Custom Search

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Speed Bench Press - 60%

31 August 2014


Bit the bullet and reduced my speed bench press weight to 60% of my 1RM. Actually I dropped it to 245 which is more like 64%, but whatever. I'll do 60% for 5x5 for 5 weeks, then move up to 70% for 4 sets x 5 for 5 weeks and finally 80%, 3 sets of 5 for 5 weeks. Something like what I do for the squat.

Speed bench press 245 lbs. 5x5 - these moved very fast.

High row machine 4s x 8

Pulldowns 3s x 8

DB flyes 3s x 8

DB tricep extensions 3s x 8

Cheat lat raises 3s x 8

Rear delt machine 3s x 8

Bicep superset: EZ curl + seated DB curl 3 sets

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Squatting

30 August 2014


Squat 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x3, 405x3, 455x3 (belt + wraps), 505x3 (B+W)

Stiff-leg deadlift up to 365 lbs. x 5

Front squat 5x5

Bench Press - Heavy

29 August 2014


Bench press:

315x3/320x2/330x1
320x3/325x2/335x1
345x3/355x2/375x1

375 for a very fatigued single is not bad. But I don't think I like this ladder program very much, it takes way too long and my joints kinda hurt from the constant heavy singles. Will do it one more week, then take a week off (vacation), then restart the 6/5/3/2/1 heavy bench press program.

Push press 135x3, 185x3, 205x3 - this didn't feel good. Instead of push presses which I've always sucked at, I'll just do incline presses on a 3x3 scheme.

Partial close-grip presses 295x3, 300x2sx3 - these felt pretty good

Preacher curl machine 3 sets

Face pulls 4-5 sets of 20, didn't really count

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Fast Squat

27 August 2014


Speed squat 320 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. 2s x 5

Tried to do these without much forward lean. It was tougher on the quads, but still pretty fast. Next week I'll recalculate my percentages and start from 60% again. So 260 lbs. for paused speed squats (3 sets) and 315 for regular speed squats (2 sets).

Hack squat 3s x 8 - knees felt weird on this one.

Seated DB shrugs with pause 3s x 20

Leg extensions 3s x 10

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Fast Benching

26 August 2014


Speed bench 275 lbs. 3s x 5 - first set wasn't fast, second and third were pretty fast.

DB flyes 5s x 8

DB tricep extensions 3s x 8, heavy

DB lateral raises 3s x 8, heavy

EZ bar curl + seated DB curl superset 3 sets

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Below-Knee Pulls

23 August 2014


Below-knee pulls 135x5, 225x3, 315x2, 385x1, 425x1, 455x1, 495x1, 545x1

Not really sure what happened here. I did the pulls in a different rack, so maybe the pin position was half an inch higher than normal and this whole workout was worthless. But 545 pounds from my weakest pull position is pretty sweet.

Snatch-grip deadlift 275x5, 295 x 4sx5

Seated cable rows 2s x 8, 2s x 6

Weighted incline bench situps 3s x 5

Good mornings 4s x 8, light

Leg curl 3s x 8

Side bend 2s x 8

Bench Press Waves

22 August 2014


I went a little lighter today in order to get all 3 waves and some SlingShot singles.

Bench press:

305x3/315x2/325x1
315x3/320x2/330x1
320x3/325x2/335x1

SlingShot 365x1, 375x1

High row machine 3s x 8

Incline bench press 185 x 5, 190 x 4s x 5 - felt easier than usual, so I added weight

Machine preacher curls 4s x 8

Cheat side lateral raise 1s x 10, 3s x 8

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Speed Squat

19 August 2014


Speed squat 320 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. 2s x 5

Still fast, but not as fast as I'd like them to be.

Hack squats 4s x 8

Weighted incline ab board situps 3s x 5, heavy

Side bends 3s x 8

Monday, August 18, 2014

Speed Press

18 August 2014


Speed bench press 275 lbs. 3s x 5

These were fast, but could have been faster. 275 is light for repping out, but feels a bit heavy for speed work. I'm thinking about doing something similar to my squat speed sets for the bench press, i.e. where I start at 60% for 5x5, then 70% 4x5 and 80% 3x5. That seems to have made my squats more explosive, maybe it'd work for pressing too.

Seated cable rows 3s x 8

DB tricep extensions 1s x 10, 2s x 8

Incline chest machine 2sx8, 1sx7

Bicep superset EZ bar curls + seated DB curls 4 sets

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Squatz

15 August 2014


Shoulders-and-arms workout at the gym at work. Just to get some extra volume in.

Shoulder superset: standing BTN press + combo raises (10 reps) x 5 sets

BTN press weight x reps 135x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5, 135x5

Biceps superset: EZ bar preacher curls + DB concentration curls x 3 sets

Tricep superset: Smith machine incline bench JM presses + pushdowns x 4 sets

Watch John Meadows demonstrate JM press exercise here.


