Goodbye Blog

I just can't be bothered logging in and posting. Not much point to it. Obviously I'll still be training...

Posting Highlights

I'm not gonna post every session. From now on it will be just the highlights and updates. It's been a bit like that anyway.

Recently, I realised I was training too light - this applies specifically to squats. My max must be 200, maybe even 210 on a good day. I squatted 190 x 5 comfortably not to long ago However, I've been training predominantly in the 65-75% range with all these sets at 160kg. That's not gonna get my max up. I've gotta train harder and heavier - simple as that. The other day I did 170 x 8 x 3 and this was a good start. At the end of this current volume block, I have to be squatting 180 for between 15-24 total reps if I want to add poundage to my max so that's what I will be doing in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday I benched 100 x 10 x 3. Similar principle for my benching, however, I wasn't training as light for bench in comparison with squat. No wonder I was making bench progress - I got my volume and percentages right. With squatting, I just became soft.

180 x 5

Squat: 180 x 5

Transition to Intensity

Bench feels weak at the moment. 100 x 5, 90 x 5, 95 x 5

Squat is okay and by okay I mean average: 170 x 5

I'm not gonna mess around though and dilly daddle with volume. It's time to start adding some weight and getting acclimatised to intensity again.

Updates

So I've been running 8s and I guess they've gone reasonibly well. Suffice it to say, I far from enjoy them. Benching with 8s is okay but squatting 8s just destroys me.

The other day I squatted 160 x 8, 140 x 2 x 8 which fucking hurt.

Yesterday I benched 92.5 x 8. Hopefully I can progress 8s for a while longer on bench but today I'm squatting 165 x 5s. Maybe less, depending on how I feel.

Training

The other day I benched 102.5 x 3 x 5 and a day after that I squatted 143 x 5, 5, 8

Yesterday I benched 80 x 2 x 5 (needed a light session!) and pressed 65 x 5 , 5, 8. Also close gripped 80 x 5 and did some laterals.

Tuesday

Bench: 97.5 x 4 x 5. Not great.
Squat:140 x 5, 5, 8. Old school LP. I gotta get this squat right. One session feels good then the next is shit. 2.5 kg increases from here.

15/08

Bench: 92.5 x 3 x 5
INcline: 72.5 x 8
BBP: 57.5 x 8

12-13 August

Bench: I had the flu for a couple weeks prior to this session and the second week I ate very little. There was just no way I was hitting 112.5 x 3 and I knew it. So instead I went 100, 95, 90 x 5. I'm starting up another cycle of my program from the start; 5kg heavier than my first.

Squat: 170 x 2 x 5, 160 x 5, 150 x 5. I'm gonna put my squat on a wave cycle.

Light/ish Sessions

Had a light session yesterday and will have another lightish/medium session today before going heavy on Monday/Tuesday.

Saturday Session

Bench: 107.5 x 5 x 3
Squat: 170 165 160 x 5
Dl: 170 x 8

Last 3 Sessions

Saturday was momentous
Squat: 190 x 5. A solid 5 mind you. Equal PR, better form, less bodyweight.
DL: 160 x 8.

Monday
Bench: 105 x 5, 100 x 2 x 5. Equal PR, less bodyweight.

Tuesday:
Squat: 140 x 3, 160 x 1, 165 x 2, 140 x 2.

1.25kg plates missing

So I had to make an extra jump.
Bench: 105 x 5 x 3

Will train on Sat instead of tomorrow

15-25 reps at 80-85%

Bench: 100 x 5 x 5. May as well of been two balls of fairy floss on the ends of the bar.
Incline 77.5 x 2 x 5. 72.5 x 5
Bbp: 60 x 6
Rtcpd

All right

Squat: 165 x 2 x 5. 145 x 5

Bench 95 x 4 x 5

Son of Anarchy

Incline: 72.5 x 5, 5, 8

Pull ups: 3 x 8

Machine Rows

I Aint Stopping Untill I Get to 220

Squat: 160 x 5 x 5
Bench: 90 x 3 x 5
DBP: 24 x 3 x 8

Back to Blogging

And back to serious lifting with serious goals. I do have some regrets in life; namely not living up to my football playing potential and I don't want lifting to be another one. 220kg squat and dead are my targets and I plan on hitting those targets with minimal fuss.

