04/27 ME Bench

Floor Press 155x5, 185x3, 225x2, 255x1, 275x1, 295x7x1
KB Triceps Extensions 48x4x6
Palms facing Pull-Ups 4x6,5,4,4
Band Face Pulls Miix3x12
Neck Traction 3x30 Second holds w/Mini's

Not too bad for not having done floor press is a long time, need to get this back into my ME rotation. Since i havent hit them in so long i figured i would do a bunch of 90% singles from my last known 1rm (325), this put me right in the optimal range of prilipens chart. After being inspired by the RAW website i did all reps with a long ass pause which absolutely killed me, probably a good idea, but they still sucked. The KB Extensions were a new movement i came up with that should get some results, the instability of the movement should definitely address the shoudler stability and gave a much better stretch in the Tri's than DB's. Chalk another one up for KB's. Next up was my pathetic attempt at Pull-Ups, god i suck at these, so im gonna keep hittin em because i have found that when i dont like an exercise it probably benefits me in some way. My Horizontal pulling strength is fine but my vertical, ugh!! The neck tractions i am definitely feeling this morning, at first i thought i slept weird but then remembered this movement, thanks to Chad Waterbury for reminding me of this monster....oh well, since i am at work to do some overtime i probably ought to get to work huh? Fuck the man cause im going fishing when im done....later all.........

04/26 DE Squat/DL

DE Box Squat 215x8x2
Speed Pulls w/Mini's 250x10x1
KB SwingThroughs (Single Arm) 43x3x8
Sit-Ups against Bands 3x8
Band Leg Curls 3x10

Holy Shit this was a rough night. The Squats were fast, though i was concentrating on form and really keeping the arches in my back, after checking a video i did last week i noticed i get slightly rounded in the hole (new wide stance). Posterior chain needs to be focused on more, admittedly i have been slacking on this one. The Speed Pulls against bands was hard as hell, i went with 30 second rest between each one and was sweating my clams off by the end of these two movements. I will tell you this much, my weak point (Lockout) in the Deadlift will quickly fix itself with this shit. The weight flies until just below the kneecaps then someone puts the brakes on!!! Sweet, no pain no gain right? the rest of the workout was done on empty, i really concentrated on making my glutes and hamstrings fire on the Swingthroughs and felt them after and figured i would hit the Hamstrings even more with some Band Leg Curls which had them almost cramping, good times, good times!!! The deload week was nice but left me feeling antsy and lazy, hopefully the time off helped to reset the body for the onslaught to come....until next time, keep it dark, keep it heavy!!!

04/24 DE Bench-12 Week Cycle Start

DE Bench 185x5x3, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1
Shirt (Open Back) 315x1, 365x1, 385x1
KB Rows 93x3x8
KB Side/Front Swings 4 per movementx3x8
#8 Pin Press 315x5x3

Pretty good night, felt good to get back to the normal template of sorts. I branched off from the DE work to get in some shirt work. I opened the back of my shirt so i can pull it down farther and get it closer to my RAW groove. I am very glad i did this, the pop is much better at this new angle. I came to this conclusion after analyzing my form and determined that i cannot get the shirt down far enough with the back closed and it was causing me to bench higher on my chest. Since this was not my true ME day i stopped at the 385 which was my previous PR, this flew up so i know something is right about the shirt now. My plan for this is to incorporate more lockout work since i am getting more pop with the shirt this way. i was sweating my ass off by the end of this work out as all sets were done with 30 sec's rest, i actually felt a little sick to my stomach which i havent experienced in a long time,refreshing yet nauseating at the same time, make sense? oh well.... thats it for today.

04/18 SE Bench

Bench Press 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x6,4,4,4
Lat Pulldown w/Rope 95x4x10
Bradford Press 135x4x6

This workout lasted 30 minutes and actually kicked my ass pretty good. I was hurried for time and took 30 rests between sets, this proved to be brutal. I worked the 75% mark of the prilipens chart for the Bench Press. Initially i was going to do 3 sets of 6 but decided to do 6 on the first and hit the remaining with 4'and a pause at the bottom, killed me i tell you, absolutely killed me. After my shoulders felt fried and pumped. Tomorrow i will hit Triceps and do some Shrugs for the aforementioned Yoke(Eggbeaters)and also throw in some Grip work which i usually do at work. Thats about it for now....Hail to the king baby!!!

04/17 Beginning of De-Load Week

5 minutes of mobility work
KB Single Arm Swingthroughs 63x4x8
Ab Pulldown 95x4x8
Avg Band GM's didnt keep count, just went till i was super tight

KB and Ab were supersetted with 30 seconds rest between supersets, these sucked and had me sucking wind bad. For an "easy" workout this had me feeling almost sick, really weird!!! Not much else to say, i figure tomorrow i will hit some SE Bench and get the upper body nice and pumped, maybe hit the yoke (i currently only have Egg-Beaters) and get them traps cookin.....Wednesday will be some sort of feeder and Thursday will be SE Squat night.....nothing in stone as its only Deload week....l8r

04/15 ME DL and Shirt Bench

Bench Press 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1
Shirted 315x1, 350x7x1
DL 135x5, 225x3, 315x3, 365x1, 405x1, 455x2x1, 405x5x3

tonight was originally scheduled to be a ME Test before my meet cycle, i had planned to work up to new ME PR's but it was apparent at the onset of this sessions that no PR's would fall tonight. This is mostly due to an unscheduled Drink-Fest last night which saw me killing an 18 pack of budlight then a few more for good measure. Since tomorrow is Easter i couldnt do this tomorrow as i am sure more beer will flow....so i decided to work to prilipens chart and hit 7 @ 90% on the bench and really work form in the shirt and then work the 80% range on the deadlifts and really work the explosiveness. Every friggin rep i did tonight felt like a ton as i felt like a run over sewer pickle that someone left on the hot pavement. No worries though as this upcoming week is a schedule de-load week and will consist of feeder type workouts that i may or may not list, i guess i will see...The DL were real bitches and got me in a pretty good sweat, the 405 reps were all stop and go's, no bouncing, these killed me and made my head feel like it was going to pop off, i also gave myself a bloody nose on the last one, not too bad, just a couple speckles....well i am looking forward to the deload week and re-focusing myself for the cycle to come. Its nice to have something to train for...now i just got to address this issue with the beer, that pesky foe that always seems to pop his head up on beautiful, sunny days......all work and no play makes jack an unhappy man!!!!...Redrum, Redrum!!!

