Black_Spit's training Journal

[Black_Spit]

After 4-5 weeks off of Press to let my shoulders heal up while doing some rotator cuff strengthening and rear delt work, I started them again today, resetting my weight down from my previous max of 200 to 185.

Shoulders felt good, but, I'm still having that weird feeling in my upper chest that I only get when pulling heavy or doing OH Press. It's not very painful, just worrisome. Hopefully it will go away as I feel like I'm doing all the right things. My only accessory work is almost 100% based around preventing injuries.

Press-
45x5
45x5
95x5

115x5 65%
135x5 75%
155x5 85%

Not too hard, but, I could tell I had taken 4-5 weeks off from it. My arms were shaking on my last set when I got the bar overhead.

External Rotators-
1x20
2x10

Face Pulls-
3x10

Post-w/o:

Agility/Mobility drills- (10 yards each way, there and back)
High Knee 2x10
Karaoke 2x10
Backpedal 2x10
Shuffle 2x10
Power skip 2x10

Sprints- (in yards)
10x2
20x2
30x2
40x2
50x2

[Black_Spit]

Probably going to go back to Bench/Dead/Squat as my 5/3/1 days because my shoulders did end up in a lot of pain after Tue. So, maybe I'll focus less on adding a bunch of weight to my overhead pressing, and use it more as an accessory movement on Bench days.

Deadlift-
135x5
225x5

275x5 65%
315x5 75%
365x5 85%

BB Curls-
3x10

Heavy Punching Bag-
2x5 min rounds

[Black_Spit]

Good workout today. First time doing box squats. Plus I reset my squat down 40 pounds or so, so it felt like a deload workout almost, during squats anyway. For the first time I can ever remember, my lats and traps were sore from deadlifts this week. So, now my lats are on fire after power cleans... Oh well.

Box Squats-
45x5
135x5

225x5 65%
275x5 75%
315x5 85%

Power Cleans-
135x3
185x3
185x3

BB Shrugs-
3x25

[Black_Spit]

Pretty easy today. I can really feel myself getting stronger lately. I've been getting a lot better sleep, too, so there's a correlation there.

Deadlifts-
135x3
225x3

275x3
335x3
375x3

Preacher Curls-
3x15/12/12

[ArchDukeOfTops]

how's the weight loss coming man?

I'm glad to see some heavy bag training going on in here !

I just did my first workout after surgery, 3 weeks out. I did some cardio/technical stuff on the heavy bag, but didn't really throw full power like I normally do.

I'm glad to see you still plugging away.

[Black_Spit]

Thanks and good to have you back.

For the weight loss, about 3 weeks ago, I was sore, tired and feeling like crap physically, even though I was getting stronger.

So I decided to take a break from the diet stuff as that was the obvious cause. I made a deal with myself that I could eat what I wanted for a while if I did conditioning 3x a week. I'm feeling better and sleeping better, too.

But the goal is still to get to and maintain at under 200 lb's. I should probably get out of cruise control and step it back up now that I've had my break.

Feeling good about where my deadlift is at right now... If I had the balls, I think I could hit between 500-550 right now, but my conservative side won't let me. Ive gotten 455 twice now, and the second time, while relatively easy (probably could have gotten 495 that day), pulled something. Hard to explain but that shook my confidence and makes me want to wait until I'm training in the 450x3-5 range before attempting going much higher for a PR.

Anyway enough rambling for me. Good to see you back and training. You gonna resume your journal?

[ArchDukeOfTops]

I hear ya as far as being gun shy on maxing. After having to get cut on, I may have to change my ways for a bit. That was my second surgery in 3 years, lol. I've never worked out without doing squats and deads, so I'm going to see what kind of results I can get by doing a sissy routine until I'm fully healed.

I did try a new diet while I was layed up. I've been reading a lot about intermittent fasting. I must admit its so far from what I always thought was the right way (six meals etc), that it was mentally challenging at first, but I actually lost bodyfat with it while being totally sedendary for 3 weeks.

So now that I'm gonna be able to add some activity, I may be able to cut back down to abs with some ease. We'll see.

I do want to start journaling, but I'll have to start a new one because I won't be doing anything resembling powerlifting for quite a while. I'll probably break out more of my old fight shape oriented training. Been wanted to spar really bad too, so I may be able to pick up some of my old activities without pushing too hard. We'll see

[Black_Spit]

Good workout today. Feeling good. I think I'm going to go lift in my first meet in 2 weeks, so that should be fun. It's push/pull.

