Rugby - Sheiko - Rugby

8/11/09 - Tuesday - Rugby

Arrived late yet again. Stupid bus.

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

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

• Tackling the bags (i think?)

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

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

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

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

• Running plays with backs: ~30mins

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

• 6v6 full tackle: ~20mins

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

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

• Static stretching

8/12/09 - Wed - Sheiko

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

• DB bench: 20x10x4

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

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

• Good mornings: 45x10x2

Fuck good mornings.

8/13/09 - Thursday - Rugby

Arrived on time!

• Jogging: 10mins

• Dynamic Stretching: ~10mins

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

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

• Decision-making passing 3v2: 15mins

• Tackling the bags: x~5

• Tackling 2 bags one after the other: ~3times

• Lateral tackling of bodies: ~20mins

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

• Mauling against pads: 20mins

• 6v6 full tackle: ~20mins

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

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

• Static stretching

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

Nathan: 8/12 Sheiko & 8/13 Cardio

▼ 1. 8/13/09 - Thu - CARDIO

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

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

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

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

▼ 2. 8/12/09 - Wed - SHEIKO #26

Weight: 218 (morning). Time: ??

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

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

• Flies 30x8x4

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

• Good mornings 135x5x4

Kind of boring. Sorry.

Last 2 workouts

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

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

Came back in the PM and got:

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

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

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

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

8/13 Deadlift

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

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

Back Raise/Incline Situps: 20/20 x3

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

Bench

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

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

Dumbbell shoulder press
45s x 8, 7, 7

Overhead tricep extensions
50 x 8, 8, 7

8/12 Press

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

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

Parallel Bar Extensions: 65x10, 10, 8

Band Pull-apart: 20, 15, 15

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

Also, my postworkout meal:

1lb ground bison
2 cups OJ
1 banana

Squats

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

Power cleans
135 x 3, 3, 3, 3

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

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

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

Nathan: 8/10 Sheiko

▼ 1. 8/10/09 - Mon - SHEIKO #25

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

  Shorter day, pretty easy.

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

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

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

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

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

• Dumbell flies 30x8x4

• Lunges bwx15x3

To help with adductor feeling sore.

Where is Brent?

8/11 Back

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Two Workouts

8/7 - Sheiko

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

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

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

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

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

• Dumbell bench: 20x10x5

• Good Mornings: none.

Fuck good mornings.

8/10 - Sheiko

Much better day than friday, everything went well.

• Hang Cleans: 45x10

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Dumbell bench: 25x10x4

Upper Back

I played in a basketball tournament this weekend and my legs are still kind of beat up so I'll squat tomorrow instead of today.

T-bar rows
warmup
135 x 5
155 x 5
170 x 5
180 x 5

Wide grip lat pulldowns
180 x 8
192 x 7, 7, 7 (The stack was numbered 1-20 and I think each weight was ~12 pounds)

Dumbbell shrugs
105s x 15, 12, 12, 12 -These feel like they work my grip harder than barbell shrugs

Barbbell curls
75 x 10
85 x 8
95 x 5

Dumbbell rear delt flyes
15s x 12, 12, 12

8/10 Squat

Squat: 135x5, 5
185x5, 5
225x3
245x3
275x3 PR
205x12 PR

Seated Calf: 145x15, 15

3 supersets of Weighted Back Raises (45lbs) and Ab wheel to finish

The 275x3 was pretty damn solid. I think it may have been a little harder than it should of b/c I was sitting out in the sun for 6 hours before that, but I got it anyways. The 205x12 afterwards was brutal. I basically staggered out of the gym after this.

The straps should arrive on Wednesday, so I will switch back day with press day this week.

8-10

Finally starting to get back into it. I'm going to probably go Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri for awhile because the weight room will most likely not be open on the weekends.

Power Snatch 77/3 x 4

Snatch 85/2 x 2 95/2 x 5 Missed second rep on the third and 5th sets

Hang Sn. Pull Above knee 102/4 x 3

Snatch pull 110/2 x 2

Back squat 102/4 110/4 142/1 162 - 5,5,3 Was supposed to do 3x5 but felt my lower back fatiguing after 3 on the last set. It's actually starting to get sore already so I think I made a good decision to stop.

