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Monday, August 31, 2015

Squat Delays

30 August 2015


Didn't work out for 3 days, went to a friend's farm to help out with some stuff, mostly brute manual labor. Got to drive a tractor and operate the front scoop thingy, which was a lot of fun, and I managed to not kill/maim anyone or inflict damage upon immobile objects. Good times.

Squat 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x5, 355x5, 400 (3+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 420x3, 430x3, 440x3 - quite pleased with this.

Mid-shin block pull 380 lbs. x 6 singles

Pretty easy, but had to use straps despite the low weight because my grip was toast.

Leg raise 3s x 10

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Banned

26 August 2015


Bench press 135x10, 185x6, 225x3, 255x3, SlingShot 305x3, 335 (3+) x 8 reps

That was unexpected, especially since the 305x3 with SS felt more like 310x3 without SS.This is also a cycle 8RM with the SS.

Joker sets 345x3, 355x3, 365x2 - all felt pretty good.

Neutral-grip pullups 50 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x1, 190 x 2 singles, 200 x 3 singles

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullover 30 total reps

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Short But Not Sweet

24 August 2015


High bar squat 135x5, 205x3, 225x3, 255x3, 305 (3+) x 10 reps

Bumped up the HB squat working max and still managed 10 reps. Could have done 11 or 12 no problem. Knee is still giving me problems, but shoulder felt OK.

Mid-shin block pull 430 lbs. x 8 singles

Leg extensions 3s x 12-15

Monday, August 24, 2015

Denied

22 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 235x3, 265x3, 300 (3+) x 7 reps

Once again, missed no. 8. I have yet to establish an 8RM in the bench press for this 3/5/1 experiment - I either stall at 7 or hit 9.

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 340x3 - at least the joker sets felt good.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x1, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220xfail, 190 x 2 singles

Overhead press is still stalling.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

Cable fly 3s x 12

Pushdowns 3s x 15

Friday, August 21, 2015

Trying Hard

20 August 2015


Squat 135x8, 225x5, 275x3, 315x3, 335x5, 370x3, 415 (1+) x 4 reps

Had trouble with keeping the bar in the right position - left shoulder hurt again. Could have done maybe one more rep. On a positive note, knee felt fine while squatting.

Joker sets 425x2, 435x2, 445x2  these went a little better. I can stabilize the bar on my upper back for about two reps.

Mid-shin block pulls 380 lbs. x 6 singles

Leg raise 3s x 12

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

Paused shrug 30 total reps

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Calculations

18 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x5, 225x3, 245x3, 285x5, SlingShot 315x3, 355 (1+) x 3

Not sure how the weight got so heavy all of a sudden. Maybe I messed up my Excel calculations, but it doesn't look like it. Also I should not have overhead pressed on Sunday, or I should have taken an extra day off.

Or maybe this makes sense. I got a raw single with 355 earlier this week and tripled the same weight wearing a SlingShot, which sounds about right? Either way, I'm supposed to repeat the same weight for my next 1+ week, so as long as I get more than 3 reps then I'll be fine.

Joker set - did an extra double with 355 and called it a day.

Pulldowns 30 total reps, heavy

Standing front press 135x3, 165x2, 185 x 2 singles, 195 x 2 singles, 200 x 2 singles

No pain in either shoulder, but right side seemed weaker than the left.

Machine preacher curl 30 reps per arm

Rope pushdowns 3s x 10-12

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Squat-Pull-Press

16 August 2015


High-bar squat 135x5, 205x5, 250x5, 285x3, 315 (1+) x 8 reps

I've already decided to bump up the calculated HB squat 1RM for the next cycle.

Joker sets 335x2, 350x2, 360x2

At least I squat marginally more than I bench press.

Mid-shin block pull 430 lbs. x 6 singles - hard but doable. Got to remember to go easier on the squats when I'm scheduled to pull medium-heavy after.

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220x1

Redo of yesterday.

Bent-over row, light, 3s x 12

Bodyweight was 208.2 today.

Pushing Yourself to Power

15 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x5, 225x3, 250x5, 285x3, 315 (1+) x 6 reps

Left one rep in the tank. Best ever at this weight was 8 reps at 15 pounds heavier. So this is encouraging.

