ME Bench

Incline Bench Press: 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x2, 165x3, 175x3, 185x3 (Rep Out Set). Not really a rep out set. My upper body was tired, at the highest weights I could barely hold it and I had no pop when I pressed it. If I had to take a guess, Jacob's Ladder tired my upper body out the day before.

Nautilus Nitro Close Grip Pulldown: Worked up to a 140 double. May stick to movements closer to chins. This did not feel natural at all.

Hoist Assisted Dips (Weight shown is after assistance): 124.5 x 15 x 3

Behind The Back Shrug: 85x15x3

EZ Bar Curls: 70x7x3, 70x6

Played basketball for an hour.

ME Squat/DL

Tuesday evening: Elliptical, 30 minutes, level 7 hill profile.

Today:
I had just dropped my son off at driver's ed and felt that I would rather drive fast to get to the base and work out than drive 15 minutes to home, rush a workout, get him, and do aerobics later. Since I didn't have the sled, I used the Jacob's Ladder as a finisher. This workout turned out to be pretty good for me.

Arched Back Good Morning: 45x8, 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x3, 145x2, 165x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x1. The 205 triple was really clean and the 225 less so: I almost lost my arch and I almost descended into a squat at the bottom and had to right myself fast. So if I had to use this as an accessory movement, I would compute the numbers based on the triple (about 217-220 pounds).

Hoist Leg Press: 210x10, 280x8, 350x6, 420x4, 490x3, 560x3, 630x3, 700x3 (3RM)

Superset:
Lying Leg Raises: 14, 10, 8, 6 reps
Assisted Situps on a Slant Board (Light Bands): 10, 8, 6, 4 reps.

Finisher:
Jacob's Ladder: 18 minutes (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off)

DE Bench Press

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Dead Benches w/1-pr chains (clustered, 20 seconds between reps): 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 150x3x4

2-Board Bench Press: 175x3, 185x3, 195x7 (Rep Out Set). Expected 5 reps tops at 195, did not see 7 coming.

T-Bar Rows: 45x5, 60x5, 75x5, 90x3, 105x2, 115x3, 120x3, 125x5 (Rep Out Set)

DB Shrugs: 50x9x4

EZ-Bar Reverse Curls: 50x7x4

Heavy Bag Work for 30 minutes

DE Squat

Banded Jumps (Light Bands): 5 sets of 3. Choked a band around the left and right sides of a power rack and put my weight belt through it, then put the belt on really tight. I then jumped as high as I could. Since I'm trying to get conditioned/be less of a fat ass, I'm gonna be doing more and having a bar on my back too much was gonna be taxing. I wasn't keen on doing singles on deadlifts, either, but deficit deads are just like speed deads but better. So there!

Deadlifts w/35s: 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x3, 195x2, 205x5, 220x5, 230x7 (Rep Out Set)

Backwards Sled Drags (Includes Sled Weight): 115 pounds for 6 trips of 40+ yards

Lying Leg Raises: 4 sets of 13, 9, 8, 7 reps

Assisted Situps (Light Bands): 4 sets of 20, 15, 11, 8 reps

Incline Bench Press PR

Incline bench Press: 60x5, 80x5, 100x5, 120x3, 140x2, 160x1, 180x1, 200x1, 220x1 (PR), 170x5, 160x5, 150x5. The original intention was to do the 5 part of 5/3/1 based on a 210 max. But I havent done inclines in 2 weeks and was curious, and all my reps were flying. I was jumping up and down on the inside, because I have never inclined over 210. It's too early to call but I think the dead benches may be helping here, too, because even with a slight pause I'm getting better movement out of the bottom. To keep with the original intention, I did the 5 part at the end and dropped the triceps accessory movement.

Hoist Roc-It Lat Pulldown: 86x10x4

Hoist Assisted Neutral Grip Chinup (weight shown is after assistance deducted): 84x10x4

Behind the Back Shrug: 105x10x3

EZ Bar Curls: 70x6x3

12 minutes on Jacob's Ladder, 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. Think of a Versaclimber fused with a Stairclimber, but with a ladder. 30 seconds on was about all I could handle at a stretch, partly because of the leg burn.

