2009 USAPL California State Meet

For Sat, February 21st: Competing for my first ‘true’ meet was quite the experience: high octane, high energy level, and much fun. The precursor, preparation, and lead-up to the meet? ...not so much.

I spent the last four weeks dieting, water dieting, extra cardio, and worrying about how I was gonna shave 12 more pounds off of my small ass body. I’d say, for me personally at least, dieting and staving off my hunger every day for a month may have been more difficult than the actual training, if that makes any sense. And much like Dave, for one reason or another, I believe I actually increased in weight the morning of. However, creating that “Power Jewce”, as Kyle calls it, (i.e: spitting) and sitting in Dave’s moving sauna, I was able to make weight. Thanks to Terrence’s fine navigation skills of getting us lost all over Santa Clarita and the additional 20 minutes of Death Valley in Dave’s ride, I made the 60 kilo division.

I weighed in at 59.6 kilos for the Junior RAW 132 pound division.

SQUAT
1st attempt: 203.75

2nd attempt: 225.75

3rd attempt: 253.50 fail.

BENCH
1st attempt: 209.25

2nd attempt: 231.25 fail. (if this makes any sense, the commands were longer than I expected and I messed up my breathing cycle. . . ?)

3rd attempt: 231.25 (re-do)

DEAD
1st attempt: 303.00

2nd attempt: 336.00

3rd attempt: 369.25

TOTAL

826.25

Overall, the entire meet was much more than I anticipated. It was a very long day, but a very rewarding day. And by competing with friends—Brent, Dave, Kyle, Terrence, Phil, etc.—it was that much more rewarding. (versus everyone else, who was pretty much by themselves.) I believe we were the only “team” there, as Lance kept announcing Bruin this/Bruin that, which added another extra dimension to the experience. And having friends and family there for support was also nice. So thanks to those friends (i.e: Ben, Megan, Jo, etc.). And thanks to all the family. (i.e: Ben’s mom). j/k

P.S: On a side note—for those interested (*achem, Kyle*), I will try to get pictures from my brother and post pictures from throughout the day as soon as I can. However, it might take some time; he’s a professional wedding photographer (he actually sacrificed working that day/ $$$/ he had a wedding shoot that day, to come watch me) and he’s backed up at work. I already asked him, but supposedly he has a bunch of weddings and engagements he has to finish through before he can get to this. So it may be take a whiles. I’m not quite sure what he got or who he got—I was way too nervous the entire meet---, but I told him to try and get you guys as well. So hopefully there will be a few pictures here and there, or at least a fbook profile picture for at least one of the guys. Haha.. j/k. Anyways.. CONGRADS to everyone

Restoration and whatnot

Lower back is fried and so are my forearms?
My weight is back to 172 lb after weighing 161lb at the meet.

Squats:
bar X 15
135 X 10 (2 sets)
155 X 10
185 X 8
225 X 5 (4 sets)

Front Squats:
135 X 10
135 X 10
155 X 8
175 X 5

Dumbbell Bench:
35s X 15
40s X 15
45s X 15 (2 sets)
50s X 10
45s X 15

leg curls
leg extensions
dumbbell flys
calves
sled with 45lbs

Terrence's video

BE Lifting

BE = Blah Effort

So tired. I spent all of Sunday on the couch. I want to spend the entire week on the couch.

Gear:
None / no belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
325 x 5 (bleh, hard)
225 x 8/8/8

Medium-Grip Bench Press:
285 x 4
225 x 8/8/8

Snore, going to bed.

zzzzz legs

-100% motivated today. I can't wait to take a week off.

Leg Press:
90/180/270/360/450/540 x 10

These weren't supposed to bother my back, but they killed. I had to stop when it hurt to walk away. wtf.

Lunges:
135 x 16
225 x 16
275 x 12
295 x 8

Didn't want to push myself today because of the lower back tenderness.

Banded jumps:
these hurt too, but only when i really jumped. CNS failure came too soon due to the meet.

Hooray for livelift (formerly known as the deadlift)

IT'S YOU.
IT'S ME.
IT'S DANCING.

Single lift videos

These are all I have for Phil, so I didn't make a compilation.

Meet Videos

I don't have the #s for what Trey and Terrence hit, so I haven't compiled theirs yet.

USAPL State Meet 2009

Weighed in at 161lbs after weighing 166lbs the night before. I guess that crap I took that morning weighed a ton. I attempted to gain the weight back by drinking tons of water (with creatine) and gatorade. I also ate panda express and quiznos and a PB&J and apples along with some beef jerky and a couple red bulls but after my final deadlift I weighed only 165lbs. I don't understand my body.

My goal for this meet was a 1300lb total.

Squat
1st attempt: 424lbs (1 white, 2 red for depth)
2nd attempt: 424lbs (3 whites)
3rd attempt: 457lbs (3 whites)

Bench (warm ups felt kinda shitty)
1st attempt: 308lbs (3 whites) Took forever to touch and almost dumped it at the bottom
2nd attempt: 330lbs (3 whites)
3rd attempt: 336lbs (3 reds) Couldn't lock her out.

Deadlift
1st attempt: 479lbs (3 whites)
2nd attempt: 523lbs (3 whites)
3rd attempt: 534lbs (3 reds) Couldn't lock her out. sonofabitch

1310lb total

USAPL CA State Meet: Post Mortem

I went to bed at 186.6 on my scale. I was dropping 2-3 lbs at night, so when I woke up at 187.0, I was pretty freaked out. I think I weighed myself wrong the night before, or I sleepwalked (sleptwalk?) and drank a lot of water.

I ended up going to the sauna at 5am and sweating there until 7. This was miserable. I kept getting overheated. I switched to the steam room for the last 40 minutes which made things more bearable. I was sweating the entire time, so I know I wasn't completely dehydrated.

At 7am, I left weighing 183 and went to go pick up the guys. I put on two sweatshirts and cranked the heat. When we got there, I weighed 82.3kg. Sweet. I felt ok, but thirsty. I immediately ate a sandwich and started drinking gatorade.

The big mistake was drinking too much gatorade. I realize that I should have been drinking a little bit of it to replenish my electrolytes, but then switching to a bunch of water. The stuff is so sugary that it made me feel horrible for the first hour. Once I switched to water, things seemed to go better. I think drinking only this stuff is what might have killed me at raw nationals last year. IMPORTANT LESSON™.

The meet itself was ok. People got so quiet during lifting though because according to USAPL rules, you can't play music during it lift itself. I decided to make noise anyway, and just started shouting at people while they were lifting. Lifting in vacuum is teh lame.

Squat:
551 x 1

easy. 1 red light for depth. whatevs.

Bench:

Pauses were long, so I changed my opener to 335 to prevent any errors.

I called for 152.5kg, but they wrote it as 142.5kg. Apparently, they couldn't change it, so my opener was even lighter than expected. I actually hit 315 in the warm up, so this lift was stupidly easy.

