29 October 2014
Light Night

Well the DOMS from intensity day hit my left arm so bad I could barely move it for a day and a half. My tricep pretty much seized up and took just over a day to loosen back up and two days for the soreness to go away.
Because of that I skipped my volume day this week for recovery. I originally planned to do a rest or deload week about every 4-6 weeks so this became a rest week. I did light night but I am going to give intensity night a pass this week. I have a annual fishing trip for the opening of the high country trout season so a rest week works right in.
On a plus I got the local powerlifting coach set to look at my deadlifts and help sort me out next week. Our schedules haven't meshed lately so it was good to catch up tonight for a bit. He had some massive lifts when he was competing so I am looking forward to the feedback.
 

Squats - No big deal with the safety bar squats tonight. I didn't move the weight up tonight and I am not sure I am going to move it up too much between now and competition time. With intensity getting heavier and volume day providing the stresses to get stronger I want to be sure light night allows some recovery.

OHP - similar to squats I am holding the weight on presses for now. even keeping the weights on hold strength can be gained. As long as you are working you won't lose strength. My bench is getting heavy on intensity day and I want the recovery from volume day.

Rows - Holding the weight here and it has helped my form. I am getting some good reps with the weight coming up better on every rep. I've had good results just holding at a weight in the past and it is working again.

Back extensions - I did these while I was waiting to get into the squat rack. I don't mind doing these first because they help with warming up the lower back and hips for the rest of the workout.

Cable pulls - I haven't been as consistent as I want with these so I put them in to night as an extra. The lower back gets that good stretch and feels better after these. I need to be more consistent at getting these in. I think they are giving some benefit to the posterior chain work that I need.

24 October 2014
Intensity Day
Well it was certainly an intense day for lifting. There was no waiting around for equipment to day which was great but it was a day of ups and downs (no pun intended).


Squats - Warm ups on squats tonight felt pretty good. I forgot to drop a rep off at 120, 140, 160kgs so I lifting a few extra kgs. When I got to my work set I unracked and out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy over by my camera and I thought "damn it not again". A couple of weeks ago a guy stood in front of my camera on a set of 190kgs and so I did a second one to record it. Tonight it threw my concentration off seeing someone over around the camera again. I made my first rep and on the second one I lost tightness in my shoulders and the rep went to hell and I dropped it onto the safeties. I decided to do another set but I didn't have a double in the tank. I did two more singles to get the tonnage in. Just goes to show that lifting is as much mental as physical sometimes.


Bench Press - Tonight was a big night on the bench for me. After having a bad squat session I wasn't sure what was going to happen on the bench. Warming up felt really good right up to 100kgs. I didn't drop any reps and just did 5 reps on all my warmup sets and only rested after the last one. I got our local energizer bunny to give me a spot and in the end he had a chance to just rest. I nailed my 5 reps nice and solid, I might even of had one more in me. This is a good rep PR for me on the bench and the 1RM calculator on my app said my new !RM is over 140kgs. That works great because 140 is what I want to hit at my next comp in Dec. If I keep going I might even do better than 140Kgs in Dec.


Sumo Deadlifts - Tonight I added a little weight to keep some progress going. I also used different shoes to get a better grip on the floor than the slippers I have been using. I felt good on all my reps and did all of them with a overhand grip. Grip was only an issue on the last rep at 160kgs. I think next week I am going to reduce the volume leading up to my top sets down to 3 reps and add more weight again. I am interested to see how these go as they get heavier.


Deadlifts - The first 2 sets of conventional deadlifts felt pretty good but the third set felt a little rough on the lower back. It wasn't enough to think I was in big trouble. But I think enough to show up some fatigue from the sumo volume and that is enough of a reason to reduce the sumo volume.

 

22 October 2014
Light Night
Had to wait on the squat rack tonight so I did a little reordering and did Back extensions first. This is something Reg Park used to do on all of his workouts. He always started with 3 sets of back extensions. I also did 3 3 minute squat challenges where you squat down and hold it. These actually went well and I should be doing them daily


Back Extensions - Done holding a 20kgs plate. these are getting easier so it looks like I might add a few more reps. I think these helped loosen up the back for squats.

