1/25/11

Shrugs: (smith machine) 6 plates x 20 x 5 sets

Standing Calf raises: (smith machine) 6 plates x 8 x 5 sets

BB curls: 45×10, 65×10, 75×10, 85×10

1/2 Tabata Front Squats: bar x 8 x 4 (w/ 10 sec rest between sets)

30 minute session…me likey.  Trashed a callus on my right hand shrugging.  Shrugs were “power-style” like a clean, resting on pins only briefly until tired.  I should probably go higher rep on calves.  Curls were shoulders back, chest proud, blah, blah, no cheating, blah, etc, etc.  The Tabata thing I got from Dan John, but I didn’t want to kill myself not knowing how things would pan out.  The “workout” is supposed to be 4 mins straight which equates, he says, to about 8 sets of 8 with 10sec rest between each set.  Not having a clock, I settled on 4 sets.  I’ll add sets over the weeks.  I can see how sets 6-8 would be killer.

1/24/11

Squat: 280x5x5

Press: 95×5, 105×5, 115×5, 125×5, 140×4 (aarrrggghhh!!!!)

RDL’s: 225x5x5

Side Laterals: 30x10x3

Squats are just as hard as last week so I guess that means I’m doing something right.  I keep waiting to fail….and then don’t.  So.  Cool.  My press is pissing me off, but whadyagonnado?  I’m still about 20lbs or so off.  My elbows were acting up, so I strapped up for RDL’s on the last 4 sets.  Yeah.  I’ll be doing that from now on.  I realized that 225 was waaaayyyy too light for RDL’s after grip was no longer an issue.  I’ll keep the grip work to regular DL’s and save my elbows.

Just a thought, in case I forget.  Anytime I press once during the week (say bench this week), I’ll do a drop set then some assistance.  When I press twice, I’ll just stick witht the assistance.

“Beach” day is tomorrow:  conditioning, neck, arms, calves.  Yeah, bro. 

Oh, and thanks Stace for the wonderful stretch you taught me last night.  After squatting, I now have a minor strain in my right lower back – whatever that place is called.  Punk.  It’s gotta be your fault

Deadlift

I’ve got all these thoughts running around right now about the deadlift and how it would be optimally trained (for me).  I’ve heard plenty of stories by now about people who’ve never touched a barbell come in and DL 405 no problem and about guys who lift all the time, but never DL, smoke 500.  All this has me thinking about how the DL rides squatting and other DL assistance work.  When I started adding rows and SLDL’s, I gained ~30lbs on my DL in about a month.  Furthermore, this whole one set of 5 is really just for neural adaptation anyways.  Again, the strength base is coming from the squats and other assistance (rows, cleans, etc).  If it’s really just coming down to a neural adaptation, then I want to get the most bang for my buck.  Given that I tend to crap out on the last couple reps no matter the weight (assuming it’s a work set), I’m going to work up to triples.  Once every few weeks I’ll either go for a 1RM or a max for reps – whatever I feel like. 

I’m just getting a lot of feedback from very strong dudes about how deadlifting is really just practicing the lift – it doesn’t really build strength in the deadlift anymore than a neural adaptation.  Louie takes this to an extreme, but most strong dudes still do a lot of assistance, deficits, etc to work their DL.  I’m going to give it another try.  I’m not saying this will work for everybody, it just makes good sense to me.

1/21/11

Squat: 275x5x5

Bench: 135×5, 155×5, 185×5, 205×5, 225×3, 155×12, 20 sec, 4, 30sec, 3

Incline DB fly’s: 35×8, 20sec, 5, 30sec, 4

Deadlift: 135×5, 225×3, 275×1, 315×1, 335×1, 365×0

My quads are warm to say the least – from front squatting yesterday to today’s 5×5.  Bench was a little humbling, but I’m getting back into the swing of it.  Fly’s…are weird.

1/20/11

Front Squat: 95×5, 115×5, 135×5, 165×5, 185×5

Press: 95×5, 115×5, 135×5, 115×10, 20sec,  115×3, 30sec, 115×3

Lateral Raises: 25×10, 20sec, 25×8, 30sec, 25×8

Bent Rows: 135x8x5

Getting bored with upper body stuff, plus I always seem to hit 260′s on bench and 160′s on press before I stall, so I’m going with more bodybuilding-inspired upperbody stuff for the time being.  My front squats don’t sync up very well to my back squat so I’m ramping 5×5′s until this catches up to a respectable % of my back squat.  Everything done as it should be except with straps on the squat and a little shaky on my last reps of rows (wide grip).  My press was supposed to be a 5×5 ramp, but I didn’t pick my weight very well.  135 had lost its snappyness so I went ahead with the drop sets.