Bench Press -
45x5
45x3
135x3

185x3
240x3
275x3

Press- have reset this due to shoulder pains... Feeling much better lately.
45x3
95x3

135x3
150x3
165x3

Face Pulls-
3x10

Stadium Stairs-
X10

[Black_Spit]

I missed squat day on Saturday. My son had his final wrestling tournament of the (off)season on Saturday, and I didn't know we were going to be there as early as we did. I usually go when the gym opens at 6:30 am on Saturdays, and that's when we had to be at the tournament. So, I think I'm going to have 4 days next week. Mon/Tu/Th/Sat. I'm on 75% vacation next week, I have to pop in for an hour or two every day but that's it, so I'll be a little less stressed, and I think I'll do my 3 rep squats on mon, then my max effort squats on Sat.

Still planning to compete for the first time on the 26th, so I still need to read up more about how to structure my deload week which runs into the meet.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm thinking just no lifting the week of the meet is what I've usually read.

Since I've been cutting weight anyway, I think I'll dry out and try to get down to the 242 class. And, then eventually work my way down into 220 or 198. Right now I'm bloated to the hilt after this weekend at 259, so that's 2 weeks to drop 5-6 pounds of fat and 10-11 pounds of water, which is right at what the Anabolic Diet has been providing so far. I'm not going to kill myself to get there or stress about it too much, so if that doesn't work out, I'm not going to get in a sauna or anything an hour before weigh-ins to drop another 4 pounds. I'll just let the low carbs do it, and if I'm still a few pounds over, I'll just compete at 275.

I need to come up with a gameplan for my 3 lifts in each category, too.

Since I've done 455 in the gym on Deadlifts more than once and I've gained some strength since then, I may open at 455, then 475, then maybe 500?

On bench, I've done 300 in the gym a few weeks back, so maybe open with 300, 315, then 335?

I'll think about it some more.

[Black_Spit]

Rotators-
2x15

Press-
45x5
95x5

135x5 75%
155x3 85%
185x3 <<<Rep PR>>> 100%

Face Pulls-
3x10

My shoulders are so much better. I think the rear delt work (face pulls and cable up rows) the past month or so have made a huge difference. I've hit 200 lb's not too long ago, now maybe I can start working towards that next milestone of 225 as long as my shoulders hold up.

[Black_Spit]

Deadlift-
135x5
225x3
275x1

315x5
365x3
405x3 <<<Rep PR>>>

Hyperextensions-
2x10

Preacher Curls-
2x15

[Black_Spit]

Had some of Josh Bryant's Power Pancakes post w/o this morning. Blueberry. I've made pancakes with protein powder and eggs before but, these were obviously a lot better lol.



http://articles.elitefts.com/article...nds-of-muscle/

With Syrup and Blueberries

Calories: 468
Fat: 11
Carbohydrates: 71
Protein: 28

And some turkey bacon there, which I'm too lazy at this moment to go check the nutrition info on.

I had already had a Gatorade Recovery drink immediately post w/o, so this was an hour/hour and a half later. The new Gatorade Recovery drinks have 16 grams of protein (mostly whey) and 14g of standard gatorade-Sucrose carbs.

[Black_Spit]

Back a little sore from Deads yesterday. But I'm on vacation from work this week, so I can sleep in some. Got almost 8 hours last night (and took a 3 hour nap yesterday lol). The kids are on Spring Break, and it's a beautiful day (like 75 degrees), so we're at the park...

I decided to to show off in front of the kids (not the soccer mom on the other side of the playground...) and climb this thing and ring the bell since the kids tried and failed. It's 15-18 feet:



I made it... And even managed to make it look fairly easy. But I have a feeling I'm gonna be way more sore tomorrow lol.

[Black_Spit]

Bench Press-
45x5
135x5
185x3

225x5 75%
255x3 85%
285x2 95%

Face Pulls-
3x10

Pressdowns-
3x12

The Football Stadium was locked down this morning (guessing Spring Practice), so I went to the park and did some agility/mobility drills. When I was almost finished, I saw the picnic tables behind me and thought I'd do some box jumps. I hadn't done any since high school, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The seats were at my knee level. I did 30 of them.

I've been thinking about making some plyometric boxes, but, I'm glad I did that first, or I would have made them too short. Actually I might just use those and build up to 100 before I make boxes of my own.

Drills- (about 15 yards. Each one was there and back 15/15-30 yards)
High Knee
Shuffle
Backpedal
Karoake
Sprint

Picnic Table Box Jumps-
x30

[Black_Spit]

Box Squats-
45x5
135x3
225x3

275x5
315x3
345x3

Heavy Bag-
3x5 min rounds

[Black_Spit]

I'm doing that push/pull meet tomorrow, so we'll see if I can get a couple of pr's. I wish I had known about this thing 8-12 weeks ago. I would have put a lot more focus on bench press. Oh well.

