Nathan : 10/13 & 10/14

▼ 1. 10/14/09 - Intensity Week 1 - BENCH

Weight: 219 (after gym). Time: 2:00.

  Pretty happy about this day. Weight is steadily going down, which is probably not the best sign.

• 2-sec pause bench 275x3 @9.5

Going for 3RM, I estimated I should be good for 275, but I was very happy to get it. I have never tripled this weight, and doing it with a long pause was satisfying. I may have had a fourth rep, but it would have been tough. This projects my 1RM at 305, which is what I got at my last meet. I would be very happy to do this with a long pause.

• Close-grip 275x2@9, x2@10, 265x2@10

Going for 2x4, but fatigue stopped after 265 felt heavy.

• Dumbbell military press 60x6,7,7,8

I feel like I've made good strength gains on this just doing it as a supplemental lift.

• Dumbbell row 100x10x3

Kept it light and used very strict form.

▼ 2. 10/13/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: ??. Time: 1:15.

  More intense cardio than I normally do. Doing jogging and lighter settings on the bike definitely get my cardio working harder than doing higher-difficulty bike, which just tires out my quads. I'm definitely going to do more of this type of cardio in the long run.

• Cardio : jogging 15 mins @ 160 bpm

Right knee (bad one) didn't feel good on Wednesday. Need to do spin bike or swimming instead.

• Cardio : bike 20 mins @ 150 bpm

• Flexibility : soleus, gastroc, adductor on leg press, hamstrings, hip flexor, seated groin

ME Bench

Shirted Bench:
Used the black katana today, fully torqued.
315 x 3 @ 3 board
365 x 1 @ 2 board
365 x 1 @ 1 board
365 x fail, 1, 1

I think the torquing lowered the touching point a bit too far for IPF standards. In addition, I had trouble getting the shirt seated with the additional resistance from the torque. I will have to try torquing the sleeves less next week and seeing where it ends up being seated. The third 365 flew up like 225 and I feel confident opening with it if I can reliably get the shirt seated where it needs to be for me to touch legally.

Standing Press:
155 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 4
175 x 4

Close-Grip Bench:
205 x 8, 2 sets

Right shoulder has been bothering me, so I went lighter on these than normal.

Tricep Death:
(close grip)
185, all 5 boards
195, all 5 boards - this was definitely my max; I was unable to flex the triceps after that.

Bench

Bench (commands on every rep)
warmup
175 x 2
180 x 1
185 x 1
190 x 1
195 x 1 -may have gotten a very minor spot on this one

Standing overhead press
95 x 8
105 x 6
115 x 5

Close grip bench
135 x 8
145 x 6

Tricep Death
105 x failed on last rep
95 x failed w/ 3 reps left

10/14 Shirted Bench

Bench Press (w/Phenom): 225 (3-brd) x 3
245 (2brd) x 1
265x1, Fail PR
245x1, 1 (only one with full meet commands - felt good)

Standing Military Press: 95x8
115x5, 5, 3

Close-grip Bench: 155x8, 8
Tricep Death: 115x Full
135x Full PR

Good stuff today. I am thoroughly battered and bruised from the Phenom, but handling the heavy weights was good for me. I think somewhere in the range of 275-295 is entirely possible at the meet, which would be very nice. Tricep Death today felt a lot stronger than usual too. Improvement!

9-30 - 10-14

For the new guys, all my weights are in kg (most of the time).

9-30
Push jerk - 111 - miss, 1, 113 - miss 98/2@8,8,8,8,8, 100/2@9, 1+miss, 1+miss
C&J 100/1+1+miss 95/1+1 @ 8,8,7 100/1@8
Power clean 100/3 @ 8,9,9
Press 65/1@9, 70@10 52/5@8, 48/5@7,7
Front squat 6x2 - 125,130,134,139,142,142 all at 8 except the last two at 9

Overall this wasn't terrible. At least the front squats were ok.

10-5
P. Sn. 84,86,89,91,93-miss
Bench 215/6@8,8,9,10
Back squat 165/1

This workout sucked, but I deloaded this week so whatever.

10-12
Power clean+Jerk 107,111,116 - miss 97/1+2@9, 92/1+2@8,8,8,8
Clean and jerk 105/2+1 @ 8,9,9,9
Press 61/5 @ 8,8,9,9,10
Front squat 125/6@10, 125/6@9, 125/2+fail

The weird thing about using the RPEs is that I often rebound after I have a bad set, so if I set myself to stop if I reach an RPE of 9 or 10 I think I might be stopping early since I sometimes oscillate or even improve in later sets. But then again, I usually know when I'm going to do this, which is why I take the later set, so maybe my problem is my perception of my RPE...

