August 25, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope (2:27): 50, 50
• Broad Jump: 8' 8.5", 8' 8", 8' 6", 9' 0"(!!), 8' 6", 8' 9"
• Sled Push & Pull: 90*20 (4:15) 90*10 (2:30)

Quick session.  Really uncorking some good broad jumps, I think I've got the form of it down pat finally.  If I hit less than about 8' 6" at this point I'm disappointed.  Going to keep working on the patterning of it, and making sure I throw my legs forward before the landing. Sled Push & Pull did a couple sets and was absolutely finished afterward.  

August 23, 2013 Lower Body / Posterior Chain / Olympic Lifting

• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*3 165*1 165*1 185*1 195*1 205*1-straps
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*2 145*2 150*1
• Deadlifts: 275*1 315*1 365*1 405*1 425*1
• Pull-Throughs: 80*10 90*6
• Bird-Dogs: 6

39 minutes

Didn't realize this til later, but I did upper body on T & Th.  Didn't even notice any soreness. I think because T was heavy with fewer reps.  May do that on the weeks I go heavy on Tuesdays from now on, give myself an extra lower body rest day after sprinting Wednesday. 

Wiped out from all the heavy carrying. Lower back, hips, forearms, hamstrings, all of it is just exhausted. Need a day off tomorrow.  On the 90 lbs. set of pull-throughs I felts a stabbing pain in my forearms so I stopped.  On deadlifts the first several sets I focused on making sure my hips were low in the pull.  Still staying light here, no reason to go super heavy since I'm working on my squat right now.  Don't want to be dead-legged for that!   On HPCs still progressing, no star-fishing really, tried straps on the heavy set again.  Not sure I'd go that heavy every week right now though, basically just want to keep drilling good form. I can tell my form has been so much better these last few months just from how much thicker and bigger my traps are.  All that explosive pulling is paying off.  Snatches are going well too, no star-fishing on them either.  

August 22, 2013 Upper Light

• Incline Bench: 195*10 205*7 190*7
• Pullups: 60*5 60*4 60*4
• Standing Press: 95*8 95*8
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 145*10 150*6
• DB Flat: 105*6

39 minutes

Exhausted from moving all these boxes and stuff around.  Still wanted to get a session in, after skipping sprinting yesterday for more box related stuff. Did surprisingly well on pullups here. Also, on the unilateral t-bar rows, I'm doing them out of the landmine now.  Not really a change, just safer since before the end of the bar was just jammed in the corner of a squat rack. 

August 20, 2013 Upper Body Heavy

• Bench Press: 255*3 270*3 280*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 185*2 145*4
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Neutral Grip pullups: 75*3 75*3 75*3
• Landmine Laterals: 60*3 70*1
• DB Incline Bench: 105*1 105*5

43 minutes

Tired, been moving heavy boxes last couple days.  Was a bit off on account of that here.  Not a bad session though, hit 70 on the landmine laterals, progressing steadily on them. If you ever do them, make sure you clamp down your core, and keep your arm straight (no elbow-bend) through the whole movement.  Incline bench had trouble getting weights into proper position, grabbed spotter to help and banged out 5. 

August 19, 2013 Lower Body / Light

• Squats: 275*5 315*3 315*2 325*2 315*3
• Front Squats: 185*3 205*3 225*3 240*1
• Good Mornings: 155*5 165*4 -back tired
• Side-Planks: 0:45, 0:30

Somewhat abbreviated session; moving squats to mondays, and just squatted heavy on Friday.  Doing it for a couple reasons; A) I don't like squatting Friday and then being dead-legged for Friday & Saturday night when I go out.  I'll be deadlifting Thursdays, and the doms I get from that is much less anyway. B) Monday is international bench press day.  It's too crowded in that part of the gym on Monday and I don't like benching when there are tons of people around me.  C) It let's me prioritize squatting.  Sundays are my somewhat easier conditioning day, and I haven't sprinted yet so my legs are fresher.  

Rotated in some front squatting here, going to be doing more of that from now on too. Great core movement in addition to the obvious primary lower body effects.  Finished with some good mornings and side-planks. I need to get a video of me doing good mornings to see how good my form is. 

August 18, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope: 44, 40, 28 3 minutes
• Broad Jump: 8' 4", 8' 9.5"(!!), 8' 7", 8' 7", 8' 7.5" , 8' 6.5", 8' 7.5", 8' 6", 8' 8.5"
• Rowing: 500m*1:43 (0:35 200m split)
• 1/2 tabata spin bike: 0.51 miles

31 minutes

Went great, warmed up with jump rope...uncorked some really long jumps here, just getting into a good pattern of kicking my legs forward, keeping them tucked, leaning forward, putting it all together. Feels great. Did some rowing since it's been a while, and then did a 1/2 tabata on a spin bike, want to work up to a full one. 

