Deadlift

Deadlift
lots of warm up
310x3
330x3
360x3
380x3
380x2


Cleans
135x5
165x3
185x1
195x1
200x1
These were "real" cleans...I've been working on them to get form down the last few weeks. I'm finally starting to understand how to really get down under the weight and "catch" it on the shoulders. Also, my flexibility is getting way better so I can get all the way down and still keep my back straight. Next week I will be working a full clean and jerk. Hopefully I don't hurt myself, someone on the leg press, or break a mirror.

Cleans are fun. And I think I want to do an olympic lifting competition sometime in the future..


Stability bench
Curls
Plate raises
Abs

Deadlift

Deadlifting two days after a heavy squat day was a bit rough. Lower back was at 90%.

Deadlift:
575 x 5



Fairly pleased. My upper back rounds a bit more than I would like. Hopefully some work with the SS-bar and more heavy DB-rows will improve this.

Deadlift off Blocks:
Todd set these up in an intentionally horrible spot for me where the bar was right below the knees. Lots of hips and the movement started with me grinding my hands into my thighs. Definitely a good spot to work on in the future.

405 x 3
495 x 3
545 x 3
595 x 3

Todd also suggestion holding the last rep for 5 seconds to work on grip strength. My hands hurt.

Good Mornings:
225 x 12
275 x 10-12, 3 sets

Feeling pretty beat up by this point. Just got in some light movements.

Finished with hyperextensions.

Deadlift

Good luck to everyone competing on Saturday!

Deadlift
185 x 5
225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
(belt on)
285 x 3
305 x 3
315 x 1
325 x 1

Good Mornings
95 x 8
115 x 8, 8

Power cleans
135 x 5, 5
145 x 3

Kneeling abs
3 sets of 15

7/16

▼ 1. 7/16/09 - Thu - MISC/CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 219 (morning). Time: 1:00. This is the most I've weighed in the morning in a long time. I'm getting fat. Hooray. Feeling really beat up. Upper back very sore from yesterday.

• A: Foam roll lower back

• A: Dumbell pullovers 40x10x3 + 15 lb stretch each hand

To stretch back/tricep area.

• A: Dislocates with mini band

• Cardio - walking 15 mins @ 4.5 mph

Extra light cardio since I feel really beat up.

• Stretching - gastroc, adductors on leg press, hamstrings, seated groin, hip flexors, IT band

Everything is so sore that stretching is intensely uncomfortable -- the way it is when you haven't stretched in months. It really sucked.

7/15/09

• Sled drag: 90x down&back x2, 180x down&back x1

• Deadlift to knees: 135x5, 160x4, 185x4x2, 200x4x4

• Bench: 45x5, 55x5, 65x6, 75x5, 85x4x2, 95x3x2, 100x2x2, 105x1x2, 100x2x2, 95x3x2, 85x4, 80x6, 65x7

These felt pretty good, form looked solid.

Nathans: "You should get 4hours sleep more often."

• DB bench: 20x10x5

• Deadlift from knees: 135x5, 160x5, 185x3x2, 215x4x4

Straps on after first set of 4, so as the pain in my hands would not distract me from form.

• Lunges: BWx10x5

• Abs: {raised leg x20, bicycle x20, v-ups +10lbs x10} x 3

Ran out of time.

7-11, 7-13, 7-16

7-11

Snatch 77/2 88/2 100/1 x 3
Sn. pull 110/2 x 3
Jerk 95/3 105/2 x 2
P. Cl. 95/3 x 2
Back squat 125/3 142/2 x 3
Bench 135/6 155/4 185/4 x 2


7-13

Snatch 77/2 x 3 88/1 x 5
C&J 95/1+2 x 2 105/1 x 2
Front squat 132/2 x 3

7-16

Not great, but not completely shitty test day:

Snatch 105, 110-miss, 112-miss, 112-miss, 100, 105, 112-miss
Really annoying to regress on the snatch. I felt like I wasn't quite catching the bar properly. I need to work on my pull at the very top, which I think I'm cutting a little when I do snatch pulls. It leaves the bar slightly forward, which actually manifested itself in some of my warm ups. Also, I need to make sure my catch at the bottom is more upright and solid in general. This will be fixed in the upcoming phase.

Clean and Jerk 125, 130, 132-miss, 135-miss
Not that bad, at least I got 132. In this case I think definintely the lack of food and my odd hydration status (I've been drinking a shitload of water) may have come into play. I got 132 overhead though, my left leg just spasmed and gave out once the bar was fixed. I'll only be making some slight modifications to my clean and jerk training for the next test competition.

On the last note, I'm not cutting weight for any future competitions other than this upcoming powerlifting meet. It's definitely affected me already. I'm simply not strong enough for the cut to matter in competition anyway, so I'm not going to bother. I can't keep not setting PRs for stupid reasons. If I want to actually get anywhere I need to just be smart and consistent. When I'm strong like Dave I'll cut weight. For now I'll just GFH.

