ME Pressing 5-9-13

General Warm Up

Stretching

Bullshitting while I finish my pre-workout

etc.

12" Log Clean and Press

85 x 5

135 x 5

205 x 3

255 x 3

305 x 2

325 x 2 (video below) I'm pretty sure this is a PR since my max log press before this was at 330.

305 x 2

295 x 2 I was going to do more, but I after the second rep I was too close to the wall behind me and I brought the log down on my face and smashed my head between the log and wall. It was unpleasant.

295 x 5 I did 4, then had to drop the log because it was all over the place and cleaned it one more time for the last press.

Mick got a video of the last two presses, so I will add them once he puts them on youtube.

Bench tricep work

I had the idea to do a board pyramid up and down with the same weight, and so I presented it to my training partners. It immediately turned into a bunch of shit talking about who would do more. Troy used 185 and made it to the 5 board, so I picked 250 as my weight to use.

Started with weight to chest x 5

1 board x 5

2 board x 5

3 board x 5

4 board x 5

5 board x 5

4 board x 3 I was done after this.

DB Incline

80 x 10

90 x 10

100 x 6

My triceps were just done.

Dumbbell lateral raises

10 x 25

15 x 10

20 x 10

25 x 10

30 x 10

25 x 10

20 x 10

15 x 10

10 x 10

5 x 10

Dumbbell front raise

10 x 10

15 x 10

20 x 10

25 x 10

30 x 10

25 x 10

20 x 10

15 x 10

10 x 10

7.5 x 15

5 x 15

I just wanted to get some more volume than I normally do on the shoulder raises.

Monster mini band pressdown

1 band per arm

5 sets of 20 rep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHgkwgyHTao

Rep Squat 5-7-13

Safety Bar Squat
I was planning on using 425-450, but my body was pretty tired from Sunday still

405 x 8

Barbell paused squats
3 second pause
325 x 3
375 x 3 x 3

Reverse Ham Curl
2 plates, 3 25's assisstance x 8
2 plates, 2 25's x 5
2 plates, 1 25 x 5
2 plates, 1 25, 1 10 x 5

Donkey kicks under reverse hyper
50 pounds
10 each leg x 3

Reverse Hyper (I was doing these sets in between calf raises and abs.)
50 pounds x 10 x 5 sets

Calf Raise
135 x 20 x 3 sets on plates to get a good stretch

Ab strap pulldowns
90 pounds x 15 x 3

Events 5-5-13

Log Press/ Axle Medley
250 log/ 270 axle
alternate between the two for as many total reps in one minute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g1Y6-hLD-o&list=FLeTPQj6KXYJ3BeE3kHTde3g


First try: 3 log presses, 2 axle presses
Second try: 2 log, 2 axle in like 45 seconds.  I just wanted to do 2 each to try to transition faster.

Farmers Walk
295 per hand
I used the big farmers handles.
2 runs x 80 feet
Neither were super fast, but felt solid.  I need to work on speed more.

14" Deadlift for reps in one minute
625 pounds
I got 5 reps in around 50 seconds.  I was shooting for 3 so I'm very happy with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ja1xoL0ddE

Prowler/ Sand Bag carry medley
400 pounds on the prowler/ 250 sandbag
50 feet with each
I did one run in 19 seconds.

Stone Series
230-360
I did one run of the series in like 50 seconds.  Then I did 3 more reps with the 360 stone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTbxmmhvCOE

Then I did two quick 50' runs with the 250 sandbag and was done.

ME Deadlift 5-3-13

Snatch grip deadlift from 3-4" blocks

worked up to 545 x 3

Sumo Deadlift

225 x 5

315 x 5

365 x 5

415 x 5 x 2 or 3 sets

Reverse Ham curl thing x some

Fat Bar lat pulldowns
140 pounds x 12 x 3

Seated rows
3 sets of 20

Biceps, Abs

ME Press 5-2-13

We treated this day as more of just a tricep overload, since we knew we would be pressing relatively heavy on Sunday too.

Swiss Bar Bench with tampon board
110 x 5
160 x 5
160 + 40 pounds chain x 3
160 + 80 pounds chain x 3
160 + 160 pounds chain x 3
160 + 200 pounds chain x 3
210 + 200 pounds chain x 3 x 3

Reverse band seated overhead press
average bands choked around top of rack
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 5 x 3
335 x 3

I forget what all other tricep movements I did, but I know I did some band pressdowns, cable pressdowns, and some shoulder raises with kettlebells and dumbbells.

