Bench

Bench Press (all reps paused):
225 X 3
245 X 3
250 X 3
255 X 2
255 X 2

Bench Off 3 Board:
265 X 3
280 X 3
295 X 2

Close Grip Off Boards (each set is 9 total reps with 3 reps at boards 1-3):
185
185
205?

One Gigantic Set with 12 total reps with 3 reps at boards 1-4:
135
155

Need More Deficit

Deadlift:
225x1x5
275x1x4
315x1x3
345x1x3 belted from here on
365x2x2
385x1x1
385x1x2

Deadlift from a deficit (Manny made a platform that's about 2.5inches thick and can be used for sumo deadlifts from a deficit)
315x3x3

Finished with banded abs on glute-ham and yoga ball crunches with one leg up.

I definitely need to do more deadlifting from a deficit to work on my speed off the floor. The third rep of each set from a deficit came up VERY slowly, but as usual, once up, the lockout was no problem.

I also realized that my squat suit is WAY too loose. Tanya (girl who benched 300/squatted 400) was saying that it took her a bit to even do a half squat in her suit, with a lot of weight. ...and I can do more than a half squat without any weight.


Anyways, what other exercises can I do to work on speed/strength off the floor?

The Devil's Lair: Moar Deadlifts

Pin Pulls against quadded minis: 185x3
225x3
265x3
285x1
305x1
315x1
335xMiss

Ted said that I missed the last one because I was loose at the start(but my form overall was better). I need to work on pulling the slack out of the bar, and of course, getting stronger hamstrings. Ted said that the bands were ~180 or so at the top. Good to know my lockout is pretty strong.

Cambered Bar Suspended GM's: 150x5
180x5
200x5
220x5, 5, 5

These felt awesome in a really brutal way. I really feel these in the glutes/hams, which is exactly where I need work.

PROWLER (plate count is total weight on prowler): 2 plates x 2 trips
2plates + 2 25's x 2
4 plates x 2 (this sucked)

Reverse Hyper and Abs to finish.

I have been learning the conjugate system from Ted, and he wants me to keep with the westside methods while I am still at UCLA. I figure it can work like this:

Monday: ME Lower
Tuesday: DE Bench
Thursday: DE Lower
Saturday: ME Bench

He has me using straight weight for most of this, so its all good.

12-30

Easy day

uphill walk 7 min. Oh yeah
Hyperextensions 3 x 3 with 110lb real pain in the ass to set this up. I need someone to hand me the bar.

Overhead lunges 135 3x3
Towel pull ups 3,3,2,2 grip really didn't cooperate with these. I'll just build up

Orange County Strength Club

I needed a gym to work out at during break, and I found Orange County Strength Club on PLwatch. It's a mile from my house in a guy's garage. The owner, Manny, is pretty cool and said he lets guys work out for free...as long as they respect the equipment, the other lifters, and maybe bring in some waters to fill the fridge up.

The gym is a legit powerlifting gym...as you can tell if you look at the web site. They do equipped bench Mondays, deadlift Tuesday, bench Thursdays, and squats Saturday.

There was a girl putting up 300lbs, and a guy named Dennis that put up 585lbs...and he realized afterward that he had the wrong shirt on. It's an old one that's a size too big.

Also, a few of the guys that work out there remember UCLA Powerlifting from the Push-Pull at Venice Beach. Props to Dave for the shirts and to everyone for kicking butt.

Anways, I worked out last week unequipped. I hit 235 for a few triples, and Manny was really surprised when I told him the most I've hit equipped was 255. He said I should work in the shirt with them next week (today). They gave me a lot of good pointers, as equipped benching seems to be their specialty.

135x1x5
155x1x4
175x1x4
185x1x3
205x1x3
225x1x1

Shirted:
245x1x3 off of 3 boards
255x1x3 off of 2 boards
265x1x3 off of 2 boards
275x1x2 off of 1 board
285x1x2 belted, off of 1 board

245 was a terrible set, but I started feeling better and better as I did a few more sets, focusing on keeping my arch, driving with the legs, keeping everything tight, spreading the bar. I felt like I was actually feeling the groove of the Katana.

On a few of the reps I felt my butt come off the bench, and I need to work on making sure I touch high enough to get white lights. However, I was still extremely happy with this workout.

A 300 lb. bench @132 doesn't seem so impossible after all.

Squats

Squat:
I narrowed my stance closer to what it was when I first started squatting. It felt good.
295 X 5
315 X 5
325 X 5
340 X 3

S-S Bar Low Box Squat (with blues):
135 X 2
155 X 2
185 X 2
175 X 2 (plus 50lbs of chains)
175 X 2 (plus 50lbs of chains)

Lunges:
185 X 6 each leg (4 sets)

Sled Work:
200lb (2 sets)

ME Squat

Decided to do a heavy squat before the meet and see where I was. Today I was still very sore from last thursday's stiff legs + lunges. Sitting was hard.

Squat:
405 x 2 (straps down)
455 x 1 (straps down)
495 x 1 (straps up)
525 x 1 (straps up, loose knee wraps)
555 x 1 (same)
575 x 1 (same)

All of them felt pretty good. Those watching for depth said they were all below parallel too. 575 was slower than I would have liked, but everyone said I buried it deep and it looked fine. The walkout was fine until the 575 when I came out a little too narrow and had to readjust. We took videos of them too, which helped.

SS-bar low box squats:
used blue bands
155 x 4
245 x 2
245 x 2 + 50 lbs of chains
275 x 2 + 50 lbs of chains
225 x 2 + 50 lbs of chains

Sled work
went as fast as possible on each
215 x 2 trips
240 x 2 trips

Standing banded abs:
5 sets with blue band

The bad part about today was that I noticed I weighed around 192, which is significantly heavier than I would like to be this close to the meet. I will need to increase my cardio to drop 5-6 lbs at this point and then try to squeeze out the water for the weigh in. The suit felt great and was tight. I'm hoping it doesn't loosen too much from dropping the weight.

The Devil's Lair: Last DE Bench

Bench: 95x3x4
115x3x4
135x3
165x3
185x3

I need to remember 3 main things: 1 - leg drive; 2 - chest up & belly full of air; 3 - sink my lats and press with my back & tris. Starting to get it, which is a good sign.

Tate Press: 35x10
45x10, 10, 10

Cambered Bar Bench Pull: 25'sx5
35'sx5
45'sx5, 5, 5, 5

Rickshaw Shrugs: 315x10x4

Forearm Hammer thing

Weighed in at 205 again today. Ted decreed that this was not enough, and that I needed to be at least 220 by the February meet.

Getting back into it

P. Sn. + OHS 75/4 x 3
Sn. Pu. + sn 85/3+1 x 4 Missed 1 snatch
BTN Press 3 x 4 50,52,55x3
Back Squat 130/3 152/4 x 3

Everything felt HORRIBLE. I was winded and tight the whole workout. This put me in a really bad mood throughout the workout too. Back squats kicked my ass and I had to sit down for several minutes between each set. That's what happens when you go low volume for 2 weeks... I actually feel really good right now though so I think I woke my body up and I'll be back in the swing of things pretty soon.

Book Club

T-Nation article on Sheiko:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/sheiko_shakes_up_powerlifting

Not really that informative since we already know what Sheiko is. I actually posted this because I think it's an interesting experience to go from being amazed at what the authors of articles lift to having lifted/knowing people personally who lift more.

