CBC Training

Chemical Warfare

2010-10-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

A blog recommitment is a slow process.

SUN - Press Day

Military Press

45x10

65x5

85x5

100x3

110x5

125x5

140x5+(6)

Pullups

8 sets of 6, 1 set of 2

Ring Pushups

5 sets of 10

Bengals suck.

FRIDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

135x5

185x5

225x3

235x5

275x5

310x5+ (10)

185x8x5

Ab Wheel superset with Cable Crunches

BW x 15 / 70 x 15, 3 times through

I'm still getting used to the belt on the deadlifts. I feel like it really changes my form, and allows me to get away with my torso collapsing forward on my last few heavy reps. It may however be that my form has always broken down that way, and I'm only now noticing it, because I have a thick piece of leather wrapped around my midsection.

Sean is Dead

2010-10-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well, at least I thought he was. Turns out, just sleeping. I trained alone today.

FRIDAY - "SQUAT" DAY

As I said before, my hip flexors have been hurting me when I squat, so the mission of today was to figure out what I can do without pain. I fucked around with a bunch of different stances etc. Every variation of back squats I could come up with hurt me, so I tried front squats. With just the bar, these felt ok. So I did

Front Squats

45x5

95x5

With this heavier weight, I could feel it starting to irritate my hip, so I quit doing that. I pretty much gave up on squatting, and decided to go heavy on the Good Mornings. If it's good enough for Louie Simmons, it's good enough for me. I didn't feel like figuring out what my "true" 5/3/1 weights would be, so I just took a stab at it:

Good Mornings

95x5

135x5

165x3

195x5

225x5

235x5

Last set is here:

Yeah, that's fucking right. I listen to All Things Considered stories about Of Montreal to get me fucking psyched.

I think my form was pretty good. Probably could have gone lower on the fourth one. However, this is heavier than I've ever gone on GMs, so I think it was pretty good for that. I'm glad I can find a way to put something heavy on my back every week.

Then I thought maybe this would be ok:

DB Goblet Squat

40 x 15

This started to irritate my hip as well, so that was it.

Ab Wheel

+2 chains x 10 x 3

DB Side Bends

60 x 12/side x 3

I made Teresa take these pictures of me:

Consider this post a BLOG RECOMMITMENT. Prepare for the onslaught of slow, methodical progressive overload AND HARD FUCKING WORK.

War on the Terraces

2010-10-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Updates have been lacking for a while. Nobody reads this, but I'm at least gonna start holding up my end of the bargain, and get it back together.

Pushed the prowler today. I felt like crap, and I got worn out a lot faster than I usually do. This was a bit of a wake up call for me. I need to get back to regularly including conditioning in my life, and I need to clean up my diet a lot. Also, I had to dookie, and I think that influenced how I felt a lot.

Lifting is probably going to get cut back to twice a week for the next couple weeks, with a mid-week prowler pushing day. This is because I need more time to study for my exam on Nov. 4, which I really want to pass, because I hear kids are expensive, and I really need a raise. I've also been feeling beat up lately, and think that maybe backing off a tad on the volume won't hurt anything. I'm going to make a conscious effort to keep up with the foam rolling and stretching at least a little bit everyday though. I say this a lot, but this time I mean it. My hip has been hurting me when I squat, to the point now that it's affecting my performance, so I think it's important I keep up with the shit like stretching that I hate.

Here's a video of some various stuff I've done in the gym lately. I've been taking more videos, cause Sean hasn't been around much lately, and I like to have some sort of feedback.

The things depicted below are, in order,

Squats 295 x 3+ (2) shoulda had this, but couldn't stand up out of the hole for some reason

Good Mornings 135 x 12 wanted to check my form, personally I think it's pretty good

Good Mornings 185 x 8

Deadlifts 340 x 1+ (5) happy with this

Sorry the good mornings are so boring, but fuck you.

Bad Romance

2010-09-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY - BENCH DAY

Bench
45x10
85x5
105x5
125x3
135x5
155x5
175x5+ (5)
205x1
225xmissx2

So, I've never benched 225, which is some weak ass shit. I started 5/3/1 with a max of 205, and I thought that at this point, I would be able to bench 225. I purposely only hit the required reps on my 5+ set, then moved up to 205, which I got relatively easily, and then promptly got stapled by 225. I took a bit of a rest and missed it again. This was probably all an ill conceived plan anyway, and I should've just stuck with the program, but I really wanted it. The weight felt very heavy in my hands, so maybe some of it was just a mental thing, being scared of the weight. I don't know, but it sucks. My own fault.

DB Rows
90x8x5

DB Bench
80x5x4
80x4

Went to XU to lift today, 'cause my membership is up soon, and I wanted to do some heavier DB pressing than I can do at home currently.

BB Shrugs
225x12x3

Hammer Curls
50x5

Nailed to the X

2010-09-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

So I started volunteering as a wrestling coach at the school I'm student teaching at because:

As a social studies teacher I'm basically required to coach a sport
I miss wrestling
I regret never committing to it when I was in high school
I should not have quit my senior year
Wrestling is the manliest high school sport

I started showing up to pre-season conditioning last Friday, and I'm pretty psyched for this. My biggest current problem, as I've already bitched about to Clayton, is that for pre-season work they do some light jogging, then P90X, three times a week.

I guess I should start by giving P90X a fair appraisal: to train a lot of guys in a relatively small gym, it's not bad. The tempo is alright to build up some stamina (as long as you work to keep up), and a lot of the guys are untrained enough that they'll benefit from just about any program. There's a good variety of exercises, so I guess you get different movements in.

But it's pretty dumb.

First of all, the host says dumb shit like "This isn't Ab Ripper 100, or 200, this is AB RIPPER THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE" and it's this for an hour:

So dumb

Man I hate this guy

We did chest and back today, and it was about 5 different variations of push-ups, each supersetted with either a chin-up variation or a DB row variation. Then you do the whole circuit over again. Target is about 25-30 push-ups in a minute-ish. For kids who need to build mass or strength (which is pretty much every single kid there) there's not much, just some endurance training and gut check.

Leg day was even worse, just a bunch of different DB lunge variations (again shooting for 15-20 reps) and the occasional wall-sit supersetted with chin-up variations (Chin-ups on leg day? makes perfect sense). No posterior chain work, and lunges were going in every direction so it'd be difficult to add serious weight to them (most kids held 10-25 lb DBs).

We've done the 10ish minute ab workout after every day, it's just a bunch of dumb crunch variations, no core stabilization or anti-rotation.

The program is basically a laundry list of every dumb thing a crappy trainer would make their clients do in a crappy gym. TO THE POWER OF THE X.

I talked to the head coach and pitched him the idea of a strongman day, where we'll do farmer's walks, prowler/car pushes, sandbag loading, tire flips, etc. which will be pretty awesome. Starting that next friday.

I've got that 80 pound sandbag , so I'm thinking I'll take them out to the parking lot and have them do a 50 yard carry for time, lapping and shouldering the bag every parking space line they cross. Should be tough and get some explosive posterior chain work in.

I'm also thinking a medley, something like 20m prowler push, 30m farmers walk, 40m sandbag carry, 50m run. Have them compete against each other for best time.

I'm open to other ideas, I just want some more strength-oriented stuff to cycle in to give these guys something more interesting.

Truly Stupid Paid (C5 - Deload)

2010-09-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY - SQUAT DAY

Squat

45 x 5

135 x 5 x 2

160 x 5 x 2

190 x 5 x 4

190 is about 55% of my 1RM, I spent some time working at that weight to try to improve on my form. I think it looks a lot better.

Bulgarian Split Squats

BW x 10/side

BW x 15/side x 3

That was it. I had other stuff to do.

Ride Big (C5-W3-D4)

2010-09-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Push Weight

THURSDAY - BENCH DAY

Bench

45 x 10

80 x 5

100 x 5

120 x 3

150 x 5

170 x 3

190 x 1+ (7)

This is one more than I got last cycle with the same weight. Progress.

DB Bench, WG Cable Rows

60 x 12, 135 x 10

60 x 11, 135 x 10

60 x 11, 135 x 11

Farmer's Walks

155/hand, about 40 yards, 7 trips

It's ~20 yds to one end of my yard, then turn, and go back. The turn is the worst part, because the weight keeps turning even when you stop and tries to rip itself out of your hands.

5/3/1 (C5-W3-D1)

2010-09-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY - SQUAT DAY

Squat

45x10

135x5

160x5

190x3

240x5

270x3

305x1+ (4)

I thought that these were good, until I looked at the video, and saw that every one of them was high. I'm gonna spend some time squatting to a box to relearn depth. This really pisses me off though. I should know by now what a parallel squat feels like, and I should be able to hit it every goddamn time. Weak fucking sauce.

Oh, and I probably should have known better than to go for that 5th rep, but I really wanted it.

No assistance today. Instead we went outside to chainsaw a tree and chop some wood for a couple hours.

Unsilent Death

2010-09-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Get this. Listen to it. Rot your brain.

UPPER BODY DAY

Band Pull Aparts:

I, T, Y x 20 x 3

Overhead Press: Done with minimal rest.

45 x 10

65 x 10

95 x 10

115 x 8

Pullups:

+25 x 10

At this point I grabbed one of the V grip handles you'd use for cable rows and tossed it over the bar. The idea here is to pull yourself up to the bar so that your chest touches the bar, your body being somewhere between parallel to the bar and 45 degrees. Basically a close grip pullup, helpful for pulling a leg in on a wrestling shot. Unfortunately the only pullup bar at Lexen is a bar duct taped to a rack, just next to the top bar on the rack. Not much room, but I tried to make it work.

Gorilla Pull Ups

V Handle Pullups:

4 sets of 10

Standing KB Press: One arm at a time.

(12kg x 10 ea) x 2

(16kg x 10 ea) x 2

25kg x 8 ea -> 12 kg x 20 ea

Shrugs:

135 x 20

185 x 20

225 x 10

JM Press:

95 x 8 x 3

Gripper:

2 plates & 2 quarters x 20 +20s hold

Neck Harness:

25 x 50

45 x 10

New Fall Headwear!

OCSA Training

Is going swimmingly. Had to miss Wednesday night's Sumbission Wrestling class for Sara's birthday, but I was able to make it in on Thursday. Although everything is brand new to me considering its the opening week of the new gym, Thursday was uncharted territory for me. We started at 6 with BJJ, moved onto MMA at 7, and then Boxing at 8.

The MMA class was mostly situational drilling, like starting on the bottom of Referee's Position and fighting off attacks from the back, and conditioning. One of our guys, Chris Farrington, has a fight in two weeks, so half the guys sparred with him for 4 rounds while the other half focused on conditioning. We kit kettlebell swings, ring pullups, body squats with medicine balls, jumped rope, and sparred No Gi.

By the time we hit the Boxing class I was pretty tired and hungry, I'm not used to going more than a couple hours without eating something. For future reference I'm going to need to bring a shaker cup with whey powder if I want to really blast a 3 hour block. Colin Bumgarner, our Boxing coach, is an 11-0 pro who holds the Ohio and Indiana Heavyweight title belts. He guided us through some light shadowboxing, simple combinations, and super light sparring. Although I went into the class knowing next to nothing about boxing, I left with what I feel are solid building blocks going forward. Colin is an amazingly positive and clear cut coach, and if I felt myself improving over the course of our initial hour, I can hardly imagine how helpful he'll be going forward.

Positive Mental Attitude.

And I Said

2010-09-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

HEYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Song rules.

BENCH DAY

Band Pull Aparts:

I, T, Y for 3 sets of 20

Static Stretching

Bench Press: Done with a pause on the chest, explosive movement up.

Bar x 15

95 x 10

135 x 10

155 x 10

185 x 5

Overhead Press:

Bar x 10

65 x 10

95 x 10

DB Row:

65 x 10

105 x 10

120 x 10

DB Bench:

55 x 10

65 x 10

75 x 10

Pullups:

+25 x 10

+25 x 8

ASSISTANCE DAY

Cook Brothers Crew wanted to lift. So we did.

Shrugs:

135 x 10

225 x 10

Safety-Squat Bar Lunges:

95 x 8 each

95 x 8

Gripper:

2 plates & 2 Quarters x 20 + 20s hold

DB Cleans:

20 x 10

25 x 10

Lateral Raises:

25 x 10

Neck Harness:

45 x 10

Roman Chair Abs: On the GHR

Standing DB Press: Palms in

35 x 10

45 x 10

55 x 6

SQUAT DAY

Foam Roll / Dynamic Stretching with Bands

Cambered Bar Low Box Squat: Pause on the box.

45 x 10

95 x 10

135 x 10

225 x 3

Deadlift: Conventional

135 x 10

225 x 10

275 x 10

At this point we shot the shit with Chuck V. for 10 minutes or so. Because whenever I can talk to a World Record holder, I can. We discussed how he is either going to remain at the top or give up the sport, because middling about isn't worth it to him anymore. We also discussed him doing BJJ/MMA at our gym when he's done powerlifting, as he said he'd like to pick up a few things. Super nice guy. Blows my mind that he gives us nerds the time of day.

Downside, my legs got cold and tight.

365 x 1

405 x1

Belt Squat:

2 Plates x 10

2 Plates & 2 Quarters x 10

4 Plates x 10

4 Plates & 2 Quarters x 3

GHR:

10, 10, 10

Neck Harness:

35 x 30 + 15s Hold

Gripper:

2 Plates & 2 Quarters x 20

Ohio Combat Sports Academy

Day 1

Today was the first day at the new school.

Had a solid BJJ class followed by Lou Demas and his two beast sons teaching us solid wrestling technique.

Followed that with Prowler pushes (40 yards, 5 trips with 2 plates), Prowler Plyo Pushes (Push with your hands, like a bench, 10 pushes with 2 plates, 4 trips).

5/3/1 Cycle 5, Week 1, Day 3 (C5-W1-D3)

2010-08-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

Too lazy for an interesting title, but this is the best Crass song. I'm not counting Reality Asylum as an actual song.

TUESDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

Deadlift

135 x 5

175 x 5

210 x 3

225 x 5

260 x 5

295 x 5+ (11)

Seated Good Morning

95 x 10

115 x 10

Never done these seated before, but we felt like trying something new. I didn't feel like I was necessarily doing anything, but at the same time, it wasn't easy either. We'll keep them in for a cycle and see.

Good Mornings (standing)

185 x 6

185 x 8

Ab Wheel

3 sets of 15

KB Windmills

3 sets of 16 kg x 6/side

On our military press day, Sunday, I missed my reps for the first time since we started 5/3/1. I was supposed to get 140 x 5+ on my last set, and only hit three. This is doubly frustrating cause I got 140 x 5 on my 3's week last cycle. I'm not going to reset my max yet, but I will keep my max the same for next cycle, provided that I don't miss any more of my reps this cycle. I think some of it just had to do with being worn out. I squatted Saturday in Cleveland, did Prowler races with my sister until I felt like I was going to die, then woke up Sunday, pushed the Prowler 0.8 miles, got in my car, drove home, and then tried to set a PR in the military press about 30 minutes after getting home. Not making excuses, but that also doesn't read like a recipe for success either. I'll get my shit together.

I Am No Feeble Christ

2010-08-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

NOT ME

Oh, I haven't updated. I've been busy. Cry about it.

UPPER BODY DAY

Band Pull Aparts: I, T, Y : 3 sets of 20 each

Swiss Bar Bench:

Done with a pause on the chest, explosive movement upwards.

Bar x 15

95 x 10

135 x 10

185 x 6

Done with the pause and explosive movements, first with hands on the outer handles, then immediately on the inner handles.

95 x 10(Outer), 10 (Inner)

95 x 10 / 10

Triceps toasted.

Dumbbell Rows:

Done with a full range of motion. Allowing my scapula to be pulled out fully, and then bringing the weight up to my chest.

65 x 10

95 x 10

120 x 10

DB Military Press:

These were done seated, palms facing inward towards each other.

45 x 10

55 x 10

65 x 10

Shrugs:

135 x 10

225 x 10

275 x 10

Circuit: x 5 without rest

Pullups : 10

Overhead Press: Bar x 25

DB Cleans : 25lb x 10

LOWER BODY DAY

Foam Roll, Stretch with bands.

Cook Brother Crew in full effect today, getting some volume work in.

Box Squat:

Done with a straight squat bar onto a parallel box. Pause on the box for a one count, explode up.

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 10

185 x 8

225 x 6

Deadlift:

Conventional stance, from the floor.

135 x10

225 x 10

315 x 8

365 x 8 (Psyched on that)

405 x 1 (Toasted at this point)

Powerpohl:

If you couldn't tell from the name and the video, Chuck Vogelpohl invented this. And that means it works. It also means its brutal and is a step away from masochism. The Powerpohl can be used in a variety of ways, including walking, deadlifts, and Iso holds.

We did Iso holds, basically standing straight up, attempting to use the mirror as a guide and keep the Pohl parallel to the floor. It requires you to flex your glutes and spinal erectors to an extreme degree. It proved to be a solid way to end the day, and I could feel the soreness creeping in as early as that evening.

Iso Hold:

+90lb x 20 seconds

+100 x 20s

Circuit: x 4

Gripper: 2 plates, 2 quarters x 20 + 20s hold

Pincher: 15lb x 20

Neck Harness: 35lb x 25

Cable Crunch

100 x 10 x 3

Although my strength training is basically at a maintenance or low gain phase, my Jiu Jitsu is gaining steam rapidly. I'm filling in the gaps of knowledge lost through too much time away, and picking up new techniques every day. The Cook Brothers Crew will be moving gyms in the next couple of weeks, from Columbus MMA to Ohio Combat Sports Academy. Downgrade in websites, but it will likely be a big upgrade in terms of instruction and intensity.

Once we make the transition to OCSA we will be going full tilt in BJJ, Catch Wrestling / No Gi, Boxing, and some Greco / Judo. Our Catch/No Gi coach is a guy who has made No Gi his priority, and has trained with the best Catch Wrestlers in the county. The Boxing coach is an undefeated pro boxer who currently trains a lot of the cats going to OCSA, including my brother, and has helped them immensely. And the Greco Coach used to train Dan Henderson and Sokoudjou out in California. So, yeah. Big fucking time.

