Upper body warm-up
DE Kipless Hang "Clean and Jerk":
1x8 empty bar
1x3 55lbs
1x3 65lbs
8x3 75lbs
RE Upright Row:
3x12 85lbs
Horizontal Pull:
3x12 Inverted Row (Feet below chest)
Horizontal Push:
3x10 2x40lbs Incline DB Bench
Crazy-Awesome-BB-Finisher:
3x15 45lbs Strict curl
3x10 2x25 Hammer curl
1x15 Handstand push-ups
---
Okay, in some ways, today hurt my pride. This is easily the "lightest weight" day I've ever had in the gym, period. Every exercise I picked, and every format of that exercise, there is no way I could've done heavier properly. But in another way, this has also been one of the most productive days in the gym ever. I chose my DE movement based on the fact that I didn't want to do a ballistic bench or an explosive pull-up. I remember that DeFranco often has athletes "clean and jerk" a log while using as minimal a kip from the hips as possible to make it purely an explosive arm exercise (or at least mostly). So then it cemented it: I would do that with the barbell (it would've been easier with the log cause of the neutral grip, tbh). So it's not actually a C&J, hence the quotation marks... But I've never seen this movement actually named before. DeFranco normally just calls it a C&J, but it's so obviously not... that bugs me to hell. Lol. So I think I'll jsut go and call it a Kipless C&J since that fits best. In any case, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do this movement heavy. The second you get remotely heavy, your arms just can't do it anymore without a kip. So the second that I started to feel myself kip a tiny bit, I stopped adding weight. By the end, I was giving little kips with each movement from fatigue, but it wasn't much at all.
This has easily become one of my favourite dynamic upper body exercises. Considering how low the volume was, it's surprising to me just how out of breath I got! My deltoids were feeling warm and my lungs were sucking in air. It takes a lot out of you. But more than that, you just feel powerful as crap.
The upright row, I may have been able to do heavier if I hadn't fried my deltoids with the C&J. So this was ridiculously light weight... But the point is rep effort, right? So I cranked out a high volume of reps and left it at that. The inverted rows, I intended to do until failure. I did not expect these to be as hard as they were. The first 6 or so are easy and you power through them... But having your legs higher than your torso means you're pulling most of your weight.. and you fatigue really quickly. And then there was incline bench.. nothign much to report htere.
Now, my finisher... I'm going to admit, the only reason that finisher is there is because I'm vain as shit and I want to look good naked. So I killed my biceps. And then I noticed that my deltoids are tiny compared to the rest of my arm (something that's always bugged me, tbh), and Mac's gym has been reorganized, giving me a fresh wall to use... So I did a set of HSPUs to failure on the wall. That sucked. Like a bitch. Deltoids fried+HSPUs=Deltoids want to kill you.
Good day. I need to do more high-volume days like this more often.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
ME Deadlifts/DE Box Squats/Parkour
Lower body warm-up
ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x4 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x2 275lbs
1x1 315lbs
5x1 335lbs
DE Box Squats:
8x3 175lbs
Unilateral:
3x6 135lbs reverse lunges, each leg
Weighted Abs
---
Phew... Okay, well, the good news is that I didn't go mixed grip until 315 and I didn't go false-grip until the third set at 335. However... Man, that was heavy. I know going for 345 next week is going to be a battle and a half. I'm definitely reaching my limit as far as the DL goes. But I also dropped to 152 again, so... Man, I just need to gain some fucking weight. I know it's the whole.. no real food thing.. that's causing the weight drop, but it's annoying nonetheless.
Parkour was interesting. Adis and his friend showed, no one else. We warmed up with a circuit using the Life Sciences building. Wasn't too bad and I got an idea of their conditioning level. CNH remains under construction, so we did some jumps at the ArtSci rock field, then went on to the rails by BSB. I showed them a short run, got them to try to drill it and glue all the pieces together, then worked a little on their specific weaknesses. Because Adis was a little weak on his kongs, I took them to the ledge at the Refectory to work on that a little. He couldn't stop zombie-walking. Then, at the next pair of rails near the Refectory, I gave them a few two-shotters to drill. They had to go and I went on my own to the new spot near the Cootes crosswalk... It now has a name: Heather's Place.
