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Friday, November 22, 2013

Bench Press Intensity Day

22 November 2013


Bench press 320 lbs. x 2s x 5, 1s x 4 - missed the groove on the last rep and it almost drifted back into my face. Still, this was pretty good.

Bench press w. SlingShot 340 lbs. x 6 - also pretty good

Did a bunch of seated DB curls between the bench press sets, 7 or so sets of 8-10.

Hammer curls 2s x 10

Preacher curl machine 3s x 8-10

Tricep pushdowns 2s x 15

Lower Body Intensity Day

21 November 2013


Did a quick circuit to warm up for the pulls:

Roman chair situps - Back raises - Leg extensions - Leg curls - all for one set of 10-12 reps

Deadlift: 135x10, 225x5, 315x3, 365x2, then a surprising 425x5

I was going to try for 3 reps, but they felt light, so I reset, did one more, reset, another one. This is a pretty significant 5-rep PR (never pulled more than 405 for 5).

Bent-over rows 135x12, 185x10

Weighted RC situps 2s x 12

Weighted back raise 2s x 8

Leg curls 2s x 10

Chest-supported row 1s x 10, 2s x 8

Reverse curl 2s x 10

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Combined Volume Day - Suck

18 November 2013


Felt weak all day, maybe I'm coming down with something. Went to the gym and tried paused squats, but things felt off. My knees and glutes are all over the place when I squat for some reason, and I only used 315, or less than 60% of my 1RM.

Paused squat 315 lbs. x 3s x 5

Paused bench 285 lbs. x 2s x 5, 1s x 4 - could have hit the fifth rep on that last set, but did not have a spotter and chickened out.

Leg curls 3s x 10

Seated cable row 3s x 10

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Heavy Bench Press

16 November 2013


Bench press 315 lbs. x 3s x 5 - very fast and explosive, a big milestone in my training.

Bench press w. SlingShot 335 lbs. x 8 - this was also easier than I expected.

Standing BTN military press 135x8, 155 x 2s x 8

Seated curls - did a bunch of light sets between my pressing sets, probably 7 or 8 in total

Hammer curls 3s x 10

Tricep pushdowns 3s x 12

Pulldowns 2s x 10

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Squat - Intensity Day (Sort Of)

13 November 2013


Paused squat up to 365 lbs. x 3

No belt no wraps regular squat 405x3, 425x3, 445x3 - kept it light, as my lower body is yet to recover

Speed deadlift 300 lbs. x 7 singles on the minute (4 sumo, 3 conventional)

Leg curl 2s x 12

Romanian chair situps, 1s x 12 unweighted, 2s x 12 weighted

EZ bar reverse curls 3s x 12

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Bench Press Volume Day

11 November 2013


Paused bench press 280 lbs. 3s x 6

Seated cable row 1x10, 1x8, 2sx6

Seated BTN press 135x5, 155x3, 185x3sx5

Hammer DB curls 3s x 10

EZ bar curls 3s x 10

Tricep pushdowns 3s x 12

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Cable Pulls and Volume Leg Day

10 November 2013



Today I did some cable pulls before the gym:

Front chest pull 2s x 10

Overhead downward pull 2s x 10

Scapular shrug 2s x 12

Front tricep stretch 2s x 10

Bicep curl 2s x 10

Any serious squatting was out of the question, as I was sore from head to toes.

Paused squat 335 lbs. x 5 sets x 3 - even this weight felt heavy

Squat starts (from pins) 2s x 5

Leg extension 3s x 12

Leg curl 3s x 12

Roman chair situps, weighted 2s x 12

Ab crunch machine 3s x 12

Lower back extension machine 3s x 12

Saturday, November 9, 2013

World Powerlifting Championships of Powerlifting

9 November 2013


In honor of the IPF World Championship, today I did a 1RM testing day at my gym. The goal was to set a new 1RM for the squat and deadlift and work up to a heavy single on the bench and standing military press.

In preparation I took almost the entire week off training (did some light stuff on Tuesday) and took creatine every day from Monday to Friday

Weighed in this morning at 213.6 lbs.

Had a light breakfast and took some BCAA tabs and a banana directly prior to leaving for the gym.

Squat:

Worked up to 365 lbs. 'raw', then hit 385, 405 and 455 with belt and wraps. All felt strong and solid. The "attempts" went like so:

500 lbs. x 1 - this one felt a bit shaky
515 lbs. x 1 - tied old PR, but I knew I had more in me and the weight felt lighter than 500.
535 lbs. x 1 - new PR, this one was pretty solid. I now regret I didn't try 540 just to get a round number :)

Bench press:

Bench press was going to be uneventful because I had no spotter (I was videoing the attempts and didn't want to creep anyone out, as I didn't know any of the people at the gym). So I warmed up to 295x1 and played it safe from there.

315 lbs. x 1 - very light
335 lbs. x 1 - felt heavier than it should have, since this is a weight I can press for three reps even on a bad day
355 lbs. x 1 - much smoother and faster. I have doubled this weight in the past so I was confident it wouldn't crush me. Good, solid weight.

Deadlift:

At this point I was psyched from how well the squat and bench press went, but also starting to fade a little. Stupidly I had not brought any energy bars or Gatorade or anything to pick me up. My legs and lower back were definitely feeling the squats. So I did a few reps adding one plate per side to 315, then 385 and 425. All fast and explosive, which I wasn't expecting.