In addition to all that we will have a Prowler, a pullup bar, rope, and other CrossFit related junk. It's going to be a big change, and I think one for the best.

Rise and Fall

2010-08-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

I know I've gone and pulled a Drew on all our loyal readers by getting "too busy" to update, but I will start to remedy that:

TUESDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

135x5x3 - waiting for Sean

170x5

205x3

255x5

285x3

320x1+ (6)

GMs

155x10x3

175x8

175x10

Ab Wheel/Cable Crunch Superset

BWx15/80x12 - twice through

Then went and pushed the Prowler

Loaded with 90 pounds, we pushed it some distance.

I made 2 trips, then Sean did 3, then I did 4, he did 5, I did 6, then Sean gave up. I was pretty psyched he gave up, cause I was really not looking forward to making 8 trips.

Hate Me Now

2010-08-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY - BENCH DAY

Lifted @ X due to the heat.

Bench
80x5
100x5
120x3
140x3
160x3
180x3+(7)

DB Row
60x10
80x10
100x7
80x15
80x13
80x10

DB Bench
80x5
70x8
70x8
70x7
65x5, 55x4, 45x4 (My brilliant plan to do a drop set of 5, 10, 20 reps was foiled by the fact that I was more tired than I thought)

Chest Supported Row
140x15
180x10
180x10
180x10
180x12

Pullups (various grips)
5
5
5
3

Pushups on a Swiss Ball

Reverse Grip Inverted Row

Sean was 40 minutes late, so I started without him, and then just stuck around and messed around while he finished lifting. So that's why the end of my workout is a bunch of stuff I don't normally do.

These Ends Justify My Means

2010-08-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

Deadlift

135x5

170x5

205x3

235x3

275x3

305x3+ (5)

I tweaked my bicep a bit the other day. Nothing major, and I'm sure it's fine, but I pulled all sets double overhand today just to be safe. My 305 set felt very strong, but my grip was definitely limiting me, as I obviously assumed it would.

GMs

155x10x5

Ab Wheel superset w/Standing Cable Crunch

BW x 15, 75 x 15

5 times through

KB Windmill

16 kg x 6/side x 2

Gripper - Captains of Crush Trainer

5/hand

This was easy on my right hand, but very difficult on my left, and I couldn't quite close it all the way on my last rep.

I Am Fucking Damned

2010-08-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

POST TOURNAMENT DAY

As is obvious, I've failed to update much recently. My days have become pretty hectic, now that I'm basically training 6/7 days a week, and I've either got little time or energy to update. But today's Sunday, and I've got some constructive energy, so I'm going to do my good Marxist duty and create something through work.

Yesterday was the Ohio Grappling Challenge's Second Submission Only tournament. As it's name implies, the only way to win is by submission. There are no points for positioning, takedowns, or anything. No time limits. There's a 20 minute period that starts on the feet, and 5 minute periods from there on out where one man starts in the other's guard, which is determined in the first OT period by coin flip, and switching positions from there on out. Its a cardio battle, so you need to pace yourself.

Additionally, I basically picked the worst format for my rusty skill set. I'm a wrestler, I need those points. But I also need experience, and I'm eager to compete, so I entered.

My gi division, which was White Belts from 150-164.9lbs was stacked. 20 kids. Long story short, I won it. Gi choked a few kids, armbarred another, hit some kimuras, and basically stomped the shit out of people. I even managed to hip toss a kid straight to his back. WHATS UP WRESTLING. I basically bruised my way through it, getting the takedown, getting mount, and roughing people up. Technically shit Jiu-Jitsu, but I won, so fuck you.

I was in the Intermediate No Gi division, which is normally for blue belts and/or whites with wrestling experience, and I guess they figured the Gi White Belts weren't in it, because they started the No Gi while I was still in the Gi tourney. Weak. So I ran over after winning Gi to almost immediately hop into my first No Gi match.

I won my first 2 No Gi matches, one easy one via armbar, and a rough 15 minute battle where I out wrestled a better JJ kid and won by kimura. I was pretty much toast by my final match but I felt confident that I could win No Gi as well. I was faring well against a basic mirror image of myself until he got me in a kneebar, and I had a decision to make. Do I tap, or should I fight this and try to escape? Is this going to be one of those submissions that don't hurt until my knee is already blown out? Why is my leg bending like this? I was content with fighting it until I heard my instructor yell, "DREW! CAREFUL! DREW!" Then I figured, fuck this. I don't have health insurance, and this shit isn't worth getting hurt over.

So 2 medals, went 6 or 7 and 1 or something. Good day. Found out where I stood in terms of my BJJ game (poor) and where my strength and conditioning were (better than most of these mooks).

So I made a point today of hitting the weights with intensity, but I wanted to mix thing up and go overall a little lighter than a normal Squat Sunday.

Warm Up:

Dynamic Stretching, Foam Rolling.

Sled Drag:

Down the driveway to the bump in the road near Columbus MMA. 60-70 yards or so, I don't know. Each trip done with a bit of rest in between. 30 secs or so. Each 45 lb plate had a 5lb'er in between so I could get them on and off easier.

3 plates: 4 trips

4 plates: 2 trips

5 plates: 2 trips

6 plates: 2 trips

6 plates + 84lb weight vest: 2 trips

I was toasted after this.

DB Bench:

45 x 10

60 x 10

80 x 10

Pullups:

5 sets of 10, mixing up the grip.

Abs:

Cable Crunch: 3 sets of 10 @ 100

Neck Harness:

25 x 15

35 x 15

45 x 10

Random Pictures of the gym:

Crappy red Monolift, Belt Squat on the right, Pulldown stack in the middle, 4 Way Neck Machine in the left corner.
GHR in the foreground, Back Extension next to it, Reverse Hypers on the Right

Racks, Benches, and Weight.

Swiss Bar with shipyard chains, from a workout I did last week.

Dumbbell Rows.

A Comedy of Errors

2010-07-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

Lifted today at the Colorado University Rec Center. This was rad, because they had a lot of stuff I don't usually get to use.

FRIDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

89 x 5

133 x 5

177 x 5

199 x 3

265 x 5

300 x 5

285 x 5

You might notice that these weights look weird. I used the olympic lifting platform they had in their weight room, so I also had to use the bumper plates. They were in kgs, and I really fucked up my math. The set with 300 I thought was 255 or so, but when I noticed how heavy it seemed, I re-added the weights and realized how bad I am at math. 285 was supposed to be my 5+ set, but I didn't bother with the + this workout.

Trap Bar DL

135x10

225x10

275x10

I'm assuming the bar was 45 lbs. This was a bit different. Definitely involved my quads some more. It was weird having the weight out to my sides, but I liked it.

They also had a GHR at this gym, which I was really psyched to finally get to use. Unfortunately, I've never watched anyone actually perform a GHR, so the movement I ended up doing was actually a back raise. I knew I had to be doing it wrong, since it seemed much easier than Drew had told me it would be.

Back Raise

7 sets of 10

I did get a wicked low back pump though.

Box Jump

Penis Height Box x 10 x 2

Belly Button Height Box x Fail

I got one foot up, but it wasn't meant to be.

Hanging Leg Raise

Wrist Roller

4 sets w/10 lbs

1 set w/15 lbs

At this point, I had left Teresa walking alone on the treadmill for about an hour and a half, so I shut it down for the day. Shoulda done more ab stuff, but didn't really feel like it anyway. I'm on fucking vacation.

If It Is To Be, It Is Up To You

2010-07-29T08:36:00.001-07:00

This was the slogan of the Genesis Health Club in Salina, Kansas where I got my lift on today.

THURSDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

45x10

65x5

80x5

95x3

100x5

120x5

135x5+ (5)

Chins

10 sets of 5 (PR)

Reached my first chinup goal. Next is 5 sets of 10

Dips

DB Rows

90x10

This place had DBs that went up to 120, which surprised me. I tried to row that, but it wasn't happening. I did the one set with the 90s, then quit cause I felt like absolute asshole. I spent the whole workout with my heart beating out of my chest, being short of breath, and feeling like vomiting. This is entirely due to this dumb fucking energy drink that Drew got me, which I drank a quarter of before I lifted. Never fucking again.

What you do here, men, makes you extraordinary.

2010-07-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the rec center gym to 1) get my deload lift in, and 2) go swimming because I'm tired of having my balls sit in a swamp of disgusting.

I had a plan going in that I would do 30 BB thrusters at 95, 115, and 135 each, going for time. Started out alright, but quickly found that I don't have the wrist flexibility to rack the weight on my shoulders for the front squat if I want them in close enough for the press. I tried to gut it out and got about halfway through with all my weights, but my wrist started feeling pretty shitty so I cut that short and spent the rest of the time dicking around.

Did some DB thrusters but by then my wrist was having some trouble stabilizing the weight so after a couple sets cut that out. Switched to seated DB overhead press which worked alright, got 3 sets of 10x65.

Mixing in with that I did some dips, and a little wrist stretching and rehab. Prob. most effective was grabbing a small 2 pound medball with my fingertips and rotating my wrist.

I'm also planning on submitting an entry for this month's Now You Try competition, so I did 4 or 5 sets of 10-12 pull-ups. I focused on dropping all the way down while trying to keep my shoulders tight, hoping to avoid bringing back my old shoulder injury which was mostly successful. Right now the number to beat is 21 in 2 minutes, which I think I should be able to do.

Clayton and I were talking the other day about how slow our squats were, and I've been doing some plyo coaching at St. X so I decided to go to the pool and throw together a little plyo leg workout.

Started with 3 sets of 10 underwater pushes against the wall, trying to max distance. That's a little high volume for plyo work, but I got ok rest swimming back between and getting reset, and my distances were pretty consistent through the sets. Also some old asshole with long hair and a bald spot kept walking/pushing his ugly wife in circles around the section with their faces uncomfortably close the whole time, so I'd have to wait for them to get out of my way.

I moved to the 4 1/2' section (to get away from the ugg couple and decrease resistance) and did a few sets of vertical jumps (though I stayed in the pool). I really want to try to jump out of a pool now, I'm p. sure I can do it.

After that I did a set of alternating single leg squat jumps, then went back and did another set of underwater pushes.

I probably looked like an idiot for most of this, but I give zero fucks. My legs actually feel pretty tired now, so I'll count it as a successful experiment.

While in the pool I also stretched a bit and relaxed, then hit the whirlpool and sauna.

Title is from the speech the head football coach gave the players the other day. Holy shit I wish I would've not been a bitch, got huge, and played football when in high school.

Break the Chain

2010-07-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

MONDAY - SQUAT DAY

5/3/1 Cycle 4, Week 1

Squat

135x5

155x5

185x3

200x5

235x5

265x1+ (11)

Lunges - 60 lbs dbs + 1 chain

10/leg

GMs

185x6x3

Sean better get his work in this week.

Cry Havoc

2010-07-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY - BENCH DAY

Bench

75 x 5

95 x 5

115 x 3

145 x 5

165 x 3

185 x 1+ (5)

Inverted Row (feet on bench)

BW x 10 x 7

BW x 12 x 3

I was able to do 50 of these with added weight last week, but this week I was having trouble touching my chest on my final reps, even on my first sets, so I left them unweighted.

Pushup (Neutral Grip)

Face Pull

70 x 10

80 x 6

60 x 15

70 x 12

The floor of my garage is slippery, and it becomes difficult to brace myself as the weight goes up on this, so I had trouble finding a weight that was heavy enough, where I could still balance myself.

Tate Press

40 x 8

Pull after every push. The uge.

This next week is supposed to be my deload week, but since I will be on vacation soon, I am skipping it and beginning my next cycle and splitting the first week up over the next two weeks. The net result will still be a reduction in net load and volume, so I don't think it will really matter.

"When you are born, you are set forth to die. The fact that you live or don't live between these two dates depends solely upon your own will, opportunities and desires. The weight exerciser, of course, indicates that he chooses to live." Joseph Curtis Hise

This quote is rad, as is the blog I stole it from.

I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD

2010-07-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

KNEEL BEFORE ME AND PRAY

TUESDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

Deadlift

135x5

165x5

195x3

245x5

280x3

310x1+ (5)

365x1 (PR)

I obviously wasn't supposed to go for a PR today, but 365 was the weight from Sean's last set, and when I went to unload the bar, I wondered like any man with testosterone coursing through his veins, whether or not I could pick it up, so I tried. I was also interested in whether or not I could get it, since I have dutifully been adding 10 pounds to my working max each cycle, as Wendler says to do in 5/3/1, and 365 happened to be the weight my deadlift numbers were based on for this cycle. Turns out I actually have gotten stronger.

RDL

205x10x5

Lunges

60x10/sidex3

Ab Fallouts

BWx5x3

Our rings are homemade, and are not really adjustable. They hang a lot lower than the blast straps in this video, so at full extension, one's torso would only make about a 15 degree angle with the floor. This is tough, and I could only barely get to full extension on 1 or 2 reps. My entire last set was basically garbage.

Standing Cable Crunches

80x10x5

Plank w/feet in rings

1:00 x 2

Our Only Hope

2010-07-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

IS VENGEANCE!

100th post.

MP/BENCH DAY

Warm Up:

Band Pull Aparts: I's, T's, Y's x 20 x 3

Static Stretching

Military Press:

45 x 10

65 x 8

85 x 5

95 x 5

115 x 3

135 x 2 -> 95 x 12 (quick drop set)

Pullups: (I found a dip/pullup belt amongst a box of stuff at Lexen)

Bodyweight x 10

+25 x 5

+35 x 5

+45 x 5

+65 x 1

+80 x 1

+90 x 1

Btw, those are real pullups. All the way up, all the way down. No half rep, kicking my legs bullshit.

DB Bench:
55 x 15

60 x 15

65 x 10

Chest Supported Row: Using a monster mini band wrapped around the bar.

1 plate x 1o

2 plates x 10

The idea here is that you're maintaining tension at the top of the lift, which is a point on the CSR where the weight seems to taper off. So now you've got tension where before you didn't, at the most crucial part of the lift.

CSR w/ Monster Mini

JM Press:

95 x 8

115 x 8

135 x 6

Gripper:

2 plates x 30 +20 second hold

2 plates & 2 quarters x 10 +20 second hold

Cable Crunch:

90 x 15

100 x 10

Tomorrow will be my first day of Bjj/MMA since I've come back. I'm not exactly sure on how I'm going to organize my training / lifting schedule, so for now it's going to be a haphazard roll with the punches kind of thing until I get accustomed to the new routines. Probably going to a 3 day a week lifting routine, one lower body day, one upper body day , and one strongman/athletic day. We'll see.

But Life Goes On

2010-07-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

I will be the one who won.

SATURDAY - SQUAT DAY

Squat

135x5

155x5

185x3

225x3

255x3

285x1+ (6)

We both spent all day doing yard work, were beat, didn't even and had no desire to do lunges. Somehow we decided that Prowler pushes would be a better alternative.

Each trip was ~40 yards, alternating between low and high handles

Empty Sprints x 2 trips

+90 x 4 trips

+190 x 2 trips

Then we dragged it like a sled, facing forwards

+100 x 4 trips

It took me about two hours after this to stop tasting bile in my throat. I felt like dying.

SUNDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

45x10x2

60x5

75x5

95x3

115x5

130x3

145x1+ (4)

Pullups

+30x3

+20x3x4

BWx5x5

Added weight, and did fewer total reps, 'cause I felt like it.

Dips

Lat Pulldowns

100x10

110x10

110x7

100x12

These were all done very slow and controlled. I concentrated on keeping my chest up, initiating the movement with my lats, and pulling my shoulder blades down and together.

Seated DB Cleans

22x12

I tried my best to do them like in the video, but I don't have a moustache that awesome.

Sandbag Complex

Row

Clean

Front Squat

Push Press

Back Squat

Good Morning

3 times through. I just did a BB complex, but w/our 80 lbs sandbag. It sorta worked, in that it wore me out, but some of these movements don't really lend themselves to being done with a sandbag.

Likeness of Vanity

2010-07-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Warm Up:

Foam roll and static stretching.

Sled Drag:

3 plates with 5lb spacers x 6 trips up and down the parking lot

Cambered Bar Box Squat:

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 3

275 x 1 (Thought I'd triple this, but it wasn't going to happen today)

225 x 3

245 x 3

Safety Squat Bar Deadlifts:

I don't know what else to call these. As we were warming up Chuck Vogelpohl walked over and asked, "You guys squatting?", received an affirmative answer, and then just walked away. This is a sign, and that sign means that he's got something for us to do. This is why I literally could not be at a better gym.

So, the gist of this workout is as follows: Grab ahold of a deadlift bar and pull it up, placing your head in between the handles of the SSB and allowing it to rest on your shoulders. One partner will unrack the bar on the monolift while another will spot the SSB, making sure it doesn't fall off your back. Once you're upright, with a bar in your hands and the SSB on your back, lower the bar to the ground while maintaining proper form (head and chest up, back arched, hips down). Then deadlift the bar back up again. It will tax your Posterior Chain at incredible levels, as you cannot allow yourself to "get loose" or relax for one moment, or you're going to end up falling down amongst a pile of metal.

The bar we used to deadlift was a shortened bar, but it seemed thicker. I'm not sure of its weight, so as usual, I'm going to add it up as if its 45.

SSB Weight of 95 / Deadlift bar weight of 135 x 6

115 / 155 x 6

135 / 175 x 6

Ben at the bottom, Riddle showing how to spot this lift.

Near the top

Hips down, head up, back arched.

Chuck said after this lift, "You've got some scoliosis, don't you?" I laughed and explained my situation and surgery, and he replied, "Thats why your form is so good." Hard to round a back with a rod up your spine.

Reverse Hypers:

Two 35lb plates on each side x 8

Two 35s x 8

Abs: 2 sets, straight through

Cable Crunch: 90 x 10

Wheel: 10

Swiss Ball Crunches: 50

4 Way Neck Machine:

45lb plate each way x 10

Just back x 20

Gripper:

2 plates x 30 +10s hold

SCRATCH AWAY SCRATCH AWAY

The Crime of Being

2010-07-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

BORN

TUESDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

135x5

165x5

195x3

230x3

265x3

295x3+ (10)

RDL

185x10x3

205x10x2

Ab Wheel/Suitcase Deadlift/Standing Cable Crunch

BW x 10 /135 x 10 per side/60 x 15

3 rounds, minimal rest

WEDNESDAY - BENCH DAY

Bench

45x10

75x5

95x6

115x3

135x4

155x3

175x3+ (9)

Inverted Rows (feet elevated)

BW x 10 x 5

+1 chain x 10 x 5

Neutral Grip Pushups

Face Pull

63x12

68x12

Once again, pull after every push.