Holidayz Min-Volume Training #1

Gear:

None / no belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
345 x 3
375 x 2 (+10 PR)

Medium-Grip Bench Press:
290 x 5 (+5 PR)
325 x 1

Conventional Deadlift:
405 x 1
425 x 1
455 x 1 (+30 PR)

The last time I tried this weight without a belt I didn't lock it out and did it sumo. This was slow, but completely clean. So good on me.

ME Bench

Incline Bench:
225 x 4
275 x 1
305 x fail :'(

This felt much easier, but I got stuck 6" off the chest and couldn't finish it.

Decline Bench:
All reps done with 1 second pause
225 x 5
245 x 5
265 x 5
285 x 5
305 x 3 + 1 fail + 1 touch and go rep

Dumbbell shoulder press:
80 x 8
90 x 4
80 x 8
85 x 8

Dumbbell Row:
120 x 10, 4 sets

Pull-ups:
These still aggravate my sciatic, so I would just go until it hurt a lot and then stop. Then go again.

Parallel-Grip Skull Crushers:
Not sure what the parallel-grip bar weighs. 20lbs?

110 x 10, 4 sets

Incline Curls:
30 x 10
35 x 8
40 x 6, 2 sets + 1 strip set with the 20s

I met a guy and girl bodybuilder at the gym, who were both really nice. He was curling 175 for reps, which was pretty insane. She was stiff-legged deadlifting 225 for reps as well, which was really impressive. I debated taking a picture of it to show for motivation. She's doing the fitness bodybuilding competition at the Arnold the night I get in so I'm going to go cheer her on. I am really looking forward to that competition.

The Devil's Lair: DE Squat 2

Box Squat: 145x2x12

For some reason, I am not getting the "sit-back" part of the squat down. These were still kyle-speed, but I felt like I was using more hamstrings and glutes to squat it up (a small step for kylekind).

A loooong break here b/c it was Saturday and I needed to help spot and run the Monolift. Saturdays are the days that most people squat, and squat they did. One of the guys, Luigi, worked up to a relatively easy single at 7 plates after speed squatting wearing only briefs. Oh yeah, he broke his arm a couple of months ago as well. Crazy.

Speed Pulls (against purples): 225x1, 1, 1
275x1, 1, 1

My form is getting better on sumo. More hips, less back. I just need to figure out my squat.

Reverse hyper and abs to finish.

Deads

Deadlift off blocks (bar was just below knees):
475 X 1
515 X 1
545 X 1
565 X 1
575 X fail (I was doing these with a taped pinkie because it opened up last week. I took the tape off after this set because I felt that I was losing my grip at the top.)
575 X 1 (I was setting this one up and a guy shoved a jar of ammonia in my face, so I took 2 hits and got it. Also, the pinkie opened up again.)

S-S Bar Good Mornings:
Holy shit these were hard!
135 X 5
185 X 5
225 X 3
225 X 3

Banded Decline Sit ups supersetted with Banded hamstrings
3 sets

Neck work

SHEIKO #8

Time: 1:40.

  This is Wed workout; it was postponed because of schedule at local gym. I have a ski trip from Sat-Wed that will make me miss my next two workouts. So I am effectively doing one week of Sheiko over two weeks.

• Deadlift to knees 275x4 (50), 325x3 (60), 380x4 (70), 405x4x3 (75)

• Bench 145x4 (50), 170x4 (60), 200x4x2 (70), 215x3x2 (75), 230x2x2 (80), 

240x1x2 (85), 230x2x2 (80), 215x3x2 (75), 200x4 (70), 185x6 (65), 

155x6 (55)

• Flies 27.5x10x5

• Deadlift from knees 325x4 (60), 380x3x2 (70), 435x4x3 (80)

• Lunges 135x5x5

• Abs 90x10, 135x10, 90x10

Crunches on a decline bench. Set with 135 was a little heavy and my form wasn't what I wanted, even though it wasn't bad.

Recovery Effort: The Deadlifting

Off-week for deadlift. Felt pretty tired today for some reason

Stiff-legged Deadlift:
407 x 5
427 x 5
457 x 5

I wasn't expecting to go over 407, but things felt easy and the sciatica felt ok, so I pushed myself a little.

I was planning to do good-mornings next, but on Monday, the squat suit had left some big gashes above my hips and today the belt re-opened them. I had to get bandaids to stem the bleeding, which was a first for me. The bench-shirt armpit gashes are at least hidden somewhat. Bleeding from your hips is not so hot.

Lunges:
135 x 10 each leg
225 x 8 each leg (exhausting)
245 x 4 each leg
225 x 5 each leg

Seated Good-Mornings:
I discovered this jumbo pad for the bar that lets you put the bar right on the neck. Doing good mornings with it feels like using an SS-bar, which is brutal.

135 x 10, 4 sets.

Hyperextensions:

green band x 2 reps

These are amazing in their ability to immediately irritate my sciatic nerve.

(superset)
Adductors
220 x 30
220 x 20
220 x 12

Hanging Leg Raises:
3 triple-sets
220

The Devil's Lair: ME Bench 2

3-board: 195x3
215x1
225x1
235xfail

These were done with much better technique. I am starting to get the hang of things. Hillary even said that my 225 looked good. Gasp! I am still losing tightness at the bottom, which can be fixed by stronger lats. If I build up my lats and upper back, I should be able to bench much more.

DB Bench (palms in): 60x5
75x5, 5
80x5, 5

T-bar Row (these are done with minimal leg drive): 2plates +25 x 10
3x10, 10
3+25 x10, 10

Rear Delt Raises: 30x10/10
35x10/10, 10/10

Ted told me to not dick around on the rear delt stuff, and really try and push the weight. He said that a lot of the guys will go up to the 115's for these.

Today I met more of the guys there, including George. George came to Diablo at 225lbs. After one summer, he left Diablo at 270lbs. 55lbs gained. His advice was eat all the time, drink protein shakes when you aren't eating solid food, and don't fail. Ted apparently comes up with hellish punishments for failure.

Benching with Monsters

I trained with Stevie's brother (Jonathan), his dad, and one of my friends today. They are damn strong.
Bench:
225 X 5
255 X 5
255 X 5
265 X 3
275 X 1
Jonathan and his dad each hit sets of 275 X 5, 295 X 5, 305 X 5, 315 X 3, and 325 X 3.

Floor Press:
225 X 5
255 X 5
255 X 5
275 X 1 way too heavy so dropped it to 245 X 4 right after
Jonathan and his dad hit 225 X 5, 315 X 3, 315 X 3, and 275 X 5.

Band Resisted Close Grip Bench:
The bar was about 2 inches off our chest and we wrapped greens a couple times around the bottom of the rack.

135 X 8
155 X 8
155 X 6
They hit sets of 185 X 8 and 205 X 5.

We had to wrap it up because the gym was closing early. I went to my friends house and did some dips and close grip pushups to work the tris.

Christmas Week

Easy week, just did push presses, back or front squats, some bench presses, pull-ups, RDLs, BTN presses. Feeling better with the rest and probably won't be lifting again until Monday.

The Devil's Lair: Deadlift

So it was deadlift day today. I started out with my conventional DL. Hillary told me to really get tight behind the bar and load my hamstrings. I felt it on the later sets, but my hamstrings are weak so it didn't help.

