12/20/10 Squat

Band Resisted Squats (Green Band):
265x3 @ 8
295x3 @ 8.5
315x3 @ 9
295x3 @ 8.5
295x3 @ 9

Power Cleans:
165x4 @ 8
185x4 @ 8.5
205x2 @ 10
*Oops. A little rusty with these.

Pause Squats (3 secs):
275x3 @ 8
295x3 @ 8
315x3 @ 8.5
325x3 @ 9 (PR)

Finished with standing cable abs and hypers.

12/18/10 Bench

Pause Bench (3 secs):
225x4 @ 8
245x4 @ 9
235x4 @ 9
*Really need to work these hard this cycle.

Floor Press:
225x5 @ 8
245x5 @ 8.5
255x5 @ 9
235x5 @ 9

JM Press (elbows out):
165x8 @ 8
175x8 @ 9
*Right elbow started bothering me, so I cut these short.

Finished with some chest-supported rows, shrugs, and foam roller transversus.

12/17/10 Deadlift

Rack Pulls (1" above the knee):
495x5 @ 9
545x3 @ 8.5
585x1 @ 8
615x1 @ 9
635x1 @ 10 (PR)
*At some point during these I tweaked my neck. Nothing too serious but it did bother me the rest of the workout.

Good Mornings:
225x5 @ 8
275x5 @ 8
295x5 @ 8.5
315x5 @ 8.5
315x5 @ 9

Zerchers:
185x6 @ 8
205x6 @ 8
225x6 @ 9
*Trying to get the hang of these. Should be better in weeks to come.

Finished with some hypers and neutral grip bar curls.

12/14/10 Bench

Reverse Band (Greens):
315x5 @ 7.5
345x5 @ 8.5
365x5 @ 9
355x5 @ 9.5
*I am a bit rusty with these, but I should be back to where I was in a couple weeks.

Incline Press:
165x5 @ 8
185x5 @ 8
195x5 @ 8
205x5 @ 9
195x5 @ 8.5
195x5 @ 9
*These went much better than I could have ever expected coming off the meet, pretty happy with them.

Overhead DB Press:
60s x3 x8

Finished with some seated rows and chest fly machine.

12/13/10 Squat

This is my first workout since the American Open.

Band Resisted Squats (Green Band):
225x5 @ 8
255x5 @ 8
275x5 @ 9
*At this point I nearly passed out. Not sure what was up, but clearly my work capacity had diminished. Took about a 10 minute break to come to my senses.
265x5 @ 8.5

Power Cleans:
135x8 @ 7
155x8 @ 8
155x8 @ 8
*Kept these light and easy, although I was still not feeling well and my body was spent. Was supposed to follow these up with some pause squats, but scrapped them.

Finished with some hanging leg raises and EZ bar curls.

American Open Meet Recap

I competed raw at this meet, my first raw meet. I competed in the 181 lb (82.5 kg) weight class. Weighed in at exactly 82.5 kgs...which required the removal of all clothing, including underwear lol.

Squat:
402.2 lbs (182.5 kgs) 3 whites
424.2 lbs (192.5 kgs) 3 whites
440.7 lbs (200 kgs) 3 reds

Bench:
275.5 lbs (125 kgs) 3 whites
292 lbs (132.5 kgs) 3 reds
292 lbs (132.5 kgs) 3 reds

Deadlift:
501.5 lbs (227.5 kgs) 3 whites
523.5 lbs (237.5 kgs) 3 whites
540 lbs (245 kgs) 3 reds

I am pretty happy with my squat. My week off leading up to the meet I developed some inflammation in my lower back which wasn't relieved for the meet, so I was cognizant of it. Opener felt nice and strong, although I had a bit of a forward lean. My 2nd attempt was also good, although I also had a bit of a forward lean and my hips shot a bit up, so for a small portion of the lift I had to good morning the bar back into position. On my 3rd attempt I decided to descend a bit slower to try and maintain more of an upright posture but hit the hole pretty statically so the reversal was slow and took a lot out of me and didn't have enough speed or strength to finish the lift. Looking at some videos of my squats, I went WAY BELOW parallel - I mean like 3 inches below. This obviously is overkill and I will fix it but is also good in that my strength and speed out of the hole had been lacking and now is rectified. My weakness now is the portion of the lift about 2 to 3 inches above parallel.

Bench went terrible. Warm-ups felt fine, but 275 was much harder than it should have been. The lift-off guy was horrible and it was a pretty long press call but I got 275. I should have re-evaluated my 2nd attempt and did something lower but thought that the struggle with 275 was a fluke. Needless to say, it wasn't a fluke and I failed with 292 twice. I was slow off the chest and failed at about a 2-board.