Lower Body Workout

12" Close Stance Box Squat: 80x5, 105x5, 130x5, 160x3, 185x2, 195x5, 210x5, 225x8 (Rep Out Set)

Forward Sled Drags: 80 pounds for 6 trips of 40+ yards

Assisted GHR (Light Bands): 5 sets of 8

Lying Leg Raises: 4 sets of 15

Assised Situps (Light Bands): 23, 15, 11, and 8 reps

Mowed the lawn;)

Upper Body Work

Dead Benches w/1-pr chains (clustered, 15 seconds between reps): 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 140x3x5

2-Board Bench Press: 165x5, 175x5, 185x7 (Rep Out Set)

Barbell Rows: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x3, 90x2, 95x5, 100x5, 110x7 (Rep Out Set)

Assisted Chinups (Average Band): 5 sets of 5

Barbell Push Press: 95x10, 8, 6, 5, 4 reps.

Barbell Reverse Curls: 40x10x4

Heavy Bag Work for 30 minutes

Test: Deadlifts w/35-Pound Plates

Deadlifts w/35-Pound Plates: 115x3, 150x3, 185x3, 220x3, 255x3, 290x2 (2RM). Weird, 255x3 went up smooth and I felt like I had a good amount left in me but at 290, I felt like I had run out of steam.

Assisted Dips (Light Band): 1 set of 8 for every deadlift set, supersetted.

Interval program on a treadmill for 30 minutes.

Aerobics

45 minutes on the elliptical.

Week 3: DE Bench

Since I had a week off to rest up for my Navy PRT (that will get it's own blog post), I restarted week 3. I also decided to experiment with a new way to try and improve my bench press.

1.) It started with this article http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/bring-your-bench-press-alive-with-the-dead-bench/

2.) I then decided to test what my dead bench was using singles: 185 was a horrible 1RM (took some body english) and 175 hard but clean with very good form. That's a 40-50 pound difference. So while I may not have enough speed yet out of the bottom to increase my bench, I obviously need more strength at the bottom.

3.) Since I knew that just doing singles would decrease my training volume/density and hurt my overall bench, I thought clusters might help. I found this article snippet from Christian Thibaudeau that hit the spot:

Auto-Regulatory Clustering

Clustering refers to the rest-pause method: you use a heavy load and do single reps with short rest intervals. This allows you to do a lot of reps with a near maximal load while still having a high training density. I like to use auto-regulatory clusters, meaning that I never have a set number of reps to complete, rather I let the completion of each rep dictate if I continue or not.

I’ll stop a set of cluster reps when I can no longer lift the weight fast enough (or smoothly enough). You can use a stopwatch and have a partner time the overcoming portion of the lift or go by feel; it doesn’t make much of a difference in most cases. This table will give you a time target to shoot for:

Load (Test 1 RM for that particular lift)
Rest between reps
Overcoming time threshold
Target number of total reps

90-95%
30 seconds
1.2 seconds
5-8

85-90%
25 seconds
1 second
7-10

80-85%
20 seconds
0.8 second
9-12

75-80%
15 seconds
0.6 second
11-15

4.) I also didn't want a new sticking point to develop from the bottom end work. If you notice from my last few speed workouts, I've been doing 3x3 with boards after the speed sets. So I'll do this with 2-board benches for a a few weeks since that's usually my transition point from the launch and what I can triple on the two board, I can single on the regular bench.

5.) So yesterday's workout looked like this (all notation: weight x reps x sets). Note that the dead benches are about the same weight as the speed work here, done at 75% of 175. I will add 5% a week to the worksets. During the rest part of the cluster, I take my hands off the bar and take them out of the bottom position to relax so that there is no stretch component:

Dead Benches w/1-pr chains (clustered, 15 seconds between reps): 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 130x3x5

2-Board Bench Press: 135x3, 160x3, 185x3

Barbell Rows: 45x5, 60x5, 70x5, 85x3, 95x2, 105x5, 115x5, 120x5

Barbell Push Press: 95x10, 8, 6, 5, 4 reps. Had little bottom end as the sets went on.