SSB Squats - loving the Squat Safety Bar. I moved up 10kgs from last week since I am getting a good feel on the move and using the new bar. 120kgs felt good and was a front squat PR. Next week its going up anther 5 kgs. I need to push a bit to use these to help assist my deadlift. It certainly hits the glutes differently and I can feel it a couple hours later.


OHP- I decided to start using ascending sets on these. I should really be doing these light to give a little more recovery to the shoulders and this is my solution. The top set was heavy and not the best of form so next week will be a repeat.

Barbell Rows - Held the same weight as last week to work on power off the floor. In a few week I'll be where I want to be and add 5 kgs,
Tonight's video has a guy in the background doing upright rows... he is a strong guy and can be interesting to watch....

 

20 October 2014
Volume Night
A typical Monday night at the gym. Freaking clowns everywhere, so it was in with the ear buds and crank up some classic mix of rock and hip hop. Everything felt good tonight but I had to skip pull throughs again due to clowns on the cables... butt heads,. Spring decided to take a break and the weather turned wet and cold so I decided to don the compression pants for the gym....


Squats - feeling good on these, but I found out that knee sleeves and compression pants don't work that well together. I have sorted my form and filming from the rear showed the improvement. I had one rep of 25 that the bar dipped on the left side but other than that everything felt good.


Bench Press - 97.5kgs 6x6 is definitely a rep PR for me and next week's 100kgs will be another. I felt really good on the bench and I feel like my form is pretty well dialled in right now. The shoulders feel good and just one elbow is a little sore. It doesn't seem to be bothering my bench much though. I am feeling pretty confident going into Friday from here.


RDL - I upped the weight and things still felt good. I would rather do these in the rack but the rep of the floor can't hurt. Next week I'll up it 5 more kgs to keep building the back up. After deadlifting on Friday my back was sore but I got these done and felt ok.

18 October 2014
Intensity Night
Intensity night had to wait a day this week. I got home from work and had water flowing all over the sidewalk and driveway and going down the road. The pipe coming off the main failed from age and was blowing water all over the place. It was close enough to the main that the Council works contractor fixed it. It took him 3 hrs to show up and an hour to fix it but it got done.
So it was a Saturday morning workout this time which worked out pretty good. There was only a few people in the gym and there was no waiting for the rack but when it came time to bench there was a guy in the way.


Squats - Reducing to triples and doubles at this point is working good. I think that some of the lighter squats made me a little complacent on bar placement on the shoulders. The rear views of some of my squats have shown the bar not being level across the shoulders. I paid attention to the bar from the time it went up off the rack until I reracked. It felt like I was letting the left side sit too low from the start. A few adjustments and tightening of the shoulders did the trick. The bar felt good and stayed good and steady on my back.


Bench Press - When it came time to bench the bench was in use and with so few people in the gym to aske for a spot I decided to bench in the rack. Last week I forgot to add enough weight to the bar and going for an additional heavy set ended up one rep short. So today it was 117.5kgs again. All my reps felt really good and I blasted right through my work set no problem. Next week is going to be a good one adding 2.5kgs..


Sumo Deadlift - No big problems here. I am feeling more comfortable with sumos and in time I might be able to get some good weight up with these. Brandon Lilly and Andy Bolton both do sumos along with conventional DL saying that they kind of feed off each other. Next week I'll add another 5 or 10 kgs.


Deadlifts - I am using the last weight from my sumos as the warmup weight for conventional deadlifts. So I ended up with 2 warm up sets and then 2 work sets. The back tightened up a little but not as bad as it has been. I just need to keep moving forward with these. A young guy asked me about deadlifting and I gave him the technical stuff about neutral back, looking forward, pull the bar back.... and watched him do a few reps. It highlighted to me again how short my arms are.....


About 7 weeks to go until the Asia/Oceania Championships.. flights are booked.....

15 October 2014
Light night
Was running late from work tonight but got to the gym and got the main lifts done. I have decided that it is time to drop benching on light night now. I am still hitting 6x6 on volume night and my intensity night set is getting to a point where I need the recovery. I was happy tonight to finish up and get out of the gym. I can't understand how some smelly buggers can stand their own stench.. I was like damn dude do some laundry or go jump in the ocean or something..