Ended the day with farmer's walks in my backyard. 135/hand, 10 trips, about 15 or 20 yards each.

I worked out alone both days, so I made this video of my 3+ set of deads and bench. I turn the deadlifts into RDLs a little bit at the end, and I bounce the weight off the floor too. No fucks. On the real though, I should probably reset my back and get my air again after each rep.

All That I Have For You

2010-07-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

IS HATE

ATHLETIC DAY

Warm Up:

Foam roll all over.

Stretched with bands.

Kettle Bell Work: 3 sets of 8 for each

Alternating 1 Handed Swings: 24kg

Figure 8s: 24kg

Standing 1 Handed Overhead Press: 24kg

Tire Work: 3 sets, done one after the other

Sledge Swings: 10 each side

Flips: 10

Rope Pull: 3 sets

2 plates x 3 times up and down

It sucked. The rope is fairly thin and hard to hold onto, which is kinda the point. This was done for grip work primarily, and any arm/back benefit is just gravy.

Plyos!: Done as a circuit, 3 sets

Box Jumps (from a seated starting position) to a box set bellybutton high: x 8

Push Ups - Both Hands on a Medicine Ball: x 15

My legs are getting torn up from all of this. Some night time foam rolling is definitely in order.

Pullups:

+1 Chain x 10

+2 Chains x 8

Ab Wheel: 3 sets of 10

4 Way Neck Machine: 45lb plate, each way x 10

Hard life.

Abuse Excuse

2010-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

DEADLIFT DAY

No partners, going solo, which means no photos.

Warm Up:

Foam roll everything.

Dynamic and static stretching.

GHR:

3 sets of 10

Pin Pull (4th Pin, just under the kneecap):

135 x 10

225 x 10

315 x 5

405 x 1

455 x 1

505 x 1

An obvious PR. I was trying to get 500 for the sake of it after getting 495 last week, but I could only find one 2.5 plate. They're not plentiful at Lexen.

Sled Drag:

Down the parking lot past CMMA and back is one set. Steady but quick pace, not at all like the more warm up based walk we do on squat day. The point here is movement.

3 plates and 5lb spacers x 1

4 plates and 5lb spacers x 1, x 1

This was awful. My legs were on fire after that last set, I was drenched in sweat, and I could barely breathe. My quads were full of blood and my hams were absolutely burning up, this thing totally smashed my legs. Definitely something I'm going to keep up.

Shrugs:

135 x 10

185 x 10

225 x 10

4 Way Neck Machine:

45lb x 10 each way

Abs:

Cable Crunch: 90 x 10 x 3

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

It Hurts To Be Alive

2010-07-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

This is how the prowler makes me feel.

SUNDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

45x10

60x5

75x5

95x3

105x3

120x3

140x3+ (5)

Pullups

4 sets of 5, 8 sets of 4

Dips

Dave is in town and lifted with us:

Slosh Pipe Overhead Press

We put this together a few weeks back, cause Sean read about it on the internet.

Hammer Curls

40x10x2

Fat Grip BB Curls

65x10x2

Then we watched the last 30 minutes of a really boring world cup final, and went back out to push the prowler. We made 6 or 7 trips, tried a few different things, like dragging it, and generally just beat ourselves up. Dave literally could not walk up the stairs. A few hours later, after we saw Predators, which was awesome, he summed it up pretty well: "While I was pushing that thing, it was the worst thing in the world. But now I just want to do it again and get better at it."

Telltale sign CBC hangouts are occurring.

See God

2010-07-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

BACK IN BUSINESS

I've been busy. New job. New routine. Kevin had surgery on his face, and Ben just had a fight. So I've been going from work to the gym to my fam's house with little time to update this shit. (Btw, Ben pwned the shit out of a Muay Thai fighter. Wrestled him and GNP'ed his way to a Unanimous Decision. John Fitch style.)

Excuses.

Quick recap of last week: I'm lifting after work, around 6:30, and I'm working out by myself, trying to figure out how to proceed outside of the MMA crew. Well I managed to make myself puke and tear off callouses from both of my hands. Rough week.

I'm thinking of doing a basic ME lift 3 times a week, Bench/MP, Squat, and Deadlift, and then having one athletic/strongman day a week. The assistance work will vary greatly, and will likely incorporate a lot of athletic movements. I'm looking to build strength but also explosiveness and speed. I think a willingness to change the assistance work and an attentiveness to my needs will really lead to success in this program.

This idea is pretty basic but was spurred on by a discussion I had with Matt Wenning last Sunday about training. He told Ben and I that he figured the best way for fighters to train is to be all encompassing. ME work can't be ignored, but straight powerlifting training will slow you down. Speed and explosiveness have to be built, and endurance also can't be ignored. He said the key is to find and attack weaknesses in the gym. So that's what I'm going to do. Be attentive to my plan, my weaknesses, and attack the shit out of them.

And here are my past two workouts, followed by a photo dump from the CBC strength weekend a few weeks ago.

SQUAT DAY

Sled Drag: 4 plates w/5lb plates as spacers. 5 trips. Not fun.

Buffalo Bar Box Squat:

Bar x 10

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 5

275 x 1

My form is improving, and I think my strength is too, thanks to Wenning's coaching on how to properly box squat. My numbers suck, but thats just a matter of time and work.

Ben squatting, Wenning in the back.

Cambered Bar Chain Suspended Good Mornings:

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 8

First time doing these, and they were a lot of fun. I love GMs, and I love that everyone else seems to hate them.

Ben on the demo, Riddle coaching.

Swinging Snatch:

16kg KBs x 8 - Three Sets.

GHR:
4 sets of 10

MILITARY PRESS DAY:

Band Pull Aparts: I,T, Y 20 each, 3 sets.

Military Press:

Bar x 10

65 x 10

95 x 10

115 x 5

135 x 1

155 x 1 (Push Press. Turns out not doing MPs every week will weaken that lift!)

Pullups:

1 Chain x 10

2 Chains x 10

Lexen doesn't have a dip belt (or even a dip station), and I don't either, so I just loop thin chains around my neck to load pullups. I believe they weigh about 40lbs a piece, but I don't know for sure. They're the chains in the Good Morning picture above.

Sled Work:

Press / Pull : 2 total trips down the driveway @ 3 plates (5lb spacers).

I just made this up and it may be a bit complicated. So I set up the sled with a long rope/belt thing coming off of it. The first trip is performed by looping the rope around you, facing away from the sled, hands on the rope at bench spacing. Explosively push the rope forward, thus pulling along the sled. There's now slack in the rope, so walk forward until its taut, and then press again. Do it quickly and explosively.

Then turn the sled around, this time facing the sled. grab the rope with both hands, whatever way is comfortable. Then pull the rope towards your face, like a basic face pull. Then walk backwards until the rope is taut, and pull it again.

Both pushing and pulling is one trip. This shit is rough.

DB Tricep Extension:

55 x 10

55 x 20

75 x 15

95 x 15

4 Way Neck Machine:

Each direction x 10 with a 45lb plate

JM Press:

95 x 8 x 3

Abs: 3 sets

Cable Crunch: 90 x 15

Wheel: 10

CBC TRAINING EXPO PHOTO DUMP

French's Ammonia.

A bit removed from "Ammonia Rage", closer to
"Ammonia Cuddles."

REDWOODS

TEARDROP

DEPTH

CROTCH

LIFTING FACE

Easily the best picture of Claytron ever.

Those abs don't help hold onto those Farmer's Walks.

Black Magic

2010-07-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY - SQUAT DAY

Squat

135x5

150x5

180x3

210x3

240x3

270x3+ (got 5)

Felt good about this. I gave it all I had.

DB Lunges

60s x 10 x 5

Seriously, these suck balls.

"Reverse Hyper" superset with KB Swings

10 x 12, 16 kg x 20

25 x 12, 16 kg x 20

50 x 12, 16 kg x 20

This time for the RH, we just hung weights off our legs. It sorta worked. Better than the band tension which was either too little or way too much.

Sandbag Loading

80 lbs, 1:30, 24 reps.

Wanted to get some more conditioning/posterior chain work in, but the CBC has a wedding to attend/ruin in an hour and a half, so we cut it short so Sean could get home and shower.

Die By the Sword

2010-07-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY - BENCH DAY

Yeah, I'm a few days behind. Better than 3 weeks behind like Drew.

Bench
80x5
100x5
120x3
130x5
150x5
165x5+ (11)

I was training alone, and set 10 as my goal # of reps. I felt like I had 11 in me though. Good thing I did, or I woulda been stapled.

Inverted Rows
BW x 10 x 10 sets

Neutral Grip Pushup
5 sets of 15

I was going to try to do 5 sets of 20, but it wasn't going to happen after my bench set.

Face Pull
50x15
60x12
65x12

DB Row
60x25

Hammer Curl
40x10

I structured this workout so that I did a pull after every push. I feel like that helps keep the pace of the workout up and balances it out.

Freedom? There Ain't No Fucking Freedom

2010-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Remember when Drew thought he ran this blog? Those were the days.

DEADLIFT DAY

Deadlift

135x5

165x5

195x5

225x3

245x5

280x5+ (10)

RDL

155x10

185x10

205x10

Ab Rollouts

Oblique Raises

60 x 12 each side x 2 sets

5 trips with my brand new prowler. You can see one such trip below.

This thing is awesome. It was tough to push on the dead grass we were pushing it on, but impossible to push on the long, live grass that we didn't push it on.

After this, I changed t-shirts and went to dinner at this mongolian grill, which was also awesome.

The Violent Reaction

2010-07-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY - SQUAT DAY

Cycle 3 Week 1

Squat

135x5

155x5

185x3

225x5

255x5+ (5)

255x3

I got pissed at myself for only getting 5 on my 5+ set, so I did another set at that weight. This was neither productive, nor did it make me feel any better about my last set. I'm an idiot.

Lunges

60x10x5

This was using 60 pound DBs, and 10 each leg, each set. Maybe that's clear, I don't know. We are doing these for assistance work this cycle because they suck and we hate doing them. It's probably useful too, since I could barely walk on Sunday.

KB Swings

35 kg x 10 each hand x 5 sets

I want a heavier kettlebell. The lunges took a long time to get through, so I just did these real quick and was done.

----

SUNDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

60x5

75x5

90x3

105x5

115x5

130x5+ (6)

Pullups

13 sets of 4

I've been doing chins for assistance, but switched grips this cycle for some variety. I let myself have a few more sets to get my 50 in, since pullups are harder for me.

Dips

After this, we drove over to Cincinnati State to run what Sean promised were some absolutely brutal hills. He wasn't lying. 10 trips up in the mid afternoon heat, and we called it a day.

Me, trying to get it over with.

Sean, walking back down.

Let the Round Ups Begin

2010-07-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY - BENCH DAY

Deloading

Bench

45x15

75x5x2

95x5x2

115x5x2

Inverted Rows

BWx10x10

Pushups (Neutral Grip)

BWx20x5

Face Pulls w/external rotation

35x12x2

50x12x2

----

THURSDAY - SQUAT DAY

Deload

Ran hills. Found a new one that's a bit longer, because someone was getting married at the top of the other hill we usually run. Made 20 trips up.

We only did this today because we are going to switch some things up for our next cycle. Namely, we are going to reorder the days so that we squat first each week. This was at my request, because I often feel exhausted by the time squat day rolls around, and I really want to have a big squat. So, we are prioritizing squats. Also, we're moving to a Sat/Sun/Tues/Wed split, because Sean has class on Mondays for the next two months. Thus, we will be squatting heavy on Saturday, and did not see any reason to squat today.

Scratch the Walls Just to Survive

2010-06-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

Deload Week

45x5

70x5x2

75x5x2

95x5x2

Chins (NG)

50 (12 sets)

Pushups (NG)

100 (6 sets)

MONDAY - DEADLIFT DAY

Still deloading

Deadlift

135x5x2

155x5x2

185x5x2

Good Morning

75x10x3

Lunges

BW x 10 each side x 3

Cossack Squats

BW x 3 each side x 12 - one set done immediately after each of the above

Planks

2 x 1:30

Side Planks

2 each side x 0:45

Just Bought A Cadillac

2010-06-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

THROW SOME D'S ON THAT BITCH

SQUAT DAY

I was off work earlier and wanted to lift earlier in the day, so we went to the air conditioned XU gym, cause it was 90 degrees out.

Squat

115x5

145x5

175x3

220x5

250x3

280x1+ (got 6)

Front Squat

155x10

Leg Press

360x10

360x6 decided this was too light, quickly added two plates and did 450x6

450x6, 360x8, 270x10, 180x12 - I had Sean strip the plates off, and I never locked my knees or the weight carriage.

Standing Leg Curl

75x8

75x7

65x8

65x9

People always talk shit on leg curls, but we don't have a good way to train our hamstrings this way when we're in my garage, so I figure that once in a while can't hurt, until we (read: I) can afford to buy a GHR.

Clocked In

2010-06-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

Bench

75x5

95x5

115x5

140x5

160x3

180x1+ (got 6)

Incline DB Bench

60x10

60x9

Back Giant Set

a) Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns

125x5

100x10

b) DB Rows

80x10

80x6

c) Rear Delt Flyes

22x12

Finished with a final set of DB Rows - 60x20

Did some BB curls, so I look good for the 15 year olds at the water park this weekend

75x8

55x10 - with fat gripz

DFTS

2010-06-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

DONT FORGET THE STRUGGLE

BENCH DAY

Kevin, Riddle, and myself.

Warm Up:

Static stretching and dynamic stretching with bands

Band Pull Aparts: I, T, Y.

Glute Ham Raise:

3 sets of 8 (bodyweight)

I'm going to do three sets before every workout in order to boost my weak hams.

Bench Press:

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 10

155 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 5

225 x 1

185 x 5

3 Board Close Grip Bench:

I had a crap raw bench set today, and I know its because this new workout scheme has been more tailored to a fighters game. Understandably, bench isn't as integral. Still, I'd like to make sure I hit my triceps as hard as I can.

The 3 Board, especially with the Close Grip, puts all of the work on the triceps. It was a little difficult to get used to, as the movement is best described as moving the bar away from your head, as it often feels on a standard press that your may move it towards your head. Emphasis here was on the tuck of the arms, touching but not slamming onto the board, and pressing the bar up while flexing the triceps at the top. Very rough.

185 x 5

135 x 8

Apologies for the poor picture. Its a 3 man operation, and we only had 3 men.

Overhead Log Press:

Log x 10

Log x 8

Pullups:

10 (Warm Up)

10 (I'm toasted at this point)

Chest Supported Row:

2 plates x 8

Armbar:

3 sets of 30 second holds for the right arm, just a couple of seconds rest between each set.

Then moved on and did the same on the left arm. Used a 24kg KB.

Abs: 2 sets, straight through.

Cable Crunches: 90 x 10

Ab Wheel: 15

Oblique Raises: 24kg KB x 10

Hard workout. Big time swoll.

Modern Man

2010-06-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Sunday. Ben had to work, James was out, and Riddle was doing Fathers Day crap. So it was just myself and Kevin.

Which was hilarious. On one end of Lexen was Chuck Vogelpohl and his crew, Matt Wenning and a couple guys, and JL Holdsworth. And on the other end were Kevin and I. We dropped the mean PL total of that room by a couple hundred pounds. It was hilarious.

Warm Up:

Static stretching

Dynamic stretching with bands

Cambered Bar Box Squat:

Bar x 8

95 x 8

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 6

275 x 1

135 x 15 (for reps)

I was looking to get some more volume work in on my squat. Some time to work on my form, some time to really pause on the box, and to avoid going to heavy without a spotter (Kevin was running the monolift and I'm hesitant to ask 1000lb squatters for a spot on 3 plates).

Deadlift (Conventional):

135 x 8

215 x 8

315 x 8

405 x 1

At this point JL Holdsworth stopped and watched my 405 set. Afterwards he commented on the lift, saying that I looked "strong" but that I set up incorrectly. He said that I placed myself too close to the bar, with my shins about an inch from the bar, which pushed my shoulders too far in front of the bar. This basically forced me to use my back much more in the lift than necessary, and turned my lift into a de facto Straight Leg Deadlift. One of Matt Wennings workout partners told me the same thing later on in the day.

JL said that I should set up with the bar crossing at my mid foot, basically so that the end of my pinkie toe is even with the bar. I believe Mark Rippetoe preaches the same thing. JL was able to spot the end of his little toe so easily because he was wearing those goofy five finger shoes, which thoroughly skewed my worldview and marks the first time anyone with any muscle mass has ever worn them. I hadn't planned on doing another set, but the advice basically forced me to.

405 x 1

This set went a little poorly. I set up properly, but I lurched forward midway through the lift. JL said it was because I was trying to adjust the weight to get it where I'm most comfortable, basically trying to revert to old habits midway through the lift. It's going to take some time, I guess.

Wenning told me that I was lurching forward due to a muscle imbalance. Basically I came forward because I'm stronger in my quads and I was trying to recruit those muscles to get the weight up. If I had come back with the weight I would have been doing the same thing with the hamstrings. So, he told me, I've got weak hams. He said to focus on that in my accessory work, doing Glute Ham Raises, SLDLs, and sled drags. So guess what?

Glute Ham Raise:

3 sets of 8 (bodyweight, because of the weak hams!)

Sled Drags:

3 plates, up and down the parking lot 4 times.

Kevin pulling the sled. And a bike that Sean will deride online, but wouldn't in front of its owner.

Abs: 3 sets, no rest.