10-14
Power snatch 91, 93-miss, 93, 95.5, 98 - miss, 98 - miss
84/3@8,8,9,9,8,8
At this point my triceps were running out of steam
Snatch 89/2@8,9,8, miss,1,miss for last set. My back and triceps were pretty gone.
Bench 215/6 @ 8,9,9 215/5+miss, 205/6@9, 205/3@9
Somehow my upper body was pretty good for these. I've done better, but I've done worse.
Back squat 152/3@8,8,8,8, 157/3@8, 157/1@9

This was a great workout. I felt like my technique was really dialed in on everything. 95.5 is a tie for my record power snatch and it felt easy, and the fatigue in my back and triceps is a good thing. They are what should be working. My back squat finally feels like it's come back a little from the horrible start it had with this program. I think the week off really helped. I'm excited for nexy week when I get to go balls out on the lifts in the intensity phase.

10/13 Back

Barbell Rows (strict form): 130x5
150x5
160x5, 5, 5

Wide-grip Pull-ups: BW x 8x5

Rear Delt Raises (Diablo style): 40x10/10
55x10/10, 8/8, 8/8, 8/8

Ez-Bar Curls: 70x8
80x6, 5, 5

Rainbow Dragonfly Ponies: 5, 4, 4

Went a little light on the rows, but kept strict form as to avoid compromising my lower back in that awkward position. The pull-ups felt suprisingly easy today, and the rear delts felt strong as well.

Dave, please show up tomorrow.

Upper Back

10/13/09

Upright Rows

Pull-Ups

Reverse Flyes

Curls

Reverse Grip Curls

Rainbow Dragonfly Ponies

Squat

10/12/09

Squats

235 x 3

255 x 1

265 x 1

275 x 1

275 x fail (tried going high bar)

Band-Resisted Box Squats

135 x 5

155 x 5

165 x 5

Upper back

Barbell rows
warmups
185 x 5
205 x 5, 5

Close grip pullups
BW+25 x 10
BW+45 x 8
BW+55 x 7
BW+65 x 5

EZ bar curls
90 x 8, 7, 6

supersetted w/ Rear delt raises
25s x 12
30s x 10, 10, 10

Standing abs
100 x 10
110 x 8, 10, 10

Squat

Squat
warmups
265 x 2+1fail
275 x 1
280 x 1 PR -this was extremely slow
275 x 1

Band resisted box squats
Purples+135 x 4
Purples+155 x 4
Purples+165 x 4
Purples+175 x 4

Pause squats (3 second count)
185 x 3, 3, 3
I may try moving my stance in a little bit and see how it feels.

Tried to do leg extensions but my left knee wouldn't allow it.

ME Squat

Squat:
495 x 3
515 x 1
545 x 1
565 x 1

Video of the last set:


It's hard to tell but I think it was right below parallel. I'll have to get a different angle next time.

Box Squat:
CNS caught up to me reallly quickly on these.

225 x 4 (purples)
275 x 4 (purples + pinks)
315 x 4, 2 sets (p + p)

I was gassed at this point. The squats alone took about 1:45 to hit that last 565. Finished with some leg extensions for no particular reason and bagged it.

10/12 Lunge

BB Lunge (total reps listed): 45x10, 10
65x10
85x10
95x10
105x10
115x10
135x12 PR

Hamstring Curl: 100x10/10x3

Banded Back Raise: 1 Blue x 10, 10, 25

At that point I needed to get out of the gym and go study, but it was an ok session after all. I still lunge like a drunkard. My back felt stronger and almost more stable after the back raises, so I need to keep doing these.

Nathan : 10/8-10/12

• 1. 10/12/09 - Mon - Intensity Week 1 - SQUAT

Dee is buying a car. We woke up early to find dealers and had to stay late to do paper work, so gym is punted. I haven't decided if I am doing cardio or some sort of "make-up" intensity day tomorrow.

▼ 2. 10/10/09 - Sat - Deload Week 1 - BENCH LOCKOUT

Weight: 216. Time: 2:00?

  Last workout of deload week. After Friday, I was careful to keep it very light.

• Warm-up : jog?