Squat: 160 x 3 x 5

Bench: 80 x 3 x 8

Cgbp: 80 x 3 x 6

Dl: 190 x 2

Never Felt So Weak :(

I've had a busy couple of weeks where I've missed sessions and meals etc but damn I've never underperformed so badly!

bench: 100 x 5. Not so bad but felt like 105.

Squat: 140 x 5 - this actually felt like a 5RM.

DL: 150 x 5  - heavy.

Holy shit this was bad.

Back in the Gym

So it's been days since I trained - with the move to Auckland and all that that has entailed. We've secured a place at Silverdale which is about 15mins North of Rangitoto College. The place is out of town in the sense that suburban development has stopped and and rural living begins. It's quite beatiful and the place Ronelle and I are going to rent is a little 2 bedroom farmhouse on a farmers property. The house is extremely basic but it's private and the surroundings are picturesque. We'll move in this weekend after the owner has put new carpets down.

For the rest of this week I'm staying in a house on the school grounds with Josh, a PE teacher. He runs the house and looks after any guests the school needs to take care of. Him and his Mrs a great so its made for a welcoming stay.

Had my first day of school today, taught all my classes and it went really well. Hectic teaching while also organising computers, log in etc but all in all I really enjoyed.

I was in the school gym this evening and its pretty good: 2 power racks, a bench, dumbells and plates as well as bumper plates.

Bench: 97.5 x 5 (p), 95 x 5, 90 x 5, 90 x 3 (p).

Press: 60 x 5, 5, 6.

RTPDs.

War of Attrition

yesterday I benched 102.5 x 5  - smashed it, 100 x 5 all paused - smashed it, 95 x 5 all paused and needless to say - smashed it.

Today wasn't as easy. Squatted 175 x 2 x 5 and 165 x 5. Just hard. See how I feel over the next 2 weeks. I've been running 5s for a couple of months now and they may be getting a bit stale. Got 4 options:

1. Drop down to about 160 and start building back up with 30 rep sessions.
2. Start using ladders to accumulate volume.
3. Keep progressing weight and drop volume; utilise heavy doubles and triples
4. Keep doing what I've been doing.

Looking at my options I think number 2, 3 or a combination of both seems most likely.

23rd

Squatted 180 x 3 x 3. Would of liked another set but rep 9 was a bit slow so I thought the reduced volume probably isn't a bad idea. I've squatted a lot of 20+ rep sessions lately. Might try and run a couple of ladders with 180 next week..3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1,

Riding A Wave

Yesterday was suppossed to be my second last session of that wave block hitting 97.5 x 2 x 5. I did indeed hit 97.5 x 2 x 5 but I ended up doin a bit more and it turned into a great session. Just as I was beginning my bench session, my mate Joe turned up. He's about my age, 77kg, lean as fuck, 5 foot 8 and close to a 1RM on the bench of 140kg. He's currently running Smolov junior for his bench and it's working well at the moment.

Anyway, we had our bench session  together and it definitely gave me a lift; I think training with someone who is stronger than you is definitely a good idea.

After I finished my 2 top sets, he encouraged me to do more. First I hit 100 x 5 but I could of smashed this set for 8 (and maybe I should of). Then put 105 on the bar. I was confident of a PR at this stage despit all of the reps I had just done. I hit 105 for 4 and got stuck half way up on the 5th. Somewhat remarkably (maybe not so remarkably?) I'm stronger on my bench now than what I was when I began my press cycle a couple of months ago, and this is all after only a couple of wave blocks without benching over 100kg once. I think my theory that benching heavy too often on the Texas Method was making me weaker was correct. But I kind of figured that out myself a couple of months ago when my own, volume orientated programme resulted in PRs.

I also squatted 175 x 5,165 x 5 (didn't feel great) and deadlifted a few reps. Apparently my back was set for each rep but it just didn't feel good. Back is a bit of a mess at the moment.