Cable Crunches: 90 x 10

Ab Wheel: 15

The Only Antidote

2010-06-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

To Mental Suffering is Physical Pain

WED - BENCH DAY

Bench

75x5

95x5

115x3

135x3

150x3

170x3+ (got 8)

Incline DB Bench superset w/WG Cable Rows

60x10, 125x10

60x9, 125x10

60x8, 125x10

T-Bar Rows

130x10x4

130x5x2 - with Fat Grips

100x2x1 - one arm...tough

------

THURS - SQUAT DAY

Squat

115x5

145x5

175x3

205x3

235x3

265x3+ (got 3)

185x10

185x8

185x10

185x8

185x10

I did not feel great today. I spent my squat sets really focusing on form, trying to arch hard at the bottom and stay more upright. On my 3+ set, I felt like I started falling forward in the hole on my 3rd rep, and my speed was slowing way down, so I made the decision to stop at 3 rather than grind out the 2 more I think I could have gotten.

Since I was trying to work on form, I did 5 more sets of squats to keep drilling it home. I cut two of those short at 8 because I felt like my form failed. We finished with

Sandbag Loading - 80 lbs,, AMRAP in 1:00

13.5

Called it a day.

The quote at the beginning is supposedly Marx, though I can't figure out where it's originally from. It seems to exist only on websites that compile quotes. I don't care. I like it.

Live With the Vice

2010-06-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

STAY COLD

BENCH DAY

Ben was at work, so it was Kevin, Riddle, and myself.

Warm Up:

Static Stretching of the shoulders, lats, and chest.

Band Pull Aparts: I, T, Y.

Bamboo Bar Bench:

Bar + a 16kg Kettle Bell on each side x 10

+16kg x 10

+16kg & 10lb plate x 8

+24kg x 8

+24kg & 10lb x 8

+24kg & 12kg x 4

+24kg (for reps) x 15

This was the first time where I've really worked the Bamboo Bar in as a serious Main Lift. Usually the Bamboo Bar, which seems to be the favorite pressing movement for Ben and Riddle, is worked in as a bit of a warmup, or a supplemental lift. Today we really hit it, and we went about as heavy as we could. Although there is not the pressure present in a standard bench press, the bar, because it forces you to use so many muscles for stability, gave me a serious pump in my chest and triceps. It's pretty strange to press a relatively light weight and struggle with it, let alone to get a pump out of it.

Joe Riddle on the Bamboo Bar

Foam Block DB Bench (w/ Shoulder Extension):

I believe I've described this before, but I'll do it again. This, like the Bamboo Bar, is a pressing movement that will incorporate a lot of the smaller muscles in your shoulder. The movement is fairly simple, perform a DB Press while laying on a foam block, and extend your arm at the top of the press so that your shoulder blade comes off of the block. Basically, you're mimicking a punching motion. The key here is to "REACH!"

60 x 10 each side

75 x 10

DB Row:

75 x 10 each arm

100 x 10

120 x 8

Lat Pulldown:

1 plate on each side x 10

1 plate and 1 quarter x 8

1 plate and 1 quarter x 6 (Getting burnt out at this point)

Bottoms Up KB Press:

Kettle Bell shoulder press done with the bell end (lol) on top. An upside down kettle bell press. The object here is to keep the bell upright by gripping the shit out of the handle.

16kg x 8

Abs: 3 times through.

Cable Crunch: 90 x 10

Wheel: 10

Oblique Raise: 24kg KB x 10 each side.

All That I Have For You

2010-06-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

IS HATE

Deadlift Day

135x5

160x5

190x3

225x3

255x3

287.5 x 3+ (got 9) - Sean forgot to put a 2.5 on his side of the bar, so that's how I ended up with this weird weight

140x10x5

Same weight I used last week, and I'll probably use it again next week. My goal is to do these 50 reps as strictly as possible and maintain as much of an arch as possible throughout the whole movement. Since I did not accomplish that, I'll be sticking with this weight for now.

Rollouts

High Wood Chops

Red Band x 10

2 Red Bands x 12

Suitcase Deadlifts

155x6 (each side)

155x6

These were done in some semblance of a circuit, but with some rest in between exercises. So, not a circuit, but not straight sets either.

I don't know about the rest of America, but it is about 99% humidity and fucking hot as balls here in Cincinnati. I think that is pretty clear from these pictures.

What I Have In My Heart

2010-06-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'LL TAKE TO MY GRAVE

SQUAT DAY

Riddle and James were out, so it was Cook Brothers Crew in full effect at Lexen. The walls shook.

Warm Up:

Static stretching

Dynamic stretching with bands

Safety Squat Bar Box Squat:

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 8

185 x 8

At this point Matt Wenning stopped us and told us politely that we weren't doing the box squat correctly. We were squatting to the best of our abilities, but we weren't using the box in the correct way. Our typical box squat involved us coming to a stop on the box and then coming back up, spending a half a beat on the box. Matt told us that by doing this we were basically free squatting, using the stretch reflex in our muscles to help bring the weight back up. He told us that by stopping on the box for as short a time as we were doing our squat was approximately 70% stretch reflex and 30% pure strength. He instructed us to come to a complete stop on the box. While paused we were to maintain pressure outward, meaning to keep our knees out and tight, and to relax our vertical pressure. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I just did as I was told, and kept my legs tight, and relaxed my glutes upon pausing on the box. He said that by pausing like this we basically flip the previously mentioned ratio over, making the box squat 30% stretch reflex and 70% pure gorilla strength, which is what we're after. So then we went back at it, doing it in the pausing fashion:

185 x 8

225 x 6

It made a hell of a difference. All of a sudden there was a rough sticking point about 8-10 inches off the box, which Matt instructed us to explode through. By taking away our ability to push off primarily with our quads, and use that stretch reflex, our glutes, hams, and hips are forced to pick up the slack. One more reason why I couldn't be happier to be lifting at a place like Lexen. Where else can I get a 1,100+lb squatter to volunteer himself to help my skinny ass fix a box squat?

Pin Pulls:

We did these from the 3rd hole on the rack, which set the bar just below the knee.

135 x 8

225 x 8

315 x 8

405 x 1

495 x F x 2 (I got overly ambitious and made an ass of myself. Should have gone up by a quarter instead of another plate.)

Kevin with two plates!

Neck hyperextention!

Pin Pull Face.

Full disclosure, I didn't get this.

Circuit: 3 times through, no rest

Cable Crunches: 90 x 10

Swiss Ball Crunches: 50

Neck Harness: 25 x 30

Gripper: 2 plates x 40

Gettin' yoked.

Fuck The Law

2010-06-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

We don't give a fuck

MILITARY PRESS DAY

60x5

75x5

90x3

105x3

120x3

135x3+ (got 5)

Chins

I try to get 50 in as few sets as possible. Last week I did 4 sets of 13, this week 5 sets of 5 and 7 sets of 4. Progress.

Dips

Kroc Rows

60x25

1-Arm Elevated Push Ups

Bar set at 10 holes up x 5

Bar set at 8 holes up x 4

I was mostly doing this stuff while Sean worked up to a chinup 1rm.

Here he is with 120. I think he got 140.

In other news, it's farmers' market season, and I could give a fuck how many Sean calls me a fag for it, I'm psyched. I got tons of rad fresh vegetables, meat and eggs today. Sean can keep his Wendy's. This is also backed hard.

Engaged In War, Object to Reign Supreme

2010-06-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Squat

115x5

145x5

175x3

190x6

220x5

250x5+ (got 8)

My squat still feels bad, so I made Sean take this video.

I don't feel tight throughout the movement, and I think that's evident from how I look when I unrack the bar. Idk. Somebody tell me one thing I could do better next time I squat.

Front Squat

155x10

155x8

145x10

I don't know if Sean had read Drew's last blog post or what, but he suggested we end the day with some sandbag loading:

80 lbs x10

18 - last set was AMRAP in 1:30

Fate's Got A Hold of Me

2010-06-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

FUCK THAT

ATHLETIC DAY

Ben had to work, Riddle is on vacation, and James is resting a bum shoulder for an upcoming fight, so it was just me and Kevin.

Warm Ups:

Static Stretching (Every day I hate Pavel more and more.)

Band Pull Aparts: I,T, Y.

Kettle Bell Work: Each movement for 3 sets.

Figure 8s: 24 kg x 8 each hand

Alternating 1 Hand Swings: 24kg x 8 each hand

Swing Snatches: 16kg x 8

Tire Work: Sledge and then immediately into flips. 3 Sets

Sledge Hits: 10 from each side

Tire Flips: 10

Pale and skinny

Sandbag Work:

This is something Chuck Vogelpohl showed to Ben and James last Sunday. We take two foam blocks and place 4 sandbags around the perimeter, alternating between 40 and 80lbs.

We then picked up a sandbag and placed it on top of the blocks, shuffled over to the next and did the same, until all 4 were up on top. Then we would do the reverse, placing each sandbag back on the floor. That is one rep. All up, then all down. 5 reps for 1 set. We did it twice and got the hell outta Dodge.

The point is to do it as fast as possible. Its awful. I sometimes lament the lack of deadlifts in this new fighting based lifting routine I'm in, but things like this and tire flips pick up the slack. I felt it in my hams when I lifted each bag from the floor, and again in my abs as I brought them up on top of the blocks. Definitely a workout worth doing if you have the means to.

Lose the Life, Fruit

2010-06-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY MOTHERFUCKERS

2nd cycle of 5/3/1. We military pressed and deadlifted, but you'll not get the details.

Bench

75x5

95x5

115x3

125x5

145x5

160x5+ (got 10)

Incline DB Bench

60x10

60x8

60x7

60x5

Wide Grip Cable Rows - superset these with the db bench beginning with my 2nd set of bench

100x10

125x10

T-Bar Rows

I only counted the plates we added. With leverages, etc, no clue how much bar weight we are lifting.

100x10

120x10

140x8

130x10

couldn't let Drew get a monopoly of gay pictures

I closed out with a set of 6 chin ups, so that we could take a picture of it:

You may have noticed that today was pretty heavy on the back work. This was for two reasons:

1) I feel like our two upper body days lately have more pushes than pulls, so I wanted to throw a lot more pulling in today.

2) I had planned on ending the day with some farmer's walks, until I managed to give myself a bout of acute tendonitis in my achilles tendon by running hills on Friday and Sunday and playing 2 hours of basketball on Tuesday, all without warming up. I decided to give the old achilles tendon a little rest today, and get some extra work in elsewhere.

______

I recently bought some more protein powder the other day from trueprotein.com.

32 lbs to be exact. Gotta get that bulk discount. Hidden in there is also 2 lbs of waxy maize, which I had not used prior to receiving this package. Having tried it, I will probably just stick to dextrose for PWO carbs in the future because it doesn't taste like ass, it's cheaper, and based on what I've read, the difference in absorption is most likely not significant. Or it might be significant, but I can't summon the interest to do more than skim a few abstracts. If waxy maize vs dextrose is what makes or breaks me, I'm probably doing something wrong.

Gun Go Bang

2010-06-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

You may have noticed a Squat Day is missing in this mix. There was a miscommunication between Ben and I and I missed squat day, and I ran hills instead. Sucks, but oh well. Onward!

Warm Up:
Static stretching
Band Pull Aparts: I, T, Y

Bamboo Bar Bench:
+16kg KBs x 10
+16kg KBs & 10lb plate x 10
+16kg & 12kg KBs x 4

Bench Press:
Riddle is away on vacation so we are on our own to make up our workouts for a while. I wanted very much to press on a flat bench, and Ben wanted to do the bamboo bar. So we did both. Ben also wanted to use the shipyard chains for the bench. The thinner chains weigh 40, these...I don't know, certainly above 80. They're enormous.

As you can see, we've looped it on the bench so that it is hanging completely from the bar. Even at the bar's lowest point the chains remain suspended. This has a similar effect to the bamboo bar. The chains will destabilize the bar by swinging back and forth and will recruit more muscle to stabilize the bar. James almost learned this the hard way, almost bringing the bar right into his teeth.

Bar +2 Looped Chains x 8
65 +2 Looped Chains x 6

Bar +2 Looped Chains + 2 Suspended chains x 2
(We added two more chains, though these were suspended so that they would hit the floor, increasing the weight of the bar as it is pushed up.)

Bar + 2 Looped Chains (for reps) x 12

DB Rows:
(I did dumbell rows for the first time in a long time while my brothers did Rope Pulls.)
55 x 10
75 x 10
105 x 10
120 x 10

105, feeling light

Ben working grip and some back on Rope Pulls

Bottoms Up KB Shoulder Press:
Basically this is a Standing Shoulder Press with a Kettle Bell, only flipped upside down. The bell sits above your hand, forcing you to grip hard and press with focus. More grip and stabilizing work!
12kg x 10
12kg x 10
12kg x 10

Bell end
Ab Work:
Cable Crunches: 90 x 10
Ab Wheel: 10
3 times through, no rest.

Weapons of Mass Construction
DID YOU GET THAT LAST PUN? HOLY SHIT THAT WAS GREAT!

Interior Crocodile Alligator

2010-06-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

ATHLETIC DAY

Yesterday Ben had to work odd hours, so we had to bump back our training. In doing so, the Cook Brothers Crew had their own training session, without Riddle and James.

Warm Up:

I've been practicing Pavel Tsatsouline's Relax Into Stretch for a couple of days now, and I did this prior to driving to Lexen. It's absolutely brutal and I'm convinced that I'll be able to hit a full splits by the end of summer. Easily.

Kettle Bell Work:

Figure 8s: 24kg x 8 each, 3 sets.

Alternating 1 Handed Swings: 24kg x 8 each, 3 sets.

Swing Snatches: 16kg x 8, 3 sets.

Ben doing Figure 8s

Tire Work:

Flips: 10 flips per set, 3 sets.

Sledge Hits: 10 swings per side, 3 sets.

Crooked back!

Kevin with the farmers tan.

Seated Box Jumps:

Sit on a box, which is about at parallel, then jump onto a high box. We used a foam block, a wooden squat box with a gripped top, and a handful of pads to gradually increase the height. We didn't have a tape measure, so these measures are by the number of pads we added to the pile.

Block + Box: 10

+2 pads: 5

+4 pads: 5

+5 pads: 1

+6 pads: 1

+7 pads: 1

+8 pads: 1

+9 pads: Fail. Which bummed me out. I had done this a few weeks ago.

Dark shot. Looked fine on the camera. Whatever.

Ben hitting his spot.

Ab Circuit:

Cable Crunches: 90 x 15

Ab Wheel: 15

3 times through, no rest between exercises or sets.

This next picture has nothing to do with anything other than making Clayton Morris jealous. This is the vending machine at Lexen:

If your eye is good you can see we've got Gatorade, Muscle Milk, Amp, Monster, Blast!, Spike Shooters, a bunch of random protein drinks and some crazy stimulant drinks. My favorite pre-workout drink is Ximo, which is an ephedra drink that has 8 servings per bottle. It'll get your heart thumping, your body shaking, and your mind ready to smash fucking weights.

However, among all the expected workout related drinks, right in the middle of the shot are Arnold Palmers. Fuck. Yes.

One last picture, from our last workout. Just because I look huge:

THICK BACK

Hill Sprints:

Today I ran hills at the aforementioned spot on 5th and Grant.

I did two at a time for 10 sets, which makes 20 total runs. I was spacing them out farther and farther apart as they went along, and sprinting fell by the wayside and made room for "just making it up this damn hill as fast as my dead legs can drag me."

A guy in a truck, who I'm assuming is the owner or manager of the construction crew whose territory I'm invading, pulled up as I finished my workout. He told me to be careful, because if I get hurt, he'd get sued. I told him I was, and that I was staying away from the loose shale on the two steep sides. He asked if I was "training for the Marine Corps." I said, "No, just training." He said he admired me, but that I should be careful. Dig.

Take 'Em All

2010-06-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

More exciting deloading

Bamboo Bench - cause why not?

50x8

70x8

Bench

95x5

115x5

DB Bench superset w/CG Cable Rows - all 5 sets back to back with minimal rest

50x10, 100x10

Pushups superset w/Inverted Rows - no rest

20, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1

I wanted to keep my heart rate up for a little bit longer, so I made that last thing up, where I just did 20 pushups, turned over, did 20 inverted rows, and kept halving the number of reps til I got to 1. My only rest was the time it took to flip over and switch exercises.

Just screwing around with Sean, I also did a set of hammer curls and barbell curls. Just because.

________

Tuesday Cardio

BB Complex:

Row

Clean

Front Squat

Push Press

Back Squat

Good Morning

4 sets of 8 reps at 85 lbs with 90 secs rest in between.

After this I went outside to split wood for 10 minutes, which was work I had to get done anyway, so I just turned it into a workout by doing it vigorously and with as little rest as possible. It seemed to work well enough.

Shut Up Punk

2010-06-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

Now with homo erotic pictures!

Warm Up:

Static stretching

I,T,Y band pull aparts

Close Grip Floor Presses:

Bar x 10

Bar + 4 Chains (Each chain is approx 40lbs) x 10

95 + 4C x 10

135 +4C x 4

135 + 6C x 2

95 + 6C x 8

95 + 6C x 7

Wide Grip Rows:

2 Plates x 10

2 Plates and 2 Quarters x 8

Overhead Press:

Bar x 10

95 x 10

Riddle took his shirt off. Which was our cue to get gay.

1 Arm Pulldowns:

80 x 10

90 x 6

90 x 8

Circuit:

Ab Wheel: 15

Cable Curl:

Push Up / Row: 25lb DB x 10 ea

3 times through, no rest.

Push Up / Row w/ KBs:

16kg x 5 each (which is about all we could stand at this point)

16kg x 5 each

Armbar:

24 kg. 30 second hold. Two sets. Did each arm back to back. So left arm, 30 seconds. Rest for a beat. Then 30 seconds again. Repeat on the right. My shoulders were spasming like crazy, all the different muscles were firing trying to stabilize the weight.

All of this took about 2 hours.

2010-06-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

Some dude on the fitness forum I read started a website a bit ago called Now You Try. Where they do monthly fitness contests. It's a pretty good idea, and this month is throwing a 25 lb weight for distance.

I'm planning on competing, you guys should too. Rumor has it Kendrick Farris may compete, which is pretty cool.

Sign of the Times

2010-06-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Playing catch up with the updates a bit.

SQUAT DAY

I forgot my notepad for this workout, and Riddle didn't post to his blog, so all these numbers and lifts are a product of a two day old memory.

Warm Up:

Static and dynamic stretching with bands

Sled Drag: 3 plates, 5 trips up and down the parking lot.

