July 21, 2014 Lower

• Front Squats: 25*1 270*1 290*1
• Good Mornings: 250*1 275*1 290*1 NEW PR!! 300*1 NEW PR!!
• Squats: 315*1 335*1 355*1 exhausted

woooooo.  I know good morning PRs aren't that big of a deal, but it still felt good.  Back was exhausted by the time I got to squats.  It's ok, I wasn't trying to go heavy on them today. 

June 9, 2014 Upper Body

• Bench Press, Paused, No Arch: 225*2 250*2 265*1 275*1(!)
• Pendlay Rows: 135*3 155*4 175*4 185*4(!) 205*2(!!!!)
• Push Press: 205*1 225*1 240*1
• Neutral Grip 1.5 Pullups: 7 - left elbow tight
• Landmine Laterals: 55*6 55*5

Good times! Happy with the 275 with no arch, AND paused reps.  Really just a good session for strength, got 185 and the 205 on pendlays, and this is with form absolutely locked in. Back didn't come up an inch from parallel.  Push press felt good too. Left elbow was getting tight by the time i got to pullups. 

June 06, 2014 Lower Body / Olympic Lifting

• Deadlift: 405*1 445*1 475*1 500*1
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*2 145*3
• Power Cleans: 145*2 185*2 185*2
• Hanging Power Cleans: 185*1
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 60*8 70*&

Feeling good, shoulder is getting back to normal so I can do the olympic lifting again. It will probably take a few weeks to get the power back on the snatches. Also, hit 500 again on deadlifting, went well.  

Jun 5, 2014 Upper Body

• BB Rows: 185*5 185*5 185*5 205*5 225*4
• Incline Bench: 225*3 235*3 245*1
• Pullups: 65*2 65*2 65*2
• Seated Press: 135*3 160*3 180*2ish
• Cable Reverse Laterals: 30*4 20*6
• Suitcase Carries: 40*75 40*75

Good sesh.  Focused on the form with the rows, went well.  Noticing my traps/mid back are much larger this cut, glad all the mid-back work I'm doing is paying off. Also adding weight back on pullups here. So far so good. 

May 12, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• Bench Press: 225*3 245*3 265*2 275*2 285*1
• Unilateral T-Bar BB Rows: 135*4 150*3 165*3
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• T-Bar Rows: 135*3 145*3 155*3
• Landmine Laterals: 45*5 45*6

Right shoulder still not 100%, left elbow too; but they're getting much better. Didn't push things too much here with the benching or push pressing.  

May 9, 2014 Posterior Chain

• Deadlift: 405*1 435*1 455*1 485*1 505*1 520*X narrowly missed
• Hanging Power Snatch: 135*1 145*1-tempting shoulder
• WSARC: 80*5

520 deadlift was unexpected.  If I had known I would have that much juice this session I would've ramped differently and probably skipped the 505 attempt.  I'm happy my strength is still where it is right now, the cut is going well apparently.  On the HPS's my shoulder was getting cranky, so I decided to let it rest. 

May 6, 2014 Lower Body

• Olympic Squats: 315*1 335*1 345*1
• Front Squats: 245*1 265*1 285*1
• Step-Ups: 65*4 75*3
• Dead Bugs: 8, 8

Giving my shoulder a rest this week and going to do lower body stuff exclusively.  Tried some olympic squatting here. The front squats my form was ratcheted down, abs were sore after, in a good way.  Also loving step-ups.  May be my new go-to when I don't want to do good mornings, to give my back a break. Finished with dead bugs. I love the concentration it takes to keep the form on them.  Can't remember if I posted it before but here is an article on core training I read recently that influenced my latest round of exercises here. 

May 2, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Deadlift: 365*3 405*3 425*3
• HPS: 95*3 115*3 135*2 135*1
• Pull-Throughs: 80*6 110*8 130*8
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 80*5 90*3

Nice deload week on deadlifting. I actually like these because I can ratchet down on form.  Shoulder sore still, couldn't go high on the snatches. 

May 1, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• Incline Bench Press: 225*3 245*1 255*1
• Pendlay Rows: 165*3 185*3 205*2 215*1
• Pullups: 70*2 70*1 70*1,1
• DB Rows: 100*5 110*5 120*5
• Suitcase Carries: 50lbs*50 steps 50*50

shoulder is just...awful.  Let this be a lesson to anyone reading this: If you think a minor injury is healed, test out the body part first before throwing yourself into something.  I'm probably going to skip upper body day this coming Monday and let this thing heal for real.  Shoulder hurt on pullups even.  I don't think it's anything major, just should have rested it more. 

April 29, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 315*2 355*1 385*1 405*X
• Pin Squats: 315*1
• Squats: 405*1
• Front Squats: 225*2 245*2 265*1 275*1 295*1
• Good Mornings: 225*1 250*1 265*1
• Hip-Thrust: 135*4 225*3 275*2
• Dead Bugs: 8, 7

I was pissed I missed 405, pin squatted 315 up, and put a 45 back on each side and got it.  Went heavy on front squats and good mornings as well.  Putting more weigh on the hip thrusts. Really enjoying dead bugs. Shoulder feels much better.  

