September 09, 2014 Lower Body

• Squats: 315*2 350*1 365*1 375*1
• Front Squats: 225*1 250*1 275*1
• Good Mornigns: 250*1 265*1
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

Feels good, soreness in lower abdomen appears to be abating thankfully.  Perhaps it wasn't a hernia after all. 

September 8, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press, no arch, paused: 225*1 245*1 265*1
• Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 135*3 145*3 160*3
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Sternum Pullups: 8, 6
• Suitcase Carries: 50*45 50*50

Good stuff, I'd like to build push pressing back up, also adding weight onto suitcase carries. 

September 7, 2014 Sprinting

• 110m: 2
• 100m: 12.90, 13.04, 12.90
• 110m: 1
• Total: 630m

Wasn't expecting any records broken here with deadlifting/o-lifting about 40 hours prior. Still though, two more sub 13 times!  Was actually very happy with this

September 5, 2014 Olympic Lifting / Deadlifts

• HPS: 135*3 145*3 155*2
• HPC: 185*1 205*1 215*1
• Speed DLs: 275*3 315*3 315*3
• Dead-Bugs: 10, 10

Good session, decided to do some speed work on DLs, I'm going to start working on them during weeks I don't max on DLs to get some speed off the ground which is where I stall typically.  

September 3, 2014 Upper Body

• Sternum Pullups: 8,6,5
• Incline Bench: 225*1 235*1 245*1
• Seated Press: 135*3 155*2 175*1 180*1
• DB Reverse Flyes: 25*10 30*8
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 70*4 90*3

Good session, nothing out of the ordinary here. 

September 2, 2014 Lower Body

• Squats: 315*1 350*1 365*1 375*blah
• Front Squats: 225*1 250*1 275*1
• Good Mornings: 250*1-hamstrings are done.
• Dead-bugs: 10, 10

Not surprisingly I'm pretty tired from sprinting. First day of first semester in MBA program today, prior to this was pre-term. Super pumped on all fronts right now. 

September 1, 2014 Sprinting!

So this happened: 

and I was pretty happy. Then this happened: 

and I was ridiculously happy

So every year I usually take some time off right around now in my training, and this year was no different, I hadn't done a thing for 6 days, besides MBA stuff. I'm really starting to see how when you're training hard time off can benefit you. I've always been skeptical about that because the weights I push never seem to go up when I'm coming back off a rest week.  However I'm noticing huge jumps in my speed when I take a few days off beforehand.  

I did the usual 110s, and then got ready for that first run, I had a pretty good start, and felt like I kept up a good pace throughout, but when I got the time I was shocked.  My first sub 13 ever!  I waited around and then did the 2nd one and thought I was about the same speed, I didn't feel a ton faster, but AGAIN I was shocked.  Seriously over the moon with this.  For someone that's my age, not going off blocks, not even down in a crouch, and only doing this once or twice per week....I may consider having two set sessions per week and see if I can get into the 11s.  Right after that 12.75 I turned a 12.85 in that would've been a PR about 6 minutes earlier. Just a great day, my 3 fastest runs ever!

110m:2

100m: 12.88 NEW PR!!  12.75 NEW PR!!!! 12.85! 13.22

August 25, 2014 Dodgeball!

• Dodgeball: 70 minutes

Good times, games are still going despite a bunch of people leaving, hopefully we find some new people soon to fill the spots. 

August 23, 2014 Upper Body

• Guillotine Press: 185*3 205*3 225*2 225*1
• Pendlay Rows: 135*3 185*2 205*1
• Push Press: 225*1 240*1
• Sternum Pullups: 10(!!), 6, 4
• Reverse Laterals: 17.5*10 22.5*9
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

Just one of those days where things felt great.  Great session overall, really enjoy guillotine pressing! 

August 22, 2014 Sprinting

• 110m: 2
• 100m: 13.48, 13.30, 13.28, 13.5
• 110m: 1

Still sore from deadlifting yesterday.  Wasn't expecting to be particularly fast here. Good times though all things considered. 

August 21, 2014 Lower

• Deadlifts: 405*1 455*1 480*1
• Power Snatch: 135*3 155*1 160*1
• Hanging Power Cleans: 185*1 185*1 185*1 185*1
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 70*8 90*4

Good session, havent snatched off the floor in a while so I wanted to give that a shot, went well. 

