LRB Diet - Week 10
BW - 197
Squats -
BarX10 (long pause at the bottom to stretch)
95X5
125X4
145X3
185X2
205X1
125X35!!!
Chins - 5 sets
super-set with
Push-ups - 4 sets
Band Pull-Aparts; Medium Grip - 2 sets of 50
Fucking hell, this was the hardest damn set ever.
To recap, about a month back, inspired by Dave Tate's Halloween tradition of doing a "death-set" of 315, I decided I would aim to do a a 35 rep set for my 35th birthday. I projected my 40RM, which is a hilarious idea especially in the middle of running 531. I used 40 precisely because projecting a max for a rep range that's far away from the range you've been working in is a dicey proposition, so I knew I would need a margin of error. That weight projected to be 125 lbs.
Then for the last 3 weeks I've been adding back-off sets on my heavy squat day with 135. Again, I used a heavier weight to train for this to create "elbow room" for the 35 rep set itself. Week 1 I did 135X10, Week 2 135X15, and Week 3 I did 135X20 and then a 50% set of 135X12. This helped me get used to working in a higher rep range, and with a heavier weight than my "event" weight.
For the programming of the event itself, I used Paul Carter's Big-15 #'s which are designed to over warm-up to a moderately heavy single, and then back-off to some higher-rep work sets. This was perfect. The 125 felt feather-light for the first 10 reps or so thanks to the over warm-up. I got to 20 and everything was still OK, but around 25 reps I didn't know if I would make it. My lower back started cramping pretty hard from holding my arch that long, and that meant that taking a rest at lock-out was really no rest at all. It was a toss-up as to which was harder at the end, squatting or holding at lock-out. The weight was so light that I even tried standing straight up and using my hands to hold the weight against my back, but the cramping continued. By the time I got to 30 there was no option left but to finish, however. Those last reps will go down as the ugliest squat reps of my life, but I got my 35. I racked it, and collapsed onto the safety pins and just stared at the ceiling panting.
Diet-wise, I didn't eat any carbs the day before, and on the day I added some carbs back in to breakfast and lunch, and then added a 2nd lunch a couple hours before training along with a cup of coffee. As a result, I was lean in the morning, but had plenty of energy for squatting.
This all went pretty damn well. If I had it all to do over again, the only thing I would change would be to add hypers at the beginning and/or end of every session leading up to this. That low-back cramping was no joke.
After the squats, I just did some chins and push-ups to make sure I got some push-pull in before my vacation. No point in recording the reps performed, because the numbers would be extreme outliers after that squat session. I was just too wiped to be much good for anything. I will say that I kept both movements strict, and with a tight pause at the bottom of each rep.
Lastly, I threw in some pull-aparts for balance because I got more push-ups than chins.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 3. Press/Dead
Saturday:
Band Pull-Aparts, wide-grip - 100 straight reps
Sunday:
LRB Diet - Week 10
BW - 197
Pause- Squats -
BarX5, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 210X3
Klokovs -
BarX10
55, 65X5
75X3
85X2
95X1
100X1
105XFAIL
85X5
Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185, 225X5
250X3
280X8
Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X5
455X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
475X2, 2, 2, 2, 5
Band Pull-Aparts; Medium-Grip - 5 sets of 25
Brutal, balls-to-the-wall session. Spent about 2 hours in the gym. Goddamn pause squats still feel heavy as hell over 200 lbs. One thing that did feel good was sitting down into the first set with the empty bar for a long, long time. It just seemed to really stretch out my hips and allow everything to open up for the pause, and felt pretty awesome as well. Regarding how heavy the top set is feeling, I don't think I'm ready to jump up to the next % tier of the program, and will have to stay here for a while OR just go ahead and take a shot at the next tier, and see if I fail or not...
