Entry #903

222. Lost a pound. Haven't been doing much dedicated cardio, just some NEPA from walking around in the mall and carrying bags to and from the grocery store. Did 12 minutes of HIIT the day before, though.

Deadlift:
300 x 3
342.5 x 3
385 x 10
> Using a tip I learned from Charles Poliquin by lying prone on a foam roller along the length of my back for about 10 minutes before anything to enforce the spine's natural curvature.

GHR against band:
10, 10, 10, 8, 5
> Not so strict this time, with lots of swinging.

Ab wheel:
12 x 3, 10 x 5

 

Entry #902

These were done during a dream.

Bradford press:
135 x 10, 10

I actually heard my alarm go off but I wanted to finish the set before waking up, seriously.

Entry #901

Overhead press:
132.5 x 3
152.5 x 3
170 x 7

Dips:
25 x 9, 9, 8, 6, 5

Chins:
25 x 10, 8, 5, 4, 3
> Using too much muscle on the eccentric and lowering too slowly. Tried dropping down on the second-to-last rep and the subsequent one was the easiest yet.

Barbell curls with Fat Gripz:
115 x 4, 2
> Fat Gripz makes these way fucking harder, but my wrists thank me for it.

Entry #900

Squats:
242.5 x 5
282.5 x 5
317.5 x 8
> I did 11 with this weight last time. Very deep, though. Felt my hamstrings touch my calves.

Front squats, clean grip:
185 x 8, 4 sets
185 x 5
> Wrists are way more flexible now. Felt completely comfortable.

Plank: 60 seconds

Oddly, was struggling not to puke by this point.

Entry #899

Strength is down, either from not being routine-consistent or from being on a calorie deficit so consecutively. Let's see where I can get while losing the last 15 lbs.

Bench press:
197.5 x 5
227.5 x 5
257.5 x 8
> Shoulders felt sore from doing very hard stretches on them the last two days in attempts to improve squat form.

CG decline push-ups:
25 x 18, 8, 8, 7, 5

Inverted band rows

Hammer curls with Fat Gripz

Entry #898

Notes from reading old entries:

Do assist exercises on same plane for shoulder health.
Skip ahead in counting, noticed two identical counts.
Reread Zatsiorsky.
Remember those band presses I used to do for warm-up? Bring them back.

On my phone so eloquent this is not.

Entry #896

Weight hovering at 223. Now that I feel recovered and am settled on a plan it's time to up the cardio.

Deadlift:
277.5 x 5
322.5 x 5
362.5 x 10
> Could have done more but back was starting to feel roundish.

GHR against band:
8, 8, 6, 5, 6

Ab wheel:
10 x 5

Really good stretching in the evening.

Entry #895

Overhead press:
122.5 x 5
142.5 x 5
160 x 8

Dips:
10, 8, 8, 8, 8

Chins:
10, 5, 5, 4, 4

Barbell curls with Fat Gripz:
95 x 8, 5, 5

No rest pauses.

Entry #894

Madcow was beating me up.

1. I don't know why the hell my shoulders started to be pricks now of all times, but the inflexibility is killing my wrists. I might be going lower and lower down my back without realizing it.

2. Low bar squats before benching is making my shoulders weak for heavy pressing. It's puzzling that Rippetoe says not to do squats the day before benching in Practical Programming (which I'm rereading) because of this, yet his routine as well as Starr's has them on the same day.

3. I can't do power cleans right now. First, I'm gonna need to pick up some padding, maybe patio tiles ala what Emevas has been doing, to make them public-friendly. Second, I can recognize that I'm not very good at them yet, as much as I LOVE doing them. The only thing I'm really doing wrong anymore is not actively pulling myself down to catch the bar, but this is the biggest one because my back has been killing me ever since. I think doing squats the day before yesterday aggravated it. I was supposed to deadlift heavy that day, too - just not happening.

1 and 3 are my own shortcomings. Just gonna have to do what's been working for me. Really was unwise to switch things up when I was progressing just fine.