I'm going to shoot for either 315 or 335 Bench, and either 500 or 545 Deadlift, depending on how I'm feeling. Either would be nice PR's for me.


I've worked on next cycles routine and here's what I've come up with, partially inspired by Jim Wendler's article 'The Yoke.' I'm also doing progression on my sprints this 4 weeks. I've built up my cardio to where 10x is do-able, so week 1 I'm going to do 10, week 2 will be 12, week 3 15, and deload week 4 20. And 20 will be the new maintenance hopefully.

Yoked Up 5/3/1

Day 1:
Deadlift- 5/3/1
Clean/Press- 5/3/1
Power Shrug- 3x5

Day 2:
Bench Press- 5/3/1
Up Rows- 3x8-10
Face Pulls- 3x8-10

Day 3:
Box Squat- 5/3/1
Hypers- 3x8-10
Abs- 3x8-10

[Black_Spit]

Just weighed in at my first meet here. There's a couple of enormous guys here but most look like relative novices to it like me. So I don't have to worry too much about looking like a complete jackass. Bench opener is 275 and Dead is 455.

We'll see how it goes.

[Black_Spit]

I learned a lot today during the meet.

I learned why people value a meet lift so much more than a gym lift.

After my last bench press warmup, it was over 25 minutes until I did my opener. I decided to open up at 275 on Bench because I had always read that you should pick something fairly easy (I was hoping to hit 315-335). So, once I laid down to bench, all thoughts of being at a meet flew out of my head and I benched the weight, but, didn't wait for the command. So, I heard him say it was no good, so I did it again lol, and it was good. So, anyway, then I did 300 and it was good, but pretty hard, so I skipped the last attempt that I knew I was going to miss no matter what I chose.

That's when the real lesson began. I kind of feared that it would be a problem, and it was. I got there at 10:45 for weigh-ins. And I was done Benching by 1:45 probably, and my deadlift warmups started about 5:00. Well, I train at 5:00 am. 5:00 is when I leave work every day, and I'm usually a little bit tired. Well, I felt like laying down and taking a nap. I have deadlifted 455 twice in recent months. So, I had picked that as my opener. Well, when I went to pull my last warmup of 405, I literally was seeing stars, and it felt hard. So, that completely threw me off. So, I went to the head judge and asked him if I could change my opener to 405. He let me. So, luckily when I pulled 405 as my opener, it felt about like 405 should have, but, more importantly, I got it, so I wouldn't bomb out. So, I moved to 430, nailed it, and then did 460 (so at least I could get a PR out of it). I was kind of bummed by the end because I had intended to get 315-335 on Bench and 500 or maybe even 545 if I felt great on Deadlift. But, I found out at the end that my 460 deadlift was a state record at 275 novice class in their organization, so they gave me a trophy for that. So, that made me feel a little better about it kind of lol.

Anyway, it was fun. Now, I will sleep for the next 14 hours (which will probably be a 6-7 hr PR).

[dtaps24]

Awesome Meet man. That was a solid performance. TBH, 335/545 seemed to be a little too lofty in terms of goals, especially the 545. I think it took me over a year to go from 455 to 545. I think 500 woulda been great but a PR is solid. Anyways, good job man. You'll learn from it and improve.

[Black_Spit]

Awesome Meet man. That was a solid performance. TBH, 335/545 seemed to be a little too lofty in terms of goals, especially the 545. I think it took me over a year to go from 455 to 545. I think 500 woulda been great but a PR is solid. Anyways, good job man. You'll learn from it and improve.

Thanks. And yeah, in hindsight that's pretty obvious to me, too. But, maybe if I had gone in there with expectations of 460 and 300, then I might have ended up with less... who knows. The key would be to open conservatively, and the rest falls into place, depending on how strong you're feeling on that day.

I forgot to mention that Harley Timbs was there benching, and ended up missing 825 and 850. Here he is if you're not familiar with him.

This isn't a video of yesterday, just a vid of him from another event:

[Black_Spit]

Tinkered around a little with MovieMaker for the first time, made a video of the meet yesterday.

That's 300 Bench, 405, 430 and 460 Deadlift. My form is a little shaky on 460, but that's a PR, so I guess it's not too bad.



That meet is perfect for me. 30
minutes from my house. Next year, I'm hitting 600 or popping a gut trying.

And, I'm pretty sure next week is going to have to be a deload week also. I'm sore and completely exhausted today still.

[IAmBatman]

Solid work at that meet, it can only go up from here. And jesus that bench was a 300 close grip.

[Black_Spit]

Solid work at that meet, it can only go up from here. And jesus that bench was a 300 close grip.

