Fruit Roll Up

I haven’t blogged in over a week, so it’s time to catch up and get back on a schedule.

Last week I hit MAC on Tuesday
30mins biking on cardio
Overhead Squat - just the bar X 10
Pushup X 10
Medicine Ball Raises (front and each side) X 10
5 Circuits

The OHS were a bad idea, I won’t be messing with those in a bit

Friday - Dumbarton
I don’t recall it all
15 minutes on the elliptical
Bench ladder 10 ->1(alternating 225, 185 for each weight)
Rows 135lbs 5 X 12
leg Extensions 5 X 12 80lbs
Leg Curls 5 X12 60lbs
Calf Raises 3 X 20 50lbs
I think that was most of it. I felt really good coming out of this and I think that making my legs do something besides atrophy was a very good thing.

Monday Morning Weigh-In: 236.6
:’(
I got a big old FAIL on eating clean for the first half of last week. I did okay 70%ish for the second half. This week has been very good so far. I’ve had some chocolate covered espresso bean (and not many) but that’s about it.
Really, all I have to do is eat clean but that means planning, scheduling and being prepared and that is where I am struggling.

The GOOD NEWS:
No ibuprofen since Saturday. Laura was out of town and I didn’t have anything pressing so I thought I’d just see what would happen. I was surprised that I made it all day. So I stayed off the drugs through Sunday but figured with work on Monday I would have to go back. Monday went just fine without. Now it’s Tuesday and still none. I’m very happy. I can take some if I need to but I haven’t felt that need.

Gimpin’ on a Friday Night

I’ve been doing all my stretches and going to PT and taking my ibuprofen all week. I’ve begun the process of backing down dosing. It’s a very good thing. No training happened until Friday, even then I knew there were huge limitations.

Jump Rope 5:00

Some T-bar row
90, 135, 225 (minus apparatus) X 5
Nothing heavy here, I was just taking it easy and warming up slowly.

Military Bench
135 X 5
225 X 4
275 X 3
300 X 1
225 X 8, 8
My leg was starting to bother me and I just didn’t have the drive to do a third set. It was a decent set of benches for me. An hour had passed.

3:00 Jump rop

From this point on I spent a fair amount of time working on the heavy bag, I didn’t time it, I wasn’t doing anything in particular. I also did my stretches while I was at the gym, this is the first time they gave relief rather than causing more pain.

My appetite is coming back and I’m fighting hard but I fear I am losing. I weighed myself a few days ago at 230, I’ve got to be 231 by now. so things go. I’m injured, I have plenty of time to come back, it’s important I do this right.

Totally unrelated, I’m thinking about migrating my blog back to my own hosting account…..more later.

Another miss

Jump Rope 4:00

Power Squat
135 X 2
225 X 2
315 X 2
405 X 0
It just felt heavy and I haven’t really worked the power squat in a while. I forget how different it is from a regular squat.

Squat
135 X 5
225 X 4
315 X 3
405 X 0
I actually gave the 405 a go and just got pinned. I think I got so caught up thinking about depth that I forgot to prepare to come out of it. I still think I’m coming way short on my squat.

I dinked around with bottom position squats but didn’t do anything of note.

Jump Rope 3:00

Straight Leg Deadlift
60K X 5
100K X 5
had to get straps
140K 2 X 3
160K 2 X 3
I tried the 140 with no straps but I just didn’t have the hand strength to pull it off without the straps

Jerk
60K X 5
80K X 3
100K X 2
120K X 1
100K 3 X 1
I actually pressed out the 120K pretty bad and I took two more shots after my initial success but got nowhere with them.

Rows
100K 6 X 3

In the end, it was a mediocre workout. I’m surprised about the 400 miss, surprised and disappointed but I manged to keep moving and did some ok weight by the end of the whole thing.

Missed 500

Well blast, I went into the gym thinking I was finally ready to pull 500 again, no go. I broke it off the floor a couple times but it only moved inches. Ah well, these are the things that keep us going.

Jump Rope 3:00
Deadlift
135 X 2
225 X 2
315 X 2
405 X 2
500 X 0/4
As I said before I felt like I was good for it. Even as I missed my attempts, I knew it was there, they was just something I wasn’t doing, some muscle I wasn’t calling on, something. But it would not be. I think I will work some rack pulls next week from a couple different heights.

Jump Rope 3:00
I enjoy this to reset the body. I also got to wondering if this had contributed to my conditioning from the snatches. I did go about 3 or 4 minutes before I went anaerobic, it seems like a lot of a coincidence that is how long I have been jumping for. There is a lot of practice involved in jumping and I need to get out the awesome jump rope DVD my brother-in-law got me and look at those drills again. I also need to get me a decent rope.

