Training log because I can't remember what I did.

[BigChrisF]

As the name implies, after a couple weeks I can't remember exactly what I've done, so it makes it more difficult to spot trends in my training. So I'm going to see how long I remember to update this.

Right now I am weight training 4 days a week on a hybrid 5-3-1 program. Basically two days are that and then the other two are speed work. For this 3 week block, I am doing close-grip incline press and SSB squats. I hate that bar so much.

Tonight was Close-grip inclines

I wave my arms around in circles like a retard for a while to start my warm-up.

bar x 10
95 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 6?
275 x 5
315 x 3
350 x 3 x 3

Flat dumbell press with parallel grip
80 lb x 30
I don't like high reps. Then I did a few sets of standing alternating KB shoulder press with a 20 kg kettlebell. I don't know how many. I just know I did more than a few. I'm a powerlifter. I don't count above 3 very well.

[BigChrisF]

Squatting tonight. I used the SSB again and worked up to some triples. Then I threw on some chain weight for more amusement. I've started riding an exercise bike for five minutes to kick off my warm-up. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet other than it can't really hurt. After that my usual warm-up routine has been to alternate 3 sets of 8 on the GHR with squats in circuit fashion.

Leg curls- half stack x 12

GHR- bodyweight 3 x 8

SSB squats

Bar x 10
160 x 10
210 x 8
250 x 6
300 x 5
340 x 3
390 x 3
430 x 3 x 3
430 + 45 chain x 1
430 + 90 chain x 1
430 + 120 chain x 1

Doesn't really look like a lot but my hips are going to hurt. I curse the inventor of that bar. I have some video, but I still have yet to take the time to learn how to fully utilize Youtube.

[BigChrisF]

Good news everyone! I went and made a video. I'm almost sure there is a shorter way to do what I did, but that will be for later.

Here are the squats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DOeykInKdk

The pockets and the stripes on these shorts always make my depth look high as hell. Good thing I will never compete in them.

[BigChrisF]

Speed bench tonight. Light weight with fast movement and fast pace. On my work sets I try to keep around a minute between sets. I will do three sets of three with three different grips: narrow, competition and illegal wide.
Warm-up - waving my arms in circles

Bar x 12
95 x 12
135 x 10
add doubled mini band
135 x 10
185 x 3
narrow grip
205 x 3 x 3
competition grip
205 x 3 x 3
illegal wide grip
205 x 3 x 3
dumbell press with parallel grip
65 x 35

video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muJ9pM7PfoE

pull -ups
bodyweight x 3 x 5 different grips

The dumbell presses were pretty easy tonight so I just kinda quit at 35 reps. I used to be better at pull-ups, but ever since I tore my teres major a few years back, I just haven't been able to get back to that. Oh well. All in all it's pretty easy work, just work that needs to be done.

[BigChrisF]

Speed pulls tonight. The last few weeks I have been pulling off of a 2.5" deficit because clearly I don't like myself. I pull against doubled light bands which make for about 200 lbs tension at the top when I'm not on a block. So a little bit more for these. I also do these in my basement and I don't have a deadlift bar or even a power bar. So I pull with my 32mm squat bar. So it's a fatter bar that has little flex to it. To top off the abuse, I pull these with a double overhand grip because I can get away with it at lighter weights. Like the other speed work, once I got into my work sets I kept the rest period down to about a minute.

I decided to warm-up with front squats tonight because it seemed like the thing to do at the time. My knees disagreed, but I try not to let them push me around.

Front squats
bar x 10
135 x 10 x 2 sets

Deadlift all from 2.5" deficit
135 x 10
250 x 10
340 x 5
add light bands
340 x 1 x 3 sets
390 x 1 x 5 sets*

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=turAEm1Jeic

Reverse hypers
bodyweight x 10 x 3 sets

*I didn't get the last set recorded due to my failure to push a big red button properly. I did plan on doing one more set, but a callus gave way and I decided to quit there. Things felt kinda heavy but they were moving fast enough anyway.

[BigChrisF]

Also it seems my weight has been moving up lately. I've gained about 2 lbs a week for the last month and am now up 10 lbs. I'm not really sure how I feel about that, but my waist measurement hasn't really changed, so I'm going to call it a win. It just means that now I will have to cut if I want to get to the 308 class. On that note, I really want to pick out a competition but I really think I just need to spend more time getting strong again.

[BigChrisF]

More benching tonight.Tonight was time for heavy close-grip singles on the incline. Not to bad of a night. Nothing really felt heavy until I got to the last one. That one moved kinda slow. I suppose now I'll go back to flat bench for another round. I will say that the upside to using the SSB for a few weeks has been that my shoulder feels fine.

Warm-up
stationary bike - 5 min
waved arms in cirlces
dumbell side laterals -15 lb x 15 reps

Incline bench
bar x 15
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 1
375 x 1
385 x 1

Parallel grip dumbell press
80 lb x 30

Alternating Kettlebell overhead press
24 kg x 10 x 4 sets

Hanging leg raises x 10
and 1 ab wheel roll out.

I didn't get any video tonight because I forgot my camera at home.

