06/27/07 ME Bench - -2 Board PR

2 Board Press 185x5, 225x3, 255x2, 300x1, 350x3, 375x3, 410x1PR

4 Board Press 410x3x6

One Arm Row 110x3x8

Chain Reverse Curls to Overhead press 3x8

Pretty good night, hit a PR on the 2 Board Press despite not going really heavy on bench in ages (shoulder injury for you newbies). The shoulder was acting up as per usual, at this point it is more of anuisance than performance impairing. It mostly hurts when I unrack the weight and move it forward, then its fairly smooth sailing.

Originally I planned on only working up a 375 for a bunch of singles, but I ended up hitting a triple on that and decided to go for a small PR, Given the recent perfromance, I was unsure, but I got it anyway....Thats always good for confidence.

For the 4 Board Press I left the bar weight at 410 and decided to hit some reps. My shoulder was on fire by the end of these, but I felt they got a good workout with all thing considered. Look for this weight to go up in the future and the reps to drop a bit.

One arm rows were well, one arm rows.....

The chain Reverse curls to overhead press were interesting. I attached D-Handles to the chains and did these, man, these were friggin brutal.. Three times worse than doing them with Dumbbells, those friggin chains are all over the place...3 more weeks with these should be fun...

Well Thats It......wait a minute....

Question:

If one develops sauce crack while lifting alone, is it really sauce crack?

Apparently...

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

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APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift
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06/25/07 ME Squat

High Box 205x5, 300x3, 350x2, 405x1, 450x1
Suit Bottoms 505x3, 525x3, 555x3
RDL's 225x3x8
GHR's 3x10
Obliques Pull Down 110x3x10

Was quite happy with tonight given my recent lower back muscle strain. My original plan was to only work up to 505 and do 3x3, but the first set felt way too easy so I kept bumping it up. The limiting factor on these was my breathing. With the tight belt its hard to take in air properly. Overall though, these sets felt very strong. In case any of you were wondering, my high box squats are set at parallel.

RDL's tightened the old back-a-rooni up, these were performed super fast, sort of a dimel deadlift.

I have devised a way to pefrom Glute Ham Raises. I take my bench with the leg curl extension and anchor my feet on it and use average bands choked to the top of my rack for assistance. The assistance gets varied depending on how close I place the bench into the rack or out of it. I will try and get a video up to give some of you an idea...definitely felt the hamstrings after this one.....

Again, pretty happy with tonights efforts. So until next time...Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

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APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift
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06/18/2007 De-Load ME Squats/ Deadlift

SE Free Squats 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x3, 365x6,4,4,4
SE Deadlifts 405x6,4,4,4
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
Whoa, for an Sub-Maximal Effort day I think, this gave me a hard time. MY GPP is in the crapper for sure, course I kept rest period to under a minute and cranked this work ou tin 31 minutes. My shirt was soaked as well as my scivvies with a fresh batch of swamp ass....Thats about it, Deloads Rule!!!
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sepultura....Not as Intense as Liberace, But They'll Do....

Tell me this shit doesnt make you want to do some Max Effort Step Aerobics?





APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift

Soulfly, Who'd you think it was? Lionel Richie...

Special Treats for the Peeps....



APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift

06/13/07 ME Bench

Shoulder Press w/Chains 95x5, 115x3, 135x3, 145x3, 165x3
SE Bench Press 305x5x3
One Arm DB Row 100x3x8
Rear Delts....dont remember what

Forgot to post this the other day, so here it is....shoulders were brutal!!! Thank god next week is deload. Bench felt alright, still not even close to 100%, but I'll take it.....forgot to list it, but messed around with sandbag swings, throws, and other shite....thats it....

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy.....

APT Pro Wrist Straps - Dont Let Your Grip Rob You of A Lift

06/11/07 ME Squat - Ugh....

High Box Squats w/Chains 245x5, 285x3, 330x2, 385x1, 425x1, 475x2
GM's 155x3x10
Built and Played Around w/Sandbags

Squats did not go as planned, I strained something in my lower back on the right side. But on a good note, i didnt just keep going to further aggravate it!!! The 475 felt light, but on the second rep I tried to adjust myself in mid squat and got out of postion, thus the strain occurred. I was originally projecting 3x3 at 475, oh well.

In light of my Squat issue, I dropped the poundage on Wide Stance SSB GM's and went all the way down to facilitate a bit of stretch into the lower back. Good Stuff I tell you.