I drilled some jumps. One particular jump, every time I do it, I don't think I'm going to make it, but I magically land on it anyhow. Using one of the street rails, I used our CNH single-rail combo and then ADDED consecutive jumps to it. This works much better and I think it'll be a good parting gift to the Hamilton community.. It's fluid and incorporates vaults, balance, and jumps all into one seamless package. Hopefully, someone a bit more skilled shows up next week to learn it, add to it, and keep it alive for all the newcomers.
Also, I seem to have aggravated my heel again. I'm never going to be back to good. :(
ME Deadlifts:
1x5 135lbs
1x4 185lbs
1x3 225lbs
1x2 275lbs
1x1 315lbs
5x1 335lbs
DE Box Squats:
8x3 175lbs
Unilateral:
3x6 135lbs reverse lunges, each leg
Weighted Abs
---
Phew... Okay, well, the good news is that I didn't go mixed grip until 315 and I didn't go false-grip until the third set at 335. However... Man, that was heavy. I know going for 345 next week is going to be a battle and a half. I'm definitely reaching my limit as far as the DL goes. But I also dropped to 152 again, so... Man, I just need to gain some fucking weight. I know it's the whole.. no real food thing.. that's causing the weight drop, but it's annoying nonetheless.
Parkour was interesting. Adis and his friend showed, no one else. We warmed up with a circuit using the Life Sciences building. Wasn't too bad and I got an idea of their conditioning level. CNH remains under construction, so we did some jumps at the ArtSci rock field, then went on to the rails by BSB. I showed them a short run, got them to try to drill it and glue all the pieces together, then worked a little on their specific weaknesses. Because Adis was a little weak on his kongs, I took them to the ledge at the Refectory to work on that a little. He couldn't stop zombie-walking. Then, at the next pair of rails near the Refectory, I gave them a few two-shotters to drill. They had to go and I went on my own to the new spot near the Cootes crosswalk... It now has a name: Heather's Place.
I drilled some jumps. One particular jump, every time I do it, I don't think I'm going to make it, but I magically land on it anyhow. Using one of the street rails, I used our CNH single-rail combo and then ADDED consecutive jumps to it. This works much better and I think it'll be a good parting gift to the Hamilton community.. It's fluid and incorporates vaults, balance, and jumps all into one seamless package. Hopefully, someone a bit more skilled shows up next week to learn it, add to it, and keep it alive for all the newcomers.
Also, I seem to have aggravated my heel again. I'm never going to be back to good. :(
Friday, July 24, 2009
ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups
Upper body warm-up
ME Seated overhead press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
3x5 115lbs
DE Pull-ups:
4x1 muscle-up, 3 pull-ups
2x4 pull-ups
Horizontal Push:
3x6 2x65lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row
Elbow flexion:
4xF 45lbs seated EZ curls
---
Probably not the best idea to go to failure four times on my biceps... immediately after relatively heavy rows.. that had followed 24 pull-ups... when I'm going climbing tomorrow.. BUT.. we'll see what happens.
ME Seated overhead press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
3x5 115lbs
DE Pull-ups:
4x1 muscle-up, 3 pull-ups
2x4 pull-ups
Horizontal Push:
3x6 2x65lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row
Elbow flexion:
4xF 45lbs seated EZ curls
---
Probably not the best idea to go to failure four times on my biceps... immediately after relatively heavy rows.. that had followed 24 pull-ups... when I'm going climbing tomorrow.. BUT.. we'll see what happens.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
DE Squats/RE Deadlifts
Lower body warm-up
DE Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
1x3 155lbs
8x3 165lbs
RE Deadlifts:
4x10 205lbs
Unilateral:
3x8 2x45lbs lunges, each leg
Calves:
4x8 260lb standing raise, different positions
Weighted abs
---
DEADLIFTS. KICKED. MY. ASS. TODAY.
