Training with Matt Wenning at Ludus Magnus Gym. Day 1. Speed Lower

I was in Columbus this week for work, and I took the opportunity to arrange to go train with Matt Wenning at his gym, Ludus Magnus.  I would describe the gym as contemporary-hardcore.  A converted garage with no climate control, a ton of specialty bars, a couple of racks, a platform, a quality bench, all the dumbells, and a smattering of machines.  Only what you need, or might find useful.  Matt just had me work in with the group he was training that day, I'll detail basically what we did, but I don't remember specific weights.

Warm-up:
Sled-pull - 1/2 way down the block, and then back up (maybe 3 plates on the sled)
Lying Leg Curls - 1 set of 20
Decline Sit-Ups - 1 set of 20

Speed Squats - Safety-Bar Box Squats w/ one chain per side
I believe we did 4 sets of 2; all reps paused. Maybe a quarter and a dime on each side.

Speed Deads - different conventional stance/grip every set (1st lifter decides); all reps held at knee on eccentric for a 2 count.
We did a bunch of singles here.  Maybe worked up to 245.

Finishing Circuit - 2 rounds, AMAP
Fat Bar Shrugs w/ 1 pps.
GHR Sit-Ups
Hypers w/ 45 lb. plate

Warm-ups were all good.  Pulling a heavy-ish sled over a busted sidewalk in the the July sun was hilarious.

The speed squats with safety bar, chains, paused on a box are the kind of classic "Westside" style movement I never thought I'd actually do.  I shit ton of sit-back.  More than I think would be possible with a regular squat.  Matt's take-home for me on this was basically, "you've got to keep your knees out hard.  Looks like you've been squatting a lot into your quads, and when those are taken away, you don't have any power.  Get those knees out, and keep them out."

The speed deads paused on the way down were kind of fun.  I really started to feel the pause in my lats.

On the finishing circuit, I got around 20 reps on each movement the first circuit, and around 15 on the second.  Matt's only real send-home for me on Deads was that I should do more of the weighted hypers.

I was working in with a crew of 3 other folks.  2 guys and 1 woman.  The team training environment of stripping, loading, spotting, cheering, and coaching was pretty fucking awesome.  Matt was super-nice, he ended up giving me a ride back to my hotel, and asking me to come train bench the next day.

Conditioning. Week 3. Upper Body and Jogging

BW - 202

Friday
Bench -
BarX20, 20
95X5
135X5, 5
165X5

BB Rows -
BarX20
95X10
135X15, 13, 12, 10

Cuff Work - Lots

Chins - BWX10, 6, 5, 5 (26 total)

Decline Sit-Ups - BWX15, 15, 10 (40 total)

Saturday
Jogging - 2 miles; 20 minutes

Bench still feels weak, and my shoulder feels like crap for a few days afterwards.  Probably gonna start looking for a Physical Therapist this week.

Everything else went well.  Including the jogging on Saturday.  I'd hoped to be much further along that a 10 minute mile pace at this point, but with all the set-backs I'm just happy to be able to jog the distance.

Conditioning. Week 3. Lower Body

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X5
215X5
235X5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X3
275X2
305X2
325X1, 1, 1

Cuff Work - Lots

Rope Extensions - X20, 20, 15, 13

Crunches - BWX80

So what I'm doing here is alternating each week between light volume and weight on one lift and super-light volume and slightly heavier weight on the other.  So today was the heavier Deadlift day.  This worked out well so that I could continue to test out the adductor.  I had no issues with it, and all the squats felt fairly strong.  Deadlift felt good too, however I can tell that both lifts are down from my winter bests.

This was supposed to be a day to work on push-up strength with push-up volume and weighted dips, but I'm continuing to rehab the shoulder strain.  It's feeling better, though.

Doing the rope extensions to keep some triceps work going on my off-bench day since the push-ups and dips are out.

Upped the total reps on crunches.  I could do more here either in the single set, or with more sets, but since the decline sit-ups are so hard, it's nice to have a lighter day on these as well.