August 16, 2013 Lower Body Heavy

• Squats: 315*1 340*1 365*1 375*1
• Good Mornings: 185*3 195*3 205*3
• Rack Hip-Thrusts: 405*3 425*3
• Sled Push & Pull: 90*20 (3:20)
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 60*10

43 minutes

Went heavy, got another high on squatting.  Can't wait til I'm bulking again, want to see if I can get 450.  Good mornings went well, I need to make sure I'm using good form and not straining my lower back on them, feel like I go too low sometimes.  Did some hip thrusting, haven't done it in a while. Hips are exhausted after this week really.  Did some sled push & pulling, got to 20!  

August 15, 2013 Upper Body Heavy

• Incline Bench (Paused Reps): 225*1,1,1 230*1,1,1 235*1
• Pullups: 90*2 90*1 90*1
• Standing Press: 155*2 175*1 165*2
• BB Unilateral Barbell T-Bar Rows: 180*2 190*1
• DB Flat Bench: 110*5 115*3

42 minutes

Good session, wanted to get back to doing paused reps..really love those things.  Figured if I'm going heavy on pullups I should actually go heavy instead of doing like 80 or whatever. on Standing press my left wrist started to hurt. The unilateral t-bars were fun, just piled weight on to see what I could do. Finished strong on flat benching.  Not bad numbers considering I'm cutting, or finished with the cut. 

August 14, 2013

• 200m: 2
• 100m: 3
• 50m: 3
• Total: 850m
• Broad Jumps: 9' 1", 9' 2", 9' 2"

Really tired after the session yesterday.  May try lower body on M & Th, see if that helps sprinting.  Was exhausted; jumping didn't go well just too tired. 

August 13, 2013 Olympic Lifting, Posterior Chain

• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*3 155*2 175*1 185*2 175*1 175*3 (straps) 175*1 175*1 155*4
• Hanging Power Snatch: 135*3 140*3 - not a lot of starfishing, good look.
• Deadlift: 275*2 315*4 365*2 315*3
• Pull-Throughs: 70*10 80*10 
• Ab-Wheel: 10, 10

44 minutes

On deadlifting I focused on getting my hips really low, since I feel like I've been pulling high lately.  Tried straps on a set of HPCs...definitely helped with grip. Not sure I'd use them more than on highest set of day though. Snatches are actually looking better, I'm doing better dipping a tad on the catch.  On ab-wheel I focused on using my abs to pull the wheel back, I have a tendency to get lax with that. 

August 12, 2013 Upper Body Light

• Bench Press: 230*9 225*10 225*7
• T-Bar Rows: 135*7 115*8 115*7
• Push Press: 185*5 185*6
• Thick Rope Pullups: 5, 4
• Landmine Laterals: 50*8 50*8
• DB Incline: 95*7 95*6

39 minutes

Took off yesterday to rest.  Session went good, bench numbers accumulating some on these light days.  I prefer heavy T-Bar rows to the light version.  REALLY much harder doing rope pullups with the thick rope.  

August 9, 2013 Lower Body

• Squats: 275*5 300*5 315*5 315*3 -lower back tired
• Walking Lunges:170*6 180*6
• Good Mornings: 155*8 175*8 195*6
• Straight-Leg Cable Kickbacks: 110*10 120*10
• 90 lbs. sled push & Pull: (3 minutes) 16

45 minutes

Well that was interesting. My lower back was just really tired.  I think I jumped in too fast on deadlifting on Tuesday because it's been tired since then. I think deadlifting may be interfering with the weights I'm squatting.  May use this as an opportunity to tweak my deadlifting. I think I've been too high at the start of the pulls recently, may drop the weight and focus on pulling with my hips lower and pattern that for a couple weeks, and see if that helps my lower back as well.  Need to lower weight on good mornings, if this is really going to be a light day...maybe 145-155-170 or something.  Murdered some sled push & pulls.  

