1 December 2014
Volume Night
Well I thought I would get this logged on the day since I actually had a great feeling day in the gym. I'm not sure why (certainly not extra sleep, we had the grand daughter most of the weekend) maybe it was the giant can of Monster, 2 Reese cups and gummi alligator I had 45 minutes before the gym.... Whatever it was it was nice to finish a workout feeling good about how it went.


Squats - I had to wait in the rack (no surprise on a Monday) so I put some time into some much neglected mobility and stretching. I have been rushing to get to the gym and skimping on the stretching and tonight I realised how much it has effected my lifting. Once I got squatting my hips felt much looser than they have in awhile. My warm ups were smooth and fast right up to my work sets. I decided to add 2.5kgs on my work sets My middle set felt a bit suspect on depth and checking the video I thought I needed a couple more inches and on set 3 I took my time and adjusted depth for 3 good reps.

Barbell Rows - Since I had to wait in the bench I reordered things a little. While I was squatting a few clowns were doing bent over rows with about 40kgs. it was the blind leading the blind and so sad but they didn't ask me for help and I don't usually offer clowns. They finished about the time I finished squatting so I grabbed the bar doubled the weight they were using and smashed out 3 sets. I could them checking me out in the mirror. More work and less play is the way to go.

Bench Press - it is hard to figure what to do at this stage. I have felt like my bench has been a little off so I warmed up to 100kgs and I was going to do 5x5 but I decided to step up and do some paused reps to prep for competition. 3x3 at 110kgs felt good Friday I will be doing heavy pauses for more prep work.

Cable Pull throughs - I think the stretching helped on these also I didn't feel it as much as I have been. I still got a good stretch in and post comp I'll look at moving these up to help the back out.

After I did some distractions on my left hip and walking out of the gym I noticed how well my hip was moving. Tomorrow it is off to the physio to see what he can do for my back. Hopefully I'll get cracked and stretched so I can loosen up.

29 November 2014
Intensity day
I don't make it to the gym on Saturdays very often but the place was all but empty. It was lovely to not have to wait on anything and no dweebs getting in my way.
 
Squats - I was considering where to go on these tonight and settled for 200kgs which is going to be my opener in Melbourne. I decided 2 singles would be a good place to be. Between 160, 180 and 200's I slowed up and took a couple minutes break to try and be a bit fresher. I watched the clock when I started and finished all of my squats in about 17 minutes. I had a good sweat going by the time I was finished and ready to move on.

Bench Press - The one draw back to no one else in the gym is there is no one to spot the bench. Benching in the power rack is nice and safe but the catches are either too high or too low. It takes almost half a rep to unrack the bar. I opted for more volume at a higher weight and 110kgs was about where it was comfortable in the rack I did an ugly rep at 120kgs but he set up was not good to do more.

Deadlifts - I thought I would stick with higher reps and go up. I did the 60 and 100kgs off of two plates and 120kgs off of one plate. The reps fatigued my quite a bit and when I went for 160kgs my hips and back were screaming. I won't be deadlifting again until competition time.

Next week I will keep Volume and Light day as usual but intensity day will be similar with the exception of deadlifts.

Also thanks to all you guys who keep checking in on me. I have been really slack on checking in and my brothers. So cheers and after this competition I'll try and be more on to supporting my brothers and sisters.

27/11/14
Light night
I am catching up on some logging from this week. I have been slack this week in posting but I have been getting the work in. This week is a day off which hasn't made a lot of difference. With 2 weeks to go now I am being careful not to get hurt and screw my self. I was going to bench again tonight but the kids were tying the bench up.


Front Squats - the safety bar is doing a good job. It is surprising how much your leverages change by pushing the handles forward and shifting the weight. Breaking at the knees and sinking down also changes the dynamics. I held at 120kgs again to do a little kind of taper to competition.

OHP - I have been concentrating on benching and not so much accessory work so with the bench held up I thought it was a good chance to get these in. I went back to 60kgs and got 3 set of 5 with not problems. Still felt heavy but not real stresses.

