12*2 box squats @ maybe 1/2" above paralell (at Y at home today) w/ 225 (figured max was ~450 on this box). These were boom, boom, boom, basically a cluster set of 24 reps, no more than 15s between sets
5*3 stiff legged gms w/ straight bar @ 185 also with very short rest (30s or so)
1 handed grip pulls into pins: 3/each hand*6-8s w/ 115
Started creatine supplementation for the first time today w/ creatine ester hcl from true protein. Hoping I’ll see some increase in work capacity at the end of the week as that would be great right now.
Started to cramp up on the pullthrus in the lower back. I tend to get cramps there but I think this may be due to the creatine since it was just tempo.
Bud Jeffries I am not but you can’t beat a 65 lb. pr.
1/2" above bottom position pin suspended “Anderson” GCB OL squat cluster set (this is almost turning into a DB log ): 10 reps @ 225 w/ 10-12s between reps
Hard by the last rep
Sully pull into pins one handed grip thing:
105*3/each
I have to pull a far distance from the rack to the pins on this rack so I couldn’t get 115 up straightened out.
DB Russian twists sitting up on a decline bench: 35 * 7/each, 45 * 6/each
Close stance pullthrus: 210 Ultra wide stance pullthrus: 210. Last set with stack :o , what to do now?
Ahh, I have the worst pressing strength in the world!!! Time to rethink things a bit again, ok I have at best a 245 max. I’m going to try to get to a 285 max by the end of Christmas break (January 13th). I’m not going to try to lower lower body volume by an extreme amount anymore although I’ll probably be doing a little more volume on upper days but I think that I just need to spend more time doing pressing including a lot of close grip stuff. I’m not doing third finger on ring anymore, I’m checking me ego at the door and using pinky and closer and doing a lot of close grip pressing on the assistance now as well instead of extension shit.
DB flat:
6510, 6014
DB incline:
605, 604
Horizontal cable Rows:
5*6, still progressing well on these.
Super close grip (pinky at end of knurling) decline presses:
13512, 1656, 4, 4, 145*7, 6 (6 sets total)
Face pulls:
Five sets
Decided to do some bench speed work to try to work on form w/ 135 but after the first set of 3 I realized I was so fried that it was pointless.
For the first time (although I’ve now loaded completely for the first time so it makes sense) I can notice the creatine making a difference but I think it only really matters on the higher rep sets and doesn’t really give much if anything below six reps. This is not the most productive rep range but it still should help some after a while, esp. with growth.
Narrow stance LOW (a good 2 or 3" below paralell) box squats:
barsome
1355
1853
2251
2751
3151
3651
385MISS
These were pretty sweet. I’m pretty positive I could have ground out the 385 with spotting I was confident with or in the power rack (just in case pins) but when I saw I was grinding it and considered my one likely incompetent spotter and that there were no pins to set it on I asked for help because I wasn’t sure that if I got in a bad position he would be able to help out. But I’m 99% sure I could have gotten it. Which is pretty cool, I bet with a spotter I was confident in and a monolift (walking outs a major problem with heavier weights) I could get 455 box squat right at paralell w/ a medium stance. I need to incorporate some free squatting to practice it but with some practice I’m sure 500 raw wouldn’t be too much problem these days with a monolift.
OL squat cluster set: 10 reps @ 285, done in clusters of two w/ ~10s, 12s, 15s, and 20s between the clusters as they went on. These are coming back, I had fallen off a lot from lack of practice but I’m sure I’ll be back to where I was soon.
Yielding iso dl hold right below knee:
305, couldn’t get this up at all double overhand so I just did it mixed grip and held for about 10s. However since this is mainly a grip exercise I stripped to 285 and did 2 sets double overhand for ~10s each.
Ultra wide pullthrus w/ stack: 2*12
supersetted w/
DB Side bends: 955/each
1002*5/each
9/10. Coasting on 30 hours of sleep in the last three days this was a fucking awesome workout.
