K.Diesel's powerlifting and other training - 2009 and beyond

[K.Diesel]

Peace everyone! The only reason I started a new thread is because I couldn't find a way to change the title of my old one. I'd never done a thread on a site before, and didn't have the foresight to realize that the thread would still be going (long) after the 2nd meet. I thank everyone who kept up with my journey into strength sports on the 1st thread, and hope I'll get the same interest, support, and feedback on this one. This site and the members here are great!

Here's the game plan/goal list for this year...
* Compete in the 198 class all year
* Compete in 4 meets: April 11, July 25-26, August/September, and the MD State Championships in November/December. I scrapped my plan to do a meet on Feb. 21.
* The 1st 2 meets will be raw. I believe I can take the USAPL MD state raw records in my weight class for all 3 lifts, plus the total. So goal #1 is to break all of them between those meets. Currently, the raw records for Men's Open 198 are 429.9 squat, 308.6 bench, 545.1 dead, 1240.1 total.
* 3rd meet will be to get used to gear again, and compete in the bench shirt for the 1st time.
* 4th meet will be to defend the gold! Goals are to (1) total Class 1 (645 kg/1422 lb), and (2) repeat as 1st place in the 198s.

If you didn't read my other thread, I'm 5'8", 32 y.o. Today I'm 191 lb w/32" waist. I think that's about 10-11% BF. Wish me luck!!

[K.Diesel]

Will be lifting 3 days a week for the forseeable future. Squat, Bench, Dead/light bench combo days. Taking off the last 11 days was the right move. I felt mentally fresh, physically strong, and couldn't wait to get to the gym.

By the way, I bought a pedometer to track how much I'm walking on my route (if you didn't read my other thread, I'm a mailman). I'm sure there must be some margin of error, because you have to enter 1 stride length, but obviously due to steps, gates, porches, corners, etc, I'm not keeping a constant pace, but I think it's a decent ballpark. I count my workday as cardio and GPP, so I guess I'll include those stats on here, so...

Cardio/GPP - Total time 5:35 (including driving, breaks, etc)
7.47 miles, 19933 steps, 1054 calories burned

Lifting - Total time 1:38

1.Box squats
bar/5, bands/5, 95+bands/3, 135+/2, 185+/2 x 6 sets - slowed down on 6th set. 30-40 sec between ea, except between 3 and 4 when I spotted someone.

2.Squat
140/3, 230/3
255/5, 5, 5, 5 - all good, none felt really hard

3.Front squat
225/5, 5 - still using the cross-arm grip. Bar was a little unbalanced on the 1st set. Safety pin probably helped me stay a little too shallow.

4.RDL - done on step
225/5
315/5, 5 - used straps, 2nd set was easier than 1st

5a.Walking lunge - w/dumbbells
75s/11 ea, 10 ea

5b.Cable pull-thrus
120/12, 14 - again, 2nd set easier. Pretty fast

6.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
270+sled/5 ea foot + 10, 5 ea + 10, 7 ea + 12 - the last reps on each of these sets were pump reps

7.Weighted plank
90 lbs/30 sec x 2

Feel great! I think I learned not to take so many sets to failure. It's one of those bodybuilding habits I haven't totally broken yet. Almost none of these sets were ME sets, but I can tell I did some work. Can't wait to get back in again.

[K.Diesel]

BW = 191.0 Today's GPP/cardio = 6.276 mi, 15908 steps, 885.5 cals. Took just under 4 hours, including breaks.

1.Band bench - still have no idea how much these bands add
bar/15, bar+bands/5, 95+/3
135+/3 x 7 sets (2 wide grip, 3 normal, 2 close) - all very fast, easy

2.Bench press
190/3, 225/2, 245/1
260/1 - harder than it should have been due to bad form. Brought the bar too low on my chest, and started leg drive too late. Bar speed did pick up, so that was a good sign.
230/4+1asst, 3+2asst, 4+2asst - goal was 3 sets of 5 at this weight, but tank was running low. Took the assisted reps.

3.3-phone book bench
275/2+1asst - a little too optimistic on this one
255/3 - much better

4a. Dips
body/5, +90/4, +45/7

4b.1-arm OHP - standing, alternating
40s/5 ea, 60s/4 ea, 50s/5 ea

5.Pressdown - at crossover station, drop set
150/6 + 120/3 + 90/7

6.Standing cable crunch - drop set
150/5 + 120/12 + 90/15 - those 150 reps were hard!

Time - 1:14

[K.Diesel]

BW = 196. Nice to see it on the scale again - we'll see how long it lasts.

No GPP stats from Wed. 1/14 because my pedometer reset somehow.

Warmed up w/cleans, deads, rows, pulls, power shrugs, front squats all on empty bar.

1.Deadlift - done conventional, on a step, with bands looped around bar
bar+bands/7, 140+/5, 230+/3, 280+/2, 320+/1
364+/1 X 7 sets - These went pretty quick for the 1st 5. 6th was ok. 7th was just slow. The bar weight is 70% of my 1RM (518.1, which I rounded to 520).

2.Bench press
100/6, 140/5, 165/3
189/8, 8 - closer to touch & go than they were to paused reps. But NONE were bounced off my chest.

3.Chins
body/6 wide, body/6 underhand, +45/4 w, +45/4 u, +70/3 w, +70/3 u, +45/4 w, +45/4 u, 7 w, 6 u - each set was 1 short of failure (I hope)

4.Seated cable row
120/8, 150/8, 180/7 - not strict, not sloppy.

5.Side bends
60s/20 ea, 20 ea

6.Hammer curl
40s/8 + 3 ea.

Time - 1:38. Very pleased and grateful for this week's training, especially after the way I had been feeling and performing. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm back on track.

[K.Diesel]

Fri. 1/16 Mailman GPP

7.954 miles, 20,368 steps, 1133.7 calories burned. Total time about 5hr, 50 min. And the high temperature was 15 degrees F.

[K.Diesel]

Sat. 1/17 Mailman GPP

7.217 miles, 18293 steps, 1018.2 calories. Warmed all the way up to 24 degrees today. I think my heart rate is even faster on this couch right now watching the Ravens try to come back against the Steelers.

[K.Diesel]

No GPP for 2 straight days!! Today's workout is powered by football fan depression - guess I won't need to get those purple light bulbs for my porch after all. :( I'll take it out on the bar!

Warmed up on treadmill for 5 min at 3.5, plus dynamic stretching to warm up.

1.Box squat w/bands
bar/3, bar+bands/5, 105+/3, 145+/2
195+/2 x 6 sets - nice and fast. 30 sec between all sets except 3rd to 4th. Was sharing part of the "box" w/another lifter

2.Squat
135/3, 200/3, 240/2
270/5, 5, 5, 5 - pretty easy. Plan is to ramp up by 15 lbs per week until the meet, and adjust the sets/reps based on % of 1RM I'm working with.

3.RDL
245/6, 295/5, 325/5, 6 - done on step. Did 6th rep b/c I thought I botched the 3rd rep.

4.Walking dumbbell lunge
77.5s/11 ea, 11 ea - used 2.5 lb wrist weights on each hand plus 75 lb dumbbells to get the 77.5. Figured I'd make smaller jumps on these - can't jump 10 lbs every week.

5a.GHR
6, 9, 8

5b.Standing cable crunch
130/12, 9, 120/16 - These were hard. The 10 lb difference really feels like 30.

Time - 1:33 2nd week is off to a great start. Still feeling good, thank God for health and strength. Trying to discipline myself to slowly ramp the weights up to avoid burnout, because the squats feel really easy. I'm hoping the volume is taking me where I want to be, along with the heavy(er) assistance work. Keep reminding myself that heavy triples and singles aren't far away. Bench tomorrow.

[K.Diesel]

BW in morning = 198! But this is before work, and overtime is surely on the way.

Mailman GPP - 9.101 miles, 23092 steps, 1285.4 calories. Terrible day, a little under 7 hours on the street with no real break other than driving to the next starting point.

On to the gym...

1.Speed bench - w/bands
bar/20, bands/5, 100+/4, 140+/3 x 6 sets. Switched grip from wide-normal-close

2.Bench
195/3, 235/1, 255/1
268/1
239/3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 - my goal was 5x3 at this weight. Fell oh so short, so I rested 2 minutes to get the 15th rep, and had another in the tank.

3.3 Phone Book Press
250/5, 5, 3+1 spot - goal was 3 x 5, and failing on that 4th rep of set 3 came as a surprise. Sets 1 and 2 were challenging, but i really thought I had another 5.

4a.Face pulls
40/12, 60/15+4 (changed grip), 80/16, 80/16 - 1st time doing these. Immediately fell in love w/them.

4b.Pressdown - rope attachment
90/13, 110/11, 110/8.5 (no more left)

5. Extreme leg raises
10, 7. Don't remember what my buddy at the gym was calling these, but they look like what Stallone was doing in the barn on Rocky IV. Really, really hard, and my form wasn't as good as Rocky's either. But it was a fun change of pace.

Time - 1:37. I really left the weight room feeling like this was the best bench session I'd ever had (it just happened to fall on Inauguration Day). The volume I was able to handle at a pretty high percentage of my raw 1RM was great (for me). Pumped that this came after a hard day at work. Most important, it was the 1st bench confidence booster in a long time. Felt so good, I even stretched! (and that was in the 1:37) :D

[K.Diesel]

Wed. 1/21 - Mailman GPP

8.973 miles, 22743 miles, 1265.9 calories. Relatively fast pace, finished in less than 6 hours. MUCH more overtime (meaning extra walking) than I hoped though. Guess my coworkers were stuck in inauguration traffic returning from DC to Baltimore.

[K.Diesel]

BW = 194.5. Not bad considering the GPP this week. Speaking of which...

Mailman GPP
6.538 miles, 16572 steps, 922.4 calories. 4 1/2 hours which is pretty fast (I'm allocated 6 hours).

On to the gym...

1.Bench press
bar/15, 100/5, 140/3
174/2 x 8 sets, all reps paused. Focus was form and explosion/speed. Funny thing here - I planned to deadlift first. But there was a guy pulling from the 1 step in the gym (there are others on another floor), and there was an open flat bench. Only time in my lifting life that equipment use meant I had to wait to deadlift, while bench was an open option.

2.Deadlift - on step, with bands. Conventional stance, near-snatch grip.
bar/6, bar+bands/5, 165+/5, 255+/3, 310+/2, 345+/1
390+/1 x 6 sets. Took about 60-90 seconds between reps. After the 3rd rep, started having visions of a 7th rep, but the 6th was too slow to warrant that.

3a.One arm row
60/7 ea, 80/6 ea
100/5, 5, 5, 6, 5 - meant to do 5 x 5, but felt like I bothced a rep on set 4, so I did it right, then matched the volume on other side.

3b.Wide chins
body/7, +25/5
45/5 x 5 - last 2 sets tough, just short of all out

4.Plank
90 lbs/35 sec x 2 - 5 sec/set improvement!

5.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
270+sled/20, 20, 21, 18+4 partial reps. These sets hurt.

6.Underhand chins - drop set
50/5 + 25/5 + body/4. Done primarily for biceps, but I had 0 desire to do any form of curl today.

Time - 1:57. Took longer than I planned, but I was really taking my time because it was HELLHOT in the gym today. Don't know what was up with that. Plus I figured it'll be 4 days before I'm lifting again, so what the heck. 2 more GPP(work) days this week.

[K.Diesel]

Fri. 1/23 Mailman GPP

9.396 miles, 23814 steps, 1325.6 calories. Knees feel terrible. 3 days left before squats, with 1 day of total rest in there.

[K.Diesel]

Sat. 1/24 Mailman GPP

7.024 mi., 17183 steps, 912.1 calories. Brisk pace. Monday will suck. The bag and arm load will be heavy. Certain of overtime. Squats after work.

[K.Diesel]

Mailman GPP
6.584 miles, 15,955 steps, 929.4 calories. Caught a break - no overtime today. Took about 4 1/2 hours.

Lifting - Don't know what's up with the temp in the gym, but it is still HOT HOT HOT!

1.Squat
bar/8, 140/5, 180/3, 210/3, 240/2 (wrist), 265/2
285/5, 5, 5, 6 - Really optimistic about squats right now. Still not using a belt.

2.RDL - done on step
135/5, 225/5, 275/3 (straps), 315/3, 345/3, 360/3(belt), 375/3
Think I found my 3RM. I think that's a PR for me, can't remember and don't feel like looking thru my journal right now. Used overhand grip until 375 set, then went staggered.

3.Walking dumbbell lunge
75s/12 ea, 12 ea

4.Pull-thru
130/15, 15

5.Standing cable crunch
130/11 + 6 + 100/12 - brief pause on 130 to reset feet.

Time - 1:40. I really think the heat in the gym affected my rest periods, as in made them longer. At least I've convinced myself of that, and that's the story I'm sticking with. ;)

[K.Diesel]

Mailman GPP
Forgot my pedometer today. Would guess that it was close to yesterday's post, considering I had a small part of another route, but many skipped deliveries due to light volume on my own. Was much harder than yesterday though, due to snow on the ground all day. Not to mention I didn't have my normal calorie intake during the day :( (negligence on my part). This may have had an adverse affect on...

Lifting

Warmed up w/3 x 15 empty bar bench(3 grips) and 3 x 15 empty bar rows (3 grips)

1.Bench
bar/5, 100/5, 140/3, 190/3, 230/1, 255/1
276/0.25 - what?! Form was off. Rested 4-5 minutes, then 276/0.66 - Damn!
Form was better.
247/3 (true max effort, may have had help on last rep)
242/3
242/2 + 1 spot
234/3, 3 Not exactly the way this was planned to go today. (Plan was 276/1, 247/3 x 5)

2a.Dumbbell floor press - neutral grip
40s/14, 60s/10, 80s/7, 100s/3, 75s/8

This was an improv, because after my 2nd bench at 242, every spotter I trust and thought competent was gone. My plan was to do one more week of 3-phone book presses. But at this point, finding one good spotter was a chore, let alone 2.

2b.Face pull
70/12, 90/15, 110/15, 110/11

3.Dips - drop set
+50/7 + BW/5

4.Hammer curl
45s/7 sim. + 5 alt.

5.Pressdown - at crossover station
130/12

Time - 1:37. Spent a lot of time resting after those failed bench reps, trying to recoup some strength that may not have been there to begin with today. Just to be safe, may recalculate the %s I'm working with on bench day. Would rather get the reps and volume in. More bad weather tomorrow for work/GPP. Still, I think I got stronger at pressing heavy weight off my chest today.

[K.Diesel]

Have stopped using my pedometer for a few days. It's become a little depressing due to the overtime i've been working this week. So there was some GPP today, and Sat. 1/31 too, and it was an estimated 8-9 miles each day burning a whole lot of calories, somewhere like 1000+ each day.


1.Deadlift - done on step, w/bands, almost-snatch grip
95+/6, 140+/5, 230+/3, 320+/2, 370+/2, 395+/1
416+/1 x 5 sets - again, last rep was real grinder. Probably around 1-2 min rest between singles. Bands on deads make grip a much bigger issue. Hard enough holding onto weight w/gravity alone fighting you. Pleased with progress on these, still not using a belt. Staggered grip for work sets.

2.Bench
pushups to warm up/15
135/8
190/8, 8 - last 4 reps felt a little tough. Little surprised by that.

3.Chins
7 wide
50+/5 wide, 50+/5 under, 50+/5 wide, 50+/5 under, 50+/5 wide

4.Seated cable row
200/6, 180/7, 150/11

5.R.Balboa decline situps - almost like in the barn on Rocky IV
30+/15 (static hold on last one) + body/6

Time - 1:25

[K.Diesel]

Another big mailman GPP day. Didn't mean to ditch the pedometer, but left it by mistake. Still, I'm sure it was 8-9 miles again based on past info.

Ended up lifting w/some new bodybuilding buddies at the gym today. They were shooting a documentary, and were using the squat rack. This was totally unplanned, and while not a total departure from my game plan, a nice freestyle improv.
1.Squat
bar/10, 140/5, 230/3, 270/2, 295/1
315/5
300/5, 5, 6 - My plan for the day called for 300/3 x 5 sets. Still no belt. Felt really strong.

2.Front squat
185/5, 205/5
225/5 - ME mostly due to form, especially left bicep. After the set, it was cramped. Locutus all I could think about was how if I could use the clean grip, I wouldn't have this problem. I realize that I abandoned my rule to do heavy sets for 3 reps or lower. Won't forget next time.

3.Dumbbell swings
15/10, 35/10, 55/12
70/12, 15 - hadn't done these for a while. Like 'em. Will keep them in rotation for a few weeks.

4.Standing cable crunch
120/6, 130/15, 130/12

5.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
360/a lot of reps over several sets. At this point, had hooked up w/another long-time bodybuilding friend. Didn't count sets or reps.

Lots of fun today. Nice change of pace while still getting the volume I needed within the rep/set range. Next week, squats will be triples for working sets. Near 75-77% 1RM and steadily climbing week to week.

[K.Diesel]

Seeking redemption from last week. a.m. BW = 192.5. Home scale is now in new location and there's new carpet on the floor, so I don't know how that affects the reading. Either way, it's about 10 lbs. too light.

Mailman GPP - will have to edit this part later. Left pedometer in car, but I did use it today.

1.Bench w/bands - still no idea how much they add. Speed and warm up
bar only/13, bar+/7, 100+/3, 140+/3 x 6 sets

2.Bench press
190/3, 230/1, 260/1
275/0 :( Decided to rest 4-5 minutes and try it again. Got it about 1/2 way up.
275/1 :) Spotter almost came in again, but I grinded it out on my own. This was an absolute 1RM today, which I didn't expect it to be. Sucks b/c I maxed out inadvertently, and it wasn't a PR.
247/2.5 (failed 3rd), 2, 2
237/2, 2.5
I think my bench form is decent but inconsistent. It must improve. Work weight drops a bit next week, so hopefully by the time I get back up in the 95-100% 1RM range, it will be better.

3a. Standing OHP w/dumbbells, rest pause work set
35s/8, 60s/9 + 3 + 3

3b.Face pull
80/12, 110/16 + 8

4a.Pressdown
rope - 100/14, bar - 120/14

4b.Hammer curl
50s/7 simul. + 2 ea. alt.

I'm throwing caution to the wind as far as food intake. I think I'm going to need to see the scale go up for the bench to go up. Shooting for 5500-6000 calories per day now (4500-5000 was previous goal).

[K.Diesel]

Mailman GPP for Wed, 2/4

7.805 miles, 19781 steps, 1101 calories.

[K.Diesel]

For the first time ever for me (I think) I had 2 lifting sessions in one day. Went to my long distance coaches' new facility in southern Maryland today, and only had time to deadlift. Later, back in Baltimore, did the rest at my normal gym.

AM - Deadlift - w/chains (another 1st!)
bar/10, 143/6, 231/4
231+/2, 275.5+/2, 319.6+/2 - all of these +40 lbs of chain at top
341+/1, 363.7+/1 - +40lbs.
363.7+/1 - +80lbs of chain
385.8+/1, 1, 1 - +80lbs
385.8/1 - bar weight only. The fastest heavy dead I've ever done. Oddball weights b/c they have kilo plates there, and I only wrote the lb equivalents and don't feel like dividing all those numbers by 2.2046....

PM Session
Bench
bar/11, 135/3
169/3, 2 x 7 sets - meant to do 8 doubles, but forgot on the 1st set

Chins
7 warm up
BW+55/5 wide, 5 under, 5 wide, 5 under, 5 wide. Microloading for chins is coming. Don't feel confident in 5x5 for 60lbs.

One arm dumbbell row
40/8 ea
100/11 ea, 9 ea

Shrugs
315/12, 365/8, 9 - short ROM, probably because I didn't let form get sloppy just to pull it all the way up. Better to lighten the weight to touch my ears?

I like splitting the day like this. If my schedule allowed it more often, I'd do it. Felt like a full-time athlete today. Oh well, back go mailman GPP tomorrow. None today.

[K.Diesel]

Fri. 2/6 Mailman GPP
5.137 miles, 13021 steps, 725 calories

Sat. 2/7 Mailman GPP
6.953 miles, 17622 steps, 981 calories

Rest tomorrow. Squats Monday. Working sets should be triples for the next 3-4 weeks.

[K.Diesel]

BW = 198! (deceptive house scale) Waist = 32 1/2". Calling BF at 10% based on calculators and ab visibility.

Mailman GPP - 7.105 miles, 18009 steps, calorie count off. I learned Tuesday my daughter reset my BW to 102. This was an unusually good Monday. No overtime, and finished my route in 4 hr 13 min, including "breaks". Beat the evening rush hour at the gym.

1.Squat
bar/10, 140/5, 190/3, 230/2, 270/2, 300/1
320/3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 - almost lost 1 rep on the 4th set. Rocked back a bit and almost lost balance.

2.Front squat
185/5, 225/3
245/3, 3, 3 - gym buddy did traded sets on these with me. He also uses a cross grip, and showed me how changing his hand placement remedied the bicep issue for him. Worked pretty well, didn't have cramp this week.

3.GHR - back to doing these on lat pulldown :(
10, 8

4.Pull-thru
100/18

5.Standing cable crunch
120/19

Time - 1:14. Focusing more on core lifts. No belt yet. Next week's target = 5 or 6 triples at 335, plus raw 1RM on front squat (may use belt).

[K.Diesel]

Mailman GPP - 7.506 miles, 19024 steps. Lightning struck twice - 2 relatively easy days in a row. Done in about 4hr 30 min. Legs, especially quads, feel bad right about now. No pain, but soreness/tightness.

1.Bench
bar/15, 100/5, 160/3, 195/2, 225/1, 245/1
261/1 - clean paused rep, 92.5% 1RM
233/3, 3, 3, 3, 3 - pause on every rep after the 1st 2 of the 1st set

2.Dips - extra weight from dumbbells
body/6, +30/5, +50/5, +70/5, +90/5
+100/5, 5

3a.Side bends
60s/20 ea, 20 ea

3b.Push ups - w/feet on step +2 supports. Spotter held dumbbell in place on back.
50/9, 18(!) - Don't exactly know how I was able to double the reps from the 1st to 2nd set, because 1st set felt like it was a ME. More rest, better position and setup (probably).

Next 3 exercises were alternated, but in no particular order.

4.Face pulls
100/10-15 x 3 sets, lost count.

5.Hammer curl
40s/12, 9 + 1ea

6.Pressdown - done w/rope
100/12, 16

Time - 1:46

[K.Diesel]

No GPP today.

1.Deads - back on the step w/bands
bar/10 (from floor), 140/3 (step), 190/2
190+/2 (added bands), 250+/2, 320+/1, 370+/1, 410+/1
442+/1, 1, 1 - not sure if I hitched on the last 2, which means I probably did. Pretty sure I did lock them out, but all 3 were tough.
442/1 - did this one from floor. Went up relatively easy. One more session w/bands and step to go for a 1RM (hoping for 460+), then to the floor for 5 weeks to get normal technique straight for the meet.

2.Bench
bar/12, 100/5, 140/3, 175/2
197/5, 5, 5, 5 - paused all reps, was tired for last set, last 2-3 reps were real hard.

3.Chins - 3 sets wide grip, 2 underhand (alternated)
BW/4 wide + 4 underhand (warm up), BW+60/5, 5, 5, 5, 5 - can't believe I got 5x5 w/60 lbs added. Will go ahead for 65 lbs next week, still expecting to stall.

4.Barbell Row - 135/6, low back was beat, got memories of that injury a few months ago, aborted this idea

5.One arm row - 100/10 ea, 10 ea - need another row/pull, these are the largest dumbbells in the gym.

6.Seated cable row - drop set 200/6 + 160/9

7.Seated cable shrug - 120/9, 200/12, 180/15
neat little exercise I thought of (sure I'm not the 1st one to do this). Basically, sit at the cable row, grab the handle, lean all the way back so your body is parallel to the floor, and shrug away from the stack.

Time - 1 hr, 45 min.

[K.Diesel]

Due to travel this weekend and plans in the early part of the week, lifting Sun/Mon this week instead of Mon/Tue for squat then bench. Been to this gym once before, not bad, but the only decent squat apparatus forces you to face a mirror :(

1.Squat
bar/5, 2; 155/5, 230/3, 275/2, 295/1, 315/1
335/3, 3, 3, 3, 3 - hard, but walked away from the last rep confident that there was more in the tank.

2.Front squat
135/3, 185/3, 225/1, 245/1, 265/1, 285/1 (added belt), 295/1, 305/0 - not sure if I lost confidence, desire, or control of the bar 1st, but bottom line is that after descending 1/2 way, I had neither anymore so I reracked it. Disappointed in myself that I didn't make an attempt at 300, either when I did the 295 or after the failed rep. Round numbers are cool milestones. Anyway, 295 raw 1RM PR for front squat!

3.Pull-thru
70/5, 110/10, 150/10, 190/9, 170/12

Tinkered with some more machines like leg curls, but with no rhyme or reason. Didn't really feel creative trying to think of other stuff to do, and was kinda tired.

[K.Diesel]

First time at this gym, really liked it. Wish I had gone to this one on Sunday, as they have an actual power rack plus other useful stuff. Unfortunately, they closed earlier on Sunday. Anyway, on to the bench.

1.Bench
bar/15, 135/5, 175/3, 205/1, 230/1, 255/1
268/1 - brought it lower than I wanted, but paused and went up smoothly
240/2 x 7 sets - I thought I imagined this, but the gym staffer who was spotting me gave an unsolicited comment that it appeared I was getting stronger with each set. I have a theory, but I'm not sure I understand why the sets would get easier as I go along.

2.Standing OHP
95/6, 135/5, 155/3 - strict
165/3, 4 - these were push-presses. Will do these for 2 more weeks, see what my 1RM is.

3.Dips
BW/8
+90/5, 5, 5, 6 - lost count of the sets after 3 or 4, and actually don't know if I did 4 or 5 sets. I do know I did 6 reps on the last set though.

4a.Face pulls
90/16, 120/15, 130/16

4b.Side bends
70s/20 ea, 20 ea, 20 ea

4c.Hammer curls
35s/8, 55s/6, 50s/7 + 2 ea, 45s/9 + 3 ea

4d.Machine dip/tricep press
270(stack)/10, 11, 230/17 - This is that machine where you sit in and press the handles straight down, kind of like doing a dip except you don't move. Really, really like this machine which feels weird to say, but its true. Wish they had one at the home gyms.

Time - 2:01 moved slow because I wasn't familiar with the place

[K.Diesel]

Back on home field

1.Deads - last week pulling from a step with bands
bar/6, 140/4, 230/2
230+bands/2, 320+/1, 370+/1, 410+/1, 445+/1(PR on this)
470+/0 - an observer said he thought I locked it out, but I know I didn't. Probably 3 inches short.
470/1 - just bar weight, off the floor, felt like nothing from knees to lockout.

2.Bench
bar/6, 100/6, 140/4
169/6, 6, 6, 6

3.Chins - work sets alternated wide/underhand
BW/8 wide
+65/5, 5, 5, 5, 6 - Glad to keep surprising myself, don't believe I kept going up with this weight. Yes Locutus, I'm clearing the bar on these reps! :D

4.Seated row
200/9, 8 - V-handle
140/11, 12 - wide, neutral bar

5.Lying cable shrugs - see last week's post for description
200/16, 13, 14

[K.Diesel]

Sorry for the delay in posts. Have been traveling and sick, I think with an upper respiratory infection and maybe something else that causes mucus, coughing, and fatigue. Symptoms started around Friday 2/20. Decided to try my next planned squat workout anyway.

To make a long story short, I warmed up ending w/330 for 1. Wondered if oxygen was still free, or perhaps I was supposed to have bought some at the snack bar upstairs. Kept on anyway. Goal was 4x3 at 350. Got 2 at 350 and wanted to collapse. Thought maybe a belt might help mentally and otherwise, so I put it on and did a set of 3 w/350. Sat down and wondered if I wanted to get up. My wife walked over from the other side of the gym, told me I looked terrible and asked what was wrong with me. This was when I realized I wasn't imagining how bad I felt, and I knew that was the end of this workout. Unfortunately, I also knew that this whole week would be a wash. Plan was to regroup, recover, and resume after my trip to Chicago.

[Locutus]

It's all good, just make sure you're getting your food and rest while you recover.

Have you visited Chicago yet? (Also, does the trip coincide with the Arnold?)

[K.Diesel]

Found myself feeling a little better. Though I knew better, still did 3 days of mailman GPP before my trip. Got back home from the airport at around 7:15, got to the gym at 8:45. Knew I didn't have much time, but considering how I've been feeling, that was probably a blessing.

Squat
bar/8, 140/5, 230/3, 280/1, 320/1
341/3, 3, 3, 3 - no belt, harder than I thought it should be, but grateful that I had enough gas to get through it. Breathing still a little labored, but they are squats.

RDL - on step
135/5, 225/5, 315/5, 315/5, 275/5

All I had time for, but a little more energy was left. This turned out to be a good way to get back in the gym. Left optimistic about the rest of the week.

[K.Diesel]

Mailman GPP - 6.421 miles, 16427 steps, 935 calories. Snow and ice on the ground. Only got 5 hours of sleep. Felt bad in the morning, adrenaline kept me going during the day, crash at the end. Took a preworkout drink before the gym.

1.Bench
bar/25 - fast, different angles
140/5, 190/3, 220/1, 245/1, 265/1
282/0 - my inexperienced spotter rushed in and grabbed the bar about 2 inches off my chest. Not even sure it had stopped moving. Used it as a teaching opportunity.
282/1 - Pause on chest. Slow, steady, grinder all the way to lockout. Confident it would have earned white lights. This matched my competition PR (from 11/08), so to nail this lift today feeling less than 100% was sweet.
254/2, 2, 2, 2 - 1st and 4th set were hardest, 2nd and 3rd were easier for some reason. Just grateful I hit all my planned reps.

2a.Dips
90+BW/5, 5, 5 - hit failure on last set

2b.Standing cable crunch
120/20, 140/11, 130/12

2c.Incline dumbbell press
75s/8, 6 - ME on both sets

3.Pressdown - rope attachment
100/10.5 - tank empty, went home.

Going to doctor tomorrow. Found myself coughing and w/more mucus than earlier in the day as the workout went on. Good thing this was as the gym was closing. No one to catch anything, even though I really don't think I'm contagious.

Next post may be delayed a few days also. Plan is to lift early Thurs. morning, then hit the road for the Arnold Classic this weekend. Last year was my 1st year going, and on a whim, my wife replaced my brother who backed out last minute. Now she's looking forward to it more than me. Go figure. Either way, it should be an awesome time. If I can get online in the hotel, I'll update the thread.

[Locutus]

Hey, since you're hitting up the Arnold let's exchange numbers. PM me or vice versa

[K.Diesel]

Ok, quick summary of the last 10 days, then will post workout info...

Doctor said I had bronchitis, but no URI. Started antibiotics for 5 days. Felt better by Monday.

Thursday's deadlift workout didn't happen. Not enough rest Wed. night, or time on Thurs. morning before heading to Columbus.