August 8, 2013 Upper Body / Light

• Incline Bench Press: 190*10 195*9 185*9
• Pullups: 55*5 55*4 55*4
• Standing Press: 135*3 135*3 - tris done
• Unilateral BB Rows: 145*10 165*8-form was decomposing here, lower weight.
• DB Flat Bench: 105*5 100*5 super gassed now
• 90 lbs. sled push & pull: (3 minutes) 14

45 minutes

Good session!  I think my body is actually adapting to the rotating heavy/light days finally.  Pullups I'm doing medium weight here, as I mentioned before. On Standing Press my triceps were just done from the incline benching. Need to lower weight on unilateral bb rows, at least the second set. My form was garbage at the end.  Finished with some sled push & pulls.  Really liking these. 

August 8, 2013 Incline Walking

• Incline Walking: 10% incline / 20 minutes / 1 mile

fasted, in the morning

August 7, 2013 Sprinting & Broad JUmps

• 200m: 4
• Total: 800m
• Broad Jumps: 9' 1", 9' 5", 9' 2", 9' 5", 9' 6"

Wanted to see if doing 200m less on sprinting resulted in longer broad jumps, it did, slightly.  Wasps were back at sand pit, I jumped around them though. Didn't catch any in the face.   Not sure what I'll do next week...maybe a few 200s, a couple 100s, and some 40s? 

August 6, 2013 Lower Body / Posterior Chain / Olympic Lifting

• Power Shrug: 405*5 455*5
• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*3 155*3 155*3 175*3 185*1 195*1 -tired, starfished 155*3
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*2
• Deadlifts: 405*1 425*1 315*5
• Pull-Throughs; 60*10 70*10
• 90 lbs. sled push & pull: 14, 3:25

Good session, got a bit tired while cleaning.  Actually really tired for some reason.   On deadlifts my back was extremely sore, I never really rested after Friday & Saturday. Forgot how much that day off helps.  Did some sled pushes & pulls for fun after.  

August 5, 2013 Upper Body / Heavy

• Bench Press: 250*3 265*3 275*2
• T-Bar Rows: 135*4 145*4 160*2 185*1 NEW PR!!
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 60*4 60*3 60*3
• Landmine Laterals: 57.5*3 65*1

42 minutes

Rare heavy day that I didn't do a bunch of 1 rep stuff on. REALLY fatigued from the friday/saturday stuff still.  T-Bars went well, I usually have trouble breathing when I do them, but doing them heavy the sets are over quicker so I don't mind as much. Landmines went well.  

August 4, 2013 Conditioning

• Bench clap pushups: 6,5,5
• TRX Dismount: 46"
• Battling Ropes: 60, 40
• TRX Dismount: 47"

Just a quick session, lower back is exhausted after yesterday, and so are my legs.  For battling ropes was using the thicker ropes they have now. 

August 3, 2013 Conditioning

• TRX Dismounts: a bunch.
• Sled Push & Pull: (3 minutes): 17
• Box Squats: (3 minutes) 135*55

last day of the challenges at my gym, for the summer anyway, so I wanted to see how I would do fresh.  Got 17 on the push & pulls, still tired from yesterday. Lower back was almost spasming on the box squats.  Good times.  3rd place on box squats, 3rd on the push  & pull.  Barely missed 2nd place by a half inch, repeatedly on the dismounts. 

August 2, 2013 Lower Body

• Squats: 315*1 345*1 365*1
• Good Mornings: 225*2 240*1 NEW PR!! 250*1 NEW PR!! 260*1 NEW PR!!
• Sled Push & Pull: 3 minutes, 16
• Sled Push & Pull, Team (5 pushes, 5 pulls each): 1:57
• Sled Push & Pull, intergender, Team (5 pushes, 5 pulls each): 2:28

My lower back wasn't feeling fabulous, kind of tired. Still I got 365 on squatting so I'm happy. Then I destroyed my record for good mornings on 3 consecutive sets.  Probably don't want to go that high again anytime soon, but I did get the job done. Next I decided to do more of the challenges.  First I did a sled push & pull. Basically pull a sled from a 3 point stance, then push it back to where it started.  Each time you pull the sled all the way to you counts as a rep, then each push back counts.  By the end of this it felt like someone was sticking a blowtorch down my throat and lighting my lungs on fire. Here's a video!

Then I did it again, but in team form, you take turns, do a pull then a push, then next person does so.  5 of each, as fast as you can. Me and another guy smoked the previous record by 2 minutes, finished with 1:57.  Then I did it with one of the ladies from the gym as well. We were both gassed at that point though, ended up with 2:28.   Also did some TRX dismounts, basically swing from a trx and then hurl yourself as far as possible. I got 55", so 3rd place, narrowly missing 2nd place by a half inch. Here's a vid of the final sled push & pull I did with the girl. 

