TM's Training Journal/Torture Log

Howdy Folks,

I've been on this forum for a few months now over in the Power Lifting Forum and finally realized today, after some looking around, that I am in fact, "old". That is why I am relocating my journal over to this area. To be honest, powerlifting/strongman was probably not the best place for it. While I certainly do my fair share of powerlifting and consider myself to be a strong man, I'm sure that most of the people over there frown upon or possibly even become nauseated over the conditioning aspect of my program. My training is somewhat unique in that I more or less came up with the template myself. I don't claim to have invented it, but perhaps discovered it on my own. To me, it is important to be in excellent "all-around" shape. I define that as meaning that I train to be very strong and also in the best all around shape that I can be in, in the least amount of time possible, while also avoiding injury and being able to function in a high-demand job and marriage. For about two years now, I have utilized a basic powerlifting program for strength, with constantly varying assistance work and conditioning which consists of metcons and cardio. Nowadays, I rarely try to max out on powerlifting as my "old" bones and joints don't take that much weight kindly. I have settled into more of a maintenance routine where I dance around my rep maxes just shy of the 10-4 rep max range. That seems to be an area that is pretty safe on the joints and very effective at both building strength and preventing injury.

In powerlifting, I have been coached for the last few years by a former referee/coach who coached his wife to be a world champion. If you asked him personally, he would probably say that I am a very hard-headed, independently driven person who is fairly strong and has decent form. And that, I would consider a great complement. His coaching and mentoring have been a blessing to me in my training and my personal life. One thing that he instilled in me is to always video my lifts to critique my form. That is something that I always try to do on my heavy lifts because if you aren't doing it right you are robbing yourself. I may not be a power lifter, but I can at least have a serious conversation with one because I lift the way that they do. And I will usually post a link to a video on my log. That is absolutely open to criticism.

Anyway, it is great to be over here in the "retirement home." I will try to contribute to this forum to the best of my ability and hope to gain some wisdom as well.

All the best,

TM

That being said, here is today's entry:

Conditioning: Distance Run, Outdoor, Paved and Trail
7 Miles, 61:00, 8:41 Pace, 956 Calories

Welcome .... although at 37 you are far from 'old' :p
I have followed the same sort of training pathway as you, having realised that I needed to be fitter all round (after accumulating a lot of injuries and operations) I've included a lot of metcon, plyo and flexibility work as well as basic PL type work
Good luck with your training and goals

Welcome to the old folks home :D

Thanks very much for the warm welcome guys. :)

4/18/16:

Meet Day (in my garage)

Bench
Work up to a 1 Rep Max.
5x135, 3x185, 1x215, 1x235,
1x245 (tied PR 1RM), 1x250 (PR 1RM), 1x255 Fail

Squat
Work up to a 1 Rep Max.
5x185, 3x225, 1x255, 1x280,
1x305 (Lifetime PR 1RM), 1x315 (PR 1RM)

Deadlift
Work up to a 1 Rep Max.
5x235, 3x285, 1x335, 1x375, 1x405 Fail (x2)

Dead Hang Pull-ups: 12 Reps (PR)

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktd04q2dN_Q[/url]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cebMzYSqMOo[/url]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyQudpxXh6w[/url]

Comments: Was pretty tired today, but decided to go for it anyway. Felt good on bench and squats. Weak on deadlifts. That isn't surprising as I haven't been training those nearly as heavy as everything else lately. Probably could've gone for 385 but wasn't worried about it. I'm still way off of my current 1RM of 420 for that lift. Oh well, happy with gains everywhere else. Way too much back recovery on that squat PR. The pause could've been longer on my bench PR, but I didn't bounce it. Didn't even start videoing DLs until 405 so no video of that. Decent set of pull-ups as well. Honestly, it felt good to go heavy again. This cycle (8 weeks) has only topped out near 5 Rep Max weight so it is good to be able to set PRs at all without even going remotely heavy in months. We'll try better on the next one, but I'm just glad to come out of tonight with no injuries and my back is feeling good. As for the rest of Max Week, I may do a metcon on Wednesday and then a super long run on Saturday. Hope you all have a good one.