7/15

▼ 1. 7/15/09 - Wed - SHEIKO #14

Weight: 226 (after gym, dinner). Time: 2:30.

  Don't know how to feel about this weight. Success, I guess? I should weigh a lot less tomorrow morning. Another day that I didn't have nearly enough time. I need to stop this shit. Lower back feeling terrible from Monday.

• Sled 90x2 trips, 180x2 trips

• A: Deadlift to knees 135x5, 225x5, 275x4 (50), 335x4 (60), 385x4x2 (70), 415x4x4 (75)

After first set, I thought there was no way I could do deadlifts today. My lower back was killing me. So I foam rolled like crazy and my back felt better. I really destroyed it on Monday, and it actually felt good through deadlifts. Just definitely on the brink of feeling really really awful.

• A: Foam roll

• Bench 155x6 (50), 185x5 (60), 215x4x2 (70), 225x3x2 (75), 245x2x2 (80), 

260x1x2 (85), 245x2x2 (80), 225x3x2 (75), 215x4 (70), 195x6 (65), 

165x7 (55)

I was benching on this terrible bench that slipped all the time. It was bad. But still got all my sets fairly easily.

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• Deadlift from knees 335x5 (60), 385x3x2 (70), 440x4x4 (80)

Easy. The bar moves like 2-3 inches. These hurt the back a little bit more just because it was tired, but not an injury or anything.

• B: Lunges 135x5, 45x5x4

Back feeling bad, so I dropped to stupid weight for these.

• B: Foam roll back

• Decline abs 60x10, 40x10x2

60 felt a little heavy, I was past the closing time for the gym so I was really sprinting at this point. Dropped weight again.

DL and BP trening

Added a bit of assistance DL shit in today because I'm going down to watch TREY, PHIL, and JAKE dominate in San Diego on Saturday (we are leaving Friday).

Extra WIDE Stiff Leg Sumo Deadlifts:
209 X 5
275 X 5 (2 sets)
319 X 5 (2 sets)
352 X 5
275 X 5
Dave Muro preaches these for the hamstrings/hips and they felt pretty good.

ME Floor Press w/wide grip:
255 X 1, 285 X 1, 305 X 1, 315 X 0
275 X 3
A lot harder than expected.

Dumbbell Bench:
80s X 8, 95s X 8, 115s X 6, 115s X 6

Incline Dumbbell Bench:
80s X 8, 90s X 8

Home Made Reverse Hypers (no, we don't have one. but the english guy got creative and threw some boxes under our GHR and apparently it feels just like a rev hyper)
Stability Bench
Chain Drag

Bench + UW Gym Review

Went to UW's gym because I don't have a key to S S&P. Got in late, so the entire workout was rushed in 50 minutes.

Bench:
Shoulder started hurting 2 days ago when I wasn't doing anything, so I avoid any long pauses at the bottom.

275 x 5
285 x 5
275 x 5

Standing Press:
135 x 5
185 x 2 (ughh)
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 4 + 1 fail

I need to do these more often. Especially in the 175 range where I tend to get stuck.

Close-grip Pin Presses:
These were really low on the pins, almost touching my chest

225 x 5, 4 sets

Doing these third seemed to make it much more difficult.

Finished with side deltoid raises and seated abs

---

UW's gym is ridiculous. It's easily 3 times the size of UCLA's. I counted 8 platforms, each with a squat rack, and another 4 free standing squat racks. Then there were 12 benches. Also all the racks has pins for attaching bands. They had 3 dumbbell sets, one of which went up to 125. It seemed like 30% of their plates were bumper plates as well. Two GHRs as well. No reverse-hyper though.

The only bad side was that the place was so big, getting to the water fountain or the bathroom was like going to the moon. The place itself is gigantor with dedicated indoor archery ranges(?!), judo rooms, and even some sort of food place where you can get smoothies made for you.

Best part: they had a giant chalk bowl sitting in the middle of the gym for all to use.

UW >>> UCLA

Bench

Bench (paused)
warmup
135 x 5, 5, 5
115 x 8, 8

Incline bench press
95 x 8
115 x 7, 7

Dumbbell shoulder press
35s x 10
40s x 8, 8

Rope pushdowns
3 sets of 15

Last Two Workouts

Tuesday 7/14:

Cardio: 32 mins elliptical
Stretching

Monday 7/13: Sheiko

Warmup: Hang Snatches, Drop snatches
P.Snatch: 65x4x3
P.Clean + jerk: 95x4x3

Squat: 45x5, 95x5, 115x4x2, 135x3x2, 155x3x3, , 155x3x2
Difficult squat day, but made them all.

