09/30 DE Squat/DL Accessory

5 minute treadmill
EDT 10 Minute PR Zone
Pull Throughs 80x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
Hanging Leg Raise BWx5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5

Nothing crazy, good sweat, thats it....now go do something.....

09/29 DE Squat/DL

SSB Speed Box Squat 215x8x2
Rack Pulls 315x1, 405x1, 455x1, 500x1, 525x3 545x3

Cut this one short and will do accessory work tomorrow. The rack pulls felt pretty good and had me gassed after the speed work with the SSB. I love that bar btw, definitely is making my low back stronger. Nothing too fancy here, jsut cranked it out quick so i could go fetch my kid from the sitter....anyway, l8r

09/28 ME Bench

Band Assisted Bench Press 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x1, 365x1, 330x2x2, 340x3x2
CG 4BD Press 315x4x6
EDT 10 Min PR Zone
BB Rows (Pendalay)135x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
Dips BWx5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5

Had a good night, re-introduced the band assisted Bench. I wasnt gonna do this movement as a ME based on the last couple of tries with it. I couldnt get the bands to set the same way each time i set up, so i wouldnt really know if i was making progress. Well being the ingenius fella i am i found a way to recreate the same band tension each and every time so i can actually track this as a ME movement. I put a bar over the top of the rack and didnt choke the bands. the bands just slide over the two bars and provides no tension at the top and around 50 at the bottom, it deloads fast right off the chest, hence the lower weights used as opposed to previous atttempts with this movement.....well anyway, since next week on ME Day i will be working my opener i figured to get a bit more volume in today, initlaly i jumped to 365 and probably shouldnt have, i got that weight but still should have hit a lower weight for reps considering this is my first week with this exercise. oh well hindsight right? The CG 4DB should have been heavier but i pussed out on them and started feeling like doody after the first exercise....next up was the EDT 10 thingy i am doing, this shit kicks your ass, gets your blood pumping, and makes you wanna pass out. Anybody interested in this thing called E.D.T (Escalating Density Training) can go to www.StaleyTrainingSystems.com or go visit t-nation and do a search on it. I took 20 sec rests between each supersetted pair, this ensured a nice painful 10 minute period....anyway, got 2 more weeks with this stuff in the fold, will let you all know what i think, who knows maybe im onto something here.....until next time Keep It Dark, Keep It Heavy!!!

09/27 ME Squat Accessory Work

5 Minutes on Treadmill

EDT 10 Minute PR Zone
KB Swingthrus (2 Hand) 53x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5 (55 Total)
Ab Pulldowns 80x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5 (55 Total)

Well this shit was not the most exciting stuff to do but it needed to get done. I think this incorporation of EDT protocol will help me to focus more on the accessory work that needs to get done for the supporting musculature. Right now i have a 6 week Meso-Cycle planned that will break down into two 3 week minicycles for this sort of thing. At that point i will evaluate whether or not i think it is worth keeping in....stay tuned for more on this ground breaking theory.....next up on the plate.....ME Bench-Movement TBD.....

09/26 ME Squat

Low Box Squat 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315x2, 365x1, 405x3x2
SLDL 135x8, 225x8, 275x2x8

This looks like an abbreviated workout but i had company for this one. One of my friends is possibly interested in coming to the darkside....this surpisingly took around 1 hour to complete. During the workout i showed him the correct way to box squat and only had him going to a 15" box. He actually had pretty decent form with all things considered. He is toying with the idea of catching the ME days at my place and continuing with his other efforts at his commercial gym. This dude has the body type to be a strong sob. I dont think he realized how much goes into getting stronger. Some people have different definitions of this, he seemed to be a bit lost as he was most likely inclined to doing 3 sets of 10 like the nimrod trainers at his gym most likely teach teach. To those boobs a 225lb bench is strong. In due time, with a bit of luck, i may beable to convert him....anyway, my lifts werent the most intense of all reps but i was definitely gassed after doing them and plan on finishing up the accessory work tonight. Talking in between sets made the actual reps harder as i was a bit out of breathe....oh well, there is always next week...until then, Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy.........

09/23 DE Squat & 09/24 DE Bench

09/23 DE Squat

DE SSB Box Low 205x8x3
Sumo Speed DL's 255x10x1
SSB GM w/Chains 115x3x8

Was short on time for this so i figured i would throw together a bunch of "Money Exercises", yup they worked , the next day my legs, lower back and posterior was shot. This workout took around 35 minutes to complete. There was no messing around, my lower back was pumped beyond belief by the end of it.....

