March 31, 2013

March 29, 2013 Lower Body


  • Squats (cluster reps): 335*1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
  • Bulgarian Split Squats: 95*6 115*6 135*6
  • Walking Lunges: 110*5 160*3
  • Romanian Deadlifts: 225*4 275*3
  • 56 lbs kb swings: 20
43 minutes

This is quickly becoming my favorite workout of the week.  I don't sweat much, ever, but when I do this workout the last few weeks I'm drenched.    The cluster set went well this week; 2 weeks ago my ab cramped up, no such event this time.  Got the reps in.  Moved to Bulgarians next, and even though clusters don't leave you feeling shot, you can definitely sense that your muscles have worked.  I'm intentionally keeping the weight lower on Bulgarians as I try to work on the form of them, but honestly I'm not sure how much higher I could have gone.   Threw some extra weight on the walking lunges.  These are really what did me in; I was feeling it from the Bulgarians already and then those things done right after just toast me.  Did some Romanian deadlifting after and just pulverized my hamstrings which were already fatigued.   Finished with some kb swings; I was so tired at that point that I think they started to be more of a lower back movement on the last few reps.  Great session

March 28, 2013 Upper Body


  • Incline Bench: 225*3 240*3 255*2
  • Pullups: 75*3 75*3 75*2
  • Push Press: 225*1 235*1
  • Pendlay Rows: 135*10 185*4 205*2
  • DB Flat: 120*5 NEW PR!!
34 minutes

Was in a bit of a hurry here so I shaved a couple sets off the overall workout, will put them back next week.  Going to up the 240 to 245 on incline.  Pullups are going well.  Moved Push Press to this workout, didn't notice any improvement really, will wait a few weeks.  Did more Pendlay rows...those things really kick the crap out of me, love em.  Finished with 120 on flat benching, dbs don't go any higher at my gym so just trying to add reps each week.

March 27, 2013

March 27, 2013 Sprinting!


  • 100m: 1, 1 (14.53), 1 (14.48), 1 (14.38) NEW PR!!, 1 (14.25) NEW PR!!, 1 (14.38), 1 (14.63)
  • Total: 700m

well then....I haven't sprinted in about 5 weeks since every Wednesday has been absolutely foul. Today was in the low fifties or high 40s though so I headed to the track. I figure it's been a few months since I was sprinting every week so I'd be a bit slow. First sprint I didn't time, and was pretty slow.  Second one...was not expecting to be that fast...nor was I expecting the next one to be .05 faster.  I had no idea what my PR was either.   So then I shaved .1 off.  On my next one I stumbled a tad as I took off and figured I'd be closer to 15 flat.  I must have absolutely floored it for the last 90 meters or so though because I turned in 14.25.  Was absolutely gassed after that, times dropped off.  I got 700 meters in; had planned on doing 5 100s, and 5 60s for 800 total, but this works fine.  I don't know what my all-time record is for sprinting. I only measured at the end of the season last year and my record was only 14.43, so I'm starting off this season already faster which is really good.  I still have about 8 more lbs or so to lose in this cut.  

On another note I'm looking pretty big overall, and fairly cut for only having been cutting for about 2 weeks.  I'm really excited about this summer. 

March 26, 2013 Lower Body


  • Deadlifts: 365*1 405*1 425*1
  • Power Snatch: 135*1 
  • Hanging Power Snatch: 145*1 155*1
  • Power Cleans: 155*1 175*1 195*1 205*1
  • High Pull: 215*1
  • Hip-Thrusts: 135*9 185*10 225*10
  • Ab-Wheel: 15
45 minutes

Kept it light on the deadlifts, did some off the floor o-lifting, because I never do and wanted to change it up.  The high pull was supposed to be a power clean but I didn't get it up fast enough so it ended p being a high pull.  Did some hip-thrusts after, did NOT need to start that light, but my piriformis/medius were sending electric shocks down the back of my left leg at first on them.  First 2 sets were brutal, by the third it had quieted down. I think I need to do the stuff that hurts more often to get it better.   Finished with some ab wheel.  Had a lot of fun here.  May try more off the floor o-lifts, maybe even non-power versions of them in the coming weeks. 

