ARE THE RIMS BIG? DO IT RIDE GOOD?

Since I always beat Sean to writing about our workouts, I have decided to log our ME Upper Body Day today from Sean's perspective:

--

I didn't warm up today, because I don't do that gay shit. Jumped right into benching:

205x3

225x2

225x2

185x7

I know I did warm up sets along with Clayton, but I didn't bother to write any of them down, because it's only important to write down your heaviest sets.

Chins

BW+70x5

BW+80x5

BW+90x5

BW+90x5

Dips (2 sets to failure)

BWx20

BWx19

BB Rows

185x8

205x6

185x8

205x6

The rows were superset with band pull aparts, but I didn't bother to write those down, though I did do them - and I even hit a huge BPA PR!

BB Shrugs

225x13

275x13

325x13

345x13

Finished off with a set of hammer curls with 40 lbs DBs and cross body curls with mad cheats thrown in using the 60 lbs DBs.

Clayton took this video to check his bench form, because he thought he was flaring his elbows too much, but the angle sucks and it's backlit to shit so you can't see anything. Doesn't matter, that fruitcake posted it anyway. Check out my sick PR at the end though!

But You Don't Hear Me Though

CARDIO DAY

And a probably ill advised one at that. After writing yesterday that a serious deload week is in order I said "fuck that" and went for a decent cardio day. Whatever.

Barbell Complex: Wrestler's Circuit:

Clean x 5

Romanian Deadlift x 5

Front Squat x 5

Overhead Press x 5

Clean x 5

Did the circuit as fast as I could with as little rest as I could manage in between sets.

Did sets at:

45

65

85

85

105

Pushup - Squat - Pullup Circuit:

(10 pushups + 10 Squats + 5 Pullups) x 2 = 1 set. Did 3 sets.

Roadwork:

3 miles.

Totally sucked. Felt weak and slow, even though when I got home I had finished a little quicker than normal. I'm not sure what thats about, but I do know I still need to be eating more. My energy level was pretty much shot halfway into the run.

Review of the Dirty and Foam Roller coming tomorrow.

This Ain't Back In the Day

DEADLIFT DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

Foam rolling on the upper back, lower back and hams.

Deadlift:

45 x 10

135 x 5

135 x 5

185 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

315 x 5

355 x 3

400 x 1+ (Hit 5)

Using the Max Estimator formula I posted yesterday I plugged in some numbers that would get me to my goal of a 500lb deadlift. To get a 500 estimated max I'd need 8 reps, 7 would put me just below. So 7 became my mental goal, though I knew it was a longshot. I hit 5, and I regret not pushing for 6, but it was a rough 5.

Though I felt good on my last set my warmup sets were tough. I felt slow, too tight, and weak. My lower back and hams just feel beat up. I'm going to need to make sure to deload next week, and maybe even do something other than deads and GMs on that deload day.

Good Mornings (Wide Stance, HITTING PARALLEL):

135 x 12

135 x 12

155 x 12

155 x 12

185 x 12

At this point I was no longer tired, but a tomato faced ball of pure fucking rage. If someone would have bumped into me I likely would have ripped into their heart without thinking. Love that feeling.

Pull Throughs:

108 x 10

132 x 10

156 x 10

180 x 10

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

Cooldown:

Foam rolling my whole back and hams.

Neck bridges.

Soundtrack: Biggie Smalls, "Gimme the Loot"

I got a foam roller and DIRTY Pre-Workout in the mail today after I lifted, so I'll put them to use tomorrow or Thursday and write up a little review.

Heart of a Lion

5/3/1 Cycle 3 Week 3 (5/3/1 Week)

This week for each main movement I will be working up to one set of 5 reps, one set of 3 reps and one set of 1 rep. The percentages that I'm using from the aforementioned second option are 75% x 5, 85% x 3, 95% x1.

Remember, these percentages are based off my "max", which is 90% of my actual max. So today's movement is the Military Press. My actual max is 170, but the "max" that I'm working with is 155.

MILITARY PRESS DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

Extra Foam Rolling on my upper back, lower back, and hamstrings. I was pretty sore.

