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 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. 

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. 

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.