PtReyesGreg's Workout Journal

[shaneinga]

Great run this weekend Greg. 7 miles is a heck of a distance to run.

It seems that Madcow and you are in a good agreement and you are making good progress. Nice squatting with that 5 @ 285.

Dead lift numbers look great as well.

[PtReyesGreg]

Great run this weekend Greg. 7 miles is a heck of a distance to run.

It seems that Madcow and you are in a good agreement and you are making good progress. Nice squatting with that 5 @ 285.

Dead lift numbers look great as well.

Thanks Shane. The run was definitely a good one. It was tough but very nice. I only passed one other person the whole time I was on the trail so that's always a treat.

I'm definitely liking Madcows although the linear weekly progression is starting to get tougher. I hope to milk it as long as I can to get my weights back up a bit before moving on.

I just wish I had deadlift numbers closer to yours...that would make me feel a lot better as I head towards the meet. Oh well I'll just keep plugging away and see where I wind up.

[TM79]

Nice work the last few days Shawn, I mean Greg. That elevation graph from your run looks fantastic to me. Honestly, if I could pick any course, that would be the elevation layout. Uphill first, then downhill. That rarely ends up being the case on my usual courses. Great workouts Sunday and Monday too. Some very impressive sets and the usual great combos and lots of volume. I LOL'd at your "Light Squat Day." More like "Heavy Deadlift Day with some Light Squats." Way to get it done my friend!

[RT1957]

This morning I completed Week 5 Workout B of "Madcows" as follows:

"Light Squat Day"

Superset:
Hypers 15, 15
Block Pull Deadlifts 5-155, 5-215, 5-255, 5-300, 5-340 (4" Block Pulls all sets)

Superset:
Deficit Deadlifts 3-255, 3-255, 3-255 (1.75" step all sets)
OHP 5-95, 5-105, 5-115, 5-125

Superset:
Squats 5-145, 5-185, 5-215, 5-215
Incline BP 5-135, 5-160, 5-185, 5-210


Bodyweight: 209.6 Pounds (Down 11.0 Pounds from 7/9)

Workout Duration: 42:32.53 minutes (with 1:00 rest between sets)

Good workout today. I'm gradually building my weights back up on the deads and am still using blocks to save my hips for the meet. I starting using some FSL sets with a deficit today as well to work on my strength off the floor.

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Thanks Shawn. Things definitely seem to be progressing now.

Bump this over..again I'm days behind the work put in...

[PtReyesGreg]

This morning I completed Week 5 Workout C of "Madcows" as follows:

Tri-set:
Hypers 15-0, 15-0
Bench Press 5-135, 5-165, 5-195, 5-225, 3-265, 5-225
Band Facepulls 20, 20, 20

Superset:
Squats 5-145, 5-185, 5-215, 5-250, 3-295, 5-225
Bent Over Rows 5-115, 5-135, 5-155, 5-185, 5-210, 8-165

Assistance Work: No Time


Bodyweight: 209.2 Pounds (Down 11.4 Pounds from 7/9)

Workout Duration: 48:54.76 (with 1:00 rest between sets)





Good workout today. My heavy set today on squats jumped from 285 last week to 295 this week for 3 reps so that was challenging. I have not been doing my mobility/yoga work lately so my hips were very sore and my depth wasn't as good as it has been. I was still happy with the 3 reps though. The bench felt strong too although the 3rd rep at 265 was tough. All in all, things are progressing.

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Nice work the last few days Shawn, I mean Greg. That elevation graph from your run looks fantastic to me. Honestly, if I could pick any course, that would be the elevation layout. Uphill first, then downhill. That rarely ends up being the case on my usual courses. Great workouts Sunday and Monday too. Some very impressive sets and the usual great combos and lots of volume. I LOL'd at your "Light Squat Day." More like "Heavy Deadlift Day with some Light Squats." Way to get it done my friend!

Thanks Shawn...I mean Trent. That run is definitely one of my favorites. It kicks my butt every time but in a good way. As we get into fall I plan on running it much more regularly and really trying to build up my hill strength and increase my pace on it.

Bump this over..again I'm days behind the work put in...

Thanks Ron.

[raynerd]

Weights are climbing Greg! Great job on the 265x3 bench, I could only swing that once today dammit! Good job on the 295 squat bump, always a bit intimidating when things get heavier but the more you get that weight on your back the better things get! Lots of strength there

[TM79]

Great job Greg! You definitely went for quality over quantity today, and that was some quality lifting alright! Still killing it on bench despite losing some weight too. Great work man!

[RT1957]

Great work Greg...those squats look like the Alan Thrall vid on how to LB squat!!...hip drive!!...strong bench work

[shaneinga]

Wow Greg, lots of heavy iron moved in that session. Those are some heavy triples. 295 didn't look to bad to me, and the 265 triple is something I have never done.

