Entry #1230

Squats:
300 x 3
342 x 3
385 x 8

SSB squats:
315 x 11
240 x 10
150 x 10
60 x 10

Hamstring curls:
200 x 15

Entry #1229

Bench press:
235 x 3
265 x 3
300 x 7
> Warm-ups felt really heavy all the way from 185, yet I still got a PR.

Incline bench press:
180 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
100s x 12, 10, 10, 10, 10, 11

At home:

Incline kettlebell skullcrushers, unilateral:
50 x 11

Decline push-ups:
23, 20

Kettlebell preacher curls, unilateral:
50 x 3 x 10
Bilateral:
50 x 20, 15

Band pull-aparts:
40

Entry #1228

It's been a full year of doing 5/3/1 straight so I thought I'd evaluate my progress.

This will be screwy since I'm comparing different rep ranges, as well as different bars lifts, but it should still illustrate change well enough.

August 2012
Press (Swiss bar): 160x10
Deadlift: 465x5
Bench press (Swiss bar): 265x6
Squat (SSB): 380x5

August 2013
Press: 225x4, 162x5x10 assistant work after
Deadlift: 525
Bench press: 310x4
Squat: 395x5

I've found that in general my straight bar pressing is 5 lbs higher than Swiss bar, so that can be taken into account.

My pressing has shot up while I've had to fight sharp regresses on the deadlift and contending with a 9-month quad injury that prevented me from free squatting. The deadlift was my own fault. I took the notion of infrequent pulling off the floor being a good idea and ran with it even though I'd been making progress week-to-week. Eventually I stopped box squatting, too, feeling demotivated on lower body lifts entirely. Just a few months ago I started at it again and learned how to have fun even if I'm not necessarily at my strongest in the gym - the consistency of which ended up making me my strongest ever, if only by a few pounds over last year.

Entry #1227

Deadlifts:
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 3
455 x 3
525 x 1

405 x 8

> Sore legs but I still crushed this PR. I'd planned on doing partials off of plastic stools but they made me lower too slowly out of fear of breaking them. I'm using straps more because my right pinky finger has been hurting from gripping raw, otherwise I'd chalk up for everything but the max set like I do with my belt.
On that note, recently I very humbly shared my experience with straps helping me with my deadlift woes on the Iron Radio Facebook page and even linked to Emevas' article on the matter and I got total shit for it. Dayum. Just going to keep doing what works for me, then. People can be so rude.

SSB squats:
330 x 5, 5, 5

Entry #1226

Overhead press:
175 x 3
200 x 3
225 x 4

165 x 10, 10, 9

One-arm lat pulldowns:
200 x 9, 9, 8, 8

Clean and jerk:
185 x 5
> To my chagrin it seems that trying to control the weight while dropping it from a clean hurts my pec tendons. Stopped once I realized this.

Exteme decline push-ups:
17, 15, 15

Inverted rows:
25, 25, 20

Kettlebell skullcrushers:
50 x 9

Kettlebell preacher curls:
25, 20

Squats:
280 x 5
320 x 5
365 x 10

SSB squat drop-set:
315 x 10
240 x 10
150 x 10

On the 7th rep of 315 I got a splitting weightlifter's headache that lasted the rest of the set and made it hell to get through. I was dying by the end. Stumbled home drenched in sweat with my head pounding to a worried girlfriend and spent about 30 minutes just sitting in the shower with the water raining down on me.

Didn't get to practice SSB walks like I planned to because of that and the gym closing. Man! Every day this week has been a PR which is amazing yet my strongman training hasn't been everything I wanted it to be.

Entry #1224

Bench press:
215 x 5
250 x 5
285 x 8

Incline bench press:
177 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Kroc rows:
160 x 25

Lying lat pulldowns:
220 x 15, 15, 18, 15

Incline push-ups:
25

Bilateral kettlebell curls:
50 x 30

Haven't gotten the hang of thick bar cleans this week like I'd wanted to but my hands, forearms, and back are all killing me so I'm at least getting something relevant done. I'll tackle them again this Sunday on the gymnastic mats.

Entry #1223

Deadlifts:
315 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 2
520 x 1
> Sweet PR. Pulling with straps is awesome, wish I'd done this sooner. I feel like my arms can hang much more than with a mixed grip. I watched some footage of me failing to get 520 last time and my supinated side was bent quite a bit so it may have been just a matter of time before a bicep blowout.  Also, I've found great success in keeping my head downish, surprisingly.

SSB squats:
325 x 5, 5, 5
> I love that this is now a weight that makes for the relaxing, whew-the-hard-part-is-over part of the session.

Deadlifts:
325 x 12

Farmer's walks:
100s + Fat Gripz around the gym
> Sadly, this is about all I can do since I broke one of my dumbbell handles last year. Looong ago I used to do oblique side-bends with a 135 lb barbell in one hand, maybe I can figure something ghetto out with two barbells or something.

I'm training for a strongman competition that Em invited me to in California a little over a month from now. I attempted to implement one of the events from it today but that didn't go over well.

Overhead press:
165 x 5
190 x 5
215 x 6
> Kickass!