Conventional: 315x1
345x1
365x1 PR

Then Ted had me put on my suit to see what my sumo looked like. Ted gave me a bunch of pointers (which in the end amounts to what Dave does in his pull - Good Job Dave). Ted mandated that I pull sumo for the meet.

Sumo pulls: 275x1, 1, 1
315x1, 1, 1

Chain-Suspended Giant Cambered Bar Good Morning (Feet on Fire): 110x5
150x5
180x5, 5, 5

I really like these. The camber makes the movement a lot easier on the shoulders and this really hammered my hams (lol).

PROWLERRR: 25's x 2 trips
45's x 4 trips (Was only supposed to do 2 trips but I forgot)
45's + 25's x 2 trips (hard)

And the regular warm-up sled, rev hyper, and abs apply. Been pushing the weight/reps on these every workout. I have the feeling I'm going to come back 10 lbs heavier with most of that being on my lower back.


ALSO, Dave. We need a cambered/Safety squat bar and a sled/prowler. These things are awesome. Possibly a Monolift as well (just kidding about that one).

Max Tendonitis Bench

Bench:
all reps done with 1 second pause
275 x 5, 2 sets
285 x 3
295 x 1 + 1 fail

First 295 felt easy, thought I might try a second.

After the first set of 275, the bicep tendonitis kicked it. I forgot my ibuprofen so it started really trobbing by the 295.

Incline Dumbbell:
90 x 10
100 x 8

Right hand went numb; I said screw it and went home.

SHEIKO #7, Reset Training Maxes

Time: 1:45.

  This is my first day after resetting my training maxes to 435/285/540. I did this because I feel I was definitely capable of all those weights on the last test day and my training had felt very easy lately.

  Training @ 24 hr fitness in LA. Several ppl came up and read my program that I had printed out while I was wandering around. They haven't seen very many serious lifters, I guess.

• Squat 225x4 (50), 260x4 (60), 305x3x3 (70), 350x3x4 (80)

Everything really easy. I had a big indian dinner right before training, so when I belted my last two sets, I felt like I was going to hurl. This made things more difficult.

  I don't know what happened to my squat the past few times. It has felt effortless. Especially considering today was on 1 day less rest and I spent 11 hours in a plane yesterday (5 on the runway, waiting...)

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 230x3x3 (80)

I always rest less for bench. The last few sets felt like I was actually lifting something. Usually bench is a breeze, so I was actually happy about this (even though weight only went up by 5# with reset).

• Flies 30x10x5

• Dips BW+30x8x2, BWx8x3

Felt a little tired on these, since they are just active recovery I scrapped the 30# after second set.

• Squat 225x4 (50), 260x4 (60), 305x5x4 (70)

Everything super easy. Belted last set, felt nauseous, was hardest set (again).

• Good mornings 175x5x5

The Sled Blows

Squats:
295 X 5
315 X 5
315 X 5
335 X 2

I think my squat sucks because my hips are weak. The guys said low box squats with a wide stance should help strengthen my hips.

Below Parallel Box Squats:
185 X 2 (greens)
225 X 2 (greens)
225 X 2 (greens)
225 X 2 (greens+purples)
225 X 2 (greens+purples)

Band Pull Thrus:
Purples X 15 (4 sets)
Greens X 10 (1 set)

P.O.S. Sled Work:
200lb forwards X 40 yards
300lb forwards X 40 yards (a lot faster than last week)
300lb backwards X 40 yards (This set was a bitch. It took about 10 minutes to complete. I fell down at least 4 times. The sled never moved more than an inch with each step. Everyone was yelling at me, including myself. When I finally finished I couldn't feel my shit...quads, calves, glutes, feet were all fried. I think I earned a bit of respect though for not quitting.)

The Devil's Lair: DE Bench 2

Well, I re-gained 3lbs to put me at 203, which makes me feel better. I have been eating beef and elk for the past couple of days. Delicious. Ted recommended the Nog as well for weight gain. Seems to be a trend...

Bench: 95x3x6
115x3, 3
135x3, 3
155x3
175x3

Things started clicking a bit more today. By the end the leg drive and tightness were starting to come together which is nice.

Tate Press: 40x10x4

Cambered Bar Bench Pull: 25's x 10, 10
35 x 10
40x5x6

Ted said that I really need to push the weight on these to get strong lats and a big bench. Will do.

Rickshaw Shrugs: 225x10, 10, 10
275x10, 10

These felt good, even with the fat handles.

Forearm Stuff to finish.

USPF American Cup: 2009

This is shaping up to be a VERY good meet. Check out the roster of lifters. Dave is up against some serious competition (the other guys have totaled 1550+ @ 181). Brandon Cass DL-s 800+. Mark Bell vs. Scott Cartwright should be damn interesting as well.

MDE Squat

Squat:
More suit work today
407 x 3 (straps down)
457 x 2 (straps down, under belt)
497 x 3, 3 sets (straps down, under belt)

I was going for 3 singles at 500, but they felt so easy, I just went for triples. The squat rack here is one of those angled kind, so it takes like 2 feet to walk back until you won't hit it on the way down.

Box Squats:
choked the greens; not sure how heavy they were
225 x 4
275 x 4
315 x 4, 2 sets

Cleans
We have these gigantor rubber plates, but no one knows what they weigh. I'm guessing 15lbs? They're bigger than the 50kg green plates, which makes it seem like you're lifting something huge

165 x 5, 4 sets

Wrists felt funny on these. I think the bars here are just loose, but not spin bars.

Finished with 3 sets of transversus.

Today

Today I did a few snatches at 90kg (85%) and missed 1 or 2 at 95(90%). Back felt good but I agreed with Mike that there was no need to push it. Clean and jerked up to 115 (90%) and it felt pretty easy. Again, no need to push it. This week (Christmas week) will be a light week (very light, basically an off week). I haven't had one in like 6 months so I think it'll do me good. After that I'm going to repeat the Medvedyev class II program from the beginning. I haven't reached the total required for class I yet and my technique has a few issues that need to be worked out before I go to the class I program anyway. I'll be modifying it to include more jerks and some overhead squats to help the bottom of my snatch.

Looking forward, there are NO California meets in the next 6 months, except for Junior Nationals, which I don't think I'm elligible for. So, my plan is to follow the meet schedule in the program and simply test maxes on the Saturdays which correspond to the meets scheduled in the book.

ME Bench

Incline Bench:
225 x 3
275 x 1
285 x 1
295 x 1
305 x fail

Not bad. I think that's a PR.

Close-grip Pin Presses
All I have here is my greens. The power rack here has no hooks for bands and I can't choke them on it, so I dragged over the 140s. I tried quadding them, but I couldn't get the bare more than a few inches off the pins(!), so I went just with choking the bands off the dumbbell. maybe 30-40lbs at the top?

The pins were set to 1" above my chest.

135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 5
235 x 5
245 x 4 + 1 fail

Seated Military Press:
The military rack here is really awkward to take the weight out of, and no was around to help, so I just set the on the safeties and started cold for each set.

135 x 10, 2 sets
155 x 8, 2 sets

My shoulders were exhausted by the 3rd and 4th sets. Perhaps the inclines did it?

(super set)
Reverse-grip cable extensions:
(single pulley cable)
70 x 10
80 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 10

Standing Curls:
(weight x reps per arm)
35 x 10
45 x 10
55 x 8

Finished with the hydraulic machine abs since I hadn't done those in lonnng while.

SHEIKO #6

Everything felt ridiculously easy. The extra day of rest made a big difference.

