Ken's Journal

[KenDowns]

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Day 2 of Week 47, Stronglifts week 15

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 171

Squat
_45 - 5
_95 - 5
165 - 4
205 - 5 x 5

Matches my previous working set PR. Last time I hit 210 I stalled.

Press
_45 - 5
_75 - 4
100 - 3
112.5 - 5 x 5

Failed to make 5x5 on Sunday, but made it today.

Deadlift
175 - 4
225 - 3
265 - 2
305 - 5

Only made 4 at 305 on Sunday.

No training partner today, but I think he would have said rep 5 was a bit wobbly, it felt that way. Anyway next week I go to madcow which begins with a deload from my max set, so it should all take care of itself.

Just For Fun
Decided to have some fun

Lateral Raises, 10# - 10, 9, 5
Front Raises, 10# - 3 x 10
Tri Pushups - 3 x 10
BB Curls, 45#, 3 x 10

[KenDowns]

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Day 3 of Week 47, Stronglifts week 15

****** FINAL STRONGLIFTS WORKOUT ******

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 173

Squat
_45 - 5
_95 - 5
135 - 3
185 - 3
210 - 5 x 5 New Working Set PR

This was my 2nd stall point and I knew walking in I was going to breeze through them. They were almost boring.

Bench
_45 - 5
_95 - 5
135 - 3
170 - 5 x 5 New Working Set PR

Awesome. Re-read Rippetoe's SS on Bench and realizing I was lifting my shoulders up, creating a longer bar path. Today the mental effort was keeping shoulders down while pressing up and it felt totally different. Had an "a-ha!" moment as I felt how perfect it was to keep the shoulder blades pinched together while doing this.


Row
_45 - 5
_95 - 4
125 - 3 Total Fail
120 - 4 Still fail
115 - 5, 5

I guess after hitting working set PRs for Squat and Bench I just fell apart

[KenDowns]

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Madcow Week 1, Day 1

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 171

Squat
_45 - 5
_97.5 - 5
122.5 - 5
147.5 - 5
170.0 - 5
195.0 - 5

Pin/Pause Squat
Same purpose as box squats, but you set the pins so the bar rests on them at parallel

147.5 - 5

This was supposed to be 8, but I plain forgot.


Bench
_45 - 5
_77.5 - 5
_97.5 - 5
117.5 - 5
135 - 5
155 - 5

Partial Bench
Pins set at sticking point
155 - 5

This was supposed to be 8, but I plain forgot.

Row
_57.5 - 5
_72.5 - 5
_87.5 - 5
100.0 - 5
115.0 - 4

These continue to mystify me, I'm at a hard stall here. Going to tape myself and ask for some advice on this one.

Chin-ups
Body weight, wide grip - 5
Body weight, shoulder grip - 5

[KenDowns]

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Madcow week 1, day 2 "Light Day"

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 173, weight going up, but slowly

Squat
-- warmup --
_45 - 5
-- sets --
97.5 - 5
122.5 - 5
147.5 - 5
147.5 - 5

Press
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
_65.0 - 5
_80.0 - 5
_92.5 - 5
105.0 - 5

Didn't warm up cuz first set was 65, seemed kind of silly

Deadlift
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
172.5 - 5
207.5 - 5
240.0 - 5
275.0 - 5

Also no warmup, since I would have started at about 145 anyway

Madcow's ramped 4x5 is definitely more of a workout than 1x5 on Stronglifts


Deficit Deadlift - 3.75"
165 - 8

These were a killer by rep #7. Eight reps is a different animal from 5 reps.

Have not really thought about weight, but next time will try to match the bottom set of the regular deads, and try to improve from there.


Chin-ups
Body weight, shoulder width - 5, 5, 5

Have decided to keep these on Day 2 with deficit deads, and will go up to 5 sets.

[KenDowns]

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 3 of Madcow week 1

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 172

Daughter

My daughter is the athlete in the family at 12. She came down to work out today, first time.

Chin-ups, body weight, negatives, 3 x 8
Chin-ups, two heavy bands, 3 x 5

Bench Press, 10# 3 x 5

Squat
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
_97.5 - 5
122.5 - 5
147.5 - 5
170.0 - 5
200.0 - 3
147.5 - 8

Have been practicing Rippetoe's suggestion to lie on belly and lift legs to establish kinesthetic sense of lower back.