Barbell Rows - I was considering deadlifting again tonight but I could still feel the volume from the other night. So it was a slamming 90kgs rows. This shut up some of the kids yapping all over the weight room and it always feels good to make some noise.

Stationary bike - my hips and hurting from the deadlifting so I hopped on a bike in the hopes of some wind down might help out. Its only 15 minutes of intervals but it gets the heart pumping for 15 minutes and it felt pretty good.

Light night done and on the intensity day.

25 November 2014
Volume night
I missed working out last night due to work keeping me late. So tonight I was going to get there for sure and get my work in. Also, I have had a lot of interruptions in the gym lately so I decided to go back to the hoodie and went with headphones rather than earbuds. I worked well, I didn't have people wanting to shoot the breeze all night long.
With a chance to concentrate things went really well. This was one of those workouts where you end up with shakey hands when your done and you know you put in the work.


Squats- these felt good tonight, better than they have in awhile. Reps went smooth and everything kept tight. We'll see how the heavies go on Friday

Bench - I adjusted volume on these to 3 sets of 5 reps for work sets. Not a bad weight for sets and they went well. I need to work on getting tight all over and get more leg drive going. When I got tight reps went up better. Bench is feeling pretty good right now.

3" Deficit deadlifts - These are to work on the bottom of my deadlifts. I elected to go more for volume on these instead of any big weights. When I was warming up I just decided to go for 10 reps and see how things went. After 2 warm up sets I went with straps to concentrate on getting work in on the lower back and hamstrings. I didn't worry much about a hard lockout either. I did try to keep a flat back and the bar back and close to my shins.


Cable Pull throughs - Getting a good stretch out of these on the hamstrings and back. I just wish there was a faster way to get things stretched out.. I'll get there in time... 

21 November 2014
Intensity night
Well it has been a week from hell and today was no exception. Lack of sleep the past few weeks has taken a toll on me and today was so busy I forgot to eat lunch. By the time it was quitting time my stomach was growling and I had a banana. I was feeling pretty weak and shaky on the way home and I debated on whether it was worth going to the gym. I am going out of town to watch a powerlifting meet tomorrow so I figured I would go and get done what I could.
The gym was almost empty so it was nice to get in and get some work in undisturbed
 


Squats - I warmed up as normal with hardly any rest between sets right up to 160kgs and then took a couple of minutes and hit 180kgs for a single and went for 200kgs but not tonight. It felt so heavy when I started down that only lowered half way and went back up and racked it. I did another one at 180kgs but when I went for another single I dropped the weight and it crashed. Squats were done for the night. The safety on the rack came off. Good thing I got out of the way.

Bench press - the bench went surprisingly well after the squat issues. I did fewer warm ups than I usually do to limit fatigue but I still kept rests to a minimum until the biggest set. I took a couple of minutes and then hit my 130kgs pretty easy. I had a slight grind but the weight went up at a good speed. I gave 135kgs a go but I only got it up about halfway. I am happy with the way the bench went consider my other factors. I think if I was rested and fuelled up properly I could have hit a new PR but I can wait for the competition for that.

1 1/2 deadlifts - this is where you come up to about the knees and back down to the floor, then a full deadlift. Once again this is to help work the bottom of my deadlift. These  hit my lower back hard. Mostly because of the tightness of the muscles. I'll get this sorted eventually and break a 200kg deadlift.

19 November 2014
Wed. "Light Night"
I missed Monday's volume day due to a stomach bug and work commitments taking too much of my life right now. I was tired and with the tummy I thought it better to not risk an accident at the gym.
The work stuff is killing my motivation at the moment which really sucks. I have a couple more weeks of good lifting before heading to Melbourne and I need the work.
I spent 5 hrs today driving to Christchurch and back for a meeting and tomorrow I have to do it again for another meeting. Just more crap getting piled on me at work that I have to deal with.

Tonight there were kids playing in the rack so I started with some back extensions and cable pull throughs before I finally got to the rack.
I also changed up my deadlifting to work on the bottom of the lift.

Back extensions - done hugging a 20kg plate using the preacher curl bench. Good to get the back moving and start to loosen up.

