Bench

Bench:
275 x 5
295 x 3
305 x 2 + 1 fail

2 Board:
315 x 3
335 x 3, 2 sets
345 x 3

Should have gone heavier on these. I didn't get a good feel for 335 on the first set, but locked it in for the remaining.

Standing Press:
135 x 8
155 x 7
165 x 6

Finished with cable tricep extensions

Bench

Bench
warmups
165 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 2.7 -completely stalled about 6 inches off my chest

3-board press
185 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 2 + 1fail
195 x 3

Standing overhead press
95 x 7, 8
105 x 5
95 x 6

Tate press
22.5's x 9, 10, 9, 12 -first time doing these and they felt pretty good

9/30 Bench

Bench Press: 135x10
155x8
185x6
205x4, 3

Manpon Press: 205x3
225x3, 3, 3

Seated Shoulder Press: 115x7
135x5, 4, 3

Pull-overs: 65x10
75x10, 10
85x7

I seem to be pretty weak recently on pressing exercises. I attribute this to a few things. #1: Losing weight + more physical activity here at school (not used to walking afew miles a day), and #2: being a pansy. Need to fix both.

Bench

9/30/09

Bench

205 x 5

205 x 5

215 x 3

Foam Roller Bench

215 x 3

225 x 3

235 x 3

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

45 x 5

60 x 5

60 x 5

Pullovers

65 x 8 x 3

Nathan : 9/29 & 9/30

▼ 1. 9/30/09 - Wed - BENCH

Weight: ??. Time: 2:00.

  A day back at the Z because I have no ride to TPS today. It was fun to be back at TPS. Shout out to Hil for helping with lift-offs.

• Warm-up - bike 10 mins

• 2-sec pause bench warm-up, 245x2x4 @8, 250x2x2 @8-9

Going for 3x6 volume @ 8-9. Felt pretty good.

• Close-grip bench warm-up, 265x2x3 @9, 265x2 @10, 255x2x2 @9

Going for 2x6 volume @ 8-9. 265 was a little heavy, so I eventually dropped it down to 255 to finish the sets.

• Dumbbell military press 60x5x5

Happy I pulled out 5x5 on this, 5 sets even on first rep was somewhat difficult and it had already been a long day.

• Dumbell rows 120x8x3

Not sure that this was the best choice of back exercise, given that my right lower back is bothering me and the twisting in this motion makes it unhappy.

• Videos

20090930-two second pause press fifth set 250x3 - Pause on first is good, I think I cheated a little bit on third.

20090930-close grip fifth set 255x2 - Something on the lens for this one. Gives it a cool halo effect.

▼ 2. 9/29/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: ??. Time: 1:00.

• Cardio - bike 30 mins

• Flexibility - usual

Upper back

Pullups
BW + 1 purple x 10
BW + 2 purples x 6
BW + 3 purples x 4

Dumbbell rows (w/ the hammer curl bar)
115 x 8
115 x 10
135 x 5

Hammer curls
45s x 10
50s x 8
60s x 7
70s x 3

Uppr back

We had a ludicrous number of people today. Hopefully strong team attendance keeps up throughout the quarter.

Band-Resisted Pull ups:
only had purples on hand.
2 purples x 10 (about where the blue was)
3 purples x 9, 8

Dumbbell Rows:
Had to use the hammer curl bar, but we should probably look a better plate loaded handle
115 x 10, 10
135 x 8, 7

Chest supported rows:
180 x 10, 3 sets

Finished with some hammer curls

9/28 Back

Well training has officially begun, now that Dave is here :)

Pull-ups (neutral grip): BWx10
1 purple band x 8
2 purple band x 4

Cable Rows: 150x15, 12, 10, 10, 10

Lying Pull-aparts: Purple x 15, 12

Cross-Body Hammer Curls: 45x9/9, 7/7, 8/8
50x6/6

Dave, Vit, and I are meeting with the Club Sports people this week, and I will be sending out a list of questions for asking them. Feel free to add any input you may have.

Nathan : 9/28

Weight: 219. Time: 2:15.

Squat day today.

Warm-up on bike for 10 mins

SSB box squat - going for speed work, 2x8 @ 7, 1x2 @ 9

warm-up

245x2x4 @7 - These popped off my shoulders at the top, but the bottom part off the box was still slow. I have no speed through the bottom part of the motion for some reason.

225x2x2 @7 - Tried a lighter weight, but I didn't feel any different.

245x2x2 @7 - Went back up

295x1, 315x1

335x1x2 @9 - These were very easy at the top, but I struggled at the bottom. This is also the weight that I started to fall forward on.

This was a productive session of squats. I feel like I learned a few things, with some coaching help from Carlos:

- Keep glutes tight at the bottom to prevent "plopping" onto the box. I realized that I am not keeping tension in my glutes at all near the bottom. This is probably what gives me my "dip"/rebound at the bottom of normal squats, but isn't necessarily better in the long run. I think this might be the reason why I fall forward in my squats.

