[QUOTE=xRequiem;1019001913]Just think, in a couple weeks you'll be out lifting me![/QUOTE]
A couple of weeks? Yeah, right. :-)
[QUOTE=xRequiem;1019001913]Just think, in a couple weeks you'll be out lifting me![/QUOTE]
A couple of weeks? Yeah, right. :-)
[B]Workout B[/B]
Weight: 200.2 pounds
I have been going to the gym at different times of day and the place keeps getting cooler. Today there was a guy military pressing 275 lb for sets of three. My god that's a lot of weight!
Squats continue to kick my ass and I'm definitely pushing my limit. I also may be losing tightness in my form under the heavier weight. A friend of mine will be coming to the gym with me next week to check that. Also, I have cut down my caloric intake a bit because I have been putting on a bit more fat than I would like. I'm willing to sacrifice / slow some progress for aesthetics. The progress will come.
[B]Squat (+10 lb)[/B] - My last set was [U]killer[/U]
290x5
290x5
290x5
[B]Military Press (+5 lb)[/B] - Final set was hard but manageable
130x5
130x5
130x5
[B]Pendlay Row (+5 lb)[/B]
130x5
130x5
130x5
[B]Pullups[/B] - Still bodyweight. Getting a [I]bit[/I] easier but I'm definitely not ready to add some weight.
1x8
1x8
Subbed. Love a good SS log, mine pales in comparison to yours! Totally jelly of your fast progress on squats and presses. Can't believe your MP just keeps going up. Well done keep it up!
[QUOTE=HYMENATOR;1020370163]Subbed. Love a good SS log, mine pales in comparison to yours! Totally jelly of your fast progress on squats and presses. Can't believe your MP just keeps going up. Well done keep it up![/QUOTE]
Thanks, hymenator! My press is going to stall soon enough, but I'm going to milk everything that I can out of my upper body before fidgeting with linear progression.
Where's your log?
[QUOTE=nyrippetoe;1020393663]Thanks, hymenator! My press is going to stall soon enough, but I'm going to milk everything that I can out of my upper body before fidgeting with linear progression.
Where's your log?[/QUOTE]
[url]http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=151446303[/url]
Really need to learn to eat, I can't even compete with vegetarians LOL.
[QUOTE=HYMENATOR;1020401253][url]http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=151446303[/url]
Really need to learn to eat, I can't even compete with vegetarians LOL.[/QUOTE]
My vegetarian eating frustrates the hell out of some of my friends who don't progress as quickly as I do. Experience (however long ago) and fairly good genes go a long way.
[B]Workout A[/B]
Weight: 203.2 pounds
I am seriously pushing (perhaps at) my limit on squats. My bench press has a tiny bit more room (but not much) and my deadlift can probably still go up a bit in linear progression - again, not a ton, but there's still something left in the tank. It's hard to believe that after taking 8 months off six years ago I came back to the gym and pulled 365x3x5.
Regardless, [B]I hit some nice round numbers today: squatting 300, benching 200 and pulling 310[/B]. Now I want to bump up my squat and press by another 100 pounds and add 200 pounds to my deadlift. This is going to take serious work. Fun. Yikes.
So...
[B]Squat (+10 lb)[/B] - First set felt as hard as my previous workout with 290, but my form was better. My last set was hard as hell all the way through. I surprised myself in cranking out all five reps. I may stick with 300 pounds for my next workout. Or not.
300x5
300x5
300x5
[B]Bench Press (+10 lb)[/B] - My final rep was tough on sets 2 & 3 and I belted up for my last set. I'll only be going up in 5 pound increments from here. I am still benching with a full pause at the bottom.
200x5
200x5
200x5
[B]Deadlift (+20 lb)[/B] - Hard, but I'm good at picking heavy things up off of the ground. Chalked up for the first time since starting to lift in late December.
310x5
[B]Dips (+2.5 lb)[/B] - Felt good. I could have gone up to 35 pounds without any problem.
(BW+32.5 lb)x1x8
(BW+32.5 lb)x1x8
[B]Grip Work[/B] - YES!
My grip felt shockingly strong today. Closing the #1 in my left hand was pretty easy but the big news was in my #2 closes in my right hand. Those of you who have used (and closed) Captains of Crush grippers will know what I'm talking about when I say that I was grinding the #2 with my right hand today. For those of you who haven't closed CoCs, the knurling on the CoC grippers is intense. Closing and then "overcrushing" the grippers makes a satisfying grinding noise. I still can't get two consecutive reps out of the #2 but I'm definitely making progress.
Might be time for 5lb jumps on squat and bench and 10lbs on deadlift. Good stuff though. Damn its so much easier the 2nd or 3rd time around, isn't it.
