WSB: watch my Weights Skyrocket, Bitches!

[Guinness5.0]

Week 2 --SUNDAY -- DE bench

Kinda felt like crap today, so I'm pretty pleased with how things went...

Speed bench (cycling three grip widths)
warmups
185x3x8

-Easy as usual. Everything I've read says to keep this at 50% of 1rm througout, but this is really easy. Should I just stick to 50%? Maybe I'll drop the weight on the bar and add some band tension down the road.

CGBP
warmups
315x5x2

-I was pretty sure I wouldn't get these, but I did. I used the exact same sets/reps/weights as last tiem - I had wanted to move up in weight, but like I said above, I kinda felt like shit today so I was happy that I didn't regress.

BB row
warmup
245x8x3

-Pretty pleased with these. My lats are shot to hell - I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. I did 'em all without straps, and I'm getting closer to parallel than before. These bordered on full-on Pendlay rows, but without the erector flexing I gotta stick with 'BB rows' as the title for 'em

Standing OHP
135x12, x10

-Gets the blood pumping

Push-press
warmups
185x3, 205x3, 225x2

-Tougher than i'd have liked, but I've never done 'em after CGBP so I can't be too hard on myself for this.

I then did some prehab stuff - some <groan> cable rope pressdowns. I did a set of 40, 25, and 15 reps each and got a serious lactic acid burn and cramping on each one, so hopefully my achey elbows will be healed up.

I helped my best friend move into his new house yesterday [side note - the bastard's 3 days older than me - we're both 25 - and he just bought a 2700 square foot house in the Chicago 'burbs. That's what happens when you finish school in four years and get a real job right away ] so my elbows took a beating. Plus as the biggest dude there of course I helped with ALL the heavy stuff (worst offender was his bigass CRT TV that weighs around 200 pounds if I had to guess). So given that, my low test levels, and being pretty fatigued in general, I'm quite pleased with this workout.

Next week is a deload and as of now I'm thinking that I'll lift Mon/Thurs (Squat/Bench respectively), drop all ME stuff but use my supplemental work from ME days, and use the weights I was using for 5's on supplemental stuff at triples (i.e. I did GMs w/ 315 for 5 so I'll work up to 315 for 3 this Monday). If anyone has suggestions as to a different way to go about deloading, I'm all ears (well, eyes I guess seeing as this is a web forum and all ).

 

[Jim Ouini]

Hahah of course you get asked to move 'since you work out' - I get that too but then I tell them I need straps, chalk, a bar and balanced weight, otherwise I'm useless.

Moving boxes really hurts my elbow and wrists. My elbow STILL hurts from moving a year ago lol

Those CRT TV's are killer, in addition to the weight they're so bulky and you're holding them away from your body. Especially down stairs, ugh.

 

[blut wump]

I was out walking one of the dogs yesterday and spotted a downed tree. Next to the tree was a really awkward-looking log which I just couldn't resist picking up. It was very satisfying to have to work out where put my hands to get the grip on it and then to lift it. It can't have weighed much more than 200 but much more fun than working a bar.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Interestingly I helped moved some thick branches from a tree that fell on my brother in laws house a couple weekends ago. Well with my weak grip and the equivalent of 'thick bar' lifting (and iffy footing in the mud), I was struggling moving some of the big guys. Ended up having to lock my elbows around some branches and drag'em that way.

I must need more functional training in my routine

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Let's all get together and go on a month-long hike in the mountains, ripping trees from the ground with our hands and playing soccer with boulders. I'd totally beat all of you. All of you!!

Cheers.

 

[carlsuen]

Lol...

 

[Tweakle]

You've got some really nice #'s going G, despite what life's throwing at you - any plans to try the cutting thing again? those first few weeks suck but after a month its not so bad

 

[Guinness5.0]

Thanks Tweakle. I'm thrilled with my squat/bench for now, but I gotta get this damn deadlift moving. I plan to test it in either two weeks or a month. If I can't yank over 500 I'll probably cry.

At the moment I think I'll only cut if I get fat(ter). I'm pretty happy with my appearance and I think I've got plenty of neural adaptations left, so for now I'd be happy to stay just like I am but get an assload stronger. But I seem to waiver from time to time, so who knows?

Truth be told I'm tinkering with the idea of entering a meet - if I could drop to 220 and stay just as strong that may be motivation enough to cut. Not a distinct answer for ya but there are lots of things up in the air at this point.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Week 3 -- DELOAD MONDAY-- Squat/DL

Squat
warmups
Triples: 275, 315,
Doubles: 365, 405
Single: 455

-I worked out at a different gym today and the mirrors in fornt of the rack go from floor to ceiling at this place. I was very pleased to see what my squat looked like at the bottom (at my 'home' gym they have half mirrors, so I can only see my ugly mug staring back at me when I'm in the hole). It seems that my torso angle doesn't change at all througout the squat - I'm sure it does to a degree, but it's unnoticeable to me in the reflection. Also, I'm thrilled that 455 is now deload weight I had mentioned above that I was gonna drop ME stuff, but that would have left next to nothing to do for this workout, so I squatted a little. I still felt fresh as a daisy upon finishing the workout, so it was a good choice I think.

GMs
warmups, 225x5, 275x3, 315x3

-Form didn't feel as perfect on all sets as last week, but the top set was golden. I'm thinking that these'll be fine for ME stuff next week.

Pullups
BWx8 (I think that's a PR)

Hammer curls
45'sx8, 60'sx6

And again today I did tricep pushdowns for ridiculous reps til my arms felt like they were on fire. Throughout today (before lifting) my elbows felt fantastic, but they acted up a little once the weights started to climb on squats. Looks like elbow prehab is gonna be a way of life for a while.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Truth be told I'm tinkering with the idea of entering a meet

500 changes everything, huh? My knowledge of competitive powerlifting is pretty much zero, but it seems like you have the natural ability and knowledge to do well, especially given that you haven't even explicitly tailored your training to it so far.

For a bit of perspective on your weight and relative lift strengths, how tall are you?