4/26/2013 - Squat Day

First day of the new program.

Warmup

Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185, 225, 275
1x 315 (x5)
The 185 and 225 were harder than they should have been; 275 had a fair bit of form deviation and was much harder than it should have been. This is what I get for taking time off.
The last 2 315s were done with Albert's Do-Wins; they change my setup a bit and seriously mess with my walkout, but the effect ultimately seems positive. I'll need to try a few more times before I commit to buying a (better) pair of my own, but I'm leaning that way - particularly since they lock me into the floor completely (to the extent that I can't change my stance after walking out when I have them on).
I'm also fairly set on getting myself checked out for some (possibly custom) orthotics, in which case I'm going to need rather a lot of them (as I'm currently collecting more and more shoes).
In future resting 3-4 minutes - slightly longer than before.

Deadlift -
5x 185 (x3), 225 (x2)
1x 275 (x6)
Played around with stance width, breathing, etc.. Right now it looks like I do best with the outsides of my shoes lined up with the edge of the smooth region, with the bar very slightly past my shoelaces. I need to get some wrestling shoes (or something comparable - ideally I'd like something that roots me to the floor as effectively as the squat shoes do).
It looks like the best order for my setup is stance, 3 Mike T-style breaths, Drop, set upper back and lats, big breath in, drive. Lockout tends to be very fast now. I'm working on initial hip placement - I have a feeling it wants to be a bit lower now so I can focus more on squatting the weight up.
I may also want to try leg pressing for a bit.
Grip is very slightly into the smooth to avoid hitting my legs.
In future trying to rest 2 minutes.

Barbell Row -
135lbs - 5, 5, 7, 6, 6
Set up basically the same way as the deadlift, but pull up only slightly. Each rep starts with thoracic extension and scapular retraction (with the dead setup they're already depressed, ideally) and then the bar finishing somewhere on my torso. Repeating 135 until I get 5x8, then upping the weight for 5x5 (probably 145+). I'm not sure what I'll do as an alternate for this; we'll see if I need to switch off every four weeks like I do for the pressing supplements. Resting 2 minutes.

Tried to do real hanging leg raises. I can kind of get a rep or so if I do a partial pull-up first, but it seemed to disagree my shoulder. I'll try for these later and just do standing cable crunches on Mondays.

Rollouts -
8, 8, 8, 3, 1
Focus here is primarily on resisting extension effectively. Rest of one minute.

I really want to integrate GHRs into this; I may just have to extend the workout.

Didn't do prehab today because I wanted to leave and haven't sorted out exactly how I'll organize it.

Issues

Warmup

Deadlift -

5x 185, 225

3x 275

1x 315

0x 335

1x 315 (x2)

Lots of fails off the floor here.

I'm currently somewhat incapacitated because I've trained myself not to emote at the gym (and currently can't emote period). Squatting involves enough of a ritual that I don't have this problem; right now, however, my bench isn't technical enough for the ritual to mean anything and my deadlift probably has both that issue and a lack of technicality in general. I need to learn to grind on both of them, and right now I don't have that capacity - I just fail immediately out of the bottom.

It's possible that today went badly more because I got drunk on Sunday and pulled a 365 sumo, but even with that I couldn't hit a 365 conventional that day and generally think I should be able to pull beltless roughly what I can squat; since what I can squat is somewhere around 400 pounds, I'm dissatisfied with my deadlift, particularly given that rather than being weak or slow off the floor I'm nonexistent there. If my back's strong enough to take the weight, I get the lift; otherwise, it doesn't move until I let my back round. I'm also starting to resent my lack of conditioning; it doesn't feel like I can breathe into the bottom of my lungs anymore. My solution to this is probably to do sled or prowler work, but I'm also mildly nervous about that because my recent programming has inflated my legs with no benefit to my torso.

My base thinking is that it's probably time to switch back to a 4-per-week program with a squat day, a deadlift day, and two bench days (one somewhat harder towards the press). The deadlift aspect is pretty easy - I'll just stick with ROM progression, as I have no better ideas and think that Emevas's grinder argument makes sense there. For the Squat I think I'll start out with what I've already got; I don't know if technical maxes once per week will be enough to maintain things, but we'll see. A 4-day program also carries the benefit of having actual days off; looks like MWFS.

Guessing I'll mirror Garett and Eric for schedule and do

Monday - ROM Progression Deadlift

Wednesday - ME Bench

Friday - ME Squat

Saturday - DE/SE Bench

So in other words the Westside version of what Emevas is doing.

Current vision:

Monday - Dead Progression, lighter Squat singles, Rows, Abs, Prehab (EHEM, GHRs?)