August 20, 2014 Dodgeball!

• Dodgeball: 80 minutes

Good times tonight, had a pretty good turnout, which is nice since a TON of the regulars are scattering around the country for school.  I guess that's what happens when most of the participants are in their early/mid twenties.  They're a great bunch though and I'm so happy to have met all of them. I hope wherever their lives take them, that they find whatever it is they're looking for, and know it when they see it. 

August 19, 2014 Business School

So I'm starting business school.  The time commitment is pretty intense (70-90 hours per week, spread over 7 days).  I already decided though when I first got in that I'm not going to change who I am for this.  So part of staying true to myself is still making time for the things I'm passionate about, including the gym.  I don't think my schedule will change really.  I may have to shorten sessions a tad here or there, or even skip sessions on occasion, but by and large I'm going to try and keep up with how I've been doing.  With the progress in sprinting lately I've actually been thinking about deloading on squats and/or deadlifting the days before I attempt another PR, since I've noticed a clear difference when I go to the track and haven't worked my legs in 5 days or so. So that may actually fit in.  I've also noticed an uptick in strength when I go back to the squats/deads/whatever.  So yeah, the next couple weeks as I settle in I may be busy and miss a session or two per week, but right now it's pre-term and they're cramming a lot in. Once September starts and the regular schedule begins I should be good to resume things as scheduled. 

August 19, 2014 Upper Body

• Guillotine Press: 185*3 225*2 225*2 225*1
• BB Rows: 225*4 250*3 265*2
• Push Press: 225*1 240*1
• Sternum Pullups: 6,5,5
• Suitcase Carries: 50*45 50*45
• DB Reverse Laterals: 15*10

Guillotine presses...holy crap.  Been on my list of things I wanted to try for a while...I wasn't sure it would make a huge difference.  It does. Here's a picture from a T-Nation article: 

Basically you're lowering the bar to your throat, with your feet off the floor and your ankles crossed. Here's a video of Lee Hayward doing it.  His feet are on the ground, I just prefer them up to ratchet up the intensity of the exercise. 

 

Rest of session went great! 

August 18, 2014 Lower Body

• Squats: 315*1 350*1 365*1 380*1
• Front Squats: 225*1 250*1 275*1 300*nooope
• Good Mornings: 225*1 245*1 265*1 275*1
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10, 10

was surprisingly fresh after sprinting yesterday.  Not that I'm complaining.  Did dump the 300 front squat attempt, but other than that felt good, did an extra set of dead bugs in there too. 

August 17, 2014 Sprinting

• 110m: 2
• 100m: 13.20, 13.25, 13.14 NEW PR!!, 13.06!! NEW PR!!, 13.15
• Total: 720m

WOAH.  ok, so I figured that I'm bringing my chest up too early, I do better when I'm 'leaning' into things for longer, so I wanted to see what would happen if I kept my head down like the first 50-60m even.  It's really counter to what you see most sprinters do, but I'm not starting from a crouch so I'm betting that has something to do with it.  Anyway, I kept my head down and was leaning for like the first 80m. I figured that probably blew the time, on top of it being my fifth run of the day, but instead I set a new PR.  Good times.  So I figured I'd just get into the pattern and run a couple more like that, figuring my times would be slower, but hey, practice form, right?  So I was completely and utterly shocked when my 6th sprint of the day beat that new PR by .08, AND I think sub 13 is feasible soon. I can't wait to see! I can't describe how happy I was after seeing that 13.06.  Although I have bigger goals, it doesn't hurt to stop and enjoy some milestone along the way, or be happy at what you've accomplished, it can really be a boost. Good times. 

August 16, 2014 Sprinting

• 110m: 4

Was supposed to make a record attempt here, only my stopwatch appears to have grown legs.  Settled for some light 110s at about 80% speed.  Tomorrow I'll give it another shot. 

August 15, 2014 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 225*1 235*1 245*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2 180*1
• Seated Press: 135*3 155*3 175*1
• Ring Pullups: 10, 10
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 75*7

nothing unusual here really. Good stuff.