Max bench

I'm very tired today. Don't know why but I just don't have much in me.

Warmed up, then started benching up heavy. Hit the bar and 95 for a bunch, then 135 for 5, 165 for 2. Then I hit 185 for an easy single. Jumped to 205, and hit that: it wasn't easy, but not TOO hard. A very solid rep. I thought about calling it there, but decided I had a good chance at 210. Put that on, and it pretty much stapled me. Not sure what happened, I should have BARELY missed that weight if I did miss it, not gotten wrecked by it... but still, 205 isn't bad for maxing out after all the benching I did yesterday.

After that, I did a superset of my weird pressing movement with 75 lbs and band bicep curls, but my heart wasn't really in it. I was tired and I got a headache again towards the end of the sets, and just felt shitty all around.

Overall, uneventful day. Hopefully I will recover and feel better tomorrow for heavy squats.

Heavy Bench day.

Realized how funny it is that I titled this post "heavy bench day," because technically I have three of those a week now. Also, three heavy squat days a week. Hahahaha. Anyways, today was  a pretty good day, with one bad thing - I tweaked my neck while overhead pressing, which was no biggie, until after my last set of pullups, where I dropped down and immediately was hit by a headache so intense that I was writhing on the ground in pain for about 3 minutes. It was pretty horrible, but I'm pretty sure I just had too much tension in my neck - that coupled with exhaustion/strain on that last set just set my brain off. Don't think it's anything to worry about, but MAN did that suck. HOWEVER, other than that it was a pretty good day hahaha. 

Wow, HUGE fucker

Started with bench. Didn't feel great today, had trouble getting the bench and bar in the right position, and it was throwing my setup off at first. Hit 145 for 3, then 170 for three, then loaded up to 190 and was pleasantly surprised: hit it for an easy three, then a hard fourth rep. And honestly, that 4th rep was SLOPPY for no real reason: I just kind of got out of the groove and had to really work to get it up. However, I think if that rep had been cleaner, I would have moved it nice and fast and might have even attempted a 5th rep, that's how good the first three felt. This is a pretty cool thing, considering last month I only got 185 for 4, then last week I only got 180 for 5. Tweaking my setup a little and making sure I'm not dizzy under the weight really makes a difference. 

Next, I rested a shitload, then started my 5 x 10 bench at 135. It went even better this week: keeping to the 90 seconds rest, I got 4 sets of 10 and then on the final set, got 9 reps. Wish so much that I had been able to get that final rep, but it's okay; gives me something to work for next week. 

Next, rowed the 110 dumbbell for 30 reps each side. This was good, not exactly all out, but pretty hard and blew up my back. 

Next, overhead pressed 115 for max reps (9), then 95 for max (9) and then 75 for max (12). Tweaked my neck, like I said, but overall these felt good, although pretty hard cause of all the benching. 

Finally, did 3 sets of kipped pullups. Went hard on the first set, and got 20 reps, then 15, then 12 on the final set, before I was crippled by shooting brain pain. 

Overall, a pretty awesome workout. I'm excited to max bench tomorrow. Fuck bitches get money. 

Squat things to fix

Talked to a friend about some little things with my squat form that could make a big difference when it comes to progress. First of all, the bar moves around a lot on my back, which is no revelation. But he suggested actually changing my grip on the bar, wrapping my thumbs and forcing my wrists to neutral, which might help keep the bar from moving. Furthermore, he told me that every time I squat, the bar is tilted slightly on my back, about 6 or seven degrees, which I should obviously fix (although it will be tricky because I can't really feel it). Furthermore, another reason for the bar moving is the fact that, at the bottom of the rep, I tend to jerk my head back, which makes the bar roll. This also is a problem in and of itself - because I throw my head back in order to arch hard against the bar, is in a broken position, which is never ideal. I need to work on correcting this, keeping my head neutral throughout the movement. Not sure how I got into this bad habit - Josh thinks that it might have to do with my abs/core being the weak link in my squat, and so instead of keeping a stable, neutral spine throughout the movement I throw my head back and arch hard in order to compensate for my possible weaknesses. Won't know until I fix it I guess.

HOPEFULLY, I can fix both the bar movement problem and my broken position without taking any hits to my strength. If I'm lucky, I will be able to work on/fix both of these things without having to take my weights down, and when they are fixed they will help me progress better. I'll just have to focus on them best I can on all my warmup/lighter sets, and make sure I do my 5 x 10 with all beautiful reps (to avoid reinforcing bad habits). That, in conjunction with some hard and heavy ab work, to make sure that my core is not a weak point, and I should slowly but surely be able to right these little issues with technique and make my squat better and stronger.

We will see.

275 squats

Today was an awesome day. Felt like an animal, fucked shit up, and was very happy with my workout. 

Started with 5/3/1 squats. Hit 3 reps at 215, then 3 at 245. Both sets were solid, but my weight was shifting a little forward for whatever reason. Anyways, loaded 275 on the bar and hit it for 10 reps. It was a very solid set. Had a couple rough reps, one in particular where I came really forward and was very quad dominant, but overall it was a great set and I may have had a rep in the tank, although it would have been close. This is pretty awesome: 275 was my 1 rep about 6 months ago, and my 5 rep about 3 months ago. Even though my "Max squat" has been floating around 315 - 325 for the last couple months, this sort of insane progress on my heavy rep stuff shows me that I am getting much stronger. I've just got to keep at it, and by the end of the summer I'll rest up and have a REAL test of my max squat. I'm very excited - 365 is a VERY lofty goal, but who knows what could happen. 