The entire time in the gym, I was huffing for air. Probably due to all the (censored) I (censored) this week and last. On the bright side... 205 feels light as crap, now. Next week starts a max phase with the deadlift, so maybe (if my grip can handle it) I put on another 10-20lbs on DL! That would be exciting. The day I break 405, I'm going on an alcohol binge with my closest (of age) traceur buddies!
As far as the squats go, it took awhile for me to get in the groove of going explosively. Not quite sure why. I've been feeling tight in my hips for the past week. In any case, I feel this was a good rep-effort day because it was definitely pushing my limits as far as stamina goes (sad that 10 reps at 205 is pushing it, ain't it?).
DE Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
1x3 155lbs
8x3 165lbs
RE Deadlifts:
4x10 205lbs
Unilateral:
3x8 2x45lbs lunges, each leg
Calves:
4x8 260lb standing raise, different positions
Weighted abs
---
DEADLIFTS. KICKED. MY. ASS. TODAY.
The entire time in the gym, I was huffing for air. Probably due to all the (censored) I (censored) this week and last. On the bright side... 205 feels light as crap, now. Next week starts a max phase with the deadlift, so maybe (if my grip can handle it) I put on another 10-20lbs on DL! That would be exciting. The day I break 405, I'm going on an alcohol binge with my closest (of age) traceur buddies!
As far as the squats go, it took awhile for me to get in the groove of going explosively. Not quite sure why. I've been feeling tight in my hips for the past week. In any case, I feel this was a good rep-effort day because it was definitely pushing my limits as far as stamina goes (sad that 10 reps at 205 is pushing it, ain't it?).
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
DE Bench/RE Pull-ups
DE Bench:
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lb
8x3 125lbs
RE Pull-ups:
2x1 muscle up, 9 pull-ups
2x10 pull-ups
Vertical Press:
2x8 95lbs Overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 125lbs bent over BB row
Elbow flexion:
3x5 60lbs strict curl
---
The curls at the end are suffering since they're always matched right after a pull.. or maybe I'm just working harder, I dunno. OHP still sucks like crap. I'm noticing a significantly larger pump after going on my bulking diet (which consists of... a HELL of a lot more carbs than I'm used to). I wonder if that'll translate to more hypertrophy or not. Theoretically, it should.
Also, I noticed I can't do muscle-ups very well after consecutive high-rep pull-ups.
1x8 empty bar
1x3 65lbs
1x3 95lbs
1x3 115lb
8x3 125lbs
RE Pull-ups:
2x1 muscle up, 9 pull-ups
2x10 pull-ups
Vertical Press:
2x8 95lbs Overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 125lbs bent over BB row
Elbow flexion:
3x5 60lbs strict curl
---
The curls at the end are suffering since they're always matched right after a pull.. or maybe I'm just working harder, I dunno. OHP still sucks like crap. I'm noticing a significantly larger pump after going on my bulking diet (which consists of... a HELL of a lot more carbs than I'm used to). I wonder if that'll translate to more hypertrophy or not. Theoretically, it should.
Also, I noticed I can't do muscle-ups very well after consecutive high-rep pull-ups.
Monday, July 20, 2009
ME Squats/DE GHR - Parkour
Lower body warm-up
ME Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
3x5 215lbs
DE GHR:
6x4 10lbs
Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs BSS, each leg
Calves:
4x10 70lb seated calf-raise, various positions
Weighted abs
---
My legs were wobbly as hell on the way home today. A 30lb jump from the week prior isn't the BEST idea ever, but I really want to get back to how I was before I got injured. I should be going slower, but... it was okay this week. I really wanted to get back to two plates an end, but it's not happening so soon. GHR was fine and unilateral was pretty exhausting.
I'm glad to note that I'm a pound heavier from Thursday or Friday (whenever I measured last), which is nice since I've been staying at 153 for-friggin-ever. I've pretty much doubled my intake of calories since my cutting days, so we'll see what happens with that. Given my gains while I was cutting, I'm hoping that they'll skyrocket while I'm bulking, but that might be waaaay too much to ask for.
And I just got back from the Parkour session. We had a fun little warm-up and the day itself wasn't too bad. I got Kim to come out and it's obvious she's gotten stronger and more explosive, so that's really nice to see. For myself... I'm still not 100% and my heel is really bugging me after that session, but it is getting better. So we'll see how it goes.
