Workout 17 of 20

Close Grip Bench Press: 75x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x2, 165x5, 185x3, 205x2 (Rep Out Set). Not the 205 triple I wanted but I did get the triple last week, and I almost got it after only 5 minutes rest between that and the last set vice 1 hr from last week.

Workout 16 of 20

Conventional Deadlift: 135x5, 165x5, 195x5, 225x3, 255x2, 285x3, 315x3, 345x3, 375x3. I took my son to the base gym today, had errands to run, had to get a haircut today, and the squat racks were taken. With under two hours to get it all done and bring him home, I just reduced my workout to deadlifts off the floor. The 375 triple was not pretty but I didn't have to hitch to get it. And I did it even with the increased volume. That puts me close to a 400 deadlift with 2 weeks to go. This week I am scheduled to attempt 365 for a triple from the rack but will up that attempt 10 pounds.

Workout 14&15 of 20

2-Board Bench Press: 75x5, 95x5, 120x5, 145x3, 165x2, 190x3, 200x3, 215x4 (Rep Out Set).

Superset:
14" SSB Box Squat (Touch&Go):105x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 230x2, 260x3, 280x3, 295x3 (Rep Out Set)
Assisted Pullups (Light Bands): 8 sets of 2

Workout 13 of 20

Close Grip Bench Press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x2, 160x3 (Misload, should have been 170), 170x3, 180x3, 190x4 (Rep Out Set). Felt sick due to allergies and not getting much sleep the night before, so stopped with this. Then I went to cook some Korean short ribs and after dinner felt like taking a shot with 205. So I asked my son to spot me, and tripled 205. Sweet! My goal was to triple 200 next week, so I am more than on target: my close grip bench press is about 92% of my flat bench press so if I want a 225 FBP, 207 would be my CGBP target.

Workout 12 of 20

Triset:
Rack Pulls 2" Below The Knees: 115x5, 150x5, 190x5, 225x3, 265x2, 285x5, 300x5, 320x5(Rep Out Set)
Assisted Dips (Light Band): 8 sets of 8
Single Calf Raises: 8 sets to rep failure

One of my best friends went through a break up this week and yesterday was disaster for her, too. Since 9:30 this morning she's been calling me on and off for consolation and some laughs/cheer so my workout started after I last got off the phone (around 3:20PM). I also want to go to the movies so I dug up an old workout idea and did that. Ironman magazine once had two workouts they said would workout the whole body in just two movements: superset conventional deadlifts and dips, or squats and pullups/chinups. This workout worked up a pretty good sweat and left me pleasantly beat.

Just 8 workouts left and a week of rest until Virtualmeet;)

Workout 10.5 of 20

Superset:
2-Board Press: 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x3, 165x2, 180x5, 190x5, 200x5(Rep Out Set).
Finger Flexion w/Exer Rings: 4 sets of 9 per finger. Switched to a thicker ring.
Finger Extension w/Exer Rings: 4 sets of 9 per finger. Switched to a thicker ring.

Will do rest of workout tomorrow. Stuff came up.

Workout 9 of 20

14" SSB Box Squats (Touch and Go): 105x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 230x2, 245x5, 260x5, 280x5 (Rep Out Set).

Quad Set:
16" Lateral Step-Up w/Strength Shoes: 5 sets of 11 w/BWT
GHR Reverse Hyper (Monster Mini): 5 sets of 4
DB Side Raises: 45x10x5
Lying Leg Raises w/Strength Shoes: 5 sets of 10.

Tried to do the punching bag, then the elliptical, but my hands were still not having it.

Workout 8 of 20

Close Grip Bench Press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x2, 160x5, 170x5, 180x5 (Rep Out Set). Percentages for the three work sets of week 2 are: 75% 1RM for 5 reps, 80% 1RM for 5 reps, 85% 1RM for 5+ reps.

Incline Bench Press: 135x10x2.

Assisted Chinups (Monster Mini): 5 sets of 2.

Barbell Rows (Elbows Out): 135x4x5

During the rest periods, I did: 5 sets of 10 pronation/supination with the Strength Bar. After yesterday's rack pulls and having blisters on my hands (big one on the left palm, small one on the right from aerating the lawn by hand with no gloves - stupid me), I skipped all other grip work.

Finisher:
Sled Drags: 3 sets with 80 pounds. Each set was me sprinting 50+ yards then immediately walking back, then resting 90 seconds.