I have a bit of DOMs in the traps and upper back from Monday's benching and RDLs but it will pass. I'll be paying attention on Intensity night and see if it is time to change things up.

 

Front Squats - These went well and the safety bar is working well. I went up 10kgs from last week and it felt good in the quads. You wouldn't think that a few changes in the location of the weight and how you begin a lift can change things. I am going to keep these moving steadily up slowly.

OHP - warming up 60kgs felt heavy so I held things there. It is supposed to be light night after all. I figure that the bench volume isn't getting a good recovery opportunity with OHP being heavy. I am going to just hold here at 60kgs 3x5 for awhile.

Rows - these felt good but I am going to hold at 90kgs for a few weeks. This will let me build up and make sure my form is dialled in nicely. and I'll still get work in but also get some recovery in from volume night.

13 October 2014
Volume Night
Well qualifying and getting selected to compete as a part of the NZPF team at the Asia/Oceania Championships has sunk in. Now I need to make sure I get the work in to make a good showing. I have been looking at my volume day considering whether the volume is enough to illicit the stimulus needed to keep intensity day moving forward. I think a couple more weeks of 5kg jumps on squats will be good.


Squats - Tonight I went up 5kgs from last week and it wasn't a big issue, I've been here before... My reps all felt good except I need to watch the rocking in the hips in the initial break to descend. I felt a slight twinge in the lower back on the right side on one rep but then everything seemed good.


Bench Press - Then bench felt good tonight. I have been having some elbow issues, the usual tennis elbow making an appearance, I will do some wrist work and that usually seems to balance things out some. The shoulder felt good and the neck has settled down for the most part, at least it doesn't bother my benching. I think moving up in 2.5kg jumps will work again next week and then it will be time to look at the next progression. sooner or later there will need to be a switch to 3x5 and then 3x3..


RDLs - I moved up on RDLs to get the back working more. I tried to get the hit to the hammies and I think I did. I am debating on more reps per set or adding on another set to get alittle more work in I think I am getting some benefit here but I would like to push it a little more.


Cable pull throughs - I upper the weight on these and I sure did feel it. There was quite a stretch in the hammies and lower back during some reps but everything was good when I was done. The hope is for some better mobility along with strengthening the lower back. I am thinking that next week will be the same weight and move up in a couple of weeks as strength builds.

 

10 October 2014
Week 7 Intensity Night
Cowboy (Bench) Method
Not a bad night at the gym but I did start to feel some fatigue set in after squats. I need to get back to the honey before and during workouts. The natural carbs give a good charge up fast.



Squats - today was a day for a rep PR on squats. Doing 3 reps at 90% 1RM was the goal and I hit them pretty nicely. I went for a second set but only hit two reps. I didn't fell like I had the last rep in me so I racked it. All the reps felt pretty good but I did want two full sets. Tonnage wise I still got in 5 reps. Monday I am upping the weight on Volume day to start reducing the gap between intensity and volume day. I will assess how things feel next week and see if I advance or not on intensity day.


Bench press - I was a little pissed off with myself on the bench. I had a brain fade and when I went for my work set I loaded 115kgs when it was supposed to be 117.5kgs. Its not a big jump but I was supposed to move up. As soon as I racked the bar I realised the screw up. To make it up I loaded the bar with 117.5kgs but I only managed to hit 4 reps . Next week I'll hit 117.5 for 5 for a new rep PR.


Sumo Deadlifts - I am feeling more comfortable with sumo deads. I still don't think I am ready for it to be my primary deadlift but I am getting some additional work in to assist with my conventional deadlifts.


Deadlifts - I got up to 140kgs tonight and for the first time in ages I didn't feel my lower back pulling. I guess the RDLs, cable pull throughs and back extensions are starting to do their work and I am getting some strength in the back. 150kgs wasn't a problem and to go up and not have my lower back feel tight and lake everything was being stretched was great. I have to remember to concentrate now and keep the bar back so I can get a good straight bar path going up. Next week, depending how I feel, I'll do this weight again. If the warm ups and first set feel good I might bump things up again.