I also screwed around doing some curls and shoulder raises with a bamboo bar for fun.

DE Squat 4-30-13

Safety Bar Squat
Empty bar x 3
155 x 3
245 x 3
245 + 40 pounds chain x 3
245 + 80 pounds chain x 3 x 6 sets

Split Squats
BW x 10 per leg x 2 sets
I think these might be a nice thing to work in, as long as they don't hurt my patella.

Glute Bridge
225 x 8
315 x 10 x 3 sets
I'm assuming that my 6' bar weighs 25 pounds for these.

Ham Curl
45 pounds x 10
45 x 25
45 x 15

Ab Wheel

USAPL Nebraska State Powerlifting Meet 4-27-13

I started having some allergy issues on 4-21, and it turned into a sinus infection.  On top of that this meet was drug tested so I was not able to really take anything to help.  My numbers weren't quite what I had hoped for, and I'm sure that was part of the reason.

Squat
507 (230 kg) - felt heavier than it should have
545 (247.5 kg) - I knew from this squat that I was not going to hit anywhere near the 580 or so I'd hoped for
561 (255 kg) - I just let myself lose tightness, and forgot to get my eyes up.  I missed this when I was like 3/4 of the way up.

After squatting I started to feel really shaky and all together not good.  I drank a bunch of water to try to help, but still felt the same going into benching.

Bench
352 (160 kg) - easy
380 (172.5 kg) - this actually felt pretty easy too
402 (182.5 kg) - I got stuck.  This was probably a combination of just not being as strong of bencher as I should be, feeling awful, and not being able to really feel good with the setup.

After this I drank like half a gallon of ice water, and they also turned some ventilation fans on to get the air moving.  Just cooling down a little bit made me feel a ton better going into deadlifting.

Deadlift
I was feeling kind of apprehensive about my opener, so I started warming up way to early just to make sure I didn't need to change it.  After working up to a super easy 545, I decided to leave it alone.

605 (275 kg) - smoked it
650 (295 kg) - easy - I was actually only going to go somewhere around 630, but Mike Taylor had me go higher.  I'm glad I did.
678 (307.5 kg) - I maybe should have gone a little bit lighter, but Mike picked this weight and I trust his judgement based on how I had looked.  I pulled it to just about my knees pretty quick, then just ran out of gas to get it any further and lock it out.

This just gives me some numbers to shoot for in September when I compete again.  I would like to go 585-600, 400+, and 675-700.

Events 4-14-13

Warm Up things
- jump rope
-stretch
-roll
-med ball tosses
-prowler walks
not in that order

Log clean once
270 x 5
270 x 4
270 x 3

I could definitely tell that my body was tired on this.  Probably from spending the whole day before doing some landscaping in my yard.

Farmers
2 80' runs with 245 per hand

Car DL
This is where things actually got heavy for the day.  We had no idea how much weight was actually at the handles until we weighed the frame after we were done.  Turns out the empty frame was 285 at the handle.

+200 x 5
+290 x 5
+380 x 3It turns out that Jesse was also standing on the frame for this set, so it was actually probably heavier than my top set since he weighs 240.
+470 x 3
+560 x 3

Keg Medley
270 and 220 keg x 80' each
2 runs
The first run was not fast.  The second run I thought was fast.

We are kind of getting in the habit of not loading stones enough again.  Even though the Gus is a keg load, I think I am going to make sure to get some stone loading in.

Squat 4-9-13

Jump Rope
Box Jumps
rolling
etc.

Safety Bar Squat
75 x 5
165 x 5 x 2
255 x 5 x 2
345 x 3
455 x 5
455 x 3

I was hoping for 8 here, but I'm not disappointed at all because this is the heaviest weight I've ever done for reps on this, and just a few weeks ago I barely got 8 with 425.

Paused Front Squat
275 x 2 x 3 sets

Glute Bridge
265 x 8
355 x 8 x 3

Inverse Ham Curl
4 plates assistance
3 sets of 6-8

Curls
Ab Strap Pulldown
Reverse Delt raises (I need to start doing these a couple times a week, along with more band pull aparts and things.)

4-7 Events

I got a really bad upset stomach the night before, and it carried over into training.  On top of that I was really sore and tired from the week of lifting.  It ended up being a decent day still.  It's days like this that make me confident that even on a day that I feel terrible I can still push myself and do well.