04/10 SE Squat-Feeling Out

Regular Squats 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x2x3
GM's 135x3x8
Ab Pull Downs 90x3x8
Sit-ups

I took it easy tonight as i wanted to feel out my back and see how it was. I didnt feel it at all which is a good thing. These squats were wide and deep so i figure if i had no problem doing them then im probably alright. These GM's were light as well just to be sure, i did start feeling my lower back after these though, it was a different feel than when i pulled whatever it was that i pulled. The next few session i will take it easy to make sure the injury fully heals and poses no problem for the future, so until next time, l8r

04/09 ME Bench-I'm Back, get it, Back, har har

2 BD Press 185x5, 225x3, 255x2, 295x1, 325x1, 345x1, 375PR
2 BD Press (Downsets) 345x2x3
Weighted Dips w/Chains x4x8
Seated Rows 170x4x8
KB Side Raises 35x4x8
Mini Band Pushdowns 5x20

The back was still stiff, it hurts worst when i try to arch my back so this night was a bit painful until it stretched out. I probably could have gone 385 on this but held back and did some downsets instead. I didnt want to wrench the back in an all out attempt. Today, as i type, my back feels almost 100% so thats a relief, you never know with back pains if its disk or muscular in nature. Im assuming its muscular as i have no numbness or associated symptoms for that sort of injury. It felt good to do something after basically 3 days on my ass,.....oh well, thats it for now......l8r

04/07 ME Squat-Oops!!

Regular Squat 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 455x1
Put on suit 505x1

Well this sucker got cut short as i tweaked my back on the 505, i forgot to do the latch on my belt. The pain wasnt that bad when it happened but my lower back is pretty frigin tight now, its fine when im sitting still but when i walk, ugh!!! needless to say i will do some recuperative things tonight to help rid the tightness...thats its for now.....

04/05 De Bench-New PR???

Speed Bench 185x5x3, 225x1, 275x1, 315x1, 345x1, 355x1PR
BB Ext w/Chains 105x4x8
Lat Pulldown 130x4x6
Shrugs 295x4x8

Well this was a different slant on the DE night. The 185 was moving way too fast for me not to try and PR the Raw Bench Press, so i went for it. 315 and 345 felt light, 345 was my previous PR so i was quite psyched, the 355 was smooth, i contemplated going for more but held myself back as i just had a ME day 4 days ago and did a Recuperative session the day after. I'm just gonna turn my next ME day into a SE day, that should be fine. Next up was the BB Ext's w/Chains, when i did these last week i fell in love with them, they are bitches but god, they hit the tri's like nothing i have seen in awhile, they're keepers. Lat-Pulldowns and Shrugs were ho-hum as i was winding down by that point, all in all a pretty good training session.
If any of you get a chance have a peek at my meet cycles i got planned and feel free to critique it, its always good to have a second set of eyes to look at it.....anyways, stay strong and stay tuned!!!

Bench-12 week Approach

Deadlift-12 week Approach

04/03 DE Squat

Box Squat w/Avg Bands 205x4x2, 225x4x2
Stingray Squats 185x3x5
Ab and Back crap, all random for high Reps

Very good night on the Box Squats, absolutely no back tightness and the reps were fast. This is the best i have felt on speed squats in a long time. I took 30 second rests and was sweating my clams off by the end of it. Then came the Stingray Front squats, god i suck at these!!! The limiting factor seems to be the fact that this sucker digs into my biceps like a mother. Next time i may just do regular front squats and see how that goes. I did these ass to grass with a 1 second pause down in the hole, this made it a bit harder as well but felt muscles that havent been hit like thatin a long time. I plan on rotating Front Squats and Speed DLs on this day to prepare for the meet, time will tell if this pays off. As previously stated the Ab and Back crap was all random but included ab pulldowns with various bands, back extensions, band GM's, etc....i was pretty gassed after the squatting with short rests that i really had no motivation to do this. I stuck it out on the Abs as i feel my lack of lower back pain is attributed to the extensive Ab work i have been doing lately to address my imbalance and perceived weakness. Well thats about it, back to work and answer some stupid ass questions for stupid ass customers......l8r

04/01 ME Bench

Band Assisted 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 365x1, 405x1, 440xMiss
Down Sets 405x4x1
3 Board Press 315x5x5
Seated Rows 170x3x10
KB Side Raise 33x3x8

Definitely not a record breaking day, I tied one on last night and never have a PR Breaking the following day. So with that in mind i attempted 440 and missed it miserably and went down to around 90% of my last 1RM for this movement. These popped to lockout with no problem and i actually thought about retrying the 440 but held myself back for the rest of the workout. 3 boards were a bit light so i figured i would get them with volume. I defnitely felt my upper body after both of these movements. The seated rows and KB Sides were supersetted to save time. I was quite tapped after this workout which i suspected would be the case. But what is a New Englander to do? we haven't had many nice days this year and the Bud Light was going down way too nicely, couple that with some burgers and dogs and its a recipe for sub-par performance....no worries though, i still got a killer workout in...