training 11.25.2013

Not much time this week, so no variability in the schedule.

Assault and Athletic Greens, dynamic warm up, and some weight work to get ready.

Hamstring curls: 14/12/10/8 reps; after the final 8, did 25 partial reps -- 4 work sets, one with 33 reps

Leg press with bands, close stance: worked up to 8 with doubled pro monster minis (13/16")

Leg extensions, 3x8 with 2s flex at the top: Sit toward the end of the seat, back off the pad, and maintain constant tension

Smith machine lunges, one leg at a time, 3x10, 60s rest: to say I was sucking wind after each set is an understatement

DB SLDL, 3x8 heavy

V-bar pushdowns, 15/12/9/6, 30s between

Dip machine, 3s negative, 5x8, 30s

Narrow pushups -- index finger tips touching, 3 x failure; got a lot more than I thought I would

Called it.

training 11.22.2013

Rainy day, with thunder even.  That's rare around here, and I miss it.

Tried MusclePharm Assault today instead of Ndure, added Athletic Greens, and went.

Meadows rows, worked up to a good weight for 10 and did 12/10/8/6 with it, concentrated on engaging the whole lat.

Partial pulldown, to top of the forehead, very wide grip, 4x8.  Well, as documented last time, there isn't enough weight in this gym to do these right, so I did them with a full stack and a 3s pause at the bottom, which was more like my nose.  I did 4 sets of 30 like that and thought I might not be able to get up.

Deadlift, conventional stance, work up to a triple.  Did really well with these for some reason.  Had no support on except a Spud DL belt.  Felt really good about it and pulled about 500#.  Garnered a few looks from the old farts and wannabes.

Deficit DL, 3x3, 2" deficit.  Just got them done.  Much less spectacular.

DB pullovers, 3x12 lying on a bench, lifted only so that the bottom of the DB was about forehead height.  Took the weight up again this week, which is good -- getting stronger.

Hypers with a band, 45 degree, 1xfailure with an elitefts Average band: got 21 and sucked wind.

Did some low cable rows, wide to narrow, in high rep sets until I couldn't do any more.

Did some Gironda swings with low weight until my delts were screaming, just because.

Left.

Very hungry in the gym today, and the place was packed with old farts and younger old farts.  Lots of camping today -- there were at least three farts taking up 3 machines to do circuits of ugliness.  Thankfully, they didn't want anything I needed, which was no surprise.

Bodyweight is still creeping up and body fat is slowly creeping downward.

Have a safe Friday.

training 11.20.2013

Ndure, Athletic Greens, a little weight work to warm up.

Incline press on a machine: 15/12/10/8 rep sets with the same weight, pausing at the bottom for 1s and pressing up hard.  No full lockout.

Incline barbell press, rest paused, 4x6; also no full lockout -- maintain constant tension

Decline DB press, 3x10 with hard flex at the top -- right shoulder was a little unhappy, mostly from the kick-ups to get the weight up

Dips, 3xfailure, deep stretch and stop short of locking elbows; added 10 band over/backs between each set of dips

Machine rear delt: 30/25/20/15, 60s between sets + band over/backs; these are killer

DB side laterals, 4x20 -- miserably small weights by now, I did most of these with 25s

Ultra-wide grip military press, 4x10 with 60s between sets; last set was the bare bar, I was so blasted.

I also did a bunch of biceps work -- supine cross-body curls (4x10), EZ bar preachers (4x8, 3x neg), EZ bar curl (4x6, 3s neg), and reverse EZ bar curls (3x20, 1s hold at the top).  By the last set of reverse curls, I had nothing but the bar.  My arms were fried.

Raining today, a week from Thanksgiving.  Got to go shopping for groceries.

Thanks for checking in.

training 11.18.2013

Gorgeous day.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, a little dynamic work.

Hamstring curls, 4x10 + rep drop + drop set: okay, so I did 4 sets at a hard weight for 10 reps; after the 4th set, I did another set of 10 with the same weight + a set of 8 with the same weight + set of 8 with dropped weight + set of 8 with another weight drop.  So the 5th set was 34 reps and two weight drops.  And painful.

Leg press with bands, 3xAMRAP: with the same setup as last time, I added 90 pounds to the weight I did last time and did AMRAP.  This too was very tough.

Squats: worked up to a hard 10; increased weight and did 8; kept weight and did 6.  Thought I might pass out, but didn't.  All were with a 3s negative.

Hack: work up to a hard 10, did 2 sets; for the 3rd set, I did 10 reps + drop weight and 10 more + drop weight, move feet to bottom of the platform (narrow, frog-like) and 10 more.

SLDL, 3x12: nothing special or impressive -- legs were noodles by now.

Did 15 sets of triceps work and called it a day.

training 11.16.2013

Forgot the usual elixirs ahead of time and went natural, so to speak.

1-arm barbell rows, 3x8 very heavy: kept the weight close to the ground using small plates, stood beside the bar like a suitcase carry, lifted one end to chest.  Concentrated on pulling with elbows and squeezing lats.  Worked up to RPE=10 and counted the previous 3 sets as my work sets.