12" Log Clean and Press each
270 x 5 in 60 seconds
I had the sixth on my chest but ran out of time.  With some work, I think I'll get 6-8 on this.  I just need a little better conditioning with cleaning each.
300 x 3 press one, then clean 2 more

Farmer's Walk
I just skipped to my working weight instead of wasting energy.
300 per hand x 80 feet x 2 runs
I felt like the first run was ok, then the second run I was moving along pretty quickly.
Again, it's nice to know that even with my back and legs feeling like dog shit that the pick and my grip aren't a problem up to this weight.

Car DL Simulator
I did not want to do this at all, then Troy did 26 reps so I knew I had to do it and get to at least 20.
600 pounds x 22 reps in 60 seconds
I'm going to try this with my suit on and straps down next week to see how it feels.

Keg Load
48"
290 x 8

Keg Medley (we kept it lighter)
250 keg, 200 keg
80 feet each x 1 run

4-5 ME Deadlift

We were planning on going for a max double.  Little did we know that benching heavy after not benching at all for 6+ weeks would make us very sore, especially our backs and hamstrings.

Dead
245 x 3
335 x 3
445 x 2
535 x 2
585 x 1
625 x 1 no straps, then I tried to strap up and pull another and failed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkV7Tdw8lJA

I'm honestly not too upset that I pulled 625 being really sore from the day before.  I'm hoping to hit close to 650 in the meet.

Lat Pulldown with narrow handle
140 x 10 x 4

Reverse GHR thing
sets of 5, I had 180 pounds of assisstance

I can't remember what else, probably not much.

4-4 Press

We decided to not really follow the cube and to see where our paused bench was at since we are competing in a few weeks in the USAPL Nebaraska State Meet.  Benching with flat feet pretty much takes any leg drive out for me.

Bench
135 x 5 x 2
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 1
350 x 1
375 x 1
405 x 1 x 2 the first was ok, the second I had my ass way off the bench

Pin Press
225 x 3
205 x 5 x 3

I feel like I did some kind of tricep work here, but don't remember what.

Grenade ball single arm Tricep pressdown
weight x 10-12 x 4

DB front and lateral raises
I kept these light and tried to focus on just using my shoulder, and not my lat and back.
15 x 10-12 x 3 sets each

Jump Rope

4-2 DE Squat

4-2 DE Squat

BBBS

315 x 2 x 5

I switched to front squat because my shoulders and elbows were bothering me.

315 x 2 x 3

GHR

a bunch

Leg Extension

100 x 10 x 3

Grippers

Squat 3-26-13

Tonight was supposed to be a deload, but for several different reasons we justified going for a heavy single.

BBBS
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
add belt
495 x 1
545 x 1
575 x 1 PR
585 x 1 new PR  (previous PR was 563)

Glute Bridge
265 x 5 x 5

Single Leg leg press
2 plates x 10 per leg x 3 sets

Good Morning
135 x 10 x 3

Prowler drag/ push medley
40' backward drag, 40' push on low handle
down and back was one
90 pounds x 3
140 x 2
rest
140 x 3
rest
140 x 2 non stop

Crunches on swiss ball

Events

I was tired, and just about everything hurt from Friday still.

Pressing went terrible and felt bad
Axle 295 x 2

Strict Press
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 1
255 x 1
275 x fail (I really think it would benefit me to have a better strict press, if for no other reason then it would mean I probably had improved my tricep strength.)
225 x 3 x 2

Pretty much everything else I had planned was off the table at this point, so I decided to consider this my deload, and probably do some heavier work next week.

Saxon bar grip stuff (I really like this thing, and think it is a great tool for building overall grip strength, and a lot of hand strength.)
3" side
85 x 3
135 x 3
185 x 1

4" side
85 x 5, 3, 20
105 x 10, 12
125 x 2

Hanging leg raises by some.

Rep Deadlifts

This was done at Omaha Barbell.

Warm Up

Roll

Stretch

Lacrosse ball rolling

Box Jumps

Jump Rope

Kettlebell Swing

etc.

