This is my first thread on here, though i’ve been here for years, so bare with me.
Officially started my training cycle this week for a competition in May. I had a nagging shoulder injury all last year that kept me from pressing anything, and seriously limited my ability to squat and dead heavy. 2012 was pretty much a wash, so hopefully 2013 will be much better. I still need to be careful with my shoulder, but at least I can press, and my technique has gotten much better as a result.
I’m going to be giving the Eastside Squat cycle a go, because it looks great, and I started designing a bench cycle that will start a few weeks from now, 13 weeks out from the meet.
My stats:
30 yrs old
6’1 - 260lbs
Bench: 300ish (not sure right now)
Squat: 600+
Dead: 500+
Haven’t maxed on anything in a while because I’m slowly working into weights that my shoulder can handle, so that’s why I’m not sure where my lifts are at. Its a slow process but it’s working out well.
Tues(1/22/13):
Standing Military press: 5x5 @ 155 lbs
Flat DB Bench: 3x20 @ 50lbs + miniband around back of shoulders
Tons of rows, pull-aparts, rows, rows, ect. Honestly can’t remember, I’ve got to start writing my stuff down again.
EZ skull crushers: 3 x 8-12 with overhead granade-ball chain extensions for active recovery.
rotator cuff work
Wed(1/23/13): gear = very loose jack briefs and belt.
Speed squats against grey bands: 2x2 @ 285lbs + grey bands, 2x2 @ 305 + grey bands, 2x2 @ 325 + grey bands.
Pin pulls from bottom pin: worked up to a single @ 455 + 75lbs chains
circuit: rev hypers 3 x 10, standing abs 3 x 20, miniband abductions 3x20
*shoulders really tightened up after this workout. Think I did too much shoulders the day before, so I’m definitely going to nurse them next week before squatting against bands for max weight.
Thur(1/24/13):
recovery workout:
15 mins walking on treadmill
soft-tissue work with softball and foam roller
single-leg press: sled x 90 reps each leg
light circuit: seated calf 3x20, prone miniband leg curls 3 x 30, BW rev hyper 3 x 30
Sat(1/26/13):
*shoulders are still really soar. No benching or pressing today. All back and triceps
10 mins treadmill, soft tissue on pecs, shoulders, traps, lats
warmed up on cable pulldown + against monster minibands. Worked up to a heavy set of 8
pullups: bw x 5, 3x3 @ bw + 20lbs chains
HS row: 6 x 10 @ 3Ps/side with miniband wall crawls 6 x 10secs for active recovery
Wide-grip cable rows: 4 x 12-15 @ 160lbs with supine miniband pull-aparts 4 x 20 for active recovery.
v-bar pushdowns against grey and orange band: 4 x 8-10 with rolling DB tri exts for active recovery.
KB inverted flat press(stability) + stretch pecs and shoulders with grey band and listen to gym know-it-all spew his ignorance(toughest exercise all day)
Decent day, shoulder tightened up on my after Sat training. Going to do a lot of soft tissue this week and take it easy on shoulders this coming tues.
Sorry my post are so long. Trying to play catch-up. I’m going to try and put up my log right after training moving forward.
Sunday(1/27/13):
*lower body assistance day. Eastside squat program you only squat and dead once a week so my second lowerbody day is all assistance work.
20 mins on treadmill, soft tissue work on shoulder girdle, back, legs
Safety bar good mornings: 1x10 bar, 1x10 115 lbs, 4 x 5 @ 155 lbs with rev hypers 4 x 10 as active recovery.
GHR: 5x10 @ BW and grey band + 50lbs DB arch outs(helping my upper back arch) as active recovery
Decline situps: 2 x 20 @ BW, 2 x 20 @ BW + 25lbs
X-band walks: 3 x 8 steps/side with grey band good mornings as active recovery
Helped out a training partner get in his new briefs, and convince him they WILL FIT…eventually with work:)
Tuesday(1/29/13):
It was supposed to be my bench assistance/speed day but my shoulder is still bothering me from last week. Not sure what I did but I’m not taking a chance with it so all I did today was 15 mins walking on treadmill while doing various arm circles, shoulder roles, ect. Then I spent 45 mins just doing soft tissue work with a lacrosse ball, foam roller, and a broom stick set in the monolift(to roll triceps, biceps and lats). Shoulder feels decent but I still feel some inflammation.
Tomorrow I supposed to squat against grey bands to a max single with my briefs and suit bottom and pull for speed against bands but I’m probably going to opt for some assistance work that doesn’t involve loading my shoulders. Maybe some belt squats, heavy rev hyper, and GHR but I’m not sure. Lets see what tomorrow will bring:)
Wed(1/30/13):
10 min walking on treadmill while doing various arm circles, shoulder rolls, ect.