March 25, 2013

March 25, 2013 Upper Body


  • Bench Press (Cluster Set): 265*1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
  • Bench Press (Paused Reps): 275*2
  • BB Unilateral Rows: 135*8 145*6 155*4
  • Standing Press: 150*5 160*2 145*6
  • Neutral Grip Pullups: 70*2 70*2 70*2
  • Landmine Lateral Raises: 50*6 55*5 60*3
  • DB Incline Bench: 110*5 115*3
45 minutes

Great workout, 16 sets in all, including one cluster set.  I was worried 265 may be too high, but again I got my breathing under control, took bellies full of air before each rep and that made it so much easier (like with squatting Friday).  Probably could have gotten 270 for the cluster.  In all it took 6:15 for the 10 reps, so I averaged about 30 seconds between each rep.  Then I did a set of paused rep benching,  going to probably add in another set next week.  I've decided that since my sticking point is off my chest I should do things to help overcome that.  

After that it was on to the rows, usually do this form on Thursdays but wanted to throw them in here instead before deadlifting tomorrow to try and save my stabilizers in my lower back a bit, which seem to always be taxed more by bb rows.   On standing presses I'm going to start going back behind my head again, going to the front is just awkward and honestly I don't feel like my delts are working as much as behind my head pressing.   A bit dissapointed by the neutral grip pullup numbers, but my left forearm got this stabbing pain in it on all 3 sets.  

Finally, my gym got a landmine press in (last week I was just jerry-rigging it), so I did some reps there. I think they're my favorite delt exercise (the lateral raise version); I posted a video of them last week.  I never really feel my deltoids when doing other forms of pressing or lateral raises, but with these there's no doubt.  Finished off with some db incline benching. Got 115 for 3, will lead off with it next week, may try 120, my previous record was 120*2 almost a year ago to the day today. 

March 24, 2013 Conditioning


  • 31" plyo box jumps: 15
  • 31" seated plyo box jumps: 15
  • plyo bench clap pushups: 8, 7
  • knee down half court medicine ball push sprints: 5 per knee
  • battling ropes: 75, 50
  • stair climber: 3:09 / 15 floors
  • Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 50*10 60*10
24 minutes

Did a bunch of stuff here....the royal sampler (bonus points if you get the reference).  My posterior chain is absolutely wrecked from Friday's lower body beatdown.  Still did plenty of stuff here.  I like the stair climber, climbed to the top of the statue of liberty, looked around, then did some anti-rotational chops and called it a day. 

March 24, 2013

March 22, 2013 Lower


  • Squats (Cluster Set): 325*1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
  • Bulgarian BB Split Squats: 95*5 115*5 135*5
  • Front Squats: 135*3 185*3 225*3 245*1
  • Walking Lunges: 70*10 120*6
  • Sauna: 200 degrees / 20 minutes
Well that pretty much decimated my entire lower body.  I did better on the cluster this week, I think because I was taking air into my stomach before each rep, last week I was sloppy with that. Got all 10 on the cluster, although it took me almost 10 minutes.  On the split squats I dropped the weight, but moved the bench further back, my back leg that would rest on the bench was not extended nearly enough previous to this week when I would do them. Really got a good stretch on them here, and focused on staying upright and dropping my hips.  Tired me out a bit. So I did some front squats next, which absolutely creamed me after the squatting before.  Wanted to try lunges, so I got a cambered bar and put some weight on and started doing lunges. My legs were fried before this stuff, and were absolutely decimated after.  Hobbled to the sauna and relaxed.

Here's a picture of my leg, it's pretty ballooned up from the workout. 

and here's one more....my legs looked like bloated sausages.  


March 21, 2013 O-Lifts / Incline Bench


  • Hanging Power Snatch: 135*2 145*1 155*1 160*X
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 160*1 185*1,1,1,1 205*1
  • Push Press: 185*1 225*1 -wrists are done
  • BB Incline Bench: 225*3 240*3 250*3
35 minutes

Yeah the idea of an all o-lift day isn't looking too hot.  I didn't really feel any benefit of not deadlifting before the snatches & cleans.  By the time I got to push pressing my wrists were exhausted.  