- I am supposed to be shrugging into the SSB bar to prevent from falling forward. I didn't actually try this today, I will do it next week.

- I am very slow off the bottom on these. These are definitely targeting something in the last 4-6 inches of motion that I am weak on. I felt very tired in the same muscles for sumo dead immediately following this, which to me means I normally don't use some muscles in squatting that I should be.

- These tire out my back like nothing else. This week it seemed more like a healthy tiredness rather than a pull in my glute/lower back. That part of my back felt tired but not aggravated.

Tires - I forgot about these until I saw Dee's post. Basically, I was watching Dee and Jansel flip tires, and Dee yelled at me calling me a pussy until I did them too. These were done in between sets of speed squats.

350x8? - Flip down the driveway one way.

450x3 or something - This was just dicking around.

Sumo dead w chains - going for 3x6 for volume. Feeling tired after squats, lower back not feeling good. Probably could have gone heavier, but because of the back I really wasn't feeling it.

warm-up

315+120x3x6 @8

Back not as good as usual. Rounding ever so slightly, especially on later sets. Murph says I need to get my shoulders back more quickly, immediately after the bar crosses my knees. I will try to do this, although I am a little vague on exactly what it entails.

Pause squat w chain - skipped because of back/time. I have yet to do these. That maybe says something about my exercise selection for this day ... Maybe I should choose something less stressful for the third movement?

Abs - sandbag crunch/twists - I really like these.

35x12x3

Overall, I feel like I am not going as heavy as I should be. But I think I am following the RPEs correctly. We'll see if this actually gets me stronger or not.

Videos:

ssb squats, third set

ssb squats, fifth set

ssb squats, eighth set

ssb squats, second single

sumo dead, third set

sumo dead, sixth set + bonus! dee doing hanging abs

9/26, 9/28

9/26: North Shore @ Springfield: 42 - 0

Drove 2 hours to springfield. We dominated. Had an amazing play in the second half where our flyhalf kicked, I chased, girl on other team tried to grab the ball and I flattened her. Some other chick tried to pick it up, and I got up and flattened her too, then two girls supporting me picked up the ball and scored. Nice.

B-side game I played scrumhalf, and had some of my best passing as scrumhalf so far. Got a few picks off the scrum and made one nice try off that. Won bside ~20-0.

9/28 - TPS

Warmup: 15 mins fast elliptical.
I wanted to go longer on this because it was feeling good, but then one of the trainers started teaching about how to flip tires, so I stopped.

Tire flipping: 350x2, x7x2, 450x2xFAIL

This was awesome. Will do more. Legs were too tired to flip the 450, but will get it eventually.

Back squat: 45x6, 95x5, 115x5?, 135x4, 155x3x5
These felt good, not too easy but not too hard. Yay.

Bench: 65x6, 85x5?, 95x5x3
I ended up using the monolift bar by accident, which was a bit unwieldy. I'm finally getting used to and utilizing the leg drive, so all of these were solid and fast.

Hanging side crunches: 3/side
Decline rotating crunches: 20+BWx10x3

Squat

Squat
warmups
235 x 3
255 x 3
265 x 3 -last rep was really hard

Pause squats (3 seconds)
185 x 3, 3, 3

Box squats
135 x 8, 8, 8

Ball reverse hypers
3 sets

ME Squat

Squat:
belt + knee sleeves
405 x 1
455 x 3
475 x 3

Pause Squat:
1,2,3,up call
385 x 3 @ 3 seconds
405 x 3 @ 3
415 x 3 @ 3

Box Squat:
225 x 8

I noticed the squat racks are definitely narrower at Wooden than the ones I've been training in. I'm not able to get my feet out were I want them for box squats in order to really open up the hips. Not sure whether I will continue with them as often if I can't do them as I should.

Finished with some ball reverse hypers

9-28

Power snatch 91,93,95 - Broke power snatch record. Easy lift, but I was really psyched up.
86/2 - 9,8,8,1+miss

Snatch 86/1@8, 91/1 @ 9,8, miss
I decided to not worry about continuing after the misses because I was pretty fried from the heavy power snatches.

Bench 255/1, 265 - miss, 205/4 @ 7,7
The whole workout my right tricep hurt a lot, so I didn't bother doing more bench as it was only getting worse. It's fine now though.

Back squat 152/3@8, 157/3@8, 161/2 @ 10

Nathan : 9/24 - 9/26

▼ 1. 9/26/09 - Sat - BENCH LOCKOUT

Weight: 222 (after gym). Time: 2:00.

  Decided to go early today because it fit my schedule better. I felt really tired and everything felt difficult, even though the weights themselves went up OK (but not great). I'm going to try not to go early in the future.

  No videos today -- battery is dead.

• Warm-up on bike 10 mins

• Rev band bench w/ purples warm-up, 275x4x3 @ 9, 285x4x3 @9-10

Did 295 for triples last week, so this is OK. Lower back and quads were very tired from all the other work in the week, so my arch felt a little weird. I think it loosened up by the end though.

• Floor press warm-up, 225x4x6 @10

I'm really bad at floor press. These were sloooowwwwww, as Frank can attest.

