January 16, 2015 Upper

• Incline Bench Press: 240*2,2,2,1,2,2,2,2,2,2
• Hanging Power Snatch: 95*4 115*2 135*3-exhausted

woooooooooo I am absolutely exhausted, my musculature along my upper areas of my chest and anterior delts was exhausted here, just absolutely toast.  I'll write my thoughts on smolov jr. soon.  

January 15, 2015 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4
• Pendlay Rows: 185*3 195*2 
• Sternum Pullups: 6, 5

Really feeling flat here, missed several reps. Honestly I'm ready for this smolov jr cycle to be over, my anterior delts are just toast right now

January 13, 2015 Upper (A.M. Workout)

• Incline Bench Press: 215*5,5,5,5,5,5,5

Delts are definitely getting exhausted, I'm getting no help from them at this point on the movement.  Almost done though! I'm curious to see the results. 

January 11, 2015 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 205*6,6,6,6,6,6
• BB Underhand Rows: 225*5 245*4 255*4
• BB Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*3
• Hexbar Farmers Walks: 315*41 315*21

Not gonna lie, my anterior delts are exhausted.  We'll see how the rest of the week plays out.  Did some good farmers walks here, I really love these things

January 9, 2015 Upper / Lower

• Incline Bench Press: 230*3,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,2,3
• Hexbar Deadlifts: 405*1 455*1 495*1 520*1 535*1 TIES PR 545*1 NEW PR!! 555*1 NEW PR!!

On the incline benching my left pec actually started to cramp on those two sets where I only got 2.  Then I decided to do some hexbar deadlifting just for fun.  Probably not the best idea as I was getting fatigued after 10 sets of benching.  But I figured what the hey.  I was surprised at how easily I got 520, so tried 535 which was pretty easy too.  So I got a video of an attempt at 545 (I'll post it later), and then figured I'd go for 555, see the video below.  Before any of you bosu ball single-leg pink dumbbell curling motherfuckers start commenting on my form: 

1) This was an absolute max attempt, my back isn't rounded on any other reps I do over the course of a year, aside from when I go all out. This was also my 17th set of the day. But yes, you should NOT mimic the form I use here for everyday lifting. 

2) With a rounded back you run into trouble if you sheer your spine back and forth to sort of 'shimmy' the weight up. If you're rounded at the start and rounded at the end of the lift there's not nearly as much sheering. Watch most of the guys deadlifting 800+ on here, and all of them are rounding somewhat. Having said that, again, this was ONLY for this attempt, if your back is constantly rounded like that on every pull you do, you almost certainly will run into trouble.

Having said all that, I was exhausted, I didn't even attempt to get into neutral spine alignment before the pull, I didn't really on the 545 either. NOT going to let that happen again, mainly because I can't imagine going for a PR on a compound lift as a 16th and 17th set of a workout ever again.  

January 6, 2015 Upper / Lower

• Incline Bench Press: 205*5,5,5,5,5,5,5
• Squats: 315*1 350*1 370*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 295*1 315*1 NEW PR? NEW PR!!
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

Well then....I thought my PR was 320, but as I'm writing this up  (on the 17th of January) I just saw my record was 310. I would have recorded if I had noticed this. Of course the week after this I got 320 and didn't record either since I wasn't aware.  Good session all around, again.  Feeling happy with the workouts lately!

January 4, 2015 Upper / Conditioning

• Incline Bench: 195*6,6,6,6,6,6
• Broad Jumps: 8' 3", 8' 7.5", 9' 0.5", 8' 8", 9' 1.5", 9' 0", 9' 0", 9' 2" Tied PR?, 9' 1.5", 9' 1", 9' 2.5" NEW PR?? YUP! NEW PR!!

Alright, week 2 of smolov begins, we'll see how it goes.  More importantly though, I for some reason got away from doing broad jumps, I think because I was so gassed after sprinting when I was setting my records in sep/oct that I never had the energy, and then they just faded from my repertoire. Kind of like landmine laterals (note to self: do these again).  So today after inclining I decided to try some more. First few didn't feel that good, and I gave myself some shin splints from landing too heavy.  I actually had no idea what my PR was, but as I entered them here I just realized I tied, and then broke it.  Not too bad for a couple months off from them, and being about 203 lbs.  I guess all the squatting has been paying off. 

January 2, 2015 Upper

• Incline Bench Press: 220*3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
• Deadlifts: 430*5
• Hanging Power Snatches: 95*5 115*5 135*2
• Hex Farmers Walks: 225*50 275*50 300*40 300*20

Good session, really good actually.  If I ever go to full body routines in the future I could see a day like this occurring, just with deadlifts leading off, and higher weight/fewer sets on incline benching. This actually may have been one of my favorite sessions in recent memory.

January 1, 2015 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 210*4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4
• Cable Rows: 210*3 230*1 240*1
• Sternum Pullups: 6, 5, 4
• Suitcase Carries: 25*50 25*50
• Farmers Walks: 105*57 115*35 115*14

Happy New Year! My goal is the same as every year; get into disgustingly good shape, the best of my life, continue to be athletic, only more so than ever. More smolov jr.  So far so good.  Heeeavy cable rows.  On suitcase carries again focusing on making sure my form is perfect.  Farmers walks went well. I think next time I'm using the hex bar. I love weighted carries

December 28, 2014 Upper

• Incline Bench Press: 185*6 185*6 185*6 185*6 185*6 185*6
• T-Bar Rows: 160*4 160*4 160*4
• 1.5 Sternum Pullups: 2, 2
• DB Farmer's Walk: 95*52 105*54
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 70*10

Good first session. the smolov jr. stuff only covers incline benching, everything else is just me throwing in my regular workouts after.  Not too hard at all so far, hopefully it gets more challenging. 

Smolov Jr. For Incline Bench

I decided that since I rarely/never do premade routines I would try the Smolov Jr. protocol, for incline benching in this case. It's commonly used for squatting and bench pressing, so inclining isn't that far out of the realm of what it's regularly used for.  Hopefully that gets me to the 300 lbs. mark on inclining, we shall see!  It's pretty intense, but really all that changes for me is that on my squat day I'll do some incline benching first, same for deadlifting day. Also, I'll be sprinting on Mondays for the three weeks that the cycle takes.