
Fifthly, I'm almost as strong as said massively bigger person, which is pretty gratifying.

DB Bench:
5x6 - 70s
Last rep of the last set was one of those really stupid affairs with what I'll call "torso cheating." My left elbow kinda hurts now...need to put some Blue Heat on it.

Pull-Ups:
6, 5, 4
Couldn't be bothered to try, honestly. The pulldowns do so much more for my lats that I don't know why I decided to do pull-ups this week.

DB Cleans:
20s - 8, 8, 10, 8, 8

"I should really stop skipping prehab..." he said, as he prepared to leave without doing his prehab.

2010-08-24 ME Lower

Very fitting that my 365 squat should come on my 100th post, no?

Warmup

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 185, 185
3x 225, 225
1x 275, 275, 315, 365, 335, 335
Yay.
My form on the 365 was actually a tad lacking; I didn't drive my chest up properly out of the hole, and consequently had to do something of an upper back goodmorning to lock it out. This is something I'm going to have to work on, given that the main problem with the 405 unrack was that I was having a very hard time holding my upper back in position.

Step-Ups: Box 1
6ea x 45s, 50s, 50s, 50s, 50s
Not too hard. I like these a lot more than lunges, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who's ever done both movements.

RDL:
5x10 - 205lbs
Grip was fine for the first two sets, and a liability for the latter 3. I went mixed grip after the 2nd one, alternating on a per-set basis. My shoulder felt fine, fortunately.

Fallout Holds:
5x 20ct
30 seconds of rest between holds. I don't quite get how the fuck you're supposed to do the fallout flutters...I think I may have to start doing unilateral suitcase deads or something, 'cuz these were only hard because of the rest period.

2010-08-22 SE Upper

...meh day, though I did finally get Rachel to bench. And row (...in a non-rowing-machine fashion).

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135
7x2 - 175lbs
Form wasn't very good on these, honestly. Saba's absence probably didn't help, but that shouldn't really excuse my being so sloppy.

Floor Press: 45, 95, 135
5x5 - 165lbs
Fairly sure I got this a few months back, but w/e. Feels good, particularly given how easy it was.

Blast Strap Push-Ups:
10, 10, 10, 7, 7
Moved my feet further back so I'd be closer to horizontal. Which I think I did while I was in SD and doing these the last time.

T-Bar Row:
5x10 - +65lbs
Easy enough.

2010-08-20 SE Lower

I appear to have pulled something in my upper back, right on the back of my right shoulder. URGH.

Warmup

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 185, 185, 225
4x3 - 245lbs
Nice and easy.

Deadlift: 135, 225
5x3 - 300lbs
Alternated grip between sets to try to bring my right side back up. I think I initiated the shoulder issue by holding the bar improperly on right-overhand sets.
My hips appear to be sliding lower; not sure if this is a good thing.
Wasn't having as much luck as usual in pulling back; several of these swung out slightly, which was...annoying.
Oh, and these are getting fucking hard.

Rack Pull (Box 1, Pin 3): 135, 225
3x330
Aaaaand the shoulder started giving me shit so I called it a day.

2010-08-19 ME Upper

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 95, 135
1-Board: 135, 135, 165, 185, 205, 210
Getting 225 on this next week, methinks. Which would be nice.
Given that it means I'll probably get 225 3 weeks from now. Which will be fucking sweet.
We've sorta managed to "train" one of the gym employees to hold properly. He's pretty cool with it, which is good, 'cuz he's doing it full-time until we can find more guys.

Dips:
6x +45
And then I remembered I was supposed to DB Bench this week.

DB Bench:
4x6 - 65s
Moving up to 70s next week, which looks mildly impressive when I type it here (5x6 - 70s, however, will not...which is kinda funny).

Pullups:
8, 6, 4, 4, 4 (failed 5th)
Wasn't really getting a whole lot of lat action here...might go on an extended pulldown bender (like, 6 weeks) and come back to these afterward.

Seated DB Clean:
10x 12.5, 15, 17.5, 17.5, 17.5
20s next week. I didn't have my old log, so I had no idea what I'd done last time.

Cressey Shoulder Prehab:
30lbs, 5lbs, 5lbs, Open Hand
Upping the weights on the middle two, possibly the lattermost as well if I can find a DB light enough.

2010-08-16 ME Lower

I'm a strongfag.

Except I'm not. 'cuz the actual strongfags are all way bigger and stronger than I am. BUT I'M GETTING THERE.

Saba got 2x250 and failed his third. Honestly, I think he's got 275 in him next week; the fail on that third one looked like it was a consequence of sinking it too deep and then pausing at the bottom. If he'd stopped at legal depth and used the stretch reflex, he'd've gotten past the sticking point before really slowing down.

Warmup

Squat: 135, 135, 135, 185, 185
3x 225, 225, 275, 335
I think the third rep of 335 might have been a shade high, but Saba says he's pretty sure it was at least AT parallel, and my depth sense is somewhat lacking, so...yeah. I'd feel a bit better if I hadn't cut the depth, but it didn't feel as though I could have gotten it sinking it THAT far down.
365 next week.
Also, hilariously enough, there were two guys (skinnyfags; can't remember what they were doing) who saw me setting up on 225 and apparently commented "Watch this guy fail it." These two left during the first 225 set, and then came back a while later to bench...right in the middle of Saba's 250 set. They remained in the room to observe the 335 set, and didn't say a word to each other until they left while I was doing good mornings. HEY-O!

GHR: 3
No. Leg still out. Life sucks.

Lunges: 5ea x 70s
No. Not lunging. Life sucks.

Good Mornings:
3x6 - 185lbs
I think I cut the depth a tad on these too, actually.

RDL:
10x 185, 205, 205
205 seems like a decent weight. 210 next week, for 5x10, I guess.