315 x 1
335 x 1
351 x 1

All easy, as planned

Deadlift:
606 x 1

Brent said it was the fastest deadlift he's ever seen from me. After looking at the video, it does look quick. I did a dance after I lifted it, which I am pleased and embarrassed by.


Total: 1509. Men's Nationals, here I come.

After that meet, I'm not sure if I'm going to lift equipped any more.

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 212 after a big meal. Meh.

• Cardio - bike 120 bpm x 30 mins

• Flexibility - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, adductors, seated groin, hip flexors

USAPL 2.21.2009: Post Mortem

Weighed in at 109.7 kg after a huge Indian carb bomb of a dinner. HAH. Lifted in the Men's Open Raw division.

Squat:
Warm-ups felt shitty.

#1 418. Easy, smoke show, depth was apparently borderline.
#2 430. Easy, sunk it low.
#3 446. Felt good, sunk it low.

Three white lights on everything.

Bench:
One thing I didn't account for was the length of the pause. The judges were making you wait there for 3-4 seconds for the Press command. Brutal.

#1 337. Easy.
#2 346. Hardest bench ever, but I ground it out. Decided not to take a third attempt.

Conventional Deadlift:
Warm-ups felt ultra-shitty.

#1 473. Meh, pretty good.
#2 501. Not bad.
#3 513. A little slow at the top, but still got it decently fast.

So total was 1306. Not quite Class I by the Raw Standards, but whatevs. I still broke 1300 raw and went 8/9. Congrats to Terrance/Kyle/Trey on their first meet, to Brent for hitting a big total and Dave for qualifying for Men's Nationals!

LAST TWO DAYS

▼ 1. 2/21/09 - Sat - SHEIKO #30

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 230x3x5 (80)

• Squat 225x3 (50), 260x3x2 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 350x3x6 (80)

• Bench 145x4 (50), 170x4 (60), 200x4x4 (70)

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• Good mornings 185x5x5

▼ 2. 2/20/09 - Fri - CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Cardio - bike 120 bpm x 30 mins

• Flexibility - usual

Comp. # 4 - Finally a good workout

Snatch 77/2 x 2 88/2 x 3 95/1 100/1 105/1 It was supposed to stop here, which is my competition max, but I went for (and missed) 108 3 times. Hopefully I'll be good for it next week.

Snatch pull, Ab. Kn. 88/2 100/4 x 2
Clean and jerk 98/1+2 110/1 115 - miss 117- miss
For these I was pretty tired. I feel like the loss of work capacity affects the clean and jerk more then the snatch. I guess that makes sense.
BTN Jerk 98/2 108/2 121/1 x 3 Made these, even though they were kinda hard. Honestly, I still don't know for sure what's wrong with my jerk...
Front Squat 90/4 102/3 x 4 I love light squat days, especially when they're front squats.
Jerk Support 120/2 x 2 130/1 135/1 x 3

Bench (not really)

Overhead Press
95 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 3
135 x 2 PR

Dips
BW x 8
BW+25 x 8
BW+35 x 6
BW+45 x 6

Pullups (shoulder width grip)
BW x 10, 10, 10, 9.5

One arm dumbbell extension
25 x 7, 6, 6, 6 per arm
(sandbagged for my right arm because my left is much weaker)

Lateral raises
20s x 3 x15

tomorrow's ROSTER!

http://www.usaplforum.com/cgi-bin/usapl.pl?read=32859

Squat/Dead

Good luck to everyone competing on Saturday!

Squats
185 x 2 x 5
205 x 2

Deads
243 x 5
273 x 5
293 x 4, 5

GHR
BW x 15, 10, 10, 10

1 set of situps

Comp. # 6, 5 (they count backwards)

#6
Power Snatch 77/4 x 3
Clean and jerk 100/1+2 110/1 x 2 120- missed 3 times (this day is written in the program as going to 100% clean and jerk)
Clean pull 108/3 120/2 135 - 2,1,2
Jerk 98/2 108 - 1+miss, 2 115 - 1, miss

Came back at night for:
Back squat 100/4 125/3 x 4 (yes, I was too tired to do this in the morning)

Stretched hamstrings, groin

This was a shitty day. I still felt tired and got super winded doing the lifts.


#5

P. cl. + Jerk 98/2+2 x 2 108/1+1 x 3
Cl. Pu. Ab. Kn 98/3 108/3 120/2 x 2
Cl. Pu. to St. leg 108/2 120/2 x 2 135 - 1,2
Back squat 110/3 130/3 150/3 155/3 160/3 x 2 150/2

stretched hamstrings, groin

Not bad so far. 160 was very heavy. Went for 165 and failed. Came back tonight and did:

Back Squat 160/3 165/2, 165 x fail

Stretch hamstrings, groin

This is an improvement over the last few squat sessions because I could lift 160/3 for several sets at least. Today is the best I've felt since I got back. I can finally strain hard and not feel like shit. I don't think the disease is hampering my training anymore, but I still lost a depressingly large amount of strength (I mean, I did 170 x 5...). Today was good because I didn't have a day of rest before, which may have made some different even though I don't think it was alot (I felt pretty damn good today). Saturday I go heavy on Snatch and kinda heavy on clean and jerk. I'm hoping I hit 105 (praying..) on snatch and my clean and jerks feel good. I'm still undecided on whether or not I want to finish out the program as it is or repeat at least 3 weeks of the preparatory phase to get some strength back. I can feel it coming back now I just don't know if it will return and improve significantly more if I redo the prep phase. I guess I'll be able to answer better on Saturday.

Prep #5

Gear:
None / no belt

Power Clean + Standing Overhead Press:
155, 1/5 (1 power clean + 5 standing presses)
205, 1/5
225, 1/2

Olympic-Style Front Squat:
275 x 3

SHEIKO #29

Time: 1:40. Weight: 212.

  So this was awesome. We went to a restaurant that had the worst service ever. I showed up ~45 mins later than I wanted to at the gym and had to sprint through deadlifts, which is never fun. I also ended up only wearing shorts because I was in a hurry, and it started snowing by the time I was biking home. This was actually really awesome tho, because I was overheated and the cold felt great. Srsly.

• Deadlift to knees 270x3 (50), 325x3x2 (60), 350x2x2 (65), 380x1x3 (70)

Very strange rep scheme on these ... ended up doing 3x2 instead of 2x2 at 60, whoops.

• Bench 143x3 (50), 173x3 (60), 203x3x2 (70), 230x3x2 (80), 242x3x2 (85)

• Dumbell bench 55x10x5

• Deadlift 270x3 (50), 325x3 (60), 380x3x2 (70), 435x3x5 (80)

These were a little tough off the floor, particularly on the fourth set. I got a little more pumped for the last and it was easy. Makes sense because I did to-the-knees first.

