NOTE: I realized that what I was calling the SS bar is really a cambered bar
Main work (pin suspended cambered bar goodmornings):
15 bw squats
1355
1851
2251
2751
315miss
245 7 singles w/ between 60 and 90s rest
315 didn’t budge but I agree that this is one of those lifts where if you get it moving you have it. It was one of the hardest isos I’ve ever done, I strained hard as hell for at least six seconds.
Accessories:
Grip and trap (I’m replacing my quad accessory with this today and in the future): farmer’s walk w/ trap bar (trips were about 35 ft.):
2252 trips
3152 trips (bar tilts down if you don’t concentrate on pulling it up and that makes it extremely hard to walk with)
3154 trips (got the pulling it up)
3154 trips, but with a reset after 1st and 3rd
Posterior chain: Stiff leg deads, 3*6 @ 275 alternate grip. Very very very hard to get all the sets, but it was great to get them.
Abs: Side bends, 2*10/each w/ 50 lb. db
GREAT workout today, the first really good one since I’ve gotten to college, I feel like I’m getting in the groove now. The weekend planning did me well.
August 31, 2004
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
ME Upper Body
Bench Press:
4530
1355
185*3 and failed on fourth rep
Pullups: 7, 6, 4 (but I knew back was going to be fried from yesterday anyway)
Ok, it’s time to say fuck it and do something different. I will be following the WS for skinny bastards upper body program from now on on UB days. I’m tired of my upper body being so ridiculously weak and I’m not going to keep doing the same shit for no good reason.
Side note: My joints were aching toward the end, I have to do a more extensive warmup than what I did.
What exactly does the farmer’s walk work? I’ve always been scared of that type of exercise because it might overfatigue support muscles that aren’t used to handling that type of weight.
Just like squats and deads it’s a whole body movement but there’s a lot of isometric tax on the grip, traps, upper back, and trunk. The quads also have to work very hard to walk with it; in fact one of the best exercises to bring up the farmers is apparently quarter squats. I think it’ll really help bring up the dead, build upper body posterior musculature, and build a strong core but I doubt that it would be recommended to sprinters (Charlie even cautioned against its use by football players unless needed).
I’ve been doing weird angle stuff for a few weeks now so I think that it’s a good exercise for me to bring in to start getting specific with strongman but I still wouldn’t use it as a main movement for a while.
150 band pull aparts in sets w/ short rests
7 minutes of GMs w/ 26 lb. weight vest; prob. ~300 GMs
September 2, 2004
DE Lower Body
Speed OL squats:
bar20
1358
1855
21512*2 (50%) w/ light bands hooked under dbs (minimal tension but helped to keep the bar on my back coming up) w/ just a trip to the water fountain in between sets. This was a helluva conditioning workout since the rest was prob. just ~30s but it went great and they were fast
Speed deads:
245*10 singles w/ ~20s rest. Again, this was tough conditioning. The double overhand definitely slows me down some but they still were not bad.
Auxillaries:
PC, Cambered bar GMs:
3*6@225. One of the toughest things I’ve done to finish those sets. Got nice and low.
Grip, Bar holds: 315 for ~12s, short rest and ~8s but my pec minor started feeling strained so I stopped here
Abs, side, side, front situps: 1560 and 1565 (15 meaning 5 on each side and 5 at front)
bara lot
1355
1853
2252 (speed set), 2251 (speed set)
2751
3151
3651
4051
455miss
455*miss
The first 455 failed at midshin which is not bad. I might have been able to get it if I had more of a feel for how much I could do and jumped differently. In any case it seems that my strength off the floor has improved by a ton. The biggest strain on 405 was actually the uppermost lockout (although it wasn’t bad). So for the singles I did:
Rack lockouts at an " or two above knee:
3151
4551
500miss (only got about an inch up [grip held well it’s getting strong as hell, farmer’s is the shit] but at this point I was pretty exhausted so I wasn’t upset, I held 500 in my hands and it wasn’t that much)
4553 singles (the last one might not have completely locked out but it was after very short rest)
Accessories:
Grip and trap: 22536 double overhand. Too fried for farmers but I’ll do it on DE day.
Posterior Chain: Hypers w/ 115 via trap bar 36
Abs: Side bends, 312@ 60
September 12, 2004
DE lower and repetition upper combined day
Threw up in the morning for no reason that I can think of (didn’t drink the night before) so I must be a little sick although I felt fine for the rest of the day after that.
Squats: 112 @ 240 w/ light bands. Fast, left the ground on some; in fact one of the bands snapped out of the 80 lb. db that was holding it on the third set.
1315 + light bands
Variable rests but mostly very short.
