Not the best DE squat workout

Box Squat warmup:

Bar x 8

Bar x 8

Dynamic Effort Squats:

Bar + purple bands x 2

135 + purple bands x 2

135 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple bands x 2

225 x 2

225 x 2

135 x 2

135 x 2

The God of explosiveness was not with me today.  Definitely not like last week.  I felt tired today.  Maybe some of the lack of explosiveness may be do to all the stretching I've been doing lately?

Dumbell rows:

115 x 8

120 x 8

120 x 8

Leg curl machine

150 x 8

150 x 8

150 x 8

Urg, not the best workout.   Off to get lunch and rest up for Saturday.

Tuesday's DE bench workout

DE bench workout with Stump at Golds on 7th east.

I decided no bands today because I think they've been hard on my joints.

Benching:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

12-15 sets of 135 x 3 ( kind of lost count of the number of sets, probably took too long in between some too )

Standing overhead shoulder presses:

bar + 70# hanging x 10

65 + 70# hanging x 8

65 + 70# hanging x 6

65 + 70# hanging x 6

bar + 70# hanging x 8

My shoulders are still clearly my weakest link for bench, but I am making progress.

Standing tricep cable push downs:

whole stack x 20

whole stack x 20

whole stack x 15

whole stack x 15

I didn't feel as strong with these as usual, maybe related to not sleeping all that great lately.

Face pulls:

whole stack x 20

whole stack x 20

140 x 16

140 x 16

I played around with raising my head while benching.  I think this along with the new grip width is going to take even more stress off my shoulder and hopefully mean I will be able to push more weight.  We will see.  Stump said just make sure I still keep my back tight.

I'm definitely 300# now.  I weight 299 last saturday, 300 on sunday 297 on tuesday, but back above 300 today ( wednesday ).  I know I'm obsessed, but it's just really cool to be at 300 at a fairly low body fat percentage ( at least for me ).  Last time I weighed 300#, I was fat and weak.  Now I'm not fat and feel strong.

Max effort squats and yet another Personal Record

Squats:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 x 8

225 x 5

315 x 1

365 x 1

415 x 1 ( PR )

425 x 1 ( PR )

315 x 1

135 x 5

Rack Pulls:

315 x 6

365 x 7

405 x 5

405 x 6

Leg curls

whole stack x 8

whole stack x 8

whole stack x 8

Boy, it doesn't look like much written down, but I was dead all afternoon.   Those max single squats are killers.

Big Bench PR and HUGE milestone

We benched at Ripped Fitness today.  The benching went as follows:

bar x 10

bar x 10

135 x 10

135 x 8

185 x 8

225 x 5

275 x 3

295 x 1

300x1

315x1 

That's a 15 pound PR and a huge milestone that in the past I was convinced I would never reach.

Benching with chains, I think I heard each side was 125# when off the floor,  5 sets ranging from 7-10 reps.

Tricep extensions: 

1 x 20 with whole stack

5 sets with whole stack + 25

Face Pulls:

130 x 20

140 x 14

140 x 14

150 x 12

150 x 12

I've moved my bench grip in two fingers width and it has made a HUGE difference.  Before when lowering the bar, I'd reach a point where my shoulder would get tight, but with the narrower grip it goes right down through it and my brain doesn't go into panic mode.  Also, I think it allows me to use some of the tricep strength that I have ( and previously felt like I could use it ).

There was a new guy there today.  Mike.  I think he has a lot of potential, if he gets his bench technique down ( arching and keeping tight ) I bet he could bench 400 no problem.

Lots of fun today, I really like the atmosphere at Ripped Fitness, it was definitely worth the price.

Thoughts on powerlifting

Captain Kirk Karwoski sums up my feelings about powerlifting, at then end of the trailer to "Power Unlimited" ....

DE squats

DE squats:

warmed up with just the bar 3 sets x 8-10 reps

Bar + purple bands x 2

Bar + purple bands x 2

135 + purple bands x 2

135 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple bands x 2

225 + purple and mini bands x 2

275 + purple and mini bands x 2

275 + blue bands x 2 ( too much, but I wanted to try )

275 + blue bands x 2 ( ditto )

275 x 2

275 x 2

225 x 2

( done with explosiveness )

135 x 6 holding the bottom and stretching hips

135 x 4 holding the bottom and stretching hips

Between each of the sets above, I would get down into a squat just at parallel and work on flexing/stretching my hips, etc.  Basically stretching and playing around with figuring out how to keep my shins perpinduclar to the floor.