 

8 October 2014
Week 7 Light night
Cowboy (Bench) Method
Finally after weeks of waiting I took my new Safety Squat Bar to the gym. I'm thinking it may need a tweak on the handles but I am going to give a good break in first. I think the angle on the handles could be a little less so you don't need to push them so far up. Its not a hard fix, just need some heat and bend them to the desired angle.
When I got my camera out tonight my memory card was not there. I think the grandkids were making movies and I forgot to check the camera. So tonight I listened to gym music.. blah.. and used my phone for a few videos. 12 videos drains a battery right down.


Front Squats- The new safety bar worked pretty good. The ends could have been machined 1mm smaller. The safety clips barely go on the ends of the bar. I'll pick up some different collars and that will take care of that. The way the bar is set up is when you push the handles up the weight pivots forward about 3 inches (75mm, 7.5cm, .075m) shifting your center of gravity. It gets you pretty upright and by sinking down you really hit the quads more, just like a front squat.


Overhead Press - I did these before the bench because there was a coupe of kids playing on the bench. 70kgs is felt heavy tonight and the back was getting a bit of an arch on a couple of reps. On my first set I forgot to change shoes and my oly shoes put me off and had me leaning forward. I changed into my flat shoes and that was sorted. I'm going to stick at 70kgs to build up some strength still.


Bench Press - just getting some work in. The shoulder is getting a twinge so I might look at my benching or add facepulls back in to hit the shoulders from a different angle.

Rows - Hard, loud and mean.... .. I think I am going to have a bruise again.. 


Back Extensions - I could feel the lower end of my hamstrings tonight, which is a good thing. It means I am getting some work in on the hammies and lower back.

A good night at the gym and looking forward to Friday's intensity work.

 

6 October 2014
Week 7 Volume Night
Last week I ended up using most of the week as a rest week. Wed I ended up with a blood pressure monitor all day so working out was off for the day. Since I had a couple of niggles I thought I would just make it a rest break for the rest of the week. My traps said I could use the rest.
I have been looking at my program and I am sitting low on volume day and I need to adjust light day's bench or put it on hold for a few weeks. Light day should be light and provide stimulus while allowing for recovery, its a delicate balance.

Tonight felt pretty good. The gym was kinda crowded and I had to wait a few minutes for the bench and by the time it came to do cable pull throughs there were a couple of people on the cables so I flagged them and headed home.


Squats - tonight things went well. I paid extra attention to getting my shoulders tight and making sure the bar was centered on my back. My rear view videos have shown that the bar was lower on the right side as I squatted. This appeared to be a looseness on the left side of my upper back. Today's back view looked better the bar was much straighter across the back. I noticed too on one set that as I unracked the bar dipped on the left. I took this as being off center on the bar. I filmed my warm-ups up to my first set to show how I use my warm-ups to help with some mobility. On the first two sets I totally exhaled to get lower and stretched out. I warm up this way every time I squat and it seems to really help get my stretched out. As I get heavier I go to my usual speed for squatting. Once I hit 120kgs I start dropping a rep to save some energy for my work sets.


Bench Press - No big problem on the bench tonight. I kept the weight the same as last week because I wanted to make sure I was getting all my reps in with good form and consistency. Next week it is going up 2.5 kgs again.


RDLs - felt a good hamstring stretch on these. I am getting better at the form on RDLs and I think I am going to see some benefits. I'll keep adding weight on to these and try to get the back built up. I'm using straps on these sometimes. I am not working on my grip I'm working on my back so straps are ok by me.

 

29 September 2014
Week 6 Volume Night
A good night of lifting tonight. The neck and shoulder has come back to almost 100% and the hip has settled down some. I still find myself favouring the left hip flexors and I am going to need to find some way to work on that.



Squats - tonight felt good on squats. I have developed a bit of an issue with bar position that I need to sort out. The bar is riding lower on my left side than the right. I'm not sure if its a tightness thing or some other bad habit I am developing or some of it could be the camera angle. I need to get a good shot from directly behind instead of off to one side. I also so need to work on tightness of my core, I see my back has a lot of movement to watch out for,


Bench Press - looking pretty good here. I am in a bit of a groove at the moment. I'm not sure how far I carried 6x6 the last time I ran a Korte bench program. I'll have to look back, this could be getting close to a volume PR. Next week at 95kgs 6x6 is going to be a good push.