Heavy Walkouts:
405, 405
Holy shit this is heavy.
Did these kind of as a joke. First one was horrible. Second one I didn't arch it out, but it was a bit better. Either way, just standing there with it on my back was so much effort that my face turned beet red. Guh.

Fallout Holds:
5x 20sec
Moved feet inward. I can hold with some strain with my feet underneath the attachments for the straps. I'm going to try doing flutters next week and see how it goes.

2010-08-15 SE Upper

Saba's got a trigger point in his infraspinatus, and it's causing some issues on his end. Not so good.

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
6x3 - 170lbs
Easy. Feeling good. Need to roll, though, and work on the trigger points in my wrists.

Floor Press: 45, 95, 135
5x5 - 160lbs
Last rep of the last set was a bit dicey, but otherwise it was all good.

Blast Strap Push-Ups:
10, 10, 10, 7, 7
Daaaaaargh.

T-Bar Rows:
5x10 - +60lbs
Had to modify the setup...something weird with the bar or the clips or something. Not sure what.

Emptied my locker out and moved all my stuff into the car.

2010-08-14 Sled Work

4.5 x 200ft - 90lbs, 30 seconds' rest

Said "fuck it" and dropped the rest periods.

The pillar broke off halfway through the 5th trip. I've emailed NYB about their lifetime warranty and whether or not it covers this, and while a replacement would be nice, I'd almost rather just get a refund and drop $80 extra on the EliteFTS one. Then again, they have no warranty at all, so it'd probably be better to just keep using the NYB ones and call them every time one breaks. >.>

2010-08-13 SE Lower

Saba had to lift earlier in the day, and I couldn't make it because I was having a guy come check out my oven. Turned out to be fine, so I celebrated by cooking and eating a 2.5lb rack of baby back ribs.

Squats kinda sucked, and without him there to brighten up the room I found it hard to push myself for an appropriate number of reps on the warmup sets. Deadlifts went fine; my form's improving, which is nice.

Warmup

Squats: 135, 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 225
5x2 - 290lbs
These just generally didn't go as well as they could have, but I'm going for a 3RM on Monday (need to sleep fucktons this weekend) and then it's the "light" SE Lower day leading into the heavy single.

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185, 225
5x3 - 295lbs
A few of these were harder than they should have - as usual, I set up or initiated incorrectly and the bar swung away from me. The last time it happened I decided to actively fix it on the go and immediately started pulling back, which fixed it pretty much immediately. When it happens, it happens on the third rep, and given that it's doing that even when I'm resetting between reps, I have a strong suspicion it's because of how I initiate more than how I set up at this point.

Rack Pulls (Box 1, Pin 3): 135, 225
5x5 - 325lbs
Finally got these, and they weren't even that hard. My grip was unhappy with me by the final one, and some mild glute complaints from the deadlifts turned into a mild glute pull (which hopefully won't turn into a serious glute tear overnight or during sled work tomorrow), but the roller got rid of that in a hurry. And then again. 3 more times between the other sets. >.>

Barbell Rows:
10x 95, 105, 95, 85, 85
Wider grip and trying to focus on pulling my back together rather than engaging my lats. Was definitely feeling good after the 4th set. Grip's currently at about an inch into the knurl.

Fallouts:
3x10

2010-08-12 Sled

11x200ft - 115lbs, 1 Min Rest

Seriously need to get more plates...urgh. First trip barely even fazes me.

Lifting early tomorrow (10am, holy fuck) due to Saba having to leave in the evening.

2010-08-11 ME Upper

Reviewing for OChem final; only had time to do the ME exercise. Ironically, it took a good bit longer than usual.

Warmup
Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
2-Board:
3x 135, 135, 185
1x 200, 225
0x 235, 235
1x 200
I almost died today.
Like, literally. My wrists cocked straight back the moment I started driving the first 235 attempt off the board, and threw the weight STRAIGHT at my face. Saba caught it, got it back on the boards, and with the help of the random guy we had holding it got it back in the rack. I think that's got to be about the 3rd-nearest-death-experience I've (possibly 2nd, given that one of the other 2 wasn't so much "near" as it was "Guaranteed if I hadn't acted otherwise").

Eric bailed again, this time ostensibly because his partner has a final tomorrow. Oddly enough, so do I, although his is in an objectively harder class, so...
It's amusing that I am now the one feeling very skeptical and judging him, because, as I may say to him if he apologizes for flaking, I'm hearing a whole lot of excuses, seeing a whole lot of crap, and getting a lot of strong impressions that he's a pussy who has no idea what he's doing. Urgh. I liked having the four-person team - we were on-task, effective, and overall just better than only having two guys.

2010-08-10 Sled

Closing on my goal (technically 12, although for the sake of building up work capacity to last through an entire SE Lower day, I'm tempted to shoot for 17), after which I reduce the rest periods. I'm going to let this keep being easy (except for 1-2 switches in the rest periods, of course) until I'm doing the goal at 30 seconds of rest per. Then I buy more plates and start upping the load.
<.<
I actually could probably have done 12 today - possibly even more - but, as noted, I'm going slow. Once I hit the goal - which at this point is almost officially 17 or 18 trips - I'll keep the # of trips constant and just start taking the rest down in increments of 10 seconds or something, but for now...going slow.

Oddly enough, it was the front of my shins that make this one hard. Keeping a rapid pace going resulted in my ankles being flexed forward pretty much continuously, so by the end that was tiring me out more than any of the actual movers were.

10x200ft - Sled + 90lbs, 1 minute rest

2010-08-09 ME Lower

This went well.

Warmup

Rack Pull (2nd Pin, Box 5): 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 225
1x 275, 275, 315, 365, 405, 375, 375
I think I beat my record for awesome yells on this one. It was easy, by the way.
...I'm having this really annoying urge to fuck with the routine further by adding in deficit deads, but I'm not going to give in to this urge unless Saba and I both have huge problems at lockout AND off the floor. And even then, it can wait for a few cycles while we bring our backs and quads up to par in other ways.