The Arnold was even better than last year. I was so ready to get back to the gym on that Monday, it was unbelievable. Got to see what I call the Grand Slam of strength-related sports - powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman, and bodybuilding. Even participated in a few of them...

Friday, at the expo, I found the I-Force Nutrition booth. They hosted a deadlift competition where you had to do bodyweight for non-stop reps. Most reps by men/women won a stack of their stuff. I weighed in at 197.4 dressed, and they rounded that to 200. Decided to pull sumo hoping I could get faster reps that way. Ended up w/47 reps, which I was proud of because I usually don't do that many pulls in a workout including warmups. Anyway, the guy who won that day did 61, and Saturday's winner did 71!! Unreal. At least I got a t-shirt, and made up for my missed deadlift workout.

Same day, I got involved in my first "bodybuilding" contest - the "Arnold Expo Amateur Posedown Challenge" (I think that's what Locutus said it was called;)). My wife insisted that I enter, so I did and won! At 1-0, this seems like a good time to end my bodybuilding career, so I can go out on top.

Did several sets of lat pulldowns w/different weights and reps on Saturday night at the hotel gym (pretty nice by hotel standards).

[K.Diesel]

1.Squat
100/5, 190/3, 280/2, 315/1, 336/1, 357/1
90%+, used belt
378/1, 389/1, 400/1, 400/1, 389/1

2.Walking dumbbell lunge
40s/7 ea
75s/10 ea, 12 ea

3.GHR - on lat pulldown
10 (w/pole), 9 unsupported

4.Side bends
75s/20 ea

5.Pull-thru
120/15 - adjusted foot position a couple of times during the set to get these to feel right

[K.Diesel]

1.Bench
bar/25, 100/5, 140/3, 185/2, 215/1, 245/1
268/2 - plan to was to single this!
233/3, 3, 3, 3, 5 - 5x3 was the plan, but felt like I was riding a wave of strength from somewhere, so I kept going at it the last set.

2a.Dips
BW/5
+95/5, 5, 5, 5
drop set: +95/5, +50/5, BW/5

2b.Hammer curls
30s/8, 50s/8, 35s/11 (w/fat bars added - a buddy just got them and asked me to try them), 50s/6

3.Incline dumbbell press
75s/6, 60s/8

4a.Standing cable crunch
130/13, 10

4b.Pressdown -short bar
150/7 + 100/8 (drop set)
100/12.5 - tank empty now

[K.Diesel]

1.Deadlift
140/5, 230/3, 320/1, 410/1
90% and up, added belt
468/1, 507/1* (big hitch, 3 red lights), 507/1 (3 white lights!), 468/2 (full deload after 1st rep)

2.Bench
140/5, 180/3, 212/5, 5, 5, 6

3.Chins
BW/5 wide + 5 underhand
+75/5 w, +75/5 u
+45/6 w, +45/6 u
BW/13 v-grip

4.Seated cable row
drop set: 200/5 + 160/6 + 120/10

5.Shrugs
315/13, 13

6.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
180+, not sure what I wrote now, but I think it amounts to 32 total unilateral reps and 21-22 bilateral reps over about 3-4 sets

All in all, I feel like this has been a strong comeback week. However, I did catch a bout of stomach flu with symptoms becoming evident Thurs. night after gym. Ended up w/diarrhea and 36 hours without food. Also, my back doesn't feel so great right now, and I'm pretty sure it's due to that hitched deadlift. Note to self and anyone else: Next time you're deadlifting heavy and the bar starts pulling you toward the floor, DO NOT try to defy gravity once it has already beaten you. Goal is to squat at least 410 on Monday, and hopefully my back will be ready.

[K.Diesel]

As far as mailman GPP goes, my route was expanded on Saturday. My daughter has been playing with my pedometer, so I haven't been able to keep tabs on the new distance, but I would guess the adjustment adds about 1/4-1/2 mile to my route. So that means with no overtime, I'll hike about 6.5-7 miles per day, 5 days per week.

1.Squat
bar/6, 140/5, 230/3, 280/1, 320/1- at this point, back felt really tight. Put on belt
360/1 - Last rep under 90%1RM
390/1, 410/1, 415/1 - raw gym PR!!!
380/1

At this point, it was late, I was tired, and my spinal erectors were screaming expletives at me, so I went home to calm them with a muscle relaxer. But the PR felt great, and with some sleep and less pain/discomfort I think I have a few pounds left before I hit my current ceiling.

[K.Diesel]

1.Bench press
bar/25 (fast t&g), 110/5, 170/4, 200/2, 230/1, 255/1
275/1 - kinda tough, but not a ME. Blame it on grogginess from relaxers/pain meds.
240/2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 - that 12th rep was really hard

2a.Incline dumbbell press
75s/6, 80s/7, 85s/7, 90s/6, 90s/5+1 spot+75s/1 - should have dropped to 60s on last set - spent

2b.Dumbbell curl - pretty strict, standing
30s/10, 55s/5, 50s/7, 45s/7 + 3 ea.

3.Tricep pressdown
150/8.5 - just could not lock out #9, v-handle
150/9 - short bar

[K.Diesel]

Took another muscle relaxer last night and slept in today. Hoped it would help my back hold up.

Warmed up w/empty bar good mornings, squats, front squats, cleans, RDLs, high pulls. No back probs so far...

1.Deadlift
140/5, 230/3 - thought I'd play it safe, so I put my belt on here
320/2 - deloaded just long enough to switch grip
370/1, 415/1, 455/1 - last rep under 90%1RM
495/1
520/1 - all time deadlift PR!
480/1, 1
One observer said the bar never went back toward the floor on the 520, but it did stop once or twice on the way up. Don't know if it would have gotten 2-3 white lights, but I locked it out so I'm counting it. Wish I had taped it though so I could judge it.

2.Bench
bar/20 (fast, t&g), 120/5, 170/3 x 8 sets

3.Seated row
120/11, 160/6, 200/8, 8, 7

4a.Dips - upright to emphasize triceps
+45/15, 10

4b.Chins - wide grip
+45/6, BW/9

5a.Lying cable shrugs - straight bar
205/15, 16

5b.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
180+/9 unilat + 11 bilat., 13 unilat + 16 bilat

6.standing cable crunch
120/5 - this weight is really too light now
140/12, 10 - really had to grind some of the last reps on each set. Will probably stay here until I'm up to 2-3 sets of 15

BW before workout was 200 fully dressed w/phone, etc in pockets. I guess its really around 191-192. If so, that's a good sign because its up a pound or 2.

Most important, I left the gym with a deadlift PR and without any back pain!! :D

[BigJavs]

The Arnold sounds fun as hell. Congrats on the bodybuilding win! haha

[K.Diesel]

I hadn't weighed myself at wakeup time in over a week. According to my Wii Fit, I weigh 191. Waist is at 32 1/2". One calculator has my BF% at 12.1, another has it at 10.8% With 20 days to go, I think it's safe to say I can eat my way into this meet with reckless abandon. Trying to load up right now for a big squat day tomorrow. Hoping for 420-425 single.

Yes, Big Javs, the Arnold is incredible fun. I would encourage anyone into any of this stuff to go. This was the second year we went, and I was worried that maybe last year had a novelty factor that wouldn't be there this year. Turns out that it was even more fun this time around, and my wife and I have every intention of returning to Columbus next year. I'm also toying with a trip to the Olympia. First, just to have the experience of going. Second, it's the week before my wife's 30th birthday, and a trip to Vegas is as good a gift as any. No matter how much we may like it, I can see cost making the Olympia a one-time pilgrimage. Maybe Andy Bolton will deadlift 900 for 5 reps this year (he did 800 for 5 last year).

After my triumphant debut at the Arnold, now my wife is insisting that I become a 2 sport athlete and enter an actual bodybuilding contest. I had ideas of powerlifting/weightlifting myself. The funny thing is, I'm actually considering doing it. However, if I do, that will definitely have to wait until sometime next year. I have every intention of meeting my powerlifting goals for 2009, and dieting down to look good flexing would not help in that effort. I just wanted to put it out there now, so if I start talking about the need for calf size or pec-delt tie-ins, you all will know what it's about. :)

[BigJavs]

hmmm...maybe I can convince my girlfriend to take a trip to the Olympia...

What's your diet like? That's pretty low BF. I don't really care about my weight right now as I'm just focused on strength but eventually, for general health reasons, I'd like to cut down on the BF and then hopefully compete in powerlifting.

[K.Diesel]

Javs, I think since your gf works out with you, getting her to go to the Olympia would be no prob! Your drive to Vegas from LA would be shorter than my drive from Baltimore to Columbus. I'd go for it man, and let me know, maybe I'll see you there.

As far as diet, it's fairly clean, but I'm pretty liberal with dessert. My goal is to take in at least 5,000 calories/200+g protein per day. It's that high b/c of my day job, where I'm hiking 6.5-8 miles per day. When I had a desk job, it was a little more strict than it is now.

As an example, here's what I had today:

7:30 am - 1 cup oatmeal w/raisins, sugar, and about 2 TBLS 2% milk.
1 cup cottage cheese w/pinapples, also 16 oz. coffee w/cream&sugar

12:00 pm - 24 oz. milk + 2 scoops Muscle milk (around 50g protein total)

2:00 pm - about 2 servings tortilla chips w/2 slices muenster cheese

4:00 pm - about 12 oz. milk w/a 24g protein sample from the Arnold

In gym at 7:30

9:00 pm - Had this waiting in the car to drink on the way home - 24. oz milk + 8 oz. GNC 2200 gainer powder (a full serving is supposed to be 24 oz. of POWDER + liquid - they're insane). My drink is still around 900 calories w/40g protein and an a$$load of carbs (especially sugar)

10:00 - 2 chicken breasts, around 2-3 cups rice, couple servings of broccoli, will probably have some mini-wheats before I go to sleep. Wish I had some ice cream in the freezer though.

That's a typical workday. Entree and sides at dinner may change, but usually same format. Maybe fish(salmon, tuna, whiting), or veggie burgers (fake meat), spaghetti. Steak when I can get it. My offdays are a little different because my schedule is different, and my access to food is different too. 1-2 multivitamins, pre-workout sup, post-workout sup, 2000-3000 mg vitamin C, mid-day coffee pretty much round it out.

By the way, you may have noticed I mentioned 3 different kinds of proteins. I use whatever I can get free or cheap. I didn't actually pay for any of the ones I used today - they were either donated or I got it at the Arnold. Hope this helps!

[K.Diesel]

I've smelled ammonia capsules before, but never actually used them before a lift until today. My gym buddy who must have a line of credit w/Elitefts had perfect timing, as he walked into the gym just before my heaviest squat attempt, armed w/a pack of ammonia capsules. I told him last week I'd try it if he had some today...

1.Squat
bar/6, 140/5, 230/3, 290/2, 330/1, 370/1 (belt starting here)
90%+1RM
400/1
Hit the ammonia, then 425/1 - raw PR!!! - He's laughing and saying how fast it was and it looked like I was easily good for 2. I said it wasn't exactly easy, but I was happy that it was not a ME either. HUGE confidence booster, as the state raw record is 195kg (429.9 lbs) and I think if I'm blessed to get to this meet safely, I'm in the books.

Hit the ammonia again, then 380/4 - crazy! I went into this set saying I would probably double this one. Adrenaline rush was sick! Took a 10 minute break, mainly because I was becoming more vocal and animated than usual, and I think was scaring some of the people in the gym. Plus a friend of mine who just joined the gym came in, so I was helping him out a bit.

2a.Standing cable crunch
140/18, 140/16

2b.Pull-thrus
140/7 or 8, readjusted feet, then 9
140/20

3.Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
lots of reps, all bilateral, over 4-5 sets. 270 on the press.

I'm exhilarated. One more big squat day before the meet. Will probably try to squat 430+ next week, or get several singles with 420. Dunno, I'm still high from the ammonia. In fact, I think I have a bottle of it around here somewhere. My buddy better be there tomorrow - it's bench day (weakest lift). I need all the help I can get.

[Locutus]

good stuff, i've wondered how that stuff might affect my lifts. hmm

[BigJavs]

thanks a lot for breakin it down. I've decided to clean up my diet as I've gained some weight over the past month. I think I'll use your example as a template. Probably try to keep my calories at about 3000-3500

[K.Diesel]

No problem, please let me know how it works for you.

[K.Diesel]

I'm somewhere between pissed, frustrated, and disappointed. Bench day didn't go exactly as I hoped, but in retrospect, I was exhausted (explain later)

1.Bench
bar/20, 140/5, 190/3, 220/1, 245/1, 265/1
285/0, 0 (huh!?!) - Another great week was not to be, as my attempt at a raw PR bench failed twice. Really caught off guard by this, as I hit 282 3 weeks ago with bronchitis. Am i weaker?? Barely got the bar off my chest.
270/0.5 - At this point, was ready to put in an APB on my bench, or at least the lockout, since I got this one halfway up.
250/1, 1 - 2nd time was easier than 1st due to better leg drive
260/0.75 - close but no cigar.

2.Incline bench
85s/9, 7

3.St. OHP
135/5, 6 (push press on 6th rep)

In hindsight, I think I was burned out from work, big squat, 5 hours sleep, then work, in that order. I bet the 270 didn't go because I was worn out from what became 2 long isometric reps against 285 at the bottom. I just got greedy on the very last single since the 2nd 250 went better, and didn't want to feel like a total loser.

Still, my confidence was shaken, and that is not good with (now) 13 days to go. But after Thursday, I was certain it wasn't just me being weaker. I woke up yesterday, not only feeling to tired to lift, but also with no desire to deadlift. I checked myself to make sure I hadn't been bitten by a metrosexual (see Gary's thread if you don't get it), and once I was sure of that, I concluded I was burned out. It's been a while since I thought about attempting a big lift and the impulsive response was "I don't want to do that". After a good night of sleep, I feel much better, and hope to have that increase tomorrow.

So now, the homestretch game plan is to deadlift Monday, bench on Tuesday, and squat on Thursday. No assistance work beyond abs and fairly light triceps and seated rows. Meet week will be light lifts to practice form Monday and Tuesday. Plus I MUST sleep more every day.

[K.Diesel]

I apologize for the delay in posting - I made video of some of my lifts, and I'm trying to figure out how to do the little movie clip thing plus link them to my posts directly or through youtube. Help would be appreciated from anyone on that. On top of that, I can't seem to find my training journal today - I know it's in the house somewhere.

Anyway, here's a summary of the week's highlights...

Mon. 3/30 - Deadlift, finished with singles at 500, then 530 (all-time PR, raw or suited!), which probably would have earned at least 2 whites

Tue. 3/31 - Bench, failed at 285, then finally locked out 285 raw! 50/50 on 2+ whites, please check video which I'll post in a day or so and tell me what you think

Thu. 4/2 - Squat, finished with singles at 410 and 435 (all-time raw PR and beats the state record!). No doubts here, 3 white lights, but no video. Oh well, hope to match or beat this next Saturday.

Light practice Monday and/or Tuesday, then that's all until the meet. Weighed 197 fully dressed tonight. Will eat and sleep as much as I can. Plus, I don't have to deliver any mail after Wednesday!! Maybe I'll be able to feel my knees after the meet. :D

[BigJavs]

yeah man, you can embed them straight into your post. I just did that today coincidentally for yesterday's workout. Just goto your video's page like you were just someone else watching it and to the right of it under the description it should have a little box that says "embed". Click on the little star next to it to open up different options like window size and border color. When you're done with that copy the info in the embed box and paste it in your post. It should look like a bunch of gibberish. Submit the post and you should see your video.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks Javs! Here is the video for my last deadlift workout, Mon. 3/30

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y4wOI3bVM9c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y4wOI3bVM9c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Note the ammonia hit before the last lift :eek: - the sweet smell of victory!!

Bench vid tomorrow or Tuesday. Practicing commands tomorrow or Tues, and that's it before the meet.

[K.Diesel]

Bench video from Tue 3/31

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YyDXdDwxNRg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YyDXdDwxNRg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Requesting feedback here: was the 2nd one good for 2+ white lights?

[Locutus]

Bench video from Tue 3/31

Requesting feedback here: was the 2nd one good for 2+ white lights?

Think so, didn't see the bar dip at all. Should be good as long as your butt stayed on the bench.

The first one would've been good too if the spotter wasn't touching the bar.. :)

[K.Diesel]

Weighed in at the gym: 191 in t-shirt and underwear. Lower than the 193 I hoped, so maybe if I eat and drink like a madman, I'll add a few pounds to my frame and lifts too this Saturday.

Quick workout tonight had a few squat singles at 230, and 2-3 bench singles at 145. I also did some bodyweight dips, shoulder machine presses, and overhead extensions (one set each). Those were just to pass time while I was training a friend of mine. Wore singlet just to get my mind in the right frame of mind. Plus my buddy gave me a pack of ammonia capsules. I'm ready to rock baby!

[BigJavs]

good luck at the meet man!

[Gary Gibson]

I think I recognize you; was one of your squat attempts in the slideshow on the Maryland Powerlifting site?

Either way, best of luck. White lights and gold!

[Locutus]

yup, here's our boy: http://www.marylandpowerlifting.com/images/rotate1208/46.jpg

[K.Diesel]

2009 USAPL Richmond Open, Sat. 4/11/09

Weighed in at 191.4 lbs, right around what I expected (still lighter than what I want though). Was in the 2nd flight of 4, each flight with about 15 lifters. Long day, but energy stayed up the whole time. Lots of MD lifters there I know, including Matt (who was competing) and Sioux-z.

Squats:
1st: 172.5kg (380.3 lbs) - good lift, and it may have been 175kg, but I'm not sure
2nd: 187.5kg (413.4 lbs.) - good lift, even though a spotter touched the bar on the way up
3rd: 200 kg (440.9 lbs) - 3 white lights, PR, and new raw MD record! real grinder, lots of audience involvement, huge thrill

Bench:
1st: 117.5kg (259 lbs) - good lift
2nd: 125 kg (275 lbs) - good lift, and felt like I had 130kg in me (Matt and Sioux-z saw my 2nd lift and agreed)
3rd: 130 kg (286.6 lbs) - no lift, stalled a few inches off the chest. Replay and observers both agreed that instead of pushing straight up or up and back, I pushed up and away (like towards my stomach!). Maybe this is why I've had such trouble with the bench in addition to the bodyweight fluctuations. Anyway, 1st miss in competition, had to happen sometime. Will practice bench form like crazy now.

Deadlift:
1st: 217.5 kg (479.5) - good lift, much easier than I expected
2nd: 230 kg (507.06 lbs) - good lift
and for my final lift of the day, and for the state raw total record....

3rd: 240 kg (529.1 lbs) - no lift!!:( 1 white, 2 reds. When I saw the display, I was more like :mad:, 1st at the judges, and now at myself, because I DID lock it out, and the bar never stopped moving, but the lock wasn't as clean as it should have been. Can you guess what part of the deadlift I'll be focusing on in my next cycle?

Ah well, what could have been. All in all, I can't be anything but grateful. I went 7 for 9, totalled 555 kg (1223.55 lbs), finished 2nd in the 198 open class (1st place guy had 590 kg), and set a state squat record in my first raw meet. Praise God for the victories and the lessons learned. I have everything on video, and will post them tomorrow. My wife uploaded them on her computer settings, moved them to a shared folder, and now I can't find them.

Thanks for your support everyone! Back in the gym for some light lifting Thursday, then a new grind next week. One more interesting note - my back was really sore as recently as this morning. Seems like 6 hours of mailman GPP actually helped it feel better. Go figure, I was thinking of calling out today.

[Gary Gibson]

Excellent!

Congrats on the performance, but especially on that raw record!

I hope we do get to train together. Shoot me a PM. And I'm looking forward to those vids.

[K.Diesel]

BW on home scale today = 191.5. Probably means I'm 189-190. Haven't been eating as much the last few days, and my milk consumption is way down. I'm not concerned. Starting this Monday, I'm attacking food, weights, and hopefully sleep with a new vengeance. I was thinking I might skip USAPL Raw Nationals to focus on learning gear. Now, I'm mentally committed to doing it, because I've been challenged by the guy whose records I broke (squat) and almost broke (total) last week. He moved up to the 220 class last November, but says he's coming back to 198 to go reclaim his record and go head-to-head with me and Jason Beck, a National champion from Virginia who returned to competition at the Arnold after a long layoff from powerlifting. I have no delusions about contending with Jason, however, I relish the idea of going up against my local (completely friendly) rival. Even if I lose, I'll be stronger than ever at the end of July and hopefully better positioned to make a return to geared competition in November/December at the State Championships.

Ok, today's workout...

1. Bootleg T-Bar rows - used v-handle around one end of a barbell
bar/12, 135/10, 180/7, 225/9

2.Seated cable row - underhand grip
drop set: 200/8 + 170/9

3.Dumbbell bench press
65s/10, 85s/7, drop set: 100s/6 + 80s/4

4.Wide chins
BW/7, Rest-pause/drop: 45+/7 + 2 + BW/2 + 3-4 partials

Time - :35

After a 10-15 min. break helping my wife w/her workout, talking to others, etc, I saw some of my bodybuilding buddies doing clean & presses. I've been wanting to get back to them, so I hopped in

5.Cleans - 135/5, should have stopped at 3, form broke down

6.C & P - 135/2 - From the floor, clean was decent, w/really explosive press that literally scared myself. It felt effortless. Locutus, I'm inspired, and I'm tracking down that Oly coach!

All in all, I was surprised by how hard this workout felt. I haven't done any HIT style workouts in a loooong time, and have been thinking about how to incorporate some elements of it to make some kind of hybrid along with PL type stuff, just to try and save some time in the gym while still making good progress on the 3 PLs. Gotta start getting home earlier. Will start mixing the gumbo together on Monday, and we'll see how it goes.

[K.Diesel]

By the way, I've had a heck of a time with the meet videos. We recorded them on a DVD camcorder, and have had all kinds of trouble converting them to a readable, uploadable file for PC. So, here's a great highlight reel that features my 441 squat, along with the rest of the Maryland contingency who lifted in Richmond.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Qmi6bgokoA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Qmi6bgokoA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[K.Diesel]

Unbelievably, I finished my mailman GPP early yesterday, so I figured why wait until Monday to get started on my 13 week road to Raw Nationals. I guess this is technically an assistance workout, since I didn't do full squats or deads. Something of an experiment, which may continue for a few weeks.

1.Clean and press
bar&collars/5, 5; 100/3, 3; 125/3; 145/2

2."Bootleg" box squats - bootleg because these are done in a pressing rack, using a step and crate to make the "box" (see video for demo)
140/3; 190/3; 230/2; 260/2; 290/2; 320/2 x 3 sets - got slower than I wanted, so I stopped short of my goal of 6. The goal wasn't something I was very committed too though, as this is the heaviest I've ever done box squats with no bands, and wasn't sure how they would feel.

3.RDL - on a step
140/10; 230/6; 320/5, 5, 7

4.Hack squat (plate loaded machine) - told you I was experimenting
180/7, 270/8, 360/9 + 4 + 3 rest/pause - knees felt terrible. Will probably eliminate this exercise

5.Calf press - did a warm up set on the Cybex leg press w/150 lbs, went to the desk to get my journal, and 2 people asked me about personal training services. This was about 3 minutes before the gym closed, so by the time I was done, never got a chance for my work sets.

Total time :57 minutes.

[K.Diesel]

Here's the video link for highlights from Saturday's sessions which I mentioned in the last post. Camera upgrade coming soon. Meanwhile, hope it helps somone, and I'll gladly take any advice or feedback you may have.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81-cZgP84m4

[K.Diesel]

Well, for the first time in a long time, I violated one of my workout split principles: never bench on Mondays. Not that there's anything morally wrong with it, but benches are always harder to come by in the gym on Monday. This is both anecdotal, and from a survey I read, stating that Monday is the most popular bench day in America. Not that this matters, I'm just in the mood for sharing for some reason.

BW at wake-up on 4/19/09 - 191.5

1.Feet-elevated lockouts - done in the pressing/squat rack (see video in last post) with bench between flat and ever-so-slight decline so I can fit under the bar on the bottom of the frame. Started each rep off the chest (positive first)
bar/8; 140/5; 190/5; 230/5, 5, 5 - these were a lot harder than I expected, especially last set. I must get more out of leg drive than I thought. Really found a good groove on some of these reps though, so that's a +. Pause (by necessity) between each rep of each set. Normal grip

2.St. OHP
100/5; 140/5; 150/5, 4.5 - just couldn't lock it out, these were strict, no leg drive except a nudge on 1st rep to get it off my clavicles

3.Wide grip chins
BW/8; +45/7; +70/6; drop set: 70/7 + 45/3 + BW/4

4.Incline fly
45s/8; 50s/9, 7, 4 - rest was a little too long to be rest-pause (as planned), but too short for full recovery

5.Seated cable row - v-grip
Drop set: 200/9 + 160/9 + 120/a lot (lost count)

6.Seated overhead extensions - w/cable and rope attachment
100/11; drop set: 110/6 + 80/6 + 60/5

7.E-Z bar curls - rest/pause
80+bar/9 + 4 + 2

This workout would have taken an hour, but I was also helping one of my postal coworkers who just joined the gym with her whole workout. That stretched it to 2. God willing, back at it tomorrow for another squat/dead day.

[K.Diesel]

BW this morning - 195?!

1.Hang snatch pulls
bar/5; 140/5; 190/5; 230/6 (from floor on 1st rep each set)

2.Hang snatch high pulls
140/6, 5 (from floor on 1st rep each set)

3.Hang snatch
100/3, 3; 115/2 - not as confident on these as I am w/c & p. Still, pretty decent.

4.Rack Pulls - top weight is 80% all-time 1RM rack pull
230/5; 320/5; 410/5; 455/5, 5, 5 - used Versa Gripps and belt at 455. One pull, and I remembered how much these things destroy my hands. Figured I'd save my palms for reg deads. Besides, grip wasn't my prob at the last meet, it was lockout.

5.Deadlifts
230/3; 325/3; 425/1, 1, 1 (belt on last 1). Planned to do 5, but felt tired after the 2nd. Funny, the 3rd was my fastest and strongest. Didn't want to change my mind for 2nd time and do another 2.

6a.Walking lunges - w/dumbbells
BW/6 ea; 75s/10 ea, 10 ea + 5 ea

6b.Pull-thru - cable/rope
80/10; 130/14, 16 (tough at the end)

6c.Standing cable crunch
130/13, 12

6d.Woodchoppers - cable/rope
40/15, 15

Time - 1:47. Take away helping others/answering questions and it's 1:15-1:20. Surprisingly, my back doesn't feel terrible or even bad. We'll see in the morning.

[K.Diesel]

A.M. BW is still 195 on home scale. :D Glad to see my increase holding for a few days, we'll see how it goes.

1.Bench/Phone book presses
Full bench: bar/20, 15; 140/5; 190/5; 230/5
1 book: 240/5
2 books: 250/5
3 books: 260/5
2 books: 260/4 - I keep thinking I did one more set with 1 book and less weight, but it's not in my journal. Unless I'm just going crazy, I did 1 book w/250x4

2.Barbell row
95/11; 140/8; 190/6; 230/11; 255/8 - glad to get back to these. Maybe I can keep them in the arsenal without hurting myself this time.

3.Incline bench
140/7; 190/3; Rest/pause set: 200/3 + 1 & 1 FR + 2 - damn!, had no gas on 2nd rep after 1st pause, spotter helped me.
160/11 + 1 FR

4.Bootleg T-Bar rows - v-grip on one end of barbell. Weights are actual plates on bar, not counting the bar.
135/7; Drop set: 225/10 + 180/8 + 135/8

5.Dips
BW/5; R/P: +80/8 + 3

6.Front raise - w/EZ curl bar
30+bar/15, 12 - no cheat

7.Hammer curl - unilateral, alternating
Drop set: 50/6 ea + 40/6 ea + 30/9 ea

8.Pressdown - v-handle
Drop set: 125/12 + 100/5

Time - 2:30 or so. Lots of rest helped me do what now seems like a crazy amount of volume (for me). This rest included training my co-worker, my wife, selling an extra pair of wraps, trying to convince another lifter at the gym to compete at the MD States this year, and getting 2-3 helpers at the same for book presses, spots, and/or video. Didn't have mailman GPP today, so I didn't mind the longer gym visit. My back never did feel bad after all that pulling the other day. If I'm blessed to continue recovering like I have been so far (1 week in), this could be a good summer. Let's stay cautiously optimistic.

[K.Diesel]

BW holding at 195.5 on home scale, so I'm probably a real 193. On the way!

Arrived in gym for 1st set with 55 minutes before close. It was about 88 degrees in Baltimore, and I spent 6 of the previous 7 hours delivering mail. This was my first hot day on this monster route before going to the gym. Plus I had to share the squat rack with 2 other guys (at least they were squatting).

1a.Squat - worked up to 80% 1RM
bar/5; 160/5; 250/5; 320/5;
355/3, 4, 4 - belt on last set. Just over minimum workload according to Mr. Prilepin.

1b.RDL - on step
150/7; 240/6; 330/6, 6 - only alternated these with squats because of the time constraint and down time while the other 2 guys were squatting, loading or unloading. By 2nd set of 355 on squats, I realized the RDLs were taking a toll. My form on that one was all over the place. I took about 5 minutes before the last squat set, and it was much stronger. I know that I shouldn't make a habit of this.

2.Leg press - on cybex machine (no time to load/unload)
490 (stack)/11

Time - :48

[K.Diesel]

Sorry about the delay in posting. Last week got hectic right around Tuesday, which turned out to be my last training day of the week.

1.Lockouts - feet up on bench
bar/6; 140/5; 200/5; 240/5, 5, 5, 5 - felt real good about these

2.St. OHP
95/7; 150/5; 155/5, 5

3.Chins - wide grip
BW/8; +50/8; +75/5, 5 - notes look like I may have done a 3rd set, not sure

4.Weighted push-up
drop set: +135/5 + 45/8 + BW/7 - collapsed on floor in superman pose after this one

5.V-grip pulldown
rest/pause: 150/12 + 6 + 4

6.Fly
rest/pause: 50s/10 + 3 or 4

[K.Diesel]

1.Clean & press
bar/5; 100/3; 120/3; 140/3; 150/3 - wrists hurt terribly during these. After the last set, I remembered the weighted pushups from the day before, where I had my hands flat on the floor. Should have propped up on dumbbells, which would have kept my wrists straight. Will know for next time.

2.High pulls
150/3, 170/5 - felt sloppy, again, wrists felt like crap

3.Pulls - from hang position, more like power shrugs
190/6; 230/6; 280/6 - used versa gripps on last set

4.Deadlifts
280/1, 2; then I got on the step for...
350/2; 390/1; 425/1 x 5 - not in my notes, but may have used a belt on the last 1 or 2 singles. Honestly don't remember

5a.Walking lunge - dumbbells
BW/10 ea; 75s/12 ea, 13 ea

5b.Cable pull-thru - w/rope attach
80/15; 140/12; 130/15; 120/17

6.Leg press - plate loaded, sled weight unknown
450/9; 630/10; 720/10

[K.Diesel]

Ok, last week, I finally got a hold of the 5.3.1 e-book. Seems like a great program and a good fit for my current schedule and mailman GPP. Will try it with experiments on assistance work, but I plan to follow the core lift strategy to the letter. With 12 weeks before the Raw Nats, I'll either
a) run this through 3 cycles, with the last deload week being the week of rest before the meet on Saturday
b) run this through 2 cycles, then after the 3rd week of cycle 2 (7 weeks), run a 4 week "peak" cycle to emphasize singles and meet readiness.