Bench

Band lightened bench (w/ quadded greens)
185 x 5
225 x 5
245 x 5
265 x 5
295 x 3 failed reps
285 x 2+1 fail

Shoulder press
45s x 8
50s x 8
55s x 6
55s x 6

Stability bench
22.5s x 8, 10
22.5s + 17.5s x 6 + 1 fail
22.5s + 17.5s x 4 + 1 fail

Rope pushdowns
110 x 12
130 x 9,8,8

Bench

2/18/09

Band-Lightened Bench

quadded greens

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 5

315 x 5

335 x failed

325 x 3

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

45 x 8

50 x 8

50 x 8

55 x 6

Stability Bench

dumbbells banded over each side

Bar + 22.5lbs each side x 8

Bar + 50lbs each side x failure

Bar + 40lbs each side x 6

Bar + 40lbs each side x 6

Bar + 50lbs each side x 4

Tricep Extension (Rope)

110lbs x 1 set

130lbs x 3 sets

ΔE Chest

Band-lightened Bench:
used quadded greens
315 x 5
365 x 5
385 x 5
405 x 3
415 x 1 + 1 fail

There's such a fine line on these where I can rep it out easy but when I add 10 lbs and I can't do any at all. All the other guys seemed to show the same thing, so it's interesting.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press:
(dumbbell by reps)
80 x 8
85 x 8
90 x 6
95 x 5 + 1 almost, but fail

Stability Bench:
bar + 50s x 8
bar + 50s + 17.5s x 8
bar + 50s + 22.5s x 7
bar + 50s + 22.5s + 17.5s x 5 + 1 fail

Rope Tricep Extension
stack x 15
stack x 31
stack x 22
stack x 20

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 209.

  I think my weight just depends on my hydration and when my last meal was at this point.

• Cardio - bike 120 bpm x 30 mins

• Flexibility - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, adductor on machine, seated groin, hip flexors

Books & Such

Recommendations for other training books? I've gone through:
- Starting Strength, Rippetoe (excellent)
- Practical Programming, Rippetoe/Kilgore (excellent)
- Strong Enough?, Rippetoe (good)
- The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football, Bill Starr (great for training groups, good nutritional advice)
- Defying Gravity: How to Win at Weightlifting, Bill Starr (good for laughs)

I'm going to pick up Powerlifting: A Scientific Approach by Hatfield, since it's like $7.00 on Amazon. Maybe Mike Tuscherer's book on his Reactive Training System? After that, maybe jump in the deep end with Zatiorsky's stuff.

Upper Back

Got sick over the weekend and was still kinda sick...

Banded dumbbell rows
22.5+red x 10 (warmup)
35+purple x 10
50+purple x 10
50+purple and red x 8

Close grip chin ups
BW x 15
BW+25 x 9,8

Barbell shrugs
225 x 4 x 15
supersetted w/ face pulls
green band x 4 x 15

Hammer bar curls
70 x 2 x 10

Barbell curls
75 x 2 x 8

Upper Back

2/17/09

Bent-Over Rows

reds + 50lbs x 8

purple + 50lbs x 8

purple + 50lbs x 8

purple & reds + 50lbs x 8

Neutral Grip Pull Ups

BW x 13

BW + 25lbs x 6

BW + 25lbs x 6

Face Pulls

green bands x 4 sets

Barbell Shrugs

225 x 15 x 3

275 x 10

Hammer Curls

Prep #4

Gear:
Belt (for squat)

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1 + FAIL
405 x 2

I was supposed to hit 405 x 3, but the first try I fell forward for no discernable reason. Dave said I pretty much dived forward. I was pretty hungry going in, so maybe that? Who knows. Anywho, recovered and hit 405 x 2. Not what I wanted, but I'll live.

Medium-Grip Bench Press:
275 x 1
295 x 1
325 x 2

Just didn't have the energy for the third rep at 325. Oh wells.

Stiff-Leg DLs:
350 x 7

I wanted 8 reps, but my grip gave out at rep 8.

Overall, I should be in line for the numbers I want to hit. Just need to eat and rest enough. Weighed 236 in the morning, so I have some room to feast.

SHEIKO #28

Weight : 214. Time: 2:00.

  Weight is back up. Fuck. Felt pretty tired and weak today, too.

• Squat 225x3 (50), 260x3x2 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 350x2x4 (80)

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 230x3x5 (80)

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• Squat 245x3 (55), 285x3x2 (65), 325x3x4 (75)

2-16, competition phase #1

P. Sn. Ab kn. 77/2 x 4
Snatch 77/2 88/2 x 2
97- 3 x miss
90 - 1
95 - 2 x miss

P. Cl. + J 95/2+1 x 3
C&J 95/1+2
108- (1+1+miss), (1+1), (1+2), (1+2)

After this I was extremely tired for no reason other than the illness/vacation. I was extremely pissed, as I always am when things aren't going well.

Went back to the ARC tonight and finished the front squats:

Front Squat 102/4 127/5 x 4

Felt a little heavy but really not bad overall.

Stretched for like an hour because I ran into a guy a few labs down from me who's actually not an idiot when it comes to working out (meaning he listens to my advice and has begun to improve). I stretched/talked with him. Overall a good stretch and I felt a little less pissed afterward.

The new plan is: finish this competition cycle then re-asses where my training is and if I want to continue the Russian plan or switch to something else (I'm thinking Mike Burgener's program). If by some miracle I pull my head out of my ass and make some records during my test I will probably continue with the Russian routine because until I got sick I was on track for records (I hit 105 on snatch, which is my competition best just just before I got sick, during the 6th week of 7 in the preparatory phase). If I still feel like total shit and my work capacity sucks I will either have to repeat the prep phase or switch to Mike's program. I am not thrilled with the second option because I felt like I was starting to progress with the Russian program, and because I am stubborn. I've even talked to Mike about using his program vs. this one and he said it didn't really matter, which is why I decided to stay with this for another round. The last reason is that I'm not thrilled about changing programs in general. I've doe a lot of that and wasted a lot of training time in my life, which is why I'm where I'm at in weightlifting. Honestly, not that sure what to do except eat dinner.

/ramble

ΩE Squat

Lower back was feeling like death today. I think I overworked it a bit on those stiff legged deadlifts. I got a massage from Wat Po Thai over the weekend, which was both cheap and one of the best I've ever had. They did a bunch of stretching stuff, which I had never had done before.

Box Squats:
Uses purples and greens:
135 x 2
225 x 2, 3 sets
275 x x, 3 sets

Half-assed Squats:
So I thought I would try using a higher box today to work on the transition after the explosion from the hole. Unfortunately the next highest box is 18"(?) which felt waayyyy to high. That or I am ridiculously unbalanced in strength. I think a 15" box would have been just right.

