Custom Search

Monday, February 28, 2011

Bench Press Training - Week 2, Cycle 3

28 February 2011

Felt terribly weak today, so cut training session short and got out of the gym. I hope it's not a bug or something.

Bench press:

Warmup 2 sets
225 lbs. x 3
250 lbs. x 3
280 lbs. x 4 (barely)

Bottoms-up bench press:

175 lbs. x 3
200 lbs. x 3
225 lbs. x 4

Bench press lockouts:

275 lbs. x 3
315 lbs. x 2
335 lbs. x 2
365 lbs. x 1
370 lbs. x fail

Pullups 7 sets x 5

Bent-over rows 235 lbs. x 2 sets

Dips 3 sets x 10 unweighted

Friday, February 25, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 7, Day 4

25 February 2011

Deadlift:

Warmup 2 sets
260 lbs. x 5 (double overhand)
300 lbs. x 5 (first 3 double overhand)
340 lbs. x 13 reps

For the second time this week I felt the urge to vomit - not cool. Did some foam rolling before the lifting and felt much stronger than usual. Also hit some rolls after the last exercise; I'm starting to love it.

Rack pulls above knee:

315 lbs. x 3
365 lbs. x 3
405 lbs. x 3
455 lbs. x 2
505 lbs. x 2
525 lbs. x fail

Weighted back raises 1 set x 8, 2 sets x 10

Leg curl 3 sets x 10

Bodyweight as of this morning: 201.2 lbs. That's -0.6 lbs. from last week. No longer trying to lose weight, just monitoring.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 7, Day 3

24 February 2011

Very tired and sore after the strength-endurance circuit yesterday, hit a few presses from the rack (no clean) then continued with overhead lockouts and close-grip bench press partials:

Press:

Warmup 1 set
135 lbs. x 5
145 lbs. x 5 (should have used 150)
170 lbs. x 7 (incredibly tough)

Overhead lockouts:

165 lbs. x 3
185 lbs. x 3
235 lbs. x 2
245 lbs. x 2
250 lbs. x 1
260 lbs. x fail, got the bar off pins but could not lock out

Close-grip partial bench presses from sticking point:

225 lbs. x 3
245 lbs. x 3
275 lbs. x 2
295 lbs. x fail

Incline bench DB curls 3 sets x 10

Preacher curl machine 3 sets x 8-10

That was it. The workout yesterday really killed me. I don't even want to think about the deadlifts tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Strength-Endurance Circuit

23 February 2011

Another video - a decent strength-endurance circuit:




Four rounds, four levels of resistance used:

95 lbs. - 10 rows, 10 push presses, 10 squats, 5 pullups, 10 pushups

115 lbs. - 10 rows, 10 push presses, 10 squats, 5 pullups, 10 pushups

135 lbs. - 10 rows, 10 push presses, 10 squats, 5 pullups, 10 pushups

185 lbs. - 5 rows, 4 push presses, no squats, 3 pullups, 5 pushups

Quite the puker. Overhead press session tomorrow - it will be interesting.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Something Different

A fellow poster on www.bodyweightculture.com mentioned this challenge, maximum full-range pushups in one minute, so I gave it a go today after my squat workout. Kept a good pace up until 40 seconds into it, then just gave out after a few shitty reps. Overall I counted 41 decent ones.



Pretty happy with that, I have been neglecting my pushup training and using half-reps. Going from the bottom to full lockout makes it a lot tougher.

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 7, Day 2

22 February 2011

Back squat:

Warmup 3 sets
275 lbs. x 5
315 lbs. x 5
355 lbs. x 7

Half-squat:

385 lbs. x 3
415 lbs. x 2
435 lbs. x 2
455 lbs. x 2

Close-stance super-deep squat:

160 lbs. x 5
190 lbs. x 5
215 lbs. x 8

Leg press (no energy left, so just messed around):

4 plates x 8
5 plates x 5
6 plates x 4

Back raise 3 sets x 10

Monday, February 21, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 7, Day 1

21 February 2011

Bench press:

Warmup 1 set
205 lbs. x 5
235 lbs. x 5
265 lbs. x 7 reps

Bottoms-up bench press:

165 lbs. x 5
190 lbs. x 5
215 lbs. x 5

Pullups 5x5

Dips +45 lbs. 5 sets x 7 reps

EZ bar bicep curl 4 sets

Preacher curl machine 3 sets

Tricep pushdown 3 sets

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Syd Devis Course No. 3 - Week 3

19 February 2011

Moved a bunch of heavy furniture all day, made time for a bit of cable training in the evening.