Not sure which one yet, and that decision may be 6-7 weeks away. Here are the working maxes I'm starting with (rounded 90% of 1RM)

Squat: 400
Bench: 255
Deadlift: 475
St.OHP: 155 (based on an actual 175 strict OHP done Fri. 5/1. Real happy about that, because it's the 1st time I've tested OHP w/no leg drive for 1RM).

Monday's workout

1.Squat
bar/5; 140/5; 65% - 260/5; 75% - 300/5; 85% - 340/8 - think I left one in the tank, but this was harder than I expected. Suspected dehydration after the 140. Frequent trips to the bathroom this afternoon and before workout. Also felt a little lightheaded after the 260, which felt like a ton. Walked about 8 miles today in the rain wearing vinyl/whatever rain gear. Didn't drink alot either. Not a good combo.

2.Leg press - plate loaded
450/10; 590/10; 720/12 - definitely none left in the tank after this. Could have gone home right then.

3.Cable pull-thru - rope attach
120/15; 100/17 - harder than they've been before

4.Standing cable crunch
100/25; 100/2 - at this point, my abs cramped up something fierce, and I knew I was right about 2 things:
1. I was dehydrated
2. It was time to go home

Time - :47. Rested a long time after leg presses, kept hitting the water fountain, helped my wife with her workout, and talked to someone about my youtube videos. Could have been done in :35. Can't wait for bench day tomorrow, God willing.

[BigJavs]

nice work as usual man. hey, what are phone book presses?

[K.Diesel]

Day 1 of bench on the 5/3/1 program

1.Bench press
bar/10; 110/5
65% - 166/5; 75% - 191/5; 85% - 217/9, sure I could have done 1 more, probably would have been a grinder

2a.Chins
BW/10; wide - +45/8; under - +25/9

2b.Dips
BW/10; +65/8; +45/9

3.Pulldowns - v-handle
rest/pause: 110/15 + 6

4.Pressdowns - short bar
drop set: 120/13 + 90/8
Time - :32! If I find myself getting stronger and bigger, I will love training like this. In truth though, I would have liked to rest a bit longer and do a couple more sets, which would have stretched it to about :40-:45

Almost forgot - I went back to the gym with my wife about 90 minutes later and stretched for quite a while (longer than I'm used to). Upper body felt great, but legs feel achy. IOMS (Immediate onset muscle soreness) from Mon. never went away, and mailman GPP isn't helping.

Also did some decline sit-ups, and on Wendler's advice, held a weight behind my head. He was right - prepare to be humbled. I did about 12-15 with a 10 lb plate, then only mustered 6 with a 25 lb plate. Very, very hard.

[K.Diesel]

For all interested, here's the video highlights from the 4/23 bench session.

Big Javs - thanks for supporting and subscribing!! The phone book presses are in this video. Basically board presses when you don't have boards.

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[K.Diesel]

Weighed 195 today. 1/2 pound is lost somewhere - must find it along with 10 of it's friends...

1.Deadlift
140/5; 230/5; (65%) - 310/5; (75%) - 360/5; (85%) - 405/7 - deadlifts for reps are hard! Haven't done that in a while These were not touch and go. I did a full deload for each rep and never let go of the bar. You're supposed to stop at least one rep short of failure on your last set, but this felt like more of a max effort. Still, under threat of death or imprisonment, I probably could have cranked out one more.

2.Barbell row
140/11; 200/6; 260/11 - will not go beyond this weight yet. I don't think cheating is too bad, but felt like I'd be outright sloppy going much heavier.
210/12 - 1st 8 were pretty strict

3.One-arm dumbbell row (shooting for the Kroc rows discussed in 5/3/1 as deadlift lockout is one of my top concerns/priorities after the last meet)
50s/10 ea; 100/21 left; 100/21 right - full rest after 1st 100lb set. Wearing versa gripps.

4a.Barbell curls - straight bar
100/7; rest-pause: 90/8 + 2.5 + 2 cheat

4b.Decline sit-up
+10/15 - plate behind head

5.Calf press - on plate-loaded leg press
320+/13, 10; 270+/8 - fairly slow here. I held the contraction at top and stretch at bottom.

6.Side bends - w/dumbbells in ea hand
60s/20 ea, 15 ea

Time - 1:10, the longest workout of the week due to necessary rest, and extra time needed to load, unload, re-rack plates. Still shorter than most recent days. I'm happy. Will try to finish mailman GPP early on Saturday so I can celebrate my birthday with a trip to the gym before they close at 7PM.:D

[K.Diesel]

Made it to gym 40 minutes before close. Turned out to be more than enough time.

1.OHP - biggest challenge = resist desire to use leg drive
bar/8; 85/5
(65%) 102/5; (75%) 118/5; (85%) 134/11! - really surprised about 2 things: I got 11 reps with no leg drive, and I resisted the desire to use leg drive

2.Dips
BW/10 x 4 sets - 0:45 - 0:60 rest between sets. Last set was tough for last 5 reps.

During the last set, I felt an odd twitch, maybe a nerve or something in my right hand, starting on the top side of the webbing area and shooting into my forearm. It didn't hurt, but a strange and unpleasant sensation.

Time - :21. So far so good. Next week, onto 3's.

[K.Diesel]

Start of 3's week on my very first 5/3/1 cycle. 5's went nicely, let's hope 3's are even better :)

Pleasant surprise in the morning. Scale said 196.0. Just ate 2 steaks, lots of rice and carrots before typing this tonight. Trying to keep it on and make room for more!

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 210/5; (70%) 280/3; (80%) 320/3; (90%) 360/5 - 5th rep was faster and stronger than 4th due to a few extra breaths before the 5th attempt. Was tempted to stretch it to 6, but wisely exercised restraint. Wendler says you're supposed to stop at least one short of failure, but that's hard for me to do for some reason (hardheadedness?). Had my heart set on 5 reps at this weight before I went to gym, and that's probably why I pushed for it.

2a.Walking lunge - w/dumbbells
40s/10 ea; 65s/10 ea, 10 ea, 10 ea

2b.RDL - on step
250/9, 8, 8, 9 - this weight was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Oh well..

Time - :54. Change of shoes after squats, and lots of extra rest. I was trying to keep my rest periods short, but I was just tired, needed oxygen, and that's what it took. Still, under an hour, and an honest day's work - happy times.

Speaking of honest day's work, I was almost surely affected by mailman GPP today. Adrenaline spiked, then dropped near end of the day. I was hustling all day, trying to beat the rain and also meet training clients before 6pm. Got caught in a light shower on my last block with 8 houses to go, but nothing to be upset about. Considering I had covered about 8.5 miles already, not bad at all.

[K.Diesel]

Finished mailman GPP early (took about 4.5 hours to cover 7 hours of ground), and felt good after a relatively easy day in pleasant weather w/no allergy problems.

1.Bench
bar/11; 140/5; (75%) 191/3; (82.5%) 211/3; (90%) 230/7 - never repped out w/2 plates before, and am pleased with this effort. 55/45 chance to get another rep, with slight lean toward yes

2a.Chins - varied grips, and did 1st set before last set of bench
BW/10 (wide/over); +45/7 (med/under), 8 (wide/over), 7 (wide/over)

2b.Flyes - varied degree of bench incline. the lower the #, the flatter
50s/8 (slot 3), 9 (slot 4), 8 (slot 2)

2c.Pressdown - varied attachments and grip
110/10 (rope), 11 (short bar/supine), 14 (short bar/pronate)

3. Pulldown - v-grip
Rest-pause: 120/15 + 5

4. Flat "Fly Press" - basically do flyes until failure, then start pressing
50s/7 fly + 7 press

Time - :41. Also did some ab stuff later when I made a second (unplanned) trip back to the gym to train my wife. No real set/rep scheme, just some bodyweight stuff to get abs involved.

[K.Diesel]

Sleep caught up w/me, or I caught up with it, depending on perspective. Have only clocked 5-6 hours per night since Sunday. Went to sleep last night around 1:30 am, woke up sneezing at some time around sunrise, took 1 benadryl, and the next thing I know, the clock says 12:26 - 11 hours!! I actually felt woozy until around 8 pm (after my workout). Gotta get some sleep regularity in my life.

Also, woke up with a low back stiffness/dull pain. Has not gotten worse or gone away. Don't know where it came from. Just took a muscle relaxer/anti-inflammatory/pain cocktail. Hope this is nothing to worry about.

BW this morning = 195.5. That 1/2 lb came back home.

1.Deadlift
140/7; 240/5; (70%) 330/3; (80%) 380/3; (90%) 430/5 - belt on last set. 1 short of failure, as I think I could have done 6 but it would have been a real fight

2.Barbell row
150/8; 200/6; 250/9, 9, 9 - good for 10 on 1st set, at limit on 2nd, should have stopped at 7 on third, but took extra breaths for 8 and 9

3."Kroc" dumbbell row
60/7 ea; 100/22 left; 100/22 right - 1 rep improvement from last week. I mark these as 2 sets because unlike the warmup, I take a full rest between left/right side

4a.Standing calf press - on smith machine, weight listed is plate total, not including bar
105/10 (slow); 155/10 slow + 14 fast - rested about 15 seconds, then cranked out as many as possible until ROM got to about 1 inch each way

4b.Hammer curl
30s/8 ea; 50s/9 ea - gotta check my journal, but this may be a rep PR at this weight. I know, they're curls, but a PR is a PR :)

4c.Cable shrug - done laying down at the seated row station
200 (stack)/20 - v-handle; 180/20 - short bar, overhand

Time - 1:01. The deadlift workout is the only one taking more than an hour on this 5/3/1 template. Still, it's a great improvement. Will try to sneak in the military press again after mailman GPP on Saturday. Supposed to compete in a Wii bowling tourney that evening also - does that count as extra GPP? Don't want to overtrain...

[K.Diesel]

Got to gym with a little more time to spare today. Not as rushed. For the 2nd Saturday in a row, trained at the old Druid Hill YMCA.

1.OHP
bar/12; 95/5; (75%) 118/3; (82.5%) 130/3; (90%) 142/7 - after 6th rep, thought I was good for 8. I thought wrong.

The following exercises were done as a circuit.

2.Bench press - feet up on bench, flat back
135/8; 205/8 + 4 + 5 + 2 - this was supposed to be a rest/pause set w/2 pauses. Unfortunately, I didn't have the spotter arranged until after the 8th rep, then he had to finish watching ESPN highlights... Anyway, I'm grateful for him, the rests were longer than I planned, but not nearly a complete rest

3.Seated calf press
70/15; drop set: 120/13 + 70/9

4.Dips
BW/8; drop set: +90/8, +45/6, BW/8 - had that weird feeling in my right hand again with the start of the weighted dips

5.Standing cable crunch
120/15; 140/26 - thought I was doing a warm up, then would hop on Hammer ab machine, but it was broken. This cable stack seemed a lot lighter than at my normal gym.

6.EZ bar curl
50+/9; rest-pause: +65/11 + 6 + 3

7.Standing calf raise
250/12; 350/12

8.Front raise
20s/11 - done simultaneously

Time - :52. This gym has calf machines that my normal (newer) one doesn't, so I took advantage of them. This will probably become a weekly habit, esp. since there's no mailman GPP on Sunday and I get to rest them.

[K.Diesel]

Haven't weighed myself in a few days. This week is my last heavy week on my 1st 5/3/1 cycle, with work sets having the 5/3/1 rep scheme.

1.Squat
170/5; 260/4; (75%) 300/5; (85%) 340/3; (95%) 380/5 - big 5 rep PR! Went into this looking for 5 reps, b/c I did 380 for 4 reps on 3/23/09. Granted, that was a backoff set after a 425 single, but still. Reps 1-3 were pretty strong. 4th rep felt like my spotter described ("Looked like you barely had 4 reps"), with form all over the place. Took 2-3 deep breaths and crushed the 5th, and it felt like my spotter described ("looked like you had 6 in you").

2.Leg press - plate loaded, sled weight unknown
540/6; 630/6; 720/16 - rep PR here, but it's leg presses so I can't get too excited. 4 rep improvement from 2 weeks ago.

3a.GHR - figured out how to do these on back extension apparatus to include knee flexion at top
BW/13, 15, 15

3b.Suspended leg raises - at dip station, straight legs
15, 15, 13

Time - :56

[K.Diesel]

1.Bench
bar/17; 100/6; 140/3
(75%) 191/5; (85%) 217/3; (95%) 242/5 - another new 5RM! Not quite paused, not quite touch & go, somewhere in between.

2a.Incline barbell press
140/7; 190/6, 7, 6, 7 - form on 1st set was terrible. I encountered the same problem that I had at the Richmond meet. I tend to push the bar up and toward my feet instead of my head or at least straight up. Must master this to maximize bench potential. I know on inclines, I'm trying to miss the rack. Changed bench position after 1st time, kept this form check in mind, and it seemed to work.

2b.Barbell row
140/8; 200/10, 10, 11, 12 - these were much more strict than I have been doing these. I think I'm better off for it. Only cheats were the last 2 reps of workset 4, maybe #11 on set 3.

3.Rope pressdown
110/17

4.Barbell curl
80/14

5.Seated cable row - unilateral
70/8 right, 8 left - pretty much quit on these. I was spent.

Time - didn't write my end time, but I think it was around :45 - :50

[K.Diesel]

Today, I warmed up by demonstrating various exercises for different gym members before my shift ended (by request, not showing off or anything like that).

1.Deadlift
140/5; 230/3; 305/3
(75%) 356/5; (85%) 404/3; (95%) 451/4 - I figured that my streak of 5 reps on the core exercise on the final set would end with deadlifts. I'm thoroughly convinced that I don't like deadlifts for reps now. Even though I'm doing a full deload on the floor between reps here, I count them as continuous reps in a set.

2.Chins - underhand grip
BW/8; +50/6, 6, 5, 6

3.Pulldown - wide grip
120/20 - thouroughly expected this to be a rest/pause set with around 12-15 reps on the 1st round. After I hit 16, I figured I'd just grind it out and be done with it.

4.Shrugs
230/12; 320/15, 15

Lost track of time, but I was in the gym for a total of 1:24 with a few long interruptions. Workout was probably :45-:60.

[K.Diesel]

BW is holding at 195.5, which means I'm probably around 192-193. I guess I should be happy, as this means I've kept this increase for a few weeks now. Would like to see it creep up some more, so I know what I have to do (eat, eat, eat).

1.OHP - standing, no leg drive
bar/12; 95/5;
(75%) 118/5; (85%) 134/3; (95%) 150/6
rest-pause: (80%) 126/10 + 3 + 2

2a.Bench press - feet up on bench
135/6; rest-pause: 210/10 + 2 + 1 - got greedy and went for a 3rd on round 2, and a 2nd on round 3. Praise God for spotters.

2b."Snatch-press sit-ups" Have no idea what these are really called. A MD heavyweight lifter put this on his youtube channel. Here's a link to see them - I loved them and will do them regularly from now on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-eNCwXmadc

bar/13, 15

3.Dips
BW/7 + 6; had that weird feeling in my right hand again. I wonder if it's the lack of padding on the bars at this gym, because I haven't experienced it elsewhere. The pause was only an attempt to shift and get rid of that feeling.

Time - :39. On to a much needed 2 days off from mailman GPP (Sun/Mon) with a welcome deload week. Will probably cut to 2-3 days this week. If it's 2 days, I'll do the squats and deads together, and bench with OHP.

[K.Diesel]

This week was a much needed break. Not only was I tired, I was concerned that I injured myself. I noticed that sometime last week, I had a sharp pain when I sneezed on the left side of my abdomen, right under the ribs. By Tuesday, I woke up with a dull pain in the same place. Mailman GPP felt terrible Tues, and I went to get checked out that night. Doc and nurse both said it was probably due to lifting. I keep thinking back to the 380 x 5 squat on last Monday, especially rep 4. Maybe I shouldn't have been so greedy? Well, it feels mostly better now. I'll cautiously plan to start wave 2 of 5/3/1 Monday. If necessay, I may switch the core lift sequence to give myself I few more days to recover.

As far as sets and reps, nothing much of note. All core lifts were 1-2 warm ups, followed by 40, 50, and 60% x 5 reps each. Did bench (153) and ohp (95) on Tuesday, squat (240) and dead (285) on Thursday - weight for top sets in (). Did 1 set of chins and 1 set of seated rows on Tuesday.

Perhaps the biggest deal of the week was my 1st time using a deadlift suit. This was a gift from Jason Beck, an absolute phenom and USAPL national champion. I met him at the Arnold this year, and saw him again at the Richmond Open. He was giving away some old gear, with the condition that you would pass it on later like he does. This suit is several years old, but the last time he wore it in competition, he pulled 766 at a 198 BW. It was still tight enough that in a conventional stance, I had to work to get my hands to the bar. I did around 6 -7 singles at 285 just to get a feel for it after my deload sets.

4 of the singles were sumo. Locutus, take note: I think you may have something on the suit helping more on sumo pulls. Granted, it was only 285, but it flew off the floor with the wide stance. Conventional was fast too, but I noticed enough of a boost to reconsider the sumo experiment. Thinking about doing this 5/3/1 wave sumo just to see.

One last thing - I may not be doing Raw Nats after all. Travel plans may make it a little trickier than I thought. Will figure it out by the end of the week.

[Gary Gibson]

One last thing - I may not be doing Raw Nats after all. Travel plans may make it a little trickier than I thought. Will figure it out by the end of the week.


Noooooo! Say it ain't so.

I hope it works out for one of us. I'm feeling a little better and tempted to sign up and take another crack at it, but I'm actually getting a little wiser as I creep toward midlife. Really needed to be at each day of my company's annual symposium anyway and would have had to cut it a little short to rush to the meet. Hope things work out for you, though! I'm hoping to make it to MD states. What about you?

And sumo rocks. I train conventional, stiff-leg and sumo (when my knee lets me). Sumo is my fave. "It's cheatin', a corruption of the lift, blah blah blah blah blah..." It's a very safe way to pick up a lot of weight off the floor is what it is.

The suit works better for it than for CV because the hip angle is much more open at the bottom of the sumo. Suits work by being deformed as they store energy and their assistance tapers off near the top of the movement. Sumos have more of the bottom portion where suits help and less of the top portion where they don't. I love the simplicity of raw training, but I can hardly wait to get into gear, especially my first squat and sumo dl suits.

[K.Diesel]

MD States is a definite, provided I'm blessed to be alive and healthy. My immediate goal is to post a Class 1 total in full gear (645 kg/1422 lb). My 1st 2 meets were in a squat suit for sq/dl, but no bench shirt yet. Therein lies a potential advantage of not doing Nats - I can start training in the shirt sooner and get really familiar with it. I was going to write comfortable with it, but there's no way to justify using the words "comfortable" and "bench shirt" in the same sentence.

[K.Diesel]

BW has been 196.5 for last 2 weigh-ins at home. I'm literally eating right now...

Working maxes for wave 2 are:
squat: 410
bench: 260
dl: 485 - will be pulling sumo for this wave
ohp: 162.5

1.Squat
bar/6; 110/5; 210/5
(65%) 267/5; (75%) 308/5; (85%) 349/8 - personal big deal! I don't expect to remember an 8RM, but I did match my reps from wave 1, week 1 with 9 more lbs.

2.GHR
25 plate/10, 10, 10

3.Reverse hypers
10 - a buddy figured out a way we could do these at our gym.

Time - :37. This workout was actually around :25, with a few extra minutes needed to work in with my buddy who beat me to the squat rack, plus him showing me how to adjust the equipment for hypers. Also, I got in the gym :45 before closing, so I knew it would be short and sweet.

[K.Diesel]

Weighed 195.5 in gym in lightweight shoes, shorts, and under armor-type shirt. Think I stayed hydrated today, but this was after spending about 5 hours in 85+ degree weather doing mailman GPP so I probably wasn't full of fluid. Point is, I'm optimistic about a slow but steady weight gain. :)

1.Bench
bar/8; 100/5; 140/5
(65%) 169/5; (75%) 195/5; (85%) 221/8 - hit 9 reps w/217 last week, but happy. Form feels good and strong. That Dave Tate video seems to be helping. Confidence is growing - I'm starting to think I know how to bench. That doesn't mean I'm good at it yet, just getting the pieces together. Video coming soon, probably from next week's session. Will be looking for feedback on form.

2a.Incline bench - medium/narrow grip
140/7; 190/5, 6, 5

2b.Barbell row
140/7; 190/5; 230/6, 6, 7 - only 1 (maybe 2) cheat reps in here.

3.Dips
drop set: 90/6 + 45/7 + BW/7

4.One-arm rows
100/22 left, 22 right - matched reps from last time I did them. If I don't get 23 next time, I'll do sets of 5-6 with about 5 seconds rest for a few weeks, then try again.

5.Snatch-press sit-ups - don't remember what I called these the last time
bar/15, 15

6.Standing cable crunch - facing rack, like this better
90/15, 15

7.Pressdown - w/rope
100/12 - have no idea why I did these. I was done after the snatch sit-ups

Time - 1:00

[K.Diesel]

BW is going up. Scale said 198.0 this morn, prob means 195. :)

1.Deadlift - sumo
140/5; 230/3; 275/5
(65%) 315/5; (75%) 365/5; (85%) 410/8!! - 1 rep improvement from last wave, when I did 405 x 7. Here are the videos. Feedback encouraged, as I'm trying to get some objective input on my sumo pulls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ-VnInWx8g

2. Cleans
80/5 - hang cleans
140/3, 3, 3, 3, 5 - last set on video. I didn't notice until I saw the video that I have no hip extension on these, or it's so lightning fast I can't see it (I think the former). Granted, I only recorded my last and worst set. I hope I don't do it this way all the time.

3a. Suitcase DL
140/5 ea side, 9 ea - I like these. Battery on camera ran out while taping these.

3b. Pull-thru
120/12, 12, 12

4. Shovel lift
bar+45/5 ea, 5 ea - these are humbling. I like them too.

5. Leg extensions - plate loaded.
rest-pause: 180/10 + 6 + 6. I almost hate to admit I did these, but I felt like I may not have done enough quad work this week after such a short squat session. Also, I had no gas left for another big movement, so I figured what the hell, try it out.

[Gary Gibson]

Kaisheem,

I'm far from the strongest or most experienced guy so keep that in mind as you read this...

When I started training sumo my tendency was to do exactly what it seems you did. That is, widen the stance to decrease the distance but otherwise treat this like a conventional lift: toes very forward and a fairly acute hip angle to start.

You might want to try pointing your toes out more. I usually end up with feet turned so far out that balance becomes and issue! If I do it without the bar to counterbalance me, I have to fight falling backwards. But this is what allows me to keep my back nearly bolt upright and to rely almost entirely on my hip muscles (glutes, adductors, hams).

I know some very large powerlifters like to go wide with feet straight ahead, but that's fighting against biomechanics for the sake of gaining tension and pop.

Anyway, I set up with my feet far enough apart that my shins are vertical when I'm in the down position. My feet form a 160 degree or so angle with each other. It takes some flexibility of the hams and adductors to reach down to the bar in this position and you may want to work into it over the course of a few sessions. This is what I was talking about before in terms of sumo not automatically allowing more weight just because the distance is decreased. Sumo requires a different flexibility and different muscle use patterns in order to be as strong or stronger than conventional.

As you reach down, your back should be nearly perpendicular to the floor. One of the advantages of sumo is that it removes the erectors as the fatiguing weak link they tend to be in conventional where they're called upon to maintain the much more acute back angle through the first part of the pull. Grab the bar and then pull the hips forward so you are as upright as possible and so you get a little eccentric loading of the muscles that will be doing all the lifting work. Keep driving the hips into the bar as you squeeze your thighs together. Of course, your thighs will NOT be touching as you lock out the weight out, but this helps me to cue the use of the correct muscles. This isn't anywhere near the back pull the CV is; this has as many elements of a wide stance squat as it does a pull. The bar should travel in a straight vertical line; it should look as if you're doing this in a smith machine.

I will concede here that sumo really is a bastardization of the pull in this sense. It's like another squat with the bar in your hands. It does NOT test the back strength like the deadlift was "meant" to and I think that sumo specialists (which I aspire to be) should throw in a lot of stiff-legged DL work to make up for this. Sumo isn't a pure deadlift, but the rules currently allow it and it puts less strain on the back if done properly. It's sort of (not exactly) the deadlift equivalent of putting on a belt in the squat. I get 30 lbs if I use my squat belt to brace harder and I get 30 lbs over my CV DL with sumo. Best ever CV at 165 was 425 and best ever sumo at same weight was a double with 455.

[K.Diesel]

Gary, thanks for the input. I'll try the adjustment with toes out on Thursday. My thought is that I may not have the adductor flexibility to get my hips low enough to start the pull from a good position. I had trouble hitting depth on squats that way before I met Matt and Sioux-z. They suggested turning my toes in and if you've seen any video of me squatting, I guess you know depth is no longer an issue for me :)

Anyway, it's worth a try, and I'll test it out. Shin position and back position advice seems sound too. My gut feeling after reading the Metal gear manual was that a sumo pull should have the same basic body mechanics as a squat. They sell a wide stance squat suit that is supposed to double as a sumo deadlift suit. IPF legal too. If this goes well enough, that'll be my next piece of gear. Curious - ever use conventional DL as assistance exercise for sumo DL?

[K.Diesel]

At the Druid Hill Y. If I never mentioned it, I normally lift at the Weinberg Y (where Memorial Stadium used to be). Change in scenery has to affect lifting one way or another.

1. St. OHP
bar/10; 85/5; (65%) 105/5; (75%) 122/5; (85%) 138/10

then for assistance work...

2a. St. OHP
115/10 x 4 sets

2b. Chins - varied grip, form
wide/4 + 4 switch; wide/10 switch; wide+25lbs/10; under+25/8 - Vocabulary seems to be shrinking, probably due to too much time in the sun. What do you call chins where you pull your head to either your left or right hand? That's what I was doing on the "switch" sets, switching sides w/each rep.

3. Pulldowns v-handle
rest-pasue: 140/14 + 6 + 5

4. Standing calf machine
210/15 - 5 sec. stretch at bottom

5. Straight Pec Deck
Pick-up/Drop set: 80/5 + 120/9 + 100/5 + 70/8 - I must have caught the bodybuilding bug from some of my gym buddies. 2 straight workouts with isolation exercises on machines. Well, I didn't do any curls this week, so maybe it balances out. :)

6. Seated calf press - plate loaded
90/12 - long stretch at bottom again

Time - :53. As a follow-up, this was the most shoulder pressing I've done in who knows when. Think I will keep it up for a few weeks hoping it helps carry over to bench. Shoulders felt somewhere between "heavy" and sore for 2 days.

[Gary Gibson]

Curious - ever use conventional DL as assistance exercise for sumo DL?

Starting to feel a little weird to be having this conversation with someone bigger and stronger than I am, but here's my answer...

I just did SLDL tonight, which keeps the hams strong and exposes the spinal erectors to the sort of position and loading that sumo doesn't. Can't go quite as heavy with SLDL as w/ conventional, but the back angle of the former is even steeper and that makes up a bit for the lighter weight. With CV it's actually much easier to exceed the isometric strength of the erectors since the combined forces of the hip and knee extensors can get so much more weight started. My back will round when I fail a CV pull or my grip will give out, but as long as it's with a weight I can get moving, I never fail because of my leg strength--even if my quads give up too soon and throw the weight on my hip extensors early in the lift. With the SLDL, it's usually my hams that give out and not my erectors or grip.

I don't like to mix sumo and CV training, but I keep the SLDL in the rotation no matter on which bent-leg DL version I focus. I don't do bent-leg DL work at all when I'm really focused on upping the squat, but will still keep some SLDL work in there...unless I'm doing something ungodly stupid like attempting a Smolov; then it's just squat, squat, squat and some light benching and chinning for a month.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks for the additional input Gary. The RDL/SLDL is a staple of mine. , and it will probably be my heaviest assistance work after this week until the meet.

Sorry to everyone following the log for this week's lack of posts. Schedule has been off at home, but I did get a full week of training in, plus some video of deadlifting and squats. I planned to post it all tonight, but my journal is in my car, and I don't feel like going back out to get it. So tomorrow, I'll post a summary of last week, then get back to the more regular posting. This week is the 5/3/1 week of wave 2, where the last set is 95% of my "adjusted max" for 1 or more reps. This will be a big sumo test for me, as I think that will be max reps at 460. Also, bench reps for 247 are heavy (pun) on my mind. I feel like I'm creeping up on the elusive 300 raw bench. Don't have a thought that I'll hit it at raw Nats but it's on the way.

Last thing to share for now: I have an additional goal for the meet, and that is to total 1300 raw. I looked back at my results from States in 11/08, and that (1300.7) was my total with a raw bench, and squat suit for the other 2. I figure if I can match that total in a raw meet, I'll be in good shape for big PRs and a shot at class 1 classification in USAPL at this years States.

[K.Diesel]

Here's the short story of core lifts and highlights from last week, which was week 2 of wave 2 on 5/3/1.

Squat: (70%) 287 x 3; (80%) 328 x 3; (90%) 369/6
Assistance - squats 230 x 25

Bench: (75%) 193/3; (82.5%) 215/3; (90%) 235/6
Lifted at a different gym. They had 2 bars and 6 45 lb. plates in the whole place. Good thing bench day landed on the day I had to lift there - I couldn't have done any of the other lifts in there. No squat rack, and the short diameter on the 45s made them bad for deads. Oddly, they had nice 115lb dumbbells. Did 12 reps of rows on each side with them.

Deads (sumo): (70%) 340/3; (80%) 390/3; (90%) 440/6

OHP: (75%) 122/3; (82.5%) 134/3; (90%) 146/8
Tried chins holding a towel for the first time. Grip feels like I could crush something. Reps of 9 and 7.

Here's video footage. My wife did deads too and wanted me to film her, so here we are.

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[K.Diesel]

My new Inzer knee sleeves arrived Monday, just in time for me to use them in that day's planned squat session. These are the kind with velcro on the side. Here's what they look like, cost, etc. http://www.inzernet.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=SLEEVES_KNEE_XT

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 205/5; 265/3; - then added sleeves
(75%) 308/5; (85%) 349/3; (95%) 390/5 - New 5RM!
Backoff: 325/12 - Never tracked 12RM before, but can guarantee this is my 12RM now!