Test: Rack Pulls 2" Below The Knees

Rack Pulls 2" Below The Knees: 135x3, 175x3, 215x3, 255x3, 295x3, 335x3, 375x1. The single was clean and gradual. Nothing left for another one like it.

When I tested out at 365x2 2 weeks ago, subsequent training sessions didn't leave me feeling as if I could improve on it. Since I moved my squat up an inch, I thought the bottom part of the deadlift would be more than taken care of. Especially, since I was using the Safety Squat Bar. I thought I might buy myself more improvement, then, if I stopped pulling from the floor. Thus the rack pulls.

I have also decided to switch back to a 5/3/1/ setup for the main lifts. I like the setup I had started to use but I had less to lift the money set with. With this one, I would have more at the end where I need it most. I also dropped the lunges for now: I didn't want to beat up my legs more as meet time approached. And since I wanted more conditioning work so I could get in shape, I put the sled drags in there.

Lets see how this works out.

Workout 7 of 20

Superset:
2-Board Press: 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x5, 170x7, 180x,5 190x6 (Rep Out Set).
Finger Flexion w/Exer Rings: 4 sets of 14 per finger
Finger Extension w/Exer Rings: 4 sets of 14 per finger

Thursday, Went to this new burger joint as soon as my wife got home, so I cut this workout short. If you could call it that: the grip work almost took more time than the benching. The two board session went well and I hit my target of 6 reps with the 190. The 14 reps on the finger work was a surprise.

My regularly scheduled deadlift workout on Friday didn't happen. My lower body still hasn't fully recovered, and I just crashed on the couch and slept until 10:30 PM. Just means I will have to pour it on this coming week.

Workout 6 of 20

14" SSB Box Squats (Touch and Go): 105x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x5, 230x5, 245x7, 260x5, 280x3 (Rep Out Set).

This was all I did because I almost didn't do this workout at all. I was still recovering from the deadlift workout, mostly from the Bulgarian Split Squats. Even took yesterday off. The weight felt heavy out of the rack and I had no pop today, so that set of 7 with 245 was an even bigger drag than it would have been. I couldn't get much more than the 3 required reps on the last set. Better, I figured, to just skip the rest of the workout.

Not what I wanted, since I wanted more reps with the last set plus the aerobic work. But when I do the math, I did more than last week: my top 3 sets last week yielded 3515 lbs of total volume, this session yielded 3855 lbs for the last 3 sets.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it;b

Workout 5 of 20

Close Grip Bench Press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 150x7, 160x5, 170x4 (Rep Out Set). Percentages for the three work sets of week 2 are: 75% 1RM for 7 reps, 80% 1RM for 5 reps, 85% 1RM for 3+ reps.

Incline Bench Press: 135x10x2. This was done with a grip one finger closer than I did when I was doing this previously.

Assisted Chinups (Light Band/Monster Mini): 5 sets of 5. The heavier stuff was getting slow, so I switched up to more reps, and will continue to do so for a while.

Barbell Rows (Elbows Out): 125x5x5

During the rest periods, I did: 5 sets of 2 with Captains of Crush Grippers (Trainer), 5 sets of 9 pronation/supination with the Strength Bar, 12.5 pounds for 5 sets of 1 with the wrist roller.

Finisher:
Barbell Complex (Deadlift/Barbell Row/Hang Clean/Push Press/Back Squat): 2 sets of 6 reps for each exercise. I then finished the finisher with 10 minutes on the elliptical.

Workout 4 of 20

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Superset:
Conventional Deadlift: 155x5, 195x5, 235x5, 275x8, 295x6, 315x6 (Rep Out Set). My grip started to give out before I did, so I'm going to keep hammering the shit out of it. The set of 8 drained me, I have to get used to lifting beyond 5 reps in a work set.
Single Calf Raise: 1 set to failure for every set of deadlifts.

Bulgarian Split Squat w/Strength Shoes: 5 sets of 6. I set the bench across the front of the power rack, and did the reps while holding the racked barbell. This helped me keep my body upright throughout every repetition. I was also more deliberate, so I could get as deep a stretch as I could.

Assisted GHR (Monster Mini): 5 sets of 4

Sled Pullthroughs: 80x8x4. I wanted to do something different than back raises, and I remember these being particularly effective.

Spread Eagle Situps: 4 sets of 11, 9, 8, 6 reps.

Finisher: LifeFitness Ellitical Trainer, Random Setting, Level 5, for 15 minutes. The workout killed me for this. I'm also out of shape aerobically: my heart rate was at 170 BPM in 5 minutes, so the next 10 minutes was enough for me. For now.