Soft tissue work with softball on pecs, delts, and lats and foam rolled quads, IT-band, glutes, back.
Parisi muscle activation series and McGill’s spinal flossing technique
- Safety bar squat raw to a 1-2 inch below parallel box with foam pad: 2 x 2 @ 245, 2 x 2 @ 285, 2 x 2 @ 335
2a. Belts squats: 4 x 6-10 @ 130
2b. Rev Hypers: 4 x 8
Very abbreviated training session but I had an early staff meeting to go to before my work shift started so I got in what I could. Squats felt great. Didn’t go nuts on weight but focused on bar speed, technique, arching as hard as possible, and making an very slow descent. Good quality training session.
Thur(1/31/13):
Quick little recovery workout. Busy, busy day so it was brief:
20 mins walking on treadmill
Soft tissue with lacrosse ball on pecs, delts, traps
Foam roll legs, glutes, and back.
Rev hyper with body weight for 30 reps
Helped spot one of my gym owners clients and watch him smash some PRs on Rev. Band box squats!!!
Fri(2/1/13):
Had to get my Saturday workout in today cause of work. Shoulder feels good so I decided to get a little light work in and get the blood flowing.
*10 mins walking on treadmill. Then some soft tissue work on pecs, delts, traps, lats, low back, and glutes with softball and foam roller
- Standing DB shoulder press: 10 lbs x 20, 15 lbs x 15, 20 lbs x 12, 2 x 10 @ 25 lbs
- Chest supported Row focused scap retraction: 45 lbs x 15, 3 x 12 @ 70 lbs
3a. Tri v-bar pushdowns against grey & orange bands: 4 x 8
3b. Tri kick-backs: 4 x 12 @ 12 lbs
4a. 1-arm preacher hammer curls(x8) to regular precher curls(x8): 4 sets
4b. Straight-arm rope pulldowns: 60 lbs x 20 lbs, 70 lbs x 15, 2 x 15 @ 90 lbs
- V-bar tri pushdowns against orange bands: 1 x 130 reps(yes thats right; 130 reps. Just pumping my tris full of blood)
15 mins of stationary bike.
Sunday(2/3/13):
Lower body assistance day.
I have a nasty cold and just put in a 7 day work week so I knew today’s training would be lackluster at best, but at least it’s an “optional” day. Whatever makes me feel better I guess.
*warmed up on upright bike for 5 mins, then walked on treadmill for 7 mins. Soft tissue work on pecs, delts, traps with softball, and lats, traps, low back, glutes and legs with foam roller. Parisi muscle activation series, McGill’s spinal flossing technique, and 20 reps of rev hypers with body weight.
- Safety bar good mornings: 5 x 8 @ 135
- KB swings: 4 x 15-20 with out biggest KB. Can’t remember how many kilos
- GHR: BW x 30 reps. one set and did 7-8 assisted reps after concentric failure.
Nothing exciting but I got some work in. My right shoulder is still friggin’ nagging me. F$@K this shoulder, seriously.
I am no longer going to continue the Eastside Barbell Squat Cycle. It has proven to no be appropriate for my shoulder at this point in its recovery. Im also flirting with the idea to compete raw in May, but I will decide that after my 1st 4 week cycle. The straight-bar is out for 8 weeks, and the safety bar is in. I have decided to follow a modified 5/3/1 template. This will keep me in check I feel and not doing a ridiculous amount of volume that I can’t recover from. Plus I feel its a good way to progress your raw lifts over time, while adding in singles whether geared or raw to keep your strength up. I don’t like to modify good programs like this but I have certain needs that need to be addressed. The modifications are:
- Safety bar instead of straight bar for squats
- Using Boring But Big assistance template, but going with 10 sets of 5 reps instead of 5 sets of 10 reps in order to keep the integrity of each rep to a maximum. I will still be using 50% 1RM as a base in my first 4 week cycle, with short rest periods.
- For the bench, I will be using a 3-board for my first 4 week cycle, and then a 2-board for my second 4 week cycle to baby my shoulder a bit. After the second cycle I will assess how things will go moving forward, based on my shoulder.
- I will be adding singles after my main 5/3/1 reps in the second 4 week cycle,as well as switching to the 5/3/1 powerlifting template(3/5/1). How I will structure these is dependent on how my shoulder feels then, as well as whether I am going to compete raw or geared in May.
