Monday, November 24th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 1: Week 4, Upper Body #2 - Low Workload
Weight: 194.4
Superset #1 A1 - Single Arm DB Push Press
1 x 6 x 75lb(e)
1 x 6 x 80lb(e)
1 x 6 x 75lb(e)
A2 - CG Chinup
3 x 5 x (BW+57.5)
-I was pleasantly surprised that I got all 3 sets at this weight.
Superset #2 B1 - Pushup
3 x 10 x (BW+80)
B2 - DB Bent Over Row
3 x 7 x 95lb (each)
Superset #3 C1 - Kneeling Cable External Rotation
3 x 12 x 30lb (each)
C2 - Side Bridge
3 x 30s x BW
Phase 1 is complete! Not much to report today. Spent quite a while at the gym doing an extended warmup, abs, and a little steady state cardio. Im glad low workload week is over, im ready to hit the weights hard again.
This is the week to have an off day, you will need the rest to be ready for those cluster sets coming up
Yeah it was just one of those days, I hit it pretty hard for the first 3 weeks and it was one of those rare times lately that I walked in the gym and felt like going straight home. Today was better, my calluses are healing, and im ready for those clusters...kind of.
Wednesday, November 26th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 1, Lower Body - High Workload
Weight: 192.4
A - Front Squat Clusters (4x2) x 5
(4x2) x 5 x 220lb
-Holy crap, i knew these were going to be tough, but i felt like i was going to die at the end of them. I've got a bit of a welt on my front right shoulder which is becoming a bit painful on front squats. Do you think it would be an acceptable substitution to do back squats next week?
B - DB Step-ups
3 x 8 x 110 (2 x 55lb dbs)
-I expected to do more than this, but my legs were fried from the clusters, and EC calls for the step to be higher than I usually do it. These were plenty tough, I was probably pushing off a tad with my non-working foot.
Superset C1 -Barbell rollout
3 x 10 x BW
C2 - Nat GHR
3 x 8 x BW
-Only got 6 on the last set
D - Pistol Squat
2 x 10 x BW
-Many of the reps were more like a thud and push back up instead of touch and go. The 2nd set went better than the 1st, I'm sure ill get better at these as I go along.
And Phase 2 is underway! Clusters were as bad as everyone says they are, really tough. It feels good to be upping the volume a bit though. Well, I'm off to St. Louis to visit the family for 5 or 6 days. Luckily my sister got me a week pass to Golds Gym for free...ive worked out there before, its a pretty sweet facility. I've got a 10 hour drive ahead of me, lots of food will be eaten.
-Holy crap, i knew these were going to be tough, but i felt like i was going to die at the end of them. I've got a bit of a welt on my front right shoulder which is becoming a bit painful on front squats.
I told you so
Quote:
Originally Posted by AS
Do you think it would be an acceptable substitution to do back squats next week?
No toughen up
Is the welt from front squats??, Do you need to be move the bar further back against your neck??
I had a bit of bad luck the past couple weeks with my computer. First my nice 24" LCD monitor died, then my hard drive died, then a week later my processor died. So i've ordered all new parts to build a brand new machine and they should be getting here in a couple days. Im currently at the end of week 2 of Phase 2 and will post my past workouts here.
Thursday, November 27th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 1, Upper Body - High Workload
Weight: ?
Superset 1 A1 - Incline Bench Press Clusters (4x2) x 5
(4x2) x 175, 175, 165, 165, 165
-Incline bench has never been a strength, but i probably started a little too aggressive with the weight.
A2 - Neutral Grip Pullup (4x2) x 5
(4x2) x (BW+45), (BW+45), (BW+35), (BW+25), (BW+45)
Superset 2 B1 - DB Bench Press
1 x 8 x 170 (2 x 85lb dbs)
2 x 8 x 180 (2 x 90lb dbs)
B1 - Head supported Row
3 x 8 x 140 (2 x 70lb dbs)
Superset 3 C1 -Cable Backhand
3 x 12 x 30lb
C2 - Standings Zottman Curl
3 x 10 x 70 (2 x 35lb)
Saturday, November 29th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 1, Lower Body #2 - High Workload
Weight: ?
A- Broad Jump
5 x 5 x BW
-Didn't record ditances
B - Deadlift - bar slightly elevated
(elevated with 1 45lb plate on each side)
1 x 5 x 355lb
3 x 5 x 385lb
1 x 5 x 365lb
C- DB Reverse Lunge (replaced with BB Reverse Lunge)
1 x 6 x 185
2 x 6 x 205
I did this workout at Gold's Gym, and of course the day I go all the DB from 50lb up were off-limits. They were having issues with the floors and were using the DBs to hold down the flooring. So I used BB reverse lunges instead.
Tuesday, December 2nd MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 2, Lower Body - Med Workload
Weight: 193 A - Back Squat Clusters (5x1) x 5
(5x1) x 5 x 300lb
-So I used back squat instead. My shoulder is still sore, plus these back squat were a nice change of pace.
Saturday, December 6th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 2, Lower Body #2 - High Workload
Weight: 193.6
A- Broad Jump
5 x 5 x BW
-Didn't record ditances
B - Deadlift - bar slightly elevated
(elevated with 1 45lb plate on each side)
1 x 5 x 365lb
2 x 5 x 385lb
1 x 5 x 405lb
C- DB Reverse Lunge (replaced with BB Reverse Lunge)
1 x 6 x 205
2 x 6 x 210
To stay consistant I just did the BB lunges again.