Uses purples and greens again

315 x 2, 3 sets
265 x 2, 2 sets
415 x 2

Front Squats:
at least these were legit

225 x 8
245 x 8
275 x 8

Squats

2/16/09

Band-Resisted Low Box Squats

purples

135 x 2

135 x 2

135 x 2

155 x 2

165 x 2

175 x 2

Band-Resisted Medium Box Squats

purples + 185lbs x 2

purples & greens + 135lbs x 1 + 1 fail

purples + 225lbs x 2

purples & greens + 95lbs x 2

purples & greens + 105lbs x 5

Front Squats

135 x 5

135 x 7

135 x 10

Calves and Core

Valentine's Lift - technically block 2 # 13

P Sn. Bel Kn. 75/4 x 2 85/1 x 3 (these were basically hang full snatches in the end)
Snatch 85/2 x 2 95 - (1+miss), 85/1 90/1 95 - miss, 1,1,1,miss, 97 - miss, 90/1 95 - miss
Sn. Pull 97/3 x 4 107/2 x 4
BTN Press + OHS 60/1 55/3+2 x 2
I had to do these starting from the top but I was not too unhappy with the results.
Back Squat 100/2 120/2 145/3 x 4 These felt heavy but weren't bad. I feel like I'm almost back.
Drop Snatch 75/2 x 2 85/3 x 2 - Stopped because my back was pretty fried from everything plus the extra jerks I did this week. I don't really feel like I'm missing out when this happens because in the end the same muscles got trained, just for a different lift. Overall I think the improvement in overhead strength will be sufficient either way but with the extra jerks I get the added bonus on improving jerk technique, which is the most important thing right now.

Bench

2/14/09

Seated Military Press

95 x 8

115 x 6

135 x 2 + 1 fail

135 x 3

135 x 1

Skull Crushers

70lbs x 8

80lbs x 6

85lbs x 5

85lbs x 6

Medium Grip Lat Pulldown

160 x 6

160 x 6

180 x 7

180 x 6

Front Raises

22.5lbs x 8 x 3

Ab Circuit

SHOULDERS (formerly known as bench)

Seated Military Press:
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 1 + 1 fail
215 x 2

Dips:
bw x 10
bw + 45 x 8
bw + 90 x 8
bw + 115 x 8
bw + 135 x 8
bw + 160 x 7 + 1 fail

Medium Grip Lat Pull Down:
220 x 10
250 x 10
(got distracted, never finished)

Skullkrusherz:
120 x 10
120 x 12
140 x 10
170 x 7 + 1 fail

SHEIKO #27

Time: 1:15. Weight: 209.

  Not really sure how I feel about this. Weight down ~5 lbs after one day of dieting...

• Squat 225x3 (50), 260x3x2 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 325x2x4 (75)

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 185x3 (65), 215x3x6 (75)

Was supposed to do 55x3, 65x3x2 but I wasn't paying attention. I need to stop being a dumbass with my weights and # of sets.

• Dumbell bench (hands in) 50x10x5

• Good mornings 185x5x5

KAYAKING/CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Kayaking 1 x fail

Went to this kayak rolling lesson. You learn how to turn a kayak over when you are underwater. Except the kayaks they brought were too small and my quads wouldn't fit under the sides. I have to show up again in 2 weeks.

  Even awesomer, I forgot to bring a change of swim trunks. So I biked to the gym in wet swim trunks (no pants coz I didn't want them to get wet) and it was just around freezing. I'm fucking hardcore. Fuck yeah.

• Cardio - bike 115-135 bpm x 20 mins

• Flexibility - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings w/ bar, adductor on machine, hip flexors, seated 

groin

Jerks/Stretching

Jerks 102/1 107/1 109/1 111/1 x 2
A little sore from the last two days but easy. I'm doing more jerks to make sure I really nail down the technique since this lift is my weakness.

Stretching: 30min of groin, hamstrings

My lower back gets really tired when I stretch because I'm constantly trying to stretch my hamstrings with my back arched, and since they pull against each other it really fatigues my lower back. It's actually the limiting factor in how long I can stretch. It gets so tired I simply can't arch my back to stretch my hamstrings more.

Prep #3

Gear:
Belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
380 x 1
402 x 1
413 x 1
418 x 1
380 x 2

Medium-Grip Bench Press w/ Pause:
336 x 2
347 x 1

Conventional Rack Pull (below knee)
458 x 3
485 x 2

The bench presses were ridiculously easy. I'm going to move my attempts up.

Deadlifts

2/12/09

Band-Resisted Deadlifts

quadded minis + horizontal greens

135lbs x 5

225lbs x 1 lockout + 2 fail

185lbs x 3

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

155lbs x 8

205lbs x 6

245lbs x 5

Power Cleans

109lbs x 5

129lbs x 5

129lbs x 5

Superset GHR's and Banded Decline Abs

braindeadlift

I felt totally unmotivated today. My lower back felt great and the pulls were surprisingly easy, but my mind was not really into the work out at all.

Band-resisted Deads:
Did the double-band attack, with quadded minis + the horizontal greens that start 1" above the bar when it's on the ground. maybe 150-200lbs at the top? Only batman knows.

315 x 8
495 x 5, 2 sets

Stiff-legged deadlifts:
335 x 8
425 x 8
475 x 8 (PR)

I forgot the reds were 55s, so this was kind of a retarded PR. I hit 455 x 5 back over break and thought that was pretty good, so I was going for 3 more reps today. Whoops!

Lower back was tired, so I skipped cleans and just did a few sets of GHRs. Finished with banded decline abs

Getting back into it

I hate taking time off. I hate it because it makes you weak and makes everything feel so damn heavy. Don't do it. Ever.

2-11

P. Clean 92/4 x 4
C&J 105/1 x 5 (supposed to be 2 reps each but I just didn't have the strength)
Cl pull Bel Kn. 105/5 x 2 120/3 x 4 felt SUPER heavy
Cl. pull to st. leg 132/3 x 2 145/2 x 3
Felt heavy, but actually not that bad since I don't need to worry about the explosion.
Back Squat 107/1 125/1 156/2 x 2 Supposed to be 4x3. The bar just felt so heavy I almost failed on the second rep of the second set. It sucked.


2-12
P Cl. bel. kn. 92/4 x 4
Jerk 105/2 x 3 117 - basically got a bunch of singles at this weight, dropped down to 105 and
worked back up for technique practice. All in all not too bad, probably the best feeling lift so far.
Clean Pull 105/3 120/3 132/2 x 2 These were a complete waste. I had zero explosion and the weight felt like it was twice as much as was on the bar.

Power snatches were assigned for the end of the workout but I had no explosion left and when I tried them I found my wrists hurt as well. I = pussy right now.

After the workout I went to the ARC and did 3x2 jerks with 107, which were easy and made me feel better. Some guy even said "Everybody here could learn from that kind of lifting," which made me feel better. I don't want to be the guy who does "cool" lifting in the gym though, I want to scare everyone, so I'm not 100% satisfied. Then I did 20-30 minutes of hamstring/groin flexibility, which I have been horribly neglecting and need to do every day. Please feel free to remind when I have not posted that I stretched.



Overall this week has sucked balls workout-wise. I am weak, still a touch sick so I cough after every lift, and feel like a pussy because these weights should be flying up. I was supposed to start the competition phase training this week but I decided to postpone it and do some of the preparatory workouts I skipped while travelling to try and re-condition my body. I'm really hoping that by next week I'll be back to decent form. I'm not sore at all, but as I said the weights feel heavy as hell. I think it's just a matter of reaccustoming myself to heavy weight again ASAP.

