Texas Method Week 3 Volume day

09 September 2014
Week 3 Volume day
I had to make up my normal Monday workout because work kept me too late and there wasn't time to get it in as normal. I have started got to the gym pretty much right after work instead of after dinner and getting home too late screws up the schedule.
Anyway, I got to the gym and got right into it.


Squats - felt just a little of tonight. not heavy but tight in the hamstrings on a few reps. between sets I really noticed it as the beginning of a cramp that just didn't quite get going. In watching my videos I see from the back that it showed up. So I need to make sure to get good stretching on the hammies to avoid this next time.


Bench Press - felt good tonight. The weight isn't very big yet but the volume was good. Still need to concentrate on the hold at the bottom and get just a bit more. I guess I am going to need to actually count to 2 in order to get it right. I have plenty of time before my next meet so this will go up nicely on the way there.


RDL - Definitely need to keep these going to build the back. I could feel the fatigue in my lower back after squats but it rested up during benching so I was good to go. Tried to keep the cues in my head, butt back, shoulders back, keep the bar back on the legs and stop looking up so much. I need to remember that the head needs to be more in line with the spine. If it needs reinforcing I may need to get a tennis ball to hold under my chin.


Cable Pull throughs- 3 sets of 12 here gets some work in on the lower back, hips and hamstrings. Reaching way back helps get some stretch on the hamstrings.

Texas Method Week 2 Intensity Day

5 September 2014
Week 2 Intensity Day

It never ceases to amaze me how empty the gym is on a Friday evening. By the time I got my shoes changed and ready to go I hopped right into the squat rack and got going.

 

Squats - felt really good tonight. The rack was clear and I warmed up by myself with just time to change weight between warm up sets. Once I hit my work weight I took a couple of minutes before hitting it. The weight was enough to make me work and the last rep was getting heavy. At some point over the next few weeks I'll be dropping a rep as intensity ramps up. I had some help from Brian, you hear him having some fum on a couple commands. I changed my grip to thumbs over on his advice and it did help my wrists a bit.


Bench Press - Just as I was ready to hit the bench the guys on it finished up. I warmed up and went straight to my work set keeping rests pretty short. I decided to let the camera run for the full workout. the work set got heavy on the last rep also. I will shift these to 3x2 in a couple of weeks. Heavy doubles will keep intensity up.



Sumo Deadlifts - these are light enough and feel just fine. I widened my stance out a little and pointed my toes out more. This seemed to help the lift even more. This was some advice I got last week. These feel ok and I'll add some more weight next week.


Deadlift - The only thing I am finding with deadlifts is my back gets fatigued.. might have something with all the other work put in before. I might consider changing these up for rack pulls or another assistance movement and deadlifting once a month.


I'm pretty happy with how things are going and the gains will keep coming.

3 September 2014

Week 2 Light Night Texas Method

Tonight work ran late making things run a little later than I wanted, but that was ok. I picked up some protein drink and chomped down a couple of Reese's peanut butter cups and I was ready for the gym.

When I got there a couple of young guys were playing in the power rack but they gave it over when I asked how long they would. Nice enough guys but the kind that go to the gym with no plan.

All in all this was a really nice workout even if things were running late. The whole workout took just under one hour.
 

Front Squats - felt better tonight. I am getting the hang of the move and keeping a good grip on the bar to keep it from rolling. My front delts are still bruised up from last week. I am looking forward to progressing these and see about possible carry over to my deadlifts.


Bench - These went fine. I need to concentrate on slowing the bottom down to more of a pause but getting some speed coming off the chest. We'll see in a few weeks if benching 3 times per week is going to be viable in the long run.


OHP - no real problems here. It is all a matter of getting tight and keeping tight. Power the weight up without bouncing it.


Barbell row - This is a nice weight to build back up from. I've said it a dozen times, I love these.

29 August 2014
What does a powerlifter do for his 52nd birthday?
He hits the gym.. That's what.. 

Tonight was my first Intensity night on this cycle of TM.
I got to the gym and worked in with the guy who is giving me some feedback and the guy he has been training. Brian will help sort out some issues for me.
 

Squats - these felt nice tonight. 175kgs felt really good, not heavy but a nice effort needed to push them up. I think having a rest is going o show some good benefits for me.


Bench Press - went very nice. I am happy with how these felt. I was going to do 2 sets of 3 but I am going to wait until more effort is needed.

Sumo Squats- I am using these to warm up and get some work in from a different angle. The stance I am using is a hybrid/semi sumo stance. I'll keep these up for awhile and see how they feel.


Deadlifts - watching these I see the bar is still moving around a bit and this is something to work on. I'll get some good feedback next week. I am going to keep up all the deadlift work and get my DL sorted and moving. I need to work on strength and consistency.

Wed. 27 August 2014 Texas Method Light night

Got to the gym early tonight to see how the crowds are right after work. Surprisingly enough the crowd wasn't bad but there were some young guys trying to squat in the rack. I was going light enough that I just worked in with them. They had some form issues and I asked if they minded a couple of comments. During my second set a friend of theirs showed up and he was a guy I helped out in the past. It was pretty cool, he told them that I had helped him out and to take some pointers.