Think I may never have been tightening my lower back on squats. Tried today and it felt quite different, and did not get that weird lower back stiffness after the sets today.

Bench
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
_77.5 - 5
_97.5 - 5
117.5 - 5
135.0 - 5
160.0 - 5 * forgot was only supposed to do 3
117.5 - 16 * supposed to be 8, but I figured what the heck

Row
-- Warmup --
none
-- Sets --
_67.5 - 5 * oops, was supposed to be 57.5
_72.5 - 5
_87.5 - 5
100.0 - 5
120.0 - 3
_87.5 - 8

Chins

Bodyweight 5 x 5

[KenDowns]

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Day 1 of Madcow week 2

Rest Day. Traveling and letting my lower back recover a bit.

[KenDowns]

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Madcow week 2, day 2 "Light Day"

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 171, weight going up, but slowly

Squat
-- warmup --
_45 - 5
-- sets --
100 - 5
125 - 5
150 - 5
150 - 5

Press
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
_67.5 - 5
_80.0 - 5
_95.0 - 5
107.5 - 5

Deadlift
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
177.5 - 5
212.5 - 5
247.0 - 5
282.5 - 5

Also no warmup, since I would have started at about 145 anyway


Deficit Deadlift - 3.75"
175 - 8

Chin-ups
Body Weight

25 reps in as few sets as possible: 5, 7, 6, 7

[KenDowns]

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Day 3 of Madcow week 2

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 172

Squat
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
100 - 5
125 - 5
150 - 5
175 - 5
205 - 3
150 - 8

Pin Pause Squat
150 - 8

Bench
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
_80 - 5
100 - 5
120 - 5
140 - 5
165 - 3
120 - 8

Partial Bench
Pins set at sticking point

140 - 8


Row
-- Warmup --
none
-- Sets --
_60.0 - 5 * oops, was supposed to be 57.5
_72.5 - 5
_87.5 - 5
102.5 - 5
120.0 - 3
_87.5 - 8

Chins

bw - 5
bw + 4: 5
bw + 8: 5
bw +12: 5
bw +16: 4

[KenDowns]

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Madcow Week 3, Day 1

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 172

Squat
-- warmups --
_45 - 5
-- sets --
]102.5 - 5
127.5 - 5
155.0 - 5
185.0 - 5
205.0 - 5

Pin/Pause Squat
Same purpose as box squats, but you set the pins so the bar rests on them at parallel

155 - 8

Bench
-- warmups --
_45 - 5
-- sets --
_85 - 5
105 - 5
125 - 5
145 - 5
165 - 5

Partial Bench
Pins set at sticking point - 4.5" above chest
145 - 8

Row
_70 - 5 - was supposed to be 60, misloaded the bar
_75 - 5
_90 - 5
105 - 5
120 - 5

My training partner taped me. Turns out my upper back was too low and rounded, these became easier when I watched the tape and he gave me some cues.

Chin-ups
5 - one medium resistance tube from walmart
5 - bw
5 - bw + 4
5 - bw + 8
5 - bw + 12

[KenDowns]

Tuesday, Aug 2, 2011

Madcow week 3, day 2 "Light Day"

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 171, weight holding steady

Squat
-- warmup --
_45 - 5
-- sets --
102.5 - 5
127.5 - 5
155.0 - 5
155.0 - 5

Press
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
_70.0 - 5
_82.5 - 5
_97.5 - 5
110.0 - 5

Didn't warm up cuz first set was 70, seemed kind of silly

Deadlift
-- warmup --
none
-- sets --
185.0 - 5
217.5 - 5
255.0 - 4 *completely burned after 4, see below
290 - 0

Very humbling. My training buddy is becoming more of a real training partner and is learning to correct my form on deadlift. Turns out I was doing the "lift your hips before the bar moves" thing, failing to push off with my quads. Once he got me straight and doing it properly the 255# became *much* more difficult, and I could do only 4. And my traps and quads were sore the entire next day.

So I guess it's a good thing.

Deficit Deadlift - 3.75"
185 - 6
185 - 4

Am trying to use the lowest working set for these. After my newly ruthless training partner corrected my form these became deadly, especially after burning out on the working sets.

[KenDowns]

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011

Day 3 of Madcow week 3

All weight in pounds.