• Reverse band bench w purple band 225x5x4

• Floor press 185x4x4

• Dips BW+45x6x4

• Pull-ups BWx10x4

▼ 3. 10/9/09 - Fri - Deload Week 1 - DEAD

Weight: 216. Time: 1:30.

  Dave suggested I avoid all deadlifts during deload week. I switched conventional deadlifts to SLDL, but this workout left me pretty beat up for a deload week, so I probably should have listened more.

• Warm-up : jog 8 mins

• Stiff-leg deadlift 315x5x5

Should do these more.

• Squat w chain 225+80x3x6

Jason said he liked my form on these.

• Sumo rack pull 315x5x5

I wanted to go up to 500 and do triples, but I decided to save stuff for the intensity week.

▼ Abs

More Dee-inspired stuff. These left my upper abs SUPER SORE.

• Sandbag smash 50x10x3

This is basically a clean followed by throwing the sandbag to the ground. First time doing them, I think this is what got my upper abs so sore.

• V-ups 18x15x3

Fuck these again.

▼ 4. 10/8/09 - Thu - CARDIO

Weight: 215 (morning). 220 (after gym). Time: 1:00.

  Need to start eating.

• Cardio - jogging/walking 30 mins

Much more effective at getting my heart rate up, at least. Even a light jog got me up to 160.  I will try to do this more, if my knees can handle it.

• Flexibility - usual

11/7 Meet Reminder

Entries must be postmarked by October 14th (aka this Wednesday). Who is competing?

I will be representing UCLA in the Open Men's 100kg Bench-only.

Speed Bench

10/11/09

Bench

switched grip each set from wide to medium to close

155 x 4 x 6

Floor Press

185 x 5

185 x 5

195 x 5

205 x 3

Tricep Extension superset Cable Ab Crunch

Dips

RAW Deads

Took some video of my last 2 deadlift sessions..

Here is a video of me dicking around pulling sumo done on 10/2/09

Here is a video of my 500 X 5 that I did this past Friday 10/9/09

Spencer 615 X 3 RAW

Bench

Bench
135 x 6 sets of 4

Close grip bench
155 x 5, 5, 5

Tate press
25s x 12, 11, 10

Close grip pulldowns
180 x 4 sets of 8

First Bench Day

Floor Press:

135x5
155x5

165x4+f

155x4+f

trying to figure out a good work weight

Shoulder Press: 85x6, 95x5+f, 85x6, 95x6

Chest Supported Row: 45x8, 45x8, 65x8, 70x6, 90x6

HS Front Lat: 2px 6, 6

Dips: BWx8, 8, 8

GHR Abs: BWx10, +25x10, 10

bonus AB SOLO: I don't know like 40

Bench

No bands == no speed word. :E

Floor Press:
255 x 5
275 x 5, 4 + 1 fail
265 x 4.9 + .1 fail

Military Press:
135 x 6
155 x 6
175 x 6
185 x 5

Supersetted with some chest supported rows

Finished with a super set of bodyweight dips and close-grip isolateral pull down, and then some ghr abs with weight.

10/10 Bench Marathon

Speed Bench: 135x4x6 (worked on explosiveness and trying to engage the lats)

Floor Press: 185x5
195x5, 5, 5 (PR?)

Tricep Pullover +: 85x6, 8, 5
Chest Supported Row: 135x8, 8, 8, 8, 8

HS Front Lat: 2px 8, 8

Dips: BWx10, 10, 10 (again, focused on feeling lats)

GHR Abs: BWx10
+25x10, 10, 10

Well, I guess I might be competing on 11/7 in the equipped bench-only. Dave wants me to still compete, and says that he will teach me the ways of the Phenom. If anyone can supply Neosporin, it would be greatly appreciated.

LE Deadlift

Deadlift off blocks:
my left knee is still irritated, so I had to switch to conventional stance for it to feel fine.
425 x 3
475 x 3
515 x 2

I got tired on these quickly. Lower back is still exhausted from last week, so I bagged it early.

