Monday, August 31, 2009

Squat

Squat
warmups
(belt on)
245 x 3, 3, 3 PR
185 x 5, 5

Leg press
360 x 6, 6, 6
For the past couple of years, I've had some pain in my left knee when I do certain exercises or after I run hard for long periods of time like after playing basketball. It usually acts up when I do lunges (this is why I've been doing mostly leg presses lately) and sometimes when I do goodmornings. I talked to a doctor and he said it's probably minor tendonitis in the left knee. It doesn't seem to affect my squat too much so hopefully it's not too serious.

Hanging leg raises
BW x 20, 20, 20

supersetted w/ Seated calves
90 x 20, 20, 20

DE Bench

Bench:
285 x 3, 3 sets w/ official pause

Band Lightened Bench:
used double monster minis, maybe 60lbs?

315 x 5
335 x 5
355 x 5, 4

Finished with
Dips
Tricep Extrensions
Cable Abs

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Light Bench

Bench
135 x 5, 3, 3, 3, 3

Chinups
BW x 12, 12, 12

Cable crossovers
40 x 15
50 x 12, 12

Pushdowns
55.5 x 12, 12, 12

Friday, August 28, 2009

8/28 Back

Reverse Grip Barbell Rows: 95x10
115x5
135x5
155x5
175x5
185x12, 10 PR
155x15

DB Rows: 50x10/10
75x10/10
100x12/12, 12/12

Preacher Curls: 40x10
50x10, 8

The barbell rows felt really good - I was stronger using that grip, and I felt my back working harder. Keeper exercise. The DB rows were kinda low today b/c I was really trying to focus on the stretch and contraction in my upper back/rear delts. And the preacher curls are weak as usual. Need to get my pansy biceps up to par.

RE Deadlift

Last deadlift session before the hamstrings are recovered. Needed to get in some upper back work as well.

Ultra-Wide Deadlifts:
315 x 8, 4 sets
365 x 8, 2 sets
365 x 8, 2 sets (standing on 2" bumper plates)

Cleans:
135 x 5
185 x 5, 3 sets

Felt dead on these. No explosion at all

Finished with:
Machine T-bar row
Leg Extensions
Close Grip Pull ups
Hammer curls
Hyper extensions

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Max Deadlift

Deadlift
warmups
370 x 1
400 x 1 (+19lb PR)
410 x miserable fail -moved the weight about 1 inch of the ground

Leg curls
90 x 4 x 12

Side bends
45 x 4 x 12 per side

Here is a video of the 400 deadlift. In terms of form, I think my lower back rounding is still a problem. Let me know what you guys think.

8/27 Legs

Front Squat (focused on staying really upright): 95x6
135x5
155x5
185x4, 3
135x10 <- My legs had more in them but my upper back is tired. Have to find a different exercise for the rep set

Seated Calf: 155x15, 10

Ab Wheel: 13, 12

+ a 5 mile bike ride later today

I dont write it down, but before (and sometimes after) every workout I do a high (30+) rep set on the 45* hyper to help rehab my lower back. It feels stronger, but not to the point where I should be doing anything crazy. Will see how it takes to barbell rows tomorrow.

Bench

left shoulder felt off today, which was odd since I had a longer-than-usual rest since my last bench. I went extra slow on warm ups and did extra shoulder rotations to help, but the pain stayed with.

Bench:
I asked Todd called a random 1-2 second pause on these, which made them harder than expected.
275 x 5, 4
285 x 3

I tucked a bit more on the third rep of 285 and then flared hard at the end, which felt much easier than the first two rep. I need to try that again in the future

Pin Presses:
2" off chest. Fingers just inside the rings (new weak point). Used quadded monster minis for resistance.

135 x 5
185 x fail (unexpected)
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5

Not sure what happened on the second set, as 175 didn't feel too bad.

Stability Bench:
used blue bands for support

80s x 2 + 1 fail
80s x fail
60s x 10, 10, 10, 8

Todd gave me some grief upon seeing me fail at the 80s. Usually I can do those no problem, but I had put in more volume than usual. He suggested that they would be more useful for someone who had worse form (according to him, I am a very technical bencher). That said, another lifter said it was alright to do them like i do (about every 5-6 weeks) to keep the muscles strong. These also give me a crazy pump and exhaust my chest better than every other press. I definitely need more muscle there, so they seem like a useful volume exercise with some nice side-benefits. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but if people have comments, awesome.

Finished with a circuit of ball reverse hypers, cable abs and light cable triceps (elbow prehab)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bench

Bench
warmup
170 x 5, 5, 5

Standing overhead press
95 x 6, 6, 6, 6

Incline dumbbell press
50s x 8, 8, 8

Dumbbell extensions
55 x 8
50 x 8, 8, 8

8/26 Press

Incline Bench: 95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
165x5, 4
145x8 PR

Seated Military Press: 95x6
115x5
135x4, 2 PR
105x12

Barbell Extension: 65x10
75x15, 13 PR

So I will only have tomorrow and Friday as gym days this week. Kind of an off-week you might say. Parents have been gone the past 2 days, and the girlfriend is visiting over the weekend. Busy Busy. Weight was 216 today.

