Saturday, September 22, 2012

Dead Doubles

I have not pulled heavy in a while so today I had suit doubles planned.
585 X 2
635 X 2
675 X 2 all done Sumo
Raw Sumo Pulls after:
405 X 5
495 X 2 sets of 3.

Rear Delt Bent over raise: 4 sets of 10 with 30 lbs

Reverse Hypers: 1 set of 15 with 600 #

Not a ton of work done, but at least I know where I am at on the pull now.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A taste of suit work and upper accessory day

I am about 8 weeks out from the meet so it is about time to get in the suit again.  The plan was to work up to my planned final warm up at the meet. 
145 X 2 sets of 8
235 X 5
325 X 1
415 X 1
595 X 1 Put some old boss briefs on tonight.  Mine were being repaired from the fat leg blowout last time.
685 X 1
775 X 1 With Boss Suit bottoms on.
865 X 1 Straps up.  It felt decent, and the weight moved well.  Mike the depth Nazi said I was about an inch high.  For a last warm up I will take an inch high and be happy for now.

Zerchers with harness:  Normally I wear a belt with these, but went without a belt this time.  We didn't go heavy with them, but it felt better without a belt.
135 X 6
225 X 6
315 X 6
365 X 2 sets of 6
One of the guys that works for us has started coming to work out with us this week.  After he did 2 sets of these he disappeared.  Finally he emerged out of the locker room shoes changed wallet in hand....It was fun to shame him into a few more sets he obviously didn't want to do. 

Laying leg raise with chain around the ankles: 1,2,3 chains all for 1 set of 10.

Thursday upper accessory day:

Close grip bench with doubled up monster mini bands off a 4 board.
135 X 8
225 X 8
275 X 8
315 X 8  These were as hard as I thought they would be.  I am trying to work on triceps strength without the normal leg drive (belly toss) that I use.  I think they should help down the road.

Close grip cambered bar press out of mono laying on our squat box (longest exercise name ever)
165 X 6
215 X 6
265 X 6
305 X 6
325 X 5

We set up a lying band row (attached to a bar) to work on pulling the bar apart, squeezing the bar down etc.
4 sets of 8 or 10 with a choked off purple band on each barsleeve.  These were as good as I had hoped.  I still need work on keeping my shoulders back, and squeezing the bar down to my fat belly instead of cutting it high.

I have abandoned the carb back loading until after November.  I was down to 317 from 330 in three days, so I will be fat for at least 8 more weeks, but probably a bit longer than that...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Beach trip and Benching

We took off for a long week end and went to the beach in North Carolina.  It was nice to get a way and relax a bit. It was a typical beach trip.  I got sunburnt the first day, I ate a ton of fresh seafood, and drank beer or Knob creek with about every meal (that's what vacations are for).  We got back in late Sunday night and back to benching Monday...

135 X 3 sets of 8
205 X 6
255 X 5
315 X 3
405 X 2 off 2 soft boards
I put my tight shirt (56 phenom) back on.  Not so fun to put a bench shirt on with a sun burn....
495 X 3 off a 4 board
585 X 3 off a 3 board
635 X 3 off a 2 board
635 X 2 off a 1.5 board
I was pretty happy with this workout.  Probably the lightest thing I have gotten to a 1.5 board in the tight shirt, and nothing was hard to touch the boards.  I was hoping that with changing my bench set up like Murph suggested I would be able to touch lighter weights....it looks promising so far.  It jacks my back up, but It feels much better than the crappy form I had.

Spoon press with DB's: 45,55,65, 75 lbs all for 1 set of 12
One arm Overhead press with KB's: 20,24,28,32 Kg all for 1 set of 8 each arm
mini band Face pull/external rotator work: 4 sets of 15.