I'm really frustrated that you can lose it so damn fast.

SHEIKO #26/SKILLS EVALUATION

Smoked everything. Danny said, "You don't know math. That is not 95%. Bring a calculator next time." I feel very good about my test day coming up.

  I kept screwing up the warm-up sets for some reason.

• Squat 225x3 (50), 260x3 (60), 305x2 (70), 350x2 (80), 390x1 (90), 415x1 (95)

Danny finally convinced me I need to lower myself slower, especially with heavy weight. I lost my arch a bit in my back, but I clearly have the strength for much more than 415. (It was easy regardless.)

  Was supposed to do 305x2x2.

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 200x2x2 (70),  230x2 (80), 255x1 (90), 270x1 

(95)

• Deadlift 270x3 (50), 325x2 (60), 380x2 (70), 435x2 (80), 485x1 (90), 515x1 (95)

Was supposed to do 380x2x2.

It's always a little nerve-wracking going over 90% on Sheiko because you simply don't do it until the skills eval or test day. But, at least until now, its extremely gratifying how easy it is once you get there.

ME Bench

As usual, all reps are paused so I can work on strengthening my explosion.

Bench:
275 x 3
295 x 1
305 x 1
315 x fail

Felt better on this 315 one than the last time I tried. Got about 4" off the chest and stalled.

3-board:
315 x 5
335 x 4
365 x 1 + 1 fail (going for 3)
355 x 2 + 1 fail (misgroove on 3rd; going for 2)

made too big of a jump on the 3rd set due to overconfidence.

Close-Grip Benche:
225 x 6 (foot cramp, wtf?)
225 x 7
225 x 5
185 x 10
(waited around, got bored)
135 x 18(?)

Cable Flyes:
80 x 10
100 x 10
90 x 10
80 x 15

Finished with some sub-scap pulls

Bench and whatnot

Shirted up to hit my opener.
Bench Press:
305 X 1
310 X 1
310 X 1

Took the shirt off:
265 X 3
270 X 3
270 X 3

Weighted Dips:
45lb X 8
90lb X 8
135lb X 9
45lb X 15

Shoulder Press
Band Pull Aparts
Cable Triceps

Bench

Bench (paused)
175x1
185x1
190xalmost but no
165x3

3 board press
165x5
185x3+fail
185x2+fail
195x1+fail

Close grip bench (paused)
135x8, 6+fail
145x4+fail
135x4+2fail

Cable flyes
50x10
60x8,7,7

Bench

2/11/09

Bench

warm-ups

205 x 1

215 x 1 (previous PR)

225 x 1 (10lb PR)

235 x 1 (20lb PR)

3-Board Press

225 x 2 + 1 fail

205 x 3

205 x 3

215 x 2

Close-Grip Bench

135 x 10

155 x 7

155 x 5

155 x 5

Cable Flyes

70 x 6 x 4

Upper Back

Wide grip pullups
BW+25 x 5
BW+35 x 5
BW+45 x 5,5

Dumbbell rows
80 x 10
90x 10,10,10

Smith machine shrugs (pause at top)
225x15
315x10,10,10

Machine rear delt flyes (pause at back)
115x12
130x10,10,10

Hammer curls
35s x 10
40s x 10,10,8

backbackbackbackback

T-bar Rows:
190 x 10
235 x 10
280 x 8
305 x 8
190 x 10

Lat-Pull Down:
I tried to make these hard by resting for a full second between reps to cut down on the momentum
250 x 10, 4 sets

Reverse Flyes:
205 x 10, 2 sets
220 x 10
235 x 10

Incline Dumbbell Curls:
(dumbbell x reps)
35 x 10
40 x 10
45 x 8
50 x 4

Update

So my last workout was Monday 2-2, I thing I logged it. I was sick that day but it went well. The next two days I was too sick to lift (I showed up at the gym and tried to clean + jerk 60kg, dropped the bar and left). I then went to Michigan on Thursday followed by a trip to Virginia on Saturday. Both of these involved heavy and drinking and I was still sick, but they also gave me a chance to recovery from my illness. So, I'll be back in the gym tomorrow as usual.

Prep #2

Gear:
None / no belt

Power Clean + Standing Overhead Press:
235 x 1/1/1/1 (4 singles)
245 x 1 (~PR)

~ means that I've hit a 245 Power Clean and a 245 Standing Overhead Press separately, just never together. It felt ridiculously easy. I finally figured out where the second pull should be and how to meet the bar as it drops down.

Rippetoe-Style Standing Overhead Press:
215 x 3
205 x 4/4/4

Overhead Squat:
135 x 8/5/5

Legs are too fried from yesterday to do Front Squats, so just did Overhead Squats. Strangely enough, my overhead lockout gave out after 8 reps (Kyle saw this happen).

SHEIKO #25

Time: 0:45?

  Light prep day for skills eval on Thu.

• Squat 225x3 (50), 260x3 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 325x2x3 (75)

• Bench 145x3 (50), 170x3 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 215x2x3 (75)

Squat Opener

Hit the projected opener a few times with full gear and commands.

Squats:
379 X 1
418 X 1
418 X 1
418 X 1 (easiest)

SS Bar Low Box Squats (w/140 lbs of chains):
135 + chains X 2
155 + chains X 2 (7 sets)

Lunges
Abs

Prep #1

This session was both good and bad. I need to start getting to 4Star around 7:30 or so on Mondays. Showing up around 8:15 meant that I had to work with 4 other guys, which slowed things down a lot. I got gassed at the end because of this. Live and learn.

Gear:
Belt (for squat)

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
351 x 5/5 (2 sets of 5 reps), easy
362 x 5, pretty easy
385 x 2, pretty easy

Medium-Grip bench Press
300 x 5/3/3/4

Wanted to do 5/5/5, but this is still the total number of lifts I wanted. Forgot to hit 325 x 2.

Stiff-Leg DLs:
325 x 8/6/3

I was completely gassed after the first set of SLDLs. Was there too long. Heavy rack pulls on Saturday probably didn't help either, haha.

ME Squat

Squat:
405 x 3
455 x 3
465 x 3
475 x 3

The last rep @ 475 was harrrrd. Definitely a grinder, but I use the Jürgens-technique of MAX BAX and got it up. Speaking of which, my lower back still feels 85% or so. I'm hoping this goes away or at least doesn't persist until March.

Front Squat:
225 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5

Terrence and I got into a bit of a one-upping on this, and we ended up doing 315.

Single-leg Hamstring Curl:
110 x 10
120 x 10
130 x 10
100 x 12

Called it quits after that to keep the volume low.


Edit: To Whom It May Concern - Terrence hit clean, at depth, singles at 405, 425, 435, and 445 today.

Squat

2/9/09

Squats

185 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 3

205 x 4

205 x 4

Front Squats

135 x 5

135 x 5

155 x 5

My grip has been failing me -- personal problem.

