Chasing Records

Just posted a new video, show me some love. Still doing some squats, benching twice a week, and doing a little bit of running as well, albeit in a slightly conditioning based fashion than I usually do. I’m not going to be able to crank out 3 sets of 10 at 405 on the squat like I had hoped, but I’m still going to be able to take a crack at hitting it for one set. My last session was with 385 so next week will be 395 and then I’ll go for it. Here’s my training from this past week:

Sun: Comp. Bench- (230 x 3,3,3,3,3) (235 x 3,3,3) (240 x 2,2)
Slingshot bench - (250 x 5,5,5,5,5)
Face pull - (170 x 13,13,13,13,13)
Skull crusher - (85 x 12,12,12,12,12
Curl - (85 x 12,12,12,12,12)
Tricep ext - 20,20,20,20,20

Mon: Swings - (100 x 20,20,20,20,20)
Plank - 35 sec, 35, 35, 35, 35

Tues: Squat - (385x10) (365x10) (345x10)
RDL - (135x15) (205x10) (245x10)
Single leg RDL - (50x10) (70x10) (90x10) (110x10) (120x10)
Plank - 35 sec, 35, 35, 35, 35

Wed: Comp. Bench - (215 x 5,5,5,5,5)
Incline bench - (170 x 8,8,8,8,8)
DB bench - (80s x 11,10,10,10,9)
Incline DB bench (65s x 10,10,9,8,8)
Close grip bench - (185 x 7,6,5,4)
Skull crusher - (80 x 12,12,12,12,12)
Face pull - (180 x 12,12,12,12,12,10,10,10,10)
Curl - (80 x 12,12,12,12,12)

Thurs: I’ll be running some mid distance shuttles. The first one will be 300 yards by way of running a 30 yard stretch 10 times. Last week I did this in 53 seconds. My ultimate goal is to do it in 45. After the first run, I can’t go 300 yards anymore so I only go about 180 or 240.

That’s all I got for now.

Knocked out some solid front squats last weekend. I finally got to slap that 3rd wheel on the bar. Also had a pretty solid bench session on Sunday. The video linked here isn’t Sunday’s bench session, but is actually last Wednesday’s volume session.

Sat: Front squat (315)- 5,5,5,5,5 (pretty easy)
RDL- 155x10, 225x10, 255x10
1-arm DB snatch- 50x5, 60x5, 70x5, 80x5
‘Single leg’ RDL- 60x10, 80x10, 100x10, 120x10

Sun: Pause bench- (235)- 3,3,3,3,3, (240)- 3,3,3, (245)- 2,2
Close grip bench (205)- 5,5,5,5,5
Row(200)- 10,10,10,10,10,10
Skull crusher(90)- 12,12,12,12,12
Curl(90)- 12,12,12,12,12
Tricep ext.- 20,20,20,20,20

That’s all for now. Squats later today.

Training Update, new video, prolotherapy

New video is up on my channel. I get asked all the time how to stop the hips from shooting up during a squat, so here’s my take on that question.

Other than that, I recently started training in a new gym. It’s a pretty cool spot. It’s got a small turf track with sleds and farmer’s walk implements so that’s nice. But it’s got a few stupid rules that are deal breakers for me so I’ll be switching up again as soon as the 2 months I jumped the gun in paying for are up lol. Training is going decently. My hamstring is still a little fucked up which is preventing me from deadlifting so last week I got my first round of prolotherapy injections into the tendon. I’m hopeful thus far. I’d like to compete again in December so it would be nice to finally get back to 100% again once I start training hard for the meet. It’s been a long time.

For now, I’m going to focus on what I can do without irritating the tendon. As far as lower body stuff goes, that’s mostly front squatting, sled pushing/dragging, farmer’s walks, and easier posterior chain work, such as hyperextensions, glute-ham raises, and some lighter RDL’s. Yesterday’s session went…

Front squat- 335lbs x 5,5,5,5 (pretty solid)
RDL- 225x8, 255x8, 285x8
Farmer’s walk- (145lbs per hand x 20 yards, 2 times), (155lbs per hand x 20 yards, 2 times), (165lbs per hand x 20 yards, 2 times), (175lbs per hand x 20 yards, 2 times)
Backwards sled drag- 180lbs x 20 yards, 5 times

The farmer’s walk implements are great and I plan to utilize them to the fullest while I have access to them. My upper back, lats, traps, and forearms are all sore as hell today which is great. My right hand (the same one that caused me to miss my 584 pull in my last meet) had a tough time holding onto the 175lbs implement during my last set so this should be a great way to build up my grip and hopefully make it a non-factor at my next meet. For now I’ve set the goal of walking with 200lbs per hand for sets of 20 yards (the track is only 20 yards long). And once I get there, we’ll see what’s next.

