Velvet's Lifting and Other Fun Stuff Log

Thanks man! The events kinda sold me on this one. The past few that have been local were really static heavy, so this one having a few moving events appealed to me.

If I’m reading the chart right, the farmers will be 180 per hand on a standard handle (novice lightweight). Now that I’m seeing it’s a drop and pick rather than a turn, I think that’ll be easier to train for in my basement. The toss will definitely need some fine tuning though. Good to know about the deadlift bar! I’ll just make sure to pull as much slack as possible before starting the lift.

As far as Brians program. Upper body days are taking 50 minutes or so, and lower body days about 60 or so. I haven’t included a full 10 minute warm up in each session so there’s a little variability there. Takes just a hair longer to warm up for squats/deads and then between the 3 giant sets I usually cry a little longer before setting the next stations up.

4 Likes

Ah, yes. Looking back it was Cam who said he was middleweight. 180lbs is still a decent weight, but…

This, IMO, is MUCH easier than having to turn. The most difficult part, for me, during a farmer’s walk is the turn. So this event will be all about your footspeed, no drops, and the transition from drop to pick at whatever distance. Definitely a nice way to get your feet wet with farmer’s walk.

Exactly, and there can also be some residual whip during your pull that can slightly throw you out of your groove, but I still find it significantly easier to deadlift with. (Failed 645lb deadlift 2 weeks ago on my stiff bar, and then hit a 678lb deadlift with a deadlift bar this past weekend).

That’s not too bad. I remember running some of his programming awhile back, and the 50-60mins is a “full throttle” 50-60mins.

I’m excited for you man, this will be a fun motivation for your training.

2 Likes

Thanks for the advice man. I luckily come stock with fairly decent foot speed, so hoping it translates well.

Full throttle is a great way to describe Brians stuff. That 90 seconds starts to go by quicker than you’d expect.

2 Likes

You will find that it’s much easier to use a deadlift bar. The bar bends so you begin to pull before the plates actually move. The knurling is better too. In June I pulled a smooth 500 on the American Barbell Power Elite bar (stiff) and pulled 545 the next week on the Deadlift bar.

1 Like

11/28/18

Brian Alsruhe Linear Progression - P1/W2/D2

EMOM warmup:
Even - Burpees x10
Odd - 100lb sandbag to shoulder x2
Airdyne between

MAIN GIANT SETS
Vertical jump: x2
Back squat: 175x8, 185x8, 195x2x8
Planks: x20s

SECOND GIANT SETS
Vertical jump: x2
SSB squat: 135x3x10
Band chops: Purple x5/side

ASSISTANCE GIANT SETS
Goblet BSS: 15x3x10
Band GM: Green x3x10
Band hamstring curl: Black x3x10

Decided to ditch the tempo squats after all. I stumbled across a few quotes by Brooks Kubik, in which he condemns “slow motion training”. It may be a cop-out, but I like the way the man thinks.

I need to get around to adding sand to this sandbag. It’s pretty easy to shoulder the 100lbs.

2 Likes

11/30/18

Brian Alsruhe Linear Progression - P1/W2/D3

Warmup:
Squat stretch
Face pulls
Med ball pass

MAIN GIANT SETS
BB row: 135x8, 145x8, 155x8, 160x8
Bench: 135x8, 145x8, 155x8, 160x8
Leg raises: x10

SECOND GIANT SETS
1 arm BB row: 50x4x10
Football bar bench (outer): 120x4x10
BB Russian twist: 25x4x12

ASSISTANCE SUPERSET
Dips: 2x10, 1x9, 1x5
Band pull aparts: Black x4x12

Slacked on the conditioning warmup, just did something pretty easy to wake up from the Friday afternoon malaise. Triceps pumped to the max tonight, didn’t feel the need to add anything to the assistance work.

3 Likes

12/1/18

Brian Alsruhe Linear Progression - P1/W2/D4

EMOM warmup:
Landmine deadlift/twist/press thing: 4/side x 5 minutes

MAIN GIANT SETS
Broad jump: x2
Deadlift: 275x8, 285x8, 295x8, 305x8
Plank: x20s

SECOND GIANT SETS
Medball pass: x3
RDL: 205x10, 8, 6
Hang crunch: x10

ASSISTANCE GIANT SETS
Inverted row: BWx3x10
Sandbag squat: 100x3x5
Ab wheel: BWx3x5

Used straps instead of mixed grip today. Not sure which I like better, but my hands are falling apart a little at the moment so I should probably let them heal some before I get some beefy callus rips.