Barbell Reverse Curls: 45x8x4

Week 3: DE Bench Press

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets. Workout done at the gym on Naval Submarine Base Bangor, WA.

Flat Bench Press w/40 pounds of chain: 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3x8, 160x2, 180x1

4-Board Press: 185x3, 210x3, 235x3. Compared to the second set, the third one was cleaner and faster. Didn't even need the spotter beyond making sure I didn't drop the bar on myself (I was not in a rack). Probably should have gone for a bigger triple but no harm no foul.

T-Bar Row (1RM test): 50x5, 65x5, 80x5, 95x3, 110x2, 125x1, 140x1, 155x1 (1RM - gradually got it all the way to the top and could not pull the second one beyond the halfway point), 170x0 (stalled halfway up and i kept pulling trying to see if I could bust the sticking point but no dice)

Hoist Roc-It Shoulder Presses (Neutral Grip): 76x10x5

Had a barbecue to cook up, so I bailed.

Week 2: DE Squat/DL

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Parallel Box Squat w/80 pounds of Chain: 95x2, 125x2, 160x2, 190x2x10

Speed Deadlifts: 245x1x10

Week 2: ME Bench

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Incline Bench Press: 75x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 195x3 (3RM)

Assisted Pullups (Light/Monster Mini Bands): 6 sets of 5

3-Way Shoulder Raises: 3x20x4

Superset:
DB Elbows Out Extensions: 20x10x4
DB Preacher Curls: 20x10x4

Week 2: ME Squat/Deadlift

12" SSB Close Stance Box Squats (Touch&Go): Bar x 3, 110x3, 140x3, 170x3, 200x3, 230x3, 260x3 (3RM)

Assisted Glute Ham Raises (Light Bands): 5 sets of 7

BWT Cossack Squats: 5 sets of 5.

Tri-Set (Done with a light band hooked up to a Strength Bar):
Band Landmines: 4 sets of 3 (Weak, but my abs need serious work)
Band Pullthroughs: 4 sets of 3
Planks: 4 sets of 30 seconds (I shook after 15 seconds)

The week before at drill I did a workout with one of my shipmates: we agreed I would do a superset of his creation, and he would do one of mine:

First Superset:
Incline Bench Press: 3 sets of 10+ reps
Pushups: 3 sets to failure

Second Superset:
Deadlifts: 3 sets of 155 to failure
Split Squats w/Front Foot Elevated: 3 sets to failure

The last superset crushed us, and I spent almost a week with abs so sore that I had trouble getting off of a couch. And it wasn't a bad pain that would make me worry, just a really deep soreness. And I think it was the pushups, after my chest was already gone from the first movement, that did it. Enough to think that situps alone would not be the ab solution I needed.

And this workout handed my ass to me, abs wise.

Test: Flat Bench Press

Flat Bench Press: 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 155x2, 175x1, 195x1, 215x1, 225x1 (1RM).

This should have been a leg day for me. It's been hectic with my son now taking lessons for his driving lessons and all. But I've been waffling yet again on programs, whether to do what I'm currently doing or go back to 5/3/1 or WSFSB III. And, silly me, at the crux of my indecisiveness is my fear of not gaining much in the bench press which . . . .

1.) Is unfounded, because this program once upped it and
2.) Though my 3RM on the 2-board press was 230 a few months ago, I never tried to prove it with the real thing with my usual grip.

With this test, I will shut up now and make this work. What was once slow reps when I was training before was now crisp, even at 215. I had more pop out of the bottom, and more carry through from my usual sticking point, so the previous 2-board work had just about done its job. For the 225, I had enough pop to get it moving before it slowed down maybe 4 inches from the top. More of the higher board stuff needed, could use a little more out of the bottom but now I feel as if I just need to be more patient.