Just for a reference diet-wise, this is what my bodyweight fluctuation has looked like over the past 2 1/2 years that I've been tracking it regularly:

I generally feel pretty good about this pattern, but I'm still working to tweak both diet and life-style so that each can meet the goals of the other.

Conditioning. Week 2. Upper Body

BW - 205

Cuff Work - Lots

CG Bench -
BarX20, 15
95X5
135X4
155X3
165X3, 3, 3

BB Rows -
BarX25
95X10
155X12, 10, 10, 10

Chins - BWX10, 5, 5, 5 (25 total)

Decline Sit-Ups - BWX10, 10, 10, 5, 5 (40 total)

Don't know if the shoulder's getting better or not.  The cuff pain has subsided somewhat, and I can bench...somewhat, but there's  a new issue right around where the outside of my left trap meets the point of my left collar-bone.  My Acromion?  Impingement?  I'm probably a few weeks away from looking for a Physical Therapist.

The bench started to feel strong as I went through the warm-ups, but the 165X3 sets did not.  I dunno.

Rows felt okay, though.

Chins and sit-ups were fine.  Upped the volume on both over last week.

Conditioning. Week 1. Upper Body

BW - 205

Cuff Work - Lots (capsule stretching, band dislocations, pull aparts, 5lb. plate "cleans," front raises with various grips, band external rotations)

Bench -
BarX20, 20
95X6
115X6
135X6
155X8

BB Rows -
BarX15
95X10
135X15, 12, 15

Chins - BWX10, 5, 5

Decline Sit-Ups - BWX10, 10, 10

Being very careful with the shoulder since I seemed to re-aggravate it by sprinting (!).  Just tried to run through a sequence of everything I've ever done for shoulder cuff and shoulder prehab.

That included an extra warm-up set with just the bar, and more reps and smaller jumps on the warm-up sets.  Originally I programmed for 12 reps of 155, which would normally be slightly challenging but completely do-able.  Everything was very tentative today, and I cut it at 8.

The lay-off and tentativeness about the shoulder seemed to cut into my rowing as well.  This felt more like a neuromuscular issue than a strength issue.  My mind just didn't want to let my body "get after it" today on these.

Chins were okay, though.  Programmed for 20 total, and got it in 3 sets.  Hoped to go over on the last set, but 5 was the limit.

The crunches I did in my BW circuits in the last block did not set me up well for decline sit-ups.  Originally hoped to do 60 or so total reps, but had to bring that down, and will adjust my programming for this block accordingly.

Accessory +Biceps. Week 6

BW - 208

Machine Pullovers -
Warm-upX12
Work-setsX15, 13 (straight-weight; same as last)

Chin-ups - BWX4, 4, 3 (double-paused)

Pull-downs (medium, neutral grip) - X18, 14, 12 (straight-weight; same as last)

Reverse-Grip, EZ Bar, Preacher Curls - 40ishX15, 12, 10, 10
DB Curls - 35sX12, 12, 10, 10
all curls super-set with
Rope Extensions - X20, 18, 16, 16, 18, 18, 15, 15 (straight-weight)

BB Curls - BarX22

Decline Sit-Ups - X10, 10, 10

Good session.  Was able to push the volume on the pull-overs and pull-downs.

Instead of doing AMAP on the decline sit-ups, I'll try to build total volume.

Accessory +Biceps. Week 5

BW - 209

Jogged to and from the gym; about 15 minutes each way with some intermittant walking.

Machine Pullovers -
Warm-upX10
Work-setsX15, 12 (straight-weight; same as last week)

Chins - BWX6, 3, 4 (double-paused)

Pulldowns (medium, neutral-grip) - X16, 12, 10 (straight-weight; same as last week)

Reverse-grip, EZ Bar, Preacher Curls - 40ishX20, 15, 14, 12
DB Curls - 35sX10, 10, 10, 10
all curls super-set with
Rope Extensions - X22, 18, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15

BB Curls - BarX20

Decline Sit-ups - X15, 10, 3*

Everything went well.

*wasn't sure if my low back was loving this or not.  Otherwise, the movement felt pretty good, and it was nice to have something different to do besides Ab Wheel.