Shoulder rotations, shoulder presses, shrugs, plate raises with a 1o lb plate.

(I've read several articles recently discussing the problems with static stretching prior to weight training. The research shows that it negatively affects one's ability to reach a proper 1 RM. The authors suggested a solid warmup with more dynamic stretching, which I attempted to do here with the light plate work and more warm up sets in the MP.)

Military Press (Standing Strict Overhead Press):

45 x 5

45 x 5

65 x 5

65 x 5

95 x 3

115 x 5

130 x 3

145 x 1+ (Hit 5. I had 3 as my mental goal going into it, but I was feeling great)

Military Press (Standing Strict Overhead Press):

65 x 10

85 x 10

95 x 10

95 x 10

105 x 10

Shrugs:

135 x 20

185 x 10

225 x10

Right here I got cocky and went for 315. Picked it up, laughed, and set it back down.

135 x 40 (To make up for just being a jackass.)

Dips:

3 sets of 20

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

Soundtrack: Kid Cudi, "Heart of a Lion"

COMPARING MAXES

In 5/3/1 Wendler provides a way to compare maxes. Not just a 1RM to another 1RM, which is a painfully fucking obvious comparison. Take, for example, the max I just did with 145 on the MP, with a formula that Wendler provides I can ballpark an estimated 1RM:

Weight x Reps x .0333 + Weight = Estimated 1RM

145 x 5 x .0333 + 145 = 169 and some change. Pretty close to my max of 170.

It's not meant to be an exact predictor, but it can be a good way to gauge your progress within this workout template.

Here's my pre-Michigan State game workout I hurried through yesterday.

CARDIO DAY (March Madness Hurry Up Edition)

Pushup - Squat - Pullup Circuit:

Do 10 pushups, then 10 Squats, and then 5 Pullups. Then do it again. Thats 1 set.

Do each set as fast as you can, but make sure to get full range of motion.

Did 5 sets.

Olympic Tri-plex Circuit:

I think I talked about this before. This is a Louie Simmons circuit that he put Kevin Randleman through. I'm not exactly sure how Louie organized it, but heres how I do it:

Do a Power Clean, then a Hang Clean, then a Clean and Jerk. Do that group of movements 5 times through. Thats one set.

Did sets at 45, 65, 85, 105.

Jumping Rope:

Just 10 minutes or so. That Tri-plex burned out my grip, and I had to bust out for that game.

I Ain't Like You

ME Lower Body

Deadlifts

135x5

185x5

225x3

275x3

315x3

335x3

335x1 (thought I could get three more here, but I got one ugly one and decided to call it a day)

Usually this is followed by a unilateral leg exercise, but Sean wanted to try Zercher squats out, and I decided to front squat a little. This turned out to be pretty rough, for a couple reasons

1. I can't hold the bar in a clean grip because of my lack of wrist flexibility, so I never felt like the weight is truly stable.
2. I kept losing the weight forward, which I guess indicates a weak fucking core.
3. I used a shoulder width stance which felt weird as fuck, and I think contributed to me feeling unstable.

Anyway:

135x5

155x6

135x10

135x6

I didn't feel like I worked my legs as much as I wanted to here, so I decided to do a couple sets of Olympic squats, high bar, close stance, as far below parallel as I could get, etc:

135x12

155x12

I think I was going lower than my mobility really allows, because my low back sorta hurt after this.

For posterior chain work, I took a page out of the Drew Cook Notebook:

Waiter's Bow

45x20

90x5

70x12

I had trouble keeping the weight close to me, and just in general, hanging onto the plates, so I tried to do a set of GMs to make sure my big ass got enough work done. I got 135x8, but I felt weak, and like I couldn't get as low as I usually can. I took this as a sign that I should probably call it a day, so Sean and I did some crunch variations to get the sick ab pumps and I went looking for the thin mints.

How I Fixed My Squat

So I typed out a whole bunch of shit about fixing my squat and somehow I inadvertently hit a few keys and closed the window.

Fuck.

So here's a condensed version. You're being denied the fully glory of my knowledge and masterful prose. So, sorry, but fuck you.

