Raynerd's Road to 40

[shaneinga]

Good looking pulls Shawn. That is some heavy pulling man. After those I probably would have called it a day, but you threw RDLs and SLDLs on top of it.

Great workout. The road to 600 should be fun to watch. I will take up the rear with the road to 495.

[shaneinga]

Morning Weight: 172.8lbs

Man what a hard day

Warmup:
-brommstick GM paused, narrow/wide and twists
-Chris Duffin hip activation:
(Hip airplanes, BSS and leg out at 90 degrees, 1 knee down hip rocking)

Taped up callouses using the boys batman hockey tape

Deads:
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3 (started using straps and belt from here on

Program sets: 85% (425lbs) 4x3
425 x 3
425 x 3 vid
425 x 3
425 x 3 (whew, somehow made it!)

RDL's (light)
135 x 10
185 x 10
205 x 8
205 x 8

SLDL's
185 x 10
185 x 10
185 X 10

Dun:

Notes: well today I was worried about tearing up the hands. They are almost healed and I taped them up with batman hockey tape. That worked actually.
The program sets were hard, I know they are supposed to be getting there now, but maybe my first set was RPE 9, but the next 3 were all RPE 10. My form sucked, probably due to grinding so hard to get my reps.
I guess the positive is that I got my reps and my hands look no worse coming out as they did going in. For sure the extra squat day yesterday might be playing a bit of havoc on my deads, but will grind on I guess. A bigger and better squat is more important to me than deads ATM anyway. 450x1 x 4 next week, hope things feel better than today


Second chitty looking set of 4

Bump this over for ya Shawn.

[mirroroferised]

THAT is the kind of determination I need to get back!! That session just read and viewed as sheer toughness and getting those reps in no matter what. Just an awesome job on those deads bandaid man

[conoutlook]

Pulls looked good.....

Tune was strong
.
Good thinking batman

[RT1957]

Nice pulling Mr. Fantasy........solid WO with the aid of bat-tape.....WHAM!!!!.....BAM!!!!!......POW!!!!!

[raynerd]

Didn't weigh in, trained after sleep from nightshift.

-leg and back stretches

BW standing calf raises x 100

Cable donkey calf block raise 120lbs:

25/20/20/20/20/20


Seated Calf machine 120lbs:

25/25/25/25/25/25

BFR (10 sec rests)
30
15
10

Tibialis Anterior with 45lb DB pinched between feet, heels on edge of bench:

22/12/10/10/9


Widegrip pullups:
22
14
9

Squat form work with bar: working on circumferential breathing and changing my neck position to neutral looking downwards.

Dun:

Notes: good calf blast. Added a few pullups again. Took some vids of my current squat form, pushing my head back is really contributing to my upper back rounding thus my forward shoot in the hole. Took another vid of my looking down, breathing into my lower back and keeping my neck neutral and it looked much better.
Will work in that with some weight on the bar tomorrow. Yay more tweaks

[mirroroferised]

That was 2,432 reps for calves or at least pretty close

[PtReyesGreg]

Nice workout today Shawn. According to Dave's math there you set a new Over 35 journal record for calf-related exercises. Seriously though that is some great work you're putting in there. Nice job on trying to zero in the squat form too. The squat is one of those lifts that can always be improved...at least it seems like that anyway.

[raynerd]

Didn't weigh in, trained after sleep from nightshift.

-leg and back stretches

BW standing calf raises x 100

Cable donkey calf block raise 120lbs:

25/20/20/20/20/20


Seated Calf machine 120lbs:

25/25/25/25/25/25

BFR (10 sec rests)
30
15
10

Tibialis Anterior with 45lb DB pinched between feet, heels on edge of bench:

22/12/10/10/9


Widegrip pullups:
22
14
9

Squat form work with bar: working on circumferential breathing and changing my neck position to neutral looking downwards.

Dun:

Notes: good calf blast. Added a few pullups again. Took some vids of my current squat form, pushing my head back is really contributing to my upper back rounding thus my forward shoot in the hole. Took another vid of my looking down, breathing into my lower back and keeping my neck neutral and it looked much better.
Will work in that with some weight on the bar tomorrow. Yay more tweaks

Sorry for the no responses doods, never had a chance at home and getting azz raped at work tonight

[mirroroferised]

Sorry for the no responses doods, never had a chance at home and getting azz raped at work tonight

Sick people ruin everything

[shaneinga]

Nice calf blast Shawn! You are killing those pull ups, 22 in one set. Very nice man.

[Flounderbout]

Your pullups numbers are now officially ridiculous Shawn. One downside of my hyperbulk is that my pullups are a national embarrassment now. If I do them in my London gym I have to put a plastic bag over my head so that no-one can see it is me kipping and wheezing my way to a pathetic fewreps, and it can seriously affect the ability to breath...

