250

Max-Out Day couldn’t have gone any better this morning:

A) Speed bench 5 x 3 @ 55% 1RM, then worked my way up to 250 x 1 for a personal record

B1) Close-grip bench 2 x 5

B2) Neutral-grip chest-supported rows 2 x 5

C1) Inverted rows 3 x 10

C2) Scapular push-ups 3 x 15

Really happy about this, I’ve never even come close to putting that up before. Prior to this program I had never legitimately benched more than 220 in my life, and 8 weeks into Maximum Strength I’m already 30 pounds beyond that. Can’t believe there are 8 more weeks to go! 275 here I come!

Friday

Friday’s easy workout:

A) Broad jumps (OMIT)

B) Dead lifts from elevation 2 x 5 (used the Hammer Strength dead lift set-up and screwed around with some light weight)

C) Reverse dumbbell lunges 3 x 6 (65s x 6, personal record)

D) Paloff presses 3 x 10/side

Diet was shit today in terms of nutrition, but plenty of ol’ calories.

Max out day at long last tomorrow.

4-Hour Work Week

Audible.com has a special going on to download Tim Ferriss’ famous 4-Hour Work Week book in audio book format, and I took advantage of it. After reading his blog and tweets for a few weeks, I was pretty confident that Ferriss was a blowhard, but I really enjoy the book so far. He’s a good writer and has some interesting (albeit unoriginal) ideas for productivity and removing unnecessary stimuli from one’s life.

At my own job I find ways to be more efficient while still getting my work done, thus leaving me with enough downtime throughout the day to keep my sanity and prevent myself from burning out, so I think Ferriss and I have similar views on working (or not working, rather). One of the really interesting sections is the speed reading chapter, which is something I’ve always wanted to learn to do. I’m going to practice on a 150-page Salinger novel tonight.

His chapter on Parkinson’s Law, which states that “data expands to fill the space available for storage” got me thinking about my daily preparation tasks that I sometimes think take too much time out of my night when I could be doing something more enjoyable.

I got home at 6:00 PM tonight from the gym and made it a task to complete all my nightly prep–plus eating dinner–by 6:45. Since tonight was a leftovers-or-fend-for-yourself kind of night, I was able to eat 9 turkey meatballs with wheat toast and tomato sauce, make a blender full of Super Shake enough for 3 meals of nutritious food for tomorrow, do the dishes, and clean/set up the coffee maker all by quarter of 7. Usually I just dick around for a while before dragging myself upstairs before bed to do all those things, so good job by me.

Anyway, here was my workout for this evening. Again, another de-load, this time for upper body:

A1) Incline bench: OMIT

A2) Medium grip pull-ups 3 x 5 (easy)

B1) Flat dumbbell bench 2 x 6 (easy)

B2) Head-supported db rows 2 x 6 (easy)

C1) Cable backhands 3 x 15

C2) Zottman curls 2 x 10

I screwed around with something equivalent to the 2-board press (which is keeping two 2×4s taped together on your chest during a bench press, helps with lockout and triceps strength) by using a hard foam block about 4 inches thick. It reduces the range of motion for benching, thus allowing you to lift more weight in preparation for heavier lifts. Slightly less weird-looking than carrying around taped 2×4s at the gym, I immediately love these. I did sets of 1 and worked up to 245 x 1, making sure I didn’t really fatigue, and I easily could have gone up at least another 15 pounds. I think these are in the program for the last month, and I’m really looking forward to them. VERY excited to maybe get up to 275 pounds by the end.

TGIDLW

Thank God It’s De-Load Week.

Yesterday was the first day of Week 8 which is another de-load, and it’s welcome. A pretty easy one last night, which was good after 3 weeks of hardship.

Front squats were off the board so it was right into the rest:

A) Front squats (omit)

B) Db step-ups 2 x 6 (easy)

C1) Bar roll-outs 2 x 10

C2) Natural glute-ham raise 2 x 8 (skipped these because the Smith machine was in use, replaced with barbell RDLs)

Single-leg box squats 2 x 10

This only took me about 30 minutes though I did break a decent sweat. While the de-load week is great physically, mentally it makes me feel lazy.  My diet has been okay, but nothing to write home about.

I’ve been spending too much time on internet forums reading about diet and exercise, and it’s confusing and frustrating me.  Everybody has an opinion and believes he or she is correct, and I’m just a consumer trying to find something that works for me.

I need to realize that success with health and fitness is a result of consistency with whatever approach you choose. There is not necessarily a right or wrong. Sometimes I get caught up in the fact that while I’m doing a specialized program and following certain specialized diet strategies (which I don’t follow as much as I should or could), it doesn’t mean that what others do has no merit.  Half the time I can’t explain why I’m doing something, or why it even works or doesn’t work, so I need to get off my high horse.

Hopefully I’ll feel better about all this when I max out my bench on Saturday.

rock climbing is hard

Last night with Andy and Moriah we went indoor rock climbing at Metro Rock in Everett for the first time. It was a good time, but I might have awakened a fear of heights that I always suspected was there. I did fine up until I got to about three-quarters up any of the walls, and I started to get scared, and only made it to the top of two of them. That shit is high. It was still a lot of fun, even though I may have slightly hyper-extended my elbows. They feel fine today but were hurting last night. Great forearm workout.