2.RDL - on step
140/11; 230/6; 280/6; 320/5, 6; 250/13

I got the sleeves for the purpose of using them at Raw Nationals. I also expect to use them in training, as mailman GPP plus heavy lifts are taking their toll on my knees. Anyway, once I held them in my hands, I thought "no way you can wear these and be considered raw". Looks like USAPL agreed with that, because now these knee sleeves are not allowed in their raw division, but fortunately that doesn't take effect until after Raw Nats! Just fine with me, because after this meet, I don't plan on entering any more raw meets in the forseeable future.

After using them, they feel much more like knee wraps than a sleeve that is "just" for warmth and support. Not as good as wraps, but better than nothing. Headed into a battle, I'll take better than nothing.

[K.Diesel]

1. Bench
bar/13; 105/5; 165/5
(72.5%) 195/5; (82.5%) 221/3; (90%) 247/5 - was deluded and tried for 6. Thank God for spotters.

1a. Bench, again
200/10 (feet up), 8 (feet up, CGBP), 11 (feet down), 9 (down)

1b. Seated row
100/14 (V-grip); 150/12 (under); 170/9 (wide); 200/6, 7 (wide);
drop set: 200/8 + 150/10 (V-grip)

2. Dips
+45/14; drop set: +45/9 + BW/4 (?)

[Gary Gibson]

I'm not sure you got depth on those squats.;-)

Strong! Your wife's pull form looked pretty good for a rookie. If I could find a woman of comparable age and similar literary tastes who also powerlifts, I'd marry her on the spot.

So you got the Inzers, huh? I've not tried them, but I could always understand why they'd be an issue for raw meets. You can make 'em tight and get much more of a boost than the 5 or so lbs that regular neoprene sleeves do; not as much as proper wraps, but...

Didn't realize they'd be allowed at this year's Nats.

How's the sumo technique coming along? Looked like you were really getting your hips into it. 410 for 8 last time and now 440 for 6. I'm guessing you're going to blow way past 500 at the Nats.

[BigJavs]

230x25 :eek::eek: holy crap!
your wife's deads looked real solid man. you've taught her well.


can you shoot some advice my way? I've started stalling on my squats. I feel like my legs are strong enough. I feel like its my torso that loses it before my legs. You think this is a core issue? lats? I dunno man...this happen to you?

[K.Diesel]

Javs and Gary, thanks for the input. My wife was encouraged by the positive feedback. FYI, she pulled 180 a week before that video to test her max. She really had more in the tank, but I didn't let her go heavier than that. She doesn't have a belt, and I knew her form would break down with a true 1RM (doesn't it for everyone?)

Javs, just sent you a PM about the squats because I didn't know if you wanted me to post it on your log or mine. Feel free to post or refer to any of the content in the forum if you want, or if you think it may help someone else.

1. Deadlift - still sumo
140/5; 215/3; 290/3
(75%) 365/5; (85%) 415/3; (95%) 465/5 - Damn this was heavy! 5th rep was not a smooth lockout. No up and down, but may have hitched it. Wore the Inzer knee sleeves for work sets, and belt on the last 2. Toying with the idea of pulling in the sleeves at the meet. If I feel like I'm getting any help off the floor, they're a go. Have video of it, just haven't uploaded it yet.

2. Good mornings
140/6; 190/5; 210/6; 230/6, 6 - I hadn't done these in a few months. They suck, but I looked at video and think I was doing them right. Actually felt much better now, and I'll probably keep them in the rotation for a while. I think I was just going too heavy before.

3a. Pull-thru - rope attached to cable stack
125/13; 110/15, 15 - I was asking for a little too much with 125 after sumos and gm's.
3b. Standing crunch - rope/cable
95/15; 110/15, 17

[K.Diesel]

These workouts have been taking longer than I hoped lately. Either I've upped the volume, or I'm talking too much at the gym as an excuse to rest more between sets.

1. OHP - no leg drive for 7 weeks. Unbelievable.
50/10; 80/6; 102/5
(75%) 122/5; (85%) 138/3; (95%) 154/5 - then, this turned into exercise #2b, with 125/10 x 5 sets.
Last set, rep 8 or 9, I felt like my core was going to implode, and felt myself wobble on the negative. Thought "no way I'm not getting all 10 on this last set when I got 10 on the previous 4." I think this is the largest workload in total lbs I've ever done for OHP. It has been a neglected lift for me until I started this 5/3/1. If doesn't help my bench go up, I'll feel like I wasted my time. Or, perhaps I finally get into weightlifting so my new overhead "strength" doesn't go to waste (that's not a joke).

2a. Chins - used a few variations. Rope was a hair outside shoulder width, neutral grip, using the ropes attachments for cable machines.
BW/8 wide; BW/10 rope; +25/8 rope; +25/10 wide; +25/10 underhand - VersaGripps last 2 sets

3. Pulldown neutral v-handle
rest/pause set: 150/12 + 5 + 3

4. Pressdown - pronated v-handle
drop+ set: 150/10 + 130/6 + 100/6 + 60/7 (?) + 70/9 - after the 60lb drop, I felt like I wussed out and walked away from the stack. Walked back and raised the weight 10 lbs for the final 9.

Ok, I like 5/3/1 so far, and I feel like it has laid a good base for me. I need to do some more heavy singles, doubles and triples, so that will be my focus for the next 4 weeks. The week of the meet, I'll be in Ocean City, MD. I'm actually worried that I'm so accustomed to lifting amid a hectic schedule with lots of mailman GPP, I'll lose strength with a week of laying on the beach, eating, sleeping, and doing all the things that are supposed to represent the ideal strength athlete lifestyle. This will be my first meet with a full week off from work prior (totally coincidental and unplanned when I chose this week off). But trust me, I'm looking forward to this experiment, and even if I have a bad meet, I'd still rather be at the beach. :D

[K.Diesel]

I've decided to change my weekly order of core lifts. This will allow me to have my last heavy session for each lift at the right number of out before the meet. The plan is to do:

Last heavy squat: Thu. 7/9, followed by a session with 80% 1RM on 7/16
Last heavy bench: Tue. 7/14
Last heavy dead: Sun. 7/12 or Mon. 7/13

Basically, that means I'm swapping my squat and dead days, so now I'll dead on Mondays and squat on Thursdays. Bench will still be on Tuesday. Fri/Sat will function as a "light" bench day, and ohp may still be a part of it.

1. Deadlift - still sumo
140/5, 5; 230/5; 320/2; 370/1; 420/1, 465/1, 480/1, 495/1, 415/6
Once I get past 300 lbs or so, I use an alternated grip for deads, and always supinate my right hand for my heaviest set of the day. I usually alternate the over/under pattern throughout the workout for balance development. I mention this because I realized on the 480 that my control on the bar, or lack thereof to be more accurate, is much more pronounced with the left hand supinated on the sumo stance than with the conventional. The bar swung laterally a little bit on that one. Also, I've been tinkering with the Inzer sleeves on deads the last 2 sessions. I'll try it without them next time, and see if I notice any difference. If not, or obviously if it feels better, I'll save them for squats only.

2a. RDL - standing on 45 lb plates, using versa gripps
280/9; 330/6, 7, 8 - I did not expect to get that many reps with this weight after deadlifts. Pleasantly surprised.

2b. Standing cable crunch
120/15; 130/16, 26 - used versa gripps on last set, and it made a huge difference. Holding the rope attachment after the other pulls probably wasn't a good idea.

3. Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
270/13-14 (5 sec stretch on neg, 2 sec squeeze at top), 16 (fast)

Time - 1:13. Extra rest for singles, loading/unloading, and helped my wife with her workout.

[K.Diesel]

BW = 199.5 on Sunday morning. Probably a real 195. I don't think I mentioned it on the last post. I gotta be careful, as it would suck to be over the weight limit after being so far under for each of the other meets.

1. Bench
bar/15 (varied grips); 140/5; 180/3; 210/1; 235/1 - then singles over 90% 1RM
257/1; 262/1; 268/1; 274/1.75 - the attempt at a 2nd rep was within reach, but I blew it. At least I set the record for the longest rep ever on a bench press (see video).
230/6 + 1 assisted

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2. Seated cable row - switched attachments
100/10 v-grip; 150/8 wide/over; 200/8 wide/over, 7 narrow/under, 8 v-grip; rest-pause 150/16 + 5 wide/neutral

3. Pressdown
100/20 rope; 120/14(?) short bar; 120/12 v-bar

4. Dumbbell curls - standing, alternating
drop set: 50s/8 + 40s/6

Time - 1:17

[K.Diesel]

My plan was to lift before my shift started at the gym so I could go home when I got off. Instead, I got there with half hour before the shift started. So what did I do? Figured I'd squat anyway, and do any assistance work afterwards (3 hours later). Went like this:

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 230/3; 320/2; 350/1; 380/1 - then 90+% lifts
406/1; 419/1; 428/1

Time - :32. I'm sure everyone on this board knows this, but I'll share it anyway. Never attempt to lift really heavy things without a proper warm up and without taking your time to progress. A strongman competitor was talking to me while I was squatting, and was trying to figure out how I was able to move so fast. I told him I didn't know, but the weights felt heavier than they should have. Of course, I already knew going in what the problem would be: time. I didn't deliver mail that day (my normal warm-up), and I skipped my regular off-day warm-up, so that was mistake number one. Then I didn't take proper rest between sets, including my warm up. I think I rested 90 sec to 2 min. between 419 and 428. I won't make those errors again. Thank God I didn't have a painful lesson.

On another note, I did notice this interesting effect. The "pump" feeling was in my quads after I finished squatting, but I've never felt it from doing singles before. Perhaps there's some hypertrophy effect to heavy singles with minimal rest between them?

Three hours later...

2. Leg press - plate loaded. The sled weight is unknown.
270+/7; 450/6; 590/5
720+/20; 540/25 - again, what was I thinking?

3. Glute-ham raise - on back extension
BW/6-8; +40/8; +40/10; BW/21

Time - :29

[K.Diesel]

My plan was to lift before my shift started at the gym so I could go home when I got off. Instead, I got there with half hour before the shift started. So what did I do? Figured I'd squat anyway, and do any assistance work afterwards (3 hours later). Went like this:

1.Squat
bar/6; 140/5; 230/3; 320/2; 350/1; 380/1 - then 90+% lifts
406/1; 419/1; 428/1

Time - :32. I'm sure everyone on this board knows this, but I'll share it anyway. Never attempt to lift really heavy things without a proper warm up and without taking your time to progress. A strongman competitor was talking to me while I was squatting, and was trying to figure out how I was able to move so fast. I told him I didn't know, but the weights felt heavier than they should have. Of course, I already knew going in what the problem would be: time. I didn't deliver mail that day (my normal warm-up), and I skipped my regular off-day warm-up, so that was mistake number one. Then I didn't take proper rest between sets, including my warm up. I think I rested 90 sec to 2 min. between 419 and 428. I won't make those errors again. Thank God I didn't have a painful lesson.

On another note, I did notice this interesting effect. The "pump" feeling was in my quads after I finished squatting, but I've never felt it from doing singles before. Perhaps there's some hypertrophy effect to heavy singles with minimal rest between them?

Three hours later...

2. Leg press - plate loaded. The sled weight is unknown.
270+/7; 450/6; 590/5
720+/20; 540/25 - again, what was I thinking?

3. Glute-ham raise - on back extension
BW/6-8; +40/8; +40/10; BW/21

Time - :29

Did some side planks at the end. Some were done for time(:30), and others were for reps.

[K.Diesel]

Nothing dead about deadlifts today! Weighed in Mon. morning at 201.5, meaning a real 196-197. Haven't measured my waist, but abs are still visible without flexing, so I guess I'm still fairly lean. It would suck to be too heavy after spending so much time under the weight limit, so I think I'm going to taper down my calorie consumption for the next 2 weeks. Once I get to the beach, all bets are off. Plenty of buffets in Ocean City!

1. Deadlift - still sumo
140/6; 230/3; 320/1; 370/1; 420/1 - next 3 sets are 90%+ 1RM
470/1; 480/1; and then...
500/3!!! - all-time 3RM PR for deads, sumo or conventional,
raw or suited. Each rep was fully deloaded on the floor. Granted, I haven't been doing deads for reps until I started 5/3/1 about 8 weeks ago, but looking back in my journal, the last time I tried a 3RM, it was 10 months ago, in a new squat suit, with a conventional stance. I managed 2 reps at 463, then after about 3-5 minutes rest, pulled a 3rd rep. I'm amped right now. I feel blessed, strong, and confident about pulling with 26 days to go.

Backoff set: 420/7 - these felt hard, but I'm not surprised considering what preceeded it. Started with chalked hands and Versa-Gripps on my wrists. I did the 1st 2 reps with left under/right over, switched for the next 3, then used Versa-Gripps to get 2 more.

2a. RDL - on step
320/10, 8, 8

2b. Standing cable crunch
150/20, 20, 25 - using VGs on these make a huge difference in the number of reps I get

3. Shovel lift
45 plate/10 left leading, 10 right leading

4. Calf press on plate-loaded leg press
270/22; 16; 12 (with longer stretch); 16

Time - 1:30

[Gary Gibson]

500x3 DL. Congrats!

[K.Diesel]

1. Bench press
bar/15-20; 140/6; 180/3; 210/1; 235/1 - then 90%+
259/1; 265/1; 271/1; 276/1.5 - again, went for the double on max set, but my form collapsed on 2nd rep. By that, I mean I pushed the bar up and maybe towards my feet instead of towards the rack. Maybe I was disgusted with this tendency, because I spent a total of about 70 minutes benching today...

2a. Seated cable row - different attachments and grips
100/13 wide/overhand; 150/8 wide/overhand;
200/7 wide/overhand, 6 wide/neutral, 8 v-handle;
160/16 v-handle (pretty strict through rep 13), 12-13 short/underhand
150/17 underhand

2b. Bench press
240/3, 5
250/2, 2, 3, 2, 2
(hit the rack on 3rd rep of set 3 which messed it up, but it was good if that pin wasn't in the way)
200/7

3. Dips
BW/20, 12

4. Rope pressdown
drop set: 120/11 + 90/8

Time - 1:43

[K.Diesel]

Made a timely field trip to Supreme Sports Performance and Training in Rockville, MD. http://www.supremesportspt.com/

Talked to my distance coach/mentor Matt Gary about lift attempts, what to expect at my first national meet, some of my competition, and other stuff. I'll get into some of that in another post. The only downside - I realized as I left that my next training session would not be there. Ah well, at least I'm blessed with the ability to train at all.

Also had fellow strengthmill poster Gary Gibson go with me. Evidently, Gary got drunk off some drink called Smolov the night before and was recovering from the hangover when I picked him up. So he said training was out for him, but he was a great help spotting and loading/unloading. Thanks Gary, I really appreciate it. God willing, we'll do another field trip in August/September.

As for the workout:

Warmed up on treadmill, GHR, lunges, jumps, and some other stuff. I only mention it because this was 2-6 hours before I normally lift. More so, I didn't do my normal warmup, which I also call going to work.

1. Squats - used kilo plates, but the weights listed are in lbs.
bar/8; 143/6; 209/4; 253.5/3; 298/2; 325/2; 363/1
396/1, 1, 1 - Big OOPS! I left my journal in my truck, which my wife drove to the mall. I couldn't remember what I did last week, and I ended up doing 3 singles of 396 (90% 1RM). But I did seem to remember 432 as a target for this week's session. Turns out I did 428 for a single last week! So did I progress toward my goal, or regress from it? Next week's plan is unsure at this point.

The rest was light assistance stuff, but cool and hopefully useful. I did GHRs on an actual EliteFts glute-ham apparatus! I did reverse hypers on a real reverse hyper! Sets and reps weren't even that important, but I think it was something like 10-15 reps per set.

[Gary Gibson]

I really wish I'd been able to train with you yesterday. I finally get a trip down to the Garys' facility and don't even use all that beautiful regulation equipment...but I look forward to heading down there with you when it's time for me to learn the gear!

And Comrade Smolov could put 50 lbs on your bench by the time States rolls around.

[K.Diesel]

And Comrade Smolov could put 50 lbs on your bench by the time States rolls around.

I'd be willing to give it a try, but I also really want to learn how to use these bench shirts I have laying around. Can you post or send me the format of the program? I'll figure out how to incorporate the shirts, or depending on the duration of the program, add them once it's over.

Went to the gym yesterday, even though I didn't feel like it. I was dragging through my work day, and had little or no desire to go to the gym for bench assistance work. But I did anyway, and got out of there in about a half hour.

I alternated between weighted chins, standing ohp, and weighted dips. I don't even feel like looking in the journal to find the sets, reps, weights. I remember doing 10 reps of wide chins with a 45 plate, 8 or 9 dips with 70 lbs, and 7 ohp with 140. Those were the heaviest sets out of a total of around 8-9 work sets. I got home and had little appetite. Could barely stay awake to eat the little bit I did.

Was I overtrained/under-recovered? I went to sleep around 12:30 am and woke up today at 12:30 pm. 12 hours sleep without the use of sedatives. I think the answer would be yes. No mailman GPP or weights until Monday, and at this point it's 3 days of lifting per week with decreasing assistance work before the meet. 21 days to go until Raw Nationals. Forgot to weigh myself today, so hopefully I'll do it when I wake up tomorrow.

[K.Diesel]

Weighed 199.5, waist is up to 33.5 (after drinking something). Probably a real 195 in the morning. This ties the biggest my waist has been in the past 3 years, which I translate as the highest my BF% has been. This is also the heaviest sustained weight I've been at with my current workload, so I'll take it. Abs are still visible unflexed - we're good for the beach in 14 days! :D

1. Deadlift - sumo
140/6; 230/4; 290/2; started alternating grip: 340/2; added belt: 390/1
440/1
480/1
515/1 - this matches my best ever sumo, from Oct. '08. This didn't feel like a max effort this time. Video shows that the bar swayed front/back as I locked out. I'm pretty sure you don't get red lighted for that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'll post the video at the end of the week along with the squat and bench highlight.

After a looong rest trying to help someone who asked me for advice and thought he was getting his carbs from his protein (yes, that's what he said)...

2a. Pull-thrus - cable w/rope attachment
130/15, 15, 15

2b. Standing crunch - cable/rope
130/30, 20, 21

Feeling good about deadlifts right now. I think I basically hit my opener and 2nd attempt tonight. Will do some singles at 425 or so next Monday, along with some abs.

[WatsupHannity]

After a looong rest trying to help someone who asked me for advice and thought he was getting his carbs from his protein (yes, that's what he said)...


Haha. Isn't it the case that in the complete absence of carbs your body can use protein for quick-energy fuel, filling the role that carbs would? Perhaps that was what he was getting at. In any case, that has to be way sub-optimal. Obviously just eat the carbs!

[K.Diesel]

I don't blame you for trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he meant carbs were substances contained in protein. I gave him a basic explanation of macronutrients and he was ok from there. Hey, we all have to learn from somewhere, some I'm not upset about his lack of knowledge. But it was one of the more vivid examples I've encountered of how little many, if not most gym-goers are about nutrition.

And yes sir, you're right about protein being a fall-back source of energy in a pinch. It is indeed a sub-optimal situation to be in.

[K.Diesel]

1. Bench press
bar/20; 100/6; 140/5; 180/4; 200/3
220/1; 240/1; 260/1
280/1 - This was not a smooth rep, starting with a poor descent and a few sticking points going up. I only planned to do this once today, but I really wanted to reinforce better mechanics with heavy weight, so I waited 5 minutes, then...
280/1 - SMOKED IT!
315/10 second lockout. I made NO attempt to move this weight, just held it at full lockout and squeezed the bar to prime CNS for a max lift soon.

2a. Chins
BW/10 wide, 10 under, 10 neutral

2b. Dips
BW/15, 15, 11 (stopped 1 short of failure)

3. Seated row
150/13

If I keep my weight up, I should be good for 286 at the meet. I may have 292 in the tank, but I'd rather nail the 286 PR than miss 292. I just hate having to think so much during the bench. Drive legs, push back, squeeze bar, try to bend it, etc. and invariably I forget one or more during the reps when I need all those factors activated the most. I need to do more visualization of the perfect rep, then do it on the platform.

[K.Diesel]

I had a much more productive squat workout on Thursday. It was the only exercise I did, and I got it done before the start of my shift at the gym (I work there part time as a trainer and fitness instructor). My kind of day.

Squat
bar/8; 140/5; 230/3
added wrist wraps - 275/1; 305/1
added belt - 335/1
added knee sleeve - 365/1; 395/1; 425/1
walkout and hold, no squat - 455/10 seconds

That 455 felt HEAVY! That was the first time in about 8 months that I've had over 450 on my back, and I'm glad I got to feel it again now instead of waiting for the platform. The 425 was heavy but pretty fast and clearly sub-maximal. I'll do a post before the meet to outline what my probable attempts will be.

Edit: Sometime during this workout, I strained my back, somewhere in the rhomboid (I think) on the right. Was hurting all night, and during the day Friday. I was taking pain relievers and muscle relaxers since I had to work Friday and Saturday, and had decided I wouldn't deadlift Sun or Mon. Here it is Sun afternoon, and I haven't felt any pain for around 24 hours. If I don't feel any other hint of pain by the time I finish mailman GPP tomorrow, I may do them anyway. I only planned to work up to around 425 for a few triples. I would like to do them, so I can work on my sumo form just a bit more. We'll see...

[Tor]

K. Diesel,

How do the wrist wraps fit into your squat routine? I'm just curious if you add them because you've had wrist pain in the past or if there's some other reason. And do you squat with straight wrists or bent? Does that affect how the wraps are used?

Thank you,

Tor

[K.Diesel]

Tor,

I haven't had problems with wrist pain. They're used to help stabilize my wrists and support the bar. I usually pull them out around 60% 1RM and heavier. My wrists are mostly straight. Keeping my wrists tight helps the heavier I go, because the heavier the weight, the more I try to press the bar off my shoulders on the ascent. Of course, that never happens, but it does help the bar feel lighter, which allows me to move more weight.

[K.Diesel]

My back felt pretty good, so I decided to go ahead and feel a little better about sumo pulls.

1. Deadlift
140/5; 225/1, 1, 1 (15-30 sec between ea.); 275/1, 1
started alt. grip - 325/1, 1
added belt - 375/1, 1
425/1, 1, 1 - 1 or 2 min. rest between pulls. Should have taken longer between 2 and 3, because the 3rd felt harder than I thought it should have and I was a little light-headed after #2.

2. GHR - on adjusted back extension
BW/16

3. Straight leg raises
12 propped elbows at dip station; 8 hanging from chin bar, bring feet from floor to bar. I really wished I had someone tape these. I didn't plan to do the 2nd set like that, but someone had hopped into the dip station by the time I was ready to go.

[K.Diesel]

Forgot to post this yesterday, but my bodyweight on the gym scale post-workout was 195 in underwear and socks. Not bad. If I can just hold it through Saturday, then I'll be fine. 5 days of buffets, pizza and funnel cake might actually put me over the limit, so I think I'll take my scale with me to keep a close eye on it.

1. Bench
bar/10; 100/5; 145/5; 185/3
added wrist wraps - 225/2
added belt - 245/1; 265/1, 1 - This is my planned opener at the meet next Saturday (120 kg). Had my spotter give me the commands. I did that same stupid thing on the press command, pushing the bar up and towards my feet instead of towards the rack. Went up ok, but I felt myself do it and wanted to reinforce better technique, so I did it a second time and almost threw it on the rack. Feeling pretty confident that I won't bomb out, but I will be VERY disappointed if I don't get that elusive 130kg with at least 2 white lights.

315/15 second hold at lockout

2. Chins - underhand
BW/8; drop set: +90/4, +45/6 + BW/6

3. Pressdowns - short/straight bar
drop set: 150/12 + 120/9 + 90/7 (didn't lock all of these out)
150/5 second hold + slow negative

This week's sessions have been short. 30-45 minutes each so far.

[K.Diesel]

This was a deload session after last week's single of 425. Basically the minimum workload from Mr. Prilipen.

1. Squat
bar/10; 140/5; 230/3
add wrist wraps - 280/2
add knee sleeves - 325/2
add belt - 355/2, (tightened sleeves) 2, 2, 2, 2
After about 10 minutes... 460/15 second walkout.

That was it. Off to the Ocean in a few days. One "tune-up" session with low intensity/low volume on Tuesday. Next post will have my likely attempt progression.

[K.Diesel]

I weighed 198.5 on the home scale this morning, so I guess that means 194-195. I'm quite satisfied that I've been blessed to maintain this weight with all the mailman GPP. Vacation has finally started, and my body gets a much needed (and I'll humbly add deserved) chance to rest and recover.

7 more days, and my 4th meet is finally here. This is what my likely attempt progression will be, assuming I make them all:

Squat
1st: 182.5 kg (402.3 lbs)
2nd: 195 kg (429.9 lbs)
3rd: 202.5 - 205 kg (446.4 - 451.9 lb)

Bench
1st: 117.5 kg (259.0 lb)
2nd: 125 kg (275.6 lb)
3rd: 130 kg (286.6 lb)

Deadlift
1st: 220 kg (485.0 lb)
2nd: 235 kg (518.1 lb)
3rd: ? - will depend on what kind of meet I'm having, how my competitors are doing, and what kind of total/placing may be in reach

Obviously, I really want to have a good meet, since I've trained hard for it and the stage is bigger. I don't expect to win, and considering the competition I shouldn't win. So in a way, low expectations are helping me to relax a little more than if I was in contention for a top slot. My focus is to achieve the goals I set for myself, which are covered in a previous post. I won't have internet at my Ocean City spot, so I probably won't post again until I get to VA on Friday, and of course the results after the meet. I'll be checking the site again later tonight and/or tomorrow. To all the other lifters here, keep pushing hard, and thanks for following me on this road.

Peace
Kaisheem

Anyone curious about the meet, here's the site http://www.usaplnationals.com/2009raw/

[BigJavs]

Yo K,

Thanks for all the advice recently. I know you're gonna kick ass at nationals!

Javier

[K.Diesel]

On a whim, decided to check for a wireless internet signal, and wouldn't you know? The hotel across the street has one! So I figured I'd post the results from Tuesday's workout and and info about a recent issue that has surfaced.

By the way Javs, my pleasure to help bro. Thanks for the support!

Tues. 7/21

1. Squat
bar/8 - bar sucked, switched bars and realized I felt sluggish and stiff
bike/10:00 min
bar/3; 135/3
(50%) 220/3
(60%) 265/3, added wrist wraps, 3
(70%) 310/2, added knee sleeves, 2, 2

2. Bench
bar/15; 95/5
(50%) 140/3
(60%) 170/3, 3
(70%) 195/2, 2
(75%) 210/1, 1, 1 - paused all of these on chest

That was it. Took my time. The squats felt harder than I thought they should, but I attributed that to lifting early and not feeling too energetic. Plus, after I thought about it, I realized that squats always feel harder than I think they should.

Really like the weight room in this place, as they have some old school stuff. Plus, the PLer I was going to meet there was gone by the time I arrived (around 10:30am). Turns out he was the 1st member there that day. His chains, Safety Squat Bar, and lots of other goodies are there for the public goods. A few kettlebells, dumbbells pairs up to 130, and other good stuff.

Weight issue
This has been a weird week. I brought my scale from home, and it read 198.5 at wake-up time on Tuesday. In the gym, I came out of the restroom and weighed 199.5 in t-shirt, shorts, and Chucks. Ok, maybe it's breakfast still in me. We went to a seafood deluxe buffet that night, and I got my $24.99 worth out of that place. Roast beef, pepper steak, pizza, onion rings, a couple different veggies, chicken, bread pudding, ice cream and pie, and that's just what I actually remember.

Why is all that important? Because I freaked out when my scale read 202.5 on Wednesday morning! A 4 pound gain in one day?! Even if my scale is off, that means I'm too close for my own comfort and peace of mind. So I've been manipulating my food and drink intake, walking more, and this morning it was back down to 199.5. I'm going to find the official meet scale as soon as I get to VA tomorrow afternoon for the early equipment check-in and see what that says. I would be pissed to the highest levels of pissedivity (for the Robin Harris fans out there) if after all the trouble I've had keeping weight on, I show up at 199 on Saturday morning. So we'll see...

[K.Diesel]

Had a small dinner due to weight gain paranoia. Then I got in the hot tub for about half hour at the competition hotel (I'm staying there). Hopped on the official scale and it read 194.2. As long as I don't gain 4 pounds in the next 10 hours, I'm in!

[K.Diesel]

Weighed in at 87.9 kg - 193.8 lbs. What was I so worried about?

Squat
182.5 kg/402.3 lb - good
195 kg/429.9 lb - good
205 kg/451.9 lb - good, 5 kg/11 lb raw PR! Felt easier than I thought it would. Plus I broke my own Maryland state squat record (unfortunately, someone else broke it again :()

Bench
120 kg/264.6 lb - good
125 kg/275.6 lb - good
130 kg/286.6 lb - miss :mad: This is the 2nd straight meet I've missed this lift, and it's a mental issue, plus one of technique. I went to the bench KNOWING I was gonna smoke this attempt, and in an effort to make sure I didn't push it toward my feet, I threw it almost straight back, and it was about to come down on my head. That has only happened to me 1 other time, and it was the 1st time I had on a bench shirt. Back to the drawing board on this.

Deadlift
217.5 kg/479.5 lb - good
235.5 kg/518.1 lb - good, tied meet PR (from '08 States, wearing squat suit)
242.5 kg/534.6 lb - good all time DL PR, raw or geared!

Total: 572.5 kg/1262.1 lb - raw total PR!, and only 17.5 kg/38.6 lb off my all-time total PR, where I squatted/dl'ed geared.

I lost to the guy who challenged my to this meet. He finished 5th, and I finished 6th in a field of 11 in the 90kg/198 lb men's open. But with 3 PRs, I'm happy happy joy joy right about now, in spite of my bench press woes.

Thanks to everyone on the site who are following and supporting me on this fun ride! It's been 11 months since my first meet. Looking for the next year to be even better.

Will probably do the same workout from Tuesday of this week on Thursday 7/30, using new percentages. Then it'll be back to the grind on Mon. 8/3.

[Gary Gibson]

Congratulations!

You're just about as strong now as you used to be in gear. That's really something.

Sorry you didn't get that PR to count in the record books this time, but a PR is still a PR (I'd kill for one right now!).

We'll catch up later. In the meantime, take a bow.

[K.Diesel]

I planned to do squats, bench press and chins, just to get myself back in the gym. The idea was to do a workout like the one I did the week of the meet. Last night, I got an email from a friend who is a bodybuilder and issued a challenge.

To keep it short, I worked up to a double at 370 wearing knee sleeves and a belt. They felt harder than I thought they would. I have been beat this week after work, having been off for a week. Also, I took a muscle relaxer 4 hours before lifting, and I think it was affecting me.

After the 370 x 2, I shot this video. It should be self-explanatory why I aborted my plan to bench and chin today.

Enjoy.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L5UOYjLxhCQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L5UOYjLxhCQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[NYCGUY79]

Nice job. After a layoff though that's gotta hurt worse the next day?

I wanna see you your friend's response. Will you post vid if he beats it?

[K.Diesel]

Worse the next day, and it was the even worse the day after that. I'll probably be normal again tomorrow (4 days removed).

