Since it seems to be the cool thing to do these days, it's time for me to put up a few pics and some measurements. Ok, maybe it was my wife nagging me because she did it.
I'm 6' tall and right now I'm around 245lbs.
Shoulders - 52 1/4"
Waist - 39"
Hips - 41.5"
Chest - 44 1/2"
Thigh - 29 1/2"
Quad (just above knee) - 22 1/4"
Calf - 18"
Bicep - 17"
Thanks Simon. I think now it's time for me to lean out a little. I feel that right now at 245 I am almost as lean as I was at 235. I would be happy if I could get back to 235 while maintaining the size I have put on.
Jill, I have been warned by both you and Tina now and I can't wait for Friday.
Thursday 6/05/08
Power Training Push/Pull
Week 2 - Workout A2
Hang Jump Shrug
65 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5 x 2 sets
245 x 5 x 2 sets
OH Squat
45 x 8
65 x 8
95 x 10 x 2 sets
Bulgarian Split Squats
50's x 10 x 2 sets
Step Up
50's x 10 x 2 sets
Side-to-side pushup
BW x 10 x 4 sets
Jackknife Pushup
BW x 10
BW x 8
My shoulders were fried, so I switched to regular pushups with my feet elevated on the bench.
BW x 10 x 2 sets
This was a great workout. Jump shrugs went really well today and I was getting a lot of speed and really coming up on my toes.
The OH squats were not planned, but the mood was right. No doubt that these contributed to the jacknife pushups being so difficult.
For some reason the split squats were bothering my back, but only when my left foot was forward. I switched to step-ups for the last 2 sets.
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll actually get to train, or if we are just going to discuss a plan, but I'll be prepared either way.
No lifting yet.
We just met to discuss a plan for me. He asked about my current lifting routine and what I was looking to do and we set up my first scheduled workout for Monday. If I get into o-lifts he said I would get into a lifting program with Inga, who handles their atheletes that want to focus on olympic lifting.
It seems like a really cool place. There is a big open floor space, kettlebells, a power rack, oly.platform and a bunch of machines because it is also a rehab facility. When I got there he was training a girl and she was doing walking lunges with overhead presses, box jumps and then sprinting on this crazy looking treadmill. I think it was a manual treadmill, but with a motorized incline. The weird thing about it was that it didn't use a continuous belt, but had individual planks. Nothing like I have ever seen before.
After we spoke for a little while his next client came in to train. It just happened to be Maureen Shea, the #4 ranked undefeated featherweight female boxer. Also knows as "the real million dallar baby".
This is going to be a great place to train. Now I really can't wait.
I think you'll get there...it's slower now...that...EH-HEM you'll be 30 in a few months...but I know you can do whatever you put your mind to!
Sidonia--I didn't know you were Paul's wife 'til Jill told me this weekend. Lady, you are just gorgeous (not gay, not gay)! I hope your hubby knows what a catch he landed.
Sidonia--I didn't know you were Paul's wife 'til Jill told me this weekend. Lady, you are just gorgeous (not gay, not gay)! I hope your hubby knows what a catch he landed.
Tina
*eek* thanks....
I think he's a catch too...even if I did only marry him for his butt...TGFS...(thank god for squats......>8)
Of course I know. I have only known her for 25 years, so I have had a little bit of time to figure that out.
Beautiful, strong and not afraid to drop the F-bomb in front of a bunch of guys in the gym. What else could a guy ask for?
If it wasn't for Kristen I would probably not even be into lifting today. She's the one that dragged me into the gym in the first place, then my love for lifting took over. Now she is just as excited as I am about my new interest in o-lifting.
We went to the gym today for a quick workout (after both buying new shoes). I even bought myself a new gym bag.
I did a few sets of hang cleans and experimented with dropping into a full squat. Nothing heavy, but it felt good and my catches are getting more and more comfortable. I'm looking forward to getting my form ripped apart tomorrow and learning a few things.
I followed the weights with 30 minutes on the elliptical.
Tonight was my first o-lifting training session and I already feel about 2.2x weaker than I was yesterday.
All weights in kg, estimated because I didn't write anything down.
We started with a warmup with just the bar, consisting of jump shrugs, hang cleans and push presses. 5 each for 3 rounds.