• Squat 215x4 (50), 255x4 (60), 300x3 (70), 320x3x5 (75)

Belt last two sets.

• Bench 140x5 (50), 170x4 (60), 195x4 (70), 210x3x3 (75), 225x2 (80), 240x1x2 

(85), 225x2 (80), 210x4 (75), 195x5 (70), 170x5 (60), 155x6 (55)

• Flies 30x10x5

• Dips BW+25x10x5

• Squat 235x3 (55), 275x3 (65), 320x2x3 (75)

Did three reps on first set at 320, forgot. Whatever.

• Good mornings 170x5x5

• Wandering around downtown going to bars 6 hours

4 Star Deads

I recently got my Inzer Fusion deadlift suit so I used it with straps down today to break it in.

Deadlift:
475 X 3

This 19 year old, 180 something lb guy named Spencer deadlifted 500 X 8 today. He was really pissed because he was going for 10 reps.

Band Resisted Deadlifts (we draped the band over the bar and stepped on it):
225 X 1 (green)
225 X 1 (blue)
245 X 1 (blue)
275 X 1 (blue)
295 X 1 (blue)
I like these.

Cambered Bar Good Mornings:
155 X 5
205 X 5
265 X 5
295 X 5
315 X 3

Banded Back Extensions (purples):
3 sets of 25 reps

Deadlift: Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness

Decided the sciatica had settled down enough that I could try deadlifting today. It still hurts at times (like right now as I type this), but it's manageable. I'm hoping it goes away completely before the American Cup.

Deadlift:
(warm-up sets omitted; done raw)
557 x 5

Felt pretty good. Not my heaviest 5 reps ever, but I didn't want to push it. I forgot my long socks so my shins are awesome.

Seated Good-mornings:
(no belt)
135 x 10
185 x 1 (awrrrr)
Moving up in weight realllly aggravated something so I dropped it back down. Then I added a full pause at the bottom where I set the weight on the pins. This seemed to stretch things pretty well.
135 x 12
135 x 20
135 x 15

I felt rather limber with all that stretching.

(superset)
Hip Abductors:
180 x 30
220 x 30
250 x 30
280 x 20

Lying Hamstrings:
70 x 10
100 x 10
120 x 10
150 x 6 (owww)
the lying version seems to upset something. The pain actually got worse with ever set, which normally doesn't happen.

Finished with ball twists (3 sets) and seated calf raises, 3 tri-sets until failure.

CARDIO

Weight: 215. Wtf? Didn't even eat much today.

  A huge snow storm hit Boston today and all non-essential personnel were sent home. Unfortunately, MIT thinks the gym is non-essential. So I did some wandering because 3-4 foot snow drifts on the street was pretty fucking awesome. I felt like I was in a movie or something.

• Walking in snow storm 2 hrs

The Devil's Lair: DE Squat

As I feared, the form critiques of epic proportions came today. I need to focus (mainly) on sitting waaaaaaay back, not down, and driving up with the hips. Ted says that I am all quads, which is pitching me forward in my squat. And yes Brent, Ted actually yelled "BACK BACK BACK!"

Box Squat: 135x2x12

Deadlift (Conv): 225x1, 1, 1, 1
255x1, 1
275x1
315x1, 1

These were for speed (well, Kyle speed) and I got some good pointers on these too. The main one was to kind of pull your body under the bar before you actually started pulling. I didn't quite get it, but it will help fix my problem off the floor. 315 felt really easy though.

Week B #3

Gear:

None / no belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
335, 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5) (+5 PR)
375 x 1

Rippetoe-Style Standing Overhead Press:
215, 4/4/3 (2 sets of 4 reps + 1 set of 3 reps)

Bagged it early, I felt my upper right trap twinge on the third set.

Chin-ups:
BW + 32.5 lbs, 4 x 4
BW + 60 lbs x 1

Since I weighed at least 240 when I did this, I chin-ed 300 lbs.

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Walking around Boston w/ Pikapps A while

Jon Sim and Alex Lee were in town.

• Cardio - bike 115-130 bpm x 30 mins

My VO2 max must have gone through the roof because this was on the same setting that gave me 150+ bpm only a few weeks ago.

▼ Stretching

• Gastroc, soleus

• Hamstrings

• Adductor - on machine, seated groin

• Hip flexors

The Devil's Lair: Bench (Post #600)

2-Board: 185x1
205x1
225xMiss

DB Bench (palms in): 55x5
65x5
75x5, 5, 5

T-bar Row (machine): 2 plates x 10
2+25x10
3x10, 10
3+25x10

Rear Delt Raise (1 arm): 25x10/10, 10/10
30x10/10

Forearm Hammer Thing: 2x4 exercisesx10 reps

Ted was coaching my bench today. We really hammered the setup of the bench, which turned out to be very, very helpful. The 205 went up pretty fact for me, and he showed me a trick for keeping my elbows in. Never thought my back could get that tired just benching.

On the food side of things, I lost weight during finals week. I weighed in at 200lbs today. Ted told me I had 100lbs to gain, but that I needed to go back to UCLA at 215. Wonder how long it will take him to make me into a SHW?

I = Wolverine

Worked out today. Everything felt fine. My back is at least 90% now.

Powerclean + jerk 90/1+2 (this is the weight that floored me Tuesday. It was easy today)
Snatch 77/2 x 2 80/1 x 2
Back squat 85/3 120/3 x 3

4STAR Bench

Bench:
All reps paused

275 x 5, 3 sets

These felt pretty good. I'm not as explosive off my chest with a full pause, but I think that is to be expected. Next week I will try to move up to 280-285

Board Press:
315 x 3
335 x 3
345 x 2

The last set was irritating. The dudes there spotted for me and on my second rep, I came down a little low and was grinding it up and one of the other guys said "take it." I was like 2" from lock-out. I probably would have gotten a 3rd rep or come close.

At this point, I got a call from the gf saying she was 10 minutes from my place, which was an hour earlier than expected. I had an 8am flight, so I had to take off. I guess this wasn't so bad since I wanted to take it easy on my pecs.

Week B #2

Gear:
None / no belt

Power Cleans:
225, 2/2/6x1 (2 sets of 2 + 6 singles)

Couldn't keep up the doubles, so just went for 10 total lifts.
I need to switch these to Friday. The heavy pull work on Monday is killing whatever advantage there is to putting these first on Wednesday. I'll put Chin-ups back on Wednesday, it serves very well as a nice rest for the lower back while still pulling.

Olympic-Style Front Squats:
305, 2 x 1 (2 singles) (+5 PR)

Easier than ever. Fear me, Tarenenko.

Dumbbell Bench Press:
130s, 8/6/4 (1 set of eight reps + 1 set of 6 reps + 1 set of 4 reps) (+INF PR)

I was supposed to do sets of 6 today, but after got 6 pretty easily I just kept going and got 8 on the first set. This means that I increased by 3 total lifts on this exercise in two weeks, which is exactly what I wanted.

SHEIKO #5

Time: 1:15. Blazed through this. I think it made me a little tired, though; Rene said my hips came up on some of the reps with 400.

• Deadlift to knees 285x4 (54%), 320x4 (60%), 370x4x3 (70%)

54% makes no sense, but that's what it said, so I did it.

• Bench 155x4 (55%), 185x5 (65%), 195x4x3 (70%)

• Flies 30x10x5

• Deadlift 265x4 (50%), 320x4 (60%), 370x3x2 (70%), 400x3x4 (75%)

Belt last set. All reps fast.