4/20/16:

Conditioning: Metcon

"300"
For Time:

• 25 Pull-ups
• 50 Deadlift 135lb
• 50 Push-ups
• 50 Box Jumps 20"
• 50 Knees to Elbows
• 50 KB Swings, 40 lb Dumbbell
• 25 Pull-ups

Time: 16:10

Comments: PR by almost 2 minutes.

4/23/16:

Conditioning: Distance Run, Outdoor, Packed Gravel/Dirt
13.1 Miles, 2:03:00, 9:22 Pace, 1800 Calories

Comments: First attempt at a half marathon. The last couple of miles were just plain torture. I was never that winded during this. My legs just couldn't keep up after about 8 miles. Had to stop and walk a few times during the last 3 miles, but still pleased to have completed it near my goal time of 2 hours. Well, that completes this cycle. Going to take a deload week next week and then dream up another 8 weeks of madness. Hope you all have a great weekend!

[QUOTE=TM79;1437470911]
Conditioning: Metcon

"300"
For Time:

• 25 Pull-ups
• 50 Deadlift 135lb
• 50 Push-ups
• 50 Box Jumps 20"
• 50 Knees to Elbows
• 50 KB Swings, 40 lb Dumbbell
• 25 Pull-ups

Time: 16:10

Comments: PR by almost 2 minutes.[/QUOTE]
That's a real CrossFit type workout ... great functional fitness. 16 minutes is an excellent time!
Good work on the squat PRs as well ... nice to hit two 1RMs in the same session :)

[QUOTE=fittofattofit;1438090931]That's a real CrossFit type workout ... great functional fitness. 16 minutes is an excellent time!
Good work on the squat PRs as well ... nice to hit two 1RMs in the same session :)[/QUOTE]

Thank you! This was the last week of my cycle so I decided to try and max out on the 3 power lifts, pull-ups, a metcon and a long run. Not too bad. Long story short:

Squat: 315 (PR over 300)
Bench: 250 (PR over 245)
Dead-hang Pull-ups: 12 (PR)
"300" Metcon: 16:10 (PR over 18:00)
Half Marathon: 2:03:00 (PR/First Attempt)

That's a pretty decent week to me. ;) I've lost a ton on my Deadlift though so I'll have to start training that heavier again.

4/27/16:

Just doing some conditioning during my week off.

Conditioning: Metcon

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
10 L-Pull-ups
10 Handstand Push-ups (with legs bridged)
20 Reverse Hypers

Post rounds completed: 6 Rounds, 7 L-Pull-ups

4/28/16:

More conditioning on the off week. Did this in the hotel fitness room.

Conditioning: Metcon

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
12 dumbbell deadlifts
9 dumbbell hang squat cleans
6 dumbbell push jerks

Post rounds completed and dumbbell load: 4 Rounds in 10:12. 40 lb Dumbbells

Ellyptical Trainer Intervals:
5 Minutes Easy
5 Minutes Hard
5 Minutes Easy

1.10 Miles, 220 Calories

You'll have to update your current maxes in your signature :) Nice work on the squat and bench PR and I really like the metcon work and I'm very impressed that you got through 6 rounds of 10 HSPUs

[QUOTE=fittofattofit;1439131461]You'll have to update your current maxes in your signature :) Nice work on the squat and bench PR and I really like the metcon work and I'm very impressed that you got through 6 rounds of 10 HSPUs[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Going to update my signature right after this. Thanks on the metcons. I like to do them for conditioning. The HSPUs were piked or bridged, meaning that I bent at the waist and my feet were resting on a bench. They are a lot easier that way. I probably couldn't even do a real HSPU. I hope you've gotten to workout again. Will look for your journal in a minute.

4/30/16:

Conditioning: Distance Run, Outdoor, Paved
3.1 Miles (5K), 22:46, 7:20 Pace (PR by 1:34!)

Comments: I meant to take it easy but it was 60 degrees and cloudy so I decided to take advantage of the optimal conditions. Can't believe I beat my previous PR by over a minute!

Wooot ..... closing in on a 7 minute mile pace! Is there another half marathon coming up?

[QUOTE=fittofattofit;1439423711]Wooot ..... closing in on a 7 minute mile pace! Is there another half marathon coming up?[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I'll try to do a comparable run at the end of my next cycle. The objective is to keep advancing further, but the soon to be hot weather may hinder that somewhat. We'll see...