Stiff-legged deadlifts:
335 x 8
385 x 8, 6, 8

Finished with pull throughs and ball bridges

Deadlifts

10/8/09

Block Pulls

293 x 3

333 x 3

333 x 3

353 x 3

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

155 x 6

185 x 6

245 x 6

Seated Good-Mornings

135 x 5

135 x 5

Pull Throughs

45lbs x 8 x 3

Deadlift

Block pulls (stacked 50kg and 100lb plates)
warmups
325 x 3
335 x 3
345 x 3
Could've kept increasing the weight but my lower back was rounding on all these sets so I lowered the weight down.
295 x 3, 3

Stiff legged deads
205 x 7, 7, 7

Lying leg curls
3 sets

Hanging leg raises
4 x 20

Bench

10/7/09

Bench Off Foam Roller

205 x 5

215 x 5

235 x 3

245 x 2 + 1 fail

I've never felt my lats engage as much as they did during these sets

Incline Bench

155 x 5

165 x 5

165 x 4

Tricep Pushdowns

Bench

Bench
165 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 1 (paused)
195 x 1 (paused)

Foam roller press
175 x 5
195 x 4+1fail
205 x 3
225 x fail

Incline bench
125 x 8
135 x 8, 6

Rope pushdowns
60 x 4 x 10

ME Bench

Bench:
285 x 3
290 x 3
305 x 1*

The first time i did 305, i forgot to ask for the press, so I waited for 5 seconds at the bottom, which killed the attempt. It was a nice negative and static hold though...

Foam Roller Press:
Work with a 1 second sinking pause into the foam roller.
355 x 5
365 x 5
385 x 3
405 x 3

Last one felt easy. Thanks foam roller!

Incline Bench:
225 x 8
235 x 7
225 x 7

These felt much easier than I expected, but I'm not sure why, given all the previous pressing. Perhaps standing press is having some carry-over?

Finished with some cable tricep with the metal handles

10/7 Bench

Bench: 155x5, 5
185x3, 3
195x3
205x3, 3
215x1, 1

Manpon Press (close grip): 195x5
205x5
225x5 PR
235x2 (ugh)

Incline: 155x5
165x5, 5

Lat Cable Pushdowns: 80x10
90x10
100x10, 7

On the warm-up sets at 185, I finally felt my lats fire off the bottom, and these felt fast. However, I lost this elusive feeling as the weight went up. Need to work on it. Also, the manpon was done with a closer grip than usual, and I have to say that it felt a lot stronger/more stable than my regular grip for these. Don't know why :p

One thing that is incredibly sad though is my weak-ass bench. The floor presses at 195 were fairly easy, but 205 on bench feels like a ton of bricks. I need to figure something out.

Uprr Bcck

Shrugs:
405, 455, 495, 545, 585 x 8

Cable rows:
250 x 10
295 x 5
275 x 7,6,8

Pull ups:
i got old and fat
11, 11, 11, 10

Finished with some incline curls.

10/6 : Nathan

▼ 1. 10/6/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: 216 (morning), 223 (after gym). Time: 1:10?

• Cardio : bike 30 mins

Huge SHOUT OUT to Hil for getting me a refill on my water bottle.

• Flexibility : hamstrings, adductor on leg press, gastroc, soleus, seated groin, hip flexors, 

Upper back

Barbell Shrugs
365 x 5 -grip started to go so after this set I switched from double overhand to an alternated grip and it made a huge difference in my ability to hold onto the bar
365 x 8
405 x 7
425 x 7
455 x 7
475 x 5

T-bar row machine
135 x 7, 6, 6, 6

Pullups
BW x 15, 9, 8

Incline dumbbell curls
35s x 6, 5, 4, 4

Upper Back

10/6/09

Shoulder Shrugs

225 x 10

315 x 10

365 x 10

365 x 10

405 x 8

455 x 8

475 x 8

T-Bar Rows

135 x 6 x 4

BW Pull-Ups

17

9

8

9

Cable Crunches

10/6 Back

BB Shrugs: 315x10
405x10
455x10 <- Back did not feel good on this one, owing to the fact that I had to do a full-on rack pull to get it started
315x10

Cable Rows: 170x5
200x5, 7, 7, 7

Lat Pulldown: 150x8
170x8, 8

Reverse Curls: 55x8, 8
65x6, 10 (just got into a rythm on this last set)

Lesson learned: Do not shrug with short people.

Squats

10/5/09

Squats

255 x 3

255 x 3

225 x 3 (to work on form)

Pause Squats

185 x 3 (3 secs)

185 x 3 (3 secs)

185 x 3 (3 secs)

Power Cleans

130 x 6

140 x 6

140 x 6

Deloading!

