My Training Log

[amounirl]

4-25-12: 5s Week Bench/Rows

5/3/1 Bench
Warmups
5x175
5x200
7x225 2 Rep PR and 15 lb PR!
11x185 Also a PR, though I'm not sure by how much

5/3/1 Pendlay Rows
5x135
8x155
12x135

JM Press
10x65
10x75
13x75

My first good bench day in almost 2 months, I'm incredibly happy! Even though I have a sore throat, stuffy nose, and a cough (which is killing my cardio, BTW), and even though my Body Weight isn't increasing even though I'm eating a lot (198), I feel good again. My form felt solid today. The 2 main things that seem to solidify my form on every lift are squeezing the bar hard and solid like a captains of crush gripper, and pulling my shoulder blades together tight. Either way I'm glad I'm finally getting stronger, even if my bodyweight is being stubborn. Could just be lower because I"m sick right now. I'm planning on doing an afternoon conditioning session after work today, 4x8 chin ups and 2 150 ft car pushes.

 

[amounirl]

Yesterday we pushed the car 1x200 ft, then did some light sparring, then did some pull ups. I did 3x8 with a hammer grip. I also tried lowering my stance when I was pushing the car and felt it a lot more in my hamstrings and calves, though still a lot in my quads.

Then today I was about to eat a big fat carne asada fries plate and wanted to do some pull ups first so I wouldn't feel like a complete fat ass. I went up to this tree near my house and grabbed onto a fat branch and did a 4 sets, totaling 20 reps. Holding onto such a fat and awkward "bar" made the movement a lot harder, namely in the hands and forearms, even with a thumbless grip. Good stuff though, I'm ready to do my reverse band deficit deads tomorrow!

 

[amounirl]

4-27-12: Explosive Day

Pulcinella Combos (2 high pulls, 1 clean, 3 jerks)
Worked up to 1 combo with 135, then 155, then 165

Reverse Band DLs from a 1-2 inch deficit, 135 deloaded at the bottom
worked up to 3x415, probably could/should have done more, but the combination of my lifting belt's pressure, and my stuffy nose/mucus filled lungs was making my head feel like it was going to explode

Bradford Press in between sets of DLs
10x65
10x85
12x95

That's it, felt a bit weak today, probably because I'm still sick, so I kept the deadlifts light. Also, because of the week I didn't DL, my hook grip has gotten pretty shitty, it's been hell pushing through deadlift. I"m going to try to get in those sumo DLs on squat day next week with a hook grip so I can do my 5/3/1 deads properly next friday, hopefully. I've also made a new resolution to build a monster grip, since I think I actually have half decent genetics for it. I'm going to keep playing around with the captains of crush, and I'm ordering some finger extensor bands from ironmind. I'll be doing more pull ups and chin ups on odd objects, like big tree branches, because of the grip component. This evening we're gonna push the car again and do some grip work/pull ups, I'll probably end up doing most of my grip work on days when we push the car, and of course on strongman day.

 

[amounirl]

Just weighed in at 203.5

 

[amounirl]

Friday afternoon conditioning session

Pushed my mom's SUV about 200 ft or so, got a video, so you can judge for yourself the distance. My buddy's gonna send it to me soon and I'll put it up when I get it.

Then I also did some super wide grip chin ups, 1 set of 8 or 9, felt it a TON in my lats, more than any other movement I've ever done. Then a set of 10 hammer grip chin ups.

 

[amounirl]

Sunday Strongman

Axle Clean and Press
Worked up in triples with 3 presses on the last clean to 160 lbs, then dropped down to 140 for 1 set.

Ghetto Ass Chain Yoke
245x80 ft with turn
315x80 ft with turn
385x60 ft with turn

Fat Dumbbell Overhead
Did 2 reps on each hand working up to 75, then did 90 for 1 almost rep on my left hand, and 1 complete rep on my right hand.

Videos of the last 2 events coming soon. Overall a pretty fun day, we talked and BSed way too much and the session ended up taking 3 or 4 hours, but that's what happens when I train with my old training partner xD! Videos of the last 2 events coming soon.

 

[amounirl]

Video of me and my training partner from yesterday:

Strongman 4 29 2012 - YouTube

 

[amounirl]

Today I was trying to get my buddy pumped up for his deadlifts, he was supposed to do 5x305 but couldn't get it off the floor the last time he tried, so without warming up I pulled 305 in my street clothes, and did it pretty easily, to show him it could be done. He ended up only getting 3 reps unfortunately, but I feel pretty awesome because my form is so much more solid now and my back is getting so much stronger from all the volume and lower back activation exercises I've been doing. Fun stuff. Hoping to get some squat PRs tomorrow, I have all the time I need to lift because of STAR testing, so hopefully I can make some big numbers.

