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.