ME Squats:
1x10 BW
1x8 empty bar
1x5 95lbs
1x5 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
3x5 215lbs
DE GHR:
6x4 10lbs
Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs BSS, each leg
Calves:
4x10 70lb seated calf-raise, various positions
Weighted abs
---
My legs were wobbly as hell on the way home today. A 30lb jump from the week prior isn't the BEST idea ever, but I really want to get back to how I was before I got injured. I should be going slower, but... it was okay this week. I really wanted to get back to two plates an end, but it's not happening so soon. GHR was fine and unilateral was pretty exhausting.
I'm glad to note that I'm a pound heavier from Thursday or Friday (whenever I measured last), which is nice since I've been staying at 153 for-friggin-ever. I've pretty much doubled my intake of calories since my cutting days, so we'll see what happens with that. Given my gains while I was cutting, I'm hoping that they'll skyrocket while I'm bulking, but that might be waaaay too much to ask for.
And I just got back from the Parkour session. We had a fun little warm-up and the day itself wasn't too bad. I got Kim to come out and it's obvious she's gotten stronger and more explosive, so that's really nice to see. For myself... I'm still not 100% and my heel is really bugging me after that session, but it is getting better. So we'll see how it goes.
Friday, July 17, 2009
ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups
Upper body warm-up
ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 105lbs
3x5 110lbs
Dynamic Vertical Pull:
6x1, 3 muscle-up, dynamic pull-up
2x4 dynamic pull-up
Horizontal Push:
2x6 2x65lbs DB bench
1x4 2x65lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row
Elbow flexion:
3x6 chin-ups
---
Not the best day today. For the dynamic pull, I decided to stay afresh of the new skill I've picked up, so instead of sets of four explosive pulls, I had the first pull be a full muscle-up before continuing the set. Unfortunately, by the 7th and 8th set, I ran out of gas to muscle-up, so had to revert back to just four explosive pulls. I'm still getting this amazing "flying" feeling from the muscle-up, so that's cool.
The DB bench went up to 65, but I could only manage six reps. Fine by me, that's good enough. EXCEPT I failed on the third set to get over four. Shame. But it felt good, like I was really working, so I'm not too concerned. The rows got a little sloppy at the end, but nothing to really comment on there.
ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 empty bar
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x5 105lbs
3x5 110lbs
Dynamic Vertical Pull:
6x1, 3 muscle-up, dynamic pull-up
2x4 dynamic pull-up
Horizontal Push:
2x6 2x65lbs DB bench
1x4 2x65lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 2x60lbs bent over DB row
Elbow flexion:
3x6 chin-ups
---
Not the best day today. For the dynamic pull, I decided to stay afresh of the new skill I've picked up, so instead of sets of four explosive pulls, I had the first pull be a full muscle-up before continuing the set. Unfortunately, by the 7th and 8th set, I ran out of gas to muscle-up, so had to revert back to just four explosive pulls. I'm still getting this amazing "flying" feeling from the muscle-up, so that's cool.
The DB bench went up to 65, but I could only manage six reps. Fine by me, that's good enough. EXCEPT I failed on the third set to get over four. Shame. But it felt good, like I was really working, so I'm not too concerned. The rows got a little sloppy at the end, but nothing to really comment on there.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
DE Squats/RE Rack Pulls
Lower body warm-up
Explosive squats:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
8x3 155lbs
RE Posterior:
5x8 205lbs rack pulls
Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs lunges, each leg
Calves:
4x8 95lbs seated calf raise
Weighted abs
---
Explosive squats:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
1x3 135lbs
8x3 155lbs
RE Posterior:
5x8 205lbs rack pulls
Unilateral:
3x8 2x40lbs lunges, each leg
Calves:
4x8 95lbs seated calf raise
Weighted abs
---
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
DE Bench/RE Pull-ups
Upper body warm-up
DE Bench:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
8x3 115lbs
RE Pull-ups:
2x10 BW
2x6 BW
Vertical Push:
2x8 95lbs overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 115lbs bent-over BB row
Elbow flexion:
4x2 75lbs strict curl
---
Sooo... That press sucked. Badly. I can't believe my delts are that weak. Ah well. Progress comes slowly. For the pull-ups, I had originally wanted to do four sets of ten, but.. that wasn't going to happen. LoL. And for the strict curl, I decided to go a bit heavier and see how many I could go. Didn't end well, but I think that's partially because it followed a pulling action. Decent day. Ate a ton afterward. feel sick.