(Lift) In Times of Trouble

Sitting around bored as hell recently - not working much and unsuccessfully trying to find a teaching job. So, I've re-jigged my training schedule just so I train more. I'm really going nuts now after sitting around for 3 weeks.

Benched today: 92.5 x 2 x 5. Will try for more volume next session.

Light DB Press

Face Pulls

Keep Rolln, Rolln, Rolln, Rolln on

Squat: 170 x 5 x 4. I'm gonna be squatting 180 for fun in a few months.

Pull ups: 13.75 x 5, 10 x 5, BW x 8

Seated Machine Rows: 60 x 3 x 8

I'm about to head to the gym and bench again. Gonna bench 3 x a week and vary the volume over the course of the three sessions. I've done 3 bench sessions a week before on Pavel's programme and it worked fine so let's see how we go.

Benching On A Wave

Bench: 97.5 x 2 x 5, 92.5 x 2 x 5.

Incline: 80 x 5, 75 x 5, 72.5 x 5

BBP: 60 x 6
DBP: 20 x 8

LRs

TCPDs

Updates

Had a few decent sessions since my last post. I've been on Pavel's wave cycle for upper body stuff and I have to say I do like it. Considering I've really had a lay off of sorts from bench, I didn't want to experiment so much with my own programming as I have done recently. At the moment, I just want to run a few cycles of Pavel's stuff and see if it takes me to PR territory.

I've just reached the end of my first 4 session block for bench at 97.5 x 5, 92.5 x 2 x 5 and feel like I could do with a "reset". I'm wave cycling incline, pull ups, DB Press and curls too.

I'm still doing my same flexible approach to squatting where I do what I like under the proviso I'm adding weight/reps gradually and I'm really enjoying this at the moment. The other day I squatted 140 x 4 x 5, 100 x 5 with only 60-90secs rest. I was trying to do as many sets as possible but after the fourth set my lower back was just fried from the short rest. Then I shrugged 180 x 5 x 6 and pulled up 11.25 x 2 x 5.

Today I inclined 77.5 x 2 x 5, 72.5 x 5 which I think is a PR for me. The incline seems to give me the biggest overall pump of all the upper body lifts. I can see why some prefer it to benching. I've heard it's the best "overall mass builder". I think that might have been from the SS programmer who's name has escaped me.

Maybe the narrativization of my training has come as a consequence of reading Orwell's Homarge to Catalonia.

Then I DB pressed 26 x 5, 28 x 5, 22 x 5 (sr)

Finished off with a nice T-Cep P-Down pump session.

5/4

Squat: 170 x 5, 165 x 3 x 5. Great squat session.

DL: 160 x 5 (had to start doing these again eventually!)

DB Rows: 40 x 4 x 8. After a run of BB rows, I definitely prefer the dumbell version

BBC: 35 x 2 x 8, 30 x 2 x 8

1st-4th

That last squat session where my belt broke, I developed a a sharp pain in my neck during one of the reps, the neck pain was accompanied by a mild head ache at the time. Last sqaut session, I had neck/head pain again and today's bench session was just mainly head ache on the last couple reps of my 2nd incline set. My back has been so sore and tight though. Ridiculously so. Sharp lower back pain and aching/incredible tightness throuought the rest of my back. Wouldn;t be surprised if it was all related. I've been stretching my hamstrings and calves the last 2 days and no surprise, they are so tight. Whenever I get a bad back, I stretch my hammies and it all comes good again.

In other good news, the manufacturer is replacing my belt; I'm picking my new one up tomorrow.

I'm back to bench focus using Pavel's wave cycle.

Last session was 90, today I benched 92.5 x 2 x 5, 87.5 x 3 x 5 (sr).

Incline: 72.5 x 2 x 5

TCPD

Will squat tommorrow and hope back/neck and head are all good.

Update

Had a light squat session the other day but also DB rowed 45 x 5 x 10 and did a bunch of pull ups for a pretty hectic bak wor out. Rear delts were so sore. Not sure if it's from the \db rows or pull ups. I dont get sore rear delts when I BB row...