As far as your dead lifts, I think I just have good leverages for them. I wish I had your pushing strength.

Speaking of yoga, yeah we have been missing those hotties in the vids you posted in the past in here. Time to up your mobility game again soon.

[PtReyesGreg]

Yesterday morning I completed Week 6 Workout A of "Madcows" as follows:

Superset:
Hypers 15-0, 15-0
Band Facepulls 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 (switched to these after first couple of sets)
Bench Press 5-135, 5-165, 5-195, 5-230, 5-230, 5-230, 5-205, 5-205

Superset:
Squats 5-135, 5-160, 5-190, 3-225, 3-255, 5-285 (3+)
Bent Over Rows 5-115, 5-135, 5-165, 5-185, 5-215

Superset:
Multi-Grip Chins 5-25, 5-25, 5-25
Decline Situps 15, 15, 15


Bodyweight: 210.4 Pounds (Down 10.2 Pounds from 7/9)

Workout Duration: 52:13.43 minutes (with 1:00 rest between sets)

*******************

Weights are climbing Greg! Great job on the 265x3 bench, I could only swing that once today dammit! Good job on the 295 squat bump, always a bit intimidating when things get heavier but the more you get that weight on your back the better things get! Lots of strength there

Thanks Shawn. The weights definitely are moving back up again which is nice. I still have some room to grow prior to the meet in November and I'm hoping to make some good improvements over my meet last year. I just need to keep my focus and keep on pushing.

Great job Greg! You definitely went for quality over quantity today, and that was some quality lifting alright! Still killing it on bench despite losing some weight too. Great work man!

Thanks Trent. I'm happy that my bench strength seems to be making a comeback. I don't know if it was overtraining or what but my bench strength took a big dip for several months there. As long as it keeps progressing I'm happy.

Great work Greg...those squats look like the Alan Thrall vid on how to LB squat!!...hip drive!!...strong bench work

Thanks Ron. I've been trying to use the hip drive more although now for the most part when I'm doing it I try not to think about my form too much. I just drop down and let the body take over from the mind. When I over-think it my form starts sucking.

Wow Greg, lots of heavy iron moved in that session. Those are some heavy triples. 295 didn't look to bad to me, and the 265 triple is something I have never done.

As far as your dead lifts, I think I just have good leverages for them. I wish I had your pushing strength.

Speaking of yoga, yeah we have been missing those hotties in the vids you posted in the past in here. Time to up your mobility game again soon.

Hah! Honestly I've been missing the yoga hotties too.

I just need to keep plugging away on the deads. Of all the lifts the weight there tends to get into mind the most and I think my mind is limiting the growth. I start thinking about how "heavy" things are getting and then things start to feel heavy. I just need to keep working up slowly and fool the mind.

[mirroroferised]

You're going to destroy your last total Greg. Madcow is treating you well!

[raynerd]

Solid workout Greg, nice volume sets of 230 bench and 285x5 squats. Looking good

[PtReyesGreg]

This afternoon I completed Week 6 Workout B of "Madcows" as follows:

"Light Squat Day"

Superset:
Hypers 15, 15
Block Pull Deadlifts 5-155, 5-195, 5-245, 3-275, 3-315, 5-355 (4" Block Pulls all sets)

Superset:
FSL Deadlifts 3-275, 3-275, 3-275
Multi-Grip OHP 5-115, 5-115, 5-115

Superset:
Squats 5-150, 5-185, 5-220, 5-220


Bodyweight: 211.2 Pounds (Down 9.4 Pounds from 7/9) -- Had guests this weekend and did more carbing up than I should

Workout Duration: 38:25.93 minutes (with 1:00 rest between sets)

*******************

You're going to destroy your last total Greg. Madcow is treating you well!

Thanks Dave. I appreciate the enthusiasm and confidence. I'm certainly feeling good right now. I just want to keep the momentum going and hit it strong in November. Madcow is definitely doing me good. I like the exercise mix and progression...and for once I started my lifts low enough to actually allow me room to progress.

Solid workout Greg, nice volume sets of 230 bench and 285x5 squats. Looking good

Thanks Shawn. Both the bench and squats are feeling good right now so that's a big win.

[TM79]

Great job on that one Greg! Solid sets on the block pulls. I need to work some of those back in to help with my grip. I had to chalk my hands this morning to get 7x275.

[shaneinga]

Great benching Greg. Multiple sets of 5 at 230 is strong! Supersetting a BOR with anything is tough, but squats? You are a madman!

Light squat day had some heavy deads put in for good measure. It sounds like you had a good weekend of eats.

[raynerd]

Beauty pulls Greg, and nice work hitting squats for some extra volume!