So, feeling a bit beat, I went up stairs and built a sandbag for throwing, cleaning, pressing, and whatever else I can imagine to do for GPP Conditioning. I built a 50 lbs sandbag and messed around with it before giving up due to severe back pain.

Here's to a Healthy Back!!!

No Nonsense Nutrition DVD

06/10/07 DE Bench - Shirt Blowouts

Speed Bench w/Monster Minis 165x9x3
HD Blast 315x2, 365x2, 365x1-Blew out on Chest
HPHD 365x2, 365xBlew Out On Chest
Rage 365x3x2
Lat Pull Down 120x10,10,8
Shrugs 345x3x10
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Almost forgot to type this one up. Long story short, Harold T Estes gave me two bench shirts he got off ebay, one was a size 50 HD Blast, the other was an HPHD size 50. I figured I would take this session to work lockout power via Shirt work.
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
The HD Blast stood up to the 315, though I heard some stitching give, just thought it was the logo tearing. The 365 wasnt too bad, kind of a grind at lockout, then on the second attempt at 365 the shirt blew out right down the middle....Cool!!!
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
The HPHD was up next, I figured this might stand up a bit better, Wrong!! Got one set of 365x2 in and on the next, all the stitching blew out and the shirt did a massive stretch out....
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
Figured I would throw on the Rage and hit a few doubles for speed....My lockout strength aint what it used to be working around my pec injury, but they were productive nonetheless....
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting
And who really gives a rats ass about the accessory crap....
powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting powerlifting

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06/07/07 DE Squat - I Quit

DE SSB Free Squat w/Avg Bands 250x8x2
Messed Around with overhead Box squats....

Man, I should have warmed up better. My lower back cramped up big time after the Safety Squat Bar Free Squat w/Average bands. After grinding out those I lost all motivation and abandoned the rest of the work out to try out something I read on Dan Johns site. Overhead Box Squats.

These things are brutal as all hell. My first set was atrocious but did get better with succeeding sets. I only ended on 135 for like 12 reps, but man, I felt like puking. My shoulders are not accustomed to bend back like they needed to. Anyway, they were fun to try, not sure if I will ever incorporate them full time, I am toying with the idea of putting a couple Dynamic effort sets after the main movement on DE Squat day, but we'll see. This appears to be a great overall movement.....anyway

Keep It Dark, Keep It Heavy

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06/06/07 ME Shoulders/SE Bench

Overhead Press w/Chains 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 145x3, 155x3
Bench Press 225x3, 255x3, 275x3, 305x6
Barbell Bent Row 225x6, 275x2x6, 300x6
Rear Delts (Low Cable) 20x4x8

Chains Suck!!!

No time for Love Dr. Jones......

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06/04/2007 ME Squat - A Couple PRs & A Side of Lasagna

High Box w/Chains 235x5, 285x3, 330x2, 385x1, 425x1, 455x1, 475x2PR, 500x1PR
Wide Stance GM's to Pins 245x4x6
Single Arm KB Swingthroughs & AB Raises

Holy Crap, that 500 was a grinder. My upper back rounded a bit but I still got it. Lost concentration in the hole and stalled at midway, thought about quitting but stuck it out (and almost passed out). Was Quite happy hitting this number after easily doubling the 475, I expected to the 500 to sail a bit faster but you cant always get what you want right?

Saftey Squat Bar Good Mornings kicked my ass. Period. I actually felt my abs after the squats and GM's. I have never had that happen before, guess they got worked. This morning my erectors are tight as hell but all in all I feel pretty good.

The KB Swings and AB Raises rounded it off. Nothing too flashy, just got the work done and scrammed, I had lasagna waiting for me, so who could really blame me for not keeping track......

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!

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06/03/2007 DE Bench

Speed Bench w/Monster Minis 155x9x3
3 Board Press 315x3, 345x3, 375x3, 345x3x5
Lat Pulldown 120x4x8
Shrugs 345x3x8

Pretty good workout, Monster Mini's were a nice change. I most definitely felt the difference between these and regular minis. Speed was good, with the added tension, I felt more comfortable, not so herky...

3 board Press was a relief. I worked up to a fairly heavy triple just to see if I had lost anything. Apparently I didnt lose much, but to err on the side of caution, I dropped the poundage and hit some reppage.

I supersetted the Pulldowns and Shrugs with between 45-60 seconds rest between. I was quite beat by the end needless to say...

Thats it for now, next up is ME Squat woo-hoo.....