DE Free squats @ paralell:
barmany
1355
1853
2252
29562
I felt from these that box squats really are teaching me the right thing and I felt like I could naturally sit back and then contract my posterior chain to move up. However before I could just add 50 lbs. to my paralell box squat by just free squatting instead I think that I would need a little more practice with these. They felt a little heavier than they should have as did the deads below. I had an exhausting night last night and had only woken up about 45 minutes before I did this workout so I think that was the main reason.
Lat pulldown w/ bench machine: 2 sets each
Cable curl w/ tricep extension: 2 sets each
Leg press w/ leg curl: 2 sets each
Pec deck w/ rear delt raises: 2 sets each
All in 20-25 rep range w/ at least 5 in the hole. I really like this workout and I think I’ll be using it frequently as I get to exorcise any bodybuilding pump demons and its just fun. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
Hmmmmmmm…strange. I would think that my use of a wider grip would help me increase weight by decreasing ROM but that does not appear to be the case as this grip seems to be just as strong. Not sure what the training implications of this are.
Neutral db flat bench:
709,8
This was very cool b/c I had just done a really hard ten reps at 65 a week or so ago.
Neutral incline bench:
6010 (I think)
Cable rows:
4,3 then lower weight two notches
2*6 lower weight mo’
8
Mixed in with the cable rows I did:
1*8 super duper ultra close grip decline bench presses (index fingers only about 1 1/2" away from each other). Unfortuneately these are two close and hurt my wrist.
It was actually funny during this set because I end up sometimes getting weird spotters and I didn’t exactly get eight reps b/c I had told the guy that I was going to try for 6th and by the time I started the eighth he started pushing down on the bar. I was just like, dude what the fuck, but I would have gotten the eight reps if he hadn’t done that.
Two fingers on knurling close grip decline presses:
155*6,8,7
Motherfuck. Was going to go for the max dead today but I felt sick as shit all day and then threw up a tremendous amount (this was not from drinking). I’m now off to Michigan until the 20th, when I get back I might do a simulated meet with deadlift first.
All super easy. Loaded up 455 but decided not to risk it. The lack of good spotters is a problem because I don’t want to have to find out if the pins can hold that weight but the biggest problem is when I come in from even a relatively wide stance after I make the weight and then bring my feet narrower to walk it in I’m very unstable and could easily fall off balance. This is VERY dangerous and I decided not to test my luck with 455. But I think with a monolift and spotting I could trust I could probably max around 485 with just a belt. I’m very happy with my squatting strength right now. I used a belt today at 135+ since I haven’t squatted with one in probably 2 years now and I had to get used to pushing against it but it’s easy to learn and I think it definitely helped stability.
Close grip (pinky finger on ring) bench:
bar30
956
1152
1352
1551
1851
2051
2251
245*MISS
The 225 was very nice. On the 245 I did the bottom third and top third alone but just got a little help in that midsection. I’m sure I could have gotten this weight with a competition grip but I don’t know if it would have added any more than that, as my comp grip really doesn’t seem to add much. I’ll start a thread.
My top end strength is very weak. On the 455 I went SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast up to my knees but it was actually a bit of a grinder once I got past them. Rack pulls, dimel deads, rack pulls, isometric rack pulls, and ummmm…rack pulls will be the focus for the next 2 weeks. On the 525 I’m following the usual pattern when I jump on deads, two inches off the floor (which was what today was) and then usually two weeks later after tons of posterior chain work I do up to knees, and then hopefully two weeks later I hit the weight. The top end work will function as the PC work this time and two weeks from now I’ll get knees and maybe even be able to lock it out or at least get somewhere past knees from the top end work.
Extra upper body shit:
Super close grip benching (pinky finger at end of knurling):
17523
15563 (short rests on these)
Rowing w/ diff. bar than usual:
16, +2 notches: 46