RE Pull

Conventional

DOH

265 x 5

355 x 3

420 x a couple

add straps

535 x 8 (10 pound rep PR)

these didn't feel too bad, so I got the idea to pull a couple heavy singles

605 x 1 alternate grip, just to do something over 6 with no straps

635 x 1 with straps (2 months ago this was a PR, now I am pulling it after a heavy rep day, and a heavy single before)

Sumo Axle Deadlift

all DOH since we were using this as a grip exercise too

240 x 5 x 2 sets

300 x 5

320 x 3

340 x 1

360 x most of 1, but still a fail

Meadows Rows

110 on bar x 10

155 on bar x 10 x 3 sets

Fat Bar lat pulldown

90 x 10

180 x 10 x 4

180 x 10 underhand grip

90 x 10 x 2 underhand grip

Curl Variations (fat e-z bar, swiss bar) x some (just enough to get a good gun pump)

Yoke walk/ push medley

they have the Rogue yoke with skids so that it can be pushed

350 x 40 feet x 2 (carry, push)

350 x 40 feet x 1 (carry, push, carry)

since these felt good, we decided to add some weight and just do the walk

530 x 40 feet 

710 x 40 feet

800 x 40 feet

850 x 40 feet

Spud strap ab pulldowns

90 x 15

140 x 10

140 x 10

90 x 5

90 x 10

ME Squat 3-19-13

My body just wasn't ready for a ME day today, but we did it anyway.

Safety Bar Squat
155 x 5
245 x 3 x 2
335 x 3
425 x 1
475 x 1
515 x fail (shouldn't have tried this with how I felt)
475 x 1 x 3
335 x 3 just to check depth.  I felt like I was stopping myself higher than normal, and I was still way below parallel.

GHR
assisted with monster mini
8 x 3 sets

Mini band abduction
12 x 3 sets

Calf raise on leg press
25 x 3 sets

Grippers
150 x a bunch with a pause
200 x 10 per hand with a pause for a couple sets
150 x some more

I was dragging ass and ready to be done, so we called it a night.

Events 3-17-13

We decided to do a run through of the events for the Gus this year.

Log Clean and Press each rep

260 pounds x 6 reps
These felt ok.  I think I would like to hit 8 on this.

Farmers walk 80'
300 pounds per hand
14.xx seconds
not blazing, but not slow
I'm actually just happy that the grip was not a problem, because my hands felt like shit.

Car Deadlift simulator
600 pounds x 21 reps in 60 sec.

Keg Load over 48"
290 x 8 reps
I easily could have got more, but the keg was bouncing so erratically when it landed that I lost a couple seconds or so just getting it back to me each load.

Keg Carry Medley 60'
270 and 290 keg
I finished in like 44 seconds

Then we messed around with the Rolling Thunder and went home.

DE Pull from 3-15-13

Went to OBB again tonight.  Again, I liked it a lot because there was almost nobody there when we were.

General warm up stuff:
Roll
band pull aparts
stretching
etc.

Box Jumps to 24" or so
4 sets of 5

Deadlift (no belt, no straps)
405 x 2 DOH x 2 sets
405 x 2 alternate grip x 8 sets
rest time was just to switch weights for Troy
I decided to do some alternate grip pulling so I won't forget how, and also to get a little forearm and bicep stretch.

BB Row
265 x 5 x 2 sets
315 x 5
355 x 5

Fat Bar Lat Pulldown
180 x 8 x 2 sets
230 x 8 x 2 sets

T-Bar row
45 x 10 x 3 sets

Prowler Medley (Arm over arm pull, push back with low handles) probably like 40-50'
180 pounds x 2
270 pounds x 2

Hammer Curl
Some weights (around 45) by some reps (around 12)

ME Press from 3-14-13

 ME Press (3/14/13)

We went to Omaha Barbell tonight to check the place out.  I just went ahead and got a month's membership since it was only $30, and I don't think I will regret it.  The place has exactly what I'd want in a gym if I'm paying to be there.  It's big enough to have all the equipment I'll use, and some I don't need, and the people there are all of the same mindset, so there isn't much to worry about offending anyone.

Swiss bar press
This thing is terrible to press since the balance is so off.  It also doesn't allow you to get your elbows up in the bottom.

I worked up to like 280 x 2.

If we would have loaded bumpers I would have gone heavier, but I didn't want to drop the bar and make a scene on my first day here.

3 board Axle Press
I'm going to assume the bar weight was 20 pounds (which may be on the low side).

I worked up to 385 x 3
405 x 3 x 2

DB Incline Bench
100 x 10 x 3

Unilateral KB OHP
50 x 10
60 x 10
70 x 10  (these are way harder than they should be since the weight is behind your arm.)

Grey band pressdown
15 x 3 sets

Grenade Ball pressdown
50 x 10-15 x 3 sets

DB Front and side raise superset with Ab wheel pikes
10 raises/ 10 pikes
4 sets