At one point in the Earth's history great glaciers formed and ocean levels dropped, joining the continents into single great landmasses.  The glaciers cut swaths down closer to the equator than they have ever been.  Eventually they receded leaving great canyons and ravines in their wake. The oceans rose again, and the continents were henceforth separated once again.   In about that same time-span I completed 2 reps of a 3 rep set on incline benching. My bar speed....glacial.    So yeah, probably going back to my usual routine this week.  I may put standing press on Mondays permanently though; it's a lot to bench, row, and then have to produce power on push pressing.  I think it'd be easier after inclining, and pullups.  

Hopefully my CNS isn't shot tomorrow for squatting. 

March 20, 2013 Conditioning


  • 7kg mb slams: 25, 25, 25, 25
  • Rope Slams; 20, 20, 20
  • Stair Climber: 4:02 - 30 floors
  • P.U.P.P.: 1:00, 1:00
27 minutes

So the tape measures were gone so I didn't do broad jumps.  I'll have to get my own, which I should really have anyway, no idea how I don't.  Good session otherwise, nothing too extravagant.  Did some stair climber, the machine tells you what famous landmarks you just climbed to the top of, so that's fun. 

March 21, 2013

March 19, 2013 Lower Body


  • Hex-Bar Deadlifts: 405*1 455*1 495*1 545*X 515*1
  • Pullups: 75*3 75*3 75*2 75*2 75*2
  • DB Goblet Walk: 105*1:01
  • Cable Unilateral Reverse-Flyes: 15*12 25*7
  • Ab Wheel: 12, 10
45 minutes

Well I figured why not try for a PR here, haven't pulled on a hex bar in ages, I think if I had done the 515 first I would've had 545.  I got it a few inches off the ground but my form was a massacre to behold, so I didn't keep trying.  Pullups were tough after the exertion of deadlifting.  Hadn't done goblet walks in a while either, that was quite the spittling spectacle as I heaved my way past the 1:00 mark.   Also, did more shoulder work, I'm enjoying it.  Ironically after doing the landmines yesterday, jerry-rigged I might add, I was in the gym office and saw they had bought a real one! 

I had long contemplated doing a DL/Pullup posterior chain day, and moving all the o-lifts to their own day.  Honestly not sure how well that's going to work out.  Because Mondays I also work my lats/back so doing pullups on back to back days doesn't feel fabulous.  I don't think it hurts things a whole ton, but I'm betting in the next few days my lats/rhomboids/stabilizers are going to be absolutely shot.   Some of that is from loading up on the hex-bar deads, but I'm not doing my recovery time any favors by loading up on pullups two days in a row.  We shall see

March 20, 2013

March 19, 2013 Fruits & Vegetables

The government has recently abandoned the 'servings' notion for fruits & vegetables which was always confusing for most people anyway.  They've replaced it with serving sizes of cups & half cups, which makes much more sense.  It's a lot easier to measure how many cups of grapes or carrots or whatever you're eating than it is to eyeball just how many servings your cantaloupe comes to.    They have also provided a calculator to determine how much fruits & vegetables you should be consuming.  Here is a link to the calculator, and here is a link to give you a general idea of how much a cup of a fruit or vegetable may be with a couple dozen examples. 

March 18, 2013

March 18, 2013 Upper Body


  • Bench Press: 265*3 275*3 285*2
  • BB Rows: 225*5 245*5 265*5 275*5
  • Standing Press: 150*4 160*1 145*5
  • 1.5 Pullups: 6, 3
  • Landmine Lateral Raises: 45*10 50*8 55*6
  • DB Incline Bench: 105*6 110*4
38 minutes!!

I am absolutely ripping through workouts, barely took any rest between sets.  I had meant to do a cluster set at about 265 on benching, I'll have to remember for next week.  BB Rows went great, that was without straps until I got to 265.   Standing press still vexes me.  I think I'm going to low with the weight, I rest the bar on the top of my chest at the bottom of the movement.  I see a lot of places say not to go lower than the adam's apple. 1.5 pullups went great.  I think I have a new favorite delt exercise, those landmine things torched my delts all around the shoulder, not just one of the heads.  Went for 105 on incline then I was so pumped did 110 right after.  I looked at my stopwatch and I was only 38 minutes in. What a session, I can't describe how much energy I have on my low-carb days. I have NO idea what people are talking about when they say going low-carb for days on end results in fatigue/etc.  It's the exact opposite for me.

