Doug's Long Yet Distinguished Log

Training Logs
1

I’ve been kicking around the idea of keeping a log here and decided to go ahead and do it. Currently I’m using a template from a new popular strength training book as a guide. Those familiar with it will eventually notice adjustments I’m making. These are made based on my personal quirks that need fixin’. After the regular template runs out next month, I’ll be doing my own thing.

Weaknesses I’m trying to improve:
Squat form
Abs/low back (hell, the whole back)
Work capacity
Grip

Here’s yesterday gym shenanigans

Foam roll and dynamic warmup

A. Free Squats:
7x2 @ 155
As a specific warmup to the squat I did barx10, 75x8, 95x5, 125x5. Why like this? Because the rep scheme is what I do for benching which has progressed well, so I’m hoping it does the same thing for my squat. So far it seems to be working. Plus I’m getting in better shape.

B1. Rack Pulls From Knees:265x5, 275x5, 245x7
I used to do these with 315+, but my back would be rounded up like a question mark. I’m feeling these in all the right places now.

B2. Wall Ankle Mobilizations: 4x8
Eh

B3. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x20
Just trying to get more work in for my traps any way I can. This is one of those DeFranco ideas that sounded good.

C. DB Reverse Lunges w/ Front Foot On 3 Plates: 25sx5,5, 20sx7
Lunges have always given me trouble because my abs suck and my hips shift all over the place. They’re slowly coming around.

D. Bulgarian Split Squat Hold w/25# plate for 30sec/side
I need to lengthen my stance on these.

10 minutes on incline treadmill

Thoughts/comments/questions/concerns are welcome and encouraged.

2

Friday Training aka How To Train After Sitting In The Damn Car For 2.5 Hours.

I hate Friday commutes. No accidents, just tons of stupid cars.

A. Pin Presses: 5x3@135, 235x2, 255xM
I was feelin’ froggy after the 235, but not froggy enough. I remember the bar moving and thinking “I got it I got it I got it!”, then the bar starts going backwards.

“Well, I don’t got it.”

Probably didn’t take enough rest. Oh yeah, I worked in 100 miniband pullaparts between those sets.

B1. Neutral Grip Cable Rows: 150x5, 170x5, 140x10

B2. DB Push Press: 55sx5, 60sx4 and change, 50sx8

I shamed the functional gods by trying a little body english on the rows, and sho’ nuff, I feel it more in my lats. Hopefully I won’t be smited.

C. Straight Arm Pulldowns: 35x12, 40x12,12

Went a hair too heavy on these and form went to crap. These things happen.

10 minutes incline treadmill, watching the same tired-ass music videos as yesterday. I would’ve went in the cardio theater, but they were playing one of those stupid Epic Movie movies. Hopefully they’ll play Hoosiers again next week.

3

Got up early this morning and did cardio type stuff:

Prowler pushes: 8 trips w/ 90 pounds on grass

The length of each trip is right around 30 yards, if not a little longer. For the first 6 I was only using the high handles, but on the last two used the low handles to start off. The difficulty went from “ok” to “OH wow!” very fast.

Did the band pullaparts whist gasping for air betwixt trips.

4

7/21-What to do to whup the Joker’s beehind.

Tried my best to blast through this workout in an efficient matter because I had really important stuff to do today- finally go see The Dark Knight.

A. Sumo Deadlifts- 7 singles with a max of 315.
It’s been awhile since I’ve pulled “heavy”, so while this number blows, I’m glad it was at least this much.

B. Speed Deadlifts- 8 singles@ 225
These went up nice and quick.

C1. BB Reverse Lunges- 4x8 @ 65
Yikes, it got to a point where I had to take a break between switching legs. Didn’t think this weight would be this hard.

C2. Miniband Pullaparts-5x20

D. Pallof Presses- 60x8/side, 65x8, 70x8
Felt a little twinge around the belly button with the 70, so I’ll make sure to stay at that weight for a bit.

Screw cardio, I was donezo.

5

7/22: Potluck Stuff

Did the pullaparts, a few sets of 20 bw squats, some deadbugs for the left side of my trunk, and some other warmup stuff. Then ran 2 miles on the treadmill for the first time in ages.

6

7/23: As Close As I’m Going To Get To A Fratboy Workout.

Note to self: EAT MORE! Jesus Murphy, I was ready to eat my feet when I got to the gym.

A1. Close Grip Incline Bench: 7 heavy singles, with 4 @ 215.

A2. Miniband pullaparts: 105 reps (1 set of 20 and a bunch of 15)

I’d like to go heavier on these, but my ass was coming way off the bench. Gotta clean that up a bit.