April 28, 2014 Upper Body

• Bench Press: 225*3 250*3 265*3 275*2 290*1 300*1 305*1
• BB Rows: 185*3 205*3 225*2
• Push Press: 185*2 205*1 225*1
• Face-Pulls: 40*8 60*4
• Unilateral Cable Reverse Laterals: 30*4 - r. shoulder

Cut is going well, not really losing any strength at all.  Right shoulder is feeling better, still not 100% , took it easy on the push presses. Tried to work around the shoulder where I could.  Was talking to someone, they said it actually sounds like a pec minor issue.  Also, benching went well. Went back to using an arch after doing it completely flat the last few weeks, definitely felt a power bump. yaaaay. 

April 25, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Deadlifts: 405*1 435*1 455*1 475*1
• Romanian Deadlifts: 275*3 315*3 365*2
• Step-Ups: 75*3 60*5
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 80*4 90*3

Good session, threw in romanians since my shoulder still hurts if I lift it over my head, which eliminates snatches, and the movement for cleans hurts it too...not sure what's going on. Hopefully a couple days off from using it this weekend fixes it. 

April 24, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• Seated Overhead Press: 95*3 right shoulder-nope.
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 135*3 145*3 155*3 165*3
• Incline Bench Press: 225*3 245*2 255*1 265*1
• BB Rows: 185*3 205*3 225*3
• DB Reverse Laterals: 10*10 r. shoulder
• Suitcase Carries: 45*75 45*75

Right shoulder still hurts, I can't do the Overhead movements, unracking the weight felt awful.  Oddly incline benching was fine.  Also noticed an uptick in BB row strength, still focusing on form. 

April 22, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 315*1 365*1 385*1
• Front Squats: 225*2 245*2 265*2
• Good Mornings: 265*1 265*1
• Hip-Thrusts: 225*4 (more about learning form than weight)
• Dead Bugs: 7, 7

40 minutes

Nice session, didn't push too deep on weights, felt good. 

April 18, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 145*2 155*2 135*5
• Power Cleans: 135*4 185*2 205*1 225*1
• Deadlifts: 405*1 435*1 455*1 475*1
• WSARC: 60*8 80*4

Wanted to lead off with snatches, went well.  Though I have to say lately I lack a bit of pop on them. I tend to rush in, I hate warming up on them, I just want to throw 45s on and get to work. I think I need to go bar-95-115-135 or something like that from now on. Also may go to full cleans instead of power cleans, I'd like to see how heavy I can get them, could be fun and different. The 225 form was atrocious btw, need to work on that.  Deadlifting 3rd, didn't really lose anything off the pulls at all.  

April 17, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• Seated Press: 135*3 155*3 175*2
• T-Bar Rows: 135*3 155*3 155*3
• Incline Bench Press: 225*2 245*1 255*1
• Cable Reverse Laterals: 25*4 30*2
• Landmine Laterals: 55*4 55*3

34 minutes

Quicker session, lower rest times.  Didn't go as high on weights on account of this.  Felt good though to get through things quicker. 

April 15, 2014 Lower / Heavy

I ate too soon before this thing...

• Squats: 315*2 350*1 380*1 405*1
• Rack Squats: 315*1
• Leg Press: 495*3 585*3 675*1
• Dead Bugs: 7, 7

41 minutes

I ate too soon before starting this workout; it's always odd when you cut after a significant bulk.  At some point you realize your appetite is subsiding as your hormone levels balance back out on a healthier number of calories.  I used to need to be eating pretty much up until I left work to go to the gym (about a 15 minute drive) or I'd be hungry part way through my workout. Now I finish eating a half hour before leaving work and it's still too close to the workout.  Thought I was going to throw up on the 405 squat.  Did some leg pressing because I wanted to give my back a bit of rest, plus it's fun to throw weight on the thing and pump out some reps. 

April 10, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• DB Seated Press: 70*4 80*4 90*2
• BB Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 160*3 160*2 160*1.5
• BB Incline: 230*1 245*1 260*1 270*X
• BB Rows: 185*4 205*3 225*2
• Landmine Laterals: 60*3

Good session, led off with DB Seated press as the BB stand was occupied, and I hadn't done DBs in a while..Rest of session went well, no complaints.  Missed 270 on BB Incline solidly, wasn't even close to it. Maybe if I had gone 240-255-270 I would have had a better chance. 

April 8, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 315*1 365*1 385*1 405*X
• Rack Front Squats: 225*1
• Front Squats: 250*1 275*1 300*1
• Good Mornings: 225*2 250*2
• Dead-Bugs: 6, 5

Sore from sprints, going for the 405 on squats was silly considering that.  Rest of session went well.  More dead bugs. Really enjoy them. 

April 7, 2014 Upper Heavy

• Bench Press (No Arch): 225*3 245*3 265*2 285*1 295*1
• BB Rows: 185*4 205*3 225*2
• Push Press: 225*1 245*1
• Cable Laterals: 30*7 40*3
• Suitcase Carries: 50*40 steps 40*50 steps

45 minutes

Happy with the 295 done without an arch.  Going well, I'd like to get over 300 without the arch then see what happens. Rest of session was good. On suitcases, they were done with perfect form, no listing to one side even the slightest, really clamped down my core for them.