[QUOTE=dk240t;1021140243]Might be time for 5lb jumps on squat and bench and 10lbs on deadlift. Good stuff though. Damn its so much easier the 2nd or 3rd time around, isn't it.[/QUOTE]
I begrudgingly agree with you on the 5 pound jumps. My body needs to man up and get stronger faster!
So here are two pretty big developments:
[B]1. I entered a powerlifting competition. It takes place in Austin on March 23rd.[/B] It's the Texas State Powerlifting Championship sanctioned by the USPA. This gives my training some solid external motivation. I'm pretty psyched.
[B]2. I just got back from a consultation / training session with a seasoned powerlifter (Mark Rogers).[/B] He owns the gym where the meet will be held and invited me to start training with his relatively small powerlifting crew. I need to see whether I can work the gym membership into my budget but this is a potentially great opportunity, particularly since I bought a car yesterday and would be able to get to and from his gym.
Other news: Mark wants me to change my form on squat and bench press. There are just a few minor tweaks on my deadlift, but I'm pretty sure that sticking to his instructions on squat and bench will bring my numbers down for a little while. I am hitting parallel on squats but I need to push my knees out more and keep a tighter arch. On bench I need to use my lats more, minimize the distance between my chest and the bar and keep the bar further down on my chest. Jeez. The main message that I got from him is that the form I have been using is fine for the weight that I am throwing around, but that if I want my numbers to really climb I'll need to implement his corrections.
Okay. Onward ho!
Seems like good news for you all around! Hopefully the meet gives your more motivation and it sounds great to lift at a powerlifting gym like that.
I trained with the powerlifting crew today. Full report to come.
Sneak preview: I hit 2x2 paused reps on bench press with a weight that was going to be my second attempt at next month's meet! Kickass.
On Friday evening I trained with what I think is the only powerlifting crew in Austin. My positive feelings about the experience are strongly positive but there were also downsides to it, at least as they relate to my training long-term with the crew.
These guys are freaking strong. Most of them lift equipped, but having 700 pounds on your back is an impressive feat with or without a fancy suit. They also train using a conjugate method (Westside Barbell) that is wildly different from the simple and brutal linear progression that is Starting Strength.
Some pros and cons that have stuck with me-
[B]PROS[/B]
1. [I]Inspiration[/I] - These guys are monsters. I have never lifted with someone literally over twice as strong as myself.
2. [I]Experience[/I] - They have meet experience and are fantastic at screaming encouragement and cues before and during lifts. I also trust them to spot max effort lifts (they require three spotters for heavy squats).
3. [I]The Gym / Meet Prep[/I] - They train in the gym where the meet will take place. I was squatting on the same monolift that I'll be using next month when it counts. I am getting good feedback on my squat depth, bench pause, form, cues, etc.
[img]http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5386973&d=1360632889[/img]
[B]Cons[/B]
1. [I]Distance and time[/I] - The gym is modeled on strength-oriented one-on-one training so they don't have open hours or membership. I would need to train with the crew, which meets 4x / week around 5pm. Not only do I enjoy my flexible schedule, but with rush hour traffic the gym is at least 1/2 hour away. (My current gym is a bit over five minutes away.)
2. [I]My way or the highway[/I] - Some of these guys espouse a "runners are wimps" and "aesthetics = for fairies" powerlifter mentality. I get the impression - perhaps mistaken - that they think a wide stance is the only proper way to squat and that their routine is right for everyone. Perhaps a wider squat stance will get me higher numbers in the long run (?) but I think that I'll have the best performance at next month's meet if I continue with my current stance.
3. [I]Starting Strength[/I] - They all train the same workout and I would be following their Westside Barbell routine. I think that I can get more out of Starting Strength before I would gain more by switching to something else.
There are some other things floating around in my head from that session but those are the big ones. The lifters pay $100 / month to train together. That's a bunch of cash, but I can afford it. What I think that I'll do is pay the $100 starting one month before the meet and train with them once or twice a week for feedback and further inspiration. I'll continue with linear progression as much as I can outside of the group training. The crew is spending February focusing on 2RMs will be shifting to 1RM training before the meet in March. It'll be good for me to train max lifts with people I trust to keep me safe.
My first session with the powerlifting crew. A totally different approach / workout from Starting Strength. Huge success on my bench!
[B]Box Squat[/B] - Focus was on bar speed. Ample rest between sets as we were all sharing a monolift. My last three sets were [I]tough[/I].
225 pounds (+150 lb bands), ten sets of two
[B]Speed Deadlift[/B] - Focus on bar speed. This was a three-person rotation with no real rest between lifters. Hard toward the end, but these were good.
250 pounds (+50 lb bands), ten singles
[B]Bench Press[/B] - This felt AWESOME. [B]I decided to push myself a bit. Result: I cranked out two reps with five pounds over what I intended to be my second attempt at next month's meet.[/B] The second rep was [I]brutal[/I] both times, but they were both paused and had a full lockout!