162 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

One-arm lat pulldowns:
200 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Two arms:
250 x 15

Messed around with 155 lb high pulls

Incline skullcrushers + Fat Gripz:
45s x 10

Rear-felt flyes:
20s x 25, 25

Spider curls:
35s x 10, 10, 12

I was planning on doing clean and jerks with Fat Gripz on the bar to simulate an axle lift but the rule stating that the weight must be lowered under control completely threw me off. Trying to decelerate a heavy barbell from a clean height has fucked my back up in the past; I started noticing it being a problem at 205 before. I'll wear a belt and practice high pulls for now so I can nail the timing of using my legs to brace the fall more than my back.

Ugh. Nothing is less fun than combining Olympic movements and eccentrics.

Entry #1221

Squats:
170 x 5
210 x 5
250 x 5

SSB squats:
200 x 10, 10

Good mornings:
180 x 10

Oh yeah, uh, deload. I swear.

Entry #1220

Bought a pair of IronMind straps because I lost one of my old cheap ones. 

Deload

Bench press:
130 x 5
160 x 5
195 x 5

Incline bench press:
155 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Bilateral dumbbell rows:
80s x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Horizontal cable rows (straps + Fat Gripz):
230 x 20

Decline push-ups:
15

Swiss bar hammer curls:
85 x 13

Deload

Deadlifts:
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5

Snatch-grip:
225 x 5

SSB squats:
220 x 5, 5, 5, 5

Entry #1218

Went on a 40-minute jog yesterday and walked about half a mile home.

Deload

Overhead press:
100 x 5
125 x 5
150 x 5

135 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Lat pulldowns:
200 x 20, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15

Overhead skullcrushers:
35s x 11

Spider curls:
25s x 12

Entry #1217

Squats:
315 x 5
355 x 3
395 x 5
> Happy that I was able to do this with my problem quad. It seems to be an issue when going ATG, mostly when doing a bodyweight squat. Standing a little wider is my answer for now. I'd really hate to give up squats again this year.

315 x 10
225 x 10
135 x 10
45 x 10

Leg curls:
Full stack x 15

Reverse crunches:
30

#1216

Failed to deadlift 520 yesterday. Didn't even get a struggle out of it, I just mentally couldn't get it more than an inch off the floor before I'd involuntarily bail. Considering how easy 510 was last week I should have had this, but s'okay. When this happens I just move on to assistant work that makes my back strong and inevitably set a PR one or two weeks later.

Bench press:
245 x 5
280 x 3
310 x 4
> Pec tendon hurt a little on the first set only, as a result from jumping up from my last warm-up of 135 to 245. I usually throw a 185 in between there and maybe a 225 but was in a hurry.

Incline bench:
175 x 3 x 10

Kroc rows:
160 x 22
> Grip is beat up so I used a strap. Rather than try to squeeze out 3 sets I'm taking Kroc's recommendation of warming-up to one set.

At the park:

Incline push-ups:
25, 20, 20, 10

Inverted rows:
30, 25, 20, 11

Entry #1215

Overhead press:
185 x 5
210 x 3
235 x 0
235 x 1
> Anterior delts were still sore from bench day. Probably should have waited until tomorrow but in the end I prevailed. Whew.

160 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
> Only planned on doing 3 and then kept telling myself one more.

One-hand lat pull-downs w/ Fat Gripz + straps:
200 x 7, 7, 7, 7, 7
Two-handed w/ Fat Gripz:
20
Without Fat Gripz:
13

Incline skullcrushers w/ Fat Gripz:
45s x 10

Cable curls
> Ditch these and any free-space curls, they inevitably flare up my pec-tendon.

Spider curls:
25s x 8, 8, 15
> Now these were killer. Great exercise, no pain.

Rear-delt flyes:
25s x 25
15s x 20

My arms are beat. Was liberal with the volume because it's the last week before the deload, otherwise I would have backed off.

Entry #1214

My right quadricep (the problem one from last year) is starting to hurt again. I'm definitely going to keep vigilant about it. I've noticed that squatting down for extended periods of time seems to cause this from the extreme stretch, not so much loaded squats. For example, when training my client on Tuesday I demonstrated this to her in order to explain how the heels should not raise when squatting; I also just do this out of habit coming from a relatively chairless culture.

Squats:
295 x 3
335 x 3
375 x 8
> Exactly what I wanted, but concentration was a bit out the window tonight between sets and the build-up  felt heavy.

SSB squats:
310 x 10
240 x 7
150 x 10
> Was running out of time and didn't want to do my usual 3x10 because of my quad so I took inspiration from Emevas' drop-set and started out going for a 1-set weight increase rather than a volumous one.

Good mornings:
185 x 10
> Back was atrociously pumped from short rest times so I kept this light. Barely made it, felt like an accordion by the end.

At home:

50 lb kettlebell swings:
25, 25

RKC planks:
30 secs, 30 secs
> Ditch these, made my left pec-tendon ache a little.

Entry #1213

Good training day. I worked up a sweat listening to my neighbor lament about his luck with women for over an hour and then exercised my eyesite by trying to make out what PS2 games he had while he talked to me about how stupid and blind Karen is for not leaving her husband for him. I made out Red Dead Revolver, Black (that kickass shooter from the makers of Burnout), and I think Gran Turismo 3.

Went on an hour-long walk before that.