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 :-).

Monday Morning Weigh in: 234.6

ok weight for the week.

In other news, I didn’t get my usual food prep done this week. Normally this is where I think “hooray, an excuse to eat sushi!” Instead I dug around and found a couple pitas and two cans of tuna. I made tuna salad at the last minute and brought that with me instead. Probably better all around.

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.

Monday Morning Weigh In: 237.2

Drat. At first I was surprised and annoyed, I was expecting 234.X. Then, as I thought about it I realized that I gave myself a lot of free passes last week. The chick going on nutrisystem brought in donuts, I ate two. I don’t even like donuts. The same chick was fasting for good Friday so she brought in sweet cakes, again, two. I don’t really like those either. I felt a bit peckish toward the end of the day, what a great time to try out the new Burger King.

So a couple slaps on the wrist for bad behavior and back to work I go. I think I’m going to return to regular “unofficial” weigh ins too, to track my progress throughout the week and help me correct for errors.

Two months and I have to get below 230.

On Call

I’m still wrapping up and On Call week at work, Tuesday to Tuesday. I was very fortunate the first part of the week. The weekend has been ugly. I had hoped to make it to the park but I’m pretty much tethered to the computer.  So I’ve done some light yoga, some static stretches and some of the Magnificent Mobility stuff. Today I did a little tiny bit more.

2″ Dumbbell Deadlift
100lbs 1/1
120lbs 1/1
100lbs 5/5

Outer Limit Loops
5 lbs 3 X 10/10

A little more stretching etc later.

Don’t call it a comeback

Dont call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a monsoon
Listen to the bass go boom

-LL Cool J

This was a strong workout for me. I feel like I’m at a place that is better then when I started my lull this fall. It makes me very happy.

Jump rope 3 minutes

Deadlift 70 K X 5

Jump Rope 3 minutes

Deadlift
120K X 5
170K X 5
220K X 0, 1, 0, 1
I really had no business playing with 220. I said I was going to go to 450lbs ( 15 kilos less than this). I wasn’t really paying attention, just having fun loading those pretty red plates on there. Both misses where hovering off the ground, it was really just a decision to keep on pulling or not. I chose yes twice and no twice. The last one, I almost taped it and should have, was the longest deadlift I have ever performed. I had to exhale twice during the pull, it felt like forever but was at least 6 seconds. Exhaling during a deadlift is not something you really want to do, you lose a lot of stability that your muscles now have to make up for. It also sounds like you are being painfully ripped in half, because it is a lot of air under pressure, all trying to leave your body at once and it runs past the vocal cords in the process. I should also mention that the final pull would probably not pass in any know powerlifting federation. I stopped mid-pull twice, I’m sure it even lowered a hair and I know I was hitching at the end. None the less, awesome.

High Pull
100K X 5
120K 5 X 1, 5 X 1, 5 X 1
I have never done these. I think it will be good for me. I think I was screwing up a bit two though, I was kind of pulling (maybe even a triple extension) than bending over at the waste, kind of a recoil from all the backward pulling I think. I assume this is a bad thing. I’ll have to YouTube high pulls or something.

Jerk
100K 5 X 1, 5 X 1, 5 X 1
Yes, I am :-).I jerk better from a narrower stance.

Seated Row (hands at shoulder’s width)
80lbs X 5
120 X 5
150 3 X 5

Pull Ups
5, 4, 2
Kind of supersetted with the above, kind of not. Hitting 5 was great, I was thinking I would do a ladder 5->1 but couldn’t hit 3. So I took the victory of hitting 5 and walked away.

Jump Rope 2:30

Hyper Extension 25lbs 3 X 15
Inclined Situps 25lbs 3 X 15
Supersetted

Dumbbell Press 80lbs 3 X 8
Now I was running out of gas. Long breaks between,90 minutes (approximtely)had passed with 30 to go.
Pushups 3 X 20
Reverse Pushups 3 X 10
Supersetted. I’m sure there is another name for the revers pull up but I don’t know it. It’s where you hang a bar at waist height, hang from it and do a kind of pullup from an upside down pull up position.

Dips 3 X 3
Just killing time.

It was a good workout and I’m not as sore today as I expected, we’ll see how tomorrow goes. }:-)

pleasant disappointment

I didn’t go to the gym tonight, I had my reasons and one them was a 2″ axel clean and jerk in June that I just signed up for. 230lbs on an axle. I think I’ll be ready for230 more than or 2″. So I thought I’d work on it.

Warmup 24K kettlebell 5/5 X 4

2″ Dumbbell C&J 50lbs 5 X 5/5
This did not go as expected at all. It was way too easy on both the back and hands. If there is such a thing a “pleasant disappointment” this is it. So I made some changes on the next exercise.

Double 2″ Dumbbell deadlift 60lb 5 X 10/10
This was planned to be a one handed deadlift for low reps with 65lbs but the last exercise left me feeling stronger than expected. The 10/10 above though could be viewed as misleading. The first set was the only one where I didn’t have to shake my hands out at least once, usually twice.

Outer Limit Loops 5lbs 6/6, 7/7, 8/8
In an effort to achieve some balance in the beating I was laying on my hands, I broke out my Iron mind Outer Limit Loops. The first set was all about the learning curve.  I wanted to go on up to ten but the outside of my left hand started to hurt and swell. I went and washed my hands for a few minutes in cold water and it went away. I decided that was it.

The workout ended up being easier than I expected but it went well. I’ll have to figure out how to make it a more regular part of my goings on. The best news for tonight was no On Call phone calls. I wonder how my coworkers will feel if I give them back the On Call phone with chalk worked into all the little crevasses.

Tonight, I think I will finish the leisure reading book, Making Money (thanks Karianne) I have been working on since the end of Good Calories,  Bad Calories , and start The New Rule of Strength Training.

Oh, and Scott was bragging up his nerdiness on his blog (and I was duly impressed) so let me announce that this is being written from the brand new Linux partition of my laptop. 🙂 I’m not as cool as Scott but I’m working on it. And for those folks who may not have understood what I just said, you’re better off for it.