Nathan : 8/25 Cardio

1. 8/25/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: 216. Time: 1:00.

  Hamstrings super sore from random shit on Monday.

Cardio - bike 30 mins

Actually went pretty hard on this, got tired.

Hip abduction 80x60

Don't really know why I did this.

Flexibility - hamstrings (a lot), soleus, gastroc, adductors on leg press, seated groin, hip 

flexors, prone glute


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Upper Back

T-bar rows
145 x 5
160 x 5
175 x 5
190 x 5

Wide grip pullups
BW x 10, 10, 10, 10

Barbell shrugs
275 x 10, 10, 10

Barbell curls
85 x 8, 8, 6

Rear delt dumbbell flyes
15s x 3 x 15

Dee is awesome

So it turns out that Dee earned herself some pretty awesome rankings according to powerliftingwatch.com. She is #17 in the total:

17. Deirdra Connolly IPA 2009-08-22 600

And #15 in the deadlift:

15. Deirdra Connolly IPA 2009-08-22 275

Good job Dee! Of course, they fucked up the spelling. And she would have been even better if she had bothered herself to make 123!


Edit: I just realized that Dee tied Brent for lifter ranking:

17.     Brent Tanaka    AAU    2009-06-27    1439

COMMENCE EPIC BATTLE.


Edit2: Dave is a close second...

19.     David Jurgens    USPF    2009-01-24    1609


Edit3: OMG, we have a three-way tie! (Raw Dave)

17.     David Jurgens    USAPL    2009-03-06    1377

Deirdre's First PL Meet

8/22/09 - Sat - MEET DAY (IPA CT STATES)


The past few workouts up til this were blah and nothing interesting so I'm skipping them.



I consider this meet to be a great success in several ways, in that I actually competed, I made all new PRs, and beat all the other raw women in my total. Plus some CT state records and IPA records.

General

Drove down to CT on Friday night, and got nabbed by a statey for speeding, my first ever. :(

Got about 7 hours sleep, which is pretty awesome for me. Got up before the others and put on my rugby gear to put myself in the right mindset.

Weigh-in : 126

Wtf? I've been weighing in on Nathan's scale as 130+, so this was a surprise. If I had tried to make 123 it would have been trivial. This turned out to work out in the end because I was the only one in 132.

Squats warm-ups, 170 (90), 185 (95), 195 (105?)

So nervous.

Warm-ups : Not bad. Tried both (sketchy) monolifts, and those felt fine even though I only used one for the first time two weeks ago.

The competition bar was 55lbs instead of 45, then I think for one of my sets of 135 they put the weight on wrong. I did my set and nearly freaked out, because it felt way heavier than it should have. Then I found out it was 20lbs heavier and was relieved. Definitely nervous before first attempt.


1st : Easy. Didn't need to work to get myself psyched up because my heart was beating wicked hard anyway.

2nd : Also pretty easy, slightly slower than the first.

3rd : PR+5? Good. Solid. Not fast, but never got stuck anywhere. I was debating between 195 and 200 - 200 has been my long term goal, but I wanted 195 to try and get my 600 total, and didn't want to overshoot (195 was already 5 lbs over what sheiko recommended). Nathan was being conservative, while other dudes recommended I got balls-out. I listened to Nathan. I wish I had just done 200. That 5 lbs will be important later.


Bench warm-ups, 115 (90), 125 (95), 130(105?)

Bench warmups were really rushed, and i skipped some of my planned sets. Definitely not feeling as ready for bench attempts as squat attempts. Took more effort to get psyched up, but then again bench always does.

1st : Easy. Pretty fast apparently.

2nd : Good, but not as fast.

3rd : Definitely hard enough. Another case of debating 130/135. Possibly would have failed on 135. But this is a PR+5(or 10?) anyway.


Deadlift warm-ups, 240 (90), 255(95), 275 (105+?)

Warm-ups : Not bad. Got them all in. My quads were starting to feel sore at this point, which made me worried. Was feeling the fatigue of the day, and thus had to really work myself up hard. Loud music helps, along with timing.

1st : No problem

2nd : Starting feeling my back round slightly, but apparently not as much as I thought.

3rd : This was the big one. I got this, I got my 600 total. This was also a +10 pr (i think). So while I was getting really psyched up for this, I was fighting off worries that I couldn't get it, or just about how important it was to get it.

Back felt more rounded, but apparently again, not as much as I thought. It wasn't fast, but it wasn't too slow, and I never stuck. Solid.

Total / recap 600 @ 126

Woohoo! Almost all goals achieved. If I had done 200 squat, and had actual tried to make 123, I would be classified as master. Next time, I will be.

I out-totalled the other two raw women, including the girl 10lbs heavier than me. Got two trophies, one for open 132, one for junior.

Set 4 CT state records, and 4 IPA world records (http://www.rychlakpowersystems.com/MEETRESULTS/CT09.html)


And now apparently I'm ranked 17th in the country for my total in Raw women's 132, and 15th for my deadlift. Cool! Check it on PLwatch.


