March 29, 2012 Lower

• Squats: 315*1 335*1 355*1 365*1 375*1 385*X 385*1

This went well, record is 400 @ 231, I was 205.5 here still for the 385, the former was a 1.73x BW squat, this one is 1.87.  Working towards 2x still.  No extra exercises here.  Saturday I'm doing O-Lift PR attempts.   And now for the best story I'll probably ever get out of the gym:

So I had 365 on the bar and I went to go get a drink from the fountain before doing the set.  I come back not 30 seconds later and some dude is unloading the bar.  I say "hey dude, still using that".  Unfortunately he has headphones on and can't hear me.  Even more unfortunately he's decided to unload the 3 45s and the 25 from one side of the bar without taking any plates off the other.  He takes the last 45 off and the bar flies up narrowly missing his face, and dumping the weight off the other side.  Loud noise, people staring, etc.   He looks at me finally and I say "you can't take all the plates off one side.  Also I'm still in here.  I need you to rerack the bar and load the weight back up for me".   

Then I walk away and start talking to one of my friends there, we're kind of laughing, didn't want to be too mean.  So we're looking at this guy, and he puts the empty bar back on the rack and starts loading weight back on it.   On one side.  I say to my friend "There's no fucking way....no. fucking. way".  Yup.  one 45.....two 45s....3 45s.  At this point my friend and I are both shouting, but again dude's wearing headphones.  He starts to slide the 25 onto the bar and me and my friend are screaming at him and the dude looks over to us, as he pushes the 25 on...and the bar dumps and pegs him in the chest.   Fortunately a trainer was there and she jumps on the unweighted side and throws some weight on to counterbalance it.   To the dude's credit he stuck around in another corner of the weight room working out for a while.    In retrospect I kind of feel bad for being blunt with him after he dumped the bar the first time.  If I had known he would've done it a second time I probably would've cut him a break. Poor dude's not having a good day. 

March 27, 2012 Upper

• Bench Press: 275*1 295*1 305*1 315*X 315*1
• DB Incline: 90*2 105*2 115*2 120*2 NEW PR!!

So I always do better without a lift on benching for some reason. I just have a hard time controlling the weight on the way down if I get a lift off.  Kind of surprised I got this high on benching this bulk. Was not expecting to get past 300 again any time soon.  Decided I wanted to max out on db incline (gym only goes to 120 lbs.) so I crossed that off my to-do list finally. Good session, and the max-out week continues. No videos here, since 315 isn't particularly prodigious, and given that my PR is 340. Albeit that was at 231 lbs, and I'm 205.5 here. 

March 26, 2012 Lower WHARGARBL!!! WITH VIDEOS

• BB DL: 400*1 445*1 475*1 505*1  NEW PR!! 515*1 NEW PR!!
• Trap-Bar DL: 405*1 495*1 515*1

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.  As I transition out of my 20s I keep thinking to myself "someday, maybe it's today even, there will be a day when I am never stronger over the course of my life.  I will look back on it 30 years from now and say "I never lifted more than I did that day".  I don't know if today's that day; I hope not.  But still at some point I'll hit a pull/bench/squat/whatever that I'll never surpass. I may not know it at the time; in fact I probably won't.  Nonetheless that day will come.  Today was hopefully not that day.  I got the 475 easily, then decided to just go for 505 instead of ramping anymore.  That went up fairly easy.  I was actually surprised how easy.  I decided to go for 515.  The horror....I locked it out...but my form was...rough, to say the least.  I hadn't really planned on doing two pulls above 500 on standard deadlifting.  Still though, felt great.  I'll probably forget the form I used in a month or two, but I'll always remember pulling 515...until I pull 520.  Worth noting, I was 205.5 lbs here.  


Hit trap-bar deadlifts after sort of just for fun.  Tied my old record.  Considered breaking it with 520, but figured I'd save it for another day, I was getting hungry and I didn't want to tax my CNS anymore than I have to.   On to the videos!