Happy birthday to Animus! Whee.
DE Bench:
1x8 empty bar
2x3 95lbs
8x3 115lbs
RE Pull-ups:
2x10 BW
2x6 BW
Vertical Push:
2x8 95lbs overhead press
1x6 95lbs overhead press
Horizontal Pull:
3x8 115lbs bent-over BB row
Elbow flexion:
4x2 75lbs strict curl
---
Sooo... That press sucked. Badly. I can't believe my delts are that weak. Ah well. Progress comes slowly. For the pull-ups, I had originally wanted to do four sets of ten, but.. that wasn't going to happen. LoL. And for the strict curl, I decided to go a bit heavier and see how many I could go. Didn't end well, but I think that's partially because it followed a pulling action. Decent day. Ate a ton afterward. feel sick.
Happy birthday to Animus! Whee.
Monday, July 13, 2009
ME Squats/DE GHR - Parkour/Tire
Lower body warm-up
Circa-ME Squats:
1x8 45lbs Overhead
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x8 185lbs
DE Hang Cleans:
3x3 115lbs
DE GHR:
6x4 BW explosive concentric/slow eccentric
Unilateral:
3x8 2x35lbs BSS, each side
Weighted abs
---
I've started doing full ROM squats as a way to get myself so used to breaking parallel that it'll be natural come competition time, but my strength out of the hole is pretty atrocious. I probably could have done 205 for a 5RM, but I'm going to go about it slowly and increase by maybe 10lbs each week. At the end, I'll go back to check how just breaking parallel feels.
Hours later, there was a Parkour session. I went into it feeling pretty well, but I really didn't expect to get so pissed off with everyone today. I am NOT going to use this blog as a venting site, but to be quite fair, I felt very early on like I was babysitting a bunch of 15 year olds, and then I blew up at Trevor for something when I was really just frustrated at everyone (to be fair, Trevor did something that I told him was off-limits - the only thing they REALLY get pissed off about - when we first met). SJ shares the blame, as well, since he was going for it, but.. what really pissed me off was just how they all acted like children the whole time. It wasn't until after yelling that those two were back down to a tolerable level, and there was only one child left... one that stuck around for much longer. Suffice to say, I have a short fuse. Exactly why I'm not fit to be a leader of any community.
Afte rthe Parkour session was a quick conditioning session involving the tire. It wasn't very long-lived, but it was entertainng enough and my legs are pretty much feeling it after all I did today. Good day, overall.
Circa-ME Squats:
1x8 45lbs Overhead
1x5 95lbs
1x5 115lbs
1x5 135lbs
3x8 185lbs
DE Hang Cleans:
3x3 115lbs
DE GHR:
6x4 BW explosive concentric/slow eccentric
Unilateral:
3x8 2x35lbs BSS, each side
Weighted abs
---
I've started doing full ROM squats as a way to get myself so used to breaking parallel that it'll be natural come competition time, but my strength out of the hole is pretty atrocious. I probably could have done 205 for a 5RM, but I'm going to go about it slowly and increase by maybe 10lbs each week. At the end, I'll go back to check how just breaking parallel feels.
Hours later, there was a Parkour session. I went into it feeling pretty well, but I really didn't expect to get so pissed off with everyone today. I am NOT going to use this blog as a venting site, but to be quite fair, I felt very early on like I was babysitting a bunch of 15 year olds, and then I blew up at Trevor for something when I was really just frustrated at everyone (to be fair, Trevor did something that I told him was off-limits - the only thing they REALLY get pissed off about - when we first met). SJ shares the blame, as well, since he was going for it, but.. what really pissed me off was just how they all acted like children the whole time. It wasn't until after yelling that those two were back down to a tolerable level, and there was only one child left... one that stuck around for much longer. Suffice to say, I have a short fuse. Exactly why I'm not fit to be a leader of any community.