Other than that, I’m hoping to get back to get back to sumo pulling so I can bring my deadlift back up to where it should be and stop shortchanging my damn total. But for that to be a possibility, I need a healthy hamstring again.

Scratch what I said in the last post. I managed to do farmer’s walks with 205lbs per hand like 2 days later and it wasn’t even hard. Looks like I need to set a higher goal.

EMOM Deadlifts 415lbs

My hamstring is starting to come around after only one treatment with the prolotherapy. It’s been almost 3 weeks since I had the injection and I’m scheduled to have another one in a week. But it seems as though I may finally be able to train the deadlift again, which is fantastic. So I wanted to try something new. I can only conclude that my setup sucks, because when I deadlift the first rep is always the WORST rep. To combat this, I’ve decided to try every minute on the minute training with my deadlift, thereby making EVERY rep the first rep and forcing me to rectify this weakness. I started last week with 405lbs for 20 singles in 20 minutes. This week I used 415lbs, which is the workout shown in the video. I have to say, by about 5 reps in that minute really starts to creep up on you and these workouts feel pretty tough. You do really start to get a sense of where the bar is in relation to your body though and you can almost feel your technique becoming crisper. It’s good fun.

EMOM DL - 415lbs x 20 singles in 20 min
Hang power clean - 190lbs x 5x5
Backwards sled drag - (135lbs x 20 yards x sets),(180lbs x 20 yards x 2 sets),(225lbs x 20 yards x 2 sets),(270lbs x 20 yards x 2 sets),(320lbs x 20 yards x 2 sets)
Hyperextension(bw + 50lbs) - 20,15,15,15,15

Good fucking workout.

Front squats, deadlifts, prolotherapy

Got in a solid front squat session last week with 5 triples at 350lbs. This week’s session wasn’t as good, but no biggie. I’m scheduled for another round of prolotherapy tomorrow so I’ll skip squats and deads for this upcoming week. The hamstring is really starting to come around though. It’s pretty exciting. I can’t tell you how long that shit has been bothering me.

(Last week)
Front squat- 350 x 3,3,3,3,3
Box jump- up to 54" x 3
Farmer’s walk- 165lbs per hand for a shitload
Leg curl- 50 reps

Deadlift- every minute on the minute - 425lbs x 20 singles
Power clean- 195lbs x 5,5,5,5,5
Sled push- heavy and far
Hyperextension- 115lbs x 10,10,10,10,10

(Yesterday)
Front squat- 315x3, 335x3, 355x3, 355x2, 365x2 (kinda meh. I wanted to work up to a heavy triple but I wasn’t nearly as strong as I was last week so it was pointless. I’ll most likely attack straight sets with 355 after next week.)
Box jump- also meh, had no spring
Sled push- 225 for 2 sets of 20, 270 for 2 sets of 20, 320 for 2 sets of 20, 370 for 2 sets of 20
Broad jump- 3,3,3,3,3 (didn’t go all out on these, but they felt better than the shitty box jumps)
Leg curl- 50 reps

Other than that, I’ve been doing some benching and upper body work along with some farmer’s walks and that’s pretty much it.

I can bound again! & a new type of video on my YouTubez

So I just posted a new video on my YouTube channel. It’s called “How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Strong,” and it’s an entirely new get up from everything I’ve created before. I think it’s pretty funny but I’m obviously biased. Anyway give it a watch and let me know what you think. Please be gentle.

As far as training goes, on Tuesday I just did my first bounding session since…April 2015! Before I had the surgery. “Bounding” is where I do the consecutive broad jumps without resetting in between jumps. I usually do 5 at a time. The farthest I’ve gone over a 5 jump series is I believe 50 and a half feet. In this first session I managed 48 feet, so that’s not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Let’s see if I can break 50 again! Also, the gym owner challenged me to see if I could clear the whole track in 6 jumps (which is 60 feet). Apparently this is something only a couple of his “ball” players can do lol. Other than the bounding I did some heavy farmer’s walks and a bunch of heavy sled pushing. It was a solid session overall.

After that I went and got the 2nd prolotherapy injection into my hammie tendon so that’s it for lower body work for this week. I’m quite hopeful that I’ll be back in force soon. Tomorrow I bench.