Bench: 45x5, 65x5, 75x4, 85x3x2, 100x3x5
Worked on form, grip, and leg drive. Don't yet have the physical awareness to actually use it properly.

DB bench: 20sx10x5

Squat: 95x5, 114x5, 135x5x5
&&
Clap pushups: BWx10x5

Good mornings: 45x5x5

7/15

Top sets today are:

Squat: 210x5
Bench: 190x5
SLDL: 250x5
BB Row: 175x5
PBN: 110x5
BB Curl: 80x5

I added 1 warm-up set and one working set of BB curls to the end. I have been getting injured by neglecting to train things, so I figured that I probably shouldnt make that mistake again.

And for the record, the only gear I am using is wrist wraps for the bench press, PBN, and curl as well as knee sleeves for the squat. No belt, no suits or shirts.

Squat

First day of training over at Seattle Strength and Power. Amazing gym, with a set up much like Olympia Barbell (i.e. basement). Bands, chains, boxes, all the bars you could want - they have it all. The walls are lined with trophies and pictures of their record lifts. It's a great place and I'll post pictures here later.

Squat
405 x 5
425 x 5
455 x 3, 2 sets

Three USAPL judges train there and commented that my squats were deep enough. Apparently, I was just at parallel on the first rep, but buried all the others. I think I may be a bit too hesitant. I ordered some Versus lifting shoes so hopefully they come in time for next week's squat workout.

SS-Bar box squat:
13" box (measured); no belt
145 x 8
195 x 8
225 x 8
245 x 8

Lower back felt a bit exhausted from the squatting so I didn't push it on these. Focused mostly on working the adductors and hips. Also SS-bar seems to be great for the core, so I will probably stick with it for my beltless box squats.

Finished with a few sets of seated good mornings and reversed hyperextensions (w00t). Also, standing cable abs.

Upper Back

T-bar rows
135 x 5
145 x 5
155 x 5, 5

Dumbbell rows
90 x 10, 10, 10

Wide grip pullups
BW x 8, 7, 7

Barbell Shrugs
185 x 15, 15, 15, 20

LAST TWO WORKOUTS

▼ 1. 7/14/09 - Tue - CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: ?? Time: 1:00.

  Feeling pretty sore/tired from yesterday. Iced knees today and took ibuprofen to hopefully recover a bit by tomorrow. Today was 100% recovery day, used a lighter setting on the bike.

• Cardio - bike 25 mins

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

▼ 2. 7/13/09 - Mon - SHEIKO #13

Weight: ??. Time: 2:15.

  Today was HARD. Especially because of the time constraint I put myself in -- only had a little over 2 hours to do the whole workout. No knee sleeves today.

• Prowler 70 # x 2 trips

Feeling very cold to start, so I did one set with prowler and that got me going.

• Squat 135x5x3, lunges, 225x5 (50), 275x4x2 (60), 315x3x2 (70), 365x3x5 

(80)

Form feels more solid, but squats still feel difficult. I am beginning to suspect that my squat max for this cycle was too high, even though I cut it by 10 lbs because I took off the Inzer knee sleeves. Belted 315 and up.

• Bench 155x5 (50), 185x4 (60), 215x3x2 (70), 245x3x5 (80)

Even the bench felt a little rough.

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• A: Dips BWx8x5

• A: Squat 225x5 (50), 275x5 (60), 315x5x5 (70)

The 315 sets were hard. This was when I started having to cut rest a lot to get all my sets in. I was already feeling like a tired-ish day, so this just killed me. Belted last three sets.

• B: Good mornings 135x5x5

• B: Lunges BWx15x4

@ Vit: The reason Sheiko is exciting is because of days like these, when you feel there is no way in hell you can get all your reps, but you power through and get 'em anyway.

Squat Trening

Squat:
345 X 3
345 X 3
345 X 5
315 X 6

Hip Belt Squat:
These are pretty crazy. We got the apparatus and set up from the English guy at our gym.
4 sets of 8

Hamstring Curls
Calves
Barbell Shrugs
Abs

***Bicep Tearing Deadlift at USPF Nationals.

Final Sheiko Workout

I haven't been doing this Sheiko program for long, but I've realized that these workouts are just too long and monotonous for me. I almost left halfway through today's workout because I really wasn't looking forward to any exercises I was doing. The whole workout really felt like a chore to do and I doubt that I can keep this up for another 10 weeks. I know that people have used the programs with great success, but I don't see how I can make progress if my head isn't in the workouts.

I'm probably going to switch back to a 4 day squat/bench/dead/upper back split, but I'll try to incorporate more high volume/low intensity work on deadlift day to address my form. Also, mad props to Nathan for having the discipline to be doing Sheiko programs for so long.

