Road to 400 Log

[I. Kay]

Chinups : 6,4,5,4,3,3
Chest-supported DB rows : 4x6 - 45's
Hammer Curls : 6,5,3,3 - 30's

(reverse flyes felt wimpy, changed to the rows)

[I. Kay]

Phase III begins:

Medium-stance squats
10-95
8-135
5-185

5-225
1-245
5-235
1-255

Quarter Squats
5-285

Explosive Squats
8-135

Jump Squats
10-95

In-depth Jumps
2x10

Felt kind of tight in hams; I couldn't go very far down, and felt a bit of the sling-shot effect on the concentric. I did the appropriate stretches, but this was the first leg workout after my week off, so...???

I can definitely do more on the jump-squats next week.

[GqArtguy]

Im not sure if youre following percentages in the routine, if so take this with a grain of salt: I dont know what your squat max is but you should be rocking on the single during the wave loading. I know King says to add about 20lbs or so but that means that your sets of 5 should be heavier, of course this is your first week...

Rock on the quarter squats because they will get you used to heavy weights and take out the psychological aspect when you attempt 285 for a full squat.

Dont get carried away on jump squats weight-wise, the goal here is not to move heavy weight fast (thats what your work sets are for) but to move a sumbmaximal weight (50-60%) explosively, think about the bar having 315lb on it or something and blast it up. Since youre doing high rep jump squats you might want to err on the side of 50%.

Never did the in depth jumps so no comment there.

[I. Kay]

Originally posted by GqArtguy:
[qb] Im not sure if youre following percentages in the routine, if so take this with a grain of salt: I dont know what your squat max is but you should be rocking on the single during the wave loading. I know King says to add about 20lbs or so but that means that your sets of 5 should be heavier, of course this is your first week...

Rock on the quarter squats because they will get you used to heavy weights and take out the psychological aspect when you attempt 285 for a full squat.

Dont get carried away on jump squats weight-wise, the goal here is not to move heavy weight fast (thats what your work sets are for) but to move a sumbmaximal weight (50-60%) explosively, think about the bar having 315lb on it or something and blast it up. Since youre doing high rep jump squats you might want to err on the side of 50%.

Never did the in depth jumps so no comment there. [/qb]

To tell you the truth, like in most IK phases, I'm never quite sure what I'll be attempting until I do it the first week.

I will definitely be ramping up the weights then, if you think that's what I should be doing. I always work out alone, so I'm often in the dark as far as intensity.

I will also keep in mind what you said about the jump squats. It's the explosiveness, not the weight, that I'm working on.

Thanks as always, Gq!

[I. Kay]

Incline DB Press : 6,5,4,4,3 - 65's
Weighted Dips : 4x6 - BW+35 (+5)
DB Shoulder Press : 10,10,7 - 30's

Had trouble breathing fluently during the Inclines. Actually, I've been having shallow breathing and a fast heart-rate for about a week. Most likely anxiety from school starting/financial aid difficulties, etc. It will pass soon enough!

[I. Kay]

Awful workout today! I don't know what was wrong, but I couldn't do anything right. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Deadlifting was like trying to breath in a plastic bag... the first few breaths were ok and then I just HIT A WALL.

My warmups went fine:

10-135
8-185
5-225

Then I went for my first set of 5, and got

4-285

I tried 315 for my single and couldn't BUDGE the muther.

So I went down to 305 and pulled it fine but almost lost my grip on the way back down. When I went for my second set of 5, I tried 285 again... wouldn't budge. WTF?!?!?!

So I quit. Instead, I went and did some Good Mornings : 3x4-185

I was able to do the Speed Shrugs, 8-135.

Then the Hurdle Jumps were a real challenge, and I could feel some deep muscles aching, 2x10.

I went to some BB holds (because my grip strength was one of the issues), holding 135 for 1 minute, then 2 more holds of 30 seconds. Then I did the Chad Waterbury wrist/forearm exercises/stretches routine.

I'm very disappointed!!! Deads are supposed to be my focus point, and it was terrible today.

Ugh.

[GqArtguy]

Everyone has an off. Have you taken a week off at all since you started? Your breathing issues and heart rate sound like symptoms of overtraining.

Whats your rest time during these sets?

[Ikan Twin]

hey RH

do you think maybe it's overkill with the warmups? i know it's an ian king workout & he loves to have about 8000 warmup reps, but maybe this is too much? j

if you have the time check out this article:
http://www.ruggedmag.com/index.php?t...ticle&i=6&a=10

here is one portion: Mistake #1: High Rep Warm Ups- High reps (10 and above) will cause your body to release lactic acid into the blood stream which significantly impairs the nervous system's ability to activate high threshold (think strength) motor units. WHAM!! The door just slammed, and an inspirational picture of your goal physique fell of the wall. Keep the reps in your warm up sets at six or below


also, like gq said, everyone can have a bad day. diet, slight flu, lack of sleep the previous nite, etc can cause lack of energy.

just keep it up man, you are doing a great job.

[I. Kay]

Thanks Ikan and Gq!

Yeah, looks like I'm fighting off/just getting a cold. All my roommates now have it apparently, so...

