ExRx.net

6/2/08

AM at home.

IT band, hip, quad, pec stretches.

PM at the gym.

Warmup: foot drills (did all drills backwards for a change), mobility drills including clams with resistance tubing.

Ate 5 grams of BCAAs and then started lifting.

2 minutes rest between deadlift sets unless otherwise noted.

1) Deadlift - 5 x 50kg, 3 x 80kg, 3 x 100kg, 3 x 110kg, 3 minutes rest, 3 x 120kg, 5 minutes rest, 2 x 135kg, 5 x 80kg.
2) Barbell Pushups - 15 / 15 / 13, 60 seconds rest.
3) Reverse Short-Stroke Lunge - 2 x 8 x (2*20kg), 10 x (2*20kg), 90 seconds rest.
*4) DB Raises - 3 x 10 x 16.25kg
*5) Seated DB "Power Cleans" - 9 x (2*7kg), 2 x 10 x (2*7kg), 90 seconds rest between supersets.
6) Gripper Holds @45kg - 40 seconds, 35 seconds, 32 seconds. 90 seconds rest.
7) Weighted Decline Situps - 4 x 11 x 5kg, plate held behind head, 60 seconds rest.

Stretched and warmed down for about 15 minutes and then did:

Side Plank (left) - 30 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Side Plank (right) - 30 seconds, 15 second rest.
Plank - 60 seconds.

...just as a finisher. Finished my water/glutamine/creatine mix and took 5g more of BCAA (almost finished the stuff off) and went home. Had a shake and then (real) ramen.

***

Deadlifts - damn, I so wanted 3 x 135kg, which would have been a new PR and a new estimated 1RM. But I could only break the bar off the floor on my left side and then only for less than a second. Crud. 2 x 135kg is a PR in that I've never gotten that much off the floor before but it's in line with what I should expect. At least I'm back to my previous PR territory! I finished with 5 x 80kg just to groove good form, because I know my form broke down setting down the bar on rep 2 of my 135kg set.

FWIW 135kg is about 298#, and it's 1.6x my bodyweight. So it's not bad, it's just not great. I think my weakness isn't the legs but the back and abs. Would rack pulls help?

Barbell Pushups - wanted 3 x 15, but failed on the 14th rep attempt on set 3. Oh well. These feel good, and keeping the bar from rolling is a good challenge. Last week I got 41 total reps, this week it was 43 with 60 seconds rest instead of 90 seconds. A big improvement.

Lunges - felt great. I really went all-out on the last set to get 10 reps. Totalled 22 reps last week, got 26 this week at the same weight. Next week I hope I can get 3 x 10.

DB Raises - originally planned 2 x 17.5kg but I figured I'd better be conservative and just get the goal reps with full ROM.

Gripper Holds - again, more work than last week but still short of the 3 x 60s I used to do. Then again, this is after heavy deadlifts, I used to do 3 x 60s holds on an off day.

Weighted Decline Situps - 4 x 11 was really hard. I was considering dropping the reps and upping the weight but my goal reps are 10-15 on this program and I wanted to stick with that.

Planks - I know I've come some distance when I do 30s side planks as a light finisher when weeks ago it was a PR...

6/3/08

Weight at waking: 85kg

* denotes superset.

AM
Warmup: None. Doh.

*Single-Leg Arched Bag Good Mornings (with plastic bar) - 3 x 10 per leg
*Step Downs (from chair) - 3 x 10 per leg, 1 minute rest between supersets

Went outside and did:
Towel partial pullups (on I-beam) - 3 x 5
Pushups - 3 x 10
1 minute breaks, did the pushups during the pullup 1 minute rests.

Tire drags (backwards) - 2 x 90m x 20kg, 1:22.24 and 1:23.55 (+10 seconds off PR)
Tire drags (forwards) - 2 x 90m x 20kg, untimed.

Tire sprints (forwards) - 4 x 20m x 20kg, 10 seconds rest.

Towel partial pullups (on I-beam) - 5 x 3, 30 seconds rest

10 minute break

Tabata Squats - 6 rounds, 20s/10s: 18-18-18-18-18-18 = 108 squats in 180 seconds.

Early Afternoon - rode 12 miles to and from an appointment, then rode to the gym.

15:30-16:30 - kickboxing at the gym. Jump rope, shadowboxing, heavy bag work (mostly kicking, but two rounds of full-bore punching too). Did my stretches after, warmed up with mobility drills.