New goals: 300 deadlift. 140/145 Bench. Bigger squat. Basically aiming for a 700 total someday. Next time I'll be in 123.



Lame Squat

I think I got mild food poisoning or something, as I started feeling really dizzy, nauseous and faint right at the end of work. This definitely affected my focus, as I was just not mentally in the workout.

I attempted to do regular squats, but the hamstring is still not 100%. There's no pain, but I can feel it differently at the bottom. I switched to a 14.5" box, which is reasonably low, but still high enough that I don't feel my hamstring catch.

Box Squat
285 x 8
315 x 5
365 x 4, 5, 5

Felt alright, except for wanting to puke all over.

Zercher Squats:

225 x 5, 3 sets

Not really into these; mentally stalled out.

Finished with cable abs and calf raises. Called it early due to wanting to pass out constantly.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Squat

Squat - Didn't eat enough today and felt tired starting the workout.
warmups
(belt on)
235 x 3, 3, 3 PR
185 x 5, 5, 5

Leg press
360 x 8, 8, 8

Seated calves
120 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Hanging leg raises
BW x 20, 20, 20, 20

Nathan : 8/23 & 8/24

1. 8/24/09 - Mon - RANDOM DAY

Weight: ?. Time: 1:00?

  I'm taking this week to try a few exercises I'm looking to do and have fun. Then next week I'm on vacation in LA. So I will start my first reactive training mesocycle in two weeks.

Stones 115x5x4

SSB box squat 45x10x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5x3

To parallel. Not sure what bar weighs, assume 45 even though it's more.

Glute ham raise 10, 8 + 20 lb chain, 10

Second set was to appease Jansel, who was trying to get me to do ridiculous stuff.

Kettlebell swings 23 kg x 20 x 3

I started these to be ridiculous, then realized after 15 reps or so I felt it in my hips. So I think these might stick around as a nice recovery movement.

2. 8/23/09 - Sun - RECOVERY DAY

Just a day to get some blood flowing.

A: Hyperextensions BWx30x3

A: Foam roll lower/middle back

Cardio - bike (easy) 20 mins

Flexibility - gastroc, adductor on leg press, hamstrings, seated groin, hip flexors, lying glute


11/7 USAPL SoCal Regionals

Just decided to create a post for this meet to get everyone's feedback on who will be participating. I am going (competing RAW! this time).

Entry form can be found here

8-22 and 8-24

8-22

Clean and Jerk 92/2+1 x 2 105/2 + 1 x 3 112/1 x 3
Jerk 92/2 105/2 x 2 120 - miss 95/3 x 3 Just didn't have it in me...I'm getting a little bit sick.

Cl. pull 105/3 120/2 132/1 x 3
Back squat 100/4 115/4 142/3 x 3


8-24
P. sn. 77/3 x 2 88/2 x 3 missed the last one
snatch - skipped these because I couldn't do any. Probably because I'm a little sick
Sn. Pull 100/2 x 2
Front squat 102/3 110/3 127/3 x 3 These were easy at least.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

8/23 Back

Rack Chins: BWx7
20x5
30x8, 5
BWx10

Smith Shrugs: 285x10
425x10, 10 PR
335x30 PR

Barbell Curls: 60x15, 15

This next week will be hectic, so I dont expect to be able to get too much training in. I'll do whatever I can though.

MEET REPORT

1. 8/22/09 - Sat - MEET DAY (IPA CT STATES)

Decent day. I'll take it, but I still feel like I came up a little short of my potential for a stupid reason. I needed a 9/9 day to have a PR total, which is a crappy place to be regardless. That's what doing 95% second attempts gives you.

General

Didn't have much sleep on Friday trying to change my schedule for the meet. We had to wake up at 7am on Sat to make it to weigh-in in time. So I was not nearly as well rested as I would like on Saturday. Other than that, no major hiccups.

  I decided to lift "equipped" so that I could wear my knee sleeves. My knees didn't feel good without them on my test day earlier, so I think this was a good decision.

  It turns out that even though this was an IPA meet, almost everyone was a raw lifter.

  I was also rushed on all of my warm-ups because everyone was organized into once huge flight of 20+ lifters, so the weights were constantly having to be changed.

Weigh-in : 214

I think their scale was light, but mine is also probably a little heavy.

Squats warm-ups, 405 (90), 425 (95), 460 (102)

These went very well.

Warm-ups : Nothing particularly to say about these. Felt good overall, which is a relief since warm-ups don't always go well for me.

1st : Always nervous for first attempts. My muscles feel funny and I think there is no way I can lift anything. But this flew up, so no worries.

2nd : Also easy.

3rd : Fairly easy. I had more left in the tank. I was nervous about the 460 since squats had felt difficult this training cycle. I've hit 460 before, but in the knee-wrap-material knee sleeves that give a lot more poundages than the APT sleeves I have now (which I think give nothing, especially since I have a loose fit). So I definitely count this as a PR. I think I had 470 in me.