Decided to do another "testing" day for the Klokovs using the Strong-15 #'s. That 100X1 was maybe the hardest grind-out of a rep I've ever done. The first few inches of this lift are just brutal, as even once you've broken the bar off your neck it still moves SLOOOOOOW for the next little bit. I ground just as hard on that 105, but it would not break. I upped the weight a bit for the back-off set to make it a bit more challenging.
280X8 on Deads is a Rep PR, and a tiny, tiny increase to my projected 1RM. I was mainly focused on keeping my hips high, because my shins and knees have been taking a beating lately, and I think it's because I'm starting with my hips too low.
Did the 475 for double on shrugs, because I think I can move up to that for the triples, but I didn't want to jump straight in.
Had a few minutes till the bus would come, so I hit some band pull-aparts.
This was my last regular session before I go on vacation. I'll hit the gym once more to try my "birthday squats" idea, and I may also get in one more conditioning session once the squats are done.
Band Pull-Aparts, wide-grip - 100 straight reps
Sunday:
LRB Diet - Week 10
BW - 197
Pause- Squats -
BarX5, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 210X3
Klokovs -
BarX10
55, 65X5
75X3
85X2
95X1
100X1
105XFAIL
85X5
Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185, 225X5
250X3
280X8
Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X5
455X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
475X2, 2, 2, 2, 5
Band Pull-Aparts; Medium-Grip - 5 sets of 25
Brutal, balls-to-the-wall session. Spent about 2 hours in the gym. Goddamn pause squats still feel heavy as hell over 200 lbs. One thing that did feel good was sitting down into the first set with the empty bar for a long, long time. It just seemed to really stretch out my hips and allow everything to open up for the pause, and felt pretty awesome as well. Regarding how heavy the top set is feeling, I don't think I'm ready to jump up to the next % tier of the program, and will have to stay here for a while OR just go ahead and take a shot at the next tier, and see if I fail or not...
Decided to do another "testing" day for the Klokovs using the Strong-15 #'s. That 100X1 was maybe the hardest grind-out of a rep I've ever done. The first few inches of this lift are just brutal, as even once you've broken the bar off your neck it still moves SLOOOOOOW for the next little bit. I ground just as hard on that 105, but it would not break. I upped the weight a bit for the back-off set to make it a bit more challenging.
280X8 on Deads is a Rep PR, and a tiny, tiny increase to my projected 1RM. I was mainly focused on keeping my hips high, because my shins and knees have been taking a beating lately, and I think it's because I'm starting with my hips too low.
Did the 475 for double on shrugs, because I think I can move up to that for the triples, but I didn't want to jump straight in.
Had a few minutes till the bus would come, so I hit some band pull-aparts.
This was my last regular session before I go on vacation. I'll hit the gym once more to try my "birthday squats" idea, and I may also get in one more conditioning session once the squats are done.
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 3. Bench
LRB Diet - Week 9
BW - 199
Pause Squats -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 210X3
Bench -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
125X5
145X3
160X7
95X15
super-set with
Pull-Ups - BW from a dead-hang; 6 sets of 1
Chin-Ups; Neutral Grip; Dead-hang on every rep -
BWX5, 5, 5, 3, 3
Hypers - 3 sets of 15
Nice session. 160X7 is a huge all-around Bench PR with close-grip, and pausing every rep on my chest. This puts me in spitting distance of my previous best on wide-grip touch-and-go. There's always a chance this was an above average day, and that I'll see a little bit of a drop-off, but then again maybe not. I'm going on vacation, and probably won't bench while I'm away, so it'll have to wait till I get back. My bench started to really take off here around September, 9. I'm going to go back into my log, and try to really make sure I know what I did in the month or so leading up to this.
I'm resetting all my pull/chin-ups to a "dead-hang." This isn't totally accurate. What I'm doing is extending my arms almost fully at the bottom and pausing. The reason it's "almost fully" and not a true dead-hang, is because I'm keeping enough tension to keep my scapula retracted. My reps feel higher quality this way, and my chest comes more naturally to the bar, rather than just my chin. Regardless, this is a significantly more difficult approach, and feels more "legitimate."