• Lunge 135x5x5

The Devil's Lair: Squat

Ted and Hillary were my instructors today. Ted has a squat somewhere in the 800's I believe and Hillary has a 562 squat (at 165 no less). They had me doing box squats today. The main point that I need to work on is sitting back and not rocking on the box. I am using too much quad to squat the weight, and not enough hips. Also, I need to widen my stance.

Worked up to 235x1 for a box squat with OK technique. Ted said that this week was just to get me into the system and see where I'm at. They'll kill me next week.

Pull-throughs: 50x10, 10, 10, 10

These were done on a belt squat machine. A lot harder than a regular cable it seemed.

Then, THE PROWLERRRRR!!!1!!
Unloaded x 4 trips
+50lbs x 2 trips
+90lbs x 2 trips

This thing is hard. Not quite as bad as one of those rowing machines (god I hate those) but kicks your ass in an awesome way. We need one of these Dave.

Reverse Hypers and Side Bends to finish. Along with the sled warm-up. These 3 things are a given, so I will stop mentioning them.

Stuck around for a bit afterward and Ted introduced me to some of the guys. Apparently most of them started out skinny and weak (like me) and now I think 75% of the guys there totaled Elite. Ted has been hinting that I just may fill out into the 275's if I train there in the summer too. Sweet.

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Finished last final at 4:30. Started drinking at 5:00 pm. Finished at 10:00 pm. Realized the gym was still open, and went to do some drunk cardio.

• Cardio - bike 135-145 bpm x 20 mins

• Stretching - usual

Book Club

http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/e_movie_theater_via_tube.asp?outclip=14

Ouch

Well, about halfaway though my workout, I tried to clean and jerk 90kg. While normally a perfectly simple task, today it was complicated by the fact that, during the jerk, the muscles of my mid back siezed up, causing several pops and leaving me on the floor. I got the best ab workout I've had in years from this because my abs tightened (and are still tightening) to stabilize my back. It wasn't very easy to breathe when this first happened but now I'm used to it. The pain is just regular, but very severe, soreness at this point so I'm confident I'll be back in action soon, but it still hurts like a bitch. Doing anything but leasving my back in its current position causes rather pronounced pain so I need to do things like sumo deadlift stuff off the floor and turn my whole body if I want to face left or right. The good news: the injury occurred exactly in the muscles I've been working in the jerk, which explains why Sunday's and today's workouts sucked ballsack. It also means that I'm probably working the right muscles, just a little too hard. Good to know.

4Star Gym

Pretty awesome gym...small but had everything you need.

Squats:
275 X 2 X 3 (2 sets of 3)
295 X 2 X 3 (2 sets of 3)
315 X 3
325 X 3
Worked on form and getting my breathing right.

Cambered Bar Box Squats:
245 X 5
335 X 5
385 X 3
385 X 3
It was my first time doing these. I liked them a lot.

Threw on a couple plates on the Safety Bar to try that bar as well. It wass a lot harder than I thought.

Kettle Bell Pull Thrus:
35 X 10 each arm
47 X 10 each arm
47 X 10 each arm

Sled (this was a killer way to end the workout):
215 X 40 yards
295 X 40 yards
305 X 40 yards

FOUR STAR SQUAT

Trained today at Four Star Gym out in El Segundo. Pretty legit gym. They have everything there. Very bare bones but an awesome atmosphere.

Squat:
Wanted to work up to something a little heavier, so I threw on the centurion with straps down, below the belt. It's like tight briefs but does give some rebound.

405 x 2
425 x 3
445 x 3
465 x 1 + 1 fail + 1 success

The last set, I miss grooved the second rep and came back too much on my heels. After a spot up, I nailed the 3rd easy. It's probably good that I get used to heavier weights again to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Cambered Bar Box Squats:
I'd only done good mornings with this bar, but these were much harder than I expected. The swinging motion makes it feel very unstable. Also, the bar has to be high on the back otherwise it feels like it is about to fall off at all times.
The box we used was high. Probably 3-4" above parallel.

245 x 5
335 x 3
385 x 3
425 x 5
475 x fail
475 x 1

The guy we were training with decided to go up and hit 475 after i did. I got pissed that I failed and then got it. Not super crazy pissed, but just mad that I even failed.

Kettle-bell Pull Throughs:
I love these things.

45 x 10, each arm
45 x 10, each arm
54 x 8, each arm

Sled pull:
215 x 40 yards down and back

One of the other older guys then did 350. He made it seem easy, so I thought I might try it..

350 x 40 yards... slooowwww

Oh man, this shit was unreal. The last 10 yards were like 6" gains per step. I was scrapping for it pretty hard. Jay booted all over the front lawn after he gutted out his trip. The guys called him Ralph after that.

350 x 40 backwards

A little easier, more quads. Hard at the end though.

Week B #1

Gear:
Belt
OL Squat Shooz

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
415, 2/1/2 (1 set of 2 reps + 1 single + 1 set of 2 reps), (+10 PR)

Medium-Grip Bench Press:
315, 3/2/2 (1 set of 3 reps + 2 sets of 2 reps), (+INF PR)
335 x 1 (+5 PR)

FINALLY tripled 315. 335 actually felt easier than the 315 sets.

Conventional Deadlift:
455, 2 x 1 (2 singles)

I wanted to pull 455 x 3, but this seriously took like 2 hours and I was pretty tired today. Just didn't have the big pull today, which is fine.

All-in-all, good stuff!

SHEIKO #4

Time: 1:15. Weight: 211.

  I belatedly realized that I hadn't done an upper back workout in 1.5 months. So my upper back was pretty sore today, which made squatting *awesome*.

• Squat 215x4 (50%), 255x4 (60%), 300x3x2 (70%), 340x2x4 (80%)

Belt last two sets.

• Bench 140x3 (50%), 170x3 (60%), 195x3 (70%), 225x2x4 (80%)

• Flies 30x10x5

• Dips BW+25x8x5

• Squat 235x3 (55%), 275x3 (65%), 320x3x3 (75%)

Belt last set.

• Good mornings 175x5x5

The Devil's Lair: DE Bench

Today was the first day at Diablo Barbell. I met a few of the guys, and Dalen Randa coached me today. Training here the entire winter break will cost me $150, which I feel is a very reasonable price considering Ted told me that most of the new people here routinely add 200-300lbs on each of their lifts. Conjugate system FTW.

Bench Press: 95x3x8

Dalen said that I need to get more leg drive and focus on bending/pulling the bar apart. He said everything else looked good, except that ideally I should be benching to my upper abs (not a possibility in USAPL). He is also able to do that strange belly inflation thing that I do, and said that I should do it when I bench.

Tate Press: 35x10
40x10, 10, 10

Cambered Bar Chest Supported Rows: bar + 50lbs x 10
+90lbs x 6
+70lbs x 8
+50lbs x 10, 10

Rickshaw Shrugs (device weighs 135lbs): 185x10, 10, 10, 10

Warm-up was a ~300ft trip with a sled, and the workout ended with reverse hypers and abs. This will be done on all lifting days. Tomorrow is ME Squat, so I look forward to not being able to walk.