Went shopping on the way home. Probably put about 20+ miles on the bike today, not good if I want to get bigger, AND I only ate about 300kcals between 11 am and 5 pm thanks to poor planning and some surprise delays. Got home at 5 and tried to make up for it with a big meal and a shake.

6/4/08

Actual rest day.

AM
Stretches - quads, pecs, IT band, hips.
Med ball soft tissue work - a good amount of it, maybe 5-6 minutes of actual rolling over 10 minutes, quads especially but also glutes and hips)

Some bike riding around at low speed, no effort put into it.

PM
More stretches and med ball work.

6/5/08

AM
Stretches: quad, IT band, hip, pec, calf

PM
Warmup: Foot drills, mobility work, mountain climbers, straddle hopping.

1) Squat Jumps - 6 x 3, 1 minute rest.
2) Shoulder Press - 5 x 20kg, 3 x 30kg, 3 x 35kg, 3 x 40kg, 3 x 45kg, 2 minutes rest, 3 x 50kg, 3 minutes rest, Fail x 55kg, 1 minute rest, 3 x 1 x 52.5kg, 3 minutes rest, 3 x 50kg.
3) BB RDL - 9 x 60kg, 2 x 10 x 60kg, 90 seconds rest.
4) Shoulder Press - 2 x 10 x (2*15kg), 1 x 9 x (2*15kg), 60 seconds rest
*5) Wide Grip Pullups - 7, 6, 5.
*6) Rear Delt Fly - 3 x 12 x (2*7.5kg), 90 seconds rest between supersets.
7) Ab/Hip Circuit - V-Ups, Triangle thrusts, bicycles, leg scissors - 3 x 15, 90 seconds rest.

10 minute break, then:

Side Plank (left): 65 seconds, 50 seconds rest
Side Plant (right): 65 seconds, 1 minute rest
Plank: 120 seconds.

Odd rests were me waiting for the stopwatch to hit round numbers.

***

Shoulder Press - I've once again progressed up to my previous 1RM range and then stopped dead. I can't seem to make any progress on this past this weight. Very annoying. It's like I hit a wall. So I backed down, did a few singles with less-than-perfect form, and then did 3 more good 50kg lifts. Not sure why 50kg is fine for 3 reps but 52.5kg is 1 rep. I seem to fail at the bottom, right off the shoulders.

Same with the dumbbell shoulder presses - I should have been able to knock off 3 x 10 this week, but I failed on my try for a 10th rep on the last set. Couldn't lock it out.

RDLs - not bad but my grip was more of a problem than my hamstrings. Bizarre considering the weight is less than half of my conventional DL, but my hands felt tired.

Rear Delt Fly - did these with 7.5kg plates. Next time I'll try loading up the dumbbells to 8-9kg, I just got lazy and clever at the same time.

Planks - a new PR, woo!

6/6/08

AM
Stretches - quad, IT band, hip, pec, calf.

Afternoon
At the gym.

Warmup: Foot drills, abbreviated shoulder/hip mobility drills.

Front Squats - 5 x 20kg, 5 x 30kg, 5 x 40kg, 5 x 5 x 50kg, 60 seconds rest.

5 minutes rest

10 round "Cindy" - 10 rounds of 5 jumping pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats in 10 minutes. Done one round per minute on the minute for pacing purposes. Rounds 1-6 of pushups unbroken, 7-10 broken. Rounds 1-5 of pullups done wide-grip pronated, 6-10 done narrow grip supinated.

Afterwards I lay on the floor in a heap for a while and then went home, had a doctor's appointment.

PM
Bike Ride to my Japanese class.


***

My front squats were deep and felt good. Got all of them pretty smoothly, but I couldn't have done much more than 5 x 5 x 50kg without more rest. I pushed each rep as hard as possible, aiming for some speed without loss of form. I managed a fairly decent clean grip, too, my flexibility is improving.

My original plan was just "Cindy" - max rounds in 20 minutes. But I realized I was better off with a ME/Metcon split since I'm trying to get some hypertrophy going here.

6/7/08

AM
Stretches - quad, hip (two kinds), pec, calf, IT band.

Lots of bike riding, medium intensity (no bike sprints, but not easy riding, either).

PM
Stretches - same as AM plus groin stretch.
Med Ball rolling while watching "King Kong." The Good one, the original.

6/8/08

AM
Stretches - Pec, Hip (Warrior lunge), IT band, calf, quad, scap pushup bottom position hold.

Lots of cardio today - rode my bike all over the place. 8-10 miles, probably. Wanted to pull the sled but tomorrow is deadlifts and I'm still a little sore from Half Cindy on Friday.

