TURKEY BLOAT

Happy belated Thanksgiving person that reads this! Okay so I have to catch up on training the past few days.  I did lift over the Thanksgiving break so I could put that food to some use.  Here's what I did:

Wednesday 11-23-2011
 Behind the neck Press (standing): 125x5, 145x5, 165x6; still working on the form for this
Chin: bodyweight +25 lbs chains x6, x6, x6, x6, x4, x4
Hammer Curl (bi's for the guys): 80x6, x5, 75x5
Rear Delt Raise: 40x8, 40x8, x10, x10
Kneeling Ab crunch: 200x15x3
Kroc Row: 150x20
Triceps Pushdown (Tri's for the...guys?): 200x12, x12, x8
Reverse Cable Curl: 110x11, 130x6

Thursday
EAT

Friday
EAT MORE

Saturday
Okay squat workout....all that food helped me get a new record.
I worked up to a 415 squat with a belt...that's all you need to know, I don't want to type anymore

Sunday
Bench with Fat Gripz: worked up to 275x1
bunch of assistance work (and neck)

Today (Tuesday)
Worked up to 495 x 3 on deadlift...this is close to a max set (RPE of about 9)
P.S. - RPE = rate of perceived exertion; at a 10, I can't do another rep, at RPE=7, I can bust out about 4-5 more reps...most of my lifting comes between an RPE of 7.5 to 9.5
Random assistance work

Okay...that took longer than I thought. I leave you with this video of my 540 deadlift from last week. Finally got it uploaded...I plan on putting some random song on there, so it may be funny.  Here it is:

TUESDAY TUGGIN' AND AN AWESOME VID

Alright, so Tuesday I did some deadlifting, as I am wont to do.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even got some video! I didn't have time to edit into one vid, so you're getting 2 quick ones, plus an awesome video at the end that has nothing to do with me.

Tuesday's Training:

Warmed up with chins and some explosive jumps to get me going (after stretching and all that good stuff).

Deadlift: 135x5, 225x4, 295x3, 375x1, 435x1, Added belt 510x1, 540x1 (P-to-the-R!)

Deficit Deadlift off 2" platform: 355x5, x5, 365x5, x5

Shrug: 225x10, 315x6, 405x12, x12, 425x12

IsoLateral Plate Loaded Row: 215x8, x7, x6, x5

Neck Extension: 47.5x15, x15, x12

....okay, so my phone is being really dumb and i've been trying to upload my deadlift videos for the past 2 days. I'll upload them in a different post. Have a great Thanksgiving (someday I'll have more than one reader !)

And check this guy out, he is insane (in a good way):

MONDAY - LIGHT TRAINING

Monday is normally an "off" day for me, but I usually go to the gym for about 30 minutes to get me moving and work up a sweat:

Rear foot elevated split squats: 45 lb plate above head x8 x 3 sets

Chin-ups (palms away): bodyweight x8 x 3 sets

Behind the neck press: 45x8, 95x6, 135x5, 165x5 x5

Clean: 165x1 x4 sets

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Ugh, tired and didn't want to go to the gym.  To make things worse, UPS did not deliver a very important package I was looking forward to on Saturday! Oh well.  Watched the Packers win then went to the gym.  I was the only one there, so I cranked the tunes and got to work:

Bench: 160x5, 185x5, 210x6.  I use Fat Gripz (try to ignore all the marketing hype, they are awesome but not a training secret) for these because they make everything harder!(ha!)
Bent-over Barbell Row: 135x6, 255x8 x 4 sets
1-arm dumbbell clean and press (only cleaned once): 85x5 x 4 sets (put the fat gripz on these too)
Skull crusher: 115x8 x 4 sets
Tricep pushdowns (just for fun): 200x12, x8
I'm spent, goodnight

SATURDAY WITH THE CREW

I love lifting on Saturday mornings!  It's the start of the weekend, I have tons of energy, and most of the time, I can lift with other people who also love lifting.  It usually takes about 2 - 3 hours of my morning, but that's mostly because we do a lot of talking and making fun of the guy with all the injuries. Good times!  Anyway, they typically do a squat/deadlift workout, whereas I try to have my deadlift or squat day fall on Saturday to get some tips.  This past Saturday I did my squat workout.  Got there early so I filled time with extra stretching and mobility work so my legs were nice and toasty.  I would have had video of my squat, but my phone is crap and didn't save the file.  Here we go:

Squat warmup: 135x6, x5, 185x5, 225x2
Squat: 245x5, 275x5, 315x6 (all beltless).  These felt pretty easy and I'm confident I'll be hitting 400 pretty routinely soon...already have done 407 with a belt.
Neck extension (w/ neck harness): 45 lbsx15 x 3 sets
Dumbbell Side Bend:  150x11, x10, x8 (each side)  my grip was giving out even with chalk on these
Plate loaded seated row: 200x8, x8, x8
Stiff legged deadlift (need to work on my hamstrings): 225x5, 315x6 x 4 sets
Zercher Squat: 185x6, 225x6, 275x5, x5, x5
If you've never done Zercher Squats, they are awesome.  Great for helping you keep your abs tight during squats and keep you from falling forward... forearm protection optional (I don't use any, b/c I'm a sucker for painful things I guess)
Here's a video of the Zercher Squat:

WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY TRAINING, AND SWINGING THOSE HIPS

So Wednesday I did my military press day.  Except I decide to do behind the neck press.  These were awesome, but once I got up to 195, I had a hard time bringing the bar back down on my traps.  I didn't want to smash the top of my spine.  They are a little tough, but hopefully I can find a video to explain (this guy is soo much stronger than me..I need to learn how to clean correctly):



Also, someone took the freakin' chin/dip belt!!! Someone always hides this at our gym, so I draped the rusty chains across my shoulders...no clue how much they weighed.  Two sets were really heavy, one set was okay.
Anyway, here's what I did Wednesday:
Behind the Neck (BTN) Press: 135x4, 155x3, 175x3, 185x1, 195x1, 195x1
Chin (palms away): BW + 2 rusty sets of chains x 4, +1 rusty set of chains x4 x5 sets
Kroc Row (1-arm Dumbbell Row, leaning on bench): 150x15
Hammer Curl: 80x5, x6, x6
Plank w/ 45 pound plate: 30 seconds, 35, 30
Tricep Pushdown (for fun!): 150x10, 170x10, 200x10 x3 sets (entire stack of weight...ugh I need my own gym)

Here's Friday's training:
BTN Press: 45x8, 95x8, 115x8, 135x5, 155x5
Squat: 135x8, 185x6, 225x5, 275x4, 325x1, 225x4 (need to work on using my hamstrings more, that was the point of this)
Barbell Hip Thrust: 245x6, 335x6, 385x5, x5, x5
The hip thrusts were super fast, and I hope that these continue to increase and eventually surpass my deadlift.  Tomorrow is squat day with a crew of lifters. Get it on!

TUESDAY'S TRAINING - DON'T CALL ME BRO, BRO

Deadlift day:

Deadlift: 185x4, 225x3, 295x3, 365x2, 435x1, add belt: 505x1, 535x1 (PR)

Deficit DL (stand on 2" 100 lb. plate): 340x5 x 4 sets (see video)

Shrug: 275x7, 365x6, 405x10, x10, x10

Neck Extension (w/ harness): 45x12, x12, x12

Isolateral Plate Row (Hammer machine): 200x8, x8, x8

Also, the guy recording that video likes to call me bro...good stuff

WELCOME AND MONDAY'S TRAINING

Welcome to the blog! Good to have you here.  This blog is mainly a vehicle for my training.  I want to keep track of what I'm doing, where I'm going, share any goals I have, and post information for competitions.

Here's how I train:
I like the big, compound movements because they give you the most bang for your buck.  I don't want to spend 2 hours in the gym 5 to 6 days a week working my arms and chesticles (I'm making that a word) from every conceivable angle.  Nope, I'm going to stick with squats, deadlifts, rows, bench presses, standing presses, and other lifts that are variations of those movements.  So the 1/2 of a reader I have right now, you probably have heard all this before.  But I just wanted to get it out there so people know what to expect from this blog.

I'll go into more detail on how I set up my training week in a future post.  Here's tonight's (Monday's) training:

Kneeling ab pulldown: 200 lbs x16, x15, x15
Goblet Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat:  45x8, 80x4, x3, x6
Chins (palms away): Bodyweight x 8, x6, x5
Shoulder Blade Pinch things (I can't think of the name right now): 110x12, 140x10, 170x10, x10
Front Squats (just for fun): 135x8, 225x5, 295x2

Adios.