Max Effort Squat
High Box Squat 250x5, 305x3, 355x3, 405x2, 455x2, 475x2, 505x3x2
Dead Lift 425x5x2
Wood Choppers & Ab Pulldowns
Been fighting strep throat here in the family, so this night was a decent showing with all things considered. I still took it a bit easy as I dont totally have my confidence back and am having some scheduling problems as far as my workouts are concerned...
I figure after a few Dynamic Effort workouts in, my endurance and work capacity will be back up, so I look forward to that. One saving grace is 505 doesnt feel heavy on the back, the speed and form need some work though, but thats no surprise...
Deadlifts were fast and strong, I concentrated on my form a bit. I swear I set up differently for each pull. I figure if I get this sorted out then when I start pulling heavy again, I ought to be back in the game. I guess I am fortunate to have pulled 570 with crap form, cant imagine what will happen once I tweak this mother....
Thats all for now, gonna watch the Patriots whoop up on the Chargers enroute to the Superbowl (Knock on Wood)....
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Max Effort Squat
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Max Effort 2 Board Press
Max Effort Bench Press
2 Board Press 215x5, 265x3, 305x2, 350x2,375x3, 395x4x3
D-Handle Chain Extensions 4x8
Band Face Pulls 4x13
Shoulder Press 5x4
Sorry for the lag between posts, schedule at work has changed a bit. This is what I remember of my Max Effort Bench Press night. Endurance was still in the crapper too, that will all come back after a few dynamic effort sessions. In due time my pretty. Tonight I have
Max Effort Squat, will probably take it a bit easy, last week crippled me for a few days, me thinks me over did it a bit....Oh well til then....
Monday, January 14, 2008
Powerlifting Belts
Powerlifting Belts The often overlooked item when starting out in powerlifting. Like alot of people when I started out, I tried to cheese out and get a crappy belt figuring it would "Get Me By". As time passed and I got stronger I realized the importance good powerlifting belts play in the squat, deadlift and any other movement where the spine is loaded.
Well, after getting a few questions regarding where to get a good belt I did a search on amazon found this page: APT Powerlifting Belts
Most anyone in the iron game has heard of APT and their products have got to be the strongest around. I personally love their straps and will be writing up a review in the future. But from what I can tell, their powerlifting belts are top notch.
Do yourself a favor, dont do as I did and buy the cheaper varieties only to find them break, stretch, and basically fall apart forcing me to buy yet another piece of shit. In all I probably spent enough to buy 3 decent quality powerlifting belts. Trust me, this will be the last belt you will ever need.
Check them out: APT Powerlifting Belts
Friday, January 11, 2008
01/10/08 Sub Maxmal Squat & Deadlift
Sub-Maximal Effort Squat
High Box Squat 250x5, 305x3, 355x3, 405x2, 455x2, 505x3
Dead Lift 405x5x2
Wood Choppers & Ab Pulldowns
Boy, I can’t wait til this get re-acquainted phase is over! My endurance sucks, I have zero confidence, my mechanics are off….jeez. Lesson learned, don’t totally deload for a month and expect to come back where you were at. I am sore as all hell today and didn’t perform half the workload I normally would have, taking a dump has been a chore, I get about 4 inches off the bowl and plunk down the rest of the way, thank god candid camera isn’t around….
Seriously though, I felt pretty good about having 500 on my back. I held back on volume more so to manage the soreness I was expecting to experience. Thank god I did, on this piddly volume I am walking like a blue haired geriatric….no offense to any Q-Tips out there….
Deadlifts were fast, explosive, and quite painful on the hamstrings after squatting. Again, I cant wait until my body gets back in the swing of things. I was doubting my form, overthinking every pull, etc….In the coming year I plan to turn a lot of focus on learning the Deadlift better. This will include technique work, adding more heavy variations and eventually push my DL to around the 650 mark. This ought to be fun.
That’s all for now, cant wait for the weekend, the Patriots are set to go 17-0 if all goes well and they don’t come out flat. But as they say in the NFL, on any given Sunday (I know, I know, its on Saturday)….
Go Patriots!!!
Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
01/07/08 Sub-Maximal Bench Press
Sub-Maximal Effort Bench Press
Bench Press 185x5, 205x5, 245x3, 285x3, 305x3, 325x3x3
Overhead Chain Extensions 4x8
Lying Band Rows 4x12
Overhead Press 5x3
Whoa, almost one month off and my endurance is in the crapper! All that English beer & Grub takes it out of you when you arent used to it, how does Andy Bolton do it?
Well its nice to get back, total deloads arent good for me, I tend to get depressed and have a hard time sleeping. Unfortunately the area of Engaland I was in did not have any gyms, and the closest one was around 45 minutes away. Had I not gotten an "Under Than Honorable Discharge years ago, I would have been able to lift on the base I used to be stationed at. Oh well, so much for being a young punk in the military....
Onto the lifting, I decided to take it easy tonight, taking such a long layoff plays with your confidence (at least it does mine). I mean I realize your not going to lose all your strength, but my mentality for some stupid reason is if I stop lifting I feel I lose everything, even for short periods of time, I cant imagine Im the only one that feels this way.
Bench was strong feeling and I definitely could have hit more, but I want to ease back into my powerlifting. Aint nothing worse then over-doing it and not being able to lift for a week.
The overhead work was inspired by all the Strongman competitions I watched over in England. Too bad they didnt cover this sport more in the states. I'll tell you what, if I wasnt so damn short I would love to give Strongman a try, but Im like a friggin hobbit for chrissakes! Even worse after a heavy squat session!
Well thats about it from here, its good to be back and training again. And the world is beautiful as our New England Patriots went 16-0 and are poised to go 19-0 becomning the superbowl champs, life is good.