[BigChrisF]

Squat night. I worked up to some heavy for me singles with the SSB. I'm not a great squatter to begin with and this bar just kills me. I swear everything on it feels a hundred pounds heavier than it is.

Warm up
Stationary bike - 5 minutes
GHR - bodyweight x 8 x 3 sets alternating with first three sets of squat. My usual m.o.

SSB Squat

bar x 10
160 x 10
210 x 5
250 x 5
300 x 5
340 x 3
390 x 3
430 x 1
480 x 1
485 x 1
490 x 1
430 x 3
340 x 5

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0qVCWk7Svk

Kettlebell Swings with 24 kg kb and alternating hands. That means the tossed it and caught it with the other hand for another swing. I don't know how many reps. I just immediate walked over to the kettlebells after my last set and started swinging til I got a wicked back pump. When I write things out it really seems like some of my training is a little "fly by the seat of my pants".

I'm going back to the regular bar for the next 3 week wave and I have been trying to decide if I want to do free squats or foam box squats. I was leaning toward the latter simply because I suck at them. Largely the same reason I did the SSB squats this time around.

[BigChrisF]

Speed bench. Same set up as last week. I decided to up the bar weight to 250 lbs. No good reason for the change and the bar speed was still good. I probably should have used wrist wraps since my left wrist was hurting before I even got started. Now it hurts more. I swear sometimes I need supervision.

Warm-up
waving my arms around in circles. One day I will fly!

bench
bar x 25
95 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
205 x 3
250 x 3
added doubled mini band
250 x 3 x 3 sets with close grip
250 x 3 x 3 sets with competition grip
250 x 3 x 3 sets with illegal wide grip

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ9EXQ63GKM

Monster mini band pushdowns x 12 x 4 sets

Light band pull aparts x 12 x 3 sets

[BigChrisF]

I did some squats tonight. I didn't feel like doing my usual speed pulls or squats. I want to give my hand a little bit to re-skin itself. I decided to just hit some lightweight volume and call it a day.

Warm up
Reverse hyper
bodyweight x 10 x 2

Foam box squat
bar x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
250 x 10
300 x 10 video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjdB67yVS-E

That's it. I had a pretty good low back and leg pump going. The rest periods were short. I took enough time to change the weight in between the sets and take a drink. The squatting probably took about 15 minutes. Bench tomorrow!

[Nix0r]

Damn is all I have to say.

Where in Illinois are you from / do you train?

[BigChrisF]

I live in Canton, which is about a half hour west of Peoria. I train twice a week in the local high school gym and twice a week in my basement.

[BigChrisF]

As promised, I benched tonight. Unfortunately things didn't go as well as I wanted. Just didn't feel very strong. I did reverse light band flat bench and it was probably a little bit of a shock to my triceps after doing incline for 3 weeks and not really getting as heavy as normal. We'll see how next week goes.

Warm up.
rode the stationary bike for a few minutes
Spent so much time setting up my bench that I forgot my shoulder circles...

Flat bench
bar x 15
95 x 12
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 1
added reverse light band*
405 x 1
455 x 5
445 x 5 x 2 sets

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkhN-HQE-ok

Low pulley rows
185 x 10
225 x 10 x 2

That's all I had time for. Some numb-nuts took my chains apart so I spent way too much time trying to find the cable clamps. I gathered all the chains up and took them home. I swear these kids could fuck up anything.

*With the way I got the bands set up, I didn't get a lot of tension out of them. At least not what I was expecting. I intended doing all three sets at 455, but the last rep was a bit of a grinder, so I didn't think I could complete the other two sets at that weight. I also did not get video of the 455 because I forgot about the camera til I was half way through. That's right. I was pressing the second rep and it occurred to me that I didn't set up the camera.

By the time I was doing the pulley rows i was pretty much gassed. Probably should tell me something about feeling weak the rest of the work out. I hope I'm not getting sick or something.

[BigChrisF]

Squat day again. I felt a bit tired going into this one. Due to schedule conflicts I had to go in a few hours early. Took a little bit to get going, but once I did everything went fine. I decided that this 3-week wave was going to be foam topped box squats with a regular bar. Basically what I did this past Wednesday except more sets, less reps per set and heavier weight. The weight moved well and I probable undershot what I should have done, but I haven't done anything heavy off a box in quite a while, so this was my best guess.

Warm-up
Stationary bike - 5 minutes
leg curl x 10 x 3 for half stack
leg extension x 10 x 3 half stack
GHR x 8 x 3 bodyweight

squat
bar x 10
135 x 10
225 x 10
add box
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5 x 3 sets

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjPaFqH22Uw

Leg curl x 10 x 3
leg extension x 10 x 3
seated calf raise x 10 x 3
kettlebell swings x ? x 3

The warm up after the bike was done in a circuit fashion with the squats in my usual warm up scheme. The stuff after the squats were also done in a big circuit. For the kettlebell swings I have no idea how many I do each time. I use the 24 kg bell (the heaviest) and swing alternating arms until I feel I am winded enough and then I start the circuit over.