I was ultra conservative on my maxes for the program as well. That way I hit my reps every week and can progress this over a long time, plus keep my technique tight. The only one I was not sure about is the safety squat. i guessed around 400 lb raw safety squat, making my training max 360 lbs, but I’m not sure about this. I hit a 465 lb raw safty squat last summer but I was 35 lbs heavier and my arch wasn’t great. My legs are plenty strong but my arch is my limiting factor with the safety bar. If I round there’s too much weight, so I want to be careful of that.
My training maxes for the program:
Safety squat: 360 (we’ll see!)
Deadlift: 360(ultra conservative)
Bench: 261 (conservative)
Military press: 166.5(fairly accurate)
Tues(2/5/13):
6 min warmup walking on treadmill, soft tissue work on pecs, delts, traps,glutes, legs, and back with softball and foam roller, rev hyper x 20, squat-stretch x 30 secs, stretch calves and hip flexors.
- Safety bar squats: 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 5, 235 x 5, 270 x 5, 305 x 5.
- BBB Safety squats: 10 sets of 5 reps @ 180lbs, 1-2 min rest between sets
- Green band leg curls, pausing at top and squeezing: 5 sets of 10 reps
*walked on treadmill for 10 mins, and off to get ready for work and EAT!!
Still pretty soar from Sunday’s workout. Didn’t decide to change my program until after so I didn’t intend to have to squat 2 days later. Probably why I could only get 5 reps with my last set of 5’s. Next week should be better, and I should be fully recovered. If the squat %s still feel to heavy, I will adjust them after next week.
Wed(2/6/13):
8 min warmup walking on treadmill. Various arm circles, soft tissue work on pecs, delts, traps, back and glutes, Y,T,W,L with just arms x 10 each.
- 3-Brd Bench: 105 x 5, 130 x 5, 160 x 3, 170 x 5, 200 x 5, 225 x 10
- 2-brd BBB bench: 10 sets of 5 @ 135 lbs, 1 min rest periods (explosive reps)
- Wide-neutral grip cable pulldowns: 120 x 10, 160 x 10, 170 x 10 x 4
- Mini-band pull-aparts: 2 x 20
*wanted to do some light cardio after but got called into work early. Oh well, life’s a bitch
Friday(2/8/13):
*6 min warmup on treadmill, foam roll back glutes and legs for 10 mins, softball work on pec and delts, Parisi muscle activation series, McGills spinal flossing x 10, chest supported rows 3 x 10, rev hyper x 20, BW squats 2 x 10.
- Sumo Deads (raw): 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 3, 235 x 5, 270 x 5, 305 x 10!
- BBB sumo deads: 10 sets of 5 @ 180 (rest 1 min between sets)
3a. Hanging leg raises: 4 x 15 (I’ll do 5 x 15 next week. fatigued out after 4)
3b. Medium strength captains of crush: 3 x 5 each hand, 1 x 10
- Supine hip thrust: 1 x 50
- Shoveled snow for 30 mins. Friggin’ blizzard up here in the northeast.
- Felt good today. Still dealing with a cold but got my workout in. Deads felt good and fast. Left hip tightened a little after my 305 x 10 but I rolled it in between my BBB sets and it calmed down. I feel my technique with this program set up is going to get really good. I’ll get a lot of practice with moderate weight and put some speed on them. The more BBB sets I did, the better my technique and speed felt. Tough workout though. Thats a tone of pulling. The hanging leg raises were the toughest, mostly because I can the friggin’ things.
Sat(2/9/13):
*warmup consisted of about 1 1/2 of shoveling in this blizzard. 5 mins walking on treadmill, arm circles, shoulder rolls, soft tissue on pecs, delts, traps, back, and glutes.
- Bench: 3 x 10 with bar only (technique practice)
- Military press: bar x 10, 65 x 5, 80 x 5, 100 x 3, 105 x 5, 125 x 5, 140 x 10.
- BBB Military press: 5 sets of 10 @ 85 lbs.
- Bent dumbbell rows: 5 x 10 @ 50 lbs. (being conservative to start and work up each week for 8 weeks).
*experimented with doing db rows bent over with bracing my non-working elbow on a knee. I think I found my favorite way to db row.