Safety Squat Bar Box Squats:

Bar x 10

95 x 8

135 x 8

135 x 6

185 x 6

225 x 6

This was my first time using the SSB, and like all these other new experiences, it took some getting used to. Although I would assume that trying to fix my squat while squatting under a new bar every week would be counterproductive, I'm finding that my form is improving. The SSB, like the Cambered Bar, holds the weight at a lower level than the straight or Buffalo Bar. It does not swing like the Cambered Bar, rather it tends to push your head forward and attempts to round your upper back. This requires you to arch harder and make a more concentrated effort to keep your head up and chest out. And if you've ever seen me squat, that is my main problem. My first few sets at 185 were pretty much garbage, as I did not arch properly and I would slam my butt onto the box. Through Riddle's coaching and a greater sense of focus I was able to correct this and finish with two quality sets.

Btw, I looked up at the giant whiteboard Lexen has to document their lifters PRs and saw Riddle has a PR total of 2160. Thats an Elite total. Glad I have someone like him correcting my squat than some dickhead at the local Ballys Globo Gym.

Log Snatch:

This was new to all of us and will take a second to explain. Also, I have no idea what they're called, so I just made up a name. Whatever.

We were squatting early Sunday morning while Chuck fucking Vogelpohl was benching with a handful of other Neanderthal Silverbacks. They finished up while we neared the end of our squat routine, and Chuck came over to see what we were up to.

He talked to Riddle for a minute and asked what we were doing next. This is a bad sign. This means he's going to pull something out of his bag of torture and throw it in our faces.

What he had us to was this:

First lay the log down at your feet as if you were going to deadlift it. Then bend at your hips and row the bar up to your chest. So that your chin is just above the top of the log. My brother Ben demonstrating this portion of the lift:

Once you have completed the row you then arch your back hard, explode with your hips, and raise the log so that you are now standing upright. The whole time the bar must remain against your chin.

Though it is easier to think of it as two motions, Chuck referred to it as a snatching movement. Pull the log to your chest/chin with your arms, and then immediately explode with your hips, allowing the bar to fly up.

Log x 10

Log + 10lb plates on each side x 10

Reverse Hypers:

Three 35s on each side x 8, x8, x8

Circuit:

Cable Crunches: 90 x 15

Ab Wheel: 15

Gripper: Two Plates x 30

Three times through, no rest

BONUS DEADLIFT DAY

Memorial Day. We figured no one would be at the gym, and we were right. Yeah, we squatted the previous day, but whatever.

Circuit:

Neck Harness: 25 x 30

Gripper: Two Plates x 40

Pinch Grip: 15lb x 20

Three times through, no rest.

Warm Up:

Static and dynamic stretching with bands

Deadlifts (Conventional):

135 x 8

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 5

315 x 3

405 x 1

Zercher Harness:

This was new. I love to do Zercher Squats but I'm more than annoyed with the elbow pain they give me. This harness goes a long way in alleviating that annoyance.

Although you can most certainly perform a basic Zercher Squat in this equipment, we opted for more of a Good Morning movement. Mark Bell in the video above demonstrated approximately what we did. We placed our hands on the bar, however, to stabilize it, and focused on bending at the hips and then thrusting the hips forward. Think of a hip thrust, but standing, and not as retarded.

135 x 10

225 x 10

Hate & War

2010-05-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

DEADLIFT DELOAD DAY

Deadlifts

135x5

155x5

185x5

Reverse Hyper

Red Band x 10 x 5

This proved to be sufficient tension, especially on a deload week. I couldn't even get my legs to parallel using the orange band we've got. We'll have to play around with ways to increase the tension in smaller increments. Otherwise, I liked this.

We then came up with a way to use it to do leg lifts where we laid on our backs, hooked the band up so there was no tension at the bottom, and then raised our legs til they were perpendicular to the ground.

Leg Lifts

Red Band x 10 x 3

Ab Wheel

I also ran 3 miles in 27 minutes this morning about three hours before we lifted.

-------

I am at the midway point of my fat loss attempts. If you recall, I started at 191 and 22% bf. My goal was to lose twelve pounds in 6 weeks. This morning I weighed in at 183 and 19.2% bf. That is obviously good progress, but I'm not going to take anything for granted and keep pushing as hard as I can to make sure I meet my goals, and hopefully exceed them. I have included some midpoint pictures for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully you can tell which are the beginning and which are the current ones. I have blocked out my face because for the beginning pictures, I thought it would be funny if I made a stupid face for the picture. However, this only made my look like I had real mental problems, so I made the executive decision that no one would get to see those.

My poor posture really stands out in the side view. I should fix that.

I'm So Bored With The USA

2010-05-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

MILITARY PRESS DAY

I chose our deload week to get back on the ball with regular updates. Fuck you, I don't care.

Military Press

65x5

75x5

Dips

Interspersed throughout these sets, I did 13 sets of 4 Neutral Grip Chins. I didn't really have a great way to deload the assistance work on this day, nor did I have much desire to. The only concession I made was switching to an easier grip for chins and not really trying to get either the 50 dips or 50 chins that I shoot for on this day done in any fewer sets than I previously had done them.

Sean and I then drove to Ault Park, and I ran hills. I went for 15 minutes, as many reps as possible. Had a goal of 30, got 31. I will do this again on Friday and go for 33.

DIY

2010-05-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

I'm going to try to update more frequently. We'll see how that goes.

My lifting this week:

Mon: Deadlifts, 295x8

Wed: Bench, 175x8

Thurs: Squat, 270x5

This was our 5/3/1 week of 5/3/1. I felt good about everything here except my squat, which sucks absolute balls. I know I need to be stretching out my hips a bit more and just generally get a bit more mobile. On a recent EFS Q&A, Marc Bartley talked about this book which I downloaded. I'm gonna try and do some of these stretches twice a week before bed, as well as being more diligent about my warm ups and foam rolling, and hopefully I can work some of this out.

Next week is our deload week. I probably need it, but I'm not sure how easy I'll be able to take it. When I'm in the gym, I usually feel like killing it, not taking it easy - otherwise, why else am I there? So this will be a new thing for me.

Cardio:

Monday: sprints in my backyard, 30 yd sprint, touch, sprint back, touch, etc. Do this for 15 secs, rest 30, repeat. Did these for 10 min after deadlifts and tried to get 90 yd each time.

Tuesday: Walked 9 holes of golf, met Sean at Xavier afterwards. We took turns running with the sandbag up the stairs between O'Connor and the Armory. We went left shoulder, right shoulder, Zercher carry, repeat. Best time was Sean at 25.6 secs. We went up and down 6 times. After Sean's 6th trip, he vomited for about 2 minutes straight. It appeared to be a gallon of liquid. I felt pretty nauseous too, so we turned it in for the night.

Wednesday: no cardio, besides yard work, but we supersetted our bench accessory work, and that kept my heart rate pretty well elevated

Thursday: Ran 2 miles in 19 minutes. Running is boring, but I'm gonna keep it in the mix. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment when I force myself to get through it.

Friday and Saturday: No cardio. Lots of sleep. 18 holes of golf on Saturday. Then Sean and I built the platform in the video below. It's pretty awesome.

Never done reverse hypers for real before, so it's hard to say how closely this approximates the real thing, but I think it's pretty rad. I felt like Matt Hoffman working out in a polo shirt.

Up Up and Away Away

2010-05-29T11:41:00.001-07:00

RUNNING HILLS

Is not fun.

I was driving through my new neighborhood the other day and noticed that there was a giant, and I'm assuming shut down, steel plant about a mile from my house. Across the street from this plant was a giant vacant lot, with a huge mound of dirt sitting in it. Perfect.

This mound or hill, or whatever it is, is in the north side of Columbus, at the intersection of Grant and 5th Ave. It's in a run down neighborhood, no surprise considering its proximity to a busted factory. I ran there, which is about a mile, not knowing if I could park near it. Next time I'll likely drive and park somewhere. I'm not as much worried about running through a crappy neighborhood as I am of being worn down by the noontime summer heat.

The hill is trapezoidal. I would guess that its about 50 feet tall, or somewhere around there, with a 30 yard plateau. I'm not going to guess the grade of the incline on either side, but the southernmost side is steeper. When I say the hill is trapezoidal, I mean it. The North and South sides have runnable slopes, but the East and West sides are basically cliffs. They seem to be composed of dirt for 90% of the way, but the top 10-20% of the sides are basically loose shale. If I were to try and run the East and West ends I'd basically end up cut up, broken, and tumbling down the mound.

I ran up and down the South end to start, which is the worn dirt path on the right side of the above picture. I ran up, down, up, and down again for 1 set. I did that 5 times.

Then I decided to run up the South side, across the plateau, down the North, and then up the North, across the plateau, and down the South. I did that 5 times.

That was plenty. I felt like garbage going into it, as the GHR the other day has left my hams in ruins. Also, running to the hill in 90 degree heat is a dumb idea. I can get warm enough by stretching outside. No need to tire myself before I'm doing the real work.

I jogged/walked back home afterwards. Not a bad day.

The view from the top:

614

Random story. I'm probably not supposed to be using this hill. It's likely owned by the steel company, and the surrounding lot may be used for parking construction equipment. Anyway, as soon as I got there and climbed to the top to assess everything I saw a cop car coming down the street towards the hill. When I got to the bottom, though, I had yet to see it pass the hill, so I turned and looked up the street. The cop had parked in an empty lot caddy corner to me, with his car facing me. I figured that if he had a problem with me being there, he could just say something. I've been yelled at before, and the worst he could do would be to tell me to leave. Big deal.

The weird thing was that he sat in that spot the entire time I was running, 30 minutes or so. The moment I grabbed my bag, threw on my shirt, and started my way home, though, he pulled out of his spot and flew past me. Made no sense. Maybe he was a perv. Or the fitness police.

Cleveland is the Reason

2010-05-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

ATHLETIC DAY

Joe was absent today, so we basically stuck to what we did last week.

Kettle Bell Work:

Figure 8s:

3 sets of 24kg x 8

Alternating 1 Handed Swings:

3 sets of 24kg x 8 (each hand)

Snatch Swings (2 Handed):

3 sets of 16kg x 8

Tire Work:

Sledge Hits: 10 each side

Tire Flip: 10 flips

I felt much quicker, stronger, and less inclined to throw up this week. I'm likely just in better shape now, due to increased cardio and a better diet. I'm pleased with my progress.

Cambered Bar Good Mornings:

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 10

185 x 10

Once again, the weights are listed as if the bar is 45. Its heavier. Doing GMs with the Cambered Bar was a trip, just like using them for squats. Its harder to stabilize, and forces you to take it a bit slower. Though I'm not ready to say I prefer them to straight bar GMs, due to its tendency to slide down your back, it was a fun exercise.

Glute - Ham Raise:

Fuck. These were brutal. Read the EFS Exercise Index I've linked to, it does a better job than I can in describing how hard these blow. I'm going to be doing more of them, though. Big hams!

Ab Circuit:

Cable Crunch: 90 x 15

Oblique Raise: 55 x 10 each

Ab Wheel: 15

3 sets, no rest in between exercises or sets.

Neck Harness:

25 x 20

35 x 15

Hour and a half workout.

Ran 2 miles the previous day, two times. No running today.

Roll Call

2010-05-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

Neck Harness:

35lbs x 20

Pinch Grip:

15lbs x 30

Gripper:

2 plates x 40

Did those 3 things as a circuit, 4 times through, no real rest from one set to the other.

I, T, Y Band Pull-aparts

Bamboo Bar Bench:

w/ 16kg KBs x 10

24kg x 10

24kg + 10lb plates x 10

24kg x 10

This was pretty insane. The bamboo bar is very unstable, its very bendable and as a result forces you to stabilize the bar. You load the bar by hanging KBs or plates from the ends with bands, which further destabilizes the bar. You don't push the weight like you would a standard bar either, there is no moment of "explosion." The weight is light enough, the max load on the bar is 200lbs, that there is no need to explode, but the real challenge is to simply stabilize the weight. You'll notice the weight I used went up, and then back down. Thats because I couldn't stabilize the bar, it shot up and down and back and forth. Its a really strange feeling, because the weight is something you can easily press, but its all you can do to just push it in a straight line.

Alternating DB Bench from a foam Block:

55 x 10 (each arm)

55 x 10

We used a giant foam block as a bench, which was marginally unstable. The pressing action required us to lift the shoulder of the pressing arm off the foam/bench, basically replicating a punching motion. It helps work the shoulder and the stabilizers more within the press.

Low Cable Row (with a monster mini band):

2 plates x 10

Rope Pull:

2 plates x 3

There is a long, thick rope looped around a large pulley stuck to the ceiling at Lexen, which is about 20ft up. The rope is attached to a metal plate which you can add weight to. You pull the rope, hand over hand, until the weight reaches the top, and then you lower it, hand over hand, until it touches the floor. 3 trips up and down is one set. Difficulty: you aren't allowed to use your thumbs. Destroys your hands and forearms.

Armbar:

24kg KB, each arm, 30 second hold.

3 sets

Cable Crunches:

90 x 15

Took 2 hours or so.

Then I drove home and ran.

Roadwork: 2 miles.

Pursuit of Happiness

2010-05-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Cardio (AM): 2 Miles on the street.

Cardio (PM): 2 Miles on the street.

I'm trying to get my conditioning in check. Also, I hate running, mostly because I'm awful. I'd like to get better, hence twice a day.

FOOD REVIEW

I've been on a low carb diet, and as a result, I've been looking to find ways to make this diet a bit more fun.

Tilapia and chicken breast are two staples of my diet, but pan frying them in some olive oil or baking them gets old pretty fast. I really wanted some breading on these, especially the bland tilapia, but obviously that doesn't work with the low carb aspect of the low carb diet. What does, though is homemade nut "flour".

I simply went to the store and bought a box of almonds and a box of pecans, ground them up until they were as close to a powder as I could, and hey presto! Low carb flour.

Don't shy away from making it as fine a "flour" as you can. You want as much coverage on the meat as you can get, and smaller particles will work better in that regard.

For tilapia, just toss the filet in a egg bath, throw on the flour and pan fry it. Simple.

For chicken. Same basic idea. Bathe it in the egg, cover it in nuts, and give it a light fry. The idea here is to give it a nice crispiness before it hits the oven. Then bake it until its basically done. Pan fry it quickly once again to maintain that crispy outer coating.

It does a great job in adding some healthy fats, a few extra good calories, and breaking the monotony in a low carb diet.

Hard Times

2010-05-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

Since last update:

Wed PM: Bench 165x11, DB Bench, DB Rows, DB Complex

Thurs PM: Squat 255x7, Front Squats, Suspended Leg Curls, 16 min jump rope

Out of everything, my squat has been most affected by my attempts to drop fat. The weights just feel really heavy everytime I get under the bar. I think this is because I'm so carb depleted, but also because most of my cardio involves me using my legs. Eventually, I hope, my body will adjust to this, but for now, they are just going to feel tired all the time I guess.

Fri PM: 5 sets of 50 yd 270 lbs farmers walk, "sprint" back, 50 yd 80 lbs sandbag carry, minimal rest in between

We got done with this just in time for it to pour down rain. My garage flooded, so that's pretty awesome. We're gonna have to get the rust off of the weights and repaint them one of these days soon.

Sat PM: Refeed - 16 oz ny strip, big pile of mac and cheese, chocolate cake with ice cream and hot fudge. I also would have really loved to have eaten the bread that everyone else in the restaurant got before their meals, but our waitress never brought it out, and I'm certainly not one to cause trouble, so we never got it. I should be less of a pussy.

Sun AM: 10 min jump rope, burpeee/mt climber tabata, 5 60 yd sprints, feel like puking

Sun PM: MP 135x7

Monday morning, I weighed in at 186.0 and 20.8% bf. This has been pretty much where the scale has been for the last few days, so I'm going to drop off 50 calories for a few days, and then maybe 50 more, depending on how things go. Lost another inch off my waist, and a little bit off my skinfold measurements, though I still don't completely trust Teresa to do this correctly.

Lemonade

2010-05-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Warm Up:

Static and dynamic stretching.

I, T, Y Band Pull aparts.

Buffalo Bar Free Squat:

(Like the Cambered Bar, I'm not sure how much this weighs. Its definitely heavier than the standard 45lb bar, but I'm going to write everything as if they're the same.)

Bar x 10

95 x 10

135 x 8

185 x 6

225 x 5

275 x 4

275 x 3

225 x 5

I had to drop the weight because I couldn't hit 275 to Joe's liking. I was bending too far forward on the way down and basically putting myself into a position where I has to Good Morning the weight back up. I knew I did this beforehand, but I guess I wasn't aware how big of a problem it was. When I dropped the weight Joe gave me plenty of verbal cues to "arch hard", harder in the hole than I do at the top. He said, and I definitely agree, that it isn't something I'm going to be able to correct in one workout.

We used the Buffalo Bar for the same reason that we used the Cambered Bar last week, Joe is recovering from shoulder issues he's developed as a result of powerlifting, and hasn't used a straight bar to squat in over a year. He was able to get his hands on the Buffalo Bar, though, which is a big improvement. I felt that the Buffalo Bar functioned similarly to a straight bar, as it basically is one, though it is thicker and seemed harder to hold on my back at times.

Speed Pulls:

We planned on doing them with a doubled up monster mini, but this was scrapped after we each did 135 x 1 and it proved to be a bit harder than was needed. So we went to straight weight.

135 x 1

225 x 1

315 x 1

405 x 1

455 x F x 2

Couldn't hit the 455, which is my PR. The 405 flew off the floor, but I think I may have been a little too worn out to get that PR again.

Reverse Hypers:

(We use 35lb plates because 45s are too large in size and will smash into your shins.)

Three 35s on each side x 8

x 8

First time doing these. They were pretty rough and basically smashed my abs to the point where I wanted to throw up.

Circuit:

Gripper w/ 2 plates x 20

Cable Crunches @ 80/90/100lbs x 20

Decline Sit Ups w/ 16kg KB x 10

Ab Wheel x 20

3x through, no rest.

Neck Harness:

16kg KB x 30, 30

All in all this took about 2 hours. Then I drove home and immediately hit the streets.

Running:

2miles.

I felt incredibly weak after this run. Jell-o legs, a bit dizzy, and in need of a serious nap. I've been on a low carb diet all week, and decided that now was a good time for a refeed.

