Training - Overhead Press

30 April 2012

I'm still struggling to find some sort of consistent form on overhead presses, behind-the-neck military still sucks but I made up for it with heavy volume.

Warmup: standing press 135 lbs. x 5, 155 lbs. x 3, 175 lbs. x 2, 185 lbs. x 2

Behind-the-neck seated press 185 lbs. x 2, 195 lbs. x 2, 165 lbs. x 3 (shoulder felt strained)

Seated front military press 165 lbs. x 3, 185 lbs. x 2, 205 lbs. x 1, 215 lbs. x 1 (not too hard)

Pullups (able to do these again) 5x5

Long-pause bench press (5 seconds) - worked up to 275 lbs. x 1, smoked it

Seated low cable rows 3 sets x 10

Dips bodyweight x 10, x 10, x 12

Seated HammerStrength rows 2 sets x 10

One-arm machine preacher curls 4 sets x failure

Training - Squat, Light

29 April 2012


Nice and easy session, ditched the belt and wraps and squatted 100% RAWDAWG.

Back squat:

Warmup x a few singles and doubles
315 lbs. x 5
365 lbs. x 5
405 lbs. x 5 x 3 sets

Single-leg press 3 sets x 6-10 reps, varying resistance

Glute-ham raise 3 sets x 5

Single-leg curl 2 sets x 8

Single-leg extension 3 sets x 5-8

Ab work x a lot

Training - Bench Press

28 April 2012

Bench press: 245 lbs. x 2 sets x 10

Close-grip BP 205 lbs. x 1 set x 10

Wide-grip BP 185 lbs. x 1 set x 10

DB flyes 40 lbs. x as many reps as possible

Pulldowns 5 sets x 5-10 reps

Face pulls x 4 sets x many

Dips: bodyweight x 10, +25 lbs. x 5, +35 lbs. x 5

Bicep supersets: DB preacher curl + barbell preacher curl x 3 sets

Barbell skullcrushers to behind head 2 sets x 8

Ab work x a lot

Training - Pulls

26 April 2012

Deadlift:

135x10, 225x5, 315x2

370 lbs. x 1

415 lbs. x 1

440 lbs. x 1 (harder than I thought, but it went up)

 

Smith machine shrugs:

1 plate x 12, 2 plates x 10, 3 plates x 6 x 2 sets

Glute-ham raise 3 sets x 5

Smith machine bent-over row with shrug x 2 sets

Leg raises 2 sets x 10

Training - Misc Press

24 April 2012

Didn’t feel too strong today, did a bunch of stuff I felt like doing rather than stick to a plan.

 

Standing OH press:

135 lbs. x 8

155 lbs. x 3

185 lbs. x 3

205 lbs. x 1

Long-pause bench press (5-second pause) – worked up to 275 lbs. x 1, didn’t go that well today (almost got stapled by the 275)

 T-bar rows x 4 sets x 8-10 reps (ended last couple of sets with scapular shrugs)

 

Pullups 3 sets x 5

 

Seated HammerStrength rows 2 sets x 10 plus scapular shrugs

 
Dips: bodyweight x 12, x 10, + big chain x 5, + big chain and little chain x 5 x 3 sets

Squat Training - PR - The Big 500

23 April 2012

Back squat:

Warmup x a bunch of sets

315 lbs. x 2, 365 lbs. x 2, 405 lbs. x 1 (added belt + wraps on the last one)

430 lbs. x 1

470 lbs. x 1

500 lbs. x 1 (personal best)

Very happy about this. I've been working toward this for a long time. I took some footage of the lift which I will post as soon as it is edited. The video revealed a lot of surprising things about me doing heavy squats - it's a whole different story once the weights get over 400-450.

Single-leg work:

Leg press x 3 sets x 6-10 reps per leg

Leg curl x 3 sets x 6-8 reps per leg

Leg extension x 2 sets x 10 reps per leg

 

Glute-ham raise x 1 set

Ab work – light x a lot

Training - Bench Press

22 April 2012

 

I decided to run another cycle of the Ed Coan bench program. It has worked well for me in the past, pushing my stalled bench press to 345, then 360 lbs. In preparation for it I did a high-rep session today, which was painful and embarrassing (reps over 5 are very hard for me with anything over 200 lbs. and I tend to fail utterly even with light weights). Rep work is something I need to get better at and it should build some extra muscle for the heavier phases.

I’ll be doing a modified “light bench press” day in addition to the regular bench press session, which will be either heavy shoulders + chest flyes or incline bench press + moderate shoulder work (haven’t decided yet).

I’m attempting a 500-lb. squat tomorrow. Regardless of how that goes, I’ve decided to cycle back on the squats (either do light sets of 8-10 or triples with a moderate weight for a few months) as the heavy squat program is beating me up severely and my deadlift is not moving as well as I’d like it to. So I’ll have more energy to dedicate to pulling and pressing.

Bench press 245 lbs. x 9 x 2 sets (failed to get the 10^th rep twice - pathetic)

Close-grip bench press 205 lbs. x 8, x 10

Incline bench press 155 lbs. x 8, 185 lbs. x 4 (my arms had given up by this point)

Pulldowns 4 sets x 8-10 reps

Seated HammerStrength rows 3 sets x 10-12 reps

Dips – bodyweight x 12, x 10, x 8

One-arm machine preacher curls 4 sets to failure

Tricep pushdowns x 12 reps

Light ab work x a lot