16 August 2014

Squat:

135x6, 225x4, 275x3, 315x3, 365x3, 405x3, 460x3 (belt and wraps), 500x3 (b+w)

Not bad.

Stiff-leg deadlifts up to 355 lbs. x 5

Front squats 5x5 - did these in the rack today, no Smith machine, might finally be getting the hang of them.

Leg curl 2s x 8


Thursday, August 14, 2014

Slam Bars, Break PRs... Or Not Really

14 August 2014


Bench press:

305x3/320x2/340x1
320x2/330x2/370x1 - messed up on first set, forgot I had to do 3

With SlingShot 345x3, 365x2, 395xfail - was debating between 390 or 395, chose wrong.

Incline bench press 185 lbs. 5x5

DB flyes x10, x8, x8

Pushdowns x10, 3s x 8

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Speed Squats

12 August 2014


Squat 320 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. 2s x 5

These were easy, but didn't feel very fast today.

Hack squat 4s x 8

Leg extension 4s x 8

Hanging leg raise x10, x8, x8

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Speed Bench

11 August 2014


Today I tried to move my rep bench presses explosively. The first few reps of each set this actually worked, but then they would slow down to the usual grind. But maybe if I keep doing this like I did with squats I'll see decent results.

Bench press 275 lbs. 1s x 5, 285 lbs. 2s x 5

Incline chest press machine 3s x 8

Incline row machine 3s x 8

Seated paused DB shrugs 3s x 20

Pushdowns 3s x 15

Bicep superset EZ bar curls + seated DB curls 3 sets

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Below the Knee Pull and a PR

9 August 2014


Below the knee deadlift:

135x5, 225x3, 315x2, 365x1, 405x1, 455x1, 485x1, 505x1

Not bad at all. My old PR from this height was 455 (back when my deadlift max was 495), so this is a major improvement.

Snatch-grip deadlift 275 lbs. 3s x 5 - went a bit lighter because I wanted to do 5x5, but even 3 sets were hard.

Seated cable row 3 sets x 8, working up in weight

Pulldown 1s x 10, 2s x 8

Leg raise from Roman chair 3s x 10

Side bends 3s x 8

Back raise 3s x 10

Friday, August 8, 2014

Playing Around With Assistance Exercises

6 August 2014

Quick workout in gym in office building:

Standing BTN press supersetted with combo shoulder raises 3 sets (135 x 6, 155 x 2 x 6)

EZ bar curl + seated DB curl 3 sets - this is one hell of a superset.

Chest machine + pushdowns 3s


8 August 2014


Decided to add some incline bench presses to my heavy bench press days, since I suck at this lift and am beginning to suspect it's holding my flat bench press back. Also will start rotating a second assistance exercise to work on different muscle groups each week. E.g. this week it was triceps, so heavy DB extensions. I'll still do tricep work in weeks when I'm focusing on chest and shoulders, but much lighter, and I won't track weight or reps.

Another thing I've figured out is that when I complete all three planned bench press waves I no longer have the energy to do a wave with the SlingShot. So starting next week I'll only do two waves "raw", then add one with the Slanger.

Bench press:

305x3/315x2/330x1
315x3/325x2/340x1
320x3/335x2/365x1 - pretty stoked I made this. Almost 95% territory.

Incline bench press 185 lbs. 5x5 - I thought about doing 225, but was glad I didn't.

Some kind of machine row 4 sets of 8-10, pyramiding up in weight

DB tricep extensions 50s x 10, 55s x 2s x 8

Machine preacher curls supersetted w. concentration curls - 3 sets.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Another Combo Session

4 August 2014


Speed squat 320 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. 2s x 5, hi-bar 335 lbs. x 5

All reps blasted out, lost a bit of speed on the set with 335 but otherwise went great.

Bench press 285 lbs. 3s x 5

These felt terribly heavy because of heavy bench pressing on Saturday. No time to do them another day, tho.

Pullups 3s x 5

Leg curl 3s x 8

Smith machine front squats 2s x 5

Triceps superset - incline press machine plus pushdowns, 3 sets to failure

Biceps superset - machine preacher curls plus DB concentration curls, 3 sets to failure

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Bench Press Saturday

2 August 2014

Bench press:

305x3/315x2/335x1
315x2/325x2/345x1
320x3/330x2/360x1

Pretty good lifting, first time I hit multiple singles above 90% in a while. Did not have time to do a SlingShot wave.

Pulldowns 3s x 10, 1s x 5

Triceps supersets DB extensions + pushdowns 3 sets

Biceps supersets preacher curl machine + barbell drag curl 3 sets