November 20, 2013 Sprinting

• 100m: 6
• total: 600m

BRRRRRR frigid out...just went out, ran, then got the heck out of there! Barely rested between sprints. 

November 19, 2013 Upper / Heavy

• Bench Press: 225*3 245*3 265*2 275*1 285*1
• Unilateral T-Bar BB Rows: 180*1-I always misadd the weight 160*4 170*3
• Push Press: 225*1 235*X 
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 90*1 90*2
• Landmine Laterals: 65*3 70*2
• DB Incline: 105*3

45 minutes

Not bad.  Misadded the weight on the rows, I keep doing that, I forget to add in the weight of the bar, then can't figure out why I only get one rep...On push presses my legs were just dead, sprinting/squatting last two days pretty much finished them off. 

November 18, 2013 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 315*1 335*1 355*1 375*quads quit
• SLDL: 315*3 365*2
• Lumberjack Squats: 135*5 180*5
• PUPP: 1:00

35 minutes

OK, so with the sprinting yesterday my quads are absolutely excruciating today. Not sure why exactly, usually it's my hamstrings. Really gimped the session overall.  Switched to SLDLs since it's not a quad-based exercise really.  Also did lumberjack squats, which oddly didn't hurt my quads. 

November 17, 2013 Sprinting

• 100m: 1,1,1,1 (13.6 est), 1 (13.8), 1,1, 1
• Total: 800m
• Broad Jumps: 9' 4", 9' 3", 9' 2", 9' 1"

Hadn't sprinted in a while, and the weather was mild so I headed out.  Happy with the speed. I'm definitely faster when I hit mid foot on the ground, which I need to do anyway, lest my hamstring get that weird pain in it.  Another note about sprinting: I set a goal of getting to sub 12 seconds, but then I realized that I'm not starting on blocks. In fact I'm not even starting from a crouch or leaning forward. My times are from a standing position, with a split stance.  So I'm probably losing an entire second there.  Plus I'm only sprinting once per week.  Probably sub 13 is a more reasonable goal.  

Also did some broad jumps, but I was pretty tired after the sprinting. 

Quick house-keeping

Just wanted to say that I fell behind on posting here on account of a massive amount of studying, etc. I had to do. I'm getting close to catching up now, only about 8 days behind finally, that should be fixed soon.  This week I hope to post:

1. Bulking diet 
2. Goals for the bulk 
3. Catch up on all workouts being entered

November 15, 2013 Upper / Light

• Standing Press: 115*6 135*4 125*6
• Pullups: 90*1 90*2 90*1
• Incline Bench Press: 225*1 235*1
• T-Bar Rows: 135*4 135*4 135*4
• Leaning DB Laterals: 15*10 25*8
• 10 lbs. plate-transfer planks: 4*2 4*1

41 minutes

Form was SUPER strict on the standing press, that's how I'm doing it from now on, no knee bend, no twerking the weight up.  I tried leading off with them here; I want to focus on shoulders, among other things on this bulk, so on the 'light' upper body thursdays.  I think I'm going to lead off with the standing presses.  This wasn't really supposed to be a light day, but I figured why not. Everything else went fine. Leaning DB laterals are the ones where you hang off the tower of a cable station or something and do laterals. Not sure if it worked or not...

November 14, 2013 Lower / Posterior Chain / Light

• Deadlift: 365*5 385*5 405*5
• Power Cleans: 135*3 155*3 175*3 185*2 195*1-gassed
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*2-gassed 135*3
• Pull-Throughs: 110*10
• P.U.P.P.: 1:03

42 minutes

Actually did 'high rep' deadlifts for once.  Was actually pretty gassed afterward.  Just finished what I could on the olympic lifting and got out.  Good session though, I don't do much past 3 rep sets ever on deadlifts, but I actually like that stuff more than I realize often. 

November 13, 2013 Conditioning

• Rowing: 200*0:33 NEW PR!! 200*0:32 NEW PR!! 200*0:33
• Battling Ropes: 40, 40

20 minutes

Whoooo!  Wasn't sure if my old record was 34 or 32 seconds, turns out it was 34.  Got the 33 seconds, then really went all out on the 32 second row.  Not sure I can get lower than that.  I was pulling with full force on every single row, there were no hitches, and no pauses when I was fully extended at the end of each pull.  There's no tenths of a second tracker on the C2 rower, it's just whole seconds, and the 32 was barely 32.  Don't know if I'll see 31 any time soon. 