Bench 70/3 85/3 90/3 95/3 x 2 102/2 x 4 95/4 x 2 Really easy today. I think I'll be able to stay ahead of Kyle on the bench.

BIG squat

Video from the 4 Star
Spencer Gil smokes a high bar, close stance 500lb squat.

Nathan: 8/9 Cardio

▼ 1. 8/9/09 - Sun - CARDIO

Weight: 218 (morning), 217 (after gym, dehydrated?). Time: 0:30.

  This was a good workout. I came in extremely sore from Friday's squats. Maybe the monolift or good mornings messed me up? I haven't done good mornings in a while, but they are ridiculously light. I'm not sure. Point is, I left the gym feeling much better.

  Today was part of my plan to try more intense cardio. I felt really good today, so I think I'll keep this general idea going.

• Cardio - bike 30 s high, 30 s low, 30 s high, 60 s low x 7, 600 s medium

I was on the bikes that have no timer or anything. I like these bikes a lot because they force me to focus on just pushing myself and not on some stupid display. But it does make it hard to time myself.

  I started with intervals. What my notation means is "thiry strokes at high difficulty, followed by thirty strokes at low difficulty, etc..." I was going to do this 5 times until Rene and Gordon walked past right as I was finishing, and I said fuck it and did a couple more. The sprint intervals took about 15 mins. (I know because of the announcer guy saying there were 15 mins left).

  Then I did 600s (going for ~10 mins) at a medium setting for a little steady-state cardio.

• Stretching - adductor on leg press, hamstrings

Very abbreviated because Z was closing.

8/8 Bench

Bench: 135x6
155x5
185x5
205x2
225x1 (the plan was to do 2 or 3, but I failed to lock out the second one)
165x10, 8, 7, 5, 5

Smith Rev. Grip Bench: 1px10, 10, 10

Smith Shrugs: 3px12
4px10x5

DB Rows: 85x15/15, 12/12

The upper back work is getting heavier Dave. I was dissapointed about the bench though. The first rep blasted off my chest, and so did the second, but i just couldnt press it out. Lame.

Back from the dead

I have finally moved into my apartment in Ann Arbor. I was here for a week in a hotel with my parents and Ita getting things moved and checking out the city, so time was limited for everything. I Don't remember if I posted this, but I now HAVE A GYM. After being rejected by the football weightroom people, I was given the email address of the new director for stength and conditioning for Olympic sports. There are apparently several weightrooms here run by several different people, unlike at UCLA where there's Acosta and one secret track and field weight room at the top of Drake. So I emailed Mike (the head guy for Olympic sports) and he was really enthused about me lifting there. I met up with him on Tuesday (the 4th), we talked, and he gave me the tour. Unfortunately the bars in the weightroom are not Eleiko, they are the same bars as in Wooden, just not bent. But I can drop them and have free reign in that gym so I don't care. Also, Mike wants to get a weightlifting club started, so I'll be on the lookout for any aspiring weightlifters while I'm here.

I trained on Wednesday and Friday. Here they are:

8-5
Power snatch 77/3 x 4
Snatch 88/2 x 5 missed one in the second to last set
Sn. Pull 100.2 x 3
Jerk 92/3 x 2 105/2

My wrists and back were hurting during the entire workout (it took about 30 minutes for me to warm up) and everything felt terrible so I stopped here. Probably just due to the meet 2 weeks ago (that 197.5 deadlift tore my back up) and my wrists hurt more when I'm not consistent with training or take time off.


8-7

P. Cl. + Pu. J 92/2 x 4
C&J 92/2 105/2 x 5
Cl. Pull 105/4 x 2 120/4 x 2
Push J. + OHS 92/2 x 3
Back squat 115/4 135/4 x 3
Bench 70/3 85/3 95/3 x 2 95/4 x 4 accidentally did 95 on the middle sets, was supposed to do 90

This worked felt really good. I foam-rolled my back before and during the workout which helped it tremendously. It doesn't hurt/is not stiff now. The weights were light and I suspect I'll be good to go when I start back really training on Monday.

