BW - 208
Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X5
High Bar Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3
super-set with
Low Bar Pause Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3
Front Squats -
155X8
185X4
205X2
Just decided to squat today, and go with what moved me. I just hate indoor cardio so much.
The 315X1 and 275X5 didn't feel any stronger this week on Low Bars.
I did the super-setting of High Bars with Paused Squats again and added a fourth set of 3 this week.
Went to Front Squats again, but instead of doing a lower weight "burn-out" set, I decided to go a little heavier. 155X8 is just a rep or two off my best, 185X4 ties my best, and 205X2 is an all around PR. Doing all that after everything else feels pretty good. Approaching it this way was probably inspired a bit by John Phung.
Showing posts with label cardio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cardio. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, August 20, 2012
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 1. Hill Sprints
LRB Diet* - Day 36
BW - ???
Hill-Sprints -
Five, 5-10 minute sets on various hills
interspersed with 5-10 minute walks from hill to hill
last 1.5 sets were superset with regular push-ups; 80 reps total
last 0.5 set was finished with supersets of planche-position (or "reverse grip") push-ups; 10 reps total
1 hour 15 minutes total time; sore as hell for 2 days following
I was out of town at a wedding, and to prepare for the influx of copious calories from unpredictable sources, I followed *Paul Carter's Holiday Diet. Three days of low-to-no carbs with regular training leading up to the day(s). On the day of the feast, you train your ass-off in the morning and then go binge on carbs+. Paul calls for weight training here, preferably squatting. I had no access to a weight facility in this tiny Wisconsin resort town, BUT the town is hilly as hell so Hill-Sprints it was. We drove up that day, and I stayed protein only until we got up there. Then I basically walked all over town, and whenever I found a good hill, I'd run it for 5-10 minutes then walk around until I found another good one. The last two hills, I started doing 10 reps sets of push-ups at the bottom of the hill before sprinting back up. On my last hill, my shoulders were getting a little sore, so I reversed my hand placement and did planche-position push-ups on the last two runs. Then I walked back to the hotel, downed a protein shake, slept for an hour and a half, woke-up and pounded another protein shake, then went to dinner with the wife and destroyed cheese fondue, sauerkraut, Roesti (cheese-stuffed hash browns), assorted dry sausages, apple pie, and local beer.
The next morning, I woke up and went for a 45 minute, brisk walk around various hiking trails around the town. I fasted all AM, then had a little bit of chicken and cabbage at lunch followed by another protein shake. At the wedding dinner, I expected a buffet or some other situation where the food wouldn't be that spectacular and I could pick and choose just the low carb items. That plan was torpedoed by the best goddamn wedding food I have ever encountered. Nonetheless I tried to skew hard towards fat and protein, but with all the alcohol being consumed, it probably didn't matter.
Still, the next morning came around and I looked about as trim as I did going into the weekend, AND I looked a bit fuller in my muscles. Particularly, my shoulders and traps seemed to have really benefited from the extra work I've started giving them combined with the week's diet. I didn't have access to a scale, so I have no idea where my weight was these last three days, and will have to find out what ballpark I'm in when I hit the gym this afternoon. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results, even if it was more of a pain in the ass than I would prefer.
BW - ???
Hill-Sprints -
Five, 5-10 minute sets on various hills
interspersed with 5-10 minute walks from hill to hill
last 1.5 sets were superset with regular push-ups; 80 reps total
last 0.5 set was finished with supersets of planche-position (or "reverse grip") push-ups; 10 reps total
1 hour 15 minutes total time; sore as hell for 2 days following
I was out of town at a wedding, and to prepare for the influx of copious calories from unpredictable sources, I followed *Paul Carter's Holiday Diet. Three days of low-to-no carbs with regular training leading up to the day(s). On the day of the feast, you train your ass-off in the morning and then go binge on carbs+. Paul calls for weight training here, preferably squatting. I had no access to a weight facility in this tiny Wisconsin resort town, BUT the town is hilly as hell so Hill-Sprints it was. We drove up that day, and I stayed protein only until we got up there. Then I basically walked all over town, and whenever I found a good hill, I'd run it for 5-10 minutes then walk around until I found another good one. The last two hills, I started doing 10 reps sets of push-ups at the bottom of the hill before sprinting back up. On my last hill, my shoulders were getting a little sore, so I reversed my hand placement and did planche-position push-ups on the last two runs. Then I walked back to the hotel, downed a protein shake, slept for an hour and a half, woke-up and pounded another protein shake, then went to dinner with the wife and destroyed cheese fondue, sauerkraut, Roesti (cheese-stuffed hash browns), assorted dry sausages, apple pie, and local beer.
The next morning, I woke up and went for a 45 minute, brisk walk around various hiking trails around the town. I fasted all AM, then had a little bit of chicken and cabbage at lunch followed by another protein shake. At the wedding dinner, I expected a buffet or some other situation where the food wouldn't be that spectacular and I could pick and choose just the low carb items. That plan was torpedoed by the best goddamn wedding food I have ever encountered. Nonetheless I tried to skew hard towards fat and protein, but with all the alcohol being consumed, it probably didn't matter.
