It Hurts To Be Alive

This is how the prowler makes me feel.

SUNDAY - MILITARY PRESS DAY

MP

45x10

60x5

75x5

95x3

105x3

120x3

140x3+ (5)

Pullups

4 sets of 5, 8 sets of 4

Dips

12

12

12

12

10

Dave is in town and lifted with us:

Slosh Pipe Overhead Press

10

10

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

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

Bar x 10

135 x 8

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 5

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

Bar x 10

65 x 10

95 x 10

115 x 5

135 x 1

135 x 1

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

Pullups:

10

10

1 Chain x 10

2 Chains x 10

2 Chains x 10

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

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

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

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

185x10

205x10

205x10

Ab Rollouts

15

15

15

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

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

MP

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

12

12

8

8

8

8

8

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

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.