First the non-horrifying.  505

Now for the horrifying, my form on 515.  I actually started laughing as I locked out

Finally, 515 on a hex bar. Just for fun

March 25, 2012 Conditioning

• 34.5" Plyo Box Jumps: 10
• 34.5"Seated Plyo Box Jumps: 10
• Bench Plyo Clap Pushups:5, 5, 5

Kept it REAL easy here. Just wanted to keep myself loose, legs are STILL sore from sprinting &squatting on back to back days.  Fortunately it's mostly my quads, so hopefully doesn't influence deadlifting tomorrow.  We shall see

March 23, 2012 Upper

• Incline Bench:245*1 265*1 285*1 NEW PR!!
• Pullups:55*1 75*1 90*1 NEW PR!! 100*1 NEW PR!!
• Standing Press: 155*1 175*1 190*1 195*1 NEW PR!!
• DB Unilateral Bench: 60*3 80*3 90*3 NEW PR!! 100*3  NEW PR!!   110*3  NEW PR!!   120*1  NEW PR!! 

Well that was a good session...I decided to start my max-out week today, instead of Monday. I figured this way I could bag a few records, then rest the weekend, before picking up fresh on Monday. Otherwise I'd have been going for the records from today at the end of this coming week after 3 days of record attempts.  Not sure I've ever set this many PRs in one session.  Although the unilateral bench thing Ijust don't think I've ever really tried. The pullups were surprisingly easy, thought I may have trouble breaking 85, but nope.  Standing Press was a bit shaky, I got it, but I think literally any other day I would've missed.  Good sesh. though.

March 22, 2012 Lower

• Squats: 320*3 325*3 330*3 350*1
• BB Hang Snatch: 135*3 145*3 155*3 170*X 135*5
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chop:50*10 60*10

Ok, still sore from sprinting. Actually sore is an understatement. My legs are on fire, exhausted, tense, tight, and stiff.  Surprised I actually got 350.  Hanging snatches however went pretty well.  No idea why I missed at 170. I had it almost all the way, but couldn't get under it enough I guess. Had plenty of energy, just couldn't finish it off.  

March 21, 2012 Sprinting!

• 100m Sprints:3
• 60m Sprints:5

Beeeeautiful day out, so I headed over to Harvard's outdoor track and ran some sprints.  I'm going to focus more on speed this year as opposed to endurance.  So I'm going to keep it at 100m max most likely. Maybe an occasional 200.  Loving the 60s.  Got 600m total; honestly was not expecting it to be as taxing as it was.  My legs/body was DEAD after this.  Hopefully doesn't effect squatting tomorrow. 

March 20, 2012 Upper

• Bench Press: 250*3 270*3 290*3 300*3 310*3
• Pullups: 55*3 55*3  55*3  55*3  55*3
• Push Press: 210*3 225*3 235*2 245*1 NEW PR!!
• TRX Rope Pulley Things: 24kg*1 20kg*1 16kg*4
• Side Planks 30 seconds:2

Rolling on the push press now.  I've been taking a wider stance on them, really makes a huge difference, I feel more stable on the push off.   Everything else went well. Felt strong on 300 this week than last. I was thinking after the bench sets, I wonder how many sets of 300+ benching I've done.  I chased even a single rep for so long, and now I'm regularly over it in triples.


    OK, so I saw a couple guys doing these pulley things over the trx with a rope and a kb and decided I was going to give them a try when my next back day came.  They were using the 28kg kb, and I figured I'd start with that, but couldn't find it.  Holy crap. Good thing. BARELY pulled 24.  Going to try and adjust my foot placement.  Below is my attempt at 16kg, for four.   Ignore the dude in the middle of the shot. Asshole.  Actually I'm sure he's a perfectly nice dude.  

March 19, 2012 Lower

• Deadlift:410*3 440*3 475*3
• Hanging Power Cleans:190*3 200*3 210*3
• Bird-Dogs: 10, 10

exhausting session.Not in a bad way, just tiring. I think I'll go for a 515 pull at end of bulk. 

March 16, 2012 Upper

• Incline Bench Press: 280*1 NEW PR!! 265*3 255*3 225*3
• Neutral-Grip Pullups:30*8 30*6 30*5
• Standing Press: 180*3 185*3 190*1

Whooo. Not sure I'm getting more than 280 any time soon so 300 may have to wait til next bulk here.  Did some neutral grip pullups after, with weight.Felt good.  So did standing press

March 15, 2012 Lower

• Squats:320*3 325*3 335*3 350*3
• Hanging Power Snatches:135*3 145*3 155*3 170*X 135*3
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops:45*10 50*10
• Ab-Wheel:10

3rd rep at 350 was a bit iffy; didn't hit depth.  Would've gotten red-lighted at a meet, but whatever.  I'm still very happy with how squatting has gone for me recently.  The numbers are clearly still behind where you'd expect them to be considering I pull a 500 lbs. deadlift.  But given that I was struggling with 300 a couple months back I'm happy.  I'm going to toss in some more box squats at some point, and this coming week I may do a widow maker with 225.  