Good Mornings:
5x6 - 180lbs
Conquored this particular milestone...not that it's a milestone, given that I was doing over 200 with half-decent form last summer, but now I'm being strict as hell for targeting the low back. Not QUITE so much for the hamstrings, but my hope is that they're getting enough from the 3-a-week hammerings on the sled and the assorted other hip extension work.

45-Degree Hypers:
5x10 - 85lb DB
Last rep of final set was...well, suspect. I gave myself the tension headache again, but fortunately it was quite mild and went away after a minute or so of relaxing on the chest press machine next to the 45-degree bench.
Speaking of which, is it just me, or is that machine REALLY fucking comfortable? The handles give me the perfect place to rest my elbows, and the seat cushion is amazingly soft and at EXACTLY the right level of firmness. I could fall asleep in it! IT'S AMAZING.

Rollouts:
3x10
...Probably should have done another two sets, but I'm honestly starting to get bored of this huge excess of rollouts and plan to start switching it up a again.

2010-08-08 SE Lower

Decent day. Taught Rachel to Press and Deadlift after I finished...which didn't take long, because I felt like taking a light day after my total fail on the Press. Going back and retrying 125 next week, after I've gained some weight and recovered a bit more. In retrospect, it was extremely stupid to move up so fast, and I should have done 120 again...or something.

I'm having a very hard time taking Eric seriously...fortunately he barely trains with us. This is part of why I have a hard time taking him seriously, actually, though the god-awful form and his extremely simplistic understanding of the Westside Method (and abject refusal to believe that it might be better for him to really get the movements down before he starts doing speed work) certainly contribute to that. He can bench, but that's really about it, from what I can tell.

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 95, 135
6x3 - 165
Felt...decent. When I got everything right, things went wonderfully; when I didn't, they felt...meh. Getting better lat engagement from trying to pull the bar apart and bend it together at the same time, though; everything felt more solid.

Press: 45, 95
125lbs - 4 (Failed 5th, very miserably)
105lbs - 5, 5
Deload!

DB Floor:
3x10 - 55s
Deload! ...on sets but not reps or weight.

T-Bar Row:
3x10 - +55lbs
Deload! ...on sets but not reps, with a weight that's fucking easy anyway.

No prehab, 'cuz I'm a lazyfag and had basically given up as of the first Press set.

2010-08-07 Sled Work

9x200ft - Sled+90lbs, 1 minute rest

Had an audience today - there are craptons of hippies in town for the Phish concert at the Greek Theater, and they've started camping out (...in their cars) near my house. A small family of them happened to be right by the point I start at.

The daughter was totally convinced I was going to rob them (...she was like...8...but it was still pretty hilarious). Her brother (looked ~6) started doing push-ups after a while. It was pretty amusing.

Then an asshole-type hippy came up as I finished the 9th and started being a (fairly subtle) dick about my obviously being a lifter, but I didn't have to deal with him for very long because I headed back after about two minutes' final rest.

2010-08-06 SE Lower

Warmup

Squat: 95, 95, 95, 135, 135, 135
1x2 - 190, 230
7x2 - 280
The change in my conditioning is very obvious; these went by much better than they have in the past, and I'm guessing it's primarily because the muscles had recovered between sets. The uberhigh hamstring and glute volume (sled work) and, assuming recovery, low back volume (training) probably also helped strength-wise, but I think this one's mostly a matter of work capacity.

Deadlift: 135, 185, 185, 230
5x3 - 285
Yeah, I suck at pulling for reps.
Working on form and setup somewhat here; the third rep tends to have the bar swinging out and making it a lot harder than it should be, so I'm working on sitting back properly (but without doing the lumbar lockout thing). Work capacity wasn't quite high enough for these - was fairly tired by the end.

Front squat: 135, 185
215 - 5, 5, 5, 5, 3
Had a HUGE technical failure on the 4th rep of the final set; I actually did lock it out, but then the bar rolled off my shoulders and into my elbows, leaving me in Zercher position for a few seconds before I decided to just drop it (which made a big noise).
Will repeat this as my first on the next cycle. I'm getting better at the form (the dump was due to issues on the rerack, but I just wanted to finish the exercise up, so I didn't redo it...stupid, in retrospect).

DB Row: 20lbs
15ea - 50lbs
Getting a tad stricter on form here. My right side is a LOT weaker than my left.
Going to start doing these for multiple sets, I think.

Skipped out on ab work to free up time to teach Rachel to squat. Her extensive bodyweight squatting experience came in pretty handy here - she's doing it pretty well.

2010-08-05 Sled

Cut the distance to 200ft. 8 trips.
Tried to cut the rest before doing the backwards drags on the return. Was back 30 minutes after I first left the door.

2010-08-04 ME Upper

2-Board for the first time. I like this movement.
Eric and his friend appear to following our lead for ME Upper, though it looks like they'll either take some convincing or else not be on board for the SE days. This annoys me somewhat; Eric's experienced enough that speed work probably won't have a negative effect on his training, but his friend's very new, and I think it's a tad irresponsible to have him trying to squat fast when he can barely squat at all. His bench form improved tremendously (well, his 2-board form) off of having us there to run him through and make sure he practiced the motion, and I have a strong suspicion the same would hold true for just getting in the squat and deadlift volume. But whatever.

Warmup

Bench: 45, 95, 95, 135
2-Board:
3x 135, 165, 185, 195, 205
1x 215 (failed second rep)
2x 215
Missed the second rep on what should have been a fairly solid triple because I let the bar drift too far down. It's a tad hard to preserve my groove properly on 2-Board, but we'll work on it.
Pretty sure this means I'm getting 230 or possibly 235 next week. Yayz.