How I Fixed My Squat

1. Learning to break back with the hips as the first movement of the squat.

2. Learning how to properly hold the bar lower on my back, enabling me to break my hips back to parallel while maintaining an arch in my lower back.

3. Learning how to correctly use my belt and hold my breath in order to stay tight during the lift. Use this video from Chaid Aichs to do the same.

4. Bringing my stance in. I had been squatting too wide before, in such a way that provides little support for a raw lifter.

SQUAT DAY

Squat:

45x20

135x5

135x5

185x5

185x5

235x3

250x3

265x3+ (Hit 10. I had 8 as a goal, but I was feeling strong today)

Squat (Olympic Style):

135x10

135x10

155x10

155x10

185x10

Waiter's Bow:

Two 25s x 20

Two 25s x 20

Two 45s x 20

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

In defense of the innocents, I AM PREPARED TO DIE

Friday is supposed be our DE Lower Body Day, which is supposed to be

6-8 sets of jumps

3 sets of a unilateral leg movement

3 sets of a posterior chain movement

4 sets of weighted ab work

However, I was tired and bummed out after staying up til 1 the night before watching Xavier lose, and about the last thing in the world I wanted to do was bulgarian split squats - which I don't think she does in this video, but if you noticed that, you're gay.

So, I put on my new socks, and Sean and I went to an abandoned K-Mart parking lot to pull cars, cause it was nice as hell out. The plan was to do 10 sets, where 1 set was an (approximately) 40 yard pull, followed by a 40 yard push back to the start.

We pulled facing both forward and backward. Facing backward made my quads burn much more than I expected. It was hard to find a flat part of the parking lot, so where we ended up pulling started off with a slight slope down and ended with a slight slope up. It turns out that it does not take much of a slope to make it difficult to pull a car. For reference, my car weighs 3200 lbs + 185 for the person sitting inside.

After 5 sets, our legs felt like jelly, and we'd been at it for a while, so we called it a day. That is, until we found half a telephone pole laying in the parking lot, which we flipped until it started to fall apart, since it was sort of rotten. We went back to my place and did the weighted ab work:

BB Side Bends

65x12

65x12

85x12

105x10

105x10

Superset w/cable crunches:

60x12x4 or so. I forgot to look at the weight on the machine, but it was heavy enough. A note about our cable machine - the weight that I write down is just the weight that we add to it. I'm pretty sure the carriage that the weight sits on weighs about 15 or 20 lbs, and the rust on the machine also provides some resistance. Since we're too lazy to quantify this, it's easier to just write down the weight we add.

All in all a good day. My postworkout shake is usually chocolate whey protein powder in milk with some kind of frozen fruit blended into it. However, this time I put thin mints in there instead of fruit. I hoped this would make it taste like a milkshake, but it just left delicious thin mint chunks at the bottom that I couldn't quite get out. It was not a complete shake failure, but I probably won't make it again.

Introduction to Destruction

BENCH DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

Extra foam rolling on the lower and upper back

Shoulder rotations with 10lb plates

Bench:

45x20

95x5

115x5

135x5

185x3

195x3

210x3

220x3+ (I'm an idiot and said "Fuck it, I'm doing 225", and only hit 4.)

Bench:

(Doing the "Boring But Big" assistance work for bench and squats for a while, which is 5 sets of 10 in the same lift. It'll help give me some hypertrophy work on these lifts, but more importantly it will give me time under tension and time to work on my technique.)

135x10

135x10

135x10

155x10

155x10

Kroc Rows (Heavy DB Rows for High Reps):

50x10

75x10

100x20

(I'm mad that the gym only has DB's up to 100, but I guess I should just go for more reps)

Dips:

20

20

20

I wanted to do some neck and ab work, but I felt like I was going to be sick all over the Bally's after I did the rows. I'd like to say that it was because I was working so hard, and I really was pushing myself to hit those last reps correctly, but I think it was more a breakfast issue. Turkey bacon is a tempting mistress.

Also, had a personal trainer ask me if I wrestled. I explained to him the reasons for why I was wearing those shoes, but I really should have just hip tossed him and said, "What do you think?"

