December 5, 2014 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 225*1 245*1 255*1
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 160*3 165*3 170*2
• BB Seated Press: 135*3 155*3 175*3
• Pullups: 70*2 70*2 70*2
• Bird-Dogs: 6, 6

Feeling REALLY flat. It's finals week so maybe that has something to do with it.  I was just NOT feeling it today, and it showed in the numbers.  Maybe CNS fatigue or something, exams can be stressful. 

September 16, 2013 Lower Body / Light

• Squats: 315*4 335*3 340*2,1
• Front Squats: 230*3 240*3 250*2
• Good Mornings: 155*5 165*5 175*5
• O.H. Squats: 45*10 55*10
• Bird-Dogs: 10

Messed up 3rd rep on 340 squats, so I reracked and did one more.  Tried overhead squats, going to start low on weight til I'm used to balancing.  Solid session.  Turned 32 yesterday.   Don't feel like I'm slowing down at all, in fact I'm improving still in pretty much every area fitness wise.  I think the stretching/foam rolling helps with that. Plus not making common mistakes such as pressing way more than rowing helps keep my shoulder joints fresh.  I also make sure my hips/quads are thoroughly stretched as well so that the joints in my hips & knees don't end up going.  Still, I wonder how many more years do I have before I experience some sort of descent, or some sort of increased effort to maintain the level I'm at now.  Hopefully not for a long time. 

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.  

June 11, 2013 Lower / Posterior Chain

• Deadlift: 405*1 425*1 455*1 475*1
• Hanging Power Snatch: 135*3 145*1 150*2 155*1
• Hanging Power Cleans: 165*3 185*1 205*X -tired
• Hanging Snatch-Grip High Pulls: 185*3 205*2 215*1
• Bird-Dogs: 5, 5

45 minutes

Good session, felt like going a tad heavier on deadlifts.  Snatches went well,  hadn't done cleans in 3 weeks, was pretty tired by the time I got to them. Read an article on snatch-grip high pulls, liked the idea so I added them in.  Threw bird-dogs in sort of as an afterthought. I was thinking as well that I may move deadlifts further back into the rotation on these days.  If I'm not going to be maxing on them, or near my max on a day, why bother doing them first, if they're going to fatigue the o-lifts that I do after.  By the time I got to cleans I was just wiped out today.  What I think I'm going to do from now on (when not maxing deadlifts) is start with the high pulls since that'll get my nervous system primed.  Then move to snatches, since the weight on them will seem lighter after doing a heavier similar movement in high pulls, then do the cleans. So cleans will still be third, but won't have deadlifting ahead of them, and then finish off with deadlifting.  

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. 

December 30, 2012 Conditioning

• 24" Plyo Unilateral Box Jumps: 10
• 32" Plyo Box Jumps: 15
• Side-Planks: 0:30 0:30
• Bird-Dogs: 10

Good session, didn't go too hard since I'm still beat to heck from that squat session on Friday.  Working side-planks back in.  I love jumping onto things.  

November 23, 2012 Lower Body

• Squats: 230*5 280*5 305*4 315*3 325*1
• Squats From Pins: 225*5 245*3
• Bulgarian Split Squats: 35*10 40*10
• Reverse Hypers (3 second hold at top): 100*4 100*3
• Kneeling start 1/2 court sprints: 5 per leg
• Bird-Dogs: 5...can't lift legs

46 Minutes

This might've been the most exhausted my body was after a workout.  I was in a foul mood, just angry, which usually actually messes with my concentration. This time though it just made me get violent with the weights.  The squatting felt great, feels good to be moving back up not just on the weight, but on the reps as well.  Just felt solid pushing up out of the bottom of the movement.  I think the pin squats helped.  Really went in on the pin squats, I love them.  It almost feels like the squat version of a deadlift, since each rep starts from a dead stop.  Was sucking wind after them.  Went to split squats and decimated my quads & ass some more.  I needed to take a couple minutes after each set because I was drained at this point.  I knelt down to record the numbers for the set in my pad and could barely get up.   Did some reverse hypers with a hold at the top, and could barely hold it.  I figure holding at the top of the movement is good because it should help me fight the urge to crunch forward when squatting.  We'll see.  Regardless after that I thought I was going to collapse.  Still went and did some sprints after.  Hardest sprints I've ever had to do. Tried doing some bird dogs after, but literally could not lift my legs or hold them straight out behind me. Collapsed on the mat for a few minutes and rested instead.  Great session. 

October 11, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 240*3-80*3 250*3-80*3 260*2-80*2
• Standing Press: 135*7 145*3
• Unilateral Pullups: -14*2 -17*4
• Bird Dogs: 10, 10

Supersets went good, felt like the pullups went well. Standing press went ok.  I'm still on the fence about whether or not to put it first this coming bulking cycle and see how high I can get it or not.  I really like incline benching though.  Tried unilateral pullups on the pullup assist machine, I had the idea that I could slowly build up to a bodyweight one arm pullup by using decreasing assistance each week. But honestly I don't like how the one arm pullups feel on my shoulder joints.  Probably going to ditch that plan. 