Entry #893

Today I was doing power cleans at the end of my session. I'm not an Olympic lifter and I don't do these regularly, so I started at 135 and worked my way up to 225 lbs for 5 reps. Everything is peachy until this beanpole of a personal trainer comes up to me. Right in my face.

"Hey, you're making too much noise with that. It's disturbing everyone."
"You don't allow Olympic lifts here?"
"That's not an Olympic bar."
"What? Yeah it is. It's a 7-foot bar, the standard in most commercial gyms."
"Okay, well, look, you can't make that much noise here..."
"Okay, but it's an Olympic bar."
"Just don't make anymore noise like that.."
"Okay, but this is an Olympic barbell."
"Okay..." and he saunters off.

Jesus Christ, the personal trainer doesn't know what an Olympic bar is.

After that, the manager came to talk to me and he was pretty cool. Very respectful, almost reluctant to enforce gym policy, and he told me he'd try to get some "special plates" for me so I can do cleans. Bumper plates are still pretty damn loud, but I didn't tell him that.

Also, I have zero sympathy for the reason that cleans are too loud. At my tiny, tiny gym in California (before I moved to Oregon) they had a CrossFit area and during classes the whole gym was athunder with 20 people doing cleans. Somehow staff still functioned without nervous breakdowns.

Anyways, right now I'm on Madcow for advanced lifters. I hate routine hopping and am looking forward to staying on this.

Squats:
325 x 5

Bench press:
205, 235, 255, 275 x 5
280 x 4
> Gassed here. Not worried, my work capacity will improve.

Cleans:
135, 155, 185, 205 x 5
215 x 4

Entry #893

Couple of days ago:

Squat:
135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 1
365 x 1
> Ugh, felt terrible. Hips felt sore and legs had no power under what felt like a ton of bricks. Going to need to reevaluate.

Noticing some flaws with my Westside plan. On my current diet I'm just not retaining strength and explosive output throughout the speed days. When I was eating enough to get me up to a 248 lb fatass I progressed tremendously, but it's just not happening now.

Entry #891

ME upper

Pin press:
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
325 x 3
330 x 2
> Little higher than last week, maybe an inch and a half to two inches off chest.

Dumbbell press:
115 lb dumbbells x 7, 7, 5
> Had to farmers' walk these all the way to the bench press area across the gym because there were no free benches by the dumbbells. People parted like I was Moses. Grip was ironclad, but my GPP was taxed and I was sweating so much by the time I was ready to press I had to take my Bluetooth headphones off to avoid moisture damage.

Bent-over rows:
185 x 8, 8, 5
135 x 10, 8
> Resetted to really focus on my lats.

Fat Gripz curls:
135 x 1
95 x 8, 5

That was Friday. Taking today off completely. I did HIIT the day before on Thursday and I feel like I'm close to overdoing it.

Entry #890

Huge change. I'm now down to 219. Despite this, arms still measured 17 inches.

DE lower

Box squats with bands:
205 x 2, 10 sets
> Had to get creative. After some frustration, eventually figured something out:

The bands pulling the bar forward forced me to try and resist very thoroughly. Was a great way to practice sitting back. I imagine it simulates the weight distribution of a SSB, too.

Deadlifts:
405 x 1
> Oof, box squats with that band set-up killed my back.

Wide-grip deadlifts with Fat Gripz:
225, various reps for 3 sets

Planks

Entry #889

DE upper, 60 sec rests for everything

Speed bench with bands:
165 x 3, 10 sets
> Used the gym tubes with the plastic handles, but for the sake of the principles and reasons that "band training" denotes I'll use that as a moniker.

Javelin press:
65 x 5, 4
45 x 8, 5
45 x 8, 4
> Left arm was WAY worse than right. Seemed like a stabilization issue because the bar was all over the place in my left.

Band pressdowns:
30 reps
> The only way to do pressdowns.

Neutral pull-ups:
12, 5, 5, 3, 3
> Not counting some failed partial reps. No rest pauses whatsoever.