Deadlift went ok. I have never felt as tired going into the deadlift as I did for this meet. All the warm-ups went fine though. 501 was a solid opener with no issues. I had meant to go for 529 for my second attempt, but mistakenly put 523 in. 523 while a little harder than 501, might be my most technically sound meet deadlift to date. I just wasn't strong enough for 540 by this time and got it about 3 to 4 inches off the ground and then my hips shot up and I was all out of position, so I just dropped it.

My plan for my next training cycle is as follows:

Squat - high box squats, pause squats, good mornings, and regular squats
Bench - pause bench, pin press, reverse band bench, overhead press
Deadlift - basically to deadlift more frequently, front squats, RDLs, and power cleans.

09/14/10 Bench

Bench:
225 x 1 @7
255 x 1 @8
275 x 1 @8.5
290 x 1 @9
300 x 1 @9.5

This is a PR. There was a brief pause but when it comes to USAPL/IPF judging it was borderline at best. Probably had 5-10 pounds left in the tank. My off the chest and lockout strength are fine, my weakness is still at about a 2-3 board, however it is much improved from where it used to be. I think focusing on a lot more incline benching in tandem with pin presses has made the difference.

Pause Bench (5 secs):
205 x 5 @8
215 x 5 @8.5
215 x 5 @9

Close-grip Bench:
185 x 8
185 x 8
185 x 8

Seated Rows

Hammer Curls

Cable Tricep Pushdowns

09/13/10 Squat

Reverse Band Squat:
455 x 3 @9
475 x 3 @9.5
500 x 2 @9.5
500 x 1 @10

These were much harder than they should have been. My left hip was tight and I couldn't get it loosened up, so I was tentative in attacking the hole, so my speed out of it was poor.

Good Mornings:
3 x 8 x 275

Banded Hamstring Curls

Banded Hypers

Cable Curls

Rope Cable Abs

09/10/10 Deadlift

It has been a while since I have done a full movement straight deadlift, so I figured now was as good a time as ever. Although with how my squat workout went earlier this week I had some doubts as to how well it would go.

Deadlift:
455 x 3 @8.5
475 x 3 @9
495 x 1 @9
515 x 1 @10

I planned on only doing 2 triples but because I wasn't sure how it would go I started with 455 and it was much easier than I had anticipated and after 475 I was feeling pretty good so I wanted to see where I am at. 515 is a solid raw PR and the heavy rack pulls are having some very good carry over as the lockout was the easiest part.

RDLs:
315 x 5 @8
335 x 5 @8.5
335 x 5 @8.5
335 x 5 @9

Was planning on doing some walking lunges but decided against it in order to maybe save myself a little and hopefully have a good squat day next week.

Hanging leg raises and trunk twists.

Weighted hypers.

09/08/10 Bench

Bench:
225 x 3 @8
255 x 3 @8.5
275 x 3 @9.5
275 x 3 @10
275 x 2 @10

The 2nd rep on the last set at 275 was solid but I definitely knew that I would fail on a 3rd so I racked it. I have never done more than 2 reps at 275 with a pause so to do multiple triples at 275 was definitely a PR.

Pin Press (at 2-3 board height):
225 x 2 @7.5
255 x 2 @8
275 x 2 @9
295 x 2 @10

The regularly benching took more out of me than I originally thought so these were tougher than normal.

Smith Machine JM Press:
175 x 6 for 4 sets @9

This was a pretty good pure tricep isolation movement.

DB Rows:
3 sets of 8 with 135 @9

Coming off a poor squat day it felt good to have a better day today.

09/07/10 Squat

Foam Box Squat:
335 x 5 @10
335 X 5 @10
335 X 5 @9.5

Today was a rough day, weight just felt heavy and moved slow - was hoping to do a bit more weight.

Zercher Squats:
3 x 6 x 225 @8.5

Haven't done these in a while, so I was just getting a feel for them again.

Banded Hamstring Curls

Barbell Rolling Abs:
4 x 8 x 185

Incline DB Curls:
3 x 8 x 35s

09/04/10 Bench

Reverse Band Bench:
315 x 4 @7.5
335 x 4 @8
365 x 4 @8.5
385 x 4 @9.5
405 x 2 @9.5
425 x 2 @10

Incline Bench:
185 x 6 @8.5
195 x 6 @9
195 x 6 @9
195 x 6 @10

Incline Skullcrushers:
4 x 12 x 90 @8.5

09/02/10 Deadlift

Rack Pulls:
495 x 4 @8
525 x 4 @8
545 x 4 @8.5
565 x 4 @9
585 x 4 @9.5
605 x 2 @10
625 x 2 @10

RDLs:
4 x 8 x 295 @8

Bulgarian Split Squats:
4 x 10 x 35s

Leg Raises (Abs)

08/31/10 Bench

Had a surprisingly great day today for bench. Going into the day my legs were very sore from yesterdays lifting, and my anterior delts and lats were slightly sore. So I figured it might not be the best day - but it went quite well.