Hard to explain how tired I was after all this, I could barely stay awake. Good times

August 1, 2013 Upper

• Bench Press: 3 minutes: 135*53
• Incline Bench: 185*1 205*1 yeah...gassed
• Inverted Rows: 3 minutes 67
• Standing Press: 145*3 157.5*2 170*1
• Pullups: 90*1 90*1

More events from those competitions, I'm actually having fun with it this week. Was kind of tired on the benching, should have had closer to 70.  Did some inverted rows as well, happy with the results.  Finished with standing press (forgot to put a 2.5 on one side of the bar on one of the sets...) and pullups. Fun times. 

July 31, 2013 Sprinting & Jumping

• 200m: 5
• Total: 1000m
• Broad Jumps: 9' 3", 9' 4", 9' 5"

Good times!  The 200s were slightly easier this time.  Broad jumps are still at the lower end, I'm just exhausted by the time I get there. At some point I'll do a 600m day and then see how far I can get. 

July 30, 2013 Lower Body

• Hanging Power Cleans (3 minutes): 135*32
• Hanging Power Cleans: 155*1 175*1
• Trap-Bar Deadlifts: 405*1 495*1 545*X 505*1 
• PUPP: 1:00

41 minutes

My gym is doing some competitions, I've mentioned it before. One of them was most reps on 135 hanging cleans in 3 minutes. Got 32. Going to do it again in several days, should have had way more than that.    Was pretty gassed after, just did some trap-bar dl'ing and some ab stuff then went home. 

July 29, 2013 Upper Body

• Bench Press: 225*10 225*9 225*8
• BB Underhand Rows: 225*10 225*10 245*10
• BB Push Press: 185*5 185*5
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 45*8 45*5
• Landmine Laterals: 50*10 45*10
• DB Incline: 90*9 90*6

44 minutes

I wasn't sure if I'd get strong on light weight workouts only doing them every other week, but compared to last time, my bench numbers here went WAY up, so that's good. Also on PP I don't know if doing sets higher than 5 or 6 is a good idea, form tends to break down. Same with pullups; I just hate doing high rep sets on them.  I don't feel comfortable doing them at all above 5 or 6 reps.  

July 26, 2013 Lower Body - Medium

• Squats: 250*5 275*5 300*5 315*5 325*2
• Good-Mornings: 175*5 195*5 215*5
• Pull-Throughs: 50*10 70*10
• Swiss-ball Bridges: 78
• Paloffs: 100*7 110*5

39 minutes

Tapered this workout a bit shorter, my legs were exhausted coming in, I guess from sprinting & broad jumps 2 days ago.  Maybe exhausted is too strong of a word, but they were fatigued, almost cramping on squats. Rest of workout went well, getting the hang of pull-throughs.  Not sure if the swiss ball bridges are really working or not, end up feeling them in legs and core as I try and stabilize. 

July 25, 2013 Upper Body - Heavy

• Bench Press: 250*1 270*1 280*1 295*1
• Pendlay Rows: 205*4 225*2 230*1
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1 -forearms
• Thick-rope Pullups: 5, 4
• DB Incline: 110*3 110*2
• Landmine Laterals: 60*3 65*1

39 minutes

Not a bad session, after doing the lighter weight stuff it's a breeze doing the heavy workouts, my rest time between sets is about 30% shorter.  Pendlays I feel like are better suited to light/medium weight.  Too much temptation to start bucking back on them when they're heavy, which defeats the purpose. Tried thick-rope pullups...much harder than with thinner rope.  Also, on push pressing, my forearm gave out completely so I had to drop it after lockout. Hence the note. 

July 24, 2013 Sprinting, Broad Jumps

• 200m: 3
• 100m: 4
• Total: 1000m
• Broad Jumps: 9' 3", 9' 4", 9' 4", 

Good session, didn't feel like doing 5 200s again.  Wasps seem to have vacated the sand pit so I could actually do broad jumps again. although doing a full 1000 meters beforehand definitely cuts into my ability on them.  

July 23, 2013 Lower Body / O lifting

• Rack Power Shrugs: 405*6 455*6 515*6
• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*3 145*3 145*3 155*3 155*3 165*3 175*1 - hips are done
• Hanging Power Snatch: 135*3 135*3 135*1
• P.U.P.P. 1:30
• 90 lbs. sled pull: 1

 41 minutes

Whoops...forgot to update this blog for like two weeks...HPCs are really improving.  Going to be cautious with upping the weight until I'm sure I really have the form down.  Did some snatches after because I'm obstinate. Even if the form wasn't great I wanted to do them. Also took a week off from deadlifting.