My parents left this afternoon, so I'm now in Ann Arbor all alone. I still have some unpacking of clothes to do and I need to get food to supplement the meat I've got. I want to get my nutrition in order now that I have 100% control of my food again.

Nathan: 8/7

▼ 1. 8/7/09 - Fri - SHEIKO #24

Weight: 218 (morning). Time: 2:30?

  End of a tough week. Today went fairly well, but not great.

• Bench 45x10x3, 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x3x5 (80)

Pecs very sore from flies on Wednesday, so I did a bit of a warm-up.

  Carlos said that looking my feet my ass appears to come off the bench, but from the side it is obviously on the bench. Interesting, but I should be OK on this front.

  I wore a crappy shirt that was sliding on the bench and hurting my arch. I was also using a bar with no rings so my hands were uneven sometimes. This made the last sets less easy than they should have been, but they were still OK.

• Squat 135x5x3, 225x3 (50), 275x3x2 (60), 315x3x2 (70), 365x3x6 (80)

I realized today that the meet is IPA, so it will have a monolift. I decided it was past time I practiced it, so I did all my sets in the monolift. This also meant I had no supports, so I had to rely on side spots (thanks Jason & Dee). This is good practice for the meet also, because not having the supports always bothers me.

  As for the lifting, I belted all the 365's. They were varying degrees of difficulty, but generally the first two were OK and the last was somewhat difficult. I feel my form was decent, but since I had side spotters they couldn't really tell what it was looking like. Definitely better than Monday regardless.

• Bench 155x4 (50), 185x4 (60), 215x4x4 (70)

Easy.

• Dislocates lots of reps with purple band throughout

• A: Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• A: Good mornings 135x5x5

In other news, what happened to the traffic on this blog? As far as I can tell its just Dave, Dee, Kyle, Vit, and me posting. Where did everyone go? Did Brent and Jake spontaneously stop training? Is there a new blog no one told me about? Who am I? Why do I exist? What is existence, anyway?

Bench

Bench (paused)
warmup
175 x 3
175 x 2 + 1 fail
155 x 5

Dips
BW+25 x 5
BW+45 x 5, 5, 5

Dumbbell flat bench
55s x 8, 8, 8, 9

Last 4 Days

8/3/09 - Sheiko

• Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3x2, 135x3x2, 155x2x4 (80)

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

• Dumbell bench: 20x10x5

• Squat: 105x3, 125x3x2, 145x3x4 (75)

8/4/09 - Rugby

Back to the hot and humid and bug-riddled GEAA field. Luckily we had the whole field this night, instead of being relegated to our little corner by the softball peoples. First practice wrecked me, but I usually adapt back to conditioning pretty fast.

• Warmup: 2 laps, dynamic stretching.

• 'Beep' test. Confirmed I should have done more cardio this summer.

• Quick pass in a circle drill

• Conditioning: 8 stations, 30secs/station, 10secs rest in between: squat jumps, hurdles, lunges, serpentine sprint, burpees (YAY BURPEES), situps, pushups, lateral hurdles.

Originally was supposed to be 60 secs i think, but that was impossible. I like this a lot, it totally destroys the fast twitch fibers and builds endurance for fast changing activity.

• Tackling the bags

Oy, my neck.

• Wrestling

Forgot about this. My partner and I seemed evenly matched most of the time. Turned out later that I separated her shoulder at some point. Oops.

• 6x6 full tackle: 15-20 minutes

I made a few tries.

• Conditioning: groups of 4 running suicides in pairs, 1 with 2, 1 with 3, 1 with 4, then 2 with 3, 2 with 4, etc. I was 2 and 4 in our group of 3.

We were short so I chose to be two people to punish myself. Hard push through the final sprint at the end.

• Static Stretching

8/5/09 - Sheiko

After feeling destroyed from the first practice the night before, I actually woke up feeling fine today and none of this was a problem.

• Deadlift to knees: 135x3x3, 160x2x2, 175x2x2, 185x1x3 (70)

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

Was feeling off balance during some of these, so towards the end I tightened everything up (esp. my 'bad' shoulder) and really braced against the bench, which seemed to help. I think I'm learning.

