Getting back to posting a training log here after I got too busy the past few weeks to post in my old log.
Lifting Goals (in no particular order):
1. 150kg Deadlift by July 1 2007
2. 90kg Bench by July 1 2007
3. 15 bodyweight pullups/chinups by July 1 2007
Physique Goals:
1. Get up to 75kg by May 1 2007
2. Get down to bodyfat percentage that I can see 6 abs clearly :p by June 1 2007
So the current plan is to start with Strength Focuesd Mesocycle today, then go on to either Waterbury Method or NROL's ST3.
Going to drop the Jump rope and jumping jacks in the SFM plan at the moment as I cycle to and from the gym. Going to do some short cardio (jogs, jump ropes), mobility work and/or body weight circuits on off days. Might do some mobility work or slow cardios on the AM of workout days, depending on how I feel.
"Focus on making the 5 lifts stronger and getting enough food. There will be plenty of time to worry about glycemic indexes, PERs, and Bulgarian Split squats later. Much later."-Mark Rippetoe
7/3/07
A1 Wide Grip Military Press: 37.5kg @ 3x8 (+2 reps on last set)
A2 Box Squats 82.5kg @ 3x8
B1 Natural GHR (on Lat pulldown, holding cable to lower weight) 3x8 @ #1
B2 Seated Row 3x8 #9
Added some plate pinch (4 sets of 20s with two 15kg plates together)
Tried natural GHR with just body weight - 1 rep. period.
BW Circuit - AMRAP for 20s with 10s rest (A1 Plate Pinch for time, A2 T-Pushup, A3 Inverted Row, A4 Burpees) - 2 circuits total of 4 minutes
B1 Chin up 3x5 @ BW+5kg
B2 Front Squat 3x5 @ 72.5kg (+2 rep more per set PR)
Added some prehab work (i.e. external rotation, pushup plus, wrist curl/extension, face pull, Y's and T's, hip abduction and adduction)
Played around with some medicine ball slams, before I was told off by the gym owner.
Felt strong today, could have gone a little heavier, but I wanted to pace myself today to make more advancements later in the week
"Focus on making the 5 lifts stronger and getting enough food. There will be plenty of time to worry about glycemic indexes, PERs, and Bulgarian Split squats later. Much later."-Mark Rippetoe
B1 Natural GHR (on Lat pulldown, holding cable to lower weight) 3x8 @ #1-1.25kg
B2 Seated Row 3x8 #9+2.5kg
Did 3 reps/side of turkish get up with one 22.5kg DB
1 arm DB snatch: 20kg@1x5, 22.5@1x5, 25kg@2x3
Tabata DB swing (2 hands holding one 15kg DB): 4 minutes total. 20s work 10s rest. Managed to keep the reps per "set" between 9-11
* couldn't finish all 8 reps on the last set, only did 5 reps before I felt myself failing. Did another 3 reps at the end of the session just to make up the volume
** Not sure why my presses progress so slowly. Pulling and lower body strength seems to be progressing well.
*** I need to start weaning myself off using the lat pulldown for spotting
Did some light snatches to try to correct form.
Attempted to do kipping pullups, just to see how they felt like. (not there yet)
Some overhead squats with the bar to correct form
* It's been awhile since I back squatted. I find that my body is a lot more upright now, and not bent over forward as much. I think front squatting has helped me a lot in this area.
* I just hate curls. Period.
I hear you on the curls. I can't stand them either. Enjoy WM, everybody that does it loves it.
__________________
Audentes Fortunas Juvat
"Focus on making the 5 lifts stronger and getting enough food. There will be plenty of time to worry about glycemic indexes, PERs, and Bulgarian Split squats later. Much later."-Mark Rippetoe
light band work @ 2x20 (band pressdown, band pull apart, TKE, band hamstring curl, band face pull, band pulldowns)
a set of band assisted pullups to try to get the feeling of pulling the bar all the way to the chest
20 reps BW squats, 30 reps BW squats
20 reps scap pushups
tried to do a muscle up - getting stuck at the transition
did a few practice reps of false grip pull ups
C1 Prone Trap Raise 4x6 @ 2.5kg
C2 Side Bend 4x6 @ 32.5kg
Barbell Thrusters AMRAP with only the bar in 30s with 30s rest, 8 sets (15, 11, 11, 8, 9, 10, 8, 10)
* Tried to get as much of the body over the bar as possible, preferably to the chest, but reps still counted if chin over the bar. Strength rapidly declined after the 6th set. Had to decrease weight.
** Improvised a GHR bench, by putting a bench to the wall, dumped some weights on the bench. I then hooked my leg under the bench, with my feet to the wall and my knees on the swiss ball, approximately where it would be on a real GHR bench. The workout was intense. Need to find a swiss ball with less give next time.
*** Alternating Lunges took the most out of me. Was gasping for air by the end.
**** Did intervals with thruster. My energy seems to fluctuate in waves, but this was fun
24/3/2007
AM
From Rosstraining.com: No Excuses. All exercises performed with AMRAP in the time. No rest between exercises, no rest between circuit.