Partial pulldown, 4x8, pull to nose height, very wide grip: unfortunately, I went to the little gym and they don't have a plate-loaded pulldown.  There was not enough weight on the stack, so I pulled the whole stack and added a 3s pause at the bottom, squeezing hard.  Still did sets of 8, and it was tough enough.  Repped out the final set.

Cable low-row w/ very wide grip, 4x10: squeezed the lats hard, pulled to bottom of sternum.

DB pullovers, 3x12: keep arms straight, pull only to top of forehead, work very slowly.  These are tough.  Beat my weight from last time.

Hypers with band, 3x failure: used a simple 45 degree and repped each set out.  These were very tough.

As usual, I was the youngest in the gym by about 20 years.  I was working hard, sweating hard in front of a fan; weak, pasty old fart walked in, unplugged my fan, and left.  Literally left the club.  What?  I was incredulous.  Never once looked at me.  I'm pretty hard to miss.

Politeness is dead in California, I'm convinced.  We're one minor disaster away from a complete failure of civility.

I'll be over here.  Thanks for checking in.

training 11.14.2013

Gorgeous day, as usual.  Bluebird skies, mid 70s, very light breeze.  Sun feels particularly warm.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, band shoulder dynamic warm up.

Machine fly: 3x10 w-u sets to find work weight, 3x8 work sets right at the limit, squeezing hard for a 1s pause at full contraction on every rep.

Incline press, 5x8; just short of chest and no full lockout, maintained constant tension

DB bench: neutral grip, full depth, pause at the bottom to stretch, 3/4 lockout.  4x8  These were really tough, and my right shoulder wasn't happy, but I worked through them with a really tough weight.

Dips, 3xfailure with 3/4 reps (no lockout) + 10 over/backs each set with the pro monster mini

DB rear delt raises, 3x35.  These were brutal, horrible, very unkind.  I dropped weight each set because I had to.  Got all reps, but it was very ugly.  + 10 o/b bands each set

DB side laterals, 4x15 + 10 o/b bands each set.  Struggled with the bands by this point.

Cage presses, 9 reps/7/5/3 adding weight each set.  I was so gassed, these were pathetic.  Did them just for polish, because I had nothing left.

Off to eat.  Hope you're well.

training 11.12.2013

Overcast, but warm.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, MGPM during.  No support during.  No real dynamic work to warm-up -- used warm up sets.

Seated hamstring curls: 2 warm-up sets.  15/12/9/6 reps, taking the weight up each set.  Each set was close to failure -- RPE of at least 9.

Leg press with bands: used black EFTS Pro monster minis, which are 13/16 of an inch.  Doubled them and threw on a lot of weight.  2 warm-up sets + 3x10.  Very hard.

Squats: 2 warm-up sets + 3x15 well below parallel.  Brutally hard, even with a little Albuterol, I was sucking wind very badly.  Feet just outside of shoulders with toes slightly out.

Leg extensions: 3x8 with all I could do.  Kick hard, squeeze for a second at the top.  Very tough.

SLDL: these were polish at this point.  3x10 working the stretch.  I was supposed to use a bar, but I used heavy DBs instead.

Crawled out.

I have to say, I smelled awful today.  I felt bad for all around me, am washing every stitch as I type, and scrubbed a bit harder than usual in the shower.  If you can smell yourself, act.

This session was due yesterday, but I had a house full of 14 year old boys who had Vets Day off.  Not about to leave the house to them.  I'm not stupid.

Off to eat a horse.  Love you guys.

training 11.8.2013

Forgot to log this yesterday.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, creatine, a little warm up with the weight.

Meadows rows, heavy, 3x10 hard ones

Smith machine barbell row, rest/paused, 3x8 to upper abs

Narrow grip chins, 3xfailure.  Pathetic gym doesn't have a neutral grip chin station, so I made do

DB Pullovers, 3x12 hard ones

DB shrugs, 3x15

Did a polisher set of upper trap rows.

Feeling run down, almost flu-like.  May have to take a day or two off.  May not.

training 11.6.2013

Gorgeous day.

Ndure, extra creatine, Athletic Greens, elbow wraps, wrist wraps, liquid grip, dynamic shoulder work.

The volume is still described as moderate and is starting to get a little intimidating for someone who has followed powerlifting protocols for years.  This is borderline Sheiko-esque.  I like it, but I worry that I'll be beaten to crap in a few weeks.  Might have to throw a deload in there somewhere.

Incline press: 3 warm-up sets to work sets of 10, 8, 6, and 6+drop weight for 6+drop for 6; 4 work sets, but the last set had 18 reps.  This was pretty tough for a starter even though I used my work weight for 12 reps from last week to start.

Incline barbell press, 4x6, no lockout: had to use the Smith Machine, as there is no rack in the smallest gym in the West.

Flat bench, wide grip (past the knurling), 3/4 rep off the chest, 3x15.  Wow, things were starting to get tough.

Stretch pushups off of DBs on end, full ROM deep, 3xfailure; first set had them too narrow and triceps died first; following sets I set up wider and hit the chest, got a few more reps.  Still only about 10 reps each -- getting gassed.  Did band over-and-backs x10 between each set, so 3 work sets plus 3 band sets.