 

[amounirl]

5-1-12: First Day of May Squatting

A bunch of warm up stuff including light pull down abs, light hamstring curls and light quad extensions.

Squat
2x5xbar
3x5x135
1x5x185
1x3x225
1x5x225
1x5x295
1x3x315
2x3x335

Good Mornings
1x5x135
3x8x135

(<90 sec rest periods) Squat Stance Sumo Deadlift
4x8x225
1x10x275

Light Abs and Squats to Cool down and get blood flowing more

Today I didn't feel so strong. I think my training max might be a little bit too high, even though I think I could squat 390 on a really good day, I was supposed to do 370 today for 1+ and am 95% positive that I could not have gotten it for even 1 rep, so I didn't attempt it, though I probably should have at least tried. Instead I did a little more volume using about 85%. I think I should deload my raining max to 385 and stop trying to jump up really high every training cycle based on my prs. Unfortunately that means I"m probably gonna have to give up on my dream to hit 405-300-500 by the time I turn 18, but at least I know if I hadn't dicked around so much throughout my lifting career that I could have hit it easily, genetically speaking, and work ethically speaking. Those numbers will come soon, but probably not in the next month and a half.

There's a number of factors taht could contribute to why I was weak, such as my higher-volume-than-usual warmup, but I don't think that had anything to do with it, I think it's the fact that I deadlifted 305 yesterday and did strongman the day before, which gave my legs and low back no chance to recover properly. Either way I destroyed the shit out of my hamstrings today, I'm going to start doing good mornings more often, 4 sets of 8 with under 90 sec rest and adding 5 lbs each week, same with the sumo deads and short rest periods. I"ll keep the rest periods as long as I need on max effort work but on assistance lifts I think I'll keep them short for the hormonal benefits, work capacity increase benefit, and conditioning. I was breathing like crazy today. Benching tomorrow, hoping to hit 250 for 3 reps.

 

[amounirl]

5-2-12: Max Effort 5/3/1 Bench

Lots of Warm Up Stuff and Mobility Work Including face pulls, stretching, and foam rolling, about 30-45 minute's worth

Bench
A bunch of warmup sets 70% and under
5x200
3x225
2x250 5 lb PR
3x225
9x200

JM Press and Pendlays (alternating)
JM: 10x25
PR: 5x135
JM: 8x75
PR: 5x145
JM: 8x95 20 lb PR
PR: 3x165
JM: 10x75
PR: 5x185 1 rep PR
JM: 10x75
PR: 3x165
JM: 10x75
PR: 10x145

^Something like that, probably could have written that a little less confusingly.

Flyes, Shoulder Raises and Face Pulls in between sets and at the end

Today was overall a pretty decent session, no super big PRs but I had fun. Since we have STAR testing and I"m a senior, I have this big chunk of 4 hours free time where I can do whatever I want, stay home and eat/sleep, or come lift and take my time having an awesome session. I took advantage of that and came around 9:30, and did a nice long warm up to get myself stretched out so my incredible hip/glutes/hamstrings DOMS from yesterday wouldn't completely ruin my leg drive on the bench. You'll see in the videos that it was all right, but could be a lot better. I started my workout around 10:15 and ended around 12:00

My form felt decent when I was warming up on the bench, but unfortunately my friend I usually work out with, the guy who was supposed to deadlift 5x305 the other day, had to come earlier than me, and my other buddy who was supposed to work out with me today fell asleep and ended up flaking on me, so I had to switch to the power rack and get this really awkward set up, which you'll see in my 2nd video, with a bunch of unnecessary cussing. That also messed up my leg drive a little, and kind of threw me out of my groove. On the other hand, no 2 bench racks are the same, so there's no excuse, at least I know if I could get 250x2 on this I could get it on any bench.

I also took a bunch of videos of most of my sets on JM press, just so I can put it up for a form check. When I have time I'll make a compilation video and post it up here or somewhere where I can get some feedback. Until then here are the videos from today:

250x2: Bench 250x2 - YouTube
200x9 and J Hook Close Up: Bench 200x9 and Close up of J Hooks - YouTube
Pendlay Row PR: Pendlay Row 185x5 - YouTube