Here's a video of the landmine lateral raises. 



March 17, 2013

March 17, 2013 Routine

Alright, so my routine for this cut is going to go along with the theme of the nutrition; I know my body well enough at this point that I don't think I need a set routine any more. The upper/lower/conditioning days of the week will almost certainly stay the same.  Deadlifting, Squatting, Benching, Rows, Pullups, sprinting, and Presses will be done every week almost certainly. But really past that I'm not going to marry myself to any one routine or rep scheme.  For instance this week I'm thinking of having an all o-lift thursday with snatching, cleans, and push pressing, and then maybe some incline bench after if I have the energy.   I'll do regular standing presses on Monday instead of PP, and do pullups with deadlifting on Tuesday.   Of course that assumes I remember not to PP tomorrow.   Again, reps will probably be kept low & explosive for everything, but who knows.  There's so many solid exercises out there, why limit myself?   I'm going to do what I feel like each day, and most likely my routine won't look a lot different every day, but there'll hopefully be more variety in set type, rep scheme, and exercise selection.   

March 17, 2013 Conditioning / Core


  • 31" Plyo Box Jumps: 15
  • PUPP-Plate Transfer Plank Superset: 1:00-10*4 1:00 10*4
  • Side-Plank: 1:00
  • Paloff Iso-Hold: 70*0:20 80*0:20
  • Decline Situps: 20
25 minutes

Was pretty sore from the leg workout Friday, which is odd because I didn't do a ton of volume. Did some jumping then decided I wanted to beat on my core for a while.  Never did supersets for core before, did some push up position plank presses into plate transfer planks which was just downright evil.  Hit some side-planks next, then went with an iso hold on paloffs.  Finished off with some decline situps just for fun since I haven't done a situp in about 5 years. 

I weighted in at 203.5 after this one on a pretty much empty stomach.  I look really lean already, almost as lean as I did here, only I was 195 in those.  Obviously some is from the pump from working my abs today, but still....I've never seen my serratus as easily as I did today above 200 lbs.  This cut may work out REALLY well, and I'm super excited.  Was thinking about running some albuterol at the end of this cut to polish it off, but if I keep going at this rate it may not be needed! 

March 15 2013 ides of March Lower Body


  • Squats cluster set: 335*1,1,1,1,1,1,1 - ab cramp??
  • BB Pin Squats: 225*4
  • Split Squats: 135*5 185*3
  • Cable straight-leg kickbacks: 100*7 120*4
  • WSARC: 70*10
40 minutes

Didn't know individual heads of your abdominus rectus could cramp, but sure enough, the upper right head seized up on the 8th rep of the cluster set and I had to abort it.  Really odd.  Was kind of ginger with the rest of the workout; it had cramped so hard I was actually pulled down and to my right a little bit when it seized up.   I think the snatch-grip rack pulls were effecting my back musculature's ability to support the load here, I smoked 315 last week for a cluster, but from rep 1 here it was tough, it felt like I was going to fold over, and I could tell my back wasn't entirely up to the task. Hence the load getting dumped on my abs and the cramp.  Will try another cluster at 335 next week. 

March 14, 2013 Upper Body


  • Incline Bench Press: 225*3 235*3 245*3
  • Pullups: 75*3 75*3 75*2 75*2
  • Standing Press: 145*7 140*7 135*7
  • Unilateral BB Rows: 145*6 150*3
  • DB Flat Bench Press: 120*4 NEW PR!! 115*4
  • 7kg MB slams: 50
38 minutes for weights, 41 total

Absolutely TORE through this workout; was done so early I did some ball slams just to add some extra time in.  I'm still reacting really well to the low carb days.  I can't believe how much energy I have on them.  Next week I need to increase weight on the incline bench, had a fairly easy time with the weights I used this week.  Pullups went much better, I hopefully will get 3 on all 4 sets this coming week, assuming I do them again at that time.  Standing press still vexes me, I don't know why I'm not stronger on it, probably because I'm always fatigued by the time I get there.   Also, got 120 on db flat bench,I just realized that's a record, my previous record was 120*3...