Week 2: DE Bench

Flat Bench Press w/1 pair chains: 75x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3x8, 165x2. Same as last week plus a set of 2 at 70% 1RM.

4-Board Press: 165x3, 190x3, 215x3

Barbell Rows: worked up to a 150 triple

Band Pull Aparts: 4 sets of 5

Military Press: 95x10x4

Band Pushdowns (Light Bands): 4 sets of 9

Reverse Curls: 45x8x4

Week 1: EliteFTS Beginners Manual

Today, I completed the first week of the EliteFTS Beginners Manual template. Took a few weeks for me to get it going, though. I was experimenting with my lifts and was trying to decide between doing 5/3/1 or Built Like a Badass. But I've felt for a while that I had no more pop in any of my lifts, and I wanted to do different lifts for a change.

September 01: DE Bench Press (Weight x Reps x Sets)
Dynamic Bench Press w/1 pair Chains: 75x3, 95x3, 115x3 135x3x8
4-Board Bench Press: 135x3, 160x3, 185x3
Superset:
EZ Bar Push Press: 95x10x3
Underhand Barbell Rows: 135x5x3
Superset:
Triceps Pushdowns (Light Bands): 4 sets of 8
Reverse Curls: 45x8x4

September 02: ME Squat/Deadlift (Weight x Reps x Sets)
12" Close Stance Box Squats (Touch&Go): 95x5, 125x5, 155x5, 185x5, 215x5, 245x5 (5RM), 265x1 (I started getting the shakes on the second rep and stopped).
Superset:
Assisted Glute Ham Raises (5 sets of 5)
BWT Cossack Squats: 5 sets of 4. Felt I needed looser hips and more lateral strength. I so suck at these.

September 06: ME Bench Press (Weight x Reps x Sets):
Incline Bench Press: 75x5, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5 (5RM), 185x3.
Assisted Pullups (Light/Monster Mini Bands):5 sets of 5
3-Way Shoulder Raises: 3x20x3
Superset:
DB Elbows Out Extensions: 15x10x3
DB Preacher Curls: 15x10x3. Easy Stuff just to ease my arms back in.

September 07: DE Squat/Deadlift (Weight x Reps x Sets):
Parallel Box Squats w/2 Pairs Chains: 115x2, 145x2, 175x2x10
Conventional Deadlift: 225x1x10

Workout 20 of 20

Superset:
Rack Pulls 2" Below The Knees: 135x5, 175x5, 215x5, 255x3, 295x2, 305x5, 345x3, 385x1(Rep Out Set).
Assisted Dips (Light Band): 8 sets of 9

Workout 19 of 20

2-Board Bench Press: 85x5, 105x5, 125x5, 145x3, 165x2, 185x5, 205x3, 230x3 (Rep Out Set). The rule goes that whatever you can triple on the 2-Board, you should be able to single without. Now, I just have to buy into that. I hit my goals for the benches: the 210 in the close grip bench necessary to support tne 230 bench, and this. But after 5 weeks of no flat benching with my competition grip, I'm a little wary. The last 230 rep was a long push. With a week off that I could deload with, I'm hoping my right wrist heals up a bit and my work pays off.

Workout 18 of 20

Today's squat workout was the result of 3 things. I found out through a post on EliteFTS, and the resulting search on their Products page, that the SSB Yoke Bar I have is actually 80.5 pounds as opposed to 75, so I have actually been lifting 5 pounds more than I've been reporting (No, I'm not going to backblog it). I also went back to that week where I tripled 305, added the 5 pounds, and calculated a max of around 330 pounds. Lastly, I wanted to really test myself instead of relying on an equation. I can't say that I was disappointed. Might have been foolhardy to take a max the week before the meet but psychologically it felt great to have that weight on my back again.

I don't want to see an SSB for a while, though. I need a break.

Superset:
14" SSB Box Squat (Touch&Go):115x5, 145x5, 175x5, 205x3, 235x2, 260x5, 290x3, 320x1 (Rep Out Set)
Assisted Chinups (Light Bands): 8 sets of 2