Had some time till the bus would come, so I kicked out some hypers real quick.
BW - 199
Pause Squats -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 210X3
Bench -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
125X5
145X3
160X7
95X15
super-set with
Pull-Ups - BW from a dead-hang; 6 sets of 1
Chin-Ups; Neutral Grip; Dead-hang on every rep -
BWX5, 5, 5, 3, 3
Hypers - 3 sets of 15
Nice session. 160X7 is a huge all-around Bench PR with close-grip, and pausing every rep on my chest. This puts me in spitting distance of my previous best on wide-grip touch-and-go. There's always a chance this was an above average day, and that I'll see a little bit of a drop-off, but then again maybe not. I'm going on vacation, and probably won't bench while I'm away, so it'll have to wait till I get back. My bench started to really take off here around September, 9. I'm going to go back into my log, and try to really make sure I know what I did in the month or so leading up to this.
I'm resetting all my pull/chin-ups to a "dead-hang." This isn't totally accurate. What I'm doing is extending my arms almost fully at the bottom and pausing. The reason it's "almost fully" and not a true dead-hang, is because I'm keeping enough tension to keep my scapula retracted. My reps feel higher quality this way, and my chest comes more naturally to the bar, rather than just my chin. Regardless, this is a significantly more difficult approach, and feels more "legitimate."
Had some time till the bus would come, so I kicked out some hypers real quick.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 3. Squat
LRB Diet - Week 9
BW - 197
Squat -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
180X5
205X3
225X7
135X20, 12
Pendlays -
BarX15
120X3
155X3
140X15
Dips (paused at bottom) -
BWX5, 5, 5, 5, 3
Hoo-boy. I did not get very much sleep the night before, and this session was mentally and physically exhausting.
225X7 is in line with the top-sets of my last two sessions, but no weight PRs. That's fine and good, but the real story is then in the back-off sets. Jefit says this a volume PR for me, even over the 195X20 session I did back in May when I was cutting my squats much higher. I'd thought about form in the days between my last session and this, and theorized that if I kept my butt pushed back a bit at lock-out, I would be able to take a breath or two between reps without losing my arch as much. This worked out very well and holding the weight with locked knees felt much safer for my back. Also, being able to keep my arch tighter resulted in an almost painful low-back pump.
My goal for the back-offs was to hit 20 reps with 135 (5 more reps than last session), and then do a 50% set. I was nervous going into the 20 because I felt a bit wiped from the top-set, but the new lock-out positioning helped me get it very solidly. I then rested ONLY 60 seconds (this is how 50% sets work after all), and went back for another set. I thought I would be lucky to get 10 as tired as I felt, but I ended up getting 12! I probably could have gotten 15 with an all-out-maybe-dump-the-last-rep set, but I'd beat my goal, and called it good.
So that's my last regular squat session of the cycle. I have two more pause-squat sessions, and then it's on to the "Birthday Squats." I'll be using my current, projected 40RM of 125, and working up and then backing-off to it using Paul Carter's "Big-15" progression. That will look like this:
BarX45
95X5
120X4
145X3
180X2
205X1
125X35
Gotta make sure I get more sleep the night before, and eat up a bit.
As fried as I was, 140X15 is an all-around PR in Pendlays.
For Dips, I'd been saying I was going to work up to +45 by 5, and then re-set my form to full depth and with a pause at the bottom. I got to thinking about this, and realized it's the same bullshit I used to tell myself with Squat and Bench. "Yeah, I'm gonna reset my bench form to close-grip and pausing every rep at the bottom, but I just want to hit 225 with my hands past the rings and a lot of bounce of the chest first." Why? All that does is delay me hitting the target with the harder form. So I said fuck it, 45X5+ will feel so much sweeter when I hit it deep and with a pause at the bottom than it will cutting high. And how shitty would I have felt about myself if I'd done +45X5 today, and then discovered next session that I can't get much more than 5 BW reps with a deep pause? Not lying to myself is a good thing.