Hello friends, it’s been a while. I figured I would update this thing for whatever reason. I’ve been training my ass off lately, and i have to admit I’m in great shape, probably better than ever, though, I’m probably not going to be a very good powerlifter anymore lol. I’ve had a hip MRI, I’ve had a lumbar MRI, I’ve seen 4 different orthos and 3 physical therapists and nobody can figure out what the hell this injury I have is. So, I stopped squatting and deadlifting and started pushing a super heavy sled and doing farmer’s walks and lots of jumps instead. None of those exercises bother me and so I feel good right now and am about 95% pain free. But the minute I attempt to squat anything over about 80% I get a searing pain in my ass that lingers and lingers and lingers and lingers for days. Feels musculoskeletal to me. A couple of people thought it was my hamstring, but nope. One guy thought it was my spine because they couldn’t find anything else. Anyway, oh well. So, that’s why I’m in great shape. Pushing the sled is probably the most kick ass exercise you can do I’ve discovered. It’s literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I shit you not. That thing leaves me floored, gasping for air with my quads ready to cramp. I’ve pushed a 900lbs sled for 15 yards so far. I can push 700bs all day long now. My goal is take 1000lbs for a little trip.

So, I decided to do a little experiement. Since I basically have this injury, whatever it may be, under control and know how to reign it in at this point, I’m going to try to prepare for a powerlifting meet without doing any powerlifting. Crazy I know, but what can you do. I want to see if I can conjure up a way to make all this sled pushing relplace squat training for me. I think I might be able to make it work. It’s tough mentally because you lose sight of where you are and your ego takes a hit, but I want to see what happens. I’m going to do a meet in may 2017 most likely. I haven’t had a bar on my back in about 10 weeks now and I won’t again until about 6-8 weeks out from the meet I decide to do, at which point I will do a few squat sessions going into the meet just to refamiliarize myself with the movement. But no actual formal squat or deadlift training. And if I am somehow able to make progress this way then this is how I will continue to train like this because it’s almost like these exercises stress the body without stressing the body. You can feel the signifcance of them, but they never really wear you down in a lasting manner. It’s refreshing.

Anyway, I’ll be back soon.

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I love shit like this. The only thing I see not progressing too much is your bench, but your squat and dead could very well go up. Kudos to you for always killing it bro

Oh, I’m still doing bench training on different days, don’t worry. Not that that’s ever helped me become a better bencher haha.

Oh. Well in that case, you’ll probably kick ass.

Plyos and sled work

I’m going to try to update my log more frequently to keep myself honest. The training is nothing exciting, it’s just not traditional powerlifting training by any sense of the imagination. Like I said before, it’s just a handful of exercises. Mostly jumping, sled pushing, and farmer’s walks. Anyway, here’s a video synopsis of my plan for those who are interested:

Thursday’s session was pretty solid. I was jumping well and i got in some quality work with the weights. Here’s how it went:

Bodysaw (ab exercise)- 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5 (40 total reps)
Jump squat (holding 20lbs DBs)- 5,5,5,5,5
Rhythmic vertical jump- 5,5,5,5,5
Depth jump (30 inch drop height)- 6,6,6,6,6
Sled push (675lbs)- 4 trips of 15 yards
Pallof press- 10,10,10,10
Weighted Hyperextension (125lbs)- 10,10,10,10

Done.

900lbs Sled Push

I had a solid session a few days ago on my max effort sled push day. I loaded 900 for only the 2nd time ever and it went very well. I was able to take it 15 yards with out too much trouble at all, no foot slippage, and I probably could have gone further if I wanted to. After the set however my quads promptly cramped and I couldn’t walk for about 5 minutes so it was probably good that I stopped when I did lol.

The session went:

Ab wheel rollout- 10,10,10
TRX fallout- 5,5,5,5

Jump squat(40lbs)- 5,5,5,5,5
Rhythmic vertical jump- 5,5,5,5,5
Depth jump(30" drop height)- 6,6,6,6,6

Sled push- 630lbsx15yds, 720x15yds, 810x15yds, 900x15yds
Hyperextension(125lbs)- 10,10,10,10
Pallof press- 10,10,10,10

Done.

1/10/17
Straight arm pulldown- 120x10, 140x10, 150x10,10,10
Farmer’s walk- 115lbsx25yds, 165x25yds, 185x25yds, 205x25yds, 215x25yds, 205x25yds
Suitcase hold- 185x20 seconds, 205x20, 215x20,20,20

1/11/17
Chinups(bw+25lbs) - 10,10,10,10,10,10,10,5

1/12/17
Ab rollout- 10,10,10
TRX fallout- 6,6,6,6,6

Jump squat(40lbs)- 5,5,5,5,5
Rhythmic vertical jump- 5,5,5,5,5
Depth jump(30 inch drop)- 6,6,6,6,6,6

Sled push - 700lbs x 20yds, (4 sets)
Hyperextension(125lbs)- 12,12,12,4
Pallof press- 60lbsx10, 70x10, 80x10, 80x10

Done.