09/24 DE Bench-Not Really

DB Bench Press 20x20, 40x20, 60x4x8
DB Tri Ext 20x10x10
Hammer Curls 20x10x10
DB Bent Rows 20x10x10

Kind of a weird night, i wanted to rest up my shoulder like i should have last week. took it really easy and decided to hit the groups with some volume. For all you math whizzes out there that is 100 reps for all three of the accessory stuff. I suppersetted each with 30-45 sec rest periods....needless to say this approach got a ton of blood into the area's and i had a pump like Arnold (Drummond from Different Strokes).....wasnt too motivated and went down just so i would feel like a complte slug....The DB Press felt good and were done with the biggest possible stretch i could achieve, a hold, then aDynamic press. I am also working on finding a different way to sleep, i normally sleep with my right arm over my head and in the morning my right shoulder hurts, go figure. So i have been trying to fall asleep in a different postions which in the last few days seems to have helped a bit......time will tell.........until next time, Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

09/21 ME Bench -Shirt Work

Bench Press 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 315x1
Shirted 345x5x1, 365x1, 385x1
BW Dips 4x10

Well, i had an epiphany today. Decided to go with bench anyway as my shoulder seemed to be a bit better and didnt really hurt on the warm-ups. Put on the shirt and figured i would experiment with the thing. The following is a description of the attempts and what i found out with this thing:

1. 345x1 Collar High- No Pop out of the bottom, feels more like a RAW bench than it should.

2. 345x1 Collar Down 1/2"- More pop than the previous, but still nothing to write home to mom about.

3. 345x1 Collar Down 1"- Getting there, still having trouble with the set up.

4. 345x1 Collar Down around 1.5-2"- Got the pop i think im looking for but the set-up is still hokey.

5. 345x1 Collar Down, used a crappy Valeo Weight lifting Belt, Collar Down, .5" above nipples, shoulders covered, sleeves rolled up with a 1" Cuff -No Touch!!!! Have not had this happen since owning this shirt!!!

6. 365x1 Same Set-up as #5-I think i have arrived!!!, This was hard to touch and flew to lockout....

7. 385x1 Same Set-up as #5-Yep i think i figured this fucker out....Again slow to touch but flew to lockout...

First things first, i gotta get this sucker altered in the arms. I have always had slack by the elbow joint which i think has attributed itself to me having lockout problems, or that feeling of the shirt fighting me. By "Cuffing" The sleeves i was able to pull the shirt down to a legal level and utilize the shirt better. The Second thing is i gotta get me a thin belt for Benching. Up until last night on the last couple of set's i had been using my Forever LEver Belt @ 13mm thickness which was screwing my set up. I am by no means an arch type bencher but i do have a mini one, and i think this sucker was getting in the way. When i went to the Valeo belt i was much more comfortable in the set-up. It's gonna take a few more sessions in it to get to where i would like to be and get accustomed to the new set-up, but i think i am on the right track...I finished the workout up with Dips as i ran long with the shirt work, i will most likely hit the accessory work tomorrow....Well, here's to getting stronger.......

09/18 ME Squat

Free Squat 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 455x1, 405x2x2
SLDL 135x8, 185x8, 225x8, 275x8
AB Pulldowns 110x3x12
Mini Leg Curls 3x20

Felt pretty good tonight even though i only got about 3 collective hours of sleep last night, dont know what that was about. Guess i was happy the the Patriots won, who knows. This was just one of those workouts that i didnt feel like doing so i got in there and did it then went upstairs. Not much else to say really. I am scheduled for a ME Bench on Weds but may just do accessory work and DB Presses for high reps and give the shoulder a week, still undecided. Thats about it from my keyboard, until next time.....keep it greasy!!!

09/15 SE Bench

SE Bench 95x8, 135x8, 185x8, 225x4x8
Triceps Pushdown 80x4x8
Mini Band shoulder work

Took it fairly easy on the bench press tonight, my right shoulder got aggravated from thinking i was an NFL Quaterback the other day (Idiot!!!) Probably just my rotator cuff acting up from the sudden activity in that ROM...again Idiot!!!On the last set a bit of pain set in so i stopped there, went to triceps and decided my time would be better spent doing some shoulder work with a mini band. I did a bunch of crap for the girdle and didnt keep track of anything, just worked the area fully. I figure i will hit the upper back tomorrow as an accessory day, might throw in some shrugging which doesnt seem to be a ROM that hurts at all. Thank god it doesnt seem to be anything major, but it still pisses me off that my non-lifting life seems to screw with my lifting life, what am i trying to tell myself?......ahhh quit being a pussy and lift big you ass hole......later days willlie mays.......

09/13 The Big Three....Sort of...