REFEEEEEEED

Chipotle Burrito Bowl w/

Rice and Black Beans

Double Steak

Corn Salsa

Green Tomatillo Salsa

Cheese and Lettuce

And two cup fulls of Mr. Pibb.

Felt like my stomach was going to asplode, I can't eat much right after I workout. Awesome.

Rollin' Like a Bigshot

2010-05-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

ATHLETIC DAY

Today was Athletic Day at Lexen. Which means "this is going to suck and if you're a little bitch [and I am] you're going to vomit." Basically we do all the goofy shit you see on the Ultimate Fighter or HBO 24/7 shows. Its hard.

Kettle Bells:

Figure 8s:

24kg for 3 x 8

Alternating 1 Hand Swings:

24kg for 3 x 8 each

Swing Snatches (2 Hands):

16kg x 8 each

Sledge / Tire:

I think the sledge is a 10lb hammer. Not sure. Don't care. Ben thinks the tire is about 300lbs. Again, though, I'm not sure. But if it is, the 600lb tire Mike Johnston threatened to buy is going to be pure hell.

10 Sledge swings, each side, onto the small tire.

Then 10 flips of the big tire, as soon as possible following your sledge work.

Did 3 sets. I didn't vomit. I got close, but I surprisingly kept it down.

Seated Box Jumps:

If you've ever watched video of Joe DeFranco's gym, you've seen these. Here's a video of a recently shamed Brian Cushing doing them with a 2olb vest.

We don't have plyo boxes, Lexen isn't exactly a place for those. What we do have, and what we used, are lots of foam pads used for box squatting.

So we got one of the two giant blocks of foam, which I guess are used for squatting, and loaded smaller, more sturdy pads on top of it. Then we threw a wooden box, with a grippy surface, on top of all that. Joe said we were going to end up playing "Murderball" if we used it. He's probably right.

I have no idea how high it was at any point. It was high though. We added two smaller pads to the pile after each set, I'd bet they're an inch or 1.5 inches thick each.

7 (Was going for 8, but rushed the last rep and skinned my shin down the side of the box.)

1 (This was at the same level as my top ab.)

F (This was at nipple level. Skinned my shin again. I feel I could hit this when I'm more fresh.)

All in all it was a fun day. I found out that I can actually jump fairly well. I can jump higher than Cushing did in the video, actually. Granted, I wasn't wearing a 20lb vest, but I'm not on steroids either, so BAM! (Ignore the related videos where he jumps higher.)

Ben said Georges St. Pierre jumps at nipple level in some UFC video. So I'm pretty much on par with GSP, which I've suspected all along!

Little from the World

2010-05-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

Quick update, since getting 8 hrs of sleep a day has really cut into my free time. On Monday morning, weighed in at 187.0 lbs and 21.4%. I'm happy with this, even though much of it is likely water weight from reducing carbs. I'm not too concerned with the scale's bf% only dropping a slight amount. I don't trust it in the least, and thus, only want to see it trending downwards - I don't really care about the numbers. Pictures looked good, but I haven't had time to figure out how to paste them together in a format that makes sense to compare, so you'll have to trust me on that. Skinfold measurements didn't move at all, and I'm not sure if this is because I'm failing to lose fat, or if Teresa is not very good at taking those measurements. I'm leaning towards the latter, but who knows. Lost an inch on my stomach.

Training

Sunday AM: 20 minutes of KB work, 30 secs work, 30 secs rest, various exercises

Sunday PM: MP day, 130x7, dips and chins

Monday AM: Bike sprints, abbreviated b/c the gym at work closed earlier than I expected

Monday PM: DL day, 280x11, gms and weighted ab work, closed with a KB swing tabata to make up for the cardio I missed in the morning

Tuesday PM: 100 yd farmer's walk w/only implements (~100 lbs total?) + 100 yd sandbag carry for 8 sets. For 7 of those sets I carried the sandbag on my shoulders, but for the last one I carried it in front of me like a zercher squat. This was miserable, made it hard to breathe, and made my abs want to collapse. I will def use this method way more next time.

Now I'm late for work.

The Sky Might Fall

2010-05-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

Ben and I got into Lexen a half hour before the scheduled start time in order to get some neck and grip work in.

Neck Harness:

25lbs x 20, 30, 30

Grip Machine:

Similar to this except with just two spots for your hands.

Two 45s x 50, 50, 50

Pinch Grip Machine:

Basically this. It allows you to get your thumbs involved.

20lbs x 10, 10, 10

Bench Warmup:

Kettle Bell Armbar:

16kg @ 30 second holds in each arm x 3

Band Pull Aparts:

T: Your standard pull apart, in front of the body, just below your pecs.

Y: A cut band. Wrap the middle around the bottom of a rack and grab an end with each hand. Stand so it is taught with your arms out in front of you parallel to the floor. Raise your arms above your head in a dynamic fashion.

I: Hold the band above your head, taught. Pull it apart by lowering your arms from this starting position (the Y in YMCA) to the finish, which is with your arms out like you were Jesus on the cross. Make sure the band goes behind your head.

Did each of those for 3 sets of 15-20.

Bench (With a doubled up red band):

Bar x 15

95 x 10

135 x 5

135 x 4

135 x 5

Log Press:

The EFS log says its 81lbs. This log isn't the same, though I bet the weight is similar.

I found this to be a complete bitch of a workout. I had to bend pretty far back to allow space of the bar, which in turn threw my balance off. I initially tried it with a standard overhead press stance, and then attempted a split stance, which was what some of the other guys were doing. I actually preferred the conventional stance. It also seemed to kill my ability to breathe. I'm not sure if I was just forgetting, which I doubt, or if it just worked my abs to the point that I couldn't get in big enough of a breath. Also, I tried to be strict, no push pressing.

Log x 8, 8, 8

Chest Supported Rows (with a black band):

95 x 8

95 x 10

135 x 4

Lat Pulldowns:

I had it in my head that the way to activate the lats here was to lean back. Riddle told me otherwise, though. He told me to get my belly on the knee pad, sit up, and arch my back so my chest would stick out. It was much harder.

95 x 10

145 x 4

95 x 10

Decline Skullcrushers with KBs:

55lbs x 4 (Too heavy)

16kg x 10 (Probably too light)

16kg x 10

Ab Work:

Ball Crunches: 75, 50

Ab Wheel: 10, 10

Cable Crunches: 80 x 15

Kick Ups on a Bench: 10

Long day.

Over the Edge

2010-05-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Back in Columbus. Trying to get my shit together.

SQUAT DAY

Sunday is squat day for the Columbus MMA crew at Lexen Extreme. CMMA is located in the same low rent, small warehouse lot as Lexen, close enough to hit with a baseball. But for some reason the only people from CMMA who lift at Lexen, despite being offered a discount, are my brother, former powerlifter Joe Riddle, and one other fighter. I guess most kids into MMA these days are convinced that strength isn't really necessary for BJJ / MT / MMA. Whatever, they'll just get beat up.

So I jumped on board with what Ben was doing for the day, and I'm likely going to try and keep that going. With that, I'll likely be off 5/3/1 for a while, and on whatever Joe tells us to do. I'm more than fine with that for now.

Warm Up:

Walking sled drags:

3 plates, 5 trips back and forth across the parking lot.

Cambered Bar Box Squat:

(I asked Joe what the bar weighed, he said "I don't know, 55? 60?" I'm just going to write the weight as if it were 45 just to make it simple to digest.)

45 x 8

95 x 5

135 x 2

185 x 2

225 x 2

This was my first time doing just about all of these things. First time box squatting in about a year. First time box squatting on a box, and not a bench or some other DIY bullshit, since high school. First time on a monolift. First time on a cambered bar.

The monolift was cake. Obviously its not difficult to figure out, you just set up, stand up, and go. Although I've only used it this once, I prefer it to walking the weight out of a standard rack.

The cambered bar was a bit wild. At first I thought the box was messing me up, as I was used to free squatting and tended to slam into the box pretty hard. As it turns out, it was the bar. Since the bar sits high, while the weight is low, it felt like it was pulling me forward. Additionally, when I came to a stop on the box the weight would literally swing forward, pulling me along with it. This took some getting used to. Joe reminded me over and over again to put my hands lower on the bar and push slightly, in order to stabilize the weight.

Overall it was a fun experience, though I was understandably frustrated with my inability to "get" it on the first shot.

Kettle Bell Work.

Though it seemed to take an hour to get through the warm up and squat, we had plenty more to do in the day. Mike Johnston, a former Q&A contributor on EFS, came in to show us how to properly work the KBs. Mike is a current strongman competitor who has worked KBs and powerlifting with Donnie Thompson and Marc Bartley down in South Carolina. I'm not sure what he was doing up here, but I was more than willing to listen.

For what its worth, I attempted to fill in my KB weight from Riddle's blog entry, but I really am not sure what KBs I was using. I just did what Mike told me to do.

Alternating 1 Hand Swing:

3 x 12 @ 44lb

2 Handed Swing:

3 x 10 @ 44lb

2 Handed Swing Snatches:

3 x 6 @ 44lb

Alternating 1 Hand Snatch:

3 x 10 @ 44lb

1 Handed Clean and Press (Bottoms Up):

3 x 6 @ 44lb

One Hand Static Snatch:

@ 88lbs

This was basically a "try to do this" challenge.

I failed to snatch it. But I cleaned it twice, each time failing to press.

He also demonstrated Windmills, Armbars, and Turkish Get Ups, though we were pretty well torched at this point and didn't attempt them.

Rolled at CMMA:

45 minutes or so. I fared well against a completely worn out Riddle, but I got pretty well thrashed by some other big dude. To be expected. Felt good to be back, though.

Running:

1.5 - 2 miles, somewhere in there, to Grove City High School.

Ran stairs. 4 or 5 sets of 2x up and down the bleachers, and then one set of up and down 8 times straight.

Then we walked home, lungs burning and legs like Jell-0.

And Clayton "Fat Belly" Morris says I don't train.

Some Kinda Weight

2010-05-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

So, in the past 6 months or so, I’ve managed to gain about 10 pounds and get my weight up to 190. Along with the muscle I’ve gained, I have also added a little bit of fat as well. This, combined with the fat I already had, has left me chubbier than I want to be. I would estimate that I am around 20% bodyfat at the moment. The time has therefore come for me to get a little bit leaner. My goal is 12 pounds in 6 weeks. I started working towards this on 5/10/10, so I just want to summarize what my plan is to accomplish my goal, and what I have done so far:

THE DIET

I have cut my calories by 20% from an approximately 3000 calories a day to a strict 2400 a day. I’m limiting carbs to 80-100 g, exclusively from vegetables and dairy. Protein has stayed pretty consistently around 300 g a day, which is probably a lot, but it’s the easiest way for me to get quality calories and stay full. Fat makes up whatever is left over.

Thus far, I have done fine in sticking to this. I have just tried to be consistent in planning ahead for the next day or two and making sure I always know what I’m eating and when. As expected, the low carb thing has left me a little more tired and flat than I normally am, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

CARDIO

My plan is 6 days of cardio, up from about 0 previously. I want to keep it short and intense. Additionally, on days when I also lift, I have been trying to keep the two sessions separate so that I am able to give my best effort to both. This week, I have done:

Monday AM: 10 min jump rope, burpee tabata, 2 min rest, bw squat tabata

Tuesday PM: kettlebell complex

Wednesday PM: (after bench day) dumbbell complex

Thursday AM: 15 min steady state jump rope (felt exhausted, and decided to take it relatively easy and save myself for squats that night)

Friday PM: Ran hills - ~40 yd hill, 20 trips up, 9 minutes

WEIGHTS

Sean and I started 5/3/1 on Sunday. I thought that us doing so would make the blog even more boring, since us and Drew are now doing the same program. Luckily, Drew no longer lifts weights, so this won’t be an issue. I am so far loving 5/3/1. The last “go for broke” set is fun, and I enjoy keeping the assistance work simple and straightforward. I’ll summarize my final sets for the week:

Sunday: MP 125x10

Monday: DL 265x13

Wednesday: BP 155x11

Thursday: Squats 245x10 - a note on this workout - I felt absolutely beat, the weights felt heavy the whole day, but I knew I could get 10, and it was just a matter of mental toughness

REST

Saturday is my day off, where I plan on sitting on my ass all day. Also, I have made a commitment to getting 7.5 - 8.5 hours of sleep a night, which I have never really done in the past. Hopefully this will help me recover better, especially since I am operating in a caloric deficit

PROGRESS

I have chosen 12 pounds as a goal since it is an easy thing to track. However, I am also going to be using several other methods as well to make sure that I am losing primarily fat. Every Sunday night, I will be making Teresa take pictures of me, so I can visually track my fat loss. I am also making her take skinfold measurements in a few places, and measure my stomach. Here are my starting stats:

Weight (monday AM): 191.0

Scale bf%: 22.0% (a note about this number - I think it is a bit too high, because I am dehydrated in the morning, but I will still be tracking it, because if I am doing things right, it should still trend down)

Skinfold:

Chest 14 mm

Abs 24 mm

Quads 22 mm

Stomach (measured at navel) 35”

Neck 15.6”

Biceps 15.6” <-- if you go to this site, you can plug the above numbers in and get some bodyfat estimates...except for the biceps, that’s just cause I wanna know how gunny I am

Instead of posting my starting pics today, I will wait until Monday night, so I can include a week of progress as well.

Also, I have made this 5/3/1 spreadsheet that I like much better than the other ones I have seen. If you want to, you can download it here. Input values are in blue.

You Gotta Get Into it, Growl Like a Bear

2010-05-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we did 5/3/1 for deadlifts. So far I'm a pretty big fan of the new program, sticking to a couple core big movements and then getting out instead of a million sets like in WS4SB. I hit 315 for 13 on my last set, maybe could've hit one or two more but I'm planning on leaving a bit in the tank for the first couple weeks to acclimate to the new program before I go all-out.

After lifting I was going to hang out with Amanda but she wasn't out of school yet so I decided to go run hills for a while. Hill sprints were reasonably fun, but after a while I tried to play around and came up with some pretty killer variations.

Jumping up the hill - tried this one before, still look retarded doing it, but pretty awesome for conditioning

Running up the hill backwards - amazingly didn't fall over. Before trying it I was debating whether I'd feel it in my quads or hams. Quads. Definitely. Going down the hill backwards felt good though, got a good stretch.

Bear crawls up the hill - Pretty much the same as running up the hill, with some extra shoulder work

Bear crawls down the hill - Ooph. These were the hardest/best variation. Good shoulder stability work, good conditioning. Also probably looked dumbest in front of the 5 couples getting wedding pictures taken. Hope I'm in the background of their Save the Dates with my ass in the air.

Bear crawls up the hill sideways - A bit difficult to work my form out, ended up mostly pushing off the downhill foot, kinda awkward but not bad. Maybe you fruits would say it helps work mobility, before you drink a latte and go to yoga.

Also, some slutzzz were in a car at the park and offered me a beer, catcalled, and generally jocked my nuts.

End of an Era

2010-05-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Tested our maxes today. I got the numbers I thought I could hit, so I was happy with that. I've summarized the progress I've made since we started westside for skinny bastards on November 16th. The beginning numbers are estimated based on the first time we did the lift, using Wendler's formula. So, the bench and DL numbers are from mid November, but the squat is from early December, and the mp from early March.

	Begin (Mid Nov)	NYE	May 5, 2010
Squat	286*	300	315
Bench	176*	185	205
DL	303*	315	345
MP	138*	N/A	160*

I didn't actually hit a 1RM on the mp, because I was running late, and a woman was coming to pick up the washing machine I sold on craigslist, but I got 3 at 145 and called it quits. I was exhausted anyway. I believe Sean had a 315 squat, 245 bench, and 405 dl. We'll be basing our 5/3/1 maxes off these numbers.

It's the end of an era. We can project, we can fuck around, we can talk, talk. Shut the fuck up. We can't fucking do anything til we do it.

New Program

2010-05-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to give this a shot instead of 5/3/1.
Don't wanna hurt my knees squatting!

I Have to Poop

2010-04-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

So this'll be quick

45x8

95x5

115x3

135x3

150x2

145x1

125x7

Incline DB Press (Palms in)

60x12

60x8

60x10

Inverted Rows superset w/Face Pulls

BWx15, 50x15

BWx12, 50x12

BWx10, 50x10

BWx9, 50x12

Power Shrugs

225x10

315x8

315x10

ez bar curls

60x12

Hammer Curls

40x10

Power shrugs were fun, taxing, and hurt my dick. We also made a two board thingy and fucked around with some two board presses at the end. This will be our last workout on this program. I have my exam on Monday, so I will be studying all weekend. Then, we will test our maxes on Wed, cut down a fucking tree on Sat, and start 5/3/1 on Sunday May 8. Psyched.

This song rules.

Set It Off (C4-W3-D3)

2010-04-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

And possibly my last workout at the Ballys in Chicago.

Warm Up:

10 Dips

20 Push ups

Plenty of static shoulder and pec stretching

Shoulder rotations with 10lb plates

Bench:

45 x 10

95 x 5

135 x 5

175 x 5

195 x 3

220 x 1+ (Hit 4. E1RM of 250. Sucks.)

Bench:

135 x 10

155 x 10

BB Row:

Overhand Grip followed immediately by Underhand Grip

45 x 10 each

95 x 10 each

135 x 10 each

The 4th rep on my last bench set went up at about a quarter mile and hour. The spotter told me afterwards that he didn't touch the bar, which I already knew. The weight just seemed so heavy. I'm totally clueless as to why my bench is such shit. I know my technique is far from "good", even, but I could do 225 x 3 last summer with basic "flat back elbows out" garbage form. I guess I'm glad I'll be going to Lexen soon and someone will call me on my bullshit technique.

Enter to the Realm of Satan (C4-W3-D2)

2010-04-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

DEADLIFT DAY

A lot of little stories to hit today.

First off, watch this interview between Jim Wendler and Mark Rippetoe. Just do it.

Switching from Conventional to Sumo

Since my deadlift day two weeks ago I've been having back problems. Initially it was a common and general soreness in my lower back, which is to be expected. The following week I completely blew up on my deadlift day and felt like total garbage. In the week since I've actually felt some pain in my spine. Yeah, my spine. Not my lower back or spinal erectors or rectus abdominis. My spine.