Workout 3 of 20

Superset:
2-Board Press: 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x5, 165x8, 175x6, 185x6 (Rep Out Set). The past few months, I have been doing every bench press variant with the "bird" finger on the rings so this time I moved in my hands by 1 finger, for a different stimulus.
Captains of Crush Grippers (Trainer): 5 sets of 2

Superset:
Assisted Pullups (Light Band): 5 sets of 2
Ulna/Radial Flexion w/Strength Bar: 2.5x9x5

Superset:
Underhand Grip Barbell Rows: 135x5x5
Finger Flexion w/Exer Rings: 5 sets of 9

Finisher:
Farmers Walks: 4 50+ yard trips with 125 pounds
Pushups: 4 sets of 12

Preacher Curls: 60x4x3. Either this was heavy because it has been a while or my arms were smoked. Next time, I'll use 10 less pounds.

Fruits of My Labors

14" SSB Box Squats (Touch and Go): 95x5, 125x5, 155x5, 185x5, 215x5, 245x5, 275x5, 305x3 (3RM). Oh, glorious day. I didn't use week one's percentages for this: I needed something that I could compute the weeks off of, so I tested with 5s until I could no longer get 5 reps. I decided to stick with the SSB (since I want my deadlift to be bulletproof) and just changed the box height and did not sit down and pause on the box. I had pop galore, and the 305 triple felt real strong. The only change (unintentional) was that I was wearing Adidas skater sneakers instead of my running shoes (I was too lazy to get dressed up) and I realized this is why Dave Tate and Louie Simmons have been recommending Chucks all these years. My stance was definitely more solid. 305 for 3RM equates to about a 322 max using Brzycki's formula, so I will use this to compute the weeks.

Quad Set:
16" Lateral Step-Up w/Strength Shoes: 5 sets of 11 w/BWT
GHR Reverse Hyper (Monster Mini): 5 sets of 4
DB Side Raises: 45x10x5
Lying Leg Raises w/Strength Shoes: 5 sets of 10. The strength shoes added weight at the end, and I was pretty weak. This sped up my workout, and was like a little bit of cardio.

Finisher (Did this circuit 3 times):
Sled Sprints for 50+ yards with 80 pounds
Backward Sled Drag for 50+ yards with 80 pounds:
Heavy Bag (10 jabs each hand, 10 full punches each hand, 10 body shots each hand, 10 uppercuts each hand).

5 Weeks Out

5 weeks out from Virtualmeet in August. I never count meet week.

The past couple of weeks, I've still been using 5/3/1 to train. I have also been testing my maxes and seeing where I stand. This past week I maxed out at 215 in the bench press and 210 in the incline bench press: not bad, but I lifted around the same the week before if formula was considered, so time to find different lifts to work on. And it's a little too late to reset for 5/3/1.

I also topped off at 255 this past week in the 13" SSB box squat after having hit 275a couple of weeks before. I'm not going to reset that, either. Rather, time to switch to the free squat with a straight bar. I'll still use the 13" box but only as a depth checker. Once I so much as tap the box, I'm popping up.

Lately, I've been contemplating messing around with a few things from Joe Defranco's Built Like A Badass Program. Mostly, because NAVY PRT time is coming and I wanted to get back in shape. I'll probably use the percentages for the heavy movement since I could use the same movement, the 4th week is a peak week, and week 5 is a deload week.

This past week was Navy drill weekend. Saturday, and I managed to deadlift a 5RM with 335 and a 2RM with 365 (BTW, using Brzycki's formula, they both equate to a 375 lbs max). I also did 5 sets of GHR for max reps, and 3 sets of 3 for raw chinups (w/kipping). One of my unit mates joined me for a workout and we did a superset of Db Bench Presses and Reverse Curls (3 sets of max reps with 50 and 40 pounds respectively); Pec Deck for 3 sets of max reps. Then we tried a complex from Defranco's book: deadlift, barbell row, hang clean, push press, back squat. It was the first time for both of us so we did the first set with 95 pounds for 6 reps of each. We both got served, it felt as if we had just sprinted down a block. After 90 seconds, we tried it for 3 sets of 10 and were so burnt that we didn't finish the push presses and we dropped the squats. We both remarked that this would be added to our arsenal for fat burning. You will start to see them as a finisher to some workouts.

Considering Saturdays workout, I took some movements out and this was my workout for today. All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets:

Close Grip Bench Press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x8, 155x6, 165x5 (Rep Out Set). The other Bench Press day will use the 2-Board Press: maybe these two movements will move my bench forward. Percentages for the three work sets of week 1 are: 72.5% 1RM for 8 reps, 77.5% 1RM for 6 reps, 82.5% 1RM for 4+ reps.