Standing Press
60K X 2
80K X 5, 3, 1

Pull ups
BW X 5, 3,2

I did a bit of messing about here, some situps and jump rope but nothing that was counted or timed. I was just trying to keep myself busy while finding the motivation and direction I needed to go on.

Circuit - as with before, the exercises are a circuit but I give myself ample time between sets
70lbs 4 X 8 DB PRess, DB Row, DB Jerk, DB Dead
I did only make 6 on my last set of jerks. Dumbell Jerking a pair of 70s is harder than I expected.
I think I need to start giving myself a rest limitation to make improvement based on these but they are a nice quick piece to the workout.

DB Static Lunge
70lbs 3 X 6/6 (only got 5 in the last set on the right side: 3 then 2)

Standing Leg Curl
70lbs (no relation 4 X 6/6

Hyperextensions
BW 20, 15, 10, 5

Not a bad workout in all, although the deadlift was annoying. I’ll try again in two weeks. I feel like I need something better than 550 this year, especially if I intend to hit my 1380 (1400) goal. It’s look something like (Squat: 500, Bench: 350, Dead: 550). It’s gonna be a tough road but it seems doable to me. I need to get the last of this hip thing worked out and keep plugging the powerlifting with a little kettlebell, sandbag and other mixed in for variety and sanity.

so-so

I headed to Dumbarton for a third workout in a row. I’m starting to feel some aches and pains from all the heavy lifting I have been doing. Next week I think I’ll hit UB twice and make a point of rowing, maybe some boxing and maybe some kettlebell. I need to back off the heavy weights for a week or so without slacking too much.

Cleans
80 X 5
90 X 5
100 X 0
80 X 5
90 X 5
100 X 0
These were about as frustrating as the come. I was trying to think about Chris’s suggestios and use those to keep the bar in close. For the 80 and 90 kilo pulls, I could power clean ok but was coming up just a hair short. I wanted to do some squat cleans. It seemed like everything I pulled below 100 was flying up and about hitting me in the face. I tried to pull a little less but that wasn’t happening. So I threw on some more weight. The height was fine and I think the path was better. I seemed to be rolling forward just out of habit more than anything. I decided I was tired and just to let it go for a week. Cleans seem to take a pretty heavy toll on my body, I don’t know how you Oly guys do it.

Jerks
80K X 3
Just  alot of joint soreness. This is when I decided to back off next week.

Box Squats
135 X 5
185 X 4
225 X 3
275 X 2
315 4 X 1
I’ve never really done much with box squats so this was as much experimentation as anything. It’s basically a variation on a bottom position squat. It seems to go a little quicker and more comfortably than the bottom position squats I have done. Heavy BPSs have always seen a little sketchy from the start, these gave me, what I felt was, a safer and better starting position.

Dumbell Press
95lbs 3 X 5

Dumberll Row
95lbs 3 X 5
I don’t know of anyone with bells over 95lbs. I guess rows and flat presses are going to have to leave dumbells behind for me.

Throw in about three rounds of jumping rope and you have my workout. It wasn’t the best, it wasn’t the worst. I think a lighter week will do my joints some good.

Plan B

I was off to the gym today but no class afterward. It worked out well. I pulled up to UB there were no parking spaces. Considering my options, I decided to go to Dumbarton instead.

Cleans
40K X 5
60K X 5
80K X 4
90 K X 3
95 K X 2
100K  X 0/3
105K X 1/2
110K X 1/2
115K X 0/2
100K X 1
These went well, as you can see. I still have mountains of work to do on catching the bar. The pull doesn’t seem to be an issue. I can still tap my chest with 115, i just can’t catch it. Even my successful catches have issues. I really catch out in front of my body and have roll to my toes, bring my body to the bar, to complete the lift.

Jerks
80K X 3

My sciatic nerve was really bothering me and I was totally failing to focus.

Squat
135 X 5
225 X 5
275 2 X 8
Because squats always make my hips feel better.

Bottom Position Quarter Squats (bar at the bottom of the chest)
405 X 5
495 X 4
545 X 3
585 X 2
I wanted to play with some real weight so I worded on these. It went well.

Pull Ups
5, 3, 1
Dips
3 x 5
These were just the wrap up,  not nearly enough effort made here.

In other news, both Chris and Scott S have started doing 10 minutes Snatch tests. Good luck guys.

