Had a good last week of workouts. Good, not great. After the 315 x 13 I was feeling really optimistic and strong, but this last week was a little more humbling. That's not to say I didn't do well - I just didn't smash a bunch of PR's. But that's okay. I need to remember that focusing on building strength - moderate weight, moderate rep ranges, lots of volume - has made me the strongest I've been in a very long time. Strongest I've ever been? Not yet, not across the board. But I'm only just finishing my first cycle. In a couple more cycles, I'll be breaking Pr's without even trying. And that should be the goal, not constantly testing myself and never really improving.
Anyway, last thursday hit 295 x 5 front squat, which is only 20 lbs off my best 5 ever, but it was a tough 5, not a joke. I was hoping it would move nicer than it did.
Friday was the day after a celebratory night with friends, so I took it real easy and hit 185 for some sets of 12, mostly with a close grip. that was really about it for that workout.
Sunday I squatted. I felt surprisingly good after a long and busy weekend, but I suspect I ACTUALLY felt bad - but my strength has improved so much that bad feels good. Anyway, worked up to 365 and hit it for the maximum allowable reps, 4. It moved really nice, but the final rep was definitely tough. Again, my PR at that weight is 8 so I was hoping 4 would feel like a damn joke, but it didn't. Still, that doesn't mean what I'm doing isn't working. 365 x 4 is still one of the best sets I've ever had at that weight.
Monday I benched. I decided to take the weight up to 225. I'm getting sick of moving 185 for tons of reps, and I've already moved it for a set of 20 so I feel okay making the jump to 225. The workout went really well, I hit 225 for a touch n go set of 7 - unfortunately failed the 8th rep. But that ties my PR. Then, I hit it for 4 more sets of 6, pausing the final rep of each set. So that was definitely more volume than I've ever hit at 225. So what I was doing at 185 clearly worked - now my challenge is to find a way to mimic that style of training, with a weight I can't throw around as easily. I want to start incorporating variations in grip width, range of motion, and keeping my feet up ASAP, but I'm not sure how well I will be able to handle those things at this weight. I'm thinking I might start playing around with variations, using sets of 5 - 6's moved really well so hopefully 5's will be manageable, even with variations. I'm nervous to be changing what I'm doing, but ultimately hopeful. Bench is feeling good.
Tuesday I did a bunch of sets of 20 pushups, feet way elevated. I want to keep incorporating lots of pushups, but I want to stat using more challenging variations so I can increase force production and build more muscle with less reps - the reps were starting to get a little ridiculous.
Finally, today I front squatted 335 for a tough single, then did a bunch of powercleans, up to 225 for a handful of reps. Again, I wish 335 was a joke but it wasn't. Still, that's the best front squat I have hit in a long long time, AND my wednesdays are really hard so I suspect that has a significant impact on my lifting this day. The powercleans at 225 were pretty cool though. I don't know exactly how much they will help my deadlift, but I know that speed work always does my deadlift good, so I feel like incorporating more powercleans could be useful. Also, I just think it's generally badass to be able to throw around 225 on a whim. I'd love to be able to do that with 315.
Last thought of the day: I really need to be working more on my upper back. It's probably a big part of the reason front squat feels bad and it'll help my bench too. For a while there I was doing back first every single upper body day, but then I got caught up benching. It's time to re-commit to the back work. That means starting every bench day with back - even if the bench workout suffers, it doesn't REALLY suffer. Performing worse in any one workout doesn't mean I'm not building strength. Also, I may want to start doing more back - heavy variations for deadlift as well - snatch deads come to mind, I used to use those a lot when I was stronger than I am now. Anyway, more back. Lets keep at it
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Squat Gainz: 315 x 13
Had a good couple workouts since my last post. Right now, I'm feeling absolutely demolished, so I think I need to take the next couple days off and rest up. But overall I'm doing really well.
Saturday I probably should have rested, but I got into benching with some friends. I focused mainly on doing some close pushups and biceps work, but I also hit some bench - I took my first real crack at 225 in a long time, and it moved REAL nicely. I hit it for 2 very solid (I hesitate to say easy, so I'll stick with solid) sets of 5. That is indicative of serious gains, especially considering that I had just hit a ton of reps at 185 the day before.