Hammer curls with Fat Gripz:
40 x 5, 8, 6

Did some really good NEPA and cardio yesterday. Hour-long walk in the afternoon while listening to talk radio, and then over to the gym to do forced treadmill runs (I'm coining these "deadmills", not only for their difficulty but because the treadmill isn't on during them) and the elliptical.

Entry #889

DE upper, 60 sec rests for everything

Speed bench with bands:
165 x 3, 10 sets
> Used the gym tubes with the plastic handles, but for the sake of the principles and reasons that "band training" denotes I'll use that as a moniker.

Javelin press:
65 x 5, 4
45 x 8, 5
45 x 8, 4
> Left arm was WAY worse than right. Seemed like a stabilization issue because the bar was all over the place in my left.

Band pressdowns:
30 reps
> The only way to do pressdowns.

Neutral pull-ups:
12, 5, 5, 3, 3
> Not counting some failed partial reps. No rest pauses whatsoever.

Hammer curls with Fat Gripz:
40 x 5, 8, 6

Did some really good NEPA and cardio yesterday. Hour-long walk in the afternoon while listening to talk radio, and then over to the gym to do forced treadmill runs (I'm coining these "deadmills", not only for their difficulty but because the treadmill isn't on during them) and the elliptical.

Entry #888

Did circuit training at 12:30 last night.

Woman runs: about 20 secs
> These involve carrying a woman and running for an allotted distance. They can be found in most places. Very pertinent to strongman.

Shadow boxing: 10 rounds, 60 secs, 30 sec rests

Lots of stretching later.

Entry #887

ME lower:

Squats:
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
375 x 2
> I was wracking my brain with reasons why this sucked when the obvious hit me. Before I was doing 3 sets. On Westside I'm doing at least 6 every time. Consequently my quads felt fatigued by the time I was at 315. Just gonna have to suck it up and get used to it.
Also, that denomination wasn't fair. These didn't suck because the depth was super deep. Real satisfied with that. I sunk in low and hit ATG every time while Squiggy next to me quarter-squatted with 185.

Front squats w/ clean grip:
135 x 15, 8, 8
> 60 second rests.

Planks:
60 secs, 25, 15

CoC #1:
5 x 5
> Crushing power is lacking, couldn't close the #2. I've never been good at these.

Entry #886

ME upper

Pin press:
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
295 x 5
305 x 4
> About an inch off chest.

Dumbbell press:
110 dumbbells x 8, 6, 6

Bent-over rows:
205 x 8, 8, 8, 6, 5

Barbell rows w/ Fat Gripz:
115 x 5, 8, 5

Entry #885

Couldn't sleep, so went out and did a circuit of shadowboxing for 60 secs mixed with burpees, mountain climbers, jumping-jacks, kick drills, and this silly Capoeira dance I emulated from a movie. Ever since losing my jump-rope I've had to get creative with cardio, but I'm enjoying it. Totaled 20 minutes.

I'm really finding my range with striking, no longer stifling my punches short. Should film sometime soon.

Entry #884

RE upper yesterday:

Crazy plates:
155 x 13
155 x 7
155 x 4
135 x 5
135 x 4

Dips:
8, 5, 5, 5, 5

Tubing pull-aparts:
30
> Seems to substitute for mini-bands decently.

Pull-ups:
12, 4, 3, 4, 4

Bilateral dumbbell curls w/ Fat Gripz:
50 x 5
3 sets

Was really strict with rest times. Nothing over 60 seconds.

DE lower

Depth jumps, 25 inch plat:
55 lb dumbbells x 3, 8 sets

Clean grip front squats:
225 x 3, 3, 1
Arms folded:
5, 5
> Wrist flexibility was the limiting factor. Getting better, though.

CoC trainer:
20, 15, 10
> Left hand is way stronger.

Entry #883

Losing a lot of body fat on my chest. Visceral fat is also way down. My midsection looks only a little more etched but the six-pack gut syndrome is gone.

Measured my arms for the first time in a while. 17 inches cold after waking up.