[Gary Gibson]

I planned to do squats, bench press and chins, just to get myself back in the gym. The idea was to do a workout like the one I did the week of the meet. Last night, I got an email from a friend who is a bodybuilder and issued a challenge.

To keep it short, I worked up to a double at 370 wearing knee sleeves and a belt. They felt harder than I thought they would. I have been beat this week after work, having been off for a week. Also, I took a muscle relaxer 4 hours before lifting, and I think it was affecting me.

After the 370 x 2, I shot this video. It should be self-explanatory why I aborted my plan to bench and chin today.

Enjoy.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L5UOYjLxhCQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L5UOYjLxhCQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

I couldn't stop laughing.

Oh Lord!

AHAHAHAHAHAH!

Good job!

[K.Diesel]

Yeah, I laugh and hurt all over again every time I see the freeze frame on this post. Glad you all could get some comic relief at my painful expense. :D And yes sir NYC, if Mr. Pudi records his attempt at 33+ and posts it, I'll definitely put it on the forum.

One more note on this, he says (no video) he did 20-rep deadlift sets at 315, 275, and 225 in the same workout and challenged me to beat that. I counter-challenged him to beat my single set mark from the Arnold Classic Expo this year, where I deadlifted my bodyweight (they rounded to 200lbs) for 47 nonstop reps with no chalk, straps or warmup. He says he's going to attempt it soon. He weighs around 160. I'll let you know what happens. :)

Got back in the gym on Saturday for the real start to training again. My plan is to basically do 2 bench days and 2 squat/deadlift days per week, one raw and one geared since I plan to use gear at my next meet. If I can tolerate it, I'll also do overhead presses on a 5th day, with some biceps, calves and maybe extra triceps. For the raw stuff, I'll follow 5/3/1 again with 1 alterations. My core lifts will be overhead press, close grip bench, and squats. My working maxes to start are:

squat - 420
close-grip bench (CGBP) - 270
overhead press - 170

For the geared days, I'll follow Prilepin's chart, and gradually add more gear as the weeks progress (regular sleeves with velcro, smaller sleeves with velcro, knee wraps, squat suit minus straps, etc.). I'll also do some conjugate method work on some assistance exercises. Those sessions in gear can be really long, so I'm hoping this split will significantly reduce the time I spend in the gym for any 1 session.

Saturday's session - Druid Hill YMCA

1. Press
bar/10; 85/5; (65%) 110/5, (75%) 130/5; (85%) 145/6 - really thought I'd get 7 or 8 here. Maybe I set my max too high? Tired from work?
Loss of strength from downtime? Oh well, I still beat the mark, so I won't sweat it.

2a. Hammer curls - did these with my back against a column to prevent cheating. L/R alternating.
20s/15 ea; 40s/10 ea; 45s/7 ea, 7.5 ea

2b. Press - more of the same at lighter weight
115/9, 9, 7

3a. Calf Press - 2 types
seated, 90/15; standing machine, 370/9(? lost count); seated, 90/16; st. mach., 370/14

3b."Olympic abs" - situps on decline bench, pressing a bar overhead with snatch grip on the way up
bar/12, 12, 12

4. 1/2 Dips - only came 1/2 way down to focus on triceps
BW+45/5 x 5, 30 seconds between each set

Time - :53

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon. 8/3, raw CGBP, 33rd St. YMCA (normal gym)

1. CGBP
bar/15; 100/6; 140/5; (65%) 175/5; (75%) 205/5; (85%) 230/8 - happy with that
195/9, 5.5 (good spot), 5 + 4 partial reps, top half

2. Rows
seated cable, 100/15; barbell, 135/5; 185/5; 225/5 x 5

3a. Side bends
50s/25, 25 - really light, but they'll get heavier as I go along

3b. Incline Fly - bench on notch 5, fairly high
35s/9; rest-pause: 50s/9+4+2

3c. Seated cable row
130/11; rest-pause: 160/12+7+4+2 partial

3d. Pressdown - rope attachment
90/11; rest-pause-drop: 120/14 + 4 + 100/5. Must have worn out on the 1st set because I expected at least 6 after the 1st pause. Dropped the weight to chase reps, but in retrospect, I should have left it alone.

Time - 1:06 even with some socializing and sharing the bench with 2 other guys on the CGBP

[BigJavs]

that last vid was crazy! my legs hurt after just watching!

[K.Diesel]

Put on my squat suit for the 1st time in months today. I hope to get a new one before MD States this year, because I'm a little worried that this one is used too much to get the same support from. I used it in 2 meets and several workouts over the last 6-7 months of 2008. But it may be in better shape than I thought. It was pretty tight around the thighs and hard to pull up, which is how it's supposed to be. I left the straps down the whole time. Still, I think having 2 is a good idea, because if I blow this one out at or close to the meet, I'd hate to be unable to get a replacement.

Also, I pulled out my cheap resistance bands/tubes again. I have 3 pairs, each with different resistance levels, and I have no idea how much weight they add when stretched. I usually double them anyway, and to keep track in the journal, I'll refer them as bands 1, 2, and 3 to note resistance added.

1. Bootleg box squats - not a box, but something I rig to function as such. Stops me right at parallel. All sets done with bands 1&2 on ea. side. XL Inzer sleeves on this, no velcro.

bar+5; 95+/5; 135+/3; 185+/2 x 10 sets - Top bar weight was 40% 1RM. This went very quick, with little rest between sets. I did all this in about 12-13 min. I plan to keep these in the rotation, waving the bar weight between 40-50% and increasing the band resistance with each wave.

2. Zercher pulls - bar on rack about 1" above knee. Did each rep from a dead stop on rack.
180/5; 230/5;
added belt, 250/5
tightened velcro on knee sleeves, 270/5 - if not 5RM, it was pretty close

3a. Shrugs
270/13; 320/13

3b. Pull-thrus - cable w/rope attachment
130/11, 14 - cable go caught on my shorts twice on 1st set!

Time - :41. Would have put the suit on before box work sets and removed after Zerchers, but due to time constraints, I had to have it on the whole time. Doubt it helped on anything else.

[K.Diesel]

Talk about letting yourself get behind. I've been on the board, but haven't updated my own thread because I shot video of the bench session Thursday, did a video for YouTube, then had problems with the importing the music I wanted to use. Its from a buddy of mine here in town, so I figured it would be remedied soon enough, and I'd have it up and etc, etc. So now it's 5 days and 4 workouts later, and that could be a lot of typing for one setting. So here are the highlights from Thursday through Monday.

Thu. 8/6 - bench shirt day at SSPT in Rockville, MD with Matt Gary

I worked up to an easy single at 250 lbs.. Then we put on the shirt, or should I say, Matt put the shirt on me. I never did use a belt that day, so as bench shirts go, it was on fairly loose. Plus Matt said this shirt is a tad big for me, so it will make a good starter shirt. Not big enough to keep bruises off my arm though. :(

We'd decided to use 275 to see if I could get it to touch my chest. We started with a 3-board press, then 2-board, then 1-board, and finally a full press. I had to fight a bit to get it down that last inch, but once I did, I threw that bar up like it was empty. Then to 286, which I've failed to hit in my last 2 meets. No trouble getting that to touch, and smoked a single with that one. Went up to 297, and hit a single touch and go, then rested and did another one with competition commands. I have to learn to "beat the shirt" as Matt says, because if you don't violently press the weight, you can get stuck once you're getting no more help from the shirt. That almost happened on the last one because the bar slowed down about 3/4 of the way up. But it was a legit, paused press that would have counted in a meet. For now, that's my PR, and we should be good to go over 300 this week. By meet time (Nov/Dec), I'm hoping to get white lights on 325-350 minimum.

Fri. 8/7 - raw squat/deadlift
Again, following 5/3/1 protocol for raw core lifts, except I've learned it's not a good idea for me to do heavy squats and deadlifts on the same day. So deadlifts are not on my radar as a raw core lift right now. I'll work them in on gear day, mostly with variations (Zercher, deficit and rack pulls are on the agenda) until I'm about 6-8 weeks out.

The main achievements this day were doing squats at 275 and 315 for sets of 5, with a top set of 355 x 8, and I probably (more like certainly) could have done 9 and maybe even 10. I also tried front squats for the first time in months. I sucked horribly at them. Clean grip, cross-arm, it didn't matter. I couldn't keep the bar steady or keep it from rolling. Had one good set (after several bad ones) of 5 reps at 230 with crossed arms. My plan was to do progressively higher triples. Since these went so poorly, once I got a good set going, I figured I should get a few more out of it before I quit. Also did good mornings again. I don't like these, but I think they may be useful.

Sat. 8/8 - OHP
Start of 3's week. Worked up to 120 x 3, 135 x 3, then peaked at 155 x 5. Really thought I had a 6th rep. My delts and triceps thought otherwise. Halfway up, then the bar and my collarbone were reintroduced. Followed with 3 more sets with 120 for 10, 10 and 5 (short rest before last one). Hammer curls went nicely - highest sets were 50 lb dumbbells for 7 and 6 reps each side.

Mon. 8/10 - raw bench
This marked the first time in ages I did 2 workouts in a row at the Druid Hill YMCA. Was supposed to meet a PT client, but he no-showed, even after I talked to him 15 minutes before appointment time. Oh well, at least I got home earlier. Close grip bench presses went up to 190 and 220 for 3 reps, then banged out 6 reps at 245. Really proud of myself for that, not because that's very good, but that is very good for me - a guy whose bench is relatively bad. If Wendler's formula is right, that means my raw CGBP max is 294. Things are getting beautiful. Dropped the weight to 205, and went 10, 9, 8, 8.

Barbell rows were decent. Last warmup was 215/5. Then 235 for 5, 5, 6, 6, 8. Final set was 185 for 13-14.

[K.Diesel]

I wrote an email to some friends of mine last night. These are the guys I referenced before as the "Iron Brotherhood" in the 32-rep squat video. I was stunned at the quality of my workout and wondered if they'd experienced anything similar after using a popular supplement. So rather than re-typing my workout summary in my normal format, I'm going to paste the text of the e-mail and invite you guys to read along:



I'm sitting here in my dining room, getting ready to eat a great dinner prepared by Mrs. Machine, thinking about how great I feel after yesterday's workout. It occurred to me that I should send this quick note to the Iron Brotherhood with a question: is Nano Vapor the greatest pre-workout supplement of all time?

The reason I ask is because yesterday, I had the greatest workout I've had in a while, and possibly ever. I'm doing a 5 day split now (I think I explained it in a previous email), and yesterday was geared squat/deadlift day. I had my squat suit on with the straps down for the first 2 exercises, and also had my Inzer knee sleeves on without the velcro tightened. I started with box squats, with the "box" (a step on top of a crate at the squat rack) at parallel. The bar weight topped out at 205 (45% of my raw max), but I had 2 resistance tubes on each side to increase resistance as I approached lockout. This helps build bar speed throughout the movement. I blazed through 10 sets of 2 with 30-40 seconds rest (max) between each double.

Next up was Zercher pulls. If you're not familiar with these, they start with the bar on pins or the floor. I had it on the rack, which for me is 1" above the knee. You squat down, secure the bar in crook of your arms (between forearm and bicep), and stand up. Today I was out to hit my 3RM after hitting 270 for 5 last week. I went 135, 210, 240. Added the belt, then hit 270 for 3. Tightened the velcro on my knee sleeves, then hit 300 and incredibly, 320 for 3 reps, each one of each set from a dead stop. I felt like I could have pressed on, but I was a little spooked from the 2nd rep of the last set, where I actually felt like I was going to fall backward with the weight from too much leaning.

Then came alternating sets of shrugs (using VersaGripps) and glute ham raises. Shrugs were 11 reps at 230, 280, 320, then a "drop set" with 350 x 15 followed by 250 x 20 behind the back. I put drop in "" because I thought of it on the fly and it took longer than a normal drop to strip the weights. The GHRs were 15 with bodyweight, then 12 with a 25 lb. plate. Then came 2 drops sets from the 25 to BW: 10 + 5, then 10 + 6.

Now, I thought I'd be done at this point. This was about an hour into it. But I just felt possessed like I had to keep going. So I alternated sets of standing cable crunches, adductors, then abductors (yes, on the girly leg thing- but they're part of the plan). 130 lbs on crunches went for 20, 20 and 25. This was my first day using the girly thing, so I adducted 100 x 12, and 90 x 15 twice. Abduction went 90 lbs for 15, 15 and 20.

At this point, I was a little nervous, becasue the Machine felt as though he could go and do Zercher pulls all over again. I honestly felt like I had a full tank left. So I went to the plate loaded leg press, and worked in with a guy doing presses on it, except I was doing calf presses. I hit 275 for 11 reps, and I do my calf presses pretty slow, with a full stretch at the bottom and a hold at the top. Then 365 for 10 + 5 quick pumps at the end. 2 more sets at 365 for 9 + 4 pumps and 9 + 7 pumps.

Now I'm at the 1 hour, 45 minute mark, and it's just after 8pm. I still felt pretty fresh, but I have a family to get home to and made myself leave. It wasn't until 20 minutes to go that I remembered taking the Nano Vapor. Now, I don't know if I'm possessed with smashing my total and moving closer to the all-important 1575 - that's the total required to qualify for Men's Open Nationals at 198. Maybe it's a ridiculous obsession with winning the MD States again. Not sure. But this session felt like one for the ages, and the only thing that I know of that I did differently is that I took that MuscleTech NaNo before I left my house. I remember you guys referencing it before, so I want to know - have you experienced similar effects? Is it really that good, or am I experiencing a tremendous placebo effect? I doubt the latter, because I forgot I'd taken it until the end of the workout. Either way, yesterday was awesome. Keep in mind I delivered mail for 5 hours in 90+ degree weather before I hit the gym. I wish I'd filmed it all, but oh well. Anyway, hope you guys are inspired to keep getting up! Talk to you soon.

Peace
Kaisheem, The Machine


I know the narrative form is a bit long, so if you got to this part, thanks for reading it - I can be a bit lazy when it comes to duplicate typing. :)
Also, if any of you have used NaNo or any other pre-workout supps, which if any, have you liked? I still have a bunch of stuff laying around from the Arnold (like the NaNo), so if anyone has suggestions, I'll try it after the NaNo runs out. Thanks!

[RandallH1989]

I always have bad experiences with NO / energy type supplements. They seem to work the first time or two, then I have to stop using them for a few months to get the effect back.. But the first time I used one I scared myself with how much I could do in the gym. Then I almost threw up everywhere.:)

[K.Diesel]

Randall, I think the NaNo experience has been like yours with NO supplements. The last 2 workouts didn't have quite the punch as the 1st. But in fairness to NaNo, I'm probably overtrained at this point. I don't even feel like eating tonight, which is a sure sign for me that something is amiss. But I'm forcing this rice and chicken down anyway.

I had another good bench shirt day on Thursday, the highlight of which was a touch and go bench at 300(PR!), followed by another t&g at 315(PR!!) Followed with 3 set of towel pullups, 3 sets of pulldowns, 3 sets of pressdowns and 3 sets of dips. Felt like I had more in the tank, but my arms were pumped and vascular like the guys in the MuscleTech ads, so I guess the Nano worked again.

Today, I felt terrible. Every day this week, I've been taking longer than usual to deliver my route, and I've had more overtime this week(trans: delivering parts of other routes) than usual. Still went in and for :25, I squatted using the 5/3/1 protocol. This is 3's week, so I did 295/3, 335/3, and 380/5. That 5th felt like a max, but I might have tried a 6th is there was a spotter. But the gym was more dead than I was. There was no one, and I mean no one, in there who would have been a decent or even safe spotter. So I re-racked it and felt like a loser. I did 390 for 5 reps before the meet last month, so this was a slight regression. I told myself I'd drop to 80% of my real 1RM and do doubles according to Prilepin's Table. So I took off 20 lbs, did 360 for 2 reps, re-racked the weight, put my belt and wrist wraps in my bag and said to hell with Mr. Prilepin and squats.

I think 1-2 good nights of sleep will be good. Plus next week is not supposed to be a deload week, but we're going to an amusement park Wed & Thu. Plus Tue is my wedding anniversary, so it's going to be tough getting to the gym that day as well as taking my wife out that night, all after work. So I may be forced to deload a week earlier than planned. We'll see how it goes.

[K.Diesel]

Went to bed earlier last night, and felt much better today. Still good as I type this now. This is the start of 5/3/1 week on the raw, core lifts.

1. OHP
bar/12; 75/5; 105/5
(75%) 130/5; (85%) 145/4; (95%) 160/4 - pretty sure this is the most reps I've done at this weight before.

2. Hammer curls - alternating arms, leaning against wall
20s/12 ea; 40s/6 ea; 55s/6 ea (cheated the 6th rep); 45s/12 ea (no cheats)

3. Seated calf press
110/16; 90/18

Time - :30

Tried JetFuse NOX by GAT today. Will probably use those samples this week. Speaking of this week, my tentative plan is to do my geared Sq/DL day tomorrow, and raw bench on Monday. I'll take off Tue-Thu, and do raw Sq/DL on Friday. Then deload (2-3 light sessions) between next Saturday and the following Saturday or Monday.

[BigJavs]

Yo Kaisheem,

any chance you're going to the olympia this year?

[K.Diesel]

Javs, I really doubt it at this point. I took off work for that week so my wife and I could go. Tickets are twice the price of the Arnold, and it may be too much of a stretch this year. Especially when we learned we could go to Orlando for a week for less than $500 for hotel and flights, and no, that doesn't involve attending a timeshare presentation. May be watching the show from the hotel via webcast.

You going? If so, you'll have a blast, assuming the expo is similar to the Arnold for strength sports. Last year, Andy Bolton deadlifted 800 for 5 reps until one of the collars broke and the plates came off. Good thing he wasn't squatting...

This would really be cool - if I can total 1575 before next July. That would qualify for USAPL Men's Open Nationals, and the 2010 version is in LA. Me, wife, you and girlfriend could hook up.

By the way everyone, I've been pretty lazy as far as posting lately. Last week was a deload week, which followed a busy, busy week of training (5 in days in a row) and family events. I'll get back to regular posting.

Side note: Ramadan started last week. For those unfamiliar, it's the 9th month of the Muslim calendar, and is spent fasting: no food or drink during the daylight hours of each day. That's not it, but it's the most commonly discussed part. I've done it before, but not in August while being a mailman with a 7 mile route who's also a powerlifter. So it's been a tough start, but I'm confident I'll be ok. My only goal is not to get weaker and not to lose more than 5 lbs. The plan is to keep my normal training scheme. I'll keep you posted.

[Tor]

Yeah, but there's nothing that says you can't gorge before sunrise or after sunset, right?

Two 2000 cal meals a day should keep you on-track (refer to Fluxboy's post about fewer, higher calorie meals producing greater muscle gain than the same amount of calories spread across several smaller meals).

Tor

[K.Diesel]

Yeah, but there's nothing that says you can't gorge before sunrise or after sunset, right?

Two 2000 cal meals a day should keep you on-track (refer to Fluxboy's post about fewer, higher calorie meals producing greater muscle gain than the same amount of calories spread across several smaller meals).

Tor

You're right sir - no restrictions before sunrise/after sunset. One problem I'm noticing is that for some reason, my appetite isn't the same. I don't know why that is. Right now, I'm probably around 3000 calories a day, because I'm only getting around 1000 in the morning. 2000 in the evening seems about right. Where's the post you referred to - on this forum or elsewhere? Can you give me a link to it?

By the way, bodyweight this morning was 194 on my scale, so probably 190 for real. I weighed 198 fully dressed in the gym last week, so that seems about right. Need to ramp it up. Maybe time to go Jay Cutler style and wake up at 3 am for a shake/milk.

[K.Diesel]

The first highlight the week where I didn't post was a Zercher lift of 375 lbs for a new 1RM. I have it on video, but I haven't put it on YouTube yet. All laziness hasn't worn off yet. :) I also was blessed to hit a CGBP for 255 x 5, barbell rows for 250 x 9 (1st 7 reps were great form, 8 and 9 were less than great), and the biggest lift and disappointment was a squat of 400 x 4!. Never done that much for more than 3 reps. Disappointed because I toyed with the idea of going for 5, but wussed out even though that 4th was pretty hard. I wish more and more each day that I had gone for the 5th, even if I would have missed it. I had a chance to say "my squat 5RM is 400 lbs." Assuming I survived, I would have at least gained more testicular fortitude from the effort. But I think I had at least a 50% chance of getting that 5th. Oh well, live and learn. 4 is still way more than the 1 which was the minimum for that set.

Working 1RMs for this 5/3/1 cycle are:
Squat: 430
Close-grip bench: 275
Overhead: 175

Sat. 8/29 - Overhead press - at Druid Hill YMCA

1. OHP - bar/12; 75/5; 95/5; (65%) 115/5; (75%) 135/5; (85%) 150/5 - this is the 1st time on 5/3/1 that I haven't been able to exceed the minimum number of reps for the last set :( I'll chalk it up to the loss of bodyweight.
120/10, 8, 5

2. E-Z curl - like the hammer curls from last cycle, I'm doing these with my back against a column. Don't know how much the bar weighs (I'd estimate 15-20 lbs), so I'm just listing plate weight.
20+/11; 40+/8; 60+/10; 70+/7, 6

Had to cut it short. I had luxury suite tickets for the Orioles game, and time was of the essence. First time in the sky box for us. If you've never done it, I highly recommend it. It'll be hard to go back to the upper deck after that. :D

Mon. 8/31 - close grip bench

1. CGBP
bar/15; 100/5; 140/5; (65%) 180/5; (75%) 205/5; (85%) 235/7
200/10, 9

2. One-arm rows ("Kroc-row" style - high reps)
40/14 ea; 60/13 ea; 80/23 ea, 17 ea - felt wasted after the 1st set with 80 lbs, so I used VersaGripps for the 2nd set, hoping to get at least 20. Maybe I could have willed myself to it, but had to quit. My body was screaming for nutrients and things were cramping up. I'm pretty sure my fast had something to do with that but I'm fine with it. As long as I'm hitting my target numbers on core lifts, then I'm progressing just fine.

[Tor]

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2367&highlight=fluxboy

By the way, it is worth it to just do a search for 'fluxboy' and spend some time reading through his posts. Pretty much everything that guy puts up is bizarre, hilarious, and educational.

Tor

[K.Diesel]

I planned to do much more, but my wife and daughter were also at the gym tonight. An unexpected problem caused us to leave prematurely, but I did get my 2 main lifts for the day in.

1. Box squats - using bands 2 and 3 for this cycle, still no clue how much weight they add
bar/4; bar+/2; 135+/2; 185+/2 x 10

2. Rack pulls -with bar 1" above knee, conventional stance
230/6; 320/3, 370/3, 410/3, 450/3, 490/3, 530/2, 570/1
added belt (finally) - 600/2 (!); 625/1

I don't really count this as a PR because I haven't done them from this height before. They have always been done 1" below the knee. The plan for this exercise is to do them from the knee next week, and 1" below the following week. But it does feel kind of cool to have done a barbell exercise with 600 lbs for the first time. :D

Tor, thank you kindly for that link. It's quite informative and useful.

[K.Diesel]

Last night, I was lamenting about my buddy Tyree's new schedule which doesn't allow him to be at the Y on Thursdays now (my shirt day). The problem is he had become a reliable person who 1) knows what the shirt is and 2)knows how to put it on me. Then I realized I have no work obligations today, and decided to shoot to Rockville, MD and train at SSPT with owner/coach Matt Gary.

Gary, FYI - there's a good chance this will be a fairly regular Thursday thing for a while, at least leading into MD States. If you ever want to go, let me know.

1. Bench press - lbs are approximate conversions from the kilo plates
bar/11; 132/5; 176/3; 209/3; 237/1; 259/1
Put on shirt, then: 286/1 (2-board press)
Full touch & go: 305/1; 325/0, 0 - each miss was oh so close! 3/4 up, but couldn't lock it out
Paused: 308/1, 0

What a ride today. A few things going on that I believe led to the misses. First is I haven't benched in a shirt in 3 weeks, and was probably too aggressive going for a 10 lb. jump from my best touch and go (315 lbs) 3 weeks ago. Second, I've lost 4-5 lbs since then. I'm holding at 194 on my home scale (190 for real). I've learned that as I lose weight, I lose pounds on the bench, and evidently the overhead press as well (see entry for Sat 8/29). So I'm not really worried about my bench. I'll be GOingMAD after Ramadan is over, and my bodyweight will pick right back up. Hopefully, I won't have another long lapse between shirt training sessions.

Bright note: 308 is a paused bench PR! And finally, I'm still not getting all I can out of the shirt because I haven't worn a belt with it to make it as tight as possible.

2a. Chins
BW/6 wide, 6 under, 6 neutral
BW+50/8 wide, 7 neutral, 6 under

2b. Dips
BW+70/8, 9, 6 (or 7?, lost count)

2c. Sit-ups - done on GHR
15, 15, 15

[Gary Gibson]

Hey,

I'll IM you about those Thursdays. Here's a quick rundown of my plan. (http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?p=37563#post37563)

Bench is the lift most reliant on body weight. DL is the least. You'll see skinny mofos deadlift multiples of bodyweight their first time out (I don't think there was ever a time the skinny mofo writing this couldn't pull at least double body weight), but a big bencher tends to LOOK like a big bencher, as Pavel T pointed out a few years back.

GOMAD and volume are your friends.

[Platus]

Hey, it's Dave from the Y.

I was about to say, "but rack pulls are supposed to come from below the knee!" Then I considered how anything over 600 is just nuts, especially considering your dietary restrictions at the moment. I am interested to see how the transition from above the knee to below goes.

[K.Diesel]

Dave, I saw your initial post in the introduction section and thought "I wonder if that's the guy from the Y". Glad you're on board buddy. Keep up the good lifting. Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow when I go in to squat. Probably around 6pm-ish.

By the way, I think there are at least 2 other Baltimore residents on this board. Paul Stagg and I want to say someone else.

Gary - where ya going brother?!? I thought this place was growing on you. :D

[K.Diesel]

1. Squat - used Inzer knee sleeves, size L. Last cycle and at Raw Nationals, I used XL.
bar/5; 140/5; 230/5
added sleeves: (65%) 280/5
added belt: (75%) 325/5
wrist wraps and velcro on sleeves: (85%) 365/7 - got really greedy and went for 8, but knew I didn't have it. Felt compelled to do it after passing up a chance for 400/5 2 weeks ago. I feel I have redeemed myself for not trying then. Didn't need too much help, but enough that I can't count it.

2a. GHR
BW/15; +30/11, 11; BW/16

2b. Tight rotations - A core exercise, courtesy of Nick Tuminello, a strength/conditioning/etc. coach in Baltimore. If anyone's interested in what these are, I'll post his vid if I can. It's embedded in my e-mail from his e-newsletter.

10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec.

Here's video of today's squats, plus some Zercher lifts from 3 weeks ago I never uploaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9X1b6KuBGs

[quadancer]

Diesel: I rarely read logs, but got started on yours and got into it. Congrats on your gains in strength without gaining weight, and all those PR's.
You both inspire and at the same time make me wish I was 10-20 years younger. Still, I'll take that inspiration dawg, right to the bar, and continue to keep an eye on ya!
:D

[K.Diesel]

Diesel: I rarely read logs, but got started on yours and got into it. Congrats on your gains in strength without gaining weight, and all those PR's.
You both inspire and at the same time make me wish I was 10-20 years younger. Still, I'll take that inspiration dawg, right to the bar, and continue to keep an eye on ya!
:D

Quad, thank you very much for that humbling compliment. Glad to know others are inspired by what I've been blessed to do. The lack of weight gain isn't entirely on purpose though - gotta fix that :)

Saturday at the Druid Hill Y - start of 3's week on 5/3/1 for raw lifts

1. OHP
bar/8; 85/5; (70%) 125/3; (80%) 140/3; (90%) 160/3
135/7

That was it. This was after work, and I still had to drive to Fort Lee, Va. For the 2nd week in a row, my last main set of presses failed to exceed the minimum. Next week, I'll be looking at 165 (roughly 95% of 175) on the last set for 1 or more reps. Well, if I don't get to the "or more" part, that will mean my max is 165, which would be a 10 lb. regression from the time I started 5/3/1 in May, when my actual, tested max was 175. Granted, I've lost a few pounds in the last couple weeks which may be affecting my overhead. Still, I'd hate to reset without going through a cycle where my working max is higher than my former true max.

Speaking of the weight loss, I'm trying to correct this in 2 days. One provision during Ramadan is that those who are sick or traveling are exempt from the fast, and may make up the days once their journey/illness is over. Starting with the ride to VA last night, pizza when I arrived, breakfast buffet this morning, and cookout this afternoon and evening, I may well consume 20,000 calories before I resume my fast Tuesday morning. Thank God (literally) for the mercy of loopholes :D

[quadancer]

Personally, as a Christian, I should fast now and then, but never do, since I lose so much muscle on a cut at my age...which is why I'm now becoming a chunkybutt powerlifter...I get to eat and to be strong AND to keep the beef!
But being a devotee disciple seems to be somewhat pleasing to MY master, and I've also been blessed in the health department for the most part.
Not that I support other religions per se, but I give kudos to anyone who shows dedication to theirs, as opposed to so many bad things people get addicted to.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks again Quad. I feel much the same: anyone who strives to live what they believe earns my respect.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I missed the workout planned for yesterday. While in VA, my daughter had an asthma attack, and we left her nebulizer in Baltimore. To make a long story short, getting her treated and medicated lasted longer than the gym was open, and I probably wouldn't have felt like going at that point even if it was an option. I knew the gym wouldn't be open today, so that essentially means I will miss my raw bench workout this week, and will resume with the geared sq/dl workout tomorrow. More box squats with "bands" and rack pulls, this time at the knee. Maybe I'll do the close grip bench with 5/3/1 on bench shirt day. We'll see.

[K.Diesel]

1. Box squats - with bootleg bands 2 & 3
135+2; 185+/2; 205+/2 x 10 sets. Need some real bands. Not getting any tension at the bottom, which I don't really need, but the bands don't get tighter until it's real close to lockout.

2. Rack pulls - standing on plates, which put the bar at the middle of my knees
230/5; 320/3; 370/2; 420/2; 470/2; 520/2
added belt: 570/1; 600/1
Counter-intuitive PR: 640/1!

This is the opposite of what I expected. I put the bar closer to my feet, and I pulled more than last week! I know the norm is that the greater the distance pulled, the less you can pull. This is why no one deadlifts more tha they rack pull. I'll be interested to see what I can do on my last week of rack pulls next week, when the bar is about 1-2" below my knee.

3. Pull-thrus - cable with rope attachment
130/12; 12; 12





Did whole workout in squat suit w/straps down. Wanted to take them off after box squats, but didn't want to spend the time going to the locker room

[K.Diesel]

At SSPT in Rockville, MD w/Matt Gary.