Joker sets 335x2, 345x2, 355x1, 360x1

355 felt too heavy for a double, too light for a single. So I added a single with 360, which went up pretty easily.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1 - ran out of time. Will press again tomorrow to make up for lost reps.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullovers 30 total reps

Friday, August 14, 2015

Broz Knows

13 August 2015


Knee felt better today (luckily as it was squat day), but my left shoulder/upper back area started to hurt for no particular reason. It's like John Broz says, your body has to hurt somewhere. How you feel is a lie, etc.

Squat 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x5, 345x5, 375 (5+) x 9 reps

Wanted to get 10 reps, but the shoulder discomfort made it hard to rack the bar properly.

Mid-shin block pulls 380 lbs. x 10 singles on the minute

These felt nice and easy, so I ended up doing a few extra.

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

Bent-over rows, light, 3s x 12

Ab machine 3s x 8-10

I've been hitting pretty high reps on my 5-rep weeks, which feels great but I'm not sure if it's helping me get stronger. I believe in reps for strength and that doing singles in unproductive, but I generally prefer sets of 5, 4 or 3, not 10 and 12. Something I've been thinking about is to cap the 5-week reps to 5 or, say no more than 7, then try to go harder on the secondary lift. So the 5-week would really become heavy week for OH press and pulls with some token bench press and squat work thrown in. Maybe I'll do this, maybe I won't.

Bodyweight has been a dash under 210 all week.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Broscience

11 August 2015


Bench press 135x10, 185x6, 225x4, SlingShot 265x5, 285x5, 315 (5+) x 11 reps

Missed out on Rep 12 again.

Neutral-grip pullups 50 total reps

Included in these pullups was an all-out set of 12. Which isn't bad, considering I haven't done a set of more than 6 reps since probably 2009 or so.

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 195 x 7 singles

DB tricep extensions 30 total reps

Fat Gripz DB hammer curl 30 total reps

Monday, August 10, 2015

More Legs

9 August 2015


High bar squat 225x5, 255x5, 285 (5+) x 12 reps

Knee still hurts, but getting better.

Mid-shin pull 405 lbs. x 8 singles - these were very hard for some reason.

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

DB up-right row 3s x 12

Coach Lives

8 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 225x5, 255x5, 285 (5+) x 10 reps

Matched old rep PR. Very happy about this.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Overhead press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220x1, 225xfail, 195 x 2 singles

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullover 50 total reps

Machine preacher curl 30 total reps per arm

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Mourning the Squat

5 August 2015


Squat 225x5, 275x3, 300x5, 350x3, 395 (3+) x 8 reps

Joker set 415x3 - felt heavy, so I stopped here.

Knee is now giving me trouble even with low-bar squats. But that was a solid rep effort.

Mid-shin pull from blocks 355 lbs. x 8 singles, 60 seconds rest between singles

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

Paused shrug 50 total reps

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Natty or Not

4 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 225x3, 265x3, SlingShot 300x3, 335 (3+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 345x3, 355x1, 360x2

No spotter on the 355 set, so I didn't push my luck. Not sure why I went for the 360x2.

Pulldowns 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220xfail, 185x1

Fat Gripz Hammer curls 30 total reps

DB tricep extensions 3s x 10

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Knee Woes

2 August 2015


High bar squat 135x6, 185x5, 235x3, 265x3, 300 (3+) x 11 reps

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 340x3

Knee pain is getting serious. I was hoping it would go away after a week of no squats. On the plus side, squats felt extremely strong in spite of pain, and I could have probably done a few more reps. Will add more than the usual 10 pound increase when calculating weights for the next cycle.

Paused shrugs 50 total reps - did these while waiting for the platform to free up.

Mid-shin block pull 405 lbs. x 6 singles - not bad

Leg press 50 total reps

Was going to skip leg press to rest the knee, but someone left exactly the right number of plates on it.

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

Leg raise 30 total reps

First Day Back

1 August 2015


First post-vacation workout wasn't great, but didn't suck either.

Bench press 135x6, 185x5, 235x3, 265x3, 300 (3+) x 7 reps - simply ran out of gas on last set

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 335x3 - these were pretty hard

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 200 x 3 singles, failed 2 singles

I had nothing at this point.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

Preacher curl machine 50 total reps per arm

Rope pushdowns 50 total reps

Bodyweight didn't go up by much - 210 post-vacation.