Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Press Wednesday: Green Means Good

*new warmup

Bench press
60 kgs x 10
80 kgs x 6
100 kgs x 3
110 kgs x 1
120 kgs x 9 PR

DB OHP (strict)
left only
30 kgs x 3
35 kgs x 3
46 kgs x 11 PR

Pull-ups
128 kgs bodyweight
+ 10 kgs chains x 11 PR
+ 10 kgs chains x 10

BB OHP
25 kgs x 20
30 kgs x 20
35 kgs x 20

IT WASN'T the double digits I was hoping for (again), but it's good enough I guess. LOL. That's a pretty crap attitude to have about a session that produced three new personal records. I'm really hoping I can bust out a couple of reps of 150 at the end of this loading cycle. That's the goal, at least. Feels like it's going to happen.

My programming required a dumbbell that was near enough to 45 kilos, but I couldn't find one, so I made one with a bunch of 10 kilo plates and an Oly spec DB bar. The size of the plates somewhat reduced my range of motion and I intend to use Fat Grips in the future (to better simulate the Strongman apparatus), but I'm pretty happy with this development... it feels more like the real thing with the bigger plates. I am looking forward to building back up to strict pressing 55 and more with my new, improvised circus dumbbell.

*James, a mate from the Strongman circuit (known associates include shady characters like Christian and Rory), has had shoulder issues also. He gave me a couple of stretching exercises involving bands to help me get accustomed to squatting with a straight bar. I will be using these in future, as they seemed to help. When it came time for my high-rep barbell pressing, the movements felt smoother (though far from symmetrical) and there was less discomfort.

More sub-maximal squatting tomorrow night.

Monday, July 29, 2013

The First Deadlift Monday

warmup w/DBs and band

Deadlifts                 
90 kgs x 10
130 kgs x 8
170 kgs x 5
210 kgs x 3
225 kgs x 1
240 kgs x 9 PR

Pinwheelz
15 kgs x 10
22.5 kgs x 10
27.5 kgs x 8

LOOK how happy I was about getting seven reps at this weight in early May. Nine is better. That's all that matters.

Here's where my new programming really begins. It was very nearly not going to happen tonight, and to be honest if I've escaped a further lumbar strain it'll be a lucky thing. Deadlifting above 200 felt dangerous, and I was really glad when I could safely say progression had been made and I could put it down. I've not felt this way in training for a long time. I'm close to burning out.

And this is also where my new programming is going to assist in my active recovery; with the exception of bench press and some dumbbell work on Wednesday, the rest of my week involves minimal weight, and high to very high rep ranges. Increments are tiny over the next couple of months (2.5 kgs p/week on overhead press, 5 kgs p/week on squats) and going forward I will be fresher for deadlifting at the start of the week, and Strongman events training on the weekend. Not this weekend though. Definitely more recovery time is needed before I can start in with heavy yoke and farmers again.

As I said, I felt like I'd pushed it far enough tonight, so I did a few sets of pinwheelz (for tha ladeez) and took off. It's better than nothing. And it's a damn sight better than training till I re-injure myself.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Squat Thursday: Derp

Squats w/cambered
50 kgs x 10
70 kgs x 8
100 kgs x 5
110 kgs x 5
120 kgs x 3
130 kgs x 3
135 kgs x 10

YEAH that's it. As I've said, not much action going on right here right now.

No pain tonight either, thank jeebus - that makes two for two. I tried to get good depth without further aggravating my hip, and I think I got there in the end. I'm really not predicting anything special in the squats department come October. In between time I, again, will be working slowly and diligently back up to the +200 kilo rep ranges, but I'm not going to try and rush it in the hopes of making a better squat on the day. That will just fuck things up all over again.

I've got to get over this back complaint, and save myself for events training this weekend; I'm running it this saturday, though whether or not I can train properly will depend on the outcome of my physio appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Not to mention, getting familiar with a straight bar is also yet to happen, and that's going to be a challenge when the weight gets more serious. There are certain things that seem to always, always aggravate my shoulder; overhead press (obviously), dips (fuckit - used to enjoy them), and squatting with a straight bar. And that, again, isn't going to happen until I can be reasonably certain I won't tear some more cartilage getting back into that position under a heavy load.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Press Wednesday: The Marathon Continues

warmup w/DBs & band

Bench press
60 kgs x 10
80 kgs x 8
100 kgs x 5
110 kgs x 1
115 kgs x 11 PR

DB OHP (strict)
left only
30 kgs x 3
40 kgs x 3
50 kgs x 1
40 kgs x 10 TPR?

