Clockin' A Grip

9-13 Upper

Stretch

Internal/External rotation, low trap raise x 3

Scap Pushup with side arm band, band tomahawks, band chest press x 3

Incline DB Press with Fat Gripz
65 x 4

Decline Pushups
Easy decline x 12
Decline I’ve been using x 12 x 2 sets

JM Press (45) x 10
Tate Press (15) x 20
4 times

Wrist Roll (50) x backwards and forwards x 2
Hammer Curl (20) x 14
3 times

High Band Facepull x 30
Band Pushdown x 30
DB Incline Shrug x 30
DB Incline Row x 30
Twice

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9-15 Lower

Stretch

Band Ham Curl, Hip Abduction, Hip Internal Rotation

Standing Hip Flexion, Step Down, Hinge with Butt Against Wall

Goblet Squat
60 x 7

I got a little sloppy and slipped into some spinal flexion at the bottom of the first or second set of squatting. Butt wink tweaked something or bulged something and set off a cramp that went from mildly uncomfortable to locking me up over like 5 minutes. I was able to get my last set in but I had to skip the assistance and hobble out of there.

This shit is whack.

I’ve been doing a bunch of goblet/kb squats with my heels elevated. This really lets me get down there. Last month I did feet flat and I swear I could feel my bones knocking into each-other in my ankles and hips. Today I consciously thought about focusing on not going so deep. I guess I just wasn’t focused enough.

I guess it’s time to accept the fact that I gotta stay Above Parallel flat footed. I don’t have the hips to get down there, so my back has to do weird shit to pick up the slack. Even KB Squats and Belt Squats to parallel jack me up.

Box Squats above parallel (a bumper plate on top of the box) are OK. Heels Elevated, deep, Tom Platts style knees forward, quad focused squats are OK. I just gotta avoid the middle ground.

Would weightlifting shoes elevate your heels enough to be pain free? I absolutely cannot squat flat footed, and although not a complete cure, weightlifting shoes help me a lot

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Russians focused on Maximal Anaerobic Power with serial/interval methods. Lots of not to failure work with rest between sets, avoiding lactic acid. Some footage of Dr Verkhoshanky coaching, looking pretty good for an old guy.

(4:30) Ramp up volume/intensity in 3 week waves. Then every 4th week do no “main” lifts and only do small work for weak points. Give 90% in the gym for 10 years vs 100% in the gym for 2 years.

Slacking?

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image

My back has been hurting since last week and I’m just getting up on my feet again. I must have irritated a nerve or something stupid.

I’ll have some exciting trainings to document soon. In the meantime

Bodyweight Update

Laying around for days and days killed my appetite and I hit 212 this morning. So it’s been like 3 months of maintaining 215 BW after 25 pounds of weight loss.

Gradually over the 3 months I’ve looked less and less shitty.

Immediately after the period of cutting I looked skinnier and fatter than when I started. All the fat was gone from my neck, arms, upper back and shoulders plus my muscles were flat so I looked extra small. But my belly fat was still there and I had saggy skin on my stomach and chest from being fat so long. So I looked extra fat.

Now I feel more muscley and less jiggly.

If I had it to do over again I think I would go Push/Pull/Legs instead of full body during the maintenance phase after a cut. I think it would allow for more intense workouts to get the body switched back up to muscle building. And give more time for rest before the same shit again and overloading a depleted body.

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Sorry to hear about your back. Hope you are on the mend soon!

Everyday of my life!

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Even the Mona Lisa’s falling apart.

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Worlds Collide!

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oh noooo

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Nothing to worry about man!

I was able to mow the lawn today so I think I’m OK. Only it tired me out! That sucked.

Anyway, after dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck the back was way easier to get through. In the past I was always worried something was broken or torn and causing the pain back there. Now I know it’s just a silly nerve tingle. I was even brave enough to try some McKenzie style Press ups which maybe kinda helped slightly.

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9-30 Shoulders/Triceps

Cable Rear Delts, Standing, Pull Cross Body
x 15 x 3 sets

Lean Away Cable Side Delts
x 12 x 3 sets

Arnold Press
x 10 x 4 sets

Rear Delt DB Swing
x 20 x 2 sets

Cross Body Cable Tricep Extension
x 20 x 3 sets

JM Press x 10
Tate Press x 20
x 4 pairs

1st and 2nd hole on the cable stuff, 15s and 20s on the DB stuff. It felt nice to do some stuff after 2 weeks.