RDLs - increased the weight slightly this week. Still really working on the stretch on these. Had to begin off the floor which I think is a good thing for the most part. It gives that one rep feel for feeling the form off the bottom.

Cable pulls throughs - upped the weight 4kgs and let 'er rip. these are getting more stretch in the hammies if you keep the legs fairly straight. Working everything here to get the deadlift up..

Great work out tonight. I was soaked by the time I finished things up and I really felt like I accomplished something. 

26 September 2014
Week 5 Intensity Day

This was the end to another week of good lifting.
I had a couple of issues and I feel like a bit of a puss. While having a big stretch sitting at my desk my right trap cramped up and didn't come right. Turning my head to the right puts a pain from my neck right down into the shoulder. It didn't bother me on squats or even deadlifts but it hit my bench pretty bad. I just wasn't at 100% tonight and I wasn't sure what to expect.



Squats - These felt heavy tonight and when I did a single at 180kgs warming up I thought I might need to just do a triple tonight. I made my triple ok but some kids stood right in front of my camera so I decided to do another set. Since I didn't do x5 I thought 2 sets of 3 was a good trade off. Surprisingly enough the traps didn't seem to bother me much here.


Bench Press - Warming up I could feel my trap twinging at about 100kgs but I thought I should b ok. Once at 115kgs for my work set I got a spotter and went for 5 reps. I did ok but no pausing the reps. One thing that normally doesn't happen is , my right arm lagged behind. Usually my left arm is the one that struggles, I guess the trap had more to do with it than I thought, but I still got by reps in.


Sumo Dead lifts - I have been reading, listening and watching about deadlifting in oly shoes as a way of changing up deadlifts. so I decided to give it a shot. I actually felt pretty good with the shoes on. I was able to get a good drag up the shins and got some volume in on sumo's.


Deadlifts - I kept the lifting shoes on for these too. I am really concentrating on form and looking at volume rather than intensity. I think this approach along with the other back work is helping out. The back felt good through my sets with only the last rep feeling a little tight. I am really working to keep the bar back and my bar path has improved.

 

24 September 2014
Week 5 Light Night
A good night in the gym with everything running smoothly and not many hold ups. All up I was out of the gym in just under 1 hour.



Front squats - these went well and I felt really good doing them. I went back to a cross grip and had good control on the bar. Using straps last week actually stressed my right wrist a little so cross grip is my preference. I know that 90kgs isn't a lot of weight but form is good and I am ready for the weight to keep going up.

OHP- had to do press first while a guy finished playing on the bench. I made all my reps but the back was getting some rounding on the last reps of sets 2&3. I am going to see how next week goes and consider holding the weight for a couple of weeks to build strength.

Bench - my bench weight on light night has been set to be 10kgs less than volume night but I need to reset to a percentage to keep the proportions right..

Rows - Yep, you guessed it. Loved them. They were hard, fast and loud.

Back extensions- Still doing these holding a 20kgs plate in front. I think I will add some reps on these.

22 September 2014
Week 5 Volume day
Cowboy Method
Today was a holiday here and we had the grandkids all morning and that was a bit of a workout in itself. It also meant there was hardly anyone at the gym which is always nice.

I'm a little sore after last Friday's deadlifting. The back has tightened up again and the hips took a beating with my left abductors getting aggravated again. Me and deadlifts are not the best of friends  but I'll get there in time. It is going to be a slow process of assistance work and no big deadlifting for awhile.

Squats - It took a lot to get the hips to loosen up with the left side causing the most grief but I got things going. I noticed while watching some video that the bar on the left side is much lower on the back view so I made some adjustments and got it better on the last set. Need to watch hand placement and make sure both sides of the back are getting good and tight.


Bench Press - I am really happy with where my bench press is right now. My sets are feeling good and I should be able to carry the 6x6 on for a few more weeks before moving the volume down a little.


RDL - really working on getting the hamstring stretch again on these and I could feel it hitting them.

Cable Pull Throughs - Time to up the weight on these. I'm getting a good pull back on these. I am working on making sure it is a pull with the hips and back, not the arms. Any critiques on these would be welcome from those guys doing them.