Dips: 10
45lbs - 6, 6, 5 (failed 6th...at the very top, ARGH)

Lat Activation Pulldowns:
3x10 - 90lbs
2x10 - 75lbs
Need to review the article. Probably start next week with 90.

Rear Delt Flyes:
5x10 - 17.5s
Retaking at the start of the next cycle. And this one's actually noted in the book now, so I will remember.

2010-08-03 Sled

Sled Dragging

7 trips along the usual route. Going to go and measure it while I drink my smoothie.

Amazingly, I felt as though I had at least one more in me and didn't feel as though I'd been hit by a truck. Decided to cut it short and go for the additional record later this week.

Also realized that due to the lack of a belt/harness, I've been dragging hamstring-style, which explains a few things.

I think I'm going to start doing a backwards drag to get it there; right now I do a 2-part backwards trip to get it home again, but I think my quads would benefit from the extra endurance work.

From the signpost - like, the crack in the pavement that signals the start of the actual slabs of sidewalk - to the power pole is roughly 140 feet; take off 10ft for the sled straps, and you get a total trip distance of about 250 there and back, some downhill, some up. With the current weight (115lbs including the sled), that takes me roughly 1 minute.

The last tree before the power pole gives a distance of 100ft accounting for straps, and 200 there and back, so I think I'll probably just start using that as my metric, since it keeps the slope shallower and generally makes life easier. I don't anticipate going to the other side of the road at any time; it's flatter, but it's somewhat higher-traffic because it's where most of the apartment complexes have their entrances (unlike my side, which just has the ass-end doors for my ex's res hall).

2010-08-02 ME Lower

Eric and a friend of his are onboard to train with us. Sweet. He has experience with 2-Board, too.
Seems he's a lot less experience than I was led to believe, too.

Warmup

Rack Pull (Box 5, 2nd Pin): 135, 135, 135, 185, 185
3x 225, 225, 275, 315, 365
No real pscyheup. Should have worked a bit harder.
Back position was apparently quite good. Might have had more in me, but hey, that's for the next cycle. When I WILL be heavier.
Worked on rounding my upper back out before starting the pull (basically round my entire back hard, then arch lower...it's a work in progress, particularly with regards to air).

GMs: 95
6x 165, 170, 175, 180, 180
180 for all sets next week, methinks.

45-Degree Hyper:
5x10 - 80lbs
Strict. Yay.

Rollouts:
5x10
Ok, need to either switch to fallouts or...something.

2010-08-01 SE Upper

Warmup

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 95, 135
5x4 - 160lbs
Getting better at engaging my lats and keeping my arch. It's a work in progress.

Press: 45, 95
4x 125, 125, 125, 120, 120
Lost weight and blame that for this. Next week's the last Press week, and I'm bloody well getting 5x5 with 125. I intend to have 5x5x135 (if not higher) for my birthday.
Oh, and having a training partner enabled me to get that 4th rep with the last set of 125. Props. >.>

DB Floor:
55s x 10, 10 8, 7, 7

T-Bar Rows:
10x 45, 55, 55, 55, 55
Figure out how to rig up a proper T-Bar setup (no bench to support chest, though): Barbell in corner. Clamp on inside, facing in. Plates outside of that. Get carabiner, attach to one of the loops on the clamp. Attach wide-grip lat pulldown bar to carabiner. 25s are ideal for the height, though we're still experimenting with a means of making it easier to get enough forward lean to really ace the movement. Still, best feeling I've had in my lats for a while.

It's possible that we'll wind up alternating T-Bar Rows and Barbell Rows or somesuch and just keep the DB Rows on Lower Day. Or maybe use barbell rows instead of those incline shrugs. I don't know.

Prehab Circuit: Same as usual.

2010-07-31 Sled Dragging

Sled Dragging

4 Trips, 1 minute between. The usual sans 5lbs because the 2.5s keep falling off and I can't be arsed to deal with them.

Totally murdered myself. I weighed in at 166 this morning. Upping shopping trips to twice a week and fixing my sleep schedule so I can avoid having anything spoil and make sure I eat everything.

2010-07-29 SE Lower

I barely slept last night and I barely ate today, so this kinda sucked. Also not quite as recovered as I might like.
At least I'll be well-fed and well-rested tomorrow night for when I go for a sex PR.

Warmup

Squat: 95, 135, 135, 185, 225
6x3 - 275lbs
I need to make sure I eat a fairly large amount of food prior to lifting in future; the extra girth is extremely valuable for support.

Deadlift: 185, 185, 225
6x3 - 275lbs
Getting better on the form. 2 minutes' rest between sets was a tad horrific, though.

Front Squat: 135
215lbs - 3, 3, 5, 5, 4
Pussied out on the first couple, ground through the next couple, nearly failed the 4th on the last one.

Kroc Row: 10x30s
16ea - 65lbs
Trying to cut down the cheating here.
Need to start with the right next time, and probably take a break between sides.

Rollout:
4x10
"PR."

2010-07-28 ME Upper

Floor Press PR. Bodes very well.

Floor Press: 45, 95, 95, 95
3x 135, 135, 135, 155
1x 175, 195, 205
0x 215
1x 215
0x 225
Missed 215 the first time because it fell out of my groove. The 225 miss was legitimate; might have had it in me if I could have gotten pissed enough, but I'm trying to avoid psyching myself that far up outside of a competition context.

Dips:
6x BW, 10lbs, 25lbs, 45lbs
Doing 45 for my sets across next week.

Lat Activation Pulldowns:
10x 6, 6, 8, 6
No idea what those numbers actually equate to. Using a labeled machine next time.

Rear Delt Flyes:
5x8 - 17.5s
Took ages getting the Floor Presses done, and had to leave before doing the prehab.

