Lower Body Intensity Day

29 May 2013


Deadlift:

135x10 - most reps were done sumo
225x5 - all sumo
315x2 - one sumo, one conventional
375x2 - same here
395x2 - both conventional
425x3

Speed squat 235 lbs. 6s x 2 on the minute

T-bar row x 15, x 12, x 10, x 10

Machine shrug x 20, x 15, x 10

Glute-ham raise 3s x 6

Date Announced For World Powerlifting Championships of Powerlifting

Lately I have been toying with the idea of doing a mock-meet toward the end of the year. Run a peaking cycle for 2-3 months, weigh myself, then hit the gym and test my maxes in the three powerlifts, all on the same day. There are meets in my area once in a blue moon, but they generally involve a couple hours of driving, each way, and fees to enter and lift against one or two competitors, depending on the weight class. Essentially one could be outlifted by 400 pounds, finish last and still snag second place - much more rewarding to lift alone, dominate the competition and win gold :) So today I was trolling the interwebz as usual and came up with the following idea:

Date: Will coincide with the IPF World Championships, 9 November 2013 (Saturday)
Weigh-in: Saturday morning to be extra fair - there is only one weight category (Fat), so no 24-hour weigh-in nonsense
Sequence of lifts: squat - bench press - deadlift (- maybe overhead strict press)
Gear: belt will be allowed, and knee wraps (because I have some), perhaps the SlingShot for a fourth attempt at the bench press
All attempts will be filmed and televised via YouTube and HaaRHT Prime

Should be an interesting little test. I will run the modified Texas Method for a few more months and switch to something more volume-based closer to November. I'm thinking Korte 3x3 or a "light" version of Sheiko. If this turns out to be fun, I'll make it an annual event, or do a bench-only "competition" next year.

BRB acting like Cartman in Eric's Tea Party.

Upper Body Light

28 May 2013


Close-grip BP 235 lbs. x 12 just for the hell of it, still taking it light and easy on BP volume

Standing military press 180 lbs. x 3s x 5

Seated pulley row 4s x 6

Neutral-grip pullups 3s x 5

Dips 3s x 12

EZ bar curl against wall 4s x 5

Tricep pushdowns 3s x 12

Seated two-DB Zottmann curls 3s x 6-8 - need to go lighter on these

Some Squatting

26 May 2013


I decided to do the volume paused squats today and leave the leg presses and Romanian deadlifts for another session. Also worked a bit on bottoms-up squats and partial squats with top hold. I feel like the absence of heavy squatting lately has deconditioned my back to heavy weights and now I feel wobbly even when unracking mediocre weights which I used to squat with ease. So some midsection strengthening is in order.

Warmup leg ext. 1 x 10, abductor/adductor machine 1 x 20 each

Paused back squat 300 lbs. x 3s x 5

Bottom position squat 225x3, 245x3, 275x1

Bottom position half-squat with 10-second hold at top (no belt) - worked up to 475x1, then missed 505 twice. Need to work on these more - 505 isn't even 100% of my 1RM.

Ab wheel rollouts 3 sets x 10

Leg extensions 2s x 10

Upper Body - Heavy Day

25 May 2013


Bench press warmup to 275x2 long pause, then 305x2, 315x2, 335x2

Bench press with SlingShot 335x4

Seated low pulley row 6 sets x 6

Push press 225 lbs x 2, x2, x1 - suck at push pressing, on the third set I totally missed the dip and ended up pressing the weight up without the "push". No wonder my best strict press and my best push press are about the same.

Chinups 3s x 5

EZ bar curls x10, x8, x5, x5

DB skullcrushers 3 x 10

Seated DB curls 3s x 10

Rope pushdowns 3s x 10

Legs - Heavy

22 May 2013

Did about 45 minutes of combined running and cycling. Cardio FTW (not).

23 May 2013

Paused squat up to 335 x 3 - decent pauses

Regular squat 405x3, 435x3, unracked 470 but it felt strangely heavy, so I didn't try squatting it.

In retrospect, I should have cut out either the set with 405 or 435. Paused squats are still really light, but they take a lot out of me and I feel strangely wobbly on the regular squats afterwards.

Speed deadlifts on the minute, 285 lbs. x 10 x single, eight of these done sumo-style

Glute-ham raise 3s x 6-8

HammerStrength shrugs 2s x 20, then three progressively heavier sets for 15, 12, 10 reps

Weighted back raise 3s x 10

Light leg extensions 2s x 15

Ab wheel rollout from knees 3s x 10

Volume Day Pressing

21 May 2013


So I went to see the doc last week, I might have tendinitis in my right pec (where it attaches to the sternum). Much better than the tear I was dreading, but I will have to back off the bench press for a while. Bench pressing twice a week gives me great results in terms of weight lifted, but also seems to bring on nagging little injuries like this one. So for the time being I'll just do the low volume heavy sets on intensity day and ditch the BP on volume days.

That said, I did sneak in a set of close-grips today :)

Close-grip BP 225 lbs. x 10

Standing military press 175 x 5, 180 x 2 sets x 5 - usually I do these after benching, today they felt super easy

Pullups 1s x 5, neutral-grip 3s x 5

EZ bar curls against wall 1s x 8, 2s x 5

DB skullcrushers 3 x 10

Seated DB curl x 10, x 10, x 8

Tricep pushdowns 3s x 10