September 6, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 245*3-80*3 255*3-80*2 265*2-75*3 
• Pullups: 75*3
• Standing Press: 95*10 115*8 135*4-? not sure what happened there
• Low Box - Medium Box - Broad Jump superset: 10
• Bird-Dogs: 10, 10

Didn't sprint yesterday, track was soaked from storms. Not good times. Will go Sunday.  Pullups were difficult today for some reason, not sure why.  Felt like I had no strength at the top of them. We'll see what happens next week.  Trying some higher rep stuff on shoulders with the standing press.  Not sure why I only got 135 for 4, probably because I haven't done them in over a month. Hopefully I bounce back quick.  Did a superset after all this of a jump over the low box, into a jump over the medium box, into a broad jump.  My back was not happy about the landings when I was more flat footed, felt like my lower back was getting 'compressed'.  Figured I wanted to get back to jumping though.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Going to foam roll the heck out of my back tonight. Finished with bird-dogs, definitely felt lower back & piriformis stinging on them.  Also, noted they now have a super-low box that's only about 3", have to put that to use when I stack boxes. 

Also...holy crap. Took these pics back at the end of August, never took them off my phone to check.  I have no idea what it was about that day, but it looks like I have an extra serratus showing, and I don't think I've ever looked that cut before.  I really wish I didn't have hips as wide as I do...otherwise, happy with these.  Probably my favorite progress pics I've ever had. 

August 3, 2012 Lower

• Low Box Squats: 255*5 275*5 300*3
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*5 145*3 155*3 135*3
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 60*10
• Bird-Dogs: 10, 10

Good session, still focusing on trying to use more hamstrings on the low box squats.  Lower left back still feeling a little tweaked but much much better.  Bird-Dogs and ab-work felt fine, whereas a couple days ago it would've been uncomfortable. 

July 03, 2012

• Deadlift: 410*2 430*2 450*1
• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*5 165*5 185*3 210*1
• Unilateral Deadlifts: 225*3 245*1
• Plate-Transfer Planks: 10*8
• Bird-Dogs: 10

Deadlifting went well, staying around 85-90% of my 1RM for the rest of the summer, and honestly probably permanently, other then when I go to break my record. Constantly pulling around 95-97% of my 1RM was wearing me out, and really doesn't accomplish much.  Hanging power cleans went very well here.  Unilteral deadlifts are much better suited to this day than squat day; I already have the patterning down by the time I do them. Also lower reps makes much more sense, as I tired on the 5th rep of sets previously my form went to shit anyway. Bird-Dogs were surprisingly taxing, probably all the deadlifting prior.  Also of note, I had some shoulder soreness, knee soreness, lower back soreness, and hip soreness last couple weeks.  That all seems to be passing now. Shoulder feels almost 100%, knee is all better, hips are fine.  Lower back on the left side is a little tight, going to schedule a massage soon.  

May 3, 2012 Lower

• Squats: 320*3 330*3 340*2 350*2
• Hanging Power Snatches: 125*3 140*3 155*2 170*X 135*5
• 1 Leg Deadlifts: 95*6 115*6 135*6
• Bird-Dogs: 12

WORST fail on a rep in my life on the power snatches.  As I rotated under the bar it slipped out of my right hand on the barbell dropped on my skull.  No clue how I didn't get a concussion or split my head open.  Neck hurts, and I got a lump on my head though. Not good times.  The unilateral deadlifts went well however, getting the hang on these.  

April 9, 2012 Lower

• BB DL: 410*3 440*3 475*3
• Hanging Power Cleans: 200*2 210*1 185*3 185*3
• Glute Bridges: 315*3 365*4 405*4
• Ab-Wheel: 12, 12
• Bird-Dogs: 10

I don't do 'easing back into things' after taking my weeks off.  Deadlifting was hard, but I managed.  Now that I'm done with the bulk I can focus on form, as I said in my previous post.  I dropped the weight back on the cleans and focused on not landing wide on those last two sets.  It's amazing how much easier they are with good form.  I almost clipped my chin on that first rep of 185 I did.  I'm going to build back up on the weight using better form on the jump & landing.   Added in glute bridges as well, trying to focus on the contraction with them, and hip drive.  Did some abs after, can't forget about the wide-stance anti-rotational chops, I need to do them some point this week.  Won't be going to the gym tomorrow, I have a friend in Boston Visiting.  Wednesday will be my heavy/upper day. 

March 19, 2012 Lower

• Deadlift:410*3 440*3 475*3
• Hanging Power Cleans:190*3 200*3 210*3
• Bird-Dogs: 10, 10

exhausting session.Not in a bad way, just tiring. I think I'll go for a 515 pull at end of bulk. 

March 12, 2012 Lower

• BB DL:410*3 440*3 475*2
• Hanging Power Cleans:185*3 200*2 210*X 185*4 135*8
• Bird-Dogs:10, 10
• Ab-Wheel: 10

No idea what was up with cleans here, I was just flat.  I had no explosiveness at all.  Was pissed so I did 135 for 8.  Bird Dogs I added in for core work; surprised at how well these worked. Finished with some ab wheeling