As for the deads, it is just hard to believe that you are chasing down 600 at your weight. It is enthusing me to get back on the deads trail in three week's time though. I wanna pull me some iron

Calfs, yeah, meh, whatever...

[SteveWright1]

Sorry for the no responses doods, never had a chance at home and getting azz raped at work tonight

Hope they pay you well for that Shawn LOL?
sit ups may be an issue the following day ?

[raynerd]

You can leave me out of that competition, thankyouverymuch.jpg. Just for the record, I think I've only hit 475 for a single using straps.


Looks like you had to earn the DLs today, but the lockout was strong nevertheless. I'm with you on the squats, and hoping to break some new ground this year myself. What DL program are you and John running btw?

Thanks Sloth, I posted the reads program in your journal. I was sure you hit 500 before, maybe it was when I was after 475 and you nailed it months before me…I dunno…still think you should put your name in the hat, you are right in line to hit it as well. Deads were hard, no other way to describe them!

Good looking pulls Shawn. That is some heavy pulling man. After those I probably would have called it a day, but you threw RDLs and SLDLs on top of it.

Great workout. The road to 600 should be fun to watch. I will take up the rear with the road to 495.

Thanks Shane, one of my toughest sessions yet. I wanted to call it quits but really need the PC work. The road to 600 should be something…..not sure how fun though lol

THAT is the kind of determination I need to get back!! That session just read and viewed as sheer toughness and getting those reps in no matter what. Just an awesome job on those deads bandaid man

Glad I got you fired up Dave! It was a blood and guts sessions for sure, and probably the hardest one I have ever done. Batman came through!

Pulls looked good.....

Tune was strong
.
Good thinking batman

lol, thanks Con!

Nice pulling Mr. Fantasy........solid WO with the aid of bat-tape.....WHAM!!!!.....BAM!!!!!......POW!!!!!

Holy reads Batman!

That was 2,432 reps for calves or at least pretty close

Dave….it was 2,435 to be exact…don't short change me brah

Nice workout today Shawn. According to Dave's math there you set a new Over 35 journal record for calf-related exercises. Seriously though that is some great work you're putting in there. Nice job on trying to zero in the squat form too. The squat is one of those lifts that can always be improved...at least it seems like that anyway.

Thanks Greg, I will admit I don't think I have read of anybody loser enough as me to do so much calves lol. I just really really want big azz calves!! Yup, always a ton to work on with my squats, looking forward to the new cues later

Sick people ruin everything :mad

I know!! Sick people everywhere the last couple shifts

Nice calf blast Shawn! You are killing those pull ups, 22 in one set. Very nice man.

Thanks Shane, gaining a couple pullups a session so far…see how far I can take it!

Your pullups numbers are now officially ridiculous Shawn. One downside of my hyperbulk is that my pullups are a national embarrassment now. If I do them in my London gym I have to put a plastic bag over my head so that no-one can see it is me kipping and wheezing my way to a pathetic fewreps, and it can seriously affect the ability to breath...

As for the deads, it is just hard to believe that you are chasing down 600 at your weight. It is enthusing me to get back on the deads trail in three week's time though. I wanna pull me some iron

Calfs, yeah, meh, whatever...

lol, thanks FB! See how many I get as I get fatter. I may be chasing 600 but I know deep down what a tremendous feat this will be…..but doesn't mean I am not going to get it

Hope they pay you well for that Shawn LOL?
sit ups may be an issue the following day ?

lol, never enough cash Steve!

[raynerd]

8:30 pm, f'n slept till 5pm today after 2 brutal nightshifts
Faaakin sick people

Bench:
Bar x 30
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 2
255 x 1
235 x 3
225 x 3

Squats: form work

-broomstick GM narrow/wide and twists
-lying piriformis stretch
-standing quad ITB stretch

BSS BW x 10 x 2

Bar x 8
135 x 6
185 x 5
225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
285 x 2
225 x 5

25 min sauna

Dun:

Notes: well tonight I was just happy to get something done. Last 2 nightshifts have been record breakers for admissions on ventilators and slept until 5pm today. Felt like a bag, bench was heavy, squats were heavy blah blah.
Working on form on squats which is kind of exciting for me. Neutral neck looking down and circumferential breathing into my back instead of that violent valsalva I do that makes the bar jump. Coming along, bar path looks a bit better, it's just weird staring at the floor ahead of me driving out of the hole. I changed sides on my squat rack today to help.
Just typing this in sauna so will try to get a vid up in a bit

Something like this:

[RT1957]

Good work Shawn....I'm a little in the dark as to the progression your using and you dropped the AMRAP set on BP....