On the snatches, did you ever attempt something and you know you should've achieved it, or gotten whatever it is you were trying for? That was the 170 attempt. I wasn't tired, I felt strong. I have no idea why I missed.  Oh well

March 13, 2012 Upper

• Bench Press:250*3 270*3 290*3 300*3 310*3
• Pullups:55*3  55*3  55*3  55*3  55*3
• Push Press:210*3 225*3 235*1 240*1 NEW PR!!

Going well and progressing here.  Finally got 240 on PP, kind of set up the previous sets to get it, took it easy on 235, just went for the single.  Getting to 275 from here may be difficult...We shall see

March 12, 2012 Lower

• BB DL:410*3 440*3 475*2
• Hanging Power Cleans:185*3 200*2 210*X 185*4 135*8
• Bird-Dogs:10, 10
• Ab-Wheel: 10

No idea what was up with cleans here, I was just flat.  I had no explosiveness at all.  Was pissed so I did 135 for 8.  Bird Dogs I added in for core work; surprised at how well these worked. Finished with some ab wheeling

March 09, 2012 Upper

• Incline Bench: 275*3 265*3 255*3
• Rope Pullups: 10, 7, 7
• Standing Press:180*3 185*2 190*1

Good session, going to keep upping my 3 rep set here.  This one tied a record. Next week I go to break my max.  Matched standing press record again. 

March 08, 2012 Lower

• Squats: 320*3 325*3 335*3 345*2
• Hang Power Snatch:135*3 145*3 155*3 165*X
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotation Chops:45*10 50*10

Good stuff...not much to say here...really like the chops. Was a bit tired for the power snatches.  Squatting went decent...glad strength is staying

March 6, 2012 Upper

• Flat Bench: 250*3 270*3 290*3 305*3
• Pullups: 50*3  50*3  50*3  50*3 50*3
• Push Press: 210*3 225*3 235*3 240*X

Good session, I think I'm done doing the direct arm work, didn't really have any kind of effect on my arms in any way shape or form.  Bench went well, still not sure what I want to do with pullups, I just know I'm getting bored of banging out these sets like that.  Narrowly missed 240 on push press...so close. 

March 5, 2012 Lower

• Deadlifts: 410*3 440*3 475*2
• Hanging Power Cleans: 185*3 195*3 205*3 215*1 NEW PR!!

Felt great, glad to hit a PR on the power cleans. Was pretty tired after that so I called it a day. 

March 4, 2012 Conditioning

• 34.5" Plyo box jumps / seated box jump superset: 15/15
• Battling Ropes / Rope Slam S.S.: 60/15 50/15
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotation Chop: 40*10 45*10

Good session...the rope work gasses me. 

What I'm Reading Lately

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/7_things_i_learned_in_2011

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_contreras_files_volume_iii

Just a couple articles to pass along

March 2, 2012 Upper / Light

• Incline Bench: 265*4 245*4 235*6
• Rope Pullups: 8, 7, 6
• Standing Press: 180*2 185*2 190*1 NEW PR!!
• Farmer's Walks: 75*1:00

Good session. No clue why I didn't increase weight on incline bench here, I wanted to go for 3 rep sets max for the rest of this bulking cycle, see if I can get 300.   Rope pullups went well.  Standing press hit a new PR.  Was taxed by the time I got to Farmer's at the end.  

March 1, 2012 Lower / Light

• Squats: 315*4 325*3 335*3 350*2 365*1
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*3 155*3 165*X 145*3
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotation Chop: 40*10 45*10

Good session.  I'm going to scale back the weight on the squats so I'm not hitting a one rep set at the end of each workout, I'll probably do 315, 325, 335, 345, 355 or something this coming week.  Here's those chop things I did for the last exercise. 

February 28, 2012 Upper / Heavy

• Bench Press: 250*3 270*3 290*3 300*3 315*3
• Pullups: 55*3  55*3  55*3  55*3  55*3
• Push Press: 205*3 220*3 235*2

Decent session. 3rd rep at 315 was a bit shaky.  Probably leave it there this coming week.  Pullups are going well. I want to do something different with them, but I don't know what.  Push press going well, Want 275 by the end of this bulk, will probably have to do them first on a day, maybe the last Wednesay of the bulk?