Since everyone is deloading I might as well throw in my hat too. I missed Friday's workout (3 hours sleep the night before. I just slept) and mondays was heavy but short. May or may not make tomorrow's because I'm flying out to a conference, and I'll miss Friday's too because of the conference. So, it's a somewhat unintentional deload but that's the way it is. I'll just start the next phase when I get back. Should be interesting.

LE Squat

Gradually feeling overtrained, so planned for this week to be a back-off week before things get too bad.

Band-Lightened Squat:
used purples
455 x 3
475 x 3
495 x 3

Cleans:
no idea. top set was 181? unknown.

Finished with some cable abs

Squat

Squat
warmups
255 x 3
285 x fail -went down too slowly and ended up stalling a few inches out of the hole

Pause squats (3 second pause)
185 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 3

Power cleans
129 x 6
139 x 5
149 x 5

Standing cable abs
4 sets

Nathan : 10/1 - 10/5

▼ 1. 10/5/09 - Mon - Deload Week 1 - SQUAT

Weight: ??. Time: 2:00.

  Taking a deload week because: sleep has been bad, muscles feel constantly tired, a little loss of motivation at the end of last week. These are signs of overtraining for me. I think switching training plans got me a little more sore than I otherwise would be.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• SSB box squat 205x5x5

This was surprisingly hard on my lower back. My form was very solid this week, though.

  Focused on keeping glutes tight while sitting back, feels very good.

• Sumo dead w chain 275+80x3x6

Easy.

• Barbell thrusts 135x10x2, 135+80 chainx10, 235x10

This exercise basically consists of humping the bar (see video). Is is the best exercise ever. It's supposed to be good for your glutes, but its really just to look awesome.

• Abs - twist crunches 45x12x3

▼ Videos:

• 20091005-glute thrusts third set 135+80x10?

• 20091005 - dee glute thrusts 95x??

▼ 2. 10/3/09 - Sat - Volume Week 3 - BENCH

Weight: ?? Time: 2:00. Weight fluctuates between 216 and 219 in morning these days.

  Feeling really detached again today. Not very into it at all and tired. I've had trouble sleeping lately, which is one common sign for me of getting overtrained. The last three weeks have been fucking me up, so I'm going to take a deload week before starting the intensity block. If I feel good halfway through the week, I may re-assess.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• Rev band bench w purple 275x5x5 @ 8-9

A little lighter than RPEs call for, but I was happy with getting these reps, esp. considering how detached I was feeling.

• Floor press 225x3x3 @ 8-9, 235x3x3 @ 9-10

Screwed up RPEs on these too. I've actually gotten weaker on floor press as this cycle has progressed. Shouldn't have gone up to 235, but I refused to stay at 225, which I did 5x5 at three weeks ago.

• Dips bw+45x6,6,8,8

• Pull-ups bw+45x3x3, bwx10

Threw in three bodyweight reps after the third set too.

▼ Recovery

• Dislocates w band lots

• Pullovers 25x12x3

▼ 3. 10/2/09 - Fri - Volume Week 3 - DEADLIFT

Weight: 217. Time: ??.

  Today felt awful. I was very unmotivated and everything was heavy. Logging a while after this occurred, so I might miss details.

• Warm-up : bike 10 mins

• Conventional deadlift 435x3x6 @9

Terrible back form. Everything felt heavy, even 315x5 warm-up.

• Squat w/ chains 225+80x5 @8 super easy, 245+120x5x5 @9

I thought this would go equally bad, but it ended up going OK. Just like on Saturday, workout seemed to get better as it went on, but still feel general lack of motivation.

  Chains kept falling off bar on early sets (see videos), which was really annoying.

  My form felt very good on these, hips not shooting up slightly like usual. In particular: First set is good. Second set on last rep hips came up. Third and fourth sets, last two reps hips came up. Fifth set same, except last rep was bad and lower back just rounded.

• Sumo rack pulls

No time. Little motivation.

• Abs - V-ups Bwx15, Bw+20x10x3

Fuck me.

▼ Videos:

• 20091002-conv dead third set 435x2 shitty

• 20091002-conv dead fifth set 435x3 shitty

• 20091002-squat w chain fail set 1

• 20091002-squat w chain fail set 2

• 20091002-squat w chain first set 215+120x5

• 20091002-squat w chain fourth set 245+120x5

▼ 4. 10/1/09 - Thu- CARDIO

Weight: 216.

• Cardio : bike 30 mins

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

prone glute

10/5 Lunge

Since Squats are out, today was a day of lunging.