BB OHP (strict)
20 kgs x 20
25 kgs x 20
30 kgs x 20

Pull-ups
Bodyweight: 128 kgs
+ 10 kgs chain x 10
+ 10 kgs chain x 8
BW x 10

GOOD to be back in the gym. Also good to be breaking personal records again.

This is the roll-out of my new weekly routine. It was to start with deadlifts on Monday, but all things considered I felt it pertinent to give my back more of a break and jump in at press Wednesday.

My bench is coming along nicely; I'll be increasing the weight of my max effort set by five kg each week between now and October. I intend to open at the Wild West Shootout at somewhere around 150. I want to make 160 and more.

I haven't been able to confirm if that dumbbell M.E. set was a genuine personal record or not... I know it'd be somewhere close to it. I will have to take a better look through my log.

And I will be increasing my barbell OHP by 5 kilos per week for each set. I may need to reduce reps to 15 as the load increases, ideally I need to do 20 for all sets, and I may even need to drop the increment to 2.5 once things get heavier. The muscle fatigue in the last few reps of my final set was pretty intense. Something I'll get used to.

It felt awkward tonight, but I'm really happy that nothing actually hurt. Clearly I was compensating and my form on the right was odd (and apparent to one PTC member who saw me finish my last set and simply said to me "shoulder?")... steady as she goes.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

WA Strongman Qualifiers: 1st Comp for 2013

THE DAY started early, to make the hour journey to Port Kennedy. Again, Crossfit Armed played host to a great day's competition, and thanks to owner Joel McLeod being 100% invested in the sport of Strongman, Dan and his team of helpers didn't have to transport much equipment. Joel's gym has two awesome yokes built by Les Milhinich (who represented SMWA at last year's Australia's Strongest Man), along with an excellent heavy log which some of the newer competitors found easier to handle than Fatboy. And of course plenty of weight, in funny coloured bumper-plate form... which the loaders found difficult to follow at times. I know I did.

I can't say I wasn't rested enough for the comp. I trained yoke only previous saturday and a light squat session on Monday night (so didn't record), and that was it all week. I tried to get as much warmup prep in before the events themselves, but my attention was sometimes divided between fielding questions from some of the new competitors and also wanting to make sure everybody smaller than me got their work in first. And with Dan out of the comp due to a muscle tear (nothing serious), I was literally the largest competitor there next to the behemoth, Joel McLeod.




Events
Yoke walk: 400 kgs (882 lbs), 15 meters, 43 seconds PR
Log clean-press: 65 kilos / 75 kilos
Deadlift: 275 kgs (606 lbs) / 290 kgs (639 lbs) PR
Farmers Walk: 150 kgs (330 lbs) p/hand, 1 meter or so...

I got what I thought was a muscle cramp in my left lower lat during my yoke warmup. I later felt something in the bottom right of my ribcage pop while warming up for the deadlift. At some stage the muscle cramp was replaced by a lumbar strain in much the same spot. I'm not really sure when this happened... the new yoke and deadlift PRs might have had something to do with it, though. And the pop in my ribcage didn't hurt at all at first, but later while attempting farmers walk I had to cinch my hard belt a little tighter to keep it from complaining. I don't think either injury is serious, but they really did hamstring my efforts. Again.


Of course, the log was a total waste of time, to keep from messing with my right shoulder any further, and I was literally too broken for my (perhaps over-confidant) Farmers walk; I just crumpled after picking it up the second time.

My yoke was good, and there's a video of it floating around... good, not great. I dropped it a few times. But I completed the full distance with a weight that I've barely been able to move more than a meter before, so definitely good progress there. And, of course, there was the deadlift; I pretty much stiff-legged it. More evidence I need to get stronger legs and work on my technique. Like that ever really stops.