I guess it’s time I got back to humiliating myself in that way too :-).

Trouble with Quibbles

Jump Rope 3:00 X 2
With some stretching and mobility in between

Squat
135 X 5
225 X 5
315 X 3
365 X 2
405 2 X 2
315 X 5
225 X 15
I shot a bunch of video of the  heavier sets, I probably won’t embed it as it’s looking for a white or red light call from powerlifters but if you want it, it’s on YouTube

Bench
135 X 5
185 X 4
225 X 3
275 X 2
295 X 1
315 X 2
275 X 4
I heard so much crap while I was trying to do these. When I loaded the 315 it was with 2 plates, a quarter and two dimes on each side. Then I started to hear about how I needed to  put three plates on instead. I didn’t care, it’s been ages sine I hit 300+, I just wanted to do it. So I swapped ‘em, because I don’t care. Then I started to hear about how my plates were loaded, in high school we loaded the first one facing in then the rest out so you could tally them easier. I heard all facing in, I heard all facing out. I didn’t care, I just wanted the bench. It’s amazing I even did it after that. I’m glad I did though.

Trap Bar Deadlift (assuming the bar is 45)
135 X 1
245 X 1
335 X 1
445 X 1
535 X 0/2
I heard more crap about my approach on this one but I can understand. I was just kind of feeling it. I was thinking about farmers carry in strongman. Unfortunately, I think my legs had seen too many squats to make a solid go of it and I got stuck at 535 when I really needed to go to 600. Next Friday I think this will be my first lift.

Barbell Row
40K X 5
60K X 5
80K X 5
100K 2 X 5
120K 2 X 2
I was really surprised by how heavy these went.

I didn’t get as much done this workout as I usually try to but it was heavy for me and that is what I wanted.

Clean Up

Off to Dumbarton today, a great chance to hit some oly lifts.

Clean
40K X 5
60K X 5
80K X 4
100K X 3
110K X 0/2
These went pretty well, all things considered. I hit 100K several times. At the same time, I was not able to hit 110 like I would have liked. I bet I can real soon though. I shot video of a bunch of them. I think I have the usual tightness problem getting into the starting position as I am really high. I know my left glute got real tight with this injury and I’m still working that out. Hopefully I will loosen up a bit as that works out.

Front Squat
60K X 5
100K 5 X 5
Heavier than I expected to go, mark that as a good one.

Standing Press
60K X 5
80K 5 X 1
No bounce, knee bend or anything. I felt like I could do singles all day but I just could not manage a double.

Chin Ups 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
hooray

Jump Rope 3:00
because I like this.

A good workout. I’m happy. Now I need to clean up these calluses I have ripped off.

On Call

Nothing quite like toting a cell phone all over the gym to make me feel like a poser. Still, I give it back tomorrow and don’t have to take it for almost two months.

Concept II 50%y
5,000 meters 22:00
This is about  a medium jog for me, I could keep it up for a while but probabl

Nothing quite like toting a cell phone all over the gym to make me feel like a poser. Still, I give it back tomorrow and don’t have to take it for almost two months.

Concept II 50%
5,000 meters 22:00
This is about  a medium to hard jog for me, I could keep it up for a while but probaby not an hour. I was trying to focus on bringing my SPM below 20, which I rarely did, while keeping my pace at about 2:15. I stayed in the low 20’s but below 20 is just darn hard.

Clean Pull
135 X 5
225 X 5
275 5 x 5
I’m calling these a clean pull because I’m not 100% on what they are. I’m hoping Brent will weigh in on this one a bit. Double overhand deadlift with the body over to bar. There is no second pull going on. I tried to focus on pulling faster than a deadlift but with more weight than a clean. I tried to go for as much extension as I could (on the toes, shoulders shrugged at the finish) without any arm pull at all. It did stay closer to my body than you would expect of clean though.

Power Clean 135
2 x 5
Just deloading a bit or whatever you call it.

Hang Clean 135
2 x 5
Wrapping up the cleans

Bench
135 x10
185 X 5
225 x 5
275 3 x 3
It’s the first time I have felt comfortable on the bench for a while, which is great and the weight seemed decent enough.

A few chins and a few dips and I was off.

Wild Hair

Just got a wild hair and looked up some state records.

If I hit my powerlifting goal for the year, I will be in a position to compete for the state record for raw powerlifting in Maryland Powerlifting as well as Raw Powerlifting. What’s more, if I drop below 220 for 2009, I could do it again. }:-). mmm, starting to get that itch.