Wednesday - Bench Progression, DB Bench/BSPU*, Pulldowns, Delt Flyes, Prehab (with Curls)

Friday - Heavy squat singles**, GMs? RDLs?, Rows, Abs, Prehab (I REPEAT, GHR?)

Saturday - SE Bench***, Press/Floor, ????*, Pulldowns, Prehab (possibly with Curls)

*I used to do DBB/Dips on ME days and DBFloor/BSPU on SE days, but I can't do dips anymore. I guess I could just put in a major tricep movement for ME day, or something

**May go all-out Bulgarian here and stick in some doubles afterwards, though that was always the plan once things stabilized at high weights and perfect form

***Sticking here for the time being but not 100% certain. Useful for convenience, I guess.

4/22/2013

Rewrote program; the front squatting wasn't doing what it needed to (and was crippling me as an added insult) so I'm going to try just back squatting for a few weeks. I'm honestly considering just going back to Westside or Cube at this point (or adding in a 7th day consisting only of a technical squat max).

Warmup

Floor Press -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135
3x 155, 175
2x 185 (3F)
1x 185
In retrospect I knew better than to attempt a third.
I'm dissatisfied with this; looks like I'm shooting for 200 next week.

Dumbbell Bench -
6x 60s (x6)

Pulldown -
5x 75 (x4), 80
Discovered that actively pulling the bar apart also helps with lat activation; good to know.
Doing 80 next time.

GHR -
5
I clearly need to do more work on loosening up my calves.

DB Retraction - 12x 25, 20, 20
DB Protraction - 12x 25, 20, 20
Alternating Curl - 10ea x 20, 20, 20 (22.5s next time)

The new programming's basically -

Monday - Max Effort Bench (full Westside style, plus GHR)
Tuesday - DL Technical and Volume work, Row, Squat Singles
Wednesday - Squat singles, pulldowns, GHR
Thursday - Submax bench (may switch to speed), Press/Floor 5x5, Row, Curls
Friday - Squat Singles, pulldown, GHR
Saturday - DL ROM Progression, Row, Squat Singles

4/17/2013

Not as good as I was hoping. I think I may need to make some significant programming adjustments (possibly rearranging slightly so I no longer squat on this day, actually - it's up in the air) - my front squat isn't progressing, and while the increased back volume may have something to do with that, I'm guessing that it's just not benefiting from the 3-a-week pattern (it may also be suffering from being last in the workout). I'll stall off for another week before making decisions here - between stretching and massage I may be able to take care of the issues, but I suspect that this really is a case of excessive volume.

My quads are exploding, though.

I'm getting somewhat self-conscious on size matters, actually - they're almost excessively huge, and I feel like my hamstrings and upper back are lacking.

Warmup

Bench -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135
3x 155, 175
1x 195
0x 215
2x 205
This makes very little sense - 2x205 seems like a pretty good predictor for 215. We'll see how things go through the next cycle.

DB Bench -
60s - 6, 6, 6, 6, 5
Enjoying this.

Front Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185
3x 225 (x4)
Definitely rethinking.

Pull-Up Retraction - 3x12
BB Overhead Shrug - 3x12xBar
Push-Up Plus - 8, 6, 4

2 minutes per position for couch stretch (down and up), hamstring, adductor, and calves

4/16/13

Warmup

Squat -

5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185, 225, 275

1x 315 (x6), 335 (x4)

Finally got something decent on the final reps of each.

It seems like the major thing for ensuring a good ascent is (unsurprisingly) a technical descent, so I'm going to focus a lot harder on cues for the way down. The quad tiredness (or tightness, or both) made these a lot harder than they should have been. If stretching and massage don't clear it up inside of the next week or so I'm going to have to revise the program.

Pulldowns -

5x 75 (x5)

The shorter handle (with pinkies on the "rings") lets me get much better activation on these. I'm guessing it's because it tilts the pinky down and increases whatever effect you get from "pulling" with the pinky (since that's presumably just a cue designed to get you closer to having the pinky actually drop, the way it does with this handle and grip). Sticking with it. Repeating. Should probably drop rest periods to 90 seconds.

GHR -

5x5

Getting better. Dropping the rest periods to 90 seconds. I may start doing that for more of the other movements, actually.

DB Cuban - 2x12x5s

Band ER - 2x12, micro

Band PA - 2x12, mini

Band Press - 2x12, mini

Then couch, hamstring, and calf stretches. Need to hunt for the corners on the couch stretch (it's very unpleasant); I think the issue is in my vastus lateralis. Definitely need to loosen that up.