LAST THREE DAYS

▼ 1. 2/9/09 - Mon -CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 214.

• Cardio - bike 120 bpm x 25 mins

• Flexibilty - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, groin, hip flexors

▼ 2. 2/8/09 - Sun - UPPER BACK/CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

▼ Upper back

• Pull ups

• One-arm cable row

• Hyperextensions

• Strict cable row

• Cardio - bike 130 bpm x 20 mins

• Flexibilty - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, groin, hip flexors

▼ 3. 2/7/09 - Sat - SHEIKO #24

• Squat 225x5 (50), 260x4 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 350x3x6 (80)

• Bench 145x5 (50), 170x5 (60), 200x5x5 (70)

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• Dips BWx8x5

• Good mornings 185x5x5

DE Bench

Over the food sickness, came in for a quick workout in 45 minutes

Band-resisted Bench:
alternates outside, split, inside the rings
used green bands choked under the bench (100lbs at the top?)
135 x 3, 3 sets
155 x 3, 3 sets
175 x 3, 3 sets

Incline Bench:
225 x 5
235 x 5
245 x 3 + 1 fail

Dips:
2 plates + bw x 8 reps, 4 sets

Felt unusually burned out on these. I was expecting to rep 2 plates all day, but 8 reps was about failure. It got easier the more I did, so it may have just been from rushing from one thing to the next

One Arm Tricep Dumbell:
40 x 10
45 x 10
50 x 10
50 x 8

Supersetted sub-scap pulls in between the last two exercises. My posture has been feeling so-so lately, so I wanted to make sure I keep that part of my back strong.

Squat

Squat
185 x 4 x 5

Leg Press
290 x 4 x 8

GHRs
BW x 10
adjusted the foot pad to the 3rd notch
BW x 3 x 15
BW+25lbs x 9

Hanging leg raises
4x25

I can has food poisoning too?

Not sure what I ate, but I got crazy sick this afternoon and then recovered at like 8pm. I blame Kyle. <3

Unlike having a cold, you can't get stronger when training with food poisoning.

Benching

Sled

Close Grip Bench:
185 X 4
225 X 4
245 X 4
255 X 4
260 X 4
(4's are underrated)

Flat Dumbbell Press:
85s X 8
95s X 8
100s X 7 (3 sets)

Skull Crushers
Banded Dumbbell Extensions
Band Pull Aparts
Hammer Curls
Abs

Week B #3

Gear:
Belt (squat and pull)

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
Brent spotted me on all this, thanks Brent!

365 x 1
385 x 1
405 x 1
415 x 1
385 x 1
365 x 1
315 x 4

Rippetoe-Style Standing Overhead Press:
205 x 3
225 x 3
230 x 2/2
205 x 5/5

Conventional Rack Pulls (from below knee):
405 x 3
425 x 3
445 x 3
465 x 3

Bench

Bench (paused on chest)
155x4x5

Incline Dumbbell Press
60s x8
65s x4 last rep very slow
60s x2x5

Pullups (shoulder width grip)
BWx10,10,10,7

Incline Skull Crushers
65x10
75x8,6,7

Lateral Raises
20s x15
25s x2x12

Speed Bench Kyle Style

2/7/09

Speed Bench

135 x 3 x 8

Close Grip Incline Bench

125 x 5

135 x 5

135 x 5

145 x 5

Chest Supported Rows

45lbs x 10

70lbs x 10

90lbs x 10

90lbs x 10

Rear Delt Flyes

40lbs x 8 x 4

Core Work on The Rings

Dead Opener

Hit my opener today. Speed pulls next week and then I'm good to go.
EDIT: going the change the opener back to 473 then make a nice jump for the second attempt

Deadlift:
479 X 1
rested 3 minutes
479 X 1

Weighted Pull Ups
Barbell Rows
GHR
BICEPS
Sled

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Cardio - bike 20 mins

• Stretching - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, groin, hip flexors

Club Status Update

I spoke with Jason (head Club Sports guy) today and he said we now have everything in. One thing he wanted to see was a list of teams and where they are located. I guess one of the criterion used to judge potential clubs is whether there are local inter-collegiate meets. The Cal State Collegiate meet is nearby, but that's really the only one I know of. I emailed him a list of clubs, so hopefully that gives some legitimacy to the idea of a collegiate powerlifting team. We should hear back sometime at the end of the quarter. There are two other potential clubs at the moment, but I'm not sure what that means.

Also, no-go on the idea of storing the PROWLAAAAA in the club sports gym. First we would have to wait until we were actually a club (next fall), and then we'd have to be under some sort of supervision strategy. I guess Crew is allowed to use it because they have a full-time coach who makes sure they don't kill themselves. Even storing it in there isn't possible. There's no way I can store that thing in my office, so I'm sort of stuck as to where we could put it at the moment.

Train tomorrow

Brent, let me know what time you're going to train at 4 Star tomorrow. I'll be there.

Deadlifts

2/6/09

Deadlifts

245lbs x 1

295lbs x 1

315lbs x 1

315lbs x 3

335lbs x 3

I believe this was a 3-rep RP, but I'm not sure; I'll at my previous posts.

Block Pulls

4" 335lbs x 3

8" 335lbs x 3 ugly

12" 335lbs x 3

Good-Mornings

225lbs x 6

225lbs x I basically skipped this set because the bar was falling off my back

205lbs x 6

Froggers

1 set purple bands

1 set green bands

Deadlift

So earlier in the day I was watching Konstantin Konstantinov training clips and I got motivated to deadlift and told myself that I need to hit a PR.

Deads
245x3
275x1
(belt on)
305x1
340x1 (15 lb PR)
350x1 (25 lb PR)
The PR's were basically all back and no legs.
I really need to strengthen my legs or fix my form or probably both.

Stiff leg deads
175x10,8,8

I cut the workout short because I was tired and happy about the PR's

SHEIKO #23

Time: 2:30-ish. Weight: ??.

  Felt great. Now its light and easy until the skills evaluation next Thursday.

• Bench 145x5 (50), 170x5 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 230x3x2 (80), 245x2x3 (85)

I felt a little slow on these, but everything went up easy. I think part of the problem is I wore my wrestling shoes for deadlift, and they have no heal or traction on the floor, so it really messes with my set up.

• Deadlift 265x4 (50), 325x4 (70), 380x3x2 (70), 430x3x2 (80), 460x2x3 (85)

These very easy; I'm quite happy with this. Danny and Rene both said they were fast. Danny said my max should be 560-570 by what he saw, but I have no idea how he computed this.

• Bench 155x5 (55), 185x5 (65), 215x4x4 (75)

• A: Dumbell press (hands in) 50x10x5

• A: Lunges 135x5x5

Actual Deadlift Day

Conventional Deadlift:
Lower back is still at 70%. Or maybe just the CNS, so I decided to switch stances to avoid burning anything out.