• Dumbell bench: 20x10x5

• Deadlift: 135x3, 160x3, 185x3 185x3, 215x3x5 (80)

Tended to focus more on squeezing the bar off the ground as opposed to jerking it, which I sometimes tend to do. Thus I concentrated less on a tight, straight back, and rounded a little during my last set, but nothing very significant.

• Foam roll back, hips. Stretch.

8/6/09 - Rugby

My bus was 20 minutes late so I missed proper warmups.

• Passing drills: step over and place, pop pass, stomach punch, something else.

• Pop pass from the ground drill, for several minutes.

• Conditioning: 6 stations, 30secs/station, 10secs rest in between: hurdles, jump split lunges, serpentine sprint, burpees (YAY BURPEES), situps, lateral hurdles. X2

Felt easier than the first time. Done twice, with a few minutes between cycles. I did v-ups for crunches the second cycle, and we ended with burpees on that one, which were terrible-looking because I couldn't jump anymore.

• Tackling the bags (with squishy balls in our hands to force wrapping instead of grabbing)

• Spin passing

• 4x4 full tackle: 15-20 minutes

I made a few tries, good tackles at the beginning, began to get too high towards the end as I got tired. Getting better at just attacking, rather than waiting to catch the ball carrier.

• Conditioning: pairs running suicides alternating, placing and picking the ball: 15-20 mins?

I ran with some girls slower than me, so instead of suicides they were more like brisk jogs.

• Static Stretching

L-L-Lock it out

Last training before the meet next week. I'll keep benching though.

Block Pulls:
around 1" under my knee. Horribly awkward spot.

495 x 2
545 x 2
585 x 2
635 x 2
675 x 3

They all felt pretty good. On the last one, my finger tips kept getting unrolled when they hit my quad. I didn't lose the bar thanks to MAX BULL TRAINING™ for deadlifts, but it's something I'd like to avoid.

@Brent: If you see Spencer, tell him I hit the weight he missed last time I saw him for a triple. <3

Zerchers:
Pause on legs for 1 second.

225 x 5
275 x 5, 2 sets

Man, these hurt my arms.

Finished with hamstring curls and this weird ball exercise that mimics a reverse hyper but works in the core and abs as well. I saw another lifter doing it and though I would try today. Feels good and is a nice cool down as well.

Nathan: 8/6 Cardio

▼ 1. 8/6/09 - Thu - CARDIO

Weight: 217 (morning), 218 (evening). Time: 1:00.

  I haven't been eating nearly enough food if this is indicative of my weight gain through the day now.

• Cardio - intervals on bike 2 min on, 2 min off @ ~150 bpm for ~35 mins

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

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmups
335 x 5 - Lower back rounded on the last rep. I probably should've stopped after 4.
265 x 3, 3, 3, 3

Back raises
BW+25 x 10
BW+35 x 10, 10, 10

Lying leg curls
90 x 4 x 10

Side bends
45 x 10, 10, 10 per side

Some sort of effort in benching things or at least pressing them away from me

Got the Vs. shoes today, so tried benching in those since a lot of people around here seem to. I liked it a lot, surprisingly. I get much more leg drive, so I will probably stick with this in the future.

2-board:
This seems to be my sticking point, so I decided to work it first and heavier. All reps paused.
315 x 3
335 x 3
355 x 3 (last one touch and go)

Felt good on these. Last one was a PR, but didn't have the strength to pause the final rep.

Bench:
1 second pause
225 x 10
245 x 8
255 x 7 + 1 fail

Did volume work for two reasons: to see how training the weak point would affect the entire press, and to focus on technique. One of the lifters made a comment that I need to tuck and flare the lats more, so I emphasized that today.

Standing Press:
135 x 5
165 x 5, 3 sets

Finished with cable triceps, heavier weight for 4 x 8

Nathan: 8/5

▼ 1. 8/5/09 - Wed - SHEIKO #23

Weight: 221 (after gym, dinner). Time: 2:15.

  I really wanted this to be a light day after Monday. Alas, it wasn't to be.