Last week I had worked up to 475 and it felt heavy, so I decided to start lower this time:

455 lbs. x 1 - smooth, confident pull, but by now I was thoroughly exhausted. I really wanted to set a new 1RM.
515 x fail - as often happens to me with the deadlift, the bar came off the floor with speed but died somewhere below the knee. My hands now felt like hamburger and my hopes were pretty low, but I had another go so I decided why the hell not.
515 x 1 - this time the weight went up with only a slight grind near lockout. Like I had taken 30 pounds off the previous try, or something. New deadlift PR, and first pull over 500 lbs.

Standing military press:

I didn't expect much here, because I was already starting to feel faint, but the last warmup at 185 felt ridiculously light, so away I went:

205 lbs. x 1 - lighter than the 185
225 lbs. x 1 - same here, I had to check to make sure I had actually put the right plates on
245 lbs. x fail - went halfway up, then stalled. Still very happy with this.

Points to ponder for next time:

- Eat more before lifting.
- Bring energy food and drinks to the gym.
- Take more rest between lifts. I feel like nerves got the better of me and I sort of rushed through the squats, then didn't have much energy for the later stuff.
- Pick better camera angles for videos. I had to move after my first squat because I had placed the camera on the nearby lifting platform, and someone wanted to use it. Also on the bench press the first camera angle was a pretty ridiculous shot of my legs in the foreground, so I changed to a side view.
- Video editing is not my strong suit.


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Light Session

5 November 2013


Leg extension 3s x 12

Leg curl 3s x 12

Roman chair situp 3s x 12

Back raise 3s x 10

Lat pulldown 3s x 12

Pec deck 3s x 12

Shoulder press machine 3s x 12

Preacher curl machine 3s x 12

Tricep pushdown 3s x 12

Monday, November 4, 2013

Testing One Week Out

3 November 2013


Worked up to first attempts for next weekend:

Squat (with belt and knee wraps) - 390x1, 455x1, 500x1 - this was tough, but not too bad. Definitely had more in me, but not sure if "more" is 20 lbs., which I need to set a PR. Planning to go for something like 500-515-525.

Bench press - 295x1, 315x1 - no spotter and unracked by myself. Very easy. Taking the bar off the hooks is actually not that hard, you just have to stay close to the uprights and then need to be extra careful about not hitting them on the way up. Plan here is 315-335 and maybe a third attempt that's well below a max.

Deadlift - 395x1, 445x1, 475x1 - very hard. The 445x1 was stupid, and the 475x1 too heavy. I'll start out with 455 or so, just so I get at least one of the attempts, then move to 500-ish.

Did not do overhead presses. I'll just do whatever I feel like on these.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Heavy Bench Press

2 November 2013


Bench press 310 lbs. x 3s x 6 - last set was a grinder, but overall this was pretty good. Training, sleeping and diet were terrible last week.

Bench press w. SlingShot 330 lbs. x 8 - massive pump from this.

Standing BTN military press 135x8, 145 x 2s x 8

Hammer curl 2s x 10, 1s x 8

Incline bench seated DB curl 3s x 10

I've decided to experiment with the BTN presses and do them three times per week. Standing light sets of 8 on the heavy press day, medium sets of 5 (seated) on light bench press day, work up to a seated heavy triple on the heavy lower body day. They do not seem to affect my recovery much and my bench press numbers keep increasing when I do them regularly.

Also next Saturday is my mock-meet day and I haven't really adjusted my training at all over the past few months, mostly because it has been going so well. So I have decided to adjust my goals for the World Powerlifting Championships of Powerlifting:

Squat - since I'll be doing this lift first, I'll go for a conservative PR in it. Best ever in belt and wraps was 515.
Bench press - a token-ish weight I feel comfortable with. No spotter to hand off the bar: my training buddy won't be around, and since I'll be videoing it I feel awkward asking some random dude, so I'll just have to see how it feels.
Deadlift - I'd like to hit 500 for a PR, but I'll have to see how I feel. The goal is to make at least one attempt in each lift.
Standing OH press - whatever I feel like.

So the plan of action is:

3 November - go to the gym and work up to my "opening" weights. Something like 500-315-455. Again, bench press is relatively light because I have to unrack the bar on my own, and I haven't done much of that.

4 November - upper and lower body "bodybuilding" exercises.

6 November - one set of 5 with 225 lbs. for each of the 3 lifts, 135 for press, go home.

9 November - World Powerlifting Championships of Powerlifting. Weigh-in in the AM, eat, lift in the early afternoon and hopefully set a PR in the squat.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Supplementary Session

31 October 2013


Tried the gym at work because I saw that they have a power rack and some plates. I had a scheduled squat day today and no time to lift after work. But the power rack is shoddy, the bar is some kind of thin bar (from the looks of it, below the regulation 45 pounds) and they do not have enough plates. The bar was actually visibly bending from three 45 pound plates per side, and when I added a 25 and unracked it to squat it actually started to oscillate up and down. So I ditched the squats and did an impromptu back session:

Bent-over rows 1s x 10, 3s x 6

Pullups 3s x 5

Face pulls 2s x 20