2010-07-26 ME Lower

Made a...perhaps somewhat unwise decision today and went for 390 (partly at Saba's encouragement). PR.

Deadlift: 135, 135, 185, 185, 185
3x 225, 225
1x 275, 315, 390 (PR)
0x 355
The unwise component of this is that my form was the worst it's ever been for a deadlift (rounded back all the way up), and I was so burned out from doing it that I couldn't get 355 to budge. My hope is that since I should be at around 185 by the time of the next one, and will have been doing significantly more work for my low back and just general deadlift practice, I may be able to get 400 with decent form...but it depends. I'll try 365 without psyching up as part of the warmup, methinks.

GMs:
5x 135, 135
6x 185, 155, 155
Was totally shot after the Deadlift PR, hate doing GMs...yeah. Not a recipe for great success.

45-Degree Hypers:
3x10 - 75lb DB
Seems about right for strict work. May go up to an 80 next week.

Rollouts:
3x10
Going to up the volume on these next time.

2010-07-25 SE Upper

First shot on new bench cycle. It kinda sucked, but this is because I fail at keeping my arch when benching for reps. Given that I need to work on this...yeah. 4s are a bit of a doozy here. x.x
I'm going to pencil in the next two months or so of training so I actually remember to do the shit I said I'd do.

Warmup: Included some foam rolling today.

Bench: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135
5x4 - 150lbs
As noted above, I tend to lose my arch. The first rep of the final set felt great, though - I need to get into the habit of really pulling the bar out with my lats.

Press: 45, 45
120lbs - 5, 4, 4, 4, 4
I'm torn on whether or not I should increase the weight here. On the one hand, I'm down by 16% on the total number of reps I'm supposed to have done. On the other, I'm going to be a good 3lbs heavier this time next week. >.>

DB Floor:
5x10 - 50s
Yay.

Seated Cable Row:
5x10 - 80lbs
Using the "Ox Horns" handle.
Decent feeling in lats, but Saba wasn't getting anything and this puts a rather annoying strain on the back of my left shoulder. I suspect this is partially because of my grip on deads, but still.
Might try switching to barbell rows.

Circuit: 2x10
Face Pull - 10lbs
Prone Internal Rotation: 2.5s
Push-Ups
Inverted Rows
Plate Halos (25lbs)

2010-07-23 SE Lower

Warmup and Calf Stretching

Squat: 95, 95, 135, 135, 135, 180, 225
6x3 - 270lbs
...holy crap. It didn't actually occur to me what this weight was.
Training partners are useful, aren't they? Having Saba around keeps my mind off of what weight I'm lifting and on lifting it properly. These weren't the best squats I've ever done, but they were a damn sight better than some of the ones I've done in the past, and my form's improving just from knowing that I'm accountable to someone there.
Weighed in at about 168 for the last two days, post-piss but pre-shit. Anything less than 171 next Friday will be grounds for some kind of punishment, presumably an increase in sled volume.
Didn't do sled work yesterday because I was deliriously hungry to the point of not feeling hungry anymore. My GSI threatened to eat me in Chem Lab if I didn't hurry up, and while the responses I thought of but didn't use were mostly innuendos, the thought occurs that I was getting damn close to hungry enough to eat her first. Maybe I should next time.

Deadlift: 185, 225
5x1 - 245lbs
Felt lazy, just used Saba's weight. Formalizing the cycles tonight.

Front Squat: 135, 185
215lbs - 5, 5, 5, 4
Might have had a full 5x5 in me if I'd gotten a bit more pissed, but I'm still getting the hang of seating the bar properly.

Kroc Row: 2x10 strictish warmup w/ 30lbs
20ea x 60lbs
Cheating to hell and back - almost to the point of the last few being heavy negatives. Going to watch some Kroc videos to look at these a bit closer. >.>

Rollouts:
3x10

Program Info

Decided that the benefits of the 8-week cycle were sufficient to warrant the change. The primary drawback was the reduced frequency of maxing out on central lifts, but the increased submaximal volume should account for this and improve time spent on technique practice.

I'll figure out how I'm going to structure the SE Cycles some time tomorrow or Friday.

2010-07-21 ME Upper

Fucking awesome.

Floor Press: 45, 45, 95, 95, 95
3x 135, 135, 150, 170, 185, 195
Tied previous PR. Middle fingers on the rings this time, though...but honestly, I'd expect my pinkies on rings to be the same tie, since I didn't get particularly pissed for this one.

DB Press:
5x6 - 65s
Yeahhhhhhhhhh.

Pull-Ups:
8, 6, 4, 4, 4
The last rep each on the last few sets was a bit of a cheat, but oh well.

Rear Delt Flyes:
5x10 - 15lbs
Getting harder.

Cressey Prehab:
25lbs, 5lbs, 5lbs, Bare Hand

2010-07-20 Sled Work and Program Note

115lbs (Sled = 20, plus 25, 25, 10, 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2.5, 2.5 - feel free to call me out if I fucked up this math, I'm kinda tired right now, for obvious reasons)

5 trips from the sign to the pole and back, 1 minute between. Then haphazard backward pulls to get it back to the condo.

Dunno if this was willpower or me actually getting better. I'll probably just keep adding trips until I can get some 45s.

If Saba and I can get a consistent spot for board press, I may have us switch to an 8-week cycle; probably be Front Squat, Squat, Rack Pull, Deadlift for lower and Bench, Floor Press, 1-Board, 2-Board for upper. This would also allow us to try having 4 week "blocks" of lower targeted at improving one of the two main lifts (four weeks of squat emphasis with light deads leading up to the heavy squat single, four weeks of dead emphasis with light squats leading up to the dead single). Jacob's expressed some support for lengthening the ME Cycles, but I'm not sold on changing anything yet because although I suspect Saba and I will both benefit form more heavy low back and deadlift volume (Prilepin Table deads, ME Rack Pulls) and more time spent playing with relatively big weights on core movements in general, I also know that there's a good chance that I'm going to make insane gains over the next cycle anyway just from adding mass, and that there's nothing particularly "broken" about what we're doing now.