[PtReyesGreg]

This morning I completed Week 6 Workout C of "Madcows" as follows:

Superset:
Hypers 15-0, 15-0
Band Facepulls 20, 20, 20, 20 (switched to these after first couple of sets)
Bench Press 5-135, 5-165, 5-195, 3-230, 3-270, 5-225

Superset:
Squats 5-150, 3-185, 3-225, 3-265, 3-300, 5-225
Bent Over Rows 5-115, 5-135, 5-165, 5-185, 5-215, 8-165

Superset:
French Press 8-65, 8-65, 8-65
Multi-Grip Chins 6-25, 6-25, 6-25


Bodyweight: 210.4 Pounds (Down 10.2 Pounds from 7/9) -- Still working off weight gain from the weekend

Workout Duration: 52:40.94 (with 1:00 rest between sets)

Good workout today. Originally I planned to run Madcows for 6 weeks and then switch over to JC if I was stalling. Things are still progressing, on Madcows, however so I'm going to continue running it. Don't get me wrong...things aren't easy with it, but I'm still hitting my heavy sets of 3 each week so I'll take that.





*******************

Great job on that one Greg! Solid sets on the block pulls. I need to work some of those back in to help with my grip. I had to chalk my hands this morning to get 7x275.

Thanks Trent. Yeah I really like the block pulls. My blocks are home-made with 4"x4"s. Pulling from 4" off the ground really reduces my hip pain while allowing me to get in some good work. I'm also trying to do FSL sets from a 1.75" defiicit as well to work my strength off the ground too. Hopefully that'll be a good combo in the long run.

Great benching Greg. Multiple sets of 5 at 230 is strong! Supersetting a BOR with anything is tough, but squats? You are a madman!

Light squat day had some heavy deads put in for good measure. It sounds like you had a good weekend of eats.

Thanks Shane. Yeah the Squat/BOR supersets aren't too bad. I'm huffing and puffing by the time I do my sets of BORs but otherwise I feel good doing them.

I definitely had a good weekend of eats...much too good actually. I'm still trying to get rid of the weight gain gifts that surplus gave me.

Beauty pulls Greg, and nice work hitting squats for some extra volume!

Thanks Shawn. Things are chugging along well right now. Just have to keep it going for another couple of months and I'll be in good shape heading into November.

[shaneinga]

Wow, hell of a workout Greg. Man, 3 x 270 on BP and then nailed a nice triple at 300 on squats. I am with you and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Might as well keep right on going with Madcows.

How did that 300 feel? The bar speed looked really good.

[PtReyesGreg]

Wow, hell of a workout Greg. Man, 3 x 270 on BP and then nailed a nice triple at 300 on squats. I am with you and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Might as well keep right on going with Madcows.

How did that 300 feel? The bar speed looked really good.

Thanks Shane. Yeah I definitely want to leave it alone as much as possible.

The only thing I've been modifying from the main plan is the Monday workout, which I've Wendler-ized a bit. The plan calls for 3 reps at your heaviest weight on Friday followed by 5 reps of that same weight on the following Monday. At my current weights that just isn't practical to gain 2 more reps over a couple of rest days. What I'm doing instead is doing 3 reps at my heaviest weight on Friday followed by 3 sets SSL and 2 sets FSL on the following Monday. So far this has been working well so I'll keep doing that.

The 300 felt good. It felt heavy but manageable. I think I've still got some room to progress in all of the big 3 which is great.

[raynerd]

Great session Greg! So strong on that 270x3 bench! Squats looked real good and very strong!
One small thing I wanted to mention, I can hear you still breathing in on your way down into the hole when u squat.
Try breathing in, forcing that air into the stomach before you move at all and hold that belly out hard, then begin. It's going to be hard as hell to get a full brace and breath while already moving with your hips broken already.
That alone will make your squats feel 2x as solid. I wasn't trying to nit pick, they looked great but if you maximize that brace I can see you adding much more to bar very quickly

[PtReyesGreg]

Great session Greg! So strong on that 270x3 bench! Squats looked real good and very strong!
One small thing I wanted to mention, I can hear you still breathing in on your way down into the hole when u squat.
Try breathing in, forcing that air into the stomach before you move at all and hold that belly out hard, then begin. It's going to be hard as hell to get a full brace and breath while already moving with your hips broken already.
That alone will make your squats feel 2x as solid. I wasn't trying to nit pick, they looked great but if you maximize that brace I can see you adding much more to bar very quickly

Thanks Shawn. I was definitely happy with the lifts on both the bench and squats. I think I've got some more room to progress on both of them...knock on wood.

I appreciate the feedback on the breathing on my way down. I never noticed that before but after you mentioned it I went back and re-watched the video and can definitely hear that I'm taking a breath going down on each rep. I'll make sure to give your method a try at my next squat session. I can see where better bracing will be an improvement. Thanks very much for pointing that out to me.