  The other thing to note is that after my squat one of the spotters said, "That's an olympic squat right there." Murph has also told me that I am falling forward on my squats. I am finally convinced that I need to rework my squat form. If I do, I should be able to get to 500. I could tell from looking at the other lifters that the squat form was generally much closer to Danny's than to mine.

Bench warm-ups, 275 (90), 290 (95), 305 (102)

Went well. Nothing to say about warm-ups really.

1st : Easy. On the re-rack, the spotters pulled my hand into the rack and tore all the skin off the outside of my right hand. I have a huge flap of skin there now, and I had to wear a band aid. More on this later.

2nd : Easy.

3rd : Slower, but I still had room to spare. PR +5.

Deadlift warm-ups, 495 (90), 525 (95), 560 - miss (102)

I was very tired by the time deadlifts started.

Warm-ups : They had the deadlift bars at this meet again. Didn't give me nearly as much trouble as my last meet, but I still don't like them. You have to pull very hard off the bottom and it doesn't feel like its ever going to move. Makes everything feel hard.

1st : Felt hard, apparently looked fast.

2nd : Felt hard, apparently looked slightly less fast.

3rd : I knew this was a stretch. My last deadlift at 550 was quite difficult. I was considering dropping to 555, but I decided to go for it. I needed this lift to PR. Especially after a very long day, I wasn't sure I had it in me.

  I got myself pretty psyched up and started the pull. I got stuck at my sticking point, but them got it moving again and was on my way to lockout. I was pretty confident I was going to get the lift, and then my right grip gave out. What the fuck?! I *never* lose my grip. The only explanation I have for this is that it was too heavy and I was dragging it up my legs and undoing my grip, or, more likely, that the band aid on my right hand hurt my grip. I am happy that I had the strength to get it as far as I did, but really frustrated that I lost it in the easy part.

Total / recap 1290 @ 214

A good meet. Not the best venue I've ever been at -- we were kinda in the middle of hickville. But it was a fun experience and good to do my first raw meet. I got a second place trophy in the 220 raw division. The 1st place guy totalled 1305. I should have gotten first with my last pull. Fuck me. Actually, I technically should have been "equipped", so I should have gotten a first place trophy anyway.

  Other highlights from the day: 

  - 308 goes 1875 raw.

  - Vinnie Dinzenzo benches 605.

  - Some guy squats 665 @ 226 raw (belt only).

  - 65 year-old guy squats 550+ single ply.


Saturday, August 22, 2009

8/22 Bench

Bench Press: 135x8
155x5
185x5
205x5
175x8, 6

Seated DB Press: 45x10
55x8
45x12

DB Pullover: 40x8
50x10
60x12, 12 PR

The DB presses felt unstable today, and I may drop them in favor of seated barbell presses because I cant get anything higher than the 55's to my shoulders lol. The pullovers were awesome too. They really creep up on you - the first couple of reps are a really nice stretch, but the last three are an intense burning pain in the triceps and lats. Definitely a keeper.

Suprisingly, my hamstrings are sore from yesterday. I have no idea why.

Friday, August 21, 2009

8/21 Rehab

Belt Squats: 45x10
90x15
135x10 <- above 90 these just seemed uncomfortable and awkward

Lumberjack Squats: 90x15, 15 (feels much better than the belt squats with no low back strain)

Seated Calf: 145x15, 15

Back Raise/Leg Raise: 30/30, 40/20, 40/10

Purple Band GM: 25, 25

Today was the craziest lower back pump I have felt in quite some time. I guess thats good for healing, right?

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmup
355 x 3 (belted)
275 x 3, 3, 3, 3

Good mornings
95 x 8
115 x 6, 6, 6

Kneeling abs
80 x 15
95 x 10, 10, 10

Back raises
BW x 20

I'm in need of some advice. One of my goals has been to pull 400 by the end of the summer. I was thinking that I could max out in 2 weeks and try for 400, but since I'll probably be doing the meet on November 7th, I'm not sure if that would screw me up recovery-wise since that would be 4 weeks before the meet.

So my question is: Is it a bad idea to max out my deadlift a month before doing a meet? I could hold off on maxing out and wait until the meet, but I have been getting kind of anxious to get that 400 deadlift and would rather try it sooner than later.

Bench

Surprisingly sore still from Monday's workout. Keeping the volume low intentionally today because I plan to bench again on Saturday. Then I'll resume a normal twice a week schedule next week.

Standing Press:
135 x 8
155 x 5
175 x 3
185 x 3, 2, 2

3-Board:
275 x 5 (warm up)
315 x 3
365 x 3
375 x 2 + 1 fail

Todd was surprised by my arch on these. He noted that I probably only had about 1 more board in my range of motion, which is about right.

SKullCruzhrzr:
65 x 12, 20
105 x 20
125 x 10, 10, 9

First set was moderately painful, but the tendonitis went away completely after that, which was great.