Speed dead rack lockouts ~3" below knee (supposed to be from midshin but it ended up being around 3 below on the first pin): 5 singles w/ SHORT rest.
db military press w/ 35 repetition: 21, 60s, 5, 60s, 5
Trap bar Farmers walk: 365, would have gotten the one trip for 30 feet but hit against a machine halfway there, redeaded and barely made the 15 feet back. Too heavy but I think I was also fried and tired today. 'Specially since I did 275 for 4 trips w/ one reset after.
Bar and bw * a bunch while I waited
1358
1853
25522 (speed sets, VERY fast)
3151 (as fast as the speed sets, left the ground on it)
365miss
365miss
3151 (FAST)
365*miss
It was weird as hell because I didn’t even get the opportunity to strain on the misses. I lowered it under control but then bounced out of the bottom to just above paralell fast, lost inertia and then dropped onto the pins before I knew what happened on every rep. I’m not sure why this happened but in any case I’m done with full squats since I’ll be doing powerlifting style in any meets in the future I might do and more importantly in strongman. I’m going to start doing hip flexor accessories, get squat briefs, and then move to them first in box speed squats and then in ME.
Accessories:
GMs w/ cambered bar: 2*4 @ 245. I was sweating hard and the bar kept slipping completely onto my neck towards the end which was painful.
September 15, 2004
Upper Body ME (skinny bastards)
Steep incline (more than 45 degrees):
bara lot
958
1153
1353
1553
1753
185*3 miss
This was good shit (for me), I was surprised I could do this much since I had just gotten 185*3 on flat two weeks ago. I forgot to tell the guy to only spot me if I said so on the 185 and he was one of these guys who spotted if it started to move slowly but I think I could have gotten it without assistance.
DB flat bench:
6012
703
65+555
655
This got a bit screwed up since I really had no idea what I could do in this movement (the reps are supposed to be 5-10) and also because the douchebags at the gym always put mismatched dbs together and I’m being retarded and not thinking to look but it’s no biggie.
Chest supported horizontal rows:
13535 (assuming the bar weighs 45). This is the one that’s a machine but doesn’t move in a fixed plane.
Seated face pulls:
3*8
Db tate presses on flat bench:
35 lb. 110, 18, and 1*9
It feels great to finally be having decent UB workouts.
100 BW squats
6 min. of good mornings (probably ~300) w/ 26 lb. xvest
510 bw squats supersetted w/ light band pull aparts + 510 bw squats supersetted w/ light band face pulls anchored on the floor
Pete,
What exactly do you do in your 20 minute medball circuit? As you know, I am in gpp now and I would like to use that circuit one day a week (either wednesday or saturday). I am very interested to see what kind of work you do (and if it requires a partner, which I do not have).
I’m not using it nowadays but only b/c I don’t have a MB down here. I did mine without a partner and it basically consisted of trying to just do as many kinds of different throws as possible within twenty minutes; there was no set routine. I usually did about 400+ throws in a session like that so one particular session might look like:
80 chest passes against the wall
30/each side hip tosses (trying to concentrate on letting core do the work not upper body)
50 tosses from between the legs to a certain point above the head
50 overhead tosses against the wall
50 mb slams into the ground
15 windmills/ on each side
80 tosses against the wall from between the legs
bara lot
13510
18525 (working on form)
2252
265112
3151
3651
4051
I did my first session of non full squat speed squats. I used a bench in the gym b/c I didn’t have a box. It worked surprisingly well actually but this was about 1 or 2" above paralell. I think there might be one around right at paralell that I’ll have to use next time. I did these about halfway between shoulder width and Westside stance, medium wide I guess it’d be called. They were easy actually, I didn’t find the form particularly hard to learn, especially as I’ve practiced it before with the box squat plyos during the GPP. All the singles after were very fast and easy too, I’m sure I could have gotten up to 500+ quite easily, although I don’t want to do that for a bit until I get squat briefs and do some more accessory hip work and box squat speed work. An " or two is also very signifigant but most can box squat less than paralell also. I was very happy.
Accessories:
Farmers walk w/ trap bar:
3354 trips (trip = 30 ft. + total trips = turnarounds -1)
3353 trips and 10s hold at end + rest 20s and 1 trip w/ no turnaround
315*4 trips. Damn, that 20 pounds makes a big difference.
Stiff legged deads:
13 and 15 w/ 315
Didn’t do the last set b/c it would have been more than my back could handle.
Supersetted 3 sets of 30 plate twists w/ 45 lb. plate w/ 3 sets of 20 ultra wide pullthroughs w/ more weight than last week.
Maybe I’m just dreaming about having insomnia, maybe I’ve been sleeping for hours and hours or days and days, maybe I’m actually in a coma, how can I know?
Today is an off day. I know this because Tyler knows this. Haha, I’m sure none of you reading this really know what I mean by that but I met this guy named Tyler today and he is definitely the most interesting human being I’ve ever met in my life. And somehow that makes sense…I know today is an off day because Tyler knows it.