PM
Stretches - same as AM.
Med ball soft tissue work.

6/9/08

Warmup: Foot drills, mobility drills.

1) Rack Pulls (just below knee) - 5 x 50kg, 3 x 80kg, 3 x 100kg, 3 x 120kg, 2 minutes rest, 3 x 130kg, 3 minutes rest, 1 x 140kg.
2) Barbell Pushups - 23, 17, 15 reps. 90 seconds rest.
3) Reverse Short-Stroke Lunges - 3 x 10 x (2*20kg), 90 seconds rest.
*4) DB Raises - 3 x 12 x (2*17.5kg)
*5) Seated DB "Power Cleans" - 3 x 12 x (2*7kg), 90 seconds rest between supersets.
6) Gripper Holds @ 45kg - L: 44 seconds, 35 seconds, 31 seconds.
R: 44 seconds, 35 seconds, 36 seconds.
7) Weighted Decline Situps - 4 x 10 x 5kg, weight held behind head, 30 seconds rest.

5 minute rest

Side Plank (Left) - 45 seconds, 15 seconds rest.
Side Plank (Right) - 45 seconds, 30 seconds rest.
Plank - 60 seconds, for 30 seconds I alternated one foot or the other off the ground.


***

Rack Pulls - I expected at least a double at 140kg and I couldn't even budge the bar for a second rep, felt like it was welded to the rack. Grr. Probably should have gone for longer rests (5 minutes instead of 3) and maybe for a lighter weight for more reps. But 140kg is the most I've done for any portion of a deadlift.

Barbell Pushups - Er, wow. Two weeks ago I did 41 reps, last week I did 43 reps, today I did 55 reps. I had more energy (see below) and I think the drop to 60 seconds rest and reps across was a good change last week, so when I went back to max sets and 90 seconds rest I felt much more powerful. I probably could have gotten 1 more rep first set, the rest were all I had to give...but it's a jump of 12 reps! Nice. I like the feeling of barbell pushups a lot, I feel like I'm grooving my actual bench press hand position and motion nicely, but I can do them explosively without needed to decelerate the bar.

Lunges - Nice, 3 x 10 at 40kg is a new PR. I barely made the reps but I made them, I was huffing like a steam engine.

Gripper Holds - would have done better but I had a false start...was holding and didn't start the stopwatch, so I had to start and stop again. Oh well.

Situps - I didn't feel like trying for 4 x 12, so I dropped the rest to 30 seconds and went for 4 x 10 to just up the work level. That was hard but good.


Planks weren't done to failure, just until I started to really feel it. It was a finisher only.

***


This was a hell of a workout, in a lot of ways. I didn't pull nearly what I wanted to on the rack pulls, but I demolished my previous numbers on barbell pushups, upped the weight and the reps on my DB raises, did nearly as many situps in much less overall time, etc. If I wasn't suffering from a nasty rash on my arm, I'd have stayed and done kickboxing...I was really revved up to go.

Today was a "carb up" day and I did something different. I made it more of a "eat whatever crap I want" day...so my pre-workout meal wasn't a piece of fruit and a whey protein shake. An hour and a half before my workout I ate 250g of plain yogurt with 20g of whey protein in it and - ahem - 150 grams of fruit-and-granola breakfast cereal. That's just under a 1000 calories of crud. But my energy level during the workout was outstanding. I may have to repeat the experience Thursday, see if really made the difference. All I meant to do was have some food I like even if it's not particularly healthy, especially because I'm packing away about 4000 kcals a day now and I'm still the same weight as when I ate 3000kcals a day. I thought it was a throw-away "cheat day" to try and kick-start some weight gain. We'll see.

Oh yeah and I got Cressey's "Maximum Strength" in the mail today. Love Japanese delivery folks...I called his cell phone number and he said "Is between 6 and 8 okay?" "No, I have to leave by 6:30 tonight." "I'll come right now." He was there in 10 minutes, outside the normal delivery window. Nice service.

6/10/08

AM
Stretches - hips (warrior), calves/ankles, quads, pecs.

PM

*Single-leg squats (to a chair w/4 books on it) - 3 x 3 per leg.
*Single Leg Arched Back Good Mornings - 3 x 10 per leg, 60 seconds rest between supersets.

2 minute rest.

Towel Pullups - 7, 7, 6 rep sets. 60 second rest. Wanted 3 x 7 but couldn't do it, failed halfway up on rep 7 of set 3.

2 minute rest while the neighborhood kids tried towel pullups and dragged my tire out to the start line for me.

