Chalk Road Anthem

11-21-11

No videos because I forgot to charge my ipod. Good workout. Hit the reps I needed and got out basically today. Someone told me I was squatting too deep. I took that as a compliment, and kept hitting depth.

Front Squat
1x 65x5
2x 135x5
2x 185x5
5x 230x3

Bench
1x 135x5
1x 185x3
1x 235x3
4x 255x3
1x 205x12

11-22-11

Trained today with a former training partner. Nice change of pace from lifting alone. Also humbling to work with someone stronger than myself in many lifts. Today’s workout we were very even which made it fun, but tough because we both have neglected conditioning of late.

Overhead Press
1x 135x5
4x 155x3
1x 135x5

One-arm DB row supersetted by one-arm standing DB press
100’s x 10, 40’s x 10
100’s x 10, 50’s x 8
100’s x 10, 50’s x 10
100’s x 10, 50’s x 10
100’s x 10 (50’x 15 row superset), 50’s x 10

Farmer’s Walk
2x 100’s x 40ish yards
Partner relay 100’s 3x25yards

DB row killed my grip. I had to regrip a few times on the later sets, and the farmer’s walk was much more difficult. Had to battle for 40 yards. Much different when fresh.

Solid workout. Hope to crush deadlifts tomorrow.

11-23-11

Took my time. Long workout before Thanksgiving.

Bench
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3 (all touch and go)

Deadlift
1x 135x5
1x 225x5
2x 315x3
3x 375x3 (video of 3rd set)

Bench
5x 225x3
5x 275x1 (Paused singles)

Cross body curls
30’s x 10

Incline Bench Press
135x5
205x5

Reverse EZ curl
25’s on each side x 10

Gironda Neck Press
155x10

11-25-11

I will upload videos later on today

BW: 186

Bench
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3 (touch and go)
305x1 PR (touch and go)

Front Squat
2x 135x5
1x 185x5
5x 235x3

Things I learned from this workout:

  1. Going for a bench 1RM PR with no spotter or even another person in the room is scary. I felt like I was going to throw up before attempting 305, but I enjoyed the dangerous challenge. Hope to attempt 315 in the next few weeks and I will be smarter about having a spotter regardless of my confidence.
  2. Blasting music on my ipod during heavy front squats may be my new favorite activity at the gym besides yoga pants sightings.

11-26-11

Bench - 3x 205x12
Pullups - 2x5
Overhead Press 3x 140x5
Front Squat - 1x 140x10
Incline Bench - 2x 210x5
Gironda Neck Press - 160x10

11-28-11

Bench
135x5
185x3
225x3
10x 255x3 ((3x(reg grip, close grip, feet in air/ reg grip); reg grip))

Front Squat

2x 135x5
1x 185x5

Spent too much energy on bench, decided to contine front squats next day.

11-29-11

Overhead Press
4x 145x5

Front Squat
1x 135x5
1x 185x5
1x 240x3
1x 240x2 fail rep

Back Squat
1x 240x3

Felt like crap and gave up on this workout.

11-30-11

Drank a lot of coffee to break my streak of bad workouts. It worked.

Bench
1x 135x5
1x 185x3
1x 225x3
2x 280x3 (t&g)
1x 280x1 (Paused single)

Deadlift
1x 135x5
3x 225x5
1x 315x3
…switched to mix grip
1x 315x5
2x 365x3
2x 385x3

Incline Bench
210x6

Great workout. 280 felt easier than 275 felt last time for the triples and the paused single. The six reps of 210 on incline were also easier than the five reps last time. Felt good to pull 385 for a triple.
2x 385x3

12-01-11

Pullups - 5x5
Overhead Press - 6x 145x5
Overhead barbell carry - 135 for about 35-40 yards

12-02-11

BW: 185.5

Front Squat
2x 135x5
2x 185x5
5x 240x3
2x 185x5

Pullups - 3x5

Bench
1x 135x5
1x 185x3
1x 225x3
2x 285x3 (t&g)
1x 285x1 (Paused single)

Incline Bench
135x5
215x5

This workout was pretty tough. I had to really mentally focus for each of the front squat triples. The triples on bench were real bad grinders on the third rep. The paused single wasn’t a fast rep, but I had good form and didn’t grind. My shoulders were feeling very sore today from the overhead carry the day before, so I’ll take it.