Honestly, I almost skipped dips altogether because I was so tired, and that meant ab wheel was just not going to happen.
BW - 197
Squat -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
180X5
205X3
225X7
135X20, 12
Pendlays -
BarX15
120X3
155X3
140X15
Dips (paused at bottom) -
BWX5, 5, 5, 5, 3
Hoo-boy. I did not get very much sleep the night before, and this session was mentally and physically exhausting.
225X7 is in line with the top-sets of my last two sessions, but no weight PRs. That's fine and good, but the real story is then in the back-off sets. Jefit says this a volume PR for me, even over the 195X20 session I did back in May when I was cutting my squats much higher. I'd thought about form in the days between my last session and this, and theorized that if I kept my butt pushed back a bit at lock-out, I would be able to take a breath or two between reps without losing my arch as much. This worked out very well and holding the weight with locked knees felt much safer for my back. Also, being able to keep my arch tighter resulted in an almost painful low-back pump.
My goal for the back-offs was to hit 20 reps with 135 (5 more reps than last session), and then do a 50% set. I was nervous going into the 20 because I felt a bit wiped from the top-set, but the new lock-out positioning helped me get it very solidly. I then rested ONLY 60 seconds (this is how 50% sets work after all), and went back for another set. I thought I would be lucky to get 10 as tired as I felt, but I ended up getting 12! I probably could have gotten 15 with an all-out-maybe-dump-the-last-rep set, but I'd beat my goal, and called it good.
So that's my last regular squat session of the cycle. I have two more pause-squat sessions, and then it's on to the "Birthday Squats." I'll be using my current, projected 40RM of 125, and working up and then backing-off to it using Paul Carter's "Big-15" progression. That will look like this:
BarX45
95X5
120X4
145X3
180X2
205X1
125X35
Gotta make sure I get more sleep the night before, and eat up a bit.
As fried as I was, 140X15 is an all-around PR in Pendlays.
For Dips, I'd been saying I was going to work up to +45 by 5, and then re-set my form to full depth and with a pause at the bottom. I got to thinking about this, and realized it's the same bullshit I used to tell myself with Squat and Bench. "Yeah, I'm gonna reset my bench form to close-grip and pausing every rep at the bottom, but I just want to hit 225 with my hands past the rings and a lot of bounce of the chest first." Why? All that does is delay me hitting the target with the harder form. So I said fuck it, 45X5+ will feel so much sweeter when I hit it deep and with a pause at the bottom than it will cutting high. And how shitty would I have felt about myself if I'd done +45X5 today, and then discovered next session that I can't get much more than 5 BW reps with a deep pause? Not lying to myself is a good thing.
Honestly, I almost skipped dips altogether because I was so tired, and that meant ab wheel was just not going to happen.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 2. Press/Dead
LRB Diet - Week 9
BW - 198
Pause Squats -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 215X3
Klokovs -
BarX10, 10
60, 70X3
80X12
Deadlift -
135, 135X5
205, 235X3
265X10
BB Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X7
455X3, 3, 3, 3, 5
405X12
Ab Wheel - 3 sets of 5-10
Pause Squats still feeling heavy.
Klokovs were pretty solid today, and 80X12 is a Rep PR.
Deadlift felt great, and 265X10 is an all-around PR. My 3rd of the year. Started with 285X5 in February, then 335X1 in May. Maybe I'll hit another before the year's out!
Bumped up to 455 for the triples on shrugs. Felt tired as hell by the time I got here, and my grip was rough even with straps, so I did a back-off set of 405 instead of progressing to singles. 405X12 is an all-around PR.
Got 3 sets of nothin' on the ab wheel before I called it and went home. Pretty good session, but I was beat down by the end.