• Dips bw+45x6x4

Feeling pretty done by this point. These dips are around 270#, though, so I'm happy.

• Pull-ups bw+25x6x3, bwx8

▼ 2. 9/25/09 - Fri - DEADLIFT

Weight: ??. Time: 1:30.

  I was working on some paper bullshit and Dee had work to finish up, so we didn't make it to TPS until 1:30 before closing. Made this a very abbreviated workout.

• Warm-up on bike 10 mins

• Conventional deadlift warm-up, 365x4 @8 (warm-up), 385x4x4 @8, 405x4 @8, 405x4 @9

I tried focusing on arching just the lower back and letting the upper back do whatever. It felt OK, but I don't think it looks much different on the videos.

20090925-conv dead warm up 365x4

20090925-conv dead first set 385x4

20090925-conv dead second set 385x4

20090925-conv dead fifth set 405x4

20090925-conv dead sixth set 405x4

• Squat w/ chains warm-up, 275+120x2x6 @9

I was going really fast through these because all of the sets had to be done in 15 mins. I was also feeling very tired (sleepy) at this point for some reason. My eating has been awful lately, I suspect this contributes. But regardless, these sets varied a lot in how easy/hard they were. I got lazy on form on the fifth one and dropped really fast, which I'm trying to avoid this training cycle. Otherwise, success.

• Rack pull 2'' below knee

Skipped.

• Abs - V-ups

Skipped.

▼ 3. 9/24/09 - Thu - CARDIO

Don't remember what happened today, but it was the same shit as always.

• Bike - cardio 30 mins

• Flexibility - usual

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmups
349 x 3
283 x 3, 3, 3

Back raises
BW x 3 x 35

Kneeling ab crunches
92.5 x 15, 15
97.5 x 10, 10

9-25

P. Cl. + Jerk 111, 113, 116 - Mike, the head strength coach, said I dipped below parallel on this one, so technically not a "power" clean. Still, it was a good lift.

Power clean + Jerk 102/1+2@9,8,9,8,1+1+miss This is an improvement over last week, where I only got 3 of the sets before I missed, so I'm happy.

C&J 102/2+1 @ 8,8,8,8

Press 135@8, 145@9,8,8, 150@9,9

Front squat 142/1, 142/1, 142 - miss, 134/1 The miss really pissed me off, but this is still way better than last week

Front squat 120/5 @ 8, 125@10 Didn't have the energy for more.

Bench

Bench
warmup
175 x 5, 5, 4

Bench (paused)
135 x 3, 3, 3, 3

Incline dumbbell presses
70s x 5, 5, 4

Dips
BW x 10, 8, 8, 10

RE Deadlift

Deadlift
545 x 1
585 x 5 @ 9

This was definitely the easiest 585 has ever felt. I thought about going for more reps, but I saved it to pound out 600 next week

Glute Thrusts
315 x 8
365 x 8, 3 sets

I got some grief for these, haha. I'll see how I feel after increasing the weight. I'm leaning towards these actually being useful. Todd even knew of them, which makes me more confident.

Finished with some hamstring curls to flush the blood.

9-23

Power snatch 85,89,93,95-miss 80/2 @ 9,8,8,8,8, 82/2@8, 84/2 @ 9,9

Snatch 77/4@7, 80/4@8,8,8

Bench 215/5 @ 9,9,9,10

Back squat Singles at 152, 157 @9, too tired to do more.

Felt some major back fatigue after all those power snatches and snatches. Like I said, we'll see how squat training goes during this cycle.

ME Bench

Bench
used Dave's blue katana. That thing is far too loose to be anything but a training shirt. The chest plate is still super loose as well. Also, it's an S/S, which I noticed does make a difference for lock out.

325 x 3 @ 3 board
365 x 1 @ 1 board
385 x 1
395 x FAIL, 2 attempts

Suuuuucks. I guess it's good that I can still hit 385 with a crappy shirt. Todd taught me more about how to property torque the sleeves, so I will try the same set up in the black katana. Group consensus was that I needed 44" arms (broken in) + 40-42 chest + 6" extra fabric in the back + scoop/reinforced neck (IPF legal version).

Incline Dumbbell
95s x 10, 10, 7, 4

Felt CNS exhaustion set in on the last set

Finished with cable triceps and bodyweight dips just to flush the area.

Nathan : 9/22 & 9/23

▼ 1. 9/23/09 - Wed - BENCH

Weight: 222 (after gym). Time: 1:30.

  Received word today about Holter monitor results. They were pretty much as expected (normal/benign), but my cardiologist is concerned that one benign condition might suggest that their original diagnosis was incorrect. I have yet another consultation with another specialist, but I'm not supposed to change anything about what I'm doing.

• 2-sec pause bench warm-up, 205x2x8 @ 7, 245x1 @ 8, 275x1x2 @ 9

Speed work.

• Incline bench warm-up, 225x5x5 @ 8

This was fairly easy. I wanted to keep it light because this the exercise that I believe originally pulled my lower back/side and caused all the problems.