Still, the next morning came around and I looked about as trim as I did going into the weekend, AND I looked a bit fuller in my muscles. Particularly, my shoulders and traps seemed to have really benefited from the extra work I've started giving them combined with the week's diet. I didn't have access to a scale, so I have no idea where my weight was these last three days, and will have to find out what ballpark I'm in when I hit the gym this afternoon. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results, even if it was more of a pain in the ass than I would prefer.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Weekend Training
I didn't get to the gym over the weekend. I was supposed to Squat and push the sled on Sunday, but the gym hours did not line up well with other things I need to accomplish so I pushed it to today (Monday). However, I did get some work in over the weekend:
Saturday:
Fasted Cardio - 45 minute walk first thing in the morning
Band Pull-aparts - 4 sets of 20
Band one-arm, cross-body curls- 4 sets of 15-20
Sunday:
Fasted Cardio - 45 minute walk first thing in the morning
Light Intervals - Alternating brisk jogging/walking every 30 seconds; 15 minutes
Band Kneeling OH extensions - 4 sets of 15
Saturday:
Fasted Cardio - 45 minute walk first thing in the morning
Band Pull-aparts - 4 sets of 20
Band one-arm, cross-body curls- 4 sets of 15-20
Sunday:
Fasted Cardio - 45 minute walk first thing in the morning
Light Intervals - Alternating brisk jogging/walking every 30 seconds; 15 minutes
Band Kneeling OH extensions - 4 sets of 15
Friday, February 24, 2012
UB: Strong Week 6. Bench
Defranco Shoulder Mobility
Bench -
BarX20
95X5
135X5
155X5
165X5
175X4 (fail on 5)
DB Bench - 65'sX10, 5
Cable Rows, Medium-width, neutral grip - X15, 12, 8
Reverse Hyper - 100X12X3
This was the final bench session of this strength phase. So what did I decide to do? Start close-gripping! Ha. This was on Paul Carter's advice that there's no better time than right now to switch to close grip and start saving my shoulder. And lookee: I only missed my target for this cycle by one rep! That could mean that I was too conservative with my target originally, but whatever. Bench PR. Killed two birds with one stone.
Bench -
BarX20
95X5
135X5
155X5
165X5
175X4 (fail on 5)
DB Bench - 65'sX10, 5
Cable Rows, Medium-width, neutral grip - X15, 12, 8
Reverse Hyper - 100X12X3
This was the final bench session of this strength phase. So what did I decide to do? Start close-gripping! Ha. This was on Paul Carter's advice that there's no better time than right now to switch to close grip and start saving my shoulder. And lookee: I only missed my target for this cycle by one rep! That could mean that I was too conservative with my target originally, but whatever. Bench PR. Killed two birds with one stone.
Friday, February 3, 2012
UB: Strong Week 3. Bench
Defranco Shoulder Mobility
Machine Neck Extension - 15X20, 20X20, 25X20
Bench -
BarX10
95X5
105X5
125X5
135X5
155X5
DB Incline - 55sX12, 7
Dips - Gym BW 204+5lb.X12, 4
Defranco-style Core Circuit X2
20 minute, brisk walk home
Back of my neck felt a little sore coming into the gym, so I backed off the weight on the extensions. I'm pretty sure it was just my traps from heavy shrugging the day before, but no point in killing myself on neck extensions anyway.
Bench felt a little better today. I've been focused so much on tinkering with my set-up, that everything had just felt hard. Today I tried to just make sure and do the things I KNOW have been good, and not worry as much about other stuff. That meant setting up high on the bench so that my shoulders end up just below the uprights, and getting into this position by setting my feet then sliding down the bench and then back up onto my upper-back. The thing I had trouble with today was tucking-and-flaring my elbows through the movement, and pulling the bar apart. Otherwise, I gave myself decent rests between the top sets, and things mostly felt good. Next week the top set is my projected 5RM.
Machine Neck Extension - 15X20, 20X20, 25X20
Bench -
BarX10
95X5
105X5
125X5
135X5
155X5
DB Incline - 55sX12, 7
Dips - Gym BW 204+5lb.X12, 4
Defranco-style Core Circuit X2
20 minute, brisk walk home
Back of my neck felt a little sore coming into the gym, so I backed off the weight on the extensions. I'm pretty sure it was just my traps from heavy shrugging the day before, but no point in killing myself on neck extensions anyway.
