Tuesday, March 31, 2009

30/03/09
BW 78.9kg / 174lbs (PM)
Blah, must eat more food.
DROM
-Back Squats: 115 x3/3/2
Fuck. What is wrong with me and squats? I did 115 x3x3 Friday and had some gas left, I should have hit 5x3. I'm chalking it up to it being a stressful day (clinical final). Weighted in light too.
-Shoulder Presses: 47.5 x 5/4/4
Not too bad. Should get it next session.
-Deadhang Pull-ups: 10/8/6
-Standing Incline Evil Wheel work
-Face Pulls

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Bit of a delayed and mass posting. I've been keeping off doing presses of any kind for the last week plus; my shoulder has been still acting up slightly but not as bad and I've been using a softball on it a lot and doing some rehab movements.
Squats are coming along pretty well and my form and style has made some natural progressions towards a cross between LBBS & HBBS, I call it sqatting. It's somewhere in between the two forms and it's what works for me. I'm still working to keep my knees out and I think I need a bit wider stance to remedy that. I've learned to "pinch my ass" which then tightens me up, before I descend. Had a pretty good week, finishing off at 115 x3x3 which I was a bit disappointed with but as I stated it was good week and I made good progress so I need to be happy with that. I think by not try for 5x3 with a weight I know I can do and instead go 3x3 with a weight I want to get 5x3 on, I bring in a little bit of periodization into my linear scheme and allows myself some rest. It seems to be working for Keith pretty good so it's worth a thought. I've also been foam rolling a lot and dam it feels good.
I did some shoulder presses at a reasonable weight for the first time in over a week. They felt good, I didn't feel any pain and the next day my shoulder felt fine. It's been feeling a bit tight in general but it didn't feel anymore tighter than usual the day after the presses so I take that as a good sign. I'll do more shoulder presses Monday and then try bench pressing on Wednesday and go from there.

27/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
DROM
-Back Squats: 115 x3x3
-Shoulder Press: 45 x5x3
-Weighted Pull-ups: 15 x5x3
-Face Pulls

26/03/09
-Foam Roller Work

25/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
DROM
-Back Squats: 113.5 x5x3
-Power Cleans: 65 x3 67.5 x3x4
-Horizontal Rows
-Face Pulls
-Plank Circuit

24/03/09
-Foam Roller Work

23/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
DROM
-Back Squats: 112.5 x5x3
-Horizontal Rows
-Decline Evil Wheel: 15 x3

22/03/09
-Foam Roller Work

20/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
DROM
-Back Squats: 110 x5x3
-Weighted Pull-ups: 16.5 x5/5/4
-Stand Incline Evil Wheel
-Plank Circuit

18/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
DROM
-Back Squats: 108.5 x5x3
-Deadlifts: 141.5 x5
-Power Cleans: 65 x3 67.5 x3 70 x2
-Kipping Pull-ups: 10/10
-Decline Evil Wheel: 10x3
-Stretch
-Foam Roller

Monday, March 16, 2009

Well after a couple days of my left shoulder giving me problems I realize that it need rest. I don't imagine it was strickly the LBBS that aggravated but I'm sure they didn't help, so I'm sticking to the HBBS for now and removing bench pressing from my routine. I'm going to try and just do shoulder presses and push presses for now and see what happens. If there's still pain and inflammation I'll drop the presses too and just work on squats and pulls untill things settle down. On a positive note, the HBBS were feeling good at 107.5kg, I just need to keep tight and decend a bit slower but stance and bar position are feeling good. No knee pains either. I've also discovered the benefits of even a little bit of foam rolling. I need to try and get into the gym once a week for a decent stretch and foam rolling like I did Sunday but also get into the habit to end each session with a quick roll and stretch.

