Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Week 1: Deadlift Variant

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Snatch Grip Deadlift: (Double Overhand Grip)135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 195x5; (Staggered Grip) 215x1. I was steady but deliberate, didn't want to be anything less than smooth.

14" SSB Box Squats: 165x5x4. I had no pop, and to be on the safe side I would pause momentarily to chekc my tightness and then rise. I will be ordering a proper belt this week. Either an Inzer Forever belt or a Titan Toro.

Assisted GHR (Average Bands): Repped Out for 3 sets of 7. Weak, but it felt good to be on a proper GHR.

18" Lateral Step Ups: 3 sets of 8

Single Calf Raises: Sets of 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3 reps.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Week 1:Bench Press Variant

For now, that's what I'll call it as I got my workouts started yesterday. My first target is the August Virtualmeet. I have 27 weeks until that. I also want my running and chinups to be better than it was before I went in for surgery and I want a higher total at a lighter weight than the last meet.

I wanted to do 5/3/1 but since I want to get back to where I was in everything, I didn't want to have to worry about deloading. This would give me 9 waves vice 6. That, and I wanted to squat and deadlift twice a week, and I wanted more variety this time around. Not a fault of the program, mind you, but with limited gear in Africa I did the same things a lot there and needed some variety.

1.) So right now the days are: Bench Press Variant, Back Squat Variant, Military Press Variant, Front Squat Variant. It's a 5/3/1 type setup but week one I work up to a 5 rep max, then weeks 2 and 3 are calculated using 90% of the calculated 1RM to compute the attempts. There is no deload: I just switch movements. The template for the assistance work will remain,as before, WSFSB III.

2.) Deadlifts will be right after squats, and I will drop the shrugs on upper body days. The deadlifts will be done using submaximal loads (Week 1: 72% for 4 sets of 5, week 2: 75% for 3 sets of 6, week 3: 63% for 5 sets of 5). I want my deadlift back, but I don't want to strain too much. I could put all my focus into form. Though for the first two waves, I will be doing this with squats since I want to test deadlifts.

3.) The rest will be tried and true stuff and as time goes on I'll add things. Right now, I'm gonna play it by ear.

So, without further ado . . . . .

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Flat Bench Press: 55x10, 75x8, 95x6, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 165x3. I should have stopped at 155x5 but I thought I had a slim chance at 165x5. No matter: next week I'll just do the 5s.

Triceps Death (2/3/4/5 Board Rep Out): 115x13/7/5/5 reps, 115x10/6/5/5 reps

Assisted Chinups (Average Bands): Rep out to 6 reps, then 4 sets of 5

DB Rows (Elbows Out): 50x4, then 35x9x3

Barbell Curls: 50x8x4

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Gut Check

Man, it has been almost two months since I left Djibouti. And it has been just as long since I've lifted anything more than luggage. But today I started back up. My son wanted to test his bench press and he wanted to try and give 245 a ride on the squat. And he wanted me to come along and spot.

I tested out to a 175 max on the bench, 225x2 on the squat, 105x3 on the behind the neck press, and 1 each on the chinup and pullup at a bodyweight of 227. Sad, really, but my abdominal muscles were pretty good and held up. My son, soon to be 16 years old, can almost squat as much as me and is 30 pounds away from me on the bench press. Consider the fire in my ass lit!!!

Monday, I start up. Shouldn't take me long to get up to speed.