October 16, 2004
Upper body/lower combo (maintenance)
DE full squats:
bar30
1358
1855
22510*2
I used a pretty low weight and long rest so I could just blast the shit out of these (really fast). At the beginning I was just flying off the ground and I realize that I have to use bands when going low weight like these, esp. with full squats since there’s a lot of time to build momentum and towards the end I had to decelerate a little more than I wanted to b/c the bar was flying off my back and I was coming down with staggered feet and one time almost twkisting my ankle on the landing since I was actually getting a few "s off. This is a good thing, but I should have known to bring bands. Tendons also hurt on these, I was playing a little frisbee before and that was the first time I had broken out into a sprint in a while so I think that might have been why.
Did bar*20 on incline press to start warming up for incline repetition and shoulder and elbows just felt achy. Decided to do a high horizontal row volume and just give pressing a rest today.
3*10, 8, 6 (same weight) horizontal cable rows
115 leg curl hypers w/ 15 kg., 28 w/ 25 kg. I like this movement.
Thanks Chris. Hopefully 500 the Monday after tomorrow. Right now the most I’ve done is 425 but that was a long while ago and I’ve done a lot of work since then.
October 18, 2004
ME Upper SB
Incline bench:
bar30
958
1153
1353
1653
205see below
The warmups felt good. On 205 I fucked up lowering the first one and that screwed up the rest, my spotterr had to come save me, but then on the second I basically had it although he spotted a very tiny bit b/c of the first rep. I think that if I didn’t fuck things up and that if I had told the spotter to not touch it until I asked (I forgot to again ) I could have probably have gotten two reps. I know I’m supposed to be going for 3, but whatever this is not bad since I’ve been in maintenance for a while.
Db flat bench w/ 65 * 13, on incline w/ 65 *7, on flat w/ 65 *7
Lat pulldowns:
4*10
Incline tate presses w/ 40 lb. db:
12, 2*10
Face pulls on lat pulldown leaning back a fair amount:
3*15
Wide stance VERY LOW (torso RIGHT @ paralell or a little below at start) pin suspended GM:
bar10
1355
1853
2252
2751
295MISS
225*5 singles
This was good stuff. The 275 was a great rep, a real strainer I just didn’t give up on. I knew I didn’t have much of a chance @ the 295 but I went for it and it didn’t leave the pins. The singles went well.
Leg curl hypers w/ 77 lbs.:
3*12
Situps w/ 50 lb. plate:
110 w/ a 1s hold 1/3 of the way up on every rep and a 10s hold on the last rep nad then 25 w/ a 5s hold 1/3 of the way up on every rep
Cambered bar box squats at around 1" above paralell
bar8
13510
1855
235122
3153
These went well, cambered bar is definitely different though, I had to fight to sit back properly and push from that position since it inclines your torso forward. Took 315 out and thought I had misloaded the plates, whoa. Heavier weight feels very diff w/ this bar, although actually not that hard to hold onto, I think just something that takes adjustment. I assumed 250 was 50% with a straight bar and wanted to use 50% on a cambered so picked this #. I need to start paying attention and cycling DE %s.
Speed deads w/ double overhand:
25072 (~50%)
Good stuff. Used the fairly high volume addition of this here to replace general post. chain accessory. On the second set I tried to do a power clean pull, I felt explosive but my complete lack of form doesn’t really allow me to get anywhere.
Pulldown abs + Ultra wide pullthroughs:
110 + 18 pulldown, switched to cable crunch because these hurt my shoulder and elbow, 215 of those. 310 + 1*12 pullthroughs @ heaviest yet.
Gripper on 85 lb.:
6/5/4 attempts/each hand. Not sure how many actually closed, all were very close.
Crazy. The 500 stalled at JUST below knee level and it felt like I got electrocuted in the upper body. It was like my chest and shoulders exploded. Luckily I don’t seem to have hurt anything. I’m pretty psyched that I got it up to just below knees. I need to put my LB on maintenance for a bit and develop my UB so that it can take the iso strain. What’s happening is that my upper body is sort of fighting its best against lowering the weight while my lower is fighting against the strain on it going downwards to pull the weight up. THis puts my back in a bad position as well, so bringing up my UB is imperative. I’m still pretty happy, the 500 IS SO CLOSE.
1 leg hypers:
10/each w/ 35 kg
8 and 6 on the rihgt w/ 35 kg
Bench:
bar30
958
1155
1353
1553
1853
2152
1853*3 (well sort of, on the last set I had a make your friend look good spotter).
I was pretty happy because the bench was fucked up and the left side poked out farther than the right which made it difficult. On the one 185 set when I had the spotter help me straighten it out before I took it down it was a lot easier than the other sets of them.
DB military presses:4513
DB incline: 704, 65*5
Wide grip rows: 4*10
3 sets rear delt flys and 1 set face pulls in the lat pulldown seat supersetted w/ 28 + 27 tate presses w/ 50 lb. db
55 pounds (in the last two and a half years). No, seriously I’m not sure when you mean from, but if you mean since the beginning of this log, umm, I think about 20 lbs. I’m around 205 right now. I’m actually at the University of Miami right now…have to update my profile.
I was going to ask that sometime too. 20 pounds in this time frame is a good gain. I like many aspects of your program and I’m sure someday I’ll try something like this when I stop sprinting. I love the variety of exercises. Are you planning on doing any track again apart from tempo or hills?
Thanks Aln. Maybe if senior year I’m like 270, really explosive, and deadlifting a billion pounds I’ll try out for shotput at Miami just for the hell of it, but I don’t think that besides that I’ll be doing any track. What really attracts me about the idea of strongman though is that I think it makes you very athletically strong and not just strong in a single plane. That’s cool you think you’d give something like this a shot when you’re done sprinting, it’s really fun.
What is your deadlift PB?