B1. Close Grip Decline Bench: 155x9, 175x8,8,8,8

B2. T-Bar Row: 90x10, 115x8,8,8

Haven’t done either of these in quite awhile. On the rows, I’m doing my best to keep my back parallel with the ground.

C1. Hammer Curls: 30x12,8, 25x12

C2. Scap Wall Slides: 3x12

Ugh, I need to do more curls. I think I’ve been doing the same weight on these since the Clinton administration.

10 minutes incline treadmill.

7

7/24: Another A.D.D. workout

Not too much, just some more dead bugs, swiss ball leg curls, swiss ball pushups, the miniband pullaparts, and a few other things I can’t remember. Then 20 minutes on the incline treadmill whist watching “The Sweetest Thing”. It’s a chick flick that’s actually funny. Go figure.

8

Log is looking good. Keep up the solid training

9

[quote]Flow wrote:
Log is looking good. Keep up the solid training[/quote]

Thanks!

7/25: Chew It Back Man! Chew It Back!

I picked up the pace a little bit today, and I am feelin’ it.

A1. Box Squats: 10x2 @ 155#
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x20
I need to post a question to the good folks in Strength Sports, because my elbow is bothering me when I back squat and I know it’s due to something in my setup.

B. Natty GHRs: 4x5
I’m absolutely atrocious at these. Knee flexion work is going to be a must during every training week for the indefinite future.

C. DB Forward Lunges: 20sx6/side, 25sx6, 30sx6
Funny, I felt these more in my abs than my legs. I guess that just means I’m doing them right.

D1. Pistole Squats Onto Flat Bench: 8,6,8
D2. Bar Rollouts While Kneeling On Two 45s: 10,9,8

My form on the pistols is cleaning up nicely and the reps are going up. Yay!

Brief intermission to drive home and drink W/O drink

E. Kratos Pushes: 8 trips w/ 2 45s on Prowler
This time I did half of all the trips using the low handle. And while grass makes the pushing harder, it does soften the blow when my knees start dragging which happened a couple times.

10

7/26: Soda Jerk Training

A1. Speed Bench: 10x3 @ 155#
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x20

I’m really glad I started doing the pullaparts on a daily basis. I normally have decent posture, but when training or when I’m really tired, I start slouching. The pullaparts seem to help keep me more upright when I’m fatigued. Thanks Joe DeFranco!

B1. Close Grip Floor Presses: 205x5,5,4,4, 185x7,5
B2. Neutral Grip Pullups: BWx4x5sets

Legs are as flat as possible on the floor presses. Hopefully over the next couple weeks and I can get more reps in at the same weight.

C1. One Arm DB Rows: 80x10/side,10,10
C2. Close Grip Pushups w/ Feet On Bench: 10,8,9

My heart sure was pumpin’ while doing this last series. The Spike Shooter I had PreWO sure had something to do with that too.

Diet Junk
Lately it feels like I’m not digesting my food properly, and the 7lb bodyweight increase in one week seems to support that. One thing that I know isn’t helping is my soda addiction. I drink caffeine-free diet soda, but I can drink 6 of them a day without batting an eyelash. So, I’ll be making more of an effort to scale down on the carbonated drinks. I also picked up some digestive enzymes today to help get things moving along.

11

A calcium carbonate supp may help some. Just saying because carbonated drinks are overwhelmingly acidic, and calcium carbonate may help balance that out while you start to drop the habit.

12

Thanks for the tip.

7/28: Eh, insert witty title here

A1. Sumo Deadlifts: 5 singles
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x20

I managed 4 singles with 315, but the last one was butt-ugly. I figured out that I can’t stay in the bottom position too log before the lift because then the bar doesn’t want to come up.

B. Speed Deadlifts: 8 singles @235

Still pretty quick on these.

C. BB Reverse Lunges w/Front Squat Grip: 65x8,8,8

Didn’t have to set the bar down between switching legs, so at least I have that going for me.

D. Pallof Presses: 65x8,70x8,8

No pressure around the navel this week, but I’ll stick with this weight next week.

Intermission to drive home

E. Kratos Pushes: 8 trips with 90 on the Prowler.

F. Mow the backyard.
Should’ve done this before the prowler pushing since it would’ve been easier. Oh well.

13

7/29: Ellipt Forrest! Ellipt!

20 HIIT on the elliptical machine

Pushing Kratos the Prowler around in the backyard seems to be whipping me into shape. I was able to go a little faster and recover a little quicker than usual when doing these intervals.

14

7/30: Whodathunkit?