Thanks man. Shoulders seem to hurt when I go wider. :/

[Black_Spit]

I don't know if it's normal or not following a meet, but, I still feel like I've been run over by a bus. And, I only did push/pull. I can't imagine adding squats in there.

I get the fact that it's doing max lifts, and adding in the fact that I did bench and dead in the same day when I would normally only do one... but, that doesn't seem like enough to make me feel this sore and physically tired for over 2 days now. I wonder if having all that adrenaline going all day in combination with the other factors is a part of it too?

Anyway, I had intended to do 3x5 50% deadlifts today, too, but that just wasn't happening, period. I probably just should have stayed in bed, quite honestly, but, I didn't.

Press-
45x5
95x5
135x5

Face Pulls-
3x10

Up Rows-
3x10

Treadmill (light walk)-
15 min

[Black_Spit]

Today I wanted to see how a standard grip bench press felt. It's been so long since I switched that I had almost forgotten that I do close-grip because my shoulders used to have problems with standard.

But, I've been doing a lot of face pulls, trying to correct the imbalance that I believe has been causing those problems. So far they seem to be helping. My standard grip is not as strong as my close grip yet I don't think, but, I'm sure it will shoot right past it in 4-8 weeks.

Bench Press-
45x5
135x5
185x5
225x5

Face Pulls-
5x10

Power Shrug-
135x5
225x5
315x5
365x3

Box Jumps- (not sure on height, about 2 feet or so... enough that I was winded)
3x10

[Black_Spit]

Somehow those box jumps seemed to jack up the back of my left knee...

It doesn't hurt to walk or do normal stuff, but only when I'm sitting and go to retract my lower leg. I've just been icing it and hoping it's something small. I skipped my deload squat day today, too as a precaution.

I've gone over my past routines and I think I've got a glaring hole where I've neglected my lower back and abs to a degree. Obviously I've had shoulder problems, too, so I want to address that too. So, I'm addressing lower back, abs, shoulders with face pulls and widening my bench press grip instead of just working around the problems by keeping a close grip on bench press. I think the extra ab and low back work will help get my squat moving again.

So, cycle/month 7 of 5/3/1:

Deadlift- 5/3/1 425 lb
Power Shrug- 5x5
Abs- 5x10

Bench Press- 5/3/1 305 lb
Press- 5/3/1 205 lb
Face Pulls- 5x10

Box Squat- 5/3/1 375 lb
Power Clean- 5/3/1 185 lb
Back Raises- 5x10

Still using a lower Deadlift training max than my actual max. My max has exceeded my training max for some time now... but, why change what's working, I guess? This is my first time I've used the 5/3/1 protocol for PCleans, so I'm starting lower than I could be for those, too.

Oh, and I just ordered some new EFS super heavy wrist wraps and heavy knee sleeves, so I'm kind of excited about that.

[Black_Spit]

Tough workout today. I was huffing and puffing after my deadlift sets. And my hands hurt like hell right now.

Deadlifts-
135x5
225x5

275x5
315x5
365x5 <<<5 rep PR>>>

Rip's Power Shrugs-
135x5
225x5
315x5
365x5
405x5

Abs (standing)-
5x10

Exercise Bike (lol)-
15 minutes

Neck work-
3x15 back/side/side

[Black_Spit]

Two PR's today. They were both tough, but, I got them. I'm particularly impressed with my OHP as I did it after a tough bench session. I wanted to experiment with the 5/3/1 for powerlifter scheme this time, so I did that today, and I'll probably do my 3 sets for Squats on Friday, too. I got my new EFS heavy wrist wraps in yesterday so I was able to break those in today. They'll take a little getting used to compared to the Inzer's I've been using, but I'll get used to them I'm sure. They actually hurt...

Traps are actually pretty sore from those Power Shrugs on Monday.

Bench Press-
45x5
135x5

205x3
245x3
275x3

285x1
295x1
305x1 <<<PR>>>

Olympic Press-
145x3
165x3
185x3

195x1
205x1 <<<PR>>>

Face Pulls-
5 (maybe 6, I lost count) x10

[Black_Spit]

I've been dicking around on squats for a couple of months now so I think I'm going to set it above where I originally had it before I deluded it a couple of months ago, and get a little progress going. Instead of just going up 10 lb's from the deload weight, I'm gonna set it at 405. I'll test out those new efs heavy knee sleeves tomorrow, too.

[Black_Spit]

Box Squat-
45x3
135x3
225x3

275x3 70%
315x3 80%
365x3 90%

Power Clean-
135x3 70%
150x3 80%
160x3 90%

Back Raises-
3x10 +45 lb

10 min exercise bike