• Deadlift to knees 135x5x4, lungesx15x3, 225x3, 275x3 (50), 335x2x2 (60), 365x2x2 

(65), 385x1x3 (70)

These sets/reps are really random.

• Bench 45x10, 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x3x2 (80), 260x2x3 

(85)

Not bad. Carlos said one of the 85 sets looked good.

• Dumbell flies 30x10x5

• Deadlift 275x3 (50), 335x3 (60), 385x3x2 (70), 440x3x5 (80)

First two heavy sets unbelted, rest belted. The second and fifth sets were harder. I think this is entirely because I was less mentally engaged for these sets. Dee said that my back was rounding in the middle off and on between sets and reps.

• Stretching - hamstrings, seated groin

8/5 Press

Dip: BWx8
+25x5
+35x5
+45x5
+55x5
+70x5 PR
+25x10, 9, 7, 7, 6

DB Seated Press: 30x10
40x10, 10, 7, 10, 7

Never done dips that heavy before. I guess that means I'm making progress in my pressing strength. I think my previous PR was +55 for 6. Hopefully the heavy non-bench pressing will have a good carryover to the benching. I really want to have a respectable bench and squat at the meet in November.

8/3 and 8/4

▼ 1. 8/4/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Time: 0:30.

  Showed up at 9:00pm at the Z so this was really stupid. I've decided to try to be a little more serious about cardio, but I've been failing miserably at getting to the Z with enough time to do anything useful.

• Cardio on bike 140-165 bpm x 10 mins

• Biking around MIT campus 20 mins

• Stretch - hamstrings/lower back, adductors

▼ 2. 8/3/09 - Mon - SHEIKO #22

Time: 2:00.

  Today didn't go as well as I hoped. I think moving all weekend drained me, but I'm not really sure. I forgot to do my lunge cooldown thing, and combined with poor form and lack of stretching in the past week, that made my adductors sore for the next two days.

• Squat 45x5x2, 135x5x3, lungesx12x3, 225x3 (50), 275x3x2 (60), 315x3x2 

(70), 365x2x4 (80)

Belt 315 and up + sleeves. Didn't feel that great. Just felt tired for some reason. On my heavy sets, I'm told the first rep looked good and on the second my ass shot up. But some sets were OK.

• Bench 45x10, 155x3 (50), 185x3 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x3x5 (80)

First heavy set of bench was unstable and bad. Then I sucked it up and made the rest of the sets better. I started off on this terrible bench that I can't hold any kind of arch on, so I had a big pause in the middle when I decided to wait for Dee to finish to use the good bench.

• Dumbell flies 50x10x5

• Squat 245x3 (55), 295x3x2 (65), 335x3x4 (75)

Did first two sets at 75 without a belt. These weren't very good. I belted the last two and I think they were my best squats of the day, for reasons I don't entirely understand.

Upper back

Pull ups
BW x 8
BW+45 x 5
BW+55 x 5, 5
BW+60 x 4

Dumbbell rows
95 x 8
105 x 8
115 x 10, 8

Barbell shrugs
225 x 15
245 x 15
275 x 10
295 x 9.5

Hammer curls
40s x 10, 10 (per arm)
45s x 8

Upper Back

DB Rows:
140s x 13, 12, 11, 10, 10

T-bar rows:
135, 170, 205, 240, 275 x 8

Todd suggests using 35s for these for increased range of motion. Seems promising.

Finished with close-grip pull ups, incline curls (for Brent), band pull aparts and cable abs.

One of the guys has one of the new Super Centurions that he mis-ordered. Another guy tried it on but it was too loose, so I gave it a shot. The suit had a weird build where it was very (very) tight in the legs, loose in the hip and had big straps. I managed to get it almost into position, but the straps were loose enough I could put them on myself. If the legs had been slightly looser and the hips tighter, I might have considered buying it off him.

8/4 Back

Pull-ups: 10, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3 (50 reps total)

HS Row: 2p/side x10x5 (focused on pulling with the upper back, not lats and arms)

BB Curls: 60x10, 10, 8, 8, 6

Squat

Squat
warmups
205 x 5, 5, 5

Box squats (about a 15" box)
135 x 5
155 x 5, 5
165 x 5

Power cleans
135 x 3
155 x 3, 3
165 x 2

Seated calves
90 x 15, 15, 20, 20

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

DE Squat

Squat shoes showed up last week but the mail room got confused and returned them, which is irksome. No word on when they might come back.