8/20 Lazy Back

Pull-ups: 11, 5, 5, 5, 4 (30 Reps)

DB Rows: 75x10/10
90x10/10
110x15/15 PR (but still lame)

Cable Rows: 150x10, 8, 8

and Preacher Curls to finish

I was exhausted after work today and yesterday. A combined 13 hours of sitting in the sun completely sapped my strength. I just knew I had to get in the gym today, so I did whatever I could.

8-20

Pretty easy day today:

Power snatch above knee 77/3 x 2 missed one in first set
Power snatch 77/3 x 3
Snatch 88/2 x 3 90/1 92/1 95/1 x 2

Got some form critique by Mike, the head guy. Helped a little to move me faster under the bar and keep my back in proper position during the pull. I'm pretty sure that flexibility isn't really an issue anymore though. At least, it's not something I need to worry about much for awhile.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Bench

Bench
warmup
155 x 5
165 x 5, 5, 5

Dips
BW+45 x 5
BW+50 x 5
BW+55 x 5, 5

Flat dumbbell press
55s x 8
60s x 8, 7

Skull crushers
70 x 7, 6, 7

Nathan: 8/17 thru 8/19 Meet Prep

1. 8/19/09 - Wed - SHEIKO#29

Weight: 221. Time: 0:45.

  If this weight keeps up, I'm going as 242. I'm not about to diet down at this point.

  Murph said since its an IPA meet, I should just 'throw on a canvas suit and a double denim shirt and do the real thing.' I think it requires more planning than this, but its certainly an interesting thought.

Foam roll - lower back

Dee went first on the monolift today, so I tried to warm up my lower back a lot.

Squats 135x5x3, 225x3 (50), 275x3x2 (60), 315x2x3 (70)

These felt pretty good, actually. Dee checked depth on last set and said I was "clearly below parallel", which is a problem.

Bench 155x3 (50), 185x3x2 (60), 215x2x3 (70)

This felt really stupid. Murph said my ass was clearly off the bench on the last set, although I felt my ass clearly in contact with the bench. Carlos has said the same thing previously, then watched me from the side and said I looked fine. So we'll see if I get red lighted on meet day.

2. 8/18/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: 222. Time: 0:45.

  Really light cardio day.

Cardio - bike 25 mins

Stretch - soleus, gastroc, adductor on leg press, hamstrings (lots, feeling weird + lower back 

bothered), seated groin, hip flexors

3. 8/17/09 - Mon - SHEIKO #28

Weight: 221. Time: 0:40.

  This week is stupid workouts to get ready for meet.

Bench 155x3 (50), 185x3x2 (60), 215x2x2 (70), 225x1x4 (75)

Deadlift 275x3 (50), 335x2x2 (60), 385x2x4 (70)

Left side of lower back doesn't feel great. This bothered me all weekend and for the next couple days too. I hope it isn't an issue on Saturday.


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Upper Back

Pullups
BW+45 x 5
BW+55 x 5
BW+65 x 4, 4 PR

Dumbbell rows
90 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 8, 8

Barbell shrugs
225 x 15, 15, 15, 15

Hammer curls
45s x 8, 8, 8 (per arm)

Return of the Uppr Bck

Shrugs:
405 x 15, 18, 20, 22

I originally planned on going up, but getting the bar up felt odd on my hamstring, so I went for reps instead

Weighed Close-Grip Pull ups:
bw x 12
bw + 10 x 10

One guy laughed at me chaining 40lbs and suggested I just band myself to the ground, so I took him up on it. Used a blue band, which was probably close to 100 at the top, and maybe 40 at the bottom

bw + blue x 10, 8, 6 + 2

One Armed Rows:
Wanted to do dumbbell but the logistics were bad, used cable pulley instead
16, 18, 20 x 10 (not sure what the pin numbers are equivalent to in weight)

Incline Curls:
35, 35, 40, 45 x 8

8/18 Press

Overhead Pin Press: 95x10
135x5
155x5
165x5
185x3
155x5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Bench Pin Press (about top 1/3rd of motion): 225x8, 8
255x3

Seated DB Press: 40x10
50x10, 10, 10

Barbell Extension: 65x10
75x10, 10, 10

The Pin Presses (both of them) felt awesome, and handling all of that weight after training comparatively light gave me an awesome forearm pump lol. I will use this workout for heavy partials + delt/tricep training, rather than just the latter.

The barbell extensions today were done in a bit of a different manner than usual. Instead of bringing the bar straight down and then back up, I brought it down to my throat/chin, shifted back until it was at my hairline, and then rocked it back and up. This way felt much more effective than just regular skullcrushers.

Yesterday 8-17

Great workout yesterday

P. SN. Ab. Kn. 70/3 82/2 x 2
P. Sn. 82/2 x 2
Snatch 88/2 x 2 100/1 x 2 102/1 x 2 105/1 107/1 Easiest 105 and 107 ever, everything felt great

Sn. Pull 102/2 x 2 110/2 x 2
P. Cl. 102/2 x 5 These were a little bit hard....
Squats 100/3 115/3 152/4 x 3 also kinda hard. I suspect this is because for the last few months most of my squatting has been in the evening while I was fresh, so it's understandable.

squat Bench

Went in to squat, but the hamstring is still at 80%. I did 4 sets of light 14" box squats to get some blood in the area, but I'm going to avoid legs until it heals.