Burpees x 60s
Pullups (band assisted) x 60s
Squats x 60s
Pushups x 60s
Burpees x 45s
Pullups (band assisted) x 45s
Squats x 45s
Pushups x 45s
Burpees x 30s
Pullups (band assisted) x 30s
Squats x 30s
Pushups x 30s
Burpees x 15s
Pullups (band assisted) x 15s
Squats x 15s
Pushups x 15s
Total time: 10 minutes
PM
Band sprint x 60s
Pushups with Rings on Elevated platform x 60s
Squats x 60s
Rest x 60s
Repeat 4 cycles
Total Time: 16 minutes
Added these to try to improve my overall conditioning. I'm actually surprised that how much better I am with lower body exercises than upper body work
Box Squats (Just below parallel)
60kg x 2
70kg x 2
70kg x 2
80kg x 1
90kg x 1
95kg x 1
100kg x 1
100kg x 1
- Back squats were tough. Collapsed on the floor after the last set.
- I actually wanted to do 20 rep squats today, but felt more like doing some box squats as extra work to reinforce my free-squatting depth. Took awhile to set up the box to get it below parallel. I missed one or two reps at 95kg and 100kg because I came up after only brushing the box. Those didn't count.
- I learnt that just below parallel is actually higher than the depth I usually squat.
- I think I would like to incorporate more box squats to help my form, but might need a lower box.
- 100kg didn't feel too bad, especially since I did that at the end of my regular workout.
28/3/2007 (71.4kg)
Left wrist didn't feel right, but went ahead to train anyway, just wrapped the wrist up tighter with a wrist wrap when bench pressing.
* Felt a strange sensation on my left anterior delts when bench pressing, as if it wasn't firing properly....
* my upper body strength sucks. Should have been able to do 10x3 at 70kg. Unfortunately, 70kg felt heavy from the first set. Need to work on my upper body harder.
* I couldn't even military press 40kg for even one rep. Probably burnt out my triceps on the bench press.
* Accidentally put on an extra 10kg on the RDL, but I'm surprised that I was able to pull it off! Only thing was that the grip almost gave way on the last rep of the last set. Made it though!
C1 Prone Trap Raise 4x6 @ 5kg
C2 Leg Abduction 4x6 @ #3
C3 Leg Adduction 4x6 @ #3
Turkish Get-up 25kg (each side) for 1 rep - PR
OH Squat 20x3, 30x3x 40xF (practicing form. 40kg failed as was unstable)
Circuit:
60s per exercise with 10s rest between exercise
Box Jump 15"
Farmer's Walk with 2x22.5kg DB
DB Push Press with 2x15kg
Rowing Machine set at Max resistance
rest about 1 minute
30s per exercise with 10s rest between exercise
Box Jump 15"
Farmer's Walk with 2x22.5kg DB
DB Push Press with 2x15kg
Rowing Machine set at Max resistance
Trap Bar Deads (approx 15kg bar)
55kg x 3
75kg x 3
95kg x 1
115kg x 1
125kg x 1
130kg x 1
132.5kg x F
125kg x F
115kg x 1
3 Rounds for time: 500m row, 5 x 40kg front squat, 5 x 40kg high pull
10 minute 28 seconds
* Back squats felt light today compared to last week
* The trap bar the gym had was smaller and lighter than normal, I just approximated it to about 15kg. Just did some of these to get a few lifts over 90%. 132.5kg just didn't budge.
* Just decided to add the circuit at the end for a "quick" metabolic work. Man I am slow, especially with the rowing. Need more conditioning
do you find the trap bar deads easier or harder compared to conventional deads?
__________________
Audentes Fortunas Juvat
"Focus on making the 5 lifts stronger and getting enough food. There will be plenty of time to worry about glycemic indexes, PERs, and Bulgarian Split squats later. Much later."-Mark Rippetoe
It was about the same really, except the weight distribution meant that I felt a little harder to lean back. Grip wise it was a lot easier then a straight bar
The Bear @ 30kg
20 reps for time: 5 minutes 02 seconds
rest 3 minutes
10 reps for time: 2 minutes 07 seconds
rest 1.5 minutes
5 reps for time: 40 seconds
* Finally some progress on my bench press! Could have completed the last set, but I disqualified myself for bouncing it off my chest on the second rep. Rack and restart.
* Needed help to unrack the bar on the last 2 sets. Made life and the press easier as I was able to stay a heck a lot tighter.
* Delts and triceps still smoked by the end of the bench press, which affected my military presses. At least I got off 4 reps of 40kg
* Read John Williams' (Johnka) training log, which reintroduced me to The Bear! So decided to add it to the end of my workout as a sort of finisher. 20 minutes for time, followed by 3 minutes rest, then 10 reps for time, before another 1.5 minutes of rest, and finishing with 5 more reps for time.
* Man, I was going strong until the 8th rep, when I started hyperventilating. After that I had to take rests every 2-3 reps. After the first 20 reps, I basically collapsed on the floor, but man did it feel good. My original plan was to do 20 reps for time, but as it just felt so good I winged it and came up with the current plan. Thanks John for the inspiration!
* As usual I got stares from the rest of the gym crowd, but that's good for me, cuz I feed of that and it makes me go harder and faster!
* As a side note, I saw someone 'humping' the bar while the bench press!! That was just so funny. Talk about leg drive!