Walking Lunges: BWx 1/2 length x 2
+50LBS X 1/2 length x 2

BB Lunges: 95x6 (total # of reps)
115x6
135x6, 2 (almost ate it, so I thought this was a good place to stop)

Hypers: 35, 30, 20, 15 (110 reps)

GHR Situps: 10x5

I go full retard whenever I do lunges, so this actually wasnt too bad. Dave is right in me needing to go heavy in order to get anything out of them though.

Also, Vit and Dave, the club sports meeting is this Thursday at 4 PM. I will check on location again, but I am assuming its in the Wooden Center.

Pics of Seattle Strength and Power

Front desk, behind are pictures of famous lifters from the gym


They set a few records.


Also, they won a few trophies. (I didn't get the second wall's worth in the picture)


Main portion of the gym viewed from the enterance


Main portion of the gym as viewed from the back


Back hallway for flipping fires and carrying things


Criticizing the squat example diagram (text reads:)
1. Not Deep Enough
2. Where are your shoes/boots?!
3. Why are you naked?
4. The bar is too high on your back
5. No belt - okay you get a little respect


It's okay only if you get 3 whites and it's a 3rd attempt or a record.


Not a Louie Simmons Exercise.


Poster on the wall describing a powerlifter's training philosophy.

For Nathan

Apparently Matt Rhodes will now be working at TPS as of 10/12. Another guy to learn stuff from.

Bench

Planned on doing shirt work today, but when I threw the Katana on, I couldn't get it seated correctly. I think I'll have to loosen the arms up some to slip in it better.

Band-Lightened Bench
Loose quadded purples
315 x 3
335 x 3, 2 + 1 fail
315 x 3, 2 sets

The right band was looser than the left, which drove me nuts.

Skull crushers:
did them with a parallel grip, which didn't seem to bother my elbow as much

some sets
155 x 6

Finished with some cable rows

Bench

Bench
warmups
190 x 2.9 PR -The spotter helped the bar up slightly on the 3rd rep even though it was moving upwards. I'm pretty sure I could've gotten it without help.

Bench (paused)
135 x 5 sets of 3

Skull crushers
70 x 4 x 10

Chinups
BW x 12, 12, 10, 10

10/3 Bench

Floor Press: (a ridiculous amount of warm up sets since I got there early)
185x3, 3
195x3, 3, 3

Reverse Purple Band Bench: 225x3, 3
235x3, 3

Parallel Bar SkullCrushers: 65x12
75x14 (Dave yelled at me for doing too many reps lol)
85x8

Cable Rows: 160x10
170x8x4

All in all it felt pretty good today. The floor presses felt really good now that I have figured out how to keep my scapulae tucked throughout the set. My pecs are completely fried right now though. Ugh.

Bench

10/3/09

Bench

warm-ups

225 x 3

Band-Lightened Bench

225 x 3

245 x 3

255 x 3

245 x 3

235 x 3

Parallel Grip Skull Crushers

65 x 6 x 3

Seated Cable Row

160 x 6

180 x 6

190 x 6

Close-Grip Lat Pulldown

160 x 6

Core Work

10/1 Rehab Deadlift

Deadlift: 110x10x4
130x10
160x10, 10
200x5 (an unattractive ass in my face was not conducive to this set)

DB Walking Lunge: 45'sx1/4 length, 1/8 length

Back Raises: 40, 30, 30

Rainbow Dragonfly Ponies: 6, 6

The deadlifts were done conventional, and felt like they were working my back, but not causing any pain. I will work up slowly this time, and get back to where I was before. And lunges still kick my ass.

Deadlift

Deadlift:
513 x 1
553 x 1
603 x 6

Going for 5, felt good, so I got a 6th. Thought about hitting a 7th, but didn't feel like so many reps

Stiff-Legged Deadlift:
223 x 8
313 x 8, 2 sets

Finished with hamstring curls and calves

Deadlift

Deadlift
warmups
343 x 5
283 x 3, 3

Still legged deads
175 x 8
185 x 8
195 x 8

Lying hamstrings
3 sets

supersetted w/ calves
2 sets

Deadlifts

10/1/09

Deadlifts

warm-ups

333 x 5

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts

155 x 6 x 3

Hamstring Curls superset Calf Extension

Bench

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

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

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

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

Finished with cable tricep extensions

Bench

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

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

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

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

9/30 Bench

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

Manpon Press: 205x3
225x3, 3, 3

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

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

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

Bench

9/30/09

Bench

205 x 5

205 x 5

215 x 3

Foam Roller Bench

215 x 3

225 x 3

235 x 3

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

45 x 5

60 x 5

60 x 5

Pullovers

65 x 8 x 3

Nathan : 9/29 & 9/30

▼ 1. 9/30/09 - Wed - BENCH

Weight: ??. Time: 2:00.