The plan is now to bench 3 times this week instead with reduced volume for all sessions.

Band-resisted Bench:
90lbs at the top

145 x 5
195 x 5
215 x 5
235 x 5, 3, 5, 5

Spotter took it after 3 reps on accident, did a set immediately after to finish.

Include Dumbbell:
80s x 10
95s x 9, 8, 6

Medium Grip Bench:
2" inside rings; or a thumb length from the center knurling

225 x 2
185 x 6, 4 sets

This hand position is much more awkward for me than close grip as I don't get any of the tendon stretch, but it's still a large range of motion.

Overall, felt rather burnt out today. I think being sick and cutting down has sapped my energy. Hopefully this week will bring it back up.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Squat

Squat
warmup
225 x 3, 3, 3 PR -belted the last 2 sets
185 x 5, 5

Power cleans
135 x 3
145 x 3, 3
155 x 3

Leg press
360 x 8, 8, 8

Seated calves
110 x 15, 15, 15, 15

supersetted w/ Hanging leg raises
BW x 20, 20, 20, 20

8/16 Squat

Squat: 135x6
185x5
205x5
225x3
245x3
275x1
295xFail

Good Morning: 65x10x5

Ab Wheel: 10x3

I made the mistake of lifting too early this morning. My back and knees felt like crap, and I tried to work through it, but to no avail. I hate to say it, but I may need to back off on the squatting and such for a few more weeks, maybe until the end of summer, even, just to let my back heal. Otherwise I'll be doing a bench-only meet come November haha.

Dave, what are your reccommendations for non-low back intensive leg work? I know you screw up your spine on a regular basis, so I trust your experience.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Nathan: 8/14 Sheiko & 8/16 Cardio

1. 8/16/09 - Sun - CARDIO

Weight: 220. Time: 0:45.

Cardio - Spinner bike 30 s hi, 30 s lo, 30 s hi, 55 s lo x 8, 600 s med

Slowly reducing rest period to make things more intense. Didn't change too much this time, though, because I have a meet coming up.

Flexibility - gastroc, adductors on leg press, soleus, hamstrings, seated groin, hip flexors

2. 8/14/09 - Fri- SHEIKO #27

Weight: 220-ish? Time: 1:00.

  Workouts are becoming stupidly light as the meet approaches. I need to log my workouts quicker, I don't really remember anything specific about today.

Squat 135x5x4, 225x3 (50), 275x3x2 (60), 315x2x2 (70), 335x2x3 (75)

Bench 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 225x2x4 (75)

Bench felt amazing, but I think I was a little lazy with my arch because my lower back hurt on Saturday.


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Meet Report

WOW.

Recipe for SuccessDisaster:
  1. the week before the meet, sprain your hamstring
  2. 6 days before the meet, get sick
  3. Monday - Thursday before, do not sleep due to working on paper for conference deadline
  4. The day of the meet, show up only to find out they moved the schedule up 2 hours and you're up next.
  5. Deadlifting on a platform with an incline

I spent the morning in the sauna cutting weight (as usual), but planned to rehydrate for 2 hours before I even had to warm up. The afternoon weigh-ins were supposed to be from 12-1:30, with my flight starting at 2:30. When I showed up right at noon, they were half way through the flight in front of mine, so it was a mad dash to weigh-in and start pounding liquids. I don't think I was even aware of what I was doing until right before my 3rd attempt. The platform was uneven (maybe a 2 degree pitch forward), which was unfortunate. I think if I was more awake/hydrated, I probably could have corrected for it.

Attempt 1 - 633: good
Attempts 2/3 - 677: fail
total time between showing up and end of third attempt: 70 minutes.

Oh well, at least I can pull 633 in those kinds of conditions. I probably should have gone 198 for this meet since it was just for fun. The hamstring held up pretty well. I think I retweaked it once during warm up and on the second attempt, but it's not resprained. One more week and it should be good as new.

Light Bench

Bench
135 5 sets of 3

Chinups
BW x 22, 10, 10

Lateral raises
15s x 15, 15, 15

Pushdowns
55.5 x 20, 15, 15

8/15 Bench

Incline Bench: 95x10
115x5
135x5
155x3
185x1 (WTF?)
135x10, 9, 7, 7, 7

Smith Shrug (bar weighs 15lbs): 285x10
375x12, 12, 12, 12, 12

DB Row: 80x10/10
100x10/10
120x12/12 PR

I dont know what happened today. 155 felt super light, but 185 just stapled me after the first rep. Maybe I just need to handle heavier weights more often instead of this high rep stuff. Maybe instead of 5x10 on the main exercise, change it to 5x5. The higher reps for back work are working well, however, so they can stay the same.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmups
345 x 3 (belted) -I was tired as hell while warming up but I felt better after this set.
275 x 3, 3, 3, 3 -belted the fourth set

Stiff legged deadlift
185 x 7, 7, 7

Lying leg curls
90 x 10, 10, 10

supersetted w/ Side bends
45 x 12, 12, 12 (per side)

8-14

AM

P. Sn. + OHS 70/2+1 82/1 x 3
P. Cl. + Pu J. 85/2+1 x 5
Clean and Jerk 105/2+1 x 5
Jerk 105/2 x 2

PM

Jerk 110/1 117/1 120 - miss, 1, miss, 110 - miss back was toast

Clean pull 105/3 120/3 x 3

Rugby - Sheiko - Rugby

8/11/09 - Tuesday - Rugby

Arrived late yet again. Stupid bus.