• Dumbell press 50x7x4 @ 9-10

• Chest-supported row 80x8x4 @ 8-9

Wanted a movement that wouldn't stress my lower back at all.

▼ 2. 9/22/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: 220 (after gym). Time: 1:15.

  Right side/lower back still killing me.

• Cardio - bike ~35 mins

I do a little warmup and cooldown so this was really 40 mins or so...

• Stretching - gastroc, adductors on leg press, soleus, hamstrings, seated groin, lying glute, 

hip flexors

Should do the lying glute more regularly.

Club Sports Jamboree

Apparently we were accepted as a club sport for the fall.  However, no one informed us that the club sports jamboree (the main recruiting event) was today.  I just found out.  If anyone is reading the blog, could someone go down there and hang out for a bit?  The thing runs until 5pm and apparently they have a space set up for us.  If anything, leave a note saying to email someone if they're interested.

LE uppr back

Low volume since I'm pulling this week


Bent-over rows
185 x 6
225 x 6
245 x 8
265 x 8
285 x 8

Wide-grip pull ups
18, 16, 15, 12

Finished with incline curls and band pull aparts

Upper back

Barbell rows
135 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 5
195 x 5
205 x 5

Close grip pulldowns
180 x 10
192 x 8, 8, 8

Dumbbell shrugs
105s x 15
110s x 12
115s x 12

Barbell curls
75 x 10, 10, 9

supersetted w/ rear delt raises
15s x 3 x 15

9-21

Push jerk 111/1 x 3 Had to press these out. Explosiveness or upper body strength on jerks appears to be a big weakness.

Push jerk 102 - 1+miss, 93/2 - 8,9,8,9,8,8,8,8 These were light, but still hard. I think the problem may be locking out overhead.

Clean and Jerk 102 @9, 107@9,9 93/1+2 @8,8,8,8

Power clean 102/2 @ 9,10, 93/2@8, 97/2@9,9

Press 155/1@9, 115/5 @7,7,7,7

Front Squat 125/2@9,9,9,8,9,9

This workout took 1.5 or 2 hours. Really long, even though the volume was still not that high compared to what I'm used to. Heavy singles take a lot out of you though, so I need to rest.

Squat

Couldn't lift at Wooden today because moving in took longer than expected.

Squat
warmups
275 x 3 PR -Almost had to drop the last rep in the rack. Hopefully I won't have to do these heavy squat sets without a spot anymore since school is starting.
195 x 5, 5

Pause squats (5 rep count but honestly it was probably a little less since I was counting)
185 x 2, 2

Leg press
360 x 7, 7, 7

Hanging leg raises
3 x 20

RE Squat

Hamstrings were pretty brutalized from last thursday still. Played ultimate on Sunday to loosen them up but they tightened back up afterward. Did a bunch of foam roller during warm ups to help.

Regarding the glute thrust, they definitely work. That night and the day after, I could definitely tell the glutes were exhausted, but I didn't have any residual soreness. I will try them again this week with increased weight to see what happens. I think they might be useful for a training cycle if I can do them and still avoid getting kicked out of Wooden.

Squats
405 x 5
415 x 5
425 x 5

Didn't want to push it too much since the hamstrings were sore.  These felt very easy.  (6-7 for your RTS true believers).

Pause Squat
365 x 3 @ 3 sec (1, 2, 3, up)
385 x 3 @ 3
405 x 3 @ 3

Also pretty decent.

SS-Bar Box Squat
(no belt)
235 x 8
255 x 8
275 x 8

Finished with ball reverse hypers and cable abs superset

Nathan : 9/20

▼ 1. 9/20/09 - Mon - SQUAT

Weight: 217 (morning). Time: 1:45.

  Came into today with lower back being a bit sore. This escalated and I decided to cut the workout short. Otherwise, I am very happy with how my form looks on the lifts I did today.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• SSB box squat 65x5x3, 155x5x2, 245x4, 275x4x6 @9

Right side of lower back, basically inside the hip, was killing me on these. I think I pulled this slightly on close-grip presses last Wednesday, and this movement killed it for some reason.

  I think form is pretty good on these overall, except Carlos said I was "plopping" (crashing) onto the box in my first couple sets. I could sit back a little more so my knees are past vertical, but where I am is OK. On some sets I rocked more than I would like, but when I focused on it, it wasn't a problem.

20090921-ssb box squat fifth set 275x4

20090921-ssb box squat sixth set 275x4

• Sumo deadlift with chains 135x5x2, 225x5x2, 315x3, 315+120x2x2 @8, 315+160x2x4 @8.5

I was worried about these going into it because of my lower back, but they didn't seem affected. The warm-up set with 315 felt the heaviest of any of them. I could have done more than 315+160, but I decided to keave it there even though its slightly below the RPE I was shooting for. Next week I will either go to 200 lbs chain or increase bar weight -- maybe both! I'm happy with form on these.