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05/31/2007 DE Squat/DL

SSB Speed Free Squat w/Average Bands 255x8x2
Speed Pulls 330x9x1
Monster Mini Leg Curls and SSB Calf Raises

Holy shit, bands on a Safety Squat Bar are simply brutal!!! Needless to say I am in a fair amount of pain today. Not much else to say really....Thanks for stopping by....


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05/30/2007 ME Bench/Shoulder????

Overhead Press w/Chains95x5, 105x5, 135x5, 145x3, 155x1
Bench Press 135x5, 225x3, 260x3, 275x3, 300x6
Barbell Bent Row 225x6, 255x6, 275x6, 300x6
Low Cable Rear Delts 20x4x6

Holy Crap, my shoulders are killing me today, as a matter of fact my whole upper body is toast!! this is the first week in a new approach to sort of train around my left Pec Strain/Tear or whatever the hell that thing was....and I can sum it up in one word....Painful!!!

The Overhead Presses with chains proved hard, this isnt your garden variety chain work as the chains are off the ground the whole time and swingin-n-swayin...all the little muscles for stabilizing got owned on this movement. My top set will go up next week as I now know the movement, and wont waste as much energy getting there.

The Bench Press felt pretty good, no twinging in the titty. I am guessing it was a minor tear, but I still stopped short. Actually felt like working up but checked the ego and moved on...this was a good sign. I probably had a couple more in me but didnt want a break down in form to cause another booby-tear.....

Barbell Bents rows were done differently than normal, I did them in the pendalay fashion, but used a bit more body english than in the past, this definitely caused an overload effect for me on this. I used straps on the top set as my grip was wearing thin. (I have been doing grip exercises in spare time to compensate for my DL miss a couple weeks ago)

Low Cable Rear Delts was a new movement, I discovered I could probably do it after determining dumbbells are just too boring...Could definitely feel remnants of my right shoulder problems on this one....will keep an eye on this pain and manage it accordingly.

Well, thats it from here. Guess we'll see where this approach takes me, hopefully to a shoulder-pain-free life of extravagance!!!



Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy!!!


No Nonsense Nutrition DVD

05/28/07 ME Squat

High Box Squat w/Chains 135x3, 235x5, 285x3, 330x2, 380x1, 425x3, 455x2
Wide Stance SSB GM's to Pins 245x4x6
KB Swingthroughs and Hanging Leg Raises

Not a bad night with all things considering. I spent the weekend up on Maine, and the bed I slept on screwed with my back a bit. Coupled with 6 hours of travelling I was quite happy with tonights results.

The Squats were fast and had my lower back not been stiff from the aforementioned events, I would have gone higher. Taking note from last weeks titty tear I stopped at 455, Cant wait to see what I have in me in 3 weeks, should be fun!!!

Wide Stance Good Mornings to pins were absolutely brutal, My whole back was in pain after these, I dropped the pins to # 12 which gave me a bigger range of motion than previous cycles. I kinda felt pukey afterward but nothing came up.....

KB Swingthroughs and Ab Raises were supersetted, I did not keep track of sets and reps, I figure it was around 5 set of 6-8.....my head wasnt in it at this point, I had food on the mind.....

Thats all, next up is ME Bench, figure to insert overhead ME work and do some repetition type stuff for chest and see how the tear is.....stay tuned.

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05/23/07 SE Bench - Partial Tear?

Well, i did something to my left pec on SE Day. I finished my warm ups and went to the work sets, I planned on hitting 320 for 4x4 or 3x5. The first rep at 320 went nicely, and on the second rep something in my left pec twinged and I lost all power at midrange, I grinded out the weight to lockout somehow.

I figured I would give it a 2 minute break as nothing hurt, there was no pain at all. Well, just cuz there werent pain doesnt mean somehting aint wrong!!! i unracked the 320 and about mid way down the twinge was back, I should have just dumped the weight but I didnt, I still performed the lift but stopped after that to avoid any further damage.

This pain is weird as it is in the middle of the muscle, not near the insertions. Like a mid muscle tear or something. I believe I may be in a state of overtraining which I anticipated going into this cycle, too many variants of Deadlifting in there but I wanted to see if my body could handle it, well it didnt....

So, I will revamp this cycle and most likely do all overhead pressing for ME Bench day and use Repetition work to hit the bench and hopefully repair whatever it is thats wrong with my titty....


Keep yer fingers crossed......

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05/21/2007 ME Squat Deload

SLDL 385x3x3
10 Minute EDT
Ab Pull Down 110x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
SSB Calf RAise 265x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5

Deload week, nothing fancy....was kind of refreshing not to have to do any squatting.....