Thoughts on todays squat session....  Holly crap! I'm VERY happy with how my squats are progressing.  I feel like I'm learning how to use my hips in an explosive manor, and weight that when I first started squatting felt heavy, now it feels like air and I can move it pretty quickly/explosively.

Dumbell rows:

115 x 8

125 x 7

125 x 7

Lat pulldowns ( in front )

120 x 10

170 x 8

170 x 8

I got on the scale, 295.  Lost a couple pounds, which I can't believe given how much I've been eating.

Time to go eat lunch.

Oops, I missed logging my DE bench workout on tuesday.  It should go under this entry.  It basically was a pretty standard session for me. 

Deadlift PR

Max effort deadlift session at golds on 13th.

Deadlifts:

225 x 8

315 x 5

405 x 3

455 x 2

475 x 1 ( easy PR , video clip below!)

495 x 0 I got it maybe 6" off the floor... URG. I don't think I waited long enough after the 475, I know I would have got this if I didn't do the 475 first.


Dumbell rows:
115 x 8
125 x 7
125 x 7
125 x 7
( URG, this gym has like 10 sets of 125's but nothing higher. )

Seated cable rows:
200 x 8
200 x 8
200 x 8

Leg curl machine:
whole stack x 8
whole stack x 8
whole stack x 8

Time for taco bell.

First shirt session with Stump and Jeff

Today was the first time benching in a shirt.  The workout went something like this

bar x 10

bar x 10

135 x 10

135 x 10

225 x 6

225 x 6

Put shirt on

4 boards 275 x 4 

4 boards 295 x 3

3 boards 315 x 3

3 boards 315 x 3

3 boards 295 x 3

The shirt was a lot different than I expected, but I'd say two sets out of the 5 above I felt like I was getting it.  I think the shirt fits OK, but every set it felt slightly different because the shirt would move and I wasn't able to get it in the same position every time.  Stump said that I don't need the velcro in the back, but I'm wondering if this would have made the shirt feel more consistent.

Lockouts:

225 x 6

275 x 8

315 x 9

345 x 8

365 x 7

Tricep cable push downs:

5 sets with the whole stack of weight with a 25# plate attached.

Face pulls:

140 x 12

150 x 10

150 x 10

150 x 10

DE squats at golds in AF

Probably not the thing to do, but I wanted to see how having a few days rest affects ME benching, so I moved my DE squat workout up a day ( wednesday instead of thursday ).

Squats:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 + purple bands x 2

135 + purple bands x 2

185 + purple bands x 2

185 + purple bands x 2

185 + purple and mini bands x 2

185 + purple and mini bands x 2

185 + purple and mini bands x 2

225 + purple and mini bands x 2

225 + purple and mini bands x 2

I'm starting to learn how to keep my shins perpendicular to the floor, I think it's related to the low bar placement ( which I still have problems with ), which allows the upper body to be forward enough.

Rack pulls

315 x 5

365 x 3

405 x 3

405 x 3

Hamstring leg curl machine

4 sets of 8 with whole stack

Speed bench training

Today was my DE bench workout.  The benching went as follows:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

Bar + mini bands x 3

Bar + mini bands x 3

5 sets 115 + mini bands x 3

4 sets 135 + mini bands x 3

Wow, I actually had a good DE bench workout, ie with explosiveness.  Very nice.  Even more surprising is that I think I'm actually learning how to arch, I swear my range of motion was 2" shorter today than normal.   Hopefully today wasn't a fluke and I'm actually making progress.

Standing tricep cable extensions:

150 ( the whole stack ) x 15  ( holly crap that was easy )

150 + 10# hanging on x 15  

150 + 25# hanging on x 12

150 + 25# hanging on x 10

150 + 25# hanging on x 9

OK those were WAY easier than usuall.  Note to self, learn how to use my triceps more on my bench, I think I have some power that I'm not tapping into.

Standing overhead presses:

Bar + 2 45's hanging on straps (3 feet below bar) x 4 ( too hard after everything else )

Bar + 2 35's hanging on straps x 7

Bar + 2 35's hanging on straps x 8

Bar with 20# + 2 35's hanging on straps x 7

My shoulders are weak.  How can my triceps feel so strong, but my shoulders so weak?

Face pulls, 

130 x 15

140 x 12

150 x 12

150 x 10

Got on the scale, 297#   LOL, Incredible, love it. 

ME squats

I've decided that I'm swapping my ME and DE squat days because I think i'll be able to recover faster from the DE day by saturday's ME bench.  So, I did another ME squat workout ( normally it would have been a DE workout ).