Assisted Chinups (Light Band): 5 sets of 2. The bands allow me to do perfect reps to the top from a deadhang and NO kipping.

Barbell Rows (Elbows Out): 135x2x5

During the rest periods, I did: 4 sets of 20 with regular grippers, 3 sets of 9 pronation/supination with the Strength Bar, 25 pound HEX DB Holds for 3 20-second holds, and the Wrist Roller for 3 sets of 1 with 12.5 pounds.

Catching Up

I am writing this while on vacation in sunny San Diego, California. Arrived here on June 16 to see my niece's high school graduation on the 18th, and have spent most of my time here with a friend. And watching World Cup Soccer (or as we Spanish-speakers call it, "La Copa Mundial"). Another week would have been nice.

Spent the week of the 7th sick as a dog. No surprise there since everyone in the house had been sick. Had Navy that drill weekend and gamely tried to PT, our unit Fitness Coordinator loves to play soccer. Got my ass handed to me, I think it's time to start bringing cardio back. Eschewed cardio for a while to get my strength and muscle that I lost from the surgery back: that just about done, it's time to trim down.

June 14th (All Notation: weight x reps x sets):
Flat Bench press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x5, 165x3, 185x1, 195x1, 215x1. 215 will be what I work with when I come back to calculate the working weights for 5/3/1 when I get back. 2 more rounds until Virtualmeet in August.

June 15th (All Notation: weight x reps x sets):
13" SSB Box Squat: 80x5, 105x5, 130x5, 160x5, 185x5, 215x3, 235x1, 255x1, 275x1. 275will be what I work with when I come back to calculate the working weights for 5/3/1 when I get back. This went up pretty nice, though locking it up at the top was a little hard.

June 18th at the gym at Naval Base San Diego, I decided to do a few machines just to pass the time and not be too idle.

Hammer Strength ISO Lateral Bench Press: worked up to 90x3 per movement arm.

Hammer Strength ISO Lateral Row (Elbows Up): worked up to a 160x1 per movement arm.

Hammer Strength ISO Lateral Shoulder Press: worked up to 90x2 per movement arm.

Bodyweight Chinups: did 7 singles with no assistance for the first time since September 2009 pre-surgery so I was thrilled. Not much pain, and not bad considering that this was done at a bodyweight of 239 pound with clothes on. Yeah, time to drop a few pounds. Okay, a lot of pounds;)

5/3/1 Round 4: Squat 3RM

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

13" SSB Box Squats: 80x5, 105x5, 130x5, 160x3, 185x2, 210x3, 225x3, 235x5 (Rep Out Set)

12" Front Box Squat: 115x12x4. Since I didn't do these last week, and I missed doing the GMs on deadlift day, I did them both today plus an extra set. Tough, but I gutted them out.

SSB Arched Back GM: 115x12x4. Cue up the big lower back pump.

Single Calf Raises: 1 set for each set of the main movement.

5/3/1 Round 4: Incline Bench Press 3RM

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Superset:
Incline Bench Press: 60x5, 80x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x3, 165x3, 175x5 (Rep Out Set).
Captains of Crush Gripper (Trainer): 8 sets of 2

Triceps Death (2/3/4/5 Board): 15/8/6/5 reps on set 1, 10/6/5/5 reps on set 2.

Superset:
Assisted Pullups (Monster Mini Bands): 6 singles
Underhand Grip Barbell Rows: 135x6x6. Had things to do and I got a late start, so I wanted to keep this workout short and potent. So I dropped the biceps curls and the shrugs and the forearm work and did these. Worked really well: got a back and bicep pump and felt really exhausted afterwards.

5/3/1 Round 4: Deadlift 3RM

T-Bar Row (Elbows In): tested to a 115 6RM and a 125 3RM. Using Brzycki's Formula, both equate to about a 135 pound max.

Hoist Roc-It Leg Curls: 133x8x5

Conventional Deadlift: 115x5, 140x5, 175x5, 210x3, 245x2, 280x3, 295x3, 315x4 (Rep Out Set). Normally, on a 3 day, I can get 5 reps. My 3rd rep with 315 was decent but judging by the 4th one, that was as good as it was gonna get so I shut it down.

Seated Calf Raises: Worked up to a 70 pound 6RM and an 80 pound 3RM.

12" Front Box Squat: 115x12x4