I took 2nd place heavyweight... out of a field of 3 heavyweights. I'm now properly broken, and will be taking at least a week off training.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Deadlift Thursday: Last Lift Before Qualifiers

warmup w/DBs & bands

Deadlifts
10 reps @ 60 kgs
8 reps @ 120
5 reps @ 170
3 reps @ 220
1 reps @ 250
1 reps @ 275
1 reps @ 285 PR

Kroc rows w/Kettle bell
left
10 reps @ 80 kgs TPR
8 reps @ 80 kgs
8 reps @ 80 kgs
right
8 reps @ 64 kgs
12 reps @ 48 kgs
12 reps @ 48 kgs

Pinwheelz
10 reps @ 22.5 kgs
10 reps @ 25 kgs
8 reps @ 27.5 kgs
THAT was the plan, and everything went right. I was using PL form, no straps, and didn't quite straighten my legs enough at the lockout with the 275... so I made damn sure I did it right with the last one. Thanks to Dan Rucci for the form advice.

No straps on the Kroc rows either, in fact. That big ass kettle bell doesn't feel so big anymore... I really need to make up a heavy dumbbell. But grip strength is important, and the thick handle on the 80 kilo kettle bell sure does help with that, when I finally start rowing it with the right arm too.

There's going to be some interesting changes to my weekly program after qualifiers, but more on that to come later. The important thing to focus on now is what I'll be doing (or actually, won't be doing) in this last week;

I have one last events session this Saturday. After that, since I haven't done any significant squats in a while due to injury, if everything feels good I will squat Monday; sub-maximal and higher reps, to just feel it out. And that will be my last session till show time, Saturday. My shoulder needs to heal and my back needs to recover as much as it can.

I jumped on the scale today, and I weighed only 125 kilos. 125 on the dot.

I've been exhausted this week; I had no idea just how racked I would be from my training and general activities over the weekend... I guess I wasn't hydrating enough, so I got a migraine and had a sleepless night last night. Today, I placated my exhaustion by basically loading up on quick energy carbs (aka junk food) as much as I could prior to training; I started with an ultimate double whopper, two snickers bars and two chocolate shakes. Then I had a doughnut before my pre-workout drink. Then I felt sick. But l got my new PR, and that's really all that matters.

One more step closer to 300.

An interesting thing to note was that I had to swap back to my old two-prong belt for the heavier sets, as I've gotten leaner since I last adjusted my new Gripped lever belt, maybe three weeks ago. By the time I remembered I had a screwdriver in my bag and could adjust the belt there, I was already pretty much on 275 so I played it safe with the old one.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Press Wednesday: Babying the Bar

warmup w/DBs & bands

Bench press
12 reps @ 20 kgs
10 reps @ 60 kgs
6 reps @ 80 kgs
3 reps @ 100 kgs
1 reps @ 120 kgs
4 reps @ 130 kgs
11 reps @ 110 kgs PR

BB OHP (strict)
15 reps @ 20 kgs
15 reps @ 30 kgs
15 reps @ 40 kgs
12 reps @ 50 kgs

Pull-ups
10 reps @ BW*
8 reps +10 kgs chain PR
7 reps +10 kgs chain

*Bodyweight: 128 kilograms

AS PLANNED, overhead press was high reps and low weight tonight. I will be increasing the weight very, very slowly going forward, and aiming for more reps where the movement becomes more comfortable... I stopped at 12 reps of 50 because it was getting painful.

The money set on bench was messed up when I hit the upright on the second rep. I racked it, took a moment, and went again... but the same thing happened. I need to get my position on the bench sorted next time. Perturbed, I dropped back to 110 kilos and repped out for a new PR at that weight... not bad, but not what I wanted. And I did attempt some dumbbell OHP after the barbell work but my delts were too fatigued to achieve anything worthwhile.

I've finally started adding weight to my pull-ups; I hope to perform several reps at around 150 kilograms total weight in the future. That will be pretty cool.

The combination of heavy training Friday and Saturday, combined with an overbooked social calendar and a severe lack of sleep caused me to puss out on squats this week. Again, with my injury, this is an area where more rest can only be a good thing (to a point, at least). I will squat next week. I may not go heavy, but I will squat.

Back to PTC tomorrow night for my final deadlift session before the WA Strongman qualifiers, July 13th. I'm going for a single of 285... and that's it. I may even attempt it sans straps, to appease the benevolent (if slightly officious) Rucci brothers. I gotta get a pass from them if I want my name on the board!