One-arm FCP, anyhow - resistance used: three orange cables (OOO)
One-arm upward push, anyhow - two greens and a yellow (GYG)
Two-arms FCP, anyhow - two yellows and an orange (YOY)
Two-arms back press, anyhow - GOG
Dislocation, anyhow - double oranges
Overhead downward pull, knuckles out - YRY
Two-arms upward front chest pull, legs apart - double reds
One-arm military press - triple reds

All for seven repetitions. I am so far managing to hit all progressions.

Friday, February 18, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 6, Day 4

18 February 2011

Deadlift:

Warmup 2 sets
295 lbs. x 5
335 lbs. x 3
375 lbs. x 7 reps (right-hand grip was weak, but I did okay)

Rack pulls from above knee:

225 lbs. x 3
295 lbs. x 2
345 lbs. x 2
395 lbs. x 1
425 lbs. x 2
455 lbs. x 2
505 lbs. x fail

Haven't done these in years, they were fun.

Weighted back raise 3 sets x 10

Leg curl 3 sets x 10

Hanging leg raise 3 sets x 8

Weigh-in this morning - 201.8 lbs. So I'm still dropping weight although I have upped the calories to where I'm not feeling like the walking dead. Win!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 6, Day 3

17 February 2011

Clean&press:

Warmup 2 sets
150 lbs. x 5
170 lbs. x 3
190 lbs. x 6

The presses stalled horribly as soon as the triceps were supposed to take over and I struggled to hold the bar above my head at lockout. It's almost like I've never pressed this much weight above my head, and the triceps were simply not responding. My pressing problem is now the opposite of what it used to be - the bar flies up from chest to eye level, but gets stuck beyond that point.

So I supplemented this with:

Presses from rack to eye level - worked up to a few doubles with 205 lbs.

Presses from sticking point to lockout (hard as hell):

135 lbs. x 2
155 lbs. x 2
185 lbs. x 1
195 lbs. x fail

Close-grip bench presses with extended pause at bottom:

185 lbs. x 2
225 lbs. x 2
245 lbs. x 2
275 lbs. x 1

Incline bench DB curls 6 sets

Tricep pushdowns 2 sets (fairly cooked by now)

Situps on inclined ab board 2 sets

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 6, Day 2

15 February 2011

Back squat:

Warmup 4 sets
305 lbs. x 5
345 lbs. x 3
385 lbs. x 6

Squat strength is still far from where it should be, but getting better. Upped daily calorie intake a bit and it seems to help.

Super-deep, high-bar, close-stance squats:

235 lbs. x 3
245 lbs. x 2
255 lbs. x 1

Movement feels a bit awkward, but I feel these have better carryover to the powerlifting squat than half-squats with heavy weight. Maybe I should do both.

Leg press:

Warmup 1 set
5 plates x 6
6 plates x 5
6 plates +25s x 5

Cybex back extension machine 3 sets (very close to good-mornings and my low back doesn't feel as beat up afterwards)

Take-home points:

1. Eat more
2. Try doing very deep close-stance squats also in the 5/3/1 format after PL squats

Monday, February 14, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 6, Day 1

14 February 2011

Bench press:

Warmup 2 sets
230 lbs x 5
260 lbs x 3
290 lbs x 4 reps

Bottoms-up bench:

225 lbs x 3
245 lbs x 2
275 lbs x 1
290 lbs x fail
285 lbs x fail (should have tried this first, I almost got it)

Bent-over row:

135 lbs x 6
185 lbs x 5
235 lbs x 3 sets x 5

Pullups 5x5

Dips w/ 45 lbs. 6 sets x 5

EZ bar bicep curls 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 4 sets

Tricep pushdown 4 sets

Incline board ab work 2 sets

One torn callus feels okay, the other one will still take some time.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Syd Devis Strandpulling Course No. 3 - Week 2

12 February 2011

One-arm FCP, anyhow - resistance used: three orange cables (OOO)
One-arm upward push, anyhow - two greens and a yellow (GYG)
Two-arms FCP, anyhow - two yellows and an orange (YOY)
Two-arms back press, anyhow - GOG
Dislocation, anyhow - double oranges
Overhead downward pull, knuckles out (substituted for press behind neck) - YRY
Two-arms upward front chest pull, legs apart - double reds
One-arm military press - triple reds


All done for six good, consecutive reps.

Asistance exercise - bicep curl (ROR) x 5 reps per arm

No KB swinging as I'm trying to heal my calluses.

Friday, February 11, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 5, Day 4

11 February 2011

Torn calluses on right hand made deadlifting very painful, I got a few reps in and cut the set short. The hand needs to recover, so I will be skipping all grip-intensive non-essential lifting this weekend and the following week (no kettlebells tomorrow).

Deadlift:

Warmup 2 sets
275 lbs x 3
315 lbs x 3
355 lbs x 7 reps

Did some extra accesory work to make up for the lack of deadlifting:

Prone hamstring curl 5 sets x 10

Back raise 1 set unweighted, 4 sets weighted x 10

Hanging leg raise 3 sets 6-8 reps

Energy was okay, unlike the rest of the week I felt pretty good.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Burning Out - Time to Refocus

Went running yesterday and as a result was horribly sore in the legs and calves today.

In retrospect, the reduced calories thing has been a bad idea. I have been at under 2,000pretty consistently over the past two weeks (on some days not more than 1,500) and it is really destroying my lifts. My BW is now below the 205 mark for the first time in a long while; while I want to get below 200 - it will only take me a few more pounds - I do not want to lose all my strength, and it seems to be fading fast.

I have made the mistake of training too hard, too many exercises for too many total repetitions, for this caloric intake. I will need to turn to a more abbreviated routine for the time being, and the old Anthony Ditillo program seems like a good place to start.

I have also torn two callouses on my right hand which is making pullups a very painful experience. Overall it can be said that I feel like crap.

Today's training:

Clean & Press:

Warmup 1 set
160 lbs x 3 (this already felt too heavy)
170 lbs x 3 (worse)
180 lbs x 8 (sheer murder, had to cheat to get the last couple of reps in which I normally don't do at this weight)

Partial press rack to eye level 155 lbs x 5, 185 lbs x 5

Pullups 5x5

Incline board situps 1 set

PM workout:

Press to eye level 135 lbs x 5, 155 lbs x 5, 185 lbs x 4, 205 lbs x 3, 225 lbs x 1

Close-grip paused bench press 185 lbs x 2, 225 lbs x 2, 245 lbs x 2, 275 lbs x 1, 295 lbs x 1 (last time I hit the CGBPs heavy my regular BP soared, hoping for a repeat)

Bicep and tricep work 4 sets each

These two-a-days seem to be doing the trick when energy is low.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 5, Day 2

8 February 2011

Today's squat workout was weak, like the benching yesterday. Last week both went pretty well, so this was pretty surprising.

Squat:

Warmup 3 sets
285 lbs. x 3 (felt great)
325 lbs. x 3 (surprisingly heavy)
365 lbs. x 5 reps

Each rep of that last set felt like a maximum effort and no. 5 almost buried me. Considering that I squatted 380 for an easy six reps only two weeks ago this is pretty disheartening. That said, I have been running a caloric deficit for about two weeks now, perhaps the lack of food is finally starting to catch up with me.

Super-deep narrow-stance squats 225 lbs. x 4, x 3, x 3

Leg press:

4 plates x 6
5 plates x 5
6 plates x 5
5 plates x 5

Bent-legged good-morning: 135 lbs. x 5, 185 lbs. x 3 sets x 5

Weighted abdominal work on incline board 3 sets

Monday, February 7, 2011

Kepler Telescope: Finally Doing The Right Thing

Heard about this on the awesome Bill Maher show, and it's unbelievable:

Kepler Telescope

After all the cash spent in assorted douchebaggery, mankind takes a step in the right direction. Perhaps the number of people "into crazy" is going down.