475 x 1
505 x 2

Sadly, these felt heavy. I will blame my lower back, but I am not sure of it. My conventional may have gone wayyy down since the last time I did it (a year ago?). :'(

Block pulls:
4" block - 505 x 3
8" block - 505 x 3
12" block - 505 x 3

It got much easier as I went up. That's good right???

Good-mornings:
315 x 10
405 x 10
455 x 5? 8?

Band-resisted Jumps:
Everybody and their brother wanted to try these. I think we had 5 random people jump in...
greens x failure, 2 sets

Minor speed bump

I had food poisoning or some crap like that yesterday, so I will not be in the gym today (need 1 more day to recover). I will be in the gym Friday and Saturday. Let me know what time we plan to lift on Saturday.

Strength == Power?

An interesting thread over Strengthmill. Ol' Rip claims (based on the thousands of people he's trained, 30 years of experience in the field, observing elite athletes at the Olympic Training Center, etc.) that power production is largely a genetic trait and can't be trained to a large extent.

Other people in the thread chime in that this isn't true (at least in all cases), and can be trained by increasing strength and practicing sport-specific skills (ie jumping and what not). Thought's on this?

I know personally that I can't reach the rim on a basketball court, but I'm only just now approaching a 2x BW raw squat. I'm sure Dave has much more success. Then again, there are high-school basketball players who can dunk in their sleep but can't squat 225 to save their life.

I think the two strongest indicators of power production are the vertical jump and the power clean/snatch. I don't track my vertical, but perhaps I should.

Bench

2/4/09

Bench

this formula must have been magic because I hit a big PR

warmups: 45 x 8; 95 x 7; 135 x 6; 165 x 3

185 x 3

185 x 3

195 x 4 (PR!!)

Off Chest Band Resisted Bench

blue bands

135 x 5

165 x 5

165 x 5

155 x 5

Close Grip Pin Presses

205 x 8

225 x 6

225 x 3

215 x 6

Incline Barbell Deltoid Raise

20 x 8

25 x 8 x 3

Bench

Wanted to work on touching openers in my 44 RageX.
Bench Press:
305 X 1 (Touched too low, below sternum.)
Pulled the shirt UP to touch higher on my chest and avoid belly benching. I touched all of these above or at my sternum. It took a bit longer to get the weight down, but I was able to do it pretty well.
305 X 1
305 X 1
310 X 1

Raw Bench Press:
265 X 3
265 X 3
270 X 3

Standing Overhead Press:
115 X 5
135 X 5
155 X 5

Dips:
45lb X 15
90lb X 10
115lb X 10

Triceps
Abs

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Cardio - bike 120 bpm x 20 mins

• Flexibility - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, dislocates, adductor on machine, groin, hip flexors

Week B #2

Holy bejeezus are my calves sore. I think I'll have to go wide-stance or something on Friday, I need to both let my calves have a rest and get the heavy weight on my back.

Gear:
None / no belt

Power Clean:
225 x 3/3/3/1/2
205 x 3/3 (back-off sets)

Dumbbell Bench Press:
135s x 6/4/6/5

Pretty good for benching heavy yesterday.

Front Squat:
275 x 1 (rough)

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
225 x 10/10

I like the higher rep sets on this day.

Bench

Bench:
(all reps paused)
275 x 3
285 x 3
295 x 2 + 1 fail

Off-Chest Band Bench:
not sure what to call this still. We did it last week and everyone thought it was good. I am curious to see how I respond the second time doing it.

225 x 5
245 x 5 (too hard)
205 x 5
225 x 5

Close Grip Pin Press:
315 x 8
325 x 8
335 x 8
345 x 8

Incline Barbell Deltoid Raise
50 x 8
50 x 8
40 x 10
40 x 10

Time for Terrence to graduate

from High School Musical!

I talked to Lance Slaughter. Terrence can still get in to the USAPL meet on Feb. 21, but he has to talk to Lance pronto. Contact:

lanceoslaughter@yahoo.com
310-995-0047
Entry Form

If Terrence doesn't read this Kyle plz let him know kthx

Upper Back

2/4/09

Seated Preacher Curls

70lbs x 7 x 3

BW Pull Ups

3 Sets

BW Chin Ups

3 Sets

Isolateral Front Lat Pulldown

2 plates each side x 10 reps x 3 sets

Bent Over Rows

50 x 8

60 x 8

70 x 8

75 x 8 x 2

Chest Supported Reverse Flyes

32.5lbs x 8 x 2

MAXBAX 2: The BAX ARE BACK

Chin Ups:
bw x 10
bw + 45 x 10
bw + 90 x 5
bw + 100 x 5
bw + 115 x 5
bw + 115 x 3

Chest Supported Rows:
180 x 8
190 x 8
205 x 8, 2 sets

(super set)
Wide-grip lat pull downs:
250 x 10, 4 sets

Mini-banded reverse flyes:
(I stole these from Brent, and then switched them from rows to rear-delts)
4 sets

Preacher Curls:
60 x 10
70 x 10
80 x 10

This is pretty damn crazy

This dude apparently lifts with Dane Kelly. Granted, this guy is an IFBB Pro (with all that implies....), but his bench is ludicrous.

Week B #1

Gear:
None / no belt

Shoulder-Stance Back Squat:
325 x 5/5/4

Squats are rough right now. My calves and glutes are sore as hell.

275 x 5/5 (back-off sets)

Medium-Grip Bench Press:
320 x 2/2/2

The first two sets, the second rep felt rough. Then Steve (aka Thor, God of Thunder) noticed that the 2nd rep of the third set was a lot better, so we went for:

340 x 1

ZOMG this was the easiest heavy bench I have ever done. Trey/Greg were there.

295 x 4/4 (back-off sets)

Stiff-Leg DLs w/ Quarter Plates:
295 x 8/8/8

Back is def. getting stronger!

Upper Back

Chin Ups
+25x8
+45x6,5,5

Chest Supported Rows
90x8
115x7,7,6

Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns
170x8
190x8
200x6,5
supersetted these with bent over rear delt flyes w/ the red band

Preacher Curls
70x6
60x10

CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY & SHEIKO #22

▼ 1. 2/3/09 - Tue - SHEIKO #22

Time: 2:30. Weight: ??.

  I didn't realize how heavy I was going until about 6 pm today. But it went well.

• Squat 225x5 (50), 260x4 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 350x3x2 (80), 370x2x3 (85)

All easy. Danny said depth was consistent with belt (last two sets), but I'm still having trouble finding parallel.

• Bench 145x5 (50), 170x4 (60), 200x3x2 (70), 230x3x5 (80)

• Dumbell bench (hands in) 50x10x5

• Dips BWx8x5

• Squat 225x5 (50), 260x4 (60), 305x3x2 (70), 350x2x4 (80)

It's a little unclear what weight I was actually doing for the 305 sets. I *may* have misloaded the bar, leaving the 260 weight on half the bar. We (Danny, Rene, and I) couldn't figure out what had happened. This was only discovered when I went to change it to 350, and it was unclear what weight had been there before or if I had just messed up loading 350...