It was a minor pain, but any pain in the spine, especially mine, warrants attention. It was a minor pulse of discomfort in the crux of the curvature of my lower spine, which is a 50 degree curvature. I'm not a doctor, but I'm also not a moron. I needed to make a change in the stress I apply to my back. Cue the sumo deadlift.

I spent some time this week reading on the technique of the sumo deadlift, including articles on making a switch from conventional to sumo. Additionally, I found comments here and there suggesting that people of a smaller body mass, short and small cats like myself, may benefit from a switch to sumo. Though it is going to take plenty of time in the gym to really "get" the technique of the sumo deadlift, I felt good about it today.

A Dude at the Gym

I was doing my warm up sets on the deadlift, trying to figure out the technique, and a guy came up to me and asked me, "Yeh pomihcigalifer?"

I took my headphones off. "What?"

"You a powerlifter?"

Turns out this cat, who seemed to be in his mid 40s, used to powerlift. He told me about a gym near the area run by the guy who heads the Illinois chapter of the USAPL. He complimented my technique and suggested that I go into a meet.

We got to talking about a lot of things, including his best lifts. He had hit 605 on the deadlift and something comparable on the squat. His bench was around 500, and this was single ply. After rattling off his best lifts he asked, "What do you bench? 350?" I laughed.

He again suggested I train at the aforementioned gym, but I told him I was moving this weekend. He asked where, and I told him, "Back home to Columbus, Ohio." "Well, fuck! You've got Louis Simmons!" He then went on to tell me about going to a meet in Columbus where Louie told him, "Geno, you're never going to be a powerlifter without steroids." I laughed, especially hard considering USAPL is a drug testing federation.

All in all it was nice to talk to someone who knew what was going on, to shit talk on the crap equipment at Ballys, and to get some positive feedback.

Warm Up:

Agile 8

Extra hip swings, hip flexor stretches.

Extra low back foam rolling.

Deadlift (Sumo):

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 5

335 x 5

380 x 3

425 x 1

Though I was obviously supposed to go for 1+ reps on 425, it just wasn't going to happen. The weight felt very light and the lift very smooth all the way up to 425, where it fell apart. I failed to get my hips under me properly and used a lot of hams and glutes to get the weight up. I'm not upset, though, as its my first day and I understandably have a lot to learn.

Good Mornings (Wide Stance):

135 x 12

155 x 12

185 x 12

Shrugs:

135 x 30

185 x 30

Soundtrack: SLAYER "ALTAR OF SACRIFICE" PRAISE HELL SATAN

Drop It Like It's Hot

2010-04-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Squat Day

Box Squat

45x5

95x5

135x5

185x5

225x3

245x3

255x3

275x3

Squat

315x1 w/some help from Sean. I thought I was good for it.

Zercher Squats

135x12

155x10

185x5, dropped it like it was hot on my 6th rep

155x10

185x4, dropped it again on #5, we were also listening to that song when I did, in a CBC squat day tradition

RDLs

185x12

225x8

various grip work

I've really been working a lot on getting my squat form right, and I think it has improved quite a bit. I really thought I was going to get that 315.

Knuckledragger (C4-W3-D1)

2010-04-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

MILITARY PRESS DAY

MP (Standing Strict Overhead):

45 x 10

65 x 5

85 x 5

95 x 5

110 x 5

125 x 3

140 x 1+ (Hit 6. Estimated 1RM of 169.)

MP:

95 x 10

Pullups (Neutral Grip):

25 (Probably a PR)

Dips:

3 sets of 20

Grappler Circuit:

MP (each arm)

Rows (each arm)

Squat - Press

Russian Twist

6 reps of each for 1 set. Did 3 sets, all at bar +25.

My last set on the MP totally sucked. I probably wasn't warmed up well enough, nor was I focusing properly, and I didn't get the number I wanted. I ended up stalling on the 5th rep after I smashed myself in the chin with the bar on the way up. Just amateur.

I did, as I usually push myself to do, make up for it in the assistance work. Which is really a phenomenon I need to put an end to. The 25 pullups are probably a PR. I've hit 20 before just dicking around at various points in my life, but I don't think I've ever hit 25. Regardless, I'm happy with it.

Soundtrack: STOUT STOUT STOUT

Also, I'm going to title all my posts with the Cycle, Week, and Day numbers of my 5/3/1 program so I can reference different days easier within the blog.

Cardio:

3 miles of roadwork.

Here's Another Ten Bitch, Do it Again

2010-04-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

For a little while, Friday was our DE Lower Body Day, but we didn't really feel like we were getting too much out of it, so we upped the volume slightly on our other low body day, and made Friday a "conditioning day with a lower body focus." Which basically means we find something that seems like it might be fun or interesting, and try to make it so miserable that we wish we were doing anything else.

Squats

45x10

135x5

185x5

225x20

I wanted to do this because I wanted to work on my form some more, and because it is difficult. I chose 225 as a weight that I felt was close to my 10RM. I did the first 10 as a straight set, and though the 10th rep was tough, I think I could have gutted out one or two more without resting, so next time I will add 5 or 10 lbs. However, after the 10th rep, I started stopping between reps to take a breath or two, and quickly realized that resting with 225 on your back can hardly be called resting. By the end, it was just something that I had to tell myself I would finish no matter what and force myself to rise from the bottom. It was a good feeling to get through that.

This was followed by

Circuit (30 secs work, 30 secs rest)

Alternating Swings

One Arm Snatches (each side)

Windmill (each side)

Front Squat (twice, holding weight on a different side each time)

Push Press (each side)

Sumo Jump Squats

If you're counting that's 10 total movements, so it took us 10 minutes, and left us pretty wrecked. I did the whole thing with my new (16 kg) kb, and Sean used a 40 lb db. I shot for a minimum of 20 reps each set, and pretty much hit that, except that I kept losing count a lot. Also, I didn't count on the windmills, just tried to hit the form correctly. I got the idea for this circuit from this book
which I recently bought. Once you cut through the hyperbole and the piss poor editing, I like the book because it has a lot of different ideas for ways to structure complexes, circuits, and other high intensity type work. They are probably ideas I could come up with myself, but I at least find it nice to have them already thought out for me.

Party and Bullshit

2010-04-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Warmup:

Agile 8

Extra hip swings and deep body squats to make sure my hips are loose and warm.

Squat:

45 x 10

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 3

240 x 3

255 x 3

270 x 3+ (Hit 10. Estimated 1RM of 360. Beat last weeks E1RM of 357. Thats progress, motherfucker.)

Leg Press:

2 plates per side x 15

3 x 15

4 x 15

5 x 15

6 x 10 + 5 Assisted (Hands pushing on my legs.)

Pull Throughs:

108 x 10

144 x 10

180 x 10

204 x 10

Oblique Raises:

50 x 15 each side

50 x 15

I felt good today, nice and warm before my first squat set. I thought that the 225 set may have been too close to my first real work set of 240, but it seemed to work out fairly well. My final set was appropriately tough, and I felt that I handled it well. I had 10 as a goal going into the set, kind of arbitrarily, and I was glad I met it.

The leg press came in as a sub for the Olympic Squats today, as I really wanted to hammer my quads, which I have blamed for a weak squat. The last set was pretty rough, especially the last 5 assisted reps. I hit a legit 10 but 15 was my rep requirement, so I had to get there. I just put my hands on my quads and pushed until the weight was up. Around 13 I thought I may not be able to get the weight back up, as my legs felt like they were on fire. But I got it up, and the same scenario followed with the last two reps. Suffice it to say I was doing the "jelly legs" walk for the remainder of the workout.

Bench Your Weight

2010-04-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

Bench:

45 x 10

95 x 5

135 x 5

155 x 5

185 x 3

195 x 3

205 x 5 +3 Assisted. (Bally's spotters are the worst.)

Bench:

135 x 10

155 x 10

Barbell Row:

Double Overhand Grip:

45 x 20

95 x 10

135 x 10

185 x 10

Double Underhand Grip:

185 x 10

135 x 10

95 x 10

Tate Press:

30 x 10

45 x 10

Pullups:

2 sets of 10

Abs - Stability Ball Crunches:

100

Cardio:

3 miles of roadwork in a little under 30 min.

My bench press absolutely sucks. I'm not sure what exactly is the problem, but I'd be willing to bet that I'm just too damn weak. I've been looking into upper body plyo drills to aid with explosiveness, but we'll see. I often wonder if the lack of a speed bench day in 5/3/1 is negatively affecting me, as I felt that it did aid my bench when I was using the basic Westside template. All in all, I just need to focus more on my bench day and hit it harder if I want to progress. Shit isn't rocket science, just get under the bar and push it.

I did Barbell Rows today rather than the DB Kroc Rows I typically do. Because I can hit 25 with the biggest DB Bally has, which is just 100, I wanted to switch things up. I had only done BB Rows a few times before so I did a few sets with each grip just to see how it felt. I'm going to keep the BB Row in the rotation for a while to see how it feels.

I Put My Hands Up

2010-04-21T14:14:00.001-07:00

I had a crappy deadlifting day yesterday. I don't feel like recapping it, but in short I didn't hit the numbers I wanted and I'm contemplating substituting Power Cleans for deads in my next cycle. My back could probably use the change, though I may be overreacting to a bad lifting day more likely caused by a hard run the previous day.

CARDIO DAY

Olympic Triplex:

(Power Clean -> Hang Clean -> Clean and Press) x 5 = 1 set

Minimal rest between sets.

Did sets at:

Pushup -> Body Squat -> Pullup Circuit:

((10 -> 10 -> 5) x 3) = 1 set

Did 3 sets with minimal rest.

Oblique Raises:

50 x 15 each side

50 x 15

80 x 10

FOOD REVIEW

Protein Pancakes

A while ago EFS posted this article by Josh Bryant about his recipe for Protein Pancakes, which I read last night and fell asleep excited to eat them this morning. These panackes are simple to make and are pretty cut and dry when it comes to nutrition, they provide high value, complex carbs and lots of easily digestible egg protein.

Ingredients

Now these ingredients are Josh's suggestion, and are easily modified to give you more protein or more carbs.

3 egg whites

1 whole egg

1 cup of Oatmeal

Cinnamon to taste.

Pretty damn simple. This would basically be a normal, but small, breakfast for me anyway, and now I don't have to suffer through a whole cup of bland oatmeal. Josh suggests, and I will definitely try, adding blueberries, walnuts, and sugar free syrup. I also wonder if I could work peanut butter into this.

Here's the nutritional info for the recipe above:

Calories: 418

Fat: 11g

Carbs: 55g

Protein: 28g

Preparation:

I don't have, nor do I enjoy, the standard Quaker Rolled Oats. I have McCann's Irish Oatmeal, the "Quick Cooking Rolled Oats" variety. Personal preference, but I just think it has a more substantial taste.

Throw the egg and egg whites into the blender first, followed by the oats, cinnamon, and whatever else you want to use. I tossed in a bit of Nutra-Sweet.

Blend the ingredients until it looks like your standard pancake batter. Its not rocket science.

Toss it on a well oiled non-stick pan or griddle. You'll have to watch it, as it does not take too long to cook, maybe a minute tops. Flip it once and you're done.

Review

I made these twice today, once before and once after my workout. My first attempt was a bit of a failure, as I figured a non stick griddle would work well enough. It didn't. So I had to scrape off what I could and eat that.

In the second attempt I made sure to spray the griddle, and it worked perfectly. I had one big ol' pancake, or as Matt Heim would refer to it, a "mancake".

The taste is very much as you'd expect, oaty. It's a very dense and substantial pancake, not at all like the fluffy bullshit pancakes that give you a stomach ache on Sunday morning. These protein pancakes go down well with a glass of milk and a side of turkey bacon, and do a very good job of filling you up. After all, you're eating a whole cup of oats whether it feels like it or not.

And it doesn't, which is good, because oatmeal pretty much sucks.

I really enjoyed these pancakes, as its a quick and easy way to get a high level of both carbs and protein into my system. They taste great, and I'm sure with some experimentation I can get them to taste even better. And better yet, I don't have an excuse to skip eating oatmeal.

Stay strong and rise above

2010-04-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

ME Lower Body:

Box Squat

135x6

135x5

185x5

225x3

245x3

255x1

Step ups (to a box way way above parallel - about 4-5 inches above my knee)

36x15/side

80x8/side

Zercher Squats

155x8

RDL

155x12

205x8

155x12

175x12

Grip work

Finisher: Tabata one handed kettlebell swings - switching hands each set, obviously

This was our first time doing box squats since we've been working out together, and honestly, I've probably never done them correctly, nor gone that heavy on them. Thus, I taped a couple sets to get a look at my form, etc. It looks like I need to sit back some more, since my shins are traveling forward. I expected this, since it's a problem that exists in my regular back squat, and the motivation for doing box squats this time around.

Also, does it look like we are hitting parallel? I suck at judging this. We had to stand on 45s in order to get anywhere close to hitting parallel.

Oh, and we listen to Throwdown when we lift. Fuck you.

Raw Power

2010-04-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

MILITARY PRESS DAY

The last two times I've forgotten to bring my notepad to the gym to record my numbers, but I made sure to toss it into my bag before I hit the street today. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the numbers I needed to hit on that notepad. So what resulted was a bit of an improv workout. I ended up going a little lighter on the MP today, as I somehow busted up my right shoulder this weekend. I'm not sure, but I think I may have slept on it, which always knocks it out of commission for a few days. Anyway, I still kicked the shit out of the day.

Military Press (Standing, strict overhead press):

45 x 10

65 x 5

85 x 5

95 x 6

115 x 3

125 x 3

135 x 3+ (Hit 8, same as last week.)

Military Press (same movement):

95 x 10

Pullups:

5 sets of 10

Dips:

5 sets of 15

Finisher:

Grappler Circuit:

Shoulder Press (each arm)

Row (each arm)

Squat and Press

Russian Twist

Do each movement for 6 reps, one cycle through is a set. Rest for 60 seconds.

Did 3 sets, all at Bar + 25.

This was one of my better workouts recently from an ego standpoint, despite a less than perfect shoulder. Because I'm not in the gym working out my biceps or going for a pump, I don't normally feel "jacked" on the two "arm" oriented days in my program. But I guess if you hit a buttload of overhead presses and follow it up with dips and pullups, you're bound to get some blood in them guns.

Cardio:

3 miles of roadwork. I'm not entirely sure but I think I hit it in 25 minutes or so. Which isn't too bad for me.

REHAB DAY (Yesterday):

I've complained recently about a sore lower back. It ruined my workout on Saturday and tried to throw a wrench into my squat workout on Friday. I went to the gym on Sunday determined to relax a thoroughly knotted up lower back.

But first I wanted to prove to the world that I'm retarded by doing some shrugs. Surprisingly, it didn't go so well! I did a few sets before it got too heavy too quickly and decided to get to rehabbing. I had foam rolled and stretched pretty seriously before going to the gym, so I wanted to do something I couldn't do at home.

I had read on EFS, I believe somewhere in Brian Carroll's log, about using cold showers and haut saunas to relieve general tightness and soreness after a meet or hard training session. I decided to spend 5 minutes in a sauna, sweating and stretching, followed by 5 minutes in a cold, cold shower. Then repeat. And repeat again.

Some other goobers had similar ideas, but more along the 1 minute in the sauna and one minute in a shower of indeterminate temperature. I guess that's what you need to rehab from killer 20lb cable flys and elliptical work.

Anyway, it was a really relaxing and invigorating experience. I found the abrupt change in body temperature pretty refreshing, and it really did a great job relaxing my lower back.

I may make it a Sunday ritual.

Veronica Hates Me

2010-04-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Sean couldn't work out til later today, and I had to leave for Teresa's parent's house at 6:30, so I worked out by myself. As a result, I listened to Screeching Weasel while I worked out, and it was awesome. Today was our repetition upper body day.

Bench

45x20

95x12

135x14

135x11

135x9, failed on the 10th - these are supposed to be 3 sets of max reps, but I try to leave one in the tank until the very last set

Chinups superset w/rear delt flies

BWx7, 22x12

BWx5, 22x12

BWx3, 22x12

BWx2.5, 22x12 - on these last two sets of chins, I threw in wide grip lat pulldowns 105x10 as well, since I wasn't getting enough reps on the chinups

I was out today, and I stopped by play it again sports and bought a 16 kg kettlebell for 40 bucks, after a 30% off coupon and a $20 credit I had. Naturally, I wanted to play with it, so I did my military presses using it. It was a little bit weird at first, because it's a lot more difficult to stabilize. I also think I was holding it too far out to the side and not in the proper rack position like the dude here, so I don't think I was getting the full ROM. Regardless I did

16 kg x 12

16 kg x 11

Next up, I was supposed to superset traps and triceps, but my neck was still a little sore still from Wed, and I didn't see any reason to irritate it further. So, I switched out the shrugs for these, since I thought that my neck pain may have been a result of my traps being too tight and of me not properly retracting my scapula on some of the pulling exercises we were doing Wednesday. I did 4 sets of 30 second holds with 135. I superset these with Tates using 40 lbs DBs for 4 sets of 10 reps.

I wanted to use my kettlebells some more, and I had weighted ab work to do, so I tried out windmills. I started with a 15 lbs kettlebell that Sean got for Christmas to try to learn the technique. I did 10 reps/side, and then moved up to the 16 kg one. Because my shoulders and tris were already a little worn out, it proved a little tough to keep it stable above me. I also think I cheated a bit and sort of squatted down to touch the ground. Either way, I did 2 sets of 5 per side.

At this point, I wanted to get some more ab work in, as well as do a finisher at the end, but I was running late and Teresa was ready to go, so I did a Tabata with BB Russian Twists using 35 lbs. This sucked balls, and I wanted to die. I finished it though, and I felt like I pushed hard the whole time.

Finally, I made my first post workout shake using that rilose stuff I got. I've never really added many carbs to a post workout shake before, just some fruit and whatever lactose is in the milk I make it with. I had read somewhere that a 2:1 carb to protein ratio is ideal post workout, and since my shake had about 40 g of protein, this meant that I needed 80 g of sugar. I got to 65 g and couldn't bring myself to add any more. I'm glad I didn't, because there was too much in there for it to dissolve all the way, so it was grainy and way way too sweet. Fuck the research, I'm not drinking that much sugar again.