"Kepler Mission Scientific Objective:

The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems. This is achieved by surveying a large sample of stars to:

1. Determine the abundance of terrestrial and larger planets in or near the habitable zone of a wide variety of stars;
2. Determine the distribution of sizes and shapes of the orbits of these planets;
3. Estimate how many planets there are in multiple-star systems;
4. Determine the variety of orbit sizes and planet reflectivities, sizes, masses and densities of short-period giant planets;
5. Identify additional members of each discovered planetary system using other techniques; and
6. Determine the properties of those stars that harbor planetary systems"

Science one, idiotism zero (it's still way ahead, but we're getting there).

Stay intelligent!

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 5, Day 1

7 February 2011

Decided to make some changes to my weekly schedule:

Pressing was lacklustre - probably due to excessive pressing volume in the past week; combined with the bottoms-up work I've started doing it will probably take some adaptation. However, I don't want my main lifts to suffer, so I'm reducing the number of reps and adding weight to my dips. Pullups I can still handle.

Abdominal work - I have been doing it almost daily, both in the gym after lifting and at home. This is too much. I will do one heavy day (incline board situps with weights behind head) and one regular day (incline board situps at different angles of elevation and/or hanging leg raises), then perhaps just a single set on the other days. I think the volume is doing my lower back in.

Lower back is sore by the time I get to deadlifting, which equals shitty deadlift performance; for some reason grip is weak too - I don't know how to deal with this one, it's probably due to the high (for me) volume of kettlebell work I've added in on Saturdays. I will keep at it and just hope it goes away. Alternatively there is a good deadlift program that I'd like to try - keep doing 5/3/1 for the other 3 lifts but switch to this one for the deadlift.

Anyway, today's toils:

Bench press:

Warmup 2 sets
215 lbs x 3
245 lbs x 3
275 lbs x 7 (felt a good 10 lbs. heavier)

Bottom-position bench press:

225 lbs x 2
235 lbs x 2
245 lbs x 1
255 lbs x 1
275 lbs x 1
285 lbs x fail

So now I have set a goal of bottom-up benching 285 lbs.

Pullups 5x5

Dips unweighted 1 set x 10, +45 lbs. x 4 sets x 5

EZ bar bicep curls 3 sets

Barbell skullcrushers 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 3 sets

Tricep pushdown 3 sets

Incline board situps 3 sets

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Kettlebell and Cable Madness!

5 February 2011

Today I did the kettlebell work first. It was simple and straight-forward:

One-arm KB swings @ 35 lbs. x 200 reps (100 per arm), interrupted several times to gasp for air

One-arm KB clean and military press (cleaned twice, then pressed one after the second clean): 53 lbs. - 62 lbs. - 70 lbs. - 78 lbs. Repeated once for each arm.

Much easier than cleaning and pressing a dumbbell of equivalent weight. The 78 lb. kettlebell went up easily even with my left arm.

As for cables, I did something from the Syd Devis book All About Strand-Pulling - his third month course. I will from now on follow this progression in my cable training - best to heed the words of a champion expander puller and notable oldtime strongman:

One-arm FCP, anyhow - resistance used: three orange cables (OOO)
One-arm upward push, anyhow - two greens and a yellow (GYG)
Two-arms FCP, anyhow - two yellows and an orange (YOY)
Two-arms back press, anyhow - GOG
Dislocation, anyhow - double oranges
Overhead downward pull, knuckles out (substituted for press behind neck) - YRY
Two-arms upward front chest pull, legs apart - double reds
One-arm military press - double greens (too light - next time I'll try triple reds)

Assistance exercises:

Front lateral raise - double reds x 10
Bicep curl - ROR x 10 per arm
Behind-the-back lateral raise - single orange x 10

Some of these exercises are new to me, it was an interesting experiment. As prescribed, I did all of these for five consecutive reps and will be adding one rep until I get to 10, after which I will add resistance.