Squats

Bar x 8

Bar x 8

135 x 8

225 x 7

315 x 4

365 x 1

385 x 2 ( PR for reps )

405 x 1 ( PR previous was 400 )

315 x 2

315 x 2

135 x 6 ( staying down at the bottom for 15-20 seconds )

I only used my knee wraps and belt on the 405.

Goodmornings ( off straps )

135 x 7

185 x 7

225 x 6

255 x 7

Rack pulls

315 x 8

315 x 8

315 x 8

315 x 8

Dumbell rows

115 x 8

125 x 8

125 x 5

It doesn't look like a lot seeing it written down, but I could barely walk to my truck afterward.  All I could do for about 3 hours was lay on the couch and watch TV.

Fun max effort benching

Max effort bench workout with Stump, Jeff, Kyle and Parker.

Bench:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 x 10

225 x 6

225 x 6

275 x 2

295 x 1

225 x 5

Bench with chains ( this is all from memory, but I think its pretty close ):

135 + chains x 8

185 + chains x 6

205 + chains x 5

225 + chains x 2 ( urg, not the best form )

225 + chains x 2 ( MUCH better than the last.  I need to remember how this felt different than the set prior and learn how to reproduce this. )

225 + chains x 1

185 + chains x 8

I really liked benching with chains.  I'm going to have to get some.

4 sets of dips.  I'm still really weak with dips, but making some progress

4 sets of face pulls ( I didn't keep track of the weight, each set was 12+ reps).

3 sets of tricep cable extensions

(wooo, those two exercies make me feel good. )

3 sets of over head tricep cable extensions.

Oh yeah, I got on the scale... 293 pounds.    I've gained 30 pounds since july but not even an inch around my waist.  Incredible!

Overall, it was a good workout.  But I'm feeling stronger than my bench is showing, lol.  No complaints though, my bench is improving, as the meet showed.  I think most of the reason my my numbers aren't up on saturday morning is because I'm still not fully recovered from heavy squats on thursday.  I'm not sure what to do about that.

Afterward, everybody came over to my house for hamburgers and watched "Power Unlimited".  Great movie, lots of fun.  I enjoyed having everybody over.

Just a side note, since I haven't written it in my blog.  I felt that Taekwondo was getting in the way of my powerlifting training ( ie it prevented full recovery ), so I've stopped ( which is probably partly the reason that I've been able to put on some weight ).  I wasn't completely happy with the school that I've been associated with for the last 3 years anyway, so I think it's time to move on.  It's so obvious to me what I need to be doing, ie squatting, benching and deadlifting.  I don't completely understand it and can't explain it, but powerlifting means *everything* to me lately.  The iron bug has done much more than just bitten, it's totally consumed me.

The mountains got snow today.  Ski season will soon be here.  I'm excited for it, but this year it's a little different.  I'm also somewhat scared.  I LOVE powder skiing, always have and always will, but I also feel that for some reason the powerlifting thing is much more important ( if that makes any sense ).  I'm not sure how this will play out as winter progresses.  It's too bad Pete isn't here anymore, I'd be curious what he'd have to say about it.  I miss you Pete, you were a great person and good friend.

Big PR at Golds in AF

ME squat workout.

Squats:

Bar x 10

Bar x 10

135 x 10

225 x 5

275 x 3

315 x 2

365 x 1 

385 x 1 PR

400 x 1 PR

275 x 3 ( down way below parallel )

I know my butt was below my knee, but not sure if the crease of my hip was level with my knee or not, I was looking at my purple face in the mirror not my hips.

Rack pulls two holes up

225 x 5

315 x 5

405 x 3

455 x 0 ( nothing left after squats )

405 x 5

I then did a 3 sets of leg curls, the whole stack of weight ( not really sure how much it is ) for 8 reps.

Tuesday's DE benching with Stump

Speed bench workout with Stump in Sandy.

Bench:

Lots of sets of triples with various combinations of weight and bands.  Probably 12 sets.  Explosiveness with bench is still a huge issue for me and my really long arms.

4 sets of standing shoulder presses and then did 4 more sets with weights hanging off the bar with straps.   I feel like my weak shoulders are slowly making progress.

4 supersets of face pulls/tricep cable extensions.

DE box squats

Back at it today at golds in American Fork.  I did lots of box squats with bands, I didn't take notes, but I did various doubles and triples working up to 245 pounds with both purple and mini bands ( I'm not sure how much tension this makes, but it really felt like it was pulling me down at the top ), probably about 15 sets or so.  I felt super strong/explosive today, and the squats felt good even though I was slightly sore from pulling yesterday at the meet.  