2010-07-19 ME Lower

FUCKING KNEES ARGH.
Stretching calves and actually rolling, starting tomorrow morning.

Deadlift:
3x 135, 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 275, 315
2x 345
1x 335
I got weaker.

GHR:
1x5 - 20lbs
Yeah, noticed the knee thing right after this.

RDL:
1x10 - 185lbs
This made the knee worse.

2010-07-18 SE Upper

I started on my "diet" for bulking a few days back; it consists of three pretty much pure-paleo meals of meat and greens+carrots for the first portion of the day, followed by with a ~2lb fruit smoothie around training (either before or after; so far it's been before for lifting and after for sled work), varying large quantities of milk after training, and a final meal mixed in at the end. This totals to around 5,000-6,000 kcal per day and, while challenging - particularly when I find myself inadvertently taking time out of my schedule to mess around - seems fairly solid. BRB, quart of milk.

Today went epicly, possibly because of the extra calories.

Warmup (no GHR etc. this time, due to shin concerns)

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 95, 95, 135
6x3 - 155lbs
I'm getting better and better at making myself uncomfortable on the bench, and at using the middle fingers-on-rings grip width. Need to make sure I'm taking my fish oil and massaging my forearms (and taking care to keep the wrist angle proper) to avoid fucking my wrists up.
The first rep of every set felt pretty great. Others were variable.
Saba and I are getting anal and doing the commands for every set, with the Press command on every single rep. This is somewhat lulz-worthy, but the pause should help out quite a lot.

Floor Press: 95
160lbs - 5, 5, 5, 4, 4
Failed the 5th rep on the 4th set, didn't bother with it on the last one.

DB Floor:
50s - 10, 10, 10, 7, 9
Epicly.

Seated Cable Row with Shitty Handle:
10x 70, 80, 80
Shoulders weren't appreciating this that much. Urgh. Need to roll them.

SE Upper Prehab Circuit

Two in One

SE Lower

The leg issues came back, but I decided that I wasn't going to let it fuck up another training session. Pretty sure it's a consequence of not rolling my quads, having an inactive VMO, and doing GHRs wrong, so...yeah.

Squat: 95
3x 135, 135, 135, 185, 225
6x3 - 260lbs
Focusing on doing more warming up in the sub-50% range to get form figured out before going for the heavy ones. Today's big lesson was to very intentionally arch as hard as possible on the way down and out of the hole; this did a lot to help bring the bar up in position.

Deadlift: 135, 225
5x1 - 275lbs
Found that these got massively easier if I just accounted for the lack of rolling by lining my feet up so the bar touched my shins in the basic setup position. Still not as easy, though.

Front Squat: 135
1x 215
3x5 - 185lbs
Ick. Guessing this was just me being totally shot after the squats (WTF), but...yeah.

Kroc Row: Warmup x 27.5s
20ea x 50s
Just doing one set of these for the time being. I'm not cheating hard enough, but I'm guessing these'll get better with time.

Rollouts:
3x10

---

Saturday - Extra Workout

Sled: All my plates (I think this 105lbs, plus the 20lbs of the sled itself) x 5 "trips"

First 3 trips were from the corner to the power pole (...WTF IS THIS CALLED, MY MIND IS BLANK AFTER MY SLED-ASSISTED SUICIDE) and back. Those shot me totally to hell, and on the fourth one I pussied out when I got to the pole and did each bit separately. I'm going to go measure this distance in a bit.
Part of the issue here is that there really isn't any long, flat stretch of pavement anywhere near the condo, and the difference between pulling the sled on flat and on a slope is fucking HUGE. Pulling it downhill is barely harder than just walking, and pulling it uphill is like trying to drive with the parking brake engaged.
I'm going to work up to longer distances for a few weeks and then just go buy some 45s.

EDIT: TMI warning, but once I'd finished contrast showering after the sled work, I suddenly started to get extremely horny and am now practically salivating at the chance to fuck my ex's brains out tonight.

2010-07-14 ME Upper

Had to get in and out fairly quickly. Took bench grip out to middle fingers on rings; I feel a difference, but it's kinda hard to work with right now.

Bench: 95, 95, 95
3x 135, 135, 135, 155
1x 175, 185
0x 205
1x 185
205 failed off the chest.
Saba and I are now practicing the commands to avoid any embarassment at meets. All we need know is a third guy to cue and hold boards, and we're golden. >.>

2010-07-12 ME Lower

OW.

Box Squat: 4x3 - 135lbs
3x 185, 225
1x 275, 315, 295, 295
Easy. Didn't really psyche up and 315 went up like (heavy) air.

GHR:
8x 10lb, 15lb
After the 15lb, I demonstrated the glute bridge to Saba and did something fairly painful to my leg in the process of standing up. Ow.

Cut it short and went and bought my second ribeye of the day. I am currently waiting on my new fridge. x.x

2010-07-11 SE Upper

My stress levels have been a lot higher and I haven't been eating well, but this will change very soon due to the departure of my family. I'm going to start drinking a quart of whole milk after breakfast and at least another two, if not the rest of the gallon, post-training.

Warmup

Bench: 45, 95, 95, 135, 135
5x1 - 175lbs
Trying to get in the habit of taking longer on warmups to get a better feel for the lifts. Helped here - the work reps felt fairly good, even if I couldn't get the weight to land on my lats properly.

Floor Press: 45, 95
160lbs - 5, 5, 5, 5, 4
Meh. Move up to 165 next cycle, given that I should weigh a good 5lbs more by then. If we come back to this, come to think of it...iirc the original cycle was Incline.