6 days out

Snatch 77/2 88/2 Couldn't do any more because my back was too fried. I didn't feel sore at all, I just couldn't hold anything right. I also felt slow, maybe because it was cold and I was training in an open garage.
Sn. pull 105/1 x 4
Back squat 125/4 142/3 x 3

Was supposed to do power clean and jerks and jerks from the rack but I couldn't jerk 90kg so I just stopped.

UPPER BACK/CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 213. Time: 1:30.

• Dumbell row 80x12x2, 120x15,12

• Cable row 160x10x3

Done upright with very strict motion. I was very surprised how much I failed at these.

• Pull-ups BWx14,9

• Barbell curls 80x5, 50x12x2

• Cardio - bike 145 bpm x 25 mins

▼ Flexibility

• Gastroc

• Soleus

• Hamstrings

• Groin on adductor machine -- two positions

• Seated groin

• Hip flexors

Speed Bench

Did the work on a Friday because Phil and Gary were there.

Speed Bench
used the regular benches in Wooden, fastened the green bands to the center beam under the bench. Not sure how much they add. Maybe 100 at the top?
155 x 3, 9 sets
alternated hands inside, splitting and outside the ring

My pecs were still feeling nasty still from the block pulls the day before. Nothing injury-like, but I am not used to benching so soon without rest.

Incline Bench:
I didn't want to go heavy since things weren't feeling hot.

185 x 10, 4 sets

Cable Triceps
Used the rope. Elbows also starting to show some wear

stack x 12
stack x 28
stack x 8 (not sure what happened here)
stack x 16

Decided to call it a day. This was a pretty rough week for finals and grading. The combo of no sleep + hard workouts took its toll. I should be good with two straight days of rest

Edit: As of Sunday, things feel great.

SHEIKO #3

Weight: 211. Time 1:45.

• Bench 140x5 (40%), 170x4 (60%), 195x4 (70%), 210x3 (75%), 225x2x2 

(80%), 240x1x2 (85%), 225x2x2 (80%), 210x3 (75%), 185x5 (65%), 

155x5 (55%)

• Flies 30x10x5

May have done 4 sets -- kind of lost count.

• Squat 215x5 (50%), 255x3x2 (60%), 300x3x2 (70%), 320x3x4 (75%)

Belted last two sets.

• Dips BW+25x8x5

• Good mornings 175x5x5 (40%)

I can has lifts

Wooden center shenanigans.

Deadlift:
135, 225, 315, 405 x 5 (sequential)
405 x 2 x 3 (pause full reps)
455 x 2

Cleans:
165 x 3 x 6

Narrow Bench:
Bar, 135, 145, 155 x 10

All pretty easy. Not much to say. Phil's press was pretty sweet.

Week A #3

Gear:
None / no belt

SHoulder-Stance Back Squat:
335, 3 x 4 (3 sets of 4 reps)
365, 1 x 2 (1 set of 2 reps)

Rippetoe-Style Standing Overhead Press:
210, 5/5/4 (2 sets of 5 reps + 1 set of 4 reps)
230 x 1 (wanted to double it, but the weight started sliding)

Chin-ups:
BW + 30 lbs, 3 x 4
BW + 50 lbs, 2 x 2

I = Awesome

Pwr Snatch 77/2 x 2 80/1 85/1
Clean and jerk 90/1+2 105/1 x 4
Jerk 105/2 115/1 117/1 120/1 122/1 125/1 127/1 130/1 132/1 - missed
Finally jerked 130. I will definitely hit this next week and hopefully 132. The problem was the mid back muscles and it was cured by overhead supports and BTN jerks.

Overhead support 130/1 140/1 150/1 all held 5 seconds 160/1 x 2

Held the 160's for 1-2 seconds before my vision nearly went black and I had to drop to the fetal position to retain consciousness. I thougut it was a fluke but it happened on the 2nd try too. I got it off the rack though and held it up, so it's ok.

Clean pull 130/1 x 4
Back squat 130/4 142/3 x 3

Exercises I probably shouldn't do

Deadlift off blocks:
385 x 5
475 x 5
565 x 5
615 x owww

After the first set, my pecs were feeling nasty. Whenever I have some heavy pec work followed by exhausted lats, my pecs feel like their about to tear off at the shoulder. The feeling has only happened twice before but with zerchers off pins. I think it's my traps not being able to keep my upper back together, so the pecs try to compensate and get obliterated. I stopped at 615 because as soon as I had it an inch off, it felt like they were certain to rip. I can't wait for bench tomorrow <3

Seated goodmornings:
All high-bar
135 x 12
225 x 10
135 x 5 + 135 x 10 (no belt)
135 x 12

Decided to take the belt off to work the abs more. Coming down deep with the bar on the pins really hits them pretty hard. I was planning to go up more but this exercise kills my sciatica still. It feels better now after all those reps, so I'm hoping I loosened things up.

Had to leave early to grade exams. 180 exams * 12 pages = 2160 moments of fun.

lwr bck

Deadlift off Blocks (stacked 2 100lb plates + 50kg plate):
381 X 5
471 X 5
491 X 5
521 X 3 + 2 fails

Seated Good Mornings (high bar):
135 X 8
225 X 8
225 X 8
225 X 8
135 X 15

Hang Cleans:
4 sets

CARDIO

• Walking in rain 2 hrs

Upper Back

12/11/08

I forgot how terrible it feels to be back at my home gym.  All my exercises felt worse here.

Pullups

BW x 10

BW x 8

BW x 9

Row

130 x 9

130 x 9

140 x 8

T-Bar Pulldowns

130 x 12

150 x 9

160 x 8

Bent Over Rows

65 x 10

70 x 8

75 x 7

Pretty Epic

WATCH

Best part of the movie? KARWOSKI

Sheiko Training

For people who are curious, the complete 13-week program I am currently following is listed here.

Bench

12/9/08

Bench

185 x 5 x 3

185 x 4

175 x 5

Floor Press

135 x 10

145 x 7

155 x 5

165 x 7

Close-Grip Low Pin Press

using purple bands

135 x 1

95 x 8

115 x 5

115 x 6

Weighted Pushups

45lbs x 3 (weight slipped off)

90lbs x 5

Uppr Brck

Wide and parallel-grip pull-ups
showed up late and the bicep was already hurting, so no weight on these

bw x 10
bw x 15
bw x 27

Wide-Grip Bent-Over Rows:
185 x 10
225 x 8
225 x 10
245 x 8

T-bar Row:

(weight of plates)
245 x 10
290 x 6
335 x 10
370 x 7

Reverse-grip Preacher Curls:
60 x 10
70 x 10
70 x 10
80 x 8

Chest-Supported Reverse Flyes:
25 x 10
30 x 10, 3 sets

Week A #2

Gear:

None / no belt

Power Clean:
215, 5 x 3 (5 sets of 3 reps)

Olympic-Style Front Squat:
300, 2 x 1 (2 singles)

Dumbbell Bench Press:
130s, 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 reps)

Oh yeah, paused each rep since that's the new thing to do (or a very old thing). And remember, ninjas have neither souls nor feelings. Or much of a fashion sense.

SHEIKO #2

Weight: 214. Time: 1:30. Weight is higher than expected lately...but I did eat a huge lunch. I will monitor this.

  Everything felt very fast today. It wasn't terribly heavy, but I was still very happy with the bar speed.