Fucking Magnets

2010-04-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

I read this article that Drew posted on my wall. I liked the article, but argued that one didn't need 5 shakes a day, and could get just as much protein and calories from whole foods. Drew and I argued about this, and he failed to convince me that I needed anything more than whey post workout. However, the ideas from that article stuck around in my head. Additionally, my diet has slowly been deteriorating, to the point that the only caloric surplus I get is from junk food, and if I do manage to keep my diet relatively clean throughout the day, I don't eat enough. This is definitely something that is holding me back, so I decided to suck it up, tighten up my diet, buy the fucking supplements and if it turns out to be a waste of my time, well, at least I will have proven Drew wrong.

This is what I got:

5 lbs of a whey/casein blend

5 lbs of whey

1 lb of leucine

1 lb of creatine monohydrate

1 lb of "rilose"

I plan on using the blend throughout the day with 5 g of leucine, and the whey & rilose post workout. I will be taking the creatine based on the advice here. I have only tried creatine once, 5 years ago, and thought it was a waste of my money, but also thought it was worth another shot.

If I get a chance tomorrow, I will sum up what I will be doing with my diet.

Who Run It?

2010-04-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

I run this blog.

Clayton is a married man with cats. He's fat now any isn't interested in training.

I, on the other hand, am unemployed and eternally pissed off. All I want to do is rage.

BONUS WORKOUT DAY

This was probably a dumb idea, but I spent all of last night reading articles on EFS about being intense and destroying the world. I should also have put some serious time in warming up, as I said yesterday my back is wrecked. But guess what? I'm young and dumb.

Evil 8:

I saw this last night in some article that I can no longer find. This is an Alwyn Cosgrove complex, and it pretty much blows.

The set up is simple: Pick 8 big movements and do them each for 6 reps. Rest for a given period, then repeat for 5 reps, then 4 and so on until you finish with a set of 1 rep per.

My set up:

1. Deadlift

2. Romanian Deadlift

3. Barbell Row

4. Hang Clean

5. Front Squat

6. Military Press

7. Back Squat

8. Good Morning

So I did a set of 6, then 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 rep. All at 95 lbs. Rest for about a minute in between.

Pullups:

Cool Down:

Stretch and Foam Roll the ever-loving shit out of my upper and lower back.

Astro Zombies

2010-04-16T16:35:00.001-07:00

SQUAT DAY

Squat:

45 x 10

135 x 5

155 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

245 x 5

255 x 5+ (Hit 12. Estimated 1RM of 357.)

Squat (Olympic Style):

135 x 10

155 x 10

Leg Press:

3 plates each side x 10

4 x 10

5 x 10

My squat felt like garbage today. I've felt pretty sore since a solid deadlift day, and I likely have not done enough stretching and foam rolling since then to recover properly. My hams going into today felt tight and my back was extremely sore. I did the Agile 8 with some additional hip rotations and hip flexor stretches, but it was probably too little too late.

All my sets on the first Squat group felt heavy and my hips rusty. Even the lighter weights felt tough, I didn't feel explosive in the least. I had it in my mind, despite this, to hit 10 on the last set, and that seemed ambitious. Around the 2nd or 3rd rep I thought, "Shit, I'm going to have to push to hit 5." Which is downright pathetic.

But I hit 5. And then 8. And then 10. To make up for having a mentally weak moment I told myself that I was hitting 12. And I did. Sometimes lifting is just a matter of grabbing your balls and making shit happen.

As far as the assistance work, it was similarly crappy. It's not as if pushing yourself when you're already having a bad day will suddenly shake the rust of your legs. The Olympic squats were deep, though, and I actually did feel explosive, but the weight was still low.

I opted to do some leg press work, as I feel that my hams get overworked often, and overworked at the expense of my quads. Something thats weird about leg press machines, though, is that they don't ever seem to be the same from gym to gym. I could slap 8 plates on each side of the machine I used at the YMCA and crank out a rough ten for sure. But at Bally's, I'd bet I could maybe hit 1 rep at 8 plates.

I'm not sure if its just a matter of carriage weight from model to model, or if its an issue of oil/grease on the poles the carriage rides up and down, or a matter of the slope the carriage travels. Whatever it is, though, its hard to directly translate numbers from one leg press machine to another.

She Walked Out in Silence

2010-04-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

BENCH DAY

I've talked before about my annoyance with my bench. There was a time a few months ago when I was struggling similarly with the squat, until one day it just "clicked" for me, and the form fell into place. That hasn't happened yet with my bench, so I'm taking Jim Wendler's advice and resetting my max.

I had previously been working with a 265 actual max, and admittedly I struggled to hit a decent number of reps on my final set of the day. Rather than increasing the max by 5lbs, as is recommended for each upper body exercises in each cycle, I dropped my max 10lbs to 255. This places my working max (90%) at 230. The percentages for this week, using the second option are:

75% x 5

80% x 5

85% x 5+

Additionally I'm sticking to the "Boring But Big" assistance work with the Bench, in order to really drive home the technique. I figure if I'm looking to up my bench, then I should simply shut up and bench. So I'm going with 5 sets of 10 for assistance work, and I'll use incline from time to time as well, in order to get this light switch to flip.

Bench:

45 x 10

95 x 5

135 x 5

175 x 5

185 x 5

195 x 5+ (Hit 10. Estimated 1RM of 260. Meh.)

Bench:

135 x 10

Kroc Rows:

50 x 10

75 x 10

100 x 25 (Felt great after this. For whatever reason rows are a strong point for me, and they're one of my favorite exercises as a result.)

Dips:

I think one problem I have with the bench is the presence, or lack thereof, of a spotter. With the deadlift I really push myself to hit the last rep, because if I fail, so what? I'll just drop the weight. With the squat I have safety bars. With the MP I can just let it down. But for bench I need to have a spotter, so I don't kill myself or, which is more likely, staple myself to the bench like a jackass.

The problem is I work out at Bally's. Everyone in there, for the most part, is a pud. Even the bigger, and you would assume more experienced, lifters spot like shit. They're all too quick to grab the bar, and sometimes they get so close to me they're almost placing their testicles on my forehead.

All in all I just don't trust these morons to spot me, for whatever reason. This results in a general lack of confidence in my lift, which then spits out a pretty crappy bench. Though it still falls on me to hit it intensely, I think this is one spot that will benefit greatly from my upcoming move back home.

Bronson! Death Wish!

2010-04-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

DEADLIFT DAY

Deadlift (Conventional):

135 x 10

225 x 5

275 x 5

335 x 5

355 x 5

380 x 5+ (Hit 8. Estimated 1RM of 481. Happy with that.)

Good Morning (Wide Stance):

135 x 12

155 x 12

185 x 12

Leg Curls:

96 x 10

108 x10

Hitting that last deadlift set was tough. The last rep was a real struggle to lockout, but I powered through and felt really positive about it. I had considered going into the day making a change from conventional to sumo, just to see how I liked it and if it changed my total. I decided against it, though. I don't feel like I know enough on how to properly hit sumo, and I didn't feel like testing it out during rush hour with Sara.

After that deadlift set, though, I was pretty much toast, which is kinda the point of 5/3/1. Assistance work is just that, assistance. I'm not meant to go so hard on it, though I usually do. What I need to do is focus on more warm up sets in the big lifts, all at short reps, 3-5. I think this would be beneficial in hitting a proper max, due both to a warmed up body, and a primed CNS.

As far as my deadlift numbers go, I'm happy. I upped my max from 465 to 470, meaning my %'s are based on 455. (90% of 470) Hitting an estimated 481 is significant for me, as it is 10lbs above my actual max. 5/3/1 is all about slow and steady progress, patience being key. I feel that I have been patient with my work, not rushing for numbers, but rather hitting the lifts with consistent intensity. It's paying off.

Nowadays mothafuckas lie

2010-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Switched our max effort upper body exercise from bench to military press for a few weeks. I was pretty excited all day about this, cause I feel like my bench has stalled a bit, and I really like overhead pressing.

Military Press

45x8

85x5

105x5

125x3

145x3

150x1

125x8 --for this set, I put 125 on the bar, turned to Sean, and said "give me a number." He said 6, so I nailed 8.

(assisted) Chins - 2 sets of max reps

orange band x 12

These two sets are for hypertrophy purposes, so I did them all assisted in order to hit higher reps.

Superset: Inverted Rows & Face Pulls

BW x 13, 35 x 15

BW x 10, 45 x 10

BW x 12, 45 x 12

About halfway through that superset, my neck started to hurt and feel really tight. Not being a bitch, I pushed through it. This only caused it to hurt worse and worse. We were supposed to hit shrugs next, but doing these, even with light weight, sent a shooting pain up my mid back, trap, and into my neck. I ended up skipping these, as well as the curls that came after that. I figured that I got my "bang for the buck" exercises in, and it wasn't worth it to hurt myself more. I did a little googling, and Ascendant seems to have explained my problem exactly. I hope he wasn't banned for giving bad advice, because I took it, and iced my neck and popped some prescription Aleve. It still hurts, and I can barely turn my neck, but hopefully it'll go away in a couple days. I cut my warmups short today, because I was running late, so it could have been due to that. I don't know exactly.

Anyway, I sat around while Sean did some shrugs, and then, since I got my Gymboss today, I had to try it out. We did a tabata finisher. I stole the bodyweight one from this article, except that I'm too awkward to figure out how to do the "speed skips" correctly, so I just did more squats. Sean didn't want to do this, so he hit a log with a sledgehammer instead. I really liked the gymboss. It was super easy to set it up for 8 rounds of 20 secs work: 10 secs rest, and it really kept us on task. The beep was loud enough to hear clearly. I would definitely recommend getting one if you are doing any sort of timed intervals, because it makes the ordeal infinitely easier and more precise.

Music: Bun B - Keep it 100. We listen to a lot of UGK when we lift.

It Ain't Hard to Tell

2010-04-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

5/3/1 CYCLE 4

MILITARY PRESS DAY

Quick story. As of last week I've been holding off on going to the gym and waiting until Sara gets home so I can teach her to lift. I usually make her stay fairly close to whatever I'm doing, as it's easier to teach her through example, and I think learning the basic movements I do would be beneficial for a new lifter. I do, though, have her do different exercises when I, for instance, do more MP work than she needs to. She doesn't need to be doing 5 sets of 10 on overhead press following 4-5 sets of overhead press. Pointless.

Anyway, because she doesn't get home until 6, we don't get to the gym until 6:30 or so, which is rush hour at Bally's. Morons everywhere, just fucking up my shit. I won't go into too much detail, but its a goddamn train wreck. So there's some joker on the sole squat rack, talking on his cell phone in between sets of quarter squatting 315. So we did our first few sets of overhead presses out in the open, cleaning them up to our shoulders first.

Well this butt dart decided he had enough and left, leaving the 315 behind as a monument to his greatness. I told Sara to go stand in the rack while I unloaded the bar we were using. I was throwing the weight on the tree when I heard a large crash behind me, and I immediately knew what it was. Sara had pulled off all three 45s from one side, leaving 135 sitting on the opposite end. The bar had flown off the rack and was standing straight up, still within the hole of the three 45s that were now on the floor. Everyone stood around like jackasses, in no way attempting to help her. She was super embarrassed and had a crap workout because of it.

She also suggested that I not blog it. Welp.

Military Press (Standing Strict Overhead Press):

I upped my max in this cycle from 170 to 175.

45 x 10

95 x 10

120 x 5

130 x 5

135 x 5+ (Hit 8, estimated 1RM of 171. Not good. I thought bumping it may have been a foolish move, but we'll see)

Military Press (Same movement, using the "Boring But Big" assistance plan)

95 x 10

Dips:

5 sets of 20

Pullups:

5 sets of 10

At this point we got out of there. Sara was still mad and embarrassed, and I was tired of being surrounded by total jerkoffs.

PRODUCT REVIEWS!

So I teased this review a couple weeks ago and never delivered. Suck it.

Long story short I had a $75 gift card to EFS and snatched up the Simple Guide to Very Low Carb Diets e-book by Shelby Starnes and the Tips and Tricks for Dieting Success e-book, also by Shelby. Both are incredibly informative and well worth the already cheap price. Though I'm already a pretty lean person, without any serious cardio work, I just wanted to educate myself on the proper way to manipulate my diet to cut out carbs if needed.

I bought the short Axis Foam Roller (12"x6") as well. Its incredibly dense and is likely the most durable foam roller I've ever used. Bally's and the YMCA have the longer, white foam rollers that are almost universally worn down in the middle to the point that they're now as hard as a sponge. Worthless. This roller is hard as hell, and I doubt I'll be able to wear it down in the next few years, even. I bought this particular model for its density first, and its price second. It's cheap as hell and well worth it. I wouldn't be scared away from its short length, I don't find it to be any hassle, I can't recall ever once having to reset myself due to rolling off of it.

I basically had what I wanted at this point, but I had $35 or so left over. I didn't know what to do with that so I just snagged a pre-workout supplement, as unemployment has rendered me supplement poor as well, and I just wanted to test one out for the fun of it. Now, I don't think much of pre-workout NO powders as a huge muscle builder or some bullshit, I just like the stimulant effect. They get my psyched to lift on those days where I'm wanting to be a pussy. So they're worth it to me when I can afford to buy some.

I ended up with Dirty Pre-Workout Original. It advertises itself as having a "bad" taste and for giving you "painful" pumps. That pretty much sold me.

Truth be told, it doesn't taste bad. It's not good, certainly, but its nowhere near as bad as some other supplements I've tried before. It's really just incredibly bitter, but considering I'm going to guzzle it down in a few quick seconds, it's really no big deal.

The most noticeable effect of Dirty, aside from the general feeling of energy, is the "Niacin Rush". If you've ever drank a strong energy drink, and if you're in the CBC you definitely have, you know what I'm talking about. Niacin causes this tingling sensation on the skin, and it comes in waves or rushes. I most often feel the Niacin rush on my face and head, but its nothing too weird or distracting, just not something I'm used to with NO supplements.

As for the pumps, they're not lying. Though I don't workout for a "pump", I can feel it during any set where I go for 10+ reps. Today at the end of my workout I had a hard time finishing my chins because my biceps felt so swoll. I'd imagine this would be a huge selling point for people who do work out for that pump.

The downside, though, is the price. $29 doesn't seem like much for a pre-workout supplement, but Dirty comes in a remarkably small container with only 15 servings worth. Though I think the product is good, it doesn't compare economically to my Gold Standard of pre-workout supplements, White Flood. White Flood comes with a months supply or more for $40 and works just as good, if not better.

Life's So Cold

2010-04-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Deadlifted yesterday:

135x5

225x3

315x3

320x1

315x3

This sucked. 2 weeks ago, I lifted 335x3. Haven't been able to touch that since. I don't know what's different. This week I tried to make bigger jumps in weight while warming up and stick to sets of 3 reps after 135, thinking that maybe I had just fatigued myself too much last week by doing too much when warming up. But, no dice. Here's a video of two failures at 340, one at 335, an ugly as hell lift at 320, and my last set of 315x3. It ends with Sean getting 5 at 365.

Some thoughts based on this video:

My hips are coming up way too fast. I need to be using my legs more.

Should my stance be closer? Mine is about shoulder width, because that's what is comfortable for me. I see dudes who can lift a lot more than me, however, taking a much closer stance.

Basically, I don't know how to fix what's wrong with this.

Anyway, I did split squats next:

135x12

205x6 - these were probably too heavy, because I kept having balance issues

175x10

Good Mornings - I used the tips in that video I posted on Sat. to help me arch my back a lot better, hit my hamstrings harder, and get some more depth

95x15

145x10

One legged DB SLDLS - Did them because I wanted to try them...found out how much my balance sucks

4os x 10 each leg

We ended with some grip work, and then ate some post workout Double Downs. These were actually pretty good, but I was still hungry when I was done.

Also, if you are still using a tennis ball for any of your soft tissue work, do yourself a favor and get a lacrosse ball. It is a million times better, if only because it doesn't squash flat, and thus rolls better. It's also, obviously, denser, so it seems to get in the muscles a lot better.

Squat Depth

2010-04-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour watching this video, and thought it had a lot of really good things in it. Except the ending sucked.

Crime Ridden Society

2010-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

This week has been my deload week, and like I tend to do with deload week, I've mixed things up.

Rather than just doing my normal workout with lower percentages, which is what 5/3/1 recommends, I'm modifying things to help shore up weak spots and take it easy on overworked areas.

For instance, I'm hitting DB Bench in order to get more pectoral work in, in a vain attempt to shore up my bench, and going light on deads, in order to rest my posterior chain.

Additionally, I'm waiting to workout until Sara gets home and helping her learn to lift. This also pushes me to modify what lifts I'm doing, as I'm doing my best to tailor my workout to her needs.

MILITARY PRESS DAY

In a rare brain fart I left my log at home. Suffice it to say I did some light overhead press, some chins, pullups, oblique raises, and one handed standing DB MP. Reps and sets around 4 x 10 at light weight.

DEADLIFT DAY

Straight Leg Deadlifts:

45 x 10

135 x 10

185 x 10

225 x 10

Wide Stance Good Mornings:

135 x 10

155 x 10

(Not much of a deload. Probably showing off for the lady.)

Leg Extention:

160 x 10

170 x 10

90 x 25

(Like I said, modifying the workout for Sara.)

Abs: Standing Rope Pulldowns:

60 x 15

72 x 15

Pullups:

3 sets of 10

BENCH DAY

DB Bench:

40 x 10

50 x 10

60 x 10

70 x 10

80 x 10

90 x 8

(I suck at deloading. But whatever.)

DB Incline Bench:

50 x 10

60 x 10

70 x 8 - > 40 x 10 (Drop set)

V-Bar Lat Pulldowns:

96 x 10

120 x 10

144 x 10

204 x 1

240 x 1 (Just wanted to see if I could. I was listening to OLC and feeling swoll. Whatever.)

Dips:

3 sets of 20

Abs: Standing Rope Pulldowns:

60 x 15

72 x 15

DB Curls:

30 x 10 ea

40 x 10 ea

(Idk. First time I've done curls in forever. Just felt like it. I may do them more often. My tri's have outpaced my bi's in a weird way.)