Today I had a pretty average squat session: 170 x 5 x 2, 160 x 2, 150 x 2. And my belt buckle snapped during a squat set so that really sucks.

Friday 21/3

Didn;t squat and went with deadlifts instead. Plled 190 x 1 then failed 210. Piss poor efort and planning.

BB Rows: 90 x 2 x 5, 85 x 5

Pull ups: 25 total

Curls

Whatever

Press: 70 x 5, 65 x 5, 60 x 5
Bench: 100 x 4, 95 x 3 (paused), 90 x 5 (paused)
CGBP: 70 x 10, 75 x 8, 75 x 6

Whatever.

Last 3 Sessions

Last Friday I pause squatted 150, 145, 140 (x 5)

Monday I clean and pressed 75 x 5 x 2

Yesterday I squatted 165, 160, 165, 160 (x 5) for what was a hard session.
I then did some pull ups: 20kg x 4, 10kg x 5, BW x 6. |Rear delts are sore again. I wanna work my rear delts. Therefore, I will keep doing pull ups. Also did a bunch of pully rows so maybe that's the cause? (of the rear delt soreness)

Monday & Tuesday

Monday: Gym was absolutely CHOCKERS at 7pm on Monday night. I didn't have time to wait 30mins for a rack so I got on the platform and did a bunch of clean and press and ended u having a dominant workout:
Beltless clean and pres: 70 x 6 x 3, 60 x 2 x 8
Then I went home.

Today was just fucking awesome. Squat: 180 x 7, 140 x 10. Was feeling tired as hell and even considered staying at home for a sleep but as I lay down in bed I thought, "Nah. I'll just go and have a light session."
As soon as I warmed up I had an urge to put 180 on my back. Once I got to rep 3 at 180, I knew something special was gonna happen. Was still riding a wave when I did the set at 140.

DB Rows: 46 x 3 x 5

BW Pull ups: 5, 5, 10

BB Curls: 35 x 8, 30 x 8.

Update

Since last post I've had a light squat session, a press session on Thursday where I hot 65 x 5 x 5 pretty easy and then today I squatted 160 x 4 x 5 for what was a tough, but good, work out.

Nice week in the gym.

Got No Triceps

Press: 65 x 3 x 5, 60 x 2 x 5. Felt pretty good except my traps which are still suffering from DOMS. Painfull last couple of days it has been. Had hectic DOMS from last squat session too which was a slight surprise.

BW dips: 3 x 10

CGBP (close grip board press): worked up to 100 x 3. Will keep these lighter for the most part.

Bit of a Mixed Bag

Squat: 160 x 3 x 5. Didn't push it too hard, but this was a solid work out

BB Rows: 80 x 3 x 5

Shrigs: Worked up to 220 x 5. Wasn't the best form. Still feeling pretty hectic trap cramps though.

Light Press

Missed squats on Tuesday - will have a medium session tomorrow before hitting them hard again.

Today I pressed 5 x 5, 60 x 5, 50 x 5 for a light session

Benched: 100 x 2 x 2, 95 x 2, 95 x 3 (mostly all paused)

Close grip bench: 80 x 2 x 5

Close grip board press: 8 x 10. These felt so tricep intensive - loved them. Will go with these now. I've found the holy grail of tricep exercises.

BBC: 40 x 8, 35 x 8, 25 x 8, 8, 12. Sandwiched the last set with a couple sets of TCPDs.

Pump it up. Yeeeeah.

Just Tryna Get Big

Press: 62.5 x 4 x 5, 60 x 5

DB Bench: 34 x 5 x 6 sr

CGFP: 75 x 5, 5, 7

LR: 8 x 3 x 10

BB Curls: 40 x 10 + a bunch of other reps

Average Squat Session

I really wanted to do something good in the gym today but I could see in the warm ups that that wasn't going to happen.

Squat: 180 x 1, 185 x 2, 180 x 1. It wasn't all bad, but I didn't have it in me to get the 190 I was looking for x a few reps.

BB Rows: 60 x 3 x 10 sr

No shrugs. So damn tired today.