• Deadlift 264x3 (50%), 319x5x2 (60%), 374x3x2 (70%), 396x3x3 (75%)

• Bench 155x5 (55%), 180x5 (65%), 195x4x4 (70%)

• Dips BWx8, BW+25x8x4

• Rack pulls 265x3 (50%), 315x4x2 (60%), 370x3x2 (70%), 425x3x3 (80%)

• Lunges 135x5x5

Danny did this ridiculous 1-arm clean with 40 kg. He was using the full bar, so he cleaned it over his head, and then rotated it midair to catch it facing forward. He said it was easier to balance that way. The reason he did this was to "compete" (for most ridiculous exercise) with these tards doing twisty-abs on the pull up bar.

12-10

Lifted at UCI again. I think i'll be lifting there from now on. It's so much more convenient.



Power snatch 77/2 x 4

Snatch 80/2 88/2 x 5 (got all the reps but 1, missed a couple times but made up for them later)

These were actually very easy reps except for the fact that my mid back is sore and doesn't flex all that well right now. This is a good indicator for my test because I haven't lost much strength, and when my back is recovered I should be very strong.

Sn. Pull 100/1 105/1 x 5 Pulled very high, easy

Power clean + jerk 90/1+2 x 5 Best feeling jerks in a long time

Back squat 115/3 x 4



Well, my knees have been acting up lately, although never when I lift. If I squat down on my toes then they hurt. When I squat they are pretty much fine. Not quite sure what to do about that. The strain is caused by the additional torque that the knees experience from my claves when they sit on them and it only hurts when my knees are very forward and deep enough for my claves to be pushing on them as well. I think the week of Christmas I'm going to take a week off from the lifts and squatting and just do assistance so I can recover some for the new year and new training cycle.



For the next training cycle I'm either going to take the class I program (hopefully) or the beginning of the class II program (God I hope not) and completely change it to work my weaknesses while still keeping the main parameters the same (number of lifts, intensity, number of classic lifts, number of 90%+ lifts). I'll basically change it from pull-intensive to overhead support intensive because that is my glaring weakness. In pulling I just need to focus on technique (which is pretty good anyway) and use my strength/explosiveness from all the training I've done on it so far. On the jerk I just need some strength in my upper back which will be gained from jerks, BTN jerks, overhead supports, overhead squats (close and snatch grip), and some BTN presses with jerk hand spacing.

Benching ZE3

Bench:
pause on all reps
275 x 5, 2 sets
295 x 1 + 1 fail, 2 sets

after the first set of 275, my bicep went haywire and my right arm went numb. I couldn't feel myself holding or pushing against the bar. I took ibuprofen right away, but it took a while to kick in. On the last two, I just didn't feel like i could push worth anything. More of a CNS than muscle thing, which I'm guessing had to do with not being able to feel my right arm.

Floor Press
workin' the ol' weak point

255 x 5
265 x 4
265 x 4
255 x 5

my bicep felt horrible before, great during, and ok for about 30 seconds after these. Then reverted to horrible.

Close-grip Pin Presses:
Low pins (for Jake) + purples for awesome. Full stop on every rep

185 x 8
185 x 8
205 x 5
185 x 8

Ibuprofen kicked in, things felt fine.

Weighted push ups:
3 plates x something, strip set
3 plates + 25 x something, strip set
4 plates, fail at 2 and 1 plates for no reps :'(, but then I got a grinder at my bodyweight. <3

NATHAN: GREG IS COMING BACK TO BOSTON. PLEASE WORK OUT WITH HIM. YOU TWO CAN GO TO OLYMPIA BARBELL AND MEET RRLY STRONG GUYS. KTHXBYE.

BP

Today I put in an order for a size 42 Katana A/S. Ken Anderson said that the A/S works better with or without an arch so I went with it instead of the S/S. I'm not looking forward to breaking this shirt in at all.

Bench:
225 X 5
255 X 5
255 X 5
265 X 3
225 X 10 (lost to Terence's 13 reps)

Floor Press:
225 X 5
245 X 5
255 X 4
255 X 3

Close Grip Low Pin Press (w/purples resisting):
185 X 6
185 X 6
185 X 7
185 X 7

Weighted Push Ups (strip sets):
starting at 2 plates
starting at 3 plates
starting at 3 plates

12-9

Finished yesterday's workout today at coach's around 2pm. As long as I'm there earlier it's fine, just a pain to have to break up my day.

Power sntach 77/2 x 2 88/1 x 2
Clean and jerk 97/1 x 2 110/1 x 2 117/1 x 2 Pretty easy
BTN Jerk 110/1 120/1 x 2 127/1 missed twice 125/1 missed 120/1 x 2

I think it's just that my upper back is a little sore from the overhead supports, although 90-95% BTN jerks were fine. I can't wait until test day. My upper back feels stronger than ever and I actually feel like my jerk technique has improved significantly. I use my mid back to support the weight overhead instead of my shoulders, which means that I'm placing the bar and holding the bar in the right place.

skwought

Squat:
315 X 5
325 X 5
325 X 5
315 X 5

Band Resisted Box Squat (Purples):
225 X 4
315 X 4
315 X 4
315 X 4

Pause Squat (using the Trey count~6 secs):
275 X 2
295 X 2
315 X 2

Lunges:
185 X 6 each leg
225 X 6
225 X 6

Squatting for recovery

A bizarre squat day.

Squat:
405 x 5, 3 sets

These felt horrrrible. Unracking the weight result in searing pain down my glute. I could tell I was getting better because the calf didn't hurt as well though. The pain made the lift really unstable. I was all over the place for most of the reps.

Box Squat:
w/ purples. (Going for RE)
315 x 4
365 x 4
405 x 3 + 1 fail

The 315 felt bad. But somehow after the set, the pain went away. Like all of it. I'm not sure what I did, but it feel amazing. I haven't felt this good or flexible since the pain started, even when I was on muscle relaxers. rawk.

Pause Squat:
365 x 2 @ 5 seconds
385 x 2 @ 5 seconds
405 x 2 @ 5 seconds

Trey kept putting weight on for me without asking what I wanted. Cold. Blooded. He also had this nasty slow count where it was 1-2-3-4-5-up. For the last set there were like 10 random dudes watching, which was very motivating

Lunges:
Just to make sure the legs were dead...

225 x 8 per leg
255 x 4 per leg
225 x 6 per leg

They were definitely dead by the end of that. This was one of those long, epic workouts where you feel it right away and don't stop for several days. I was in a pretty good mood from not being in pain, so I just couldn't stop squatting. <3

Also, we have another new guy who just flew in from Boston today. He seems legit and stayed through the entire workout (but didn't lift from having not eaten and slept (which was smart (unless you train like me))). I'm looking forward to getting the team organized for some meets in the spring.

Week A #1

Well, with the holiday schedule coming up and me feeling fine I decided to just go to the next cycle.

Gear:
None / no belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
365, 3 x 2 (3 sets of 2 reps)
385 x 1

Medium-grip Bench Press:
285, 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 reps)

Easy

Stiff-leg DLs w/ Quarter Plates:
This obviously increases the ROM => harder and such

245, 3 x 8

My back feels great now. Weak point fo sho.

Just another manic monday

Squat:
135, 185, 225, 275, 315, 355 x 5 (!!)
405x3x5 (!!!)
455x3x1 (!) (FUCK, no set of 3, but 3 singles means I've got a 500 squat in me FUCKING EASILY considering I'm STILL not using a belt on those reps. Yes, no belt. You read that right.).