[RT1957]

Strong bench and squats Greg...row numbers are getting up there...great work as always!!

[TM79]

Excellent workout yesterday Greg! Nice and heavy on bench and squats and some good superset combos. You looked plenty strong on each of those videos. Losing weight and making gains. Where do I sign up? Good advice from Shawn on the breathing too. Glad to hear that the Madcow is still working. I'll be happily standing by to watch the gain train keep rolling!

[DocJekyll]

Big press and squat session. I enjoyed watching the 270 triple. Great bench!

[PtReyesGreg]

This morning I completed Week 7 Workout A of "Madcows" as follows:

Superset:
Hypers 15-25, 15-25
Band Facepulls 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 (switched to these after first couple of sets)
Bench Press 5-135, 5-165, 5-205, 5-240, 5-240, 5-240, 5-225

Superset:
Squats 5-150, 5-190, 5-225, 5-270, 5-270, 5-270, 5-255
Bent Over Rows 5-115, 5-135, 5-165, 5-190, 5-215

Superset:
Multi-Grip Chins 5-0, 5-35, 5-35, 5-35
Decline Situps 15, 15, 15, 15


Bodyweight: 206.6 Pounds (Down 14.0 Pounds from 7/9)

Workout Duration: 54:17.36 minutes (with 1:00 rest between sets)

Good workout today. Started week 7 of Madcows and so far so good. I did my 3 sets of SSL weights, 1 set of FSL, and 1 set of FSL +10% on both bench and squats to build up my strength and get ready for my next 3 rep max day (workout C) which will fall on Monday this week. Everything felt good. I'm trying to push my Chins a little more by bumping the weight up on those.

For squats, I focused on taking a breath before each rep and holding it during the descent and ascent. I've got a bad habit (that Shawn noticed) of breathing during the descent. It'll take me a while to fully break that habit but I paid attention to it today and holding my breath like that did make my squats feel a little stronger (and easier to reach depth) so that is good.

*******************

Strong bench and squats Greg...row numbers are getting up there...great work as always!!

Thanks Ron. Things are starting to fire on all cylinders so that is good. I'm hoping to keep building up my rows as far as I can. I'm also adding in more weighted chins to build up the back too.

Excellent workout yesterday Greg! Nice and heavy on bench and squats and some good superset combos. You looked plenty strong on each of those videos. Losing weight and making gains. Where do I sign up? Good advice from Shawn on the breathing too. Glad to hear that the Madcow is still working. I'll be happily standing by to watch the gain train keep rolling!

Thanks Trent. Yeah I want to keep the gain train going on lifting and the loss train going on bodyweight. So far both efforts are going well. As I've been watching calories and cutting down on carbs I've been eating more protein and fats and that seems to be helping me continue building strength. Knock on wood both trends will continue.

Big press and squat session. I enjoyed watching the 270 triple. Great bench!

Thanks Doc. The triple at 270 on bench felt good. I'm hoping to work back up and beat 300 at my meet in November. In my meet last December I hit 292 so I'll be curious to see where I wind up this time.

[RT1957]

Another strong session in the books...pushing some numbers around...looks like you've drop some good weight and kept up your strength

[PtReyesGreg]

Another strong session in the books...pushing some numbers around...looks like you've drop some good weight and kept up your strength

Thanks Ron. Today's workout was definitely a good one. I'm really enjoying the full-body mix of exercises. By the end of each of these workouts I definitely feel like I've gotten my money's worth.

[raynerd]

Beauty pressing with the 240x5's and and 270x5's squats! Building up some great intensity and volume! Rows and chins looked awesome as well!

[DocJekyll]

Im sure you'll get it if you keep progressing like you have been.

Nice workout today. Really good numbers on chest, squats and rows. Pretty demanding setup there!

[PtReyesGreg]

I've gotten out of the practice of logging all of my runs lately but figured I'd go ahead and log today's. This morning I ran 3.81 miles in 38m:28s for an avg pace of 10:06 min/mi on the loop road around my house. I'm doing tempo runs some of the time now and trying to get my times back around sub-9 minute miles. I climbed 175 total ft to a max elevation of 2417 ft and burned an estimated 685 kcal.

Elevation Profile:



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Beauty pressing with the 240x5's and and 270x5's squats! Building up some great intensity and volume! Rows and chins looked awesome as well!

Thanks Shawn. Yeah I was happy with the intensity and volume. I'm going to keep going with that and try to build up strength from both the bottom and top of my ranges.

Im sure you'll get it if you keep progressing like you have been.

Nice workout today. Really good numbers on chest, squats and rows. Pretty demanding setup there!

Thanks Doc. The setup is really agreeing with me right now. I'm happy with the progress and hope to keep it rolling.