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

• Warm-up - bike 10 mins

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

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

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

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

• Dumbbell military press 60x5x5

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

• Dumbell rows 120x8x3

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

• Videos

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

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

▼ 2. 9/29/09 - Tue - CARDIO

Weight: ??. Time: 1:00.

• Cardio - bike 30 mins

• Flexibility - usual

Upper back

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

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

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

Uppr back

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

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

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

Chest supported rows:
180 x 10, 3 sets

Finished with some hammer curls

9/28 Back

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

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

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

Lying Pull-aparts: Purple x 15, 12

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

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

Nathan : 9/28

Weight: 219. Time: 2:15.

Squat day today.

Warm-up on bike for 10 mins

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

warm-up

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

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

245x2x2 @7 - Went back up

295x1, 315x1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

350x8? - Flip down the driveway one way.

450x3 or something - This was just dicking around.

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

warm-up

315+120x3x6 @8

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

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

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

35x12x3

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

Videos:

ssb squats, third set

ssb squats, fifth set

ssb squats, eighth set

ssb squats, second single

sumo dead, third set

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

9/26, 9/28

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

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

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

9/28 - TPS

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

Tire flipping: 350x2, x7x2, 450x2xFAIL

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

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

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

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

Squat

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

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

Box squats
135 x 8, 8, 8

Ball reverse hypers
3 sets

ME Squat

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

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

Box Squat:
225 x 8

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

Finished with some ball reverse hypers

9-28

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

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

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

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

Nathan : 9/24 - 9/26

▼ 1. 9/26/09 - Sat - BENCH LOCKOUT

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

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

  No videos today -- battery is dead.

• Warm-up on bike 10 mins

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

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

• Floor press warm-up, 225x4x6 @10

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

• Dips bw+45x6x4

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

• Pull-ups bw+25x6x3, bwx8

▼ 2. 9/25/09 - Fri - DEADLIFT

Weight: ??. Time: 1:30.

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

• Warm-up on bike 10 mins

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

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

20090925-conv dead warm up 365x4

20090925-conv dead first set 385x4

20090925-conv dead second set 385x4

20090925-conv dead fifth set 405x4

20090925-conv dead sixth set 405x4

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

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

• Rack pull 2'' below knee

Skipped.

• Abs - V-ups

Skipped.

▼ 3. 9/24/09 - Thu - CARDIO

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

• Bike - cardio 30 mins

• Flexibility - usual

Deadlift

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

Back raises
BW x 3 x 35

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

9-25

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bench

Bench
warmup
175 x 5, 5, 4

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

Incline dumbbell presses
70s x 5, 5, 4

Dips
BW x 10, 8, 8, 10

RE Deadlift

Deadlift
545 x 1
585 x 5 @ 9

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

Glute Thrusts
315 x 8
365 x 8, 3 sets

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

Finished with some hamstring curls to flush the blood.

9-23

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

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

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

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

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

ME Bench

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

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

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

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

Felt CNS exhaustion set in on the last set

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

Nathan : 9/22 & 9/23

▼ 1. 9/23/09 - Wed - BENCH

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

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

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

Speed work.

• Incline bench warm-up, 225x5x5 @ 8

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

• Dumbell press 50x7x4 @ 9-10

• Chest-supported row 80x8x4 @ 8-9

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

▼ 2. 9/22/09 - Tue - CARDIO

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

  Right side/lower back still killing me.

• Cardio - bike ~35 mins

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

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

hip flexors

Should do the lying glute more regularly.

Club Sports Jamboree

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

LE uppr back

Low volume since I'm pulling this week


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

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

Finished with incline curls and band pull aparts

Upper back

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

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

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

Barbell curls
75 x 10, 10, 9

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

9-21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squat

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

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

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

Leg press
360 x 7, 7, 7

Hanging leg raises
3 x 20

RE Squat

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

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

Squats
405 x 5
415 x 5
425 x 5

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

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

Also pretty decent.

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

Finished with ball reverse hypers and cable abs superset