Have not updated log in forever. I’ll just summarize the past week. Last week turned into a “deload” week. I was just really tired. I wasn’t sure how to do a deload week, so it became more of a experiment week with trying different lifts and just scaling back the intensity by doing a lot of singles and resting a long time between sets. Decided I’m going to add more powercleans and box squats to my training along with random bicep work that I’ve been neglecting mostly up until recently.

Last night’s workout in summary: I worked up to 275x4 on bench, a 435 deadlift, and 95x8 curl

Ok, I’m going to stop being lazy and update this log after every workout.

12-17-11

Got to the gym twice today. Solid stuff for the most part.

first workout:
7x 5 pullups
5x 145x5 overhead press
1x 155x5 overhead press
deadlift - 155x5, 225x5, 315x5
rack pull from knee level - 365x3, 405x2, 2x 455x1
curl- 95x10

second workout:
3x 5 pullups
3x 205x12 bench
EZ bar curl - 35’s on each side x 10, x8
2x 135x12 gironda neck press

12-19-11

Time to get that squat respectable - Hit the gym for squats only tonight for about an hour
First 20 minutes warmed up with triples of 135 and 185 until I felt warmed up. Then spent the final 40 minutes doing triples with 225. Most sets were box squats about 2 inches below parallel, some were without box. Probably 10 sets or so total with 225.

12-21-11

Random bench workout…worked up to 275x3 on flat and 225x3 on incline. Wasn’t feeling this workout. did some easy sets after that.

12-22-11

Solid deadlift workout

Deadlift:
(started off with hook grip)
3x 135x3
2x 185x3
2x 225x3
2x 275x2
(switched to mix grip)
3x 315x2
2x 365x2
1x 405x2
2x 455x0

Curl - 95x10

I like the hook grip better than regular double overhand. I’m definitely going to keep that on warmup sets.
315 felt like air today. Left a lot in the tank on the 365 sets, and even 405 had another rep in the tank. So that part of the workout was excellent, but then I thought I could get 455 for sure, but both times got stuck right at the top of my knees. That damn lockout. Gotta keep hitting the rack pulls and rows. I wanna get past 455 and on to focusing on 495/500.

I’ve decided to dedicate some time to a 5/3/1 program. I wasn’t sure about this program at first, but the more I think about it, the more I realize Jim Wendler is much smarter than me. So we start with squats tonight.

01-16-12

Warmed up with foam roll, 3 minutes on the stairmaster, a few medicine ball throws, a brief stretch, a set of extremely light goblet squats, and 3 sets of 5 reps squatting 135.
5/3/1 time
Squats - 3x5+
185x5
210x5
235x12

Front Squat - 2x 135x10
Squat - 155x10

Wanted to do more assistance work, but that 12 rep took a lot out of me, and I felt like I got what I needed at this point. Thinking of going for the Boring But Big template for squats next time.

01-17-12

BW: 188.5

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, 5x5 pullups, 2 sets of 5 benching 135

5/3/1 Bench
3x5+

185x5
215x5
235x12

3x 285x1 (Paused)
more bench - 5x 155x10 alternated with dumbbell row - 5x 85x10

YES. My squat is that horrendous that I hit the same 12-rep on bench. I used 215 on my second set instead of 210 just because the 5 lb plates were more convenient. Solid workout. I like 5/3/1 so far. It’s deceptive how simple hard work can be.

Thursday will be deadlifts. I haven’t done high rep deadlifts really ever. Usually stick to doubles and triples after warming up. So should be interesting.

01-18-12

Easy conditioning workout.
Started with 3 minutes on the stairmaster, then alternated between 20 rep leg press with light weight and 5 neutral grip pullups. Probably around 8 sets of each…Then 2x 100 meter farmer’s walk with 45lb in each hand.
Workout wasn’t challenging, but I felt the need to do something today. I need to start doing more conditioning again, but I want to be conservative through my first week of 5/3/1. Deadlifts tomorrow!