20090921-sumo dead w chain first set 315+120 x2

Fw: 20090921-sumo dead w chain sixth set 315+160x2

• Pause squat with chains

Skipped because of lower back and time running out.

• Twisting crunches w sandbag 25 lbs x 12 x 4

Was going to call it after 3 sets, but Jason did another so I had to too.

9-18

Power snatch 85,87,89 75/3 - 8,8,9,8,8,8

Snatch 100/1 @ 9 88/3 - (1,miss,1), 8,9 placement was a little off on the first set

Bench 240/1@9 205/4@7,7,7,7

Back squat 142/5@8 147/5@9,9 147/3@9 (147=325) I was just tired by the end. It'll be interesting to see how squatting goes during this cycle. I may focus on it during the next round, but I still don't feel like it's much of a weakness. Getting it stronger may still help though.

Nathan : 9/18 & 9/19

▼ 1. 9/19/09 - Sat - BENCH LOCKOUT

Time: 2:00. Weight: 222 (after gym).

  Realized that I could use bands instead of chains and I don't have to go to TPS. So I did my first lifting at the Z center in months.

  This ended up being a pretty hard workout. I'm quite satisfied; I feel like I hit all of my reps at the right RPE without overshooting at all.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• Reverse band bench w/ purples warm-up, 245x3 @ 8 (too light, doesn't count), 275x3x2 @ 8, 285x3x1 

@ 8, 295x3x3 @ 9

If they go straight down, bands stop slightly below my lockout. Because they are pulled to the side a bit, I'd guess there is about 5 lbs of total tension at the top, but hard to say. Very little regardless. Video on second and sixth set.

• Floor press warm-up, 225x5x5 @ 9-10

This is my lockout assistance. 225 was a very good weight for this, last sets were slow. Video on fifth set.

• A: Dips BW+45 x 6,8,6,6

Want to incorporate some kind of movement that lets my shoulders move freely. This supplement slot is a good place for it.

• A: Pull-ups 10, 8, 8, 8

Was going to slack off and do something lame, but then Frank said he didn't think I could do 6 pull-ups. Well, I can, damn it.

▼ 2. 9/18/09 - Fri - DEADLIFT

Time: 2:00. Weight: ??

  I'm way too slow on the early exercises, I need to speed up a lot.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• Conventional deadlift 135x5x3, 225x5x3, 315x4, 365x3, 405x2x6 @ 8

Video on second and last set. Back isn't perfectly straight on any of these, it is a flexibility issue.

• Squat w/ chains 135x5x3, 225x5, 275x5, 275+80x3, 275+120x3x5 @ 8-9

Going for 3x6. Video on first set with 120 chain and last set. Went barefoot to try that out. Felt pretty good so I will stick with this for a few weeks.

• Rack pull 2'' below knee

Skipped due to time constraints, again. Need to get faster.

• Abs - V-ups 10, 10, 15, 15

Asked Dee what ab exercise I should do. She told me to do these. They were brutal.

VIDEOS:

20090918 - second set dead 405 x 2

20090918-sixth set dead 405 x 2

As I said, back isn't perfect on these, but I've never had perfect conventional deadlift form. So I'll just deal with it since it is at least consistent, and doesn't seem to get worse with increasing weight.

20090918- warm up squat 275 x 3

20090918- first set squat w chain 275+120 x 3 (first rep missed)

20090918-fifth set squat w chain 275+120 x 3

I don't notice too big a difference without shoes, but I did like how it felt so I will stick with this for a little while. My ass pops out a little bit, which I would rather it didn't, but overall I'm not too displeased about my form.

20090919 - rev band bench w purp second set 275 x 3

20090919-rev band bench w purp sixth set 295 x 3

Pretty happy with my arch and form on these. Ass comes up a little bit, but I blame that on the bench I was using that has a big whole where I want to set my ass down to keep it in place. I didn't realize my entire belly was exposed, which amuses me.

20090919-floor press fifth set 225x5

Last rep is slow. Not much else to say about this.

9/19 LA Press

Lifted at Wooden today. I havent had the best of sleep for the past two days, and the same goes for eating, so I was a little weaker today.

Push Press: 95x6
115x5
125x6, 4

Incline Bench: 135x10
155x8, 5

Floor Skullcrusher: 75x14, 7 PR

Kinda lame, except for the tricep work. The next lifting session for me will be on Monday night at 7 - drop by and say hello if you're in the gym lol.

ME Bench (sort of)

Only had 20 minutes to train, due to external circumstances.  Also, this was done at 8:40am.

Standing Press
185 x 2
205 x 1, 3 sets

Closer-grip Bench
(pink-ring fingers splitting ring on bar)
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmup
335 x 4+1 fail
Pretty disappointing considering I did 335x5 a few weeks ago. Not sure why but I was extremely tired at the beginning of this workout and usually the tiredness goes away by the time I do a heavy set but this time it didn't.

285 x 3, 3, 3
I noticed something about my form while doing these lighter sets. I've been trying to start with my hips lower, making it easier to start with my lower back arched. I realized though, that when I start with my hips slightly higher, the bar comes up much faster off the ground. Unfortunately I think this causes me to have a less arched lower back.