Wisdom – Part I

I’ve been lax on posting lately, and that’s mainly because I’ve learned I need to pay attention and ask more questions instead of giving more answers.  I look back on what I’ve learned in these last few months, weeks even, and I’d have probably worded things a bit differently in how I respond to people.  There’s a couple of blogs I regularly visit, ok daily, that have really provided me with a greater understanding of this whole Game.  Paul Carter’s blog is chocked full of Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff.  His seasoned insight provides a relief from the more intense study-based, and personally tested, knowledge of Matthew Perryman’s blog where he labcoats about why things work and how to get the most out of your training.  Recently, however, he’s gone the more laid back route of talking shop about lifting in general – which I also like.  Put them together, and you’ve got a really well rounded base of information.  All of this brings me to my topic, wisdom. 

Trying to find an accurate definition of wisdom is a bit hard, but Wikipedia sums it up pretty well, I think:  Wisdom is a deep understanding and realizing of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy.  Now apply “wisdom” to training.  Isn’t everyone looking for the most efficient way to train?  Having a little wisdom about you can only mean good things if it means having a deep enough understanding so that you “consistently produce optimum results with a minimum of time and energy.” 

You ever read through something, think you get it, spend a few months or years training, then come back and read the same thing only to realize that now you really get it?  Maybe it’s something about recovery or singles or back off sets.  Whatever it is you also realize that you’ve heard it said just about everywhere, but you simply overlooked this gem because, well, everything becomes a blur of information – especially on the internet.  Yeah, I’ve noticed this, too.  That’s wisdom.  It’s tried and true, and applies to just about everyone – even you little snowflake.   

stolen, without permission, from ironGEEK

Dan John calls it the “sniff test” and it’s used to seperate the wheat from the chaff.  Your own training ought to have taught you enough basic principles that you should to be able to compare what you’re hearing (on a constant basis) to your own deep-rooted beliefs.  Now clearly, you will have to inject a bit of healthy objectivism – sometimes good advice will go against all that you think you know.  This is more art than science, but you get what I mean.

In Part II, I’ll provide a few examples of “Wisdom.”  It’s really a pretty short list, in part because I’m still learning but also because wisdom is a deep understanding.  That means wisdom is knowledge that has been chipped away down to it’s least common denominator whereby you can apply it to several situations.

1/18/11

Squat: 135x5x2, 185×3, 225×2, 245×1, 270x5x5

Bench: 135×5, 185×3, 215x5x2, 215x4x1

Chins: BWx6, 4, 4

I must be a glutton for pain – I’m going to ride out these twice weekly 5×5 days as long as I can.  Bench wasn’t too bad considering it’s easily been over a month since I benched with any considerable (for me) weight.

So I’m still dealing with Scarlet Fever.  I’ve now been sick (with Strep, upper respiratory funk, and now Scarlet Fever) for a continuous 4 weeks.  Going in tomorrow to a different doctor for a second opinion.  The rash is still spreading though I’ve had a penicillin shot and gone through a Z Pack.

1/14/11

Volume (again) and Intensity

Squat: 265x5x5

Press: 140x5x1

Deadlift: 315×1

Squats were hard, and for the first time in a long time, I think I might have been a little high.  Press was harder than it should’ve been, and the deadlift, well the deadlift just plained sucked.  I’m frustrated but have to keep telling myself I’m still sick and I’ve just lost 12lbs – of course I’ll be tired.  It feels like, more than anything, it’s a work capacity issue.  The weights don’t feel heavy, they just feel tiring if that makes sense – like I’ve already lifted the weight a bunch of times.

I’m giving serious consideration to using blocks in my training.  I’ll probably have strength and hypertrophy blocks at first, all the while throwing in some much needed conditioning.  Later, I might add a muscular endurance block, too.  All this means I have to set goals or mini peaks for myself.  Right now, I’d like to see 330x5x1 on squat.  That’s my only real goal, and let my other lifts fall where they may.  Then go into a hypertrophy block and then hit 365x5x1 on my next strength block.  We’ll see – this is still in the R&D phase.

1/12/11

Recovery

Front Squat: 135x5x3

Bench: 195x5x3

Chins: BWx9, 6, 5

Very sore from Monday’s volume.  Feeling better after going through the motions.

1/10/11

Volume

Squat: 275×3, 265×4, 265x3x2, 265×1

Press: 125x5x5

Speed Pulls: 225x1x15

I’ve lost 12lbs in the last two weeks (strep throat, etc).  Work capacity is down, muscles feel heavy during workout.  I’m going to keep squatting 5×5′s on Mondays and Fridays  until they start improving.