November 12, 2013 Upper / Light

• Bench Press: 225*10 230*9 235*5-lactic acid
• BB Rows: 235*9 235*9 235*9
• Push Press: 185*6 195*5
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 55*4-wtf 55*3..ok
• Landmine Laterals: 50*10 45*10
• DB Incline Bench: 80*8 80*8

45 minutes

Good session, hit a lactic acid wall on benching.  Did some high rep bb rows, which I don't go for very often.  Really focused on letting my lats do the work.  It's common to overcompensate and use your biceps too much to pull the weight up. A great way to avoid this is to think of your arms just as hooks hanging from your lats.  They can't move the weight, or try to imagine that this is so, and the only thing that can is your lats.  I think they were pretty fried by the time I got to the pullups because I shit the bed on them.  

November 11, 2013 Lower / Heavyfront s

• Squats: 315*1 345*1 360*1 370*X-seriously?
• Front Squats: 225*1 245*1 265*1 285*1
• Good Mornings: 225*1 245*1 255*1
• Ab-Wheel: 11

45 minutes

Haven't squatted heavy in a few weeks, since I took last week off. Still though...should have had 370.  Rest of the session went well, real close to my PR on front squats still...hopefully I get it fairly early in the bulking phase. 

November 9, 2013

• Team Sled Pull: 135*40

Well this was going to be a conditioning session....did this and was dead after.  Couldn't grip anything, hands were frozen in claws. 

November 8, 2013 Lower / Posterior Chain/ Heavy

• Deadlift: 405*1 435*1 455*1 405*1
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 140*3  140*3
• Power Cleans: 140*3 155*3-exhausted 135*7 135*4
• Pull-Throughs: 110*10 120*7
• Ab-Wheel: 12

45 minutes

Awful.  I need to learn to ease back in after off weeks.  My warm up sets on deadlift: 225*1 315*1. That's it.  I literally did less warmups after 2 weeks off from deadlifting than I wold on a normal session.  I always complain about loss of strength on off weeks and the first week back sucking, but really it's my prep and warmups that suck after those off weeks. 

November 6, 2013 Conditioning

• Broad Jumps: 3
• Sled Push & Pull: 90*16.5 (3:00)
• HPS: 135*4
• Broad Jumps: 3

Well that went well.  I've mentioned a few times that a trainer at my gym does challenges every few months. I've never actually tried one of them fresh, most of my numbers on them come at the tail end of workouts, or the day after I batter myself.  This is the first time I ever tried one after a day off (or in this case a week).  Current leader on this.  It's longer than the last time, so you have to go further for each 'rep'.  He also added in a 'halfway' mark so you could tack a .5 onto the end if you were running low on time.  

I have never in my life felt a burning in my chest like when this was done. If I hadn't had a few days off beforehand I would not have gotten this score. I got that acetyline torch being shoved down my windpipe feeling after.  The thing is that usually dissipates over the course of the day, I still felt like that the next morning.  I tried doing some snatches after, I couldn't.  I was done.  Great feeling though. 1st place

October 29, 2013 Upper Body / Heavy

• Bench Press (Paused Reps); 225*3 245*3 255*3 265*1 275*1
• BB Rack Rows: 225*3 245*2 225*3
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Paused Neutral Grip Pullups: 90*3 90*2
• Landmine Laterals: 70*2
• Side-Planks: 1:00

45 minutes

This went well.  Paused at the top on pullups, maybe I need to do that more often.  Also, on rows I tried doing them off the safety bars in a rack to see if it made any difference, not sure if it did or not. 

Last session before week off!  This cut went really well, and I'm excited for the bulk, I'll be posting diet after.  Also will be posting thoughts on this cut at a later date as well!

October 28, 2013 Lower/Heavy

• Squats: 315*1 340*1 365*1 380*Blarg 315*2
• Front Squats: 225*3 235*3 245*3
• Good Mornings: 155*5 175*5
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*3 155*1 135*5+2
• PUPP: 1:30

45 minutes

Just got stuck at the bottom on 380. Not good times.  Rest of the session went well.  Did  some snatches here too. 

October 27, 2013 Lower / Conditioning

• IT/Hip Stretching: 2.5 minutes
• Power Cleans: 95*10 95*8 135*11 135*10 155*6 155*7 155*6 155*4
• Hanging Power Cleans: 155*4
• Power Cleans: 135*6 135*3
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*4 135*4

42 minutes

May have to do this stuff for conditioning more often, it kicked the crap out of me. I will say I was a bit frustrated with my form on the power cleans, but I think I was being too harsh on myself. 

