God, I haven't blogged in a while and so much built up that it's almost discouraging. I have to get better about this. It's been busy, in between training myself and my wife. So I'm gonna summarize short and sweet, then start tomorrow with my first workout of Total Body Training week 6. And I'll get back to seeing what everyone else is doing.
When I started in October, I was up to 245 lbs because of a lot of inactivity partially due to a broken rib. I am now down to 236 lbs but more solid. Last week, week 5 got away from sets of 5, 8, and 15 reps and introduced sets of 18, 8, and 12 reps. 18 rep sets of squats were pure torture but it broke my weight plateau of 238.
My changes to this program reflect my goal of a better PRT in April, since I was medically waived from the fall one and I want to impress the Navy. I've done nothing but pushup variations instead of benches, and lots of Blast Strap ones When I started back up in October, my bench had dropped to 205: it's back up to 225 but with more control. My squat is 275 and climbing, but I now have more depth and faster liftoff from the bottom. The program has two single joint movements every workout that are supposed to address the weakest bodyparts so I do a bicep movement and GHRs for those days, using various band combinations to allow me to hit all the rep ranges. Now I can do 6 reps on the GHR with no bands instead of 3 (Still no Kris, 20 something more reps before I can give him a go) and with all the front squats, that's what has probably helped my squat. All the dumbbell work and chinning has had an unplanned training effect on my grip: I can now do a 275 deadlift double overhand.
On the running front, I pulled a calf on week three of my running program and was almost ready to bag it when I read on a Navy running program used for people preparing for the SEALS that week 3 is for biking or swimming because a large number of BUD/S trainees injured themselves running in the third week. That kept me in it. So I walked the rest of that week, and started up again with no problem. I also changed my goal: I will work up to a 20 minute goal only but will train for 30 minutes next PRT. Last week was 4 circuits of 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking at 7.3 MPH (8 minutes running volume)and that was tough but the third day was good. This week is 6 circuits of 1.5 minutes running and 1 minute walking (9 minutes running volume) Since the run time dropped, I increased the speed to 7.5 MPH. I expect when I do next week's 5 circuits of 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking at 7.3 MPH, it will take less out of me because of that.
I have not done the elliptical on off days as planned. Instead, I have used those two days on the weekdays at lunchtime to do abs for 30 minutes. I'm still getting leaner, but now my midsection is getting stronger. I will start using the elliptical next week when I get home, starting at level one.
My wife recently had her checkup and her blood sugar is holding steady at normal, as is her blood pressure, and she's still progressing downward weight wise. She was able to do a 15 inch box squat with 115 for 8 reps last week, 185 for 3 sets of 5 on trap bar deadlifts, 35 lbs dumbell incline benches for 3 sets of 5. My goals for the near future for her is her first set of wheels for the bench (135 lbs) and 2 sets of wheels (225 lbs) for regular squat. I'm not telling her that, though: it's a surprise;)
BTW, I'm missing the Prilepin and Westside workouts but I think when their turn comes I will be better at it. This has been a good change.
4 comments:
Good to see some action around here. :-) Am quite impressed by your wife's progress, if you can indeed get her to do two wheels on the squat that would be quite amazing. Speaking of getting depth on the squat: if you are still up for the virtual meet, you should know that we are using IPF squat depth (top of thighs at the hip lower than top of knees). Will hopefully finally get the rules out soon. Anyway, keep a blastin'!!!
I might have to do a trial squat on video and have you check my depth. Question: who's doing the judging?
You know, I wonder if my wife would be willing to do this virtual meet for the sheer fun of it?
A trial video is a good idea. It's quite easy to judge depth using these rules as a line can be drawn straight across with no questions about it. Måns and I just began our meet preparations and are either calling every rep for depth or using the video camera to ensure that we hit it every time. It's tough work, but it's better to be humiliated with small weights in the gym than bombing out with high squats at the meet... which is what I expect to be the most common reason of bomb outs, the IPF rules are tighter than what most people are hitting in the gym.
We are also pausing the bench for a count of two after the bar has completely stopped on the chest, which is quite taxing compared to the usual touch and go... Not that you need quite that long a pause, a visible stop where the bar is totally motionless is enough.
The judging is still open and probably will be for yet another three to four weeks before the "official" registrations start dropping in. I hope we will get enough dedicated judges, but in a pinch the panel will be consisting of lifters who feel they are up to the task.
Finally, it would be really something if your wife would join in as well! One of my main goals behind this is creating an atmosphere that welcomes anyone who are willing to challenge themselves regardless of powerlifting level and experience. Based on pre-registrations, it looks like we are indeed seeing quite a varied mix of lifters ranging from novices to people at the national level. If Grace is up for it, I would be truly honored.
Great to see the blog in action again. The chin-ups certainly help the grip, don't they. I've switched to a double overhand grip for deads for all but the heaviest sets. Makes a huge difference.
Post a Comment