I felt so damn good squatting on Tuesday but it was a fairly high volume session and I don't think it left me in the position to go for 190+ today. In fact, Tuesday would of been the day to hit something heavy. Looking back over my log, Tuesday's session probably felt so good because I only had a medium/light type day the Thursday before. So I might try this for the next few weeks:

Tuesday -  hard (high volume or intensity or both)
Thursday - medium
Tuesday  - hard
Thursday  -medium
etc...

I know I've done TM before with 2 high volume/intensitys session every week with great success, but if I can get simialr gains now, while feeling better recovered, I'll take that option. Besides, I couldn't really do what I did last time on TM for long anyway; I'm already back at about the level things started to slow down. Think managing recovery is a smart option.

Getting My Press Up

Press: 75 x 2 x 1, 1 x 2. Second rep of last set was a helluva grind.

CGFP: 72.5 x 5, 5, 7, 60 x 9

LR: 7 x 2 x 15

Bench: 95 x 3 x 1. Felt retarted and tired.

18th & 19th

Yesterday I pressed 62.5 x 4 x 5 and my traps felt like they wanted to explode. They were still destroyed from Shrugs on Saturday.

CGFP (close grip floor press): for a bunch of reps

Bench: 80 x 5 x 5 (sr) short rest

Dips: bw x 2 x 10, 1 x 8. Triceps failed to lock out. Destroyed.

Today I squatted 155 x 5, 160 x 5, 155 x 5, 160 x 5. Sweet as you like. Then I did a bunch of curls.

Last 3 Sessions

Tuesday I had a pretty decent squat session: 160 x 3, 180 x 3, 160 x 4 x 3

Thursday I didn't bench just ti take it easy and pressed 72.5 x 5 x 2 instead as well as some close grip floor press at 70kg. I'm goning to commit to these.

Missed Friday's session cause of work but did it today instead. Took it wasy on the squat with 150 x 5. Also shrugged 200 x 5, 210 x 2 x 5. Last set didn;t quite get the shrug hight I'm looking for but the first 2 sets were good.

BB Rows: 77.5 x 3 x 5

Pull ups: 12, 5, 5.

I'm going to start a 6 week press cycle where I press before benching instead of after it. Really wanna try and add some strength and mass to my shoulders and there's probably no better way to accomplish that than pressing. Would be great to hit a press PR.

I'll run it the same as I have been runnning my bench lately; just keep upping the volume and or intensity each session and taking a light session when I feel I need it. I'll bench after pressing with a 5 x 5 type arrangement on the first day and heavy singles on the second.

More Benchn

100 x 5 x 3. After the second set I thought, "shit, this feels heavy today; don't think I can do anymore". Then I got a spotter for the third set and they all started flying up. Work that one out.

CG: 80 x 3 x 5

Push Press: 65 x 4 x 2

Mr Big Gains

Squat: 185 x 3

Shrugs: 180 x 2 x 12,100 held for time - rest pause

BB Rows: 75 x 3 x 5

Pull ups

7/02/13

Bench: 97.5 x 5 x 4

Press: 60 x 9 +1

EZC: 42.5 x 8, 37.5 x 8, 32.5 x 10

DBH: 14 x 2 x 10

LR: 8 x 15, 12, 12

Will probably back off a little on bench next session. Will see how I feel though. It's easy to tell how I will go in the warm ups.

Last Night and Today

Didn't start training until about 9pm last night; I don't think I have ever trained that late but it went well. Benched 105 x 4. Pressed: 70 x 5 x 2, 60 x 7.

Today all I did was squats: 150 x 5 x5. Nice.

2/2/13

Deadlift: 60 x 2 x 10. Started the day with some light deadlifts and these relieved some of that back pain instantaneously.

Bench: 80 x 5, 85 x 5, 80 x 5. I wen't in there thinking I might go for something like 105 x 2 x 3. But the 80 on the bar today felt as heavy as the 95 that was on there earlier in the week, so I didn't bother with that and opted for a medium session instead. Maybe the 95 x 5 x 5 was a little more volume than I needed. Maybe doing just 4 sets would of allowed me to go for a heavier set today. Either way, I like the way I've been training lately; gradually building my volume up, hitting heavier weight when I feel like it and then doing lighter sessions when I'm tired and know there is absolutely no point trying to go for some kind of PR.