Soundtrack: SHOCKWAVE, "The Ultimate Doom"

Cael Sanderson

When I was home last week I was whining to my brothers that I didn't own a pair of wrestling shoes anymore. Kevin popped his head up and told me he'd give me a pair of wrestling shoes he took from the lost and found at St. Charles. Aside from using them to box/wrestle/whatever in, I've been wanting to wear wrestling shoes to lift in for a while now. I've read in a few places that some people prefer to deadlift in them, as the sole is thinner than a pair of Chucks, which then gets you under the bar just a bit more. It's basically as low as you'd get without going barefoot. Its probably bullshit, but these shoes are cool as fuck and I really love to wear wrestling shoes.

DEADLIFT DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

A little extra foam rolling along my lower and upper back.

Deadlift:

135x5

185x5

225x5

315x5

335x3

355x3

380x3+ (Hit 4, which was rough)

Good Mornings (Wide Stance):

135x12

135x12

155x12

155x12

185x12

Pull Throughs:

(I have no idea why, but the plates on this cable stack are 12lbs each. Insane.)

96x10

120x10

144x10

168x10

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

So all in all the wrestling shoes didn't seem to give me much of an advantage over the Chucks. I'll probably keep wearing them, though, because they're comfortable and they look so damn cool.

So the second percentage chart option that I wrote about yesterday is fucking rough on deadlift day. Wendler cautions that it's pretty tiring for deads and squats, but I figured that sounded like a challenge. And it is. I'm going to keep it up, but it's going to be rough.

PRs

Today was our first day back from our deload week. I've been itching to get back for a few days now and lift something heavy, so I was pretty psyched. It was ME Upper Body, which I think I already wrote about, but we switch most of the movements every 2 or 3 weeks, so we benched today. I hit 200x1 which I was pretty psyched about, since I benched 185x1 on New Years. I felt strong, like I could get another rep easily, but I got too excited, lowered the bar too quickly, and somehow managed to lower it almost to my belly button. Needless to say, that was the end of that.

We are supposed to move right from our max effort movement to some hypertrophy and assistance stuff. However, I really wanted to do some chins, and I decided to load them. I've never once done weighted chins. I always figured that since I can only get 6-8 bodyweight chins with good form in one set, there was no real need for me to load them. So we did ME chins too:

+10 x 3

+10 x 3

+25 x 2

+45 x 0.5

I was pretty surprised that I was able to do so many with an external load. If I lose 15 pounds, I'm pretty sure I could nail that 45, no sweat. I think Sean maxed out at +90x3.

Band pull aparts are harder than they seem initially. We did some other shit too, it was fun.

Sean has been complaining that he feels like he is neither getting stronger nor bigger, and is blaming the program we are using. I think that his blame is misplaced, because I've put on 10-15 pounds since November, 40 pounds on my bench, 50 pounds on my deadlift, and 50 pounds on my squat. Granted, half of my weight is fat, and I was weak as fuck before, but still. I think Sean would make better progress if

a) he kept a training log - CAUSE HOW YOU KNOW WHERE YOU GOIN IF YOU AIN'T KNOW WHERE YOU BEEN

b) he would consistently eat. He wasn't this skinny as an 18 year old because he loved to eat, and he ain't gonna get this big as a 28 year old if he doesn't keep eating.

So there it is Sean. I'm calling you out.

Police & Theives

Quick entry to finish up last weeks workouts, since I've forgotten to enter it, followed by a new 5/3/1 routine.

SQUAT DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

Squat:

45x20

135x10

185x10

205x5

225x5

250x5+ (Hit 10, felt good)

Zercher Squat:

(I don't do these every week, as they'd probably ruin my elbows, but I wanted to make Kevin do them.)

95x10

135x10

155x10

185x10

225x4 (Never done Zerchers with this much weight before, I was pretty psyched)

Waiter's Bow:

(I do these with two plates held against my chest. It essentially is a good morning with the weight held against you, rather than on your back. I used a wide stance)

Two 25s x 20

Two 25s x 20

Two 45s x 20

SECOND WEEK OF 5/3/1 (Cycle 3)

So there are two percentage charts that Wendler put together to form the 5/3/1 program. The first option is what I've been using for the past two cycles, and it is whats recommended for most lifters. Jim says that it is what he uses most often as well. For example this would be the second week of the cycle, which I am on, for the first percentage chart option:

(These are to be done using your "max", which is actually 90% of your actual max. Additionally, these are for the big lift of the day only.)

