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.