BW - 198
Pause Squats -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
160, 185, 215X3
Klokovs -
BarX10, 10
60, 70X3
80X12
Deadlift -
135, 135X5
205, 235X3
265X10
BB Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X7
455X3, 3, 3, 3, 5
405X12
Ab Wheel - 3 sets of 5-10
Pause Squats still feeling heavy.
Klokovs were pretty solid today, and 80X12 is a Rep PR.
Deadlift felt great, and 265X10 is an all-around PR. My 3rd of the year. Started with 285X5 in February, then 335X1 in May. Maybe I'll hit another before the year's out!
Bumped up to 455 for the triples on shrugs. Felt tired as hell by the time I got here, and my grip was rough even with straps, so I did a back-off set of 405 instead of progressing to singles. 405X12 is an all-around PR.
Got 3 sets of nothin' on the ab wheel before I called it and went home. Pretty good session, but I was beat down by the end.
Monday, September 17, 2012
5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 2. Carries
Sunday:
LRB Diet - Week 9
BW - ???
AM:
Steady-state - 20 minutes
PM:
Wife Carries - 1/4 mileX2
When I started lifting, my wife would sometimes ask me what my goal was, and I would joke that I thought a man should be able to carry his woman for 2 miles over un-even terrain. I even did a cycle of farmer's carries once with that in mind, but that fell away as I tried to stay focused on the basics.
Recently, she asked me how far I thought I could carry her now, and partially inspired by a recent CNP article on Tom Hardy, I decided to try some piggy-backs. I have a 1-mile route in my neighborhood I often use for conditioning, and I thought I would go for a 1/2 mile carry. Luckily, the route is easily broken down into 1/4 miles, because that's all I could manage. We then walked another 1/4 mile until I felt recovered, and I did another 1/4 mile carry.
The good news/bad news is that no one part of my body felt much more fatigued than any other. This was a whole body effort, and pretty much everything was giving out at once rather than having one "weak link." That both reinforces my confidence that I'm keeping my training well-balanced, and that I still have loads of room for improvement in every area. With that said, it's now a day later, and my biceps are more sore than they've been in a long time, so this obviously provides a different type/degree of stress than all the rowing and chinning I do.
If the wife is willing, I may start alternating this with hill-sprints as regular conditioning. It's also pretty fun and pretty funny. There is a bar right where we stopped yesterday, and I collapsed onto a bar stool and treated myself to a giant ice-water, and a gin-and-tonic for my troubles.
LRB Diet - Week 9
BW - ???
AM:
Steady-state - 20 minutes
PM:
Wife Carries - 1/4 mileX2
When I started lifting, my wife would sometimes ask me what my goal was, and I would joke that I thought a man should be able to carry his woman for 2 miles over un-even terrain. I even did a cycle of farmer's carries once with that in mind, but that fell away as I tried to stay focused on the basics.
Recently, she asked me how far I thought I could carry her now, and partially inspired by a recent CNP article on Tom Hardy, I decided to try some piggy-backs. I have a 1-mile route in my neighborhood I often use for conditioning, and I thought I would go for a 1/2 mile carry. Luckily, the route is easily broken down into 1/4 miles, because that's all I could manage. We then walked another 1/4 mile until I felt recovered, and I did another 1/4 mile carry.
The good news/bad news is that no one part of my body felt much more fatigued than any other. This was a whole body effort, and pretty much everything was giving out at once rather than having one "weak link." That both reinforces my confidence that I'm keeping my training well-balanced, and that I still have loads of room for improvement in every area. With that said, it's now a day later, and my biceps are more sore than they've been in a long time, so this obviously provides a different type/degree of stress than all the rowing and chinning I do.
If the wife is willing, I may start alternating this with hill-sprints as regular conditioning. It's also pretty fun and pretty funny. There is a bar right where we stopped yesterday, and I collapsed onto a bar stool and treated myself to a giant ice-water, and a gin-and-tonic for my troubles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