Next up were speed deads. Did these at 245 today off the floor for 10 sets of 2, and they felt awesome. Moved nice and fast. 265 is going to be tough and slow, but that's kind of the point. I'm excited, I think these are very good. 

Finally, did my squats with 185. Felt like an animal doing these today, hit it for 4 sets of 10 and then a 5th set of 17, which wasn't even that horrible. Last week this weight was pretty tough, so I'm happy I FUCKED this up this week. Ended with 3 sets of 30 reps of ghd situps. 

Overall, great day. I'm thinking maybe I'll take it a little easier next monday, I'll try and hit 290 for 4 or 5 instead of pushing to a max. But then again, who knows how I will feel in the moment? We will see. 

Run

Had a nice little run today. Without warming up, I ran a distance that is just about a half mile - if I'm keeping myself completely honest, I think it is just under a half mile, just so I don't feel too content with my times. I timed this first, easy run (I'd say it was at about 65), and it was 3:45. Then, I warmed up properly, did some dynamic stretching and rested up for 5 or so minutes, and ran the same distance pretty hard, I would say 90 - 95%, and got 2:55. I'm pretty happy with that - that tells me that my half-mile time is probably just over three minutes, which is pretty damn good. It made me feel like I should get to work on hitting a 6 minute mile soon - If i can do a half mile at 6 minute pace, why not a mile? I thought up a progression - next week, i'll do 3 400's at 6 minute mile pace. Week after that, an 800 and then a 400 at 6 minute mile pace, then the week after a 1200 at 6 minute mile pace. Obviously, I will have to add more weeks in based on how hard the three 400's feel, but maybe I will try (running only once a week) to get my mile time down to sub-6. If I could tie my mile PR running no more than once a week, 30 lbs heavier and significantly leaner than when I originally did it, that would be amazing. But mayeb I'll change my mind, I'm not married to the idea yet. We will see.

Max Squat + Squat Lockouts

Today was a great day. Re-fueled a shitload after yesterdays tiring workout, making full use of my cheat meals, and came into the gym full of sugar and ready to rip today.

Worked up fast today (as I am going to try and make my habit on saturdays). Hit the bar for 2 sets of 10, then 135 for 10, and 225 for 5. I hit 275 for one single that felt alright - I thought about hitting it again but then said fuck it and just threw 315 on the bar. Hit that with the belt, then put up 325 and after some rest, hit that. It was hard, but not as tough as it was on thursday, which is pretty cool. I thought about hitting it again, but decided against it. I think I'll wait till next thursday, try to hit 325 again, and if it feels solid, then maybe try and hit it for a second single. If I can do that, then it might be time to attempt 335 again. We will have to see how it feels.

Next I did some squat lockouts. I had trouble finding the proper height and stuff, but overall these went well. Did 95, 135, 185 and 225 for sets of 10 (sort of touch and go) then did 225 for a set of 5 more "paused" reps, then 275 for 5 (which was VERY hard last time I did these, but not bad this time). Then, put 315 on. Did it for a single that wasn't too bad, but the bar was a little low on my back, so I re-set with it higher and failed the rep. So I took time to rest, hit it again, and was able to stand it up. It's tough to get into proper position and make sure I'm using the right muscles with these, but overall I think they are really good, and I am going to continue doing them on saturdays.

Overall, A good day. Happy that I hit 325 again. Also, put my belt on the lowest hole today hahaha. I'm getting downright skinny. But hey, as long as I'm getting stronger, lean is VERY good.

Hahaha

Today was a pretty bad day in the gym. But not bad in an angry way, more bad in a funny way. I still did pretty well on my strength stuff, but I was out late last night at a gymnastics gym with some friends, running around and flipping and whatnot, and had pretty much NO gas today.

This is cool though

Started with benching 180 for sets of 3. It was going pretty well on the minute, until I got to set 8 (last month I just barely got this set, then had to rest extra to get set 9). This month, I just barely missed the last rep of this set. So, I rested a few minutes, re-did set 8, and then rested a few minutes more and hit set 9. Although I wanted to keep doing these Chaos and Pain bench workouts on the minute for as long as I could, I think the time has come that the weight is just getting too heavy to do them on the minute. So, starting next week, I'll just try and get through all 9 sets as fast as I can - but with the focus on just getting all the reps, rather than any specific rest period. Hopefully, this change will mean that I can continue doing these Chaos and Pain style workouts for a LONG time without having any trouble. We will see.

So Jaime, It's the end of me doing your workouts on the minute. Lets see where they take me now

Next up was 5/3/1 overhead press, but unfortunately this is where "Im fucking exhausted" set in. I just felt like shit, was moving slow, and resting like 10 minutes between sets. It was bad. Hit 105 for 5, then 120 for 5 and almost passed out for whatever fucking reason. Then, hit 135 for 5. It would have been nice to get it for 6, but honestly I'm not going to complain about 5, especially on a day where I 1) feel like a bats asshole and 2) do a SHITLOAD of heavy pressing beforehand. I worked back down, and hit 120 for 6 paused reps, and 105 for 8.

Next were pendelay rows, which were complete shit. Did 3 sets of 10 at 185.

Then, Dumbell bench. Did 3 sets to failure with 50's, think I hit 16 or so on the first set.

Finally, ended with kroc rows. I actually psyched up pretty well for these, and hit a set of 35 each side with the 90's. Considering I was pretty tired, this felt like it hit my back pretty hard and I was happy
with it.

Overall, not a great day, but my heavy benching and heavy pressing went well so I can't really complain. Looking forward to some big cheating today, hopefully that will help re-fuel me significantly for tomorrow and (more importantly) next week.