120x5
140x3
165x1
175x15<-- this means I get to raise my working max!
Superset:
Chins 4x8 with
Band Pull Aparts 4x15
Lateral Raises
35x8,8
40x8,8
Superset:
EZ Bar Curls
75x3x10
with
Behind the Back Shrugs
135x3x12
DONE.
According to the calc’s in the book, this brings my new working max for bench up a bit, from 235 to 247.5. I’m making this note so that I have something to refer back to at the end of the realization phase and make a new post with all the new training maxes for my next wave. All in all, pretty please with the progress here. I feel like my rep strength is improving, so I can only hope my limit strength will go up with the later (lower rep) phases.
Gonna try and get my hill sprints in tomorrow morning before work. We’re “supposed” to have snow/sleet/ice Christmas Eve/Day so I want to go ahead and get that sprinting out of the way so I can enjoy my holiday and get after the squatting come Sunday. Hope the other gym is open then, ha!
Should have progressed further than this but I haven’t been sticking to the plan appropriately. It will work itself out, I’m sure, but whatever. Had some weird sleeping issues last night, kept waking up hungry for some reason, so around 5 o’clock I got up and pounded a protein shake and some olive oil and that helped. Weird though, I haven’t had that happen to me before. I’m going to assume its a signal that my body is ready for Christmas Bulkfest 2010, and just eat a buttload the next two days, and get back on my fast protocol Sunday. I’ll try to keep to the protocol if I can, but I figure it won’t hurt if I slip a little these two days and get some extra protein in as a result.
Merry Christmas everyone, I’m off to shower and head to work for a few hours.
Box Jumps (42") 4x2 <---- PR height! and it felt eeeasssyy, other than the wobbly setup
Squats
165x5
195x3
225x1
235x15 <— Up the working max!
Lunges
35x8
40x8,8
Mod. Lat Station GHR
3x10
Pulldown Abs
70x3x15 <— These got HARD
DONE.
Really happy about the squat numbers today. 235 felt like a feather, and the only reason I had to stop was that I ran out of steam and was getting dizzy. Maybe I should breathe more between reps on these long sets, but 15 was the goal I set for myself today, and I nailed it.
I’m thinking I’m going to have to drop lunges, or at least alter my step length, as I can feel them straining my metatarsal heads pretty bad. Not to the point of having to stop, but its painful enough that they stay sore. My GHR strength is increasing as well, which may be why my Squat felt so light. Strong hamstrings is never a bad thing!
The pulldown abs were for teh sexy. DB side bends dont always do it for me, probably something I do wrong, but I’m at a new (my old) gym for a few workouts till the school gym opens back up on Jan 3rd, and they have a pulldown ab machine that I don’t have at school, so I’m gonna use it while I got it.
Also, I’m going to take my numbers up on the squat slowly for the first couple of waves to make sure I don’t overdo it. Squatting is one of my worst lifts overall, and I need to make sure I don’t blow it on building it up.
Using Chad’s formulas, with a 2.5 increment for squat, I’m gonna move my new squat working max to 327.5 lbs.
70x2x13 <— Meant to be AMAP for supplemental pressing, oh well, more than last week
Superset:
DB Rows
95x4x8
with Rear Delt Flyes
20x4x12 <— Should probably drop the weight and nail the form on these
Shrugs
225x8
245x8
275x8,8 (used each alt grip)
Standing Cable Curls, low pulley
80x6
Dropset:
60x20
50x20
35x20
DONE.
BW 214, looking leaner (really happy about this)
Dropset done as 5 reps per arm at a time, with non-working arm remaining supinated. Sexytime.
Upping my military max to 147.5 judging by today’s rep set. I’m excited about this. My shoulders feel great, and the only issue I had with my sets today was my ulnar nerve popping thing in my left elbow. Not painful, just annoying mid-set.
I’m excited to see what ends up happening on my DL thursday. I must admit, I’ve been very very pleased with where I’ve ended up after this 10s wave, considering my aversion to higher rep work. If I’ve gotten this kind of improvement off the 10s, I can only hope it will continue with the 8s, 5s and 3s waves. Chad certainly knows what the hell he’s doing with this program. Also, I feel lighter on my feet at this weight then I ever have, which is pretty remarkable for me. (years at 162-ish will do that to a guy)
Can’t wait for the deload week. Gonna be oh so nice to relax a little bit, and get all these knots worked on. Sweet.
Felt pretty burnt out on this DL workout, and I had to hurry to get back and help a friend move some furniture. At any rate, I’m done. Its deload time, so I’m gonna drop the volume on everything, but I’m going to work my deload accessory work as bodyweight stuff, just to keep everything moving right and so forth.
So I’ve gotten together with a group of friends, and we’ve decided to do a Warrior Dash in March just for kicks. Basically, I can handle the 3.18 miles or whatever it is (hooray cross country skills that never die), but I just need to make sure to stay somewhat on top of my conditioning work. Its the one thing I always skip if I skip anything, and I think it hurts me when I don’t do it.
I can always tell in the gym when I haven’t been hitting the hill sprints like I should. So, today, in honor of the deload and everything else coming up, I’m going to walk the mile to my long hill sprint hill, hit my sprints and walk back. Nice workout, and a good chance to get outside and get some air.
Well the sprinting part didn’t go so hot. It went down like this:
1/2/11
Conditioning
1 mile walk, Hill Sprints 80m x 3 with 2 min recovery, 1 mile walk home
I tied up so bad on the last sprint that I barely made it back down the hill… I haven’t eaten well the last two days because I’m literally out of money until I get paid tomorrow, so I think the lack of calories and lack of consistent conditioning really showed today. Shit. Well, I’m gonna stay on top of my chow time today, and really pack in the calories in the hopes that this doesn’t happen again.