Think I’m going to switch to 20lb jumps next week and the following. Haven’t done the ab wheel in a while, shoulder didn’t seem to want to cooperate. I imagine it’ll loosen up if I keep it in the rotation.

Also, took my first creatine serving today. Should be fully into my system by Wednesday per the label. Curious how I’ll respond to this. Axle came in the mail today too.

6 Likes

Should work well if your a fish and chicken guy like me lol

1 Like

I eat a bit of everything haha. My diet is fairly loose, just try to make sure I eat consistent quantities of decent food. Meal to meal there’s quite a few changes though.

If I were a rich man I’d just rotate sushi, Thai food, and BBQ for each meal though. That’d be a good life.

1 Like

It should help your performance from set to set if you continue doing the giant sets. It helps your replenish your ATP (energy) after you burn through it. In theory, if you were doing something like your RDL’s where you did 10, 8, then 6 reps then you should be able to do more reps after the first set (so 10, 9, 9 perhaps).

Some people take creatine and expect dramatic results but that’s probably not going to happen. You also won’t notice anything if you are doing a more strength focused workout where you have long rest periods and don’t train to failure. The type of sets that cause the burning of the muscles is the training that will most benefit from creatine supplementation.

3 Likes

Good to know, thanks for the info man.

I’ll be keeping the giant set format for a while, and my assistance work will be in the higher rep ranges for some time so hoping it works as intended.

1 Like

12/3/18

Brian Alsruhe Linear Progression - P1/W3/D1

Warmup:
Face pulls

MAIN GIANT SETS
NG pullups: BWx8
Press: 65x8, 75x8, 85x8, 95x8
Bent knee dragon flag: x10

SECOND GIANT SETS
Overhand pullups: BWx8
Football bar press (outer): 70x4x10
Fallouts: 33 links x5

ASSISTANCE GIANT SETS
PJR pullover: 45x3x10
Axle curl: 40x3x10
Football bar front raise (outer): 30x3x10

Did this pretty late last night. Had a surprise visit from some friends so decided to eek this out before bed.

2 Likes

I like your giant sets. I’m learning the hard way that when you add an exercise it gets much harder (and when you don’t rest).

1 Like

I first dabbled in giant setting the big movements with the squat-chin-press-chin combo I picked up from t3hpwnishers log. I had done them for assistance stuff like curls and raises before but it was pretty eye opening doing them BIGLY.

The lack of rest is something I love to hate though. On the days I do go into a workout to do straight sets I feel so much stronger.

A side note, I’m not sure if it was the creatine or being full of pizza, or training late, but I felt like I could’ve gone forever last night. Usually I’m ready to pack it up after the first 2 giant sets but I could’ve done round after round of that assistance work.

3 Likes

Creatine could help but it has to saturate your system. I think you mentioned you’ve been loading so you could be there. It occurred to me yesterday that I might benefit from creatine again with these stupid ass circuits or whatever you want to call them. They’re killing me (in a good way).

During my CrossFit experiment I tried to train five days a week. I’m just sticking to three days a week this time around and I think it’ll help me stick with the program. Days like today where I play basketball are just a bonus day.

1 Like

I’m on the 4th day of the ‘loading’ phase, so I could call it tonight or do one more loading day per the prescription on the bottle. Could be in my system at this point, could’ve just been a good day.

Five days of CrossFit esque training sounds horrendous. It’s just the wrong kind of suck haha.

1 Like

Yes, it is. I was definitely forcing it. I enjoy going to the gym to lift. Conditioning/running is a different story. I loathe going to the gym for that. Combining lifting with conditioning has helped. There were days where I knew I had to squeeze in a CrossFit WOD and I just hated it. It usually included burpees too. Worst. Exercise. Ever.

1 Like

LOL I’ve been doing burpees once a week as part of a warmup and yeah, they blow.

I’ve been slacking pretty hard on the conditioning lately. I was doing really well for a while but I need to get back into the habit.

1 Like

Yeah Buck Furbees, I hate them too.
But I’m all in for the giant sets. I love the way they make me sweat and getting the feeling of being used.

2 Likes

Okay :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like