So I'm wondering whether it'd be better to 1) Start with my hips lower, focus on an arched lower back, but be slower off the floor, or 2)Start with my hips higher, be faster off the floor, but not have as good an arch. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

Leg curls
90 x 12, 12, 12

Kneeling abs
95 x 12
102.5 x 7
95 x 10

Back raises
BW x 35

Bench

Bench
warmup
185 x 4 PR
165 x 5, 5

Bench (paused)
135 x 3, 3, 3

Flat dumbbell press
70s x 5, 4

Dips
BW x 12, 10, 10

Only had 40 minutes to workout so I cut the dumbbell presses short by a few sets.

Lowr Back

Still on the deload. Felt better today walking out the weights than I have all month, so backing off on Monday helped quite a bit.

Good Mornings
365 x 5
405 x 5
435 x 5
455 x 5

Stiff Legged Deadlift
315 x 8, 2 sets
365 x 8, 2 sets

Barbell Hip Thrust
I figured if I was ever going to try these, I'd do them here the first time to avoid looking like an asshat in Wooden.  This the picture for the one I'm talking about:



135 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
325 x 8

These all felt easy.  Only if I held it at the top did I really feel anything specific in my glutes, despite trying to isolate them.  The movement itself is pretty awkward.  I'll post more in two days as I figure out if the glutes got more sore than normal.

Finished with hamstring curls and decline transversus

Nathan : 9/15 - 9/17

▼ 1. 9/17/09 - Thu - CARDIO

Weight: 218 (morning). Time: 1:15.

  Adductors bothering me since Monday, so I gave them a little extra love.

• Cardio - bike 30 mins

• Stretching - gastroc, soleus, adductors on leg press, hamstrings, more adductors, seated 

groin, hip flexors, glute

▼ 2. 9/16/09 - Wed - BENCH

Weight: 217 (morning), 224 (after dinner). Time: 1:30.

• 2-sec pause bench 45x10x2, 135x5x2, 185x4, 225x3x3 @ 8, 235x3x2 @ 8-9, 245x3 @ 9

Going for 3x6. I'm not exactly sure about the number of sets at each weight, but this is roughly correct.

• Close-grip bench 135x8, 185x5, 225x4 @ 8, 245x4x5 @ 9-10

Going for 4x6. First set at 245 was quite hard. Got easier a bit from there, but last set was very hard again and I had absolutely terrible form, kind of twisting myself on the bench. My right arm tends to lag behind on these for some reason.

• Dumbbell overhead press 55x6,6,5,5

Going for 6x4.

• Band-assisted pull ups Green band x 15, purple x 10, 8

Really tired, wanted to do something easy. Decided to try these, and they were kind of weird. Not sure I like them, but it was interesting nevertheless.

▼ 3. 9/15/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: 218 (morning). Time: 1:00.

• Cardio - bike 25 mins

• Stretching - gastroc, soleus, adductor on leg press, hamstrings, seated groin, hip flexors

• Foam roll - lower back, IT band

9-16

Another good workout today.

P. Cl. + J 109, 11, 113 equaled my previous best power clean
102/1+2 - 9,8,9,1+1@10

Clean and jerk 102/1+2 - 8,9,8,9

Press 135/3 - 8 145/2 - 10 All those jerks completely fried my upper body. I should've gone down to 125 for presses. The next step in this program is to make sure to lower the weight as needed when I need to get reps at a certain RPE.

Front squat 125/1@8, 134/1@8, 134/1@9 111/5 - 7,7,8

ME Bench

Was going to put on the blue katana, but accidentally left it at home.

3-Board
315 x 3
355 x 3
375 x 3
395 x 3
415 x 2 + 1 fail (PR compared to last time)

Misgrooved the last one 2" low. Felt pretty heavy, so I'm not sure if I would have gotten it anyway. The difference between my 3-board and my 2-board is pretty depressing.


Speed Bench:
used quadded minis

185 x 3, 6 sets

I am going to switch to ring-finger on the rings for volume work for the next few weeks. I'm hoping the added range of motion will work the off-the-chest area harder.

Finished with some cable triceps and front deltoid raises.

9/16 Bench

Neutral Grip DB Bench: 50x10
60x10
70x8
80x8, 5

OH Pin Press (eye level, seated, BTN): 95x8
135x5
155x3, 2

Pullover (parallel bar, bent arm): 65x12
75x11, 7 PR

Pulldown Abs: 90x20

I tried to do some normal benching, but my right wrist doesnt like that position for some reason, so I did the DB presses. I also lowered the notch for the pin presses as well - that made a huge difference lol, but I felt my shoulders getting into the lift more.

But the star of this workout was easily the pullovers. I feel these in my triceps even more than the Dave-style skullcrushers, but there is no wrist or elbow strain with these. We'll see how well these work over the next few months.

Another article, a rare good one from T-Nation

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/dispelling_the_glute_myth

I'm going to implement this.