16/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (PM)
-Row 500m = 1:38.5@31
-HB Back Squats: 107.5 x5x3
Solid. These were feeling really good and my form feels good.
-Deadhang Pull-ups: 10/8/5
-Kipping Pull-ups: 15
-2 Rounds of:
10 Overhead sit-ups, 20lbs DB's
60 sec plank
-Stretch & foam roller

15/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs (AM)
-DROM
-Stretch
-Foam Roller

Friday, March 13, 2009

Shoulder Pain. My left shoulder has been acting up a lot the last couple weeks. It feels like it's in the rotary cuff area but it isn't centralized there. It's a sharp pain that pinches me most often when I'm trying to reach back. I feel it quite sharply when I pull back on my shoulders like I had the bar on my back with hands on the bar. It all seems to coincide with me going back to the low-bar back squats. The 4 weeks that I was going high bar I didn't feel this pain and it has really struck me the last week and a half. I'm wondering if the scaling back I've had to do with my presses has something to do with my shoulder and me going back to the LBBS. I am a bit worried that it isn't the low-bar but is pressing related but the time coincides and the scaled back weights don't feel as solid as they should. My body is obviously telling me that it doesn't like the LBBS so I'm going to the HBBS and stick to it. The tell-tale will be how my shoulder feels in a couple weeks and I'll re-asses from there.

On a positive note I've been banging out some great PR's on the 500m row.

Edit: A question occurred to me; Why am I so attached to the LBBS and seem so tentative to switching over to HBBS? I think it's becuase I've a lot of time and effort into, or trying to learn the LBBS. That time and effort I've put makes me hesitant to throw it out the window but it just simply isn't working for me.

13/03/09
BW 79.9kg / 175lbs (PM)
-Row 500m = 1:38.0@32 (PR)
-High Bar Back Squats: 105 x5x3
-Shoulder Press: 46 x5x3
-Weighted Chin-ups: 15 x5x3
-Evil Wheel work; standing incline and kneeling decline

11/03/09
BW 79kg / 174lbs (PM)
-Row 500m = 1:38.5@31 (PR)
-Front Squats: 92.5 x5x3
Solid work. Part of me says stay at this weight but I'll ignore that part and put a small amount on next time.
-Bench Press: 67.5 x5x3
Felt good.
-Power Cleans: 65 x3x2 67.5 x3x3
Nice. Going to try for 5 sets of 3 @ 67.5kg next time.
-4 Position plank circuit, 30sec/pos X3rounds

Monday, March 09, 2009

09/03/09
BW 79.9kg / 176lbs (PM)
-Back Squats: 115 x5x3
-Shoulder Press: 45 x5x3
-Deadhang Pull-ups: 9/7/6
-Evil Wheel work; standing incline and kneeling decline

Sunday, March 08, 2009

06/03/09
BW 79.7kg / 175lbs
-Row 500m = 1:42.9 (blah)
-Back Squats: 112.5 x5x3
Solid, especially on the first set. I could really feeling myself sitting back better and loading my hamstrings. I really need to think about "sitting back".
-Bench Press: 65 x5x3
This felt heavier than I'd want. My shoulder is acting up and I've been going a bit narrower on the grip. I almost feel I need to ditch the bench press.
-Weighted Chin-ups: 15 x 5/5/4
Just about. I'll have it next time.
-Standing Incline Evil Wheel 3x3
-Lateral Plank: 30sec/side x3

04/03/09
BW 79.6kg / 175lbs
-Row 500m = 1:39.9
-Front Squat: 91 x5x3
Heavy but solid.
-Shoulder Press: 42.5 x5x3
Decided I needed to do a scale back on the press. I was really feeling it on my lower back from the evil wheel the other day.

-Deadlifting: 140 x5
Soild but shaky. I'll throw an extra kilo on next time.
-Power Cleans: 60 x3 / 65 x3 / 67.5 x2 / 70 x2
These were feeling heavy.

Monday, March 02, 2009

02/03/09
BW 79.5kg / 175lbs
-Row 500m = 1:39.8@31
-Back Squats: 112.5 x5x3
Solid. Got some good feedback from Keith on my squat. I need to keep my chest up more.
-Bench Press: 62.5 x5x3
Scaling back continues.
-Deadhang Pull-ups: 9/7/6
-Kipping Pull-ups: 22
-Standing Incline Evil Wheel: 3x4
Discovered the insanity that is using the evil wheel on the wheelchair ramp at the gym. Awesome.