245x2
245x2
2/11/13
[B]Workout A[/B]
Weight: 203.4 pounds
I knew that squatting today would kick my ass, but I begrudgingly dragged said ass into the gym and put it through the paces. Results!
[B]Squat (+10 lb)[/B] - I couldn't help but go up ten pounds this workout, mostly because some random "meet progress" chart that I made said that it would be cool if I did it. It worked out okay. My form was shaky for the final rep or two of my last two sets, but the weight went down and up each time. Cool stuff. I love breaking a sweat from five reps of squats.
310x5
310x5
310x5
[B]Bench Press (+10 lb)[/B] - My last workout invigorated me regarding my pressing, so I went up ten pounds again. Solid. In the context of "very hard" this weight was on the easier side. All reps are paused.
210x5
210x5
210x5
[B]Deadlift (+10 lb)[/B] - God these were hard. Having pulled over 500 in the past I never expected that 320 pounds would feel so heavy.
320x5
[B]Dips (+2.5 lb)[/B] - I should have rested a bit more before my second set but these turned out just fine.
bw (+35 lb) x 8
bw (+35 lb) x 8
[B]Accessory Work[/B] - I threw in 2 sets of 8 hammer curls as well as some grip work. I was pleasantly surprised that after pulling I was able to close the #2 in my right hand. Closing the #1 in my left hand was tough as balls but I pulled it off.
Good, hard workout.
Cool stuff.
I think you've got the right idea...continue to work your way back on Starting strength, and when that runs out, then its time for something new...and this sounds like it.
[B]Workout B[/B]
Weight: 201.4 pounds
Well, it's happened. Nineteen workouts in I have stalled on my squats (315 pounds isn't too shabby). After squatting I felt that I perhaps hadn't kept tight enough in my upper back as a part of my upper spine felt compressed. It's getting better but isn't 100%. I might take tomorrow as a light squat day to give my body time to recover more fully. Relatedly, this was my first workout with my new Inzer 10mm Forever belt. It's amazing, but I don't think that I was able to get it tight enough on my squats. No excuses, but I think that may have been a factor in my not staying as tight as I have been.
Otherwise a good workout. Here goes:
[B]Squat (+5 lb)[/B] - My journal notes are below.
315x4 (Bar speed was way too slow, need belt tighter, dropped 5th rep on safety bars.)
315x3 (Didn't try for 4th rep)
315x3 (This took everything I had in me. Belt definitely too loose.)
[B]Military Press (+5 lb)[/B] - One plate! These were hard - I quietly yelled "lock out!" at myself on my last reps!
135x5
135x5
135x5
[B]Pendlay Row (+5 lb)[/B] - Still feeling pretty good here.
135x5
135x5
135x5
[B]Pull Ups[/B] - It feels like these are getting [I]slightly[/I] easier, but I'm still going to stick with bodyweight for now.
1x8
1x8
Good stuff anyways. Those have been some fast jumps. I'm sure you'll knock it out next time.
Thanks, bro!
[QUOTE=dk240t;1026410513]Good stuff anyways. Those have been some fast jumps. I'm sure you'll knock it out next time.[/QUOTE]
Holy crap I went on vacation for a few weeks and I come back to see this! Your lifts (especially your squat) have all skyrocketed! Nice job dude. I wish I had a powerlifting crew to critique my form in person. It gets really annoying to constantly video my sets. I'm sure people already refer to me as "the guy who always records his lifts" in the gym.
[QUOTE=pyaarawala;1026597703]Holy crap I went on vacation for a few weeks and I come back to see this! Your lifts (especially your squat) have all skyrocketed! Nice job dude. I wish I had a powerlifting crew to critique my form in person. It gets really annoying to constantly video my sets. I'm sure people already refer to me as "the guy who always records his lifts" in the gym.[/QUOTE]
Lol! Thanks, bro. I took a couple of days for climbing over the weekend, so as soon as my body is done complaining I'll be back in the gym. Maybe a light workout today and then back at it on Wednesday. My legs and forearms are pumped to oblivion!
*Note to all y'alls out there: I know that by climbing, dancing, running, and acrobatics that I'll be sacrificing some strength gains. I'm cool with slower progress on my lifts if it means that I am continuing to do the things that I love.
[B]Workout A - Sort Of...[/B]
Weight: 202.4 pounds
I felt pretty good in the gym, so - in deference to my lack of self control - I decided that instead of being a light day today would be a fun time to test my limits on my meet lifts. I ended up doing mostly singles and didn't go to failure in any of my lifts (although I was damn near close in all of them). One important factor: I managed to get my belt one notch tighter than last time. I think that was a big deal
Here are my results:
[B]Squat - 355x1![/B]
225x2
275x1
295x1
315x1
315x1
335x1
[U]355x1 (Very tough, but hell yeah!)