4/15/2013

Warmup

"Mat Pulls" (3 45s, 1 mat) -
185x10, 225x6, 275x4, 315x3
365x7+2
Tried doing these in the same style as my new pulling method. It works.
Switching to 25s over 45s because they match the mats better (both diameter and height-wise). It's 3 mats to a 25. The progression should go:
4x25 (12 mats => should be 6 inches, though it seems to be more like 7)
3x25 + 1 mat
2x25 + 2 mats
2x25
1x25 + 1 mat
2 mats
Full range
I'm going to look into getting some stable matting or something so I don't need to stack with the plates but whatever. Looks like that'll come to around $100 for a decent set (not sure what thickness I'll get - thinking 0.75" so I can keep the drop short but I can see some sub-0.5 increments being handy).

Floor Rows -
3x 135, 155, 155, 135, 135
Probably switching these to regular. Fairly sure I shouldn't try to imitate the cannonball deadlift setup, at least. I already have two solid pulls from a dead stop today so doing these like this could be pointless.

Front Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185
3x 225 (x4)
2x 225
Screwed up the unrack on the last set, didn't want to rest-pause it.
Really need to work on this quad tightness - I have a feeling it's what's getting in the way of good technique here, not fatigue in itself.

Didn't do any prehab because I coached Glen today. Never coaching again.

4/13/13

This day went on longer than it should have. Fortunately it's currently locked in as Saturday, and at this rate it's staying there.

Warmup

Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185, 225, 275
1x 315 (x5), 325 (x4), 335
Lots of working on keeping my hips from kicking out. Garett insists that the 335 was good (partly because I didn't pause when the hips happened) - I have a feeling I've been psyching myself out somewhat with my training weights and need to stop assuming that 315 is going to be hard. I may need to just change the plates or something.
I have a feeling I should have pushed further on Thursday.

Bench -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135
3x 160
2x 180 (x8)
Using my old pressing cycle here. I'm going to modify it soon enough, though.

Press -
5x 45, 80
115lbs - 5, 5, 4 (5F), 4, 4
This is embarrassing.
As with last time on Westside, I'm pushing for 5x5 and then increasing the weight 5lbs. I get some credit here because this is done not only with tired triceps but also after some serious squatting.

EQI Pushup - 5
Prone T - 12x2.5s
Halo - 12eax25

4-12-2013

Playing around with deadlifting stance and technique. I may want to go hang out at some of the more serious gyms over the summer to get this looked at; ideally I'd go for a day or so with the Lilliebridges or Efferding, but I'll take what I can get. Also need to see if I can go up to Sac and get my bench "adjusted" by Mendy.

Deadlift -
5x 185, 225, 275
1x 315 (xN), 335 (x2) belted
Working on taking the Efferding approach and "leg pressing" the weight up. Needs work and video.

Barbell Row -
5x 95, 115, 135, 145 (x2), 135 (x2)
135 seems to be the weight for this week. Repeat next week and then take up to 140.

Front Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185
3x 225 (x5; last one was 2+1)
Still getting over the quad tiredness.

Incline Retraction - 3x12x7.5s
Incline Y - 3x12x2.5s
Incline Internal rotation - 3x12xHands

4/11/2013

Due to time constraints I'm not eating a high-carb meal today - just nursing a shake so nutrient-dense that the powders alone filled a pint glass. I'm pretty sure I could use this in place of LB broth at work to grow bacterial cultures.

Warmup

Squat -
5x 45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 275
1x 315 (x3), 325 (x2), 335 (x3)
I actually had to force myself to stop after the last 335. My quads wanted to keep going.
May have had some knee buckling, not sure. Quad exhaustion contributed here.
Generally awesome, though. Guessing these will shoot back to 345-355 in the next week (if they didn't already - I did technically cut today short. Makes me want to try a more Jamie Lewis style, honestly).
Hopefully this sheds some extra light on why I'm such a disproportionately good squatter.

Pulldowns -
5x 65, 65
3x 65 + 2x 70
5x 70, 70
The weights are climbing.

GHR -
5, 5, 4.75*, 5, 3
*Hilarious 10-second rep of me alternately forcing my hips through and easing up slightly to gain height, while laughing hysterically at how idiotic the whole thing must have looked. Took an extra-long rest after this.
At least I know I'm not going into posterior pelvic tilt here - it's literally just preventing my low back and hip flexors from taking over.

Curls -
10ea - 20s (x3)
Lots of rest-pausing here. It's insane how vascular I get when doing these.
(alternating dumbbell)

4/10/2013

This was a good and surprising day (particularly given that I went into it somewhat flustered from an argument).