October 25, 2013 Lower / light

• Power Cleans: 185*5 195*5 205*5 185*5 135*5
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*5 145*4
• 2 Plate Deficit Deadlifts: 340*4
• Ab-Wheel: 10

50 minutes

Good session, took several minutes between each set of power cleans, they really wipe me out.  Nothing else of note really here. 

October 24, 2013 Upper / Heavy

• Incline Bench: 225*2 235*1 245*1 255*1 265*1
• Pullups: 95*2 95*1 95*1
• Push Press: 205*1 225*1 235*1 185*1
• Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2
• Landmine Laterals: 55*6
• Dumbbell Bench Press: 105*6 115*3

44 minutes

Not bad...not bad at all.  Nothing really of note, just a nice last upper body session before my week off.  Did some push pressing here, felt good. 

October 23, 2013 Sprinting

• 100m: 8

Going to take off next week, so this is the last sprint session of the cut/maintenance phase I've been on.  I wish it hadn't taken me so long to figure out the hamstring tugging, I probably could have made a better run at my sprinting goals.  Although this winter I intend to use harvard's indoor track, and also do explosive cardio at the gym, so hopefully I start next season just as fast as I am now. I'll be adding broad jumps back in, my shins feel fine now. 

October 22, 2013 Upper Body / Light

• DB Flat: 90*10 100*8 105*5
• BB Rows: 225*10 245*9 255*8
• HPCs: 135*47 (3 minutes)
• NG Pullups: 13
• PUPP: 1:00

39 minutes

Gym is doing competitions again, decided to try the hanging power cleans event.  I had eaten too soon beforehand and was already taxed from the rows.  Probably should have done it another day, only got 47.  They allow you to use wrist-wraps, and you don't need to actually get your elbows all the way up. It's really like a ballistic reverse-curl competition more than anything.  Tried some pullups afterward, but I was pretty fried.  Here's the video of the HPCs

October 21, 2013 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 315*2 335*1 355*1 365*1
• Front Squats: 225*2 245*1 265*1 285*1 295*1/2-didn't hit depth
• Good Mornings: 205*1 225*1 245*1
• Overhead Squats: 135*1
• WSARC: 70*10 100*3
• Ab-Wheel: 10, 10
• PUPP: 1:00

45 minutes

Good session, didn't feel like hitting my 1RM on squats, wanted to save some for front squats. Narrowly missed 295.  Was about 2" above parallel.  Good mornings felt good, when I focus on making sure my core is tight it really helps hammer the stabilizers, hams, glutes, etc.  Still not sure about overhead squats...I'm just so tired by the time I get to them, maybe put a couple sets at the start, as a warmup since the weight is so light.  Did some red-hawt abbzzzz stuff to finish the session. 

October 20, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope: 30, 25
• Unilateral KB Swings: 28kg*15 28kg*15
• Row: 400m*1:21 NEW PR!!
• Bench Plyo Clap Pushups: 5,5,5
• Battling Rope-Rope Slam S.S.: 35-10, 35-10
• Row: 200*0:38

Good session, shins are a bit splinty still from all the jumping recently, going to lay off it for a bit.  On rowing for some reason I notice my ass muscles get sore, not sure why. My hips aren't tight or anything by the time I get to the rowing, I just get this really uncomfortable feeling in my hips, quads, and glutes when I row really fast.  Did manage to set a PR here though, so yaaay, etc. 

October 18, 2013 Upper / Light

• Dumbbell Bench Press: 85*10 95*6-wtf 100*6
• Rope Pullups: 6
• Pullups: 10, 7
• Standing Press: 105*10 115*10
• Cable Rows (W-Bar): 140*10 150*7
• DB Incline: 100*7 105*4
• WSARC: 60*10

36 minutes

Didn't feel like doing a regular incline session today.  Mixed it up a bit. Surprised I only got 6 on the 95 benching.  Rest of session went well.  I feel like cable rows are much more compatible with higher rep work as opposed to barbell rows, where you're bent over, which gets exhausting on my lower back. 

October 17, 2013 Lower Body / Olympic Lifting / Heavy

• 2 Plate Deficit Deadlifts: 315*1 365*1 385*1 405*1
• Power Cleans: 195*3 205*2 215*1 185*5 135*5
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*2 155*X 135*5 135*6 135*4
• Ab-Wheel: 10, 10, 10

49 minutes

Good session...hope these pulls from a deficit pay off.  Was pissed I missed 155 on the snatches; I was gassed by then. Did some 135 sets after to punish myself. Finished with some ab wheeling. 