1. Bench press
raw: bar/10; 132/5; 176/5; 209/3; 237/1; 259/1
shirt, paused: 286/1; 314/1, 1, 1
Another encouraging day in the shirt. PR x 3 with the paused singles at 314 (142.5 kg). The first was locked out, but the bar dipped enough to have earned a red light in a meet. Next 2 were rock solid. I'm optimistic because I have yet to wear a belt with the shirt, so it's still pretty loose and I'm not getting all I can out of it yet. God willing, I'll attempt and nail 320 (145 kg) next week.

2. Dumbbell rows aka "Kroc rows"
50/15 ea; 70/12 ea; 90/23 ea, 20 ea - no VersaGripps!

3. CGBP - to make up for the missed 5/3/1 day
(70%) 195/3; (80%) 225/3; (90%) 250/5 - I'll happily take that for a 5RM. :) I realized today that I messed up on my percentages from rounding the numbers. When I first started 5/3/1 I was microloading to be precise. 80% of 275 = 220, but I used 220 as the 80% of 270 last cycle, so I bumped it up here. I'll finish the cycle with rounded numbers and adjust as necessary as I go.

[K.Diesel]

OUCH!

Hurt my back benching yesterday. I felt it once I came out of the shirt, but hoped/thought I was just tight after all the shoulder retracting, lat flaring, blah blah. But instead of shutting it down, I went ahead and did the rows and close grips (read previous post). I did foam rolling for the first time yesterday before I left the gym, and stretched and felt a little better. Drove home and went to sleep. Woke up around 8, barely had an appetite, and watched the Steelers get the early lead in the AFC North. Expect Ravens to tie at 1-0 this Sunday. Anyway, as the game went on, I realized that I lost much of my ability to look left, right, up or down without difficulty and pain. Bending over was no good, and even sitting or lying still in some positions hurt

Took muscle relaxer and pain reliever, and could not sleep. I mean, for the first time in a while, I literally tossed and turned all night, watching the hours go by. Slumber finally won around 7 am, but even then, it wasn't deep. So at 10am, I went to the urgent care center and got a shot in the ass of something that's supposed to make me feel better. They gave me Vicatin (sp?) and more muscle relaxer. I took some and figured I'd type this update before the drugs take over and I forget I have an online journal for a few days.

Needless to say, I won't be doing my raw squat/dl workout today. I thought about going in to do leg extensions and curls, but that's not happening either. Probably nothing tomorrow either. Here's the silver lining in this: if I had to hurt myself, I'm glad I did it yesterday. It's been raining hard for about 10 hours in Baltimore, and should continue for several more. Delivering mail in this would have sucked big time. So at least my timing was good. :)

Perhaps I'll be good enough for Monday, but we'll see.

[K.Diesel]

Some of the immortal words of LL Cool J got me going back into gym just 4 days after my back injury shut me down for a few days. I worked at the gym on Sunday morning, and just sitting around and moving slightly, I felt unsure about whether I would return to work on Monday. However, I was blessed to improve rapidly by Sunday night, and went to work Monday. Since I didn't feel any worse after work, I decided to go for it and head to the gym.

1. CGBP - last 5/3/1 raw bench before deload
bar/10; 175/6 (skipped 135 by mistake! :o); (75%) 205/5; (85%) 235/3; (95%) 260/4; 225/6 + 1 spot

Relative to other powerlifters my size, my bench truly sucks. But I'm grateful that it has progressed quite a bit. According to Wendler's formula, my 1RM on close grip (inside of hands a thumbs length from smooth part of bar) are 294. His formula has been pretty accurate on everything so far, so I'm encouraged by this. I'm really tempted to test a raw max soon.

2. Squat - raw 5/3/1 that I missed Friday
bar/5; 140/5; 230/5; (70%) 300/3; (80%) 345/3; (90%) 390/5 - a little redemption from re-racking that 400 after 4 reps and not going for 5. Now I can say my 5RM is 390 with conviction. Doesn't have the same ring as 400, but I'll take it. Hopefully, I'll have the video up this week, and you all can have a good laugh. That 5th rep was probably the ugliest squat I've done since I actually learned how to squat. More a good morning than anything, it's just good that the camera was in front and not a side view because I'm sure that would have been worse. All the meds, inactivity, etc. must have had an effect because those squats were hard, as in much harder than the 400 lbs a few weeks ago. Then again, I didn't bench first that time.

3. Rack pulls - bar 1" below knee
230/4; 320/2; 410/1; 460/1; 500/1; 550/1 - rushed through these. Low back was done, and I can only wonder how it would have gone if I hadn't squatted first, including that 390 lb good morning called a squat. This was pushing up on time before the gym's child care closed, and I brought my daughter with me. Good reason not to try any more. That 550 was about all I had in me anyway.

Happy with the session overall. The part of my back that I injured was seemingly unaffected, and I've had no problems today. Trying to detox from those meds though.

Quadancer, I got those shoes you have from Wal-Mart! (in the "weightlifting shoes" thread, I think in the Oly section of the forum)! They were $25 at the store up here. I got the ones that come up to the ankle. There's no actual support there, but I just like the feel of having the shoe and laces around my ankle as opposed to the low cut sneaker. The insoles come out easily, so I removed them and was probably just about pushing off the floor. The regular cut is pretty wide, which surprised me, so I was actually able to fit a 12 without needed a 12W. I had to get the Starter "Chucks" I've been using in 13 because they are so narrow. Maybe now my feet won't look quite as long in the gym and on the platform. Most important though, they felt pretty good. I'll be interested to see how they feel for pulls. Also considering the Titan deadlift slippers for $7.50.

[K.Diesel]

Since I missed a few days last week due to injury, and since I have a deload and vacation next week, I crammed what I could of the major lifts into the last 2 days.

Thu. 9/17 - shirt bench at SSPT in Rockville, MD

I did an extended warm-up (for me, at least) with the empty bar. 15 bench press, overhead press, and rows, as well as 15 reps of assisted chins and dips. My back was feeling that little tinge of hurt on the drive there, especially when I looked in the passenger side window. By the time my warm-up was over, I
felt fine.

Bench press
143/5; 187/5; 220/3; 242.5/1; 262.5/1
put on shirt - 292/1; 319/0, 0, 0 - and he strikes out on 3 straight pitches. Felt somewhere between :(, :confused:, and :mad:. I don't know how I hit 314 for 3 singles last week, add 2.5 kg and get 0 this week. Bodyweight drop, lack of energy, I don't know. Oh well, deload, pack on some weight and back at it in 2 weeks.

Board press - basically did these so the day wouldn't end in complete failure
319/2; 331/1 - used a 3-board

Fri. 9/18 - raw squat and overhead press

1. Squat
140/5; 230/5;
added knee sleeves - 280/5; (75%) 325/5;
added belt - (85%) 365/3
tightened sleeves - (95%) 410/3 - I promised myself I wouldn't get greedy like I did on Monday when I did 390/5 and performed the ugliest 5th rep ever. Haven't forgotten to upload it, by the way. I'll do it while I have some down time over the next few days. Had to fight enough through the middle of rep 3 that I thought it might be better to rack it.

2. OHP - can't believe I've been able to resist using knee drive for so long
65/6; 100/5; (75%) 135/5; (85%) 150/3; (95%) 165/2.5 - Soooo close on that 3rd rep. It was overhead, but stalled and I wasn't able to get it moving again. The 2nd rep was easier than I expected it to be, and after I did it, I really expected that 3rd rep to go. At least I was blessed to break my streak of OHP sessions where I couldn't exceed my minimum rep number on the last set in this 5/3/1 scheme.

3. Converging plate loaded incline press - that's what it says on the machine.
230/13 - that's 2 45s and a 25 on each side. I only did this set because some of my co-workers at the gym were egging each other on with it, and I wanted to see what I could do on it.

4. One-arm "Kroc" rows
60/15 ea; 80/8 ea
100/21 L, 21 R, 20 L, 20 R - these are listed as separate sets because I rested about a minute between sides, then took extra time to add Versa Gripps for the second round on each side.

This workout also is the last one of Ramadan 2009. Thank God that I made it through, hopefully a better person first, but most important to this forum, achieving my goals of losing no more than 5 lbs, and not getting weaker. My numbers have held up, and I weighed 194.5 (so a real 190-191) one morning this week. I'll probably post my revamped nutrition plan one day this week, as well as the plan for workouts following next week's deload. There's a USAPL meet in Maryland tomorrow - the one Gary Gibson is competing in. Hopefully, that means our state championship date will be announced by the time I get back to serious workouts on Mon. 9/28. That will obviously have an effect on how I plan my next cycle or 2.

[K.Diesel]

Since I was exhausted from literally delivering a route and a half yesterday, I skipped the first of my planned deload workouts. I'll be out of town after Thursday, so I decided to condense my deload week workouts into a deload day. Wore XL knee sleeves without velcro for squats. Other than that, no belts or wraps.

1. Squat
135/5; (40%) 170/5; (50%) 215/5; (60%) 260/5

2. Bench - close grip, paused all reps
70/5; (40%) 110/5; (50%) 140/5; (60%) 165/5

3. Deadlift - sumo, overhand grip, no chalk
140/5; (40%) 200/5; (50%) 250/5; (60%) 300/5

4. OHP
bar/5; (40%) 70/5; (50%) 90/5; (60%) 105/5

5. Standing cable crunch - w/rope attachment
100/20, 15; 70/20

Notes: I tried some swim slippers for deadlifting, to see if I might like to get some legal deadlift slippers. Using careful measuring, I was able to determine that the shoes I got last week get me just as low to the ground if I remove the insoles. These are the same ones Quadancer has http://strengthmill.net/forum/showpost.php?p=37846&postcount=4. Plus the shoe keeps my feet from rolling outward too much. I plan to stick with those for pulls as well as squats. I realized today that I definitely need to deadlift more often now that I'm closer to the meet, which rumor has will be in December. Form just doesn't feel as natural as I think it should.

Next cycle's 5/3/1 format for raw lifts will be deficit deadlift (standing on plates or a step), close grip bench, and squat. I'll continue to have a bench shirt day, and a squat suit day. I expect to have a new squat suit (will order it after I post this update) within a week or so. So my split should be:

Monday: c.g. bench (5/3/1)
Tuesday: squat suit, deficit deadlift (5/3/1)
Thursday: bench shirt
Friday: squat (5/3/1)

Nutrition: Thanks to Papa John's NFL special (I'm assuming they do this in other cities) and NCAA football special, I'm eating tons of pizza the last 2 weeks. If they don't have this where you live, the special is linked to Ravens games (for Monday) and U of MD Terps games (for Tuesday). You get a large pizza for $9.99, and for every touchdown the team scores that weekend, you get a free topping on Monday or Tuesday. If they win, the toppings are doubled. Well, for the first 2 weeks of this season, the 2-0 Ravens have put up 38 (10 toppings) and 31 (8 toppings), and the 1-1 Terps have put up 35 (10 toppings) and 28 in a loss (4 toppings). Needless to say, they know me by name now at Papa Johns. While I'm on vacation, I'll probably eat extremely calorie dense food in large quantities too. Feeling better by the day! :D

I've also gone up to 3 quarts of milk per day. I started using creatine monohydrate today for the first time in a while. I'll start chipping away at the rest of my supplement stash left over from the Arnold starting next Monday. I might be able to get through it all by next year's Arnold.

[BigJavs]

That Papa John's special makes me wish we had a team even more!

I've actually been thinking about starting creatine supplementation. What's your general opinion on it?

[K.Diesel]

Here are video highlights from this last training cycle. Feedback welcome.

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Javs, it's unbelievable that the NFL still doesn't have a team in LA. But hey, you've got Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles! Been there once and fell in love. If it wasn't a 3 day drive or cross-country flight, I'd be there once a week.

As for creatine, I don't think I can give you as good an answer as I'd like. You're probably aware that the monohydrate form is one of the most studied supplements on the market. It's generally believed to be safe. Personally, I've never suffered any of the supposed negative side effects people mention.

I've used so many different things in the past year or two, I don't know what to attribute to creatine alone. I do recall that when I first tried it about 4 years ago, and it was the only supplement I was on, I gained some weight in the first few months. My workout quality improved and I remember recovering better day to day. While I have training logs from back then, I didn't bother to keep info on diet or supplements. I added other supps, and now, I don't know what was doing what. In general, I'd say if there are 2 supplements that I would honestly attribute anything to, they are creatine and glutamine, especially in terms of day-to-day recovery. I'll be experimenting on myself over the next few months with other stuff, and I'll record how it works.

[Platus]

Excellent work, man! And excellent choice of music as well.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks Dave! Classic PE never fails. :)

BW this morning - 198.5 with scale differential. 194 for real, and I'll probably drop another lb or 2 once the vacation bloating is gone.

This week starts a new training cycle. 5+ reps for last set on core 5/3/1 lifts.

Work day was much longer than normal today. Haven't been on the street delivering after 6PM for a while. This caused me to get to the gym much later than normal. Being tired, I some NO Xplode much later than I normally would (7:30), and I'm still kind of wired right now. Too bad the gym was closing, because I could have burned off some more of this stuff.

1. CGBP - closer grip than I've been using the last few cycles. Webbing of hand is where knurling meets smooth part of bar. Also paused some reps each set versus all touch & go on last cycles.

bar/10; 95/5; 140/5; (65%) 185/5; (75%) 210/5; (85%) 240/5 - did a 6th rep with help from a spotter. Totally lost the groove on the descent.

Following sets were alternated with sets of exercise 2: 225/5, 5, 5, 6

2. Dumbbell "Kroc" rows
60/15 ea; 80/10 ea; 100/23 left; 23 right
Form here was worse than 2 weeks ago. Probably shouldn't have come back from a deload with the 100s. Hit the bench a few times with the dumbbell on the left side. Felt like I would lose my grip on the right more than I remember. On all reps, I tried to be more conscious of extending all the way on the negative, after reading Kroc's article about them in this month's Men's Fitness.

Sticking with the creatine pretty well so far. I didn't want to take my jug of mono on the plane, and didn't want to explain an unmarked plastic bag with a powdery white substance to airport security, so I took some pill form (not mono) while I was gone. Went back to the mono this morning.

[quadancer]

Love watchin' the Diesel Dawg Squats!

[Locutus]

Saw some of your presses - I think you could bring in your grip quite a bit on overhead pressing - to where your forearms are vertical in the bottom position. It seems like your pressing grip is the same or (maybe) wider than your bench grip

[milesdyson]

Saw some of your presses - I think you could bring in your grip quite a bit on overhead pressing - to where your forearms are vertical in the bottom position. It seems like your pressing grip is the same or (maybe) wider than your bench grip
Agree 100%. The bar will end up higher on the chest and your arms will be in a better position to get the bar moving from the bottom.

[K.Diesel]

Saw some of your presses - I think you could bring in your grip quite a bit on overhead pressing - to where your forearms are vertical in the bottom position. It seems like your pressing grip is the same or (maybe) wider than your bench grip


Agree 100%. The bar will end up higher on the chest and your arms will be in a better position to get the bar moving from the bottom.

Thanks for the advice guys! Military presses had not been a priority lift for me until I started 5/3/1 a few months ago. Since I never really trained it, I just picked a grip that I was familiar with and ran with it. Good eye Locutus - that is my bench grip. I'll make the adjustment next time I do them.

Lifted today, but it's around midnight, and I'm a little too tired to do the write-up. Will update tomorrow.

[BigJavs]

Man, I live right by Roscoe's...if I had no will power I'd have a heart attack from those delicious ass waffles! haha

[K.Diesel]

I've been saying "I'll update my log tomorrow" for about a week. The whole week was kind of hectic, and nothing went quite the way I planned in the gym. In the interest of time, I'll just do one of my summaries for last week instead of a set by set log.

Tuesday, 9/29 - Gear Squats/Deads

Squats with knee wraps
No squat suit here. Wore knee sleeves through 320 x 3. Put on my belt, and wrapped my knees for the first time in 11 months, and did 370 x 2 like it was nothing. That had me thinking that the double I planned at 410 would go well, and I'd keep progressing. I wrapped and belted up again, and almost got crushed on that 2nd rep with 410. This was the first time in ages I actually had a real "Oh $hit!" moment under the bar, because I wasn't sure I would finish it and had no spotter. Rested a while, did another single at 410 with wraps, and decided not to press my luck anymore since I still had to deadlift.

Deficit deadlifts w/DL suit - sumo stance
Wore an old, used Titan DL suit given to me by Jason Beck, a USAPL national champion who pulled 700+ in it at either 198 or 220 (he's won in both classes). Pulled from a step with straps down until the last set. Put the suit on for my 2nd single at 320, then made 40 lb. jumps until I got up to 450 x 1. That one was really tough. Felt bad after the squats, so I decided to try for a little victory. Loaded the bar to 500, pulled up the straps, and really had to force myself down to grab the bar. Came up pretty fast, but had a tough time locking it out. Not totally sure that I did, but I'm counting it. :) Got rid of the step, and did a normal rep with the 500. Stalled above the knee, but I think it's because my speed off the floor in the suit was faster than normal, and I wasn't ready to compensate as the suit started to quit. Locked it out without hitching and without the bar going back down according to an observer at the gym.

Thursday 10/1

Bench w/shirt
Did this at the YMCA, as my coaches were traveling. The vinyl covering on the fitness center benches met my polyester shirt, and on my first full single in the shirt at 295, I slipped on the bench, lost my arch, and the bar sank into my chest. I pushed it up with help from the spotter, but was stuck for a couple of seconds. On my 2nd attempt, I had the bar halfway up when my shoulders slid backward, and I needed help to finish it. I wrapped a towel around the bench, fastened it with some kind of belt, and finally got some traction. However, at this point, I was too worn out to hit the 3 singles at 315 that I planned. So I did the 295, and then did 2 solid singles at 300 and called it a night for the shirt.

"Rack" Lockouts
I had to put the bench on plates, and I still couldn't get the bar where I really wanted it (just below my sticking point). Ended up doing a set of 3 with 280, 2 at 315. I removed the plates from under the bench, so this put the bar's starting position a little higher. From here I did 315 x 4, and then 330 for a single.

Friday, 10/2
5/3/1 day for raw squats and military press. Finished squats with 375 x 6. Overheads went 155 x 5. Note to Locutus and milesdyson: I moved my grip in like you said, and wish I had been doing that all along. Thank you! I still feel like I'm near a stall on this lift, but we'll see in 2 weeks.

[K.Diesel]

In case you came straight to this message, there's a summary of my last week in the last post (if you're interested).

1. CGBP
70/10; 140/6; (70%) 195/3; (80%) 225/3; (90%) 250/5.5; 210/8
I'm a little disappointed here. I made a mistake with my numbers for this day in my last 5/3/1 cycle, and did the same weights on close grip on Thu., 9/10/09. I needed that 6th rep on the last set to beat my performance from that day, where I didn't attempt a 6th rep. Came up half a rep short, and needed to spotter to lock it out. I'll chalk it up to fatigue. In September, that was a day off, and in the middle of the afternoon after a good night of sleep. Today's session followed a 4 hour night of sleep, followed by a 10 hour work day.

2. Barbell row
140/7; 190/6
added VersaGripps: 230/5; 240/5; 250/5; 260/5

3. Lockouts - Tried them in the Smith machine - I know, I sold out :(
180/3; 210/3; 240/3; 250/2.5 - all weights listed are plates, bar isn't counted
moved bar up one stop: 250/2
When was the last time I used the Smith machine? Do I have any gym cred left? Here's my rationale - Doing lockouts last week, I was trying to get the bar just under my sticking point on the bench press. I wasn't able to get the bar where I wanted (see last post). So since this is just an assistance exercise, I figured it was worth a shot since the main goal is to overload the triceps in a certain range of motion. I was surprised by how heavy these felt. I just knew that since the bar is so light (15 lbs on this machine), it would be a non-factor and I'd be able to load lots of plates and press away. It wasn't to be. That bar was heavy. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I had done them first. Perhaps the close-grips wore me out, but doing the rows was supposed to account for that. Either way, I know not to underestimate the Smith machine again. I'll stick with it for a while in this exercise since I don't have a real rack to do what I have in mind.

4. "Kroc" Dumbbell Rows
100/24 left, 24 right - chalk, no Gripps or straps. Much, much better form than last week when I did 23. I may have had 25 today, but I want to make steady progress of 1 rep per week on these until I get to around 35-40 or bored.

5a. Standing calf raises - on step, using the.... Smith machine! - I'm hooked!
180/13, 10, 8 + 5 pulses

sets of 5a alternated with sets of

5b. Standing cable crunch
140/15, 15, 18

[Platus]

Don't worry about the smith machine. I sucked up my pride and did some isometrics in the Smith machine recently - also on account of the lack of a real rack. Just don't let anyone catch you doing round-backed deadlifts in there; really, people do that.

Also, about the calf raises - I have always had small calves, which I assumed was just genetic and unlikely to change. But, I have been doing more jump squats and cleans lately, and I have noticed that they have gained about an inch. Still piddly, but presumably stronger. I have read a couple articles on t-nation that argued that rapid acceleration/deceleration (i.e. jumping with weights) is one of the better ways to affect the calves. Just my nascent 2 cents.

[K.Diesel]

I planned to do raw and geared squats, plus assistance exercises. It wasn't to be. Total time in the gym - 2:30. Not 2 minutes, but hours.

All I did was squat, with one walkout (600 lbs for 15 seconds - I think I"m 2 inches shorter now). This was to be my first time squatting in a full suit since the 2008 State Championships. Lucky me, I left me knee wraps at home!! Pissed at myself, I decided to go ahead with my planned workout, using the knee sleeves which provide much less support.

The plan was to incorporate my 5/3/1 workout into the geared workout. This was my 3+ day, based off a working max of 440. So I did a few sets of 5, then 310 x3 (70%) and 350 x 3 (80%). I didn't want to rep out at 90% (395 lbs.) and be gassed for the heavy singles, so I figured I'd wait for those.

I went to the locker room, put on the suit and came back in ready for battle. With the straps on the suit down, I hit a single at 350, then made 25 lb. jumps, doing singles up to 450. Then I pulled up the straps, fully armored for the rest of the fight. For the rest of the story, please enjoy my inspirational squat video...

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I'm not a huge gospel fan, but the featured song came to mind as soon as I watched the footage. Next week, I will not forget my wraps. Plus I know who won't be spotting me anymore.

Platus, thanks for the tidbits on the calf exercises, and good work on pumping yours up and making them stronger. I think I'm genetically disadvantaged when it comes to calves too. I'll try some of the jumps sometime. Are you still training at the Y? If so, what days and times?

[milesdyson]

Note to Locutus and milesdyson: I moved my grip in like you said, and wish I had been doing that all along. Thank you! I still feel like I'm near a stall on this lift, but we'll see in 2 weeks.
Glad to hear. I think a lot of people start with too wide of a grip. I've had many more of these "revelations" on the press than any other lift. It looks pretty simple, but there are some intricate details that matter a lot, especially because it's basically the lightest compound barbell lift. Good luck with it.

[Mr.City]

My God, what depth! Nice job on the squats, and that song is pretty catchy again. However, how come you don't squat in a rack? I ask because I certainly wouldn't trust a strange to help me bailout of a 400lbs+ squat. Most people can't even properly spot a bench press.

[Platus]

Congratulations on squatting above 500! That is a huge milestone! I am still at the Y, but my schedule got totally discombobulated due to work. I am back on a M,W,F schedule as of t his week. Hopefully I'll get to check out your squat day in person soon.

I also had a poor experience with the guy that was spotting you on that first attempt. I was benching for sets of 5, as per SS, and he kept trying to convince me to do things differently, despite my having explained to him what my goals for the workout were.

[K.Diesel]

My God, what depth! Nice job on the squats, and that song is pretty catchy again. However, how come you don't squat in a rack? I ask because I certainly wouldn't trust a strange to help me bailout of a 400lbs+ squat. Most people can't even properly spot a bench press.

Thanks a lot guys!

Mr. City, that is the closest thing to a rack at any of the YMCA's in the Baltimore area, with the possible exception of a location they just opened which I haven't been to. There was one Y here (out of 7) that used to have a real power rack, chalk, Oly bars, bumper plates, and a chin bar bolted into the wall with tape wrapped around it for grip. They got rid of all that for a fitness center. I doubt they put it in the new facility.

Sometimes I ask myself when I might go to a new gym. I would probably be happier lifting in another gym, but times are hard, and my part time job there means a gym membership fee is no longer a monthly concern. Plus my daughter loves the playground and child care area and the members are nice. I get a good number of inquiries for clients too. So for now, I gotta make due.

Today's session almost didn't happen. I think the drop in temperature and working outside Tuesday and Wednesday got me with a little bug. The hyperconsumption of milk may be adding to the congestion, but I'll blame it on work. Anyway, last night, I took a cocktail of melatonin, Benadryl, and daytime cold medicine. Needless to say, 10 hours later I was awake but not alert, and was drowsy all day, even after my normal coffee in the morning. Once I decided I would go to the gym, I went to Starbucks, and got a 20 oz. coffee (venti) with an espresso shot. It's 12:30 am here, and now I'm not sleepy. The insomnia cycle continues...

1. Bench press
bar/10; 140/5; 190/3; 215/2; 235/1, 1 (made the long walk to the bathroom between reps); 255/1
Put on shirt: 275/1 to 2 belts folded on top of each other
Full press: 290/1; 305/1, 1, 0.84 - almost locked out the last single, but can't count it
Phone books: 1-book - 320/0; 2-books - 320/0 - tank was empty now

By the way, big thanks to my man Pablo. He's the guy who spotted me on my last 2 sets in the video from Tuesday. First time putting a shirt on, and due to his incredible grip strength, he got it on me faster than anyone ever has. Scary grip strength. He just yanked it on. I told him I feel sorry for anyone he ever decides to choke. They will have 2 seconds before they expire.

2. Chins - neutral grip, shoulder width. Will change grip week to week.
BW/10; +45/8; +50/6; +55/5; drop set: +25/9 + BW/3 + 5-10 second hold at top

3. OHP 5/3/1, week 2. Figured I wouldn't need to warm up because of all the benching.
(70%) 125/3 - I was wrong, this felt really heavy
(80%) 145/3 - felt easier than 125
This is where my day was made. My man Rob, who is also doing 5/3/1 and was about to deadlift 1+ reps at 460 had his stash of ammonia caps. He offered me one before my last set of presses. I took it, cracked it, and inhaled DEEP! I mean my eyes were burning, left eye was tearing up, my lungs were on fire, and there is not one hair left in either of my nostrils. I snatched the bar off the rack, and with the new grip I learned form Locutus and milesdyson...

(90%) 160/6!!! - Holy Moses! The best I ever did with this weight was 4 weeks ago with 160 x 3! I doubled my PR! Unbelievable, and after the mixed success with the shirt, totally unexpected. I mixed my creatine with apple juice, chugged it and bailed. That was too high of a note for me not to end my workout. Except I keep asking myself, "Why the hell didn't you bring the camera today?" Oh well. Deadlifts tomorrow.

By the way, I weighed 195.5 on Sunday morning, so I'm somewhere around 191-192 lbs. right now. Meant to put that up earlier this week.

[K.Diesel]

Talk about short and sweet. Why the *? Because in the hour preceding this workout, I took 25 mg of Benadryl, 1 dose of NO-Xplode, full dose of daytime cough/cold medicine, and a 20 oz. blue Mountain Dew - all in that order. I think there is a slight chance it affected my performance.

1. Deadlifts - wearing DL suit
140/5; 230/3; 320/2
started alt. grip: 370/2
add chalk: 420/1
add belt: 460/1; 490/1
straps up on suit: 515/1; 540/0

I never should have made it to 515. After I did, I was light-headed, but not so much that I was concerned. Sadly, it's a sensation I'm familiar with. Anyway, I rested a few minutes, and tried for the PR anyway. Didn't go well. By comparison, I smoked 535 raw in July. I barely got 540 off the floor in a suit on Friday. Dropped it and went home.

Big thanks to Platus for sticking around to encourage and do video! I'll post it soon.

Today (Sunday), I feel bad. No cold symptoms, but I'm fatigued like crazy. I got a decent night of sleep, took a short nap before dinner, and still feel like I'm dragging. If I'm feeling like this tomorrow, then next week's planned deload is going to start 7 days early. In addition, I'm strongly considering going to a 3 day per week training split. I'd rather cut to an every-other-day split, but I don't see that fitting into my life schedule too conveniently.

[K.Diesel]

Was on the fence most of the day yesterday about going to the gym. Didn't feel energetic until about 4 or 5 pm. Took that to mean I should deload early. I'll go back in the gym on Friday. That will make 7 days off. I'll probably have a revamped program, but I don't expect to abandon 5/3/1. I'll just tweak it a bit. Gear will be thrown in every few weeks.

I'm assuming there is no 2009 USAPL Maryland Championships to train for, since there is no announced date or location and it's October 13. Will look for another meet in the first 3 months of 2010.

[K.Diesel]

I'm assuming there is no 2009 USAPL Maryland Championships to train for, since there is no announced date or location and it's October 13. Will look for another meet in the first 3 months of 2010.

In response to one of my posts on the MD powerlifting forum, someone who apparently has inside info leaked that there is an announcement coming in the next week or so. MD States are supposed to be December 19. I'm in. Talked to my wife and looked at the calendar tonight. I should be able to pull off an every-other-day split for the next 8 weeks. Right now, the plan is to rotate like this:

1. Bench (raw)
2. Deadlift (suit)
3. Bench (shirt)
4. Squat (suit/wraps)

Goal of a 1500 total may be too far out of reach at this point. 1450 would be good. I'll have a better idea when I get in the gym with my squat suit and wraps. Back to the lab tomorrow.

[K.Diesel]

Scale read 194 this morning, so I'm probably 190-191 :( I must not be eating enough solid food, because the milk + Ensure/Boost/protein/other liquid is there. Gotta build my tolerance for stuffing myself.

Went to the Druid Hill YMCA tonight because it's a little closer to my house than the one I usually visit, and I got off work late. I think I'll be going there for more raw bench days. The "fitness center" is in the basement and it's closer to a "gym". More iron plates. Feels old school. Several of the guys there started their training in some of Maryland's finer correctional institutions. They take their lifting seriously, but I always get asked why I write down everything I do. Radio blasting. People yelling. Good energy in there - as long as arguments over sports don't break out. Then it gets ridiculous.

I'm doing raw bench with a normal grip instead of close grip now. Also, I'm experimenting with the 5/3/1 scheme, and flipping it to 3/5/1 for my raw lifts. Just to shake it up a bit. Sticking with the same numbers from last cycle since I never finished it. Also, I'll be using my ankle weights for precision with the work sets. I don't want to make the same mistakes by estimating and then repeating weights 2 cycles in a row.

1. Bench - 3's, based on working max of 280
bar/15; 135/5; 166/3; (70%) 196/3; (80%) 224/3; (90%) 252/5 - pretty sure this is the most I've ever benched for 5 reps, so PR and new 5RM!
backoff - 210/9.5 - just knew I would nail that 10th rep

2. Barbell rows
135/10; 185/5; 225/5; 250/5, 5, 11 - strict until the rep 7 of set 3, then cheated a bit for the last 4

3. Close-grip lockouts - on Smith machine. Stops put bar just at/under my sticking point. Listing plate weight only
90/5; 160/5; 200/3; 220/3; 250/3
Raised bar one stop to do a final set, but it was too high. Smith machine at other location is better for this exercise.