Sunday, I crushed a squat workout. I was supposed to work in the 4-6 rep range, and the plan was to go up to 315 for the first time in a long time. I figured I would belt up, hit it for a set of 4 at the very least, and if I was feeling good hit it for a few sets, or a few sets of 6 before dropping back. Well, The first set moved like a joke and I hit 6, second set same deal. So I got my buddy to film me on set 3 and just kept squatting. Ended up hitting an easy 13 reps, which is an all time PR. I could barely believe it - I have been squatting with extremely moderate weights, not pushing myself very hard, and just focusing on lots of volume at moderate weights, with back off sets where I changed stance width, paused reps, etc. I didn't expect to hit a PR at all, but clearly what I'm doing has been working really well. So, I need to keep doing what I'm doing - moderation. Moderate weights, don't push too hard, but hit a lot of volume and a lot of squat variations, maintaining speed and athleticism. My only criticism of the video is that I'm not going as deep as I would like - I think all the reps are to parallel, but I prefer depth to be unquestionable. So I'm going to try and sink the reps a little more in the future. Still, that set of 13 was cake, I definitely left some in the tank. I am getting much stronger.
Finally, today I hit about 8 sets of 30 pushups, all different variations. Pushups are what got my bench moving, so I am going to continue to devote a lot of training time and energy to pushup variations. I feel like they are building strength, size, pressing power, and athleticism in all different positions. Also hit some rear delt flyes and biceps. Overall, however, I felt awful today. No motivation, sore, exhausted. Still, made it through the workout. So, time to rest up a bit and feel better.
What I'm doing is working very well. Lets keep the focus and not lose sight of what is working. And, lets keep at it.
Saturday I probably should have rested, but I got into benching with some friends. I focused mainly on doing some close pushups and biceps work, but I also hit some bench - I took my first real crack at 225 in a long time, and it moved REAL nicely. I hit it for 2 very solid (I hesitate to say easy, so I'll stick with solid) sets of 5. That is indicative of serious gains, especially considering that I had just hit a ton of reps at 185 the day before.
Sunday, I crushed a squat workout. I was supposed to work in the 4-6 rep range, and the plan was to go up to 315 for the first time in a long time. I figured I would belt up, hit it for a set of 4 at the very least, and if I was feeling good hit it for a few sets, or a few sets of 6 before dropping back. Well, The first set moved like a joke and I hit 6, second set same deal. So I got my buddy to film me on set 3 and just kept squatting. Ended up hitting an easy 13 reps, which is an all time PR. I could barely believe it - I have been squatting with extremely moderate weights, not pushing myself very hard, and just focusing on lots of volume at moderate weights, with back off sets where I changed stance width, paused reps, etc. I didn't expect to hit a PR at all, but clearly what I'm doing has been working really well. So, I need to keep doing what I'm doing - moderation. Moderate weights, don't push too hard, but hit a lot of volume and a lot of squat variations, maintaining speed and athleticism. My only criticism of the video is that I'm not going as deep as I would like - I think all the reps are to parallel, but I prefer depth to be unquestionable. So I'm going to try and sink the reps a little more in the future. Still, that set of 13 was cake, I definitely left some in the tank. I am getting much stronger.
Finally, today I hit about 8 sets of 30 pushups, all different variations. Pushups are what got my bench moving, so I am going to continue to devote a lot of training time and energy to pushup variations. I feel like they are building strength, size, pressing power, and athleticism in all different positions. Also hit some rear delt flyes and biceps. Overall, however, I felt awful today. No motivation, sore, exhausted. Still, made it through the workout. So, time to rest up a bit and feel better.
What I'm doing is working very well. Lets keep the focus and not lose sight of what is working. And, lets keep at it.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Bench 185 x 20
It's been a good week of training. Very cold out in the garage, but I'm surviving. Yesterday, I hit front squats. I tackled 275 beltless again yesterday, did a pyramid up from one to 4 reps, tried to hit a final set of 5 but I could only manage 4. Which was a little annoying, but at the same time it was significantly more volume at 275 than last week, when I only hit one set of 4. I think it's time to start belting up again. I need my legs to be growing, and the belt just allows me to use so much more weight. I'm still going to be careful to keep the load reasonable though, to work on athleticism and building, not just testing strength. Also, I hit some deadlift assistance at 225 - just trying to work the middle of the movement a lot, with half-and-half deadlifts, still leg deads, and 2 deadlifts with a 10-second pause off the ground.