Cable pull throughs - trying to get a good stretch on the back and hammies with these by not bending the knees too much and reaching way back. I am thinking that this might be the way to start all of my sessions. I need the back work and sometimes I skip the cables when the machine is busy. Earlier it might be easier to get the machine.

Front Squats - still holding at 120kgs. I am thinking that when I reset the program I might look at how these get programed. I'll keep them in but I might move them to a ladder progression instead of multiple sets.

Half Deads - done off of a one plate deficit. Instead of doing full deadlifts I lifted to the knees or just above and put the weight back down. Rack pulls showed me that the top of my deadlifts are good (multiples reps at 190kgs) but I need to work on the bottom and get the lower back stretched out. I think this is one way to get there.

I am going to watch a club lifting comp this weekend and support my association. I'm not lifting because in a few weeks I m competing and it is not the time to be maxing out hard. I am going to talk to some of the other lifters about my deadlifts and see what advice they come up with. Could be interesting.

15 November 2014
Today was to be a deadlift day to see where things sit but it seemed like a good time to do the box squat challenge in tribute to a online friend " Coach" RIP John... I have never done box squats before so I used the warm up sets to get the feel of how they go. and then I got some deadlifting in...
 

Box Squats - After 7 sets I started to feel these in the legs and by set 12 I was happy to be done. I do think there is a place for these in a training program and I will definitely be considering them in the future.

Deadlifts - After the box squats some fatigue set in and hopes of a new PR went out the window. That was not a big deal though. I just need to get the work in. Rack pulls the other day showed the top of my deadlift is fine but I still have issues with the bottom of the lift. For the next few weeks I am going to work the bottom of my deadlift using paused lifts and lifts to the knees from a deficit. That should help get the back stretched out and get my lift moving.

13 November 2014
Light night
Light night was a day late tonight due to work commitments. I thought about skipping all together but I need the work. I had to wait on the squat rack for some 3/4 squatting butthead to get finished pretending to squat 1/2 his body weight. I decided to just reorder and do some back extensions, benching and drop OHP for the day.


Back Extensions - I thought these were a good place to start the night off. Still doing these holding a 20kg plate using the preacher curl bench. The back felt good after getting warmed up.

Bench Press - Since I was still waiting on the rack I decided to work in with another guy on the bench. I wasn't looking for a lot of volume so I ran up into a heavy single. The work felt nice and not hugely heavy. Even the 130kgs went up easy. I am going to be ready to hit some heavies on intensity day.

Front squats - Finally I got into the rack and hit my sets. 3x5 hit nicely and was easy enough to lift but just heavy enough to need some work to push back up. I am going to look at moving these to get more volume at some point to change up how the legs get worked.

Rack Pulls - these are new for me but I am looking to get more help on my deadlifts. I pulled from about 6 inches below my knees and from 160kgs on I used wrist straps to get the work done. These felt surprisingly good and when I started I thought about doing just a few reps but they went so well I kept going with 5 reps. My best deadlift has been 185kgs so when I pulled 180 x5 I thought what the heel and went for 190kgs. I pulled 5 reps at 190 without too much trouble. While its not a deadlift it did boost my confidence for deadlifts going forward. I guess you could say this is a kind of PR for me on rack pulls

 

Doing some catching up on blogging
14 November 2014
Volume Night
I has been a hectic week at work so I have gotten behind logging.
I had a pretty good volume night and had a go at some extra work on the bench. I'm feeling pretty good about where I am right now. The body is holding good except for the lower back still being tight. The hips seem to come right when the bar gets on my back and I get going.
 

Squats - 3x3 worked well tonight and still gives volume enough to get muscles cranking. Next week will increase in weight and move on...

Bench Press - I wanted an idea of where I am. I hit singles up to 130kgs but 135 just didn't want to go. I decided to get some volume in anyway so I did triples at 110kgs. 5 sets worth was enough to get some good work in and feel it in my chest and lats. I need to work singles on intensity day now and incorporate a pause.


RDL - I am getting the hang of these now and I have been able to move the weight up steadily. I am looking forward to some deadlifting to see how things are going when everything gets put together. I added 10kgs again to my top set and decided to add another set for some extra work. Everything is feeling good to go.