Tire Drag:

Forward Sprints - 4 x 30m one way and then 30m back, 10 second rest.
Almost had an asthma attack. Effort 10 out of 10.

5 minute rest

5 x 5 Box Jumps onto a ledge just below knee height. 30 second rest.

2 minute rest

Tire Drag - lateral drags, 4 x 30m left, 30m right, no rest.

5 minutes rest while I waited for the kids to finish using my tire and then went inside.

Side Plank (left) - 30 seconds, 15 seconds rest
Side Plank (right) - 30 seconds, 30 seconds rest
Plank - 60 seconds

Several moderate distance bike rides.

Late PM:
Stretches, Foam rolling.

***

One of the boys was really into the tire, so I showed him the proper form (squared up, pushing from the heels, weight back) for dragging it. It took him 4 minutes to tow it 30m forward and 30m back, but he did it. He can't weigh much more than 30kg, he's like 9. But he did it. So as much as it's annoying that the kids keep breaking up my workout, they are getting some extra exercise in. As if they were running around the whole time playing all sorts of games, but still, I've got 'em dragging tires. Woo!

Got a foam roller - last one the store had. It's kind of cheap for 2000 yen, but still, I'll give it a shot. I checked out their stretch band, but the one they had was 3000 yen, 210mm x 3 cm x 5mm, and while it's clearly pretty strong I want to know how much I'm pulling and I want matched pairs so I can do band barbell work.

6/11/08

Rest Day.

AM
Stretches - Calf, Quads, Hip (Warrior), Pecs, IT band.

About 7-8 miles on the bike, commuting to and from work plus errands.

PM
Stretches - same as AM.

6/12/08

AM
Stretches - Hip (Warrior, lying hip stretch), Pec, Calf, Quad, IT band.

My main bike had a punctured tire, so I rode 7 miles or so to and from work on my crappy spare bike. Very tiring, as the bike is one-speed and too small for me.

PM

Warmup - Mobility Drills, Foot Drills.

1) Squat Jumps - 7 x 3, 1 minute rest.
2) Shoulder Press - 5 x 20kg, 5 x 30kg, 2 minute rest, 4 x 5 x 45kg, 3 minute rests.
3) Barbell RDL - 3 x 10 x 60kg, 90 seconds rest.
4) DB Shoulder Press - 15 x (2*15kg), 3 minutes rest, 13 x (2*15kg).
*5) Wide Grip Pullups - 7, 6, 6.
*6) Rear Delt Fly - 3 x 10 x (2*10kg)
7) Ab/Hips Circuit - 3 x 20 of V-ups, Triangle Hip Thrusts, Bicycles, Leg Scissors.

Rested 1 minute and then did 5 reverse crunches for practice. Very easy.

Rested 4 more minutes and then did 5 dragon flags on the bench. Not too hard, but felt good. I'll have to do these as my ab work next cycle.

Barbell Snatches - 1 minute, max reps @ 10kg. No count on reps.


Before bed I'll foam roll and stretch.

***

Notes:

Shoulder Press - I was planning on doing 2-rep clusters with my 5RM, but I realized on a test try that I can't rest for 10 seconds with the bar in the clean position. I have to exhale, and when I do I can't take in enough air. So I couldn't even do 2 sets of 2 reps, nevermind clusters of 4x2. Maybe on a different exercise, or if I can rest the bar briefly on pins while I get enough air to hold my form. So I did 4 x 5 instead.

RDLs - nice, really felt the "X" Dan John talks about. Worried less about scraping my legs on the way down and more about the "X" and my form tightened up nicely. 3 x 10 was perfect.

Rear Delt Flyes - no idea how I managed 3 x 10 at 10kg, I was expecting 6-7 reps, but I did them and it felt good. Probably didn't get the DBs as high off the floor as usual, but I couldn't tell.

Injury note - my hip feels fine, so does my eye. But what was a tiny "allergic reaction" rash on my arm turned out to be ringworm, and it's now huge (5" diameter or so) and getting nasty, so I have to wear a bandage over it 24/7 and keep it covered with anti-fungals. So I can't train contact MMA right now, and it hurts to put the arm down for planks. If it's not one thing, it's another.

6/13/08

AM
Stretches - Hip (Lying, Warrior), Quad, Pec, Calf, IT band.

Afternoon
Warmup - Mobility Drills, Foot Drills

Speed Bench - 10 x 3 x 32.5kg, 1 minute rest. Done at 40% of estimated 1RM.

3 minute setup time.

Speed Back Squat - 10 x 2 x 40kg, 1 minute rest. Done at 50% of estimated 1RM.