Morning weigth: 172

Squat
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
105 - 5
130 - 5
155 - 5
180 - 5
210 - 3
155 - 8

Bench
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
-- Sets --
_80 - 5
100 - 5
120 - 5
140 - 5
165 - 3
190 - 3 *

* A collapse of discipline in the Downs gym. Instead of doing the backoff set of 8x155 I wanted to see if I could hit the 3 reps I would hit on a 5/3/1.

Row
-- Warmup --
none
-- Sets --
_60 - 5
_75 - 5
_90 - 5
100 - 5
125 - 3
_90 - 8

My training buddy is becoming a true training partner and has learned to spot my form on these. After making some corrections on my back position this became much easier (unlike deads which became much harder).

[KenDowns]

Sunday, Aug 7, 2011

Day 1 of experimental week, next week I'm on vacation

All weight in pounds.

Morning weight: 170

Best workout I've had in weeks

Squat
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_80 - 5
115 - 5
-- Sets --
155 - 5
185 - 5
215 - 7 * Using 5/5/5+

Felt like I had plenty more in the tank but vision was getting blurry on #7 and I was afraid of blacking out and dropping the bar.

Bench
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_75 - 5
105 - 5
-- Sets --
137.5 - 5
157.5 - 5
177.5 - 6 * Using 5/5/5+

Knew I had at least one more, but wasn't sure I had two, so I stopped to leave one in the tank.

Row
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_70 - 5
-- Sets --
_90 - 5
105 - 5
120 - 6 * Using 5/5/5+

7th rep did not touch chest, so it doesn't count. Guess that means I did not leave one in the tank

[KenDowns]

Tuesday, Aug 9, 2011


Day 2 of Fun week, next week is vacation

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 171

Workout time: 50 minutes

Deadlift
-- Warmups --
135 - 5
165 - 5
-- Sets --
190 - 5
220 - 5
245 - 4 * Did only 4 to save some strength for:
-- form checks --
275 - 2
295 - 2

Taped these and will be posting them in General on my thread about Deadlift form.

Strange note: after watching my tape at 220 realized my shoulder blades were too far back, focused on moving them forward and 245 felt amazingly smooth and easy.

Press
-- Warmups --
_45 - 5
_70 - 5
-- Sets --
_90 - 5
105 - 5
115 - 6 * doing 5/5/5+

Chin-ups
One black Walmart resistance tube, about 23# assistance at full extension

10, 10, 5

Was supposed to be 3x10, so I have to add more resistance tubes when I get back from vacation.

[KenDowns]

Thursday, Aug 11, 2011

Day 3 of fun week, next week I'm on vacation

All weight in pounds.

Morning weight: 171

Awesome workout!

Squat
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_95 - 5
135 - 5
-- Sets --
190 - 5
215 - 3
240 - 1 * did not do 1+, because wanted to see if I could do:
260 - 1 * NEW PR by 10 lbs.

Normally today would be a deload day but since I'm off next week I wanted to see if the program boosted my squat.

300 here I come!

Bench
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_85 - 5
125 - 5
-- Sets --
157.5 - 5
177.5 - 3
200.0 - 1 * Did not do 1+ because I wanted to see if I could do:
215.0 - 1 * NEW PR by 5 lbs.

This is very significant because I failed 215 last week. I deliberately tried last week before starting the new 5/3/1 to see if the new program would boost my 1RM, which it did. Nice!

1.5x body weight here I come!

Row
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_75 - 5
-- Sets --
105 - 5
120 - x - misloaded the bar to 130 instead of 120 and did:
130 - 3
132.5 - x - skipped this once I realized I had misloaded to 130 for previous set

Was extremely upset when I could barely pull 3x120, not knowing I was pulling 130.

[KenDowns]

Sunday Aug 21, 2011

Cycle 1, Day 1 of 6, 5/5/5+

All weight in pounds.

Morning weight: 173

Today's Tagline: so, if 5+ means at least five, and I do only 5, it still counts, right?

Squat, 1RM=250
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_85 - 5
135 - 5
-- Sets --
165 - 5
190 - 5
215 - 5

Bench, 1RM=210
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_75 - 5
105 - 5
-- Sets --
137.5 - 5
157.5 - 5
177.5 - 5

Row, 1RM = 140
-- Warmup --
_45 - 5
_70 - 5
-- Sets --
_90 - 5
105 - 5
120 - 5

Family Fun

Kids did 3x5 negatives on chins, and 2x5 with resistance bands.

Used Starting Strength method to find first workout weight for kids on squat and bench. Then they lost interest, did not get their weights for rows.