March 16, 2015 Upper

• Bench Press (pinkies on knurling): 225*3 245*2 255*3 255*3
• BB Rows: 185*3 205*3 225*3 235*2 
• Push Press: 185*1 205*1 225*1 240*1 250*1(!!)
• Sternum Pullups: 25*3 25*3 25*3
• DB Farmer's Walks: 105*91 105*94

Back to class after spring break, I'm a bit tired today, circadian rhythm has to adjust to a shift of about 90 minutes in wake-up time.  I'll be fine within a day or two.  I got 250 on Push Press, which I'm happy with. I barely got 240, but figured I might as well go for 250 anyway, and I nailed it. SO happy. My all-time record is 255.  Rest of session I just wanted to really hammer out some weighted pullups, and do some farmers walks. Wasn't sure I was progressing on the farmer's walks, then I saw that the last time I did them with 105 I got 67 steps.  So yeah, definitely improving.  

March 9, 2015 Upper

• Bench Press (pinkies on knurling): 265*1 275*1 290*1 225*6
• Pendlay Rows: 135*3 185*3 160*5
• Push Press: 185*1 205*1 225*1 235*1 245*1
• Sternum Pullups: 25*4 25*3 25*3
• Hexbar Farmer Walks: 315*60 315*53
• Push-Up Plank Press: 1:08 1:02

Good stuff here, getting closer to 300 with the narrower grip on benching. 

February 23, 2015 Upper Body

• Bench Press (pinky on knurling): 250*3 250*3 250*3 250*3 250*3
• BB Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 205*3 225*3 245*3
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1 240*1
• Sternum Pullups: 7, 5, 4
• DB Farmers walks: 105*67

Wanted to get some more reps in with the pinky on knurling width for bench press. Also, push press is going back up.  May take a run at 275 in the coming months. 

February 17, 2015 Upper Body

• Bench Press (Pinkies on knurling): 225*3
• Bench Press (Pinkies on knurling) Cluster Set: 250*1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
• BB Rows: 225*3 245*3 245*3
• Push Press: 185*1 205*1 225*1 235*1
• Sternum Pullups: 8, 6, 5
• Battling Rope - Rope Slam SuperSet: 40*10 50*10

Continuing with the narrower grip bench press, wanted to get some more heavy reps in just to get used to it faster. I didn't lose nearly as much weight on the bar as I thought I would moving my grip in.  I think I could cross 300 lbs again within a couple weeks.  Also, push press weight is going back up.  

February 3, 2015 Upper Body

• Bench Press: 22583 245*3 265*2 285*1 305*1
• BB Rows: 185*3 225*3 250*3
• Push Press: 185*3 205*3 225*1
• DB Farmers: 75*100 75*80

Good times, still over 300 on benching, bb rows are progressing with good form. Back to push pressing as well, went really well!  

December 26, 2014 Upper

• Incline Bench Press: 225*1 250*1 265*1 270*1
• BB Underhand Rows: 225*3 245*3 255*2
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Rope Pullups: 4, 4, 4
• Ring Pullups: 9

Good times, Got 265 pretty easy here.  Still I want to add more strength to my incline bench. May try a program of some sort, need to figure out what.  

December 16, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press: 250*1 275*1 290*1 300*fucked up unracking
• Pendlay Rows: 135*3 185*3 205*2 225*1
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Sternum Pullups: 8, 5, 5
• Farmers Walks: 90*50 100*50

Somehow caught lower pins when lowering the weight on the 300 attempt. No idea how I fucked that up.  Did some farmers walks, I keep saying I want to work in more carries, I really need to get on that.  It's a gap in my training right now, and I don't like that. Numbers indicate steps taken with the DBs. 

December 9, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press: 250*1 270*1 285*1 300*1
• Sternum Pullups: 7, 5, 4
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1 240*X blaaarg
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2 180*1

Been doing 11 hour days at school these past few days for a huge project so my schedule is a bit off. Haven't slept a ton lately either, need to fix that.  It all clears up at the end of this week. Going to retest max again on benching this coming week when I'm better rested. 