March 12, 2013

March 12, 2013 Posterior Chain / Lower Body


  • Deadlifts: 365*1 385*1 405*1 425*1
  • Snatch-Grip Mid-Shin Rack Pulls: 315*6 365*3 275*7
  • Hanging Power Snatches: 135*1 145*1 155*1 165*X
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 185*1 195*1 215*X 205*1
  • Ab-Wheel: 12
44 minutes

Went hard on deads last week, didn't want to kill myself here.  Tried snatch-grip rack pulls after reading this article on T-Nation about them.  I'm not sure how I feel about them. I think my traps/rhomboids/erectors even were getting hammered by them, not so much lats.  I was dripping sweat like a...musk ox(?)...after these, they absolutely obliterated my upper back.  I jumped to hanging power snatches after this and was really pumped up, not enough to get 165, I think if I went 140-150-160 though I would have had it.  Next was hanging power cleans.  I really never make any progress on them. I feel like I've made steady gains on snatching, but power cleans....not at all.  I need to figure this out, maybe it's because I do them last, maybe I need to do them ahead of snatches sometimes, I dunno. 

I still toy around with turning Thursdays into an all o-lift day (with push pressing), moving standing press to Mondays, pullups to deadlift day, and maybe tacking on incline benching after the o-lifts.  Just a thought. 

March 11, 2013 Upper Body


  • Bench Press: 265*3 275*3 285*2
  • Pendlay Rows: 135*10 155*10 175*8
  • Push Press: 225*1 240*1 250*X 225*1
  • Neutral Grip Pullups: 100*2 NEW PR!! 90*2
  • DB Incline Bench: 105*6
  • Dips: 50*5 50*3
44 minutes

Good session! Really packing the stuff in.  I notice on the days I don't eat a ton of carbs I have a ton of energy. It's supposed to be the opposite really, so I don't know what's happening; maybe I was eating carbs too close to the start of my workout and was still digesting when I would start?  I don't know, because I still eat about an hour before workouts on low-carb days. Anyway, I'm definitely not imagining it.   

I wanted to get 3 at 285 on the bench but it wasn't happening, I'm going to try a cluster set next week, 10 reps at 270 I think will be the order of the day.  Did more pendlay rows...holy crap do those things kill my lats/rhomboids. Barely missed 250 on push pressing.  I jumped right into it with a warm up of 135, 185, then hit 225. I had been doing 205 in there, but honestly all the explosive movement just tired me out.  Did some neutral grip pullups, had never done them with the 100s, so I did it, mainly for the PR.  Jumped to incline bench, then finished with some dips.  I was exhausted, and even with a forward tilt they hurt my clavicles like crazy.  

March 10, 2013 Conditioning


  • Broad Jump: 7' 11.5", 8' 4.5", 8' 1.5", 8', 8' 5", 7' 11", 8' 2.5", 8' 2.5", 8' 1"
  • 16 lbs mb twist wall slams: 10, 10
  • Plyo bench clap pushups: 6, 6
  • Rowing: 400*1:23 NEW PR!!
24 minutes

The cluster set of squats on Friday didn't leave me sore, but definitely tired, didn't have a lot of pop in the jumps today.  I only felt a sort of 'snap' or 'pop' on takeoff on the 8' 5" attempt, and the 8' 4.5" one.  The rest I feel like I just sort of ground out. Threw in some side twists and combined with throwing a medicine ball against a wall, catching it on the bounce, then repeating.  Clap pushups felt great, felt really powerful on them, see if that translates to benching tomorrow.  Rowing went good, set a new record on the 400m!  Really happy about that since I haven't rowed a ton the last couple weeks.  