[/U]
[B]Bench Press - 255x1![/B]
135x2
185x1
185x1
225x1
240x1
[U]255x1 (Wicked hard. May have been able to hit 260, but maybe not.)[/U]
[B]Deadlift - 345x1![/B]
135x2
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
[U]345x1[/U] (The 275 and 315 pulls felt tough but I psyched myself up enough that 345 felt pretty good. I think that I could have put another five lbs on there without a problem.)
[B]Accessory Work[/B]
Hammer curls, 2 sets of 8
Fuark YEAH!
Very strong session! Great work! The only thing I can relate to there is the 345x1 DL, haha. Can't wait to finish my cut then get back on a slow bulk and continue getting my numbers up to where you are.
What's your height, btw?
[QUOTE=pyaarawala;1028059653]Very strong session! Great work! The only thing I can relate to there is the 345x1 DL, haha. Can't wait to finish my cut then get back on a slow bulk and continue getting my numbers up to where you are.
What's your height, btw?[/QUOTE]
Thanks, man. I remember reading your post about not being able to move after your 345 pull!
I'm 6' 2" and have about 20 pounds on you, so pound-for-pound your pull outshines mine. Then again, I have to move it more :-)
[QUOTE=nyrippetoe;1028073333]Thanks, man. I remember reading your post about not being able to move after your 345 pull!
I'm 6' 2" and have about 20 pounds on you, so pound-for-pound your pull outshines mine. Then again, I have to move it more :-)[/QUOTE]
Haha yeah, it really took everything in me to get that 345 pull right after 3 weeks of no lifting at all.
Yeah I guess it does, but then again you're kicking my ass on just about everything else, lol. Watch in a couple weeks I'll check your log again and your deadlift will be much higher. Your progress is crazy
[QUOTE=nyrippetoe;1027900313][B]Workout A - Sort Of...[/B]
Weight: 202.4 pounds
I felt pretty good in the gym, so - in deference to my lack of self control - I decided that instead of being a light day today would be a fun time to test my limits on my meet lifts. I ended up doing mostly singles and didn't go to failure in any of my lifts (although I was damn near close in all of them). One important factor: I managed to get my belt one notch tighter than last time. I think that was a big deal
Here are my results:
[B]Squat - 355x1![/B]
225x2
275x1
295x1
315x1
315x1
335x1
[U]355x1 (Very tough, but hell yeah!)
[/U]
[B]Bench Press - 255x1![/B]
135x2
185x1
185x1
225x1
240x1
[U]255x1 (Wicked hard. May have been able to hit 260, but maybe not.)[/U]
[B]Deadlift - 345x1![/B]
135x2
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
[U]345x1[/U] (The 275 and 315 pulls felt tough but I psyched myself up enough that 345 felt pretty good. I think that I could have put another five lbs on there without a problem.)
[B]Accessory Work[/B]
Hammer curls, 2 sets of 8
Fuark YEAH![/QUOTE]
Nice lifts! Your progression is ridiculously fast.
Writing from NY now, where I'm visiting my 100-year-old grandmother whose health has taken a turn for the worse. The trip has interrupted my training but that may be a good thing as my last workout made a muscle unhappy on the left side of my neck. It's almost healed and I'll be training tomorrow. Hopefully that doesn't exacerbate anything. We'll see
My general idea for meet prep is to spend this week on heavy triples, next week on heavy doubles, then a week of heavy singles before taking a very light week / rest week before meet day. I cut my 2/20 workout short when my neck started to feel funky, but here's where I was when I stopped:
[B]Squat[/B] - These all felt hard but I wasn't pushing failure. Bar speed was decent.
320x3
320x3
320x3
[B]Pull Ups[/B]
bw x 8
bw x 8
[B]Military Press (+5 lb)[/B]
140x4 (failed on fifth rep, neck unhappy)
I'm working out with a friend tomorrow in NY. Going to shoot for three sets of squat triples with 325. And some bench and deadlift stuff. I have clearly planned this one out well :-)
I had a half-decent workout with a friend on Sunday but have also been distracted with family events. Workouts continue to be somewhat disrupted as my 100-year-old grandmother died (peacefully) last night. Will post Sunday's results soon and hopefully work out on Wednesday or Thursday on my return to Austin.
[QUOTE=nyrippetoe;1031920653]I had a half-decent workout with a friend on Sunday but have also been distracted with family events. Workouts continue to be somewhat disrupted as my 100-year-old grandmother died (peacefully) last night. Will post Sunday's results soon and hopefully work out on Wednesday or Thursday on my return to Austin.[/QUOTE]
Real sorry about gramma, man. Least it was peaceful, though :)
Sorry for your loss.