NICE

Great upper-body workout today. The lower back feels better on the left side, no damage there, but the right is still sore. Next week I’m skipping deadlifts all together, even though I’m supposed to do 2 sets of 5. Maybe I’ll just do 135 x 5 just to practice.

Today:

A) Speed bench press 10 x 3 @ 50% 1RM

B1) Close grip bench press 5 x 5

B2) Chest-supported neutral grip rows 5 x 5

C1) Inverted rows 3 x 10

C2) Scapular push-ups 3 x 15

Ten sets of speed bench takes a long time, but they must be helping. Up to 205 x 5 on close-grip, which is huge for me, I’m still improving on the rows as well.

Excited to max out flat bench next week! 240? 250?….260?! We shall soon see.

Another lousy deadlifting day…

This is the third week in a row my deadlifts have been shitty, I’m pissed. I had them up on blocks today, probably a good 8 inches off the ground, and tried like hell on my form. Back straight, core tight, pushing hips forward, shoulder blades retracted, all that shit. I immediately feel it in my lower back. I did 5 sets of 5, not going above 235, and I feel sore, a bit on the left side this time. I probably should have ditched them all together but with next week being the de-load, I figure if I reduced the weight it would be fine (last week was 275 x 5 with the trap bar from the floor). Nothing major, I didn’t feel pops or anything, but I wish I could get these right. I need a professional to look at me for this kind of stuff. I am definitely interested in getting an eval at CP. I’m starting to hate deadlifts. My hip flexors are also sore as hell, despite the amount of rolling and stretching I do. What gives?

A) Broad jumps 6 x 5 (I only did two sets of these in socks, then 4 sets of jump squats. The shins feel fine today.)

B) Deadlifts from elevation 5 x 5

C) Reverse db lunges 4 x 6

D) Pallof presses 3 x 10

Tomorrow is upper-body, looking forward to that at least.

Two more to start the week…

Week 7 is another very high volume week, and my joints are tired and creaky already. After just two of these workouts I’m sore and tired, and looking forward to next week’s de-load. As I said to my wife last night, I am an old, old wooden ship.

Last night:

A) Front squats (4 x 1) x 6

B) Dumbbell step-ups 4 x 8

C1) Bar roll-outs 3 x 10

C2) Glute-ham raises 3 x 8

D) Single-leg box squats 2 x 10/side

Front squats up to cluster sets at 195, which is pretty good. A few weeks ago I was having trouble with 135. The glute-ham raises were tough, and my calves cramped up this time instead of my hams (a positioning issue), but otherwise a good workout.

Tonight:

A1) Incline bench (4 x 1) x 6

A2) Weighted medium-grip pull-ups (4 x 2) x 6

B1) Flat db bench 3 x 8

B2) Head supported db rows 3 x 8

C1) Cable backhands 3 x 12

C2) Zottman curls 3 x 10

Up to 195 for the incline bench, again a good increase. My rest periods towards the end were a bit longer (sometimes 15-20 seconds), but not having a spot makes me a little nervous. I got everything up without incident.

Friday is back to deadlifts off an elevation, which I’m going to take my sweet time with and reduce the weight, seeing as how my lower back still hurts a bit. It doesn’t hurt while working out, even during leg day yesterday, but after sitting down for a while or being crunched up in the car. Not going to kill myself on a movement I’ve struggled with lately.

After a bad weekend my diet has cleaned up well. Happy about that.

Ugh

A bad weekend for health. I suppose that’s what Halloween parties will do. I don’t think I’ll be ready to lift tomorrow, I might have to push it again to Tuesday.

Two more workouts

Last night a great upper-body session:

A) Speed bench 8 x 3 with 45% of 1RM, followed by 2 x 3 heavy

B1) Close-grip bench 3 x 5

B2) Neutral-grip chest-supported rows 3 x 5

C1) Inverted rows 3 x 10

C2) Scapular push-ups 3 x 15

I got up to 220 x 3 on heavy bench, plus a bunch of spotted reps afterwards. Up to 195 x 5 on close-grip, again with a couple of spotted reps at the end. I felt really good about last night, my chest has never been this strong.

This morning was another story:

A) Broad jumps 5 x 5 (skipped today)

B) Deadlifts from slight elevation 4 x 5 (had to do it from the floor today as the ridiculous step class took ALL the steps in the entire gym. I’m not ready to lift from the floor yet, I used the trap bar and got up to 275 x 5, but when I tried 285 x 5 my wife pointed out that my back was rounding immediately, so I packed those in after the first rep. Only 3 sets. My back is going to be sore again, but hopefully not as bad as last week. I kept my core much tighter.)

C) Reverse lunges 3 x 6 (up to the 60s x 6)

D) Pallof press 3 x 10/side

So again not a great deadlifting day. After 275 went so well I figured 285 would be, too, but I guess not. Next week should go better, and I’m making a conscience effort to reduce the weight next time.

Off to golf and a Halloween party in CT for the weekend.