DB Floor:
10x 35s, 40s, 45s, 45s, 45s
Fair enough.

DB Row:
35x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

2x10 circuit of:
Face Pull - 10lbs
Push-Ups
Inverted Rows
Plate Halos (25lb Plate)

2010-07-09 SE Lower

Dieselcrew Warmup, GHRs, Leg Swings, Side Swings

Squats: 135, 185, 225
6x3 - 255lbs
Repeating last squat cycle.
I've noticed a mild problem - as I get more warmed up, my back seems to get a mild pump, and this forces the bar higher up on my delts/traps. First warmup set of squats always has the bar in this awesome position with great tightness, and then it climbs a bit and feels out of place. Or maybe this is just my back being warmer and not registering the same sensation of the weight pressing down on it.
Anyway, first rep of each set was generally pretty good, second varied, third was almost universally shit with falling forward. Need to make sure I'm driving up and back properly.

Deadlifts: 135, 225
3x1 - 275lbs
Holy fucking shit, polygonal plates blow. I didn't feel in position for these at all, and I have a strong suspicion it's because I'm used to rolling the bar back slightly as I'm entering the final phases of my setup, and couldn't do that here. These were just horrible.

Rack Pulls: 225
3x5 - 315lbs
First set felt great, second and third were slightly harder. I was stuck cutting some volume short here because I needed to get back to the condo in a hurry.
Didn't go up in weight on account of my having not gained my way back up. I'm GOMADing once I my family GTFOs. Sled work should keep the bulk down somewhat.

30-Degree Incline Shrugs:
3x10 - 35s
Didn't feel as good as last time.

Further Catch-Up

ME Lower

Saba's in.

Box Squat: 95, 135
3x 185, 225, 275
Mostly done for Saba's benefit. He's actually fairly good at these form-wise, so it appears most of his squat weakness is the result of just generally being weak, rather than due to any specific form problem.

GHR:
5x8 - 10lbs

RDL:
4x10 - 185lbs
Stopped due to grip failure.

Iso Hold:
3x20ct - 70lbs

Rollouts:
3x8

---

ME Upper

Saba still in. Yay.

Pause Bench: 45
3x 95, 95, 135, 135, 160
2x 185, 185
Still working on getting my form back on these.

DB Bench:
6x 65, 60, 60, 60, 60
Need to keep my shoulders back on this.
And yeah, I know, I should have done dips.

Pull-Ups:
8, 5, 4, 4, 4
3 real reps on the last two sets, honestly.
Would have done pulldowns but the stations were both taken.

Rear Delt Flyes:
5x10 - 12.5s
Either increasing the weight or switching to band pullaparts.

Cressey Shoulder Thing:
25lbs / 5lbs / 5lbs / Nothing
Going light.

Curls:
5lbs x Insanity
Just getting some blood pumping into my elbows.

More Catch-Up Entries

SE Upper

Shoulder Warmup, GHRs

Bench: 45, 95, 135
7x2 - 175lbs
Started out feeling shitty, got mildly better, final set felt ok lat-wise. I think this is related to my losing weight.
Possibly also my being distracted by something else, too.

Floor Press: 65
165lbs - 5, 3, 3, 3, 3
...bugger.
I wasn't really able to get psyched up tonight, which contributed to this. I could, conceivably, have gotten 5 on the 2nd and 3rd sets, but I knew I wouldn't be sleeping much that night and didn't really want to overdo things, in light of the ME Squats the following day.

DB Floor Press:
45s - 10, 10, 8
Slashed volume.

DB Row:
3x10 - 45s
Slashed volume, here more because I wanted to gtfo and not sleep than because I honestly felt that doing the extra work might do bad things to my shoulders.
---

ME Lower:

Warmup, not going to denote this anymore. Just assume that prior to doing anything I do the Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup with 5lb DBs, and then between 5 and 10 GHRs. Then some leg swings, front-back and side-side.

Squat: 135, 135
3x 185, 225
1x 275, 315
0x 350, 325
...
The only consolation I have on this is that I get my car this weekend, and will thus be able to actually buying large quantities of food. I'm dropping elements of paleo for the time being so I can gain some ****ing weight.

Called it quits after the 325 fail because I'm a pussy.

Saba got food poisoning and couldn't come, but I'll be Board Pressing with him on Wednesday.

2010-06-25 SE Lower

Went better. Met another powerlifter (albeit a guy who hasn't competed); got his email, asked him if he wants to train together. Hoping to the various violent Norse gods that he says yes.

Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup - 5lbs
5 GHRs (had to adjust the pad - some idiot elevated it)

Squat: 135, 135, 185, 185, 225, 225
5x1 - 290lbs
Knees were not liking this. Fortunately, I add in fish oil and EVOO...tomorrow. Yay.

Deadlift: 135, 225
5x1 - 275lbs
Felt pretty good.

Below-Knee Rack Pull: 135, 225
5x 335, 315, 315, 315, 315
335's probably only a bit shy of my 5RM, so I figured I should just go ahead, start low, and work up later.
Used DL grip instead of switching it the way I did last time I did these. My shoulders probably don't love me much right now.

Incline DB Shrugs:
60 Degrees: 10x30s
45 Degrees: 2x10x30s
30 Degrees: 2x10x30s
30 Degrees seems to get me the best stimulation, so sticking with that.

Rollouts:
8, 7, 6, 6, 5
Oof.

2010-06-24 ME Upper

Got in late due to speaking to a somewhat estranged friend and reading an article. Got kicked out of the good room for this god-awful middle school program again, only this time it was by an obnoxious Asian bitch (here meaning it in the bad sense, not the "I use this in place of 'woman' arbitrarily" sense) who probably doesn't realize how close she came to dying - one of her "get out" comments was phrased in a fashion that struck a very, very dangerous nerve.