I must admit though, when I took off sprinting on all 3 reps today, but especially the first one, holy hell it felt like I was FLYING. I love feeling fast again, haha
Got in and got it done today. Wanted to get enough work in to get the blood flowing, and then be done with it. I went and shot around for 40 minutes. I’m about 1 more inch in vert away from dunking the girl’s basketball on the 10 ft rim. In fact, standing right under the rim, I can jump straight up without a walk-in and grab hold of the rim. This is a HUGE improvement for me in terms of leaping ability, and I can only hope that the improvement will continue.
160x5x8 <— couldn’t get tight enough till 4th set, then weight flew up
Superset:
Chins
4x8 with
Face Pulls, from Lat Pulldown
85x15,15
100x15,15
Strict Cable Lateral Raises
25x8
20x8,8,8 <— had to drop the weight to get the groove right.
Superset:
Overhead DB Extension
25lb x 3x12 with
DB Shrugs
90s x 4x15
DONE.
Had some trouble getting tight enough on the bench today. First 3 sets felt heavier than they should’ve, but once I finally figured it out and forced myself into being as tight as possible again, the weight felt like a feather. Solid workout for the first day back from the deload. I felt super focused and ready to attack the weights, and it showed in the workout. My rests were short, and the intensity was sky high. I love it!
Gonna eat a lot and get to bed early tonight. We’re supposed to get a pretty solid snow, and I am going to have to drive in to work early tomorrow so I can de-ice the sidewalks around the shop. Don’t know why we’re going to be open if it snows, ain’t nobody gonna be shopping anyway.
Oh well, I’m bringing beer and hot chocolate, so I’ll be fine, haha!
Wasn’t planning to run today but I didn’t get any conditioning done this morning on account of having to leave early to get to work on time. Managed to close up shop early and so I managed to get in an easy run with a coworker afterwards.
Well, I’m moving my training days around this week. I get to go to Washington DC to visit my little brother, and so I’m going to use this opportunity to workout in a legit weightroom for once. I’m going to try and hit my Squat workout Friday, and the Military Day I’m just going to push till Sunday when I get home. I hate flying, so it will be a great way to de-stress.
Plus, I’m taking a break from the diet this weekend to eat tasty food and drink tasty beer I can’t get in Sunny TN areas. Going to see if I can pile on the food and just eat what I want and when I want, only trying mildly to stay within my fasting windows. If it works out, then great, but this way I can come back super focused next week and the weeks beyond. And since I’m not in this for any reason other than to be stronger and faster, not having improvements in my abs isn’t gonna kill me.
15x4x12 <— Finally nailed form, gonna try 20’s next MP day
DB Shrugs
80x3x10 <–each rep with 2s pause/squeeze at the top, really felt these
DB Curls
35x8
40x8
Dropset of somexsomexmore
DONE.
I can tell my conditioning has waned with the drinking and doing nothing this last week. But I got after it HARD today with an intensity I’ve lacked for a while I think. Left the weight room looking like Death, but feeling like a monster. I’ve got to keep on rollin with the good times while I got 'em.
I’m going to try and incorporate my jumping stuff in tomorrow morning, just to see how it works. If it doesn’t, then I won’t do it this way again, and I’ll just keep my jumps in before I hit the weights. My grip is certainly getting better with this high rep stuff, but as always, the high rep deads just blast me. Going to the grocery store afterwards was a monumental effort, but it all got done. Now I’m going to sit here and relax the rest of the day, and then see if I can’t go hang out with some folks later.
DB Shrugs - 95x3x10 with
OH Tri Extensions - 30x3x10
DONE.
Got back to the apartment just as the snow started raping the streets again. I’m perfectly capable of driving in the snow/ice, in fact its quite interesting, but the rest of the population of Memphis seems to think that precipitation means go faster. Buncha tards. Its just safer for my whole presence of mind thing if I chill at home, rather than deal with the bullshit.
Back to the workout… My setup on the bench was MUCH better today. Felt tight right from the start, and the weight just flew up. Hadn’t had much to eat today because I was trying to get the workout in before the roads got too nasty, but oh well. I know I can put up considerably more than 180x10 right now, and I’m enjoying the ride. Time to shower and get that PWO shake in so I can get to watching movies and playing video games while it snows.
Felt gassed this morning, but didn’t get much sleep last night and drank a fair bit, so I’m sure that’s what did it.
Took a nap later in the morning and felt great afterward. Ended up buying a food processor today, so these whole feast periods I’ve got going are fixing to get a lot more intense. One of the reasons I don’t cook more than I already do (which is a fair bit) is because I’m too lazy to chop onions and garlic and stuff. Already got a recipe for Roasted Red Pepper hummus that I’m going to try later. Pretty damn excited, haha
195(60%)x3
220(67.5%)x3
240(72.5%)x3x8 ← These felt great! Most reps I’ve done at that weight
Single Leg Press
2 plates x10
3 plates x2x10
Pull-Throughs
40x12
50x2x12
Weighted Situps (quickly turned to BW Situps)
3x10
DONE.
I really need to work on my ab strength. I thought it was ok, but I could tell as soon as I did the first set of weighted situps that I was weak. I adjusted my bar placement on the squatting though, getting it a little lower onto my rear delt/trap shelf, and the groove felt amazing. Back felt solid, form felt solid. I’m very pleased with the adjustment.