Former Blogger Rick came over last night for a ME sort of session. I dont think either of us were quite feeling up to the task but shit happens. We Worked up to singles in the (Shirted) BP, DL and SSB High Box Squat (15").
The Bench press was up first. Neither of us have much experience in shirt work, i believe the correct term would be that We Suck, but with any luck we can get into these more often and figure out how they work. I wll say it was nice to have a lift of for the Bench, took some unnecessary stress off the shoulders. I worked up to a single at 315 RAW then squeezed unto my shirt, a Rage ( not the "x", maybe later). the first one i took was 330, hit that no problem, the second 365 again was no problem. Since i had someone there i decided to give it a go at 385. Off the chest i was fast but stalled around the 2 board range. At that point it felt like the shirt was fighting against me and i hit a brick wall. Not aure what the deal is as i just hit 405 in the 2 board last week, then again maybe that is it and my CNS just wasnt having it that night. Regardless, this seems to be a recurring theme with this shirt thing, so i will have to read a bunch more and work the shirt more. Enough about bench.
Next up was the Deadlift. As any of you who have read my blog knows, i pulled a groin both before and during my last meet. The result has been poor speed off the ground. The shit part is this use to be my best part of this lift. Oh well, after warming up the bar got loaded to 405, i went with a single on this one and thought i was in trouble, the shit moved way to slow to lockout. i stayed the course and went to 455 for my second work set, again slow as all hell....fuck.....what was gonna be my final attempt was 505, i hit that surprisingly well, although slow like molasses, but all in all it felt fairly strong. I took a few minutes rest then put 525, this by the way was gonna be my final attempt at my last meet had i not pulled my groin on the first attempt,. Well, anyway, i pulled the sucker to just sbove the knees and hit the wall, i ended up getting it to lockout but this would most defnitely have been redlighted, although i did see a chick hitch worse than this at a meet and get the state record, go figure....
Originally we had only planned on doing push/pull but Rick has never tried a Saftey Squat Bar and was a bit curious. Probably after having heard me rant about it on my blog. I ended up working up to a very ugly 435 from the 15" box, Quite happy as the week before i hit 425.... up out of the hole i lost my concentration as i remembered i had my DL'ing shoes on and not my chucks, i was very lucky i didnt hurt my back, but who cares, 435lbs fell....
All in all it was a good seesion. It was kind of nice to lift with someone after not having done so for over 7 years (bear in mind i had a 6 year hiatus from the iron). The other thing i realized is it has now been 1 year since i started powerlifting again, damned that flew....i am honestly quit happy with my progress so far and and cant to see where i am in another year, a master's or Elite total in the 198 would be nice....time will tell...until next time, Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!!

Oh yeah, if anybody is interested, Rick and Myself have started a forum at the following address:

http://nebarbell.proboards56.com/index.cgi

09/07 ME Bench

2 Bd Press 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1, 365x1, 395x1PR, 405x1PR, 365x2
BB Ext w/Chains 95x4x8
DB CSR 45x3x10
Hammer Curl/OHP 45x4x6

Needless to say i was quite happy with tonight. I hit a 20lb PR on a movement i had originally planned on doing volume work with. The 395 was my original goal after deciding to see what i could do, but it went pretty easy so i figured why leave one in the tank? The unracking was the shittiest part of this movement. If i had a spotter i could probably have added a few more pounds, doing it yourself doubles the set-up time and takes away from your form big time, but i digress....the 405 went up rather easy even with my lower back cramping (still sore from ME Squats and Weighted incline treadmill walk) so things are looking good in my training thus far. The rest is pretty much the same as last week.
This week is the last week for these movements, its been 3 weeks, now i will move on. I will move to a Full-Range Benching movement for the ME, and partial movements for the triceps work for the next mini cycle, who knows on the back and shoulders, will most likely figure those out when i get down there.
I am still planning on doing the Bench contest in Oct, so that should be fun. For that i will be using a lift off to save energy and hopefully preserve my form.
Once, i had somebody pull my finger, that was a bad idea......Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!!

09/05 ME Squat

SSB High Box Squat 115x5, 155x3, 245x3, 295x3, 345x3, 385x2, 405x2, 425x1
Speed Deadlifts 255x10x1
Pull Through 130x3x10
Ab Pulldown 100x3x15

Probably should have skipped tonight, had a massive headache that only got compounded by the SSB, which builds up enough pressure to give you a headache on its own much less starting out with one. Still it was one of those nights where you finish and your glad you didnt cheese out. I was a bit pissed as i wanted to go heavier, but with just this weight i felt as though i was going to pass out, also the reason for not doing triples. I believe that had i done triples i would have passed out, as it was i had to sit for a good minute after the final reps were done just to recover and stand up without feeling like falling over. The Speed Deads were no better for my head than the squats, i performed these with 20 second rests between. These were primarily used for form work. I really concentrated on grabbing the bar and sinking the hips (essentially pulling myself down if you will) then with one concerted effort i would reverse all the force and pull as fast and hard as i could. Seemed to work pretty good, the pop off the floor is suspect at this point, but that may be a psychological issue. Will work on that too....Pull Throughs sucked as i was ready to quit after the squats and i dont even want to talk about AB's...Fucking necessary evils i guess.....well here's to getting stronger!!!!



Oh yeah, R.I.P Steve Irwin-Done in by a fucking Sting-Ray, seriously.......

09/03 DE Bench

DE Bench w/Mini's 155x9x3
BB Ext's W/Chains 95x4x8
Rev-Grip Pull Down 130x4x8
KB Swing Comlex (side/front) 33x4x8

Nothing too exciting, felt sore as shit the next day though.....Bands beat the shit out of you.......

08/31 DE Squat

DE Box Squat w/ Avg Bands 225x8x2
Rev Hypers w/Mini's 4x8
Mini Leg Curls 4x20
Ab Wheel 4x15

Yadda yadda.....Boring