Press:
115, 135 x 6
155 x 3 x 6

Chins:
Bodyweight x 3 x 7/6ish on one

Extra note: I fucking hate mondays here. They all come out of the fucking woodwork. I tried to stop these middle school kids from injuring themselves, who then returned my favor by SASSING MY FUCKING FACE OFF. So after like 2 minutes of trying to help, I just got angry and got in one of the kid's face and said "GET-OUT-OF-HERE." And they both walked away, so I could press in peace.

Everything was really easy, but I'm not gonna be a fool and still DE next week. Then bump it up after. QED.

12-8

So my coach called and sorta kicked me out of the gym (he lets me lift for free in his gym and I was taking up space he needed) so I lifted at the ARC today. It's really not a big deal and he charges his actual clients a lot while I lift for free. I'll be rearranging my schedule to lift at UCI until he gives me a schedule of when I can lift with him. Sometimes I hate weightlifting. Anyway, here's today:

Clean pull 125/2 x 2
Close grip OH support 125, 135, 142, 150 All held for 5 seconds
150 (330) is really heavy to hold overhead. I never really realized.
Back squat 163.6 (360) 4 x 4

SHEIKO #1

 

Weight: 208. Time: 1:45. First day of the cycle, it was good to be back in the gym seriously, even if the difference was only psychologically.

• Bench 155x4 (50%), 170x3 (60%), 195x3 (70%), 210x3x4 (75%)

• Squat 215x5 (50%), 255x5 (60%), 300x5x4 (70%)

Focusing on tight quads is helping the hip, but its still very tight and needs constant stretching. Belted last 2 sets.

• Bench 155x4 (55%), 180x4x2 (65%), 195x4x4 (70%)

• Flies 30x10x5

• Good mornings 175x5x5

Danny is trying sumo. I watched him do light work with 450 to learn technique. Fun times. I was lighter than I expected, too...I need to start eating again.

Quick Squat

Took an hour-long study break today, and got in some squat stuff.

Parallel Box Squats (purple): 135x2, 2
155x2, 2, 2, 2
185x2, 2
205x1, 1

Good Mornings: 170x8
185x8, 8

Pull-ups (all pull-ups from here on out will be monkey grip): 8, 8, 8

Focused on really sitting back and using my hips to power up the squat today. Worked pretty well. Most of the squats were fast in terms of kyle speed.

Also, recruited (maybe) a guy named Max. He's a freshman here, and has been doing 5x5 all quarter. He's only been lifting for a couple of months, but has pretty good squat form. Deeeeeeeepppp....

Bench

12/6/08

Bench

assisted with quadded blues

315 x 1

335 x 1

365 x 1

I was late because of my final but I definitely felt if I had more sets I could have done more.

Seated Military Press

95 x 8

105 x 6

115 x 6

135 x 1

Dips

BW x 20

BW + 25lbs x 11

BW + 25lbs x 8

BW + 25lbs x 7

BW + 25lbs x 7

Pause Cable Flyes

60lbs x till failure x 3 sets

CARDIO

• Ice skating - 1.5 hrs?

Bench

Band Assisted Bench (quadded blues):
315 X 3
405 X 1
455 X 1
475 X 1
485 X 1 (failed it twice before getting it)
495 X fail (holding 495 felt sweet)

Incline dumbbell press:
80s X 8
90s X 8
95s X 7
95s X 5

Dips:
bodyweight X 13
bodyweight X 42 (was huffing like a fat ass after this)
plate X 12
plate X 10
2 plates X 8
2 plates X 6

Pause Cable Flys
4 sets

ME Bench

Band-Assisted Bench:
(w/ quadded blues)
405 x 1
455 x 1
475 x 1
495 x 1
505 x fail, 3 attempts (close on 3rd)

Seated Military Press:
155 x 8
185 x 6
205 x 4
215 x 2 + 1 fail

Dips:
bw x 10
bw x 20
plate x 10
plate x 20
2 plates x 15
2 plates x 10

Pause Cable Flyes:
90 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 9
100 x 8, 70 x 7, 45 x 12

I'm doing these explosively with a 1 second pause at full stretch. I think these coupled with pausing on the chest and floor press will help my weakness off the chest.

Bench + ME Eating

Reverse Band Bench w/Blues: 225x3 (had to pull it down to touch)
315x1
335x1
365x1 (went right back in racks b/c of bands)
375x1 (did the same thing - technically a missed lift, but I locked it out fine)
335x5 (didn't want to go higher b/c I was afraid my elbows would explode)

DB Incline: 55x8
60x8
65x6, 8

Floor DB Extensions: 30x11, 8
35x6, 5 (triceps were fried after these)

Flies + Biceps to finish

Then....

1 Combo Teryaki Bowl at Gushi
+ 1 Hamburger from In-N-Out

So good

Friday Shenanigans

(I'm switching my format to weight x reps x sets, it just makes more sense to me)

Deadlift:
135, 225, 315 x 5
405 x 3 x 3 - Speed was average, but they were all dumb easy.
455 x 1 x 3 - Blood rush to head on these, body needs to adapt. Didn't struggle on any reps.

Note: No equipment. Hands felt okay. Some dude thought he was tough shit doing 3 plate deadlifts with his belt and straps, yelling his longs out. I kind of rushed my warmup sets so I could to my repping sets at 4 plates. I just lifted the weight smoothly and I'm sure he felt like a tool. Also, some soccer player was doing "squats"... and I tend to shake my head when people do exercises crappily. Anyway, I guess he saw me and so he says "What? You think you can do better?" I'm not really paying attention to him this point, so I look up at the guy and before I say anything, there's an off duty trainer who is nearby and says, "Dude, you are barking up the wrong tree. This guy would destroy you."--this guy saw me doing my 4 plate reps on monday. I kind of laughed and didn't actually say anything.

Cleans:
135x6
155x6
185x5, 185x6 - my speed was fucked up on the first set. Was great after.

Speed Bench:
135x10
155x10x2
175x10x1
All these sets were fine. I'll be happy when my 185 flies up fast like these.

Overall, my grip felt better than last week and my recovery time is taking big steps forward again. I'm almost back to where I was for squats (4 and 4.25 for working sets). Bench, I'm getting my sets in at 225 (225x5) and I'm back up to 90s for dumbells... but it still feels really difficult. Blah blah blah. Light weight.

CARDIO

• Cardio - bike 135-150 bpm x 30 mins

▼ Flexibility

• Soleus

• Gastroc

• Hamstrings

• Groin

• Hip flexors

CARDIO/CONDITIONING WEEK #3

▼ AM

• Cardio - ice skating 40 mins?

Got my skates from home. This was fun, but I was super rusty. I forgot how much it makes my lower back hurt, but this should be my staple cardio at least until March (when the ice rink closes). It's supposed to be good for the knees by strengthening the hips, which helps keeps the knees out during heavy squats, deads.

▼ PM

• Bench 140x5 (50%), 170x4x2 (60%), 195x3x3 (70%)

• Flies 30x10x3

• Squat 215x5 (50%), 255x4x2 (60%), 300x3x3 (70%)

Rene said my depth was very low on these. I need to fix that.

  Wore a belt on the last set. It feels like a totally different lift when I have the belt on. I feel like I'm just a spring that pops right back up.

• Dips BWx8x3

I think I need to add weight to these. They feel ridiculous.

• Good mornings 175x5x3

Focusing on strict form. Hamstrings have been sore for 4 days (literally), so I couldn't go deep on this really.