Also, this should help with thrusting strength... Just another reason to work those glutes, especially if you're into larger women.

Uprr Brrck

Band Resisted Pull Ups
closed grip
bw x 23 (no band)
blue band x 9, 8, 8, 7

Shrugs:
405 x 20
495 x 10, 10, 15, 18

Borrowed these APT Straps from one of the Strongmen at the gym. They are by far the best straps I have ever used. The grip on the outside is fantastic, so the wrap doesn't slip when you go heavy. I plan to get a pair for shrugs.

Finished with hammer curls and sub scap pulls

Upper back

Pullups
BW+45 x 5
BW+55 x 5
BW+65 x 5
BW+75 x 4 PR

Dumbbell rows
105 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Barbell shrugs
275 x 10, 10, 10

Hammer curls
45s x 10, 10
50s x 6

Face pulls
42.5 x 12, 12, 12

Interesting article

http://www.runningmechanics.com/how-many-reps-are-enough/

I've definitely experienced the problem of overtraining...

9-14, 9-15

9-14
Great workout today. Set a new power snatch record, and pretty much everything felt great.

P. Sn. 89, 91, 93 (205), 84/2 x 8, all at 8 except set 5, which was at 9

Snatch 89/2@8, 91/2@ 8,9,9

Bench 185/6 @ 6, 205/6 @ 8, 215/6@ 8, 10 Almost failed on the last rep. The only things that got the last rep up were my ass coming off the bench and my knowledge that I didn't have a spotter.

Back squat 142/3@8, 152/3@ 9,9,10 I'd say this is an improvement over last week's 4 reps at 152@10 on the very first set. Friday's squat workout will be a good test.

9-15
So, today I joined the UM cheer team. After a 3 year layoff I'll be back cheering. I did a bunch of stunting and by the end I was able to get a liberty, which took me about a year to get at first. It'll all come back pretty fast I think. I can also still do a back tuck. In fact, it's better than before, which leads me to belive I may have increased my vertical. My previous experienced garnered me a lot of extra attention because I was the new guy but could do pretty much everything. I was really impressed with the guys though. Better than we ever got at UCLA, so I think I'll be able to learn a lot from them, at least once I get back to where I was. Also, another good change from UCLA was that the coach seems to run a pretty tight ship. But really, the best thing was that most of the girls were under 5'2" and 110 pounds...

For "conditioning" we did a 1 minute handstand hold against a wall (good), 50 sit-ups (kinda gay, but fine), and 50 tuck jumps (good). The handstand was pretty easy to hold, the sit-ups burned like hell because I never do abs, adn the tuck jumps were really really tiring. I feel 100% recovered from practice though so I think this will also be good GPP for weightlifting. It's kinda like strongman with girls instead of rocks (can't complain there, plus it's training explosive strength), with jumping/tumbling thrown in. Really, it's the perfect form of GPP.

9/15 Back

Wide Grip Pull-ups: BWx9, 5

Rack Chins: BWx6
+20x11, 8

Hanging Leg Raises: 20 reps

EzBar Curls: 40x10
70x10, 5

I think I may have gained a little weight since I last weighed myself. The pull-ups seemed much harder than usual, but I imagine that once I start doing them more regularly, the reps will start creeping up.

Deload Squat

Felt fine going in but as soon as I started warming up, I felt extremely dead in the muscles. I think playing 2 hours of ultimate frisbee is what did it. Things that felt overtrained last week felt fine, but there was no explosion out of the hole.

Band-Lightened Squats:
used blues. Probably 365/bottom 475/top

495 x 5, 5 sets

The reps were intentionally easy. Around the 4th set, I started getting the hang of the shoes and where my stance needs to be.

Box Squat:
no belt

225 x 4, 6 sets

Just worked on explosiveness and not frying myself any further.


Finished with standing calf raises (their machine goes to 600 <3<3<3) and decline transversus.

Squat

Squat
warmups
265 x 3, 2 PR -I felt like the bar placement on my upper back was a little off on these but I didn't realize it until I did the lighter sets afterwards with slightly lower and more comfortable bar placement.
205 x 3, 3, 3

Power cleans
145 x 3
155 x 3
165 x 1
185 x 1 PR

Leg press
360 x 10
410 x 5
380 x 7

Hanging leg raises
BW x 4 x 20

Nathan : 9/14

▼ 1. 9/14/09 - Mon - SQUAT

Weight: 224 (after gym).  Time: 2:00 (long).

  Wearing Holter monitor, so I decided to go heavy. Nothing else to report on that front.

  Overall, this felt good, but my lower back is destroyed and I feel like I still haven't adjusted to the new exercises.

• SSB box squats 65 (bar)x5x3, 155x5x2, 205x5, 245x5, 275x5x5 @ 9-10

These were so hard. I can't believe how heavy this feels. Carlos said it wasn't really squatting, it was more heavy core work. Dee said my form looked good though -- I wasn't rocking back and forth.