March 11, 2013

March 09, 2013 Cut Steps

Alright, so I finally got around to taking the screen shot of what my diet is going to be like this cut.  This time marks a departure in a couple of ways from previous plans I have made.  First of all my low carb day doesn't suck.  Seriously my previous attempts were awful.  The fat was never high enough so it was basically a protein day.   Secondly my high carb day is actually a high carb day.  Actually I've never really done real high carb days before. It's usually medium carb medium fat days.  I'll still probably do those this time, I'll edit this post and add it in later.  I dropped the fat way down on the high carb days, usually I'd leave evoo & coconut oil in.  I was always worried that skipping them on a day would cause my arteries to become blocked & kill me. Or that if i skipped blueberries on low carb days I'd get cancer.  The thing is I'm getting just as much of everything, I'm just switching around the days I do them on, and doubling up on them on the days they're used.

The last, and maybe most major departure is that I realize I've been doing this for 14 years as of last month. I've learned enough, and I'm advanced enough to know how my body reacts to everything. Templates are great at first, but eventually you'll get to a point where you know what your body needs.   So based on that, I'm not going to be using each of these days on set days of the week.  I'm sure my sprinting day will almost always be high carb.  But other than that I'm not really setting anything in stone.  At the start of this cut a few days ago I actually did the low carb day 4 days in a row and was perfectly fine.  I didn't get the 'keto flu' people talk about.  In fact I oddly enough had more energy, and felt clearer for some reason. When I decided to go back to a carby day on Thursday  I actually didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.   So yeah, maybe I'll do that for the next couple weeks (low carb first few days of the week) and then carb up. Maybe I won't.  Who knows.  I feel much more confident now that I know my body doesn't reject low-carb stuff when done several days in a row.  

Anyway, here's the plans:



March 10, 2013

March 8, 2013 Lower Body


  • Squats: 315*1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
  • Front Squats: 225*2 245*1 265*1
  • Cable straight-leg kickbacks: 90*10 110*6
  • Ab-Wheel: 10, 10
  • Wood-Choppers: 70*10
44 minutes

Great workout, wanted to try something around 85% of my max, which I assume is around 365 right now.  Decided to do singles. My posterior chain is definitely tired after all this....but not extremely sore.  Could've probably gone 335 and still gotten all 10 singles.  Tried front squats again, should've worked up a bit more, I started with 225 without warmups, didn't go great.  Love straight-leg kickbacks.  Had so much extra time I did some extra ab work. 

March 7, 2013 Upper Body


  • Incline Bench Press: 225*3 235*3 240*3
  • Pullups: 70*3 70*3 70*3 70*3
  • Standing Press: 140*8 140*8 140*5
  • Unilateral BB Rows: 140*10 145*6
  • DB Flat: 115*5 110*5
44 minutes

Great session, all the reps on incline benching were solid.  Pullups went better this week, although I'm still annoyed I can't get the 85s, even if I am bulked up right now.  Jumped to standing press and that went well, bumped up the weight some here.   Was tired at the end but still gritted out some flat db benching, felt great.  Really enjoying my workouts on this cut so far.  I'll post more details about routine/nutrition in a few days. 

March 06, 2013 Conditioning


  • Broad Jumps: 8' 3", 8' 1.5", 8' 1", 8' 2.5", 8' 3.5", 8' 1", 8' 1", 8' 2", 8' 2", 8' 4"
  • 7kg mb slams: 50, 50
  • Bench clap pushups: 5, 5
  • Paloffs: 90*10 110*8
Good session, wanted to get a few different things in.  Hopefully next week I can start sprinting again, as the track should be melted by then I hope.  We shall see

March 5, 2013

March 5, 2013 Lower Body


  • Deadlifting: 405*3 435*5 455*3 475*1
  • Hanging Power Snatches: 135*1 145*1 155*1
  • Hanging Power Cleans: 160*1 185*1 195*1
  • Glute Bridges: 275*3 365*3 455*1 545*1 NEW PR!!
45 minutes

No idea why but this was an extremely satisfying workout, I was pumped up, and felt great.  Feels like one of the best workouts I've ever had, and I'm not entirely certain as to what the reason is.  So my gym keeps track of records, but only on 5 rep things for some reason, so I set the deadlift record.  Then I figured I'd keep pulling heavy. Maybe that's why I was excited, I haven't pulled heavy in a couple months.  Got 475*1, which oddly enough would have been a record this time last year, or tied it anyway.   Moved on to snatches, think I could have gotten 160. I was so pumped after deadlifting.  Hanging power cleans were good, was starting to get gassed.