4. "Kroc" dumbbell rows
60/13 ea; 100/25 ea - 1 rep improvement from last time

5a. Pressdown - cable w/rope attachment
70/12; 80/7; 60/14 - anyone ever feel their abs contracting while doing these? I think it's my body countering the feeling of losing my balance.

5b. Hammer ab machine - my favorite ab machine. You sit upright in it, and crunch your head down and knees up simultaneously.
50/12, 15, 16

Time - 1:29. Pretty good considering the interaction with one of the regulars there about VersaGripps, wrist wraps, powerlifting and bodybuilding. Felt like a great 1st session after a week off. Right now, finishing my 3rd helping of lasagna courtesy of Mrs. Diesel. Must get bigger!

[Platus]

The "fitness center" is in the basement and it's closer to a "gym". More iron plates. Feels old school.

Do they have any bumper plates? Or, do you know any local YMCA's that have them? I have been playing around with the olympic lifts, but I am afraid to really push the weight for fear of dropping the iron from overhead.


5a. Pressdown - cable w/rope attachment
70/12; 80/7; 60/14 - anyone ever feel their abs contracting while doing these? I think it's my body countering the feeling of losing my balance.

I have definitely experienced that; I think the isometric function of the abs is necessary to keep the body in position for the pulldown.

Any idea where the MD States will be held? I think I might attend and try and get some idea of what it might be like if I were to compete in the future.

[K.Diesel]

Do they have any bumper plates? Or, do you know any local YMCA's that have them? I have been playing around with the olympic lifts, but I am afraid to really push the weight for fear of dropping the iron from overhead.



I have definitely experienced that; I think the isometric function of the abs is necessary to keep the body in position for the pulldown.

Any idea where the MD States will be held? I think I might attend and try and get some idea of what it might be like if I were to compete in the future.

No bumper plates at the Y of Central MD anymore. They used to have some at the Ellicott City location, along with an Oly bar w/the spin bearings, a real power rack, free-standing squat rack, a chin bar bolted into the concrete wall (the gym was on the ground level), a few kettlebells, and they even had chalk! At some point, they decided a modern fitness center would be better, so all of that is gone now. A tragedy from a lifting point of view.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with the ab thing on pressdowns. Your rationale makes sense.

If I had to guess a location for MD States, I'd say the US Naval Academy. But, there is still no official word yet, so we'll have to see.

I gotta get some sleep. I've been eating for 2 hours and 16 straight minutes. Tomorrow, I'll update with results from Sunday morning and tonight's training.

[K.Diesel]

Here's what I've been up to...

Sun. 10/18, Deadlifts

I decided to use the 5/3/1 format for geared deadlifts. I'm figuring it should be ok, since the DL suit adds less to your max than any other PL gear. Again, I'm wearing an old Titan suit which has been used, but I can tell it helps off the floor. Can't quantify how much, but it helps.

1. Bench wave squats - box squats, done on a bench. Rise all the way on tip-toes or slight jump at the end. I don't think my bands are sufficient at the bottom, so I thought this would be a good way to get speed work in. Hard to jump slow. Platus - thanks for the idea!

bar/5; 140/3; 200/2 x 10

2. Deadlift - sumo
140/5; 230/3; 320/3
Put on suit (straps down): 320/3;
Belt: (70%) 375/3
Straps up: (80%) 428/3; (90%) 482/4; back-off: 400/7
I underestimated the help from the suit. I have more of a sticking point in the suit than I do without it. That's because the suit makes you move so much faster at the start of the positive of a rep, you have to violently accelerate through the ROM in order to "beat the suit". In other words, blow through your sticking point as you get less and less help from the suit, shirt, etc. That's something to practice.
60s/20 ea, 20 ea, 20 ea

4a. Abductor machine (yes, the one all the women use :o)
70/25, 25

4b. Adductor machine - same one, changed direction
70/25, 25 - these (abds and adds were much harder than I thought with the high reps)

4c. Calf press - on pin-stack leg press machine
210/15 slow; 300/8 slow; 200/10 moderate

[K.Diesel]

Today (Sun. 10/25), my wake-up weight was 199.0 on my scale. Likely at 195. Maybe the plan is working.

Tue. 10/20 - shirt bench and military press - rushed through this one because I had my daughter with me and had to get her out of childcare before they closed

1. Bench
bar/14; 145/5; 195/3; 220/2; 240/1; 260/1
Shirt: 280/1; 295/1; 310/1, 1 - could tell I had no gas left
Phone book: 310/1; 285/3

2. Chins - underhand
BW/9; +30/5; drop set: +60/5 + BW/8

3. OHP - 3/5/1 scheme
90/5; (70%) 126/3; (80%) 144/3; (90%) 162/6!! - unexpected PR! Granted it's only 2 lbs more than last time, but here's the rub:
1. Someone was using the rack, so I cleaned the first rep of every set from the floor
2. No ammonia rush

After we got home, I did the following:

Close-grip push ups: 5 plyos, 25, 30
Straight-leg sit-ups: 12, 15, 15, 40 (hooked feet under a chair for last set)

Thu. 10/22, Raw and Suited Squat

1. Cleans
Hang: bar/5; 100/5
Floor: 140/2; 165/2; 190/1; 200/1 x 5 - Experimenting a bit. I want to get back to these, and don't know where else to put them in the rotation. Figured a squat warm-up would be a good idea. We'll see.

2. Woodchoppers - cable w/rope
50/20 ea, 30 ea

3. GHR - done on back extension
15

Choppers and GHRs were done first because someone was using the rack. Figured it would be better to do light assistance work than wait around.

4. Squat
140/5; 200/3; 255/3
Wrist wraps: (70%) 305/3
Belt: (80%) 352/3; (90%) 396/6 - didn't want to push for extra to save some gas for the suit
Suit, straps down: 396/2
Knee wraps: 420/2; 445/1
Straps up: 475/1 - HUGE MISTAKE! I was supposed to do this one with straps down. I pull them up to tighten the suit, put on the belt, then pull them off. My wife called right before I did it, and I think the phone call distracted me and caused me to forget to pull them down. Wondered why it felt so easy until I saw the video.

Sat. 10/24, Raw Bench 3/5/1 scheme - had :30 before gym closed. Alternated sets of bench and rows and abs.

1. Bench
bar/12; 135/5; 185/5; (75%) 210/5; (80%) 224/5; (85%) 238/5

2. Seated row - Cybex pin-stack machine
70/12; 110/5; 150/5; 190/5; 230/5; 200/20

3. Hammer ab machine
50/15; 70/15

4. Dips
21

[K.Diesel]

Well, the club is actually called the MAC (Maryland Athletic Club), but it should be called WAC (Weak Ass Clowns) because evidently, that's who they want in there. A bodybuilder friend and I are doing trial memberships there, just so we can get the chance to train together for a few weeks. My trial is 15 days, his is 30. I love training with him, but hate this place.

In spite of being huge, with all the modern fitness equipment you could want, they only have 3 bars, 2 flat benches, and 1 decent squat rack (which of course, was being used for curls! when I got there). Saunas, showers, pine wood lockers, overpriced bottled water, and some weird stretchy thing in the "flexibility area" can't save it from the aura of weakness that permeates the whole place.

That being said, I/we were almost put out because I was "making too much noise" doing deadlifts. Didn't get up to my planned top set of 455 x 5+ in the deadlift suit. Last set was 430 x 5. Some trainer, who looks like he probably "works out" showed me how to deadlift "properly", meaning quietly, after taking 2-3 attempts to pull the 430 off the floor. Granted, he didn't warm up. This slooooowww descent which allows one to place a heavy object on the floor in a non-offensive way, is also how you "get more out of it anyway", according to T.J. the Trainer. My buddy snickered, then said "Dude, you only did that once. What about the second rep?"

I was so mad about the whole "too much noise" thing, I forgot to write down the rest of the session. Basically, I did walking lunges with 65 lb dumbbells and one set of about 15 each leg with a 110 lb fixed barbell. I'll admit, those things are useful. I also did 3 x 20 side bends with 65 lb. dumbbells, and lots of calf presses on some funky calf machine but it was ok.

Oh, and I had to sanitize the barbell before I pulled because the guy who was curling with it bled on it after 1-2 sets of deadlifts. At least he was pulling. Guess he knows how to do it quietly.

[Locutus]

Yeah, I had some similar problems with "loud deadlifts" at the "health club" I've been lifting at. (Probably mostly because their fitness center is on the second floor)

Although, they have pretty decent equipment otherwise. So I just deal with it :/ the Maryland "athletic club" sounds pretty pathetic, though..

[Platus]

Et in Arcadia ego...

That is unfortunate. I had heard good things about the quality of the MAC (granted, due to stretchy things and saunas rather than iron). But it must have been truly torturous to have driven you to post with such vitriol, given your typically optimistic demeanor.

If it makes you feel any better, I saw a lanky dude doing round-backed deadlifts in the Y's smith machine on Monday.

[quadancer]

I keep seeing this in more and more forums; it's be way of things to come. They regard the mass of clientele (money) over quality or effectiveness. I even had the fat salesgirl get on me about setting down the deads and shaking the building, scaring the customers...and I don't set them down all that hard. I asked her "Just where do they think they are?" :rolleyes:
Since then, I've just ignored her. I've not gotten any more static because (according to the owner) I'm friendly and helpful to gym members. I'm also probably one of the three people who put the weights back where they go.

[K.Diesel]

Today was bench shirt day. It was actually a much better experience than Monday. Unfortunately, I left my journal home and didn't write down anything. Helped my friend with his deadlift technique. Funny - he put the bar down quietly as people were dropping dumbbells all over the floor from the same area the complaints came from on Monday. Go figure. Well, here's what I remember.

1. Bench press
bar/10; 135/5; 165/5; 195/5; 225/2; 245/1; 265/1
"Shirt": 285/1; 300/1; 315/0, 0; 295/2

By "shirt", I mean this: I was wearing a fairly thick Under Armour-type shirt in the gym. I planned to take it off and put on the bench shirt. The same clown that bothered us Monday kept eyeballing me and my friends when I was sitting on the bench, just explaining to him how to put it on me. My initial plan was to go shirtless for the minute it takes to get the sleeves of the arms up enough to pull it over my head. However, considering our brief history here, I just put it on over the other shirt. Maybe this is what double ply is supposed to feel like, except the shirt was sliding a lot, and I don't think I/it performed as well like that. Oh well. I may go to my coaches place in Rockville next week to really get it in.

Here's what I remember from the rest:

2. Chins - wide grip
2 BW sets/8-9, +25/5-6, then +45/5 x 2. Followed w/a set of pull-downs.

3. OHP - 3/5/1, 5's session
bar/5; 95/5; (65%) 115/5; (75%) 135/5; (85%) 155/7; 110/10

4. Barbell curls
60/11; 80/6; drop set: 110/3 + 90/5 + 70/6

5. Dips
BW/10; +75/8, 5; drop set: +75/6 + BW/6

Crazy ab stuff to end.

Locutus: this gym is also on the 2nd floor of a complex. I was later told there is a movie theater underneath. If the guy had just come and said that, it would have gone over much better. I don't want to be a jackass. But that had nothing to do with his reasoning. Member complaints drove the whole thing.

Platus: I was heated about that stuff! I'm better now. The quality of their stuff is good, with some exceptions that show the place is tilted far more toward the "fitness crowd" than the strength community. That's not a shock, just unfortunate.

Quad: Re-racking weights and being that way towards others is probably why I never got any flack from the Y for deadlifting, chalk, or anything else - even before I worked there.

I don't think I've posted this yet: the date is official. The 2009 USAPL MD States will be on Sat, 12/19. I'll be entering as soon as the entry form is online. Going to Rockville tomorrow. A fellow lifter is giving me some of his old squat suits, if I can fit them (he's smaller than me). If either fits, it would be an upgrade over my current suit.

[K.Diesel]

My first time using the MAC squat rack. Pro - the safety bar was low enough for me to use without a spotter, even though my friend Pudi the Bodybuilder is an adequate and reliable spotter. Con - the hooks are set so far apart that I was using the same rack height as my friend. He's 5'2. I'm 5'8". Too high for him. I was quarter squatting the weight out every time.

Warmed up by working today, then going straight to the gym and doing cleans with the 60 and 110 lb. fixed barbells. I wanted to go heavier, but no other bars were available. Two were on benches, and one was in use at the squat rack, and we had to wait for these 2 guys to finish using it to curl!!

1. Squat using 3/5/1 scheme for raw lifts - 5's this session
135/5, 5; 225/5; (65%) 285/5; (75%) 330/5; (85%) 375/5 - I consider this a type of PR - all these sets were done beltless, but with knee sleeves

Then I put on an Inzer Hardcore suit. I've competed in an Inzer Z-Suit, size 35. This was my first time in one of these. Today, I wore a size 35 Hardcore, on loan from my coach.

Suit (straps down, all sets): 375/3
Add belt/wrist wraps: 400/3
Add knee wraps: 425/3; 450/3; 475/2; 500/1 - Pumped about this lift! It's only 1.6 lbs off my meet PR from last year's States, and this was in a suit that's not that tight, with straps down. Plus, this was after much more volume than I would do in a warm-up room. Unbelievably, I was able to squeeze into my competitor's size 32 yesterday. I will probably compete in the 32. I can't sit to parallel in the 32, so I can only imagine what the result could be when I put that one on and add knee wraps to the mix.

2. GHR - on back extension. Held 25lb plates for added resistance.
BW/15; +25/12; +50/8, 6; +25/15; BW/25

Believe it or not, this workout took 2 hours, almost all of it squatting. I spent a lot of time coaching Pudi for his first meet. MD States will be his first meet, and since we're only training together for 2 weeks, I want to make sure he has a grasp on legal depth, commands (for all lifts), and other things related to the meet. So it was time well spent. Raw bench on Sunday in a shorter session.

[K.Diesel]

Just realized that this site was here thanks to a post on strengthmill. I'll update both logs (copy and paste make it easy enough). Only 5 posts missing on this side - not much to write home about.

Sunday's bodyweight was still 199.5 (a real 194-195)

Fri, 11/13 - Deads

Took my coach's advice and scaled back my deadlift %s. Also switched between conventional and sumo lifts during warmups. I had a hunch that conventional pulls may be better for me in a suit. Today's model: Inzer HardCore, size 35 with straps restitched to fit me.

Raw: 140/3, 4; 230/3, 3; 280/2, 2; 320/1, 1; add belt: 360/1
Suit, straps down: 400/1 sumo, 1 conventional; 430/1 conv., 1 sumo - settled on conventional
430/1 x 6 sets; straps up: 430/1, 455/1 - at 80 and 85% of 1RM, these were laughably easy. 60 seconds or less between all singles, except the 1st set w/straps up, because it took awhile to get the straps over my shoulders (yes, it's that tight http://strengthmill.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif).

Sat. 11/14 - Raw bench & Phone book press

140/5; 170/5; 200/5
1 book: 230/5; 260/3; 280/1; 290/1
2 book: 300/1
full range: 240/5 - most of these bench reps from 230 up were paused on the chest or book

Mon. 11/16 - Squat - same Inzer HC, size 35 and knee sleeves
Raw: 140/5; 230/4; 270/3; 310/3; 350/2; 390/2 - beltless PR! Think I had a 3rd
Belt & suit, straps down: 430/2
Knee wraps: 450/1; 470/1
Straps up: 490/1 - felt really hard. 500/1 - felt like a max effort. This is where panic set in. I squatted 501 at last year's States in an inferior suit. My raw strength has improved dramatically. So where is my big squat? I was trying to blame all kinds of things: I slept 4 1/2 hours the night before, I took too many warm-up reps, missing that 2nd rep at 485 last week got in my head, anything. Maybe it was some, all, or none of those factors. But in the end, I can't help but think it's not strength alone since I hit 500 in this suit with the straps down 2 weeks before. Hopefully, I'll get this one straight before the meet.

By the way, here's my overdue video of mostly deadlift highlights from last month. I don't know why the video quality is so much worse than the way it looks on MovieMaker. Enjoy and thank you for watching!
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pF-BcrYBiiU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object>

[Platus]

Nice improvement in your Overhead Press; your grip/forearm position looks much better. I have a long, long way to go before most of my lifts get competitive with yours, but watch out, because I did 160 for a double on my press last week ;).

I wish you luck with your squats; I'm not sure of my holiday plans, but I am hoping to be able to make it to meet on the 19th. I am thinking that it will take another year before I try competing, but I'd like to get a feel for the process.

Are you still training at the MAC?

[K.Diesel]

Nice improvement in your Overhead Press; your grip/forearm position looks much better. I have a long, long way to go before most of my lifts get competitive with yours, but watch out, because I did 160 for a double on my press last week ;).

I wish you luck with your squats; I'm not sure of my holiday plans, but I am hoping to be able to make it to meet on the 19th. I am thinking that it will take another year before I try competing, but I'd like to get a feel for the process.

Are you still training at the MAC?

Platus, thank you for that. Your press is most impressive my friend. Keep it up. Attending a meet is a great idea, and I would recommend it for anyone who has an interest in competing at any time in the future. This one should be small and fairly well run. This is the first meet for this meet director, but he's a hands on, well organized guy who knows how a meet should run and he has good help and resources. As for the MAC, I'm done there and training at the Y again with the occassional visit to SSPT.

Speaking of SSPT, I went there to bench today in my Inzer shirt. Here's the bad news - I agitated my shoulder injury. And honestly, I think it's from squats. I'm pretty sure I hurt it when I missed that 2nd rep at 485 last Monday, then made it worse when I benched in the shirt last Wednesday. I haven't done any training this week since Monday, and all I did then was squat. Icing it right now as I type this. I'll keep you all posted.

Here's the great news - as I was leaving, my coach asked me a question about lifting at the Arnold. I don't think I mentioned it in my log before, but based on national rankings, I was given an alternate invite to the Arnold next year. Thought it was cool, but thought nothing of it. Based on what he said, I got home and immediately checked my e-mail. I had a message from USAPL. It started like this:

"Greetings and Congratulations on being selected to participate in the 2010 Arnold Sports Festival!"

:D I can't believe it: I'm competing at the Arnold Raw Powerlifting Challenge in 2010!!!! :D This may be the coolest thing ever in my life. 2 years ago I was at the Arnold as a fan, and had never competed in anything except my 7th and 8th grade basketball team, and track my senior year of high school. Now I get to squat, bench and deadlift with world class athletes. Unreal. I'll probably finish dead last, but that's ok - it's going to be hard to wipe this grin off my face anytime between now and April (the Arnold's in March, but I figure it'll take a month for it to wear off afterwards).

[Sami]

Damn, that's great news. Congrats!

[Platus]

Awesome news! Congratulations on the invite! I hope your shoulder clears up soon.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks everyone! I'll keep you posted as things develop. In the past few days, I've been so excited about the Arnold that I almost forgot about the state meet next month!

Weighed 199.5 (194-195 for real) this morning.

Feel like I have a cold or something. Timing sucks for this, on top of my shoulder problem. I'm going to get in the gym tomorrow unless I feel like total crap in the morning and don't go to work. As for what I do in there, it will probably depend on how I feel, especially my shoulder. Think I can give up on getting any stronger at this point. I'm going to have to juggle training enough to maintain strength for the meet, but not so much that I keep hurting my shoulder. Fingers are crossed.

[K.Diesel]

Mon. 11/23 - Deadlift Session

Decided to try an erector shirt just to see if it does anything at all. Research on them led me to the conclusion that the consensus is that they don't help or even hinder the ability to get your back set in a squat or breathe deeply for squats or pulls. But others like them, and I figured what the hell - I have so much borrowed gear that I could spend my gear $ on the one thing I don't have yet. Got Inzer's HD sleeveless Erector shirt, size 50 (one size smaller than my Inzer bench shirt).

1. Deadlifts - back to conventional stance, because I get more out of the suit (Inzer HardCore) with it
140/6; 230/4; 280/3
Erector shirt: 320/3; 365/2; 410/2
Belt & Suit (no straps): 455/2; 470/1, 1, 1, 3
Straps up: 470/1; 485/3
Looking back on this now, I see why my back felt so taxed yesterday at my bench session. This was high volume (for me at least) and pretty heavy (85-90% raw 1RM). Verdict on the shirt? I like it for deads. When I took it off, my lower back felt much fresher than it normally does after pulls. We'll see how it goes with squats.

2a. Front squat
185/8; 230/7; 255/5; 280/3 - had enough strength to squat it more, but not enough to hold the bar using cross-arm style.

2b. RDL - done on a step
230/10; 280/10; 320/8, 7

3. Abductor machine: 95/30

4. Adductor machine: 95/25

5. Dumbbell side bends: 60s/30 ea

Wed. 11/25 - Bench Session

Anxious headed in: how would my shoulder hold up? Hadn't felt any pain in about 30-36 hours, so I went for it.

1. Bench press
bar/10; 140/6; 170/3; 200/3; 220/2; 240/1; 260/1
Shirt (Titan Fury), 1 phone book: 280/2
Full range: 300/1; 310/1 (?), 0 - on that first one, and especially the second, I saw the bar move off my chest toward my feet, then I tried to get it back in the right groove. I think I did it before the spotter touched the bar on the first, but he definitely helped on the second. He didn't even pull it up, he just pulled the bar back into the path I should have put it in. I hate the bench press. I do it raw and in shirts. It's like Shaq shooting free throws. No matter what mental cues, physical adjustments or whatever else I try, I have not succeeded in getting this technique issue corrected. Video coming soon. Suggestions welcome.

Benches, round 2:
1 book: 310/1
2 book: 310/1
Handouts: 360/15 sec, 20 sec
Full range: 290/1, 2 (1 full + 1 book)

2. Chins
11 wide; 8 underhand; 6 neutral; BW+50/6 wide, 5 under, 5 neutral

3. 1-arm pressdowns - using the bar on the assisted dip/chin machine
150/5 ea; 200 (stack)/12 ea, 11 ea

4. Push-ups - used another guy's Perfect Pushup handles
drop set: 10 feet up + 2 feet flat + 4 knees down

While I was disappointed in the bench performance, I walked out with a pain-free shoulder! Still no problems this morning. I am grateful and happy about this, as I still have a shot to get better. I hope to ingest about 10,000 calories today, then squat heavy tomorrow. Eat big everybody!

[K.Diesel]

Today (Sunday morning), my scale read 199.5. This means either my digital scale is now permanently fixed on this reading, or I have been holding between 194-195 lbs for a few weeks now. That's quite a feat for me, considering that my training intensity and volume has fluctuated over the past few weeks, due to fatigue, illness, injury, and perhaps even mental stress. Very happy about this. Now for the crappy squat report...

Fri. 11/26 - squats

Prelude: Wednesday night, I was up late (like 3-4 am) with my wife who was sick. Good thing I was off Thursday. Daughter woke me up for food about 8 am. Napped until about 4 or 5 pm Thursday. Tried to go to bed around 11:30 pm, but probably didn't get to sleep until about 1am. Went to work the day after Thanksgiving around 7:15 am. By 8 am, I felt like trash and got worse as the morning progressed. Adrenaline kicked in while I was delivering mail, and I felt ok, but knew a crash was coming. Got back to the post office, and sure enough, didn't even feel like driving home. Told myself I better squat today, because if I didn't, I'd have to squat on Saturday, then turn around and deadlift on Monday, which would suck. Drank some NO-XPlode which woke me up a bit, then went to the gym...

1. Squat - erector shirt, and HardCore suit, size 35
70/6; 150/5; 230/3; 280/2
Shirt: 330/2, 2 - did this weight twice, because squatting in the shirt felt awkward at first
Wrist wraps: 360/1
Belt: 390/1
Suit, no straps: 420/1 - energy slipping fast
Knee wraps: 450/1, 2 - spotter was inexperienced, but I knew he was strong. On the first set, he was so close that my elbows hit his arms on the descent, and it was almost like hitting safety pins. On the second, his hands were on my chest, and it felt like he was pushing up on it. A little disgusted and a very drained, I sat for 5+ minutes deciding what to do next. I figured I'd take off the suit and do some light assistance work.

2. GHR - on back extension
12, 12

So much for light assistance work. I quit and went home. I'm hoping I have more energy tomorrow. Also not feeling as confident as I think I should in this squat suit, or my knee wrapping ability. Schedule permitting, I'm headed to SSPT in Rockville to squat with coaching on Thursday.

[K.Diesel]

Mon. 11/30, Deadlifts

140/6; 230/3; 280/2
Erector shirt: 330/2
Belt: 380/2
Suit, no straps, no belt: 425/2
Add belt again: 440/1, 455/1, 470/1, 485/1
Straps up: 500/1, 2

Absolutely smoked that 500! Thought I might be good for a triple on the second set, but the way rep 2 felt, it would have been a real grinder and not worth it since I knew I'd be in there benching the next day.

Tue. 12/1, Raw Bench

Noticed that due to my recent shoulder problems, I hadn't benched raw since 11/14. I'd started this training cycle benching twice a week - once raw and once in the shirt. I figured at this point, I'm familiar enough with the shirt, so I better get one more raw session in before the meet.

1. Bench press - paused the first rep of every set
140/6; 180/4; 210/3; 230/3; 255/3, 3; 260/3 - think this is PR Land.

The first set of 255 was a mistake. I thought it was 245. I locked out the left side easier than the right, and the spotter says "Your left side is stronger than your right." Being right handed, that struck me as odd. When I went to add weight, I realized I'd left an extra 10 lb. plate on the right side. So it was an unbalanced 255. For set 2, I just evened it out. This was a cool spotter by the way. No unnecessary help, and he voluntarily helped my whole workout. Hope he's there for every bench session for the rest of my life, or until I join another gym.

* For those who may be new to my log, 2a/2b etc. indicates alternating sets of each exercise in the group.

2a. Dumbbell "Kroc" Rows
20/15 ea; 40/11 ea; 60/9 ea; 80/9 ea; 100/30 left, 30 right - 3 rep PR! Unlike the warmups, I took a full rest between sets when I went for the 100.

2b. Phone Book Press
1 book: 265/3; 275/2, 2
2 books: 290/3

3a. Dips
BW+50/14, 11

3b. Standing cable crunch - w/rope attachment
140/25, 25 (quit and 20, cursed myself, and did 5 more), 21

3c. Chins
BW+50/8 wide, 7 underhand

Shoulder had no pain or strange feeling at all during the session. Thank God for that! Felt stiff later in the night and this morning, but I'm hoping I'm out of the woods on that now. Traveling to Rockville, MD when I wake up to train with my coach. Time to get this squat up where it belongs!

[August West]

This was a cool spotter by the way. No unnecessary help, and he voluntarily helped my whole workout. Hope he's there for every bench session for the rest of my life, or until I join another gym.


This is awesome. Too bad it's so rare; it makes a tremendous difference in the quality of the workout. Always good to stick with a solid pardna when you find one around.

[Platus]

Glad to hear that your shoulder is feeling better.

[K.Diesel]

Thanks Platus. Lets hope it stays that way for a good long time!

Today's session was at Supreme Sports Performance & Training in Rockville, MD with my coach and friend, Matt Gary. Check them out online or if you're in the area. http://www.supremesportspt.com/

Squat - plates were in kilos, weights listed here in pounds. Suit is an Inzer HardCore, size 32. That's 3 sizes smaller than the one I've been squatting/deadlifting in for the past few weeks.

bar/10; 143/5; 231/4; 286/2
Belt: 342/1
Suit, no straps: 413/1
Knee wraps, straps up: 479/1; 512/1, 1 - PR!!

A few things that made a difference:

* Matt gave me some cues to use when unracking and setting up the squat.
* It's better to have someone else wrap your knees than doing it yourself. Their angle is better, and they can't feel the pain/discomfort of it.
* Much better training environment than the Y, and I had no doubt I would make every lift today
* Wiser warm-up progression to my heaviest sets. I was doing too many sets/reps in prior sessions. Hopefully, that volume has made me stronger though.

Time to start tapering off the assistance work. Did 3 sets of BW GHRs on the real GHR apparatus. Love these. Also did one set of situps on it.

Plan is to go back to SSPT for the last heavy squat next week. Goal is to hit 523. If all goes well, I'll be set up nicely for a 529/534+ 3rd attempt at the meet.

[Platus]

It sounds like your total will be over 1400! Nice job!

[Mr.City]

Nice PR and good to see you get over that overtraining

[K.Diesel]

Thanks guys! I'd be tickled with a 1422 lb (645 kg) total at the meet, which would put me at class 1 in the 198 lb (90kg) weight class. That would leave "only" master, then elite. I put "only" in "" because that's much easier to say than do. That's not even easy to think about - I'd be somewhere around a 650-700+ lb. squat by then! Geez.

Weighed 199.5 (194-195 for real) this morning. Either my scale is broken, or I'm the new model of consistency for bodyweight. 13 days to go until the meet.

Here's a video of training highlights from November. As always, I appreciate anyone who watches, and feedback is welcome.

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[Mr.City]

Damn, you got big arms.

[Platus]

1) thanks for the thanks in your credits.
2) that lady standing in the squat rack at 2:54 is cute.

In all I have no constructive criticism, just the same question I had when I was filming: is the bounce back and down before you pull on your deadlifts designed to maximize the force of the suit you were wearing? When I watch the footage frame-by-frame, it looks like your shoulders are back in correct position over the bar before you actually begin to pull the bar from the floor.

[Mr.City]

Yes, I meant to ask about that. That is a very unique deadlift starting position. How does it work?

[K.Diesel]

Wore suit from the beginning (straps down) to save energy and time.

140/6; 230/3
Belt: 320/2
Erector shirt, no belt: 410/1
Belt & shirt: 460/1
Straps up: 490/1; 520/1 - not a PR, but it felt so easy, I'm sure one is coming at the meet, and maybe on the 2nd attempt. http://strengthmill.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif <!-- / message --> <!-- controls -->

2 sets of standing ab crunches, one of 25 with the stack (150) and the second of 15 with 160 or 170. There were 2 extra plates added to the stack, but I think they're 5lb plates since the ones in the stack are 10 lbs. each.


Mr. City, I'm always thinking my arms, especially triceps need to be bigger. But true story - I was in WalMart 2 days ago, and went to use that automatic blood pressure machine they have near the pharmacy. I honestly had to pull my arm out of my shirt (long sleeve, not real thick) to put it in the cuff, and even then it was tight before I started the test. So while I still would like more arm size, that experience and your kind words make me feel better. Thanks sir! :D

As for your and Platus' question about the deadlift form, that's something I do raw or geared, sumo or conventional. The idea is to build tension in the glutes and hamstrings, as well as to create a feeling of momentum before the start of the pull. One of the things that makes the deadlift so much more taxing than the other powerlifts (and most lifts period) is that the concentric portion of the lift precedes the eccentric, so the lifter is unable to take advantage of any stretch reflex for the deadlift. So what I do is try to duplicate, as best I can, the bottom of a squat when I'm starting a deadlift. My mental cues are:

1. Squeeze bar like I'm broke and it's my last dollar
2. Drop hips low and back
3. LOCK elbows
4. Drive heels through floor
5. Keep chest and head up, shoulders back, don't stop pulling until I'm either standing up straight or gravity wins

[Platus]

The idea is to build tension in the glutes and hamstrings, as well as to create a feeling of momentum before the start of the pull.I've fiddled around with that style a couple of times. Once or twice I executed it properly and the lift came off the floor a little more easily; the majority of the time I failed to get in the proper position with my shoulders in front of the bar. Still, I try to keep the time from between lowering my hips for the lift and the actual pull as short as possible - I think the principal is the same, although the effect is less pronounced.