Also, a big YES to the warmup question! I really have always hated the fact that by the time I get to my workset, I've already done 23 reps! I really have no interest in endurance, and I feel I lose important energy before I even start.

Gq: I'm just coming off of my off-week. On a similar note, though: how much of a problem is stress? I know that for the last couple of weeks my stress level has sky-rocketed (school, money, etc.), so much so that my traps up through my neck feel like they're about to snap from the tension. Could that, over a period of 10-14 days, sap my strength enough?

Anyway, I guess this happens to everybody, but I was really looking forward to pulling some heavy lifts! Oh well.

Thanks again guys-

p.s. Gq: the rest times are 2-3 minutes in between each workset.

[GqArtguy]

Gq: I'm just coming off of my off-week. On a similar note, though: how much of a problem is stress? I know that for the last couple of weeks my stress level has sky-rocketed (school, money, etc.), so much so that my traps up through my neck feel like they're about to snap from the tension. Could that, over a period of 10-14 days, sap my strength enough?
[/QB]

That could very much be it. Stress saps mental energy if you let it and when you go in with high expectations in the gym it is very easy to get frustrated and thus throw you out of the groove. Remember that youre not testing maxes or anything yet so look at the gym as actual TRAINING where you seek to outdo the last session. Its good to go in and look foward to the gym and be surprised by your performance but in days that you cant dont fret, keep your eye on the long term goal.

Heck Im coming back from a back injury that sapped about half of my strength. It sucks being able to only squat 265 when I know Ive done 450lbs. And my pulling is only at 315 with form issues I need to address. I keep my eye on the FACT that I will squat 500lbs and I will clear 400lbs on my dead, and the journey is one Im enjoying because I know that Im going to do it.

The gym is a stress reliever for me so try to see it as a way to get through the frustrations and stress of life. If the gym becomes a stress maker for you then you need to rethink the way youre going about things.

Also, do the warmup Ikan suggested, I never liked the million reps you had to do before a workset. This will hopefully leave more energy for your worksets provided that you arent eroded with crap outside the gym.

[I. Kay]

You're right, Gq. I think part of my failure today was that I'm in such a bad mindset in general that after I missed that first lift I got psyched out.

As far as I can tell these were the factors:

1. My head was in the wrong place.
2. I did too much warmup: stretching, light extensions and 23 reps (as IK prescribes, but after reading that article... [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] )
3. I'm fighting off the flu.
4. I haven't been getting quite the sleep I usually do.
5. My cals are down an average of 300 per day since the first day of school.

I'll think on these and go in next week better prepared. The gym has always been a stress relief for me, too. I don't want to let it become a let-down.

[I. Kay]

Chinups: 5,5,5,5,3,3
DB Rows: 4x6 - 50's
Hammer Curls: 6,4,2,2,3 - 30's

[I. Kay]

Medium-stance squats
warmups:
6-95
5-135
4-185

worksets:
5-225
1-285 (+40)
5-245 (+10)
1-295 (+40)

Quarter Squats
5-335 (+50)

Explosive Squats
8-155 (+20)

Jump Squats
10-95

In-depth Jumps
2x10

Great time today! Feels like I've been re-energized! I followed Gq's recommendation to up the weights quite a bit on the singles and quarter-squats, and I was amazed to find that I could do it! I also went with Ikan's suggestion to lower the warmup reps... and I am convinced that it's the way to go for me.

Ok, it's good to feel like I'm back on track!

[GqArtguy]

Sweet action, keep it up! Now thrash these weights next week.

[I. Kay]

DB Incline Press : 6,5,4,3 - 65's
Weighted Dips : 4x6 - bodyweight + 40 (+5)
rotator cuff work

[vandamme]

RH, what is the (+5) mean?

[I. Kay]

Originally posted by vandamme:
[qb] RH, what is the (+5) mean? [/qb]

It means that the weight is 5 pounds more than the previous week (+5).

[I. Kay]

Deadlifts:

warmups:
6-95
5-135
4-185

work sets:
5-245
1-295
5-255
1-305

Deadlifts off Blocks:
5-225***

Clean pulls:
5-225

Speed Shrugs:
8-185

Hurdle Jumps:
2x10

BB Holds:
4 x 30 secs. - 135

*** I think I may have discovered a weak point. Even though I had the bar up on blocks, and had just lifted a full 305 off the ground with relatively little grunting, I couldn't budge the 305 off the blocks. I went down to 285 and still couldn't. 225 worked, but it was still not easy.

Any thoughts on what this means exactly, and how I can work on this? (Or perhaps simply continuing to pull off blocks is the answer?)

[GqArtguy]

It means youre strong off the floor and you might be weak at the hips or upper back. It depends on body type, leverages, and peoples weaknesses. Find your weakness in that lift and fire it next time you do them. Keep at it.

Remember, rack pulls will not necessarily dictate how much you can deadlift off the floor. The groove is completely different from pulling on pins than it is from pulling off the floor. Not to mention the muscles that are fired.

[I. Kay]

Gq, so these aren't the equivalent to quarter-squats? I had thought they would be the neurological trainers of the deadlift.

Anyway, I'm betting that my weakness is the hips.

Would Good Mornings be the exercise for this?