I decided to try glute bridges again.  Since I hurt my piriformis back in August (or glute medius, depending on the day...still can't be certain which it is, seems like symptoms of both, maybe I hurt both) I haven't done glute bridging, or leg pressing,   The glute bridging hurts when I extend my hips to their maximum forward range, and it tugs on my lower back.  I was so pumped though I didn't particularly care.  Maybe I need to be doing these again, and eventually they'll hurt less & less.  The bridges & leg pressing are the only two exercises where the piriformis/medius injury bothers me at all.  The leg pressing I don't mind, but I really like doing the bridges.  So I tried 275, and it hurt but I did it.  I notice if I arch my back more and focus on keeping my lower back flexed & steady it hurt less though. So I did 365 focusing on that, and it hurt but not as bad.  Put 455 on the bar, did a rep and realized it didn't hurt that bad either.  Put 545 on the bar, got it, but it hurt as it's hard to keep everything flexed with that much weight.  It's not like a reinjury type of hurt, just like the same tugging/pulling/shooting sensation down my left leg and lower left back that I get when stretching out after I work out.    Going to keep doing these and see how I progression. 

March 4, 2013 Upper Body


  • Bench Press: 245*3 255*3 265*3 275*3 285*2
  • Pendlay Rows: 135*10 185*5 165*7
  • Push Press: 205*1 225*1 235*1 245*X
  • Rope Pullups: 8, 6
  • Dips: 40*6 40*6
43 minutes

Well that went well.  I think I would've had 3 at 285 if I hadn't done 245 & 255 before...maybe.  I always wonder if it's running out of energy or sapping one's strength when you do earlier sets. It's hard to argue that I'd have an entire extra rep at 285 if I hadn't done 245 10 minutes earlier...but still.   Tried Pendlay rows....REALLY intense, I'm not used to that sort of intense pulling for my lats, with that much load.  Looking at videos of them it looks like people aren't going all the way to their chest with them though, looks like they're stopping a couple inches short, even in the video where Pendlay demos them:



I was going to my chest on them and it's just really intense.  Push pressing went well, BARELY missed 245, by maybe an inch; just ran out of momentum.  Did some rope pullups after, then tried dips again.  I have a love/hate relationship with dips. It's one of the few exercises I can do that I actually feel my triceps, and one of the more intense contractions I can get in my pecs.  The problem is they frequently make my clavicles feel like they're going to snap, or my delts like they're going to explode from too much pressure. I want to figure out why;  I think when I lean forward to accentuate the chest more in the movement it reduces pressure on my shoulders. The problem is that as I fatigue I naturally lean back into a more upright position and it hurts my clavicles feel like they're going to break.  I experimented and found that this definitely seems to be true; need to focus on leaning forward on them.  

March 3, 2013 Conditioning


  • Monster Walks: 10 each direction
  • Broad Jumps: 8' 0", 7' 11", 8' 2", 8' 5", 8' 5.5", 8' 1", 8' 1", 8' 0", 8' 7", 8' 10", 8' 6", 8' 5", 8' 5.5"
  • 31" seated plyo box jumps: 15

Started with monster walks.  Really enjoy doing these to open up my hips at the start.  Did a ton of broad jumps. I was still wicked sore from squatting, my hamstrings and whole posterior chain is still hurting.  Earlier when I said I need to jump 'higher' as opposed to more 'forward' and lower to the ground, I think what I actually meant is I have to tuck my legs better. On the 8' 7" and 8' 10" jumps (both of which were after I was already fatigued) I made an effort not so much to jump high, but to keep my feet tucked  for as long as possible instead of putting them down, or letting them hang down after the jump, and knocking several inches off the jump.