[Sen8or]

Nice looking squats Shawn and some solid benching too. "Form work" at 285, real good strength

[raynerd]

Good work Shawn....I'm a little in the dark as to the progression your using and you dropped the AMRAP set on BP....

Thanks Ron, I felt like crap but my only plan was some low rep work. 2 sets of 225 first was because I didn't feel warm after my first one,
then just as heavy as I could and drop down for a couple heavy triples. I am benching 3x a week now so not too concerned about the AMRAP.

[shaneinga]

Nice benching Shawn. Your squats look really good in that video. The bar path looks improved. Whatever you are doing is working.

[raynerd]

Nice looking squats Shawn and some solid benching too. "Form work" at 285, real good strength

Thanks Sen, but in all honesty my strength was terrible. I was down almost 3 pounds this morning so that explains a bit

[raynerd]

Nice benching Shawn. Your squats look really good in that video. The bar path looks improved. Whatever you are doing is working.

Thanks Shane, I felt weak as a kitten. The second rep in the vid is what I am aiming for. Needs work but think I am on to something.

[mirroroferised]

One of the vids I watched awhile back that was floating around here from Rippetoe he recommended head in that same position.

Some good work with those night shift feelz. I know in my line of work the crazies always come out near the end of winter. Well really they're out all the time but once people start getting stir crazy they act up even more. I imagine life in the hospital could be quite similar.

[raynerd]

One of the vids I watched awhile back that was floating around here from Rippetoe he recommended head in that same position.

Some good work with those night shift feelz. I know in my line of work the crazies always come out near the end of winter. Well really they're out all the time but once people start getting stir crazy they act up even more. I imagine life in the hospital could be quite similar.

Thanks Dave. I actually watched that vid and a bunch more on lowbar squats. I was trying to pinpoint why my bar path was so f'd up my last session. I remember that I was trying to force my head back into the bar that session but it made things worse for me. I took some vids with just the bar the other day, one with me breathing like I normally would and forcing my head back. The other with trying to breath into my "back" and whole abdominal cavity and with a more neutral head position.
I found in the first vid with my head forced back, I really rounded my upper back in the hole. Think I was confusing this with driving my shoulders up into he bar. I dunno if it's going to work miracles but it seems the better of the 2.

My nightshifts were pure hell, lots of crazies but also a lot of legit sick azz people. They beat the chit out of me. I don't remember last time I slept so late after nights!

[Flounderbout]

Shawn - that looked miles better! Much smoother and the shoulder cave/upper back rounding had completely gone. Excellent work!

Did you find that circumferential breathing vid helpful? It really helped me understand the whole breathing issue so much better and it felt like it transformed my form.

[raynerd]

Shawn - that looked miles better! Much smoother and the shoulder cave/upper back rounding had completely gone. Excellent work!

Did you find that circumferential breathing vid helpful? It really helped me understand the whole breathing issue so much better and it felt like it transformed my form.

Ah man that's great to hear! Keeping a neutral neck position was the key on the upper back rounding. I was trying to force my head "back" into the bar and this really dropped my upper back forward I found.
The breathing is much better, it's going to take some practice but felt it's benifits. I used to breath into my chest then try to force the air into my front and against the belt (the bar bounce on my old setup)
Now I am thinking about it as filling my whole abdominal wall and into my lower back, it's much different and much better!
Thanks for the help FB! Think with some work this is the one

[raynerd]

Morning Weight: 170.6lbs

Pendlay Rows:
135 x 6
135 x 6
225 x 5
255 x 5
275 x 3 PR
275 x 3 PR

Widegrip Pullups:
13
10
8
7

Seated narrow cable rows: (plate load)
120 x 10
140 x 9
170 x 6
170 x 6

Incline DB curls 40lbs:
8
8
8
8

EZ curlbar curls 65lbs:
12
11
9
8

Dun:

Notes: good workout today although this day I feel like I am sandbagging. Guess that's a good thing wih all the other big compound days I have going on.
275 is the heaviest I have tried on Pendlays and a PR, it wasn't that bad and got 2 sets of a solid 3 reps.
The rest was pretty straight forward and barely broke a sweat.
Weight was way down today for me, think that explains my weak feels lastnight as well.

Squats and Bench tomorrow

[Hammerhagen]

Was the wife at least there to see the guns on display? Good workout Shawn. Pendlays were super strong

[RT1957]

Good work done Shawn....it's just a different approach so a day like back and Bi's won't be as intense as matching bench with squats....as long as progress is made all is well

[shaneinga]

275 pound Pendlays, wow. That is some serious weight Shawn. Amazing job on those.

Those incline DB curls are good numbers as well. A very humbling exercise when you first try them.

Great workout today Shawn.

[Jtbny]

Ya I agree with Flounder- squats looked ok from over here.

Very jelly of your home sauna btw