Dumbbell read delt raises, 3x10 plus band O/Bs between.  Was using 45s and needed more weight.  Next time.  The O/Bs were starting to get tough by this point.

Machine overhead press, neutral grip, 4x12 plus O/Bs x10 between; flex hard at the top.  Dying about now.

Ultra-wide military barbell, 3x12, hands as far out as possible, lower as close to the chest as possible.  This ROM hurt my right shoulder just a little bit, though I think I let it glide forward a bit, which is a no-no.  If I limit ROM to just below the chin, no such trouble, but suddenly the reps are easy.  Barely used any weight at all -- these are just brutally hard.  I get the funniest look, big as I am and pumped up by this point, unable to do much of anything with these.

DB rear delt destroyers: these are a Meadows thing, and the name is apt.  Lie on an angled seat, face to the pad and do rear delt swings, 60 reps/drop 50% + 30 reps/drop 50% more and 10 reps.  So 100 reps with two drops by half.  Honestly, the last set was pink weight.

Did a pec cable-cross finisher and left.

Some guy flipped me off on the way home after he badly, blatantly cut me off.  If someone does something stupid and apologizes, I drop it immediately; if they flip me off (or act like it was my fault), I basically digest myself thinking of ways to make their lives miserable.  I need to lose that.  What worries me is that we have lost a sense of politeness as a society -- we seldom own our own faults and errors, even though these people have to know.  Or do they really feel so entitled that endangering other people is just part of being who they are?  I worry, particularly for guys like that when they run into someone who isn't as bound by a moral code or upbringing as I am.  Thanks Mom & Dad.

Thanks for taking the time.

training 11.4.2013

Cloudy day -- looks like rain.  Wish it would just open up and rain.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, not much else.  Knee sleeves and a Spud DL belt through most.

Leg curls on a hammie machine, 2 sets to warm up.

Leg curls, 3x15, single leg at a time.  These were harder than expected, for some reason.

Squats: 3 warm-ups sets pyramid up to a weight that would be hard for 8 reps, do 3x6 and add weight each set.  These were tough.  Got a lot of weight, but they were really hard.

Leg Press +bands (EliteFTS pro monster mini Onyx bands, 3x8 while beating last time's weight.  These were done out of sequence because there was a camper who sat on the LP for over an hour (!), reminding me once again why I hate commercial gyms.  And I went to the smaller gym at a non-peak hour to avoid that kind of crap.  Worse, he wasn't even using the machine the whole time, and there is no proper hack squat I could have used instead.  So I waited.  "Just two more sets (that'll take 35 minutes)"

Lunges on the Smith Machine, 2x10, all ten on each leg at a time.  There really isn't much the SM is good for, aside from hanging bands and towels.  This might be one of them, but I doubt it.  I did them all the way to the ground, knee touching, and it was easier on my trailing knee than usual, so I'll quit whining about the SM for now.

SLDL, full stretch, 2x15 with a ton of weight.  This was a finisher, so...

Since machine weight are pretty much meaningless, I don't post them.  If anyone cares (or even reads this besides Milda and Bob) I will record them for posterity.

training 11.2.2013

End of week 2, arms and abs

Ndure, Athletic Greens, some dynamic work.

Warm-up with rope pushdowns 3x12 with about 80% of work weight

Superset:
 - rope pushdown, 4x12, hard squeeze at the bottom
 - dip machine, 15/12/9/6 increasing the weight -- this was really tough

Superset:
 - DB triceps extensions, 4x12 with fairly light DBs (45s, I think)  need to go up a little next time
 - over-head rope extensions, slightly bent over, big squeeze at full extension, 4x12

Some DB curls to warm up (2x10)

Superset:
 - Seated DB curls, 4x8, supine grip with wrist/hand back with 3s negatives
 - Machine preacher curls, hard flex at the top, 4x10  (really hard)

Superset:
 - reverse EZ bar curls, 4x15, practically nothing on the bar by this point
 - Hammer curls with 25s, 4x10, both hands at once -- brutally tough

Any old grandma could have taken me by the end.  Yeah, thrown in some gratuitous ab work.  And then vomit. 

Everything is tired and sore.  Taking my wife out for a date and will likely eat too much, which should be just enough.

training 11.1.2013

Back day

Gorgeous day.  Accidentally left my notebook at home, so I had to do the session by memory.

Ndure, Athletic Greens, creatine, dynamic work, occasional straps.

Meadows rows, 4x10 hard and heavy

Lat pulldown, regular front LPD/High-row, squeeze at the bottom, add weight each set and move from wide grip to narrow through the sets.  3x10

Cable low-row with single handles, squeezing hard at the bottom, 3x10

One-arm lat pull-down, supine grip using the cable stack, 3x8.  Did these seated, focused on the squeeze at the bottom.

Did a polisher set on one of the rowing machines.

Pretty toasty at this point.  In fact, everything is either sore or tired right now, and this is a low volume week.  I'm gonna die in a couple of weeks.

I'm due for arms and abs tomorrow.  Can't blow it off until Sunday, because Monday is leg day.  I need a day off before leg day, I think.  We'll see.

Have a nice Friday.