Lower back hurt bad saturday night, so I played more ultimate on sunday to loosen it back up. Felt fine today. more poison = cure, right?

Chains were in use, so I went reverse bands.
Band-assisted Squat:
495 x 3
545 x 3
585 x 3, 4, 5

On the last weight, they kept yelling at me to open my hips up more. Apparently I needed to widen my stance 3" to really nail the hole. It felt pretty good and they say I was far more upright. I need to take videos to see how this looks. Weight felt easy.

Pause Squats:
Hadn't done these in 5 months, due to lower back pain, but they felt great today. With the new stance, I definitely felt my hamstrings and hips engage. I used a belt on these

305 x 2 @ 5 sec
325 x 2 @ 5 sec
365 x 2 @ 5 sec
385 x 2 @ 5, 6 sec

SS-bar Box Squats:
off 13" box
145 x 8
195 x 8
235 x 8
255 x 8

Finished with cable crunches.

8/3 Squat

Squat: 135x5, 5
165x5
185x5
225x3
245x1
255x5 PR
185x10, 10, 10

Seated Calf: 125x25, 20

Back Raise: 25x20, 15, 15

Sliding Ab Thingy: 25, 25 (hits the Transverse Abdominus pretty well and makes the back feel happy)

Its very nice to see that with the aid of my belt, my lower back is not holding back my squatting. the 255 is a new all time PR for 5, and I felt like I may have had another 2 reps in the tank. Good stuff.

Also, is anyone going to do the SoCal Regional Championships on November 7th? Got the email today and I was curious.

Friday, Saturday 7/31-8/1

Friday:

• Cardio: sprint to catch up with lunch crowd - 10 minutes.

• Squat: 45x6, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3x2 (70), 155x2x4 (80?)

Supposed to be 145x2x4, but I was feeling great and wanted to show up the asian dude who asked if I needed help with that 'heavy weight' (my warmups).

• Bench: 45x5, 65x3, 80x3x2, 95x3x6 (75)

• Cable flies: 20eax10, 30eax10x4

I've missed these.

• P.snatch: 55x4,66x4,77x3

• P.clean+jerk: 88x4, 99x2x2

Legs were pretty tired at this point from squatting earlier.

Saturday

• Helping nathan move stuff: 5 hrs

SQUATTIN' & MOVIN'

▼ 1. 8/1/09 - Sat - MOVING

Moving all day long. Decent cardio I guess? Strong man training? I don't know... Either way, another day without enough sleep.

• Moving 5 hrs

▼ 2. 7/31/09 - Fri - SHEIKO #21

Weight: ??. Time: 0:40.

  Super fast workout at the Z-center because I had a paper deadline at midnight. Luckily its a short day for Sheiko.

• Squat 135x5x3, 225x3 (50), 275x3 (60), 315x3x2 (70), 335x2x4 (75)

• Bench 165x3 (55), 195x3x2 (65), 225x3x6 (65)

• A: Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• A: Good mornings 135x5x5

Light Bench

Bench
warmup
135 x 5 x 3

Chinups
BW x 20, 8, 8

Rope pushdowns
50 x 4 x 15

RE Bench

Played ultimate frisbee in the morning before the workout and that really sapped my energy. I'll need to start taking glutamine again if i keep up the high-intensity cardio + training on the same day.

Lower back felt tight on the incline, when I went to stretch it out, I think I irritated something, as it feels much worse now. Lots of vitamin-I and ice for now and hopefully it will die down by monday.

Went to Bull's gym, but he was gone and no one was around but the dude working there, so no spots and not very lively. Combined with back discomfort, I was not motivated at all.

Incline Bench
225 x 6/6/6/5

DB Bench:
100 x 8

Lower back did not feel comfortable on these so I stopped.

Tried of think of things that wouldn't irritate the back, or involve picking heavy things up. Did chest supported rows, arnold presses, cable flyes, tricep extensions and machine twists.