December 2, 2014 Upper Body

• Bench Press, no arch, paused reps: 225*1 250*1 260*1 275*1
• Sternum Pullups: 6,5,4
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• BB Rows: 225*3 245*2 255*2
• Reverse Flyes: 30*3 30*2

Good times, I think I'll test my max on benching next week.  Felt pretty drained here actually, just one of those days.  BB Rows were done with really tight form, absolutely no English on it. 

November 25, 2014 Upper Body

• Bench Press, no arch, paused reps: 225*1 245*1 255*1 270*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 160*2 160*2
• Push Press: 225*1 225*1
• Sternum Pullups: 7, 5, 3
• Reverse Flyes: 20*7 30*4

I realized I hadn't done t-bar rows in a while, didn't mean to get away from them at all.  Push pressing went well, going to build that back up now that my shoulder is fine. Going to probably do one more week of benching with no arch and paused reps, and then week after max out on benching. 

October 13, 2014 Upper

• Guillotine Press: 185*3 205*3 225*2 235*1
• Pullups: 75*2 75*2 75*2
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*3 180*2
• Face Pulls: 30*8 45*8

Threw facepulls in.  Man I love guillotine presses. Also threw in some weighted pullups here. Went well

September 29, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press: 22583 250*1 265*1 285*1 300*1
• Pendlay Rows: 135*3 160*3 185*3
• Push Press: 205*1 225*1 - neck is really stiff
• Sternum Pullups: 5, 5, 5
• Landmine Laterals: 55*6

Still at 300 barely on benching.  My neck was pretty stiff on push pressing. It's one of those neck muscles that goes down into your upper back.  Nothing serious, just didn't want to go much higher and exasperate whatever it was.  

September 22, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press (paused reps, no arch): 225*2 250*1 265*1 
• BB Rows:225*3 235*3 245*1
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Sternum Pullups: 6, 5
• DB Reverse Laterals: 30*5

That food poisoning or whatever really took a lot out of me. It's been about a week and I still feel flat. It's getting better, but I have no pop still.  I think I need to do a refeed for a week or so and see how that goes. 

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. 

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 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 12, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press: 250*1 275*1 290*1 300*1
• BB Rows: 225*2 245*1 255*1
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Sternum Pullups: 7, 6, 6
• Suitcase Carries: 45*50 45*50

Still pushing 300 at about 194 lbs. 300 was actually easier than 290.  I really like sternum pullups, I need to do them more, although I prefer heavy regular pullups. Some would argue that any pullup should be a sternum pullup. 

August 5, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press (No Arch / Paused): 225*1 250*1 250*1 250*1 250*1 
• Sternum Pullups: 6, 6, 5
• Push Press: 225*1 - tired
• BB Rows: 225*3 245*2 
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 70*6 80*6

Good session, I like sternum pullups quite a bit actually, really feel them in my mid back muscles more. 

July 28, 2014 Lower/Upper

• Squats: 315*1 335*1 355*1 365*1 375*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 250*2
• Bench Press (No Arch, Paused Reps): 225*1 250*1 265*1 275*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2 180*1
• Push Press: 225*1 no drive. I'm tired.

Squats were good and deep, felt great, really focused on using my hips to get up from parallel.  

July 7, 2014 Upper

• Bench Press (No Arch, Paused Reps): 225*2 255*1 275*1 285*1
• Pullups: 75*2 75*1 75*1 75*1,1
• Push Press: 225*1 240*1 250*X
• Pendlay Rows: 165*4 185*4 205*2 215*1
• DB Reverse Laterals: 15*9 25*6

Easing back into pullups as well, felt pretty good here, as long as I didn't let my shoulder blades get yanked then the rest of the shoulder felt fine. Continue to accumulate strength on Pendlays.