Training and stuff

After falling off the grid, I decided to post now that I have a definite training program. I re-tweaked my lower back again and it is still in the process of healing. I just neglected doing a lot of ab/low back work and it flared up again while I was doing rack pulls.

I'm going to the gym 6 days a week: 3 lifting and 3 swimming. Swimming is light stuff - just to stretch out and get in some cardio.

Lifting is actually the program that was featured in this article. It focuses on the basic exercises and should build good overall strength. It goes like this:
Warm-up - 1 x 20
Squat - 5 x 5
Bench press - 5 x 5
Stiff-leg dead lift - 5 x 5
Barbell rowing - 5 x 5
Press behind neck - 5 x 5
Leg raises 1 x 25

The first two sets are light and the next 3 are heavier, ramping up to a max set of 5 for the day (increasing in pounds or reps each session).

Today's top sets were (light for squats, sldl's and rows b/c of back)
Squat: 205x5
Bench: 185x5
SLDL: 245x5
BB Row: 170x5
PBN: 105x5

Last 3 Workouts + Tourney

Wednesday 7/8:

Sled drag: +90 down and back x2x2
Tried to sprint as much as possible. Will be alternating this with oly and prowler as warmup.

DL to knees:
135x4, 160x4x2, 185x4x4
This was hard for me to just stop at the knees, got the knack of it by the last two sets.

Bench:
45x5, 65x5, 80x5, 85x5x4

DB bench:
25sx20x5

DL:
135x4, 160x4, 185x3x2, 200x3, , 200x3x4
Focused more on keeping my back tight and straight, rather than arched, which screws me up.

Lunges:
BWx up and back x 3


Thursday 7/9:

Missed touch.
Cardio: 33mins elliptical, fast. Stretch.


Friday 7/10:

Prowler: +50, high down and low back x5
Low grip is brutal, my quads were practically fried by the end. Great training for pushing the rucks.

P. Snatches:
65x4x4

Hang Clean to Front Squat:
75?x4x8
I felt quite unstable in my sneakers instead of the usual chucks. Hurr.

DB press && SL Stiff-legged RDLs:
25x8x3
45x8eax3

Sand bag slam:
25x10, 30x10, 35x10
Murph: "You shouldn't be lifting that, it's too heavy!" /sarcasm

Raised leg, bicycle crunches and v-ups with 10lb? medicine ball. Reached way back on each v-up.
Stretched for a long while.


SATURDAY'S A RUGBY DAY:

Acton 10's Tournament 7/11, played winger all day.

1st Match vs. Worcester: 5 - 10 L
I scored the first try of the match, and even made the cocky move of running around to touch it down in the middle of the uprights, but we didn't make the kick. They scored before the half, then myself, Tammy and one more subbed out. They scored in the second and won. Smitty noted later that if they kept myself and Tammy in, we would have won that game. I kinda agree.

2nd match vs Brooklyn: 42-0 W
We ran all over these guys, but alas, no tries for me. Almost all of them were received off the kickoff and run up the entire field in one go. Zoe made some nice kicks and tackles.

This placed us in the cup finals (top 8 of the 16 teams)! We've never made the cup before. We arrive at the field to play Providence. Turns out we are instead playing Beantown (the best women's team in the country). Oh goodie.

3rd match vs Beantown blue(?): 0 - 24 L
Eh.

No more rugby until after the meet in August.

LAST TWO WORKOUTS

▼ 1. 7/11/09 - Sat - CARDIO/FLEXIBILITY

Weight: ??. Time: 0:30.

  Really fast "cardio" day before seeing movie with Dee. <3 >

• Cardio - bike 15 mins

• Stretch - soleus, gastroc, adductors on machine, seated groin, hip flexors

▼ 2. 7/10/09 - Fri - SHEIKO #12

Weight: 214. Time: 2:30.

  Today went pretty well, even if it wasn't super easy. I feel like I got my squat form back under control. I also didn't budget time very well today, and ended up sprinting through the last parts and supersetting them. Oh well.

  I also didn't mess up my adductors doing the faster drop with the 'old style', which I was slightly worried about. Yay.

• Prowler +50 lbs x 2 trips x 2

Grab high down, low on the way back. Prower is harrrrdddd.

• Squat 225x5 (50), 275x4 (60), 315x3x2 (70), 340x3x6 (75)

• Bench 155x6 (50), 185x5 (60), 215x4 (70), 225x3x3 (75), 245x2x2 (80), 

260x1x2 (85), 245x2x2 (80), 225x4 (75), 215x5 (70), 185x6 (60), 155x7 

(50)

• Dumbell bench 50x10x5

• A: Squat 245x3 (55), 295x3 (65), 340x2x4 (75)

• A: Dips bw x 8 x 5

• B: Good mornings 135x5x5

• B: Lunges bw x 12 x 3

Cooldown for squat.