70% x 3 reps

80% x 3 reps

90% x 3 reps+ (Remember, this is where you go for fucking broke)

This percentage chart has worked well, but I just wanted to try the second option for the sake of it. It's a bit harder. Here's the percentages for the same week, week 2.

80% x 3 reps

85% x 3 reps

90% x 3 reps+

So yeah. Kinda breaking into this option mid stream, because last week I was in Columbus without the 5/3/1 book, but it doesn't matter.

MILITARY PRESS DAY

Warm up:

Agile 8

Shoulder rotations and presses with 10lb plates.

Standing Overhead Press:

(I had to do these outside a rack, because the Bally's was crowded. So I had to clean these up before I could press them. It wasn't a big deal, but I can make any molehill into a mountain, especially when I'm lifting)

45x20

65x15

95x5

125x3

135x3

140x3+ (Hit 5)

Standing DB MP:

(I did these with my palms facing me for the entire lift. Imagine a ref signaling a touchdown. I saw a video with Chad Aichs talking about how he felt doing MPs like this helped his bench. I tend to listen to people that can lift weight like him.)

40x10

45x10

45x10

50x8

50x8

(These turned out to be really rough. I think it was a combination of standing and having my palms face each other, but I felt really weak.)

Dips:

5 sets of 15

Pullups:

5 sets of 10

Finisher: Using ever fiber of your being to hate everyone in the gym x Max Reps (My best lift)

The Day My Thoughts Turned to Murder

So I've fallen a couple days behind on updating, it's been a weird week. Had an interview yesterday at an education consulting firm in Columbus, so my fingers are crossed. I opened with a solid deadlift, but my bench form was suspect, so we'll have to see if they'll pass me.

DEADLIFT DAY:

Deadlifts (Conventional):
135x10
185x10
225x10
275x5
315x5
355x5+ (hit 10) (5/3/1 asks that you hit the recommended 5 as a baseline, and then go for broke)

Good Mornings (Squat Stance):
95x12
115x12
135x12
155x12
185x12

Pull Throughs:
(I'm not sure if the plates on this cable stack are 10lbs, but I'm going to assume they are)
9ox10
110x10
130x10
160 (the stack) x10

Pullups:
10
10
10

Standing Ab Pulldowns (V Rope):
60x15
80x15
100x15



BENCH DAY:

Bench:
45x20
95x20
135x10
165x5
185x5
210x5+ (hit 6)

My bench is such garbage. I'm not sure if I'm in need of a solid spotter so I can really go for broke on that last set, or if my technique is shit, or what.

Inlcine:
95x10
115x10
115x10
135x10
135x10

Hammer Row Machine (Inside Grip):
(I'd normally do Kroc Rows, but douchebags were running wild in the DB area)
2 plates x 10 each arm
3 x 10
5 x 6

Schwab Press:
95x15
135x15
185x8

Pullups:
10
10
10

I'm on deload week as well, which is probably a good idea, and what I needed, but I'd still rather be lifting. Went to the Blue Ash gym yesterday for the first time in a while. Forgot how nice the facility is, and how lame all the people are. They were playing Delilah. Not a single song about murdering people or being better everyone else in the world. I don't know how people work out to that.

I'm going pretty easy this week, so I really just went to screw around.

I supersetted pullups and 50 lbs DB presses, 10 of each.

Then I supersetted 135 bench and about 95 row, about 10 of each.

Then I did some pushups and dips.

My shoulder started hurting again, mostly because I was too lazy to warm it up first, as happens pretty much every time.

After that I spent about an hour and a half in the sauna, with the occasional contrast shower and hot tub. Stretching in the sauna and hot tub was actually pretty nice. Contrast showers are also pretty sweet.

I decided when I get a house I'm putting a sauna in, and it will be awesome.