• Good mornings 185x5x5

▼ 2. 2/2/09 - Mon - CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

• Cardio - bike 110 bpm x 20 mins

I guess I kick ass at cardio? This is the same setting I always use, but only 110 bpm ...

• Flexibility - gastroc, soleus, hamstrings, adductor, groin, hip flexors

Midnight Squats

went to wooden at like 11:45...

Squats
185x5
195x4
205x3,2

Leg Press
3 plates per side 4x8

Hanging Leg Raises
4x25

Sckwatzzz

Last heavy squatting before the meet. Full gear baby.
Squats:
396 X 1
434 X 1 (Tried to double it but fell backwards on my second rep. Never did that before. Got pissed so I decided to do another set.)
434 X 3 (Was going to double it but I lost my balance after the first rep and had to take a step back at the top. So I did two more clean reps.)

Zercher Squats:
185 X 5
225 X 5
245 X 5
155 X 10

Light Lunges
Abs

Big Squatta

Lower back was feeling 90% so I decided to try squatting for realz again.

Squat:
(warmed up in 50 lb. increments, which took like an hour)
405 x 5
415 x 5
425 x 5
445 x 3
455 x 3

405 felt the easiest it had ever been. Only the last rep at 455 felt like there was any possibility of failing. This wasn't my best squat workout, but I'm happy for how it went for being one week after a meet. I need to figure out what I can hit raw for the arnold but given the compressed meet training cycle (also, having that other meet...), I'm not sure when exactly I'll do that.

Box Squats:
Used purple band and low box 1-2" below parallel.

275 x 4
275 x 4
295 x 4
315 x 4

These weren't hard, but when I came up explosively on the very first rep, my lower back twinged with pain. It does that when it's overtrained, so I backed off on the explosion at the top and just worked on form. It was like kyle's grandma's speed.

Pause Squats:

405 x 1 @ 5sec

This was the slowest pause squat rep of my life. I opened wayyy to heavy, because I thought if Brent was here, he would load 405 for me anyway and then call me names until I did it.

365 x 2 @ 5 sec
385 x 2 @ 5 sec

Cable Abs:
19 weights x 10ish
stack x 10, 8, 4

These killed my abs. Actually it was the squats. But my abs rarely have felt as tired as they were then.

Squat 800th Post

2/2/09

Squats

185 x 5 x 3

195 x 3

205 x 3

Band Resisted Box Squats

purple bands

135 x 4 x 4

Pause Squats

115 x 2 reps x 5 secs

135 x 2 reps x 5 secs

155 x 2 reps x 5 secs

165 x 2 reps x a lot of seconds because I was finally able to fully sit back

Calf Circuit

Abs

Rope Pull Downs

Leg Raises

Weighted Crunch

1-31, 2-2

Power snatch 75/3 x 3
Snatch 85/2 90/1, 95/1, 100/1 105/1 110 - missed 3 times

Got up to my best competition lift with no real rest so I feel pretty good. 110 was pretty close

Sn. Pull. Bel. Kn 100/3 105/3 110/3
Drop Sn. 70/2 80/2 90/2
Good Morning 110, 110, 120
B. Squat 107/3 125/3 165/3 x 3, 165/2+fail

After this I worked on pulls and snatches with Mike for technique and flexibility. I can get into the proper deep squat snatch when the weight forces me into it and I still can't quite get into a proper snatch or clean starting position due to adductor/hamstring inflexibility (mostly adductor). When the weight forces me into the right position, though, I basically end up pulling my groin, making it nearly impossible for me to squat and even do pulls for several days, which hampered my next workout. I emailed Mike Burgener about it and he forwarded it to a physical therapist. I attached what she said at the end.


Power clean 85/5 100/1+1 x 4
Power clean and jerk 105/2+2 x 2
Jerk (couldn't do cleans because my groin was so sore) 117/1 x 3 120/1 x 2
Cl Pull Bel Kn. 120/3 x 2 132/2 couldn't do more because groin hurt like a bitch
BTN Press 60 - 3,2,1
The only redeeming quality of this workout is that I pressed 60kg again and thus felt like less of a pussy. I guess it's good taht I jerked 120 without any problems either.

Here's what the PT said:
Jacob,
I would recommend that you seriously work on light, and then progressively heavier OH squats and snatch g DLs with perfect position. You need to be able to sit, bodyweight first, in that good bottom position; and then you need to be able to move into and out of it--with progressively heavier weight, and then at more dynamic speeds. If you continue just to let the weight crush you into that position, you could really do a number on your adductors. Which is what sounds like is starting to happen.You also need to make sure you are squatting with the same good, low technique that is required in your snatches. Need to create mobility in the groin, hammies and maybe hip flexors and quads--hard to tell from here. Lots of leg swings, some lateral and forward lunges, maybe some roational work in standing, combined with lots of bodyweight sits in that good position. I would have Coach B watch your squatting and pulling positions and see how they jive with your bottom positions in the snatch. Also let him know what assistance work you are doing and what kind of warmup prep you are doing. Sounds like you might need to do more. You can also drill with power snatches and ride it down and up, with perfect form--work from bottom up with pain-free pulls, DLs and OHS and then from top down with catching snatches high and riding them down. I'd let those adductors become pain free and not worry so much about max snatch weight. The hips need mobility and strength in that range if you are going to full snatch. Just might have to take it a little more slowly and let your body accomodate to the movement.That help?

So my question is, how do I get more flexible and not lose any strength? I've done stuff like this before but then I backslide in my strength which kinda defeats the purpose...

Chesty La Rue

Went down to 4-star in pursuit of a Katana that fits

Board Press:
In Katana:
315 x 1

In my F6:
365 x 3, 3-board
385 x 2, 3-board
365 x 2, 2-board
365 x fail, half-board

Katana felt so-so. The arms were too tight (no surprise there), so I couldn't sink it in well enough to bench comfortably. Maybe with some babypowder it might go up, but I suspect my hands would lose feeling even more than they were without it.

The F6 feel like a tight HD-Blast anymore :'(. It give a decent pop off the bottom but in no way is a tight competition shirt anymore. At least it didn't slice my armpits...

Close-Grip Bench:
185 x 6
225 x 5
255 x 5 (brent beat me :'( )
225 x 8 + 1 fail

Band-lighened bench:
Spencer had the greens hooked up single-style so the bar was suspended like 5'. Not sure how much was off at each point.

225 x 5
275 x 5
245 x 5, 3 sets

Lying Tricep Extensions:
I forget what these are called. Use the monster-mini. I hadn't even seen one before, but it seems pretty sweet. It's nice having something between the mini and the purples.

30 x 10
35 x 10

elbows were feeling so-so (overtraining), so I called it quits on these.

Front Raises:
35s x 10 per arm, 2 sets

Finished with a few pulls of the sled.

I really need to work on my bench

This guy benched 518 with 1 arm!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckG-QXfpbfw&eurl=http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/10398