01-19-12

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, a few medicine ball throws
deadlift - 3x 135x5, 5 pullups, deadlift - 5x 225x3

5/3/1 Deadlift - conventional, raw, chalk
3x5+

255x5
295x5
335x12 (video below)
form definitely broke down…I need to really strengthen my hips and glutes and keep my hips lower to get better at this lift, but it was a solid effort, so I’ll take it for today.

sumo deadlift - 3x 225x10

01-20-12

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, a few medicine ball throws,…
Incline Bench Press -
2x 45x15
2x 135x5

Incline Bench 5/3/1
3x5+

145x5
175x5
190x13 (video below)

I was only going to count as 12 reps because the 13th felt ugly, but looking at the video, I stayed on the bench better than I thought, so I’ll count all 13… I’m proud of that set because it wasn’t that long ago that I was struggling to hit bodyweight inlcine bench for 5 reps, and this was 13 of just above bodyweight.

Overhead Press -
95x5
105x5

Overhead Press 5/3/1
3x5+

115x5
125x5
145x10 (video below)

Wasn’t too bad fitting two 5/3/1 workouts in one workout even though they overlap. I just didn’t get to do any assistance work. May try to sneak a mini workout in tomorrow for stuff I missed, but I plan to keep it brief because I want to take advantage of the rest 5/3/1 allows.

01-21-12

I decided to do some back work. I wanted to do more during the week, so I snuck this workout in today. Previously, I was not a big fan of the lat pulldown machine, but if used right can lead to a good back workout. This was a little more bodybuilder style than I usually train (shorter rest, high reps, focus on muscle contraction).

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, 5 pullups, 5 neutral grip pullups

Lat Pulldown -

1 really slow rep to get all the back muscles going

3x15 - paused, wide grip

1 slow rep

1x15 touch and go reps

3x15 - close grip, palms toward body

a few sets of moderate weight incline bench and flat bench to rest back

v-grip lat pulldown -

stack + (about 210-220) x 7, drop set - half stack x 10

half stack x 15

5 neutral grip pullups

50 pushups when I got home

Completely resting tomorrow. Looking forward to squats on Monday.

01-23-12
Warmup: foam roll, 3 min stairmaster, medicine ball throws, squat - 3x 135x5
5/3/1 Squats
3x3+
195x3
225x3
250x7 (ahhh, terrible setlost my balance on rep two, breathing was out of synch, just a bad set, and I set up the camera terribly on the video.)

Box squats - 3x 155x10
Called it a day. I know what I got to do to have a better squat workout. I’ll be more prepared next time. Hopefully can get a respectful squat soon with some work.

01-24-12
Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, 10x 5 pullups (Sets: 7 reg grip, 2 neutral, 1 chinup grip), bench - 3x 135x5
5/3/1 Bench
3x3+
200x3
225x3
250x9
5x 160x10
BW: 192.0 (I Finally weigh over 190; 200 is in sight! Haha.)
Pretty good workout.

01-26-12

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, 5 pullups, deadlift - a few sets with 145 and a few sets with 225.

5/3/1 Deadlifts - conventional, raw, chalk

3x3+

275x3
315x3
355x7 (I went a bit more conservative. Better form this time)

sumo - 2x 315x3
conventional - 2x 315x3
Romanian (deficit) - 3x 145x5 (Yes, very light, but I actually got my weak glutes and hammies to feel it by focusing more.)

curl - 3x 90x8 (I need to get better at this. I realized today it is pathetic that I can’t curl 135. So I’m going to try to find a way to do more bicep work. I just always have trouble putting it in a program properly.)

01-27-12

Warmup: 3 min stairmaster, 6x 5 pullups, incline bench - 5x 135x5

5/3/1 Incline Bench
3x3

155x3
185x3
200x8
Then I decided to not be a pussy…
200x10

Reverse Curl - 25’s on the EZ bar x 10

I wimped out on the 200 set at first. I’m not completely sure why. So I redid the set, and got the 10 reps by focusing, and telling myself I didn’t want to go home on such a shitty note.

No video because I took a video of the first set of 200, and don’t care to upload it. I’m just glad I got the 10 reps I was aiming for because that bodes well for the future.