Over the last few days I've been doing a bit of the club swinging which I really like, even if I don't look as good as Louie Simmons when I do it. If I kept up with that a bit better I'd imagine my shoulders wouldn't be so bad.

So I am in Dallas for a week for a seminar. This is a perfect opportunity for Sean and I to deload, since we don't ever do that. My plan is basically to spend a lot more time on foam rolling/soft tissue work than I otherwise would, as well as doing a lot more static and dynamic stretching and mobility stuff. I'm also going to try to get in some quick workouts. Nothing too exciting, because the "state of the art fitness facility" here does not have a single place for me to do pullups. Luckily it does have both a leg curl machine AND a leg extension machine, so my squat won't suffer. Also, the dumbbells max out at 50s.

This was what I did tonight:

Probably about an hour of leisurely foam rolling, stretching, etc while watching basketball in my room.

Then
Goblet Squats 50x12x4
DB Bent Over Rows 50x10x4

I superset everything with sets of 15 pushups, except for my final set where I did single leg SLDLs using the 50s for 10 reps each leg.

I could have done more, but when my plan is just to do something, and the following criteria have been met:

1. Lower Body Movement
2. Push
3. Pull
4. Sweating

It is pretty easy to talk myself into being done.

Then, I went back to my room and did 4 sets of 5 each hand with the CoC gripper, took a shower, and wrote this.

I'm open to any suggestions on things I should do this week.

Also, one last note: lateral squats are really difficult for me to do. I can't keep my toes pointing forward, and I have way too much forward lean. Give these a shot.

Back in the Homeland

I'm back in Columbus, coming initially for a wedding last Saturday, and staying for a week for an interview this Friday. In the meantime I've been dog/housesitting, and I've been without a car, so my shit is all fucked up. On top of all that I left 5/3/1 in Chicago, so I'm kinda making things up based on my percentages from my last cycle. Oh well. Here's what I did at the Y today:

Warm Up:
Simple static stretching and some rotations with 10lb plates.

Workout:

Overhead Press (strict, not a push press):
45x20
65x10
85x10
95x5
115x5
135x5 (I forgot to go for broke on this set, as 5/3/1 tells me to. Fuck.)

Overhead Press (This is part of the 5/3/1 assistance work called "Boring But Big", just doing the big lift again at 5 sets of 10. I like it, as it forces me to work on technique more, and it helps get in some hypertrophy work):
95x10
95x10
95x10
95x10
95x10 (Didn't bother to increase the load, just wanted to see if I could hit all the reps.)

Barbell Shrugs:
135x20
185x20
225x20

Dips (Bodyweight):
20
20
20

Pullups:
10
10
10

I was going to do some neck and ab work, but I was working out with Kevin, and his girlfriend was on the mats with the stability balls. They've been fighting, so we said "Fuck it" and left.

Cardio:
2 miles on the road.

Post Hangout Workout

A bunch of people were in town this weekend, so needless to say, Sean and I both drank more than our fair share and ate our weight in fried foods and gravy cheese fries. This probably had some impact on our workout today. Not like we give a fuck. Sunday is our repetition upper body day. We don't have a dedicated speed day for upper body, instead we use this day to get some hypertrophy and higher rep stuff in:

I'm never very good at knowing what I need to do to warm up my upper body. Today I foam rolled my upper back, lats, and triceps, did some arm circles, the shoulder mobility exercise shown in the video halfway down in this article, T pushups, and I meant to do wall slides, but I forgot cause Sean showed up.

First exercise of the day, after a couple warm up sets is meant to be taken to failure, so:

Fat Grip Floor Press

Bar x8

2 chains x8

135 +2 chains x8

135 +2 chains x7

135 +2 chains x5, 3 negatives

Chins superset with rear delt flys

BWx7ish, 22x12

BWx5ish, 22x12

BWx3ish, 22x12

BWx2ish, 22x12

I can't quite count all the reps of my chins, since my form always breaks down pretty significantly for the last couple reps. I also did two sets of Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns 100x8, 100x10 right after those last two sets of chins, just to make sure I got my work in.