Sprints starting from the ground with some sets of 10 pushups thrown in: 6?

These were good because we had enough rest on the ground to actually sprint at near 100%.

Tackling the bags (i think?)

Rucking! 10 ft run up, hitting one person, driving for a count of 10. 4 stations, about 15ft apart. Run through all 4 then rest: x5-6?

These were great, haven't practiced just hitting and driving for a while. This is where the PL training serves me well, I was lower than almost everyone and actually driving hard and fast for the full count. Legs tired by the end, but felt great.

Rucking against two people bound, 2 stations: x5-6

Same idea. I got an 'ow!' out of morgan on one. I chalk that up to a combination of hitting power and bony shoulders going into her butt.

Running plays with backs: ~30mins

Full gallop. switched between wing and fullback. Looking pretty damn good actually. I'm definitely better conditioned for actual running play than say suicides.

• 6v6 full tackle: ~20mins

X-drill - with a square area, jog the straightaways, sprint the diagonals: x6

This was the biggest damn box we've ever run this drill in ever. Definitely hard.

Static stretching



8/12/09 - Wed - Sheiko

Bench: 45x5, 65x3, 75x3, 85x3x2, 100x2x5 (80)

DB bench: 20x10x4

Deadlift: 135x3, 160x3, 185x3x2, 200x2x5 (75)

My hips were really tight and bothering me on these, likely due to falling on them during rugby. Started popping on the 185, then right one hurting on 200's. This made me try to lift completely with my quads/lower legs instead of using hip drive, thus hard and sucky lifts. Sucked it up and did it right on the last one, which wasn't comfortable, but because it was faster didn't hurt as bad as I expected.

Good mornings: 45x10x2

Fuck good mornings.



8/13/09 - Thursday - Rugby

Arrived on time!


Jogging: 10mins

Dynamic Stretching: ~10mins

Running lines of 4 with some looping and defenders: 25mins continuously

Brutal. So gassed by the end. We just kept going and going and going.

Decision-making passing 3v2: 15mins

Tackling the bags: x~5

Tackling 2 bags one after the other: ~3times

Lateral tackling of bodies: ~20mins

Not bad, only missed one with morgan running full out. She earlier tackled me such that I landed hard on my grumpy hip. Oof. I also banged tammy's head up a bit. oops.

Mauling against pads: 20mins

• 6v6 full tackle: ~20mins

Sprints down and back to 20m starting from the ground alternating with partner: 8

Considering how gassed I was at the beginning of practice, these felt good and !gassed.

Static stretching


Talked with Coach Karen a bit about the merits of suicides/exhaustive sprinting. She did not discount Jake's argument, but noted that one school of thought for rugby training is to almost over-train during practice, so that in actual games, it is that much easier.



Thursday, August 13, 2009

Nathan: 8/12 Sheiko & 8/13 Cardio

1. 8/13/09 - Thu - CARDIO

Weight: 217 (morning). Time: 0:50.

Cardio - Spinner bike 30 s hi, 30 s lo, 30 s hi, 60 s lo x 8, 600 s med

Same idea as last time. This kicks my ass. I love it.

Flexibility - gastroc, adductors on leg press, soleus, hamstrings, seated groin, hip flexors

2. 8/12/09 - Wed - SHEIKO #26

Weight: 218 (morning). Time: ??

  Super easy day. A little hard to stay focused, actually.

Bench 155x3 (50), 185x3 (50), 215x3x2 (70), 245x2x5 (80)

Flies 30x8x4

Deadlift 135x5x4, 225x3, 275x3 (50), 335x3x2 (60), 385x3x2 (70), 415x2x5 (75)

Good mornings 135x5x4


Kind of boring. Sorry.

Last 2 workouts

8-11
This workout was 1 day after my previous and it showed

P. Cl. 85/2 100/2 x 3
Clean and Jerk 100/1 112/1 x 4 - got 2, then missed the jerk, then missed the clean. I felt like total shit.

Came back in the PM and got:

Clean and jerk 105/2+1 x 3 112/1 x 2 made up the reps
Jerk 105/2 120 - 1+miss, 1+miss This was supposed to be a double at 90 but because of the 2 days in a row I think my back was fried.

BTN Press 52/3 x 4
Front squat 85/4 100/4 120/3 My mid back was toast so I couldn't do more on front squats.