Now Thats A Deload......

No Nonsense Nutrition DVD

05/17/2007 DE Squat - Squat Critique Night

DE Box Squat 315x8x2
DE DL 315x9x1, 405x1, 505x1
Ab Pulldowns
Pull Throughs

This workout was done at a commercial gym called Planet Fitness here in Manchester. I had a couple guys from work that needed some pointers on how to do squats. All is what I can say is that I am glad I have my own gym, this place was a friggin social club for chrissakes.

And, sure as shit when we first walked up to the squat racks what do you think I saw? The oldest cliche in the book, to jamokes doing curls for the girls. You know, cus pickin the bar up off the floor to do curls just aint cool!!! Unbelievable I tell you....Then the little looks for actually doing a box squat, holy crap....got peeps from the other side of the room like I had a turd hanging out of my pocket. Enough of that rant....

315 went smooth and fast, it was a bit weird as the bar had no knurling in the middle of it and the bar whipped like hell with only 315, imagine if it was heavy day? Regardless, after giving some pointers and correcting some technical flaws in form for these guys, I figured I would check their Deadlift form.

Again, a few minor tweaks and they'll be fine. Due to lack of knurling again, I got a decent impromptu grip workout. I worked up to 505 to see what the bar would do, this sucker bent pretty good, if it could hold its straightness and have proper knurling this bar might make a good Deadlift bar. Frig that, I'll stick to my Texas Power Bar!!!

The Ab pull downs I did like as the pulley system is better than the one I have at home and the angle felt a bit better, but it aint worth joining a gym over I can tell you that much. Plu,s couple all of this with the fact if you grunt, clang weights, or make any noise even resembling a struggle you will literally sound off an alarm and be asked to quiet down. What the fuck is this place? Hell?

Anyway, this just reinforces that I did the right thing by turning my basement into a gym. This place is a joke, they cater to the person who wants to socialize and sit on a excercise bike while doing so....my rating....Two steaming Turds and a splash of the Green Apple Splatter.

Keep it Dark, Keep it in the Basement!!!!

No Nonsense Nutrition DVD

05/16/2007 ME Bench

Floor Press w/Mini's 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 245x1, 280x3, 290x2, 300x1, 280x3, 290x2, 300x1
#8 Pin Press 315x5,5,3
12 Min EDT PR Zone
Pull Ups BWx3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
Straight Arm Pull Down 70x3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3

Tonight went pretty good, the pin press actually surprised me on the first two sets. The third I simply got gassed and the triceps quit on me....Next week will be a deload for Bench, I thin I will be gonig RAW in the 80% range I.A.W Prilipens.....Not much else to say, will actually be attempting to do DE Squat tonight at Planet Fitness, got a couple dude I'm gonna show how to squat correctly...should be fun....

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy.......

No Nonsense Nutrition DVD

05/14/07 ME Squat

SSB Low Box Squat 225x5, 275x3, 315x2, 360x1, 405x1, 460x1PR, 475x1PR
SLDL 365x4x4
EDT 10 Min PR ZOne 1
AB Pulldowns 100x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
Calf Raises 245x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5

Well I am quite happy with tonight, I set a goal and hit it. Good Stuff. I had it set in my mind that 475 would fall on the Safety Squat Bar Low Box Squat. My previous best was 455.

Now, working up the 460 went nicely,better than expected, so the confidence went up. However, upon unracking the 475, I hit the rack and had to calm the bar down a bit before starting. So as I was standing there the negative thoughts came to town, bull headed as I am I continued.

Off the box I was fast and hit the top portion of the lift and my back rounded over, I felt a black out coming on so I forced the sucker up and somehow racked it (dont really remember this part). Surprisingly the top part turned out to be the grinder of the lift, its usually right out of the hole for me, so I guess thats good. Now I got to hit the upper back more, good to know!!

Straight Leg Deadlifts were brutal and a foray from the routine. I originally had 5x4 planned, but much like last week was too wiped to do them all, so 4x4 made a visit.

My abs were burning by the end of EDT. I think next time I do this cycle I will have to plan the KB Front Swinging accordingly, I did these the day before ME Squat/DL Day. These require the AB's to fire and stabilize the torso which essentially pre-exhausts my core. I either have to move this movement or have a day of rest between. And now that I think about it, this could have contributed to the Rounding on the SSB....Hmmm....Very interesting.....enough banter

Keep it Dark, Keep it Heavy.......

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