Also, I hopefully have a consistent spot and board holder for ME Upper, so this will, with any luck, be the last time I ever max out on Incline. I'm not good at it and I don't progress on it.

Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup - 5lbs

CG Incline: 45, 75
3x 95, 115, 125, 135
2.5 x 145
Shitty spot, so I may have been able to get the triple. Got kicked out of the room right as I was preparing to psyche up for the final one, which probably affected things somewhat.

DB Bench:
5x5 - 60s
Taking it light. Elbows not feeling so hot regardless. x.x

Pull-Up:
10, 7, 5, 4, 4
Getting a bit stricter with form and using shorter rest periods. The pull-downs definitely helped a lot, though, so I will be cycling back to them.

DB Cleans:
2x10 - 20s
...yeah, I was basically just mentally checked out by these.

Tension headaches are back, three guesses as to why.

Catch-Up from dead internet

ME Upper:

DB Press: 30s
5x5 - 60s
Fairly easy.
I'll do this for the next two weeks, then switch to dips when I cycle over to Bench for ME.

Pull-Up:
10, 8, 5, 5, 5
5mins between the DB Press and the first set, 2.5 mins between first and second, 2mins between 2nd and 3rd, 1.5 mins for the rest. This may or may not have significantly affected performance.

Seated DB Clean:
22.5s - 10, 10, 10, 10, 7
Cheating. Repeating weight.

Face Pull:
3x8 - 20lbs
Used the short strap here. Bad choice.

Plate Halo:
2x10 - 25lb Plate

All the accessory work here gets cycled over when I Bench for ME.
----

SE Lower:

Squat: 135, 185, 225
7x2 - 280lbs
Started out bad, got better as sets progressed.

Deadlift: 135, 225
5x1 - 275lbs
Feeling decent.

Front Squat: 135
5x5 - 215lbs
Time to spend 3 weeks on Rack Pulls. Yay.

Experimented with some upper back stuff:
"Thoracic RDLs" - 10x185
Bent-Over BB Shrug: 4x10 - 135lbs
Going to try doing DB Shrugs on an incline bench next week. Will cycle with either shrugs or Kroc Rows.

Rollouts:
10, 9, 6
...got tired, wanted to go home, cut these short by two sets.

---

SE Upper:

Bench: 45, 95, 135
7x2 - 170lbs
Felt very good. I'm beginning to fully grasp the importance of getting the feeling of "folding" my upper back into the mid/lower, and keeping my feet relatively far up the bench during setup. Also getting better at engaging the lats on the way down. Most of these were pretty solid reps.

Press: 45
3x5 - 120lbs
Realized after I'd finished this that doing so has fucked up the accessory work rotation for my bench cycle. Unless I can find someone to hold boards for Board Press tomorrow, it looks like I'm doing two weeks of Floor Press for the 5x5.

Blast Strap Push-Up:
10, 10, 10, 8, 6
Switching to DB Floor for 2 weeks.

DB Row:
5x10 - 40lbs
First time doing these in a while. Figured out after the 3rd set that I have to set my lat before grabbing the dumbbell for the 2nd side (currently doing the Left first, 'cuz it's weaker).
Great feeling in upper back afterwards, though I suspect that this may have contributed to the squat issue on Monday.

Plate Halo:
2x10 - 25lbs

---

ME Lower

Pissed off about this. Definitely had the PR in me, could probably have nailed it easily, but a combination of bad circumstances, general fatigue from walking for upwards of 3 hours a day for the past 4 days, and lack of thoracic mobility (finally found a place other than front squats that this comes to bite me in the ass) gimped out the set.

Squat: 135, 135
3x 185, 225, 275
2x 325
Pretty much the second I finished the 275 set, some fat woman comes in and tells us we have to clear out of the good room because some program's reserved it (...10pm? Wuh?). When I asked when these people would arrive, she ignored me and walked out, so I just picked up my stuff and moved to the other room ("Fuck it, you kick me out, you clean up my plates."). Loaded up the bar with 325 in rubberized polygonal plates, got distracted by a friend, then proceeded to get further distracted because some 6ft black guy with a goofy grin on his face insisted on dancing and doing push-ups in the area I was using to psyche up. This asshole then proceeded to start unloading my bar until I intervened, at which point he realized that the pissed-off guy in the EliteFTS shirt who LOADED the bar might, in fact, be the one planning to use it at some point, and finally backed off.
Went through the psyche-up motions, got myself up, unracked it like air, got the first rep, then lost position on the second rep because I couldn't drive my traps back. Being in the bad room with bad music and surrounded by bad people, I decided to just call it quits. Very annoyed about this, going to make an effort to get in earlier on Mondays for the rest of the summer so that this stupid bullshit doesn't get in the way again.
Also, I appear to have spontaneously developed a mild prejudice against goofily grinning black people (and am typing this in a room filled with them, because they apparently congregate in the student center). Hopefully this goes away soon, but DAMN do I find these fuckers annoying now. Note that those not showing any teeth don't get on my nerves, but they appear to be in the minority at Cal right now. x.x

GHR:
25lbs - 8, 7, 6
Shite. Probably because I forgot to wait after the squats and just jumped right in the second I'd unloaded the bar.

RDL: 135
5x10 - 155lbs
Good feeling in hamstrings and low back, mild sensation in mid/upper back. Yay, keeping these. Should also help my grip.

Iso Hold:
5x20count - 95lb DB
...honestly wasn't hard enough. Maybe it only starts kicking in around the 25count mark, or something.

Rollouts:
5x5
Didn't really want to overwork it here, though I was definitely feeling these by the last set.

Need to work on thoracic mobility, eat more, start contrast showering again, etc.. Fortunately, the odds are very high that I can get 350x1 eveni f I didn't get the full triple at 325, so I'm not calling this a total loss.