A1. Close Grip Incline Presses: 5 heavy singles
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x15

Wow, form sure cleans up nice when the incline bench is set up the right way. Last week I was basically pressing from an ATG squat, so no wonder I was having trouble. I’m going to try to go up in weight next week. I took more slack out of the band for the pullaparts so I couldn’t do quite as many. Gotta progress yo.

B1. Close Grip Decline Presses: 185x8,8,8
B2. T-Bar Row: 115x10,125,8,8

I knew I had a little left in the tank last week on the declines, but didn’t know it was that much. Yikes, time to stop lollygaggin’.

C1. Alt. DB Hammer Curls: 30x12,10,8
C2. Scap Wall Slides: 3x12

I’m doing alternating DB curls just so I can work with a heavier weight in my hands. Don’t worry, they’re not power cleans.

10 min incline treadmill

15

Oooh, these workouts look familiar :).

16

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Oooh, these workouts look familiar :).[/quote]

I was being mysterious by not naming the program since I’m pretty much writing what’s in the book.

endorsement

To others keeping track, this is in fact part of the Maximum Strength program by Eric Cressey. Go buy the book now.

/endorsement

On to today’s brief but brutal training

7/31: And The Crowd Goes Wild!

10 Kratos Pushes

Yep, that’s it. Pushing this fucker in grass is hard enough, but pushing it in wet grass with the late afternoon sun baking my faceplate made this ridiculous.

At least I had a cheering section to root me on today. Actually it wasn’t a section. It was a husband and wife grilling on their deck. And they didn’t cheer. More like looking in bewilderment.

17

I’m jealous of the Prowler. Been procrastinating building a sled forever.

18

8/1: urge to kill…rising

What a piece of shit session. Tons of traffic on the way home, a crowded gym on a Friday, and being retarded on my first lift of the day. Anyway, here it is.

A1. Box Squats: 8x2@ 155, 185x2, 205x2
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 20,then 4 sets between 15-17

I don’t know what the deal is with me and back squats. I mean, on bench and deadlifts I can get aggressive and blast through the lifts like I mean it. I’m even ok with front squatting. But on back squats I turn into an idiot.

The “speed” sets weren’t fast, and I was paranoid about my form the whole time. Then the 185 set felt heavy as hell. On the 205 set I just decided to grip it and rip it. What happened? That wound up being the fastest reps. What the FUCK??!?!? I just wasted all this time doing shitty reps.

I wasn’t winded at all, and this pissed me off. It was getting late so I decided to press on and kick ass with the assistance lifts.

B. Natty GHRs: 4x5
I had to rig up the smith machine to do these today. The DB rack was crowded and I absolutely can’t do these on a lat pulldown machine. Was just as bad at these as I was last week. yay.

C. Forward DB Lunges: 25sx5, 30sx5, 35sx5
No likey these.

D1. Pistole Squats: 10/side,10,fucking 5
D2. Elevated Bar Rollouts: 10,10,something

My body was ok, but my mind was just gone by the time these came around. I was pissed off and wanted to go home, so I did.

Gotta redeem myself tomorrow.

19

8/2: Well, That’ll Work.

This one went a little better than last night.

A1. Bench: 8x2 @ 145, 225x2, 235x2(PR)
A2. Miniband Pullaparts: 5x15-20

That PR isn’t my best, as I know I had 5-10 more pounds left in me. But with no spotter, had to play it safe. Still gave me some nice shakes afterwards.

B1. Close Grip Floor Presses: 205x5,3,5, 185x7
B2. Neutral Grip Pullups: 3x5

Had trouble getting the bar off the left j-hook on that second set and screwed me up. At least I was able to get 5 on the next set.

C1. One Arm DB Row: 85x10,9
C2. Close Grip Pushup: 12,10

Probably have to drop back to 80s on the rows, as I didn’t feel these in my back like I should.

10 min incline treadmill while watching “Failure to Launch”. It looks somewhat funny.

Me tired, so now me rest.

20

8/4: Brain Flickering ON and Off

A. Sumo Deadlifts; 8 singles: 295,325,345,370(miss),350, 325,325, 325

The 350 is still a PR so I’m somewhat happy. The 370 came up about an inch or two, but that’s as far as it was going to go. Also felt this a lot in my hips and not just my back, but that definitely got worked too.

B. Speed Deadlifts: 8 singles @ 245
Still good and quick.

C. BB Reverse Lunges w/ Front Squat Grip: 70x8/side, 80x8, 70x8,8

I used the little wienie curl bars because I feel like a douche putting two dimes on a full size barbell.

D. Pallof Presses: 70x8/side,8,8
A good strong sensation without any twinges of pain. Good stuff.

10 minutes incline treadmill.

HIIT is supposed to be on tap for tomorrow, but I may stick to some steady state cardio instead. I is tired.