• Sumo deads w/ chain 135x5x3, 225x5x2, 275x3, 275+80x2 @ 6, 275+120x2x8 @ 7, 

315+120x1 @ 8, 315+160x1 @ 8.5, 335+160x1 @ 9

Speed work. I really like the feel of the chains, except that having tons of chains in front of me makes locking out awkward/impossible.

  For those of you who haven't read the RTS manual, the way this works is 8 sets of speed weight, followed by a heavy single. I definitely had more left in me, but I was feeling tired and satisfied so I called it.

• Pause squats w/ chain -

No time for these, feeling destroyed anyway, so I punted.

• Ab crunches BWx15x3

Tried to keep it light so abs don't get too sore.

9/14 Pathetic Squat

Well, since my back has felt pretty good these past few workouts, I decided to try back squatting today.

Seated Calf (the power rack was being used): 135x20, 15

Squat: 135x8
155x5
185x4 <- all of these felt much harder than they should have, and my lower back felt really uncomfortable. I guess its all front squats for a few more months.

SLDL: 135x10
155x20 (these, however cause pretty much no discomfort as long as I brace my abs)

Ab Wheel: 20 reps

I think I may not compete in November after all. No sense in squatting 185 in a meet, or just doing a bench only. I will just focus this next quarter on 1. getting my squat and deadlift back via back rehab and 2. get a bigger bench/more muscular upper body

Rugby and Stuff

Hai d00ds. Sorry I disappeared for a while, moving and busy work kept me from wasting time on the internet.

Here's some stuff I did in the last few days.

▼ 1. 9/8/09 - Tuesday - Practice

I think I arrived late. I've been very sluggish and 'meh' about getting to practice.

▼ 1. 9/9/09 - Wednesday - Lifting

Got my teeth drilled immediately before this, so I was lifting with a numb mouth and kept biting my tongue. Special.

I'm now on the USARugby in-season lifting program, so there is less PL stuff, higher reps, more Oly, some jumping things. I'm changing things around to fit in more cool stuff like the prowler, the glut-ham raise, and making time for deads, bench, and back squat.

• P. Snatch: 55x6x3-4

These may have been hang snatches.

• P.Clean: 95x4,105x4x3

These were heavier than I normally do, but went fine, I just took a little more time to set up between reps.

Not doing jerk for a while, because it's not a priority and slows me down.

• Front Squat: 105x4x4

These were murder on my hamstrings, I'm still slightly feeling it 5 days later. Oof.

Concentrated on keeping a good tight arch, knees out, and trying to use the rebound

• Alternating Incline DB press: 30x6x4

It's been a while since I did these, so I started comparatively light. My right shoulder was hurting a lot, but as long as I hit the full range of motion, it was ok.

&&

• Single leg RDL : 45x8eax4

oof. Right leg really tight, some sort of shin splints.

• Single arm seated cable row: 20x10eax4

These felt good, I could feel it in my back the next day.

&&

• Pitcher squats: 40+bwx6eax3

oof. Definitely need to work on these.

▼ 1. 9/10/09 - Thursday - Practice

Backs plays looked very good at the beginning. Practiced 6-in offensive plays where the weak wing inserts between the flyhalf and inside center. Pretty cool. Got stuck at mandatory bar night until 11pm. Not happy.

▼ 1. 9/11/09 - Friday - Lifting

Slightly limited on time because we were going to the Sam Adams octoberfest. Which was excellent, btw.

• P. Snatch: 55x6x3-4

These were hang snatches. I think.

• P.Clean into Front Squat: 95x4x4

Lighter than wednesday because this is supposed to be a lighter lift before gameday. And my hams were still killing me.

• DB flies: 15sx8x3

Flies usually hurt my shoulder, so I went very light and slow.

&&

• Glut ham raise: BWx10x3

Initially set such that my hamstrings were mudered. Reset so the rest were slightly better.

• Sandbag slams: 45?x10x3

This was fun. Definitely worked me hard.

• DB rotational row: 20x8ea, 25x8eax3

I think I did these right. Reminded me of a turkish-get-up sort of movement, with good trunk rotation and shoulder extension.

• Foam roller: hamstrings, glutes, back.

▼ 1. 9/13/09 - Sunday - Charles River @ North Shore: 7 -20

Solidly beat our big rivals. First league game of the season. Turned into a brutally hot day, even the fittest of us were suffering.

We scored the first try, which probably was a big factor in giving us the confidence to push hard. I started as wing, got a few touches but didn't get to do much with them, I never had the space to run. Went to FLANKER when morgan went out. This was awesome. I was at every ruck and driving hard, helped us win a lot of ball, it was exhausting but really fun and satisfying. Then went to scrumhalf when katie went out, made some good tackles on their hesitating flyhalf, made some good plays, had a decent run that resulted in a try. Was wrecked by the end, but then we had a bside game. Played scrum for bside, but was really just done and not having as much fun with that one.

Contemplating leaving North Shore for Boston Women at the end of this season. The commute is killing me, all the social activities are several towns away and I have no car to get there. I don't want my love of the sport to be dampened by all the other bullshit I have to deal with to just play it, and that seems to be what's happening currently.