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