Tonight's work felt really good. Light nights are a neat concept. I got some stimulus but also some recovery with the reduced volume, but I still treated each lift like a heavy. I also put in some cardio which is going to a regular thing. Nothing big but just some work to get my conditioning back up.
Tonight looked like this


Front Squats- I haven't done fronts in awhile but I was pretty happy with how things went. the first set I used a cross grip and that was fine but the bar moved around and rolled abit on the second set and after the last rep I ended up in a Zercher squat while racking. The last set I used straps to hold on to the bar and went fine. I am going to like the change up that fronts will give me on light days.

Bench Press- I am looking to keep up some volume on the bench so I am benching 3 times a week. Light night is going to be a minimum of 10kgs lighter than volume night and reduced volume to 3x5. I am also keeping to a 1-2 second pause on these with rests timed to 60 sec.

OHP- My spread sheets had this down to 42.5kgs but looking at the progress in 8 weeks and it wasn't enough so I reset things to start at 60kgs. This felt nice and I will progress it 2.5kgs each week, that will put me at 77.5kgs 3x5 in week 8.

Barbell Rows - I did these just how I enjoy them, hard, fast and loud. One guy told me to be careful to not intimidate the other lifters. Lucky he was smiling and getting ready to deadlift when he said it. The three work sets just go too fast doing these.

Cardio - Just to finish things off and to work on some conditioning I did 15 minutes on the treadmill with it programed to do random hills up and down with the pace at 6kph. I did ok but the calves and shins really tightened up and time finished not a moment too soon. By the end of a couple minutes cool down the legs loosen up and all was well, even if I was dripping wet.

A nice night at the gym and home for a protein shake before dinner.. I am looking forward to intensity day on Friday now.

Monday 25 August 2014 After two weeks off following competition it is back to the gym. I found I really needed the break for a variety of reasons and it really helped out. My legs have loosened up and the shoulders are feeling good. The lower back is still tight but I think I found something for that, cable Pull-throughs.

Going back to a commercial gym was a blast from the past. The first 15 minutes was answering questions about where I had been, how much I was lifting and such. After that though it was ear buds in and doing my thing. No videos tonight, need to charge up the camera again.

Tonight is a reset on a version of Texas Method well its really a switch to a version of the Cowboy Method with some extra work on the bench and deadlifting assistance.

  

Squats - It was good to get back at it tonight. My legs felt really good tonight. I had to wait for the squat rack for a couple of sets so I got in some extra stretching and I think it really helped out. My depth was really good and low. I paused my warm ups as usual, which also helps out a lot. No problems here. Wed. night will be front squats at would normally be my light night weights. Rests between sets 60 seconds.

Bench Press - these felt nice and I did all working reps with a 1-2 second pause. I have been reading up a lot lately on different lifts and a lot of advice is to train like you compete. So I am getting some pausing to match comp conditions. 6x6 paused put a bit of a pump on the triceps. The extra volume felt good and will get me that 3 plate bench by year's end. Rests between sets 60 seconds.

Pin Presses - The bar on this rack is higher than I have been doing pin presses at but that is ok. The pauses will hit the bottom and the higher pin presses will hit the middle and top nicely.

RDLs- This is my Monday deadlift work. I did my work sets here with straps since these are for the back not for grip work. Working on getting some good hip action here. I am trying to make sure to keep the bar back against my shins and keep the bar from moving around on me.

Pull throughs - these are my second deadlift accessory lifts. These come highly recommended by plenty of big lifters. I really reached back and made sure I wasn't pulling with my arms, the action is hips pulling the weight forward not arms. The reach back really stretched the hamstrings and lower back in a good way. I am picking these for good increases in posterior chain strength.

The only thing I missed out was treadmill time. I forgot to take anything but lifting shoes. I want to start getting in some cardio work for condition and to cut some weight.

Well a couple of weeks ago I competed in my first National level powerlifting meet. It was an interesting event with well over 100 lifters and spanning over 4 days.
I didn't get the results I wished for but over all I am happy with how things went. The week before the meet I had a cold that took a bit out of me and interfered with my training schedule. I didn't lift of a week and a half before the week an I think it let my legs tighten up.
During my warm up sets my quads went tight and after that I felt like I just climbed 10 flights of stairs. This bothered me for the rest of the day and I had cramps off and on in my quads and hamstrings. After my bench press I finally got some Powerade in me and it helped a little, gotta watch the salt intake on the day to help with cramps.
My squats went pretty good 200kg opener went fine and my 210kg second attempt went well. 212.5kgs didn't go as well. My quads cramped and it was a miss. That was disappointing since I have hit 215kgs in the gym.
  Bench press was interesting. My 130kg opener went up with out a hitch. But my 135kg second attempt stopped half way up. Attempt 3 at 135kgs was on its way up when my right hamstring cramped and put a stop to it. It was disappointing since I have hit 135kg in the gym.
Deadlifts have been a killer for me over the past few months and I have struggled big time. Funny thing is today I had no problems and could have gone heavier. 170kgs was easy, 180kgs went up surprisingly easy and 185 kgs was no problem. Go figure, my most troubling lift goes the best of all. Since I pretty much stopped dealifting 2 weeks before the meeting this was an interesting revelation for me.

 In the end I ended up with a 525kgs total. I wanted better numbers but it was a great experience and I am ready for the next one.