Respectable numbers you've got. Checked out your vids and hard to critique vids based on camera angle :P

Welcome aboard!

[QUOTE=Jtbny;1439621371]Respectable numbers you've got. Checked out your vids and hard to critique vids based on camera angle :P

Welcome aboard![/QUOTE]

Thanks very much JT! I'm somewhat limited by space when it comes to camera angle, but if you have any specific suggestions, I'll be more than happy to try and accommodate them. Usually, I post a video from each heavy lift. This week will be a deload week, but the videos should start back up next week when I get into the next cycle.

[QUOTE=TM79;1439785631]Thanks very much JT! I'm somewhat limited by space when it comes to camera angle, but if you have any specific suggestions, I'll be more than happy to try and accommodate them. Usually, I post a video from each heavy lift. This week will be a deload week, but the videos should start back up next week when I get into the next cycle.[/QUOTE]

Front side angle is, IMO, one of the best for the squat. Allows one to see knee tracking, depth, upper body rounding (chest collapse) ect. Side angle isn't the best but is good to show depth and bar tracking (if you are getting on your toes this angle with show it). Bench is tough. A direct side view like yours cant show much of anything. Cant see hands, elbows, where the bar touches and if it touches ect. Your coach is absolutely right but the vids need to be able to show enough to provide valuable feedback/critique or they aren't much good.

[QUOTE=Jtbny;1439799111]Front side angle is, IMO, one of the best for the squat. Allows one to see knee tracking, depth, upper body rounding (chest collapse) ect. Side angle isn't the best but is good to show depth and bar tracking (if you are getting on your toes this angle with show it). Bench is tough. A direct side view like yours cant show much of anything. Cant see hands, elbows, where the bar touches and if it touches ect. Your coach is absolutely right but the vids need to be able to show enough to provide valuable feedback/critique or they aren't much good.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the input. Front angle is extremely difficult for me on squats as my rack faces a wall. I've been going with a back and roughly 45 degree angle for those. I can probably work something out with bench though. I'll see what I can do. Thanks!

5/3/16:

Deload Workout:

Bench
20x45, 5x95, 5x115
3(5x135)

Deadlift
5x135, 5x185
3(5x210)

Time: 14:00

Assistance
4 Rounds:
5 Bench Press, 135 lbs
5 Deadlifts, 205 lbs
5 Knees to Elbows
10 Push-ups
5 Floor Glute-Ham Raises

Time: 9:30

Then: One set of Dumbbell Power Cleans to
Overhead Press, 30 lb Dumbbells, for Max Reps: 12


Conditioning: Interval Burpees
5 Rounds of 10 Burpees Fast, 1 Minute Rest
Round 1: 33
Round 2: 31
Round 3: 31
Round 4: 30
Round 5: 30

Comments: Nothing special here. Everything was at roughly 50%. Felt pretty strong for this. Super long day tomorrow so I may or may not get to train tomorrow evening. Have a good night!

'Nothing special here' :p .... that was a great session: loved the 'assistance' work ... that was 20 exercise sets in 9:30 and then DB cleans (those fcukers are hard!) and the max rep burpees would have killed me ... really good metcon session

[QUOTE=fittofattofit;1440028271]'Nothing special here' :p .... that was a great session: loved the 'assistance' work ... that was 20 exercise sets in 9:30 and then DB cleans (those fcukers are hard!) and the max rep burpees would have killed me ... really good metcon session[/QUOTE]

Ha ha. Thank you. Yep, the assistance section is supposed to be assistance for the main lifts, but to me it is more like conditioning. I try to do it just slow enough to maintain good form, but with minimal breaks between sets. Next week, once I really get up and moving, everything will be longer and heavier. Thanks!

5/4/16:

Conditioning: Metcon

Tommy V

For time:
95 lb Thrusters, 21 reps (scaled from 115 lbs)
48 Close-Grip Knees to Elbows Pull-ups (sub for 12 Rope Climbs)
95 lb Thrusters, 15 reps (scaled from 115 lbs)
36 Close-Grip Knees to Elbows Pull-ups (sub for 9 Rope Climbs)
95 lb Thrusters, 9 reps (scaled from 115 lbs)
24 Close-Grip Knees to Elbows Pull-ups (sub for 6 Rope Climbs)

Post time: 16:27

Comments: Despite a super early morning of work on maybe 5 hours of sleep, I decided to give this a shot. I have to admit that I was partially motivated to do this one after hearing the news of the SEAL that was KIA yesterday. I hate to hear that news, but did hear that they put up one heck of a fight. RIP warriors. Hope you have a great night!