Warmup

Bench -
5x 45x3, 95x2, 135
3x 155, 175, 195
Singles progression 195-205-215 next week. Consider pushing 220 depending on how 215 feels.
I should have gone for 200 on this; it felt a lot better than I was expecting.

DB Bench -
6x 55s (x5)
60s next week.

Front Squat -
5x 45x3, 95x2, 135, 185
225lbs - 3, 2, 3, 2, 1
Technical issues rather than absolute failure. For the time being I'm dismissing this as a consequence of jumping back in.

Pullup Retraction - 3x12
BB Overhead Shrug - 3x12x45lbs
Push-Up Plus - 8, 6, 4

Very happy with this.

4/9/2013

Went into this still worn out from yesterday. My quads are pretty shot from yesterday; two weeks off seems to have reduced my capacity to recover quickly. I assume this won't be as much of an issue in a week or so. Didn't have the belt with me, unfortunately - I should probably just buy one.

Warmup (forgot to do glutes)

Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185, 225, 275
1x 315 (x6)
#5 was an accidental ATG. These generally felt a bit off; I'll go back to getting video in on Thursday.

Pulldowns -
5x 65 (x5)
Thinking I'll repeat this.

GHR -
5x 5 (arms at sides, trying to emphasize glute activation)
Not sure when I'm going to start upping the "weight" on these. I tried doing one vampire-style and basically failed mid-rep and had to drop my arms quickly so I could get up and finish the set.

DB Cuban - 2x12x5s
Band ER - 2x12xMicro
Band PA - 2x12xMini (hands about shoulder width)
Band "Press" - 2x12xMini ("")

4/8/2013

New program day 1.

Warmup

Mat Pulls (7in) -
135x10, 185x6, 225x5, 275x4, 315x3 (straps)
365x 7+2 (straps)
May need to check with Emevas about what constitutes a good rest pause.
Last rep had some bad low back position. Whatever. I'm relying on this partly to build up lower back strength, so I'm not using a belt. This was still in the range of acceptable back and me just being paranoid, fortunately.

Barbell Row -
5x 95, 115, 135
3x 155 (x5)
Explosive pulls from the floor. I'm not 100% on doing these this way (versus more of a bodybuilder style), though these generally worked.

Front Squat -
5x 45 (x3), 95 (x2), 135, 185
3x 235, 225 (x3)
Turns out that your upper back gets really tired after deadlifting and rowing.

DB Retraction: 3x12x12.5s
DB Protraction: 3x12x12.5s
Alternating DB Curl: 3x10x17.5s (upping the weight next time)

Revision on Peri-Workout Nutrition

This is somewhat pointless (as a lot of people have pointed out, you're unlikely to see much more than a 5-10% boost from this, and even that may be an overstatement). However:

Pre- and Intra-Workout - Protein and electrolytes. I'm going to try out the wintergreen nuun for electrolytes, and just use whey for the protein. Possibly caffeine in the pre-workout, though that'll be in limited doses and I'm generally iffy on regular caffeine use, though I can see myself using an EC stack on a cut. Possibly creatine in the pre-workout.

Post-Workout - ~50g each of whey, dextrose, and maltodextrin. 5g creatine. (somewhere between immediately and 30 minutes post-workout)

Roughly an hour after that, high-carb meal.

Programming and Diet Update

I've taken roughly the last 10 days off; it's been a week of work, partying, and mild drinking ("Or as Charlie Sheen calls it, nap time"). A lot of the procrastination there has been due to some decisions I had to make about my programming, because the meet made it very clear that my approach to the bench and deadlift leaves a lot to be desired.

Incidentally, here's the meet video:
http://youtu.be/dWJP2WQ1bOA

So, I've got a revised program that should address these issues. It's essentially cobbled together from my old benching habits (which worked) and some new ideas for the deadlift (because linear progression with dead-stop pulls is the only method that's ever worked for that, and I want to experiment with something new).

So, the new layout:

Monday - Warmup
ROM Progression Deadlifts - Starting with a weight I can take for 10 (plus rest-pause) from a reasonable height

Barbell Rows - Either Pendlay- or Bodybuilder-style (see below)

Front Squat triples - as before

Tuesday - Warmup

Squat singles - As before

Pulldowns/Pull-Ups - I've found that I can actually do at least one pull-up with good activation now.

GHR - As before (though see below)

Wed - Warmup

Max Effort bench progression - Floor Press, Bench, 2-Board, 1-Board; max triple the first week, max single the next, then switch movement.

DB Bench/Blast Strap Pushups - 6s for the dumbbells, work for 10s on the push-ups

Front Squat triples - as before

Th - Warmup

Squat singles - As before

Pulldowns/Pull-Ups - See above

GHR - As before (though see below)

Fri - Warmup

Deadlift technical work - Dead stop, from the floor. See below.