3 1/2 minute cleanup time.

1 x 3 minute round jumping rope.

3 x 3 minute full-power kicks on the bag, 1:30 per leg. Did ladders up (middle, middle-low, middle-low-low), did one round of head kicks (my height), one round of single kicks.
Between rounds 2 and 3 I did overhead reaching lunges 5 per leg.

Finished with 5 all-out kicks on each side.

Evening
12 mile round-trip bike ride to Japanese class.

Before bed
Same stretches as AM.

***

First time doing speed back squats, first time going light enough on speed bench. Maybe I could have gone heavier but I pulled the reps and weight out of Maximum Strength and figured I'd better start with the lightest setup he recommended. Lots of fun, I felt both really refreshed and ready to go after doing them, but also I know that my last set of each one was a little slower than my prior sets. Maybe the last 2 sets on the back squat, hard to be sure.
I've got that same "energized" feeling from doing a DB version of "Grace" - 30 DB snatches per hand, alternating every 5-6 reps. Power-only explosive lifting makes me feel like kicking stuff hard.

And I'm quite pleased I was able to head kick with a solid shin impact. It's been a while but it feels like it's back, finally. Not a single tweak or weak moment from the hip.

6/14/08

Light workout day.

AM
Stretches - quad, hip, pec, calf, IT band.

Warmup - foam rolling, shoulder dislocates, overhead squats 3" from a wall.

Tire Drags - 2 x 90m drags backwards, 2 x 90m drags forwards. All slow paced, no time, aiming for steady light effort. Second set was done with about 4-5kg worth of water added for extra weight.

3 kg Med Ball fun - Ball slams, ball throws overhead with catch, one-handed throws overhead with catch, ball throws with catch behind the head.

Tabata Pushups - 4 rounds, 19-13-7-4.

6/15/08

Just some foam rolling today.

86kg today, after a big BBQ party last night. Had another big BBQ party today, too. Not all of this is muscle, I hope some of it is.

6/16/08

Deload week. Aim for 60% of volume on assistance, technique-only work on ME lifts.

Mid-AM
Stretches - Pec, Quad, Hip (Warrior).

Evening

Warmup: Foot Drills, Mobility Drills.

90 seconds between exercises except between 3+4 (2 minutes, DB plate-changing required).

1) Deadlift - 3 x 60kg, 2 x 3 x 80kg, 1 minute rest.
2) Barbell Pushups - 3 x 10, 90 seconds rest.
3) Reverse Short-Stroke Lunges - 3 x 6 x (2*20kg)
*4) DB Raise - 3 x 8 x (2*17.5kg)
*5) Seated DB "Power Cleans" - 3 x 8 x (2*7kg)
6) Gripper Holds ` 45kg - L 45s - 40s.
R 45s - 40s.
7) Dragon Flags - 4 x 6, 30 seconds rest.

3 minute rest and then:

Side Plank (Left) - 60 seconds, 15 second rest
Side Plank (right) - 60 seconds, 15 second rest
Plank - 60 seconds.

Biked home.

Before bed, foam roller and stretching (as AM, plus calf, groin)

***

Notes:
85kg today, and I feel chubby but I'm still looking okay, and I can still see my obliques so...think I added too many calories too soon, I'll drop back slightly from 4000/day to 3750/day and see if I can gain more slowly. Two days of BBQ probably did it. "All you can eat meat" is not always a good idea.

Erred on the side of "less is more" for my deload this time. I briefly debated mimicking "Maximum Strength" and just cutting down to 2 sets but decided I liked the normal sets with 60-66% of the reps. Feels more like a deload when I get to quit sets early than if I do less sets. Same with the planks - I felt like I could destroy my records for side planks today but I stopped short of my max anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Dragon Flags - I read a post about GHD situps by Mike Robertson and decided my Decline Situps on the curved decline board are entirely too close to that in execution. So I went with 4 x 6 dragon flags instead of 4 x 6 x 5kg decline situps. They still feel easy for what's supposed to be a difficult exercise. Maybe I'm cheating without realizing it or maybe my abs are strong. Not sure.

Before I lifted I check my body in the mirror to see how I'm looking with this extra weight, and I noticed my hips were level and shoulders were level. I did a few checks against the wall, and sure enough, I'm standing level. That's good news because I couldn't even "relax" into bad posture, it felt awkward. So all the planks, mobility drills, single leg work, med ball rolling, foam rolling, balance drills, tire dragging, stretches, and so on have helped. I hope it keeps up.