Today was bench day, and I tentatively decided to do another rep-out at 185. My short term goal these last few weeks has been to hit 185 for 20-25 reps, then work my way up to 225 and try and start throwing that around for reps. I was tentative about repping out 185 because I have been doing a good job of keeping my focus on building the lift, through rep work, bench variations, pushups, bodybuilding work for biceps and back, etc. So, I worry about testing my bench cause I don't want to get into the habit of getting all worked up and focused on testing strength, when it is clearly increasing. However, on the other hand I don't want testing my strength to become this big bad taboo and scary thing, so I just went for it. Ended up hitting a set of 20. Here's the weird thing: I failed rep 17 because I was trying to maintain touch n go, and I think that my triceps are just too weak for that. They tire out too quickly for me to sustain touch n go. However, after failing 17 I switched to paused reps, taking a few seconds to rest at the bottom, and managed another 4 reps. So I hit the big Two-Oh, which is a 3 rep PR. However, I feel kind of annoyed by the failure. It makes me feel like I'm sneaking out those last few reps, like I haven;t actually gotten stronger, I just figured out a gimmick that allows me to sneak out more reps. Obviously that's pretty stupid, but we are always hyper critical of ourselves.
Next, I hit 5 x 10 floor press at 185, to target my triceps more specifically. I decided to do this after noticing that floor press was a real weakness of mine - a few weeks ago I hit floor press at 185 and a set of 6 was challenging. Since then, I've hit it a few times, and today I was able to do my 5 x 10, even after that set of 20. So that is some clear improvement. I still think I need to be really focusing a little more on my triceps, they seem to be the weak link. I'm going to try and do more close-grip variations when I bench and do pushups, and maybe even add in a little specific tricep work. Hopefully in another few weeks I can hit that 185 for 22-23 reps, and then I think it would be time to work my way up to 225 and make that my new working weight.
Speaking of 225, I did something stupid today. After the 70 reps at 185, I put 225 on the bar and took a swing at it. I benched it for a regular single, a feet-up touch n go single, and a feet up paused single. The first rep moved nice, but the others were a little slow and tough, and that really ground my gears. That, combined with the failure on rep 17, makes me feel like what I'm doing isn't working. Which is completely stupid. Of course 225 didn't move great. First of all, I haven't handed that weight in a long time. I need to be prepared that, even though I'm getting much stronger with what I'm doing, I'll still need to adjust when I switch to heavier weights. The movement will feel a little different for sure, the weight will feel heavy. However, after a few workouts with the new weight it will start to feel comfortable again and I can start to treat it with the same confidence and control with which I have come to treat 185. Secondly, I hit 225 AFTER 70 reps at 185, 50 of which were specifically targeting my triceps. Of course 225 didn't move like a dream. But it is going to feel significantly different once I am fresh and taking a crack at it.
So, I think I'm gonna try and take a little bit of distance from benching. Put some focus on pushups, triceps and biceps for a couple workouts, try and get those arms growing and get my speed and athleticism up. I'll hit another couple bench workouts at 185, try and take it up from sets of 10 to sets of 12 to increase the difficulty and practice dat stamina, and I'm gonna focus on close grip or tricep-dominant variations. Then, I'll bang out another PR set of 23 or so before February is over, and start working my way up to 225. Lets keep at it folks.
Today was bench day, and I tentatively decided to do another rep-out at 185. My short term goal these last few weeks has been to hit 185 for 20-25 reps, then work my way up to 225 and try and start throwing that around for reps. I was tentative about repping out 185 because I have been doing a good job of keeping my focus on building the lift, through rep work, bench variations, pushups, bodybuilding work for biceps and back, etc. So, I worry about testing my bench cause I don't want to get into the habit of getting all worked up and focused on testing strength, when it is clearly increasing. However, on the other hand I don't want testing my strength to become this big bad taboo and scary thing, so I just went for it. Ended up hitting a set of 20. Here's the weird thing: I failed rep 17 because I was trying to maintain touch n go, and I think that my triceps are just too weak for that. They tire out too quickly for me to sustain touch n go. However, after failing 17 I switched to paused reps, taking a few seconds to rest at the bottom, and managed another 4 reps. So I hit the big Two-Oh, which is a 3 rep PR. However, I feel kind of annoyed by the failure. It makes me feel like I'm sneaking out those last few reps, like I haven;t actually gotten stronger, I just figured out a gimmick that allows me to sneak out more reps. Obviously that's pretty stupid, but we are always hyper critical of ourselves.