Incline: 70 x 8, 60 x 8, 60 x 5. Short rest and man did these give me a pump. I'm actually going to prioritise incline over bench in the next few weeks.

LTE: 40 x 8, 35 x 8, 30 x 8

EZC: 41 x 10, 35 x 8, 30 x 10

LR: 8 x 3 x 12

Log Catch Up

I haven't updated my log this week because the computer was playing up again. It wasn't the battery this time but something else. I couldn't open up a browser without it crashing. I unistalled a few things, (including google chrome and a bunch of those annoying toolbars) and did a defrag, virus scan etc and now the computer is going great guns!

This week has gone good. I got 95 x 5 x 5 in the bench which is great, even though it was pretty tough, and I squatted 180 x 3 without pushing myself to the extreme.

On the downside, my back just hasn't been right since I pulled 200 x 3 conventional. I certainly didn't feel like I injured anything at the time, but 3 weeks later and my spinal erectors are still sore like they would be the day after a heavy session. On top of that I fucked my back doing those shrugs again. There's an upside to that though as I only strained it on the back off set at 140 (strangely) after I hit 200 x 10.

The snakes and ladders that is gains in the gym...

Back with a lighter day

Bench: 80 x 5, 90 x 3, 80 x 5

Dips: 20 x 10, BW x 2 x 10. The weighted ones really don't feel nice.

LTE: 37.5 x  3 x 8

EZC: 37.5 x 10, 30 x 3 x 8. Time to start getting serious about curls. Gonna run a bit of a linear progression down to 5s.

19th & 20th

Planned to have a light bench session on Saturday, but by Friday night I was feeling fresh so I hit             93.5 x 5 x 5 which was fairly comfortable
Incline: 75 x 5, 70 x 5, 65 x 5
Skull Crushers: 30 x 3 x 8 (mad pump and made doms)
Laterala: 8 x 3 x 12

Today I squatted 147.5 x 2 x 5, 145 x 5, 140 x 5 and shrugged 195 x 10, 180 x 8, 140 x 12.

16th & 17th of Jan

2 days ago I benched 92.5 x 5 x 5 and didn't do much else because I was feeling a bit flat. I'll go light next bench session too; it's been a while since I had a deload.

Yesterday I squatted 140 x 5,145 x 5, 142.5 x 5, 145 x 5. Squats haven't felt better in a long, long time.

BB Rows: 70 x 3 x 5. I'm gonna run a cycle of these. I flirted with them for a while but I'm gonna hit them hard for a few weeks and see what they do.

Pull ups

Then I had to wait for my mate to get a ride so I messed around for a bit and pressed (failed 80 x 1 attempt but easily got 75) and did some power cleans ( a few at 80 which felt pretty hard and a bunch of easy clean & presses at 60)

14 January

I haven't updated for a week or so because my laptop has been screwed but got the great piece of news today that HP is going to repair it without cost so I will be back to updating regularly soon. Everything has been going well though. Yesterday I pulled 200 x 3 conventional which is a nice PR and then I squatted 162.5 x 3 which was hard because deadlifting first completely destroys me. All good though. Things are going well.

Thursday & Saturday

Thursday all I did was squat 160 x 5, 150 x 5, 140 x 5 and left. I had to get up real early and go to the gym before Ron went to work so I was real tired and on top of that I didn't feel recovered from the previous deadlift session which wasn't a surprise.

Today I benched 107.5 x 6 x 1. First rep only was paused.Pretty happy with this really. Solid progress.

Press: 65 x 6, 55 x 6

Incline: 70 x 5, 67.5 x 2 x 5

Update

The other day I pulled 195 x 5 which was awesome.

Today I made some slight changes to the set and rep scheme of Steel's bench programme. Instead of 92.5 x 12 x 2 I did 92.5 x 5 x 5. It was pretty straight forward which was nice.