Rows - May do more bodybuilder-style since I'm already pulling from the floor.
Front Squat triples - as before

Sat - Warmup
Squat singles - As before
Bench tech work - Programmed on Prilepin's table
Press/Floor Press - 5x5. Press during the Floor Press and Bench ME, Floor for the boards.

Dieselcrew rehab and curls as before. Ideally I'd prefer to have the GHRs and Chins on Thursday, but there's no way to arrange that without throwing everything else off. The alternative arrangements (discussed below) make that more viable, but I'm going with this for the time being. I'll pop in tomorrow to test Press weights; I want to start with something doable but not easy. Floor Press weights I can determine based on the ME Day; DB Bench I can test tomorrow as well. Rows I can play around with.

I'm experimenting with the ROM progression thing because it worked pretty well for Emevas and I don't have a whole lot to lose. The longer time under tension with heavy weights should benefit my lower back strength pretty significantly (not sure if I'm going to use a belt, at least initially), and I've got Friday dedicated to technical work. Straight up Bulgarian has worked very well for my squat thus far and will probably continue to do so until my technique is essentially perfect and my technical max is within a very small margin of my absolute max (and possibly not even then).

For the bench, the two approaches that have generally worked best are LP and a rough copy of conjugate - but said rough copy featured an LP for overhead and floor pressing, so there's an LP element either way. This approach pushed my bench up something like 25 pounds in 8 weeks last time I used it, so I'm interested to see how it goes (incidentally, those 25 pounds started roughly where I am now). I don't know if I'll be using the same submax cycle for my bench, though; fortunately, I still have it in my desk organizer, so I can pull it up easily if I decide to try it.

The row style is something of a concern here - part of the reason I'm doing them is to add volume pulling off the floor and stressing my low back without imposing the full strain of deadlifting. A more bodybuilder-style approach will probably work better for Friday, since I'll already have pulled from the floor. I'm also mildly concerned about my technique on GHRs - since the hamstrings function partly to posteriorly rotate the pelvis, it's possible I'm actually compromising the movement. I've asked Mike Robertson via EFS, though considering how anal the question is I don't know if I'll get a response. As it stands, I'll just see how badly they shred my hamstrings and if I like it I'll keep doing it until I get told otherwise.

Ultimately I think that this is a reasonable approach, but I do have some alternative ideas based on other stuff that's worked:
1) Nix the Westside approach and go for straight linear progression on the bench. My guess is that I'd press for 5x5 2-3 times per week; for 3 days I'd just do one each of bench, floor, and overhead, but for 2 I'd either wind up cycling the same way but over more training sessions, or do two at a time and just rotate every 3-4 weeks (probably deloading the one that was staying on). The rotation idea is basically drawn from how I approached ME and supplemental work on conjugate (successful) and the fact that my bench went up like crazy when I switched out to Floor for a while on LP. If I pressed only two days per week I might add in some DB pressing and blast-strap push-ups on a third day to get some lighter work in.

2) In concert with the above, add a third deadlift day (or possibly just take Wednesday off - less likely but convenient). This would free up a lot of work since I'd be able to basically just do Dead/Row or Chin/Front Squat and Squat/Pressing/GHR on alternate days and reduce the extent of planning involved. I'm not willing to just jump onto this to reduce my mental load, but it's an option. This also opens up some options for organizing the deads (ROM -> Deload or Snatch-Grip -> LP or technical work or 3 forward 2 back), so I'm keeping it mind because it does sound appealing. I guess I could actually have both vertical pulling and GHRs on the Squat days there as well, which would probably be very good for my upper back and shoulder health (and - hilariously - still keep the sessions shorter).

I'm working out stuff on my diet but I'm shooting for some manner of omelet or mild shake for breakfast (may try to add a small amount of carb in here), ribs or something else low-maintenance for lunch (with medium starchy carbs), a moderate low-carb late afternoon meal, and then 1-2 shakes and a high-carb starchy meal post-workout. Shakes will consist of whey, creatine, salt, dextrose, and maltodextrin (for now - I guess I could find some other stuff but that's the important bits); I'm not sure about timing yet, but I'm thinking immediately or 30 minutes post-workout and then an hour after that (assuming 2). Given when I'm training it may have to be one and a meal, but I can work that out.

Also note that I may add in some conditioning work earlier in the days once school gets out. My guess is that this'll be alternate days of prowler pushing and some stuff for pressing and pulling (probably just band pressing and rowing, honestly), but we'll see. If this happens then the meal right after will be high-fiber and moderate-to-high in starchy carbs.