March 1, 2013 Lower Body


  • Squats: 300*3 315*3 335*3 355*1
  • Romanian Deadlifts: 315*3 335*3 365*3
  • Split Squats: 135*5 185*3
  • Straight-Leg Cable Kickbacks: 80*10 100*6
46 minutes

Was absolutely drenched after this one. Not used to squatting heavy after the last few months.  The odd thing is I don't feel like the higher rep stuff effected my subsequent higher weight efforts on other exercises, but I definitely felt them on squats. Did some Romanian deadlifts after, I can never tell if I'm engaging my hamstrings enough on them...and then about 3 hours later they're still trying to cramp up on me.  Split squats went well, I never know what I'm going to get with them, some days they're easy, other times it's tough sledding. Finished with some cable kickbacks, really enjoy these, the return portion where the leg goes back to the starting position seems to be the key, doing it in a controlled manner. 

March 3, 2013

February 28, 2013 Upper


  • Incline Bench: 225*3 235*3 245*3 255*1
  • Pullups: 75*2 75*2 75*2 75*2
  • Standing Press: 135*9 140*6 140*5
  • Unilateral BB Rows: 135*8 135*10
  • DB Flat Bench: 110*8 115*3
45 minutes

Well that was interesting, figured I'd do better on incline bench, thought I'd get 3 at 255...we'll see what happens next week.  Also pullups I figured I'd get sets of 3 easily on that, not so though. Thought about doing heavy dips here, but not sure where I'd put them.  Unilateral BB rows went well, and the DB flat bench probably benefited from the easier load of the first 2 exercises I did here.  I'll see how my body adapts to the heavier weights, and next week go 230-240-250 for the bench...and for pullups I have no idea. Guess we'll see how I feel!

February 27, 2013 Conditioning


  • Broad Jump: 8' 2.5", 8' 4.5", 8' 6", 8' 3", 8' 0", 8' 5.5", 8' 4", 8' 2", 8' 2.5", 8' 7", 8' 7", 8' 5"
  • 56 lbs. KB Swings: 30, 25 (2 minutes)
  • Bird Dogs: 40 seconds, 40 seconds
  • Ab-Wheel: 15
  • Battling Ropes-Rope Slam S.S: 67-10
32 minutes

Well that was fun.  First time ever that I've had every jump over 8', so that's good. Nice high average here.  Put some swings in, and then extended bird-dogs.  Those were actually quite difficult, I usually don't hold them, may have to start doing that.  Did some ab wheel then battling ropes.  In retrospect, doing as many swings as I could in 2 minutes wasn't too bright. I'll be squatting Friday and that will almost assuredly impact my performance.  Hopefully not a lot.  When you do things like conditioning it's easy to forget that they can effect your regular workouts as well, so keep that in mind when planning intense conditioning work. 

March 2, 2013

February 25, 2013 Upper


  • Bench Press: 275*1 290*1 300*1 310*X
  • BB Rows: 265*3 285*3 300*2 325*1 NEW PR
  • Push Press: 205*1 225*1
43 minutes

Sort of an odd week here, I'm giving my lower body the week off, so I didn't squat last friday, and won't deadlift tomorrow.  My upper body feels fairly spry though so I decided to see how I'd do with some higher weights.  Went pretty well, I think I'd have 310 if I didn't go for 300 first.  Next week I'll probably pull back and start 3 rep sets, or maybe even singles around 260-265.  I want to get my body used to pushing heavier weights again for this cut.    I'm excited.  I think each cut & each bulk will be divided from now on, half doing higher rep stuff and half doing heavier weights.  Keep things fresh.   We'll see.  Part of me is worried I won't get back to the higher weights I was doing before; that fear kept me doing low rep high weight stuff for 3 years straight. Not that there's anything wrong with explosive reps at heavier weights. In fact I still feel that's the way to go for 90% of people's goals.  But to never break it up was probably not the best thing.  

So anyway decided to try some BB rowing; felt great, really explosive clean form.  Decided after the 300 to try for one at 325 and I got it, so a new PR there. I honestly wasn't sure I'd ever go that high again. My previous was 320*1 @ 231 lbs at the end of my mega bulk in February 2011.   This one felt good, thought about maybe trying for a second rep but declined.   Now I'm not sure I'll ever beat 325.  Actually I'll have to attempt to at least once at some point, I didn't take a video of this, and I want videos of all my significant PRs for posterity. 

Lost in all this; I forgot how long I can take doing heavier weights; I thought with fewer reps I'd recover faster but that's not really the case; this still took me 43 minutes to accomplish.  Going to have to work on that.