Afte rthe Parkour session was a quick conditioning session involving the tire. It wasn't very long-lived, but it was entertainng enough and my legs are pretty much feeling it after all I did today. Good day, overall.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
RE Deadlifts/DE Squats
Lower body warm-up
RE Deadlifts:
1x8 135lbs
1x8 155lbs
1x8 185lbs
3x8 205lbs
DE Squats:
8x3 155lbs
Unilateral:
3x6 2x35lbs Lunges, each leg
Calves:
3x8 220lbs calf raise machine (full ROM)
Weighted abs
---
I'm adding in some calf isolation stuff just because I'm starting to realize just how lagging my calves are compared to the rest of my body (sorta like how my delts are crap compared to the rest of my upper body). The seated calf raise that doesn't use a cable pulley was occupied, so I had to use the machine, and I sorta regret that just because I'm not entirely sure how much weight I'm actually doing on the machine. But, whatever.
The squats, I'm trying to regain my full mobility by going A2G, but I'm feeling this great stretch at the bottom and it's REALLY difficult to explode out of it. This is well below parallel and I know for a competition, I'm going to want to just break parallel. I know what that feels like, though (it's the moment I begin to feel any sort of stretch in my hip adductors). I know I'm much weaker out of the bottom than I used to be, so it'll have to be a slow progression.
RE Deadlifts:
1x8 135lbs
1x8 155lbs
1x8 185lbs
3x8 205lbs
DE Squats:
8x3 155lbs
Unilateral:
3x6 2x35lbs Lunges, each leg
Calves:
3x8 220lbs calf raise machine (full ROM)
Weighted abs
---
I'm adding in some calf isolation stuff just because I'm starting to realize just how lagging my calves are compared to the rest of my body (sorta like how my delts are crap compared to the rest of my upper body). The seated calf raise that doesn't use a cable pulley was occupied, so I had to use the machine, and I sorta regret that just because I'm not entirely sure how much weight I'm actually doing on the machine. But, whatever.
The squats, I'm trying to regain my full mobility by going A2G, but I'm feeling this great stretch at the bottom and it's REALLY difficult to explode out of it. This is well below parallel and I know for a competition, I'm going to want to just break parallel. I know what that feels like, though (it's the moment I begin to feel any sort of stretch in my hip adductors). I know I'm much weaker out of the bottom than I used to be, so it'll have to be a slow progression.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
ME SOHP/DE Pull-ups
Upper body warm-up
ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 45lbs (empty bar)
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
3x5 105lbs
DE Pull-ups:
6x4 BW to chest
Horizontal Press:
3x8 2x60lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x6 2x60lbs DB bent-over row
---
You may take notice that this format is quite different from the standard WS4SB format that I've been following. I came to realize that DeFranco's reason for supersetting the shoulder movements is because of his own anatomical shortcoming (he explains in a 2006 "Ask Joe" entry). I'd known this for awhile, but went with it anyway, partially in fear of my own shoulder calamity. But I came to realize that the press is just too valuable to NOT do.
It was also around this time that I figured out that there are four main upper body movements to be trained: vertical press, vertical pull, horizontal press, and horizontal pull. Another thing I found distasteful about the Westside program is that while it works really well for the general athlete, I would lose the "groove" of certain lifts during the cycles where I wouldn't be doing them in any variation. So I took a page from Eric Cressey.. Train ALL the movements, but don't go heavy on all of them.
I have it set up now that there are still two ME days a week, but also two RE days. At the same time, following the ME/RE of any lift will be the dynamic lift of the antagonist movement. Like Westside, it is still conjugated and variations are switched regularly, but this also means that my pull-ups will not falter and I won't lose the technical mastery over the lifts.
When it comes right down to it, I've really just made my program much simpler than it was before. I'm starting to realize that complication isn't going to get me anywhere. All those supersets did very little for my shoulders, but a heavy press could very well remedy that.