Bench:
225 x 5 @7.5
245 x 5 @8.5
255 x 5 @9.5
245 x 5 @9
245 x 5 @9.5

I really used my legs on all of these and I think that is what made the biggest difference. I have known for a while now I don't always use a leg drive, but I have had trouble developing a mental cue to make sure I do it. Hopefully I can build off of what I did today.

Pin Presses (~2-3 board):
255 x 4 @8
275 x 4 @8.5
295 x 4 @9.5
315 x 2 @10

Seated front shoulder press (machine)
4 sets of 8

I's, Y's, and T's:
2 x 10,10,10 with 10#

Finished with some hanging leg raises

08/30/10 Squat

After taking last week off to let my hips heal I am back to squatting. Wasn't sure how my hips would do, but all was fine.

Box Squat w/ Foam (14" box):
275 x 5 @ 7.5
315 x 5 @ 8.5
335 x 5 @ 9
335 x 5 @ 9.5
335 x 5 @ 9.5

Good Mornings:
4 x 8 x 225 @7.5

Kept these light as my back was a bit fried.

Weighted Hypers:
4 x 12 x 45 @8

Abs - rolling planks w/ physioball
4 sets of 15

Incline Curls
4 x 6 x 35

08/27/10 Bench

Band-Lightened Bench (doubled greens at pin 6):
275 x 3 @7
315 x 3 @7.5
345 x 3 @8.5
365 x 3 @9
385 x 3 @10
405 x 2 @10

The bench I used for this setup was between 1-2 inches higher than last week so I had less band tension at my chest and the last 2-3 inches of lockout was the full weight. Considering this fact I am very happy with how this went. It is great to have heavy weight in my hands again.

Incline Bench:
185 x 8 @8
185 x 8 @8
185 x 8 @9
185 x 8 @9.5

Lat Pulldown:
4 sets of 8 at 200

Shrugs:
365 x 10
405 x 10
405 x 10
455 x 10

Super-setted the shrugs with tricep pushdowns against average band.

08/25/10 Legs/Accessories

Hips are bothering me a bit still, so on Monday I ended up skipping my workout all together. Today I wanted to get some stuff in but kept it light - mostly to get some blood flow and stretch the muscles. As a side note, Ben White (IFBB pro bodybuilder who apparently lives in my area) was training at the gym doing some heavy rack pulls.

Banded Hamstrings:
4 sets of 10

Banded Hypers:
4 sets of 10

Hammer Curls/Low-Half, Top-Half, Full-Range Curls/Cable Curls:
12 sets of 10

Cable Abs.

08/24/10 Bench

Bench:
225 x 2 @8
255 x 2 @8.5
275 x 2 @9.5 (2nd rep was sorta outta the grove making it harder than it should have been and I didn't have as good a leg drive)
275 x 2 @9 (better bar placement and leg drive)
275 x 2 @10
265 x 2 @9.5

Bench Pin-Press (bar starting at ~2-3 board):
225 x 3 @8
255 x 3 @8.5
275 x 3 @8.5
295 x 3 @9.5
315 x 3 @10

This was much better than last week.

Push Press:
4 sets of 5 at 155 @9

I should be able to do more but it has been a while and it just didn't feel very comfortable. I will work on it the next few weeks.

Incline Skullcrushers:
4 sets of 10 at 80 @8.5

08/20/10 Bench

Band-Lightened Bench (doubled greens at pin 6):
275 x 4 @7
315 x 4 @8
345 x 4 @8.5
365 x 4 @9
385 x 3 @9.5
405 x 2 @9.5
405 x 2 @10

Just a couple weeks ago with this I was struggling to do triples at 365. But it was the first time since nationals I had had over 275 in my hands, so I just needed to re-acclimate my CNS to the heavy weight. The doubles at 405 tie my PR.

Incline Bench:
185 x 8 @8
185 x 8 @9
185 x 8 @9.5

I have been really hammering the incline the past few weeks and have improved a lot with it and consequently my flat bench has been going up too. Prior to my focus on the incline I was lucky if I could do 1 set of 6 at 185 or a triple with 205. But last week I did 6 sets of doubles, 3 at 235 and 3 at 225. Today I just focused on some volume work for the incline.

Lat Pulldown:
4 sets of 8 at 200

Machine Shrugs:
6 plates x 10
8 plates x 10
10 plates x 10
12 plates x 10

Finished with some physioball abs.

08/19/10 Deadlift

Band-Lightened Deadlift (greens single-choked at pin 6)
405 x 2@7
455 x 2@8
495 x 2@8

Stopped here because my hips were really bothering me. Last week I did the same thing and worked up to a double at 585. This coming week I am going to take it easy on my lower days. I have been going pretty hard at it and with my hip bothering me, a lower intensity/higher volume week is needed.

Finished with some banded hamstring curls, banded hypers, and leg extensions.