8-13
P. Sn. 70/3 x 2 82/2 x 3
Snatch 77/3 88/2 x 2 102 - 2,1+miss, miss, 95/1 102 - 1+miss, miss, 1, 1
Was supposed to do 90% doubles for 3x2, but since all the weights are in pounds I did 225, which is 102 or 92%. I got 1 double, which is technically a PR double (the most I've doubled is 100kg) then I fought to get 6 total lifts.

Snatch Ab. Kn. 77/2 x 2 88/1 x 4
Sn. Pull 102/3 x 2 110/3 x 2 120/1 x 3
Back squat 105/3 125/3 152/4 x 5 These got hard at the end.

8/13 Deadlift

Sumo Deadlift: 185x5
225x5
275x5
315x2, 2, 2, 2

Box Squat (18"): 135x8
185x5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Back Raise/Incline Situps: 20/20 x3

Decided to try deadlifting today, but just keeping my torso upright and using mainly my hips. As a result, 315 felt a lot harder than it should have. The Box squats are just at about the same height as the starting point for the DL, so its almost the same movement. Felt good to pick stuff up again though.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Bench

Bench (paused)
warmup
155 x 5, 5, 5 -these sets were unusually hard

Close grip bench
135 x 5, 5, 5, 5

Dumbbell shoulder press
45s x 8, 7, 7

Overhead tricep extensions
50 x 8, 8, 7

8/12 Press

DB Seated Press: 30x12
40x10
50x10
55x10 PR
45x10, 10, 10

Overhead Pin Press: 135x10, 10, 8, 8, 7 (top of the head, index on rings)

Parallel Bar Extensions: 65x10, 10, 8

Band Pull-apart: 20, 15, 15

A good day, all in all. The DB presses felt strong and the Pin Presses felt awesome. I really have not felt direct shoulder/tricep stimulation quite like I got from those. This is a keeper exercise.

Also, my postworkout meal:

1lb ground bison
2 cups OJ
1 banana

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Squats

Squat
warmup
215 x 5, 3, 3 -belted the 3rd set
185 x 5, 5

Power cleans
135 x 3, 3, 3, 3

Leg press
270 x 8
360 x 6, 6, 6

Kneeling ab pulldowns
80 x 15
87.5 x 15
95 x 12, 12

supersetted w/ Seated calf raises
110 x 12, 12, 12, 12

Nathan: 8/10 Sheiko

1. 8/10/09 - Mon - SHEIKO #25

Weight: 225 (after gym, dinner). Time: 2:00?

  Shorter day, pretty easy.

Squat 45x10x3, 135x5x3, 225x3 (50), 275x3 (60), 315x3x2 (70), 360x2x5 (80)

All work done in the monolift. Heavy sets belted. Everything felt relatively easy.

  Got some tips from Carlos on my squat. He told me I need to arch much harder through my middle back and start the squat from the hips. He said my squats looked much better that way, and they felt "ok". But I felt like I was unable to get any kind of abdominal pressure in that position.

Bench 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x2x3 (80), 260x1x3 (85)

Pretty easy, don't really remember this all that well to be honest.

Dumbell flies 30x8x4

Lunges bwx15x3

To help with adductor feeling sore.


Where is Brent?

8/11 Back

My straps arrived in the mail today, so I did my back work today.

Pull-ups (w/straps): 12, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 5

HS Rows: 2p/s x10
2p+25/s x10, 9, 9, 8, 8

Seated DB Curls: 30x6, 5, 5, 4, 4 (harder than expected)

Stretch on pull-up bar for 30 sec w/100lbs attached to finish up

The straps really helped my focus on pulling using my back instead of my arms, which had the result of my entire back being toast at the beginning of the workout lol. I will add weight to the pull-ups once I can complete the 50 reps in 4 sets. Bodyweight was 212 today.

Last Two Workouts

8/7 - Sheiko

Horrible day for lifting, I was not mentally there at all, or had the energy. I pushed through the urge to just go take a nap in the grass.

Bench: 45x5, 65x3, 75x3, 85x3x2, 100x3x5 (80)

Squat: 45x5x2, 95x3, 115x3x2, 135x3x2, 155x3x6 (80)

These were hard due to lack of energy and focus. For the last set I resorted to the music I usually use for sprinting, which shows how desperate things were.

Bench: 45x5, 65x4, 75x4, 85x4x4 (70)

Dumbell bench: 20x10x5

Good Mornings: none.

Fuck good mornings.



8/10 - Sheiko

Much better day than friday, everything went well.

Hang Cleans: 45x10

P. Cleans: 95x4, 105x4, 115x4, 125x4

Easier than I anticipated. Looking forward to training heavy cleans again when sheiko is over.

Squat: 45x5x2,95x3, 115x3, 135x3x2, 155x2x5 (80)

Felt good. Used monolift for last 4 sets. I find monolift distracting.

Bench: 45x5, 65x3, 75x3, 85x3x2, 100x2x3, 105x1x3 (85)

Also felt good. Pinching my shoulders together higher seems to serving me well.

Dumbell bench: 25x10x4