After explosive doubles and triples with bands, I dropped down to just 135 with no bands, and played around with depth.  I moved the pins down out of the way, and squatted staying down below parallel for probably 30+ seconds trying to relax my hips, moving them back, and then exploaded up as much as possible.  I did 3 sets of 6 like this.  I think I'll have to play around with doing these again, I think it will help me in getting my hips back.

Dumbbell rows, 3 sets 125x8

8 day break and APF/AAPF meet

My 8 days staying out of the gym ended today with the APF/AAPF meet up in Idaho Falls.

First lesson learned from this meet:  I really need to learn how to pick my attempts better.  You can read all you want, but it really doesn't mean too much until you experience the importance of it in meet first hand ( at least I'm finding that to be true ).  

Bench:

I let my crappy workout a week ago effect how I picked my opening bench.  I went with something that was WAY ( WAY, WAY ) too light, 120 kilos or 264 pounds.  I ended up easily doing more than that warming up ( their warmup bench really sucked, my elbows couldn't not hit the bench, even when I was tucking more than I normally do.  It didn't seem to bother anybody else though, LOL ).  The good thing was my first attempt went up like nothing.  My next attempt I chose the same as my max on the previous meet, 130 kilos or 286 pounds.  This too was really easy, however it kind of messed up my choice for my third attempt because I wanted to make sure I ended up betting my last meet, thus I couldn't go all out on my third attempt, so I choose 135 kilos or 297 pounds.  It was also easy, way easier than I thought it would be.  Shoot, I could have easily broke 300 at a meet, and now I'm kicking myself for being way too conservative, or more correctly forcing myself to be too conservative on my third attempt because my choice for my second attempt ( if that makes any sense at all ).  Anyway, I ended up with a bench of 7.5 kilos more than last meet, and it was an easy lift.  So all in all, I'm pleased with my benching.  More importantly, the 7.5 kilo increase in a little over a month has motivated/encouraged me with benching.  I'll never have a huge bench, but I know that in time I'll be able to have a very respectable bench.

Deadlift:

I chose an opener that was just under my max at the last meet, 180 kilos or 396 pounds.  Once again, I EASILYworked up passed this in warm ups ( because everything was feeling light ).  And it was light, the 180 kilos felt like nothing.  Second attempt was 190 kilos or 418 pounds ( damn it Brian what's your problem ! ), way too easy!  Third attempt, 200 kilos=440 pounds.  This actually is a personal record by 5 pounds for a gym lift and 33 pounds over the last meet, but it too was easy, too easy for a 3rd attempt.  I didn't even have to strain.  After this attempt Mike said something like "you haven't even maxed out yet" over the loud speaker " do you want 4th attempt for a PR, but not part of the meet"?  I said sure.  I chose 210 kilos or 462 pounds ( damn it Brian, what's your problem! ).  I strained a little on this, but solidly got the lift.  Crap, in hind sight, I really think I could have pulled 500 pounds today, but I was a PUSSY for not going for it.  On the positive side, this 4th attempt was about a 60 pound meet PR and a 30 pound PR over my highest gym lift.  I'm very very happy about that.

The meet in general:

There were some really strong guys at this meet.  Some that come to mind, Bill who broke a deadlift record on every attempt, each well over 700 pounds, raw not even a belt.  ( I loved his T shirt, something like "I beat Anorexia".  Seemed like a nice guy too).  Kyle ( not Moosie, praying for a quick recovery of that pec injury ) who benched something like 450 raw to break a record.  Jason who attempted a 1003 pound squat, missed it, but was soooo damn close to getting it.  Nick, who I can't remember his numbers right now, had some really impressive lifts at a body weight of something like 145 pounds.

I really enjoyed watching the squats.  I used to say that my goal is to get my squats good enough to squat at a meet, but that's also just being a wimp.  I could have squatted at this meet and I chose not to.  ( Damn it Brian, what's your problem! ) 

Second lesson learned from this meet:  stop being a wimp and have confidence in myself ( I think that's the heart of what powerlifting is about ).  My body was totally ready to lift today, but just because I had one less than ideal workout 8 days ago, I let my mind convince me that my body wasn't ready.  Live and learn ( I hope )

Third lesson learned from this meet: I'm totally hooked.  I know I have a long way to go, but I seriously love this sport.  I'm grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to experience this.

Crappy bench session Friday Sept 26

I met Stump and Jeff at golds in Sandy.   The following all combined into making one crappy bench session:  

1.  Tired from a long day at work

2.  Recovering from a cold

3.  Lifted heavy squats and deads the day before

I just had no energy at all and felt weak.  I did a few sets of flat bench working up to 275 and it was clear that I needed to take a break.  I did a couple tricep exercises and that was it.

I'll be curious how this effects my performance at the meet next week.