Bench felt a little better today. I've been focused so much on tinkering with my set-up, that everything had just felt hard. Today I tried to just make sure and do the things I KNOW have been good, and not worry as much about other stuff. That meant setting up high on the bench so that my shoulders end up just below the uprights, and getting into this position by setting my feet then sliding down the bench and then back up onto my upper-back. The thing I had trouble with today was tucking-and-flaring my elbows through the movement, and pulling the bar apart. Otherwise, I gave myself decent rests between the top sets, and things mostly felt good. Next week the top set is my projected 5RM.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
UB: Strong Week 3. Deadlift
Defranco Mobility
Standing Calf Raises - 265X15, 325X15, 365X15
Deadlift -
155X5
185X5
205X5
225X5
255X5
Power Shrugs - 315X12, 8
Chin-ups - Gym BW 205X10, 4
Cable Crunch - 100X12, 10, 10
10 minutes on the treadmill
Wasn't sure how things would go today becasue I was running on a sleep deficit, and we had a party at work that involved both alcohol and massage therapy. However, I didn't feel even a little drunk (except for after the massage) so I thought I'd try to get in my last "light" pull session.
Calf raises are getting harder, so I'm only going to try and go up a plate per session on the top set.
255X5 is only about 10lbs shy of my projected 5 rep max, but I have to say the top set felt pretty good, and, as has been the case lately, felt like the smoothest set of the session. Next week I use my projected 5RM.
Standing Calf Raises - 265X15, 325X15, 365X15
Deadlift -
155X5
185X5
205X5
225X5
255X5
Power Shrugs - 315X12, 8
Chin-ups - Gym BW 205X10, 4
Cable Crunch - 100X12, 10, 10
10 minutes on the treadmill
Wasn't sure how things would go today becasue I was running on a sleep deficit, and we had a party at work that involved both alcohol and massage therapy. However, I didn't feel even a little drunk (except for after the massage) so I thought I'd try to get in my last "light" pull session.
Calf raises are getting harder, so I'm only going to try and go up a plate per session on the top set.
255X5 is only about 10lbs shy of my projected 5 rep max, but I have to say the top set felt pretty good, and, as has been the case lately, felt like the smoothest set of the session. Next week I use my projected 5RM.
Monday, January 23, 2012
UB: Strong Week 2. Press
Defranco Mobility work
Neck Fexion - 25X20X3
Press -
BarX5
55X5
65X5
75X5
85X5
Upright Rows - 85X13, 7
DB Laterals - 30sX10, 6
Hanging Leg Raise - 6, 5, 5, 5, 5
10 minute lope on treadmill
I'm wondering if I should be doing neck extensions instead of flexion. Seems like it would have more carry-over to lifts. I'll think about this.
Similar to last bench session, I only rested between sets long enought to reload the bar, so got a better work-out as a result.
Neck Fexion - 25X20X3
Press -
BarX5
55X5
65X5
75X5
85X5
Upright Rows - 85X13, 7
DB Laterals - 30sX10, 6
Hanging Leg Raise - 6, 5, 5, 5, 5
10 minute lope on treadmill
I'm wondering if I should be doing neck extensions instead of flexion. Seems like it would have more carry-over to lifts. I'll think about this.
Similar to last bench session, I only rested between sets long enought to reload the bar, so got a better work-out as a result.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
UB: Strong Week 1. Deadlift
Defranco Mobility and Stretching
Standing Calf Raises - 135X15, 195X15, 225X15
Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
185X5
205X5
225X5
Power Shrugs - 275X11, 6
Chin-ups - BW(205)X9, 5
Cable Crunches - 1/2 stack X25, Stack+40X20X2
Treadmill - Light jogging for 10 minutes
Similar to the shoulder assistance last session, this is the first time I have done direct calf work since I started training for strength. I've always had big claves, so I kind of expected to work up to the full stack on these, but I only got about 3/4 of the way up. Nice to have an easy target to work towards.
With the Deadlifts, it's funny that Paul Carter and one of his readers were just discussing that Deadlifting relatively light weights never "feels light" the way it does in other lifts, and that was my experience here. 135 and 185 always feel light, but once I cross 200 things feel "heavy" even if I can lift 50lbs. heavier in that rep range. Nonetheless, I just tried to focus on form and getting some "pop" in the reps.
Standing Calf Raises - 135X15, 195X15, 225X15
Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
185X5
205X5
225X5
Power Shrugs - 275X11, 6
Chin-ups - BW(205)X9, 5
Cable Crunches - 1/2 stack X25, Stack+40X20X2
Treadmill - Light jogging for 10 minutes
Similar to the shoulder assistance last session, this is the first time I have done direct calf work since I started training for strength. I've always had big claves, so I kind of expected to work up to the full stack on these, but I only got about 3/4 of the way up. Nice to have an easy target to work towards.
With the Deadlifts, it's funny that Paul Carter and one of his readers were just discussing that Deadlifting relatively light weights never "feels light" the way it does in other lifts, and that was my experience here. 135 and 185 always feel light, but once I cross 200 things feel "heavy" even if I can lift 50lbs. heavier in that rep range. Nonetheless, I just tried to focus on form and getting some "pop" in the reps.
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