Wed(2/13/13):
Missed Monday due to job interview. Got to play catchup. Warmed up with the usual methods
- Safety Squat: bar x 10, 115 x 5, 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 3, 250 x 3, 285 x 3, 325 x 5
- BBB Safety squats: 10 sets of 5 @ 180(all reps treated as speed work)
- Green band leg curls: 5 sets of 10
Good workout. Last set of safety squats at 325 felt like shit. Quads were shaking and had no hip drive. Oh well, better luck next time
Thur(2/14/13):
- crazy last couple days. Super busy applying for teaching jobs. Need to hit the weights
Warmuped up with the usual:
- 2-board Bench: bar x 10, 105 x 5, 130 x 5, 160 x 3,(added 2-brd) 185 x 3, 210 x 3, 240 x 9
- BBB 1-brd bench: 10 sets of 5 at 135
- Wide neutral grip cable pulldowns: 120 x 10, 160 x 10, 170 x 10, 180 x 10 x 3
- 2 x 20 band pullaparts 2 x 20 db front raises with 10 lbs.
- 15 mins cardio on upright bike.
Training session felt good until about 2 hours after I finished. My AC joint flared up on my right shoulder. That’s the initial injury that started the whole shitty shoulder of 2012. Hope it calms down. Got a Dr.s appointment in a few weeks, so hopefully they can figure out what the hell’s going on with it.
Saturday(2/16/13):
I got called into work early Friday so I missed my deadlift training, so Saturday I doubled down and blasted out my military press and dead training. Tough training session but had fun.
*warmed up walking on treadmill, soft tissue work, abbreviated parisi warmup, chest-supported rows x 10, bw squats, ect.
1a. Sumo deads: 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 3, 250 x 3, 285 x 3, 325 x 10
1b. Military press: bar x 10, 65 x 5, 80 x 5, 100 x 3, 115 x 3, 130 x 3, 150 x 10
2a. BBB dead: 10 sets x 5 reps @ 185.(1st 4 sets were sumo, remaining 6 conventional, all treated as speed)
2b. BBB military press: 5 sets of 10 reps @ 85
3a. Hanging leg raises: 1 x 10, 4 x 15
3b. Bent over DB rows: 5 sets x 10 @ 60 lbs each arm.
4a. DB shrugs: 1 x 50, 1 x 20 @ 50 lbs
4b. DB curls: 2 x 20 @ 15 lbs
4c. Rope pushdowns: 2 x 20 @ 70 lbs
5. 20 mins easy walk on treadmill
I then went on to eat as much as I could stuff my face with. I knew that was an epic workout and if I wanted to recover properly I had to eat a mega shit-load…so I did
Mon(2/19/2013):
*5 min warmup on tradmill, soft tissue work, parisi warmup.
- Safety Bar Squats to box: bar x 8, 115 x 5, 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 3, 270 x 5, 305 x 5(supposed to be 3), 340 x 3
- BBB Safety squats(narrow stance to box): 10 sets of 5 @ 205 lbs
3a. Green band leg curls: 5 sets of 10
3b. BW reverse hypers
*stretched lower body for 15 mins post workout.
Made the mistake of doing 285 lbs for 5 reps instead of the planned 3 reps. My mistake, but now I now why the 325 x 3 felt so hard.
Wed(2/20/13):
Soft-tissue work, 3-way delt raise.
- 2-brd bench: bar x 15, 95 x 5, 105 x 5, 130 x 5, 160 x 3, 200 x 5, 225 x 3, 250 x 9
- BBB bench(to chest):5 sets x 10 reps
- Wide, neutral grip pulldowns: 130 x 10, 180 x 10 x 5 sets
4a. Fat-bar curls: 3 x 12
4b. Rope Pushdowns: 3 x 15
4c. Band ext. rotations: 3 x 15
- 15 mins walking on treadmill, stretch upper body
Thur(2/21/13):
- 25 mins walking on treadmill going shoulder circles, rolls, ect.
Active recovery:
1a. mini band front raises: 3 x 30
1b. mini band tri pushdowns: 3 x 50
1c. mini band straight-arm pulldowns to pull-aparts: 3 x 20
*stretched upper body, focusing on pecs and front delts
Fri(2/22/13):
*5 mins warmup on treadmill, soft tissue work, parisi warmup, pulldowns 2 x 10, chest-supported rows 2 x 10, BW squats with 5 sec iso-hold at bottom.
- Sumo Deads(raw): 135 x 5, 145 x 5, 180 x 5, 215 x 3, 270 x 5, 305 x 3, 340 x 8
- Conv. deads: 10 sets of 5 @ 185
- Hanging LEg raises: 5 sets of 15 reps
- DB Shrugs: 3 x 20 reps w/ 50 lb DBs
*about an hour after training, my lower right abdominal felt weird. There was a slight bump, but also some tissue damage from my belt. I’m hoping it just the damage form the belt that lead me to notice the area, and not a hernia. It’s not really a bump, but it feels slightly different than the other side. Next weeks a deload so hopefully I can rest and everything will workout. The last thing I need right now is another god-damn injury!!!