[BigChrisF]

I did some deadlifting today. I decided I wanted to do some higher rep work, more or less for conditioning purposes than anything. Clear proof that I need supervision. Like usual I did my pulling with my squat bar and I did it off my 2.5 inch block because I needed a deficit to make my range of motion a full 12 yards. Whatever. I only had about 3 heart attacks during this workout.

Warm up
reverse hyper - bodyweight 3 x 10
Between these sets I walked up and down the stairs because I was doing other things too.

Deadlift 2.5" deficit
135 x 10
250 x 10
340 x 10
390 x 10
450 x 9

video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMyBdbFays

Why only 9 on the last set? Because I can't count. That simple. You can see my hesitation at the end on the video. I had no idea how many I had done. Doesn't really matter. My back was plenty upset about pulling reps over 3. I suppose it was good for me even though when I was done I thought I might fall asleep. That's it. Bench tomorrow.

[BigChrisF]

Benched with reverse light bands again. Still not feeling really strong on bench lately. My left triceps/elbow area still feels odd. I hope that works out.

Warm-up
Rode stationary bike - 5 min
waved arms in circles

bench
bar x 15
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 1
add reverse light band
405 x 1
475 x 3
465 x 3 x 2 sets
405 x 8

Low cable rows
stack x 10 x 3 sets
side laterals
30 lb x 8 x 3

I had to lower my intended working weight again so that I could get all the sets in successfully. Hopefully next week will go better. I intend on doing the singles with about 500. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Monday since I don't want to do speed bench with my elbow feeling like this.

[BigChrisF]

Box squats again tonight. This time it was for triples. Due to unfortunate timing, I had finished dinner about a half hour before I got started. So I was kinda moving slow, especially in the beginning. The work sets moved pretty well and like last week, I could have done some more weight.

Warm-up
Stationary bike - 5 min
shoulder cirlces

Leg curl x 12
Leg extension x 12

GHR x 8 x 3

Squat
bar x 10
135 x 10
225 x 10
add box
315 x 5
405 x 5
add belt
455 x 3
500 x 3 x 3
remove box
315 x 10

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfNiDl68DJg

sumo deadlift
275 x 3

ab wheel roll-out x 1

That's it. It all took to long because I felt like napping in between sets. I did the deadlifts because the bar was already there, so I pulled a couple. I still seem to be gaining weight. I weighed a couple days ago and was 319. My waist measurement is staying the same, so I guess I'm adding some muscle somewhere.

[BigChrisF]

I decided to do some more repetition oriented work tonight again instead of speed. I decided to squat. Pretty simple idea; just get more volume in. I didn't do anything on Monday because my elbow is still not right, so I've just been icing it and rolling the triceps.

Warm-up
Reverse hyper
bodyweight x 10 x 3

Squat
bar x 10
135 x 10
250 x 5
300 x 5
360 x 5
410 x 10

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxzC5WNbZw

That's it. Everything from set up, warm up to take down took a little less than an hour. I'm going to bench tomorrow, but after that I'm going to go to my brother's out in Pennsylvania for a little visit. So I'm probably not going lift while I'm there. That's ok, because I'm probably going to be sleeping on a couch and I'll be feeling awful anyway.

[BigChrisF]

Benched tonight. Triceps still hurts and I'm icing it now. The work sets went about as planned. Actually, they were better than I thought they were going to be. For some reason by the time I got up to 315 I was shaking pretty bad. Don't know why but it went away with 455. Out of curiosity, I decided to test out the tension on the reverse bands. They were about 50 lbs at the chest and almost let go at the top.

Warm-up
stationary bike - 5 min
shoulder circles

bench
bar x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
add reverse band
405 x 3
455 x 1
500 x 1 x 3 sets
405 x 8

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1vAgf_MPqk

That's all I had time for. I spent way too much time talking and screwing around during my earlier sets that I was out of time. My arm was hurting anyway, so I said screw it. Now it's time for vacation, sort of. I am not looking forward to the long-ass drive.

[BigChrisF]

Alrighty, I'm back. I drove back from Easton yesterday. Fourteen hours of glory. I got pulled over in Ohio because I was in Ohio and I'm not from Ohio. I'm not a fan of that state. Seems I get pulled over every time I drive through there. Anyway, it's bench night, so I benched. I didn't have any idea what I was going to do for this microcycle until I got there. I opted for flat bench with 1 second pauses. I did better than I thought I was going to do, so I undershot the weight a little bit. I really didn't know what to expect from the time off and the drive.

Warm-up
stationary bike - 5 min
shoulder circles

bar x 15
135 x 10
225 x 10
add pause
315 x 5
365 x 5 x 2 sets
375 x 5
back to touch and go
315 x 15

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXZMZUhQ5vI

barbell row
135 x 10 x 3 sets

I didn't get the first set on video. I did some reps on the last set because I felt like it. I originally intended to do 10, but I just kept going. If I had planned ahead I would have had a spotter, because my current 315 rep PR is 17 and I pretty sure I had around 19 or 20 in me. I did the barbell rows and I didn't do them heavy because I wanted to do something and only had a few minutes left and it was sitting there.