I am planning on starting to carb backload on Friday.  You are supposed to go 10 days no carbs first, then start, but I am only going to run 4 days of no carb.  With the meet so close (~8 weeks) and having a lot of gear work scheduled If I go 10 days no carb none of my gear would fit for at least 2 weeks.  The first day of No carbs I lost 9 pounds...I think 4 days will be long enough for now.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Skwat'en

Finally used the cambered bar again tonight.  Oh how I've missed the...
Box Squats:
165 X 2 sets of 8
255 X 2 sets of 5
345 X 2
435 X 2
525 X 1
Put on old tight ace briefs on for all sets after 525.
615 X 2 Started with a box about 2" above parallel
665 X 2 dropped the box height a little
705 X 2 dropped the box height a little more
745 X 2  Took the box height to right at parallel or a shade below
795 X 2

Hanging leg raise with Spud, Inc. hanging ab straps:
3 sets of 12

Kettlebell double swings:
3 sets of 10 with 20 Kg's

One leg hamstring curl: 4 sets of 10 light weight.

Not a bad night of training.  All of the weights felt pretty light even though nothing moved incredibly fast.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Benching

I did a bench only meet Saturday in my loose phenom.  I was able to touch 601 easily, but that was the only one that got up that day. 

Bench from Monday:
135 X 3 sets of 8
185 X 5
225 X 5
275 X 3
315 X 3
365 X 1
405 X 3 with slingshot
455 X 2 with slingshot
495 X 1 with slingshot
close grip press off a 4 board
405 X 5
455 X 5
Chain triceps ext with Spud, Inc Cable handles
2 chains X 10
3 chains X 10
5 chains X 10
5 chains X 10
4 chains X 12

Seated overhead Barbell press:
3 sets of 15 with 135 lbs

One arm Cable row:
4 sets of 10

Got some decent work in tonight

Friday, September 7, 2012

Trip to Boston

Spud and I took a little time to head to Murph's strongman contest in Boston to hang out.  The flight out of Atlanta to Boston was a bit cramped with Spud on my right, Me in the Middle and a shaved legged 275 lb Boston guy on my right.  None of us were all that happy (me the least as I am not a fan of being touched, let alone for 3 hrs straight).  Once we arrived in Boston Murph picked us up in his Giant TPS truck and we checked out his gym.  Despite a ton of stairs (not fat friendly), the gym was awesome.  It has something for everyone: powerlifting, strongman, boxing, and a ton more.If you are ever in Everett, you need to go.
     We went and ate a ton of food at an old steak house then back to the hotel to settle in.  Murph picked us up for Dinner and we went and ate at a cool old bar called the 8/10.  I had a pizza, some macaroni, and other appetizers (non stop eating and drinking for a couple of hours).  It was a pretty cool place and it seemed like Murph knew about everyone there.  Some of his cop Buddies stopped in and hung out for a while and it seemed a little like our gym where our deputies come in and hang out with us.
     Friday we hung out at the gym most of the day while Murph did some last minute prep work for the contest and we waited anxiously to train.  I had been wanting to come train with the shirt guru Murph for a while so I was happy to get the chance.  Murph showed me a lot of ticks in setting my shirt and corrected my terrible bench form.  It is always good to get someone you don't train with to look at you and pick your form apart. After training there was a lot more Pizza and calzones eaten and we called it an early night.
     Contest day was a lot of fun with great weather and plenty of people to help and everything went smoothly.  There were at least 8 or 9 Women doing the contest and it was fun to watch them get after it.  Along with the girls thee wee some big boys (a few 6'5+, 375lbs +) at the contest that were cool to watch. 
After the contest was over the real party started.
     We moved the beer from the contest upstairs to the gym (several large heavy coolers up lots of stairs) and the gym staff and helpers hung out to drink beer and eat pizza.  I had a few beers and then Murph broke out a bottle older than I am of Irish Whiskey (I knew I was in trouble then).  There was lots more alcohol and fun had that night, and made for a long day the next day.  I skipped breakfast and didn't get out of bed until 1 P.M.  I don't think I have slept that late in years.
     Once I got over my hangover we went out to Boston to see the town.  We went and saw the USS Constitution and the monument for Bunker Hill which was something really cool.  We went to the Italian Market and walked around for a while.  The streets wee full of people hanging out, eating and having a fun time. We went to a nice steak place to eat with Murph and his family and called it an early night as we had an early flight back to reality.
     The trip to Boston was great fun.  Everyone was nice and Murph took great care of us the whole time.  I learned a lot from Murph on the bench and had a blast doing it.  I will definitely be going back to Boston.