I got in a pretty good session of depth jumps and sleds yesterday. The fatigue from all the jumping is really starting to accumulate. My average jump height was down about 3 inches yesterday from the previous week. I think I’m going to take a mini deload on the jumping this coming week so I can bounce back up a little bit before my final stretch. After the deload I’ll have time for 5 more weeks of jump training, then another deload, then I’m going to test my vertical jump. After that my plan is to re-incorporate some wrapped squatting for a few weeks and see if I can put myself in a position to do well at a meet. Yesterday’s session included 40 depth jumps, that’s the most ground contacts I’ve had so far in a single session. Also, I’ve begun taking steps towards starting an online coaching business. I never much had the personality for working for someone else’s company, so I figured the only logical thing to do was to build my own. Wish me luck!

1/15/17
Jump squat(40lbs)- 5,5,5,5,5
Box jump- 5,5,5,5,5
Depth jump(30 inch drop height)- 7,7,7,7,6,6

Bodysaw- 8,8,7,7,5,5
Pallof hold- 15 secs, 15 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec

Sled push- 630lbsx15yds, 720lbsx15yds, 810lbsx15yds, 810lbsx15yds
Hyperextension(130lbs)- 10,10,10,10

Killed it pretty good yesterday. I have a little over 8 weeks until I try squatting again. In the interim I’ve decided to throw in another “core” exercise that I discovered last year but abandoned due to me getting distracted, so I never got to see how it would pan out: the isometric front squat hold. Easiest thing in the world. Unrack a heavy weight in the front squat position and just stand there. Although after a few seconds “just standing there” becomes a challenge. The mid/upper back lights up from supporting heavyweights like this for so long and you can really force your glutes to go into overdrive to create additional support. It’s good stuff.

1/17/17
Straight arm pulldown- 120x10, 140x10, 150x10,10,10,10
Farmer’s walk(per hand)- 115lbsx20yds, 165x20yds, 185x20yds, 205x20yds, 215x20yds, 225x20yds, 185x20yds
Suitcase hold- 185x20 secs, 205x20 secs, 215x15 secs, 225x15 secs, 225x15 secs
Front squat hold- 315x20 secs (zombie style), 365x20 secs (zombie style), 415x20 secs, 465x20 secs

Done.

I found my weakness.

I tried the yoke yesterday for the first time in my life, and well, holy shit. I’ve been regularly taking 450lbs for a walk using the farmer’s implements, so I figured without the grip being a limiting factor I should be able to walk a ton of weight on the yoke. That was an ill conceived notion. I first stood up with 180lbs on it, which obviously felt like nothing on my back, however as soon as I took my first step with the thing I realized it was not going to be as easy as I had imagined. The damn thing just throws you everywhere every time you take a step. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to keep it in balance during movement. It’s an interesting experience to say the least. Anyway, I worked my way up to 360lbs on it and decided that was enough for one day. Today my mid back is sore as hell. I may continue to do this exercise once a week for the next 8 weeks before I resume squatting if i can locate my nutsack.

Jump squat(40lbs)- 5,5,5,5,5 (25)
Rhythmic vertical jump- 5,5,5,5,5 (25)
Depth jump(30" drop)- 7,7,7,7,6,6 (40)

Ab wheel- 10,10,10
TRX fallout- 8,8,7,7

Yoke walk- 180lbsx25yds, 280lbsx25yds, 360lbsx25yds, 360lbsx25yds
Hyperextension(130lbs)- 13,12,10,10

I decided to deload on depth jumping this week. I kept the squat jumps in, but that’s going to be the only jumping I do until next week. So yesterday was mostly just sled work and abdominal work. I’m currently trying to work my way up to being able to do full standing ab wheel rollouts. Yesterday was the first time I ever succeeded doing negatives from the standing position. Before I started working my abs I couldn’t even initiate that movement, but now I can roll out about 95% of the way in good posture before collapsing to my knees.

1/22/17
Standing rollout negatives- 5,5,5,5,5
Jump squat(40lbs)- 5,5,5,5,5

Sled push- 630x15yds, 720x15yds, 810x15yds, 900x10yds, 720x15yds, 720x15yds
Hyperextension(13)lbs)- 15,15,10,10
Pallof hold

Done.

Really cool log!
I wasn’t here for the beginning: How tall and heavy are you?
Some crazy sled pushes for sure. I will most likely get a sled in the future, so I am excited to see how it works for you to use it as a main strength training tool.

Best of luck for your training and dealing with the injury you have got.

Hey man, welcome aboard. I’m 5’6 and I generally fluctuate between 155-170lbs. Right now I’m about 165, a little bit fluffier than I’d like to be though. The sled is great. Even if it doesn’t carryover to squatting, it’s still a great exercise for leg strength and it helps you get into great shape.

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