Next, I hit 5 x 10 floor press at 185, to target my triceps more specifically. I decided to do this after noticing that floor press was a real weakness of mine - a few weeks ago I hit floor press at 185 and a set of 6 was challenging. Since then, I've hit it a few times, and today I was able to do my 5 x 10, even after that set of 20. So that is some clear improvement. I still think I need to be really focusing a little more on my triceps, they seem to be the weak link. I'm going to try and do more close-grip variations when I bench and do pushups, and maybe even add in a little specific tricep work. Hopefully in another few weeks I can hit that 185 for 22-23 reps, and then I think it would be time to work my way up to 225 and make that my new working weight.
Speaking of 225, I did something stupid today. After the 70 reps at 185, I put 225 on the bar and took a swing at it. I benched it for a regular single, a feet-up touch n go single, and a feet up paused single. The first rep moved nice, but the others were a little slow and tough, and that really ground my gears. That, combined with the failure on rep 17, makes me feel like what I'm doing isn't working. Which is completely stupid. Of course 225 didn't move great. First of all, I haven't handed that weight in a long time. I need to be prepared that, even though I'm getting much stronger with what I'm doing, I'll still need to adjust when I switch to heavier weights. The movement will feel a little different for sure, the weight will feel heavy. However, after a few workouts with the new weight it will start to feel comfortable again and I can start to treat it with the same confidence and control with which I have come to treat 185. Secondly, I hit 225 AFTER 70 reps at 185, 50 of which were specifically targeting my triceps. Of course 225 didn't move like a dream. But it is going to feel significantly different once I am fresh and taking a crack at it.
So, I think I'm gonna try and take a little bit of distance from benching. Put some focus on pushups, triceps and biceps for a couple workouts, try and get those arms growing and get my speed and athleticism up. I'll hit another couple bench workouts at 185, try and take it up from sets of 10 to sets of 12 to increase the difficulty and practice dat stamina, and I'm gonna focus on close grip or tricep-dominant variations. Then, I'll bang out another PR set of 23 or so before February is over, and start working my way up to 225. Lets keep at it folks.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Honor Never Dies
"If I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven. Such is the rule of Honor"
-Lamb of God.
So, it's been over 6 months since my last post. This blog used to be one of my favorite things to do, and keeping it was one of my proudest accomplishments. I wanted to chronicle my journey, in the hopes that one day I would achieve great enough things that it would be a joy to look back at this. And, perhaps I would achieve great enough things that others would look back at it too and see my whole journey.
However, this last year provides an important lesson: life gets in the way. Life will knock you down. And my absence from this space is, in a way, an accurate summary of my journey the last year. I haven't been all here, mentally or physically. I've been dealing with injuries to my back, my knee.... And I've been dealing with issue much more difficult and limiting than physical injuries.
I was fortunate enough for the first few years of my journey to never hit a real stumbling block. I was privileged. I didn't understand how people could accept plateaus and stagnation. These experiences I've had over the past year have helped me to see the other side of the coin. But they have also taught me that doing what I do, every single day, is still a choice. A difficult one. There will be times when just hanging on for dear life is all you can ask. But I've shown myself that I can do that. I might not be through the woods yet, but for the first time in a long time I am seeing things more clearly. Great things are forged in the crucible of suffering. More suffering may be to come, but all that means is more greatness in the end.
I'm not going to return to writing here every workout, I don't think that's possible right now. But I'm going to try and begin to document my training again, even if that means just a post every week or two. I'll try to keep this blog current with big PR's, videos, news, etc.
Right now, I am in the middle of a slow build. All my lifts are feeling very strong, but I am doing a lot of work in the middle rep ranges with moderate weights. I'm trying to move everything with speed and athleticism, and just feel as comfortable and confident as possible. I have some big goals in mind for about 4 months from now - perhaps the most ambitious and important of which is to finally bench 315. Bench has been a weakness of mine for years, and I think it might be time for me to finally vanquish that weakness. Here's a video from todays high-rep session. Thanks for checking it out - I'll be around folks.
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