5/5/16:

Deload Workout

Pull-ups (EMOM)
5 Reps, 3 Reps,
3x5 Reps

12" Paused Box Squat (EMOM)
5x95, 5x115
3(5x135)

Time: 9:30

Assistance
4 Rounds:
5 Pull-ups
5 Squats, 155 lbs
5 Reverse Hypers
5 Ring Rows
10 Jump Squats

Time: 6:55

Then: One set of Ring Rows for Max Reps: 16
Then: 20 Jump Squats

Conditioning: Metcon

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
100 single unders (sub for 50 double-unders)
135-lb. back squats, 10 reps

Post rounds completed: 4 Rounds

I really like the workouts: very much CrossFit challenges and I assume you were inspired once the final event for the regionals was announce. Tommy V is so hard: I have no chance with legless rope climbs, but would have cramped long before 48 reps on knees to elbows anyway :p

Cool to see the EMOM work ... last metcon pairing up 10 rep squats with 100 single unders would have had my heart jumping out of my throat

[QUOTE=fittofattofit;1440471071]I really like the workouts: very much CrossFit challenges and I assume you were inspired once the final event for the regionals was announce. Tommy V is so hard: I have no chance with legless rope climbs, but would have cramped long before 48 reps on knees to elbows anyway :p

Cool to see the EMOM work ... last metcon pairing up 10 rep squats with 100 single unders would have had my heart jumping out of my throat[/QUOTE]

Thanks my friend. You were the one that inspired me to do an EMOM on my "heavy" lifts. It was nice to get through them so quickly, but I doubt I will be able to do that next week. I'm doing all sets of 8 so those sets will take a lot longer. Maybe E2MOM. Ha ha. Yeah, I sort've have a love hate relationship with crossfit. I like the metcon style of training, but think that generally they take it too far and the risk of injury is too high. I was writing my own metcons for a long time and found that I kept doing the same exercises a lot so I decided to start grabbing some from crossfit again just to mix it up. The cycle begins next week so I'll post some videos again. Hope you have a great day!

Bench
In 4-5 sets, work up to an 8 Rep Max for the day.
20x45, 8x135, 8x155, 8x180, 8x200 (PR 8RM)

Deadlift
In 4-5 sets, work up to an 8 Rep Max for the day.
8x235, 8x265, 8x295, 8x325 (PR 8RM)

Time: 32:28

Assistance
4 Rounds:
8 Overhead Press, 95 lbs
8 Deadlifts, 205 lbs
8 Toes to Bar (Back on Barbell)
20 Push-ups
8 Floor Glute Ham Raises

Time: 19:32

Then, one set of Power Cleans to Overhead Press, 95 lbs
for max reps: 7

Conditioning: Interval Burpees
20 Burpees Slow: 2:09
20 Burpees Fast: 1:23
20 Burpees Slow: 2:01
20 Burpees Fast: 1:40
*Rest 1 minute between sets

Comments: Pumped to start out the cycle with two PRs in one workout! That assistance work was absolutely horrible. And the burpees were the icing on the cake. Videos below (links, still can't embed a video here)

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUkF9a39GD0[/url]

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkAM-Ej98s[/url]

5/9/16:

Pull-up Pyramid
Start by doing one pull-up and then
add a repetition after resting 10 seconds.
Continue as long as you are able.
5 Sets, 3 Reps (So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3. 18 Total)

Then rest 10 seconds and complete
one set for Max Reps: 5

Conditioning: Metcon

For time:
1,000-meter row (75 lb SDHPs, 60 Reps)
100 push-ups
750-meter row (75 lb SDHPs, 45 Reps)
75 push-ups
500-meter row (75 lb SDHPs, 30 Reps)
50 push-ups

Post time: 17:34

Comments: Found a pull-up program that I'm going to try. We'll see how it goes. Got this metcon from cf main site. Did the math and worked out the sub for SDHPs. My arms are smoked! Probably a rest day tomorrow. Hope you all have a good night!