This should be a good alternative routine, I had stalled on the one I was doing before which just consisted of rest-pause sets with as much resistance as I could use. Hopefully the wisdom of Syd Devis will help me out of the slump.

Friday, February 4, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 4, Day 4

4 February 2011

Deadlift:

Warmup 2 sets
255 lbs. x 5
295 lbs. x 5
335 lbs. x 13 reps (a puker)

One-arm DB rows @ 105 lbs. x 15 each arm (rest-pause)

Back raise 3 sets x 10

Leg curl 3 sets

Breathing KB shrug 35 reps from 26 to 70 lbs. and back

Hanging leg raise 3 sets

Ab wheel rollouts from knees 2 sets

My deadlift is suffering from being the last exercise of the week - the lower back is severely beat up by the time I get to it. Will have to figure out a way around this. Grip is also fried and I feel the bar slipping even at light weights. Fewer sets of abdominal work will also be in order.

Yuri Vlasov, Author?

One of my favorite blogs just published an old interview with weightlifting great Yuri Vlasov.

Apparently this superb lifter, who set twenty-eight world records and won two Olympic medals (a gold and a silver), four World and six consecutive European championships in his sport of choice, was also a distinguished and published writer. Considered a nerd due to his bespectacled appearance, Vlasov, by profession a radio engineer, went on to crush all stereotypes both about weightlifters and about men of education.

Not to be accused of slowing down, six years ago (at the age of seventy) he lifted 185 kgs in a Masters' competition. And is still writing. A true legend.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Starting Strength - An Alternate Approach

First of all I would like to state that the topic "Starting Strength" has nothing to do with the well-known, excellent book by Mark Rippetoe on teaching the powerlifts plus the overhead press (but I would recommend everyone read this book, which can be found here; and no, I am not making any money off promoting M. Rippetoe's work - I recommend the book because it's great).

What I have been playing around with recently is developing the most important part of any lifting movement - the commencement of the lift. This would be the racked position in the overhead press, the bar placed on the chest in the bench press, "the hole" in the squat, bar on the floor in the deadlift, etc. In all the mentioned examples except the deadlift, the lifter performs an eccentric motion before the concentric part and makes use of the stretch reflex to assist him/her in the concentric portion. The overhead press performed from the rack does not benefit from this effect, but if the weight is pressed after a clean some of this stretch-shortening does occur. In the bench press and the squat this effect is especially prominent. As a consequence, the starting position (e.g. push off chest in the bench press) is often undertrained.

I believe that were a lifter to improve his or her starting strength (i.e. the power developed in the start of the motion), the "regular" full-range lift will increase too. More power off the bottom in the squat equals better bar acceleration, hence the easier overcoming of the dreaded "sticking point". This is by no means my idea, as it has been espoused for years in the writings of authorities like Brooks Kubik. I have selected the following exercises to help me develop better "starting strength":

Bench press - press from the bottom position to lockout
Overhead press - press from racked position to eye level
Squat - deep squats several inches below parallel alternated with bottom-position squats (both work very well, especially with a pronounced pause at the bottom)

Today's training:

Clean&Press:

Warmup 1 set
130 lbs x 5
150 lbs x 5
170 lbs x 12 reps

Press from "rack" to eye level:

135 lbs x 5
165 lbs x 5
185 lbs x 4
205 lbs x 3

Pullups 6 sets x 5

Dips 5 sets x 10

Incline bench DB curls 5 sets

Tricep pushdowns 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 4 sets

Incline abdominal board situps 1 set

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 4, Day 2

1 February 2011

Back squat:

Warmup 3 sets
265 lbs. x 5
305 lbs. x 5
345 lbs. x 10 reps (tough, but doable)

Deep squat:

235 lbs. x 4 reps (felt too heavy so I backed off)
205 lbs. x 5 reps x 2 sets

Leg press:

Warmup 1 set
5 plates x 6
6 plates x 6 (too tired to continue)

Bent-legged good-morning: 135 lbs. x 5, 185 lbs. x 5 - enough

Weighted ab work on inclined board 4 sets