Next was jump shrugs and hang cleans. I would do 5 shrugs, then without putting the bar down, 5 cleans. Started with 30kg and worked up to 60kg for 3-4 sets of 5.
Behind the neck push jerk
Worked up to 60kg for 4 sets of 5
Back Squat
60kg x 8
90kg? x 6
130kg (70% 1RM) x 5 x 5 sets
Romanian Deadlift
I have no idea what weight I used on these. It felt like somewhere around 85kg for 3 sets of 6.
Last we did some core work.
Alternating jackknives with 6kg medicine ball. - 2 sets of 10 each side
Crunch/situp combo. 1 crunch, 1 situp, 2 crunches, 1 situp, 3 crunches, 1 situp, etc... I only made it to 5 crunches before I started to cramp
Reverse hypers - 2 sets of 10
This was a great first workout. I need lots of work on my cleans because I have a tendancy to muscle the weight up using way too much arm. I have to work on keeping the bar close to my body and shrugging the weight up. My form on the jump shrugs was good, but as soon as I try to clean the weight I lose it and don't shrug fully.
Push jerks were feeling pretty good, I just need to make sure to dip under the bar with every rep.
He was very happy with my squat and RDL form, which I was happy to hear since I haven't had anyone really critique my form in a long time.
My next session is Thursday night. Can't wait to see what he has in store for me then.
KG is much better i rarely have any clue how much weight is on the bar.
When he set me up for the 5x5 squats, I had to ask how much weight it was. I don't like getting under a bar without knowing how much weight is on it and being able to prepare myself. I'll get used to it eventually, but following my training log is going to get confusing with every other training day switching between kgs and lbs.
Who knows if this post will actually last, but here is my workout from Tuesday night.
I have been trying to add more grip work lately and last week I saw a guy in my gym using rubber hand grips that fit over the bar to give you an instant thick bar. He got his from TYLERGRIP - A Revolution in Strength Training and was really happy with them, so I ordered myself a set and tried them out for the first time on Tuesday.
They say to start with less weight than you are used to, so I took it easy.
Everything was done using the tylergrips.
BB Bent over rows
45 x 10
95 x 10
115 x 10 x 2 sets
Lat Pulldowns
80 x 10
120 x 10
150 x 10 x 2 sets
Hammer Curls
25's x 10 each
35's x 10 each
Side Bend
85 x 15 each side
I did a few sets of very light hang cleans just to work on technique a little and finished with 10 minutes on the concept II rower and some ab work.
I was happy with the grips. They are very easy to get on and off the bars and really force you to work harder to hold on. Just about every set was limited by my grip giving out when I knew I had plenty more in me. These are going to become part of my regular training. I wanted to try some farmers walks or static holds with heavy db's, but didn't want to trash my grip too badly before Today.
Last night was Yoga. I am really starting to notice a difference in my hip mobility. In one of my first classes, we tried the double pigeon pose (Knee to Ankle is the Yoga Pose of the Week) and my knee was sticking way up in the air. This time I was able to get into the pose and even get my elbows all the way to the floor. Talk about an intense hip stretch.
We did a more extensive warmup today consisting of high knee pulls, toy soldiers, cradle walks and inchworms. Then the same empty bar work as last session, but using the snatch grip.
Power Snatch
We started with snatch pulls immediately followed power snatches without putting the bar down, then worked up to:
40kg x 5 x 5
Snatch grip push press
40kg x 5 x 5
Hang Snatch Pull
30kg x 6
40kg x 6 x 4 sets
Snatch Squat
40kg x 8 x 5 sets
Superset DB Split Squat
55's x 8 x 3 sets
Jerk DB Press
20's x 10
30's x 10 x 2 sets
That was a great session and my shoulders are going to be sore tomorrow. I was having a hard time getting the bar back into the right position and tend to hold it a little too far forward making it very difficult to hold. On the reps that I did have good bar position I knew it instantly and could really feel the difference. At one point during the snatch squats my hand started to go numb, so I think I was pinching something. Hopefully as my flexibility improves and I get used to having the bar over my head things will improve.
My other issue during the pull was staying over the bar and completing the shrug. Pretty much the same problem I had with my cleans.
I think things went well considering it was my first time doing full power snatches.
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