ME Seated Overhead Press:
1x8 45lbs (empty bar)
1x5 65lbs
1x5 95lbs
1x3 115lbs
3x5 105lbs
DE Pull-ups:
6x4 BW to chest
Horizontal Press:
3x8 2x60lbs DB bench
Horizontal Pull:
3x6 2x60lbs DB bent-over row
---
You may take notice that this format is quite different from the standard WS4SB format that I've been following. I came to realize that DeFranco's reason for supersetting the shoulder movements is because of his own anatomical shortcoming (he explains in a 2006 "Ask Joe" entry). I'd known this for awhile, but went with it anyway, partially in fear of my own shoulder calamity. But I came to realize that the press is just too valuable to NOT do.
It was also around this time that I figured out that there are four main upper body movements to be trained: vertical press, vertical pull, horizontal press, and horizontal pull. Another thing I found distasteful about the Westside program is that while it works really well for the general athlete, I would lose the "groove" of certain lifts during the cycles where I wouldn't be doing them in any variation. So I took a page from Eric Cressey.. Train ALL the movements, but don't go heavy on all of them.
I have it set up now that there are still two ME days a week, but also two RE days. At the same time, following the ME/RE of any lift will be the dynamic lift of the antagonist movement. Like Westside, it is still conjugated and variations are switched regularly, but this also means that my pull-ups will not falter and I won't lose the technical mastery over the lifts.
When it comes right down to it, I've really just made my program much simpler than it was before. I'm starting to realize that complication isn't going to get me anywhere. All those supersets did very little for my shoulders, but a heavy press could very well remedy that.
Monday, July 6, 2009
ME Lower Body
Lower body warm-up
ME Squats:
1x8 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x3 245lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 295lbs
3x1 315lbs
Posterior:
3x5 35lbs GHR
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Aahh.. Finally, back to squatting! I suppose I never logged it, and truth be told, I haven't had much interest in logging these things lately, but two weeks ago, I injured myself through some drunken antics which caused my heel to not be able to touch the ground upon penalty of ridiculous pain. I still have a limp, actually, but I can squat again. The past two weeks have been nothing but upper body, and I probably should have just done machines while I was injured, but.. live and learn.
My legs get super sore, now, as i nticed on my first squat day since being injured on Thursday. I felt much more comfortable training 1RM today because I need to gradually get my legs back to doing high volume, but it seems okay with high intensity. Another thing I've noticed is that my ROM has decreased, so even though I got back to my former max, I was an inch above parallel. I need to spend more time on soft tissue work and stretching to see if that will help my squat get lower. All the same, it's just really nice to be able to squat again.
I avoided unilateral because after the squats, my legs were already feeling it and I expected there to be Parkour today (no one showed and I was sore, so I headed home). Gradually going back to the lower body will have to be the name of the game. I might do an RE on Thursday rather than a DE. We'll see.
ME Squats:
1x8 135lbs
1x5 185lbs
1x5 205lbs
1x5 225lbs
1x3 245lbs
1x1 275lbs
1x1 295lbs
3x1 315lbs
Posterior:
3x5 35lbs GHR
---
Aahh.. Finally, back to squatting! I suppose I never logged it, and truth be told, I haven't had much interest in logging these things lately, but two weeks ago, I injured myself through some drunken antics which caused my heel to not be able to touch the ground upon penalty of ridiculous pain. I still have a limp, actually, but I can squat again. The past two weeks have been nothing but upper body, and I probably should have just done machines while I was injured, but.. live and learn.
My legs get super sore, now, as i nticed on my first squat day since being injured on Thursday. I felt much more comfortable training 1RM today because I need to gradually get my legs back to doing high volume, but it seems okay with high intensity. Another thing I've noticed is that my ROM has decreased, so even though I got back to my former max, I was an inch above parallel. I need to spend more time on soft tissue work and stretching to see if that will help my squat get lower. All the same, it's just really nice to be able to squat again.
I avoided unilateral because after the squats, my legs were already feeling it and I expected there to be Parkour today (no one showed and I was sore, so I headed home). Gradually going back to the lower body will have to be the name of the game. I might do an RE on Thursday rather than a DE. We'll see.
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