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10-1 Lower Back and Hip Junk

Lay on back and wishbone legs against the wall
Birddog with hip hike for lower back rotation action
McGill Curl Up
Clamshell
Thread the Needle for upper back rotation action

Bending over and squatting down are not right. I’m having trouble loading glutes/hams on the right side and my knee is just kinda turning way way Out as I slump over to that side.

Something must have been “turned off” by the disk issue, similar to the way pinched nerves in the neck “turn off” people’s arms.

Somebody said it takes 6 weeks off these things to resolve if you don’t irritate and flare them up first. I’m almost half way there.

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This sounds no way no. Hope you get it sorted soon.

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Sorry to hear about the back. I hope you’ll feel better soon man!

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10-2 Lats/Biceps

Some stretching, some breathing and bracing, some stuff for Multitifidis(s)

Straight Arm Pulldowns with Band
Light x 20
Average x 15 x 3 sets

1 Arm Chest Supported Row, Standing Up
45 x 15
55 x 10 x 3 sets

Close, Semi Supinated Pulldowns (stick head through arms at top, lean back at bottom)
100 x 12
120 x 12 x 3 sets

Reg Curls with Kettlebell
15 x 15
20 x 15 x 2 sets

Cable Curls, Facing Away
20 x 15
30 x 15 x 2 sets

I heard NFL/NBA strength coach Al Vermeil say he did electro-stim on his multifidis when his back hurt, and he could squat without pain.

These little muscles run up and down your spine, connecting your vertebrae. You use them when you lean to one side and they stabilize your spine (Anti Flexion) when you lean forward.

They’re also supposed to work with your transverse abs (the muscles that “suck in” your belly button), diaphragm and your pelvic floor for breathing and posture.

I did some of this move, where you raise the “down” knee to the level of the “up” knee. I definitely felt things loosen up and move a little and I could brace pretty well and get good lat action during the workout.
image

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I am getting into this style for powerlifting and was wondering how you planned it out over the four years?

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They planned out each year in 2 halves, with 2 big “Competitions.” One in May and one in December. After competitions they did a short period of “restoration” or a couple weeks of deloading to chill out before starting with the base building style workouts again. They also took a little break from squatting big weights during the summer to go do Track and Field sprinting and jumping.

So they had two, 5 month “training periods” during the year. Within those 5 month periods they did long stretches of Lower Intensity, Higher Volume base building and then shorter periods of Higher Intensity, Lower Volume to get ready for the Competitions.

Somewhere in that 5 month stretch they also did a short period where they did less squatting and lifting and did a bunch of Depth Jumps.

So even though they were training for years at a time they only really pushed for 8-10 weeks at time before backing off and changing the focus of the training.

To keep the training interesting and challenging to the CNS they used a lot of variations of the competition lifts. There were 100 moves starting with easy stuff for beginners like Snatch Grip Pull to the Knee all the way to Snatch grip pull with 4 pauses on the way up + snatch pull with slow lowering + fast power snatch for the advanced guys.

Every year they stuck to the framework of the plan and did more lifts that were more complex than the year before.

There is a website called “scribd” where somebody scanned in a copy of the book “A Program of Multi-year Training in Weightlifting” by AS Medvedyev.

If you do a quick search you should be able to find it and you can see the whole program laid out.

For a yearly plan for powerlifting, Louie/Westside says to do 2 meets per year, making two 6 month periods. Then, halfway through each 6 months they do a super hard Speed Strength wave (squats with tons of band tension). So the year is divided into 4, ten to twelve week periods that each end with an Extreme test or competition. And you just keep repeating that cycle, slowly adding weight while the assistance exercises wave up and down.

Ed Coan’s style was simpler. He did 12 week cycles going from high reps to low reps before a meet. Then he’d start back over with the high reps, only 5 pounds heavier than last time. And run through the whole 12 week cycle again, only everything was 5 pounds heavier than last time.

10-4 (Good Buddy) Chest/Triceps

Get loose

Low to High Cable Fly
10 x 15
20 x 15 x 2 sets

Smith Incline Bench
15 x 10
25 x 10
30 x 10 x 2 sets

Converging Chest Press Machine
35 x 12
50 x 12 x 3 sets

V Grip Tricep Pushdown
70 x 30/25/20 (3 sets, losing reps each set)

PJR Pullover with DB
30 x 15
40 x 15
45 x 15
50 x 15

Band Tomahawk
Monster Mini x 20 x 3 sets

Pre exhausted chest and triceps on Monday. Just like everybody else in the gym. I get tired super easy and fast now.

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