[K.Diesel]

Well, as usual, the bench was a big letdown from the PR cornucopia that is squatting and deadlifting. To save myself much too much embarrassment, I'll just report that I warmed up raw through 235, then put on the shirt, and ultimately missed 305 (which I've done before) and 320 (PR attempt) with "start" and "press" commands. Looking for a high note, I dropped to 285, and with commands, I blazed it. My bench opener will probably be 286 or 292.

At this point, if I can get out of this meet with 314 lbs, I'll probably be happy, even though that is absolutely pathetic for someone my size. But I think I need/could really use 319 lbs. (145 kg) to give me my best chance at a 645 kg, Class 1 total. That would leave me splitting 500 kg (1102 lbs) between the squat and deadlift, which may be within reach. If it's not there, then oh well. I'll take what's there on the 19th. To me, it's more important to hit a 1400 total than miss it going for 1422. That would make a 100 lb. total increase from the '08 States. I'd like to be able to say I'm stronger than that by now, but how could I be mad if my total goes up 100 lbs. in a year, with 3-4 PRs to boot?

[K.Diesel]

Squat
135/5; 185/4
Belt: 270/3
Suit, no straps: 360/2
Loose knee wrap: 435/1
Straps up, tight wrap: 490/1; 525/1 PR! The 525 was not as low as I'd have liked. It may or may not have gotten white lights, but since it's training, I'm counting it for now. Hopefully, I'll exceed that on the platform next week and it'll be a moot point anyway. Big deal: the unrack and set up on the last set were the best I've done on a near-max set in forever.

I've been serving as a juror on a murder trial all week. Ended in a hung jury and mistrial yesterday afternoon. This session was supposed to take place yesterday, but I was too drained and almost depressed over the details and result of that trial. I feel much better now. More evidence of the benefits of heavy squats.

[K.Diesel]

Squat
135/5; 185/4
Belt: 270/3
Suit, no straps: 360/2
Loose knee wrap: 435/1
Straps up, tight wrap: 490/1; 525/1 PR! The 525 was not as low as I'd have liked. It may or may not have gotten white lights, but since it's training, I'm counting it for now. Hopefully, I'll exceed that on the platform next week and it'll be a moot point anyway. Big deal: the unrack and set up on the last set were the best I've done on a near-max set in forever.

I've been serving as a juror on a murder trial all week. Ended in a hung jury and mistrial yesterday afternoon. This session was supposed to take place yesterday, but I was too drained and almost depressed over the details and result of that trial. I feel much better now. More evidence of the benefits of heavy squats.

[K.Diesel]

Scale read 201.5 today, which means I'm about 197. Waist is 33". Online calculators tell me I'm 12-13% bodyfat. This is my heaviest sustained weight since I started delivering mail 3 1/2 years ago, and 2 lbs. short of my all-time high. YAY!! Thanks to the Ravens' slaughter of the Lions today and Papa John's, you can get 12 topping pizzas for $9.99 each tomorrow in Baltimore. I may get to 202 before Tuesday and need to diet down to 198. :D

Here are the highlights from the last 2 weeks of training. A light squat/bench session is planned for Tuesday, and nothing else until the meet on the 19th.

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[Cmanuel]

Subbing to your log. I like what I see in here!

[Gary Gibson]

I think that squat looked awfully good.

[K.Diesel]

Gary and CManuel, thank you both.

Tue. 12/15, The "Meet Week Tune-up/Stay Loose/Primer" Workout

* The %s are based on what I think my 3rd attempts/1RM will be. Workout plan courtesy of Matt Gary. Goofy name is from me.

1. Squat - w/Inzer knee sleeves
bar/8, 140/5, (50%) 265/3; (60%) 320/3, 3
added belt & tightened velcro on sleeves: (70%) 375/2, 2, 2

2. Bench press - paused first rep of each set
bar/10; 100/5; (50%) 160/3; (60%) 195/3, 3; (70%) 225/2, 2; (75%) 240/1, 1, 1 (all paused)

Did 2 sets on the ab wheel of 20 and 15 I think. That's it until Saturday. Everything felt easy. I'm ready. I'm not paranoid about weight like I was before Nats. I was at the beach that week and thought I might gain too much beforehand. I'm working my normal schedule this week, so that shouldn't be a problem. Dinner tonight is fried chicken and broccoli on top of cheese pizza, with bean pie (that's right BigJavs!) for dessert. No mailman GPP tomorrow, back at it Friday, then hopefully white lights and PRs galore on Saturday!

[Platus]

bean pie+1 for the bean pie.

About how long do you think the meet will take to complete? I'll be attending, but I may have to leave early for work.

Best of luck - I'm looking forward to seeing some PR's from you and Gary.

[K.Diesel]

Plan on leaving early buddy. 51 lifters (44 full meet + 7 bench only) and 1 platform = long day. Just think about setting up, loading and unloading for 132 squat and 132 deadlift attempts, plus 153 bench attempts. This thing will take hours. Looks like Gary and I will both be in flight 2 if he comes in with the 181s. Thanks for coming and for your support!

By the way: for anyone unfamiliar the term, a "flight" is a group of lifters at a meet.

[K.Diesel]

For those who've been following my log, I'm sure you know I've been training for the 2009 MD State Championships. Thanks to a snow storm (12+" predicted) in the Baltimore metro area, the meet is indefinitely postponed, which for me means canceled. I'm somewhere between :( and :mad:. But there's nothing any of us can do about it. I'll test the lifts soon, geared and raw, then the Road to The Arnold begins.

As always, thanks for keeping up with me!

[BigJavs]

man, that's a total bummer...but you have the Arnold to look forward to!

[kittenSmash]

I can't imagine how you feel man, sorry to hear. At least you know you've PR'd and have the Arnold coming.
Sidenote, I'm so jealous you have all these guys around your area. Looks like MD is a good community of lifters.
Keep up the strong lifts man.

[Webbie]

Instead of competing, you can impress your neighbors by going around and pulling stuck cars out of snow drifts with just a cable and a smile :)

We had the snow down here in NC yesterday. They predicted possible accumulation and we got 4" which is a lot for a town with no snowplow...it could be big up in MD.

[K.Diesel]

Why are we psychotic? Because a few of us who were going to compete, and others who were going to attend and felt bad got together at Supreme Sports Performance & Training in Rockville, MD for a mock meet in place of the canceled MD State meet. 5 lifters, 3 judges (2 of whom are actually USAPL national judges), 3 spotters/loaders, and my wife who's supportive and had nothing else to do in a blizzard made the trip in what finished at 2 feet of snow. Clearly, none of us are in our right minds. But what a fun day it turned out to be!

I was the last to get there, which made sense because I had the longest ride. I'm grateful because they waited for me to get started, and once I was there, we started to warm up. The event was run like a meet, where you had to submit attempts, commands were given, weights were in kilos, and we were on the clock. It was as if we were in a flight of 10, so after the 5th lifter did an attempt, there was a 5 minute break before the 1st lifter made their next attempt. 30 minute break/warm-up time after squats for benches, then the same after benches for deadlifts.

I don't remember my warm up progressions, but here's how my "meet" went:
Bodyweight: 196 lbs.

Squats (size 32 Inzer HardCore suit, 2m knee wraps, belt)
1st: 215 kg (474 lbs) - good
2nd: 230 kg (507 lbs) - good
3rd: 242.5 kg (535 lbs) - EASY PR! I shot up so fast, I was mad that I underestimated how much I could squat. Honestly, I was probably good for 250 kg.

Bench (loose Titan Fury shirt, no belt)
1st: 132.5 kg (292 lbs) - ugly as sin, but good. Took forever to touch my chest.
2nd: 140 kg (309 lbs) - good
3rd: 145 kg (320 lbs) - PR!! Finally got that 145 kg monkey off my back! I've missed that lift at least 2-3 times in this training cycle. Not an absolute max either, but it was the right call because I wasn't convinced I could do this weight.

Deadlifts (size 35 Inzer HardCore suit, Inzer HD Erector shirt, belt)
1st: 230 kg (507 lbs)- good
2nd: 245 kg (540 lbs) - PR!
3rd: 257.5 kg (568 lbs) - PR!!!

Total: 9 for 9, 645 kg (1422 lbs) - PR TOTAL!

Here's the most satisfying stat of all...

2008 Maryland States Total: 590 kg (1301 lbs), USAPL Class 2
2009 Unofficial States Total: 645 kg (1422 lbs), USAPL Class 1!

The improvement in one year has been tremendous. I don't think I'll see a 55 kg (121 lb.) improvement in a year too many more times, if at all. Doesn't mean I'm not going to try for it though. ;) I am so stoked right now, even though these aren't official results. Can't call myself a 2-time state champ, but hey - I did the lifts under meet conditions, and that counts for me. The PRs are the most important thing, and trophies or medals are just icing on the cake. The video will be posted once I can get the files straight. I used another camera to get better picture quality, but wouldn't you know, I need to convert the files from mp4 format and I don't have the software on my laptop.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and keeping up with my log! I'm still doing a raw test within the next 11 days. Then God-willing, Jan. 4 marks the start of an 8-week cycle to get ready for the Arnold!

[K.Diesel]

I can't imagine how you feel man, sorry to hear. At least you know you've PR'd and have the Arnold coming.
Sidenote, I'm so jealous you have all these guys around your area. Looks like MD is a good community of lifters.
Keep up the strong lifts man.


Instead of competing, you can impress your neighbors by going around and pulling stuck cars out of snow drifts with just a cable and a smile :)

We had the snow down here in NC yesterday. They predicted possible accumulation and we got 4" which is a lot for a town with no snowplow...it could be big up in MD.

KittenSmash, there are some good lifters who support each other around here. I keep thinking about how it must be in PA and VA, where PL and Oly are much more popular than they are here, but I'm learning not to take this group for granted.

Webbie, I might have, but I had an even better privilege after the "meet". We crashed at my mother-in-laws in Hyattsville, MD instead of making the drive back to Baltimore. So I got to shovel her walkway and sidewalk, uncover 2 SUVs and dig out 2 parking spaces along with her other son-in-law who is visiting. Snow-shoveling GPP is not exactly the recovery plan I had in mind after this meet, but I guess that was the price for food and shelter in the storm.

[Platus]

Contracts on those PT's! That should give you a good bit of confidence going into the Arnold.

[Mr.City]

Well done, my friend.

[K.Diesel]

Platus and City, thank you both!

Looks like I won't be able to do a regular YouTube movie because the camera I used doesn't convert to files I can use on my movie maker software. This means I will have to post each of the lifts from the "meet" individually. Strange (to me): those short movies can be 4 minutes or so and upload in about 20-30 minutes. These clips are less than 1 minute each, and are taking up to 20 minutes each to upload! Only had time to get the benches up today. I'll try to get the squats and deads up tomorrow. No soundtrack for these, but at least the video is much clearer, and you get a feel for the atmosphere at SSPT. I really need to open a spot like this in Baltimore.

Attempt 1:
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Attempt 2:
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Attempt 3:
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[K.Diesel]

Planned to test my phone-book (PB) press, overhead press, and chin-up today. Unfortunately, I didn't learn until 1:15 pm that the gym was closing at 3:00. So I grabbed my bag and left home, but only had time to test 2 of the lifts today.

1. PB press (book is 3.5" thick)
Full bench: bar/10-15; 140/5; 190/2
Book press: 190/3; 230/2; 260/1; 290/1; 310/1 - felt like I had 5-10 lbs. left, but stopped because I only had 10-15 minutes left for chins. Calling my max 320 lbs. to determine training numbers.


2. Chin-ups (Underhand, using VersaGripps)
BW/8-9; +45/2; +90/1; +115/1; BW/15 (rep max) - 1st time testing a 1RM on chins. I weighed 202 lbs. wearing shoes, shorts and t-shirt in the weight room, so that gives me a "1RM" of 317 lbs. I'm sure my rep max would have been higher had I done them first, but this at least gives me a baseline.

3. Ab wheel (done at home)
3 sets of 20

Will test OHP on Sunday, Monday, or with the powerlifts on Thursday (New Year's Eve). Knowing my max on it isn't as important as it is for the Big 3, but I put a lot of time into it with 5/3/1, and I want to know how I've progressed. Plus, I think it's a much cooler and more natural lift than the bench press. I'd hate to get a tainted test result by doing it after squat/bench/deadlift, and may do it on a separate day.

I'll probably upload my squats and deads from the Snow Meet at some point, but I feel a lower sense of urgency because Matt did a compilation of video of all our best lifts for the day and put it up. Correction from the credits: He listed me as Kaisheem Smith (name at birth) instead of Kaisheem Muhammad (name since '97). Nonetheless, great video that captures the day just about perfectly.

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[Gary Gibson]

Ugh! So jealous!

Great vid!

[K.Diesel]

Gary, I think you and some of the SS devotees on this board are the cause of me thinking this: "How much can I clean these days?". So I decided earlier today to test cleans along with presses today, and dedicate some training time to them this year (a resolution of sorts, I suppose). Hopeful side effect: my traps will get bigger without me wasting time doing shrugs. Cleans are cool, and shrugs are not because they're boring. Why do I care about how big my traps are, you ask? I admit - my wife cares about how I look, so I care about how I look. :)

1. OHP - warmed up with empty bar in front of and behind neck
100/6; 140/3; 165/1; 185/1 - PR by 10 lbs.!; 200/0 - got it an inch or 2 over my head and couldn't finish. Probably would have been good for 190-195.

1a. Push press: 200/1 - first press with leg drive in more than 6 months. I just wanted to know I could still get my bodyweight overhead. Not counting this as a PR though, because a few years ago, I did a clean and press of 215.

2. Cleans
140/3; 170/3; 195/1; 215/1; 230/1 - PR! Didn't feel like a total max effort, but close enough to it not to try more without bumper plates I could drop. I would normally test cleans before presses, but since I've invested more time in pressing in the past several months, I was more interested in the result of that test.

Well, now that all the assistance/accessory test stuff is out of the way, I have 3 days of mailman GPP and rest from the weights. Then New Year's Eve, I plan to head to SSPT to test my squat, bench and deadlift with just a belt, my new neoprene knee sleeves, and wrist wraps (USAPL's definition of raw). Real training starts again Jan. 4.

[BigJavs]

almost at bodyweight for the ohp....that is sick!

[K.Diesel]

Final field trip of the year to SSPT in Rockville, MD. Tested squat, bench, and deadlift raw in search of PRs and number to plan the next 8 weeks of training, leading me up to the Arnold Sports Festival Raw Challenge.

Weighed 198 lbs. at wake up. Unbelievable, in a good way.

Squat
65 kg (143 lb)/5
105 kg (231 lb)/3
Add wrist wraps: 135 kg (298 lb)/3
155 kg (342 lb)/2
Add belt: 175 kg (386 lb)/1
195 kg (430 lb)/1
205 kg (452 lb)/1 - raw PR! As I mention in the video, this was the hardest squat I've ever done. I'm counting this as a PR because even though I squatted this at Raw Nationals, "raw" included Inzer knee sleeves with velcro fasteners at the time. That's what I was wearing when I did this weight in July. They're not nearly as good as wraps, but they add something to a squat. USAPL changed their rules for "raw", so I'm in bootleg neoprene now, which give zero help.

Bench
72 kg (154 lb)/5
85 kg (187 lb)/3
Add wrist wraps: 97.5 kg (215 lb)/2
Start hand-offs: 110 kg (242 lb)/1
122.5 kg (270 lb)/1
130 kg (287 lb)/1 - the most elusive raw PR! I've been chasing this one all year, and finally nailed it, with room in the tank on the last day of '09.
132.5 kg (292 lb)/0 - almost got it, but couldn't lock it out. Probably would have nailed it had I gone straight to it from the 270 attempt.

Deadlift - had to do deads in about 25 minutes because the gym was about to close.
75 kg (165 lb)/3 sumo + 3 conv.
125 kg (275 lb)/2 sumo + 1 conv.
155 kg (342 lb)/1
180 kg (396 lb)/1
205 kg (452 lb)/1
225 kg (496 lb)/1
245 kg (540 lb)/1 - raw PR! My shoulders were in front of the bar at the start of the pull, and it felt like my pecs were going to rip off my shoulders. Wasn't about to quit after the day I'd been having. Plus, I'd watched Rocky Balboa twice the night before, so I was inspired. ;)

Here's video of these lifts, plus cleans and presses from the 27th. Best wishes to everyone on the board for more strength than ever and PRs galore in 2010!!

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[Platus]

Your commitment to completing that 205 kg squat was admirable. Also, +1 for the use of a star wipe in the video.

[Cmanuel]

great vids and you should be very proud of how you rounded out 2009. Whatever gym you were at looks legit, great spotters, eleiko plates, crazy!!!!

Oh and that squat........ friggin amazing man. You are da man

[K.Diesel]

Thanks Platus and Cmanuel! Hope the 2010 brings all of us bigger numbers than ever.

Today, I weigh 199 lbs. Waist is 33 1/2", and along with hip, wrist, and forearm measurements, an online calculator says I'm 11.4% bodyfat. I'm waiting to learn whether or not I must compete at the Arnold in the 198 lb. class. If not, I'll just eat my way in without concerns about making weight, because I want to get bigger than ever this year, without getting really fat.

I've decided to commit myself to a 3-day-per-week split for the next 8 weeks. If it goes well, I'll run it after the Arnold for a while too. The plan is to alternate squat/deadlift days with bench days. Here's the basic breakdown:

Bench day 1
core movements: phone book press - 5/3/1 "remix"
main assistance moves: chinup, bench variation

Squat/Dead day 1
core movement: deadlift - periodized by Prilepin's table
main assistance moves: cleans, some squat variation

Bench day 2
core movement: bench press - periodized by Prilepin's table
main assistance moves: overhead press - 5/3/1 "remix", horizontal rows (including Kroc rows), dips

Squat/Dead day 2
core movement: squat - periodized by Prilepin's table
main assistance move: good mornings/RDLs, lunges

The "remix" means different ways of trying the 5/3/1 protocol for those exercises. It's probably less time consuming to explain it as I go along, but I'm not winging it ;).

Cardio will be the same, unless I get laid off. So that means anywhere from 5-7 hours of "urban hiking", also called "mailman GPP" 5 days a week.

Diet will remain largely the same, as it's helped me to gain weight consistently over the past couple of months. These drinks are daily staples:

Ensure shake: 8 oz. Ensure Plus + 24 oz. milk. 2 of these every day

Carnation shake: 2 servings Carnation Instant Breakfast + 1 banana + milk to fill a 32 oz. (1 quart) container. 1 of these every work and/or training day

Random shake: 1-2 servings of protein/weight gainer powder + milk to fill a 32 oz. container. 1 of these every day that I work and train.

That means 2-4 of these shakes per day. On top of that, I generally eat one meal per day. No, that's not a typo. This "meal" is probably more of a grazing period that lasts for anywhere from 2-4 hours, after work (after work then the gym on training days).

That's it in a nutshell. I've been testing myself on lifts geared and raw, starting 15 days ago. I can't wait to start training again tomorrow.

[K.Diesel]

Talk about New Year's resolutions! I expected the gym to be packed, but man! There were literally people lined up to use treadmills and elliptical machines, plus both flat benches were in use when I got there. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long (5 min. or less).

1. Phone book press - book is 3.5" thick
full range warm-up: 135/7; 140/5
book: 190/5; (75%) 240/5; (80%) 255/5; (85%) 270/4; 245/6

I forgot to set my working max at 90% of my actual max to start. :o This may explain why I didn't hit my reps on the last set on the first day. After having done it, though, I don't think I want to go below this weight for this exercise. I'll probably just tinker with the %s, since I only have 5 more sessions with this as a core movement until the meet.

2. Chinups -underhand
I did 2 sets on the assisted chin station to warm up.
BW/5; +40/5; +55/5, 5
wide-grip rest-pause: BW/11 + 5 + 2 + 1 slow negative

3. Reverse-grip bench press
135/7; 140/10; 170/5

I'd been reading about these for a while, and wanted to try them this training cycle. I don't think I'll ever do them again. The problem is grip. For me, it felt like the bar would slip out of my hands. That would not lead to positive results. I'll probably throw incline presses into the mix next bench day 1.

Following were done as a circuit:

4a. Standing cable crunch - rope attachment
125/25, 20

4b. Cable pressdown
rope: 125/11; v-handle: 105/17

4c. Calf press - on plate loaded leg press
unilateral: 180/11 ea; bilateral: 360/15 hold each stretch and contraction

4d. Hammer curls - alternating reps
50s/7-8 ea (lost count); 45s/8

Time - 1:28. For me, that's making good time in a crowded gym.

[K.Diesel]

1. Clean
100/6; 140/2, 2; 165/3; (80%) 185/3, 2, 3, 3, 3 - wussed out a bit on the 2nd set. Short rests between sets.

2. Deadlift
230/3; 320/2; 370/1; 400/1
add belt: (80%) 430/2 x 8 sets - only took 1-2 minutes between most sets.

3. Zercher squat
140/5; 190/5; 215/5; 230/5 - form was shaky on last 2 reps of each of the last 2 sets, meaning it was tough to keep myself upright and I got wobbly. Only wore a belt on the last set. I haven't checked my notes, but I'm sure I've done heavier than this. I think my back was just spent from the cleans and deadlifts.

Circuit time...

4a. GHR - on back extension station
20, 25

4b. Calf press - on Cybex leg press machine
210/13 (hold stretch and contraction); 210/24 (nonstop)

4c. Ab wheel - experimenting for obliques
25 to the left, 25 to the right

4d. Abductor machine
90/25, 25

4e. Adductor machine
75/25, 25

Time - 1:39. Did some foam rolling afterward for my back, hamstrings, and abductors.

I noticed during the cleans that my right knee felt some twinge in it. There's a dull pain there now, but that's not uncommon for me due to work. Doesn't seem serious, and there is no mobility pain/problem, but I feel it.

[Mr.City]

Is that 8 sets of doubles on the deadlifts?

[Phil Stevens]

Great work on those PR's solid training keep it up.

[K.Diesel]

Is that 8 sets of doubles on the deadlifts?

Yes sir, Mr. City. I will qualify it this way: I lockout the first rep, quick negative, reset shoulders, take another deep breath, then pull from a dead stop. I never relinquish my grip on the bar.


Great work on those PR's solid training keep it up.

Thanks Phil!

[K.Diesel]

1. Bench Press
100/8 (?); 140/5; 190/5; (80%) 230/4 x 5 sets - this is the ceiling for Prilepin's table on lifting at 80% of 1RM. I surprised myself, as all the reps were strong, at least half of them paused, and I probably had at least 1 rep left on each set, except maybe the last one.

2. Seated row - plate loaded station
wide grip: 90/11; 140/6; 180/5
neutral grip: 200/6; 230/5, 6

I'm still having recurring pain/stiffness/bad feeling from the left side of my neck through my left shoulder. Things that aggravate it are squats, benching, and barbell/T-rows. I'm not going to stop 2 out of the 3, so I'm experimenting to find a substitute for barbell rows. I didn't like this machine too much. I'll try the more familiar seated row cable machine next time.

3. "Kroc" Dumbbell row
75/7 ea; 110/20 ea

This was a family trip toothe gym, and I remembered after I got there that I was supposed to bench at the other YMCA where they have larger dumbbells. So I used the oversized clip from an Ab-Strap-thing, and hooked a 10 lb. plate to the 100 lb. dumbbell. Well, that sucked: it messed up my range of motion, and was cumbersome to handle. If I end up doing these at a gym that tops out w/100 lb. dumbbells, I'll just use them and add another set or 2. I also may try putting my ankle weights around my wrist to take it to 105.

4. Dips
BW/21, 13

Time - 1:05. Childcare at the gym was closing, so I cut it short. Pleased with the way bench press went, but rowing was no fun today.

[K.Diesel]

Sun. 1/10 - Squat/Dead 2

I moved Monday's training to Sunday because I had to do something Monday after work. This worked out great, as I was inspired by the awesome greatness of the Baltimore Ravens, who blew out the New England Patriots to gain their first victory over them in franchise history, and to advance to round 2 of the NFL playoffs.

1. Squat
140/5; 190/5; 240/3
add wrist wraps: 290/3; 340/3
add belt: (82.5%) 375/3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2 - 3rd rep on triple sets felt really hard. The doubles were somewhere between me wussing out and wisely conserving energy to make sure I got all my reps. Obviously, I'm leaning toward the latter. ;)

2a. Good Mornings - why do I keep trying these?
140/10; 190/11, 11, 11

I think I found a little secret for these. If it wasn't secret, then I'm just behind or slow. But I shifted my weight onto my heels by accident on one of the reps, and I finally felt like I did a good morning with some hamstring activation. So then I started doing that on purpose, and kind of liked these good mornings. I'll do them again.

2b. Walking lunge - with dumbbells
35s/10 ea; 60s/11 ea, 12 ea.

Not that I wasn't before, but I'm even more convinced that the theory behind doing high reps to achieve a pump is not quite right. If I didn't have a ridiculous "pump" in my quads and glutes during squats, and intense soreness for 2 1/2 days from my low-rep squatting, then I don't know what else to call it. I even got slight cramps in my glutes between sets, which has never happened to me. Mind you, I wasn't trying to accomplish this, but it happened. Or am I confusing something else for a "pump"?

Wed. 1/13 - Bench 1

1. Phone book press
Full bench: 140/5, 5
3.5" book: 190/3; 225/3; (80%) 255/4; (85%) 270/3; (87.5%) 280/3, 2; (77.5%) 230/7, 6

I felt really strong for all of this. A few grinders in there, but a good confidence builder today. Stiff/numb/weird feeling in my neck/left shoulder cropped up during these. Nothing bad, but clearly noticeable.

2. Seated cable row - wide, neutral grip bar
100/12; 150/7; 200/6-7 (?); 170/8, 9, 9

3. "Kroc" rows
70/10 ea; 100/32 ea - rep PR! Disclaimer: I used VersaGripps for these, while I used chalk for the 30 rep sets I did in December. Locutus, if you're reading this, I know it contradicts my last post on your log. I just had such a bad experience doing these last week, I wanted to have a good performance today. We'll see what happens next time.

4a. Incline barbell press
140/9; 190/4 (I'm spent!); 150/9, 5 + 1 spot (was done)

I wonder how I'd do if I made these a core movement for a few cycles.

4b. Hanging leg raise - at dip station, straight legs
12, 15, 15, 15

[quadancer]

Pump is blood engorgement of the muscles during and immediately after a workout. DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, is felt the day after or the one after that, and not always in the form of pain; like yours, it's often just a stiffness and pumped feeling. It has nothing to do with the actual growth of a muscle as an indicator, but we like it because it reminds us that we did bust some butt in there.
I see you put bench first on friday - good call.

[K.Diesel]

1. Cleans
105/5; 145/3; 170/2; (82.5%) 190/2, 2, 3, 2, 3

2. Deadlifts
230/3; 325/2; 365/2; 405/1
add belt: (82.5%) 445/2 x 7 sets - note: I use an over/under grip, and I switch sides with each set.

3. Pause squat - each rep held for a 2-3 count in the hole
140/5; 200/3; (55%) 250/5 x 4 sets - breathing was toughest part at the end of the sets. I'll try these next time with more sets, fewer reps, kind of like the DE box squats from Westside.

Circuit time...

4a. GHR - on back extension
BW+10/20, 21-22 (lost count)

4b. Calf press - on Cybex leg press
300/11 (slow); 225/10 + 12 (10 slow, 10 count, 12 quick reps)

4c. Ab wheel
30, 20 (2nd set done with knees elevated on a 4-6" pad)

Time - a little under 2 hours. Took some extra rest between sets talking to a friend, giving advice, plus got to see Platus hit an easy DL PR (way to go man!).

[Platus]

I'll try these next time with more sets, fewer reps, kind of like the DE box squats from Westside.Let me know how that goes. I experimented with box squats a while back, but I found that the spinal compression was uncomfortable. In SS, Rip advocates paused reps off of pins for the same reason. I am curious to know if there are any advantages for one versus the other.


(way to go man!)Thanks for the second set of eyes - I think I am going to order some chalk soon and try that again without straps.

[Mr.City]

I have a question about alt. grip, keeping hands on the bar, and sets of reps on deadlifting. I do the SS standard of one heavy set of 5, however I like to switch hands with the alt. grip, however I have trouble adjusting to gripping the bar with my left hand palm out, costing me a bit of time between reps. Do you switch hands between sets of 5 more on deadlifts or pulls?

[K.Diesel]

Thanks for the second set of eyes - I think I am going to order some chalk soon and try that again without straps.

Platus, I'm no expert on chalk quality, but if you don't want to wait for shipping, I got mine at Sports Authority. It was about $2 or $3 for a block.


I have a question about alt. grip, keeping hands on the bar, and sets of reps on deadlifting. I do the SS standard of one heavy set of 5, however I like to switch hands with the alt. grip, however I have trouble adjusting to gripping the bar with my left hand palm out, costing me a bit of time between reps. Do you switch hands between sets of 5 more on deadlifts or pulls?

City, are you asking if I switch between sets, or between reps within a set? If the former, yes, I switch hands between each set of deadlifts. But, I maintain the same grip for each rep within a given set, no matter how many reps. Since you're doing only one working set of 5 every other session, I would recommend committing to one grip per workout. So for example, on Monday, go with left-out/right-in for all warmups and the work set. Then Friday, go with left-in/right-out. That should still give the effect of balancing everything.

[K.Diesel]

Got in the gym much earlier than usual, thanks to a mail-free day w/the MLK holiday.

Bodyweight on home scale = 202 w/o clothes. Bodyweight on gym scale = 202 w/clothes. Go figure.

1. Bench press
bar/10; 150/5
add wrist wraps: 200/4; (82.5%) 240/4 x 5 sets - paused almost all reps. Last rep on sets 4 and 5 were tough, but never really doubted that I'd get them.

2. Chins
underhand: BW/6; +30/5; +60/5, 5, 5 - probably did not have a 6th full ROM rep on sets 2 or 3
wide grip: BW/11, 12

3a. Dips
BW/6; +90/7, 6; BW/18 - feel like I need to keep these in the regular rotation, but I'm not sure how much they carry over to the bench press

3b. Standing cable crunch
140/25, 26, 21

Time - 1:30. Leaving the gym with a few hours of daylight left is a very good thing. ;)