October 16, 2013 Sprinting

• 100m: 10
• Total: 1000m

Stayed light on my feet for all of them, focused on mid-foot strikes.  Felt much better! Faster too

October 15, 2013 Upper / Heavy

• Bench Press: 225*3 245*3 255*3 265*3 280*1 290*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2 160*2
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 90*2 90*2 90*1
• Landmine Laterals: 70*2
• DB Incline Bench: 105*4
• Sled Push & Pull: 90*14 (3:00)
• Paloffs: 90*5 90*5
• 10 lbs. plate transfer planks: 4*2 4*3
• PUPP: 1:00

45 minutes

smorgasbord workout. Got everything in though.  Built up on benching which is more inline of what I want to do on the heavier days.  I really enjoy the heavy t-bar rowing.  Sled push & pull was for the competition at my gym, it's on a longer course this time around. 

October 14, 2013 Lower / Light

• Front Squats: 225*4 225*4 235*4
• Squats: 315*4 315*3 315*3
• Good Mornings: 135*5 155*5 165*5
• Overhead Squats: 45*5 65*5
• PUPP: 1:30
• Sled Pushes: 270*2

44 minutes

On the 'light' days I'm going to do front squatting first, just so it gets some lead-off spot work.  I don't really care what my higher rep back squat numbers are to be honest, and since my quads lag behind this will give them a bit of priority.  Not sure how I feel about overhead squats; I like the movement, it's just that I'm so beat by the time I get to them that I keep falling over.  Finished with some sled pushes.  There were a few 45s on it so I felt like tossing some more on and going to town. 

October 13, 2013 Conditioning

• Jump Rope: 35, 50 (2:05)
• Broad Jumps: 8' 7", 9' 0"
• Parallel Battling ropes: 20, 25
• Rowing: 500*1:57, 300*1:00, 200m*0:34 NEW PR!!

So the broad jumping is hurting my knees at this point, I've just done a ton of it lately, and the gym floor even with the turf in the 'cross training' area is still tough to land on several dozen times in the space of a week. Did some parallel battling ropes, where you move your arms out to the side and then sort of clap them together...clap dem ropes.   Finished with some rowing. Broke 100m up into a few bite sized chunks.  I honestly don't know if I can get any better than 34 seconds on the 200m.  That took every ounce I had, and I was pulling violently on every pull.  We'll see. 

October 11, 2013 Upper Body / Heavy

• Incline Bench Press: 225*2 245*2 255*1
• Pullups: 95*2 95*2 95*1
• Standing Press: 155*2 155*2 155*2
• T-Bar Rows: 155*3 165*2 175*1
• Dumbbell Flat: 110*4
• Rowing: 514*1:50

40 minutes

Left wrist sore from jamming it on deficit dl's yesterday.  Otherwise good session.  Did some rowing at the end, no clue why I didn't record my flat 500 time. 

October 10, 2013 Lower Body / Olympic Lifting

• Power Cleans: 135*5
• Hanging Power Cleans: 155*5 165*4 175*3
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*5 145*2 135*5
• 2-Plate Deficit Deadlifts: 335*4 335*4
• Pull-Throughs: 100*10
• Paloffs: 80*10 90*6

36 minutes

Decided to do some more power cleans here, although I prefer doing them heavy. May need to look at form and how I'm doing them. I think my form on snatches is actually better than cleans. I have trouble with the concept of 'rotating myself under the bar' on cleans. It just doesn't make sense to me.  On snatches though it does since it's over my head, and I can think of myself as almost 'swinging' on the bar.  If  I ever figure it out on cleans I'll post about it.  Did more deficit deadlifts. I really hope these things pay off, they're murder on my whole posterior chain, especially my lower back. Not in a bad way, it just taxes the heck out of them.  Also I don't use wraps on them. I've wanted to wean myself off using wrist wraps as much as possible, and since the weight I'm using here is so small it's a great opportunity.  I have to be careful though, when resetting the weight back to the floor those extra few inches really make the bar pick up speed.  Jammed my wrists pretty good. 

October 9, 2013 Sprinting

• 100m: 9
• Total: 900m

So I'm not sure why my hamstring is bothering me when I sprint, but I did figure out how to stop it. I noticed that with lighter footfalls it hurts way less. Previously I noticed that around 30m or so is when the problem started acting up, and that's usually when I end up going flatfooted when sprinting.  So while it's not pleasant, it's a reminder to stay on my midfoot when sprinting.  Did that here and got 900m in.  Done a ton of broad jumping lately, going to take a bit off from it, only because it gives me shin splints if I do it too often.