D - Palloff Press
3 x 8(e) x 80lb
Ok im finally caught up. Its good to be back at my normal gym. The two places I worked out at when i was out of town were really nice (Liftime Fitness and Gold's Gym), but it always feels a little odd working out at a different place.
Hey thanks for checking in, at least someone is half-way paying attention
Sometimes I think I'm not making my workouts intense enough (too much time between sets), but it seems to be working. Part of the reason is probably because I really look forward to getting into the gym, life has really been stressful lately and its my opportunity to get away from everything for a while.
i think for the rest periods, especially for the heavier stuff, 2 minutes should be about
right. Thats what I used anyway.
As for the strongman stuff, its fun, but moving with weights is a lot tougher than just picking them up, ive got a ways to go
Saturday, December 13th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 3, Lower Body #2 - Very High Workload
Weight: 194.8
A- Broad Jump
6 x 5 x BW
B - Deadlift - from the floor
(felt like lifting from the floor today instead of slightly elevated)
1 x 5 x 385lb
1 x 5 x 390lb
1 x 5 x 410lb
- At this point I decided to go a little heavier for fewer reps, and then to test my 1RM. I know its not in the program, but its been 7 or 8 weeks and I wanted to see where I'm at.
1 x 1 x 430lb (5lb PR)
1 x 1 x 450lb (25lb PR)
1 x 5 x 410lb
-On Packing Day, when i tested my 1RM it was 425, and that was a 20lb PR at the time, and I failed when I tried 430. So I guess I can say its working for me. I may have been able to get another 10lb, but I wasn't going to push it, 450 was pretty heavy.
C- DB Reverse Lunge (replaced with BB Reverse Lunge)
1 x 6 x 205
2 x 6 x 215
1 x 6 x 225
To stay consistant I just did the BB lunges again.
Once I figured out how to get two 35lb plates on my back by myself I was good to go. I probably looked like an idiot until I figured it out.
So how do you do that? I was wondering!
Hey, just subbing to your log so I have some #s to try to beat--well, j/k but your workouts look great and who knows, I may have some questions for ya as I progress, if you don't mind. If you do, I'll take my questions elsewhere, thank you very much.
Hmm, well...i just stacked two 35lb plates and kinda threw them over my head and held them onto my back while kneeling, then balanced them while i got on my hands an knees and into the pushup position. Sounds weird but it worked for me.
Monday, December 9th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 3, Upper Body #2 - Very High Workload
Weight: 195.6
A- Speed Bench (8x3)
10 x 3 x 140
I wrote down the wrong thing to do in my notebook, i wrote down that i was supposed to go heavy for two sets again, when i wasn't supposed to. so...
3 x 255
3 x 255
I did 260 last week for 3, but i didn't have a spotter and 255 didn't go up quite as smooth as i expected so i didn't push it. Hopefully a week without pressing will be enough rest so that I can put up a 1RM PR next week.
Superset B1 - Close Grip Bench
1 x 5 x 210lb
1 x 5 x 215lb
2 x 5 x 220lb
1 x 5 x 225lb
B2- Chest Supported Row
1 x 5 x 220lb
1 x 5 x 225lb
2 x 5 x 230lb
1 x 5 x 235lb
Did this on a chest supported row machine, not a plate loaded one ilke EC shows.
Superset C1- Inverted Row (feet on bench)
3 x 10 x BW
C2- Scap Pushups
3 x 15 x BW
Then I did 4 sets each of woodchops and decline dragon flags.
Very High week is done thankfully and I'm definitely ready for a de-load. These always seem to come at the right time. My legs and lower back are still really sore from those deadlifts and reverse lunges the other day.
Hmm, well...i just stacked two 35lb plates and kinda threw them over my head and held them onto my back while kneeling, then balanced them while i got on my hands an knees and into the pushup position. Sounds weird but it worked for me.
AS, your numbers are outstanding. how's the nutrition/eating going with this?
I eat alot. I am very consistent with my nutrition, I work from home and eat pretty much all my meals by myself, so I'm pretty strict with the number of calories I eat daily. On lifting days I'm up to about 4000, and non-lifting days I eat around 3500. My weight is around 195 at the moment (measured first thing in the morning). I'm up around 4-5lbs in the last 8 weeks, which is a good rate for me. I've done the "eat everything that isn't nailed down" thing and got up to about 210-215 last year but I was a little too fat. I hope to be around 200 by the end of Maximum Strength.
Tuesday, December 16th MAXIMUM STRENGTH by Eric Cressey Phase 2: Week 4, Lower Body - Low Workload
Weight: 195.4
A - Front Squat Clusters
omit
B - DB Step-ups (2x6 - easy)
2 x 6 x 100 (2 x 50lb dbs)
Superset C1 -Barbell rollout
skipped because I did alot of ab work yesterday
C2 - Nat GHR
2 x 8 x BW
D - Pistol Squat
skipped cause i didn't feel like doing them
I then decided to work on my deadlift form, its one lift that I'm relatively good at and I want to get better. I was reading some articles by EC and Tony G about deadlifting, and I think I need to work on using my glutes and hammies more at the start of the lift. So I did several sets at 135 standing on a big bumper plate (about 5 inches) to really force the legs to do more work. It really worked I think, after a few sets I then did a few light sets from the floor and my form felt alot better.
I just snorted stuff out my nose
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