Lateral Raises

22x10

22x12

22x12

Side Presses

40x12 (each arm)

DB Shrugs superset with JM Presses devolving into CGBPs

60x15, 75 +2chains x8

60x15, 75 +2chains x7

60x15, 75 +2chains x5 + 5 CGBP

60x15, CGBP - 75 +2chains x12, fat bar tricep pushdowns - 50x5

This workout ends with us doing grip training. I did three sets of 5 with the Captains of Crush trainer, all negatives on my left hand, and 50/50 negatives and real reps on my right hand. Then we just messed around, doing a bunch of hub holds with 25s for time, around the worlds with 25s, fat bar holds for time, and I successfully deadlifted two 45s with a pinch grip for one rep - Sean got about 8. This was really difficult.

Songs Drew Cook should have on his Zune: HSM 3 - Scream

Ballin!

The Cincinnati chapter is put to shame by Drew's cardio. For 2-3 weeks we did a metabolic finisher at the end of each workout, but that quickly fell by the wayside. Currently, the only cardio I get is walking up 7 flights of stairs in the morning, and playing basketball every Thursday. Coincidentally, I played a pivotal role in Orange's big 68-55 win over the Green team tonight. In about 25 minutes on the court, I contributed 2 points, shooting 20% from the floor, and I amassed 5 fouls - a testament to my vicious, unrelenting D. The soundtrack? ME MAKING IT RAIN MOTHERFUCKERS

Shot In the Fucking Head

This week is the deload week in 5/3/1, so my workouts are going to be a little different than they would be the other 3 weeks out of the month. Because 5/3/1 doesn't use any DE days like the typical WSBB conjugate template, I like to use the deload week as a dynamic/speed week. I also will keep the reps a bit higher, just using the deload as a chance to get in a little more hypertrophy than I usually get.

Warm Up:

Agile 8

Some upper body static stretching

Shoulder rotations with 10lb plate

Bench Day Deload / DE Workout:

Bench (Speed!):

45x20

95x15

115x10

135x10

155x10

185x6

Incline Bench (Speed!):

95x10

115x10

135x10

155x10

185x3 (too heavy to hit quickly, lame)

V-bar lat pulldowns:

108x10

144x10

168x10

192x6

216x3 (sometimes its hard to deload)

JM Press:

95x15

115x15

135x8

Finisher:

Grappler Circuit

Military Press x 6 (each arm)

Bent Over Row x 6 (each arm)

Squat x 6

Russian Twist x 6

(Go through the circuit two times for 1 set)

3 sets, all at bar+25

Stretch, and Neck bridges on a stability ball (front and back) to finish the day.

Cardio (steady state):

3 miles of roadwork in just under 30min.

Soundtrack: Lift: Weekend Nachos, "Unforgivable". Run: Mobb Deep, "Tha Infamous".

Chi-Town's Finest

Today was an off day from the 5/3/1, and the spring sun was out, so I decided to hit the streets for some roadwork.

Hit the Chicago streets for 3 miles at just under 30 minutes. Nothing blazing, just a solid steady state cardio workout.

Rolled with a tennis ball before and after, gotta get that myofascial release!

Soundtrack for the run was Bone Thugs, "E.1999 Eternal".

We don't play with no kids unless we done made em

Wed. March 10 - ME Upper Body

Military Press

45x6

75x5

95x5

115x3

125x3

135x3

145x2 fuck you, this is max effort for me

Flat DB Bench (2 sets for max reps)

60x16

60x12

Neutral Grip Cable Rows superset with Face Pulls done like this

105x10 BWx10

105x10 BWx10

105x10 BWx6

105x11 BWx8

most definitely not strict on the last couple sets, no fucks

Shrugs 275x10x4

Incline DB Curls (suns out guns out)

20x12

25x7

Fat Grip Reverse Curls

45x8

Fat Grip Curls

45x9

...etc and then we kept fucking around, doing fat bar tricep pushdown drop sets, and tricep pushdowns with bands added, and chain curls:

Then we moved a couch and called it a day.

Oh, and songs Drew Cook should have on his Zune for the gym: Bun B - My Block